TOP ALBUMS OF 2021
ELECTRONIC:
Skee Mask - “Pool”
This triple album, with a run time of nearly two hours is more varied than his previous release “Compro” & the high points on it surpass anything he’s put out so far. The 18 tracks on here range from 90s style IDM vibes, to D&B, techno & ambient - feeling at times more like a mixtape & more raw and spontaneous. I slept on this record for a bit since it’s a bandcamp only release (not available through apple music or spotify) - but was truly blown away more than any other electronic record that came out this year. Skee Mask is possibly my favorite sonic architect alive today - & this release of his is my favorite of his so far.
OTHER FAVORITE ELECTRONIC ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Mouse on Mars - “AAI”
Foodman - “Yasuragi Land”
Dead Gods are New Gods - “Forest of Oblivion”
(a dark psychedelic mix of hypnotic ritualistic grooves, drones & throat singing, as well as rock song-writing. I would bet you haven’t heard a record that sounds like this, but - If you’re into things like Tengger Cavalry, Nine Inch Nails, Wardruna, I recommend giving it a listen)
Eli Kessler - “Icons”
POST-ROCK:
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR - “G_d's Pee at State's End”
Their seventh album is their best since their comeback from hiatus album (Hallelujah Don’t Bend Ascend) 9 years ago. The post-rock giants are in prime form - making some of the most apocalyptic & triumphant music of their career that is perhaps the most fitting soundtrack for this time we’ve been living in.
OTHER FAVORITE POST-ROCK RECORDS OF THE YEAR
Squid - “Bright Green Field”
Dry Cleaning - “New Long Leg”
Black Midi - “Cavalcade”
Black Country, New Road - “For the First Time”
CLASSICAL:
Julius Eastman - “Femenine” (performed by Wild Up)
Julius Eastman is a American minimalist composer who was based out of New York. He passed away in 1990 struggling with mental illness & addiction. This first installment of seven performed by the LA based ensemble Wild Up is absolutely amazing & a must-listen for anyone who is a fan of minimalist work.
OTHER FAVORITE CLASSICAL RECORDS OF THE YEAR:
John Luther Adams (performed by Synergy Vocals) - “Arctic Dreams”
Michael Gordon - “8”
ROCK / SONGWRITER:
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - “Carnage”
I got super deep into Nick Cave this year & this record is truly one of the best in his deep discography. It’s more diverse than his previous two releases - ranging from chamber-pop to spoken word madness. This album is both hallucinatory & truly transcendental.
OTHER FAVORITE ROCK / SONGWRITER RELEASES OF 2021:
Matt Bachman - “Dream Logic “
(raw & emotional songwriting with a sound that’s like Tortoisese meets dream pop)
Andrew Eckel - “Fignerales”
(EP consisting primarily wild free-associative spoken word with an accompanying book - top local singer-songwriter pick & runner up for favorite multi-media release of the year)
Billy Strings - “Renewal”
(Best bluegrass album I’ve heard in a long time - Some of the lyrics are a bit generic, but musically blew me away, especially with tracks like “Heartbeat of America”)
Mega Bog - “Life, And Another”
Low - “Hey What”
Bix MacMaghan - “Open”
The Weather Station - “Ignorance”
Japanese Breakfast - “Jubilee”
Grouper - “Shade”
Faye Webster - “I Know I’m Funny haha”
Deerhoof - “Actually, You Can”
Spirit of the Beehive - “ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH”
(glitchy neo-psychelia / indie rock - one of the trippiest records I’ve heard this year)
Bo Burnham - “Inside”
(my favorite multi-media release of the year, really funny, meta, authentic, & relatable. Starts pretty silly & light - gets darker and spirals out as it goes)
JAZZ:
Portico Quartet - “Terrain”
Portico Quartet are a instrumental group from London that prominently use the hang drum (a melodic percussion instrument). Their album “Terrain” is a minimalist jazz three part suite which is simple & gorgeous, but also emotionally driven - in their words, inspired by “grief & rupture” from the pandemic. I highly recommend for folks who are a fan of things like Nik Bartsch, post-rock, or more ambient oriented jazz.
OTHER FAVORITE JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2021
Pharoh Sanders & Floating Point - “Promises “
(My runner up for jazz pick of 2021 - A meditative & hypnotic collaborative single piece of music that slowly unravels over the course of 46 minutes)
Nala Sinephro - “Space 1.8”
Sons of Kemet - “Black to the Future”
Linda Oh, Tyshawn Sorey, and Vijay Iyer - “Uneasy”
Charles Loyd & the Marvels - “Tone Poem”
Dave Holland - “Another Land”
Julian Lage - “Squint”
Chris Potter - “Sunrise Reprise”
HIP-HOP:
Armandhammer & the Alchemist - “Haram”
One of the best Armand Hammer albums so far - sometimes the Alchemist’s beats are a bit static & stale (as I find a lot of his work to be), but Billy Woods and Elucid are in top form. Highly recommend if you’re into underground hip hop / spoken word.
OTHER FAVORITE HIP-HOP RELEASES OF 2021
Mike - “Disco”
(My runner up for Hip-Hop albums of the year -A brighter album than his previous releases & one of best that’s come out of this school of mumbly rap. Completely self produced - with the beats being colorful, layered sample collages - & lyrically putting forward extremely vulnerable & emotional work that addresses issues of trauma & mental health.)
Mach-Homey - “Pray for Haiti”
(One of the best things that’s come out of the Griselda collective - produced by Westside Gunn, Mach Homey’s “Pray for Haiti” is lyrically inventive & incredibly dope. His EP that came out more recently, “Balens Cho” is also definitely worth a listen)
R.A.P. Ferreira - “Bob’s Son”, “Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures”, & “Gumbo”
Madlib - “Sound Ancestors”
Tyler the Creator - “Call Me if You Get Lost”
JPEGMAFIA - “LP!”
Boldy James & The Alchemist - “Bo Jackson”
Blu - “The Color Blu(e)”
Kanye West - “Donda”
(yeah, it could have used some cutting…maybe being like half as long - but the gems on it make it still worth a listen for Kanye fans in my opinion).
Billy Woods / Moor Mother - “Brass”
KA - “A Martyr’s Reward”
Moor Mother - “Black Encyclopedia of the Air”
INTERNATIONAL:
Mdou Moctar - “Afrique Victime”
Mdou Moctar, is a Tuareg guitarist & singer-songwriter based in Niger. His music takes traditional Tuareg guitar music (in the vein of desert blues), but adapts it in a completely modern way. The songwriting is politically charged & the playing on here is raw & primal as fuck.
OTHER FAVORITE INTERNATIONAL RELEASES OF 2021
Arooj Aftab - “Vulture Prince”
Wardruna - “Kvitravn”
Toumani Diabate & LSO - Korolen
METAL:
Panopticon - “…and again into the light”
My top metal album of the year - As with Panopticon’s best records, it combines black-metal, americana/folk, & post-rock seamlessly and emotively with an album that is as beautiful as it is brutal.
OTHER TOP METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Gogira - “Fortitude”
(Runner-up for best metal album of the year - more polished & accessible than their previous releases, but still slams)
Sunn 0))) - “Metta, Benevolence BBC 6music: Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs”
Converge / Chelsea Wolf - “Bloodmoon 1”
PUNK:
Turnstile - “Glow On”
Turnstile combine hardcore with pop-punk, emo, and anthemic pop music on “Glow Up”. It’s accessible as it is hard hitting - it’s got killer grooves, amazing production (sounds great in spatial audio), & is one of the most fun albums I’ve heard this year.
OTHER FAVORITE PUNK ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
The Armed - “Ultrapop”
(runner up for punk album of the year - extreme, glitched-out hardcore that has melodic pop sensability)
Idles - “Crawler”
Ovlov - Buds
Sleaford Mods - “Spare Ribs”
R&B
PinkPantheress - “to hell with it”
pinkpantheress is a 20 year old UK singer-songwriter who blew up via Tik Tok. The tracks on here are miniature enough to fit in that format, but hold up well as complete fully developed songs and fit together as a cohesive and truly original album combining R&B, drum & bass, & bubblegum breakbeat.
OTHER FAVORITE R&B ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
Jazmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales
Silk Sonic - An Evening with Silk Sonic