Resistance is futile, so here's a recap of Roger's Year in Music 2018.

This year I'm keeping it simple, with a Top Ten list of favorite albums (2018 releases only), an assortment of ephemera, and the year's complete accounting of album acquisitions.

In calculating the Top Ten list of music playing in my head, I ask myself several questions.

• Which albums did I hear most often? 
• Did they have multiple, memorable songs, as opposed to one or two? 
• Did they play a part as soundtracks helping to define my year? 
• Will I be likely to return to them regularly in the future?

In fact, almost all the albums I acquired in 2018 had a memorable song, and sometimes two. However, they're albums, and I categorize them according to the whole of the experience. If this sounds like doomed defiance in the face of a playlist world, then that's exactly the case.

10 The Vaccines … Combat Sports
9 The Coral … Move Through the Dawn
8 Gaz Coombes … World’s Strongest Man
7 The Struts … Young & Dangerous
6 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever … Hope Downs
5 Shame … Songs of Praise
4 Suede … The Blue Hour
3 Parquet Courts … Wide Awake
2 Johnny Marr … Call the Comet
1 Manic Street Preachers … Resistance is Futile

If truth be told, these additional two albums belong in the "top" list with an asterisk -- because they weren't released in 2018. But I enjoyed them very much, and they'll always remind me of 2018.

The Charlatans … Different Days (2017)
The Courteeners … Mapping the Rendezvous (2016)

As a side note: Noel Gallagher's Who Built the Moon from 2017 has remained front and center of my album listening throughout the year 2018. Longevity like this is rare in my world of tunes; when the calendar page turns, I generally move forward. Who Built the Moon wasn't my pick for top album in 2017, at least at the time when the 2017 list was selected.

Now? Maybe it would be another story.

Another side note: I've richly enjoyed Kamasi Washington's Heaven and Earth, and treat it separately because I listen to jazz differently than rock and pop. The same goes for classical music, and Last Leaf by the Danish String Quartet.

In reverse chronological order, here are all the NA Confidential posts from 2018 with the label Roger's Year in Music 2018.

And, to conclude, the albums I acquired last year. It has been a recurring theme in recent years; the rock and rock-influenced pop music I prefer is diminishing. An early scan of the projected 2019 release schedule reveals three, maybe four albums of interest to me. There will be others, but the point is clear.

In 2019, maybe it's time to turn back to opera. 

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Album releases 2018, November and December
The Struts … Young & Dangerous
The 1975 … A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships
Muse … Simulation Theory
Parcels … Parcels

Album releases 2018, September and October
Sleaford Mods EP
Paul McCartney … Egypt Station
Suede … The Blue Hour
Paul Weller … True Meanings
Blossoms … Cool Like You
Bill Champlin & WunderGround … Bleeding Secrets
The Coral … Move Through the Dawn
Neil and Liam Finn … Lightsleeper
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever … Hope Downs
The Courteeners … Mapping the Rendezvous (2016)
Ray Davies … Our Country: Americana Act II

Album releases 2018, July and August
James … Living in Extraordinary Times
Houndmouth … Golden Age
Florence and the Machine … High as Hope
Gaz Coombes … World’s Strongest Man
Peace … Kindness Is the New Rock and Roll

Album releases 2018, May and June
Kamasi Washington … Heaven and Earth
Matthew Sweet … Tomorrow’s Daughter
Manic Street Preachers … Resistance is Futile
Johnny Marr … Call the Comet
Parquet Courts … Wide Awake
Arctic Monkeys … Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
Snow Patrol … Wildness
Chvrches … Love Is Dead

Album releases 2018, March and April
The Vaccines … Combat Sports
The Decemberists … I’ll Be Your Girl
The Len Price 3 … Nobody Knows (2015)
Neon Waltz … Strange Hymns
Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth-Boogie in 1980s South Africa
The Charlatans …Tellin’ Stories (1997)
The Charlatans … Modern Nature (2015)
Travis … Where You Stand (2013)

Album releases 2018, January and February
The Charlatans … Different Days (2017)
Insecure Men … Insecure Men
Wild Beasts … Last Night All My Dreams Came True
The Len Price 3 … Kentish Longtails (2017)
Travis … Everything at Once (2016)
Simple Minds … Walk Between Worlds
Franz Ferdinand … Always Ascending
Danish String Quartet … Last Leaf
Django Django … Marble Skies
Shame … Songs of Praise
Django Django … Born Under Saturn (2015)

The long awaited and much belated account of Roger's Year in Music, 2017.

