Hype and Slander: What are you voting for in ILM's 2021 End of Year Tracks and Albums Poll?

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^i've listened to this like 50 times if i've listened to it once

i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 6 January 2022 20:37 (two years ago) link

Same, it's high on my ballot.

change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 6 January 2022 20:44 (two years ago) link

Dang, two Koreless tracks on the singles list but not my fave, 'Joy Squad'

change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 6 January 2022 20:44 (two years ago) link

Also forgot to nom James Blake feat. Monica Martin - 'Show Me'

change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 6 January 2022 20:49 (two years ago) link

Another nom, from RJ 2021 once again:
More Energy Fields, Current
by Carlos Niño & Friends
Tagged in label notes as
10 pristine gems of collaborative communication helmed by the Southern Californian sage, elegantly presented in his unique “Spiritual, Improvisational, Space Collage” style. And sounds like the improvisational part might feed and respond to the Space Collage: it's more jazz than set piece, like the tracks, never too long, might be scooping up something along the way, lighting in the bottle and vice-versa. Wonder if they play live, with loops, maybe? Seems like this approach could work well on right stage.

Listening on headphones, I keep getting aerial glimpses of the Pacific Coast Highway, interspersed w more time in little caves and coves: an intimate, though airy, small group sound, always incl. Niño (percussion, sound design, editing, mixing) and I think always Jamael Dean on keys, with others sometimes on drums, tenor and/or flute, synths, and voices (on one track: wordless ones, don't worry, of Laraaji and Sharada). Shabaka Hutchings, Dntel, Adam Rudolph, Aaron Shaw, a bunch of others, coming in and moving on, at least for a while, never too many at once.

First one to command my attention was "Nightswimming," then so many of the others that I gave up on linking a favorite in addition to the whole thing:
https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/more-energy-fields-current

― dow, Monday, May 31, 2021 4:57 PM (seven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Niño’s previous album on IA, Chicago Waves, is live if you’re curious! I think I described it as more like ambient/new age than jazz on the IA thread but I liked it a lot

― rob, Monday, May 31, 2021 5:08 PM (seven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Will check, thanks! Ambient/New Age usually puts me right to sleep, but this got me more awake.
Also, this one has *kind* of a DePlume vibe, or related appeal,anyway, but maybe earlier in the day or evening, and a little more spare?
https://alabasterdeplume.bandcamp.com/

― dow, Monday, May 31, 2021

dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 21:41 (two years ago) link

Could easily do a Top Ten of International Anthem releases, whether or not they ever put out that many in any given year.

dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 21:47 (two years ago) link

holy shit, SHUM was a EUROVISION song?? i shoved it straight into my prospective ballot completely oblivious to this, lol

imago, Thursday, 6 January 2022 23:09 (two years ago) link

but anyway I was coming here to observe that emil.y's later batch of nominations are providing all sorts of difficult balloting decisions for me. especially Taraka. zero zero one zero one one zeroooo

imago, Thursday, 6 January 2022 23:11 (two years ago) link

Time to vote.

Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 6 January 2022 23:17 (two years ago) link

Also from RJ 2021:

Totally fun 2021 reissue from Downtown NYC '96,keeping me on my toes

Sleevenote 2
Working with Spanish Fly was an extraordinary experience for me as I most often work with classical music in my choreography. Their music, however, has the perfect pulse for a ballet. It's charged with an "in
Your face" attitude mixed with a sense of yearning. I began to see Images of characters right away. “Night Creatures” we called them.
Young people sliding up Avenue A, full of quirks and obsessions.We gave them names: the Snake Lady. the Sisters, the Lovers. These Characters became our guides. They lead us to Our themes and choices of style.
Lighting designer Mark Stanley created a set of massive Venetian Blinds which opened to reveal the dancers. This gave the work a
sense of spying, of voyeurism.
credits
released April 1, 2021

Steven Bernstein . trumpet, slide trumpet, cornet, crooning
Marcus Rojas : tuba, tubapercussion, tubasinging
Tronzo : slide guitar, cup guitar, prepared guitar
with Ben Perowsky : drums, percussion

FLY BY NIGHT" COMMISSIONED BY THE SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION.
CHOREOGRAPHED BY CHRISTOPHER D'AMBOISE.

