2021 David Music Poll Results
Hello, everyone. I’m very happy to share with you this year’s music poll results.
1) Lil Nas X, MONTERO (22 votes)
2) Olivia Rodrigo, SOUR (17)
3) Adele, 30 (10)
4) Lucy Dacus, Home Videos (9)
Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version) (9)
6) Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee (8)
Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever (8)
8) Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days (7)
9) Julien Baker, Little Oblivions (6)
Bleachers, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night (6)
The War on Drugs, I don’t live here anymore (6)
Runners up: Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails Over the Country Club; Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert; Halsey, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power (5 votes)
Notes: There’s some new blood on the top of the list this year, with impressive showings from Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo riding a pop wave to the top. (Technically, these are both debut albums, but Lil Nas X is hardly a debut artist.) Adele makes her third appearance in the top ten, and Billie Eilish, Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, and The War on Drugs each make their second. Taylor Swift now joins (her friends) The National and (not to my knowledge her friends) Radiohead in the lead with five top-tens over the poll’s 23 years. 57 people participated in this year’s poll.
For everyone’s individual lists, please go here: http://davidmusicpoll.blogspot.com/
My List, Featuring a Blockbuster Video
My essential albums (in rough order):
Lucy Dacus, Home Videos
girl in red, if I could make it go quiet
Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version) (Vault songs)
Julien Baker, Little Oblivions
Bleachers, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night
CHVRCHES, Screen Violence
Rostam, Changeophobia
Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days
Honorable mention to the new albums by Big Red Machine, Billie Eilish, Courtney Barnett, London Grammar, Lorde, Mickey Guyton, Sam Fender, and The Staves
Thoughts: There’s actually a strange continuum to many of my choices. My top album is a singer-songwriter looking back at her high school journals and telling their stories from a remove. My second-place album is full of fresh adolescent confusion. My third-place album is a revisiting of older songs in a more knowing way. And the fouth and sixth place albums are what happens when you get to womanhood.
Favorite songs:
Fanny Anderson, “Wake Up” (my pandemic anthem)
Anais Mitchell, “Brooklyn Bridge” and Rostam, “From the Back of a Cab” (who knew I loved driving-across-a-NYC-bridge songs so much?)
Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever” (most brilliant switcheroo of the year)
Taylor Swift, “All Too Well (Taylor’s 10-minute Version) (I never, ever thought I needed a ten-minute Taylor Swift songs; ends up, I did)
Brandi Carlile, “Right on Time” (epic)
Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, “Like I Used To”
Lucy Dacus, “Brando”
MUNA and Phoebe Bridgers, “Silk Chiffon” (Phoebe Bridgers took over my musical life this year, basically – how can she be on so many albums?)
And basically all the Olivia Rodrigo and Lil Nas X singles
Anna Q, Optimistically
Olivia rodrigo, sour
Kacey musgraves, star crossed
Finneas, optimist
Chris K’s Celestial Seasonings
Album of the Year: King Woman, Celestial Blues
Demiser, Through the Gate Eternal
Domkraft, Seeds
Hooded Menace, The Tritonus Bell
Steel-Bearing Hand, Slay In Hell
Rob Zombie, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy
VHS, I Heard They Suck...Blood
Darkthrone, Eternal Hails........
