I thought that might be why but if the feelings are that low for the last three why even mention them? It's kinda more like a slap in the face to those three rather than an honorable mention haha.
It is a good list though! Haven’t seen Mini Trees on many lists — that one took a while to set in for me but I like it a whole lot now
Didn’t expect that post to be controversial, haha. Ultimately it’s pretty arbitrary. Those are the seven records that were most essential to my year. The other three are great records, but there’s a bit of a drop-off between Turnstile and ETID that made it feel more appropriate to acknowledge the top seven on their own while still giving some kudos to the others. I also just didn’t listen to very much new music this year, so doing much more than 10 would start to just be a list of things I’ve heard versus things I actually liked.
Alright, my top 20 is something like this: 1. Lucy Dacus - Home Video 2. Every Time I Die - Radical 3. Adult Mom - Driver 4. Origami Angel - Gami Gang 5. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions 6. Manchester Orchestra — The Million Masks Of God 7. Hayley Williams — FLOWERS for VASES/descansos 8. The Maine — XOXO: From Love & Anxiety In Real Time 9. Tyler, The Creator — Call Me If You Get Lost 10. Sydney Sprague — Maybe I Will See You At The End Of The World 11. Joe Vann — Found In The Smoke 12. CHVRCHES — Screen Violence 13. Kacey Musgraves — Star Crossed 14. Bleachers — Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night 15. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine — A Beginner’s Mind 16. John Mayer — Sob Rock 17. The Night Game — Dog Years 18. Modest Mouse — The Golden Casket 19. Mini Trees — Always In Motion 20. ’68 — Give One, Take One
No particular order: Antonioni - S/T Arthhur - Occult Fractures Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee Mister Goblin - Four People in an Elevator and One of Them is the Devil SLONK - Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years Laura Stevenson - S/T Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenominal Nature The Ophelias - Crocus The Weather Station - Ignorance Cheekface - Emphatically No Adult Mom - Driver Solipse - S/T Personal Space - A Lifetime of Leisure Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg Bruno Pernadas - Private Reasons Illuminati Hotties - Let Me Do One More Yasmin Williams - Urban Driftwood AZITA - Glen Echo Subtitles - Commoner Richard Dawson & Circle - Henki Really From - S/T Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses Parquet Courts - Sympathy for Life Idle Ray - Idle Ray Pharaoh Sanders & Floating Points etc etc - Promises Listened to a lot more straight-up indie rock this year, branched out very little. But found some new artists I loved, which is cool.
0. Bo Burnham - Inside (The Songs) 1. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon 2. Turnstile - Glow On 3. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend 4. Dijon - Absolutely 5. The Maine - XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time 6. Halsey - If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power 7. CHVRCHES - Screen Violence 8. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God 9. Lil Nas X - MONTERO 10. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee 11. Bleachers - Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night 12. Sir Sly - The Rise and Fall of Loverboy 13. IDLES - Crawler 14. No Rome - It’s All Smiles 15. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions 16. Cloud Nothings - The Shadow I Remember 17. The Night Game - Dog Years 18. Coldplay - Music of the Spheres (Vol. 1: From Earth with Love) 19. Twenty One Pilots - Scaled & Icy 20. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost 21. The Killers - Pressure Machine 22. BROCKHAMPTON - Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine 23. Dave Monks - I’ve Always Wanted to Be Me 24. The Armed - ULTRAPOP 25. Lazerbeak - Cameron 26. Small Black - Cheap Dreams 27. Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights 28. You Me At Six - SUCKAPUNCH 29. Weezer - OK Human 30. Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt EPs 1. beabadoobee - Our Extended Play 2. Michigander - Everything Will Be Okay Eventually 3. Hippo Campus - Good Dog, Bad Dream 4. pronoun - OMG I MADE IT 5. Fickle Friends - Weird Years (Seasons 1 & 2) 6. Camp Trash - Downtiming
