It is that time of year when dozens of music lovers patiently wait for me to draw up my list of my favorite albums of the year. And last year, I didn’t even write a proper post.
Notice that I don’t say best albums because—I’m not a music critic—and even if I was, my taste can be idiosyncratic, and it is not for everyone. That being said, 2021 was a particularly good one for music. Maybe because 2020 was such a rotten year, and tragedy always ends up bringing out the best art in people.
So here is my list. I tried to include live performances of all the artists if I could because that is always a consideration for me as I sort out the albums. If you want to skip all of the explanations and just get to the Spotify playlist, here it is.
Collapsed In Sunbeams – Arlo Parks
Collapsed In Sunbeams came out at the end of January, but it very quickly became one of my early favorites to be on this list. Notably, some of her songs on the albums reflect on her being bisexual. All the songs on the albums are well crafted, and that is hard to do. I’m looking forward to more great music from this artist.
Parks says there wasn’t a notable “moment” when she came out as bisexual, it was “always just a thing”. Her parents were very accepting and “never made a massive deal” of it. “They were just like, ‘OK, we love you’,” she says. “And I’m so grateful for that. I learned a lot of empathy and openness from my parents. I know so many people who don’t have that experience. I have friends who’ve been kicked out of their homes over it.”
Arlo Parks: ‘People like to write that I was confused about my sexuality – but I never felt that’ from The Independent
Jubilee – Japanese Breakfast
When Briahnna (my wife and the love of my life) told me how much she loved reading Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, I looked up her band Japanese Breakfast. And after listening to “Paprika” (the first song on Jubilee), I was hooked. This is such a remarkable album. Musically, it has a bit of everything, and rightfully Pitchfork calls it “musical hopscotch,” but I love every minute of it.
Listeners love Japanese Breakfast because she gives you everything: a buffet of sub-genres, blunt confessions, larger concepts, and on-point orchestration, led by someone with undeniable charisma. Listening to Michelle Zauner go all in on Jubilee provides every bit of the joy she intended.
Japanese Breakfast / Jubilee from Pitchfork
Ordinary Life – We Are The Union
I wasn’t prepared to like ska again. My musical diet consisted of heavy helpings of punk rock and ska in the late nineties and early 2000s. After hearing about the new album by We Are The Union (WATU) from Jamie Coletta’s newsletter No Earbuds, I listened to “Morbid Obsessions.” Y’all, it’s a banger. And then I come to find out that WATU’s Ordinary Life tells the story of vocalist Reade Wolcott’s (she/her) coming out as a trans woman. I’m ready to pick it up, pick it up, again.
Wolcott says that “my hope is, through my story, through other artists creating and through all of us supporting each other that we can normalize the queer experience and normalize the trans experience to where we don’t have to go through all the difficulty that all of us have gone through. I think every queer story should be told, and every trans story should be told until we get to the point where I want them to be boring.”
Dysphoria Dies At MAGFest: We Are The Union’s Reade Wolcott Comes Out As Trans from SPIN
If You Could Have It All Again – Low Island
Low Island is the best of electro-pop goodness. Multi-layered and expertly orchestrated, If You Could Have It All Again, offers a freshness every time you listen. “Who’s Having The Greatest Time?” is my favorite off the album. And to the answer the quartet, I give a resounding “me!”
The album never really dips in quality, it just turns down the amps and drops the tempo every now and then which at times resembles soothing meditation music. ‘In Your Arms’ for examples feels like you’re weightlessly floating without a care in the world.
ALBUM REVIEW: LOW ISLAND – ‘IF YOU COULD HAVE IT ALL AGAIN’ from When The Horn Blows
Midnight Pizza – Ade
If I ever start making music again, I can only hope that I could make an album as thoughtful with production as Ade does with Midnight Pizza. Each song has its own personality, and there are plenty of hooks to go around. In an interview from April of 2021, Ade describes one of his favorites from the album called “In the Alley.” It is one of my too.
