I listened to a lot of stuff this year, and I had a lot of opinions. Fortunately, RateYourMusic allows you to catalogue all of your music opinions. So, here's every musical release (album, single, mixtape, etc.) from 2021 that I had an positive (3.5+ out of 5 stars) opinion of. I was going to do every single release, but this list would double in length if I did that and god damn it's long enough already.
DJ Ride - Enro 4.5
Everything there is to like about the halftime scene that's only getting better and better, and another reason why VISION Records is always the place to look when you want to know what's hot in the scene of very technical bass EDM. If you like Ivy Lab or Tsuruda, definitely check this out if you somehow haven't already.
The big brother to the other thing of his I listened to this year. Very large, and the most Iglooghost-y thing he's released to date. I've seen this album get a little flack for that, but I love Iglooghost, so I loved this.
Iglooghost -「Amber Eon • ᴹᶦᶜʳᵒ」 4.5
The little brother to the other thing of his I listened to this year. A lot more stripped back than Lei Line Eon, and it would probably slide right into the catalog of Halcyon records. Hint hint: if you like what they're doing, check this out!
Ross From Friends - The Daisy 4.5
Future Garage done to the nines. This song has the perfect combination of beautiful chords and melodies plus technical drum work and sound design that puts my music to shame. I steal ideas from this song in every song I've done since I heard this.
I gave the rest of the album a 4/5 - for the sake of not listing essentially the same thing twice, I'll just mention that here.
That's right: I love these guys, and this song is the duo at their finest. The beat goes hard while being really atmospheric, and if every song of theirs had bars this hard and this funny I'd say they deserve the "GOAT" spot that die-hard fans of their say they have. They're usually rather good, and this song is especially rather good.
Parannoul - To See the Next Part of the Dream 4.5
This one presses all of those buttons I like in shoegaze, and rock music in general: it feels raw and sincere, and all of the distortions and imperfections create an atmosphere for a musical world I'm happy to fall into (despite the actually very depressing lyrics I don't understand while listening because I do not understand Korean). Very solid stuff.
Christ Dilinger & Sam Hyde - Fuck Fantano (Anthony Fantano Diss 2021) 4.5
Say what you will about Sam Hyde, but here and then he (and whoever else still associates with him) manages to put out something that's just really funny. Even better, the beat goes really hard cause it's produced by someone who makes honest to goodness beats for honest to goodness rappers. Every bar is quotably funny, both from Sam and from Dilinger (one of the aforementioned honest to goodness rappers).
Aesop Rock - Long Legged Larry 4
Don't take this song's RYM status as [i]Children's Music[/i] fool you: on this song, Aesop Rock could not give less of a fuck. He knows he's the only rapper there is who could attempt a song like this and make it work. Shoutouts to Larry.
Aesop Rock & Blockhead - Garbology 4
Another solid collection of tracks from Aesop Rock featuring a producer who's worked with him multiple times, including Daylight (one of his best songs, for which the great beat can take an appropriate amount of credit). I didn't hear anything that really blew my mind here, but come on: It's Aesop. What's not to like?
Super lo-bit, lo-fi EDM album that hops back and forth between sequencer-style video game music and atmospheric jungle in a way that fits together like two puzzle pieces. Another album that just presses all of my buttons.
Dabow - Weird Music of All Kinds 4
I'm a sucker for a well-done Trap EDM album, and Dabow does not tend to disappoint when it comes to the bangers. He's as good at trap as he is at dubstep - that is to say, pretty good. Ya Booty is a particular standout.
A very solid deep dubstep album, another genre for which I am a huge sucker. Every song is very reserved and dark, but with the sophistication that the left-field of bass-oriented EDM is getting more and more.
Surely you get the point by now: very technical, sound-designed focus EDM is pure bait for me, and if you can combine that with impressive composition, you have yourself a winner. This is an unexpected win from the increasingly boring Never Say Die label.
Gezebelle Gaburgably - Snailcore Delücks 4
Am I gonna get beaten up if I say the word incelcore here? No? Okay. This isn't incelcore by a long shot, but if you enjoy that brand of cynical bedroom punk with a couple helpings of actually being able to (at least seemingly) be able to play and write for all of the instruments you're putting on your song, then this is for you.
Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall - The Marfa Tapes 4
A high rating to a modern pop country album? That's right, buddy. This album fucking rocks. It's just three very talented guitarists, sitting around a fire and singing. Hardcore comfy vibes from front to back. Would highly recommend, especially if you like new country or you're someone who says that they only like old country and hate new country.
Ivy Lab do what they do best: trap-flavored halftime. Raw is another one of those words that describes a lot of the music that I like, and it applies here.
