The best new music released in 2021 that had my record player and my head spinning are often outside of the mainstream. But I’m me and I like what I like. So here they are in alphabetical order because I refuse to put numbers on art. I also refused to publish the list till 2021 was actually over because anything sooner is premature.
Aimee Mann, Queens of the Summer Hotel
Because, well, Aimee Mann is Aimee Mann. This may not be her best record, but any Aimee Mann music makes my life richer and is received with gratitude. She has a way with a waltz, doesn’t she?
Angels & Airwaves, Lifeforms
OK, so Tom DeLonge is not Thom Yorke, but the former Blink-182 singer does have some big ideas of his own and Lifeforms is the closest he’s come to expressing them. DeLonge has said in interview, “Lifeforms and the movie Monsters Of California are really a discussion of about our interactions with each other through love, friendship, and how we think that these interactions are the totality of who we are and what life is about. The movie takes it further saying, ‘Well, what if we aren’t the only life forms?’ What if all of this stuff we’ve been agnostic on, all this stuff that’s kind of more esoteric — like the paranormal metaphysics, religion, and so on — is a big missing piece to the puzzle.” He’s alternatively brilliant and the source of a lot of oddball, nonsensical stuff. But what modern musician hasn’t? And frankly, this records just plain rocks.
The Choir, Deep Cuts
I’ve been listening to Derri and Steve since I was a senior in high school and they were called Youth Choir. They’ve been faithful companions through the struggles of the years. I love the kintsugi album cover, where the cracks are emphasized in gold. Some of the deep cuts we receive in life are killers and others make us deeper.
Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee
The word “infectious” has been used far too often over the past two years. But the opening track on Jubilee is the infectiously happy song “Paprika” that I simply can’t get enough of. The rest of the album settles in after the ecstatic intro but is equally addictive. Michelle Zauner’s companion memoir, Crying at H Mart, adds depth to this third album from Japanese Breakfast and its two predecessors. I recommend all of her output and even the video game soundtrack Sable.
Julien Baker, Little Oblivions
Ouch. Julien Baker hits us with this beautiful sucker punch, her third album of what she calls “bummer jams.” The album closer “Zipties” was my Good Friday and Holy Saturday this year.
Karen Peris, A Song is Way Above the Lawn
This is basically another Innocence Mission album but wonderfully accompanied by her two children (along with her ever-present husband, Don). Her childlike voice is perfect for this children-focused collection of songs.
Low, Hey What
If I’d made my list of albums earlier like pretty much everyone else, I would have missed this one. Honestly, the first listen turned me off. I didn’t get it. But then I gave it another try while doing chores around the house and I was hooked. The combination of noise with beauty is stark and so 2021. No album captures the zeitgeist for me as much as this. I understand why some have called it the album of the year — even if it isn’t the “best” of the year, it is the album “of” the year.
Mammoth WVH
If you don’t already know, Mammoth WVH is Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang. That’s it. Just him. The rock icon’s son had to one-up his pa by doing something the virtuoso shredder never did, play all the instruments and do all the vocals on an album. Lyrically, Wolf tends toward the negative relationally, with lots of songs about “you.” But he’s got a poetic sense, changing up the chorus of a song here and there with similar sounding words, moving the song along instead of just repeating the same refrain. So while the song content isn’t a home run, he has the ability to go deep and to express himself well. And during a time when the guitar has been relegated to the back seat, it’s nice to have a bonafide rock and roll album to listen to.
Manchester Orchestra, Million Masks of God
I’m not sure how the rapture-esque album art fits into the story arc of the album, but that story arc is my favorite of the year. I’ll let you suss it out for yourself, but this is the most cohesive album of the year in my estimation. Each song moves so perfectly into the next, it pulls me along every time I listen to it.
Switchfoot, Interobang
Jon Foreman has his side projects where he gets to explore different musical styles. But he hasn’t lost his lyrical integrity. A master of the honest and disturbing question, a la Bono, he continues probing on the Christian rockers’ most recent effort, a return to form after the disappointment that was Native Tongue. In fact, Foreman has found a punctuation mark that matches his mixture of intense commitment to Christ and his questions about how Christ’s followers muddle the mission of our Master — the interobang is a combination of exclamation point with question mark.
Turnstile, Glow On
Wow. This one caught me completely by surprise. A brief, offhand reference to Turnstile pointed me toward the album I’ve listened to more than any other in 2021. It’s fast, punchy, quick songs rock hard, reminding me of The Ramones. Hardcore yelled vocals, ripping metal guitar, driving rhythm section. And scattered moments of profound lyricism: “Still can’t fill the hole you left behind.” It has it all. And I find myself head banging like I was a teenager again.
Twenty One Pilots, Scaled and Icy
OK. So this is my least favorite Twenty One Pilots album. But I still think Tyler Joseph is a genius. It may be true that “Clancy is dead” (an anagram for the title Scaled and Icy which seems to be an inside joke that fans aren’t quite sure they get yet) but TOP isn’t. Even with this pastel-colored mis-hit, there’s plenty to mine and enjoy here.
The War on Drugs, I Don’t Live Here Anymore
OK, so it’s “Dad rock.” I don’t care. I’m a dad and it rocks. This is easily the easiest album to listen to of 2021. It’s deep without drowning you like Julien Baker. The comparisons to Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Dire Straits abound — and for good reason. TWOD sounds like all of them while always sounding like themselves. The snowy cover and winter release will make this a perennial “Christmas” album for me.