TOP 200 TRACKS OF 2018 (151-200)

It’s that time of year – or it was about six weeks ago – when I embark on the farcical (and obviously impossible) task of listening to every song released in the preceding 12 months. My own playlists are combed through, along with countless other ‘end of year’ lists, from every genre possible, in an attempt to convince myself that I haven’t missed any gems.

If you wish to indulge my annual obsession (now in its 14th year) please listen below and then check out numbers 101-150, 51-100, and the top 50.

If you prefer, there are playlists galore below (well, three types as Soundcloud and I are currently seeing other people).

Listen on:

APPLE MUSIC / SPOTIFY / OPENWHYD or YOUTUBE

151. A Tribe Called Quest – 1nce Again (Rhythm Scholar AtariFunk 8-Bit Remix)

🕹️ A Tribe Called Quest vs. The Atari 2600! 🕹️
25 Atari Games were sampled for this remix!

Let’s go back 23 years (1996) for the rhymes…
and FURTHER back 42 years (1977) for the musical hardware!
(With some special help from the TR-808 from 1980!)

Phife and Q-Tip flow over Atari beats!

You can download Explicit, Clean and AtariDub versions for free too.

152. Benin City – Double or Nothing

I’m cheating a bit putting this one in as I first heard the track and a version of the ‘Last Night’ LP back in 2016. Indeed, ‘All Smoke, No Fire’ ,from the album, was my favourite of that year, but for various reasons the completed works didn’t get a proper release until this year.
2018 was a big year for the band, with a ton of the proverbial ‘critical acclaim’ coming for both the album and the play/theatrical show they built around it. ‘Double or Nothing’ is a fairly straightforward but utterly charming love song and would have been higher still but oddly I really prefer the demo/older version I heard in 2016. That’s the problem with occasionally hearing demos or early versions, you end up preferring them to the final form…for example, I still prefer the demos of the first Arctic Monkey’s album.
The band are working on new material for 2019!

153. Elma Orkestra – Factory Girls

Elma Orkestra: ‘I was commissioned by Ulster Architectural Heritage to write a piece about a building that was important to me. I chose to write about the shirt factories in Derry… specifically the girls who worked in them. ‘Factory Girls’ features the voice of Maggie McIntyre (1904-1982)’

154. Jonathan Wilson – Trafalgar Square

155. Jitwam – Desires

156. Vessel – Paplu (Love That Moves the Sun)

157. Hannah Silva – Puffer Jacket & Sushi

Talk in a bit is the debut record by Hannah Silva, an award-winning writer and sound poet. It was recorded at the La Sauna Recording Studio on Lake Varese in Italy, a lake which co-incidentally I can see from my bathroom window! (for various reasons I’m half in North London and half in Northern Italy this year)
One year ago, Swiss producer Alan Alpenfelt saw Silva perform at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and, inspired by her rhythmical energy and vocal skills, invited her to be the flagship artist on his new label. Silva’s lyrical tapestries are woven together with the acrobatic drummery of Swiss percussionist Julian Sartorius, the electro-acoustic virtuosity of Italian composer Luca Martegani and the noise distortions of Swiss cellist Zeno Gabaglio.

158. Broken English Club – Let’s Play

159. Squirrel Flower – Not Your Prey

160. Arctic Monkeys – Four out of Five

161. ROSALÍA – PIENSO – EN TU MIRÁ (Cap.3: Celos)

162. Surly – Thirteen

The EP is an ode to Poland’s rich jazz history whilst mixing in elements of Chicago’s footwork and juke scenes such as up-tempo broken beats and massive bass. Surly’s interest in Polish jazz isn’t completely random and stems from his father Tom Ludvigson – a well-known jazz musician in his own right. Tom Ludvigson has previously played with Krzysztof Ścierański of the legendary Polish group, Laboratorium and passed on the knowledge and love for Polish jazz onto his son.