Full chart

1
L'Rain
Fatigue
(Mexican Summer)

2
Moor Mother
Black Encyclopedia Of The Air
(ANTI-)

3
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra
Promises
(Luaka Bop)

4
Low
HEY WHAT
(Sub Pop)

5
Daniel Bachman
Axacan
(Three Lobed)

6
John Cage
Number Pieces
(Another Timbre)

7
Black Top Presents: Hamid Drake/Elaine Mitchener/William Parker/Orphy Robinson/ Pat Thomas
Some Good News
(Otoroku)

8
Jana Rush
Painful Enlightenment
(Planet Mu)

9
Circuit Des Yeux
-io
(Matador)

10
Phew
New Decade
(Mute)

11
Dry Cleaning
New Long Leg
(4AD)

12
Angel Bat Dawid
Hush Harbor Mixtape Vol 1: Doxology
(International Anthem)

13
James Brandon Lewis/Red Lily Quintet
Jesup Wagon
(Tao Forms)

14
Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt
Made Out Of Sound
(Palilalia)

15
Les Filles De Illighadad
At Pioneer Works
(Sahel Sounds/Pioneer Works Press)

16
Tomaga
Intimate Immensity
(Hands In The Dark)

17
Anthony Braxton
12 Comp (Zim) 2017
(Firehouse 12)

18
The Bug
Fire
(Ninja Tune)

19
Sons Of Kemet
Black To The Future
(Impulse!)

20
Maggie Nicols
Creative Contradiction: Poetry, Story, Song & Sound
(Takuroku)

21
George Lewis with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Minds In Flux
(Edition Peters)

22
Muqata’a
Kamil Manqus كَامِل مَنْقوص
(Hundebiss)

23
Alpha Maid
CHUCKLE
(CANVAS)

24
William Parker
Migration Of Silence Into And Out Of The Tone World
(Centering)

25
Aaron Dilloway & Lucrecia Dalt
Lucy & Aaron
(Hanson)

26
Space Afrika
Honest Labour
(Dais)

27
Clarissa Connelly
The Voyager
(CCM)

28
Perila
How Much Time It Is Between You And Me?
(Smalltown Supersound)

29
Grouper
Shade
(Kranky)

30
Sourdure
De Mòrt Viva
(Pagans/Murailles Music/Les Disques Du Festival Permanent)

31
Madlib
Sound Ancestors
(Madlib Invazion)

32
Moor Mother & billy woods
Brass
(Backwoodz Studioz)

33
Divide And Dissolve
Gas Lit
(Invada)

34
RP Boo
Established!
(Planet Mu)

35
Éliane Radigue
Occam Ocean 3
(Shiiin)

36
Karkhana
Al Azraqayn
(Karlrecords)

37
Pauline Anna Strom
Angel Tears In Sunlight
(RVNG Intl)

38
Pamela Z
A Secret Code
(Neuma)

39
Patricia Brennan
Maquishti
(Valley Of Search)

40
Rambutan
Parallel Systems
(Sedimental/Tape Drift)

41
Mdou Moctar
Afrique Victime
(Matador)

42
Azita
Glen Echo
(Drag City)

43
Raed Yassin
Archeophony
(Akuphone)

44
Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble
NOW
(International Anthem)

45
William Parker
Mayan Space Station
(AUM Fidelity)

46
Meemo Comma
Neon Genesis: Soul Into Matter²
(Planet Mu)

47
Patrick Shiroishi
Hidemi
(American Dreams)

48
أحمد Ahmed
Nights On Saturn (Communication)
(Astral Spirits)

49
Ben LaMar Gay
Open Arms To Open Us
(International Anthem)

50
IZ Band/IZ
Drop By Old Heaven Books
(Old Heaven Books)


The Wire's releases of the year for 2021 were compiled from the individual votes of the magazine's staff and contributors.

Find columnists’ charts, critics’ reflections, The Wire's top 50 archive releases of the year and more inside The Wire 455.