Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 by babyBlueSedan

My new year's resolution, besides stopping all the pollution, is to create a happy, positive 2021 year chart. Nice critiques only! Well, at least as far as I can without saying nice things about bad albums, because positivity without realism is worthless. But in a positive way!

Also putting more effort into nonsensical genres because what's more fun than that?!

May update: well so much for positivity - I feel like my rating has gotten even harsher. My optimistic side thinks it's because I've heard so much good music that it's harder for new things I hear to stand out, but my pessimistic side thinks it's because I'm too old and can no longer enjoy new music. I guess in both cases it just means I'm even pickier now.

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United States Low
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80/100
Disintegration noise

Low have shown up as a top 5 band on my Spotify Wrapped a few times now, and if they don't take the top spot this year I'll be pretty shocked*. You'd think based on that they're one of my favorite bands, but I actually find them really hit or miss. The amount I listen to them is based on trying all of their albums in the hopes I'll find one that's consistent; I swear they all have one or two amazing songs but are also all way too long and are dragged down by the one or two songs that are not just slow but actively against moving toward any kind of resolution. Trust is probably my favorite of theirs but it's an 80 tops and the majority of their stuff is in the 65-70 range for me.

I feel like I've reached some type of peace this year though in deciding that their early albums are not my thing. As I said, they have some gems. "Words" is an all timer, "Lullaby" is really nice, and the one-two punch of "Do You Know How to Waltz?" into "Dark" at the end of Curtain Hits the Cast may be my favorite moment of theirs on record. But overall they're just too slow. Which always seemed to be the point to me, so I thought I was missing the point of the band. But Double Negative saved me a bit, as it introduced me to their broken, noisy side. This led me back to Ones and Sixes (underrated, should have listened sooner) and The Great Destroyer. That one always seemed to get flack for being the antithesis of Low, but I think its overblown, pushing the speakers towards distortion loudness really suited the band. They started slow and quiet because they wanted to be the antithesis of alt rock, but The Great Destroyer isn't a Nirvana album. It's still intentionally difficult and off-putting, in its own way.

And in that sense I think HEY WHAT is The Great Destroyer more fully realized. It's not just loud but also fractured, the sound of a consistently broken mental state recorded onto wax. The first time I heard the anti-gospel of "Days Like These" I was blown away, only to be absolutely obliterated at the reprise of the main melody, the one where it blasts into the red and you can hear your speakers blowing out. It wasn't necessarily that I hadn't heard anything like it before, but I hadn't heard this done in this way, so sweetly soothing and uplifting but also drowned in tinnitus and ennui. So fuck if I wasn't absolutely floored by "More," which was even better, and pretty much the ideal of what I want from noisy music.

Thankfully this isn't just 45 minutes of "More," because that would be unbearable. But the rest still manages to be both beautiful and ugly, with harmonies set next to what must be a minute straight of the same chord between the first two songs. This is as cold and bleak as the Duluth winter, but also something that I feel fully envelops me, which I can't say about their first few albums. Low's trajectory reminds me a lot of Nick Cave's at least in the sense that this late career trilogy of albums are - against all odds - their best work.

*They took the second spot, behind Modest Mouse. I forgot I got obsessed with them once more and listened to all their albums a couple times over the summer. But Days Like These was my top song.
[First added to this chart: 09/29/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
1,005
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80/100
Rock out

Torres rocks out after a couple albums of more synth leaning stuff, and it's her best collection of hooks yet.
[First added to this chart: 09/15/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
127
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4. (3) Down1
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75/100
Dream pop punk

Dream pop = :(

Dream pop + punk + nu metal guitars = :O

I feel like I've heard so many "rewriting the rules of punk" albums that have let me down that I never thought I'd actually hear one that met my expectations, but this one did. It shouldn't work to throw together pop rap choruses, Blood Orange features, nu metal breakdowns, and cowbell solos but somehow this does and it's the best punk album of the year.
[First added to this chart: 09/29/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
806
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70/100
Garbage rap bars

Pretty cool to hear Aesop back on Blockhead beats, even if these are a lot more minimal than the stuff on Labor Days. I like this a lot more than Aesop's album from last year, I think in part because of the production, but he seems to be a bit more focused here. And he's rapping about my favorite things: garbage and being a piece of shit. The one track I don't quite get is Difficult because the dude spends most of his time talking about how antisocial he is and then he has a hook about being easy to deal with? I have to assume the song is a joke.

Also I'm glad no one told me billy woods was on this before I listened to it because I would have been real disappointed when I figured out he only had backing vocals on one hook. Man, a billy woods x Aesop Rock album would make my life.
[First added to this chart: 12/10/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
51
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Buy album United States
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70/100
Post-twinkle math emo

"It turns out summer friends are only around for the summer" is a devastating lyric and if you try to tell me it's dumb / simplistic I'll make sure you wind up wearing a hospital bracelet.

