2021 may not have been so great in some respects (we lost Betty White on the last day), but in terms of music, it was a stellar year. Here are my top picks:
15. Actors "Acts of Worship" - I discovered this band from their very active social media campaign, and I am glad I did. Neatly packaged with a chic look and sound with awesome videos to boot. Hailing out of Vancouver, BC, this band blends a danceable mix of darkwave, gothic rock, and post-punk. And it works. Very catchy music, plenty of hooks, and some very '80s sounding new wave grooves. Worth the listen. My favorite picks are "Love U More" and "Like Suicide".
14. Various Artists "Bills & Aches & Blues (40 Years of 4AD) - My feelings about the prestigious 4AD label are mixed. They signed and produced some of the greatest artists of the last 40 years. It used to be a watermark for quality. Now, they seem to sign just about anybody - not all of them good.
On this album, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the label, they have current artists covering past songs of other 4AD artists. Some of it is excellent - US Girls covering The Birthday Party, Dry Cleaning covering Grimes, Sohn doing a version of "Song to the Siren", Breeders doing His Name Is Alive, and my favorite, Future Islands covering Colourbox. Some of it is annoying like a version of The Breeders' "Cannonball" by Tune-Yards. And some of it is just plain weird like an ambient piano version of Pixies' "Gigantic" by Bing and Ruth.
Whatever the case, it's a fitting tribute to what is arguably the greatest record label of all time.
13. Emma Ruth Rundle "Engine of Hell" - With her blend of folk, gothic rock, and sludge metal, Emma Ruth Rundle is one of my favorite artists of the last decade. She was on my end-of-the-year list for 2020 for her sizzling compliation with metal artists, Thou. For her fifth album, she unplugs and goes acoustic for a haunting and deeply confessional album. This will never be my favorite of her records, but it is still very good and a testament of what a good songwriter she is. The album's strong point is "Citadel" with its acoustic guitar and fiddle - very haunting. Can't wait to see what she does next.
12. Lost Horizons "In Quiet Moments" - In 1997, Cocteau Twins created their own record label, to release their own material - Bella Union. A year later, the band imploded, and creative control of the label fell solely to Simon Raymonde, Cocteau Twins' bassist and keyboardist. Over the course of more than two decades, he signed such prolific acts as Fleet Foxes, Explosions in the Sky, and Beach House.
For this project, Raymonde teams with Richie Thomas from legendary '80s proto-dreampop band Dif Juz to create an understated yet scintillating dreampop masterpiece. As I listened to this album this morning, my wife remarked that it sounded very Cocteau Twins-ish ("Every Beat That Passed"). And yet every song is different - from dark cabaret, '60s-influenced R&B, to subdued pop, because, like This Mortal Coil, every song is a different collaboration from Bella Union's roster of artists. Midlake's Tim Smith, Marissa Nadler, and Karen Peris of Innocence Mission (!!).
The result is a diversified yet dreamy album.
11. A Place To Bury Strangers "Hologram" - A Place To Bury Strangers - The Loudest Band in NYC - is back with a new EP with their trademark brand of psychotic and psychedelic melee of noise, fuzz, distortion, reverb, and feedback. They are the most original shoegaze band out there. This would have scored way higher on my list, except that it is only an EP and not a full album.
The selection down below - "Playing the Part" is one of their mellowest - sounds a bit like The Feelies.
10. Turnstile "GLOW ON" - I've been listening to the new Turnstile album. I'm not new to this band. I have their 2018 sophomore release, but the new album is being mentioned on several AOTY lists, so I decided to give it a listen.
Turnstile is to hardcore punk as Sturgill Simpson is to country music - hardcore punk, yes, but so much more. They blend in so many other different genres that it's hard to classify them - funk, R&B, post-punk, shoegaze, etc. Sometimes they sound like Jane's Addiction, sometimes like The Police. Every song is eclectic and wildly different.
You're either going to love them or hate them. I can't get past a statement my friend said: "Imagine Dragons for hardcore kids". LOL It's funny. because it's true! Someone once referred to them as "dreamcore". I really like it, though.
Not for hardcore purists...
9. Mogwai "As Love Continues" - In the first week of its release, the 10th album from Scottish post-rock pioneers, Mogwai, went #1 on the UK Album Charts. It surprised everyone that a post-rock album, mostly instrumental, would chart that high - surprising even the band. Swirling and expansive, this album is truly cinematic.
"Richie Sacramento" is the main single and standout track, one of the few songs that actually has vocals.
