Stewart Gardiner looks back over 2018 and picks twenty-five albums that have made the most impact on the world of Concrete Islands

“Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.” – JG Ballard, High-Rise

A lot can happen in three months. That’s how long Concrete Islands has been out in the world. It may seem longer than that from the inside, but it isn’t. Which makes it feel a little strange to be looking back over the year in music when we’re only just getting started. But before there was a website there were albums – it’s not as if I had to reach into the void.

There’s an arbitrariness to all such lists of course, starting with the number of entries (twenty-five in this case). Inevitably that means some albums that could easily make it don’t (Exploded View). Others are ineligible because they’re not actually albums (Hairband’s debut would’ve been fighting its way up the ranks had it been even a mini-album instead of an EP). Then there’s the time spent deliberating over where a certain album should rank, before realising it was released at the end of 2017. Get beyond those hurdles and all that’s left to deal with are the inevitable late entries. Ace December releases are one thing, and out of your control. Deciding to listen to an album you missed from earlier in the year at the eleventh hour and falling in love with it? Avoidable. Yet it’s a course corrective that avoids regret.

So here is a list of albums. No dogs were hurt, cooked or eaten during the making of it.

25. Vic Mars – The Hospice (Clay Pipe Music)

24. Gwenno – Le Kov (Heavenly)

23. Penelope Trappes – Penelope Two (Houndstooth)

22. Sharron Kraus – Joy’s Reflection is Sorrow (Sunstone / Nightshade)

21. AMOR – Sinking Into a Miracle (Night School)

20. Kama Aina + Hochzeitskapelle – Wayfaring Suite (Alien Transistor / Gutfeeling)

19. Chris Carter – Archival Recordings 1973 – 1977 (from the Miscellany box set) (Mute)

18. The Heartwood Institute – Secret Rites (Polytechnic Youth)

17. Barbara Morgenstern – Unschuld und Verwüstung (Fish Prints)

16. Modern Studies – Welcome Strangers (Fire)

15. Let’s Eat Grandma – I’m All Ears (Transgressive)

14. RVG – A Quality of Mercy (Fat Possum)

13. Thought Gang – Thought Gang (Sacred Bones)

12. Spirit Fest – Anohito (Morr Music)

11. The Goon Sax – We’re Not Talking (Wichita)

10. Beautify Junkyards – The Invisible World of Beautify Junkyards (Ghost Box)

The Invisible World of Beautify Junkyards

9. Chris Carter – CCCL Volume One (Mute)

Chris Carter Chemistry Lesson Volume One

8. Jon Brooks – Applied Music: Plastics Today (Café Kaput)

7. Bank of Forever – Music for Navigating (Temporary Tapes)

Bank of Forever Music for Navigating

6. Kathryn Joseph – from when i wake the want is (Rock Action)

5. Low – Double Negative (Sub Pop)

4. D. Rothon – Nightscapes (Clay Pipe Music) 

3. A Happy Return – A Happy Return (Spillage Fete)

A Happy Return

2. The Advisory Circle – Ways of Seeing (Ghost Box)

The Advisory Circle Ways of Seeing

1. Listening Center – Paths and Surfaces (Temporary Tapes)

Stewart Gardiner
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