Adventures in Afropea, 1991
Zap Mama
Voice-forward vim. Stacking melodies instead of harmonies. Polyphonic, pygmy-derived call-and-response meets Brussels choir discipline. They must have had fun. Still the most percussive music performed a cappella out.
NB Mupepe, Guzophela, Brrrlak!
Genre: Folk
Subgenres: A Cappella, Afro Fusion, Worldbeat
Afrique Victime, 2021
Mdou Moctar
Desert shred. Psychedelic riffs cycle over kick drums and handclaps. Secondary guitars shadow in unison and break in clipped chords. Mdou’s voice is powerful and the group replies snap at the ends of lines. Political fury worth playing loud—absolute barn burner.
NB Tala Tannam, Asdikte Akal, Afrique Victime
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Assouf, Psych-Rock, Tishoumaren
Ágætis byrjun, 1999
Sigur Rós
A good beginning indeed. Bowed-guitar leads, roomy drums and Jónsi’s powerful voice. It’s melody-forward but the textures make it special. The Icelandic tjú is used soporifically to calm babies. And adults, in my case. In-utero songs from an ex-utero band.
NB Svefn-g-englar, Ný batterí, Olsen Olsen
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Chamber Pop, Neoclassical, Post-Rock
Ambient 1: Music for Airports, 1979
Brian Eno
Vanguard ambient that rewards attention. Tones loop unevenly so the patterns never quite repeat. The voice and piano phrases feel suspended in that Berlin terminal. Patient and unexpectedly moving—restrained music with emotional spill.
NB 1/1, 1/2, 2/2
Genre: Electronic
Subgenres: Ambient, Experimental, Minimalism
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, 2000
Yo La Tengo
Soft-spoken and stubborn. Brushed drums and the guitars are on a short leash for the first time. Recorded at home, so it’s pretty inward. The loud arrives late, but it lands thanks to earlier restraint. I thought it wasn’t for me. It waited me out.
NB Our Way to Fall, Last Days of Disco, You Can Have It All
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Alt-Rock, New Jersey Indie, Permanent Wave
Aretha Now, 1968
Aretha Franklin
Cut in five days, Aretha’s ascent to the Queen of Soul was full tilt. Every part pales in comparison to the voice that cannot be outsung. The opener was hopeful in hellish times. Some covers beat their precursors, and the originals are first-rate.
NB Think, I Say a Little Prayer, You Send Me
Genre: Soul
Subgenres: Gospel, Memphis Sound, R&B
Automatic for the People, 1992
R.E.M.
Slower than expected, heavier than it sounds. Michael chose his words carefully. Nanny Bartlett liked Everybody Hurts. Songs about grief and responsibility that aren’t didactic. It doesn’t pretend to have the answers. Neither should you.
NB The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Nightswimming, Find the River
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Alt-Rock, Athens Indie, Permanent Wave
Back from the Brink: Pre-Revolution Psychedelic Rock from Iran (1973–1979), 2011
Kourosh Yaghmaei
Historically loaded. Fuzz riffs and Persian structures up against the ‘70s squeeze. Recorded before the revolution shut it down. Rock phrasing bent to local melody but not softened for export. Thank God it made it—survival gives it voltage.
NB Gole Yakh, Akhm Nakon, Saraabe Toe
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Folk-Pop, Persian Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Black Focus, 2016
Yussef Kamaal
Peckham jazz with the bass up. Grime, jungle pressure and technical discipline. Fender Rhodes and sharp drums. Everything is live but it sounds controlled to the millimetre. Two mates playing tight and hungry. One record, then they split. Hit hard and left a mark.
NB Strings of Light, Ayla, Joint 17
Genre: Jazz
Subgenres: Broken Beat, Deep House, Jazz Fusion
Blue, 1971
Joni Mitchell
Just Joni, without a band to hide in. The piano, dulcimer and guitar could split if she leant too hard. She was heartbroken, had given up a baby, went away and came back wrecked but clear-eyed. It’s private, but she lets us hear it anyway.
NB California, River, A Case of You
Genre: Folk
Subgenres: Folk Rock, Pop Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Buena Vista Social Club, 1997
Buena Vista Social Club
Cuban club-room energy. Piano and tres write harmonies, trumpets punctuate and percussion exists for your hips. Everything sung feels wise, delivered for the people in front of them. It’s conversational music from seasoned performers. You can hear them smiling.
NB Chan Chan, Pueblo Nuevo, Murmullo
Genre: Folk
Subgenres: Bolero, Danzón, Son Cubano
Diamond Jubilee, 2024
Cindy Lee
Two hours of the best lo-fi drag-pop you’ll hear. Tape hiss, warped pitch and vague oldies made anew. Girl-group ghosts, rock and roll crumbs, then another offbeat hook. People criticise the run time. Not me—it’s dreamy, messy and worth the slog.
NB Glitz, Olive Drab, Government Cheque
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Hypnagogic Pop, Indie Rock, Psych-Rock
Disintegration, 1989
The Cure
Heavy-footed and methodical. The tempos drag, sounds are dense and nothing consoles. Guitars ache next to slow drums, big bass and foggy synths. Robert reads his worst thoughts back to himself. Monumental gloom. It’s catchy, which is cruel.
