Regarding jazz 2018 has been the best year since Coltrane died

86-87 were two of the most incredible back to back years in the 20th C

For 2018 the pace of incredible releases made it hard to revisit many of them because they kept pouring in but still 2016 was zenith year or whatever. Many things hit a sweet spot in 2016. For pop music or avant pop or whatever 2016 was the best year since 86.

I honestly don't feel like I've put all that much effort into finding gems this year, but they've come liberally just the same.
I stick my hand out of the window and a good album lands in my palm.

I'm convinced I could find way more with only moderate effort.

A really strong year for music in my opinion.

If we were talking metal specifically, I'd say 2018 has been slim pickings, but overall that was not at all the case.

Definitely wasn't aware of this. I've only heard Heaven and Earth, which wasn't for me, and the newest record from the Necks, which I enjoyed but not as much as last year's release.

I can relate to this more or less, especially with all the hip-hop releases this year. Lots of decent/slightly above average stuff but it has all been kind of samey and just runs together after awhile. Two of the only albums that I've really enjoyed are from jpegmafia and joey purp, both of which aren't super underground or anything but definitely stuck out first due to the uniqueness of their sound which led me to repeated listens where I then recognized the quality of the work as well.

In hip-hop this year,
I've been listening to stuff from
Your Old Droog, Roc Marciano,
Quelle Chris & Jean Grae, Noname,
Sampa the Great and a bunch others...

Roc's been on absolute fire this year.

What'd you think of the new Earl album, Fasho?

2018 has been the best year in music since 2017 tbh

Have you heard any of these, OP?

Completely slipped my mind - I was apprehensive at first but am really enjoying after repeated listens. Most likely in my top 10 and climbing.

Only a handful. My favorite there is the Nils Frahm record, but serving my point, not his best work imo. Lots of interesting stuff on the list though that I will check out. Thanks for sharing.

I don't think I've been blown away by a single album this year, and by that I mean I don't think there's any 2018 I've been able to add to my casual listening repertoire, other than Mid-Air Thief's Crumbling (still probably my AOTY). Doesn't mean there haven't been great ****in albums this year (like the Gendel and Wilkes collab or the new Daughters record) but they just haven't connected with me enough to make me love them. Maybe I really do have to pick up streaming so I can listen to more things whenever and wherever.