[Introduction] For the past three years, I've grown infamous for my annual top 10 album list among my TinyLetter readers. In case you're wondering what you can expect to read on my Substack when I say I'm writing about the intersection of food and the hapless human condition, this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about:
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Top 10 Albums of 2021
10. PawPaw Rod - A PawPaw Rod EP
Full-body, supple taste. A funky flavor combination that has yet to be spoiled by critics and opinions. A snack for weekenders, which makes for a groovy Tuesday treat.
9. AURORA - Midas Touch, Giving In To The Love & Cure For Me
Consider this a fine cheese sampler - made from the milk of three different animals, all raised on the same farm. The production on these feels like a shopping spree at Chanel, tweed jackets for everyone!
8. Jhené Aiko - Sailing Soul(s)
We call this Driving Too Fast Down Lake Shore du Sable Drive music. SZA and Rhianna haven't come out with new LPs in a minute, so I feel like Jhené is doing a really good job filling the void. This album is that thing at the grocery store you buy because they are sold out of whatever you usually get and you like the new thing so much it gets added to your weekly rotation.
7. Durand Jones & The Indications - Private Space
You know those Cosmo articles they advertise on the cover, like "7 FOODS TO HIT HER G SPOT SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN'T" this album is actually an amalgamation of all seven those foods into one dish. It makes you want to pour candle wax all over your dick and then fuck a pineapple upside down cake.
6. Priya Ragu - Damnshestamil
Do you remember parties? Remember that overwhelming rush of glee when someone shows up to a party late with a chonky charcuterie board hours after everyone's pillaged most of the first wave of snacks? There's a reenergized pulse that clicks on, that's the feeling I get when I listen to this album. She's a delicious breath of fresh air that kickstarts the vibe.
5. La Femme - Paradigmes
Synsepalum dulcificum, common name Miracle Berry, is a small red berry that makes sour things taste sweet for a window of 10 - 30 minutes. Some of this album makes me laugh because it's so far on the fridge on what I dig, but during most the ~55 minutes this album plays, I feel like I am in a 1964 Parisian montage where I am dipping in and out of different boulangeries and pâtisseries, smoking French spliffs, sipping aperitifs and stuffing croissants in my mouth and pockets.
4. Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams
The other day I was really stoned at the grocery store and found myself overwhelmed by the holiday rush, so I decided to stand by the fancy cheeses to catch a breath. I went by the cooler and stood near a woman in a long black peacoat and Carol-like winter gloves. We both examined the cheese selection the way you stare at a painting in a museum, long enough that you can see the ghost of errant lines underneath the layers of paint. I'm pretty sure we could hear each other breathing over the aggressive indie pop blaring, brainwashing me to live free, follow my bliss and buy more kale. What I'm trying to say is, listening to this album is like standing next to a beautiful woman, debating which brie to buy.
3. Boma Esteréo - Deja
If you're lucky, you have a place in town where you've had more than 85% of the menu and you love everything they make. Their consistent, their fresh and never lets you down - for me, that's Boma Esteréo. Give jello a run for its money and jiggle a while to this one.
2. Juan Pablo Vega - JUAN PABLO VEGA
One thing I love about compiling this list every year is sometimes I have EPs listed last year that graduate to LPs the following year, such is the case with Juan Pablo Vega's self titled album. I grew up listening to disco, so Spanish Disco Dream Pop is a flavor profile most coveted. This album is as satisfying as rummaging through the freezer after dinner and finding a paleta you forgot you stuffed back there over the summer.
1. Tyler, The Creator - CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
You go to restaurants to feed your stomach, you go to Alinea to feed all five of your senses for over three hours, experience culinary curiosity and dramatic edible excellence. That's what it's like listening to this triumph, it's a cut above the rest. When the beat drops after "The sun beamin" at the top of the first track, you feel pure luxe. It's the difference between eating canned tuna and razorclams, both are technically just fish preserved in seasoned oil inside a tin, but one is utilitarian and the other is a mood, a lifestyle. The perfect party album, if we hung out this summer - we chilled to it.
2021 Honorable Mentions
Jarina De Marco - Give It To Me Baby
Megan Thee Stallion - Something for Thee Hotties
Philip Glass & Tana Quartet - String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima" (1985)
Doechii - Oh The Places You'll Go
Wet Leg - Chaise Lounge
João Gilberto - Around the World (live
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Top 10 Albums of 2021
10. PawPaw Rod - A PawPaw Rod EP
Full-body, supple taste. A funky flavor combination that has yet to be spoiled by critics and opinions. A snack for weekenders, which makes for a groovy Tuesday treat.
9. AURORA - Midas Touch, Giving In To The Love & Cure For Me
Consider this a fine cheese sampler - made from the milk of three different animals, all raised on the same farm. The production on these feels like a shopping spree at Chanel, tweed jackets for everyone!
