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Favourite selection part 2.
Favourite albums of 2021 – Part 2: Welcome the second instalment, following Part 1, which can be found here. A huge number of excellent releases, of which again this is just a selection many of which were written during, and about lockdown, but also saw many outstanding voices emerge as well as innovative sounds developed
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Arca’s Kick ii album, one of four visually arresting covers
After 2020’s Grammy-nominated KiCk i Venezuela-born, Barcelona-based cyber-looking trans electronic artist Alejandra Ghers doesn’t do things by halves – returning with a daunting but fascinating quadruple release of albums of various styles with 47 songs across 147 minutes
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Public Service Broadcasting’s Berlin album
New album: The historical archive-inspired band’s fourth LP is entirely centred around the city of Berlin, and is a far more impressionist and instrumental than previous, with German language vocals and a nod to Weimar era and David Bowie’s Low album
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Low’s Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk
New album: The follow-up to 2018’s acclaimed, revolutionary Double Negative is another mesmerising work of brilliant sound distortions and beautiful vocals by Minnesota couple Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk
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Ishmael Ensemble
New album: Excellent, evocatively fluid follow-up to 2019’s A State of Flow by the Bristol band of Pete Cunningham and co whose mix of harp, saxophone, upright bass, vocals, percussion and more create a mesmeric mix of electronica, folk and jazz
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Melt by Blank Gloss
New album: The duo of Patrick Hills and Morgan Fox from Sacramento, California release a set of serene pieces that capture wide American landscapes and skies with beat-less reverberating ambient guitar, violin, piano and and synths
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Loraine James’s third album, Reflection.
Album review: Restlessly imaginative, with arrhythmic oddness, jittery beats, sounds and disembodied voices, spoken word and trap-hop, this experimental electronica album by the London producer by is an candid expression of the mind in 2020 lockdown
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Poetic ends: friends Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis
Album review: Alongside music by the Australian composer and musician, the iconic singer recites well-known poems from Coleridge, Keats, Wordsmith and more, with addition sounds by friends Nick Cave, Brian Eno and cellist Vincent Ségal
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Circularities and patterns in nature: Hannah Peel’s Fir Wave
Album review: The electronic music composer’s mesmeric LP is inspired by the cyclical and fractal patterns of nature with access to and reinterpretations of the original music of the celebrated 1972 KPM 1000 series: Electrosonic, the music of Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
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Wondrous wallowing: Great Spans of Muddy Time by William Doyle
Album review: Inspired by the work of Robert Wyatt, early Eno, Berlin-era Bowie and Syd Barrett, this is intriguingly experimental, challenging but at times beautiful electronica work by the artist previously known as East India Youth
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A wonderful vocal new version of Gazelle Twin’s 2018 album Pastoral
Album review: An extraordinary reworking of one of the most brilliantly evocative albums of recent times, Elizabeth Bernholz’s 2018 LP Pastoral is re-animated with electronic drone choir NYX to create equally profound and disturbing versions of seven songs and a new title track
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Smerz’s album Believer
Album review: From stark and abstract, to serene, ambient and dancefloor, the debut LP from the Norwegian duo Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg is an experimental adventure taking in everything from classical to techno
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The Future Bites
Album review: The British singer-songwriter originally known for the 80s psych-prog band Porcupine Tree returns with his sixth solo album, an electronica odyssey caustically exploring aspects of how the human brain has evolved in the internet era
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Emeka Ogboh: Beyond the Yellow Haze
Album review: The Nigerian sound and installation artist best known for his soundscapes of life in Lagos releases a fascinating LP that combines those sounds with electronica to capture the hustle-and-bustle of that busy city
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Isles, the second LP, but a long way from the second release by Bicep
Album review: After 2017's eponymous album, the London-based but Belfast born electronic/ dance DJ musical magpie duo of Matthew McBriar and Andrew Ferguson return with 90s rave nostalgia filled with eclectic twists
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A landscape of words and sounds: We Come From The Sun
Album review: A refreshing and inspirational release of 10 contemporary poets performing their work set to music and field recordings, including MA.Moyo, Lemn Sissay, and Adam Horovitz in collaboration put together by the singer and radio presenter
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Great albums of 2020: clockwise from top: Agnes Obel, Phoebe Bridgers, Bob Dylan and Sault’s Untitled (Rise)
Albums of 2020 roundup: Out of crisis comes great art. A year of lockdowns, no gigs, alternative sounds, experimentation and surprises. This is the second half of our roundup of favourite albums of 2020. Part 1 was here
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Lianne La Havas, Fiona Apple and Yves Tumor are among three artists who have released outstanding LPs
Albums of 2020 roundup: A year of lockdowns, alternative sounds, experimentation and surprises. This is the first half two roundups of a total over 50 favourite albums of the year that musicians stayed at home. And here’s Part 2.
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This week’s nine is filled with contrast, but also many 2020 themes …
Album reviews roundup: A selection of contrasts – some dark, 2020-slanted Christmas other recent seasonal releases and other recents and earlier releases, from Chilly Gonzales to Mark Lanegan and a Beethoven anniversary piece
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Nine more albums to help complete further selections reflecting on 2020
Album reviews roundup: From the former Beatle to a country/pop mainstream artist, 2020’s running theme seems inspire isolation, survival, DIY and experimentation. But as this selection shows, there are also many new, innovative artists out there
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