Best Albums Of 2021: Honourable Mention
Best Albums Of 2021: Honourable Mention
Our year-end coverage continues with a group of records that didn’t quite make it onto the list of our favourite albums of 2021. These records still deserve major praise and because it broke many of our hearts to leave them off the final list, we devised a way to still highlight them.
Astral Swans - Self Titled
Cleaver song craft is topped by even smarter lyrics in Matthew Swann’s third solo album as Astral Swans. The gorgeous contributions from Julie Doiron don’t hurt either.
Backxwash - I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES
Backxwash continue where they left off. Intensely personal lyrics over dark industrial beats make this album an emotional listen as Ashanti Mutinta details her darkest inner thoughts.
Boy Golden - Church of Better Daze
Drink the kool-aid at the church of better daze. But this magic juice won’t harm, it will heal and send you on a fantastic journey through Modern-Folk and Americana tinged Rock n Roll.
Debra-Jean Creelman - Threshold
In Joseph Hirabiyashi (Jo Passed) and the Zubot brothers (Jesse and Josh), Debra-Jean Creelman found the perfect team to highlight the power of her voice as she covers topics that are soaked in vulnerably.
DijahSB - Head Above The Waters
Sure it took awhile for this record to get on our radar but once it did, the blend of pop-radio-banger perfection and effortlessly smooth verses made this rap album one of our favourites.
Dominique Fils-Aimé - Three Little Words
Sure… it may not have stopped us in our tracks to the same degree as Stay Tuned did, but Dominique Fils-Aimé’s third record was still the best full-length neo-soul album we heard all year.
Layten Kramer - Dear Apathy
Another one we were a little late to discover but it’s been in constant rotation ever since. Dear Apathy is a modern reimagining of the psychedelic perfection that was explored in the 60s.
Le Ren - Leftovers
Quiet, contemplative, and cool. Le Ren gave us an album that explores many different facets of love. This stripped-down folk affair has the ability to make a listener relate to, and learn from its honest lyrics.
Mustafa - When Smoke Rises
Perhaps Mustafa’s heartbreaking debut, When Smoke Rises, was too big of a record for us to notice. We missed its release but we eventually felt its shockwave and have had it on heavy rotation ever since.
pseudo-antigone - Into the Void of Infinite Sadness
The truest compliment might be when a parent states: “This isn’t music!” Hyperpop is the newest genre to earn these words and pseudo-antigone’s debut album was our favourite of its kind in 2021.
Robin Hatch - T.O.N.T.O.
Recorded in four days on the famed T.O.N.T.O synthesizer at the National Music Gallery in Calgary, T.O.N.T.O. delivers waves of synths to fuel your inner psyche as you ruminate on life’s larger questions.
SEULEMENT - EX PO
Mind altering music that is every bit art-rock as it is experimental-electronic as it is psychedelic. Pulsing waves soar to impossible heights as angular electronic shards pierce any sort of notion that you’ve heard music like this before.
TEKE::TEKE - Shirushi
60s and 70s Japanese psych soundtracks come together with garage rock and punk to create a music nerds dream come true. This only works if the players are as skilled as those found in this seven-headed monster.
tunic - Quitter
Winnipeg is synonymous with noise music. The city’s rich history with loud music is still being written as tunic have become the best noise-punk band in Canada… maybe on the planet?
Wolf Willow - Old Guitars & Shooting Stars
Perfectly emulated classic sounds make this release exude elegance with an effortlessly cool attitude. This year Wolf Willow further developed their classic Countrypolitan aesthetic while casually tipping their caps to surf and psych.
Check out our look back at 2021 by visiting our features: