Pitchfork's 50 Best Albums of 2021

The official debut from the young digicore producer and songwriter is riveting, a shapeshifting emo-electronic record that sounds like new worlds seeping out of a digital abyss.

The follow-up to 2019’s This Is How You Smile is mellower and breezier than its predecessor; it feels less like a tour of Roberto Carlos Lange’s psyche than an afternoon barbecue in his backyard.

The boundless debut from the London-based artist is a delirious tug of war between pleasure and unease, shuttling between club sounds and psychedelic mind states with a steely, unbridled intensity.

With stark, introspective lyrics and fuller production, Meg Duffy’s latest is a bold foray into poppier sounds. It feels like a fresh start.

Even as they negotiate complex parameters of rhythm and harmony, the trio’s expertly attuned playing evokes the openness of improvisation and the urgency of justice.

On his second album of 2020, the underground New York rapper reaches a new level. The vibe is calm and bittersweet, as Navy Blue sinks deep into the recesses of his mind.

The debut LP from the duo Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden is a warm-blooded exploration of the sensuality of the artistic process.

With poignant writing and irreverent humor, Sarah Tudzin’s second album as Illuminati Hotties plays like a demonstration in the art of persistence.

While you could put on I Don’t Live Here Anymore and take comfort knowing that the War on Drugs have Beach House’d their way to another terrific record by simply refining what works, there are a few songs that test the borders of the band’s classic little world.

Produced entirely by Navy Blue, the New York rapper’s latest is one of his greatest. A wise and angry Wiki reveals what it’s like to come of age in the city: the way it shapes, hardens, prematurely ages you.

The outstanding album from the Philadelphia electro-psych trio is reclusive, cryptic, late-night paranoia music. Their oblique songs can evoke an entire landscape of feeling in very few words.

On their collaboration with the Alchemist, ELUCID and billy woods drag postcolonial wounds onto the examination table. They don't just embrace the darkness; they wear it as a protective cloak.

Four months after “drivers license,” pop’s newest star offers a nimble and lightly chaotic collection of breakup tunes filled with melancholy and mischief.

The sequel to 2014’s beloved Black Metal is a brief but thrilling project from the mercurial artist, featuring the most approachable music of his career.

There is so much depth to Faye Webster’s dazzling fourth album. It strikes a perfect balance between classic country stoicism and the sound of the saddest person you follow on social media.

The Tuareg guitarist and his bandmates deliver the fullest picture of his gifts yet. Recorded piecemeal during tour breaks, the album captures the group’s easy chemistry and explosive energy.

Tamara Lindeman’s songwriting has reached stunning new heights. With a full band supporting her, her new album draws upon the natural world to create unforgettable moments of calm and beauty.

The Baltimore band’s spectacular fourth record is all groove, riffs, and passion. It is not a crossover hardcore album that looks to transcend the genre, but one that tries to elevate it to its highest visibility.

On the follow-up to 2018’s astonishing Double Negative, Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk push deeper into abstraction, finding fresh angles on the themes that have animated them since the beginning.

The all-star collaboration between a producer, a saxophonist, and a symphony is a celestial event. But it’s Pharaoh Sanders’ playing that holds it all together, a clear late-career masterpiece.