| 2021 |
| Margo Cilker Pohorylle | 4.0 |
| Dan Campbell Other People’s Lives | 3.0 |
| Kiely Connell Calumet Queen | 4.5 |
| Bent Knee Frosting | 4.0 |
| Sloppy Jane Madison | 5.0 |
| Emma Ruth Rundle Engine of Hell | 4.5 |
| Emily Scott Robinson American Siren | 5.0 |
| The War On Drugs I Don't Live Here Anymore | 4.0 |
| The World Is a Beautiful Place... Illusory Walls | 4.5 |
| Noah Gundersen A Pillar of Salt | 4.0 |
| Joshua Ray Walker See You Next Time | 4.0 |
| Keaton Henson Fragments EP | 4.1 |
| Shortly Dancer | 4.0 |
| The Felice Brothers From Dreams to Dust | 3.5 |
| Kacey Musgraves Star-Crossed | 3.0 |
| Trophy Scars Astral Pariah | 5.0 |
| Big Red Machine How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? | 4.0 |
| Indigo De Souza Any Shape You Take | 3.5 |
| Alejandro Aranda The Act of Forgiveness | 4.5 |
| Lorde Solar Power | 3.0 |
| Sturgill Simpson The Ballad of Dood and Juanita | 3.5 |
| James McMurtry The Horses and the Hounds | 4.0 |
| Bendigo Fletcher Fits of Laughter | 3.5 |
| Laura Stevenson Laura Stevenson | 4.0 |
| Foxing Draw Down the Moon | 4.0 |
| Needtobreathe Into The Mystery | 3.5 |
| Yola Stand For Myself | 3.5 |
| Joshua Ray Walker Glad You Made It | 4.0 |
| Voices is one of the most moving songs I?ve ever heard. More exposure needed on this guy, one my favorite voices in country music and just straight up one of my favorite lyricists |
| Adjy The Idyll Opus (I-VI) | 4.5 |
| Lucy Dacus Home Video | 3.5 |
| Amythyst Kiah Wary + Strange | 3.5 |
| Olivia Rodrigo Sour | 3.5 |
| Iosonouncane Ira | 3.5 |
| Amigo the Devil Born Against | 3.5 |
| Origami Angel Gami Gang | 4.5 |
| Glaswing Like Water on a Glass Table | 4.0 |
| Manchester Orchestra The Million Masks of God | 4.0 |
| The Armed Ultrapop | 3.5 |
| I had never heard of this band four hours ago, but have now read like 20 articles about them and I think they're my new favorite band. I should probably listen to their music at some point too. |
| Cory Hanson Pale Horse Rider | 4.0 |
| Flyte This Is Really Going To Hurt | 4.0 |
| Balmorhea The Wind | 3.5 |
| Flock of Dimes Head of Roses | 4.0 |
| Bryce Dessner, Australian String Quartet and Sydney Dance Co Impermanence/Disintegration | 4.5 |
| Kishi Bashi Emigrant | 4.0 |
| Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The LSO Promises | 4.0 |
| The Antlers Green to Gold | 4.0 |
| I could see why people would be underwhelmed by this, but it's exactly the album that I need for this moment. The Antlers focused completely on beauty with none of the anguish - Is it as exciting or interesting as their past work? No. But they set out to write "Sunday morning music" and did so masterfully |
| Ben Howard Collections from the Whiteout | 4.0 |
| Kali Masi Laughs | 3.5 |
| Middle Kids Today We're the Greatest | 3.0 |
| Dvne Etemen Ænka | 4.0 |
| Lana Del Rey Chemtrails Over The Country Club | 3.0 |
| This sounds very nice, but the lyrics are so out of touch that it?s laughable. Like there may be an audience out there right now for ?sad rich person escapism?, but I?m certainly not it. And with the way it?s delivered, I can?t even convince myself Lana is being ironic nor do I think she?s in on the joke. It all just feels kind of . . . Gross |
| Valerie June The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers | 4.5 |
| Leon III Antlers in Velvet | 4.0 |
| Julien Baker Little Oblivions | 4.5 |
| Wild Pink A Billion Little Lights | 3.5 |
| Cassandra Jenkins An Overview on Phenomenal Nature | 2.5 |
| Matt Heckler Blood, Water, Coal | 4.0 |
| Another Michael New Music And Big Pop | 3.0 |
| Aerial East Try Harder | 3.5 |
| Chuck Johnson The Cinder Grove | 3.5 |
| american poetry club do you believe in your heart?! | 4.0 |
| Hayley Williams FLOWERS for VASES / descansos | 3.5 |
| The Weather Station Ignorance | 3.0 |
| Pony Bradshaw Calico Jim | 3.5 |
| Typhoon (USA-OR) Sympathetic Magic | 3.5 |
| Glaswing I'm in the Checkout Line of My Life | 3.5 |
| Pearl Charles Magic Mirror | 3.5 |
| 2020 |
| Sturgill Simpson Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 2 | 4.5 |
| Taylor Swift Evermore | 3.5 |
| The Dangerous Summer All That Is Left of the Blue Sky | 3.5 |
| Overgrow Hear Your Voice Again | 4.0 |
| Manchester Orchestra Christmas Songs Vol. 1 | 3.0 |
| Lydia I Was Someone Else | 2.5 |
| Seahaven Halo of Hurt | 3.0 |
| Tired Lion Breakfast for Pathetics | 3.5 |
| ManDancing The Good Sweat | 4.5 |
| Chris Stapleton Starting Over | 4.0 |
| Sea Oleena Weaving A Basket | 4.0 |
| Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou May Our Chambers Be Full | 4.0 |
| Adrianne Lenker songs | 4.0 |
| Keaton Henson Monument | 5.0 |
| Sturgill Simpson Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 1 | 4.0 |
| Mary Lattimore Silver Ladders | 3.5 |
| Darlingside Fish Pond Fish | 4.0 |
| Touche Amore Lament | 4.0 |
| Crippled Black Phoenix Ellengaest | 4.0 |
| Drive-By Truckers The New OK | 3.5 |
| Bartees Strange Live Forever | 4.0 |
| Sufjan Stevens The Ascension | 4.5 |
| Bendrix Littleton Deep Dark South | 3.5 |
| The Menzingers From Exile | 3.5 |
| Lydia Loveless Daughter | 4.0 |
| Fleet Foxes Shore | 4.0 |
| Iress Flaw | 3.5 |
| Tyler Childers Long Violent History | 3.5 |
| Everything Everything RE-ANIMATOR | 4.0 |
| Wil Wagner Spiralling | 4.0 |
| Joshua Burnside Into the Depths of Hell | 4.0 |
| Ruston Kelly Shape and Destroy | 5.0 |
| Two People Second Body | 4.0 |
| Colter Wall Western Swing and Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs | 3.0 |
It's certainly good and unique for 2020, but once the unique qualities of his voice stop
catching you off guard, there's nothing that special about his music. "Big Iron" is fun
though |
| Needtobreathe Out Of Body | 4.0 |
| Samia The Baby | 4.5 |
| Siv Jakobsen A Temporary Soothing | 4.5 |
| One listen in and this is an AOTY contender. Really lush folk music with phenomenal lyrics and a stellar voice |
| H.C. McEntire Eno Axis | 3.0 |
| No Joy Motherhood | 3.5 |
| Young Jesus Welcome to Conceptual Beach | 3.5 |
| Orville Peck Show Pony | 4.0 |
| Jaye Jayle Prisyn | 3.0 |
| Taylor Swift Folklore | 3.5 |
| Courtney Marie Andrews Old Flowers | 3.5 |
| The Altogether Silo | 3.5 |
| Lianne La Havas Lianne La Havas | 3.5 |
| The Chicks Gaslighter | 3.5 |
| Dogwood Tales Closest Thing to Heaven | 4.0 |
| Margo Price That's How Rumors Get Started | 4.0 |
