Yeah, yeah. It’s nearly March. Look, I’ve got a lot of drinking to do, so leave me alone.
As has been the case over the last few years, I’ve curated two long-play Spotify playlists (yes, I’m still using Spotify despite their bullshit) representing the best “fast” and “slow” tracks of 2021. There is no intentional transition from song to song; rather, they’re simply alphabetized by artist. Additionally, some artists appear more than once in each playlist, which is something I’ve not done previously. At this point, I just wanted to finish the damn project. I should note that the opening and closing “instrumentals” on both playlists are purposely placed, as I goddamn love an instrumental number at the start and end of a mix. The playlists comprise 64 and 69 (heh-heh) songs, respectively.
I listened to a shit-ton of music this year, as I’ve been working from home for nearly two years now. As was the case in 2020, I don’t know how many albums came out that I would consider “great” records, but, as always, there were certainly a few standouts. It was a dynamite year for EPs, actually. Maybe that’s just my inability to concentrate on long-form projects these days. Don’t forget to comment below to let me know your 20201 favorites.
With that, let’s get into it . . .
Album Cover of the Year:
Home Is Where – I Became Birds

Song of the Year:
Indigo De Souza – “Kill Me”
Song We All Need Right Now:
Charles Spearin – “Unsolicited Advice”
Top 20 Records of 2021:
20. Charles Spearin – My City of Starlings
19. Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg
18. Wavves – Hideaway
17. Beach Bunny – Blame Game
16. Cub Scout Bowling Pins – Heaven Beats Iowa
15. Upper Wilds – Venus
14. Moontype – Bodies of Water
13. Lily Konigsberg – Lily We Need to Talk Now
12. Lael Neale – Acquainted with Night
11. Floating Room – Shima
10. Slothrust – Parallel Timeline
8. Dusted – III
7. Mo Troper – Dilettante
6. Indigo De Souza – My Heart Is an Open Field
5. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
4. Lowertown – The Gaping Mouth
3. Aeon Station – Observatory
2. Home Is Where – I Became Birds
1. Spirit Was – Heaven’s Just a Cloud
This full-length debut by Nick Corbo, formerly of the underappreciated LVL UP, was shocking. Why? Because I would have had no clue that a member of LVL UP could have been responsible for this record. The two projects are night and day, yet somehow both bands are great. This record is quiet and loud, yet mostly dark. It feels like an “appropriate” record for 2021 considering the shitshow that continues to have its way with us. At times, it feels like Corbo was inhabited by Pile or Kal Marks while riding shotgun with a robot, but then a string section appears?! It’s an absolutely gorgeous, wild record, one that will hold your attention while making you both uncomfortable and at ease. Bravo.
Again, there are no CDs (hard copies) this year. Your best bets are to A) listen to the Spotify playlist, or B) curate the playlists yourself in Apple Music, Spotify, or some other type of music app.
With that, I give you the 100 songs that comprise my 2020 playlists . . .
Coffee (The Best “Fast” Tracks of 2021):
