The 100 Best Recordings of 2018

Dominique Fils-Aimé
Nameless
Contemporary Soul/R&B Influenced by Billie Holiday, Etta James, Nina Simone

Marisa Anderson
Cloud Corner
Serene Folk Guitar Instrumentals from Portland

Mark Applebaum
Speed Dating
Experimental Spoken Word Music / Contemporary Classical Music

Typh Barrow
Raw
The Belgian Amy Winehouse

Thomas Bartlett and Nico Muhly
Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music
Gamelan Transcriptions and Contemporary Songs Inspired by Them

Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin
Awase
Zen Funk

Laila Biali
Laila Biali
Jazz Vocals (with Pop-Rock Flavoring)

Brickwork Lizards
Haneen
British Pop with Arabic Ingredients

Leon Bridges
Good Thing
Retro Soul

Philippe Bronchtein
Me and the Moon
Country

Brooklyn Youth Chorus
Silent Voices
Contemporary Choral Music from Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Jeff Beal and others

Cedric Burnside
Benton County Relic
Raw Hill Country Blues

Capella Prolationum / Ensemble La Danserye
Gaspar Fernandes & Alonso de Bonilla: Chanzonetas
Latin American Music from Guatemala in the 1600s

Cat Power
Wanderer
Singer-Songwriter

John Coltrane
Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album
Previously Unreleased John Coltrane Album from 1963

Kizzy Crawford/Gwilym Simcock/Sinfonia Cymru
Birdsong / Cân Yr Adar
Bilingual Welsh Chamber Pop (Spiced with Jazz and Bird Songs)

David Crosby
Here If You Listen
Singer-Songwriter

Darlingside
Extralife
Polyphonic Folk Pop

Sarah Davachi
Let Night Come On Bells End The Day
Late Night Drones for Mellotron, Organ and Other Keyboards

Kris Davis and Craig Taborn
Octopus
Two-Piano Progressive Jazz

Miles Davis & John Coltrane
The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6
First Authorized Release of Live Jazz Performances from 1960

Les Divas Dugazon
Shelter
Chant- and Polyphony-Based Belgian Pop

Kit Downes
Obsidian
Contemporary Improvised Music for Church Organ

Joshua Dumas
Night Songs for the Birds of North America
Improvised Ambient Soundscapes for Birds

Jeremy Dutcher
Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa
Contemporary Music Inspired by (and Incorporating) 1907 Wax Cylinders of Wolastoq First Nation Music

Anderson East
Encore
Nashville-Flavored Soul Music

Tanya Ekanayaka
Twelve Piano Prisms
Contemporary Piano Music from Sri Lankan-British Composer, Pianist and Musicologist

Kurt Elling (with Branford Marsalis)
The Questions
Jazz Vocals

Tommy Emmanuel (with guests)
Accomplice One
Fingerstyle Guitar

Brian Eno
Music for Installations
6 Album Box Set Featuring New, Rare and Previously Unreleased Ambient Music

Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Dominique Vellard
Fons Luminis: Codex Las Huelgas
Anonymous Music from a Spanish Monastery (Circa 1300)

Ensemble Naya & Yaniv d'Or
Exaltation
Medieval and Baroque Music from Europe, Turkey and the Near East

Erroll Garner
Nightconcert
Previously Unreleased Live Recording from 1964

Joe Garrison
The Broken Jar
Hybrid of Contemporary Chamber Music and Cool West Coast Jazz

Mary Gauthier
Rifles and Rosary Beads
Singer-Songwriter Collaborates with Veterans and Their Families

Jonny Greenwood
Soundtrack to Phantom Thread
Film Soundtrack

Sameer Gupta
A Circle Has No Beginning
Soul Music Masquerading as Jazz / World Music Fusion

Bruce Haack
Preservation Tapes
Avant-Garde Christian Electronica

Ross Hammond and Jay Nair
Songs Of Universal Peace
Spiritual Music Fusing the Traditions of India and Appalachia

