The best songs I've heard in 2021 thus far

(By Melody Werner)

This isn't really in an ordered list, I like these songs about as much as each other.

SISYPHUS by Quadeca

It's unbelievable just how good "Sisyphus" is. It's gorgeous, with production that slightly reminds me of Ruby Ibarra and NF--but unique in its own way, and with none of the snooty "the white guy who will Save Hip Hop™" lyrical arrogance of the latter. Instead, the lyrics here are more vulnerable, and relatable. This MIGHT be my song of the year.

AMAZONIA by Gojira

"Amazonia" is giving "Sisyphus" stiff competition; an equally pitch perfect cut for entirely different reasons. The case for it starts with the impeccable boing boing riffs and is topped off by the fantastic environmentalist themes. It's Sepultura worship, but it's fuckin' good Sepultura worship.

HEART OF LIES by Striker

Killer heavy metal that bridges the gap of heaviness between classic heavy metal and thrash. Fist-pumping fun with lots'a technical skill to love.

BLACK SUNLIGHT, FEATURING KAYAN.A by Armand Hammer & The Alchemist

As you can probably tell, I like my tunes to be off the beaten path and to feel like they are something all their own. Bonus points if the musicians are pinko scum, like me. And so, it should be of no surprise that abstract hip hop duo Armand Hammer (Billy Woods & Elucid), matched with producer du jour The Alchemist (hot off the heels of last year's Alfredo with Freddie Gibbs), would be a concoction I'd gladly imbibe. What can I say? The Alchemist's jazzy lounge style production provides an outstanding diving board for the food for thought and killer flows provided by Elucid and Billy. Not to mention Kayan.a lends some soulful vocals that just tie the bow up around this track.

GRAND NEXION ABYSS by Stortregn

Death metal is one of most evil subgenres of music out there, so you gotta love a band as daring as Stortregn, showing just how wonderful it could be--though it's still rooted firmly in brutality. I never thought the best death metal album of the year would incorporate acoustic guitars.

LADYWORLD by TWRP

TWRP (pronounced "twerp") is most well-known as the backing band for the brilliantly named Ninja Sex Party, though I got into them first with the title track from this EP of theirs. If you're into the weird and the bold and the genre-bending, this lushly produced disco/kinda rock/kinda pop/kinda house bop is bound to excite. While its mantra-like chorus could come across as repetitive to some, I don't think the lyrics have to do much with production so insatiably groovy, fresh, bustling, and otherworldly as this. That said, I do actually like the lyrics here--they're fun, funny, and progressive; all in charmingly nonchalant fashion.

KINGSLAYER, FEATURING BABYMETAL by Bring Me the Horizon

I'll be honest, I always thought of Bring Me the Horizon as one of those t-shirt metalcore bands for middle schoolers who want something moderately edgy to seem cool in their fifth period typing class. You know the ones I'm talking about: Of Mice & Men. Asking Alexandria. All That Remains. Or, god forbid, even an Atilla or Emmure. ::shivers:: The kind of metalcore that isn't so much Converge as it is My Darkest Days-y cringe rock. Last year's Post Human: Survival Horror disabused me of this notion, after "MANTRA" from their "sElL-oUt" pop rock album amo turned out to be pretty decent imho when I heard it on the radio around the time it dropped. PHSH marked a return to their heavier sound, produced by the godsend Mick Gordon (of the DOOM 2016 soundtrack), and was one of those projects where I liked the teaser tracks (namely "Obey" and "Teardrops") so much that I was afraid of listening to the full EP and not liking it as much. That turned out to be a silly fear, as the EP has become one of my favorite de-stressers in hellyear 2020 (Extended Edition, 2021), because it's so goddamned cathartic and chaotic and morbid--I'll talk about it more, eventually, but one of my favorite deep-cuts after listening to the full EP is "Kingslayer". It's this hyperactive, anti-monarchist cut that's addictive as hell--mixing the sweet stylings of BABYMETAL and the visceral edge of BMTH without diluting either.

RAINBOW IN THE DARK by Khemmis

The good dudes of doom metal do justice to the late, great heavy metal icon that is James Rodney Dio with this awesome cover of the classic Dio cut. It's a super faithful rendition, albeit "meatier" instrumentally, which captures the magic of Dio for this new generation of metalheads. Hail to the king!

SPECIAL by About Bunny

Occasionally, I make the mistake of reopening Reddit, and while there, I decide to actually be nominally productive and check out some of the subreddits centered on underground art. Occasionally, I make out like a bandit in the encounter, and wind up finding a comic or book or song or album or whatever which sticks with me. About Bunny is an odd outlier in that, because they are fronted by a sort of celebrity. Jemma Mckenzie Brown hails from the world of acting, having a small role in one of them there High School Musical films. Which strangely makes her the second child actress turned rock lead that I've gotten into the music of this year. Unlike The Pretty Reckless (a comparison I would only make tangentially), About Bunny is much, much more entertained with the notion of tossing out some incredibly fun, infectious pop punk full of biting sass and immaculate production for a band this underrated.

LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN by Silk Sonic

I may have a modicum of hipster cred on the line here, but I think it's pretty clear to anyone who's being honest that Silk Sonic (a duo consisting of Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars) provided what is likely to be one of the best pop songs of the year. Magnificent production, Mars and .Paak bring out the best in each other, and it's a song that burrows itself into your mind so easily--you can sing along to it, word for word, after your second listen. This is the kind of song that 20 years from now will eat the lunch of a lot of bad 80's music that still gets radio play today because it was popular way back when. Up there with "Blinding Lights".

