Throughout the month of December, KEXP has been counting down our top albums. From Top 10 lists from our DJs to the Top 90.3 of 2018 voted by listeners, we’ve chronicled a wide array of some of this year’s most thrilling released. Now we’re turning the mic over to our behind the scenes staff, volunteers, and interns who help keep the station running. Here are their favorite albums of 2018. How do their lists line-up with yours? (Check out part one of the lists here.)
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | boygenius | boygenius EP | Matador Records |
| 2 | Brandi Carlile | By the Way, I Forgive You | Low Country Sound/Elektra |
| 3 | Lucy Dacus | Historian | Matador Records |
| 4 | Idles | Joy as an Act of Resistance | Partisan |
| 5 | Birdtalker | One | Birdtalker Music/Sensibility Music/Tone Tree Music |
| 6 | The Moondoggies | A Love Sleeps Deep | Hardly Art |
| 7 | John Prine | The Tree of Forgiveness | Oh Boy |
| 8 | Amanda Shires | To the Sunset | Silver Knife Records |
| 9 | Smokey Brights | Come to Terms EP | Freakout Records |
| 10 | Tune-Yards | I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life | 4AD |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S. Carey | A Hundred Acres | Jagjaguwar |
| 2 | Beach House | 7 | Sub Pop |
| 3 | Foxwarren | Foxwarren | ANTI- |
| 4 | Wild Nothing | Indigo | Captured Tracks |
| 5 | Khruangbin | Con Todo El Mundo | Dead Oceans |
| 6 | Michael Rault | It's a New Day Tonight | Wick |
| 7 | Sam Evian | You, Forever | Saddle Creek |
| 8 | Molly Burch | First Flower | Captured Tracks |
| 9 | Steady Holiday | Nobody's Watching | Barsuk |
| 10 | Unknown Mortal Orchestra | Sex & Food | Jagjaguwar |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jorja Smith | Lost & Found | Famm Limited |
| 2 | Mac Miller | Swimming | REMember Music |
| 3 | Lykke Li | So Sad So Sexy | LL Recordings/RCA Records |
| 4 | Joji | Ballads 1 | 88rising |
| 5 | Pusha T | Daytona | Def Jam Recordings |
| 6 | Dan Romer | Maniac OST | Paramount Music |
| 7 | Rhye | Blood | Loma Vista Recordings |
| 8 | The Blaze | Dancehall | Animal 63 |
| 9 | Various | Black Panther OST | Interscope Records/Top Dawg/Aftermath |
| 10 | Tierra Whack | Whack World | Tierra Whack |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janelle Monae | Dirty Computer | Wondaland |
| 2 | Young Fathers | Cocoa Sugar | Ninja Tune |
| 3 | Mitski | Be the Cowboy | Dead Oceans |
| 4 | Christine and the Queens | Chris | Because |
| 5 | boygenius | boygenius | Matador Records |
| 6 | Vince Staples | FM! | Def Jam |
| 7 | Robyn | Honey | Konichiwa |
| 8 | Jenn Champion | Single Rider | Hardly Art |
| 9 | Jungle | For Ever | XL |
| 10 | Black Belt Eagle Scout | Mother of My Child | Saddle Creek |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucrecia Dalt | Anticlines | RVNG Intl. |
| 2 | Carla Bozulich | Quieter | Constellation |
| 3 | Yves Tumor | Safe In the Hands of Love | Warp |
| 4 | Insecure Men | Insecure Men | Fat Possum |
| 5 | Low | Double Negative | Sub Pop |
| 6 | Anna & Elizabeth | The Invisible Comes to Us | Smithsonian Folkways |
| 7 | Laurel Halo | Raw Silk Uncut Wood | Latency |
| 8 | Tim Hecker | Konoyo | Kranky |
| 9 | JOYFULTALK | Plurality Trip | Constellation |
| 10 | Julia Holter | Aviary | Domino |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loma | Loma | Sub Pop |
| 2 | Car Seat Headrest | Twin Fantasy | Matador |
| 3 | IDLES | Joy as an Act of Resistance | Partisan |
| 4 | Knife Knights | 1 Time Mirage | Sub Pop |
| 5 | Thunderpussy | Thunderpussy | Stardog/Republic |
