Another tough year for most and for many certainly not one where taking the time to discover new music has been high on the agenda … for me, and for various reasons, the first half of the year in particular lent itself to having time for reflective listening and discovery.
My last.fm tells me that 2021 has been the 2nd or 3rd highest volume listening year since I started using it in back in 2008 and it looks like over 90% (ish) of that has been to albums released in 2021 so plenty of new stuff out there.
I could have listed a top 50 (or more) this year but that would mean more writing of stuff that no-one reads … check out the honourable mentions at the bottom though, there’s loads!
For those that haven’t heard some of the albums here, I’ve tried to link to Spotify (other streaming services are available) to make discovery easier. If you do like what you hear, please consider going to the Bandcamp link (or a record shop), where available, and buying the material in some form. Its tough enough for artists trying to make money from music in the current climate and Bandcamp allows them to make a way bigger cut from sales than any streaming service ever could … I want to be able to do these lists for years to come but we need a viable industry to be able to do that.
So, the list …
25: The Joy Formidable - “Into the Blue”
Great song writing, production and crunching guitars … a sadly rare combination these days.
24: Abul Mogard - “In Immobile Air”
Serbian composter Mogard’s output over the years as been a staple of this genre for me with his 2015 release ‘Circular Forms’ being a key reference point.
“In Immobile Air” is perfectly titled as that’s where you feel you are for the entirety of its 40 minutes … Go there, it’s nice there!
23: Lea Porcelain - “Choirs to Heaven”
Think Bunnymen / Furs crossover meets Depeche Mode with Cure tendencies … there’s more, but that’s surely not a bad start to tempt you in!
22: Hammock - “Elsewhere”
Like a really light touch Explosions in the Sky, this washes over you when given the opportunity in a way that can feed reflection and motivation in equal measure.
21: Damon Albarn - “The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows”
20: Clark - “Playground in a Lake”
With climate change as a background to this ambitious multi genre project, it’s a largely dark place that needs time to unveil the optimism that’s buried deep in the various styles that include neo-classical, opera, ambient and traditional electronica.
19: Iceage - “Seek Shelter”
Not the first entry here where the delta between debut and latest output is vast but positive.
18: Marconi Union - “Signals”
Significantly different, way more upbeat and layered, this has encouraged me to delve deeper into a varied and extensive back catalogue … well worth the effort.
17: Manic Street Preachers - “The Ultra Vivid Lament”
“The Ultra Vivid Lament” falls into the latter category here, the same dark & politicised lyrical content remains but with an upbeat musical feel that can be unnerving at first with its Abbaesque piano led structure.
Go with it though, happy sounding Manics are exactly what the world needs right now!
16: Dinosaur Jr - “Sweep into Space”
There has been little room for messing with the original formula over the years that consists largely of J’s husky voice over blistering guitars and screechy solos with a couple of Lou’s relatively sedate ballady efforts thrown in … this lack of variety is never an issue given that the output is normally of high quality.
“Sweep into Space” maintains the quality level of the back catalogue and can be argued to be one of their best which, across a dozen or so albums is not a bad place to be.
15: MONO - “Pilgrimage of the Soul”
While sticking to their core ethos, there are some left field tracks (by their standards) here, some that work and others that don’t.
For me, second track ‘Imperfect Things’, while simple, demonstrates that there is variety left in this band … certainly if you make it to three minutes and nineteen seconds in!
14: Floating Points - “Promises”
A seamless set of 9 movements that demand to be listened to as one.
If you struggle on first listen, commit to at least getting past the perfect 9 minutes of ‘Movement 6’ that could arguably stand on its own but makes so much more sense in context with the remainder of the album.
13: Daniel Avery - “Together in Static”
The usual mix of ambience and dance floor electronica snakes in and out here and there’s an added element of Boards of Canada influenced composition dotted around that can never be a bad thing.
12: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - “Carnage”
“Carnage” seemed to drop from nowhere earlier this year and notably not under the Bad Seeds moniker but as a combined effort with fellow (recent) bad seed Warren Ellis.
While maintaining much of the downbeat simplicity of recent albums, particularly 2019’s ‘Ghosteen’, ‘Carnage’ includes dark unsettling moments that were commonplace pre 2013’s ‘Push the Sky Away’.
I was lucky enough to see Cave & Ellis deliver much of this live in their 2021 tour between Covid ending and Covid hitting again! Witnessing these songs being delivered in person adds to the impact in a way that can only be explained if you were there too!
11: Gary Numan - “Intruder”
10: Manchester Orchestra - “The Million Masks of God”
None of the hard-hitting bangers of the first few albums here but as good an album as they have produced in totality.
Hope to get the chance to see this delivered live someday.
9: Sébastien Guérive - “Omega Point”
Having a very similar vibe in places to my #2 album of last year, Ben Chatwin’s “The Hum”, French composer Guérive’s debut electronica release is inspired by sci-fi soundtracks and includes elements of pseudo ambience as well as more upbeat anthemic output.
My entry point to this album was pre-release tracks ‘Omega II’ and ‘Bellatrix’ both of which can stand alone but in the context of the entire album make even more sense.
The perfect headphone accompaniment to those tough working from home and need to get something delivered days.
8: Jonsi - “Obsidian”
The next day, this accompanied my Sunday morning dog walk that allowed it to be focussed on and appreciated … I’ve been hooked since.
Created to accompany an NYC gallery art installation of the same name, Icelandic Sigur Ros co-founder Jonsi has created a piece of work that combines the sonic styles of his previous solo work, Sigur Ros and a large dose of ambient electronica.
Probably needs the right listening conditions to fully appreciate (I recommend a bath and a dog walk) however accompaniment to year end headphone reflection highly recommended.
