2021 albums of the year lists - rolling thread

1 and 10 aren’t all that but the other 8 records on here are all really good (the Guardian’s monthly global/folk/jazz/contemporary album reviews + release roundup have been a goldmine this year).

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Need to check some of these out.
Love Native Soul & Mabe Fratti. Struggled with Arushi Jain a bit.

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Enjoyed it myself, especially the last two tracks. Feels weird to be lumping it as “global music” though

I enjoyed all three of those but I can see why Arushi Jain might not click, it’s got a little too much going on for an ambient record and it’s a little too ambient for other boxes - it worked for me when I listened to it but hard to imagine the right circumstances for it.

Of the others I’d put Jaubi and Arooj Aftab at the top of the list if you haven’t heard them yet, really great records, though Mdou Moctar is doing really well in the year end polls (I do like it but it’s desert blues done well without offering much new, not quite as distinct a work as most of the other albums here).

Thank you.
Yeah like Mdou Moctar but did feel a bit like it could have come out at any point in the last 30 years.

I don’t think it’s as reductive as it sounds. For a national newspaper to be championing this sort of music is pretty rare, and having a regular feature that covers music under such a broad umbrella is pretty useful if you know that you want to broaden your musical horizons but don’t know what is out there that you might enjoy.

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Boomkat AOTY 2021

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List is here, some great stuff in this as per.

https://boomkat.com/charts/boomkat-end-of-year-charts-2021/1534

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I’m confused at the HTRK album being called electronic, sounds like a bedroom indie album to me.

Finally a chart that includes my own No.1, albeit right at the end of the list (Roy Montgomery).

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Amazed thought Space Afrika would be nailed on or aya.

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so, so much stuff to discover from that list

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Yeah me too tbf.

Yeah, I suppose they were previously. Now sound like something off the Twin Peaks soundtrack. Really good album mind.

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Been listening to this Dawuna album, having had a song on Deep Voices & a strong placing on Boomkat’s list.

Cannot fathom why it’s not a massive deal - it’s amazing. Sort of electronic alt-rnb.

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Some interesting stuff in here.

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