Never before has it taken me so long to list my musical favorites for a calendar year -- in this case, dear departed 2017.

Let's begin with the usual explanation of parameters. I dimly recall a quote by Ray Charles to the effect that if he couldn’t whistle a song while he was walking down the street, the music simply didn’t register with him.

Broadly speaking, this describes my relationship with music, too. It isn’t to imply that avant garde chamber music and free jazz are lost to me. I enjoy them. But as it pertains to the admittedly expansive realm of pop and rock music, favorites tend to be those bits I can whistle, hum, or sing (mostly badly these days).

It’s how I judge music, and musical years.

I'm two months and a dozen new CDs into 2018, and the best way to explain the delay in categorizing 2017 is that it proved to be one of the best musical years in recent music according the only musical metric that really matters: there was lots of the sort of music that Roger tends to like.

Oddly, at the beginning of 2017 it seemed as though there’d be very little of note in my personal wheelhouse, and yet by year’s end, the bench ran so deep that my every effort to select a "best of" list kept hitting the rocks. In fact, there were numerous bits to like on just about every album I acquired by hook or crook in 2017, and while the pedant in me remains baffled, I’m feeling enriched as a result.

Know also that I don’t do play lists, downloads, Spotify, music on phones or various other newfangled bastardizations of The Way Things Ought To Be. Apart from listening to the classical music genre on WUOL-FM, I research music on YouTube and social media, and base album acquisitions on the results. Much to the dismay of the cats, most listening takes place on the home audio system, or via my laptop with headphones. On those rare occasions when I’m driving somewhere, I pack CDs for the trip.

It is my yearly aim to listen to what’s new from the artists who perform music I like. It’s a fairly broad spectrum and includes classical, jazz and world music, although admittedly the ever-shrinking center of my target is rock and selected pop. To repeat, I’m an unabashed fan of melody and songcraft.

My tastes seldom run to country, rap, hip-hop and contemporary AutoTune muddle pop (watch the introductory video for commiseration), but I differ from most listeners of my advanced age group in having learned over time to respect these genres for what they are. I like ALL music. I just don’t LISTEN to all of it, because there are types I like better than others.

Special mention goes to Louisville Orchestra for its first release in decades, All In. We've become hooked on the LO's shows at the Ogle Center on the campus of Indiana University Southeast.

My year in pop/rock concert viewing included U2's Joshua Tree reprise in Louisville; a classic rock lineup of Edgar Winter, Alice Cooper and Deep Purple in Indy; and Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie at the Louisville Palace. Riffing on Edgar's biggest selling album, I seldom go out at night, and as a result, my "live" music days are mostly in the past.

So be it; the drinks are cheaper this way. 

Honorable mention for 2017:

Alice Cooper … Paranormal
Arcade Fire … Everything Now
Dan Auerbach … Waiting on a Song
Tom Chaplin … The Wave
Cold War Kids … La Divine
Richard Dawson … Peasant
Doing It in Lagos: Boogie, Pop & Disco in 1980s Nigeria
Downtown Boys … Cost of Living
Father John Misty … Pure Comedy
Neil Finn … Out of Silence
Flaming Lips … Oczy Mlody
Future Islands … “The Far Field”
Goldfrapp … Silver Eye
Robyn Hitchcock … Robyn Hitchcock
The Killers … Wonderful Wonderful
Maroon 5 … Red Pill Blues
JD McPherson … Undivided Heart & Soul
John Mellencamp … Sad Clowns & Hillbillies
Van Morrison … Roll with the Punches
Morrissey … Low in High School
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters … Carry Fire
Nathanial Rateliff & the Night Sweats
Sheer Mag … Need to Feel Your Love
Roger Waters … Is This the Life We Really Want?
Paul Weller … A Kind Revolution
Wolf Alice … Visions of a Life
Yusuf/Cat Stevens … The Laughing Apple

