Top Tracks 2018 Part VIII 30 – 21

30. Ragana – Inviolate (Let Our Names Be Forgotten)

While Ragana appear on the same split with dark overlords Thou, "Inviolate" purposefully seems to delay and misdirect their crushing outbreaks in a post-punk cloak. What the band has been perfecting for a few albums now comes in full effect on the slow start, growing from a form of tedium and invocation into a bolt of focussed friction. As Thou drag these moments through sludge and dirt, Ragana´s guitar remains clear even in the black metal turnups. After a small silence the song transitions into a more direct assault, the harsh vocals sweeping in and exploding into a clean section of both voices congealing. The dynamic here is airtight, Ragana not only hold their own against two superb Thou tracks but with "Inviolate" alone carve a different wound of dread and draw blood by never standing still to let light or relief subside into a sense of beauty and comfort. 

29. Lupe Fiasco - Manilla (Drogas Wave)

Lupe Fiasco made an incredible return with Drogas Wave and "Manilla" is the undeniable moment of superiority in his political and social consciousness. In his twisting and turning of historical accounts in their known and unknown narratives to heartfelt fiction that goes from AMC drama to comic book fantasy, “Manilla” marks the point of entry. Fiasco goes from the vices and evils of a materialistic system to the trade of human beings for copper or brass manilla bracelets. The story of slaves surviving underwater and becoming pirates to stop other slave ships only starts here, but in his “mural” fashion, Fiasco layers word upon word, a vast array of images and reference to construct a telling “Gesamtkunstwerk” that speaks very much on the contemporary human condition and closes the gaps to past crimes and discriminations. There might be the long dispute of the best MCs to ever grace this earth, but with tracks like “Manilla”, after shouting “Kendrick” a few seconds after the question is asked, a more contemplative answer will be Lupe. “You can accomplish anything if you survive blackness”.

28. A$AP Rocky – Fukk Sleep (feat. FKA twigs) / A$AP Forever (feat. Moby, T.I. & Kid Cudi) (Testing)

Rocky emerged with Testing to just that, throw out a bunch of tracks to show off his will to experiment and remain uncaged by genre conventions, recent movements, and developments of rap and hip-hop music. In a way this is him channeling both Kanye and Frank Ocean, becoming a maximalist in utilizing features and other voices and ideas for a bigger picture and still remaining heartfelt and innovative at that. I had to choose both tracks, for they envelop most ideas and the progression of ASAP that feels as if it is returning to the first times of listening to Rocky´s breakout mixtape Live.Love.A$AP. "Fukk Sleep" has Rocky tapping into the creative energy of FKA twigs and channeling her most cavernous and elusive moments. The details twigs herself gives, especially the last few phrases in her falsetto of “I´m golden” are the perfect synergy of an ASAP mindset on the operatic twigs and vice versa. “A$AP Forever” served as the statement single of the album and utilized one of the best Moby tracks to give an usually drugged out and trippy Rocky a celestial and omnipotent attitude. Sit back and enjoy the flowers, or enjoy your life's labor in the most swagged out way possible. The few words by T.I. and Cudi coming in for a very Ocean-like verse do the rest and contribute to the workflow of Rocky becoming the curator of his “ASAP” aesthetics that was born only a few years back but have grown to truly represent the high fashion attitude through sounds alone.

27. Trouble & Mike Will Made It – My Boy (Edgewood) 

Like Metro Boomin, Mike Will Made It is a king in making beats and making rappers with his beats. Dropping Edgewood as a collab with Trouble and doubling as the rappers debut album, Mike Will went in on the production side of the album, from moody and dark gangster rap cuts to mournful soul tracks that give dimension to Trouble as a voice and man in a violent world. From Trouble´s side, Edgewood was his perfect calling card, a way to show off all his prowess as a rapper and swagged out personality and every track was a hit and in-depth introduction/love letter to his place of origin. “My Boy” is one of the centerpieces of that, an OG kind of rap track that has Trouble brimming with confidence and never understating any of his cadences. The military flute, marching vibe add to the experience and make this cut catchy as hell, to shout with and bump loud.

26. Helena Hauff – Lifestyle Guru (Qualm)

The frantic “Lifestyle Guru” is the best introduction to Hauff and her stellar array of tracks on Qualm. After an almost experimental and deconstructed opening on “Barrow Boot Boys”, “Lifestyle Guru” has Hauff going full goth-super sayain and pumping up the pace and groove to a banger that is as catchy as it is distorted. It feels like a Tango in an unknown universe of dark skies and latex figures but carries none of that dread or darkness this might suggest. It could be on Rick and Morty or it could just be on the dancefloor, an expression of heat, tension, and bodies in motion.

