Best Music of 2021

Kris said:
I'm not sure of anything on my 2021 list yet except for Coeur de Pirate's Perseides. It's an album of solo piano pieces she wrote while recovering from vocal cord surgery. Each song is named after a city in Quebec that was important to her childhood. The vinyl has been delayed a bunch of times so I haven't "spun" it yet, but it gets played every couple days.

musique.coeurdepirate.com

Perséides, by Cœur de pirate

10 track album
musique.coeurdepirate.com musique.coeurdepirate.com
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So. Good!
 
Wes C. Attle said:
2021 was a big year for speak-singing. I know they’re trying to sound like The Fall, but I can’t seem to get into these bands. See: Dry Cleaning, Squid, Black Country New Road, TV Priest….
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I, on the other hand; love them all. Give me all The Fall/Pavement/Art Brut/Black Country, New Road/Dry Cleaning/Squid/Hold Steady/Protmartyr/Idles/Girl Band records.
 
Hollywood said:
I believe the term is Sprechgesang, and yes it was well represented in 2021, especially as part of the new wave of post-Brexit post-punk bands such as Dry-Cleaning, BCNR etc.

That said, it is not to be confused with spoken word poetry which is loosely defined as "poetry intended for performance", which resembles something like Cassandra Jenkins' mesmerizing sophisti-pop song Hard Drive.
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BCNR does it best to me. I think they nail the style and atmosphere. And the music is incredibly engaging.


Also Hard Drive is one of the best songs / music pieces of the year.
 
do Fontaines D.C. count as a speak-singing band? because they're by-far the best out of that UK (Irish) group of bands in my opinion. But really they're more of a normal punk band that happens to be in that scene. I really like Shame because they have much more song structure, do more singing here and there. Today I realized that they sound A LOT like Fugazi which is probably why I like them a lot. Squid are decent, BC,NR are too sparse/experimental for me instrumentally.
 
wokeupnew said:
do Fontaines D.C. count as a speak-singing band? because they're by-far the best out of that UK (Irish) group of bands in my opinion. But really they're more of a normal punk band that happens to be in that scene. I really like Shame because they have much more song structure, do more singing here and there. Today I realized that they sound A LOT like Fugazi which is probably why I like them a lot. Squid are decent, BC,NR are too sparse/experimental for me instrumentally.
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BC,NR are my favorite but Squid is right there with them and don’t forget Black MIDI either they share in a lot of those same elements. Part of it too (at least for me anyways) is the emergence of a scene, I love when the creative energy in a different parts of the world bubbles over and kinda all become ubiquitous (at least in the in indie rock world). All of these bands coming out of The Windmill scene share in that. Everyone compares them to The Fall (and rightfully so) but I think it’s the intermingling of band members plus the different bands being inspired be each other that really creates a bit of a unifying sound.
 
So. I saw the post on Dry Cleanings opening baseline and decided to give it another chance. Got halfway through before deciding it was a half baked Sonic Youth clone. The instrumentation is *fine*. Like it's solid really-- but like many here have said-- the spoken word is so emotionless it really doesn't do it for me.

I LOVE Sonic Youth. But I lean heavily towards their 90s output and the Kim led vocals are almost always my least favorite songs in the discography unless the song writing is so interesting or catchy that it doesn't matter (see Bull in Heather).

And then after turning off Dry Cleaning I put on the new Shame which I kept forgetting to check out. Their album from 2018 was excellent. And well-- this album might be even better (less immediately accessible but more ambitious). Totally agree on the Fugazi influences (the Argument is a top 50 album for me) but there's also a lot of Ought's more interesting work within here.

Post-Punk is funny. There are so many albums I adore from the 2010's: Preists- Nothing Feels Natural, Idles: Joy As an Act of Resistence, Parquet Courts- Wide Awake, ext... and then a ton of other bands that leave me cold ala Protomaryr, D.C Fontaines and that one band from the early 2010's with a female lead vocalist that Pitchfork hyped the shit out of and then forgot about. Started with an S...


wokeupnew said:
do Fontaines D.C. count as a speak-singing band? because they're by-far the best out of that UK (Irish) group of bands in my opinion. But really they're more of a normal punk band that happens to be in that scene. I really like Shame because they have much more song structure, do more singing here and there. Today I realized that they sound A LOT like Fugazi which is probably why I like them a lot. Squid are decent, BC,NR are too sparse/experimental for me instrumentally.
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DownIsTheNewUp said:
So. I saw the post on Dry Cleanings opening baseline and decided to give it another chance. Got halfway through before deciding it was a half baked Sonic Youth clone. The instrumentation is *fine*. Like it's solid really-- but like many here have said-- the spoken word is so emotionless it really doesn't do it for me.

