#best of 2021 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

patricksmusicblog · 11 months

Link

A tight 20 track playlist of my absolute favorites of 2021. This playlist meant to play in order.

1. J. Cole-Applying Pressure: One of my favorites from one of J.Cole’s best projects in The Off Season. The self produced beat is one of the hardest on the album and J. Cole’s flow and fluidity is among his best and his competitive spirit is on display.

2. Freddie Gibbs- Big Boss Rabbit: Freddie Gibbs in moment of competitive spirit takes on NaS’s You’re Da Man beat. A brooding Mike Tyson sound bite sets the tone nicely. Freddie Gibbs flow is nimble and great on this as is the hook on this one.

3. Benny The Butcher-Live By It: My personal favorite track on Benny’s Plugs I Met 2 produced by Harry Fraud. The beat is hard yet layered and lush and Benny’s as measured and serious as he can be as he desribes the mentality of youth in the streets these days.

4. Vince Staples-The Shinning: My persoanal favorite track off Long Beach rapper Vince Staple’s self titled album. The track has a breezy feel that’s ready to be played in the car while at the same time Vince has a almost contemplative weary tone to his delievery.

5. Cordae-Thorton Street: The most soulful and rewarding track on the EP Just EP. Cordae just speaking on his upbringing and the backlash from his family due to his vulnerability in his music.

6. Nas-Wave Gods ft A$AP Rocky: Nas’s just being great as he’s been consistently since he linked up with Hit-boy.The beat is one of the brighter beats o on the project. It’s perfect for A$AP Rocky to hop on the beat and deliever on of best performances.

7. Drake ft Rick Ross- Lemon Pepper Freestyle: A track off Scary hours 2 meant to hold us over till Certified Lover Boy came out. I love the instrumental fluttering in the background of the track. Rick Ross is a steadying force on the track but the track is really about Drake. He’s braggadocious, opulent, meditative and straight forward.

8. Laura Mvula-Remedy: A great synth pop track that’s able to be catchy and substantive. Over a bouncy/funky beat she sings about how long it will take before we see change referencing police brutality and the kind stakes it would take to see people truly act.

9. Zara Larsson-Need Someone: A bright and breezy pop tune about feeling secure and content without being in a romantic relationship. The meant to played on a breezy sunny day at high volume.

10. Drake- 7am on Bridal Path: One of the best cuts on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. This is my favorite type of Drake track no hook, just bars filled brags, subliminal disses. One of the few moments on the album where he has the passion and that would make his album great if he could sustain it.

11. J. Cole- Punchin’ The Clock: Maybe his most technically proficient performed track and album and his most passionately performed. Over a swirling and percussion heavy beat produced by Tae Beast Cole is great on here.

12. Megan Thee Stallion-Bae Goals: A fun bouncy cut off Megan’s Something for the hotties tape. A purely summer cut that finds Megan’s charisma bouncing off the walls of this track as it tends to do with a catchy hook to match.

13. Little Simz- Woman ft Cleo: A great jazzy neo soul track dedicated to woman empowerment particular those of color. Praising those woman around the world, self sufficient and those that show a since of solidarity.

14. Kodak Black-Last Day In:A melodic trap tune from Kodak about his last jail stint. There’s a meloncholic nature to this in that there’s a lot of humorous one liners but underneath the fact you can sense he wishes he didn’t even have to make this track.

15. Little Simz-I See You: A poetic, soulful track speaking to trying to keeping in touch and close to a love one and making them feel loved through affirmations. It’s smooth relaxing track that can be listened to casually and focused on.

16. J. Cole-Let Go My Hand ft Bas& 6lack: An introspective track where Cole speaks to where he is in life and really about the lessons he would like to instill into his son as he grows older. It’s the type of track that I related to because I was became a father the same year. I also related to him trying to stick to a discipline and falling off of it.

17. Skyzoo- I Was Supposed to be a Trap Rapper: Skyzoo’s always been looked at one of the best underground rappers but here he speaks to how his peers thought he would’ve been a trap rapper but he ironically became a “backpacker”. Than the beat switches to a trap beat and he goes in on that. I think it’s a clever track.

18. Drake- Love All ft Jay-Z: A meloncholic track that is really dominated by Jay-Z who goes in on people who betrayed and wanted to kill him even. There’s a sense of aggravation and resentfulness in his tone and it makes his verse compelling.

19. Conway The Machine- S.E Gang ft Westside Gunn & Benny The Butcher: My favorite track on the project La Maquina by Conway the Machine the track is built of a soaring guitar riff that gives it a more epic feel and I think of the 3 on the track it pushes Benny the furthest and he ends up having a standout verse ultimately it’s one of my favorites from Griselda.

20. Nicki Minaj ft Drake & Lil Wayne - Seeing Green: This is just great and highly nostalgic. Young Money’s finest come together for a track that takes me back to the days of 09-10′ when they collaborated much more frequently and those 3 were at the center of hip-hop. Everyone has a great verse here but my favorite is Drake who actually sounded more envigorated to rap on here than a lot of his on album that year. Great track.

#2021 Playlist #Best of 2021 #Music #Music Playlist #Rap #Pop #Hip Hop #Griselda #Nicki Minaj #Drake #J. Cole #Skyzoo #Little Simz #megan thee stallion #Nas #vince staples #Cordae

12 notes · View notes

wraystars · 1 year

Text

Connecticut Kings Series - Christina C. Jones and Love Belvin

View On WordPress

#Best of 2021 #black female authors #black romance #Christina C Jones #Love Belvin

9 notes · View notes

flaggermuser · 2 years

Text

TABG - TheRussianBadger

#TABG #TheRussianBadger #Best of 2021 #source: therussianbadger

27 notes · View notes

twenty-words-or-less · 1 year

Text

Top 5 Best Films of 2021

I promised a top 5 of 2021 and here it is. Severely delayed, I know, but I’ve been trying to do other things with life and the days just got away from me. There will also be a More button on this status but I’d really appreciate if you guys gave the entire post a shot and not just scroll away. Cheers! Anyway, here it is, with the general theme of “yeah, this surprised me too!”:

5. Another Round (Druk)

Very dry, darkly funny Danish drama which manages to condemn as well as celebrate the drinking culture that seems to have a grip on North Europe as a whole, which is kind of interesting. Fun fact: the original title roughly translates to ‘Binge-Drinking’, something as blunt as the film itself.

4. Malignant

The kind of film made by someone who said “hey, my last film made you $1bn, can I have some money to do the thing I REALLY want to do?”. Basically an hour and a half of batshittery improved by a very divisive twist that [REDACTED] and I enjoyed very much.

3. The Suicide Squad

The one film I definitely saw coming with regards to it being on here. It’s exactly what one would expect from a James Gunn movie: dark comedy, people literally having a blast, a soundtrack consisting of songs one hasn’t heard since they were a teenager (looking at you, “Whistle For The Choir”). Can also confirm that it is just as good seeing it sober and in IMAX as it is seeing it drunk in standard definition.

2. West Side Story

Absolutely thrilled to have this here considering my attitude towards this film since seeing the teaser in May. Everyone fits into their characters as comfortably as if they are regular performers, and it manages to define itself as being an adaptation without caving into the ’61 adap and being its own beast. Highlight is 100% Rita Moreno singing “Somewhere”, which absolutely destroyed me. It would probably be number 1 were it not for the guy who played Tony, whose name I don’t want to say in case he materialises in my living room and starts mauling “Something’s Coming” in front of me or some shit.

And now, the honourable mentions (which were surprisingly hard to pick) in no particular order:

In the Heights: Did slightly drag over the last half hour or so, and I cared more about the secondary romance than the main one. However, god DAMN is the songwriting tight, the camerawork fluid and coherent, and the one-two of “Paciencia y Fe” and “Alabanza”… whoof.

Annette: It, uh, sure is a film. I don’t know how to talk about it without sounding like I’m giving it backhanded compliments.

Candyman: A beautifully shot gem which, like 2018’s Halloween, took a risk in being a belated sequel. However, it also has a solid cast, the themes were well-executed, and the shadow puppetry was devastating. The cut to the scene with the girls in the bathroom was hilarious, too.

Encanto: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s had a fucking good year, hasn’t he?

And finally, top of the list…

1. Dune

I enjoyed it a LOT more than I expected, and not reading the book beforehand didn’t hinder it. Great cast, great music, and meme-able, which is always a good thing. The pacing was also even and the visuals beautiful. Very Villeneuve, very much what I imagine reading the book is like. And between this and Call Me By Your Name (which I watched when ill with Covid), I’ve come to the conclusion that watching something in which Timothée Chalamet has a prominent role is stressful because PLEASE can somebody feed him? Please?? Thanks.

And that concludes the top 5 of 2021. I’m not doing a full-on bottom 5 because I’m exhausted by negativity, but I’ll just do a summary here: Halloween Kills exists, Spider-Man: No Way Home & The Matrix Resurrections were let-downs, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions was annoying and unnecessary, and Old made me want to punch a fucking wall.

Thanks for reading!

~Mikey

#best of 2021 #2021 #mikey #another round #druk #malignant 2021 #the suicide squad #west side story 2021 #in the heights #annette #annette 2021 #candyman 2021 #encanto #dune 2021

3 notes · View notes

zoetropia · 1 year

Text

Zoetropia’s Top 10 Albums of 2021

Honorable Mention

Cheekface - Emphatically No.: It seems like a vast majority of current music across all genres is pulling heavily from the emo scene of the early aughts, so it’s nice to have a band stop by with a snotty, too-clever-by-half, slacker ‘tude and a plethora of hooks that traces their roots back through They Might Be Giants to Devo. It’s probably too much in heavy doses, but it’s a solid palate cleanser.

Cool Ghouls - At George’s Zoo: A sunny slab of laid back, surf-soul inspired garage rock. It’s almost TOO Californian for this lifelong east coaster, but a record like this could turn someone who hasn’t even so much as touched a surfboard yearn for a wasted day in the waves. See you at the beach.

Sun June - Somewhere: A warm and generous indie soft rock record set apart by lead singer Laura Colwell’s clear and expressive vocals. Combine that with a solid, well-composed backing band that’s uninterested in being flashy and you have a record that’s just on the right side of easy-listening. Perfect for a warm, wistful summer night.

Remember Sports - Like A Stone: Power pop is a genre hanging by a thread, it seems (so much so that a new Alvvays record seems like a revolution), so I’m glad to have a solid entry to include on my year end list. We need more kids discovering early Superchunk records, come on!!!

Black Country, New Road - For the first time: A striking debut from a young band with clear musical chops trying to nail something down. If they do, look out... (spoiler: they will).

Kiwi jr. - Cooler Returns: A shimmering indie rock record with fun, hooky tunes and an infectiously laidback vibe. Perfect for a summer hangout.

Top Ten

10. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!: A new Godspeed record and you think I wasn’t going to put it on this list somewhere? "Cliffs Gaze” is up there with some of the best stuff they’ve put out and they continue to make music unlike anyone else for a time that desperately needs it. Our side has to win, indeed.

9. The Antlers - Green to Gold: The Antlers drifted away for 7 years, and with Peter Silberman developing tinnitus, recording a solo album, and Darby Cicci leaving the group, it looked doubtful they would ever be back. But they came, uh, gently rolling back with this collection of gorgeous songs that lushly ache for the beauty in the passage of time and the changes it brings. A lot of my favorite indie bands of my youth are dealing with similar subjects as we collectively get older, but this is one of the finest statements I’ve heard on the matter from that generation of artists yet.

8. Iceage - Seek Shelter: Took me a while to warm to Iceage (ha ha ha) despite the constant championing from the likes of Pitchfork, but they’ve really matured into an incredibly strong rock band that’s able to meld they’re scrappy beginnings with an eye toward more refined composition. This is a Big rock record in the best of ways, a record by a band that forgot that radio rock is dead and decided to keep pushing that sound forward anyway.

7. Quivers - Golden Doubt: Super catchy jangle pop, the whole band singing full throated in harmony? Sign me up. Melbourne has been at the forefront of the jangle pop revival and this is one of the best entries yet. It also helps that these guys seem like one of the nicest groups in existence. When I saw them live this year, their positivity and excitement for doing their thing in front of a receptive audience was infectious.

6. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature: A beautiful gift of a record. When I saw Cassandra Jenkins live this year, she said she recorded most of these songs not really intending to release them anywhere, as they seemed to her too personal and idiosyncratic to share. But I’m so glad she did. This is a intimate yet expansive record that is grounded in honesty and clear observation. It’s sad, yes, but it’s also so warm and hopeful. It’s a long hug from a close friend after a tough time. It’s being somewhere you feel safe so you can fall sleep. It’s something that finally understands. It’s over way too soon.

5. Nation of Language - A Way Forward: Modern new wave-y synth bands need a few things for me to really dig them: 1) understanding that the artifical sounds of synths and drum machines are not an excuse for remove but a way to enhance the emotional core of their music through counterpoint, 2) acknowledging that the core of synth pop is danceability (even if it has fallen out of fashion on actual dance floors), and 3) simple, catchy melodies. This band and record has all of these things in spades. This record has burrowed itself into my brain since coming out and hasn’t let go. It’s real good.

4. Wednesday - Twin Plagues: The shoegaze/alt-rock/country pipeline that I never knew I needed. Wrangling noise from a lap steel and angst from a tradition of music that pervades Appalachian mountains, Wednesday has got to be my favorite young band right now. It’s the good part of what happens when kids have access to every and all type of music at their fingertips and smush it all into something uniquely their own. And they’re already a force as a live act.

3. No-No Boy - 1975: It sounds like a better backstory than an actual record: an album that started out as a Ph.D. dissertation that traces the 20th century Asian American experience through music. It all falls apart if the songs aren’t good. But they are. Really good. And the stories the songs tell are never less than compelling and vital. A rare treasure of a record, one that is both important and a treat to listen to. If there’s one record one this list that I would recommend everyone who see this to listen to, it would be this one.

2. Julie Doiron - I Thought of You: This one was a true surprise to me. Julie Doiron, almost 50 at the time and after an almost decade off, made a solo record more lively, more youthful, and more energetic than artists half her age. She combines that with an expert thoughtfulness and ear toward composition that only experience can be bring. And that voice! Please don’t make us wait a decade for the next one, Julie.

1. Low - HEY WHAT: This album has taken on an unfortunately more significant air since the passing of Mimi Parker. And what a loss indeed. Mimi’s voice and accompaniment on percussion were... are... irreplaceable. It made this band who they were. It’s very rare that a band would still be releasing not just relevant material this far into their careers, but also still stretching, expanding, improving. That we won’t see where they would go together from here is a small tragedy, that such a great artist and wife and person is gone too soon is a great one.

#top 10 #best of #best of 2021 #music

4 notes · View notes

sawdustandgin · 2 years

Text

Melodic and Ambient, Gathering the Light Reflects Life

Nature is a strong influence. All around us, regardless of the specific environment, we are experiencing our surroundings; life creates its own music in genres that the industry would call ambient, or naturalist. Field recordings, also occasionally affectionately called “found sounds,” offer a sense of hyper-reality that, paired with the music itself, paints a vivid story of the listener’s…

View On WordPress

#ambient #best albums #best albums 2021 #best of #best of 2021 #feature #flau #folk #found sounds #Gathering the Light #left field #motohiro nakashima

2 notes · View notes

hostilityqd · 2 years

Video

youtube

Giant Swan - Pandaemonium

#giant swan #pandaemonium #best of 2021 #music #favorites #deconstructed club #techno #electronic #sound design

2 notes · View notes

nyaambxrradio · 1 year

Text

"Bunny Is a Rider" by Caroline Polachek

from at UNIX_time=[1677268000]

#electropop #best of 2021 #pop

0 notes

cameracourt · 1 year

Text

Best of 2022 ~ Books & Blog Posts

View On WordPress

#best books #best of 2021 #Book #books #Contemporary #fiction #Historical #Novel #novella #novellas #read #Reading #Romance #romcom #Suspense #thriller

0 notes

greensparty · 1 year

Text

Best of 2021 in 2022

Every year there are some movies I just don’t get around to seeing, so I catch up on them the next year. This is not the Best Movies of 2021, but just the best 2021 films I saw in 2022:

TOP 2021 MOVIES I SAW IN 2022:

5. West Side Story

Steven Spielberg

4. The Worst Person in the World

Joachim Trier

3. C’mon C’mon

Mike Mills

2. Spider-Man: No Way Home

Jon Watts

1. Red Rocket

Sean Baker

Sean Baker has made some impressive films before, but in this loose indie comedy about a washed-up porn star returning to his small town, he swung it out of the park! A perfect example of something funny, thought-provoking, and clever you can do on a low-budget!