PREMIERED FEBRUARY 28,1996 AT CENTER FOR THE ARTS AT YERBA BUENA GARDENS.
BACKGROUND VOCALS ON TONGUE SANDWICH:
SPANISH FLY, HAL WILLNER, VICKI STANBURRY, LAURIE GALLUCCIO, AMANDA REISMAN
https://stevenbernstein.bandcamp.com/album/fly-by-night

― dow, Wednesday, 29 December 2021

dow, Friday, 7 January 2022 00:40 (two years ago) link

This was too:

can't say it better than this guy does on Bandcamp:
Philip Graham---Oh how I do love this stately, swinging tumble of harmony and melody. The album seems like a slowed down, trippy echo of Duke Ellington’s “The Second Line” from New Orleans Suite. It's not really all that slow: every track has satisfying internal dynamics, which go with the mixing of emotions, rhythms, incidents, shades of this and that--yeah, Ellingtonia and NOLA and Downtown hipsters have come this far:

'Tinctures in Time' is the first original music Steven Bernstein has ever written for the Millennial Territory Orchestra, which prior to this recording had exclusively been a vehicle for his arrangements of other people's songs, from Count Basie to Prince. Most of the album was composed in 2019, a tough period for Bernstein: Henry Butler had recently passed, and there was a series of serious injuries and death in his immediate family. Like a lot of people do, Bernstein got through it by working. "I was spending a lot of time on planes, going to visit people in hospitals," he says. "So what else am I going to do with my time? I ended up with all this music."

"The tincture of time" is a phrase Bernstein's father, a doctor, uses for when there's nothing to be done but wait for something to heal; the relevance of time as healer for Bernstein himself is clear. He altered the phrase so it makes a little reference to a favorite Sly Stone tune. And "tinctures," Bernstein says, also refers to "things that people take to give feelings of euphoria." It's why he also calls this collection of compositions "cannabis music."But it's not some foggy notional bank of sands through the hourglass: everybody's very responsive, just never hyper (a tad outcat at times).Enough funk in there, also a soul anthem, not oversold, and sometimes I think Ben P. is playing a tabla?
Steven Bernstein - Trumpet, Slide Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Curtis Fowlkes - Trombone
Charlie Burnham - Violin
Doug Wieselman - Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
Peter Apfelbaum - Tenor Saxophone
Erik Lawrence - Baritone Saxophone
Matt Munisteri - Guitar, Banjo
Ben Allison - Bass
Ben Perowsky - Drums
https://stevenbernstein.bandcamp.com/album/tinctures-in-time-community-music-vol-1

― dow, Thursday, 30 December 2021

dow, Friday, 7 January 2022 00:43 (two years ago) link

Hype hype

Deafheaven - Infinite Granite - throw out everything you knew about Deafheaven, for the most part the black metal screams here serve as filigree and the sound owes more to Tears for Fears' "The Seeds of Love" than anything cooked up by Scandinavian Satan-worshippers

Ducks Ltd. - Modern Fiction - way above replacement-level jangle pop from Toronto, this is the perfect length to put on endless repeat, with nary a bad song, and expertly sequenced

o. nate, Friday, 7 January 2022 02:33 (two years ago) link

i love infinite granite & the seeds of love but idk about that comparison

ufo, Friday, 7 January 2022 02:35 (two years ago) link

Wet Leg don't even have an album out yet and i have gotten adducted to this single of theirs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9jeJk2UHQ

Bee OK, Friday, 7 January 2022 02:57 (two years ago) link

Thanks for the DJ Sabrina stuff, I love it. I like the way it drifts and songforms kind of arise and subside.

think i'd have more interest in dj sabrina's whole thing if the albums weren't all 2-3 hours, i totally lose interest long before then

ufo, Friday, 7 January 2022 03:24 (two years ago) link

I've been enjoying it as quasi-background music. The endlessness just feels like it's a playlist or something.

