Hey TKP. I hope everyone is having a great New Years Eve! Let's talk our favorite albums of 2021. I always enjoy these threads of years past and I always seem to find a lot of good music that I missed. Here's my list.
Sturgill Simpson - The Ballad of Dood & Juanita – Sturgill's take on the kind of album like Redheaded Stranger IMHO. Reminded me a lot of growing up not too far from Kentucky. Song: Ol' Dood
The Killers - Pressure Machine – Oddly enough this also reminded me a lot of home. Brandon Flowers is going hard for a Bruce Nebraska vibe on this album and I dug it.
Song: Desperate Things
Thrice - Horizons / East. Solid entry into an impressive Thrice library. Song: Summer Set Fire to the Rain
Turnstile – Glow On. Worth all of the praise it's getting. Listening to this reminded me of when I was a young hardcore punk and listened to The Shape of Punk to Come for the first time. I don't love Glow On like I love TSoTtC, but I feel like I'm listening to something very important to the hardcore scene when I listen to Glow On. TURNSTILE - BLACKOUT
Natsukashii – Esperwave Final Fantasy VI lofi remixes. It was a strange year so don't judge okay. Song: Kefka
Annika Bennett - Only Emotion. Technically an EP and not album but I listened to this a lot. She blends catchy and darker lyrics very well. Song: Sober Up
Still listened to a lot of Brave Faces Everyone by Spanish Love Songs. Even though it's a 2020 release it still felt really on point during *gestures around broadly* all of this. Spanish Love Songs "Losers 2"
Comments
No Vacancy by Treaty Oak Revival
Boy From Anderson County EP by Kolby Cooper
This came out in 2020 but Sellout by Koe Wetzle
Black Sheep by Austin Meade
Billy Strings - Renewal
Sturgill Simpson - the Ballad of Dood and Juanita
Charles Wesley Godwin - How the Mighty Fall
Taylor McCall - Black Powder Soul
Bela Fleck - My Bluegrass Heart
Edit: Don't know how I forgot The Allman Brothers Band - Down In Texas '71
Hey this Taylor McCall is solid, good call. Not a lot of straight ahead, bluesy rock like this these days
I hadn't heard much from him until I came across this album and he's quickly becoming one of my go-to's and working into a lot of my playlists. Good stuff.
It blew my mind when I found out that he's in his 50's. Looks and sounds like he should be 30 at the oldest.
Great List! You might enjoy Paul Cauthen's "Room 41" album
I've only heard a few of his songs, but have liked what I've heard. I'll check out the full album!
Hangin out on the line is a killer song.
Chevelle-Niratias
Mastodon-Hushed & Grim
The stone eye-South of the sun
Strong 2nd for NIRATIAS
Reckless - Morgan Wade
Welcome to Countryland - Flatland Cavalry
Javelina - Red Shahan
Seconded, this guy gets it!
Thanks for the recommendations, I'm always trying to grow my modern country catalog past Sturgill, Tyler, and Billy.
Of course! Gotta support the local SWVA talent of Morgan Wade 2022 is going to be huge for her
I'm rarely up to date on albums coming out. I did happen to catch when the Black Keys released Delta Kream. It's still soft, but it sounds a lot more like the Black Keys I liked. Is it the cover album that Chulahoma was? Nope.
It's been down hill for them ever since the Attack and Release album. (Was it Danger Mouse or was it Auerbach doing a solo album, and then the Arcs that changed the sound?) Brothers was slightly better than El Camino, with each having a few gems. Everything since has been absolute trash.
Love this thread every year, thanks for continuing. Without fail I end up discovering my favorite albums each year in the first few months of the next year, but that said lots of great records in 2021:
Lucy Dacus - Home Video: Probably the best writer today, but the band is as tight and the production as imaginative as ever
Faye Webster - I Know I'm Funny Ha Ha: Indie songwriter with a top notch band that expertly straddles R&B and country. The pedal steel over that rhythm section was my favorite thing to listen to this year.
Turnstile - Glow On: Catchy, heavy, grooves hard, just a great rock&roll record that makes it's punk and metal influences fun
Mdou Moctor - Afrique Victime: The best guitar record of the year, especially title track + Chismiten. This dude shreds, while the softer, rhythmic moments still deliver
War on Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore: Grandiose indie jams galore
Aaron Lee Tasjan - Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!: Glam-rock-americana, must-listen for Petty fans especially
Drew Beskin - Probelmatic for the People: Top-notch power-pop from Athens, GA
Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing It: Techinically americana, but the appeal of this band is that the band is so tight, and delivers swampy, addictive grooves like literally nobody else. Highly recommended for autumn walks at dusk.
