Music: Best Albums of 2021

[Stylizer1]

Silk Sonic






This album is gonna win a lot of awards

 

[Thucydides]

Hm’s: nala sinephro - space 1.8, Vijay iyer- uneasy, Mach-hommi- pray for Haiti , Faye Webster - I know I’m funny haha

5. Taylor Swift - Red
4. The weather station - ignorance
3. The war on drugs - I don’t live here anymore
2. Low - Hey what


1. Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime

 

[plank]

5. Son Volt - Electro Melodier

 

[GKJ]

Beach House has a new album coming out in February, so I know it’s not 2021, but Once Twice Melody one of the best songs I’ve ever heard the first time I heard it. Kind of came out of nowhere because they’ve been kind of pushed to the side for the better part of a decade, but I feel like it captures not only a progressive, futuristic dream pop sound combined with the 2008-ish shoegaze that has such an intimate feel like you would get from M83. It’s hard to adequately state, but it’s something that just hits in a number of layers

 

[Saturated Fats]

Hm’s: nala sinephro - space 1.8, Vijay iyer- uneasy, Mach-hommi- pray for Haiti , Faye Webster - I know I’m funny haha

5. Taylor Swift - Red
4. The weather station - ignorance
3. The war on drugs - I don’t live here anymore
2. Low - Hey what


1. Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime

Love this. Mdou will place for me as well, and Ignorance was an underappreciated gem.

 

[plank]

4. Heartless Bastards - A Beautiful Life

 

[Thucydides]

4. Heartless Bastards - A Beautiful Life

never heard these guys before. Great track.

 

[Thucydides]

I listened to Adele’s new album today. I quite liked it . Very catchy, and “to be loved” has got to be up there for her greatest vocal performance.

 

[plank]

never heard these guys before. Great track.

Singer/songwriter Erika Wennerstrom, her solo album "Sweet Unknown" was (and still is) my #1 from 2018.

 

[plank]

3. Joe Bourdet - Meadow Rock

 

[John Price]

Hide & Seek



Into Violet



Ring Ring



Solar: rise

SOLAR : rise

Queendom

Queendom - The 6th Mini Album

 

[JimmyApples]

I listened to Adele’s new album today. I quite liked it . Very catchy, and “to be loved” has got to be up there for her greatest vocal performance.

This song is an absolute masterpiece. The emotion of the song, ALL conveyed through her vocal performance and songwriting, and very minimal production.

 

[Saturated Fats]

Alright, I think I'm good to go. I'll edit if I find anything else over the next month (or if the more recent stuff catches on more strongly), but I spent some time cobbling this together - and I kind don't want to play around with my 71st and 72nd albums anymore. Everything after the top-30 is more done in groups of 4 or 5, rather than a firm descending order.

2021 was one of my favourite musical years of the new millennium. Perhaps that's no coincidence, with so much creative angst and energy bubbling up during the isolation year. The musical zeitgeist right now still trends towards Poptimism and Conscious Hip-Hop, the latter of which saw some amazing works this year. Post-punk is still en vogue, and I thought it was an absolutely fantastic year for all forms of jazz - Fusion, Avant-Garde, Traditional, Nu, Afro. I'm sharing 78 albums that I really enjoyed this year. I tried to stretch it to 100, but I felt like I was plugging in some stuff I was pretty meh about at the end. Everything on here is an album I would at least give a 3 out of 5. Mostly 3.5-and-above. Promises wins about because it is an album that was very, very special to me - and, in a lot of ways, was a balm for a troubling year. The album is basically magic. If you want to know anything else about the list, drop me a line

1. Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, & the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
2. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
3. Jaubi - Nafs at Peace
4. BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk, Memory
5. Backxwash - I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses
6. Ben Lamar Gay - Open Arms to Open Us
7. Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
8. Damon Albarn - The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
9. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
10. Ashley Shadow - Only the End
11. Black midi - Cavalcade
    
12. Guilherme Nunes - The Archetype
13. Half Waif - Mythopoetics
14. New Pagans - The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All
15. Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell
16. Moontype - Bodies of Water
17. The Armed - Ultrapop
18. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
19. Xiu Xiu - OH NO!
20. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
21. Pupil Slicer - Mirrors
22. Anytime Cowboy - Bug Bite
23. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
24. John Grant - Boy from Michigan
25. Mother Mother - Inside
26. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
27. Lowertown - The Gaping Mouth
28. Anna Fox Rochinski - Cherry
29. Buck Meek - Two Saviors
30. The Felice Brothers - From Dreams to Dust
31. Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth
32. Dreamwell - Modern Grotesque
33. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
34. Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me
35. Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning
36. Mach-Hommy - Pray for Haiti
37. Men I Trust - Untourable Album
38. Strand of Oaks - In Heaven
39. Pardoner - Came Down Different
40. Squid - Bright Green Field
41. The Weather Station - Ignorance
42. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon
43. My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket
44. Spirit of the Beehive - ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
45. Le Ren - Leftovers
46. Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing It
47. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind
48. Nation of Language - A Way Forward
49. CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
50. Kayo Dot - Moss Grew on the Swords and Ploughshares Alike
51. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
52. McKinley Dixon - For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her
53. Adele - 30
54. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
55. Django Django - Glowing in the Dark
56. Jane Weaver - Flock
57. Sweet Trip - A Tiny House, in Secret Speeches, Polar Equals
58. Helado Negro - Far In
59. Lord Huron - Long Lost
60. Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses
61. Fake Fruit - Fake Fruit
62. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Superwolves
63. Gruff Rhys - Seeking New Gods
64. The Killers - Pressure Machine
65. Parannoul, Asian Glow, sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
66. Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime
67. Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
68. Stephen Moccio - Lionheart
69. Marissa Nadler - The Path of the Clouds
70. Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams
71. Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
72. Painted Shrines - Heaven and Holy
73. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
74. Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm
75. Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
76. LUMP - Animal
77. L’Orange - The World is Still Chaos, But I Feel Better
78. Rachika Nayar - Fragments

 

[Thucydides]

Alright, I think I'm good to go. I'll edit if I find anything else over the next month (or if the more recent stuff catches on more strongly), but I spent some time cobbling this together - and I kind don't want to play around with my 71st and 72nd albums anymore. Everything after the top-30 is more done in groups of 4 or 5, rather than a firm descending order.

2021 was one of my favourite musical years of the new millennium. Perhaps that's no coincidence, with so much creative angst and energy bubbling up during the isolation year. The musical zeitgeist right now still trends towards Poptimism and Conscious Hip-Hop, the latter of which saw some amazing works this year. Post-punk is still en vogue, and I thought it was an absolutely fantastic year for all forms of jazz - Fusion, Avant-Garde, Traditional, Nu, Afro. I'm sharing 75 albums that I really enjoyed this year. I tried to stretch it to 100, but I felt like I was plugging in some stuff I was pretty meh about at the end. Everything on here is an album I would at least give a 3 out of 5. Mostly 3.5-and-above. Promises wins about because it is an album that was very, very special to me - and, in a lot of ways, was a balm for a troubling year. The album is basically magic. If you want to know anything else about the list, drop me a line

1. Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, & the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
2. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
3. Jaubi - Nafs at Peace
4. BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk, Memory
5. Backxwash - I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses
6. Ben Lamar Gay - Open Arms to Open Us
7. Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
8. Damon Albarn - The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
9. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
10. Ashley Shadow - Only the End
11. Black midi - Cavalcade
    
12. Guilherme Nunes - The Archetype
13. Half Waif - Mythopoetics
14. New Pagans - The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All
15. Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell
16. Moontype - Bodies of Water
17. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
18. Xiu Xiu - OH NO!
19. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
20. Pupil Slicer - Mirrors
21. Anytime Cowboy - Bug Bite
22. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
23. John Grant - Boy from Michigan
24. Mother Mother - Inside
25. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
26. Lowertown - The Gaping Mouth
27. Anna Fox Rochinski - Cherry
28. Buck Meek - Two Saviors
29. The Felice Brothers - From Dreams to Dust
30. Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth
31. Dreamwell - Modern Grotesque
32. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
33. Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me
34. Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning
35. Men I Trust - Untourable Album
36. Strand of Oaks - In Heaven
37. Pardoner - Came Down Different
38. Squid - Bright Green Field
39. The Weather Station - Ignorance
40. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon
41. My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket
42. Spirit of the Beehive - ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
43. Le Ren - Leftovers
44. Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing It
45. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind
46. Nation of Language - A Way Forward
47. CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
48. Kayo Dot - Moss Grew on the Swords and Ploughshares Alike
49. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
50. McKinley Dixon - For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her
51. Adele - 30
52. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
53. Django Django - Glowing in the Dark
54. Jane Weaver - Flock
55. Sweet Trip - A Tiny House, in Secret Speeches, Polar Equals
56. Helado Negro - Far In
57. Lord Huron - Long Lost
58. Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses
59. Fake Fruit - Fake Fruit
60. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Superwolves
61. Gruff Rhys - Seeking New Gods
62. The Killers - Pressure Machine
63. Parannoul, Asian Glow, sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
64. Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
65. Stephen Moccio - Lionheart
66. Marissa Nadler - The Path of the Clouds
67. Steven Wilson - The Future Bites
68. Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
69. Painted Shrines - Heaven and Holy
70. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
71. Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm
72. Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
73. LUMP - Animal
74. L’Orange - The World is Still Chaos, But I Feel Better
75. Rachika Nayar - Fragments

where’s Mdou moctar????

great list though. I forgot about that floating points album. It is amazing .

 

[plank]

Alright, I think I'm good to go. I'll edit if I find anything else over the next month (or if the more recent stuff catches on more strongly), but I spent some time cobbling this together - and I kind don't want to play around with my 71st and 72nd albums anymore. Everything after the top-30 is more done in groups of 4 or 5, rather than a firm descending order.

2021 was one of my favourite musical years of the new millennium. Perhaps that's no coincidence, with so much creative angst and energy bubbling up during the isolation year. The musical zeitgeist right now still trends towards Poptimism and Conscious Hip-Hop, the latter of which saw some amazing works this year. Post-punk is still en vogue, and I thought it was an absolutely fantastic year for all forms of jazz - Fusion, Avant-Garde, Traditional, Nu, Afro. I'm sharing 75 albums that I really enjoyed this year. I tried to stretch it to 100, but I felt like I was plugging in some stuff I was pretty meh about at the end. Everything on here is an album I would at least give a 3 out of 5. Mostly 3.5-and-above. Promises wins about because it is an album that was very, very special to me - and, in a lot of ways, was a balm for a troubling year. The album is basically magic. If you want to know anything else about the list, drop me a line

1. Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, & the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
2. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
3. Jaubi - Nafs at Peace
4. BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk, Memory
5. Backxwash - I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses
6. Ben Lamar Gay - Open Arms to Open Us
7. Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
8. Damon Albarn - The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
9. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
10. Ashley Shadow - Only the End
11. Black midi - Cavalcade
    
