Annual Playlist: The Best Albums of 2021

I spent an arguably unhealthy amount of time listening to music this year. According to the data from Apple Music (yes, I’m one of those people), I listened for 1,023 hours in 2021, and that’s just from that streaming service. Naturally, absorbing that much music is going to lead to likes, dislikes, and opinions ranging from “pretty agreeable” to “this is an insane person”. With the year coming to a close, I figured it’d be a worthwhile exercise to give my top ten albums, plus a few honorable mentions, for this past year. Please note: this is a totally arbitrary list, meaning I’m not entirely sure if it’s the ten best albums I listened to over the last 365-ish days, or my ten favorite, or just the ten I happen to be thinking about at the moment. Either way, here’s my year-end list for 2021. Hopefully you, my dear reader, will find something new that you might have missed, or be reminded of a great album from earlier this year that’s worth revisiting. On to the good stuff!

Honorable Mention: Really From – Really From

I’m a sucker for an album that sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard before. There’s plenty of ways to “reinvent the wheel” so to speak, but when a group is able to successfully and seamlessly meld multiple genres like Really From did on their eponymous release this year, it’s going to get my attention. Each song on Really From sounds like a Stefon sketch: “New York’s hottest song is ‘Quirk’. This song has everything: jazz influences, arena rock drums, a horn section, male-female harmonies, emo and math rock energy, lyrics about inheritance…” It’s the Boston band’s most polished, developed album to date, and an incredibly interesting listen.

Must Listen Tracks: Quirk, Try Lingual

Honorable Mention: Taylor Swift – Red (Taylor’s Version)

Taylor Swift is on a mission. Last month’s release of Red (Taylor’s Version) was her fourth in the last two years, and the second of two re-recordings (along with April’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version)). I docked Red TV a few imaginary points for this list because it’s technically a reissue and I wanted to reserve the top ten for truly new releases, but the sentiment I had when I initially wrote about this album in November remains: This is still Swift’s best work.

Must Listen Tracks: Better Man, All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

Honorable Mention: Wale – Folarin II

Wale and I go way back. I first remember hearing him on all-time great YouTube user kblaze888555’s NBA mixes (here’s one for Rajon Rondo that avoided being scrubbed from the internet). Wale’s end-of-the-aughts mixtapes are a legendary part of that era of rap, and Folarin II is a return to what many would say are his best collections. I can’t stop listening to the warm production on “Caramel”, or the upbeat good vibes on “Jump In”. Sampling and danceability came back to Wale’s music in a big way, and for my money I’d have this album near, if not at, the top of his studio releases.

Must Listen Tracks: Caramel, Jump In

10. A Great Big Pile of Leaves – Pono

I won’t pretend to be an expert on A Great Big Pile of Leaves (the band, not the stuff that clutters the streets in north New Jersey suburbia in late October), but I can say with confidence that Pono, the group’s first release in eight years, perfectly captures the best kind of youth nostalgia. Whether it’s riding bikes and hot asphalt beneath your feet while waiting at the ice cream truck in “Yesterday’s Clothes” or the sound of a lively kitchen before mealtime in “Kitchen Concert”, or forgetting a pencil before taking a test in “Writing Utensils”, Pono paints several genuinely beautiful vignettes about a time when things were just a little less complicated.

Must Listen Tracks: Yesterday’s Clothes, Halloween

9. The Killers – Pressure Machine

Last year’s Imploding the Mirage was one of my absolute favorite albums from 2020, and would have made this list if it existed then. The Killers’ mid-career renaissance continued into 2021 with this year’s Pressure Machine, a surprisingly (for this band, anyway) restrained and mature piece of Americana. Brandon Flowers’ decision to intersperse real-life small town stories between each song was an inspired choice, giving Pressure Machine a lived-in quality that previous albums lacked. In other words, Pressure Machine is the album that 2006’s Sam’s Town thinks it is. Buzzwords like “mature” and “grounded” aside, The Killers still maintain a great sense of melody. Songs like “Sleepwalker” and “Quiet Hills” are undeniably catchy, and “In The Car Outside” is propulsive. This makes back to back winners for the Las Vegas quartet.

