2021 Year End Lists Chapter 1: The Production Awards
Marry Christmas Babes,
When I started this series like a million years ago I did it because I thought producers were underrated and I wanted to highlight some behind the scenes contributors who were doing an excellent job. Nowadays there is more attention than ever being paid to producers both in the mainstream and experimental realms so maybe in a sense this list is outdated, but whateves. Since I couldn't think of anything good enough to replace it we are once again rattling off five of the best produced songs and albums of the year. The awards are named after last years winners so if you'd like to check out that list you can check it out here.
Without further delay lets get into it.
The Grimes Award For Production in Pop - Album
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Spellling - The Turning Wheel
Last year Grimes took this award in a very mediocre class of pop records by blending her songs into a cohesive digital apocalypse of an album that was greater than the sum of its parts. This year there was no doubt who was swooping in to take the award as Tia Cabral better known as Spellling, delivered one of the most immaculate records not producer by Blake Mills in years. She assembled an impressive array of talented performers and her own whimsical and diverse sense of songwriting into a fantastical odyssey with care taken into crafting magic in every single moment. Everything on the record is perfectly aligned and comes together to make for one of the most immaculate and epic pop records in recent memory. Tia's songwriting and vocals certainly carry a lot of the load, but the consistently pitch production really seals the deal. Review
The Clarence Clarity Award For Production In Pop - Song
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Jack Antonoff - Pay Your Way In Pain
Last year Clarence Clarity helped Rina Sawayama craft a pop banger for the ages that went on to be my #1 Single of 2020, this year Jack Antonoff continued his omnipresence with production on one of the best lead singles of St. Vincent's entire career. Antonoff burnout is absolutely a real thing and he had a number of contributions to albums this year that did not go over well, but in the center of all this is the Young Americans worship that Anne Clark delivers on the sleek, sexy and indelibly anthemic Pay Your Way In Pain. The slick nuance of the verses builds perfectly into an exciting eruption of a hook that is one of the most memorable you'll hear anywhere this year, propelled not just by a great refrain but also by a spectacular instrumental backing. If Jack can stay this exciting maybe he can start to reverse some of the massive backlash he faced from pop fans this year. Review
The Caribou Award For Production in Electronica - Album
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Nicolas Jaar & Dave Harrington - Spiral
This year Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington brought back their Darkside project, which means this award was pretty much always theirs for the taking. The amazing crossroads of downtempo electronica and reserved art rock that the duo achieved on their first album are improved and expanded upon on Spirals. The album manages to achieve a hushed demeanor through its sonic aesthetic while also making one refrain after another just stick. Much like last years winner Dan Snaith of Caribou, Nicolas has spent the past decade establishing himself as one of the premiere creative voices in all of music and Spiral is among his best produced works yet. Review
The Nicolas Jaar Award For Production in Electronica - Song
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SOPHIE - Unisil
Just like Nicolas Jaar didn't have anything to prove when he crafted his intense club banger Deeeeeeefers last year, it was common knowledge that SOPHIE was the premiere voice in experimental and deconstructed club long before her Unisil single. The thick pulsating synths, blown out drums and shrill vocal samples are a tried and true formula of electronic music producers willing to throw anything at the wall to see what stuck. With her passing the music world lost one of it's most groundbreaking voices, but also one of it's best and most innovative and unique producers. Her last gift to us was yet another in a long string of genius.
The Ross Robinson Award For Production In Rock - Album
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BJ Burton - Hey What
This is always a weird award to give out. With so much of contemporary rock music either trying to be as pristine and polished as possible, or as raw and grating as possible there isn't a ton of room for nuance in many cases. Last year Ross Robinson made the typically dreary sound of Touche Amore soar on their brightest record yet but this year it's BJ Burton who teamed up with Low for their most uncompromisingly brash album ever. From soaring lead melodies to crushing walls of distortion everything on Hey What is high impact yet it never gets taxing. You have to stop yourself and wonder how it all comes together so perfectly without the individual pieces every losing their dominating intensity. It was a weird year for experimental rock but as usual, Low shined. Review
The Rick Rubin Award For Production in Rock - Song
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Marta Salogni - John L
While the rest of Black Midi's sophomore album was handled by other producers they pulled indie darling Italian producer Marta Salogni to handle the records standout track. Much like Rick Rubin re-defined the sound of The Strokes last year Marta helped Black Midi achieve their ambitions on John L. The song is a dense and jittery prog influenced banger that works a dizzyingly complicated mix to absolute hard-hitting perfection. Despite the polish required to make it all work together there is still plenty of space for the squelching instrumentation, methodical lead vocals and exciting compositional shifts. Working with a band like Black Midi is always going to ask a lot out of a producer but on this track Marta absolutely hit it out of the park. Review
The Exile Award For Production In Rap - Album
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Parker Corey - By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Last year I dished out praise for Parker Corey crafting one of the most distinct and fitting hip hop beats of all time on the Amine & Injury Reserve song Fetus. This year he handled the production for the bands first album since the passing of member Groggs, but rather than a dreary or dejected tone he threw caution to the wind and assembled one of the darkest, bleakest and most paranoid rap albums of all time. The instrumentals here employ creative sampling, experimental and unconventional textures and facets of abstract music rarely heard in hip hop. Last year Exile teamed up with Blu to prove that the classic jazz sounds of hip hop still had so much life left in them, but this year Parker Corey showed us a glimpse of experimental raps future, and I can't wait to hear more of it. Review
