SCUM (Deluxe)

When Damon Albarn let Jordan Cardy spend a few months crashing at his studio in 2016, he probably recognized a kindred spirit in a songwriter who captures suburban frustration with vivid lyricism. While some of Cardy’s dispatches come from Brexit Britain’s darkest alleyways—his protagonists are regularly robbed or menaced for money—his music’s full of bright ideas and luminous melodies. “Revolution” welds a Britpop chorus to hip-hop beats, the title track imagines Arctic Monkeys as a dub outfit, and “Sportswear” even finds a sweet spot between grime, punk, and jangle pop.