Listen. The Noisey team is global. We have offices everywhere, from Toronto to Denmark to New York and a bunch of other places we don’t have time to list right now. And so, when it comes to end-of-year music round ups, we use this complex, democratic voting system to ensure everyone’s voices get heard (it’s worth it: peep our top 100 albums and top 100 tracks of 2018 to see what an objectively flawless list looks like.)
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What this means, though, is that some of the smaller, more UK-based projects might fall through the cracks. Thus, in an effort to correct this sad and inevitable fact, we’ve compiled a rundown of our favourite, most underrated UK releases from the past 12 months below (and by ‘releases’, we mean albums, EPs, mixtapes, whatever… just anything that bangs and is worth listening to). You can treat it as an accompaniment to Our Big Playlist of the Best British Songs of 2018 from earlier this week. Enjoy:Big Joanie describe themselves as being “like The Ronettes filtered through 80s DIY and riot grrrl with a sprinkling of dashikis” and I’m not sure I can really explain this accomplished, joyful, discordant debut album with anything better than those words, so I’ll just leave this one here.Nah sorry, but this 7-track EP from London’s Kara Marni did not get enough love when it came out in May. Flitting between R&B, soul and 90s-style pop/dance tracks, listening to Love Just Ain’t Enough feels like a beautiful day spent laying on a sun lounger with your eyes closed. Also props to the video for “Golden,” which will get you in the mood for summer 2019.IDK what you were doing at 17, but I was mainly getting stoned and trying to scrape my way through a Philosophy A-Level that I would never use. Lava La Rue, on the other hand, was kick-starting a collective of artists, musicians and creatives called NiNE8 (you can read more about them and her story here). Now 20, the London rapper continues to be prolific and collaborative – her latest EP Letra being a perfect example. Full of bleary-eyed rap jams, spidery electronics and easy, thoughtful bars, the 6-track project is exactly why Lava La Rue is one to watch.
Big Joanie – Sistahs
Kara Marni – Love Just Ain’t Enough EP
Lava La Rue – Letra EP
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Matt Maltese – Bad Contestant
Pizzagirl – Season 2 EP
Sorry – Home Demons vol. 2
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