And so to the albums that found their way into the hearts of the staff at God Is In The TV. The ones that had the biggest impact of the lot. The ones that made us laugh, made us cry, made us dance or simply made us punch the air in joy. Congratulations to our winners, who actually managed to attain TWICE AS MANY VOTES as its nearest contender, which is no mean feat in itself, and I personally I am delighted that a band with such an overwhelming sense of community has continued to make such strides. Respect well deserved. Anyway, without further ado, here’s that top 50 countdown in full… Loz Etheridge
50) Field Music – Open Here
49) King Champion Sounds – For A Lark
48) Josh Rouse – Love In The Modern Age
47) Farao – Pure-O
46) Arc Iris – Icon Of Ego
45) Gruff Rhys – Babelsberg
44) The Breeders – All Nerve
43) MGMT – Little Dark Age
42) Gwenno – Le Kov
41) Mitski – Be The Cowboy
40) Julia Holter – Aviary
39) The Rising – Moving On
38) Ought – Room Inside The World
37) Architects – Holy Hell
36) Fucked Up – Dose Your Dreams
35) Laura Jean – Devotion
34) Tune-Yards – I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life
33) The Common Cold – Shut Up! Yo Liberals!
32) Dead Can Dance – Dionysus
31) pinkshinyultrablast – Miserable Miracles
30) Lord Huron – Vide Noir
Hearing a lovesick man go mad has never been so engaging but let’s remember this is Lord Huron, professionals at creating devastating characters with a tragic back story and a fascinatingly detailed setting to match, doing what they do best. Matt Hobbs
29) Bill Ryder-Jones – Yawn
Yawn affirms that in the three years since his full-length last record, the magnificent West Kirby County Primary, he has lost absolutely none of his innate grasp of melody and what can easily present as a constant quest for redemptive purpose in his songs. Simon Godley
28) The Blood Tub Orchestra – The Seven Curses Of The Music Hall
The Blood Tub Orchestra have grabbed them (the original versions of these songs) by the scruff of their necks, shaken them in the most brutal manner, and as a result given them a new lease of life that thrills and enchants at every corner. Just fabulous really. Loz Etheridge
27) Our Girl – Stranger Today
It wouldn’t be surprising in the least if Our Girl’s debut album makes you feel stranger today, with the fluttery, stomach-lurching thrill of falling in love. A stranger today could so easily become a new friend tomorrow. That’s surely going to be how your relationship develops with this fine creation. Jon Kean
26) Spiritualized – And Nothing Hurt
If nine songs are going to cost you, then they might as well be these nine. If you’re making your last long-player, as Pierce has regularly declared, it’s a spectacular sign-off. Tim Russell
25) SOPHIE – Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
A playful, bewilderingly bold set of genre-bending pop songs that deal with identity, gender roles, social media and existing in 2018. Incredible production that crunches up pop music and reassembles it into dynamic new patterns. Bill Cummings
24) Kathryn Joseph – From When I Wake The Want Is
This is a confident and mature assertion of the sheer, heart-in-your-mouth, power of nature, and of unrestrained love that threatens at any moment to take you down with it. Colin Bond
23) Suede – The Blue Hour
The Blue Hour – with its Omen choirs, ominous organs, swelling orchestral strings, and lavish, over-the-top arrangements that make Dog Man Star sound like a collection of 4-track demos – is as much Hammer Horror as Blair Witch or The Hills Have Eyes. It’s a HUGE, frequently ridiculous record, utterly lacking in self-consciousness or irony. And it’s fantastic. Tim Russell
22) Haley Heynderickx – I Need To Start A Garden
The chorus lines dance like precious moments of humour, joy and tunefulness amongst the detritus of a stream of consciousness, like the moment you laugh at how bad you feel, briefly managing to release the tension for a while. Bill Cummings
21) Anna Calvi – Hunter
Anyone who thought the first album and ‘One Breath’ were evidence of wizardry will be blown away completely by this one. She’s reached the pinnacle of personal achievement here; the Manchester City of football, the Roger Federer of tennis or the Tirunesh Dibaba of track 5,000 and 10,000 metres. David Bentley
20) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
This is a salubrious, satisfying record that bears for repeated listens. It’s beautifully melancholic without ever being particularly introspective; its crosshairs are cast out and paying attention to the small detail that we encounter everyday. It’s Russo, White and Keaney’s effortlesstunefulnesso make these small instances romantic and cinematic that makes Hope Downs a tremendously satisfying listen. Ben Lowes Smith
19) Jon Hopkins – Singularity
From ‘Singularity’, to ‘Emerald Rush’, through ‘Non Pattern Drum’ and the 10’30” of ‘Everything Connected’ this just glides and we’re only just starting! As a further 5 scenic numbers are to follow, coming off the highs of the initial squeeze through the club’s doors, as the second half of the album comes down to a delicate rumble, almost echoing a collaborator and artist who must surely have been seen as a mentor, that of Brian Eno‘s Music For Airports, an album that’s certainly the benchmark for the ambient genre.
