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21 Songs of 2021
Dec. 4th, 2021 11:05 am1. Roisin Murphy - We Got Together. Because of her Celtic name, I assumed Ms Murphy would be a whispy-voiced singer-songwriter with maybe a little ukulele thrown in, but this is the bangiest of bangers.
2. The Wild Swans - The Worst Year Of My Life. We had a Friday night listening party on Facebook and this was one of the songs played. It seemed to sum up things back in Lockdown 3.
3. Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket. Sometime early in the year, I pivoted to mumcore and started watching Harlan Coben adaptations on TV and listening to this (and You Ougtta Know) quite a lot. I think it was the line "and everything's going to be fine, fine, fine, fine, fine" that seemed quite soothing.
4. Jane Weaver - Heartlow. I thought this was Lush or The Heart-throbs when I first heard it. Mellow and melodical.
5. Orville Peck - Turn To Hate. Someone has a few Lloyd Cole records.
6. Ayo & Teo - Rolex. Because I am 48, i'd never heard of "the rolie", a dance from Fortnite based on the dance from the video of this song. Despite the hideous autotune, I really liked the song - the twosome seemed so desperate for their bling, and it seemed quite wholesome compared to tracks about murder or being rude about women.
7. Courting - Grand National. ART ROCK AGOGOGO!
8. Ezra Furman - I'm Glad That We Broke up. One of the songs played to death by 6Music that you end up humming when you least expect to.
9. Lonelady - (There is) No Logic. Pack away your keytar St Vincent, you can stop now.
10. Self Esteem - I Do This All The Time. My favourite song of the year (until it was superseded by no. 14). Rebecca T doesn't so much wear her heart on her sleeve as all of her internal organs and there was so much for me to relate to: "Don't be intimidated by all the babies they've had", "You're a good tall girl, you're a good sturdy girl", and of course the refrain: "Look up, lean back, be strong, you didn't think you'd live this long".
11. UNKLE - If We Don't Make It. Another one promoted by 6 Music, i didn't actually realise this was a new band, it sounded like Bianca Jagger was grooving on down to the song in Studio 54.
12. Sharon van Etten vs Angel Olson - Like I Used To. God I love this song, such a big ballad, a tortured torch song. I'm a sucker for strings in pop. A song to drink red wine to whilst ripping up photos of your ex.
13. Marie Davidson - Work It. I don't agree with the work ethic in this song, but I do love to workout (i.e. dance for a couple of minutes) to it.
14. Wet Leg - Chaise Longue. I heard this on Steve Lamacq's show and thought it sounded like 90s lo-fi superstars Lungleg. I watched the video and was blown away by the insouciance of the protagonists, the innocent-dirty lyrics, the Amish-core couture. It sounded like summer was coming.
15. Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends. Such a hopeful song.
16. Superstate - Yogatown. This is a Graham Coxon production, him out of Blur, but sounds nothing a Kinks rip-off. The plaintive appeal to call the police had me dialling 9 9 a couple of times.
17. Pip Blom - Keep It Together. Dutch indiepoppers pop off.
18. Goat - Queen of the Underground. Not to be confused with Goat Girl (or Goatse). Myself, I am Queen of the Overground, grumbling about cancelled trains and sitting outside Hackney Wick station for 15 minutes to regulate the service.
19. Tirzah - Tectonic. Minimalist electro-pop
20. Wet Leg - Wet Dream. When I first heard this i thought it wasn't as catchy as Chaise Longue (which i had to ration myself to one listen per week as it would get in my head and refuse to leave), but after a while I realised it was as catchy as Covid at a Cornwall surf festival. The intro owes something to Bohemian Like You by the Dandy Warhols but the rest of the song is pure Leg and what could be more nonchalant than ending a song with "Let's begin"?. We were lucky enough to see them in Brighton (for free!) in August with only a handful of other people.
21. Remi Wolf - Quiet On Set. Love this bubblegum pop-rap song.
Spotify link - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Y5lfgppCHzIuUGLJ1HCle?si=4fc6c06599334bb3
Also includes an in memoriam section: Mike Keds from The Senseless Things, The New Yorks Dolls' Sylvain Sylvain, and the wonderful Stephen Sondheim.
