BEST RELEASES OF 2021
So we thought we'd do something a little different this year. Instead of a list of the 2021 releases that caught our eyes and ears apres January 1st, we decided it would be better to give you a handy-dandy register of any work coming to our attention during 2021. Oh sure, most of the following was released in the last twelve months; but as we are not omniscient- although we try to be - we thought it would be exceedingly hip to alert you to some of the stuff we missed in 2020 or that has been floating around in the soundcloud, or whatever the hell you call it, that we deemed essential for your education. Read on, therefore, dear reader, what follows, in no particular order of preference, is some transcendent listening . . .
GROUPE RTD - THE DANCING DEVILS OF DJIBOUTI
A stunning collision of Indian Bollywood, Jamaican dub and reggae, sleek horns inspired by Harlem’s jazz era, Somali funk, and the haunting and joyous synthesizer melodies of the Red Sea by Groupe RTD, one of East Africa’s best kept secrets.
BIMBAMBOOM - TOKYO AVENTURE
The all-female Tokyo-based outfit is a smorgasbord of influences; yet sound like nothing out there. The ingredients are recognizable: from Southern-fried humid jazz motifs to slick propulsive funk grooves and Memphis R&B. Nevertheless, in BamBamBoom’s more than capable hands, the final product is a party in a shot glass – a symphony of acute instrumental breakdowns, cerebral bass-slapping good vibes, and a free-wheeling punk attitude that’s downright contagious.
FANFAR AWANTURA - TRUE POLISH TECHNO
Polish folk melodies to a techno beat and -- as if that wasn't enough -- played by a nine-piece Big Band! This is True Polish Techno -- the fabulous new album by Fanfara Awantura coming out on Automatik. True Polish Techno is a thoroughly new guise of Fanfara Awantura an outfit normally working the field of Balkan-punk aesthetics. The seemingly traditional brass orchestra will astonish you with how skillfully they weave rave, psytrance, progressive, minimal and Detroit techno. Prawdziwie Polskie Techno was conceived following a special request from the Radio Centre of Folk Culture at Polskie Radio. The institution celebrated its 25th anniversary with a concert for which the combo composed seven original variations on folk melodies from south-eastern Poland. The pieces mix ardent techno and electronic music with the sound of an armed forces marching band and a folk ensemble to the accompaniment of ecstatic synthesizers. Simply . . . un-fucking believable!
MAISTAH APHRICA - MEOW
A new ship of fools sails on Bolombia lands! These strange people seem to celebrate the whole jazz universe as well as African idioms, but they've never been to Africa. Neurotic and schizoid sorcerers, a furious wind drags them towards the total effervescence of the groove: an unprecedented cauldron of dangerous substances, hybrid styles and influences mixed with secret recipe. Their music is an explosive bubble of expressions, a feverish, impulsive, and unstoppable ritual. A cosmic attitude marries the majestic and floating sounds of synths and psych organs to acidified toxic dub sparks and deadly funk forays. A crazy horn section travels without maps from Sun-Ra and Ethiopian echoes to hard-bop reminiscences, to sudden and virulent Balkanisms, making this soup an indecipherable combination of flavors.
REV. ROBERT BALLINGER - THE KING'S HIGHWAY
A double disc of recordings by Rev. Robert Ballinger kicks off a new gospel CD series on the legendary German Bear Family label! The good Rev. recorded primarily as a member of a trio, accompanied by bass and drums and releasing some of the most powerful blues-drenched gospel numbers of the 50s and early 60s. Musically, the Reverend's vocals are more reminiscent of blues and R&B shouters than of traditional gospel singing in African-American houses of worship. As a pianist, he impresses with his relentless attack whilst playing in the best barrelhouse tradition.
GROWING - DIPTYCH
It isn't easy to summarize a band whose career has stretched over two decades. In the case of Growing, though, it's all in the name. Since 2001, the core duo of Kevin Doria and Joe DeNardo have been making sublime experimental music. In that time, they have amassed an indefinable and influential body of work. Diptych sees the band operating at the height of their 'big amp ambient' powers, a masterclass in slowly undulating ambient drift, and quite possibly the definitive headphone album of the year. Over a year and a half in the making, Diptych is a work of terrible, strange beauty.
MAGIC TUBER STRING BAND - WHEN SORROWS ENCOMPASS ME ROUND
FRANK HALL - I REMEMBER YOU
Cold Spring Records release the official soundtrack to the cult Icelandic horror film, I Remember You (Ég man þig). Heavy dark ambient/industrial/orchestral soundscapes composed by Frank Hall, with a beautiful, solemn, folkloristic finale featuring Icelandic choirs. The soundtrack was created at the old industrial area of Grandi in Reykjavík, at a studio due to be "gentrified" and forcefully emptied of the artists.
