Sometimes you get caught up in work. Sometimes thereās an insurrection on TV and you get caught up in the news. Sometimes itās both. Ah well, one day late for the first note of the new yearā¦ great start!
Some people like the new year because itās a clean break from whatever troubled them the previous year - carpe diem, burn the boats, etc, etc. Some people use it as an excuse to delete a bunch of emails in their inbox. Some people chart out their next twelve months with lofty goals theyāll never achieve. The new year is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I had considered taking a no-looking-back approach for the first note of 2021 but after I finished the first draft of my favourite albums in 2020, I started to take a look at some other publications and writers to see what they had. As my loyal readers know, Iām only six weeks into this and even though I listened to a lot of music during the other 46 weeks, I didnāt pay as much attention to all of the new releases. Reading through the other lists I started to note a lot of music that seemed interesting. So I thought I would turn the first note of 2021 into a listing of all of the music that I missed last year but really enjoyed listening to over the last week or two (and a couple that I did listen to but completely forgot about when putting together my list last week).
š Goings On About Music
Let us take a look at what I missedā¦
šæ Albums
Jessie Ware - Whatās Your Pleasure?
This was #1 on The Needle Drop YouTube channelās list of the 50 Best Albums. It also showed up on more than a few other lists. Itās a great album full of tracks that people would have been dancing to, if dancing was allowed in 2020. I had no idea who this was or when this album was released. None of the songs showed up in any of my weekly For You New Music playlists. Just a complete vacuum of awareness on my part and now Iām walking around my house playing air bass for the riff on Ooh La La.
Protest The Hero - Palimpsest
I found this album when I was specifically looking for the ābestā Canadian albums in 2020 - it also showed up in a great newsletter. To this point I think Iāve filled these notes with a lot of pop, indie, kind-of folk, and even some electronic stuff. I think this is the first time Iāve listed anything you could consider to be heavy. I lost track of Protest The Hero after their breakthrough album, Kezia, in 2005. From what I remember, they got a lot of praise for being standouts in a sort-of genre called math metal. I know people trip over themselves to talk about the time signature switches in bands like Tool and even as someone who can play instruments, I find that to be a really hard aspect of music to appreciate. Regardless, this album was well-reviewed for good reason. It may not be for you, but if youāve ever entertained bands like Coheed and Cambria this may be your bag (thatās a reference).
Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
There was (is?) a band called Girls that released a debut album called Album. They were basically, at least at the time, un-Googleable. But there was something about that whole naming approach that tugged at me to say, āHey you might wanna listen to this.ā Waxahatchee was like the opposite of that. I remember seeing this album when it came out and looking at the band name hurt my brain. It still does. I have to really concentrate to be able to read it without glazing over it. I liked the upbeat tracks (like Canāt Do Much and War) more than the laidback ones, but this album was a nice treat that I will definitely be going back to throughout the year.
Destroyer - Have We Met
I could make a days-long playlist of artists in my music library that I know I should listen to but, for a number of reasons, I never do. Destroyer is in that category. Theyāre (heās) Canadian, the music always seems to get positive reviews, and Iāve had friends tell me itās good. I think about Destroyer a lot like I think about The Smiths (yes, I know this might be the first time these two bands have ever been comapred). I go into it thinking that I should like it but it always seems like Iām missing something - it feels like whatever it is that is grabbing everyone else isnāt grabbing me. There were moments of that on this album when I listened through, but there were less than previous albums. Even the seemingly campy Cue Synthesizer track grabbed me enough to be humming it the next day.
Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
If I didnāt regularly delete me tweets, Iād pull the one from earlier this year where I pretended to be a music blogger and waxed philosophical about this album in a tweet thread. I canāt even remember what I said but I know I talked a lot about it. I got caught up in the hype of the release and subsequent critical praise that was piled on. A lot has happened since then and I donāt think I ever went back to listen after the initial rush. I did that recently and it still holds up. Iām not steeped in knowledge about Fiona Apple - and it seemed like there was a lot of added appreciation for this album when you factored in her career arc - but even without that, itās absolutely worth your time.