8. Jhené Aiko - Sailing Soul(s)
We call this Driving Too Fast Down Lake Shore du Sable Drive music. SZA and Rhianna haven't come out with new LPs in a minute, so I feel like Jhené is doing a really good job filling the void. This album is that thing at the grocery store you buy because they are sold out of whatever you usually get and you like the new thing so much it gets added to your weekly rotation.
7. Durand Jones & The Indications - Private Space
You know those Cosmo articles they advertise on the cover, like "7 FOODS TO HIT HER G SPOT SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN'T" this album is actually an amalgamation of all seven those foods into one dish. It makes you want to pour candle wax all over your dick and then fuck a pineapple upside down cake.
6. Priya Ragu - Damnshestamil
Do you remember parties? Remember that overwhelming rush of glee when someone shows up to a party late with a chonky charcuterie board hours after everyone's pillaged most of the first wave of snacks? There's a reenergized pulse that clicks on, that's the feeling I get when I listen to this album. She's a delicious breath of fresh air that kickstarts the vibe.
5. La Femme - Paradigmes
Synsepalum dulcificum, common name Miracle Berry, is a small red berry that makes sour things taste sweet for a window of 10 - 30 minutes. Some of this album makes me laugh because it's so far on the fridge on what I dig, but during most the ~55 minutes this album plays, I feel like I am in a 1964 Parisian montage where I am dipping in and out of different boulangeries and pâtisseries, smoking French spliffs, sipping aperitifs and stuffing croissants in my mouth and pockets.
4. Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams
The other day I was really stoned at the grocery store and found myself overwhelmed by the holiday rush, so I decided to stand by the fancy cheeses to catch a breath. I went by the cooler and stood near a woman in a long black peacoat and Carol-like winter gloves. We both examined the cheese selection the way you stare at a painting in a museum, long enough that you can see the ghost of errant lines underneath the layers of paint. I'm pretty sure we could hear each other breathing over the aggressive indie pop blaring, brainwashing me to live free, follow my bliss and buy more kale. What I'm trying to say is, listening to this album is like standing next to a beautiful woman, debating which brie to buy.
3. Boma Esteréo - Deja
If you're lucky, you have a place in town where you've had more than 85% of the menu and you love everything they make. Their consistent, their fresh and never lets you down - for me, that's Boma Esteréo. Give jello a run for its money and jiggle a while to this one.
2. Juan Pablo Vega - JUAN PABLO VEGA
One thing I love about compiling this list every year is sometimes I have EPs listed last year that graduate to LPs the following year, such is the case with Juan Pablo Vega's self titled album. I grew up listening to disco, so Spanish Disco Dream Pop is a flavor profile most coveted. This album is as satisfying as rummaging through the freezer after dinner and finding a paleta you forgot you stuffed back there over the summer.
1. Tyler, The Creator - CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
You go to restaurants to feed your stomach, you go to Alinea to feed all five of your senses for over three hours, experience culinary curiosity and dramatic edible excellence. That's what it's like listening to this triumph, it's a cut above the rest. When the beat drops after "The sun beamin" at the top of the first track, you feel pure luxe. It's the difference between eating canned tuna and razorclams, both are technically just fish preserved in seasoned oil inside a tin, but one is utilitarian and the other is a mood, a lifestyle. The perfect party album, if we hung out this summer - we chilled to it.
2021 Honorable Mentions
Jarina De Marco - Give It To Me Baby
Megan Thee Stallion - Something for Thee Hotties
Philip Glass & Tana Quartet - String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima" (1985)
Doechii - Oh The Places You'll Go
Wet Leg - Chaise Lounge
João Gilberto - Around the World (live
THE NSFW WFH PALETA
Walking down the stairs, out the front door and down the street to the park
today is the first day it's been this hot
walking around in a tank top after a long winter
a REAL Chicago winter
first one in almost a decade
going from 4 layers to 1 layer within 1 week's time
now a REAL Chicago spring
one that hugs your body like the first grasps at summer
Out of the corner of my eye
who do I see?
but the paleta man!
patting pockets I know are empty
I turn off the trail and head home
grab 10 quarters and walk to the liquor store
grab one Paleta de Coco
grab the next spot in line
it's behind a slender Asian girl buying a soda and a quart of ice cream
"today's the day for it!" I say, holding up my paleta
she sheepishly grins while paying for her Häagen-Dazs
as if I busted her
as if women aren't allowed to buy a quart of ice cream to crush all by themselves
"we've waited long enough for it" she says, reluctantly, before leaving
I make small talk with my Liquor Store Guy
the one who gifts me Victoria Secret perfume and body lotion for Christmas
and asked my husband to deliver it to me
We always talk business
today's no different
I leave and promptly unwrap my paleta
the first lick feels like diving into a cold pool
I moan with satisfying intensity
as the sun rolls over my skin through the breaks in the leaves
me,
in my jean shorts
,that were pants before I cut them into shorts in a queer record store in Washington D.C. last weekend,
and my tank top
,from a second hand store in Seattle, Washington,
and my flip-flops
because I worked from home today
the exact opposite wardrobe of everyone who is walking towards me
fresh off the train, on their way home from work
long sleeves / button ups / suite coats / cardigans
as I approach the first corner, I lock eyes with a middle-aged woman
she's shlepping a heavy bag, wearing a sweater
I watch her watch me eat my paleta
we continue to walk and approach each other
she
almost memorized
almost glossy-eyed
she
begins to slowly slip off her sweater
carefully taking the air's temperate with her bare shoulders
before scrunching it into her packed bag
when our paths intersect she says to me
"that looks amazing, good idea!"
I smile, turn the corner and
feel a drop from the bottom of my paleta hit my shirt
I start lapping up the melting coconut cream
half way down the block I see a man
who sees me sliding my tongue up and down
and
licking the drips
and
slupring on
a long white creamy frozen dessert
the sight
proves too much for him to bear
his face stays focused on my paleta as his hips turn
his legs escorting him safely across the street
to continue his journey without crossing my path head on
it was all too much for him to bear
{sound familiar?}
I continue walking and loop back around the block
I run into the owner of an adorable corgi
SHE'S EATING A PALETA!
MANGOOO!!
During my final descent down into heavy coconut town
I hold up my paleta as if to air cheers her
"we made a good decision, huh?"
She let's out a stifled, confused laugh before she noticed
the dwindling remnants of my paleta
"OHHHH YES!! We certainly did! It's paradise out here!!!"
She wasn't wrong.
- 2019
Walking down the stairs, out the front door and down the street to the park
today is the first day it's been this hot
walking around in a tank top after a long winter
a REAL Chicago winter
first one in almost a decade
going from 4 layers to 1 layer within 1 week's time
now a REAL Chicago spring
one that hugs your body like the first grasps at summer
Out of the corner of my eye
who do I see?
but the paleta man!
patting pockets I know are empty
I turn off the trail and head home
grab 10 quarters and walk to the liquor store
grab one Paleta de Coco
grab the next spot in line
it's behind a slender Asian girl buying a soda and a quart of ice cream
"today's the day for it!" I say, holding up my paleta
she sheepishly grins while paying for her Häagen-Dazs
as if I busted her
as if women aren't allowed to buy a quart of ice cream to crush all by themselves
"we've waited long enough for it" she says, reluctantly, before leaving
I make small talk with my Liquor Store Guy
the one who gifts me Victoria Secret perfume and body lotion for Christmas
and asked my husband to deliver it to me
We always talk business
today's no different
I leave and promptly unwrap my paleta
the first lick feels like diving into a cold pool
I moan with satisfying intensity
as the sun rolls over my skin through the breaks in the leaves
me,
in my jean shorts
,that were pants before I cut them into shorts in a queer record store in Washington D.C. last weekend,
and my tank top
,from a second hand store in Seattle, Washington,
and my flip-flops
because I worked from home today
the exact opposite wardrobe of everyone who is walking towards me
fresh off the train, on their way home from work
long sleeves / button ups / suite coats / cardigans
as I approach the first corner, I lock eyes with a middle-aged woman
she's shlepping a heavy bag, wearing a sweater
I watch her watch me eat my paleta
we continue to walk and approach each other
she
almost memorized
almost glossy-eyed
she
begins to slowly slip off her sweater
carefully taking the air's temperate with her bare shoulders
before scrunching it into her packed bag
when our paths intersect she says to me
"that looks amazing, good idea!"
I smile, turn the corner and
feel a drop from the bottom of my paleta hit my shirt
I start lapping up the melting coconut cream
half way down the block I see a man
who sees me sliding my tongue up and down
and
licking the drips
and
slupring on
a long white creamy frozen dessert
the sight
proves too much for him to bear
his face stays focused on my paleta as his hips turn
his legs escorting him safely across the street
to continue his journey without crossing my path head on
it was all too much for him to bear
{sound familiar?}
I continue walking and loop back around the block
I run into the owner of an adorable corgi
SHE'S EATING A PALETA!
MANGOOO!!
During my final descent down into heavy coconut town
I hold up my paleta as if to air cheers her
"we made a good decision, huh?"
She let's out a stifled, confused laugh before she noticed
the dwindling remnants of my paleta
"OHHHH YES!! We certainly did! It's paradise out here!!!"
She wasn't wrong.
- 2019
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