CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE: INDIES' BEST RECORDS OF 2021

The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows was originally intended as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland. This last year has seen Albarn return to the music in lockdown and develop the work to 11 tracks which further explore themes of fragility, loss, emergence and rebirth. The result is a panoramic collection of songs with Albarn as storyteller. The album title is taken from a John Clare poem 'Love and Memory'.

Albarn says, “I have been on my own dark journey while making this record and it led me to believe that a pure source might still exist.”

Recommended by Giulia from Badlands Record Store in Cheltenham

The highly anticipated debut studio album from Dry Cleaning, following on from the 2019 EP 'Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks' and 'Sweet Princess'.

"We couldn’t have predicted that we’d spend our year singing about oven chips, reverse platform shoes, knitting circles, the horrible countryside, the big Sainsbury’s and llama plushies." - the team at Resident Records in Brighton

"Florence Shaw’s Deadpan and sardonic “speaking in tune” singing style is at the heart of this great debut LP by Dry Cleaning. With the band providing a superbly taut and riff rich backing her surreal observations, vivid descriptions and image laden word-plays are given a launchpad to propel themselves into the listeners brain! You’ll find yourself head banging to a refrain of “Tokyo bouncy ball, an Oslo bouncy ball, a Rio de Janeiro bouncy ball…” not knowing what it means, but feeling all the better for it!" - Sean from Sound Records Stroud

The highly anticipated debut album from the genre-chemist Greentea Peng. The 18-track album is executive produced by EarBuds and features live instrumentation throughout from Aria’s band the Seng Seng Family.

The album is an incredible exploration of sounds and topics that cover the current times and beyond.

Recommended by Ben and Lou from Wax and Beans in Manchester

Across numerous albums and mixtapes, Makaya McCraven has proven his mastery of the loop akin to hip-hop’s most celebrated beatmakers like J Dilla and Madlib. With his new remix album, Deciphering The Message, the Chicago-based drummer and producer digs through the Blue Note Records vaults to put a modern bounce on classics by Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Burrell, and Eddie Gale, among others.

Recommended by Giulia from Badlands Record Store

The highly anticipated second full length album from the acclaimed post-punkers SHAME.

There are moments on Drunk Tank Pink where you almost have to reach for the sleeve to check this is the same band who made 2018’s Songs Of Praise. Such is the jump shame have made from the riotous post-punk of their debut to the sprawling adventurism and twitching anxieties laid out here. The South Londoner’s blood and guts spirit, that wink and grin of devious charm, is still present, it’s just that it’s grown into something bigger, something deeper, more ambitious and unflinchingly honest.

Recommended by Daniel from Reflex Records in Newcastle

The new album from Sleaford Mods, they're back to tell us exactly how it is.

'Our lives are expendable under most governments, secondary under a system of monetary rule. We are stock if you like, parts on a shelf for the purposes of profit, discarded at any moment if fabricated or non-fabricated crisis threatens productivity. This is constant, obviously and notably in the current pandemic. The masses cannot be present in the minds of ill-fitting leaders, surely? Or else the realisation of their catastrophic management would cripple their minds. Much like the human body can still survive without a full set of ribs we are all 'spare ribs’, preservation for capitalism, through ignorance and remote rule, available for parts.’

Recommended by Graham from Reflex Records in Newcastle

"I have always loved the new wave of young jazz musicians coming out of the London Jazz clubs, conservatories and creative foundations. And at the heart and spearhead of this incredibly unique and influential sound, are The Sons Of Kemet.

As an indie kid from 1970 Manchester. You'd be forgiven to think that this might be an odd choice for my album of the year. But I just love the collaborative openness and direct lines they take when making music. This album hit me the moment I put it on. And I know will stay with me a lifetime.

class="text-orange ">It's a serious and thought-provoking piece. But I took great joy, resilience, and unity in it as well. A must listen in my humble opinion." - Fran from Black Star Records in Lyndhurst, Hampshire

26 songs, including 6 unreleased songs freom the vault, including unique photos and artwork.

‘when i think back on the fearless album and all that you turned it into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face. this was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed, so before i say anything else, let me just say that is was a real honor to get to be a teenager alongside you. and for those of you i’ve come to know more recently than 2008, i am ecstatic that i’ll get to experience a bit of that feeling with you in the very near future. now that i can fully appreciate it in its whimsical, effervescent, chaotic entirety.'

Recommended by Alan from Reflex Records in Newcastle

The highly anticipated fifth album from the dreamy-indie-rockers The War On Drugs, the band's first new album of studio material in four years, following on from A Deeper Understanding.

Over the last 15 years, The War on Drugs have steadily emerged as one of this century’s great rock and roll synthesists, removing the gaps between the underground and the mainstream, between the obtuse and the anthemic, making records that wrestle a fractured past into a unified and engrossing present. 

The War On Drugs’ particular combination of intricacy and imagination animates the 10 songs of I Don’t Live Here Anymore, buttressing the feelings of Granduciel’s personal odyssey. It’s an expression of rock ’n’ roll’s power to translate our own experience into songs we can share and words that direct our gaze toward the possibility of what is to come.

Recommended by Giulia from Badlands Record Store and Ben and Lou from Wax and Beans

The 16th full length album from the legendary Paul Weller!

We may be cursed to be in the midst a global pandemic, buffeted by all of its stresses and pain. But everyone knows that art provides succour, that music is the most reliable balm. And for many there is further significant comfort to be drawn from the knowledge that Paul Weller is in the midst of an unbelievably prolific purple patch. Paul Weller will not let us down when we need him most.

When lockdown was declared in March 2020, Paul Weller decided immediately that he wanted something to focus on, since it seemed unlikely he’d be able to tour On Sunset as planned that summer. “I had lots of ideas stored up on my phone,” he explains down that same handset, speaking from outside his London home, “and at least this gave me an opportunity to develop them.” So he started to record songs on his own, doing just vocals, piano and guitar, then sending those sound files to his core band members such as drummer Ben Gordelier, Steve Cradock on guitar and various other instruments, and bassist Andy Crofts for them to add their parts. “It was a bit weird not being together, but at least it kept the wheels rolling. I’d have gone potty otherwise.”

Recommended by Andy from Reflex Records in Newcastle

"Tom discovered this one via an Instagram post from Luke Unabomber and we were both blown away when we heard it. Drawing on influences including jazz, dub, electronica and house this record managed to be both varied and coherent as a whole. Customers agreed as copies flew out of the shop every time we played it. This Sheffield based producer is one to watch in our book and we hope to bring him to Stroud sometime soon...watch this space." - Tom from Sound Records Stroud