Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown (2021) :: A Holiday At The Sea (MEGA) Playlist

The next time you’ve got nearly 5 hours to kill, I’ve got the mix for you! These are not necessarily my “favorite songs of 2021.” Instead, these are choice cuts; one representative track from each of my favorite 50 albums of the year. Regardless of length.

Get ready for a ride.

Tracklist:

1. Pray for Peace by Ustad Saami from East Pakistan Sky

2. Recessinater by Birds of Maya from Valdez

3. The People vs. the Rest of Us by Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble from NOW

4. Bell Song by 75 Dollar Bill featuring Barry Weisblat from Social Music at Troost Vol. 1

5. Ya Rossoul by Khaira Arby from Khaira Arby In New York (Live In 2010)

6. Movement by Bell Orchestre from House Music

7. Broken Mirror (A Selfie Reflection)/Composition 9 by Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley from Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection

8. Riddim Rek Sa Niouy Mom by Wau Wau Collectif from Yaral Sa Doom

9. All That They Left You by Six Organs of Admittance from The Veiled Sea

10. Days Like These by Low from Hey What

11. VBS by Lucy Dacus from Home Video

12. Brothers by Phil Cook from All These Years

13. Dark In Here by the Mountain Goats from Dark In Here

14. Djougoh by Nahawa Doumbia from Kanawa

15. The Call by Madlib from Sound Ancestors

16. Beat Up Born Where I Come From by Ghost of Vroom from Ghost of Vroom 1

17. Dovetail by Girls in Airports from Leap

18. descension (Out of Our Constrictions) III by Natural Information Society and Evan Parker from descension (Out of Our Constrictions)

19. Beowulf’s Trip by Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders from Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders

20. World is Turning by Rose City Band from Earth Trip

21. Disposable Thumbs by Endless Boogie from Admonitions

22. Staggering With a Lantern by Mountain Movers from World What World

23. Albuquerque by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis from CARNAGE

24. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor from G_d's Pee At States End!

25. Juvenescence by Yasmin Williams from Urban Driftwood

26. Invisible Map by Derek Piotr from Making and Then Unmaking

27. You Can Regret What You Have Done by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy from Superwolves

28. This Old World by Billy Strings from Renewal

29. Kelp Highway by Drew Gardner from Drew Gardner

30. Jnoun ! by Bachar Mar-Khalifé from Ghost Songs

31. In Remembrance Of Those Fallen by Sons of Kemet from Black To The Future

32. Bertha The Cool by Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog from Hope

33. Give Me Back My Loving by Leo Nocentelli from Another Side

34. Don’t Let The Tears by Howlin’ Rain from The Dharma Wheel

35. Tree of Tule by Daniel Lanois from Heavy Sun

36. Way To Cairo by Native Soul from Teenage Dreams

37. Ethiopian Sunshower by Adrian Younge And Ali Shaheed Muhammad from Brian Jackson JID008

38. Zengadyw Derekou by Hailu Mergia from Tezeta

39. Ya Habibti by Mdou Moctar from Afrique Victime

40. Tropicale Moon by Mouth Painter from Tropicale Moon

41. Natural Facts by Wet Tuna from Eu’d To A Fake Boogie Volume 4

42. Shrinks the Day by Ryley Walker and Kikagaku Moyo from Deep Fried Grandeur

43. Musungu Elongo Paints His Face White to Scare Small Children by Kasai Allstars from Black Ants Always Fly Together, One Bangle Makes No Sound

44. Trap Life by Sault from Nine

45. Désert by Dobe Gnahoré from Couleur

46. Part 1 by Elkhorn from The Golden Lag

47. If It Comes In The Morning by Hiss Golden Messenger from Quietly Blowing It

48. Morning River by Steve Gunn from Other You

49. Shiva With Dustpan by Ryley Walker from Course In Fable

50. Cortez the Killer (live) by Neil Young and Crazy Horse from Way Down In The Rust Bucket

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• Browse my favorite albums of the year

• Browse my “2021 Yearly Wrap-it-Up” which is really a ramble about seeing Phish

• Browse my favorite books of 2021

• Browse my favorite movies of 2021

• Browse my favorite television of 2021

• Listen to a nearly 5-hour very low quality mix of one song from each of my favorite albums of 2021 called “Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown”

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2021 Year In Review :: Favorite Albums

Here’s the dealio, my coolios.

Each year, I keep a running diary of sorts of all of the things I liked each year. If you’re interested (which I doubt you are), you can follow along with my real-time unedited yearly bookkeeping here.

