The 2021 End Of Year music lists thread

NY Times' Best Jazz Albums of 2021

Two of these titles will also appear on the Stereogum list, which will be running next week, I think.

unperson, I'm a little confused by the love for "Son Beans," despite having a deep affection for Wadada Leo Smith. Certainly not one of the best jazz albums of the year. But maybe this is more for the jazz thread.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/019/104/6bf.jpg

I love the Sun Beans album; everybody on it is playing beautifully and the whole thing has a ritual/ceremonial aspect that I love. But I didn't put it on my list. I went with Sacred Ceremonies, the Wadada Leo Smith/Bill Laswell/Milford Graves 3CD set.

Still need to get that!

unperson, I'm a little confused by the love for "Son Beans," despite having a deep affection for Wadada Leo Smith. Certainly not one of the best jazz albums of the year. But maybe this is more for the jazz thread.

you are aware that this is your opinion, yes? your second sentence is not a thing that actually exists.

Just as your inane opinion that this was an "off year" for music is also an opinion? Yes, I'm aware.

It’d be great if the critical community could come up with some sort of centralized annual albums/tracks poll, maybe something with a Patreon. I’d support it.

"I'm confused by the love for this, it's certainly not one of the best of the year" tells me all I need to know

What-his-name does that excel sheet every year which seems like a centralized thing

"I'm confused by the love for this, it's certainly not one of the best of the year" tells me all I need to know

― alpine static, Thursday, December 2, 2021 10:23 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Why don't you go and listen to all the good music you didn't listen to this year instead of being a salty dickhead?

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51vqbxoXrhL.jpg

On a positive note, our own Reverend Dollars gets a shout in Sasha Geffen's Artforum list:

https://www.artforum.com/print/202110/best-music-of-2021-sasha-geffen-87214

re:Whiney, Rob Mitchum.

I’ve had a few people ask, and yes, I plan to do it, just haven’t had a chance to start it up yet. Will get it together soon! https://t.co/Rxr4RZqB6Z

— Rob Mitchum (@robmitchum) December 2, 2021

that Geffen list looks pretty cool

There's some good stuff on it, yeah!

Revolver Magazine
Fan Poll: 10 Best Albums of 20021

10. Between the Buried and Me - Colors II
9. Archspire - Bleed the Future
8. Iron Maiden - Senjutsu
7. Ice Nine Kills - The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood
6. The Pretty Reckless - Death By Rock & Roll
5. Gojira - Fortitude
4. Spiritbox- Eternal Blue
3. Evanescence - The Bitter Truth
2. Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon
1. Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

https://www.revolvermag.com/music/fan-poll-10-best-albums-2021

ooh sun-el musician made #13 on the npr tracks list

it's quite an interesting list except for the very top

Yeah NPR has some great ones out of the top portion.

Indexed posted this on Rolling Country: Country Music Writers Pollrunner Himes wrote a Paste column about Afro-Americana that was then considered racially insensitive--gotta vet these things before they go up, Paste, and lots of others---so Nashville Scene cancelled (savingcountrymusic.com seizes opp to use wheelhouse term) the venerable Poll: https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/nashville-scene-abruptly-cancels-20-year-country-critics-poll/
The column was "heavily redacted" and now gone altogether.
No such Poll this year nowhere.

That is, Indexed posted the link.

That Himes article is weird as fuck

sounds like Saving Country Music might do the poll in the future, but it's too late this year to set everything up

Here we go...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-2021-list-1260864/

Let's not, shall we?

Olivia Rodrigo #1
Adele #2

Here lies
POPTIMISM
2000-2021

j/k but music journalism is def deceased

except for when you guys do it <3

I think Rodrigo's album's great.

Adele's, not so much.

tbf they're both only so high because bruce, u2, and dylan didn't release this year

the rauw alejandro album at #3 is really good! maybe more like the 20th best album of the year than the 3rd but still, glad to see it

Feeling just about ready to bet my entire bank account that NME will give Song of the Year to Chaise Longue

(That’s not a bad thing it’s a great track)

It's weird that everyone is being sticklers about Red (Taylor's Version) since everyone was absolutely jizzing over it

NME likes played-straight indie rock almost as much as it likes transparent industry pushes so yeah (xp)

One has to be seen to care about Taytay, it's a way you can show you're good at thinking about Popular Music without listening to the mounting thousands of albums that now come out each month

Lol, the R.S. byline for that #1 album is Rob Sheffield, I assume? Vmic.

_Lovingly packaged and designed, “Yes Is the Answer” is a paper treehouse for gentlemen of a certain age, a safe place to embrace a shared teenage fantasy of adult sagacity they can now re-access as an adult fantasy of innocent youth._

Chuck Eddy passed this along:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2223149221324866

Village Voice Pazz & Jop Rip-Off Poll

Any and/or all of you are hereby invited to participate in the below poll. Most votes are being cast on facebook, but you can also email your ballot to pazzandjop at gmail dot com

2021 edition of the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Rip-Off poll.
How the poll works:
You have 100 points to assign to 10 albums.
The max number of points to assign to any album is 30.
The minimum points allowed for an album is 5.
You can also assign two (or more) records the same amount of points indicating that you like them equally.
If you can’t come up with 10 records, you can assign a point total equal to an average of 10 (e.g. if you only have 8 records, then you have 80 points to work with.)
Post your ballot in the Facebook group (or send in Messenger to Keith Artin) OR email to pazzandjop at gmail dot com
Posting Tips:
Post as follows: Artist, Album, Points.
When assigning two albums the same number of points, post artists in alphabetical order (using first name if it’s a person, and “The” if a band has it in their name).
The above is especially helpful if you give all acts 10 points.
I've posted a sample ballot posted in the comments below
You can change your ballot after posting but once Keith Artin has liked your post (which means it has been entered), you should contact him directly about changes.
DEADLINE: Sunday, January 2nd at 12pm
As always, feel free to invite others to participate!
Your admins,
Glenn Boothe & Keith Artin

modern rs trying to be poptimist or whatever they're doing feels even weirder than when their top 10 was mostly just classic rock acts way past their prime

Are you implying that Britney's "Toxic" isn't actually better than "Let It Be"?

GVB songs:

https://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-songs-of-2021/

Plenty of overlap with my own music taste again: erika de casier, men i trust, caroline loveglow, doss… love all of those.

Imago, you’re a little cynical, aren’t you?

Beam of sunshine, me

Through a magnifying glass onto the ant of culture!!!

The RS list is, as is increasingly the case, a grab bag of stuff I’ve never heard of (~65%), stuff I’ve heard of but haven’t heard (~20%), and stuff I’ve heard and think has moments (the rest).

But it’s fine. Long ago I realized that culture is going a different way than I am and to read one of these lists is just to peek at what the culture cares about.

That's fair and fine, but the homogeneity is what gets me! Something like that Sasha Geffen list stands out for being defiantly different (and also having some stuff I like on it, lol)

That's mostly an individual vs collective list distinction ofc but even so, we on ILM have generally been able to come up with fairly idiosyncratic collective EOYS, so it is possible so long as there isn't overhead editorial pressure to push what sells I guess

I'd love to hear from someone involved in a zine EOY - how is it, in short, made? Unless you're at the Quietus in which case it's 'scroll through phone numbers of all our mates and randomise' juuuust kidding

I haven’t checked to see what their 2021 has to offer but Vice’s is always pretty unique.

at Pitchfork we check off albums and songs from a Google spreadsheet. If neither appears, write it in.