Abdallah Ag Oumbadougou - Anou Malane (Sahel Sounds)
One of the first recordings of Tuareg guitar music, but not quite how that might be expected to sound, given its embrace of mid-90s electronic studio techniques.
Alex Chilton - From Memphis To New Orleans/Songs From Robin Hood Lane (Bar None)
Two sets capturing Alex Chilton's digressive embrace of the Great American Songbook from the mid-80s and early 90s.
Alice Clark - Alice Clark (WeWantsSounds)
Vinyl reissue of the great Alice Clark's sole album - a tremendous, deep and righteous soul set.
Ana Mazzotti - Ninguem Vai Me Segurar (Far Out Recordings)
Acclaimed as a 'super musician' by Hermeto Pascoal but then somewhat neglected, Far Out have carried out a great service by reissuing this imaginative, funky, hypnotic and texturally rich album from the Brazilian pianist and singer, one of only two she recorded.
Anna St Louis - First Songs (Berry Red Tie Dye)
Very limited vinyl issue of Anna St Louis' debut set from 2017 - tremendous homespun bedroom song craft.
Antoinette Konan - Antoinette Konan (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
Great fusion of traditional instrumentation and then-contemporary 80s pop sounds from Ivory Coast.
Aretha Franklin - Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings (Rhino)
Vinyl box set of Aretha's triumphant 1972 return to gospel performance, released to coincide with the terrific restored film footage.
Arthur Russell - Iowa Dream (Audika)
Another instalment in the painstaking reconstruction of the great Arthur Russell's career - this compilation consisting of demos. Some are intriguing fragments, but many are fully realised songs that demonstrate Russell's inventive and broad sonic palette and his melodic fluency.
Attarazat Addahabia and Faradjallah - Al Hadaoui (Habibi Funk)
More rhythmically compelling and layered funk sounds from Morocco.
Bill Evans - Evans In England
Newly rediscovered live recording from Ronnie Scott's in London in 1969.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Primal Prayer (s/r - distributed by Proper)
Unclassifiable and extraordinary.
Bob Dylan - The Rolling Thunder Revue: The Live 1975 Recordings (Columbia)
Bob Dylan - Travelin' Thru 1967-1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 (Columbia)
The Rolling Thunder tour gets the exhaustively comprehensive treatment to tie in with Martin Scorsese's priceless myth and mischief making documentary. Travelling' Thru gathers material from the rootsy period spanning Nashville Skyline and John Wesley Harding - of greatest interest are the duets with Johnny Cash.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Winterland 15-16/12/78 (Columbia/nugs.net)
Comfortably the highlight of Springsteen's extraordinary live downloads series, arriving as a particularly special Christmas double package. The 15th December show has achieved a hallowed reputation with good reason - it's the E Street Band at their most intense and transporting.
Burial - Tunes 2011 - 2019 (Hyperdub)
In lieu of a new album proper, this collating of most of the material Burial has released on various 12" singles and EPs during the past decade is most welcome, and achieves a surprising narrative coherence of its own. It also explores crepuscular soundscapes well beyond the now almost cliched vocal fragments and two step beats.
David Behrman - On The Other Ocean (Lovely Music)
A classic of contemporary minimalist composition. Sadly not online anywhere aside from a dubious YouTube rip.
Dinosaur Jr - Green Mind/Where You Been/Without A Sound/Hand It Over (Cherry Red)
This second era of Dinosaur Jr (initially a J Mascis solo project before the addition of multi-instrumentalist Mike Johnson) has been neglected somewhat, particularly following the successful reunion of the original line-up. These excellent expanded editions provide a superb opportunity for critical reappraisal and a recognition that, although perhaps less raw and urgent, these albums found J Mascis hitting the peak of his songwriting. It's also worth noting that the expanded edition of Hand It Over now includes the 60s pastiche gem 'Take A Run At The Sun', written for Allison Anders' film Grace Of My Heart.
Django Reinhardt - Diminishing Blackness: The Compositions Of Django Reinhardt (EL Records)
Excellent 3 CD set.
Don Rendell and Ian Carr Quintet - The Complete Lansdowne Recordings (Jazzman)
It is fantastic to see this quintet, one of the great British jazz groups of all time, finally getting the comprehensive treatment they so deserve.
Duster - Capsule Losing Contact (Numero Group)
Comprehensive and essential box set of the scuzzy slowcore band, gathering two albums, EPs and singles.
Emerson - If You Need Me, Call Me (Kalita)
Quirky low budget electro soul, rediscovered from a private press run.
Ernest Hood - Neighbourhoods (Freedom To Spend)
One of the year's most intriguing rediscoveries, a 1975 recording blending often dissonant avant-folk sounds with field recordings of communities.
