1. SiR - November
I've been really rooting for SiR since 2015's Seven Sundays, and landing at Top Dawg Entertainment about a year ago is about the best thing you could hope for as far as artsy west coast R&B singers go. November is his first full length album for TDE but it still feels a bit like a buzz-building appetizer project at just 32 minutes, in a good way. The conversational spoken word flow of "Never Home" really lets him get a lot off his chest and let you inside his head a bit, but I like the more sumptuous melodic stuff like "D'Evils," "Something New," and especially "Dreaming Of Me." Here's the 2018 albums playlist that I constantly update with all the new albums I listen to throughout the year if you want to find any of these on Spotify.

2. BØRNS - Blue Madonna
I rolled my eyes a little at all of the press around this record being focused on Lana Del Rey's appearance on 2 songs since I like his music a lot more than hers. But then, I don't know if BØRNS would have gotten a lot of that press otherwise, and her backing vocals are perfectly fine and unobtrusive, so it's not a problem or anything. And I can see where they have an affinity, they both make music with a very stylized, cinematic sort of retro aesthetic. But I love his weird breathy androgynous voice and his ear for weird synth tones and soaring hooks, "Man"

3. Fall Out Boy - Mania
I listened to this back-to-back a lot to write my Spin review, but now that I've gotten some distance from it and have had time to think and revisit it, I think my opinion of the album may actually be more positive than the review lets on. Even the weird outliers like "Young And Menace" work pretty well in album context (although I think a lot of people might prefer the alternate running order of the CD edition, which puts it near the end of the record instead of at track 1). But "Church" and "Last of the Real Ones" and "Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)" are awesome, this may wind up being my favorite of the three post-hiatus albums.

4. Bandhunta Izzy - Code Blue
It's exciting to see so many young Baltimore rappers now building sizable grassroots followings, something that a lot of the city's best talents over the years have struggled to do. But a lot of the new school are not necessarily the most skilled MCs, and in that regard Bandhunta Izzy really stands out as someone who has a really strong flow and a lot of clarity and purpose in his writing, particularly for a 21-year-old dude who just released his first solo mixtape as a major label project for UMG/Republic. Lawrence Burney recently wrote a great Izzy profile for Noisey. 

5. JPEGMAFIA - Veteran
Baltimore has a rich history of rappers with an arch sense of humor and a taste for odd, noisy production, so the amount of well deserved attention JPEGMAFIA has gotten for this record feels like a vindication of that tradition. The constant snark and listlessly twitchy beats wear me down a little by the end of Veteran, but I like how totally committed he is to his sound and sense of humor.

6. Devin Dawson - Dark Horse
My round up of country radio in 2017 included my usual observations that Jay Joyce is probably the best producer in Nashville these days, and I noted that he helped break two new artists on country radio, LANCO and Devin Dawson last year. And then on January 19th, both of them released debut albums produced entirely by Joyce. I think LANCO has the better single between the two acts, but I prefer Devin Dawson's album, which has a bit more of a modern gloss but a bit more musical variety and some sharply observed lyrics.

7. Chris Dave And The Drumhedz - Chris Dave And The Drumhedz
Chris Dave is a big R&B session musician guy, rightfully revered for his work on albums by Maxwell and D'Angelo, and I always love seeing drums take the reins as bandleaders. There are a lot of guests on here, including three appearances from SiR, and the moment when Tweet's voice shows up on "Spread Her Wings" is one of the most delightful moments in music so far in 2018. But the whole thing has a great relaxed vibe and sounds great even when no famous guests are around.

8. Migos - Culture II
Migos have always made records that far outlast my desire to listen to Migos -- most of their career-launching mixtapes ran over 70 minutes. Still, it was a mild shock when the sequel to the relatively modest 58-minute Culture is 105 minutes long. I usually roll my eyes when southern rappers with a successful homegrown sound start rubbing elbows with the likes of Kanye and Pharrell, but I was actually looking forward to Migos changing things up a bit, and I wish there were more beats out of their comfort zone like "Stir Fry." I found Culture II pretty enjoyable despite the bloat, though, I predictably most liked the Takeoff/Zaytoven tribute to early Gucci Mane "Too Much Jewelry" and the 2 Chainz-and-a-saxophone track "Too Playa." 

9. Payroll Giovanni & Cardo - Big Bossin Vol. 2
I mostly know Cardo for producing trendy-sounding ominous goth stadium rap radio hits for stars like Travis Scott and Drake and ScHoolboy Q, so I was surprised that his duo project with Detroit rapper Payroll Giovanni is this super smooth homage to regional '90s pimp rap, so many of these beats sound like they could've been on an old Too $hort or 8Ball & MJG album. 

10. Mike Shinoda - Post Traumatic EP 
I was a little surprised that Mike Shinoda would release a brief EP dealing with losing someone close just a few months ago, but I identify with that impulse since I basically did the same thing recently. But as someone who's never really followed Fort Minor and only really liked Shinoda's work in the context of that big Linkin Park sound, I found this really compelling, partly because he doesn't shy away from really difficult emotions. One track ends with several near identical voicemails from friends "just checking in" on him, and another talks about the anxiety involved in the band doing one more tribute show for Chester and by the end he's just sarcastically lashing out at people for speaking to him in platitudes, it's really uncomfortable and cathartic.

Worst Album of the Month: Rick Springfield - The Snake King
Rick Springfield is a talented guy with at least one timeless song under his belt, so I checked out his new album genuinely rooting for him to do something at least interesting. But about a minute into the album, he says "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed snake is king," and the heavy-handed wordplay and political allegories just continue in that vein for an hour, the whole thing is just full of howlers.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 02, 2018 at 2:11 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.