Need a recap? Here’s the previous parts of the year-end list so far:

Part 1 – (#25 – #21) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/14/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-1-25-21/

Part 2 – (#20 – #16) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/15/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-2-20-16/

Part 3 (#15 – #11) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/16/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-3-15-11/

Part 4 (#10 – #6) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/17/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-4-10-6/

Space

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Bicep – ‘Isles’

Joey Pecoraro – ‘Old Time Radio’

Maximo Park – ‘Nature Always Wins’

Nas – ‘King’s Disease II’

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – ‘Illusory Walls’

Space

THE COUNTDOWN SO FAR:

#25 – Arlo Parks – ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’

#24 – Mr Jukes & Barney Artist – ‘The Locket’

#23 – Drug Store Romeos – ‘The World Within Our Bedrooms’

#22 – Marissa Nadler – ‘The Path Of The Clouds’

#21 – Hannah Peel – ‘Fir Wave’

#20 – Django Django – ‘Glowing In The Dark’

#19 – CHAI – ‘Wink’

#18 – Villagers – ‘Fever Dreams’

#17 – Soccer 96 – ‘Dopamine’

#16 – The Spirit Of The Beehive – ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’

#15 – DJ Seinfeld – ‘Mirrors’

#14 – Relaxer – ‘Concealer’

#13 – Lord Huron – ‘Long Lost’

#12 – Courtney Barnett – ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’

#11 – Gilligan Moss – ‘Gilligan Moss’

#10 – The Bug – ‘Fire’

#9 – St Vincent – ‘Daddy’s Home’

#8 – MNDGSN – ‘Rare Pleasure’

#7 – Parannoul – ‘To See The Next Part Of The Dream’

#6 – Black Country, New Road – ‘For The First Time’

Space

#5 – Alice Phoebe Lou – ‘Glow’

Release Date/Label: March 19th, 2021/Self-Released

Academy Award-shortlisted South African indie folk singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou really stood out this year with the strength that she found with the vulnerability within her voice during her third studio album – ‘Glow’ – which she self-released in Spring. Serving my introduction to her work, Lou describes the record as a ‘crooner’ that she seemingly spent writing and recording with a mostly improv-based strategy of production choice that were compiled sometime during the nocturnal hours of the early morning, and she simply wanted to design a record to make you feel instead of making you think, as she was prone to creating beforehand. Given the placement of ‘Glow’ on my year-end list, it was an absolute slam dunk and one of my absolute top tier discoveries of 2021. Starting strongly with some sprinklings of Lo-Fi Grunge, the record turns into a romantic summer daydream as tracks like ‘Dirty Mouth’ and ‘Glow’ blur the lines between self-identity and self-isolation with expert musicianship as they were ostensibly self-declarative while acknowledging her weak spots. ‘Dusk’ is a heartfelt ode to a lover, while the self-procalamational refrain of “I feel it now, I Am A Lover, I just never knew how” on ‘Lover/Over The Moon’ provided the most gut-wrenching moment on an album for me last year. The album strikes a chord because of how simple it often feels, giving Lou an intimate style that makes you feel as if you’re listening to the voice of an old friend instead of simply another indie artist. Speaking of her voice, it is imperfect and ritualistic at times as she challenges the auto-tune effects of the industry’s commercial wing and remain unsullied by artiface, which allows me to really connect with her as an artist. The album’s biggest strength, overall, is how it can only be Alice Phoebe Lou and how she simply doesn’t sound the same as anybody else with her vocals and her lyricism, a personal quality that transcends the record and she conveys a lot of transformative emotions that feel genuine throughout. Paced beautifully, Lou plays with the tropes of the recycled genre in refreshing ways while creating a record that makes you feel drawn to her. It made me ‘Glow’ with delight and she released her encore, ‘Child’s Play’, in December.

#4 – Dry Cleaning – ‘New Long Leg’

