There have been some amazing compilations throughout 2021, not least from the likes of Analog Africa who do well in our Top 10 favourite compilation albums of 2021 below. Ian Lynch of Lankum demonstrated an equal passion and knowledge with one of the finest Traditional Irish album compilations of all time and Dan Torigoe, the founder of Doleceola Recordings transferred his unstoppable energy and love for analogue field recordings into one of my favourite vinyl albums of the year.
All of the following are Editorial selections from albums reviewed on Folk Radio over the past year. There will be more personal lists to follow from a number of our review team. Be sure to read the accompanying in-depth reviews and take a listen, there are some great gems in this list.
Read our Top 100 Albums of 2021 here.
Various: Edo Funk Explosion Vol.1
The determination and tenacity with which both dedicated individuals and independent record companies/labels scour the world in order to bring often obscure, difficult to source or simply hitherto unavailable music is a blessing truly appreciated by many music lovers. One such specialist label is Analog Africa, founded in 2006 and based in Germany, which over the years has been responsible for opening the ears of many to the wonderful sounds of African countries including Burkino Faso, Cape Verde, Congo, Senegal and Zimbabwe.
From the opening track to the last, this is an intoxicating album. Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1 is an essential compilation, illuminating the work of these three groundbreaking artists and their incendiary sound, the likes of which had never been heard before. It is available on 2xLP/Gatefold LP with 20-Page Booklet / CD with 36-Page Booklet digitally.
Various: Fire Draw Near (An Anthology of Traditional Irish Song and Music)
Released on River Lea Records (a division of Rough Trade), Fire Draw Near – An Anthology of Traditional Irish Song and Music is an important and commendable collection of Irish songs and tunes.
Curated by Ian Lynch, perhaps best known as a founding member and vocalist with Dublin band Lankum, the selection covers recordings from almost the last seventy years. It is, in many ways, a passion project for Ian. Over the last few months, Ian has hosted a monthly podcast and radio show, also titled Fire Draw Near, which explores Irish traditional music and for which he conducts considerable research. The anthology is a result of that project.
An essential and worthy anthology for anyone with an interest in traditional music and song, it’s also a thoroughly enjoyable, irresistible and inspiring set of songs and tunes.
Various: Just Behind the Creek
Just Behind The Creek is a wonderful testament to just how vibrant the current music scene is in the Estill Mountain region of Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. If you like traditional Folk, Bluegrass, Blues and Mountain Music this album will bring a smile of appreciation to your face, if you don’t, then this release might just convert you.
Also: read our interview with Dan Torigoe, a man who followed his dreams. The founder of Doleceola Recordings Dan travels halfway around the world from Japan to record American traditional music using the same vintage analog equipment used by Alan Lomax.
Album Review | Interview | Bandcamp
Cath & Phil Tyler: Some Heavy Hand
Cath and Phil Tyler are masters of understated music. There is no superfluous instrumentation on their songs and their vocals are unflashy and capable, without attempting to do anything other than carry the song. Some Heavy Hand is a career-spanning selection of previously unreleased tracks along with some from past compilation albums, mastered by Rob Wedgbury. The thirty-three minute running time of these ten pieces show the unpretentious nature of this duo’s music, which contains no wasted notes and is greyhound lean throughout.
Their subtly intricate performances, as on all their releases, enrich the material even further. This compilation of obscurities is a beautifully weighted insight into a splendid catalogue of music.
Various: Drifts & Flurries – A Second Language Collectanea
An album that blurs the lines between collaboration and compilation – For the last decade or so London-based indie Second Language has been home to a whole host of artists who don’t quite fit into the usual codified genres, a haven for makers of strange and beautiful sounds, encompassing (but not defined by) hauntology, chamber pop, spectral folk, neo-classical and electronica. The label’s artists are often linked by little except their willingness to experiment, but the sense of collaboration is strong and frequent crossovers occur.
Featuring a host of artists from Second Language, Drifts & Flurries is a sonically varied but thematically coherent album which at every turn is ambitious and surprising, always in tune with the wintry landscape but also with the interior landscapes of the human mind, which can be just as cold and just as beautiful.
Various: Stand Up Now (Songs from the Landworkers’ Alliance)
“Stand Up Now includes recordings from Robin Grey, The Norfolk Broads, Ewan McClennan and many more. It includes contemporary stories such as Owen Shiers’ ballad of the community farm Trecadwegan, as well as the timeless classics, such as that which gives the album its name.”
