This is the ES final issue of 2021 with the best releases of the last 12 months for your delectation and delight. Our cover star is LoneLady, the first artist to ever have two records in our Top Five Albums Of The Year, and our bundle edition includes a brilliant double CD featuring a bumper selection of the finest tracks of 2021. 

We have reviewed 900 albums over the course of this year and deciding on our favourites has involved endless days of list scribbling, head scratching and pencil chewing. There have been some outstanding releases in 2021 and it will be interesting to see if you agree with our final choices. As well as speaking to LoneLady about her remarkable 'Former Things' album and her collaboration with Stephen Mallinder and Benge, our Review Of The Year also includes interviews with Chris Carter, Kevin Richard Martin and Ian Boddy, three of our other 2021 winners.

Alongside our annual round-up, we talk with Jon Hopkins, Nightmares On Wax, Coldcut and Mira Calix about their latest releases and take a peek behind the scenes of Delia Derbyshire Day. Killing Joker turned killer producer Youth remembers the making of Blue Pearl's 'Naked In The Rain', his first hit, while Global Communication's Tom Middleton discloses his influences. We have a very special Time Machine piece this month too, with our back page columnist Fat Roland revving up the engine for a festive trip. And this certainly is a trip.

We're bundling this month's issue with 'The Best Of 2021', a double CD featuring no less than 24 tracks from some of our favourite albums of the year. Wall-to-wall with familiar names and new artists alike, it all adds up to more than two hours of amazing music – and you really don't want to miss a single minute of it. Here’s the full list of tracks on the two CDs:

CD 1

LONELADY – ‘There Is No Logic’ (from ‘Former Things’, Warp)

OSS – ‘Wow Picasso’ (from ‘Enter The Kettle’, Orbscure)

WILL SERGEANT – ‘Scene V’ (from ‘Themes For Grind’, Polytechnic Youth)

ISVISIBLE/ISINVISIBLE – ‘Into The Hills’ (from ‘Moon-White Water’, Burning Witches)

JOHN GRANT – ‘Best In Me’ (from ‘Boy From Michigan’, Bella Union)

ED DOWIE – ‘Number Eight Wire’ (from ‘The Obvious I’, Needle Mythology)

KIT GRILL – ‘Another Time’ (from ‘Fragile’, Primary Colours)

DJ FOOD – ‘Zoom Zoom’ (from ‘Kaleidoscope Companion’, Ninja Tune)

CAMPBELL / MALLINDER / BENGE – ‘Camouflage’ (from ‘Clinker’, Les Disques Du Crepuscule)

CASPER CLAUSEN – ‘Used To Think’ (from ‘Better Way’, City Slang)

SAINT ETIENNE – ‘Pond House’ (from ‘I’ve Been Trying To Tell You’, Heavenly)

NIGHTMARES ON WAX – ‘3D Warrior’ (from ‘Shout Out! To Freedom…’ Warp)

CD 2

KEVIN RICHARD MARTIN – ‘Opening Credits (Theme For Kris)’ (from ‘Return To Solaris’, Phantom Limb)

SQUAREPUSHER – ‘UFOs Over Leytonstone’ (from ‘Feed Me Weird Things’, Warp)

CHRIS CARTER – ‘Poptone’ (from ‘Electronic Ambient Remixes One’, Mute)

SUNROOF – ‘1.2 – 30.5.19’ (from ‘Electronic Music Improvisations Vol 1’, Mute)

HANNAH PEEL – ‘Ecovocative’ (from ‘Fir Wave’, My Own Pleasure)

HÉLÈNE VOGELSINGER – ‘Incantation’ (from ‘Tone Science Module No 5: Integers And Quotients’, DiN)

HAIKU SALUT – ‘All Watched Over By Machines’ (from ‘The Hill, The Light, The Ghost’, Secret Name)

LISA BELLA DONNA – ‘Audio-Visions’ (from ‘Moogmentum’, Behind The Sky)

IMMERSION / ULRICH SCHNAUSS – ‘Skylarks’ (from ‘Nanocluster Vol 1’, Swim~)

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – ‘Lichtspiel II: Schwarz Weiss Grau’ (from ‘Bright Magic’, PIAS)

KIT MONTEITH – ‘Far From Home’ (from ‘Audio-Cartographic Experiments Vol 1: Rise & Fall’, Concrete Tapes)

ME LOST ME – ‘Airlock’ (from ‘The Good Noise’, Tailbird)