More fantastic tracks...
61. Stop This Flame (Celeste):
from the opening piano chops a hit was clear but it truly manifests once Celest opens her voice.
62. Devilish (Jean Dawson):
the devil seed indeed.
63. Shoot Your Shot (Oddisee):
effortless rapping. That’s the comment.
64. Diamonds (Megan Thee Stallion & Normani):
revisits the classic Marilyn Monroe motif with great current effect.
65. Ooh La La (Jessie Ware):
while you’re busy—and fittingly so—bopping to the track, Ware is filling us up with some pretty smutty 69.
66. Need Your Love (Tennis):
singing plainly about love…it’s what Tennis does best.
67. Isabella (Hamilton Leithauser):
pining for the girl who is pining for something else.
68. My Own Version Of You (Bob Dylan):
of all the things I'd imagine of Dylan, I'd never thought Frankenstein recreating the perfect human from various body parts. There's life in the old genius yet.
69. Kyoto (Phoebe Bridgers):
the song centers Bridgers’ writing and poetry of course, but is also a heartwarming project of her and her friends. As always with Bridgers’ music, wry arms-length humor and heart-wrenching vulnerability swirl together intermingled. The music video for “Kyoto” is almost entirely a silly, tongue-in-cheek green screen romp, save for two moments. The one repeated line of the song “I changed my mind” features in the music video as the anti-comedic relief—a time-lapse of a blossoming flower in the first instance and a genuinely beautiful montage of cityscapes at the end signal this line as the heart of the song. These moments ground us in the deeply personal story rooted under such a pretty track, a story of regret and commitment, attachment and dissociation—fine themes indeed for such a bizarre shitty year. (TREBLE)
70. Relay (Fiona Apple):
Apple turns her fire within, a kind of inner monologue assess white privilege.
71. My Agenda Online (Clarence Clarity):
his bedroom nu-pop keeps on shining.
72. Cutie Pie(JPEGMafia):
opens with a lo-fi percussion beat that sounds like it’s being recorded to an iPhone and a slinky bass beat. Combined, the rhythm section is a throwback to ’90s hip-hop — and JPEGMAFIA keeps that mood going by spitting nonstop verses in a monotone delivery. Unsurprisingly, it’s yet another great standalone track by one of rap’s most exciting artists. (COS)
73. Neon Skyline (Andy Shauf):
the title track from his new LP and it sounds like he's been listening to a lot of Paul Simon. Bless him.
74. Morrow (070 Shake):
gets your feet moving and then some.
75. I Only Drink When I’m Drunk (BC Camplight):
shouldn’t work as well as it does but somehow he pulls it off
76. OHMNI W202091 (M.I.A.):
still the master of the pastiche sound she clearly loves.
77. Cop Car (Mitski):
why is it that Mitski is better able to induce madness on this track than the film it's inspired around (The Turning)?
78. Stop Dem (Sault):
sounds like a creepy kid protest song.
79. Why Worry (Isaiah Rashad):
the release may not be the beginning of an album rollout in earnest, but it does remind us that he’s still working. Right out of the gate he provides a reason for the delays and describes what he’s been doing in the meantime: “Too busy livin’ big/Too busy checkin’ off my list of shit I never did/Drop top on all my whips,” he raps. In keeping with the title, the song is about reveling in the spoils of his rap career, staying sane and sober, and managing the petty nuisances of rap celebrity, which include expectations, hangers-on, and fair-weather fans. (PITCHFORK)
80. Rogue Wave (Aesop Rock):
at this point, he's pulling these verses by sheer will now.
