Guide to the Week of Music: Albums that caught our ear in 2018, Part one

Welcome to a special Guide to the Week of Music: the first instalment of a two-part article gathering together some of the many albums that have caught our ear in 2018. We’ve enjoyed countless wonderful albums this year, which together, reaffirm the magic, vitality and irreproducible qualities of live performance, but also the great importance of music technology, of collaboration, cultural exchange and stylistic fusion, beyond the confines of genre or classification. We’ve revelled in the juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary music and are fascinated by how different customs and cultures, recording processes and resources, have led to recordings brilliant and wholly unique. We couldn’t possibly include every single record that has impressed us this year, but have endeavoured to bring together 40 in no particular order, that we have ourselves treasured and hope you can enjoy too, including work from the likes of The Fernweh, Orions Belte, Children of Zeus, TVAM and Sons of Kemet.

Take a moment to check out our picks on the Guide to the World of Music website, here.