Tune Of The Day: Best Of 2021

We all know that 2021 was slightly better than the horrible year 2020 in so many ways!

So now we want to show you some of the positive things that happened, where you as a reader all made an impact, great comments, nice emails even a few text and phone calls. As always in December we get into the tedious task of listing our favorite albums of the year. You have seen them all now, a total summary can be read below. So that you know it was really hard to make that final list, the bands have changed the position more than once, but hey “a man gotta do what a man gotta do”. I know I have excluded many good releases, as far as I can see is that the box with Vinyl with unplayed records are more than full, so there are two boxes now, shame on me, well...I have managed to buy a lot of "Second Hand" records. So most new ones have actually gotten one or more laps so the play time has increased alot lately, which has been a lot of fun and educational. Thinking mostly about that extravagance to try other styles and learn more about it. Has been a lot of Jazz and African music lately, privately, has not played that much over here, maybe some will come here of what I found that will suit this forum.

It’s also the time for me to do a little retrospective of this year for me and Tune Of The Day.

We reached 501 followers on Facebook, same as last year, got a few more but lost the same amounth so here we are at the magic number 501, but hey I wish it would be more, so hit like for god's sake. We have made a little over 5179 posts (Yesterday), that's pretty much, but it's since the start in 2007 I guess it's pretty valid. 3384506 hits on the site, cruel! Have added 2156 tunes to the Tune Of The Day playlist on Spotify, which means 160 hrs 41 min play time, haha. And yes I have been pretty lazy to update Spotify with the latest tune, will fix it soon, I promise.

2021 has been an okey year work-wise, only a few projects have been done, a few concerts and tv shows but no festivals, no travels, no hotels, no buses, no trains, etc. No photo of the years working "passes" will be added, only got a few so not much to show.

My biggest aim for 2021 was to get some work and so I did, pretty similar to the previous one, but this is more game based, kinda cool even if Im not a gamer.

Some thoughts about the Top 50 album list. First of all, I have to say that a physical copy of the album is a requirement for joining the list, no record no place on the list. And as I only play Vinyl can make things hard for some band to even get a position, but these days most bands release their creations on the only format.

2021’s lineup is very strong on its own. Many great releases, from successful bands to new discoveries on the musical map. Here is the full lineup. 12 of them are Swedish :)

Tune Of The Day - Top 50 - 2020

50 DINOSAUR JR - ”Sweep It Into Space”
49 PART CHIMP - ”Drool”
48 THE NIGHTFLIGHT ORCHESTRA - ”Aeromantic II”
47 AYRON JONES - ”Child Of The State”
46 JOSE GONZALEZ - ”Local Valley”
45 GREENLEAF - ”Echoes From A Mass”
44 THE BLACK HEART DEATH CULT - ”Sonic Mantras”
43 KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - ”Butterfly 3000”
42 ALASTOR - ”Onwards And Downwards”
41 NEIL YOUNG - ”Barn”

40 ROYAL BLOOD - ”Typhoons”
39 GENGHIS TRON - ”Dream Weapon”
38 WOLVES IN HAZE - ”Chaos Reigns”
37 V**GRA BOYS - ”Welfare Jazz”
36 LEPROUS – ”Aphelion”
35 DEWOLFF - ”Wolffpack”
34 THY CATAFALQUE - ”Vadak”
33 NIGHT BEATS - ”Outlaw R&B”
32 KHEMMIS - ”Deceiver”
31 FOO FIGHTERS - ”Medicine At Midnight”

30 FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES - ”Sticky”
29 ACCEPT - ”Too Mean To Die”
28 JESS AND THE ANCIENT ONES - ”Vertigo”
27 HÄXMÄSTAREN - ”Sol I Exil”
26 HORNDAL - ”Lake Drinker”
25 DREAM THEATER - ”A View From The Top Of The World”
24 DEAFHEAVEN – ”Infinite Granite”
23 IRON MAIDEN - ”Senjutsu”
22 NICK CAVE – ”Carnage”
21 CONVERGE & CHELSEA WOLFE - ”Bloodmoon: I”

20 MONOLORD - ”Your Time To Shine”
19 ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS - ”Raise The Roof”
18 LUCIFER – ”Lucifer IV”
17 KING BUFFALO – ”The Burden Of Restlessness”
16 MDOU MOCTAR - ”Afrique Victime”
15 THE BLACK KEYS - ”Delta Kream”
14 DOMKRAFT - ”Seeds”
13 SONS OF KEMET - ”Black To The Future”
12 TURNSTILE - ”Glow On”
11 GOJIRA – ”Fortitude”

10 GRETA VAN FLEET - ”Battle At Gardens Gate”
09 PSYCHLONA - ”Venus Skytrip”
08 AMIGO THE DEVIL – ”Born Against”
07 CHEVELLE - "Niratias"
06 THÅSTRÖM - ”Dom Som Skiner”
05 AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS – ”Comfort To Me”
04 CIVIC - ”Future Forecast”
03 GREEN LUNG - ”Black Harvest”
02 MASTODON - ”Hushed & Grim”
01 TRIBULATION - ”Where The Gloom Becomes Sound”

Honorable mentions:
THE WAR ON DRUGS - ”I Don’t Live Here Anymore”, RED FANG – ”Arrows”, 1914 – ”Where Fear And Weapons Meet”, EYEHATEGOD - ”A History Of Nomadic Behavior”, IDLES – ”Crawler”, WHEEL - ”Preserved In Time”, XIXA - ”Genesis”, SOEN - ”Imperial”, EVERY TIME I DIE – ”Radical”, SPRITIBOX - ”Eternal Blue”, EMMA RUTH RUNDLE - ”Engine Of Hell”, DEMON HEAD - ”Viscera”, Wormwood - ”Arkivet”, ARAB STRAP - ”As Days Get Dark”, STEVEN WILSON – ”The Future Bites”, THUNDER - ”All The Right Noises”, KING WOMAN – ”Celestial Blues”, HELLOWEEN - ”Helloween”, BLACKBERRY SMOKE - ”You Hear Georgia”, ALICE COOPER - Detroit Stories”, FEAR FACTORY - ”Aggression Continuum”, SHAME - ”Drunk Tank Pink”, MELVINS - ”Working With God”, RISE AGAINST - ”Nowhere Generation”, GARBAGE - ”No Gods No Masters”, WARDRUNA – ”Kvitravn”, KING BUFFALO – ”Acheron”, RIVERS OF NIHIL - ”The Work”, ISRAEL NASH – ”Topaz”, MONO - ”Pilgrimage Of The Soul”, HERE LIES MAN - ”Ritual Divination”, MATT BERRY - ”The Blue Elephant”, DARKSIDE - ”Spiral”, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM – ”Primordial Arcana”, MINISTRY – ”Moral Hygiene”, TOMAHAWK - ”Tonic Immobility”, STYX - ”Crash Of The Crown”, VOLA - 'Witness’, MAMMOTH WVH - ”Mammoth WVH”, BIZARREKULT - ”Vi Överlevde, FLOATING POINTS, PHAROAH SANDERS & THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - ”Promises”, MOGWAI - ”As the Love Continues”, MOJOTHUNDER - ”Hymns From The Electric Church”, THE PRETTY RECKLESS - ”Death By Rock And Roll”, DOCTOR SMOKE - ”Dreamers And The Dead”, THE DUST CODA - ”Mojo Skyline”.

Haha, that was a long list of Honours, but all these are excellent ones that never got enough attention and just slipped out from the list, a few of the albums that have been played on the digital media but never really got a chance to get a spin on the real media "Vinyl" and still stands on high heels in the box on the floor, and a bunch of them are still on my "to-buy" list and wait that the account is filled up to be ready to be bought, sorry guys if my rules are tough, but rules are rules even if you have made them yourself.

Regarding albums, yes, I am still using the best tool for my records "Discogs", I just love it!! But hey, it's pretty dangerous surfing around, always ends with a newly purchased record. Even if my best friend "Discogs" is around, I still have bought a few records twice, or even three times bah! And even if this has been a really shitty year, many records have entered my home during 2021. How many, well we keep that as a secret, I think that's the best way to do it, as I know deep inside that I have burned my budget more than once already :)

I have spent 113 167 minutes with Spotify, haha spend more time with Spotify than my wife! MAGAZINE and THIN LIZZY are my best pal. That overruns the Vinyl spins a lot. But hey, music is my life.

Here is the list of my top tunes 2021, check it up. "Top Albums Of 2021 " Here are my top albums for the year 2021. A mixed bag of all kinds of music that I hope you will enjoy!

