Welcome to my 2021 music recap!
In this recap:
Top 25 Albums of 2021+ honorable mentions
Top 25 Songs of 2021 + honorable mentions
2021 Superlatives
(Check out my T0p Songs of 2021 Spotify playlist here)
TOP 25 ALBUMS OF 2021:
25. Imperative Imperceptible Impulse - Ad Nauseum
This album actually does feel a bit imperceptible, in the sense that the guitars are locked into such dissonant contrast the whole time, that between that and the growling vocals, your ability to zero in on one part of the music seems tested. It really feels like it's pulling apart the fabric of reality. All that you can comprehend is the imperceptibility of it's heaviness. Highlighted in this album is the potential for dissonant counterpoint between guitars that are hard panned left and right, and how it creates evocative harmonic conflict without sounding messy - well... without sounding messy in the bad way.24. Smiling with No Teeth - Genesis Owusu
It feels so conversational and thrown together. It feels so laid back and carefree. It's like the substance of the album is hidden beneath a veneer of confident apathy. It's poetry is concealed within tranquil sounding rap that teeters on the line of spoken word, and subtly catchy falsetto hooks. And yet every hook is catchy, and every lyric seemingly has something deeper to delve into. Also, incredible finesse by the drummer and bassist underneath all these songs. And often very creative instrumental palates.23. The Silent Bell Tolls - Terminus
There's a magical sort of juxtaposition going on in Terminus' music. You have, on the one hand, gritty sludge metal riffs laying the foundation to their songs. On the other hand, innocent, cartoonish vocals and big thematic guitar harmonies. It definitely has a sort of destructive and apocalyptic quality. And yet, at the same time, it sounds like all the animals got together for a sing-a-long scene. Maybe it's like.. Disney's animated adaptation of the apocalypse... Clearly, at least, there is something special they're evoking with this contrast. And also, the riffs are crushing. The vocal harmonies are enchanting. The harmonized guitar parts inspire visions of heroism.22. Playing House - MEER
It kinds of feels like age-old music, with it's orchestral instrumentation, it's mythological lyrics, it's Scandinavian folk influences, but it also feels so fresh, as it comes together to make an incredibly sophisticated art rock record. In fact, the range of emotions is perhaps the key to this album's power. The vocal parts flow effortlessly between the mighty belts of the female singer and some tender, more folkloric harmonies between her and the male singer, which creates a sublime contrast throughout the record. The female vocals are really fantastic throughout. And the symphonic elements are magnificently crafted and really shine to the forefront. This really doesn't feel like rock music with orchestral elements added. I'm super impressed with how sophisticated and varied the symphonic aspects of the music are. The songs feels so colorful. So vibrant.21. Welcome to the Garden - Emily Steinwall
Incredible vocal arrangments are the common thread throughout this album. Not to outdo herself, Steinwall occasionally breaks from those gorgeous clouds of vocal harmonies to rip a saxophone solo. She seems to be quite the remarkably talented human. And yet, this album is not so much a showcase of one musician's individual greatness, unless the talent being showcased is the talent to forge totally beautiful and enchanting songs.20. Witness - VOLA
What seems to be a sort of inverted, black sun on the album cover, depicts a similar inversion of emotions as to what's evoked on this album. Their heaviest dynamic features some absolutely bleak and mechanical riffs and grooves, and yet, they offset that artistic inhumanity with parts that sound totally vulnerable and gentle. The heavy, mechanical parts are the most intense, and the emotional parts are the most subdued. It's something more real than pain contrasted against pleasure: it's pain contrasted against comfort. The commonality between it all seems to be the distance. It feels like an emotion that we reach for in the distance amidst the vast nothing.19. Imaginary Visions - Miho Hazama
It's easy to become so infatuated with the improvisational spirit of jazz, that you can forget just how powerful a meticulously crafted big band arrangement can sound. Not that there is no improv on this album - there are some great solos for sure, but what is really phenomenal about this record are the bombastic brass arrangements. A lot of credit has to go to the drummer as well who skillfully carries all sorts of unique grooves throughout.18. I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses - Backxwash
