1. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
2015's Pageant Material was a very good album, but it captured the chipper, clever, subtly modern aspect of Kacey Musgraves's take on country music without a bit of that edge of sadness and frailty that made 2013's Same Trailer Different Park an instant classic in my book. So it felt really good to turn on Golden Hour and instantly hear that undercurrent of melancholy on "Slow Burn" and then again on "Lonely Weekend" and "Oh, What A World" and "Happy & Sad." There's some new wrinkles to her sound throughout Golden Hour before you get to the full-on disco groove of "High Horse" toward the end, which feels like the whole album is building towards that big gutsy move. Here's the 2018 albums playlist that I add records to as I listen to them throughout the year. 

2. Toni Braxton - Sex & Cigarettes
This is the lowest-charting (non-Christmas) album of Toni Braxton's career, and at 8 songs in 30 minutes I worried that it would feel slight or pass by too quickly to make an impression. It's really good, though, maintains the smoldering vibe of her last collab album with Babyface and makes great use of her unique voice. 

3. Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens
I come to Hot Snakes via Rocket From The Crypt and have been trying to get into them more over the years and had been listening to the old records a bit before this one came out, and they really do have a great lean, sharp sound with an ominous undercurrent to it all, the guitars on "Have Another?" in particular just sound incredible. 

4. Santa Librada - Santa Librada 
This is the debut album from a Baltimore band that I'm friendly with, I've appeared on Kelsi's podcast a couple times and was on a bill with one of Rahne's other bands last year. And I'm really proud of them, this is a vicious, righteous rock record, a lot of provocative, clever lyrics and heavy riffs.

5. Rich Homie Quan - Rich As In Spirit
Rich Homie Quan has had an unusual career in that he got his most mainstream attention with he was on an indie label, and now that he's with UMG, his profile seems a lot lower. Last year's Back To The Basics was a very good, short teaser project, and Rich As In Spirit is longer but feels in some ways similarly pared down and straightforward, with only one feature, Rick Ross, toward the end of the album. Quan has always had an earnest side but it really feels like this record is more somber and emotional than his previous records, I don't hear a "Flex" on here but it also doesn't feel like it needs one. "34" in particular is great.

6. Phonte - No News Is Good News
Little Brother came out at a time when I wasn't really checking for their style of rap and it kinda passed me by aside from a couple nice singles. But I enjoyed interviewing Phonte a couple years ago and subsequently developed more of an appreciation for his sense of humor and his way of writing, and I dig this album, it's brief and kind of takes itself lightly even he approaches some big topics. 

7. The Messthetics - The Messthetics
Fugazi hasn't made a record in almost 2 decades and probably never will again, so I'm glad that one of the all-time great rhythm sections, Brendan Canty and Joe Lally, are back in action together with guitarist Anthony Pirog for a set of live, beautifully recorded instrumentals. I'm not the biggest fan of instrumental rock, I'm often trying to imagine where a singer would've filled in the empty spaces, but Pirog manages to fill those spaces pretty well with a variety of textures. 

8. Ed Schrader's Music Beat - Riddles
I can remember a decade ago when Ed Schrader was known in Baltimore primarily for hosting his own live talk show, and eased into performing music with an odd solo act where he'd do this kind of a cappella thing and occasionally strike a drum. So it's been cool to see him slowly arrive as a recording artist people are excited about who makes odd art pop that makes good use of his intense delivery and unusual voice. 

9. Mozzy - Spiritual Conversations EP
Mozzy has had a rising national profile for the last few years, but he kind of got a big bump in mainstream recognition this year when Kendrick Lamar shouted him out in a Grammys acceptance speech and then featured him on the Black Panther soundtrack. And this 6-song EP seems like a good way to capitalize on that, it's a little more moody and downtempo with more religious lyrics than previous Mozzy projects I've heard, it's almost like what a Mozzy album on TDE would probably sound like, Jay Rock guest verse included. Mozzy kind of already has his own lane and sound but I wouldn't mind more music from him like this. 

10. 03 Greedo - The Wolf of Grape Street
03 Greedo is another west coast guy who's been getting the kind of buzz lately that Mozzy started getting a few years ago. The appeal was a little less immediately clear to me, though, once I heard him after all the excitement I was a little confused, like he sounds more or less like T-Pain when he raps without AutoTune, but less polished, and I really don't dig the production on this album much at all. I'm starting to warm up to it, though. The closer "Never Bend" is probably my favorite. 

Worst Album of the Month: Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots
Like a lot of people, the first time I heard Scott Weiland, I thought he sounded like an Eddie Vedder imitator trying to ride Pearl Jam's coattails to fame. But over the next few years, Stone Temple Pilots grew on me and I came to appreciate Weiland as a talented vocalists with his own set of influences that were pretty distinct from his grunge contemporaries. So it was pretty sad to see his former bandmates, who already replaced him once with the late Chester Bennington, rush to once again put a new singer in Weiland's place barely over a year after his death. And this time it's a runner-up from "The X-Factor" who seems to specialize in mimicking rock stars of the past, and settles well into doing his best Weiland imitation over some decent new Dean DeLeo riffs. There's just such an icky uncanny valley vibe to this record, the members of STP are talented enough musicians that I wish they'd just found a new band like they did with Talk Show and Army of Anyone, but the money's probably not as good if they don't use the name they're known for. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 04, 2018 at 10:55 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.