Thread by @spotieotis

I’m going to use tonight’s #Grammys2018 as a conceit to share my favorite albums of the past year. Here we go.

50. Best One-And-Done Album:

@FEATUREband - ‘Banishing Ritual’ (@UpsetTheeRhythm)

Liv Willars, Jen Calleja and Heather Perkins broke up before the album was released. #RIPFeature

49. Best Album To Edit To:

Jonny Nash & @suzannekraft - ‘Passive Aggressive’ (@melody_as_truth)

My late-night soundtrack to striking Oxford commas.

48. Best Party Soundtrack:

@CHICOSONIDO - ‘Club Redy’ (self-released)

A reggaeton crowd-pleaser that will always get at least one person asking “What IS this?”

47. Best Electronic Record By Art-Punk Royalty:

Beate Bartel & Gudrun Gut - ‘Instrumentals For Sirens’ (Moabit Musik)

These members of Liaisons Dangereuses and Einstürzende Neubauten still have it.

46. Best “Out Of Office” Album:

@GunOutfit - ‘Out Of Range’ (@pofbachelors)

The best role models in rock release their “cosmic” album. Log off and press play.

45. Best John Fahey-Inspired Album:

@tobyhaymusic - ‘The Gathering’ (@cambrianrecords)

Solo guitar from Wales could not be more “on brand” for me.

44. Best Scottish Bagpipe Album:

Richard Young (@nofansrecords) - ‘This Is Not A Lament’ (Fourth Dimension)

Youngs and Friends collect a double album’s worth of jams that explore pibroch, a real genre that’s essentially avant music for bagpipes. Ceòl mór.

43. Best “Deep Reggaeton” Album:

DJ Python - ‘Dulce Compañia’ (íncíenso)

Make that the only “deep reggaeton” album. Brian Piñeyro proving it hasn’t _all_ been done before.

42. Best Independent Hip-Hop Album:

@illcamille - ‘Heirloom’ (Illustrated Sounds)

One of L.A.’s Finest cooks up one of 2017’s finest.

41. Best Use Of Poetry on an Album:

Irreversible Entanglements - s/t (@intlanthem)

Fire music helmed by poet Camae Ayewa (aka @moormother). Rage against the blight.

40. Best Lemonade Record:

@CircuitdesYeux - ‘Reaching For Indigo’ (@dragcityrecords)

Haley Fohr turned one of the most traumatic moments of her life into her pièce de résistance.

39. Best Folklore Album:

@LisaKnappMusic - ‘Till April Is Dead (A Garland of May)’ (Ear To The Ground)

Calling this album a collection of traditional covers sells it woefully short. Knapp’s voice and production remind me of Kate Bush.

38. Best Desert Blues Album:

Les Filles de Illighadad - ‘Eghass Malan’ (@sahelsounds)

Niger’s Fatou Seidi Ghali has cracked my personal favs list two years in a row. Her first studio recordings are another milestone for women in her country.

37. Best Mystery Album:

@LaurelHalo - ‘Dust’ (@Hyperdub)

Listening to Laurel Halo’s music is like learning a second language. You get there eventually, but it takes time and immersion.

36. Best Rainy Day Album:

the fun years - Heroes of the Second Story Walk-Up (@SBTAPES)

If Burial made a post-rock album. Thanks to @totalvibration for the tip.

35. Best Field Recording Album:

@betsaydamachado & Parranda el Clavo - ‘Loé Loa (Rural Recordings Under the Mango Tree)’ (Odelia)

A beacon of brilliance in an otherwise heartbreaking year for Venezuela.

34. Best Put-The-Kids-To-Bed Album:

Chuck Johnson (@cirrus_oxide) - ‘Balsams’ (VDSQ)

For all of the Stars Of The Lid fans in your life. The second half is transportive stuff.

33. Best Drum & Bass Album:

DJ Sports - ‘Modern Species’ (Regelbau)

Apparently I’m not the only one who still fux with LTJ Bukem. If you’d told me this came out in 1998, I’d check my college playlists to see if it registered.

32. Best Uncanny Album:

@gazelletwin - Kingdom Come (self-released)

England’s Hidden Reverse is alive and well. This was an adaptation of Elizabeth Bernholz’s theater project, and it lost nothing in the transition to audio.

31. Best Post-Punk Album:

@Dreamdecay_ - ‘YÚ’ (Iron Lung)

Justin Gallego and Co. wrestles with identity at the intersection of Mexican and American culture. Simultaneously brutal and groovy.

30. Best Technically Proficient Album:

@vijayiyer Sextet - ‘Far From Over’ (@ECMRecords)

My personal taste may have led me back to other records more often, but god damn if this isn’t the most jaw-dropping piece of live musicianship I heard all year.

29. Best “New Artist” Album:

@SiobhanIsBack - ‘There Are No Saints’ (@SongbyToad)

Classically-trained bilingual voice from the heavens (aka Scotland). The future appears bright.

28. Best Fire & Brimstone Album:

David Nance - ‘Negative Boogie’ (@badabingrecords)

This is a rock and roll record, which was rare in 2017, but more importantly, it felt like the work of a true auteur.

27. Best Drone Record:

@mattjencik - ‘Weird Times’ (@hitd_records)

Ambient end-times music seemed unprecedentedly apropos this year.

26. Best WTF Record:

@ST_____ILL - ‘I’ (@PAN_hq

Dancehall x PAN. Just when you thought you couldn’t be surprised by anything any more. My hat is off to you, Simone Trabucchi.

25. Best Hi-Fi Folk Record:

@HelloNadiaReid - ‘Preservation’ (@BasinRockRecs)

I don’t think there was a “better sounding” singer-songwriter album last year. Reid’s voice is traditionally gorgeous, and the recording is pristine.

24. Best Garage Rock Record:

Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys - ‘Rot’ (@RipSociety69)

The handful of scenes Down Under are saving rock as we know it. This LP includes four songs that put the last 10 years of New York to shame.

23. Best Drum Programming:

@Jlin_P - ‘Black Origami’ (@Planetmurecords)

I don’t have much to add to the parade of superlatives for this record. Jerrilynn Patton is a savant.

22. Best Story-Telling Album:

@rapsody - ‘Laila’s Wisdom’ (@RocNation)

Rapsody’s lyrics paint a vivid picture of where she’s from and what she’s fighting for. That she’s one of the tightest rappers alive doesn’t hurt.

21. Best Satirical Album:

@ThePissedJeans - ‘Why Love Now’ (@subpop)

The truth is never front, but always centered. Plus, this features the most prescient song of 2017-18, “I’m A Man.”

20. Best New Age Album:

@FourTet - ‘New Energy’ (Text)

Kieran Hebden keeps evolving. Sounds distinct from everything else in his 20-year career. (The New Age is in your mind, btw.)

19. Best Synth-Rock Album:

Molly Nilsson - ‘Imaginations’ (@NightSchoolRecs)

Catchy, DIY jams that speak to subjects far heavier than the hooks would lead you to believe.

18. Best One-Song Album:

Kara-Lis Coverdale (@kliscoverdale) - ‘Grafts’ (@boomkatonline Editions)

Classical music without borders. Paralyzingly beautiful at times. Kara-Lis is one of our most gifted electronic composers.

17. Best ‘Right Now’ Record:

@sza - ‘Ctrl’ (@TopDawgEnt)

She may have lost out on Best New Artist, but the Grammys are completely out of touch with reality. We all know this. SZA was the story of 2017.

16. Best Posthumous Album:

Maalem Mahmoud Gania - ‘Colours Of The Night’ (Hive Mind)

The Moroccan Gnawa legend died in 2015, and this LP collects his final studio recordings. Cleanse thy soul.

15. Best Jazz Album:

Nicole Mitchell - ‘Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds’ (@FPERecs)

A legacy-defining project by the Afro-futurist bandleader. There are other worlds, and Nicole is telling you about them.

14. Best Late-Night Album:

Kettenkarussell - Insecurity Guard (Giegling)

A classic minimal techno record, stained by the idiocy of the man who released it. Giegling is the worst.

13. Best Electronic Album:

@kellyleeowens - s/t (@supersound)

A stunning debut, maybe the best of the year. KLO wrote, produced and performed the album herself, with one guest vocal from the inimitable Jenny Hval. Subtle, yet salient.

12. Best Comeback Album:

@slowdiveband - s/t (@DeadOceans)

Smokes the very laudable comeback albums by ‘90s pals Suede and My Bloody Valentine a few years back. Just an incredible story: a band takes 22 years off, and returns in top form.

11. Best Motorik Album:

@JanelWeaver - ‘Modern Kosmology’ (@firerecordings)

Two classic albums in a row for Jane. Hypnagogic pop of the highest order.

10. Best Opera:

@chinoamobi - ‘Paradiso’ (@NONWORLDWIDE)

OK, we’ve hit the top 10, so you know it’s getting real. And this 20-track, science-fiction concept album felt like the realest thing I heard all year. Live with this one.

9. Best Sound Design:

@kaitlynaurelia Smith - ‘The Kid’ (@westernvinyl)

The cover art just about sums it up. You hear everything at the same time. With headphones on, it can approach the vortex scene in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’

8. Best Acoustic Guitar Album:

Shannon Lay (@mmfreegoo) - ‘Living Water’ (@WOODSIST)

My favorite new voice of 2017. Timeless, yet unorthodox. Simple, sage songs.

7. Best Cross-Cultural Album:

ÌFÉ (@grupo_ife) - ‘IIII+IIII’ (Discos Ifa)

Otura Roso Mun, a Yoruban priest in Puerto Rico, has melded the sacred and synthetic in ways I never imagined. Changó blessed this man with some special powers.

6. Best Feel-Good Album:

@YumiZouma - ‘Willowbank’ (@cascine_)

It was a rough year. Sometimes I needed to check out and just enjoy life. This was my soundtrack.

5. Best Hip-Hop Album:

@kendricklamar - DAMN. (@TopDawgEnt)

Grammys gonna Grammy.

4. Best London Album:

@theclientele - ‘Music For The Age Of Miracles’ (@mergerecords)

From the opening notes to the closing chords, this is beguiling Britannica at its finest. The spell sticks, which is all I ask for in an album.

3. Best Uncategorizable Album:

Davy Kehoe - ‘Short Passing Game’ (Wah Wah Wino)

Also, the best album you most likely didn’t hear in 2017. This jazz-rock-electronic mutant of a 12” never officially made it to streaming services. Luckily, there’s always YouTube.

2. Best British Album:

Richard Dawson (@richarddawson12) - ‘Peasant’ (@Dominorecordco)

The most awe-inspiring album of 2017 brings us back to the dark ages, when life was not easy for those outside the castle walls. These are the stories of the 99 percent.

1. Best Album:

@FeistMusic - ‘Pleasure’ (@umusic)

Her Jandek record. This is mostly Leslie Feist, in a room, with a guitar. The quiet conviction in her voice, the unexpected sway in her songs, the periodic bursts of blues ... left me rapt every time.

Fin.

Totally meant to spell Britannia, gah