C’est La Vie by Phosphorescent

The number one album of 2018 is by Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent, and it’s not the first time he’s enjoyed the top spot of the Top 31. His last album, Muchacho, was #1 back in 2013 (and the album before that was #20 in 2010, one of many rankings over the past 10 years that I clearly misjudged at the time).

When I started ranking 2018’s albums at the end of December, and I grouped my potential #1 albums together, I groaned. I knew I needed to put Chvrches and Phosphorescent at the top — they were my definite favorites from the year — but had real reservations about doing so because they’d both been #1 their last time up. I’d successfully avoided having any repeat #1 albums in the past, as I think it makes a statement about the band and my tastes I’m not quite willing to accept: am I too predictable, stuck in the musical rut of middle age?

C’est La Vie, Houck’s 9th studio album, and his first in five years, is every bit as good but very different from Muchacho. That’s because Houck is in a vastly different space than he was five years ago (and so, too, am I). In that span, he managed to have not one but two children, get married, and move to Nashville. While his previous albums have been chock full of heartache, pain, and suffering, C’est La Vie bubbles with life and happiness.

Just listen to the track above, “New Birth in New England.” This is not the voice of a drunkenly depressed man, this is bouncy joy. Smack dab in the middle of the song, the bridge is a quiet moment — the slide guitar slows down, the hymnal angel chorus chimes in, and the familiar woosh woosh woosh sound of a sonogram, that first heartbeat that expectant parents hear, proving that there’s life growing inside the mother’s belly, wafts up from the depths. If you haven’t yet been through pregnancy, then that sound may not be familiar to you. But as a father of two, it’s oh so familiar, and comes with such joyous weight, it’s hard not to well up with happy tears any time I hear it. The specific recording on the song is from the first time Houck heard his own daughter’s heartbeat. Magical.

Later on in the album, the song “Beautiful Boy” plainly states the subject of the song — Houck’s now five-year-old son. It’s an ode to every parent’s everlasting fear of being unable to protect their children enough. It’s gut-wrenching and wonderful at the same time. The music of Phosphorescent always seems to pull at those dual strings, but in the past the direction being tugged has been downward. It’s a lovely feeling, finally being pulled in the other direction by a voice I’ve been loving for so many years.

One of the great joys of marriage is being able to share all the things you love, and having your partner fall in love with some of those things as well. My wife patiently tolerates my constant music playing, and she often likes what she hears. She will latch onto certain sounds, especially if they’re loved by the children as well. Phosphorescent held a special place in my heart long before I met my wife, so it was with even more joy than usual that I excitedly watched her own blossoming love of the band. In November, I got to take her to her first Phosphorescent show, and Houck did not disappoint. His performance of “Wolves” (which I managed to record), is performed solo, and shows the full range of his vocal talents. After the song’s few verses, Houck pushes his voice through a repeater, layer upon layer, until it mimics the pack of wolves he sings about. It’s gorgeous and deeply moving.

C’est La Vie has a special power. It feels innocent enough your first couple times through. But then you catch yourself humming the tunes when you’re not listening, filling in the quiet moments with little spoken phrases you can’t quite place. You invariably hear yourself, question the little tune’s origin, and then finally put it together. It surprises you like a random toy left out that’s imbued with the power of phosphorescence — you forget it’s there until you turn out the lights.

Pick up C’est La Vie. And then every other album Phosphorescent has released. After ten years of charting my Top 31 of the year, I can honestly say there’s never been someone as consistently good as Matthew Houck. Join me while I rejoice in his music; you will be pleasantly rewarded, every time.

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2. Love Is Dead by Chvrches 3. Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest 4. Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe 5. The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado 6. Chris by Christine and the Queens 7. Wanderer by Cat Power 8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett 9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak 10. Ruins by First Aid Kit 11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers 12. Loner by Caroline Rose 13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine 14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists 15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks 16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES 17. Hell-On by Neko Case 18. Superorganism by Superorganism 19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James 20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie 21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar 22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke 23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen 24. Room 25 by Noname 25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy 26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty 27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos 28. For Ever by Jungle 29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz 30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo 31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Love Is Dead by Chvrches

Just barely missing out on their second #1 album in a row, here’s Glasgow, Scotland’s Chvrches with their third fantastic album, Love Is Dead. Chvrches (pronounced “churches”) has been a mainstay on the Top 31 since their debut album came out in 2013 and was #4 that year. Two years later, their follow-up, Every Open Eye, was the best album of 2015. And this new album marks their third straight 4th-or-better release, a phenomenal run by any standards.

