Stereogum's 25 Great EPs from 2021
In all the years that we’ve been doing this list, 2021 is the first time that it seems like so many artists released multiple EPs over the course of the year, or released sequels that revisited ideas from previous EPs that they had put out. I don’t know why that is! Maybe the pandemic has got everyone’s attention span frazzled, or maybe the ever-present vinyl delays mean that artists are turning to the shortform while waiting for their long-players to eventually come out. Whatever the case may be, you’ll see quite a few sequels and Vols. 1 and/or 2 in this year’s list. There are also the requisite entries from hardcore barn-burners and up-and-coming bands that are just starting to prove themselves and a whole lot more in between.
As it has for the last few years, our 25 Great EPs list is an addendum to Stereogum’s 50 Best Albums Of 2021 list so that we can celebrate this year’s shorter releases and highlight a larger pool of music. We collectively voted on these as a staff, though I (James, hello) wrote about all of them and made the final decisions about what to include and exclude, which means that the results probably trend toward my tastes a bit more than a true consensus list might. That also means that the EPs list is not meant to be exhaustive and definitive — because of their very nature, EPs sometimes slip through the cracks. We encourage your picks in the comments below.
Read on for Stereogum’s list of 25 Great EPs From 2021, which are presented alphabetically.
Published: December 07, 2021 15:00
Source
Recorded By Jeff Barow at Barowtone Studios Mixed & Mastered by Wyatt Oberholzer
When *The Plugs I Met* dropped in June of 2019, Benny the Butcher was a promising if somewhat secondary member of the then-burgeoning Griselda Records empire. Upon the release of *The Plugs I Met 2*, composed with New York production stalwart Harry Fraud, he’s a certified star, so comfortable in his personal trajectory that’s he’s had the time—and resources—to launch BSF Records, a label comprising members of his Black Soprano Family crew. Save for Rick Hyde on “Survivor’s Remorse,” BSF is largely absent from *The Plugs I Met 2*, Benny having reserved the majority of the project’s guest spots for NYC rap legends French Montana, Fat Joe, Jim Jones, and the dearly departed Chinx. But no Griselda project is about the guests, and *The Plugs I Met 2* is no different in that regard, Benny painting vivid pictures of street life as he sees it. “For street n\*\*\*as I’m the new catalyst, but who fathomed it?/My heroes in federal sweatsuits and New Balances,” he raps on “When Tony Met Sosa.” The project on the whole is something akin to getting reps up in an empty gym: impressive, to be sure, but also exactly what we know he’s capable of.
Seven years after her 2014 debut, the mysterious New York producer returns with a wink and a four-pack of bright, bubbly club bangers that go just as hard on headphones when alone in the bedroom. Like her peers in PC Music, there’s a good deal of nostalgia embedded in Doss’ futurism, and for scenes that haven’t always gotten their electronic-music-snob dues (such as the night-drive anthem “Puppy,” which nods to early-’00s progressive house like deadmau5 and Kaskade). From the introverted tech-house of “Look” to the wallowy shoegaze of “Strawberry,” there’s a sense of longing that ties it all together—an ache that only a solo dance-floor session can heal.
