The Best Music of 2021 - Examining the Pandemic Era of Music
As dark as the days seemed in the early months of the pandemic, I found myself open to the idea that there was perhaps a silver lining in the mail. Maybe the fact that our survival required a heightened sense of community seemed welcome in a world that seems designed to divide us made it easier to indulge feelings that we might come out of this hardship a better species than when we entered it. This was a grand experiment where for the first time in human history the entire world was forced to take a time-out, many confined to their homes with the freedom to undergo a state of self examination and process of self improvement that would have been unattainable when our collective lives were so prohibitively busy. This was a time when we could read more, learn a new language, turn hobbies into passions and half-hearted concepts into viable businesses. I’m sure that happened on the margins, but it seems as though most people just gained fifteen pounds and got hooked on conspiracy theories.
Even if this silver lining didn’t come in the form of a societal renaissance, a more realistic source of optimism came when considering the implications of such a grand disruption of the music industry whereby artists were suddenly prohibited from touring and relegated to their recording studios. I considered the possible effects on dance music producers who would no longer be making music for cavernous clubs or crowded beaches and might be more inclined to create something more introspective for the intimate setting in which they were confined, or bands who would be siloed for months on end with nothing to do but create new material. While the results would not be immediate, the incubation period of new music is such that nearly two years into the pandemic the jury is officially in and I personally haven’t noticed a tangible shift in either the quality or the quantity of music.
I’m reminded of earlier predictions that the quarantine would lead to a baby boom, when in fact there were fewer babies born during this time than in average years. Similarly, in other years I’ve struggled to contain the best new music in a single mix, but this year didn’t present that problem. If the pandemic had any tangible effect is that the musical standouts of 2021 were more niche than in previous years where my selections seemed slightly more ubiquitous, which may reflect the polarization that has come to define our society after nearly two years spent pouring over social media instead of learning to speak French or play the clarinet.
Track List
serpentwithfeet - Down Nuh River
Equiknoxx & Storm Saulter - This Song IS Not About Labeling Cables
Uffe - Automatic Remote Control
Madlib - Road of the Lonely Ones
Sault - Bitter Streets
Helado Negro feat Buscabulla - Agosto
Suzanne Kraft - Blush
Anika - Change
Faye Webster - In a Good Way
Jungle - Goodbye My Love
Little Simz - Two Worlds Apart
Tyler the Creator - Sweet
Dean Blunt - Dash Snow
Midnight Sister - Satellite
Peggy Gou feat. Ohhyuk - Nabi
Mi Mount feat. Erika Casier - U N Me
Jesse Futerman feat. Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Luckey
DJ Manny - Never Was Ah Hoe
Paris Texas - Situations
Kedr Livanskiy feat. Flaty - Your Turn
Yu Su - Xiu
Herbert - The Impossible
Rosie Lowe/ Duval Timothy - He Hu
Lion’s Drums - Alouata (Hembra)
Smerz - Rap Interlude
Space Afrika feat Blackhaine - B£E
Moin - I Can’t Help but Melt
Michelle feat. CHAI - FYO
Magdalena Bay - Secrets (Your Fire)
Sophie - Bipp (Autechre Mix)
Burial - Dark Gethsemane
Octa Octa - Spell For Nature
Sofia Kourtesis - Le Perla (Edit)
Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Movement 8
Clark - Citrus
Arca - Tierno
James Blake - Say What you Will
Jazmine Sullivan - Rashida’s Tale
Kate Davis - True Love Will Find You In the End
Omar S - Ain’t No Real Pimps Anymore (Pimpapella)
Tirzah - Tectonic