Jupiluxe is one of my favorite new finds this year in terms of vocalists. She brings a smooth, carefree style to the growing resurgence of old school-style Memphis trap SoundCloud's been seeing for the past few years.
KirbLaGoop - Adventures of the Goop 4
Kirb can always be counted on to bang, for better or for worse. Here, he bangs hard. Every song bangs. Not much else to say. G Code is a particular standout.
KOAN Sound go and KOAN Sound it up for another 20 minutes. If you've been reading everything else up to this point, you can probably figure out why this one's a winner for me. More technical, intricately produced and composed bass EDM.
A really cool combination of drumless pop-ish kind of rock music and noise. They're not afraid to clip the hell out of the mix, and when they do, it sounds awesome. The Bandcamp default track, Days Like These, is especially remarkable.
Very solid Scottish Jazz. Fills you with a sense of wonder and adventure. If you fondly remember the soundtrack to the original Sims 1, you'll love this.
Meat Computer - Parkour Mental Illness 4
Eat your heart out Playboi Carti! There's a new barely-understandable high-registered rapper in town, and his name's Meat Computer. I think you either love or hate this, and I fortunately fall on the love side.
Pat Metheny - It Starts When We Disappear 4
In the words of a reviewer on RateYourMusic, this song is a "journey" - and it really feels like it. Here is almost 14 minutes of fresh, exciting jazz.
Haruka Nakamura - Nujabes Pray Reflections 4
Insanely talented pianist Haruka Nakamura's tribute album to the late hip hop producer Nujabes, in the form of orchestral interpretations of Nujabes classics. Very tasteful, and a very fine modern classical release even for those who've never heard of Nujabes or don't care for instrumental hip hop.
Not a trap album, unlike what the title and intro track might have you believe. Better yet, this album is 51 minutes of unashamed, cute, sickeningly-sweet emo pop. If this weren't executed so well it might feel contrived or lame, but the hopefulness in all of these songs is contagious.
Reptilian God Mana - Hologram Christ 4
Mana took the torch that Bones lit in the early 2010's and ran twice as far with it. He switches it up like no other at the drop of a hat, and his bars are full of that feel-good badassery that we've all come to know and love in rap.
One long-ass album with nothing but old-school techno bangers. Ticks every box you'd hope it would.
Space Laces, the unknown titan of brostep sound design, brings back another mix of unfinished/unreleased bangers in a 20 minute mini-mix a la UKF mix YouTube previews. If you know Space Laces then you know how mind-bending this is going to be, and if you don't, then put on your goggles and prepare to blast off.
A stripped back and reserved interpretation of festival EDM trap, with some very satisfying textures for headphone listeners.
Trinergy - Shards of the Future / Romantic Story 4
Putting both releases here, cause they're both very similar and I love them both for the same reason: they're both filled with absurdly complex sound design and mind-melting melodies. Those things are hard to combine!
Tsuruda's incapable-of-giving-a-fuck style translates to wonky as fuck beats that go hard as fuck, and it's nuts how well he slips into the glove of drum and bass for the short amount of time that he does.
Come on. Tsuruda is one of 5 artists I've given a 5/5 to, so of course he's gonna show up twice. He goes a bit more brosteppy on this EP than the last one, but of course he does it well also.
Given how well atmospheric drum and bass and phonk go together, it's kind of weird that we don't see more of it. This song is a perfect example of why it needs to mix more. Tundramane himself raps well. The lyrics are appropriate, but nothing to write home about.
$uicideboy$ - Long Term Effects of Suffering 4
A hit is a hit, and this album is a hit. The beats go hard, and the duo are at the peak of their game in bars and in flow. Ruby especially has a ton of charisma, and Scrim is pretty good too. 5 Grand at 8 to 1 and Avalon are particular standouts.
A great rap concept album from Your Old Droog, discussing the subject of time. YOD proves here that he's one of the best storytellers of this generation of rappers on top of beats that feel wished into existence with how perfectly YOD fits on top of them. The Magic Watch is a standout.
Various Artists - Cerebrum Vol. 1 4
A bunch of people doing complex, melodic neuro bass music to the nines. I've already said my piece on this. Supervision is a particular standout - stay tuned for the insane chord progression about halfway through that only Jacob Collier could turn his nose up at.
Aweminus will bring you the dubstep you want, nice and raw. He's pretty much the only riddim dubstep artist I like, and this song will show you why.
There's a lot that can be said about Bones and his modern output, but don't let my occasional disappointment fool you: when he's good, he's good. And here, he's good. He doesn't do anything very new or exciting, but the beats give Bones a great platform to give you the best of the same kind of thing he's been doing for years.
Bones & cat soup - ForbiddenImage 3.5
Again, this album is more of the same from Bones. The beats are good, and Bones does a good job of guiding you through the whole half hour of them with a nice-sounding voice and inoffensive, passable lyrics. If you're not a Bones fan, I'd suggest you just pick one of the two you see here at random and go with it.
Aesop Rock's slightly more palatable musical cousin. You can tell how ambitious this album is, and it will impress the easily impressed. It won't bring anything new to the seasoned hip hop listener, but it's definitely good enough to be worth the trip to his Bandcamp page.
Evidence - Unlearning Vol. 1 3.5
Evidence's cold bars and delivery fits his sparse, minimal production. Another good boom bap hip hop album from a good rapper.
Masayoshi Fujita - Bird Ambience 3.5
Ever heard experimental ambient marimba music? Click on the link to do so. It's really good.
Gezebelle Gaburgably - The Fridge 3.5
More indietronic bedroom rock. It might suffer a bit from Seinfeld Is Unfunny syndrome, just because I couldn't put my finger on why this has a lower score than his other album other than the style just not being as new to me as it was the first time I heard it. Maybe this will click more if I listen to it more. Oh well.
Imanu, The Caracal Project, Leotrix - Gaspin 4 Air 3.5
Another great technical bassy EDM song. With that many names, how can you go wrong?
Tight, unforgiving fusion trap EP. Smacks harder than a thing that smacks hard, I suppose.
A very sparkly, hard-hitting brostep EP. No wonder Halcyon tried to snag him up, this stuff rocks.
MUST DIE! - SORROW TECH (Good Times Ahead remix) 3.5
It feels like, little by little, the hard techno style is coming back into the lexicon of EDM producers through songs like this. Skrillex kinda started doing, and now it's here, and I'm sure it's in a couple of other places. I personally am all for it - it's hype as fuck.
Yeah, I like it. I know every song sounds the same. I find Negative XP's particular brand of simplistic cynicism funny and his no-budget production aesthetic appealing. Fuck you.
Charlie Parr- Last of the Better Days Ahead 3.5
Hard-hitting blues with a beat that you can't help but tap your foot to. I'd probably give this a better score if I listened to it more. This is a hit for anyone who enjoys the sound of the acoustic guitar.
Savage Ga$p - Forever Yours 3.5
Shameless, unabashed Tik Tok eboy rap. The beat for At Least We're Under the Same Stars is insane. If you're willing to let go of any ounce of shame you might still be holding on to, there's a chance you'll like this, too.
Skrillex, Noisia, Dylan Brady, john pan - Supersonic (My Existence) 3.5
This song is exactly as good as you'd expect it to be, with all of those people working on this. That's six fucking people! Skrillex, in an unusually out-of-character moment, doesn't Skrillex the entire thing.
Noisia split up, and one of them is this guy. Sleepnet spends an album doing all of the stuff I've spent this entire list saying I like. Technical neuro bass music of various speeds and styles.
Statik Selektah & Termanology - 1982: Summer EP 3.5
Various people rap over beats from Statik Selektah that make it clear why this album is named after Summer: SMOOTH AF!! Not a bad way to spend just under 9 minutes.
Neurofunk trio from the mid-2010s keep up the good work with this brostep EP. Nothing new, exactly, but a great take on an established sound.
TOBACCO - Fucked Up Friends 3 3.5
I learned about TOBACCO from that one collab he had with Aesop Rock. I really liked that, and this is pretty much just more of that. I love his unpolished style.
Tsuruda - Prowler / Fragment 3.5
Tsuruda on 20/20 records! What a match made in heaven. Unfortunately it just didn't click for me as much as his other material, but like The Simpsons, even the weaker material is still rather good.
Strange that this one's here, I don't remember it at all. I don't doubt that I listened to it, because I love Kai Whiston's work, but I genuinely don't remember this one. Listening to it again, though, I don't disagree with my previous assessment - technical ambient neuro-kind of music. Of course I like it.
Zero Tep - Distortion Daddy Bottles Filth in the Foamy Night 3.5
Super wonky EDM from even further left-field than Tsuruda. This guy always smacks and then leaves you confused as to how it actually smacked. Venetian Snares for the modern man, I suppose.
Ichiko Aoba & Albert Karch - Live at Jazzstate, 04/12/2019 3.5
I mean... it's Ichiko Aoba. Of course she's here. Her singing and guitar playing is amazing, and someone else is there to do something and he probably does it. Go listen to it.
BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk Memory 3.5
These guys are known for how perfectly their music fits as a hip hop instrumental, but they're back again to prove their chops as an honest to goodness jazz band. Good for them!
Minifest696
Negative XP is overhated on RYM.
slowfreq
Yeah, but what do you expect?