Happy end of 2018. This is my traditional albums of the year list (every year since 2000!).
Below you'll find my top 20 full-length original studio albums, in reverse order. Enjoy.
Some introductory musings on the way I consume music…
But first...
As a kid I had tapes, and listened to my parents’ vinyl. At some point in the early 90s, I began voraciously buying CDs, and by the time I began doing these album of the year lists in the year 2000 I had hundreds of them. In 2012, I sold all my (by then, thousands of) CDs and started buying Mp3s.
As a kid I had tapes, and listened to my parents’ vinyl. At some point in the early 90s, I began voraciously buying CDs, and by the time I began doing these album of the year lists in the year 2000 I had hundreds of them. In 2012, I sold all my (by then, thousands of) CDs and started buying Mp3s.
The summer of 2018 saw me finally
making the next switch, from buying digital downloads to using a streaming
service. Financially, it had just become
untenable to spend £10 on one album, when a joint account with my wife would
give me access to virtually everything for £7 a month. But this change has had an interesting impact
on my list. In the second half of 2018 I
was able to listen to a far greater number of eligible records, which expanded
the ‘field’ of contenders significantly, and opened the door to me experiencing
and enjoying weirder and more varied artists; at the same time, freed from the
need to ‘get my money’s worth’ with repeated plays, and now spreading my time
across so many more albums (dipping in as I wanted), fewer records than in
previous years broke through into regular rotation and carved out a meaningful place
in my heart. On the one hand, at least 3
of my 2018 list entries are records that I never would have taken a chance on
buying, but which I now love. On the
other hand, it’s notable that of my final 2018 list, a disproportionate number
of ‘placing’ albums came out during the first half of the year, when I was
still buying them outright: perhaps they just were better, but I suspect it’s
in part because I felt financially obliged to give them more chances to
impress.
It’ll be interesting to see how this
list shapes up in 2019, when everything I listen to will be streamed. My current sense is that streaming is a
double-edged sword, but it’s hard to begrudge the fact that I now spend less
money to listen to more music. It all
makes me feel old, and I’m not yet sure how to process this unlimited access,
or strike a good balance between trying as much as I can while giving records
enough opportunity to get the most from them.
I’m sure I’ll get used to it, though, just like I got over not having a
physical booklet to flip through every time I got a new CD. Ultimately, in the words of mighty rock
titans Clutch: ‘You can’t stop. You can’t stop progress.’
Anyway, enough of this – on with the list for 2018!
Anyway, enough of this – on with the list for 2018!
20. COURTNEY BARNETT – Tell Me How You Really Feel
First
up this year is Courtney Barnett’s
sophomore album. While it’s only solo album #2, it feels like Barnett’s been around for some while:
that ridiculous ‘new Bob Dylan’ hype
was half a decade ago, and – as well as her debut album – she now also has a
stellar ep and a (disappointing) collaborative album with Kurt Vile under her belt. Her debut Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit came an
impressive 2nd on this list in 2015. Tell Me How You Really Feel maintains much of what made that first
record great, and in a number of ways is the more developed and mature album. ‘City
Looks Pretty’ is a track of twisting complexity, and – given that was the lead
single – it says a lot about the sort of indie record Barnett has made here. Lyrically, she’s as idiosyncratic as ever,
although her writing for this album is definitely less whimsical and more
melancholic. Such are the times in which we live, I guess. While Tell Me How You Really Feel never quite
connected with me to the same extent as did Sometimes
I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (I’m not entirely sure why),
objectively it’s just as good, if not better, and, subjectively, I’ve still
thoroughly enjoyed it.