The Parker Corey Award For Production In Rap - Song
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Infio - Introvert
There were very few artists this year anywhere near as impressive as Little Simz. With her Sometimes I Might Be Introvert she established herself as not only a talented rapper and lyricist but a worldbuilder. The albums conceptual through lines are set up from it's very first song, the grant and dramatic introduction to Simbi and her personal struggles on Introvert. While Infio of Sault fame handles the bulk of the production on the album this is his shining moment assembling a sound that sounds as grand as Simbi's ambitions for the project. It serves as the perfect opener for the album but also stands alone as a remarkable pillar of hip hop from one of its most talented young artists, all helmed by a producer who is quickly becoming one of the premier English talents. Review
The Avalanches Award For Production In Indie - Album
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Sam Shepherd - Promises
One of the biggest surprises of the year that garnered massive acclaim from both fans and critics alike was the blending of minds between electronic music producer Floating Points and legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. Where as last year The Avalanches achieved their standard of production excellence across numerous different genres and styles with a bevy of features, this year Floating Points main brain Sam Shepherd used space and subtlety to craft a beautiful, expansive piece of music. The 9 movements of Promises tend to wander, sometimes into eclectic jazz passages and other times into orchestral swaying but it always returns to that stabilizing synth that guides it through its progressions. The record is a masterful expression of sound whose achievements in reality go far beyond just the notes written on a page. Review
The Blake Mills Award For Best Production In Indie - Song
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Josh Kaufman - Hard Drive
Cassandra Jenkins became an indie darling this year, but unlike Blake Mills and Perfume Genius crafted an 80's dance tribute to lush maximalism last year, she teamed up with producer and Craig Finn collaborator Josh Kaufman for a much more reserved sonic result. Cassandra's spoken word vocals are pure therapy and the backing instrumental feels like an extension of her serenity. The way the song takes its time to patiently introduce instrumentation at just the right point and manages to make you feel every single subtle shift despite how quiet everything is. Kaufman's production is crucial to the pair creating one of the most authentically spiritual and thoughtful songs of the year. Review
The Avalanches Award For Best Produced Album Of The Year
Spellling - The Turning Wheel
Nicolas Jaar & Dave Harrington - Spirals
BJ Burton - Hey What
Parker Corey - By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Sam Shephard - Promises
There were a LOT of album this year that impressed with their production and I sweat out a lot of these decisions between a few finalists. But when it came to the pop sphere, and this overall award, Spellling stands above them all. Every shimmering flash of instrumentation and harrowing lead vocal melody are perfectly placed among each other to create a surreal and fairy tale like journey through Tia's mind. I know I'm certainly one to overuse the word immaculate, but The Turning Wheel is a truly immaculate experience that feels thoroughly larger than life. It achieves that through complete submersion into the glistening arrangements which set up one brilliant high point after another. The album is an example of an absolutely masterful ear for production and mixing coming together with impassioned creativity to create something totally timeless.
The Parker Corey Award For Best Produced Song Of The Year
Jack Antonoff - Pay Your Way In Pain
SOPHIE - Unisil
Marta Salogni - John L
Infio - Introvert
Josh Kaufman - Hard Drive
Just like last years best produced song played on a harrowing loss for the music world, Unisil showed us everything that we will miss without electronic music's brightest voice in decades. The stuttering sounds of bubblegum bass, hyper pop and IDM come together to form a truly progressive and intense electronic banger just as Sophie has delivered for her entire career. Her ability to perfectly place sweet vocal samples among the blistering landscape of her songs give them the pop edge that so much IDM lacks and infuses tracks like Unisil with an undeniable personality. The song is uncompromising and impossible to ignore much in the same way as the artist behind it, one of the truly great musicians and producers of our time.
The Dylan Brady Award For Producer Of The Year
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The Alchemist
Last year Dylan Brady rode the strange 100 Gecs hype train into tons of production work and his heady maximalism became the sound of the year in hyperpop. This year it wasn't a new development, but a battle tested formula that stole the show. The Alchemist has been a known commodity in hip hop releasing critically acclaimed music for a long, long time. His distinctive sound and continued hustle, combined with his ability to work with both contemporary and classic hip hop artists made for an absolutely incredible year of Alchemist material. From collaborative albums with Armand Hammer and Boldy James, to his own pair of critically acclaimed EPs and a handful of production work on other projects in the rap underground here and there, Alchemist's sound was a defining point of rap in 2021. On top of his own work as the meditative sound of experimental hip hop expands it's clear how many of the genres best voices are continuing to take influence from The Alchemist's classic sound and it's rare that an artist of his stature is continuing innovating and working in a scene that he helped so much to create. The entire career of The Alchemist has been impressive on all fronts, but in 2021 he had about as great a year as a producer in the hip hop sphere can, appreciating the influence of his classic while simultaneously creating new ones.
Thanks for reading this far, check back across the next SIX days for a new list recounting the best of 2021 every day <3
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