Favorite Things ~ 2021 ALBUMS
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Mogwai ~ As the Love Continues (Temporary Residence)
After 25 years, Mogwai continues to improve. As the Love Continues extends the trajectory of Every Country’s Sun, embracing New Order and Modern English. This warm retro sensibility is welded to a distinctly modern vibe, then scrubbed with low-fi edges and a distorted, nostalgic fuzz.
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Bryce Dessner, Australian String Quartet, Sydney Dance Company ~ Impermanence / Disintegration (37d03d)
Impermanence/Disintegration is an album of its time, written in response to one disaster and recorded during another. Conceived in the wake of the 2019 Australian wildfires, the stage show was set to debut in March, 2020, but was shut down by the pandemic. The titles “Alarms,” “Embers” and “Ashes” refer to the fires, but now serve as metaphors for the world condition.
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Rutger Hoedemaekers ~ The Age of Oddities (FatCat/130701)
“The Invention of the Moon” was performed at Johann Jóhannsson’s memorial concert and serves as a poignant tribute. The full set expands on this vision with the help of the Budapest Art Orchestra and a wide spectrum of luminaries. Byron, Tennyson and Wordsworth also come into play, making this one of the year’s most literary releases: poetry translated into breathtaking notes.
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Havana Swim Club ~ Havana Swim Club (Self-Released)
Havana Swim Club is this year’s Perfect Summer Album, perfect to play in the car on the way to the beach, or to blast from a boom box by the side of a pool. The timeless nature of the music ~ drawn from the storied legacies of dance, funk and A.M. radio ~ fits the mood of the past year, as we dove into our musical archives to bathe in the comfort of nostalgia.
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Resina ~ Speechless (FatCat/130701)
How does one speak without words? Resina uses voice as instrument and texture, percussion and emotion, howl and hum, expressing a massive inner galaxy, worlds upon worlds. As she composed, Women’s Strikes raged in the streets of Poland, an outlet for the voiceless. Karolina Rec harvests these influences to make a visceral statement. Speechless is louder than a speech; it comes across as a roar.
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Explosions in the Sky ~ Big Bend: An Original Soundtrack for Public Television (Temporary Residence)
Post-rock conjures images of mountains and valleys, deserts and streams ~ so when this Texas band was asked to compose the score to a National Geographic documentary about local treasure Big Bend National Park, they were already halfway there. A perfect distillation of the post-rock sound.
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Bell Orchestre ~ House Music (Erased Tapes)
Every member of the septet received their own room in Sarah Neufeld’s Vermont house, where they could improvise and dream. Whenever a band member stepped outside, the music would “bounce around the valley, spooky and glorious.” After two weeks, they jammed together for 90 minutes, then sculpted the recording down to one spontaneous, vibrant, 45-minute jam.
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V/A ~ New Chronologies of Sound (VIC NIC)
The pandemic has changed the way we listen. We have turned to nature for solace, where we have experienced altered biophanies and become more attuned to our natural surroundings. This multi-faceted work combines soundscapes with essays, an exhibition and a public sound bank.
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Justina Jaruševičiūtė ~ Silhouettes (piano and coffee records)
Silhouetes traces an insomniac night from “Wolf Hour” to “Sunrise,” imitating St. John’s dark night of the soul. The string quartet issues a call to surrender, like the Liturgy of the Hours. In the end, this new composer has constructed a ladder from earth to heaven, in hopes that dreams might come.
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Ian Wellman ~ On The Darkest Day, You took My Hand and Swore It Will Be Okay (Room40)
The album was conceived during the lockdowns, protests and wildfires of Los Angeles, as ash fell from the skies and helicopters passed through the occluded air. Wellman “watched the world burn without leaving his home,” taking in the ugliness of the political scene, the inattention to science and reason, the callousness of strangers. Much of his anger and frustration is poured into these pieces, yet he refuses to be overcome by anxiety and fear. Friends and family told him it would be okay; he’s not quite sure what to tell us, but he wants to hope, and sometimes that’s enough.
Songs
Mission House, “I Don’t Have Much”
Go_A, “SHUM”
Low, “Days Like These”
Vitalic, “Carbonized”
Hillsong Young & Free, “House of the Lord”
Music Videos
(in viewing order)
Longform: Sonai, Summer
Max Cooper, Weakness of the Flesh
Simon Leoza, La Nuée
Oh No Noh, Alba
Janek Murd, AVA
Manu Delago, Transformotion
Tristan Barton, SATELLIKE
Sébastien Guérive., Omega II
Monolink, The Prey
POLO & PAN, Ani Kuni
MONO, Riptide
Books
Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary
Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These
Kelefa Sanneh, Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres
Luke Adam Hawker, Together
Steven Lovatt, Birdsong in a Time of Silence
Movies
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Free Guy
Nine Days
Television
Hawkeye
Wandavision
Falcon & the Winter Soldier
Witcher Season Two
Shadow and Bone
Katla
Richard Allen
A Closer Listen
www.acloserlisten.com
Hey, Rich Allen. I always look forward to your list. I’ve already grabbed a few titles that I missed this year. Hope all is well and that you enjoy a healthy 2022!