Best electronic albums of 2018: turn-offs and slow-baked smokers

Pah! Why hang out with the cool kids who made the final top 20 album list, when you could be here in the kitchen with all the losers that didn't make it?

Here is another clutch of almost-rans, headed by an album with highly processed r ‘n’ b vocals, usually a big turn-off for me. Has to be said, though: they worked amazingly on the slow-burning pseudo-grime sounds of Okzharp & Manthe Ribane’s Closer Apart (Hyperdub). On a similar vocal-led tip, I liked Silvia Kastel’s thoughtful “poetry of nothing” on Air Lows (Blackest Ever Black) and I was beguiled by the alienating mechanics and spooooky voices of Lucrecia Dalt unnerving Anticlines (Rvng Intl).

Now, I don't touch drugs these days: although I'm partial to the occasional acid house night, my raving days are long behind me. However, I strongly suspect that if I stepped within 50 feet of Thundercat’s Drank (Brainfeeder), I'd pass out on its slow-baked smokiness. I also lit a nostalgic glow-stick in tribute to the rave vocal samples (“you belong to meee”) and staccato-snared battle cries of RP Boo's I'll Tell You What! (Planet Mu) – he was on brilliantly creative form.

Love poems, YouTube videos and Danish graffiti inspired the wide complexity of Varg’s Nordic Flora Pt. 5: Crush (Posh Isolation). And, if you think about it, failure inspired Soulwax's latest album, because instead of coming up with an Essential Mix for Radio 1, they produced Essential (Deewee) instead. It was rough around the edges, but fun nonetheless. And finally, if sounds were colours, Lotic’s Power (Tri Angle) would be an endless tangle of rainbows as seen through a thousand Insta filters. Wonderful.





Scroll all of the best 2018 electronic albums by clicking here.