Best Albums of 2021

Cookiemonster

stickyfiddle said:

I've really enjoyed the latest Killers, War on Drugs and Sam Fender ones. 

Wasn't grabbed by the St Vincent or Lorde records compared their previous two each/

I'm not even sure what else I've listened to from 2021. 

I am the same, I tried the new Strand of Oakes,War on drugs etc. 

But Spotify tells me most of my time is listening to older bands.

Somehow I missed the Rat by the Walkmen so that was new to me. 

But I haven't listed to much new stuff. 

I do like this world music album though. Like a African Stone roses - mdou moctar. 

I heard it on a very cool Brighton music shop

I also like the new Idles album. 

sweepy

For me is Self Esteem, Prioritise Pleasure, superb mature album 

duotone

sweepy said:

For me is Self Esteem, Prioritise Pleasure, superb mature album 

Just noticed The Guardian picked that as No.1. An album I haven’t heard, but will definitely check out.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/dec/17/the-50-best-albums-of-2021-no-1-self-esteem-prioritise-pleasure

Jota

James McMurty - The Horses and the Hounds (great guitar work by David Grissom) 
Hayes Carll - You get it all
Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing it

mrkb

Kid Rock - Aint nobody going to tell me how to live

mikeyrob73

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss


Raise the Roof is very very good 

Philly_Q

mrkb said:

Kid Rock - Aint nobody going to tell me how to live

Is that an album?

TTBZ

This one deserves a mention, really underrated band imo.



https://thehyenakill.bandcamp.com/album/a-disconnect

Philly_Q

It took several plays to get into it, but Mastodon's Hushed and Grim is now definitely my favourite album of 2021.  I love it to bits.

EricTheWeary

mikeyrob73 said:

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss


Raise the Roof is very very good 

https://youtu.be/srn5Cd9yR3Y

@mikeyrob73 if you haven’t seen this and is JD McPherson  on guitar on the album as well? 

yocky

Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Turnstile - Glow On
Amyl & The Sniffers - Comfort to Me

Tonstartssbandht - Petunia  (woozy 12 string psychedelia)



Richard Dawson & Circle - Henki    (prog-lite?, unexpected Steve Davis video appearance)



Scalping - Flood  (industrial, techno-ish)

EricTheWeary

Just giving this a bump in honour of the date and some possible ideas for @bertie ;;

I'll also throw in Afrique Victime by Mdou Moctar as a last minute contender and my astonishment that it made The Guardian top ten list despite being chock full of guitar. 

Edit: I realise now that Bertie was making a terrible joke on the other Discussion but hey ho he still might enjoy something

poopot

Maybe not the best but very prolly the latest

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/219874/catharsis-dirty-snake-mouth#latest

fretmeister

My favourite of the year

https://youtu.be/9VMFw3QW8nA

Such fantastic playing.

Mattharrier

I've not listened to many albums that were released this year, but Arielle - Analogue Girl In A Digital World is one of the few. I'm not sure how to define her music, as there are lots of different things in there, but she's great and is a fucking good guitarist.

The World Inside by Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster - not my usual sort of thing but I liked this a lot.

And Catharsis by Dirty Snake Mouth - @poopot @Bezzer and @IMC1980 just sneaking into 2021, great stuff and very well put together 

Greatape

Octahedron

I really don't like "best of" or ranking games anymore, after 2021. 2021 was a bunch of weird to be honest. The stuff that I thought that I would love turned out to be some of the worst stuff I've ever put down $ for...

Joe Bonamassa, Iron Maiden, The Darkness and Mastodon all had my expectations (or hopes) high and all of them were a massive let down.

Blueingreen

I'm not a huge listener to contemporary pop/rock but I usually check out a few albums from the various end of year lists around December/January, if only so I don't feel completely detached from what's happening now.  I tend to ignore the really out-and-out dancey pop stuff, not because I don't think it will be good of its type but because it's not aimed at people like me.  Sadly I'm past the age where I want music to put me in an up mood for hitting the town on a weekend night, and the problems of teenage angst seem very remote.

So I've been checking out the albums by Plant/Krauss, Floating Point and Pharoah Saunders, Nick Cave, War on Drugs, Weather Station, St Vincent, both the Lana Del Rey albums, Wolf Alice, Tyler the Creator, Faye Webster, Cassandra Jenkins. 

Verdict: they are all pretty solid albums and I've heard a fairly decent sprinking of good stuff but I struggle to imagine I'll still be listening to any of it this time next year.  It's just not a great era for popular music sadly.  Not because there's a lack of competence, quite the reverse there are more talented people making polished, professional sounding albums than at any time in pop history.  But they are not being helped by the era they are living in, where so much sounds like a very slightly different take on something second-hand and worn out.  There's a sense that everything's been done, and you can't take people by surprise anymore unless you make it so weird it's unlistenable. 

I was listening to Tina Turner's River Deep Mountain High yesterday and thinking, it must have sounded so shockingly new at the time, nobody had heard anything like it, yet it was mainstream pop music that made number 2 in the charts.  I just don't see the possibility of doing something equivalent in 2022.  Maybe talent isn't enough, you also need to be born at the right time.

Philly_Q

Octahedron said:

Joe Bonamassa, Iron Maiden, The Darkness and Mastodon all had my expectations (or hopes) high and all of them were a massive let down.

I absolutely love the Maiden and Mastodon albums, although in both cases I was a bit underwhelmed after the first couple of listens - and said as much on here!  I've now listened to both many times and they've really grown on me.

The other 2021 album I've been listening to a lot is Gojira's Fortitude - their earlier stuff is a bit too much of the growly-vocals for me, but this one has some really strong tunes.  Which means it's probably regarded as a massive sell-out by long term fans... but hey-ho.

stickyfiddle

I only just found out Hayley Williams put out a second solo album in February 2021 and noone told me. It's really good.