Artists' rankings

1. Algiers – Algiers

An apocalyptic gospel à-la Bad Seeds… that's how one might be tempted to dismiss this record on a first, distracted listen. But if you let yourself get pulled into the kaleidoscopic vortex the album is capable of generating, you get lost in the multitude of strange forms that spring from the reshuffling of elements that are, all things considered, simple and well known, and which in this hugely successful alchemy gain new life. The 80s and 90s, hip-hop, industrial, yes! But all of it absorbed in a healthy and thoroughly contemporary way.

2. Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell

A record dedicated to his late mother, to the missed and irretrievably lost emotions of a difficult childhood; an operation that could have come across as maudlin at best, but old Sufjan pulls it off brilliantly, with the disarming power - and simplicity at the same time - of songwriting and music that is unquestionably authentic. A folk record with no stylistic pretensions, no twists, made in full and conscious rejection of any kind of sonic experimentation, as if to say: here's my heart, in the total darkness of a switched-off mind, do with it what you will... Maybe that was exactly what we needed.

3. Mariah – Utakata No Hibi (reissue)

A record made in the early 80s, released in '83, pressed at the time in just a handful of copies. "Utakata no Hibi," rediscovered by chance by a DJ in 2008, has gradually become a cult record in the West too. Eastern delicacy and grace, post-punk-wave and minimalism join hands, surrendering with total naturalness to an elegant, timeless dance. It's nice to think how many other little masterpieces like this one might still be lying dusty and forgotten in basements and attics here and there around the world.

4. Holly Herndon – Platform

There's no doubt that, for at least the last two decades, we've been lacking technological innovations capable of sparking curiosity and artistic growth among today's musicians, especially in the electronic field. It was easy, on one hand, to create new or unprecedented sonic landscapes back when, in the 60s and 70s, the first synths and the first drum machines hit the market, followed later by FM synthesis, samplers, and then the PC... Lots of nice little toys to fuel one's imagination and growth. Now, paradoxically, the situation is different, and it's increasingly hard to create a sound of one's own and instantly recognizable, when, in the end, you're always using the same worn-out tricks. Holly Herndon pulls it off with this gorgeous record, creating exactly that: a genuine "platform" of multilingualism, electronic... and not only.

5. Kamasi Washington – The Epic

A record that perhaps should have come out more than 40 years ago, but which for some strange reason has only materialized in our day? Or maybe the release of this work is simply a provocation aimed at an "indie" world that's by now clearly running out of ideas? The fact remains that "The Epic" wins you over with the sheer energy and vitality it radiates, so much so that it reawakens the old spirits of jazz, dormant for years, dusty and clogged up with cold, self-referential mannerisms. A jazz that's "faithful" but not "conformist," which unexpectedly crosses over into the "indie" world, despite its river of modal solos and excessive technical flourishes.

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30/10/2025