Top 12 — The Best Songs of 2021
Like I was saying, we need a little joy in our lives these days. And here are the songs released so far in 2021 (or remastered and rereleased in the last two-and-half months) that make me the happiest. They range from contemporary blues-rock, to African-Amsterdam dance music, to 1980s-style synth rock, to Malian guitar pyrotechnics, to urban cowgirl music.
I’ve been turning to music to raise me up ever since I was a teenager in the 1960s. Back then it was the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Who, Byrds, Arthur Lee and Love, Jefferson Airplane, Doors, Otis Redding, Donovan, Canned Heat, Traffic, Mama and Papas, Aretha, Van Morrison, all of Motown and especially Stevie Wonder (and so many more) who took me to higher ground. Today, I grab whatever sparkling gems that catch my eye. Music no longer has a revolutionary force to change the world, but it can still change my mood, can still transfix me for hours with my headphones on — like I’m still that teenager in his bedroom catching signals from the great beyond and still believing they can alter my existence, if not the rest of humanity.
Knock me your ‘lobes on these tunes… and suggest some new songs that are high on your playlist…
Maximo Park
Maximo Park, “All of Me”
Anansy Cisse, “Foussa Foussa”
Ratboys
Ratboys, “Go Outside”
Olivia Ellen Lloyd, “Excuse Yourself”
The Bones of JR Jones, “Stay Wild”
Stella Chiweshe, “Njuzu”
Wau Wau Collectif
Wau Wau Collectif, “Salameleikoum”
Peia
Satori, featuring Peia, “Mori Shej”
William the Conqueror, “Alive at Last”
Painted Shrines, “Heaven and Holy”
Nahawa Doumbia