RSR PC 050 Redscroll Favorites of 2021

It’s the beginning of a new year so first off HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hoping the best for everyone in the coming year!

Rick and Josh host the podcast with no guests and plenty of music clips. We assembled a list for each of our full time staff here. Rick and Josh rip through their respective lists and then those submitted by Caren and David. All of those are listed below. Tune in for some light commentary and clips of them all to check out.

This past year brought us a ton of excellent music and that’s definitely reflected in these lists we’ve put together here. There is also a Spotify playlist linked below to give everything a deeper listen (aka check out the full songs and not just clips).

The podcast opens with some music by Tongue Depressor who we are very thankful to have done an amazing release with this year. The rest of the tracks are from each of these albums listed below (in the order they appear below). Quick note here too that Rick and Josh go into further depth about this on the podcast, but we (Rick & Josh) basically didn’t include any artists in our favorites that we have a favorable prejudice towards, but we didn’t preclude Caren and David from doing that. 🙂

List format: [Band “Album” (Record Label)]

Rick’s Favorites of 2021:

The Bug “Fire” (Ninja Tune)
Tara Clerkin Trio “In Spring” (World of Echo)
Sarah Davachi “Antiphonals” (Late Music)
Dry Cleaning “New Long Leg” (4AD)
Editrix “Tell Me I’m Bad” (Exploding In Sound)
Ben Lamar Gay “Open Arms To Open Us” (International Anthem Recording Company)
HTRK “Rhinestones” (N&J Blueberries / self-released)
John Glacier “Shiloh: Lost for Words” (PLZ Make It Ruins)
Rochelle Jordan “Play With The Changes” (Young Art Records / UNDRGRND Records)
Klein “Harmattan”(PentaTone)
Makaya McCraven “Deciphering The Message” (Blue Note)
Raja Kirik “Rampokan” (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Riki “Gold” (Dais Records)
Scotch Rolex “Tewari” (Hakuna Kulala)
Senyawa “Alkisah” (simultaneous release by over 40 labels)
Patrick Shiroishi “Hidemi” (American Dreams Records)

7” (Caren Co-Signed)
Taqbir “Victory Belongs To Those Who Fight For A Right Cause” (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Josh’s Top of the Year 2021:

Amyl & The Sniffers “Comfort To Me” (ATO Records / B2B Records / Rough Trade)
BadBadNotGood “Talk Memory” (XL Recordings / Innovative Leisure)
Julien Baker “Little Oblivions” (Matador / 6131 Records)
The Body “I’ve Seen All I Need To See” (Thrill Jockey)
Mdou Moctar “Afrique Victime” (Matador)
Mythic Sunship “Wildfire” (Tee Pee)
Pan-Amerikan Native Front “Little Turtle’s War” (Nuclear War Now! Productions)
Riki “Gold” (Dais)
Laura Stevenson “Laura Stevenson” (Don Giovanni)
Spectral Wound “A Diabolic Thirst” (Profound Lore)

Best hardcore 7” of the year:
Gel “Violent Closure” (Atomic Action)

Honorable mentions:
Fly Pan AM “Frontera” (Constellation)
Frozen Soul “Crypt Of Ice” (Century Media)
Gas “Der Lange Marsch” (Kompakt)
Of The Wand And The Moon “Your Love Can’t Hold This Wreath Of Sorrow” (Tesco)
Emma Ruth Rundle “Engine Of Hell” (Sargent House)
Sun Kil Moon “Lunch In The Park” (Caldo Verde Records – digital only)

David’s List of 2021 Favorites:

Aaron Dilloway & Lucretia Dalt “Lucy & Aaron” (Hanson Records)
Myriam Gendron “Ma Délire – Songs Of Love, Lost & Found” (Feeding Tube Records / Les Albums Claus)
Manzanita Y Su Conjunto “Trujillo – Peru 1971-1974” (Analog Africa)
Helena Meirelles “A Rainha Da Viola Caipira” (Vampi Soul)
Mountain Movers “World What World” (Trouble In Mind)
Rob Noyes “Arc Minutes” (Vin Du Select Qualitite)
Shirese “Three Going On Four” (C/Site Recordings / Gnosisocial Progress)
Joseph Spence “Encore (Unheard Recordings Of Bahamian Guitar And Singing)” (Smithsonian Folkways)
Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek “Dost 1” (Les Disques Bongo Joe / Catapulte Records)
Various “Essiebons Special 1973-1984” (Analog Africa)

Caren’s Favorites for 2021:

Astrid Øster Mortensen “Gro Mig En Blomst” (Förlag För Fri Musik)
Astute Palate “Astute Palate” (Petty Bunco)
Tara Clerkin Trio “In Spring” (World Of Echo)
Clarissa Connelly “The Voyager” (Southern Record Distributors)
Dry Cleaning “New Long Leg” (4AD)
Dummy “Mandatory Enjoyment” (Trouble In Mind)
Gerald Cleaver “Griots” (Meakusma, Positive Elevation Records)
Rochelle Jordan “Play With The Changes” (Young Art Records / UNDRGRND Records)
The Mind “Open Up The Window And Leave Your Body” (Lumpy Records)
Mind Maintenance “Mind Maintenance” (Drag City)
Moin “Moot!” (AD 93)
Mountain Movers “World What World” (Trouble In Mind)
Natural Information Society with Evan Parker “Descension (Out Of Our Constrictions)” (Eremite Records)
picnic “picnic” (Daisart)
Powers / Rolin Duo “Strange Fortune” (Astral Editions)[Note: Music on the podcast is from a different release as I didn’t have this one available to me]
Rosali “No Medium” (Spinster)
Salamanda “Allez!” (Good Morning Tapes)
Space Afrika “Honest Labour” (Dais Records)
YL Hooi “Untitled” (Efficient Space)
You’ll Never Get To Heaven “Wave Your Moonlight Hat For The Snowfall Train” (Séance Centre)
Yu Su “Yellow River Blue” (Bié Records, Music From Memory)