30. Moonsorrow
Since inheriting the folk-metal throne from Falkenbach, Moonsorrow’s colossal sound has outlasted major challengers such as Primordial and Agalloch and continues to withstand a spirited current attack from Celtic folk metal masters Saor. After so many years, their every album is event-listening for the extreme metal community, and all are unparalleled in scale, energy and vision; the very best band from Finland’s world-leading metal scene.
Most recent: “Jumalten Aika” (2016)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Verisäkeet” (2005)
29. Charli XCX
With her latest records of titanium-coated space pop, Charli is caressing and coaxing chart music into its inevitable future; party music aching with empathy and longing, its vulnerability candying in the breathless gaps between slamming production and digitally decaying vocals. “Charli” (2019) is her futurist pop manifesto, “How I’m Feeling Now” (2020) will be the lockdown album du jour. Charli has tirelessly written her way to the near-top and is hopefully just getting warm.
Most recent: “How I’m Feeling Now” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Charli” (2019)
28. Perfume Genius
Mike Hadreas has flown a flag for outsiders everywhere from the days of his lo-fi emergence a decade ago to 2020’s instant classic “Set My Fire On Fire Immediately”, which may cement him as the headline act of excellent NYC label Matador against stiff competition from his peers. Comfortable orienteering baroque, glammed-up chamber pop and smoky Zeppelin-esque segues in equal measure, this ever-improving indie helmsman is one breakout hit song, which nearly came with 2014’s “Queen”, from a surprising future as an arena act.
Most recent: “Set My Heart On Fire Immediately” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “No Shape” (2017)
27. Julia Holter
Los Angeles-based Julia Holter was already one of America’s most exciting experimental talents prior to 2018’s “Aviary”, the multitudinous meditation on medieval memory which saw Holter carving out a liminal space even further down the evolutionary vein of irresistible avant-garde mined on 2013’s “Loud City Song”, after the more traditionally structured “Have You In My Wilderness” brought her a wider audience in 2015. All limits to her sound have now been shed.
Most recent: “Aviary” (2018)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Loud City Song” (2013)
26. Tyler The Creator
Tyler manifested a decade ago as an enigmatic but dastardly provocateur who seemed a bit lost for a couple of albums. Few have settled into a niche as comfortably as he now has. He could maintain a cult following for years releasing albums in the style of “Scum Fuck Flower Boy” (2017) and “Igor” (2019), understatedly beautiful records which repurpose the forms and techniques of hip hop to interrogate feelings and demographics around male loneliness.
Most recent: “Igor” (2019)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Scum Fuck Flower Boy” (2017)
25. Solange
As Beyoncé seemed to complete her conquering of the planet with the universally adored “Lemonade” in 2016, her sister finally harnessed her own talents into an opus of similar stature. “A Seat At The Table” deep-dived into the lived tribulations of black American women and gleamed with a nourishing, inestimably vintage sound which made it sound like we’d known it forever. “When I Get Home” (2019) continued the trend from a musical family we barely deserve right now.
Most recent: “When I Get Home” (2019)
You’ll also need to hear this: “A Seat At The Table” (2016)
24. Converge
Three decades in, the Salem, Massachusetts metalcore overlords boast a span of albums with which few can compete. Almost 20 years after their defining classic “Jane Doe”, they have continued to bolster their highly accomplished musicianship and increasingly thoughtful lyricism behind the twin pistons of guitarist Kurt Ballou, maven of frenzied, razor-wire guitar riffing and now a producer of immense clarity in the worlds of metal and experimental music, and extreme music pin-up and frontman Jacob Bannon’s seismic, throat-shredding vocal work.
Most recent: “The Dusk In Us” (2017)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Jane Doe” (2001)
23. Tame Impala
Kevin Parker (“did you know Tame Impala is just one guy?”, as the music nerd meme goes!) may once have been a rock kid but has now been fundamentally turned by his time deep behind pop lines. Tastemakers already couldn’t get enough after “Lonerism” (2012), and giving in to his inability to resist giddy, luminescent melody saw “Currents” (2015) turn him into a go-to collab for pop music’s biggest names. “The Slow Rush” (2020), an incredibly topical treatise on time, is all vamping, intergalactic beats and electronic euphoria.
Most recent: “The Slow Rush” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “Currents” (2015)
22. The National
While hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, big budget indie giants The National came to outstrip the false dawns of The Strokes and Interpol to become the definitive soundtrack of big city living post-9/11. Matt Berninger waxed lyrical about the glamour and boredom of young professionals before the band bottled a dusty, cinematic aura which flowed to some centre on “Boxer” (2007) and “High Violet” (2010). Their most recent albums more playfully stumble across a capacity to surprise.
Most recent: “I Am Easy To Find” (2019)
You’ll also need to hear this: “High Violet” (2010)
21. Ulcerate
The New Zealand trio conjure up jaw-dropping power on record. Their sound is a post-metal melee, a big tent pitched at the atmospheric mid-point between death metal and sludge, with listeners liable to lose footing amid the technical and structural chaos modelled on the utterly disorientating innovations of Gorguts, Portal and Deathspell Omega and the powerhouse drumming of creative engine room Jamie Saint Merat. 2020’s “Stare Into Death & Be Still” may be their best yet as they play with increased melody to astonishing effect.
Most recent: “Stare Into Death & Be Still” (2020)
You’ll also need to hear this: “The Destroyers Of All” (2011)
Roads To The North 