best of Pink Matter's Best Of 2018 | Albums: 25-1 | FINISHED

[Jet]

Woah shocked to see Golden Hour  

 

Man of the woods is a hot mess  

[volition]

i feel bad that dream pop isn't for you, that's like the asexuality of music

[Love Drought]

I agree with Man Of The Woods, Ye (though I'd argue that he redeemed himself with KSG), Joyride and So Sad So Sexy. 

I remember enjoying Golden Hour when I first listened to it but otherwise I kind of forgot about it. It's a cute album but I understand why people would think it's overrated 

[Mark Rih]

Poor MOTW, but we can see why it's here. It still has some great songs imo (Breeze, Say Something, HH)

 

I also get why you didn't like GH, it's perfectly fine and I can lowkey relate!

[mokitsu]

ye was trash, forgot to even put it in my disappointments... :skull: didn't expect much from nasir and it sucked, agree on SiR

golden hour and 7 ok werk

[madonnas]

I'm really not a big country fan at all but I really liked Kacey's album.  to me, I get a lot of singer-songwriter type vibes and I put her in the same category as Tori Amos/Fiona Apple etc.

[Pink Matter]

Today I'll be doing a Best New Artist section. I'll be highlighting 4 artists that I've come across that I feel are very underrated, have impressed me with their current output, and have the potential to make even more good/great music in the future. Think of this as me giving these guys some much needed payola! In the end, I'll rank them based on quality as of now and overall potential.

 

Best New Artist

 

Ama Lou (18)

 

 

If y'all noticed, I already highlighted Ama somewhat during my EP countdown (so I hope some of y'all checked it out ). Y'all know how YT gives recommendations in the sidebar of whatever video you're watching? That's pretty much how I discovered Ms. Ama Lou. And I was kinda hooked! I might've been watching a Kali Uchis video when I saw this, which would make total sense. While she's no Whitney Houston, Ama's voice is nonetheless very captivating to me. Like Ms. Uchis, Ama uses a breathy, sing-talk singing style that I'm a sucker for. In the wrong hands it just ends up being corny and try-hard. With Ama, it's anything but as she oozes swagger, charisma, and E•MO•TION all throughout the songs on DDD. And at the tender age of 18, she's shown to be fairly aware of the political climate she lives in as indicated in earlier singles she's released like TBC and Lost My Home, which just makes me excited to see where she goes in the future.

 

See: Tried Up, from DDD

 

Cosmo Pyke

 

 

This cutey look familiar?

 

 

He's another artist that I found while looking through recommendations, particularly through Apple Music for an artist that's also in this countdown. Much like the other artist later in the countdown, he's got the bluesy, indie rock sound with small hints of psychedelia and reggae sprinkled throughout going on and a voice that matches it perfectly. On his 2017 EP Just Cosmo, he documents aspects of his youth and personal life and creates a warm, carefree atmosphere that both allows the content he sings about to grow and gives the listener to opportunity to reflect on themselves as well. It's very interesting to hear such an actualized sound from such a new artist. Most artists certainly have an idea of what avenues they want to take their music and experiment with different sounds, but with Just Cosmo, it seems the lad's polished the sound he wants already and is ahead of the curve. Given what he's released so far, the possibility of making huge waves is certainly is his future.

 

See: Chronic Sunshine, from Just Cosmo

 

Suzi Wu (20)

 

 

At the beginning of the year, I told myself I'd do my best to search out new artists and songs to listen to by searching through the dozens of music blogs there are on the interwebs. In comes Suzi. Back in January I was looking through Pigeons and Planes and came across this article on her that really piqued my interest. And when I got into Teenage Witch, the personality that she exuded and the energy that I was met with was infectious and kept me coming back for me. Her music gives me punk vibes with some elements of rock music, mixed with sweet melodies and a certain pop sensibility to it and as a vocalist she seems to have her own unique drawl that adds extra depth to her music. Not bound by any labels, some would consider her music to be "wonk rock", while others would simply say she makes pop punk, while she herself would more aptly describe her music as electronic grunge. Maybe you as the listener should decide what kind of music she makes for yourself  

