6 Great Albums From The First Quarter Of 2018

So yeah, as the world spins further and further towards being consumed by the fires of war that will end human civilisation as we know it, we've been granted some...pretty fucking great albums lads. They've come from all over the spectrum when it comes to music, from smooth sophisticated hip hop to vicious hardcore. Here y'all have it, in no order because fuck that noise but 6 great albums that came out this year ye should listen to.

Rejjie Snow: Dear Annie

Rejjie had been knocking about the hip hop scene for quite a while, first as Lecs Luther, then realising a string of EPs, singles, videos and a full length tape in 2017's The Moon & You, but not the debut album, until this year with Dear Annie. It's an hour long, it covers a lot of sonic ground from witty synthpop to smooth disco to muky trap, you've got some lovely singing from the man himself, a hape of great guest spots, one of the best rap albums of this year. I wasn't aware of him from the off so the hype around the debut finally coming out isn't gonna be as present for me, but I think it lives up to expectations.

Listen To These Songs: Charlie Brown, Bye Polar, The Ends.

Rolo Tomassi: Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It

On their fifth album, Sheffield's Rolo Tomassi have perhaps delivered the best album of their career. The violent, juddering mathcore and beautiful soundscapes that characterise their sound are still intact, but this time around, not only is it the smoothest integration of both those conflicting elements, but they're delivering beauty and brutality on par with the finest bands doing those things. It's perhaps my favourite heavy album of the year so far, and honestly I'm not sure if much could possibly top it.

Listen To These Songs: Aftermath, Alma Mater, Contretemps.

Camp Cope: How To Socialise And Make Friends

Guitar driven indie music has been going through a downturn recently, resulting in it disappearance from the Longitude lineup to the disappointment of dads and Workmans' boys all across our great nation. But, it's not that there's no good bands doing it, it's that on lineups everywhere, it's generic shite being kept on life support and not the bands that show just how wonderful and vital this music can be. Like this album. It doesn't do a whole lot in terms of revitalising the genre, being a mixture of rough hewn folk and dingy melodic alt-rock. Where it succeeds is in its exceptional songwriting, Georgia Maq's passionately delivered Melbourne drawl and some very deep, touching lyrics on topics like failed relationships, sexism in the music industry, and the lonely aftermath of sexual assault. Truly an album all fans of that six stringed instrument need in their lives.

Listen To These Songs: The Opener, The Face Of God, I've Got You.

JPEGMAFIA: Veteran

JPEGMAFIA's been at the cutting edge of the underground for quite a while now, taking the street level approach of trap but adding a lofi approach, an experimental, disorienting, jarring flair with the production and lyrics that are outlandish, political and hilarious all at the same time. His style has the confrontational nature of Ice Cube in his prime, yet he's been raised by and with the internet, the glitchy, punishing beats and wide eyed intensity helping make this perhaps the perfect album for the times we're in, heavily online, cynical yet very much angry with the state of things and always with our tongues firmly in our cheeks.

Listen To These Songs: Baby I'm Bleeding, I Cannot Fucking Wait Until Morrissey Dies, 1488.

The XCERTS: Hold On To Your Heart

The XCERTS are a Scottish band that've been around for a while, developing from scrappy fuzz pop into a far more sophisticated outfit with some of the best songwriting in the game. With this album they're fully channeling their inner John Hughes. A brighter, more bittersweet affair than the darkness of There Is Only You, it's a truly lovely slice of melodic alt rock, taking in heartland rock, new wave, the beauty of The Cure at their nicest and the sheer gift for songcraft of fellow Scots Belle And Sebastian. If you like any music that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside, get this into ya.

Listen To These Songs: First Kiss Feeling, Drive Me Wild, Daydream.

Harms Way: Posthuman

Chicago's Harms Way have evolved from the feral powerviolence/death metal hybrid of their past into a lean, mean devastating metallic hardcore group, building on their past with flourishes of industrial and 1990s Roadrunner bands. This puts them in similar territory to last year's Forever by Code Orange, but this is a less wildlly experimental record, more one that adds flair to an already very solid backbone and tightens up every element. It's brutish, nasty, really heavy, the perfect blend of pace, punch, groove and breakdowns to make you spinkick your dad to.

Listen To These Songs: Human Carrying Capacity, Become A Machine, Dead Space.