For the record, the best album that I’ve heard this year has been Chance the Rapper’s ‘Coloring Book’. It’s outstanding, such a joyful record and so breathtakingly ambitious too. Like, Chance has his happy rapper thing well established after the Donnie Trumpet record but he’s taking no lack of risks throughout Chance III, not only in his defiantly independent status but sonically too. A truly great album, no doubt about it.

Through the first five and change months of the year there have been plenty other records that stand out too. Many of them got themselves glowing reviews on these very pages. David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ for example. Parquet Courts’ ‘Human Performance’ as well. But then there are also a few fine listens that didn’t get the same treatment, or they did but they didn’t carry the same promotional weight to lift the album into that fabled ‘critically acclaimed’ status.

Or there’s the case that anything released in or around Prince’s death got pretty well overshadowed. Same goes for Bowie’s death except for his own album (and the fact that hardly anyone releases records that early in the year).

So here is a list of Wildcard endorsed albums that for whatever reason may have been swept under the table or that I simply reckon are worth another spin on the turntable. Because, obviously, my tastes in music are immaculate and unrivalled. That may not be true, but if you dig just one of these ten then, ya know, I’ve done my job as a music writer here.

Kyle Craft – Dolls of the Highland

Such a cool little album, it’s like glam rock meets heartland rock – think Marc Bolan fronting the Heartbreakers (except he sings like Bob Dylan). Craft he, well… crafts these wonderfully captivating tales about strippers and vampires and reapers and singers and crossdressers and ghosts and it’s all awesome. This guy’s verbose in a way that not too many rock and rollers are these days. Swampy and melodic, catchy and subversive. You’ll hear this name again.

Misty Miller – The Whole Family Is Worried

Likewise this one, the London songstress who dropped her long awaited long player earlier in the year after a string of EPs across the last few calendars. Ranging from irrepressive pop-punk to bluesy thumpers and the odd bit of balladry, Miller covers plenty of ground here – all tied together by a fine voice and some tight songwriting. The family needn’t be worried.

Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression

IGGY! The legend that is, with one of the best albums of his career. I’m not even joking about that, Iggy chilled with Josh Homme (and a few notable friends) out in Joshua Tree and between them they created a record that’s a throwback to his German Days (there’s a song by that title) whilst also sounding pretty 2016 in the process – it ends with one of the all-time great ‘get off my lawn’ speeches you’ll ever hear. The lyrics are sharp, the band is superb, the songs are creative and full of quality while the man himself is getting it done like he hasn’t since the 90s. He’s also said it might be his last album because he can’t really be bothered anymore. For the sake of an American icon, you owe him a listen.

William Tyler – Modern Country

Here’s a fellow who is carving out a place for himself, Tyler builds these gorgeous extended instrumental guitar pieces and has had a couple of top albums in the past few years. This one might be his best. It’s a full-band effort (including Wilco’s drummer, hey hey) written as an ode to a dying America. Road tunes that’ll take you on journeys as you sit still with your headphones in. Nobody else is making this kind of music on this scale and if they are then there’s no way they’re doing it better.

Anderson .Paak – Malibu

Like Chance the Rapper’s album, Anderson .Paak’s is so joyous and triumphant that nobody could listen to it without a smile. Celebratory tunes about love and fighting through adversity mean there is always a light at the end of the tunnel on Malibu, it’s a sprawling album that covers plenty of territory and allows .Paak (and collaborators such as Schoolboy Q and Talib Kweli) to really thrive. Even slightly weaker tracks still crackle with the energy of the band. His voice carries that soulful sort of grace while the lad can sure play a drum kit too. Fine work all around.

The I Don’t Cares – Wild Stab

The band is new but the voices are more than recognisable. The I Don’t Cares is the duo of Paul Westerberg and Juliana Hatfield, he of The Replacements and she of many 90s indie rock bands (not in the least the Juliana Hatfield Three). The Mats just got through a reunion tour and Westerberg followed that up by cutting a few tracks in his garage studio, inviting Hatfield in to listen and soon enough it was a full-on duet album. And, mate, what an album. Nothing fancy, all homemade recordings, but some of the tunes really rock with this ragged energy. Great to hear Westerberg on form like this, what a legend. A few bits of filler in there but a few genuine jams too. Wonderful.

Ty Segall – Emotional Mugger

The prince of garage rock went full concept this year, putting out this heavy riffing protest to the plugged-in, ultra-connected digital age. All the way down to performing with his latest band, The Muggers, in a psycho-baby mask wailing goo-goos and ga-gas in between crunching songs about candy and breakfast eggs. That’s all in the additionals, what you need to know is that this is Segall 100% committed and roaring with energy and electric guitar. Louder and more forceful than some of his glammier efforts lately, Emotional Mugger will have you tapping your heel through the car floor.

Terrace Martin – Velvet Portraits

If you don’t know the dude, you ought to. He was one of the featured dudes on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and this is his first solo joint since then. As such it falls somewhere between jazz and hip hop, as brass meets beats and the grooves fly steady. This is LA music, rolling down the windows on a breezy drive. The contributors are immaculate and Martin is in dominant form. The piece de resistance is the 12 minute closer, an instrumental cover of TPAB closer Mortal Man that struts and looms and shimmers and dances. The album’s worth it on that track alone, and the rest ain’t too shabby meanwhile.

Eagulls – Ullages

These Leeds lads used to be more punk than this. Now they’ve slowed down somewhat and incorporated a bit of psychedelia into the formula. There’s a gleaming to this record that gives it a real new wave feel, something that the band does well to stay on top of rather than slipping into Bunnymen tribute act area. Could have used a few more charging moments like on their debut but it’s an album that’ll get to ya despite the gloom.

Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

You can anoint him the latest in a long line of saviours of country music if you want but Sturgill ain’t playing that game. His new album is a letter to his young son told through the lens of a sailor at sea (channelling his old navy experience). There is pedal steel, sure, but there are also Stax-ish horns and a Nirvana cover. Simpson has never sung better and it’s a tribute to him that this album, as ambitious as it is, flows so completely true.