Both Land of Talk and Yves Tumor followed excellent full-length 2020 albums with short releases this year, while new bands Smile Machine and Mandy, Indiana each put out exciting five-song debuts.
Those four releases and another from Chicago’s Axis: Sova are my favorite EPs I heard in 2021.
Typically featuring four or five songs, the short format mini-album dates back decades. The name is even a throwback. EP stands for extended play, which initially featured an expansion of songs contained on a 7-inch vinyl record played at 45 rpm.
Here are my EP picks for this year.
Land of Talk – Calming Night Partner
Yves Tumor – The Asymptotical World
All the Young Punks 