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.
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