2021

25 Favourite Physical Releases in alphabetical order

• Leila Abdul-Rauf – Phantasiai (Cyclic Law)
• Liz Allbee – Rille (Relative Pitch)
• Marisa Anderson & William Tyler – Lost Futures (Thrill Jockey)
• Angel Archer – LightRay Variations (S/R)
• Anoice – The Hidden Forest (Ricco)
• The Body and Big|Brave – Leaving None But Small Birds (Thrill Jockey)
• Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage (Goliath)
• Chloe Foy – Where Shall We Begin (S/R)
• Circuit Des Yeux – -io (Matador)
• Clara Engel – Dressed in Borrowed Light (S/R)
• Val Esway + Global Spider Community – No One Ever Said This Would Be Pretty (S/R)
• R.K. Faulhaber – Dugong Weeps (Helen Scarsdale)
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee At State’s End! (Constellation)
• Adrian Lane – Slow Autumn at my Window (Preserved Sound)
• Cheryl E. Leonard – Schism (mappa)
• Lime Rickey – F U T U R E F A I T H (S/R)
• Low – Hey What (Sub Pop)
• Jessica Moss – Phosphenes (Constellation)
• Marissa Nadler – The Path of the Clouds (Sacred Bones)
• Sarah Neufeld – Detritus (Paper Bag)
• Nurse With Wound – Opium Cabaret (ICR)
• Dax Pierson – Nerve Bumps (A Queer Divine Dissatisfaction) (Ratskin)
• Rudimentary Peni – Great War (Sealed Records)
• Tele Novella – Mervyn Belle (Kill Rock Stars)
• Yat-Kha – We Will Never Die (The Lollipop Shoppe)

25 Favourite Digital/Ephemeral Releases in alphabetical order

• Kate Carr – Making Do #1, #2 (S/R)
Damon and Naomi – A Sky Record (20|20|20)
• Dark Leaves – Laid Under Leaf, Under Branches (S/R)
• Thomas Dimuzio – Sculpting Electric: In the Ice Phase (Gench)
Alexander Hacke, Danielle De Picciotto, Mick O’Shea – Tricephalus (Ground0)
• Ionophore – Knells (S/R)
Irr. app. (ext.) – Legends of Frogtown digital single series (S/R)
• Julia Kent – Stories From The Sea Original Soundtrack (S/R)
• Carla Kihlstedt and Rafael Osés – Necessary Monsters (S/R)
• Andrews Liles – 1221 (S/R)
• My Heart, An inverted Flame – A Collection Of Essays… series (S/R)
• Kemper Norton – Troillia (S/R)
• The Owl Service – (Love Is Like A) Railway Station (Hobby Horse)
• Poisoning Wave – As Fog In Sunlight (S/R)
Potter / Coleclough / Hill – Rituals of Breath and Bone (ICR)
• Prueba de Aislamiento – Response No. 3 (S/R)
• Rabbit Rabbit – Rabbit Rabbit Radio Volume 4: The Animal I Am (S/R)
• The Redwood Flowers – The Redwood Flowers (S/R)
• Diana Rogerson – Blue Bottle in a Jam Jar (S/R)
• Geneva Skeen – Universal Building Supply (Superpang)
• Southeast of Rain – 42 Days (S/R)
• Stephen Vitiello – Soundtracks for Lynne Sachs (Room40)
• Various – Make Noise Myanmar (S/R)
• Various – Lost In Catland: A Cat Compendium (S/R)
• Various – All Creatures (Polar Seas)

• William Basinski – Watermusic
• Cabaret Voltaire – Shadow of Fear
• The Clash – Sandinista!
• Miles Davis – “He Loved Him Madly”
• Lana del Rey – Chemtrails Over the Country Club
• John Hassell RIP
• Sylvere Lotringer RIP
• Jim O’Rourke – Sleep Like It’s Winter
• Taylor Swift – Evermore
• Tex and the Horseheads – “Oh Mother”

Best Albums of 2021:

• Driftmachine – Spume & Recollection (Umor Rex)
• Craven Faults – Enclosures (Nov. 2020 – Leaf)
• Renaldo & the Loaf – Hardly Gurning While the World is Turning (Klanggalerie)
• Terror/Cactus & Guazú – Botanas: Guazú & Terror Cactus EP (Shika Shika)
• Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – We’re OK. But We’re Lost Anyway (Les Disques Bongo Joe)
• LNS & DJ Sotofett – Sputters (Tresor)
• Blectum From Blechdom – DeepBone (Deathbomb Arc)
• Anna von Hausswolff – All Thoughts Fly (Sept 2020 – Southern Lord)
• Jessica Moss – Phosphenes (Constellation)

Notable Mention 2021:

• Damiana – Vines (Hausu Mountain)
• D’Eon – Rhododendron (Hausu Mountain)
• Meridian Brothers, Conjunto Media Luna – Paz En La Tierra (Les Disques Bongo Joe)
• Fresnel Lens – EP#2 (Fresnel Lens)
• Smoke Bellow – Open For Business (Trouble In Mind)
• Zombi – Liquid Crystal EP (Relapse)
• El Búho – Cumbias Imaquinarias EP (Earthly Measures)
• Unknown Me – Bishintai (Not Not Fun)
• Sarah Neufeld – Detritus (Paper Bag)
• Low – Hey What (Sub Pop)
• Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime (Matador)
• Suryummy – Polynators (Constellation Tatsu)

