People are very divided about holiday tunes–they either love or hate them! Regardless of how you feel, there’s plenty to love on our last charts of the year in top 30, blues, jazz, world, electronic and heavy music. Enjoy all the wonderful recordings released in 2018 and we’ll be back with fresh charts on January 8, 2019.
Dead Can Dance (pictured above) debut their strong new album, continuing the duo’s traditional, unique rock/world/electronic mix. Scroll down to see all our end-of-year charts and some highlights of artists with current releases.
WORT Charts for December 11, 2018
J Mascis (below) of Dinosaur Jr offers us another guitar-based adventure out to tide us over for the end of the year.
top 30
Artist Record Label
1 TY SEGALL Fudge Sandwich In The Red
2 ESCAPE ISM The Lost Record Merge
3 POPPY Am I A Girl? Mad Decent
4 MATTHEW DEAR Bunny Ghostly
5 J MASCIS Elastic Days Sub Pop
6 JEFF TWEEDY Warm dBpm
7 DAUGHTERS You Won’t Get What You Want Ipecac
8 BOB DYLAN More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 Columbia
9 JAEDYN JAMES AND THE HUNGER Outright [EP] Self-Released
10 KURT VILE Bottle It In Matador
11 2CELLOS Let There Be Cello Masterworks
12 ALICE COOPER Live From The Astroturf Good
13 ALL THEM WITCHES ATW New West
14 WOOD CHICKENS Well Done! Big Neck
15 BEEFUS Busted Teeth Fandango Self-Released
16 DEATH VALLEY GIRLS Darkness Rains Suicide Squeeze
17 CRYSTAL METHOD, THE The Trip Home Tiny E
18 DEAD CAN DANCE Dionysus PIAS
19 GUIDED BY VOICES Space Gun GBV Inc.
20 RICHARD THOMPSON 13 Rivers New West
21 CHARLES BRADLEY Black Velvet Dunham/Daptone
22 FLEET FOXES First Collection 2006-2009 Sub Pop
23 ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE IMPOSTERS Look Now Concord
24 LOW Double Negative Sub Pop
25 PAPERCUTS Parallel Universe Blues Slumberland
26 MORRICONE YOUTH Danger: Diabolik Country Club
27 IRON AND WINE Weed Garden [EP] Sub Pop
28 LALA LALA The Lamb Hardly Art
29 MUDHONEY Digital Garbage Sub Pop
30 YOKO ONO Warzone Chimera
One of our top new adds is an album with an intriguing concept: the popular Icelandic band Sigur Ros performed on handbells!
adds
Artist Title Label
1 JEFF TWEEDY Warm dBpm
2 GOOD OLD WAR Part Of Us [EP] Nettwerk
3 LEFTOVER CRACK Leftover Leftover Crack Fat Wreck Chords
4 FAT POSSUM FAMILY BEST OF 2018 VARIOUS ARTISTS Fat Possum
5 BJOLLUKOR TONLISTARSKOLI REYKJANESBAEJAR Klukk – Sigur Rós In Bells [EP] Krunk
6 FAIRMONT We Will Burn That Bridge When We Get To It Mint 400
7 GIRLPOOL “Hire” [Single] Anti-
8 LADYTRON “Far From Home” [Single] Self-Released
9 ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES “Santa Baby” [Single] Fat Wreck Chords
10 MIGHTY MYSTIC “Salt” [Single] VPal/VP
The late, very great Charles Bradley gives us one last taste of his Black Velvet sound on this posthumous release.
blues
Artist Record Label
1 CHARLES BRADLEY Black Velvet Dunham/Daptone
2 BILLY F GIBBONS The Big Bad Blues Concord
3 PAUL OSCHER Cool Cat Blues Fidelity
4 FIONA BOYES Voodoo In The Shadows Blue Empress
5 JOE LOUIS WALKER, BRUCE KATZ, GILES ROBSON Journeys To The Heart Of The Blues Alligator
6 MS ZENO THE MOJO QUEEN Back In Love Blue Lotus
7 KEVIN BURT Heartland And Soul Little Village Foundation
8 WHITNEY SHAY A Woman Rules The World Little Village Foundation
9 COLIN JAMES Miles To Go True North
10 TONY JOE WHITE Bad Mouthin’ Yep Roc
Alyssa Allgood is one of the hottest rising stars on the Cellar Live label.
