End of a Year: Albums 2021 Pt. 2

Not a lot of shit has been consistent in my life over the past decade. That being said, 2021 marks the 10 year anniversary of my year end album lists. I view this as a pretty big personal milestone. Thanks to everyone who's been reading since 2011.

Here's part two of my list for 2021. Part 1 is here. 

Playboi Carti

10. The Chisel - Retaliation (La Vida Es Un Mus)

I started familiarizing myself with more of the British punk this record pulls from in 2021, so I was in the right frame of mind to sink my teeth into The Chisel's first full length. I don't think you need to be a big UK82 or oi! head to get this though. It's fun, stompy hardcore with anthemic choruses and loud, aggressive drumming. This is like a British Restraining Order. It speaks in the universal languages of punk music and as result, people from all different backgrounds dig it. 

Listen to "So Do I"

9. Playboi Carti - Whole Lotta Red (AWGE/Interscope)

WLR was the ultimate grower record. It was a test of mental endurance upon its release -- 24 songs of the most childish sounding, repetitive, non-sequitir  rapping imaginable. I was eventually won over though, because the people who got it right away didn't stop advocating for it. I also think it had legs because it was basically the only mainstream hip hop release of note in the first four months of the year. Repeated listens reveal the abrasive charm in Carti's delivery, the almost punk ethos in his songwriting approach, and the sneaky-good quality of the record's production. This was the most polarizing record of the year. I started on one side of the pole and ended up on the other.

Listen to "Stop Breathing"

8. Isaiah Rashad - The House Is Burning (Top Dawg Entertainment)

Here's another hip hop record that took a minute to click but really sunk in once it did. I dismissed Rashad's last two releases as dull nap time music and was ready to do the same with THIB, his first album in five years. The production is lo-fi. Rashad's voice never seems to escalate past a cool croak. The record can go three or four songs in a row without a super discernable hook. I thought THIB was boring as hell. My mind changed when I read a review highlighting the records' influences. THIB has a very TDE-like distance to it, but there's definitely an undercurrent of aggressive, braggadocios Southern classics like UGK and Three 6 Mafia on here. You can really appreciate this record's fresh takes once you understand where it comes from.

Listen to "RIP Young"

Moneybagg Yo

7. God's Hate - God's Hate (Closed Casket Activities)

Heavy, metallic hardcore appears to be in a downswing after a sizeable period of dominance by bands like Code Orange and Harm's Way. Lots of kids, it seems, have abandoned stop-mosh in favour of pogo parts and side to side riffs. Only the realest remain in the heavy domain, and the Young brothers are about as real as it gets. This record sounds like someone took Merauder, Hatebreed and a couple weird metal bands no casual like me has ever heard of, threw them in a blender, sprinkled some pre-workout on top and drank it straight out of the glass jar. God's Hate is hard, aggro and uncompromising. It's also one of the most politically charged records of this year, even though the calls for retribution and vengeance get a little over the top. We all feel like smashing a fascist's face in, and if anyone's gonna actually do it, it's these dudes.

Listen to "Six Feet Deep"

6. Moneybagg Yo - A Gangsta's Pain (Roc Nation/CMG)

Moneybagg Yo's breakout fourth album has a fitting title. The record is definitely more pain than gangsta, although street struggle is a backdrop for many of its motifs. The themes of this record are about relationships. Animosity, loyalty, love and addiction are all touched on a rather poignant fashion for a trap record. There's also songs about pampering your side pieces and smoking your opps, if that's more your speed. Moneybagg, even in these moments, has a realistic approach to his subject matter. He's not bragging about anything, He's talking about it in an almost confessional manner. This album has a very realistic, and therefore, relatable bend to it. It's also littered with Tik Tok anthems, club bangers and slow jams. There's something for everyone on here.

Listen to "Wockesha"

5. Bootlicker - Bootlicker (Static Shock)

I fell in love with this record for its proximity to early 80's US hardcore -- jangly guitar tones, blown out vocals and catchy riffs. This record has a ferocious UK undercurrent though, which reveals itself upon repeated listens. Bootlicker, much like the Rat Cage record from last year, is deceptively simple in its rhythmic backbone, relying on a high-paced, ripping d-beat to drive most of the songs forward. I love the album's juxstaposition of US hardcore melodies and vocal delivery with the unrelenting ferocity of the drumming. The songs on this record rarely slow down to an obvious mosh part, but the riffs and vocals are so catchy that they get stuck in your head regardless. They don't need to be punctuated with tempo changes. They're good enough to stand on their own.