7: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - “G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!”
It takes a while to ‘get’ GY!BE .. it really is hard work, and this one is no different as various tracks appear to wander aimlessly for ages before coming to life or leading to the next one that starts to add colour to the overall scene.
I always listen to GY!BE imagining that the entire ensemble are in front of me playing the album live … it seems to make sense.
If you’ve never heard GY!BE, you really want to start with this one, and you can’t commit to 53 minutes … use the 11 and a half minutes of snappily titled ""GOVERNMENT CAME" (9980.0kHz 3617.1kHz 4521.0 kHz)" as a sampler, the enlightened will then delve deeper, no doubt!
6: Dusted - “III”
All three of Dusted’s albums could not be further away from the HF sound in that they are subtle, stripped back and focussed on subtle delivery of great personal stories.
2012’s debut ‘Total Dust’ was one of my favourites of that year but ‘discovered’ too late to make that year’s list if I remember correctly … I still class it as an almost perfect album.
2018’s follow-up “Blackout Summer”, while good, didn’t come close to the completeness of the debut for me.
First few listens to “III” suggest a similar lack of cohesiveness but repeat listens tease out the subtleties of instrumentation, production and song writing that make this a close run thing with the debut … that’s high praise and its deserved … a magical listen if you have the time to invest.
5: Storefront Church - “As We Pass”
A case in point is Lukas Frank’s Storefront Church who I would never have come across had Spotify’s algorithms not put opening track “After the Alphabets” in my weekly ‘Release Radar’ playlist and make me look forward to the album release for what seemed like months.
While there are many influences and styles showcased across this hugely consistent album, you can’t escape the Radiohead meets Chris Isaak sound that, combined with creative song writing and energy, leads to what would be the perfect soundtrack to staring out the window of a car / plane / train were anyone actually going anywhere these days!
4: Arab Strap - “As Days Get Dark”
Some of the edginess of the early output may be gone but the Scots brogue delivered storytelling poetry of Aidan Moffat and complex musicianship of Malcolm Middleton maintains the levels of old and their respective solo careers.
Lyrically, “As Days Get Dark” maintains a theme of recognising ageing from the perspective of various characters that will strike a chord with much of the original fanbase that will now be largely ensconced in middle age … aye, including me!
Over the years, and in his various guises, listening to Aidan feels like he’s sitting beside you telling stories and, as challenging as they often are, its always a comforting listen in a strange way … having these stories set to Malcom’s musicianship just completes things.
3: We Were Promised Jetpacks - “Enjoy the View”
“Enjoy the View” is all over the place … in a constructive way. It has elements of various musical styles that loosely connect but feels like experimental new beginnings.
The first album after losing a founder member will do strange things to the creative process I’m sure and this, probably accompanied with the various states of mental uncertainty the entire world has felt over the past two years, has led to not a new sound, but several new sounds all meshed together.
There does appear to be a consistency in the lyrical theming to a certain extent along the lines of there being a lot of bad stuff behind them and an optimism of what’s to come … that’s what I took from immersing myself in this over the last few months and I’m on board.
I was due to see them live a few weeks ago in Aberdeen but was going to have to miss it due to a funeral but they had to cancel last minute due to a covid scare and means rescheduling for a date I’ll hopefully be able to make … see, bad stuff gone, optimism to follow … it all comes together!
2: Mogwai - “As the Love Continues”
Something’s changed with this Mogwai album though … it’s taken a while (studio album #10) but mainstream recognition seems have happened eventually, culminating in a Mercury Music Prize nomination and Scottish Album of the Year award.
The album itself has a great blend of the various guises of Mogwai including the staple quiet-LOUD-quiet of ‘Pat Stains’ & ‘It’s What I Do Mum’ to the soundtrackesque ‘Dry Fantasy’. We also get the closest thing Mogwai have done to a banging indie pop tune in ‘Ritchie Sacramento’ that includes a vocal effort from Stuart that goes way beyond a token effort, nails it!
For the uninitiated, it has always been difficult to recommend a Mogwai album to start with but “As the Love Continues” makes this easy … start here, it has it all.
Just don’t be expecting too many Stuart vocal led pop bangers as you continue through the back catalogue!
1: Deafheaven - “Infinite Granite”
During 2021, a few Deafheaven tracks including “The Gnashing” and “Great Mass of Color” dropped on my Spotify ‘Release Radar’ weekly playlist that stood out with their big guitar sound and shoegazy (but clean) vocals that made me go back and revisit the previous album.
I still struggled with the vocals but really got hooked by the musical style so looked forward to hearing what ‘Infinite Granite’ would deliver when it was released.
On first listen, and to those with no previous exposure to Deafheaven, ‘Infinite Granite’ likely comes across as a nice, polished effort that appears to have missed one of the many shoegaze revivals in recent years. Repeated listens reveal a beautifully layered collection of tracks that stand up to many, many listens and grow over time … I was worried this wouldn’t be the case as most of the tracks hit home on first listen and that can often lead to a short attention span.
What makes ‘Infinite Granite’ a masterpiece in my view though is the subtle teasing of George’s previous vocal style across a couple of the earlier tracks, that may be missed by those with no previous exposure, and the climax that is final track “Mombasa” …
The 8 minutes or so of ‘Mombasa’ builds from nothing to a point around half way where it suggests a relatively weak, but very polished, conclusion to an otherwise powerful album … then at 5:25, the track explodes with both crescendo guitars but more importantly the re-emergence of George’s metal scream core vocals … it not only works as a perfect conclusion to a stunning record, it also provides a retrospective gateway to the back catalogue that cannot be ignored.
A great album in isolation, a brave masterpiece in the great scheme of things.