“Alley” is my personal favorite on the record, but it was like a 30,000 piece jigsaw puzzle to complete. The instrumental went through a lot of different iterations and has something like 500 different tracks of this and that on it, which I probably won’t do anymore. There’s like a loop of an old train in there.
Ade Introduces Us to the Sunlit World of “Midnight Pizza” from Flood Magazine
Hope for Sale – Chiiild
Chiild is selling hope, and I’m buying. There is a lot to like about this album, but two of my favorite tracks are “Gone” / “Gone Remix” (feat. Jensen McRae).
…If you read it, it’s also just one long sentence. It’s so simple. And the remix is technically part of the record, too—or part of the same era. I was having a pizza night at my place, and I was just scrolling through Instagram, and I saw Jensen singing [Tracy Chapman’s] ‘Fast Car,’ and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my god—this girl’s voice is doing something to me.’ I immediately called my manager and I asked, ‘What do you think about getting her on the ‘Gone’ remix?’ And I think within the same night, he had made the introductions.”
Hope For Sale by Chiiild from Apple Music
Second Line – Dawn Richard
Why had I not heard about Dawn Richard before this year? Second Line is extraordinary. The scifi cover reminds me a little of the Metropolis-inspired The ArchAndroid, but this artist is no copycat. “Perfect Storm” is my fav from the album, but it is solid through and through.
With its 16 tracks that blur the lines between song, spoken word, and short stories, Second Line is a continuation of an avant-garde musicality born from the place Richard calls home and where she returned after her pop career stalled. Conceptually, the album takes from the New Orleans tradition of parade revelers gathering to dance, mourn, or celebrate. Whatever the occasion, music is constant, and so is the idea of being an individual within the crowd—you move as a unit while keeping your own pace.
Dawn Richard / Second Line: An Electro Revival from Pitchfork
The Million Masks of God – Manchester Orchestra
Manchester Orchestra consistently produces quality songs and albums, and The Million Masks of God is no different. Stand-out tracks include “Angel of Death,” “Bed Head,” and “Annie,” but you’ll be happy to just play this one from beginning to end.
The transition from “Keel Timing” into “Bed Head’’ is smooth, too, and it reinforces the notion that The Million Masks of God is designed as a seamless experience.
Manchester Orchestra Prove They’ve Found Their Footing on The Million Masks of God from Paste
Ok Human – Weezer
Every time Weezer puts out a new album, I really want to like it. And for what it is worth, OK Human is the only recent one that I do. But that is not to say that it doesn’t deserve to be on this list. Like I said in the intro, there is something special that can come out of suffering, and Rivers channels his inner Pinkerton with this offering.
“But what I hope people hear in this album — especially the diehard people who love ‘Pinkerton’ — is Rivers speaking through his lyrics and the music,” Wilson continues. “To me, there’s a direct line between the two records. This one is like a portrait of Weezer as a middle-aged man.
It’s not ‘Pinkerton.’ But Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo gets pretty emo on ‘OK Human’ from The Los Angeles Times
Inside Every Fig is a Dead Wasp – Lunar Vacation
I was just introduced to the Atlanta band Lunar Vacation by my neighbor. An avid listener of Album 88, he has always been generous with the band recommendations. I get the feeling that if they can stick together, Lunar Vacation can make a nice splash, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from them. I’d love to see a good live recording of “Cutting Corners,” which is my favorite from their album, Inside Every Fig is a Dead Wasp. Or maybe I can catch them locally sometime.
Even if things feel grim, Inside Every Fig Is a Dead Wasp is the perfect album to feel a little less alone. “I feel like I am truly ready to face it all on my own,” Repasky beams. Maybe, you feel that way, too—ready to bust out in life, solo and independent. Even if you do, it’s nice to know Lunar Vacation are right there at your side.
Lunar Vacation Walk Us Through Their Debut LP “Inside Every Fig Is a Dead Wasp” from Flood Magazine