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Saint Etienne  The Night

Say hello to the insomniac street preachers The Irish Times

Christopher Owens  I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair

Owens has always been a songwriter devoid of irony, and here the sincerity remains. However, the crushing weight of that is always levied by the floatiness of strings or the choral contributions Far Out

Saint Etienne  The Night

Will it ever be one of my favourite Saint Etienne records? Probably not. But it’s undoubtedly quite a cinematic LP, and never anything less than listenable God Is In The TV

FLO  Access All Areas

FLO’s long-heralded debut record entertains while writing a single song 16 ways The Skinny

Father John Misty  Mahashmashana

Mahasmashana is a triumph and return to form for Tillman, who navigates themes of impermanence, rebirth, duality of mind and body, and the passage of time, without cynicism but much needed grace—for a world that his child will inherit Under The Radar

Chat Pile  Cool World

Retaining the band’s dark edge, it’s a vital, sweeping achievement from start to finish Under The Radar

Kelly Lee Owens  Dreamstate

It captures dance music’s sheer kinetic high, but also the emotive undercurrents that make it so affecting. The album is a tribute to bringing dreams to life, pushing the listener to share in their heightened rush and imagine better times ahead Under The Radar

Snoop Dogg  Missionary

While the music is big and hulking, the smaller details seem to have been glossed over Slant Magazine

Saint Etienne  The Night

On the beloved indie-pop trio’s 11th album, world-weary acceptance and the unending march of time take shape as cloudy ambient tones and creepy nocturnal resonance Pitchfork

Billie Eilish  Hit Me Hard And Soft

It's an ideal synthesis of the ever-developing style that Billie and Finneas have been crafting since the late 2010s on their continuing campaign to rule the music world All Music

Vampire Weekend  Only God Was Above Us

Indian raga, hip-hop and scuzzy, Strokes-like rock replace the west African guitar sounds of old on Ezra Koenig and co’s dazzling fifth album The Observer

Kendrick Lamar  GNX

The emcee’s sixth studio album sees him embrace and expand on his vision of fatherhood A.V. Club

Kendrick Lamar  GNX

Able to reach an intensity that’s not been as often touched upon since 2012’s ‘Good Kid M.A.A.D City’ DIY

Cindy Lee  Diamond Jubilee

Overall, Diamond Jubilee is a compelling diamond in a year of classics that, while hurt by some issues, strives to a level of uniqueness and brilliance that makes it one of the most needed albums to listen to this year Spill Magazine

Cindy Lee  Diamond Jubilee

The record – just like the medium of music – is doomed (or blessed) to exist in this in-between state of ghost-like liminality. Some things exist only through their non-existence, in a brief flash of time, defined through the myths we attribute to them, the outlines we long to perceive within, to imagine another, to feel ourselves Beats Per Minute