By The Spinning Platters Staff
This was an intense year… It feels like we’ve lived 300 in the last 3 months, TBH. Anyways, here’s the Top 20 records of 2021 as voted by the staff at Spinning Platters. You may notice a couple of late 2020 releases here… Similar to the Grammy’s, we don’t do a typical calendar year. Instead, we do 11/20-11/19 as a year. Because, really, in those last six weeks of the year, can anyone develop an emotional connection to a record?
20.) Good News / Megan Thee Stallion
I wasn’t prepared to love this record as much as I do. I kept skipping around the 80 some odd records nominated by the staff, and whenever a track from this record came on, I was instantly smitten. Good News is the kind of kick in the pants that mainstream hip hop has desperately needed. This is a widely varied, energetic record. The production is perfect- it adds the right color to Megan’s inhuman mic skills, never outshining the star of the show. The lyrics are sexy and confidant, sometimes to the point of cocky. But that cockiness is clearly well deserved. (Dakin Hardwick)
19.) star-crossed / Kacey Musgraves
How is this a country album? star-crossed is about as far removed from Nashville as a record can get. Opening up with the sparse and soulfull epic of “star-crossed,” a song that sounds like the long-lost collaboration between Dido and Isaac Hayes, the record takes you on a journey that’s closer to 90’s trip-hop and 70’s soul than Garth Brooks or even Taylor Swift. “good wife” might be a Sade song if Sade was trapped in a terrible relationship and finally snagged Thundercat on bass. “breadwinner” is the spiritual sister of TLC’s “No Scrubs.” Musgraves even closes the record with a stunning folk ballad sung entirely in Spanish, “gracias a la vida,” that is sung with such intense emotion that one can picture the video where she’s weeping on horseback, ala the great Vicente Fernandez. (Dakin Hardwick)
18.) I Know I’m Funny haha / Faye Webster
Despite its relative sparsity musically, I Know I’m Funny haha never bores. In fact, this sparsity is the perfect backdrop for Faye’s incredible storytelling. Where other songwriters prefer hiding meaning in cryptic lyrics, Faye has mastered the art of clarity. Her heart and her humor are tied to every lyric and every song and you can’t help but fall in love with the world through her eyes. Even though she’s a Braves fan. LOL. (James King)
17.) Flying Dream 1 / Elbow
Step into the air / Step into the air’ Guy Garvey repeats in the opening title track, Flying Dream 1, amidst a simple repetition of piano chords, hushed drums, and choral humming. Within Flying Dream 1‘s ten tracks, you won’t find the alternative rock sound of The Seldom Seen Kid or the balladic majesty of The Take Off and Landing of Everything. Instead, you’ll find a collection of whimsical soft tunes that fit effortlessly together to create a triumphant ninth studio album by the English rock band. Conceived and recorded during COVID lockdown, the album is purposefully quiet from start to finish. In an interview with NME, frontman Garvey stated “we realized we were making a record free of the usual creative guidelines. We love patient, quiet, whole albums like the last Talk Talk records, John Martyns Sold Air and Bless the Weather, PJ Harvey’s Is This Desire, Chet Baker Sings, the Blue Nile’s Hats, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love & Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks.”
16.) In These Silent Days / Brandi Carlile
Still standing sounds. Honest, brutal, and practically outlaw country. There’s fire at the center of this record. An effortless second listen. (Tiffany Black-Darquea)
15.) Texis / Sleigh Bells
Ten years after their debut, Treats, hit the music blogosphere with more buzz than a beekeeper’s convention, Sleigh Bells have graced us with the best record of their career. Opening with the deeply sarcastic lyric “Here We Go! Here We Go! You’re Legitimate Rock N Roll” and taking you on a journey of pure, cathartic, noisy aggression that, even at it’s slowest, is unrelenting. In a year where bands like Converge and Iceage decided to slow down, Sleigh Bells gave us the burst of energy and chaos that we desperately needed to get through year 2 of this pandemic. Unapologetically inaccessible and a gorgeous assault on the senses, Texis is the record we need to help remind us that we are still alive. (Dakin Hardwick)
14.) An Evening With Silk Sonic / Silk Sonic