Happy New Year! here are 30 records I loved and got me through 2021 Shame - Drunk Tank Pink Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power Turnstile - GLOW ON Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend Home is Where - I became birds Idles - Crawler Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg Squid - Bright Green Field Every Time I Die - Radical Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime Deafheaven - Infinite Granite Citizen - Life in Your Glass World CHVRCHES - Screen Violence Architects - For Those That Wish to Exist Ruby Fields - Been Doin' It For a Bit Wolves in the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana Modest Mouse - The Golden Casket Wardruna - Kvitravn Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases/descancos The Armed - ULTRAPOP Spiritbox - Eternal Blue Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever One Step Closer - This Place You Know The Sonder Bombs - Clothbound Olivia Rodrigo - Sour Black Country, New Road - For the first time Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs
My favourite 5 records Thrice - Horizons/East Face To Face - No Way Out But Through The Dirty Nil - Fuck Art Manchester Ir Hester - Million Masks of God Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt Other records I listened to more frequently: Justin Courtney Pierre - EP’s Middle Kids - Today We’re The Greatest Donovan Woods - Singles and Bsides Hot Mulligan - EP’s Adjy - Idyll Opus New Found Glory - Deluxe Ep Jim Lindbergh - Songs from the Elkhorn Trail Brian Fallon - Night Devine Gang of Youths - EP Souveneer - Dream Journal There were also lots of great one off songs. Live Performance Shows: Bad Religion Decades series Jimmy Eat World Phoenix Sessions
1. Chrvches - Screen Violence 2. Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases/Descansos 3. Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights 4. Snail Mail - Valentine 5. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions 6. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee 7. Tigers Jaw - I Won't Care How You Remember Me 8. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon 9. Every Time I Die - Radical 10. The World is a Beautiful Place - Illusory Walls 11. Runnner - Always Repeating 12. Webbed Wing - What's Fucking Funny? 13. Turnstile - Glow On 14. Hvvdy - True Love 15. SeeYouSpaceCowboy - Affliction of Romance 16. Origami Angel - GAMI Gang 17. Stars Hollow - I want to Live My Life 18. Another Michael - New Music 19. Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams 20. We are the Union - Ordinary Life 21. Tyler the Creator - Call Me When You Get Lost 22. Pale Waves - Who Am I? 23. Polo G - Hall of Fame 24. Home is Where - I Became Birds 25. Cold Cave - Fate in Seven Lessons
Shuffle probably makes the most sense. It's kind of fun for me to go through in order, because it really does remind me of certain days/moments/milestones. But there are also bits where I got obsessed with a certain album and then had 4-5 songs from it back to back, which is probably less interesting to listen to in order if you're not me, haha.
My Top 10 Albums From 2021 1. The Maine- XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time 2. The Band Camino- The Band Camino 3. The Night Game- Dog Years 4. With Confidence- With Confidence 5. Manchester Orchestra- The Million Masks of God 6. Thrice- Horizons/East 7. Switchfoot- Interrobang 8. John Mayer- Sob Rock 9. The Spill Canvas- Conduit 10. Twenty One Pilots- Scaled and Icy Honorable Mention 11. Kacey Musgraves- Star-Crossed 12. Angels & Airwaves- Lifeforms 13. Mayday Parade- What It Means To Fall Apart
Gretta Ray - Begin To Look Around Foxing - Draw Down The Moon Girl In Red - If I Could Make It Go Quiet The Spill Canvas - Conduit Luna Shadows - Digital Pacific Spiritbox - Eternal Blue AFI - Bodies Waterparks- Greatest Hits TWIABP - Illusory Walls Origami Angel - Gami Gang EPs: Cherry - Safe In Your Stare Gang of Youths - Total Serene Envy on the Coast - 3 Invent, Animate - The Sun Sleeps, As If It Never Was NNAMDI & Lynyn- Are You Happy Glaswing - I’m In The Checkout Line Of My Life/Like Water On A Glass Table Midsummer - Nothing Feels Right Anymore
Favourite Albums: As always, I listened to a lot and missed a lot but these are the ones that stuck with me and I kept coming back to. Trophy Scars - Astral Pariah: One of my fav bands comes back with a psychedelic western which is right up my ally. Turnstile - Glow On: This rocks, super fun. Alexis Marshall - House of Lull House of When: A truly horrifying looking into a very disturbed man Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram: Good ass rapping with sick beats. Favourite EP Favourite Singles Limp Bizkit - Out of Style: Woah what a riff! Modest Mouse was the most disappointing, they continued further into a direction I don't care for, on the flip side I'm glad Tyler went back to rapping, because I don't enjoy his melodies or even when he picks other people to sing his melodies.
