Stockport pop-rockers and all-round cool dudes Blossoms proved they mean business, taking their bid for world domination to the next level, here combining washes of synth with ear candy choruses and sharp lyrics – see ‘There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)” – ready made for the terraces. This is how you really do summertime sadness. The result is added colour and definition to Lykke Li’s widescreen melancholia. Soaking up the sounds of Calfifornia, the OG sad-pop millennial’s fourth album sees her distance herself from any previous ‘indie’ inhibitions and usher in collaborations with hotshot producers Skrillex, Rostam, T-Minus and DJ Dahi. Vein’s debut album might hold some nostalgia for ’90s hardcore and nu-metal but it also tried to bring innovation to heavy music, adding breakbeats to the crushing mix of ear-battering riffs and rhythms and Anthony Didio’s throat-tearing growls. Paak, formerly a cult figure, has entered the pantheon of modern hip-hop greats. The final piece in a trilogy that consists of 2014’s ‘Venice’ and 2016’s ‘Malibu’, the album confirmed that. Paak on this sun-kissed celebration of newfound fame and life in the fast lane. Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T, Q-Tip, J Cole and more assist Cali smooth dude Anderson. HM 91. The Carters – ‘Everything Is Love’īeyoncé raps! Extremely well! Jay-Z is really, really sorry for his bad behaviour! And this celebration of their marriage, the third part in the trilogy comprised of her album ‘Lemonade’ and his ‘4:44’, is both personal and political boasts of their wealth are combined with observations on racial inequality, an implicit comment on their triumph against the odds.
A brilliant, expansive offering of contemporary jazz, it’s a compositional masterclass by the musical virtuoso. Kendrick’s go-to saxophonist dropped his second studio album this year, the two-and-a-half hour long ‘Heaven and Earth’. There were few albums released this year as colourful and dreamy as Vinyl Williams’ fourth effort, a psychedelic fantasy of a record that weaved its way through a kaleidoscope of lush melodies, plush synth textures, and hazy sighs. The late breakout star of 2018, flamenco-pop singer Rosalía brought the syncopated, stomping drama of her native Spain out of the margins and into the spotlight in a burst of smart and imaginative experimentation. Hovvdy – ‘Cranberry’Īustin duo Hovvdy stepped up their ambition on February’s ‘Cranberry’, building on lo-fi foundations to create an emotionally fraught but languidly poetic next step that pulls you in through its disarming minimalism. Three years later, their prowess has only grown, ‘Where Wildness Grows’ travelling through cuts that are breezy, urgent, or yearning, but always gorgeous enough to make you a little weak at the knees. Gengahr proved themselves masters of beautiful, swooning indie on their 2015 debut album. The Brummie lads’ goal was noble: to change the world with optimism and catchy indie songs. Standout ‘You Don’t Walk Away From Love’ sounds like an overly enamoured Status Quo – a good thing – and the title track boasts a gospel choir belting out its titular refrain.