Mystery by Turnstile - The opening track to Turnstile's 2021 breakthrough Glow On conveys a sense of urgency and confusion that feels like a perfect match for 2021. This is one of the best sounding rock albums I've heard this year, I absolutely adore the production and the fusion of hardcore and indie. There's a clock in my head / is it wrong, is it right? / I know you're scared of running out of time / But I'm afraid too.
Kno U by Origami Angel - While I generally prefer their first album Somewhere City, Origami Angel's followup Gami Gang has some solid moments despite being a bit too long overall. This track is pretty typical of their sound and combines emo, pop-punk, and easycore with an overall positive message that results in a comforting and encouraging vibe. Everyone says that you're crazy, I don't disagree / That word means something to them that it doesn't to me.
Good Girls (Don't Get Used) by Beach Bunny - When I heard this, the opening track on their Blame Game EP, I started paying attention to this band. While the backing band is adequate, the lyrics and the vocal delivery are standouts here. This track (and the album in general) exude a sort of female empowerment vibe that I dig. Stop saying "It's my bad" / Forgetting everything we had / I know, you know you're better than that / But you can't respond when you react.
New Shapes by Charli XCX - I really dug her 2019 release Charli, and her 2020 album How I'm Feeling Now was in my top 5 of the year. New Shapes, her second single off the forthcoming Crash abandons her hyperpop approach for more of an 80's dance/synthpop vibe. This one was a grower for me, and has me excited for the album release next year.
Discard by Lil Ugly Mane - I didn't hear this album, Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern until late in the year, but this one immediately captivated me. I've never heard a guy sound so defeated, and while the majority of the tracks seem to detail relationship problems, the overall vibe is extremely resonant for these pandemic times. The production is a mix of styles and includes sampling, downtempo beats, riffy guitars, and 80's style scratching; it's tough to put this one in a genre box and it's turned out to be one of my favorites of the year. I had a memory and lost it / and pretended that's cathartic.
A Bottle of Rum by Xiu Xiu - Xiu Xiu's 2021 offering OH NO pairs principle singer and songwriter Jamie Stewart with a different collaborator on each track. This is one of the best, and the accompanying music video is fun as well. I find the album overall to be rather middling, but Xiu Xiu is nothing if not a difficult artist, so I'm willing to concede that I just might not "get it"...yet.
Days Like These by Low - while I wasn't too interested in their past projects, I found Low's 2021 release Hey What to be rather astonishing. The vocal and production choices remind me a bit of Bon Iver's 22, A Million, and this is good company to be in. If you like this track, I'd highly recommend the album, it's one of my favorites this year.
Secrets (Your Fire) by Magdalena Bay - Enough moping, let's have some fun. This cut from Mercurial World combines breathy synthpop vocals with some deep grooves and almost funky production. The lyrics seem to be about not putting everything "out there" in this extremely connected digital age.
Atlantic by The Weather Station - I knew I wanted something from Ignorance on here, but I had a tough time settling on the track -- they're all so good! Atlantic opens with a steady rhythm, pulsing bass, and chiming keys and the vocals deliver a now-familiar sentiment: Thinking I should get all this dying off my mind / I should really know better than to read the headlines.
(This Is) The Thing by Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - another beautiful offering from Sufjan, A Beginner's Mind reminds me of the slower moments from Illinois. This is definitely an album I'll be spending more time with. This is the thing about people / You never really know what's inside / Somewhere in the soul there's a secret / Hysteria grows where it was invited.
Yellow Fever by Really From - combining emo, indie rock, and jazzy horns, the self-titled release from Really From has got me paying attention to this band. As you can probably figure out from the track title, this cut deals with racism: Please let me be unseen / Why can I not correct you?
SKrAm by Jeff Rosenstock - Ska Dream is a ska reinterpretation of Rosenstock's 2020 masterpiece No Dream. While I prefer No Dream overall, the spoken word bit halfway through this track elevates it over the original. I've been told for most my life / "Try to see the other side" / By people who have never tried to / See the other side.
Knifey by Amyl and The Sniffers - A proper punk "cut" (see what I did there?), Knifey tells the story of vocalist Amy's evening excursions: Out comes the night, out comes my knifey / This is how I get home nightly.
Crawl! by IDLES - The almost title track to IDLES 2021 release CRAWLER. I'm not actually sure what this one is about, but I DO know that this is a high energy rocker and one of the better cuts on an album that seems to be a bit critically underrated this year.
We'll Figure It Out by Black Dresses - Children are the future, right? And...it doesn't matter what WE do, because they'll grow up and fix it...or not. Either way, it isn't OUR problem anymore. In this abrasive electro-industrial cut, Black Dresses react violently to this sentiment: People always say that we'll figure it out / But everything just keeps piling on up / Economy size blood bigger than God / We'll just solve 10,000 years of problems.
Posing In Bondage by Japanese Breakfast - That last one was a little intense; time to settle down a bit. Jubilee is a gorgeous album, and this track is one of my favorites. When the world divides into two people / Those who have felt pain, and those who have yet to / And I can't unsee it / Although I would like to.
Narrator by Squid - One of the best tracks in a year of decent-to-good post-punk releases. This one starts with the sort of angular guitars and bass you'd expect to hear in the late 70's or early 2000's, and morphs into something else entirely over the course of the eight minute runtime.
Porcelain Slightly by Lil Ugly Mane - Lil Ugly Mane aka Travis Miller is back, and he still sounds broken. This album closer features crunchy guitar, twinkling keys...and...is that a cowbell? I wait for panic to subside / And scrape the tarnish from my mind / Rotting home.
Look at the Sky by Porter Robinson - Look, 2021 was another tough year. Porter Robinson must have thought so too, because his album Nurture is like an hour long hug. Look at the Sky observes how the lightness of childhood can slip away from our daily lives, but may still be with us if we can learn how to find it: Look at the sky, I'm still here / I'll be alive next year / I can make something good, oh / Something good.
The Beginning by Magdalena Bay - There is no better place to end than with The Beginning: I was thinking about how there's no true end to anything / Everything comes from and goes to the same place: Nowhere / So, if the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning / The what's the end anyway?