The Pop Descriptivist's Yearly Top Albums (Text Only)

Every year I come up with a list of my favorite albums. It may not be exactly 10 (sometimes more, sometimes less), but these are albums I consider masterpieces, that I usually end up coming back to over and over again even years later. I have not retroactively changed any of these lists, so they also chart a pretty good course of my musical interests. I hope you are able to find a few things worth listening to here - Bandcamp links are provided when available.

2024

Click here to see the video review of these albums!

1. Utopianisti - Reason in Motion - (Finland) - afrobeat / jazz fusion / avant-prog

2. Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja - (Finland) - avant-black metal / noise rock

3. Trio HLK - Anthropometricks - (UK) - chamber jazz / avant-prog

4. El Khat - mute  - (Israel, etc.) - Yemeni folk / world music / microtonal

5. Aseitas - Eden Trough - (USA) - progressive metal / technical death metal

6. DJrum - Meaning's Edge - (UK) - IDM / drum n bass / acid techno

7. Pearl and the Oysters - Planet Pearl - (USA) - synth pop / bossa nova

8. Ὁπλίτης ('Oplites) - Π​α​ρ​α​μ​α​ι​ν​ο​μ​έ​ν​η (Paramainomeni) - (China) - black metal / progressive metal / zeuhl

9. Chris P. Thompson - Stay the Same - (USA) - experimental electronica / microtonal

2023

1. Gum Takes Tooth - Recovery Position - (UK) - experimental electronica / noise rock

2. PoiL / Ueda - PoiL / Ueda - (France/Japan) - avant-prog / Japanese traditional music

3. mitka - sound_03 - (Russia) - experimental electronica / black metal / microtonal

4. Kostnatění - Úpal - (USA) - black metal / doom metal / microtonal

5. Lalalar - En K​ö​tü Iyi Olur - (Turkey) - dance rock / darkwave / Turkish traditional music / microtonal

6. Vertebra Atlantis - A Dialogue With the Eeriest Sublime - (Italy) - blackened death metal / progressive metal

7. Don Kapot - I Love Tempo - (Belgium) - afrobeat / krautrock / psychedelic rock

8. Azmari - Maelström - (Belgium) - Ethio jazz / funk / psychedelic rock

9. Jordsjø - Salighet - (Norway) - progressive rock / folk / psychedelic rock

10. New Age Doom & Tuvaband - There is No End - (Canada/Norway) - post-rock / avant-garde / microtonal

11. Tar Of - Confidence Freaks Me Out - (USA) - synth pop / avant-garde / math rock

12. Altin Gün - A​ş​k - (Turkey) - psychedelic folk / Turkish traditional music / microtonal

2022

1. Horse Lords - Comradely Objects - (USA) - experimental rock / microtonal

2. Extra Life - Secular Works, Vol. 2 - (USA) - experimental rock / progressive rock/ plainsong

3. Lynyn - Lexicon - (USA) - IDM / drum n bass / experimental electronica

4. Palm - Nicks and Grazes - (USA) - math rock / experimental rock

5. The Chemical Mind - Glossolalia - (USA) - experimental electronica / black metal / avant-garde

6. First Children - Weird Fossils - (USA) - noise rock / sludge metal

7. Mamalarky - Pocket Fantasy - (USA) - psychedelic pop / experimental rock

8. I, Parasite - Österlande - (USA) - post-rock / doom folk

2021

1. Jü - III - (Hungary) - experimental rock / avant-prog

2. MNDSGN - Rare Pleasure - (USA) - neo-soul / psychedelic rock / ambient

3. drumcorps - Better Days - (Netherlands) - breakcore / mathcore / crust punk

4. Buke and Gase and So Percussion - (USA) - chamber pop / experimental rock

5. Utopianisti - Tango Solo - (Finland) - tango / chamber jazz / klezmer

6. Vertebra Atlantis - Lustral Purge in Cerulean Bliss - (Italy) - blackened death metal / progressive metal

7. Xeno & Oaklander - Vi/deo - (USA) - synth pop / darkwave / experimental electronica

8. Obsolete - Animate//Isolate - (USA) - death metal / thrash metal

9. Chaos Data - Null - (Ukraine) - IDM / darkwave / experimental electronica

10. Kali Trio - Loom - (Switzerland) - chamber jazz / avant-garde / ambient

11. Ill Considered - Liminal Space - (UK) - spiritual jazz / free jazz / post-rock

2020

Click here to see text reviews of these albums!

1. Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi - (Finland) - black metal / psychedelic rock / synth rock

2. Lorenzo Senni - Scacco Matto - (Italy) - IDM / synth pop / drum n bass

3. Nihiloxica - Kaloli - (Uganda) - experimental electronic / dark ambient / traditional Ugandan drumming

4. Folian - Blue Mirror - (USA) - post-metal / shoegaze / ambient

5. Tenchio - Crosshatching Holographs of a Cityscape (Antiopus) - (Uruguay) - math rock / post-hardcore / J-pop

6. Methods Body - Methods Body - (USA) - avant-garde / electroacoustic / microtonal

7. Waaju - Grown - (UK) - jazz fusion / afrobeat

8. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - K.G. - (Australia) - psychedelic rock / experimental rock /microtonal

9. Wax Chattels - Clot - (New Zealand) - post-punk / progressive rock / darkwave

10. Jacob Garchik - Clear Line - (USA) - avant-jazz / big band jazz / chamber jazz

2019

Click here to see text reviews of these albums!

1. Black Flower - Future Flora - (Belgium) - Ethio-jazz / psychedelic rock / funk

2. Body Meat - Truck Music - (USA) - R&B / experimental electronica / math rock

3. Helium Horse Fly - (Belgium) - avant-garde / doom metal / psychedelic rock

4. Black Taffy - Elder Mantis - (USA) - lo-fi hip-hop / dark ambient

5. Richard Dawson - 2020 - (UK) - experimental rock / folk rock / progressive rock

6. The Central - Van Dyke Browne's Crystal - (USA) - mathcore / grindcore / experimental rock

7. Ikarus - Mosaismic - (Switzerland) - chamber jazz / avant-garde

8. 75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real - (USA) - post-jazz / desert rock / ambient / microtonal

9. ni - Pantophobie - (France) - progressive metal / avant-prog / mathcore

10. Super Parquet - Super Parquet - (France) - electroacoustic / Occitan folk / experimental electronica

2018

Click here to see text reviews of these albums!

1. Koenji Hyakkei - Dhorimviskha - (Japan) - brutal prog / jazz fusion / zeuhl

2. Palm - Rock Island - (USA) - math rock / experimental rock

3. Profligate - Somewhere Else - (USA) - darkwave / post-punk / experimental electronica

4. Conjurer - Mire - (UK) - blackened sludge metal / post-metal

5. Altin Gün - On - (Turkey) - psychedelic folk / traditional Turkish music / microtonal

6. Azusa - Heavy Yoke (no Bandcamp link) - (Sweden/USA) - thrash metal / progressive metal

7. Gazelle Twin - Pastoral - (UK) - experimental electronica / dark ambient / English folk

8. Renata Zeiguer - Old Ghost - (USA) - indie rock / bossa nova

9. Noise Trail Immersion - Symbology of Shelter - (Italy) - black metal / mathcore / doom metal

10. Y/N - larry and the eternal light - (USA) - outsider music / experimental electronica / avant-garde

2017

1. Igorrr - Savage Sinusoid - (France) - drum n bass / black metal / baroque / French folk

2. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana - (Australia) - psychedelic rock / traditional Turkish music / microtonal

3. Thundercat - Drunk - (USA) - jazz fusion / neo-soul / hip-hop

4. Archspire - Relentless Mutation - (Canada) - technical death metal / progressive metal

5. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard & Mild High Club - Sketches of Brunswick East - (Australia) - psychedelic rock / jazz fusion

6. Converge - The Dusk in Us - (USA) - mathcore / hardcore punk / post-rock

7. Cornelius - Mellow Waves (no Bandcamp link) - (Japan) - experimental electronica / J-rock / shibuya-kei

8. Tigran Hamasyan - An Ancient Observer - (Armenia) - jazz / Armenian folk / math rock

9. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland - (Australia) - psychedelic rock / progressive rock

10. Watchdog - Can of Worms - (France) - chamber jazz / ambient / avant-garde

2016

1. Mary Halvorson - Away With You - (USA) - chamber jazz / free jazz / avant-garde

2. The Most - At Once - (USA) - math rock / post-hardcore

3. Car Bomb - Meta - (USA) - mathcore / progressive metal

4. James Supercave - Better Strange - (USA) - psychedelic pop / indie rock

5. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (no Bandcamp link) - (UK) - alternative rock / experimental rock

6. Three Trapped Tigers - Silent Earthling - (UK) - progressive rock / math rock / experimental electronica

7. Two Inch Astronaut - Personal Life - (USA) - post-hardcore / math rock / indie rock

8. Boss Keloid - Herb Your Enthusiam - (UK) - stoner metal / progressive metal

9. MNDSGN - Body Wash - (USA) - neo-soul / electronica / psychedelic rock

2015

1. Preoccupations - Viet Cong - (USA) - post-punk / experimental rock / noise rock

2. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly (no Bandcamp link) - (USA) - hip-hop / jazz

3. Statues - Together We're Alone - (Australia) - metalcore / hardcore punk

4. Kneebody & Daedelus - Kneedelus - (USA) - jazz fusion / experimental electronica / IDM

5. Pyramids - A Northern Meadow - (USA) - post-black metal / post-rock / electronica

6. Zs - Xe - (USA) - avant-garde / noise rock / experimental rock

7. Squarepusher - Damogen Furies - (UK) - drum n bass / breakcore / IDM

8. Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete - (USA) - vaporwave / experimental electronica

9. Agent Fresco - Destrier - (Iceland) - progressive metal / indie rock

10. André Bratten - Gode - (Norway) - downtempo electronica / IDM / dark ambient

11. Hiatus Kaiyote - Choose Your Weapon (no Bandcamp link) - (Australia) - neo-soul / funk rock / psychedelic pop

2014

1. Flying Lotus - You're Dead! - (USA) - jazz fusion / experimental electronica / hip-hop

2. Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World (no Bandcamp link) - (Canada) - dance punk / alternative rock / powerviolence

3. Clipping - CLPPNG - (USA) - hip-hop / harsh noise / avant-garde

4. Adult Jazz - Gist Is - (UK) - indie rock / post-rock / math rock

5. Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso - (USA) - electronica / indie rock

6. Animals as Leaders - The Joy of Motion (no Bandcamp link) - (USA) - progressive metal / jazz fusion / djent

7. Sohn - Tremors (no Bandcamp link) - (UK) - electronica / R&B / trip-hop

8. SBTKRT - Wonder Where We Land (no Bandcamp link) - (UK) - electronic / hip-hop / R&B

2013

1. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (no Bandcamp link) - (France) - disco / soft rock / progressive pop

2. Kayo Dot - Hubardo - (USA) - avant-garde / black metal / post-rock

3. Royal Canoe - Today We're Believers - (Canada) - psychedelic pop / R&B

4. Deafheaven - Sunbather - (USA) - black metal / shoegaze / post-rock

5. Moon Hooch - Moon Hooch - (USA) - dance rock / house / jazz rock

6. Bonobo - The North Borders - (UK) - downtempo electronica / trip-hop / R&B

7. The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us Is the Killer (no Bandcamp link) - (USA) - mathcore / experimental rock / progressive metal

8. Thundercat - Apocalypse - (USA) - neo-soul / jazz fusion / electronica

2012

1. Tame Impala - Lonerism (no Bandcamp link) - (Australia) - psychedelic rock / indie rock

2. Car Bomb - w^w^^w^w - (USA) - mathcore / progressive metal

3. Purity Ring - Shrines (no Bandcamp link) - (Canada) - witch house / indie pop / experimental electronica

4. Lettuce - Fly - (USA) - funk rock / jazz rock / soul

5. Squarepusher - Ufabulum - (UK) - drum n bass / IDM / experimental electronica

6. Huoratron - Cryptocracy (no Bandcamp link) - (Finland) - electro house / chiptune

7. Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind - (USA) - mathcore / hardcore punk / post-rock

8. Alamaailman Vasarat - Valta (no Bandcamp link) - (Finland) - klezmer / progressive metal / avant-garde

9. Tin Hat - The Rain is a Handsome Animal - (USA) - chamber jazz / gypsy jazz / avant-garde

10. Maps & Atlases - Beware and Be Grateful - (USA) - math rock / indie rock

11. Efterklang - Piramida (no Bandcamp link) - (Denmark) - post-rock / indie rock / electronica