I’m back! After months of silence (I did warn you my updates would be sporadic), two posts only like a week apart! I may not have been doing a lot of music writing over the last while, but my pace of consumption hasn’t changed — in the three months of July through September I listened to a little over 150 albums, and after a bunch of circling back and consideration, I’ve chosen 25 I particularly enjoyed that I wanted to highlight for all of you!
Other posts I have coming down the pipeline at some indeterminate future date include a spotlight series where I pick five albums from my collection to write about (for a bit of what this will look like, check out the end of my Truth and Reconciliation Day post) and the long-promised Post About Books. And of course, I do intend to do a full end-of-year roundup.
Album links go to Bandcamp when possible and Spotify otherwise. I use the latter extensively, but I’m aware it’s an awful platform for non-paying users and, especially, for artists. If you like any of the albums here, definitely consider purchasing them! Individual song highlights mentioned in the reviews are all on this playlist.
2021 Releases
Animales de Poder - Augura (Mar 20)
Spare, evocative Uruguayan folk. I like how unpredictable some of these songs are — they’re formally unusual, shifting between themes and ideas, but never in a way that feels undeveloped or ill-thought-out. CHECK OUT: Animales de Poder, a la encandilada
Tomoko Omura - Branches Vol. 2 (Jun 18)
This quarter I listened to quite a bit of jazz (this is not the only time it will show up on this list), but Branches vol. 2 may be my favourite of the lot. I find the way it incorporates tools from both the classical world and Japanese folk music really appealing, and Omura is as skilled a violinist as she is a composer. CHECK OUT: Come Firefly, Bow’s Dance
SPELLLING - The Turning Wheel (Jun 25)
Eclectic, unruly art-pop. Really rich instrumentation. Chrystia Cabral’s voice has been compared to Kate Bush, and I think there’s at least some merit to that. It’s expressive and weird and she uses it very well.
CHECK OUT: Little Deer, Revolution
Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion - Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part (Jun 25)
I admit I struggle to write about contemporary classical music; I simply don’t have the right vocabulary. This is absolutely lovely though. As you’d expect, the percussion (largely pitched instruments like glockenspiel and marimba) is a central element, paired with some really beautiful polyphonic vocal writing — ably served by Shaw’s own singing. CHECK OUT: Other Song, The Flood is Following Me
Enji - Ursgal (Jun 25)
Warm, laid-back jazz. Built around vocals, guitar, and upright bass. Bandcamp daily has an excellent feature on Enji, and how her knowledge of traditional Mongolian singing techniques is incorporated into her work.
CHECK OUT: Diary of June 9, Gandii Mod
June Pan - 25歲的我明天還是要上班 / Everyday is a Battle (Jun 30)
Starts as hazy, urbane synth-pop before pulling back and exploring some more acoustic instrumentation later on. Music for rainy nights and neon streets. Michael Hong did a very good write-up for his newsletter Mando Gap.
CHECK OUT: Lingering Night, keep_ing
YeYe - Otona (Jul 7)
Otona didn’t really jump out at me on first listen, but every time I come back to it I find more to like. Gorgeous indie folk/pop, with some fun genre-bending flourishes brought in through various collaborators. CHECK OUT: Inori, Ie Wo Kau
Aasiva - Niriunniq (Jul 9)
Aasiva’s debut was lovely, but had a fairly narrow sonic palette, being primarily built around her voice and ukelele. Niriunniq expands things really effectively — my favourite are the chilly synth tracks, but I also appreciate the presence of throat-singing and the collaborations with rapper & beatboxer FxckMr CHECK OUT: Piqatiikka, Tulugaq
Ora the Molecule - Human Safari (Jul 23)
Dancey European avant-pop that makes really effective use of both spoken and sung vocals. Not exactly minimalist, but there’s a pared-back nature to the production that works well. CHECK OUT: Die to be a Butterfly, Pocket Universe
Rinyu - Black Girl Magic (Jul 23)
Rinyu describes her genres as “Afro-jazz, Afro-pop, and world music”, and her silk-smooth voice floats seemingly effortlessly between those different modes. She’s helped by some fabulous arrangements — the percussion in particular is consistently really well-thought-out. CHECK OUT: Ama Fallin, To Love a Player
GLOR1A - METAL (Jul 29)
METAL is, frankly, a bit more abrasive and jarring than most of what i listen to, but I think it’s really well-conceived and very cool. I have trouble pinning it down in a genre space — experimental, industrial R&B? — but I recommend checking out GLOR1A’s description on its bandcamp page.
CHECK OUT: Running Man, Control
Yola - Stand For Myself (Jul 30)
Yola has a knack for writing songs that sound like classics without in the least feeling dated or derivative. Just excellent, timeless country. I spotlighted her debut in my last roundup post, and Stand For Myself is yet another collection of great standards-to-be. CHECK OUT: Starlight, Break the Bough
NTsKI - Orca (Aug 6)
Dreamy, spaced-out electronic indie, with sighing vocals over well-chosen synths, strong percussion choices, and some really fun, quirky samples. CHECK OUT: Plate Song, Parallélisme
CHVRCHES - Screen Violence (Aug 27)
As melancholic indie synth-pop, CHVRCHES are very up my alley, which makes it a bit weird that this is the first of their albums I’ve listened to. They’re musically straightforward (though catchy!) - the real star here is Lauren Mayberry’s clarion voice, and how expressively she uses it. CHECK OUT: How Not to Drown, Nightmares
Baby Queen - The Yearbook (Sep 3)
Husky-voiced, thematically dark lofi pop. The subject matter could make for an incredibly bleak album, but some incisive lyric-writing and absolutely monster hooks go a long way to stop things from dragging.
CHECK OUT: Raw Thoughts, You Shaped Hole
Kacey Musgraves - star-crossed (Sep 10)
As divorce albums go, this is on the quiet, reflective end of the spectrum. There’s no big catharsis, just an exploration of the often-contradictory feelings that come with the end of an important relationship. Musgraves remains good at diving into those small moments, and the faint haziness of the production suits the mood well. CHECK OUT: justified, camera roll
Pre-2021
Wendy Stewart - About Time (1992)
I intend at some point to do a full post about harp music, which is a passion of mine. In the meantime, you can do a lot worse than this Stewart album, which takes a lot of traditional tunes and arranges them in ways that don’t drift too far from trad conventions, but are beautifully executed and have some excellent little twists on the standard formulae. CHECK OUT: The Burning Bing, The Streams of Abernathy/Puinneagan Cail
Elza Soares - A Mulher do Fim do Mundo (2015)
There’s a reason this album opens and closes with a cappella segments; even at 85, Soares’s voice is an unbelievably effective instrument. In between those bookends, she gives a masterclass on modern samba and how flexible a genre it can be. Her vocal control is incredible; she knows exactly how to manipulate her sound to wring the most out of each track.
CHECK OUT: Mulher do Fim do Mundo, Firmeza?!
Chiaki Mayumura - Mejameja Monja (May 2019)
There’s a slightly frantic, kitchen-sink quality to a lot of Mejameja Monja. Songs will abruptly swerve midway through, interpolating sections that feel like they’re from somewhere else entirely, and Mayumura’s performance is at times mannered to the point of intrusiveness. That chaos means it’s easy to miss just how meticulously put together the album is — there’s some very clever composition and *ridiculously* catchy melodic hooks are abundant.
CHECK OUT: Piccolo Mushi, Kakioroshi Shudaika
Lizzie No - Vanity (Aug 2019)
Narrative, melodic folk/country — I love Lizzie No’s storytelling on this album, and her sense of which songs need rhyme and which don’t. Great instrumentation too (always nice to see a harpist, for one thing). CHECK OUT: Narcissus, Pity Party
Wakana - magic moment (Feb 2020)
Sweeping, cinematic anisong. The composition is decent, but the real star is Wakana’s voice; she has a beautifully warm mezzo-soprano tone, and uses it well throughout. This is a really pleasant low-key listen, and it’s not my intent to damn with faint praise; I genuinely am a fan of stuff that works well as the soundtrack to a day. CHECK OUT: 442, Hirari Hirari
Klô Pelgag - Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Doleurs (Jun 2020)
Arty baroque-pop and indefinably, but powerfully, Québecois. Pelgag has a taste for really haunting layered vocals, which I heartily endorse. I’m also a big fan of the use of orchestral instruments here — woodwinds, brass, orchestral percussion, she draws on the whole palette and it works very well. CHECK OUT: Rémora, Für Élise
Okan - Espiral (Oct 2020)
This whole album is playful, intricate Afro-Cuban jazz, though it draws influences from all over the place. I love the rhythmic complexity, and Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne are as strong on their respective instruments as they are vocally. It’s a constantly surprising listen, in the best way. CHECK OUT: Espiral, Boundaries
Sangpuy - pulu’em (Oct 2020)
I’m pretty much always into Indigenous/Aboriginal musicians doing language revitalization while merging traditional and modern techniques. That makes this sound dry, but it’s incredibly alive-feeling, helped by a super broad instrumental palette and by sangpuy’s distinctive vocal affect. CHECK OUT: iturusanay, pulu’em
Deirdre Graham - Urranta (Dec 2020)
A good selection of traditional Gaelic tunes, and well-sung. What really makes it stand out, though, are the arrangements; Graham is supported by a swooping, poppy string ensemble that gives the whole thing a decidedly modern feel CHECK OUT: Òran Mòr Sgoirebreac, Uamh an Òir