19. ORANGE GOBLIN – The Wolf Bites Back
sample track: Renegade
18. FATIMA DUNN – Birds and Bones
Next up is the latest work by
cello-wielding Swiss experimentalist – and ‘one woman orchestra’ – Fatima Dunn. Birds and Bones is subtle, gentle and soothing, but it also hints
at deeper menace and weirdness throughout. At times this record is so bare it feels
fragile, with the likes of (the truly beautiful) ‘Ebb and Flow’ being about as
stripped down as it gets: simply cello and vocals. Elsewhere, things are a
little more urgent (see ‘So Free’), and/or complex (the vocal gymnastics of
‘Dive into the Light’ are weird but good). Dunn’s
decision to sing in a mixture of English and German across the album adds
something different, and fits well with a musical approach that perhaps is best
described as ‘minimalist experimentation’. Occasionally the experiment backfires,
with a few tracks risking disappearing up themselves: the wind-chime rattle of
‘Les Vaches d’Abel’, for example, takes things to the very edge of
self-indulgence. Overall, though, this is unique, interesting record by a very
talented artist.
sample track: Ebb and Flow
17. THE MESSTHETICS – The Messthetics
This
is the debut album of a new three-piece comprised of some industry stalwarts:
Joe Lally and Brendan Canty (otherwise known as Fugazi’s rhythm section) along with experimental guitarist Anthony
Pirog. It’s hard to describe The
Messthetics: the best I’ve come up with is ‘instrumental post-hardcore
progressive math rock’. Good luck unpicking that… I think the Fugazi connection probably gives some
insights as to what to expect, and other touchstones might be ‘Foals at their least commercial (without
vocals)’, or ‘less aggressively experimental Battles’. Although at times this also detours into much stranger
dreamscapes (see ‘Radiation Fog’, and ‘The Inner Ocean’, the latter of which is
very Mogwai). For the most part,
however, it’s Pirog’s dextrous, precise guitar that’s front and centre here, propelling
some very ‘angular’ experimental rock. See the persistent ‘Quantum Path’ or the
Cave In style ‘Crowds and Power’ for
exemplars.
sample track: Quantum Path
16. BOY AZOOGA – 1, 2, Kung Fu!
There
are two tracks on Boy Azooga’s debut
– ‘Loner Boogie’ and ‘Face behind her Cigarette’ – that are absolutely
outstanding. They are two of my very favourite tracks of the year, and had the
whole of the record been of their standard, 1,
2, Kung Fu! would have been challenging at the top of this year’s list. As
it is, this is a record that dips in quality, but that’s partly because it
reaches such heights at times, and it must be said that it never dips that low.
There’s much fun to be had throughout, across a range of genres and moods. Disco-rock,
Daft Punk style electro-indie, some (mid-career
Blur) power-indie and chill-out
harmonising are all present and arranged in a way that feels like they’re part
of a coherent whole, rather than being a hodgepodge. Hard to pigeonhole (which
is always good), consistently fun and with flashes of absolute genius. It’s a
debut, so label under ‘significant potential’.
sample track: Face behind her Cigarette
15. BAT FANGS – Bat Fangs
Bat
Fangs’
debut will give you a classic rock ‘n’ roll ass-kickin’. Guaranteed. If that
sounds appealing, then you’ll find it easy to love this short, sharp little
record; if not, then, to be honest, there’s very little else to find here. This
is high-quality DC riot grrrl punk, following in the grand tradition of the
likes of Bikini Kill and (early) Sleater-Kinney. Although there are
flashes of other things too: the Misfits
come to mind, both musically and because of a shared use of classic horror
iconography. This perhaps isn’t a record to change anyone’s world, but it has
consistently strong song-writing, and it benefits from not overdoing things. All
very ‘less is more’ (9 songs in 25 minutes – no fat on those bones). When I
started putting the list together this year I was a little surprised this made
it on, let alone made it into the top 15. But it’s a huge amount of fun, and so
I’ve played it lots. Simple as that.
sample track: Turn it Up
14. SPRING KING – A Better Life
Spring
King’s
debut album, Tell Me If You Like To,
came in at #6 on my list in 2016. This sophomore effort impressively maintains
the high standards set by that record, and occasionally surpasses them. A Better Life suffers only because it
came second, and perhaps is not different enough from their very strong debut. The
template’s still high-octane garage rock, and A Better Life does feel like a natural continuation of Tell Me If You Like To, but getting that
different enough/similar enough balance right always makes that second album hard…
Taken in isolation, there’s a huge amount to love on album 2. Following a
little jazzy intro, first track proper ‘Animal’ rockets along very nicely thank
you, as does ‘The Hum’ (a joy). ‘No More’ hits all the right shouty peaks too. And
there are some deviations from the
template: ‘Echo Chamber’ feels like (recent era) Kasabian, and ‘Us vs Them’ has a 90s indie-pop vibe (like an angry Pulp or something). As so often seems
to be the case for bands after the release of their second album, my sense for Spring King is that this is make or
break time: album 2 is strong, and has some seeds of evolution, but ultimately
feels like a fairly safe follow up. Evolve further with album 3 and I might be
listening to album 8 many years from now; more of the same and I’ll probably
have had my fill. For now, though, A
Better Life is well worth your time.
sample track: Animal
13. CAROLINE ROSE – LONER
sample track: Bikini
12. TONY MOLINA – Kill the Lights
Tony
Molina’s
latest record continues his pathological commitment to brevity: only one track
on Kill the Lights (which sounds –
entirely inappropriately – like a Metallica
album name) makes it passed the 2 minute mark. But, unlike some of Molina’s earlier work, this never feels
rushed or uncomfortably sparse. Kill the
Lights is an exercise in distilling song-writing down to its most
fundamental parts, and then showing them off (once – difficult to repeat choruses in 90 second songs). Key
musical reference points (to my ears anyway) are late-career Elliot Smith, early (specifically Blue album) Weezer and Rubber Soul-era
Beatles. There’s 60s rock, folk-prog
and 90s guitar pop. All appearing very briefly. Some tracks fade away, others
just end abruptly. No time to get bored, and there’s something refreshing about
getting to the good stuff and then moving straight on. But the shortness of the
tracks can also be a little frustrating on occasion, and repeated listens are
essential (in case you blinked). Overall, though, this is an album that has no
dip in quality at any stage: and you can’t ask for much more than that. Short
not cursory.
sample track: Nothing I Can Say
11. THERAPY? – CLEAVE
Still
one of my very favourite bands after all these years, any new Therapy? album is pretty much
guaranteed a spot on my list – the question is simply one of whereabouts. It’s
true that it’s been well over a decade since Therapy? made a bone fide masterpiece, but they’ve never phoned it
in either, and there’s always much to enjoy on every record. CLEAVE – album number 14 (I think, depending
on exactly how you count them) – continues
the recent trend, in that it is consistently excellent but also doesn’t get
especially close to the astronomically high standards they set in the 1990s. But
it does recall some of that 90s work more than the rest of their recent output.
CLEAVE is self-consciously a bit of a
throwback, particularly to their 1994 breakthrough album Troublegum. First off, 24 years on, they’ve rehired Chris Sheldon, who produced Troublegum. But more than that, the
songs have a similar tone and shape to those on that masterpiece, including
lyrically. It’s great to have this particular incarnation of Therapy? back, and, of their recent
work, this definitely feels the most ‘them’. At the same time, part of their
longstanding appeal for me is their continued chameleon-like tendencies. So I
have some mixed feelings about this record, but, as usual, overall I’ve loved
it.
sample track: Callow
10. THE DECEMBERISTS – I’ll Be Your Girl
This
is the strongest Decemberists album
in a while. It perhaps isn’t quite as unremittingly wonderful as their mid/late
2000s work (The Crane Wife; The Hazards of Love), but I’ll Be Your Girl manages to capture their
trademark mix of innovation and sing-along rather better (and more consistently)
than their last couple of albums did. The
Decemberists are always instantly recognisable (thanks particularly to
Colin Meloy’s none-more-distinctive voice and Jenny Conlee’s accordion and
unique keyboard stylings), and all their work has similarly epic lyrical
aspects, drawn from mythology and historical whimsy. However, with each album
they approach things in a different way to the last. The heavy (almost classic)
rock concept album of The Hazards of Love,
for example, is musically worlds away from the concise, 80s-tinged retro-folk
of I’ll Be Your Girl. This still has
some of their trademark melancholy, but is overall more upbeat, musically at
least, with a new synth sheen in places, patches of driven 80s bass, and
notably catchy choruses. There are tracks that have the scope and scale that
mean they could sit comfortably on The
Crane Wife (‘Rusalka, Rusalka/The Wild Rushes’), but for the most part this
is more targeted and chorus-focused stuff. Easy to access and love.
