Top 30 Songs of 2021

Anything music related. Latest songs, good new bands, and blasts from the past.

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numbersix
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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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Feb 2nd for me

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Leestu
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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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1st Feb please.

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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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#8
Shryke: Probably the 2nd best track from Typhoons behind Boilermaker. The concise runtime maximizes the power of the riffs, energy and catchiness that defines Royal Blood's sound.

Leestu: I had to break my "don't ever turn anything off" policy for this. I just don't have a strong enough will to sit through 14 minutes of a cover of a song from an artist that I already think very little of.

six: Similarly painful to the Car Seat Headrest cover, but at least this was only 4 and a half minutes.

surfer: Glad that we're continuing to shorten up the length of my personal torture!

Ron: Never been happier to hear a Skrillex song in my life. Didn't love it by any means, but its tempo and busy composition were very welcome after the prior 3 downer tracks.

John: Perfectly fine piece of old man rock.
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numbersix
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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

Post by numbersix »

#7

Shryke: Unsurprisingly, very 80s. I could smell the hairspray

Leetsu: I know a lot of African music (quite like traditional Irish music, I might add) is centred on repetition. So while I enjoyed this a lot, it gets too repetitive and so becomes something I'd like hearing in the background.

Tranny: Nice and subdued, but perhaps lacking in the interesting elements a lot of her better songs have.

Surf: Can't wait to hear the responses to this once they reach Murphy's parts. This is my favourite album of 2021 so you're right in that the managed to live up to expectations. Narrator is superb in the way it builds up, although my personal favourite is coming up soon.

Ron B: Felt like samey ambient dance (house? trance? No idea) but it was nice to listen to.

John: Again, makes me think of Ryan Adams, but only because I'm ignorant on who he was channelling when he first emerged. Pleasant.

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Shrykespeare
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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

Post by Shrykespeare »

Final schedule for #1:


Feb 1: Leestu
Feb 2: Six
Feb 3: Ron B
Feb 4: Tranny
Feb 5: JohnErle
Feb 6: Surfer
Feb 7: Shryke
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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JohnErle
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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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Mdou Moctar – By pure coincidence, I heard this song for the first time a few days ago, thought it was great, and also figured Leestu would love it, so I sent it to him on Facebook. Turns out he was way ahead of me and told me he had it coming up soon. I've listened to a bit of Tinariwen in the past, and I definitely hear a similarity in the lead guitar and rhythms, but this is much more psychedelic than I remember from Tinariwen. Great stuff, and it definitely would have made my list if I'd heard it sooner.

ONR – Geez, Shryke. Are any of your top 10 going to actually be from 2021? Hawkwind is so 2020, but I did spend a lot of time listening to Taj Mahal, Townes Van Zandt, The Blasters, and traditional Cuban music this year, but you don't see me posting that! There's an awful lot of Ultravox in this, and despite my previous comments about snotty-nose kids mimicking the innovative sounds of my youth instead of coming up with their own innovations, I quite liked this, so I guess I don't mind when it's done right. The female singer kinda drags the song down, but it's one of your better picks from early 2020, so I'll give it a few more spins.

Parquet Courts – The muffled production keeps the groove from really taking hold like the Madchester sound should, but it's fun nonetheless.

Billie Bossa Nova – Ever so slightly different from the standard Billie Eilish sound. As I seem to recall, this was one of the few songs that sort of stood out when I was giving the album a chance. On its own, not surrounded by an hour of Billie Eilish, I seemed to enjoy it more.

Rufus Del Sol – A bit too club-y for me, but kinda nice.

Damp Squib – Trying too hard to be The Rapture, and just trying too hard in general.

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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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JohnErle wrote:
January 27th, 2022, 1:18 pm
ONR – Geez, Shryke. Are any of your top 10 going to actually be from 2021?
All the rest will be from 2021 or VERY LATE 2020. Promise.

