Welcome back to RIFF’s year-end album roundup! If you’re joining us just now, you’re here early enough to catch up on Part one.

Like the rest of our massive seven-part series, Part 2 is as musically diverse as West Oakland, which might explain why Weezer and Diana Ross appear alongside Femi and Made Kuti (if you don’t know much about Fela Kuti, here’s your chance to learn), as well as San Francisco’s ZHU. My Morning Jacket lives here, as do Bleachers. Let’s get into it!

95. Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney

Superwolves – Drag City – David Gill

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy has been sending musical missives from the emotional lowlands of the alt-country scene for almost 30 years. Matt Sweeney has been a guitar player’s guitar hero for just as long. The duo has teamed up again on the follow-up to 2005’s Superwolf. The duo has better chemistry than Walter White and Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad. The most recent collaboration, which began as almost everything in 2020 did—remotely—sets Will Oldham’s winsome lyrics against Sweeney’s guitar playing, which runs the gamut from understated to virtuosic. The result is a triumph of troubador-ism, a lilting and sad album that sparkles with seasoned musicianship.

94. Hand Habits

Fun House – Saddle Creek – Red Dziri

Fun House is Hand Habits’ (aka Meg Duffy) most recent attempt at externalizing a long process of introspection. They already started shedding light on how they continually assemble and rearrange parts of themselves in their dirt EP earlier this year. Fun House sees them join forces with Sasami Ashworth and Kyle Thomas of King Tuff once again to craft a heftier dose of ecclesiastical folk pop. The team manages to render sacred the mundane, past, present and future alike. Few albums this year are as intimate and simultaneously inviting as this one. Rich in texture, this new body of work also feels like a stepping stone for what’s to come, both in their life and in their music.

93. Diana Ross

Thank You – Decca – Sara London

Diana Ross’ last album came in 1999, making Thank You particularly special. Produced by a strong team of musicians including Jack Antonoff, Ross reminds us all why she’s considered one of the most acclaimed musicians alive with her solid songwriting abilities. The structure and composition of every song here is both extraordinarily catchy and polished. The melodies are fun and fit well with Diana Ross’ current vocal range. Instrumentally, the tunes are filled with Motown and disco callbacks, like glossy horns and smooth, groovy percussion on songs like “All is Well” or “I Still Believe.” Even if quarantine has made you a bit curmudgeonly cynical, Ross’ passion for positivity shines through in a heartfelt way.

92. Femi Kuti and Made Kuti

Legacy + – Partisan – David Gill

Nigerian percussionist Fela Kuti was a force of nature. Much of his legacy has been preserved in the work of his son Femi Kuti. Legacy + is a double album that captures two successive generations of Fela’s musical legacy with an album from Femi Kuti and a second from Femi’s son (Fela’s grandson) Made Kuti. Together the two albums capture Fela’s incredible musical legacy and present two sets of songs created to motivate political activism and positive societal change.

Different genres blend together in a delicious musical stew on Femi’s half. Funky and scratchy James Brown guitar parts ride over vaguely samba-sounding rhythms.  Kuti’s half of Legacy + updates his grandfather’s legacy by integrating more hip-hop and R&B elements. Made Kuti also plays every instrument on this impressive introduction to his musical talent. Made grew up playing in his father’s band, and this musical immersion is obvious in the effortless grooves he establishes.

91. Ryley Walker

Course in Fable – Husky Pants – Gabrielle Poccia

The meaning behind Ryley Walker’s lyrics, like fables, are not explicitly stated. The audience has to do some work. The singer-songwriter has said that he made the album sober, which he’s been for two years now. That matters because several songs here delve into a drug-drenched past. His beautiful fingerpicking and cascading melodies catch a jazzy vibe on this album, which at times is part ‘90s indie rock and part Aaron Neville commercial for “Cotton: the fabric of our lives.”

90. Allison Russell

Outside Child – Fantasy Records – Rachel Alm

Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Russell’s first solo album is bold and brave. It features all the musical hallmarks of Americana–steel guitar, banjo, and according to the credits, someone playing the “apple cider vinegar bottle.” Russell has said the album is about resilience, survival, transcendence, the redemptive power of art, community, connection and chosen family.

Russell, who is Black and identifies as queer, had a traumatic childhood and sings about those circumstances directly, yet the album never feels too heavy. Highlights include “Persephone,” a sweet folk pop tune about a girlfriend who helped during her during her troubled teen years, and “Nightflyer,” a soul- and gospel-infused tune of redemption on which she sings, “Yeah I’m a midnight rider/ Stone bonafide nightflyer / I’m an angel of the morning, too.”

89. Amy Shark

Cry Forever – Sony Music – Mike DeWald

Few can capture the emotional nuance of loneliness in song quite like Australian singer-songwriter Amy Shark. Her debut, Love Monster, was a poignant look at self-doubt, loneliness and the loss of identity in the wake of a broken love. That’s not to say that she doesn’t delve into some of those same themes on her follow-up, Cry Forever, but she does so with an expansive new breadth of musical confidence. With each successive listen you find a new layer. One of Shark’s musical strengths is writing about heavy topics like depression while managing to not feel like a downer. Case in point, “Worst Day of My Life.” It takes on sadness with almost a pop-punk persona, in a lyrical sense, despite sounding nothing like that genre. Cry Forever serves notice to the pop world that—if there was any doubt—Amy Shark has arrived.

