BURSTAmericana’s classiest duo weather the storm, Kendrick Lamar has the last word, UK jazz soars – and Charli xcx unleashes the power of Brat
1. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings: Woodland
(Acony, August)
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’s return was prompted by the near loss of their life’s work when a hurricane damaged Woodland, the folk duo’s recording studio. That averted destruction was mirrored in these beautifully arranged, woebegone tales of empty freight trains and departed friends.
2. Jpegmafia: I Lay Down My Life for You
(Awal, August)
How to follow Scaring the Hoes, Jpegmafia’s 2023 caustic outing with Danny Brown? With this dizzying collision of hooks, samples, metal guitars and disdain. Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks’s uranium-tongued collection found space for self-reflection too.