Best of Month: Top 10 Albums of 2021

When I first started posting regularly on this blog it was the 2020 year end list that started it all. Last year, I wrote to you about five EPs and ten albums that I felt were special and I knew this year, having talked about more that I thought I would be able to, I wanted to go even bigger. That’s why I stretched the posting in 2021 to an entire month. On AsterTracks, I started by wanting to give my year end list, then I figured I could do some reviews, then I thought “well, I give a weekly list in a group chat anyway, why not make it public?” I didn’t think I’d be able to review music that wasn’t even released. I didn’t think I’d be so on the ball with new music that it was more surprising to me when an entire record went past my radar. I didn’t think I’d learn organization skills, become a better writer and be able to plan not only one special month but an entire second one in the month of January. It’s had its ups and some downs that I’ve kept off the record but this running this blog has actually been a huge help to my mental health, my affirmation as a music fan and my well being altogether.

If you have ever read any of my writing, checked out something I’ve shouted out on here or Twitter, spoke to me about music, sent me your own stuff or something you are a fan of; I want to take this moment to thank you, sincerely from the bottom of my heart. I hope you stick around for the next year because we have some really great things in the pipeline.

Without further adieu, these are my ten favorite albums of 2021 with an explanation attached to each one. If you want to know the full list of fifty you will find it below. I struggled to narrow it down to even one-hundred this year. It was that good a year.

#10: Sincere Engineer - Bless My Psyche (Hopeless)

Something that I always find special about punk records is just how raw and unfiltered the musicianship really is and on Bless My Psyche, Deanna Belos is in full force. If I were to close my eyes and pretend this was a live album it would feel so believable. The entire sonic experience is presented in such a way that you hear every little flaw in the performance in a warm and welcome way. Nothing is overly polished or produced and in an album of this genre that’s more or less what I’m looking for. The only real “overproduced” part is that every track flows into the next with some sort of transition made up of feedback or another effect, but that just makes it all the more special. It adds to my little live album fantasy.

Lyrically Belos is honest as can be as well. Between her begging for help in the first chorus on the record and giving you various other confessions like spilling her heart out to a taxi driver, she really welcomes you into her world in a way that’s still veiled mostly behind the music. There are certain parts of the record that sound like they could be played at a blues bar and between both elements sounding like they went from inception to presentation it makes it emotionally warm as well.

#9: Origami Angel - GAMI GANG (Counter Intuitive)

Post-Hardcore and emo are two genres that often get mashed together in conversation due to their tied histories but in reality they are pretty spread apart these days. On GAMI GANG, Ryland Heagy and Pat Doherty stitch the two together for an hour-long musical journey. Most tracks will open with a breakdown-like instrumental or a noodly guitar riff before settling into a chilled out and catchy emo melody and then go right back to where it all started just so you remember to move too.

On the lyrical side, the band reminisces and yearns for a time gone, where they could watch anime and get Taco Bell and generally just hang out and have a good time. Not only that but they tackle some body image issues (which I never really see in a masc-identifying artist) and delve into some deep seated emotions too, though that last but maybe isn’t so uncommon for the genre they are set in.

#8: Tyler, the Creator - CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST (Columbia)

In an album that came sort of abruptly, Tyler Okonma takes on yet another persona as he invites you to accompany himself, DJ Drama and friends on a lavish vacation to wherever a boat, car or plane will take you. On this trip, Tyler celebrates his achievements over the span of his career in such a way that it never truly feels like a brag, more an exercise in gratitude at how far he’s been able to come in all these years. He even explicitly states not taking anything for granted on an interlude. Of course, this humble bragging isn’t the only thing you hear on this trip as I don’t think that would be worth a top ten slot.

You get to know Tyler here. You hear his mother speak about him, he walks you through his home and his friends. He talks to you not just about the success but the road there, the trials that every single album cycle he’s had has brought him. Right before he returns home he even sits you down and tells you a story of a former close friend with whom he skirted too close to a dangerous level with themselves and their past relationship and ultimately he had to walk away. Much like you would probably hear from a friend in real life in the intimate moments of a trip away from home. The stories, the adventures and some really grand celebratory production made for an easy choice for my favorite hip hop of the past year.

#7: Eidola - The Architect (Rise)

Before 2021, I had never even heard of Eidola outside of hearing the name in passing but in many ways they were everywhere. So much so that the story of The Architect was hard to ignore. A record that had been completed and set to arrive all the way back in 2018 but with the absorption of Blue Swan into Rise it got totally lost in the shuffle. It’s influence in progressive post-hardcore for those missing three years, however, is very apparent if you’ve been a fan of the genre all this time. Andrew Wells was well in the fold of Rise bands for these years and his work, either directly or from someone having heard these songs through professional channels, is impossible to ignore now that the record is here. I knew if I wanted to get into this band this had to be where I started and so, I waited patiently.

