2021 Top Five - Albums

This week starts my Best of 2021. I will do my top five for most of my lists. I will do music, movies, television, podcasts and sports. That is also the order I will proceed with starting today. Some of my lists were easy to get to five, others, not so much. Let's get to it.

Today I am going to do my top albums of 2021. This is one of my lists where I do not have five picks. Part of that is my lack of listening to new music and the other part is I do not know many of these new artists. I used to be cool and hip. I used to know a ton about new and underground music. I used to listen to all different kinds of music. But as I have gotten older plenty has changed. I am kind of stuck in my ways now. I like what I like. I have been introduced to "new" music for me, but it is older bands or musicians I have never really given thought to before. That is my "new" music. I have recently gotten into Prince, more Talking Heads, an indie band called Whitney and more old school hip hop. But I did find three albums that I really enjoyed that came out this year. They are three new albums too. They are by artists that I like, but again, these records did come out this year.

At number three I have Har Mar Superstar's "Roseville". I love this record. It is like a throwback to older soul and R&B. There are horns and back up singers and cool, retro guitar and all along the way we get Har Mar's great voice. I like this new direction Har Mar is going in with his music too. It is very fitting for his voice and his range. You can really tell on this record that he is in his pocket. I also feel like as he is getting older he is starting to pain gratitude to artists he grew up listening to. This record is like an homage to older soul music. And I am a sucker for horns. I just lose myself to the music whenever I hear a good horn section. Lyrically, this album is very poignant and timely. He talks about COVID and other things that are going on in and around his life. It is a good snapshot of what this past year has been like. "Roseville" is very solid and I'm kind of stunned that some of the bigger publications and websites have kind of just pushed this record to the side and do not talk about it.

At two I have Tyler, the Creator's "Call Me if You Get Lost". This record is like older Tyler with his new vibe attached. It is straightforward hip hop. Tyler's rapping is impeccable. He has gotten better and better every year. He is on the Mount Rushmore of current hip hop artists right now. I also love how most of the songs are less than three minutes long. Even the songs that go six to nine minutes have like three different songs built in. They don't linger too long. There is enough change that it feels different. Tyler, much like Har Mar, also touches on the pandemic, but does it his way. I also love the addition of a hype man on the record. It adds so much to hip hop albums. I also really enjoy the production on the record. It may be his second best production, behind only "IGOR". Tyler, the Creator is aging like a fine wine. He is consistently trying new things and it has all been really great as of late. Tyler is getting to that echelon of always doing wonderful and innovative things in music. He is the man.

My number one album of the year is "Inside". Get used to seeing this on my best of lists. This album is amazing. The fact that it was made in a year is astounding. Talk about being timely, this album is all about the pandemic, loneliness, anxiety and loss during COVID. It is truly a masterpiece. Bo Burnham has done something amazing and memorable. To make music like this, at this time in history, to make it this well and this astounding, I'm floored. The way the whole album kind of shifts after "30" is a real feat. It goes from kind of dark to super dark, in all the right ways. There are songs on this album that I feel like school kids should study. There is stuff on this album that will be talked about for decades. This is a true work of art. I adore songs like "How the World Works" or "Welcome to the Internet" that are instant classics. I mentioned "30", that is an exceptional song about growing old. "Problematic" is a great look at his past and how he has grown. "All Eyes on Me" is so twisted and dark and perfect. "That Funny Feeling" may be the best folk song of the year. "Content" is a perfect album starter. I could go on and on and on, and I will on some of my other lists, believe me. "Inside" is amazing. It is the best album of the year, and when we get to 2030, it may end up being the best album of the decade. It is really that good. You can go look at my year in review on Spotify and see how much I have devoured this album. "Inside" is, hands down, the best album of 2021.

That is it for today. Come back tomorrow for my top five movies of the year.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Let's Talk About How Great the Lighting is on "Inside"

I just finished watching Bo Burnham's special "Inside" for the third time.

I keep watching it for a few reasons.

One, it is awesome. It's truly one of the best pieces of art I have ever seen.

Two, I constantly find new things every time I view. There is always something new that interests me.

Three, the music is rad. Burnham is already a very funny singer and songwriter, but on "Inside", while the songs are still funny, it is like real, legit music. There are some really solid songs throughout the special. In watching today I noticed something else, and that is what I want to talk about. I swear this will be one of the last times I write about this special, but damn this thing is amazing, so I am not sorry actually.