At the end of each year I try to cull down the music section to what really defined my year musically. No ranking. Just great music. Here are 50 of my favorite 2021 albums in alphabetical order.

Albums In Visual Alphabetical Order:

Albums In Alphabetical Alphabetical Order:

1. Social Music at Troost Vol.1 by 75 Dollar Bill

2. Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders by Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders // Elixor of Life by Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders

3. Khaira Arby in New York (Live in 2010) by Khaira Arby

4. House Music by Bell Orchestre

5. Valdez by Birds of Maya

6. Carnage by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

7. All These Years by Phil Cook

8. Home Video by Lucy Dacus

9. Kanawa by Nahawa Doumbia

10. The Golden Lag by Elkhorn

11. Admonitions by Endless Boogie

12. Drew Gardner by Drew Gardner

13. Ghost of Vroom 1 by Ghost of Vroom

14. Leap by Girls in Airports

15. Couleur by Dobet Gnahoré

16. G_d's Pee At States End! by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

17. Other You by Steve Gunn

18. Quietly Blowing It by Hiss Golden Messenger

19. The Dharma Wheel by Howlin’ Rain

20. Brian Jackson JID008 by Brian Jackson, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge

21. Black Ants Always Fly Together, One Bangle Makes No Sound by Kasai Allstars

22. Heavy Sun by Daniel Lanois

23. Now by Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble

24. Hey What by Low

25. Sound Ancestors by Madlib

26. Hope by Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog

27. Ghost Songs by Bachar Mar-Khalifé

28. Tezeta by Hailu Mergia

29. Afrique Victime by Mdou Moctar

30. Dark In Here by the Mountain Goats

31. World What World by Mountain Movers

32. Tropicale Moon by Mouth Painter

33. Teenage Dreams by Native Soul

34. descension (Out of Our Constrictions) by Natural Information Society/Evan Parker

35. Another Side by Leo Nocentelli (1971)

36. Making and Then Unmaking by Derek Piotr

37. Earth Trip by Rose City Band

38. East Pakistan Sky by Ustad Saami

39. Nine by Sault

40. The Veiled Sea by Six Organs of Admittance

41. Black to the Future by Sons of Kemet

42. Renewal by Billy Strings

43. Superwolves by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy

44. Deep Fried Grandeur by Ryley Walker And Kikagaku Moyo

45. Course In Fable by Ryley Walker

46. Yaral Sa Doom by Wau Wau Collectif

47. Eau’d To A Fake Boogie Volume 4 by Wet Tuna

48. Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection by Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley

49. Urban Driftwood by Yasmin Williams

50. Way Down in the Rust Bucket by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

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• Browse my favorite albums of the year

• Browse my “2021 Yearly Wrap-it-Up” which is really a ramble about seeing Phish

• Browse my favorite books of 2021

• Browse my favorite movies of 2021

• Browse my favorite television of 2021

• Listen to a nearly 5-hour very low quality mix of one song from each of my favorite albums of 2021 called “Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown”

---

Phil Cook and Oliver Wood Cover John Prine In Quarantine

The other day Phil Cook posted to his Instagram page:

“That’s The Way The World Goes Round by John Prine

I got a text from Oliver Wood over a year ago wanting to get together and spend a day with him in Nashville writing music. I was nervous and excited as Oliver was one of my favorite songwriters and singers around. We hit it off famously and have gotten together more since then. We were supposed to spend a week together in April but those plans got shut down by the pandemic. So we found something else to work on together. Today we lovingly and humbly dedicate our version of John Prine’s “That’s The Way The World Goes Round” to Fiona , Jody, Tommy and Jack. Long Live John Prine!”

Oliver Wood commented:

Excited about collaborating with my musical soulmate Phil Cook He took my plain rendition of a John Prine classic and made it a party. Here’s to many more parties and collaborations Phil! And Much love to the Prine family.

Enjoy (and, sorry, I don’t know why that huge “comments” section is there).

• Visit Phil Cook’s official website.

• Follow Phil Cook at Facebook.

• Follow Phil Cook at Twitter.

• Support Phil Cook at Bandcamp.

• Purchase Phil Cook’s music at Amazon.

• Listen to “Another Mother’s Son” by Phil Cook in the Musical Worldview Project (finding wisdom in lyrics).

• Visit The Wood Brothers’ official website

• Follow The Wood Brothers at Facebook

• Follow The Wood Brothers at Twitter

• Support The Wood Brothers at Bandcamp

• Purchase The Wood Brothers’ music at Amazon

Hiss Golden Messenger Defend Public Schools

North Carolina’s Hiss Golden Messenger is one of my favorite current live acts going. And not just because lead-man M.C. Taylor’s wife is a public school teacher like my own. But that certainly helps.