This album is a miracle. It’s two incredibly popular musicians on their own combining forces and coming out with the best work either of them have ever done. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak show off their love of the smooth soul sounds of the early 1970s by adding their own stone cold classic to the genre. Like most of the best of the genre, it would feel at home in the bedroom or the dance floor, or best yet, dancing in the bedroom. Not only that, it’s also one of the funniest albums of the year, full of witty moments, from the cheeky background vocals to brilliant lyrical payoffs such as in the song “After Last Night.” Early on in the song, the singer metaphorically throws his phone out the window only to later sing “If I still had my phone, I’d call every girl I know and tell them goodbye.” Little moments like that occur throughout. The album is short — only eight full length songs — so it never overstays its welcome. Still, I await the deluxe version sure to come in 2022 when this is finally released on vinyl … gold vinyl, of course, because Silk Sonic is Solid Gold. (Gordon Elgart)
13.) Cool / Colleen Green
Even before COVID forced stars like Taylor Swift and Charli XCX out of the studio and into their own bedrooms, “bedroom pop” had been a buzzy genre. However, technology has sort of removed the lofi charm out of the genre. Not that I don’t love Japanese Breakfast and Still Woozy, but it’s not what I want out of the genre. So when I came across the video for “I Wanna Be A Dog” by Colleen Green, I was elated. THIS IS WHAT I WANT BEDROOM POP TO BE! It’s got hooks. It’s got humility. It sounds like it was all done by one person in the confines of their bedroom. When the rest of Cool came out, I put it on immediately, and it hasn’t left my turntable since. It’s passionate, mildly claustrophobic, at times warm and fuzzy, and almost always honestly anxious. It’s a near-perfect document of life in the here and now without directly commenting on the here and now. Just be careful when you finally put on Cool, because you might also forget you have other records in your collection. (Dakin Hardwick)
12.) Is 4 Lovers / Death From Above 1979
What can be said about Canada’s finest? Other than… they will, oh they will, rock you. Is 4 Lovers is full of the sharpened riffage, pummeling drums and beats, and often introspective lyrics they’re known to unleash. But, this is not a repeat of previous efforts in any way. I mean, this time they’ve even crammed a two-part short story into the middle of an album already packed with shred and shade. Plus, “Totally Wiped Out” is like watching a bonfire begin to get too large, but like, in a good way. Death From Above can take their raw music and turn it into singalongs while retaining their edge. Pretty remarkable. I salute their dedication to forwarding the genre of rock. Keep it coming! (Niki Avataria)
11.) Inside (The Songs) / Bo Burnham
Bo Burnham’s Inside (The Songs) is the album accompaniment to his Netflix special of a similar name. It chronicles the mental deterioration all of us have been going through during this pandemic and creates a dark but bright soundtrack you can scream-sing along to in moments of need (“Bezos I”, am i right?). You may or may not like the dark tone and the fact that we have yet another cis-het white man telling us how to feel, but when you stop and listen, Bo Burnham writes some fucking catchy songs! “White Women’s Instagram”, “30” and “Problematic” really showcase this. Meanwhile, he wraps up more serious issues in silliness, like in “How the World Works” and “Unpaid Intern”, so you will listen, laugh, sing along, then hopefully have a really good think about how to make this world we are in better for everyone. (Marie Carney)
10.) Collapsed In Sunbeams / Arlo Parks
Reflecting on this blur of a 12 months, Arlo Parks, with her warm and mellifluous voice, was the first artist of the year that had me scrambling in search of a full length. The eventual winner of 2021’s coveted Mercury Prize, Collapsed in Sunbeams, offers the listener an inviting hug and maybe a steaming cup of tea amid a mélange of diary-like reflection on a myriad of personal struggles including love, depression, gender, self-worth, the gauntlets of relationships, and overall mental health.
Considering the subject matter, there is an ease to the sound, with a soft fuzziness of acoustic guitar, keys, and quiet beat grooves upon first listen that make you feel like you’re wearing a warm sweater on a cold day. Despite the welcoming sound, being the lyricist at heart, with succinct wordplay is where Arlo truly shines. She has an understated and graceful knack of reflecting some of those sunbeams on all these darker situations, making them feel like maybe they aren’t the end of the world.
