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Favourite albums 2021

31/12/2021

 
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Wolf Alice, Blue Weekend
Wolf Alice, Blue Weekend (Dirty Hit)
The London alt rock 4-piece drop an ambitious progression from their Mercury-winning second album, ‘Visions of a Life.’

​Related blog: Wolf Alice: 'Space and Time'

Cover of Low, Hey What
Low, HEY WHAT (Sub Pop)
Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, the Minnesota duo behind ‘slow core,’ release album no 13, a captivating cacophony layered with their distinctive vocal harmonies.

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Squid, Bright Green Field (Warp Records)
A particle collision of krautrock, punk, funk and dub.

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St Vincent, Daddy’s Home (Loma Vista Recordings)
A deeply-personal album, and a glowing tribute to 70s glam.

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Black Midi, Cavalcade (Rough Trade)
A glorious follow-up to their debut develops their prog-tinged
 jams.

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The War on Drugs, I Don’t Live Here Anymore (Atlantic)
Album 5 of expansive Americana. Less swirling shoegaze, more catchy choruses.

Cover of Mowai, As the Love Continues
Mogwai, As the Love Continues (Rock Action)
The Glaswegian post-rock band who have soundtracked everything from Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and French TV series Les Revenants (The Returned) to Italian crime drama ZeroZeroZero dropped their 10th studio album, as ever brimming with energy and self-belief. And universally acclaimed.

Cover of Arab Strap, As Days Get Dark
Arab Strap, As Days Get Dark (Rock Action)
Their first album after a 16-year hiatus was well worth the wait. Dark and self-lacerating but pushing boundaries.

Cover of Idles, Crawler
Idles, Crawler (AllMusic)
Even more ambitious, passionate, and gloriously anthemic sounds from Bristol’s finest post-post punkers.

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Field Music, Flat White Moon (Memphis Industries)
Album no 8 in 16 years for the Sunderland art rockers overflows with melody and fizzes with influences (I hear everything from Supertramp to Super Furry Animals, with a soupcon of XTC!)

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Snapped Ankles, Forest of your Problems (The Leaf Label)
More ferocious toe-tapping krautrock-tinged post-punk from the foliage-bedecked Londoners/forest shamen.

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Laura Stevenson, Laura Stevenson (Don Giovanni Records)
The songs revolving around an incident when a friend almost died, the NY songwriter’s 6th album is glowing and life-affirming.

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Public Service Broadcasting, Bright Magic (Play It Again Sam)
A thrilling orchestral paean to the German capital, recorded in the same studio Bowie produced his 1970s Berlin trilogy of Low, Heroes and Lodger. Ambience punctuated by radio-friendly singles featuring guest vocalists
Nina Hoss, Blixa Bargeld, and Eera.

​Related blogs: Bright Magic, Lit Up

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Manic Street Preachers, The Ultra Vivid Lament (Columbia)
Album no 14, still overflowing with strong songs and bittersweet reminiscence.

Related blog: The Ultra Vivid Lament

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Jane Weaver, Flock (Fire Records)
Bursting with poptastic ideas, the Liverpudlian musician’s 10th album melds 60s psychedelia, 90s grooves, and much more.

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Wire - PF456 Redux (Pink Flag)
A vinyl compilation of the enigmatic post-punk legends’ early 90s EPs, Send, and Read and Burn 01 and 02. Amongst their best material since that seminal 1970s triumvirate of Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, and 154.

Related: My review of Wire at King Tut's, Glasgow, 27/4/2015, published on John Robb's Louder Than War site.


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Graham Coxon, Superstate
12 albums into his solo career, the ever-inventive former Blur guitarist soundtracks this graphic sci-fi novel.

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 Jon Hopkins, Music for Psychedelic Therapy (Domino)
The ambient maestro’s 6th album's mesmerising soundscapes are truly meditative. Close your eyes as 'Tayos Caves, Ecuador i' washes over you and you're inside a cave nestling in the Andes' foothills, a translucent rainbow glinting against a waterfall, monkeys and multicoloured parrots calling from the verdant rainforest beyond. (A chilled vision to the chilling statistic that said rainforest is disappearing at a rate of 6,000 acres - 4,000 football pitches - per hour).

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shame, Drunk Tank Pink (Dead Oceans)
“The colour used to subdue violently drunk prisoners.” The South London band’s 2nd album: more bold, confident, uplifting post-punk.

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Saint Etienne, I've Been Trying to Tell You (Heavenly)
The early 90s indie dance band unleashed album no. 10, with samples from the turn of the millennium.

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Dry Cleaning, New Long Leg (4AD)
A captivating debut. Florence Shaw deadpans observations over hypnotic post-punk riffs (often indebted to Keith Levene and Jah Wobble).

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EERA, Speak (Just Dust)
The 2nd album from the Norwegian singer/songwriter, who provides backing vocals for Public Service Broadcasting’s Bright Magic, showcases her enthralling multilayered alt rock.

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Anna B Savage, A Common Tern (City Slang)
Awesome, atmospheric. Anna’s stunning voice wavers between plaintive musing and ferocious potency.

Related blog: A Common Tern

Album of 2021: Paul Research, Skate the Royal Mile

Paul Research, Skate The Royal Mile
SCARS

Although the punk scene that ignited in the UK in the mid-to-late 1970s was London-centric, the shockwaves spread far and wide. Edinburgh’s emerging scene covered the more frenetic punk of The Exploited, Twisted Nerve, The Axidents, Sceptix, Bad Weeks, Belsen Horrors, and many more, and the artier end of the spectrum typified by Visitors (changing their name from The Deleted,) The Freeze (actually, from Linlithgow) and The Scars (later, shortened to Scars).
 
There might have been a ‘Year Zero’ element to punk, with most pre-1976 music routinely dismissed as dull and self-indulgent. But David Bowie’s majestic glam albums and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band still loomed large in Scars’ influences. They were also fortunate to have in Paul Mackie (aka Research) a lead guitarist and songwriter with a dazzlingly original fretwork style. Just as John McKay then John McGeoch’s originality propelled Siouxsie and the Banshees and Magazine way beyond three-chord punk, and Stuart Adamson’s idiosyncratic style added thrilling new dimensions to The Skids’ street anthems, so Research’s chiming chords and deft solos drove the Scars into uncharted territory, leading to support slots for everyone from the aforementioned Banshees to U2. 
Cover of Scars, Horrorshow and Adult/ery
Released in March 1979, just as the original wave of punk was splintering into a thousand interesting new ‘post-punk’ directions, their debut single, ‘Adult/ery’ backed up by ‘Horrorshow’ exemplifies the spirit and dynamism of punk becoming a lightning rod of new musical possibilities. Scars lasted until the early 1980s, hitting the buffers despite the promise of well-crafted singles, and a debut album, Author! Author! that still sounds remarkably fresh decades after several contemporaries evolved into predictable stadium rockers.
 
Just over 11 years ago, 29 December 2010, Scars were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd at their hometown venue, the Picture House, including longtime fans Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin, and myself! It was thrilling for me to see a band I’d last seen supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees in March 1980 at Tiffany’s (now New Town apartments). But this was to be a one-off.

Research gigged intermittently, performing solo compositions, his ever-exploratory guitar lines aided and abetted by samples, backing tracks, and film projections. He also joined Edinburgh post-punk band Desperation A.M. for a few months, switching to violin and keyboards.
SKATE THE ROYAL MILE

After playing guitar and writing songs for glam-infused post-punk outfit Voicex, one particular demo was to inspire a ‘lightbulb moment.’ (This was to evolve into the 8th track on his new album, entitled ‘Brandenburg Gate.’) Realising he was coming up with many intriguing ideas, he decided to begin developing these into fuller compositions. Crucially, he also decided to defer vocal duties and draft in talented guest singers. What emerged was light years beyond any attempt to use 'Horrorshow' or even Author! Author! as a template or a bridge into something similar (like Magazine or Gang of Four reviving in the 2000s and releasing new material one step ahead of where they left off decades before). Research took the bold decision to defy expectations and produce something far more experimental and multi-layered.

1  Overture
A punchy guitar line erupts into the first of Leeanne (LooLoo) Greenman’s collaborations, delivered at breakneck speed: 
“Milestones, deadlines, got me on the breadline, high praise, Oh God, should I quit my day job.” An overview of hopes/aspirations, not solely where careers in the music industry are concerned, coming up for air in the mellower choruses: “Always waking in the big gold dream … same old dream”.  (Referencing Grant McPhee's 2015 documentary about the Scottish post-punk scene).

2  Supercar
A full-blooded Bowie riff along the lines of ‘Rebel Rebel’ from Diamond Dogs pays homage to the Starman who inspired so many mid-70s teenagers to aspire to be play loud rock n' roll. The crunching guitar intro contrasting with wistful choruses as Research scales up and down. “Take the risk and see it through, the night is young with all to play for … Skate the Royal Mile!"

3  Deal With This

A subtle counterpoint to the opening tracks, with Carrie Furniss taking over on lead vocals. Synths instead of guitars lead this track, over a sophisticated Europop dance beat.

4  Time Stops 
LeeLoo returns, while the fractured guitar's discordant touches are reminiscent of John McGeoch.

5  Chained To A Radiator
The ambitious centrepiece … wonderfully subtle guitar slices and jerks, as the lyrics contemplate the downside of the movies. Darker and more lyrical than Suede’s ‘Filmstar’ (another influence). "We’re all locked into propaganda, manipulated to a high degree, why do you need me to feel these emotions?”
 
6  Strangers
'James,' the male vocalist from the guest trio, may be known by an enigmatic single syllable, but his vocal delivery is soaring and operatic. This makes for a thoroughly intriguing track about confession and death.

7  Indecision
Carrie Furniss again. A jaunty rhythm and angular guitars are reminiscent of The Stranglers' slickly European pop phase, circa Feline. Again, the lyrics convey tension, this time focusing on moving into different locations. "I know it looks relaxing but I’m on the run."

8  Brandenburg Gate
LeeLoo sings one one of the catchiest tracks on an album awash with melodies and harmonies, against a backdrop of lush strings.

9  Ein Letztes Lied
A bass woodwind, cool synths, and James' stridently theatrical voice combine to create an affecting tribute to Paul’s late mother. His album’s closing track is also one of its most captivating.
On the cusp of 2022, this ambitious album leaves a potent question hanging in the air ... what next for Paul Research?
Paul Research
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    MARK FLEMING
    ​EDINBURGH | SCOTLAND


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