Silk Sonic feat. Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, An Evening With Silk Sonic
Cannibal Corpse, Violence Unimagined
Wolves In The Throne Room, Primordial Arcana
Khemmis, Deceiver
Andrew WK, God Is Partying
Fiona S’s Silky Sounds
Adele, 30
Silk Sonic, An Evening with Silk Sonic
ABBA, Voyage
Lake Street Drive, Obviously
Kacey Musgraves, Star Crossed
Bryant P’s Sour Season
Here are my most essential albums of 2021, a year I found myself listening to older music more than new music:
James Vincent McMorrow, Grapefruit Season
Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
Lana del Rey, Chemtrails Over the Country Club
Ekkstacy, Negative
Lil Nas X, Montero
Alex K Takes it to CHVRCH
1) CHVRCHES, Screen Violence
2) London Grammar, Californian Soil
Eugene K, Cultured Vulture
Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
Mach-Hommy - Pray for Haiti
Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
Pink Pantheress - to hell with it
Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey: Uneasy
Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
Arya Starr - 19 & Dangerous
Favorite remix: Adele, Easy on me by High Contrast
Favorite DJ sets: Ben Bohmer above Cappadocia, The Blaze at Aiguille du Midi
Jaclyn D Finds Lost
Favorite album of 2021: Lord Huron, Long Lost
Favorite late 2020 album I bought in 2021: Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts
Favorite albums I discovered because I’m a classic rock girl:
Trees, On the Shore
The Kinks, The Village Green Preservation Society
Waylon Jennings, Waylon Live
Jethro Tull, Heavy Horses
Neil Young (in general)
For David G, Queens is King
Number one:
Aimee Mann, Queens of the Summer Hotel
The rest of the top ten:
Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine, A Beginner’s Mind
LUMP, Animal
Michael Hurley, The Time of the Foxgloves
Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails over the Country Club
Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
Julien Baker, Little Oblivions
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, This is a Mindfulness Drill
Oberhofer, Smothered
Special Mention:
Sharon Van Etten, epic Ten re-release
Honorable Mentions:
Martha Wainwright, Love Will Be Reborn
Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days
Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee
Floating Points and Pharaoh Sanders, Promises
Mdou Moctar, Afrique Victime
The Weather Station, Ignorance
Arooj Aftab, Vulture Prince
Indigo de Souza, Any Shape You Take
Arlo Parks, Collapsed in Sunbeams
Hard Feelings, Hard Feelings
St Vincent, Daddy’s Home
London Grammar, Californian Soil
Wolf Alice, Blue Weekend
Lil Nas X, Montero
Nite Jewel, No Sun
Natalie Bergman, Mercy
PinkPantheress, To Hell With It
Lucy Dacus, Home Video
And then here are my favorite songs from the year:
Trans Mantra by Ezra Furman
Love More by Fiona Apple (Sharon Van Etten cover)
NDA by Billie Eilish
Chaise Longue by Wet Leg
Soon It Will Be Fire by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble feat Moses Sumney
Dance Till We Die by Lana Del Rey
When The World Wakes Up by Tachys
Stay High by Brittany Howard (Childish Gambino version)
Dream Never Dies by Lo Moon
I See You by Aimee Mann
Right On Time (Orchestral Version) by Brandi Carlile
SIERRA NIGHTS by Kevin Abstract feat Ryan Beatty
Back to Oz by Sufjan and Angelo de Augustine
Ani Kuni by Polo & Pan
Good Morning by Indya Love
Free from Gravity by Django Django
Only Love by Tycho and Benjamin Gibbard
Asking for a Friend by CHVRCHES
Nineveh by Kele
Save Your Tears (with Ariana Grande) (Remix) by The Weeknd
GOOD YEAR FOR MUSIC!
Call Phil B By Your Name
1. Lil Nas X, Montero
2. Rauw Alejandro, Vice Versa
3. Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
Tode de Ti by Rauw Alejandro and That's What I Want by Lil Nas X are my songs of the year.
Justin W’s Inside Job
Most Essential Album of 2021: Bo Burnham, Inside (The Songs of Inside)
Other Essential Albums:
Middle Kids, Today We’re the Greatest
Courtney Barnett, Things Take Time, Take Time Julian Baker, Little Oblivions
Mike R, Everything After Ever
MY (PERSONAL, SUBJECTIVE) TOP 15 ALBUMS:
1. Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
2. Jonathan Larson, tick, tick... BOOM!
3. Lucy Dacus, Home Video
4. Autoheart, Hellbent
5. Bo Burnham, Inside
6. Maisie Peters, You Signed Up For This
7. Bleachers, Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night
8. The Killers, Pressure Machine
9. Twin Shadow, Twin Shadow
10. Magdalena Bay, Mercurial World
11. Torres, Thirstier
12. Self Esteem, Prioritise Pleasure
13. Sam Fender, Seventeen Going Under
14. AJR, OK Orchestra
15. Aly & AJ, a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then in to the sun
MY (PERSONAL, SUBJECTIVE) TOP 5 SINGLES OF THE YEAR:
1) MUNA ft. Phoebe Bridgers, "Silk Chiffon"
2) Olivia Rodrigo, "good 4 u"
3) Metteson, "Under Your Shirt"
4) Lil Nas X, "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)"
5) Taylor Swift, "All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)"
NOTES:
1) I am not normally a "slow song" or "quiet song" kind of guy, which makes it all the more impressive that I found Billie Eilish's second album to be so undeniably towering in its quality, replayability, and mature, personally-grounded, but still melodic songwriting, that it simply had to be my number one choice.
2) I disqualified Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) from being considered as "new" albums, but rest assured, had I not done that, one or both of them would be my album of the year.