Take the very forceful, masculine spirit of the most hardcore of hardcore rap, and use it as the vehicle to express your inner-most traumas. That's compelling in it's own right, but what Backxwash does here is make essentially the heaviest rap I've ever heard. It is abrasive and uncomfortable at every moment. It's not just a rap album with metal-influences - she does everything she can do sonically and vocally to push the listener into confrontation with her demons.17. Hushed & Grim - Mastodon
The title actually perfectly describes the unique emotive territory Mastodon lures you into. There's less catchy-fodder here, less masculine heaviness; those things provide the contrast against something more transcendent and sage. Most memorable about this album is the ghostly, mystical instrumental atmospheres, and the often distant, calling-out-from-the-unknown-in-desperation sounding vocals. Well that, and the soul-shaking guitar solos that give many of these songs their emotional high point.16. Dialog: Ich und Du; The Wrath of God; The Light of the End - Sofia Gubaidulina
The compositions of a 90-year old woman who grew up in Stalin's Soviet Union, and studied banned western composers in secret insubordination of her government's restrictions - is pretty much a good enough way of explaining the spirit of this album. Something about that life seems so tangible in the darkness and the chaos of her music. It's expression in such a dramatic and fanciful way, well still pushing the limits of dissonance and aggression in classical music, somehow serves as a ultra-real representation of the horrors of earth, and more so even, a rebellion against the forces that tried and failed to suppress that dramatization to be expressed.15. Bright Green Field - Squid
Funk-punk is much more compelling of a sound than I thought, or at least, that's what I'm calling this. Dialing back the distortion on their guitars, locking into tight grooves while the often clean guitars stab at dissonant chords, while their singer squeaks and yells anti-profound phrases, is somehow so harmonious of a sonic concept. It's almost like the natural appeal of that funky element contrasted against the dissonance and craziness has the same ironic feeling as the intentionally unwise sounding lyrics do. It just feels like there's something hidden behind the curtain of pleasantry and fun; something deranged.14. New Axial Age - The Mask of Phantasm
This album actually features a couple people who have been involved with The Mars Volta, including legendary drummer Thomas Pridgen, who indeed puts on a fantastic performance on every song. But I don't think that the comparison is that apt. This music is very directly emotional, rather than psychedelically distant and cartoonish in the way The Mars Volta often were. In fact, the composer/guitarist who seems to have brought this project together explicitly cited the murder of his father 10 years ago as the central influence of the project. The tense sort of rhythmic eccentricity of the album really accentuates that, along with the extremely passionate female vocals. These songs aren't really catchy; they really feel like consolidations of deep trauma, fighting for a fleeting sense of closure.13. Mood Valiant - Hiatus Kaiyote
You rarely see a band push the expectations of how creative and detailed that the general style of music that they fall into is expected to be. They retain the beauty of neo-soul and vocal jazz and the energy of funk, simultaneously, and show pretty decisively that there is way way more to be done with those sounds. Incredible, adventurous vocal performances and arrangements as well. Fantastic basslines. Entrancing, assertive production using a lot of modern compression/side-chaining techniques on this as well, which makes it even more exciting.12. A Prayer for Lester Bowie - David Sandford Big Band
There's always been this association I've made between Charles Mingus-type big band avant-garde jazz and that sort of melancholic and apathetic feeling-down-and-out-in-the-city vibe, which I find really powerful. This album seems to reach into that emotion but tends to divulge into a bit of a darker territory. It's deeper into the gutters of that city that big band jazz has always evoked. There's always still a sense of whimsicality, indicative of this style, despite how dark and heavy the compositions build up to, and it's quite impressive just to hear how those emotions are balanced against each other in a cohesive away.11. Colors II - Between the Buried and Me
