Best National & Minnesota Music of 2021.5 (Josh)
As live music slowly comes back and we inch back to a pre-COVID world, Reviler writers are taking stock of the new music we’ve liked in the first half of 2021. We’re highlight both national and Minnesota music that has piqued our interest. We’re excited for our year-end lists where we will be able to add back in “favorite live shows” to the mix, but until then, let’s find out what we’ve liked in the first half of this year. Without further ado, check out Josh’s 2021.5 best of lists below.
NATIONAL
Top 20 records (not in order but kind of in order)
Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders & London Symphony Orchestra – Promises
Kaidi Tatham – An Insight to All Minds
Ryley Walker & Kikagaku Moyo – Deep Fried Grandeur
Madlib – Sound Ancestors
Mind Maintenance – Mind Maintenance
Sven Wunder – Natura Morta
Armand Hammer – Haram
The Armed – Ultrapop
Arushi Jain – Under the Lilac Sky
Les Filles de Illighadad — At Pioneer Works
Jaubi — Nafs at Peace
Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victim
Maston – Panorama
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – DOST 1
Stimulator Jones – Low Budget Environments Striving For Perfection
Ashan – Shadow of a Flame + Sacred Space
Son of Kemet – To Never Forget The Source
Jerfe Cantu-Ledesma + Ilyas Ahmed – You Can See Your Own Way Out
Drew Gardner — Drew Gardner
Pino Palladino + Blake Mills – Notes With Attachments
Best song not on album: noname “rainforest”
Best Comps/Reissues
Can – Live at Stuttgart 1975
La Ola Interior (Spanish Ambient & Acid Exotism: 1983-1990)
4mars (Djibouti Archives Vol. 1) Super Somali Sounds from the Gulf of Tadjoura
Numero Groups “Eccentric Disco”
Habibi Funk 015: An eclectic selection of music from the Arab world, part 2
Minnesota
Dosh – Tomorrow 1972
Magic Castles – Sun Reign
Dizzy Fae – Antenna
Under Violet – Threes
American Cream – Plastic Flame
Colin Gorman Weiland – Now & Thus Suite
Filthy Huns – Cursed at Birth
Larry Wish – Stardust & Hurt
King Broder – Sweeps
Black Market Brass Band – Chemical Plant Zone 7”
