The 2021 End Of Year music lists thread

Earlier this year, Rolling Stone literally said BTS' 'Dynamite' is better than "Heartbreak Hotel." I don't think they're exactly a marker of our "vast musical landscape" and more a marker of 40somethings tripping over their dicks to try and stay relevant

― licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten)

Lol they did what!?

their top 500 songs of all time list had some really goofy stuff

Or are you referencing the fact that “dynamite” scored one place higher than “heartbreak hotel” on their 500 song list?

yeah

Maybe there are earlier examples, I don't know, but for me better-than insanity started with Spin's two '88 lists, both singles and albums. I liked some of their left-field picks a lot at the time, especially their #1 song, but there was also a lot of Depeche Mode's Black Celebration better than The Velvet Underground & Nico, and Echo & the Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon" better than "Heat Wave," "I Can't Explain," and "Anarchy in the U.K."

killing moon is absolutely better than anarchy in the uk!

yeah agreed

Even BTS “dynamite” is better than Anarchy in the UK

Someone's future dream is a shopping spree.

My apologies to the Sex Pistols for making this happen.

I was responding to the Bunnymen fwiw. I know I have consciously sought out and listened to "Dynamite" and some other BTS songs but I have zero memory of what it sounds like.

i wish bts would make another gqom track lol

Dynamite is the one that sounds like Jonas Brothers.

"butter" from this year was much better than "dynamite", not really exciting but very solid for what it is

The title “Butter” grosses me out.

Not no Parkay, not no margarine

STRICTLY BUTTER, BABY

wau wau collectif album is really nice

modern rs trying to be poptimist or whatever they're doing feels even weirder than when their top 10 was mostly just classic rock acts way past their prime

to elaborate on this, it's bc their poptimist taste is weird and bland? like if they were going all in on say billie eilish's album this year that would be a much better poptimist pick than adele & olivia rodrigo (whose album was fine just not like, aoty material lol) or previously that harry styles album

i love reading the music analyses on here and discovering music myself, but i find it funny how people forget music is such a subjective thing. having said that, i always assume by "best album/song", the person is saying this is their "favourite" instead of making a statement that something is intrinsically superior than something else

having said that, i wasn't really feeling any of the stuff on best-of lists this year either. i think the weather station's album was fine. but i do love "parking lot" and i really like tamara lindeman (guinevere jones!)

i wish bts would make another gqom track lol

― ufo, Sunday, 5 December 2021 00:12 (seven hours ago) link

what is the bts gqom song????

"idol"

TIME 10 BEST SONGS

https://time.com/6125601/best-songs-2021/

Farruko - "Pepas"
Wizkid - "Essence"
Taylor Swift - "All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)"
Lucy Dacus - "VBS"
YOASOBI - "怪物"
City Girls - "Twerkulator"
Olivia Rodrigo - "good 4 u"
El Alfa, Chael Produciendo, CJ - "La Mamá de la Mamá"
Morgan Wade - "Wilder Days"
Doja Cat - "Woman"

That's one hideous mash-up. Reminds me of those bands doing ridiculous pop pastiche for people to make fun of, except BTS sound serious.

Pretty diverse list

Was the song a near carbon copy of Paramore’s “Misery Business”? Sure.

goddammit, stop with this; It’s been very effectively debunked (retroactive credit not withstanding)

The Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders / LSO album is very deserving of all the mentions it’s getting, I don’t care if there’s 500 other “jazz” albums that are better than this one in 2021 or complaints that this is the token jazz album everybody is picking. Both artists are legends on their own and it’s beautiful piece they have created together in here.

eh

that is maybe my favorite album this year

the Dry Cleaning album is nice

have also been enjoying still slipping vol. 1

This is my Top 20 as it stands right now, still subject to change as I hear more stuff

1. Natural Information Society With Evan Parker - Descension (Out Of Our Constrictions)
2. John Zorn - Bagatelles Vol. 1-4
3. Low - Hey What
4. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – At State's End
5. Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime
6. Keith Rowe - Absence
7. Vanessa Rossetto - The Tower (The City) (w/ Lionel Marchetti) / Legends of the American Theater cassette / A Stem of Woodapple with Fruits / What Is Your Middle Class American Problem? 7"
8. Charmaine Lee - KNVF
9. Rhododendron – Protozoan Battle Hymns
10. Clara Ionnotta - Moult
11. Upper Wilds - Venus
12. The Bug - Fire
13. Les Filles de Illighadad - At Pioneer Works
14. Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince
15. Koreless - Agor
16. Vijay Iyer/Linda May Han Oh/Tyshawn Sorey – Uneasy
17. Blanck Mass – In Ferneaux
18. Ahmed – Nights on Saturn (Communication)
19. Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt– Made Out of Sound
20. Ripatti - Fun Is Not a Straight Line

want to hear a lot of those, esp. Keith Rowe and Vanessa Rossetto

It absolutely rips no longer having to engage with popular music

Uneasy v good. I liked Moult when I listened to it but need to give it some dedicated quiet time. A lot of the the rest are artists that I like but didn't know those albums so I look forward to listening to more.

I’ve got a little overlap with Whitney here

Ha, WHINEY - sorry

https://i.imgur.com/mgMUUSt_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

Joy Orbison's "still slipping vol. 1" is really lovely and is comforting, and its title and its final track "born slipping" are definitely references to Underworld's born slippy

Whiney and I have some big crossover

If we go by the same time as last year, these are the lists that will be posted in the following days:

Tomorrow?
P4k
Popmatters
Wire

Next week:
Textura
Vice
Bandcamp
Washingtonpost

The next next week:
Latimes
Vinylfactory
Paste song list
Aquarium drunkard
Said the gramophone
Ravensingstheblues
Kexp Reverend’s list
RA

Oh actually Textura’s is published already:

https://www.textura.org/archives/articles/2021picks.htm

Again I don’t know a single one of these albums.

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2021/

pretty unexpected #1? it's a good song but kinda low-key, not at all what i would have expected so much consensus around & like, where were they for "door" and "so hot you're hurting my feelings"? those would have been way more obvious picks in 2019

generally super agreeable list though, to the point it's surprising and confusing?

Oh they included the Backxwash title track!! That alone makes me dislike this list less than most of theirs

it feels much closer to the character of the ilm 77 than usual?

Yes, agreed

https://www.stereogum.com/2169206/the-50-best-albums-of-2021/lists/year-in-review/2021-in-review/

eh

lol

Actually a pretty good list and yeah it seems more aligned with ILM than previous years.

That number one is a bit confusing, I like it but it’s not the strongest song she’s made (the singles from her last album were all better imho) and I’ve been seeing in other lists as well and it’s weird because I don’t remember that much excitement over it when it was released? Pitchfork didn’t even review it.

Cassandra Jenkins got BNM for album and track so I’d betted that’s the one that was going to win

That stereogum one might be the worst so far.