Clearly I have a bias, but it dancey pop music really doesn’t get any better than Chvrches. The trio, featuring Lauren Mayberry on lead vocals, and Martin Doherty and Iain Cook on synths and additional vocals, is defining an entire genre of sound for a generation. Just looking back and the lower albums in this years Top 31, Chvrches fingerprints are all over: Janelle Monáe, Christine and the Queens, and Wye Oak are all producing similar sounds, and that’s just within the Top 10. But Chvrches is the best.

My family agrees. I had the immense pleasure of taking my son to his first-ever, true concert this past September, and it was glorious. The band put on their usual fantastic set, and Mayberry bounced around the stage, amping up the crowd. My son is not one for big displays of emotion in public, so catching him singing along quietly to himself during the songs he knew was a big highlight for me. And if Dirty Computer is my daughter’s favorite album ever (she’s 15 months old), then Love is Dead is definitely her 2nd favorite. You should see the smile across her face when she hears those keyboards kick on.

It really feels as if Chvrches can do no wrong. Three albums, all at or near the top of their respective years’ releases. There are some great songs on this new album. “Miracle,” shown above, is one. There are two other videos from the album: “Get Out” and “Graffiti.” Matt Berninger, lead singer of Bacon Review favorites The National, also makes an appearance, on the song “My Enemy.” That song is a result of the two bands being on the same bill at Treasure Island Music Festival back in 2015, and Mayberry joined The National on stage for their song “I Need My Girl.” I love it when the bands I love have unexpected chance encounters and then decide to make music together.

With every new Chvrches album, I think maybe they’ve hit the peak, and the next one will see them backsliding. But then the new album comes out and it’s stellar. I like this kind of trajectory, and I look forward to listening to new and great Chvrches albumes for the rest of my life.

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3. Twin Fantasy by Car Seat Headrest 4. Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe 5. The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado 6. Chris by Christine and the Queens 7. Wanderer by Cat Power 8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett 9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak 10. Ruins by First Aid Kit 11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers 12. Loner by Caroline Rose 13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine 14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists 15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks 16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES 17. Hell-On by Neko Case 18. Superorganism by Superorganism 19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James 20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie 21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar 22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke 23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen 24. Room 25 by Noname 25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy 26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty 27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos 28. For Ever by Jungle 29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz 30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo 31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest

Here we are at the top 3! This year was, as has happened in a few years past, difficult to pin down. But when this has happened in the past, it’s been a matter of “nothing is jumping out at me as a strong #1.” This year is different, in that there were so many phenomenal albums by bands that I love, they could all have qualified as #1 for the year. But countdown lists can’t have ties, especially not at the top, so here we are at very strong #3 with Car Seat Headrest.

You may remember Car Seat Headrest from their last album, Teens of Denial, which hit #7 in 2016. Hailing from Seattle, the band’s lead singer/songwriter Will Toledo is a wordsmith of the highest order. Writing very close to his heart, Toledo spins tales of typical rock & roll fare — love, loss, family — but with a reality seldom encountered in today’s songs.

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) is not 100% new material for the band — it’s actually a complete re-recording and reworking of an album Toledo put out in 2011, five albums ago. I have not heard the original Twin Fantasy, but given this is a re-recording and reworking of that album, I’ll feel safe not calling it a rerelease (and thereby disqualifying it from Top 31 contention).

There are so many great songs on this album, but unfortunately only one video, for the song “Nervous Young Inhumans,” featured above. I implore you to listen to my favorite track from the album, “Bodys,” a song I’ve bounced around to in my living room with my daughter in my arms many many times. There’s a lot of repetition of lyrics on the album, to the point where the sentiment of the line (such as “Stop smoking, we love you”) takes on new and deeper meaning. It’s quite effective at drawing out emotion and connection, but I can’t quite put my finger on why.

I had the pleasure of seeing Car Seat Headrest for the first time last year, and it was well worth the wait. My god, this band can rock. Teens of Denial was a great album on its own, but Twin Fantasy is a whole other level. Check it out ASAP.

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4. Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe 5. The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado 6. Chris by Christine and the Queens 7. Wanderer by Cat Power 8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett 9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak 10. Ruins by First Aid Kit 11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers 12. Loner by Caroline Rose 13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine 14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists 15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks 16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES 17. Hell-On by Neko Case 18. Superorganism by Superorganism 19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James 20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie 21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar 22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke 23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen 24. Room 25 by Noname 25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy 26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty 27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos 28. For Ever by Jungle 29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz 30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo 31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe

My daughter’s favorite album of her 15-month life is an exceedingly catchy, exceedingly raunchy album by the genius singer, songwriter, actress and producer Janelle Monáe. It just so happens to (thankfully) be one of my favorites of the year as well. Monáe is one of those people who is so insanely talented at everything she does that you kinda want to hate them. Like Justin Timberlake, Monáe can sing, dance, write, act, is drop dead gorgeous and can seemingly do no wrong. What an asshole.

If you haven’t yet heard of Monáe, you’ve probably seen her. She had a couple of great recent supporting roles: one in the Oscar-winning Best Picture of 2016 film Moonlight (her big screen debut), and another in the Oscar-nominated Best Picture of 2016 film Hidden Figures. Before she’d received the script for either of those fantastic movies, Monáe had started writing what would eventually became her third album. Once shooting was done, back into the studio she went, and out came 2018’s Dirty Computer.

The album is a pop music, sex-filled dream. Some of the lyrics within would make someone who’s not been listening to artists like Prince their entire lives blush, such as:

Pynk, like the inside of your... baby Pynk behind all of the doors... crazy Pynk, like the tongue that goes down... maybe Pynk, like the paradise found

or

You know I love it, so please don't stop it You got me right here in your jean pocket Laying your body on a shag carpet You know I love it so please don't stop it

Listening to the album will remind you of Prince, because his signature sound is all over the album. Prince worked with Monáe on the album before his death in 2016, and “Make Me Feel,” shown in the video above, is the climax of their joint effort. Just watch that video, but be warned: while there’s not a naked part in the whole video, it definitely toe’s the line of what’s safe for work viewing. In addition to having Prince’s fingerprints all over it, the album is chockablock with guest stars as well. Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder and Grimes all make appearances.

Monáe took other cues from Prince, too, releasing Dirty Computer – An Emotion Picture along with the album. At just over 45 minutes, the film is a loose sci-fi story built around the sounds of the album. You can watch the long film and see all the music videos within, or you can watch them individually, too:

“I Like That”

“PYNK”

“Django Jane”

If you’re not familiar with Monáe, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Start with listening to this album, then watch out for her next thing. I guarantee, if she hasn’t done it already, she’ll be the next megastar to host Saturday Night Live as both the host and the musical guest, and she will kill it.

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5. The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado 6. Chris by Christine and the Queens 7. Wanderer by Cat Power 8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett 9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak 10. Ruins by First Aid Kit 11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers 12. Loner by Caroline Rose 13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine 14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists 15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks 16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES 17. Hell-On by Neko Case 18. Superorganism by Superorganism 19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James 20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie 21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar 22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke 23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen 24. Room 25 by Noname 25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy 26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty 27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos 28. For Ever by Jungle 29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz 30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo 31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado

Now we’re getting to the point in every Top 31 where I start to doubt myself, where I start to question “is this album truly better than this other album?”, and where I have trouble coming to terms and being settled with where I place each album from here on out. Today, Damien Jurado’s amazing album The Horizon Just Laughed is #5. But tomorrow, I’ll want to put it at #2. I have to put a stake in the ground somewhere, so I guess this is it.

