July 28, 2018 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #393)

9:01 AM The Beach Boys • In My Room • Surfer Girl • Capitol

9:03 AM The Flat Five • Buglight • It's a World of Love and Hope • Bloodshot

9:06 AM Shemekia Copeland • I'm Not Like Everybody Else • America's Child • Alligator

July 21, 2018 CHIRP Radio Playlist (Show #392)

Trainee Sarah did the first two sets of the 10:00 a.m. as indicated below (and she did a great job).

9:01 AM SZA • Drew Barrymore • Ctrl • Top Dawg

9:04 AM Wye Oak • I Know the Law • Shriek • Merge

9:08 AM John Coltrane • Nature Boy • Both Directions at Once • Impulse!

July 14, 2018 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #391)

9:00 AM Marianne Faithfull • Past, Present and Future • Horses and High Heels • Naive

9:03 AM Frank Ocean • Bad Religion • Channel Orange • Def Jam

9:06 AM Andy Pratt • Lincoln Avenue • Further Disruption • self-released

July 7, 2018 CHIRP Radio Playlist (Show #390)

9:00 AM Sparks • Popularity • Sparks in Outer Space • Atlantic

9:04 AM Portishead • Strangers • Dummy • Go! Disc

9:08 AM Snail Mail • Full Control • Lush • Matador

Mid-year Top 40 albums of 2018

This is a pretty loose ranking of my favorite records of the year. The first eight or so are records I know will rank highly at the end of the year. From there, the rest of these are all good, but my estimation of each could rise or fall considerably over the next few months. Anyway, this has been a really good year for music so far, based on this and some of the many fine records that, as I'm typing this, I realize could have made the list.

1. Superchunk – What a Time to Be Alive
2. Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar
3. Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth
4. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 – Black Times
5. Neko Case – Hell-On