The best albums of January 2018

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard albums aside 2017 was a disappointing year for rock albums. while Creeper, idles, and milk teeth impressed me, new hopefuls such as Circa Waves and The Amazons were all rather disappointing. However 2018 has already proved to be a much healthier year for guys and girls with guitars. Kicking off with Shame's glorious début album 'Songs of Praise'. An album which finds the young Londoners mining the cold dissonant post punk of Joy Division as much as the sleaze of their peers Fat White Family. 'SOP' is 10 rough diamonds, mixing politics with pop and 'Idles' aggression with indie anthems in waiting. Dream Wife's self titled début was a similarly euphoric rush of pop tinged grunge anthems. Their thick Icelandic accents delivering a sadly often over looked message that women can not only rock as heard as men but that they deserve respect as people too. Dream Wife pull off this while sounding gloriously delirious, their début album is a blast. L.A.'s Starcrawler are another example of women making fantastic rock n roll. While Starcrawler are far more than just a vessel for Arrow De Wilde's blood spitting stage gimmicks, and their début is as good a record of glam rock tunes as you'll find this decade.
Another woman coming breaking out early this year is U.S. rapper CupcaKe. Whose buzz has been building over the past few years. Ephorize has the hallmarks of her unique sound from the ballsy trap flavoured production and her rapid fire flow delivering a barrage of pure filth. CupcaKe is good at delivering her sexually explicit lyrics in the form of witty one-liners and pop culture references, yet with Ephorize she shows an introspective side that marks her out as more than a one trick pony

Honourable mentions 
Jeff Rosenstock - POST
Khurangbin - Con Todo El Mundo
Marmozets - Knowing what you know now.