FanPost Friday: Music of the Year 2021 Open Thread – Lookout Landing
Hello and welcome back to FanPost Friday! Today we’re once again dusting off the ol’ Friday Open Music Thread for another BEST OF edition, which I straight up did not remember that I wrote last year until I Google searched for the previous music posts while writing this, but what is time anyways? Also, sharing this bit again just for context for any newcomers:
“There’s an old, occasional tradition around LL known as the “Friday Morning/Afternoon Music Thread,” which is a sort of b-side to the usual Off-topic open threads. I believe it was started by Jeff Sullivan just as a way to share links to whatever music people felt like spreading about. It’s been a good way to find out about bands and artists you might not otherwise hear. LLers are nothing if not eclectic as a whole.”
All right, let’s chop this up. There’s no baseball news to discuss anyways, right? THANKS, MANFRED. 2021 was another not great year for the planet at large. In the words of George Civeris, “Nothing felt right, and everything was pissing me off!”
What a strange year of ups and downs, stops and starts, and trying to make sense of life during an unending pandemic which is now primed to surge yet again. Hey hey hey, don’t spiral out on me, stay with me here! Look! There’s fun new music to listen to! And I want to hear what the LL community has been listening to. Just like in 2020, seeking out new music to listen to and finding new favorites was every bit of an important lifeline for me as ever. I’m sure many folks out there feel the same way. You have to have something to fill the hours when baseball isn’t being played, right?
Okay, onto the prompts! Please drop one (or all) of the following into the comments:
- Your top 5 albums that came out in 2021
- Your favorite 3 songs that came out in 2021
- Post your Spotify/Apple Music/etc most played charts into a comment
- Most importantly, share at least one tune via a YouTube link that you think others might enjoy, or just one that you’re really into from this year
But, I can’t let you go without sharing MY FAVORITES, too! So here ya have it.
Japanese Breakfast – Be Sweet (“Jubilee,” Label: Dead Oceans)
Let’s lead things off with something fun, light, and featuring an X-Files-themed music video, shall we? I think “Jubilee” by Japanese Breakfast will end up being my favorite record of the year overall and I could choose just about any track to feature here, but “Be Sweet” is just such an infectious and enduring jam. Songwriter/lead singer/multi-instrumentalist Michelle Zauner’s motif for Japanese Breakfast is …….
