Best Of 2022: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae

Hip hop continues to dominate popular music, whether as itself or as an influence on production and songwriting. But there is great depth to the field as well, far beyond the commercial frontier. The same can be said for RnB, which now incorporates hip hop, pop, and the old DNA of soul and funk into its makeup. As for reggae, I've stopped worrying about where Jamaican music would go after dancehall and just listen for the sounds that hit my sweet spot. See below for what I discovered in these intertwined genres, starting with the releases I already covered. Find a track from each (except Isaiah Rashad) in this playlist or below.

Record Roundup: 22 For 22 (Part 1)
FKA Twigs - Caprisongs
Pusha T - It's Almost Dry
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Record Roundup: Evocative Voices
Moor Mother - Jazz Codes See also the powerfully skeletal Nothing To Declare by 700 Bliss (Moor Mother with DJ Haram)
Lizzo - Special

Record Roundup: Songcraft
Steve Lacy - Gemini Rights
Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen

HIP HOP

Isaiah Rashad - Music 4r Da Vibers Given that his best album included the word "demo" in the title and his second album was about writer's block, it's obvious Rashad sometimes gets in his own way. Following up last year's The House Is Burning with this leaked collection of demos and snippets may point a new way forward for him because it's even better than that excellent album. Warmth, immediacy, and a cutting self-examination are just some of the characteristics that have had me coming back to this over and over, along with the smeared, grimy beats. 

Megan Thee Stallion - Traumazine Wildly entertaining, vulnerable, and intricately assembled, Megan's second album proves her staying power. The best songs feature not only her sharp flow but also a kind of vocal counterpoint going on the the background, breath sounds, random words, and vocal tics creating an atmospheric tapestry. Ending with Anxiety ("They keep sayin' I should get help/But I don't even know what I need/They keep sayin' speak your truth/And at the same time say they don't believe, man"), the first 11 songs alone would have been enough to get Traumazine on this list. Things get a little patchier after that, with the pace slowing down and Megan becoming almost a guest on her own album. But when she's ON there are few others who can do what she does. 

Conway The Machine - God Don't Make Mistakes and Conway The Machine & Big Ghost Ltd. - What Has Been Blessed Cannot Be Cursed While this Buffalo-based rapper seems to be working all the time, God Don't Make Mistakes is only his second album proper after 2021's excellent La Maquina - and he's raised the bar significantly this time. When he ends Tear Gas with the line "I keep the guns and the drugs just for the paranoia," I couldn't help but think, "And for the lyrical content." But by the time you get to the extraordinary title track you realize there's nothing sensationalist about the gritty noir that defines his style. Over a grimy track by the Alchemist, Conway runs through a series of questions about the life-changing aftermath of getting shot ("Sometimes I wonder, if this Bell's Palsy didn't paralyze my grill in/Would there still be murals of my face painted on side of buildings?") ending with his mother praying over his grievously injured body in the hospital. It's a haunting finale that will have you hitting repeat so you can try to grasp how he pulled a new beginning out of that near ending. While God Don't Make Mistakes represents Conway's major label debut, What Has Been Blessed... finds him back with Big Ghost and showing no sign of losing touch with his roots. As he raps on Bodie Broadus: "I'm the main source of the culture, I'm love's professor/The one that every major label wanna all get next to/And that's just from recordin' pressure, all it cost was effort/Bars so electric, shit might could charge your Tesla." All never truer than on these two albums.

Freddie Gibbs - $oul $old $eparately After the haymaker one-two punch of Bandana, produced entirely by Madlib, and Alfredo, produced entirely by The Alchemist, I had some trepidation when I heard Gibbs was going the major label-multi-producer route. I was at least a little bit right to be concerned as there is definitely a more diffuse, diluted vibe to this collection. Even the concept - Freddie locked up in a Vegas hotel trying to finish his album - is not quite enough to make it cohere. But Gibbs is never less than committed when comes to the microphone there's nothing slack about his raps. The concept also imposes a number of skits on the album, which are amusing, but when you have a song as hot as Gold Rings, with its killer Pusha T feature, I kinda wish it didn't end with 30 seconds of tomfoolery, i.e. Jesus leaving a voice mail. They should at least put those on their own track so you can weed them out if you want to.

Prodigy - The Hegelian Dialectic 2: The Book Of Heroine While this collection is uneven, it's good to see Prodigy's planned trilogy finally coming to fruition. Following 2017's darkly elegant The Book Of Revelation - the last album released during his lifetime - this one addresses lighter concerns of "sex, drugs, and partying" as opposed to apocalyptic, political themes. Some of the beats feel demo quality but Prodigy's voice is always strong, rapping with intent. As on the romantic Low from the last Mobb Deep album, Prodigy actually, er, rises to the occasion of discussing sex and love on I Heart You: "Candle-lit rooms, shadows on the wall kiss/Her silhouette shape on the wall so thick/The flames on the wick dancin' to the music/Make our hearts melt like wax into each other palms." It's hard to know what he would have done differently, but I imagine he would be proud to have Big Daddy Kane, D.J. Premier, Faith Evans, his old running buddy, Big Noyd, and others on the project. Perhaps even more importantly, Prodigy's estate was finally able to resolve the business tangles that kept his work off of streaming services, making his indelible legacy available again. The final album in the trilogy, promised to confront death itself, is coming out later in 2023.

They Hate Change - Finally, New Even though their set was cut short at IndiePlaza last fall, at least the festival succeeded in turning me on to this Tampa-based duo. Vonne Parks and Andre Gainey combine tag-team, high energy raps with an eclectic landscape of beats that incorporate dub, drum & bass, and all manner of electronic dance grooves - sometimes in the same song. No dilettantes here, however, as they take full ownership of every sound. While they are aggressive in making it clear they stand apart from much of the hip hop universe (As Gainey raps in Blatant Localism: "It’s funny how y’all get excited about crime/I can’t deny, I thought them rhymes was really true to they lives"), it's less clear where they do stand lyrically - but the words sound good nonetheless, making for an assured package. No surprise, as they've been working their way up to this album since 2015 - hence the "finally" in the title. 

Pinkcaravan! - Bananaz and Eazy Bake Since 2018, when her delightful EP 2002 came out, we've been lucky to be gifted one or two songs a year from this unique artist. These two tracks do nothing to stop me from wanting more of her candy-coated hip hop confections. Perhaps 2023 will make that happen.

Saba - Few Good Things While nothing here quite matches the cinematic sweep and emotional depth of Prom / King, the standout track from his 2018 album, Care For Me, this third album is also more consistent. You can learn a lot about what he's giving us here just by the picture of his seemingly indomitable grandfather on the cover - and the ambiguity of the title. There is no bitter without the sweet, and vice versa, in Saba's universe. As he noted when describing the short film attached to the project, "An empty glass is full of air. An empty bank is full of lessons. An empty heart is full of memories." But this album is full - full of heart, soul, anger, humor, not to mention juicy beats, mostly cooked up by Saba and his Pivot Gang cohort. As Saba tries to just live life, I think you'll find him enriching yours.