It’s important to note the many joys of the preceding: Sheer Mag channeling ACDC and Thin Lizzy with a powerhouse female vocalist; the sheer weirdness of English folky Dawson; Father John Misty’s lyrics; the roots brilliance of late period Mellencamp; Weller's routine excellence; the Downtown Boys’ anthems for street protest marches; and even the Arcade Fire disco album.

But these albums didn't plant themselves in my head in quite the same way as the Top 30 for 2017.

30 The Cribs … 24-7 Rock Star Shit
29 Matthew Sweet … Tomorrow Forever
28 Paramore … After Laughter
27 Phoenix … Ti Amo
26 Afghan Whigs … In Spades

25 Depeche Mode … Spirit
24 Ride … Weather Diaries
23 War on Drugs … A Deeper Understanding
22 White Reaper … The World’s Best American Band
21 Fastball … Step Into Light

20 The XX … I See You
19 Cheap Trick … We’re Alright!
18 Kasabian … For Crying Out Loud
17 New Pornographers … Whiteout Conditions
16 U2 … Songs of Experience

15 Rainer Maria … S/T
14 Liam Gallagher … As You Were
13 British Sea Power … Let the Dancers Inherit the Party
12 Alvvays … Antisocialities
11 Sleaford Mods … English Tapas

10 Sparks … Hippopotamus
09 Elbow … Little Fictions
08 Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie … Buckingham McVie
07 Foo Fighters … Concrete and Gold
06 Michael McDonald … Wide Open

05 Squeeze … The Knowledge
04 The Amazons
03 Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds … Who Built the Moon
02 Temples … Volcano
01 Deep Purple … inFinite

No reviews, just my inner reality. It was a fine year in 2017, and already there are emerging ear worms among the 2018 releases from Shame, Simple Minds and Django Django, to name just three.

And, I've also been catching up with CDs from previous years by Travis, the Charlatans and the Len Price 3.

The best news of all for 2018: there'll be a new Manic Street Preachers album in April. How can it possibly top 2014's Futurology?

We'll know, soon enough. Listening to music happily channels the junior high school kid in me, and as age 58 approaches, that's more important than ever.

RateBeer users declare NABC's Pizzeria & Public House the top brewpub in Indiana.

Congratulations to our comrades in the list above. Metro Louisville is an under-rated craft beer destination, and both Indiana and Kentucky are exploding in terms of craft beer in the hinterlands. It's an exciting time to be in the business.

It's true that I'm fairly ambivalent about beer ratings, but there are two things about such rankings that I always find pleasing.

First, just being included as part of any conversation about best beer bars and brewpubs is reward enough for me. I've always felt we deserve to at least be mentioned, and I'll leave the exact numbers to the calculation of others.

Second, it's wonderful to see New Albany's name alongside New York, Chicago, New Orleans and San Diego in accountings pertaining to the "best of" anything.

Obviously, we could not do any of it without our workers and without you, the customer. Your patronage and their efforts are much appreciated, and we thank you all.

In 2012, we marked 25 years for the business overall (founded 1987), 20 years for me at the Public House, and 10 years as a brewery. Once upon a time, I sat down at a bar somewhere with a pint of Guinness in hand, and the next time I looked up, a career seemed to have found me. Problem is, I still don't know what I'd like to do when I grow up. This will do, at least for now.

Here's the press release.

