Chorus.fm Members EOTY Lists 2021 • Page 14

I thought that might be why but if the feelings are that low for the last three why even mention them? It's kinda more like a slap in the face to those three rather than an honorable mention haha.

 

It is a good list though! Haven’t seen Mini Trees on many lists — that one took a while to set in for me but I like it a whole lot now

 

Didn’t expect that post to be controversial, haha. Ultimately it’s pretty arbitrary. Those are the seven records that were most essential to my year. The other three are great records, but there’s a bit of a drop-off between Turnstile and ETID that made it feel more appropriate to acknowledge the top seven on their own while still giving some kudos to the others.

I also just didn’t listen to very much new music this year, so doing much more than 10 would start to just be a list of things I’ve heard versus things I actually liked.

 

I wish that record got more exposure. It’s great.

 

Alright, my top 20 is something like this:

1. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
2. Every Time I Die - Radical
3. Adult Mom - Driver
4. Origami Angel - Gami Gang
5. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
6. Manchester Orchestra — The Million Masks Of God
7. Hayley Williams — FLOWERS for VASES/descansos
8. The Maine — XOXO: From Love & Anxiety In Real Time
9. Tyler, The Creator — Call Me If You Get Lost
10. Sydney Sprague — Maybe I Will See You At The End Of The World
11. Joe Vann — Found In The Smoke
12. CHVRCHES — Screen Violence
13. Kacey Musgraves — Star Crossed
14. Bleachers — Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night
15. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine — A Beginner’s Mind
16. John Mayer — Sob Rock
17. The Night Game — Dog Years
18. Modest Mouse — The Golden Casket
19. Mini Trees — Always In Motion
20. ’68 — Give One, Take One

 

No particular order:

Antonioni - S/T
Arthhur - Occult Fractures
Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
Mister Goblin - Four People in an Elevator and One of Them is the Devil
SLONK - Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years
Laura Stevenson - S/T
Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenominal Nature
The Ophelias - Crocus
The Weather Station - Ignorance
Cheekface - Emphatically No
Adult Mom - Driver
Solipse - S/T
Personal Space - A Lifetime of Leisure
Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Bruno Pernadas - Private Reasons
Illuminati Hotties - Let Me Do One More
Yasmin Williams - Urban Driftwood
AZITA - Glen Echo
Subtitles - Commoner
Richard Dawson & Circle - Henki
Really From - S/T
Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses
Parquet Courts - Sympathy for Life
Idle Ray - Idle Ray
Pharaoh Sanders & Floating Points etc etc - Promises

Listened to a lot more straight-up indie rock this year, branched out very little. But found some new artists I loved, which is cool.

 

0. Bo Burnham - Inside (The Songs)
1. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon
2. Turnstile - Glow On
3. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
4. Dijon - Absolutely
5. The Maine - XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time
6. Halsey - If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
7. CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
8. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
9. Lil Nas X - MONTERO
10. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee

11. Bleachers - Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night
12. Sir Sly - The Rise and Fall of Loverboy
13. IDLES - Crawler
14. No Rome - It’s All Smiles
15. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
16. Cloud Nothings - The Shadow I Remember
17. The Night Game - Dog Years
18. Coldplay - Music of the Spheres (Vol. 1: From Earth with Love)
19. Twenty One Pilots - Scaled & Icy
20. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
21. The Killers - Pressure Machine
22. BROCKHAMPTON - Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine
23. Dave Monks - I’ve Always Wanted to Be Me
24. The Armed - ULTRAPOP
25. Lazerbeak - Cameron
26. Small Black - Cheap Dreams
27. Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights
28. You Me At Six - SUCKAPUNCH
29. Weezer - OK Human
30. Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt

EPs
1. beabadoobee - Our Extended Play
2. Michigander - Everything Will Be Okay Eventually
3. Hippo Campus - Good Dog, Bad Dream
4. pronoun - OMG I MADE IT
5. Fickle Friends - Weird Years (Seasons 1 & 2)
6. Camp Trash - Downtiming

 

Happy New Year!

here are 30 records I loved and got me through 2021

Shame - Drunk Tank Pink
Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
Turnstile - GLOW ON
Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
Home is Where - I became birds
Idles - Crawler
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Squid - Bright Green Field
Every Time I Die - Radical
Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me
Stormkeep - Tales of Othertime
Deafheaven - Infinite Granite
Citizen - Life in Your Glass World
CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
Architects - For Those That Wish to Exist
Ruby Fields - Been Doin' It For a Bit
Wolves in the Throne Room - Primordial Arcana
Modest Mouse - The Golden Casket
Wardruna - Kvitravn
Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases/descancos
The Armed - ULTRAPOP
Spiritbox - Eternal Blue
Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
One Step Closer - This Place You Know
The Sonder Bombs - Clothbound
Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
Black Country, New Road - For the first time
Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs

 

My favourite 5 records

Thrice - Horizons/East
Face To Face - No Way Out But Through
The Dirty Nil - Fuck Art
Manchester Ir Hester - Million Masks of God
Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt

Other records I listened to more frequently:

Justin Courtney Pierre - EP’s
Middle Kids - Today We’re The Greatest
Donovan Woods - Singles and Bsides
Hot Mulligan - EP’s
Adjy - Idyll Opus
New Found Glory - Deluxe Ep
Jim Lindbergh - Songs from the Elkhorn Trail
Brian Fallon - Night Devine
Gang of Youths - EP
Souveneer - Dream Journal

There were also lots of great one off songs.

Live Performance Shows:

Bad Religion Decades series
Jimmy Eat World Phoenix Sessions

 

1. Chrvches - Screen Violence
2. Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases/Descansos
3. Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights
4. Snail Mail - Valentine
5. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
6. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
7. Tigers Jaw - I Won't Care How You Remember Me
8. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon
9. Every Time I Die - Radical
10. The World is a Beautiful Place - Illusory Walls

11. Runnner - Always Repeating
12. Webbed Wing - What's Fucking Funny?
13. Turnstile - Glow On
14. Hvvdy - True Love
15. SeeYouSpaceCowboy - Affliction of Romance
16. Origami Angel - GAMI Gang
17. Stars Hollow - I want to Live My Life
18. Another Michael - New Music
19. Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams
20. We are the Union - Ordinary Life
21. Tyler the Creator - Call Me When You Get Lost
22. Pale Waves - Who Am I?
23. Polo G - Hall of Fame
24. Home is Where - I Became Birds
25. Cold Cave - Fate in Seven Lessons

 

Shuffle probably makes the most sense. It's kind of fun for me to go through in order, because it really does remind me of certain days/moments/milestones. But there are also bits where I got obsessed with a certain album and then had 4-5 songs from it back to back, which is probably less interesting to listen to in order if you're not me, haha.

 

My Top 10 Albums From 2021

1. The Maine- XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time
2. The Band Camino- The Band Camino
3. The Night Game- Dog Years
4. With Confidence- With Confidence
5. Manchester Orchestra- The Million Masks of God
6. Thrice- Horizons/East
7. Switchfoot- Interrobang
8. John Mayer- Sob Rock
9. The Spill Canvas- Conduit
10. Twenty One Pilots- Scaled and Icy

Honorable Mention

11. Kacey Musgraves- Star-Crossed
12. Angels & Airwaves- Lifeforms
13. Mayday Parade- What It Means To Fall Apart

 

Gretta Ray - Begin To Look Around
Foxing - Draw Down The Moon
Girl In Red - If I Could Make It Go Quiet
The Spill Canvas - Conduit
Luna Shadows - Digital Pacific
Spiritbox - Eternal Blue
AFI - Bodies
Waterparks- Greatest Hits
TWIABP - Illusory Walls
Origami Angel - Gami Gang

EPs:
Cherry - Safe In Your Stare
Gang of Youths - Total Serene
Envy on the Coast - 3
Invent, Animate - The Sun Sleeps, As If It Never Was
NNAMDI & Lynyn- Are You Happy
Glaswing - I’m In The Checkout Line Of My Life/Like Water On A Glass Table
Midsummer - Nothing Feels Right Anymore

 

Favourite Albums: As always, I listened to a lot and missed a lot but these are the ones that stuck with me and I kept coming back to.

Trophy Scars - Astral Pariah: One of my fav bands comes back with a psychedelic western which is right up my ally.

Turnstile - Glow On: This rocks, super fun.

Alexis Marshall - House of Lull House of When: A truly horrifying looking into a very disturbed man

Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram: Good ass rapping with sick beats.


Favourite EP

Favourite Singles

Limp Bizkit - Out of Style: Woah what a riff!

Modest Mouse was the most disappointing, they continued further into a direction I don't care for, on the flip side I'm glad Tyler went back to rapping, because I don't enjoy his melodies or even when he picks other people to sing his melodies.