Best Album 2021

TRIBULATION - ”Where The Gloom Becomes Sound”

Best Swedish Sludge Metal/Hardcore Album

HORNDAL - ”Lake Drinker”

Best Swedish Rock

THÅSTRÖM - ”Dom Som Skiner”

Best Swedish Stoner/Doom/Heavy Rock Album

DOMKRAFT - ”Seeds”

Best Progressive Metal Album

MASTODON - ”Hushed & Grim”

Best Swedish Hard Rock Album

LUCIFER – ”Lucifer IV”

Best Black/Core/Melodic/Death Metal Album

GOJIRA – ”Fortitude”

Best Blues Rock Album

AMIGO THE DEVIL – ”Born Against”

Best Hard Rock/Prog Rock Album

GREEN LUNG - ”Black Harvest”

Best Punk Rock Album

CIVIC - ”Future Forecast”

Best Doom/Stoner Rock Album

KING BUFFALO – ”The Burden Of Restlessness”

Best Classic Hardrock Album

IRON MAIDEN - ”Senjutsu”

Best Live Album

ARETHA FRANKLIN - Oh Me Oh My: Aretha Live In Philly, 1972

Best Mixed Style Album

MDOU MOCTAR - ”Afrique Victime”

Best Boxset

NICK CAVE - "B-Sides & Rarities"

Best Recommendation

DEAD FINKS - "The Death And Resurrection Of Jonathan Cowboy"

Best Singer-Songwriter

NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS – ”Carnage”

Best Blues

SLIM HARPO - "Baby Scratch My Back"

Best Country/Americana

ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS - ”Raise The Roof”

Best Jazz

Various - Jazz Dispensary: "The Dank D-Funk Blend Vol. 2"

Best Worldmusic

FELA KUTI - "Open & Close"

Best Avantgarde

THY CATAFALQUE - "Vadak"

Best Compilation

Various - "Indaba Is"

Best Reggae

STEEL PULSE - "True Democracy"

Best Pop

LORDE – "Solar Power"

Best Classical

LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI - "The Sound Of Stokowski And Wagner"

Best Japanese

TEKE TEKE - "Shirushi"

Best Psych Rock

NIGHT BEATS – "Outlaw R&B"

Best Fusion Rock

STEELY DAN - "Two Against Nature"

Best Electronic

COIL - "Love's Secret Domain"

Best Tune 2021

THÅSTRÖM feat TITIYO - Papperstunna Väggar

Best Cover

Black Pumas - "Fast Car"

Best Debut Album

SPIRITBOX - "Eternal Blue"

Best Surprise Album 2021

CIVIC - ”Future Forecast”

A kick-ass album that you need to get!

Best Reissue

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue

Worst Album 2021

MAROON 5 - "Jordi"

A cheesy pop, not my cup of tea, sorry guys! But the cover artwork is brilliant.

Best Female Vocal Performance:

Emma Ruth Rundle

Best Male Vocal Performance:

Nick Cave

Best Festival 2021

Non

Best Live Show - 2021

CANDLEMASS at Södra Teatern Stockholm

A show that have to move serval time during Covid.

But the show was amazing, the only one I have seen in private during 2021.

Best Color Album Cover Art

VILLAGERS - "Fever Dreams"

Artwork by Paul Phillips

Best Black & White Album Cover Art

MASTODON - "Hushed And Grim"

Cover art by Paul Romano

Best Tour Poster - FOO FIGHTERS

Concert poster for the band's Sept. 15 performance at the St. Joe's Amp in Syracuse. Artwork created by 1000styles.

Best Art 2021 - "One Open Heart" by Karin Holmström

Amazing work!

Best T-Shirt 2021 - TOAD VENOM

Borrowed my buddy Linus's picture. A band, experimenting the void between spaghetti western and psychedelic rock. Trying new recipes such as mixing pasta with lysergic acid diethylamide, cacti with psilocybin and the pretentious nuons are just pouring down!

Best Serie

Lupin

Best Rum

The Kraken Rum is dark and mysterious as the beast it-self; we have gathered some information about this rum Spiced thanks to the few survivors of the Kraken’s attack!

Best Beer

Peroni Gluten Free

Peroni's Italian brew masters have perfected a new gluten-free recipe for Italy's most iconic beer - without compromising on taste.

Best Musical Blog/VC/Site

Vinyl Richie

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6IUI8Epkpqph-mafBUnbsw

This Year's most "in-active" concert-goer: LG-Petrov (Same procedure as every year, but this time has lost his battle against cancerand left us, Fuck Cancer!)

Best Musical Country 2021 - Australia

From a faltering vaccine rollout to the stop-start journey back to concerts, 2021 has been an exhausting rollercoaster that no one wants to relive – and Australia has been under lockdown for a long time now. But somehow music vise the country has a really broad spectrum, with album released with bands like the thrash metal band KING GIZZARD & THE LIZZARD WIZARDS, punk rockers CIVIC and AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS, hard rock AC/DC, rockers WOLFMOTHER, the progressive rockers NE OBLIVISCARIS and COURTNEY BARNETT among many others.