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

Heligoland – This Quiet Fire (Editions Furiosa)

The album is one to be taken as a whole – a series of movements and emotions that gently wash over the listener. Songs like ‘Shadows have indelible melodies that hypnotise. Indeed hypnosis is a general effect – ‘Running’ with its repeated refrain running barefoot induces a reverie with its mountains of harmonies and crystal shards of guitar. This is upbeat, anthemic and pulse quickening.

Ultimately ‘This Quiet Fire’ is a panacea for our times – a gentle salve for troubled times with a sense of inherent untrammeled euphoria and joy. It is wistful, melancholic and utterly beautiful. 

Read more, here

Holy, Holy – Hello my Beautiful World (Wonderlick)

We said: Striding triumphantly between broad commercial pop and an independent sensibility, ‘Hello My Beautiful World’ is a magnificent and intelligent album bristling with an inherent dance sensibility and a introspective and intelligent sense of adventure and innovation.

Read the full review, here

Indigo Sparke – Echo (Sacred Bones)

We said: True brilliance is to take a simple set of shapes and to render them stunningly; Indigo has done just that, with one of the most dynamic, expressive, seductive voices of … a very, very, very long time. 

It’s not an album to have on in the background, because it’s far too arresting and enveloping, commanding; believe me I tried, but lost the thread of the other task after seconds, snared, pulled in. What a debut. She’s royalty in waiting on the leftfield folk scene. Barely anyone, surely, can touch her. Maybe Marissa Nadler; maybe, at her most purged and fiery, Aldous Harding. And that’s suddenly a maybe.

Astonishing; buy.

Read the whole review, here

The Institutes – Colosseum (42’s Records)

We said: Colosseum’ is a magnificent edifice of gold. It harks back to the golden age of guitars way back to the eighties and the nineties – The Las, The Smiths, The Stone Roses through to The Doves and Elbow: a sort of indie classicism replete with shimmering guitars, celestial melodies and an appreciation for the finer delicacies of pop music. This is a glorious debut.

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James Barrett – A Series Of… Mostly Nothing (Refresh)

We said: Scranton singer-songwriter James Barrett has beautifully composed a 12 track album called ‘A Series Of… Mostly Nothing’ that is anything but that. This is an album about a love for life, a love for one’s self, a love for music, a love for exploration, a quest for mental health, or a love for the four walls around you.

Read on, here

James Yorkston & The Second Hand Orchestra – The Wide, Wide River (Domino Records)

What we said: Peter Moren, of Peter, Bjorn and John fame and now one of the Second Hand Orchestra, describes the making of ‘The Wide, Wide River’ as ‘an organic, beautiful mess, all moving in the same direction’. Played with a joyful focus and shared understanding it’s music that steadily coaxes you in ….yet more enticing magic from James Yorkston, pulled out from under that characteristic cap.

Read the whole thing, here

Jeff Mills – Clairvoyant (Axis)

We said: This is something else, almost other-worldly. A dark voyage to the other side with somber tones throughout. To simply pigeon hole it ambient techno, would be an injustice, as this cuts way deeper. Intensely atmospheric, the beats drive the tracks while the synths create eerie soundscapes and strange melodies. As the title of the album suggests, the ambiance of the album is like that of a realm beyond ours, strange almost uncomfortable at times, but drawing the listener in, igniting ones curiosity to go further, to see what lies behind the curtain of our own existence.

Everyone will draw their own interpretations and meanings from what lies deep within the tracks but I think its up to the individual to make up their own minds of what the music says to them. Jeff Mills is an artist, and I believe there is not a single unintentional brush stroke here. It’s a beautiful late night deep dive experience to get lost in.

Jiyu Purp: Earth Is Ours (Sunday Dinner Records)

What we said: The last words we hear [on the album] are these: “The title of the album, Earth is Ours, to me, is a mantra. It’s a response to systematic oppression. It’s a celebration of process.”

This is real hip hop from the soul, that stands up to repeated listening, with limber word play and a philosophical bent to its message. Cue it up and start again.

The whole review, plus an interview, is here

John Grant – Boy From Michigan (Bella Union)

We said:Michigan boy John Grant has always moved to the beat of his own drum. If you were to ask me to fit him into a box – a genre that he could comfortably placed in, then I could only call it John Grant. From the dream-pop beginnings of his debut solo, Queen of Denmark, to the dark, electronic layers of his last album Love is Magic. He’s not afraid to mix things up to create something that is all his own. It’s Grant’s greatest power, being able to mice so seamlessly from something beautiful, to something so sublime. But his albums are far from schitsophrenic. It’s clear right from track one exactly who it us we’re listening to. His stamp is all the way through it.

Read in depth, here

Julien Baker – Little Oblivions (Matador Records)

We said: The entire album is self-produced and created by the talented artist, all instruments with the exception of a few are played by Baker. It is a real exhibition of all the talent the 25 years old possesses. It also captivates her growth both emotionally and musically since her first single.

Little Oblivions is a 12-track personal, uncontrived masterpiece that is simple in it’s wording but emotionally complex in its creation. This album has recast Julien Baker from a popular indie-folk singer to one of the best artists of her time. 

Read more, here

Records 51-60