I'll again give the disclaimer that I didn't hear any of the songs on my entire list until 2021. That's the problem when there's so much music out there. There was a PVRIS song from 2019 that I seriously included adding, but I cut it to make room for LP. I'm trying to shorten the cutoff so nothing appears in my 2022 list that came out prior to December 2021.
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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

Post by transformers2 »

#7
Shryke: Catchy enough tune. The contrast and interplay between the male and female vocals were pretty nice.

Leestu: What a distinct, wild and spacey delight. The guitarwork here is unbelievable.

six: A bit too long, but not bad.

surfer: The repetition eventually eroded my interest, but the manic, anxious delivery of the vocals and instrumentation is admirable and effective.

Ron: Stagnant as hell and the vocalist reminded me of a slightly lower voiced Chris Martin, which is enough to make me run for the hills.

John: Matt should stick to electrical work ;)
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JohnErle
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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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Shrykespeare wrote:
January 27th, 2022, 5:52 pm
JohnErle wrote:
January 27th, 2022, 1:18 pm
ONR – Geez, Shryke. Are any of your top 10 going to actually be from 2021?
All the rest will be from 2021 or VERY LATE 2020. Promise.

I'll again give the disclaimer that I didn't hear any of the songs on my entire list until 2021. That's the problem when there's so much music out there. There was a PVRIS song from 2019 that I seriously included adding, but I cut it to make room for LP. I'm trying to shorten the cutoff so nothing appears in my 2022 list that came out prior to December 2021.
I certainly hope so. I don't know how many more shattered norms I can take.

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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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#7

Leestu (Mdou Mactar) - Wow. Going global on us! Just goes to show great guitars can blend with any voice.

Tranny (Billie) - This sounds so much like "everything I wanted" it's almost the same song. Definitely one of the okayest songs I've heard by her.

Six (Parquet Courts) - Catchy. My brain immediately went to Big Audio Dynamite. Are you ready to Ba-ROCK??? (Aside: I posted a song on FB by a Manchester band, Pale Waves, at #74.)

Surfer (Squid) - Interesting sound. It's like Talking Heads had sex with a Talking Heads cover band while dropping acid. This ain't no party, this ain't no disco...

Ron B (Rufus Du Sol) - I've heard quite a bit of Rufus in the last two years. This is one of his better ones, if a little bland.

JohnErle (Matt the Electrician) - Not bad at all. All the video was missing was Bill Murray... or Red Green. (And also, you want some cheese with that whine? :lol: )
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

Post by Shrykespeare »

Oh, look. More Squid.


SONG #6


Shrykespeare

OVERWERK, Resonate

Y’all know I love synths, especially if they have a darkness and an edginess to them. That is absolutely the case with this song, expertly crafted by Canadian DJ and composer Edmond Huszar, aka OVERWERK. I caught wind of him a year ago when perusing selections on the SuicideSheep YouTube channel, and I’ve been a fan ever since. This song would go so perfectly on a movie soundtrack, maybe in some dark cityscape or post-apocalyptic setting (perhaps, even… Batman!).





Leestu

Adam Newling, Sweetness

Indie folk singer/songwriter with great passionate vocals, bittersweet emotional lyrics, a nice melody, and good songwriting.





Tranny

St.Vincent, Down

The best thing about St. Vincent's sonic reinvention on every album is that there's usually a few tracks where everything she's aiming to do comes together in blissfully perfect fashion. On her latest effort "Daddy's Home", "Down" is the top highlight from that select bunch. The funky synths, winding psychedelic guitarwork and Ms. Clark's quietly soulful vocals all come together to make a hypnotic 70's-inspired musical cornucopia that only becomes more beguiling with each listen.





Six

Squid, Pamphlets

2021 was a massive year for Squid, a bunch of boys from Brighton. Their debut album came out to much acclaim, followed by a successful tour for the last few months. Best way to describe them is to imagine if Radiohead were capable of having some fun. For Pamphlets the anxiety-drenched lyrics of Thom Yorke are there, but given a dose of dramatic flourish from singer/drummer Ollie Judge’s demented yelps, a style that has caught on over here and can be heard in many a local act.