Everything But The Girl - Amplified Heart 25th Anniversary Edition (Buzzin' Fly)
Anniversary celebration of perhaps Everything But The Girl's most well known album.
GAS - Zauberberg (Kompakt)
GAS - Pop (Kompakt)
Standalone vinyl reissues of two of Wolfgang Voigt's essential albums.
Gene Clark - No Other Deluxe Edition (4AD)
Gene Clark's lush, expansive masterpiece gets the deluxe box set treatment, with numerous alternate takes. It is wonderful that this great album is no longer overlooked.
Gigi - Illuminated Audio (Time Capsule)
Weird and wonderful album from Ethiopian jazz singer, vividly warped and reimagined by Bill Laswell (reissued on vinyl).
Griot Galaxy - Kins (Third Man)
Jack White's Third Man label steps in to rescue this under-appreciated and delightful slice of Detroit's musical history.
Grupo Pilon - Leite Quente Funaná de Cabo Verde (Ostinato)
Sadly brief set of joyful Cape Verdean musical alchemy.
His Name Is Alive — All The Mirrors In The House (Early Recordings 1979 - 1986) (Disciples)
Bedroom ambient soundscapes and tape loops recorded by Warren Defever as a teenager.
Horace Tapscott with The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - Live At UICC (Soul Jazz)
Vivid, intense and essential live recording.
Janet Jackson - Control (UMC/Virgin/EMI)
Vinyl reissue of Janet Jackson's first collaboration with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis - one of the key albums of the 1980s and as good as anything Michael Jackson produced in that time.
Jim Sullivan - Jim Sullivan/If The Evening Were Dawn (Light In The Attic)
Jim Sullivan's story is fascinating and disturbing - he appeared in Easy Rider, made two singer-songwriter albums (one of which, If The Evening Were Dawn, is reissued by Light In The Attic here) and subsequently disappeared in 1975. The self titled album is a collection of previously unreleased material.
Joanna Brouk - The Space Between (Numero Group)
Adventurous new age compositions, previously issued across three cassettes.
Joe McPhee - Nation Time (Superior Viaduct)
Vinyl reissue of this fiery and incendiary jazz classic, blending hard swing and wild free improv.
John Coltrane - Blue World (Impulse!)
A worthy continuation of the John Coltrane lost albums project.
Jonathan Fire*Eater - Tremble Under Boom Lights (Third Man)
Jack White's Third Man offer a new lease of life to this slice of NYC ragged rock and roll that risked languishing in obscurity.
Julie Coker - A Life In The Limelight: Lagos Disco and Itsekiri Highlife 1976-1981 (Kalita)
This is the first release to compile some of this former Miss Western Nigeria and television presenter's sought after recordings.
Kath Bloom and Loren Conners - Sand In My Shoe/Moonlight (Chapter Music)
New vinyl runs for these exquisite and idiosyncratic duo records that so brilliantly reimagine the American folk tradition. 'Give It Slow' is particularly beautiful.
Kinloch Nelson - Partly On Time Recordings (1968-1970) (Tompkins Square)
Big thanks to Tompkins Square for making the beautiful recordings of this solo guitarist available.
Laurie Spiegel - Unseen Worlds (Unseen Worlds)
Laurie Spiegel - The Expanding Universe (Unseen Worlds)
Early works from the American composer and computer music pioneer.
Mack Porter - Peace On You (Light In The Attic)
Superb 1972 psychedelic soul from Ghana-born artist who lived and worked in Europe.
Malaria! - Compiled 2.0/1981-1984 (Moabit Musik)
Gudrun Gut and Bettina Koster's post punk group compiled - brutalist and mechanical.
Marion Brown - Capricorn Moon To Juba Lee Revisited (ezz-thetics/Hat Hut)
Terrific set foregrounding the work of alto saxophonist Marion Brown and trumpeter Alan Shorter.
Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis (Polydor)
One of 2019's biggest and most unexpected losses, and worth remembering how nuanced and captivating this solo album, his last full length recording, remains. Superb control of dynamics and timbre throughout.
Marvin Gaye - You're The Man (Motown/UMG)
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On Live (Motown/UMG)
A reconstructed 'lost album' hints at Gaye's looser, less substantial side, whilst a brilliant and very welcome live set captures him at the height of his powers performing his key long form work.
Mary Lou Williams - Mary Lou Williams (Black Christ Of The Andes) (Smithsonian Folkways)
One of the finest and most important jazz recordings of all time.
Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit — April Is The Cruellest Month (Blank Forms Editions)
Japanese improvising guitarist exploring the outer limits. Not for the faint hearted!
Michael O' Shea - Michael O' Shea (Allchival)
Overlooked recording from travelling musician performing on his own handmade percussive stringed instrument. One of the year's quiet gems.
Michael Rother - Solo (Groenland)
Vinyl box set gathering Rother's four beautiful solo albums. Available to stream individually on Spotify.
