As well as this list of personal favourites, I’ve also compiled a guide to the best vinyl pressings I’ve encountered this year and I’ll be posting that with festive photos on assorted social channels in the near future. I’ll probably summarise it here too, for the benefit of those either avoiding an evil narcissist’s hubristic downfall or not wanting to get to grips with another app. Anyway, shall we Twenty to Eleven?
Sampha - Lahai
2017’s ‘Process’ was a very fine record indeed - a Mercury winner, no less - and I was faintly perturbed when its follow up sent me back to what I’d written about that special debut - only for me to find it somehow wasn’t in my 2017 list. I’ve genuinely no idea what happened there and it’s on a par with the absence of ‘Cinderella’s Eyes’ from the 2011 list. I did, at least, remember to rave about his wonderful contribution to the Everything Is Recorded album in 2018. And ‘Lahai’ is his best yet, moving from the grief of his first to a troubled reassessment of life and the seismic shift of parenthood. A jittering, fizzing album where no two consecutive songs sound the same, it can be beautiful and unsettling at the same time.
The occasional string interventions on’Jonathan L. Seagull’ typify Sampha’s approach to music, making frequent but meticulous calls about every last little texture. Space was an important aspect of ‘Process’ and so it remains here, pieces like ‘Inclination Compass (Tenderness)’ and ‘X’ commanding the air in the room. The twitching piano of ‘Dancing Circles’ and shuddering beat of ‘Spirit 2.0’ are clear highlights, but it works best as a whole.
Makushin - Move Into The Luminous
There are moments, dear reader, when the musical influences bit of a press release makes the heart race. For Makushin’s debut record, there are references to early Seventies John Martyn, Joni Mitchell, Beth Gibbons, ECM’s aesthetic and the ambient work of David Sylvian and Holger Czukay. I know, right? And, to be fair, you can hear it in these beautiful songs. Chamber folk artist Nancy Elizabeth is on vocals, with double bassist Jon Thorne – Lamb, Yorkston Thorne Khan – and Jane Weaver associate and guitarist Peter Philipson completing the trio.
Track titles ‘For Pollen’ and ‘Landscape’ foreground the interest in nature on this spacious, jazz-tinged folk record. Elizabeth’s voice is deployed in a variety of ways, at some points pure and centred in the mix, at others disembodied and awash with reverb. Andrew Cheetham’s drumming deserves a special nod too, one of many contributors delivering their best. Be sure to give this special album a listen and the hugely dynamic, largely silent Vinyl Factory pressing is the ideal way to do it.
Panic Pocket - Mad Half Hour
Indie duo Panic Pocket know their way around a hook, delivering an album full on their debut ‘Mad Half Hour’. The title track pays tribute to one of the architects of girl power, seeming to tell the story of Geri’s time after leaving the Spice Girls. ‘Say You’re Sorry’ evokes memories of the majesty of The Ronnettes’ ‘Be My Baby’, along with a general nostalgia for The Pipettes, while more reflective moments call to mind one of their influences, Aimee Mann.
These are great songs, dashing along at quite the lick and with fantastically narrative-driven lyrics. The largely quiet GZ pressing has made repeated trips back to the turntable since I first listened, its euphoric sincerity made it ideal company for the summer months.
Iraina Mancini - Undo The Blue
I remember hearing an early single by this distinctive artist on the Radcliffe and Maconie weekend breakfast show some time last year and making a note to keep an eye out for an album. In February, news came from the good folk at Needle Mythology that they’d signed Mancini and would be releasing her debut. Sadly, the review copy never arrived and it didn’t feature in the column but I’m not going to miss the chance to rave about it here. A DJ with exceptional taste, it’s no surprise that her music is simultaneously full of neat references to the past six decades and a distinctive, unique sound.
‘Do It (You Stole The Rhythm)’ is a glistening gust of fresh air that nods to the Sixties and early-Nineties in a manner likely to appeal to Saint Etienne fans, while ‘Sugar High’ applies modern production to languid, vintage soul with a glorious chorus. ‘Cannonball’ and ‘Shotgun’ know how to do filmic drums and the former’s video leans right into that. Label founder Pete Paphides described the whole album as something resembling a singles collection and he’s not wrong. I find a new favourite track each time I listen and I suspect this will endure. Typically excellent vinyl pressing too, given it’s on Needle Mythology.
Belle And Sebastian - Late Developers
I can’t help thinking that Belle and Sebastian might have been on to something with their approach to ‘Late Developers’. Not only was it a second studio album in eight months, but it was announced on the Monday and available to buy four days later. No torturous social media campaign inflicted on the artist, no lingering teaser tracks, grammatically incorrect lyric videos or eight month long pre-order windows. Just some songs, if you wanted them. 2022’s ‘A Bit Of Previous’ was one of their very best, so more from that particular period was always going to be welcome. This wasn’t quite on a par, but it grew on me rapidly. Further to my previous comments about Teenage Fanclub, some acts can become so dependable that their excellent work is less striking because, well, of course it’s good.
