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Though I expected greater of 2021 - on account of all the free time artists were given courtesy of the quarantine in 2020 - to say it disappointing would be a lie. After all, nothing in recent years has been more exciting than watching U.K.'s Art Punk scene grow, as the three-headed beast of black midi, Black Country New Road, and Squid all released incredible debuts within a four-month window. Fearless and exceptionally-talented, their prowess headlined the year. Though stewing in a niche community was a cult, bound by a love for 90's melodrama, aspirational romance, and Dance music that ascends to the heavens. It was spurred by the faceless DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ, a transformative artist who took my breath away with each intrepid exodus. She mustered optimism in the face of overwhelming dread. Represented those Life Is Good t-shirts better than the t-shirts themselves. These two halves - the palpitating anxieties of the Windmill collective, and the calming resurgence of an impassioned DJ - helped put 2021 into context.
All before Lil Ugly Mane tore it apart. Both he, with the near-perfect Volcanic Bird Enemy, and other established artists grew in satisfying ways. There was Japanese Breakfast flexing her versatility in Pop. Lingua Ignota descending further into the reaches of Hell. Little Simz embracing Hip-Hop as a means to overcome. No matter where you looked, in music circles both large and small, artful progression could be found. In a way, it's a testament to human resilience. That a worldwide quarantine needn't be the central topic for musicians, for overcoming the odds was the expected outcome. Art could still prosper even when our chips are down. And boy has it ever.
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10
Aaron Dilloway & Lucrecia Dalt | Lucy & Aaron
Tape Music | Listen
More often than not, Experimental music carries with it an aura of pretentiousness. A sentiment that the artist can think deeper than you, conceptualizing with vapid soundscapes and meaningless conjecture. Such was not the case on Lucy & Aaron, a mind-melting, genre-defying experience whose direction felt precise and thorough. Dilloway's unsettling sampling techniques distorted realities once deemed indefectible. This, combined with Dalt's haunting whispers - fractured and repressed - manifested an ambiance of 1950's suburbia, complete with idealized perfections and bridled housewives. Be it 'Demands Of Ordinary Devotion,' 'Niles Baroque,' or 'The Blob,' Lucy & Aaron never wavered in that foresight.
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9
Genesis Owusu | Smiling With No Teeth
Neo-Soul | Listen
It's great when the excitement of a new artist is shared by not only the fans, but the artist themselves. On Smiling With No Teeth, Genesis Owusu made this clear. His talent tantalized through expression, his boastful confidence matched by bouts of reflection. A myriad of styles wove through rich Neo-Soul, going so far as to imitate (successfully, mind you) names as iconic as Death Grips ('On The Move!'), Young Fathers ('Drown'), and Brockhampton ('A Song About Fishing'). Owusu's voracious appetite, curiosity, tangy hooks, and brand recognition will take him to stardom. One could look back at his origins as being humble, if he wasn't as daring and provocative straight out the gates.
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8
Lost Girls | Menneskekollektivet
Art Pop | Listen
Jenny Hval understands art and the malleable textures by which it stands. Matters should not be predictable, or common, or accessible, but rather progressive, fixated on new approaches that aim to entice an ear trained to tune out the rudimentary. That's where Menneskekollektivet comes in. Even the name is daring and unconventional. Musically, Spoken Word abstractions on the self drift myopically into snowy and soft harmonization, all the while free-flowing synthesizers peel danceable rhythms from a strand of drone. Before long, these epics like 'Menneskekollektivet' and 'Love, Lovers' ascend like no other. Not because of preplanned direction, but natural guidance towards new places.
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7
Horsey | Debonair
Art Rock | Listen
Humans are complex beings. Sometimes that's overlooked in art, as the process of creation tends to value theming, cohesion, and expressed characteristics rather than tackling vague, yet ubiquitous concepts. We vacillate, and often. We partake in capers before returning to solitude to stew in torment. We combat arduous hurdles, yet fear the most irrational of phobias. We adore ridiculed niches and deride praise received elsewhere. Better than any other album this year, Debonair captured this ambiguous seesaw. Moments like 'Sippy Cup' and 'Clown Song' were irreverent and absurd, while others waded in torpid unease like 'Wharf' and 'Seahorse.' Horsey knew how to approach them all, for routine can always be unpredictable.
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6
Japanese Breakfast | Jubilee
Indie Pop | Listen
Jubilee is an exercise in multiplicity. An excursion through Pop, with coherency derived primarily from the persistent quality that rarely drags. One moment, Japanese Breakfast envelopes herself in grandiose Baroque Pop ('Paprika'), the next she's charming through effervescent Boogie ('Be Sweet'). But that's not all, as bite-sized pieces of Sunshine Pop ('Kokomo, IN'), Ambient Pop ('Posing In Bondage'), and Zauner's good ol' fashioned Indie Pop ('Savage Good Boy') transform the record with each and every turn. A savant relishing in her consummate refinement. For the regretful few emerging from a decades-long coma, they ask how Pop's evolved, you show them this.
