Here are ten recordings I liked this year:
1) Gingerbee – Apiary
A self-described “bedroom skramz” artist, Gingerbee’s complexly maximalist music seems to encompass many genres at the exact same time. Is it picopop? Chiptune? Samba? Screamo? Chamber pop? Yes! It’s a huge reach that shockingly doesn’t exceed its grasp very often. A hive of harmonious activity; there’s no other album I want to listen to as often or as closely.
If you like this, try: Thanya Iyer – TIDE/TIED, a more laidback vocal jazz album with a similarly beguiling composition (it doesn’t sound like Gingerbee but what does)
2) Jens Lekman – Songs for Other People’s Weddings
Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman has been engaged as a wedding singer and wrote this concept album about the many small celebratory moments of love he witnesses. Beautifully arranged with deservedly overblown strings, it’s a wise and wonderful record.
If you like this, try: The Burning Hell – Ghost Palace, more Magnetic Fields-adjacent pop which would have made the list in its own right if it didn’t pair so well with this one
3) Model/Actriz – Pirouette
Angular queer art-punk with industrial textures and a four-on-the-floor beat made of clanging guitars – an alt-rock wall-of-sound.
If you like this, try: PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?, a good pop-punk album which is less leftfield and more nostalgic
4) McKinley Dixon – Magic, Alive!
Lush upbeat conceptual jazz rap from the Chesapeake poet. Fun, hard, only 35 minutes and not a wasted second.
If you like this, try: Danny Brown – Stardust, an intergenerational project celebrating sobriety with the help of those queer digicore kids
5) Natalia Lafourcade – Cancionera
Delicate and rousing classically-inspired Mexican folk. Superior playing and singing. It’s a big, beautiful album.
If you like this, try: Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias for more Latin chamber folk with an expressive and adventurous voice
6) Tapeworms – Grand Voyage
Sunny French act channeling j-pop and chamber synth. Simple upbeat songs with glitchy, microtonal flavours.
If you like this, try: UTO – More heat to the fire part of fire, a psychedelic synthpop album which would have been higher if it weren’t an extended version of an album from last year. It’s a really good collection of songs though and worth checking out.
7) clipping. – Dead Channel Sky
I’ve listened to this a lot this year. I love the industrial vibes and find it so fun to listen to. Occasional ear-splitting dial-up noises, mostly glitchy electro-industrial hip hop with cyberpunk lyrics.
If you like this, try: Tyler, The Creator – DON’T TAP THE GLASS for energetic danceable rap with a Jekyll and Hyde approach, bouncing between smooth and aggressive with surprising success
8) Rebecca Black – SALVATION
Short and sweet dance pop EP. Five tracks that show a high water mark in Black’s storied career. She’s our hero, throw her at the pop charts.
If you like this, try: FKA twigs – EUSEXUA for more arty and very sexual dance pop
9) The Weather Station – Humanhood
A smooth, fairly straight-forward and a little jazzy art pop album with good singing and playing.
If you like this, try: Madeline Kenney – Kiss From the Balcony, syncopated and country-tinged art pop, similarly easygoing
10) Jerskin Fendrix – Once Upon a Time… in Shropshire
Baritone drawling over various experimental beats and occasionally repetitive folky songs interrupted by heavy rock breakdowns and soaring chamber music with electronic processing. With lyrics including “I wash my dick in the sink!” and “Fuck, I’m buzzing, I’ve been drinking so much White Claw”, the whole thing can feel like a private joke but it’s hard to dismiss.
If you like this, try: Lucrecia Dalt – A Danger to Ourselves, percussive and experimental