Jester One 2021 - Top 15 Albums

  2021 Jester One Music Top 15 Albums

 

15. The Blue Stones - Hidden Gems

14. Five Iron Frenzy - Until This Shakes Apart

13. Imperative Reaction - Mirror

12. Goodnight Fear - What's Holding You Back?

11. Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight

10. NF - Clouds

9. Turnstile - Glow On

8. Daymare - Everything is Fine

7. '68 - Give One Take One

6. Spiritbox - Eternal Blue

5. Beartooth - Below 

4. AFI - Bodies

3. A Tiger Made of Lightning - It's Chaos, Be Kind

2. Teenage Wrist - Earth is a Black Hole

1. Assemblage 23 - Mourn

Also Meryl Creep's Drift EP... I couldn't figure where to place a 3 song EP amongst a list that is mostly LPs. Somewhere between 4 and 6.

I made it a point to listen to more albums this year, thinking back to my teenage years and how a good CD would get worn out from continuous replay. What I learned is that my first instinct is usually correct, and that streaming services are often very good at pinpointing similar musicians.

Something that has become very apparent to me in the last few years is that music just isn't what it used to be. But I don't look at that as a bad thing. When I was in high school, there was a dozen or so stations that played newer music around town, and then there was your friends, family, and what you saw on TV and movies. Nowadays, my goodness, I can just open up Spotify/Pandora and find bands I never would have dreamed of before.

The top 3 records this year (plus the Meryl Creep EP) are absolutely what new records I spent the most time with, by far. AFI and Beartooth got a lot of love too, but after that it was hard for me to really fall in love with new music. A lot of my favorite new songs were on mediocre/bad albums, and a lot of records I really liked didn't have standout songs to keep me locked into them. A bizarre dichotomy, but not anything new for me.

I will say that it was a really good year for newer music, far better than 2020. It was nice to be able to go out and find new favorite bands at shows, if only for a few months. I'm looking forward to more recovery next year. As for J1 Music, I have to wait until January 1st for the official stats to be registered on Last.FM, but then it will be time for the 30 Most Played and Top 25 Artists. Stay tuned!

The 2021 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #5-1

  Note - instead of doing the usual blurb and song per day, I'm just going to post a paragraph about each song, 5 per day. We've reached the final day, with the top 5 hits coming in hot.

#5. Meryl Creep - Spiraling
Album: Drift EP
Favorite line: "I can't remember how I got to this place - now I shave in the dark cause I hate looking at my face"


Maybe I haven't spent all year telling you about how much I LOVE Meryl Creep, but here's a reminder. Shoegaze vibes forever, and tremendous lyrics to boot. Also, talk about the low-budget music video of the year. 

 

#4. A Tiger Made of Lightning - Little Birds
Album: It's Chaos, Be Kind
Favorite line: "I need to take in everything and pay attention to these moments and cement them in my brain"


I literally cried the first time I heard this song. I know a local song finished at #1 last year, but this is the most beautiful local song I've heard in years.

#3. Acceptance - At the Edge of the Earth
Album: Wild, Free
Favorite line: "Suddenly, it comes to me, when we meet in the fields at the edge of the earth"

I probably listened to this song 25-30 times before I even paid much attention to the lyrics. The CHORUS on this song is so preposterous. I'd just be walking around going "WHEN WE MEET IN THE FIELDS AT THE EDGE OF THE EARTH". 

Another weird one, as I don't care for the band and didn't like the album.

#2. The Struts - Another Hit of Showmanship (ft Albert Hammond Jr)
Album: Strange Days
Favorite line: "it gets me and the night never ends, but it's getting harder to mend"


Fun album, fun song, and the addition of Albert Hammond Jr. really kicks this song up a notch. The world needs more bands like The Struts, just out there embodying the rock'n'roll attitude in the 2020s.

#1. Teenage Wrist - Taste of Gasoline
Album: Earth is a Black Hole
Favorite line: "We all still feel the same, and we live in sleep for days. We love the things we know will leave the taste of gasoline"


As if there was any doubt... if you knew me for more than 5 minutes this year, you knew the inevitability of this being the #1 song. Actually, the title track is what took off first for me, but damn if I wasn't screaming THE TASTE OF GASOLINE the entirety of the 2nd half of the year.

Another Countdown in the books... after 13 years, it figures I'd finally hit a big hiccup. We'll see how next year goes!

The 2021 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #10-6

  Note - instead of doing the usual blurb and song per day, I'm just going to post a paragraph about each song, 5 per day. 

#10. Echo Image - Walk My Mind
Album: Walk My Mind single
Favorite line: "rethinking what we could have been, a feeling that we never had a chance to finish our last dance that time"


I just don't know how you can go on a 20 year hiatus and return with a song that SLAMS SO HARD. What a song. Wow. I'm excited to see what comes next for Echo Image.

It's only hammers from here on out - 10 songs that at one point could've landed at #1.

#9. Assemblage 23 - Factory
Album: Mourn
Favorite line: "We do a great disservice to our young, and feign surprise at what one day they become. We reap a consequence we don't intend - we build a factory for broken men"


I don't think there was any doubt that there'd be an A23 song on this Countdown when this album dropped, but holy smokes I didn't realize how good this album would be. This song is an homage to my childhood, serious. Tom Shear writes songs about my life and it boggles my mind every time.