88. Bleachers

Take The Sadness Out of Saturday Night – RCA Records – Arianna Cook-Thajudeen

As Bleachers, Jack Antonoff has established himself with an ’80s, new wave revival sound and he continues this tact on the fast-paced new LP that clocks in at just over 30 minutes. That being said, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night contains many songs with clear influences from other genres. While this can often lead to feeling disjointed or confusing as a whole, Antonoff has arranged the songs in such a way that creates an impressively cohesive album. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll go through the exact emotional spectrum written out by Antonoff, all set to his new take of the Jersey sound.

87. ZHU

DREAMLAND 2021 – Astralwerks – Gabrielle Poccia

Bay Area native ZHU, whose name is Steven Zhu, channeled his pandemic and societal unrest stress well,  producing a new album mostly from home all while working on a live-streamed fashion show for his own clothing line. DREAMLAND 2021 is a soundtrack to the expected return to normalcy. But what’s on the other side of the pandemic might not be what we wish for.

“Remember when we went to concerts?/ Talked about who’s on first?/ Waiting for the encore,” Zhu sings on “Distant Lights,” recalling pre-pandemic days. The song trails out with a man’s voice musing “I believe the future is near,” which very well may be the thesis of the entire album. The album ends with the dreamlike “I Need That.” The ambiance is very unsure and possibly threatening. The beat is like footsteps on wet pavement. It all ends with a lonely saxophone, presumably being played underneath a dimly lit streetlamp as the rain comes down. The future is in sight, but it may not be the one we’ve hoped for.

86. Weezer

OK Human – Crush Music/Atlantic Records – Piper Westrom

Think of the most on-brand thing that Weezer could do. Was your answer to surprise-drop a Beach-Boys-inspired album while everyone was still waiting a previously announced metal-inspired LP? OK Human is a neatly packaged ode to Pet Sounds, complete with a 38-member orchestra and some of the most vulnerable songs Rivers Cuomo has written in many years. The songs are generally on the shorter end and act as sketches of life. Even though only four songs on OK Human top the three-minute mark, each one has a message that imbues every second with meaning. The introduction of the orchestra was also something that fit well into Weezer’s sound. In fact, it was easy to forget that the band had never tried it before.

85. My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket – ATO Records – Rachel Alm

Jim James feels lucky to be alive, and you can hear his exultation on the new self-titled album from My Morning Jacket. You can catch the vibe immediately from the jump. The album captures MMJ better than any the band has recorded in a studio so far. By concentrating on the sound the members make together, without outside musicians or producers, MMJ was able to distill it down to its essence.

My Morning Jacket has explored southern rock, psychedelic freakouts and even some horn-studded funk. This time around, the band goes for a warm retro feel, with sonic hints of Rush and the Allman Brothers and vocal deliveries reminiscent of (at various times) Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. The sequencing alternates between upbeat numbers that sound custom-made for the band’s live sets, as well as mellower tracks. MMJ is never far from its jam band roots, though, as shown by nine-minute epic “Devil’s in the Details.”

84. Chris Pierce

American Silence – self-released – Rachel Alm

Chris Pierce’s American Silence combines two great American musical traditions, the blues and protest songs, to get right to the heart of what ails this country: pernicious systemic racism, homelessness, mass incarceration and wage theft. Pierce, who also plays in bands Leon Creek and War & Pierce, plays acoustic guitar and a mean harmonica and has a deep, soulful voice that never wavers.

He deftly walks a high-wire act of being angry without being off-putting. He sounds, at times, disappointed, weary and outraged but still eminently listenable. The title track cautions that it’s not enough to enjoy these songs, though: “And when the song is over, if you decide to clap aloud/ Will your applause mean anything with stitches on your mouth.” Pierce is out to change hearts and minds, and he shows with American Silence that he’s up to the job. Highlights include the title track and “Sound All The Bells.”

83. Heartless Bastards

A Beautiful Life – Sweet Unknown Records – Rachel Alm

Erika Wennerstrom’s distinctive, bluesy voice shines on A Beautiful Life. The album takes the Austin’s Heartless Bastards far beyond their rock roots to a lush, introspective place to tackle big themes like materialism and enlightenment. Drawing on a wide array of musical styles and influences from space rock to symphonic pop (check out the Serge-Gainsbourg-inspired strings on “Been Around the World”), Wennerstrom brings a touching sincerity to sentiments like, “you never know, until you do” and “let go to break free” that keeps them from ever sounding tired or cliché.

It’s a mellower sound than the band is known for, but they still rock pretty hard on “Photograph” and “Revolution.” Highlights include “How Low,” a catchy ’70s-style plea for peace and love. Contributing musicians on the album include Andrew Bird, Lauren Gurgiolio of Okkerville River and Bo Koster of My Morning Jacket.

95: Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney. 94: Hand Habits. 93: Diana Ross. 92. Made and Femi Kuti. 91: Ryley Walker. 90: Allison Russell. 89: Amy Shark. 88: Bleachers. 87: ZHU. 86: Weezer. 85: My Morning Jacket. 84: Chris Pierce. 83: Heartless Bastards.

The 108 best albums of 2021: 82-71 >>