Albums of 2021

[Higgs]

So Chasing Ghosts are a Melbourne Australia band fronted by Jimmy Kyle. Essential Australian rock but singing specifically about the injustices of our past, either general (such as the song below referencing our less than glorious history with black Australia) or personal (their track 'Busted Lung' is about the beat-down of one of Jimmy's friends, a proud gay man in Melbourne in 2015). Either way, its earnest stuff and they tell a story - that never fails to get me interested.

Here's Dig from the "Homelands" EP they just released.

[Rangi Guy]

These Boys have a new album out next month - Old Gods. Cannot wait!

[bodysnatcher]

gotta say, that new courtney barnett song is pretty underwhelming.

I'll ask her to throw some salt on it.

if the tuna's bad, no salt in the world can salvage it

you monster.

pedestrian at best

I don't fully understand what's going on here but DO NOT eat bad fish, dad!

That mf’er doesn’t touch fish. It’s 100% oatmeal, all day every day

[ghost]

new strand of oaks coming in October with james iha and members of mmj

[Chris_H_2]

i'm really intrigued by the direction deafheaven seems to be taking with their forthcoming album. musically, it's an extension of their last album. but the vocal delivery is waaaay different.

[liebzz]

new strand of oaks coming in October with james iha and members of mmj

Exciting!

[dad]

i'm really intrigued by the direction deafheaven seems to be taking with their forthcoming album. musically, it's an extension of their last album. but the vocal delivery is waaaay different.

which delivery do you prefer tho?

I'm partial to the one he's trying on these songs. there's only so much screaming i can handle.

[Chris_H_2]

i'm really intrigued by the direction deafheaven seems to be taking with their forthcoming album. musically, it's an extension of their last album. but the vocal delivery is waaaay different.

which delivery do you prefer tho?

I'm partial to the one he's trying on these songs. there's only so much screaming i can handle.

Hold me

[dad]

i'm really intrigued by the direction deafheaven seems to be taking with their forthcoming album. musically, it's an extension of their last album. but the vocal delivery is waaaay different.

which delivery do you prefer tho?

I'm partial to the one he's trying on these songs. there's only so much screaming i can handle.

Hold me

only if you sing to me like george.

[Chris_H_2]

i'm really intrigued by the direction deafheaven seems to be taking with their forthcoming album. musically, it's an extension of their last album. but the vocal delivery is waaaay different.

which delivery do you prefer tho?

I'm partial to the one he's trying on these songs. there's only so much screaming i can handle.

Hold me

only if you sing to me like george.

the sweet, sweet lullabies of George Clarke

[dad]

i'm really intrigued by the direction deafheaven seems to be taking with their forthcoming album. musically, it's an extension of their last album. but the vocal delivery is waaaay different.

which delivery do you prefer tho?

I'm partial to the one he's trying on these songs. there's only so much screaming i can handle.

Hold me

only if you sing to me like george.

the sweet, sweet lullabies of George Clarke

just straight-up guttural screaming into my ears.

i'm in.

[Chris_H_2]

i'm really intrigued by the direction deafheaven seems to be taking with their forthcoming album. musically, it's an extension of their last album. but the vocal delivery is waaaay different.

which delivery do you prefer tho?

I'm partial to the one he's trying on these songs. there's only so much screaming i can handle.

Hold me

only if you sing to me like george.

the sweet, sweet lullabies of George Clarke

just straight-up guttural screaming into my ears.

i'm in.

and with a tender "boop" to the tip of your nose.

[dad]

i'm really intrigued by the direction deafheaven seems to be taking with their forthcoming album. musically, it's an extension of their last album. but the vocal delivery is waaaay different.

which delivery do you prefer tho?

I'm partial to the one he's trying on these songs. there's only so much screaming i can handle.

Hold me

only if you sing to me like george.

the sweet, sweet lullabies of George Clarke

just straight-up guttural screaming into my ears.

i'm in.

and with a tender "boop" to the tip of your nose.

swoon. hard swoon.

[Norah]

Can we please leave the run2death post-nothing-but-an-album-cover-and-wait-for-people-to-ask thing behind? Thanks everyone.

"girl in red" is the artist's name.

debut album.

decent if you like female pop singers.

yeah serotonin is a bop

[Brett]

After Constellation, my next favorite record label is Rat-Drifting, a little imprint run by Martin Arnold and Eric Chenaux in Toronto from 2002-2011, going dormant after Chenaux moved to France. Now, after nearly 10 years, Chenaux has resurrected the label with a brand new Bandcamp page featuring all 22 original releases (including The Guayaveras' In the Market... and Nightjars' The Natural Playmate which weren't listed on the original label site): https://rat-drifting.bandcamp.com/. Alongside the Bandcamp page, Chenaux announced that Rat-Drifting was active again and will be releasing three new albums in digital form on July 16, though two are kind of archival, having been recorded about 15 years ago and 20 years ago, respectively. From most recent to oldest:

La Historia del Sombrero by The Draperies is the third album by the improvising trio made up of Eric Chenaux, Ryan Driver, and Doug Tielli (following 2002's L'histoire du Chapeau and 2013's The History of the Hat; notice the pattern). Recorded at a pair of live performances in 2016, this features the usual Draperies format of all three players following their own wandering paths of melody and texture, occasionally coming together for moments of confluence. "Protection Bonnets" is available to stream now:


Many Traceries is an album by the composer/musician/writer/lecturer/theorist/etc Eldritch Priest. Priest plays guitar, lap steel, melodica, harmonica, Moog, and tapes and is accompanied by viola, Rhodes, and bass to make chamber glissando music for the twilight hours. "Many Traceries Several(lly)" on Bandcamp:

(If you want more Eldritch Priest, you can check out his self-released pieces for overdubbed guitars, Fly Agaric here: https://eldritchpriest.bandcamp.com/album/fly-agaric)

And finally, the self-titled album of Golden Melody Awards, a duo of Ryan Driver and Kurt Newman playing mostly instrumental, dreamlike, minimalist pop songs all recorded twenty years ago. I'm hyped about all three releases, but mostly about this one, as I've been familiar with the songs for six or seven years thanks to Newman's uploads on Soundcloud and it's some of the most delightful music I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Opener "Promenade" (which I've always felt would be the closing piece in an official release, but, c'est la vie) is on Bandcamp now:

Further Rat-Drifting investigations can be followed in this playlist Nick Storring made that pulls a track from all 22 original releases:

[psychobain]

that was nice

[Higgs]

I really like Low generally, and the song is nice enough, but that static dissonance gets in my head.

[tragabigzanda]

[Higgs]

I am very much looking forward to the Big Red Machine (Justin Vernon/Aaron Dessner) album coming out later this year. I really enjoyed their last album. Of the 2 songs I've heard so far the Taylor Swift one makes me yawn (she does that with uncanny regularity with me) but loving this track with Anais Mitchell, Latter Days:

[Higgs]

This is cool btw.

Kiefer released the mini-album Between Days earlier this year to finish off his "Mason London trilogy." On August 27, he'll be releasing a new full-length album, When There's Love Around, once again on Stone's Throw. Unlike his other albums which were solo with a guest collaborator here and there, the new album is a full-band affair with some of Kiefer's favorite jazz and instrumental hip-hop musicians including DJ Harrison, Andy McCauley, Josh Johnson, Will Logan, and Sam Wilkes among others.

The first single is the title track, a cover interpretation of the song originally recorded by The Crusaders in the early '70s:


The album can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp: https://kiefer.bandcamp.com/album/when- ... ove-around