I actually had quite a few as I spent a lot of the year getting into older bands and their discographies rather than just checking out 2018 albums.
Blur - One of those bands I was familiar with the name but other than Song 2 (which I don't care for that much) was unfamiliar with their music. Became a really big surprise for me as their discography had tons of variety and quality, and I put a lot of time into listening to all their albums and I was really pleasantly surprised. I think Song 2 still remains a bit meh (decent 2 min song but nothing mindblowing) but Blur overall has really become one of my favorite bands and I would rank them higher than a band like Radiohead who are from the same country and have been active kinda the same time period.
Pavement - Another big discovery, I decided to check out Pavement after hearing Mike Vennart say they were one of the most influential bands for him, and also doing some digging and seeing their albums getting rave reviews helped push me over the edge. There's definitely a lot of music like Pavement (or inspired by) that has come since this band, but IMO their take on the genre is on its own level. They only put out 5 albums and some EPs but I think all their albums are great or better. Wowee Zowee is my favorite, what an album. They also infuse their albums with a lot of variety.
Suede - Really unique band I think mostly because of the vocals from Brett Anderson, but the combination of the vocals and the instrumentation is what pulled me in. Their first 3 albums are amazing and their most recent, released in 2018 was surprisingly great for me, because I thought "it's probably not gonna reach that level". I've yet to dive into the middle albums of their discography but even if those albums aren't as good, I'm still more than happy with the rest. Their self-titled debut and the follow-up, Dog-Man Star especially stands out just slightly for being really great albums.
Yo La Tengo - I had heard this name around before, but for whatever reason I got the idea it was something completely else and not something that would intrigue me. But I saw they were an indie rock band that had been going strong for 20-30 years and had some really highly rated albums. Started giving those albums some spins and they're definitely a band with lots of variety in their music for being a trio. For example the album "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out" features a nice mix of different songs like the dreamy 3 ½ minute "Madeline" which is really beautiful, to the 18 minute long closer "Night Falls on Hoboken" which is just really nice, chill and atmospheric. Other great albums include "I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One", "Painful" and "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass".