After the rankings of the best albums of 204 published by Mojo, Uncut, Consequence, Pitchfork and Stereogum, it is the turn of the authoritative The Wire, a historic British magazine renowned for its attention to “frontier” sounds and self-proclaimed “world's greatest music magazine “. In issue 491/492 – already available upon digital subscription – The Wire has published the list of the best releases of the year, in the opinion of the editorial staff. The magazine is known for its unconventional choices (in 2022 it placed Lucrecia Dalt at the top, in 2021 L'Rain, while last year it opted for the more canonical Yo La Tengo), and also in this edition it surprises by placing highlighting the names of experimental artists who are little considered elsewhere, with a purely free jazz brand at the top, [Ahmed]with an album, “Giant Beauty”, lasting monsters a good 4 hours.
Here are the top 50 best albums of the year according to The Wire.
- [Ahmed] – Giant Beauty (Fönstret)
- Rafael Toral – Spectral Evolution (Moikai)
- Elaine Mitchener – Solo Throat (Otoroku)
- Moor Mother – The Great Bailout (Anti-)
- Still House Plants – If I don't make it, I love u (Bison)
- Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee (Realistic)
- Moin – You Never End (AD93)
- Kim Gordon – The Collective (Matador)
- Caxtrinho – Queda Livre (QTV)
- Beings – There Is A Garden (No Quarter)
- Dhangsha – Broadcast Signal Intrusion (Brachliegen Tapes)
- The Body & Dis Fig – Orchards Of A Futile Heaven (Thrill Jockey)
- Toshiya Tsunoda & Taku Unami – Wovenland 3 (Erstwhile)
- Ka – The Thief Next To Jesus (Iron Works)
- Water Damage – In E (12XU)
- Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media)
- Shellac – To All Trains (Touch & Go)
- Dialect – Atlas Of Green (RVNG Intl)
- Pat Thomas – The Solar Model Of Ibn Al-Shatir (Otoroku)
- Cape – STARVE (Plague)
- Mary Timony – Untame The Tiger
- Fay Victor & Herbie Nichols SUNG – Life Is Funny That Way
- Able Noise – High Tide
- Kali Malone – All Life Long
- Richie Culver – Scream If You Don't Exist
- Fatboi Sharif & Roper Williams – Something About Shirley
- Karl D'Silva – Love Is A Flame In the Dark
- The Bug – Machines IV
- Charli XCX – Brat
- Fievel Is Glauque – Rong Weicknes
- Nídia & Valentina – Estradas
- Sisso & Maiko – Singeli Ya Maajabu
- Milton Nascimento and Esperanza Spalding – Milton + Esperanza
- Laurie Anderson – Amelia
- Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
- Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
- Frederic D. Oberland / Grégory Dargent / Tony Elieh / Wassim Halal – SIHR
- Tony Conrad & Jennifer Walshe – In The Merry Month Of May
- Rhodri Davies – Telyn Wrachïod
- Trigger Object – Ghost Bros OST
- Sarah Hennies – Motor Tapes
- KRM & KMRU – Disconnect
- Neil Luck – Radio Archive (2014-2023)
- Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
- The Necks – Bleed
- Yatta – Palm Wine
- Clarissa Connelly – World Of Work
- Robin Mackay – By The North Sea
- Eiko Ishibashi – Evil Does Not Exist
- Claire Rousay – Sentiment
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