When watching today I was super impressed with the way he uses lighting for this movie. It is really cool, really unique and totally different from most things I have watched in this same genre. When the special starts, the impressive light show begins. When he is doing the song "Content", he is just sitting in a dark room for about 45 seconds, and when he gets near the end of the song he looks up and there is a spinning disco ball reflecting lights on the wall. The reflection is coming from a headlamp he is wearing and it is super cool. It is dope the way he uses some very simple things to make a very cool visual. This continues throughout the special. The two "Bezos" songs he does have very rad and very different lights. The first one is a bit dark with a shadow. The second one is like watching a techno concert with some wild red objects reflecting off the wall. It is cool to see the way he switches it up on the two different tunes. When he does "All Eyes On Me", the dark room with light blue lights reflects not only the mood, but also his eyes and his white shirt. It makes for a somber look on a dark song, but that has to be what he was going for. It is perfect. The way he shoots the final song, going back and forth, with different images displayed on the screen, it is so awesome. I was completely blown away at how cool and ahead of its time the way he lights and edits the song. We see him in three different phases, and when the camera pans away at the end, the spotlight on him is too perfect. It reflects the mood so well. I also really enjoy the woodsy background he has when he plays "That Funny Feeling". The song sounds like it would be played on a camping trip, so making the background symbolize that, well done. The song that takes the cake in the lighting process is "30". This is my favorite song on the record and during the special. The way he lights it, uses lights and performs with the lights is second to none. When there is a clap, he moves his white light out and the whole room is lit. When he is singing the verse there are red and purple and blue clouds in the background. When he sings the chorus he moves that white light around his whole body which reflects shadows on the wall and it looks like I'm watching a live show. I am immediately transported back to a time when I went to live shows. But the best part is when he is singing the "my stupid friends are having stupid children" and there are three of his shadow, one in the middle and one on each side, that is some damn good art. It is neat and interesting. It makes me wonder how he does stuff like that. I'm sure it is easy for him, but for a rube like me, this is pretty amazing stuff to see.

I get more impressed every time I watch the special. I simply cannot recommend "Inside" enough. It is so god damn awesome, and there are always new things popping up with each new watch. Go check this thing out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Inside"

I will get to the NBA game 7's that happened this weekend later this week. But today I have to talk about the movie my wife and I watched on our quarantine date night this past Friday.

I know things are opening up, and more people are going back into the world, but not my wife and I. We are still staying at home most weekend nights, we have seen a few more friends, but they are all vaccinated, our kids do play sports, but I am masked and we still enjoy our new Friday date night routine. We still order from a local restaurant and we pick a movie to watch after our kids go to bed. This week was my turn and I picked the new Bo Burnham special "Inside". RD has told me to watch this. A friend of mine told me to watch this. I watched the trailer which made me want to watch this.

I will say, I am so happy RD and my buddy told me nothing about it, and the trailer is very vague. It is best to go into this thing not knowing what to expect. I absolutely adored this special. My wife wasn't as into it as I am, but she did like the music. My wife's problem, there wasn't enough comedy in it for her. I was absolutely blown away by what I witnessed. I keep calling it a "special", and not a "comedy special". My wife is right, it is not very comedic. There are jokes, some of the songs are funny, but this is more a piece of art posed as a comedy special.

When “Inside” starts we see Burnham in a room by himself. He goes on to explain that he is doing this special by himself. He wrote, directed, edited, arranged, he did everything on this project. He had one producer, but I have to assume that was after the fact. This is all Burnham. So to see the way he did this, how he did this, to see the background stuff, to see some of the outtakes, to see him going through a massive change in his emotions, I was floored. Seriously, I was moved by this special. The whole idea was to do a one hour comedy show, but with no audience and by himself. He does it with no audience and by himself, but it is so, so much more than comedy. At the beginning Burnham is unshaven and has shaggy hair. He then goes into his routine. His first song is a short and sweet pop groove called "Content". It is classic Burnham. He is hammy and jokey and pointing out everyday foibles. He then goes into some more songs and bits that follow his usual path. The song "Comedy" is such a great F U to people who think they are holier than thou. "Facetime with my Mom" is downright hilarious. It starts to get a little darker on "How the World Works", but I love that song. It is so true and so of the time and so needed. Socko is a genius. "White Woman's Instagram" kind of goes back to classic Burnham, but there is this moment of clarity when he talks about a girl posting a picture of her deceased mom and the caption accompanying it. It shows growth. "Unpaid Intern" is a hilarious bebop parody. He then shifts into a very of the time bit about doing a response video. My son watches stuff like this all the time, and Burnham nails it. When he plays it on that loop it is wild. The first "Bezos" song comes out of nowhere, and it is totally off the rails, but I loved it. Then we get "Sexting", and this is a very funny song about how people are intimate in modern times. It does end on a dreary note. Then we get "Problematic", and this is such a great song which shows Burnham is embarrassed and ashamed of some of his past bits. He is apologizing in his own way for what he has done. It is fantastic.

