Carry on Beautiful!

I feel like I managed to discover a lot of really great music that I loved this year, so this post serves a dual service of letting me have somewhere to look back to and remember what I discovered this year as well as sharing a list of artists I adore with anyone reading this!

Garbage

Garbage is the band I’ve gotten into most recently and I love them. Shirley Manson’s lyrics really draw me in and I find her super relatable while also thinking she’s an absolute icon. They’re sort of pop rock with a lot of samples and an industrial feel and I don’t feel like I’ve ever listened to any other band like them. I also love watching interviews with Garbage because they just seem like really cool, down to Earth people.

The Julie Ruin/Le Tigre

Having gotten into Bikini Kill in 2017 I spent a fair amount of this year exploring Kathleen Hanna’s career and finally listening to other bands she was involved in, like The Julie Ruin and Le Tigre. I love that they have a much more electro based, upbeat style than most of what I listen to while Kathleen’s vocals are still quite punk and shouty with feminist lyrics. I also really love having three bands fronted by a female I adore that all have a different sound to suit different moods without me having to stray too far from what I know and love!

Patti Smith

According to Spotify, Patti Smith was actually the first artist I discovered in 2018 so I hope I have as good as musical start to 2019! She’s one of those artists I was always aware of but never really listened to and I’m so glad I changed that. Her voice is so unique and pleasant to listen to and her songs are always lyrically and musically beautiful. I find her somewhat ageless too since me, my mum and nan actually all like her!

Blondie

Everyone is aware of Blondie and we all know a couple of Blondie songs, be that because we were around when it came out or because, like me, you loved the rugrats movie. I’d again never really properly listened to them though and when I did I fell in love. I’m yet to find a Blondie song I don’t love because they tend to be fairly simple, which is usually good in music, with Debbie Harry’s incredible vocals. They’re just a really brilliant band, and not just ‘for their time’ either.

Siouxsie and the Banshee’s

These are a band I’m only just getting into so I don’t have lots and lots to say, and I’m trying to keep this post fairly short! I will say I love that it’s got a sort of dark pop feel and the way in which the vocal style matches that feeling, and I especially love the style of their songs like ‘Christine’.

Pussy Riot

Pussy riot are a Russian band that make political and feminist electronic music and they’re just fab. I love songs that have ‘shocking’ words in them (and my mums face when she hears the word ‘vagina’ being sung by a woman) and I’m always behind bands with political aims so throw both of those thing in with genuinely good music and I’m a happy girl.

Nita Strauss

Nita Strauss is another person that tugs me out of my musical comfort zone, she’s a guitarist and released her first album in 2018. It’s the first fully instrumental I’ve ever listened to and I enjoyed it way more than I expected! I don’t think I realised instrumental songs could have so much emotion and context to them. I also love that she’s in such a male dominated career but just stays focused on being the best she can be, making cool music and forever being awesome to her fans.

I think there’s probably a few other artists I’ve discovered or began to discover in 2018 but I’m going to leave it here since I think these are my favourites! I’d love to hear about the music you found in 2018 in the comments!

-Dana