That’s why when “Counterfeit Shrines” dropped I listened right away and I was hooked. The technical, heavy instrumentation and the smooth, catchy vocal delivery was everything I loved about the genre, but of a much higher level. The thing is, Wells as a songwriter is something else and it shines on every second of this entire presentation. I find it hard to break a piece of this record off from the finished product. With sound that pulls influence from all different areas and musicianship that’s top notch, I find myself listening to The Architect not as a collection of songs, but a demonstration that Eidola is a force to be reckoned with and while I may not totally grasp the philosophical concepts being written about too much I understand a great record that holds up even when its three years late.

#6: Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! - Gone Are the Good Days (Fearless)

Captain Chunk was set to take over the world this year. They put out an incredible comeback record, their first in five years but haven’t gotten to see much of that success. While touring was starting to come back for a lot of bands and artists, some parts of the world were still very much shut down. Sad as that makes me, it didn't stop me from enjoying this album all year. Back in the Warped days, Captain Chunk built a fan base based on one thing; having a good time with your friends. I mean, a lot of easycore bands were doing this, it’s practically a meme, but something about them was special. They had a personality you couldn’t really match.

They maintained that very special element on Gone are the Good Days. Sonically, the band sounds frozen in time yet still finds room on the tracklist for songs like “True Colors” and “Complete You” that embrace the modern elements of their scene. Lyrically they seem to be talking about the lost time with the opening line of the record, literally, being;

“It’s been a long time coming and I know it.”

To me, this feels like an album that was written directly after their last, but they felt the world just wasn’t quite ready for it. With little sprinkles of the sound of the modern day and woes of modern problems splashed in. I’m glad it came out now though and now we have a great soundtrack to a party, just like they gave us back then.

#5: Galleons - Galleons (Famined)

Presently, you see a lot of bands and promoters use the 2000s as a golden era of music to garner interest in albums and events. Emo Nite is all the rage and bands are pumping out albums that sound like this band or that band that was gloriously heralded in their time. Don’t get me wrong, those bands make impacts for a reason, and while some of the new ones are great in their own right a lot of them come off as what they are; imitators who are more or less phoning it in. The thing that makes Galleons so special is they are celebrating a very specific sound and era of music but they don’t need to make any big claims or showboaty image grabs, no they just put out great records. Last year Metropolis spoke to a kid of that era like me. It was the glowing, heavy post-hardcore led by soulful vocals that some of my childhood favorites were doing like an Emarosa or an Alesana but that’s just what came naturally to them. They even got one of the golden boys of that era to return to the vocal booth after three years of silence. Toward the back half of the year, the band had stated they had years worth of material planned out so I knew before New Year’s even hit that this record would be right here.

The thing that’s so impressive about Galleons is that they work countries apart on this music and yet the songwriting and musicianship is air-tight. Each of these songs is as anthemic and easy to sing along to as they are technical, well put together and overall just heavy. The musicians in this band are always busy with various bands and projects but I’m proud to include them on the list this year and I hope that the promised record number four is released in time to be on the top ten in 2022 as well.

#4: chloe moriondo - Blood Bunny (Fueled by Ramen)

This year I feel like I listened to chloe moriondo’s voice once or twice a week. She was consistently dropping tracks, being on features, but nothing quite like Blood Bunny, her “first big kid album.” Singles from Blood Bunny were among some of my favorites overall last year so I was eagerly anticipating this and it came fairly early in the year. I want to get out the negatives right away cause this isn’t without a teeny bit of flaws. (That and I didn’t get to review it formally.) The record is made by someone quite young and while the pop and indie rock jams are solid some of the lyricism is a bit immature, sometimes in a fun way, sometimes not so much. “Favorite Band” is a little hard to get through especially with the poorly aged All Time Low reference, but that very track is the key example of something I love about moriondo’s work.

At just eighteen she was so unabashedly herself listing off all her favorite musicians in one track, lacing the entire record with a lot of queer love stories and yearning and tackling everyday misogyny in the fun-child-like way. That’s what I’ve loved about all her music up to this point, is how much of herself she is willing to put into the lyrics and performances. Some of the emotion behind her melodies never failed to catch me off guard. Take “I Want to be with You” or “What if it Doesn’t End Well” as examples of songs of varying moods that are strong tear jerkers. I’m happy I caught this artist as early as I did and honestly can’t wait to see how she grows over the years and hope she never loses that spirit she has now.

