The Un-Herd Music Top 50 of 2018
Leader of shoulda-been legendary power poppers Tsar delivers what amounts to a master class in melodic perfection. Hooks upon hooks, vocal hooks, guitar hooks, just mofuggin' hooks in every direction. And it's not afraid to rock either.
2. The Peawees Moving Target
Songs so good they sound like classics from a non-existent golden era where Phil Spector, girl groups and Otis Redding rubbed shoulders with the Ramones and the Replacements, but it's new and all original.
3. Twin Peaks Sweet '17 Singles
Collects various awesome singles released the previous year, an act which seems almost heroically retro... and that's not a wholly inaccurate way to describe the band's approach to music as well.
4. Macy Gray Ruby
After seemingly being lost in the wilderness for quite some time, Ms. Gray arrives
Tidies up twenty-three loose ends from the storage shed of the Glands, bringing
closure to a truly wondrous and tragic tale. As sprawling, slack, and
hook-filled as you'd expect (and hope for).
7. Ural Thomas & the Pain The Right Time
Touching on ol' Stax/Volt R&B and James Brown funk with equal
authority, it's hard to believe Mr. Thomas is approaching 80 years old. As impressive as it is authentic.
8. Low Cut Connie Dirty Pictures Part 2
Reportedly
the band's "Boozophilia" made it onto Barack Obama's playlist back in
2012, and if there's any justice this entire album is showing up on
everybody else's playlist this year. A bar band turning into a major
player right in front of our ears.
9. Miesha and the Spanks Girls Girls Girls
Attempts to describe the music - in this case punky pop (or poppy punk) -
may make it seem generic, but that's only because it's near impossible
to quantify the charisma of Miesha's vocals, not to mention the efficacy of
her hooks.
10. Primal Scream Give Out But Don't Give Up (Original Memphis Sessions)
Scrapped
sessions with super-engineer Tom Dowd (along with the famed Muscle
Shoals rhythm
section) might have cost them their audience in '94, but from a 2018
vantage point their commitment to sleazy southern soul could be the
best thing the band ever did.
11. Simon Love Sincerely S. Love X
12. Bass Drum of Death Just Business
13. Beechwood Inside the Flesh Hotel
14. Bad Moves Tell No One
15. Minky Starshine Dirty Electric
16. Parker Millsap Other Arrangements
17. Damian O'Neill & the Monotones Refit Revise Reprise
18. The Sick Things The Sick Things
19. Shannon Shaw Shannon In Nashville
20. Twin Temple Bring You Their Signature Sound... Satanic Doo Wop
21. Rich Hope I'm All Yours
22. Blockhouses Greatest Hit Songs of All Time
23. J.P. Bimeni & the Black Belts Free Me
24. The Prettys ¡Tapas!
25. The Buttertones Midnight in a Moonless Dream
26. High Up You Are Here
27. Valley Lodge Fog Machine
28. Dot Dash Proto Retro
29. Bat Fangs Bat Fangs
30. Death by Unga Bunga So Far So Good So Cool
31. The Longshot Love Is For Losers
32. Daddy Let's Do This
33. Shannon and the Clams Onion
34. The Chills Snow Bound
35. Kurt Baker Combo Let's Go Wild!
36. Emperor Penguin Walnut Fascia
37. Extra Arms Headacher
38. Thomas Abban A Sheik's Legacy
39. Elise LeGrow Playing Chess
40. Deva Mahal Run Deep
41. Alejandro Escovedo w/ Don Antonio The Crossing
42. Neko Case Hell-On
43. The Sha La Das Love in the Wind
44. Lucy and the Rats Lucy and the Rats
45. Lovesores Gods of Ancient Grease
46. Taggart L'maskin
47. Walter Lure & the Waldos Wacka Lacka Loom Bop a Loom Bam Boo
48. Gin Wigmore Ivory
49. The Real Sickies Get Well Soon
50. Handsome Jack Everything's Gonna Be Alright
Honorable Mentions:
The Furies The Furies
Ruen Bros. All My Shades of Blue
Bee Bee Sea Bee Bee Sea Deluxe
Skytone Jangle Waves
The Vibrators Past Present and Into the Future
Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis Wild! Wild! Wild!
Willie Nile Children of Paradise
The Connection Wish You Success
The Blank Pages Before Your Summer Fades
Leon Bridges Good Thing
EPs:
The Dahlmanns American Heartbeat
The Pandoras Hey! It's the Pandoras!
The Number Ones Another Side of the Number Ones
Nick Lowe Tokyo Bay
The Regrettes Attention Seeker
