The 2021 David Music Poll Results

 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.)