10
Youth Lagoon Rarely Do I Dream
Top Track: Football
The music of Youth Lagoon (aka Trevor Powers) has always felt like it exists somewhere in-between. From the androgynous, ghostly vocals to the blend of dream-pop with ambient psychedelia. On Rarely Do I Dream, Powers’ tendency towards the formless is transformed into his most fully-formed vision. Built around recently unearthed home movies from Powers’ early childhood; the VHS hiss and fragile memories of these tapes are weaved into a haze of ethereal Americana. The nostalgic poignancy from moments of domestic warmth contrast with blurred sketches of everyday noir; tales of addiction, small-town villains, and bleak mysteries. A world where mundanity meets the mythic, where innocence dissolves into despair; its light and dark, its life and death. Or rather, it’s just life; Powers’ dreamlike compositions capture the dichotomy of our world, where competing forces co-exist and coalesce. It’s beautiful and it’s tragic.
9
William Tyler Time Indefinite
Top Track: Concern
Not a word is uttered across Time Indefinite, yet it offers as deep an exploration of the human psyche as you’re ever likely to encounter. The Nashville guitarist, formerly of alt-rock cornerstones Lambchop and Silver Jews, has spent his solo career redefining what an acoustic guitar record can be; combining ambient soundscapes with dazzling finger-picked compositions. Born from the anxiety-inducing uncertainty of 2020, the album pits harsh, sinister noise against moments of majestic beauty. Equal parts unsettling, hopeful, and spiritual; it reflects humanity straining to endure against the relentless march of time.
8
billy woods GOLLIWOG
Top Track: BLK ZMBY
GOLLIWOG is billy woods’ cinematic masterpiece; a pitch-black psychological horror rendered in surrealistic and utterly haunting detail. Abstract imagery combines with vividly descriptive snapshots; from harrowing childhood terrors to the bleak fate of a mid-20th century Marxist philosopher. Modern day trauma juxtaposed with the long shadow of colonial collapse. With an absolute murderer’s row of guests and producers (including El-P, The Alchemist, and Bruiser Wolf), woods’ continues to drive abstract hip-hop into stark, unnerving territory (there’s a beat literally composed from a woman’s trembling cries). Yet amidst the dread, glimmers of staggering beauty break through. An album that’s challenging, confronting, and completely captivating.
7
DARKSIDE Nothing
Top Track: S.N.C
On Nothing, DARKSIDE prove themselves as masters of modern psychedelia. Their third album emerged from jam sessions where the rule was to not let anything happen; a clean slate freeing them from genre forms and conventions. The result feels like an ever-changing panorama; ready to become anything at any given movement. Disparate influences collide; Americana tangling with techno, serene chill-outs lurch into funk grooves or pangs of chaotic terror; sometimes simultaneously. Warped vocals drift between disembodied cosmic howls to ritualistic mantras. This is the rare modern prog record that is genuinely progressive; past and future colliding to create the nightmarish and exhilarating sound of today.
6
ROSALÍA LUX
Top Track: La Perla
With her fourth album, ROSALÍA cements her status as one of mainstream pop’s most daring and visionary figures. Spanning 13 languages, the record draws deeply on religious themes, which will elude many listeners, yet LUX transcends language barriers as it absolutely radiates raw power and emotion. Leaning boldly into classical influences, the Spanish star delivers her most commanding vocal performance to date, on a sweeping pop opera. Electronic flourishes are used sparingly and precisely; punctuating the drama to thrilling effect. LUX is a triumphant statement that pushes the boundaries of modern pop to its most ambitious extremes.
5
Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band New Threats From the Soul
Top Track: New Threats From the Soul
Long-winded Americana from a dude who can’t really sing isn’t the most enticing prospect, but with Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band it becomes something strangely magnetic. Davis is a rambling poet, with a head full of questions, spinning vivid tales of heartbreaks, friendships, and everyday absurdities that drift into philosophical digressions and accidental revelations. The Roadhouse Band both indulge and rein in his instincts; following as he descends into a cosmic swirl with the gentle psychedelia of Mutilation Springs, or pulling him back to his base emotions, like the title track’s joyous chorus bursts. All the while, weaving in surprising and frequently gorgeous instrumental flourishes; sparks of melody that light up the spaces between his words. New Threats From the Soul is a wandering, wistful American daydream.
