Here are all of the 2021 albums that I listened to in 2021;
1 is for records that I was really into;
2 is for albums that I liked — maybe even quite a bit — but which didn’t set my world on fire;
3 is essentially the ‘thanks, but no thanks’ section
If super-long lists of titles aren’t your thing, at the end of each year I publish a more complete look at my favourite 20 albums.
1
Bachelor — Doomin’ Sun
BADBADNOTGOOD — Talk Memory
Bell Orchestre — House Music
Bicep — Isles
Biffy Clyro — The Myth of the Happily Ever After
Jade Bird — Different Kinds of Light
Blunt Bangs — Proper Smoker
Celeste — Not Your Muse
Darkside — Spiral
Madi Diaz — History of a Feeling
The Dirty Nil — Fuck Art
Django Django — Glowing in the Dark
Du Blonde — Homecoming
Fiddlehead — Between the Richness
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, & The London Symphony Orchestra — Promises
Ill Considered — Liminal Space
Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, & Tyshawn Sorey — Uneasy
Japanese Breakfast — Jubilee
Koreless — Agor
Ben Kweller — Circuit Boredom
Kajsa Lindgren — Momentary Harmony
Low — Hey What
Madlib — Sound Ancestors
Middle Kids — Today We’re the Greatest
Moin — Moot!
Mono — Pilgrimage of the Soul
Arlo Parks — Collapsed in Sunbeams
Portico Quartet — Terrain
Priya Ragu — damnshestamil
Porter Robinson — Nurture
Olivia Rodrigo — SOUR
Ross From Friends — Tread
DJ Seinfeld — Mirrors
Spellling — The Turning Wheel
St Vincent — Daddy’s Home
Tangents — Timeslips & Chimeras
Teen Daze — Interior
Teenage Fanclub — Endless Arcade
Rosie Tucker — Sucker Supreme
Turnstile — Glow On
Tyler, the Creator — Call Me If You Get Lost
Weezer — OK Human
Weezer — Van Weezer
Wolf Alice — Blue Weekend
2
Abstract Mindstate — Dreams Still Inspire
Eve Adams — Metal Bird
Ryan Adams — Big Colors
AKAI SOLO — True Sky
Damon Albarn — The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
The Armed — ULTRAPOP
Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés — CLAMOR
Arooj Aftab — Vulture Prince
American Culture — For My Animals
Another Michael — New Music and Big Pop
The Antlers — Green to Gold
Arab Strap — As Days Get Dark
aya — im hole
Baby Queen — The Yearbook
Backxwash — I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses
Baio — Dead Hand Control
Julien Baker — Little Oblivions
Madison Beer — Life Support
The Besnard Lakes — The Besnard Lakes Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings
Big Brave — Vital
Birdy — Young Heart
Black Country, New Road — For the First Time
Black Dresses — Forever in Your Heart
The Black Keys — Delta Kream
black midi — Cavalcade
James Blake — Friends That Break Your Heart
Blanck Mass — In Ferneaux
Alex Bleeker — Heaven on the Faultline
The Body — I’ve Seen All I Need to See
Body Meπa — The Work Is Slow
Boy Scouts — Wayfinder
The Boys with Perpetual Nervousness — Songs from Another Life
Leon Bridges — Gold-Diggers Sound
Brijean — Feelings
BROCKHAMPTON:ROADRUNNER
The Bug — Fire
Car Culture — Dead Rock
CHAI — Wink
Chet Faker — Hotel Surrender
Chubby and the Gang — The Mutt’s Nuts
Chvrches — Screen Violence
Clairo — Sling
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah — New Fragility
Casper Clausen — Better Way
Closer — Within One Stem
Cloud Nothings — The Shadow I Remember
Coldplay — Music of the Spheres
Colleen — The Tunnel and the Clearing
Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt — Made Out of Sound
Crazy Arm — Dark Hands, Thunderbolts
Joy Crookes — Skin
Theon Cross — Intra-I
Lucy Dacus — Home Video
Deafheaven — Infinite Granite
Death From Above — Is 4 Lovers
Indigo DeSouza — Any Shape You Take
Dimension — Organ
Dinosaur Jr. — Sweep It Into Space
Divide and Dissolve — Gas Lit
dltzk — Frailty
Dry Cleaning — New Long Leg
Danielle Durack — No Place
Dusky — JOY
Billie Eilish — Happier Than Ever
Elbow — Flying Dream 1
Elizabeth & the Catapult — sincerely, e
Facs — Present Tense
Facta — Blush
Fake Fruit — Fake Fruit
La Femme — Paradigmes
Feu! Chatterton — Palais d’argile
FINNEAS — Optimist
Floatie — Voyage Out
Flying Lotus — Yasuke
Foo Fighters — Medicine at Midnight
Nils Frahm — Old Friends New Friends
Jeremiah Fraites — Piano Piano
François & the Atlas Mountains — Banane Bleue
Fruit Bats — The Pet Parade
Garbage — No Gods No Masters
Geese — Projector
Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes — Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar More Songs
Ghetts — Conflict of Interest
Ghlow — Slash and Burn
Giant Claw — Mirror Guide
girl in red — if i could make it go quiet
Bendik Giske — Cracks
Gliterrer — Life is not a Lesson
The Go! Team — Get Up Sequences Part One
Goat Girl — On All Fours
Godspeed You! Black Emperor — G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
Grouper — Shade
David Grubbs & Ryley Walker — A Tap on the Shoulder
Gruff Rhys — Seeking New Gods
Guided by Voices — Earth Man Blues
hackedepicciotto — The Silver Threshold
Half Waif — Mythopoetics
Halsey — If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist — Haram
Yoshinori Hayashi — Pulse of Defiance
Lande Hekt — Going to Hell
Helado Negro — Far In
Helvetia — Essential Aliens
Here Lies Man — Ritual Divination
Hide — Interior Terror
The Hold Steady — Open Door Policy
Jon Hopkins — Music for Psychedelic Therapy
Hovvdy — True Love
Iceage — Seek Shelter
IDLES — CRAWLER
Illuminati Hotties — Let Me Do One More
Irreversible Entanglements — Open the Gates
Japanese Breakfast — Sable OST
Cassandra Jenkins — An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
Jungle — Loving in Stereo
KAS — Like Sunlit Threads
Kele — The Waves Pt. 1
Eli Keszler — Icons
The Killers — Pressure Machine
Kings of Convenience — Peace or Love
Kings of Leon — When You See Yourself
Kiwi Jr. — Cooler Returns
Lily Konigsberg — The Best of Lily Konigsberg Right Now
Lily Konigsberg — Lily We Need to Talk Now
Ben LaMar Gay — Open Arms to Open Us
Lana Del Rey — Blue Banisters
Lana Del Rey — Chemtrails Over the Country Club
Zara Larsson — Poster Girl
Last Days of April — Even The Good Days Are Bad
James Brandon Lewis — Jesup Wagon
SG Lewis — times
Liars — The Apple Drop
Lightning Bug — A Color of the Sky
Little Simz — Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble — NOW
Lone — Always Inside Your Head
LoneLady — Former Things
Lonely the Brave — The Hope List
Lorde — Solar Power
Lost Girls — Menneskekollektivet
Lost Horizons — In Quiet Moments
L’Rain — Fatigue
LUMP — Animal
Francis Lung — Miracle
MMM — On The Edge
Manic Street Preachers — The Ultra Vivid Lament
DJ Manny — Signals in my Head
Kasper Marott — Full Circle
Maxïmo Park — Nature Always Wins
Buck Meek — Two Saviors
Midnight Sister — Painting the Roses
Midwife — Luminol
Mild High Club — Going Going Gone
Modest Mouse — The Golden Casket
Mogwai — As the Love Continues
Roy Montgomery — Island of Lost Souls
Moontype — Bodies of Water
Morly — ’Til I Start Speaking
The Muckers — Endeavour
DJ Muggs the Black Goat — Dies Occidendum
Kasey Musgraves — star-crossed
Laura Mvula — Pink Noise
Native Soul — Teenage Dreams
Nao — And Then Life Was Beautiful
Anthony Naples — Chameleon
Nas — King’s Disease II
Naytronix — Other Possibilities
Nervous Dater — Call in the Mess
Nite Jewel — No Sun
Not Waving — How To Leave Your Body
The Notwist — Vertigo Days
OMAAR — Drum Temple
Genesis Owusu — Smiling with No Teeth
PDP III — Pilled Up on a Couple of Doves
PACKS — Take the Cake
Painted Shrines — Heaven & Holy
Palberta — Palberta5000
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills — Notes With Attachments
박혜진 Park Hye Jin — Before I Die
Parquet Courts — Sympathy for Life
Parris — Soaked in Indigo Moonlight
Hannah Peel — Fir Wave
Maisie Peters — You Signed Up For This
PONY — TV Baby
Poppy — Flux
Portico Quartet — Monument
Portrayal of Guilt — We Are Always Alone
Lyra Pramuk — Delta
Provoker — Body Jumper
Quickly, Quickly — The Long and Short of It
RP Boo — Established!
