Culture
Top Tunes ’18: Eddie Ashworth
< < Back toWow! 2018 has come and gone, and it’s about time we reflect on our favorite sounds of the past year. Leading up through the end of the year, WOUB Culture will be spotlighting what various music-centric people throughout the region have been enjoying the most for the past 12 months.
Eddie Ashworth is an associate professor at Ohio University’s School of Media Arts and Studies. He is also the owner of The Oxide Shed, a music production studio in Athens, OH, which is responsible for some of your favorite regional sounds.
This was a tumultuous year for yours truly, equal parts delightful and devastating. These are the ten songs that got me through it.
Most of them were released in 2018, a couple are perennial favorites, and one was so spectacularly refurbished as a remix that it made me love it all over again.
1. “Slow Burn” – Kacey Musgraves
Acid inspired instant classic. Life and how to live it.
2. “Make Me Feel” – Janelle Monae
Sexy Prince homage does the purple one proud. Dayum, Janelle!
3. “I Don’t Know” – Paul McCartney
Such a moving, brutally honest song about coming to grips with where you are in life. Right up there with the best he’s written.
4. “The Joke” – Brandi Carlisle
Another song for the ages. Harrowing and uplifting all at once.
5. “Hang On Me (Piano)” – St. Vincent
Stripped down MASSEDUCATION tune that gains power through its simple presentation.
6. “Over You” – Macy Gray
No one sings about the giddy rush of falling in love quite as giddily as Macy.
7. “Get Better” – Frank Turner
My favorite Turner fist pumper, cranked at least twice weekly since the day it came out a couple of years ago.
8. “Tangled Up In Blue (Take 3, Remake 3)” – Bob Dylan
More somber than the album version, and perhaps even more heartbreaking.
9. “Long, Long, Long” – The Beatles
The White Album’s unassuming masterpiece receives a stunning Giles Martin remix.
10. “Evolove” – Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Robyn’s folk anthem for the ages, and a worthy goal for 2019. Let’s evolove, shall we?