15 of the Best Albums of 2021
A shortlist of our favourite albums of 2021, consisting of Japanese Breakfast, Dry Cleaning and more
A New Year is always exciting, but what that means for us is that we have to shortlist albums from the year before — and by no means is that an easy job. We’ll apologise in advance that you won’t be seeing any Taylor Swift on here.
It’s been a crazy year with live music finally making its covid-restricted comeback and debuts from up-and-coming artists wowing us all year round. Some of the best albums this year have been first-time releases so we can only wait in anticipation to see what 2022 brings.
To make this fair on all of us, we won’t be putting these in any particular order.
1. Goat Girl - ‘On All Fours’
Photo: Holly Whitaker
On All Fours has wormed its way into one of my favourite albums of all time. Maybe it’s the lucidity of tracks like Badibaba and Sad Cowboy, but this album is certainly one for the history books. It has the perfect balance of wacky lyrics and complementary rhythm to put it firmly in the big leagues of albums released in 2021. It’s one I can’t get enough of.
2. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Photo: Pooneh Ghana
If you haven’t heard of Dry Cleaning yet, chances are you live under a rock. They’re fast becoming one of Britains’ next best post-punk gang, with lead singer Florence Shaw setting the band apart from their peers. New Long Leg is the debut offering from the band, and I can only imagine they’ll be reaching new heights this year. Read Kamala’s four-star review here.
3. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
Photo: Getty Images
This unconventional release sees Dream pop duo Beach House segmenting their 8th studio album Once Twice Melody into ‘chapters’ — the first having been released in November 2021 and the second chapter following shortly after in December and comprising of four songs each. Picked out by one of our writers, Rebecca, she explains how the album “has secured a spot not only as my album of the year but also in my heart. With Once Twice Melody, Beach House gifts us with an ethereal, emotive and ultimately magical listening experience that shouldn’t be missed.” The album is scheduled to be released in full on February 18th this year and won’t be one to miss.
Words by Chloe Woods and Rebecca Rooney
4. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Butterfly 3000
Photo: Press
Despite the band’s phenomenal output, King Gizzard’s albums never miss the mark, and in August they blessed us with another masterpiece in the form of Butterfly 3000, their first album to be released on their own label KGLW. This album sees the psych masters exploring a melodic approach that is prevalent in all the songs, drawing on the idea of the butterfly’s life cycle and using it as a metaphor for the themes expressed on this album. The result is an enthralling ten-track album that has a satisfyingly cohesive sound and still manages to set itself apart from their other seventeen (!) studio albums.
Words by Chloe Woods
5. girl in red - if i could make it go quiet
Photo: Fabian Fjeldvik
Norwegian singer-songwriter girl in red — aka Marie Ulven — had a year to remember, releasing her debut album if i could make it go quiet which peaked at number seven in the UK albums chart and number two in her native Norwegian albums chart. Her unique style of indie-pop was cemented with this mature, honest and bold exploration of her personal experiences with songs on mental health, love and everything in between. Her sound has developed with emotionally charged, reflective numbers such as it would feel like this as well as high-energy, in-your-face tracks such as You Stupid Bitch, personal favourite Did You Come? and hit single Serotonin, which was one of the sounds of the summer.
Words by Chloe Woods
6. Skegss - Rehearsal
Photo: David Herington
Aussie natives Skegss are known for their rowdy garage tunes and delivered that plus more in their second studio album Rehearsal. Whilst not straying too far from their usual sound, the band also experimented with a softer, more sentimental side on this album with tracks Lucky and Wake Up. Those still add to the overall mood of the album which is upbeat and happy-go-lucky, as it often is with Skegss, and this is just the kind of album we needed in 2021.
Words by Chloe Woods
7. Bull - Discover Effortless Living
Photo: Esme Mai
York slackers Bull have been making music together for the best part of a decade, yet only released their first official single, Green, in 2020. Catching the attention of EMI, they were signed and later released one of the best debuts of 2021. You can read Kamala’s four-star review here.
8. Parquet Courts - Sympathy for Life
Photo: Ebru Yildiz
Back with their first album in three years, Parquet Courts reminded us just how effortless they are at producing brilliant albums time and time again. They’ve laid part of the path that has brought us a lot of 2021’s albums and we can only look forward to what they give us next.
9. Babe Rainbow - Changing Colours
Photo: Press
Babe Rainbow are the pinnacle of laidback, surf-rock Gods. They’ve never released an album that wasn’t anything short of brilliant — this one is no exception. Read Kamala’s interview with the band here.
10. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
Photo: Valerie Chiang
After losing her mother to pancreatic cancer in 2014, Michelle Zauner wrote non-stop about grief. Jubilee is her turning down a different path and heading in the pop direction; focussing on joy rather than pain. It’s a poignant album that will no doubt go down in history. Read Devyn’s five-star review here.
11. Squid - Bright Green Field
Photo: Ashley Bourne
There is no doubt that Squid had an eventful year; releasing a debut record after having so much expected of you must be a difficult task. Their first album included noteworthy singles Paddling and Narrator and is an overall perfect example of the band’s sound.
12. Drug Store Romeos - The world within our bedrooms
Photo: Neelam Khan Vela
This is a truly special record and one I recommend to just about everyone. If you’re a fan of ethereal, angelic sounds, then look no further — you’ve found your latest obsession.
13. Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams
Photo: Dave J Hogan
Arlo Parks had a phenomenal year: it’s not every day that you release an album in January and by the end of the year you’re inundated with awards for your artistry. This record is for the ones who want to experience a piece of history in the making.
14. Tropical Fuck Storm - Deep States
Photo: Jamie Wdziekonski
Tropical Fuck Storm is the amalgamation of The Drones, Mod Con and High Tension’s respective musicians creating experimental art-rock together. There’s no easy net to throw over the band but art-rock is certainly a start. After The Drones went on hiatus, bandmates Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin decided to create a side project that would give them the room they needed to experiment as ridiculously as they felt the need. After three years of performing under TFS, they shared their third studio album, which was met with an equally eager reaction as that of the previous.
15. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
Photo: Press
Blue Weekend was not an album I was expecting to hear this year, and when the lead single Last Man on Earth dropped in February I was enticed by Wolf Alice’s new direction. For me, their first two albums had respectively been some of the best albums released in the past decade and I didn’t think they’d ever be able to top My Love Is Cool (their 2015 debut). Somehow they’ve surpassed that and made probably my favourite record ever (I mean that too). The third outing from the London alt-rock band is a heartfelt and vulnerable display of emotions; chronicling the break-up of lead singer Ellie Rowsell and Slaves’ frontman Isaac Holman and making it a must-listen for anyone experiencing the same pain.
Special mentions to shame for Drunk Tank Pink, Black Country, New Road for For the first time and black midi for Cavalcade.
