unfortunately 2021 felt a lot like 2020, huh? we’re fighting another wave of covid as I type this, our government is still putzing around, 40% of the country refuses to listen to science, etc. so that’s a major bummer but thankfully I’m vaxxed and boosted and if you are too, thank you. for me personally, the past 12 months were a whirlwind. my wife and I bought our first house this fall and a month ago we welcomed our first child into the hell world, a beautiful baby boy. so I can’t be anything but thankful for that. hopefully 2022 brings better things for all of us. anyways, below are the albums and EPs I liked the most – thanks for reading as always.
favorite extended plays
05. Militarie Gun – All Roads Lead To The Gun I + II
04. Mannequin Pussy – Perfect
03. Camp Trash – Downtiming
02. Home is Where – I Became Birds
01. Knocked Loose – A Tear in the Fabric of Life
favorite albums
50. Angel Du$t – YAK: A Collection of Truck Songs
49. Vial – Loudmouth
48. Pet Symmetry – Future Suits
47. Indigo De Souza – Any Shape You Take
46. Spiritbox – Eternal Blue
45. Lucy Dacus – Home Video
44. Strange Ranger – No Light in Heaven
43. Kacey Musgraves – star-crossed
42. Hayley Williams – FLOWERS for VASES / descansos
41. Julien Baker – Little Obvilions
40. The Dirty Nil – Fuck Art
39. Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine of Hell
38. Harmony Woods – Graceful Rage
37. IDLES – CRAWLER
36. Midwife – Luminol
35. Claud – Super Monster
34. Worst Party Ever – Dartland
33. Regional Justice Center – Crime & Punishment
32. Alien Boy – Don’t Know Who I Am
31. Hovvdy – True Love
30. Hurry – Fake Ideas
29. Closer – Within One Stem
28. Backxwash – I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES
27. Full of Hell – The Garden of Burning Apparitions
26. The Hold Steady – Open Door Policy
25. Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone
24. God’s Hate – God’s Hate
23. Scowl – How Flower Grow
22. Low – HEY WHAT
21. Wild Pink – A Billion Little Lights
20. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I
19. King Woman – Celestial Blues
18. Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God
17. The Armed – ULTRAPOP
16. Adult Mom – Driver
15. Origami Angel – GAMI GANG
14. Ovlov – Buds
13. Fiddlehead – Between The Richness
12. Deafheaven – Infinite Granite
11. Portrayal of Guilt – CHRISTFUCKER
10. Downhaul – Proof
09. Illuminati Hotties – Let Me Do One More
08. One Step Closer – This Place You Know
07. Every Time I Die – Radical
06. Turnstile – Glow On
05. SeeYouSpaceCowboy – The Romance of Affliction
04. Foxing – Draw Down The Moon
03. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Illusory Walls
02. Lingua Ignota – SINNER GET READY
01. For Your Health – In Spite Of
The five albums that defined my 2021 were from SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Foxing, The World Is A Beautiful Place, Lingua Ignota, and For Your Health. Back in May, SeeYouSpaceCowboy front woman Connie Sgarbossa tweeted that her band’s new record was gonna bring back the Myspace choruses of the yesterscene. The Romance of Affliction is a true, brutal look at how addiction can kill you and Sgarbossa laid her experiences bare throughout the record’s bombastic mix of emo, screamo, and metal core. A fresh take on a sound from a decade ago, no band does it quite as well as SeeYouSpaceCowboy.
Foxing and The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die both released their boldest and arguably best records (Draw Down The Moon and Illusory Walls) in the face of uncertainty – whether it was the ongoing pandemic or the trials and tribulations of being a critically acclaimed band trying to make a living with music. I was fortunate to speak with Foxing’s Conor Murphy and TWIABP’s Chris Teti about their respective albums and everything else. In 2021, these two band’s may have been left for dead but they emerged with their strongest performances yet.
Kristin Hayter under her Lingua Ignota project probably releasing the most visceral, jarring, and haunting records of 2021 with SINNER GET READY. Replacing some of the harsh noise of Caligula with traditional Appalachian instrumentation. Her voice has total control throughout – especially on a track like “I Who Bend the Tall Grasses” (undoubtedly one of the five best tracks of the year). The record’s nine tracks is intense in its religious inquiries – a journey in which one seeks love and acceptance and never has it returned. The more you listen the more you realize that empathy is trying to rise above all the malice and hatred that organized religion and misguided love that create. SINNER GET READY is more than just 55 minutes of music, it’s Hayter’s entire self and being – you feel the pain, the sadness, and everything in between. Every time I listen to this record I feel it throughout my being. Just an transcendent work of art.
I knew For Your Health’s In Spite Of could be my favorite album of the year last November when hate5six released the full video of the Columbus, Ohio, quartet playing In Spite Of in full at Landmine Studios in New Jersey. It captivated me instantly and immediately put the record on my radar. And once the band sent me an early album advance, it was in constant rotation for the duration of the year for me. It’s a perfect punch in the mouth of all the genres I adore (yes I know their band camp link updated to the amazing remix of the record – something you should also check out).
Hayden Rodriguez turns in one of the best vocal performances I’ve heard in the genre in a really long - equally frenzied as it is controlled, the screams and harmonies working seamlessly together in trying to escape the claustrophobic atmosphere surrounding it (thanks to guitarist Damian Chacon, bassist Johnny Deborde, and drummer Mike Mapes). Tracks like “I Slept with Wes Eisold and All I Got was an Out of Court Settlement,” “Birthday Candles in the Effigy,” and “You're so United Ninety-Three, We're so Flight One Eighty” perfectly encapsulate the energy and bite of the record, while of course a track named “If Anyone Asks We’re Already Fucked” is In Spite Of’s prettiest moment. Unapologetic, abrasive, and imperfect, In Spite Of is the best seventeen minutes of 2021 and the record soundtracked my 2021.