Last year I wrote about an enjoyable Snarls record and said it didn't have That Thing that separated it from other late period 4th wave emo (we are still in the 4th wave, right? Personally I feel like we've entered a 5th wave but I don't want to be presumptuous). This album also doesn't have A Thing but I think it also kind of proves that you don't necessarily need A Thing to be successful. By A Thing I mean like the fact that Pinegrove are the country emo band or Touche Amore's Stage Four was so specific in its grieving. Actually scanning through most of the most of the recent emo albums I've liked most of them don't have A Thing so maybe I prefer good songwriting to gimmicks. Anyway, Hospital Bracelet sounds a lot like other recent emo acts, alternating between pop punk songs and mathy riffs. They flow together well though they alternated all the fast and slow songs so listening is a bit of a roller coaster. Despite this all of the songs are a treat, with the highlight probably being the closer which I already quoted above. The most common topics are betrayal and the way we treat others, with what I imagine is a lot of subtext about toxic relationships. I don't tend to like songs that are basically just "fuck yous" to some unnamed people, but the ones on this album feel justified given the hurt that was obviously caused. Perhaps that's always true and it's just more convincing here. In that way I enjoy the lyrics not because there are witty one liners or because they're specific in an affecting way but because you can hear the pain in them despite that lack of specificity.

The sixth song on this album has a bunch of D&D references and it's super cheesy but also pretty enjoyable because it's knowingly cheesy. Like how you can hear someone sing "when you told me that you didn’t love me like I loved you it was a critical hit" and not smile?
[First added to this chart: 02/20/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
29
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Buy album United States
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70/100
Growing up punk

Cloud Nothings are the new Guided By Voices. Consider their career:

- Started out as a solo act where Dylan Baldi threw together indie pop albums by himself
- Hit it big with two acclaimed albums that featured a messy, rough sound
- Cleaned up their sound a bit and made the hardcore fans sad
- Started releasing an amount of music that's impossible to keep up with, including one new EP every month

OK, these aren't perfect comparisons, but the prolific nature of the band over the past year - driven mostly by the pandemic - makes it work. Also, Baldi is secretly a genius pop hook writer, capable of going toe to toe with Robert Pollad in that regard. The fact that the band made it big with Attack on Memory, their most abrasive record, has probably skewed public perception of them a bit. Fans wanted the messiness forever while ignoring that "Stay Useless" and "Cut You" and "Now Hear In" and "I'm Not Part of Me" were perfect pop songs under their rock guise, kind of like the songs on Bee Thousand. So the fact that the band is churning out perfect 2-3 minute slabs of poppy indie rock shouldn't really surprise anyone.

Not to brag, but I was on board with Life Without Sound from the beginning and I think the critical opinion on that is only going to go up over the years. I also enjoyed their return to noise on Last Building Burning and then admittedly kind of stopped following them last year because there was just too much music. I know the band's gotta eat, but there are other things I want to listen to. This one though is the return of Steve Alibini, so I had to check it out. And while I wasn't sure at first, it eventually won me over. The band has always used keyboards a bit, but they're even more present here, to great effect. The occasional female vocals also really help make his something special. Baldi is an underrated vocalist and, as mentioned, knows his way around a hook, and this has just enough punk to spice things up a little. Highlights include "Open Rain," the second track whose name I don't remember and "Am I Something."

A decade ago I really only listened to music by my favorite bands and ignored everything else, preferring subpar releases by those bands to expanding my horizons. Over the years I grew more accustomed to seeking acclaimed albums than following artists, and while it helped me find a lot of music I love there's something comforting about having those artists where they can put out anything and you'll enjoy it. Cloud Nothings is definitely one of those artists for me. There are a lot of artists I like for a certain reason and I won't really follow them as they change their sound, but time has shown I'll follow this band anywhere. And that's nice. It also means I know this placement on this list is a bit ridiculous, so feel free to ignore this one if you don't love the band. That's what I do when I see people put the Foo Fighters on their charts in the year of our lord 2021. But music evaluation is always going to be informed by personal taste so I don't mind stanning this band for half a decade.
[First added to this chart: 03/05/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
80
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Buy album United States
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70/100
Sequel to the Prequel

I hate the concept of sequels to albums that are over a decade old. It feels like they usually come out at a time when the artist's popularity has waned and they're trying to get people to listen to their new album by painting it to a return to an old sound. That said, I will listen to such an album 11/10 times, even if I don't expect it to be all that great (see the Return of Dr. Octagon or whatever). After all, as much as I say I want artists to evolve, I actually want nothing more than something that sounds pretty much the same as the thing I really liked before.

I'm by no means an expert on BtBaM's discography (outside of the original Colors I've only heard The Great Misdirect), so I can't really speak to whether this is a return to an old sound or just a stylistic return. But it really does remind me of Colors, especially in two ways. First is the way it all flows together, with the album basically being one long song. Second is the way the non-metal bits slide in and feel pretty natural. There's nothing as unexpected and fun as the hoe-down portion of "Ants in the Sky," but there are some left turns.

