We did it (sort of)! Ear Coffee survived it's first full year, and there were only a half dozen or so hiatuses of varying lengths. As the hell-year known as 2018 is closing, we (as undoubtedly professional music critics) are yet again forced by the will of God to make lists of the music we liked. There were a lot of great local albums that were released this year that we did not cover for this list, but that doesn't mean they aren't worth listening to. Please enjoy the following selection of Wes and Joe's favorite local records of 2018. Check out our podcast episode covering many of these releases too - link at the bottom of the article! Nick Check & the Dead Century - "One More Year" Single It's rare for something released in January to sound as fresh as it first did at the end of the year. This single from the Dead Century has stayed true as some of the best material from the year. The band showcased all of their talents on both sides of t...

As a fan of heavy music from Minneapolis, I have stumbled across Tongue Party a handful of times, but I always put them on that list all music fans have but never actually get to. Thankfully, the gods of music sent me signs to nudge me toward this record. The first sign came in the form of radio. The Current's The Local Show played the track "This Exists" Sunday night. Its heaviness and frantic nature made me sit in my car to finish it before going into work. The second sign was a podcast called Pod Minutes to Cast Night where one of the guest hosts mentioned that they were going to play a show with Tongue Party later in the week. It was then and there I knew that I needed to listen to this band.  Upon first listen, Tongue Party's debut record  Looking For A Painful Death  sounds like a musical cousin of the first two Metz records but that comparison lazy and a huge disservice to this band. Their music is noisy, explosive, and just downright ag...