3) If I could recommend some albums on this list y'all may not have heard already, they would be Hellbent by Autoheart (for fans of Erasure, Depeche Mode, and Pet Shop Boys), You Signed Up For This by Maisie Peters (for fans of Lily Allen and Kate Nash at her poppiest), and Twin Shadow by Twin Shadow (for fans of The Clash's Caribbean-influenced period, but this time by an actual Dominican-American pop wunderkind).
4) Long live the music poll!
Samantha M’s Superior War
Here's my list!
1) War on Drugs, I Don't Live Here Anymore
2) St. Vincent, Daddy's Home
3) Leon Bridges, Gold-Diggers Sound
Cassandra P Heeds the Call
Most essential album:
Tyler, the Creator, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
Other essential albums:
Doja Cat, Planet Her
Lil Nas X, Montero
Adele, 30
Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak, An Evening with Silk Sonic
Kacey Musgraves, star-crossed
Roberto R, Merrily Down the Stream
MY FAVORITE OF THE YEAR:
Damon Albarn, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
Collin Q is Funny haha
One of my favorite new year traditions! Here's what I got for 2021...
TOP ALBUM
Faye Webster, I Know I'm Funny haha
Honorable Mentions
Lucy Dacus, Home Video
Snail Mail, Valentine
Arca, KICK ii, KicK iii, kick iiii, and kiCK iiiii
Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee
Hayley Williams, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos
TOP SINGLES
1. Snail Mail, "Valentine"
2. Arca, "Señorita"
3. SZA, "Good Days"
4. serpentwithfeet, "Fellowship"
5. Rebecca Black, "Personal"
6. Muna, "Silk Chiffon (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)"
7. Tinashe, "Bouncin"
8. Lucy Dacus, "Triple Dog Dare"
9. Tobe Nwigwe & Fat Nwigwe, "FYE FYE"
10. Adam Melchior, "i'm not okay"
11. Doss, "Look"
12. Hayley Williams, "Teardrop"
Brent G Loves an Ex
I'm in!..I love this and sad I missed last year so here I go.
1. Ex:Re & Josephine Stephnson with 12 Esemble
2. Czarface & MF DOOM - Super What?
3. SAULT - NINE
4. Taylor Swift - Evermore
5. Conway the Machine - La Maquina
6. Silk Sonic - An Evening With
7. BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk Memory
8. Lil Nas X - Montero
9. Aimee Mann - Queens of the Summer Hotel
10. NAS - King's Disease II
Theo M, Lover of Star Crossed
star-crossed - Kacey Musgraves
SOUR - Olivia Rodrigo
30 - Adele
Daniel L’s Lil Winner
Most Essential Album, 2021: Lil Nas X, MONTERO
Other Essentials:
HAIM, Women In Music, Pt. III
Adele, 30
Kelley S, in a Mood Valiant
Here’s my list. I may have several this year that actually end up on the final list! Look at me getting mainstream…sorta…
In no particular order, my top ten lists of 2021 are:
Vocal:
1. Parannoul, To See the Next Part of the Dream
2. Wednesday, Twin Plagues
3. Nervous Dater, Call in the Mess
4. Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee
5. Julien Baker, Little Oblivions
6. Flock of Dimes, Head of Roses
7. Arlo Parks, Collapsed in Sunbeams
8. Black Country, New Road, For the First Time
9. Hiatus Kaiyote, Mood Valiant
10. Kælan Mikla, Undir Köldum Norðurljósum
Instrumental:
1. Anoice, Hidden Forest
2. Ghost Bath, Self Loather
3. Sadness, April Sunset
4. Theon Cross, Intra-I
5. Trna, Istok
6. Unreqvited, Beautiful Ghosts
7. A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Invisible Cities
8. Ólafur Arnalds, The Invisible EP
9. Grouper, Shade
10. The Ember, The Ash, Fixation
And David, you’re probably already familiar with one (or both???) of these artists, but just in case, since there are a couple lines with multiple commas, the artist names are “Black Country, New Road”, and “The Ember, The Ash”.
Kevin K Starts with Genesis
When I look back on 2021, I will think of it as the year of the single. There were very few albums I would consider “essential.” Instead, I found myself listening to singles more than anything.
