I’ve been meaning to post this for a week or so, but we’ve been busy finishing our next issue before the Christmas break. So, a little belatedly, here’s a list of 100 albums I’ve revisited for pleasure during the last year. I’ve decided to run the list alphabetically this year – try as I might, I struggle to wrestle them into some kind of actual order of preference. There’s links, too, in case there are any unfamiliar albums you’d like to check out. On reflection, it’s been a good year for jazzy/ambient drift – for whatever reason, I’ve found myself spending more time listening to longish, meditative pieces rather than traditional songs. There’s already a pile of good stuff accumulating for 2023: the new albums from Yo La Tengo, Ryuichi Sakamoto and The Necks have set a high bar for 2023. But you can read out those in the next issue of Uncut, on sale in January…
For now, I hope you enjoy these and from all of us to all of you, thanks for your support this year. Have a peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Jake Acosta – Rehearsal Park (Husky Pants)
The Afghan Whigs – How Do You Burn? (BMG)
Gaye Su Akyol – Anadolu Ejderi (Glitterbeat)
Oren Ambarchi – Shebang (Drag City)
Ambarchi / Berthling / Werliin – Ghosted (Drag City)
Courtney Marie Andrews – Loose Future (Fat Possum)
Horace Andy – Midnight Rocker (On-U Sound)
Animal Collective – Time Skiffs (Domino)
Arctic Monkeys – The Car (Domino)
Andy Bell – Flicker (Sonic Cathedral)
Tim Bernades – Mil Coisas Invisíveis (Psychic Hotline)
Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (4AD)
Bitchin Bajas – Bajascillators (Drag City)
Jake Blount – The New Faith (Smithsonian Folkways)
Björk – fossora (Mute)Naima Bock – Giant Palm (Sub Pop / Memorials Of Distinction)
Bonny Light Horseman – Rolling Golden Holy (37d03d)
Bill Callahan – Ytilaer (Drag City)
Caroline – Caroline (Rough Trade)
Nick Cave – Seven Psalms (Goliath)
Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer – Recordings From The Aland Islands (International Anthem)
The Comet Is Coming – Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (Verve)
Craven Faults – Live Works (Leaf)
Lucretia Dalt – jAy! (RVNG)
The Delines – The Sea Drift (Décor)
Alabaster DePlume – Gold (International Anthem)
Destroyer — Labyrinthitis (Merge)
Elkhorn – Distances (Feeding Tube)
Brian Eno – FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE (UMC)
Roger Eno – The Turning Year (Deutsche Grammophon)
Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin – Ali (Dead Oceans)
Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia (Partisan)
Chris Forsyth – Evolution Here We Come (No Quarter)
Aoife Nessa Frances – Protector (Partisan)
Fujiya & Miyagi – Slight Variations (Impossible Objects Of Desire)
Jake Xerxes Fussell – Good And Green Again (Paradise Of Bachelors)
Binker Golding – Dream Like a Dogwood Wild Boy (Gearbox)
S.G. Goodman – Teeth Marks (Verve)
Gwenno – Tresor (Heavenly)
Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band – Dear Scott (Modern Sky)
Tim Heidecker — High School (Spacebomb)
Jana Horn – Optimism (No Quarter)
Hurray For The Riff Raff – Life On Earth (Nonesuch)
Jenny Hval – Classic Objects (4AD)
Imarhan – Aboogi (City Slang)
Eiko Ishibashi – Drive My Car Original Soundtrack (Newhere/Space Shower)
Eiko Ishibashi – For McCoy (Black Truffle)
Julia Jacklin – Pre Pleasure (Polyvinyl)
Glenn Jones – Vade Mecum (Thrill Jockey)
Kikagaku Moyo – Kumoyo Island (Guruguru Brain)
Kolumbo — Gungo Ho (Calico Discos)
Lambchop – The Bible (City Slang)
Mary Lattimore & Paul Sukeena — West Kensington (Three Lobed Recordings)
Cate Le Bon – Pompeii (Mexican Summer)
MJ Lenderman – Boat Songs (Dear Life)
Charles Lloyd – Trios: Chapel (Blue Note)
Loop – Sonancy (Reactor)
Duncan Marquiss – Wires Turned Sideways In Time (Basin Rock)
Cass McCombs – Heartmind (Anti – )
Makaya McCraven – In These Times (XL Recordings/International Anthem/Nonesuch)
Carson McHone – Still Life (Loose)
Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble – Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble II (Tompkins Square)
Anaïs Mitchell – Anaïs Mitchell (BMG)
Moor Mother – Jazz Codes (Anti – )
Kevin Morby – This Is A Photograph (Dead Oceans)
Angeline Morrison – The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs Of Black Bright Experience (Topic)
Angel Olsen – Big Time (Jagjaguwar)
Bill Orcutt – Music For Four Guitars (Palilalia)
Beth Orton – Weather Alive (Partisan)
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – Reset (Domino)
Jeff Parker – Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy (Eremite)
Plains – I Walked With You a Ways (Anti- )
Sam Prekop and John McEntire – Sons Of (Thrill Jockey)
Pye Corner Audio – Let’s Emerge! (Sonic Cathedral)
Revelators Sound System – Revelators (37d03d)
Daniel Rossen – You Belong There (Warp)
Rich Ruth – I Survived, It’s Over (Third Man)
Nathan Salsburg – Landwerk No. 3 (No Quarter)
Luke Schneider Presents Imaginational Anthem Vol. IX: Chrome Universal (Tompkins Square)
Ty Segall – Hello, Hi (Drag City)
Sessa – Estrela Acesa (Mexican Summer)
Shabason & Krgovich – At Scaramouche (idée fixe)
Joan Shelley – The Spur (No Quarter)
The Smile – A Light for Attracting Attention (XL)
Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful (Bella Union)
Mavis Staples and Levin Helm – Carry Me Home (Anti- )
Suede – Autofiction (BMG)
Sylvie – Sylvie (Full Time Hobby)
Lou Turner – Microcosmos (Spinster)
Mark Turner Quartet – Return From The Stars (ECM)
Andrew Tuttle – Fleeting Adventure (Basin Rock)
Sharon Van Etten – We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong (Jagjaguwar)
Kurt Vile – (watch my moves) (Verve)
Andrew Wasylyk – Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls (Clay Pipe Music)
The Weather Station – How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars (Fat Possum)
Wet Leg – Wet Leg (Domino)
Weyes Blood – And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop)
Wilco – Cruel Country (dBpm)
Immanuel Wilkins – The 7th Hand (Blue Note)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – World Record (Reprise)