SPARKLE MOTION’S FAVE ALBUMS OF 2021 in no particular order

MUSIC WITHOUT WORDS (mostly)

• Vijay Iyer Trio [with Linda May Han Oh & Tyshawn Sorey] – Uneasy (ECM)     
• Dr. Lonnie Smith [ft. Iggy Pop] – Breathe (Blue Note)
• Tyshawn Sorey & King Britt – Tyshawn & King (The Buddy System)
• Chuck Johnson – The Cinder Grove (Vin du Select Qualitite)
• Molly Herron [with Science Ficta] – Through Lines (New Amsterdam)
• Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
• Toumani Diabate & London Symphony Orchestra – Korolen EP (World Circuit)
• Nik Bartsch – Entendre (ECM)
• Peter Manning Robinson – Double Helix (Heart Dance)
• Benoit Delbecq – The Weight of Light (Pyroclastic)
• Hannah Peel – Fir Wave (My Own Pleasure)
• Tomaga – Intimate Immensity (Hands in the Dark)
• Lea Bertucci – A Visible Length of Light (S/R)
• Buke and Gase and So Percussion – A Record Of (Brassland)
• Chris Liebing – Another Day (Mute)
• John Dwyer and Bent Arcana – Moon Drenched (Castle Face)

MUSIC WITH WORDS

• Nathan Salsburg – Psalms (No Quarter)
• The Weather Station – Ignorance (Fat Possum)
• Rosalie – No Medium (Spinster)
• Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over the Country Club (Interscope)
• Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview on Phenomenal Nature (Ba Da Bing)
• Yasmin Williams – Urban Driftwood (Spinster)
• Rhiannon Giddens – They’re Calling Me Home (Nonesuch)
• Le Ren – Leftovers (Secretly Canadian)
• Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams (Transgressive)
• Lady Blackbird – Black Acid Soul (Foundation Music)
• L’Rain – Fatigue (Mexican Summer)
• Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince (Verve)
• Sault – Nine (Forever Living Originals)
• Tirzah – Colourgrade (Domino)
• Lost Girls [Jenny Hval & Havard Volden] – Menneskekollektivet (Smalltown Supersound)
• Low – Hey What (Sub Pop)                                                         
• Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg (4AD)
• Shame – Drunk Tank Pink (Dead Oceans)
• Mega Bog – Life, And Another (Paradise of Bachelors)
• Squid – Bright Green Field (Warp)
• Colleen – The Tunnel and The Clearing (Thrill Jockey)
• Jane Weaver – Flock (Fire Records)
• Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds – Swing From the Sean DeLear EP (In The Red)
• Vanishing Twin – Ookii Gekkou (Fire Records)
• Parquet Courts – Sympathy for Life (Rough Trade)
• Suuns – The Witness (Joyful Noise)
• Field Music – Flat White Moon (Memphis Industries)
• Goat Girl – On All Fours (Rough Trade)
• Viagra Boys – Welfare Jazz (YEAR0001)
• RE -ISSUES/COMPS
• Karen Black – Dreaming of You 1971-1976 (Anthology Recordings)
• Akiko Yano – Ai Ga Nakucha Ne (WeWantSounds)
• Lee Morgan – The Complete Live at the Lighthouse (Blue Note)
• Jennifer Castle – Castlemusic 2011(Flemish Eye)
• Leslie Winer – When I Hit You – You’ll Feel It (Light in the Attic)
• ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny – Out of the Blue 40th Anniversary Remaster (Unseen Worlds)
• Van Der Graaf Generator – The Charisma Years 1970-1978 (Charisma)
• Willie Dunn – Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology (Light in the Attic)
• Seefeel – Rupt and Flex (1994-96) and St/Fr/Sp Eps (Warp)
• Various Artists – Eins Und Swei Und Drei Und Drei Und Vier: Deutsche Experimentelle Pop-Musick 1980-86 (Bureau B)

Renée Black’s Favorite New Releases of 2021

Not in Order

• The Chisel – Retaliation (La Vida Es Un Mus)
• La Femme – Paradigmes (Disque Pointu)
• Oi Boys – S/T (La Vida Es Un Mus)
• Collision – Sur Les Trottoirs (Un Vie Pour Rien)
• The Skinflicks – “Won’t Bend the Knee” (Trisol)
• Mess – Intercity (Mendeku Diskak)
• The Gluts – Ungrateful Heart (Fuzz Club)
• Viagra Boys – Welfare Jazz (Year001)
• Amyl & The Sniffers – Comfort to Me (ATO)
• Chubby & the Gang – The Mutt’s Nut (Partisan)
• Rata Negra – “Desconfía de ese chico” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
• Sweeping Promises – “Pain Without a Touch” (Feel It, Sub Pop)
• Various Compilation – Staring At The Rude Boys (Pressure Drop)

qb(x)’s Favorite Albums of 2021

(unordered)

• The Body & BIG|BRAVE – Leaving None But Small Birds (Thrill Jockey)
• Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
• Mary Lattimore –  Collected Pieces: 2015-2020 (Ghostly International)
• Damon Locks – Black Monument Ensemble – Now (International Anthem)
• Lingua Ignota – Sinner Get Ready (Sargent House)
• MMMD & Alem –  L’âge de l’absolutisme (Antifrost)
• Meitei – Kofū II (KITCHEN. LABEL)
• Mong Tong – Music from Taiwan Mystery (WV Sorcerer Productions)
• TEKE::TEKE – Shirushi (Kill Rock Stars)
• Xochimoki –  Temple Of The New Sun (Phantom Limb)