Honorable Mention:
Wednesday - Twin Plagues
Full of hard-hitting, guitar-powered tracks and released on Chicago-based Orindal Records (home of Julie Byrne, Advance Base, Gia Margaret, and Dear Nora among others), Twin Plagues — the new album from Asheville quintet Wednesday — qualifies objectively as independent rock music. But Karly Hartzman’s band also taps into a certain ideal of the genre as established in the late ’80s and early ’90s: shrouded in fuzz yet melodic and approachable, sometimes lackadaisical but occasionally explosive. Think Pavement. Think Sonic Youth. Think Cat Power. Think of that iconic Dinosaur Jr./My Bloody Valentine tour that deafened Gen X hipsters across America, of Yo La Tengo and Liz Phair and the Breeders. You know: indie rock. (Stereogum)
Video: Handsome Man
Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under
With this bleak painted picture of the north-east in mind, it’s clear that all 11 tracks on Seventeen Going Under are deeply personal for Fender. Alongside looking back at his bleak hometown, he looks back at the regrets of his life and ponders the possibility of being a better or worse man if things were different. This is demonstrated with masterful and real lyricism, take the simple yet powerfully realistic lyrics on the title track where he states: “I was far too scared to hit him / but I’d hit him in a heartbeat now.” (The Line of Best Fit)
Video: Seventeen Going Under
Richard Dawson & Circle - Henki
Lyrically, Dawson is on fine form. Just like his 2017 album Peasant before it, where all of the stories were set tbetween 400-600CE, so too does Henki riff on a theme: flora and fauna. There’s a tune delivered from the point of view of an 32,000 year old seed frozen in the permafrost, and others from lesser known explorers and herbologists. If that sounds dry, then it isn’t. Dawson seems to have no concern for the thematic tropes of 90% of songs, meaning lyrics about vascular plant researcher Isobel Cookson on opener "Cooksonia" are delivered with the same energy that Ariana Grande sings about an ex. “I managed to study at the University of Melbourne!” Dawson hollers at the end of one of the songs verses. (The Line of Best Fit)
Video: IvyPillow Queens - In Waiting
Where grunge meets alternative music at its finest. Where swooping melodies meet post-rock blowouts. ‘In Waiting’ sits perfectly within it all, constantly switching up and shifting gears whilst being underpinned by earnest songwriting and a rough around the edges charm... ‘In Waiting’ is an album ripped from the memories and sketchbooks that
Pillow Queens have been building up for years. Its place as one of this year’s defining debuts is the rightful icing on the cake. (Dork)
Video: Donaghmede10) Aeon Station - Observatory
Let’s step back a second, though. As hard as it may seem to divorce ‘Observatory’ from its context, it’s very much a record that stands on its own two feet. These are excellent songs. Not only that, but given the isolation and anxieties of life in 2021, it’s easy to find commonality in these tales of hope and strength amid troubling uncertainty. (Clash)
Video: Fade9) Orla Gartland - Woman on the Internet
Much like Orla herself, this album sneaks up on you. It swiftly moves from easy-listening to music to obsess over. If you listen to it through cheap earphones on a crowded train, the intricacy of the production behind this album could be missed. It’s only when you invest attention, time (and good speakers) that you truly begin to revel in its wonders. To be able to relate with the messiness of Gartland’s emotional journey is to feel at one with a talented artist. (The Quietus)
Video: Zombie!8) Man on Man - Man on Man
“It’s so fun to be gay,” declare
MAN ON MAN three tracks into their self-titled debut, setting the tone for the record’s unrestrained celebration of love. Born in isolation, the collaborative project sees Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum and boyfriend Joey Holman explore their relationship through an escapist blend of lo-fi indie punk, harnessing the beauty of their companionship in the sun-kissed soundscapes." (DIY Mag)
Video: Stohner
7) Third Eye Blind - Our Bande Apart
With his eye for sticky imagery and nose for narrative climaxes, Jenkins strikes gold at a reliable rate. When the rapturous chorus finally arrives on “Box of Bones,” you want to pump your fist in triumph. It’s the sort of gracefully delivered moment that helped 3EB transcend the frat-rock scene, and it’s remarkable that these visions of reckless infatuation continue to rattle around his head. And yet, it’s also his most understated single to date: no falsetto, no rapping, barely any percussion. The final chorus all but announces a soaring instrumental breakdown; instead, the song just ends. (Pitchfork)
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Funeral Singers6) TFS - Deep States
Tropical Fuck Storm's latest record simply reproves their enigmatic worth, and then doubles down on it in a way that no other artist comes close to emulating. The finished product marries so many disparate elements — Australian culture and slang, American conspiracy, COVID lockdowns, biblical events as witnessed by Equidae, sci-fi fan-fiction — in a way so thoroughly contemporary, cogent, and relevant that it makes Bo Burnham's latest phenomenon seem like an undergraduate’s last-ditch effort at scraping a C after an all-nighter. Deep States avoids stuffy intellectualism or political buzz words in its approximation of modern woe, and becomes an engrossing distillation of just how fucking bizarre the world is as a result. The mirror that Tropical Fuck Storm hold up here could only be held by them — well, it's hard to imagine a band with a more sensible name pulling this sort of shit off anyhow. (Sputnik)
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G.A.F.F.5) Fiddlehead - Between the Richness
Although it could benefit from being longer, Between the Richness is precise and vigorous. Fiddlehead wields a sound developed by 1990s and early aughts post-grunge, emo, and post-hardcore bands and projects it in ways that feel sincere. (Popmatters)
Video: Heart to Heart
4) King Woman - Celestial Blues
Kris Esfandiari and her team have created something truly special with this album, a musical piece where the divine is given voice and flesh to envision what is Kris' most honest and enrapturing work of her prolific career, and be sure it won't be the last one. (Sputnik Music)
Video: Entwined
3) Idles - Crawler
The dark, introspective nature of Idles’ latest release may well disappoint those who love the band for their rabble-rousing, tongue-in-cheek headbangers. But for those who’ve been waiting some time for the beloved Bristolians to take a left turn with their sound, Crawler is an absolute thrill. (Music OMH)
2) Black Country, New Road - For the first time
If the interplay between the band’s instruments makes gleeful mincemeat of genre, singing guitarist Isaac Wood’s equally remarkable lyrics regularly float to the top of the mix. Half-spoken, half-sung, they riff on granular scene references (“I told you I loved you in front of
Black Midi”) and Gen-Z witticisms, but pack in plenty of timeless tenderness and anomie. (The Guardian)
1) Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz
The sound on Welfare Jazz may be more of the same glam-phetamine trash disko bomp that made the first record so distinctive – a ramshackle wad of low-end guitars that spit and burn like chip pan fires and boisterous oft intoxicated vocals with a surplus of undulating sax – but there’s something else that’s been added to their arsenal, something that was hiding in plain sight all along. The protagonist of these songs may not be all that apologetic as he pontificates of his transgressions, but he is at least man enough to put his grubby hands up and forewarn friends and lovers that he’s a little damaged. It’s a good start. (Music OMH)
