Earthless’ Mike Eginton tells us about his favorite albums of 2021 - Pop It Records

As mentioned, stoner rockers Earthless are gearing up to release their new album Night Parade of One Hundred Demons on January 28 via Nuclear Blast. It features two songs, the 41-minute title track and the 20-minute “Death To The Red Sun," and an excerpt of the latter is out now. While you wait for that album to drop, we also asked Earthless what their favorite albums of the year were, and bassist Mike Eginton made us a top 8 that includes longtime Earthless showmate Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Tuareg great Mdou Moctar, Copenhagen psych rockers Mythic Sunship, and a few archival live albums and reissued rarities. Mike also wrote a bit about each one; read on for what he had to say...

MIKE EGINTON'S (EARTHLESS) FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2021

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle
Excellent sounding live recording from a small Seattle club in 1965. I feel like this night was one of those truly magical musical experiences. The addition of Pharoah Sanders, Donald Garrett and Carlos Ward to the traditional Coltrane quartet made the already stellar set list that much more amazing. The double bass interplay is fucking awesome.

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - Candyman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
In my opinion this is an amazing feat in non-conventional music. Robert wrote and played the soundtrack for a major motion picture. That is amazing in my opinion. Earthless has played with him in his various incarnations several times over the past 15-20 years and he always blows my mind. This though is truly excellent, full of short passages that are beautiful and menacing at the same time. Fitting perfectly for the horror genre.

Mistreater - Hell's Fire
Finally a reissue of this brilliant moment of underground proto metal from 1981. A friend introduced me to this album through a blog site in 2007. I've been hoping someone would re-release it ever since. Thank you, Jobcentric Records!

Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime
These guys are just on another level. In my opinion this is a standout from the African Desert Psych scene. Earthless played with them in Belgium in 2014. Absolutely incredible live. I've been a fan ever since.

Can - Live in Stuttgart 1975
I love Can.

Curtis Amy & Dupree Bolton - Katanga
I love this record. It's one of my favorite post bop albums. The interplay of Amy's saxophone and Bolton's trumpet is perfect, but Jack Wilson's piano playing is insane. He's ripping in the most tasteful way. Super nice to see Tone Poet and Blue Note give this underappreciated (in my opinion) album the deluxe reissue treatment.

Mythic Sunship - Wildfire
I've never heard a release on El Paraiso Records that I didn't like. The entirety of their catalog is unique to the modern psych/doom/stoner genre and this one is no exception. An all-out sonic attack. Their name comes from putting together the titles of Sun Ra's 'Of Mythic Worlds' and John Cotranes 'Sun Ship' and it suits their style very well. Heavy psych played in relatively freeform fashion. Just absolutely killer stuff. Play this loud!

Brown Acid: The Twelfth Trip & The Thirteenth Trip
Every one of these compilations is excellent. Heavy and raw. The never-before-heard blueprint for today's heavy psych/stoner scene. I highly recommend these to anyone interested in the 70s heavy proto metal garage sound.

Earthless tour dates here.