The end of any calendar year is a time of reflection. Looking back on what was achieved, then using that lack of achievement to motivate yourself to achieve more next time. We tend to be pretty rough on ourselves like that. The end of any calendar year is also a time to read a whole lot of lists which attempt to quantify the subjective nature of art in numbered sequence. It’s such a competitive tradition that people are sharing their best-of lists at the start of December when there’s still a whole other bloody month to go, what’s up with that, man?

I’ve done this thing for quite a few years now and looking back at the past lists is quite a surreal glimpse of how some of my musical tastes have refined over time. It’s also weird looking at albums that I loved at the time and haven’t listened to since, or seeing some of the ones that I overlooked at the time or simply hadn’t heard yet and would absolutely now have them in any top ten. But that’s not the point – these things are supposed to be a snapshot of the moment. Those sleeper albums have their own charm. It doesn’t really matter. If you dig an album then you dig an album and whether or not it’s on somebody else’s list (or even your own) is irrelevant.

So... yup. Here we go then. Ten albums that I, in my own personal wisdom/folly, determined were my favourites of the year that was. No rankings. All on equal pegging. Plenty of goodness amongst the honourable mentions too. Hopefully you find something that moves you.

Peep The Archives

The Wildcard’s Top 10 Albums of 2014

The Wildcard’s Top 10 Albums of 2015

The Wildcard’s Top 10 Albums of 2016

The Wildcard’s Top 10 Albums of 2017

The Wildcard’s Top 10 Albums of 2018

The Wildcard’s Top 10 Albums of 2019

The Wildcard’s Top 10 Albums of 2020

Honourable Mentions

Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg
Black Midi - Cavalcade
Illuminati Hotties – Let Me Do One More
Ty Segall - Harmonizer
La Luz – La Luz
Vince Staples – Vince Staples
Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend
Yasmin Williams – Urban Driftwood
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage
Wurld Series - What’s Growing
Sturgill Simpson – The Ballad of Dood and Juanita
Low – Hey What
Troy Kingi - Black Sea Golden Ladder
Tyler, The Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost
Steve Gunn – Other You
Wet Specimen – Wet Dreamin’
Charley Crockett – 10 For Slim: Charley Crockett Sings James Hand
Fat Freddy’s Drop – Wairunga
Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine Of Hell
Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime

Opposite Sex – High Drama

“You were the love of my life. Now I don’t care if you fall into the long, long loving arms of a combine harvester. Combine harvester, churning by over the little human. I’ll cry and say I had the sun in my eye – I didn’t see it happen”

The list ain’t ranked but this was the first one to make the cut. Just fantastic, raw, experimental post-punk sounds here rising up out of Dunedin. Ranging from punchy (and deliciously violent) rockers like Shoots Me Like A Knife and Combine Harvester to extended, droney, slow-stompers like Dick on a Throne (the best MeToo song you’ve heard yet) and Owls Do Cry. Great tunes. Dark but with a smirk. The guitars are fabulously distorted and the bass really booms. Not to mention Lucy Hunter’s excellent gothic-tinged lyrics. Hunter and Reg Norris are also two-thirds of the group Wet Specimen whose Wet Dreamin’ album is one of my honourable mentions so quite a year for them. Two amazing albums released within a month of each other.

The War On Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore

“I'm not asking you, I'm returning. Wake me up when the lights go low. I'm just wasted, baby, lost and learning. Sometimes you just ain't good enough”

The undeniable Adam Granduciel. The last War on Drugs album wasn’t my favourite (with the exception of the track Strangest Thing) as it got a little too unwieldy but damn has the dude brought it back around on this one. Leaning all the way into those 80s heartland and synth rock influences (Springsteen’s Born in the USA being front and centre), the risk here was that TWOD would cross that narrow line into pastiche but instead the sheer quality of these tunes and the conviction with which they’re played and sung puts this album on par with its idols. The title track goes so hard (with superb backing vocals from Lucius) that it draws you in immediately. Incredible song. So catchy that you instantly forgive it its silly/cliched lyrics – Granduciel is very much a writer who focuses on emotive touchstones rather than originality, his songs are stacked with typical Americana images (dreams, running, roads, rain, night-time, ghosts, etc.), and that’s all good. Then with that title track as the anchor in the middle you’re able to give the rest of the album the freedom it needs to grow and wrap its roots around you. Harmonia’s Dream. I Don’t Wanna Wait. Wasted. Occasional Rain. The more space you give it, the bigger it becomes. Absolutely ideal for late night driving.

