Is this thing on? Oh good... it still works even when I leave it dormant for a full year.
Anyhoo, pretense be damned, let's talk about music in 2018. It was a pretty incredible year, if not for quality then at minimum for quantity. Usually when pulling these annual awards together, I consider and re-listen to around 25-30 albums, and this year I had almost 50 make the long list.
The rookie award is always a bit of a tricky one, since in this day and age, defining a "rookie" is a bit of a creative exercise, what with people releasing singles and teasers on the internet all the time. Still, as an old man, I hold the LP in highest regard, so that's where we draw the line.
This year, my friend Jamie introduced me to Tash Sultana. In addition to Sultana's fascinating and incredible life story (read: never eat pizza without knowing the toppings) Tash legit plays the guitar like Prince. Flow State is a full length followup to an earlier EP and features all kinds of reverb-heavy guitar led tracks with gloriously tormented vocals riding the sonic waves behind.
Guitar chops shine on tracks like Blackbird, grooves dig on Salvation, pop hooks dig on Murder to the Mind, but for my money, Big Smoke is the haymaker song.
-Senorita, pour my margarita, lick it with salt and make it so much sweeter
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