Albums of the Year 2018

Here are my favourite ten albums of 2018 with a short blurb of recommendation, a video and a playlist.

10) Living The Dream by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
Slash's latest album is one of the best hard rock albums in years.  This is a genre I have generally stayed away from for twenty years as it seemed a pale imitation of its glory years but this is something of a revival.     

 

9) Flow State by Tash Sultana
Talented Australian singer and multi- instrumentalist released her debut album this year and has already become well respected around the world.  It's good music to chill out to.



8) Marble Skies by Django Django
Third album from UK band chock full of tasty tunes and they haven't put a foot wrong in their career to date.



7) Combat Sports by The Vaccines
The Vaccines are now on their fourth album and show no signs of slowing down or fading away.



6)  Pound For Pound by The Nextmen Vs Genleman's Dub Club
Dub rhythms, horn sections, a plethera of guest vocalists and a collaboration between two English reggae groups produced this awesome album.     



5) Good Mood by Ball Park Music 
An Australian band from Queensland who have earned the love of Aussies over the last decade.  Not sure if they have much of an international profile but their fifth album has just been voted Triple J's listeners album of the year in a national poll.   



4) Little Dark Age by MGMT
MGMT had three worldwide hits on their debut album back in 2008 and then disappeared from my radar whilst they actively avoided radio friendly music and went very experimental.  In January 2018 MGMT unleashed this mini epic inspired by early eighties dark synth pop and the rise of Trump.   



3)  SECT by Golden Features
A DJ and producer from Sydney released his debut album of excellent dance music that has more than enough interesting golden features to please those of us who don't have the energy to dance.



2) Parcels by Parcels
It's an excellent album of groovy funky electroinica from Australians based in Berlin.  It sounds like the sequel to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories.  Daft Punk have been quiet for five years now so Parcels can fill that void.



1) Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys have also been away for five years before this release.  Whilst Alex Turner has been active with the Last Shadow Puppets the fans were keen for a follow up to AM.  What they got was a surprising change of styles as Arctic Monkeys released a lounge jazz concept album about a hotel on the moon.  Alex' Turner's genius has pulled this off and after initial confusion it is very rewarding album when you immerse yourself in it.  Four stars out of Five.



I have compiled a spotify playlist with four tracks from each album if you want to dip in.


Happy New Year

Tracks of the Year 2018

Each month I pluck twenty tracks from obscurity and provide them with a wider exposure among the worlds music fans in my undisputed role as leading social media influencer...

As the year ends I review these and create a best of list comprising my top 40 tracks of the year. This year I have already praised these songs and want to offer you alternative views so I have sought the wisdom of fanatics, critics and internet trolls from the comment section of YouTube... 

40) The Poison Tree by The Good The Bad And The Queen
"I want to cry amigos" Pablo Landin

39) Sweet Release by The Coral
“They now sound like Franz Ferdinand” Jamie Lester

38) Sometimes by Cub Sport
“Who let this guy...thing...out of the 80’s box? You know, there’s a reason we quit listening to this crap and dressing like idiots on Miami Vice.  Go forward and stop retrograding everything” Nathan Boyd

37) Faces by Holy Holy
“This is so repetitive... "Faces are faces and faces are places, Places are faces and faces and faces..." Its just someone singing "faces and faces and faces and faces over and over. Please no more, make it stop.” Maxx

36) Everybody Wants To Be Famous by Superorganism
"Maybe the worst song I ever heard" tullguy

35) Like This (Radio Edit) by Protoje
"im a Chinese men,not America,smokeing ganja,not crack,我也没干什么坏事儿你们凭什么抓我,卷一个大的我头脑不会发昏" Sahvy Hsu

34) Spooky by The Nextmen Vs Gentlemen’s Dub Club featuring Hollie Cook
“The Doctor Who melody works ridiculously well” Subculture

33) Scream Whole by Methyl Ethel
“Good Song. But nothing new here” Liam Welsh

32) We Belong Dead by Slash
“Slash is literally the last person on earth I would have expected on a dubstep track,but man he’s absolutely killing it” saniopurulent

31) Dylan & Caitlin by Manic Street Preachers
“Turning into The Beautiful South” Mike Thorpe

30) Severed by The Decemberists
“Who are you and what have you done with my favourite alt-folk band?” Floyd

29) Worship by Golden Features

"This is a style in itself" ABII

28) Surface To Air by Django Django featuring Self Esteem

"Utter utter dippy shite" Johnny Christmas

27) Walking All Day by Graham Coxon

"This song is how I feel today - shit" Johnny Grogan

26) Seize The Day by The Herbalist

No Comments

25) Pulsar by Ride

“Love this cover of Sweet Child O’ Mine” Chris Waistle

24) Rudeboy by Nextmen Vs Gentlemen’s Dub Club

“Cultural Appropriation at it’s finest” Laura Hayes

23) The Heart Is A Muscle by Gang Of Youths

“Meh, Arcade Fire did it better” Jesse Delaney

22) Our Love by Sloan Peterson
"💖" Erin R

21) Call If You Need Me by Vance Joy

"Australia's answer to Chris Isaac" Julie Norgrove

20) Black Flowers by Reverend and the Makers

“Mucking Fagic” Ian Buchanan

19) Bad Got Me Good by Gin Wigmore

“Experiment with psychobilly please :)” Malcolm Scally

18) Black Moon Rising by Black Pumas
"Sounds Like Ceelo Green at his worst. also out of tune." teragraML

