Fluxblog Weekly #191: 2018 Survey Mix

Every year I make a survey collection intended to represent the scope and tone of music over the course of 12 months. This year’s survey comes in two forms: A sprawling 500+ song playlist that gives what I believe to be the most accurate summary of music in 2018, and an abridged version of the playlist that is half as long and more focused on my taste and what I believe to be essential, even when it’s music I don’t particularly like. The latter version is also available as a download, as per usual.

Here is the full version of the survey…

…and here is the abridged version.

One of the major goals I have in making these survey mixes, including the versions covering the 80s and the 90s, is showing the full context for music in any given year, and proving how even in what seems like a “bad year for music,” there are always still a lot of great songs. I would categorize 2018 as one of the worst years for music I’ve lived through, but then I look at this survey and see so much quality material! The culture around music may be depressing and oppressive right now, but you can’t ever stop artists from doing wonderful things. I hope you find more to love than to dislike in this year’s set.

DOWNLOAD PART 1

Lana Del Rey “Mariners Apartment Complex” / Soccer Mommy “Your Dog” / Taylor Swift “Delicate” / Ariana Grande “R.E.M.” / Gorillaz “Humility” / Playboi Carti feat. Lil Uzi Vert “Shoota” / Pusha T “If You Know You Know” / Valee feat. Jeremih “Womp Womp” / XXXTENTACION “Moonlight” / Travis Scott feat. Drake “Sicko Mode (Skrillex Remix)” / DJ Koze “Lord Knows” / Kanye West “Ghost Town” / Kids See Ghosts “Freee (Ghost Town, Pt 2)” / Jean Grae & Quelle Chris “Gold Purple Orange” / NoName “Self” / Smoke DZA feat. Joey Bada$$ “The Mood” / No Joy & Sonic Boom “Obsession” / Janelle Monaé “Make Me Feel” / Of Montreal “Sophie Calle Private Game/Every Person Is A Pussy, Every Pussy Is A Star” / Caroline Rose “Jeannie Becomes A Mom” / Miss World “Oh Honey” / U.S. Girls “Incidental Boogie” / Insecure Men “Mekong Glitter” / Drake “Nice for What” / Nicki Minaj “Chun-Li” / Cardi B “Bickenhead” / Sophie “Immaterial” / Red Velvet “All Right” / Amanda Shires “Eve’s Daughter” / Lucy Dacus “Addictions” / Zizi Raimondi “Folly Dolly” / Father John Misty “Mr. Tillman” / Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks “Solid Silk” / St. Vincent “Hang On Me” / Arctic Monkeys “Star Treatment” / The Internet “Come Over” / Anderson Paak “Smile/Petty” / Maggie Rogers “Fallingwater” / Twice “Deja Vu” / Shawn Mendes “Nervous” / Vince Staples “Don’t Get Chipped” / Jay Rock feat. Kendrick Lamar “Wow Freestyle” / Famous Dex “Japan” / Grace Vonderkuhn “Worry” / Teyana Taylor feat. Kanye West “Hurry” / Khalid feat. Swae Lee “The Ways” / Kali Uchis “Flight 22” / Me’Shell NdegéOcello “Sensitivity” / Adrian Younge & Linear Labs “Silhouette Dreams” / Jorga Smith “Lost & Found” / Amber Navran “Lastaya Love” / Charlotte Day Wilson “Doubt” / Ali Shaheed Muhammed & Adrian Younge feat. CeeLo Green “Questions” / Spiritualized “A Perfect Miracle” / Beach House “Pay No Mind” / Deerhunter “Death In Midsummer” / Kurt Vile “Bassackwards” / Makaya McCraven “The Newbies Lift Off” / Everything Is Recorded feat. Sampha, Ibeyi, Wiki, and Kamasi Washington “Mountains of Gold” / Tirzah “Do You Know”

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Earl Sweatshirt “Shattered Dreams” / Action Bronson “Prince Charming” / Ari Lennox “No One” / Diana Gordon “Wolverine” / Mariah Carey “A No No” / Natalie Prass “Short Court Style” / Caroline Says “Sweet Home Alabama” / Yo La Tengo “Polynesia #1” / Jerry Paper “Your Cocoon” / Okkervil River “Famous Tracheotomies” / The Rock*A*Teens “Go Tell Everybody” / Flasher “Pressure” / Jeff Rosenstock “Beating My Head Against A Wall” / Bad Bad Hats “Makes Me Nervous” / Astronauts, Etc. “Symbol Land” / Fog Lake “I’ll Be Around” / Gerard Way “Getting Down the Germs” / Karen Meat “Overdwelled” / Magic Potion “Shock Proof” / George Clanton “Make It Forever” / Mormor “Whatever Comes to Mind” / Electric Six “(It’s Gets) (A Little) Jumpy” / Margaret Glaspy “Before We Were Together” / Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper “Shallow” / Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart” / Trippie Redd “How You Feel” / Hit-Boy “Out the Window” / Childish Gambino “This Is America” / N.E.R.D. feat. Rihanna and Drake “Lemon (Drake Remix)” / Camila Cabello “Inside Out” / Troye Sivan “My My My!” / Public Memory “The Line” / Matthew Dear “Echo” / Thom Yorke “Has Ended” / Lil Peep “4 Gold Chains” / Sheck Wes “Mo Bamba” / Smino feat. Mick Jenkins “New Coupe, Who Dis?” / Post Malone feat. Ty Dolla $ign “Psycho” / CupcaKKe “Duck Duck Goose” / Saweetie feat. Kehlani “ICY GRL (Bae Mix)” / CZARFACE & MF DOOM “Captain Crunch” / Cavern of Anti-Matter “Solarised Sound” / The Smashing Pumpkins “Solara” / Nine Inch Nails “Ahead of Ourselves” / Interpol “If You Really Love Nothing” / Negative Gemini “You Weren’t There Anymore” / Pressa feat. Lil Uzi Vert “420 in London” / A$AP Rocky “Changes” / H.E.R. “Can’t Help Me” / Kamasi Washington “Show Us the Way” / Christina Aguilera “Like I Do” / Georgia Anne Muldrow “Overload” / James Blake “Don’t Miss It” / Louis Cole “When You’re Ugly” / Jake Shears “Big Bushy Mustache” / Pistol Annies “Got My Name Changed Back” / MGMT “She Works Out Too Much” / Speedy Ortiz “You Hate the Title” / Robyn “Ever Again” / Anchorsong “Testimony”