I LOVE Sonic Youth. But I lean heavily towards their 90s output and the Kim led vocals are almost always my least favorite songs in the discography unless the song writing is so interesting or catchy that it doesn't matter (see Bull in Heather).

And then after turning off Dry Cleaning I put on the new Shame which I kept forgetting to check out. Their album from 2018 was excellent. And well-- holy fuck the album might be even better (less immediately accessible butpre ambitious). Totally agree on the Fugazi influences (the Argument is a top 50 album for me) but there's also a lot of Ought's more interesting work within here.

Post-Punk is funny. There are so many albums I adore from the 2010's: Preists- Nothing Feels Natural, Idles: Joy As an Act of Resistence, Parquet Courts- Wide Awake, ext... and then a ton of other bands that leave me cold ala Protomaryr, D.C Fontaines and that one band from the early 2010's with a female lead vocalist that Pitchfork hyped the shit out of and then forgot about. Started with an S...
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Savages!!! They had one decent album but completely fell off after that. Haven’t heard them mentioned anywhere for at least 2-3 years until this very post.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
So. I saw the post on Dry Cleanings opening baseline and decided to give it another chance. Got halfway through before deciding it was a half baked Sonic Youth clone. The instrumentation is *fine*. Like it's solid really-- but like many here have said-- the spoken word is so emotionless it really doesn't do it for me.

I LOVE Sonic Youth. But I lean heavily towards their 90s output and the Kim led vocals are almost always my least favorite songs in the discography unless the song writing is so interesting or catchy that it doesn't matter (see Bull in Heather).

And then after turning off Dry Cleaning I put on the new Shame which I kept forgetting to check out. Their album from 2018 was excellent. And well-- holy fuck the album might be even better (less immediately accessible butpre ambitious). Totally agree on the Fugazi influences (the Argument is a top 50 album for me) but there's also a lot of Ought's more interesting work within here.

Post-Punk is funny. There are so many albums I adore from the 2010's: Preists- Nothing Feels Natural, Idles: Joy As an Act of Resistence, Parquet Courts- Wide Awake, ext... and then a ton of other bands that leave me cold ala Protomaryr, D.C Fontaines and that one band from the early 2010's with a female lead vocalist that Pitchfork hyped the shit out of and then forgot about. Started with an S...
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It is an odd genre. I find more things I should like that I don't there. But Protomartyr, Savages and Fontaines I all really enjoy. Proto and Savages put on really great shows when I saw them. But I also didn't spend as much time in the Sonic Youth camp when they were at their peak, so probably don't have that to compare back to so deeply. Fugazi either. Kinda late to it.
 
I love these new post punk bands, but my list of likes & bands that leave me indifferent is completely different from those mentioned here. I love Parquet Courts, Fontaines D.C., Dry Cleaning (seriously, the pressing of that album is one of the best of 2021 - the deep basslines, dynamics and soundstage are just wonderful), Squid, Idles but out of those mentioned previously i'm indifferent to BCNR, Shame, Priests, Protomartyr and Savages (though I kind of liked their debut). But since I like the genre in general, it's always possible I come around to those.
 
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wokeupnew said:
do Fontaines D.C. count as a speak-singing band? because they're by-far the best out of that UK (Irish) group of bands in my opinion. But really they're more of a normal punk band that happens to be in that scene. I really like Shame because they have much more song structure, do more singing here and there. Today I realized that they sound A LOT like Fugazi which is probably why I like them a lot. Squid are decent, BC,NR are too sparse/experimental for me instrumentally.
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TenderLovingKiller® said:
Them fightin’ words!
View attachment 117624
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There have been wars over less!

Loving the Canadian (US) scene right now!
 
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