Surfer

Nightshift, Make Kin

Releasing their sophomore album at the beginning of last year, Nightshift became a true musical companion as I forged through the dark depths of the pandemic and the isolation that brought with it. While pieced together and recorded remotely by each member, the togetherness of the album was striking, and became an important snapshot of that moment in time. As warm as it is weird, "Make Kin" highlights all that makes Nightshift quite seductive. Overlaying musical elements like a Michelin star rated restaurant's signature ratatouille dish, the song blurs the lines between DIY, post punk, experimental-ism and indie pop as it lurches forward with kinetic guitars and rhythmic percussion, resulting in a song which embraces the idea of a band as a bond, and you truly feel this warm bond as a listener.





RON B

IDLES, The Beachland Ballroom





JOHNERLE

Iron Maiden, The Writing On The Wall

This song and video instantly transport me back to the early 80s, which is a welcome reprieve from everything that's going on in the real world. It's Iron Maiden doing what they do best without repeating themselves or going through the motions. And The Parchment is another in the long line of 10-minute plus Maiden epics.

Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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Hot Takes!

Overwerk – It starts off okay but never really goes anywhere, and the bass is way too loud in the mix. It sounds like a demo for a song that was never finished, or something from a movie score that doesn't stand on its own.

Adam Newling – The music is fine, but that voice is an acquired taste that I'm not likely to acquire. I had to Marie Kondo that song and purge it from my playlist.

St. Vincent – Apparently Tranny's killing spree has reached the UK where he's eliminated both Six and Surfer and taken their places. We're all Tranny now.

Squid – Shryke, please tell me there's no more Squid on the menu.

Nightsquid – Decent music, lousy vocals. At least it wasn't Squid.

IDLES – This song proves they still have some life left in them, so they've managed to postpone the inevitable backlash for a while longer. I couldn't be buggered with Ultra Mono after hearing a few of the singles, but I heard this a few times this year and I'm still digging it.

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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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JohnErle wrote:
January 27th, 2022, 10:12 pm
Squid – Shryke, please tell me there's no more Squid on the menu.
Umm..... :roll:
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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numbersix
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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

Post by numbersix »

#6

Shryke: Funnily enough I never think of darkness or edge in your musical picks, though this one has both. You should listen to more darkwave if you don't already. This was decently atmospheric.

Leetsu: A decent all-rounder, and liked the vocals.

Tranny: Not her biggest fan, but I was absorbed by the lyrics on this one.

Surf: Very interesting combo of sounds. And of course nicely fitting into the current UK trend of singers just talking. As someone who cannot even sing Happy Birthday, I approve of this fad very much.

Ron B: Of all the people doing this, you were the one I thought I'd have the least chance of having a crossover. Strange world. Anyway, fantastic song. I had tickets to seem them twice in the last 3 months, including one in a very intimate venue near where I live, but sadly work commitments made me bow out. Fortunately these lads tour more than I eat hot meals, so I'm hoping to catch them in August.

John: Sounds like where heavy metal bands go to die.

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Re: Top 30 Songs of 2021

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#6

Leestu (Adam Newling) - Liked the music. DIdn't care much for the guy's voice.

Tranny (St. Vincent) - I've heard this before. Think I liked it more this time. Must be in a good mood.

Six (Calamari du Jour) - I take it back. It's like Public Image Ltd. had sex with Madness while dropping acid.

Surfer (Nightshift) - It's rare that I like this kind of thing, which makes me picture a beatnik poetry jam for some reason.

Ron B (IDLES) - Second time around. Feel pretty much the same as when Six led off his Top 30 with it. Again, the vocals made me think of a song by Madrugada that hit my list at #82. ("Nobody Loves You Like I Do", if your'e curious.)

JohnErle (Iron Maiden) - Love classic metal, but I've never been too much into IM. I got mad respect for their longevity and that they're still rocking this many decades into the game. With all that said... this was good.
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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