Vince Staples - Ramona Park Broke My Heart While his last two projects didn't connect with me, in 2017 I highlighted Big Fish Theory for its "high tech" feel and Staples' "gritty and compelling" raps. Now, on his fifth album he's caught me again, although he's in a much more reflective mood. As the title hints, he's exploring his relationship to the Long Beach neighborhood that raised him. An example of the complexity and depth of his approach is When Sparks Fly, which uses Havoc's echoing beat from Mobb Deep's More Trife Life to provide atmosphere and drive for a love song between a man and his gun, playing with the many ways the language of romance can have a double meaning: "She said, "Baby, keep me closely, love it when you hold me/Know that I'm a real one, I don't do no ghostin'/I know that you love me, you don't gotta show me." Sampling the chorus from Lyves' yearning 2016 track No Love, with its "Lovers in arms" line, is yet another clever feint, making the song sound even more romantic. Of course, there's a subtext about why a young Black man in Long Beach would need a gun. As a bit of of autobiography in the otherwise bloody Magic notes: "Momma met my daddy, then they had me in the ghetto/Handed me a thirty-eight and told me I was special." Touches like that are what makes these songs, and the album, so haunting.

Billy Woods - Aethiopes and Church It's not uncommon for hip hop to come across as cinematic, the words making pictures in your mind that move with the music. Aethiopes, with a textured background by producer Preservation coming from a realm of deep knowledge of many musics of the African diaspora, comes across with the electric, intimate immediacy of an Amiri Baraka play. The Doldrums, for example, stitches together harpsichord stabs, Ralph Towner guitar fragments, throbbing drums, and brooding bass as Woods barks out a tapestry that links the slave trade with the drug trade, both of which can leave people stranded in the doldrums: "Thick mist, piff smoke, draw straws from clenched fists/Sinkin' ship, human souls in thе hull/He got the whole world in his hands, ice cold/Open them palms up, turned black as a ghost." Church features production from Messiah Musik and feels murkier and less coherent than Aethiopes, but still compelling.

Elucid - I Told Bessie Elucid is Billy Woods' partner in the long-running avant hip hop duo, Armand Hammer, and Woods appears on four songs and executive produced I Told Bessie. But as tribute to the love and support Elucid received from his grandmother, Bessie, who died in 2017, it's clearly very personal to him. The album is filled with languid, minimalist beats from a variety of producers, all of whom hew to Elucid's vision and give him space to spin his impressionistic rhymes. Impasse is one highlight, with Elucid interrogating his mortality over an off-kilter drum track and nocturnal horns: "Who will close the book, who ain't write my name down?/Who gon' hold the torch, what the cards say now?/Last good kiss, last call, the lights up/It's where the road splits, asphalt shakedown." With this album, Elucid has definitely written his name in the book of hip hop.

R&B

SZA - SOS In 2017, I praised SZA's "versatility and burgeoning mastery" on her debut, CTRL. Five years and, by all accounts, hundreds of songs later, we get more of the former and evidence that the latter needs no qualifiers. Of course, versatility can become a liability when you have trouble recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, which leads to some longueurs on this 68-minute album. But for every miss, like the rote pop of F2F, you get three hits, like the delicious revenge fantasy, Kill Bill (complete with Tarantino-esque video), the yearning Nobody Gets Me, or Ghost In The Machine, which finds power in sisterhood with Phoebe Bridgers, who guests on the song. Hopefully next time she doesn't feel the need to be all things to all people - after all, as proven by the best songs here, she's already perfect at being herself.

Kehlani - Blue Water Road While the first three tracks on this third album are in no way unpleasant, they feel unfocused, like a warmup. But when the rounded weight of the beat from Slick Rick's Children's Story drops on Wish I Never (one of a few well-deployed samples on the album) the momentum kicks in and doesn’t let up. Even Justin Bieber can’t interrupt the flow of song after song of sleek, emotionally engaged R&B. The ballads, like Melt, which starts off with little more than an acoustic guitar and a drum machine, have an urgency and a melodic inevitability that keeps you listening. When the burner is lit, Blue Water Road is a triumph for Kehlani and their main collaborator, Pop Wansel. The son of Philly Soul legend Dexter Wansel, Pop is in nobody’s shadow by now - and neither is Kehlani.

Phony Ppl - Euphonyus Over a decade into their career, it would be easy to take this Brooklyn-based R&B group for granted, but the fact is there aren't too many like them around anymore, such is the focus on solo acts in the genre. But that would all be immaterial were it not for the many varieties of charming tunes here, from upbeat electro-dance tracks like Dialtone and Warmest Winter, neo-disco like To Get Home (feat. Leon Bridges and The Soul Rebels, who lay down some nice horns), or a creamy ballad like Been Away, which rises to a glorious guitar-driven crescendo. Then there's Fkn Around, another electro track that airlifts Megan Thee Stallion in for a signature rap, complete with counterpoint, which only adds extra juice to the quintet's classic tales of infidelity. 

Yaya Bey - Remember Your North Star Bey comes across as self-effacing, with those lower-case song titles and that sweet voice, which assays jazz, reggae, soul, R&B, and hip hop with equal ease, but don't be fooled. The first words we hear are "Fed up bitch/I just won't let up bitch/I take my foot up off your neck when I feel like bitch," which clues you in to her steely resolve to realize her music and express her feelings, which center around the "deep wound" Black women have around finding love and being loved. Self-produced with assists from Phony Ppl’s Aja Grant and DJ Nativesun, the music ranges over all those genres in which her voice feels so at home. With 18 songs from 16 seconds to 4:25, there's almost a sense of cracking the code of someone's iPhone and scrolling through their voice notes. The vocal sound on a song like Street Fighter Blues only reinforces that vibe. Intimate, vulnerable, and powerful, you won't soon forget Yaya Bey or her music.

Michelle - After Dinner We Talk Dreams Having been lucky enough to catch this charming sextet in concert I am happy to report that everything you hear on this second album is real - the harmonies, the unity, the tunefulness, the grooves, the sheer delight they have in making music together, a feeling they seamlessly translate to the listener. It's also a remarkably consistent album so don't trust those Spotify play counts and only listen to the first four songs. Also give an ear to the Side Dishes single, which has two more great songs. There's a deep well here, so drink up.

Stimulator Jones - Round Spiritual Ring On his debut and subsequent instrumental album, Sam Lunsford displayed his dazzling, somewhat off-center facility at many forms of R&B and dance music. On his latest, he gives us another mix of related styles, from hearkening back to Shannon's Let The Music Play on Pain Inside to paying homage to the mid-70s Isley Brothers on Love Will Light Your Dreams, complete with a smoking hot guitar solo. The album's dreamy trajectory gets goosed by the uptempo rock of Peace, Love, Respect & Adoration, connecting him with other traditions. And it is all about connection - the album title may have originated in a misheard Prince lyric but is a good metaphor for the interchange between creator and listener and between inspiration and creativity. 