8. Kælan Milka "Undir Köldum Nordurljósum" - Iceland produces the best music, and darkwave trio, Kælan Mikla are no exception. They spent 2019 touring with French blackgaze group, Alcest, even though the bands are wildly different. On the new album, they collaborate on a song, and the result is haunting, although it is the only shoegaze song on here. There are talks of both bands touring in the new year.
Perfect for the Halloween season - dark and spooky. It's blend of synthwave and goth makes it a good choice for those who like Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, Clan of Xymox, or Drab Majesty.
7. King Woman "Celestial Blues" - Kristina Esfandiari is a diversified artist, involved in many musical projects and genres. From rap (Dalmatian), industrial drone (NIGHTCRWLR), shoegaze (Whirr, Miserable), and doom metal (King Woman). For her second album as King Woman, she goes dark and grinding - like Black Sabbath's little sister. Esfandiari is one of the new generation of female performers of dark and heavy music, along with Emma Ruth Rundle and Chelsea Wolfe. Heavy, sludgy, and doomy, but not quite metal. Dark and sinister, but not quite goth. Ambient and ethereal, but not quite shoegaze. But having qualities of all of these genres. She is so great! She is definitely in my top 10 artists. I can't believe she's not more well known!
6. Lingua Ignota "Sinner Get Ready" - There is certainly no way to describe this album, except to say that it is the most ambitious and artistic musical project in the last 10 years. It's like watching a Broadway musical, except by Bertolt Brecht or David Lynch. Languid, dreamy, nightmarish, disturbing. moving, unsettling. The album documents her love/hate with religion. Operatic and almost classical, this dark album is a masterpiece. She moves seamlessly from classical to goth to industrial. There is no way to classify this album.
It reminds me of the time when a friend tried to introduce me to the music of Diamanda Galas and I wasn't ready for it. This album is purely transcendent.
You may never hear of this artist again, but the level of artistry in this effort is frightening and almost perfect.
5. Slow Crush "Hush" - A journalist recently described shoegaze music as listening to a mermaid fall into a black hole. This description fits the music of Belgian band, Slow Crush, as does their name. They are at once feathery and diaphanous, like lace blowing in the wind, but also soul crushing and heavy. They are one of my favorite new bands of the new wave of shoegaze artists, like in the last 2 years.
I also had a friend describe shoegaze music as "ambient grunge", and there could be no better description for Slow Crush. You are on the verge of being buried under an avalanche of ethereal reverb and fuzz, and you are either dying happy or incredibly sad.
4. Beachy Head "Beachy Head" - During the lockdown, Christian Savill, the guitarist of Slowdive, recorded some rough demos at home of music he wrote. At the soonest opportunity, he got his friends to go into the studio and record with him. Rachel Goswell of Slowdive, Ryan Graveface of Casket Girls, Steve Clarke of The Soft Cavalry, and Matt Duckworth of Flaming Lips. The result was a shoegaze supergroup and an incredible album. Not many good things came out of the Covid lockdown, but this album was one of those.
3. Dinosaur Jr. "Sweep It Into Space" - After 37 years and 12 albums, J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph - the kings of noise rock - are still cranking out catchy, hard-hitting songs. This entire album rocks, guitar driven and full of hooks. May they be around another 37 years!
There is not a bad song on this album!
2. Deafheaven "Infinite Granite" - Deafheaven helped create the "blackgaze" genre - an unholy mix of black metal, shoegaze, and post-rock. For their newest album, they pulled the plug on the black metal part and went straight shoegaze, their first album with clean vocals. The result is completely heart-crushing, in a good way. Even diehard metal fans, even if they didn't completely agree with the change, thought this record was good.
I'm no stranger to death metal and its shrieked vocals. However, I have always thought that the lead singer's voice is a little much. Imagine the most haunting, diaphanous shoegaze music set to a guy screaming like two bobcats trapped in a trash can. So, the newer clean vocals are a pleasant change to me.
1. Low " Hey What" - I don't get exposed to a lot of hype, because I live off grid in the middle of nowhere. Even at that, I am kind of an indie music connoisseur. It's rare that bands pass under my radar, especially if they have released 13 albums over the course of almost four decades. And yet I had never heard of Low before this album.
Low are a married Mormon couple from Minnesota who make what is termed "slowcore", and yet it is impossible to describe their music. Ambient, abstract, hypnotic, it is amazing to find a group who has been around this long and still making such artistic music. Warning: some of their stroboscopic rhythms made my daughter feel carsick while listening to this in the car.
The fact that they are Mormon is significant to me, especially when several Mormon tropes are recognizable in their lyrics.
I need to explore their back catalog to see if their other albums are as intense. But for now, I can't get past this one.
Happy New Year 2022!
