Best Music of 2021 (according to Tim)
Another year in the Kali Yuga. Here’s a list of the albums I enjoyed within it and a Spotify Playlist with songs sequenced with listening in mind.
01. Wolves In the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana (Black Metal, Relapse Records)
I recently looked back at one of these year’s end lists that I did, which featured Wolves In the Throne Room’s third album, Black Cascade. As a positive descriptor I distinguished the West Coast band from the corpse-paint-styled variety of black metal made “popular” in the 90s. While I’ve enjoyed nearly every thing this band has done, their music has never really matched the excitement of their of their first few albums. It seems they’ve done a bit of a reboot here and decided to draw influence from some classic second-wave black metal. Lots reminiscent of Emperor, some dungeon synth moments, some classic sounding solos—they even smeared on some corpse paint in their video for “Primal Chasm (Gift of Fire).” For fans of: the woods, trees, moss, Emperor, swords.
02. Painted Shrines - Heaven and Holy (Psychedelic, Woodist Records)
I unfortunately have to give it to Spotify on this. I’d be listening to an album from William Tyler or 75 Dollar Bill and when it ended, it almost always played the ear-worm, “Saturates the Eye,” from Heaven and Holy. This band is made up of Jeremy Earl from Woods and Glenn Donaldson of The Reds Pinks & Purples (see number 4 on this list) and they play sunny, 60s/70s inspired psychedelic rock. It sounds like a nice warm breeze and is the catchiest thing I’ve heard all year. I couldn’t stop listening to. For Fans of: The Byrds, weed, Laurel Canyon, the ocean.
03. Chuck Johnson - The Cinder Grove (Experimental, VDSQ)
Mr. Johnson is a pandemic MVP for me. His collaboration with Golden Retriever on last year’s Rain Shadow really caused me to dig into his discography. Lucky for me, he put out a new album as well. Using the pedal steel as his primary instrument, he pushes the listener on an immersive cloud, aided by strings and synthesizers. For fans of Brian Eno, space, beeps, boops.
04. The Reds, Pinks and Purples - Uncommon Weather (Bedroom pop, Slumberland/Tough Love)
Thanks to that Painted Shrines record, I got into this: a fuzzy solo slice of bedroom pop from Glenn Donaldson. It’s got everything that I miss from so-called “jangly indie rock.” It’s clever, fun, sad, catchy. For fans of San Francisco, The Smiths, Magnetic Fields, clever lyrics.
05. Cerebral Rot - Excretion of Mortality (Death Metal, 20 Buck Spin)
Before cueing the stylus to this record, you’ve got a lot of warning signs—the crudely painted soup of disenbowlement that brandishes it’s cover, the band’s name, the tracklist (“Vile Yolk of Contagion,” “Spewing Purlulence,” “Retching Innards.”)—you’re in for a gross time. There is no shortage of amazing death metal bands right now. It’s probably my most listened to genre at the moment, if only because I’m constantly trying to play keep-up. Though, I wasn’t a huge fan of Cerebral Rot’s debut (I found it too “groovy,” though it’s grown on me), this one distinguishes itself with it’s doomy murkiness. It sounds like the recorded evidence of some undiscovered, ancient cave-dwelling terrestrial monsters (who have guitars). For fans of: guts, swamps, barf.
06. Andrew Bird and Jimbo Mathis - These 13 (Folk / Country Blues, Thirty Tigers)
Sometimes it’s embarrassing to admit to the wrong person, but I discovered Andrew Bird’s music via the Squirrel Nut Zippers—who were lumped into the unfortunate swing revival of the late 90s. Andrew Bird was a regular collaborator with that band before starting to make his own “old-timey” inspired music with Bowl of Fire. Jimbo Mathis (among other things) was the wild band leader of SNZ and finds himself reunited with his one-time studio player. These 13 is a collection of acoustic folk, country blues and gospel-type songs that sound enlivened by the reunion of old friends. For fans of: the Great Depression, whittling, snapping peas with Grandma.
07. Ryley Walker Kikaguku Moyo - Deep Fried Grandeur (Psych, Husky Pants Records)
A live, heavy psychedelic jam session from versatile guitarist Ryley Walker and Japan’s Kikagaku Moyo. I am a life-long jam band hater, but this along with all the records that John Dwyer put out in 2021, plus the Can 1975 live series has put me in an existential crisis. If I start listening to the String Cheese Incident, I give you my permission to kill me. For fans of: reverb, sitars, mushrooms.
08. Daniel Bachman - Axacan (Experimental, Three Lobed Records)
I listened to a lot of finger-picking, John Fahey-esque records this year (see also: William Tyler & Marissa Anderson, Yasmin Williams). Daniel Bachman is probably one of the finest of this scene—a virtuostic guitar prodigy, who can write an amazing soli—he’s basically perfected the sound, which is perhaps why he’s decided to tear it down on Axacan. It’s full of drones, crudely picked (and crudely recorded) melodies and lots of field recordings, making it an interesting journey. For fans of: back porches, cicadas, silence.
09. Hulder - Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry (Black Metal, Iron Bonehead)
A Beligian / American one-woman black metal project. Whereas, Wolves In the Throne Room may have put on the corpse paint in a video as some new novelty, it’s impossible to find a picture of Hulder without it. Unashamed in the embrace of all things black metal. Where as previous EPs were particularly (probably, intentionally) lo-fi, Godslastering steps up the production a bit, but still feels quite raw. Song topics are presumably about farming…and demons? For fans of: farming, demons, soil, hardship.
