Over on Letterboxd, I’ll do a “Favourite Discoveries” of the year list every year. It’s basically a list of movies I saw for the first time and really dug. Why not do the same for music? That’s what this is. Here’s a list of some records I heard for the first time in 2021 that I dug a lot, and that you might dig too. Let me know what you think, and if you’ve got some new favourites to share with me on Twitter.
Breach - It’s Me God (1997, Burning Heart Records)
I found this album when I was using Rate Your Music to dig up records for a “Esoteric Post-Hardcore of the 1990s” playlist. This is super moody and bleak, with a nice mix of post-hardcore, metallic hardcore and a pinch of sludge for good measure.
Trees - Sleep Convention (1982, MCA)
Thoroughly underrated new wave / synth pop album; from what I read, they were let down by MCA Records who didn't know how to market the record and just let it flop. A huge shame, because this is ripe for rediscovery. RIYL: New Musik, Polyrock, Fad Gadget.
M.F. 911 - Idol the Bloodsport (1992, Next Plateau Records Inc.)
Great Detroit underground stuff with heavy jazz samples. Kind of like a slightly more hardcore Gangstarr to some degree. When I looked this up, I saw a lot of people claiming it was “dull” and “samey”, but I found it really enjoyable.
Renée - Reaching for the Sky (1980, CNR Music)
Dutch band fronted by Anja Nodelijk who has an absolutely gorgeous voice. The lead-off cut “Dry Your Tears” is such a huge jam it almost completely eclipses the rest of the album, but thankfully it’s all really nice stuff! It has a nicely diverse percussive drive to its tracks which range from funky jams to groovy ballads.
Boogie Boys - City Life (1985, Capitol Records)
Somehow I had never heard this record before. The Boogie Boys' 1985 debut City Life has some insaaaaaaanely dope sampling (wiki namechecks "high end systems such as Synclavier, Fairlight, an Emulator and Synergy.")
This has that huge huge booming punchy in your face sound and it doesn't succumb to being over-long - even the instrumental/dance tracks/moments are sick as hell. There's some super inventive sampling sounds going on here... I love it.
Hot Stove Jimmy - Theme for a Major Hit (1999, Jump Up! Records)
Dang near refreshing to hear some late-90s ska that isn't standard third wave, but also doesn't just fall back on two tone worship. Feels more like they took inspiration from bands like Rocket from the Crypt and post-hardcore stuff on this album, infusing it with horns and the occasional upstroke.
Really solid if you're into 90s noisy indie-rock but also can get into some third wave ska-punk from time to time. The second side of the record is a lot more third-wave compared to the first so I'm wondering if that was some kind of concept to the record?
Number Girl - SCHOOL GIRL DISTORTIONAL ADDICT (1999, Parlophone)
Absolutely sick noisy post-hardcore guitar-rock; that I hadn't heard this until 2021 is criminal. I love how blown out this is, and you find yourself digging through the fuzz and the grime unearthing really delightful and catchy melodies.
Donuts N’ Glory - When Pregnasaurs Ruled the Earth... (1996, Liberation Records)
I am constantly on the look-out for forgotten pop-punk and skate-punk records. Not sure how this landed on my radar, but it’s a perfect slice of technical-yet-poppy 90s punk-rock. They sound like a snottier version of early Propagandhi to me. They balance their silliness well with songs that call out the chauvinistic and misogynistic nature of the 90s punk scene, political inaction of punks, and more.
Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time (2013, Twosyllable Records)
This seems wildly underrated or overlooked to me? Or maybe not as I see it has a lot of spins and got reviews on Pitchfork etc. but I had never heard of it until this year, so maybe it hasn't been kept in collective consciousness or something?
Anyway, it's total blown-out noisy dreamy goodness. "Pangaea Girls (Magic Feeling)" is transcendent. I hear a little bit of Broadcast in here and some of the basslines have that Stereolab sound too. It sounds like the best version of that post-Animal Collective boom we had where everyone thought they could go full-on psychedelic dream-pop synth-y shit and so for a few years there were a million albums that played in the same sound pool as this record, but this seems to be doing it absolutely nail-on-the-head right.
It's so thick you want to wipe way the haze but even so, you can hear the endless depths that exist in the static.
The Darling Buds - Crawdaddy (1990, Sony)
Welsh alt-rock band that brought to mind a poppier Echo and The Bunnymen; they’ve got the mood, the atmosphere, but the sugary hooks and jangle-rock power-pop indebted guitars really seal the deal. “Luscious” seems to be the word that keeps coming to my mind.
Whirlpool - Self-Titled (1995, Revelation)
This got a bad review in the Punk Planet that I saw it in (it may have been Punk Planet #09) but I figured I'd check it out anyway.
On some songs this sounds like a Revelation Records band trying to nudge themselves in the direction of noisy indie-rock like The Pixies. On other songs, they can get super poppy ("The Sound.") I guess you'd say the album lands somewhere between melodic punk and alt-rock.
On this album, Whirlpool is made up of Rodney Sellars (Sense Field) with members of Mean Season, Outspoken, and Final Conflict. Rachel Stolte provides backup vocals and is definitely one of the most interesting parts of their sound. “The Sound” is a major stand-out for me.
My initial reaction to this record was pretty middling, but the more I spun it the more I started to really dig it!
Smiley - The Smile Gets Wild (1989, Bryant Records)
Debut album from Smiley, aka Lynette Michaels, only exists on streaming services in a weird version where some label has watermarked the audio with a robotic voice saying “313 Classics.” Makes me think this streaming release under “Worldwide Records” is some kind of bootleg, but I have no idea.
What I do know, is this Detroit rapper is wildly, unjustly forgotten and overlooked. Smiley has bars and “The Wizard, aka Jeft Mills” (as credited in a Discogs comment) drops some really wild, out there beats (“Keeping it Clean”) that are maybe buoyed by the warped-cassette sound this retains. Smiley’s 1991 follow-up “Rhythm of Life” is also streaming.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.