Lady Wray - Piece Of Me Twenty-four years on from her debut as a protege of Missy Elliott and Timbaland, nearly everything about Nicole Wray has changed - not just her professional name. Her voice is stronger and her artistic vision more her own, just to name two things. Some of what you hear on this third album was evident on 2016's Queen Alone, when she reemerged in the soul-revival orbit of Leon Michels, Lee Fields, and Charles Bradley. But while she's still recognizably in that world, the sound of Piece Of Me injects much that is new - whether a folk-like directness on Come On In or hints of dub and lovers rock on Through It All - into what can quickly become formulaic. This is also her most personal album, with her father and daughter making appearances, lending even further warmth. Follow her lead: invite the family, then put this record on.

REGGAE

Kabaka Pyramid - The Calling It took not only a 2023 Grammy nomination but an Instagram post from Damian Marley, who produced this third album, for this artist to gain traction in my eardrums. Granted, his output has been slow, with his debut coming over a decade ago. But this rich 15-song collection is a great showcase for his songwriting and toasting. Even if nearly every song has a guest, starting with the opening track, which features an effective sample of the late Peter Tosh,  Kabaka is a commanding presence more than able to hold his own with anyone in contemporary reggae. Grateful is a great showcase of his rhythmic flexibility, with verses seamlessly transitioning from rapid fire flow to stop-start segments. The song has a sweet hook sung by Jamere Morgan, grandson of Denroy Morgan, too, lending an additional sense of legacy to the track. For anyone waiting for Damian Marley's next album - his last, the excellent Stony Hill, came out in 2017 - this fills the gap very nicely.

Koffee - Gifted Nearly twice as long as her fine 2019 EP, Rapture, this gives us a chance to get to know Koffee's breezy, winning style better. Opening with X10, which has her casually singing over Bob Marley's Redemption Song, was a bold move, and many tracks have spare backing to keep the focus on her voice. Whether toasting intensely over Where I'm From or sweetly starting the party on West Indies, where she tosses in a hint of Lionel Richie's All Night Long, she's effortlessly versatile. 

Horace Andy - Rockers & Scorchers One of reggae's most legendary voices, Andy released two albums in 2022, Midnight Rockers and Midnight Scorchers, both brilliantly produced by UK dub magus Adrian Sherwood. This deluxe edition compiles both of them with two bonus tracks, giving us a cup that runneth over with passionate roots reggae. Several songs are updates, like This Must Be Hell, originally on his classic 1978 album, Natty Dread A Weh She Want. But he sounds so engaged, you won't hear complaints from me. He also covers Safe From Harm, the Massive Attack song, in convincing enough fashion that I wonder why he didn't do it in the first place. With so many of the great voices now gone, having Andy nearly at full strength is a gift indeed.

Dubokaj Meets Lee Scratch Perry - Daydreamflix With Perry's death in 2021, I was sure we would be inundated with subpar scraps from the master's workbench. Maybe they're out there - but this is not one of them. Recorded in 2017, Daydreamflix finds Perry working with Swiss-based dub scientist, Daniel Jakob, on a series of spacious, spacey dub tracks, heavy on the electronics and full of atmosphere. Jakob is not too reverent either, processing Perry's voice and treating it like just another color on his palette. A fitting addition to Perry's vast discography with the only mystery being why it took five years to reach fruition.

Dubmatix Meets Future Dub Orchestra - Frontline Dub Smooth, expansive, and never without forward motion, this collaboration between the Toronto-based producer and the Bristol, UK band is an object lesson in dub, if not quite as titanic as the Sly & Robbie connection from 2018.

Find more beats, rhymes, grooves, and rhythms in the 2022 archived playlist and follow the 2023 playlist to see what this year brings!

You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2021: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Best Of 2020: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Best Of 2019: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Best Of 2018: Hip Hop, RnB and Reggae
Best Of 2017: Hip Hop, RnB and Reggae
Best Of 2016: Hip Hop and RnB

Best Of 2020 (So Far)

Typically, the way I make these lists is by scanning through my posts from the year, looking at Spotify playlists, and then dragging songs or pieces into a draft playlist. If it's more than 25 tracks long, I begin the process of narrowing it down. The main criteria is not "excellence," as that's where I focus my listening and my writing, but rather more a question of survival. To what music am I cleaving in order to get through the year? In times of strife, which is a polite way of describing the shit-show garbage fire that is 2020, many turn to the music of old and I have certainly spent some time with Bowie, The Beatles, Bob Marley, and Young Marble Giants, among others. But I have this engine inside that propels me towards the new and this year has been as generous as any in that regard. I am at a loss for words to describe the appreciation I feel toward any artist who has pushed past inertia and given us sounds that nourish us. Some of them are listed below. P.S. As usual, if I've covered the album before, just click on the title for more information.

Listen as you read here or below!




1. Bob Dylan - Rough And Rowdy Ways There may yet be a shelf of books written on this almost overwhelming expression of creative fecundity. As Tim Sommer pointed out recently, the Never Ending Tour deserves its own place among Dylan's artistic achievements, but it should be noted that, like the three albums of Tin Pan Alley songs he's released since 2012's brilliant Tempest, that is an arena for interpretation rather than creation. So when he sings, "I'm falling in love with Calliope/She don't belong to anyone, why not give her to me?" in Mother Of Muses, you get a hint of the hunger he might have been feeling to get the plug back in the socket and start writing new songs. But who knows? There's a vagueness about when these songs were written or recorded. When he dropped Murder Most Foul back in April, catching the world by surprise, he coyly noted, "This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting." Coy, and the understatement of the year. These songs are all "interesting," at the very least, not to mention funny, smart, and displaying a full palette of emotions. They are also eminently quotable, from the ur-braggadocio of "I’m first among equals - second to none/I’m last of the best - you can bury the rest/Bury ‘em naked with their silver and gold/Put ‘em six feet under and then pray for their souls" (False Prophet) to the stark reality of "I can see the history of the whole human race/It’s all right there - its carved into your face" (My Own Version Of You), but while this is a wordy album, the sound of it is just as notable. Unlike Tempest, with its lapidary attention to each instrument, Dylan's production this time around often turns the band into a single unit, either dealing out blues riffs so elemental as to be platonic or creating a tapestry of delicate tones and textures, creating the perfect backdrop for his singing. And what singing, displaying nuance or power as appropriate and able to convey wit or heartbreak with masterful subtlety. Just listen to the way he caresses the words and toys with the tempo when he sings "A lotta people gone/A lotta people I knew" in I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You, one magical moment among many on this album. Even if Dylan weren't DYLAN, Rough And Rowdy Ways would demand your attention - but only Dylan could have made it.

2. Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman

3. Molly Joyce - Breaking And Entering

4. Jonathan Wilson - Dixie Blur

5. Ted Hearne & Saul Williams - Place

6. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Alfredo After last year's triumphant Bandana, I would have forgiven Gibbs for taking the year off. But he's a man on a mission, so there was no time to wait. After working with Madlib, almost any other producer would have been a comedown, but The Alchemist is fully up to the challenge of goading Gibbs to new heights. The results never fail to entertain or inspire, with the latter best represented by the most apropos lines of the year: "The revolution is the genocide/Yeah, my execution might be televised" - words being worn right now on a t-shirt at a protest near you. Gibbs once more defines the moment and it is highly unlikely there will be a better hip hop album in 2020. Maybe he should square off with Dylan and let the sparks fly!

7. Hamilton Leithauser - The Loves Of Your Life See also his charming Tiny Desk Concert.

8. Matt Evans - New Topographics

9. Ocean Music - Morsels

10. Miro Shot - Content

11. Yaeji - What We Drew

12. Jay Electronica - A Written Testament

13. Makaya McCraven and Gil Scott-Heron - We're New Again: A Reimagining

14. Nnux - Ciudad

15. Aoife Nessa Frances - Land Of No Junction

16. Car Seat Headrest - Making A Door Less Open

17. Frazey Ford - U Kin B The Sun

18. The Strokes - The New Abnormal

19. Tak Ensemble - Scott L. Miller: Ghost Layers

20. Wire - Mind Hive See also 10:20, a brilliant collection of strays and older songs reimagined.

21. John Craigie - Asterisk The Universe This is primo Americana and Craigie's most assured and varied album yet. It's his ninth studio album but don't feel bad if you never heard of him - I was in the same boat, a situation I detail in my interview with Craigie in Rock & Roll Globe. It's a rich catalog, too, but the smoky production, warmly cohesive band, and sharp songwriting here should put him in front of an even bigger audience. 

22. Honey Cutt - Coasting

23. Soccer Mommy - Color Theory

24. Them Airs - Union Suit XL I was pointed towards these New Haven art punks by Tracy Wilson's Turntable Report, which has quickly become an essential filter. Led by Cade Williams, Them Airs' website is a delightful trip into their aesthetic, including a highly editorialized list of all their gear. With their own liner notes referencing both Wire and "spicy no wave sax," you should be aware of what you're in for on this spiky blast of irreverent fun. Though they've been recording since 2017 and playing out since 2018, they have yet to play in NYC. I hope to be there when it happens!

25. Nadia Reid - Out Of My Province

What's been in heaviest rotation in your shelter?

You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2019 (So Far)
The Best Of 2018 (So Far)
Best Of 2017 (So Far)
Best Of 2016 (So Far), Pt. 1
Best Of 2016 (So Far), Pt. 2
The Best Of 2015 (So Far)
2014: Mid-Year Report
The Best Of 2013 (So Far)

Best Of 2019: The Top 25

“Where there is doubt, there can be no doubt,” Robert De Niro said in Ronin and that becomes my guiding principle around this time of the year as I confront the conundrum of what ends up on this list that wasn’t on the mid-year Top 25 - and what drops off. Much of it comes down to what I listened to the most, usually a sure sign that it belongs here. But there were a couple of things I played over and over, hoping they would connect fully, eventually admitting they were mostly excellent, even life-giving, but they had a moment or two that caused doubt. And where there is doubt there can be no doubt.

Looking back, I’m somewhat surprised to see three-fifths of the list coming out of the realms of rock, folk, pop, etc.,  but I just have to accept that that’s what I needed to get through. There's also a clue in the fact that 305 of the 812 tracks - nearly 40% - I put into my general Of Note playlist were sorted into the Rock, Folk, Etc. playlist. To anyone affronted by what dropped from that July list, I will firmly say, It’s not them, it’s me. And don’t forget, there are many "Best Of" lists yet to come as I try to pay homage to another great year for music. 

Listen to selections from each album here or below. As usual, if I’ve previously written about a record, click the link to learn more about why it’s here. 

1. Ocean Music - Troubadour No. 1

2. Julia Jacklin - Crushing

3. Tiny Ruins - Olympic Girls

4. Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms Of Surrender

5. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana Bonus beats here, thanks to NPR.

6. Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go

7. Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Zam

8. Drinker - Fragments

9. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors Funny how you can still be surprised by how much an artist can surprise you, even when they have traveled as far from their roots as Olsen did between Burn Your Fire For No Witness (2014, #15/20) and My Woman (2016, #17/20). But that was the case when I first heard the audacity of All Mirrors, still a jaw-dropping experience these many listens later. Connecting with two composer/arrangers, Jherek Bischoff and Ben Babbitt, who both straddle the worlds of classical, rock, and soundtracks, was a genius move as they contribute wildly creative string arrangements that dominate a number of songs. Babbitt co-wrote all the music with Olsen, which is the first time she has collaborated to that extent, and played a good number of instruments on the album. Producer John Congleton does a fantastic job of blending all the organic and synthetic sounds. 

Olsen doubles down on her retro-futurist torch singer persona, coming on like Julee Cruise’s cyborg progeny, hyper-emotional, and with a superhuman power. She has found new dimensions to her voice as well, wielding each tone, texture, and timbre with astonishing control. Like all of her albums, All Mirrors  touches on elemental subjects of love, friendship, and self-actualization, making for a richly immersive song-cycle that seems to only expand as it grows more familiar. A triumph for Angel Olsen and a wonderful addition to what is already one of the most rewarding discographies of the decade. 

10. Bearthoven - Scott Wollschleger: American Dream

11. Starcrawler - Devour You That part of the thrill provided by the short, sharp, shriek of their debut was untapped potential is firmly proven by Devour You, which succeeds even beyond my wildest expectations. The LA quartet were no doubt helped by producer Nick Launay (Bad Seeds, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, etc.), far more skilled in the studio than Ryan Adams. Time on the road has lent both solidity and swing to the rhythm section of Austin Smith (drums) and Tim Franco (bass) - listen to them groove on “You Dig Yours” - while wunderkind guitarist Henri Cash now has the most exciting riffing hand in the business. But he also has developed the musicality to create layered parts full of fine detail and raw power. Then there is Arrow de Wilde, who shows herself equally at home fearlessly snarling out sarcasm as she is sending a soaring ballad(!) like “Born Asleep” into the stratosphere. The variety in the songwriting shows not only ambition but a deep engagement with the history of rock. Unlike an earlier generation of punked out rockers, they don’t want to burn it all down - but they do want to light a little fire under a genre where introspection may be easier to find than instigation and inspiration. But don’t get it twisted. While Starcrawler may be showing signs of maturity and nuance in concert they’re still the same filth-peddling, blood-spewing circus they’ve always been. On Devour You, the combination of those primal urges with a bit more sophistication is nothing short of intoxicating. 