And so it proved with this album, which I wasn’t fully sure about at first, despite it possessing a few obvious highlights. It’s a good reminder of the need to listen to things as a coherent whole, rather than seeking out the obviously glittering diamonds. Yes, it came from another album’s sessions, but it’s not a simple bonus disc. Just listen to…
Harp - Albion
The pastoral beauty of Midlake at their peak, across 2006’s ‘The Trials Of Van Occupanther’ and 2010’s ‘The Courage Of Others’, owed much to the presence of frontman and vocalist Tim Smith. He left in 2012 and they would never be quite the same again. And it’s been a long wait for more exposure to that glorious voice. Thankfully ‘Albion’, the debut album from Harp, shares a fair bit of melancholic DNA with the latter of the two corkers mentioned above.
Working with his wife, Kathi Zung, he has crafted an album that feels out of time, from its sleeve art to its grooves. There are many highlights, but ‘Shining Spires’ is a particularly moving track as it swirls hypnotically around the room. Noel Summerville delivers a bewitchingly nuanced mastering that lets this curious, brilliant music occupy the room and the quiet Takt pressing serves it well. A late 2023 highlight that may well have ended up in a higher slot with a little more time.
Romy - Mid Air
I’m not sure why I didn’t listen to this when it came out. It had been on my radar but, having not landed in the column review stack, it somehow snuck past me. As listmas began to take hold, its unfamiliarity struck me and I popped on a stream as I pottered about. Within a couple of songs, I’d taken up a position in front of the speakers and was listening intently. By the end of that first play, I was fully sold and faintly regretting the inadvertent delay. Romy Madley Croft’s vocals are unmistakable, even if they do - very pleasingly - have a touch of Tracey Thorn about them, and having them foregrounded across a selection of expertly produced belters is a winning formula in my book. The EBTG parallels continue with a number of the electronic soundscapes here.
‘Mid Air’ skews to the more upbeat end of her previous work with The xx and it is full of sizeable hooks. It’s tremendously endearing from its earliest moments, a gentle, '“Can you turn it up a bit more? Thank you", layered over the opening beats of ‘Loveher’. That track sets the template of gradually building euphoria and I’m more than happy with that. Fred again helps ‘Strong’ to go stratospheric and ‘Enjoy Your Life’ is a dancefloor smash that emerges out of loneliness. The whole record is a delight and I’m very glad I got there in the end.
The Gentle Good - Galargan
I regularly post excitably about the releases from Welsh label Bubblewrap Collective and with good reason. As autumn prepared to put in an appearance, they released Gareth Bonello’s latest album as The Gentle Good, ‘Galargan’, and it’s another beauty. Described by the artist as a record for “when you’re staring out of a window in the rain,” this is a melancholic delight. With only acoustic guitar, violin and cello to provide the backdrop, Bonello’s beautiful, delicate voice stands front and centre on these arrangements of traditional Welsh folk songs. Confinement looms large, given recent events, but the longing for escape lingers.
‘Nid Wyf Yn Llon’ is arguably the highlight, based upon the drunken singing of an inmate of Dolgellau prison as transcribed in the work of Meredydd Evans and Phyllis Kinney in the National Library Of Wales. Bonello has added a few words of his own to a piece that mulls the insufficient nature of temporary pleasures when trapped. The deepgrooves pressing is near-silent and the soundstage has real depth and space. A lovely tip-on sleeve houses a record that is ripe for discovery during the wistful days of late December.
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
If I’m being honest, I’m not overly keen on the more diversionary work of Sufjan Stevens, but I’m a fully paid-up fan when he’s in singer-songwriter mode, pouring out his heart and treating us to that unique voice. Such is the case on Stevens’ latest record ‘Javelin’, inspired by the recent loss of his partner. It is a remarkable album from which it’s hard to pick highlights.
However, tracks that best showcase this pleasingly open cut include ‘A Running Start’ and ‘My Red Little Fox’. Alongside a sumptuous forty-eight-page art book, you get a largely quiet pressing from RTI, despite some slightly murky looking vinyl. As many of you will know, Asthmatic Kitty don’t have the best reputation for such matters, but this one’s a treat, thankfully. The album gets prettier and more affecting with every play and it increasingly feels like one of his very best.
Wilco - Cousin
After the faff around the initial digital release of ‘Cruel Country’ and the subsequent, interminable wait for vinyl copies, it was a relief when its superb successor, ‘Cousin’, landed at the same time everywhere. For those keen to know, the Record Industry pressing is a joy to behold. Cate Le Bon takes on production duties, as well as contributing to the songs, and it’s a relatively concise, very precise set.
With a focus on individual parts over whole-group performance, it makes for a captivating experience over a colourful and textured soundstage that comes courtesy of a Chris Bellman cut. Jeff Tweedy is in fine voice, while the alchemical tension between the anxiety in the lyrics and the pure beauty of the music is as effective as it’s been in well over a decade. If you’ve decided you already have enough Wilco albums, sample ‘Levee’ and spritely closer ‘Meant To Be’: be ready to change your mind. Oh, and I also read Tweedy’s excellent ‘How To Write One Song’ recently and I heartily recommend it to everyone, aspiring songwriter or not.