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Well, Dozens Of Donuts effectively ended this year. Five years of running this blog, falling deeper and deeper in love with music along the way, just became too burdensome to bear. That being said, I still eagerly anticipated compiling and releasing 2018's best of lists. Over the course of this week - with some treats at the top of 2019 - we'll cover Dozens Of Donuts' top 100 tracks and top 50 albums of 2018, taken from a batch of roughly 2,000 songs and 180 albums.
Musically, 2018 was magnificent, which makes DoD's demise that much more somber. Rating solely in my head, there would've been three - potentially four - 9+ albums, a statistic that would've matched 2015's trifecta (Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly, Death Grips' Powers That B, Beach House's Depression Cherry). Compared to 2017, which I felt lacked in substantial releases, 2018 was rife with powerful albums and striking tracks that won't soon be forgotten. Contained below are albums 50-21. Enjoy.
And don't forget about the past. Let's take a look back at the best of 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014.
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Mitski
Be The Cowboy
Indie Rock | Listen
Be The Cowboy cemented what Mitski became known for on Puberty 2; An elastic representation of love through mercurial means. The one constant being Mitski's voice, that of a hopeless romantic trotting through life as both known and unknown entities crumble around her. Like St. Vincent before desperation kicked in, Mitski's role as multi-dimensional musician tackling the world by her lonesome flourished on Be The Cowboy. Fitful rebuttals like 'A Pearl' and 'Washing Machine Heart' collided with self-defeating outbursts like 'Lonesome Love' and 'Nobody,' giving Be The Cowboy the kind of volatility every human endures day-to-day.
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Mid-Air Thief
Crumbling
Folktronica | Listen
The lineage of Asian music culture is fascinating for its perpetual inclusion of psychedelia, regardless of genre affiliation. Whether raising Hell in a back alley club like Les Rallizes Dénudés, bouncing sunlight off dewy branches a la Fishmans, or exacerbating Disney goofiness similar to Cornelius, psychedelia is forever present. That much is evident on Mid-Air Thief's Crumbling, a variegated array of color splintering with every twist like a prismatic kaleidoscope. Whether bashful and splashy like the Katamari Damacy-imitating 'Gameun Deut,' or extravagant and sojourning like the dreamlike 'Crumbing Together' or 'Dirt,' Mid-Air Thief always places psychedelic escapism above all else.
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Superorganism
Superorganism
Indietronica | Listen
To many, Superorganism exists as an imitative group for the cantankerous 'le random' Internet community. How then did their self-titled debut succeed? Endearing personalities determined to ensure elation. The eight-person outfit, formed through online message boards, unite over comparative interests that include criticisms on the very thing they connected across. Songs like 'Everybody Wants To Be Famous,' 'Nobody Cares,' and 'Reflections On The Screen' take aim at aspiring cyber-stars under the impression that their voice matters. Superorganism's chipper lightheartedness repudiates Orono's teenage cynicism, devising a playful duality that's intelligently sardonic by nature.
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Various Artists
Black Panther
West Coast Hip-Hop | Listen
Truth be told, movies aren't really my thing. Especially generic, carbon copy superhero blockbusters. So no, I haven't seen Black Panther. But that didn't prevent me from enjoying the Kendrick Lamar-curated soundtrack, a cohesive project that highlights black empowerment through the culture's most predominant art form; Hip-Hop. Variety is key on a compilation, and that was evident with Black Panther. Whether it was the equality-affirming R&B of 'The Ways,' the sprightly Hip House of 'Opps,' or the third world dance party of 'Redemption,' Black Panther never doubted the draping influence of the black community in art.
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Lonker See
One Eye Sees Red
Space Rock | Listen
Lonker See's indebtedness to past Rock eras serves as both an homage to Symphonic Prog acts like Electric Masada or Boredoms and a reminder to the commitment to ambience those forbearers cherished dearly. One Eye Sees Red isn't formed from stagnant routine or numbing disposition, but rather the calculated advancement of space and time. 'Lillian Gish,' with its initial muted grip on psychedelics, eventually transforms itself into a confident monstrosity using every measure and mode of music to drive home the sinister undertones of our continuum. 'Solaris' lifts that impermanence before a lone singer emerges on the title track, intent on containing these fathomless beasts to a single Rock track.
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Courtney Barnett
Tell Me How You Really Feel
Indie Rock | Listen
A voice of reason during an age of indecisiveness, that's Courtney Barnett's role in the modern Indie scene. On Tell Me How You Really Feel, the Australian songwriter threw wisecracks at internet trolls ('Nameless, Faceless') and discounted the sincerity of strangers ('City Looks Pretty'), all while denunciating her own stumbling blocks on tracks like 'Hopefulessness' and 'Crippling Self Doubt.' This two-tone mockery stands to remind listeners of the complexity inside, as no one person eludes criticism, no one person has zero strengths. Threw standard Indie Rock with a scornful bite, Tell Me carried Barnett's potential past the sophomore slump.
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Brockhampton
iridescence
Pop Rap | Listen
By all accounts, Brockhampton's Saturation trilogy had lightning in a bottle written all over it. With that era concluding and a major label waiting in the wings, decline was the only destination. But alas, the boy band wasn't done yet as iridescence found Brockhampton moving on from Ameer Vahn with grace and maturity, combining their reckless bravado with sensitive versatility. Tracks like 'Weight' where pressure and vulnerability turns to uplifting Juke, or 'San Marcos' where a fanbase unites for a better cause. Mix that with doubtless bangers like 'J'ouvert' or 'Vivid' and iridescence's place as Brockhampton's outlier is no longer justifiable.
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Ezra Furman
Transangelic Exodus
Indie Rock | Listen
LGBT music is moving at an incendiary rate, with tastemakers like SOPHIE and Arca breaking ground on defining the incomprehensible nature of identity. But that's not to say artists like Ezra Furman don't have purpose. In fact, with Indie Rock a fully-analyzed construct, more time's left to explain. On Transangelic Exodus, that's exactly what Furman sets out to do. Transform from human to angel, stripping the struggles in favor of expression. Whether it's 'Maraschino-Red Dress $8.99 At Goodwill,' which tackles the moment of gender reconnoiter, or 'I Lost My Innocence,' a fluffy nostalgia trip for two inquisitive pansexuals, Furman's never quiet in regards to his character. Musically, with 'Suck The Blood From My Wound' and 'No Place,' he's just as loud and merry.
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flirting.
This Would Be Funny...
Dream Pop | Listen
It's tough to carve a lane for oneself, especially like in flirting's case, where you're indebted to multiple inundated communities at once. Their debut EP This Would Be Funny relies on Indie Rock whilst existing in the highly-competitive U.K. scene. But talent trumps all, and so does creative leveraging, of which the band led by dual singers Poppy Waring and Arthur Davies excels at. Amidst the Indie Rock stands a generous helping of Slint-Like Post-Rock, as found on standouts 'Yum and 'Peppermint.' A stupefying interlude and two shapeshifting existential crisis' in 'Lilac' and 'In The Dark' round out the consistent EP, one that promises potential while offering excellence.
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Pusha T
DAYTONA
Boom Bap | Listen
Before Kanye West's seven-track era became a disappointment - his personal fiascos following suit - there was Pusha T's Daytona. Call it what you will, a moment of respite, naive solace, or the calm before the storm, Daytona's retro-fitted Boom Bap brought on by West's re-envisioning byway of nostalgic force invoked a time before turmoil. There was no Drake beef, no Trump collusion, no team-ups with meme-worthy rappers. Daytona exists in a state of wistful gusto. Seven tracks, led by the unforgettable 'If You Know You Know,' that found Pusha T pushing pen against paper in only the ways he knows how, over stripped, clean, and delightfully giddy Boom Bap ripe with vintage Soul samples.
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of Montreal
White Is Relic / Irrealis Mood
Progressive Pop | Listen
On White Is Relic / Irrealis Mood, of Montreal rekindled their lost groove. All Barnes needed was a motive. He found that in the separation of America, reinforcing the idea that love is the ultimate goal. As seen by the titles, each track was divided in half, united only by the mesmeric drum kits of the early 90's Rave scene. Like any of Montreal project, White Is Relic perched trans-sexuality on the highest of pedestals, celebrating those that have been dejected on 'Every Person Is A Pussy,' while verifying their fears on 'Paranoiac Intervals / Body Dysmorphia.'
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Tropical Fuck Storm
A Laughing Death In Meatspace
Art Punk | Listen
Despite the inexplicable moniker of Tropical Fuck Storm, the incognizable title A Laughing Death In Meatspace, and the bizarro cover, all three curiosities combine to paint a coherent portrait of this debut LP's direction. Dense with layers of wrought, groovy and dysfunctional, paranoid and psychedelic, A Laughing Death subjects listeners to fascinating disorientation. Tracks like 'Two Afternoons' and 'Antimatter Animals' teeter on the verge of destruction, with Gareth Liddiard's piercing imbalance offset by Fiona Kitschin's backing structure. The combination, with a bevy of instrumentation taken into consideration, quite the daunting product.
