In My Ear – The 2018 Playlist

‘Tis the season for list-making! As a refresher, the ‘why‘ for this blog comes from a lifetime of loving music and an ever-evolving musical taste. But, the name and real inspiration come from annual versions of this playlist that I’ve kept for the last 8+ years. 

And, as I commented/snarked last year at this time, perhaps the only other people making lists in December more feverishly than my 6 and 4.5 yo children are music critics, pundits, and fans. Top Ten Albums! Best Album of the Year! Best Songs of the Year! Best New Artist! Broken out by genre and category! 

I’m on record as generally sucking at this sort of ranked list making, so I don’t really attempt it. But, I do spend time each December thinking about and collecting together songs, records, and artists that have stayed with me most over the course of the year. 

So, without further ado…..the list please!

Apple Music subscribers can listen here.

Spotify subscribers can listen here.

Below the fold, I touch on four themes that emerged for me in 2018. And, scroll down a bit further after that for the written playlist, extremely loosely organized in chronological order by release dates.

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In My Ear 2018 – Themes 

• Hip-hop and R&B are on fire — The most creative, eclectic, genre-defying, genre-manipulating, progressive music and musicians I heard in 2018 are from the hip-hop and/or R&B worlds. Not to mention, the sheer volume of output from artists of these genres–mainstream acts and more indie/underground groups– was incredible and, frankly, totally overwhelming. Hip-hop and R&B ain’t dead; they are vibrantly alive and kicking ass.
  

• Veteran musicians; new sounds — A lot of veteran artists and bands are still playing music decades after they started, are still touring, and still releasing new music. And, some of my favorite releases this year were from veteran groups I wasn’t familiar with, but who caught my ear because they were trying out some new stuff. Damian Jurado and Frank Turner to name two examples. 

• Introspection and speaking out  — Turns out, musicians are just as pissed off, concerned, confused, anxious, scared, fired up, beaten down, exhausted, and unsure of what comes next as the rest of us. And, all of those emotions are showing up in the music of 2018. In particular, I tuned into artists who were thinking deeply and candidly about themselves in the midst of this world around them (Mac Miller; SABA). Also, those who were speaking up/out, tackling real issues through their music, and, in some cases, just going hyper political (Childish Gambino; Will Hoge). 

• Powerful new voices getting airplay — Women. LGBTQ artists. Artists of color.  The equity and diversity stats for the music remain grim at the macro level (the ones that ultimately count, i.e. who is making decisions), BUT there are a lot of diverse artists and producers grabbing headlines, streams, and audience/market share. 

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In My Ear – The 2018 Playlist

