Farhot: Kabul Fire Volume 2 review – gut-shaking hip-hop collage
The Afghan-born producer skilfully explores his heritage with an unruly collage of vocal samples blended with diasporic sounds
Rico Nasty: Nightmare Vacation review – offbeat rapper is impossible to ignore
The high-volume delivery may be an acquired taste but there are gems to be found in this album of chaotic experimentalism
Flohio: No Panic No Pain review – rapper leaves no mould unbroken
The south London rapper broadens and deepens her emotional range, while continuing to select unexpected production partners
Cabaret Voltaire: Shadow of Fear review – a fittingly dystopian fantasy from Sheffield’s industrial pioneers
The first Cabaret Voltaire album in more than two decades feels oddly of the moment, their grim presentiments about disinformation, curfews and crackdowns fulfilled
Gorillaz: Song Machine Season One: Strange Timez review – playful and potent collaboration
Damon Albarn provides the melodic anchor to this pioneering album that balances concept and fun
Sun Ra Arkestra: Swirling review – out of this world
The Arkestra’s first album in 20 years is an intoxicating, cosmic tribute to Sun Ra
Ela Minus: Acts of Rebellion review – techno-pop for dancing, thinking and resisting
Making her debut album alone on analogue machines, Minus has come up with an inspiring manifesto for 2020
Autechre: Sign review – electronic masters soar and fall in negative space
A surprisingly melodic proper album is welcome from the electronic pioneers, but its dystopian soundworld is now in a crowded market
Jónsi: Shiver review – ethereal steel for strange times
Jónsi’s first album in a decade is a clever mix of crunchy electronica and floating vocals
Working Men’s Club review – synthpop of every stripe on outstanding debut LP
The West Yorkshire band take the stark electronics of the post-punk scene and warm them with Detroit techno and Italian house – while addressing Andrew Neil with mischievous one-liners
Róisín Murphy: Róisín Machine review – still inventing new moves
Pop outsider and lockdown living-room star Murphy distils her disco expertise and musical idiosyncrasies in songs pulsing with dancefloor power
Sleaford Mods review – a bracing stream of class consciousness
The Nottingham punk duo let rip with a battery of barbed lyrics, bizarre noises and back-to-basics beats
Sault: Untitled (Rise) review – mystery collective make best album of 2020, again
Just 12 weeks after their previous double album, the British group dance from sorrow to resistance, mixing fearless lyrics with house, funk and disco
Disclosure: Energy review – accidental elegies for empty dancefloors
With nightclubs closed during coronavirus, the third album from the British pop-house duo has an unwittingly mournful quality
Duma: Duma review – extreme Kenyan metalheads bring doom to the dancefloor
From Nairobi’s metal scene, Martin Kanja and Sam Karugu add techno to doom-laden guitars and distorted vocals on this exciting album