40. Future
Nobody, not even Kanye West, has shaped the sound of current American chart music more forcefully than Future since he arrived as a fully-formed modern-day bluesman for the trap generation. A revolutionary artist still churning out records of cast-iron consistency, Future crammed in an underrated collab tape with Juice WRLD in 2018 before Juice’s tragic passing, turned in an arguable career crescendo on the 2019 FKA Twigs cut “Holy Terrain” and continues to average at least an album per year.
Most recent: “High Off Life” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “DS2” (2015)
39. Iceage
Once described as the most dangerous band in the world by Iggy Pop, the Copenhagen outfit’s punk-rooted music is aflame with poetic heft and beaming musicality, transmogrifying from a firebrand modern hardcore sound into a sophisti-rock mould incorporating post-punk, jazzy stylings and various other arthouse leanings, perfected on “Plowing Into The Field Of Love” (2014) and “Beyondless” (2018). These boys look poised to continue to cultivate their profile with class.
Most recent: “Beyondless” (2018)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Plowing Into The Field Of Love” (2014)
38. Run The Jewels
The incendiary eloquence of Killer Mike has positioned him as one of America’s most significant modern rappers after a long rise. Underground veteran El-P is no slouch, bringing cocksure witticisms and future-funky bombshell production to the table. The duo are on a seemingly intractable run of self-titled calls-to-arms dripping in swagger, steel and style; it’s the very best of political party music anchored in an effortlessly charismatic chemistry between the tandem.
Most recent: “Run The Jewels 4” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Run The Jewels 3” (2016)
37. Deathspell Omega
The mystical French collective have been a unique force in black metal for a long time and boast an expansive catalogue of material showcasing the most dizzying, nauseating guitar dynamics in music. Concluding a stream of records lyrically focused on the theology of God, Satan and humanity, the band switched to political themes on 2019’s “The Furnaces Of Palingenesia” as their shrouded membership came under heightened scrutiny, but the band remains a staggeringly dense lodestar for extreme music.
Most recent: “The Furnaces Of Palingenesia” (2019)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Paracletus” (2010)
36. Arca
Venezuelan producer Arca has defined the future sound of electronic music through her albums “Xen” (2014) and “Mutant” (2015) before delivering one of the most exhilarating curveballs of the 2010s by lacing the wartorn dynamics and brooding, Lynchian textures of her ever-shifting compositions with haunting vocal work on 2017’s excellent self-titled album. As well as steering Björk in new sonic directions of late, Arca has just undertaken another left-turn into what can be broadly termed pop on the new album “Kick I”.
Most recent: “Kick I” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Arca” (2017)
35. J Hus
J Hus is flying low on so many radars right now. The London rapper and singer and his collaborative producer Jae5 have brought new linguistic and musicological possibilities to the UK hip hop scene with two white hot albums defined by an effervescent studio sound, midwifing the nascent Afroswing movement in the process, and unlocking a wave of burgeoning young acts headlined by Coventry rookie Pa Salieu. You’d have to look to Nigeria’s Burna Boy to find Hus’ only contemporary right now.
Most recent: “Big Conspiracy” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Common Sense” (2017)
34. Oranssi Pazuzu
Mashing psychedelic rock, black metal and the backwater prog of Swans into a monolithic, snaking curiosity come Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu. Steadily gathering momentum in the metal world, the band struck gold on 2016’s “Värähtelijä” and are now back with the equally gargantuan “Mestarin Kynsi”, an oft-bonkers, hulking slab of spaced-out, nightmarish chaos. This is an ambitious, complex band with a likely big future of similarly significant statements ahead of them.
Most recent: “Mestarin Kynsi” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Värähtelijä” (2016)
33. FKA twigs
Tahlia Barnett is a singular force, merging contemporary RnB and a hive-mind of star electronic artists to forge an uncompromising, extraterrestrial blend of avant-garde music. Her commitment to her art, as musician, dancer and visual sorcerer, is unquestioned, and on the painstakingly crafted “Magdalene” (2019) she ascends to a magnetic career zenith best highlighted by the album’s stunning closer “Cellophane”, which was instantly acclaimed as one of the finest songs of the 2010s.
Most recent: “Magdalene” (2019)
You’ll also need to hear this: “LP1” (2014)
32. Deafheaven
The San Francisco collective took to the stratosphere with 2013’s instant classic “Sunbather”, the shimmering, shoegazing epic which is one of the most widely acclaimed metal albums of all time and proved that black metal could be as American as apple pie. The band have been remarkably consistent and, in “Ordinary Corrupt Human Love” in 2018, added their second classic, rifling expertly through post-rock, post-metal and a dreamy blackgaze sound they have immortalised.
Most recent: “Ordinary Corrupt Human Love” (2018)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Sunbather” (2013)
31. The War On Drugs
With 2017’s “A Deeper Understanding”, Adam Granduciel impossibly refined the trippy, panoramic Heartland renderings of 2014’s “Lost In The Dream”. The group is now defined by tightly-confected, skyscraping song structures loaded with foreshadowing of never-promised finalities, lyrics which evaporate on contact with air, statuesque peaks of crystalline instrumentation and Rust Belt evocations painted contemporarily with a veritable Springsheen.
Most recent: “A Deeper Understanding” (2017)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Lost In The Dream” (2014)
Roads To The North 