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Jenny Hval
The Long Sleep
Progressive Pop | Listen
To my great dismay, concept albums seem to be falling by the wayside. And while it's merely an EP, Jenny Hval's Long Sleep illustrated my adoration by elucidating the unknowable. Tracking the nightly occurrence of sleep through four acutely diverse tracks, Hval reached into her bag of tricks and emerged a connoisseur of the dream state. The Progressive Pop masterpiece of 'Spells' steals the show, what with Hval's dainty vocals parading around an ensemble of horns and strings. But the crossover elusiveness of 'The Dreamer' and the pure, comatose sleep paralysis of the 10-minute title track further drive home the simple yet complex goal of The Long Sleep.
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Efrim Manuel Menuck
Pissing Stars
Post-Rock | Listen
If the blurry, greyscale image of a moment captured in time, or the provocative title Pissing Stars didn't tip you off, Efrim Manuel Menuck is a long-standing member of heralded Post-Rock outfit Godspeed You! Black Emperor. His second LP combined the harsh reality GY!BE posits with despondent, Chamber Pop vocals tormented by paranoia. On Pissing Stars, there's never a safe zone (apart from the 90's Psychedelia of 'A Lamb In The Land Of Payday Loans') as humanity's evil surfaces through blood-and-thunder. Culminating through the aggressive - and utterly rapturous - Noise of the title track, Pissing Stars effectively modernized various, tiresome Post-Rock devices.
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Lupe Fiasco
DROGAS WAVE
Conscious Hip-Hop | Listen
Lupe Fiasco's career has been a bumpy ride. Inconsistent to an extreme, duds like Lasers and Drogas Light embezzle attention thanks to the artful epics that preceded them. Despite a mammoth 24-track, 99-minute stature, Drogas Wave builds upon that rollercoaster by adding another gripping drop. Defined by a strong, albeit shackled concept surrounding a shipment of slaves living free amongst the waves, Fiasco's seventh LP veers from preposterous stories of survival ('Down,' 'Haile Selassie') to the rapper's own life story ('King Nas,' 'Happy Timbuck2 Day'), and everything in between. Content abound, with variety in prose, Drogas Wave succeeds through intermittent hits ('Alan Forever,' 'Jonylah Forever,' 'Down') prolonging and sealing the artist's tumultuous career.
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Suuns
Felt
Art Rock | Listen
While the appeal of sophisticated Art Rock came and went with the prowess known as Radiohead, there's been no shortage of lingering apprentices aiming to restore that mantle. Suuns is one such group, combining Rock with a tasteful Electronic flair as seen with bands such as Liars, Holy Fuck, and The National. Felt found lead singer Ben Shemie trembling under constant malfunction ('X-Alt,' 'Materials') as if living in a future society where humans and robots are pitted in a game of tug of war. This came out best on the uneasy but equally hypnotic 'After The Fall' and the eerily peaceful stalemate of 'Make It Real.'
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Janelle Monáe
Dirty Computer
Contemporary R&B | Listen
While many in the modern era try, few in the Pop and R&B world merge societal commentary and offbeat catchiness quite as well as Janelle Monáe. On Dirty Computer, her playful elasticity dissected gender identity ('Pynk,' 'Make Me Feel'), intrepid adolescent lifestyles ('Screwed,' 'Crazy, Classic, Life'), and simmering political paranoia ('So Afraid,' 'Americans'). The combination examined a turbulent nation, one that many - whether consciously or not - eluded byway of music and dance. And there's plenty of each on Dirty Computer, a riotous romp of pent-up energy and pizzazz.
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Avantdale Bowling Club
Avantdale Bowling Club
Jazz Rap | Listen
In today's bloated music industry, passion projects are few and far between. That wasn't the case with Tom Scott's Avantdale Bowling Club, an ambitious fusing between traditional Jazz and storytelling Hip-Hop. Technically, it's more Jazz Rap than anything that currently defines the genre. Across eight lengthy songs, Scott unravels a turbulent life worth living despite a myriad of setbacks along the way. Opener 'Years Gone By' provides the montage overview, while other standouts like 'Pocket Lint' and 'Quincy's March' discuss personal poverty and the birth of a child respectively. An honest and humble man composes an arduous and toilsome album, that's Avantdale Bowling Club.