25. Pusha T – What Would Meek Do? (feat. Kanye West) (Daytona)

While all the Drake business might have proven Pusha T to be a savage beyond belief, his redeeming quality – like that of his labelmate and operator in chief Ye – remains his incredible prowess in rapping and chaining words together to let them explode with his “ugh” ad lib. Like the other tracks on Daytona “What Would Meek Do”, flows like ambrosia in its short runtime and has Pusha responding with pure genius wordplay to those that question his standing or his past. The track really shines through Kanye´s production and verse. With Yeezy being the most politicized figure after his white presidential idol for most of 2018, his struggle can easily culminate in the sound play of “scoop, poop, whoppy whoop” – a man that polarizes through some incredibly stupid shit while being godly in his way to make sounds and words. From the hallway, his mental health issues to wearing his MAGA hat, hopefully, Kanye has now evolved in some regards from the Kanye of late May – still, Kanye dealing with Kanye never sounded richer and more like a well-written drama than on “What Would Meek Do?”.

24. Siavash Amini & Matt Finney – Cicadas (Gospel)

I´ve written a fair share on Clawing, the other Finney project that released two albums this year. Gospel was the other narrative Finney released with Siavash Amini at his side that furthered Finney´s foray into his darkest parts in a more unapologetic way than before. “Cicadas” is the mundane conclusion after the horrors of the first two tracks. Here Finney narrates the last brief encounter with his father through a phone call as a kind of endpoint to his suffering. With only a few words of setting the scene, the instrumental by Amini takes off into an eerie drone, the cicadas becoming a metallic piercing sound that triumphs over comprehension and a settled mood, but in accordance with Finney play out like a new kind of silence that portrays overcoming obstacles and being struck be the vulgarity of facing up to your demons and understanding that life still moves on. As two realists at work, “Cicadas” makes the perfect tone shift after an atonal midsection of rumbling industrial sounds towards old-school radio music, nondescript but still carrying a sense of affective relevance – sounds that change from background to foreground for no apparent reason, your attention switching as your understanding of self becomes unbearable.

23. Teenage Wrist – Stoned, Alone (Chrome Neon Jesus)

Teenage Wrist and their album Chrome Neon Jesus were the surprise record I didn´t expect this year but was in need of. Whilst their music might be classified as alt-rock and would fit perfectly into the soundscape of ten years ago, Teenage Wrist aren´t living for pure nostalgia and neither is my listening of their music. “Stone, Alone” is a shoe-gaze heavy and angsty enough to tickle the inner 15-year-olds, but there is instrumental maturity and execution in their music, showing Teenage Wrist to play music in their best expression and not the best sound for a common denominator of emotions. The high octane voice of Kamtin Mohager´s is fully present, never fleeting or disinterested, the slight ambient touches around the crisp riffs and heavy drumming show full control and even though the song is about loneliness and boredom, there is a reason behind their craft, something that will make Teenage Wrist even better in the future and will prevent them from becoming stale or outdated.

22. Future – 31 Days (Beast Mode 2)

It´s always mindblowing to read Future lyrics after listening to his tracks for a time only to find that he is pretty much singing about nothing at all. The immediacy his voice carries had me convinced, “31 Days” was yet another introspective cut about the come up and the harsh reality of his former surroundings in the vain of "Kno The Meaning". The way his voice cracks, the distinct sadness that lingers in his raspy falsetto of intonating the phrase “31 Days” caught my attention every time. Maybe it is the paradox of Future itself that comes to light here. His ultra-materialistic lifestyle, the relation with women between flexing and reminding us of his trap past contrast with a presence that seems saddened and pained. It would be a great controversy to understand his music as a form of blues for some, but in a very ahistorical and twisted turn of fate, Future Hendrix does exactly that, the inverse of struggle, or the struggle that turns excessive, greedy and contradictory with life itself.

21. the body – The West Has Failed (I Have Fought Against It, But I Can´t Any Longer) 

the body stand for unlimited creativity and a borderless approach to sound and expression. “The West Has Failed” plays like an industrial noise fest in a recently known fashion until the duo goes Drake on us and introduces a reggae section. In all the disarray and tearful shrieks, the few audible phrases of the reggae singer almost sound like a consolidation. In a greater context, this could actually be the failing west, the noise and anger becoming transformed by the colonized other with a few political lines and a lot of rhythms to go around.