{"id":2690,"date":"2021-12-29T22:41:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T04:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=2690"},"modified":"2021-12-29T22:41:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T04:41:54","slug":"of-the-year-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/of-the-year-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Of The Year: 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Say what you will about life in the last couple years, but musically it&#8217;s been a creative delight. (Maybe that&#8217;s just more time to listen?) For the second year in a row I have a full top 10:<\/p>\n<h3>ALBUMS<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/33pWLN5PV3dsWS11LxmJsR?si=M_2Ht8AuTvaJ_PvH5aUR3g\"><em><strong>1975<\/strong><\/em><\/a> <strong>\u2014 No-No Boy<br \/>\n<\/strong>Melodic and memorable with a great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opb.org\/article\/2021\/07\/17\/asian-american-history-comes-alive-on-no-no-boys-1975\/\">story and purpose behind it<\/a> (the record is literally part of Julian Saporiti&#8217;s Ph.D dissertation on trans-Pacific musical culture), I&#8217;m amazed this hasn&#8217;t shown up on more year end lists as it seems to check every cultural and critical box there is. Possibly the best god damn album of the last 5 years.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/3GcRpPbUITV69vTolwRDsp?si=tQdIbaosSBOXVkzPTw50Nw\"><strong><em>Get Some<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <strong>\u2014 L.A. Exes<\/strong><br \/>\nPop-punk meets the classic wall of sound with this supergroup that&#8217;s just so much fun. Do you want to go to Jake&#8217;s house? Yes, yes I do.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/5OYYOBuPIYVCHWFXxJOqqN?si=yZOpmQy4R_eJnhFw3_e4JA\"><em><strong>Visits From Future<\/strong><\/em><\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/5OYYOBuPIYVCHWFXxJOqqN?si=yZOpmQy4R_eJnhFw3_e4JA\"><em> Technology<\/em><\/a> \u2014 Shaun Ryder<br \/>\n<\/strong>Despite the title, this is technically a blast from the past. Mostly recorded ten years ago and forgotten, I think it&#8217;s his best work since\u00a0<em>It&#8217;s Great When You&#8217;re Straight<\/em>, the first Black Grape album.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/2yHBOaatHcvlgNQ7WPpNIS?si=IAWatMIqRu23FVvNrtL0cA\"><strong><em>From Dreams to Dust<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <strong>\u2014 The Felice Brothers<\/strong><br \/>\nListening to this band evolve over the last decade has been a wondrously fulfilling experience. &#8220;Jazz on the Autobahn&#8221; sounds very Felice Brothers while not sounding like anything else. &#8220;To-Do List&#8221; has no chorus, three ramshackle guitar solos and was recorded in one take. A great record for everyone from Francis of Assisi to the fans of AC\/DC.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/2IOjjGgFrbeDACa6mZQv3X?si=-aEN06a7S3aO31nZRb6U-Q\"><em>Who Do We Hate Today<\/em><\/a> \u2014 Jim Bob<br \/>\n<\/strong>Jim Bob hadn&#8217;t released a new solo record in ~7 years, and then put out two in 11ish months right when we needed it most. (He also allegedly has at least an EP planned for 2022!) I think I slightly favor last year&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Pop Up Jim Bob<\/em>, but that&#8217;s splitting hairs for an artist that hasn&#8217;t let me down across 17 albums + numerous b-side compilations and live releases. Can you say infallible band?<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/4OAf7UEfzLBKjnoWIFkALk?si=SE27E1dQTsGX0SksjFW6lw\"><em><strong>Play<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/a><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/4OAf7UEfzLBKjnoWIFkALk?si=SE27E1dQTsGX0SksjFW6lw\">Loud<\/a> \u2014 <\/strong><\/em><strong>The Record Company<br \/>\n<\/strong>Similar to what I said about the Felices above, though in this case I was super proud to watch my favorite local LA band hold their own on a national stage\u2014and then pleasantly surprised to hear them broaden their sound with some of the poppy\/glammy tracks here. &#8220;Get Up and Dance!&#8221; = wow.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/6OjJdNN6yUYwFhYXWV6TMT?si=X9ZXQ0oXQl27vI8MEveAuQ\">You Get It All<\/a> \u2014\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong>Hayes Carll<br \/>\n<\/strong>A weird side-benefit of the pandemic and the resultant livestream shows some artists did was a front row seat to watching an album develop. Four or five of these songs (plus some non-album tracks) debuted on either\u00a0<i>Alone\u00a0Together Tuesday<\/i> streams or Patreon exclusives, nicely building anticipation to a solid finished product.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/4xJWLwiGtwZNeo7lv6ht88?si=rWueqd3_RN-HMFQ4ka5d6w\">Unsettling Delight<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong><em>\u2014<\/em><\/strong><i>\u00a0<\/i><strong><i>Rafe Addison<br \/>\n<\/i><\/strong>I discovered this guy from his stellar cover of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ucOl99AdInw\">Baby, It&#8217;s Your Life!<\/a>&#8221; by Benji Hughes, which led me to check out his debut album shortly thereafter. Guess what? As advertised,\u00a0<em>Unsettling Delight<\/em> is an unsettling delight. A unique take on power pop reminiscent of a few different influences while solidly it&#8217;s own thing. I dig.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/3InSvUCYvJ5XWg6PegGNCv?si=o1VSGFtMQm-WTfWvVGDCsw\">Things Take Time, Take Time<\/a> \u2014<\/em>\u00a0Courtney Barnett<br \/>\n<\/strong>My vote for best album <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">title<\/span> of the year, it&#8217;s Courtney Barnett taking it down a gear but still doing that thing only she can do so well. Part of me misses the rocker side here, but I can pretend her awesome\u00a0<em>Harriett the Spy<\/em> theme song is part of this record to restore equilibrium. (I suspect given another couple months this would rank higher, but these things take time&#8230;)<\/li>\n<li><strong><i><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/2cHSoBJ9HNOdQGCkzElPST?si=11DqskSAQHyu-1bqVMCWHg\">Introducing..<\/a>.\u00a0<em>\u2014<\/em><\/i>\u00a0The Pink Stones<br \/>\n<\/strong>Was I pretty sure I was going to like this album when I saw the ellipsis in the title? Perhaps. Did I like it even more when I learned the singer switched from punk to americana after hearing Evan Dando&#8217;s cover of &#8220;Brass Buttons&#8221; by Gram Parsons? Same answer. Easy country rockers sung in a soothingly lazy cadence. Sign me up!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>SONGS<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>&#8220;Like I Used To&#8221; \u2014 Sharon Van Etten &amp; Angel Olsen<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Puppy and a Truck&#8221; \u2014 Jenny Lewis<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Jazz on the Autobahn&#8221; \u2014 The Felice Brothers<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Get Up and Dance!&#8221; \u2014 The Record Company<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Smile Real Nice&#8221; \u2014 Courtney Barnett<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Barroom Blues&#8221;\u00a0\u2014 The Pink Stones<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;It Sucks (and I Don&#8217;t Like It)&#8221;\u00a0\u2014 Eddie Spaghetti &amp; Frank Meyer<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Raising Hell&#8221; \u2014 Tom Morello featuring Ben Harper**<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>**lyric of the year:\u00a0<em>&#8220;Fell in love with a drunken friend at a South By show with R.E.M.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Say what you will about life in the last couple years, but musically it&#8217;s been a creative delight. (Maybe that&#8217;s just more time to listen?) For the second year in a row I have a full top 10: ALBUMS 1975 \u2014 No-No Boy Melodic and memorable with a great story and purpose behind it (the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-2690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-of-the-year"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-Ho","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2576,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/bonus-the-missing-narrator-extended-version\/","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":0},"title":"Outtake: The Missing Narrator (Extended Version)","author":"LBDG","date":"November 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a fun deleted section that's a little too meta and absurdist for its own good. I trimmed it waaaay down for the Jubalee chapter of\u00a0L Extreme, but still dig it enough to share here. I'm a big fan of non-traditional, hyper referential storytelling and loved the setup of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":537,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/the-tweet-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":1},"title":"The Tweet Back","author":"LBDG","date":"March 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"To date, I haven't exactly been the model Twitter user.\u00c2\u00a0 I have it set to automatically send tweets whenever this blog or LB-DG.com are updated (via twitterfeed), but aside from that I've rarely touched it. But that's going to change this weekend. As my Twitter trial by fire, I'm going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2339,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-13c-girl-in-the-tower-part-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":2},"title":"LX Commentary #13c: Girl In The Tower (Part III)","author":"LBDG","date":"September 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's pick up where we left off with the doors. SAL + MON = Salmon. The CD version of the album Songs in the Key of Animals assigns these names to each disc. The LP version subtitles the sides. L Extreme the novel pays tribute with little signs on two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/SalMonSITKOA-279x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1926,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/2020-hindsight-commentary-prologue-one-two-of-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":3},"title":"2020 Hindsight Commentary: Prologue, One, Two of Us","author":"LBDG","date":"April 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"As promised\/threatened, I'm revisiting Timely Persuasion 12 years after releasing it \/ 17 years after writing it \/ 6000+ days since I jokingly told Jon Mack \"maybe I'll write a book...\" with a new round of fresh eyed commentary. Here we go... Prologue For a few years now I've had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/commentary-24-24-hour-party-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":4},"title":"Commentary 24: 24 Hour Party People","author":"LBDG","date":"July 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We get a little time travel heavy at the start of this chapter as far as \"rules\" go, but later move into some hands-on fun as Local Boy revisits his origins with an eye on trying to undo them. Other tidbits: I admit the cliffhanger in the previous chapter was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2044,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/2020-hindsight-commentary-25-minutes-to-go-across-26-winters-prologue-reprise\/","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":5},"title":"2020 Hindsight Commentary: 25 Minutes To Go, Across Twenty-Six Winters, Prologue (Reprise)","author":"LBDG","date":"October 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm revisiting Timely Persuasion 12 years after releasing it \/ 17 years after writing it \/ 6000+ days since I jokingly told Jon Mack \"maybe I'll write a book\"\u009d with a new round of fresh eyed commentary. Today's look at yesterday's chapters is brought to you by Shel Silverstein,\u00a0Phoenix Mourning,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2690"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2694,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions\/2694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}