Release Date/Label: April 2nd, 2021/4AD

It was a ‘Good Friday’ back in April when the South London native Post-Punk band Dry Cleaning released their debut album – ‘New Long Leg’ – on the 4AD label. An album that still seems to have been criminally underlooked by the BRIT Awards and the Mercury Prize shortlist despite becoming a sensation with BBC Radio 6 Music listeners and receiving very kind reviews from the music press across the UK and US, ‘New Long Leg’ was notable for pulling off some wickedly amusing lyrics like “I’ve come here to make a ceramic shoe/I’ve come to smash what you made” and “Would you choose a dentist, with a messy back garden like that?” that were compiled by the observational ears of Florence Shaw in a faultless exploration of abstract art and surrealist songwriting. Shaw is a truly excellent frontwoman, but the rest of the band are brilliant at connecting with her and finding plenty of moments to shine on their own accord with some brilliantly placed guitar solo’s and water-tight Drum melodies throughout the full record. The album’s lead single – ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ comes frustratingly close to having a clear meaning, while the neatly-wound themes of expressionist rock on tracks like ‘Strong Feelings’ and ‘John Wick’ over-deliver on their potential for a debut release. Almost backed by Spoken Word poetry, Shaw’s vocals on tracks like ‘Leafy’ and ‘More Big Birds’ become more emotive than they may appear when you read the ridiculous lyrics on a website like Genius. Yet, the band never afraid to delve headfirst into bizzare narratives on tracks like ‘Unsmart Lady’ or weave the quintessentially British stereotype of being stoic on anthemic tracks like ‘Her Hippo’ too. In the same ilk as post-modern Post-Punk bands like The Murder Capital or Bambara, Dry Cleaning have a uniquely unimitable charm that most of their peer groups don’t possess. It almost sounds like we’re hearing fragments of different stories throughout each song on the record and, paired with the silly lyrics, it feels genuinely fascinating. The best British breakout act of the year, Dry Cleaning have already achieved stardom and are one of the most exciting new bands to follow.

#3 – Loraine James – ‘Reflection’

Release Date/Label: June 4th, 2021/Hyperdub

Collecting her experiences of being a queer black woman in modern society, Loraine James is a London-based experimental electronic artist who is incredibly hard to pin down into one genre, making her a solid fit for the Hyperdub label that has been made famous by the likes of Burial and Jessy Lanza over the last few decades. Her latest album – ‘Reflection’ – is the rare case of a record that really needs to simply be experienced instead of simply told about through writing like my posts about her, which renders my job pretty meaningless in one sense. There’s no denying, however, that ‘Reflection’ is the sign of an artist who is absolutely hitting her peak with her insane affinity for strange chiming grooves and heartfelt brilliance within her low-key songwriting strategies. Meanwhile, she’s constantly twisting the sounds of her work to meet her own needs as she evokes disorientation in truly authentic ways. Constantly shifting, but focused and coherent, the drill to R&B and twisted IDM to experimental Ambient on tracks like ‘Self Doubt (Leaving The Club Early)’ and ‘Simple Stuff’ really make you feel James’ emotions that influence the core of her music. She purveys gut feeling incomparably on tracks like ‘Change’ and calls for social action on urgent tracks like ‘We’re Building Something New’ with relatable ease, and she works with collaborators including Eden Samara and Baths in ways that complement both artists effortlessly. Probably the most well-produced album of 2021 without ever coming across as over-produced, ‘Reflection’ was a work of introspective genius that cannot be emulated. Tom Ravenscroft is also a massive fanboy and has the T-shirt to prove it.

#2 – Little Simz – ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’

Release Date/Label: September 3rd, 2021/Self-Released via Age 101 Records

It is very unusual to hear that, in the age of digital entertainment and streaming marketplaces, an artist would create a long album conceptually concerning their insecurities and hidden weaknesses while their job is to project their own voice to the billions of potential listeners around the world that have access to hearing it, and, even more demandingly, manage to pull it off so well. However, Little Simz being the modern hip-hop pioneer of the UK’s Grime scene that she is, she manages to bring her creative genius to the idea on her latest album, ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, which she released in early September via her own label Age 101 Records. Finally getting the mainstream attention that she’s previously been snubbed of by the likes of the BRIT Awards, Simz follows up her NME Album Of The Year-winning ‘Grey Area’ from 2019 with her confessional ode to being a songwriter and embracing the sensitivity of your unique personality. Boasting Bond-level orchestration throughout the album, Simz covers such a wide diversity of intimate subjects, such as her unique bond with her father on ‘I Love You, I Hate You’ and ‘Rolling Stone’ as well as her experiences as a British black woman on singles like ‘Introvert’ as well as embracing her female heroes for eclectic qualities on the left-field Soul jam ‘Woman’ among too many issues to count thoroughly, Simz creates an album that wears her heart on her sleeve while holding her head firmly above her shoulders in a powerful display of power and self-susceptibility. Cuts like the 80’s-leaning Synth Pop ditty ‘Protect My Energy’ and the theatrical opera-infused ‘How Did You Get Here?’ come across as completely life-affirming and true to Simz’ real character, while she reaches out to emerging London-based Afrobeat talent Obongjayar for a cracking ode to their Nigerian roots on the wonderfully crafted single and beautifully shot music video for ‘Point and Kill’, and so there’s a heap of variety to what remains a predominantly soft Grime record to be impressed by here. Laced by emotional interludes, the record flows seamlessly as one highly addictive listen. While less harsh or brutal than ‘Grey Area’, Simz decided to take a more tactical production route for the blockbuster LP release as she mixes detailed, socially conscious lyricism with her unparalleled ability to speak her mind in a skillful tightrope walk. Another positive evolution forwards in creative vision and maturity for small Simbi – who is continually becoming a big icon.

