Another year is in the books, and, if you’re anything like me, it’s time to obsessively compile your favorite releases from the year into a painstakingly considered list. I’ll admit that this might just be me. Regardless, 2018 was an incredible year for music, with some of my favorite releases of recent memory. This list represents my personal Top 10, and doesn’t necessarily represent the opinions of the rest of the Weekender staff. Let’s get into it, starting with number 10.

10. Deafheaven — ‘Ordinary Corrupt Human Love’

The fourth record from blackgaze band Deafheaven, “Ordinary Corrupt Human Love,” is undoubtedly the band’s best work since their groundbreaking sophomore record “Sunbather.” The record sees the band delving into both of the two halves of their sound — black metal and shoegaze — further than they ever have before; while previous efforts from the band sought to marry the sounds more, this record allows them to exist separately from each other, often swapping back and forth between the two sounds. The album encapsulates the full spectrum of human experience, with the cold valleys of black metal to the sunny emotional peaks of shoegaze, with epic swells and bombastic instrumentation filling the spaces in between. The album might be a bit confounding to those new to black metal, but it’s well worth the effort to get into.

9. Robyn — ‘Honey’

As I said in my original review for this record, Robyn has an incredible knack for blending pain-filled lyrics with amazingly danceable songs. Her latest album is no exception; in fact, it’s probably the strongest statement of her career. “Honey” highlights the power of Robyn’s dichotomy of dancing through the pain, and it feels like a a real act of power in 2018.

8. Earl Sweatshirt — ‘Some Rap Songs’

This short new Earl Sweatshirt record is actually the one I most recently reviewed in full, so I won’t spend too much time here summing my thoughts on it up, but suffice it to say that this is a truly amazing record. Earl delves deeply into the darkness that surrounds his life, taking the listener through a selection of some of the best lyrics that music in general, not just hip-hop, had to offer this year. If you have the strength to follow this journey, it’s well worth it.

7. The 1975 — ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’

Another recent entry into the “Listen to This” line of reviews, this new 1975 record absolutely blew me away. Undoubtedly one of the best pop albums of the year, “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships” shows huge growth over the band’s previous work. With deceptively catchy songs, the band examines some of the biggest issues plaguing modern society: addiction, fear of technology, the perceived death of democracy and, yes, online relationships. The 1975 look all of these things bravely in the face and, much like Robyn, dance at the gates of hell.

6. Noname — ‘Room 25’

It’s hard to pick what exactly is the best thing about this new project from Noname. Is it her jazzy voice? Is it her fierce rap flows? Is it the stirring jazz instrumentation? Is it Noname’s hard-hitting lyrics, examining what it means to be a black woman in the United States? The answer, of course, is the combination of all of the above and so much more. Noname packs an insane amount of feeling into this record, and it’s clear that the Chicago emcee is spitting straight from the heart.

5. Kids See Ghosts — ‘Kids See Ghosts’

This album is one that grew on me greatly as the year wore on. The debut album of the supergroup consisting of Kanye West and Kid Cudi is easily the most experimental record we’ve ever heard from either artist, and the end result is in many ways a subtle burner of an album that rewards repeat listens. It’s fascinating to hear the way Kanye constructs beats on this record, and we’re finally seeing Cudi performing at his absolute peak. This is the album that both of these artists could have made all along, and I’m thankful they’ve finally come together to make it.

4. Daughters — ‘You Won’t Get What You Want’

This record is horrific. It’s not, by any normal definition, enjoyable to listen to. Daughters is a noise rock band from Providence, Rhode Island, and “You Won’t Get What You Want” is their first record in a decade, and to say it’s a wild ride would be the understatement of the century. This is one of the darkest records that I listened to all year, and it’s easy to hear the influences of bands like Swans and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. “You Won’t Get What You Want” is a shocking, nihilistic descent into darkness, calling to mind the kinds of horror films that leave you looking over your shoulder in the daylight. While the effects this album has on the listener are almost universally negative, the sheer strength of these effects show how incredible this album is.

3. Janelle Monáe — ‘Dirty Computer’

Janelle Monáe’s strategy with “Dirty Computer” seemed to have been to toss every idea she had at the wall and just see what sticks. The great thing about it is that everything did. Monáe is pulling from a variety of influences here, with some of the most obvious being Prince, Pharrell Williams and Parliament Funkadelic, but Monáe truly has her finger on the pulse of the past 50 years of pop music — she even features pop weirdo Grimes and Beach Boy Brian Wilson. Monáe’s blend of funk, pop, R&B and hip-hop delves deeply into identity politics, Monáe’s sexual identity and, much like Noname, her status as a black woman in the United States. It’s amazing how much Monáe packs in here.

2. Car Seat Headrest — ‘Twin Fantasy’

I did feel like I was cheating putting this album so highly in the Top 10. Technically, “Twin Fantasy” isn’t new music from Car Seat Headrest, but is rather a top-to-bottom professional re-recording of the band’s 2011 album of the same name, which was previously self-released. But part of what makes 2018’s “Twin Fantasy” so good is the history it has. Both records deal with lead singer Will Toledo’s experiences of coming to terms with his homosexual feelings for another man, but lyrics have been changed on the new record to reflect the way this relationship has changed and ultimately ended in the convening years. And the professional-level recording does wonders to show off just how talented of a songwriter Toledo was in 2011, even at the beginning of his career. “Twin Fantasy” is the best indie rock of 2018, regardless of if it was totally new, and its position against its predecessor makes it an incredibly rewarding album.

1. Pusha T — ‘Daytona’

I simply couldn’t get enough of “Daytona” this year. Pusha T has long been hailed as one of the new greats in hip-hop, and “Daytona” does wonders to cement that reputation. Push’s approach is gritty and take-no-prisoners, sounding like he’s looking to gut every emcee with his lyrical blades; in that way, it really hearkens back to the 1990s wave of gangsta rap. And Push sounds perfectly at home over Kanye West’s production, which shows Kanye’s attempts at harnessing the dusty energy of 1990s-era New York rap music. The end result is an absolutely vicious record that essentially acts as a diss track to rap at large. While Push makes tangential references to politics and the world as a whole, this is an album by an emcee at the absolute top of his game, asking other rappers to step up. And at only 25 minutes long, the only thing to do once it’s done is to press repeat.

By Patrick Kernan

pkernan@timesleader.com

Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan