Things I liked in 2021

Does anybody remember enjoying things?

The Melt is a newsletter by, about and largely to entertain Jason Diamond. Hopefully you also like it and will consider subscribing and sharing this post.

The only thing I set out to do in 2021 was find enjoyment in as many places as possible, and besides every terrible thing imaginable happening around us, I like to think I did a pretty decent job. And so, in the least Best Of listicle with writing copped from a press release way possible, I present to you a list of some of the things that I really enjoyed in 2021.

Promises by Floating Points, London Symphony Orchestra and Pharoah Sanders

The idea of even trying to call this the “album of the year” seems funny to me because it’s Pharoah Sanders in his 80s working with a symphony and a hard-to-classify producer and they create something that doesn’t see of this world or at least of this time. There’s something infinite about this album, like you just drift off but you’re totally conscious the entire time and you enjoy yourself but you can’t quite understand why. I listened to this over and over this year and kept thinking that there was a time when people believed in things like the possibility of the human mind and a future where things are beautiful and peaceful. That’s what this is. Divine in the truest sense of the word.

Stephen Curry

There was never a time in my life I didn’t like Steph Curry, but I think I got so caught up in the whole stupid M.J. vs. LeBron in the battle for G.O.A.T. status that I really failed to appreciate Curry’s brilliance. He’s a wizard, right? How does he keep doing the things he does? As a sports fan, I like to think about how certain moments are actually long stretches of an athlete or team doing something incredible and you either choose to pay attention or you don’t. The Bulls in the ‘90s or Serena in the 2010s. I feel like Steph has been in that groove for a long time, but now he’s basically the cliche fine older wine kind of player. He’s an older guy in the league, but I’d take him on my team before anybody. And he also just seems so damn fun.

Joshua Cohen and Jay Caspian Kang

Favorite new books of 2021 include Milk Fed by Melissa Border, The Body Scout by Lincoln Michel, The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen and No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. Non-Fiction, I loved Ashley C. Ford’s Nobody’s Daughter, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit and A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib. But Joshua Cohen’s The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family and Jay Caspian King The Loneliest Americans ended up being the two books I thought about the most. It might seem that the novel and essay collection might not seem like they have much in common, but reading Cohen’s novel before Kang’s book made me think a lot about the big topic of being American and what we trade in order to live here, the things that maybe we went through, but more likely our parents or grandparents experienced so we wouldn’t maybe have to. In Cohen’s case, he uses the real story of the Netanyahu family in America long before the son is prime minister of Israel, and delivers this book that shows an interesting point in Jewish-American history and humorously dives into what really should be some very muddy waters, but makes it all seem like a swim in a crystal clear pond. King, meanwhile, writes about the Asian experience in a way that I found myself thinking about my own ancestors, the ones who came to America around the time that Cohen’s book was set, and what was given up in order to blend in.

Aughts indie darlings embrace the new age

I probably should have seen this coming, but Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banhart (along with Noah Georgeson) both put out albums I could only classify as new age, and I honestly couldn’t be any happier about it.

The Barbour and Paddington thing

I’m always a bit unsure what to make of beloved brands pairing up with beloved cartoon characters. In theory, you think I’d be happy whenever some new menswear brand gets to team up with Peanuts or whatever, but there are so many of these collars that it’s hard to keep track. Rowing Blazers working with Babar was great. I’d love to see what some designer would do working with Tintin or maybe some sort of Ludwig Bemelmans deal, but for some reason I didn’t see the Barbour and Paddington bear thing coming and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s…adorable and it’s…also cool? I think?

The Forgotten Edge by Molly Lewis

I have no idea where Molly Lewis came from or if I just wasn’t paying enough attention, but I fell under the spell of her music this year in a big way. And not only her EP, but also her incredible Spotify playlists filled with weirdo exotica and otherworldly sounds very much worth dialing up.

The vermouth menu at Leland in Prospect Heights

We ate in restaurants again in 2021! First we were indoors, then decided maybe it was better to stay outside, but whatever. Restaurants! What a concept! And while I didn’t venture that far from my neighborhood all that often, it was perfectly fine because Prospect Heights and Crown Heights are hot, baby! Besides all the places I love like K.I.T. and Fausto (technically Park Slope) and Oxalis, Leland opened up at some point and not only have I been multiple times and ordered too much food each time, but I’m obsessed with the vermouth menu front and center on the drinks menu, and each order comes with olives, lemon peels and a back of seltzer. I got so so so so sick of cocktails and just love something simple and elegant, and vermouth is the way to go.

The Velvet Underground

Besides it being everything I could personally ask for in a music doc, Todd Haynes didn’t leave any room for people to get comfortable, it wasn’t all chill V.U. songs and trying to make heroes out of anybody. Instead, the doc was loud and noisy and confrontational at points. It showed just how damn weird the band was and how being weird can change the world (Or, at the very least, influence everybody that comes after you).

Jonah Hill X Zoë Kravitz X Olsen Twins

Remember this moment back in April? Zoë and Jonah just chilling at The Row was one of those nice little Internet moments that just felt too few and far between and reminded me of “back in the day” when there were just fun little random moments. People were talking about … a picture. I mean, it’s probably nothing, but people were wondering if they were dating or working together on a line or whatever. It was just fun. I like fun. More fun, I say!

Warren Ellis: The Best Bad Seed

I mean, it’s Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Nick is his own thing, but Ellis, who looks incredible all the time, put out this really beautiful, odd book about the time he snatched Nina Simone’s chewing gum off of her piano after she stuck it there to sing and, yeah. I highly suggest it.