This might have been the most difficult Top Albums List to assemble since I started in 2003. I thought this year was one of the most prolific for great albums by artists working today in a long time. 2009 comes to mind as another amazing year with albums like Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, Veckatimest, Fever Ray, It’s Blitz!, Actor, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, xx, Manners, Bitte Orca, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Hospice, Album (Girls). But that was a phenomenal year for indie — this was a phenomenal year for virtually all genres. This year had incredible indie, hip-hop, metal, pop, experimental, ambient, folk, and more. There are dozens of albums that anyone could name as there #1 pick for the year and I’d think, “Yeah, I can see that. Makes sense.”

What happened?: Before I begin, I usually do some sort of retrospective for the year. I only have a couple things I want to add. First: why I think there were so many great albums this year. This might have been forced by difficult times. Last year saw a record number of albums that were *delayed* because of the pandemic. This forced them into the Q1/Q2 2021 calendar year. Furthermore, few bands were touring in 2020, so that forced them to sit at home or in the studio and write/record music. That created this supernova of great creativity released in the mid/latter half of 2021.

Second, I also thought it interesting how many collaborations there were for albums released in 2021. I may even do a separate list at some point just rating all the best collaborations there were, because there were so many. I have a handful this list itself. Once again, I think this was a result of the pandemic. So many artists had the simultaneous *availability* to collaborate, not having conflicting schedules due to touring. Many artists at home also likely collaborated virtually, trying to stay connected through an exceedingly challenging calendar year. And as we now, switching the calendar from 2020 to 2021 didn’t magically end the madness. There was still much struggle, isolation, tour cancellations, etc.

At the end of the day… it’s not worth it. I’d have traded all those we lost for this “great year of music” in a heartbeat. But this is the reality in which we live, and you look to make the best of it and celebrate whatever good we do have. This list is a celebration of some of the many great things that came from the pandemic: a fountain of simultaneous creativity from some of the most talented musicians working today, inspired by the challenging times and conditions in which they lived.

How I order these albums: There’s no metric that makes sense for these things. That’s what I’ve learned along the way. I hesitate to ever rate an album in any kind of numeric way. It’s such a difficult, unwieldy judgment to me. But when you put things into a numbered list, you numerate them against one another. Thus, I judge things based on a few factors: A) How much did I actually listen to the album and want to come back to it; B) How much of an impact did it make on me while listening to it; and C) How creatively interesting was it and/or how much of an impact do I think it will have in the future? Most albums do at least one of these really well, some do a couple well, and a few (mostly the top 10) do all three. This year, my #2 was most heavily weighted towards how much I actually listened to the album according to my metrics (Criteria A), but my #1 hit all three out of the park.

Bonus for this year: I made a video! I have never done this before for any list, or any musical topic to be precise. It took me such an incredible long time to produce. I have doubts as to whether or not I’ll be able to produce another next year – especially because I have my first child on the way. That’s also super exciting. I wonder if they’ll ever read their dad’s crazy rantings about musical times. I wonder what their taste in music will be like. The video follows this paragraph, followed by a break and the rest of the list in text format for those that want the music links and/or find my voice grating.

50. Nation of Language – A Way Forward

Nation of Language’s A New Way Forward is, in fact, a great, new way forward for the band. The band’s early, stellar singles were followed up by what I considered to be a so-so debut. This gave me some hesitation as to whether the band would have a promising future. However, this doubt has been overcome by a strong sophomoric showing. The production here obsesses over ‘80s post-punk and new wave, reminding quite a lot of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and New Order. Its realization of these sounds is more or less flawless. But while this album could have been stopped in its tracks by being made redundant by a thousand other bands chasing the same sound over the last decade, it’s saved by quality, memorable songwriting and performances. 

49. CZARFACE + MF DOOM – Super What?

One of the last appearances of MF DOOM on a project, Super What? is fun, Golden Age hip-hop inspired, lyrical mayhem. Esoteric and Inspectah Deck try their mightiest to keep up with MF DOOM’s legendary flow and lyricism, and while they might quite reach that quality, it’s inspiring to hear these artists attempt their strongest game. The album’s drawback is perhaps a bit of redundancy and repetition across a relatively short length, but going for quality over quantity isn’t the most shameful error you can make. 

48. Afternoon Bike Ride – afternoon bike ride

Afternoon Bike Ride’s self-titled debut is relaxed-paced dream pop with lo-fi sensibilities. While the album has the mood of a lofi YouTube rainy day mix, it has strong pop song sensibilities with its simple, sweet, straightforward songwriting. Its various collaborations, however, offer the project more scope than appears at first glance. It is absolutely worth a listen if you’re in the mood for something chill.

47. Giant Claw – Mirror Guide

This album is a perplexing, stop-you-in-your-tracks- out of body dream experience. While the frequently staccato, glitch-like percussions can be both dissonant and distracting, they provide a necessary counterpoint to the dreamlike melodies that also permeate this project. Keith Rankin’s work under his Giant Claw and death’s dynamic shroud.wmv monikers continue to impress with prolific releases, including the vibrant Faith In Persona, a plunderphonics project which was also released this year as a quasi-mixtape on Soundcloud. 

46. Allison Lorenzen – Tender

This is perhaps one of the most overlooked projects of the year. I would recommend to fans of slowcore, sadcore, and ambient projects like Grouper. The distorted haze that frequently rests in the background gives the album dream pop and shoegaze features as well. The project is a collaboration with Midwife, which is a band that purports itself as something called Heaven Metal and achieves the slowcore sound with great success. Allison’s voice carries the project well, her lush vocal melodies equal parts enchanting and gloomy. This is a somber album that pairs well with an evening of deep introspection and probably a lot of red wine. 

45. Olivia Rodrigo – SOUR

Olivia Rodrigo’s much anticipated and hyped debut album met me with mixed results. This album had the potential to be much higher on my list, as its fronted singles are some of the most on-point and perfect pop music I’ve heard in years. I’ll admit – I’m a sucker for the indie rock, pop punk, and riot grrl inspirations that are being pulled on by Gen Z artists like Olivia Rodrigo as well as others like beabadoobee and Clairo. On SOUR, however, this sound is only one part of the album’s overall palette. The remainder is sullen, singer-songwriter pop in the vein of Taylor Swift and Lorde. The primary singles in this style, like Driver’s License and Deja Vu, are remarkable executions of songwriting and production. Unfortunately, this album does have a few weak spots that pale in comparison to the rest which prevent me from considering it as incredible as it could be. Still, the handful of songs that do stand out to me are seriously impressive for an artist so early in her career, and make me excited for what to expect in the future from Olivia. 

44. Painted Shrines – Heaven and Holy

Painted Shrines consists of Woods’ frontman Jeremey Earl and freak folk aficionado Glenn Donaldson. Heaven and Holy manages to take their respective influences into a consistently enjoyable Americana through a slight haze of psychedelia. Not too distant from the folk rock origins of Woods themselves, Painted Shrines is accessible and grounded in solid songwriting chops and clean, careful production. But while it tries to break no ground in experimentation, it achieves wholly in its effortlessly melodic and engaging songwriting. 

43. Hand Habits – Fun House

This is Hand Habit’s… third album, I believe? I was first turned onto their music in 2019 with placeholder, an absolutely stellar album and one of my favorites of that year for how subdued, earnest it was in its simple, sorrowful songs. Fun House isn’t a step forward or backward, but rather, a step sideways. Choosing to switch up to more intricate, playful production and instrumentation perhaps gave them new challenges in songwriting. No longer is their palette limited to stripped down folk instrumentation – there’s wider room here for synthesizers, strings, blues-inspired electric guitar, indie rock jams, and more. It’s dazzling and impressive how varied the album can be across mood, sound, and space. I’m not sure every attempt panned out perfectly as planned. That being said, there’s more success than failure, and the successes are delightfully wild. Collaboration with Perfume Genius, “Just to Hear,” is one of the best duet performances of the year. All in all, Fun House has proven so much potential for the future of Hand Habits. I’m psyched for their future releases. 

42. Pond – 9

I think this album is *slightly* underrated and panned by critics. Perhaps  because it’s nothing explosively new for the band, and doesn’t serve up anything groundbreaking sonically or emotionally. But nonetheless, this is an absolutely consistent and well-executed record. Psychedelia has been explored through many different genres and approaches over the decades, and Pond seems to combine them all on 9. It’s actually impressive, and really could only be done by a band who’s many records deep in their career and proven themselves across many of these fronts already. At the end of the day, 9 is a fun record. But it’s also rich in detail, and has incredibly on-point performances. The production feels a little hollow and tame for my tastes–perhaps too rigid of an attempt to capture the sound of their influences–but beyond that, I don’t have many complaints about this album. 

41. The War On Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore

For better or worse, The War On Drugs has been one of the most consistent projects since its inception by frontman Adam Granduciel. Their shifts in sound over the years are subtle and carefully executed to achieve a certain, specific sound. But when it comes down to it, he’s always shifting in some space between Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. I don’t begrudge him for this. It’s clearly what he loves, and what he does well. This is not my favorite album he’s done, it’s not far off. This is an absolutely solid batch of songs. If you want to be buried in American heartland nostalgia, you can’t go wrong with any of The War On Drugs albums, and this is no exception.

40. Makthaverskan – För Allting 

Makthaverskan have been consistent as hell the last few years. While it’s been 2017 since a proper LP from the band, core members Gustav Andersson and Hugo Randulv worked on Westkust’s self-titled album in 2019, which was one of my favorite dream pop records in the last decade. There was a pace and energy on that record that I think clearly originated from their work on Makthaverskan, and it’s captured here on För Allting as well. Where the band succeeds most is their energy and presence. The performances on this record, despite its lo-fi staging, are absolute fire. It’s a danger to play this kind of album in your car, because you’ll probably end up going 10mph faster than you think you are. That being said, the band does take some chances on the second half of this record. The album’s first and seventh track are ambient transitional tracks that clearly mark a separation between the A and B sides. During the B half of the record, there are some shifts in tempo and texture that caught me off-guard, and show more songwriting versatility than the band gets credit for. Despite some shortcomings in production and a little bit of redundancy in some places, this is an absolutely stellar and exciting album to listen to. 

39. Richard Dawson & Circle – Henki

When one of the most compelling freak folk musicians teams up with Finnish experimental rock outfit, you expect something bombastic, outlandish, and wild. And while I don’t think those are inappropriate terms to use, Henki shows a remarkable amount of focus and cohesiveness. There’s a clear mutual fondness for the work of both artists apparent all over this record. Neither attempts to override another. Circle’s dynamic and fluid kraut-rock and progressive rock inspired jams are allowed full breathing room and plenty of time to percolate and build. Likewise, the music performs an excellent backdrop for Dawson’s signature, idiosyncratic lyricism and eccentric deliveries. In a year full of many global collaborations, this is one of the most inspired and fulfilled. Both artists play to their strengths and make up weaknesses to create something surprisingly uniform and realized. This ultimately makes for a delightful, joyful listen from start to end.

38. Lightning Bug – A Color of the Sky

While the last 5 years has seen a resurgence of Slowdive era dream pop and shoegaze, Lightning Bug’s A Color of the Sky harkens back to Mojave 3’s alternative country and folk influences to create laid back, dreamy, intoxicating tunes. This album is as warm and inviting as it is patient and calculating. For a breath of fresh air expelled out into a wide open field, soothing and grounding under endless blue… Lightning Bug created the perfect soundtrack with A Color of the Sky. Further, its tightly-written, delicate songs pull heartstrings – often over orchestral strings through its nostalgia-dripped baroque and dream pop landscapes. 

37. Kero Kero Bonito – Civilisation (EP Compilation)

While this is technically a compilation of EPs rather than a full LP, it’s deserving of recognition of Kero Kero Bonito’s continued success. Their last record, Time ‘n’ Place, was my album of the year in 2018, and so I’m very much invested in whatever the band does next. I’ll admit, I was a little mixed at first with the first few singles they released from this collection. I was a huge fan of the mixture of indie and noise pop they executed on Time ‘n’ Place, and I’m still wanting more. But instead, what we got was something perhaps more interesting. Civilization instrumentally feels closer to their debut record, Bonito Generation, with its focus on chiptune-inspired, playful, quirky synthesized electronic beats. However, the mood and songwriting is closer to the maturity of their sophomore record. It’s been a way for the band to go full circle while still moving forward. It also sees the band moving deeper into political and social commentaries, whereas most of their previous work has been more introspective. I also appreciate their detours here. There were some songs that didn’t work for me, but overall, I really enjoyed Civilization and am still excited for whatever the band does next.  

36. Marissa Nadler – The Path of the Clouds

It’s strange how the last few years, distance apart has brought some closer together. There have been quite a few collaboration records as of late, such as Xiu Xiu’s OH NO, Sufjan Stevens and Angelo and Angelo De Augustine, that Bill Callahan and Bonnie Prince Billy record Blind Date Party, Chelsea Wolfe and Converge, that Richard Dawson & Circle album I mentioned earlier, and I’m sure countless more. Some of these were in person collaborations, but many were virtual collaborations. Marissa Nadler’s The Path of the Clouds sees wonderful collaborations with harpist Mary Lattimore, Amber Webber from Black Mountain and Lightning Dust, fellow gothic folk artist Emma Ruth Rundle, and dream pop legend Simon Raymonde from Cocteau Twins. These talents are captured exceedingly well on this record without at all watering down or distilling what is introspective, focused, and intimate experience. It has some of the most heartfelt and ornate instrumentation during what’s been a stacked year of amazingly textured and gorgeous albums. I think the slower tempos and sparseness of the recordings will perhaps detract many,  but it is absolutely worth the time spent to get to know it better. It might not sound like much on first listen, but it is so full of charm, beauty, and a stunning restlessness that Nadler expresses so well with fantastic vocal performances. 

35. Spiritbox – Eternal Blue

This album came out of nowhere for me, but certainly not the band. Apparently in the making going back to 2017 with their debut EP, Eternal Blue is a new age metal masterpiece. Though the band’s debut LP, they are clearly veterans of the genre that have passionately chased a vision for their music. Few bands have seen so many disparate influences come to cohesion and fruition in one place. Yet, the seams of that cohesion often fray at the seams–intentionally so–due to diverse pulls and aspirations that are attempted simultaneously. It’s actually scarily impressive how often it’s hard to believe it’s the same band – same vocalist – at work on some of these tracks. While post-metal, metalcore, and progressive metal are this album’s core components, there’s a clear love letter to ‘80s and ‘90s industrial, alternative rock, and heavy metal present throughout this record’s vibe. But the record’s polished production highlights these influences sharply for a new generation. This is a must-listen record for the year. 

34. Backxwash – I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES

Somehow, in 2021, there still aren’t enough musicians working in the aggressive, noisy, industrial, punk-oriented hip-hop space. Or at least not many that are doing it as well, aside from Death Grips and occasionally Denzel Curry when he puts his metalhead game on. The Needle Drop’s Anthony Fantano turned me onto Backxwash’s music last year with their breakout album God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It. I’m glad to see Backxwash continue from where they left of on this new record, because it’s an absolute fucking reckoning. If some rappers spit fire, Backxwash spits hellfire and molten lava from the deepest pits of this planet. And it sounds like they went there and back for inspiration on this record. If hardcore rap isn’t hardcore enough for you, then this record is probably a step in the right direction. This thing kicks ass. 

33. Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World

Some records are greater than the sum of their parts. That’s not the kindest compliment, as it suggests some weakness of its individual components. On that note, Mercurial World is a fantastic concept album, albeit one that is held together a bit dubious at times. The duo originates from the progressive and experimental rock scene, but the last few years of quarantine and lack of touring forced them to simplify their music and its production. This led them to synth pop music, which from interviews appears to have been a bit of a hesitant move. Nonetheless, they went all in. They’ve tirelessly worked on this sound, and it’s paid off. It’s actually exciting to hear someone from a different genre space come into create pop music through a new lens. It must have been a foregone conclusion that they’d end up with a concept album before they even started working on Mercurial World. Suffice to say: this is one of the most detailed, highly listenable, energetic and exciting synth and electro pop records of the year. 

32. Aesop Rock & Blockhead – Garbology

If Aesop Rock kept working infinitely, no one would ever be able to say the words, “that’s a sentence no one has ever said,” ever again, because he would have said every combination of words possible on a record at some point. Back with Blockhead at the production helm, it’s a return to form that’s fitting for Aesop but never feels redundant or trite. On Garbology, they managed to put together some of the sharpest and most infectious hip-hop of the year. But it’s definitely an oddball. I think it’s hard to imagine these two ever having a creative block – they’d just fuck around until they landed on genius. But that’s probably isn’t halfway far from the truth on their album, which might explain the title. The beats and the lyrics often come way out of left-field, dazzling the listener before they bounce, leaving you with the thought, “what the hell was that? I need to listen again.”

31. LUMP – Animal

On Animal, smash-hit British folk singer-songwriter Laura Marling teams up with Mike Lindsay, a founding member of the underrated folktronica gem Tunng. The result is … delightfully unexpected. Laura’s spectacular songwriting is given a new, strange light with Lindsay’s quirky talent and penchant for strange timbres. However, Lindsay finds great restraint in many sections, choosing to keep things minimal yet compelling. It’s difficult to pin this album down, and that’s a good thing. It’s been kind of an insane year for high quality albums – on any other year, this might have been a top ten album, but in 2021 I’m not even halfway done and I don’t even know what’s happening anymore. 

30. William Doyle – Great Spans of Muddy Time

Every year, I think this guy’s going to blow up more outside of the UK, but it doesn’t seem to happen. I think unfortunately stalled a bit of his momentum when transitioning from his previous artist name, East India Youth, to working under his birth name. For what it’s worth, Doyle is one of the best experimental pop artists in recent memory. While he’s often categorized as ambient and electronica, I think he shares more in common with psychedelic pop artists. I often get vibes of Mercury Rev from his music, but a bit more subdued, hazier, and folkier. His palette most often includes simple drum loops layered under ethereal synthesizers and arpeggios. It also includes a heaping breadth of glittering samples, and what might either be instrumental or MIDI arrangements. Great Spans of Muddy Time is another fantastic entry in Doyle’s dreamy discography, and worth checking out if you haven’t heard of his music prior. 

29. Skyzoo – All The Brilliant Things

The album’s already well-described itself with its title. This is an album that respects Golden Age hip-hop but isn’t afraid to flash a 2021 drip with its shiny, five star production. Don’t be fooled by the chillness of its jazz-hop sounds; this is highly motivated, conscious, East Coast rap from the heart. Certainly a must listen for any fan of lyrical hip-hop. Skyzoo’s path of life lived has led to this heaping helping of storytelling, introspection, and heartfelt rap music worth listening for both hardcore and casual fans of the genre. 

28. Black Dresses – Forever In Your Heart 

This album is a splash of cold water in the face during a hangover. Over the last few years, many of us have been angry. Actually, all of us have been angry, but for different reasons that we can’t seem to see eye to eye on. Regardless, anger isn’t well suited to our particular idiom as members of civilized society. So, we bottle it up. It’s not healthy. Sometimes, you need a soundtrack to coax it out. This is that soundtrack. Unrelenting, passionate, and vitriolic, Forever In Your Heart holds nothing back. But it’s more than just a spouting of anger – it’s also a creative marvel, constantly re-inventing itself and re-expressing itself from different angles and textures. There are almost as many quiet, reflective moments on this album as there are absolute fucking explosions of ear-piercing noise and screaming. In short, it’s a healthy, well-balanced meal. So, go eat. 

27. Tyler the Creator – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

I think this album scratched a collective itch for Tyler’s fanbase. After 2019’s IGOR, which saw Tyler’s career be elevated to its highest in esteem by both critics and fans alike, he could have done anything. He could have done more in a similar style. He could have done something completely different. But on CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, Tyler attempts to go full circle with a hip-hop record that takes everything he’s learned in songcraft and production over the last several years, then has a blast rapping over it like a victory lap for his career. With DJ Drama’s frequent hyping over these tracks, it’s intentional hyperbole that takes hip-hop’s bragadocious memes to new hilarious levels. The guest feature list for this record matches that vibe through-and-through. But the album does more than go hard. There are plenty of more reflective, R&B-inspired songs on here as well, evening out the flavors over its 53 minute runtime. This is a highly entertaining, high quality hip-hop record. 