| 6 | Ghostland Observatory | See You Later Simulator | Trashy Moped |
| 7 | Santigold | I Don't Want: The Gold Fire Sessions | Downtown |
| 8 | Kyle Craft | Full Circle Nightmare | Sub Pop |
| 9 | Cumulus | Comfort World | Trans |
| 10 | The Breeders | All Nerve | 4AD |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camp Cope | How to Socialize & Make Friends | Run For Cover Records |
| 2 | Tiny Moving Parts | Swell | Triple Crown Records |
| 3 | The Story So Far | Proper Dose | Pure Noise Records |
| 4 | Panic! At the Disco | Pray for the Wicked | Fueled by Ramen Records |
| 5 | State Champs | Living Proof | Pure Noise Records |
| 6 | We Were Sharks | Lost Touch | Victory Records |
| 7 | Real Friends | Composure | Fearless Records |
| 8 | Mayday Parade | Sunnyland | Rise Records |
| 9 | Hellogoodbye | S'only Natural | Wasted Summer Records |
| 10 | Assuming We Survive | Chapters | Third String Records |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | Wrong Creatures | Vagrant |
| 2 | Dilly Dally | Heaven | Partisan |
| 3 | Wild Powwers | Skin | Nadine |
| 4 | Amyl and the Sniffers | Big Attraction/Giddy Up | Damaged Goods |
| 5 | Death Valley Girls | Darkness Rains | Suicide Squeeze |
| 6 | Black Belt Eagle Scout | Mother of My Children | Saddle Creek |
| 7 | IDLES | Joy as an Act of Resistance | Partisan |
| 8 | Lala Lala | The Lamb | Hardly Art |
| 9 | Mommy Long Legs | Try Your Best | Youth Riot |
| 10 | The Prids | Do I Look Like I'm In Love? | This-A-Way |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | boygenius | boygenius | Matador |
| 2 | Down North | No Retreat Vol. 1 | self-released |
| 3 | Gabriel Teodros | History Rhymes If It Doesn't Repeat | self-released |
| 4 | Kamasi Washington | Heaven and Earth | Young Turks |
| 5 | Knife Knights | 1 Time Mirage | Sub Pop |
| 6 | Mount Eerie | Now Only | PW Elverum & Sun |
| 7 | Noname | Room 25 | self-released |
| 8 | Superorganism | Superorganism | Domino Recording |
| 9 | Walter Wolfman Washington | My Future Is My Past | ANTI- |
| 10 | Whitney Monge | Carry On | self-released |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhye | Blood | Loma Vista Recordings |
| 2 | Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | Wrong Creatures | Vagrant Records |
| 3 | Young Fathers | Cocoa Sugar | Ninja Turtle |
| 4 | Janelle Monae | Dirty Computer | Bad Boy Records |
| 5 | Against All Logic | 2012-2017 | Other People |
| 6 | Spiritualized | And Nothing Hurt | Fat Possum Records |
| 7 | Phosphorescent | C'est La Vie | Dead Oceans |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Internet | Hive Mind | Columbia |
| 2 | J Mascis | Elastic Days | Sub Pop |
| 3 | Nothing | Dance on the Blacktop | Relapse Records |
| 4 | Israel Nash | Lifted | Loose Music |
| 5 | Damien Jurado | The Horizon Just Laughed | Secretly Canadian |
| 6 | Roosevelt | Young Romance | Greco Roman |
| 7 | Neko Case | Hell-On | Anti- |
| 8 | Johnny Marr | Call The Comet | New Voodoo |
| 9 | Rhye | Blood | Loma Vista |
| 10 | Anderson .Paak | Oxnard | Aftermath / 12 Tone Music / Atlantic |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boygenius | Boygenius | Matador |
| 2 | Jenn Champion | Single Rider | Hardly Art |
| 3 | Unknown Mortal Orchestra | Sex & Food | Jagjaguwar |
| 4 | The Internet | Hive Mind | Columbia |
| 5 | Mint Field | Pasar de las Luces | Innovative Leisure |
| 6 | Lucy Dacus | Historian | Matador |
| 7 | Janelle Monae | Dirty Computer | Wondaland/Epic/Sony |
| 8 | Young Fathers | Cocoa Sugar | Ninja Tune |
| 9 | Jonathan Wilson | Rare Birds | Bella Union |
| 10 | Black Belt Eagle Scout | Mother of My Children | Saddle Creek |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Israel Nash | Lifted | Desert Folklore Music |
| 2 | HYWAYS | HYWAYS | Union Zero |
| 3 | Beach House | 7 | Sub Pop |
| 4 | Brandi Carlile | By The Way, I Forgive You | ATO |
| 5 | Ry Cooder | The Prodigal Son | Perro Verde/Fantasy |
| 6 | Phosphorescent | C'est La Vie | Dead Oceans |
| 7 | Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit | Live From The Ryman | Southeastern/Thirty Tigers |
| 8 | La Luz | Floating Features | Hardly Art |
| 9 | Jenn Champion | Single Rider | Hardly Art |
| 10 | Lucero | Among The Ghosts | Liberty & Lament/Thirty Tigers |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jungle | For Ever | XL |
| 2 | Beach House | 7 | Sub Pop |
| 3 | Wye Oak | The Louder I Call, the Faster it Runs | Merge |
| 4 | Red Ribbon | Dark Party | Union Zero |
| 5 | The Beths | Future Me Hates Me | Carpark |
| 6 | Now, Now | Saved | Trans-records |
| 7 | boygenius | boygenius EP | Matador |
| 8 | DJ Koze | Knock Knock | Pampa |
| 9 | Khruangbin | Con Todo el Mundo | Dead Oceans |
| 10 | Lala Lala | The Lamb | Hardly Art |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City Hunter | Deep Blood | Youth Attack |
| 2 | Super Unison | Stella | Deathwish, Inc |
| 3 | The Soft Moon | Criminal | Sacred Bones |
| 4 | Gouge Away | Burnt Sugar | Deathwish, Inc |
| 5 | Alice Bag | Blueprint | Don Giovanni Records |
| 6 | Nox Novacula | Nox Novacula | Casino Trash Records |
| 7 | Krimewatch | Krimewatch | Lockin Out Records |
| 8 | HO99O9 | Cyber Cop [Unauthorized MP3] | Toys Have Powers/999 Deathkult |
| 9 | Cadaver Dog | Dying Breed | Youth Attack |
| 10 | Mommy Long Legs | Try Your Best | Youth Riot Records |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ariana Grande | Sweetener | Republic Records |
| 2 | Courtney Barnett | Tell Me How You Really Feel | Mom+Pop |
| 3 | Crater | Unearth | self-released |
| 4 | Empress Of | Us | Terrible Records |
| 5 | Haley Heynderickx | I Need To Start A Garden | Mama Bird Recording Co. |
| 6 | La Luz | Floating Features | Hardly Art |
| 7 | NAVVI | ULTRA | Hush Hush Records |
| 8 | Parisalexa | Bloom | self-released |
| 9 | Red Ribbon | Dark Party | Union Zero |
| 10 | Whitney Ballen | You're A Shooting Star, I'm A Sinking Ship | Father/Daughter Records / Substitute Scene Records |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosalía | El Mal Querer | Sony Music |
| 2 | Álex Anwandter | Latinoamericana | Nacional Records |
| 3 | Nathy Peluso | La Sandunguera | EVERLASTING RECORDS |
| 4 | Gepe | Folclor Imaginario (Canciones Recopiladas por Margot Loyola Palacios y Algunas Otras Que Parten Desde Ahí) | Quemasucabeza |
| 5 | Las Ligas Menores | Fuego Artificial | LAPTRA |
| 6 | 107 Faunos | Madura el Dulce Fruto | LAPTRA |
| 7 | Mon Laferte | NORMA | Universal Music |
| 8 | Chancha Via Circuito | Bienaventuranza | Wonderwheel Recordings |
| 9 | Bandalos Chinos | BACH | Independiente |
| 10 | Los Mundos | Ciudades Flotantes | Avandadoom |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christine & the Queens | Chris | Because Music |
| 2 | Against All Logic | 2012-2017 | Other People |
| 3 | Wajatta | Casual High Technology | Comedy Dynamics |
| 4 | NAVVI | Ultra | Hush Hush Records |
| 5 | Shame | Songs of Praise | Dead Oceans |
| 6 | The Internet | Hive Mind | Columbia Records |
| 7 | Jenn Champion | Single Rider | Hardly Art |
| 8 | Flora FM | Discovery in the Atomic Garden | Argot |
| 9 | Confidence Man | Confident Music for Confident People | Heavenly Recordings |
| 10 | Let's Eat Grandma | I'm All Ears | Transgressive Records |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walter Martin | Reminisce Bar & Grill | Family Jukebox LLC |
| 2 | Secretary | Parallels | YesNoMaybe Records |
| 3 | IDLES | Joy as an Act of Resistance | Partisan Records |
| 4 | Beach House | 7 | Sub Pop |
| 5 | Yowler | Black Dog In My Path | Double Double Whammy |
| 6 | Mogwai | KIN | Temporary Residence Ltd/Rock Action |
| 7 | Johnny Marr | Call the Comet | New Voodoo Records |
| 8 | Still Corners | Slow Air | Wrecking Light Records |
| 9 | Shame | Songs of Praise | Dead Oceans |
| 10 | Black Belt Eagle Scout | Mother Of My Children | Saddle Creek |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Shins | The Worm's Heart | Columbia Records |
| 2 | The Decemberists | I'll Be Your Girl | Capitol Records |
| 3 | Death Cab for Cutie | Thank You for Today | Atlantic Recording Co |
| 4 | Kyle Craft | Full Circle Nightmare | Sub Pop Records |
| 5 | Mass Gothic | I've Tortured You Long Enough | Sub Pop Records |
| 6 | Middle Kids | Lost Friends | Domino Recording Co. |
| 7 | Haerts | New Compassion | Arts & Crafts Productions Inc. |
| 8 | Natalie Prass | The Future and the Past | ATO Records |
| 9 | Moonface | This One's for the Dancer & This One's for the Dancer's Bouquet | Jagjaguwar |
| 10 | Sonny Smith | Rod For Your Love | Easy Eye Sound |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IDLES | Joy as an Act of Resistance | Partisan Records |
| 2 | Parquet Courts | Wide Awake! | Rough Trade Records |
| 3 | Kyle Craft | Full Circle Nightmare | Sub Pop |
| 4 | Kinski | Accustomed to Your Face | Kill Rock Stars |
| 5 | Matt Dorien | In the Key of Grey | Mama Bird Recording Company |
| 6 | Haley Heynderickx | I Need to Start a Garden | Mama Bird Recording Company |
| 7 | Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio | Close But No Cigar | Colemine Records |
| 8 | Brandi Carlile | By The Way, I Forgive You | Low Country Sound/Elektra |
| 9 | DeVotchka | This Night Falls Forever | Concord Records |
| 10 | Thunderpussy | Thunderpussy | Monkeywrench Records |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kacey Musgraves | Golden Hour | Mercury |
| 2 | Anderson .Paak | Oxnard | Aftermath |
| 3 | Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet | Landfall | Nonesuch |
| 4 | Wye Oak | The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs | Merge |
| 5 | White Denim | Performance | City Slang |
| 6 | The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices | BooCheeMish | Prophecy |
| 7 | Leon Bridges | Good Thing | Columbia |
| 8 | Neko Case | Hell-On | Anti- |
| 9 | Pusha T | Daytona | G.O.O.D Music/Def Jam |
| 10 | Brandi Carlile | By The Way, I Forgive You | Low Country Sound/Elektra |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deafheaven | Ordinary Corrupt Human Love | Anti- |
| 2 | Kikagaku Moyo | Masana Temples | Guruguru Brain |
| 3 | Part Chimp | Cheap Thriller | Chart Pimp Records |
| 4 | Kesä | Aukea | Svart Records |
| 5 | Khruangbin | Con Todo El Mundo | Dead Oceans |
| 6 | Boy is Fiction + Ghosts of Tyto Alba | A Single Beam of Light | n5MD |
| 7 | The Great Sabatini | Goodbye Audio | Pink Lemonade Records |
| 8 | Träden | Träden | Subliminal Sounds |
| 9 | The Soft Moon | Criminal | Sacred Bones Records |
| 10 | Thou | Magus | Sacred Bones Records |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Coltrane | Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album | Impulse! |
