Sure, we don’t live in the age of The Beatles or Fleetwood Mac, but that doesn’t mean that there is still amazing music being made. While I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to music, I’m not the kind of snob that thinks there is no modern music that could ever trump The Beatles or Led Zeppelin. Honestly, I like new music just as much as the old stuff.
However, I’m going to shift my focus off the classics and focus on the new stuff. There are some amazing albums that have come out in recent years, and I’d be mistaken if I didn’t say that some of the best albums have come out this year! But I’d also be very much mistaken if I said that there weren’t garbage albums coming out as well.
Here are three of my must-listen albums and one album that I absolutely hate that doesn’t live up to the hype.
- Midnight in a Moonless Dream - The Buttertones
This album is somewhere between a punk album and a spaghetti western soundtrack (one of their previous albums sounded straight out of a Tarantino film) with full saxophone solos cutting through the rest of the music. They are definitely influenced by older music (think crooners, jazz, and old school punk), but their sound is unique and different. This has been one of my favorite albums to come out in 2018.
- Apricot Princess - Rex Orange County
If you like jazz, you might like this album too! Rex mixes pop and jazz sensibilities to create a uniquely angsty and sweet sound. Rex is a young guy, so a lot of what he sings about can be related to by everyone.
He doesn’t complicate his music with difficult to understand vernacular, his music is raw and sounds more like a conversation than a piece of high art.
- Awesome Wave - Alt J
If you want to talk about different, then Alt J is an example of how music is changing. There is nothing quite like it. Honestly, I think that you really ought to give this album a few listens through before you decide how you feel about Alt J.
And the one album that doesn’t live up to the hype:
- Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino - Arctic Monkeys
I have been hearing this album all over the indie stations and quite frankly, I don’t understand why. I think that Turner was trying to pull a Father John Misty on us all with this odd concept album, but it didn’t quite translate beyond the single “4 stars out of 5”. In all, don’t believe the hype surrounding this album… That being said, I’m still going to see them on the tour. I’ll just take the opportunity to get a beer when they play anything new, haha!