Want to feel really out of it? Like an old fogy? Even the word fogy is old school for God’s sake!
But if you really want to feel out of it, check out the New York Times best albums of the year.
There were 25 artists listed in total and I only was familiar with 7 of them (see my list at end). See if you can do any better:
Charli XCX, ‘Brat’ and ‘Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat’
Brittany Howard, ‘What Now’
Vampire Weekend, ‘Only God Was Above Us’
Billie Eilish, ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’
Kali Uchis, ‘Orquídeas Parte 2 (Deluxe)’
Willow, ‘Ceremonial Contrafact (Empathogen Deluxe)’
Beth Gibbons, ‘Lives Outgrown’
Elucid, ‘Revelator’
The Cure, ‘Songs of a Lost World’
Nala Sinephro, ‘Endlessness’
Arooj Aftab, “Night Reign”
Les Amazones d’Afrique, “Musow Danse (Bonus Edition)”
Beyoncé, “Cowboy Carter”
Chat Pile, “Cool World”
Dawes, “Oh Brother”
English Teacher, “This Could Be Texas”
Angélica Garcia, “Gemelo”
Orla Gartland, “Everybody Needs a Hero”
Ka, “The Thief Next to Jesus”
Michael Kiwanuka, “Small Changes”
Kendrick Lamar, “GNX”
Charles Lloyd, “The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow”
Laura Marling, “Patterns in Repeat”
Residente, “Las Letras Ya No Importan”
St. Vincent, “All Born Screaming”
Yes, we had bands with funny names in the 60s and 70s, but I’m not sure they topped Vampire Weekend, Chat Pile, or English Teacher.
It’s all good. They have their music and we have/had ours. We had mix tapes and CDs, they have Spotify and Apple Music. They can follow the lyrics and I’m not sure we ever could (and there was not Internet where we could look them up). On the plus side, the group English Teacher called their album “This Could Be Texas” which I’m hoping is apocryphal (because the real thing is scary enough).
Maybe we should jump on Apple Music and sample some of this music to see if we’re missing anything. Worse case we waste an hour and can go back to our ancient playlists. Best case, we like some songs very much and become new music converts. You never know.
[I knew of Brittany Howard, Billie Eilish, Beyonce, Michael Kiwanuka, Kendrick Lamar, and Charles Lloyd (if he’s the same jazz saxophone musician from my era), and St. Vincent]
Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.
