Best of 2021

There were seven records in 2021 that I liked enough to keep listening to them. I found 13 others mildly interesting but not enough to mention.

1. Richard Dawson & Circle - Henki: An obscure British folk singer working with a Finnish experimental band made my favorite record of the year. You know, real populist stuff. It’s Canterbury-style prog in a modernist Caravan or Hatfield & the North kind of way. This record lacks some of the silliness of those groups, but there is some lightness among it’s cerebral, charcoal austerity. If Harry Clarke had animated a movie set in Advanced Fighting Fantasy’s world of Titan, it could be this record.

2. Circuit des Yeux - -io: I just got turned on to this artist (Haley Fohr) this year. It’s not surprising as her early work came out under the bushel baskets that are Thrill Jockey and Drag City. Now that she’s on Matador her deep voice and dramatic and baroque art tunes have a chance to be heard. Hopefully people will listen. The track, “Vanishing,” was one of the best songs I heard all year, propulsive and powerful. From what I’ve seen online, she and her band can bring it live as well.

3. Lindsay Buckingham - Lindsay Buckingham: There’s nothing complicated about this. Buckingham just writes better melodies than other people. His guitar playing is unique and stellar as always. Mostly written, and entirely performed and recorded by Buckingham at home, this album has a direct, stripped-down Dirty Mind feel to it, albeit with more reverb. The rhythm/drum parts are pretty simplistic, but they’re enough to get the songs across. Albums with ten great songs averaging 3-and-a-half minutes each shouldn’t be an anomaly, but they are. This is what pop music should be.

4. Gazelle Twin & NYX - Deep England: British electronic musician, Elizabeth Bernholz, is an electronic musician in the Fever Ray mode. This album appears to be a collaborative reworking (with NYX) of her 2018 album, Pastoral, along with a few newer tracks. This was my entry into her work so suppose it’s natural that I prefer these versions. There’s a kind of mystical Current 93/Coil energy at work here. Could work well as a soundtrack for the original Wicker Man.

5. Nation of Language - A Way Forward: Not bad for an OMD knock-off. I liked their debut from last year, but this one even got a physical release. I don’t know if this sophomore effort reaches the highs of the debut, but it feels more consistent to me in terms of quality. Like it’s predecessor the last song - “They’re Beckoning,” in this case - is one of the best. The rest of the record, if not as epic, still includes a lot of good hooks sung by Ian Richard Devaney's earnest, compelling voice.

6. Steve Gunn - Fulton: I don’t like this record as much as his previous one, but Fulton is a very pretty, autumnal folk rock record in the vein of John Martyn, Beachwood Sparks, or Richard Hawley. There isn’t a great deal of weight to the material on this, but it’s an extremely pleasant listen. A good way to describe this would be music to daydream by. It’s lack of directness is the point. It has a kind of soft-focus psychedelia about it.

7. Chrome - Scaropy: There is something truly heartening about Helios Creed still at it, turning up the fuzz box and feedback, making records that sound like they were recorded via satellite from the dark side of Mars. Scaropy sounds like it could have come out in 1984, 1994, or anytime in the past 25 years. Chrome music is eternal. “Terminate” and “The Opposition” are my favorite jams off this.