I’m going back in time and creating video playlists in homage to Matt Pinfield’s iconic 120 Minutes. 2021 proved to be a tough year to hold to my “only official music video” goal. Even so, this list has twenty-eight great videos that capture the spirit of our 31 Songs list from that year.
Several artists – like Litty Kitty, Sault, and Bloodwitch – didn’t have anything at all: no official music videos, no live performances, no nothing. Many others – Marianne Faithfull, Cowboy Junkies, Brendan Fraser – had some recent-ish archival stuff that kinda captures current work. Even new artists like Nation of Language had slim pickings from 2021. In the end about half of the chosen videos match our 2021 Songs list, with a nice mix of live, studio, and proper music videos. With the pandemic at peak through most of 2021, that’s good enough for me.
Like our music playlist, I’d be remiss for not including a bonus track. This honor goes to Robbie Folks who gave fans hours of free in-home concerts from his very own living room. His broadcasts made the absence of live music much less painful. The selected hour-long piece is too long to attach to the 120 Minutes list so I’ve added it, separately, at the bottom of this post – scroll down to see it!
Enjoy!
120 Minutes of 31 Songs from 2021
Track by track, with artist
- Stand For Myself
YOLA - RWLYD
MONOWHALES - Plastic Wrap
JOY DOWNER - No Gods No Masters
GARBAGE - Worry With You
SLEATER-KINNEY - God Bless the Mechanic
JUDITH HILL - find my way home (Live)
MISTERWIVES - SHOW ME THE WAY (feat. Zadie Smith)
JON BATISTE - Song to the siren (KEXP Live)
BRENDAN PERRY - Noyalain (Burn)
LISA GERRARD & JULES MAXWELL - Lungs (Live)
COWBOY JUNKIES - Like Breaking Glass
CUT COPY - Pretty Places
ALY & AJ - Broken Horses (SNL)
BRANDI CARLILE
- Some Kind of Drug
LILLY HIATT - Assassins of Youth (Live in the Bubble)
THE FLAMING LIPS - Down
CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH - The Last Place I Saw You Alive (Durham Sessions)
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS - The Gypsy Faerie Queen
MARIANNE FAITHFULL w/ WARREN ELLIS - The Worst In Us
THE DEARS - The Adults Are Talking
THE STROKES - Every Part of Me
THEO CROKER feat ARI LENNOX - This Fractured Mind
NATION OF LANGUAGE - 3 2 4 3
OHMME - Don’t Do It (Live)
SHARON VAN ETTEN - Things We Do for Love (Live)
THE SOUNDS - Pay Your Way In Pain
ST. VINCENT - In a Spiral (Lyric Video)
PHANTOGRAM
