PopMatters' 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2018

PopMatters' 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2018

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24.

Daniel Avery - Song For Alpha
April 6, 2018
Critic Score
80
21 reviews

Song For Alpha once again shows Avery deconstructing his various influences and welding them together to achieve something remarkable. The result is a sweeping, majestic album that sends the listener soaring above mountainous peaks or gently brushing the canyon floor, often during the space of a single track. This is the album that will deservedly see Avery achieve the kind of acclaim and reverence that he has for those that have influenced him.

22.

GAS - Rausch
May 18, 2018
Critic Score
79
12 reviews

Highs and lows aside, Rausch is a marvel, and one of the most engrossing listens in 2018 so far.

21.

RP Boo - I'll Tell You What!
July 6, 2018
Critic Score
76
10 reviews

RP Boo's status in footwork is more or less unimpeachable. The only way he could really mess things up is to make a bad album of new material. Luckily, I'll Tell You What! is a fantastic record.

20.

Tim Hecker - Konoyo
September 28, 2018
Critic Score
78
21 reviews

While carrying over many of the practices of his previous record, Tim Hecker shifts his perspective away from the dreamscapes of Love Streams and explores a darker spiritual realm on Konoyo.

19.

Inja - Blank Pages
June 29, 2018

18.

Proc Fiskal - Insula
June 8, 2018
Critic Score
80
6 reviews

17.

Eartheater - Irisiri
June 8, 2018
Critic Score
74
7 reviews
There always appears to be a certain playfulness when it comes to the progression and use of samples. That is not something that suggests this is an easy listening record, but it makes the album more personal and adventurous, and it is its most striking part.

16.

Helena Hauff - Qualm
August 3, 2018
Critic Score
77
18 reviews

14.

Kelly Moran - Ultraviolet
November 2, 2018
Critic Score
78
12 reviews

Ultraviolet sees Moran attempting to find the place where opposing forces converge. Starting from a minimal perspective, with a solitary piano as the main guide through this journey, she can awaken a pronounced ethereal and light characteristic, but further infuse it with a darker element.

13.

Jon Hopkins - Singularity
May 4, 2018
Critic Score
82
34 reviews

Hopkins weaves a thematic consciousness throughout each song on Singularity and, rather astonishingly, manages to intensify the listening experience to evoke the euphoria and vivid awareness of a psychedelic experience.

11.

Objekt - Cocoon Crush
November 9, 2018
Critic Score
84
9 reviews

If Flatlands was the initial state of the project's existence, the time that passed in between the two records saw Hertz construct this evolutionary shell and undergo an intriguing metamorphosis. Now he is ready to expose the new form of Objekt, and it results in one of the most impressive records of this year.

10.

DJ Koze - Knock Knock
May 4, 2018
Critic Score
83
23 reviews
Koze's commitment to avoiding easy four-on-the-floor dance music, his unwillingness to whack at synth pads for an hour and call it an experimental ambient album, is commendable. It aims for the head more than it does the heart, and that's fine. It's an approach that makes it an easy album to appreciate, even if it is tremendously difficult to love.

9.

Maribou State - Kingdoms In Colour
September 7, 2018
Critic Score
73
9 reviews

Maribou State have created a beautifully heterogeneous album with Kingdoms of Colour that illustrates what can be achieved by focusing one's gaze outwards and embracing diversity.

8.

Ital Tek - Bodied
September 7, 2018
Critic Score
76
6 reviews

7.

Lotic - Power
July 13, 2018
Critic Score
77
18 reviews

Albums from Lotic have always been ambitious, and that has verged into an almost mechanical demeanor when it comes to the music. Not to say that the works were devoid of emotion, but there was something inherently cold-blooded about the corpus of this work. At least so far, because Power makes a turn towards something more organic and compassionate.

6.

Amnesia Scanner - Another Life
September 7, 2018
Critic Score
83
7 reviews
Through injections of noise, polyrhythmic tendencies and ambient passages, Amnesia Scanner produce a disfigured facade of their roots. It is this ongoing mutation that is so enticing that makes this act so compelling.

5.

Vessel - Queen of Golden Dogs
November 9, 2018
Critic Score
78
12 reviews
While past projects painted bleak landscapes, the latest opus pours copious amounts of over-saturated colors to swatch luscious scenes.

3.

Rival Consoles - Persona
April 13, 2018
Critic Score
83
12 reviews
With a mix of analogue synths, warped acoustic instruments and an unmatched passion for effects pedals, West has produced easily one of the most vivid and soul-stirring electronic albums of the year.

2.

Yves Tumor - Safe in the Hands of Love
September 5, 2018
Critic Score
83
13 reviews

What pushes Safe in the Hands of Love beyond the producer's previous works is the emotion that the record transmits. No matter if the synths are harsh, or the rhythm section arrives with the perfect groove, this is a work filled with an emotive purpose, and it is that core that makes it such a wonderful listen.

1.

George FitzGerald - All That Must Be
March 9, 2018
Critic Score
71
14 reviews

All That Must Be is that rare electronic album that matches musical accomplishment with an emotional pull. There are real depth and soul to the record with the head and heart working in perfect harmony.

Original Source: https://www.popmatters.com/best-electronic-albums-2018-2622079585.html
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