Music of the year (for now …)
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Dry cleaning
Album: New long leg (4 AD) Example of a track: Lady not very intelligent
A vital and fascinating continuation of the British post-punk tradition that began with bands such as Gang of Four, this London quartet draws the venom of everyday interaction through the half-spoken voice of Florence Shaw. A dismissive narrator who collects every failure and beat with the kind of crackling energy that Mike Leigh films had, Shaw sits right above twisted guitars and relentless beats. It may seem dry and waterproof, but on this debut album, it’s revealing.
Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis
Album: She walks in beauty (Panta Rei) Example of a track: So we won’t go roaming anymore
As far back as his 1979 masterpiece Bad English, Marianne Faithfull has made contemporary records and continues her eclectic journey beyond being the singer of the 1960s who grew up alongside the Rolling Stones. With ethereal arrangements by Nick Cave’s musical advisor Warren Ellis, these songs set to music poems by original rock stars: romantic poets such as Lord Byron and John Keats. Come for the impeccable speech, stay for the everlasting words.
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra
Album: Promises (Luaka Bop) Sample song: Movement 5
The nine tracks of this remarkable collaboration are credited as movements numbered one through nine: it’s the only professionally thing on the album. An ongoing years-old collaboration between improvisational saxophonist and great American jazz singer Pharoah Sanders and British electronic producer and composer Sam Shepherd, aka Floating Points, complemented by orchestral assistance, the scale of the music is heavenly. There is almost 50 years of age difference between the two collaborators, but it doesn’t matter because their music is timeless.
Ice Age
Album: Find shelter (Mexican Summer / Mistletone) Sample song: Song of the refuge
Bands like to say they change with every album, but this Danish quartet has actually succeeded. Anointed as the future of punk with their hellish debut in 2011 New brigade, Iceage have found their way to a fifth album which is the open-hearted evocation of rock’n’roll history. With world-weary comforts and gospel choir adornments, the past moves forward in the present on Raised and hurtdriven beat and the great grief of Love kills slowly.
Japanese breakfast
Album: Jubilee (Dead Oceans) Example track: Slide tackle
A transformative third album, Jubilee finds Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter (and bestselling memoir) Michelle Zauner opening up her songwriting, adding a cornucopia of pleasantly enjoyable pop flourishes and cheerful production to her detailed and idiosyncratic compositions. It is music of pleasure and pain that aims high but never sidesteps the details. “How does it feel to be at the center of the magic?” »Zauner asks about the opening Paprika. The answer is magnificent.
Valérie June
Album: The moon and the stars: prescriptions for dreamers (Fantasy Records) Example track: You and me
The Memphis musician is so consistently wonderful that she doesn’t get the praise she deserves. With her voice plunging into the afterlife of the oracular, June offers a synthesis of spectral Appalachian folk, primary R&B grooves, soulful wrestling and muffled hip-hop rhythms. No one else puts tracks like Fall and In you on the same album – and that it has such an intuitive and complementary meaning.
Genesis Owusu
Album: Smile without teeth (Ourness) Example of a track: The other black dog
At least one person in Canberra can still transcend party lines. On the first album of the year, Kofi Owusu-Ansah upsets the conventions of the genre with a heady ambition that transcends obvious expectations. Dark funk and seditious hip-hop cross-streams without wave-less mosh stomps and princely pop, restarting social criticism so it feels like the album delivered a software update to you. Smile without teeth is a record to immerse yourself in – to live with.
Arlo Parks
Album: collapsed in the rays of the sun (Transgressive) Example of a track: Caroline
The UK music scene is used to exaggerating newcomers, so they shy away from promising next big event status. But in the case of 20-year-old London poet and singer-songwriter Arlo Parks, the initial accolades were fully rewarded with a debut album that is a heady mix of electronic textures, high-pitched observations, incisive rhythms and strange personal history. “You are not alone”, sings ParksHope, and that’s what collapsed in the rays of the sun embodies: an artist whose music sounds like company, speaking to you throughout the day.
Olivia rodrigo
Album: Sour (Universal) Example of a track: Driving license
In January, Olivia Rodrigo sang: “I know we weren’t perfect but I never felt that way for anyone” on her debut single Driving license, and within days, it was the biggest song of the year. The 18-year-old Disney star turned the breakup into a pop song, with a mix of melancholy and nostalgia, and her debut album makes that imperative a reality, making her the voice (for now) of Gen- Z. It should be a burden, but Rodrigo mostly avoids it.
Sleater-Kinney
Album: Way of well-being (Milk! Records) Example of a track: Worry with you
Last-minute staple – it was released two days ago – the new album from the now scaled-down duo of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein finds riot grrrl stars and indie rock icons in flawless form. After the pop hooks of the 2019s The center will not hold, Way of well-being contains multiple strands: the threadlike dedication of Method, the anthemic strength of High in the grass, and Complex female charactersâ² Whiplash glimpses all combine to advance an already busy career.
you are me
Album: The lives of others (Virgin) Example of a track: The water boy
In a few years, one of Australia’s biggest rock groups will be able to give concerts for the 30th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut albums, but on their last set – cut with the equally split quartet between Sydney and Melbourne – decades of experience only gives them a compelling freedom. The tastes of bravery DRB Hudson and Redux by Rosedale have a warmth and ease that is deeply satisfying, allowing Tim Rogers to thrive once again as a principal songwriter. Don’t wait for an anniversary concert to pay attention to You Am I.
AND AFTER?
With tours on hold, many artists were crammed into home studios, finishing records that in some cases fans had been waiting for a long time. While the first half of 2021 brought an array of records, the next six months have the potential to feel like a deluge of great talent.
On my way: Duran Duran, Billie Eilish, The Goon Sax, Manic Street Preachers.
Likely: Cardi B, Gang of Youths, Lorde, Spoon, SZA.
Possible: Adele, Arcade Fire, The Cure, Sky Ferreira, FKA Twigs, Kendrick Lamar.
Eternal mystery: Rihanna.
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