Late addition, but everything new I listened to in December... 1.) “Virtue” by William Ryan Key 2.) “Tetsuo and Youth” by Lupe Fiasco 3.) “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships” by The 1975 4.) “Coloring Book” by Chance the Rapper 5.) “Georgia” by Brian Fallon 6.) “¡Hey, Hey Prisoners!” by Farewell Continental 7.) “A Very Spidey Christmas” Compilation 8.) “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” Soundtrack Fell out of my habit of listening to albums incrementally at the gym and started watching YouTube videos instead, haha! Still, bring on 2019!
December in Review: Well, we did it! The year is over, and I've semi-successfully listed (just about) every album I've listened to for the first time in 2018. It's a lot: 321 albums, 247 of which came out this year. Being on streaming services definitely helped... that has to be some kind of personal record. Honestly, I'm mainly happy that I was able to keep up with tracking and writing about it every month. All that said, I didn't actually listen to a lot of new albums this month, because (1) the 1975's fantastic new album has been occupying a lot of my headspace and (2) I've been trying to work out my final EOTY list. (Check out my top 50 below, which is set up in tiers.) The David Crosby album was quite a shock --- I went in not expecting much, but the first song "Glory" moved me so much off the bat that the whole project became a fantastic ride from there. I also really enjoyed how Bad Bunny is able to mold his sound to different genres, even though I think the language barrier is going to stop it from resonating with me long term. There's something about his voice that's warm and malleable; it sounds like the future of pop music. I think one of my main takeaways from this year is that I want to spend more time appreciating the music that I know I like. Looking back at my full 2018 albums list, there's so many albums that might have risen in my estimation if I'd just given them more time (such as the Spiritualized album, which I need to take a long car ride with to appreciate). Would it be better if I'd listened to 160 new albums instead of 320? Who knows... some of my favorite albums from the end of the year (like Petal's Magic Gone or Let's Eat Grandma's I'm All Ears) hit me on the 4th or 5th listen, but I probably also wouldn't have even given it the time of day if I was focusing on trying to listen to less music. Ultimately it's been a wonderful year for music, and I am as thankful for it as anything else in my life. Top 2018 albums of the month: Bad Bunny, David Crosby, Spiritualized Recommended Songs I discovered this month: Parcels - "Tieduprightnow" River Tiber - "Deep End" Majid Jordan - "OG Heartthrob" The Midnight - "Comeback Kid" David Crosby - "Glory" BONUS TUNES: Here's a link to my "Songs from 2018" Spotify playlist, which has one song I discovered each day of the past year. It's not my all-time favorites from the year, as much as a fun shuffle that gives you the contours of music I've enjoyed! Matt Chylak's 50 Albums of the Year: 1. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships --- 2. Lucy Dacus - Historian 3. Soccer Mommy - Clean 4. Rayland Baxter - Wide Awake 5. Ruston Kelly - Dying Star 6. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour 7. Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer --- 8. Petal - Magic Gone 9. Field Report - Summertime Songs 10. boygenius - boygenius 11. 6LACK - East Atlanta Love Letter 12. Teyana Taylor - K.T.S.E. 13. Pusha T - DAYTONA 14. Brothers Osborne - Port Saint Joe 15. Lori McKenna - The Tree --- 16. Caroline Rose - LONER 17. Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears 18. Brian Fallon - Sleepwalkers 19. The Beths - Future Me Hates Me 20. Wooden Shjips - V. 21. Now, Now - Saved 22. Big Red Machine - Big Red Machine 23. Nao - Saturn 24. Christine and the Queens - Chris 25. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy 26. Drake - Scorpion --- 27. Tierra Whack - Whack World 28. Leon Bridges - Good Thing 29. Charlie Puth - Voicenotes 30. Mt. Joy - Mt. Joy 31. Robyn - Honey 32. Lupe Fiasco - DROGAS WAVE 33. Restorations - LP5000 34. Steve Moakler - Born Ready 35. The Aces - When My Heart Felt Volcanic 36. Fickle Friends - You Are Someone Else 37. Bahamas - Earthtones 38. The Night Game - The Night Game 39. Natalie Prass - The Future and The Past 40. ROSALÍA - El Mal Querer 41. MGMT - Little Dark Age 42. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer 43. Superorganism - Superorganism 44. Westerman - Ark EP 45. Liz Cooper & the Stampede - Window Flowers 46. Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog 47. JID - DiCaprio 2 48. Camp Cope - How To Socialise & Make Friends 49. Haley Heynderickx - I Need to Start a Garden 50. American Pleasure Club - a whole fucking lifetime of this