12. Guilherme Nunes - The Archetype
13. Half Waif - Mythopoetics
14. New Pagans - The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All
15. Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell
16. Moontype - Bodies of Water
17. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
18. Xiu Xiu - OH NO!
19. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
20. Pupil Slicer - Mirrors
21. Anytime Cowboy - Bug Bite
22. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
23. John Grant - Boy from Michigan
24. Mother Mother - Inside
25. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
26. Lowertown - The Gaping Mouth
27. Anna Fox Rochinski - Cherry
28. Buck Meek - Two Saviors
29. The Felice Brothers - From Dreams to Dust
30. Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth
31. Dreamwell - Modern Grotesque
32. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
33. Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me
34. Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning
35. Men I Trust - Untourable Album
36. Strand of Oaks - In Heaven
37. Pardoner - Came Down Different
38. Squid - Bright Green Field
39. The Weather Station - Ignorance
40. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon
41. My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket
42. Spirit of the Beehive - ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
43. Le Ren - Leftovers
44. Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing It
45. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind
46. Nation of Language - A Way Forward
47. CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
48. Kayo Dot - Moss Grew on the Swords and Ploughshares Alike
49. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
50. McKinley Dixon - For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her
51. Adele - 30
52. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
53. Django Django - Glowing in the Dark
54. Jane Weaver - Flock
55. Sweet Trip - A Tiny House, in Secret Speeches, Polar Equals
56. Helado Negro - Far In
57. Lord Huron - Long Lost
58. Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses
59. Fake Fruit - Fake Fruit
60. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Superwolves
61. Gruff Rhys - Seeking New Gods
62. The Killers - Pressure Machine
63. Parannoul, Asian Glow, sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
64. Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
65. Stephen Moccio - Lionheart
66. Marissa Nadler - The Path of the Clouds
67. Steven Wilson - The Future Bites
68. Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
69. Painted Shrines - Heaven and Holy
70. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
71. Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm
72. Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
73. LUMP - Animal
74. L’Orange - The World is Still Chaos, But I Feel Better
75. Rachika Nayar - Fragments

Now that's a list!

I've been meaning to check out that Jerry Cantrell album, any further thoughts? Comparisons to his other albums?

 

[plank]

2. The Felice Brothers - From Dreams to Dust

 

[izlez]

Alright, I think I'm good to go. I'll edit if I find anything else over the next month (or if the more recent stuff catches on more strongly), but I spent some time cobbling this together - and I kind don't want to play around with my 71st and 72nd albums anymore. Everything after the top-30 is more done in groups of 4 or 5, rather than a firm descending order.

2021 was one of my favourite musical years of the new millennium. Perhaps that's no coincidence, with so much creative angst and energy bubbling up during the isolation year. The musical zeitgeist right now still trends towards Poptimism and Conscious Hip-Hop, the latter of which saw some amazing works this year. Post-punk is still en vogue, and I thought it was an absolutely fantastic year for all forms of jazz - Fusion, Avant-Garde, Traditional, Nu, Afro. I'm sharing 75 albums that I really enjoyed this year. I tried to stretch it to 100, but I felt like I was plugging in some stuff I was pretty meh about at the end. Everything on here is an album I would at least give a 3 out of 5. Mostly 3.5-and-above. Promises wins about because it is an album that was very, very special to me - and, in a lot of ways, was a balm for a troubling year. The album is basically magic. If you want to know anything else about the list, drop me a line

1. Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, & the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
2. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
3. Jaubi - Nafs at Peace
4. BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk, Memory
5. Backxwash - I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses
6. Ben Lamar Gay - Open Arms to Open Us
7. Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
8. Damon Albarn - The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
9. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
10. Ashley Shadow - Only the End
11. Black midi - Cavalcade
    
12. Guilherme Nunes - The Archetype
13. Half Waif - Mythopoetics
14. New Pagans - The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All
15. Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell
16. Moontype - Bodies of Water
17. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
18. Xiu Xiu - OH NO!
19. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
20. Pupil Slicer - Mirrors
21. Anytime Cowboy - Bug Bite
22. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
23. John Grant - Boy from Michigan
24. Mother Mother - Inside
25. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
26. Lowertown - The Gaping Mouth
27. Anna Fox Rochinski - Cherry
28. Buck Meek - Two Saviors
29. The Felice Brothers - From Dreams to Dust
30. Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth
31. Dreamwell - Modern Grotesque
32. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
33. Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me
34. Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning
35. Men I Trust - Untourable Album
36. Strand of Oaks - In Heaven
37. Pardoner - Came Down Different
38. Squid - Bright Green Field
39. The Weather Station - Ignorance
40. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon
41. My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket
42. Spirit of the Beehive - ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
43. Le Ren - Leftovers
44. Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing It
45. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind
46. Nation of Language - A Way Forward
47. CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
48. Kayo Dot - Moss Grew on the Swords and Ploughshares Alike
49. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
50. McKinley Dixon - For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her
51. Adele - 30
52. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
53. Django Django - Glowing in the Dark
54. Jane Weaver - Flock
55. Sweet Trip - A Tiny House, in Secret Speeches, Polar Equals
56. Helado Negro - Far In
57. Lord Huron - Long Lost
58. Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses
59. Fake Fruit - Fake Fruit
60. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Superwolves
61. Gruff Rhys - Seeking New Gods
62. The Killers - Pressure Machine
63. Parannoul, Asian Glow, sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
64. Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
65. Stephen Moccio - Lionheart
66. Marissa Nadler - The Path of the Clouds
67. Steven Wilson - The Future Bites
68. Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
69. Painted Shrines - Heaven and Holy
70. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
71. Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm
72. Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
73. LUMP - Animal
74. L’Orange - The World is Still Chaos, But I Feel Better
75. Rachika Nayar - Fragments

I see you listen to some heavy music, including Converge, so I have to ask... Why no Every Time I Die - Radical?
One of the best albums I've heard in a long, long time

 

[John Price]

Adele's new album has gotten critical acclaim but I don't see it. I may have to relisten.

I mean I don't hate Adele. The album is just nothing special.

21 to me is just iconic Adele with so many good songs. Hard to top that.

 

[plank]

1. Lord Huron - Long Lost

 

[Saturated Fats]

Added Ultrapop, which I finally sat down with in full - and loved!

Now that's a list!

I've been meaning to check out that Jerry Cantrell album, any further thoughts? Comparisons to his other albums?

Man, I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't say it was quite as good as Degradation Trip, but it's got this great heavy-country-rock feel to it - like something from Drive-By Truckers or Neil's harder stuff. Jerry still has just suuuuch a killer voice, too.

I see you listen to some heavy music, including Converge, so I have to ask... Why no Every Time I Die - Radical?
One of the best albums I've heard in a long, long time

You know what, man... A good buddy of mine who I go to for recommendations on the harder stuff suggested this one. Gave it a spin, and didn't love it. Have only listened to it once, though - and I find the nuance of harder stuff takes a bit to grow on me. I see the Converge comparisons - particularly to their earlier stuff, like Jane Doe - but I'm more of a darker metal guy. It actually felt more like a SOAD record, which is fine, but not really my cup of tea.

 

[Saturated Fats]

2. The Felice Brothers - From Dreams to Dust

Also, this album is freaking magical. Can't remember where I found it, but so glad I did.

 

[izlez]

Added Ultrapop, which I finally sat down with in full - and loved!


Man, I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't say it was quite as good as Degradation Trip, but it's got this great heavy-country-rock feel to it - like something from Drive-By Truckers or Neil's harder stuff. Jerry still has just suuuuch a killer voice, too.


You know what, man... A good buddy of mine who I go to for recommendations on the harder stuff suggested this one. Gave it a spin, and didn't love it. Have only listened to it once, though - and I find the nuance of harder stuff takes a bit to grow on me. I see the Converge comparisons - particularly to their earlier stuff, like Jane Doe - but I'm more of a darker metal guy. It actually felt more like a SOAD record, which is fine, but not really my cup of tea.

