2018 was an incredible year for music, with many groundbreaking albums, EPs, compilations, and worthy reissues. 

With that being said, it’s practically impossible to summarize an entire year’s worth of music in an introductory paragraph, and therefore I will not attempt to do so. I will say that many music fans might look back on 2018 as the year of the “UK jazz explosion,” with so many monumental recordings from that movement being released this year. It will be interesting to see if those great artists that make up that thriving scene will continue to carry the momentum they have created into the new year. Another general observation is that there seems to continue to be more openness and intention from artists to experiment and expand their sound outside any specific genre or influence. I think the continue melting-pot of different global sounds, influences, and instrumentation will only lead to more interesting and unique music. 

2018 had so many great and diverse releases, that putting together this list was admittedly challenging, even more so than some of the past years. With any of these lists this time of year, there will always be much to debate: what records made the cut, and which albums were snubbed. The only thing that is undoubtably true is that everyone’s list will be different, and that’s a good thing. One of the reasons I’m calling this “My Favorite Albums,” instead of “Best Albums” is because, in the end, it is truly all subjective and that’s what makes them enjoyable to put together. Check back soon as I will be posting my favorite EPs, tracks, compilations, and reissues of 2018.

With that all being said, I’m excited to present BeatCaffeine’s “Favorite New Albums Of 2018.”

 

15. Moses Boyd — ‘Displaced Diaspora’
(Exodus Records)

Drummer and producer Moses Boyd is one of the leading and most cutting-edge artists in today’s thriving London jazz scene. His debut full-length album, titled Displaced Diaspora on his own Exodus Records imprint, is a collection of music he recorded back in 2015 during the same sessions that produced the now classic “Rye Lane Shuffle.” On this album, Boyd’s diversity and strength as both a drummer and a producer is clearly on display, brilliantly fusing together jazz, electronic beats, African-influenced rhythms, cosmic grooves, and hip-hop breaks.

 

14. Kassin — ‘Relax’
(Luaka Bop)

Alexandre Kassin is one of the most accomplished and influential producers in Brazil today. On top of collaborating with Caetano Veloso, Gilles Peterson, and producing around 100 albums, he’s also made his mark playing with breakthrough Brazilian bands like The +2s, Los Hermanos and Orquestra Imperial. This past year, Kassin released his first solo album in seven years. Titled Relax, this brilliant recording nicely blends together Latin rhythms, Brazilian pop, funky grooves, layered string arrangements, and soulful melodies. The album also marks the songwriter’s most personal to date, with subjects including his recent divorce, a near death experience, drug usage, and politics. Overall, a beautifully produced and danceable Brazilian pop recording from one of Rio’s finest.

 

13. Mansur Brown — ‘Shiroi’
(Black Focus)

Brilliant debut album from the 21 year old south east London-based guitar prodigy who was a major contributor on Yussef Kamaal’s groundbreaking 2016 album. Released on Kamaal Williams Black Focus label, this recording features eleven nicely cohesive tracks that blend funky instrumental hip-hop influenced beats and “trap-music” rhythms with hypnotic guitar solos and melodies. An artist that falls somewhere in-between Jimi Hendrix, George Benson, Manuel Göttsching, and Kurt Rosenwinkel, this is just the beginning for Mansur Brown.

 

12. Leon Vynehall — ‘Nothing Is Still’
(Ninja Tune)

After putting out two highly acclaimed EPs in 2014 (Music For The Uninvited (3024)) and 2016 (Rojus EP (Running Back)), UK-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, and deejay Leon Vynehall releases his incredible debut full-length on Ninja Tune. This brilliantly thematic recording, titled Nothing Is Still, is inspired and in hence, a soundtrack-like dedication to Vynehall’s grandparents and their seven-day journey immigrating from the UK to New York City during the 1960s. Using old passed down photos from his Nan, Vynehall is able to sonically paint a picture of this trip. Even though the producer’s previous two releases were primed more for the dancefloor, Nothing Is Still is musically influenced by Vynehall’s growing passion for early contemporary minimalist composers like Philip Glass and Terry Riley, using atmospheric tones and layered textures. Most of the music was recorded by Vynehall himself, however he did enlist a string ensemble and a number of jazz instrumentalists to contribute on some of the tracks. Overall, Nothing Is Still is one of the year’s most remarkable and original conceptual albums.

 

11. Kamaal Williams — ‘The Return’
(Black Focus)

In 2016, the London-based duo Yussef Kamaal exploded onto the jazz scene with their debut release Black Focus. Unfortunately, one week after receiving Jazz FM‘s Breakthrough Act of the Year award in May of 2017, the British jazz-funk group featuring keyboardist Kamaal Williams and drummer Yussef Dayes disbanded. As a natural evolution of the Yussef Kamaal project, Williams (aka Henry Wu) returned this year with a brilliant new album, appropriately titled The Return. Released under his own label (Black Focus), the album’s overall sound builds on the foundation established on Yussef Kamaal’s debut, featuring swelling synths and hypnotic keyboard melodies layered over funky broken beat percussion rhythms and looping grooves.  Blending elements of jazz improvisation, hip-hop, grime, funk, and even EDM, The Return successfully captures what Williams describes as “the essence of the London Underground.”

 

10. Khruangbin — ‘Con Todo El Mundo’
(Night Time Stories)

Following the highly acclaimed 2015 debut album The Universe Smiles Upon You, the Houston, Texas-based trio returned in 2018 with another brilliant guitar-driven soulful psychedelic release, titled Con Todo El Mundo. Continuing it’s strong influence of sixties and seventies era music out of Thailand, this recording also pays homage to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern funk music, as well as traditional Mexican roots. Throughout the recording, the music beautifully flows perfectly from track to track, blending a wide array of influences and globally-influenced textures and tones. Simply put, this is your desert road trip soundtrack of the year (because you always need one, right?!?!)

 

9. Makaya McCraven — ‘Universal Beings’
(International Anthem)

The Chicago-based drummer, composer, and producer follows up his incredible Chicago-meets-London mixtape Where We Come From with the 22-track offering Universal Beings. On this album, McCraven follows a similar approach, production wise, as many of his other previous recordings in taking material from live and improvised sessions and editing it down into shorter segments and grooves. The music spans from spiritual jazz meditations and pulsating loops, to hard-hitting post-bop and explosive driving rhythms. Divided into four suites highlighting jazz scenes in Chicago, London, New York, and Los Angeles, special guests include Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia, (London), Tomeka Reid, Dezron Douglas (New York), Jeff Parker (Chicago), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Josh Joshnson, Carlos Niño (Los Angeles), and others.

 

8. Auntie Flo — ‘Radio Highlife’
(Brownswood)

The London-based producer’s third album is the first on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label, and is his most ambitious to-date, as he made a conscious effort to infuse an array of different global sounds that he came across over the years from his worldly travels as a deejay. The album brilliantly fuses together elements of balearic house grooves, jazz instrumentation, African highlife and Caribbean-influenced rhythms. The recording has an overall tropical global feel that works both on the dance floor and around the campfire. 

 

7. Phil France — ‘Circle’
(Gondwana Records)

The Manchester-based composer, bassist and producer is probably best know for his collaborative work for many years in the Cinematic Orchestra. His new record picks up where his 2013 debut, The Swimmer, left off, with layers of melodic electronic textures and minimal arpeggiated patterns that build and shift throughout each song. The title track “Circle” is not only the album’s opener, but acts as the overall symbolic concept for the album.  Overall, Circle takes listeners on a sonic journey using atmospheric sounds, multi-layered textures, and harmonic melodies. 

 

6. Kamasi Washington — ‘Heaven & Earth’
(Young Turks)

Building off the composer, bandleader and saxophonist’s massive 2016 groundbreaking 3xVinyl album The Epic, Kamasi Washington returns with The West Coast Get Down for another monumental release in Heaven & Earth. Released on the Young Turks label, this conceptional sixteen-track 4xVinyl album (which included a hidden record that you had to cut out of the packaging!!!), features the same strong ingredients that came through on The Epic, drawn out compositions, fiery horn solos, heavy-hitting dual percussion rhythms, multi-layered instrumentation, and spiritually influenced melodies. Coltrane, Pharoah, Ayler … and now Kamasi Washington, who is making spiritual music for a whole new generation.

 

5. Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad — ‘The Midnight Hour’
(Linear Labs)

Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, record shop owner, and producer Adrian Younge teams up with A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad on a new project called The Midnight Hour. Inspired by the cultural sophistication that the Harlem Renaissance established for it’s community, this recording captures the raw essence of a dark smoke-filled speakeasy blending together jazz, soul, and hip-hop. The record features an all-star cast of musicians including Questlove, CeeLo Green, Raphael Saadiq, Laetitia Saidier (from Stereolab), Marsha Ambrosius, Bilal, and many others. The album also includes the completed version of “Questions,” which was the foundation for Kendrick Lamar’s 2016 track “Untitled 06 | 06.30.2014.” Overall, The Midnight Hour has the same essence as a classic sixties or seventies era analog soul recording while still sounding like something completely new.

 

4. Tenderlonious & The 22archestra — ‘The Shakedown’
(22a)

Saxophonist, flutist, bandleader, and composer Ed ‘Tenderlonious’ Cawthorne has been at the forefront of the recent UK jazz explosion. Following the success of his 2016 On Flute EP, the London-based artist released his highly anticipated debut full-length in 2018, titled The Shakedown. Released on his own 22a label, this brilliant recording features The 22archestra, which is an incredible cast of musicians, assembled by Tenderlonious himself, from the region. Incorporating Latin rhythms, Afrobeat influences, and hip-hop grooves, this is jazz music that people can dance to. 

 

3. Makaya McCraven — ‘Where We Come From (CHICAGOxLONDON) Mixtape’
(International Anthem)

McCraven’s first release of this year might possibly be the most collaborative and uniquely produced albums of 2018. Recorded live in October 2017 over two days at London’s Total Refreshment Centre, the drummer performed alongside some of the best musicians currently coming out of London including Nubya Garcia (saxophone), Soweto Kinch (saxophone and voice), Theon Cross (tuba), Joe Armon-Jones (keys), and Kamaal Williams (keys). After the two days of live performances, McCraven and some great producers/remixers from both London and Chicago including Emma-Jean Thackray, Ben Lamar Gay, Don Leisure & Earl Jeffers (of Darkhouse Family) and others remixed the recorded material. The final outcome sounds like a superb DJ mix of some of the funkiest and groove-heavy live jazz you’ve ever heard, capturing the sound, vibe, and most importantly, the energy coming out of both London and Chicago.

 

2. Sons of Kemet — ‘Your Queen Is a Reptile’
(Impulse Records)

London-based quartet Sons of Kemet features some of the most notable musicians in the currently thriving UK jazz scene, including bandleader and saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings. Rounding out the rest of the group is Theon Cross on tuba, and drummers Tom Skinner and Eddie Hick. The band’s third and best release to date, titled Your Queen is a Reptile, features high-octane horn melodies and screaming solos, layered over hard-hitting percussive rhythms and pulsating grooves. The music on this recording is bursting with energy, drawing on influences from Afrobeat, dub, Caribbean Soca, and grime. The album’s overall message takes aim at the conventional British monarchy, naming each track “My Queen is …” and including a name of a visionary black woman in history (ie Angela Davis, Harriet Tubman). The idea is to recognize crowning achievement and influence, instead of just someone’s bloodline. Nominated this year for a Mercury Prize Award, Sons of Kemet continue to march ahead, releasing one of the most powerful and important albums of the year.

 

1. Nu Guinea — ‘Nuova Napoli’
(NG Records)

The Berlin-based tropical synth-funk duo of Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina follow-up their excellent 2016 debut album The Tony Allen Experiments, with a brilliant new recording inspired by their native hometown of Naples and the music that came out of that region during the seventies and eighties. Titled Nuova Napoli, and released off their very own NG Records imprint, the recording blends cosmic synth melodies, balearic grooves, and soulful vocals with funky percussion and electric drum beats. On top of utilizing a wide variety of classic analog synths throughout the recording process, the duo enlisted the help from some of the best Neapolitan-based session musicians. Exploring the sounds of jazz-funk, disco, and African-inspired rhythms, the cosmic duo known as Nu Guinea have produced an incredible album that rightfully stands alongside some of the best tropical funk dance recordings over the past decade. 

 

ALSO CHECK OUT:
Our Favorite New EPs of 2018
Our Favorite Reissues of 2018
BeatCaffeine Best Tracks of 2018 Playlist

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