Fishboy - Waitsgiving: All of his records are structured as album-long narratives, and this one delivers. A little twee, but it's got a lot of heart
Faceship - Greatest Hits Volume 11: Radiohead meets Tom Waits folk music from space from RVA.
McKinely Dixon - For My Mama & Anyone Who Look Like Her: RVA rapper, must-listen for Kendrick fans. Great mix of live-band and beat-centric productions.
EPs: Quick shoutout to Palm Palm's self-titled, two-song EP and Futurebirds & Carl Broemel's collaborative Bloomin'.
And why not, i'll share my own; my band released our second album this year. For fans of: Dinosaur Jr, Jack White, The National, The Pixies:
Big Fundamental - HYPERBEAM
https://bigfundamental.bandcamp.com/album/hyperbeam
https://open.spotify.com/album/5OvhVJclMOnCOkDUJ5a1oP?si=hDl6JsCZR7Sfkcp...
Fallen Embers - Illenium
Here for Now - Louis the Child
Didn't listen to much new music this year unfortunately. 2 albums I can think of, very different genres:
Abyss - Unleash the Archers - Power metal
We Got the Moves - Eskimo Callboy - Metalcore
Momento Mori - Feuerschwanz - Medieval Metal
Turnstile - Glow On. This album has also been one of my mainstays since it was released.
Billy Strings - Renewal. I unfortunately missed Billy in Richmond to go to the Duke game. Hoping to make the Norfolk show.
Parquet Courts - Sympathy for Life. Probably my favorite band of the last decade, but not my favorite installment of theirs.
Now for the weirder stuff:
Squid - Bright Green Field
Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz
Harmonizer - Ty Segall
Wife and I will be at the Billy Strings show in Norfolk. It's gonna be a blast.
I cant wait for his show in Greensboro NC the night before Norfolk! I streamed his halloween show in Asheville from nugs.tv and it was amazing
I saw him at The Anthem in DC back in November and it was a killer show. His live shows are amazing and make my Nugs subscription well worth it.
As others have already said,
Billy Strings - Renewal
Sturgill Simpson - Dood and Juanita
Wolf Alice- Blue Monday
Plenty of other decent albums mentioned, but haven't seen this one yet, and it's absolutely the best album I've heard all year.
Been listening to this one a fair amount over the last couple weeks, cosign. Chvrches new album (Screen Violence) is way better than their last one, it's been in the rotation.
Also, Annika Norlin, who is Hello Saferide, has a new album coming out this month under her own name. Couple of singles out already, typically awesome. Only problem is half the album is gonna be in Swedish...
Juice WRLD - Fighting Demons
strand of oaks - galacticana
The song about his deceased cat hanging with Jimi Hendrix in heaven gets me every time
i don't know how, but he totally made it work.
Everything that I can think of has been covered so I'm just gonna say Turnpike Troubadours. They didn't release anything but announcing they're back and Felker apparently getting his life on track is big
Not so patiently waiting for the Houston Rodeo lineup release tomorrow. Got a feeling they'll be on it. Just hoping for a day I can make it if they're on there
Hands down, best album of '21
Keith Buckley attended VT for a year before transferring to the University at Buffalo; I'm assuming to continue doing the band
Good business decision for him.
He took a few shows off for mental health reasons during their most recent tour, hope he is doing well
Welp...motherfucker.
Was coming to comment on this. This was also my album of the year. I had tickets for Huntington the night that everything went down. Would have been my first time seeing them live. Hate to see it end, and really hate to see it end in this fashion.
Same, I was going to try to see them in Virginia Beach, woulda been my first show as well. It has been a pretty ugly split, not gonna hold out hope for a reunion tour.
this I guess was either the final or maybe second to last show
This is a pretty exhaustive and excellent list, but I wanted to throw in a few that I hadn't seen mentioned yet that I liked this year:
Dinosaur Jr - Sweep It Into Space: For me, these guys are about as dependable as any band through the past 30 years, and every one of their records since they got back together in the mid-2000s has been solid. No exception here.
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raise the Roof: At first, I wasn't sure how much I liked the idea of a second album by these two, since Raising Sand seemed like lightning in a bottle, but this is at least as good as the first record. T Bone Burnett has got "the spook," as Neil Young would say.
Mother Iron Horse - Under the Blood Moon: Local guys from my neck of the woods. If you're into that stoner/doom/sludgy thing, I'd recommend it.
The Tragically Hip - Saskadelphia: Not technically "new," but six re-discovered tracks that were recorded for their 1991 album Road Apples but left off. If you're into them, this is excellent.