Favorite Singles of 2021
Rose Pink Cadillac – DOPE LEMON
Like A Lady – Pom Poko
Head Cheerleader – Pom Pom Squad
Introvert – Little Simz
This Sound – Greentea Peng
The Other Black Dog – Genesis Owusu
Lover Boy – The Front Bottoms
Pay Your Way In Pain – St. Vincent
Valentine – Snail Mail
Be Sweet – Japanese Breakfast
Follow – Gary Louris
Stop Making This Hurt – Bleachers
MMMOOOAAAAAYA… - illuminati hotties
Racist, Sexist Boy – The Linda Linds
Nervous – Madi Diaz
Turnaround (Cocaine Song) – Toth
Tell Me What You Want – Weezer
I NEED YOU – Jon Batiste
Orion From The Street – Field Music
Narrator – Squid
BLACKOUT – Turnstile
Track X – Black Country, New Road
ALL FUTURES – The Armed
Snakes – Amyl and The Sniffers
777 – Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, Silk Sonic
I Wanna Be a Dog – Colleen Green
Scratchcard Lanyard – Dry Cleaning
Really Great – The Connells
Da Vinci – Demira
HEAVY METAL – Paris Texas
Essential Albums of 2021
Smiling with No Teeth – Genesis Owusu
Major Prince vibes, so I was all over this entire album in 2021.
Flat White Moon – Field Music
IMHO, they have yet to make a bad record. One of the best bands making music today without major accolades.
Death of a Cheerleader – Pom Pom Squad
I saw them in concert this year and the lead singer tossed a rose to me. That would be enough to make the list, but it helps that the debut rocks.
Sometimes I Might Be Introvert – Little Simz
The first track “Introvert” is huge and majestic. Reminds me of early Fugees.
First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings – Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
This is the album I listened to the most in 2021 and it was only released in December! My favorite incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, playing my favorite songs. Lee Morgan’s flourishes on the trumpet are amazing. Bobby Timmons cements himself as one of the all-time great pianists. Art Blakey simply destroys the Japanese audience with his drums. This list does not often feature jazz records but do yourself a favor and give this one a listen.
Maggie S Strikes Up the Orchestra
I realized I didn't need that long to tell you my favorites from 2021, because I'm still humming them.
BEST ALBUMS
1) Manchester Orchestra, Million Masks of God
when this came out, I was on a retreat, but I left everyone in the house and walked around the cabin for three hours, in the rain, just listening to it over and over and over in my headphones.
2) Grasscut, Overwinter
This is a little on the green man gray sky clannad side of things, but it works.
3) MISSIO, Skeletons, Pt 3
These are ever so much better when stripped down.
BEST SINGLES
mostly minor key, often psychedelic, mostly sad even if they are hiding it deep down inside
1) Animal Collective, "Prester John"
2) Mother Mother, "Weep"
3) Kawala, "Back of My Hand"
4) UPSAHL, "STOP!"
5) BANNERS, "They All Are"
6) Keane, "Dirt"
7) CHVRCHES & Robert Smith, "How Not to Drown"
8) Milky Chance, "Colorado"
9) The Head and the Heart, "Our House"
10) Joywave, "The Inversion
11) Of Monsters and Men, "Destroyer"
12) HEALTH, "COLORS (Thomaas Banks Rmx)"
13) Low, "White Horses"
14) Everything Everything, "Mercury and Me"
15) Dotter, "Little Tot"
16) Lucy Daydream, "Keep it Low"
Gianfranco L Feels Pretty, Oh So Pretty
Now you know what lives inside my head…
2021:
Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story (2021)
Jonathan Larson/Netflix, tick, tick… BOOM! (2021)
Dan Romer/Disney, Luca
Natalie Holt/Disney, Loki (Vol. 1 & 2)
Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Encanto
Past Albums:
Netflix, Eurovision (2020)
Marina & the Diamonds, The Family Jewels (2010)
Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, SIX the Musical (2018)
Beyoncé, Homecoming: The Live Album (2019)
Various, Mean Girls the Musical (2017)
Shelly R Wants Halsey, and Power
2021 Most Essential Album:
Halsey, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
This album got me through the rest of the year when it was released. I truly wish I could listen to it again for the first time because every song, even the softer ballads that aren't quite my taste, are incredible. The short film Halsey created for it is so visually stunning. It now means a lot to me...so much that I got the title tattooed on my arm this January.
Honorable Mentions:
Måneskin, Teatro d'ira: Vol. 1
Bo Burnham, Inside (The Songs)
Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
Lil Nas X, Montero
Doja Cat, Planet Her
5 Favorite Songs of 2021:
"SHUM" by Go_A
"La Paura Del Buio" by Måneskin
"Can You Feel My Heart (Remix)" by Bring Me The Horizon & Jeris Johnson
"The Lighthouse" by Halsey
"Good 4 U" by Olivia Rodrigo
Andy P Goes Easy on Us
Lil Nas X, Montero
Adele, 30
Melissa W Knows Her Favorite All Too Well
Essential album:
Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor's Version)
Essential song from that album:
Taylor Swift, “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" from Red (Taylor's Version)
Matt U Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Thanks for keeping the music poll going. It’s always a great way to discover new music from people who care about the real thing.
