Here are my 50 favorite albums of 2021. Quite a variety, but they got me through another year of working from home.
One of my favorite songs, though, didn't land on any album. "Like I Used To", a collaboration between Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, is a great track spotlighting each singer's strong, but different, vocals. I hope they do a full album together.
For my Richmond friends, check out the video for "Hot and Heavy" by Lucy Dacus. Great to see a favorite show up in a video of a great song.
There are more pop sounding albums this year than last. Not sure if I subconsciously gravitated towards happier music this year. There's the typical heavy stuff, though, and a couple of sad entries. Injury Reserve, an experimental hip-hop act, lost one of their members while recording the album. Watch the video for "Knees" and notice the silhouette of Stepa J. Groggs during his verses.
For Those I Love is about the loss of the artist's best friend from childhood and bandmate. So yeah, not all happy bops.
As always, I hope you have an ah ha moment where you find an artist that you had never heard of and take a liking to. I've done these for 15 years now and don't get tired of doing them. It's almost therapeutic!
Enjoy!
50 Modest Mouse - The Golden Casket
Indie Rock | Portland, OR
49 Big Red Machine - How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?
Chamber Pop | Eau Claire, WI
48 Kings of Convenience - Peace Or Love
Folk Pop | Bergen, Norway
47 Iceage - Seek Shelter
Post-Punk | København, Denmark
46 Parquet Courts - Sympathy for Life
Post-Punk | Brooklyn, NY
45 We Were Promised Jetpacks - Enjoy The View
Indie Rock | Edinburgh, Scotland
44 Rhiannon Giddens - They're Calling Me Home
Contemporary Folk | Greensboro, NC
43 New Pagans - The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All
Post-Punk | Belfast, Ireland
42 deafheaven - Infinite Granite
Shoegaze | San Francisco, CA
41 Genesis Owusu - Smiling with No Teeth
Neo-Soul | Canberra, Australia
40 Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Post-Punk | London, England
39 UV-TV - Always Something
Indie Rock | Gainesville, FL
38 Paris Texas - Boy Anonymous
Experimental Hip-Hop | Compton, CA
37 Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Experimental Hip-Hop | Phoenix, AZ
36 illuminati hotties - Let Me Do One More
Indie Rock | Los Angeles, CA
35 Valerie June - The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers
Country-Soul | Jackson, TN
34 Snail Mail - Valentine
Indie Rock | Ellicott City, MD
33 Cloud Nothings - The Shadow I Remember
Indie Rock | Cleveland, OH
32 black midi - Cavalcade
Avant-Prog | London, England
31 Typhoon - Sympathetic Magic
Indie Folk | Portland, OR
30 Indigo De Souza - Any Shape You Take
Indie Rock | Asheville, NC
29 Dave - We're All Alone In This Together
Conscious Hip-Hop | Streatham, England
28 Sons Of Kemet - Black To The Future
Afro-Jazz | London, England
27 For Those I Love - For Those I Love
Spoken Word/Progressive House | Dublin, Ireland
26 Courtney Barnett - Things Take Time, Take Time
Indie Rock | Melbourne, Australia
25 Black Country, New Road - For the First Time
Post-Rock | London, England
24 James Blake - Friends That Break Your Heart
Alternative R&B | London, England
23 Sault - Nine
Neo-Soul | London, England
22 Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
Indie Pop | Philadelphia, PA
21 Buck Meek - Two Saviors
Americana | Brooklyn, NY
20 Kiwi Jr. - Cooler Returns
Indie Rock | Toronto, Canada
19 Ghetts - Conflict Of Interest
Grime | London, England
18 Bicep - Isles
Ambient House | London, England
17 Aesop Rock x Blockhead - Garbology
Abstract Hip-Hop | Portland, OR
16 Geese - Projector
Post-Punk | Brooklyn, NY
15 Aeon Station - Observatory
Indie Rock | Jersey City, NJ
14 Lord Huron - Long Lost
Americana | Los Angeles, CA
13 Shame - Drunk Tank Pink
Post-Punk | London, England
12 IDLES - Crawler
Post-Punk | Bristol, England
11 CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
Synthpop | Glasgow, Scotland
10 Ducks Ltd. - Modern Fiction
Jangle Pop | Toronto, Canada
9 Self Esteem - Prioritise Pleasure
Electropop | London, England
8 LNZNDRF - II
Psychedelic Rock | Brooklyn, NY
7 Lucy Dacus - Home Video
Indie Rock | Richmond, VA
6 Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
Indie Rock | London, England
5 Fiddlehead - Between the Richness
Post-Hardcore | Boston, MA
4 Turnstile - Glow On
Post-Hardcore | Baltimore, MD
3 Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks Of God
Indie Rock | Atlanta, GA
2 The War on Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore
Indie Rock | Philadelphia, PA
1 Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Conscious Hip-Hop | Islington, England
Comments