2021 Music - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

travelful
BEA's Official Florida Man

Age: 27
Location: Davenport, Florida

Skinny wrote:

That recent Wiki & NAH is great. Fidgety, distorted, unpredictable beats, and Wiki nimbly negotiating everything with his trademark everyman humour and traditionalist NYC internals. Recommended to Danny Brown fans.

I agree. Just wish it was a bit longer.
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Griselda, by Fashion Rebels
2020's Hip-Hop
2020's Country

travelful
BEA's Official Florida Man

Age: 27
Location: Davenport, Florida

The slums corner of hip-hop is one of my favorite scenes in music over the past few years. With the new MIKE release here's some other notable projects in 2021

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Disco! by MIKE

Best MIKE project since 'War in My Pen'. This album is quite easily the best in the scene so far in 2021. No surprises here...MIKE was the star of the [sLUms]. collective and basically started the whole thing.

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Navy's Reprise by Navy Blue

The next big highlight of the year would be 'Navy's Reprise' which is a great album. I still prefer his 2020 album 'Song of Sage' but this one solid as well. Keep in mind this album is only available for $20 on his website.

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True Sky by Akai Solo & Navy Blue

The new Akai Solo album is without a doubt his best album so far largely due to the beats which are produced by Navy Blue as well.

I would say these three are the "must hears" of the scene so far this year.

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BLP2021: For Ur Own Good by DJ Blackpower

MIKE also released this instrumental hip-hop mixtape this year which is amazing.

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End Of The Earth by Mavi

Mavi released this 5 track EP earlier in the year but it didn't really stick with me as a whole. The first and the last tracks are great though and I highly recommend them.

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This Thing Of Ours by The Alchemist

Alchemist got a bunch of slums affiliates on here including Earl Sweatshirt, Navy Blue, Pink Siifu, and Maxo. It's a nice little EP.
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Griselda, by Fashion Rebels
2020's Hip-Hop
2020's Country

LedZep

To keep it (loosely) in the hip hop vein, new Backxwash is crazy.

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I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My ... Backxwash
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

EyeKanFly
Head Bear Master/Galactic Emperor

Age: 33
Location: Gotham

LedZep wrote:

To keep it (loosely) in the hip hop vein, new Backxwash is crazy.

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I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My ... Backxwash

VERY interested in this after Backxwash's stunning album last year. It's in the queue.
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51 Washington, D.C. albums!

Hayden

Location: CDMX

travelful wrote:

The slums corner of hip-hop is one of my favorite scenes in music over the past few years. With the new MIKE release here's some other notable projects in 2021

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Disco! by MIKE

Best MIKE project since 'War in My Pen'. This album is quite easily the best in the scene so far in 2021. No surprises here...MIKE was the star of the [sLUms]. collective and basically started the whole thing.

Giving this a spin as I type this. Digging it so far. Definitely the best niche of hip-hop this year. If Earl had released the exact same record it would be getting hyped like mad. Hoping to give the Navy Blue record a spin eventually.

Quote:

To keep it (loosely) in the hip hop vein, new Backxwash is crazy.

I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My ... Backxwash

Maybe I'm getting old, but I thought it was too loud Sad

It notched down the banger-ness of God Has Nothing To Do With and notched up the yelling, which I would have much preferred was reversed (based on my personal preferences). I actually think it's a step down from her 2020 effort. Still, it's a hard album to ignore. I think my favourite track was ironically the somewhat short (and featureless) Blood In The Water.

LedZep

Hayden wrote:

Maybe I'm getting old, but I thought it was too loud Sad

It notched down the banger-ness of God Has Nothing To Do With and notched up the yelling, which I would have much preferred was reversed (based on my personal preferences). I actually think it's a step down from her 2020 effort. Still, it's a hard album to ignore. I think my favourite track was ironically the somewhat short (and featureless) Blood In The Water.

Oh I definitely miss the catchy hooks, but I still think that compositionally it's a better album than God Has Nothing... Also quite unique even in the always weird industrial hip hop scene. But yeah, if she goes for the best of both worlds (nasty beats and vocals + catchy tunes/hooks) on her next project, it might be one for the ages.
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

LedZep

Oh man, on a day when the new Tyler, Modest Mouse and Mountain Goats drop, the album I was the most excited about was new Spellling. And it did not disappoint at all. She's put together an incredible collection of art pop songs. Noticeably less electronic and prog pop than Mazy Fly. That's not necessarily what I expected or wanted, but it works so well.
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

Keatownrodriguez
Aimless Angler

Gender: Male
Age: 21
Location: Utah

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Inside by Bo Burnham

How has no one posted about this yet. Such an interesting, human project

EyeKanFly
Head Bear Master/Galactic Emperor

Age: 33
Location: Gotham

Keatownrodriguez wrote:

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Inside by Bo Burnham

How has no one posted about this yet. Such an interesting, human project

Yeah this was incredible. I started a little chatter about it on the Movies forum, but the songs themselves are incredible. "30" hit home HARD for me since I also turned 30 during the pandemic and felt really similarly. Bo's voice and production are slick. I'd highly recommend watching the special, but I'd also highly recommend checking out this album if you don't have access to Netflix to watch it. The songs don't lose any power without the visuals, with the exception of maybe "All Eyes on Me" and "White Woman's Instagram" (but both of these videos are on YouTube). I know "Welcome to the Internet" has been getting the most praise, but personally I see "All Eyes on Me" and "30" as the center points. In Bo's own words, "my problems aren't as high stakes..." as his, but damn if I don't feel similarly to "30", "Problematic", "Comedy", "All Eyes on Me", etc.
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51 Washington, D.C. albums!

Hayden

Location: CDMX

I didn't quite understand/enjoy Inside too much, but I did think 'Welcome To The Internet' was a mile-ahead standout. As terrible as it is to say, I think the project could have been better muted Confused

Or some Lynch-ian audio stuff.

Anyway, some recs—

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Stories From Another Time 1982-19... Rui Silva

Angolan singer/songwriter comp. Somewhere between Jorge Ben and Paul Simon's Graceland phase. For a comp, sadly there's a few rougher tracks early on, but the final 3/4s is really good. Took me a second to settle in, but it's probably one of the better things I've heard this year. Going to give it another spin this weekend.

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Será Que Ahora Podremos Entendernos? by Mabe Fratti

Mabe Fratti put out exactly the record I wanted her to Very Happy

This is an excellent work highlighting her strengths. It's the sound I was hoping she'd undertake moving forward. Heavenly ambient neo-classical, but not skimping out on chamber-operatic vocals. Think it's improvised too. Lovely record. Cover's fitting too. Feels like plants would dig it.

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Strands by Hyunhye Seo

Hair music.

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Papier-Mâché Chalet by Andrew M...; Th' Mole

If you gave somebody who's never heard hip-hop a vague description of what hip-hop is and threw them into a studio to make an album, I think you'd get this. Very odd, captivating, unique bit of spitting.

Gave the new Tyler a spin too. No opinion just yet. Need to dive back in. Def think there's some highs and lows, but apparently not everyone agrees with what I thought the highs and lows were.