See: Taken Care Of, from Teenage Witch

See also: Grim Reaper, from Error 404 EP coming out 1/18/19  

 

Yellow Days (18)

 

 

ahhh George  

Some of you may know him from last year when I tried to rope a bunch of you guys into listening to his 2017 mixtape Is Everything Okay In Your World?. Well here I am, back with some more payola! I first discovered Yellow Days on KTT when a thread for Hurt in Love was posted and it was at that point that I knew I'd stan for life (and that I'd never get sick of his hoe ass)! Like I was alluding to with my Cosmo Pyke write up, Yellow Days and he both have a similar blues/indie rock style going on. But the great thing is, despite the similarities in their sounds, they both have things that make them different, so it's not like I'm listening to the same artist. While Cosmo's music felt warm and carefree to sort of mask some of the tough times he's been in, YD's is usually more somber with a sense of hopefulness to it. There are voices are also pretty different so either one might be more any of your guys' liking. And it's great to follow George as he's progressing with his music since his latest offerings seem to allude to a more positive outlook on life! With the most music released out of any of the other artists in this countdown, it comes as no surprise that he's the one with the most actualized sound and the one who will most likely fully reach his potential.

 

See: How Can I Love You?, from non-album single

 

Rank in terms of most potential to least potential:
 

Ama Lou

Suzi Wu

Cosmo Pyke

Yellow Days

 

Yellow Days and Cosmo Pyke both already have a sound that's distinct and finalized somewhat so they have less room to grow than the other two (though that's not to say there's no room for improvement for either of them). Suzi is somewhere in the middle; Teenage Witch to me already sounds actualized but there's a lot more she can do with that sound that I hope she explores more on Error 404. Ama Lou is at the top because I think she has only just figured out what sound she wants to explore (if you check her 2016/7 singles, even though I like them, they do sound pretty generic). DDD shows her taking steps in a brighter direction and I hope 2019 shows her taking that next step.

 

Rank in terms of overall quality as of now:

 

Yellow Days

Cosmo Pyke

Suzi Wu

Ama Lou

 

Yellow Days wins this just off the fact that his highs are just as high as the others, and he just has a larger catalog at the moment. Ama is at the bottom because even though she's starting to get on the right track, her earlier output brings her down a notch. Cosmo and Suzi are in the middle.

[Pink Matter]

14 hours ago, Jet said:

Woah shocked to see Golden Hour  

 

Man of the woods is a hot mess  

A lot of people were it seems  

And yeah JT needs to get it together  

 

11 hours ago, volition said:

i feel bad that dream pop isn't for you, that's like the asexuality of music

It might just be a BH thing (though I doubt it). Any other dream pop you'd recommend?

 

11 hours ago, Love Drought said:

I agree with Man Of The Woods, Ye (though I'd argue that he redeemed himself with KSG), Joyride and So Sad So Sexy. 

I remember enjoying Golden Hour when I first listened to it but otherwise I kind of forgot about it. It's a cute album but I understand why people would think it's overrated 

It's crazy because he really did get in his bag for KSG + all of his Wyoming sesh features. So I'm hoping it's a matter of being focused.

I think ATRL was doing a bit too much with GH cuz I expected to hear something that would blow me away.

 

5 hours ago, Mark Rih said:

Poor MOTW, but we can see why it's here. It still has some great songs imo (Breeze, Say Something, HH)

 

I also get why you didn't like GH, it's perfectly fine and I can lowkey relate!

Yeah JT had a handful of solid songs but he needs to come harder next time (hopefully he doesn't take another 5 years to drop an album )

And our minds, ugh it amazes me

5 hours ago, mokitsu said:

ye was trash, forgot to even put it in my disappointments... :skull: didn't expect much from nasir and it sucked, agree on SiR

golden hour and 7 ok werk

I'm a messy bitch that lives for drama

 

2 hours ago, madonnas said:

I'm really not a big country fan at all but I really liked Kacey's album.  to me, I get a lot of singer-songwriter type vibes and I put her in the same category as Tori Amos/Fiona Apple etc.

With this in mind, I might give it another shot. I gave BH lots of chances to grow on me so I think I should extend the same courtesy to Kacey.

