It’s not always been easy but over the last few years, we’ve stuck to the script of keeping our releases of the year round-up to a neat top 50. Granted, it stung to omit the odd thing here and there, but it always felt apt and to the point. The smaller the number, the more essential the releases, right? These last twelve months have revealed that notion not to be necessarily true. In fact, as the following one hundred albums, compilations, and EPs luminously attest, this year, it’s categorically false. Frankly, we’ve never been more content to be wrong.
100. Rory Sweeney – I Like You
99. Luthorist, sivv – Time On Earth
98. Poor Petal – zzz
97. J Smith – (…) And you chose not to laugh
96. Invaderband – Peter Gabriel
95. Cosha – Mt. Pleasant
94. Elephant – Ice Cream
93. Cherym – Hey Tori
92. Smoothboi Ezra – Stuck
91. VerseChorusVerse – What If We Won
90. M. CAMBRIDGE – Land Songs: The Ballad of Sok le Boy
89. SENU – Jetlag
88. A Smyth – Last Animals
87. Ciaran Lavery & Soft Sports – Happiness
86. Elaine Mai – Home
85. Caoilian Sherlock – Big Child
84. Jimbo Jones – The Heat Death of My Hometown
83. F.R.U.I.T.Y – F.R.U.I.T.Y
82. Susan Geaney/David Lacey – Tempf
81. Maria Kelly – The Sum Of The In-Between
80. Saint Sister – Where I Should End
79. Soda Blonde – Small Talk
78. Hazey Haze – Epitome
77. Ellen King – Images and Sensations
76. So Cow – Bisignis
75. FRMR – Amelanchier
74. Black Bones – Night Drives
73. passersby – Always
72. HAVVK – Levelling
71. Eoin Dolan – Mirror Liver
70. NUXSENSE – A Sacred Journey Through The Golden Path
69. Eomac – Cracks
68. Houseplants – Dry Goods
67. Wyvern Lingo – Awake You Lie
66. Joshua Burnside & Laura Quirke – In The Half-Light
65. Gaze Is Ghost – Lapis Cobalt Indigo Blue
64. Various Artists – European Endless
63. MueseuM – DONTNOD
62. Lethal Dialect – Songs Of A Dead Dreamer
61. Comrade Hat – Old Gods, Vol. 1
60. TRÚ – No Fixed Abode
59. New Dad – Waves
58. Various Artists – Chancers
57. United Bible Studies – Divining Moments
56. Jennifer Moore – Channels of Time
55. Nomadic Rituals – Tides
54. Sunken Foal – Two Moon Junction
53. Alpha Chrome Yayo – Page Me
52. Tebi Rex – It’s Gonna Be Okay
51. Kaidi Tatham – An Insight To All Minds
50. A Ritual Sea – A Ritual Sea
49. Olan Monk – Auto Life
48. This Ship Argo – Always The Bees: Never The Honey
47. Bicep – Isles
46. Dani Larkin – Notes On A Maiden Warrior
45. Odd Ned – Long Mile Works
44. DeepInTheWoods66 – Self Help Tapes vol. 2
43. Fears – Oíche
42. SORBET – This Was Paradise
41. Loah – When I Rise Up
40. Strange Boy – Holy/Unholy
39. Jehnova, lod – Avenoir
38. Claire Guerin & Eamon Ivri – Entropy
37. The Bonk – Chore Loops
36. Arvo Party – Corpus I & II
35. Tuath – Research and Development
34. Hilary Woods – Feral Hymns
33. Jinx Lennon – Liferafts For Latchikos
32. Various Artists – In The Echo: Field Recordings From Earlsfort Terrace
31. Fixity – Fixity 7
30. New Pagans – The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All
29. windings – Focus On The Past 5
28. For Those I Love – For Those I Love
27. Autumns – Dyslexia Sound System
26. Robert Curgenven – Tailte Cré-Umha (Bronze Lands): Live At Cork Midsummer Festival
25. Various Artists – Lidl Museum of Ancient and Contemporary Art Audio Tour
24. Ra Gerra – New Vessels
23. North Cork Organic Group – Blackwater Valley High (Landscape Mixtape)
22. Villagers – Fever Dreams
21. The Daisy Chain – The Daisy Chain
20. Jane Deasy – Thawing
19. Leo Miyagee – Act III
18. Sal Dulu – Xompulse
17. Mantua – Mantua
16. Group Zero – Everyone’s Already Come Apart
15. Arthur Itis – Occam’s Razor
14. Lighght – Holy Endings
13. Kojaque – Town’s Dead
12. The Department of Energy – Lee Lines (Landscape Mixtape)
11. Various Artists – Fire Draw Near
10. Hannah Peel – Fir Wave
9. Post Punk Podge & the Technohippies – Euphoric Recall
8. Denise Chaila – It’s a Mixtape
7. Kineograph – Capricorn
6. M(h)aol – Gender Studies
5. Eimear Reidy & Natalia Beylis – Whose Woods These Are
4. Frog Of Earth – Frog Of Earth
3. Meljoann – H.R
2. The Altered Hours – Convertible
1. John Francis Flynn – I Would Not Live Always