The complexity is awe-inspiring, and the transitions makes me laugh in excitement, but tying these songs together are thematic, theatrical climaxes and glorious melodies. The end product, is an album that takes you into an infernal world that moves between maniacal futuristic chaos and grand, fantastical expressions of human greatness.10. Engine of Hell - Emma Ruth Rundle
Emma Ruth Rundle releasing a stripped down singer-songwriter album felt inevitable. The emotion of her vocals and songwriting needed to be presented in this way and she waited for the perfect time it seems; as she hashes out some very deep personal trauma in the most direct of ways. The light, muted strumming of her acoustic guitar and the washed out pianos illustrate an emotional lethargy and exhaustion while her voice tugs away aggressively at your heart. Take note of the dynamics in her vocal performances, and even just how she embellishes certain parts by breaking away from her usual quiet strumming on the guitar to raise the volume just at the right moment. She takes a holistic approach to her performances - giving herself totally to her songs in a way that you can really feel.9. Cavalcade - black midi
"Not crazy enough" is what black midi said to themselves after their quite intensely crazy debut album a few years ago. The addition of avant-garde jazz horns expands the horizons of their musical insanity exponentially. Yet not to be overlooked is the wonderfully effective jazzification of the mellower aspects of their music as well, which was in some sense a far more surprising development and made the inclusion of free jazz-adjacent chaos feel even more authentic.8. Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish
From the darkness of her first album emerges and beacon of hope and brightness. That positivity is still channeled through the delicate angst and anxiety that has characterized her music before though. It comes not from blissful ignorance, but rather maturity, expressed through classic sounding jazzy harmonies and vocal inflections, guided by her trademark subtlety, the use of more stripped, acoustic instrumentation, and by breaking out of it at just the right moments.7. The Raging River - Cult of Luna
Supposedly a 5-song "EP" clocking in at 38 minutes long... I'm not buying it. This is a full post-metal album with sprawling mostly 8-12 minute long compositions, thickened by the constant layering of synthesizers over it's colossal guitar foundations. The short tracklist actually emphasizes the largeness of each of these songs, both in length and in heaviness. And the heaviness is just so captivating.6. Bloodmoon: I - Converge & Chelsea Wolfe
One of those rare collaborations that almost seems to good to be true. As if Chelsea Wolfe's juxtaposition of darkness and beauty wasn't staggering enough, mixing it with the seminal chaos of Converge created the environment for an unprecedented level of emotive contrast. What makes it great is that they don't rely on their respective comfort zones, and so it doesn't feel like so much of a mix, but rather a new band all together, with their own new sound, notably defined by the heavy Americana influence that presents itself throughout the album.5. For the First Time - Black Country, New Road
In the great merger between post-punk and avant-garde jazz that seems to have taken place in 2021 (see black midi and Squid above), Black Country, New Road are the band that set the blueprint. It's not just that they released theirs first; this album brings the best of those two sounds together as if they were always meant to be, in what feels like their rawest forms.4. A Beginner's Mind - Sufjan Stevens & Angel De Augustine
If the bare-boobed angel-demon on the cover didn't tip you off, this isn't another nice indie folk album. Amidst the beautifully comforting cloud of vocal harmonies, acoustic guitars and pianos, there's is an unavoidably ominous and mythological aura of darkness surrounding it at all times. The beauty is so much more than what it appears to be. This album is human in the most profound way.3. Uneasy - Vijay Iyer
It's tough to pull off an album this powerful with such sparse instrumentation (just piano, drums and bass), but they fill the space up and create such dynamic contrast between the three of them that you're really able to feel how each piece evolves, and that has an intensely natural emotional quality to it. Each track on this album is a living organism. They're pulling back the curtain and revealing the emotional power at the core of jazz as a genre. And honestly, all three of them we're in serious contention for what I would consider the best performance at each of their instruments from all the albums I heard this year.2. Aphelion - Leprous
