Tag: Weather Station

UndercoverSadGirl’s Top 25 Albums of 2021

2021 happened, or so we think? The music came every week, giving us a way to distill the dark and prepare to start anew. Below is a playlist of the best 25 albums of the year and some words on the musical artists who captured my attention.

Musical Highlights of 2021: Cassandra Jenkins majestic swirls, as they weaved across dynamic words. Weather Station’s thought provoking lyrics and the world that she brought to us. Genesis Owusu’s splash of rhythm and ability to make us sit down and dance. Squid’s sci-fi avalanche, that angst and post-punk movement. Tyler, the Creator’s inventive ways of expressing honesty and prowess. Snail Mail’s decidedly raw ability to rock.

These artists almost made the cut: Parannoul, Hand Habits, Wolf Alice, Xenia Rubinos, and Ada Lea. Don’t let these inspiring people go unheard!

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2HP6wqGrxVxTzGeGVMJOyg?si=QRMHzLF5S8-N99HAo1v8pg

25. Eau De Bonjourno – Bernice

24. HEY WHAT – Low

23. Juno – Remi Wolf

22. Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Mama – Topaz Jones

21. Vulture Prince – Arooj Aftab

20. DEACON – serpentwithfeet

19. Any Shape You Take – Indigo De Souza

18. Fatigue – L’Rain

17. Sound Ancestors – Madlib

16. Heaux Tales – Jazmine Sullivan

15. Jubilee – Japanese Breakfast

14. Sling – Clairo

13. For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her – McKinley Dixon

12. I know I’m Funny Haha – Faye Webster

11. Valentine – Snail Mail

10. A Beginner’s Mind – Sufjan Stevens

9. For the first time – Black Country, New Road

8. WEIGHT OF THE WORLD – Maxo Kream

7. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert – Little Simz

6. Animal – LUMP

5. Smiling with No Teeth – Genesis Owusu

4. Ignorance – Weather Station

3. Bright Green Field – Squid

2. CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST – Tyler, The Creator

  1. An Overview on Phenomenal Nature – Cassandra Jenkins

UnderCoverSadGirl Special: Best Songs of 2021 So Far

2021 is taking us through the Summer with pulsing music. Here is a playlist with some of the best songs of the year so far, as we ask ourselves, “Are we there yet?” The musical highlights from 2021 (so far) include Genesis Owusu, Cassandra Jenkins, and Squid.

Genesis Owusu’s groundbreaking debut album, Smiling With No Teeth is the hip-hop, techno, video game music you need to dance to. The standout songs include, “The Other Black Dog,” “Don’t Need You,” and “Smiling with No Teeth.” He relates the concept of the ‘black dog’ as a euphemism for depression to his experience with being subjected to racism. The lyrics are both liberating and contemplative. He was heavily influenced by the video game, Jet Set Radio Future and will be touring in the US for the first time in 2022.

Cassandra Jenkins’ poetic, impressionistic album, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature is a reflection on life, that ebbs and flows with the magical sounds of the saxophone. It only becomes more fulfilling on repeat listens. She took a lot of voice memos from strangers and recorded everything as inspiration to make sense of the change around her. The album title was taken from something a security guard told her at an art exhibit at the Met Breuer in New York. She explains in an interview with Stereogum, “There’s a lot of humor in that for me- the idea of offering some objective truth, when we’re really sharing something about our completely subjective point of view.” Cassandra Jenkins was recruited by David Berman to play as the guitarist with his album for Purple Mountains. Berman tragically died by suicide, just days before the tour would begin. Though she only knew him a short while, her memory and grief around this loss are articulated in the songs, “New Bikini” and “Ambiguous Norway.”

Bright Green Field is Squid’s debut rock album and it sounds both urgent and scary. The five musicians (Ollie Judge, Anton Pearson, Louis Borlase, Arthur Leadbetter, and Laurie Nankivell) write all of their music together and jam it out in a collaborative way. The song, “Narrator” was in part influenced from Bi Gan’s dystopian film, A LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. The song gives us an unreliable narrator to question and meditate on. The whole album is experimental in the right way and denotes the feeling of a medieval, dystopian environment. The anxiety riddled throughout this music is a cathartic escape, strange enough to leave you coming back for more and more.