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5
Lingua Ignota | Sinner Get Ready
Neoclassical Darkwave | Listen
Infatuated with the sins of man, hell-bent on unraveling why. Why religion breeds hate, ignorance, and hypocrisy. On Sinner Get Ready, Lingua Ignota dove further than she ever had, enduring the torment and banality of middle America. Her angst boiled, her despair felt the coarse rock bottom. In this experience she learned purity, welcoming sparse Avant-Folk to her Neoclassical Darkwave dirge. Earthly, if only to get closer to Hell. Forsaken fables like 'Many Hands' and 'Man Is Like A Spring Flower' aquatinted holier-than-thou Christians with the infernal vengeance they'll face upon death, recounted quite literally on standout 'Pennsylvania Furnace.' Ignota's grace cares not for facades.
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4
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ | Charmed
Outsider House | Listen
She captured my heart. One that never got to experience the bathos of overwrought teenage melodrama, fleeting and potent, captured at high school proms, bedroom sleepovers, and pool parties. Charmed is a marvelous distillation of maudlin revelry, a three-hour tour de force of euphoric, sample-laced House. It is DJ Sabrina's bread and butter. 120 BPM's, reaching higher and higher, layered and spliced with passion unheard-of for lengths such as this. Be it the lachrymose run from 'New Year's Resolution' to 'Down To Love,' or the final celebration with the impeccable 'Charmed Life,' Charmed is a magnum opus of commitment and affection.
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3
Black Country, New Road | For The First Time
Experimental Rock | Listen
The anticipation was unrelenting. It had been years since the music community was in collective awe over a new band as earth-shattering as Black Country, New Road. Top of their class talents, spearheading the Windmill movement, angered and anxious over adolescent lives slipping from their grasp. For The First Time formally welcomed them, with six disparate songs helmed by Isaac Wood's distressed cries. Yet, the landmark moment was soured due to the indulgent rollout, leaving just two new tracks ('Instrumental' and 'Opus') to the imagination. Nevertheless, cementation had been achieved. Thoroughly comprehensive, equal parts tragic and savory. The Black Country, New Road delicacy.
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2
black midi | Cavalcade
Avant-Prog | Listen
Schlagenheim proved black midi were capable of the immaterial. Schizophrenic and rash, yet finely-tuned with a striking polish unexpected of today's Punk youth. On Cavalcade they doubled down, dawning suits while envisioning Frank Zappa, Magma, and King Crimson. Tracks like 'John L' and 'Ascending Forth' exhibited stunning technicals, maneuvering through disparate structures with unorthodox appeal. Others, like 'Marlene Dietrich' and 'Diamond Stuff,' spiraled ardently into psychedelic dreamscapes best left to marvel at, while standout 'Slow' incorporated every Cavalcade tactic through a crushing, Halloween bender. Compelling variety, fits of panic and patience, and the ability to merge the abstruse with the accessible made Cavalcade a stunning achievement.
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1
Lil Ugly Mane | Volcanic Bird Enemy
Neo-Psychedelia | Listen
It captivated me with one question: "Who are you?." The robot lady's focal point was apparent. Every insistent loop on 'Bird Enemy Car' primed Lil Ugly Mane, not I, as the recipient. As disparate, surreal, and irreverent as it was, Volcanic Bird Enemy was Travis Miller's life story. Torment self-contained to a world of expression. In the past, anger and misanthropy dominated over blasted 808's, chicken scratch Noise, and cutthroat Lo-Fi hysteria. Now, mature contemplation married hallucinogenics. Facades propped up by psychedelic overdoses ill-tethered to reality ('With Iron & Bleach & Accidents,' 'Styrofoam'), fantasized imaginary worlds rife with relatable problems. Drugs numbed the pain, as Lil Ugly Mane fought the dregs ('Benadryl Submarine,' 'Discard'). Relationships bore complications, but more importantly, internal growth ('Hostage Master,' 'Cursor').
But Volcanic Bird Enemy's greatest achievement wasn't those rather frank concepts. It was the entertainment, wide-eyed and cathartic, that prevailed through every inconceivable minute. Lyrics destined for Slowcore and Midwest Emo paraded, like Eeyore in the Hundred Acre Wood, around bountiful colors and curious, crazy concoctions. "Cannibalize all versions of myself / Where I wait for the eruption to collapse me into Hell" he murmurs, sluggishly, as a crunchy and invigorated guitar loop shreds into Shoegaze heaven on 'Headboard.' "I wait for panic to subside / And scrape the tarnish from my mind" he croons dejectedly over apocryphal Mercury Rev felicity - had they been indoctrinated into Skate Punk crust - on the extraordinary 'Porcelain Slightly.' These moments of depression, offset by compelled saturation both real and medicated, gave Volcanic Bird Enemy its unshakable aesthetic; otherworldly, yet entirely corporeal. Though it's only been a few months, Lil Ugly Mane's instant classic has that timeless feel. Adored by generations seeking refuge. Achieving cult-like status from those who can't - nay, won't - let go. For me, praise doesn't get much higher than that.
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50-21 | 20-11 | Top 100 Tracks
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