I’ve reviewed well over 300 albums for 2021 but that is a drop in the bucket. With the occasional exception I avoided releases that were already garnening attention not because popular releases are inferior but because my goal is to shine a light on the largely unheard. I’m not claiming these are the best of anything. Last I checked, music is art, not competitive sports. The only thing making it on this list means is that I really loved it. There’s lots of album of the year lists. Most are made with a collaboration of critics and music journalists. This list is mine alone and accordingly idiosyncratic. Congratulations to the artists I recognize here. I put a lot of work into it. In no particular order I present you my editor’s picks:
Proof by BLOOP (Lina Allemano / Mike Smith)
Eternal Screw by ONY
Lost Dreams (Chopped and Screwed) by Dj Purpberry
Waterfall Arcing in the Still of Night by Tuluum Shimmering
In Love & Fracture by C. Diab
Burning Apricot by Carnivorous Plants
Cyberdreaming by VHS Spectre
Coatcheck by Florian T M Zeisig
Star Maps by Matt LaJoie
Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra
ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE by Brockhampton
Guanyin by Jah Wobble & Family
Fire Bevægelser by Jonas Thorstensen & Jakob Folke Ivarsson
Your Arms Are My Cocoon (Deluxe Edition) by Your Arms Are My Cocoon
Catalogs: Sound Pieces with Text and 10 Unrealized Scores by Andrew Weathers
ピアノの独り言 by desert sand feels warm at night
Legends of American Theatre by Vanessa Rossetto
A Visible Length of Light by Lea Bertucci
Rodney Chapman – Gnosis by Rodney Chapman
MÄSSAN by K O S M O G O N
Into The Past by C Y G N
Kitsune (name-your-price) by jarguna & Ryuzen
Sonic Eel – Live in Brooklyn by Eric Plaks
“everyone is rolling down a hill” or “the journey to the center of some arcane mystery and the entanglements of the vines and veins of the cosmic and unwieldy millieu encountered in the midst of that endeavor” by Crazy Doberman
Dirge by Joannaq Mattrey
Ancient Africa by nat birchall
The Quarantine Concerts – Live #NatureSound Stream – presented by Experimental Sound Studio & pt.fwd by @a.braidwood
s u p e r n o s t a l g i a_v a p o r_l i g h t by m e m o r y p o l l u t i o n
bird’s eye by dani kwon
DreamStation64-Cube360_PLATINUM by L a z u l i _ y e l l o w
Gestalt by RAIC
aw0rldofConfLict冲突的世界 by クリチバの地下鉄
SHIRO by memotone
Banjo With The Sound Of Its Own Making by Jacken Elswyth
Woe is Me, Woe are My Monsters by Ozymandias’ Dream
E M P T Y by RANDEL .the ghost
Tao 20 Tree Temple by John Oliver
Untold Futures by The Oscillation
UNION by Muriel Grossmann
Country Tropics by Old Saw
II by WPH
Devoured By The Oak by Cân Bardd
Alpine Variations by Enrico Coniglio
From The Ground Birds Are Born by Susana Santos Silva
Transmission by DJINN
Levende Lyd by Alexander
Warmth Highest 