July: 18 albums you need to hear this month

Mura Masa 'Mura Masa' (Anchor Point/Polydor)

Overflowing with all-star guests, Mura Masa welcomes his closest and coolest friends, a lifelong hero and emerging talents on his ambitious debut album. The Guernsey-born producer’s bedroom beats have infiltrated the charts and festivals over the last 12 months: hence the 21-year-old’s ability to curate such an impressive cast of collaborators on this genre-hopping collection full of future hits. From the energetic, A$AP Rocky-aided ‘Love$ick Fuck’ and Desiigner-featuring trap anthem ‘All Around The World’ to the glitchy electronic romance of ‘Second 2 None’, which includes a heartfelt vocal from Christine And The Queens’ Héloïse Letissier, it’s a dizzying exploration of musical subcultures. Charli XCX smashes out a pop hit with ‘1 Night’, Anchor Point-signee Tom Tripp turns ‘Helpline’ into a funk-tinged anthem and Masa’s hero Damon Albarn features on the contemplative ‘Blu’. This is what pop should be in 2017: diverse, interesting and surprising. Ben Jolly

9/10