Diving Into Music: 397 Albums in 1 Year

by Laila Brustin ‘25

In December of 2020 I really didn’t care about listening to albums. They’re long, sometimes incredibly boring, and honestly not the most productive use of time. I was someone who listened to the same music with the same familiar artists. It wasn’t wrong, but I never considered listening to their work in full, or going beyond what I knew. At the beginning of 2021 this completely changed for me. A close friend of mine had become engrossed in rating albums. He introduced me to albumoftheyear.org where he rated and occasionally reviewed the albums he listened to. It was fun seeing the excitement and interest that came with constantly exploring music. I made an account and got started.

I began with listening to albums by some of my longtime favorite artists. Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer, The Mountain Goats’ The Sunset Tree, and Ra Ra Riot’s Beta Love were a few of my first picks. It was comfortable, but I quickly realized just how much I was missing. My list of albums to listen to grew and grew as I kept discovering new music. I was running between Björk’s Debut and Mac Miller’s Circles to Type O Negative’s October Rust and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. I began listening to artists who I had never considered like Swans, Lauryn Hill, and Kero Kero Bonito. It was fun to snowball into entirely new music. “Israeli Classic Rock” and “Mid-Western Emo” surprisingly were genres that I really enjoyed. This hobby turned into a major part of my life.

Now at the end of my first year of this project I have listened to and rated 397 albums. Music has become so important to me. The time and intent I put into it is indistinguishable from when I began. I’m excited to not only continue listening to music, but create new friendships because of it. If you’re looking to learn more about artists you love, to pick up a new hobby, or to also entirely change how you listen to music, I would really recommend putting on an album.

To end on a fun note, here are my superlatives for the year!

Favorite Albums of 2021:

1. Cavalcade by Black Midi

2. CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST by Tyler, The Creator

3. Smiling With No Teeth by Genesis Owusu

Personal Favorite Albums:

1. A Crow Looked at Me by Mount Eerie

2. Puberty 2 by Mitski

3. Meddle by Pink Floyd

Weirdest Albums:

1. American Psycho the Musical by various artists

2. The Amazing Jeckel Brothers by Insane Clown Posse

3. Poodle Hat by Weird Al Yankovic

Worst Albums:

1. It’s My Life by Talk Talk

2. Angelic 2 the Core by Corey Feldman

3. Nostalgia Critic’s The Wall by Doug Walker

Most Surprising Albums: 

1. Long Season by Fishmans

2. Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel

3. The Glowing Man by Swans