sample track: Severed
9. CLUTCH – Book of Bad Decisions
As
with Therapy?, if there’s a new Clutch album out in any given year,
it’s likely to find its way on to this list. On album 12 (a bastard’s dozen?), Clutch deliver what they always
deliver: ridiculous lyrics and wonderful riffs. For the most part, this is,
once again, Clutch being Clutch. I’d usually count such
commitment to non-evolution as a major negative, but I hope Clutch never change. It’s a delight to
gobble up some more of what they serve every couple of years. Of course, that’s
not to say Book of Bad Decisions
doesn’t have its own personality amongst their back catalogue. For a start
there’s a pervading Trump-era anxiety and rage that sets it apart: see ‘Weird
Times’ and, especially, ‘How to Shake Hands’ (‘Hot damn! The democratic
process, what a time to be alive!’). There also are a few interesting (for Clutch, unusual) musical flourishes,
like a bit of brass here and there (see the best track on show here, ‘In Walks Barbarella’). Nice. In terms of its place amongst their
wider output, this is only mid-level Clutch,
I suppose, but for me that’s still high praise. Book of Bad Decisions won’t convert anyone, but if awesomely awesome
pie is your thing, Clutch are
offering yet another slice.
sample track: In Walks Barbarella
8. SNOW PATROL – Wildness
I
always have the same relationship with Snow
Patrol: they release a new album, I think ‘I’ve had enough of them, not
bothered’, finally listen to it anyway and then fall in love with it. Forget,
repeat. This process was particularly easy this time because it’s been a full 7
years since their last record, 2011’s Fallen
Empires. Plenty of time to forget how much I like them. My switch to using
a streaming service gave Wildness a
chance, because I was able to try without having to buy. Turns out it’s another
wonderful record. Why am I always surprised that Snow Patrol are good? Often lumped in with the likes of Coldplay (including by me), they
deserve better. The general critical wisdom is that Wildness is a triumphant return after the disappointing Fallen Empires and subsequent hiatus.
For me, Fallen Empires is perhaps
their best record (although, again, I had to go back to remind myself that I
liked it so much…), so I don’t quite subscribe to that narrative. Lyrically, Wildness doesn’t feel like a triumphant
return either: it isn’t about rebirth/rejuvenation or self-congratulation. The
key themes instead are darkness and self-doubt. Musically too, this isn’t a
bells and whistles bombastic return, it’s a very restrained record. The stark
voice-and-piano of ‘What If This is All the Love You Ever Get?’ opts not to
burst into strings and soaring harmonises in the way they may have done in the
past, and is all the better for it (especially given its melancholic lyrical
sentiment). The slow-build of album opener ‘Life on Earth’ is another
highlight, and another exercise in effective simplicity and restraint. Great
stuff all round. I just have to try to remember that I like them when they next
release something…
sample track: Life on Earth
7. LUCY DACUS – Historian
The second record by
Richmond, Virginia’s Lucy Dacus is
fantastic. The indie-rock singer-songwriter really spreads her wings here, and
the results are a mix of the haunting and the powerful. Album opener ‘Night
Shift’ is a 6-minute microcosm of the wider album: it begins with soft acoustic
lamentations and brutally honest heart-pouring (‘the first time I tasted
somebody else’s spit/I had a coughing fit’) and ends with musical roughage and vocal
howls. An amazing start. The album only grows from there: for example, ‘The Shell’ approaches 70s prog territory, while ‘Yours & Mine’ evokes the
miseraballads of early-Decemberists.
Historian is an album of notable
scope and weight. It features, albeit in moderation, some really quite dense arrangements
of strings and horns, but these are all about servicing the most basic elements
of the song in question. For all its grand scale and ambition, Historian ultimately excels because of
its root melodies, hummable choruses and compelling storytelling. At its core,
this remains the work of an outstanding singer-songwriter, but it has
been augmented in a way that lifts it well above the crowd. Not sure how this
only made 7th place. Superb.
sample track: Night Shift
6. THE VOIDZ – Virtue
The
first I heard of The Voidz (that ‘z’
still makes me angry – grow up) was the complete mauling this, their second
record, received in The Guardian in
April. Phil Mongredien’s scathing 1* review included the following statements:
‘utterly incoherent’, ‘wildly self-indulgent’ and ‘precious little worth
hearing here’. Mongredien’s biggest complaint, though, seemed to be that The Voidz sounded nothing like mainman
Julian Casablanca’s ‘other’ band, The
Strokes. Thing is, I never liked The
Strokes at all, so that comment made me go and listen to this. Mongredien’s
got one thing right, this is nothing like The
Strokes. Cause it’s really good. Casablanca has called this project
‘futuristic prison jazz’, and that insufferably pretentious self-description is
nonetheless as good as any. This record is hard to pin down. Virtue is an always interesting
polymorph: Daft Punk expero-pop on
‘Permanent High School’ or ‘Pink Ocean’ gives way to agit-punk on ‘Black Hole’,
and then ruminative acoustic heartache on ‘Think Before You Drink’. It’s a
wildly eclectic record (although not
incoherent, at least to my ears); at times quite ‘out there’, yes, but crucially
never, ever dull. Not everything works: album closer ‘Pointlessness’ is an
overly drawn out mourn-ballad, for example – but even then it’s trying
something interesting and a bit different. There’s so much here, and so much of
it is so great, that even with a few misfires and things that aren’t to my
personal taste, this is well worthy of its 6th place finish.
sample track: QYURRYUS
5. AWOOGA – Conduit
How about some prog-sludge? Assuming
that’s even a thing. After some initial hype and strong word-of-mouth I’d got
hold of the ep that AWOOGA released
in 2016 – Alpha – and… wasn’t all
that impressed. I’m therefore not quite sure what made me bother subsequently
to investigate their debut album when it appeared this spring. But I’m so glad
I did, because it is really excellent (was that ep just dodgy offcuts, or have
they really got this much better in 24 months?). Conduit is some unholy mix of doom-sludge metal and euphoric space-rock,
with everything from Alice in Chains,
Muse, Tool, Amplifier and Hand of God all chucked in. Sheffield’s
AWOOGA (NB: don’t even think about writing it using any
lowercase characters!) have managed a neat trick here, straddling some
seriously heavy, rumbling metal and wild, celestial operatic-prog. Good luck to
the people who work at record stores and streaming services who might be trying
to categorise this. Want your head whacked in with a riff bigger than a cliff? No
worries, ‘Tabula Rasa’ will bash ya good. Want to float to the stars? Sure: ‘Blue
Rose’ will send you there on a column of light (although it’ll also kick you occasionally
during the journey). This is fantastic stuff, somehow both bone crushing and
ethereal. More please.
sample track: Temporal
4. GOAT GIRL – Goat Girl
An
exceptional debut from South London’s Goat
Girl. This is a grimy, grubby record, which has elements of punk and
grunge, but it also slows things down to find a sort of askew DIY shoegaze, specifically
for those with dirt on their shoes. This feels like an album that should be
played in a sweaty Camden bar, but at the same time there are string flourishes
and harmonies that would be more at home in a theatre. Lyrically, it deals with
some serious stuff: ‘Burn at the Stake’ is a vitriolic attack on the Tories and
the DUP (and I mean really
vitriolic), while ‘Creep’ is about a guy who films a woman on the train without
her consent, and is delivered with the anger of what feels like personal
experience (‘I want to smash your head in’). Goat Girl is an album of lyrical (and sometimes musical) ugliness
(e.g., ‘Country Sleaze’ = ‘I’m disgusting, I’m a shame to this so-called human
race’ + the most jagged of jagged guitars). But it’s also beautiful (see ‘Lay
Down’, which has a Nirvana: Unplugged
vibe to it) and occasionally downright bouncy (see ‘Cracker Drool’ or ‘The Man’
– the latter perhaps being the best way in to the album, while not necessarily
being the album at its best). Goat Girl
have a unique voice, and – on what doesn’t feel at all like a debut record –
serve up self-assured, but also unashamedly damaged, material for the
Brexit/#metoo/Trump world.
