#15. Hannah Jadagu – Aperture
Since a lot of my music thoughts now are grumbling about how young people suck and have horrible taste, I wanted to single out Jadagu, who at age 20 is already making classic-style indie rock with some energy and personality. I’m fully in my old man guitar nostalgia phase currently so hearing a younger artist actually play some riffs feels huge. Jadagu’s songs are serious but never boring because she writes actual hooks and there is also an enjoyable lack of pretension here compared to the trend of millennials and zoomers thinking they’re philosophers in their boring artless music. The fact Jadagu didn’t get a major media push this year is mystifying to me and probably is an indictment of the entire music industry in some way.
#14. Shana Cleveland – Manzanita
Cleveland maybe gets more attention for fronting La Luz, but I really like the feel of her solo work, which has a throwback 60s psychedelic folk vibe reminiscent of Love. I think Cleveland’s biggest strength is how everything about her music feels like a direct reflection of her personality — it’s very easy to imagine who she is just from these songs, which have such a specific calm, spacey, California energy to them. I guess it’s possible I’m wrong and she’s a psycho who is constantly freaking out at people, but somehow I doubt it.
#13. Frankie Rose – Love as Projection
Rose has become one of my most reliable artists, as everything she does is sharply written and fun to listen to. Love as Projection carries on the synth pop route she’s been on with her relatively plain voice accompanied by shimmering electronics. Rose rises above the legions of people making this kind of music because she is experienced as a songwriter and a person. There is a certain level of professionalism in the craft here that I appreciate more and more, and the lyrics feel like they’re coming from a genuine place and aren’t just random text to fill in the pop songs.
#12. Beach House – Become EP
Beach House is growing on me every year, and while I majorly slept on last year’s double album, Once Twice Melody (mostly because it was so long), I was instantly into this EP. “American Daughter” feels like one of their best songs and shows how a band this deep into their discography can still explore new sounds without fundamentally changing who they are. Considering these are purportedly cast-offs from a double album, it’s remarkable how cohesive this release is and how good the songs are. For me, Beach House are getting in that discussion as an all-time great band given their longevity, consistency, and quality.
#11. a.s.o. – a.s.o.
The first album from a.s.o. exists in this perfect space between Portishead, Mazzy Star, Curve, and a bunch of other 90s signifiers while still finding its own lane. Singer and namesake Alia Seror-O’Neill has the vocal ability and charisma to pull this style off and the songwriting/production is also on point. Nothing here is exactly mindblowing but the execution is at a way higher level than I’ve become used to from these sorts of bands.
#10. Madeline Goldstein – Other World EP
This one is a totally left-field Bandcamp release that didn’t get much attention, but I was kind of blown away by the quality of Other World‘s production and the amount of believable drama Madeline Goldstein pours into these four songs. This is in that gothic, theatrical style that often crosses the line into being corny — I’d argue Other World basically walks up to that line and dances around it a bit without ever quite going over. The title track with its rumbling percussion and saxophone part was on repeat for me a lot this year along with “Edges of the Lines” which is also sneakily catchy and has similarly evocative lyrics.
#9. Seablite – Lemon Lights
Lemon Lights is one of those Just For Me albums as I feel like maybe the strongest proponent of this kind of light, jangly, fuzzy pop that is reminiscent of my beloved Tiger Trap. This is one of the better executed versions of the style I can remember, with “Hit the Wall” and “Melancholy Molly” jumping out as radio-ready guitar songs (in a world where good music was ever played on the radio). I can’t find a lot to analyze here but it’s a serious crowd-pleaser for people (me) who are into this style.
#8. Elaine Malone – Pyrrhic
This Irishwoman’s solo debut has apparently been years in the making; Malone (who I was unfamiliar with) has been a part of DIY scenes and various bands for around a decade. Pyrrhic reflects an artist who has that experience and is confident in a variety of sounds, ranging from bluesy rock to dreamy psychedelia and folk. Some of these songs combine all of that in way that reminds me a bit of Emma Ruth Rundle with some Sinead O’Connor (obviously) thrown in. What I really sensed in these songs compared to all the others I would sample on Bandcamp was a sense of passion. Malone’s vocals and the instrumentals on here just hit harder and feel more real to me than a lot of other artists I listened to.
