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Tony Stamp looks back at a year of musical offerings from the UK and North America. From industrial disco to affable country, these were 10 of the year's best.
I'm Totally Fine With It Don't Give a F**k Anymore by Arab Strap
The eighth album by the Scottish duo is bittersweet, anthemic, angry and uplifting, and preoccupied with the internet. Social media specifically, and what it's doing to the way we interact.
Lyrics like "there's no true you, just today's persona/ Gregarious extrovert, timid loner", 'Haven't You Heard', alludes to the way we reinvent ourselves online, and throughout the pair spin tales of disaffected people over inspired musical choices.
Lives Outgrown by Beth Gibbons
Portishead singer Beth Gibbons's solo debut was a long time coming (not counting a 2002 collaboration with Rustin Man). The results are revelatory, and suggest she spent a good deal of time creating and immersing herself in a unique sonic landscape.
The kind of autumnal, vaguely Celtic tinge to the tunes was unexpected, but very rewarding.
My Method Actor by Nilüfer Yanya
Each song on Nilüfer Yanya's third album felt like it had materialised fully formed. Her singing was always relaxed, and now the music matched it.
Yanya's breathy, billowing voice delivers plaintive verses that unfurl into comforting choruses, balancing beauty and pathos for the entire runtime.
Care/Taking by Jess Cornelius
In the liner notes to Jess Cornelius' Care/Taking, she says: "The biggest shift for me that has happened over the last few years is that I had a kid. What that did was make me think about death more than I have in my entire life."
Those twin impulses, the joy of new life and the fear it can provoke, propel their way through the album. It's compelling stuff, and even more impressive is the composition: bold choices confidently made.
Challengers by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
The partnership of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross may have seemed an unlikely fit for Hollywood, but they've gone on to win two Oscars. For Luda Guadanino's sexually-charged tennis movie Challengers, they ramped up the adrenalin to fit.
Pundits have remarked how different this is to Reznor's often moody, sometimes excoriating work as Nine Inch Nails. But the sounds here are not unfamiliar, just slightly more disco-fied.
The Collective by Kim Gordon
With her second solo record, Kim Gordon, aged 70, made something so casually challenging, and effortlessly cool, it put many similarly-inclined artists her junior to shame.
As soon as I hit play onThe Collective I felt on unsteady ground, which, if you're like me, is a fun place to be. Others will just find it unpleasant, but Gordon has been one of the coolest people on the planet for a long time now, and I doubt she cares what anyone thinks.
Manning Fireworks by MJ Lenderman
This album of scrappy alt-country gems prompted critics worldwide to pay attention. Lenderman himself is perhaps not what people expected from his music: young, handsome, often clad in a t-shirt or hoodie. More Steven Malkmus than Steve Earle.
His singing voice can be unsteady, but it conveys a huge amount of personality, as do his affable songs.
My Light, My Destroyer by Cassandra Jenkins
My Light, My Destroyer by New York singer-songwriter Cassandra Jenkins is catchy, funny and exploratory in equal measure, and very self-assured for someone who came close to quitting music.
She was once an editorial assistant at The New Yorker, so her skill with words makes sense. I particularly enjoyed the line "The walls are blushing landlord pink", and casual details like a "heart-shaped duct tape wallet".
Red Mile by Crack Cloud
The third album by Canadian musical collective Crack Cloud is crammed with ideas - philosophical, musical, satirical - but they're presented in easily digestible four-chord charmers that draw on classic rock. Frontman Zack Choy grafts these to a certain punk attitude, with results that always feel concise for a band that currently has ten members.
His words are as bruising in their honesty as they are delivery, but surrounded with music that's always tuneful, and often lovely. The result is a mix of broad and blunt, and very fun to listen to.
Songs of a Lost World by The Cure
My first listen to 'Alone', the first single from The Cure's Songs of a Lost World, was a strangely suspenseful experience. The music proceeds for over three minutes before Robert Smith starts singing, and when he does, it's as triumphant as the gloriously protracted intro.
The album proceeds accordingly: most of the tracks unfurl slowly, relishing in the chord progressions before a single lyric. Songs of a Lost World luxuriates in pop-tinged gloom, and the good news is there are two more Cure albums in the pipeline.
Tony Stamp reviews the latest album releases every week on The Sampler.