Jason Tate’s Top Albums of 2021 Turnstile – Glow On Every Time I Die – Radical Hayley Williams – Flowers for Vases / Descansos Noah Gundersen – A Pillar of Salt KennyHoopla – Survivors Guilt Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God The Night Game – Dog Years Pale Waves – Who Am I? Joystick! – I Can’t Take it Anymore Thrice – Horizons/East Spiritbox – Eternal Blue Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend The Killers – Pressure Machine The Maine – XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time M.A.G.S – Say Things That Matter Kacy Hill – Simple, Sweet, and Smiling Foxing – Draw Down the Moon The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore Citizen – Life in Your Glass World Chaser – Dreamer Chvrches – Screen Violence Electric Century – Electric Century Lil Nas X – Montero Olivia Rodrigo – Sour Ben Platt – Reverie Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders – Promises (feat. London Symphony Orchestra) Brian Fallon – Night Devine While She Sleeps – Sleeps Society Shad – Taos Blackstarkids – Puppies Forever Here in my middle-age, I’ve tried to build my end-of-the-year lists in a way that best captures my year in music. I am specifically trying to showcase what I listened to and felt a connection to most over the year. Gone are the days where I tried to make my list a little too clever, a little too hip, or worried what someone might say about it. I write a relatively obscure little blog over here about music, and the whole point is to write about what I like, what I love, and what moves me. And these are the albums that moved me the most this year, and it all starts with Turnstile. It’s the album that rekindled my love for music like an electrode straight to the heart. It reminded me of the first time I heard Blink-182 all those years ago as a teenager and when my obsession for music was born. It’s an album that stayed on repeat for months. An album that in one year became one of my most played albums, probably ever, and once again lit a fire in me to seek out new music. It was the catalyst for the second half of my year seeing a dramatic increase in the number of hours I was listening to music each day. It’s a holistically special album that makes me ecstatic about life and grateful for the power of the song. There were other albums I loved this year, and it’s a year that saw my tastes move a little more toward harder music at times, but in the end … it was not even close what my favorite album of the year was. The rest of my list is filled with some longtime staples (Noah, Every Time I Die, Thrice, Manchester), as well as some newcomers (Joyride!, Chaser, Spiritbox, M.A.G.S), but the underlying theme is that all of these albums meant something to me this year. Ranking them was difficult, often like choosing between a favorite child, but the end is a collection that reflects my 2021 in music. It’s me, and it walks my musical journey throughout the year. I hope there’s something new here for you to discover and fall in love with as well. I listened to over 7,341 songs this year (13,291 scrobbles), 713 different artists, and 1,333 different albums. Honorable mentions, entertainment rankings, and more commentary on the blog. And the contributor list is also now up: Chorus.fm’s Top 30 Albums of 2021
I did a little top 50 countdown via Instagram stories a few weeks back where I rambled about all of these, 10 at a time over the course of a workweek. It was pretty fun. If we’re not connected outside of here, it’s now a Chorus blog so now u have no excuse Trevor Graham’s Top Albums of 2021
1. Origami Angel - Gami Gang 2. Better Off - Better Off 3. Youth Fountain - Keepsakes and Reminders 4. Foxing - Draw Down The Moon 5. Turnstile - Glow On 6. Tigers Jaw - I Won’t Care How You Remember Me 7. Grayscale - Umbra 8. Nothing, Nowhere. - Trauma Factory 9. Save Face - Another Kill for the Highlight Reel 10. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks Of God 11. Citizen - Life In Your Glass World 12. Every Time I Die - Radical 13. The Killers - Pressure Machine 14. Angels & Airwaves - Lifeforms 15. Architects - For Those That Wish To Exist 16. Weezer - Ok Human 17. Free Throw - Piecing It Together 18. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions 19. Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt 20. This Wild Life - Ever Blossom
The Killers - Pressure Machine The Sonder Bombs - Clothbound Amy Shark - Cry Forever Angels & Airwaves - Lifeforms Origami Angel - Gami Gang Dave Hause - Blood Harmony Julien Baker - Little Oblivions Middle Kids - Today We’re the Greatest Lucy Dacus - Home Video KennyHoopla - Survivor’s Guilt Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God Pallet Knife - Ponderosa Snake House and the Chamber of Bullshit Tiger’s Jaw - I Won’t Care How You Remember Me The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls Girl in Red - If I Could Make It Go Quiet Sydney Sprague - Maybe I Will See You At the End of the World Danielle Durack - No Place A Great Big Pile of Leaves - Pono Harmony Woods - Graceful Rage Foxing - Draw Down the Moon
As is customary for me, I wrote a lot of words about my favorite albums of the year, trying to get to the bottom of why certain albums stayed in rotation for me, or spoke to me, or made me feel excited about music again. You can find that here: Craig Manning’s Top Albums of 2021 Here's my list: Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt Kississippi - Mood Ring The Killers - Pressure Machine Mat Kearney - January Flower Chloe Moriondo - Blood Bunny The Maine - XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time Yola - Stand for Myself The War on Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore Patrick Droney - State of the Heart Olivia Rodrigo - Sour The Wallflowers - Exit Wounds Charlie Adams - Bullseye Kacey Musgraves - Star-Crossed Michigan Rattlers - That Kind of Life Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God Coldplay - Music of the Spheres John Mayer - Sob Rock Snail Mail - Valentine CHVRCHES - Screen Violence Natalie Hemby - Pins and Needles Adele - 30 Emily Scott Robinson - American Siren Bleachers - Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight Carly Pearce - 29: Written in Stone Weezer - Van Weezer Switchfoot - Interrobang Cassadee Pope - Thrive Morgan Wade - Reckless Madi Diaz - History of a Feeling
Top 20 of 2021:. The Killers - Pressure Machine Joy Oladokun - In Defense of My Own Happiness Turnstile - Glow On Snail Mail - Valentine Every Time I Die - Radical Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt Silk Sonic - An Evening With Lucy Dacus - Home Video Kings of Leon - When You See Yourself The Hold Steady - Open Door Policy We Were Sharks - New Low Fiddlehead - Between The Richness Foxing - Draw Down The Moon Citizen - Life In Your Glass World Deafheaven - Infinite Granite Rise Against - Nowhere Generation JP Saxe - Dangerous Levels of Introspection We Are Scientists - Huffy Tyne-James Organ - Necessary Evil
I listened to a ton of shit this year and kept pretty good track of it all as I went. Here's where I'm at (*means I own or have ordered the release on vinyl): *You, Me, and Everyone We Know – Something Heavy *Turnstile – Glow On *Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams *Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God Every Time I Die – Radical *Fiddlehead – Between the Richness *Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview on Phenomenal Nature *Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee *Noah Gundersen – A Pillar of Salt The World Is… – Illusory Walls Halsey – If I Can't Have Love… *Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert Taylor Swift – Red (Taylor's Version) *Olivia Rodrigo – Sour SeeYouSpaceCowboy – The Romance of Affliction *Glaswing – I'm in the Checkout Line of My Life KennyHoopla – SURVIVOR'S GUILT Serpentwithfeet – Deacon *Julien Baker – Little Oblivions Faye Webster – I Know I'm Funny Haha Snail Mail – Valentine *DIM – From Dark to Light We'll See *The Maine – XOXO IDLES – Crawler *Tigers Jaw – I Won't Care How You Remember Me *Godspeed You! Black Emperor Jon Batiste *Vince Staples Low *Lucy Dacus *John Mayer Mdou Moctar Jail Socks The Night Game *Billie Eilish Silk Sonic *Deafheaven Lil Nas X *Thrice The Dirty Nil Mogwai '68 Webbed Wing *Foxing Indigo de Souza The War on Drugs *Middle Kids *A Great Big Pile of Leaves CHVRCHES *Weezer Foo Fighters John the Ghost *Shortly Wolf Alice *Rise Against The Sonder Bombs Downhaul Citizen Wild Pink Bleachers EPs: *Knocked Loose – A Tear in the Fabric of Life Meet Me @ the Altar – Model Citizen *Camp Trash – Downtiming Mannequin Pussy – Perfect Home Is Where – I Became Birds