Kitsos Harisiadis
Lament In A Deep Style 1929-1931
Haunting Greek Clarinet Music from the 1920s

Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite
No Mercy In This Land
Blues

Jon Hassell
Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume One)
First Album in 9 Years from Visionary Electronic Music Composer

Anna von Hausswolff
Dead Magic
Mystical Organ-Driven Drone Pop

Catherine Christer Hennix
Selected Early Keyboard Works
Experimental Archival Recordings for Well-Tuned Just Intonation Fender Rhodes and Sine Wave Drone

Fred Hersch
Live In Europe
Jazz Piano Trio

Keith Jarrett
After the Fall
Previously Unreleased Live Jazz Recording from 1998

Martin David Jones
Friedrich Gulda: Piano Works
Concert Piano Music Composed by a Genre-Crossing Keybaord Virtuoso

Henry Kaiser (with Bill Laswell and Rudresh Mahanthappa)
Mudang Rock
Ritualistic Improvised Music Inspired by Korean Shamanism

Kim Kashkashian
Bach: Six Suites For Viola Solo
Bach Cello Suites Performed on Viola

Khruangbin
Con Todo el Mundo
Texas Country Instrumentals with Thai and Surf Flavors

Arat Kilo, Mamani Keita, Mike Ladd
Visions Of Selam
Hip-Hop Meets Afrobeat

Gus La Casse
Windstorm
Young Maine Fiddler Plays Acadian and Cape Breton-Inspried Music with Fierce Energy

Julian Lage
Modern Lore
Jazz Guitar Trio

The Lazy Lies
Less Talk More Action
Retro 1960s Rock from Barcelona

Matteo Liberatore
Solos
Contemporary Guitar Music

Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas (Sound Prints)
Scandal
Jazz

The Low Anthem
The Salt Doll Went To Measure The Depth Of The Sea
Hypnotic Folk-Pop from Rhode Island

Fernando de Luca
Handel: Complete Preludes & Toccatas from the Bergamo Manuscript
Previously Unknown/Unrecorded Keyboard Music by Handel

Anne Akiko Meyers
Mirror in Mirror
Ethereal Contemporary Music for Violin

Mid-Air Thief
Crumbling
Unconventional Hybrid of Electronic and Acoustic Folk Music from Korea

Nils Petter Molvaer/ Sly & Robbie
Nordub
Jamaican Reggae Meets Norwegian Chamber Jazz

Janelle Monáe
Dirty Computer
Contemporary Pop/R&B

Mountain Man
Magic Ship
Three-Voice Appalachian Rural Polyphony

David Myles
Real Love
Retro Rock & Roots from Nova Scotia

Meshell Ndegeocello
Ventriloquism
Alternative R&B

Nordic Raga
Nordic Raga
Fusion of Nordic Folk Music and South Indian Carnatic Music

Adam Nussbaum
The Leadbelly Project
Jazzy Tribute to Folk-Blues Legend Leadbelly

Ohmme
Parts
Unconventional Chicago Pop-Rock Duo

øjeRum
Selected Organ Works
Ambient Music for Pump Organ

Miles Okazaki
Work: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Monk, Vol. 1-6
Entire Corpus of Thelonious Monk Compositions Performed on Solo Guitar

Prince
Piano & a Microphone 1983
Unreleased Prince Solo Tracks from 1983

Tuomo Puranen & Timo Kaukolampi
Soundtrack to Euthanizer
Noir/Ambient Film Soundtrack Featuring the Jouhikko, an ancient Finnish Bowed Lyre

Steve Reich
Pulse/Quartet
Contemporary Minimalism

Gyan Riley
Sprig
Genre-Crossing Guitar and Ukulele Music

Cécile McLorin Salvant
The Window
Vocal Jazz

The Shacks
Haze
Mellow Pop for Slackers

Wayne Shorter
Emanon
Jazz (with Graphic Novel)

