Best Of 2018. Top50 Albums. 01 - 10

The truth is the most part of the year I spent under the influence of writer’s block, the most severe in my life. In my normal condition I’ve been always writing something: the songs, the short stories, the reviews. This year I wrote 8 songs, something like 10 reviews, 2 articles and only a couple of sardonic stories – by my average annual measures it’s almost nothing. Moreover, this blog now is my only practice in English. I used to speak English on the everyday basis a few years ago but on my current day job it’s not necessary so I don’t speak it now. Thus I feel like my abilities are diminishing over time and the writer’s block only expands the inconsistency. The writer’s block ain’t the only problem. The other issue is that I have much to tell you about these albums, or, frankly speaking, way too much to tell. Every album presented in this section deserves large in-depth review because every one is the special one. And I’ve got so much feelings that it’s almost impossible for me to cut them down to the proper words. 

I do ‘the best of year’ list for the sixth time, and this is the first time when I should admit that I’m not capable of doing my work in time. So I should leave the final – and the most important – part of the list wordless. Anyway, I may speak less but my passion is still growing on (who needs the blogger that doesn’t speak anything – it’s an open question though).

10-11. SÜMA "Noble Nature" 

(p) Mont Ventoux

SPTF

San Jeronimo "El Sur" 

(p)WeAreWolves

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09. Chicharron "Cancions Clinicas" 

(p)Prenom

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08. Vol Menor "Tota Una Vida Perduda En Un Clic" 

(p)self-released

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07. Kindata "We The Transmitter" 

(p)WeAreWolves

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06.  La Estrella De David "Consagracion" 

(p)Hi Jauh USB?/ Sonido Muchacho

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05. Captains "Pure Pleasure" 

(p)Set Theory

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04. The Lazy Lies "Less Talk More Action" 

(p)U98 Music

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03. Burrito Panza "El Nuevo Frente Frio" 

(p)El Genio Equivocado

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02. Hazte Lapon "Tu Siempre Ganas pts1&2" 

(p)El Genio Equivocado

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01. Detergente Liquido "Con Miedo Al Amor Por Las Personas Sin Tiempo" 

(p)self-released

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Top20 EPs and mini albums

Honorable Mention

41 - 50 >>>

31 - 40 >>>

21 - 30 >>>
12 - 20 >>>

5 años. Top5 Most Underrated Albums

The year 2018 marks the 5-year jubilee of this tiny music-related blog. So I'm going to make a string of kinda 'special issues' to celebrate this. The third of them is right here right now, and this time it's dedicated to the albums that appeared in my annual top lists - but on some painfully low positions.

5. Dulce Pajara de Juventud “Triumph” (p)2014 BCore Disc

Appeared in: 31-33 appendix to the main Top30
Now: if the most recent albums of Smashing Pumpkins were sounding like this one I would still love them like hell.
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4. Elena “Concepte Vitrina” (p) 2015 Warner
Appeared in: ‘Honorable Mention’ appendix to Top50 list
Now: the perfectly crafted album of melodic guitar-driven pop that surely deserves more recognition than it ever had.
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3. Ruin Man Band “Paraiso” (p)2014 Ruin Records

Appeared in: 31-33 appendix to the main Top30 list

Now: I return to this strangely attractive mix of acid jazz, primordial blues and proto trip hop more frequently than I could’ve imagined.

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2. Yo, Estratosferico “Potencialmente Infinitos” (p)2016

Appeared in: #30 of Top50 list

Now: through the last couple of years this album and this band grew on to be more than just an album and a band for me.

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1. Hazte Lapon “No Son Tu Marido” (p)2015 El Genio Equivocado

Appeared in: 10x10 section of Top50 list

Now: as simple as it goes, the hidden gem of a nation, one of the best albums ever released in Spain.

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The Best Of 2015. 10x10

In terms of longplays it was some kind of a martyr for me to choose the better albums out of the good ones. I've spent hours and hours after hours writing and re-writing the lists. What you see below is the result of many iterations.
So let's go. The 10th place, ten albums, 10x10.

Los Rusos Hijos De Puta "La Rabia Que Sentimos Es El Amor Que Nos Quitan" (p)self-released Listen/Buy

La Perra De Pavlov "Cronica De Un Movimiento" (p)self-released

AMA "Nada Dos Veces" (p)Jabalina Listen/Buy

Perro "Estudias, Navajas" (p)Miel De Moscas Listen/Buy

Bye Bye Lullaby "Origen" (p)self-released Buy

WANN "We Knew It Was You" (p)self-released Listen

Grushenka "La Insoportable Levedad Del Ser" (p)El Genio Equivocado Listen/Buy

Hazte Lapon "No Son Tu Marido" (p)El Genio Equivocado Listen/Buy

Tulsa "La Calma Chicha" (p)Gran Derby Buy Listen

Vacaciones "Soy Tu Fan" (p)Discos De Kirlian Listen/Buy

• The second effort of Argentinean garage/noise punks Los Rusos Hijos De Puta (how could I discard the band with such the name!?) is less psychotic and more controlled than their "Hola" EP that was released 2 years ago. And their song "Fan" is the one you definitely are to listen to. 
• La Perra De Pavlov seems to me a fake pop band in the best sense of the term "fake pop": actually they make pop music in the vein of Two Door Cinema Club but their rock roots are not fully hidden in the sand. The tracks "Huellas" and "Retratos" are the evidences.
• The tight and moody indie pop of AMA's "Nada Dos Veces" was the constant in my playlist all the year through, and most likely will continue to live in there.
• The Murcian noise popsters Perro have released their best release to-date. Being the longtime fan of such bands as Enon and Skeleton Key as well as of many post-hardcore bands, I can embrace the music of "Estudias, Navajas" pretty easily.
• Bye Bye Lullaby impressed me much by their performance on Sonorama 2015. So I've purchased their album "Origen" in iTunes immediately by return a la casa. There is a couple of the traditionalist country tracks ("Gravedad Cero", for example) on the album, but on the most part of "Origen" the band successfully manages to widen the borders of the genre to make more interesting and diversified music. 
• The members of the post-hardcore duo WANN name the releases of the labels Polyvinyl, Jade Tree, Deep Elm and Dischord amongst their main influences. This means alot to me. The place where the new album "We Knew It Was You" was recorded means to me even more. "Recorded, mixed and mastered in La Caterva Grabaciones (Telde, Gran Canaria) by Jose A. Lopez". Just look in the liner notes of Pumuky's "Justicia Poetica".
• The second longplay of the twee/nugaze quintet Grushenka sounds like the twin brother of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's debut. Sincerity in every note.
• To name the folk pop duo Hazte Lapon a folk pop duo is the wrong way because Hazte Lapon is some kind of avant garde folk pop duo. In fact the band is beyond all borders and is quite difficult to be categorized. The new album is diversified yet tight music that has folk pop only as a base for planting the strangely attractive with-the-smile-in-the-corner-of-the-mouth compositions above it. 
• Miren Iza was silent for enough time to start to miss her. This year she has returned with the new release, and "La Calma Chicha" is the major step aside from her previous country/folk-based releases. Now her music is the somber inward-looking experimental rock with the leanings to the likes as Marina & The Diamonds or Joanna Newsom. 
• 13 years were gone since the previous effort of twee/indie pop combo Vacaciones. This indie-pop-how-it-should-sound-like album "Soy Tu Fan" was released through the bookstore-turned-record label Discos de Kirlian, and now the band runs the crowdfunding campaign to release it physically as LP.