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Year in Tiers 2021 - Fast & Furious

The next tier in our 2021 recap is composed of albums that aren't necessarily terrible, but are definitely far from perfect. If you're desperate enough you can find something to like about them but for the most part, this is subpar entertainment. Much like the Fast and Furious franchise. There are worse ways to kill 2 hours but sometimes watching a Hot Wheels movie made for UFC zealots isn't all that bad.


#106. Let The Bad Times Roll by The Offspring

The Offspring have always held a special place in my heart as my first gateway drug into independent and underground music. But like most punks in their twilight years, The Offspring haven't aged all that gracefully. Dexter's high strained voice is sounding more like Weird Al these days and the songs themselves are as if they could have been created from an Offspring song generating algorithm. It's somewhat puzzling why the band would even return with such a half-assed effort when they couldn't even come up with a song title that hasn't been done before (see the Offspring's Nitro Records labelmates The Vandals, who dropped their own "Let The Bad Times Roll" 26 years ago).


#105. Life In Your Glass World by Citizen

It's kinda hilarious to me watching all of these rock bands try and reinvent themselves without guitars centered in their music in an attempt to adapt to current trends. Meanwhile pop artists like Machine Gun Kelly, Olivia Rodrigo and Halsey are flourishing by adding guitars to theirs. Citizen is the latest casualty of an attempted dance-punk evolution but it's also the first time you can say they aren't just following in the footsteps of Brand New or Title Fight. I've always wanted this band to grow passed their influences but I guess this is a classic case of "be careful what you wish for".


#104. Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely Adolf

by Westside Gunn

I haven't really been a big fan of any Westside Gunn album to date but there is an inexplicable intrigue to his music that keeps me coming back. Westside's rapping skills aren't anything to write home about (unless you're easily impressed by tongue rolls that almost sound like gun noises) but even as a self proclaimed curator, it's hard to give him any credit when you have to go eight tracks deep into the album to find a song that isn't ruined by a terrible sound clip or cringe-worthy verse. Plus "Westheimer" is such an obnoxious fucking song - how are you gonna put anyone through 5 and a half minutes of that?


#103. Solar Power by Lorde

Since bursting onto the pop scene at the age of 17, Lorde has been one of the most influential voices of her generation. Unfortunately eight years later it seems she has nothing of substance to say. Or perhaps no desire to say anything at all. Her third LP finds her carefree in the worst of ways and regressing to an immature and aimless state of nu-hippy disconnect. It's fine if you don't want to be a pop star anymore, just don't write an album about it. Records like this are why Rihanna fans maybe need to quit begging for new material - if you don't have anything to say, just don't say anything.


#102. In Ferneaux by Blanck Mass

This one's a little hard to process. I mean, Blanck Mass' last record really made me a believer but to follow it up with an LP composed of two 20 minute tracks of ambient noise, sound clips, and intermittent post industrial synth is...unexpected at best. Astoundingly empty at worst. I mean it's not terrible, it's just not all that engaging. Hard to really categorize this as anything other than a sonic experiment mistakenly released as an LP.


#101. The Golden Casket by Modest Mouse

A trippy experiment in electro indie-pop, Modest Mouse feels musically lost here. Outside of "Wooden Soldiers", the lone stand out track, there's not much here beyond a strung out middle aged dude singing about how much he loves his daughters. Which is cool I guess, good for you, but this is nowhere near as profound as the work this group did 20 years ago. It's just kind of weird seeing bands like this that I listened to in high school, grow into literal dad rock. Maybe I shouldn't be so anxiously awaiting the new Arcade Fire album afterall...


#100. Tonight Turns To Nothing by Olivia Kaplan

I don't want to paint every female singer/songwriter with the broad brush of being a Phoebe Bridgers knock off, but there certainly seems to be a lot of similar sounding artists this year. Or producers trying to capitalize on Bridgers sound by replicating it. Olivia Kaplan actually sounds a tad more like Elliot Smith to be honest, but just isn't anywhere near his lyrically gifted (though in all fairness, few are) "Tonight Turns to Nothing" is a bare bones production that really could have benefited from some more involved instrumentation as the somber tone and slowly paced songs definitely drag on. Though there is sign of hope with the record's closing track "Temporary Thing", it's just too little too late for this release. Better luck next time Olivia.


#99. Daddy's Home by St. Vincent

The usually reliable St. Vincent delivers one of the most disappointing releases of the year with this tribute to her late father, "Daddy's Home". The songs themselves are fairly uninteresting on their own but when they're drug through so many unnecessary layers of muddy distortion, it becomes un-listenable at times. It sounds like she's trying to recreate T-Rex tracks from memory while overdosing on acid and drowning everything in phaser.


#98. Single Album by NoFX

I gotta say, earnest and somber Fat Mike is much less entertaining than sarcastic piss drunk Fat Mike. I applaud the group for still trying to take their well established formula into new territory but this doesn't quite have the bite or intrigue of their earlier work, no matter how it's delivered. But hopefully this doesn't keep them from trying new things. I'd rather hear something like this than trying to recreate their glory years like the majority of their aging punk rock brethren.


