I expressed this on Twitter a few days ago, but I feel like 2021 has been pretty great in terms of new music. There are already eight or nine records from this year that I feel radically positive about, compared to 2020 and 2019, where around this time I had maybe two or three locks for my AOTY list. Maybe I’m just trying to latch onto anything positive right now. Either way, the artists of 2021 are really speaking to me right now – especially those that put out records in March. PHEW. We got some really great stuff this month, from buoyant art pop to blissed out collaborations to absolutely flooring debut records. It’s been a lot of fun to whittle down my favorites from this month, especially since everything has been so great. Find my 10 favorite records of March below, along with some nice tunes I liked as well.

Bernice – Eau De Bonjourno [Telephone Explosion]
A child spends every day of their summer vacation building a labyrinthian sand castle that attracts the attention of a wandering zen meditation troupe, who inhabit the structure peacefully.

Doohickey Cubicle – Don’t Fix Anything 😉 [Self-Released]
It’s raining so hard outside that you see a scuba diver float past your window, offering a cordial wave before a flight of manta rays arc over your chimney. Another day in bed.

Floatie – Voyage Out [Exploding In Sound]
After consuming a mysterious energy drink, your hands start rapidly changing shape, from cones to pyramids to 2D .pngs to silhouettes of everyday objects. You feel incredibly energized though.

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises [Luaka Bop]
Weightlessness.

For Those I Love – For Those I Love [September Recordings]
Being ground into dust by grief then slowly becoming more hydrated back into a human being as time passes.

Genesis Owusu – Smiling With No Teeth [House Anxiety / Ourness]
Sinking into a pit of quicksand outside a flashy neon display, draped in glittering gold jewelry, lavish furs and silk scarves.

Kalbells – Max Heart [NNA Tapes]
Large cantaloupes float down from the sky and crack open with Nickelodeon slime raining down like waterfalls, purifying the Earth. A cultural reset via slime.

Nashville Ambient Ensemble – Cerulean [Centripetal Force]
A well-tended tropical fish tank gurgles pleasantly sitting in the middle of a sunny, grassy field.

Renée Reed – Renée Reed [Keeled Scales]
Sitting on a old, wrap-around wooden porch with fireflies illuminating the shaggy willow trees surrounding it.

Xiu Xiu – OH NO [Polyvinyl]
The humid, heavy air on a bright summer day before a midwestern thunderstorm, a massive black cloud casts a creeping dark shadow over a vast plain.

I also really enjoyed albums from Esther Rose, Lost Girls, L’impératrice and Bobby Lee.

GR8 SONGS OF MARCH 2021::

Best Songs of 2021 Spotify playlist HERE.

• Armand Hammer & The Alchemist – “Chicharrones (feat. Quelle Chris)”
• Bernice – “Groove Elation”
• Bernice – “Infinite Love”
• Bernice – “Your Beautiful House”
• Bobby Lee – “Fire Medicine Man”
• Bobby Lee – “Four Skies Above”
• Dntel – “Back Home”
• Doohickey Cubicle – “Airbag”
• Doohickey Cubicle – “Forever”
• Doohickey Cubicle – “Thinking”
• Esther Rose – “Good Time”
• Esther Rose – “Keeps Me Running”
• Floatie – “Catch A Good Worm”
• Floatie – “Voyage Out”
• Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The LSO – “Movement 5”
• Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The LSO – “Movement 6”
• For Those I Love – “Birthday / The Pain”
• For Those I Love – “The Shape Of You”
• For Those I Love – “To Have You”
• For Those I Love – “You Live / No One Like You”
• Genesis Owusu – “Don’t Need You”
• Genesis Owusu – “Drown (feat. Kirin J Callinan)”
• Genesis Owusu – “Easy”
• Genesis Owusu – “Smiling With No Teeth”
• Genesis Owusu – “The Other Black Dog”
• Hildegard – “Jour 2”
• Kalbells – “Big Lake”
• Kalbells – “Bubbles”
• Kalbells – “Hump The Beach”
• Lighght – “sought, kept”
• L’impératrice – “Anomalie bleue”
• L’impératrice – “Hématome”
• Lost Girls – “Menneskekollektivet”
• Nashville Ambient Ensemble – “Conversion”
• Nashville Ambient Ensemble – “Inga”
• POiSON GiRL FRiEND – “Nobody” (from Heisei No Oto)
• Regional Justice Center – “Absence”
• Renée Reed – “If Only We Could”
• Renée Reed – “Out Loud”
• serpentwithfeet – “Fellowship”
• Sofia Kourtesis – “By Your Side”
• Vegyn – “B4 The Computer Crash”
• Xiu Xiu – “A Bottle Of Rum”
• Xiu Xiu – “Goodbye For Good”
• Xiu Xiu – “The Grifters”