The 2021 Ho Media Awards

Even now, I'm not sure if this is an entirely fair assessment.

I'm quite behind on all of the things that came out in 2021.  Since my reading schedule was mainly long and challenging works, I couldn't do a lot of simultaneous critical listens to new albums.  Anything that isn't mentioned below is probably missing because I haven't yet given it enough time.  As for the rest:

These 13 by Andrew Bird & Jimbo Mathus

This one's a lot of fun. I'm more partial to Andrew's voice than Jimbo's, so there's what I would consider an unfortunate number of Jimbo-lead songs here. The recording itself is very loud and can be harsh on the ears at times. I understand the artistic decision there, but it's still regrettable.

How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? by Big Red Machine

BRM's second LP is a solidly progressive step forward from the first album. Sprawling across 64 minutes, it feels like maybe they pulled in some of the Volcano Choir sound that Justin Vernon was doing a few years ago to add to BRM's sonic palette. The front half feels stronger, but that could just be a side-effect of the length. Much as I enjoy long albums, you have to be able to sit down and apply yourself to these 15 tracks without interruption to get the whole picture fairly and that's a tough thing to do.

Music of the Spheres by Coldplay

If their goal with this one was to make the worst Coldplay album ever so that the only direction they could go afterwards would be up, then they succeeded wildly. With that said, much as people love to laugh at the Dad Rock vibe of "People of the Pride," that's the closest thing they've got to a good rock song here. "Coloratura" is good too, but clocking in at 10:18, again, you need to be able to apply a lot of focus just to get through that one song.

Flying Dream 1 by Elbow

This album is breathtakingly beautiful. It's also soporifically dull. I haven't figured it out yet. I'm a bit worried about the band's trajectory at this point.

Only Skin by Evans McRae

I had really high hopes for this. The songwriting is great! But I cannot get into the Evans half of this pairing with Tom McRae, and she's far more prominent than Tom. The songs here that Tom leads are outstanding - if only he'd kept them to himself and guested Evans here and there on a solo album of his own. "Sleep With One Eye Open" feels like something from the Did I Sleep And Miss The Border? sessions. "Careful" was a terrific single, but it's not representative of the sound of the album as a whole.

Dry Goods by Houseplants

Enjoyable as the last two Bell X1 albums were, they didn't gel very well. Bloodless Coup felt like the last full statement from the band. Houseplants is a new project for Paul Noonan, but his same piano-driven wit is present throughout. And despite feeling like a short 40 minutes, it feels like a better continuation of the Bloodless Coup sound than either of the Bell X1 albums after it did.

Long Lost by Lord Huron

Long Lost is an easy lock for Album of the Year. Maybe that's a bold statement to make when I've only listened to it twice, but I stand by it. It's a certain mood from start to finish that I don't want to ruin by overplaying it, so I'm banking it. Vide Noir was not a top tier album for me; it drones on a bit, it doesn't focus well, and it's rather bland/straightforward. After the first listen, I was afraid that maybe listening to its successor with a fear of a repeat colored my opinion. The second listen wiped that away. Song after song, it felt like the album was reaching out to me, demanding attention and simultaneously rewarding me for it.

Pressure Machine by The Killers

After last year, I didn't honestly expect another great Killers album to happen ever again. But holy shit, I was wrong. It seems to be a theme this year, but this is another album that needs time and attention to get the most out of it. It's lyrically relatable in so many places and I suspect that's true for a lot of people. Something about the recording feels weird, like there were two sets of tracks with two different producers recorded in two different studios that were mashed together into one album and this detracts a bit from the overall impact.

Exit Wounds by The Wallflowers

Ostensibly a Wallflowers album, this feels more like a sequel to Women + Country than Glad All Over. It's an album meant for winter blankets and warm drinks, so its release in the summer was a little offputting. It's really grown on me since then though. For painfully cutting lyrics, the Song of the Year is track 1 - Maybe Your Heart's Not in It No More. 

Starting Now by Toad the Wet Sprocket

Like the last entry, this is more of a sequel to Glen's last solo album than a proper Toad album. I've read rumors on Reddit that that's actually what it was until Glen wasn't sure how to finish it and called in the rest of the band. "Starting Now" is a great track with proper Toad sound that's been floating around for year or two at this point, but then we get "Dual Citizen" 5 tracks later on the same album and it's whiplash-inducing.

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The best artist I was introduced to last year was City & Colour. The Hurry and The Harm and If I Should Go Before You are proper masterpieces of singer/songwriter rock. Bear's Den's Islands and So that you might hear me, as well as Holy Holy's whole catalog all get honorable mentions as well.

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Robert V.S. Redick's Sidewinders gets the nod for Book of the Year. In a year of classics and philosophy, I needed a good dose of weird and this delivered. I'm anxiously looking forward to the third and final volume of the series.

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Movies didn't really exist again this year, but I did a whole lot of YouTubing and have to draw attention to the Lost Lakes YouTube channel for wholesome, gorgeous outdoor content. I live for new uploads from Jon and Erin.

Onward, upward, better.  Let's go, 2022.