jazz
Artist Record Label
1 ALYSSA ALLGOOD Exactly Like You Cellar
2 CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE New Jawn Mack Avenue
3 JORGE NILA Tenor Time Ninjazz
4 DAVE SEWELSON Music for a Free World FMR
5 HAROLD MABERN The Iron Man: Live At Smoke Smoke Sessions
6 HUMANITY QUARTET, THE Humanity Cellar Live
7 RICHIE COLE Cannonball Self-Released
8 JOE LOCKE Subtle Disguise Origin
9 MAKAYA MCCRAVEN Universal Beings International Anthem
10 CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT The Window Mack Avenue
Alborosie‘s new album featuring the legendary Wailers was bound to shoot right to the top. They’re in Madison January 30 at the Barrymore with WORT’s own Tropical Riddims Sound System so be sure to listen to WORT for a chance to win free tickets!
world
Artist Record Label
1 ALBOROSIE Unbreakable – Alborosie Meets The Wailers United Greensleeves
2 LEE SCRATCH PERRY The Black Album Upsetter
3 FORELOCK AND ARAWAK To The Foundation La Temptesta
4 DAWDA JOBARTEH I Met Her By The River Sterns Africa
5 GURRUMUL Djarimirri Skinnyfish
6 BABA COMMANDANT AND THE MANDINGO BAND Siri Ba Kele Sublime Frequencies
7 GAYE SU AKYOL Istikrarli Hayal Hakikattir Glitterbeat
8 ETRAN DE L’AIR No. 1 Sahel Sounds
9 SENYAWA Sujud Sublime Frequencies
10 DHAFER YOUSSEF Sounds Of Mirrors Anteprima
Brainfeeder Records has just released a 10th-anniversary compilation, Brainfeeder X. Thirty-six songs from BADBADNOTGOOD, Thundercat, Georgia Anne Muldrow, WOKE (Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Shabazz Palaces) and more highlight the label’s contributions of the last 10 years.
electronic
Artist Record Label
1 BRAINFEEDER X VARIOUS ARTISTS Brainfeeder
2 HARRISON Apricity Last Gang
3 CRYSTAL METHOD, THE The Trip Home Tiny E
4 DEAD CAN DANCE Dionysus PIAS
5 VNV NATION Noire Metropolis
6 FORD (The) Evening Foreign Family Collective
7 MARLEY CARROLL Flight Patterns Loci
8 METRIC Art Of Doubt MMI/Crystal Math
9 MARIBOU STATE Kingdoms Of Colour Counter
10 KAELAN MIKLA Nott eftir nott Artoffact
And Icarus Witch gets heavy with Goodbye Cruel World, out now on the esteemed Cleopatra Records label.
heavy
Artist Record Label
1 PSYCROPTIC As The Kingdom Drowns Prosthetic
2 HATE ETERNAL Upon Desolate Sands Season Of Mist
3 ICARUS WITCH Goodbye Cruel World Cleopatra
4 ARTILLERY The Face Of Fear Metal Blade
5 ARSIS Visitant Agonia
6 ASHES OF ARES Well of Souls Rock of Angels
7 UNEARTH Extinction(s) Century Media
8 BILLYBIO Feed The Fire AFM
9 TROLLHEIMS GROTT Aligned with the True Death W.T.C.Productions
10 SQUIDHAMMER METAL Power Removal Service Self-Released
heavy adds
Artist Record Label
1 SARAH LONGFIELD disparity Season of Mist
2 BLOOD FEAST Chopped, Diced and Sliced Hells Headbangers
3 COFFIN BIRTH The Serpent Insignia Time to Kill
4 SINIESTRO Arctic Blood Black Lion
5 MOURNING SIGN Contra Mundum Orchestrated MIsery