The 15 Best Albums Of The Year…So Far

Space cowboys, dream-pop cocoons, a Pulitzer Prize winner, pansexual anthems—our top LPs from the top half of 2018 feature a little something for everyone.

- Leah Greenblatt, Katie Hasty, Sarah Rodman & Alex Suskind

 

ARCTIC MONKEYS 

Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Monkeys evolve; it’s kind of their job. But Tranquility, with its baroque piano pop and arch, Bowie-esque flourishes, somehow manages to blaze whole new avenues without losing the core essence of the U.K. foursome’s musical DNA. —LG

BRANDI CARLILE 

By the Way, I Forgive You

Ever given your whole heart and received much less in return? Angry but also want to forgive and forget? Do you like crying as these things are sung about with gorgeous harmonies and bonedeep emotionalism? Then get your hankie out and cue this baby up. —SR

BEACH HOUSE 

Come, surrender to the wooze. If every Beach House record feels like being wrapped in a warm dream-pop cocoon of vocals and reverb, the coed Baltimore duo’s lush, kaleidoscopic latest makes you wonder why anyone would want to turn into a butterfly at all. —LG

BRIAN FALLON 

Sleepwalkers

From grinning giddiness to inconsolable aching, the Gaslight Anthem frontman runs the emotional gamut on his second solo album. Veering from Motown stomp to Jersey swagger, Fallon unburdens his heart with a mesmerizing urgency that is as muscular as it is poetic. —SR

CAMILA CABELLO 

Camila