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“Oh, you do Spotify Wrapped? That’s cool, but mine doesn’t actually represent my listening habits because I use Bandcamp so much. I guess I just like supporting the musicians I like by paying them.”
I say that in quotes like it’s a pretentious character I invented, but, dear Hella Immaculate reader, that’s just me. What can I say? I’m a pretentious character (who genuinely likes supporting independent artists!).
I skimmed this fascinating article comparing Bandcamp’s business model to Spotify’s. With infographics like the one above, it presents a stark contrast between Bandcamp giving people the freedom to be unpredictable and support artists in a variety of ways vs. Spotify treating us all like numbers. And Bandcamp is profitable! Spotify isn’t close. At the end of another largely dogshit year, that gave me hope.
But now it’s time for my own 2021-in-music retrospective, a now-annual occurrence here at Hella Immaculate.
Some notes on process:
Please don’t try to digest all this at once! Save the email/link, and come back to it at your leisure.
When recommending music, I struggle to find ways to interest you in clicking links and actually listening to the tunes. This time, I’m writing 5 words or less per entry.
I’ve simplified this list from last year’s Part 1 and Part 2 by lumping items into fewer, roughly hierarchical categories, analogous to relationships.
Entries are in even rougher order of preference within categories.
I didn’t double-check every link. Tell me if any are wrong/broken.
Writing these blurbs, I wanted to describe half these songs as “shimmering.” I guess that’s my taste!
I’m making a playlist sampler of this list for you all and Patreon subscribers. Eyes and inboxes peeled.
Here we go!
Lovers and Gods
M. Sage Projects
Fuubutsushi – Setsubun (2021): Quarantine house band does winter
Fuubutsushi – Yamawarau (2021): Quarantine house band does spring
Fuubutsushi – Natsukashii (2021): Quarantine house band does summer
M. Sage – Wants a Diamond Pivot Bright (2021): 16 collaborators, cohesive drifting soundtrack
Free Dust – Woo’d Early (2021): A guitar waking up
SZA – “Good Days” (2020, but only technically, since it was Dec. 25): Shimmering anti-depressant
Chick Corea – “Crystal Silence” (1972, the 7-minute version from Return to Forever, not the 9-minute version on Gary Burton & Chick Corea’s Crystal Silence album): Literal most relaxing song ever
Chuck Johnson – Balsams (2017): Ambient pedal steel guitar
Low – HEY WHAT (2021): Pretty, haunting, AND LOUD, SURPRISE!
True Friends
Oui Ennui – “Long-Haul’s Lament” (2021): All feelings since COVID, combined
Helado Negro – Far In (2021): Complicated lullabies
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (2021): God created Earth to this
Superwolf – Superwolves, esp. “Make Worry for Me” (2021): Confident, sensitive weirdo entrance music
Mount Shrine – Winter Restlessness (2018): Ambient with air traffic transmissions
Luna Luna – Carousel (2019) & Flower Moon (2021): Dreamy love songs for weirdos
Nala Sinephro – Space 1.8 (2021): Genuinely transportive, surround sound jazz
L’Rain – Fatigue (2021): Black shoegaze sound collage
Sam Wilkes – One Theme & Subsequent Improvisation, esp. “One Theme” (2021): Inside a washer on gentle
Bo Burnham – Inside, esp. “All Eyes on Me” (2021): “Honey, it already did”
Sun-El Musician & Msaki – “Ubomi Abumanga” (2020): Risk corniness to get inspired
SAULT – “Wildfires” (2020): Sound of the uprisings, sustained
Tonstartssbandht – “What Has Happened” (2021): Sound of a slow epiphany
Gia Margaret – “Groceries” (2018): Mundanity elevated to twinkling magic
Dystopia – “ME ME ME” (2020): If grunge had gender parity
Sankara Future Dub Resurgence – “Anarchist Africa” (2020): Confronting untold history with drums
Acquaintances Who Are Always a Good Time
Teta Lando – Independência (1975): Angolan revolutionary perfect barbecue music
Joao Gilberto – Joao Gilberto (The White Album) (1973): Voice, guitar, hi-hat: infinite variations
Damon Locks / Black Monument Ensemble – NOW (2021): A collage of exhortation
Cole Pulice – Gloam (2020): Sculptures in saxophone and synth
Bendik Giske – Cracks (2021): Breath and movement through saxophone
Playboi Carti – Whole Lotta Red, esp. “F33l Lik3 Dyin” (2020, but, like SZA, basically 2021): Sound repeated and split apart
Moses Boyd – Dark Matter, esp. “B.T.B” (2020): A drum set doing techno
Sam Gendel – Fresh Bread (2021): Cloud jazz with beats
Harry James – Buy the Numbers (2021): One-dude drum/piano magic
Thundercat, OG Ron C & DJ Candlestick – “Drink Dat (feat. Wiz Khalifa) (Chopnotslop Remix)” (2018): 6 minutes of mellow
Jazmine Sullivan – “The Other Side” (2021): The glide masks the yearning
Lantlos – “Magnolia” (2021): Actually jaw-dropping harmonic metal
BLACKPINK – “How You Like That” (2020): A kiss-off, dripping attitude
Young Dolph, esp. “Major” (2018): Subtle, sharp, slick hip-hop
Sheila E. – “Noon Rendezvous” (1984): An impossibly sexy stare
The Kid LaROI & Justin Bieber – “STAY” (2021): Best falsetto performance since “Jealous”
Christine and the Queens – “People, I’ve been sad” (2020): Melancholy you can wallow in
SOPHIE – “It’s Okay to Cry” (2018): Sincerity so naked it’s scary
Yves Tumor – “Jackie” (2021): A taunt and an anthem
Calvero – “Black Rain” (2021): Boombox pop on a mountain
Diddy Dirty Money – “Looking for Love (feat. Usher)” (2010): The way Usher sings, “clu-uuub”
Ashnikko – “Daisy” (2020): Exorcist spider walk pop
Normani – “Wild Side (feat. Cardi B)” (2021): Precision sexiness
Snoh Aalegra – “Lost You” (2021): Snakecharming soul
Chief Keef – “Bitch Where” (2021): Hard, soft, full of surprises
Georgia Anne Muldrow – “Wu Punk” (2019): The post-epiphany “What now?”
Young M.A. – “Hello Baby (feat. Fivio Foreign)” (2021): Skeletal rap with a smirk
Barry and the Fountains – “She Walks” (2021): Bossa nova Byron poem
Tomu DJ – “Memory Loss” (2021): Melting bass fills your ears
Lil Peep – “witchblades (with Lil Tracy)” (2017): Charmingly dramatic cry for help
The Halluci Nation – “Stadium Pow Wow (feat. Black Bear)” (2016): Indigenous jock jams
Kae Tempest – “Firesmoke” (2019): Sounds exactly like its title
Teriyaki Boyz – “Tokyo Drift” (2006): Giddy, silly, mindless escapism
Got a response to something here? Want to join my weekly workshops for storytelling or kickstarting your creative practice? Reply or comment, and I’ll hit you back.
THIS IS MY PODCAST, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE
Pro wrestler and down-to-earth famous guy Colt Cabana joins me this week for a lighthearted, dirty, touching episode. Enjoy!
By the way, I did get my Spotify Wrapped for my podcast, and this made me very happy:
Your attention is not a competition, but I won.
We’re back!
DM