RateBeer Best 2013 -- AWARD RESULTS

By RateBeer's Joe Tucker, Executive Director, 2001-present

(Santa Rosa, CA) First and foremost, I'd like to raise a glass to the people who make the beer we drink. These men and women are the artists, engineers, visionaries, chefs, CEOs and of course janitors and many other roles combined that are today's craft brewer. I've had the pleasure of listening to many in my role here and there are no more passionate, skilled, brave and hard working people on the planet. The great success of craft beer around the world proves this.

It's my great pleasure to honor them, and all those in the craft beer industry, with the results of this year's RateBeer Best.

Over 4.5 million times, RateBeer beer reviewers worldwide have raised a glass to review a new beer. We have tallied those scores and now present them as our competition results. For our summaries, a particular emphasis was placed on tastings made in the last twelve months. Additionally, brewpubs, bottle shops, restaurants and bars from around the world were awarded prizes. Cheers to all the winners and to everyone who keeps the world of craft beer growing as a fun, cooperative community devoted to artfulness and excellence.

Rocking RateBeer's list.

(Gravity Head returns ... Friday, February 24)

RateBeer.com's list of "Best Beer Bars 2012" has NABC's original Public House in fourth place, nationwide.

An accompanying "Best Beer Retailers 2012" places Keg Liquors (Clarksville/New Albany) at 44th.

I'm fairly ambivalent about beer ratings, but there are two things about such rankings that I always find pleasing.

First, just being included as part of any conversation about best beer bars is reward enough for me. I've always felt we deserve to at least be mentioned, and I'll leave the exact numbers to others.

Second, it's wonderful to see New Albany's name alongside New York, Chicago, New Orleans and San Diego in an accounting of the best of anything.

Obviously, we could not do any of it without our workers and without you, the customer. Your patronage is much appreciated, and we thank you.

In 2012, we mark 25 years for the business overall (founded 1987), 20 years for me at the Public House, and 10 years as a brewery. Once upon a time, I sat down at a bar somewhere with a pint of Guinness in hand, and the next time I looked up, a career seemed to have found me. Problem is, I still don't know what I'd like to do when I grow up.

Previously: Thanks to LEO Readers' Choice voters for thinking of NABC.

There is no cultural relevance to be found in my list of favorite 2010 albums.

In terms of music, I’ll remember 2010 as the year of my overdue, yet grateful passage into Old Fartdom.

I'm outdated, I no longer matter, and I don't care at all. So there.

Granted, contemporary relevance in music long has been slipping from my grasp, and in 2010, I let it go without any noticeable regrets. Now, having arrived at the half-century plateau, my tastes are almost surely fixed -- and so be it.

I’ll always enjoy big bands and archival jazz, and most forms of “classical” music with the exception of the final frontier, opera, which continues to elude my sporadic efforts at comprehension.

Whatsoever the state of hip hop, rap, or whatever identity urban music goes by these days, I’m utterly oblivious, which is not to say hostile. It simply does not move me. Insofar as country music is played with instruments more suited to rock and roll, I’m willing to listen, but those vast chunks of country music devoted to chronicling the boundaries of rural cluelessness can remain where they are, safely out of earshot.

The very fact of my continued resistance to iPods and downloading, and a stubborn adherence to compact discs, testifies to the permanent passage of youth, and to repeat, that’s perfectly fine with me.

Pop and rock releases always will comprise the bulk of yearly favorites, and picking my top new albums (that word again) of 2010 is fairly easy, with the top five enjoying excessive and repeated listens.

I cannot choose between them, and so they’re listed alphabetically. What's the main difference between the first five and the second five? Catchier ditties, that's all. To paraphrase Ray Charles, if you can't whistle the tunes while walking down the street, the game isn't worth the flame.

Crowded House – Intriguer

Bryan Ferry – Olympia

Goldfrapp – Head First

The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever

Manic Street Preachers – Postcards from a Young Man

The second five also are listed alphabetically.

Arcade Fire – “The Suburbs”

Dengue Fever Presents: Electric Cambodia

Elton John & Leon Russell – The Union

Robert Plant’s Band of Joy (eponymous)

Wild Beasts: Two Dancers (technically a 2009 release, but dominant in my life in January, 2010)