| Julianna Barwick Healing Is a Miracle | 3.5 |
| A.A. Williams Forever Blue | 3.5 |
| Geology Light of the Risen Year | 3.5 |
| Zachary Cale False Spring | 2.5 |
| Kyle Nix Lightning on the Mountain and Other Short Stories | 3.0 |
| AJIMAL As it Grows Dark/Light | 4.0 |
| Twain Days of Effort and Ease | 4.0 |
| Phoebe Bridgers Punisher | 4.5 |
| Leah Senior The Passing Scene | 3.5 |
| Gia Margaret Mia Gargaret | 4.5 |
| Dougie Poole The Freelancer's Blues | 2.5 |
| A pleasant enough twangy take on Father John Misty that is just a little too boring to actually be as entertaining as it wants to be. |
| Thomas Azier Love, Disorderly | 3.5 |
| ghost gnotes ghost gnotes | 3.0 |
| A long time contributor to other artists, ghost gnotes sees Luke Mossman take the lead on his own. The last four tracks create a breathtaking closing, but the five tracks that come before seem to be barely formed thoughts, let alone songs. |
| Christian Lee Hutson Beginners | 3.5 |
| Anchor and Braille Tension | 3.0 |
| Owen Pallett Island | 4.0 |
| Reckless Kelly American Jackpot / American Girls | 3.5 |
| Jason Isbell Reunions | 4.5 |
| Moses Sumney grae | 4.0 |
| Hayley Williams Petals for Armor | 3.5 |
| Zach Bryan Elisabeth | 3.5 |
| Gleemer Down Through | 3.0 |
| Brigid Mae Power Head Above the Water | 3.0 |
| Days N Daze Show Me The Blueprints. | 3.5 |
| Patch Sweet Blood | 3.0 |
| Other Lives For Their Love | 3.0 |
| Birds Of Tokyo Human Design | 1.5 |
| Andrew Judah Impossible Staircase | 3.5 |
| The Smith Street Band Don't Waste Your Anger | 3.5 |
| The White Buffalo On The Widow's Walk | 3.0 |
| Fiona Apple Fetch the Bolt Cutters | 4.5 |
| Pure Reason Revolution Eupnea | 4.0 |
| Red (USA) Declaration | 3.0 |
| All Time Low Wake Up, Sunshine | 3.0 |
This is fun af honestly. Even if Monster is incredibly cringy, you best believe 7th grade me would
be yelling along to thag chorus and thinking about seventh grade right now is kind of nice |
| Ashley McBryde Never Will | 3.5 |
| A really phenomenal (if slightly overproduced) mainstream country offering. Hooks for days, great vocals and lyrics, and some interesting ideas. "Hang In There Girl" may be one of the SOTY. On the other end, the closer is one of the worst songs I've ever heard and lowers this whole score by at least .5. It's an ode to styrofoam and is worse than that sounds |
| Sorry 925 | 3.5 |
| Nicolas Jaar Cenizas | 3.5 |
| Waxahatchee Saint Cloud | 3.5 |
| Clem Snide Forever Just Beyond | 3.0 |
| Jesse Daniel Rollin' On | 4.0 |
| Matt Elliott Farewell to All We Know | 4.0 |
| Errance Fracture | 4.0 |
| The Weeknd After Hours | 3.5 |
| Empty Country Empty Country | 3.5 |
| Ian William Craig Red Sun Through Smoke | 4.5 |
| The Districts You Know I'm Not Going Anywhere | 2.5 |
| JFDR New Dreams | 4.5 |
| Dogleg Melee | 2.5 |
| The Garden Kiss My Super Bowl Ring | 3.0 |
| Caitlyn Smith Supernova | 3.0 |
| Brandy Clark Your Life Is A Record | 3.0 |
| Hot Mulligan You'll Be Fine | 3.5 |
| Nadia Reid Out of My Province | 2.5 |
| Snarls Burst | 3.5 |
| Caroline Rose Superstar | 3.0 |
| Honey Harper Starmaker | 4.5 |
| The Amazing Devil The Horror and the Wild | 3.5 |
