1. The Nels Cline 4 - Currents, Constellations
Nels Cline has led many instrumental combos of different shapes and sizes over the past few decades, but the two longest-running bands, The Nels Cline Trio and The Nels Cline Singers, were guitar/bass/drums threesomes. So The Nels Cline 4 is a break from tradition in that he's now sharing guitar duty with Julian Lage. Cline and Lage's 2014 duo album Room was spare and minimalist, so it's cool to hear them now try out their intertwining guitar lines in a more uptempo context with a rhythm section. Television has always been a big influence on Cline and it's cool to hear him try out a quartet that's a little like the Verlaine/Lloyd interplay of two lead guitarists. Plus there's stuff like "River Mouth (Parts 1 & 2)," where Lage helps lay out this lush textured backdrop for one of Cline's best solos in recent memory. Here's the 2018 albums playlist where I put all the records I've been listening to this year.  

2. War On Women - Capture The Flag 
About 7 years ago, I asked Shawna Potter to sing on a song I was working on, because I was a huge fan of her old band Avec. And after the session, she was telling me about the band she'd just formed, which I believe she described as 'Bikini Kill meets early Metallica.' Soon after, I saw an early War On Women show and was blown away, and they've just been an incredible force for good in the world since then, making incredible records and advocating for feminism and fighting rape culture at places like the Warped Tour. And now, their second full-length actually features Kathleen Hanna herself, which feels like the perfect culmination of this whole thing, although I hope there's a lot more in store for them. "Anarcha" is the song on here that really hits me the most with just this powerful, righteous anger, this incredible scorched earth emotion that War On Women does better than anybody right now. 

3. Brothers Osborne - Port Saint Joe
I'm kind of proud that Brothers Osborne are the biggest contemporary country act from Maryland because they're great, so I was a little bummed when I saw that they named their new album after the Florida beach where they recorded it, which is like a Kenny Chesney move or something. But apparently making the album in a relaxed beachfront environment was a great idea, because the whole record feels incredibly relaxed and inviting. Like their first album, Pawn Shop, it was produced by Jay Joyce, who I often call my favorite producer working today, but I was still bowled over by how good it sounds and how seamlessly each song dovetails into the next one.  

4. Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs
The last time Wye Oak released a proper album, I interviewed Jenn and Andy (the site it was for is gone now, but it's archived here), and I wrote about how exciting it was that they'd kind of overhauled their sound for this 'difficult fourth album' and had survived some of the things that have broken up other bands. But I wasn't actually sure if they would be back for another album, and I'm really glad they are, because songs like "Join" feel like a really cool fusion of Shriek and the earlier Wye Oak albums with something new. "Lifer" in particular feels like this beautiful mission statement of what it means to kind of dedicate your life to something music and playing in a band and how complicated that can be. I really believe Wye Oak have been one of the best bands in the world of the past decade and am happy for every minute we get of them. 

5. Cardi B - Invasion Of Privacy
Even before "Bodak Yellow," I was impressed with how fluidly Cardi B translated her Instagram persona, and her ability to coin catchphrases that people instantly start repeating, to a rap career. But I was still kind of skeptical that what worked for a string of singles and features would translate to an album, and am pretty impressed at just how well this holds together and how it kind of hits all these different areas of her life and her persona and feels like a complete debut album. That's not to say that the songs that kind of expand on who she is like "Be Careful" and "Best Like" are as good as the straight up bravado and shit talking of songs like "Bickenhead" and "Money Bag," but they all work to some degree. Between "I Like It" and "Bickenhead" and "I Do" she could easily spend the rest of the year ruling radio even while she's chilling at home with a newborn. 

6. Sloan - 12 
There are a decent number of bands who've had great second decades, but I can think of very few who've remained as consistent as Sloan in their 3rd decade, and without ever breaking up or having any lineup changes. 2 of their last 5 albums were sprawling double LPs, but this is back to a more concise set, with more of a laid back AM gold vibe than the hard rock/power pop side of the band, "Wish Upon A Satellite" is probably my favorite so far.

7. various artists - Restoration: The Songs Of Elton John And Bernie Taupin
Tribute albums are a dime a dozen, and no matter how star-studded they are, they tend to be so hit-and-miss that the most you can say about them is that you can grab the couple highlights and skip the rest. But two collections of Elton John covers were released simultaneously in April, and while the one full of pop and rock artists, Revamp, is above average, the other country-leaning album, Restoration, is easily one of the best tribute albums I've ever heard (Miley Cyrus is the only artist on both albums, and a lowlight each time). Elton's always had more country in his records than he gets credit for, and '70s singer-songwriter pop is a big piece of contemporary Nashville's DNA, so it's fun to hear great deep cuts done justice like Maren Morris singing "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" and Miranda Lambert covering "My Father's Gun." Even the odder interpretations, like Lady Antebellum's self-consciously spacey "Rocket Man" that opens the album, are pretty enjoyable ways to approach some very familiar songs. But the one that could've gone either way that I really love is "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" by Dierks Bentley.

8. Willie Nelson - Last Man Standing
I've been reading Willie Nelson's 2015 memoir It's A Long Story lately and gaining a deeper appreciation of his remarkable life, career, and way of looking at the world. So it's lovely to hear him still playing and singing like nobody else and writing about his "weird mind" and his halitosis ("bad breath is better than no breath at all") on an album released just a couple days before his 85th birthday. "Something You Get Through" is pretty moving in particular. These old legends don't owe us any more music at an age like that, but there's something beautiful about the fact that he still wants to (I assume, since his mess with the IRS has been resolved).

9. Bishop Briggs - Church Of Scars
I liked or loved pretty much every song Bishop Briggs put out since her 2016 breakthrough hit "River" up until her current single, "White Flag," which I think is crap. So I feel like it doesn't speak well of this album that my favorite half is the stuff I already know from 2016/2017 and the new stuff is more hit and miss, but there's still some great songs on here and I'm trying to give the record as a whole a chance to grow on me. 

10. Tinashe - Joyride
There's been a lot of performative disappointment (or schadenfreude) about the commercial performance of Tinashe's long-delayed 2nd album. As good as Aquarius was, the many singles she released in the run-up to this record dimmed my enthusiasm. And I have to wonder if people are being a little naive, as if they just assumed that any photogenic singer with one hit and one well-reviewed album should be set for life, which really flies in the face of what's happened to what major labels have been doing with most female R&B singers in the decade since Amerie and Cassie got shelved. The title track to Joyride is the most Rihject-y Rihject ever, and that "no dramama" single blows, but once you get past those, this album is pretty solid, I really like "Ooh La La" and "Faded Love" and "No Contest." 

The Worst Album of the Month: Thirty Seconds To Mars - America 
I already covered why this sucks in my Spin review, but it really is quite insipid. Even as some of my favorite albums this year, from Superchunk to War On Women, have addressed current events head-on, it's instructive to hear what a truly useless, wish-washy resistance-bait album sounds like. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2018 at 1:25 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.