#3: illuminati hotties - Let Me Do One More (Hopeless / Snack Shack Tracks)

One thing that has been nice about running this blog is that it has made me look a bit harder for new music than I would in the past, especially when it comes to singles. In the past I have been awful with singles, unless it was an S-Tier artist for me I would never hear your song until it was attached to some grander release and even then I’d only hear the first one in the cycle. The reason I bring this anecdote up is because I would not have known about this artist or given the lead singles to this record a glance, especially at a five month disconnect, if I didn’t force myself to dig a bit deeper. I anticipated this for awhile too and on first listen I was… disappointed isn’t the word. I was expecting it to have more energy, I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be my third favorite of the year. It’s here though, and I think that energy contributes to how special it truly is. The thing is, on every single track of LMDOM Sarah Tudzin isn’t really channeling anything. She is releasing the exact emotion that would have brought out the meaning behind the track and I think in the punk sphere there’s something to be said for that. The absolute best example present is “Threatening Each Other re: Capitalism.” On any other punk record this would have been a rock club rager with double time choruses, but Tudzin for as great a songwriter she is can’t force herself to fake something heavy out of that pain. That isn’t a dig, I think that’s the most admirable trait a musician can have. Listen to this and try not to be happy when she’s happy, sad when she’s sad, angry when she is, etc. Really glad I gave these songs the chance and was honestly pleasantly surprised when I realized I had put it so high on the list.

#2: Jetty Bones - Push Back (Rise) From February and basically all throughout the summer Kelc Galluzzo had me totally captivated with the best pop record I had heard in a long, long time. The thing is though, it’s so much more than pop. Country, ballads and a tinge of punk that can only truly be born out of a DIY space make for a half hour set of songs that has you in a totally new sonic space track after track, but it all flows and goes together so perfectly. The scope of these songs is so large that in a way they are bigger than the scene that contains them. It’s so funny that my gateway to Heart Attack Man came from a record that sounds like this. For all I can think of I cannot fathom why Push Back didn’t skyrocket Jetty Bones to a bigger audience, though I’m assuming it’s because the woman at the helm is much more interested in taking care of her community than promoting a record, which makes me admire her all the more. Speaking of which, Galluzzo is very forthcoming on her own darkness on this record, born from a place where her life almost ended, this made it all the easier to be drawn to. Every time I really allow myself to be immersed in this album it makes me cry, real let-it-out tears and it got me through a lot within 2021. Sometimes the passages and songs hit a bit too eerily on the nose, right down to Galluzzo specifically referencing being 27 on “Ravine,” but it’s a record I needed at the time and she needed to get out. It’s here and I imagine it’s going to be something I continue to go to feel good or feel sad whenever I need to.

#1: Spiritbox - Eternal Blue (Rise / Pale Chord)

This was not a surprise. It wasn’t even a question. Let’s put aside all of the obvious for a moment, I don’t think I’ve spent time with a record like this in a very long time. Now, I can hear the standard question;

“But Aster, this came out in mid September, that’s only a few months. Didn’t you listen to anything more within the year?”

And in fairness, yes, I probably did. Let’s explore the timeline of this though. The first single on Eternal Blue dropped in the summer of 2020 and singles continued to be sprinkled in between then and when this finally came out in the fall of 2021, six tracks, fifty percent of the record. From a fan perspective a ton of time went into anticipating this. I spent hours upon hours on each new track truly digesting it, learning the ins and outs and loving each and everyone. When the finished product was finally here I didn’t just review it, I dissected it. I learned the inner workings of this entire product and reported my findings in a review I can honestly say I’m proud of.

Now, why this record? Why this band? Spiritbox has really blown up over the past two years but they haven’t reinvented the metalcore genre or anything. Well, I’ll save you a review rehash and offer you this; When I was growing up metalcore was my lifeblood. The first show I ever went to was the 2008 Taste of Chaos where I saw blessthefall, (His Last Walk era) Bullet for My Valentine, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold and so much more. That was my exposure to a live setting and in a lot of ways that night solidified my love for the scene. I even saw Courtney LaPlante and Mike Stringer play in iwrestledabearonce in an abandoned fire station when I was in college. What I’m trying to say is there was a time when this was the only genre I lived for. Over the years metalcore got stale. All of the bands I listed above I don’t really even listen to anymore because their last batch of records did nothing for me and not because of a genre change. It was because there was nothing there. Bands that once felt passion, anger, rebellion and all the fun things teenagers like now just essentially made the metal festival version of pop music. Now, I love pop too, but I’m more talking about the music-for-profit’s-sake mindset. What’s funnier too is a lot of band’s of that scene are always bitching about pop, but I digress, that’s for another day. It didn’t hit me until I was revisiting these albums to write this but Eternal Blue has all those emotions I listed above and just showcases a love of music as well. There aren’t a lot of metal bands willing to admit that Slipknot, Kanye West and Taylor Swift inspired their metalcore-djent-alternative record but this band is, they don’t love screaming and heavy riffs, they love music and so do I.

The point I’m trying to make is, this record is special. It has reinvigorated a childhood spirit in me and a fire to continue working on the blog, my writing and my place in this scene. That’s why Eternal Blue is my album of the year. Because just like Waking the Fallen did when I was in high school before my brother and his friends played it on loop every day for four years and made me never want to hear it again, this album makes me feel alive.

Aster Tracks 2021 Top Fifty Albums