So, this year was a bit off for me. Nothing really quite rose to essential, maybe I just haven’t heard it yet. Or maybe I can’t figure out what mood I’m in… In the past, artists have either spoken directly to me like Patty Griffin or The Avett Brothers or have spoken to the times succinctly like Lana Del Ray’s Norman Fucking Rockwell. This year, I felt like there were a lot of good records but I was in search of the great. So, here’s my short list in as close to an order as I could land on:
Essential albums:
1. The War on Drugs, I don’t live here anymore
2. Bleachers, Take the sadness out of Saturday night
3. Lord Huron, Long lost
4. Passenger, Songs for the drunk and broken-hearted
My most essential album, or most listened to album anyway, wasn’t from this year or even that recent:
Phosphorescent, Muchacho
And album from last year that I didn’t really listen to until this year but it’s lovely enough to deserve mention:
Ray LaMontagne, Monovision
Here’s to finding an essential album at last from the poll!
Ben L Can Drink a Kacey of You
Kacey Musgraves, star-crossed
H.E.R., Back of My Mind
girl in red, if i could make it go quiet
Miranda Lambert (etc.), The Marfa Tapes
Ashley Monroe, Rosegold
Adele, 30
Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor's Version)
Tinashe, 333
Lucy Dacus, Home Video
Lil Nas X, MONTERO
WILLOW, lately I feel EVERYTHING
Olivia Rodrigo, SOUR
Lorde, Solar Power
Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
Daniel H’s Light at the End of the
Colleen, The Tunnel and the Clearing
Helado Negro, Far In
Low, HEY WHAT
Lonelady, Former Things
Lambchop, Showtunes
St. Etienne, I’ve Been Trying To Tell You
Stars, “Build A Fire”
Lonelady, “Threats"
Matthue R Hits the Jubilee
Most essential:
Jubilee, Japanese Breakfast
After beginning the album with a literal gong, which leads into this mellow groove that eventually is supported by a Love Boat-style horn section on "Paprika," the opening track, Jubilee darts in and out of dreamy pop, '80s synth ballads, '70s Linda Ronstadt soft rock, and (deep breath) her own take on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs take on early Cure songs. Michelle Zautner's lyrics straddle this perfect nubile territory between tongue-in-cheek rock lyrics and unchanging truth. Even if one single didn't have an X-Files-inspired video, even if another wasn't about Sopranos-style billionaire preppers, you'd still get a skewed, dangerous, comforting worldview from this short, gorgeous album.
With supporting acts:
Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor's Version)
If we're being completely closet-confessions here, which of course we're not, R(TV) would be my most essential. The sheer amount of salt tears I've shed during the listening of "All Too Well (Taylor's Version) (10 Minute Version)" alone is probably a significant percentage of my body mass. But: is it really fair to stamp "this year's most essential" on a 10-year-old group of songs? (Maybe.) And on the most commercially successful artist of our time? (Maybe.) And on someone who occupied 2 of my most essential slots from last year's poll? Well, any of these factors is not a deciding factor, but if it was Taylor's pick, she'd probably say the name of some obscure album deserving of a wider audience, and you should really listen to Japanese Breakfast.
MUNA, Silk Chiffon
A single, not an album (or a really short album), but I take so many forms of joy in this, from watching my 5-year-old jump around on the bed singing this in pure ecstasy to me jumping on my bed singing this in pure I-wish-I-were-a-teenage-gay nostalgia. The video is great. Phoebe Bridgers is great. But the core of this song is a throwback to the Bratmobile/Team Dresch/early Le Tigre '90s, and a time when every song was a revelation of discovery, and I am so glad that I can still find things that make me this happy. This song is one of them.
Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine, A Beginner's Mind
A+.
Josh L, Into Oblivion
Julien Baker, Little Oblivions.
Caveat: I experienced 2021 as, essentially, "long 2020." Therefore the album of the year, really, should still be Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher. But I'll abide by the terms of the poll.
Honorable Mentions: Lucy Dacus, Home Video and The Hold Steady, Open Door Policy. I cannot not mention such excellent lyricist/songwriters dwelling intensely on adolescent love. I'm even pretty sure that "Unpleasant Breakfast" and "Christine" are, due to some mysterious fold in the space-time continuum, actually about the same girl!!!