Listen to "Two Faced"

Regional Justice Center

4. Illiterates - Illiterates (Kill Enemy)

This is top-tier Pittsburgh hardcore. You know what to expect if you know what that means. Here lies everything you like about the first waves of Boston and the Midwest, with maybe the tiniest bit of New York sprinkled in (aka the singer sounds kind of like Ray Cappo). The mosh parts on this record are an absolute highlight. The lyrics are also top tier -- smart and political, but funny and devoid of pretense. You could easily throw this in with all the bands in the tupa-tupa revival, like Gel and Spy. I also think it scratches the same itch as a lot of the Lockin' Out catalog. It's fun, dance-y hardcore that takes some things seriously, but doesn't take itself too seriously at the end of the day. Pittsburg stays winning, with another killer record by another killer band.

Listen to "Urban Hillbilly"

3. Regional Justice Center - Crime and Punishment (Closed Casket Activities)

My hot take on powerviolence is that it should have by-and-large been left in the 90's. The vast majority of bands who attempt it are so mind-numbingly derivative that they're just essentially re-arranging the same four drum beats into the same boring ass 45-second-long combinations, complete with a five-minute drone riff at the end of every album. The legends of this genre at least have the novelty of being criminally insane meth addicts who were trying something actually transgressive 30ish years ago. The gene pool has since been watered down to where almost everything PV seems the exact same. Every once in a while though, a band can break through by being both exceptionally good and creative. Regional Justice Center pull this off by adding a fair amount of modern hardcore palm muting to a battle-tested formula. Too much one way and this wouldn't be a faithful replica. Too much the other way and this would just be the same old bullshit. RJC strike a delicate balance, proving that at its best, powerviolence is mind-melting maniac music in the coolest way possible.    

Listen to "Taught to Steal"

2. J. Cole - The Off Season (Dreamville)

You'll like this record if you like J. Cole. If you don't like J. Cole, you're an idiot who should promptly fuck off, touch grass, and stop spreading your ill-informed hip hop takes to other morons on social media. Cole returns to form on this one -- a modern callback to his mixtape days, with the focus on bars and flows rather than trying to make a hit. He tries some new stuff in the vein of his "The London" feature with trap flows and Autotine, but balances it with his classic, almost fatherly approach. He also expands his production palette on TOS, outsourcing most of the beats for the first time in a long time and bringing a ton of fresh content as a result. I think this is easily the best J. Cole record since his classic 2014 Forest Hills Drive.

Listen to "Pride is the Devil"

Ekulu

1. Ekulu - Unscrew My Head (Cash Only)

I think people are doing too many mental gymnastics when they try to pin down this record. The formula is simple: 

Best Wishes -- the Krishna bullshit + Age of Quarrel = The best New York Hardcore record by a New York band since Demonstrating My Style. 

Bands like Dead Heat and Drain are doing crossover thrash by mixing disparate sounds from different eras to make something modern. Bands like Enforced are basically just thrash bands who get lumped in with hardcore by proxy. I like all that shit, but what sets Ekulu apart is how they go for something so specific and nail it out of the park. To paraphrase my No Echo review, this is basically the Cro-Mags record we wish got made in 1987. Classic New York crossover with enough punk energy to not waste time smelling its own farts. Unscrew My Head isn't just a worthy succesor to Ekulu's well received EPs. I think it ups the ante.

Listen to "Proven Wrong"

Honourable Mention:

Candy Apple - Sweet Dreams of Violence, Cerebral Rot - Excretion of Mortality, Lil Baby & Lil Durk - Voice of the Hero, Kanye West - Donda, Be All End All - Pact Music, Yautja - The Lurch, Drakeo The Ruler - Truth Hurts, Mach Hommy - Pray for Haiti, Anthropophagus - Death Fugue. 

Shit I didn't get enough time with:

Benny the Butcher - Plugs I Met 2, Lysol - Soup For My Family, Fluids - Not Dark Yet, Drake - Certified Lover Boy, Sada Baby - Lost Tapes, Poison Ruin - Poison Ruin, Boldy James - Bo Jackson, C4 - Chaos Streaks, Struck Nerve - Rattle the Cage, Foogiano & Geezy Escobar - Backwoods Babies.

End of a Year 2021: Albums Pt. 1

 Well folks,

This year (2021) sucked big fat monkey nuts from almost every conceivable angle, except for the fact that I got to hear a bunch of cool new music. I didn't get to see much of it live, thanks to Barack Obiden's plandemic, but it is what it is. Here's the best 20 records of the year according to me.

Part 2 is here.

Young Dolph

20. Enforced - Kill Grid (Century Media)

Crossover thrash lost two of its greatest recent contributors over the course of this two year shitstorm -- Power Trip's Riley Gale and Iron Age's Wade Allison. Enforced is now tasked with leading the charge of hardcore kids playing 80's style thrash, and they're doing a pretty good job of it. This record is big and ugly at the same time. Perfect thrash production and execution.