1. Upper Wilds – “Love Song #10” (Venus)
2. Aeon Station – “Fade” (Observatory)
3. Aeon Station – “Better Love” (Observatory)
4. Bachelor – “Stay in the Car” (Doomin’ Sun)
5. Beach Bunny – “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used)” (Blame Game)
6. Cloud Nothings – “Nothing Without You” (The Shadow I Remember)
7. Cub Scout Bowling Pins – “Heaven Beats Iowa” (Heaven Beats Iowa)
8. Dry Cleaning – “Her Hippo” (New Long Leg)
9. Dummy – “Daffodils” (Mandatory Enjoyment)
10. The Effens – “Pavement Age” (Eventually)
11. Floating Room – “See You Around” (Shima)
12. Guided By Voices – “Margaret Middle School” (Earth Man Blues)
13. Guided By Voices – “My (Limited) Engagement” (It’s Not Them. It Couldn’t Be Them. It Is Them!)
14. Home Is Where – “Long Distance Conjoined Twins” (I Became Birds)
15. Illuminati Hotties – “Cheap Shoes” (Let Me Do One More)
16. Indigo De Souza – “Kill Me” (Any Shape You Take)
17. Julie Doiron – “Thought of You” (I Thought of You)
18. Kiwi Jr. – “Tyler” (Cooler Returns)
19. Kiwi Jr. – “Maid Marian’s Toast” (Cooler Returns)
20. Kiwi Jr. – “Nashville Wedding” (Cooler Returns)
21. Lala Lala – “DIVER” (I Want the Door to Open)
22. Laura Stevenson – “Sandstorm” (Laura Stevenson)
23. Lily Konigsberg – “Proud Home” (Lily We Need to Talk Now)
24. Lucy Dacus – “First Time” (Home Video)
25. Madi Diaz – “Think of Me” (History of a Feeling)
26. Makthaverskan – “This Time” (För Allting)
27. Makthaverskan – “Tomorrow” (För Allting)
28. Mannequin Pussy – “To Lose You” (Perfect)
29. Meat Wave – “Tugboat” (Volcano Park)
30. Moontype – “Anti-Divinity” (Bodies of Water)
31. Moontype – “Your Mom” (Bodies of Water)
32. Mo Troper – “The Expendables Ride Again” (Dilettante)
33. Mo Troper – “Better Than That” (Dilettante)
34. Mo Troper – “Armpit” (Dilettante)
35. Nana Yamato – “If” (Before Sunrise)
36. Palberta – “The Way That You Do” (Palberta5000)
37. Parquet Courts – “Homo Sapien” (Sympathy for Life)
38. Pet Fox – “Imagine Why” (More Than Anything)
39. Pom Poko – “Like a Lady” (Cheater)
40. Pom Pom Squad – “Crying” (Death of a Cheerleader)
41. Provoker – “Blue Sheen” (Body Jumper)
42. Really From – “Quirk” (Really From)
43. Remember Sports – “Pinky Ring” (Like a Stone)
44. Remember Sports – “Like a Stone” (Like a Stone)
45. Smol Data – “Last Call Indie Darlings” (Inconvenience Store)
46. Spirit Was – “I Saw the Wheel” (Heaven’s Just a Cloud)
47. Spurts – “Scrap” (The Long Haul)
48. Strand of Oaks – “Jimi & Stan” (In Heaven)
49. Surrounder – “Service”
50. They Might Be Giants – “Brontosaurus” (BOOK)
51. Tigers Jaw – “Cat’s Cradle” (I Won’t Care How You Remember Me)
52. Together Pangea – “Alabama” (DYE)
53. Together Pangea – “Cold Water” (DYE)
54. TORRES – “Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in My Head” (Thirstier)
55. Tune-Yards – “hypnotized” (sketchy.)
56. Waltzer – “I Don’t Wannna Die” (Time Traveler)
57. Wavves – “Thru Hell” (Hideaway)
58. Wavves – “Hideaway” (Hideaway)
59. Weakened Friends – “Bargain Bin” (Quitter)
60. The Weather Station – “Atlantic” (Ignorance)
61. The Weather Station – “Tried to Tell You” (Ignorance)
62. Wurld Series – “Nap Gate” (What’s Growing)
63. Wurld Series – “Moved In” (What’s Growing)
64. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “Cliffs Gaze / gliffs’ gaze at empty waters’ rise / ASHES TO SEA or NEARER TO THEE” (G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!)
