RARR 2018
best of friends & family
Ann Marie Scuderi (RARR)
Wala Cam - Chance the Rapper
Hockey - Rico Nasty
Emmanuel - Tolliver
Another Chance - My Brightest Diamond
Accusations - 070 Shake
Emmy Black (RARR)
Rat Kid Cool – Back to Bed
The Ophelias – Night Signs
The Mom’s – Soup Song
Janelle Monae – Make Me Feel
Calliope Musicals – Cosmic Poison Arrow
Top 5 rediscovered in 2018
Jimmies Chicken Shack – Bring Your Own Stereo (1999)
Recreation Arts and Pets (2014)
Pronoun – There’s no one new around you (2016)
The Can’t Tells – s/t (2011)
Emperor X – Western Teleport (2011)
Alyse Vellturo (pronoun)
Nobody - Cape Francis
Another Good Person - Charles Fauna
Easter Morning - Crook
Great No One - The Beths
Love It If We Made It - The 1975
Glenn Morrow (Bar/None)
Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album - John Coltrane
Rev. Moose (Marauder)
Andrew W.K. – You’re Not Alone (Bee & El/Sony)
Nive and the Deer Children – Feet First (Marauder)
Euringer – Euringer (Metropolis)
G Flip – “About You” (self-released)
She Drew The Gun – Revolution of Mind (Skeleton Key)
Alien Weaponry – Tū (Napalm Records)
Anna Burch – Quit the Curse (Polyvinyl)
Daughters – You Won't Get What You Want (Ipecac)
Ben Caplan – Old Stock (Under Control Entertainment, ltd.)
Mitski – Be the Cowboy (Dead Oceans)
Ramiro Restrepo (RARR)
Saved by Now - Now
A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships - The 1975 =
Love Is Dead - Chvrches
Liquor - Lydia
Bloom - Troye Sivan
Almost Everyday - Matt and Kim
Adult Contemporary - Milo Greene
And Then It Was Dark - I'm a Lion, I'm a Wolf
Pray for the Wicked - Panic! At the Disco
Ex:Re - Ex:Re
Mark Lipsitz (Bar/None)
Soak – Everybody Loves You
Justus Proffit & Jay Som – Invisible Friend
Coping Skills – Bagel Fruit Water
Natalie Prass – Short Court Style
Ezra Furman – Suck the Blood from My Wound
Chris “Frenchie” Smith (The Bubble)
My dream band!!! - Calliope Musicals!
Joe McGinnis (The Syndicate)
BODEGA, Endless Scroll (What's Your Rupture?)
Parquet Courts, Wide Awake! (Rough Trade)
Shy Boys, Bell House (Polyvinyl)
Spiritualized, And Nothing Hurt (Fat Possum)
Ty Segall Freedom's Goblin (Drag City)
Oneohtrix Point Never Age Of (Warp)
Foxing Nearer My God (Triple Crown)
Kississippi Sunset Blush (Bug Crusher)
Shannon and The Clams Onion (Easy Eye)
Blood Orange Negro Swan (Domino)
Jake Turner (VATX Entertainment)
Tell Me How You Really Feel - Courtney Barnett
Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves
Look Together - Wild Moccasins
High As Hope - Florence + the Machine
Royalty - EARTHGANG
Olympia - Olympia
Being Human in Public - Jessie Reyez
Hush Kids - Hush Kids
Kodi McKinney (Marauder)
Albums of 2018:
The Joy Formidable – Aaarth (Seradom)
IDLES – Joy as an Act of Resistance (Partisan)
Mitski – Be the Cowboy (Dead Oceans)
Frontierer – Unloved (self-released)
Daughters – You Won’t Get What You Want (Ipecac)
Cloud Nothings – Last Building Burning (Carpark)
US Girls – In a Poem Unlimited (4AD)
Iceage – Beyondless (Matador)
City Girl – Neon Impasse (self-released)
Jon Hopkins – Singularity (Domino)
Singles of 2018 that aren't "This is America," which of course was the best one:
G Flip, "About You" (self-released)
Hello June, "Mars" (self-released)
The Twilight Sad, "I/m Not Here [missing face]" (Rock Action)
Trentemøller, "Transformer Man" (hfn)
IDLES, "Colossus" (Partisan)
Jay Rock, "King's Dead" (TDE/Aftermath)
Daughters, "Less Sex" (Ipecac)
Channel Tres, "Jet Black" (GODMODE)
Meat Wave, "That's Alright" (No Trend)
Cry Club, "Walk Away" (self-released)
Lyle Hysen (The Royal Arctic Institute)
Top Ten in order they came up on my phone:
Sleep - "The Sciences"
John Coltrane "Both Directions At Once"
Cat Power - "Wanderer"
Gogo Penguin- "A Humdrum Star"
Kamall Williams - "The Return"
DOA - "Fight Back"
YLT - "There’s A Riot Going On"
Kendrick Lamar / various artists: Black Panther Soundtrack
The Necks - "Body"
Messthetics - "Messthetics"
Honorable mentions:
Joe Strummer - 001
Voivod - ‘The Wake'
Nels Cline 4 “Current Constellation”
War On Women - “Capture The Flag”
Julian Lage "Modern Lore"
Florian Weber- "Lucent waters"
Barbara Streisand- “Walls”
Sean Kiely
Adrianne Lenker - abysskiss
John Prine - The Tree Of Forgiveness
Yo La Tengo - There’s a Riot Going On
boygenius - boygenius
Mountain Man - Magic Ship
Gorillaz - The Now Now
Julian Lage - Modern Lore
David Crosby - Here If You Listen
Blake Mills - Look
Ty Segall - Freedom’s Goblin