 

Alexis marshall can eat shit

 

and d*e

 

Jason Tate’s Top Albums of 2021

1. Turnstile – Glow On
2. Every Time I Die – Radical
3. Hayley Williams – Flowers for Vases / Descansos
4. Noah Gundersen – A Pillar of Salt
5. KennyHoopla – Survivors Guilt
6. Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God
7. The Night Game – Dog Years
8. Pale Waves – Who Am I?
9. Joystick! – I Can’t Take it Anymore
10. Thrice – Horizons/East
11. Spiritbox – Eternal Blue
12. Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend
13. The Killers – Pressure Machine
14. The Maine – XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time
15. M.A.G.S – Say Things That Matter
16. Kacy Hill – Simple, Sweet, and Smiling
17. Foxing – Draw Down the Moon
18. The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore
19. Citizen – Life in Your Glass World
20. Chaser – Dreamer
21. Chvrches – Screen Violence
22. Electric Century – Electric Century
23. Lil Nas X – Montero
24. Olivia Rodrigo – Sour
25. Ben Platt – Reverie
26. Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders – Promises (feat. London Symphony Orchestra)
27. Brian Fallon – Night Devine
28. While She Sleeps – Sleeps Society
29. Shad – Taos
30. Blackstarkids – Puppies Forever

Here in my middle-age, I’ve tried to build my end-of-the-year lists in a way that best captures my year in music. I am specifically trying to showcase what I listened to and felt a connection to most over the year. Gone are the days where I tried to make my list a little too clever, a little too hip, or worried what someone might say about it. I write a relatively obscure little blog over here about music, and the whole point is to write about what I like, what I love, and what moves me. And these are the albums that moved me the most this year, and it all starts with Turnstile. It’s the album that rekindled my love for music like an electrode straight to the heart. It reminded me of the first time I heard Blink-182 all those years ago as a teenager and when my obsession for music was born. It’s an album that stayed on repeat for months. An album that in one year became one of my most played albums, probably ever, and once again lit a fire in me to seek out new music. It was the catalyst for the second half of my year seeing a dramatic increase in the number of hours I was listening to music each day. It’s a holistically special album that makes me ecstatic about life and grateful for the power of the song.

There were other albums I loved this year, and it’s a year that saw my tastes move a little more toward harder music at times, but in the end … it was not even close what my favorite album of the year was.

The rest of my list is filled with some longtime staples (Noah, Every Time I Die, Thrice, Manchester), as well as some newcomers (Joyride!, Chaser, Spiritbox, M.A.G.S), but the underlying theme is that all of these albums meant something to me this year. Ranking them was difficult, often like choosing between a favorite child, but the end is a collection that reflects my 2021 in music. It’s me, and it walks my musical journey throughout the year. I hope there’s something new here for you to discover and fall in love with as well.

I listened to over 7,341 songs this year (13,291 scrobbles), 713 different artists, and 1,333 different albums.

Honorable mentions, entertainment rankings, and more commentary on the blog.

And the contributor list is also now up: Chorus.fm’s Top 30 Albums of 2021

 

I did a little top 50 countdown via Instagram stories a few weeks back where I rambled about all of these, 10 at a time over the course of a workweek. It was pretty fun. If we’re not connected outside of here, it’s now a Chorus blog so now u have no excuse

Trevor Graham’s Top Albums of 2021

 

1. Origami Angel - Gami Gang
2. Better Off - Better Off
3. Youth Fountain - Keepsakes and Reminders
4. Foxing - Draw Down The Moon
5. Turnstile - Glow On
6. Tigers Jaw - I Won’t Care How You Remember Me
7. Grayscale - Umbra
8. Nothing, Nowhere. - Trauma Factory
9. Save Face - Another Kill for the Highlight Reel
10. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks Of God
11. Citizen - Life In Your Glass World
12. Every Time I Die - Radical
13. The Killers - Pressure Machine
14. Angels & Airwaves - Lifeforms
15. Architects - For Those That Wish To Exist
16. Weezer - Ok Human
17. Free Throw - Piecing It Together
18. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
19. Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt
20. This Wild Life - Ever Blossom

 

1. The Killers - Pressure Machine
2. The Sonder Bombs - Clothbound
3. Amy Shark - Cry Forever
4. Angels & Airwaves - Lifeforms
5. Origami Angel - Gami Gang
6. Dave Hause - Blood Harmony
7. Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
8. Middle Kids - Today We’re the Greatest
9. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
10. KennyHoopla - Survivor’s Guilt
11. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
12. Pallet Knife - Ponderosa Snake House and the Chamber of Bullshit
13. Tiger’s Jaw - I Won’t Care How You Remember Me
14. The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls
15. Girl in Red - If I Could Make It Go Quiet
16. Sydney Sprague - Maybe I Will See You At the End of the World
17. Danielle Durack - No Place
18. A Great Big Pile of Leaves - Pono
19. Harmony Woods - Graceful Rage
20. Foxing - Draw Down the Moon

 

As is customary for me, I wrote a lot of words about my favorite albums of the year, trying to get to the bottom of why certain albums stayed in rotation for me, or spoke to me, or made me feel excited about music again.