If you want a break from difficult listening, may I recommend Cum Ovr (heirs to Thee Stallion throne), Fuck Him All Night (banger), and Seeing Green (Wayne's best in forever, and Drake better than anything on his album).

And then after that break, Moses Sumney's Live from Blackalachia is a hell of a thing. Would love to see this projected in a museum, played through crazy-nice speakers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX47qMIw_2o

... (Eazy), Friday, 7 January 2022 03:48 (two years ago) link

OK I'm sold on Wet Leg now

chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Friday, 7 January 2022 04:18 (two years ago) link

whoever nom'd this in the tracks RONDÉ - Hard To Say Goodbye ...

thank you? it's been ringing in my head for weeks

blue6ave, Friday, 7 January 2022 06:21 (two years ago) link

The song that got Bad Bunny and everyone else screaming along in clubs - Karol G & Mariah Angeliq - EL MAKINON

abcfsk, Friday, 7 January 2022 07:27 (two years ago) link

booty booty booty
booty booty booty booty

my kind of jam

human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 7 January 2022 14:22 (two years ago) link

whoever nom'd this in the tracks RONDÉ - Hard To Say Goodbye ...

thank you? it's been ringing in my head for weeks

― blue6ave, vrijdag 7 januari 2022 7:21 (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink


You're welcome! One of the best Dutch popsongs of the year.

ArchCarrier, Friday, 7 January 2022 14:34 (two years ago) link

let’s get back to jehovah’s witnesses

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Friday, 7 January 2022 14:44 (two years ago) link

wrong thread lol

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Friday, 7 January 2022 14:44 (two years ago) link

dang i guess nobody nominated “american tterroristt”

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Friday, 7 January 2022 14:45 (two years ago) link

They did actually!

imago, Friday, 7 January 2022 14:45 (two years ago) link

you're right haha, i searched in the playlist for "rxk" and "nephew," but his name is listed on spotify as one word.

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Friday, 7 January 2022 15:22 (two years ago) link

Whiney (and anyone else interested),I'll probably be getting mine together over the next week or so, need to listen to more tracks, tho I know where I stand with albums.

As for my AOTY, I've noted it before, but it's Anne Bourne's wave, which you can listen to and download here. You can read more about her music and life here.

Simply put, I'd often leave it on continuous replay for hours while working, reading, or doing any number of other activities. Bourne's looped cello drones encourage both active and passive listening, though Bourne was a student of Oliveros' and is very much in the Deep Listening tradition. The record's timbres have emotional heft without sounding cheesy or over-wrought, and it is an expansive record— affectively, it feels like calmly scanning a vast horizon. I played it a lot during our week on an island off the Maine coast, and all of us in the house became completely transfixed by it at one time or another, staring out at the sea as the reverberations of the cello sank into us. Sometimes I'll be listening and something will surprise me, even now, after more than half a year of listening to it. Not everyone's cuppa, sure, but I really think it's the most beautiful record to be released in 2021.

we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Friday, 7 January 2022 15:28 (two years ago) link

^that album isn't my usual thing, but I listened to it the other day after you posted about it table, and it is really lovely

I don't expect it to pick up any votes here, but since it's not on Spotify, I'll rep for Maestro Don & Jahvillani's "Dutty Money" produced by Teetimus, which is dancehall but also really lovely with surprisingly delicately arranged production:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehV1q4IWpMs

rob, Friday, 7 January 2022 15:36 (two years ago) link

Speaking of dancehall, African division, I love (and nommed) this Ugandan track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUjPv94LOWo

sund4r, are you guitar friends with Bilal Nasser? I'm really taken with that album - hype description would be emotive, spacious classical guitar playing with just the right amount of production touches and occasional spoken (usually layed over screamed) vocals that actually work. I put it on my ballot in the spirit of this thread.

change display name (Jordan), Friday, 7 January 2022 16:13 (two years ago) link

Yeah, kind of. We were both students of William Beauvais (albeit decades apart) and have been part of Beauvais Alumni video concerts during the pandemic. It's a nice album, with a pretty distinctive personal vision.

treat the gelignite tenderly for me (Sund4r), Friday, 7 January 2022 16:51 (two years ago) link

Cool!

