My year in music 2018

Instead of ranking bests and favorites and whatnot in any kind of preferential order, I'm going the info-dump route this year with a list of all the new and reissued albums released in 2018 that I purchased with the money earned from my soul-destroying job (are there any other kinds?), the live shows I attended of my own free will, and the bands my band played shows with, in chronological order, plus some other music-related 2018 biz. I think it's pretty clear from these lists that I'm a 41-year-old man, but it's also clear I'm not dead yet. As I said to the cars blocking my exit from work and the guy driving the wrong way down the one-way street last Friday, "Happy fuckin' new year, assholes!"

2018 New Releases I Heard, Liked, and Bought
La Feline - Triomphe
NADINE - oh my
Berry - Everything, Compromised
Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin
Cash Rivers & The Sinners - Blue Balls Lincoln
MGMT - Little Dark Age
Guided By Voices - Ogre's Trumpet (live)
Field Music - Open Here
Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive
Oneida - Romance
The Breeders - All Nerve
Nap Eyes - I'm Bad Now
The Men - Drift
Bonny Doon - Longwave
Guided By Voices - Space Gun
Yo La Tengo - There's a Riot Going On
Neil Young + Promise of the Real - Paradox
Mint Mile - Heartroller
Charnel Ground - Charnel Ground
Melvins - Pinkus Abortion Technician
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
Eleanor Friedberger - Rebound
Afternoon Freak - The Blind Strut
Yonatan Gat - Universalists
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Sparkle Hard
Split Cranium - I'm the Devil and I'm OK
Neko Case - Hell-On
Michael Rault - It's a New Day Tonight
Express Rising - Fixed Rope II
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs
Protomartyr - Consolation
Death Grips - Year of the Snitch
Dead Cross - Dead Cross EP
Spotlights - Hanging by Faith
Mike Patton - 1922
The Carters - EVERYTHING IS LOVE
Ty Segall & White Fence - Joy
Chad Popple - A Popple People
Mudhoney - LiE (Live in Europe)
Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - With Animals
White Denim - Performance
Oh Sees - Smote Reverser
Papa M - A Broke Moon Rises
House of Feelings - New Lows
Terry - I'm Terry
Beak - >>>
Cat Power - Wanderer
Mudhoney - Digital Garbage
Marissa Nadler - For My Crimes
Cash Rivers & The Sinners - Do Not Try to Adjust Your Set I Am the Horizontal and the Vertical
Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want
Kurt Vile - Bottle It In
Jo Passed - Their Prime
Ty Segall - Fudge Sandwich
J Mascis - Elastic Days
Jeff Tweedy - Warm
Planet B - Planet B
Guided By Voices - Wine Cork Stonehenge 7"
Guided By Voices - 100 Dougs 7"
Mark Dippel - Mild Agoraphobia (got the download, record appears to be lost in the mail)

2018 Archival and Reissued Albums I Heard, Liked, and Bought
Various - Eccentric Soul: The Cash Label
Laraaji - Vision Songs, Vol. 1
Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir - Do Not Pass Me By, Vol. II
Eula Cooper - Let Our Love Grow Higher
Weirding Module - A Newer Age
Various - Eccentric Soul: The Saru Label
Foreign & Domestic - Your Mountain vs. My Iceberg
Apolo - Live in Stockholm
Bernadette Carroll - Laughing on the Outside 7"
Neil Young - ROXY: Tonight's the Night Live
Various - W2NG: 89.9 FM
Happy Rhodes - Ectotrophia
Various - Technicolor Paradise: Rhum Rhapsodies & Other Exotic Delights
John Somers - I Dreamt the Dreams that Kept Me from Sleep
Zuider Zee - Zeenith
Various - Teen Expo: The Cleopatra Label
Homeboy Sandman - Nourishment (Second Helpings)
The Scientists - Weird Love
Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen
Kamal Keila - Muslims and Christians
Various - Switched-On Eugene
Various - Basement Beehive: The Girl Group Underground
Colin Potter - A Gain
Blondie - Heart of Glass 12"
Spontaneous Overthrow - All About Money
The Scientists - The Scientists E.P.
Thelma Jones - I Can't Stand It 7"
Chhoti Maa - Caldo de Hueso
Normil Hawaiians - More Wealth than Money
Rodion G.A. - Rozalia
Neil Young - Songs for Judy

