Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
What an incredible year for music. There were so many amazing releases this year that I had to keep track midway through the year so I would not forget the albums that were already out against the onslaught of albums yet to come.
Like many, this year was a continuation of COVID life. I actually found myself listening to music less while working from home somehow. I never realized how much I used music in the office just to drown out the noise pollution that comes with open office layouts. I began traveling a bit more for work so I did a ton of my listening this year in airports and on airplanes. Not exactly a great environment if one wishes to actively listen. This is all to say, whatever combo of circumstances 2021 brought, it made me realize I miss blogging/writing about music so I plan to (re)launch a place online for me to jot out my thoughts on various music-oriented topics.
And to the meat of the topic at hand: my AOTY this year is by the insanely talented Leon Bridges and his release Gold-Diggers Sound. Something about the sound of this album just resonates down into my bones. I love that Leon makes typically taboo subjects or feelings for men into topics that should be discussed and without any fluff. Highlights of the album, for me, are: Motorbike, Why Don't You Touch Me, Sho Nuff, Don't Worry, Blue Mesas. While The last track, Blue Mesas, is the personal favorite of mine for tackling depression & not sharing those feelings, the penultimate track, Don't Worry, really steals the show on this album. Telling the tale of a happy couple who split and meet later down the road, the track is both a great composition and story. It's duration requires some patience for those unaccustomed to longer music. Though with T Swift having the longest track hit #1 makes me hopeful that the larger music audience will accept Tool-length songs in the mainstream.
If I mix around the order of the remaining 4 albums in the top 5, I would be happy. They are all absolutely killer, start-to-finish. Hell, even the last 5 are bangers from beginning to end. Each is well worth a listen if those genres interest you.
My personal Top 10 list:
10. Parannoul - To See the Next Part of the DreamStand-out track: Analog Sentimentalism
9. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Butterfly 3000Stand-out track: Catching Smoke
8. Parquet Courts - Sympathy for LifeStand-out track: Plant Life
7. Viagra Boys - Welfare JazzStand-out track: Ain't Nice
6. Amyl & the Sniffers - Comfort to MeStand-out track: Guided by Angels
5. Japanese Breakfast - JubileeStand-out track: Posing in Bondage
4. Middle Kids - Today We’re the GreatestStand-out track: Stacking Chairs
3. Manchester Orchestra - Million Masks of GodStand-out track: Angel of Death
2. Wet - Letter BlueStand-out track: Clementine
1. Leon Bridges - Gold-Diggers SoundStand-out track: Don't Worry
I also want to shout out the album Year of the Horse by the Canadian band Fucked Up. This would have been on my list but I didn't get the LP in the mail until last week so it's too early-on to say whether it edges out the competition.
The entire album is about a horse named Percival and is amazing start-to-finish. If art/hardcore is your thing, give this band a listen.
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: DEMIDEVIL by Ashnikko
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: top 5 listed below
The Atlantic : New Long Leg by Dry Cleaning
The 10 Best Albums of 2021
The most memorable music made during a disorienting year, from Lorde, Arca, Jazmine Sullivan, and more
www.theatlantic.com
AV Club : Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast
The 20 best albums of 2021
See how the latest from Adele, Japanese Breakfast, Billie Eilish and more rank on our countdown
www.avclub.com
BBC Radio 6 : Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz
6 Music's Albums of the Year 2021
We asked our presenters to pick their favourite, tallied all their votes, and we can now reveal the final results. Find out below which records made the Top 10, and see each presenter's personal pick of the year too!
canvas-story.bbcrewind.co.uk
Billboard : Sour by Olivia Rodrigo
The 50 Best Albums of 2021: Staff List
The albums worth keeping from a tough year to get a handle on.
www.billboard.com
Complex : ‘Call Me If You Get Lost’ by Tyler, the Creator
The Best Albums of 2021
Here are Complex's picks for the best albums of 2021, ran...
www.complex.com
Consequence of Sound : Call Me If You Get Lost by Tyler, the Creator
Top 50 Albums of 2021
As the year comes to a close, we've rounded up the 50 top albums of 2021. Check out the complete list to see what made the cut here.
consequence.net
Entertainment Weekly : Heaux Tales by Jazmine Sullivan
The 10 best (and 3 worst) albums of 2021
The year's best albums, featuring Adele, Lil Nas X, Snail Mail, and more.
The Fader : Nurture by Porter Robinson
The 50 best albums of 2021
Our list of the albums that defined and transcended 2021, from Tyler, The Creator to Porter Robinson, Jazmine Sullivan to Doja Cat.