Mara TK – Bad Meditation

“Standing in your garden. Crying in the rain. Highly medicated. But I miss you all the same”

Curtis Mayfield stylings for the tāngata. Groovy, dreamy neo-soul psychedelia. These are the sounds of spiritual healing, of loss and redemption, of fall and rise, of doubt and courage. Steeped in traditional wisdom. If you ever wondered what it would sound like if Troy Kingi (who features on this album) worked with Flying Lotus then this is probably the closest you’re gonna get... whilst remaining distinctively MTK’s own vision. Bad Meditation took several years to create and listening through you really sense the intricate craftsmanship from the former Electric Wire Hustle front-man. Written and produced by the bloke himself, capturing a distinctive sonic palette, it’s like an underwater vision quest full of funky beats, spiralling electric guitar (Mara TK is the son of legendary kiwi 70s guitar slinger Billy TK Snr – aka the Carlos Santana of Aotearoa), Mara’s own soulful vocals, and a large dose of Mauri Ora. Brilliant for the vibe-outs.

Rose City Band – Earth Trip

“Moonrise on the lake, down the breakers to the bay. Coast to coast. I’ll take it all. I’ll be home to stay”

The last Rose City Band album made the Top Ten a year ago and this one is even better so stands to reason that Ripley Johnson’s gotten the call-up once again. Johnson’s best known for psych-rock band Wooden Shjips (his group Moon Duo really slaps too, in the modern parlance) and RCB is his excuse to work out twangier country-rock ideas. Earth Trip is the third album within the project, written during the start of the pandemic, and it’s a delight on an almost spiritual level. I’ll admit that I’m more predisposed to this kinda thing than most but that cool it’s my list. Slow shuffling beats and Ripley’s warm hazy voice and plenty of steel guitar and then those gorgeous electric solos and all these sweet and shimmering and sometimes melancholic melodies. There’s still a little bit of trippiness in the mix but mostly it sounds like the other side of the hippie experience. The Sunday mornings not the Saturday nights. Barefeet on the grass, enraptured by the small miracles of nature. The dew on the leaves, the sun shining through the canopy... you almost have to listen to it with a squint because of the glare. Musically I can’t avoid the comparison of The Dead’s American Beauty and I don’t believe I’m capable of any higher praise so yeah I really dig this one. Oh and you’d better believe that Earth Trip still jams too. Rabbit and Dawn Patrol, the last two tunes, are next level heady explorations.

Navy Blue – Navy’s Reprise

“Sometimes, when I unwind, I learn a lesson or two. Gratitude was in my presence, let the blessing pursue”

Gratitude rap, this should be more of a thing. First I knew of Sage Elsesser it was as one of the skater kids on the final track of Frank Ocean’s Blonde album. These days he’s a soccer-quoting hip hop maestro delivering gracefully lyrical capsules of consciousness. There is pain at the heart of Navy’s Reprise but there’s hope too. Especially in the music which samples a heavy dose of old soul and R&B, giving it that shimmer. Bit of jazz in there too – there’s an Alice Coltrane shout out at one point. In fact if you wanna judge a dude by his references then how’s this for a list: John & Alice Coltrane, Edgar Davids, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Reggie Bush, a whole heap of Yaruba gods and goddesses, Earl Sweatshirt, Malcolm X, Derrick Rose, Ray Lewis, Bill Withers, Bruce Lee, and Tom Waits. Navy’s Reprise comes after the release of Song of Sage late last year and ramps up his reputation even further. These are some immaculate sounds. Meditative. Poetic. Profound. The earth turns with a heart so full, as the man says himself.

Snail Mail – Valentine

“I might have made a stranger out of you and I'm stranger too. I know that's not my perfume on you, Tiger, and we don't have long. Doesn't obsession just become me?”

The first thing that really pops on the second Snail Mail album is the ballistic chorus of the title/opening track. Executing the quiet-loud thing to perfection. Chunky electric guitar riffs, thumping drums, and a voice on the brink of straining that climbs above the rest. The hooks are fantastic on this record. The raucous rock thing continues on Ben Franklin with more of a strut but it fades away through a lot of the rest of the album as Lindsey Jordan mixes up the tempo and instrumentation. There are gentle ballads and mature singer-songwriter tunes. There are poppier moments and darker experimental moments. Pretty crazy how much variety there is on this album with every song sounding fully realised and inspired and the whole lot of them drawn together by Jordan’s distinctively raspy (and excellent) voice. Built around themes of heartbreak and self-discovery. Wonderfully written. Closing track Mia will give you a kick in the guts. Forever (Sailing) hits heavy too. There are a lot of quality indie-rock song-writers these days but very, very few of them are capable of crafting an album this lush and vivid.

