Best Albums of 2021

[Timbo]

This is the latest it's taken anyone to start one of these. So to kick it off, here's my favorites from late December/January 

1. Navy Blue - Song of Sage: Post Panic!
2. The Notwist - Vertigo Days
3. Madlib/Four Tet - Sound Ancestors 
4. Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams
5. NANCY - 7 Foot Tall Post Suicidal Feel Good Blues 
6. Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz
7. Shame - Drunk Tank Pink
8. Sonder Bombs - Clothbound 
9. Midnight Sister - Painting the Roses 
10. Goat Girl - On All Fours
11. Tamar Aphek - All Bets Are Off
12. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Last of The Great Thunderstorm Warnings
13. Buck Meek - Two Saviors
14. Pom Poko - Cheater 
15. Kiwi Jr. - Cooler Returns
16. Yasmin Williams - Urban Drfitwood
17. Jazmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales
18. Danielle Durack - No Place
19. Daniel Knox - Won't You Take Me With You
20. Divide & Dissolve - Gas Lit

[andrewvb]

my most listened to albums this month have probably been shame, buck meek, and yasmin williams. i really liked the gatecreeper record i listened to over the weekend too.

[perdhapley]

Not enough BICEP

[Deleted]

Tribulation is the only full LP i'm really jamming so far this year. both Frozen Soul and The Body put out good albums but i haven't felt compelled to go back to either yet.

as for EP's, Emma Ruth Rundle/Thou's follow-up to last year's album is immaculate, as is the new Gatecreeper. and my friend's project Everson Poe did a split with a blackened drone artist The Sun Came Up Upon on the Left and that was pretty great too.

[Timbo]

Two very good albums are out this Friday- the Weather Station and Black Country, New Road.

[Tweet]

I dunno the posts this morning when I told monastery what the good albums are are probably still right

[fiveiron83321]

Feb 1, 2021 20:18:25 GMT -6 Timbo said:

Two very good albums are out this Friday- the Weather Station and Black Country, New Road.

awww shit. didn't realize they had their LP coming out so soon

[Timbo]

Feb 1, 2021 20:38:32 GMT -6 fiveiron83321 said:

Feb 1, 2021 20:18:25 GMT -6 Timbo said:

Two very good albums are out this Friday- the Weather Station and Black Country, New Road.

awww shit. didn't realize they had their LP coming out so soon

1 of 2 actually. No date for the 2nd one yet. Adjacent band black midi have a new one this year too so a good year for post punk.

[pigs]

Oops, didn’t do my 1 board duty.

Besnard Lakes was alright.

[Tweet]

Feb 2, 2021 12:14:04 GMT -6 pigs said:

Oops, didn’t do my 1 board duty.

Besnard Lakes was alright.

All your travel pics looked cool tho

[pigs]

Feb 2, 2021 13:14:38 GMT -6 Tweet said:

Feb 2, 2021 12:14:04 GMT -6 pigs said:

Oops, didn’t do my 1 board duty.

Besnard Lakes was alright.

All your travel pics looked cool tho

ty i’ve been hibernating for a week

[teekoh]

I might not rank shit this year, who knows. Still gonna use this thread to keep track of what I've listened to. 

R.A.P. Ferreira - Bob's Son
Moor Mother & Billy Woods - Brass
Armand Hammer - Haram
Tyler the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
Gojira - Fortitude
Portal - Avow
Portal - Hagbulbia
Mach Hommy - Pray for Haiti
Jazmin Sullivan - Heaux Tales
Red Fang - Arrows
Vince Staples - Vince Staples
Suffering Hour - The Cyclic Reckoning
Bruce Lee Band - Division in the Heartland EP
Modest Mouse - The Golden Casket
Gatecreeper - An Unexpected Reality EP
Backxwash - I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses
Djinn - Transmission
Sore Dream - Gears Clogged with Blood and Honey
Tune-yards - Sketchy
Frozen Soul - Crypt of Ice
The Body - I've See All I Need To See
Black Midi - Cavalcade
The Ruins of Beverast - The Thule Grimoires
Yasmin Williams - Urban Driftwood
Rostam - Changephobia
Pom Poko - Cheater
The Antlers - Green to Gold
Blindfolded and Led to the Woods - Nightmare Withdrawals
Madlib - Sound Ancestors
Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
Empyrium - Über den Sternen
Maassai - With the Shifts
Shame - Drunk Tank Pink
Buck Meek - Two Saviors
serpentwithfeet - Deacon
Blanck Mass - In Fernaux
Wode - Burn In Many Mirrors
Floating Points & Pharaoh Sanders - Promises
Dvne - Etemen Ænka
Nappy Nina & Jwords - Double Down
Reigning Sound - A Little More Time with Reigning Sound