Mort Garson - Mother Earth's Plantasia (Sacred Bones)
Cult instrumental album from 1976 exploring the sonic potential of the Moog.
Neil Young - Tuscaloosa (Reprise)
Neil Young's archives continue to be the gift that keeps on giving - with a great deal more promised next year. This is an excellent live set from Alabama in 1973 with his Stray Gators band.
Norma Tanega - Walkin' My Cat Named Dog (Light In The Attic)
First vinyl reissue for this 1966 album from an unconventional singer-songwriter.
Ofege - Higher Plane Breeze (Tidal Wave Music)
Psychedelic Afrobeat/rock fusion from Nigeria in 1977.
Patrice Rushen - Remind Me: The Classic Elektra Recordings 1978 - 1984 (Strut/!K7)
Essential and irresistible compilation of the jazz trained singer-songwriter's sophisticated and groovy extended pop songs.
Pharaoh Sanders - Moon Child/Africa (Light In The Attic/Tidal Waves Music)
New vinyl runs for these thrilling Pharaoh albums.
Prefab Sprout - I Trawl The Megahertz (Sony BMG)
Originally released as a low key Paddy McAloon solo album in 2003, this suite of music exploring his then recently diagnosed medical condition is absorbing and music, combining lush instrumentation with spoken word.
Prince - Originals (Warners)
Prince - 1999 Super Deluxe Edition (Warners)
It's hard to know exactly what to feel about the inevitable raiding of Prince's vault, particularly as these products are ending up on the streaming services he vocally disliked. Still, the 1999 deluxe set is one of those absurd products that more than justifies the extent of the investment - with an abundance of previously unreleased tracks and vital live footage. The Originals set collates recordings of songs written for or recorded by other artists - many have a demo-like quality, but it's interesting to hear how meticulous Prince's approach to his own sketches could be.
R.E.M. - Monster 25 (Warners)
This is comfortably the most valuable of R.E.M.'s anniversary reissue series so far, not least because it provides a welcome opportunity to reassess an album that has always occupied an awkward space in the band's catalogue. Of particular interest is Scott Litt's new remix, which is often so wildly different that it feels like a re-recording. There's also a live show from Chicago and a collection of sketchy demos.
Robert Ashley - Private Parts (Lovely Music)
Another hallmark of contemporary American composition, and one that provided the foundations for a later television opera, Perfect Lives. An intriguing and mesmerising combination of spoken narrative and sound.
Robert Hood — Internal Empire (Tresor Records)
Classic of techno, vinyl reissue.
Roy Montgomery — Scenes From The South Island (Yellowelectric / Drunken Fish)
Compelling debut album from the New Zealand guitarist (originally released in 1995), reissued by Liz Harris (Grouper, Nivhek).
Rupa - Disco Jazz (Numero Group)
Terrific slice of Indian disco. As the title perhaps suggests, it's disco with rich harmony and impressive chops.
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Thousand Knives Of (We Want Sounds)
Sakamoto's 1978 solo debut is densely layered and arresting.
Sachiko Koninoba - Misora (Light In The Attic)
Bucolic album from Japanese folk singer, produced by Haruomi Hosono. Sadly not streaming legitimately.
Sir Shina Peters and His International Stars - Sewele (Strut/!K7)
Excellent rare Nigerian juju set.
Six Organs Of Admittance - For Octavio Paz (Hermit Hut)
Vinyl and digital reissue for one of Ben Chasny's best meditative recordings.
Sonny Sharrock - Ask The Ages (Hive Mind)
Vinyl reissue for Sharrock's 1991 masterpiece (also a great late Elvin Jones recording). A biting, powerful and stirring album. Also available digitally from Bill Laswell's Bandcamp page.
Stereolab - Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements/Mars Audiac Quintet/Emperor Tomato Ketchup/Dots and Loops/Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night/Sound-Dust/Margerine Eclipse (Expanded Editions) (Warp)
It's great to have expanded editions of Stereolab's back catalogue - let's hope this and the successful tour now lead to new material. There seems to be little consensus as to which is best - for me, it's probably Emperor Tomato Ketchup.
Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla (20th Anniversary Edition) (BMG)
Expanded two disc edition of SFA's most madcap and thrilling album.
Terry Allen and The Panhandle Mystery Band - Pedal Steel and Four Corners (Paradise Of Bachelors)
One of the strangest things I've heard this year- with radio plays and narrative works from artist Terry Allen meeting pedal steel-driven ambient country.
The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (History Always Favours The Winners)
New vinyl run of legendary 2011 hauntological collage.
The Pop Group - Y (Definitive Edition) (Mute)
Great expanded reissue for post-punk masterpiece.
The Replacements - Dead Man's Pop
Exhaustive box set exhuming, celebrating and correcting The Replacements' Don't Tell A Soul album (although there is some debate to be had about this).