DOWNLOAD PART 3

Metro Boomin feat. 21 Savage “10 Freaky Girls” / Kodak Black feat. Travis Scott and Offset “ZEZE” / Lil Wayne feat. Kendrick Lamar “Mona Lisa” / Tierra Whack “Cable Guy” / Doja Cat “MOOO!” / Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z “Lovehappy” / Ella Mai “Boo’d Up” / Nao “Another Lifetime” / Nadine “Pews” / Juice WRLD “Armed and Dangerous” / G-Eazy feat. Blac Youngsta and BlocBoy JB “Drop” / Oh Sees “Sentient Oona” / Car Seat Headrest “Cute Thing” / Lithics “Still Forms” / Cat Power “In Your Face” / Boygenius “Salt in the Wound” / Haley Heyndrickx “Oom Sha La La” / Jeff Tweedy “Bombs Above” / Neko Case “Hell-On” / Courtney Barnett “Hopefulessness” / Paul Simon “Can’t Run But” / Jeremih & Ty Dolla $ign “The Light” / DeJ Loaf feat. Leon Bridges “Liberated” / Dear Nora “Simulation Feels” / TV Girl “7 Days Til Sunday” / Phosphorescent “Around the Horn” / Julia Holter “Whether” / BLACKPINK “DDU-DU DDU-DU” / Grimes “We Appreciate Power” / Hobo Johnson “Peach Scone” / King Princess “Pussy Is God” / Lizzo “Boys” / Billie Eilish “When the Party’s Over” / 03 Greedo feat. Lil Uzi Vert “Never Bend (Remix)” / Esperanza Spalding “The Longing Deep Down” / Neneh Cherry “Kong” / Videotapemusic “Hot Pants in the Summercamp” / Cuco “Lover Is A Day” / Boy Pablo “Losing You” / Unknown Mortal Orchestra “The Internet of Love (That Way)” / Video Age “Pop Therapy” / Darwin Deez “The World’s Best Kisser” / Sales “White Jeans” / The Breeders “Walking with a Killer” / Rhye “Feel Your Weight” / Cherophobiac “Unknown Liquid Substance” / Eleanor Friedberger “Make Me A Song” / Sloan “Don’t Stop (If It Feels Good Do It)” / Guided by Voices “Colonel Paper” / Lil Uzi Vert “New Patek” / Lake Ruth “Julia’s Call” / Yaeji “One More” / Alison Wonderland “No” / Mildlife “The Magnificent Moon” / Sibille Attar “I Don’t Have To” / Haley “Bratt” / Joan of Arc “Punk Kid” / Born Ruffians “Side Tracked” / Nicholas Krgovich “Time” / Belle & Sebastian “Poor Boy” / Mazzy Star “Quiet, the Winter Harbor” / Ian Sweet “Question It” / PC Worship “Shell Power” / Friendly Fires “Heaven Let Me In” / Migos feat. Drake “Walk It Talk It” / Meek Mill feat. Miguel “Stay Woke” / Tune-Yards “Heart Attack” / Chvrches “Graffiti” / Imagine Dragons “Natural” / The 1975 “Love It If We Made It” / Weezer “Africa” / Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B “Girls Like You” / Panic! at the Disco “High Hopes” / Zedd feat Maren Morris and Grey “The Middle” / Rita Ora “Anywhere” / Mitski “Me and My Husband” / Halsey “Without Me” / Carly Rae Jepsen “Party for One” / Dierks Bentley “Woman, Amen” / Florence + The Machine “South London Forever” / Kacey Musgraves “Slow Burn” / Luke Bryan “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset” / Ed Sheeran & Beyoncé “Perfect Duet” / Snail Mail “Heat Wave” / Lake Street Dive “Jameson” / Molly Burch “Wild” / BTS “Fake Love” / Mac Miller “Self Care” / 6ix9ine feat. Nicki Minaj and Murda Beatz “FEFE” / Logic feat. Wu-Tang Clan “Wu-Tang Forever” / Brockhampton “New Orleans”/ Ellie Goulding feat. Diplo and Swae Lee “Close to Me” / Aphex Twin “T69 Collapse” / Sharon Van Etten “Comeback Kid” / Crepes “As You Go” / J. Cole “Brackets” / Tyler, the Creator “OKRA” / Rich the Kid “Plug Walk” / The Alchemist feat. Westside Gunn and Conway “Judas” / King Tuff “Raindrop Blue” / Ty Segall “The Main Pretender” / Swae Lee “Hurts to Look” / Ashley Monroe “Hard On A Heart” / Christine and the Queens “Doesn’t Matter” / Amen Dunes “Blue Rose” / Saba feat. Chance the Rapper “Logout” / The Good, The Bad, and The Queen “Merrie Land” / Leon Bridges “If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be)” / Rico Nasty “Rage” / Metric “Love You Back” / Justin Timberlake “Midnight Summer Jam” / Rosalia “Malamente” / JPEGMAFIA “1539 N. Calvert” / Zayn “Let Me” / Bell’s Roar “You Call Me Cold”