Elephant Micah - Genericana
Dick Stusso - In Heaven
Daniel Walker (Owen Meany’s Batting Stance)
Pusha T - Daytona
Be The Cowboy - Mitski
Neko Case - Hell On
Mike Rosenberg (Glenn Morrow’s Cry for Help)
Parquet Courts-wide Awaaaaake! (Rough Trade)
John Prine-Tree Of Forgiveness (Oh Boy)
Rolling Blackouts C.F.-Hope Downs (Sub Pop)
Superchunk-What A Time To Be Alive (Merge)
Amanda Shires-To The Sunset (Silver Knife)
Wussy-What Heaven Is Like (Shake It)
Amy Rigby-The Old Guys-(Southern Domestic)
Albums I liked and wish I heard more of: Janelle Monae, Hinds, Goon Sax
Song Of The Year-Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks-Bike Lane from Sparkle Hard (Matador)]
Mike Sansevere (Future GenerationS)
Albums
Palberta - Roach Goin Down
Pink Siifu - Ensley
The Cowboys - Live At Tony's Garage
Earl Sweatshirt - Some New Songs
Warm Bodies – Warm Bodies
Lawn - Blood On The Tracks
KA - Orpheus vs. the Sirens
Maxo - Smile
Songs
Palberta - Sound of the Beat
Sheck Wes - Mo Bamba
U.S. Girls - MAH
Lil Peep - 4 Gold Chains
Drake - Nice For What
Cardi B - I Like It
JPEGMAFIA - Real Nega
BTS - DNA
Tris McCall (McCall’s Almanac)
Favorite experience: Take fifteen minutes, turn out the lights, and watch Tierra Whack's Whack World on YouTube. Then watch it again. The fifteen videos are so compelling that it may take a second pass to realize how great the music is.
Favorite lyrics: Ezra Furman's "Love You So Bad" and "I Lost My Innocence". That's some heavy-duty post-Springsteen queer storytelling.
Favorite rapper: Saba. Not just because of his unbelievable multi-part time-skipping performance on "Prom/King", but also his delirious guest verse on the Noname album. He may yet turn out to be Chicago's MVP.
Favorite moment: Kali Uchis on "Tyrant". At the beginning of the second verse, she sings "Word on the street you got hoes/I disappear like El Chapo". Gets me every time. Let me explain why. She's not just comparing herself to a badass Latin American criminal, although there is that. She's laying down her zero-tolerance policy. When she gets the word that her man is screwing around, no further discussion is necessary. She's out of that jail cell before he knows what hits him. No traces left and no fucks given. In a year of welcome statements of female autonomy and self-respect, this was the most succinct, and, for me, the most satisfying.
Favorite use of vintage Attractions-style combo organ: Caroline Rose, all over her Loner album. It really underscored the roller-derby-gone-awry feel of that set. Honorable mention: Woody Murder Mystery.
Favorite show I saw: Jenny Lewis at White Eagle Hall.
Favorite producer: I don't ask the universe for justice or the industry for fairness. I'm just saying that if Black Milk ever won a Grammy for what he does -- pretty much every year -- that'd be mighty nice. Honorable mention: Iman Omari for his beautiful work on the Cavalier album.
Favorite pop band that is not, for some inexplicable reason, very popular: Bad Bad Hats. Good songwriting, good performances, smarter-than-average lovelorn lyrics, moody atmosphere, judicious use of synthesizer, tasty electric guitar, winning frontwoman in Kerry Alexander, absolutely nothing not to like. I don't get it. Honorable mention: Rubblebucket, though I kinda get why that's a tricky pill to swallow.
Rookie of the Year, Jersey division: 070 Shake, for sure. And speaking of Shake --
Favorite Kanye West project: Teyana Taylor's K.T.S.E., by a country mile. As for 'Ye himself, I don't really care that he thought about killing me, or that he's concerned about what his daughter's ass will someday look like. Get some real problems, dude.
Some favorite songs (fifteen of them):
Natalia Lafourcade -- "Duerme Negrito"
Natalie Prass -- "Sisters"
Mildlife -- "The Magnificent Moon"
Metric -- "Now Or Never Now"
Belle & Sebastian -- "The Same Star"
Soccer Mommy -- "Scorpio Rising"
Drake -- "Nonstop"
Janelle Monae -- "Screwed/Django Jane" (because who among you can stop in the midst of that transition?)
Rosalia -- "Pienso En Tu Mira"
Rayland Baxter -- "79 Shiny Revolvers"
Pistol Annies -- "When I Was His Wife"
Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness -- "Paper Rain"
Elvis Costello & The Imposters -- "Suspect My Tears"
Fred Thomas -- "House Show, Late December"
Eleanor Friedberger -- "Make Me A Song"
Finally, all you fans of the 1975 owe Adam Young a biiiiiig apology.
With love from Jersey,
Tris McCall