Cory Hanson – Pale Horse Rider

“Sooner or later the devil will come and the rider's gonna cut him down with everyone. 'Cause sooner or later the devil will come and the rider's gonna cut him down with everyone. Pale Horse Rider, don’t come for me no more”

Cory Hanson’s better known as the main man in the psych band Wand, one of the many fantabulous groups/artists within the wider Ty Segall scene (Ty’s own Harmonizer was a close run Honourable Mention). This is his second solo effort and mate is it something. Very 70s Neil Young vibes. Stompy acoustic tunes adorned with Hanson’s high voice which isn’t a million miles away from old Shakey. Which ain’t to say that Hanson is abandoning his freak flag because Pale Horse Rider is still very off-kilter. Lyrically as much as anything. Plus the album came with a three-episode YouTube show that plays like Adult Swim meets Twin Peaks with nonsensical interludes full of funky cheap special effects between musical performances. Definitely check that out, ideally in an altered state of consciousness. This albums rips, mate. Lovely melodies that have you deep in the sway until a slashing guitar solo emerges every few tracks. It’s like a psychedelic western. Should be the soundtrack to a Jodorowsky film. Or a bad trip at a desert motel. One or the other.

Courtney Barnett – Things Take Time, Take Time

“Well, time is money and money is no man's friend. All eyes on the pavement, I'm not gonna touch ya, don't worry so much about it. I'm just waiting for the day to become night”

This has been a sleeper album for a lot of people, by the looks. One of the top singer-songwriters on the planet drops a near flawless record like this and it’s kinda been taken for granted. Which is fine, give it a few years and a few more Barnett releases and it’ll get its reconsideration down the line. A major reason why it hasn’t popped across the board is that Barnett makes it all seem so easy. This is a gentle album full of reflective tunes that almost seem to roll off her tongue and out of her guitar... and what that actually means is that the song-writing skill is at such a premier level that you can’t see the seams. Barnett made a duet album with Kurt Vile a few years back (also underrated) and Things Take Time is definitely drawing off some of that laid-back KV influence to go with her own Aussie chill. The almost laconic vocals and the smooth shuffle of the drums. Rae Street sets the tone right from the outset. Here’s The Thing and Before You Gotta Go ramp it up. If I Don’t Hear From You Again is great. Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To. This is an album full of wonders and the more you listen to it the more it buries itself within your soul. Because for someone who wrote one of the all time great anxiety songs... this album glimmers with contentment and gratitude. Happiness, even.

IDLES – Crawler

“Strong like an ox, bruise like a peach, eyes like a hawk, drunk as a lord, acts like a prick. Sick as a dog, white as a sheet, sleep like a log, work like a charm, lost in a dream”

There were four excellent English rock/punk/post-punk records all scrapping for this spot. They all occupied too similar of a place for me to include more than two of them in the top ten and in the end I only picked one. The rest are all honourable mentions: Wolf Alice, black midi, and Dry Cleaning (Black Country New Road is on the mentions too but falls short of this quartet). All top albums that I could write many words about but IDLES get the nudge on the simple basis that I listened to that one the most (an underrated metric sometimes). Crawler is the sound of a great band expanding what they do. It’s darker than past IDLES albums, a little less of the boot-stomping socialist rowdiness and a little more personal introspection. There’s this recurring imagery of car crashes. Lead singer Joe Talbot actually, you know, sings a few of the tunes. Plus they brought in Kenny Beats as a co-producer (along with guitarist Mark Bowen) which was completely out of the box but it worked out great. Kenny clearly loves the band and for a sample-heavy producer like him working outside of the hip hop genre is not as much of a leap as some would paint it. Dark IDLES is legit. This band doesn’t miss. Hearing closing track The End – which quotes old mate Leon Trotsky – for the first time was one of my top musical revelations in 2021.

Vera Ellen – It’s Your Birthday

“The sun will rise another day. Flowers grow in all directions. But I will no longer witness my heart in reaction”

A late addition to the list but as soon as I heard this one I knew I couldn’t deny the excellence of Vera Ellen’s solo debut. A first listen clincher courtesy of the esteemed Flying Nun Records (subsequent listens stack up just as well, can confirm). It starts off, after a scene setting sonic collage, with these awesome Stoogey punk numbers and then increasingly adds more depth and variety as it goes along. Borne of lived experience. Such a well sculpted record. The arrangements are awesome as Ellen manages to balance modern indie stylings with that lineage of kiwi DIY tunes without losing any cohesion. Love how much she can do with her voice, love her sense for a hook. Love that the slow songs get ya in the feels just as much as the ragers do (albeit different feels). Standout tunes include Telegram 2, YOU!, It’s Good It’s Simple, Godspeed... album closer Joy is an eye-dampener too. Reminds me a bit of that superb Emily Edrosa album from last year. The third Aotearoa album on this list, shout out to kiwi creatives.