sample track: The Man
3. LET’S EAT GRANDMA – I’m All Ears
It
is officially impossible to talk about Let’s
Eat Grandma without pointing out how young they are (every review,
article, etc does it) so I’ll get that out the way. The duo – Rosa Walton and
Jenny Hollingworth – are both still in their teens (born at the dawn of the
millennium: gulp), and this is already their second album. So… young. The things is, while Let’s Eat Grandma’s first record, 2016’s I, Gemini,
felt like an album that was good given that it was made by two 16 year olds (it
had promise but was all glitz, twee and unfiltered sandpit-playing), I’m
All Ears is just a fantastic album entirely irrespective of the age of its
authors. An astronomical leap forward, this record seamlessly melds synthpop,
indie rock, psych-prog and dance. Walton and Hollingworth have ended up with
something great. The shuddering tech-doom of discordant instrumental opener
‘Whitewater’ sounds like a Nine Inch
Nails intro, track two ‘Hot Pink’ is a greasy, evil pop song, while track
three ‘It’s Not Just Me’ is pure candyfloss pop. And that’s all just in the
first three songs. Elsewhere, we get pizzicato musings on ‘Missed Call (1)’,
art guitar jangles on ‘Cool & Collected’, and an 11-minute indie-prog epic,
‘Donnie Darko’, to close the album. This record heralds the arrival of two major
new talents, and there is so much scope for more given the range of things they’ve
shown they can turn their hands to here. The first absolutely essential album
on this year’s list.
sample track: Donnie Darko
2. A PERFECT CIRCLE – Eat the Elephant
The return of an old
favourite, with an album that came extremely close to topping this list. APC released two fantastic records at
the turn of the century: Mer de Noms
(1999) and Thirteenth Step (2003). Aside
from a subsequent covers album in 2004 and a bit of touring, that was it: two
records (at least, proper ones), and done. While I loved them at the time, I didn’t
expect all that much from this comeback: I’m mean, how many bands produce their
best work after a 15 year hiatus? Eat the
Elephant is controversial amongst APC
fans, and divided critics. ‘Too commercial’, ‘not heavy enough’, ‘not a metal
album’ have all been common complaints I’ve heard. And there’s truth in all of
them: the thing is, they’re all pluses. On its face, this record is more mainstream,
and it’s certainly not especially heavy or, indeed, a metal album at all (meaning
that album cover image is notably incongruous). But it is a record with far more variety and depth than anything they’ve
done before, and the fact that it has some hooks isn’t a bad thing. Eat the Elephant’s comparative
palatability doesn’t diminish the (significant amount of) weirdness bubbling
away under the surface. This weirdness emerges both musically (the off-key ‘The
Contrarian’, the dark piano of ‘DLB’, or the blackboard-scratch guitar of
‘Hourglass’ all belie this being ‘mainstream’) and lyrically, with themes of
religious, political and social disintegration underpinning everything. At
times really catchy – especially on the likes of the album best ‘So Long, and
Thanks for All the Fish’ – but always subversive and strange. This is an album
of dark, twisted ballads, not rock songs. Completely unexpectedly, for me this
is their best ever work.
sample track: So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish
1. BOSS KELOID – Melted on the Inch
What’s that at the very summit
of this year’s list? More
prog-sludge? This is a gargantuan
record, which I’ve played consistently since spring. On their third album,
Wigan’s Boss Keloid have hit on
something very special indeed. To say they’ve transcended their stoner rock
roots would be putting it mildly: Melted on
the Inch takes an unthinkably huge leap forward, with the band entering a
world of possibility. The core sound is now heavier than traditional stoner
rock, moving into sludge metal. But this is way
more than just a sludge album. It’s an album that pushes the creative limits
well beyond 99% of heavy music.
