your top albums of 2021

[s_mcsleazy]

i'm kinda amazed someone else didn't make this thread because there's always one every year. was 2021 that stressful?

mine:

5. glow on - turnstile
4. as the love continues - mogwai
3. bloodmoon 1 - converge and chelsea wolfe
2. sinner get ready - lingua ignota
1. Skitzofrenia Simulation - sewerslvt

[marqueemoon]

In no particular order:

Parquet Courts - Sympathy For Life

Real Estate - Half A Human

Claire Tucker - Interior Monolith

Aeon Station - Observatory

Kings Of Convenience - Peace Or Love

[epizootics]

Didn't you hear? We went straight from 2020 into 2022. 2021 never existed.

Thanks for that Lingua Ignota record. It had somehow slipped my attention
Here's my top 5, in no particular order:

+ Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs
+ Amy and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me
+ Juçara Marçal - Delta Estácio Blues
+ Tropical Fuck Storm - Deep States
+ Private Benjamin - Golden Anniversary (this one was released late enough in 2020 to qualify - plus everybody was too busy surviving a strange year to pay attention when my ex-Civil Civic buddy Binny put it out on a tiny label - https://privatebenjamin.bandcamp.com/al ... nniversary - and the Oscar for the Best Right Hand in a Music Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfgb8mXDosQ )

What strikes me is that for all the moaning about the state of music these days, I don't think i have enjoyed new music more than I have in the last ten years. In particular from the Aussi scene (Kirin J. Callinan, The Drones / TFS, Amyl, Jack Ladder, Alex Cameron, etc.)

[JSett]

I didn't listen to a lot of new new music this year, mostly I 'discovered' stuff I'd missed or forgotten from before, but two notables actually from 2021 were

Low, HEY WHAT
Kowloon Walled City, Piecework

Both suitably bleak for the year and both stunning.

[sal paradise]

Not going to think too hard about it, otherwise I’ll spend days agonising over a long list. So here are some highlights:

Dodie - Build a Problem
Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
Leo Nocentelli - Another Side (reissue)
Courtney Barnett - Things take time, take time
Manchester Orchestra - million masks of god

Shout out to Choctaw Ridge as my compilation of the year.

I really liked Van Weezer, too

[marqueemoon]

Kowloon Walled City, Piecework

This is also quite good. Just haven’t listened to it a ton.

[sholkham]

Some of the ones I've liked. Similar to 2020 I didn't listen to much new music this year, I don't know if that's due to going to less gigs and nights out, less stuff being released, or just listening to fewer releases. There's a few other albums others have posted that I've still been meaning to check out though.

The Exbats - now where were we
La Luz - S/T
Curtis Harding - If words were flowers
Shannon and the Clams - Year of the Spider
Chubby and the Gang - The Mutts Nuts
Low - Hey What

[cestlamort]

The Notwist “Vertigo Days”
Film School “We weren’t here”
Savage Republic “Meteora”
Michelle Zauner “Crying in H Mart” (book)
MOAT “Poison Stream”
v/a “Source: The Independent Project Records Collection”
Fotoform “Horizons” (I certainly spent the most time with this one!)

honorable mention:
Johnny Marr “Fever Dreams” eps
Slow Crush “Hush”
Low "hey what"
Spirit Award “Lunatic House”
Dry Cleaning “New Long Leg”

Claire Tucker - Interior Monolith

on my "to listen" list...

[wingnutkj]

It's been a really difficult year for me to think about what the "top" albums were, partly due to the Whole Ongoing Situation, partly because I spent a couple of months moving flat, and both of those things meant I didn't listen to music in the way I normally did. In addition, a lot of the stuff that would be in my top albums list in normal circumstances was really hard going for me, because of the Whole Ongoing Situation. For example:

Stuff that would be my top albums if I was prepared to deal with them:

• Low - Hey What. I've been a fan for years, and they're probably ACTUALLY my favourite band and again, they've evolved their sound in unexpected ways, and that's great, but also for most of the year I just wanted to snuggle under a blanket drinking hot chocolate while Alan and Mimi sang a gentle song about making hot chocolate.

• LINGUA IGNOTA - SINNER GET READY. Again, massive fan for years, again an evolution of her sound, and while Low have gone from gentle to harsh, Kristin's trajectory seemed to be from the industrial noise aspects of ABD through the more pronounced pre-classical/classical/neo-classical direction of CALIGULA to something more (comparatively) naturalistic. I say "seemed", because her recent revelations about the horrendous abuse she has experienced have re-contextualised the album, and it isn't the manifestation of release and closure for her that I thought it once was.

• Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine Of Hell. Again, something very beautiful, but very very bleak.

Haven't even heard the full Aeon Station album yet, but I'm not sure how I feel about the tracks I have heard. I think because so many bands I'm not particularly keen on have taken influence from The Wrens, I keep hearing aspects of bands I'm not particularly keen on, and again, I'm just sad about how it's turned out, especially because of the sniping between Kevin and Charles that I keep seeing.

Stuff I have enjoyed:

• Halsey - If I Can't Have Love I Want Power - Produced by Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross, which is what interests me about it. Some of the vocal stuff doesn't do it for me, but there's a lot NIN sounds and the songs are interesting and fun.

• Moor Mother & Billy Woods - Brass - Moor Mother has been ridiculously prolific again, but this is the one I've listened to the most.

• Mogwai - As The Love Continues - More Mogwai doing Mogwai type things, and entirely pleasant with it, but I'm not sure there was anything that leapt out.

