2018 was a year that had a lot of great music from a bunch of new breakout artists. It was also a year that produced great House, Electronic, Funk, and Indie music. Below are my top albums of 2018 in my opinion:

1    ODIE – Analogue

ODIE’s Analogue was by far my most listened to album this year. Front to back, this was definitely one of the best albums of the year. Hip Hop had another mediocre year in 2018, but it did produced some great new artists like ODIE.

Odie – Bliss City

Odie – North Face

2    Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo

Khruangbin ‘s (another breakout group in 2018) Con Todo El Mundo was a pleasant surprise in 2018. Their tracks ‘Evan Finds a Third Room’ and ‘Friday Morning’ were big tunes. That Isley Brothers inspiration on ‘Friday Morning’ though!

Khruangbin – Evan Finds a Third Room

Khruangbin – Friday Morning

3  Kiefer – Happysad

In 2018 Kiefer went from underground Soundcloud jazz producer to Stonesthrow breakout artist. ‘Happy Sad’ was a dope jazz/hiphop album that I listened to a lot.

Kiefer – Memories of U

4  J Cole – KOD

People like to hate on J Cole, but it’s hard to deny his talent. ‘KOD’ was one of my favourite stereotypical Hip Hop album of the year. I am not usually not a lyrics first person, but J Cole is a artist that makes me pay attention to them. The beat production on this album in my opinion were also top notch.

J Cole – Kevin Hart

5 DJ Koze – Knock Knock

DJ Koze did it again with his album ‘Knock Knock’. The album had so many different styles in one package.

DJ Koze – Planet Hase

6 Blood Orange – Negro Swan

Blood Orange’s Charcoal Baby was one of my favourite tracks of the year, that guitar riff hooked me immediately.

Blood Orange – Charcoal Baby

7 Leon Bridges – Good Thing

Leon Bridges had another successful year with his new album ‘Good Thing’.

Leon Bridges – Shy

8 Anderson .Paak – Oxnard

Anderson Paak exploded in 2018. His album was solid with a bunch of dope features and producers.

Anderson .Paak – Saviers Road

9 Illa J – John Yancey

Illa J (Dilla’s little brother) dropped his new album ‘John Yancey’ at the tail end of 2018 on Jakarta Records. It was definitely a nice surprise to end the year.

Illa J – Enjoy the Ride

10 The Internet – Hive Mind

The internet had a brief hiatus in 2017 where Syd and Steve Lacy took some time to focus on their solo careers but they came back in 2018 as a collective and dropped a quality album.

The Internet – It Gets Better With Time

Notables:

MNDGSN – Snax

Saba – Care For Me

Sean Leon – Sean Leon (The Death of)