The Beatles - Let It Be (Super Deluxe Edition): Also not "new," obviously. It only came out in October, but it's probably the thing I've listened to the most this year.
That Dino Jr is great, incredible how they keep churning 'em out and they always sound fresh. I struggled to pick a favorite solo but settled on I Met the Stones.
Also enjoying Mother Iron Horse, I'll throw back a stoner/sludgy thing from this neck of the woods plus my favorite record this year from your neck of the woods (well, Boston, but seems close to an outsider):
https://bookofwyrms.bandcamp.com/album/occult-new-age
https://dutchtulips.bandcamp.com/album/double-visions
I'll check out both of those, thanks. Tabs are open and will stay there for the foreseeable future.
And Boston is definitely close — 15 miles away as the crow flies, 30 minutes away on the train and anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes in a car, depending.
Never heard of Dinosaur Jr before but I dig it. Basic first impression is that it's like a version of Foo Fighters without Dave Grohl yelling. I did some Googling and it turns out they opened for Foo Fighters - neat!
Not just Foo Fighters, they've been around long enough that Nirvana opened for them pre-Nevermind. I'd recommend You're Living All Over Me as the best of their early, punk-indebted material and Beyond as the best of their post-reunion recent stuff. Feel the Pain was a brief radio hit as well and top-notch single imo
'Feel the Pain' is still on my playlist...great song!
upon reading this thread
Please change the title of this thread to:
"EXUM - Greatest album of 2021 (and maybe ever?) and then all the others that were somewhat nifty this year"
YES! Someone else is using the gif I made!
Exum with the discount double check.
via GIPHY
and here's a fresh one
via GIPHY
That entire music video can be a gif.
How the hell did I forget EXUM's album got released this year? Thanks for posting this.
this is my fave post to read outside of the usual VT stuff because i'm happy seeing other Hokies having diverse tastes in music as myself and discovering stuff i missed...here goes:
Every Time I Die "Radical" - bonus points in that Keith Buckley was a Hokie for a year before transferring to the University at Buffalo
Deafheaven "Infinite Granite" and MØL "Diorama" - blackgaze bands venturing into melodic shoegaze territory
Turnstile "Glow On" - this is what 80s/90s hardcore updated for this generation sounds like. i'm an old hardcore kid and i dig this...
Spiritbox "Eternal Blue" - one of the "It" progressive metal bands, this is what metalcore, Djent and Evanescence sound like when you blend it all together. there's a track for everybody on the record, if the harder tracks with "dirty" vocals turn you off.
Lucy Dacus "Home Video," Phoebe Bridgers "Punisher," and Julien Baker "Little Oblivions" - extraordinary and amazing singer-songwriters who know how to craft great songs.
Juice WRLD "Fighting Demons" and Kid Cudi "Man on the Moon III" - i'm very picky about my Hip-Hop but these records just blow me away. interpersonal records like these are easy to relate to and refreshing.
Big Red Machine "How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?" - I'm a big fan of The National and Bon Iver and this is right up my alley. if you saw the Taylor Swift documentary on the making of her last record (HBO Max?), you saw the songwriting genius of Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon on display.
+1 for Turnstile
I'll also add For Your Health "In Spite Of" and One Step Closer "This Place You Know"
I got lucky and scored tickets for their second show at the 930 Club this May. Can't wait...
If either of y'all have an extra vinyl copy of Glow On and you want to part with it for a reasonable amount, I will buy that from you. I missed out on the pre-order and now people are selling it for stupid amounts. Example: This person is high AF and asking 12k.
Samantha Fish - Faster
probably not a lot of blues fans on here, but if you like guitar you will like this album. this album isn't as bluesy as her past albums, definitely more mainstream, but still very guitar-heavy.
faster, twisted ambition, all ice no whisky, crowd control, better be lonely...all good songs to check out, if you are curious.
Samantha Fish is great. I missed her last time she came through town but i'd love to see her at some point. I think last time she was in the area with Larkin Poe and I was sad I missed it.
yea, that would be a good show. i saw her last spring with tab benoit. great show, although none of her new stuff yet at that point. i knew almost nothing about tab at that time, but that dude was insane. he did things with his guitar i never heard before.
good thing about samantha fish, is she is touring constantly, so being able to catch a show at some point shouldn't be an issue.
Shout out to everyone providing a short description or genre of the album they are recommending. 👍
Heard a bit of stuff off Charley Crockett's new album, Music City USA, this morning. It's a weird mix of honky tonk tinged with soul/R&B. I actually preferred the soul/R&B stuff to the straight honky tonk ones.