2018 Live Shows Attended
Martin Rev w/ Heavy Times, The Hentchmen, and Elisa Ambrogio
SXSW: Ex-Girlfriends, Painted Hands, Will Courtney & The Wild Bunch, Suspirians, Nameless Frames, Big Foot Chester, Waco Brothers, Ramblin' Deano, Moaning, Speedy Ortiz, Kurt Vile, Big Bill, Tommy Wright III, Yonatan Gat & Eastern Medicine Singers, Ice Cold Singles, John Doe
Chrome w/ Mind Spiders and Burnt Skull
Xylouris White w/ Charalambides and Soft Healer
Tejas Nights
Built to Spill and Afghan Whigs co-headlining tour w/ Ed Harcourt
Dollar General
John Wesley Coleman III w/ Abigail und Hansel and Evening Mirrors
Guided By Voices w/ Park Doing
Dead Random
Body/Head w/ The Austerity Program, USA/Mexico, and Exhalants
The Scientists w/ Meet Your Death and Teenage Cavegirl
John Wesley Coleman III w/ The Ripe and The Crack Pipes
Dollar General w/ Rocket 808
Lyres w/ Oneida, The Ugly Beats, and Semihelix
Ty Segall w/ Emmett Kelly
Kurt Vile & The Violators w/ Jessica Pratt

2018 Bands My Band Shared a Bill With
A group of bellydancers
Abstract Class
Chamberlain Greene
a bunch of musician friends at a hootenanny in our practice space
Abigail und Hansel
Suspirians
SXSW: The John-Pauls, The Crack Pipes, Kay Odyssey, Popper Burns, A Place to Bury Strangers, OBN IIIs (I could also say Obnox and METZ, but I was about to collapse from exhaustion, too many tacos, and too much alcohol, and missed their sets to go home and sleep)
Abigail und Hansel (again)
Aurora Plastics Co.
Alma Lee
Book of Shadows
ST 37
Gheri Signfeld's Atrophied Sac/Liquid Mice supergroup
Baby Robots
My Education
Dollar General
The Oysters
Apopka
Chronophage
Woozyhelmet
UtinUtin
Electric Mushrooms
Como las Movies
Matt Hoopengardner
Baby Robots (again)
Local Shadows
John Wesley Coleman III

Playing that shit
My band, The Early Stages, recorded a full-length album with a friend of ours over the summer, and we are in the dispiriting, humiliating, discouraging process of trying to find someone to put it out. We will probably end up putting it out ourselves. We have never been what this town or its various punk rock scenes want, but we keep grinding away, doing our thing, and finding kindred spirits in other local oddball groups who don't quite fit in with what the gatekeepers and schmoozers are perpetuating and promoting. I am proud of this record and glad we did it. I hope you can hear it next year.

In the process of trying to get someone interested in our record, I've been shamelessly sending it to musicians I like. Mostly I get a thank you and no further response, but someone who gave me solid feedback was Kid Millions from Oneida. Because of those message exchanges, I had the opportunity to take a drum lesson from him while he was in town playing a show, and it was a great experience. Besides being a really nice guy, he was an enthusiastic and effective teacher who helped me break some bad habits and improve my stick control technique, which has reduced the hand cramping that occasionally bothers me when I play. He also suggested I buy a drum pad and a couple rhythm pattern books, which I did, and practicing these patterns has become a meditative habit for me. I get sucked into it and lose track of time, and it's been a great thing for me this year, when depression keeps kicking me in the face and my job's bringing me down. And it's great to learn new things and improve at an instrument I've been playing since I was 10 after I'd hit a wall and leveled out. 
 

Internet Content

1. "Now We're Talkin' Yellow" by The Colour Lovers UK
2. "72 Turkeys" by Too Many Turkeys
3. "Swamp Ass (In Mid-July)" by Southside Sonny & The Port Authority Pranksters
4. "I'm Sick of Todd" by Todd's Neighbors
5. "Crank It Up (And Rock)" by Ruff Stuffing
6. "My Feet Are Possessed By Dancing Ghosts" by Terrified Barbara
7. "Road Trippin' On PCP" by Bong Sweater
8. "Road Trippin' on PCP Part 2" by Bong Sweater
9. "Now You're Feeling Wonderful" by Positive Michael
10. "Your Whole Family Died in a Trampoline Mishap" by The Indelicate News Breakers
11. "You'll Never Get Tired of This One" by Permanent Enjoyment
12. "It Gets Worse" by Future Adult
13. "70s Livin' (Is Just Alright With Me)" by Bucky & Sweetums
14. "Open Bar Doesn't Mean You Can Grab a Bottle of Scotch and Take It Home, Gary" by Sir Elton John
15. "Metal Machine Music, Side 4" by Carole King
16. "The Boys Are Back At It Again Once More" by Tan Lazlo
17. "Archipelagos in the Ocean of My Emotions" by Randy & Rhandy
18. "The Year Is 1977 and That Will Never Change" by The Calendar Dummies
19. "Is a Potato?" by The Third Cerebellum
20. "Nine Ways to Party" by 10 Ways to Party
21. "Hey, Jeff!" by There's Jeff
22. "Moving (Forward) By Moving Backwards (To the Side)" by Negative Sweat Ltd.
23. "Everybody Listen To This" by Bossy Pricks
24. "Copyright Infringement" by The Welcome Back Kotters
25. "This Can of Expired Peas Is Probably Okay To Eat" by Whisperin' Kip Simmons
26. "Bloodletting of the She-goat in the Burning Forest of the Succubi" by Betty Johnson
27. "This BBQ Stand Is Closed on Monday" by Disappointed Todd
28. Parade magazine read by my computer's text-to-speech software
29. "Beep Boop Bop (Computers Are Here)" by Floppy & The Disks
30. "Your Life Is Kinda Stupid" by Honest Rod & The Blunt Talkers

