2021 musical recordings

WP64 wrote:Yeah, I actually really appreciated that interview though. She comes across really well. She also has a brief written interview with NPR.

I agree. It's just reflexive to refer to Pitchfork in the most ironic terms possible even if they do good work.

In other 2021 news—

Scottish synth wizard Sam Gellaitry has done a pop turn this year and dropped a stunning EP featuring this song:


It's fantastic and he sounds like the new, British Toro y Moi.

Sammy G is here to stay.

This is also super:

Do you guys like this?

It is fine. Doesn't stand out at all though. Sort of sounds like a mix of Jorja Smith and Kelela or something.

I don't listen to enough contemporary R&B to know what is going on right now. I remember thinking that Tinashe's Aquarius was such an interesting and dreamy sounding album, with the exception of the big singles, but her career just kind of fizzled. Never understood why. Can't believe that is seven years ago now...

I think there's something cheesy about Snoh, but I find this song to be exceptional. Clearly Sade ripping. The aesthetic is totally just "throw artsy shit against a wall". It's fake deep. But I really love a few of her best singles. It's nice to have someone doing something more laid back in a sea of pop-R&B. So much R&B is crossover and it's cool when things are straight up R&B, imo.

A couple people have lamented Tinashe's inability to get popular to me. To me, I think she is lacking as a singer + vocal personality. She's a fantastic dancer and has some good songs, but her voice isn't distinctive or memorable. She also seems to have some issues with work ethic, at least in the sense that you need to be insanely singleminded and focused to be successful in pop. I like Tinashe, but I get why she isn't very popular.

chrondog wrote:

She can't compete with this. I fucking hate Doja Cat, but at least her voice is distinctive and fits the modern landscape.

chrondog wrote:So much R&B is crossover and it's cool when things are straight up R&B, imo.

Yeah. I have the same opinion about R&B crossover as I do with rock and jazz fusion. Not for me. Give it to me straight.

As for Tinashe, you are probably right about all of those things. I don't really know what is required to become a pop star but Tinashe is fine as hell. My assumption is just that pop stardom is incredibly superficial and that she would have been an incredibly popular performer by now. Instead we ended up with Lizzo. Never would have thought.

I know that Tinashe had some problems after signing to a major label but the contract expired years ago. My problem with her is that she really shied away from what made her earlier releases so distinctive and interesting. She ended up releasing all of this garbage bubble bum singles instead:

I am here for that music video but the track is boring as fuck.

WP64 wrote:Tinashe is fine as hell

This is extremely true. And we can all agree this ruled:

I've enjoyed Snoh Alegra but haven't gone deep.

Tinashe is extremely talented and extremely hit or miss. Given the tossed off nonsense that ends up popular I can see why her fans are incredulous that she can't get there.

Stan culture is absurd. Totally understand that there are "less talented" or less cool people who are more famous, but that's why I tend to go with the personality analysis. Doja Cat is annoying to me, but she has charisma and swagger. Tinashe is pretty cutesy and inoffensive. It doesn't stick as much.

I also hate to be the bearer of extremely bad news, but this song rules and is one of the best songs of this year:


This gal wrote an entire album about a single breakup, but this is the only one that captures the angst of teenage romance and doesn't turn it into some melodramatic nonsense like "Driver's License". It's phenomenal and the pop-punk-pop style should return.

I really like that track. I heard it for the first time on the radio today. But honestly, it is really hard for me to get excited about the latest iteration of the Disney Channel talent pipeline. Nothing is more manufactured or played out. Also, I read somewhere that Jam City was involved in the production of her album. I can hear it as well. That's soooo fucking depressing.

Nothing irritates more than the inability for musical sub-cultures to actually sustain themselves. The most offensive example is the creation of Yeezus, which literally involved every alternative musical act from Justin Vernon to Jack from Salem make some unremarked contribution to a project that will never be associated with them. The poptimist celebration of that backdoor mainstreaming of indie music was the biggest cultural misstep of the last decade, imo. Although, it isn't like anyone really had any input or control over it.

I guess I’m out of touch in 2021 I have been finding Ryley Walker’s new album to get better and better with repeated listens and quite enjoy the new Six Organs of Admittance.

new powers/rolin duo record is beautifully psychedelic

Nick wrote:I guess I’m out of touch in 2021

Don't worry. I am so out of the loop that I've basically lost my sense of touch entirely and I am still only 27 years old.

I am listening to this entire Olivia Rodrigo album today while doing some work. It's pretty undeniable. The ongoing shift in mainstream pop, which really does feel like a generational shift, is pretty exciting. I have probably already made this observation elsewhere but I think it is really interesting that millennial Americans were never able to propel a manic depressive to pop stardom. Gen Xers had Cobain & Nirvana and Gen Zers are going to have Billy Elish (and all the weird soundcloud rappers or whatever). Millennials produced LMFAO instead.

WP64 wrote:I am listening to this entire Olivia Rodrigo album today while doing some work. It's pretty undeniable.  

I don't like her ballads at all.

WP64 wrote:

Nick wrote:I guess I’m out of touch in 2021

Don't worry. I am so out of the loop that I've basically lost my sense of touch entirely and I am still only 27 years old. 

Being out of touch is objectively good. Being "in touch" just means you follow corporate, algorithm-fueled drivel like I do.

New Tyler album out today is good!

Corporate, algorithm-fueled drivel fuels our culture industry. It's important to have a general awareness of what is happening. Uncritical poptimism is nauseating but so is self-absorbed obscurantism. I just always try to find the appropriate balance.

I thought they sucked but you could prob say Linken Park were the cobain/Eilish of the 00s

WP64 wrote:I have probably already made this observation elsewhere but I think it is really interesting that millennial Americans were never able to propel a manic depressive to pop stardom.  

Ain't Kanye literally bipolar

Good one, can’t believe I thought of linken park before him

Duff... wrote:

WP64 wrote:I have probably already made this observation elsewhere but I think it is really interesting that millennial Americans were never able to propel a manic depressive to pop stardom.  

Ain't Kanye literally bipolar

Demi Lovato also exists

Kanye being a self-consciously weird and depressive outcast is a more recent phenomenon and it kind of correlates with the downward spiral of his career, imo. Demi Lovato is good shout tho.

chrondog wrote:

WP64 wrote:I am listening to this entire Olivia Rodrigo album today while doing some work. It's pretty undeniable.  

I don't like her ballads at all.

"favorite crime" is a nice little track. I don't hate the ballads. More importantly though, I think they serve as a good aesthetic complement. It is a really balanced album. I find that commercially successful pop albums aren't usually held together this well. The only strange one is the very last track, which marks a very different tone and does feel a little out of place. Whatever though.

chrondog wrote:New Tyler album out today is good!

My favorite project from him since Goblin. So fun and good!



Song holds up as one of the best on the album after repeated listens of the whole thing.

Album version is better:


Album of the summer!!

My son recently became obsessed with Tyler. He also asked to dig through our vinyl and picked out Quasimoto, Stankonia and Funkadelic.

yeah that tyler record is stupid good

I'll have to try again with the Tyler record. It didn't click on first listen at all. The only Tyler project that I ever really liked was the Bastard mixtape, which I used to listen to obsessively.

https://gardenermusic.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-here-for-a-moment

new album on trouble in mind out in a couple weeks

Very cool cover. Have you listened to the cassette? Does it sound good on there? Obviously you wouldn't make one if you didn't think so, but does the music lend itself to cassette as a format? Would be interesting to have this in the car.