MUSIC
Bringing you a selection of Tough Love’s five best albums of 2021. This crop delivers some of this year’s most exciting studio cuts.
5.
Kid Kapichi: This Time Next Year
Shout out to these local Hastings heroes! Having self-released their much anticipated debut album earlier this year, these guys embody the DIY spirit of the town in which there aren’t that many opportunities and where they have to be created in order to make things happen.
They have a steady and loyal local fanbase as witnessed by their live shows this year in town, the camaraderie on stage and off is also winning them fans across the UK.
If you like your riffs to be heavy, your drums to be hypnotic, and chorus’s that you can sing along to, then this is the band for you.
Definitely a band going places and ones that will put Hastings (back) on the UK music map, as well as it should be!
LABEL: Self Released/Not on label
4.
Snapped Ankles: Forest Of Your Problems
Some bands come and go like a meteor shower, full of promise but rarely delivering, fortunately these London lads have managed to keep their momentum going and delivered another solid album that almost captures their live energy, which is a tough challenge in itself as anyone who’s seen them live can testify.
These arbor enthusiasts have a unique brand of high energy indie rock, with elements of krautrock, post punk and just plain weird that are greater than the sum of their parts.
Highlight for me is the infectiously energetic “Rhythm is Our Business“ a stand out track on an excellent album, catch them live if you can.
LABEL: The Leaf Label
3.
sons of kemet: black to the future
More jazz on my top 5 list, but I couldn’t not include this 4th album by the London quartet. In a year of civil uprising and unrest including the global Black Lives Matter movement, this couldn’t have come out at a more salient time.
Featuring some great guests including Lianne La Havas and Kojey Radical on “Hustle” their message is current and their heady fusion of politically charged poetry and free jazz is as vital as ever.
Always more than the sum of their parts, check out this dynamic album, you’ll be dancing, but you might learn something too.
LABEL: Impulse! Records
2.
Haitus Kaiyote - Mood Valiant
This jazz fusion/funk neo-soul band from Melbourne have long been bubbling under the surface of the mainstream.
Since their debut in 2012 they have been putting out quality music whilst performing incendiary live shows around the globe, and this might finally be the one that breaks them into the wider public consciousness.
This is their first album since signing to L.A. label Brainfeeder, and there’s a new found energy and exuberance on here that was sometimes lacking on previous recordings, perhaps this is due in some part to Nai’s 2018 cancer diagnosis and new found perspective on life.
As always the soulful vocals of singer Nai Palm flutter and soar with a voice beyond her years, the band sound tighter than ever and have created a wonderful piece of art with many great musical and lyrical moments.
My particular highlight of the album is the excellent “Get Sun” featuring legendary Brazilian Folk-Jazz composer Artur Verocai (who also produced the record), according to my spotify wrapped I listened to it 60 times this year, which says it all really, it’s an exuberant burst of sonic joy that can’t help but put a smile on your face and a spring in your step, go get some!
LABEL: Brainfeeder
1.
John Grant: Boy From Michigan
My favourite album of 2021 is by the criminally underrated American singer/songwriter John Grant. This is his 6th album on the Brighton based Bella Union label, and is his most reflective to date. It seems the pandemic made a lot of us reminisce and take stock of our lives, and John was no exception. His intimate songs about his childhood, his father and forbidden first loves are a beautiful blend of fondness, wistfulness, tinged with his usual sadness and regret.
This is also reflected in his use of instruments like an 808 drum machine and 80’s analogue synths, that give nods to his favourite artists like Cabaret Voltaire on "Rusty Bull" with his use of rich analogue synth sounds, and also Nina Hagen on the wonderfully absurd kraut rock banger “Rhetorical Figure” which harks back to his years in Germany as a young man.
This album is just what was needed after such a challenging period for us all, it’s a thing of beauty and shines like the Aurora Borealis in a dark winter sky, ethereal, ephemeral and extraordinary.
LABEL: Bella Union
By Anja Petitto
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