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Julia Holter
Aviary
Ambient Pop | Listen
Julia Holter's Aviary is one of the more ambitious albums of our time. Certainly the most in Holter's already-esteemed career, one that embarked on an inspirational passage from Experimental to Pop. Aviary is both simultaneously, a sprawling 90-minute opus that takes Bjork's fantasied Utopia and makes it a reality. A lifetime unfurls within its pages, as sorrowful memoirs caught in the doldrums ('In Gardens' Muteness,' 'Why Sad Song') neutralize the unforgettable memories of mirth ('I Shall Love,' 'Les Jeux To You'). Cacophony so merciless it shatters glass ('Turn The Light On,' 'Everyday Is An Emergency') achieves such paramountcy due to the listless inaction of reflective inertia ('Chaitius,' 'Another Dream'). Aviary is life contained.
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Big Blood
Operate Spaceship Earth Properly
Psychedelic Rock | Listen
Big Blood's prolific career, one unbelievably under-appreciated, has gone through many transformations. From their honest Folk origins through psychedelics, to their experimental detours that grazed Post-Rock and Ambient, Big Blood has had no shortage of successful alterations. With Operate Spaceship Earth, the familial group that now incorporates daughter Quinnisa took to crafting Rock through a literary, sci-fi binge. Scaling behemoths in 'Olamina' and 'Queen Day' took precedent over quirky endeavors 'Jagged Orbit' and 'Pink Eye,' along with the tense and strained 'Wishy Wishy' duo.
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Jeff Rosenstock
POST-
Power Pop | Listen
Jeff Rosenstock's fed up. Then again, aren't we all. POST- defines, almost sardonically, a nation waiting to rage. Despite being 36 years old, Rosenstock still rallies behind a cry for justice as amped teenagers prone to upheaval would do. However, there remains an underlying statement of rationality. On tracks like 'All This Useless Energy' and 'Powerlessness' he struggles to maintain that much-needed animosity, the same kind that skylarks on 'USA' and 'Beating My Head Against The Wall.' Each stubborn half collides on the epic, 11-minute finale 'Let Them Win,' a monumental advancement for Rosenstock's simplified Power Pop.
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JPEGMAFIA
Veteran
Industrial Hip-Hop | Listen
Upon first viewing, the meme-ridden, viral-consuming mannerisms of JPEGMAFIA can be seen as mitigative to the recent leaps of Experimental Hip-Hop. In a sense, his cheap content and coarse lyrics are detrimental to stewing advancements in Hip-Hop's best sub-genre, but it's that exact disdain towards pretentious standards that demand his presence be felt. With Veteran, he unabashedly confronts topics such as Neogaf, Morrissey, and Libtard, while operating through grimy street bangers like '1488' and 'Curb Stomp.' JPEGMAFIA's personality, much like the deconstructive synthesizers and jarring bass, is ruthless, cutthroat, and dictatorial.
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Kero Kero Bonito
Time 'n' Place
Twee Pop | Listen
On first listen, Time 'n' Place left me unsatisfied. If only for the reason that 'Only Acting,' the album's long-known single, is its best song. When it comes to brazen Twee Pop however, withdrawal is never an option. Mixing Sarah Bonito's charming bars of sugar with the production team's lovable, kawaii aesthetics, Time 'n' Place never doubted its ability to addict. Endearing ditties like 'Time Today' and 'Make Believe' counteract the squelching noise providing richness to tracks like 'Flyway' and 'If I'd Known.' It's not these standouts that arouse Kero Kero Bonito's identity though, but rather oddball curiosities like 'Dear Future Self' and 'Sometimes,' which amplify the childlike bewilderment Time 'n' Place possesses.
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Cut Chemist
Die Cut
Turntablism | Listen
12 years have passed since The Audience's Listening, a sorely overlooked album that was then Cut Chemist's only studio LP. Despite the extended hiatus, Die Cut successfully took up the mantle as its younger brother. With many returning features rekindling their lost innocence - like Mr. Lif, Hymnal, and Laura Darlington - Die Cut proudly flaunted the uncool spirit the DJ's debut cherished. Off-the-wall Hip-Hop like 'You Want It, I Got It' and 'Metalstorm' engaged in competitive revelry with twisted forms of Electronic ('Madman'), Folk ('Plain Jane'), and classic scratching ('I Gotta Weapon').