The Guardian : Prioritise Pleasure by Self Esteem
The 50 best albums of 2021
And finally – a deserving winner, whose second solo album is a truly relatable, pin-sharp pop classic. We reveal our No 1 album of 2021
www.theguardian.com
The Independent : Sometimes I Might be Introvert by Little Simz
The 40 best albums of 2021
From pop-punk that captured Gen-Z anxiety to otherworldly hip-hop, 2021’s greatest albums felt designed to help us process – or escape – what we were faced with over the past 12 months. The Independent’s music team count down their favourites
KCRW : Collapsed In Sunbeams by Arlo Parks
The 21 Best Albums of 2021
From iconoclast jazz to astral punk, minimal psychedelia to raw soul, knockout debuts to long-anticipated returns, these are the albums that defined the triumphs, defiance, and surreality of 2021.
LA Times : Heaux Tales by Jazmine Sullivan
The 10 best albums of 2021
R&B testimonials, teen confessionals, hip-hop in pop-star drag and more, in a wide-open year for breakthroughs.
The Needledrop : Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz
NME : Seventeen Going Under by Sam Fender
The 50 best albums of 2021
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Here are NME’s top 50 albums of 2021, ranked in order of absolute awesomeness
www.nme.com
NPR Music : Heaux Tales by Jazmine Sullivan
NPR Music's 50 Best Albums of 2021
NPR's annual list of the year's best albums is full of work by musicians who hit career peaks, discovered their voices or willed something new into reality.
www.npr.org
Paste Magazine : Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra
The 50 Best Albums of 2021
Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.
www.pastemagazine.com
People Magazine : Montero by Lil Nas X
PEOPLE Picks the Top 10 Albums of 2021
Heartbreak was a theme, but there was a lot of hope, too: here are our top picks for 2021
Pitchfork : Heaux Tales by Jazmine Sullivan
Revolver : Fortitude by Gojira
Rolling Stone : Sour by Olivia Rodrigo
The 50 Best Albums of 2021
From Adele's heroic return to Rauw Alejandro's thrillingly unpredictable breakthrough and much more, here are the best albums of 2021.
www.rollingstone.com
Stereogum : I Don't Live Here Anymore by The War on Drugs
The 50 Best Albums Of 2021
We made it! Mostly. Kind of. The COVID era, which utterly derailed music and most other things for the better part of two years, isn’t quite over. But around the time that most of us got our second arm-jabs, the whole economy surrounding music started to sputter to life once again. It’s not...
www.stereogum.com
Time Magazine : Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra
The 10 Best Albums of 2021
The best albums this year explored heartbreak, obsession, salvation, family, and rage; they came from jazz drummers and hip-hop icons alike.
Vulture : Heaux Tales by Jazmine Sullivan
The Best Albums of 2021
If you traveled off the beaten path, you came away with an embarrassment of music riches.
www.vulture.com
Jeff Bezos : Whole Lotta Red by Playboi Carti
Wired : Heaux Tales by Jazmine Sullivan
The 8 Best Albums of 2021
This year’s most searing records—from Adele’s "30" to Jazmine Sullivan’s "Heaux Tales"—asked listeners to pause, reflect, and reconsider the path ahead.
Yahoo Entertainment : Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast
Japanese Breakfast, Silk Sonic, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X and more: Yahoo Entertainment staff picks for best albums of 2021
The albums that helped us power through a difficult year were wide-ranging, but there was some consensus — even though the competition was so close, we ended up with a couple of ties in our overall top 10.
Other lists:
Bandcamp's Top Releases
Best of 2021: The Year’s Essential Releases
The records we couldn’t stop playing.
daily.bandcamp.com
NPR's song of the year: Montero by Lil Nas X
NPR Music's 100 Best Songs of 2021
Think of the best songs of 2021 as a playlist catering to the most basic human urges. Within it, booties were called, muffins were buttered and bloody revenge was contemplated. It was quite a year.
www.npr.org
NME's song of the year: Good 4 U by Olivia Rodrigo
The 50 best songs of 2021
All the greatest hits that have soundtracked our past 12 months. Here are the best songs released in 2021 as picked by NME writers.
www.nme.com
Stereogum's Top EPs
25 Great EPs From 2021
In all the years that we’ve been doing this list, 2021 is the first time that it seems like so many artists released multiple EPs over the course of the year, or released sequels that revisited ideas from previous EPs that they had put out. I don’t know why that is! Maybe the pandemic has got...
www.stereogum.com
Worst Album Covers
Here Are the 17 Worst Album Covers of the Year 2016 in Lists | Exclaim!
5. Sum 41 13 Voices You remember that kid who started smoking cigarettes in elementary school and loved buying temporary tattoo...
exclaim.ca
Walls by Kings of Leon
So, pray tell Gaf, what is your album of the year?
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