4
CMAT EURO-COUNTRY
Top Track: EURO-COUNTRY
Poptimism and the attention-economy have now converged to the point that even the most vacuous dross is seriously critically lauded so long as it’s got the hint of a catchy chorus and generates enough engagement. Fortunately, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson exists; the rare popstar worth believing in. The Irish singer proves you can make unabashed big-tit pop music (her words) that still means something.
Her third album levels up on her impressive earlier outings; polishing up bold country-pop with the anthemic sheen of peak Fleetwood Mac. With the now obligatory viral TikTok moment and a great run of hook-laden singles, it feels like she’s truly broken out. And not to downplay those hooks, but she does it while delivering something much deeper. A record that’s a personal exploration of coming-of-age and finding identity; reckoning with cultural roots, body image in the face of newfound fame, and the weight of societal expectations. Alongside some of the brilliantly wry breakup songs she excels in, humour and heartache are at the core of her writing. CMAT is one of the most important, and straight-up best, popstars of her generation.
3
Rhys Langston Pale Black Negative
Top Track: It Jes Grew (Right Outta Me)
On Pale Black Negative, Rhys Langston puts forth his thesis on genre abolition, delivering his most ambitious work yet. Known primarily for his explorations in abstract underground hip-hop, Langston seeks to break free of the confines of restrictive genre conventions with an album that quickly blossoms into a kaleidoscope of jazz, R&B, art-rock and alt-pop.
Pairing dense, hyper-literate wordplay with a raw emotional immediacy; the complexities of his verbose lyricism are balanced by his hookiest hooks and pleasingly imperfect falsetto-assisted melodies. Undertaking every role from vocalist to producer to multi-instrumentalist (there aren’t many other records where the artist is both rapper and banjo player) he crafts a boundary-blurring opus that is as accessible as it is inventive. Pale Black Negative feels like a radical statement on artistic expression, and it may well be Rhys Langston’s masterpiece. (Read More)
2
Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals A City Drowned in God’s Black Tears
Top Track: Everyone I Love is Depressed
“Doesn’t sound like anything else” is an overused phrase. Except it actually fits for A City Drowned in God’s Black Tears; an album where uncompromising politically-charged invective crashes into moments of disarming sweetness. The third LP from the Baltimore experimental hip-hop duo is daringly eclectic; barely recognisable as the same artist from track to track.
They kick things off with sledgehammer shots of provocation; “Netanyahu is the new Hitler” and “Genocide as American as apple pie, baseball, and mass shootings” are just two choice lines that drop within the first two minutes. These aren’t empty shock tactics, this bluntness mirrors a world where atrocity is just background noise.
Musically, the record swerves through harsh, industrial elements, with the title track culminating in a doom-metal dirge. But elsewhere, there’s mesmeric chamber-song detours, and intoxicating cumbia rhythms. It’s a clash of styles that shouldn’t cohere, but somehow do. Perhaps best summed up by the ludicrously buoyant pleas of “Don’t Kill Yourself” on the glorious 80’s funk-pop of Everyone I Love is Depressed.
Dark humour runs throughout, but also straight-up goofy humour; with skits harkening back to 90’s rap classics. The album’s constant contrasts reflect the dissonance of modern life. How for many, life carries on alongside a backdrop of atrocity; jokes and genocide co-existing side by side.
1
Benjamin Booker LOWER
Top Track: HOPE FOR THE NIGHT TIME
Having broken out in the mid-2010’s as a guitar-toting bluesman to much indie acclaim, Benjamin Booker re-emerged after almost 8 years away with something of a reinvention. Co-produced with underground rap veteran, Kenny Segal, LOWER is a challenging sonic experiment, which manages to successfully fuse disparate elements, including industrial rock, dream pop, and abstract hip-hop. A juxtaposition of desperation and defiance, as harsh, claustrophobic soundscapes give way to tenderly, uplifting moments.
With some brilliant songwriting, which is at turns vividly blunt, surrealistic, and elegantly poetic, Booker charts a journey of personal redemption backdropped against a nightmarish vision of the American Dream. An ostensibly bleak and hopeless album, which is filled with defiance and hope; a reminder to keep finding the beauty in an ugly world. (Read More)
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