Best of 2021 Albums/EP List
Hey PWV fam! It’s that time of year again! It’s also my favorite time of year. It’s List Season! Below are my top 20 albums and top 10 EP’s/singles of 2021, along with some honorable mentions. This is now my seventh end of the year list and while the punk scene had some amazing material get released this year, the overall output did seem a bit light. Even with the addition of discovering some new bands (new to me at least), it seems that a lot more albums and EP’s got released last year. But after doing this enough times, you come to realize that each year is different with various reasons for there being more or less releases. That being said, we have a lot of music (including a surprising amount of ska) to be grateful for from this passed year and a bunch to look forward to as well.
2022 already has the potential to be a great year for punk rock. I am very excited for the new Hot Water Music full-length ‘Feel The Void,’ the Gregor Barnett solo record ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave,’ and the new After The Fall album ‘Isolation.’ As usual I am very much hoping (praying) for the long-awaited ‘American Son Of Cholo’ by Dead To Me to get released. I’m hoping for some new tunes from A Wilhelm Scream and Brutal Youth, too. We finally saw some movement from OFF! this year so hopefully that means we’ll be getting a new album from them sometime soon. I am also still hoping for vinyl pressings of ‘Fresh Kills Vol. 2’ by Night Birds and ‘World Of Burning Hate’ by Classics Of Love.
So once again, below are my top 20 albums and top 10 EP’s/singles of the year, plus a handful of honorable mentions. And be sure to keep an eye out for which record gets the coveted Best Album Art Of The Year award, too.
Here’s to another year of great releases!
(BAND – ALBUM TITLE – FAVORITE TRACK)
20. Culture Shock – Mandemic – “Penny For The Guy”
19. Andrew WK – God Is Partying – “Babalon”
18. Heart & Lung – Twistin’ The Knife Away – “Watch You Suffer”
17. Needles//Pins – Needles//Pins – “I Was Underjoyed If That’s A Word”
16. Teenage Bottlerocket – Sick Sesh! – “Gorilla Warfare”
15. The Last Gang – Noise Noise Noise – “Gimme Action”
14. Debt Neglector – Dirty Water – “Least I Could Do”
13. The Raging Nathans – Waste My Heart – “Shadow Of Youth”
12. Generacion Suicida – Regeneracion – “Jaulas”
11. The Bronx – VI – “White Shadow”
10. The Dirty Nil – Fuck Art – “Done With Drugs”
9. Catbite – Nice One – “Call Your Bluff”
8. Jeff Rosenstock – Ska Dream – “SKrAm!”
7. Postage – Postage – “80-85”
6. Chubby And The Gang – The Mutt’s Nuts – “Coming Up Tough”
5. Amyl And The Sniffers – Comfort To Me – “Hertz”
4. The Chisel – Retaliation – “Retaliation” [BEST ALBUM ART OF THE YEAR]
3. The Copyrights – Alone In A Dome – “Stuck In The Winter”
2. Neighborhood Brats – Confines Of Life – “Signs And Semantics”
1. Descendents – 9th & Walnut – “Nightage”
(BAND – EP/SINGLE TITLE – FAVORITE TRACK)
10. M Section – 3 Bangers – “Passenger”
9. PUP – Waiting/Kill Something [digital singles] – “Waiting”
8. Laura Jane Grace – At War With The Silverfish – “Yesterday Pt. II”
7. Direct Hit! – Hollow Comfort (Demo) [digital single] – “Hollow Comfort”
6. The Filthy Radicals – Freedom 45 – “Butts For Lunch”
5. The Lillingtons – Can Anybody Hear Me? (A Tribute To Enemy You) – “The Only One”
4. The Chisel – Enough Said – “What I See”
3. DFL – YRUDFL – “No Exit”
2. Kids Insane/Not On Tour – split 7-inch – “Desperation Street“ (by Not On Tour)
1. Clowns – Does It Matter?/Sarah – “Does It Matter?”
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
(In Alphabetical Order)
Antagonizers ATL – Kings
Capgun Heroes – Last Call For Adderall
Catbite – Catfite: A HXC Version of Catbite S/T
Decent Criminal – DC EP
Face To Face – No Way Out But Through
Fake Names – Fake Names
Green Day – The BBC Sessions
Kids Insane – Who’s The Enemy
Lars Frederiksen – To Victory
Naked Raygun – Over The Overlords
OFF! – “Holier Than Thou” (Metallica cover) [digital single]
Off With Their Heads – WRONG
Off With Their Heads/JPool – split 7-inch
Public Serpents – Farewell [digital single]
Riverboat Gamblers – Ramotorhead 7-inch
The Crew/Rippy And The Sillyettes – split 7-inch
The Filthy Radicals – The Fine Line Between Real And Insane
The Raging Nathans – Bring Me The Head Betsy Devos 7-inch
The Raging Nathans/Dwarves – split 7-inch
The Raging Nathans/Voice Of God – split 7-inch
Useless ID – Most Useless Songs (compilation)
Various Artists – Fat Music For Wrecked People: Punk Rock Bowling 2021
X – Xtras
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About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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