2018 saw new releases by
Mitski,
Pinegrove,
Death Cab For Cutie, and
Julien Baker (with her new project, boygenius) - which may have something to do with the fact that all three cracked my personal top 10 artist list for 2018. In fact, looking at graph of my listening so far in 2018, you can see a spike in listening for Taylor Swift right in the middle of January 2018, when Reputation came out. But wait, that's not right.
Reputation came out in November 2017. So what happened? I'm not exactly sure why I went on a TSwift kick (
look what you made me do, Taylor) but that was apparently enough for me for the rest of the year. (In fact, you can see how much I listened to any particular artist by clicking on their name in the legend.)
It turns out I went to a lot of shows this year. I would mostly end up at the Sinclair, a venue and restaurant in Cambridge, MA. The first show of the year was at the Sinclair, where
Mom Jeans opened for Tiny Moving Parts in what would end up one of the more memorable shows of 2018. My roommate's friend dropped out a couple of weeks before the show, I ended up tagging along. This is reflected in my listening history; there is a significant spike in listening for Mom Jeans and Tiny Moving Parts in the weeks leading up to the show, and in the case of TMP, for a few weeks after as well (like I said, they killed it).
The same is true for Sorority Noise and Lord Huron, both of whom I saw in April. Sorority Noise was at the Paradise Rock Club, in Brookline, MA, immediately adjacent to the campus of Boston University. This would actually be the second time I saw Sorority Noise - the first time was at a show put on by Spotify Boston in their basement (see if you can find me in this
video Spotify put together about the show). Lord Huron were touring in support of their new album that came out this year called Vide Noir, and played at the the House of Blues, which is right across from Fenway Park, near Kenmore Square in Boston. Fun fact: for the version of the Lord Huron song 'The Night We Met' that was featured in the Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why, Phoebe Bridgers performed the song alongside Lord Huron. Phoebe has since joined up with Julien Baker (who I would see at Boston Calling in the month following the Lord Huron show) and Lucy Dacus to form the supergroup boygenius, who have a great Tiny Desk that can be found
here.
Speaking of Boston Calling: The Killers headlined Friday night, but didn't seem to make much of an impression on me, despite an incredible performance to close out Day 1. For both The National (who played late on Day 2) and Julien Baker (whose performance was not marred by the unfortunate cold of Day 3), my listening
increases in the weeks following the shows. I've found that Boston Calling can be hit-or-miss in the 3 years I've attended, but, honestly, the performances this year (which also included The Decemberists, St. Vincent, and Manchester Orchestra) were spectacular. On a more disappointing note, I wasn't able to attend the Boston boygenius show, but I definitely won't be making that mistake again.
My number one artist for 2018, Japanese Breakfast, played two nights at the Sinclair at the beginning of June. (The first album by Japanese Breakfast, Psychopomp, also has the distinction of making my vinyl record wall). Michelle Zauner and the rest of the band played an energetic set, which closed with a
cover of Dreams by The Cranberries, which perfectly suited Michelle's captivating voice and the band's dream pop vibe.
Things go dark on the concert front in the months following the departure from my most recent job, but during this time I had the opportunity to visit some friends on the West Coast, which also included a performance by Bon Iver. The music was accompanied by the contemporary dance group TU Dance in a performance beneath the evening sky at the Hollywood Bowl.
Looking back, this year was an incredible year in music for me. I discovered and rediscovered so many different artists, and I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to see even a few of these talented performers in person. I'm not entirely sure that 2019 will be able to top it, but we'll see.