And…

Finally…

#1 – Genesis Owusu – ‘Smiling With No Teeth’

Release Date/Label: March 5th, 2021/Self-Released via OURNESS label

Whenever somebody asks me about my most anticipated album releases of a new year, my true answer is that I’m more excited to discover fresh new creatives each year that come out of left-field and challenge me in some ways, sweeping me off my stone feet when I least expect them to. This year, it was the turn of Ghanian-Australian hip-hop artist Genesis Owusu to deliver one of, if not THE, strongest debut album release of the decade so far with ‘Smiling With No Teeth’, which became a consistent favourite of my music library since releasing in March via his own label, OURNESS. An artist who I touted on my radio show as “a phenomenal new artist who has the potential to be huge” back at the time, Kofi Owusu-Ansah has recently found stardom after the LP release swept the ARIA Awards this year with multiple awards, and so I’m so delighted to know that Owusu has achieved the attention that I sorely felt he deserved this year. Groundbreaking visuals, diverse production and compelling lyricism combine on this very ambitious effort that feels rich with careful songwriting choices and boldly conceived instrumental ideas that find Owusu skipping through a theme of being “The other black dog” in society as he continually refers to his mental wellbeing and his, often systematic, racial experiences in modern life. What really works so well on the record is how Owusu strikes a high-energy balance of theatrical and sometimes sinister themes with a real depth of versatility, making it equally easy to jive along to the frenetic energy of the tracks while also crafting a record full of lyrics that you can dissect, and it’s Owusu’s versatility as a performer that really stands out. He also uses the layout of the full ‘Black Dog’ backing band to his full advantage, challenging the DJ/producer and rapper/lyricist template of most modern rap-based music projects to achieve liberal dimensions in his sound that feel realistic yet captivating. From the Post-Punk backing on ‘Whip Cracker’ to the alternative R&B structure of ‘Gold Chains’ to the darkly Funk-oriented direction of tracks like ‘Easy’, to the feel-good closing ballads like ‘A Song About Fishing’ that take a much tonally bleaker, in a way, but entirely natural, turn for the worse during the album’s final outroduction, Owusu tells a compelling story from top to bottom while ensuring a fun listen for all that doesn’t overlap the urgency of his messages in the first place. Simply put, this was the most mesmerizing record of the year. Hence why its my numero uno.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Need a recap? Here’s the previous parts of the year-end list so far:

Part 1 – (#25 – #21) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/14/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-1-25-21/

Part 2 – (#20 – #16) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/15/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-2-20-16/

Part 3 – (#15 – #11) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/16/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-3-15-11/

Space

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Bicep – ‘Isles’

Joey Pecoraro – ‘Old Time Radio’

Maximo Park – ‘Nature Always Wins’

Nas – ‘King’s Disease II’

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – ‘Illusory Walls’

Space

THE COUNTDOWN SO FAR:

#25 – Arlo Parks – ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’

#24 – Mr Jukes & Barney Artist – ‘The Locket’

#23 – Drug Store Romeos – ‘The World Within Our Bedrooms’

#22 – Marissa Nadler – ‘The Path Of The Clouds’

#21 – Hannah Peel – ‘Fir Wave’

#20 – Django Django – ‘Glowing In The Dark’

#19 – CHAI – ‘Wink’

#18 – Villagers – ‘Fever Dreams’

#17 – Soccer 96 – ‘Dopamine’

#16 – The Spirit Of The Beehive – ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’

#15 – DJ Seinfeld – ‘Mirrors’

#14 – Relaxer – ‘Concealer’

#13 – Lord Huron – ‘Long Lost’

#12 – Courtney Barnett – ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’

#11 – Gilligan Moss – ‘Gilligan Moss’

Space

#10 – The Bug – ‘Fire’

