Albums of 2021

[Higgs]

I swear LMS is the hardest person to impress in OB!

Hot take - there was no great album this year.

I think I might agree.

[tragabigzanda]

[Higgs]

Floating Points + Pharaoh Saunders is a record for the ages

That and Faye Webster's album are the only 2 that spring yo my mind as potentially great

[Higgs]

Yo.

[Chris_H_2]

My only real multiple repeats are Snail Mail and War on Drugs.

[tragabigzanda]

[epilogue]

That Big Red Machine record is pretty great.

Strong yes. Great, I'm not so sure.

No, that's fair. "Pretty great" in epilogue speak is "oh, this is really strong if overlong and I'm surprised I didn't get into it sooner."

You always have to account for a fair amount of hyperbole with me, bud.

[epilogue]

I swear LMS is the hardest person to impress in OB!

Hot take - there was no great album this year.

Oh boy

[dad]

almost forgot about Shame - Drunk Tank Pink.

also a good one.

[kreng]

In alphabetic order:

My favorites:

A Winged Victory for the Sullen - Invisible Cities
Backxwash - I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Matt Sweeney - Superwolves
Catherine Graindorge - Eldorado
Crazy Doberman - "everyone is rolling down a hill" or "the journey to the center of some arcane mystery and the entanglements of the vines and veins of the cosmic and unwieldy millieu encountered in the midst of that endeavor"
Dans Dans - Zink
Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
Injury Reserve - By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Jaco Benckhuijsen - Man In Het Wild
James Brandon Lewis, Red Lily Quintet - Jesup Wagon
Jamire Williams - But Only After You Have Suffered
Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
Low - Hey What
Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Hope
Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime
Nadja - Luminous Rot
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage
Nils Frahm & F.S. Blumm - 2x1=4
Sons Of Kemet - Black To The Future
Spellling - The Turning Wheel
Springtime - Springtime
Squid - Bright Green Field
Steven Wilson - The Future Bites
SUNN O))) - Metta, Benevolence BBC 6Music : Live on the invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs
Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir and Una Sveinbjarnardottir - Last Song
Vapour Theories - Celestial Scuzz
Coşkun Karademir, Tord Gustavsen & Derya Türkan - Silence



Other good shit:

Abul Mogard - In Immobile Air
Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy - Blind Date Party
Billy Strings - Renewal
Black Country, New Road - For the first time
Black Midi - Cavalcade
BLK JKS - Abantu / Before Humans
Bremer McCoy - Natten
Bruno Bavota - for appartments: songs&loops
Bummer - Dead Horse
Colin Stetson - La Peur (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Damien Jurado - The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania
Dark Mark Vs Skeleton Joe - Dark Mark Theme B/W Skeleton Joe Manifesto
Dave Phillips - Humanity Is The Virus
Disperser - A Bastion Of Et Cetera
Dustin O'Halloran - Silfur
Elegiac - Elegiac
Endless Boogie - Admonitions
Feu! Chatterton - Palais d'argile
Fire! - Defeat
Fluisteraars - Gegrepen Door de Geest der Zielsontluiking
Fred Frith Trio - Road
From The Mouth Of The Sun - Light Caught the Edges
Frontierer - Oxidized
Full Of Hell - Garden Of Burning Apparitions
Geir Sundstøl - St.Hanshaugen Steel
Ghost Of Vroom - 1
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
Hey!Tonal - Hey!Tonal
Hifiklub & Duke Garwood & Jean-Michel Bossini - Last Party On Earth
Idles - Crawler
It Is Dead - A Place of Darkness
Jaimie Branch - Fly Or Die Live
Jakob Bro, Arve Henriksen, Jorge Rossy - Uma Elmo
Jeff Parker - Forfolks
Jesca Hoop - The Deconstruction Of Jack's House
JPEGMAFIA - LP!
Kanaan - Earthbound
Krokofant, Ståle Storløkken, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - Fifth
Kuzu - The Glass Delussion
Lawrence English - Observation of Breath
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - Theory of Ice
M. Sage - The Wind Of Things
Mogwai - And The Love Continues
Mountain Goats, The - Dark In Here
Musk Ox - Inheritance
Neil Young - Carnegie Hall 1970
New Standards Men - Spain's First Astronaut
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - B-Sides & Rarities (Part II)
Olson, Van Cleef, Williams - Unleash the Hoofs Revenge
Pamela Z - A Secret Code
Patrick Shurosho - Hidemi
Peter Broderick - The Wind That Shakes The Bramble
Plankton Wat - Future Times
Portrayal Of Guilt - CHRISTFUCKER
São Paulo Underground & Tupperwear - Saturno Mágico
Senyawa - Alkisah
Shilpa Ray - Bootlickers of the Patriarchy
Steven R. Smith - In The Spires
Succumb - XXI
The Souris-Jordan Jazz Orchestra - Battlegrounds Part One
The Still - Got It
Tindersticks - Distractions
Truus - ...Of Days Gone
Vernacular - The Little Bird
Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz

[i got bugs]

AOTY

Billy Strings - Renewal

Other albums I liked

Lord Huron - Long Lost
The Blips - S/T
Kings of Leon- When you see yourself
The Killers - Pressure machine

MMJ and Parquet Courts were just ok.. but the 2 singles from them (complex n walking at a downtown pace) are up there w my fav songs ever by the 2 bands

[Ello Sailor]

I need to spend more time with that Black Midi album. Also had no idea Billy Strings released an LP this year!

[tragabigzanda]

[i got bugs]

I think I like it better than the last.. its very close tho..

Nothings working
Heartbeat of America
Hellbender
Know it all
This old world

All top notch.. got a lot of these songs live n I think they sound better live

[Ello Sailor]

I've always thought of him as a live artist. I always end up going down a live performance rabbit hole whenever I feel like listening to Mr. Strings.

[liebzz]

I've always thought of him as a live artist. I always end up going down a live performance rabbit hole whenever I feel like listening to Mr. Strings.

I tried the album. I made it maybe 10 mins and moved on quickly.

[epilogue]

I listened to 60 albums released this year (which is way more than usual for me but still only half of what I listened to last year). I'm finalizing my preliminary end-of year list. I'll post the full 60 but I'll spoiler tag most of them.

I thought this was a decent year for music. The albums at the top of my list are all great albums that I'm sure will continue to show up regularly in the rotation as the years go on.

[i got bugs]

I've always thought of him as a live artist. I always end up going down a live performance rabbit hole whenever I feel like listening to Mr. Strings.

Absolutely go see him live if you get the chance

[epilogue]

Alright, I decided to remove the two Tom Petty reissues/alt. versions (but they would have been in the top 30) because it didn't feel right to include them. So here's my top 58 of 2021 -- as always with the caveat that rankings in general are stupid and these are premature and will change over time...

ALBUMS OF 2021 (RANKED)
Stand For Myself - Yola
The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers - Valerie June
Yard Sale - Suzanne Santo
Daddy’s Home - St. Vincent
MONTERO - Lil Nas X
In These Silent Days - Brandi Carlile
Heaux Tales - Jazmine Sullivan
Thirstier - TORRES
WE ARE - Jon Batiste
Chemtrails Over the Country Club - Lana Del Rey

The Last Exit - Still Corners
If i could make it go quiet - girl in red
Long Lost - Lord Huron
Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish
SOUR - Olivia Rodgrio
30 - Adele
Gold-Diggers Sound - Leon Bridges
The Million Masks of God - Manchester Orchestra
Blue Bannisters - Lana Del Rey
If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power - Halsey

How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? - Big Red Machine
Year of the Spider - Shannon and the Clams
Nine - Sault
Promises - Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders
Valentine - Snail Mail

Spoiler: show

Welcome 2 America - Prince
Book - They Might Be Giants
Path of Wellness - Sleater-Kinney
Soberish - Liz Phair
Home Video - Lucy Dacus

Prioritise Pleasure - Self Esteem
Blue Weekend - Wolf Alice
Little Obvious - Julien Baker
Sympathy For Life - Parquet Courts
I Should Be Outside - Jeff Ament
Revolutionary Love - Ani DiFranco
Georgia Blue - Jason Isbell and 400 Unit
Ignorance - The Weather Station
The Nowhere Inn Soundtrack - St. Vincent
Depreciated - John R. Miller

Star-crossed - Kacey Musgraves
I Don’t Live Here Anymore - The War On Drugs
Flag Day (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Eddie Vedder, Glen Hansard, Cat Power
Strawberry Mansion - Langhorne Slim
FLOWERS for VASES/descansos - Hayley Wiliams
OK Human - Weezer
Jubilee - Japanese Breakfast
The Ballad of Dood and Juanita - Sturgill Simpson
J.T. - Steve Earle
Solar Power - Lorde

Lately I Feel Everything - WILLOW
HEY WHAT - Low
2020 Vision (EP) - Martin Sexton
Dark In Here - The Mountain Goats
Golden Casket - Modest Mouse
Today We’re The Greatest - Middle Kids
Hologram - A Place To Bury Strangers
Roman Songs - John Linnell

[Rangi Guy]

Ones that hit home in no particular order

Old Gods - Shihad
Surface Sounds - Kaleo
Typhoons - Royal Blood
V - L.A.B
We Are - Jon Batiste
How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? - Big Red Machine
Tangaroa - Alien Weaponry
Delta Kream - The Black Keys
Gold Diggers Sound - Leon Bridges
Atlas Underground Fire - Tom Morello
Atlas Underground Flood - Tom Morello