So electronic, through to ambient, Jon’s 2018 release certainly shows that there is life in the old dog yet, as ambient comes of age showing that the next generation will take this form forward, with every day hands. Singularity, a strange title for an album which is certainly not. Nick James
18) Dream Wife – Dream Wife
One of the strengths of the record is that the songs never outstay their welcome, it’s a giddy rush from one to the next and the whole thing is done within 35 minutes. Dream Wife is a highly impressive debut. Andy Page
17) Black Peaks – All That Divides
Lying somewhere between Sikth and the commercial nous of Biffy Clyro, Black Peaks have proved that not only that screamo alive and well, but that it CAN have widespread appeal beyond its niche fanbase. Loz Etheridge
16) Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert – Here Lies The Body
This is a tremendously tender record even by Moffat’s standards, the pantomime villain moustache swirling of his personality heard in songs like ‘Glasgow Jubilee’ is relatively absent; here’s he’s resigned to himself, his flaws, and the inevitability of just riding out the waves of chaos that life sends our way. Ben Lowes Smith
15) Parquet Courts – Wide Awake
Perfect in its utilitarianism – not a syllable or a note or a beat feels wasted. It balances the personal and the political perfectly I think too. ‘Violence’ rages very articulately about gentrification, immoral capitalism and institutionalised prejudices. As does ‘NYC Experience’, as it whizzes past you like a train in a minute and a half. Its magic is in the personal – ‘Freebird II’ is Andrew Savage’s heartbreaking delve into writing about his mother’s alcoholism- and he makes something that sounds really hopeful. ‘Tenderness’ is a beautiful reminder that in these trying times, care, collectivism and love are the most important tools we have. I’m fascinated by the fact that this record sounds both timely and timeless, It’s funny, furious, poetic and absolutely magnificent. Ben Lowes Smith
14) Robyn – Honey
When Robyn left her label in 2004 to record music she believed in, she kickstarted the second phase of her career. She trusted her instincts and ended up making her best work, gaining a new audience and finding critical acclaim. On, Honey, she has again trusted herself in a challenging time and made a beautifully paced and stunning return. Honey is full of surprises and perfectly encapsulates what makes Robyn such an exceptional artist. Jonathan Wright
13) Shame – Songs Of Praise
Simply one of the best debuts of the past 10 years. Loud, angry, visceral, intelligent, touching and funny. From being self-deprecating about their abilities on the first song they ever wrote, ‘One Rizla’, via the graphic description of a young girl and her sugar daddy on ‘Gold Hole’ to the staggeringly emotional description of suicide on ‘Angie’. It’s brutally honest and gloriously sonically abrasively jarring. Jim Auton
12) Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
Anyone expecting another AM, or more songs about taxi ranks and shit nightclubs, is going to be disappointed. Anyone wanting to hear a sad, funny, wordy and imaginative album about paranoia and alienation, however, is in for a treat. Tim Russell
11) Ezra Furman – Transangelic Exodus
There are few more artists more exciting than Ezra Furman right now, something which is proved beyond reasonable doubt by the near-Apocalyptic, frantic drum frenzy of ‘No Place‘ or the playful but agitated paranoia of the simply fantastic ‘Maraschino-Red Dress $8.99 At Goodwill‘. And if you try to tell me you’ve heard a more delightfully catchy song than ‘Love You So Bad’ this year, and I’ll rapidly reveal a placard emblazoned with the words “You’re a Goddamn liar!” Loz Etheridge
10) Bodega – Endless Scroll
…a fine album of sometimes witty, sometimes sharp, but always educated sounds that were intent on becoming classics. “Witty” when for example they paraphrase The Smiths ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now‘, in the nod on the self-titled ‘Bodega Birth‘, to the “sharp” when from the outset they nailed their colours to the mast in the gorgeously fast-paced ‘How Did This Happen?‘ and “educated” when singer-songwriter Ben Hozie plays the comic role on ‘Jack in Titanic‘. These are just 3 fine moments on a 14 track album that, whichever way I look at it, I don’t doubt will go down in history as a classic. Nick James