NB Pictures of You, Closedown, Lovesong
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Ethereal Wave, Gothic Rock, Post-Punk
Doolittle, 1989
Pixies
Hey. The birth of loud-soft dynamics. Impetus to early-1990s grunge. Demos recorded in a week. Spanish fragments, Bible bits, beefy bass and shouting coexist. Still not OTT. Every track gets straight into it. Gives us dropkicks and dropouts hope.
NB Debaser, Here Comes Your Man, Gouge Away
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Alt-Rock, Slacker Rock, Surf Rock
Endtroducing....., 1996
DJ Shadow
Compositional sampling. Puts my crate-digging to shame. Built alone, late at night, with vinyl scraps and an MPC60. Big breaks and brooding, melancholic keys. Clever drums dominate. The ambience is warm. Probably painstaking, but not too fussy.
NB Building Steam with a Grain of Salt, The Number Song, Midnight in a Perfect World
Genre: Electronic
Subgenres: Instrumental, Plunderphonics, Turntablism
Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives (1971–1996), 2024
Various Artists
Field recordings, folk songs and radio oddities pulled from the quiet corners of a country fighting for its right to exist. Voices wobble, rhythms drift and melodies repeat like tradition holding on by the skin of its teeth. A culture working it out.
NB Tea Ceremony, North Wind, Transference
Genre: Folk
Subgenres: Avant-Folk, Compilation, Jazz Fusion
Exile in Guyville, 1993
Liz Phair
Blunt, funny and wired with intent. Cheeky reply to Exile on Main St. but these lyrics make it way more. The instruments sound cheap because they are. Liz’s got bark and bite. Good luck trying to make her flinch. Fellas should sit this one out.
NB Never Said, Canary, Divorce Song
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Indie Rock, Lo-Fi, Singer-Songwriter
Heaven or Las Vegas, 1990
Cocteau Twins
Gloss, then grit. Guitars drenched in chorus and delay, chords smeared into colour. Liz sings with vowel-heavy syllables that half-mean things on sound alone. The lost joys of my Melbourne days are here. Inexplicably accessible, even when the edges are hard to make out.
NB Iceblink Luck, Fifty-Fifty Clown, Fotzepolitic
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Ethereal Wave, Shoegaze, Synth-Pop
Heavy Metal, 2024
Cameron Winter
Youthful bravado. Came across Love Takes Miles by accident—the happiness that overcame me was instant. I sent it to Evelyn quicksmart. Horns, mandolin, organ and a lamellophone. Maybe “God is actually real.” Unique, despite obvious influences.
NB Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed), Love Takes Miles, $0
Genre: Folk
Subgenres: Folk Rock, Outsider, Singer-Songwriter
Hounds of Love, 1985
Kate Bush
Big feeling record. It was new then and somehow still is. Fairlight and drums sound caustic and cold but there’s warmth around Kate’s voice in the room. It’s fun and then it isn’t. Ambitious but not pretentious. Top-drawer art, and an all-timer.
NB Hounds of Love, And Dream of Sheep, The Morning Fog
Genre: Pop
Subgenres: Art Pop, Progressive Pop, Sophisti-Pop
Índia, 1973
Gal Costa
Defiant drama. Gal can move between muted murmurs and belted agudos in one line. Strings swell like film score. Accordion, organ and Brazilian hand percussion add muscle. The dictatorship censored the cover, but the voice remained naked.
NB Volta, Pontos de Luz, Desafinado
Genre: Folk
Subgenres: Guarânia, Música Popular Brasileira, Tropicália
The Kick Inside, 1978
Kate Bush
The definitive revue on wax. Written as a teen and made with grown-up conviction. No arc, just vignettes. Theatrical as all hell. “It … puts you against the wall and that’s what I’d like my music to do.” The variety's outrageous. Kate’s first act in her whopper career.
NB Kite, Wuthering Heights, Room for the Life
Genre: Pop
Subgenres: Art Pop, Baroque Pop, Progressive Pop
A New Directive from the Bureau of Compulsory Entertainment, 2023
Jonny Dillon
Unplugged pivot from the earlier work. Short, fingerpicky pieces on the gat. Blues-folk phrasing is Irish in accent but it’s not a costume. The melodies don’t develop so much as endure. Music that’ll outlast the effort and the lad who made it.
NB Heaven Knows the Good Lord's Got a Sense of Humour, The Great Big Ship That Came and Floated Everybody Away, Here Comes the Ladder of Divine Ascent
Genre: Folk
Subgenres: Acoustic, American Primitivism, Classical Guitar
Paul’s Boutique, 1989
Beastie Boys
Proper patchwork. The tracks were built from an impossible number of samples and it lands light on its feet. Funk breaks, soul stabs and odd detours folded into elastic anthems. These three rapped like they had nothing left to prove. Commercial failure first; the lodestar now.