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Ty Segall
Freedom's Goblin
Garage Rock | Listen
Every time Ty Segall relinquishes your interest - with say last year's lackadaisical self-titled or this year's bromidic Joy - he pulls you back in with dazzling affairs brimming with creativity. That defines Freedom's Goblin, a 19-track, 75-minute mammoth that spans Segall's four venues of Rock; Psychedelic, Glam, Hard, and Garage. His knack for lithe hooks matched only by versatility that surmounts to a totally circumferential release. Tracks like 'The Main Pretender' and 'The Last Waltz' employ the frilly funk of David Bowie, others like '5 Ft. Tall' and 'When Mommy Kills You' associate more with the uptempo recency of Thee Oh Sees, while some, like 'Rain', stray into melodic Alternative Rock a la Radiohead.
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HOLY
All These Worlds Are Yours
Neo-Psychedelia | Listen
Too many acts in Neo-Psychedelia adhere to the genre in name only. HOLY's fantastic All These Worlds Are Yours mocks those who invest in a base level appreciation of the limitless genre. Hannes Ferm's passion project is an immeasurably-dense dreamscape, filled with astrological oddities, seething improvisational arrangements, and dazzling structural fluidity. Every moment on the 55-minute tour gleams with vibrancy, like the rich instrumentation of 'Premonition / ◯ / It Shines Through' that's dressed in a vintage photograph filter, or the celebratory cascades of fireworks on 'ৌ Alien Life??' that flash with childlike wonder. None best the sensational title track however, a nine-minute precipice that spoils listeners with the unforgettable moments that define Psychedelic Pop. A masterwork of materialization, and one of 2018's best songs.
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Stella Sommer
13 Kinds Of Happiness
Dark Folk | Listen
When one thinks of music's impenetrable Gothic style, cold dungeons occupied by malevolent witches like Chelsea Wolfe, Zola Jesus, and Anna Von Hausswolff typically come to mind. Stella Sommer's 13 Kinds Of Happiness differs by bridging the gap between winter's frigid air and the season her surname resembles, settling in the brisk solace of Autumn. Disarmed, but stirringly moody Folk rumbles under Sommer's staccato on standouts 'We Love You To Death' and 'A Certain Glow,' while dinning Indie Rock offers evidence to Sommer's invigorating songwriting on 'Do You Still Love Me Now?' and 'Dark Princess, Dark Prince.' The piercing, one-note Drone of the unsettled '13 Kinds Of Happiness' and the euphoric 'Boat On My River' give Sommer yet another avenue to succeed in.
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Deafheaven
Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Blackgaze | Listen
When Deafheaven garnered wide-spread fame, it wasn't at the hands of those most expected. The stringent Black Metal community resented the group's tendency for color, compassion, and composure, best seen on 2013's dubious breakout Sunbather. Rather than pander or retreat, Deafheaven embraced their status as Indie-leaning artisans, resulting in Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, an album that drifts between opulent rays of hope and excruciating pummels of anguish. The best affairs, like 'Honeycomb' or 'Canary Yellow,' merged the opposite expressions through grandiose Post-Rock. What separates Ordinary Corrupt greater though is its crevices, like the melancholy Dream Pop of 'Near' or 'Night People,' the Gothic Rock duet with Chelsea Wolfe.
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Jon Hopkins
Singularity
Microhouse | Listen
It's no surprise to anyone that Electronic's favorite time of day is the night. A moment suspended in animation where troves of denizens sleep as others experience the freedom one receives from the semi-lawless twilight. Jon Hopkins' objective with Singularity was simple; pair the immunity of his club-oriented Techno with a glaze of Modern Classical intent on chronicling a night with the natural world. The glossy transition from sunset to sunrise, with star-lit standouts in 'Everything Connected' and 'Luminous Beings,' another successful conception for the man whose sound sold itself.
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U.S. Girls
In A Poem Unlimited
Art Pop | Listen
Since her inception as U.S. Girls with impenetrably suppressed Lo-Fi Indie, Meghan Remy has steadily ascended towards legitimacy through Art Pop clarity. In A Poem Unlimited acts as her latest evolution, further stripping the unsettling nodes of expression for instant satisfaction. Here, she's matched by Toronto's Cosmic Range, an off-world outfit that fully engulfs Remy in velvety exotica. Unlike her past works which come with a fair bit of dirt and grime, In A Poem Unlimited beautifies itself with multi-layered, high-fidelity production. Its success is evidence of Remy's ability to conquer all facets of Pop, as best seen on the decade-bridging 'M.A.H.'
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20-11 | 10-1 | Top 100 Tracks
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