1. FRANK OCEAN – Channel Orange
Ignore all the peripheral conversations about Frank Ocean – it’s his uncanny knack for vivid impressionist storytelling that grabs our attention.
2. DAPHNI – Jiaolong
Dan Snaith has long been a favourite, and this rough and raw collection of left-field club music is just one more reason to love him.
3. CHROMATICS – Kill For Love
An epic album of starkly beautiful dirges that feels like the perfect minimalist antidote to the sensory overload of contemporary studio pop.
4. MIGUEL – Kaleidoscope Dream
This psychedelic rewiring of R&B conventions embraces rock energy and grit without sacrificing any of that smooth sexiness.
5. NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE – Psychedelic Pill
Sprawling, loose, self-indulgent, drenched in distortion, sloppy, and also exactly what we want in a Crazy Horse album.
6. MAC DeMARCO – 2
By ditching the pitched-down vocals and goofy skits of his breakthrough EP, DeMarco reveals that he’s got some surprisingly serious songcraft skills.
7. GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
After a decade of silence, the Montreal instrumental collective casually dropped one of the best albums of their career without even a warning.
8. FIONA APPLE – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Obnoxiously long title aside, Apple’s first album in seven years is strikingly concise, focused and emotionally evocative.
9. HOW TO DRESS WELL – Total Loss
In a year that was all about weirdo R&B, this experimental meditation on mourning proved that the boundaries of the genre can still be stretched.
10. SWANS – The Seer
The culmination of 30 years of exploring the darkest corners of the human psyche. Feels like a marathon panic attack, in a good way.