| 2 | Jon Hopkins | Singularity | Domino |
| 3 | SOPHIE | Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides | Transgressive |
| 4 | Mitski | Be the Cowboy | Dead Oceans |
| 5 | Blood Orange | Negro Swan | Domino |
| 6 | Pusha T | Daytona | Def Jam Recordings and GOOD Music |
| 7 | Kamasi Washington | Heaven and Earth | Young Turks |
| 8 | Kikagaku Moyo | Masana Temples | Guruguru Brain |
| 9 | Let's Eat Grandma | I'm All Ears | Transgressive |
| 10 | Black Belt Eagle Scout | Mother of My Children | Saddle Creek |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Altin Gün | On | Bongo Joe |
| 2 | Kikagaku Moyo | Masana Temples | Guruguru Brain |
| 3 | Khruangbin | Con Todo El Mundo | Dead Oceans |
| 4 | Damien Jurado | The Horizon Just Laughed | Secretly Canadian |
| 5 | Kamasi Washington | Heaven and Earth | Young Turks |
| 6 | Jonathan Wilson | Rare Birds | Bella Union |
| 7 | Janelle Monae | Dirty Computer | Wondaland/Epic/Sony |
| 8 | The Moondoggies | A Love Sleeps Deep | Hardly Art |
| 9 | The Beths | Future Me Hates Me | Carpark |
| 10 | Jenn Champion | Single Rider | Hardly Art |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janelle Monáe | Dirty Computer | Wondaland/Epic/Sony |
| 2 | Blood Orange | Negro Swan | Domino |
| 3 | Car Seat Headrest | Twin Fantasy | Matador |
| 4 | Saintseneca | Pillar of Na | ANTI- |
| 5 | Mitski | Be the Cowboy | Dead Oceans |
| 6 | Lucy Dacus | Historian | Matador |
| 7 | Kali Uchis | Isolation | Virgin |
| 8 | serpentwithfeet | soil | Secretly Canadian |
| 9 | Rosalía | El Mal Querer | Sony |
| 10 | Bad Luck | Four | Origin |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Various Artists | Black Panther: The Album | TDE/Aftermath/Interscope |
| 2 | Courtney Barnett | Tell Me How You Really Feel | Milk!/Mom+Pop |
| 3 | Neko Case | Hell-On | Anti- |
| 4 | Middle Kids | Lost Friends | Domino |
| 5 | Cat Power | Wanderer | Domino |
| 6 | Blood Orange | Negro Swan | Domino |
| 7 | Ty Segall | Freedom's Goblin | Drag City |
| 8 | Father John Misty | God's Favorite Customer | Sub Pop |
| 9 | Kids See Ghosts | Kids See Ghosts | G.O.O.D. Music/ Def Jam |
| 10 | Jack White | Boarding House Reach | Third Man Records |
| Rank | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitski | Be The Cowboy | Dead Oceans |
| 2 | Oneohtrix Point Never | Age Of | Warp Records |
| 3 | A.A.L. | 2012-2017 | Other People |
| 4 | Black Belt Eagle Scout | Mother Of My Children | Saddle Creek |
| 5 | Stephen Steinbrink | Utopia Teased | Western Vinyl |
| 6 | Khotin | Beautiful You | Khotin Industries |
| 7 | JPEGMAFIA | Veteran | Deathbomb |
| 8 | Low | Double Negative | Sub Pop |
| 9 | Parisalexa | Bloom / Flexa | self-released |
| 10 | Eyedress | Sensitive G | Lex Records |
| rank | artist | album | label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parisalexa | Bloom | self-released |
| 2 | Cardi B | Invasion Of Privacy | Atlantic |
| 3 | Kamasi Washington | Heaven and Earth | Shoto Mas Inc/ Young Turks |
| 4 | Blood Orange | Negro Swan | Domino |
| 5 | Sevdaliza | The Calling | Twisted Elegance |
| 6 | The Carters | Everything Is Love | Sony |
| 7 | Delvon Lamarr Organ trio | Close But No Cigar | Colemine |
| 8 | Kali Uchis | Isolation | Universal |
| 9 | Janelle Monae | Dirty Computer | Bad Boy |
| 10 | Alt J | Reduxer | BMG/Atlantic |
We’re turning the mic over to our behind the scenes staff, volunteers, and interns who help keep the station running. Here is part one of their favorite albums of 2018.
