- Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
Full review here
2. Jamie XX – In Colour
Full review here
3. Makaya McCraven – In The Moment
Beautifully arranged jazz with all of the improvised live elements, but with rhythms squarely influenced by house music and hip hop. This album is effortlessly sexy and cool – coffee shops take note.
4. Kamasi Washington – The Epic
Three hours may seem like an unwieldy length for any album, let alone a jazz, but Washington takes full advantage of every second of it to show you that he is a master of the entire genre, from cool jazz, to fusion, to even bits of vocal R&B.
5. Fixing Clocks – Fixing Clocks
Think DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist meets Pink Floyd. Just a superb psych rock album with great breakbeats and endless replayability.
6. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
Full review here
7. Tame Impala – Currents
Highly impressive follow up to their 2012 breakout record ‘Lonerism;. Here we witness Kevin Parker’s evolution as a vocalist, along with some bold new production styles.
8. Hermitude – Dark Night Sweet Light
First Flume and now Hermitude… those Australians are on a completely different level with their electronica infused hip hop. Unlike trap – which they draw some influence from – the soulful ‘Dark Night Sweet Light‘ is enjoyable in a wide variety of settings.
9. Vince Staples – Summertime ‘06
Remember that exhilarating feeling you had the first time you heard “Grindin” by the Clipse? Vince Staples is able to sustain that feeling for the length of an entire album with his urgent delivery, clever observations and wordplay, and banging industrial tinged production.
10. The Weekend – Beauty Behind The Madness
Full review here
Tracks:
