01.03

2022

WVFS Tallahassee’s Top 50 Albums of 2021 (& Top 25 Albums of 2020, Too!)

2021 was a fantastic year for music! Here are our Top 50 Favorite Albums of 2021, as voted on by our V89 DJs:

  1. Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg (4AD)
  2. black midi – Cavalcade (Rough Trade)
  3. Lingua Ignota – SINNER GET READY (Sargent House)
  4. Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee (Dead Oceans)
  5. Black Country, New Road – For The First Time (Ninja Tune)
  6. Squid – Bright Green Field (Warp)
  7. Injury Reserve – By The Time I Get To Phoenix (self-released)
  8. Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (AGE 101)
  9. Spellling – The Turning Wheel (Sacred Bones)
  10. Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
  11. Amyl and the Sniffers – Comfort To Me (ATO)
  12. Low – HEY WHAT (Sub Pop)
  13. Courtney Barnett – Things Take Time, Take Time (Milk!/Mom + Pop/Marathon Artists)
  14. King Woman – Celestial Blues (Relapse)
  15. Shame – Drunk Tank Pink (Dead Oceans)
  16. Xeno & Oaklander – Vi/deo (Dais)
  17. NYX & Gazelle Twin – Deep England (NYX Collective)
  18. Snail Mail – Valentine (Matador)
  19. Emma Ruth Rundle – Engine of Hell (Sargent House)
  20. Buffalo Nichols – Buffalo Nichols (Fat Possum)
  21. St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home (Loma Vista)
  22. The War On Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore (Atlantic)
  23. Mogwai – As The Love Continues (Temporary Residence Ltd.)
  24. Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine – A Beginner’s Mind (Asthmatic Kitty)
  25. Her New Knife – Destroza (self-released)
  26. Men I Trust – Untourable Album (self-released)
  27. The Armed – Ultrapop (Sargent House)
  28. Iron & Wine – Archive Series Volume 5: Tallahassee (Sub Pop)
  29. DARKSIDE – Spiral (Matador)
  30. Turnstile – GLOW ON (Roadrunner)
  31. Joy Orbison – still slipping vol. 1 (XL)
  32. Madi Diaz – History of a Feeling (Anti-)
  33. Indigo de Souza – Any Shape You Take (Saddle Creek)
  34. Deerhoof – Actually, You Can (Joyful Noise)
  35. PinkPantheress – to hell with it (Parlophone)
  36. Alicia Walter – I Am Alicia (Sooper)
  37. Kangaroo Court – Masque (self-released)
  38. Lucy Dacus – Home Video (Matador)
  39. My Morning Jacket – My Morning Jacket (ATO)
  40. Audiobooks – Astro Tough (Heavenly/PIAS)
  41. Kero Kero Bonito – Civilisation (Polyvinyl)
  42. Spirit of the Beehive – ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH (Saddle Creek)
  43. Magdalena Bay – Mercurial World (Luminelle)
  44. Julien Baker – Little Oblivions (Matador)
  45. Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams (Transgressive)
  46. La Luz – La Luz (Hardly Art)
  47. illuminati hotties – Let Me Do One More (Snack Snack Tracks/Hopeless)
  48. The Mountain Goats – Dark In Here (Merge)
  49. CHAI – WINK (Sub Pop)
  50. Cloud Nothings – The Shadow I Remember (Carpark)

Honorable Mention: Molly Burch – Romantic Images (Captured Tracks)

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Since we missed most of last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also voted on our top 25 albums from 2020 (most of which were featured in rotation in 2021):

  1. Yves Tumor – Heaven To A Tortured Mind (Warp)
  2. Adrianne Lenker – songs/instrumentals (4AD)
  3. Fleet Foxes – Shore (Anti-)
  4. The Garden – Kiss My Super Bowl Ring (Epitaph)
  5. Caribou – Suddenly (Merge)
  6. clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned (Sub Pop)
  7. Tennis – Swimmer (Mutually Detrimental)
  8. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher (Dead Oceans)
  9. Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension (Asthmatic Kitty)
  10. Bartees Strange – Live Forever (Run For Cover)
  11. Run The Jewels – RTJ4 (Jewel Runners/BMG)
  12. Khruangbin & Leon Bridges – Texas Sun (Dead Oceans)
  13. King Krule – Man Alive! (Matador/True Panther/XL)
  14. Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud (Merge)
  15. Molchat Doma – Monument (Sacred Bones)
  16. Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats – Unlocked (Loma Vista)
  17. The Strokes – The New Abnormal (RCA)
  18. Dorian Electra – My Agenda (self-released)
  19. Destroyer – Have We Met (Merge/Dead Oceans)
  20. Cindy Lee – What’s Tonight To Eternity (W.25TH)
  21. Cabaret Voltaire – Shadow of Fear (Mute)
  22. Madeline Kenney – Sucker’s Lunch (Carpark)
  23. Dan Deacon – Mystic Familiar (Domino)
  24. Gil Scott-Heron and Makaya McCraven – We’re New Again: A Reimagining By Makaya McCraven (XL)
  25. IDLES – Ultra Mono (Partisan)

Honorable Mention: Epic Ganesh – Epic Ganesh (self-released)

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Additionally, here are the album superlatives for 2021 as voted on by our DJs:

Best Album Art: black midi – Cavalcade (Rough Trade)

Worst Album Art: Modest Mouse – The Golden Casket (Epic)

Worst Band Name: illuminati hotties

Best Region/City For Music: London, UK

Most Annoying: Hippo Campus – Good Dog, Bad Dream (Grand Jury)

Most Disappointing: Modest Mouse – The Golden Casket (Epic)

Best Club Convergence (Electronica): Joy Orbison – still slipping, vol. 1 (XL)

Best Artist Comeback: Arab Strap – As Days Get Dark (Rock Action)

Best Compilation: Various Artists – Dark Nights: Death Metal (Loma Vista)

Best Debut: Black Country, New Road – For The First Time (Ninja Tune)

Best DJ(s): All of the WVFS alumni DJs who helped keep the station running during the pandemic by providing tracks and creating pre-recorded DJ sets for automation! Special thanks to: Matt Kimmel, Glen Torbert, Alex Buckalew, Tom O., Matt Peck, Dirty Digits, Bones (Steve B.), Christopher Lee, Meg Matthews, Erin Kohler, Rachel, Casey C., Abbie G., Mick P., Noah H., Lisa B., Ryan Cha, and Aslan Shirey

Best EP: Her New Knife – Destroza (self-released)

Best Hip-Hop: Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (AGE 101)

Best Jazz: Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)

Best Label: Dead Oceans

Best Latin: José González – Local Valley (Mute)

Best Legacies: Faye Webster – I Know I’m Funny haha (Secretly Canadian)

Best Local: Her New Knife – Destroza (self-released)

Best Metal: Lingua Ignota – SINNER GET READY (Sargent House)

Best Punk: Amyl and the Sniffers – Comfort To Me (ATO)

Best Reissue: Grauzone – Grauzone (40 Years Anniversary Edition) (WRWTFWW)

Best Show: A. Savage (Word of South)

Best Soul: Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams (Transgressive)

Best Specialty Show: World Music Show (Sundays from 4 to 6 PM)

Best Staring at the Sun (Experimental): Injury Reserve – By The Time I Get To Phoenix (self-released)