Moroni's Top 15 Albums of 2021

 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!

Moroni's Favorite Albums of 2018

Yes, I know - late!  Since I hardly blogged in 2018, I thought I would review some of my top picks of that year.

I did do some reviews that year, so know that some of those would be on this list, but I decided not to include them to avoid being redundant - reviews for A Perfect Circle, Meg Myers, and A Place To Bury Strangers.  So without further ado, here is my list for 2018...

1.  Ghost "Prequelle" -  It might seem funny that the favorite band of the year of a Mormon fundamentalist is by a band that is so overtly Satanic, but I grew up on the black metal of the '80s.  I've listened to Venom and Mercyful Fate.  I even met King Diamond when I was sixteen.  I recognize the satanic schtick when I see it and know not take it seriously.  It's all theatrics after all.  And that is what founder and principal songwriter/ musician, Tobias Forge has done - a theatrical show with makeup, masks... the whole bit.  Tobias himself dons several personas, whether Papa Emeritus or Cardinal Copia, along with a cabal of anonymous musicians called Nameless Ghouls.  Even the music is a throwback to '80s metal, complete with all of the predictable guitar licks and hair metal devices, making the music almost anticipated and just a little cheesy.  But I love it.  I listened to this album over and over... and maybe even made devil's horns with my hands while I listened.  Maybe...

2.  Myrkur "Mareridt" - Steve Queralt, the legendary bassist of Ride, once said that Myrkur was "true shoegaze music", "dark, but really quite ethereal as well", that she tried to posit herself as death metal, but wasn't really.  Danish musician, Amalie Bruun had made quite a name for herself making Scandinavian folk music.  Rebranding herself under the name "Myrkur", she set out to create a blend of medieval Nordic music with black metal.  After all, nowadays, what is more Scandinavian than black metal?  The result of this unholy melange is something otherwordly, chilling, and utterly beautiful.  From the first throes of kulning at the beginning, which is Swedish yodeling, to the first piercing screams, this entire album is haunting and moving - very similar to the blackgaze music created by Alcest.  My favorite song is "Crown", which my little niece describes as being sung by an evil mermaid.  There is also an excellent bonus track called "Death of Days", a duet with gothic superhero, Chelsea Wolfe.  Myrkur is releasing a new album next month, and I admit that I am VERY excited.

3.  YOB "Our Raw Heart" -  I'm a bit of a latecomer when it comes to this doom metal band from Oregon, and "Our Raw Heart". their seminal eighth album is my first experience listening to them.  The album title is spot on - a very raw album straight from their heart.  It is abrasive and powerful, most of it slow and steadily grinding, very similar to Black Sabbath.  From the staccato riffs of "The Screen" to the throaty growls of "Lungs Reach" and the unearthly melodies of "Beauty in Falling Leaves".  This album is true metal, primal and unassuming, in-your-face, and uncompromising.  And true to its post-metal roots, the songs are long and ponderous, approaching the ten-minute mark, or surpassing it.  I can only imagine what a mind-blowing experience it would be to see these guys live.  Maybe someday...

4.  Beach House "7" - The wonderful thing about Beach House - the moniker for the Baltimore duo of Victoria Legrand and Alec  Scally - is that they have helped to bring dream pop and shoegaze to the mainstream.  There is scarcely a young connoisseur of indie music who does not know who they are.  For me, they are another one of the many bands that pay homage in their sound to my all-time favorite band, Cocteau Twins.  I have been listening to these guys for the last five years, although they have been around quite a bit longer than that.  Kind of like another favorite band, Phantogram, they take trip-hop drum beats laced with psychedelic synth loops and ribbon them together with breathy vocals.  The effect is astonishing.  I love the French lyrics in "L'inconnue" and the languid dreaminess of "Dive", but perhaps my favorite track is "Pay No Mind", which has practically made it onto every mix I've done since 2018, including my Burning Man mix of that year.

5.  Anna von Hausswolff "Dead Magic" -  I really can't believe that Swedish musician, Anna von Hausswolff, is not more well known. She is a true artist.  On her fourth album, she absolutely dazzles.  This album tells an auditory story, much like a soundtrack and has Dead Can Dance quality to it - dark, humid, ethereal, heavy.  From the ululating shrieks of "The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra" to the subdued ambiance of "Ugly and Vengeful".  This album is not just an art rock album - Jungian, metaphsyical, swimming with archetypes.  And it's long - one of the songs even clocking in at over sixteen minutes.  But there is a reason for that - this album should be listened to in one sitting, because all of the sonic concepts take a while to unfold and coalesce and make a wonderful gestalten whole.  I read a meme recently that said that Tool songs get better after the ten-minute mark, and that is kind of true here.  I had never heard of this artist before this album.  You can bet that I will be paying attention now.

6.  Peach Pit "Being So Normal" - Sometimes my teenage kids wind up getting into music that I show them, but, more often than not, they wind up showing me a band that I wind up liking.  Peach Pit, a pop rock quarter from British Columbia, is such a band.  Most of my kids like them.  (One of my kids even got a Peach Pit t-shirt for Christmas.)  They are quirky, intelligent guitar pop with catchy hooks and infectious rhythms.  Just check out their song "Alrighty Aphrodite" for an example.  Their kitsch is that they dress in exactly the same outfits for every live show that they play - yes, kind of nerdy in an OK Go kind of way.  In fact, in a very real way, they kind of resemble OK Go quite a bit.  This is their first album, and they also released a debut EP, "Sweet FA", in 2018.  Both are amazing and will have you grooving.  The band has released a new single in 2020, so I am hoping that a new album will be forthcoming.

7.  Lycia "In Flickers" - I grew up in the small town of Casa Grande, Arizona - just 45 miles from Tempe - in the '80s and part of the '90s.  I grew up in the gothic scene and attended all of the gothic clubs that sprouted up in the dark corners of the night in that desert city.  I knew the local scene very well, including Gin Blossoms and Meat Puppets.  So, it's strange that I never heard of Lycia until a couple of years ago - a dark wave/ goth band from Tempe, Arizona around since 1988 and boasting 11 albums!  And they are my type of music.  Dark and mystical, spooky, whispered vocals, Skinny Puppy-type beats.  I can't believe that I had never heard of them.  Like most bands in the ethereal wave genre, they are more about creating atmosphere rather than melodies, so my only complaint is that some of the songs are repetitive - finding a cool vibe and only repeating that.  But some of the songs are downright bone chilling.  The eerie "A Failure", and "Mist", a relatable song about driving and walking at night.  Whispered, of course.

8.  Albert Hammond Jr. "Francis Trouble" - This is another artist that my kids turned me onto.  In fact, some of my kids went to see Albert Hammond Jr. live in Phoenix last year.  He is the son of well-known '70s rock performer, Albert Hammond.  He is also known as the guitarist of legendary post-punk band, The Strokes.  But really, he is a polished solo artist in his own right with four albums under his belt.  I haven't listened to any of the others.  But this one is great - this is hook-laden, jubilant guitar rock.  There is not a bad song on it; every single song is catchy and likable.  I remarked right away that the music reminded me strongly of Johnny Marr's solo work, the former guitarist of The Smiths.  I played some of Marr's work for my son, also a guitarist, and he responded, "Yeah, I can see it."  Really, this album is so good that it's hard to pick my favorite song, but, if I had to, it would be "Muted Beatings".  If you haven't yet, check out this album.

9.  Lucero "Among the Ghosts" - My oldest daughter was living and going to his school in Knoxville, Tennessee, along with her husband, and at the end of 2018, my wife and I traveled out to see her graduate.  We had a week to kill, so I started looking into local artists in local 'zines.  I came across an article about Lucero, a country band from Memphis, so I checked them out and loved them.  Really, to just call them just a "country" band does them a disservice.  They blend country with punk and delta blues.  Twangy guitars with growled vocals.  The songs are magnetic and fill you up like the punch of solid Tennessee whiskey.  Thinking I had found something new and different, I called up my friend, JR Hendry, frontman of psychedelic outlaw country jam band, Primal Giants, but he had already heard of them.  I guess they have been around for twenty years and have, like, eleven albums out.  Check them out.  This is real Americana.

10.  Nothing "Dance on the Blacktop" -  Those who follow my blog know that I have covered this band before, from the beginning.  They were perhaps one of the first of the new generation of shoegaze music that I started listening to. They are one of many metalcore bands who switched genres to start making fuzzy, swirly music, but those harder elements are still visible.  Nothing has always been kind of grungy shoegaze, tipping their hats to Nirvana, as evidenced in the main single, "Zero Day", which is hard-hitting and dreamy at once.  Many of their songs are somewhat derivative as well - "Us/ We/ are" also evokes Nirvana, "Hail on Palace Pier" is reminiscent of The Buzzcocks.  But none of it in a bad way.  My favorite track is "(Hope) Is Just Another Word With a Hole In It." which completes the album and melts into shoegazey gooeyness.  In 2019, the next year, the band released "Spirit of the Stairs - B-Sides & Rarities", which contained outtakes from previous releases, including acoustic versions and a cover of "Vapour Trail" by Ride.  It is just as fantastic as this album.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

11.  Wallows "Spring" -  This is one that would have definitely been higher on my list, but it is a EP, not an album.  Again, this is one of bands my kids introduced me to, getting me acquainted with a new genre.  Bedroom pop is a phenomenon in that young people are using technology at home (in their bedrooms, as it were) to make music and then market it on social media rather than relying on record companies for exposure.  They mix low-fi indie with shoegaze, R&B - anything that create their own type of sounds.  The results are refreshingly uninhibited ad unrestrained by A&R reps telling bands how to act or how to sound.  This includes artists like Mac DeMarco, Boy Pablo, and Wallows.  This style is not always to my taste (too happy), but I really like Wallows, because they remind me of The Smiths - at once effervescent and melancholy.  I like the sarcasm of "1980s Horror Film" and the driving hooks of "Pictures of Girls".  This band had their first album, "Nothing Happens", in 2019, also excellent.  Perhaps I will review that soon.

12.  Sylvaine "Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone" - I don't know what it is about Scandinavia and excellent musical artists, especially metal artists.  But Sylvaine is one of them.  She is an all-around artist - she writes, records, engineers, mixes, and plays all of the instruments, and this is her third album.  For this one, she solicited the help of Neige, the genius behind French blackgaze outfit, Alcest.  And the music of this record really does sound like Alcest - long songs, power chords, haunting melodies,lengthy, almost-classical interludes, periods of hummingbird heartbeat drums, and unearthly growls with Sylvaine's angelic voice.  A bit like Myrkur, except more metal driven.  This really is blackgaze - a mixture of shoegaze and black metal.  There is even a song in French.  My wife once remarked about these types of artists, "They're really serious musicians, aren't they?"  Yes.  Yes, they are.

13.  Zola Jesus "Okovi" - Technically, this album was released  at the tail end of 2017, so it technically shouldn't even be on this list.  That's why it sits a bit lower on my list - not because of lack of love, but because it's displaced.  But I wasn't exposed to it until April, 2018 on a visit to Philadelphia.  My friend Matt played this for me on the same day he played Chelsea Wolfe, and so, even though they are very different in some ways (and very similar), they are indelibley connected in my mind.  Both are wildly original.  Both mix a gothic ethos with other genres.  In the case of Zola Jesus, she take staccato, hypnotic, almost industrial beats and laces them with orchestral and chorale music making it a bit like This Mortal Coil meets Dead Can Dance meets Ministry.  And her voice is both devilish and delightful.  I don't know why more people don't rave about her.  There are a few.  But she really deserves much more attention.

14.  Deafheaven "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" -  I really have mixed feelings about this one.  Deafheaven, along with Alcest, are pioneers of the blackgaze genre - an unlikely conjoining of hazy shoegaze and aggressive black metal. It's really my type of music and should have scored a little higher on my list.  I really love Deafheaven's music.  Let me repeat that - I REALLY LOVE Deafheaven's music.  It's alluring, captivating, and very post-punk.  BUT... I just can't get past the vocals.  Now, I'm no stranger to screaming.  I grew up on metal.  I grew up on black metal, even.  But this sounds like two feral cats fighting in a dark alley.  It sounds like Smashing Pumpkins set to the sound of a chainsaw cutting through a steel sheet.  Yes, I know, Neige in Alcest screams, but he intersperses it with real singing, and, when he screams, it is with raw, existential pain.  This guy just screams and screams.  So, whereas I really like the music, I am listening to it in spite of the vocals.  I don't know.  Maybe I'm just getting old.