10. John Dwyer - Endless Garbage / Witch Egg / Moon-Drenched / Gong Splat (Psych, Castle Face Records)
Lumping these all in one, even though that’s a bit unfair to the unique personnel featured on these jams (Moon-Drenched being the largest ensemble, features TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone). Crazy that John Dwyer didn’t release one studio album with his mightily prolific band, Osees (Thee Oh Sees, OCs, etc), but we have instead is four(!) improvisational, jazzy instrumental psych/kraut sessions akin to last year’s Bent Arcana.
11. Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready (Experimental, Sargent House) bandcamp
12. Sunn O))) - Metta, Benevolence BBC 6music: Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs (Drone, Southern Lord) bandcamp
13. Defacement - s/t (Death/Black Metal, I Voidhanger Records) bandcamp
14. Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon (Space Rock???, Relapse Records) bandcamp
15. Yasmin Williams - Urban Driftwood (Folk, Spinster) bandcamp
16. Mother of Sighs - s/t (Experimental, Deathbomb Arc) bandcamp
17. Universally Estranged - Reared up in Spectral Predation (Death Metal, Blood Harvest Records) bandcamp
18. Can - Live in Stuttgart 1975 / Live in Brighton 1975 (Krautrock, Warp Records) bandcamp bandcamp
19. The Body + Big Brave - Leaving None But Small Birds (Rock, Thrill Jockey Records) bandcamp
20. Panopticon - …And Again Into the Light (Black Metal, Bindrune Records) bandcamp
21. William Tyer and Maris Anderson - Lost Futures (Folk, Thrill Jockey Records) bandcamp
22. Mortiferum - Preserved in Torment (Death Metal, Profound Lore Records) bandcamp
23. Chad VanGaalen - World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener (Indie, Sub Pop) bandcamp
24. Mdou Moctor - Afrique Victime (Tuareg, Matador Records) bandcamp
25. Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm (Black Metal, I, Voidhanger Records) bandcamp
26. Apparition - Feels (Death Metal, Profound Lore Records) bandcamp
27. Circuit des Yeux - IO (Experimental, Matador Records) bandcamp
28. Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell (Singer/Songwriter, Sargent House) bandcamp
29. Worm - Foreverglade (Doom Metal, 20 Buck Spin) bandcamp
30. Ustalost - Before the Glinting Spell Unvests (Black Metal, Gilead Media) bandcamp
31. Dream Unending - Tide Turns Eternal (Doom Metal, 20 Buck Spin) bandcamp
32. Quicksand - Distant Populations (Post-Hardcore, Epitaph) bandcamp
33. Gravesend - Methods of Human Disposal (Grindcore, 20 Buck Spin) bandcamp
34. Midwife - Luminol (Experimental, The Flenser) bandcamp
35. Gatecreeper - An Expected Reality (Death Metal, Closed Casket Activities) bandcamp
36. Full of Hell - Garden of Burning Apparitions (Grindcore, Relapse Records) bandcamp
37. Portal - Avow (Death Metal, Profound Lore Records) bandcamp
38. Dinosaur Jr. - Sweep It Into Space (Indie, Jagjaguwar) bandcamp
39. GAS - Der Lange Marsch (Techno, Kompakt) bandcamp
40. Floating Points + Pharaoh Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises (Jazz, Luaka Bop) bandcamp
41. Frozen Soul - Crypt of Ice (Death Metal, Century Media) spotify
42. Deafheaven - Infinite Granite (Shoegaze, Sargent House) bandcamp
43. Hyperdontia - Hideous Entity (Death Metal, Me Saco Ojo) bandcamp
44. Malignant Altar - Realms of Exquisite Morbidity (Death Metal, Dark Descent) bandcamp
45. Jarhead Fertilizer - Product of My Environment (Death Metal, Closed Casket Activities) bandcamp
46. Converge + Chelsea Wolfe - Blood Moon: I (Post-Metal, Deathwish Industries) bandcamp
47. Gauze - 言いたかねえけど目糞鼻糞 (Hardcore, XXX Records) youtube
48. Sulphorous - The Black Mouth of Sepulchre (Death Metal, Me Saco Ojo) bandcamp
49. Senyawa - Alkisah (Experimental, Phantom Limb) bandcamp
50. Rudimentary Peni - Great War (Punk, Sealed Records) bandcamp
Other good ones that I haven’t gotten many listens in:
At the Gates - The Nightmare Of Being
Bespin Moons - A Blinding Force
The Body - I’ve Seen All I Need to See
Carcass - Torn Arteries
John Carpenter - Lost Themes III
Celestial Sanctuary - Soul Diminished
Divide & Dissolve - Gas Lit
Fulci - Exhumed Information
Grave Miasma - Abyss of Wrathful Deities
Kekht Arakh - Pale Swordsman
Lamp of Murmuur - Submission and Slavery
Lvcifyre - The Broken Seal
Mythic Sunship - Wildfire
Marissa Nadler - The Path of Clouds
Hailu Mergia - Tezeta
Paysage D’Hiver - Geister
Pelt - Reticence / Resistance
Perturbator - Lustful Sacrements
Phrenelith - Chimaera
Claire Rousay - a softer focus
Sante Marie des Loupes - Funérailles de feu
The Silver - Ward of Roses
Snail Mail - Valentine
Snet - Mokvani V Okovech
Sore Dream - Gears Clogged with Blood and Honey
Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime
Succumb - XXI
Wharflurch - Pscyhedelic Realms ov Hell