UndercoverSadGirl’s Top 25 Albums of 2021

2021 happened, or so we think? The music came every week, giving us a way to distill the dark and prepare to start anew. Below is a playlist of the best 25 albums of the year and some words on the musical artists who captured my attention.

Musical Highlights of 2021: Cassandra Jenkins majestic swirls, as they weaved across dynamic words. Weather Station’s thought provoking lyrics and the world that she brought to us. Genesis Owusu’s splash of rhythm and ability to make us sit down and dance. Squid’s sci-fi avalanche, that angst and post-punk movement. Tyler, the Creator’s inventive ways of expressing honesty and prowess. Snail Mail’s decidedly raw ability to rock.

These artists almost made the cut: Parannoul, Hand Habits, Wolf Alice, Xenia Rubinos, and Ada Lea. Don’t let these inspiring people go unheard!

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2HP6wqGrxVxTzGeGVMJOyg?si=QRMHzLF5S8-N99HAo1v8pg

25. Eau De Bonjourno – Bernice

24. HEY WHAT – Low

23. Juno – Remi Wolf

22. Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Mama – Topaz Jones

21. Vulture Prince – Arooj Aftab

20. DEACON – serpentwithfeet

19. Any Shape You Take – Indigo De Souza

18. Fatigue – L’Rain

17. Sound Ancestors – Madlib

16. Heaux Tales – Jazmine Sullivan

15. Jubilee – Japanese Breakfast

14. Sling – Clairo

13. For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her – McKinley Dixon

12. I know I’m Funny Haha – Faye Webster

11. Valentine – Snail Mail

10. A Beginner’s Mind – Sufjan Stevens

9. For the first time – Black Country, New Road

8. WEIGHT OF THE WORLD – Maxo Kream

7. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert – Little Simz

6. Animal – LUMP

5. Smiling with No Teeth – Genesis Owusu

4. Ignorance – Weather Station

3. Bright Green Field – Squid

2. CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST – Tyler, The Creator

  1. An Overview on Phenomenal Nature – Cassandra Jenkins

April Albums Worth A Listen

Hi y’all, is nice to be here once again April is almost gone and this is the first time this year that my TOP 10 Indie / Alternative albums have 5 weeks instead of 4, that means more albums to choose from, so it’s better not to wast more time.

10 Cathedrale  Houses Are Built The Same  These Frech guys really sound great, you can find in this work tracks that sound garage rock, fuzz, indie rock, alternative and post-punk simply they’re my favorite French band right now (I was waiting for this album too long but finally we got it and it’s a rewarding album to listen to.)

9 Other Lives For Their Love From USA Here another interesting mix of genres and sounds we go between Folk, Americana, Indie Rock, and Alternative, it’s a beautiful work with a cinematic and hypotonic sound that is hard to get satisfied and need to get back and listen over and over and over.

8 BC Camplight  Shortly After Takeoff  Another great work released this month, it’s incredible how this guy can make a song sound so beautiful while talking about such deep shit like in Back To Work “I Told My Mom I want to kill myself….” Meanwhile, Cemetery Lifestyle brings to my mind David Bowie’s kind of sound, definitely an album you can’t miss.

7 Jeffrey Silverstein You Become The Mountain This is an album to sit, relax and enjoy, let the music take you away, through these beautiful soundscapes with this experimental folk so delightful.

6 Girl Skin Shade is on the Other Side  Another debut album as beautiful as you can get, they’re so cleaver the put as the opening track Forever and Always that also was their lead single for this album that with their captivating chorus and harmonies alongside violins it’s easy to be seduced by their sound.

5 Lewsberg In This House  Rotterdam, Netherlands Love this band since forever, well that’s how I felt when I discover their debut single Non-fiction Writer back in 2017 or early 2018 they’re in my Playlist Less Than 1,000 Followers for a while, obviously not anymore not as fast as I would love but they keep growing with this mix of spoken word/alternative rock that defines their essence.

4 Waxahatchee Saint Cloud This, without doubt, is her best work to date, with a sound more into the Americana that the previous indie-rock is another strong contender for my TOP 100 albums 2020.

Sorry 925 From London this guys with their single Starstyruck already show what they’re made of back in 2018 and we only can do nothing but wait for  this fantastic debut album for more than a whole year  by this independent band not only for this month surely this is going to be one of the best albums of the year, don’t waste more time and listen to it.

2 Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters  This is one the few albums to get a perfect 10 by Pitchfork, defined as a masterpiece you can agree or not but it’s certainly an incredible work, to say the least.

1 The Strokes The New Abnormal You can call me a die-hard fan (in fact I’m) but this album is even better than any fan could have been waiting for since the very first track until the last there is no waste in this work.

Enjoy it and have fun this weekend remember to keep yourself save and sound!!!

Early AOTY Entry: Wednesday’s “I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone”

Wednesday, a genre defiant band from North Carolina, artfully combines familiar indie sounds on this album to reinvent them into something you’ve never heard before. Despite the fact that Wednesday detests the pompous undertones of the idea of art (or at least art school) on “Impression Sunrise” from their 2018 album “Yep Definitely”, their album boldly ventures into new artistic territory in exciting fashion.

This pop-less album stuns me from start to finish, and thanks to the stellar triple guitar of lead Daniel Gorham, steel Xandy Chelmis, and guitarist/vocalist Karly Hartzman the album elevates above others in tangent genres (not in the same genre, because I’m not sure if there is a same genre). This album shows a great evolution from the 2018’s more synth-oriented album, although the themes and lyrics on that album were top notch as well.

I could mince words forever, about the album speaks for itself. Here’s the opening track:

In this day and age bands often find a sound that works and stick with it in order to tell their story, but ‘I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone feels void of that phenomenon, as their message rattles proud ahead of any computer generated effects or production tricks. That’s not to say the mixing isn’t incredible- it is.

It was almost impossible to pick which song will be on the upcoming Indie Pong playlist update. Would it be the above opening track? Would it be ‘Underneath’, specifically the second half?

Would it be time-stoppingly beautiful ‘November’?

Well after much heated deliberation we finally settled on a track. Nobody said blogging was easy:

The bar has been set. Do yourself a favor and ascend into lo-fi heaven by giving it a listen.

The update isn’t quite up yet, but follow our playlist here for automatic updates: