Undomondo's Best of 2021
Best of 2021 50 albums, 100+ song playlist, Little Simz, Cleo Sol, Anika, King Woman, Amyl & The Sniffers, The Weather Station and more..
Hey all,
After another year of incessant listening, I’ve rounded up the favourites at last.
I couldn’t be bothered to put them in order this year, so like many lazy festivals posters these days, I went for the alphabetic.
I had some albums in mind that I haven’t listened to, some albums that I’ve listened to more than I should and some songs skewing my judgement about the general quality of the albums, but I’m 42, and I’ve done this too many times to finally realize that nobody actually cares, so this is fine enough.
Here’s my Top 10 (in some kind of order):
1. Little Simz – Sometimes I might be Introvert
2. Cleo Sol - Mother
3. Amyl & The Sniffers – Comfort to Me
4. Anika - Change
5. Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram
6. Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg
7. King Woman – Celestial Blues
8. Sons of Kemet – Black to the Future
9. Black Country, New Road – For the First Time
10. The Lovecraft Sextet – In Memoriam
11. The Weather Station - Ignorance
12. Stefano di Battista - Morricone Stories
It was hard to pick between Simby and Cleo for #1 spot, but it should be fine, as they are close friends :) I guess this year’s defining song for me is the masterpiece that is 23 by Cleo, but as there’s unanimous decision that the Little Simz album is #1 this year, I think I’ve capitulated and said what the hell.
I couldn’t limit this one to 10 albums, because that would mean I’d have to omit Italian saxophonist Stefano di Battista’s magical Morricone covers, or The Lovecraft Sextet’s decidedly Bohren-ian (Bohren-ite?) noir chamber jazz, or King Woman’s Paradise Lost story and be left with a generic average of what Internet agreed upon.
Best songs of 2021: The playlist
I’ve done a 100+ strong song based playlist, these are what I think I’d remember from 2021, when I’m brain dead in a couple of years.
Note: There are no two songs from the same artist, yet some albums have more than one great song so I’d recommend you to delve deep into the albums.
Here’s the Top 50 (in alphabetical order) + blurbs.
PS: I wrote the blurbs as the first things that came to my mind in around 15 mins, so take them as is, some are funny, some are downright wrong, don’t get angry if you don’t like what you see please.
1. Al Doum & The Faryds - Freaky People (Milanese Exotic world afro jazz fusion)
2. Alex Bleeker - Heaven on the Faultline (catchy lo-fi 4 tracker indie pop/folk from the Real Estate guitarist)
3. Alfa Mist - Bring Backs (soulful UK jazz)
4. Altin Gün - Yol (yet another one of their modern takes on Turkish folk songs)
5. Amyl and The Sniffers - Comfort to me (ultra catchy Aussie gutter punk/pub rock)
6. Anika - Change (psychedelic & cinematic post-punk with help from Geoff Barrow)
7. Anthony Joseph - The Rich are only defeated when running for their lives (UK & Caribbean jazzy spoken word)
8. Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram (cinematic US hip-hop duo w/ lyrical excellence)
9. Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince (Brooklyn/Pakistan neo-sufi world jazz)
10. Athletic Progression - Cloud High in Dreams, But Heavy in the air (Danish instrumental jazz trio)
11. Black Country, New Road - For the First Time (weird UK art school, math-indie)
12. Charlotte Greve & Wood River & Cantus Domus - Sediments We Move (modern classical chamber composition w/vocal ensemble)
13. Cleo Sol - Mother (Soulful UK nu jazz)
14. Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio - I Told You So (3 piece organ trio a la Medeski, Martin & Wood)
15. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg (UK spoken word indie art rock)
16. Fire! - Defeat (Swedish hero Mats Gustafsson’s creative free jazz power trio)
17. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & LSO - Promises (blissfully hypnotic orchestral jazz ambience)
18. Flying Lotus - Yasuke (FlyLo’s soundtrack vignettes to his Netflix anime special)
19. Fog Lake - Tragedy Reel (Canadian Lo-fi depressive acoustic indie)
20. Frode Haltli - Avant Folk II (Scandinavian avant folk)
21. Fuubutsushi - Any of the 4 (4 albums for each season, afternoon chamber jazz vignettes)
22. Goat - Headsoup (Mammoth Swedish world/jazz/rock fusion)
23. Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Ding Dong. You’re Dead (Skrony jazz rock guitar power trio from Norway)
24. Ithildin - A Long-Expected Party (Dungeon synth from France/Middle Earth)
25. Jordsjø - Pastoralia (70s Scandi organ prog rock)
26. Joseph Shabason - The Fellowship (Mellow evocative jazz ambience)
27. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - L.W. (Aussie progressive indie)
28. King Woman - Celestial Blues (Iranian American frontwoman led death rock)
29. El Michels Affair Meets Liam Bailey - Ekundayo Inversions (Original 70’s roots rock reggae dub)
30. Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready (Misfit baroque rock)
31. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (UK soulful hip-hop jazz)
32. Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O - Umdali (Very Strong South African jazz debut)
33. Maple Glider - To Enjoy is the Only Thing (Aussie sad festival movie indie)
34. Marina - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land (Metaverse pop)
35. Merope - Salos (Lithuanian world folk - before a forest ritual)
36. Meridian Brothers & Conjunto Media Luna - Paz en la tierra (Contemporary electronic cumbia that is actually listenable)
37. Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victim (Niger desert guitar blues)
38. Nala Sinephro - Space 1.8 (Ethereal space jazz ambience on Warp Records)
39. Natalie Jane Hill - Solely (Texas fingerpicked folk solo guitar/vocal)
40. Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp - We’re OK. But We’re Lost Anyway (Swiss large scale art kraut orchestra with cinematic arrangements)
41. Pom Poko - Cheater (Norwegian indie nerd-math-punk)
42. Self Esteem - Prioritise Pleasure (Art-Tiktok Pop)
43. serpentwithfeet - DEACON (modern LGBT R&B)
44. Shame - Drunk Tank Pink (bleak UK Post-Brexit-punk)
45. Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs (bleak UK Post-Brexit-spoken word)
46. Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future (Black Energetic UK dancefloor jazz)
47. Space Afrika - Honest Labour (Lo-fi cinematic sound collage)
48. Stefano di Battista - Morricone Stories (Mature Ennio Morricone jazz covers)
49. Suryummy - Polynators (Bay Area glowing synth ambient)
50. The Lovecraft Sextet - In Memoriam (Noir Chamber Jazz a la Bohren)
51. The Weather Station - Ignorance (Canadian art movie indie)
52. Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz (Swedish “scandal rock” mob)
There are some glaring omissions like Black Midi, Idles, Sault, Low for some reason, I don’t know why, but I couldn’t see them in the top 50. There are many more that needs to be mentioned like Leif Ova Andsnes and Mahler Chamber Orchestra’s Mozart Momentum, Arington Dionysos’ Old Time Relijun, Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian etc, and in fact they might be what you’d expect from Undomondo those hard to find stuff that slips off the cracks, but let’s not delay this further and maybe I’ll make another post later.
And if you are a visual learner, here’s what I added to my 2021 faves on Youtube.
Au Revoir, and to a better 2022! 🥂