Release Date/Label: August 27th, 2021/Ninja Tune

Whether releasing his music under the alias of Techno Animal, Curse Of The Golden Vampire, ICE or GOD, or even collaborating with visual designer Kiki Hitomi and poet Roger Robinson for the shared project of King Midas Sound, the Weymouth-born music journalist and experimental electronic music producer ‘The Bug’ Kevin Martin has always been one of London’s premier producers of aggressive Dubstep, socially conscious Jazzcore, Industrial Hip-Hop and proper UK Dubstep since the 1990’s as one of Hyperdub’s key signings in forward-thinking club music. Titled appropriately for the heat of the summer, an argument could be made that ‘Fire’ was his most (*ahem*) explosive release of his career yet. Get ready for your ears to bleed with just above 50 minutes of barraging bass-led music and bleak Grime music that distills Martin’s life-long philosophies into their most digestable, but particularly hard-hitting, forms. A dispirited look at climate concerns and sociopolitical issues that plague the mainland of Europe that Martin is now based in, ‘Fire’ lays down an example for younger and emerging artists in the UK’s bass-driven electronica scene to follow and a difficult one to top. While the lyrics may be consistently striking and the subversive sounds are increasingly heavy, the intense outlook of military-industrial complex on the Flowdan-featured single ‘Pressure’, the rowdy maestro of masterful viscerality regading social injustice on tracks like ‘High Rise’ and ‘The Missing’, the grimly dystopian narrative of Covid-19 reaching an incendiary point on ‘The Fourth Day’ and the usual suspect of drug abuse on ‘Ganja’ are no longer heartwarming, but now nearly knee-capping in terms of the pain depicted in their threatening tones. A loud album that really must not have been skipped, ‘Fire’ was a scorching hot release.

#9 – St. Vincent – ‘Daddy’s Home’

Release Date/Label: May 14th, 2021/Loma Vista Recordings

A one-woman machine who can really do it all – St. Vincent is a top notch solo talent who delivered the goods yet again with her Kate Bush-ilk of storytelling focus and David Bowie-esque precision of visual concepts on her latest top tier LP record, ‘Daddy’s Home’. Written about the time where her father got out of prison, the true artist talent of Annie Clark cements something more cheerful than it probably feels like on paper as she goes back to an undistinguished 60’s/70’s swinging New York period with a Glam Pop outing that she could only pull off to the excellent extent that she obviously manages to. She pays tribute to her female heroes who faced adversity with the Psych-dripped single ‘Melting Of The Sun’ and fleshes out her visual ideas with ‘Down And Out Downtown’. There’s also deep grooves on ‘The Laughing Man’ and sumptuous melodies on ‘Pay Your Way In Pain’ that are all told gorgeously by the detailed sonic textures and the conceptual characterizations that Clark embodies during the record. Another very solid record from one of the generation’s best solo talents, ‘Daddy’s Home’ was a retro-driven Pop opus that earned it’s five star reviews.

#8 – MNDSGN – ‘Rare Pleasure’

Release Date/Label: May 14th, 2021/Stones Throw Records

One of my favourite new artist discoveries during the year – the Fillipino-American producer and singer-songwriter Ringgo Ancheta, who records his music under the guise of MNDSGN (Which is pronounced as “Mind Design” if you are wondering) lived up to his psychedelic potential by keeping me in good spirits during the stressful summer months with ‘Rare Pleasure’ this year. A loving tribute to his family and other connections that he’s missed during the last eighteen months or so and a stunning reminder to look after yourself in the everyday worries of modern life, the grooves were incredibly rich and the themes were very poignant on this runaway hit. An album that is destined to increase your mood while soothing your ears, Anchetta simply massages your ear drums with a confident but subtle ease on beautiful recordings like ‘Hope You’re Doin Better’ and ‘Masque’ that are set to some silky smooth instrumentation. Time simply fades away happily with dream-provoking tracks like ‘Slowdance’ and ‘Medium Rare’, while very old-fashioned Jazz tricks are given some contemporary energy on ‘Colours Of The Sunset’ and ‘Abundance’. Interludes lace the themes together with expert precision, while uplifting choruses on each track match personal diary entries to organic musical gestures in mellow yet exciting ways that ooze Soul. Simply grab a pair of headphones and merely switch off.