26. Jane Weaver – Flock

Flock is an ambitious helping of psych-folk and electronica, blended together immaculately. It dives dangerously in-between experimental pop and singer-songwriter pop music, and succeeds with splendid result. The album is an absolute marathon of shifting styles, sounds, and structures. No matter what the attempt– psychedelic pop, ambient, electro, folktronica– she seems to knock it out of the park as it remains exciting, listenable, and engaging throughout. Jane’s long been in the music game, but I’m not sure she’s gotten the recognition she deserves. Here, on Flock, she absolutely has, and I hope she continues her incredible work. 

25. Self Esteem – Priortise Pleasure

This is what a Top 40 pop record should be: Fun, emotional, honest, and immaculately arranged, performed, recorded, and engineered. A lot of pop records get one or two of these things, but it’s rare that you get them all. Especially the fun part. The second track is called Fucking Wizardry, and the song I Do This All The Time–which The Guardian named the song of the year–essentially has spoken word for its verses. For a pop record, it’s not afraid to take risks, and that’s critical to its overall enjoyability and quality. If you want to get wild with it, you could even critique this album as a solid philosophical quip on hedonism. It’s a pursuit of pleasure that doesn’t forget that life is in the way. While the concept of prioritizing pleasure is simple, it’s not that simple. This is a simple pop record. But it’s also far from it. This album is full of all those twists and turns, all those strange, backwards roads and missteps we all must go through to get to just enjoying life and being our best self. It’s not easy, but it is. This is just a simple pop record, but it isn’t.  

24. MØL – Diorama

Truthfully, this is a kind of left-field personal pick. I’m a sucker for blackgaze. It’s been one of the most exciting genre fusions since I heard Sunbather by Deafheaven. Spoiler alert- while Deafheaven’s Infinite Granite didn’t make this list, I did in fact enjoy that record. I also quite liked their last couple albums, including Ordinary Corrupt Human Love which was seen as a bit of a departure by other fans. I’m happy that Deafheaven continues to explore their sound, and I’m curious to see where they go next. However, Danish band MØL seems to have picked up from where Deafheaven left off a few albums ago. This is a more “traditional” blackgaze album, sharing much in common with similar artists in the space like An Autumn For Crippled Children. MØL absolutely nails the sound on Diorama from a production standpoint. But it also tremendously succeeds in its songwriting – it’s an engaging record with an undeniably infectious, driving force of energy behind it. From that perspective, it elevates above its genre trappings to simply be a straight up great rock album. That is, of course, if you’re not opposed to black metal screaming.  

23. Geese – Projector

I was actually surprised to learn this was a debut album. I figured this must have been the band’s second or third album for how well-polished and well-executed it is from both songwriting and production perspectives. This is another album I think is panned a bit by critics because post-punk revivalism indie rock isn’t trending–and arguably hasn’t been in a decade–but I quite enjoyed Projector. It’s not a record that outright ignores 2000s post-punk revivalism from bands like The Strokes and Interpol, but it definitely gives the genre a fresh take. They picked up on the same sources and took them in their own direction. The end result was an album that’s groovy as hell with tight flourishes of jangly electric guitars, hypnotic bass lines, and emotionally charged vocal performances. This is a must listen for indie rock fans.

22. Dark Time Sunshine – LORE

Dark Time Sunshine is an alternative rap group made up of Seattle-based rapper Onry Ozzborn and Chicago producer Zavala. I knew Onry sounded familiar – I’ll admit that I’ve lost track of his career from his days in Grayskul, another hip-hop duo. I’m so relieved he’s kept at it, because he’s one of the most talented and impressive emcees of the last couple decades. Like Busdriver, his flows are seemingly endless diatribes of multi-faceted melodies, dazzling and delightfully verbacious. Moreover on this record, Zavala has crafted an impressive collection of beats for Onry to work with. They’re beats that somehow manage to sound neither traditional or non-traditional. They provide a stable platform for Onry’s wordplay, but also manage to sound interesting and strange without stealing the show. 

21. black midi – Cavalcade

There’s a frantic tempo and agility to this album’s experimental jazz rock furies. Thankfully, there are a few ambient, reality check breathers during its runtime. I got some major John Zorn, Naked City vibes listening to this album, which is absolutely an influence we need more of in the world. It’s chaotic, unpredictable, wild, and fun. But it’s densely arranged and adeptly performed. Only two records deep in their career, black midi have already fully established themselves as one of the most important driving forces in experimental rock today, and I have a feeling they aren’t going anywhere. 

20. SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH

I thought Spirit of the Beehive’s last record, Hypnic Jerks, was pretty solid. Psychedelic rock with some dream pop detours, I was onboard. But I’ll admit, I didn’t have wild expectations for their next record. I–like anyone else–expected a bit more of the same – another solid back of psych rock flavors. Instead, we got ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH. This album doesn’t deserve any petty genre tags. It deserves to be called fucking bonkers. It’s an unsettling record that constantly shifts in its seat, changing its story and making you question your sanity. It’s easy to want to search for some kind of throughline with music – we’re creatures of habit, we love symmetric and predictability. But it’s not as if those albums lacks those things at all. On the contrary, there are some incredibly good jams on this thing. It would be easier if this album was totally random, experimental, improvisational noise. But it’s not. It’s teaming with great songs. But it’s also teaming with tempo shifts, surprise interludes, pitch shifting, strange samples, disorienting channel panning, you name it, it’s here. But those things are constantly balanced by enchanting synthesizers, tight grooves, flourishes of arpeggios and jammy acoustic guitar playing. This is solid experimental rock that keeps you on your toes the entire way through. It’s like a crazy trip being guided by the best and most chill of friends. It’s not easy, but you’ll be safer on the other side, and you’ll be improved by the experience. 

19. Divide and Dissolve – Gas Lit

Gas Lit is a breakthrough record for this Australian instrumental doom metal duo. It’s an absolutely crushing, cacophonous sludge metal record. When I first heard this album, I thought the mix was really strange, even for sludge metal standards. The horns seemed trapped far away in the distant, almost barely audible. But it works. It’s like a beautiful voice that’s been confused and conflated much louder, boisterous, obfuscating one. Almost like it’s being… gas lit? I’m sure that can’t be it. Whatever the case, it’s one of the most ambitious artistic statements from a record of this kind, a deconstruction of the sound and its origins tied angrily to the sociopolitical times in which we live. It’s not easy to do that with an instrumental record, but here we are. 

18. The Weather Station – Ignorance

It took me a while to warm up to this album, which is strange, because it’s such a warm record. Honestly, there’s so much this year that’s explosive and dynamic, that a more subdued album is  easy to squeak by. Fortunately, the collective raving of a legion of music critics was enough to make sure I spent some time with this thing. And I’m glad I did, because this album is delightful. The Weather Station is Tamara Hope, a Canadian folk artist who’s also an accomplished actress. She’s worked extensively since the late ‘00s on her music, but only recently came to success under the Weather Station name. Ignorance is her magnum opus so far in her career, and it’s as equally dazzling as it is bittersweet. It has rich, spirited string arrangements and lush instrumentation, but brings great restraint in its songwriting and performances. If you haven’t listened to this record, please do. If you listened and didn’t like it, try it again. It’s worth giving the album your patience, because the album has plenty of patience to give to you. 

17. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!

It’s crazy. Back in 2012, Godspeed returned from a 10 year hiatus. I was thankful to get just one more album from them. Instead, they’ve doubled their material. Those albums have been an interesting journey in exploring their sounds, becoming even more experimental than they were from a songwriting perspective and increasingly more challenging sonically. They explored repetition, atonal music, noise, Eastern European instrumentation, and more. They did–on occasion–throw back to their post-rock roots, especially climactic moments. But it was only a taste. 

That’s not the case here on this new album, which is the most rock-forward album Godspeed has put out since the first years of their career in the late ‘90s, early 2000s. True, long ambient passages also make their return, but it wouldn’t be a Godspeed record without that. It’s almost like their career itself has been building up to this record, like a long Godspeed song stretched out over four albums. But I doubt it was that intentional. In any case, this record kicks ass. One of the best post-rock records in years, absolutely killer string instrument performances over distorted jams. 

This is the most triumphant sounding Godspeed has been in a long time, and given the times we live, it’s a weird moment to receive them. Perhaps they knew – above all – we all needed a bit of hope, desperately, and they were obliged to give it to us despite all the darkness that surrounds. Well, message received. Thank you – we won’t give up fighting. 

16. Indigo De Souza – Any Shape You Take

This album is a rare case when bleak emotion feels so scarily relatable because it shows the opposite side of the coin in which it derives. Heartbreak is rarely so simple as a departure. You can’t exorcise someone from your head, as much as you might true like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. They’re still in the world. They still might remain in contact. They still might remain friends. They still might remain someone you love. You might get  back together, for better or worse. Especially sometimes for the worse, despite knowing better. Life is more complicated than separation. Any Shape You Take explores all avenues of matters of the heart. Sometimes it’s hard to know you’ll come out better on the other side. Sometimes you might even want something better for the other person, despite how much you cherish them. Musically, this is more than a solid indie rock album. The instrumental palette for each song somehow incredibly matches the vibe of the lyrics, showing how thoughtful the production was moment to moment. The album is an emotional rollercoaster, so it’s only fitting that the music does the same. That’s a rarity, and that’s why it is easily a standout album of the year. 

15. Sufjan Stevens + Angelo De Augustine – A Beginner’s Mind

Sufjan Stevens’ and Angelo A Beginner’s Mind is a delicate, exquisite journey of baroque pop. Its concept of using film to inner emotion, then re-contextualizing that emotion through song, works wonders for its kaleidoscopic journey. I think knowing the backstory behind this record–that Sufjan and Angelo recorded it in isolation in the wilderness while watching a different film each night–helps to build an intimate feeling for the album. It’s a warm image, and it’s impressive how the pair managed such an impressive creative output over a short period of time and myriad influences. Though a concept album in a way, each song stands alone with unique themes and sounds. It’s a thoughtful, heartfelt journey through and through. 

14. Lucy Dacus  – Home Video

Home Video is an album that matches the tone set in its cover: the intimacy of a home movie, displayed on theater screen for all to see. But more than some somber indie confessional, Home Video has great aspirations that takes titular video to a wide variety of stories, scripts, characters, and set locations. While not as loud or as densely arranged as some other albums on this list, it manages to do so much with so little in the way of frills. The album is quiet more often than not, but it is loud when it wants to be, and it’s a climax that always pays off with catharsis. 

13. Lingua Ignota – SINNER GET READY

This album is harrowing. I’m not sure emotional abuse has ever been so frighteningly realized in musical form, or any form outside of someone’s mind. Half unadulterated emotional purging, half faux religious inquisition, SINNER GET READY is not easy for the faint of heart or soul, but may be a prescribed experience nonetheless. This album is an avalanche of Appalachian folk instrumentation, twisted gospel harmonies, spiteful reveries, sorrowful ballads, and spectacular arrangements of church organs, grand pianos, horns, and a diverse array of string instrumentation. This is worth setting aside your discomfort to enter this world of pain, betrayal, and desecration. Sadly–for as incredible as this album is as a piece of art–I wish it didn’t have to exist. Fuck domestic abusers and rapists. Believe victims. 

12. Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee

Jubilee is, in fact, a jubilee. It has some of the most uplifting, magically arranged baroque pop of the year. Songs like Paprika and Kokomo, IN are enthralling, magical performances and productions. I could live in their fantastical sounds happily ever after. The album chases other dreams, though, from new wave and synth pop inspired slow jams to the dream and indie pop Michelle Zauner is known for. Her third album in her solo career, she didn’t miss on her sophomoric album, and she’s only increasingly impressing me over the years. Following her online, I know she’s as much of a music geek as she is a musician, and I am sure she had so many countless influences on Jubilee as she flexes her wide range of capabilities. Nonetheless, no one influence ever sticks out as a crutch or a go to. It’s an album that’s not afraid to explore and find itself through inspiration from its influences, but not because of them. 

11. Squid – Bright Green Field

Explosive, dynamic, and challenging – Squid’s Bright Green Field is post-punk anxiety and mania done exceedingly well. On this record, Squid pulls from the same thread of Talking Heads’ David Byrne that fellow post-punk revivalist band Ought. Ollie Judge is the band’s drummer and vocalist, and it’s hard to imagine not going out of breath through these performances. Actually, half the time it sounds like that’s what’s happening. Regardless, eccentricity is what the album does best. It’s completely unpredictable from one moment to the next, containing several different ambient interludes ranging from electronic experimentation to laid back and jazz. The progressiveness gives the album a ‘70s kraut-rock vibe, making me wonder if the band also pulls from CAN and Damo Suzuki. Whatever their mishmash of influences are, they’re treating them well, and bringing enough of their own style to make this record unique and stand on its own well enough to be respected and appreciated as one of the bests of the year. 

10. Parannoul – To See the Next Part of the Dream

Parannoul is a South Korea-based shoegaze and emo project. Seemingly this is a project by an anonymous musician. Though  based in South Korea, Parannoul pulls strong influence from Japanese culture and cinema. Hikikomori culture–which is based around extreme isolation from society–is one of its most prominent elements. This is reinforced through its lyrics throughout the album. Though predominantly in the Korean language, the artist was thoughtful enough to post translations on his Bandcamp page, which allows for non-Korean speakers to enjoy the deep, introspective, forlorn nature of the album. It’s rare for a shoegaze album to be so focused on lyrical content–even beyond the language barrier, this project is highly compressed in its layers, creating rigid walls of sound that densely fill whatever room you are in. 

Though I think the production choices ultimately will deter many potential fans, this is my kind of album. I’m admittedly a sucker for shoegaze and dream pop, so I’m right at home with the production. But at the end of the day, it’s not the production that makes me love this album. It’s the tireless effort to realize its artistic vision. This artist is painstakingly attempting to bring to life the full emotional breadth of social rejection and non-conformity. Its mood shifts restlessly from loneliness, to nostalgia, to frustration, to failure, to hopelessness and helplessness. Yet, there are glimmers of hope, and desperate attempts to push beyond the smoggy cloud of disillusionment and disdain for society, a yearning to somehow be re-integrated within it. 

This is far from a perfect album. The production isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before, and there are many spottier, somewhat repetitive parts on its one hour runtime. But this album does have some great songs, and through its lyrics, achieves staggering vulnerability that can’t be ignored. The album manages to surprise, and there’s countless songwriting and production detail that’s etched into this thing through hard work and dedication. It may be the work of an amateur, but it’s also the work of someone who pushed their skills to their absolute limit to bleed out their emotion and pain into word and sound. That’s not something you encounter every day. Anyone who willingly puts themselves out to the world in this way – to show the depth of their weakness, fear, anxiety, and depression – deserves attention and respect to know that they are heard, that they are understood, and what they are feeling is real. From that perspective, this album is an absolute achievement, enough to make its faults not only easy to ignore, but easy to identify with. 

9. illuminati hotties – Let Me Do One More

illuminati hotties is primarily an indie and punk rock project of Sara Tudzin. Not only is she a great songwriter and performer, but she also produces the band’s work as well. That’s considerably impressive on Let Me Do One More. It’s one of the best sophomoric album releases in recent memory. The band’s debut, Kiss Yr Frenemies, was a fantastic album that was also on my top 50 list for the year. Its energy and catchiness was hard to refute, but it suffered a bit from lack of focus. That’s a complete non-issue here. This is a killer collection of songs that each stand on their own – sonically, lyrically, purposefully – and each one is a wild success. The versatility on this album  from both writing and production standpoints is a thing to behold. It effortlessly pulls off nostalgic and distorted indie rock jams, invigorating punk aggression, surf rock dream pop detours, and emotional ballads that could win a fight against some of the best records released on Saddle Creek. 

Let Me Do One More also *sounds* so perfect. It escapes the lo-fi trappings of many similar artists in the space. Actually, it sounds better than albums that were produced by a fucking team of engineers. It’s clear, loud, and precise, allowing all instruments and vocals to be heard distinctly and prominently. It’s expressive, allowing each song to exist in its own distinct world, full of layers full of detail worth catching on multiple re-listens. But when it wants to hold back and be quiet, intimate, and close, it accomplishes that equally well. I love and admire the fearless attempts at such a wide different alternative rock subgenres and sounds that Sara clearly loves herself. Any long time fan of indie rock will appreciate the hard work and sweat that went into this thing to sound as good as it does. 

8. Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

Little Simz’ previous album, GREY Area, alerted the world to her lyrical prowess over an impressive series of gritty beats reminiscent of early RZA production. But this album was in fact a bit of a detour for Simz, as she’d been working several years already on multiple albums across a variety of palettes, most notably the wildly divergent and exploratory Stillness in Wonderland. But where Stillness lacked focus, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert narrows its sight on exploring her inner world through ambitious production and powerful poetry. Lyrically dense, Simz comfortably throws infectious bars over both grand, ornate instrumentation and samples as well as minimal, stripped back beats with few frills. 

No matter what, she is front and center, and carries the album confidently over a 60 minute runtime with few in the way of features. Tied together with a series of interludes, the album sees its introverted concept through poignant anecdotes, observations, and wisdom worth pondering. She questions life, the universe, and capitalism along the way, finding self-worth and self-realization a challenge in the crazy times in which an individual can live. Like a 3 star Michelin rated restaurant, this album is worth a detour to spend a day in Little Simz’ shoes. 

7. Floating Points & Pharaoh Sanders – Promises

There’s not much to say about Promises that hasn’t already been said. It’s an extraordinary piece of music, and I think it will impact and mean something different to everyone who hears it. I went into this album not knowing much about what it would be other than knowing both Sam Sam Shepherd’s (Floating Points) and Pharaoh Sanders’ respective works. I’ll admit, I was a bit surprised that Sam was to collaborate with one of the most legendary free jazz musicians of all time. Still, Sam’s work under Floating Points name has been impressive and promising thus far in his relatively short electronic music career, and always felt like it had a bit more range to explore. I’d have expected something grand and epic like a Jon Hopkins record. But instead of going louder and more expansive, he seemingly went in the complete opposite direction – in the deep stretches of internal space rather than external space. Most of the albums on this list can fit under the now gargantuanly wide bucket of “popular music.” This album exists outside of that bucket, better compared with the likes of classical, jazz, ambient, experimental music. 

When I first turned it on, my immediate thought was of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports. It had a timelessness and simplicity about it. But Promises is too big for an airport. It’s also too big for a feature film. Perhaps it can only be contained by the experience of life itself. Promises is a journey. Through its runtime, it repeats a short refrain – a brief melody seemingly played on harpsichord that serves as a strange motif throughout its runtime. The refrain sounds weirdly nostalgic, and it keeps you grounded and present throughout the experience, a grounding sense of familiarity. Everything else soars above it, but is ultimately fleeting. Pharaoh’s saxophone playing is sublime, and somehow works both with and against the refrain simultaneously, partners in crime through the majesty of sound and movement. The refrain is the heartbeat in your chest, the essence of life that is immutable, but not invulnerable. Things come and go–peace, anxiety, wonder, anger–but it remains. But not forever. In its 46 minute runtime, the music that accompanies this refrain grows, swells, and soars to magnificence. Did I say this album wasn’t grand and epic? My mistake. It most assuredly is.

6. St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home

Daddy’s Home’s title is a reference to St. Vincent’s father coming home from jail. While that’s certainly a concept explored here, it serves as a mere light shining down a far deeper well of reflection. Those concepts include the uncertainties of motherhood, the sometimes unkind allure of celebrityhood, bygone heroes and pioneers that elevated womanhood, and I’m sure some other -hoods if I took the time. Suffice to say, this is an epic album in both sound and concept. Daddy’s Home showcases immaculate production that harkens back to the spacier sounds of the ‘70s. Its frequent dreariness is counterbalanced delicately with indulgent walls of sound, crashing crescendos, and rewarding moments of awe and splendor.   

