Perfect Sound Forever

PSF's 2021 Writers' Poll
Our favorite things


left to right: Ashnikko, Bill Nelson, Adam Roberts, the Byrds

Here's where we ask our staff and writers for their favorite albums of 2021, including up to 20 choices (10 is too few) and allowing in reissues/archive material if they see fit. And the results are...



Daniel Barbiero



David Chirko

What more can be said? After all, it's from the two finest to ever fly over, or open, The City Of Angels.


David DiPietro



John Dougan

As I frequently tell my students (using an analogy I stole from someone else), consuming media in the 21st century is like drinking from a firehose. It's a wonder I have time to listen to all the music I do, but there's so much I catch up with late – I'm talking years late. I can't process what I hear as quickly as others, sometimes I need time and multiple plays before I decide whether or not something's a keeper. The enjoyment I get out of reading other year-end lists is seeing what I haven't heard and getting to them in 2022 or maybe 2023. So, while I've heard good things about the new Viagra Boys, Naked Raygun, Tony Allen (RIP), Snail Mail, Goat Girl, Michael Hurley, and about a thousand others, I'll listen to them eventually. After all, to slightly amend a phrase by the Holy Modal Rounders, good taste (and music) is timeless.


Robin Storey Dunn



Bob Gersztyn



Jason Gross

Full list of albums/singles/reissues is here at Blogger.



left to right: Sons of Kemet, Sharon Lay, The Plastic People of the Universe, Mdou Moctar

bart plantenga

As a writer-DJ, I've been in voluntary quarantine for ages. So, no big life change with COVID. I get to listen to a lot of music this way & sometimes what's fresh to me may be day-old bread to another. In the spirit of my new book LIST FULL & radio show Wreck This Mess.


Marc Phillips



Tony Ruiz



Richie Unterberger

Also including- Various Artists Good As Gold: Artefacts of the Apple Era 1967-1975. Tintern Abbey Beeside: The Complete Recordings. The Sweet Inspirations Let It Be Me: The Atlantic Recordings (1967-1970), Colin Blunstone One Year, The Electric Prunes Then Came the Dawn: The Complete Recordings (1966-1969)


Joe Yanosik

I spent less time enjoying music during Pandemic Year 2 than I did in 2020 for the simple reason that I devoted the first half of 2021 to writing a book. Still, I bonded with several superb albums in PY2, ranging from the smart pop of Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo to the sonic adventures of Body Mepa and Burnt Sugar. Onetwothree and Dry Cleaning made impressive debuts while Courtney Barnett, Parquet Courts and vets Sleater-Kinney kept getting better. Top honors went to folk legend Peter Stampfel whose 100-song epic achievement belongs in every home. Fave reissues include a mammoth history of rap by Smithsonian, great compilations by UK label Ace on Bitches Brew-era fusion and Lou Reed cover versions, and vault excavations on my beloved Sonic Youth, Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence and grunge godfather Neil Young, whose 1990-vintage live double was even better than his new Barn, which I dug too. I played The Beatles' Let It Be a lot thanks to the fabulous Get Back film - a must-see, as are the year's other essential rock docs - The Velvet Underground and Summer of Soul. The music event of the year was the numerous releases by legendary Czech underground band Plastic People of the Universe - two previously unreleased live albums plus reissues of their six classic "illegal period" albums which had been out of print for decades. For more info on the Plastic People's incredible history and amazing music, check out my new book ... A Consumer Guide to the Plastic People of the Universe.


left to right: kosmos G, Helliocentrics/Melvin Van Peebles, The Drifters, Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram


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