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.
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.
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.
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| 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.
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.
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.
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| 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.
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.
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"
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| 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.
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.
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