| Hailey Whitters The Dream | 3.5 |
| Soccer Mommy Color Theory | 3.0 |
| Ismay Songs of Sonoma Mountain | 5.0 |
| Moses Sumney grae: Part 1 | 4.5 |
| Agnes Obel Myopia | 3.5 |
| King Krule Man Alive! | 3.0 |
| Katie Pruitt Expectations | 4.5 |
| The Wonder Years Burst & Decay (Volume II) | 4.0 |
| Zack Villere Cardboard City | 3.0 |
| Tyson Motsenbocker Someday I’ll Make it All Up to You | 3.0 |
| Katie Gately Loom | 3.5 |
| Spanish Love Songs Brave Faces Everyone | 4.0 |
| John Moreland LP5 | 3.5 |
| Aubrie Sellers Far From Home | 3.0 |
| Hayley Williams Petals For Armor I | 3.0 |
| Nightmare Puppy Nara Nara Voltsong For Shower | 4.0 |
| Drive-By Truckers The Unraveling | 3.5 |
| Bonny Light Horseman Bonny Light Horseman | 3.5 |
| Pinegrove Marigold | 3.5 |
| Mora Mothaus Overture To A Dream | 4.0 |
| 2019 |
| Harry Styles Fine Line | 3.8 |
| Silicone Boone The Reaches | 5.0 |
| Coldplay Everyday Life | 3.0 |
| Origami Angel Somewhere City | 3.5 |
| Emily Jane White Immanent Fire | 3.5 |
| FKA Twigs Magdalene | 4.5 |
| Greet Death New Hell | 3.5 |
| Luke Combs What You See Is What You Get | 3.0 |
| Michael Kiwanuka Kiwanuka | 4.0 |
| Grace Cummings Refuge Cove | 4.0 |
| Great Grandpa Four of Arrows | 4.0 |
| Keaton Henson Six Lethargies | 4.5 |
| Henson goes full classical, comprising orchestral suites. The payoff is absolutely magnificent, if one can set a side the slight disappointment that it's not another of his brilliant folk albums |
| Yeule Serotonin II | 3.5 |
| Rex Orange County Pony | 3.5 |
| Dream State Primrose Path | 3.5 |
| From Indian Lakes Dimly Lit | 3.5 |
| I made it through this twice without even realizing I was on the second listen. Very easy to get lost in, which is a good thing, but pretty homogenous, which is rough when it's an hour long. |
| Jimmy Eat World Surviving | 4.0 |
| Patrick Watson Wave | 3.0 |
| Sufjan Stevens & Timo Andres The Decalogue | 4.0 |
| Foals Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 2 | 3.0 |
| Common Holly When I say to you Black Lightning | 4.5 |
| Big Thief Two Hands | 3.5 |
| Cursive Get Fixed | 4.0 |
| Bent Knee You Know What They Mean | 4.0 |
| The Menzingers Hello Exile | 4.0 |
| Angel Olsen All Mirrors | 3.5 |
| Rival Town Useless Hands | 3.0 |
| Wilco Ode to Joy | 3.5 |
| Bayside Interrobang | 4.5 |
| Not a second of filler on this and immensely air guitar worthy. What more do you need? |
| Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Ghosteen | 4.0 |
| Chromatics Closer to Grey | 3.5 |
| Kim Petras TURN OFF THE LIGHT | 3.5 |
| Sturgill Simpson Sound and Fury | 4.0 |
| The Early November Lilac | 3.5 |
| Zac Brown Band The Owl | 1.0 |
| What happened to them? Please go listen to Uncaged, it's legitimately a great album. |
| Darrin Bradbury Talking Dogs and Atom Bombs | 4.5 |
| Jenny Hval The Practice of Love | 4.5 |
| I have no idea what I'm listening to or how to rate it. But I love it. It's like narration for a really cool amusement park ride about the future |
| Alex G House Of Sugar | 4.0 |
| Chelsea Wolfe Birth of Violence | 3.5 |
| Blood Cultures Oh Uncertainty! A Universe Despairs | 4.5 |
| Tiny Moving Parts Breathe | 3.5 |
| This is a really solid pop punk album, but not a solid Tiny Moving Parts album. They changed up their sound and did it really well, but now it doesn't really stand out from any other album in the same genre. Couple of strong highlights though (Vertebrae, Polar Bear) |
| Microwave Death is a Warm Blanket | 3.0 |
| The Highwomen The Highwomen | 4.5 |
| Bat For Lashes Lost Girls | 3.0 |
| Moments of brilliance, but a lot of songs don?t know when to end. Makes the moments a whole lot less memorable. Opening and closing tracks are great though |
| Sandro Perri Soft Landing | 3.5 |
| Lana Del Rey Norman Fucking Rockwell! | 4.5 |
| Whitney Forever Turned Around | 3.0 |
| Future Teens Breakup Season | 3.5 |
| Wonder Years with an emphasis on the poppier side of pop punk. Dual female/male vocalists, but it almost sounds like two different (but good) eps on shuffle instead of one coherent album. |
| Zach Bryan DeAnn | 4.5 |
| Taylor Swift Lover | 4.0 |
| Oso Oso Basking in the glow | 3.5 |
| Off With Their Heads Be Good | 4.0 |
| Frank Turner No Man's Land | 4.0 |
| Some beautiful storytelling on here. I?m not familiar with the past work, so take this with a grain of salt, but very enjoyable British Folk |
| We Are Only Human Once The Prettiest Boys in Town | 3.5 |
| Noah Gundersen Lover | 3.5 |
| This is not an immediate cover album of the new T-Swift album, much to my chagrin |
| Frog Count Bateman | 4.0 |
| Shura forevher | 3.5 |
| Marika Hackman Any Human Friend | 3.0 |
| Bon Iver i,i | 4.5 |
| Sparrows Failed Gods | 4.0 |
| Mike and the Moonpies Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold | 4.5 |
| Skillet Victorious | 1.5 |
| Tyler Childers Country Squire | 4.0 |
| bad heaven ltd Strength | 3.5 |
| Penny and Sparrow Finch | 4.0 |
| Chance the Rapper The Big Day | 2.0 |
| Wolves at the Gate Eclipse | 3.0 |
| Lisel Angels on the Slope | 3.5 |
| Meg and Dia Happysad | 3.5 |
| Sunsleeper You Can Miss Something and Not Want It Back | 4.0 |
| Horse Jumper of Love So Divine | 3.5 |
| Prince Daddy and The Hyena Cosmic Thrill Seekers | 4.0 |
| The Appleseed Cast The Fleeting Light of Impermanence | 4.0 |
| Sebastian Field Picture Stone | 4.0 |
| Hatchie Keepsake | 3.5 |
| Air Review How We Got By | 4.5 |
| State Faults Clairvoyant | 4.5 |
| Telethon Hard Pop | 4.0 |
| Bill Callahan Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest | 4.0 |
| The Dangerous Summer Mother Nature | 4.0 |
| Mike Adams at His Honest Weight There Is No Feeling Better | 4.0 |
| Thank You Scientist Terraformer | 4.0 |
| Bad Books III | 4.0 |
| Cat Clyde Hunters Trance | 3.5 |
| Ian Noe Between The Country | 4.0 |
| Remo Drive Natural, Everyday Degradation | 2.0 |
| Kishi Bashi Omoiyari | 4.5 |
| Her Name Is Calla Animal Choir | 4.5 |
| Stuck Out Here Until We're Each Someone Else | 4.5 |
| This is everything I wanted from the new Menzingers. And I loved the new Menzingers |
| Fire! Orchestra Arrival | 4.5 |
| Glass Beach The First Glass Beach Album | 4.0 |
| Tyler, the Creator IGOR | 3.5 |
| Kurt Travis There's a Place I Want to Take You | 3.5 |
| The National I Am Easy to Find | 4.0 |
| Narco Debut Strange and Ever - Changing Depths | 4.0 |
| Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties Routine Maintenance | 5.0 |
| WDHEO sounded like a stripped down Wonder Years with ornamental instrumentation (which isn?t a bad thing). Routine Maintenance sees Aaron West creating his own sound and continuing the narrative in a beautiful way. |
| Matt Kivel last night in america | 3.5 |
| Holly Herndon PROTO | 3.5 |
| Toth Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help | 3.0 |
| Bounds of Modesty The Family We Choose | 4.0 |
| Big Thief U.F.O.F. | 4.0 |
| Vampire Weekend Father Of The Bride | 2.5 |
| Courtney Swain Between Blood and Ocean | 5.0 |
| Genuine AOTY contender. Intensely creative, emotionally battering, immense vocals, dark subject matter, and incredibly cohesive. Insanely blown away by this |
| Local Natives Violet Street | 4.0 |
| Craig Finn I Need a New War | 4.5 |
| The Tallest Man on Earth I Love You. It's a Fever Dream. | 4.5 |
| Kayak Jones You Swear It's Getting Better Every Day | 4.5 |
| Yes We Mystic Ten Seated Figures | 4.0 |
| Glen Hansard This Wild Willing | 4.0 |
| In Her Own Words Steady Glow | 4.0 |
| The title track is one of the best mid-tempo pop-punk songs I?ve ever heard. Super promising pop-punk band with an amazing vocalist, almost a mix of Mayday Parade and The Wonder Years. A little hampered by production washing things out. |
| Mike Mains and The Branches When We Were In Love | 4.0 |
| PUP Morbid Stuff | 4.0 |
| Kings Kaleidoscope Zeal | 3.5 |
| Weyes Blood Titanic Rising | 3.5 |
| The Maine You Are OK | 4.0 |
| Laura Stevenson The Big Freeze | 4.0 |
| Simple Creatures Strange Love | 2.0 |
| Owel Paris | 4.5 |
| Low Dose Low Dose | 3.5 |
| Billie Eilish When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? | 4.0 |
| La Dispute Panorama | 4.5 |
| American Football American Football (LP3) | 4.0 |
| Orville Peck Pony | 5.0 |
| Benjamin Francis Leftwich Gratitude | 2.0 |
| Buffalo Wabs and the Price Hill Hustle Stranger in the Alps | 4.0 |
| Foals Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 1 | 3.5 |
| Stella Donnelly Beware of the Dogs | 4.0 |
| Holding Absence Holding Absence | 3.5 |
| Marianas Trench Phantoms | 3.5 |
| The Japanese House Good At Falling | 3.5 |
| Mat Kerekes Ruby | 3.5 |
| Badflower OK, I’M SICK | 4.0 |
| The Gloaming The Gloaming 3 | 4.0 |
| Yola Walk Through Fire | 3.5 |
| Emily Scott Robinson Traveling Mercies | 4.5 |
| Copeland Blushing | 5.0 |
| Jessica Pratt Quiet Signs | 3.5 |
| 55 Deltic You Could Own An American Home | 3.5 |
| Watchhouse Tides of a Teardrop | 3.5 |
| The Western Den A Light Left On | 3.5 |
| Lula Wiles What Will We Do | 3.5 |
| William Tyler Goes West | 4.0 |
| Hypnotizing post-Americana. Beautifully mellow, but still manages to draw you in. |
| Puppy The Goat | 3.5 |
| Joshua Ray Walker Wish You Were Here | 3.5 |
| Say Anything Oliver Appropriate | 2.0 |
| Better Oblivion Community Center Better Oblivion Community Center | 4.0 |
| Sarah McCoy Blood Siren | 4.0 |
| Sharon Van Etten Remind Me Tomorrow | 4.0 |
| The Twilight Sad It Won/t Be Like This All the Time | 3.5 |
| Buke and Gase Scholars | 2.5 |
| Two People First Body | 4.0 |
| Angelo De Augustine Tomb | 3.5 |
| Jangula Ataraxia | 3.0 |