Hiss Golden Messenger has fought to remain a voice of light in the growing darkness. To see how they have been this for me, just browse some of the posts marked “Hiss Golden Messenger” here at Holiday at the Sea. Taylor’s honest approach to fighting for hope is something that resonates with me the way few current artists have.

The band’s new project, Forward, Children: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students, sees the release of a live recording from one of the band’s home-town concerts on 01/11/20 of this very year; just before the Quarantine hit. Taylor says of the release on the band’s Facebook page:

Good morning! Today, we put out into the world ‘Forward, Children: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students.’ This is a fully multi-tracked, mixed and mastered 15-song live Hiss album from our performance at the Cat's Cradle—one of our most venerable hometown venues in the North Carolina Triangle—on January 11th, 2020. It is available for download on Bandcamp now and will hit all streaming services on April 3rd. ALL proceeds—every penny—from this record benefit students in the Durham Public Schools system that are currently struggling with food insecurity in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. At a time when anxiety seems to be our default emotion, I realize that this is a big ask, but I implore you to donate as much as you can to help feed our kids that depend on public school in order to eat. And while listening on the streaming services is the way that many of us interact with music these days, purchasing this album on Bandcamp puts far more food on the table. Dig deep, please. There are so many people to thank in the making of this album—so many that I could easily take up the rest of this section naming them all. Special love, however, goes to the Hiss band: Phil Cook, Chris Boerner, Alex Bingham and Al Smith, and our engineer Luc Suèr, who recorded and mixed this show. When I hear a performance like this in light of where we all are now, it’s amazing what stands out to my ear: Community. Gathered joy. Spirit, and a little bit of sorrow. What a Saturday night feels like in our little shared corner of the universe. May we find those times again soon. Changed, perhaps, for the better. Thank you all for listening.

Stream the album here:

Purchase the album (and help Durham public schools) here.

• Visit Hiss Golden Messenger’s official website.

• Purchase the album (and help Durham public schools) here.

• Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Facebook.

• Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Twitter.

• Support Hiss Golden Messenger at Bandcamp.

• Purchase Hiss Golden Messenger’s music at Amazon.

Hope Is A Mood More Than A Color (A Holiday At The Sea Playlist)

I was going through some old files on my computer the other day and I came across the art for a mix called “Hope Is A Mood More Than A Color”. I don’t remember making this mix but I do remember listening to it in the car.

I have racked my brain trying to remember the circumstances of putting together this mix and I can’t. Oh well, because the title and mood of the mix certainly seemed like they would be appropriate for the current coronavirus social distancing experiment. So, no matter where you currently find yourself on the social distancing scale, enjoy some music:

Tracklisting:

• “Distress Signal” by Jeremy Casella

• “Guess I’m Doing Fine” by Beck

• “Don’t Be Sad” by Whiskeytown

• “Fires” by David Ramirez

• “Day O Day (Love So Free)” by Hiss Golden Messenger

• Shelter From The Storm by Bob Dylan

• “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones

• “Everything (Overture")” by Chris Bathgate

• “Hope” by Dirty Three

• “Old Man’s Town” by the Hollands!

• “Keep Your Head Up” by Ben Howard

• “Headache” by Seryn

• “Letting Go And Holding On” by Shawn Skinner and the Men of Reason

• “Western States” by Matt Haeck

• “Good Good End” by Waterdeep

• Browse all the Holiday at the Sea playlists.

Hear 3 Songs from Hiss Golden Messenger's Upcoming album "Terms of Surrender"

North Carolina’s Hiss Golden Messenger is one of my favorite current acts. M.C. Taylor writes of love, loss, longing and anger. Things aren’t the way they should be and there’s something deep in each of us that knows it. But there is power in love. Of course there is darkness in the world, but it never drowns out the Light. This is the protest music we need. There is power in community. Hiss Golden Messenger waves this flag with what you might call “Southern (By way of Topenga Canyon) Folk Roots Americana With A Possibility of Jamband”(™).

Hiss Golde Messenger’s newest album “Terms of Surrender” is due out September 20 on Merge Records. But we are lucky enough to be able to preview three songs from the album now.

Watch the official video for “I Need A Teacher"

Preview the track “Cat's Eye Blue”

Preview the track “Happy Birthday, Baby”

• Visit Hiss Golden Messenger’s official website.

• Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Facebook.

• Follow Hiss Golden Messenger at Twitter.

• Support Hiss Golden Messenger at Bandcamp.

• Purchase Hiss Golden Messenger’s music at Amazon.