Thousands of separate strands of fishing line

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Albums of 2021

#14 : Montero - Lil Nas X

One of the most proudly queer pop records ever released, where sex isn’t veiled in metaphor but detailed right down to where the ejaculate lands. Lil Nas X writes wittily about lust and witheringly about his rivals, but there are also frank admissions of loneliness and doubt as he navigates his way into the lasting fame that is assured by his stunningly good top line melodies.

I'm not a massive fan of Lil Nas - I appreciate he's breaking new ground and I admire the man's style, but I just don't particularly like what he does.  So I didn't have great expectations for this - and it possibly exceeded them in places, but not massively so.  He has attitude and style in spades (and I speak as someone who knows all about such things!) and it's amusingly rude in places, but it just doesn't push my buttons.  I have a slight suspicion that he wasn't really aiming for me as his core audience though and I'm certain he can get over me not loving him.  But if you like "Old Town Road", I can't see any reason why you won't like this album.  That's quite some album cover though, isn't it?

Wikipedia has less on it than I was expecting - but still a fair amount (182 milliPeppers).  Basically, critics and non-critics loved it - but - only #2 in the UK and the US.  Double favourite positions for me, kept off the top by Drake in both countries - and sadly whatever I said about the album above, I can assure you I'll prefer it to Drake's offering.  I REALLY don't see the appeal there.

"Customer's also listened to" Doja Kat, Olivia Rodrigo and Bieber - yes, I've heard of them all but can't say I'm overly aware of any of their output.  Oh, and Dua Lipa - which is a very fine album indeed.  But considering Lil Nas X, I've a lot of time for the man and think that he's impacted the music scene enormously - but it's just not for me, I'm afraid.

#13 : Jubilee - Japanese Breakfast

Michelle Zauner weaves beguilingly strange fantasies of how fulfilment might look throughout her third album as Japanese Breakfast. The rapturous Paprika considers how it would feel to “stand at the height of your powers” as an artist, but other songs about desire – for other people, and for life – explore agency and submission in striking shades of grey. The musical roles on Jubilee are just as mutable, shapeshifting convincingly from New Order-era pop to the brassy filigrees of early 2010s indie, and the arrangements give Zauner space to wonder.

No idea about artist or album - and the above didn't really help now, did it?  But I really liked this - quirky female vocals over some jaunty backing tracks.  And I really like "Paprika" as well - it is indeed a rapturous track.  I was reminded of the slightly obsure Camera Obscura, with a slightly poppier edge - which is a strong mix, and no mistake.

Wikipedia doesn't have loads on the album - basically saying that it's very different from her previous efforts, being joyful whereas the earlier ones drew more on the death of her mother, which wasn't quite such a joyful experience.  And yes, this is a joyful album but I'd have to say I'm intrigued to check out her previous offerings as well.  It didn't exactly set the charts alight though - #53 in the UK and #56 in the US, which I'd have to qualify as saying is better than I'd manage, but it feels like it deserved better so maybe it's a bit too quirky for the masses.  It was nominated for a Grammy though - so well done, Ms Breakfast!

"Customers also listened to" - yay, Illuminati Hotties are back!  Along with Geese, Men I Trust and Shannon And The Clams.  All fine names who I can tell you absolutely nothing about.  But I can tell you something about the similarly splendidly monikered Japanses Breakfast and that's that I like her new album very much.

#16/15 - Nothing wrong with these
#12/11 - Bags of attitude on display here