Spotify: 2021 BANGERS playlist
36 albums
Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
I did not expect to be listening to rock music in 2021, nor to Halsey ever - this grandiose, high-concept blast of anger blindsided me. I was never actually into Nine Inch Nails as a teenager (once you’re a Tori Amos stan that takes up all of one’s reserves of intensity), I’m kind of retroactively discovering them through the production on this
Loski - Censored
Dawn Richard - Second Line: An Electro Revival
Adia Victoria - A Southern Gothic
Eris Drew - Quivering In Time
Tinashe - 333
Busta 929 - Undisputed
DJ Black Low - Uwami
Greentea Peng - Man Made
Erykah Badu is a fairly obvious comparison point but what links them more than the incense-heavy neo-soul vibe is the playfulness and the element of surprise - ‘Be Careful’, for instance, feels like the unexpected answer to the question of “what if Erykah had covered 50 Cent back in the day”
Megan Thee Stallion - Something For Thee Hotties
figures that a data dump of freestyles goes harder than Megan’s actual debut album, which I really liked
Koreless - Agor
the best bits of this are basically Holly Herndon vocal cut-up craziness + Barker’s weightless techno + massive trance riffs all at the same time
Mr JazziQ - Party With The English
Tresor - Motion
Sun-El Musician - African Electronic Dance Music
Intence - Public Enemy No.1
Alicai Harley - The Red Room Intro (Yard Gyal Inna Britain)
Bia - For Certain
Tommy Genesis - Goldilocks X
me, a sucker for deadpan, detached club vocals since Miss Kittin
Jazmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales
Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés - Clamor
QOQEQA - Axuxa
BackRoad Gee - Reporting Live (From The Back Of The Roads)
Natalie Hemby - Pins And Needles
Theon Cross - Intra-I
Myke Towers - Lyke Mike
LD - Who's Watching
Katy B - Peace And Offerings
really happy for Katy B that she’s fulfilled her destiny as a maudlin Teedra Moses
Sevyn Streeter - Drunken Wordz Sober Thoughtz
Unknown T - Adolescence
Kacey Musgraves - Star-Crossed
I don’t think this got a great reception but it’s honestly the first Kacey Musgraves album I’ve unreservedly enjoyed since her debut, I felt that her crossover was at least partly predicated on a certain liberal-values-plus-weed brand and led to her rehashing the same songs, the divorce narrative on this pulled her neatly out of that rut
Aly & AJ - A Touch Of The Beat Gets You Up On Your Feet Gets You Out And Then Into The Sun
Ashley Monroe - Rosegold
Carly Pearce - 29: Written In Stone
Tomu DJ - Feminista
Fredo - Independence Day
Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
12 mixes and compilations
v/a - Amapiano Now
amapiano was pretty much my default listening throughout 2021, a genre with a seemingly endless amount of bangers that ranged from gorgeous soulful vibes to super-raw rhythmic wildness and so many mid-track ‘whoa’ moments. this NTS comp focuses on the clubbier side, the Busta 929, DJ Black Low and Mr JazziQ albums above are more vocal-led and go very hard, the Sun-El Musician and Tresor albums are more meditative
v/a - Tresor 30
Anz - Spring/Summer Dubs 2021
Caltonic SA - RA.802
Kampire - No Visa Mix 008 (Immaculate Taste)
Midland - HNYPOT 400
Juliana Huxtable - RA.803
Ciel - Junction 2 Mix Series 018
Josey Rebelle - TTT Mixtape
Jubilee - Text Me When You Get Here (Mixtape Club)
Max Watts - ESP.MX003
Ma Sha Ru, Ayesha & Despina - Kindergarten (The Lot Radio)
43+ singles
Baby Queen - Raw Thoughts
Nao x Adekunle Gold - Antidote
this came out in January and for about five months I knew it was just biding its time til the summer
Joeboy - Oh
Lil Nas X - Montero (Call Me By Your Name) / Industry Baby
I suspect this has been said a million times by now but my god, having an out, fully sexual gay pop star like Lil Nas X, especially with his supreme troll energy, would have actually been life-changing for me as a teenager
Abra x Playboi Carti - Unlock It
simultaneously taking ‘One Minute Man’ (2001) and ‘Truffle Butter’ (2014) and making them both fresher than ever
Intence - Winning Streak / Light Up
Alewya - The Code / Play / Spirit_X
not being a music journalist any more I’m still not sure who Alewya is or where she fits into things, but I love to see a singer emerge with such a fully-formed aesthetic and so committed to her own precise thing
Loski - Woosh And Push / Rolling Dice
Mahalia - Jealous / Whenever You're Ready / Roadside
something about this triple-killer sequence of singles reminds me of peak Jamelia, which I mean as a very high compliment
Rytikal - Galaxy Brain / Cookie Jar
Maureen - Tic
Spice x Shaggy x Sean Paul - Go Down Deh
STAY DOWN DEH GYAL STAY DOWN DEH
Busy Signal - Bring Rum
Sean Paul x Busy Signal - Boom
Rema - Bounce
Skeng x Intence - Heaven Passport
Ajji - That's Me
Stylo G - Oh Lawd
Moses Boyd x Katy B - 2 Far Gone
Bia - Whole Lotta Money / Same Hands
“I put on my jewellery just to go to the bodega” has looped in my head fairly constantly this year but “crushing up these drugs with the same hands that I fix to pray with” smashes it as a first line
Enny x Odeal - Bernie Mac
Elle King & Miranda Lambert - Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)
Taylor Swift - All Too Well (Taylor's 10 Minute Version)
Mariah Carey - We Belong Together (Mimi's Late Night Valentine's Mix)
we were truly blessed this year with these two extended versions! we’ve known that a 10-minute ‘All Too Well’ was the actual original but I’m curious as to how much of this version was part of it and how much was retconned - was Taylor Swift really writing “fuck the patriarchy” in 2012? maybe she was tbh. the triumph, anyway, is that this has seamlessly replaced the 2012 ‘All Too Well’ for me - this is the one I reach for now, all of the new bits hit hard. I especially appreciate the clunkiness of the “I was never good at telling jokes” line, how the song’s scansion and rhyming are briefly jarred, which is its own meta commentary about being bad at telling jokes but the gag is that the punchline doesn’t need to be told elegantly to be a knockout blow.
if Taylor was extending her back catalogue out of a sense of unfinished business, Mimi was just doing it for the pure indulgence of the thing <3
Fredo x Headie One - Wandsworth To Bullingdon
Dave x Stormzy - Clash
THIS THAT JEREMY CORBYN ONE <3
Shygirl x Slowthai - BDE
King Princess - Pain (Avalon Emerson remixes)
Karol G x Anuel AA x J Balvin - Location
Billie Eilish - Oxytocin / NDA
I think I’m a pretty basic Billie Eilish listener in that I start by listening to her whole albums and then find myself only listening to the bangers with weird beats. what a weird beat ‘Oxytocin’ is though
Konshens - Boom Bang / Pay For It
Skillibeng - Motorcade / Not
Mina & Bryte - Cool Cool / See Something
Chloe - Have Mercy
Ninajirachi x Kota Banks - Nice Girls Finish Last
Pa Salieu x Obongjayar - Style & Fashion
Ivorian Doll - Clout
like I said I’m not a music journalist any more but I really fucking hope there are some working on the Ivorian Doll story. beyond the “rich kids in underground scenes” debate, there were so many warning signs specific to Oli Ashley, son of Mike Ashley, over the years; it’s sickening that it’s led to a place where his family money gained off the back of Sports Direct’s exploitation of workers is now being used to essentially hold one of the most promising British female rappers hostage and prevent her from releasing new music or having a career
Abra Cadabra x Unknown T - Double Tap
Miss Lafamilia x Abra Cadabra - Dumb Flex
Blanco x NSG - Surveillance
Charlie Sloth x Country Dons x Suspect OTB - Pull Up
CKay x Joeboy x Kuami Eugene - Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)
MØ - Live To Survive
43+ dance tracks
Anz - Unravel In The Designated Zone
could honestly listen to that synth melody forever
Tyler ICU x Nicole Elocin x x Kabza De Small - Bella Ciao
not actually from 2021 but “an amapiano Bella Ciao” is one of those concepts that is in fact eternal
Busta 929 x Boohle - Ngixolele
MaWhoo x DJ Obza x Bongo Beats - Mswapheni
Röyksopp x Robyn - Monument (Olof Dreijer Remix)
Karen Nyame KG - Nzinga / Koko
Yazzus - Sleazy / Generation X
Sophia Saze - Curtains
Blawan - Under Belly
me, a sucker for club tracks that sound like demented fairgrounds
Ross From Friends - Burner
Mr JazziQ x Khanyisa - Ungangi Bambi
Vigro Deep - I Am Vigro Deep
Bored Lord - Everyday Together
Octo Octa - Goddess Calling / Find Your Own Way Home
Peach - Buttercup
Quantic - Heaven Or Hell
Ploy - Rayhana
Blck Mamba x Rouge - What U Gonna Do
Serjo - Love Delivery
Juan Atkins - I Love You
the above two should be listened to back-to-back when one is extremely loved up
Willow - Squirrel City
Niniola x Lady Du - I Did It (Bum Bum)
DJ Lag x Lady Du - Lucifer
DJ Manzo Sa x Tumisho - Squid Game
Khanyisa - Bheka Mina Ngedwa
King Jazz - Lockdown
Sofia Kourtesis - La Perla / By Your Side
Scorpion Warrior x Ether Arkon - Silence
it was tremendously exciting this year to discover that occult industrial techno is a thing
Tapestry Of Sound - Maypole Theme / Wasp Of A Woman
TSHA - Power (Floorplan Remix)
UNIIQU3 - Microdosing
LSDXOXO - Sick Bitch / The Devil
Tony G - Pianoman / Good Will Hunting
Y U QT - U Belong 2 Me (Piano House Mix)
Lauren Flax - You Can Take The Bitch Out Of Detroit
Anthony Naples - Club Pez
Yu Su - Xiu
DJ Q - It's You (Octo Octa's Slammin' With U Mix)
Parris x Eden Samara - Skater's World
Pau Roca - Euphoria
Loft - Wish It Would Rain
Barry Can't Swim x Hawi - Some Day I Will (LF System Remix)
Glor1a - Cracked Out Dreams (Yazzus Remix)