Last year, I wrote about how every year I was getting earlier and earlier with my Best Of lists. This year, as you can see, I've reversed that trend. I'm not sure why. It just took me longer this year to get my stuff together.
This is the first of my three year-end Best Of lists, to be followed by Top 10 Albums of 2020 and Top 20 Songs of 2020. Traditionally, I've always posted this one first on this blog, the reason being that obviously, any "local" album that shows up on my Top 10 Albums list would also, by necessity, show up on this one.
But here's a couple of thoughts about music in 2021, the second year of the global COVID pandemic:
1. While I found a lot of really good music out there this year, I didn't find much GREAT music. In fact, this year, for the first time ever, I didn't rate any LPs higher than 3.5 out of 5. I'm usual pretty selective with 4.5's and 5's - these days, I rarely ever rate an album higher than a 4 when I first hear it. I prefer to rate the best LP's a 4 to start off with, and let them grow into 4.5's and 5's after a year or two roll by and I get some perspective on them. However, this year, I awarded no 4's at all. And,
2. SPOILER ALERT: While I've had years where 7 out of 10 of my Top 10 Albums come from local artists, this year, none of them did. There is no overlap whatsoever between my Top 10 Albums list and my Top 10 Local Albums list. Does that mean the releases on this list suck? Not at all. These are all fine LPs, especially #'s 1 and 2. I just look at it like these are all flawed gems. But they are still gems.
Three more thoughts before I give you the actual list.
1. Once again, as I've drifted further and further from the actual local Long Island music scene in my own life, this list comprises all artists who can in some way, shape or form be considered local to the New York/Tri-State area. These are all nationally known musicians/bands who have national, and in some cases, international, followings. I did get to hear some fine releases from "local" artists in the more classical sense this year, including albums from Smol Data, Rorie Kelly, Russ Seeger and Quickdraw, and I wanted to give a special nod of respect to them here. But this Top 10 is a bit more national than I'd probably like it be, partially because I'm not out there anymore as much as I'd like to be, and partially because I think the COVID virus is still doing a lot to squelch an actual local Long Island music scene.
2. As for the definition of the word "local", as always, I try to keep it very loose. For the purposes of picking a Top 10 Local Albums list, here's what I consider "local": 1. Long Island, for sure; 2. The five boroughs of NYC (especially Brooklyn, where a lot of Long Island bands have run off to); 3. Sometimes Jersey or a little ways upstate, if the mood takes me. (As I've said in the past, I'm not giving away money or anything, so I kind of get to make up the rules as I go along). Also, if a band or artist spent a decent amount of time living on and playing on Long Island or in the City in the past, they get to qualify, even if they've moved to another area of the country. And,
3. My trend towards digital music has continued, to the point that almost all of my 2021 music was purchased in the form of a digital album, as opposed to just 3 or 4 years ago, when I wouldn't even permit non-physical media to be considered for this list.
The overall rules for consideration to make this Top 10 list are A. An album has to meet my definition of "local" in #2 above, and it has to be a full-length album of at least seven songs (unless there are one or more epic-length songs). EPs aren't allowed. It also has to be all by one artist -- no compilations.
So let's get started.
Top 10 Local Albums of 2021
10. Sufjan Stevens - Convocations
I'll be honest, I really didn't want to include this album on this list. For one thing, although Sufjan clearly qualifies (he was born in Michigan, and I think he lives up in the Catskills now, but according to his Wikipedia page, he lived in NYC for 20 years), this is the second year in a row where he's eating up two spots on this list. (He's a prolific little so-and-so.) And for another, this is just such a different album musically than any other LP here. But ultimately, it just wouldn't be denied.
Convocations is actually a 5-disc, 49-song set of all instrumental new age trance music which functions as a meditation on the five stages of grief. It's not much an album to listen to as it is one to allow to wash over you. (Why he couldn't throw in a 50th song irritates the hell out of my OCD, but it is what it is.)
Favorite Track: Sufjan Stevens - Meditation II
9. Xeno & Oaklander - Vi/deo
When this two-piece Brooklyn duo first made this list two years ago, I compared them to Eurythmics. I'm not really happy with that comparison, though. For one thing, vocalist Liz Wendelbois is French/Norwegian, with an ethereal voice and a French accent. (Her partner, Sean McBride, is a Maryland boy.) For another, this year, at least, their music, while still somewhat icy, is making me think as much of a less-complicated Stereolab as it is of Eurythmics. As best I can tell, this is their seventh full-length album.
Favorite Track: Xeno & Oaklander - Infinite Sadness
8. Sleigh Bells - Texis
Where our previous entry was cold and ethereal, this Brooklyn-based duo is noisy and raucous. They mix David E. Miller's rude guitars and overdriven production with Alexis Krauss's sing-song vocals. After getting off to a great start with their 2010 initial release Treats, I feel like they've been a little lost for the last decade or so. This, their fifth full-length LP, sees them getting back to surer footing.
Favorite Track: Sleigh Bells - Justine Go Genesis
7. The Antlers - Green to Gold
The Antlers are a Brooklyn-based folky indie rock band who are now a two-piece. They're sort of like a way, way more laid back version of The Decemberists. The reason for this is probably because founder/frontperson Peter Silberman suffers from a number of hearing-based conditions that make him sensitive to the loud stuff. (You probably won't find him at a Sleigh Bells concert, for example, unless he's wearing some industrial-grade ear plugs). Consequently, the music here is soft, quite warm, and often very beautiful. This is The Antlers' sixth LP, and first in seven years.
Favorite Track: The Antlers - Wheels Roll Home
6. Infintome - Voyage Home
I can't tell you a lot about these guys, but I'll give you what I've got. Infinitome is the project of two twin brothers whom I think were initially from New Jersey, David and Richard Horn. This is their only LP under this band name, although they've apparently been playing together in a number of bands for years (and they're rumored to be working on a follow-up). On this one, they went out and hired themselves an ace drummer (Scott Higham) and recorded a mostly instrumental progressive rock space opera set far in the future, where an archaeologist seeks to uncover the secrets of humanity's long-lost home, a planet called Earth. The music here is inspired by bands such as Yes, Genesis and Kansas. Works for me.
Favorite Track: Infinitome - Voyage Home
5. Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner's Mind
Here he is again! Sufjan, Sufjan, Sufjan - don't you maybe want to find something else to do besides music once in a while? Join a bowling league! Take a cruise, maybe? No? Well, I guess it's going to be up to the rest of you guys to up your games if you don't want him hogging up this list every single year.
Anyway, this LP is a bit more of usual the Sufjan style than Convocations, as he and frequent touring partner/opening act Angelo De Augustine give us 14 graceful tracks of lovely low-key music with exquisite vocal harmonies, each of which is purportedly based on a film. (My favorite, "The Pillar of Souls", for example, is supposed to be based on Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Sweet!) So I guess even when he tries to do something else, like watch a movie, it gets turned into a song. Now that's dedication. (Or insanity.)
Favorite Track: Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine - Pillar of Souls
4. Laura Stevenson - Laura Stevenson
This Rockville Center native has made this list before. As always, her voice and her musical compositions are as warm as honey. She's a particularly well-loved artist on the music website Sputnik Music, where this LP came in at # 26 on the staff's Top 50 list. I don't really know what else to say besides, "Enjoy."
Favorite Track: Laura Stevenson - Continental Divide
3. Dream Theater - A View From the Top of the World
After a couple of missteps in the mid-2010's culminating with their ambitious but often cringeworthy 2016 effort The Astonishing, this is DT's second album in a row to make this list. This is a very solid project overall, but the clear highlight for me is "Transcending Time", which sounds like a Boston song with tasty modern synth elements. I've never been a huge fan of vocalist James LaBrie, but the son of a bitch sings his heart out on this album, and John Petrucci's guitars are just on fire on this album. (Petrucci also wrote four of the album's seven songs.) I couldn't really ask for much more from these guys.
Favorite Track: Dream Theater - Transcending Time
2. Torres - Thirstier
There was just a hair trigger between my #2 and #1 local albums; they're both really good. Torres has been no stranger to my Best Of lists over the last five or six years, and this one is probably her best LP to date. I'm not going to be able to give you my favorite track for the LP, as one or two of these little beauties just might show up on my Top 20 Songs list (hint, hint), but this is an album rich with songs about her relationship with her fiancee, artist Jenna Gribbon (who designed the cover for her 2020 album Silver Tongue).
A Favorite Track - Torres - Big Leap
1. Blackmore's Night - Nature's Light
I think this was the only actual album review I wrote this year, so you guys should have seen this coming. Blackmore's Night has long been one of my favorite bands. Candice Night's voice is still simply majestic, and Blackmore is Blackmore - he's a legend, and deservedly so. This is another case where I can't give you my top track, because - reasons. But I'll hook you up with something else totally worthwhile.
A Favorite Track - Blackmore's Night - Second Element
So that's my Top 10 Local Albums of 2021 list. I'll be back in a day or so with my Top 10 Albums of 2021 overall list. Meantime, if you'd like to listen to these recommended tracks as a playlist, here it is: Top 10 Local Albums of 2021