Kota the Friend - To Kill a Sunrise
YUNGMORPHEUS - States of Precarity
YUNGMORPHEUS - Thumbing Through Foliage
Cara Neir - Phase Out
Conway the Machine - If it Bleeds it Can be Killed
Adrian Younge - The American Negro
Froglord - Save The Frogs
Tha God Fahim & Your Old Droog - Tha Wolf On Wall St. 
Putrescine - The Fading Flame
Your Old Droog & Tha God Fahim - Tha YOD Fahim
Daniel Knox - Won't You Take Me With You
Rise to the Sky - Let Me Drown With You
Benny The Butcher & Harry Fraud - The Plugs I Met 2
Sanguisugabogg - Tortured Whole

[sthubbins]

I am liking the Pom Poko album but it is weird that it exists in 2021

[Timbo]

my favorites from February

1. The Telescopes - Songs of Love & Revolution
2. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage
3. The Weather Station - Ignorance
4. Black Country, New Road - For the First Time
5. Katy Kirby - Cool Dry Place
6. Indigo Sparke - echo
7. Lizzie Reid - Cubicle
8. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
9. The Hold Steady - Open Door Policy
10. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
11. Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights
12. Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases
13. Mavi - End of the Earth EP
14. Chris Crack - Might Delete Later
15. Peace Chord - S/t
16. Caution - s/t EP
17. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound
18. The Staves - Good Woman
19. Sun June - Somewhere
20. Cloud Nothings - The Shadow I Remember

[Deleted]

Julien Baker is the only new album I've gone back to a few times. I guess that makes it my early number 1. Not meaning to diminish the album - it's terrific.

I think I'll end up loving Carnage by the end of the year but it's not as immediate as his last few. Couldn't get into The Weather Station.

I'll have to give a few more of these a listen. Didn't even know Shame had a new one out.

[Tweet]

These are 5 albums that I've bought on vinyl already this year and therefore the 5 best albums of the year so far:

Shame- Drunk Tank Pink
Buck Meek- Two Saviors
Kiwi Jr.- Cooler Returns
Mogwai- As the Love Continues
Adult Mom- Driver

If you think I've ordered them than you can fuck right off

[sleeping]

Final 25:

01 Blackwater Holylight — Silence/Motion
02 Altın Gün — Yol
03 Kills Birds — Married
04 Rob Zombie — The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy
05 Vanishing Twin — Ookii Gekkou
06 Smol Data — Inconvenience Store
07 Black Dice — Mod Proc Sic
08 Carcass — Torn Arteries
09 Halsey — If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
10 Mogwai — As the Love Continues
11 Gaspard Augé — Escapades
12 Cannibal Corpse — Violence Unimagined
13 Ministry — Moral Hygiene
14 Poppy — Flux
15 They Might Be Giants — BOOK
16 Animal Collective — Crestone
17 Tobacco — Fucked Up Friends 3
18 Ani DiFranco — Revolutionary Love
19 Dummy — Mandatory Enjoyment
20 Noise Unit — Deviator
21 Gary Numan — Intruder
22 Garbage — No Gods No Masters
23 Alien Weaponry — Tangaroa
24 Ghost of Vroom — Ghost of Vroom 1
25 DJ Muggs The Black Goat — Dies Occidendum

[dij22]

I am like a month behind on new releases, but Katy Kirby's Cool Dry Place is still by far the best album I've heard in 2021.