Paul Simon
In the Blue Light
Singer-Songwriter with Jazz Accompaniment

Sons of Kemet
Your Queen Is a Reptile
Caribbean-Flavored Dance Jazz from London

Bobo Stenson
Contra La Indecisió
Jazz

Carl Stone
Electronics Music from the Eighties and Nineties
Fin de Siècle Los Angeles Electronic Music

Sunwatchers
Sunwatchers II
Thai Folk Melodies + Free Jazz + Mutant Funk

Theotis Taylor
Something Within Me
Unfinished 1979 Project by the Georgia Gospel Legend Completed by Young Collaborators

Dan Tepfer
Natural Machines
Video Album Featuring the Real-Time Intersection of Improvised Piano and Computer Algorithms

3hattrio
Lord of the Desert
American Desert Music from Utah

Tigue
Strange Paradise
Brooklyn Percussion Trio

Tirzah
Devotion
Ultra-Laidback, Strange and Very Slow Electropop

Toto Bona Lokua
Bondeko
Afro-French Trio (An African Crosby, Stills & Nash)

Tune-Yards
I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life
Art Pop

Various Artists
The Music of the Secret Society That Owns Belgrade
Hot New Bands from Serbia

Various Artists
I'm Not Here To Hunt Rabbits
Guitar Music from Botswana

Vilja-Louise
Singing from the Source
Traditional Folk Music for Solo Voice

Ben Walker
The Fox on the Downs
Intricate Folk/Celtic Fingerstyle Guitar with a Sprinkling of Renaissance Music

Colter Wall
Songs of the Plain
Traditional Cowboy-Style Country Music

Joanna Wallfisch
Blood & Bone
Contemporary Pop/Art Songs

Kamasi Washington
Heaven and Earth
Jazz (and More)

Walter Wolfman Washington
My Future is My Past
Under-Produced Soul Music from 74-Year-Old New Orleans Singer

The Yearning
Take Me All Over the World
Brill Building-Influenced Contemporary Pop Music

Zeal & Ardor
Stranger Fruit
Black Metal Meets Black Folk Music

Denny Zeitlin
Wishing on the Moon
Jazz Piano Trio

The 100 Best Albums of 2018

Selected by Ted Gioia

Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/tedgioia

Here are my picks for the 100 best albums of 2018 (in alphabetical order this year). These are
drawn from all styles and all genres. Happy listening!

HONORABLE MENTION

Here are another 100 albums from 2018 that deserve your attention.

Theo Alexander: Broken Access
Piano Music (with Sound Manipulation)

Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet: Landfall
Contemporary Chamber Music with Storytelling

Ichiko Aoba: qp
Experimental Chill-Folk-Pop from Japan

Aqueduct Ensemble: Improvisations on an Apricot
If ECM Had Its Headquarters in Akron, Ohio…

Angelo Arciglione & Eleonora Turtur: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Exotica
World Premiere Recording of 1934 Music for Piano and Violin

Maya Beiser & David Lang: The Day
Contemporary Classical Music for Cello and Spoken Word

The Beths: Future Me Hates Me
Power Pop for Road Trips

Kadhja Bonet: Childqueen
Unconventional Orchestral R&B

Brasil Guitar Duo/Delaware Symphony Orchestra: Leo Brouwer: The Book of Signs;
Paulo Bellinati: Concerto Caboclo
Cuban/Brazilian Classical Music for Guitar

Till Brönner & Dieter Ilg: Nightfall
Trumpet/Bass Jazz Duets

David Byrne: American Utopia
Singer-Songwriter

Brent Cobb: Providence Canyon
Country & Western Funk

Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch: Live in Healdsburg
Clarinet/Piano Duets

Sara Colman: What We're Made Of
Unconventional British Singer-Songwriter

Shemekia Copeland: America's Child
Blues/Roots/Soul

Sylvie Courvoisier: Trio D'Agala
Jazz

Kyle Craft: Full Circle Nightmare
Dylan-ish Singer-Songwriter

Dingonek Street Band: Primal Economics
Street Brass Band from Brooklyn

Dolce Suono Trio: American Canvas
Contemporary Chamber Music (by Jennifer Higdon, Shulamit Ran, Andrea Clearfield, and Zhou Tian)

Monsieur Doumani: Angathin
Activist Dance Music from a Hot 3-Piece Cypriot Band

Niño de Elche: Antología del Cante Flamenco Heterodoxo
Heterodox Flamenco

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Kaspars Putnins: Schnittke: Psalms of
Repentance; Pärt: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis
Modern Choral Music

Everything is Recorded (Richard Russell with Guest Artists)" Everything is Recorded
All-Star R&B / Hip-Hop / EDM / Pop

Sullivan Fortner: Moments Preserved
Jazz Trio Album from New Orleans-Born Pianist

Jeffrey Foucault: Horse Latitudes Solo / Acoustic Demos
Minimalist Acoustic Country

Nils Frahm: All Melody
Maximalist Ambient

Fretwork: John Jenkins: Complete Four-Part Consort Music
Seventeenth Century British Chamber Music

Bill Frisell: Music Is
Solo Guitar

Jim Ghedi: A Hymn for Ancient Land
North Yorkshire Ambient

Tigran Hamasyan: For Gyumri
Armenian-Influenced Jazz

John Hardin/Tin Can Luminary & the Orchestra of the Unwanted: Nightmare Castle
Horror Film Music Played on an Orchestra Made from Recycled and Found Materials

Stefon Harris + Blackout: Sonic Creed
New Millennium Hard Bop

Beth Hart: Front and Center: Live from New York
Blues-and-Soul Inflected Singer-Songwriter

Jonathon Heron: Half Penny Ballard's
Mystical Folk Music

James Hunter Six: Whatever It Takes
Otis Redding-ish Retro Soul/R&B

José James Lean on Me
Tribute to Soul Singer Bill Withers

Keith Jarrett: La Fenice
Previously Unreleased Live Solo Piano Recording from 2006

Roy Lee Jones: Devil's in the Whiskey
Down Home Blues

Er-Gene Kahng/ Janacek Philharmonic: Florence Price: Violin Concertos
Early 20th Century Classical Music from Pioneering African-American Composer

Ryan Keberle & Frank Woeste: Reverso - Suite Ravel
Ravel-Inspired Contemporary Jazz Suite

David Kechley: The Walbrzych Project
Rhythmically-Charged Contemporary Orchestral Music

Angélique Kidjo: Remain in Light
Afrobeat

David Lang: Mystery Sonatas
Contemporary Music for Solo Violin

Aaron Larget-Caplan: John. Cage. Guitar.
Music of John Cage Arranged for Guitar

LA Phil New Music Group: Lou Harrison: Young Caesar
Gamelan-Inspired Modern Opera

The Louvin Brothers: Love and Wealth: The Lost Recordings
Previously Unreleased Country Music Demos from 1951-1956

Heather Lowe/The Joyful Company of Singers: Ralph Vaughan Williams:
Beyond My Dream
Previously Unrecorded Music for Greek Drama by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Melaní Luraschi: Lumbral
Peruvian Folk Pop

Shai Maestro: The Dream Thief
Chamber Jazz

Gabacho Maroc: Tawassol
North African Trance Music

Jako Maron: The Electro Maloya Experiments of Jako Maron
Contemporary Electronica Influenced by the Folk Traditions of Réunion, an Island near Madagascar

Anne-Marie McDermott: Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2
Classical Music

Kate McGarry/Keith Ganz/Gary Versace: The Subject Tonight is Love
Jazz Vocals

Jim McNeely/The Frankfurt Radio Big Band: Barefoot Dances and Other Visions
Contemporary Big Band Jazz

Brad Mehldau: Seymour Reads the Constitution!
Jazz Piano Trio

Hailu Mergia: Lala Belu
Ethiopian Retro Funk

Midlife: Phase
Daft Punk Meets Steely Dan

Father John Misty: God's Favorite Customer
Singer-Songwriter

Moontribe: Moontribe
Ritualist Percussion-Driven Music by Anonymous Performer

Wolfgang Muthspiel (with Brad Mehldau & Ambrose Akinmusire): Where The River Goes
Jazz

Willie Nelson: Last Man Standing
Country

Thandi Ntuli: Exiled
Genre-Defying Jazz/R&B Fusion from South Africa

Nu Guinea: Nuova Napoli Afro-Disco
Italian Funk from Naples

Shuggie Otis: Inter-Fusion
Rock Guitar Recluse /Legend Releases First Studio Album in 44 Years

Rhia Parker: Ghosts Contemporary
Music for Two Recorders

Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Leonard Bernstein: Mass
Modern Liturgical/Theatrical Music

Noah Preminger: Genuity
Jazz Saxophony

Red Dog Guitars: Cigar Box Old Time Americana 3 and 4 String Bottleneck Recordings
Cigar Box Guitar Old-Timey Blues

Joshua Redman: Still Dreaming
Jazz

The Re-Stoned: Stories of the Astral Lizard
Russian Psychedelic Trance Music

Max Richter: Soundtrack to Hostiles
Film Soundtrack

The Rileys: Way Out Yonder
Genre-Crossing Contemporary Music from Terry Riley and Gyan Riley

Renee Rosnes (with Chris Potter): Beloved of the Sky
Jazz

Curtis Salgado & Alan Hager: Rough Cut
Blues

Joe Satriani: What Happens Next
Guitar-Driven Rock

Jordi Savall: Venezia Millenaria 700-1797
One Thousand Years of Venetian Music (comes with a 300-page book)

Seasick Steve: Can U Cook?
Raw and Cooked Blues

Trygve Seim: Helsinki Songs
Nordic Jazz

Sibarg Ensemble: Cipher
Traditional Iranian Music/Jazz

Silesian Quartet: Mieczyslaw Weinberg: String Quartets 8-10
Soviet Chamber Music of the Cold War Period

Brinton Averil Smith/Houston Symphony: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Cello Concerto
First Performance and Recording in More Than 80 Years of MCT's Neo-Romantic Cello Concerto

Dr. Lonnie Smith: All in My Mind
Jazz Organ

Luciana Souza: The Book of Longing
Jazz-Inflected Art Song Settings of Poetic Texts

Colin Stetson: Soundtrack to Hereditary
Innovative Horror Film Soundtrack Featuring Unpitched Clarinet Music, Electronically Altered Voice, Drones, Etc.

John Surman: Invisible Threads
Jazz

Richard Swift: The Hex
Mix-and-Match Tapestry of Mid-1960s Pop Music Tropes

They Might Be Giants: I Like Fun
Rock

Linda Thompson (with Guest Artists): My Mother Doesn't Know I'm On the Stage
British Music Hall Songs

Mark Turner & Ethan Iverson: Temporary Kings
Piano/Saxophone Duets

Various Artists: J-Jazz - Deep Modern Jazz from Japan 1969-1984
Rare Japanese Jazz Tracks from 1969-1984

Various Artists: Moondog
Contemporary Musicians Pay Tribute to Street Musician/Composer Moondog (1916-1999)

Various Artists: Navegando: Un Tributo a Guillermo Anderson
Tribute Album Dedicated to Pioneering Honduran Music Guillermo Anderson

Various Artists: Strange Angels: In Flight With Elmore James
Blues Tribute Album

Various Artists: We Out Here
Compilation of Current-Day London Jazz

Martinho da Vila: Alô Vila Isabeeel!!!
Samba

Chester Watson: Project 0
Hip-Hop for Meditation

Doc Watson: Live at Club 47
Previously Unreleased Traditional Folk Music from 1963

Norma Winstone: Descansado: Songs for Films
Jazz Interpretations of Cinematic Music

Miguel Zenón: Yo Soy la Tradición
Music for String Quartet and Saxophone Drawing on Jazz and Puerto Rican Folkloric Traditions

Zohastre: Pan and the Master Pipers
Punk Ambient Bagpipe Drone Music

Related Links:

The 100 Best Albums of 2017
The 100 Best Albums of 2016
The 100 Best Albums of 2015
The 100 Best Albums of 2014
The 100 Best Albums of 2013
The 100 Best Albums of 2012
The 100 Best Albums of 2011

BACKGROUND

I am often asked how I compile my
annual list of the 100 best albums.
Here is some background information.

What is different about this year's list?

I am listing my top 100 and honorable
mention albums for 2018 in alphabetical
order, rather than ranking them. This
marks a change from pre-2017 lists. I
am doing this because each of these
albums deserves recognition and the
sequential ranking tended to focus
too much attention on just a few
recordings.

What styles of music do I include in my
listening?

I listen to all genres and all styles of
music. I like to listen to music that is
fresh and different, and this spurs me
to search outside the dominant
commercial categories and hit
releases. But I also listen to the
heavily promoted albums from the
major labels.

How much music do I listen to?

I like to hear new music every day.
During 2018 I listened to more
than 1,000 new album releases.
(The exact number was 1,028.)

Why do I compile this list?

Like any music lover, I enjoy
sharing my favorite music with others.
But in the last few years, a different
motivation has spurred me. I believe
that the system of music discovery is
broken in the current day. There is
more music recorded than ever before,
but it is almost impossible for listeners
to find the best new recordings. The
most creative work in music is
increasingly found on self-produced
projects and releases from small
indie labels— to an extent hardly
conceivable only a decade ago. Very
little of this music ever shows up on
the radio or the heavily-promoted
playlists, where formats seem to get
narrower and narrower with each
passing year. Music fans once heard
good new music at indie record stores,
but most of them have closed. Or
they could read reviews in the
newspaper, but both the newspapers
and the music reviews are shrinking or
disappearing. And the big record
labels are the worst culprits of all,
picking acts for their looks or their
potential appeal to fourteen-year-olds,
or some other egregious reason, and
in general jumping on the most trivial
passing fads. On the other hand,
the Internet presents an almost
infinite amount of music and music
commentary—yet where do fans
even begin to separate the good from
the bad and ugly? My personal solution
to this dilemma has been to listen to
lots and lots of music, and try to
identify recordings of quality and
distinction. I share my list because
I know, from past experience, that
many other listeners are frustrated
with the broken system of music
discovery, and are also looking for
good new music.

What criteria do I apply?

I have no axe to grind. My list is
filled with music I enjoy, and suspect
others will too—especially if they
have a reasonably good ear, and
an open mind. I like recordings that
show some flair and creativity, a
sense of style, solid musicianship,
and an emotional commitment to
the moment of performance. I
appreciate it when an artist
possesses a sense of musical
tradition; on the other hand, I don’t
want to see slavish imitation of the
past. When music strikes me as
too formulaic or contrived or cold,
I start to lose interest. Like any critic,
I want my readers to think that I am
cool and hip and oh-so-up-to-date,
but I learned some time ago that
many of the best recordings are
decidedly uncool and unhip. So if
you want to laugh at me for honoring
some superannuated country star or
unfashionable bagpipe album,
go right ahead. But also check
out some of the lesser-known titles on
the list...you might just be pleasantly
surprised by what you hear.

Happy listening!

Note: Any album that represents a conflict of
interest (for example my brother's recent
collaboration with jazz pianist Helen Sung,
which I heartily recommend), is excluded
from consideration for this best of year ranking

Coming in 2019 from Basic Books:

Ted Gioia's new book
Music: A Subversive History

Ted Gioia