#7 – Parannoul – ‘To See The Next Part Of The Dream’

Release Date/Label: February 23rd, 2021/POCLANOS

An album that is sure to connect with the latest generation of young adults as clearly as the older fans of Shoegaze groups like My Bloody Valentine who quietly inspired it, ‘To See The Next Part Of The Dream’ is an unforgettable recent release from the secretive young South Korean bedroom producer who is simply known as Parannoul with no other details attached that is one of those rare recordings that can make you weep at night while barely understanding any lyrics under the relentless threshold of Noise-Rock collages that it contains. An LP that strikes me as a rare find, Parannoul’s music is enigmatic and ambitious when it captures adolescent angst with a brilliant sense of bombast. Singles like ‘Beautiful World’ sound uncannily familiar enough to truly be a dream and emotive cuts like ‘Youth Rebellion’ capture the overarching tale of striving for something greater than you are to a heartbreaking degree. Full of spellbinding guitar work and clashing Math-Rock song structures, the record gained popularity on sites like RateYourMusic and Reddit online, and I’m really grateful that today’s internet sources can help me to discover and appreciate art from around the world like this. An incredible pick for the true music lovers that tells an incredible tale.

#6 – Black Country, New Road – ‘For The First Time’

Release Date/Label: February 5th, 2021/Ninja Tune

Hailed up by The Quietus as “the best band in the world” in the lead-up to its eventual release, ‘For The First Time’, the debut full-length album by the prodigal Post-Rock meets Experimental Classical collective of youngsters going by the name of Black Country, New Road, was hyped up to the hills with anticipation and universal acclaim in the lead up to arriving on Ninja Tune last February and, thankfully, the excitement was met fulfillingly with a sardonic and intellectually stimulating commentary on finding adequacy and the Gen-Z experience of the 2020’s in seeking something greater than yourself, thus tackling key themes in common to Parannoul’s record discussed above in my list. Boasting a marvellous line-up including the lead vocalist Issac Wood and Jockstrap’s violinist Georgia Ellery, the one-of-a-kind act really surpassed the Slint comparisons with this one as they blend mostly improvised and highly considered production with a flurry of angular Post-Punk and interesting lyricism that feels endlessly enigmatic, building up melancholy with a sense of grandeur that only this band could make. The folk-ish fresh breather of ‘Track X’, the very smoldering intensity of ‘Opus’ and the cerebral pay-off of well-built tracks like ‘Sunglasses’ are all stand-outs on a unique record that really should have won the Mercury Prize in my humble opinion (Sorry, Arlo Parks) for its bravely innovative instrumentation and the expert-level approach of the darkness running through the tone of the record during a continous listen. They already have a follow-up booked for early February and I cannot wait to see where they go with the Baroque-influenced direction of their new singles that make this album feel like even more of an anomaly than it previously has. I sadly didn’t get to see them live as their gig in my local city was postponed, but this was a record that steadily grew on me and softened that pill.

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Need a recap? Here’s the previous parts of the year-end list so far:

Part 1 (#25 – #21) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/14/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-1-25-21/

Part 2 (#20 – #16) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/15/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-2-20-16/

Space

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Bicep – ‘Isles’

Joey Pecoraro – ‘Old Time Radio’

Maximo Park – ‘Nature Always Wins’

Nas – ‘King’s Disease II’

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – ‘Illusory Walls’

Space

THE COUNTDOWN SO FAR:

#25 – Arlo Parks – ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’

#24 – Mr Jukes & Barney Artist – ‘The Locket’

#23 – Drug Store Romeos – ‘The World Within Our Bedrooms’

#22 – Marissa Nadler – ‘The Path Of The Clouds’

#21 – Hannah Peel – ‘Fir Wave’

#20 – Django Django – ‘Glowing In The Dark’

#19 – CHAI – ‘Wink’

#18 – Villagers – ‘Fever Dreams’

#17 – Soccer 96 – ‘Dopamine’

#16 – The Spirit Of The Beehive – ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’

Space

#15 – DJ Seinfeld – ‘Mirrors’

Release Date/Label: September 3rd, 2021/Ninja Tune

Ninja Tune was on an absolute roll as a record label this year with top notch releases from electronic music producers like Park Hye Jin, BICEP and Sofia Kourtesis that established a premier roster of talent for them, and the Swedish Acid House DJ known as DJ Seinfeld (aka Armond Jakobsson) with his latest album release of ‘Mirrors’ in September, was no exception. A rising talent during the new wave of 2010’s Lo-Fi music with fellow alumni including Saint Pepsi and Ross From Friends, Seinfeld has always called back to a distinctive UK Garage edge in his music and ‘Mirrors’ saw Seinfeld get reflective with a stunning collection of ethereal Future Techno and euphoric EDM that carried a beauty-in-the-simplicity attitude in it’s tow, and it seems to have been clearly influenced by Burial. Poignant sampling on ‘She Loves Me’ and ‘These Things Will Come To Be’, the dusty 90s-sounding spontaneity of cuts like ‘Home Calling’ and ‘Someday’, and sweeping left-field house on recordings like ‘I Feel Better’ and ‘The Right Place’ make for some emotive listens that find Seinfeld giving his own distinctive voice to the idea of finding happiness for the first time in a long while, while remembering to acknowledge the baggage that he has left behind. A personal but equally engaging statement on the person that he has become and his music gracefully expresses a mixture of nostalgia, uncertainty and ambitions.

#14 – Relaxer – ‘Concealer’

Release Date/Label: 15th October, 2021/Planet Mu

The long-awaited return of New York-based Experimental Electronic producer Daniel Martin McCormick (Formerly known as Ital) to the Planet Mu label, ‘Concealer’ was a record that was perhaps too niche to get its own page on Metacritic, however, it’s a record that I constantly found myself streaming back-and-forth over the busy Pre-Christmas period following its release in November, and it is a beautifully created piece that displays a lot of meticulous musicianship with scientific formula, as he went back to old hardware to replicate the approach to his careful compositions like a sculpture. Flowing very consistently in one continous listen, ‘Concealer’ is full of progressive, acidic Synth numbers like ‘Narcissus By The Pool’ and ‘Helical Phase Secreting’, while his thoughtful style of production is very tidily when set to female backing vocals on tracks like ‘Let The Walls Drip’ and ‘Island Life’ in equal measure that introduce collaborators Kahee Jeong and Emilie Weibel to the fray with Zen-like results. A record that’s suitable for the rare purpose of meditation and mindfulness, McCormick almost explores a third dimension between chords and rhythm as the intricate textures of tracks like ‘Twins’ and ‘Mello’ flow by beautifully, long in duration but engaging in relaxing content. Ambitiously searching for Braindance rhythms and Microhouse sounds in his exploration, ‘Concealer’ mimics the steady hand of a painter and discreetly conjured an adventure that soothed my soul during the winter.

#13 – Lord Huron – ‘Long Lost’

Release Date/Label: May 21st, 2021/Inertia Music

A band who quietly rose to my top ten list in 2018 with ‘Vide Noir’ – the Los-Angeles Alternative Rock 4-piece of Lord Huron are yet another project on this list that I feel gets criminally overlooked. Lead vocalist Ben Schneider has always possessed a fantastic skill as a singer in making me believe that his characters are brought to life and ‘Long Lost’ was an album written about finding contentment and coming to terms with your aging maturity that we all needed in the heartbreaking months of the year. A summer release that was sure to get you to crack a smile, ‘Long Lost’ was the work of a band who completely knew what they were doing and reassured us that we were in safe hands as their listeners. Based on powerful visuals from their ‘Alive From The Whispering Pines’ series of virtual performances, the band paid tribute to long lost musicians of the Jimmy Campbell variety with a beautiful collection of fifteen robust tracks including a drifting Ambient piece of ‘Time’s Blur’ at the end. The pace is unhurried but concise, with a solid track listing that allows Schneider to flex his duet muscles with Allison Ponthier on the aching romantic ballad ‘I Lied’. Meanwhile, horn sections wistfully echo his sentiments on tracks like ‘Where Did The Time Go?’ and ‘What Does It Mean’ and jangle guitars shimmer soulfully to the sound of a 60’s youthful Surf Rock influence on ‘Mine Forever’ among other varied tracks. Long but never overstuffed, ‘Long Lost’ boasts some of Lord Huron’s strongest material yet and catered perfectly to their fans. Despite my reservations – it was on par with ‘Vide Noir’.

#12 – Courtney Barnett – ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’

Release Date/Label: November 12th, 2021/Mom + Pop Records & Marathon Artists

The multiple time ARIA-winning and Brit-nominated female indie rock singer songwriter Courtney Barnett has always been a truly competent artist that I’ve always enjoyed listening to, although she never quite has been up there with my top favourites. That all looks set to change with the release of ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ during November as we lead up to the Christmas rush period, as this was definitely my ‘Comfort Food’ listen of the year. Barnett has always been a little distant with her songwriting, but she is intimate enough with tracks like ‘Rae Street’ and ‘Take It Day By Day’ that expertly matches her wry, deadpan lyricism with heartfelt instrumentation and vocal expression – a running strength throughout the new album. Her earlier collaborations with Kurt Vile hold some influence here on more country-oriented tracks like ‘Before You Gotta Go’ that easily connect with the feelings that we’ve all felt at one point in the pandemic or another. As much of an every person’s poet as she is a personal document within the last eighteen months with her performance on the record, Barnett strikes the perfect balance between easy-going comfort and hard-hitting anxiety on this tremendously well-written project that is sure to please fans and convert newcomers to her cause. ‘Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To’ has also just been included on Barack Obama’s list of his favourite 2021 singles and if it’s good enough for the former US president, it does the trick for me. This thing took time – but it was worth my time. It is worth yours too.