Melted on the Inch is
packed full of weird time changes, unexpected turns into mellow progressive
rock (think High on Fire getting
bored mid-song and handing over to Emerson,
Lake and Palmer), vocals that shift from seductive to barked (and back),
and even occasional use of what sounds suspiciously like a Hammond organ (I
mean, what sludge metal band uses a Hammond?). There are obvious comparisons to
AWOOGA’s debut album here: both are
unique progressive metal records that came out of nowhere and wowed me in 2018
– but where AWOOGA retain some of
the floaty space-rock qualities of many less heavy prog-rock bands, Boss Keloid make music that’s much more
rooted in the dirt. This is Picasso painting in a mud-pit. Heavy as hell, grimy, vast, complex and – above all else –
unexpected (even after many, many
listens), this is an absolute must for anyone who likes intelligent heavy
music.
sample track:
Tracks of the Year
The first of two extra lists, my top 10 songs of the year:
1. So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish – A Perfect Circle
2. Face behind Her Cigarette – Boy Azooga
3. Loner Boogie – Boy Azooga
4. Donnie Darko – Let’s Eat Grandma
5. Chronosiam – Boss Keloid
6. Bikini – Caroline Rose
7. Jromalih – Boss Keloid
8. In Walks Barabarella – Clutch
9. Play – Dave Grohl
10. Disillusioned – A Perfect Circle
Films of the Year
The second bonus/extra list:
my top 20 films of the year.
These are films that were
first released (in cinemas or on streaming services) in 2018 in the UK (NB:
some of them came out in late 2017 in the US or other markets).
20.
Mission
Impossible: Fallout
Lots to enjoy in the latest
instalment, particularly a number of the action sequences (and the extent to
which so many of those are practical – you still can tell). But the hype that this is the best of the
series (nope, still MI:3), or even
that it is one of the best action movies ever (really?) was all bit overblown.
Extremely fun but fairly forgettable.
19.
Mute
Duncan Jones’ future neo-noir
labour of love is definitely flawed, but it also puts that Warcraft debacle firmly behind him, has a number of excellent
moments and a standout performance from Justin Theroux.
18.
Incredibles
2
Maybe not quite as much fun
as the original – though that’d be a big ask – but this is another excellent Pixar
sequel that manages to hold on to what made its predecessor great while mixing
things up enough to keep the formula fresh. Jack-Jack needs a spin off.
17.
All
the Money in the World
Looking past all that
de-Spaceying furore, this is an effective, taut thriller built on character
dynamics and screenwriting, rather than action or flashy direction. Ridley
Scott at his most restrained, this is his best for a while.
16.
Black
Panther
I’ve watched it twice – a
good sign – and found much to love (the Busan car chase sequence!), but I also
think it was overrated, at least in the context of the wider MCU, with an
uneven second half and so-so climax.
15.
Downsizing
Thoughtful sci-fi with
allegorical threads touching on greed and oppression. Matt Damon is a surprisingly
good everyman. Though Christoph Waltz should cut it out already.
14.
Hold
the Dark
Perhaps not Jeremy Saulnier’s
finest work, but weird and unsettling, with slow build surprises in the moody
wilderness. Not even close to the wolf-hunter movie that the promotional stuff
made it look like it was going to be. Jeffrey Wright excellent, as ever.
13.
Cargo
A wonderful zombie film,
which prioritises the brains of its audience over the brains its zombie are
trying to eat. Like all the best zombie movies, much of it examines how awful
living people are, although there’s also significantly more hope and humanity
here than is often found in the genre. Includes one of the performances of the
year from Martin Freeman.
12.
Coco
Mexican Day of the Dead
afterlife fun, with a particular thematic focus on the importance of music. Another
excellent Pixar offering, and the second one to make this list: funny, sweet
and deep. Not up there with the very best Pixar, but still great, and a nice
reminder that they don’t just do sequels.
11.
