Chorus.fm Members EOTY Lists 2021 • Page 5

robot soft exorcism might be their best song

 

Here's today's topic: What were some pleasant surprises this year? Either from artists you know or maybe new ones?

• Not a new release, but Clarity finally clicked for me this year in a big way.
• Chevelle's newest album bangs hard
• The Offspring's album is bad and good at the same time. Title track is the catchiest song they've released in several albums.
• 2 good Weezer albums
• The Maine's new album took a minute to grow on me, but I'm very happy it did.
• Quicksand's album is dope
• I really love a few tracks from Low's Hey What. Days Like These slaps hard

 

AOTY List

1. Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
2. Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
3. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
4. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
5. The Maine - XOXO
6. Kasey Musgraves - Star Crossed
7. Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams
8. Weezer - OK Human
9. Taylor Swift - Red (Taylor's Version)
10. Silk Sonic - An Evening With Silk Sonic
11. Pale Waves - Who Am I?
12. Angels and Airwaves - Lifeforms
13. Doja Cat - Planet Her
14. Chvrches - Screen Violence
15. Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases
16. Weezer - Van Weezer
17. Julian Baker - Little Oblivions
18. Amy Shark - Cry Forever
19. LOLO - Overkill
20. Manchester Orchestra - Million Masks of God

Honorable mentions to Turnstile, Lil Nas X, Thrice and Willow.

 

Porter Robinson is one of my favourite new discoveries of the last few years.

I've also been a big fan of Pinkerton for like a decade now but never really got into anything else by them but OK Human is one of my favourites of the year.

I've always wanted to love a Halsey album but other than a song here and there I've not been a big fan but her new album is fantastic.

Also cool to see Chvrches put out their best record.

 

yeah chvrches dropping their best album after a pretty dismal third album was surprising to me

 

Japanese Breakfast, Deafheaven, Wild Pink, and Porter Robinson released a few of my favorite records of the year despite only ever being lukewarm on (or in Porter’s case, straight up disliking) their previous material

 

Yeah this was definitely the year of the comebacks. Chvrches rebounding from their worst album to their best album. Weezer putting out TWO great albums after the last two snoozers. Angels and Airwaves putting out their best and most diverse album. Other surprises include Lil Nas X proving he's not a one hit wonder (great album), and Limp Bizkit putting out an album in 2021 that I actually kinda enjoyed haha

 

2021 Top 30, Unranked

Evidence - Unlearning Vol. 1 (Hip Hop)
Wiki - Half God (Hip Hop)
Shirin David - Bitches Brauchen Rap (Hip Hop, German)
Cho - Chosen (Hip Hop, Dutch)
Tanya Morgan - Don & Von (Hip Hop)
Fat Joe - What Would Big Do 2021 (Hip Hop)
Skinny Stylus - Tüfelsfrucht Vol. 3 (Hip Hop, Swiss)
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga - Love For Sale (Jazz)
James McMurthy - The Horses And The Hounds (Country)
Joyce Wrice - Overgrown (R&B)
Drangsal - Exit Strategy (Post-Punk, New Wave, German)
Fashawn & Sir Veterano - All Hail The King (Hip Hop)
Blu - The Color Blu(e) (Hip Hop)
Gabe ‘Nandez - Ox (Hip Hop)
GeilerAlsDu - Fyre Festival Diaries (Hip Hop, Swiss)
Kota The Friend & Statik Selektah - To Kill A Sunrise (Hip Hop)
Nas - King‘s Disease II (Hip Hop)
Rod Wave - SoulFly (Hip Hop)
Marteria - 5. Dimension (Hip Hop, UK Garage, German)
Common - A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2 (Hip Hop)
Skyzoo - All The Brilliant Things (Hip Hop)
badmómzjay - badmómz (Hip Hop)
Blu & Sirplus - For Sale (Hip Hop)
Rezcoast Grizz - Gallery (Hip Hop)
Latifah - On Lock (Hip Hop, R&B, Dancehall, Dutch)
H.E.R. - Back Of My Mind (R&B)
Ronnie Flex - Altijd Samen (Hip Hop, R&B, Dutch)
Celo & Abdi - Mietwagentape 2 (Hip Hop, German)
Jalil - Reset (Hip Hop, German)
Rola - Venus (R&B, German)

My Favourite 2020 Albums I Got To This Year

Qlas & Blakka - Jongetjes Uit Zuid (Hip Hop, Dutch)
The Winter Passing - New Ways Of Living (Punk)
M.A.E.L. - L.I.N.S. (R&B, Dutch)
Ariana Grande - Positions (R&B, Pop)
Less Than Jake - Silver Linings (Ska Punk?)
Lawrence Arms - Skeleton Coast (Punk)

My Favorite Old Albums Of The Year

Selena - Amor Prohibido (Tejano, Spanish, 1994)
Tony Bennett - MTV Unplugged (Jazz, 1994)
Mariya Takeuchi - Variety (City Pop, Japanese, 1984)
Mariya Takeuchi - Miss M (City Pop, Japanese, 1980)
Frank Sinatra With Count Basie & The Orchestra - Sinatra At The Sands (Jazz, 1966)
Thursday - War All The Time (Post-Hardcore?, 2003)
Jawbreaker - Dear You (Emo, 1995)
Oskar - Idle Will Kill (Punk, 2001)

Hip Hop and R&B (and similar genres), especially on a more commercial level, fundamentally being singles genres also kind of means many of my most listened songs aren't on any of these albums, so album lists only partly reflect the music I listened to in any given year. I often just listen to my current bangers playlists that I make for every year (or monster playlists I made for genres). Plenty of these songs are on albums I do not even want to check out.