MORIS ZEKLAR - FUZZ & SOUL SEGA FROM '70S MAURITIUS
A tax haven and dream destination for wealthy travelers, the Republic of Mauritius is a multi-ethnic country that is currently experiencing full economic and social ascension. Banking, textile, tech, tourism industries… in this fast-paced melting pot, business is strong. But not too far from the heavenly beaches and luxurious hotels are quasi-shantytowns, reminding us that a large part of the population, often Creole (of Afro-Malagasy origin) are still excluded from the "economic miracle of Mauritius." These Creoles are mostly descendants of slaves who were deported in mass in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from Madagascar and the East African coast for the cultivation of spices and coffee and later sugar cane. On the margins of these hellish plantations was secretly created a music called tchiega, chéga or tsiega, a distant cousin of the blues. The music from Mauritius in the 70s found on this compilation naturally evolved from this original sega. Created at the crossroads of Afro-Malagasy, Western and Indian cultures, pop, soul and funk arrangements, syncopated ternary polyrhythms, saturated guitars, psychedelic organs and Creole vocals, this musical phenomenon is as incredible as a tropical flower in bloom.
CROSS THE BRIDGE: POLISH AMERICAN DANCES & SONGS 1926-1931
There is something about the “merry” quality of much of the Polish-American recorded material that can be distasteful to some contemporary listeners. I would, however, advise listeners unaccustomed to the quality of joyfulness among immigrant performers to consider the labor involved in happiness. Forget the plastered-on grins of Lawrence Welk’s band, that mask of inauthenticity, and look deep into the sound. In your mind’s eye, it isn’t smiling faces you’ll see, but bodies becoming weightless and breathing hard as they hurl around in an attempt to escape Earth’s gravitational pull or, deeper still, a heart wanting, trying to feel itself bursting with life and the laughter that lives at the core of all creation.
NEIL CHANEY - AURA SOUNDTRACK
The original dark ambient/unsettling synth soundtrack by Neil Chaney to the British supernatural horror film Aura (aka The Exorcism Of Karen Walker). From the first notes, the incredibly evocative compositions feature huge swathes of cavernous dark ambient sound, mixed with unsettling dark synths in the vein of the legendary '70s Italian giallo horror. Quieter, and indeed sinister moments are evoked by emotive strings, synths and piano adding pathos and a melancholy atmosphere to the disturbing score.
KIKO KIDS JAZZ - TANGANYIKA NA UHURU
Formed in the mid-1950s, Kiko Kids Jazz created a stunningly unique sound amidst an explosion of Tanzanian guitar bands in the years leading up to the country’s independence. Defined by Salim Zahoro’s warm voice and the heavy tremolo of his electric mandolin, Kiko Kids Jazz incorporated their love of early acoustic Cuban Son, rhythms from their home town of Tabora, the exciting and competitive scene of acoustic/electric dance bands in Dar Es Salaam and Nairobi, the poetic strains of Taarab and Arabic music, and the tranquility of Tanzania. The results are both comforting and intriguing: expressive, strung out melodies on Salim’s mandolin and subtly complex percussion lock into deep grooves of thumping acoustic bass, jerky rhythm guitars, and Cuban-style trumpet breaks. The kind of sounds that can be approached from several rhythmic angles, until it all gels in the mind and soul.
Despite being one of the most beloved and innovative bands of their time, this is the first Kiko Kids Jazz LP ever released, consisting of our favorite songs from 1962 and 1965, all beautifully remastered from original tapes and pressings.
FABIO ORSI - WALTZING THE DUNE
Fabio Orsi has created five wonderful electronic sound paintings here, which glide along in a summery, cozy, completely unsightly, sonorous and intense manner. A warm August evening in Salento by the sea, when the sky is slowly turning red and the waves are calming sounds like this, even if the album was apparently recorded in October. Adepts of impressionistic-progressive electronics should grab it, if they still want to have a real sound carrier on the shelf. There are said to be only 300 copies of the album in physical form.
EIGHT POINT STAR - EIGHT POINT STAR
Remarkable debut album by new Cosmic-Appalachian string band, birthed from the same Virginia firmament that has brought forth Pelt, Jack Rose, Black Twig Pickers, and Spiral Joy Band. Led by Mike Gangloff's droning fiddle and Matt Peyton's fingerpicked guitar, Eight Point Star mines the modal traditions of both old-time Appalachia and far-out drone music to produce beautiful tunes that are equal parts bluegrass and psychedelic.
