After much considered opinion, which honestly involved much more  that sticking a pin in a  ‘that was good list’ and consisted of literally nights locked in the dimly lit, damp dark offices of Janglepophub towers, we have devised our top 15 albums for 2021. None of this ‘in no particular order’ for us…these are in strict order of ‘bestiness’.

Thanks to all these wonderful acts & their labels (where pertinent) for giving our ears extreme aural pleasure in 2021 !!! 

15.  Clubwater –  Clubwater (Too Good To Be True)

“Feel like we’ve been rather light on good old school indiepop as of late, which is great that these fresh sounds from Clubwater came across my desk this morning. The group immediately jumps up with those shimmering sharp guitars over a kick-your-heels up beat in the background. Vocals enter with this smooth wistfulness, wrapping the syllables in melodic warmth ever so gently…” Austin Town Hall

14.  The Boys With Perpetual Nervousness –Songs From Another Life (Bobo Integral)

“It’s a sound which has its roots in a whole selection of American music, from the likes of  The Beach Boys and The Byrds right through to, dare I say it, The Rembrandts. But, perhaps inadvertently, it also taps into a certain section of Australian music too. Jangle Pop and “Dolewave” acts have proven popular with Australian audiences for years…” The AU Review.com

13.  Quivers –  Golden Doubt (Bobo Integral)

“When it does Jangle on a song like the splendid When It Breaks, it hits the spot and more, but it is the variety that hits home most…” I Don’t Hear A Single

12.  Hanemoon –  The Last Thing I Heard (Jigsaw Records)

“There is a 95% likelihood that you will like their record Last Thing I Heard if you like Teenage Fanclub. That is not to say that Hanemoon is a Teenage Fanclub tribute band, it’s just that the band has that same knack for gentle strumming and jangling guitars, hushed singing, and all around solid songwriting…Add To Wantlist

11.  Holiday Ghosts –  North Street Air (FatCat Records)

“It’s not just thematically but musically that North Street Air feels like an evolution for Holiday Ghosts. While it still nods back to acts like The Velvet Underground or The Kinks, there’s a more modern edge here as well. Throughout the record they dip their toe in a variety of styles, channelling a similarly eclectic array of stomping rock’n’roll thrills to acts like The Goon Sax or the more wonderfully wonky moments of Cate Le Bon’s back catalogue…” For The Rabbits

10.  Restless Leg –  Dream Buffet (Peabrain Recordings)

“Dream Buffet’ is ultimately a palimpsest for the Marrickville sound: pure and heartfelt lyrics that are romantic, honest that flow over sparkling instrumentation. Restless Leg have a huge selection of colours on which to paint on their sparkling canvass, creating a vivid and layered whole in the album. Their influences are ever present but remain merely a sign post to the direction the band travels and never part of the journey itself. And it is a very nice journey indeed…” Backseat Mafia

9.  The Laughing Chimes –  In This Town (Pretty Olivia Records)

“Evan and Quinn Seurkamp, have created an album that’s so immediate and fully formed that its hard to believe that it came out of the collapse of the Rust Belt present day. Then again, I have to recall that some of the original bittersweet bliss was wrought by similar teens in grey-skied Bristol and wilds of Christchurch proving that the forge doesn’t have a standard shape. The brothers have clearly taken their cues from both enclaves nipping bits of the Nuns, Sarah, and Subway sounds…” Raven Sings The Blues

8.  Ducks Ltd –  Modern Fiction (Carpark Records / Royal Mountain Records)

“Calling to mind the jangle-pop of The Chills, The Clean and more recent acts such as Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Ducks Ltd’s sprightly melancholy was calming without being saddening, a beautiful and tender take on a range of unsettling topics…”  The Line of Best Fit

7.  Fine –  I’m Glad It’s Over Now (Self released)

“Fine is the union of Alice Kat and Liam Marsh (aka Kid Chameleon). That should not work, as the sum of great parts often makes for a fragmented musical whole. However, this is an album that snorts derision at such an assumption, or at least it would do, if it was not too indie cool to indulge in something so base as an actual snort…” Janglepophub

6.  The Umbrellas  – The Umbrellas (Sumberland Records)

I named this post “It’s True“ because that song title most accurately answers any questions about the veracity of the hype around this Bay Area outfit. The Umbrellas have released a few things already but, dammit, if The Umbrellas isn’t a glorious throwback masterpiece. Once again the radar of the folks at Slumberland Records has been shown to be wildly accurate…”  A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed

5.  Bobsled Team  – The Colours Blur (Self released)

“The Colours Blur is a marker of their story so far, their first three singles at home on a collection of 90s indie inspired tunes. There’s no denying the distinct rawness and lo-fi production apparent across the album, but it’s all part of the band’s DIY approach that shouts from their core. There’s pop and indie rock in the mix, but it’s all so carefree…” Chord Blossom

4.  Chime School  – Chime School (Slumberland Records)

Honestly the whole record is the kind of album that makes you sit bolt upright in a chair and rededicate yourself to indie pop…” Raven Sings The Blues

3.  The Reds, Pinks and Purples  – Uncommon Weather (Tough Love Records)

“His love of DIY punk and indiepop that manifested itself so brilliantly in the Art Museums shows itself again here, though more in a swoony pop way. The first single is the album’s opening cut, “Don’t Ever Pray in the Church on My Street,” which falls somewhere between The Clean and The Cleaners from Venus…”  Brooklyn Vegan 

2.  The Telephone Numbers  – The Ballad of Doug (Meritorio Records / Paisley Shirt Records)

This full length debut bears a wealth of hooks and jangle, and a season’s supply of melancholy. But even the bittersweet and lovelorn moments do not spoil the music for the listener because the shimmering songs and sweet melodies result in an absolutely beautiful set of songs…” When You Motor Away

1.  Rural France  – RF (Meritorio Records)

The best of the album (granted, amid immensely stiff competition) can be seen in the jangliest of the outliers. Here Hosepipe Ban is almost The Umbrellas style in its jangly lucidity, whereas the chining absolute thrill of Stolen Beer is all manner of the Salad Boys in texture and the dulcet jangled riffs of Runner-Up more than hints at the Dunedin Sound of acts like The Bats and The Chills…”  Janglepophub