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The best records of 2021 (part two)

Updated: Dec 7, 2021



Ryoji Ikeda - EP

This is the first of two tracks from two artists that manage to create a sense of light with sound. Ikeda’s ‘EP’ landed on the Sähkö label and was a big surprise. It captures two tracks from 1993 and 1997, both of which haven’t been on vinyl before. Cut at 45rpm it sounds rich and dynamic. Both tracks are very different, one feeling like several rays of natural light picking up dust particles in the air; the other a laser focussed in a blast of almost brutal tones. I picked the A side track ‘Luxus 1-3’ as it shines. It’s a vivid prism of intertwining sounds that evokes an ascension to some kind of Nirvana. It’s truly beautiful and a little breathtaking.


Growing - Diptych

Growing could have rechristened themselves ‘Glowing’ with this latest record. It shimmers like the liquid light of heathaze. I was incredibly excited to see that Growing were back after a long hiatus with 2017’s Disorder, a brooding darker take on longform drone, yet just as pleasing. Diptych is a fantastic antidote to the grim rumblings of its predecessor. As masters of drone it’s strange to see the guys leave the powerhouse of Kranky for a number of imprints and then onto the masters of underground rock and drone - Important Records; followed by another switch to an even smaller label: Silver Current. This hasn’t affected their sound, and it’s given us one of the most beautiful physical slices of wax to boot. Pressed onto orange and brown marble it spins like the sun on the turntable. The artwork has a lo-fi piece of watercolour art that is gorgeously presented on thick stock card. This record sees the pair returning to some colour pallets they employed beautifully on 2004’s ‘The Soul of the Rainbow…’ but steers away from the post-rock tinges that enveloped their Kranky works. For me this is a good call, and leaves me glistening with glee as I slip into the evolving sounds. The opening side-long ‘Variable Speeds’ has been one of my most channelled listens this year.


Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke & Oren Ambarchi - Each side has a depth of 5 seconds A polka dot pattern in horizontal array A flickering that moves vertically

Every new Haino/O’Rourke/Ambarchi record is a cause for celebration in this house. And it’s with tired fingers I type another ludicrously long record title! This performance is dedicated to the incredible Hideo Ikeezumi, founder of the peerless PSF label, who died on the day this record was performed. There is something particularly ethereal about this album, and it is a long way from the avant-rock of many of the trio’s records. It is a beautiful and frightening mesh of electronic music that reminds me of Haino’s work with Pan Sonic. This record would actually fit pretty well on the Sähkö label. However it’s out on my favourite home for new and innovative music, Black Truffle. It’s packaged in a lovely gloss gatefold with the always wonderful art and design from Lasse Marhaug. On a side note I love a gatefold for single vinyl - never for a double. Just give me a chunkier sleeve and pop those bad-boys in. God I can never close a double gatefold properly! I digress… I picked the A side, ‘Introduction’ for this mix to add a shift in mood. However, some of the moments where Haino plays the suona on the flipside are face-meltingly good. Overall one of my favourite from these three and a record I need to visit a lot more. There is a feeling of the moods created on Sunn O)))’s White 2 record, and you can see how all these artists have influenced each other over the years.


Ø - Oleva

This is my most anticipated reissue of recent years and has been on my radar for a good while. The second record from Sähkö on this list, and one, this time, from the master Mika Vainio (rest in power). I picked the track ‘S-bahn’ as it’s my most played Ø track, and is an incredible piece of minimal electronic beat driven music. It sounds like the best of Alva Noto, with the forceful power that is unique to Vainio. I’m so happy that Sähkö decided to repress this classic from 2008. 13 years old and is as fresh and flooring as anything else you’ll hear this year, drifting between stark beats, warm pads, to discord drones and decayed vinyl. If there was to be one record I could play through a giant PA it would be this one. I’d love to hear it pulsing through my body in the depths of Fabric. It also has one of the best record covers of all time, and it’s a double LP in a single sleeve - get in.


Daniel Bachman - Axacan

Wow this record is intense. It was such a surprise. I initially expected intricate guitar playing in an ode to the Takoma school, but you couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, Bachman is an incredibly accomplished guitarist and you will find beautiful moments of acoustic guitar throughout - but it has so much more scope. It reminds me of the work Jon Collins has been making recently, yet with a wider scope and more polished compositions. (That’s not a dig at JC - they just work beautifully in their own spaces). There is so much space on this record that it can only be described as epic, playing out like a Dunescape with homespun Americana at its roots. This was released as part of the 20th anniversary of Three Lobed Recordings, which is one of the finest labels in the US. Other notable releases from the label this year come from Sunburned Hand of the Man, Body/Dilloway/Head and Six Organs of Admittance - not to mention one of my AOTY 2020 from Gunn-Trucinski Duo. Axacan actually shares some of the scope and range of the Gunn-Trucinski Duo record. I picked the closing track as it captures some of the ambient world-building as well as his incredibly moving guitar playing. It sounds as if whales are swimming through the dust to greet you at your front porch under a starlit sky. Awesome.


