Important work of modern composition focusing on intonation and temperament.
Elton Dean Quartet |
The second of two 1979 live performances from Italy. An incredible line-up of musicians with Keith Tippett on piano and Louis Moholo on drums.
Previously unavailable piano pieces from the great composer introduced to the wider world through the Ethiopiques series. Staggeringly beautiful.
Expanded reissue of a modern ambient masterpiece.
Euclid - Heavy Equipment (Ace)
Vinyl pressing of Ace 2016 reissue of rare 1970 rock album on the Flying Dutchman label.
Little Rock, Arkansas late 90s band collected - better than the horrendous descriptor ‘tweemo’ might suggest!
Fela Kuti - Gentleman 50th Anniversary (Numero) - September
Continuation of the series of fancy coloured vinyl anniversary reissues of Fela's extraordinary catalogue - this is a particularly strident work.
Fred Anderson Quartet - The Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 2 (Corbett vs Dempsey) - July
Belated release of a second disc's worth of material from this 1980 Milwaukee concert from a fiery and engaging group - also featuring the great Hamid Drake on drums.
Fridge - Happiness (Anniversary Edition) (Text/Temporary Residence) - May
A welcome return to Kieran Hebden's excellent and now somewhat neglected ensemble work with Adem Ilhan and Sam Jeffers. This album probably contains the most hints at the textural and melodic dynamics Hebden was already beginning to explore as Four Tet.
Fun Boy Three - The Complete Fun Boy Three (Chrysalis) - September
Six discs' worth of material from the much missed Terry Hall's early 80s percussive art pop project.
Graham Collier Music - Smoke-Blackened Walls and Curlews (British Progressive Jazz) - September
First issue of this evocative 1971 work for the Bradford Festival from one of the most significant voices in British jazz, and certainly one of its most sophisticated and innovative composers.
Grain - We'll Hide Away: Complete Recordings 1993-1995 (Solid Brass) - August
Great blasts of early 90s noise.
Grandaddy - Sumday Twunny (Dangerbird) -September
4CD anniversary box set including the original album, a set of cassette demos and rarities. The demos and rarities are streaming as separate releases.
Harold Budd - The White Arcades (All Saints) - August
Repress of 2013 issue of this typically reflective and elegant 1988 Budd work, in part recorded at The Cocteau Twins' studios with assistance from Robin Guthrie and Brian Eno.
Heatmiser - The Music of Heatmiser (Third Man) - October
Third Man's 29 track collection of demos, unreleased recordings and live tracks from Elliott Smith's grungey pre-singer songwriter group. Functions both as a useful introduction to the group and as a satisfying opening of the vault for existing fans.
Hella - Hold Your Horse Is (Deluxe) (5RC) - September
20th anniversary for the clattering but precise ramalam of Zach Hill and Spencer Seim's first album - immense!
High Rise - Dispersion (Black Editions) - August
Blistering psych rock from Japan.
Hiroshi Yoshimura - Surround (Temporal Drift) - October
Beautiful, airy, spacious music for interiors.
Howdy Glenn - I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn (Omnivore) - January
Fantastic compilation of singles and unreleased tracks from the black country and western singer. Some truly extraordinary song titles.
Janet Jackson - janet. Deluxe Edition (Black Doll/Capitol/Virgin)
A smoother record than the earlier Jam & Lewis classics, and perhaps artistically a transition between them and the expansive Velvet Rope, but often meticulous and absorbing. Also the start of her increasingly all encompassing obsession with sexy time (any attempt to engage with the state of the world is gone).
Jason Isbell - Southeastern 10 Year Anniversary Edition (Thirty Tigers) - October
Anniversary treatment for Isbell's most soulful and possibly still best record, now with bonus discs of added demos and live performances.
JJ Cale - Tulsa Sound (UMR) - October
Box set assembling Cale's distinctive, gently rolling first eight albums and a bonus collection of his early singles. Not streaming as a set, but you can find all the albums individually.
