First off, a gentle reminder that our excellent new issue of Uncut is in the shops now, featuring a Beatles exclusive, Bob Dylan, Robert Fripp, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Khruangbin, John Martyn, Siouxsie and Laura Marling. We’re in shops, but of course if you’d rather have a copy delivered safely to your door, please click here.

Conscious that tomorrow is Solstice, so we’re about to hit the halfway mark through 2020, I tried to round up our favourite albums of the year so far; specifically releases from January until the end of June. They’re listed in alphabetical order, in case you’re interested. Despite everything going on in the world over the last few months, it’s reassuring to remind ourselves that there’s also been a lot of terrific music released so far this year.

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1. Tony Allen + Hugh Masekela – Rejoice (World Circuit)
2. Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers (Loose/Fat Possum)
3. Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters (Epic)
4. Arbouretum – Let It All In (Thrill Jockey)
5. Nicole Atkins – Italian Ice (Single Lock Records)
6. Bananagun – The True Story Of Bananagun (Full Time Hobby)
7. Moses Boyd – Dark Matter (Exodus)
8. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher (Dead Oceans)
9. Julian Cope – Self Civil War (Head Heritage)
10. Cornershop – England Is A Garden (Rough Trade)
11. Samantha Crain – A Small Death (Real Kind)
12. Brigid Dawson and The Mother’s Network – Ballet Of Apes (Castle Face)
13. Destroyer – Have We Met (Merge)
14. The Dream Syndicate – The Universe Inside (ANTI-)
15. Drive-By Truckers – The Unraveling (ATO)
16. Greg Dulli – Random Desire (BMG)
17. Baxter Dury – The Night Chancers (Heavenly)
18. Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways (Columbia)
19. Steve Earle & The Dukes – Ghosts Of West Virginia (New West)
20. James Elkington – Ever-Roving Eye (Paradise Of Bachelors)
21. Roger Eno & Brian Eno – Mixing Colours (Deutsche Grammophon)
22. Bill Fay – Countless Branches (Dead Oceans)
23. Frazey Ford – U kin B the Sun (Arts & Crafts)
24. Four Tet – Sixteen Oceans (Text)
25. Honey Harper – Starmaker (ATO)
26. Gil Scott-Heron / Makaya McCraven – We’re New Again (XL)
27. The Heliocentrics – Infinity Of Now (Madilib Invazion)
28. Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit – Reunions (Southeastern)
29. Jarv Is… – Beyond The Pale (Rough Trade)
30. Jayhawks – XOXO (Sham/Thirty Tigers)
31. Juniore – Un Deux Trois (Outré)
32. Khruangbin – Mordechai (Dead Oceans)
33. LA Takedown – Our Feeling Of Natural High (Castle Face)
34. Laraaji – Sun Piano (All Saints)
35. Jackie Lynn – Jacqueline (Drag City)
36. Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble – ST (Bandcamp)
37. Magnetic Fields – Quickies (Nonesuch)
38. Stephen Malkmus – Traditional Techniques (Domino)
39. Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter (Chrysalis/Partisan)
40. Modern Nature – Annual (Bella Union)
41. Modern Studies – The Weight Of The Sun (Fire)
42. Nap Eyes – Snapshot Of A Beginner (Jagjaguwar)
43. The Necks – Three (Northern Sky Records)
44. Ohmme – Fantasize Your Ghost (Joyful Noise Recordings)
45. Mark Olson & Ingunn Ringvold – Magdalen Accepts The Invitation (Fiesta Red)
46. Brigid Mae Power – Head Above Water (Fire)
47. Margo Price – That’s How Rumours Get Started (Loma Vista)
48. Psychedelic Furs – Made Of Rain (Cooking Vinyl)
49. Nadia Reid – Out Of My Provinence (Spacebomb)
50. Roedelius – Selbstportrait Wahre Liebe (Bureau B)
51. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Sideways To New Italy (Sub Pop)
52. Rose City Band – Summerlong (Thrill Jockey Records)
53. Shabaka & The Ancestors – We Are Sent Here By History (Impulse!)
54. Nadine Shah – Kitchen Sink (Infectious)
55. Six Organs Of Admittance – Companion Rises (Drag City)
56. Soccer Mommy – Color Theory (Loma Vista)
57. Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal (Carpark)
58. Strokes – The New Abnormal (Cult/RCA)
59. Sufjan Stevens, Lowell Brams – Aporia (Asthmatic Kitty)
60. Sunwatchers – Oh Yeah? (Trouble In Mind)
61. Tamikrest – Tamotait (Glitterbeat)
62. Tengger – Nomad (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)
63. Thundercat – It Is What It Is (Ninja Tune)
64. Andrew Tuttle – Alexandra (Someone Good)
65. William Tyler – Music From First Cow (Merge)
66. Waterless Hills – The Great Mountain (Bandcamp)
67. Ben Watt – Storm Damage (Unmade Road/Caroline)
68. Paul Weller – On Sunset (Polydor)
69. White Denim – World As A Waiting Room (Radio Milk)
70. Jess Williamson – Sorceress (Mexican Summer)
71. Woods – Strange To Explain (Woodsist)
72. Neil Young – Homegrown (Reprise)