Trotter's Top Ten Taster 2018

So, not a Top Ten of Tracks this year, as I know as much about singles nowadays as House of Cards' writers know about ending a quality series.  So instead, best tracks from albums that I'd recommend but which didn't quite get into the list of the Top Ten Albums.  Yes, 2018's album game was very strong.  Spotify playlist here.


'Dream Wife' by Dream Wife (UK Chart Number 60) 

Normally an album I really like at the start of the year is still a shoe-in for the Top Ten, but with the quality of records so high this time round,  Dream Wife's debut of grungy, indie-rock goodness just misses out sadly.

Look at: F.U.U.





'Marauder' by Interpol (UK Chart Number 6) 

The pain of not including an Interpol album in my Top Ten!  Still a good effort, but I didn't find myself going back to it anywhere near enough to warrant a place in the Ten, in all honesty.  Still blisteringly good live, even in the blazing heat of Summer 2018 supporting The Cure at Hyde Park which was definitely gig of the year. Even if it was a bit odd watching two 'none more goth' bands in the bright sunshine.

Look at: Number 10


'No Shame' by Lily Allen (UK Chart Number 8)

She may say some stupid things at times (or, more likely, things that can be taken out of context and shoved on the front page to sell papers) but at least Lily Allen is saying something when so many of her peers roll out the fatuous 'say nothing' truisms so as not to diminish their record sales.  As catchy as ever, and as self-deprecating with it, highlights include 'Three', a mother's guilt for leaving her child to go to work told from the perspective of the child, and 'Come on Then' a clap back to her social media critics.

Look at: Come on Then


'World's Strongest Man' by Gaz Coombes (UK Chart Number 12)

One theme of 2018 is definitely that of the former bandmate gone solo, and maybe not onto greater success, but in Gaz Coombes case, very much fertile ground, on another (his third) solo release.

Look at: Walk the Walk






'Suspiria' by Thom Yorke (UK Chart Number 13)

Not to be confused with Susudio by Phil Collins.  if you didn't know this was a sound track to a horror movie you could probably guess it by the unsettling orchestration and discordant choirs on many of the tracks.  But let's face it, Radiohead have been sounding like that for some time now, anyhow.



Look at: Open Again (live)




'All Nerve' by The Breeders (UK Chart Number 9)

Reunions are also very much the thing these days, and ten years since their last release, and with Kim Deal looking very unlikely to ever grace the stage with the rest of The Pixies, The Breeders returned with an album generally as good as they've ever released and a slew of songs opening the album as good as any this year.  You can't beat them belting out 'Gigantic' live either.

Look at: 'Wait in there Car'

'My Name is Safe in Your Mouth' by Leila Moss 

The Duke Spirit front woman's solo debut, more quiet and considered than her day job, but doing exactly what a solo effort should - something quite different from the band she records with.

Look at: Memories and Faces





'Francis Trouble' by Albert Hammond Jr. 

Arguably, Albert Hammond, Jr. has now made more good albums than his more famous band The Strokes.  He continues his brighter, breezier but still as economically catchy solo career here (less breezy when you learn lyrically this is about his stillborn twin brother).  Can't help comparing him to Graham Coxon who does a similar, if more lo-fi, thing in his own forays away from Blur.

Look at: Stop and Go

'Joy as an Act of Resistance' by Idles (UK Chart Number 5)

Have to say I'm not as blown away by Idles as most of the music press, but there's definitely something special in the soul-baring lyrics of Joe Talbot that echo Ian Dury and The Streets' Mike Skinner's British Everyman with a Brain, touching on everything from overbearing masculinity in the brilliantly titled 'Never Fight a Man with a Perm' to depression and loss in 'Samaritans'.

Look at: Samaritans


'Dead Boys EP' by Sam Fender

There's rather a lot of soul-bearing male singers touching on very raw subjects in this list, definitely a theme in 2018.  Sam Fender has just been named Brits Critics Choice for 2019 so lets hope this doesn't stick a curse on him.Evocative subject matter, guitar-led music that sounds fresh and a voice that reminds me of the very-under-rated Scott Matthews or even, at times, Jeff Buckley - big shoes (and expectations) to fill in 2019.

Look at: Dead Boys and That Sound

And you can hear a couple of tracks from each album here