Rats on Rafts — Excerpts From Chapter 3: The Mind Runs a Net of Rabbit Paths
Really From — Really From
Remember Sports — Like a Stone
Rival Consoles — Overflow
Robot Koch — Full Circle
Rodeola — Arlene
Royal Blood — Typhoons
Jana Rush — Painful Enlightenment
Sault — Nine
Scotch Rolex — TEWARI
Self Esteem — Prioritise Pleasure
Sematary — Rainbow Bridge 3
serpentwithfeet — DEACON
shame — Drunk Tank Pink
Nala Sinephro — Space 1.8
Six Organs of Admittance — The Veiled Sea
Sleater-Kinney — Path of Wellness
Sleigh Bells — Texis
slowthai — Tyron
Jorja Smith — Be Right Back
Snail Mail — Valentine
Snapped Ankles — Forest of Your Problems
Cleo Sol — Mother
Son Lux — Tomorrows III
Sons of Kemet — Black to the Future
Indigo Sparke — Echo
Special Friend — Ennemi Commun
Spirit of the Beehive — ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
Squid — Bright Green Field
Squirrel Flower — Planet (i)
The Staves — Good Woman
Still Corners — The Last Exit
Pauline Anna Strom — Angel Tears in Sunlight
Yu Su — Yellow River Blue
Jazmine Sullivan — Heaux Tales
Sun June — Somewhere
IAN SWEET — Show Me How You Disappear
System Olympia — Always on Time
Soshi Takeda — Floating Mountains
John Tejada — Year of the Living Dead
The Telescopes — Song of Love & Revolution
Tetrarch — Unstable
Henry Threadgill — Poof
Tirzah — Colourgrade
Torres — Thirstier
twenty one pilots — Scaled and Icy
The Umbrellas — The Umbrellas
Chad VanGaalen — World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener
Viagra Boys — Welfare Jazz
Hana Vu — Public Storage
Leon Vynehall — Rare, Forever
Karima Walker — Waking the Dreaming Body
The War on Drugs — I Don’t Live Here Anymore
Water From Your Eyes — Structure
Wavves — Hideaway
The Weather Station — Ignorance
Faye Webster — I Know I’m Funny haha
Wednesday — Twin Plagues
Kanye West — Donda
Wild Up & Christopher Rountree — Julius Eastman, Vol. 1: Femenine
Hayley Williams — FLOWERS for VASES / descansos
Willow — Lately I Feel Everything
A Winged Victory for the Sullen — Invisible Cities
Yung — Ongoing Dispute
96 Back — 9696 Dream
3
ABBA — Voyage
Architects — For Those That Wish to Exist
Bernice — Eau de Bonjourno
M. Caye Castagnetto — Leap Second
Sarah Mary Chadwick — Me and Ennui are Friends Baby
Drake — Certified Lover Boy
Lambchop — Showtunes
Mica Levi — Blue Alibi
Mach-Hommy — Pray for Haiti
Moor Mother — Black Encyclopedia of the Air
Texas — Hi
Visionist — A Call To Arms
Pale Waves — Who Am I?
Tele Novella — Merlynn Belle
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