Best of 2021

Not much sign of normality yet, I fear.

A splendid gig at the start of December from Falle Nioke & Ghost Culture in a packed basement at Elsewhere in Margate made me think we might be getting somewhere: punters standing up, close to each other, diaphragm resonating to the bass - how things ought to be. I hope it wasn't a false dawn.

Otherwise, the various lockdown shenanigans limited competition for my gig of the year. But honourable mentions for Eliza & Martin Carthy in a socially-distanced Dome at the Brighton Festival, and more recent visits from Courtney Marie Andrews, Billy Bragg (featuring the estimable Nick Pynn) and Kathryn Tickell.

Unusually, I'd say that my favourite records of the year were not albums: an amazing 7" from Chicago's young punks Horsegirl, Sea Life Sandwich Boy, and two EPs from Falle Nioke, Youkounkoun and Badiare. Falle is from Guinea, via Thanet.

Competing with Horsegirl for song of the year were the rather older chaps of The Hold Steady. 'Lanyards' was the pick of the crop from their Open Door Policy album. It's a 4-minute movie of a failed attempt at making it in Hollywood, which ends with this quite wonderful final verse:

The doctor said he only wants to help me make some healthy decisions.

Went out around the 4th of July, I was back by Thanksgiving.

I saw a few stars but never made it into a movie.

Still trying to make moves but I'm back in Independence, Missouri.

Of course, there have been some good new albums in 2021, including The Hold Steady's, but I can't really come up with a definitive top 5.

I've spent a fair amount of time listening to two excellent live releases from Chris Forsyth - Rare Dreams and First Flight, but both are drawn from pre-2021 concerts so can't really count. Hiss Golden Messenger got all prolific and released two great new records - Quietly Blowing It and O Come All Ye Faithful - that I don't want to choose between. Ryley Walker's Course In Fable didn't do it for me quite as well as he usually does - but an archive release of him jamming with Tokyo's psychedelic band Kikagaku Moyo made up for that. Try Deep Fried Grandeur, if you're into side-long electric guitar stuff...

Final mentions for a couple of Canadians. I've been following The Weather Station's career with interest and pleasure. She's had something of a breakthrough record this year with Ignorance, moving away from folky and Joni-inflected things to a more slickly produced quite-like-80s-Fleetwood-Mac sort of sound. It's fine, but I feel a bit cross with myself for preferring her older stuff.

And talking of old stuff... Neil Young and Crazy Horse have been back in the studio, with Nils Lofgren taking over on guitar, and adding accordion. Barn is something of a mixed bag, with some Neil-by-numbers alongside stronger stuff. Pick of the bunch for me is 'They Might Be Lost', with Neil fretting about the fact that 'the boys' haven't turned up and it's getting late... If it was a Tonight's The Night out-take it would have been a failed drug deal or some other criminality. Now, with the familiar querulous vocal cords distinctly older, it could be that the carers are late and it's bed-time. Give it a listen, though - it works for me!

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/2021-acquisitions/pl.u-xlyNq92uRk6mD It's on this playlist along with some other things I got my hands on in 2021, including some that were first released rather earlier.