šµ Tracks
Justin Bieber - Lonely
Credit SNL for selling me on this song. I watched it back in October but it was absent from my year-end list becauseā¦ well, I forgot. I can remember part-defending, part playing devilās advocate in defending a younger Justin Bieber when he was at his most annoying. Saying that he has unlimited money and no incentive to do anything other than whatever the fuck he wantsā¦ as annoying as it is, it shouldnāt be surprising that heās doing questionable things. He continued to released grade-A pop music including a lot of collaborations with what I would loosely define as the EDM community. I think he released the single Holy before Lonely and - even with Chance the Rapper - it didnāt particularly stand out for me but when I heard Lonely it struck a chord with me. Iāll give him the benefit of the doubt that the lyrics are genuine and not solely just a PR move. I loved hearing him open up about - and owning - his past behaviour.
Run The Jewels - JU$T
I can remember when RTJ put out their first album. I didnāt listen to it, but I know it seemed like it was a big deal. I still really know enough about the duo to give you any insight you couldnāt find with a Duck Duck Go search but I saw their album on many year-end lists. When I was watching that Pharrell Williams/Maggie Rogers clip for the hundredth time, I got algorithmād towards a YouTube version of the song JU$T with Pharrell that also features Zack de la Rocha. I havenāt been able to listen to the rest of the album but I really like this track.
Dua Lipa - Physical
Confession time. I thought AlunaGeorge and Dua Lipa were the same person. I donāt even know why. I tried looking through their previous hits to see if there were some songs that had a similar name or if they collaborated with the same personā¦ couldnāt figure it out. Confession time again, I thought it was Dua Lupa. Anyways, this whole album was really good but I only got a chance to listen to it once and I was a bit distracted at moments. I like this song. Bonus points for the collaboration on one of my favourite albums with Miley Cyrus.
Lady Gaga (feat. Ariana Grande) - Rain on Me
Whatever the personality disorder is where if something gets too popular you no longer have an interest in it is called, I have it. I listened to The Fame early and I listened to it often. I didnāt care for the costumes and whatnot but wasnāt particularly bothered by them. Then I just lost touch with Lady Gaga. A couple of years ago she popped back into my world when the YouTube computers decided to suggest her killer performance on The Howard Stern Show from earlier in the 2010s. I remember listening to the performance live and even years later I was so pumped up listening to her singing that I actually stood up at my desk halfway through the song. What I loved about the Chromatica album was that it sounded more like The Fame than any of the other music sheās put out in between. Iām all for pushing my own limits to finding new music and explore new sounds but sometimes you just like what you like and you just want to listen to more of thatā¦ and this works out well that I finally Getz include Ariana Grande in a note.
Christine and the Queens - People, Iāve been sad
I listened to Tilted so much. So much as in I actually used the repeat feature of the music app. This song was released on an EP early in 2020 and I had no awareness of it until recently. This is another piece of music that showed up in a few different places from some, obviously, very smart people. After just a quick skim through the EP, this song was easily my favourite.
š§ In My Queue
A few of these songs have lingered around but never quite made it to any of the previous weekly playlists. In addition to the new-to-me songs that I missed last year, Iāve taken the opportunity to clear out some of those lingering tracks by including them below.
Protest the Hero - All Hands
Dua Lipa - Physical
Run The Jewels (feat. Pharrell Williams and Zack de la Rocha) - JU$T
Gorillaz (feat. Peter Hook and Georgia) - Aries
Jessie Ware - Step Into My Life
Lady Gaga (feat. Ariana Grande) - Rain On Me
Megan Thee Stallion (feat. BeyoncƩ) - Savage Remix
Christine and the Queens - People, Iāve been sad
Grimes - Delete Forever
Phoebe Bridgers - Garden Song
The 1975 - If Youāre Too Shy (Let Me Know)
Justin Bieber (feat. benny blanco) - Lonely
Check out the playlist on Apple Music. Check out my profile on Apple Music.
And, I guess, check out the playlist on Spotify if have to.
š¤.