#7. Fever Ray – Radical Romantics
I go back and forth a bit on Fever Ray (Karin Dreijer). They have an extremely distinct style, and I instantly know when I’m hearing a Fever Ray song, which is the number one thing I need from music now. Since the first masterpiece Fever Ray album though, I’ve found Dreijer can often tip into that contrived try-hard artsy zone. Radical Romantics threads the needle well because it has relatively traditional songwriting, so there’s a mix here of something that feels completely unique, but is also still satisfyingly familiar and not reveling too much in being unusual just for the sake of it.
#6. Spellling – Spellling & the Mystery School
This is a slight cheat, as Spellling & the Mystery School is a collection of previously released Spellling (Tia Cabral) songs performed with her touring band. While the versions aren’t meaningfully better or worse to me than the originals, there is some new craft in the arrangements and sequencing. Mostly it’s here because Spellling is one of the only current artists who is making the kind of music that initially drew me into this world. She is keeping the Kate Bush/Bjork/PJ Harvey dream alive by being an independent, quirky, charismatic artist who isn’t afraid to be bold and personal with her work. She really stands out in this current indie climate where almost nobody has a shred of charisma or any new ideas.
#5. Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good!
Ware’s previous release, What’s Your Pleasure, was a better pop album than Thriller, and That! Feels Good! is a worthy follow-up. The traits that have made Ware one of my favorite artists of the last few years also end up being an indictment of contemporary pop music: she sounds like an actual human being instead of a corporate AI, her music is joyful and expressive rather than overly serious and pseudo-profound, and maybe most of all, she isn’t ashamed of writing pop songs. So while artists like Taylor Swift are churning out tedious fake folk music that everyone pretends is something sophisticated when it clearly isn’t, Ware is over here just making jams and seeming like someone who is invested in making the best possible version of this style of pop.
#4. Draag – Dark Fire Heresy
Draag’s pinned tweet is “not a shoegaze band,” and maybe that explains how they made my favorite shoegaze album of the year. This album has a lot of the familiar shoegaze signifiers but it also feels like it is approached from a totally different angle, with a focus on generating emotion and mood rather than simply recreating what others have done. One of the members, Jessica Huang, grew up in a religious cult, and the familiar noisy guitars and blurred vocals are repurposed here to represent the tension and confusion of her experience. So while rejecting the term, this band understands how to make shoegaze where the notes actually mean something and the sound feels like it is organically representing the story.
#3. The Keening – Little Bird
I always thought Rebecca Vernon’s previous band, SubRosa, existed in a weird space: they were promoted and toured as a metal band, but seemed to have higher aspirations than making standard metal that seems entirely focused on a familiar aesthetic that appeals to a certain die-hard fan (this probably comes off as insulting to metal but I can’t help it since I’ve never gotten into it due to how samey it all feels to me). Her debut as The Keening has some similar concepts as SubRosa (violins, lengthy songs with narratives, her voice) while adding some southern gothic flavor with a swampier sound and tales about death and murder. Vernon has cultivated her own style over the years and this is another album that feels totally different from everything else this year.
#2. PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying
The nice thing about PJ Harvey is if you dislike one of her albums, the next one is going to be completely different. The noted musical shapeshifter’s previous release, The Hope Six Demolition Project, left me cold due to its obvious political-minded lyrics. I Inside the Old Year Dying maintains the folk-influenced sound of Harvey’s later work but is fascinatingly cryptic, with strange Elvis references and her native Dorset dialect coloring what feels like a dark fairy tale set in the forest. Like PJ Harvey’s best albums, this has an intense focus and feels entirely self-contained — it creates and lives in its own world. There’s just a level of commitment and craft here that is so far beyond what the younger generations of artists are doing.
#1. Kelela – Raven
Raven is an album I’ve wanted for a long time: something that combines the original spirit of soul music with forward-thinking production and unique charisma. Kelela zeroes in on a very specific style of sensual slow jams here, but Raven packs all these fascinating dualities into that simple framework. The sound feels classic and futuristic at the same time, giving it a timeless quality. There’s a delicate balance of hooks and pop elements with an authentic personality and actual complex ideas at play. The songs are about love and connection, but there is also a poignant solitary feeling to it, especially the bookend tracks “Washed Away” and “Far Away.” When the album does speed up and resemble more traditional pop, like on “Contact,” it still has such a distinct mood, and Kelela is human and expressive while also having some of the Bjork “alien on earth” vibe that I love. This was really the only album this year that felt like the whole package of having personality and being fun to listen to, while also being thought-provoking with a cool, original aesthetic.
The Noise Made By People 