There were quite a few releases that caught my attention this year. Whereas last year I wasn't able to put together 10 albums that I loved, this year I really had to make some hard decisions to cut it down to 10.

Looking at the releases that caught my ear, I definitely see a thread of post-rock running through the choices. One or two might be a pure nostalgia trip, but the vast majority are albums that are a product of this moment in music. They draw from the past, then infuse those sounds with a very modern flair that references a broader spectrum of contemporary music.

With one exception (I Hate My Village's self-titled debut), all of these records are sophomore efforts or even mid-to-late career releases. I could chalk that up to recommendation engines serving up more of what I've already enjoyed, or maybe there's another factor. Regardless, I'd say each of these releases is a strong evolution or maturation of an established sound.

Ex Hex – It's Real

I've heard Ex Hex described as the best arena rock that's meant to be played in a garage. I certainly can't top that description, and this record really delivered on that sound. Each track has a full, round sound with a clarity often absent for smaller independent releases. Despite the sound, it lacks the pretentious and ostentatious musicianship from the era of the rock gods.

FIDLAR – Almost Free

It's hard to call this a "mature" record—this is still FIDLAR after all—themes of getting older pervade. While the first track is a pretty weak Beastie Boys impression, the rest is just fun punk rock ’n’ roll. Nothing earth-shattering, but good stuff.

Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1

I have to admit that I arrived pretty late to the Foals party. A few years ago, a friend dumped three or four of their albums on me. Therefore I experienced Foals out of order, with no baggage. I was immediately smitten with Antidotes in its entirety. While I was less enthused with the more recent albums, that I still have a soft spot for the band. Everything…Part 1, while certainly not in the same bucket as Antidotes, feels like it has some of that original DNA to me.

I Hate My Village – s/t

If you listen to one album from this list, I hope it's this record. I stumbled on this band randomly and become immediately fixated. How often do you chance upon an Italian band playing electro-infused post-rock weirdness steeped with African rhythms? You wouldn't think that it would work but it absolutely does it rips. And they have a song called, "Tony Hawk of Ghana," so that's immediately awesome.

Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation – Sacred Dreams

I really liked their last release, and this just sounds like more of the same. Same-y in a good way.

PRIESTS – The Seduction of Kansas

It's possible that I'm the only hipster that slept on the first PRIESTS album. As much as I love a lot of the post-punk bands they are referencing, the first record felt toothless. It was like someone had taken a bunch of tracks by the great UK post-punk band and ran it through a machine to grind off the edges, then re-recorded it. I gave them a second shot with this record and it's much better. I often find sophomore release to be more subdued, but I'm thrilled to say that's not the case here.

Sleater-Kinney – The Center Won't Hold

There are no bounds to my passion for No Cities To Love, so I had high hopes going into this record. Hopes stayed high as the first couple singles were released, but in truth this never reaches the high mark of Sleater-Kinney's previous effort. It is, however, still a very good record that I listened to quite a few times this year.

Sneaks – Highway Hypnosis

When Sneaks's previous album came out a couple of years ago, I was really impressed and eager for more. I'm glad that the wait was worth it. It's the same basement tape weirdness, but with a bit more production and an ounce more polish.

Le Butcherettes – bi/MENTAL

Raw and loud, this album isn't without its tender moments. It rarely slows down, but that's really the appeal and from start to finish, it's a good one. There are some cameos from punk luminaries as well, which are worth checking out.

Worshipper – Light In The Wire

Just straight-forward old school hard rock and/or metal. This wouldn't be totally out of place had it been released in ’74.

Honorable Mentions and Late Entries

1. Off With Their Heads – Be Good. Fun album, but not really different from their well-trod formula.
2. The Black Keys – Let's Rock. As much as I like The Black Keys, this seems like a collection of B-material.
3. Wolfmother – Rock’n’roll Baby. I missed this one when it came out, so I'm just starting to listen now. But I really like it.
4. I.K. Dairo – The Best of I.K. Dairo. It's kind of lame to include "best of's" on a list like this, but I'm enjoying this collection.

Post script

Boy howdy is this post late. I originally wrapped up this post in early January, but I got sidetracked in a quagmire of tool issues. I stopped paying for the Adobe suite a while ago, and I used this post as the motivation to finally arrive at replacements. Of course, that was a horrible idea as I ended up testing a bunch of applications that just weren't ready for real use. In the end, I found an app that's working (not sure yet if I'm totally sold on it), but did the job and I was able to create a header image. Three months late. Oh well.

Life definitely caught up with me this year. I spent very little time with headphones on, but I was super busy with work and raising a child. As a result I missed a lot of the music that came out. Looking at this list, I don't even feel completely thrilled some of these releases (heck, I was only feeling good about 9 albums total). They just happen to be the top of a very short stack. Not to say that they aren't worth listening to if you missed them, but I was hoping for a few more albums that really grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go.

Bass Drum of Death - Just Business

Real fun album. They're not reinventing the wheel here, but if you like BDOD's brand of straight-ahead garage rock, you'll be pleased with this one.

Beastmaker - (EP series)

How much material can these dudes put out? The volume and quality are just staggering. They put out 4, 10 song EPs this year alone, following last year's fantastic release of Inside the Skull. I can't say that I've scrutinized all of these EPs enough to recommend certain ones over others, but definitely give them a listen and pick them up if you're into heavy-ish stoner metal.

Cloud Nothings – Last Building Burning

This release snuck in under the radar, and to me it's really an album of contrasts. While not a huge departure for Cloud Nothings, the whole effort seems tighter but with a bit more looseness in song structure. It's fast and loud, but with some quiet and space creeping in. It's really an evolution of the sound that Dylan Baldi has been cranking out over the years.

Gorillaz - The Now Now

Neither Gorillaz nor this album need much of an introduction. At first this album felt like the off-album slump that Gorillaz typically put out (e.g., G-Sides, The Fall), but after a few listens the track Tranz hooked me. The rest of the album started to grow on me after and it's definitely solid—even if it starts to taper off towards the end.

Guerilla Toss - Twisted Crystal

Another consistently weird offering from Guerilla Toss, but still quite good. GT Ultra was definitely a bit weirder (in a good way), but I still recommend this one for fans. It's also probably a good intro point for the band as well, being less dissonant than some of their other offerings.

Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens

I haven't been a huge Hot Snakes fan historically, but this one is a ripper. Unrelenting from start to finish and solid quality throughout.

Santigold - I Don't Want: The Goldfire Sessions

Quite uncharacteristic for Santigold, I Don't Want follows right on the heels of last year's 99 Cents. It's not as lyrically haunting as the previous record, but I still quite enjoy it.

Ursa - Abyss Between the Stars

Ursa was a recommendation from a co-worker, and it's a good one at that. The tracks can be a bit long (topping out at 10 minutes 16 seconds), but what a stellar release Abyss… is. Heavy, but in a way that's laden with texture. There's just such a sense of gravity and restrained energy throughout that is unleashed at the perfect moment.

Viagra Boys - Street Worms

If you can't tell from the name and album title, these guys just ooze punk attitude and delight in a contrarian position. I first heard their track Sports, which borders on novelty track, but remains fun nonetheless. Raspy vocals aside, it's not overly punky in presentation, the record leans more heavily on post-punk and dance rhythms. I'm interested to see where this band goes.

Recent misses on heavy rotation

I might not have founds much new music this year, but I did listen to a bunch of albums that I had just missed by a year or two. A few flew under the radar, so I figure maybe others could benefit from their attention as well.

Cowtown - Paranormal Romance

Unrelenting, up-beat punk jams.

Hüsker Dü - Savage Young Dü

Not the most fun listen start-to-finish, but such an interesting artifact of the evolution of a band.

Meridian Brothers - ¿Dónde Estás Maria?

This one is a bit of an outlier, but really great if you're interested in contemporary Latin indy music.

Shopping - The Official Body

Barely missed this release from last year, but I listened to it a ton. Great indy electro release.

Sneaks - It's A Myth

Another awesome indy electro jam, but far more low-fi. I'm really interesting to see where Sneaks goes with her 2019 release.

Uranium Club - Human Exploration

First track is called Black Semen. You get the idea.

The wrap-up

I'm tempted to say that 2018 wasn't the best year for music, but I think that's just me personally. It was definitely a year of broadened horizons for me, which is true of most years but I would say that the net was cast far wider than previous years. I spent a good bit of the year listening to African music, Afrobeat, and hip hop. I scoured some of the depths of post-punk, indy rock, and other releases that came out when my attentions were originally focused elsewhere. And to be honest, I spent a lot of time just spinning tracks from bands that I've loved for twenty years or more. If I had to guess, I think this coming year will be pretty similar. With any luck, I'll be able to spend more time listening though, and look forward to discovering more gems.

Quite the collection of design-related goodness this week. Everything from a site that just looks great to a talk that undermines some of the things that we hold so dear. Let's kick it off with a site that I found to be particularly enlightening, as well as a pleasure to read.

The psychology that explains how people interact with digital interfaces

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have much of a scientific background to my design practice. I do, however, understand that designers aren't the first group to study and be interested in what drives people. I really like how the content on this site breaks down psychology principles and directly related them to design patterns. I'm willing to be that there's something here for most designers.

Kleinschmidt site

Sometimes you just have to appreciate a nice site design. To be completely honest, I have no idea what this company really does, but I like what they have going on. They also made the excellent choice of working with the talented folks at One Design to bring it all to life. The site is a fantastic embodiment of good type, a dialed layout, and a brilliant mix of textures and imagery.

The End of Navel Gazing: a talk by Paul Adams

This talk may be called, "The End of Navel Gazing" but honestly it feels more like a punch in the gut. Mr. Adams really cuts to the quick, and calls out user experience designers on their bullshit. He questions how much designers really represent the voice of the user, and talks about the value of a less-than-viable product. Essential watching.

Wrap-up

Last month I mentioned a sign-up for a newsletter version of this post. Well here it is. I'm not going to send anything out this month, but if you sign up you'll get next month's links delivered right to your inbox.

Monthly Fascination Newsletter Sign-up

July flew right by so I decided to skip over it and pick things back up in August. Most people have been on vacation, so I figure it'll go unnoticed anyway.

An Open Redesign of Firefox's Identity

While I wasn't particularly a fan of the outcome, I appreciated the process that went into the open redesign of the Mozilla organization. Mozilla wasn't asking for spec. work, and the process overall was much more akin to the process of product development that happens iteratively in plain view of stakeholders. While the work was done by an external agency for Mozilla, this time for Mozilla's child brand of Firefox has kicked off a rebrand process done by internal designers. Overall, I think both systems that have been revealed have interesting aspects. I'm looking forward to see how things develop.

The Future of Design: When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It

"[Design] has evolved into a way of thinking, of problem discovery, and of enhancing the lives of individuals, the experience of the workforce, and even the health of the planet."

It's not exactly news, but I had missed this article when it was originally published in 2016. Written by noted human centered design luminary Don Norman, what I really love about it is that it embraces design in all forms. Dividing design into two disciplines (traditional design as craft, human centered design as a process of learning), Norman nonetheless issues a rallying cry that calls for the joint partnership of both types of designers.

Work by Patrik Hübner

The design, art, and algorithms by Patrik Hübner feels like a glimpse of the future. I really like that the work has a strong touch of the designer that is amplified by code. It's a fantastic example of the how the concept can be further extended if the designer is savvy enough.

That's what I've been struck by in the past month. I'm planning to start looking into a newsletter integration for next month. If anybody has tips or thoughts, let me know.

Look, I know what you're saying. No, you don't need another top 10 list. And yes, I am pretty late in getting this thing out the door. Here's the thing though: I do this mostly for me. It's really fun to look back at the music that I really enjoyed from the past year. If there are others out there that enjoy the list and discover new music, that's great.

White Reaper - The World's Best American Band

Let's be clear about this one: despite the braggadocios title, this album isn't going into the annuls of rock history any time soon. The lyrics aren't clever sonnets laid over virtuoso finger picking. Despite this, it's such a fun record to listen to. Over it's roughly 30 minute run time, it stacks one toe-tapping track right after the other. Before long you're nodding to the rhythm and pumping your fist during the chorus. Good times start to finish.

Hanni El Khatib - Savage Times

You might look at this album as a bit of a cheat. It is—after all—a collection of 5 EPs that Hanni El Khatib put out over 2016. If you look at it with the perspective of 2015's Moonlight however, it holds together as complete album. And like Moonlight, it's somewhat all over the place. From straight ahead, bluesy garage-fi tracks to others driven by synths and disco beats. That pattern has become El Khatib's modus operandi, so it is less of a distraction and more like the variety bag of jelly beans. Even though you get a few black licorices, the variety is the point. And some of those combinations? Quite tasty.

Gorillaz - Humanz

The first of two albums on this list that I never thought would exist. I've been a fan of Gorillaz since I saw the video for Clint Eastwood back in the day. I'd read that the Albarn/Hewlett relationship had soured a bit, so the possibility of a follow-up to the solid Plastic Beach seemed rather doubtful. I'm so glad that it happened, though, and Humanz delivers on so many levels. It's both a continuation and an evolution of the Gorillaz sound, bringing some great new collaborators into the fold. In all, the album seems a bit more weighty when compared to the allegorical high watermark that was Demon Days, but Albarn and crew manage to weave danceable beats through lyrics that confront our troubled times.

Here Lies Man - s/t

I don't quite remember how Here Lies Man came onto my radar. What I am sure of, however, is that their sound grabbed my attention immediately from the first listen. Their sound has been described as Black Sabbath playing afrobeat, which isn't the worst characterization but does gloss over the intricate repetitive rhythms that underpin each track and support distorted vocals that have little relation to Ozzy's theatrical delivery. Their sound is certainly heavy though, and it's wrapped around a rich tapestry of noisy fuzz that much more closely brings to mind psych rock than metal.

B Boys - Dada

Everything that B Boys put out sound like a love letter to punk. Not punk now, but punk the way it was in England in the late '70s and early '80s. Dissonant music played by kids who went to art school and still believed that a song could change the world. That's the sounds that led me to fall in love with punk, and I do again every time I listen to this record.

Wavves - You're Welcome

If B Boys are playing nostalgic punk chords, Wavves typifies the modern archetype of a punk auteur. Despite being the solo project of Nathan Williams, at no point does this release become monotonous or one-note. It's both fun and personal, with a lo-fi garage aesthetic that belies a layered structure. In short: really good stuff.

Guerilla Toss - GT ULTRA

Guerilla Toss are kind of a weird one. They popped up on my radar originally when they were still based out of Boston, but I can't say that I spent too much time listening to them until this album. And the more that I listen to them, the more I draw connections to late-era Devo with the use of quirky synths and dancier rhythms. Depending which track you listen to, there's also an undercurrent of post-punk's disco-fueled disillusionment.

Algiers - The Underside of Power

Every year I have that one album that I keep hearing about, but that takes a while for me to "get." That award this year definitely goes to Aliers' The Underside of Power. If you heard about this one and slept on it, I really recommend giving it some more spins. From the start, every track is a sonic assault. It's fast, heavy, distorted and angry, but it's also passionate, visceral, and extremely compelling. Politics are driving force behind so much of the music and the band isn't shy about voicing their opinions. While some won't appreciate the mix, I say bring it on and know that I'll be listening.

Death From Above 1979 - Outrage! Is Now

I'm glad that the guys in DFA patched things up, because I'm really enjoying these post-reunion releases. I was absolutely obsessed with The Physical World when it came out a few years ago so Outrage! Is Now had a pretty high mark to measure against. It falls a bit short though, without a ballad like "White is Red" or an aural assault on the level of "Turn it Out," but there are still plenty of great hooks and fantastic overall heaviness. [ASIDE: Is that really the best they could do for cover art?! Yeesh.]

LCD Soundsystem - american dream

As with the Gorillaz release, I was pretty sure that album would never come into existence. Then when I heard about it, I was also pretty sure that I wouldn't be into it. Mr. Murphy has been up to some unusual side projects since LCD Soundsystem called it a day, so whether this album would bear any resemblance to previous albums was an open question. It turned out that answer is, "Yes…sort of." Long gone is the pure energy and raucous fun of the early albums. Instead the tracks have been cut down to their barest elements, leaving the dance beat with trademark James Murphy vocals and only the most necessary accompaniment. It's as if the LCD Soundsystem formula has been distilled to its most essential and intentional elements. I'm certainly hoping that there are more releases to come.

Closing Thoughts

On a personal level, 2017 was marked by a lot of uncertainty. I became a father a little more than 7 months ago, and I knew that my priorities would shift but I didn't know how. Music has been important to me for quite a while, and I was afraid that I wouldn't have time for it. It's not easy to find new music by new artists and dedicate enough time to give that music enough thoughtful attention that you can decide if you like it or not. One thing is for certain: time has become a precious commodity. Thankfully I've still be able to carve out some time to find and listen to new music. There were some really fantastic releases this year, and I'm glad that they didn't pass me by.

I'm also thinking about how to share my passion for music with my daughter. I don't want her to like the same things that I do, I just want her to like her own things in the same way. She hasn't really started to pay much attention to music yet, but I'm really looking forward to when she does. Maybe we'll talk about the our favorite music.

Postscript: Other Albums That I Liked But That Didn't Quite Make The Cut

• Ty Segall - s/t
• Beastmaker - Insider the Skull
• Songhoy Blues - Résistance
• Antibalas - Where the Gods are in Pease
• The Beaches - Late Show
• Hüsker Dü - Savage Young Dü

Post-Postscript: Spotify Playlist with The Top 10