To say 'never a dull moment' is an understatement; it's incredible how densely packed with ideas this album is. It feels like a really painstakingly constructed album. Every vocal performance is laden with unique melodic choices. The drum parts are thoughtfully catered to every moment. The string arrangments, very liberally utilized, are remarkably creative in the way they expand the emotive atmosphere of each song. And the intense dynamic contrast of each composition maximizes all of this tremendously. It's tough to even write about because I don't know what to focus on; there's just so much to appreciate. Amazing vocal melodies and dynamics. Sublimely finesseful drumming. Magnificent string arrangments.1. The Machine Is Burning and Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again - BRUIT ≤
There's something amazing about the compositions, something in the height of their climaxes that seems to transcend anything like it that I've heard before. At it's most intense points, this album feels like it's pulling you back and forth between heaven and earth. Not to mention the macro-structure of the album, which perfectly situates the climactic inner-structure of the album: starting of with an incredibly powerful but not super long finale in the first song, a more reserved climax in the second, a comparatively subtle yet deceptively heavy atmospheric surge of sound in the penultimate track, all laying the groundwork for the ultra-long, euphorically endless-feeling crescendo of the final song, which takes up most of it's length, before ending on the mellowest few minutes of the LP.Post-rock has always been related to classical music in spirit because the feeling in conjures is so much closer to classical than rock or pop or jazz. But on this album, the magnificent swelling string arrangements juxtaposed against immaculate drum grooves, and cinematic electronics and ambiance, create a sound that feels like the amalgamation of everything humanity has discovered it can do with music to evoke emotion, and given the sort of apocalyptic/environmentalist subject matter indicated by the title and the spoken word sections, it really feels like this is the the last great artistic expression of human civilization. I mean, hopefully not... but it sure feels that way.
Honorable Mention Albums (in no order):
De Doorn - Amenra
Donda - Kanye West
An Evening with Silk Sonic - Silk Sonic
Bent Knee - Frosting
Steven Wilson - The Future Bites
Plague Accommodations (EP) - Thank You Scientist
Promises - Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra
Raise the Roof - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
This Place Will Be Your Tomb - Sleep Token
The Turning Wheel - Spellling
Van Goh's Left Ear - Zelooperz
Vulture Prince - Arooj Aftab
TOP 25 SONGS OF 2021:
25. Hardline - Julien Baker
Start asking for forgiveness in advance / For all the future things I will destroy". The filtered organ sounds she uses evoke such a strong sense of timelessness, and in conjunction with the lyrics, makes this song a painfully uplifting ballad of peace-making with one's own destructive faults.24. Return - Emma Ruth Rundle
I've always thought that Emma Ruth Rundle had one of the most vulnerable, heart-clutching voices I'd ever heard. Until I heard this song I'd never heard that voice singing over a stripped down piano song and that feels criminal. The dynamic fragility of her singing here is stunningly emotional. The sort of harmonic minor sounding refrain of "Return to me / Return again" is chilling.23. Subtraf - David Sanford Big Band
The eerie opening of this one sets such a cinematic atmosphere, and then the building bluesy, distorted guitar solo takes things into such a dirty sounding place. I was so pleased to hear that guitar come in and dirty things up even more the first time I heard this song. The dynamics really stand out, as the track takes on a very dissonant and turbulent avant-garde big band form as it goes on. It feels so murky. So sluggish. It's sort of catatonic in really powerful way.22. The Floor is Lava - Bent Knee
I had very mixed feelings about this album - I love Bent Knee, but they introduced some significant hyperpop elements into this album and I don't know if it's me, but I just can't deal with that sound. However, there were a number of fantastic songs, and this was my favorite, which is even surprising to me, because I didn't think it would be at first. Something about the palpable innocence of this song really stuck with me. From the radio vocal effects, the angelic sort of choir part, and the extended ambient outro with what sounds like the audio of an old family video tape - this feels like more than a song. I also really really love the title of the song and how perfectly it fits in with the vibe they're trying to present with it.21. Burn to Ash - Backxwash
The constant abrasiveness of this album breaks away for a moment near the end of this song, giving way to pianos and these lyrics "I am so sorry for you know just how I am hurting / This is my problem, you don’t deserve it / I feel unworthy without any purpose / I cherish the time we spent together / Every moment is making it worth it / I never talk about how I am feeling / I don’t wan' bother or make you feel nervous". Given how aggressive the rest of the album is, it's really quite the moment of vulnerability.20. Leave the Door Open - Silk Sonic
This song is actually incredibly sophisticated, and as a music nerd I'm so happy to hear something like this being put out with this much attention. I mean the key changes, the harmonies... it's incredibly impressive. Sure, it's cheesy. But it's a great song. Amazingly produced. Immaculately sung.19. The Silent Bell Toll - Terminus
A massive sounding track thanks to the thematic guitar harmonies and big riffs, but also one where Terminus' unique vocal approach shines, as they croon in harmony "I still believe in you".18. Beehive - MEER
"She'll stick your head in the beehive!" - That line gets me every time. She sounds absolutely ferocious there. Her vocals on this song are so good. Combined with the orchestral elements, it's all so powerful. Love how the song moves between very dark verses, bright pre-chorus, and the epic chorus.17. Waitin' on Ya - Genesis Owusu
Catchy laid-back falsetto chorus. Quasi-melodic rapping verses. Phenomenal basslines. Tight drumming. A perfect neo-soul song.16. Blood Moon - Converge & Chelsea Wolfe
There is no artist better to convey belligerence and chaos than Converge, and no artist better to convey eeriness, and the beauty of darkness than Chelsea Wolfe. On this song, those world are brought together so distinctly, and so completely, to monstrous effect.15. Keeper - Nubiyan Twist (feat. CHERISE)
A combination of jazz, funk, and prog rock like I've never heard. The build up with the piano solo and into the powerful vocals with the Spanish brass flare is thrilling.14. Dissipating - Wheel
The gradual, mellow build up that the song starts with, along with the existential lyrics, perfectly set up the incredible rhythmically berserk riffing in the last few minutes. I marvel at all the twists and turns they take that riffing in for the ending.13. Off the Grid - Kanye West (feat. Playboi Carti and Fivio Foreign)
Liturgical choir-type sounds clash with eccentric basslines and hard drums in one of Kanye's most intense production efforts. Playboi Carti's verse serves almost as a surreal quasi-melodic intro before Fivio Foreign and Kanye take dominance. An infectiously militant track.12. Configurations - Vijay Iyer
The production of this album is so soft and organic and the effect that has on darker tracks like this is really sublime; elegant maybe. This one gets pretty crazy as it goes along, and the piano playing is magnificent. It builds up into something that I might call 'heavy', but the finesse of their playing remains throughout the song and gives it a unique sort of jazzy coolness. It's a powerful juxtaposition.11. Atlantic - Sleep Token
What I really find compelling about Sleep Token, more so than just the combination of hyper-emotional pop balladry and metal/djent, is the haunting, cryptic atmosphere that shrouds the softer elements of their music - "I woke up surrounded, eyes like frozen planets / Just orbiting the vacuum I am / They talk me through the damage, consequence / And how it's a pain they know they don't understand". The vocal performance on this really weighs heavy on the soul. The actual heavy part seems like an outro, but in some sense it really keeps the focus on how intense the first few minutes were, well also featuring some outstanding drumming.10. Born for One Thing - Gojira
Combining the sort of innovative, noisy guitar playing that they are known for, at maximum intensity, with a melodic refrain positing that the human purpose is to overcome the fear of death - "Born to face the greatest fear of all". Really creative yet simple heaviness at the ending. Nothing can stand in your way as you're listening to this song.9. Nafs at Peace - Jaubi
Based around a really memorable theme and initiated by a beautiful piano intro, the core of the song is strong, but the performances are why it's on this list. Just listen to the saxophone and the drummer play off each other all-through the middle section of the track, and be amazed. Don't sleep on the sarangi solo at the end of the song either. If you don't know what a sarangi is, even more reason to listen.8. Nighttime Disguise - Leprous
An experiment in which Leprous did some sort of livestream session with their fans and wrote a song while having the fans vote on what to do, and that turned out so good they made it the closing song on their album. Coincidentally, this song ended up consolidating everything about Leprous that makes them a great band into a single track: groovy, rhythmic complexity, huge dynamic shifts, heavenly vocal highs, and a crushing, symphonic climax. Is this the future of composition?7. Welcome to the Garden - Emily Steinwall
A ten minute religious experience in music. It's relentlessly dense, featuring distorted guitars, pianos, and layers of vocal harmonies all jammed together in heavenly mayhem, and a terrific saxophone solo to top it off. Both an uncompromisingly beautiful and chaotic song.6. Opus - Black Country, New Road
The contrast of thematic continuity (provided by the saxophone and violin arrangement) and the blunt quirkiness of their post-punk influences makes for a remarkable fusion of rawness and grandiosity - "What we built must fall to the rising flamеs".5. Head Mounted Sideways - VOLA
You get to a point of headbanging near the end of this song and it feels legitimately shocking when you realize that things just got even heavier. The way the oddly-timed guitar bends offset the slow down-beat of the snare drum in the final riff is a perfect coalescence of rhythmic and pitch-based tension and resolution. And then to leave it with the haunting "blood has been spilt"... perfect composition.4. Three Bridges - Cult of Luna
An impeccable, epic post-metal composition. The dynamic shifts, stops, and build-ups in the final few minutes are about as powerful as metal music can get in making you feel like the world is falling apart around you.3. Your Power - Billie Eilish
The vocal performance here is just so memorable. It feels like it perfectly captures a moment in time, and yet, is also timeless; as if this is the first time that a certain universal truth has been pinned down and defined - "Try not to abuse your power".2. Industry - BRUIT ≤
The swelling string arrangements soar over the drum and bass groove in a sublime contrast of air and earth. The drummer takes this song over as it goes on, refusing to let go of the tension, and somehow, as things progress, this rhythmic eccentricity combines with the swelling strings to create a moment of unparalleled climactic instability, which just feels like you're being pulled back and forth by an energy exploding inside you.1. Movement 6 - Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, & The London Symphony Orchestra
Ambient jazz progresses into an overwhelmingly emotional symphonic apex; charming you into a state of peace, then making you feel everything. Everything.
Honorable Mention Songs (in no order):
Last Night - Arooj Aftab
The Price of Love - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
Creature Comfort - Thank You Scientist
Red Room - Hiatus Kaiyote
Let it Storm - Manchester Orchestra
Family Ties - Baby Keem (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
If You Say the Word - Radiohead
I Said Cool, You Said... What? - Miho Hazama
More Than I Could Chew - Mastodon
King Ghost - Steven Wilson
Het Gloren - Amenra
Never Seen / Future Shock - Between the Buried and Me
John L - black midi
Lumberjack - Tyler, the Creator
Narrator - Squid
Back to Oz - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
Green Altar - Chelsea Wolfe
2021 All-Star Band (i.e. My Favorite Individual Performances):
*Vocals/Guitar/Bass/Drums/and one other instrumentalist of my choice
Vocals: Einar Solberg (Leprous)
Guitar: Brent Hinds (Mastodon)
Bass: Michael Di Francesco (Genesis Owusu)
Drums: Julien Aoufi (BRUIT ≤)
Piano: Vijay Iyer
Riff/Motif of the Year:
Head Mounted Sideways - VOLA (ending riff)
Solo of the Year:
Nafs at Peace - Jaubi (Saxophone solo by Tenderlonious)
Chorus/Hook of the Year:
Your Power - Billie Eilish
Best Lyrical Song:
(This is) The Thing - Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
Best Album Art (based on how it contributes to the music):
Cavalcade - black midi
Best Sounding/Produced Album:
Happier Than Ever - Billie Eilish