#11 – Gilligan Moss – ‘Gilligan Moss’

Release Date/Label: April 9th, 2021/Foreign Family Collective

Released all of the way back in April, the self-titled debut album of ‘Gilligan Moss’ by – you guessed it – Gilligan Moss – was another album from 2021 that I feel deserves to be in the year-end of 2021 chatter a little bit more, and I was really glad when BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne became a fan of them too. The record ranks highly on my list because I really feel that it has something to offer everyone as a heartfelt homage to the different era’s of dance music that have found popularity throughout the years. There’s blue sky Boards Of Canada-esque child like wonder on the opener ‘GM From GM’, clear but loving Fleetwood Mac vibes on ‘Lee’s Last Dance’ and farmhouse bops like ‘Slow Down’ and ‘World Service’ that are all perfectly laid out by the new duo of Ben Cronin and Evan Dorfman who comprise the line-up for the project. One of the year’s least cynical releases, ‘Gilligan Moss’ was highly impressive for a debut album too. As track four’s title would echo – it really was a ‘Special Thing’.

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Need a recap? Here’s the previous parts of the year-end list so far:

Part #1 (#25 – #21) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/14/feature-jacob-braybrookes-top-25-albums-of-2021-part-1-25-21/

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HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Bicep – ‘Isles’

Joey Pecoraro – ‘Old Time Radio’

Maximo Park – ‘Nature Always Wins’

Nas – ‘King’s Disease II’

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – ‘Illusory Walls’

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THE COUNTDOWN SO FAR:

#25 – Arlo Parks – ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’

#24 – Mr Jukes & Barney Artist – ‘The Locket’

#23 – Drug Store Romeos – ‘The World Within Our Bedrooms’

#22 – Marissa Nadler – ‘The Path Of The Clouds’

#21 – Hannah Peel – ‘Fir Wave’

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#20 – Django Django – ‘Glowing In The Dark’

Release Date/Label: February 12th 2021/Because Music

London-based Art Rock band Django Django scored a Mercury Prize nomination in 2012 – if you think back to the days where Bloc Party and Hot Chip found popularity on the UK’s indie crossover circuit – but have certainly seemed like one of Britain’s most underrated bands in the years since. With the release of ‘Glowing In The Dark’ in February, the quirky 4-piece continued to stretch their sounds for a record which called to the roots of the band spanning multiple genres – from the Folk-oriented arrangements of ‘Night Of The Buffalo’ and ‘Hold Fast’ to the comical pop of ‘Kick The Devil Out’ and the New Wave approach of guaranteed festival closer ‘Glowing In The Dark’ as the band ventured out of their wheelhouse nicely, while packing the 13-track listing with sophisticated visual influences including the Victorian technique of the Phenakisticope on the lead single ‘Spirals’ – while the music itself was full of smart humor and mindful lyricism about finding peace in times like these. A carefully produced album, ‘Glowing In The Dark’ features a particularly memorable four-track sequence towards the end that flows beautifully and feels entirely crowd pleasing, while the group also enlist the help of Charlotte Gainsbourg for ‘Waking Up’ as they pull off their full bag of collaborative tricks with a subtle ease. After spending decades collecting radiant Noise-Pop collages, ‘Glowing In The Dark’ feels like their brightest, most refined grab-bag yet as they ambitiously flew to the moon with a cosmic theme.

#19 – CHAI – ‘Wink’

Release Date/Label: May 21st, 2021/Sub-Pop Records

It is excellent to see some J-Pop making the list this year, and the Nagoya-based Psych-Pop outfit of CHAI delivered one of the year’s most highly anticipated releases with ‘WINK’ as they continued to market their versatile sound towards western audiences following notable traction gained by collaborating with Gorillaz and JPEGMafia. Known for including food-based puns on sonic singles like ‘Donuts Mind If I Do’ and ‘Maybe Chocolate Chips’ as the quartet pulled elements of Funk, Hip-Hop, R&B, Neo-Soul and more genres into their sound. As much of an eclectic musical pallete as it was a cheerful ode to loving your quirks, this was a blast of a 12-track release that made every moment feel worth the wait. MNDSGN added a soulful sheen to ‘In Pink’, while tracks like ‘Nobody Knows We Are Fun’ and ‘Action’ look to the outside in the western regions of the world while embracing dance culture in such an early stage for their careers. Tracks like ‘Wish Upon A Star’ are full of spiritual freedom, while more hyper-fast offerings like ‘Ping Pong’ owe more to the ferocity of Post-Punk, and the lyrics talk about self-discovery in wonderfully charming ways. A record that will definitely put a smile on your face while paying tribute to CHAI’s roots, ‘WINK’ was an exuberant record that doubled up as an experimental ode to self-love while being the light-hearted time on the dancefloor we’ve missed due to lockdowns.