You can find that here: Craig Manning’s Top Albums of 2021

Here's my list:

1. Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt
2. Kississippi - Mood Ring
3. The Killers - Pressure Machine
4. Mat Kearney - January Flower
5. Chloe Moriondo - Blood Bunny
6. The Maine - XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time
7. Yola - Stand for Myself
8. The War on Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore
9. Patrick Droney - State of the Heart
10. Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
11. The Wallflowers - Exit Wounds
12. Charlie Adams - Bullseye
13. Kacey Musgraves - Star-Crossed
14. Michigan Rattlers - That Kind of Life
15. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
16. Coldplay - Music of the Spheres
17. John Mayer - Sob Rock
18. Snail Mail - Valentine
19. CHVRCHES - Screen Violence
20. Natalie Hemby - Pins and Needles
21. Adele - 30
22. Emily Scott Robinson - American Siren
23. Bleachers - Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night
24. Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight
25. Carly Pearce - 29: Written in Stone
26. Weezer - Van Weezer
27. Switchfoot - Interrobang
28. Cassadee Pope - Thrive
29. Morgan Wade - Reckless
30. Madi Diaz - History of a Feeling

 

shoutout noel in the 2011 re-rank

 

Top 20 of 2021:.

1. The Killers - Pressure Machine
2. Joy Oladokun - In Defense of My Own Happiness
3. Turnstile - Glow On
4. Snail Mail - Valentine
5. Every Time I Die - Radical
6. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
7. Noah Gundersen - A Pillar of Salt
8. Silk Sonic - An Evening With
9. Lucy Dacus - Home Video
10. Kings of Leon - When You See Yourself
11. The Hold Steady - Open Door Policy
12. We Were Sharks - New Low
13. Fiddlehead - Between The Richness
14. Foxing - Draw Down The Moon
15. Citizen - Life In Your Glass World
16. Deafheaven - Infinite Granite
17. Rise Against - Nowhere Generation
18. JP Saxe - Dangerous Levels of Introspection
19. We Are Scientists - Huffy
20. Tyne-James Organ - Necessary Evil
    

 

Damn, i love that Hold Steady record but i always forget it came out this year.

 

I listened to a ton of shit this year and kept pretty good track of it all as I went. Here's where I'm at (*means I own or have ordered the release on vinyl):

1. *You, Me, and Everyone We Know – Something Heavy
2. *Turnstile – Glow On
3. *Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
4. *Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God
5. Every Time I Die – Radical
6. *Fiddlehead – Between the Richness
7. *Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
8. *Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee
9. *Noah Gundersen – A Pillar of Salt
10. The World Is… – Illusory Walls
11. Halsey – If I Can't Have Love…
12. *Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
13. Taylor Swift – Red (Taylor's Version)
14. *Olivia Rodrigo – Sour
15. SeeYouSpaceCowboy – The Romance of Affliction
16. *Glaswing – I'm in the Checkout Line of My Life
17. KennyHoopla – SURVIVOR'S GUILT
18. Serpentwithfeet – Deacon
19. *Julien Baker – Little Oblivions
20. Faye Webster – I Know I'm Funny Haha
21. Snail Mail – Valentine
22. *DIM – From Dark to Light We'll See
23. *The Maine – XOXO
24. IDLES – Crawler
25. *Tigers Jaw – I Won't Care How You Remember Me
26. *Godspeed You! Black Emperor
27. Jon Batiste
28. *Vince Staples
29. Low
30. *Lucy Dacus
31. *John Mayer
32. Mdou Moctar
33. Jail Socks
34. The Night Game
35. *Billie Eilish
36. Silk Sonic
37. *Deafheaven
38. Lil Nas X
39. *Thrice
40. The Dirty Nil
41. Mogwai
42. '68
43. Webbed Wing
44. *Foxing
45. Indigo de Souza
46. The War on Drugs
47. *Middle Kids
48. *A Great Big Pile of Leaves
49. CHVRCHES
50. *Weezer
51. Foo Fighters
52. John the Ghost
53. *Shortly
54. Wolf Alice
55. *Rise Against
56. The Sonder Bombs
57. Downhaul
58. Citizen
59. Wild Pink
60. Bleachers

EPs:

1. *Knocked Loose – A Tear in the Fabric of Life
2. Meet Me @ the Altar – Model Citizen
3. *Camp Trash – Downtiming
4. Mannequin Pussy – Perfect
5. Home Is Where – I Became Birds