-

Next update is here. Hope you guys like it

 

 

@keerbyriri @Kang. @Tom Vercetti @Maddox @Navyofbadgals @Body Electrician @Wicked @artangel @TRF. @PrinceMichaelFan @Clueless @Superpower @Tsareena @theblackestday @Love Drought @Vilppu @K$Ellie @DAP @madonnas @mokitsu @Eeveelution @ChapelHooker @volition @Mark Rih @prézli @TheWayWeWere @Vxspertine

[TheWayWeWere]

MOTW was disappointing, and yeah, I'm surprised how he managed to do worse album than Part 2

everything Kanye does this year is a mess  

SSSS and Golden Hour are not belong to this list tho :biblio:  

[Uncatena]

I liked the few Yellow Days songs I heard, really need to give his album a listen. i didn't know he is only 18 whew, snap.

 

cosmo pyke looks cute and your description sounds intruiguing, lemme add ha to my list rn

[Vilppu]

22 hours ago, Pink Matter said:

Bye at the Ooh La La and No Contest shade  

those + salt are the top 3 but i still don't particularly like them x

 

idk any of these but i'll try to check them out! cosmo pyke first because he's attractive ^-^

[Eeveelution]

All these new artists coming up being younger then me gives me anxiety nn

 

idk any of these but i'll try to check them out! cosmo pyke first because he's attractive ^-^ [2]

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by Eeveelution

[Love Drought]

Ama Lou 

I tried listening to Cosmo Pyke but for some reason I couldn't get into his music, but it was only a few tracks so I'll listen to his EP in full soon.

 

I think you already know how I feel about Yellow Days 

 

[madonnas]

Suzi Wu is ... hm she could slay me or I could end up hating her.  

 

WHERE IS RICO NASTY

[Pink Matter]

2 hours ago, TheWayWeWere said:

MOTW was disappointing, and yeah, I'm surprised how he managed to do worse album than Part 2

everything Kanye does this year is a mess  

SSSS and Golden Hour are not belong to this list tho :biblio:  

Well not everything *cough*Daytona*cough*KSG*cough*

You might have a point with GH but ssss was not the tea at all  

 

2 hours ago, ChapelHooker said:

I liked the few Yellow Days songs I heard, really need to give his album a listen. i didn't know he is only 18 whew, snap.

 

cosmo pyke looks cute and your description sounds intruiguing, lemme add ha to my list rn

Definitely check out the three new singles he's dropped (The Way Things Change, the one in the post, and What's It All For?). I think overall they're better than Is Everything Okay... I remember going back to and a few of the songs didn't age well lol but it's still mostly good.

And yess give Cosmo those frih strihms  

1 hour ago, Vilppu said:

those + salt are the top 3 but i still don't particularly like them x

 

idk any of these but i'll try to check them out! cosmo pyke first because he's attractive ^-^

The only viable top 3!

And yes do! They all each only have a handful of tracks between them but at least check out the recommended songs if you have the time. 

52 minutes ago, Eeveelution said:

All these new artists coming up being younger then me gives me anxiety nn

 

idk any of these but i'll try to check them out! cosmo pyke first because he's attractive ^-^ [2]

 

The talent that they have 

And yass to the formation of the Lil Pykester's commencing  

 

36 minutes ago, Love Drought said:

Ama Lou 

I tried listening to Cosmo Pyke but for some reason I couldn't get into his music, but it was only a few tracks so I'll listen to his EP in full soon.

 

I think you already know how I feel about Yellow Days 

 

Hopefully the full will be more to your liking.

And yass my fellow George stan  

32 minutes ago, madonnas said:

Suzi Wu is ... hm she could slay me or I could end up hating her.  

 

WHERE IS RICO NASTY

Hopefully it's the former!

And I've seen her in both yours and tbd's countdown so I'll make sure to give her a listen!

-

I'd also throw Ravyn in with them but I only just listened to Crush so we'll see what she can do next year!

[fossora]

u kinda didn't lie about disappointments huh? however, some of them are still a snatch  

[Tom Vercetti]

Oh yeah I remember the yellow days payola. I used to listen to Cosmo back in 2016. I even had a similar avi's as yours at one time.