Track 2, sly, definitely has SOAD vibes but I think that’s it. Distress Rehearsal could be a track off of Jane Doe. I’d recommend the run of Desperate Pleasures, All this and war, and thing with feathers as a good sample of songs to try again if you don’t want to do the whole thing

 

[Stylizer1]

Alright, I think I'm good to go. I'll edit if I find anything else over the next month (or if the more recent stuff catches on more strongly), but I spent some time cobbling this together - and I kind don't want to play around with my 71st and 72nd albums anymore. Everything after the top-30 is more done in groups of 4 or 5, rather than a firm descending order.

2021 was one of my favourite musical years of the new millennium. Perhaps that's no coincidence, with so much creative angst and energy bubbling up during the isolation year. The musical zeitgeist right now still trends towards Poptimism and Conscious Hip-Hop, the latter of which saw some amazing works this year. Post-punk is still en vogue, and I thought it was an absolutely fantastic year for all forms of jazz - Fusion, Avant-Garde, Traditional, Nu, Afro. I'm sharing 75 albums that I really enjoyed this year. I tried to stretch it to 100, but I felt like I was plugging in some stuff I was pretty meh about at the end. Everything on here is an album I would at least give a 3 out of 5. Mostly 3.5-and-above. Promises wins about because it is an album that was very, very special to me - and, in a lot of ways, was a balm for a troubling year. The album is basically magic. If you want to know anything else about the list, drop me a line

1. Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, & the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
2. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
3. Jaubi - Nafs at Peace
4. BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk, Memory
5. Backxwash - I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses
6. Ben Lamar Gay - Open Arms to Open Us
7. Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
8. Damon Albarn - The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
9. Spectral Wound - A Diabolic Thirst
10. Ashley Shadow - Only the End
11. Black midi - Cavalcade
    
12. Guilherme Nunes - The Archetype
13. Half Waif - Mythopoetics
14. New Pagans - The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All
15. Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell
16. Moontype - Bodies of Water
17. The Armed - Ultrapop
18. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
19. Xiu Xiu - OH NO!
20. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
21. Pupil Slicer - Mirrors
22. Anytime Cowboy - Bug Bite
23. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
24. John Grant - Boy from Michigan
25. Mother Mother - Inside
26. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
27. Lowertown - The Gaping Mouth
28. Anna Fox Rochinski - Cherry
29. Buck Meek - Two Saviors
30. The Felice Brothers - From Dreams to Dust
31. Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth
32. Dreamwell - Modern Grotesque
33. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
34. Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me
35. Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning
36. Men I Trust - Untourable Album
37. Strand of Oaks - In Heaven
38. Pardoner - Came Down Different
39. Squid - Bright Green Field
40. The Weather Station - Ignorance
41. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon
42. My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket
43. Spirit of the Beehive - ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
44. Le Ren - Leftovers
45. Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing It
46. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind
47. Nation of Language - A Way Forward
48. CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
49. Kayo Dot - Moss Grew on the Swords and Ploughshares Alike
50. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
51. McKinley Dixon - For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her
52. Adele - 30
53. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
54. Django Django - Glowing in the Dark
55. Jane Weaver - Flock
56. Sweet Trip - A Tiny House, in Secret Speeches, Polar Equals
57. Helado Negro - Far In
58. Lord Huron - Long Lost
59. Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses
60. Fake Fruit - Fake Fruit
61. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Superwolves
62. Gruff Rhys - Seeking New Gods
63. The Killers - Pressure Machine
64. Parannoul, Asian Glow, sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
65. Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
66. Stephen Moccio - Lionheart
67. Marissa Nadler - The Path of the Clouds
68. Steven Wilson - The Future Bites
69. Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
70. Painted Shrines - Heaven and Holy
71. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
72. Mare Cognitum - Solar Paroxysm
73. Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
74. LUMP - Animal
75. L’Orange - The World is Still Chaos, But I Feel Better
76. Rachika Nayar - Fragments

Im glad white people are fairly represented. lol

 

[Saturated Fats]

Im glad white people are fairly represented. lol

Huh?

 

[MXD]

The latest Unto Others album was... really good.