ART OF WAR, FEATURING DENZEL CURRY & RICO NASTY by Jasiah

Far be it for me to pretend that all good rap needs to be as contemplative as "Black Sunlight" or as personal as "Sisyphus". Sometimes, a banger's just a banger. Sometimes, you just gotta have something obscenely aggressive and cracked out and violent--and, oh boy, if "Art of War" doesn't deliver. I've never listened to Jasiah before, and have only dabbled in Denzel and Rico--I know, I know, they're all right up my alley, and I totally should listen to more--but damn! This one fucking rules, y'all. It is a bestial rager of the highest caliber, like a rabid dog that just demands another spin.

TIED TO STONE by Somnuri

Fiery, concussive, sludgy hardcore goodness. Hell to the motherfucking yes.

AS THE WORLD BURNS by Silver Talon

My experience with Silver Talon is an odd roller coaster. I really liked what I've heard of the band this one spun off of, Spellcaster, so I was really down to try them out. I also dig their logo, the cover art for Decadence and Decay is horny horror fantasy (which is weird enough to get an okay from me), and they have a song called "Kill All Kings"--now that's a message I can get behind! I was ready to dive in and find a new favorite band. Then I listened to "Kill All Kings", and I was bummed out by how boring I found the vocals. But I did adore the instrumentals, and eventually looped back around to listen to more cuts of theirs. And holy fuck, this is the band I wanted to hear when I saw "Kill All Kings"! Fucking fun as hell heavy metal with sharp, polemical lyrics; soaring hooks soaked in blissful reverb; and tasty as fuck riffs, which carry heft, but also are wonderfully technical in their performances. I am gobsmacked by how good and varied these performances are.

GOOD 4 U by Olivia Rodrigo

I really, really like this one more than I expected. I'd heard good things about Sour, and I think Olivia has loads of potential going by what I've heard of hers ("drivers license" is almost there to being an instant classic for coming of age ballads, if it didn't feel a tad diet Lorde), but I guess 1) I am very tired of bad Lorde impressions ("Kings and Queens" in particular is the bane of my existence, it's like if someone who didn't understand Lorde wanted to rip her off), and 2) I don't tend to expect music this good from minors? Like, obviously, she had plentiful help in this, but she delivers some really infectious melodies and has enough snark to make the pop punk angle fit really well. Pleasantly surprised. I'm not so into the "woah" background vocals (generally detest those even more than people doing Lorde badly), but otherwise, this is a really fun track that catches you up in a seriously great tune. It's the kinda earworm that makes you wanna sing along on the first listen.

I also didn't expect that a Disney kid was allowed to say the fuck word.

LITTLE DEER by Spellling

Listen here, idiot. You're furiously clattering away at your nonexistent keyboard, calling me a "Fantano droid" because Antknee Fanta gave the album a 10/10. 1) I routinely disagree with ol Post Melone, and 2) not liking this song is illegal. Sorry, I don't make the rules. Just because all of the rules align with my preconceived views does not mean I wrote them.

ZITTI E BUONI by Måneskin

I don't care about the Eurovision competition, but this killer hard rock cut from Italy (which won Eurovision 2021) might give me second thoughts.

ATM, FEATURING MISSY ELLIOTT by Bree Runway

Turntableism and raunchy lyrics make this banger not only one of the funnest rap songs of the year yet, but also one of the sexiest and funniest.

SECRET GARDEN by Spiritbox

I was skeptical of Spiritbox's hype when I first heard of them last year, cuz I am not all that impressed by a lot of the bands that clickbaity metal sites would make you think are the new guard of metal who are going to usher in the next era of metal. But then "Holy Roller" and "Constance" blew me the fuck away. This is a band that I can buy the hell into. For one, Courtney LaPlante is a one of a kind vocalist, they do some really impressive djenty instrumentals, and can nail both the light 'n' heavy. The first single for their debut full-length LP, Eternal Blue, is in the middle. The performances are technically outstanding, and Courtney fucking bodies the hook. It's such an earworm tune.

CASHMERE by Tkay Maidza

Tkay Maidza astounds yet again with this astonishingly pretty tune. Her delivery remains an absolute joy, and the production still fucks.

BELIEVE IN NOTHING by Nevermore

A mean interpretation of "Believe in Nothing" is that it is heavy metal for 14 year old atheists on Reddit. But I think a more honest view would be that this is a geniusly written, earwormy metal ballad that tells a clever tale.

RUN by Zeal & Ardor

"Run" is the perfect catharsis. Brutal, satisfying, with a dash of creepy. It's naturally more fun than 2020's brilliant Wake of a Nation, given that was in response to last year's spate of police cold-blooded murders of Black folks, but you can always expect some kickass riffs alongside the thought-provoking lyricism with Zeal & Ardor, so I look forward to the self-titled eagerly to get the more eye-opening side of Z&A. For now, Run just fucking rules, I can't stop listening to it. Neck and neck with "Sisyphus" and "Amazonia" (and "Little Deer", obviously).

CLOAKED IN BLACK by Wraith

Damn! This band is one to look out for, with their debut dropping later this year. Its first single, "Cloaked in Black", is infectious and absolutely rips.

LIKE I USED TO by Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen

Power pop perfection. Not much else to say before we just start gushing, so let's gush: wonderful vocals (never listened to either before, but I can see why Sharon's smoky delivery is so beloved, and why Angel's lyricism is so renowned), terrific instrumentals, and these two have unbelievable, exceptional chemistry together. It's next level lovely.

PLAY THE GREATEST HITS by Wolf Alice

This is super weird, but it's phenomenal. So varied, tuneful, and aggressive--but also oddly beautiful in a Deftones-y way. Love it.

So much incredible music this year, eh? Here's hoping that the remainder of the year can bring even more standouts.