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AOTY 2021

matt j said:
So what are your top albums of the year now we're near the end?

Been a bit of a slow year for me this one, I've bought plenty as usual but the only two stand out albums are the Dry Cleaning and Parquet Courts LPs, with an honourable nod to the Rose City Band as well.

Quite disappointed with the War On Drugs and Lana Del Rey efforts I was looking forward to and a fair few of the others are a bit dull as well to be honest.

1. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
2. Parquet Courts - Sympathy For Life
3. Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime
4. Weather Station - Ignorance
5. Rose City Band - Earth Trip
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I like Rose City Band's previous output, Spotify recommended them (him) to me. Earth Trip isn't on Spotify, I'll try it elsewhere.

Cheers BB
 
Brown Bottle said:
I like Rose City Band's previous output, Spotify recommended them (him) to me. Earth Trip isn't on Spotify, I'll try it elsewhere.

Cheers BB
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Yeah it's not on Amazon music either for me, luckily I bought the limited spangly green vinyl version which sounds great, but no digital copy to play on the move.
 
Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
IDLES - Crawler
Squid - Bright Green Field
Low - Hey What
 
For me it's not been a great year for LPs I really like, quite a few disappointments form artists I like.

A few are getting regular plays:

Chvrches - Screen Violence
Killers - Pressure Machine
War on Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore
Mogwai – As the Love Continues
The Weather Station – Ignorance



​
 
paulfromcamden said:
I'd completely missed that she had another record out - thanks!
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No probs. You must’ve missed the release party at Berghain end of last month?! : )

A completely different album to Weightless, with proper songs, that seems just wrong at first, but worth sticking with.

mrlamonta said:
Andrew Wasylyk - Balgay Hill, Morning in Magnolia
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farfromthesun said:
Brilliant, understated label.

https://claypipemusic.greedbag.com/
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I’m sure I’d never even heard of any of this, but I’m intrigued... the prints, books, the whole aesthetic. Thanks both; bookmarked for when I’m more awake.
 
a slow year for new music for me. covid revitalized some veterans, but seemed to put a damper on releases by younger bands.

snail mail - valentine
dinosaur jr.- sweep it into space
matthew milia - keego harbor
aeon station - observatory
fruit bats - pet parade
lamb chop - showtunes
too much joy - mistakes were made
 
A reasonably good year - these stand out for me;

Mazzarella - Håker Flaten - Ra / What You Seek is Seeking You (Astral Spirits)
Natural Information Society with Evan Parker / descension (Out of Our Constrictions) (eremite records)
Eddie Prévost Quartet / Bean Soup and Bouquets (Matchless)
Evan Parker / Winns Win (Byrd Out)
Benoît Delbecq Quartet / Gentle Ghosts (Jazzdor)
 
Late entry.

Son Volt - Electro Melodier.

The best I’ve heard from Jay Farrar since the first Son Volt album.
 
Another late entry: Irreversible Entanglements - Open The Gates. The vinyl landed earlier and is spinning now. It raises an interesting question about release dates as it was recorded early January, yet the (diabetic pee coloured) vinyl has only landed now. A lot of releases are in the same boat, e.g. do we count the Nala Sinephro Space 1.8 album as 2021 or 2022? For me it’s the latter as that is when my CD will likely turn up.

Anyway, Open The Gates is really good. Another album in that spiritual jazz meets funk with a current political message mould, think 24 Carat Black with some Alice Coltrane, free jazz and Gil Scott Heron thrown in, possibly even some Can, but never not being jazz. Very ‘now’ in our #BLM world and would sit comfortably next to anything from Sault to Sons Of Kemet as well as within its own spiritual jazz genre. This is the sound of 2020-21 to my mind. A new wave of jazz and soul/funk reborn as the music of protest it was always. Definitely one for the AOTY list. Nice pressing too, it’s spread over four sides and is quiet and nicely dynamic.
 
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Haven't really listened to enough new stuff this year, but of what I have heard, my fav was the excellent 'Man Made' from Greentea Peng.

Don't watch if you are feely a bit queasy or dizzy...

 
Tony L said:
Another late entry: Irreversible Entanglements - Open The Gates. The vinyl landed earlier and is spinning now. It raises an interesting question about release dates as it was recorded early January, yet the (diabetic pee coloured) vinyl has only landed now. A lot of releases are in the same boat, e.g. do we count the Nala Sinephro Space 1.8 album as 2021 or 2022? For me it’s the latter as that is when my CD will likely turn up.

Anyway, Open The Gates is really good. Another album in that spiritual jazz meets funk with a current political message mould, think 24 Carat Black with some Alice Coltrane, free jazz and Gil Scott Heron thrown in, possibly even some Can, but never not being jazz. Very ‘now’ in our #BLM world and would sit comfortably next to anything from Sault to Sons Of Kemet as well as within its own spiritual jazz genre. This is the sound of 2020-21 to my mind. A new wave of jazz and soul/funk reborn as the music of protest it was always. Definitely one for the AOTY list. Nice pressing too, it’s spread over four sides and is quiet and nicely dynamic.
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Ben LaMar Gay’s Open Arms to Open Us is in the same vein and also very good, certainly on my list.
 
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Tony L said:
A new wave of jazz and soul/funk reborn as the music of protest it was always.
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We can argue about jazz (from the 40s on ) but soul/funk were born as dance music. Made by musicians and label owners to make money (and nothing wrong with that). Sam Cooke, Berry Gordy, Stax, James Brown. Making money and the fans were dancing. Yes elements of protest came in but that was not the main driver.
 
I was thinking more of Marvin Gaye, Gil Scott Heron, 24 Carat Black, Gary Bartz etc. That’s not to say the stuff that wasn’t overtly political was apolitical. It was all part of a wider culture that was driving the civil rights movement, sexual liberation, Black Panthers, CND, peace movement etc. The world shifted beyond all recognition in the ‘60s and ‘70s and music was right there at the front of it.
 
Tony L said:
I was thinking more of Marvin Gaye, Gil Scott Heron, 24 Carat Black, Gary Bartz etc. That’s not to say the stuff that wasn’t overtly political was apolitical. It was all part of a wider culture that was driving the civil rights movement, sexual liberation, Black Panthers, CND, peace movement etc. The world shifted beyond all recognition in the ‘60s and ‘70s and music was right there at the front of it.
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Politics were in plain view on this Lou Rawls album from 1972.


More images

Lou Rawls – A Man Of Value
Label: MGM Records – SE 4861, MGM Records – SE-4861
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1972
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Soul
 
Bumping this to add Cleo Sol’s spacious, soulful and jazzy Mother. Including all those Sault albums, her seventh in two years. This should be available on prescription:


Sunshine, you make me feel alive
Little more, little more, just a little more...
 
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, LSO album is doing it for me right now. It’s incredibly emotional at times. Wonderful music. I think it was this year?!
 
Picked up a few I’d missed from the thread, thanks.

I don’t think Public Service Broadcasting’s Bright Magic has been mentioned in the thread, so I’ll add that as one I’ve been taken with this year.
 
Alex N said:
Bumping this to add Cleo Sol’s spacious, soulful and jazzy Mother. Including all those Sault albums, her seventh in two years. This should be available on prescription:


Sunshine, you make me feel alive
Little more, little more, just a little more...
Click to expand...

Yep, my favourite of the year on balance, and certainly the LP I’ve listened to most.
 
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