12.  Pauline Kim Harris - Heroine

13. Mattiel - Satis Factory

14. Molly Sarlé - Karaoke Angel

15. Thom Yorke - Anima

16. Daniel Wohl - Etat 

17. Zosha Di Castri - Tachitipo

18. Jane Church - Calimocho Molotov

19. Car Seat Headrest - Commit Yourself Completely 

20. Empath - Active Listening: Night On Earth

20. Elsa Hewitt - Citrus Paradisi

21. C. Duncan - Health

23. Boogarins - Sombrou Duvida

24. Kanye West - Jesus Is King Back In 2004, I put one foot in front of the other to Jesus Walks. The fact that I got to work ready to do my job every day I owe at least in part to the strength I got from West's classic track and the album it came from. Then, in 2010, after a string of good albums (interrupted by 808's and Heartbreaks), he gave us My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, in the running for album of the century. It pulled me through a long winter and, while I can't remember what was stressing me at the time, I know MBDTF helped the situation. The point is, when you connect with the work of an artist on these levels, you give them the benefit of the doubt. Yeezus was another stunner, angry shards of glass aimed at every target in sight, including himself. The Life Of Pablo, scattered as it was, gave us hints of strength among the sorrows and lousy laugh lines. Then came Ye, undoubtedly the worst project West ever put his name to, only partially redeemed by Kids See Ghosts, his collaboration with Kid Cudi from the same year. Despite all the self-instigated click-bait madness that accompanies West everywhere, I still go back to those old records and get what I need. Now we have converted Kanye, not an automatic deal-breaker even if there are references to “prosperity gospel” that rub this atheist/socialist the wrong way. After all, I have included gospel music in my listening since I was hooked by a Mahalia Jackson LP I pulled out of the stacks at my local library almost 40 years ago. 

I don’t feel I have to defend what I like to anyone, so I’ll just say that I get some of the old West fire on Jesus Is King combined with the inspiring energy of the African American gospel tradition. While this is not a straight-up masterpiece like Dylan's Slow Train Coming, the listening experience - for a West fan, anyway - is not dissimilar. Part of the energy comes from what seems to be a disordered mind, like the way the first song, Every Hour, starts just a tad in progress, as if someone un-paused the tape recorder after the song began. There are other weirdnesses (“Chick-Fil-A”??) and hints of the under-cooked quality that has become an unfortunate signature of West’s work since Pablo. On the other hand, Jesus Is King contains some of West’s finest vocal work ever, whether rapping tight to the groove of Follow God or emoting soulfully on God Is. As for guests, the most impressive is the team-up of a reunited Clipse with Kenny G. on Use This Gospel, the kind of left-field combo that is the glory of the best hip hop since the Bronx schoolyard days. I am drinking deep from this cup, taking the bitter with the sweet, and wondering where the journey goes next. 

25. Solange - When I Get Home

If I’ve introduced you to something you didn’t know you needed, let me know! Don’t see your favorite here? Tell me all about that, too. It just may be on an upcoming genre-specific list. Stay tuned for the whole series, encompassing:

• Classical
• Electronic
• Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae 
• Jazz, Latin, and Global
• Rock, Folk, Etc. 
• Out Of The Past

But not necessarily in that order, which will only add to the fun. This is supposed to be fun, right?!?

You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2018: The Top 25
Best Of 2018: Classical
Best Of 2018: Electronic

Best Of 2018: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Best Of 2018: Rock, Folk, Etc. 
Best Of 2018: Jazz, Latin, and Global
Best Of 2018: Out Of The Past

Best Of 2019 (So Far)

These lists are hard because I feel that everything I’ve written about this year is among the best music of our times. And there are also some things I’m sure are excellent but haven’t had the chance to really listen to. To all the composers, musicians, bands, ensembles and labels who have shared their creativity I say, paraphrasing Pusha T and Rick Ross: I got you - hold on. Still, it is undeniably interesting to take stock at the year's halfway point and note either what I’ve listened to a lot but haven’t yet covered or to acknowledge a few very recent releases that have quickly muscled their way into being essential. You’ll see some of both below in a list of the 25 albums that have helped get me through 2019 so far. Enough of my yakking - on with the show!

Note: If I’ve covered the album in a previous post, just click the link to read my thoughts. 

1. Ocean Music - Troubadour No. 1

2. Rand Steiger/International Contemporary Ensemble - Coalescence Cycle Volume 1: Music for Soloists and Electronics

3. Julia Jacklin - Crushing

4. Frankie & The Witch Fingers - Zam

5. Daniel Wohl - Etat

6. Tiny Ruins - Olympic Girls

7. Scott Wollschleger - American Dream

8. Solange - When I Get Home

9. Thom Yorke - Anima 

I haven’t yet watched the film Yorke made with Paul Thomas Anderson to accompany this album, but such is the intimacy and intrigue of these tracks that I get the sense that Yorke knows the biggest screen of all is on the interior of our foreheads. While using many of the same lushly minimalist textures as his first two solo albums, there is a warmth and emotional generosity to these songs that feels new, even if rooted in the more plain spoken parts of A Moon Shaped Pool. I would hesitate to call any work by this consummate artist “revealing” but I will say that he’s letting us in on another aspect of his talent and that is more than enough. 

10. Empath - Active Listening: Night On Earth 

Seeing this young Philly band live at Pioneer Works last month only served to solidify my feelings about how great they are. While their music, full of distorted guitars, shiny synths and driving rhythms can be brainy and fractured, witnessing their utter joy as they bounced around the stage was a minor miracle and helped me connect to that lightness of being on the album. While there are no left turns from their previous releases, there’s also a greater focus on craft when it comes both to the song-like parts and the sparkly excursions into ambience. Right here is the sound of a group hitting its potential across all metrics. Grab on to the album and catch them in concert ASAP. 

11. Jane Church - Calimocho Molotov!

12. Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go 

13. Seattle Symphony Orchestra - John Luther Adams: Become Desert

14. Drinker - Fragments

15. Boogarins - Sombrou Dúvida

In which the boys from Brazil go further down the studio rabbit hole, constructing collage-like tracks that go some distance from their jammed out stage show. But the tunes are still there, maybe a bit buried but characteristically sweet. Following the development of this band has been a true delight and I hope to see how they work with this material live when they hit the rooftop at Industry City on September 4th with Mdou Moctar - a killer bill to end the summer!

16. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana 

Gibbs made hay with Madlib on Piñata in 2014 and nothing he’s done since has hit the same heights  - until now. Something about working with one of the great producers of all time brings out the best in Gibbs, who, instead of deferring to a legend tries to meet him halfway. As Gibbs himself noted: "I feel like you gotta bring your 'A’ game to really shine on his beats, or his beat is going to outshine you. It’s definitely a challenge. You can’t just come any kind of way on these beats, you gotta really make a marriage to ‘em and live with 'em." So, instead of coasting on his grittiness, Gibbs dazzles with a flow that hits a variety of tempos and mixes up the content with political observations and street lit. He shines when he gets personal, too, as in Situations: "1989, I seen a ni**a bleed/Uncle stabbed him in the neck and hit his knees/Turned the arcade to a stampede/I was playin' Pac-Man, Centipede/Put me on some shit I never should've seen." He also has the guts to share the mic on Palmolive with Killer Mike and Pusha-T, who both come loaded for bear, making it one of the great posse cuts of recent memory. I don't know the logistics of the hook-up between Gibbs and Madlib, but I sure hope it happens again because Bandana is a classic.

17. Mark de Clive-Lowe - Heritage and Heritage II 

I will admit to following the career of MdCL for years with admiration for his skills as a keyboard player and producer without being entirely sure exactly what he does. Sure, he was always in the hippest place at the hippest time, but who was he? It all comes into focus on these two extraordinary albums of expansive jazz-funk. The “heritage” referred to is MdCL’s Japanese roots, with each track’s title drawn from cultural reference of importance in his life. Hence we get tracks like Memories of Nanzenji, inspired by a 13th Century temple in Kyoto, and Akatombo (Red Dragonfly), based on a popular folk melody his mother used to sing to him. The music is sometimes spacey and drifting, at other times knotty and propulsive, often building up a head of steam after a moody start. The minor key melodies and overall gloss can't help but remind me of Steely Dan, in a welcome if distant echo. Everything is driven by the sensitive and powerful drumming of Brandon Combs, with strong contributions also coming from Josh Johnson (sax/flute), Teodross Avery (sax), Brandon Eugene Owens (bass), and Carlos Nino (percussion). But MdCL is the star, doing stellar work on all manner of keyboards and composing all the tracks, in a triumph of imagination and sheer musicianship. Now I know exactly who he is and what he does and I can't get enough of it.

18. Elsa Hewitt - Citrus Paradisi

19. Baroness - Gold & Gray
In the four years since the release of their last album, Purple, which found the metal band incorporating a new rhythm section after their bus accident, they have had yet more personnel changes. Peter Adams, who had been their lead guitarist since 2008, left to concentrate on his other band Valkyrie (among other things) and was replaced by Gina Gleason. She's had a checkered career, from Cirque du Soleil to bands that covered Metallica (Misstallica!) and King Diamond. As worrisome as that may sound, she has more than enough grit in her glamour to complement the playing of leader John Baizley while engaging in furious interaction with bassist Nick Jost and drummer Sebastian Thomson. She may have also helped push the group to further diversify their already broad palette of sound, adding a cleaner vocal dimension to the harmonies in the process. Whatever the reason, Gold & Gray is the most high-contrast album of their career, with glassy vignettes like Crooked Mile smash-cut into absolutely scorching cuts like Broken Halo. It's a head-spinning journey that feels somehow cleansing, with their most beautiful textures constantly being obliterated by some of their nastiest. While the emotions are always strong, the heart of the album is probably three songs near the middle: Anchor's Lament, Throw Me An Anchor, and I'd Do Anything. Given that the chorus of the last is "I'd do anything to feel alive again," it's obvious the near-death experience of the accident is woven into the core of Baizley's artistic expression forevermore. Whatever he needs to do to work out his grief, he's surrounded by stalwart companions and giving so much of himself to us listeners that it's easy to be humbled and grateful as you stand in awe of Baroness's rock majesty. Long may they reign.

20. Cass McCombs - Tip Of The Sphere

21. Crumb - Jinx
This Brooklyn via Boston band amassed a rabid following (including me) on the basis of two EP's of wobbly psych-funk so anticipation has been running high for their debut album. Jinx continues to deliver on their addictive style; if anything it finds their grooves ever more precise and their melodies more engagingly serpentine, adding up to a series of transporting tunes. At under 30 minutes, the trip may still be too short, but it's one you'll want to take often. Also, they stretch out in concert - catch them for free on August 8th in NYC.

22. Car Seat Headrest - Commit Yourself Completely
I've been yammering on about what a great live band this is since I saw them in 2017 and now here's recorded proof! Even though these nine songs were recorded in seven different spaces, it feels like a coherent document of their dramatically dynamic approach to Will Toledo's conception of post-alternative indie rock. Even the shorter songs are full of epic vibes and their mastery of the slow build only adds to the cathartic feels when they hit full throttle. All of the songs save one come from Teens Of Denial (2016) and Twin Fantasy (2011/2018), which means they're drawn from Toledo's strongest material. One could quibble about the omission of Unforgiving Girl (She's Not An), which was one highlight of the show I saw. The one cover, of Frank Ocean's Ivy, is great but maybe not as revelatory as their take on Bowie's Teenage Wildlife, an interpretation that blew me away in concert. Minor details. This is a fantastic album that will have you jumping up and down as you play it at maximum volume. Your  neighbors might complain - or knock on your door to join you. P.S. Keep an eye out for a tour date near you.

23. C. Duncan - Health

24. Michel Chapman True North

25. Edwyn Collins - Badbea

Listen to a track from all of these albums in this playlist or below. Any of these on your list?



You may also enjoy:
The Best Of 2018 (So Far)
Best Of 2017 (So Far)
Best Of 2016 (So Far), Pt. 1
Best Of 2016 (So Far), Pt. 2
The Best Of 2015 (So Far)
2014: Mid-Year Report
The Best Of 2013 (So Far)

Best Of 2017: Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae

I had only two albums from this category in my Top 25 for 2017: the undeniable DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar and Process, the powerful debut by Sampha. This is a little low for me, which I think was mainly due to where my head was at, needing music of a different sort to get me through the year. But that doesn't mean I didn't find several strong, even stunning, albums in this area, not to mention individual songs, which I feature at the bottom.

Hip Hop Albums

Both Rap Album Two by Jonwayne and The Hegelian Dialectic by Prodigy (RIP) were on my Best Of 2017 (So Far) back in July and they are indeed excellent albums. While they each had qualities that kept them out of the Top 25 (Jonwayne’s tendency to overthink EVERYTHING, some of Prodigy’s questionable lyrical choices), they will also more than reward your attention. 

