Music Year 2021

This is my year-end list for records released in 2021. A frozen copy as of Feb. 28, 2021, is here. Post-freeze changes are marked in this color (except for re-orderings. These will be added up to Jan. 31, 2023, at which point enough will be enough -- the file may still be changed as ungraded records are belatedly graded, but no new records will be added.

For records in hand, * identifies an advance copy, ** something borrowed, downloaded or streamed. Some albums released in previous years are included here, noted by a "-NN" (e.g., -20 for 2020) -- these are mostly imports or self-releases, often hard to figure out official dates, but they were unknown (to me, at least) before the current year. I've also carried over releases from December 2020, since they almost never figure in that year's EOY lists, and other 2020 releases which never showed up in that year's tracking file, as those records should be considered for this year's lists.

For a more extensive list of records released in 2021 (plus still-eligible 2020 releases), see my tracking file.

Of course, it's too early for a year-end list. But as the proto-fascist organization of my youth insisted, one should always be prepared. For records in hand, * identifies an advance copy, ** something borrowed or streamed. Some albums released in previous years are included here, noted by a "-NN" (e.g., -20 for 2020) -- these are mostly imports or self-releases, often hard to figure out official dates, but they were either December 2020 releases or unknown (to me, at least) before the current year.

I keep adding to the 2020 until the end of calendar 2021, especially where the record was known to exist in 2020 and I'm just getting around to it.

New Records

Pending:

Records in hand, but which haven't yet been graded (sorted by artist, or release date if future). Those marked ** are downloads in hand.

Also Noted:

Records in hand, graded B+ or below, in alphabetical order within grade slots:

Limited sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect.

Reissues/Compilations/Vault Music:

In previous years I tried to separate reissues from compilations, including newly released vault items in the latter. This made sense when I was reviewing a lot of Recycled Goods material, but led to other problems with year-end lists, so as of 2013 anything containing any previously released material is collected here, and anything that is wholly previously unreleased is treated as new, above.

Pending

Records in hand, sorted by artist, or release date if future. Those marked ** are downloads in hand.

Also Noted: