Norman Records' Top 50 Albums of 2021

Our picks of the best new albums and reissues of 2021.

Source

# 1

Fire by The Bug

Album • Aug 27 / 2021 Grime UK Bass Dubstep

# 2

Promises by Floating Points + Pharoah Sanders

Album • Mar 26 / 2021 Post-Minimalism Third Stream

# 3

HEY WHAT by Low

Album • Sep 10 / 2021 Post-Industrial Ambient Pop Experimental Rock

# 4

Fir Wave by Hannah Peel

Album • Mar 26 / 2021 Ambient Electronic IDM

# 5

Always Inside Your Head by Lone

Album • Oct 29 / 2021 Breakbeat

# 6

SINNER GET READY by Lingua Ignota

Album • Aug 06 / 2021 Neoclassical Darkwave Avant-Folk

# 7

Interim Report, March 1979 by Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan

Album • Feb 26 / 2021 Ambient Progressive Electronic

# 8

G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END! by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Album • Apr 02 / 2021 Post-Rock

# 9

Sound Ancestors by Madlib

Album • Jan 29 / 2021 Instrumental Hip Hop

# 10

A Beginner's Mind by Sufjan Stevens + Angelo De Augustine

Album • Sep 24 / 2021 Indie Folk

# 11

Urban Driftwood by Yasmin Williams

Album • Jan 29 / 2021 Contemporary Folk

# 12

The Alias Sessions by Murcof

Album • May 21 / 2021 Dark Ambient

# 13

Reflection by Loraine James

Album • Jun 04 / 2021 UK Bass IDM

# 14

The Witness by SUUNS

Album • Sep 03 / 2021 Art Rock

# 15

An Overview on Phenomenal Nature by Cassandra Jenkins

Album • Feb 19 / 2021 Singer-Songwriter

# 16

Flock by Jane Weaver

Album • Mar 05 / 2021 Psychedelic Pop Art Pop Indietronica

# 17

Welfare Jazz by Viagra Boys

Album • Jan 08 / 2021 Post-Punk Art Punk

# 18

Ookii Gekkou by Vanishing Twin

Album • Oct 15 / 2021 Neo-Psychedelia Psychedelic Pop Progressive Pop

# 19

Celestial Blues by King Woman

Album • Jul 30 / 2021 Atmospheric Sludge Metal Doom Metal

# 20

Gas Lit by Divide And Dissolve

Album • Jan 29 / 2021 Drone Metal

# 21

BLACK METAL 2 by Dean Blunt

Album • Jun 11 / 2021 Art Pop

# 22

Soft Bonds by Insides

Album • Jan 15 / 2021 Ambient Pop Dream Pop

# 23

Afrique Victime by Mdou Moctar

Album • May 21 / 2021 Tishoumaren Psychedelic Rock

# 24

Blue Alibi by Mica Levi

Album • Jan 27 / 2021 Hypnagogic Pop

# 25

Intermittent Damnation by Ona Snop

Album • Dec 18 / 2020 Thrashcore Powerviolence

# 26

Sympathy for Life by Parquet Courts

Album • Oct 22 / 2021 Post-Punk Indie Rock

# 27

Course In Fable by Ryley Walker

Album • Apr 02 / 2021 Progressive Folk Singer-Songwriter

# 28

Open Arms to Open Us by Ben LaMar Gay

Album • Nov 19 / 2021 Nu Jazz Art Pop

# 29

Cavalcade by black midi

Album • May 26 / 2021 Avant-Prog

# 30

Orange Synthetic by Cobalt Chapel

Album • Jan 29 / 2021 Neo-Psychedelia Psychedelic Pop

# 31

Quivering In Time by Eris Drew

Album • Oct 29 / 2021 Breakbeat Deep House

# 32

Henki by Richard Dawson + Circle

Album • Nov 26 / 2021 Progressive Rock Art Rock

# 33

Lover's Walk by David Boulter

Album • Jun 18 / 2021

# 34

Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz

Album • Sep 03 / 2021 UK Hip Hop Conscious Hip Hop

# 35

Entangled Routes by Pye Corner Audio

Album • Nov 26 / 2021 Progressive Electronic

# 36

Valentine by Snail Mail

Album • Nov 05 / 2021 Indie Rock Indie Pop

# 37

Commutator by CZN

Album • May 31 / 2021 Ambient Dub Tribal Ambient

# 38

Antiphonals by Sarah Davachi

Album • Sep 10 / 2021 Ambient

# 39

Fünf by Dalham

EP • Nov 19 / 2021

# 40

Space 1.8 by Nala Sinephro

Album • Sep 03 / 2021 Nu Jazz Avant-Garde Jazz

# 41

Vital by Big Brave

Album • Apr 23 / 2021 Post-Metal Drone Metal

# 42

Garbology by Aesop Rock + Blockhead

Album • Nov 12 / 2021 Abstract Hip Hop

# 43

If the Ceiling Were a Kite: Vol. 1 by April Magazine

Album • Oct 08 / 2021 Slowcore

# 44

Manger on McNichols by Boldy James + Sterling Toles

Album • Jul 22 / 2020 Jazz Rap Gangsta Rap Conscious Hip Hop

# 45

Lunar Tredd by Fimber Bravo

Album • Mar 19 / 2021

# 46

Painful Enlightenment by Jana Rush

Album • Aug 13 / 2021 Footwork Juke

# 47

Day By Day by White Flowers

Album • Jun 11 / 2021 Dream Pop

# 48

Watch Out! by I. JORDAN

EP • May 07 / 2021 Breakbeat

# 49

Ways of Hearing by The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick

Album • Oct 30 / 2020 Slowcore

# 50

A Diabolic Thirst by Spectral Wound

Album • Apr 16 / 2021 Black Metal