Big K.R.I.T. - 4eva Is A Mighty Long Time This double album is a statement of purpose from Justin Scott, a veteran rapper from Mississippi. The first part is almost wall-to-wall classic Southern hip hop with beats worthy of OutKast or Goodie Mob, which makes sense as their producer Organized Noize worked on some of the album. K.R.I.T. practically chews up the mic with his raps, more than holding his own alongside some strong guests, like T.I., who lights up Big Bank like a Christmas tree, Bun B. and Pimp C. Nothing detracts from K.R.I.T.’s commanding performance, however. Then, in a dazzling display of his versatility, he takes a left turn into material that’s soulful, funky, jazzy, and even playful. Keep The Devil Off even finds him cooking up a gospel fervor, with church organ to match. This is the “Justin Scott” persona and his collaborators here are people like Joi and Jill Scott, and on the penultimate track, Bilal and Robert Glasper, Jr. But he takes the last song, Bury Me In Gold, on his own, never letting you forget whose show this is. He’s always been good, but this impressive effort vaults him into greatness. 

Big Boi - Boomiverse Speaking of Southern hip hop, Big Boi’s third album is a far more consistent collection than his last, playing to his strengths as the party-starting rapper with the tack-sharp flow. All Night, with its rickety ragtime piano, is a great reminder that hip hop was all about fun at one time. But Big Boi never gets too serious, even when Killer Mike drops by to spit fire. Speaking of guests, I got triggered when I saw Adam Levine’s name on the credits for Mic Jack, but even a Maroon 5 hater like me didn’t really notice him on the track. Plus, the presence of the silky-voiced Sleepy Brown (also a welcome presence on the K.R.I.T. album) more than made up for it. Even acknowledging the fact that he’s not reaching the heights he did in OutKast does little to dampen the pleasures to be found in Big Boi’s Boomiverse, which are many. 

Aminé - Good For You While this fresh new voice is definitely a post-Chance The Rapper rapper, he has more than enough of his own personality, as well as a serious way with a hook. Songs like Veggies, Caroline and Sundays will follow you through your day after a couple of listens. There are a few features, with the best ones being Charlie Wilson singing his ass off on Dakota and Kehlani getting cozy on Heebiejeebies, but this debut is all about Aminé. Get him on your radar. 

Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory Even with a raft of producers (from Zack Sekoff on five tracks (one with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon), to electro-poppers Flume and Sophie, among others) and guests (Kendrick Lamar and Ty Dolla Sign, Blur’s Damon Albarn, etc.), this third album from Staples is his sleekest LP yet. While the feel is high-tech throughout, his flow is gritty and compelling. Highlights are Big Fish, which is danceable, catchy, vaguely threatening - the perfect club single - and Homage, which finds a middle ground between drum’n’bass and techno, with Staples rapping at high tempo seemingly without effort. 

Mourning [A] BLKstar - BLK Muzak This is rainswept black asphalt music, full of startling collage-like shifts in texture and tone. It feels very original but also in deeply in the tradition of Afro-futurism. RA Washington, who founded the Ohio-based collective in 2015, obviously knows very well the size and shape of the envelope he’s pushing with such confidence. I think the time for M[A]B to come up from underground is nigh - don’t get caught by surprise when they do. 

Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live 2wice This short, sharp shock of an album puts Gibbs back in action after some legal troubles relating to an accusation of sexual assault. His relief at being acquitted is palpable as he raps with fury on every track. On Crushed Glass, the first single, his flow is almost exhausting, with only a well-placed Sade sample allowing you (and him) to catch your breath. Phone Lit is another standout, with a woozy groove and more hypnotism from Gibbs. There's something of a Charles Oakley quality to Freddie Gibbs - he may not be a superstar but he always gets the job done.

Raekwon - The Wild The last album by this Wu-Tang Clan stalwart was overstuffed and overworked, which may be why this one was slightly overlooked. Kicking off with This Is What It Comes Too (sic), a fiery blast over a tough-ass boom bap beat, The Wild, while uneven, has Raekwon not only living up to his reputation but expanding on it with songs like Marvin, which tells Marvin Gaye's life story in four sad, soulful minutes, Nothing, which has swagger to burn, and Reign, a regal statement indeed.

R&B Albums

I already wrote about the delights of Charlotte Dos Santos's Cleo, which opens with a sultry take on a 700-year-old song and ends with a cubist cha cha, and The Two Of Us, the latest mixtape from Chloe X Halle, with its touches of blues and reggae framing their gorgeous harmonies. Don't let these two gems get lost in the shuffle.

Kelela - Take Me Apart While her experimental spirit is somewhat dimmed from the badass heights of Cut 4 Me, her debut EP from 2015, this is still an album of great substance. The songs are well-conceived, with insidiously catchy choruses, and the production is still futuristic and haunting. Her stunning voice keeps getting better, displaying some new techniques, while continuing to communicate her individuality and ability to connect directly, human to human. If you're looking for points of entry, try Waitin', a frisky take on that moment when you realize you're not over the person you thought you were over, or LMK, which nails how relationships can bud - or not - in our cultural moment. Enough is a stellar, star-lit ballad, the kind of floating-in-space thing Björk used to be so good at. In fact, if I were going to fall back on an overused reviewer's trope, I might say Kelela is like Björk and FKA Twigs meeting in Janet Jackson's living room. If any of those artists intrigue you, get into Take Me Apart. I just hope she doesn't smooth out her edges any further, a common occurrence in this musical space.

Moses Sumney - Aromanticism Sumney's career has been a slow build since he dropped Mid City Island, a captivating five-song EP, in 2014. From the start, his was obviously a unique vision, putting his sweet voice in spare contexts that evoked folk-soul sounds of the past - Terry Callier comes to mind - while sounding utterly contemporary. Aromanticism is his first full-length and finds his voice ever more assured, with a jazzy, improvisatory insouciance that perfectly fits his androgynous sound. The backing tracks focus mainly on his guitar and multiple layers of his voice, with spare synths rounding things out, making for a supremely chilled-out experience. He has a lot on his mind, too, about how we live and love these days and how he refuses to follow any expected paths. While he occasionally slips into a solipsistic bubble that can make even a dedicated listener feel left out, Sumney is second only to Frank Ocean in dragging soul and r&b into the future.

Sza - CTRL  SZA, otherwise known as Solána Imani Rowe, has a supple singing style that owes as much to jazz as to forbears like Lauren Hill. That loose, intimate style, combined with the analog textures she curated for her debut full-length creates an immediacy that remains fresh even after multiple listens. Rather than writing strict verse/chorus/verse songs, she has a stream of consciousness approach that sometimes feels she's sending you a late-night voice mail. While the album is slightly uneven, the fact that her style works as often as it does is remarkable. Standouts are Prom, which is her version of a pop song, and Doves In The Wind, which features Kendrick Lamar rapping an ode to female...er..."power" as singleminded as Chris Rock's routine on Kanye West's Blame Game. Isaiah Rashad, her Top Dawg label-mate as well as a good friend, drops in on Pretty Little Birds, putting down an impressive feature as well. The album concludes with the aching 20 Something, which has SZA pouring her heart out over an acoustic guitar as she explores the pains and possibilities of being at a transitional time in life. Moving stuff, and another example of her versatility and burgeoning mastery.