Brian M’s Outsider Picks
1. Philippe Cohen & Mike Lindsay, Outsider
2. Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails Over the Country Club
3. St. Vincent, Daddy's Home
4. Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
5. New Bums, Last Time I Saw Grace
6. Sivert Hoyem, Roses of Neurosis
7. Langhorne Slim, Strawberry Mansion
8. Black Pistol Fire, Look Alive
9. Richard Ashcroft, Acoustic Hyms Vol. 1
10. Emma Ruth Rundle, Engine of Hell
Sarah D’s Saturday Night Fever
my most essential album of the year was Bleachers Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night.
Nick E, Malkin His Move
This might be my longest list ever — and there are still a few 2021 albums I haven’t really gotten around to yet (including Liz Phair & GBV). But here’s the new stuff in my rotation!
1) Zach Holbrook, Malkin
2) Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine, A Beginner’s Mind
3) Sufjan Stevens, Convocations
4) Small Black, Cheap Dreams
5) Arab Strap, As Days Get Dark
6) Moby, Reprise
7) Chvrches, Screen Violence
8) Big Red Machine, How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?
9) Air, More Hertz
10) Max Richter, Exiles
Maya M’s Sweetly Sour
Happy music poll season!
My favorite album of the year: SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo.
My favorite song of the year: I’m Trying (Not Friends) by Maisie Peters
My favorite EP of the year: bound by expectations by jenny nuo
Nico M’s Got the Power
All I can say is...
Halsey, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
A pop singer teaming up with Nine Inch Nails to give Nico everything he's ever wanted or needed in an album, and demoting Garbage's "No Gods No Masters" to the #2 slot? Yes, please, and thank you.
Joy P, Right on Time
There is only one album that matters to me this year: Brandi Carlile's IN THESE SILENT DAYS. Best song on the album: RIGHT ON TIME.
I hope this pushes Brandi over the edge. What other album even comes close???
Teri Y Walks the Moon
Lil Nas X, Montero
Walk the Moon, Heights
VINCINT, There Will Be Tears
Todrick Hall, Femuline
Plus singles from Troye Sivan, Years & Years and Kim Petras--very much looking forward to their 2022 albums! A very queer year for music!
Anna C’s Breakfast is Champion
1. Jubilee - Japanese Breakfast
2. Death of a Cheerleader - Pom Pom Squad
3. Glow On - Turnstile
4. Hey What - Low
5. The Sound of Yourself - Mac McCaughan
6. Thirstier - Torres
7. Blood Lemon - Blood Lemon
8. Year of the Spider - Shannon & the Clams
9. A Southern Gothic - Adia Victoria
10. Between the Richness - Fiddlehead
Jordan H’s Cat Power
Fav albums of the year:
Doja Cat, Planet Her
Adele, 30
Marina, Ancient Dreams in A Modern Land
Positions, Ariana Grande
Best songs:
Ariana Grande, Off The Table (feat the weekend)
Doja Cat, Get into it ( Yuh)
Cardi B, UP
Marina, Venus Fly Trap
Megan THEE stallion, Thot Shit
Adele, I Drink Wine
CHLOE, Have Mercy
Rumors, Lizzo
Dan P: Video is a Radio Star
It was not a good new music year for me. I listened a lot of stuff from years just prior, as I expect I’ll find last year’s new music this year… ugh.
The ones I did remember liking are:
*Lucy Dacus, Home Video*
Bleachers, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night
Julien Baker, Little Oblivions
Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
Lil Nas X, Montero
Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days (though I mostly just loved “Right on Time”)
Joy Oladokun, in defense of my own happiness - (“look up” is sooooo good)
Zach F Says WHAT
Most Essential:
Low, HEY WHAT
Runner-up:
Jon Batiste, WE ARE
Bill K’s Talking About Jamie
Not a banner year for new music for me, but here's what I have:
Essential:
Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Motion Picture Soundtrack
Also:
Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days
Lil Nas X, MONTERO
Aimee Mann, Queens of the Summer Hotel
ABBA, Voyage
Crowded House, Dreamers Are Waiting
Billy M’s Machine Dreams
Here are my top albums of 2021!
Big Red Machine, Big Red Machine
30, Adele
If I can't Have Love, I Want Power, Halsey
Gabriel B’s Eternal Rey
I am nothing if not predictable…..
1. Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails Over the Country Club
2. Lana Del Rey, Blue Bannisters
3. Lil Nas X, Montero
Best discovery from years past: Amy Winehouse’s cover of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”
Jinny W Takes to the Strings
1. BRUCE LIU / CHOPIN. Deutsche Grammophon November 2021.
A live recording made in October in the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, with audience masked and orchestra not. Parisian-born Canadian pianist Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu, age 24, won the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition. And we get to hear it happen. Chopin’s glorious range is in full bloom in Liu’s hands: the grit, the satin, the oceanic, the rippling brook. The CD begins with his final round performance of Chopin’s Concerto No. 1, with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Boreyko. And then come Mazurkas, Nocturnes, and other short pieces. Out of 178 contestants, Liu was named winner by the 17 judges from eleven countries.
The CD was to be released on November 19. Supply chain tangles have delayed shipping. But we can watch sections of this young pianist's winning performance and “inexhaustible imagination” (in the words of one of the judges), on YouTube, a way to recoup our optimism after hearing an abundance of news of the world.
The Chopin Competition, begun in 1927, is held every five years; the 18th rounds were delayed from 2020 until 2021 because of COVID-19.
2. Juilliard String Quartet: Beethoven, Bartok, Dvorak. Sony Classical April 2021.
The classical music world is in mourning for the recent loss of Roger Tapping, the Juilliard Quartet’s violist, who died of cancer on January 18. Hard to name a chamber musician more humane, patient, dedicated to the generous art of sharing and clarifying the exquisite mysteries of music. This Sony Classical recording is maybe his last. Beethoven’s Opus 59 No. 2 (turbulent and rich, composed in 1806), Bartok’s Quartet No. 3 (from 1927, partly Hungarian folk-derived), and Dvorak’s “American” (his most popular quartet, composed in Spillville, Iowa in 1893).
Mr. Tapping was also the violist in the Takács String Quartet for a decade, beginning in 1995. Their recordings of Schubert and late Beethoven are gorgeous.
YouTube has some excellent visits with Tapping, including one from 2015, with his wife, cellist Natasha Brofsky, with pianist Qing Jiang and violinist Lucy Chapman, playing the exuberant, at times frenetic finale of Brahms’ piano quartet in G minor. Also on YouTube, Roger with the Juilliard and the first four sections of Bach’s Art of the Fugue from 2013. Some newcomers might want to stay through this one, others won’t.
And an interview with Roger and Natasha about listening, learning, practicing, teaching music, including stage-fright:
https://bulletproofmusician.com/natasha-brofsky-roger-tapping-on-learning-new-repertoire-and-getting-to-know-a-composers-unique-language/
3. Janine Jansen: 12 Stradivari. Decca Classics and J & A Beare. September 2021.
Performed with pianist Antonio Pappano, who’s also the Royal Opera House’s music director. Twelve of the very best Stradivari violins were—against severe pandemic and logistical odds—brought to London for two weeks. Dutch violinist Jansen recorded music by different composers on each one, from Tchaikovsky to Clara Schumann to Jerome Kern. Some of these Italian violins from the 1700s are in private collections, and you and I are surely never going to find out whose. But a documentary film will get us closer: It’s called Falling for Stradivari.
Andrew E’s Licence to Listen
Coming in under the wire with these under-the-radar hits:
1. Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
2. Lis Nas X, Montero
(I blame my inability to think of *any* other favorite albums from last year on the fact that 2021 was, in general, a blur.)
Jeffrey L’s Name Brandi
I look forward to this ritual every year, especially the part when the results come out and I know what I missed and need to learn about! I definitely get more from it than I think I'm contributing
Not too much from me this past year musically speaking but of course it's all a bit scattershot.
1. Brandi Carlile: In These Silent Days
2. Yola: Stand For Myself
3. Olivia Rodrigo: SOUR
Also got and enjoy but I don't think I would put on a top anything list:
Kacey Musgraves: star-crossed
ABBA: Voyage
I am aware that I should have bought and listened to and love the Adele 30 album by now. I'll get around to it. I will.
2021 discoveries for me which weren't 2021 releases
Years & Years -- I'm way too old to listen to queer brit electropunk led by someone young enough to be my kid but hey.
Maren Morris (I knew her through Highwomen but none of her solo stuff) -- can I vote in retro for your 2016 list?
For Giles G, Little is Large
1) Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
2) Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams
3) Billie Eilish - Happy Than Ever
4) Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
5) Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
6) Mustafa - When The Smoke Rises
7) St Vincent - Daddy's Home
8) Navy Blue - Navy's Reprise
9) Lucy Dacus - Home Video
10) Yard Act - Dark Days
Scott T, It’s Easy Here for the Pimps
I feel these days I only discover the essential albums for a year about 3 years later. But this year two favorites:
Most essential
Sneaker Pimps, Squaring the Circle
Other Essential
Still Corners, The Last Exit
The Record Summer, Lay It Bare
Holly B’s Luck of the Eilish
Most significant albums? Probably Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever and Lil Nas X’s Montero.
