31 songs from 2021: mask up

Every year brings old and new faces alike, even if they all arrive masked. We’re starting to see artists adapt to the reality of a post-pandemic world where performance, recording, and fandom have all taken some strange turns. Music abides, though, and artists persevere despite significant obstacles.

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31 songs from 2017: heavy losses

2016 was no easy year and to say 2017 is somehow better would really miss the mark. So many musicians lost across so many ages and all lost too soon: Grandaddy, Steely Dan, Husker Du, Smithereens, Tom Petty, Glen Campbell. These are the musicians of my youth, my adulthood, and my life. With their passing come new artists rising to comfort a saddened world and recharge a weary soul.

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Hello, William Onyeabor

David Byrne turned me onto this stunning psychedelia compilation from West Africa. He was moved to eulogize the passing of his friend, William Onyeabor, an amazing talent I am only now discovering. I am pretty dumbstruck by how amazing this is and I hope you are, too.

31 songs from 2016: ashes to ashes

2016, musically, will forever be my worst. Music from the 31 list covers some tremendous acts, new and familiar. But I lost David Bowie; we all did. Not only was he my musical touchstone, spanning an entire adult life, he inspired me to listen to new artists and genres. He made it glorious to be weird and inspired unrepentant self-expression. Bowie’s influence went far beyond music yet remained anchored to the epochs defined by his albums: Ziggy, the thin white duke, a harlequin. With his passing it feels like time, itself, has been set adrift.

We have no real choice but to live. And to live means celebrating the things that make us alive. Bowie always embraced new sounds and new visions. I will honor his memory with each new song and share them with you.

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31 songs from 2014: nearly all Nerina

Nerina Pallot played a large part of my 2014 world: she, and her fans, were the subjects of my under-development documentary on what makes music personal. Nerina, herself, undertook an amazing feat: releasing an EP a month for the entire year (see supplemental playlist). With so much music from her the 31 list could easily have been swamped. But it was not.

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31 songs from 2013: perfect day

2013 was a pretty normal year. We reviewed around ninety albums, distilling the following 31 list.

What wasn’t normal was the passing of Lou Reed. I was a latecomer to Reed’s brilliance, later learning how deep his influence truly was. Today I wonder what it would have been like to visit Warhol’s Factory and watched the Velvet Underground. Or to have been at the table when Reed, Bowie, and Iggy Pop would hold court. Even a simple coffee with he and wife Laurie Anderson would have been unbelievably amazing. Not that any of that would have happened, and I’m grateful for his music from which I have been given so much.

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