SiR - Her Too Top Dawg Entertainment, home of Kendrick Lamar as well as SZA and Isaiah Rashad, is a true believer in artist development. So, they're bringing this contemporary crooner along slowly with EPs like this one and the results make it obvious that an album can't be far off. While he's not an R&B radical, he's versatile enough to put over a fun and frisky song like Don't Call My Phone or a moody one like The Canvas. Her Too makes a strong case for a more traditional - and damned sexy - approach to contemporary soul so let's hope TDE lets more of this smooth cat out of the bag soon.

Reggae Albums

Damian Marley - Stony Hill When this album came out I was surprised to find that it was Marley's first solo album in 12 years. Of course, his last album was the titanic Welcome To Jamrock, which he followed up with Distant Relatives, an excellent collaboration with Nas, so we'll cut him a break. We can also forgive that detour into Superheavy, with Mick Jagger and Joss Stone, which was neither super nor heavy. In any case, Stony Hill is very nearly a return to form and easily the best reggae album of the last few years. Marley is in excellent voice, whether singing or toasting, even carrying off Autumn Leaves, a grand ballad, and getting frisky with brother Stephen on the delightful Grown And Sexy. He really can do it all and his production is rich and detailed, displays a deep knowledge of music history beyond reggae. In short, Stony Hill is just Jr. Gong doing what he does best - hopefully we won't have to wait a decade for the next one.

Chronixx - Chronicle Marley should hire Chronixx's publicist because this album was everywhere! Chronixx, AKA Jamar McNaughton is also the scion of a reggae family as his father is Chronicle, known for the rootsy and soulful album Feel This One. A lot of the attention on this debut was deserved, even if the best songs made the weak spots more frustrating. The first five songs are all winners, nothing really new but just classic-feeling reggae sung with a spirited confidence and a disarmingly light touch. Things get a little cheesy with Smile Jamaica and then, with I Can, a shark is jumped in Montego Bay. It's unlistenable. The album mostly recovers, but there are still some ill-conceived moves and the saccharine bonus track I Know Love is no bonus. But Chronixx is still young and undeniably talented. If he buckles down on the quality control, his next album will be a classic.

The Expanders - Old Time Something Come Back Again, Vol. 2 These So-Cal reggae revivalists sound so good it's almost like a trick. But there is no curtain to look behind, just great roots reggae played with skill and style to burn. While their last album, Hustling Culture, was a terrific foray into writing their own material, they return to covers on OTSCBA Vol. 2 and their taste in songs is as impeccable as their playing. Crank up the bass!

Lee Scratch Perry & Subatomic Sound System - Super Ape Returns To Conquer This is also a cover album of sorts, as Perry re-records his own material, mostly from the legendary Super Ape album, with his current backing band. Perry sounds great, the Subatomics know their way around a groove and the dub controls, and there are fine guest appearances by Jahdan Blakkamore and Ari Up from The Slits. As the latter died in 2010, we can assume this has been in the works for a while, but it all hangs together and goes down easy. Also, it's no rote reconstruction, as Perry continues to take chances. Consider me conquered.

Party Mix

Singles are still a big deal in this category, making overnight sensations of artists like Fetty Wap and Soulja Boy - but that doesn't mean everyone should put out an album. Also, even if an artist has only one great song it can still be what you need to get a party started. Then there are the geniuses, like Frank Ocean, where we hang on every note, even during years when they don't put out a full-length. Here's a quick rundown of some of the highlights that enlivened my playlists this year.

Four singles from Frank Ocean seemed like a gold rush after the years of waiting between Channel Orange and Blond, his last two albums. Out of the four, my favorite was probably Chanel with its lo-fi piano and overlapping vocals, but put them all together and you have a legit EP from one of the great artists of our time.

In the excitement over DAMN., Kendrick's Lamar's instant-classic album, the single that proceeded it got a little lost in the mix. But The Heart Part 4 is definitely in the canon, with Lamar changing mood and tone over a shifting series of musical backings. It's like a four-minute mixtape.

Close But But Quite, the debut EP by Everything Is Recorded, the project of Richard Russell, founder of XL Records, found him orchestrating tracks for a number of different singers, including Green Gartside from Scritti Politti, who shows off his auto-tune skills to good effect among the rappers on D'Elusion. But the best song was the title track, which finds Sampha jamming with a lengthy sample of Curtis Mayfield's The Makings Of You - pure gold.

Missy Elliott is an American treasure who finally began releasing new music a couple of years ago after getting over some health issues. Unfortunately, it's been at the rate of about one new song a year! But I'm Better was a sly delight, with Elliott finding some new ways to mess with syllables in the spaces between a spare trap beat. Of course, the video was a visual treat, too. Album in 2018? We can only hope.

Cardi B, a former stripper turned rapper, was ubiquitous in 2017 on the back of Bodak Yellow, an undeniably entertaining single that both traded on her raw, untrained flow and the sheer freedom she felt from breaking with her past. "I don't dance now, I make money moves," is definitely a slogan strivers everywhere can get behind. But do we need an album from her? Probably not, yet if she puts out another song as killer as Bodak Yellow, you'll find it here next year.

Someone I would like to hear more from is pinkcaravan!, a budding artist from St. Louis who murmurs her way charmingly through tracks filled with electronic sunshine and rainbows (kudos to producer Namesake). candy land from her EP a very sad happy birthday is a hit in my book but everything she has released is pretty great. Hat tip to Lorum Ipsum for the pointer.

Lorum Ipsum also introduced me to Josh The Word and his clever Make You A Mixtape, which is like if your best friend shared a song with you and it was actually good. His album was kind of terrible, but that's OK because we're just looking for great songs for our own mixtapes at this point.

While I've liked albums by Your Old Droog in the past, his latest, PACKS, didn't really connect. But You Can Do It (Give Up), built around a perfect Richard Swift sample, features great storytelling and an interesting message.

"All my friends are dead/Push me to the edge," is the unforgettable refrain from Lil Uzi Vert's unpronounceable XO TOUR Llif3, which proved that putting real emotional heat behind the hip hop style of the moment can work. His album is an hour long, however, which was a long time to try and maintain this level of commitment.

In a year that gave us a lot of lemons that didn't always yield lemonade, Lemon, the single announcing the return of N.E.R.D. was definitely a bright spot. The rhythm was just this side of frantic and Rihanna's verse was fiery enough that I put the song at number five in my ranking of all the N.E.R.D. songs. And if the subsequent album didn't quite deliver, it wouldn't be the first thing that failed us in 2017. Time to shut up and dance!

You can hear all of the above here or below and if you want to know what other jams caught my ear last year, get to the 2017 Archive (Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae) playlist. Keep up in 2018 here.



You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2017: The Top 25
Best Of 2017: Classical

Best Of 2017: Electronic

Best Of 2017: Out Of The Past

Best Of 2016: Hip Hop & R&B