So That Was 2021?

So 2021 was a bit of a weird year. For the most part it was completely uneventful. We started the year in lockdown and as a result I think I did absolutely nothing for the first 5 months or so. I then started going back into the office at work for a day or two each week, but still didn't actually do anything other than work. Before I knew it, Summer had gone and we were heading toward the end of the year without having been anywhere or done anything at all. I managed to squeeze in a trip to Los Angeles in late November / early December. But aside from that, 2021 was probably the most boring, repetitive, uneventful year of my entire life. Good riddance to it.

The year in record collecting was slightly more interesting, although looking back, it was one of the quietest in recent years in terms of both new releases and cool pickups. I did manage to pick up a couple of nice items on my trip but ran out of time to feature them.

MY FAVOURITE RELEASES OF 2021

Almost every year I come to write some kind of summary of the year, and every year it takes much longer than I expected. Anyway, for what it's worth, here's are my top 9 releases from 2021. In previous years I have mainly done lists of things that I picked up on vinyl, but this year I decided to make the list about my favourite releases, whether I managed to pick up vinyl copies of them or not, mainly because it didn't feel right to miss out a couple just because I didn't pick up the round plastic version.

I was going to do a top 10, but instead decided to do a top 9 as it makes for an easier, square image. My choices are not really in any kind of order. Shown above are:

Iceburn 'Asclepius' LP - If someone would have told me that there would be a new Iceburn record this year, and that I would both buy it and love it, I would have thought they were joking. For me, this is the stand out best records of the year. My only disappointment is that I told several people how good this is and I don't think any of them even bothered listening to it.

Dinosaur Jr 'Sweep It Into Space' LP - a new Dinosaur Jr. record is never a disappointment, and this one wasn't either.

Turnstile 'Glow On' LP - the first time I heard this I almost turned it off after 2 songs, so awful did it seem. But it ended up being amazing. I'm so bummed that I missed out on getting a vinyl copy, and I can't imagine I will find one anytime soon as the second hand prices are nuts for any version. Ah, gotta love modern record collecting and discogs!

Dare 'Against All Odds' LP - a great new straight edge hardcore album from the latest Rev band. It goes hard out of the blocks and also has cool cover art and some nice vinyl colours too.

Freewill 'All This Time' LP - the follow up to their debut which was recorded back in 1988. They now sound like they'd be more at home on Fat Wreck circa 1994, but I'm really into it.

Descendents '9th & Walnut' LP - a new Descendents LP which is actually old music with new vocals. As ever with a Descendents record, it delivered, but it did not need to exist on so many different colours of vinyl for fuck's sake.

27 'A Billion Searchlights' LP - a band that I used to be totally obsessed with, they released their first full length since 2010 and I love it. The songs, the artwork, the vinyl colours are all amazing.

Quicksand 'Distant Populations' LP - this was a funny one for me. I started off finding it dull, then I started to get into it and played it 3 times a day, then I got bored of it again. ALl of this happened in a two week period. I played it again today and it's still good. I didn't buy a vinyl copy as all of the colour options were ugly splatters, although the pink vinyl looks nice... but costs way too much thanks to modern record collectors.

Scowl 'How Flowers Grow' LP - a new female fronted hardcore band which is so damn good. This is their debut full length, but sadly, it seems that they totally underestimated how popular this would be. It came out in late November and was impossible to get hold of on vinyl. I spent a lot of time trying to find one to no avail.

MY FAVOURITE PICKUPS OF 2021

After scrolling back through the posts for the year, it was a slightly quieter year for picking up cool stuff this year I think. But I still managed to add some nice items to the collection. My favourites were these:

Shown in the photo are:

Bold 'Speak Out' LP Green vinyl test press
Cave In 'Mr. Co-Dexterity / Inflatable Dream' 7" Test press
Harvest 'Living With A God Complex' LP on grey vinyl
Integrity 'Humanity Is The Devil' LP liquid filled version
Integrity 'To Die For' LP liquid filled version
Dag Nasty '85-86' 4x7" box set test press
Tad 'Lycanthrope' 7" on yellow vinyl
Warzone 'Lower East Side Crew' 7" numbered label

STUFF I LISTENED TO A LOT IN 2021

I've done this list the last few years as I find it interesting to make a record of other music that I have spent a lot of time listening to. It's fun for me to look back on if nothing else. But other than the year's new releases, I have listened to all manor of stuff this year. These are the ones I spent the most time with..

Sinking 'Only Echoes' - I got a flyer for this record at the start of the year, and something about it caught my eye, so I checked it out... and loved it. It took me right back to the 90s and reminds me of bands like Mineral and Sunny Day Real Estate. I have a vinyl copy hopefully incoming in 2022.

Bad Religion 'Back To The Known' EP - For some reason I realised at the start of the year that I had never actually heard this record, so I downloaded it and really enjoyed it. I gave up on Bad Religion a long time ago, so it was kinda cool to find a 'new' BR record from when they were good.

Swervedriver 'Raise' LP - I realised that I had been listening to only 4 Swervedriver songs for 30 years, so decided to check out their first album, and loved it. I'd love to find a vinyl copy at some point.

Christiansen 'Stylish Nihilist' - Around May time I decided to download the albums on Revelation Records that I had never heard as they were released on CD only. Some were terrible, but some I really enjoyed. This Christainsen album was my favourite, and I played in incessently for a few weeks. Such an unappreciated gem. I asked Rev about putting out a vinyl copy, but they don't think there would be enough interest to break even.

Gracer 'Voices Travel' - another Rev CD only release, this one reminded me a lot of Elliott. A really great record by a band that released only one record and were somehow on Rev, and that nobody has ever heard of or heard. A truly under appreciated gem.

On The Might Of Princes 'Where You Are And Where You Want To Be' - the third Revelation CD only release that I really enjoyed listening to. This one came out back in 2001 so it took me 20 years to check it out. Reminds me in places of early Piebald.

Slipknot 1st LP - not much to be said here. After enjoying System Of A Down last year, I decided to check out the first Slipknot album, and I have loved it, especially when I needed an extra push in the gym.

Gray Matter 'Take It Back' - I once sold some dude's collection back in about 1994/95, and in there was a first press copy of this record on maroon vinyl. I didn't really like it back then so I sold it. But this year I decided to try it again and I couldn't get enough of it. If only I hadn't sold that damn record!

Six Going On Seven 'Heartbreak's Got Backbeat' LP - I loved this band's first album when it came out in 1997, and I bought this one when it came out in 1999. But for some reason I didn't take to it and shelved it. This year I tried it out again and really enjoyed it. I played it every day whilst driving around L.A. at the end of the year too, to the point where Anna was getting sick of it. Ha!

AND FINALLY...

Another year in the books, and as is the case every year, I wonder how much longer I will keep this going. Sometimes I enjoy doing this, and sometimes it feels like a chore. But no doubt if you're reading this then you're still getting something out of it too, which is pretty cool. So now it's onwards and upwards to 2022, a.k.a. 2020 2....