2021 Jester One Music Top 15 Albums
15. The Blue Stones - Hidden Gems
14. Five Iron Frenzy - Until This Shakes Apart
13. Imperative Reaction - Mirror
12. Goodnight Fear - What's Holding You Back?
11. Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight
10. NF - Clouds
9. Turnstile - Glow On
8. Daymare - Everything is Fine
7. '68 - Give One Take One
6. Spiritbox - Eternal Blue
5. Beartooth - Below
4. AFI - Bodies
3. A Tiger Made of Lightning - It's Chaos, Be Kind
2. Teenage Wrist - Earth is a Black Hole
1. Assemblage 23 - Mourn
Also Meryl Creep's Drift EP... I couldn't figure where to place a 3 song EP amongst a list that is mostly LPs. Somewhere between 4 and 6.
I made it a point to listen to more albums this year, thinking back to my teenage years and how a good CD would get worn out from continuous replay. What I learned is that my first instinct is usually correct, and that streaming services are often very good at pinpointing similar musicians.
Something that has become very apparent to me in the last few years is that music just isn't what it used to be. But I don't look at that as a bad thing. When I was in high school, there was a dozen or so stations that played newer music around town, and then there was your friends, family, and what you saw on TV and movies. Nowadays, my goodness, I can just open up Spotify/Pandora and find bands I never would have dreamed of before.
The top 3 records this year (plus the Meryl Creep EP) are absolutely what new records I spent the most time with, by far. AFI and Beartooth got a lot of love too, but after that it was hard for me to really fall in love with new music. A lot of my favorite new songs were on mediocre/bad albums, and a lot of records I really liked didn't have standout songs to keep me locked into them. A bizarre dichotomy, but not anything new for me.
I will say that it was a really good year for newer music, far better than 2020. It was nice to be able to go out and find new favorite bands at shows, if only for a few months. I'm looking forward to more recovery next year. As for J1 Music, I have to wait until January 1st for the official stats to be registered on Last.FM, but then it will be time for the 30 Most Played and Top 25 Artists. Stay tuned!
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