It was another incredible year for music and I was lucky enough to witness such creativity during this second year of the pandemic. I had a longer list, but narrowed it down to fifty new albums to share with you. So many fantastic releases and reissues in all genres, but more importantly I saw live music once again. Only a handful of live shows, so far but each one unique and worth the price of admission. Highlights include Thee Oh Sees at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA and Richard Ashcroft at Royal Albert Hall in London.
Without further delay, here are my favorite new albums released in 2021, and in order.
- Chris Schlarb & Chad Taylor, Time No Changes
- Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, I Told You So
- Teenage Fanclub, Endless Arcade
- Floating Points (Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra), Promises
- Lake Mary & Oxherding, With the Windows Open
- William Parker, Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World, Vol. 1–10
- Marisa Anderson/William Tyler, Lost Futures
- The Weather Station, Ignorance
- Gary Bartz, JID006
- L’Rain, Fatigue
- Molly Lewis, The Forgotten Edge
- Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes, Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar More Songs
- John Zorn, Gnosis: The Inner Light (feat. Bill Frisell, John Medeski, Kenny Wollesen, Carol Emanuel)
- Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble, NOW
- Lucy Dacus, Home Video
- Grouper, Shade
- Bill MacKay and Nathan Bowles, Keys
- Madlib, Sound Ancestors
- White Flowers, Day By Day
- Huck Notari, Strange and Beautifully
- Durand Jones & the Indications, Private Space
- Bacao Rhythm and Steel Band, Expansions
- The War on Drugs, I Don’t Live Here Anymore
- Arooj Aftab, Vulture Prince
- Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
- Golden Brown, Gems and Minerals
- Carlos Niño & Friends, More Energy Fields, Current
- Adeline Hotel, Good Timing
- Yasmin Williams, Urban Driftwood
- James Brandon Lewis, Jesup Wagon
- Arlo Parks, Collapsed In Sunbeams
- Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor, G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
- Makaya McCraven, Deciphering the Message
- Clarissa Connelly, The Voyager
- Dry Cleaning, New Long Leg
- Sons of Kemet, Black to the Future
- Chelsea Carmichael, The River Doesn’t Like Strangers
- DARKSIDE, Spiral
- Kenny Garrett, Sounds from the Ancestors
- Moor Mother, Black Encyclopedia of the Air
- DJINN, Transmission
- Tyler The Creator, Call Me If You Get Lost
- BADBADNOTGOOD, Talk Memory
- SUSS, Night Suite EP
- Azita, Glen Echo
- Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Hope
- Nils Frahm, Old Friends New Friends
- Patricia Brennan, Maquishti
- Phantom Handshakes, No More Summer Songs
There were many great reissues this year and some of my favorites were Bola Sete, Grateful Dead, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, R.E.M., Beau Brummels, and Johnny Cash.
