Thomas Blake

SAICOBAB are a four-headed beast birthed from the fertile soup of Japan’s underground music scene. There is a winning immediacy to everything the band does on NRTYA, making a glorious spectacle of the unexpected while leading you down a melodic garden path of twists and turns.

The unbridled creativity on show throughout Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado looks set to be Ana Lua Caiano’s calling card. It’s a remarkably assured and highly individual debut.

Milkweed’s ‘Folklore 1979’ is one of the most invigorating and interesting releases of recent years. While the duo would no doubt balk at the term masterpiece, as long as Folklore 1979 exists in the world, it will have to contend with such labels.

In many ways, Dean McPhee’s latest offering is a cerebral trip for sure, but every minute of Astral Gold is brimming with what can only be described as soul.

Jenny Sturgeon and Boo Hewerdine’s Outliers revels in the beauty of the remote. While conceived and recorded entirely online, it feels astonishingly close. The attention to detail and clarity of sound are incredible, and their contributions are clearly defined yet entirely in accord.

Junkboy’s ‘Littoral States’ is an engulfing and satisfying half-hour – melodic, intelligent, haunting music that slips in and out of genres but always stays true to the overarching theme of places and how human emotions interact with them.

With Collage, Erlend Apneseth Trio move further into experimental territory. Joined by singer Maja Ratkje, Collage is a masterful, almost mesmeric achievement. Their never dull attitude to recording seems to recognise music as a kind of palpable measure of deep time.

Thomas Blake shares his Top 10 Albums of 2023. As he states in his introduction, it was no easy task to whittle down from hundreds to just ten, but here they are…including Bex Burch, John Francis Flynn, ØXN, Maxine Funke, Brìghde Chaimbeul and more.

ØXN’s unwillingness to conform in any way to stereotypes makes them one of the most vital acts in any music scene today. CYRM is an uncompromising debut album, like a monolith looming through fog.

The variety and depth of ‘Move into the Luminous’ is breathtaking; Makushin have fashioned an engrossing collection of ten perfect miniatures…ambient epics packaged as pop songs, delicate folk latticeworks enmeshed with impassioned jazz. It’s a stunning achievement.

Harry’s Seagull shows how old songs sung with affection and skill can sparkle like new. Georgia Shackleton’s solo debut is light as a gull’s feather but flush with ideas: it’s one of the freshest and most appealing folk albums of the year.

The alchemy found on ‘hare // hunter // moth // ghost’ is masterful; Kerry Andrew can turn small, rough or difficult things into moments of bright wonder. In You Are Wolf’s hands, transformation is a gift to be celebrated.