Pusha T - DAYTONA (GOOD Music/Def Jam, 2018)

If Kanye West did one good thing this year, it was the 7-track rap album. This album clocks in at 21 minutes and it's a beaut, killers from beginning to end, book-ended by two absolute classics - "If You Know You Know" and "Infrared". The latter, of course, with its thinly-veiled jabs at Drake, set off the beef of the year. I thought at the time Drake shouldn't even bother responding - let's face it, ghostwriting jabs are nothing new, dude's gonna have to live with them his whole career, whatever, just move on. But nope. Classic cranky Drake, rushed to the studio like it was Meek Round 2, put out "Duppy Freestyle", and was promptly annihilated so hard with "The Story of Adidon" that he's spent the whole summer in damage control mode. Does anyone even remember what "Duppy Freestyle" sounds like anymore? But alas. I bring up Drake because this album also presents an interesting juxtaposition between the two - DAYTONA, ultra lean at 21 minutes and one of the best reviewed hip hop albums of the year, compared to Drake's flabby double disc that, despite setting streaming records, has earned a collective yawn critically speaking. I just find the differences interesting. Back to DAYTONA - Kanye's production is phenomenal. Sample-heavy in the classic Ye style, yes, but dark and nasty and perfectly suited for Pusha's equally venomous flow. I could've done without the Ye feature on "What Would Meek Do?" (especially the "poop scoop" reference) but I digress. A stunner otherwise. And that album art is sublime too. Whitney Houston's bathroom? Unreal. Yuuugh.

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Eartheater - IRISIRI (Pan, 2018)

Eartheater first came on my radar (and many others) with 2 Hausu Mountain tapes in 2015. She makes glitchy, disorienting music, combining electronics and synthesized percussion with voice, guitars and who knows what else. The whole thing is a confusing stew, kind of reminiscent of Inga Copeland but I would say even more detached from "song". Didn't do much for me.

Kevin Drumm - Jury Prize (Karl Schmidt Verlag, 2018)

Here's a new kd album on Tom Smith's Karl Schmidt Verlag label that's very much the opposite of some of the kd we've heard earlier this year - namely, it's loud as fuck. There's one 53-minute track here, "Schmickedtwice (Jury Prize)" and it sounds as chaotic and unhinged as anything from Drumm, certainly a return to the noisy Sheer Hellish Miasma days but sonically on par with analog Merzbow. Recorded this year though so not an old recording. It sounds like there's vocals buried way deep, somebody screaming through the TV static, maybe even some percussion? This one's a heater.

Albums of the Year 2017 // New Releases

//40 Migos Culture (300 Entertainment) //39 Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein Stranger Things 2: A Netflix Original Series Soundtrack (Lakeshore) //38 Unsane Sterilize (Southern Lord) //37 Hans Zimmer & Benjamin Wallfisch Blade Runner 2049: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Epic/ASG) //36 Ricardo Villalobos Empirical House ([a:rpi:r]) //35 Brockhampton Saturation II (Question Everything Inc./Empire) //34 Fire-Toolz Drip Mental (Hausu Mountain) //33 Clams Casino Instrumental Mixtape 4 (no label) //32 Yves Tumor Experiencing the Deposit of Faith (no label) //31 Lil Yachty Teenage Emotions (Virgin/EMI) //30 Thriftworks The Feather and the Sword (no label) //29 Paul White & Danny Brown Accelerator (R&S) //28 Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke & Oren Ambarchi This Dazzling, Genuine "Difference" Now Where Shall It Go? (Black Truffle) //27 Nazoranai Beginning to Fal...

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