Possibly not an album I can say is objectively good, but an album I loved on first listen and will probably be listening to quite a few more times.
[First added to this chart: 10/02/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
41
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Buy album United States
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70/100
DIY birthday

I loved Sir Babygirl's 2019 Crush on Me, and this feels like a nice companion to that. It's got the same DIY music while still having some real bops, and while unlike Crush on Me it has a little filler, it's a mixtape so what do you expect? The folk song covers don't do much for me but the Not My Baby cover more than makes up for that.
[First added to this chart: 11/29/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
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Rank Score:
6
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Buy album United States
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70/100
Stand up comedy rap

I listened to this back when it came out, but I didn't rate it until months later because I had no idea how to rate it. Bruiser Wolf is a great rapper. And a terrible one. This makes no sense as a rap album. And it's the freshest rap album I've heard in a while.

The first time I listened to this I was listening to Bruiser Wolf ad lib and was waiting for the song to actually start, and at some point I realized that I was listening to the song, similar to the first time I watched the Free Churro episode of Bojack Horseman and realized that the monologue was the episode. .I was really thrown off, and I think I actually gave up a few songs in. I was not in the mood for that. But I came back later and really felt it. Then I tried again and couldn't stand it. And I listened to it later and loved it again.

I'm not sure I'd call what Bruiser Wolf does rapping. His flow is barely a flow, he's kind of just throwing out jokes. It's not that he's off beat, he just doesn't structure his lyrics in a normal rap way. And I think that's awesome. And it doesn't hurt that this is actually really funny. "I gave her the Johnson two times like baby powder." "I don't play with n***** like Babe Ruth." It feels like he's grabbing low hanging fruit by making a rap album entirely composed of jokes, but Mitch Hedburg is maybe my favorite stand-up comic so I can appreciate quick wit without much build-up. And Free Churro is actually my favorite Bojack Horseman episode, once I adjusted my expectations. This isn't my favorite rap album, but I can't rate this lower than a 70 considering how wild and legitimately fun it is.
[First added to this chart: 11/29/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
Appears in:
Rank Score:
24
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Buy album United States
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70/100
Laurel Canyon Cosplay

I was initially unsure how to feel about this one given that it's a lot more straightforward than NFR. But NFR is a once in a generation masterpiece, so it would be unfair to compare this directly against it. After a few listens I agree with Stereogum's review that this is a really pleasant, different album.

If I had to some up the differences quickly I'd say this is a much more vocal focused album. NFR was grand but still intricate and subdued, verses and choruses flowing together and Lana's voice flitting between them. Here the musical backings are much sparser, and Lana is front in center in it all. Nowhere is this more apparent than the opening track - the easy highlight - which feels almost like a soul song with the way Lana strains her voice when she sings "down in OrlAndo" or the "meninmusicbusiness conference" parts. There are other tracks that almost feel a cappella, like "Not All Who Wander Are Lost." There is a bit of a lull in the middle but "Yosemite" helps pick things back up and the closing stretch is really strong too. So yeah, certainly not a gamechanger like NFR but still very enjoyable.

If I have one complaint it's that the first two tracks are the best, and then "Tulsa Jesus Freak" is probably the worst despite it having such a great title.
[First added to this chart: 04/06/2021]
Year of Release:
2021
Appears in:
Rank Score:
626
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Total albums: 55. Page 1 of 6

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Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 composition

Country Albums %


United States 55 63%
United Kingdom 14 16%
Australia 3 3%
Canada 3 3%
Sweden 2 2%
Pakistan 2 2%
Denmark 2 2%
Show all
Live? Albums %
No 87 99%
Yes 1 1%

Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 chart changes

Biggest climbers
Climber Up 3 from 6th to 3rd
Inpariquipê
by Kaatayra
Biggest fallers
Faller Down 1 from 3rd to 4th
Glow On
by Turnstile
Faller Down 1 from 4th to 5th
Seek Shelter
by Iceage
Faller Down 1 from 5th to 6th
Nafs At Peace
by جو بھی [Jaubi]

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Top 19 Music Albums of 2023 by babyBlueSedan (2023)
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Top 100 Music Albums of 2020 by babyBlueSedan (2021)

Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 ratings

Average Rating: 
89/100 (from 3 votes)
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From 06/13/2021 16:13
Thanks for the rec! I've definitely been out of the hip hop loop the past few years, I hadn't even heard of Mach-Hommy until he showed up on one of billy woods's albums in 2019. I think I knew about the album he released a single copy of before hearing about the new one but then I saw he's got a huge discography and wasn't sure where to go next. It's hard for me to find the time lately to spend digesting new hip hop albums to the extent they deserve but I'll try to give it a chance when I can.
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From 06/06/2021 13:29
Glad you liked Mach-Hommy! He's one of the most underrated rappers currently, and its primarily his fault for making his music so inaccessible. His best album in my opinion is "Haitian Body Odor" (HBO) and thankfully it's on SoundCloud. Similar to "Pray For Haiti" it released under Griselda Records. It was his Griselda debut back in 2016 before him and Westside Gunn had a falling out due to creative differences. I think it's a top 10 hip-hop album of the last decade, maybe it would interest you.

Always love following your charts.
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Recognised  Decade Charts (2020s)
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20. Die besten Platten 2010-2019 by Spex (2019)
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