Honorable Mentions:
Messes - The Ever Closing Door
Cloud District - Dont' Give Up, Skeleton
Pool Kids - Music To Practice Safe Sex To
Gulfer - Dog Bless
Infant Island - Infant Island
50
Night Birds - Roll Credits
49
Cassus - Separation Anxiety
48
Pianos Become The Teeth - Wait For Love
47
Super Unison - Stella
46
Turnstile - Time & Space
45
Cloud Nothings - Last Building Burning
44
Jay Rock - Redemption
43
Frank Turner - Be More Kind
42
Candy - Good To Feel
41
Jesus Piece - Only Self
40
Ostraca - Enemy
39
Snail Mail - Lush
38
Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
37
Jeff Rosenstock - POST-
36
Antarctigo Vespucci - Love In The Time Of E-Mail
35
Gillian Carter - ...This Earth Shaped Tomb
34
Camp Cope - How To Socialise & Make Friends
33
Sleep - The Sciences
32
Mount Eerie - Now Only
31
Foxing - Nearer My God
30
Respire - Dénouement
29
Fiddlehead - Springtime & Blind
28
Portrayal Of Guilt - Let Pain Be Your Guide
27
The Armed - Only Love
26
Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams
25
awakebutstillinbed - what people call low self-esteem is really just seeing yourself the way that other people see you
24
Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs
23
Vince Staples - FM!
22
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
21
Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy
20
Kanye West - Ye
19
Culture Abuse - Bay Dream
18
Brockhampton - iridescence
17
Iceage - Beyondless
16
JPEGMAFIA - Veteran
15
Birds in Row - We Already Lost The World
14
mewithoutYou - [untitled]
13
Beach House - 7
12
Gouge Away - Burnt Sugar
11
Pusha T - Daytona
10
Single Mothers - Through A Wall
9
Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog
8
Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer
7
Low - Double Negative
6
Death Grips - Year Of The Snitch
5
Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts
4
The Dirty Nil - Master Volume
3
Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want
2
Idles - Joy As An Act Of Resistance
1
Brian Fallon - Sleepwalkers
So there ya go. I drove myself up the wall trying to pick these out, because so much good material came out this year (some I had to unfortunately exclude). Coming up with the ranks for the final few albums was especially excruciating, because I love them all for different reasons. On a side note I'm sure nobody cares about, I spent almost this entire year telling myself I was not going to make Brian's new album my #1 pick, because I did that in 2016 and 2014 (with TGA) and later regretted both. Not because they're bad albums, but looking back there were better, more definitive albums that should have taken those spots (Atrocity Exhibition and Negative Qualities, for the 1 person who was wondering). So even though Sleepwalkers is a fantastic album, I didn't want to let my fanboyism get in the way again. But lo and behold, when it came down to making this list, I couldn't place it anywhere else but #1. It's probably my most-listened to release this year, one that I'll probably always associate with 2018, and in two years time I'll look back and regret it all over again. I don't know, I found that to be a funny factoid that I'm sure is only amusing to myself. If someone is still reading this, please do let me know what your top albums of this year were, I'm super curious to hear what you've been digging for the last 365 days.
