kites can’t jive 2021 recap

kites can’t jive: the playlist is the soundtrack to kites can’t fly. Here’s a look back at 2021.

The Australian punk scene has always been great and we’ve seen a real resugance for women-led bands. Amy and the Sniffers, Cable Ties, Moaning Lisa are all killing it so that’s where I spent a lot of my listening time.

HTRK, another local band, dropped a new album as well and that became an immediate favourite for me. All in all, 2021 was brilliant for Australian music.

All album links head to Apple Music.

Favourite releases

• Engine of hell by Emma Ruth Rundle. ERR just keeps getting better and better.
• Rhinestones by HTRK. Bliss. HTRK are probably my favourite local band at the moment.
• Comfort to me by Amyl and the Sniffers. My other fave local band: I had Comfort to me on repeat for a while after it was released and it’ll be a feature on long drives indefinitely.

Favourite discoveries

• acts of rebellion by Ela Minus. This album sits somewhere in between punk and electronic and I can’t stop listening to it.
• Hiss spun by Chelsea Wolfe. Black metal + folk = great?

Here’s everything else I loved this year.

January

• Love + light by Daniel Avery. Seamlessly moves from blissful ambient to chugging dance and everything in between. Perfect workday album for me.
• Sleepless by Palm Reader. The exact kind of post-hardcore I find comforting. Lot of head banging and air punching.
• Bleach by Nirvana. Somehow, I’d never listened to Nirvana’s debut album before now. It’s not as polished as their later efforts, of course, but it has much of the “pop-hooks-and-raw-riffs” that characterises my fave Nirvana tracks (“Aneurysm” from Insecticide is the best example, overall. “Negative Creep” and “Blew” stand out on Bleach.)
• Now or never by Nio García & Casper Mágico. I don’t know a thing about reggaetron as a genre but I love this.

February

• A playground for sad adults – EP by Phoxjaw. Unfortunately, they don’t share the location of this playground.
• Real headfuck/Reverse déjà vu – single by HTRK. HTRK have sneakily become one of my favourite bands.
• Who’s Yellen now? by Dessa. Dessa has some of the best lines in hip-hop: “And lift up your mojitos / Cause she manages the mint”. What better way to celebrate Janet Tellon, the first woman ever named as the USA’s Secretary of the Treasury.

March

• Dream weapon by Genghis Tron. One of my favourite discordant metal bands are back after 10+ years with a fantastic album that’s barely metal at all. Hypnotic, droning, energetic, and all around great.
• Disclosure classics – EP by Disclosure. These are bangers, y’all.
• Discovery by Daft Punk. Daft Punk forever.
• Hoorsees by Hoorsees. Adorable cover, great indie rock tunes.
• FABRICLIVE 66 by Daniel Avery. My love affair with Avery continues.
• As the love continues by Mogwai. Mogwai can do no wrong.

April

• I’ll probably be asleep by Hachiku. Charming, light, and a great listen.
• New long leg by Dry Cleaning. Another top-flight album from one of the best new bands going.
• Amyl and the sniffers by Amyl and the Sniffers. All killer, no filler punk from the streets of Melbourne.
• Letters to Chi-Chi by Planet Vegeta. It’s just good fun. Perfect for anytime you need to pump the energy up.

May

• Talking business – EP by Dessa. Dessa doesn’t miss.
• All hands by Doomtree. Doomtree is a fantastic hip-hop label and this collection of tracks from artists under its banner is fire.
• Fortitude by Gojira. Gojira slay, plain and simple.
• Oklahoma by Keb’ Mo’. Fantastic blues that’s incredibly easy to sing along to.
• Rock and roll juice by Ciggie Witch. Rollicking pub rock that’s unrelentingly Australian.

June

• Aleph by Gesaffelstein. This rips.
• (I’m) stranded by The Saints. The OG punk album hasn’t aged a day.

July

• Sleeveless by Johnny Dynamite and the Bloodsuckers. Neo-80s post-punk. Think Robert Smith vocals with a contemporary twist.
• This is a mindfulness drill by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. I don’t know if I love this but I keep listening to it.
• Gold-diggers sound by Leon Bridges. Any album that features a collab with Robert Glasper is a good one.
• Luminol by Midwife. Non-zero chance this becomes one of my most-listened to album of 2021.
• Deep fried decline by Saint Taint. It’s 100 gecs but queer.

August

• We are to answer by Ancient Astronauts. Very good vibes.
• Imposter – EP by Miss Grit. Good, fuzzy indie rock about impostor syndrome.
• Cable ties by Cable Ties. More punk music out of Melbourne? For me?

September

• Ultrapop by The Armed. There’s a lot going on here but it’s all good.
• Sometimes I might be introvert by Little Simz. New Little Simz music is always a good thing.
• Under these streets by Emma Donovan & The Putbacks. Chef’s-kiss level soul.

October

• Welcome to paradise lost by Taraka. “Psychocastle” is an insanely good song.
• Gela by Baker Boy. Dude is on a heater right now.

November

• Something like this but not this by Moaning Lisa. “Cold water” and “Something” are great tracks. Yet another fantastic Melbourne-based rock band.
• Cosmic yard by DJ Krush. A great album from a hip-hop icon. The last track – “Sporadic Meteor” – features trumpet from Tomonori Kondou and it’s perfect.
• DJ-KiCKS by The Juan MacLean. It’s just a fantastic DJ mix.
• Big grief by WAAX. Big guitars, big moods.
• Lost track Atlantic episodes 2, 3 & 4 by Headland. Very good vibes. (Headland’s latest single, “Nguura” featuring Maanyung is also great.)

December

• Love songs: a time you may embrace by Krystal Warren & the Faculty. Rediscovering Krystal Warren is a gift.
• Paul Kelly’s Christmas train by Paul Kelly. A legitmately good Christmas album.