Best Music 2021
Covid’s second year yields some surprising releases.
INTRODUCTION
What a year. Covid came and went and came again in an unending stream of uncertainty. Music seemed like an afterthought through much of it. Many of us fell back upon teenage or university favourites for solace and escape. Very few of us went to concerts or even bars. Music decidedly shifted towards an individual experience—on headphones, on laptops, while walking, while waiting.
It’s interesting to see the kind of music that came out as a result of this. A lot was introspective or atmospheric, as if artists needed to work through the isolation we all were feeling. There was very little upbeat or party music— certainly outside of the mainstream— and even the mainstream was largely sullen and downtempo.
I’ve lamented for years about the general lack of gravitas in albums since the internet came about and the lockdowns of 2021 seemed to be the furthest extension of the trend. We all stream randomly, are distracted and digest 7 second music snippets on TikTok. Supply often mirrors demand and it’s really showing up on albums in the hodgepodge of styles from track to track and the genre ADHD within songs themselves. Some of this worked, some of it was a chaotic mess. Whether you want solidity or to mimic the chaotic world, there’s something for you here.
I listened to well over 500 new albums this year and have distilled it down to the top 60. They are all rated and have a little description so you can see what might suit your taste. Happy listening!
| Artist - Album | Rating | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & London Symphony Orchestra - Promises | 10 | The ultimate covid mental health album. Meditation in sound form. |
| Can - Live in Stuttgart 1975 | 9 | Massive sound and artistic force. Wish I was there. |
| Home is Where - I Became Birds | 9 | Punk kids having fun—live vicariously. |
| Jazz at Lincoln Center w/ Wynton Marsalis - Democracy Suite | 9 | Current swing. If RVG recorded it in 1965 it would be in the canon. |
| Nala Sinephro - Space 1.8 | 9 | Lovely atmospheric plinkly jazz |
| Vivien Goldman - Next is Now | 9 | Laurie Anderson meets King Jammy |
| Ada Lea - one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden | 8 | Catchy hook pop |
| Big Brave - Vital | 8 | Metal atmospheric |
| Black Country, New Road - For the First Time | 8 | Post Punk tight rhythms |
| Black Marble - Fast Idol | 8 | Infectious Casio rhythms |
| Boldy James & The Alchemist - Bo Jackson | 8 | Simple jazzy loops with clear rhymes |
| Bruce Springsteen - The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts | 8 | The Springsteen greatest hits if you only have an hour to pound beers. |
| Closer - Within One Stem | 8 | Metal with nice warm tone |
| Dawn Richard - Second Line | 8 | A dance album that you can listen to all the way through |
| Dezron Douglas, Brandee Younger - Force Majeure | 8 | Two of jazz’s most soulful players doing a lockdown concert |
| Dinosaur Jr. - Sweep It Into Space | 8 | Classic Dinosaur Jr.– The Kinks of indie rock. |
| Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg | 8 | New wave talk-rock with superb backup band |
| Green-House - Music for Living Spaces | 8 | Japanese plinkly indoor plant music |
| Hotel Kali - Hotel Kali | 8 | Mali funk beats |
| Isaiah Rashad - House is Burning | 8 | Solid hip hop, 2nd half is best |
| Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee | 8 | Melodic uplifting pop |
| John Coltrane - A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle | 8 | A beautiful perspective on one of the most spiritual records ever made |
| John Zorn - Nostradamus: The Death of Satan | 8 | Typical zorn record. This guy has too much talent. |
| Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over the Country Club | 8 | Lana’s best singing yet. Stunning voice. |
| Marc Cary - Life Lessons | 8 | R&B Jazz. Some serious bass grooves. |
| Mdou Moctar: Afrique Victime | 8 | Nigerian guitar shredding with beats |
| Nation of language - A Way forward | 8 | Neu with vocals just before turning into Cut Copy |
| Polo G - Hall of Fame 2.0 | 8 | Disc 2 ok, Disc 1 oh yay. |
| Rosali - No Medium | 8 | Joni Mitchell serious rock |
| Sofia Kourtesis - Fresia Magdalena EP | 8 | Shimmery dance pop and under 30 minutes. Perfect. |
| Turnstile - Glow on | 8 | Melodic Metal |
| Tyler the Creator - Call me if You Get Lost | 8 | An artistic hip hop party mixtape |
| dal:um - similar and different | 8 | Indian ragga but korean |
| Agnes - Magic Still Exists | 7 | Daft Punk meets Madonna |
| Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince | 7 | Harp beauty, superb recording quality |
| Brandee Younger - Somewhere Different | 7 | Afro harping vol. 3 |
| Brian Jackson, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge - Jazz is Dead 8 | 7 | A mix of all styles jazz with a little hip hop |
| CHAI - Wink | 7 | Cibo Matto reborn |
| Chorusing - Half Mirror | 7 | Guitar voice ephemeral sound |
| Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt - Made out of Sound | 7 | Drums guitar rock improv |
| Elori Saxl - Blue of Distance | 7 | Underwater atmosphere |
| Erika de Casier - Sensational | 7 | Sade pop |
| Faye Webster - I Know I’m Funny haha | 7 | Taylor Swift for cool people |
| Grouper - Shade | 7 | 8-bit indie nose |
| Helado Negro - Far In | 7 | Sunny beach pop |
| Ichiko Aoba - Choe | 7 | Japanese twee guitar |
| Jazmine Sullivan, Heaux Tales | 7 | A great Mary J Blige successor, wish the album stuck to music |
| Jeff Parker - Forfolks | 7 | Solo electric guitar jazz |
| Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert | 7 | Dilla beats and princess Nokia rhymes |
| Loraine James - Reflection | 7 | Hyperdub |
| Mach-Hommy - Pray For Haiti | 7 | Stilted rhythms take some time to adjust to but the poetry is there. |
| Marisa Anderson/William Tyler - Lost Futures | 7 | Gospel folk guitar musings |
| Marissa Nadler - Path of Clouds | 7 | Next gen mountain holler music |
| Maxwell Farrington - Once | 7 | Brit indie songwriting |
| Monocot - Directions We Know | 7 | Feedback rock |
| SG Lewis & Rhye - time | 7 | Dance record |
| Silver Synthetic | 7 | Fountains of wayne meets Can |
| Spirit of the beehive - entertainment | 7 | Bedroom indie beats |
| Tony Joe White Smoke from the chimney | 7 | 70s lyricism with modern swamp rock |
| Weather station - ignorance | 7 | The best indie band in Toronto? |
| Yolabmi - Before Our Past Lives | 7 | Undulating static soundscapes |
| quickly, quickly - long short of it | 7 | Weird amalgam of dub step, talking heads, and Justin Bieber |
AVAILABILITY
Artists make the most money from these formats (in order):
Vinyl or CD
Direct downloads
Purchase from a major download site like Apple Music
Streaming site (Tidal, Apple, Spotify, Google etc.)
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