 

 

Suzi and Amu are ones i'm not really familiar with but i'll try to research. 

[Wicked]

I only know Cosmo, and he's dope.

[Pink Matter]

4 hours ago, artangel said:

u kinda didn't lie about disappointments huh? however, some of them are still a snatch  

there's generally a few songs on each of them that I use, I'll give them that much 

1 hour ago, Tom Vercetti said:

Oh yeah I remember the yellow days payola. I used to listen to Cosmo back in 2016. I even had a similar avi's as yours at one time.

 

 

Suzi and Amu are ones i'm not really familiar with but i'll try to research. 

oh wow our minds  it amazes me

and yeah check them out when you have the time (I linked to their EPs which are their only works at the moment)

56 minutes ago, Wicked said:

I only know Cosmo, and he's dope.

then you might like Yellow Days; his sound is pretty similar to Cosmo's

[theblackestday]

whew the yellow days payola, he should really pay you

[Blue Rose]

Only heard of Ama Lou but haven’t checked her out yet. I will keep the others on my radar as well

[Pink Matter]

Now that I've gotten all of the filler out of the way, I'll finally be starting on my main lists. I'll be listing my 100 favorite songs/singles of this year and I'll be starting with 15 HM's.

 

Songs of 2018

115-101 (HM)

 

115) Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa|One Kiss

 

 

Starting off we have the cute lil' house number by up and coming main pop girl Ms. Dula Peep. Not much to say except this is a nice bop that does what it sets out to do. I'd be here for her going in this direction in the future.

 

114) Sampha|Treasure

 

 

A single for the Beautiful Boy OST, Sampha delivers a a piano backed gem with electronic glitches interspersed throughout ever so slightly. Lyrically, Sampha always delivers as he sings about how he was before he met his "treasure" and what he hopefully what he wants to do with his "treasure", but I felt the production was lacking something. It was as if the song was building up to something but... never did. It needed that extra something to take it over the edge.

 

113) Bruno Mars|Finesse (Remix) (feat. Cardi B)

 

 

A nice beginning of the year bop, I used to have this on rotation quite a lot. I was initially worried when he put Cardi on the remix since Finesse was in my top 3 on 24KM but she did what she had to do.

 

112) St. Beauty|Tides (feat. Deante Hitchcock)

 

 

This was also a song that I loved a lot towards the beginning of the year but kinda got lost in all of the music that was released afterwards. A sleek R&B jam with sleek vocals and a verse that matches, this was a clear highlight on the EP it accompanies.

 

111) Rae Sremmurd|Powerglide (feat. Juicy J)

 

 

The intro of this song lowkey reminds me of Usher's U-Turn.

While they managed to drop a 27-track album that had no lasting power whatsoever, it was not without a few standout songs; this being one of them. A good Rae Sremmurd song only needs a catchy/hard beat and hook that gets stuck in your head and Powerglide checks all those marks. Add a raunchy, yet memorable Juciy J verse and we have a winner.

 

110) Superorganism|It's All Good

 

 

The way in which an artist starts off their album is always important since the first song acts like a first impression for the album. And It's All Good is probably the best way to start off Superorgansim's s/t album. It's wavey, fizzy, and instantly catchy and though the album as a whole didn't stick with me as much as I'd have liked it to, I always felt myself coming back to this periodically.

 

109) Spiritualized|I'm Your Man

 

 

This song gives me some very old school/60's rock vibes. I might be misdiagnosing the era it reminds me of but simply put, it makes me very nostalgic. It might be the instrumentation or it might be the way he sings, but it all comes together to make for one of the most enjoyable songs on the album. It also has a guitar solo which I'm always a sucker for.

 

108) ZAYN|Sour Diesel

 

 

The majority of the singles for Zayn's sophomore album Icarus Falls unfortunately failed to leave much of an impact with me. Or rather, even though I liked the majority of the singles that he dropped, I could recognize an otherwise drop in quality in the singles between this and Mind of Mine. But, there was one song that managed to instill a little hope into that Incarus Falls wouldn't be train wreck. Sour Diesel shows a different, more rock-ish and more electric direction from the songs he's released, and even from MoM, that while to some may not be appealing, to me hits all the right spots. I also like the listless way he sings throughout plus the way the song constantly builds up to the bridge and final chorus.

