New music in 2021

Inspired by Martin Fowler’s My favorite musical discoveries of 2021, I wanted to list my discoveries, too. Since I’ve only discovered 4 new bands in 2021, I’m also listing a few other albums I bought.

Links go to Bandcamp (allows you to listen to the full album before buying) and Amazon (has only ~30s samples).

Meat Mallet by A Formal Horse

This was a new discovery! A Formal Horse is prog rock with weird/strange/funny vocals, that stand out quite a lot. Like “I’m a lasagne, you’re the big cheese”. Or how in “You’ve got a billion and I’ve got a half” near the end “billion” gets repeated a lot, until it gradually turns into “oblivion”.

Cavalcade by black midi

My friend Marcus recommended Black Midi quite a lot – since 2019! I didn’t get hooked until last year, when I listened to this podcast episode with a conversation between Morgan Simpson (drummer in Black Midi) and Bill Bruford (King Crimson, Yes, among many other). Hearing them talk about the similarities between Black Midi and King Crimson got me interested and beyond the hurdle of “John L” (not an easy opener).

Etemen Ænka by DVNE

A new release from a prog/post metal band I already knew. Good stuff.

Summerland by Dool
Here Now, There Then by Dool

A new discovery! They tag it as “dark rock” on Bandcamp, I’ve also seen it as “doom rock”. I’ve listened to both albums a lot. I remember watching some live show with this intermission of them playing live at Wacken: “We’re hot, and horny. [pause] And you’re sexy! [mostly awkward silence]”.

Dodge and Burn by The Dead Weather

This was already released in 2015, but I missed it at the time. One of the bands I discovered while playing Guitar Hero. One of many bands Jack White is involved in (Wikipedia lists eight associated acts).

Aphelion by Leprous

Since seeing Leprous live late in 2019 (phew, lucky!) they moved from ‘band I like’ to ‘one of the best bands I know’. This new release didn’t blow me away, but I’m still hoping to see them live again sometime soon.

Moving Backwards by Wheel
Resident Human by Wheel

The final new discovery of 2021. A direct recommendation from Marcus for me. Worked really well, would buy again.

-Jörn