I’ve talked about Damien Jurado many times in the past ten years. He’s had a phenomenal run of albums, and a huge impact on my life. His three albums prior to this new one have all been in the best albums of the year each year that they were released (#2 in 2016, #0 in 2014, and #5 in 2012). No other artist has been featured so prominently in the Top 31. I love the man. So much so, my wife and I even consummated our marriage (on the dance floor — get your mind out of the gutter) by making “Kola” from Visions of Us On the Land the soundtrack to our first dance together.

Jurado turns feelings into music like no other. He grabs hold of your heart and squeezes it hard, right up to but never surpassing the edge of no return. Unlike the trio of albums he produced with Richard Swift throughout the 2010s, this new album is a self-produced triumph of lyric and sound that chronicles Jurado’s abandonment of his home for sunnier skies. It’s a love letter, a goodbye, to Washington. And there are quite a few direct references to the Pacific Northwest, not the least of which is the song featured above, “Over Rainbows and Rainier” — the high point (or low point, depending on your perspective) of the album.

There’s a moment, three minutes and 24 seconds into the song, a moment that clearly wasn’t planned, where Jurado has to stop to collect himself. That moment is all of six seconds long — a hairs breath of time, really — just after Jurado sings the line “I forgot I was human” and trips up. He later said in an interview he’d begun to tear up. Tears are not heard, obviously, but the halt in the song, the palpable pause in the verse, feels like an eternity, and you’re right there with him, arm in arm, feeling everything he’s feeling. His is a magic not many can muster.

And that’s where the beauty of self-production comes into play. Had another person produced the record, they would have pushed for another take, for Jurado to clear his head and try again. But it’s precisely this emotion, this connection to himself and to the listener, that he alone can convey.

You can pick up any one of Jurado’s last four albums (out of 16 over the last 22 years) and be blown away. At the end of my review for Visions of Us On the Land for the 2016 Top 31, I speculated that this may be the end for Jurado. He’d just finished the trio of albums with Richard Swift, and I was convinced that it was Swift that had brought the magic out of Jurado. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that I was wrong. The Horizon Just Laughed is testament that Jurado just keeps getting better and better. If you’re not listening to him on the regular, there’s no time like the present.

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6. Chris by Christine and the Queens 7. Wanderer by Cat Power 8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett 9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak 10. Ruins by First Aid Kit 11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers 12. Loner by Caroline Rose 13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine 14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists 15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks 16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES 17. Hell-On by Neko Case 18. Superorganism by Superorganism 19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James 20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie 21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar 22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke 23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen 24. Room 25 by Noname 25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy 26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty 27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos 28. For Ever by Jungle 29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz 30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo 31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Chris by Christine and the Queens

If you’ve been paying attention to the Top 31 over these last 10 years, you’ll have noticed a strong affinity for indie pop that makes you want to jump up and down and pound your fist. Starting with my very first #1 (Passion Pit’s Manners), and then again with CHVRCHES at #1 in 2015 with Every Open Eye, I love me some catchy, synth-fueled pop. 2018 was a good year for this genre, as witnessed by the appearance of Wye Oak at #9 and Superorganism at #18, but now we can add an even better album to that mix: the sophomore album from French singer/songwriter Héloïse Letissier, otherwise known as Christine and the Queens, or Chris for short (which also happens to be the name of said album).

Letissier is a truly global singer, in that she has released both of her albums in their native French as well as in English. Some of the songs blend together French and English, because this is pop music and voice is just another instrument, really. I’ve not yet heard her 2014 debut, Chaleur humaine, but it sounds like I should rectify that soon given the acclaim that was heaped upon it by The Guardian, The Independent, Mojo, and NME (who all named it one of the best of 2014). I can’t get enough of this new album, though, in both languages.

When I first heard “Damn (what must a woman do)” on KEXP, I quickly reached for my phone to try and Shazam it, thinking it was some new amazing previously unreleased Michael Jackson bombshell of a song. Based on the power of that one song (which, unfortunately, doesn’t have a video, but you can listen to it here), I picked up the full length Chris, which comes as a double album — first the English versions and then the French. While her first album was recorded fully in French and then had the English words injected into it, Chris was written bilingual-ly from the beginning. If the song didn’t work in both English and French, it was reworked until it did, to amazing effect. At times, Letissier likes to use syllables and pieces of meaningless words in her songs, using her voice as an additional instrument rather than to convey any sort of overt meaning. A form of skat for the pop generation.

