Best albums of 2021 by Arizona artists, Alice Cooper to Injury Reserve

Best albums of 2021 by Arizona artists, Alice Cooper to Injury Reserve

Local music returned to the clubs in 2021 but it had never really gone away.

It just retreated from the stage as Arizona artists worked on new material to get them through the dread and isolation of the COVID-19 era.

Almost every record on this list was written and recorded in the midst of the pandemic. In some cases, the results were shaped by that experience. In other cases, not so much.

You’ll find both kinds of records on our look back at the year’s best albums made by Arizona artists — in alphabetical order. And by “album,” we mean proper albums as well as EPs that clocked in at more than 20 minutes. 

Best albums of 2021: St. Vincent, Genesis Owusu, Sault, Injury Reserve and more