Anthony Fantano names Spellling's The Turning Wheel as his favourite album of 2021

Earlier today (23 December) Anthony Fantano unveiled his top 50 albums of 2021 list, and after mentioning Jeff Rosenstock's SKA DREAM, Porter Robinson's Nurture, Little Simz's Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, Richard Dawson and Circle's Henki, JPEGMAFIA's LP!, St. Vincent's Daddy's Home, Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra's Promises, Arca's KicK iii and Lingua Ignota's Sinner Get Ready in his top 10, he named Spellling's The Turning Wheel as his favourite record of the year.

In the video, Fantano said The Turning Wheel is the album he was most "enchanted by, moved by, mystified by", and added that the "production is immaculate."

Speaking to Best Fit this afternoon, Fantano spoke about why the record topped his end-of-year list, "I’d say it has to do a lot with the beauty and wonder it finds in the natural world and the metaphysical. It’s very otherworldly in that way, feeling like it’s being passed down a torch from the likes of Kate Bush and Joanna Newsom."

He continued, "That being said, I think both the Spellling and the Lingua Ignota are incredible works."

Anthony Fantano's 50 albums of 2021:

1. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
2. Lingua Ignota - Sinner Get Ready
3. Arca - KicK iii
4. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
5. St. Vincent - Daddy's Home
6. JPEGMAFIA - LP!
7. Richard Dawson and Circle - Henki
8. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
9. Porter Robinson - Nurture
10. Jeff Rosenstock - SKA DREAM
11. Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
12. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind
13. Sloppy Jane - Madison
14. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
15. black midi - Cavalcade
16. Genesis Owusu - Smiling with No Teeth
17. Low - HEY WHAT
18. Blu - The Color Blu(e)
19. Turnstile - Glow On
20. Backxwash - I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses
21. Wiki - Half God
22. Ad Nauseam - Imperative Imperceptible Impulse
23. Black Dresses - Forever in Your Heart
24. Sematary - Rainbow Bridge 3
25. Black Country, New Road - For the first time
26. BROCKHAMPTON - Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine
27. Feu! Chatterton - Palais d’argile
28. Yola - Stand for Myself
29. Weezer - OK Human
30. James Blake - Friends That Break Your Heart
31. death’s dynamic shroud.wmv - Faith in Persona
32. Magdalena Bay - Mercurial World
33. illuminati hotties - Let Me Do One More
34. slowthai - TYRON
35. Westside Gunn - Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B
36. Pink Siifu - GUMBO’!
37. Nas - King’s Disease II
38. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage
39. Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram
40. L’Rain - Fatigue
41. Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz
42. Deerhoof - Actually, You Can
43. Twin Shadow - Twin Shadow
44. Panopticon - …And Again Into the Light
45. Jazmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales
46. The Killers - Pressure Machine
47. Fire-Toolz - Eternal Home
48. Silk Sonic - An Evening with Silk Sonic
49. Dean Blunt - BLACK METAL 2
50. dltzk - Frailty