Fall 2021 Playlist: Annotated
My 2021 Fall Playlist is moody and cinematic—which is generally the autumn vibe I go for, but I feel like it’s even more moody and cinematic this year. The 60s and 70s make a noticeable appearance. Lots of covers.
1) “Clarice” by Caetano Veloso - This Brazilian 60s song came on my Discover Weekly playlist, and I thought, yep, that works. Prepare yourself: you will feel like you’re in a Fellini film.
2) “Rock of Lazarus” by Asaf Avidan - Did I ever tell you about the time I was studying abroad in Toulouse, France, and I flew to Nice almost exclusively to see Asaf Avidan in concert? He never plays the States. Anyway, this is off his latest album. I wish more people here listened to him.
3) “Guns of Brixton” by Mattiel - Another of Mattiel’s songs was on a Discover Weekly playlist, so I went digging around in their catalog and came across this cover. This is one of my favorite Clash songs—although this particular cover sounds rainier than the original, somehow? There are puddles in this song. You can hear them.
4) “Come Into My Sleep” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Yet another Discover Weekly playlist find—where would I be without Spotify’s creepy algorithm? I love how Nick Cave’s voice sounds equal parts seedy and charming.
5) “Just” by Radiohead - Hey, remember how this song exists? I forgot about it for a long time. Its instrumentation evokes harsher fall weather—the threat of winter behind the wind.
6) “The Melting of the Sun” by St. Vincent - I struggle with St. Vincent’s newest album—which is odd, because she was intentionally going for a 1970s sound. I assumed I’d love it for that very reason, but something about it doesn’t quite click in my brain. I do enjoy this one, though.
7) “Sweet Jane” by Cowboy Junkies - I picked this Velvet Underground cover because it was featured in the Fear Street anthology series on Netflix. If you’re looking for something new to watch for Spooky Season, I can’t recommend it enough. Plus, it has a killer soundtrack. (Killer—see what I did there?)
8) “Oh How We Drift Away” by Tim Heidecker & Weyes Blood - Spotify has put this on my Discover Weekly playlist roughly one million times since it was released in 2020, and the perfect season finally rolled around for me to use it. (I don’t know why I don’t listen to Weyes Blood more. Every time I hear one of her songs, I enjoy it. Guess I should remedy that.)
9) “Drops in the Lake” by Lord Huron - Lord Huron has big “playing the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks” vibes—and what better vibe for fall is there?
10) “Lady Macbeth in Chains” by Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine - Don’t worry, queer millennials! Sufjan Stevens is back with another album of plaintive acoustic songs so we can all have a good cry.
11) “Deadly Valentine” by Charlotte Gainsbourg - This song sounds like walking purposefully through a cold, driving rain. And yes, it’s a Discover Weekly selection.
12) “Pyre” by The Revival Hour - Can I make a fall playlist without a song by DM Stith on there? NO! Stith is autumn personified.
13) “jealousy, jealousy” by Olivia Rodrigo - An 18-year-old has no right to be this talented, quite frankly. Her songs fuel my internal high school movie.
14) “Power” by Seratones - Stumbled across this band at Riot Fest a few weekends ago, and I was immediately taken by them. I’m a sucker for soul music.
15) “Big Bang” by Cherry Glazerr - This song sounds like something I would have discovered on the Better Propaganda website in 2003. (Anyone else remember Better Propaganda? Just me?)
16) “TALES OF DOMINICA” by Lil Nas X - The Montero album is a wonder—but this particular song was clearly meant for fall.
17) “Try Some, Buy Some” by Ronnie Spector - I’d never heard this song before until Spotify sent it my way, and I was swept away by how wistful it sounds—but maybe it’s just that I know how difficult Ronnie Spector’s life was. What a voice, though.
18) “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong” by Father John Misty - And for the finish: Father John Misty howling a Leonard Cohen cover out into the cool autumn night.
Need more Fall music?