Then, right in the middle of the special we get a complete tonal shift. Burnham turns 30 during the special. He stops and talks about it and we even see a clock that reads 11:58. He talks about how he thought he would be done with this special before his birthday, but he is not. Then this gets dark. The whole thing changes, and it is amazing to watch. He performs the song "30", and it is such a perfect way of explaining how most of us accomplish almost nothing when we turn 30. Burnham says nearly everything I thought when I turned 30, but I did have a kid and married my wife prior to 30. At this point in the special Burnham's hair and beard are much longer and very unkempt. He is also wearing the same clothes day after day. He is clearly going through some stuff. And it is all on film. He does a great little tune called "Don't Wanna Know". It is all of his personal thoughts laid out. Then we get real depressing stuff, "Shit" and "All Time Low". These songs are about how he is feeling bad, how he is depressed and how he doesn't know if he will get out of this or not. The loneliness and solitude are clearly getting to him. Then there is this vaudeville esque song called "Welcome to the Internet". It is bleak and sad and gloomy and scary and 100 percent true. I do not know if a more apt lyric than "can I interest you in anything and everything all of the time" has ever been sung. We also get some bleak bits in this portion where Burnham pretends to stream a game that is just him crying and barely moving, him posing with a knife and doing a YouTube-esque subscribe video. He is also clearly losing it when he talks to the camera and cannot get the words out without punching his leg. He is frustrated and losing his grip. There is a second "Bezos" song that is more bizarre than the first, but again, it slaps. Then he plays an acoustic guitar and sings a song called "That Funny Feeling". If this were sung by someone like Father John Misty or Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes, people would call it genius. Burnham nails this impression, and the song is so good. He then breaks down on camera. He starts crying and it goes black. Then he performs "All Eyes on Me". This is the quintessential portion of this special. This is Burnham letting it all out, really going for it and really just letting his mental stuff take hold. Again, it is bleak and brutal, but it hits so many chords. It hits so many feelings that all of us have had during this pandemic. He then closes it out with "Goodbye" and "Any Day Now". Both songs touch on things from earlier in the special, and they kind of wrap it all up. We also see Burnham finally step outside and a fake audience is clapping and cheering for him. This turns into laughter and he is terrified by it. He wants back inside. But then we see him watching this bit and a shy smile comes across his face and it ends.

Look, I was completely and utterly blown away by this. I have never seen anything like it. I think it is the best representation of life during this pandemic. Burnham absolutely nails every aspect of it. He hits a homerun with every song and every bit. It is perfect. I have watched it twice now and been listening to the music on Spotify. This is one of the best pieces of art that I have been able to witness. I do not know what Burnham was trying to achieve or get out of this. but man did he do something that I will never forget. "Inside" is genius. Of course I think you should watch it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Promising Young Woman"

For date night this past week I chose the movie "A Promising Young Woman" for my wife and I to watch. I hadn't heard much about the movie, but Adam Brody was on "Comedy Bang! Bang!" promoting a different movie, and Scott Aukermann mentioned how much he liked "A Promising Young Woman", and how cool he thought it was that some comedy actors had bit parts in the movie. That piqued my interest. Then my wife kept talking about how much she wanted to see it. Then it got nominated for a bunch of Oscars. I was already getting on board, and then all this other stuff put it over the top for me. So we rented it on Amazon and watched.

We both loved it. This movie does have some comedic elements to it, but make no mistake, this is a thriller. And Carey Mulligan is so good as the lead actor. I bought her from moment one. The movie, no spoilers, is about a lady who loses a friend, and then kind of goes on a revenge tour in her honor. We come to realize that the friend was assaulted, and she is turning the pages on guys, and messing with their heads. This is where some of the comedy actors show up. Brody plays a guy at a bar that picks her up and brings her back to his house. You think he is being nice, but it is all a ruse to get her more drunk and take advantage of her. But this is what she wants. She wants these guys to think they are in the clear, that they can take advantage of her, and then she reveals that she is not drunk, and chastises these assholes for the punks and scum they are. It is great. She does this same thing to Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Sam Richardson. She does start to date a gentleman in the movie, a very solid performance from Bo Burnham, but that has quite the twist in the end as well. Laverne Cox is very good in this movie too as her overbearing but well meaning boss and only friend. Molly Shannon is very good in her very small role too.

