2018 Albums
Aisha Devi - DNA Feelings
mystical, unearthly electronic "post-club" music
Alela Diane - Cusp
the perfect bittersweet singer/songwriter album for your weekend morning coffee
Amorphis - Queen of Time
Finnish melodic death metal stalwarts, just doing their thing
Ben Chatwin - Staccato Signals/Drone Signals
technically two albums of breathtakingly cinematic ambient/classical/drone
Daniel Bjarnason - Collider
Icelandic modern classical composer recording with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Hamrahlid Choir
Deena Abdelwahed - Khonnar
Tunisian techno with Arabic instrumentation and vocals
Eartaker - Harmoniics
pretty much exactly what you'd expect of a collaboration between a grindcore vocalist, a noise artist, and a dubstep producer
Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet - Landfall
"a haunting meditation on loss" can probably describe most of LA's work, but this one particularly so
Lotic - Power
eclectic, jagged ambient
Nils Frahm - All Melody
best album yet from this neoclassical musician
Objekt - Cocoon Crush
an IDM journey worth taking, ideally on ketamine
Recondite - Daemmerlicht
first ambient album from the Bavarian techno producer
Ricardo Donoso - Calibrate
dark ambient composer finally makes a stormy techno album
Rival Consoles - Persona
electronic music appropriate for both the club and close listening
Sigh - Heir to Despair
If you're already into Japanese avant-metal you'll love this and if not uhhh
Sophie - Oil of Every Pearl's Un-insides
saccharine post-industrial pop
Supersilent - 14
electroacoustic avant-jazz, possibly their most elegant and restrained release (also check out Arve Henriksen's other release this year, The Height of the Reeds)
Szun Waves - New Hymn to Freedom
shimmering London psych-jazz
Vessel - Queen of Golden Dogs
diverse, (ugh, this term again) post-club music
Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit
I'm not even sure how much I like this blend of black metal and traditional spirituals but I think everyone should hear it.