Mick's Töp 15 Albums of 2021

2021 was an interesting year. It cleared the lowest bar possible of being better than 2020, but still was another year of adjusting to whatever the “new normal” is supposed to be. I work from home and do have a job that I love, but the monotony of not leaving my house basically ever has surfaced more moments of existential dread than I typically like to allow in one calendar year. My wife and our two cats have continued to be my foundation. Having each other has certainly meant the world in navigating through these weird times. I fell deeper into some hobbies which mostly were video game related (shocker, I know) but the tradeoff was that I wrote about music less. Durf really put the team on his back by coming up with the Durf’s Weekly Workout column, but it was personally a slow year around these parts. All in all, 2021 was like beating Dark Souls (which was also something I did for the first time this year); there were plenty of moments that felt like I was beating my head against the wall, but seeing it through was ultimately worth it. And since I didn’t write a ton this year, please allow me to word vomit a bit about the albums that carried me through.

Durf's Weekly Workout # 13: April 16th, 2021

With spring here in Idaho in full bloom, the weather is starting to warm up and the yard work is starting to begin.  Outside of the difficulties in wrangling a toddler while trying to pull weeds, or finding energy to get some work done on a random Wednesday after a ten hour day, I really enjoy working in the yard.  It's incredibly rewarding to see the results of a day (or hour's, sometimes) work, and I can feel myself totally slipping into the Wranglers of a washed, mid-thirties dad who takes way too much pride in his yard because he's convinced himself it's a hobby since it's the only thing he has time to do on the weekends.  But I digress.

Naturally, 90% of my yardwork is done with headphones in, listening to either Tigers games or music.  This year, I'm going to add yardwork to commuting and working out as "Time When I Can Listen to New Music," but I'm not as confident in that sticking as much as it has with the other two.  For whatever reason, when I step out to mow the lawn or trim the hedges, there is a certain je nais se qua that I'm looking for in an album, and I have turned off the lawnmower to switch albums mid-mow, despite being certain that what I was listening to was what I wanted to hear.  It's weird, man.  And it's definitely albums, not bands; Khemmis' Hunted is probably my all-time favorite yardwork album, but none of their other albums have it.  Sunbather and Ordinary Corrupt Human Love have it; Roads to Judah and New Bermuda don't.  Metallica's first four albums have it in spades.  Kanye's The College Dropout is an amazing yardwork album; My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a much better album but doesn't hold up as well to the grind of the grass.  You get the idea.  Anyway, as I start mowing the lawn again, and looking for new music, maybe I'll find some new classic yardwork tunes to add to my rotation and then talk about them here.  Or maybe I won't, and I'll just listen to Ride the Lightning again and keep it to myself.  Try not to let the suspense bother you.  On to the workouts!