Reading through year-end album of the year lists almost always feels like an exercise in futility for me. Maybe it’s because I like what I like and what I like doesn’t necessarily meet the criteria a lot of publications that publish year-end lists are going for but it’s always interesting to see what albums I like show up on these lists and what albums don’t.

Cheekface was the latter case. Their record Emphatically No was one of the most enjoyable and entertaining albums to listen to from 2021 and I’m still scratching my head that I haven’t seen it in more places. What’s not to love about their unique brand of catchy music packed full of jokes delivered in deadpan over bouncy pop music?

The other 19 albums that made my list aren’t exactly charting a course of intrigue but they are all records I enjoyed enough to pick out of far too much music I listened to over the past year. They’re listed in alphabetical order.

• Aeon Station – Fade
• Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
• Billy Bragg – The Million Things That Never Happened
• Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
• Cheekface – Emphatically No.
• Chime School – s/t
• Cloud Nothings – The Shadow I Remember
• Damien Jurado – The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania
• David Ramirez – Backslider
• Ducks Ltd. – Modern Fiction
• Last Days of April – Even the Good Days Are Bad
• Lucy Dacus – Home Video
• Massage – Still Life
• Middle Kids – Today We’re the Greatest
• Sam Fender – Seventeen Going Under
• Stephen – Radar of Small Dogs (reissue)
• Sun June – Somewhere
• Tangled Shoelaces – Turn My Dial (reissue)
• The Umbrellas – s/t
• Valerie June – The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers

I imagine it’s probably somewhat impossible to be a parent of young children and not have songs from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood stuck in your head from time to time.

Like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood before it, the songs are simple, catchy and memorable, perhaps even more so.

The A.V. Club recently did an online video conference with three of the creators of the musical collective VooDoo Highway Music that are responsible for churning out an incredible amount of music to fuel the PBS kids show.

It’s a fascinating listen about the process of how they write and the unique qualities that makes their music so popular and catchy with children and parents alike.

Like my friend Josh, I know and understand very little about today’s video games. My kids are too young for them but Josh has found a way to connect with his son playing old school video games from his youth.

Enter Generational Divide.

In the first episode, Josh, who is a radio broadcaster and play-by-play guy I know through writing about soccer, sits down with his son to play the 1984 Star Wars game for ColecoVision.

The gang from Pawnee, Indiana is getting back together for a special to benefit Feeding America’s Covid-19 response on April 30 at 8:30 p.m.

The cast of the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation are reuniting over the internet to present a new story from the Pawnee universe and raise money for charity.

The story is set in the present day and centers around Leslie Knope and her determination to stay connected to her friends during the pandemic.

All of the original characters are slated to return in the 30-minute special, played by original cast members Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Jim O’Heir, and Retta. (Other guest stars from the Pawnee universe are expected to pop in.)

“Like a lot of other people, we were looking for ways to help and felt that bringing these characters back for a night could raise some money,” said executive producer Michael Schur in a news release. “I sent a hopeful email to the cast and they all got back to me within 45 minutes. Our old ‘Parks and Rec’ team has put together one more 30-minute slice of (quarantined) Pawnee life and we hope everyone enjoys it. And donates!”

If you ever attended an event or show we used to do for Tangzine back in the days when we did that sort of thing, the first person you met was probably my friend Loreli.

For the past six years, Loreli and her husband Ed have been running an antique and collectible store in Sicklerville. It’s basically a one-stop shop for awesomeness with super friendly staff and an experience you can’t replicate online.

Because of that last fact, the Covid-19 shutdown has been particular hard for Loreli and Ed. Plenty of businesses are in this boat and those of us who are fortunate to still be working and getting a paycheck have an opportunity to support those businesses.

Carnival of Collectibles has a GoFundMe campaign set up for this purpose. Check it out.

“Scared to be together, afraid to be apart.”

If that line from Jason Anderson’s “Together, Apart” single sounds on the nose, it’s because he wrote it in March after canceling his tour.

I was introduced to this song and to the New Hampshire artist courtesy of Folkadelphia’s “Co-Mission: An Artist Relief Compilation.”

It’s been a long time since I was introduced to an artist on a compilation but Anderson has fit right in with my work-from-home soundtrack this week with his song celebrating some of his cherished unscripted moments in life before the pandemic.

In a note on Bandcamp, Anderson explains the background of the song.

“For me, large-scale crises like the current pandemic cast into much starker relief the ways in which we are all interconnected and how easy it is to forget that or take it for granted. This song was born of impending isolation, as I started thinking about my own search for purpose and community, especially during this new normal of social distancing. To that end, I made a list of some treasured unscripted moments—memories joyful and bittersweet—and those I spent them with, moments I would live again in a heartbeat if I could.

Things are rough right now with the pandemic and the sheer nuttiness I can’t seem to stay away from online, but fortunately a groundhog in Philadelphia is here to remind us why we used to like the internet.

I find this video of this groundhog chowing down on a piece a pizza goes well with the band Pizza Time’s “Pizza Time,” a song my son likes to request on pizza night in our house.

It’s been a very long time since I wrote anything of substance about music or did more than obsess over my playlists in Apple Music but I’m happy to report that the passion and energy for music and content creation has been picked up by a new generation.

My nephew has been taking advantage of the extra time being confined to home during the coronavirus pandemic talking music with my brother on a new podcast he’s hosting called Rock N’ Roll Elementary School.

I am of course biased because I’m an extremely proud uncle, but the kid is legit good at this. Check out the first three episodes and subscribe on SoundCloud.