My favorite music of 2017

I didn't like much of what happened this year on a global, national, state, and personal level. I won't bore you with a recap. You're all living the nightmare, too, and are probably beating yourself up about what you could have done to stop the Fall of the Roman Empire 2: Mar-a-Lago Boogaloo. It was a bad-news-every-morning kind of year, and not just politically. (Contracting an extremely painful case of shingles in March was just one of the many lowlights.)  
The oppressive shittiness of the present moment has its positive side effects, however, one of which is a heightened gratefulness for the things in my life that are not awful. In that spirit of gratefulness, I present my favorite albums of 2017. 

My favorite records of the year

The Afghan Whigs - In Spades
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice
Bed Wettin' Bad Boys - Rot
Björk - Utopia
Circuit des yeux - Reaching for Indigo
Andrew Cohen & Light Coma - Unreality
Crystal Fairy - Crystal Fairy
Tim Darcy - Saturday Night
Destroyer - ken
The Feelies - In Between
Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band - Dreaming in the Non-Dream
Noah Georgeson - Osian
Guadalupe Plata - Guadalupe Plata 2017
Guided By Voices - How Do You Spell Heaven
Yasmine Hamdan - Al Jamilat
Mark Lanegan Band - Gargoyle
The Magnetic Fields - 50 Song Memoir
Man Forever - Play What They Want
John Maus - Screen Memories
METZ - Strange Peace
Obnox - Niggative Approach
OCS - Memory of a Cut Off Head
Oh Sees - Orc
Peacers - Introducing the Crimsmen
Priests - Nothing Feels Natural
Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent
Lee Ranaldo - Electric Trim
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - The French Press
Ty Segall - Ty Segall
Spotlights - Seismic
Tobin Sprout - The Universe and Me
Sweet Apple - Sing the Night in Sorrow
Moses Sumney - Aromanticism
Träd, Gräs och Stenar - Tack för Kaffet (So Long)
USA/Mexico - Laredo
Wand - Plum

Honorable mentions

Beck - Colors
Big Boi - Boomiverse
Circus Devils - Laughs Last
Dälek - Endangered Philosophies
Damaged Bug - Bunker Funk
Dead Cross - Dead Cross
Downtown Boys - Cost of Living
The Fall - New Facts Emerge
Feral Ohms - Feral Ohms
The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody
Guided By Voices - August By Cake
LCD Soundsystem - American Dream
Ted Leo - The Hanged Man (Kicked down to honorable mention solely because the drum sound is the worst I've ever heard on a commercially released recording. Why would you do that to your drummer, Ted Leo?)
Melvins - A Walk with Love and Death
Thurston Moore - Rock N Roll Consciousness
The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions
Queens of the Stone Age - Villains 
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - solo album series (Roman Lips, Zen Thrills, Chocolate Tumor Hormone Parade, Ensayo de un desaparecido, Azul mis dientes, Gorilla Preacher Cartel, Killing Tingled Lifting Retreats, Solid State Mercenaries, Birth of a Ghost, Doom Patrol)
Ty Segall - Fried Shallots
Spiral Stairs - Doris & The Daggers
Teen Judge - Teen Judge
Neil Young + Promise of the Real - The Visitor

Favorite reissues, archival releases, soundtracks

Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail) and Do Not Pass Me By
CAN - The Singles
The Creation - Action Painting
Crimpshrine - Free Box
Guided By Voices - Live from Austin, TX
Hüsker Dü - Savage Young Dü
Isis - Live VII
Alex Johnson - Operation Oasis
Laraaji - Vision Songs Vol. 1
Look Blue Go Purple - Still Bewitched
The Necessaries - Event Horizon
Noise Addict - 10,000 Kids with Guitars
Oneida - Live at Secret Project Robot
The Replacements - For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986
Jackie Shane - Any Other Way
Sheer Mag - Compilation
Super Static Fever - Silent Dynamic Torture
Valve Studio Orchestra - Dota 2 and Fight Songs: The Music of Team Fortress 2
Various Artists - Eccentric Soul: The Cash Label
Various Artists - Seafaring Strangers: Private Yacht 
Various Artists - Southwest Side Story
Various Artists - Warfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmares
Neil Young - Hitchhiker

Favorite album of 2016 I didn't get until 2017

75 Dollar Bill - Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock