2021, So Far

The mid-year in music round up

Jun 30, 2021

Music moves too fast, so I’m going to do my best here to (briefly) make sure you’re up to date on everything that’s happened in music during the first six months of 2021.

Strangest Music Headline

Rap artist clogged toilets at N.J. mansion, caused $260K in damages, lawsuit says

This article, calling out A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, only gets grosser the more you read.

Best “Lesbian Slacker Music” Album

Bandcamp would lead you to believe that this is not only the best ‘Lesbian Slacker Music’ album of the year, but in fact the only one in existence.

Biggest Waste of a Travis Barker Feature

This has to be the easiest bag Travis ever got. You would not have known he was on this song if they didn’t tell you.

Favorite Album Artwork

NEGRO DELUXE by Pink Siifu. Artwork by Fary "Junkyard' Charles.

Where The Flowers Grow by Zilo. Artwork by Rob Davies.

Best 2000s revival

In short, the 80s are trending out and the 2000s are trending in. Olivia Rodrigo toyed with it on certain songs off her album, and Willow may eventually take this crown when her album drops next month, but for now I’m going with Pale Waves. They stuck with the theme most consistently throughout their album, and nailed it.

Most Fun Album Reimagining

This is a tie between Jeff Rosenstock recording ska covers of all the tracks on his 2020 album No Dream (re-released as Ska Dream) and MadeinTYO giving his 2020 album to his favorite Soulection DJs and letting them go nuts on the remixes.

Least Engineer Friendly Song

Enjoyed Drakeo the Ruler’s new album, but as someone who’s been around countless studio sessions, this hits too close to home. Conway the Machine’s song Scatter Brain gets honorable mention for JID’s line “If I hear em dissin, kill the engineer and kill the n**** mixing.”

Most Interesting Nerdy Engineer Article

The Recording Gear, Sage, and Airbnbs Behind Solange's Modern Classics

On the topic of audio engineering, I found this article that sheds light into Solange’s recording process fascinating. The vocals for When I Get Home were recorded with a Shure Beta 58 and Focusrite Scarlett interface, which blows my mind. To put that in layman’s terms, she is a renowned Grammy winning artist that prefers to use a recording setup cheaper than that of many college kids recording vocals in their basement. Check the article with her engineer to find out why.

Is It Cake?

No, this is Cheekface, Cake for millennials. They dropped an album stuffed with stellar quips like “I’m furiously juul-ing on the coffee shop patio” and “I’m getting a Gucci logo stick and poke, it’s cheaper than therapy,” delivered in their spoken-word/singing hybrid.

Match Made In Heaven

Plenty of excellent artists pairing up to make great albums this year, as expected from duos such as Bachelor, Young Dolph & Key Glock, L’Orange & Namir Blade, and Møme & Ricky Ducati. But one I didn’t expect to like as much as I did was the the album Longway Sinatra 2 from Peewee Longway & Cassius Jay. A super fun and versatile project.

Most Badass Music Headline

Singer Rina Sawayama Tapped To Star Alongside Keanu Reeves In ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’

If you need me, I’ll be watching John Wick 3 with the sound off while blasting STFU! on repeat.

Most Unnecessary Use of a Martin Luther King Jr. Speech

There’s An Imposter Among Us!

Jazmine Sullivan made a Frank Ocean Song

Twenty One Pilots made a Phoenix song

Hayley Williams made a Folklore song

YBN Nahmir made a back to school commercial song

Weezer made a Van Halen album

Did King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Release an Album?

Yes, twice. And two live albums.

Coolest Air BnB Listing

For just $25 a night, you can stay and record in The Dungeon, the Atlanta house where Big Boi and André 3000 recorded much of Outkast’s first album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Though it seems to have been highly renovated since then.

Project That “Made Me Feel Old” The Most

After seeing RAINBOW BRIDGE 3 get some praise (including a yellow flannel from Fantano) I decided it was worth my time to check it out. I pride myself in not having many Principal Skinner moments when listening to music, but that wasn’t the case here. Every song sounds like two songs playing at the same time.

Unexpected Partnership

No we’re not talking BTS Meal, we’re talking about the LCD Soundsystem Bike 😤. Yes, LCD Soundsystem designed a bike. Their intentions were good with the proceeds from the bike going to Crew Nation which is raising money for tour and show crew hurt by the pandemic. But the execution was…this

Worst Concept

Logic made some kind of MF DOOM-lite mixtape where he plays Doc D, a super villain who, in the midst of his universe destroying takeover, does a radio interview where it is revealed he became a super villain after a girl named "Sharon" broke his heart. The songs themselves don’t do much for me, but they aren’t awful! It’s this awful concept that really drags the whole thing down. This skit has the gist of it.

New Genre Just Dropped

Harlecore. It’s basically rave and PC music mixed with some rap and pop that sounds like Crazy Frog formed a throuple with 100 gecs. It makes the off the wall beats Danny L Harle’s previously made for artists like Rina Sawayama and Charli XCX seem tame.

Most Confusing Music Headline

Lil Yachty Developing Action Heist Movie Based on Card Game Uno

There isn’t really much in-between for this being the best or worst movie ever made.

2021 MVP (so far)

No one needs me to say it’s Olivia Rodrigo, but I’ll say it anyways. Unless you had been an avid watcher of Bizaardvark or High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (I know how old my readers are, you weren’t), you didn’t even know the name when 2021 started. Less than six months in, she’s released undeniably the biggest album of the year. How often do we see an artist rise this quickly and successfully? Even with all the resources at her disposal, it usual takes more time to reach such heights.

Most Down Bad Fanbases Update

Congratulations to Porter Robinson & Japanese Breakfast fans for making it out of this territory in 2021 (Isaiah Rashad & Lorde fans, it looks like we’ll be free soon as well). I know I must be missing some, but here’s an up to date rankings of the most significantly down bad fanbases (measured in days since last project release).