I've neglected this blog and publishing mixes for a while as the rough beast of 2022 has slouched on. Still, I have muddled on with mixes, plucking away at my spreadsheet where I compile them. At current count I have two dozen or so that I've been working on, with two or three mostly ready and just in need of sequencing, finalizing the track list or making an image for.
These two mixes have been occupying me for a while, so it was time for them to be let loose.
The top gross of albums I listened to in 2021, upon which many of these albums feature.
It is again that time of year when post my idiosyncratic Top 25 albums of the year...
According to last.fm, where I track most (but not all) of my listening, I listened to 16,297 tracks and 1,699 different artists in 2021 alone. Albums are harder to track on last.fm if they have multiple artists, but I easily listened to over 800 different albums...
68% of those over 16 thousand track were new to 2021, so picking out 25 albums, even of just what was released in 2021 and not just new to me in 2021 was tough, but here are my current top 25 of 2021...
You can find a mixcloud mix with a sample track from each album here.
Just as I did last year, here are a pair of mixes... the first an audio farewell to the last year as we send it off to hell—the second an aural vision board with the musical energy I want to bring to the next year...
another year, another mix to send it off into the flames of hell.
| # | Artist | Track | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Hart | One Year Hence | |
| 2 | Tweaker | Years From Now | |
| 3 | Marissa Nadler | I Started a Joke | |
| 4 | Lingua Ignota | PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE | |
| 5 | Patrick Q.Wright & Edward Ka-Spel | Waiting For the Cloud 2021 | |
| 6 | Thor & Friends | The Other Last Straw | |
| 7 | Alexander Hacke | Sugarpie | |
| 8 | Foetus | Time Marches On (End Remix) | |
| 9 | Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld | Nur Zur Erinnerung | |
| 10 | The Boyd and BIG|BRAVE | Hard Times | |
| 11 | The Joy Thieves | Flock To The Stop | |
| 12 | Divide and Dissolve | Mental Gymnastics (Moor Mother Remix) | |
| 13 | Scott Walker + Sunn O))) | Lullaby |
13 songs with the musical energy I'm hoping to bring to 2022...
| # | Artist | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SUNN O))) | ASCENSION (A) |
| 2 | Herzschlager | Lazarus Moment |
| 3 | Witchcryer | When Their Gods Come for You |
| 4 | PIG | Rock n Roll Refugee (Pig Remix) |
| 5 | Phararaoh Overlord | Tomorow’s Sun |
| 6 | Einstürzende Neubauten | La Guillotine de Magritte |
| 7 | Poppet | I Shall Persevere (Gloria Gaynor) |
| 8 | The Lion’s Daughter | Burning Inside |
| 9 | Faith No More | Motherfucker (JG Thirlwell Remix) |
| 10 | Violet Cold | Be Like Magic |
| 11 | The Lord | We Who Walk in Light (featuring William Duvall) |
| 12 | The Joy Thieves | Wonder War |
| 13 | Bretwalda | All Shall Be Well (Live) |
If you haven't been able to tell from the eleven Yule Tunes mixes I put together this year (easily found in one spot on the Yule Tunes Page), I picked up a fair bit of holiday music this year.
From that haul, here are some tracks and albums I recommend...
Here we are, the final Yule Tunes mixes for 2021... As a reminder you can find all the previous Yule Tunes entry at the hwæt Yule Tunes Page.
A mix of drinking songs for Xmas, because what more do you need?
| # | Artist | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purple Dialect | mistletoe flow |
| 2 | the Rory McBrides | (We Like) Eggnog! |
| 3 | Tabernacle | Bring us In Good Ale |
| 4 | Hawkestrel | Twelve Daze of Drinxmas |
| 5 | Charlie and the Tropicales | Drink A Rum |
| 6 | Golau Glau | Foolstide |
| 7 | Angry Snowmans | Drink Some Rum & Eggnog |
| 8 | THE NEW BERLIN ANTIFASCIST BRASS ENSEMBLE | Wassail Song |
| 9 | Faith and the Muse | A Winter Wassail |
| 10 | Jethro Tull | Last Man At The Party |
| 11 | Shirley Collins & Dolly Collins | The Gower Wassail |
| 12 | WHY? | Auld Lang Syne |
A mellow, quiet and slightly melancholy mix of Yule Tunes for a relaxing mood.
| # | Artist | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Music for Isolation | On Christmas Day It Happened So |
| 2 | Laura Cannel & Kate Ellis | One Star Awake |
| 3 | Jill Tracy | God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen |
| 4 | Fabio Orsi | Dead Leaves Christmas |
| 5 | Golau Glau | Night of the Star |
| 6 | Oneida | In the Court of the Christmas King |
| 7 | The Legendary Pink Dots | Hypothetical Angel |
| 8 | The Cavernous | White Christmas |
| 9 | Binaural Space | In the Bleak Midwinter |
| 10 | Midnight Syndicate | Coventry Carol |
| 11 | Eban Schletter | Silent Night |
| 12 | John Doan | Old Long Since (Auld Lang Syne) |
A mix of some of my favorite Yule Tunes—a few have appeared on other mixes, but here they are in one hard to argue with mix of interesting originals and eclectic takes on Xmas classics.
| # | Artist | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purple Dialect | Yule |
| 2 | Golau Glau | Yule Cat |
| 3 | The Knife | Reindeer |
| 4 | Midnight Syndicate | Little Helpers |
| 5 | Uncle Fido | The Little Drummer Boy |
| 6 | John Zorn | Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! |
| 7 | Charlie and the Tropicales | O Christmas Tree |
| 8 | Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble | Carol of the Bells |
| 9 | Husbands | right christmas |
| 10 | Jethro Tull | God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen |
| 11 | Pig | Blue Christmas |
| 12 | Golau Glau | The Owd Tup |
| 13 | Binaural Space | Continus Lofi Mixmas |
| # | Artist | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alec Empire | XXV3 |
| 2 | Allfather | Citadels |
| 3 | Underdark | With Ashen Hands Around Our Throats |
| 4 | Thou | Fucking Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean |
| 5 | Einstürzende Neubauten | Abfackeln! |
| 6 | Body Void | Laying Down In A Forest Fire |
| 7 | PIG | Find It Fuck It Forget It |
| 8 | Je$us Loves Amerika ft. Chris Connelly & Gord Young | The Great Pretender |
| 9 | Zeal and Ardor | Wake of a Nation |
| 10 | The Lion’s Daughter | All Hell is Mine |
| 11 | Panopticon | Flag Burner Torch Bearer 2020 (re recording) |
| 12 | GREEN LUNG | Born to a Dying World |
| 13 | LINGUA IGNOTA | THE SOLITARY BRETHREN OF EPHRATA |
