Noname’s Room 25 is the most acclaimed album of the year: you can't argue with mathematics
The ADM Top 10 2018
Now everyone's had their say with the Best Albums of 2018
roundups, it's time to take stock of the cold hard facts of what
really were the most critically-acclaimed albums over the past 12
months.
The AnyDecentMusic top 10 of 2018 is the most reliable guide to
what earned the most extensive overall praise from reviewers.
We have excluded from the rankings any albums with fewer than ten
reviews from our list of more than 50 sources from the UK, US,
Canada, Australia and Ireland, and the formula we apply to arrive
at the ADM rating takes the number of reviews into account.
Below, we give our analysis of what it all means.
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8.50
Noname
Room 25
"There is no fault that springs to mind when thinking about this
project. Room 25 is a truly remarkable release, deserving of
acclaim and love" - AU Review
More reviews
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8.47
Idles
Joy as an Act of Resistance
"An instant classic, one that people will turn to in times of
need for years to come" - NME
More reviews
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8.37
Janelle Monáe
Dirty Computer
"Monáe is 10 steps ahead, past the Trump era, embracing the
robot-utopia that gives hope to an unprejudiced and equal world.
She´s already there - now the rest of us have to catch up" -
CLASH
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8.34
Kamasi Washington
Heaven & Earth
"It's easy to get overawed by the sheer magnitude of such a
work, but it lives up to the audacious premise grandly" -
Under The Radar
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8.32
Robyn
Honey
"By manipulating the modern pop palette to craft a complex
heartbreak album, Robyn shows her imitators how it's done" -
The Guardian
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reviews
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8.32
Marianne Faithfull
Negative Capability
"Comparisons with such late-career highlights as Johnny Cash's
American Recordings albums and Leonard Cohen's You Want It Darker
are inevitable, but Negative Capability really does belong in such
exalted company" - The Observer
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8.32
Deafheaven
Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
"If you've ever wanted to scream at the sky, Deafheaven's
Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is the record for you" - The Skinny
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8.31
Parquet Courts
Wide Awake!
"A gut-punch of an immediate classic" - DIY
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8.31
Daughters
You Won't Get What You Want
"However darkly disturbing You Won't Get What You Want is at
times, its matchless quality elicits awe and wonder, and strangely,
that brilliance provides a surprising and curious warmth" - music
OMH
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8.30
Christine and the Queens
Chris
"Radio-ready and built to disrupt, Chris rails against
patriarchal preconceptions and tackles gender on its own terms,
embracing Letissier's strength and hopefully inspiring more people
who feel marginalised to do the same" - The Line Of Best Fit
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Here we are again. After a hard year's work, Music finally has a
chance to kick back, put its feet up, sip a mulled wine and see in
the new year with its pals. Probably have one or two too many, you
know what Music is like. It's not like Art, who will probably also
have one too many but at least won't be in your face about it, you
know? Or like Film who's nowhere near as classy as it thinks it is
if you ask Music. Or TV who's cool but just will not shut up. Yes
TV, we should all watch Sharp Objects, we know, but would you just
give Music a break for two minutes, it's trying to have a nice time
for once. Also, everyone's getting hungry, think it's about time
Proper Job stopped cleaning up after everyone and put the food on
while Music and its arty friends keep their feet up. Sounds nice
for Music, right? After all it's not long before it has to get back
to sodding work again.
In the meantime though, our hard-working sources have compiled
their list of the best albums to come out in 2018. Here at ADM
Towers we smashed together all of their lists and created the
definitive Poll of Polls. Want to know which album topped the list
of Year End polls? Well you can find out [HERE]
but also it's Janelle Monae in case you don't want
to click a link.
BUT, you're no doubt wondering, wouldn't the Poll of Polls just be
the same as what the ADM Chart says is the best album of the year?
Wouldn't the reviews published from January to mid-November all
lovingly collated and compiled be a good indicator of what the
sources think is the best album of the year? Was Janelle Monae's
Dirty Computer also the highest rated album of the year? You'd
think so, wouldn't you. BUT NO.
That honour goes to Noname's Room 25. A record
the year-end compilers only reckoned was the 18th best album of the
year. But we in the know, us and you, we know the real story. We
know what's really going on.
The non-existent ADM silver medal goes to Idles.
Their Joy as an Act of Resistance had the second best ADM rating of
the year, but only placed 7th in the year-end poll. The third
highest rated album of the year was Janelle Monae who only placed…
yeah she was top of the year end Polls, we've been over that.
Probably won't bother her too much.
Someone who might be bothered though is Marianne
Faithfull. Looking at the details, the numbers, the cold
hard facts, she made the 6th highest rated album of the year with
Negative Capability. Bet it placed pretty high in the Poll of
Polls, right? Right? Listen, we know you're not thinking that,
obviously. We've hinted at the fact it wasn't placed in the Poll
already. It wouldn't make sense to do a whole paragraph about
Marianne Faithfull if it also placed pretty high in the Poll. So,
as you've already figured out you smart cookie you, is that
Marianne Faithfull's album, the 6th highest rated album of the
year, was completely forgotten about in the year end lists. Poor
Marianne.
Looking back compared to previous years, Janelle Monae's margin at
the top of the Poll of Polls looks rather slim. Nobody ran away
with the crown this year. Does that mean our sources think 2018 was
not a vintage year? Do they maybe think that the releases were so
good they just couldn't decide? Or perhaps they just have no idea
what to think without a Kendrick Lamar album to
enjoy.
Either way, let's all hope Music keeps it together over New Year.
Or at least doesn't embarrass itself. Look, Art and Film and TV are
a cool group. And as long as Proper Job doesn't drag the
conversation down by talking about bills again it should be alright
oh no here comes Sport. What a prick. Poor music.
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And the next 10
11. Yves Tumor - Safe In The Hands Of Love - Reviews
12. Mount Eerie - Now Only - Reviews
13. Mitski - Be The Cowboy - Reviews
14. Kali Uchis - Isolation - Reviews
15. Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens
- Reviews
16. serpentwithfeet - soil - Reviews
17. Pusha T - Daytona - Reviews
18. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar - Reviews
19. U.S. Girls - In A Poem
Unlimited - Reviews
20. Sophie - Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides - Reviews
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ADM Report 2017
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