As we wrap up the year, we’re sharing some of our staff members’ favorite albums of the year. Here’s Mike Merucci’s list.

5. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I

I’m in love with the riffs on this thing, and I have to say that Chelsea Wolfe fits in so well here. I’ll admit that I had been lacking in my Converge listening for the past year or so, so I’m glad the release of Bloodmoon: I woke me up a bit. Hopefully there’s more from Converge and Chelsea Wolfe coming in the future — I assume the I at the end of the album title is hinting at a II or even a III.

4. JPEGMAFIA – LP!

One of the highlights of my year was seeing Peggy live in Pontiac. LP! holds quite a few spots among my most played songs of the year, so being able to see BMT!, BALD!, DIRTY!, and others live was so amazing. It made my love for the album grow tenfold. With this, Peggy has cemented himself as one of my favorite hip hop artists working today.

3. Imagine Drowning – Soundtracks for an Eternal Sleep

The closing track on Soundtracks for an Eternal Sleep — Walls/Anger(Glass-07) — is already one of my favorite ambient tracks of all time, and the rest of the album is absolutely beautiful as well. This semester, I often found myself looking over the Red Cedar, slowly absorbing all these soft, mysterious sounds running through my headphones, finding such a special mix of melancholy and contentment.

2. Kanye West – Donda

Donda released on August 29, which was my second day on Michigan State’s campus. I was pretty lost then, and I suppose I’m still a little lost now, but when Donda dropped I walked around campus until around 4 AM just listening to the album over and over and over again. After walking around campus non-stop just listening to this album, I felt much more at home.

1. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises

During finals week, Promises was an absolute savior. I had already been using this album to help me meditate and work leading up to that week, but the gentle saxophone of Pharoah Sanders truly held me up toward the end. It’s a seemingly simple album, yet so beautiful. I know I’ll be listening to it for the foreseeable future.

You can listen to Mike’s entire Top 5 Albums of 2021 playlist below.