17) Star Treatment by Arctic Monkeys
"Play it on 1.5x and hear Alex rapping" Anjastuh 

16) I Am A Dog by Ball Park Music
“I just don’t like that chorus lyrics. I just don’t like it” The lead singer’s dad

15) Walking To Oman’s by Fraser A. Gorman
"No more Bob Dylan's hairstyle" leql

14) Jinglin’ Janglin’ by Fort Knox Five
No comments 0👎

13) My Antidote by Slash, Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators
“Heard it all before...This band are so boring.” Dan Kozak

12) 1933 by Frank Turner
“Personally I believe the political message to this song to be a pretty cliche and over exaggerated but I enjoy the song so meh” legoWithASliceOfCheese

11) Talking Straight by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
"Not bad, nothing new" Lukas

10) Lay It Down by Black Gold Buffalo

"Nice sound" DX Satellite Rock

9) You Worry Me by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
"This song is the bane of my existence. Its literally on every radio station and it sucks." blumpkinfest

8) Your Love Is My Favourite Band by The Vaccines
"This band is terrible" Malori Williams

7) Me and Michael by MGMT
“*Michael and I” Nick Steinbring

6) Bullet Proof by This Is The Kit
"So magical, I'm in love, I love it 😍" The Brokenscene Queen

5) Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts) by The Smashing Pumpkins
"2079" Cambaudio

4) Out The Window by Confidence Man
“This song is like the whole of summer 1990 distilled into a single track.  Love it.” Steve Berry

3) Tieduprightnow by Parcels
"Surely they aren't Australian?" Inaya Zubair

2) In The Air by The DMA’s
"Emotional Chav" 3 incher

1) Tranquility Base Hotel And Casino by Arctic Monkeys
“Jazz??? My ass this is elevator music at best!!!” Tamar Wahab

Old Indie Kid’s Christmas Crackers

Merry Christmas Music Lovers
Here is a Spotify playlist to get you into the festive spirits.
A mixture of originals largely from indie rock bands and the second half is a bunch of Christmas covers.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year...

Old Indie Kid's Mixtape December 2018

These are the twenty tracks that have pushed their way to the top over the last month just in time to appear on my final monthly mixtape.  But expect plenty more over the next month as I will work on the end of year best of mixtapes and maybe a few bonus playlists from my Eighties retrospectives.  Years 1977 to 1984 are already out there and I will turn my attention to 85 next.

Merry Christmas

1) My Antidote by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators
Slash appears on my playlist twice in subsequent months.  A huge return to form after 25 years of obscurity.  This is pure rock music and reminds me of "You Could Be Mine" era GN'fR!!!!

2) Lips Like Sugar (Transformed) by Echo & The Bunnymen 
This is a re-recording of a 1987 single but much better than the original which I hadn't heard before.  Taken from an album of re-recorded hits by E&TB.

3) New Direction by Sloan Peterson 
Indie rock in the best tradition - short, punky, spunky, catchy riffs and great lyrics.

4) My Friend's A Liquid by Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
Perth band who have dialled down the fuzz guitars and are headed in a more commercial direction - for them.  Now they sound as commercial as King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard.  KG&TLW have taken 2018 off after releasing five albums in the previous year but I expect they have been recording at their usual work rate so expect new albums soon. 

 5) Something For The Pain by She Drew The Gun
Marxist pop so probably not very popular but another great protest song.

6) My Hands by Running Touch 
A dark and deep dance track by this Melbourne producer.

7) Santa's Comin' Down The Chimney by Confidence Man
A very catchy beat and one of the cheekiest Christmas singles since The Darkness sang "Christmas Time - Don't Let The Bells End".

8) Hope You Found What You've Been Missing by Cults 
Haunting tune from Cults - do I hear sleigh bells in the mix?  Crafty bastards - that always works on me at this time of year.

9) The Poison Tree by The Good The Bad And The Ugly   
After eleven years this band resurfaces with four grumpy men moaning about Brexit Britain and the music is largely unbearable.  This closing album track is the exception - a real Damon tearjerker.

10) Bison On The Plains by Grandaddy 
A new single from the recently reformed American band.

11) Back For Good by The Wedding Present 
Perth will host a friendly game next year between Man Utd and Leeds Utd.  In this warm up The Wedding Present (Leeds) take on a Nineties hit from Take That (Manchester). 

12) Stars Around My Heart by Steve Mason
Feel good music from the former Beta Band head honcho.

13) She Works Out Too Much by MGMT  
An album track taken from the Little Dark Age album about the breakup of a relationship caused by gym membership.

14) All My Friends Are Falling In Love by The Vaccines 
New single not included on their 2018 Combat Sports album.   

15) For The Record by Winston Surfshirt 
Australia's Winston Surfshirt release some fresh Summer vibes.

16) Rudeboy by The Nextmen Vs Gentlemen's Dub Club featuring Gardna
Taken from the excellent Pound for Pound album.

17) Out Of Place by The Delta Riggs 
Aussie indie rockers who are not evolving musically at all.  However, if you liked them last time then you will again.

18) Brighton Pier by Razorlight 
Over ten years since their last album and Razorlight are back and on top form.  I've enjoyed all the new tracks I've heard so far and will be listening to their new album soon to check if its as good as I hope.

19) Leave Me Lonely by Hilltop Hoods 
New track from the biggest group in Australian Hip Hop.  Get ready for their new album The Great Expanse in February 2019.

20) Zombie Bastards by Weezer
Taken from Weezer's Black Album - an instant classic "Die! Die! You Zombie Bastards!"