1. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings: Woodland
(Acony, August)
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings's return was prompted by the near loss of their life's work when a hurricane damaged Woodland, the folk duo's recording studio. That averted destruction was mirrored in these beautifully arranged, woebegone tales of empty freight trains and departed friends.
4. Shabaka: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
(Impulse!, April)
Flutes have had a resurgence, thanks to erstwhile OutKast rapper Andre 3000 in 2023 and Shabaka Hutchings, whose saxophone has had an outsized impact on the last decade of hip UK jazz. This very personal outing on shakuhachi (Japanese flute) and clarinet indicated that serenity comes from blowing up your USP.
5. Floating Points: Cascade
(Ninja Tune, September)
Sam Shepherd's last opus was 2021's Promises, featuring the LSO and the last recordings of Pharoah Sanders. Recorded during downtime from scoring a ballet, Cascade marked a return to slapping club music, a gossamer set that reaffirmed this polymath's dancefloor prowess.
6. Kim Deal: Nobody Loves You More
(4AD, November)
Pixies bassist, Breeders mainstay, Olivia Rodrigo inspirer and now solo artist Kim Deal took 12 years to make this album, which also featured her ally, late engineer Steve Albini. Few artists can meld pop sweetness and gnarly guitar as sublimely as Deal, whose songs spanned everything from her mother's Alzheimer's to disobedience.
9. Kendrick Lamar: GNX
(PGLang/Interscope, November)
Pulitzer prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar has long struggled with fame and his place in hip-hop's pantheon. His war of words with Drake this summer seemed to settle the matter, making GNX an erudite flex that leaned hard on bopping productions and retro samples while retaining all the rigour of Lamar's dense, deep-dive lyricism.
10. Shovel Dance Collective: The Shovel Dance
(American Dreams, October)
A number of silvery artists have reinvented folk of late; the nine-person British experimental Shovel Dance Collective are another revelation. Traditionals such as The Merry Golden Tree revisited the story of a betrayed cabin boy with tensile emotion and minimal drones while Four Loom Weaver was a portrait of grinding poverty rendered in breathtaking a cappella.