1. Dean Blunt - Black Metal 2 (Rough Trade)

A completely singular LP from one of our most vital contemporary artists ... who would also absolutely and rightfully take the piss out of me - perched behind a MacBook, sipping a coffee - deciding to write a phrase like that about his music. The tracks with Joanne Robertson on this thing are stunning, and everything sounds phenomenal, building towards the euphoric "the rot," which, upon first listen, partially reminded me of the inspired majesty of the first Black Metal's beautiful, Big Star-sampling opener "LUSH."

"I told her relax ... You might as well relax ... 'Cause the fear is going down, down, down"

2. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature (Ba Da Bing!)

Every once in a while, a record comes along - usually in the "singer-songwriter" space, which is where I tend to typically get the most fatigued by many artists' propensity to settle for the most hackneyed, low-effort, pandering, stultifying, shockingly-unimaginative music - and reminds me of what is truly possible when someone actually ~goes for it~ and writes honestly and beautifully about their life. This is what Jenkins does on this LP across a suite of songs often about grief and over soundscapes - in several instances reminiscent of Destroyer's Kaputt - each so distinct and considered that they quickly become little worlds that you want to take refuge in. "Ambiguous Norway" spoke directly to my experience as a mourning individual this year with its powerful lines, "You're gone, you're everywhere."

3. Grouper - Shade (Kranky)

I really did not expect another acoustic guitar, "folk" album from Liz, especially after the enjoyably-austere Nivhek LP in 2019, so this record arrived as a complete balm, perfectly suited to the fall's cooler temperatures and ever-shorter days. I can't even comprehend being able to write a song as delicate as "Promise." I was also baffled - and frankly slightly a bit disturbed - to see a version of "The way her hair falls" uploaded to YouTube "(without the mistakes)"! Who are you sickos?!?! Lol go back to your Joe Satriani albums now plz!!!

4. Skee Mask - Pool (Ilian Tape)

I think that my affection for this record was cemented when I was excitedly flying on a Friday night to see my partner, absolutely blasted on in-flight WestJet coffee, scarfing down a complimentary pretzel pack to try to sate myself, and losing my damn mind to "Testo BC Mashup" blaring directly into my skull through Airpods. Definitely a peak aesthetic experience of 2021 for me.

5. CFCF - memoryland (BGM Solutions)

The idea of "world building" gets bandied around a lot these days - often meaninglessly and/or cringe-inducingly by people who probably also invest in crypto and/or buy NFTs of ~extremely dope ass looking apes smoking weed~ - but I think it can be appropriately used to describe Mike Silver's work on this immaculate turn-of-the-millennium, CD-era electronica period homage. I mean just look at the dedication. Also, lol. "Suburbilude" -> "Punksong" has to be the best-named transition of two tracks on an LP this year.

6. Mustafa - When Smoke Rises (Regent Park Songs) (not on Bandcamp)

I discovered this album later than I probably should have, after the wave of initial press in May and the subsequent Polaris nomination. Having spent more time with this over the last few weeks, and with apologies to Cadence Weapon, I think this definitely should've won Polaris. The breadth of thought and emotion across this short collection of meticulously-refined material is staggering. Carrie & Lowell is an obvious reference point here, but it's transposed to a different context where suffering and loss are made more brutally banal by systemic violence. Mustafa's conscious engagement with the "folk" mode is also subtly transgressive here, as he writes from personal experience candidly yet often gently about life in Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood, gang violence, guns, his own revenge fantasies, the premature death of friends, whether they will be forgiven in the afterlife, etc ... instead of trains, rambing, carrying loads, brothers, and little gals. This at a time when residual Boomercore conceptions of folk music in this country lead to younger generations of artists doing a kind of tedious settler-colonial cosplay of deracinated and exhausted tropes in order to ... get that sweet, sweet, oil company-sponsored folk fest money? Lol. Has Penguin Eggs reviewed When Smoke Rises? I ask because it's the most compelling "folk" album of the year by any real metric.

7. Erika de Casier - Sensational (4AD)

EdC returns following her classic smash debut, Essentials, and crushes it! First off, the "Busy" video - err "Official Slideshow"! - is a work of high art, reveling as it does in the song's parodic treatment of the speaker rise-n-grinding and #successposting their way across a late capitalist hellscape where labour never abates ... while also managing to be a total scorcher of a track. Then "Someone to Chill With" and "Better Than That" are undoubtedly two of the best pop songs of the year. A phenomenal record that I can't wait to bust out when muggy summer temps roll around again. Those humid guitar lines on "Secretly" sound optimal in 30-degree days, spoken from experience.

8. PinkPantheress - to hell with it (Parlophone) (not on Bandcamp)

Caveat: I don't really remember the titles of these tracks super well because I usually just put the whole thing on while running and lose my mind to this 18:36 of pure fire. "Nineteen" is heart-breaking. "All my friends know" is a full-on radio bop that I want to hear everywhere.  I had been waiting for the revival of UK garage/D'n'B/jungle and PinkPantheress' emergence this year was incredible to trace. Maybe the kids (and TikTok) are alright?!?!

9. DJ Sprinkles - Gayest Tits & Greyest Shits: 1998-2017 12-inches & One-offs (Comatonse Recordings) (not on Bandcamp)

Terre Thaemlitz casually dropped this blockbuster, two-and-a-half-hour collection this year on her own label and I loved immersing myself in it along with Patrick Nation's career-spanning documentary released freely on YouTube by Resident Advisor. "Meditation on Wage Labor and the Death of the Album (Sprinkles’ Unpaid Overtime)" is the best track name of the year. Terre is such a crucial voice in the contemporary media ecosystem and one of my absolute favourite grumps. We need more grumps. And yeah this whole collection absolutely smokes!

10. Dorothea Paas - Anything Can't Happen (Telephone Explosion Records)

This LP completely floored me when I first discovered it back in the summer and was one of those "dear god this is why music EXISTS" type of moments for me. I think I had ordered it mid-way through listening to the title track on Bandcamp. Just a killer group of "personnel" playing on this album, too, backing up Dorothea's idiosyncratic tunes, which, at times, remind me of ... a math-rock Joni Mitchell?!?! ~1:42->the end of "Closer to Mine" is some of my favourite music of the year.

Honourable mention:

Ducks Ltd. - Modern Fiction (Carpark/Royal Mountain Records)

Bernice - Eau De Bonjourno (Telephone Explosion Records)

Eli Keszler - Icons (LuckyMe)

Ulla - Limitless Frame (Motion Ward)

Claire Rousay & Dani Toral - a softer focus (American Dreams Records)

Andy Shauf - Wilds (Arts & Crafts/ANTI)

DOSS - 4 New Hit Songs (LuckyMe)

Yu Su - Yellow River Blue (Music From Memory)

yes/and - yes/and (Driftless Recordings)

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner's Mind (Asthmatic Kitty)

---__--___ - The Heart Pumps Kool​-​Aid (Orange Milk)

Nick Malkin - Nothing Blues (Mondoj)

Car Culture - Dead Rock (Lighthead Records)

Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, & Jon Randall - The Marfa Tapes (RCA) (not on Bandcamp)