SCHLOSS TEGAL - KOLLEKTIV
Schloss Tegal presents “Kollektiv” Music from the Sanatorium a collection of subculture home taping mail art from the '80s with many heavyweights in the early cassette genre. This compilation is a valuable record of early independent music cassette mail art subculture. Only about twenty cassette copies were ever made and were distributed solely to close contacts. Now with the resurgence of cassette popularity and associated collectors, this rare and unique remastered restored cassette compilation of early industrial and experimental noise is available as a CD for the first time.
TUNNELS OF AH - IRON SPEAKS
IRON SPEAKS has become known as the 'lost' TUNNELS OF ĀH album since the original version was to be the fifth release on Cold Spring; but, sadly, the album didn't feel right and was replaced by DEATHLESS MIND. After reworking the album and an approach from Hypershape Records in order to release it, here'tis: a dark, brooding work inspired by the Koran's mythology surrounding metal from the heavens.
CALAMITA - NEMESIS
Calamita is an instrumental power-rock trio composed of Lebanese musicians Sharif Sehnaoui (electric guitar) and Tony Elieh (electric bass) and Italian drummer Davide Zolli. Calamita released its eponymous first album in 2018, and followed it up with a large-scale European tour the following year. The trio's tour was punctuated by a high-octane performance in Beirut's iconic venue Metro al-Madina, with a number of guests that included experimental French guitarist Jean-Marc Montera. Calamita's album Nemesis consists of tracks that were constructed and played during the 2018 tour -- the music went through a lengthy editing and mixing process during the early months of the pandemic, before reaching its current, abrasive state.
OLD TOWER - TALES OF THE MAD MOON
Tales Of A Mad Moon is a compilation of the early work of Dutch dark ambient artist Old Tower. The LP includes the trilogy of EPs released as Grim Alchemy, the cassette-only EP Plague Harvest, Ruination, a New Dawn Cometh’ Part One and Two along with bonus tracks. If you like your ambient music dark, then this prime gloom really is for you.
Or as Old Tower would have it: A dream into the present without a future, a future without a past . . . exploration of different aspects of dark music in short gasps . . . ambient and field recording statements of decay . . . the Dark Ages as raison d'être to the lost spirit . . . a death mask laughing at humans from the mountains of madness . . .
MARY LATTIMORE - COLLECTED PIECES
In the afterglow of her acclaimed 2020 album Silver Ladders - a year-end favorite of NPR, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and others - Los Angeles-based harpist and composer Mary Lattimore returns with a culminating counterpart release. The limited-edition LP sequences selections from her two rarities collections, Collected Pieces I (2017) and Collected Pieces II (2020), bringing archive highlights and fan favorites to vinyl and CD for the first time. Lattimore has described the process of arranging these releases as akin to “opening a box filled with memories,” and here that box continues to germinate, accessible for both the artist and fans. Evocative material separated by years, framed as a portrait of an instrumental storyteller who rarely pauses, recording and often sharing music as soon as it strikes her. Seemingly in constant forward motion for the last five years since her Ghostly debut, Lattimore glances back for a breath, inviting new chances to live in these fleeting moments and emotions and gracing the listener with all the beauty, sorrow, sunshine, and darkness housed within.
THE STOOGES - JESUS LOVES THE STOOGES
This is the absolute definitive version of the Raw Power outtakes that have been bootlegged for god knows how many years. Very few known tracks are missing from here (excluding alternate takes of songs), and the songs have been remastered as to sound as best as possible given the age and fidelity of the tapes. Rubber Legs, for example, sounds much better here than it does on the recent Heavy Liquid compilation. The LP version of this is unfortunately very underwhelming, missing several key tracks, but the full digital version has just about everything you could possibly need.
THE DEVILS - BEAST MUST REGRET NOTHING
The Devils took their name from Ken Russell's bombastic 1971 potboiler and their inspiration from the likes of The Cramps, Hound Dog Taylor and Hasil Adkins. They formed their own band in 2015 in Naples, the Deep South of Italy. You know: think Alabama and Arkansas.
Gianni Vessella plays the guitar and sings, and Gianni Blacula hits the drums and screams into the microphone. We say this for no reason other than to let you know that this is a rock and roll guitar and drum duo. Yes, that's it. That is the reason for telling you this.
Now the sound: Huge walls of guitar fuzz and noise accompanied by vocals as moronic and minimalistic as it gets. And no Dylanesque-Nobel Prize-poetry here. Just pure nonsensical lasciviousness. Chainsaw-massacre-hysterical emoting likely to lead to ear bleeding on the part of the unwary listener. Tribal drumming most likely the result of breakfasts fueled by speed and power food. All while dressed up as preacher and nun. Did we mention they were from southern Italy?
