2021: A Year in Review

Many albums released in 2021 were pandemic records. Some were recorded in isolation; others were slated for earlier release, shelved, then put out into the world belatedly; a lot of them simply seemed inextricable from the surreality of this time, which we can’t yet call “post-pandemic life.” It’s a cliché to say that tragedy inspires great art, but this year raised the question of what happens when loss becomes the background noise to life—so regular that it presses in from all sides, like restaurant chatter.

Best Albums of 2021

As I ventured back into the world during the past year, trying to reëstablish old routines, I gravitated toward music that seemed to synthesize the soft pandemonium around me. The records that resonated with me most were eccentric, often sardonic in tone, and even a bit haunting. I found myself wanting to listen to music that’s suspicious of neat endings—music that attacks the senses, that’s volatile even in its quiet moments.

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Best Series of 2021

The result was a TV year like no other, filled with offbeat
experiment and surprise hits. Some of the shows
below were pop-culture sensations. Others were popular
on a cult level. Some seemedto slip through the
cracks altogether, but are ready to be discovered
now, during the holiday downtime. Collectively, they represent the wide range of what television had to offer in 2020, from fascinating history lessons to gripping games to pure, fantastical silliness.
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Here are our favorite TV series of 2021: