16. Marta – Out the Way

Given that Marta’s debut record, When It’s Going Wrong, topped this List in 2023 and would be amongst my 5 favourite albums of the last decade, it’s hard not to view this follow up as something of a disappointment. Judged on its own merits, though, Out the Way is an excellent trip-hop record and, in flashes, is – once again – an exceptional one. The moments of genius include the title track’s insistent beat and bassline, the twisted ambience of ‘Leave the Lights’ (probably the only track here that could credibly try to camouflage itself on When It’s Going Wrong) and the darkwave of (appropriately titled) album closer ‘Last Song’. Not everything here entirely works, though. Credit to Marta, and her ever-present collaborator Tricky, for refusing to repeat the beats (literally) of the debut record. Out the Way treads its own path, and it is a far more ambitious path than was walked by its predecessor, with greater scale and more diverse influences. This surely stems, in part at least, from the fact that the record features a lot of additional collaborators, who bring freshness but also, for me, somewhat dilute the focus of the Marta/Tricky partnership. The result is that some tracks, like the 8-bit funk of ‘My Mighty’, feel a little out of place, while others, like ‘Sea Beams’, struggle to land at all. Despite its weaker elements, though, this record is still lightyears ahead of the majority of 2025 trip-hop (that said, shout out to Maddy Jay’s excellent debut album, which missed out on placing but only just). In the end, Out the Way still earned a spot on this List fairly comfortably.