John Carter/Bobby Bradford - Self Determination Music (Ace)
Another vinyl repressing from Ace - this for an album they first picked up in 2015. Another Flying Dutchman rarity, this time some pretty untethered improvised jazz.
John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy - Evenings At The Village Gate (Impulse!) - July
The emergence of this live recording with two legends together was one of the most exciting releases of the year. Not the greatest audio quality sadly, but still a very important document.
John Fahey - Proofs & Refutations (Drag City)
1995-96 late period recordings.
John Lee Hooker - Burnin' (Expanded Edition) (Craft Recordings) - February
Expanded reissue of a scintillating blues classic with mono and stereo versions and alternate takes (includes Boom Boom).
John T Gast - Sinead Memory Tape (5 Gate Temple) - October
2015 work, slightly updated, and released in response to the sad loss of Sinead O'Connor that vividly and dreamily recontextualises samples of her work. One of the most moving releases of the year.
Jon Appleton and Don Cherry - Human Music (Ace)
Fruitful collaboration between the improvising trumpeter and the electronic music innovator with hints of music concrete.
Joni Mitchell - Archives Vol. 3: The Asylum Years - 1972-1975 (Rhino) - October
A great run of albums - For the Roses, Court and Spark and Hissing of Summer Lawns (the latter being very much one of Mitchell's masterpieces) with additional demos and rare tracks. The start of her journey away from folk music and into a broader conception of what song based music could be, with a hefty jazz influence beginning to form.
Julee Cruise - Floating Into The Night (Sacred Bones) - August
Vinyl reissue of the late Julee Cruise's lush and dream like debut (the work for which she remains most well known), with songs from Angelo Badalementi and David Lynch.
Julian Nicholas Band - Cost Of (Cordial) - September
Julian Nicholas Band - Love (Cordial) - November
Second and third in a triptych of unearthed 90s British jazz recordings.
Karate - Complete Studio Recordings (Numero) - September
Following individual album reissues last year, Numero assemble everything from this outstanding band operating in the hinterland of slocore.
Kath Bloom - Finally (Chapter Music) - September
A breathtakingly beautiful set of songs, delivered in Bloom's distinctive voice, which seems fragile and robust all at the same time.
Kenny Wheeler - Live 1971 (British Progressive Jazz)
The earliest known recording of Kenny Wheeler leading his own large ensemble, and from the brief but crucial point in his career when his music opted for wild freeness. Although he would become more highly regarded for the depth of his harmonic ideas, this is still fascinating.
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Panegyric)
2CD/2 Blu Ray anniversary package - includes a new stereo mix from Steven Wilson.
Kirsty MacColl - See That Girl 1979-2000 (UMR) - October
Long overdue box set treatment for one of the most underrated singer-songwriters in British pop history. A little frustrating that it misses the opportunity to be a complete retrospective, but compensated for by the inclusion of plenty of collaborations and extras.
Laraaji - Segue To Infinity (Numero) - February
Collection of Laraaji's early work - includes his debut Celestial Vibration and six other long sides.
Leon Thomas - Full Circle - (BGP/Ace)
Another in Ace's series of vinyl represses - this time a lush, richly arranged bluesy soul side step from the jazz singer, with a fantastic contribution from the late Richard Davis on electric bass.
Lonnie Liston Smith - Reflections of a Golden Dream (BGP/Ace)
Another in Ace's series of vinyl represses - golden grooves.
Lori Vambe - Space Time Dreamtime: The Four Dimensional Music Of Lori Vambe (Strut) - September
One of the very best sets of the year, combining the percussionist's first two albums Drumland Dreamland and Drumgita Solo, performed on Vambe's own modified instrument the drumgita ('drum-guitar'). Both albums were originally private press releases on Vambe's own label and were recorded by Chas Chandler.