Outlaw
King
The early rebellions of
Robert the Bruce are effectively realised but never glamorised in David
Mackenzie’s grimy historical epic. Easily dismissed as a ‘modern Braveheart’, this is actually a very
different film that approaches its historical subject matter with notable
reverence. Sometimes intimate, sometimes mud and blood on a grand scale.
10.
Avengers:
Infinity War
Almost too much going on for
its own good, but still just about managing to keep things balanced and have the
right degree of focus, Marvel’s latest attempt to conquer all is lots of fun. The
Spidey/Iron Man in space thread is the best. And that shocking finger click
will become a movie reference staple in years to come.
9.
Phantom
Thread
My expectations were
extremely high here, and once you stop trying to compare it to There Will be Blood, this is a
remarkable character study of two damaged, co-dependent people, with
dressmaking and nothing ever really happening (in a good way). Low key but made
with absolute precision, this sticks with you.
8.
22
July
After the disappointing Jason Bourne, it’s great that Paul
Greengrass’ next film – this wonderfully made and acted exploration of the
aftermath (personal and social) of real-life tragedy – is such a strong return
to form. It never quite recaptures the frenzy of the first third, but that’s
kind of the point: tragedies leave a long tail of harm that stretch well after
they’re ‘over’.
7.
Darkest
Hour
Gary Oldman’s performance as Winston
Churchill is so outstanding that it is possible to see Darkest Hour as a bit one trick pony, just a showcase for its
lead’s acting prowess. But that wouldn’t be fair: the screenplay is also fantastic,
as are the supporting cast. The wise ‘snapshot’ in time approach makes this an intimate
and focused biopic.
6.
Apostle
Billed as horror, but actually
quite a lot more than that. Unsettling, brutal and mysterious, with great performances
(Michael Sheen – yes please) and, well, some horror, this twisted low-budget
offering owes much to 70s classics like The
Wicker Man or The Devils.
5.
Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Emotional pain runs through
every fibre of this wonderful film, even when its laugh out loud funny. Frances
McDormand and Sam Rockwell got all the plaudits, but for me it was Woody Harrelson’s
decent but flawed (and tragically unwell) police chief who stole it. I hated In Bruges, and wasn’t much keen on Seven Psychopaths either, so getting
material of this quality from Martin McDonagh is a revelation.
4.
Solo:
A Star Wars Story
Neither as bad as I’d feared
(directorial merry-go-rounds; isn’t ‘young Han Solo’ just a description of the
guy in the original trilogy?), nor as great as I’d hoped (it is a Star Wars
movie, after all). It’s my least favourite of the four post-Disney-purchase
films so far, but that doesn’t mean it’s anything but enjoyable. Much to love,
particularly the early days of the Han/Chewie bromance and a movie-stealing
Donald Glover nailing Lando. Great to be mauled by that late reveal too.
3.
A
Quiet Place
Horror of the year, where
simplicity and slow build tension are king, but with much more to say than it
seems on its face. Emily Blunt is fantastic as always, but this is John
Krasinski’s film in more ways than one. Impressive in all respects, let’s hope
the upcoming sequel manages to maintain this high standard.
2.
The
Shape of Water
Del Toro’s worthy Oscar Best
Picture winner is beautifully weird, romantic and thrilling. Easily his best
work since Pan’s Labyrinth, it all
clicks (that score, Sally Hawkins’ outstanding performance, the seamless blend
of practical and CG effects). The best mute cleaning lady/disgusting frog-man
romance movie you’ll ever see.
1.
Hostiles
An amazing western, that
charts loss and hardship at the very edge of the civilized world, with both the
colonialists and the Native Americans painted from a palate of many colours: there’s
atrocity and humanity from all involved. Christian Bale doing his best work
since The Machinist, Rosamund Pike subtly
charting the process of recovery from unimaginable grief: this is brilliant on
the small, character-led scale. But it’s also sweeping and thematically grand.
NB: the best movie I actually
watched in 2018 isn’t eligible for
this list, as it came out in the UK in 2017: Luca Guadagnino’s exceptional love
story, Call Me by Your Name.
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