[mookie]

Shame – Drunk Tank Pink
Psychedelic P*rn Crumpets – SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound
Sonder Bombs – Clothbound
Pom Poko – Cheater
Mogwai - As the Love Continues
Dirty Nil – Fuck Art
Bicep – Isles
Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes are the Last of the Great Thunderstorms
Viagra Boys – Welfare Jazz
Beach Bunny – Blame Game ep
Danny L Harle - Harlecore
Blanck Mass – In Ferneaux
Harakiri for the Sky – Maere
Julien Baker – Little Oblivions

Sofia Kourtesis – Fresia Magdalena
Harmony Woods – GRACEFUL RAGE
Cloud Nothings – The Shadow I Remember
Black Coffee – Subconsciously
Jane Inc – Number One
Lushlife – Redamancy

My list for now. Everything from Julien Baker and up should make it to the end year list.

Can't decide on Julien's album, it just hasn't hooked me as much as Turn Out the Lights yet, still need more time with it I guess.

[Timbo]

I go back and forth on my #1 so far. I love The Telescopes, Nick Cave/Warren Ellis, and the new Antlers equally at the moment. Very stoked for serpentwithfeet and Armand Hammer this Friday.

[Timbo]

My favorites from March

1. Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram
2. The Antlers - Green to Gold
3. serpentwithfeet - DEACON
4. Genesis Owusu - Smiling with No Teeth
5. New Bums - Last Time I Saw Grace
6. Ian Sweet - Show Me How You Disappear
7. Lushlife - Redamancy EP
8. Adult Mom - Driver
9. Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
10. Tune-Yards - sketchy
11. Painted Shrines - Heaven & Holy
12. Closer - Within One Stem
13. DFA 1979 - Is 4 Lovers
14. Xiu Xiu - OH NO
15. New Pagans - The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All
16. Valerie June - The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers
17. Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over the Country Club
18. Benny the Butcher - The Plugs I Met 2
19. Chad VanGaalen - World's Most Stressed Out Gardener
20. Middle Kids - Today We're the Greatest

[andrewvb]

went ahead and put together a quick ranking of some of my favorite listens from q1 2021. check 'em!

1. valerie june - the moon and stars: prescriptions for dreamers
2. the weather station - ignorance
3. leanne betasamosake simpson - theory of ice
4. pharoah sanders & floating points - promises
5. shame - drunk tank pink
6. katy kirby - cool dry place
7. cassandra jenkins - an overview on phenomenal nature
8. adult mom - driver
9. pino palladino / blake mills - notes with attachments
10. buck meek - two saviors
11. morgan wade - reckless
12. civic - future forecast
13. tigers jaw - i won’t care how you remember me
14. jazmine sullivan - heaux tales
15. yasmin williams - urban driftwood
16. nick cave & warren ellis - carnage
17. the body - i’ve seen all i need to see
18. pooh shiesty - shiesty season
19. viagra boys - welfare jazz
20. indigo sparke - echo
21. gatecreeper - an unexpected reality
22. wild pink - a billion little lights
23. lana del rey - chemtrails over the country club
24. drakeo the ruler - the truth hurts
25. arab strap - as days get dark
26. melissa carper - daddy’s country gold
27. lost girls - menneskekollektivet
28. black country, new road - for the first time

edit: forgot the ryley walker/kikagaku moyo. classic!

[monasterymonochrome]

Fucked around and made a quick top 20 this morning too - I've been largely disconnected from new music this year, but have still heard about 50 releases from Q1. Here goes!

1. Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights
2. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview of Phenomenal Nature
3. Ryley Walker + Kikagaku Moyo - Deep Fried Grandeur
4. Wau Wau Collectif - Yaral Sa Doom
5. Shame - Drunk Tank Pink
6. Pharoah Sanders + Floating Points - Promises
7. Eli Winter + Cameron Knowler - Anticipation
8. Pom Poko - Cheater
9. Indigo Sparke - Echo
10. Nick Cave + Warren Ellis - Carnage
11. Black Country, New Road - For the first time
12. Adult Mom - Driver
13. Yasmin Williams - Urban Driftwood
14. Fire! - Defeat
15. Cactus Lee - Texas Music Forever
16. Katy Kirby - Cool Dry Place
17. Weather Station - Ignorance
18. Leon III - Antlers in Velvet
19. Do Nothing - Glueland EP
20. Buck Meek - Two Saviors

Still gotta check out new ones from Armand Hammer, Valerie June, Genesis Owusu, and Lana

[Timbo]

Here's my Q1 top 20.

1. The Telescopes - Songs of Love and Revolution
2. Nick Cave / Warren Ellis - Carnage
3. Armand Hammer / The Alchemist - Haram
4. The Antlers - Green to Gold
5. The Weather Station - Ignorance
6. serpentwithfeet - DEACON
7. Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth
8. Navy Blue - Songs of Sage: Post Panic!
9. Madlib / Four Tet - Sound Ancestors
10. Parannoul - To See the Next Part of the Dream

11. New Bums - Last Time I Saw Grace
12. The Notwist - Vertigo Days
13. Black Country, New Road - For the first time
14. Ian Sweet - Show Me How You Disappear
15. Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz
16. Moor Mother & Billy Woods - Brass
17. Lushlife - Redamancy EP
18. Pom Poko - Cheater
19. NANCY - 7 Foot Tall Post Suicidal Feel Good Blues
20. Sonder Bombs - Clothbound

[Timbo]

April

1. Spirit of the Beehive - ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
2. Crumb - Ice Melt
3. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
4. Sour Widows - Crossing Over EP
5. Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince
6. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
7. Brockhampton - Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine
8. The Alchemist - This Thing of Ours EP
9. The Armed - ULTRAPOP
10. Paul Jacobs - Pink Dogs on the Green Grass
11. girl in red - if i could make it go quiet
12. Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses
13. Conway the Machine - La Maquina
14. Dinosaur Jr. - Sweep It Into Space
15. Lady Dan - I Am The Prophet
16. Skullcrusher - Storm in the Summer EP
17. Cory Hanson (of Wand) - Pale Horse Rider
18. Andy Stott - Never The Right Time
19. Small Black - Cheap Dreams
20. Matthew E. White & Lonnie Holley - Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection

[mookie]

Here's my list for the year so far

Shame – Drunk Tank Pink
Pom Poko – Cheater
Psychedelic P*rn Crumpets – SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound
Sondre Bombs – Clothbound
Danny L Harle – Harlecore
Caroline Kingsbury – Heaven’s Just a Flight
Porter Robinson - Nurture
Mogwai - As the Love Continues
Dirty Nil – Fuck Art
Bicep – Isles
Sofia Kourtesis – Fresia Magdalena
Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END
Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God
Beach Bunny – Blame Game ep
ULTRAPOP – The Armed
Julien Baker – Little Oblivions
Parannoul – To See the Next Part of the Dream
SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
Small Black – Cheap Dreams
The Antlers – Green to Gold
Transviolet – Born to Rule
Girl in red – if I could make it go quick
Remember Sports – Like a Stone
Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes are the Last of the Great Thunderstorms
Viagra Boys – Welfare Jazz
Nasty Cherry – The Movie (ep)
Blanck Mass – In Ferneaux
Harakiri for the Sky – Maere

[Tweet]

It's too early to put these in numerical order but there has been a lot of good music already this year and I am making this post to acknowledge some of it.

Albums I Paid Money to Own
Shame- Drunk Tank Pink
Buck Meek- Two Saviors
Kiwi Jr.- Cooler Returns
Mogwai- As the Love Continues
Adult Mom- Driver
Ryley Walker- Course in Fable
Parannoul- To See The Next Part of the Dream
Wau Wau Collectif- Yaral Sal Doom

Albums I Might Pay to Own
Viagra Boys- Welfare Jazz
Black Country, New Road- For the first time
Miss Grit- Imposter EP
Goat Girl- On All Fours
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis- Carnage
Bicep- Isles
Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders- Promises
Dry Cleaning- New Long Leg
GY!BE- God’s Pee AT STATES END
Spirit of the Beehive- Entertainment, death
Julian Baker- Little Oblivions
Morgan Wade- Reckless
Iceage- Seek Shelter
The Marfa Tapes
ALLBLACK- TY4FWM
Squid- Bright Green Field
Sons of Kemet- Black to the Future
Erika de Cassier- Sensational
Mdou Moctar- Afrique Victime
Girl in red- if i could make it go quiet

[Tweet]

Stereogum has declared these albums the best 50 of the year (so far)

[andrewvb]

definitely a bleak list. i think they're missing a lot of the really best stuff, though.

[monasterymonochrome]

Yea idk, this year has been kinda weak. But I'm intrigued by the extremely high placements of niche acts on here. Who tf is Fiddlehead? Guess I'll find out