St. Vincent already had an impressive discography up until this point. But I’ll admit, Strange Mercy has always been my favorite record of hers. Daddy’s Home is the first since 2011 to challenge that for me, and she’s certainly had some fantastic records in that timespan. Thinking about it, I’m not sure there is another singer-songwriter in existence that manages to combine both the deconstructive freedom of ‘70s art rock artists like Lou Reed and David Byrne, but the exceptionally tight songwriting of the most celebrated pop artists of all time. For example, Sheena Easton, who she accidentally admittedly pulled from on the song My Baby Wants A Baby. But even her interpolations lead to new ideas worth deep exploration, recontextualizing our view of old pop songs and their meaning going into a new generation of pain and struggle. This album confirms something we’ve all thought for some time: St. Vincent is one of the most talented, prolific, and exceptional artists of our time.

5. JPEGMAFIA – LP!

Damn Peggy. You did it. This thing fucking rules. 

JPEGMAFIA’s debut LP, Veteran, was an exploratory adventure in his sound potential – an adventure that found great success and potential at every staggeringly impressive and experimental turn. On follow-up All My Heroes Are Cornballs, he took a step towards defining his sound, not compromising on his sensibilities but finding the sounds he most gravitated towards and expanding them with far greater detail and precision in their production. On LP!, we haven’t come full circle. The circle is fucking broken. We now know what to expect in a JPEGMAFIA album – that we have no idea what to expect. I mean, what the hell even is this? When you have what’s a wrestling-rap crossover next to the kind of beats I would imagine Kate Bush would rap over if she ever switched to hip-hop, you know you’re in for something delightfully strange. 

But in a recent interview with Peggy, Narduwar asked his usual final question, “Why should people care about JPEGMAFIA?” Part of his response was, “People should care about me because there’s a space for black people who are not into normal things and are into alternative things, and we should be allowed to do that without being typecast as weird, or like this, or that, or ‘we’re white’.” This is music by an outcast, for outcasts. It’s not trying to be anything other than what feels true to itself. It’s not trying to shock you, or weird you out. This is just what it is. Take it or fuck off. 

Well, I have a hard time fucking off because I keep coming back to this album. I keep finding the meaning of samples that were loudly included but somehow escaped my mind because there were a myriad of other considerations. The lyrics constantly gravitate between profound and hilarious. The sounds presented are constantly shifting but are fluid and cohesive, no matter how crazily they seem to change. Meticulous hard work went into this thing to get it to sound a certain way sonically, and it paid off. It’s actually baffling how his music since Veteran has become simultaneously more challenging and more accessible at the same time. 

The record has both a “streaming version” listed on all the major streaming services, as well as an “offline version” meant to be listened to in a non-streaming format. There are differences in song order and in some cases song inclusions themselves. It’s an interesting answer to what I’m sure is a modern-day music publishing conundrum. It goes to show that JPEGMAFIA is not only looking to experiment with music but music consumption itself, as we are stuck in this weird point in time when the accessibility of music has profoundly changed, causing our expectations of what an “album” is to become conflicted and divergent from one another. This isn’t a long-term answer, but it is a necessary question as we move forward technologically while holding onto what made hardcopy, analog music unique as an experience in itself. 

4. Feu! Chatterton – Palais d’argile

This list is getting exceedingly difficult. There were so many incredible albums on this list, and every time I finish gushing about an album, I wonder if I’m able to effectively articulate my thoughts well enough on the next. 

Palais d’argile was my surprise love of the year. I’m familiar with a smidgening of French indie rock and pop, but by no means a connoisseur. The album pulls from a wide variety of influences, including not only French and other European influences, but American indie and alternative rock as well. What makes this album such a special experience is the songwriting lens everything is passed through. Feu! Chatterton has a deep appreciation and respect for French pop songwriting and performance like Serge Gainsbourg, Édith Piaf, and Jacques Dutronc. But they also embrace and are a part of a pantheon of French indie and alternative pop. Their most notably influence is likely Noir Désir, one of the most important bands in French post-punk and alternative. Of course, when talking about the electronic influences on this record, it’s also hard not to mention Daft Punk as well. But this album also pulls from kraut-rock production techniques in the same way that LCD Soundsystem did, creating driving, looping dance beats as a platform for outlandish, energetic performances and heartpumping crescendos.

I account for all this influence to say that this album manages to accomplish so much simultaneously, yet so elegantly and in such a uniform package that it’s staggeringly impressive. The album manages to feel conceptual, with its “Monde Noveau” serving as opening and closer motifs to tie the record together like a frame story for everything that falls within. The album often sounds like both a rock record and a dance record at the same time, to the point where my genre-raddled brain gets confused as to what to call it. The answer is, of course, to not call it anything at all.

The album has beautiful, immaculate flow. When appreciating an album as a cohesive piece of work, track-to-track flow is important to me. This album’s tracklisting has one of the elegant and classic flows I heard all year, managing to rise and fall like a traditional story structure. But it’s also a great collection of individual songs as well. Écran Total managed to be one of my top listened to songs of the year, I couldn’t stop listening to it. Compagnons is a re-interpretation of Compagnons des mauvais jours by Jacques Prevert, and it’s such a warm and inviting respite during an album that already stretched to great emotional highs by that point. Libre is an anthemic indie rock banger. La mer is a dreamy detour with jazzy drums and light guitar licks hanging in the background like stars in the night sky over dark seas. 

This thing is packed with incredible songs held together in a tight package. But I think what really drives it over the edge of awe for me are the performances. The music manages to sound both robotically precise and humanly raw at the same time. The vocals lead the crescendos of the songs, giving them exciting tempos that push forward and always reach a fulfilling apex. The vocal range goes from quiet, somber, almost whispering singing to shouting and screaming, oftentimes in moments next to each other. Nothing is held back, guttural sounds emit in moments of emotional outpourings and are smartly kept into the final production result to account for the strain that went into this thing. This phenomenal album is a must listen. 

3. Spellling -The Turning Wheel

The Turning Wheel is the greatest art pop album of the year, and sure to be one to be recognized throughout the rest of the next decade through its bold artistic statements. It creates a distinct world of its own to be experienced, both inwardly and outwardly. It evokes fantastical, magical imagery but then throws it all through the painful blender of our current sociopolitical woes. But the most inspiring thing is – somehow, it finds a way to find hope despite that pain. It shows that if we zoom out in history, we are two steps forward, one step back. But that step back isn’t to be forgotten or neglected; in fact, it is our roadmap to moving forward. The image of a Turning Wheel can invite a sense of cyclical repetition; but it can also depict a forward momentum. History repeats itself until we have sufficiently learned from it. The Turning Wheel attempts that learning. It invites both the darkness and the light into one room, then finds common threads in human experience. It is the most mature person in the room that mediates conflict even when it’s not necessarily earned or deserved. It does this because we as a society need it–not for us, but for our children and future generations.

Musically, this is the most densely and sharply produced albums of the year. Its brightness is almost blinding, balanced by the darkness evoked in its latter half. Choral vocals plea for peace and social reform, searching desperately for the ways to connect one another. Staggeringly beautiful arrangements of strings, synthesizers, bells, horns, and electric guitars occupy spaces next to each other comfortably, not held back by time or space. Their sound ecosystem is one of harmony throughout, and great lengths of technical production perfection had to be required to get to this level of sonic balance despite the wide variety of sounds present. It was worth the effort. This thing sounds crystal clean – it sets a bar musically that is worthy of aspiring to. But thematically and lyrically, it sets a bar for our society also worth aspiring to, even if it seems far out of reach at the moment. It’s hard for us to “zoom out,” we too often are only able to see what is in front of us. The Turning Wheel invites us to search far beyond our senses, and it accomplishes this with wild success form start to finish.

2. Black Country, New Road – For the first time

I have a soft spot for debut albums that are exciting, new, adventurous. Black Country, New Road’s debut album is one of the most exciting, impressive, and engaging debut albums I’ve heard in some years. If the band was trying to find themselves, they found something incredibly special. 

The album starts with a five and a half minute Eastern European folk inspired instrumental song. It does nothing to properly set your expectation for what follows, but it’s sort of like a musical appetizer. It sits differently than the courses that follow, but excites your expectations and warms up your senses properly. Beyond this instrumental, while there are only five other songs, they each are so expansive and unique experiences that strongly stand on their own. “Athens, France” was my most listened to song of 2021 – I love the pacing of this song, smartly defying expectations at every corner. Instead of soaking in the intense crescendo the song builds to, it achieves release in its quietest moment in the middle of the song. It’s an intentional disappointment – just like the narrator’s own through the trials and tribulations of starting a band, under the apparent guise of a failed romance. Or maybe it’s the other way around. The cryptic lyrics entice wonder to what happened.  

Speaking of the lyrics on this thing, they’re perhaps not the strongest part, but they are certainly bold. This might date me a bit, but they’re like someone accidentally set their LiveJournal to public instead of private, exposing all their deepest thoughts and weird, melodramatic poetry to the world. “Today, I hide away. But tomorrow, I take the reins. Still living with my mother as I move from one microinfluencer to another.” And of course, there’s the plea to “Leave Kanye out of this!” They’re lyrics that would be anachronistic in any other era, which is a curse for timelinessness but a blessing for realness and honesty.

While “Athens, France” and “Science Fair” steal a lot of the album’s thunder from right out of the gate, it’s not close to out of steam at that point. “Sunglasses” is the album’s longest song, serving as a platform for the band’s performances to once again shine. Its unpredictable intensity dare you to keep pace like a mountain road with dangerous curves, rapid stops, and fast accelerations. “Track X” sees the band at its most somber, reflective moments, a much needed rest stop on this frantic, emotionally explosive road trip. “Opus” serves as a fantastic closer, bringing back the album’s best ideas back for one last hurrah and bow. 

“For the first time” is not afraid to take chances, like with its bold instrumental opener. Though a youthful band, they’re unafraid to express vulnerability and weakness, even if it is a bit melodramatic and embarrassing. It’s an album that appreciates repetition as equally important as change and progression, like the exhausting, circular but quickening revolutions on the song “Science Fair” dizzyingly overload the senses until they finally explode in the scream of layered brass instruments. 

The album has clear influences in indie rock, post-punk, and math rock, especially post-rock pioneers like Slint. But they’ve taken those influences and elevated them into something uniquely their own. They did it with their own style, energy, and creative courage. They’ve already released some singles of new work since this album’s release, and it continues to explore new sonic and structural territory for the band. I can only hope the band continues to strike creative gold, and what we’ve heard so far is promising. But regardless of what happens–whether they release their magnum opus or break up tomorrow–For the first time will remain as a remarkable piece of music – one that expresses the ephemerality of youth, life, and change, but should be remembered forever for the transformative experience of what it was. It’s not the destination; it’s the journey. 

1. Low – HEY WHAT

HEY WHAT is a tour-de-force accomplishment of sound. It is a completely dissociative experience by design. Low is one of the few bands out there that can pull a sound like this off. Synonymous with the slowcore genre, Low has always been comfortable occupying the empty space between sounds as expressing sound itself, and in fact, incorporating that emptiness as an essential part of a song’s structure. Multiple decades after gaining this comfort–specifically over their last few albums working with producer BJ Burton–they’ve taken an almost opposite, maximalist approach. No one required them to earn taking this approach, but evidently, it was earned nonetheless. 

Dissonance is a frequent part of this album’s repertoire, but it never overstays its welcome, frequently balanced by stretches of heavenly euphoria, and of course, the careful expressions of somber silence. They’ve magically married noise pop and ambient pop, seemingly at opposite ends of the spectrum for experimental pop palettes. The album’s most defining element–and I’m not sure exactly how to put it into words–is how it *pulses* in and out, back and forth. It’s like a record player in its end stages of life, constantly on the verge of failure, but somehow hanging on like the fate of the universe depends on it. I have to apologize for the amount of what probably sounds like hyperbole here, but the intoxicating, transcendental vocal harmonies feel like a religious experience. Some albums are best enjoyed with headphones. This album is best enjoyed alone in a dark room or in some kind of sensory deprivation chamber. 

And it has songs. Great, memorable, sharp, spectacular songs worthy of getting stuck in your head as any sugar coated pop song. As experimental and boisterous as it often sounds, it still begs me to re-listen. How – seriously, fucking how? It all comes back to the band itself – their confidence, maturity, and adeptness in songcraft, and their ability to apply that craft in a difficult, challenging format. Slowcore doesn’t allow much room for error in songs, and neither do the audacious sounds presented on HEY WHAT. Massive credit also has to be delivered to producer BJ Burton. It’s probably the best record he has ever engineered from a standpoint of music production as an art itself. 

I’m reminded of the John Cage quote, “If my work is accepted, I must move on to the point where it is not.” HEY WHAT is an album that goes to that point – and then backs up ever so slightly ensuring that somehow, someway, it fits within our cultural expectations for rhythm, melody, harmony, structure. While Low unwaveringly pushes into this shocking trajectory–an absolute irreverence for traditional timbres–they never stray into the absurd or the aimless. This is a musically iconoclastic album teeming with harshness and jolting surprise – but also with intention, care, and staggering beauty. It is alien at first glance, but with some time spent, it absolutely offers a profound human experience. It pushes your senses to the unfamiliar and never insults the breadth of your sensibilities by watering the experience down. Not everything that demands your attention deserves your attention. But HEY WHAT absolutely does. 

When you think you’ve seen everything

You’ll find we’re living in days like these

Say you only take what you bring

Maybe that’s just the way they speak

Know that I would do anything

Is it something that I can’t see?

Everybody just chased by dreams

That’s why we’re living in days like these, again

It isn’t something you can choose between

It isn’t coming in twos and threes

Always looking for that one sure thing

Oh, you wanted so desperately

No, you’re never gonna feel complete

No, you’re never gonna be released

Maybe never even see, believe

That’s why we’re living in days like these again

Again.