This poetry begins on track 1 with the spoken word self-titled track. Backed by an effervescent instrumental, akin to the sound of the first flowers blooming in spring, it closes on the line “You shouldn’t be afraid to cry in front of me.” That kind of friendly hand on your shoulder, puts you right into a good place from the start. Whether it’s the world she so colorfully describes seemingly from her bedroom window, or the one you’re living out during these tough times, it’s emotionally nourishing and healing all the same. (Raffi Youssoufian)
9.) Exotic Monsters / Penfriend
Bristol-based Laura Kidd’s newest project is fully DIY and provides electric guitar, synths, and paper airplanes on 12 distinct tracks that all deserve a listen. Some have also performed double duty as her “Attention Engineer” podcast’s intro and outro music. The title track is best with headphones. “I’ll Start a Fire” and “Dispensable Body” are hidden gems. Be sure to check out her collaboration with Rat from Ned’s Atomic Dustbin too. I will hit all the West Coast dates for this tour. (Joel Edelman)
8.) Plastic Hearts / Miley Cyrus
Plastic Hearts shows Miley Cyrus in a new light, paying homage to early 80’s punk and new wave while still sounding like Miley. There are naysayers who think her turn towards rock n roll is contrived, but who cares when it sounds so good! Listening to this album I have faith that Miley Cyrus is a music nerd like the rest of us, who cannot be contained in one genre. I love her bravery in exploring new sides of her music. It helps that she also got such important artists from the genre to collaborate. The Stevie Nicks, Billy Idol, and Joan Jett collabs with “Edge of Midnight” “Night Crawling” and “Bad Karma” respectively, highlight Miley Cyrus’ brilliance in enlisting famous friends to help her rock authenticity. Not to mention the brilliant marketing ploy of releasing a rehearsal video of singing Bikini Kill on a treadmill. Punk rock cred achieved.
7.) Let Me Do More / illuminati hotties
I first saw this LA band at Starline Social Club in 2019. “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA” was great live and is great recorded too, it turns out. “Pool Hopping” is the other single and has a nifty video. What’s more, it uses the word “ampersand” in the lyrics. For an act stylized in lowercase, they are clearly all over the map in their voice and tone style. Anyway, they are like a modernized version of the Dollyrots mixed with a little Weezer. (Joel Edelman)
6.) If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power / Halsey
5.) Daddy’s Home / St Vincent
Slinky and impactful. It grabs you by the throat. It whispers unwanted knowing. This album is gonna hold up. (Tiffany Black-Darquea)
4.) Screen Violence / Chvrches
Chvrches makes beautiful and melodic synth-pop music with an edge on their fourth album, Screen Violence. The album explores various themes on fear, disillusionment, mortality, and love. The concept of what it means to be one of the “Good Girls” who live to be the “Final Girl” in horror films is played out throughout the album. Lauren Maywood’s angelic voice contrasts sharp topics, while the continuous lush electronic sounds make it an album fit for crying in the club, or the forest, or wherever you fancy contemplating existentialism. Robert Smith makes a cameo on “How Not to Drown” and it will not disappoint fans of the Cure, with lyrics like, “I’m writing a book on how to stay conscious when you drown, and if the words float up to the surface, I’ll keep them down.” (Sahar Yousefi)
3.) Sour / Olivia Rodrigo
The thing about SOUR is that it is not a pretty pop album with a perfect heroine. Nope! There are more than a few f-bombs, the day is never saved, and it’s even lyrically unflattering because it gives a bold voice to the yucky roller coaster of break-up emotions. Hearing our inner negative thoughts echoed so expertly and loudly led to a cathartic experience for those who adored this instant classic. “Where’s My F—kin’ Teenage Dream!” Olivia belts in “Brutal.” 
Airy electronics pair so well with the acoustic and electric guitars, and Olivia’s powerful, Disney-polished voice anchoring and elevating the album. (Niki Avataria)
2.) CRAWLER / IDLES
1.) Montero / Lil Nas X
Montero is the debut album from Lil Nas X and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Lil Nas X scorches his way through various soundscapes with ease. He is equally at home rapping as he is belting over pop-inspired melodies. You can even catch him strumming out some of the “Old Town Road” country chords that first landed him in the public eye in songs like “That’s What I Want” and “Sun Goes Down.” On “Life in Salem” we hear a nod to hard rock with sweeping electric guitars and an incredible edge in his voice. Accompanying the album is a series of videos that are quirky and meaningful, but highly overshadowed by controversy. One can only attribute this controversy to the fact that he’s a queer black man and the Christian allegory that he uses to express what that meant for him growing up as such in a religious household. And then later coming into an industry that still has not fully accepted him despite his absolute authenticity. He explores these themes in his music with wit and poignancy. The album also boasts collaborations from various artists: Jack Harlow on “Industry Baby” provides a little nod to the misogyny that’s usually present in rap songs while Lil Nas X snaps back with his signature honesty, “I don’t fuck bitches, I’m queer, ha.” On “Am I Dreaming” he collaborates with Miley Cyrus who sings, “shattered inside, but I still gotta smile, as I’m sinking, I relieve the story, glitter comes off, battered and blue, but I gotta go on, as I’m singing, I rewrite my story.” And rewrite he does, the revolutionary the industry needs to change the narrative for future generations of black LGBTQ+ artists. It’s a beautifully heartbreaking song that closes off the album, and truly expresses what it means to love oneself despite it all. (Sahar Yousefi)
