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.
- Chart updated: 02/12/2022 23:15
- (Created: 01/24/2021 03:31).
- Chart size: 88 albums.
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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]
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]
Jungle metal
Really interesting evolution from Kaatayra's last one. That one was a pretty standard black metal album with Brazilian influences that felt light and hot instead of dark and cold. This one feels even more sunny and plays around with folk elements even more than the last one, with the first track being a cool minimalist guitar thing. Really enjoyed it. [First added to this chart: 01/20/2022]
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]
Their The Good Son
I've read comparisons between Iceage and Nick Cave in the past and while I can't really articulate where the comparisons lie myself I do think their sounds are a bit similar. Cold, almost uncaring lyrics and post punk blues. I've always preferred Cave at his most tender, as my favorites from him are Push the Sky Away, Skeleton Tree, The Boatman's Call, "Straight to You," etc. I've never really cared for his punkier, more manic stuff. But with Iceage it's the opposite: I love them when they sound their drunkest and sloppiest.
So the first time I listened to "Shelter Song" I was a bit confused. I didn't think a song with a gospel choir was what I wanted from them. But after a few more listens it really clicked. It's pretty funny that the song is called Shelter Song because Cave's The Good Son was the album where he got a bit more restrained and it had four songs called "Blank Song." I guess that makes Beyondless their Tender Prey, which I can kind of see, but the comparison breaks down there because Plowing Into the Field of Love is pretty much the best post punk album ever and I don't care for Cave's earlier stuff.
Anyway, back to our Danish boys, the opener here is a bit of a red herring because the next track could have slotted into Beyondless and not been out of place. The album does play with softer sounds elsewhere though, especially on "Drink Rain." The other album highlights - "Vendetta" and "The Holding Hand" - are also more lush and pretty, and it really works. Honestly I like Elias's voice so much they could put out a mediocre album and I'd still enjoy it, but I'm happy to report this is another hit that moves their sound just enough forward to stay fresh without losing the things I liked about them. [First added to this chart: 05/16/2021]
Pakistani jazz
Jazz is so hit or miss for me, it's either a transcendent religious experience or an endless noodle fest. This is very much the former, cool mix of flutes and probably other instruments too but I wasn't focusing on those. [First added to this chart: 09/29/2021]
Comeback synth pop
After going with a big name producer on their last album, CHVRCHES goes back to self production and the result is a glorious return to form. Their last one wasn't bad, it just didn't stand out in the way their first two had. But that crisp sleekness is back here and this one stands right with their first two. "Asking for a Friend" and "Nightmares" are two of my favorites, but the one with Robert Smith is also really great. [First added to this chart: 09/29/2021]
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]
Bedroom Radiohead R&B
While writing about Jazmine Sullivan's EP I considered writing something like "this is an album that R&B fans should listen to because it's a solid album but nothing special." The idea being that lackluster albums can appeal to fans of a sound but not necessarily folks who are picky about that sound. So color me surprised that this not very innovative album from Arlo Parks tickled every R&B pleasure zone I have. I guess I can't really say why, but part of it is her voice. The production is also very crisp, and while it has some indie flavors - use of guitars, Radiohead interpolations, Twin Peaks namedrops - it's definitely a pop album.
Early AOTY but so many of these albums need more listens. [First added to this chart: 03/05/2021]
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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]
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Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 composition
Artist | Albums | % | |
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R.A.P. Ferreira | 2 | 2% | |
Lana Del Rey | 2 | 2% | |
Fiddlehead | 1 | 1% | |
Viagra Boys | 1 | 1% | |
Wolves In The Throne Room | 1 | 1% | |
파란노을 [Parannoul] | 1 | 1% | |
Kacey Musgraves | 1 | 1% | |
Show all |
Country | Albums | % | |
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55 | 63% | ||
14 | 16% | ||
3 | 3% | ||
3 | 3% | ||
2 | 2% | ||
2 | 2% | ||
2 | 2% | ||
Show all |
Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 chart changes
Biggest climbers |
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Up 3 from 6th to 3rd Inpariquipê by Kaatayra |
Biggest fallers |
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Down 1 from 3rd to 4th Glow On by Turnstile |
Down 1 from 4th to 5th Seek Shelter by Iceage |
Down 1 from 5th to 6th Nafs At Peace by جو بھی [Jaubi] |
Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 similarity to your chart(s)
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Other year charts (from the 2020s) by babyBlueSedan
Top 19 Music Albums of 2023 by babyBlueSedan (2023)Top 97 Music Albums of 2022 by babyBlueSedan (2022)
Top 100 Music Albums of 2020 by babyBlueSedan (2021)
Top 88 Music Albums of 2021 ratings
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N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 3 ratings for this chart.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
02/09/2022 19:45 | DJENNY | 4,408 | 100/100 | |
06/06/2021 13:24 | travelful | 209 | 99/100 | |
05/18/2021 08:34 | Purplepash | 1,331 | 88/100 |
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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.
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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