Featuring songs from landworkers and some well-known folk singers, ‘Stand Up Now’ is a beautiful and enchanting album that uses its traditional sound to explore a range of political issues surrounding the agricultural industry. Ultimately, it’s an album about hope; hope for a better, fairer world.
Various: Cuba – Music And Revolution – Culture Clash In Havana – Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1
This is a remarkable and captivating release, documenting, sonically, why Cuban music is seen as the source of much Latin music in the 20th Century. The opportunity, in some small way, to share with musicians ‘who were all searching for a new Cuban identity and new musical forms that reflected both the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of a nation that gave birth to Latin music – and its new position as a socialist state’ is one to be relished. The fact that this album is advertised as Vol.1 merely adds to the delight.
The album is released in tandem with Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90. This 250-page large format hardback book, the first ever about Cuban record sleeve design, made in full co-operation with the Cuban government, features 100s of stunning and unique photos of covers of LPs made since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
Various: Essiebons Special 1973-1984 – Ghana Music Power House
Analog Africa really is a gift that keeps on giving. Essiebons Special 1973- 1984 – Ghana Music Power House, celebrates the legendary Ghanaian producer Dick Essilfie-Bondzie; yet another powerhouse release from the German label compiled by founder and researcher Samy Ben Redjeb.
Sadly, Essilfie-Bondzie passed away on 19th August 2020, before the compilation was finished. Essiebons Special 1973-1984 – Ghana Music Power House is, however, a testimony to the genius who not only helped to free the production of West African music from its colonial influences and a fitting legacy to the man who gave the world, through his releases, some of the most exhilarating highlife music ever heard.
Whether you are new to Afrobeat/Afrofunk/ Highlife or already an aficionado, this album is well-worth seeking out.
Essiebons Special 1973 – 1984 – Ghana Music Power House will be released in various formats – Double LP (140g virgin vinyl) with a gatefold cover and a full-colour 12-page booklet; CD with a full-colour 28-page booklet; Digital download & streaming.
Manzanita y Su Conjunto: Trujillo, Perú 1971-1974
With this album, and following on from last year’s 1975-80 Peruvian cumbia compilation from singer Ranil, Analog Africa’s founder, Samy Ben Redjeb, has returned to the same country to highlight some of the best work of Manzanita, one of Peru’s acknowledged masters of the electric guitar. Trujillo, Perú 1971 – 1974, by Manzanita y Su Conjunto, a compilation of 14 mainly instrumental tracks, is the result of a stay with a fellow music junkie in Lima two years ago, and the truly electrifying sounds of cumbia and guaracha music on offer burst from the speakers with exuberance and vitality guaranteed to put you in a good mood.
Manzanita died peacefully in Lima on the 5th of May 2007, surrounded by his family. This release is dedicated to him and is a more than welcome fitting tribute to a wonderful Peruvian musician who deserves wider recognition outside his native country.
It is issued as a Limited Edition LP in gatefold cover and pressed on 180g high-quality virgin vinyl, which includes a download code; it is also available digitally.
Various: The Electric Muse Revisited: The Story of Folk into Rock and Beyond
46-years on, and the seminal Electric Muse series is revisited in this expertly curated four-CD collection that captures the vibrant current British folk scene and beyond. One for collectors, completists and the folk-curious.
Featuring Shirley Collins and Fairport Convention to Billy Bragg, June Tabor and Oysterband, Eliza Carthy, Jim Moray, Olivia Chaney, Spiro, Lau, Jon Boden, Martyn Bennet, Capercaillie, Stick In The Wheel, Sam Lee, Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita, Yorkston Thorne Khan and many more.
For those of you who want to delve even deeper, accompanying the music is a revised version of the original book, now also retitled The Electric Muse Revisited: The Story of Folk into Rock and Beyond published by Omnibus Press. This edition brings the narrative up to date with new interviews and photographs. That’s Father’s Day sorted for me then.
The Electric Muse Revisited is a collection that will stay with you and promises to be a seminal document of folk music in these very exciting times. It’s guaranteed to get you thinking, hunting out but – above all – revelling in brilliant music.
Album Review | Buy: Amazon | Proper Music