The Best Albums of 2021
Anxious Sound
10
Pavone: Lull
Jessica Pavone
4-Song LP
Released October 22 on Chaikin
Favorite tracks: Indolent, Ingot, Midmost
09
World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener
Chad VanGaalen
13-Song LP
Released March 19 on Sub Pop / Flemish Eye
Favorite tracks: Spider Milk, Flute Peace, Earth from a Distance, Plant Music
08
I Don’t Have Time to Lie to You
Abner Jay
9-Song LP
Released October 1 on Mississippi Records
Favorite tracks: I'm So Depressed, My Baby is Coming Back to Me, Shenandoah, Woke Up this Morning
07
Echo
Indigo Sparke
9-Song LP
Released February 19 on Sacred Bones
Favorite tracks: Undone, Bad Dreams, Carnival, Golden Age, Wolf
06
Crestone (Original Score)
Animal Collective
16-Song LP
Released February 16 on Domino
Favorite tracks: Eye in the Sky, Boxing & Breathing, Sand That Moves, Oh California
05
KID A MNESIA
Radiohead
34-Song Collection
Released November 5 on XL
Favorite tracks: Untitled V2, The Morning Bell (In the Dark Version), Pyramid Strings, Untitled V3, How to Disappear into Strings
04
Live at St. Helens Technical College ‘81
The Fall
13-Song LP
Released February 19 on Castle Face
Favorite tracks: Middle Mass, Rowche Rumble, An Older Lover, Leave The Capitol
03
123
Tickley Feather
9-Song LP
Released March 15 on Private Press
Favorite tracks: Cow Man, Cookie, A Certain Way, Red Kimono, All in White, Oil, Warmth
02
Glow On
Turnstile
15-Song LP
Released August 27 on Roadrunner
Favorite tracks: Mystery, Blackout, Don't Play, Underwater Boi, Holiday, Alien Love Call, T.L.C. (Turnstile Love Connection), No Surprise, Lonely Dezires
01
ULTRAPOP
The Armed
12-Song LP
Released April 16 on Sargent House
Favorite tracks: Ultrapop, All Futures, An Iteration, Faith in Medication, The Music Becomes a Skull (feat. Mark Lanegan)
On their first album for Sargent House, the Detroit-based collective delivers 12 dizzying, melody-rich math-metal songs that annihilate all templates. The move from the haunting dream pop on the album's opening title track (a candidate for song of the year) to its Swans-ian finale, “The Music Becomes a Skull” (featuring the late Mark Lanegan), is truly exhilarating. Few can match the band's kinetic energy when its numerous elements perform with breakneck momentum, as on tracks like “All Futures,” “An Iteration,” and “Faith In Medication.” So much is happening on ULTRAPOP, and the stylistic surprises come so frantically that repeated listens are not only mandatory but awesomely rewarding.