All the acting is great. but this is a tour de force from Mulligan. She is so goddamn good in this movie. The way she manipulates these low lifes, the stuff she lets them get away with before calling them out, the thing she does to the dean of her college, Mulligan pulls it off so well. There were moments where I was like, damn she is cold blooded, but then I remembered why she is doing what she's doing, and I am instantly back on her side. Even when she tries to give it up, to move on if you will, that's when things kind of crumble in her everyday world, and she goes on a truly vengeful trip after that. But that works in her favor. She finds a bachelor party of the guys who did horrible things to her friends, and that is when she takes over. Even when it looks like she may have been had, she finds a way to turn the tables in the best possible way. Mulligan more than deserves her Oscar nomination. She is that good in this movie. I also like the message of the movie. Hopefully some frat boy idiots will see it and think twice before they try to take advantage of a seemingly drunk person. I love the way they did the thriller stuff in the movie too. There is no jump scares or blood or gore, it is all mental, and it still has me shook and thinking about it almost five days later.

I highly recommend this movie. Watch it for Mulligan's performance alone, and in doing that, I think you will really end up liking the movie, or at the very least it will leave you thinking about it. This movie is good. Watch it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Better Late than Never on "Eighth Grade"

This morning I finished the movie “Eighth Grade”, and now I am going to talk about it.

This movie was so many things, mostly great. In fact, it was uncomfortably great. I have put off seeing this movie for sometime now because I didn’t know what to expect. I saw the rave reviews, I am a Bo Burnham fan and I could’ve watched it in the theaters, but other stuff kept coming up. Then COVID hit, and I kind of forgot this was on my list to see. Luckily it was on Showtime last week, and I recorded it. I still waited about a week to watch, but I watched it and loved it. I was also very uncomfortable with some stuff, but that seemed purposely. This movie is supposed to be about how rough early teenage life is. It’s supposed to make us who are older remember how tough that time of our lives was. It’s supposed to make you cringe and talk out loud at the people on the screen. It wants you to have these visceral reactions. And this movie achieves that tenfold.

There was so much stuff in “Eighth Grade” that made me squirm, and then think about how I reacted when I was 13 years old. That may be the most awkward time in anyone’s life, and Burnham and Elsie Fisher portrayed them to perfection. From the pool party, to class superlatives, to meeting high school boys and girls, to having moments with your folks and finally finding your group of friends, it’s all there and it’s all wonderfully executed. Seeing Fisher, she played the main character Kayla, go through such panic when being invited to a pool party, showing up and having to interact with other kids, that was so well done. The stuff with her and her dad hit me right in the heart. From her being on her phone when he’s trying to talk to her, to him spying on her when she’s hanging out with the high school kids, to their very poignant and perfect and tear jerking bonfire talk, it was simply wonderful. I was in tears hearing him tell her how happy and proud and perfect she is. I know my daughter and I will have these moments in the future, and it was almost reassuring to see that, while it will be tough at time, it will also be so rewarding. Fisher was so so so great in the starring role. She played introverted and quiet and anxious and teenage so exceptionally. She was tremendous. It helps that she was the age of her character because she’s going through it right now.

The other kids were almost as good as Fisher. They didn’t have as much to work with, but they all played their roles great. I also liked the technology aspect of the movie. “Eighth Grade” showed how important and influential things like YouTube and Snapchat and Instagram are to the younger generation. Hearing these kids talk about how they got Twitter in middle school, or Snapchat in fifth grade, I mean that’s wild. Middle and high school was tough enough when I went, and cell phones were relatively new. I cannot imagine how much harder it is now, and how much harder and weirder it will be when my kids are that age. I have two nieces in high school, and I get glimpses how important Instagram is to them. It’s tiring to see from my perspective. This is a movie that is going to stick with me for a long, long time. I want this to be watched by kids that are in the 13-16 age range. It will ring so true for them I imagine. I also think parents of kids of any age should see this movie just to get a blip of what we are all in for in the near future.

“Eighth Grade” is a wonderful, timely and squirmy in all the right ways movie. I wish I’d seen it sooner, but at least I watched it. I cannot recommend this movie enough. It is so worth your time. Please go watch this movie if you can. It’s great.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.