There was sooooo much good music to choose from this year. It was pretty hard condensing this list down to just 20 tracks, but I decided to stick with it, otherwise there would be too many embedded YouTube videos and this page would take three hours to load.
This is probably going to be the last weekly (or as has been the case recently 'fornightly') track roundup of the year. Feel free to still submit music, but I probably won't get round to featuring it until January. There are a couple of Christmas songs featured this week, albeit not the type of Christmas songs you're likely to play around your family at the dinner table. Artists included this week include Boris, Shame, Tierra Whack, death's dynamic shroud.wmv and IMBER.
♫ He's making his end-of-year lists. He’s checking them twice. He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice. ♫ As usual, I'm planning on rounding up my favourite tracks, but we’ll get the ‘naughty list’ out of the way first. Here are my picks for the worst songs of 2021. Which songs did I miss?
I’ve been very busy recently, so sorry again for missing last week's roundup. Below are my favourite finds from the last two weeks. Artists featured include Earl Sweatshirt, Boris, Disorientations, Shego, Maxwell Varey, Roni Bar Hadas and Chew Magna.
Post-punk provocateurs Idles get less political and more personal on their fourth album.
There weren’t too many huge tracks released this week, which is great because I could focus my attention on catching up with all the submissions in my inbox. Artists featured this week include Ovlov, Basement Revolver, Flynt, Kemetstry, Onipa and Code Orange.
NO WORST TRACKS THIS WEEK. There were far too many good tracks to choose from that I didn't have any space for bad tracks. Here are some of my favourites from the last week.
Despite the uninspired name (he blatantly took it from a rapper name generator), Lil Nas X has fast become one of the most exciting and unique artists in modern mainstream hip hop. But is it all just gimmicks?
Idles deliver a new vicious track, Hiatus Kaiyote embrace Halloween, Big Sean covers himself in bees for his latest banger, plus new killer tracks from underground artists Darkroom Data and Oog Bogo.
In this fashionably late double album review, I catch up on Lorde’s new sunny LP Solar Power, and Billie Eilish’s not-so-happy new record Happier Than Ever.
Hip hop supergroup Mount Westmore drop their fun debut single, plus new fantastic tracks from LANNDS, Empath, Mindchatter and Fatherson. Sadly, I'm not feeling the new Adele song.
It's mostly rock this week with a dark electropop song thrown in there too. Artists featured include Black Country New Road, Luna Honey, Alvinos Zavlis, Doctor Payne and Krooked Tongue.
Certified Lover Boy features some of the Canadian singer-rapper’s best songs to date – but also some of his worst.
YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS! That’s right, Limp Bizkit are back. Also featured this week: Makthaverskan, Wendy Eisenberg, The Ampersands, Ryan Egan, Grace Sanders and JPEGMAFIA.
I’ve always been a huge James Bond fan. With the new Bond movie No Time To Die out in cinemas, I thought I’d take on the challenge of ranking every Bond theme ever made. All 24 of them.
J Cole drops a surprise new single, plus there are some cracking rock tracks from Ovlov and Little Thief. Les Ailes’ intimate folk song is gorgeous and Void Comp delivers some beguiling electropop.
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Turnstile craft the catchiest hardcore punk tunes known to man on their latest album Glow On.
New fantastic tracks from James Blake, BADBADNOTGOOD, LYRAS, Ehiorobo and Peacebone to feast your ears on. Meanwhile, the new M Huncho single sucks.
Despite the messy roll-out, the bloated tracklist (27 tracks???) and the non-existent album art, Donda is not the slapdash slog I expected it to be. In fact, there are some solid and spectacular songs here.
So much new music has come out in the last week. It was hard narrowing down this weekly roundup to just six tracks (ABBA, Lana Del Rey and Charli XCX didn’t even make the cut). Below are the songs that held my attention the most. Artists featured include Kanye West, Little Simz, Animals As Leaders, Jack Wakeman, Eskimo Callboy and Drake.
The new Clapton song is claptrap. However, it’s not all bad junk this week - Injury Reserve and JPEGMAFIA continue to put out exciting forward-thinking hip hop, and there are some creative rock gems from Book Klub, Bnny and Lazy Scorsese.
I’ll get around to reviewing Donda in a minute. In the meantime, here’s a post for the hip hop heads – a double review of the two latest albums from Vince Staples and Isaiah Rashad.
Quite a lot has happened in the world of music in the last week. Nirvana have been sued by the Nevermind baby. Kanye (or should I call him Ye) has finally dropped his new album Donda. There have also been so many new singles. This week’s roundup contains new tracks from James Blake, Lone, Disclosure, Indigo De Souza and In-Sides. It’s three days later than usual, because I’m a disorganised mess.
I missed last week's wrap-up, so here are the best songs of the last two weeks. Artists featured include The Weeknd, Denzel Curry, Injury Reserve, Turnstile, Laura Greaves, Jordan Sommerlad, The Kondoors and Riff Raff.
The new Tyler record is predominantly a rap record (opposed to Igor which felt more like an r&b record). A lot of ideas get thrown at the wall, but most of them stick.
Turnstile drop another riff-laden anthem. Billie Eilish gets loud and shouty. La Luz offer some cool retro psychedelic rock. Plus more new tracks from Scott Matthews, Lee Scott and Dorian Electra.
Hiatus Kaiyote return with some catchy and vulnerable neo-soul jams.
The new James Blake track is fantastic! Also new songs from Valley Palace, Honeywhip, Monet's Pond, KING WOMAN and The Dee Gees.
YOU FORGOT TO DO A TRACK ROUNDUP LAST WEEK! Yes, yes, I know. I’ve decided to make up for it with this special edition extravaganza post – instead of just featuring six tracks from the last week, I’ll be featuring ten tracks from the last two weeks. I was going to go for twelve tracks but I didn’t have the time. This week’s lineup includes Lone, BADBADNOTGOOD, WILLOW, Georgie Gordon, Sam Florian, MACY, SILT, Ace Caped Crusader, underscores and Lorde…
St. Vincent’s new serving of 70s psychedelic sleaze somehow manages to be excitingly fresh. In fact, it’s one of the most exciting albums I’ve heard this year.
Lazarus Kane delivers some nutty New Wave. Sam Mehran’s two new posthumous singles are bangers. Vince Staples serves up a moody single produced by Kenny Beats. Turnstile provide wild riffs and an anthemic chorus. And Vilde releases some hazy lo-fi synthpop.
Doja Cat’s new intergalactic sex album is enjoyably raunchy – even if it’s not as musically adventurous as I’d hoped.
Turn the footy off, take a seat on your Ikea Pride-themed couch, lock your doors (Bill Cosby is on the loose!) and get your headphones on – it’s time for the best and worst new tracks from this wild week. There are some awesome new rock tracks from Nerves, Muscle Vest and WILLOW (that’s Will Smith’s daughter. Yes, she’s now making rock music). Graver Ekow meanwhile return with an enjoyably loopy hip hop single and Snoh Aalegra delivers some super-smooth Sade-style pop.
Hip hop seems to finally be picking up this year – the new Mick Jenkins and Isaiah Rashad singles are fantastic! On the rock scene, Wooze are the new weird band to watch. Meanwhile, Gabrielle Sey and Dexter Dine deliver some experimental genre-meddling gems.
The UK is currently experiencing a wave of wacky post-punk bands. Squid and black midi might be the wackiest of them all.
Lots of underground gems this week.
I've got my pick axe and mining helmet. I'm ready to go Cole mining. Let's see what we can excavate from The Off Season.
It's a mix of hyperpop, rowdy punk and squeak-rap this week.
The new Lana track is very pretty.
New rock from Skrillex and new EDM from Bono and The Edge. No, I didn't get those two mixed up. Skrillex is literally playing guitar and Bono is literally singing over a house beat.
From Archers of Loaf to Chumbawamba, these are the 30 worst band names of all time.
The new Tkay Maidza single is a banger and the new HEALTH-Nine Inch Nails collaboration is satisfyingly ominous.
NO WORST TRACKS THIS WEEK. There's been so much good music released in the last 7 days that I could barely keep up with it all. STOP RELEASING ALL THIS GOOD MUSIC! Here are some of the tracks that stood out the most.
Christian pop, weed anthems and a Martin Luther King speech. What is going on?