Tribe - Hometown: Detroit Sessions 1990 -2014 (Strut/!K7)
Collected recordings of the Detroit independent jazz collective.
Various Artists - Alefa Madagascar: Salegy, Sokous and Soul 1974 - 1984 (!K7)
Compilation capturing the unique sounds of Madagascar in the 1970s and 80s.
Various Artists - Bob Stanley Presents: The Daisy Age (Ace)
The latest in Bob Stanley's compilation series celebrates rap's era of positivity and mischief.
Various Artists - Body Beat: Soca-Dub and Electronic Calypso (1979-98)
Another reliably excellent compilation from Soundway, this one focusing on Soca B-sides, dub versions and remixes.
Various Artists - Come On Let's Go: Power Pop Gems From The 70s and 80s (Big Beat)
Infectious, rousing and irresistible guitar driven songs - not cool but no need to call this a guilty pleasure!
Various Artists - Congo Revolution (Soul Jazz)
Soul Jazz have been on a major roll in 2019 - and this compilation of Congolese music is judiciously selected and informative.
Various Artists - Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Vol. 5 (Ace)
This fifth instalment of Dave Godin's compilation series was somewhat unexpected given Godin's death in 2004 - but it has been lovingly assembled from Godin's own notes and consists of songs he was himself hoping to secure for future releases. Predictably, it's sublime - from the familiar to the largely unknown.
Various Artists - Esa Presents Amanda: Music To The People (Soundway)
An intriguing compilation curated by South African DJ Esa.
Various Artists - From These Shores: Otherworldly Music and Far Out Sounds From Hawaii (Aloha Got Soul)
Eerie, psychedelic and warmly hallucinatory sounds from Hawaii.
Various Artists - Jambú e Os Míticos Sons Da Amazônia (Analog Africa)
Compilation highlighting the cultural mix and African influence in Belem, a city in the Northern state of Para in Brazil.
Various Artists — Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental and New Age Music 1980-1990 (Light In The Attic)
Sam Shepherd's thoughtful selection is one of the highlights of the Late Night Tales series.
Selection of propulsive, physical recordings discovered discarded at Radio Mogadishu.
First volume in the Nigeria 70 series for over eight years, exploring the fusion of highlife with western jazz and funk sounds, and the connections between the music of Nigeria and Benin.
Various Artists - No Other Love: Midwest Gospel 1965-1978 (Tompkins Square)
In a great year for classic gospel music compilations (see further entries below), Tompkins Square's excellent set more than holds its own.
Various Artists - Outro Tempo II: Electronic and Contemporary Music From Brazil 1984 - 1996 (Music From Memory)
Second instalment proves that this series focusing on electronic and experimental music from Brazil has legs.
Various Artists — Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR and Boogie 1976-1986 (Light In The Attic)
Second Japan-themed compilation from Light In The Attic focuses on pop curios.
Various Artists - Soul Jazz Presents Bunny Lee: Dreads Enter The Gates With Praise - The Mighty Striker Shoots The Hits! (Soul Jazz)
Great collection of Bunny Lee's reggae productions.
Various Artists - Space Funk: Afro Futurist Electro Funk In Space 1976-84 (Soul Jazz)
Consistently excellent compilation series turns its attention to the Prestige label.
Gilles Petersen's Brownswood label compiles material from the new jazz scene in Melbourne, Australia. A neat companion piece to last year's We Out Here that focused on London.
100 Songs on 8 CDs accompanied by a book. Pretty much the ideal gospel music product.
Vital 4CD set capturing music's social function from parties and celebrations to protest. From the very familiar (Pete Seeger, Country Joe McDonald, Paul Robeson) to the much less well known.
Various Artists - The World Of Keith Haring (Soul Jazz)
Great idea for a compilation - gathering together a set of tracks that were influential for the artist Keith Haring. Released to coincide with a major exhibition of Haring's work at Tate Liverpool. A great snapshot of New York City cultural history.
Various Artists - Third Noise Principle: Formative North American Electronica 1975 - 1984
4CD set exploring early electronica in the USA and Canada. Takes a broad approach and includes the likes of Suicide, Ministry, Philip Glass and Patrick Cowley.
Various Artists - Tokyo Flashback: Psychedelic Speed Freaks (Blank Editions)
An overview of the work of PSF Records' Hideo Ikeezumi, curated by Ghost's Masuki Batoh.
Various Artists - World Spirituality Vol. 2: The Time For Peace Is Now (Luaka Bop)
Transcendent and transporting spiritual and gospel music.
Yabby You Meets King Tubby - Walls Of Jerusalem (Pressure Sounds)
Zap Mama - Adventures In Afropea (Crammed Discs)
Vinyl reissue of debut album from the great Congolese/Belgian acapella group.