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“Chrissie, Bar the Door”–A Gush of Recorded Matter into the LTL List: January 1st – June 1, 2021

All I have to say is the size of my list of 2021 go-to albums just increased by 30%, no surprise, as the gears of normal creativity and associated production are grinding into motion. That, and the two new albums created by African artists that stormed my top five are crackling with six-string (and vocal) intensity.

Bolded items are new to the list; items followed by a # are reissues or archival digs; all items are linked to pages of interest or usefulness.

  1. Mdou Moctar: Afrique Victim
  2. JuJu: Live at 131 Prince Street #
  3. Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multinational Crusade for Harmony #
  4. James Brandon Lewis: Jesup Wagon
  5. Khaira Arby: Khaira Arby in New York #
  6. Fire in Little Africa: Fire in Little Africa
  7. Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Down in the Rust Bucket #
  8. Miguel Zenon: Law Years—The Music of Ornette Coleman
  9. R.A.P. Ferreira: Bob’s Son 
  10. No-No Boy: 1975
  11. Ashnikko: Demidevil 
  12. Robert Finley: Sharecropper’s Son
  13. Gimenez Lopez: Reunion en la granja
  14. Penelope Scott: Public Void 
  15. Paris: Safe Space Invader
  16. Can: Live in Stuttgart 1975 #
  17. Byard Lancaster: My Pure Joy #
  18. Jazmine Sullivan: Heaux Tales
  19. Dax Pierson: Nerve Bumps (A Queer Divine Satisfaction)
  20. Hamiet Blueitt: Bearer of the Holy Flame #
  21. Brockhampton: Roadrunner—New Light, New Machine
  22. Dawn Richard: Second Line 
  23. Chrissie Hynde: Standing in the Doorway—Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan
  24. Various Artists: Alan Lomax’s American Patchwork #
  25. Peter Stampfel: Peter Stampfel’s 20th Century in 100 Songs
  26. Various Artists: He’s Bad!—11 Bands Decimate the Beat of Bo Diddley 
  27. Hasaan Ibn Ali: Metaphysics—The Lost Atlantic Album #
  28. Various Artists: Doomed & Stoned in Scotland
  29. Genesis Owusu: Smiling with No Teeth
  30. Marianne Faithfull (with Warren Ellis): She Walks in Beauty
  31. Vincent Herring: Preaching to the Choir
  32. Lukah: When the Black Hand Touches You
  33. Damon Locks / Black Monument Ensemble: NOW
  34. Various Artists: Allen Ginsberg’s The Fall of America–A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute
  35. Various Artists: Indaba Is
  36. Wau Wau Collectif: Yaral Sa Doom
  37. Yvette Janine Jackson: Freedom
  38. Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber: 20th Anniversary Mixtapes / Groiddest Schizznits, Volumes 1-3 #
  39. Jason Moran & Milford Graves: Live at Big Ears
  40. Nermin Niazi: Disco Se Aagay #
  41. Billy Nomates: Emergency Telephone (EP)
  42. Mistreater: Hell’s Fire #
  43. Madlib: Sound Ancestors
  44. Joe Strummer: Assembly #
  45. Julien Baker: Little Oblivions
  46. Archie Shepp and Jason Moran: Let My People Go
  47. Roisin Murphy: Crooked Machine 
  48. Robert Miranda’s Home Music Ensemble: Live at The Bing #
  49. Ensemble 0: Performs Julius Eastman’s Femenine
  50. Vijay Iyer, Linda Han Oh, and Tyshawn Sorey: Uneasy
  51. Alder Ego: III
  52. Shem Tube, Justo Osala, Enos Okola: Guitar Music of Western Kenya
  53. Steve Earle: JT
  54. Tee Grizzley: Built for Whatever
  55. Tony Allen (and friends): There is No End
  56. Jinx Lennon: Liferafts for Latchicos
  57. The Hold Steady: Open Door Policy 
  58. Elizabeth King & The Gospel Souls: Living in the Last Days
  59. Contour: Love Suite
  60. Alton Gün: Yol
  61. Various Artists: Edo Funk Explosion, Volume 1 #
  62. Hearth: Melt
  63. Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders: Promises
  64. Sana Nagano: Smashing Humans
  65. serpentwithfeet: DEACON

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