Consequence of Sound's Top 25 Albums of 2018 (So Far)

Consequence of Sound's Top 25 Albums of 2018 (So Far)

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25.

Jack White - Boarding House Reach
March 23, 2018
Critic Score
71
40 reviews
It feels like a natural evolution for the singer/songwriter/guitar-master who’s made a career out of channeling bluesy bombast with punk rock-style urgency. This time he just added more funky freak-outs.

24.

Superorganism - Superorganism
March 2, 2018
Critic Score
72
24 reviews
This LP is loud, clanging, and communal, but also, in its own way, dreamlike. There’s something warped at the core of these songs, as if they’ve been yanked through some kind of wormhole and have reemerged into our world as aliens. And, for the most part, that makes for some fascinating listening.

23.

Kanye West - ye
June 1, 2018
Critic Score
64
37 reviews

He’s been pushing the envelope for most of his career, but on ye, he’s consolidating old skills, not testing out new ones. The lack of wow-factor, combined with the short length, makes the album feel somewhat slight.

22.

Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin
January 26, 2018
Critic Score
80
25 reviews
On his latest (and longest) record, indefatigable rock-god-in-waiting Ty Segall beefs up his sound with a brass section while giving himself over to a bout of anything-goes creativity that hits way more than it misses.

21.

Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer
June 1, 2018
Critic Score
80
39 reviews

The end result sees Misty at his most desperate, heartbroken state, making a solid comedown record from I Love You, Honeybear and Pure Comedy that doesn’t quite hit the profound highs of its predecessors, but gets carried quite a long way on the backs of its honest songwriting.

20.

Natalie Prass - The Future and the Past
June 1, 2018
Critic Score
80
26 reviews
Faced with the unexpected, Prass evolved, trading inward-facing confessionalism for outward-facing perseverance and releasing one of 2018’s minor masterpieces in the process. Plus, you can most certainly dance to it.

19.

SOB X RBE - Gangin
February 23, 2018
Critic Score
75
3 reviews

The allure of Gangin’ lies not in what SOB x RBE are saying, but how they’re saying it. The throwback production and relentless energy of the group’s four MCs set them apart from their more leaned out, chilled out brethren on the opposite coast. Supernovas indeed.

18.

Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
May 18, 2018
Critic Score
80
41 reviews

As expected, Tell Me How You Really Feel still finds Barnett writing “Courtney Barnett” songs, but there’s an unmistakable growth in the Aussie’s compositions.

17.

Lucy Dacus - Historian
March 2, 2018
Critic Score
79
25 reviews

16.

Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)
February 16, 2018
Critic Score
82
28 reviews

Rock music has a bad habit of looking backwards, and the same can be said of Car Seat Headrest’s Twin Fantasy. But this album flips that rearview gaze on its head, suggesting that the past may well contain new and exciting paths forward. It’s a neat inversion that yields some of the most thrillingly ambitious indie rock compositions of this decade, though one that occasionally exhausts the listener into submission.

15.

Beach House - 7
May 11, 2018
Critic Score
80
38 reviews
By retooling their sound and shaking off any complacency that may have settled in, Beach House make their claim as one of the preeminent indie rock bands of the decade.

13.

Snail Mail - Lush
June 8, 2018
Critic Score
79
36 reviews

Lush is one of the most engaging and relatable indie rock debuts in quite some time.

12.

Various Artists - Black Panther: The Album
February 9, 2018
Critic Score
78
16 reviews

Though informed by the blaxploitation soundtracks of the ‘70s and the label-driven hip-hop soundtracks of the ‘90s, Black Panther: The Album is very much of its time: a well-produced and incredibly cohesive album with the loose swagger of a curated playlist.

11.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Age Of
June 1, 2018
Critic Score
79
28 reviews

Age Of is easily Lopatin’s most ambitious album. The composer has always combined highbrow and lowbrow art in a way that utilizes the former to validate the latter, and Age Of continues showing that true art shouldn’t have either boundary.

10.

Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy
April 6, 2018
Critic Score
82
23 reviews

On Invasion of Privacy, she breezes past the challenge of a highly anticipated debut by making one of the most exciting rap albums in years.

9.

Dave East - Paranoia 2
January 16, 2018
Critic Score
80
5 reviews

Decidedly less commercial than its immediate predecessor, Paranoia 2 returns to the Kairi Chanel mixtape vibe that initially endeared him to lyrically minded hip-hop heads.

8.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Sparkle Hard
May 18, 2018
Critic Score
81
27 reviews

After 17 years as a solo artist, Stephen Malkmus still has the ability to delight, if perhaps not outright surprise, his audience. Sparkle Hard is at once his most sonically adventurous and structurally tight set of music in over a decade and easily stands among his most rewarding work with the Jicks.

7.

A$AP Rocky - TESTING
May 25, 2018
Critic Score
67
15 reviews

Testing is loud, frenetic, spastic, and about as vibrant as rap can be. The songs are busy, crowded with radiant instrumentation and stacked vocals, and rarely take time to breathe. It’s a welcome addition to a genre that has become so occupied with spacey, bare-bones operations and overly simplistic results.

6.

Sleep - The Sciences
April 20, 2018
Critic Score
84
11 reviews
The group seem rejuvenated with a long road ahead of them, something no one could have expected prior to this release. Further, it confirms why they are considered the greatest stoner doom band of all time, one of doom metal’s greatest treasures, one of metal’s biggest crossover acts in the broader underground musical world, and one of the greatest heavy rock bands to roam the planet.

5.

Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
March 30, 2018
Critic Score
79
19 reviews

Musgraves hits one high note after another on Golden Hour; her talent as a songwriter and melody-maker is second to none, and each song is thoughtful, well-formed, and a delightful experience on its own.

4.

Kali Uchis - Isolation
April 6, 2018
Critic Score
84
24 reviews

Uchis builds off a classic foundation of soul, R&B, funk, and blues, bursting outward in dozens of innovative contemporary directions. On Isolation, she never sounds trapped in another era; she sounds free and inventive.

3.

Pusha T - DAYTONA
May 25, 2018
Critic Score
85
24 reviews
Only seven tracks long, coke rap’s poet laureate continues to amaze with age as he pontificates on the hustle and grind.

2.

Saba - CARE FOR ME
April 5, 2018
Critic Score
85
9 reviews

At 10 breezy tracks, Care for Me isn’t just a collection of songs; it’s an honest-to-god album that develops ideas at its own pace.

1.

Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer
April 27, 2018
Critic Score
87
41 reviews

Monáe is, as always, a true master of melding genres, influences, and styles. Her central themes of identity and internal conflict are as tangible on Dirty Computer as they ever have been.

Original Source: https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/06/top-25-albums-of-2018-so-far/
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