ANGERED WRECKS - BENNIES, BOOZE & R&R 1981
ake the freaked-out punked up soul of The Stooges and MC5 mix that with 60s garage trash, blend in Sabbath, AC/DC and heavy rock n roll and then hot wire that sound to a handful of freaks located in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Here it is that The Angered Wrecks were located - in an old Victorian style house in downtown Fredericton. It was here they set up a permanent rehearsal space on the main floor taking up the dining room and living room area with a full P.A. system and the long parties would begin as the Angered Wrecks cranked out an unholy primal serving of mind-numbing, eyeball-popping guttural pure rock and roll.
MONSTER PARADE - VOLS 1 - 3
Who says garage rock is dead? Not us, and proof positive of its living, brutal untamed existence comes courtesy of Portuguese Chaputa Records and their savage three EP series featuring bands from Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Canada and the dying empire that is the U.S. of A. Don't be fooled by other record companies flying the freak flag; this is the real deal. Because when you purchase a Chaputa Record it comes with a positive guarantee that the record bearing it contains only fuzz, distortion, screams, wild beats and loud sounds, as performed by the best artists of this generation!
1313 MOCKINGBIRD LANE - UNFINISHED BUSINESS (THE TOILET TAPES)
Here's some swingin' retro-upon-retro rock 'n' roll rubbish with which to splatter your platter. Back in the nefarious '90s, 1313 Mockingbird Lane were Albany's reigning garage punks, taking their farfisa-fueled cues from contemporary revivalists like the Fuzztones, the Lyres, and the Cynics, as well as the legions of obscure '60s one-shot gangs filling the track lists of Nuggets, Pebbles, Back from the Grave, and similar comps. Camp horror is key to the aesthetic here—the band's name is the home address of Herman and family on TV's The Munsters—as evidenced by creepy ditties like "Teenage Frankenstein" and "She's Got a Werewolf in Her Pants." Complementing Cacaphone's deluxe reissue of the group's 1990 LP, Have Hearse Will Travel, Unfinished Business (digital and vinyl) dredges the depths for unheard outtakes, demos, and raw rehearsal rave-ups to further document this mythic underground outfit. (Courtesy Peter Aaron and Chronogram)
THE SUPER SUPER BLUES BAND
Super Super Blues Band started out merely as Super Blues, a conglomerate of blues pillars Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Little Walter. When Little Walter bowed out and was replaced by Howlin' Wolf, they rightfully threw another Super on the name, and went on to release this burning, irreverent and even sometimes hilarious set of drunken, wild-eyed electric blues. Long form jams roll on in a trance as the trio of blues legends flex egos, talking shit to each other, trading off leads and ducking blasts of unexpected wah-wah guitar lines. Songs are peppered with an incredible level of banter between the trio of bandleaders presaging the call and response sing-talking of early hip hop, and laced with random background screams in the background teetering between celebration and danger. That these three ever wound up in the same room together is a miracle. That the trio somehow managed to produce, in their mixing, something this intense, energetic and downright weird is simply mind-bending. The record is special enough as a stand-alone document of this meeting/melting of the minds before you find out the backing band consists of Hubert Sumlin, Otis Spann and freaking Buddy Guy. Lawks-a-mercy! Might have needed one more "super" in there.
ROBERT 'PETE' WILLIAMS - LOUISIANA BLUES
Over fifty years since his discovery by ethnomusicologists Dr. Harry Oster and Richard Allen in the prison farm of Angola, Louisiana, one still must ask in near astonishment: Just what is it that makes the blues as sung and picked by Robert Pete Williams such a singular listening experience, unequaled elsewhere in that musical form? As Peter Guralnick, in Feel Like Going Home writes: "It's difficult to approve the banalities of most blues singers after listening to Robert Pete Williams. More than anyone else he shatters the conventions of the form and refuses to rely upon any of the clichés, either of music or of lyric, which bluesman after bluesman will invoke. Instead, he sings blues which reflect a unique and personal vision; he makes each song unmistakably his own." Unfamiliar keys, cliché-free lyricism, spontaneity, an individualistic style in invoking his particular blues, all make Robert Pete Williams an idiosyncratic entry into the canon. It's impossible to listen to blues artists before him and hear strains of his particular style. None have matched it since. Louisiana Blues contains ten songs recorded in the month of July 1966 out in Berkeley, California for John Fahey's Takoma imprint. Comes with an eight-page booklet. Limited edition of six hundred on bottleneck brown vinyl.
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