Nite Songs

  So then, we've finally got to the place where this list SHOULD have started if I hadn't gone down about thirty different musical rabbit holes in the last few weeks. Guess we'd better make up for lost time, welcome to the Top 50... *** 50.     SASSYHIYA - "Take You Somewhere" South Londoners Sassyhiya are a band who crucially understand that lo-fi indie music always works best when it has a mischievous sense of fun underlying it and  Take You Somewhere  has that quality in spades featuring odes to everyone from Kristin Stewart to pet cats while closer  You Can Give It (But You Can’t Take It)  is a righteous diatribe against bullies. A strong debut. *** 49.     JAMES SULLIVAN - "Vital Signs" Now on his second solo album and following the breakup of his band More Kicks,  Vital Signs  sees James Sullivan continuing to spread his wings impressively. The power-pop that was his old band's calling card is very much still there but Sulliva...

  So here we go then. It took a lot of head-scratching, a lot of re-listening to albums that I'd reviewed months ago and at least ten rewrites but I'm happy to present the Nite Songs Top 50 Albums of 2021. Enjoy! *** 50.      DESPERATE JOURNALIST - "Maximum Sorrow" Desperate Journalist's fourth album sees them on good form with plenty of the same swooping dream-pop epics that recall the Cocteau Twins at their most ethereal as well as a few unexpected diversions into other waters that provide a welcome change of pace when it's needed. One of those groups who definitely deserve to be much better known than they  are. *** 49.      LUKE HAINES - "Setting The Dogs On The Post-Punk Postman" Setting The Dogs On The Post-Punk Postman   sees Haines on typically acerbic form whether he's skewering his targets or writing sinister whimsical odes to failed historical regimes. He's also on good form musically here veering from gentle folk through atonal po...

  Croydon lo-fi punk perennials Wonk Unit are one of those bands who are difficult to categorise. Lo-fi in the extreme, they've existed for over two decades doggedly ploughing their own musical furrow and with Uncle Daddy , they've delivered another off-kilter and enjoyable album. The nearest band I can think to really compare Wonk Unit to are Snuff - they've got a similarly ferocious spit 'n' sawdust energy to them as evidenced on songs like Green Eyed Monster  and Strength  but when the mood takes them they can do straight ahead pop-punk ( Strength or  I'm OK  which sounds oddly like the Housemartins covering the Gin Blossoms but somehow works really well) or full on thrash ( My Blood ) and even sunny ska ( Gospel of Love ). Lyrically, they're no less skewiff from ferocious tirades about domestic disputes ( Stop ) through feral political anger ( Traditional Punk Song and the anti-hunting Bloodlust ) and social commentary ( Disco Fever ) to stuff that's...