Albums of the year 2021
Here’s my top 40 list for this year. I found a lot to enjoy, and barely scratched the surface of all the interesting jazz records that came through our house. I hope to dig into them in January.
I’ve made a 40-song playlist with a track from each of these records on Spotify.
My complete list of charts from 1987-2021 is available here.
1 SOBERISH – Liz Phair
2 WILDS – Andy Shauf
3 COURSE IN FABLE – Ryley Walker
4 I KNOW I’M FUNNY HAHA – Faye Webster
5 FIR WAVE – Hannah Peel
6 LAST TIME I SAW GRACE – New Bums
7 PETER STAMPFEL’S 20TH CENTURY – Peter Stampfel
8 UNCOMMON WEATHER – The Reds, Pinks & Purples
9 THE CROWDED MIND – Dazy
10 WINK – Chai
11 THE FUTURE BITES – Steven Wilson
12 ALWAYS SOMETHING – UV-TV
13 LILY WE NEED TO TALK NOW – Lily Konigsberg
14 FLAT WHITE MOON – Field Music
15 WISH YOU WERE HERE TOUR REVISITED – 2nd Grade
16 DREAMERS ARE WAITING – Crowded House
17 DEBONAIR – Horsey
18 VERTIGO DAYS – The Notwist
19 CAPE COD COTTAGE – Brendan Eder Ensemble
20 AN OVERVIEW ON PHENOMENAL NATURE – Cassandra Jenkins
21 QUEENS OF THE SUMMER HOTEL – Aimee Mann
22 HERITAGE – Hilma Nikolaisen
23 POHORYLLE – Margo Cilker
24 SLING – Clairo
25 BLACK METAL 2 – Dean Blunt
26 OTHER YOU – Steve Gunn
27 WINDSWEPT ADAN – Ichiko Aoba
28 SPENCER CULLUM’S COIN COLLECTION – Spencer Cullum
29 OH GOOD IT’S – al Riggs
30 NEW LONG LEG – Dry Cleaning
31 TIME NO CHANGES – Chad Taylor & Chris Schlarb
32 WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU – The Avalanches
33 FIBATTY – Glenn Richards
34 TO SEE THE NEXT PART OF THE DREAM – Parannoul
35 DESTINY WAIVING – Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters
36 VOYAGE OUT – Floatie
37 FOR FREE – David Crosby
38 PALBERTA5000 – Palberta
39 ENDLESS ARCADE – Teenage Fanclub
40 THREESOME VOL 2 EP – The Lickerish Quartet
You’re going a bit mainstream in your old age, John, I’ve even seen a couple of them. Listening with interest, cheers.
I absolutely loved The Neon Skyline last year, but somehow Wilds never did anything for me… I wish I understood why. 🙁
I didn’t realize that Andy Shauf had a new album out, so thanks for that.
I was a little surprised that Idles Crawler didn’t make your list, but now that I look at your top 40 again, I understand. You wouldn’t decorate a Christmas tree with shiny red and green balls, and tinsel and little fairy lights and say “You know what this needs? A live hand grenade painted orange stuck right in the middle of the tree. We can just hang it by this little ring, that should be fine.” Thanks for publishing your list. Every year I find something that I would have missed otherwise.
I can’t say, how apt that description is, but it certainly made me go: “Yes, I must immediately check out this metaphorically explosive music and possibly destroy some some very ugly trees.”
Yay! I was hoping this was coming. I usually overlap about 10% with you and it’s right there again. (But again, Rez as fave band, etc.) Grateful for the spotify list- makes it easy to check out the stuff I haven’t heard, or, heard of. This year was power pop catch-up for me, along with South American twangy guitar, Balkan brass, and random electronic, along with lots of random other stuff. There is always too much good stuff out there!
I believe I have played ‘Snollygoster’ about 100 times for the youngest. Those guys can write some catchy tunes…
This is so good! Thank you and happy new year ♡!
I have been interested in these for years, but have regrettably rarely made the time to check out your picks.
The Spotify playlist is the gift of the season.