After two very promising EPs back in 2019, Dry Cleaning have finally launched their first long play, ‘New Long Leg’. Here, Florence Shaw’s sharp, deadpan spoken word vocals contrast with the chaotic instrumentation of the English post-punkish art-rockers in one of the most intriguing (and well accomplished) rock and roll albums of 2021.
The Hold Steady was the last band (part of) our team saw before the world has changed, in a year that started recreational, but ended kinda medical. Our yearly pilgrimage to London will unfortunately not happen in 2021, but they’re making up for it with their first proper album since 2014 (not counting 2019’s single collection “Thrashing Thru the Passion”). Our favourite rock band is back. Let’s celebrate like it’s early March 2020, minus the getting ourselves crammed inside a room with no masks on. At least for now.
Toronto experimental jazz outfit Badge Époque Ensemble is back with “Self Help”. Just like in their 2019 debut, the collective has channeled selected vocalists to voice some of the tracks – one of them one of our favorite Canadian singer-songwriters, Jennifer Castle.
With “The Dream and the Dreamer”, Jeremy Ivey ceases being just Margo Price’s husband and sidekick, and establishes himself as a songwriter worth following. It’s hard to believe this is Ivey’s debut album, and we hope it’s not the last. Some of the best americana we’ve heard this year. Plus: new tracks by Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Tindersticks, The Orphan Brigade, Daniel Martin Moore, Christopher Paul Stelling, Alasdair Roberts, Richard Dawson, Matt Dorrien, Lola Kirke, Okey Dokey, Olivia Jean, Dry Cleaning, Pip Blom, Long Beard, (Sandy) Alex G, Angel Olsen, Jenny Hval, DJ Firmeza, Murs, JPEGMAFIA, Yves Tumor, Tørsö, and Swans.