#18 – Villagers – ‘Fever Dreams’

Release Date/Label: August 20th, 2021/Domino Recordings

The last band that I managed to see performing live in Cambridge before the threat of the Omnicrom (Which certainly sounds like a Transformer that never left the cutting room floor) emerged, Villagers gave us a standout Alternative Folk release with ‘Fever Dreams’ in late August, an album which saw multi-instrumentalist Conor O’Brien deliver soothing music that ventured into eerily haunting at times with cohesive soundscapes that poetically basked in an early morning haze throughout as they bridge softly into existence for memorable set-pieces like ‘The First Day’ that felt triumphant and Marvin Gaye-influenced. Delicate tracks like ‘Song Of Seven’ and ‘So Sympatico’ were full of life-affirming breeze, while stark guitar chords and fractured vocals met perfectly in the middle for fragile ballads like ‘Full Faith In Providence’ and ‘Circles In The Firing Line’ that all have an atmospheric sheen to them. Sometimes a balancing act of an album, ‘Fever Dreams’ is thematically connected by lyrics that recurr very smoothly, while O’Brien brings consistently wistful while serene settings to the mood, yet he’s never afraid to venture out of an Ambient glaze with trippy tweaks to the formula that feel more profound. An endearing lucid dream of a record.

#17 – Soccer 96 – ‘Dopamine’

Release Date/Label: September 21st, 2021/Moshi Moshi Records

A rare record from the London-based experimental Jazz duo of Soccer96 – made up by the respective partners of Betamax and Danalogue of The Comet Is Coming fame – ‘Dopamine’ arrived with a ton of buzz on the underground circuit based on the list of collaborations, the album’s unique conceptual layout exploring a story where AI and humanity merge, the quality of the singles and the duo’s positive track record with past releases and, thankfully, keyboardist Dan Leavers and drummer Max Hallett delivered on the album’s noteworthy potential with a Space-Jazz shine that bravely explores new sonic worlds while playing to their strengths. The ambient beauty of recordings like ‘Entangelement’ and ‘Perfect Dystopia’ will have any fans of Moses Boyd salivating at their mouths. While that is a bit of an exaggeration, tracks like the aforementioned pair and singles like ‘Dopamine’ find the guitars punching in with the meticulous Drum work in a way that only Betamax and Danalogue pull off. Tracks like ‘Enter The Vortex’ and ‘Carry Us Home’ are representative of the album’s texturally interesting passage through Nu-Jazz and slight Garage-Rock territory, while heavy charging anthems like ‘Psychic Mechanics’ are merged neatly between more laid back and smoky Sci-Fi Jazz spots like ‘Telepathic DNA’ that walk a very fine line between Electronica and Prog Jazz with tight precision that is engrossing for such an improv-based production strategy. A faultless result for the most futuristic album of the year.

#16 – The Spirit Of The Beehive – ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’

Release Date/Label: April 9th 2021/Saddle Creek Records

A band as reclusive as they come, the Pensylvania native Chamber Psych outfit of The Spirit Of The Beehive delivered one of the year’s most immersive underground album release with ‘Entertainment, Death’, a late-night brand of Post Rock Paranoia that was my first introduction to the enigmatic band. Silly track titles like ‘I Suck The Devil’s C***k’ sound as irreverent as they come, but the band take every touch of their production incredibly seriously as they travel headfirst through a series of chaotic vignettes that came across like a code that you were rewarded for cracking as their daring listener. Self-produced and self-recorded, LP highlights like ‘The Server Is Immersed’ and ‘There’s Nothing You Can’t Do’ were shape-shifting renditions of cryptic glory that were insanely beautiful, although insanely challenging at points. I think their ambitous vision aligns with heavyweights like Bjork and Aphex Twin however, and the now-trio concoct their mythical potions with the right amount of poise and sincerity for the record to somehow feel intimate enough to draw your ears closer to without giving away the semblance of many details. If you’ve ever been on the fence about The Spirit Of The Beehive’s unique style, ‘Entertainment, Death’ was their knock-out fourth record that will inspire you to be on the right side of said fence.

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