The 5 Best Songs of 2018...So Far

Now that we are roughly half-way through 2018, it's time to reflect on the songs that have impacted us this year. Like any year, there have been great some great songs and flat out terrible songs, but we're going to try and forget about those discrepancies and focus solely on the good ones. So without further ado, here are five songs that have thus far been this year's best.

5. Almost Had to Start a Fight / In and Out of Patience - Parquet Courts

Punk's not dead. Parquet Courts is a super interesting and creative quartet that continually doesn't give a fuck about being popular or to commercially successful, rather the foursome often releases music that focuses on meaning be it instrumentally or lyrically in a manner that is raw, digestible and spelled out. "Almost Had to Start a Fight / In and Out of Patience," and Wide Awake! in general, is a continuation of Parquet Court's leitmotif of straight forwardness and is an amalgamation of fiery fervor, frustration and bemusement that incapsulates punk rock's "fuck you" to over-produced and coddled pop music.  

4. OKRA - Tyler, The Creator

Listed as a "throwaway song," "OKRA" is deservedly more than that being a song that could have been featured on Tyler's 2017 Flower Boy. Tyler has released three songs outside of Flower Boy in 2018: "Rose Tinted Cheeks," "435," and of course, "OKRA," which has stood out amongst its fellow releases as not only a track that bumps but as a meticulous diss track about Tyler's apparent ennui in regards to those he had kept close to him. Tyler even mentions his ensemble Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All "Golf be the set no more OF," in his dissatisfaction. Flower Boy was about Tyler's boredom, his ennui and inability to achieve an intimate connection, where "OKRA" could have definitely fit and in regards to its production, "OKRA" and Flower Boy too has the same buzzing bee/garden vibe. Already fantastic, the inclusion of "OKRA" would have made Flower Boy even more dynamic but at least it wasn't thrown completely away.  

3. Humility - Gorillaz

"Humility" is the second single off Gorillaz's upcoming The Now Now which is sort of incredible as the release of Humanz was only a year ago with almost thirty tracks, but based on "Humility" and "Lake Zurich" inspiration has yet to dwindle. Any Gorillaz release galvanizes their fans and hits them with obscure and nuanced party and banger anthems. When put together in an album it sounds a bit all over the place because there is typically a lack of synchronization between tracks, but by themselves, each track offers something fans can go nuts for, and "Humility" is one such indication. Akin to arguably Gorillaz's best song "On Melancholy Hill," "Humility" is a laid-back, smooth and introspective song that makes you smile and gives you an amiable feeling for the world. Not necessarily a love song, "Humility" is about the power and beauty love harnesses; its ability to free those from isolation without amorous requisites, just simple togetherness. 

2. I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch - Courtney Barnett

Barnett's lead single "Nameless/Faceless" from her recent Tell Me How You Really Feel, was the explication of her frustration and anger of anonymous trolls on the internet and the shit she and other women deal with in the most trivial of actions. While "Nameless/Faceless" is an exciting new single to come from Courtney Barnett, showcasing her dexterity and diversity as an artist moving away from her narrative lyricism, "I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch," takes explicated feminist notions to a new level. It is a strident growl that attempts to tear down sexist barriers of occupation and submissive caricatures of women, as the boiling point for Barnett's tolerance of this bullshit has been met. It's fierce, intimidating, frenetic, lyrically terse in repeating the song's title like a feminist mantra and is widely pertinent particularly with the rise of the Me Too Movement.

1. This is America - Childish Gambino 

There really isn't much to be said about "This is America" that hasn't already been said. I will say I feel the gun-shot sample used in its music video in the transition from the optimistic gospel melodies to the clout trap beats could have been used in the actual track to further emphasize and proliferate the troublesome realities for black Americans. Nevertheless, "This is America" much like Kendrick Lamar's "XXX" is a song seemingly immersed within the terror and complexities plaguing black Americans throughout the United States: the gun violence, social appropriation, racism and unfair prejudices and stereotypes that appear inescapable. It's a pretty good song.