It's been a hell of a year, but filled with some amazing, boundary-pushing and forward-thinking music that will stay with me for years to come. This year I'm publishing my list as part of website in collaboration with Witch-House.com, where I invited some amazing artists to share their personal 'best of's. You can check the whole website here. Without further ado, here are my top 20 favourite albums from 2021:
1. Louisahhh - The Practice Of Freedom
Drawing equally from EBM and industrial influences, the record consists of 11 tracks filled with dark and disruptive techno delivered with punk attitude. It may appear agressive and heavy at first, but behind that initial impression lies a deeply personal, emotional, and skillfully structured album that deals with love, loss and power in a brutally honest and refreshing manner. Mesmerising LP.
2. Edith Underground - Heaven's Night
For a long while now, Edith's music has been drifting away from her early, obscure witchy bedroom roots I first fell in love with on the "Teen Witch" tape back in 2017, towards dark and gloomy dancefloor bangers, channelling club & rave music from the 90s. From trance, through jungle and breakbeat, to techno and classic house (with a bold JB sample there, love it, Nike7up fans pay attention), "Heaven's Night" is like doing drugs, going to a nightclub you've never been to before and having the time of your life.
3. Gravegonzo - Their Fantasy Mirrors
"Their Fantasy Mirrors" is a sublime and captivating sonic journey illustrated by enchanted narratives penned by the leader Sam Beahan. By ingeniously blending dark synth-pop, ethereal wave and pop-oriented harmonies, Gravegonzo manage to carve a unique niche for themselves, filled with hazy, sensuous melodies and shoegazy atmospheres. What's also worth noting is that "Their Fantasy Mirrors" is brilliantly sequenced, helping the listener to blissfully sink into these nine tracks from the very first moments of the opener "Lurk Around". My favourite debut of 2021.
4. Male Tears - Trauma Club
Glorious ode to the darkwave/new wave sound. Male Tears released not one, but two albums in 2021, but I feel like "Trauma Club", which is notably darker and spookier from its self-titled predecessor (both in terms of the music production and lyrics) makes a bigger impact. By conjuring the 80s goth aesthetic, often flavoured with EBM influences, they crafted seven catchy synth-pop/darkwave songs that will keep you vibing until the next Halloween.
5. CRAVE - Stabbed In The Jaw And Left Alive
CRAVE's work has always been very cinematic, both in terms of visual references, storytelling and sample use, and it's no different here - the mood shifts throughout "Stabbed In The Jaw And Left Alive" keeping the listener on the edge all the time. It is an industrial record at its core, with experimental rap, harsh noise and power electronics influences ingeniously intertwined into an eerie and gripping project.
6. Holy Other - Lieve
The elusive producer delivers his signature sound of mesmerizing downtempo electronica, this time more deconstructed, polished and darker than ever before, often drifting towards a sonic territory located somewhere between Haxan Cloak's Latitudes record and "Double Negative" from Low. Recorded during 2020, the album effortlessly blends dark ambient with fractured electronic signals and cold IDM undertones, creating multi-layered compositions that are occasionally graced with ethereal vocals from Sian O'Gorman. It's a stunning comeback from one of the most iconic faces of the Tri Angle label.
7. Home Front - Think Of The Lie
New and exciting post-punk/new wave band from Edmonton, Canada. These dudes manage to sound like they've been teleported from the 80s and at the same time channel raw energy that's so much needed in this pandemic-centric world. The opening track "Flaw In The Design" gives me serious The Cure vibes, and made me fall in love with them straight from there. Whole thing is packed with hits that are insanely addictive and make you believe you've known them for years. Fantastic debut.
8. Pictureplane - Dopamine
Latest album from Pictureplane is quite possibly his best one yet, with its sound and influences going back all the way to his classic Dark Rift days. "Dopamine" has rave songs for Hackers' psychofans, hip-hop-flavoured industrial for babybats and outcasts, and mellow synth tracks for D&D nerds. And all that while being true to his DIY-ethos. Love it.
9. Low - Hey What
While "Double Negative" redefined their career, "Hey What" cements their status as one of the most exciting rock bands out there today. Amazing LP from start to finish.
10. Zhe Pechorin - Signs
"Signs" is a six track journey through otherworldly portals, gliding smoothly alongside sci-fi tones & droned out minimalism. Organically shifting and progressing through the noisy cosmic vortex, the album is a blisssful slow-paced trip that brings to mind the opening sequence in Blade Runner.
11. Smote - Drommon
Psychedelic, almost ritual odyssey with folk undertones, that instantly made me think of early Haxan Cloak vs Hawkwind combo.
12. Mater Suspiria Vision - Kosmische Musik
"Kosmische Musik" takes the listener on a trippy journey through vast and bleak sonic wastelands of ghostly synths, selectively scattered with guest vocals and shrouded with droning serenity.
13. Scythe - Candlelit Descent Down The Initiation Well
Filled with emotive synths that shape vast and brooding soundscapes, the album is a sublime and haunting experience that will undoubtedly appeal to both melancholic crypt keepers as well as dystopian dreampunks.
14. V.A. - Curses presents: Next Wave Acid Punx
Spanning four decades of music, it's an epic collection of dark electronic dancefloor hits, including tracks from Suicide, Yello, Front 242 as well as modern faces of dark disco scene like Curses himself, Shubostar or Zombies in Miami. Whether you like darkwave, italo-disco, EBM or new beat, you'll find something special for yourself.
15. MONOMORTE - The Wiccan
On "The Wiccan" MONOMORTE manages to craft a cohesive occult story, told with an eclectic sound that is both sublime and menacing, eerily familiar and comfortably distant, merging modern horror sound design with ghosts of dubstep past.
16. Tonstartssbandht - Petunia
"Petunia" is a joyous, folk-flavoured ride that progresses Tonstartssbandht's signature noisy sound into a more polished, melodic and well structured songwriting.
17. New Mexican Stargazers - Subterranean Flash Game
NMS combines psycho-tropical soundscapes and new age synths, emanating some serious hypnagogic vibes that will you make you float for hours.
18. MORGVE - Halveksiva
Latecomers to my list (the album came out just 2 days before the end of 2021), but it took me by storm, a melodic and post-rave friendly LP from Argentina's finest witchhouse musicians.
19. S280F - 28
"28" sounds like it was sent to Earth from the Nostromo spaceship after orbiting our solar system in solitude for years. It's an organic sound design sculpture mixed with a score to a movie that never was.
20. PC World - Order
A synth/EBM soundtrack to the post-truth world of today, accentuated with industrial and post-punk elements.
Special shout out aka looking forward to hear their albums in 2022:
Cotton Crown - Wretched Lie
Stay Healthy - Sickem
Churchterror - Dirt
Click here to view the WITCH-HOUSE.com x MUTANT ZONES best of 2021 website.