The Soundtrack to My Year - 2021

The songs that I had moments with throughout the course of 2021.

Playlist: 2021 - RPB

1. Waking - my brother and sister-in-law tipped me off to the manly passion of Future Islands, and this song really resonated with me. 
2. Lilacs - a song (and an album) that I happily went back to throughout the year. Pleasant sounds. 
3. This Is the Sound - I did a nostalgic playlist project for my sister (born in ‘76) with some of the songs I remembered playing on her tape and CD players from that era. It ended up taking me down a Juliana Hatfield exploration adventure where I discovered that her whole body of work is really great, and holds up well. What’s more she’s still putting out music and it’s still great!
4. Speed it up - in the last few years I resumed following basketball very closely with the resurgence of the Phoenix Suns. This song played during warmups at a Warriors vs Suns game and I loved the sound and felt a real respect for the NBA culture. 
5. Big Appetite - a band I’ve loved for several years. This song just feels like one of those really well put together productions where all the sounds just click really well. Had a good experience debuting this album on my headphones while driving out big van up the Donner Pass en route back to the Bay. 
6. Dime cómo quieres - I went through a Spanish music kick in 2021 (as I am prone to do now and then) and this song stood out as a clear winner. Both artists have a lot of good music individually, and they really bring their talents together nicely here. 
7. Two Of Us - like many others, I really enjoyed watching the “Get Back” Beatles documentary. I think all 4 of them end up as big winners by the end. But in the early goings I was most impressed with Paul for his responsibility but also his musical versatility and mastery. I loved how he was very careful to make sure there was no tackiness to any of their songs, like in the way he would have them rework a strumming pattern or some other timing aspect. 
8. Veg Out (Wasting Thyme) - I learned about Masego through a really cool Apple Music ad campaign. That led me to this song which I love for its chill factor, and since it corresponds to my attitude a lot. I want to veg out too, Masego!
9. Days like these - just a solid track from one of my favorite bands of the last couple of decades.  
10. Grains of Sand - I absolutely loved the Dune movie that came out in 2021. The feel, the cinematography, the story, the acting, and the music. When the credits rolled at the end I loved sitting there in awe and staring at the screen while this song kept the mood going.

Best Music of 2021

*Playlist: Best New Music of 2021*

Intro

The fact that I resorted to picking (old reliable) Low as my album of the year indicates that either a) I didn't branch out of my standard music tastes enough this year, b) the whole industry had a letdown year, or c) Low's album is just really good.  The correct answer is "b)".  

I don't want to take too much away from Low here, who deserve big props for putting out another gem after 20 or so years now of being relevant, creative, and evolutionary.  But their latest album is probably my 5th favorite of theirs.  

The unfortunate news of 2021 was that artists' ambitions were mostly low-key, chill, and uninspiring.  Scouring through a lot of the year's best-of lists I found some great singles here and there, but very few solid albums front to back.  It's like we're stuck in a loop from the early 2000's where artists keep putting out more lo-fi indie music, which was new and exciting at the time, but now it's time for a shake-up.  Artists should be doing more by drawing on the deep reservoir of previous heights that the artists of old have shown -- elements of synth from the 80's, disco from the 70's, shredding guitar solos, etc.  

I've seen some great examples of what music in the 2020's could look like.  Things like Billie Eilish's "bad guy", Beck's "Uneventful Days", and Liars' "Big Appetite". But nobody has really broken through in a big way.  

Watching the "Get Back" Beatles documentary recently drove home this point for me that this was a band riding the crest of greatness.  They were tapped into a sound and a creativity that made for some phenomenal albums, and it didn't come without the painstaking work that comes with being masters of a craft.  

OK - done ranting.  Also, get off my lawn.

Best Albums

1. Low - Hey What
• It's a powerful sonic experience for sure.  The more I listen to it the more I like it, so I think this top-spot pick will age well.  I take back all the complaining I did in the intro above, haha.  Low has found the right way to create new music with the passing years.  They stay true to their slow-core roots while incorporating Dark-Side-of-the-Moon-esque synth samples / sound effects.  And of course they hit those beautiful harmonies.  
2. Juliana Hatfield - Blood
• Embarking on a nostalgia project by creating playlists as odes to my older siblings of the music that used to emanate from their bedrooms in the 90's led me to rediscover Juliana Hatfield.  (May I first of all strongly recommend an exploration of her longstanding body of work by some random iTunes playlist curator: "Juliana Hatfield - Playlist by Erwin Herremans".)  What shocked me about Juliana Hatfield is that she's still putting out awesome music.  Often these old hacks from the past keep just get botox and keep performing and sort of tainting our memory of them in the process.  But Juliana Hatfield isn't like that.  She maintains that feisty adolescent rebelliousness mood in her music, but she adds a lot of new character and complexity to her songs.   
3. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner's Mind
• Sufjan is a very particular sound, and so it's hard to keep it on the headphones for overly long, but this album has a lot of great songs on it.  
4. Matthew E. White - K Bay
• Like a mix of LCD Soundystem and Bon Iver.  He gets bonus points for the album having quite a few good songs.  
5. Mon Laferte - SEIS
• A Chilean female artist who lives in Mexico and has adopted their style of music.  Mexican music seems to be having a bit of a revival heyday lately.  And this album is a great example of some of those great sounds with lots of classical guitar.
6. Liars - The Apple Drop
• Another reliable artist like Low.  Some great songs on this album.  While not totally solid all the way through, they add to their catalogue of some excellent work over the years, and I imagine a "Liars Essentials" playlist would rock hard at this point.
7. Ada Lea - one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden
• Her song "damn" is probably my #1 of the year.  She has a couple other good songs on the album, but then there are some that make me cringe a bit.  
8. Faye Webster - I Know I'm Funny haha
• Some good songs but otherwise gets lumped into the mediocre indie category that is so prevalent in 2021 -- especially among female artists for some reason.  
9. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview of Phenomenal Nature
• A few really interesting songs on the album -- like a cerebral jazz experience.  This album hits the spot for early evening drives across beautiful country.
10. Snail Mail - Valentine
• This album got a lot of love on some of the best-of lists this year.  I liked it a little less with each listen.  
11. PinkPantheress - to hell with it
• Some great youthful British attitude in her music.  Like Lily Allen but a little more underground.  
12. A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Invisible Cities
• Peaceful atmospherics.  I much prefer their previous albums so far, but I'll keep spending time with this album
13. The Weather Station - Ignorance
• There are at least 2 songs I really like on this album.  "Robber" is great.  Just a solid, repetitive groove that I really dig.  

Notable Omissions

• Olivia Rodrigo - I tried to have an open mind about this album which has been a huge hit, but it just felt too tweeny for me.
• Tyler the Creator - His album got a lot of praise as being a hip-hop masterpiece, but, unfortunately, the content was too explicit for a family blog like Twainfectas.