Must Listen Tracks: Sleepwalker, In The Car Outside

8. school portraits – School Portraits

school portraits’ self-titled first LP rocks a little harder than Cable TV, their 2018 EP, but it still maintains that collection’s vivid imagery and gentle intimacy. Second track “Sweater” straddles those worlds best, with a tender first half giving way to a more rollicking second. School Portraits zips along (the ten song album clocks in at around 26 minutes), but never feels rushed; it’s great because it manages to pack so much atmosphere in those bite-sized shoegaze indie-pop tracks. The album hits me hardest when it touches on living in a beach town as the chill of autumn sets in, since those memories of growing up on Cape Cod are seared into my brain. But even when Portraits veers into the more personal, its introspection and awareness remains marvelous.

Must Listen Tracks: Sweater, Upstairs Garden

7. Langhorne Slim – Strawberry Mansion

As I wrote earlier this year when Langhorne Slim first released Strawberry Mansion, this album is a worthy entry into the COVID canon. Slim explores themes of mental health, loneliness, nostalgia, and dealing with the lost year that was 2020, all with the delicate touch of an expert songwriter. Strawberry Mansion initially surfaced in bits and pieces through Instagram-released demos, but here the tracks are fully realized and manage to convey a wide swath of emotion through Slim’s raw, trembly-but-resolute signature vocals. “Mighty Soul” and “Panic Attack” are the two standouts, though I can’t help but find myself returning to “Summer Days” and “Blood On Yer Lips” most often.

Must Listen Tracks: Mighty Soul, Panic Attack

6. Sturgill Simpson – The Ballad of Dood and Juanita

If Sturgill Simpson is to be believed, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita is his final solo album. And if that’s the case, Simpson picked a high note to exit on. Dood and Juanita is a perfectly crafted piece of Appalachian storytelling, an old school bluegrass folktale that brings Simpson’s story full circle (and back home). Just as importantly, it sounds great. Simpson is backed here as he was on both volumes of last year’s Cuttin’ Grass by the group of bluegrass all-stars he affectionately calls the “Hillbilly Avengers”, and they once again live up to that nickname.

Must Listen Tracks: Ol’ Dood, Pt 1, Juanita

Halftime – Some Songs I Really Liked

As mentioned in this post’s cold open, I listened to a lot of music this year, and I’d feel like I’d giving many artists a short shrift by not mentioning their stellar work in 2021. So, here are a few of my favorite songs from this year, from some of my other favorite projects.

Julian Baker – “Song in E”: Baker’s Little Oblivions was a strong entry into the BGCU (Boygenius Cinematic Universe), with Baker incorporating a fuller, more complex sound. But “Song in E” was a throwback to the sparseness of her earlier work, and it’s the song I liked most from the album.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “That Life”: A really great track with a killer groove that I simply could not stop listening to.

Faye Webster – “I Know I’m Funny haha”: Webster’s I Know I’m Funny haha was one of the best albums this year and would have been in my top 20 if I extended the list out. The title track tells you everything you need to know about the rest of the album: clever folk with a sardonic wit, aka music right in my wheelhouse.

Richard Dawson & Circle – “Ivy”: English folk singer/songwriter Richard Dawson teamed up with Finnish band Circle for this year’s Henki, an album I can only describe as having BVE: Big Viking Energy. “Ivy” rocks the hardest from that collection, a nine minute epic with soaring vocals and heavy riffs.

Megan Thee Stallion – “Thot Shit”: I’m a simple man. You find a way to incorporate this iconic scene into a song, you’re going to end up on my year-end list.

Dry Cleaning – “Scratchcard Lanyard”: One of the best riffs I heard this year, and one of the best album openers (New Long Leg would have been in my top 20 as well). Florence Shaw’s dry vocals can take a minute to get used to, but they’re perfect for this track.

If you want to check out some other songs I loved from this year, check out my Best of: 2021 playlist below (and at the Apple Music link here):

5. Lucy Dacus – Home Video

Lucy Dacus’ Home Video doesn’t have any single song quite as good as “Night Shift” from 2018’s Historian, but as a whole I’d argue that this is her most complete, consistent album to date. Dacus spends the 46 minute runtime examining her journey of self discovery — bible camp (and a first relationship) on “VBS”, loss of innocence on “Cartwheel”, realizing a friendship might not be 100% genuine on “Brando”, and more. “Thumbs” might be the most haunting song I’ve heard this year, and “Going, Going, Gone” is an excellent Boygenius reunion.

Must Listen Tracks: Thumbs, Brando

4. The War On Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore

I personally love a well chosen album cover. I Don’t Live Here Anymore‘s album artwork fits that billing, with the snowy scene matching The War On Drug’s fifth album’s chilly, swirling spaciousness. These are songs meant to be played loud, either by yourself on headphones or in an area for thousands of fans, to let the atmosphere take over. “Harmonia’s Dream” and the album’s title track “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” were two of my top songs from anyone all year; the former jams out with a hazy intensity and the latter is a tight piece of 80s-style stadium rock. Leaning on influences from the 1980s is in vogue at the moment (not to name any names), but no one did it better than The War On Drugs did this year.

Must Listen Tracks: Harmonia’s Dream, I Don’t Live Here Anymore

3. Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee

What a 2021 for Michelle Zauner. Her memoir Crying in H Mart was released in April to critical acclaim, and debuted at #2 on the New York Times’ hardcover nonfiction best seller list. Oh, and she released her third album, Jubilee, in June. I loved how Jubilee showed a different side of Japanese Breakfast. Where her first two albums explored darker, sadder themes of love and loss, JBrekkie’s latest release is brighter, sunnier, and a bit more welcoming. Lead single “Be Sweet” was accompanied by my favorite music video of the year, and subsequent singles “Posing in Bondage” and “Savage Good Boy” told their own twisted visual story. Final track “Posing for Cars” is reminiscent of Zauner’s earlier work, with bombastic fuzzy guitars taking us home for a stunning finish.

Must Listen Tracks: Savage Good Boy, Posing for Cars

2. Lord Huron – Long Lost

“Transportive” is probably the singular adjective I’d use to describe Long Lost, Lord Huron’s terrific fourth album. The Michigan-based group built May’s release around the concept of an old-school country concert in another dimension, or at the very least in the space between dimensions. The result is a fascinating and immersive experience that often sounds like Ennio Morricone in space. It’s Lord Huron at their best doing what they do best (kind-of-spooky folk rock), and by the time dreamlike closer “Time’s Blur” arrives like a trans-dimensional stagecoach to ferry us back to reality, I’m usually already queuing the album up again to get lost once more.

Must Listen Tracks: Mine Forever, Long Lost

1. Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend

I’ve been workshopping a take that indie rock—and rock in general—has gone “underground” so to speak, with bedroom/DIY pop evolving as the dominant version of the genre. There are some pros to that, and if this list is any indication I love the raw, introspective, here’s-how-I’m-feeling-right-now aspects of that subgenre. BlueWeekend, Wolf Alice’s masterpiece (yes, I said masterpiece) released in June of this year, has those some of elements too but is on the complete opposite spectrum of anything that might be considered lo-fi. Wolf Alice made a great leap forward with this album, which leans into being a truly widescreen and cinematic style experience in a way that I wish more bands would shoot for. Every song (with the exception of punk-ish diversion “Play the Greatest Hits”) sounds lush, full, and polished with care. It’s one of those albums that feels like one long, connected song because it’s so well crafted, even though each track is individually distinct. “Lipstick on the Glass” would be on my short list of song of the year candidates, and “Last Man on Earth” sounds like it’s being sung from a mountaintop in the best possible way…and that’s discounting several other great songs like the chorus crescendo on “Delicious Things” and riffy headbanger “Smile”. Overall, if I had to recommend just one album to someone from this year, it’d be Blue Weekend in a landslide.

Must Listen Tracks: Lipstick on the Glass, The Last Man on Earth

Bonus Mention: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Barn

I couldn’t resist tacking on one more mention for Neil Young, who at age 76 (!) is still releasing awesome music with Crazy Horse. Barn is a great mix of rockers and folk/country tunes, and is yet another great release from a total legend. It just came out a couple of weeks ago so I haven’t had as much time to sit with it yet as I would like, but it’s worthy of an inclusion here.

Must Listen Tracks: Song of the Seasons, Heading West

What did everyone else listen to this year? Anything I missed that would be in your personal top 10?

At any rate, 2021 was an excellent year for new music. I’m looking forward to seeing what 2022 has in store for us.