#97. Fake Ideas by Hurry

The latest LP from Hurry hits like a cotton ball falling on your bathroom floor. Which is to say, you probably wont even notice it happening. Hurry's inoffensive brand of indie-pop rock floats by rather effortlessly and without leaving much of an impression whatsoever. The hooks are way too flat to carry the collection of 4+ minute tracks as the entire record feels like filler.


#96. Culture III by Migos

The long awaited return of Atlanta trap rap trio, Migos, is even more repetitive than their last effort yet thankfully a touch shorter. Though it doesn't really feel like it. There are a couple of highlights sprinkled in (namely "Straightenin") but overall it's painfully mediocre and the worst Migos record to date. Well I guess until we get the inevitable Culture IV.


#95. Drunk Tank Pink by shame

It feels like 2020 may have been the year the post-punk revival jumped the shark. Now in 2021 we seem to be sifting through the dime store knock offs. Without the ingenuity or songwriting abilities of a Protomartyr or Ought, shame shuffles through familiar post-punk tropes without ever really piecing together something that hooks you in or stands out on it's own merit. It's passable as background music but once you start listening closer, there's not much personality or presence to be found. Just formulaic repetition. Well, except for "6/1", that track's not bad.


#94. Donda by Kanye West

After two months of delays and 3 live listening events, Kanye finally delivered the album he promised us over a year ago and unfortunately it's his most obnoxiously repetitive and long winded effort to date. At 27 tracks and 108 minutes long, Donda feels like a sloppy sketchbook of unfinished material rushed to the public without more than a handful of tracks that even resemble full songs. It's like he accidentally e-mailed his record label an entire draft folder before fine-tuning the end product. The album kicks off promising enough with the stand-out track, "Jail", but then we hit 14 straight fillers. It isn't until the second half of the record that we even feel like the introspective MC unveils himself before retreating with alternate takes of "Jail", "Ok ok", "Junya" and "Jesus Lord" to close out the underwhelming return of Yeezus and the most over hyped album of the year.


See where Donda ranks among Kanye West's entire discography here


#93. Van Weezer by Weezer

With a title like "Van Weezer" I was expecting some over the top stadium rock here, but this is pretty weak. More Van Hagar than Van Halen. "Beginning of the End" is an okay single but I feel like they really strained themselves trying to turn a song from the Bill and Ted 3 soundtrack into an entire album. "1 More Hit" delivers some particularly cringey lyrics but the lowlight (perhaps of their entire career) belongs to "Blue Dream" which finds Rivers superimposing new vocal melodies over the exact intro and verses of "Crazy Train". It's insanely bad. Seriously, listen to this shit. Click below.


#92. Future Suits by Pet Symmetry

Following up 2017's "Vision", Pet Symmetry returns with their 3rd LP which sadly boasts song titles that are much more memorable than the songs themselves. "Future Suits" lacks the energy and intensity of their sophomore effort and instead aims at experimenting with longer format power pop that isn't all that poppy or experimental. Just long.


#91. Gami Gang by Origami Angel

I didn't really dig Origami Angel's last record as much as most people seemed to, so it's no surprise that I found this bloated 20 track follow up even less impressive. The weird blend of easy-core pop punk and mall core metal breakdowns just doesn't do it for me. The success of their last record seems to have gone to their head a bit as well as they seem way too comfortable taking wild swings with absolutely no payoff. Hopefully this miss humbles them a bit but I'm sure a band with enough confidence to name their album after their #GAMIGANG of fans and dump out that turd of an album cover may be beyond reigning in at this point.


#90. For The First Time by Black Country, New Road

Another post-punk revivalist group who wears their influences on their sleeves and in some cases calls them out by name (no joke, "hey black midi!" is a real fucking lyric) in their laughably avant-garde vocals. The music itself is nothing groundbreaking by any means but it is more than adequate. The dense and calculated instrumentation almost makes up for the cringe-worthy vocals. Almost. There's promise here but it's not nearly the revolutionary breakthrough debut it's being sold as.


#89. The Thule Grimoires by The Ruins of Beverast

I know the vocals really shouldn't make or break a metal act but almost anytime the clean vocals cut through on "The Thule Grimoires", it takes me completely out of the experience. The music itself is a fairly interesting progression of triumphant doom metal (call it power sludge? Doom gaze?) Whatever you want to call it, it sounds like a meatier Deafheaven hybrid that meshes juxtaposed dark and light sounds. But again, the clean vocals are awful. Without them, I would have enjoyed this a great deal more but every time they creep in I'm tempted to turn it off.


#88. Piecing it Together by Free Throw

I keep hoping that Free Throw is on the cusp of redefining their sound with each new release but instead, it feels like they've been running out of gas since the moment they took off in 2014. "Piecing It Together" finds the group running on fumes, without a noteworthy single to be found, rather a collection of mid-tempo throwaway tracks. The group seems to be frustratingly incapable of growth, which is a shame considering the talent they displayed in their early years but it appears those days are gone (lol, get it?)


#87. Let Me Do One More by Illuminati Hotties

Illuminati Hotties have been a punk buzz band for quite some time now but this was the first time I dove into a full on record from them. And while I thought it was fine, there were moments where the melodies grew frustratingly repetitive (especially on "Protector" and "Cheap Shoes") and yet there's an insistence on taking unexpected turns. Like some kind of prog pop hybrid that wants to be disorientingly weird to try and compensate for how catchy they're trying to be? Didn't work for me.


#86. Chemtrails Over The Country Club by Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey has one of my favorite voices in pop music but her output is incredibly inconsistent. "Ultraviolence" is really the only start to finish great album in her catalog and "Chemtrails" just feels like a sleepy collection of NFR leftovers. Even Lana herself seems bored with her formulaic routine, as she cries out in the closing track "For Free", castigating the soul-less music industry and perhaps her own place within it. But even that's a cover so...


#85. Butterfly 3000 by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

On their 18th record released in the last 9 years (!?!?) KGLW has decided to take a stab at nu-psych synth pop this time around and once again I'm left admiring the ambition more than the end result. Not terrible but not all that interesting either. I wonder if these guys write any songs that they don't release?


#84. Laura Stevenson by Laura Stevenson

I've been trying to like Laura Stevenson for a long time now and with how promising the album starts on "State", I really thought this was going to be the one. But then the album drags on (and on) for what feels like forever. I checked my imaginary watch on a wrist that 's only worn freckles for the past 15 years several times. Come to think of it, my last watch was definitely a Burger King promo of some sort. I just can't remember if it was a Simpsons Movie tie-in or some kind of Star Wars collectable...what were we talking about? Oh fuck, there's still 6 more songs to go on this thing?!


#83. Crime and Punishment by Regional Justice Center

West Coast power violence outfit Regional Justice Center definitely bring the aggression on their sophomore LP but unfortunately it doesn't leave much of an impression once it's over. The production is incredibly flat which takes a lot of bite out of the proceedings but overall the songs are so similar I'm not sure it would've helped much. Nothing really stands out. It's like one of those fireworks that blows up and never has any kind of display. Just a large momentary bang that leaves everyone wondering if that was supposed to happen, or was it a dud?


#82. Death of a Cheerleader by Pom Pom Squad

The supposed source of Olivia Rodrigo's jilted cheerleader aesthetic (unless you believe Courtney Love's claim she was the one Rodrigo copied), Pom Pom Squad doesn't really bring much passed cheap costume gimmicks. "Red with Love" is definitely the standout track but it's proceeded by an entirely unnecessary cover of "Crimson + Clover" which kind of perfectly encapsulates the waste of potential this record is.


#81. Primordial Arcana by Wolves in the Throne Room

Wolves in the Throne Room is such a vicious fucking band name, they should not be allowed to be this boring. Like Whitesnake. They should not be allowed to call themselves Whitesnake. That's way too cool of a name to be wasted on that band. Okay, Wolves in the Throne Room isn't necessarily as tepid as Whitesnake but they're definitely feeling just as limited lately. Plus "Still of the Night" low key slaps.


#80. The Bronx IV by The Bronx

The Bronx have been rock-punk's unsung heroes for nearly 20 years now but this, their sixth full length effort, is certainly their weakest to date. "Watering the Well" sounds like a bad KISS ballad and the cheesy ass hook for "High Five" with lyrics like "up high - yeah right, down low - too slow" never should have made it out of the practice room. Even "Mexican Summer", which unsuccessfully tries to mix in the Bronx's mariachi alter ego, comes off forced and uninspired.


#79. By The Time I Get To Phoenix by Injury Reserve

From the second Injury Reserve's sophomore effort kicks off with it's 6 minute ambient intro - you can tell you're in for something a little different. It's a hella moody, highly experimental exploration of existential dread via glitch hop but personally I prefer my boundary pushing hip hop projects more in the vein of Death Grips than clipping. The record definitely has a vibe but unfortunately nothing that hits like "Jailbreak the Tesla" did.


#78. Disco! by MIKE

NYC rapper MIKE returns with a slightly more cohesive album experience than last year's "Weight of the World" but without the standout tracks his previous effort touted. MIKE's still got a lot of potential but he's yet to piece it all together for a solid record. Not terrible but definitely could be better.


#77. OK Human by Weezer

On Weezer's 13th full length record, Rivers Cuomo delivers a baroque bedroom pop rock opera about an alienated rockstar during a global lockdown. There are plenty of catchy melodies and signature Rivers lyricism but the album doesn't feel like it developed much passed Rivers locking himself in his studio with his piano. Sure, Cuomo has always been the driving force behind Weezer, but here it's hard to really even identify anyone else's input but his. The singular construct and nearly seamless transition from track to track almost makes the album indiscernible from itself and all too forgettable in the process. This feels like the seeds of a great Weezer album that never got the chance to grow into full bloom. Sadly though, it's still the best Weezer record in a decade and "All My Favorite Songs" might be their best single since "Island in the Sun".


View the Rest of the 2021 Year in Tiers Here:



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