Welcome to the 104th edition of Content Nausea. You can read No. 103 right here. Please let me know what you think. Thank you for being here. Here is the welcome blog.
I remember driving around with Dan V. in October 2021, and I was trying to explain to him how I felt like I didn’t care about music anymore. He was telling me to listen to someone that I ultimately didn’t listen to because it slipped my mind shortly thereafter, but I liked the sound of it. At the same time, I felt like I wasn’t going to have the energy to devote my full mind to it.
There are myriad reasons why I can pinpoint 2021 as the year my relationship with music and music listening changed. We can work through the elephant in the room: I lost my best friend where the foundation of our relationship had been listening to, talking about and playing music. Things seem minor after that. On top of that, I uprooted my life in 2021, which was a distraction. And then I haven’t been able to develop a healthy relationship with the algorithms that dictate many listening habits now. Listening to music used to be a sticky experience, but now I can feel like things are just slipping through me.
Those are also reasons why I didn’t put together my much-anticipated lists of favorite albums and songs from 2021. The beginning of the year was promising. I remember sitting in Philadelphia in January and February and listening to Nature of Things by Subsonic Eye and Going to Hell by Lande Hekt and thinking I found two albums that I was going to listen to the whole year. That didn’t happen. I barely remember what albums were soundtracking football season that fall, other than putting on The Wonder Years or The Promise Ring or — in the most dire situations — Brand New when I was writing on deadline in the press box.
For better or worse, I’m a completionist. And while the same things once again hampered my 2022 listening, though I did give it a good faith effort with a running Google Doc for one-third of the year, I don’t feel like I can do my 2022 year-end lists until I put 2021 to bed. So that’s what I’m going to do here. The 2020 list is here and the 2019 list is here. There are lists that go all the way back to 2011 on Tumblr.
25 favorite albums of 2021
Some albums not from 2021 that I listened to a lot in 2021, per last.fm: The Wonder Years — No Closer To Heaven (lol); Origami Angel — Somewhere City; Kevin Krauter — Full Hand; The 1975 — The 1975.
Some other albums from 2021 that “missed the cut” when I was making the list and I kind of wish I could have spent more time with: Middle Kids — Today We’re The Greatest; Rostam — Changephobia; Small Black — Cheap Dreams; Hoorsees — Hoorsees; Claud — Super Monster; Remember Sports — Like a Stone.
25. Doja Cat — Planet Her
I remember getting in an Uber on my way to a bar called Wild Willy’s in Romulus, Mich., in November 2021 and the car was playing “Need To Know.” “Payday (feat. Young Thug)” is my personal favorite on the album.
24. The Weather Station — Ignorance
The type of record that makes you feel kind of adult when you’re listening to it, I guess.
23. Turnstile — GLOW ON
I earnestly enjoyed this record a lot, which is why it’s on this list, but it was funny to watch Turnstile take its turn as The Only Band In The World. I guess there’s a reason that happened. Still, the hype was funny to follow.
22. Ducks Ltd. — Get Bleak
I was tempted to group this in with Modern Fiction later (that’s a tease), but I couldn’t resist giving an album called Get Bleak (great phrase!) it’s own space here.
21. Subsonic Eye — Nature of Things
I think Matt sent me this record, and I felt like it was the first 2021 release that really grabbed me and stood out to me. It occupies a really nice space in its tone and hooks. It reminded me of some college radio tracks I really would have enjoyed in 2011. Also, the phrase “nature of things” tickles something for me.
20. Fiddlehead — Between the Richness
A lot going on here for me: A song called “Grief Motif” that featured E.E. Cummings; some quality emo lines like “Nothing can change thе pain and I don’t want it to;” and a song about higher education in “Down University.” Some theatrics in here, but I was into it at the time, and I still enjoy it now.
19. Beach Bunny — Blame Game EP
Really good stage setter for 2022’s Emotional Creature. That’s a tease for the 2022 list.
18. Indigo De Souza — Any Shape You Take
I’ll sound really dumb if I try to use a “critic” voice about this album, but it just felt like a mature, adult rock album. I don’t think that’s the best way to describe it, but that’s what pops into my head right now. “Pretty Pictures” is a good slow burn. I’m bad at drums, but “Hold U” feels like a really fun song to play drums to (which Dan V. confirmed to me).
17. Parannoul — To See the Next Part of the Dream
Maybe one of the better collection of song titles in a 2021 release: “Analog Sentimentalism,” “To See the Next Part of the Dream,” “Age of Fluctuation,” “I Can Feel My Heart Touching You.” Music goes great with it, too.
16. Snail Mail — Valentine
The dynamics and pace changes on Valentine are really good. The title track burns into a banger, but I think I’m most partial to “Glory” in the stretch run of the album.
15. Dazy — Maximumblastsuperloud: The First 24 Songs
I put this collection on while I was doing some things around the house Wednesday morning, and it still goes. I didn’t spend enough time with the 2022 follow-up, but these are just pure garage rock songs that had me looking forward to driving around with the windows down soon.
14. Tigers Jaw — I Won’t Care How You Remember Me
I got really into Tigers Jaw during the pandemic (shout out JQBX) and so I was pretty excited for this album. For the most part, it held up with “New Detroit” and “Can’t Wait Forever” serving as some of my favorite songs of the year.
13. Dijon — Absolutely
Shout out to Dijon. Beautiful collection of songs.
12. Bachelor — Doomin’ Sun
Jay Som as a collaborator is really good (obviously good as a solo artist, as well). I loved the Routine EP in 2020, and this hits some similar notes.
11. Gary — Ideas Riding
I discovered Gary in 2013 when someone from the extended Cloud Nothings universe messaged me on Tumblr to send me the House of a Thousand Horses EP (which is thankfully on Spotify now). I wore that thing out. I was so excited to see Gary back with Ideas Riding, which has some harder pop songs on it. There’s a good edge to it, and it soundtracked a couple long drives for me. Also, Jayson Gerycz plays drums on it, so it has to be good.
10. Ducks Ltd. — Modern Fiction
Look who’s back! This band really conjures up the image of overcast skies, olive green coats and… duck boots (or boots in general). It’s a boots band. (I just went to the band’s genius page and in a promo photo, the members are wearing olive green and boots). Also, Ducks Ltd. knows how to do song titles for their openers with “How Lonely Are You?” leading this one off. “Fit to Burst” has one of my favorite lyrical images of the year, too: “Blistering hangover in La Sagrada Familia.” Not sure why, but that’s really good.
9. Japanese Breakfast — Jubilee
This album did a lot for me at the time, and while I haven’t come back to it too much in the year-plus since it came out, I know it’s a “good” album. Sometimes, that’s not a good thing, but it is here. The artistic growth is obvious, the expansion of sound is still cohesive and the themes resonate.
8. Flock of Dimes — Head of Roses
Huge Jenn Wasner guy here. I’m always going to be a booster. This was a really beautiful album. A good one to put on and sit with.
7. Painted Shrines — Heaven and Holy
I went back and checked the tape, and at the quarter-pole in 2021, this was my favorite album of the year. Obviously, there was some stiff competition that knocked it down a bit, but this is still an ageless release. Anything Woods touches is golden, and this isn’t really any different.
6. Kississippi — Mood Ring
I saw Kississippi back in early 2016 as part of a bill that Jack was part of (Princess Reason opened for Honduras, Kississippi and Diet Cig) and didnt’t really think it was anything special. I’m not sure how Mood Ring got on my radar in summer 2021, but it became one of my “plane albums” that I had saved on my tablet. It’s a good album to listen to while flying to the Midwest. I hadn’t listened to Kississippi since 2016, so I was really taken aback by the strides taken here. I really loved it.
5. The Natvral — Tethers
This album came out in the month or so after I moved to State College, which meant that I listened to it a lot while I was sitting in the armchair in my bedroom reading and drinking at night. Soundtrack to a weird time in my life, but I liked the ramshackle nature of it. Noted Princeton resident Kip Berman still has “it.”
4. The Antlers — Green to Gold
I was into Hospice as a 17-year-old who did not understand “Bear” at all, but The Antlers mostly fell off my radar other than serving as a reminder of 2000s indie band naming tropes (shout out to my old band Antler Blood). But Larry Fitzmaurice did an interview with Peter Silberman ahead of Green to Gold’s release (Last Donut of the Night is currently offline so I can’t pull the link) and it piqued my interest. It’s a gorgeous album. Like Tethers, it soundtracked lots of time reading in the armchair in my room, except it was in the morning when I was having coffee. There was a valuable meditative quality to it.
3. Cloud Nothings — The Shadow I Remember
Well, well, well, what do we have here. One of my year-end lists and Cloud Nothings is near the top? Color me shocked! Anyway, I’ve spilled plenty of digital ink about this band, and The Shadow I Remember is probably the most comprehensive album the band has released. It rocks, it has pop sensibilities, it still has angst, it has hooks and it still has lyrics that I would have posted as Facebook statuses or tweeted with zero context if I was 18 (“Am I older now or am I just another age? / Am I at the end or will there be another change?” from “Oslo” or “Oh, I need to make time for me, for me / To believe in what I can be” from “Open Rain”). “The Room It Was” is simply a good rock song. This album also contained the payoff for my obsessive cataloging of Cloud Nothings sessions and unofficial releases from the early 2010s when I recognized the closing melody in “Nara” from this untitled/unreleased song in March 2011.
2. Porches — All Day Gentle Hold !
At this point, I think I’ve spent more time “in” on Porches than “out” on Porches, and it’s been for the best. The early records didn’t really do it for me, but the run of The House, Ricky Music and All Day Gentle Hold ! has been fantastic. “I Miss That” is technically a 2020 song, but it’s one of my favorites, and “Okay” is up there, too. “Swarovski” is one of the songs I’ve come back to the most. This is just an addicting record that is easy to put on repeat over and over again.
1. Fog Lake — Tragedy Reel
The vaunted top spot goes to Fog Lake’s somber and beautiful Tragedy Reel, another stellar Orchid Tapes release. Having an album called Tragedy Reel as the No. 1 in 2021 feels a little too on the nose, but it’s the release that was able to burrow into me the most over the course of the year. Like Green to Gold, Tragedy Reel was a morning album to sit in my room and read and drink coffee. The morning light in the spring is nice, and songs like “Dakota” and “Catacombs” fit the mood perfectly. “Jitterbug” is one of the best songs of the year, too.
As a bit of a digression, Tragedy Reel and Green to Gold served as two significant calming influences over the course of 2021, too. First, when it came to uprooting to an unfamiliar place, and secondly, when working through grief. Both albums were weighted blankets, especially when I was trying to find something to listen to that wouldn’t agitate me. Two salves, and that has much to do with the albums’ placement this high on the lists.
Previous No. 1 records: Charli XCX — how i’m feeling now [2020]; Toro y Moi — Outer Peace [2019]; Cloud Nothings — Last Building Burning [2018]; Hoops — Routines [2017]; Hurry — Guided Meditation [2016]; Carly Rae Jepsen — Emotion [2015]; Parquet Courts — Sunbathing Animal [2014]; n/a [2013]; DIIV — Oshin [2012]; Real Estate — Days [2011]; Beach House — Teen Dream [2010]; Japandroids — Post-Nothing [2009]. (I’m not sure I’m on the record anywhere with it, but 2008 probably would have been Falling Off the Lavender Bridge by Lightsped Champion or Sometimes Things Just Disappear by Polar Bear Club or Microcastle by Deerhunter).
Favorite 35 songs of 2021
I’m probably missing a lot on this list, but thanks to last.fm and my monthly playlists, I was able to cobble together 35 songs in order that I really liked. I tried to stick with one per artist. There’s a 63-song playlist at the bottom of all the songs that I really liked this year.
The No. 1 song came out on an album in 2022, and typically I try to keep songs with the albums in the years they came out, but this band took forever to roll out its album and like half of it was already available to stream. So whatever.
35. Hoorsees — “Get Tired
34. Ducks Ltd. — “How Lonely Are You?”
33. Snail Mail — “Glory”
32. Fiddlehead — “The Years”
31. Parannoul — “Analog Sentimentalism”
30. The Kid LAROI — “STAY (with Justin Bieber)”
29. Lande Hekt — “80 Days of Rain”
28. Turnstile — “MYSTERY”
27. Claud — “Overnight”
26. Mikey Erg — “Rumblestrip”
25. Kississippi — “Wish I Could Tell You”
24. The Antlers — “Wheels Roll Home”
23. Beach Bunny — “Good Girls (Don’t Get Used)”
22. Rostam — “4Runner”
21. Taylor Swift — “Message In A Bottle (Taylor’s Version)”
20. beabadoobee — “Last Day On Earth
19. Painted Shrines — “Not so Bad”
18. ELIO — “CHARGER (ft. Charli XCX)”
17. Subsonic Eye — “Further”
16. Middle Kids — “Stacking Chairs”
15. Dazy — “See The Bottom”
14. Ducks Ltd. — “Get Bleak”
13. Japanese Breakfast — “Be Sweet”
12. Indigo De Souza — “Hold U”
11. Nilüfer Yanya — “Crash”
10. Gary — “Blur the Difference”
9. Rebecca Black — “Girlfriend”
8. Porches — “Okay”
7. No Rome — “Spinning (with Charli XCX & The 1975)”
6. Fog Lake — “Jitterbug”
5. Tigers Jaw — “New Detroit”
This song stays within the same emotional register for its duration, but that works for Tigers Jaw. The only other way I can really think of to describe this song is “sensitive.”
4. Cloud Nothings — “Nothing Without You”
It’s a hit.
3. Caroline Polachek — “Bunny Is A Rider”
I think this song is going to resurface this year, but it’s a 2021 song. It’s easy to put on repeat forever, and the bass line is so propulsive.
2. Dijon — “Many Times”
I love how raw this song feels and how all of the emotion is laid bare. Dijon’s catalog has a ton of good songs, but I think this one was clearly the best to date.
1. Big Thief — “Little Things”
At the end of 2021, I wrote about how one of my favorite moments of the year was when I was driving across New Jersey that August and listening to this song and the world felt spread out in front of me. That’s something that stayed with me since, and I think this song is just an overall Really Good Song. That, combined with some emotional resonance, gives it the No. 1 spot. I won’t write about my issues with how Big Thief rolled out its album that I didn’t really listen to that much in 2022. I’ll focus on this one.
Previous No. 1 songs: Kevin Morby — “Wander” [2020]; Oso Oso — “The View” [2019]; Remember Sports — “Up From Below” [2018]; Cloud Nothings — “Things Are Right With You” [2017]; Kevin Morby — “Dorothy” [2016]; Fetty Wap — “Trap Queen” [2015]; Cloud Nothings — “I’m Not Part Of Me” [2014]; n/a [2013]; Cloud Nothings — “Stay Useless” [2012]; Cloud Nothings — “Forget You All The Time” [2011]; Beach Fossils — “Daydream” [2010]; Atlas Sound — “Walkabout (feat. Noah Lennox)” [2009].
Thank you for reading the 104th edition of Content Nausea. It will get better. Thank you, and see you soon.
Oh, we used to dream
Now we worry about dying
—D.G.