The Quietus albums of the year chart returns, with our favourite 100 records released in our tenth anniversary year. Read the countdown and find out how you can support us in our work bringing you the best new music

‘Best In Show!’ by Lisa Cradduck

2018, in case you missed the memo, marks a decade since The Quietus launched as a digital websheet. As ever, back in January, we probably thought 'what if this is the year that music goes crap?' Thankfully, against a wider climate that just gets ever bleaker, music has rewarded us with the best birthday present it could, for this year's top 100 albums of the year curiously feels like the 'most Quietus' we've ever done. What, exactly, this site is all about remains something of a mystery, even to us after a decade producing it, but that's sort of the point. We're not really fussed by hype and trends or a desperate desire to be focusing on the next hot thing - that sort of thinking is what has got the music media and industry alike into bother again and again. Instead, we focus on the marginal and ignored, the New Weird scenes of the world in a list compiled by the Quietus HQ crew Anna Wood, Christian Eede, Patrick Clarke, John Doran and myself, with help from our various genre columnists.



Indeed, it's fair to say that this list is a counterblast to the algorithmic systems of music discovery that increasingly shape our culture, largely to negative effect. When we started The Quietus way back in 2008, that technology was in its infancy and the threat to the leftfield was arguably a conservative media landscape. In 2018, technology that gives people what it thinks they want doesn't even flicker as it pushes people into bland aesthetic and stylistic corners. The whole joy of modern music, we believe, is that artists as diverse as Yves Tumor, Tropical Fuck Storm, Senyawa, Xenony, SOPHIE, Guttersnipe, Skee Mask and Miss Red make for thrilling bedfellows.



The other crisis posed by our New Tech Overlords and the dictatorship of algorithmic code is, of course, financial. Not only do Spotify and YouTube fail to adequately compensate artists on the margins (do use the Norman Records links to buy the music you find and love), Google and Facebook now absorb 90% of the advertising revenue that used to fund the media that is such a vital part of the cultural ecosystem. We have not escaped this, which means that the end of the 10th year of The Quietus sees us not exultant at a triumphant decade, but relieved that we've made it this far, and concerned that the future for online publishing is far from rosy. Even the price of a (London) pint a month will help us to bring you 1,000 more albums of the year over the next ten years to 2028.



As ever, then, if you can afford to help us carry on bringing you music that continues to amaze, thrill, dazzle and give you the fackin' 'orn like the 100 records below, click below and donate to keep The Quietus alive. Thanks for reading, we hope you find many treasures in this, tQ’s albums of the year 2018.

100. Maryam Saleh, Maurice Louca and Tamer Abu Ghazaleh - Lekhfa Maryam Saleh, Maurice Louca and Tamer Abu Ghazaleh -

(Mostakell)

The sheer range of what Maryam Saleh, Maurice Louca and Tamer Abu Ghazaleh are trying to combine on Lekhfa - trad chaabi, mahraganat, Nile Delta psych, classic Egyptian pop, Middle Eastern jazz, smoky trip hop, dubby electro pop - should make it sound like a mad man’s breakfast, but the assured, enticing, head-spinning tunes on offer tell a completely different story. John Doran

99. Simian Mobile Disco - Murmurations Simian Mobile Disco -

(Wichita)

Listening to Murmurations, there’s an element of the uncanny valley manifesting at times - the idea that you’re listening to something that’s not actually human, but is trying its hardest to mimic us. Joseph Mumford

98. Anthroprophh - Omegaville Anthroprophh -

(Rocket Recordings)

On Omegaville, Anthroprophh keep pushing and pushing, laying on one oppressive and opaque layer after another, and delving further and deeper into their only semi-imagined dystopia. There is another of those pauses before ‘I’, a track on which they intensify their assault once more with a colossal roar, the precursor to the outer reaches. Patrick Clarke

97. Hailu Mergia - Lala Belu Hailu Mergia -

(Awesome Tapes From Africa)

Lala Belu is at its best when you can sense its creator’s joy at returning to what he does best. Nowhere is this more palpable than on heart-in-mouth closing track ‘Yefikir Engurguro’, a solo coda that sounds like heavy tears of happiness falling on the keys of a piano. Josh Gray