Charley Crockett has always been right on the edge of my tastes. Some of his songs are great and others are....just not at all my taste.
Yeah. It's sort of a struggle to listen to sometimes. In some songs, there is a flash of a vocal I'll like, and then his delivery is really grating at other times. He almost touches on Leon Bridges' Coming Home sort of sound (but dear god has the music industry ruined his stuff), for the R&B/Soul bits. Those are the spots I like.
I struggle with most of the pseudo honky tonk/supposed traditional county people that are out now. The vocals and accents seem overly contrived.
best for him to make a playlist of the songs you like and just add it there.
+1 for Spanish Love Songs. Probably my favorite artist of the genre besides Thursday and along with Tiny Moving Parts.
Was supposed to see Thursday this week in Asheville but it got cancelled. I mean I understand why, but I've never seen Thursday before and I was really looking forward to it.
I've never seen Thursday either and I thought about going to that show, but things are crazy for me right now and mid-week shows aren't really doable.
Thursday are playing tonight in the 757 but i don't know the show's status... out of that amazing line-up they've got (Jeremy Enigk, Cursive), The Appleseed Cast are on it, who i've never seen live. decisions, decisions...
nvm, show cancelled, too. that and VT women's hoops which I hoped would be a great replacement. ugh...
Yeah, they're not starting up again until the 19th in Detroit. That line up is sick which is why I was considering trying to make it to a show.
Chevelle - NIRATIAS. I mean, its Chevelle. This is their first true concept album, and once you understand what that is (a space time travel simulation) there is an instant clarity to each song and the song order.
Royal Blood - Typhoons. Not even arguable, this is their best album to date. Plenty of hard-hitting rockers that don't get tiring and well worth the vinyl investment.
Metallic - The Black Album (remastered). This doesn't need an explanation.
Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight - Just like Metallica, it doesn't need explaining.
My vote for underwhelming album of the year - Greta Van Fleet - The Battle at Garden's Gate. Super underwhelmed by this one and I was just bored listening to it. Make no mistakes that this band can play, but this was just such a mellow album and not at all what I was expecting/hoping for them to come out with.
Finally gonna see chevelle for the first time in March with Korn and Code Orange. I'm pretty excited🤘😁
Should be a good show - saw Chevelle back in October and they definitely rocked the place.
Forgot to mention Ministry - Moral Hygiene. As a non-hardcore Ministry fan I liked the album a lot. Lots of blatant political jabs and undertones on this one, which has been a theme of Jourgensen's for the last few albums.
Never heard of this band before and listened to this album based on your recommendation. Even though this is not my normal kind of beer it's really good. Trouble's Coming in particular got in my head for days (in the best way.)
Their self titled is pretty good as well if you wanna give that a listen
Literally not one Silk Sonic rec smh my head. So smooth
Major oversight, this album is so good. Somehow Bruno and .Paak make eachother better
Spiritbox - Eternal Blue Definitely had a mix of lighter and heavier, Courtney's vocal range and talent is wildly impressive, and they were sick at BRRF
Gojira - Fortitude Born For One Thing and Amazonia are just really good songs and as a band they're just really good
Knocked Loose - A Tear in the Fabric of Life Hands down favorite, written like a story, and the continuous shot video they made for it was impressive. They've grown a good bit from being another hardcore band to something else
Whitechapel - Kin Phil Bozeman doing Phil Bozeman things, really good album coming off another really good album in The Valley
I promise I listen to other genres but country music bored me this year and I'm not super into the Billy Strings-esque music
Second the Spiritbox and Gojira
This might not be everyone's cuppa, but Garbology By Aesop Rock is my winner. Dope concept with great beats.
https://youtu.be/xlyiU_A3I6k
Anyone Floyd Fest goers this coming year? Lineup is pretty killer WITH the addition of Turnpike.
1. Radical - Every Time I Die (RIP)
2. Eternal Blue - Spiritbox
3. Give One Take One - '68
4. The Rain Just Follows Me - Hawthorne Heights
5. Until This Shakes Apart - Five Iron Frenzy
6. The Romance of Affliction - SeeYouSpaceCowboy
7. Darko - Darko US
8. Fragments of a Bitter Memory - Dying Wish
9. Horizons / East - Thrice
10. Iridescent - Silent Planet
Top EPs
1. Pure Like Porcelain - Like Moths to Flames
2. A Tear in the Fabric of Life - Knocked Loose
Singles
1. Contraband - Make Them Suffer
2. Cancel Couture - Pressure Cracks