Listen to "UXO"

19. Steel Bearing Hand - Slay in Hell (Carbonized)

This band plays a somewhat unheralded version of death metal-inspired thrash, reminiscent of Demolition Hammer. The guitar work is a major highlight on this record, as there are some real ass-beating riffs littered across it. My only complaint is that some of the songs go on for way too long, but overall this is an enjoyable listen.

Listen to "Till Death and Beyond"

18. Young Dolph & Key Glock - Dum N Dummer 2 (Paper Route Empire)

Young Dolph's death was another gut-punch in the torrent of unrelenting disappointments on offer in 2021. Dolph, it seems, was right in the middle of his creative zenith when he was taken. While this collab album with younger cousin Key Glock wasn't quite as good as the first installment of the series, it was still full of catchy bangers and Dolph's witty yet heart-heart-on-his-sleeve lyricism.

Listen to "Aspen"

Ingrown

17. Tyler the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost (Columbia)

Tyler the Creator followed up his two-album foray into indie-pop inspired bullshit with an actual hip hop record and created something I enjoyed (for the first time in his career). His lyricism and rapping style still offer very little to me, but his ear for music and compositional ability are on full display here. These songs are undeniably good. I don't really consider this a headphones listen but it's great to throw on in the car if you need something agreeable.

Listen to "Wusyaname"

16. Antichrist Siege Machine - Purifying Blade (Profound Lore)

Purifying Blade is like the Internal Rot LP from last year in that I don't understand its references but still think it kicks ass. This is apparently a black metal record, but it doesn't sound anything like Darkthrone to me. I guess it's supposed to sound like Blasphemy but I'm not gonna pose and pretend I've ever listened to that band. I think it sounds like morons going for early 90's hardcore but the drummer only knows how to play blast beats. Fuck yourself if that doesn't sound cool to you.

Listen to "Unleashed Hostility"

15. Ingrown - Gun (Patient Zero)

This is top-tier fake powerviolence, worthy of being mentioned with bands like Nails and early Harm's Way. Ass-kicking metallic breakdowns interspersed with blasts of spastic energy, delivered in 90 seconds or less. The fact that this band is a three-piece only makes the intensity of the delivery more impressive. I wish this record was three or four songs longer. Then it would be perfect.

Listen to "Waste"

Polo G

14. Polo G - Hall of Fame (Columbia)

This album was considered a flop by many social media trolls and 14-year-old casuals. While I agree it doesn't exactly live up to the promise of Polo's highest highs, there's no denying the lyricism on this record is top tier for the lane it occupies. Polo may not be a versatile beat-picker, but what other 22 year old mainstream rapper can balance the emotions of a song like "Rapstar" or do an unabashed love song like "So Real" while maintaining his street cred on songs like "Bloody Canvas"? I'll wait. This album receiving blowback proves the theory that "hip hop fans" on social media only care about beats.

Listen to "Bloody Canvas"

13. Pooh Shiesty - Shiesty Season (Atlantic/1017)

I'm not gonna lie, this album being so high up on my list speaks more to my personal experience with it than its actual quality. Pooh Shiesty legitimately only has one flow, and by the end of the 17 track run it can be mind-numbingly repetitive. The highs on this record provided some of the most memorable songs of the year though. Shiesty's in his pocket on "Back in Blood", "Guard Up" and "Box of Churches", providing the type of speaker-knocking heat that can get bitches to take their clothes off in the club (I saw a video of this actually happening). 

Listen to "Back in Blood"

12. Dat Boi Vic - The Child Not Embraced... (Self Released)

Pooh Shiesty's bubblegum hedonism is on the exact opposite end of the spectrum from Dat Boi Vic's spiralling, dense supernova of conscious thought, The Child Not Embraced... The album, conceptually chronicling Black American experience from slavery to the present, is chock full of movie references, scientific teachings and spiritual wisdom. Vic's lyrical delivery is so dense that it takes multiple listens to even grasp the story-line of the album, let alone the message behind each carefully crafted bar. To be honest, I'm never gonna get all the message, because I'm not the target audience. That's fine. This record deserves to be heard regardless.

Listen to "Finally Free"

11. Turnstile - Glow On (Roadrunner) 

I leaned on this album as a crutch when I was going through some hard times in late summer. Let's face it, the lyrics on most hardcore, rap and metal records aren't exactly feel-good, and sometimes I just couldn't revel in that negativity. Enter Glow On, a wide spectrum of feelings set to high energy, danceable punk rock. Critics were jizzing over this album's propensity to embrace every musical style under the sun besides hardcore, but I'm a fuckin hardcore kid. This record is rooted in Turnstile's trademark riot-inciting bounce. I kept coming back to it for that reason. Glow On is, at its core, a great hardcore record. 

Listen to "Holiday"