96. Gwenno - Le Kov Gwenno -

(Heavenly)

In a time when cultural identities are being bludgeoned into an amorphous monolith, too often defined only in contrast to an equally nebulous otherness, Le Kov invites us to reclaim our diversities, revitalise our imaginations. Past, present and future intersect. Danijela Bočev

95. David Terry - Sorrow David Terry -

(Opal Tapes)

‘Slowly, Slowly, Up Into The Rain We Fell’ is a 25-minute instrumental piece in which keyboards blurrily harmonise, like a choir in the next village over, and quasi-percussive clanks arrive and depart. ‘Crummock Water’, the aforementioned C90 side-filler, is the most intense of the trio, spiralling keys building to a peak at around 15 minutes and drums featuring for the first time. Noel Gardner

94. BROCKHAMPTON - iridescence BROCKHAMPTON -

(Question Everything)

BROCKHAMPTON are a musical prospect for the times we live in, and you can take that statement in the spirit it was delivered in. Rocked by abuse allegations and the departure of the ‘talented one’, the once cocksure self-proclaimed “best boy band since One Direction” have since revealed themselves to be angst-beset Radiohead fans (‘Tape’ samples ‘Videotape’ and the guiding sonic influence on the album was, apparently, Kid A). But should we be surprised when a band led by a musician called Kevin Abstract end up appearing much less neatly and clearly defined than they originally appeared? Either way ignore the terrible gospel choir-featuring ‘San Marcos’ and what you have here for the main part is a clutch of brilliant songs. John Doran

93. Creep Show - Mr Dynamite Creep Show -

(Bella Union)

Mr Dynamite combines something genuinely sinister with a sense of fun, and far from being a whimsical side project for its members, it can be regarded as a landmark release for all of them. Barnaby Smith

92. Richard Skelton - Front Variations I & II Richard Skelton -

(Aeolian Editions)

As news of our ongoing ecological collapse becomes ever more intensely bleak, Richard Skelton continues to fragment and minimalise his music, on this still potent album exploring drones made from sine waves and the frequencies of threatened glaciers.

91. Nonpareils - Scented Pictures Nonpareils -

(Mute)

Scented Pictures is an album of two distinct moods, the more Madlib-beats-and-weird-noises side (high mark ‘Ditchglass, They Think’) gradually giving way to calmer waters. The switch comes on the relentless and potent ‘Invisible Jets’, which sounds like his former group’s pop screamer ‘Mess On A Mission’ being put through a turbine somewhere in the bowels of a dank and gigantic dam. Luke Turner

90. Capitol K - Goatherder Capitol K -

(Faith In Industry)

Robinson has created a sound world that feels palpably healing. This is an LP that feels very much needed. An evocation to dance: not into oblivion, but forward to the light. Harry Sword

89. Drew McDowall - The Third Helix Drew McDowall -

(Dais)

After a series of Hidden Reverse-aligned reissues on Dais - ELpH vs Coil’s Worship The Glitch; Black Light District’s A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room and Coil’s Time Machines - cosmic synthesist Drew McDowall is back to releasing original material. On listening to The Third Helix it becomes clear that the former Coil and PTV member has lost none of his ability to create intensely disorientating and bliss-inducing soundscapes. John Doran

88. Dizzy Fae - Free Form Dizzy Fae -

(Self-released)

An eclectic, shimmering record of beautiful, smooth and most of all powerful soul and R&B. Dizzy Fae's debut is supreme.

87. Bliss Signal - Bliss Signal Bliss Signal -

(True Panther Sounds)

Bliss Signal holds much in its heart for fans of either genre; swelling crescendos of sound build tension and sorrow in equal measure during ‘N16 Drift,’ echoing the best of dark ambient electronica while ‘Floodlight’ is an unusually bright song filtered through an atmospheric black metal beginning. The album is experimentation at its finest and a successful venture for the creative minds behind it. Cheryl Carter

86. AMOR - Sinking Into A Miracle AMOR -

(Night School)

The latest project from restless experimentalist Richard Youngs, Amor's Sinking Into A Miracle is a wistful and necessarily optimistic dance record, one that does a more than worthy job at appropriating the heady spirits of classic New York dance parties such as The Loft and Paradise Garage, while injecting it's slow-building grooves with distinctly Glaswegian DIY funk. John Thorp

85. Ian William Craig - Thresholder Ian William Craig -

(130701)

The original impetus for the record came out of sessions for some commission work and was inspired by concepts of quantum physics, black holes and space. Ian William Craig

84. Jerusalem In My Heart - Daqa’iq Tudaiq Jerusalem In My Heart -

(Constellation)

Radwan Ghazi Moumneh paddles his craft out even further from the shore, this time with the aid of a 15-piece Egyptian orchestra and Sam Shalabi of Land Of Kush and Dwarfs Of East Agouza. They reimagine the standard ‘Ya Garat Al Wadi’ blissfully as the more currently resonant ‘Wa Ta'atalat Loughat Al Kalam’ or ‘The Language Of Speech Has Broken Down’. John Doran

83. Gaika - Basic Volume Gaika -

(Warp)

In a way, it’s an album about “taking back control” – but rather than being about sovereignty, this is taking back control for us. Indeed, lyrically it teems with references to seizing hold of the narrative, calling the marginalised to arms – “every ghetto youth must take back him crown / just ride if you’re down, this fight is right now”, and, “I wanna see you in rebellion”. Tara Joshi

82. Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet - Landfall Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet -

(Nonesuch)

Landfall is not so facile as to treat the terrible storm as a simple metaphor. Sandy is more real than that. Rather, Anderson’s words, and the sometimes surging, sometimes steady music from which they intermittently surface, find in Sandy the means to explore what is taken from us, how we experience it, how we understand it – or do not. David Bennun

81. Lotic - Power Lotic -

(Tri Angle)

This is an album about political and personal power, although there are no slogans or pontifications. The most explicitly political track, ‘Distribution Of Care’, has no lyrics at all - just four minutes of tense strings and rolling beats. But the key to the power in Power is in Lotic’s acceptance of what they can and cannot control, specifically in their journey of transformation and gender fluidity. Bob Cluness

80. Xenony - Polish Space Program Xenony -

(Hessle Audio)

Things start in a familiar yet very satisfying post-krautrock muscular Moog workout along the lines of Zombie Zombie or Emperor Machine before blasting off into lesser occupied space. A strong melodic instinct married with the booming synths of Gary Numan’s Pleasure Principle and, more recently, the modular ecstasy of James Holden And The Animal Spirits animate tracks such as ‘Sun’ which, in other hands, could be lifeless electronic experiments. John Doran

79. Warmduscher - Whale City Warmduscher -

(The Leaf Label)

A playground for the people that have stepped above and beyond their comfort zone. Warmduscher’s Clams Baker

78. JPEGMAFIA - Veteran JPEGMAFIA -

(EQT Recordings)

His latest album, Veteran - a play on the 28-year-old having been in the music game for a while, but also a reference to his four years serving in the US air force - struck a chord with a jarring world, cathartic in its dissonance, its lithe sexuality, and its visceral, vital undercurrent of frantic rage and a kind of jaded indifference. Tara Joshi

77. East Man - Red, White And Zero East Man -

(Planet Mu)

The list of MCs includes Darkos Strife, Kwam, Saint P, Irah, Killa P and more, and Gilroy’s contribution highlights the class tensions and intricacies that take place in London on a daily basis, giving the album thematic weight and focus. In many ways, the album is a celebration of that working class spirit which Hart and his contributors represent, an achievement of that sector of society that get the least love and attention by the powers that be.. Yemi Abiade

76. Lucrecia Dalt - Anticlines Lucrecia Dalt -

(RVNG Intl.)

Dalt’s native Latin rhythms mix with contemporary, minimal synth vignettes and industrial clutter. This is an immersive listen, full of eerie familiarity and suspended body horror; a quasi-mystical sense of oneness gives Anticlines cohesion and a sense of spiritual comfort, and somehow reminds of of the vast indifferent universe as we descend into environmental disaster. Danijela Bočev

75. Vanishing Twin - Magic And Machines Vanishing Twin -

(Blank Editions)

Magic And Machines was recorded for Blank Editions’ Blank Tape series, in which bands tape themselves while in free improv/R&D territory. This 30-minute, spectral jam was recorded live in one take at a night-time session at a mill in Sudbury, Suffolk and is evidence of a band who are finely tuned into their environment, one another and the multiple avenues open to the modern pop group. John Doran

74. Miss Red - K.O. Miss Red -

(Pressure)

Miss Red, aka Sharon Stern, is an astonishing vocal presence. Her flow is dextrous and fiery, brilliantly confrontational. She’s highly literate in her genre, nodding to familiar dancehall inflections while making no bones about her status as a white female Israeli. Born to Polish and Israeli-Moroccan parents in xxx, her self-awareness and personal experience of conflict drive her words throughout K.O.. The righteous fury that permeates each track is rooted in very real issues. Luke Cartledge

73. Melting Hand - Faces Of Earth Melting Hand -

(Hominid Sounds)

For a band whose first album didn’t sound like it was scrimping, sonically speaking, on pretty much anything, Melting Hand’s second album is remarkable for packing in more of everything. More members, for one thing, and more vocals from more heads who dropped in for useful guest spots; more speed (as in velocity), at times, but also more apparent consideration in these five songs’ arrangements, rather than smoke-belching free-associative heavy-psych jam sessions all in the red all the time and get knotted if you don’t like, alright? Noel Gardner

72. Primitive Knot - Thee Opener Of The Way Primitive Knot -

(Aurora Borealis)

From up in the Pennine hinterlands, Primitive Knot continue to blend black metal, noise and esoteric lo-fi in increasingly hectic, heavy ways. Luke Turner

71. ZULI - Terminal ZULI -

(UIQ)

His debut full-length on Lee Gamble's UIQ label marries swampy basslines with slinky vocal delivery courtesy of rappers like Abyusif. Gut-wrenching trap flirtations meet delicate, alien melodic arrangements. In ‘Bump’, a highlight of the album, distorted synths flutter amidst sub tremors and rapid-fire vocals. Mollie Zhang

70. Jake Muir - Lady’s Mantle Jake Muir -

(sferic)

On Lady’s Mantle, LA-based Jake Muir weaves delicate ambient loops from heavily manipulated surf-rock samples. Smudged synths repeat over and over on tracks such as opener ‘High Tide’ and ‘Yaupon’, forming neat earworms, while distant samples - people speaking, waves crashing, birdsong - unfurl, buried deep in the mix. Christian Eede

69. Helena Hauff - Qualm Helena Hauff -

(Ninja Tune)

Qualm sounds like it's trying to crack the matrix: deliciously squelchy, subtly creeping with unease, slicing and thwacking break beats boasting gun-metal precision, an ominous nuclear-green fogginess, like you're listening through night vision glasses. Kate Hutchinson

68. The Armed - Only Love The Armed -

(No Rest Until Ruin)

The Armed from Detroit, MI, have introduced new rupturing new dynamics into the realm of what might loosely be termed hardcore, managing to be both more melodic, more noisy and more inventive than nearly anyone else doing the rounds at the moment.

67. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - King Of Cowards Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs -

(Rocket)

King Of Cowards opens with a simmer, a descending bass riff bubbling away until it boils over into an intergalactic launch of searing noise, and you’re reminded that this is a band of quite tremendous power. Baty’s vocals are more colossal than ever, surfing the monolithic wave with an almighty howl. The rest of the Pigs are on agile form, switching momentum from cosmic rushes to almighty, crushing descents without hesitation. Patrick Clarke

66. Rezzett - Rezzett Rezzett -

(The Trilogy Tapes)

Christian Eede 65. Manni Dee - The Residue Manni Dee - (Tresor) A deeply atmospheric listen that captures many of the anxieties and oppressive atmospheres of existing in metropolitan Britain in 2018. The two minute interlude 'Vicarious Living' has a melancholy akin to wandering home after a rave, looking up at a tower of luxury flats and seeing some wholesome City couple sat having a nude granola breakfast as you wander home to your overpriced room, with its black mold and grotesque memories of personal inadequacy. Luke Turner 64. The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer The Body - (Thrill Jockey) I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer. by the body Despite shedding metal’s generic trappings almost completely, The Body have created some of the heaviest and most intense music we’ve heard this year, a devastating multi-faceted gut-punch of a record that asks you to come face to face your most primordial, deep-seated fears, acknowledge and accept your failings and emerge from the experience a stronger person. Kez Whelan 63. AJA - AJA AJA - (Opal Tapes) AJA by AJA She’s the antithesis of the macho tropes that have for years surrounded noise music. Falling somewhere under the umbrella of ‘New Weird Britain’, her live shows symptomatic of it. Built upon the idea of audience immersion, AJA beckons you to share the extreme emotion her performances convey and the strangeness that surrounds it. Aimee Armstrong Rezzett come good on years of 12” releases via The Trilogy Tapes with a debut LP of tape hiss-filled jungle, breaks, techno and hazy ambient music. 62. Synth Sisters - Euphoria (WAV) Synth Sisters - (EM) Euphoria by Synth Sisters シンセ・シスターズ ‘She Sang’ centres around serene drones, while ‘Euphoria’’s synth patterns wouldn’t sound out of place working alongside a chugging krautrock groove (‘Time Is Flowing There’, later in the album, explores this element of their sound fully). ‘Different Story’ is full of machine zaps and harp-like chirps, and closer ‘I Am Here’ is a whirl of piano and psychedelic pads that could continue for hours without its grasp fading. Christian Eede 61. Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch Nine Inch Nails - (The Null Corporation) They’ve ended up hitting on something that is simultaneously genuinely belligerent in the power of its snot nosed assault, while being leagues more sophisticated than anything any of the remaining big hitters from the imperial period of American alternative rock are even attempting in 2018. John Doran 60. Big Joanie - Sistahs Big Joanie - (Daydream Library) As well as the wider statement its very existence makes, Sistahs is an exploration of individual experience. Lyrically introspective, the songs are often one-sided conversations, processing moments of change and frustration, bratty retaliation and loss. Less a political call to arms and more a “black punks have always been here” reclamation of space, musically Sistahs draws from an eclectic palette that includes 60s girl groups, jangle pop, lo-fi indie and punk. Melissa Steiner 59. Cucina Povera - Hilja Cucina Povera - (Night School) Hilja by Cucina Povera Hilja is an album that takes time to reveal itself, at first appearing inaccessible, strange or disorganised. Given space though, and without the expectation of constant stimulation, Cucina Povera has put together a collection that rewards you for listening carefully to the wonderful sounds that live among the silence. Richard Fontenoy 58. Darren Hayman - Thankful Villages Darren Hayman - (Audio Antihero) Thankful Villages Volume 1 by Darren Hayman The Thankful Villages that Hayman has spent the last few years visiting, recording songs about, and shooting films in, are the places in the UK in which all the servicemen returned from the conflict alive. Remarkably, there are only 54 (at last count) out of 60,000 settlements which lost young men. So instead of a musical parade of songs about the war, Hayman has chosen instead to create thoughtful meditations on rural life, change, and lost ways of being. "We are not spending half an hour saluting our troops," he says. "There’s the war - the subject on the surface - but what’s underneath is what I’m really writing about." Luke Turner 57. тпсб - Sekundenschlaf тпсб - (Blackest Ever Black) Sekundenschlaf by тпсб Making their debut on Blackest Ever Black, the story behind тпсб is a confused one. Past material was said to have been recovered from a Russian hard drive purchased off eBay, but now the work of the project, Blackest Ever Black says, simply has an ”unclear authorship”. What is clear though is the fuzzy, almost lo-fi excellence that lies within Sekundenschlaf. Christian Eede

56. Bas Jan - Yes I Jan Bas Jan -

(Lost Map)

It’s rarely easy to parse just one feeling from these songs, there’s usually two or three or more, spinning in circles and overlapping. Like: Isn’t life disappointing? Or maybe you’re what’s disappointing. Isn’t life stressful? But also fun and wonderful, so full of possibilities! Let’s have a dance and a cuddle and a good fuck, and isn’t the sky beautiful tonight? Anna Wood

55. Ben Vince - Assimilation Ben Vince -

(Where To Now?)

Overseeing a cast of collaborators that includes Micachu, Rupert Clervaux and Cam Deas, Ben Vince pulls proceedings together on Assimilation via his stunning saxophone arrangements. It's a set-up which sees him thrive off the contributions of his co-conspirators, from the sleazy skronk of opener ‘Alive & Ready’, which features the shapeshifting vocals of Merlin Nova, to the more minimal, lithe territory of the Micachu-featuring ‘What I Can See’ which pairs little more than Vince’s sax, Mica Levi’s low register vocal and a healthy dose of reverb. Christian Eede

54. Cardi B - Invasion Of Privacy Cardi B -

(Atlantic)

Invasion of Privacy finds a rapper in her prime, cleverly shaping her own stardom and - hopefully - carving out a path that continues to usher female MCs into the mainstream. Shamelessly sexual, caustically comic and with breathtaking flow, Cardi B stands proud as one of trap’s finest. Tara Joshi

53. Goat Girl - Goat Girl Goat Girl -

(Rough Trade)

This is a young album, an antidote to all the articles about house prices, feckless millennials or smashed avocados on sourdough. This is just a document of being young and uncertain and trying not to be a wanker and trying to have a good time in a city which makes all of those things extremely difficult. Anna Wood

52. Eartheater - Irisiri Eartheater -

(PAN)

Irisiri is an album that explores the concepts of femininity, technology and the how many non-conforming bodies end up falling between the cracks in the seemingly implacable poles of gender, sex and the human. All her songs display seemingly disparate contrasts of surrealist wordplay, with organic, fragile tones and cold, machinist grind, as she pieces and stitches them into idiosyncratic little monsters that at times bewilders, but ultimately beguiles you with their curiosity and playfulness. Bob Cluness

51. Pig Destroyer - Head Cage Pig Destroyer -

(Relapse)

Pig Destroyer never really bought in to the globally minded ‘anti’ politics of grindcore’s originators. Instead they sought out a horrifying perspective on the dangers of the male psyche. But writing that “semen tastes like gunmetal”, and about “twinkling bits of glass stuck in her face”, gets old… Head Cage moves them into the middle of the 21st century culture wars. Dan Franklin

50. Deena Abdelwahed - Khonnar Deena Abdelwahed -

(InFiné Music)

The lyrics, which are mostly sung in Tunisian Arabic, see Abdelwahed exploring subjects of inequality in her native casting a critical eye over the police state and gender inequality. 'Tawa' combines traditional instrumentation with club-ready drum machines while 'Fdiha' is a heavy-hitting chugger that calls to mind some of the output of the Night Slugs camp. This ear for building dancefloor-focused grooves continues through much of Khonnar as Abdelwahed pushes against the notion that socially-conscious statements are best held at arm's length from such conventions. Christian Eede

49. Alison Cotton - All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre Alison Cotton -

(Bloxham Tapes)

Alison Cotton’s album is a highly memorable suite evoking other times and places with a deftness and a lightness of touch. She is an excellent and restrained songwriter, confidently combining instrumental and vocal music to create a recording that delivers much and promises more to come. Tom Bolton

48. Alexander Tucker - Don't Look Away Alexander Tucker -

(Thrill Jockey)

Don’t Look Away is a supremely confident album from a songwriter who has found his place and knows his music. It completes a trilogy which is essential listening for anyone who wants to hear why the psychedelic lineage of the past 50 years is fresh and alive. Tom Bolton

47. Bruce - Sonder Somatic Bruce -

(Hessle Audio)

Bristol-based Larry McCarthy, better known as Bruce, comes good on years of standout 12” releases on Sonder Somatic. Highlight ‘What’ sees him reach for peak-time dancefloors as a stretched-out vocal sample fuses with gallopins drums, the combination barely letting up intensity across its five-minute run. Elsewhere, ‘Cacao’ drives forward with a menacing bassline that wouldn’t sound out of place on an A Made Up Sound record while tracks like ‘Meek’ and ‘Torn’ see McCarthy exploring lower tempos. Christian Eede

46. Kali Uchis - Isolation Kali Uchis -

(Self-Released)