2. The Wild Swans - The Worst Year Of My Life. We had a Friday night listening party on Facebook and this was one of the songs played. It seemed to sum up things back in Lockdown 3.
3. Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket. Sometime early in the year, I pivoted to mumcore and started watching Harlan Coben adaptations on TV and listening to this (and You Ougtta Know) quite a lot. I think it was the line "and everything's going to be fine, fine, fine, fine, fine" that seemed quite soothing.
4. Jane Weaver - Heartlow. I thought this was Lush or The Heart-throbs when I first heard it. Mellow and melodical.
5. Orville Peck - Turn To Hate. Someone has a few Lloyd Cole records.
6. Ayo & Teo - Rolex. Because I am 48, i'd never heard of "the rolie", a dance from Fortnite based on the dance from the video of this song. Despite the hideous autotune, I really liked the song - the twosome seemed so desperate for their bling, and it seemed quite wholesome compared to tracks about murder or being rude about women.
7. Courting - Grand National. ART ROCK AGOGOGO!
8. Ezra Furman - I'm Glad That We Broke up. One of the songs played to death by 6Music that you end up humming when you least expect to.
9. Lonelady - (There is) No Logic. Pack away your keytar St Vincent, you can stop now.
10. Self Esteem - I Do This All The Time. My favourite song of the year (until it was superseded by no. 14). Rebecca T doesn't so much wear her heart on her sleeve as all of her internal organs and there was so much for me to relate to: "Don't be intimidated by all the babies they've had", "You're a good tall girl, you're a good sturdy girl", and of course the refrain: "Look up, lean back, be strong, you didn't think you'd live this long".
11. UNKLE - If We Don't Make It. Another one promoted by 6 Music, i didn't actually realise this was a new band, it sounded like Bianca Jagger was grooving on down to the song in Studio 54.
12. Sharon van Etten vs Angel Olson - Like I Used To. God I love this song, such a big ballad, a tortured torch song. I'm a sucker for strings in pop. A song to drink red wine to whilst ripping up photos of your ex.
13. Marie Davidson - Work It. I don't agree with the work ethic in this song, but I do love to workout (i.e. dance for a couple of minutes) to it.
14. Wet Leg - Chaise Longue. I heard this on Steve Lamacq's show and thought it sounded like 90s lo-fi superstars Lungleg. I watched the video and was blown away by the insouciance of the protagonists, the innocent-dirty lyrics, the Amish-core couture. It sounded like summer was coming.
15. Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends. Such a hopeful song.
16. Superstate - Yogatown. This is a Graham Coxon production, him out of Blur, but sounds nothing a Kinks rip-off. The plaintive appeal to call the police had me dialling 9 9 a couple of times.
17. Pip Blom - Keep It Together. Dutch indiepoppers pop off.
18. Goat - Queen of the Underground. Not to be confused with Goat Girl (or Goatse). Myself, I am Queen of the Overground, grumbling about cancelled trains and sitting outside Hackney Wick station for 15 minutes to regulate the service.
19. Tirzah - Tectonic. Minimalist electro-pop
20. Wet Leg - Wet Dream. When I first heard this i thought it wasn't as catchy as Chaise Longue (which i had to ration myself to one listen per week as it would get in my head and refuse to leave), but after a while I realised it was as catchy as Covid at a Cornwall surf festival. The intro owes something to Bohemian Like You by the Dandy Warhols but the rest of the song is pure Leg and what could be more nonchalant than ending a song with "Let's begin"?. We were lucky enough to see them in Brighton (for free!) in August with only a handful of other people.
21. Remi Wolf - Quiet On Set. Love this bubblegum pop-rap song.
Spotify link - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Y5lfgppCHzIuUGLJ1HCle?si=4fc6c06599334bb3
Also includes an in memoriam section: Mike Keds from The Senseless Things, The New Yorks Dolls' Sylvain Sylvain, and the wonderful Stephen Sondheim.
