Releases of the Year: We asked our contributors to vote for their top ten records, CDs, streams and more, then added up the votes
Critics’ Reflections: Our writers discuss their memorable cultural experiences of the year
Columnists’ Charts: Our specialist critics delve deep into their musical niches from noise to modern composition
Archive Releases of the Year: We asked our contributors to vote for their top ten archive records, CDs, streams and more, then added up the votes.
Engineered Phantoms: AI for the masses. By Abi Bliss
Back to the Land: Strange as folk. By Louis Pattison
Rival Camps: Crossing the streams. By Britt Brown
Weapons of Mass Distraction: Artists and Gaza. By GAIKA
Invisible Jukebox: Linton Kwesi Johnson: The veteran reggae poet faces down The Wire’s mystery record selection. Tested by Gabriel Bristow
Laetitia Sadier: The Stereolab founder promotes community and healing with her new solo work. By Claire Biddles
Fred Frith: The Henry Cow co-founder returns to his groundbreaking 1974 album Guitar Solos with a reissue and a new album. By Clive Bell
Unlimited Editions: Bead Records
Unofficial Channels: Lanner Chronicle
Phil Geraldi: Road head music. By Emily Bick
HUUUM: Viennese whirl. By Ilia Rogatchevski
Lisa Ullén: Piano magic. By Peter Margasak
Thomas Ignatius: Medieval synthpop. By Leah Kardos
Global Ear: Chicago Democracy and improv in the Midwest. By Levi Dayan
The Inner Sleeve: Vince Clarke on The Human League’s Travelogue
Epiphanies: Mariam Rezaei on Persian pitch-shifting
Print Run: Dancehall: The Rise Of Jamaican Dance Culture by Beth Lesser; Lost In Room: Mark Perry, Alternative TV And Related, 1977–1981 by Richard Johnson; Deep Blues 1960–1988 by Val Wilmer; Ukrainian Field Notes edited by Gianmarco Del Re; At The Vanguard Of Vinyl by Darren Mueller; Too Much Too Young: Rude Boys, Racism And The Soundtrack Of A Generation – The 2 Tone Records Story by Daniel Rachel; NOTHING IS POSSIBLE NERVOUSNESS, OR IMMORALITY DON’T WAIT TO BE HUNTED TO HIDE/ SPOILT HEALTH by TRS: The Fucking Terrible Receding Shapes, Trading As TRIPLE NEGATIVE
On Screen: Midori Takada: Japan On Film; Robert Fantinatto Subotnick Portrait Of An Electronic Music Pioneer
On Location: Recombinant Festival, San Francisco, US; Sir Richard Bishop, Edinburgh, UK; Week-End Fest, Cologne, Germany; Black Industrial | Noise Event 4: Ain Bailey, London, UK; Out.Fest, Barreiro, Portugal; Gonerfest 20, Memphis, US; Sonica Surge, Glasgow, UK; People Like Us, London, UK; Loraine James, San Francisco, US; Usurper: That’s That Then, Edinburgh, UK; Easter Margins Road 2 Redline Tour with OverMyBody Taipei, Taiwan; Donaueschinger Musiktage 2023, Donaueschingen, Germany
On Site: Val Wilmer Blue Moments, Black Sounds, London, UK; Meredith Monk: Calling, Munich, Germany; Barbara Ess Archives, New York, US
Soundcheck: Aesop Rock, Agitation Free, All Men Unto Me, Alternative TV, Chino Amobi, André 3000, Erlend Apneseth Trio & Maja SK Ratkje, Anenon, Daniel Bachman, BEAM SPLITTER + Eivind Lønning & Espen Reinertsen, Beans, Lea Bertucci, Better Corners, Galya Bisengalieva, Black To Comm, Andy Blade & Buddies, Danny Brown, Conflux Coldwell, Amelia Cuni/Werner Durand/Uli Hohmann, CZN, Angharad Davies & Phil Julian, Eartheater, Max Eastley/Terry Day/John Butcher, Carlos Ferreira, Peter Gabriel, Gruzja, Holy Tongue, Robert Hood & Femi Kuti, Idea Fire Company, Ed Jones/Dominic Lash/Mark Wastell, KAVARI, Kid Acne, Klein, Anysia Kym & Jadasea, Dominic Lash/Rachel Musson/Phil Durrant/Steve Noble, Joëlle Léandre & Rodolphe Loubatière, George Lewis/ICE, DJ Manny, Trevor Mathison, Myra Melford’s Fire & Water Quintet, MHYSA, Moin, Maggie Nicols/Matilda Rolfsson/Mark Wastell, Steve Noble, Aki Onda, Ordeal, Aruán Ortiz, Tony Oxley, Eddie Prévost/NO Moore/James O’Sullivan/Ross Lambert, Janneke van der Putten, Lucy Railton, Maja SK Ratkje & Nordic Affect, Mike Reed, Marc Richter, Raphael Rogiński, Patrick Shiroishi, Timelash, David Toop & Tania Caroline Chen, Universal Harmonies & Frequencies, V/Z, Alex Ward Items 6 & 7, Teresa Winter, Various C-01 Compilation, Various Flux Gourmet: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Boomerang: Barry Bermange/Delia Derbyshire/The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Earth, Khanate, Meat Puppets, Meshuggah, Het Pandorra Ensemble, Penny Rimbaud/Mikado Koko, Rudimentary Peni, Archie Shepp, Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit, War, Frank Zappa, Various The Complete Obscure Records Collection, Various One Mile From Heaven, Various Spectra Ex Machina: A Sound Anthology Of Occult Phenomena 1920–2017 Vol 2
