100 albums of 2021 you shouldn’t miss, plus playlist

Billy F Gibbons- Hardware (Concord)

We said: Hardware is an absolute gem of an album; more ‘straightforward’ than its two predecessors, perhaps more immediate for ZZ Top fans, but absolutely, instantly recognisable as Billy F Gibbons. The whole album sounds like a band recording ‘the old way’, just jamming it out and grooving together in the studio. There aren’t many players with such a signature sound and style; get it while it’s hot – this is one of the legends of blues-rock at the absolute top of their game.

Read the whole review, here

Black Country, New Road – For The First TIme (Ninja Tune)

What we said: Recorded over just six days, their long-awaited debut album is a bristling but personal work, capturing the nascent essence of a band in constant flux. This followed their early period of intensive touring, a side they felt imperative to transcribe onto the record, while also reflecting their later developments: “We’ve matured a lot since we recorded those two tracks,” says saxophonist Lewis Evans.

A freewheeling, triumphant opus of wildly articulate musicianship, BC, NR’s debut signposts a truly unique band’s past propensities, moulded reflexively into their present, and (undoubtedly spectacular) future.

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Black Honey – Written and Directed (FoxFive Records)

We said: Written & Directed is an absolute masterclass in vintage nostalgia without it being cheesy. Black Honey are leading the way for bands to experiment beyond their typecast genre and just find a niche sound and execute it to the nth degree. This is one of my favourite releases so far this year, and I can’t wait for them to get back on the road so we can hear these beautiful tracks in a live setting.

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Bleed Again – Resurgence (self released)

We said: A cleverly arranged album that is packed full of superb metal. This album excites where many don’t and really gets under your skin. The dual vocal attack with Jone’s pop falsetto and Dawson’s unflinching growl gives the tracks a more listenable quality and they can really push the two vocal styles to enhance each track to the full potential. But it has to be the bands other duo of Simon Williams and Chris Pratt who play out of their skins on this album and it’s their partnership that makes this album on of the best metalcore albums this year. 

Read the whole review, here

Bradford – Bright Hours (Foundation II)

We said: It’s difficult to pick highlights because, perhaps even more so than Shouting Quietly, it’s an album on which there are so few weaknesses. Even the ones that don’t immediately hit you in the face (“Down Faced Doll” for one), creep up on you over time. 

So, as I’ve said: some things change and some stay the same. Bradford have produced an album that’s is more than an equal to their debut, 31 years in the making; a thrilling slice of modern indie rock. This time though, we must not, we cannot ignore it.

Check it out in full, here

Cahill / Costello: Offworld (Gearbox)

We said: For a lover of the ambient and the dronesome, among which number I necessarily count myself, Offworld is as an astonishing debut, right up there with the top division of the field. Dubby, so very atmospheric; elemental, by which I mean, by turns scudding with squalls of rain and then fiery; intuitive, involving, and an incredibly fine case study to proffer in that defence of that proposition, that all art aspires to the condition of music. Buy.

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Caravela – Orla (None More Records)

We said: That swing from subtlety to surprise defines and distinguishes Caravela’s music. Orla picks up the potential they showed with their self-titled first EP and injects it with Hermeto Pascoal spirit plus Caetano Veloso integrity. Fittingly the album closes with the (almost) conventional samba fuelled ‘Solta o Sinal’ sliding so smoothly into those carefree rotating rhythms that it dares you not to move, even a little bit, before leaving. Like all the best albums, this is a record that takes you somewhere outside yourself but gets you home safely.

The whole review is here

Carpool Tunnel – Bloom (Pure Noise Records)

We said: Bloom is a lucid compilation of tracks that’s overarching message is ‘Like a flower you too shall bloom’ and this applies greatly to Carpool tunnel. With this album they have officially blossomed.

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Cheval Sombre – Days Go By (Sonic Cathedral Recordings)

What we said: Chris Porpora describes the pair of records as “two solid bookends, when acquired, one truly lovely journey, complete”; and that with the arrival of Days Go By, “both sides of the story so far [are] joined.” Days Go By certainly shines a different light back at its fraternal companion, Time Waits For No One; it approaches its theme of time passing with a lightness and obliquity, easing its way around the chafe of the ticking clock with simplicity, and presenting with what must be a mere millimetre shifts of emphasis more of a gossamer country or psych-folk journey than its darker correspondent of February. My advice? Buy em both. Begin the journey. Amazing, grace.

The Whole thing is here

The Chills – Scatterbrain (Flying Nun / Fire Records)

For all the inherent tragedy, loss and heartbreak, there is nothing maudlin in the lyrics but rather beautifully expressed, if not resigned, emotions. Coupled with the brilliance of light emanating from the music, it makes for a magnificent and enveloping cloth. 

‘Scatterbrain’ is a stupendous, deep and rich album filled with love, loss and compassion, delivered on a bed of lush instrumentation, scaling riffs and melodies. The Chills continue to deliver multilayered masterpieces from the cold deep south of the world that serves to warm and brighten the universe.

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Records 21-30