Certainly last January, Nathan Evan’s cover of Wellerman was a weird, joyful thing, but not an album.
And the song I have been listening to over and over was Cosmo Sheldrake’s Come Along from 2017.
Crissa C’s Convocations
Essential album: Sufjan Stevens, Convocations
Music I liked in 2021:
--The War on Drugs, I Don't Live Here Anymore
--Bibio, "Vidiconia"
--Geographer, "Garden"
--Beach House, "Over and Over"
--Bonobo, Jamila Woods, "Tides"
--Robert Glasper, "Shine"
--Sufjan Stevens, Angelo De Augustine, "Olympus"
Brant R’s Reasonable Doubt
My Essential Albums of 2021:
Quivers, Golden Doubt
Deafheaven, Infinite Granite
Benny Sings, Benny Sings Music
Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee
The War on Drugs, I Don't Live Here Anymore
Rostam, Changephobia
The Go! Team, Get Up Sequences Part One
Tex Crick, Live in... New York City
Lily Konigsberg, Lily We Need to Talk Now
Indigo de Souza, Any Shape You Take
The Weather Station, Ignorance
Some of My Essential Tracks of 2021:
beabadoobee, “Last Day on Earth”
CHAI, “Donuts Mind if I Do”
Indigo de Souza, “Hold U”
Japanese Breakfast, “Be Sweet”
Quivers, “Gutters of Love”
Suave Punk, “Heaven Is a Night Drive”
The Weather Station, “Robber”
Elder Albums I Found Essential in 2021:
Cannonball Adderley, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club"
Herb Alpert, Fandango
Chet Baker, (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen to You
Chic, Risqué
Booker T. & The MG's, Melting Pot
Iris DeMent, Infamous Angel
The Dream Syndicate, The Days of Wine and Roses
Georgie Fame, Fame at Last
The Flirtations, Sounds Like the Flirtations
Grant Hart, Hot Wax
Johnny Hodges, Johnny Hodges with Billy Strayhorn and the Orchestra
Keith Jarrett, The Melody at Night, with You
Stanley Jordan, Magic Touch
Khruangbin, Con Todo El Mundo
Hugh Masekela, Home Is Where the Music Is
Eddie Rabbitt, Horizon
Erik Satie, Gymnopédies
Luther Vandross, Never Too Much
White Town, Women in Technology
Steve Wonder, Eivets Rednow
X marks Lawrence U’s spot
Looking past many aspects of 2021, I do have to say last year did not disappoint when it came to new music. Picking my top 10 from the year's catalog was no small feat (except for #1,that was easy).
So with that being said, here are my top ten albums of 2021:
1. Lil Nas X, Montero
2. Finneas, Optimist
3. Honne, Let's Just Say the World Ended a Week From Now, What Would You Do?
4. Quinn XCII, Change of Scenery II
5. Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
6. Lany, gg bb xx
7. Tones and I, Welcome to the Madhouse
8. Valley, Last Birthday
9. Alessia Cara, In The Meantime
10. Adele, 30
Bob B Strolls down the BLVD
Always wonderful to see your email for the David Music Poll come in. And fun as hell to participate.
For album of the year, once again I nominate Travis Thompson for his release of BLVD BOY. The album really shows his growth and is a fabulous example of Seattle hip-hop. A contemporary of Macklemore, his work here shows that he’s no longer a sidekick, but has the talent and skills to hold his own.
As for treasures found in unusual places, I discovered a great song published in 2014. And I found it in the boarding music on our Delta aircraft. The song is “Little Giant” by Roo Panes. It was a great introduction to a folk artist out of England.
Lucy C Feels the Power
I've had a whirlwind of a year, one where mostly I have reached for old favourites or classical music in an effort of calming down the buzz! But I have found a little time to listen to some new music (though not enough, I know, I know).
Anyway, I really enjoyed these albums:
Lorde - Solar Power (Again, reaching for the calmer songs to cope with the past hectic year, but I like how Lorde has developed and, at least in my opinion, matured. Plus, I've always enjoyed her voice.)
Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under (I love a bit of guitar-y Springsteen-y rocking, and even better it's from a Geordie!)
Little Simz - Sometimes I Might be an Introvert (I found this fun, interesting, and I have to wiggle when I hear it. )
Benjy A, Seeing Red
Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor's Version)
Lil Nas X, Montero
Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
Best single: Billie Eilish, Happier than Ever [and I have a feeling you agree!] (DL Note: I do.)