Be sure to watch and listen to the above video, and then explore some other videos from the album:

“La marcheuse”

“5 dollars”

“Doesn’t Matter (Voleur de Soleil)” or in English “Doesn’t Matter”

“Damn, dis-moi” (shown above) or in English “Girlfriend”

Letissier is only going to get bigger. She’s working towards taking over the world, and you‘d better get on this train now, lest you be left behind.

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7. Wanderer by Cat Power 8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett 9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak 10. Ruins by First Aid Kit 11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers 12. Loner by Caroline Rose 13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine 14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists 15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks 16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES 17. Hell-On by Neko Case 18. Superorganism by Superorganism 19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James 20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie 21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar 22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke 23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen 24. Room 25 by Noname 25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy 26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty 27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos 28. For Ever by Jungle 29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz 30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo 31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Wanderer by Cat Power

Cat Power has been soothing the world with her sultry voice for over twenty years, since her debut Dear Sir in 1995. The trajectory of her creative output has steadily slowed since that first album, having three releases between 1995-1996, then two releases two years apart, two releases three years apart, one four years after that, and then finally Wanderer, her tenth album, six years later. Despite ten albums in 23 years, only two of those have been released since the Top 31 began in 2009, and I don’t think I’ve once mentioned her in that span. Her 2012 album, Sun, did not impress me. And yet, I’ve listened to her music pretty regularly since her critically-acclaimed 1998 breakthrough album, Moon Pix, recorded with a couple members of the Dirty Three to great effect. She did have a track on the oft-mentioned Dessner-brother produced Red Hot compilation Dark Was the Night, which was #10 in 2009, and that’s the closest I’ve ever come to discussing Cat Power.

This post has been a long-time coming, I suppose. Her real name is Chan Marshall, and apparently she was discovered opening for Liz Phair in 1993 by members of Sonic Youth and Two Dollar Guitar. That’s a good way to get started on the right foot in the music business. Since the above-mentioned Moon Pix she’s had a slew of amazing albums that all would have been on the Top 31 had it existed, including 2003’s You Are Free (which happens to feature Dave Grohl and Eddie Vedder) and The Greatest in 2006 (featuring phenomenal Mempis-based studio musicians for an entirely unique feel).

Marshall has a way of stripping down a song to its bare essence, drawing you ever closer to the speaker in an attempt to hear the parting of her lips and the dancing of her tongue on the back of her teeth. In addition to her own fantastic songs, she is the master of the cover, having released two full albums of covers (The Covers Record in 2000 and Jukebox in 2008). Her gift is to make these songs her own, barely recognizable from the original. My favorite track on Wanderer is actually a cover as well, of of Rihanna’s 2012 song “Stay”. You must hear this song — thankfully there’s a video for you to be able to do just that.

The video above, for the song “Woman,” features Lana Del Rey on harmonies and background vocals. It was the first single for this new record, and it does a good job of summing up Cat Power and her ups and downs over the years quite well:

I’m a woman of my word, now haven’t you heard? My word’s the only thing I’ve ever needed I’m a woman of my word, now you have heard My word’s the only thing I truly need

Her word, above all else, is what has carried her through many different phases of her life, and will continue to do so. If you’ve not heard of Cat Power before now, you’ve been living under a rock. Wanderer is a perfect way to get into her, and that album will bleed into her previous records quite nicely. You’d best get started — you have a lot of ground to cover.

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8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett 9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak 10. Ruins by First Aid Kit 11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers 12. Loner by Caroline Rose 13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine 14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists 15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks 16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES 17. Hell-On by Neko Case 18. Superorganism by Superorganism 19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James 20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie 21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar 22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke 23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen 24. Room 25 by Noname 25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy 26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty 27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos 28. For Ever by Jungle 29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz 30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo 31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface