As if you needed another list – UPROXX Critics Poll

Lacking firm evidence that the Pazz and Jop poll would continue after the dissolution of the Village Voice, I submitted a ballot to the UPROXX Critics Poll. It’s not much different from the ranking I posted last month, but it’s worth preserving because I sent it first. By now Kacey Musgraves’ triumph, to which I

2018: The year in singles

As noted, I listened to more than five hundred singles in 2018, not counting the stuff I didn’t grade. None of the 9’s ended up getting the most phone play, a development I noted here. 9 Jessie Ware – Overtime Cassie – Don’t Play it Safe Laura Jean – Girls on the TV Lana Del

Soto’s 35 best albums of 2018

And here are the other fifteen. A few FOr notes:

The best albums of 2018, final edition

And now I reach the end. A splendid top four, I must say…

The best albums of 2018, pt. 4

Keep it goin’, keep it goin’, full steam!

The best albums of 2018, pt. 3

12. Toni Braxton — Sex & Cigarettes Four years after triumphing with the Babyface collaboration Love Marriage & Divorce, which chronicled the ebb and flow of two intelligent, horny adults as powerful as Shoot Out the Lights and Love Wars and surpassing them in vocal firepower, Toni Braxton records an unofficial coda. Chromosomally repelled by

The best albums of 2018, pt. 2

Let’s continue this streak… 16. Meshell Ndegeocello – Ventriloquism On first listen her covers, many acoustic, gratify eighties nostalgists. Play it in the background and her vocal and instrumental choices emphasize odd stresses — listen to what she does with “Sensitivity” and “Don’t Disturb This Groove.” “Tender Love” becomes R&B country in the vein of

The best albums of 2018, pt. 1

And now, over a glass of white wine, I begin the difficult step of separating the okay from the best.

The best singles of 2018

Although The Singles Jukebox is still publishing through next week, I’ve heard enough of the forthcoming songs to know what works; also, I’m tapped out on the singles front, at least five hundred listened to, absorbed, and graded since January 2018, a new record. Unusually, I played the first six entries non-stop, keeping them on

Best singles of 2018, third quarter edition

I’m not ranking these yet, but these are the singles that have driven me mad in 2018. Jessie Ware – Overtime Cassie – Don’t Play it Safe Laura Jean – Girls on the TV Rae Sremmurd, Swae Lee, Slim Jxmmi ft. Juicy J – Powerglide Lana Del Rey – Mariners Apartment Complex Ariana Grande –

The best albums of 2018 — we’re almost there!

In no order. My dedicated team of interns is still sorting through data. ALBUMS Cupcakke – Ephorize U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited Mr. Fingers – Cerebral Hemispheres Toni Braxton – Sex & Cigarettes tUnE-yArDs – I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life Ravyn Lenae – Crush Tracy Thorn – Record Migos

I’m usin’ my wisdom teeth: the best pop music of 2018 — first half report

In no order: ALBUMS Cupcakke – Ephorize U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited Mr. Fingers – Cerebral Hemispheres Toni Braxton – Sex & Cigarettes tUnE-yArDs – I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life Ravyn Lenae – Crush Tracy Thorn – Record Migos – Culture II The Breeders – All Nerve Ashley Monroe