Dope Purple - Grateful End

Switching gear with this one. A new band for me and one I immediately fell in love with. When you read them described as the Chinese answer to Acid Mothers Temple meets Les Rallizes Denudes, you can sign me the fuck up - no questions. Dope Purple are exactly that. The awesome Riot Season pressed up just 300 of these onto translucent yellow vinyl. They went super fast and it looks and sounds incredible. I think you might still be able to pick up the purple repress from the bandcamp page. I have been waiting for a record like this for some time, and it makes me crave seeing live music. I’ve missed seeing AMT so much and would jump at the chance to see Dope Purple if they come to the UK. It’s loud, feedback-coated, fuzzed up goodness. The songs are a little more structured than AMT and recorded in high fidelity when compared to LRD. What really makes me think of LRD is the awesome basslines. They keep everything ticking along while the lead guitar shreds and the vocals scream into towering shards of brittle metal. I wish this was a double LP and the songs were 20 minute extended jams. Then again it’s just perfect as it is. I just need to scratch that live music itch real bad.


Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt - Made Out of Sound

Two of the greatest players unite for one of the best records ever made, let alone of the year. This made my AOTY list before I’d heard the whole thing. The first track they released just blew me away, and after another went live on Bandcamp I was hooked. They managed the impossible; to capture the energy and intensity of live improvisation and have it sound just as good on record. Other notable records that do this are Flower-Corsano Duo’s tour CDr ‘You’ll Never Work in the Town Again’ and Sonny & Linda Sharrock’s ‘Black Woman’ LP. Corsano & Orcutt sound like someone gave the Vitruvian Man a guitar and drum kit. It’s the melding of minds in perfect unison that makes this such a great record. There is almost no tangible mise-en-scène yet the miniature moments of calm allow for an almost relentless ascension into chaotic, yet masterful wonder. As with Dope Purple, I need to see this performed live. Released on Palilalia with gorgeous black and white photos of the duo. This record is untouchable.


Aaron Dilloway & Lucrecia Dakt - Lucy Lucy & Aaron

Another surprise collaboration and this time on the ever-awesome Hanson Records. Dilloway’s frightening tape/vox loops are mixed with Dalt’s soft and wide ranging vocal prowess. It’s never a pop record, but it combines elements of pop with noise and gunge-covered splats in a wonderful way. This is also a contender for record cover of the year. Peter Schoolwerth’s illustrations of the duo are comprised of what appears to be incredibly gaudy MDF cutouts, yet with a 1950s LP pose to the figures. It’s surreal, odd and beautiful - just like the music. Hard to pick a track from this one as I just want to play a whole side as it all feels like one jumbled cacophony. It’s a gloriously inventive record that works so well and you can see why it sold out immediately. Second pressing came with alternative sleeves which look great but I’m chuffed I scored the first pressing. This is a record that never gets boring and you are guaranteed to find something new with every listen.


Pan Daijing - Jade

Daijing really hits her stride on ‘Jade’, which I feel pairs really well with the next and final record from this selection of 10. There is something about a female artist taking on noise and avantgarde compositions that just sounds like nothing else out there. I find it so raw, and impossible to imitate. It’s this that draws me in and makes it so utterly compelling. Daijing uses a vast array of sounds, all which live in the realms of dissonance and decay - yet they are most certainly alive, even when she sounds like she’s digging herself out of a shallow grave. This record is the soundtrack to a nightmare, but one I’m not willingly waking from. It’s a touch of evil that is incredibly alluring. Along with Ronce, Perila and Puce Mary, Daijing manages to create the most moving, erotically-charged and skin-crawling sounds. Pressed on pure white vinyl and housed in a spot-glossed sleeve with blurred portraits and nudes of the artist - it is a gorgeous package. What you’d expect from Pan Records, who produce some of the highest quality vinyl out there. Kudos to Bill and his team. Daijing has another record out this year from her Tate Modern performance. I’m very much looking forward to that!


Ronce - Aquatics

Limited to a criminally short run of only 100 copies, I used the last of my PayPal funds to buy this before it disappeared in a flash. Why Dawn Records? This is gold - surely we need it in more collections? I thought the Pan Daijing record was frightening but this is on another level. One of the greatest noise records I’ve ever heard. It’s not pure noise in the Merzbow style, but shifts in short, intricate tracks that take you on the most bewilderingly heady journeys. Sampling sloppy blow-jobs, screams, fuzz, scratches and glass-like tones, she manages to build a world as frightening and awesome as anything you would find on a Dave Philips or John Duncan record. I’ve seen it described as a “difficult listen”, which I’m sure it will be for a lot of people - yet I find it utterly spellbinding and engaging. It’s a nasty trip at times, but at its heart there is a dark beauty. However, a word of warning,as at times it gets deeply emotional and really captures the rape-culture of internet pornography and the ill-treatment of women in a horrifically raw way. There are also moments of triumphant composition and I’d love to make something so utterly devastating and awe-inspiring before I quit.



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©2021 Peter Taylor

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