Booze (The Best “Slow” Tracks of 2021):
1. yes/and – “In My Heaven All Faucets Are Fountains” (yes/and)
2. Aeon Station – “Leaves” (Observatory)
3. Alex Somers – “Between Us” (Siblings)
4. Beach Bunny – “Nice Guys” (Blame Game)
5. Cassandra Jenkins – “The Ramble” (An Overview on Phenomenal Nature)
6. Charles Spearin – “Unsolicited Advice”
7. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – “If I Were More Like Jesus” (New Fragility)
8. Clever Girls – “Lavender” (Constellations)
9. Dusted – “Baseball” (III)
10. Dusted – “Cedar Tree” (III)
11. Dusted – “Mountain Top” (III)
12. Explosions in the Sky – “Chisos” (Big Bend)
13. Floating Room – “Firetruck” (Shima)
14. Fog Lake – “Crocodile” (Tragedy Reel)
15. Foxing – “737” (Draw Down the Moon)
16. Francis of Delirium – “Lakes” (Red)
17. Half Waif – “Powder” (Mythopoetics)
18. Hand Habits – “4th of July” (dirt)
19. Hayley Williams – “Trigger” (FLOWERS for VASES / descansos)
20. Home Is Where – “The Old Country” (I Became Birds)
21. Hovvdy – “I Never Wanna Make You Sad” (True Love)
22. Illuminati Hotties – “Growth” (Let Me Do One More)
23. Indigo De Souza – “Way Out” (Any Shape You Take)
24. Julien Baker – “Heatwave” (Little Oblivions)
25. Kaley Rutledge – “Tender Heart” (Tender Heart)
26. Kaley Rutledge – “Baby, Get Your Hopes Up” (Tender Heart)
27. Karen Peris – “To the Library” (A Song Is Way Above the Lawn)
28. Karen Peris – “Flowers” (A Song Is Way Above the Lawn)
29. Katy Kirby – “Eyelids” (Cool Dry Place)
30. Katy Kirby – “Traffic!” (Cool Dry Place)
31. Kiwi Jr. – “Only Here for a Haircut” (Cooler Returns)
32. Lael Neale – “Every Star Shivers in the Dark” (Acquainted with Night)
33. Lael Neale – “Acquainted with Night” (Acquainted with Night)
34. Lael Neale – “For No One for Now” (Acquainted with Night)
35. La Luz – “Spider House” (La Luz)
36. Lande Hekt – “Whiskey” (Going to Hell)
37. Laura Stevenson – “State” (Laura Stevenson)
38. Lily Konigsberg – “That’s the Way I Like It” (Lily We Need to Talk Now)
39. Lowertown – “Clown Car” (The Gaping Mouth)
40. Lowertown – “The Gaping Mouth” (The Gaping Mouth)
41. Madi Diaz – “Nervous” (History of a Feeling)
42. Mannequin Pussy – “Darling” (Perfect)
43. Middle Kids – “Cellophane (Brain)” (Today We’re the Greatest)
44. Moontype – “When Will I Learn” (Bodies of Water)
45. Mo Troper – “The Perfect Song” (Dilettante)
46. Pom Pom Squad – “Second That” (Death of a Cheerleader)
47. Slothrust – “Cranium” (Parallel Timeline)
48. Slothrust – “Strange Astrology” (Parallel Timeline)
49. Slothrust – “Waiting” (Parallel Timeline)
50. Smol Data – “Dry Lightning” (Inconvenience Store)
51. Sour Widows – “Crossing Over” (Crossing Over)
52. Sour Widows – “Bathroom Stall” (Crossing Over)
53. Spirit Was – “Golden Soul” (Heaven’s Just a Cloud)
54. Spirit Was – “Come Back Up to the House” (Heaven’s Just a Cloud)
55. Spurts – “Interlude” (The Long Haul)
56. Squirrel Flower – “Iowa 146” (Planet (i))
57. Strand of Oaks – “Somewhere in Chicago” (In Heaven)
58. Sun June – “Karen O” (Somewhere)
59. Sun June – “Colors” (Somewhere)
60. Tele Novella – “Never” (Merlynn Belle)
61. Tele Novella – “Paper Crown” (Merlynn Belle)
62. They Might Be Giants – “I Broke My Own Rule” (BOOK)
63. TOLEDO – “Dog Has Its Day” (Dog Has Its Day)
64. Wednesday – “The Burned Down Dairy Queen” (Twin Plagues)
65. Wednesday – “Ghost of a Dog” (Twin Plagues)
66. Wolf Alice – “Safe From Heartbreak (if you never fall in love)” (Blue Weekend)
67. Wolf Alice – “The Last Man on Earth” (Blue Weekend)
68. Wurld Series – “Feeling Crushed” (What’s Growing)
69. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)” (G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!)
Well, that’ll do it for 2021. With that, I now ask that you do the following four things:
- In the comments section, let me know your picks for the best songs, records, and anything else music of 2021. What did I miss? What do you violently disagree with? What are you wholeheartedly in agreement with? What the hell else?
- Should you choose to (or if you have already) put together a Best of 2021 playlist of your own, by all means send me a copy, or at the very least a track listing. I’ll do my best to post them on my blog.
- If you’re feeling nostalgic, go back and check out my Best of… mixes from years’ past. There’s a shit-ton of them.
- You’ve got Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and 7 billion other social media outlets at your disposal. Share this with the world, even if you only have two Twitter followers (and one of them is me).
Until the Best of 2022, have at it, you vultures!
BD