Btw Aldous Harding became the official home listening choice in my household this year, we wore out Designer. But that's 2020, so I had to vote for 'Old Peel' on the singles.

change display name (Jordan), Friday, 7 January 2022 18:05 (two years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7rHcvqDyY

change display name (Jordan), Friday, 7 January 2022 18:05 (two years ago) link

Designer grew on me in a big way in the past year.

... (Eazy), Friday, 7 January 2022 18:32 (two years ago) link

hype hype

Temperance - Diamanti - symphonic pop metal with co-ed co-lead vocals, energetic hard rockers with rowsing sing-along choruses and some massive power ballads that would make the Scorpions green with envy

Rosali - No Medium - strong contender for my aoty, an astounding collection of songs, emotionally vulnerable and rich, the fuzzed-out country-folk-rock accompaniment suits the mood perfectly, think Neko Case, Drive-By Truckers, Laura Marling

o. nate, Friday, 7 January 2022 19:22 (two years ago) link

Have saved like 80% of fffv's noms. Especially 8485 and Eartheater - great stuff.

tangent x (tangenttangent), Friday, 7 January 2022 20:54 (two years ago) link

Another nom, Martha Wainwright, Love Will Be Reborn--thought I'd said more than this! She's learned from the great French balladeers, as well as her own life, incl. in American and Canadian music:

New album is wild, thematic and gooooing with the floooow, theme as raft, well-lashed, only comparable contemporary sonic experience coming to mynd is Maria McKee's Pre-Raphaelite shout out to Beatrice, La Vita Nuova.

good interview:https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/07/this-much-i-know-martha-wainwright-my-divorce-has-given-me-wisdom
and concert review, w more quotes:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/04/first-live-concert-masks-martha-wainwright-pandemic

― dow, Monday, October 4, 2021

dow, Saturday, 8 January 2022 02:37 (two years ago) link

First 25 tracks, alphabetically by artist. Faves in bold

10,000 Russos - Mexicali/Calexico: I like when this meanders and dubs out into a chasm and the later sections where it drops into a complete psych pit... but at fifteen minutes long and multiple listens later, I am wearing out before it does. I appreciate the intro to these guys though; could see this being a fun band to see live while properly dosed.

3YE - Stalker: Somehow missed 3ye's album last year but clearly I should remedy that mistake. This is a banger, loads of build to that absolutely killer anthemic HIGH HIGH HIGH chorus. Just a really nicely constructed bit of k-pop, sharp and well aimed.

42 Dugg - Maybach with Future, Free Merey: I gave this guy a try when it became clear I needed to be in the loop with him and just didn't connect with his heavily accented nasal voice, flat slurring flow and nihilistic lyrics. Maybach cements my sense he's just not for me but the moment Future steps on the track, I am all in. Good production there! The lament Free Merey missed me completely.

4s4ki - Sugar Junky: Happy-go-lucky hyper jpop of the Katamari b-side variety with an old-school ending; what's not to like?

8485 - hangar: That intersection between 80's retro desire and burbling overproduction, just a soupçon of "Jack and Diane" wistfulness and falling asleep in the back of the Greyhound when you really shouldn't. Nice confessional, surprisingly open given the heavy armor of nostalgia and desire for a flying car future.

A1xJ1 - Latest Trends: Shocked to see how young and raw these kids are, there's clearly a lot of longer term opportunity for growth creatively here. At the moment, this isn't setting the world on fire but there's an effortlessness to the rapping and a clarity of purpose throughout that is plenty positively astringent.

ABBA - I Still Have Faith in You, Don't Shut Me Down, Just a Notion: Hey I Don't Think I Like ABBA. I mean, I never really listened to them except when I've had to and with a few exceptions - Gimme Gimme Gimme and _maybe_ Take a Chance? - I've never really liked when we got stuck in the same room together. All three of these new songs are the flattest of sodas on my palate; I got through one listen and then haven't been able to get through them again. Just a Notion is likely the least of objectionable of the bunch for its sheer over-the-top razzamatazz but it's hardly anything I would seek out ever again.

