#1. “Man, tell them haters open up the jail (Open up the jail) And you can tell my baby mamas, “Get the bail money” (Bail…
#2. Though few may have expected it, Porter Robinson emerged, quite triumphantly, as one of 2021’s most significant pop artists, reasserting himself as the ultimate…
#3. One of the more immediate musical trends to take hold post-Covid was a noticeable shift toward quieter dynamics, embodied most visibly by the singer-songwriter…
#4. Though British producer Iglooghost (aka Seamus Malliagh) operates within some of the more tonally extreme subgenres of 2010s electronic music — UK Bass, glitch,…
#5.The subtext of Outside Child, the solo debut from Allison Russell, is trauma — childhood abuse, cyclical violence, life as a teenage runaway. But the…
#6. Given the current character of the music industry,“online music” is quickly approaching obsolescence as a useful label — if ever it was one. The relationship…
#7. Arriving at the tail end of 2020 — Christmas Day, to be exact — to the bewilderment of fans and skeptics alike, Playboi Carti’s Whole…
#8. As easy as it is to recognize the old spirit that Lana Del Rey has always been, it’s just as easy to see how…
#10. Though prolific and trendy, Bladee remains a figure seemingly detached, his career thus far skirting up against, and indebted to, the western pop music…
#11. Most everyone who writes about Low’s HEY WHAT describes its desolate, fractured noise-scapes as an accurate portrayal of current times. The reality is that life…
#14. Duo Magdalena Bay make pop music that is in love with being pop music. Although their songs burst with playfulness and a desire to…
#16. 2021 saw Club Harlecore open its doors to the Internet, a 24-hour web-based rave spot featuring a quartet of mystical DJs brought into our reality…
#18. Rare is the artist in popular music with a sound that’s entirely their own; one-time Fleetwood Mac mastermind Lindsey Buckingham is for sure one of…
#19. Her approach to the blues has always bucked tradition, but Adia Victoria fully develops an inimitable aesthetic on A Southern Gothic, on which she embraces…
#22. Offhand, it’s tough to recall another “event” album release that seemed to confound the mainstream music press in the ways that Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR did.…
#23. At more than 100 minutes long, Skee Mask’s Pool has the immersive depth and feel of an entire ocean. His previous full-lengths already had…
#24. 333 is the second studio album Tinashe has released since becoming an independent artist, and you can hear it in the music. Maybe even…
Honorable Mention: Little Simz’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert opens with one of the most striking singles of the year, a six-minute long rap epic…
Honorable Mention: In spite of a raging pandemic that has put many bands in the worst financial positions in their careers, Turnstile has managed to…
Honorable Mention: In a year where most mainstream rap albums not named Donda disappointed — looking at you Tyler, Jeffrey, Aubrey — and the genre…
Honorable Mention: As is the case with many of today’s most exciting new artists, Sematary is an Internet cult favorite, a mysterious bandcamp auteur who…