Top 10 Albums of 2021

[CooterBrown 18015]

My top 10 in no particular order:

Royal Blood - Typhoons - I don't know how you can't love this album. It's just a banger after banger. They should be way bigger than they are.

Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power - I don't care if Halsey does get all the writing credit, it's obvious Trent's arrangements make this album. If you ever wondered what NIN would sound like with a female vocalist, here you go.

Deap Vally - Marriage - Quite a bit of more mature songwriting than their previous two albums but without losing their catchy take on grunge.

Death From Above 1979 - Is 4 Lovers - DFA1979 is a genre all to themselves...dance metal with just drums and a bass guitar while sounding like a full band. 

Heartless Bastards - A Beautiful Life - Easily the best album out of Austin this year. Photograph is the best song.

The Anchoress - The Art of Losing - A great singer songwriter no one in the US really knows about. If you dig Kate Bush, you'll dig it.

Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs - You either love it or hate it. If you love it, they're the best fucking "band" in the world right now.

White Denim - Crystal Bullets/King Tears - The conversion to a motown/soul inspired jam band is complete. And to think, they just wanted to be the Big Boys when they started.  This was a secret album that's only available on vinyl. It was sold as a 12" single but was actually a full album. 

Ministry - Moral Hygiene - I'm a big Ministry fan and this fits right in to the mid-90s Ministry style. 

St. Vincent - Daddy's Home - I despised the first single but it may be my favorite STV album overall. 

[4th&Five 41571]

My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket

Wilderado - Wilderado LP

Houndmouth - Good For You

Marie/Lepanto- Gulf Collide

Hayes Carll - You Get It All

Lucero - When You Found Me

Susto - Time In The Sun

Sturgill Simpson - Ballad of Dood & Juanita

[stc 1462]

mastodon- hushed and grim

night beats- outlaw r&b

war on drugs- i don't live here anymore

amyl and the sniffers- comfort to me

pond- 9

acid dad- take it from the dead

hooveriii- water for the frogs

mogwai- as the love continues

still corners- the last exit

st vincent- daddy's home

[Reynolds Woodcock 4788]

Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg

Vince Staples - Vince Staples

The Weather Station - Ignorance

Snail Mail - Valentine

The War On Drugs - I Don’t Live Here Anymore

Parquet Courts - Sympathy for Life

That’s all I really got this year

[bizzle 1153]

feels like a weird year for records as the music industry continues to splinter into a million tiny pieces, but i really loved the albums from:

arlo parks

big red machine

hiss golden messenger

wild pink

the weather station

i really wanted to love the war on drugs but the damn thing just insists on itself. where the fuck is nomaaa.

[mdmost 43011]

I haven't purchased a lot of new albums this year but of what I've purchased I'll rate as follows:

Japanese Breakfast- Jubilee

War On Drugs- I Don't Live Here Anymore

St. Vincent- Daddy's Home

James Blake- Friends That Break Your Heart

[BigOrange1 6442]

i can only do a top 5, but i'll go:

the war on drugs - i don't live here anymore

manchester orchestra - the million masks of god

lord huron - long lost

modest mouse - the golden casket

big red machine - how long do you think it's gonna last?

 

i liked the sturgill album, but it's hard for me to rate something that lasts less than half an hour.

[nedtugent 28]

who the hell are these people?

kids today.

I tell ya!

- LFS

[Paul Wesley 3287]

On 12/16/2021 at 10:18 AM, CooterBrown said:

My top 10 in no particular order:

Royal Blood - Typhoons - I don't know how you can't love this album. It's just a banger after banger. They should be way bigger than they are.

Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power - I don't care if Halsey does get all the writing credit, it's obvious Trent's arrangements make this album. If you ever wondered what NIN would sound like with a female vocalist, here you go.

Deap Vally - Marriage - Quite a bit of more mature songwriting than their previous two albums but without losing their catchy take on grunge.

Death From Above 1979 - Is 4 Lovers - DFA1979 is a genre all to themselves...dance metal with just drums and a bass guitar while sounding like a full band. 

Heartless Bastards - A Beautiful Life - Easily the best album out of Austin this year. Photograph is the best song.

The Anchoress - The Art of Losing - A great singer songwriter no one in the US really knows about. If you dig Kate Bush, you'll dig it.

Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs - You either love it or hate it. If you love it, they're the best fucking "band" in the world right now.

White Denim - Crystal Bullets/King Tears - The conversion to a motown/soul inspired jam band is complete. And to think, they just wanted to be the Big Boys when they started.  This was a secret album that's only available on vinyl. It was sold as a 12" single but was actually a full album. 

Ministry - Moral Hygiene - I'm a big Ministry fan and this fits right in to the mid-90s Ministry style. 

St. Vincent - Daddy's Home - I despised the first single but it may be my favorite STV album overall. 

Sat down to audition some of these records in this thread, and I got one band into the first post... Royal Blood.  Inadvertently started to listen to their last record first... very garage rock, with decent songs, but they seemed to go to the same palette of sounds/production tricks over and over again.  Then I listened to Typhoon, which uses a lot of dance-club drum sounds against fuzz guitars... an odd pairing but an original sound.   Also better songs than the prior record.  I dig it.  Thanks for the recommendation.

 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Paul Wesley

[Al_4_ISU 12473]

James McMurtry - The Horses & The Hounds.  Legitimately one of the best albums in a legendary career.

Mike & The Moonpies - One To Grow On.  Mike Harmeier is becoming one of the best songwriters in the whole "Americana" scene and the Moonpies are a shit hot cosmic country band at it's apex.

The Hold Steady - Open Door Policy.  Late career masterpiece from the kings of Midwestern bar band bloviating.

John R. Miller - Depreciated.  Part of that Appalachian scene that's birthed most famously Tyler Childers, Miller has a unique voice and take on that whole bluegrass/folky/mountain thing.

Hayes Carll - You Get it All.  Hayes is saucy, pointed, hilarious, and moving at the same time.  His most fun album in a minute, too.  "Nice Things" is an all timer for him.

Joshua Ray Walker - See You Next Time.  This is the best honky tonk album I've heard in a while.

Flatland Cavalry - Welcome to Countryland.  These guys just keep getting better.  Cleto Cordero is a damn sharp songwriter, and the band really takes some of these tunes out of the park.

Joe Stamm Band - Midwest Town.  These guys personify the unheralded grit of Midwestern life.  They aren't trendy, but they just keep making heartland rock anthems that make you want to drink beer, hoot, and feel something.

Dinosaur Jr. - Sweep It Into Space.  If you like Dinosaur Jr., you fucking like this record.

Cole Chaney - Mercy.  This is incredibly Childers-esque, but the guy is only 20, and can clearly write a damn song.  Will be interesting to see where he goes.

HM:

RC & The Ambers - Big Country

Rod Gator - For Louisiana

Garrett T. Capps - I Love San Antone

American Aquarium - Slappers, Bangers, & Certified Twangers Vols 1&2 (would rank higher, but cover albums)

 

Disappointments:

Todd Snider - First Agnostic Church of Hope & Wonder

Sturgill - Ballad of Dood & Juanita

[Dennis Taylor 18848]

[CurlyDumps 4476]

AKA the thread where I go back and listen to albums I missed thread.

Did not know Mastodon, Mogwai, and James Blake put out new records last year.