1. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings: Woodland
(Acony, August)
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’s return was prompted by the near loss of their life’s work when a hurricane damaged Woodland, the folk duo’s recording studio. That averted destruction was mirrored in these beautifully arranged, woebegone tales of empty freight trains and departed friends.
2. Jpegmafia: I Lay Down My Life for You
(Awal, August)
How to follow Scaring the Hoes, Jpegmafia’s 2023 caustic outing with Danny Brown? With this dizzying collision of hooks, samples, metal guitars and disdain. Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks’s uranium-tongued collection found space for self-reflection too.
3. Charli xcx: Brat
(Atlantic, June)
Pop’s premier left-field auteur finally received her mainstream kudos thanks to this inescapable album-cum-phenomenon. This acid green collection of 15 dancefloor-facing tracks (and its starry remix album) threw out attitude and vulnerability in heroic succession.
4. Shabaka: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
(Impulse!, April)
Flutes have had a resurgence, thanks to erstwhile OutKast rapper Andre 3000 in 2023 and Shabaka Hutchings, whose saxophone has had an outsized impact on the last decade of hip UK jazz. This very personal outing on shakuhachi (Japanese flute) and clarinet indicated that serenity comes from blowing up your USP.
5. Floating Points: Cascade
(Ninja Tune, September)
Sam Shepherd’s last opus was 2021’s Promises, featuring the LSO and the last recordings of Pharoah Sanders. Recorded during downtime from scoring a ballet, Cascade marked a return to slapping club music, a gossamer set that reaffirmed this polymath’s dancefloor prowess.
6. Kim Deal: Nobody Loves You More
(4AD, November)
Pixies bassist, Breeders mainstay, Olivia Rodrigo inspirer and now solo artist Kim Deal took 12 years to make this album, which also featured her ally, late engineer Steve Albini. Few artists can meld pop sweetness and gnarly guitar as sublimely as Deal, whose songs spanned everything from her mother’s Alzheimer’s to disobedience.
7. Cassie Kinoshi’s Seed: Gratitude
(International Anthem, March)
Of all the terrific UK jazz records this year – pace, Nala Sinephro, Ezra Collective and Nubya Garcia – this outing from composer Cassie Kinoshi departed furthest from her Tomorrow’s Warrior peers. Mostly recorded live with her 18-piece ensemble, Seed, plus strings from the London Contemporary Orchestra, Gratitude was a sweeping, old-school orchestral score emphasising self-care.
8. Sophie: Sophie
(Transgressive/Future Classic, September)
Hyperpop producer Sophie’s third album was almost finished when she tragically fell to her death in 2021. Completed by her brother, Sophie captures an artist working on the cusp of punishing experimentation and out-and-out pop. What Sophie might lack in cohesion it makes up in singular sound design and eclectic self-assurance.
9. Kendrick Lamar: GNX
(PGLang/Interscope, November)
Pulitzer prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar has long struggled with fame and his place in hip-hop’s pantheon. His war of words with Drake this summer seemed to settle the matter, making GNX an erudite flex that leaned hard on bopping productions and retro samples while retaining all the rigour of Lamar’s dense, deep-dive lyricism.
10. Shovel Dance Collective: The Shovel Dance
(American Dreams, October)
A number of silvery artists have reinvented folk of late; the nine-person British experimental Shovel Dance Collective are another revelation. Traditionals such as The Merry Golden Tree revisited the story of a betrayed cabin boy with tensile emotion and minimal drones while Four Loom Weaver was a portrait of grinding poverty rendered in breathtaking a cappella.
