"Green Eggs & Ham" by Princess Nokia

Song: Green Eggs & Ham
Artist: Princess Nokia
Album: Everything is Beautiful (2020)
Commentary: I've liked Princess Nokia, but this year's double album is good times.

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"The Sakalava Vezo 3"

Song: The Sakalava Vezo 3
Artist: Sakalava & Vezo are both ethnic groups of Madagascar. Not sure which describes the group(s) of people singing and playing here!
Album: Madagascar - Traditional Music From The South-West (1991)
Also try: 
Commentary: This just sounds like a good time. Turn your auto-play on and, if you're lucky, Youtube will give you #4 next.

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"In My View" by Young Fathers

Song: In My View
Artist: Young Fathers
Album: Cocoa Sugar (2018)
Commentary: This song doesn't encapsulate what I like about Young Fathers, because I like that they sound good doing a variety of styles.

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"Ndamutemba nyanga" by Ganizani Nyirenda

Song: Ndamutemba nyanga
Artist: Ganizani Nyirenda
Recorded in: (1950)
Also try: 
Commentary: Ohhhhhh shooot. Just found another ethnomusicological online archive. Feels like college. I just love a lot of folk musical traditions. Let me introduce you all to the South African Music Archive Project. Ganizani Nyirenda is apparently a Chewa man singing and rocking out on the thumb piano here. Looks like he recorded this in Nyanja (language) in what is now Malawi (then Nyasaland). More info here. What a bop.

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"Cue the Machines" by Yonatan Gat

Song: Cue the Machines
Artist: Yonatan Gat
Album: Universalists (2018)
Commentary: Fun tunes, very interesting album. Yonatan Gat was in Monotonix and has collaborated with lots of cool musicians.

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"Hard to Explain" by Run DMT

Song: Hard to Explain (ft. Ruby)
Artist: Run DMT
Album: The Ad Hoc Comp (2012)
Commentary: Don't know who gave me this compilation, probably my brother, but there's a few catchy tracks. Ruby makes this one stand out, although Run DMT's no slouch.

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"Gomni" by Ali Farka Touré & Ry Cooder

Song: Gomni
Artist: Ali Farka Touré & Ry Cooder
Album: Talking Timbuktu (1994)
Commentary: Magnificent album. Two giants collaborating on a beautiful jam session.

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"Venom" by Little Simz

Song: Venom
Artist: Little Simz
Album: GREY Area (2019)
Commentary: Little Simz can spit some bars. I don't know how British rappers got overrepresented in my listens in 2019, but I'm not disappointed.

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"Into Eternity" by Farah

Song: Into Eternity
Artist: Farah
Album: After Dark 2 (2013)
Also try:  both After Dark compilations
Commentary: This song stood out on the original mix but it also simmers and just slaps on its own. Both the After Darks are great. I don't listen to 'em enough cuz I like to do each in a solid chunk without interruption.

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"I Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape" by the Nugrape Twins

Song: I Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape
Artist: Nugrape Twins
Album: included on the wonderful American Primitive Vol. II: Pre-War Revenants (1897-1939) (recorded in 1926)
Also try:  you guessed it, the rest of the compilation. It's well curated.
Commentary: Mmmm. The harmonies. Even the humming parts, so good.

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"Down" by Nadia Tehran

Song: Down
Artist: Nadia Tehran
Album: Dozakh: All Lovers Hell (2019)
Commentary: I liked this album the first time I heard it. It was interesting and cool and just good. There's some skillful genre mixing, lots of solid songs. A great debut.

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"Deaths Come in Three" by Tica Douglas

Song: Deaths Come in Three
Artist: Tica Douglas
Album: Our Lady Star of the Sea, Help and Protect Us (2017)
Commentary: A lovely record. You'd've seen it high in my 2017 lists, if I had ever completed and released them :D Love to see a queer enby getting some recognition after many years of toiling in obscurity!

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"Need You, Need Me" by AhMerAhSu

Song: Need You, Need Me
Artist: AhMerAhSu
Album: STAR (2018)
Also try:  Shamir
Commentary: Star Amerasu is cool. A queer trans queen. idk. Listen.

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"I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground" by Bascom Lamar Lunsford

Song: I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground
Artist: Bascom Lamar Lunsford, aka the Minstrel of the Appalachians
Album: included on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music (originally recorded in 1928)
Also try:  Other songs from the Anthology
Commentary: Doc Watson also does a fine version. I've been lax on the folk & bluegrass for a while here, but I've liked this song for some time.

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"Juniper Arms" by Adam Torres

Song: Juniper Arms
Artist: Adam Torres
Album: Pearls to Swine (2016)
Commentary: Folk music, weird & beautiful voice. Check and check. Also a fellow Cincinnati-area native.

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"Streatham" by Dave

Song: Streatham
Artist: Dave
Album: Psychodrama (2019)
Commentary: Cool album. Dave's a good rapper.

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"Fuck and Run" by Liz Phair

Song: Fuck and Run
Artist: Liz Phair
Album: Exile in Guyville (1993)
Commentary: Another glaring omission from my blog. I loooooove Liz Phair. Specifically especially Exile in Guyville. It's a masterpiece. Definitely in my top 20 favorite albums ever. Good first-of-the-year post.

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Live:

Official:

Live at Matador (inferior version but it's embeddable) :

"Comme si" by Christine and the Queens

Song: Comme si
Artist: Christine and the Queens
Album: Chris (2018)
Commentary: A fine album. Electropop with European sensibilities. Queer, feminist. Cool stuff. A French and an English-language version.

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"reindeer games" by oso oso

Song: reindeer games
Artist: oso oso
Album: the yunahon mixtape (2017)
Also try:  any quality 2000s-2010s emo? 2019's Get up Kids release?
Commentary: Definitely digging the 2019 album, but the yunahon mixtape took me, surprisingly, back to emo, hahah.

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"Really Doe" by Danny Brown

Song: Really Doe (ft. Kendrick, Earl, Ab-soul)
Artist: Danny Brown
Album: Atrocity Exhibition (2016)
Commentary: There's some folk out there pushing boundaries of hip hop and Danny Brown is doing it well. This song makes good use of Earl & Kendrick. I love Danny Brown's rapping too.

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