12 FOR ’21
The year’s best albums were diverse, ambitious
Live shows may have gone on pause during the first 15 months or so of the pandemic, but music did not go away. Not by a long shot.
This was a busy year for new releases — some that were held up by issues related to shutdowns, others the product of quarantined musicians having time to focus on creating. Whatever the reason, there was a surfeit of excellent music released during 2021, enough to make it hard to determine the year’s very best.
After some hand-wringing consideration, then, these were the 12 (in alphabetical order) that stood above all others.
The Black Keys, “Delta Kream” (Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch): The Nashville-by-way-of-Ohio duo, abetted by four others, goes seriously back to its roots on this collection of songs by Junior Kimbrough, RL Burnside, Mississippi Fred McDowell, John Lee Hooker and others. The Keys’ reverence hasn’t kept them from putting their own stamp on these songs, crafting fresh interpretations that sound more like well-sourced originals than covers.
David Bowie, “Toy” (Parlophone/Rhino): Slipped into November’s “Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001)” and coming out on its own Jan. 7, this was recorded in 2001, hot off tour, and sidelined by his label at the time. Unusual in that it mixes new versions of tracks from early in his career, it is, like so many things Bowie, as good now as it would have been 20 years ago, a great find from someone we lost way too soon.
Alice Cooper, “Detroit Stories” (earMUSIC): The shock-rock pioneer paid tribute to his home town, recording in Royal Oak, using fellow Detroit players and mixing in some indigenous favorites by Bob Seger, the MC5 and others. He also reunited the original Alice Cooper Band for two tracks, making this a hard-rock celebration that transcends its geographical concept.
Halsey, “If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power” (Capitol): Talk about a match made in heaven; Halsey (Ashley Frangipane) teaming with the nine inch nails/film composing due of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is a masterstroke that adds both nuance and firepower to this provocative concept album about pregnancy and the birth of her first child.
Japanese Breakfast, “Jubilee” (Dead Oceans): Bubbling under from two previous releases, the third time’s a charm for Michelle Zauner and company. “Jubilee” is jubilant, mature and fully realized, a celebration of an artist finding the missing piece of focus for her voice and her story.
Durand Jones & the Indications, “Private Space” (Dead Oceans/Colemine): The Indications lush up the production just enough on its third outing to step forward while remaining true to the ’60s and ’70s soul root the band comes from. The swagger is well-earned, a genuine, infectious joy bursts out of these 10 tracks.
Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, “The Marfa Tapes” (RCA Nashville): This trio has written together for Lambert’s own albums (including “Tin Man,” which is also included here), but recording together in the west Texas desert takes the songs to another place entirely. Honest, intimate and raw, it’s an aroundthe-campfire experience that’s all about the songs and the voices singing them — which is nothing short of damn fine in both aspects.
Arlo Parks, “Collapsed in Sunbeams” (Transgressive): The soulful 21-year-old British singer and songwriter’s debut album started strong and only gained momentum as the year went along. Its Mercury Prize for Album of the Year was well deserved along with a Best New Artist win at the Brit Awards and two Grammy nominations. Hopefully there’s much more where this came from.
Silk Sonic, “An Evening With Silk Sonic” (Aftermath/Atlantic): The union of Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak sounds as good as it looks on paper (and in photos). What’s not to love about two guys who can create this kind of authentic, vintage soul vibe. It may be a bit on the short side at just nine songs and less than 32 minutes, but that only leaves us wanting more.
Billy Strings, “Renewal” (Sound Emporium): On his fifth studio album, the Michigan-born guitarist continued to push the boundaries of what can be considered bluegrass — sonically and lyrically — while still adhering to the genre’s traditions. If there’s justice, “Renewal” will give Strings his second consecutive Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.
Aaron Lee Tasjan, “Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!” (New West): The unapologetically idiosyncratic singer-songwriter’s most personal and most sonically ambitious album finds him singing openly about his sexuality amidst a wash of textures and instrumental flavors, and no shortage of infectious melodic hooks. The exclamation points in the title are well-placed, as a first listen to “Tasjan!”-cubed is only a beginning that will bring any listener back for rewarding repeats.
Yola, “Stand For Myself” (Easy Eye Sound): No sophomore slump here. The British singer-songwriter came off her Grammy Award-nominated 2019 confident and with purpose, and it shows on these 12 songs — again produced by label boss Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. Bringing older material to the present, Yola preaches empowerment and self-actualization with a vibrancy that’s infectious and inspiring.
But wait … Yes, there’s more. Here’s another dozen releases that merited plenty of play during ’21: The Accidentals, “Vessel” and “Time Out” EP (Savage Kittens); Adele, “30” (Melted Stone/Columbia); Jason Boland & the Stragglers, “The Light Saw Me” (Thirty Tigers); Coldplay, “Music of the Spheres” (Atlantic); Iron Maiden, “Senjutsu” (BMG); Sarah Jarosz, “Blue Heron Suite” (Rounder); Valerie June, “The Moon and the Stars” (Fantasy); Danny Kroha, “Detroit Blues” (Third Man); Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, “Raise the Roof” (Rounder/Concord); Shortly, “Dancer” (Triple Crown); Sturgill Simpson, “The Ballad of Dood & Juanita” (High Top Mountain)