Lush - Lovelife (4AD) - August
Lush's studio albums now remastered and back on vinyl. Taken together, they capture a fascinating journey from shoe gazing atmospherics to unlikely Britpop heroes.
Mbaqanga live set from the wave of widespread popularity for South African music in the 1980s.
Malik's Emerging Force Art Trio - Time and Condition (Moved By Sound) - September
St Louis improvised music gem.
Malombo Jazz Makers - Down Lucky's Way (Tapestry Works) - May
'Malombo music is an indigenous kind of music. If you listen to it, you can feel that it can heal you, if you’ve got something wrong. It’s healing music.'
Lucky Ranku
Third album from this outstanding South African group - first reissue since 1969 and one of the year's most vital releases.
Marc Almond - Tenement Symphony Expanded (Cherry Red) - October
Almond's theatrical orchestral pop experiment expanded to a mind bogglingly excessive six discs!
Marion Brown Quartet - Mary Ann Live In Bremen 1969 (Moosicus) - April
Superb live recording of one of the more underrated and exploratory jazz musicians.
Mark Fell & Rian Treanor - Last Exit (Boomkat Editions/Documenting Sound) - September
Impressionist electro-acoustic mood pieces.
Max Roach - Members, Don't Git Weary (Arc) - July
Part of a reissue programme from the Warner Atlantic archive overseen by Gilles Peterson - one of Roach's key albums with some great musicians in the ensemble - Gary Bartz, Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell and Jymie Merritt. Vocalist Andy Bey guests on the title track.
McDonald and Giles - McDonald and Giles (Panegyric) - November
Originally reissued on CD by Panegyric in 2021 and now on vinyl - this excellent King Crimson offshoot is imaginative and richly rewarding.
Melvins - At The Stake: Atlantic Recordings 1993-1996 (Cherry Red)
Combining three albums in one set, with additional bonus tracks. Sadly not available to stream as a set, but the individual albums are still available that way.
Mighty Baby - Mighty Baby (Ace)
Another vinyl reissue from Ace, from the band that emerged from The Action - some expansive psychedelic music, drawing on folk, pop and jazz. Worth noting that this new vinyl pressing does not include the bonus tracks from The Action that were available on the 2011 CD reissue.
Mike Osborne - Starting Fires: Live At The 100 Club, 1970 (British Progressive Jazz) - August
A superb live session drawn from Osborne's personal archive, with Alan Skidmore, Harry Miller and Louis Moholo - so good that this great label is doing such sterling work making this material available.
Milford Graves & Don Pullen - Nommo (Superior Viaduct) - November
Masterly free jazz drums/piano duo live set.
Millie Jackson - Millie Jackson (Southbound/Ace)
Millie Jackson - It Hurts So Good (Southbound/Ace)
Vinyl reissues of the excellent first two albums from the gutsy soul singer.
Mogwai - Mogwai Young Team (Chemikal Underground) - February
Mogwai - Come On Die Young (Chemikal Underground) - February
Vinyl reissues of the first two and still best Mogwai albums - still exciting for their gentle melodies and sharp dynamic contrasts. Why anyone would go for these over the deluxe editions reissued on CD in 2008 is somewhat beyond me though.
Mort Garson - Journey To The Moon and Beyond (Sacred Bones)
Compelling compilation from the Moog and synth experimentalist, including rich and elaborate compositions originally written for advertising and National Geographic films.
Mouse On Mars - Bilk (Sonig) - September
Material made for a public radio broadcast transmitted before the release of Mouse On Mars' debut album and then never released again until now!
Mull Historical Society - Archeology: Complete Recordings 2000-2004 (Demon) - February
Not actually complete, but an appealing overview of the early years of Colin MacIntyre's musical project.
Myriam Gendron - Not So Deep As A Well (Basin Rock) - November
Expanded reissue of Gendron's wonderful 2014 album exploring spare musical settings of the poetry of Dorothy Parker. On CD as well as vinyl!