It’s summer. You can tell it’s summer because the music industry has buggered off on holiday for three months leaving us all bereft of new music and having to listen to our Dad’s Greatest Hits of ELO cassette and pretend like that’s a brilliant and convenient thing in front of all our much cooler friends.

Thankfully help is at hand. For it is exactly the middle of the year and therefore a wondrous time where all the music mags and websites across the land announce their annual ‘best albums of the year so far’ lists, giving music fans a chance to discover something they may have missed, which they can pretend to enjoy for a bit before inevitably listening to 1989 for the remainder of the summer.

Throwing its metaphorical hat into the oddly not-so-metaphorical ring is Methods Unsound, with its own best albums of the year so far list, presented in handy alphabetical order so as not to force us to make any real decisions or put in any extra work. We hope you find something to your liking.

Action Bronson – Mr Wonderful

Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

Braids – Deep in the Iris

Björk – Vulnicura

Dan Deacon – Gliss Riffer

John Carpenter – Lost Themes

Gaz Coombes – Matador

Faith No More – Sol Invictus

Holly Herndon – Platform

Ibeyi – Ibeyi

Jamie XX – In Colour

Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly

Purity Ring – Another Eternity

Sleater-Kinney – No Cities to Love

THEESatisfaction – EarthEE

Tigercats – Mysteries

Torres – Sprinter

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Multi Love

Vessels – Dilate

Young Fathers – White Men Are Black Men Too

That’s your lot. Come back halfway through next year, when we’ll divulge 2016’s best albums up until that point.

There’s a definite possibility you’re not reading music websites in the correct way.

Check out all the latest album releases in our new music reviews section.