 

107) J. Cole|ATM

 

 

I have no problems with J. Cole as a rapper, but he never consistently impresses me with his output. To me, the majority of his music only warrants a few listens with KOD being no exception. However, with KOD, brought me a gem that I kept coming back to throughout the year.  I think what I like the most is the rather obvious stylistic change in production. It's trap-like and somewhat erratic, which helps J. Cole. The better the beat, the better he'll rap on it.

 

106) Gabriel Garzon-Montano|Golden Wings

 

 

To be honest, I was kin of disappointed in this. After serving me one of my favorite albums of 2017, I was expecting much more out of his follow up single. While this isn't bad, it lacks a necessary oomph to it that would take it over the edge. Minus the great drum work, the song feels too sparse and bare bones leaving a lot of space to be filled. Thankfully, he as a singer is charismatic enough to carry the track so it all works out.
 

105) GoldLink|Got Friends (feat. Miguel)

 

 

I feel like GoldLink is someone who makes great singles but his albums are just aren't up to snuff. With Got Friends, he adds another solid single to his repertoire. With a flow as slick as his, and a standard (albeit good) Miguel hook to boot, this is a winning combo.

 

104) LION BABE|The Wave (feat. Leikeli 47)

 

 

I'm always here for LION BABE anything, especially if there's a funky bassline to it. The Wave is groovy, sharp, and at around 3 minutes, it does what it needs to do without over indulging itself. Jillian's vocals are always a highlight , as was Leikeli's verse!

 

103) Suzi Wu|Grim Reaper

 

 

 

Here's some more payola for y'all.

Grim Reaper is an offering that highlights Suzi's punkish style very well, but instead of being more grunge/rock, it goes down more of a pop direction. While it's not bad, I much prefer her previous rockish style to what she served up here. The drawl and over emphasis of the lyrics she sings is the highlight of the song and I feel that in the hands of someone less charismatic, I'd like this even less.

 

102) Ella Mai|Boo'd Up

 

 

Though I don't really listen to this much anymore, I was very much obsessed with this when I first heard it. Something about it really puts a smile on my face. From the bubbly production, to the emotion she sings with and how she hangs on certain words that gives them more strength to it, I just couldn't get enough of it!

Side note: seeing this smash out of no where made me so happy too!

 

101) Moby|Welcome To Hard Times

 

 

I don't remember much about the album this song came from, but I do remember liking this song in particular. It had this eery, wonky vibe to the production that sort of faded in and out. The vocals were soft and floated throughout the song ever so gently. One of my favorite electronic songs of the year. If I had listened to this more, this would've been much higher.

[Pink Matter]

12 hours ago, theblackestday said:

whew the yellow days payola, he should really pay you

it's what he deserves

8 hours ago, Superpower said:

Only heard of Ama Lou but haven’t checked her out yet. I will keep the others on my radar as well

Sweet! Hopefully you find them enjoyable.

-

I'm sorry that took so long. I had a lot going on today and I've been running on very little sleep so when I got home I passed out lol.

Enjoy y'all  

 

@keerbyriri @Kang. @Tom Vercetti @Maddox @Navyofbadgals @Body Electrician @Wicked @artangel @TRF. @PrinceMichaelFan @Clueless @Superpower @Tsareena @theblackestday @Love Drought @Vilppu @K$Ellie @DAP @madonnas @mokitsu @Eeveelution @ChapelHooker @volition @Mark Rih @prézli @TheWayWeWere @Vxspertine

[Wicked]

Damn I feel pleby, Powerglide is in my top 50 songs of the year and it's so low here. Jxmmi & Swae got the job done. But they need to stick together, the triple album just exposed they aren't fully realized on their own just yet. Even OutKast waited longer for SB/TBL (Kast is way better obviously but the point remains)

[Lazuli]

One Kiss and Finesse are bops  

It's All Good, I'm Your Man, Boo'd Up