• The Body/Big Brave - Leaving None But Small Birds - not what I was expecting, but kind of what I needed.

[JSett]

Low - Hey What. I've been a fan for years, and they're probably ACTUALLY my favourite band and again, they've evolved their sound in unexpected ways, and that's great, but also for most of the year I just wanted to snuggle under a blanket drinking hot chocolate while Alan and Mimi sang a gentle song about making hot chocolate.

I came to a similar realisation with Low in recent years. As someone who tends to gravite towards punk/hardcore/heavier music my 'favourites' have often gravitated that way too but Low have been firmly there, without me even realising, for 20 years. I also think they may be ACTUALLY my favourite band as well. I've loved every direction they've taken over the years and never been disappointed with a shift. There's lots of bands that I've just switched off from when they went too far from their root sound. Manchester Orchestra lost me 4 albums ago, O'Brother did 2 great ones then descended into blandness, Mogwai had my heart until about 2005 when it all got a bit too synthy. I was hoping for some new Björk output but we were denied another slice of her greatness yet again.

Low are still there. And the new album, as the kids like to say, 'slaps hard'.

Oh, I forgot to mention I really enjoyed the Descendents "9th & Walnut" release this year, of all the forgotten songs. Descendents are probably my other favourite band and a new record by them, old songs or new, is like sitting in a comfy old chair. Predictable but perfect.

[sal paradise]

I love Low. Sometimes. Such clever musicians, but they push boundaries beyond where I can go. The only album I can fully get on with is C’mon

Similar to Beach House. Every album, including the latest, has loads of highlights, but I’m too pop orientated to feel the more avant garde stuff.

[Singlebladepickup]

Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra

[soggy mittens]

Albums:-

01 Sleigh Bells - Texis
02 Torres - Thirstier
03 Echodrone - Resurgence
04 Pond - 9
05 Fleeting Joys - All Lost Eyes And Glitter
06 Goat Girl - On All Fours
07 The Raft - Summerheads And Winter Beds
08 Blunt Bangs - Proper Smoker
09 Porter Robinson - Nurture
10 New Canyons - Heavy Water
11 LAPêCHE - Blood in the Water
12 HYLA - Caravel
13 Flyying Colours - Fantasy Country
14 Dianas - Little Glimmer
15 Kraków Loves Adana - Follow The Voice
16 Beachy Head - Beachy Head
17 Mint Julep - In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep
18 No Kill - Gold Chorus
19 Palm Ghosts - The Lost Frequency
20 Rett Madison - Pin-Up Daddy


EPs:-

01 Cuffed Up - Asymmetry
02 Horse Show - Falsterbo
03 Snarls - What About Flowers？
04 All Under Heaven - Collider
05 Smile Machine - Bye for Now
06 Oceans - Come So Far
07 Shine - Stare Into The Sun
08 XO - Courage
09 Fanclubwallet - Hurt Is Boring
10 Pronoun - Omg I Made It
11 Promise and the Monster - Chewing Gum
12 Milly - Wish Goes On
13 Glia - Buffer
14 Split End - Moratorium
15 Flight Mode - TX, '98
16 Quelle Rox - Coffee & A Cig
17 SPC ECO - Coming Back For You Aug EP
18 Swim School - Making Sense of It All
19 Land of Talk - Calming Night Partner
20 Luster Dust - Sunflower

[sal paradise]

Albums:-

01 Sleigh Bells - Texis
02 Torres - Thirstier
03 Echodrone - Resurgence
04 Pond - 9
05 Fleeting Joys - All Lost Eyes And Glitter
06 Goat Girl - On All Fours
07 The Raft - Summerheads And Winter Beds
08 Blunt Bangs - Proper Smoker
09 Porter Robinson - Nurture
10 New Canyons - Heavy Water
11 LAPêCHE - Blood in the Water
12 HYLA - Caravel
13 Flyying Colours - Fantasy Country
14 Dianas - Little Glimmer
15 Kraków Loves Adana - Follow The Voice
16 Beachy Head - Beachy Head
17 Mint Julep - In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep
18 No Kill - Gold Chorus
19 Palm Ghosts - The Lost Frequency
20 Rett Madison - Pin-Up Daddy


EPs:-

01 Cuffed Up - Asymmetry
02 Horse Show - Falsterbo
03 Snarls - What About Flowers？
04 All Under Heaven - Collider
05 Smile Machine - Bye for Now
06 Oceans - Come So Far
07 Shine - Stare Into The Sun
08 XO - Courage
09 Fanclubwallet - Hurt Is Boring
10 Pronoun - Omg I Made It
11 Promise and the Monster - Chewing Gum
12 Milly - Wish Goes On
13 Glia - Buffer
14 Split End - Moratorium
15 Flight Mode - TX, '98
16 Quelle Rox - Coffee & A Cig
17 SPC ECO - Coming Back For You Aug EP
18 Swim School - Making Sense of It All
19 Land of Talk - Calming Night Partner
20 Luster Dust - Sunflower

Torres! There were some big songs on her latest album.

I have a feeling you might like the Bleach Lab eps (combined into one release this year). Perfect 80s/90s dream pop played by kids https://bleachlab.bandcamp.com/album/n ... ls-real-ep

[dinosaurkale->]

didnt check out too much new music this year but here's mine:


1. tyler the creator
2. playboi carti
3. bicep
4. silk sonic
5. turnstile

6. mdou moctar