Out on July 2nd 2021 via Napalm Records, each song on Italian Folk Metal is performed in a distinct style of Italian folk music. The way Granduciel makes it sound you can believe, if just for 50 minutes at a time, that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel, more colorful and vibrant and real than we could have hoped.Parody metal powerhouse Nanowar of Steel turns to the musical roots of their homeland, bringing heavy new life to traditional Italian music on their new album Italian Folk Metal. It’s the sort of album you can play over and over again, invited in by hooks and then comforted by a fellow traveler trying to figure out what in the hell is on the other side of all this. But something like I Don’t Live Here Anymore, with its longing for a recent past slipping into the rearview, was a worthy companion in a year when normalcy seemed within grasp but just not quite there. Maybe there were less unifying blockbuster events. In a year as fragmented as 2021 - one that staggered when we thought it might sprint - pop culture feels more atomized, like we are all still hanging on to the specific things we find our own solace in.
Everything here is Granduciel at peak powers, vivid sonic details now compressed into songs no less intricate but streamlined for immediate, resounding impact. There is moment after moment of transcendence, like the heavens opening up above you - the cresting second half of “Harmonia’s Dream,” the twilit burst of the chorus in “I Don’t Wanna Wait,” the way the entirety of the title track is equally melancholic and euphoric, like the best of the Drugs’ music.
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On the Drugs’ fifth album, Granduciel has learned how to wield every element of this project together. In fact, that is the exact fuel for I Don’t Live Here Anymore. Perhaps you can credit that to Adam Granduciel’s ongoing sense of impeccable quality control. Tom BreihanĪrriving to the highest levels of anticipation in the War On Drugs’ career, I Don’t Live Here Anymore showed up - right on time, in autumn - and exceeded already stratospheric expectations. You’ll probably find a few new things on it that you might like, and you’ll probably find a few reasons to argue with us, too. Later on, we’ll give you our lists of the year’s best EPs and the best albums from certain genres, as well as a few other year-end goodies. We all made our own personal lists, assigned points, came up with a ranking, argued over and tinkered with that ranking, and ended up with what you see below. The list was chosen entirely by the staff here at Stereogum. In that spirit, here’s our list of the 50 albums that we liked best in 2021. You have made it possible for us to make our living doing that. For the small staff of this website, all we really want to do is blather to anyone who will listen about the music that we like. Last year, when this site went independent, you, the readers, raised enough money to keep us going, and we are eternally grateful. We mean that in a metaphysical way, and we also mean it in a literal way.
We, your Stereogum staff, owe a great debt to you, the Stereogum readers. There’s no central theme to our list of the year’s best albums. Plenty of others clanged and howled and made a whole lot of noise. Some of them whooped and thumped and celebrated. Some of our favorite albums this year twinkled and murmured and soothed. The music that we loved in 2021 didn’t adhere to any particular sound or sensibility. But in the past few months, especially, we’ve seen a tidal surge of new records, and many of those new records are truly great. Now, it feels miraculous.Įven in the depths of the pandemic, artists never stopped releasing new music. It’s not quite the same as it was this time in 2019 yet, but it’s now possible for a band to release an album and then tour behind that album. But around the time that most of us got our second arm-jabs, the whole economy surrounding music started to sputter to life once again. The COVID era, which utterly derailed music and most other things for the better part of two years, isn’t quite over.
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