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2018 Shortlist

Ahoy!

 What an amazing year we had for new music! Last year you may recall that The Wonderfish and I only released a top 5 before we announced our picks for Album of the Year. This year we genuinely couldn't just give you all 5 albums each. Instead, we revamped our Album of the Year process. You'll see below that we each listed our top 5, and one of those 5 will be revealed next week as our respective 2018 Album of the Year. The remaining shortlist consists of 15 albums that at one point were either in the running or just too good not to promote. Make sure to check out anything you haven't heard and stay tuned for next week's reveals for Album of the Year!

What's on your list?

Until next time,
Heard

Heard's Top 5 (in no particular order)
Lydian Collective - Adventure
Circles - The Last One
Rubble Bucket - Sun Machine
Donny McCaslin - Blow
Dave Matthews Band - Come Tomorrow

Heard's Shortlist (in no particular order)
Aaron Parks - Little Big
Ben Wendel - The Seasons
Brad Mehldau - After Bach
Brad Mehldau Trio - Seymour Reads The Constitution
Contrast Trio - Letila Zozulya
Now v Now - The Buffering Cocoon
Philippe Lemm Trio - City Birds
Shai Maestro - The Dream Thief
Mac Miller - Swimming
Between the Buried and Me - Automata I and Automata II*
Arianne Lenker - abysskiss
David Crosby & Friends - Here If You Listen
Hilary Hahn - Hilary Hahn Plays Bach
Andreas Varady - The Quest
Tom Morello - The Atlas Underground

The Wonderfish's Top 5 (in no particular order)
The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
George Ezra - Staying at Tamara's
Donny McCaslin - Blow
Leon Bridges - Good Thing

The Wonderfish's Shortlist (in no particular order)
Philippe Lemm Trio - City Birds
Dawes - Passwords
Jon Batiste - Hollywood Africans
Pete Thorn - Pete Thorn II
Black Thought & Salaam Remi - Streams of Thought, Vol. 2
Breaking Benjamin - Embers
Fantastic Negrito - Please Don't Be Dead
Brandi Carlile - By The Way, I Forgive You
Muse - Simulation Theory
Pistol Annies - Interstate Gospel
Aaron Parks - Little Big
Tom Misch - Geography
Kendrick Lamar & Various Artists - Black Panther Soundtrack
Jon Bellion - Glory Sound Prep
Dispatch - Location 13

*Automata was disqualified as a true album of the year candidate because it's not technically one album. It was still too good to not include in the short list (although, admittedly, Heard greatly prefers Automata II).
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