NB Shake Your Rump, High Plains Drifter, Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun
Genre: Hip-Hop
Subgenres: East Coast, Golden Age, Mid-School
Power, Corruption & Lies, 1983
New Order
Punks flirting with electronic music. They stopped trying to sound like the band they lost and sounded brighter. Sequencers, drum programming and synths abound. Peter’s bass above everything. The wiry optimism caught me off guard—it felt like someone opening a window after too long inside.
NB Age of Consent, 5-8-6, Your Silent Face
Genre: Electronic
Subgenres: Dance-Punk, Post-Punk, Synth-Pop
Purple Rain, 1984
Prince and the Revolution
Sermon, sweat and a violet storm. He’s a show-off and he earns it. The LinnDrum hits hard but the guitars answer back. The slow ones still floor me, and they will you. This bloke understood aesthetic, but I reckon it was inside him—not just for show.
NB When Doves Cry, I Would Die 4 U, Purple Rain
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Funk Rock, Minneapolis Sound, Soundtrack
The Queen Is Dead, 1986
The Smiths
Punchier than the jangle suggests. The lyricism is a bit down in the mouth but there’s enough satire to bear it. Johnny’s riffs are some of my all-time favourites. Wry, wounded, with the wit whittled when needed. Sniffle through. Your big nose knows.
NB Cemetry Gates, There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: College Rock, Jangle Pop, Post-Punk
The Score, 1996
Fugees
Settle in. Live instruments rub shoulders with samples like they’re cut from the same cloth. Lauryn is sharp enough to reset a room. The other pair shape it around her—reggae lilt, soul flourishes and boom-bap swing. Their confidence makes sense.
NB Zealots, Killing Me Softly with His Song, The Score
Genre: Hip-Hop
Subgenres: Contemporary R&B, East Coast, Progressive Rap
Selected Ambient Works Volume II, 1994
Aphex Twin
No drums. Just air, tone and memories in this one. Notes bend like light in water. Dusty pads sit and stare at you. It’s calm but not always safe. I felt Richard’s heart in the songs before reading the liner notes. Background music for the foreground.
NB Untitled #3, Untitled #19, Rhubarb Orc. 19.53 Rev
Genre: Electronic
Subgenres: Dark Ambient, Drone, Experimental
Since I Left You, 2000
The Avalanches
Playful, kaleidoscopic grooves. These clever Aussies delivered on the promise of musique concrète: recorded sounds can be the raw material of music. Comedy sketches and horse whinnies make it a total riot—deft, not daggy. Equal parts familiar and far out.
NB Since I Left You, Frontier Psychiatrist, Summer Crane
Genre: Electronic
Subgenres: Dance, Exotica, Plunderphonics
Unknown Pleasures, 1979
Joy Division
Taut cuts. The crafty production is as much a hallmark as the music. Clean hits, clipped reverb and the coolest bass lines. Ian sounds steady, not spectral. Notwithstanding pitchiness, he’s in control. Pave-the-way punks.
NB Disorder, She's Lost Control, Shadowplay
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Gothic Rock, New Wave, Post-Punk
Vulture Prince, 2021
Arooj Aftab
A diasporic triumph. Small-room lineup with double bass, violin and a harp that will blow your mind. Yes, harps can. Plush low end and hardly any drums. Arooj’s qawwali-style singing offers grief for her brother without grandiosity. She knows these ghazals.
NB Inayaat, Mohabbat, Saans Lo
Genre: Folk
Subgenres: Chamber Folk, Hindustani Classical, Neo-Sufi
Yirinda, 2024
Yirinda
A breath, then Butchulla wisdom carries on. Recorded in Brisbane, it’s spacious and exact. Fred’s beautiful sotto voce sound and Sam’s modern additions make it feel alive now. One song comes from a UQ archive, another from an Aunty. It’s a feather in Country’s cap.
NB Yuangan (Dugong), Dhangalim (Fly), Nyun (Brother)
Genre: Electronic
Subgenres: Avant-Folk, First Nations, Prog Electronic
3 Feet High and Rising, 1989
De La Soul
Playful, cluttered and fully-formed. The hooks, samples and skits are one long inside joke that never gets old. Early-career bright ideas made without cynicism. I found it late, but when I did, their colour smited the black and white.
NB Eye Know, Tread Water, Say No Go
Genre: Hip-Hop
Subgenres: Boom Bap, Daisy Age, East Coast
69, 2016
Wilson Tanner
Loose instrumentals. Pedal steel, hazy clarinet and room sounds find late-afternoon heat in rural nowhere. Sit with the ambience and time slows. It sounds like Australia—birds, roads and faint tunes of old. The fellas made a record with the soul of their suburbs.
NB Long Water, Pilot, Odd Low
Genre: Electronic
Subgenres: Ambient Jazz, Experimental, Fourth World
( ), 2002
Sigur Rós
The words mean nothing. The songs mean everything. Sung in Vonlenska, they want us to translate with emotions. Eight untitled tracks, split in two—the first four are hopeful; the last four pop off. Recorded in an empty swimming pool and we float without the water.
NB Untitled #1, Untitled #6, Untitled #8
Genre: Rock
Subgenres: Ambient, Dream Pop, Post-Rock