 

Not 2021, but I randomly got into Hot Mulligan this summer. I had never listened to them prior to that. BCKYRD came up on a playlist and I immediately became hooked and spent the majority of the second half of 2021 listening to their entire discography (they were my No. 2 on Spotify Wrapped).

Also, completely agree with your Offspring take (and Weezer as well).

 

Pleasant surprises:
-Had never listened to Kississippi or Snail Mail before. The former is my AOTY runner-up; the latter is in my top 20.
-Incredible debuts from Patrick Droney, Olivia Rodrigo, and Charli Adams, none of whom were on my radar before this year.
-The Killers continuing the renaissance they started on Imploding the Mirage.
-Foo Fighters, Weezer, and Switchfoot all making rock records I legitimately love.
-Mat Kearney, CHVRCHES, and Carly Pearce all following up bad albums with great ones.
-Finally getting to hear a new Wallflowers record.

 

Thrice my favourite since 2003. Horizons is like a 6/10 at best and comfortably their worst if you're not counting Identity Crisis. but i know that's just me. *shrug*

 

Y’all got me to check out this CHVRCHES record. I was only ever like half in on the first two and absolutely hated the third so I didn’t really bother with this one. Regrets. It is great so far. On the Robert Smith one right now

 

revisit Every Open Eye afterwards, it's worth it

 

Thrice's new record is a solid mid-tier one in their discography to me. As far as the post-hiatus records go, it's a huge step up from Palms, but a bit below TBEITBN.

 

Screen Violence was the biggest surprise for me. Didn’t care for the last album at all, love this one.

 

St Vincent was another huge disappointment for me, add to my long list

 

I listened to the FoF album today because of your comment. I like it better than I remembered; I just don’t like it as much as most of their other stuff. There are some good songs and moments on there, but overall it seems more formulaic and “generic pop rock” than their other albums with less moments in the songs’ arrangements that set it apart. Awakened to the Sound is one of my favorites of all time and I love the Travel EPs too. It’s hard to live up to those

 

I’m adding the album Into the Blue by The Joy Formidable onto my list. I’ve been listening to it a ton these last two weeks and love it. I feel like a lot of you guys would love it, but I haven’t seen much discourse about it save for a random comment by @SmashRipsaw about it.

 

Subbin

 

I'm so bad at keeping up on releases throughout the year. This thread always helps me discover new music.

 

Without thinking much about it, my top five is probably

Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
Every Time I Die - Radical
Manchester Orchestra - Million Masks of God
Bo Burnham - Inside
Circa Survive - A Dream About Love

 

This Dean Blunt album is really good

 

Ranked using Bias Sorter for the first time, so this was actually a lovely experience. Had to make some tough calls. What a great year for music.

1 Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
2 Turnstile- Glow On
3 Lucy Dacus- Home Video
4 Arlo Parks- Collapsed in Sunbeams
5 Charlie Hickey- Count The Stairs
6 Olivia Rodrigo- SOUR
7 Wild Pink- A Billion Little Lights
8 Grouper- Shade
9 Snail Mail- Valentine
10 Taylor Swift- Red (TV)
11 Foxing- Draw Down The Moon
12 Porter Robinson- Nurture
13 Big Red Machine- How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?
14 Bo Burnham - Inside
15 Every Time I Die- Radical
16 Origami Angel- GAMI GANG
17 Hovvdy- True Love
18 Pale Waves- Who Am I?
19 Wolf Alice- Blue Weekend
20 The Greeting Committee - Dandelion
21 CHVRCHES- Screen Violence
22 Tyler, The Creator- CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
23 Home Is Where- I Became Birds
24 Manchester Orchestra- Million Masks of God
25 Bleachers- Take The Sadness Out of Saturday Night
26 The Maine- XOXO
27 Julien Baker- Little Oblivions
28 Kacey Musgraves- Star Crossed
29 Sinai Vessel- Ground Aswim
30 Noah Gundersen- Pillar of Salt

edit- Fuck, I forgot Pom Pom Squad. Would probably stick that somewhere in the 17-21 range.

 

Finished mine early this year. Honestly, I’d feel comfortable listing any of the top 10 as my #1. I can’t believe I actually got to see live music again! That definitely made several of these grow for me.
These records defined my 2021.

1. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
2. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
3. Chvrches - Screen Violence
4. Porter Robinson - Nurture
5. Halsey - If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
6. Brockhampton - Roadrunner
7. Lana Del Rey - Blue Banisters
8. Magdalena Bay - Mercurial World
9. The Killers - Pressure Machine
10. St Vincent - Daddy’s Home
11. Tyler the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
12. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
13. James Blake - Friends That Break Your Heart
14. Weezer - OK Human
15. Poppy - Flux (and the EAT ep)
16. Black Country, New Road - For The First Time
17. Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases
18. Vince Staples - Vince Staples
19. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
20. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
21. Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over the Country Club
22. Marina - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land
23. Bleachers - Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night
24. Kacey Musgraves - Star-Crossed
25. Snail Mail - Valentine
26. Tinashe - 333
27. Weezer - Van Weezer
28. Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
29. Angels & Airwaves - Lifeforms
30. ELIO - Can You Hear Me Now?
31. Sir Sly - The Rise & Fall of Loverboy
32. Lorde - Solar Power
33. Lil Nas X - Montero
34. Clairo - Sling
35. Sturgill Simpson - The Ballad of Dood & Juanita
36. Jorja Smith - Be Right Back
37. Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams
38. Isaiah Rashad - The House is Burning
39. PinkPantheress - to hell with it
40. Angèle - Nonante-Cinq

EP of the year is Kero Kero Bonito - Civilisation II

 

1. Hot Mulligan - I Won’t Reach Out To You
2. Jetty Bones - Push Back
3. Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR
4. Every Time I Die - Radical
5. Grayscale - Umbra


I think this is my list