Abi Ocia - LTWYLM: This was a slow burner: a bit too synthetic, androgyne and radio smooth to be taken without wariness... I note that it's a key track on the "Massage Erotique" playlist as Exhibit D. Even so, the third or fourth listen clicked as a 1988 junior high slow dance and I'm no longer mad at it.

ABISHA - If You Were Mine (DJ Paulette Remix): This remix definitely saves a fairly middle-of-the-road bit of pop house from insipidness with clanks, echos, glitches and Badalamenti atmospherics. The sugary climax becomes more of an intriguing message of longing in these grey shabby rags.

ABRA - Unlock It with Playboy Carti: I'm an avowed sucker for Aaliyah-core and this track was already on my very long list of faves for the year, though likely more in the top 250 than the top 40. Carti is kind of perfectly placed as an utterly unneeded guest rapper but the telephone tones and ABRA's voice are the real special effects.

Ada Lea - damn, my love 4 u is real: I have a limited amount of patience for the lofi monotone sad indie girl's weirdly scansioned monologue over moody guitars schtick but damn is sort of about as good an example of that niche as you could hope for. Once I've gotten through that though, I definitely don't need anything more of the same so the second track can tell its story walking.

Adana Twins - 1983: Talk about stating your intent in the title! Definite "take on me" vibes with the opening drums, leading into solid Outrun-style bass and synths. It's a fun drive and I look forward to taking this with me on a jog in the near future.

Adele - Easy On Me: This is Better Than Fine. Adele's singles have the hard to define quality of sounding instantly timeless and effortlessly crossoverable. Difficult for me to get excited about but I imagine I could hear this in 20 years and still think "oh yeah, she was good at this."

Ado - 踊: Overstuffed, Latin-inflected hyper-ish j-pop that would fit in on a video game or a spy movie. Can somebody tell me what this translates as? It's pretty solid stuff and I like her Bjork-y scream.

aespa - Savage: Enjoyably schizophrenic k-pop that might benefit from a bit more fishhook and less velvet. Still a fun and repeatable listen.

AG Cook - Xcxoplex with Charli XCX: Given what they're capable of this feels like a pretty minor entry from both parties... but not bad?

Agnes - 24 Hours, Here Comes the Night: Dua does the pastiche vibe better but that doesn't mean there aren't things to enjoy within the deeply ersatz. Frankly if you're going to take so much time coordinating and calibrating this sort of OTT disco, it would be a bit snotty to not appreciate the effort. Not sure it's anything I'd seek out but fine as filler. The fact that one is as good as the next speaks more to its status as product.

Aisha Noel - One Dance: Solid dancehall pop that I plucked as a fave off the ILX thread some months ago. Entirely enjoyable if maybe not exemplary.

Aldous Harding - Old Peel: Oooof, this is emphatically Not My Thing. Kept waiting for it to become anything and it mostly sat in its petri dish and gnawed on its flagella.

Alec Troniq - Dwight: Delightful oontz oontz of the techno albums that are doing it wrong variety. Another one that I'm looking forward to joining me on a trail jog.

i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 8 January 2022 06:22 (two years ago) link

Ola Kvernberg - Arpystarts off like a fairly typical although particularly lovely Norwegian post-jazz-prog exercise, then suddenly someone flicks a switch and we are RIDING A HORSE THROUGH SPACE

Lmao

The entire Ola Kvernberg album is super enjoyable btw. After Arpy & another slight neo-prog fantasia called The Vault, it switches gears almost entirely, into what I might call Geir Hongro's Platonic Ideal if a Fela Kuti album, riding interesting and surprising chords over afrobeat rhythms for much of the remainder of the album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvBOejHbmP4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMeDr5jzOBI

signe anderson (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 9 January 2022 03:03 (two years ago) link

Controversial (and vmic) opinion: as extended compositions featuring a jazz soloist vs traditional classical ensemble go, Douglas Cuomo's Seven Limbs for Nels Cline and Azari Quartet is a much greater achievement than Floating Points's Promises for Pharoah Sanders and LSO.

treat the gelignite tenderly for me (Sund4r), Sunday, 9 January 2022 15:04 (two years ago) link

*Aizuri Quartet

treat the gelignite tenderly for me (Sund4r), Sunday, 9 January 2022 15:43 (two years ago) link

I never cared for the torch song stylings of his solo work but last year's Cathal Coughlan album "Song of Co-Aklan" is up there with his Microdisney/Fatima Mansions output. I think hes one of the great lyricists and he really shines here. Music is a mix of Sparksian theatricality, post-punk and world-weary balladry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDBOHermCes

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Sunday, 9 January 2022 17:56 (two years ago) link

putting in a good word for 'skater's world', the poppiest track off parris's album, some sort of bass music-meets-cheerleader chant thing, just supercute and catchy imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBsl_N6pazY

o shit the sheriff (NickB), Sunday, 9 January 2022 22:45 (two years ago) link

Ok I lied before, I also want to rep for the HTRK album. It’s beautiful and melancholic and it’s giving me the best kind of Mazzy Star vibes.

Voted for both the album and this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfvLwHee_zo

It has a surprisingly loud sub-bass going on, in case you’re playing from your home setup.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 10 January 2022 00:51 (two years ago) link

Faves in bold

Alessia Cara - Shapeshifter: It feels cynical and unkind to adversely compare this slinky Winehouse-y track to the kind of work Lovato or Angie Stone or Katy B or any of a dozen other pop R&B types pull off so much better than Cara does but I guess I just did. This is nice enough but I wish it didn't sound like she was working so hard.

Alewya - Play: Nice and sinewy dance music that didn’t leave much of a mark. This was one of those tracks where I play it five times over before I realize that I’ve heard it already. Pleasant enough nonetheless.

Alexa Rose - Clearwater Park: Sad to say I have no time for this kind of Joni Mitchell pastiche. Hits me in a space where I simply don’t want to stay.

Alexis Taylor - Dying in Heaven: I like Hot Chip well enough but this underlines that it’s less the vocals that hold me than their production. This wafer of AM rock ain’t doing it for me.

Alicai Harley - Put It On You: Solid enough pop dancehall but maybe a bit too overprocessed for me to get passionate about.

Alice Cooper - Shut Up and Rock: Okay, this is objectively terrible and corny as all get out and I have such a soft spot for Alice, so I don’t care. Total old man waves fist at social media batshittery of the first degree and, I’m afraid, easily weaponizable as conservative talking points, but the edges are all nerf and the song is over in just over two minutes so let’s let grampa have his moment. Perhaps we should shut up and rock?

Ali Sethi and Nicolas Jaar - Yakjehti Mein: Here’s one of those songs that makes this sort of listening exercise worthwhile: spaced out psych ghazal segueing into full electronic head trip and then boomeranging back. Sethi’s vocals are lovely and Jaar’s production is remarkably balanced. Just a great planet to orbit and visit.

Allie X - Limited Love: This is what the kids call Shambhala, no? For my money, the Allie X track of the year was ‘Fresh Laundry’, a meditation on the encroaching middle age desire for domesticity that runs somewhat diametrically opposed to Limited Love’s desire for connected passion. Both are a very good time!

Allison Russell - Persephone: I like Russell’s cornpone songwriting a bit better than her bird warble voice but not so much more that I didn’t get a great deal of enjoyment from her country album Outside Child. Persephone isn’t likely my fave track from Outside, I’d maybe lean into the single Nightflyer, which does much the same work but shakes a bit harder. Even so, this is nice.

Altin Gün - Ordunun Dereleri: Turkish New Order-influenced psych? Yes please! Dominated by the heavy footsteps of bass, twinkly synths and atmospheric keys, the vocals really elevate this into something special. This is good enough to merit consideration for a top 30 had I found it earlier in the year. Strongly recommended!

Aly and AJ - Symptom of Your Touch: Am I alone in finding these two a bit less interesting in each successive project? Maybe I’m just a crank. This is okay but difficult for me to get excited about.

Amaarae with Kali Uchis - SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY: Oily gross capitalist land grab, like a rethinking of a Drake bachata hit that he stole from someone else. I like Uchis’ verse well enough but not enough to keep putting money in the meter here.

Amalia Zehin - Çek: I’m not going to front like I know anything about Turkmen pop but this has the snap and pop of solid K-pop so I don’t mind latching on. Willing to bet that my lack of comprehension of the lyrics is a feature not a bug tho.

Amber Mark - What It Is: Having just heard this four days ago, I’m going to have to really think about issues of recency bias when voting but I think this track might well make my ballot. If it doesn’t it really should. Have we been talking about Amber Mark in the R&B thread? She was new to me and this song sent me on a fruitful search for more. Who woulda thunk she’d be doing solid covers of Nirvana and Sisquo? Mark’s other ’21 singles are solid too but this one is crisp and just shy of perfect… I dunno if that guitar solo at the end was entirely necessary? Eh, I can cope.

Amberoom with Blakkat - Radio Slave 'New Age of Love' Remix: I’m a sucker for moody deep house so I am a sucker for this.

Amyl and the Sniffers - Guided by Angels, Hertz: I’m late to this band though their names had cropped up often enough that I had some sense of what the mouthfeel was. First listens reminded me of Viagra Boys, so I was pleased to see that there’s been some crossover there and that I’m not too desperately seeking analogs. Both tracks are indistinguishably good fun punk; if these are representative and not exemplary, I should likely give the album a shot as this is a perfectly good time.

Amythyst Kiah - Tender Organs: This is my nomination and will definitely be making my ballot. Amethyst has gotten zero traction on this board (a quick look suggests no one but me has ever mentioned her name) but that’s clearly my fault as I should be a louder proselytizer. I though her album Wary and Strange was one of the best of the year, solid country and folk pop with an honest twang and remarkable songwriting throughout. Tender Organs is maybe the best of the bunch, a frightened meditation on fragility and fallibility that showcases Kiah’s blazing voice, careful phrasing and emotional drive. She’s a powerhouse and I wish you’d give this a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fL1KS9y-iU

Analog Tara - Undecagon: Wonderful EDM of the trance out with your pants off variety. Is the rest of the EP this good? I’ll be finding out shortly.

The Anchoress - The Art of Losing: A big sloppy slice of prog that curdled on contact for me.

Andrew WK - Babalon: Abundant, badly spelled, goofy, thoroughly enjoyable art metal with filaments of something more carefully thought out in spite of itself. Desires you to throw up the horns unironically and I suppose I might as well.

Andronicus - Make You Whole (Coco Bryce Remix): Stepping onto the dance floor with an earful of pop rocks and coke with a mentos chaser. ZING ZANG ZUNG

Andy Shauf - Green Glass Took a few listens but this has ear wormed into my just awake brain as the first thing I thought about today. I was unfamiliar with Shauf and could use some recommendations of other singles by him worth exploring? This reminded me of early AC Newman solo work, all whiteboy ennui and Matthew Sweet melodies. I appreciate being handed this as a gift as there is zero chance I would’ve stumbled into it on my own.

Andy Stott and Alison Skidmore - The beginning: Inventive and curious EDM that holds the attention and the imagination longer than you might figure its fairly restrained palette could manage. Genuinely pretty, which is a hard pickup for this sort of knobtwiddling.

Angèle - Bruxelles je t'aime: The one singing French from the Dua Lipa track, eh? I wasn’t aware she was such a big deal but on the strength of this, I could see it. Inarguably sharp pop with good crossover appeal.

i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Monday, 10 January 2022 03:39 (two years ago) link

Not a misspelling!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babalon

treat the gelignite tenderly for me (Sund4r), Monday, 10 January 2022 03:39 (two years ago) link

i stand corrected

i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Monday, 10 January 2022 03:44 (two years ago) link

Loving your work here forks

Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Monday, 10 January 2022 08:28 (two years ago) link


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