This time around I kept track of 2021’s new music as the year happened instead of staying up until some ungodly December hour scouring a million year-end lists.

That process has had a unique effect on the end result. As I said last time around: “This isn't all-encompassing, or intended to be definitive of anything. They're just the year's new records that made me happiest when I put them on, and are permanently staying in the rotation.”

That sentiment is just as true today, but this year’s edition is a more autobiographical endeavor than its predecessor. I’ve listened to the same songs and albums for months, and even some since I set about the chronicle during that first week of January.

Ostensibly I was “evaluating” a running list of new songs, which I dubbed “Keeping Track of 2021” in Spotify, but I think “collecting” is the more accurate term. It turns out that if you spend six-months to a year listening to the same new songs and records while you work, clean the house, or drive to Santa Barbara to visit your nieces, then you might be extremely biased toward selecting the songs you’ve returned to again and again all year long.

Looking at them now, this list of mostly mid-tempo, melodic, feel-good* tunes is probably more revealing of my state-of-mind in the year of our lord two-thousand and twenty-fucking-one than I neccessarily intended it to be. But there you go, 2021 was—for me at least—much more enjoyable than the last one. Obviously the vaccines had something to do with it, as well as the removal of the detestable shit-lord from the Oval Office. Which is not to say that bad things didn’t happen (of course they did and will ad infinitum) but a weight was lifted and I was able to finally hug some people I love mask-free, hear live music again, see the sun rise over the Grand Canyon, and spend six weeks working from Europe. I didn’t feel like screaming into a void most days, which was really nice and obviously reflected in the music I chose to spend time with this year.

Without further ado, below you will find two Spotify playlists. The first is a sampler of songs from my ten favorite new records released in 2021, sequenced for your aural pleasure receptors, along with some brief commentary and context. The second is a collaborative playlist of eclectic singles that I loved along the way and frequently used to help keep track of music this year (as well as new finds from all those consensus lists). Yes, it’s collaborative, so I really hope you will add some of your favorite songs to it too if you use Spotify!

*In this context “feel-good” is extremely debatable, the Mountain Goats record is called Dark in Here, for christ’s sake. This is about as sunny as my musical taste gets.

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Top (10) Albums of the Year - Listen Here on Spotify!
*Featuring 3-4 songs from each, sequenced for maximum pleasure

The Go! Team - Get Up Sequences Part One
Tonally, this sample-forward, maximalist groove box of a record is what I reach for when I’m in a particularly up-beat mood. I sincerely hope there’s a Part Two forthcoming asap.

Mikey Erg - S/T
The closest thing to a proper Ergs’ album that superfans like me have had in a long time. Louder, faster, and more in your face than his last two solo albums, but just as melodic and hook-filled as anything on Dork Rock Cork Rod or Upstairs/Downstairs. HIs faithful cover of Green Day’s “Going to Pasalacqua” feels like the keystone to the whole endeavor.

Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
People who listen to a lot more diverse styles of music than I can better explain why this record is all over the “Best Of” lists. I really didn’t expect it to dig its hooks into me so deeply, but here we are. I love how cinematic it is, from the ethereal floating bliss of the chorus in “Paprika,” to the piercing synth/vocoder solo in “Savage Good Boy,” to the lilting-turn-droning 6+ minute finale “Posing for Cars.” It’s a trip.

The Mountain Goats - Dark in Here
Alex and I got to see John Darnielle and company perform at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, which was our first (masked! fully vaccinated!) concert in 18 months. It was soul-satisfying from the jump, and Dark in Here might be the album that best captures their recent live band experience on wax, while still retaining Darnielle’s classic, story-telling charm.

Lucy Dacus - Home Video
This is another popular, consensus pick that I have no shame seconding in a heartbeat. Lucy Dacus shows that she is one of the most vivid storytellers writing today, and her dulcet-toned remembrances of youth are expertly awash in swelling waves of fuzzy distortion and swampy delay/reverb.

The Pink Stones - Introducing…the Pink Stones
A lush alt-country record from some young kids in Athens, Georgia that descends from Graham Parsons and his line of “cosmic country music.” Music made for drinking whiskey in a humid bar south of the Mason Dixon—something I’d like to do again come the new year. “You can call me Charlie / even though you love me hardly.”

Jeff Rosenstock - Ska Dream
Spoiler alert, if the Mountain Goats and Jeff Rosenstock release new music then it’s going on my year-end list. If this particular album sounds familiar to you, it’s because Jeff has re-recorded last year’s Top 10 pick No Dream, but this time he’s gone back to his roots and completely ska’d it out (**looking at you quarantine fever dream**). But it’s no curiosity remix—these songs bump in exciting new ways, while paying tribute to ska’s generational waves, and featuring great guest appearances like Fishbone’s Angelo Moore, and frequent collaborator/Asian Man Records honcho Mike Park.

Illuminati Hotties - Pool Hopping
Last year’s mixtape, Free I.H., a contract-fulfilling, fuck-you to her old record label, was a favorite of mine and “free dumb” was included on the Honorable Mentions playlist. The anthemic first single from Pool Hopping, “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA,” alone (especially it’s piss & vinegar meets bubblegum bridge) cements Sarah Tudzin’s new record on this year’s list.

Lande Hekt - Going to Hell
Released in January, the second solo record from the Muncie Girls’ lead singer has been spinning longer than any other in my top ten, and it was one of the inspirations for keeping tabs on 2021’s new releases. I knew way back then (pre-vaccinations!!) that I was going to save a spot for these beautifully angst-ridden songs, and I’m glad it’s held up over the ensuing 12 months.

TORRES - Thirstier
I was delightfully surprised by this complex, brilliantly layered rock record that channels the best of Liz Phair turned up to 11, while simultaneously backed by J. Mascis and Fountains of Wayne. It’s incredibly easy to start this record over from the beginning, again and again. “Baby, keep me in your fantasies / Baby, keep your hands all over me.”

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And here is my collaborative “Honorable Mentions and Miscellany 2021” playlist—listen here in Spotify! It’s full of potent potables and other sundries (Guided by Voices! John Prine covers! More ska! Also, other non-ska things!). I hope you dig it, and I hope you’ll add some of your favorites too.

Happy New Year. I hope our paths cross again as soon as possible.

Big hugs (and bisous from Paris!),
justin