A few records that seem to have gone under the radar here and elsewhere:
Disheveled Cuss - S/T: Just found out about this one. FFO of Weezer, I guess, sounds a bit like Ovlov to give a more recent example.
Arboretum - Let It All In: Rock/Folk/Country with great meandering guitar jams.
Tesa - Control: Latvian post-metal. Satisfyingly heavy.
Arvo Party - Electronic in the Jon Hopkins/FourTet mould. But they’ve also released 3 (!) other records this year, 2x ambient and the 3rd sort of sunny Balearic 80s tunes
2nd Grade - Hit to Hit: 24 songs clocking in at 41 minutes, there are a few misses among the “hits”. But at their best they are brilliant small nuggets of indie perfection.
Going to shout out releases by Okay Kaya and Cecile Believe.
Okay Kaya - Watch This Liquid Pour Itself
Probably my album of the year so far, touches of folk, alt rock and synth-pop a plenty. The lyrics might not be for everyone but there’s plenty of choice quotes that are achingly honest when the sarcasm isn’t on full comedic force.
Cecile Believe - Made in Heaven
You might recognise Cecile for providing half the vocals and songwriting to SOPHIE’s OIL OF… album. It’s more of a mini album, but some really nice synth poppy goodness here. Not as abrasive as a lot of PC music tunes, but one I keep coming back to.