9) Neko Case – Hell-On
This is an album of disparate musical tones that together create an emotional journey. The tracks are unified by their defiance and their awareness of the uncontrollable nature of the universe and everything in it. Yet there’s a feeling that even though life on earth can be harsh and indifferent, we can persist, and look after one another. Lisa Derrick
8) Haiku Salut – There Is No Elsewhere
There Is No Elsewhere is a fully-realised and magical bit of music, and definitely one of my albums of the year. If they’re not headlining the Pyramid Stage with their mates in the local brass band pretty soon it will only be because our anthropocentric cognitive biases got in the way of recognising something really special. Colin Bond
7) Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar
Seemingly unbridled by any sort of expect-paced convention other than to sound good and be proddin’ your noggin in the right ways, and with a wryness and sark that I’m sure could double as surliness and aloofness, the trio make fusion pop as sharp and as caustic as you like. Like all the best bands, they sound like everything at once. Laura Prior
6) The Beths – Future Me Hates Me
When it seems that the future has nothing left to offer, who can blame anyone tempted by hedonistic forays into the fertile lands of here-and-now? Tomorrow never comes, after all. There’s nothing more immediate and carefree than New Zealand’s The Beths. Their debut album Future Me Hates Me, drowns any existential hand-wringing in a blissful bath of delightful high-energy guitar pop, convincing us that life and love really are worth all the hassle. Trev Elkin
5) Melody’s Echo Chamber – Bon Voyage
The album is brief (34 minutes), and leaves you wanting more. There’s so much startling creativity on every second of this record. She’s taken the dream-pop of her debut and turned it upside down. Her progression leads her to new territories of avant-garde pop. She glides through an amalgamation of rich and varied influences and sounds, taking the listener on a personal and exhilarating journey. She’s allowed herself to follow every impulse, creating tension and beauty often within the same song. It’s challenging, at times surreal, and most importantly, it’s absolutely perfect. Jonathan Wright
4) U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited
Just in time for the century celebration of suffragism, an artist who has consistently written insightful and purposeful lyrics about womanhood releases her sixth album. The exceptionally well-written and frankly funkalicious sixth album In A Poem Unlimited, sees Meghan Remy a.k.a U.S Girls tackle controversial subjects with intellectual wit, sprinkles of audacious sarcasm and imaginative songwriting. Matt Hobbs
3) Low – Double Negative
Double Negative by Low is simultaneously like nothing they’ve ever done before, and exactly like everything they’ve ever done before. It’s the work of a band that has pushed their music beyond its limits and created something I’ve hardly begun to take in even after listening to it incessantly for the last three weeks. It isn’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for a challenge and aren’t afraid of the dark, you’re not likely to find a more satisfying album this year. Colin Bond
2) Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer
This time her lyrics take place in the real world rather than a fictional narrative and with it centralising on what it’s like to be a pansexual African-American woman in modern-day society, Dirty Computer feels like one of the most significant, insightful and important albums of the year. Matt Hobbs
1) IDLES – Joy As An Act Of Resistance
…this is a staggering piece of work. On display are eleven tracks of wit, sarcasm, scorn and visions of a better world set against a barbaric soundtrack which is seemingly on the point of collapse, teetering over the precipice like an Italian coach laden with gold bullion. If the band broke into a rendition of ‘The Self Preservation Society’ it would be wholly appropriate. Dean Mason