#8. Manchester Orchestra - Bed Head
Album: A Million Masks Of God
Favorite line: "Oh my god, let me extinguish the habit, the sequence, the loss, in my mind - now I believe in the ghost"

One of the best songs of the year, lyrically. The concept of writing about spirits haunting us in our daily lives is one of my favorite lyrical topics, and, cheesy music video aside, this song is almost perfection.

#7. '68 - Bad Bite
Album: Give One Take One
Favorite line: "we're just bones and teeth"


The most fun song of 2021, no doubt. What a wild and awesome video, too. Josh Scogin is the truth, and this album is phenomenal. I got a lot of weird looks quoting this song throughout the year.

#6. Gang of Youngs - the angel of 8th ave.
Album: the angel of 8th ave. single
Favorite line: "God, it was state of the art - you called each of my sorrows by name. And a tide of tender mercies - shook my body from the grave"


Lyrically, this is the best song I've heard in the last two years. I'm so mad that I had never heard of this song before our Godify series at church. So, thank you David for turning me onto this. I look forward to following this band in the future.

No's 5-1 tomorrow. Stay tuned for the finale of The Jester One Music 2021 Top 20 Countdown!

The 2021 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #15-11

 Note - instead of doing the usual blurb and song per day, I'm just going to post a paragraph about each song, 5 per day. 

#15. AFI - Begging for Trouble
Album: Bodies
Favorite line: "Don’t take tears in your dress seriously. Don’t take wounds in my chest seriously"


This is the best AFI album probably since Sing the Sorrow. All bops. I liked their last album but most bands from my high school years just don't recapture their glory 15+ years later. This album defies that and cements Davey Havok as one of my all-time favorite musicians.

#14. beabadoobee - Last Day On Earth
Album: Our Extended Play EP
Favorite line: "and if it all goes wrong, and it looks like we'll soon be gone, we should all just get along, and sing a song I wrote..."


Shoop doo doo, shoop do be dooby doo... every year there's a wacky song like this that makes it. Like Sigrid in 2019 and Superorganism in 2017, there's always a song that surprises the heck out of me. A band that I'll probably never peep again outside of the song.

#13. The Dirty Nil - Blunt Force Concussion
Album: Fuck Art
Favorite line: "gimme one half dozen blunt force concussions, crack my head in two. Just don't put me through saying I love you"


This is the best '90s song I ever heard in 2021. Also, what an atrocious album. I hate it when that happens.

#12. Romy - Lifetime
Album: Lifetime single
Favorite line: "oh, this is a high that I can't get from nobody else"


If you ever wondered what The xx would sound like if they weren't utterly dull, here you go. This was one of those songs that came out early and I thought would carry throughout the year.

#11. The Birthday Massacre - The NeverEnding Story
Album: The NeverEnding Story single
Favorite line: "Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds. And there upon a rainbow is the answer to a neverending story"

I don't even like the original version of this song, that's how great of a cover it is. You will never extinguish my love for Chibi, and TBM just make solid music album after album.

#10-6 come tomorrow - stay tuned!

The 2021 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #20-16

 Note - instead of doing the usual blurb and song per day, I'm just going to post a paragraph about each song, 5 per day. 

#20. Grabbitz - Pigs in the Sky
Album: Pigs in the Sky single
Favorite line: "What if all the songs you never thought you would sing start coming out?"

The opening bassline on this song slapped me in the face the first time I heard it, and I ended up hearing it both on my way to work and on the way home that day. It stuck with me from there on out.

#19. Royal Blood - Typhoons
Album: Typhoons
Favorite line: "All these chemicals dancing through my veins, they don't kill the cause, they just numb the pain"

I really want to like Royal Blood but gosh, they're predictable. Every song builds around similar chords, but every album has a single or two that slap hard.

#18. Daymare - Control
Album: Everything is Fine EP
Favorite line: "I won't lie, everything's fine, everything's just so fuckin' perfect"

First of many local jams on the countdown this year - I think local bands are working harder at making better music videos than regional and national acts. I've known lead singer/guitarist Dustin Rinehart for almost two decades and he just keeps making solid music.

#17. Porter Robinson - Look at the Sky
Album: Nurture
Favorite line: "Look at the sky, I'm still here. I'll be alive next year"

This video is INTENSE. I still don't know why this song stuck in my ear other than the uplifting chorus. I couldn't get into the album and I must've skipped this song a dozen times when it came up in playlists. It's very much a mood song, but it makes for very good moods.

#16. PEABOD - Love Everybody (ft Tedashii)
Album: Growing Up Pt 1
Favorite line: "Scribble 'big grin winner' on my name tag, faking out the negativity with zigzags"

PEABOD is probably my favorite thing that I discovered last year. What a fun artist. His videos are fun, his music is enjoyable and the content is relatable. 

 

 

#15-11 tomorrow - stay tuned!

Top 20 Change-up / Stay tuned!

2021 has thrown me a pretty big curveball, and I have been unable to write or post anything for the Countdown. Starting tomorrow I'll be doing a revised version of the usual effort. The Top Artist and Song posts are still going to happen, I just never found the energy to get everything running correctly for the big show. Thank you for your patience!