• Dijon  — “Violence)” [2017 release] / “Wild”
• N.E.R.D & Kendrick Lamar — “Don’t Don’t Do It!” [2017 release]
• Bedouine  — “Solitary Daughter” [2017 release]
• Knox Fortune — “Lil Thing” [2017 release]
• Morrissey — “Spent the Day in Bed [2017 release]
• Daniel Cesar — “Get You (feat. Kali Uchis)” [2017 release]
• IDER — “Body Love” [2017 release]
• Nathaniel Ratliff & The Night Sweats — “You Worry Me”
• Khruangbin — “Maria También” / “Lady and Man”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Con Todo El Mundo
• Steven Bamidele — “Things Could Be Better”
• Brother Moses — “Cigarettes”
• Henry Canyons — “It Takes Time” / “Well Acquainted Strangers” / “Not Today”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — La Cote West – EP
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Cool Side of the Pillow
• Rhye — “Song For You”
• Field Music — “Count it Up”
• MGMT — “Little Dark Age”
• Will Hoge — “Thoughts & Prayers”
• Becky and the Birds — “Holding On”
• Mt. Joy — “Silver Lining” / “Sheep”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick– Mt. Joy
• Wu-Lu — “Storms”
• Ezra Collective — “The Philosopher”
• Jade Bird — “Good Woman” / “Lottery”
• Sudan Archives — “Come Meh Way” [2017 release] / “Nont For Sale”
• Sabiyha — “Bird”
• Hearts Hearts — “Phantom/Island”
• Jonh Prine — “Summer’s End”
• Lucy Dacus — “Night Shift” / “The Shell”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Historian
• Bishop Nehru — “Potassium”
• Charlotte Day Wilson — “Let You Down”
• Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio — “Concussion”
• JPEGMAFIA — “Baby I’m Bleeding”
• Ashley McBryde — “Radioland”
• Kali Uchis — “Nuestro Planeta (feat. Reckon)” / “Your Teeth in My Neck”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Isolation
• Now, Now — “Yours” / “SGL”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Saved
• Partials — “Fear of Silence”
• Shirt — “Flight Home”
• Leon Bridges — “Bad Bad News” / “Shy”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Good Thing
• Allina Baraz — “Fallin”
• Takn and the Bangas — “Smoke.Netflix.Chill”
• Kadhja Bonet — “Mother Maybe”
• Soulive — “Sidekick”
• Saba — “LIFE” / “CALLIGRAPHY”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — CARE FOR ME
• The Internet — “Roll (Burbank Funk)” / “La Di Da”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Hive Mind
• Frank Turner — “Be More Kind” / “1933”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Be More Kind
• Damien Jurado — “Percy Faith” / “Allocate”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — The Horizon Just Laughed
• Shake Graves — “Kids These Days”
• Arctic Monkeys — “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” / “Four out of Five”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
• Black Thought — “Twofifteen” / “Soundtrack to Confusion”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Streams of Thought, Vol. 1
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Streams of Thought, Vol. 2
• Valley Queen  — “Supergiant”
• Fantastic Negrito — “Bad Guy Necessity”
• ALLIPHA — “Minds on Fire”
• The Family Crest — “Rest”
• Okay Kaya — “Vampire”
• Donny McCaslin — “What About the Body”
• Jorja Smith — “Lost & Found”
• Meg Myers — “Numb”
• Israel Nash  — “Rolling On” 
• Juan Solorzano —  “Take it from Me” / “Should’ve Been You”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Time Machine
• Marlowe — “Lost Arts” / “The Basement”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Marlowe
• Vacationer  — “Being Here”
• Masego — “Lady Lady”
• Rob Larkin & The Wayward Ones — “She Can Flow”
• Aeris Roves — “Feel Me”
• Amos Lee  — “All You Got is a Song”
• St. Paul & The Broken Bonse — “Mr. Invisible”
• Olfaur Arnalds — “re:member”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — re:member
• Mac Miller — “Hurt Feelings” / “2009”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Swimming
• Hippo Campus — “Bambi”
• Arlie — “Barcelona Boots”
• The Midnight Hour — “Questions (feat. CeeLo Green)”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — The Midnight Hour
• New Fame – “Proof” / “Best Believe”
• EARTHGANG — “Stuck (feat. Arin Ray)”
• The Beths — “Future Me Hates Me”
• Oh Pep! — “25” / “What’s the Deal With David?”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — I Wasn’t Only Thinking About You
• The Lone Bellow — “Restless”
• KWAYE — “Straight Lines”
• NAO — “Make It Out Alive (feat. SiR)” / “Saturn (feat. Kwabs)”
  • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Saturn
• Airpark — “Devotion”
• Mick Jenkins — “Stress Fracture (feat. Mikhail Anthony)”
• Free Nationals — “Beauty & Essex (feat. Daniel Cesar)
• Buddy — “Trouble on Central”
• Roy Kinsey — “Mrmr” / “Rbg”
• • In My Ear 2018 Album Pick — Blackie: A Story by Roy Kinsey
• Medicine Man Revival — “Work It Out”
• The 1975 — “Love It If We Made It”
• JID — “Off da Zonkeys”
• Masta Ace & Marco Polo — “Breukelen “Brooklyn” (feat. Smif-N-Wessun)”
• Haley Heynderickx & Max Garcia Conniver — “Slow Talkin'”
• Linker e os Caramelows — “Calmo”
• Noname — “Self”
• Anderson .Paak — “6 Summers”
• NIKO IS — “Hum”