My Top 10 of the year 1. Hypoluxo - Hypoluxo 2. Frankie & The Witch Fingers - Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters 3. Adrianne Lenker -Songs 4. Porridge Radio - Every Bad 5. Damaged Bug - Bug On Yonkers 6. Keleketla - Keleketla 7. Tony Allen/Hugh Masekela - Rejoice 8. Doves - The Universal Want 9. Andy Bell - The View From Halfway Down 10. Lost Horizons - In Quiet Moments Honourable mentions..... James Elkington - Ever Roving Eye Widowspeak - Plum Fontaines D.C. - A Hero's Death King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G. Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink Hypoluxo is easily my number one album....Gets numerous plays everyday, great New York band. Not out on record yet so eagerley awaiting my cassette.
I'm going to add Song Machine Season One: Strange Timez by Gorillaz in my top ten. Easily the strongest album Damon Albarn has released in a decade,fantastic production, great guest appearances and also the most fun record I've listened in 2020.
I know Damon has a few projects that appeal to different music fans. I personally don’t like Gorillaz, but have you heard Merrie Land? I’m not your typical Damon fan because I think that is by far the best album he ever made, and it came out in 2018. I love the 2 albums he made with The Good, The Bad, and The Queen. Those albums got overlooked a bit, but they are genius. Not meaning to anger Gorillaz or Blur fans! Just wanted to spread some love for Merrie Land.
Did anyone post Rolling Stone's Top 50 of the year list? I don't see it: The 50 Best Albums of 2020 After being completely left off on the lists by Uncut and others, folklore is rightly crowned a masterpiece.
Resident Records (Brighton) Top 100 list. They even provide their own detailed online booklet to peruse. the resident annual 2020 - resident
They've done that before. I remember U2's Songs of Experience made the list before it came out in 2017. I guess they are flexing on their advance copies.
Reading that whole Rolling Stone list i can honestly say I'm shocked that Springsteen or Dylan didn't win it.
Here are 8 (in no particular order) that will make my top 10 of 2020. I am holding back a few for now because I am still waiting for one more album to be released (McCartney III) and I will then decide on the final two. The others that I am holding back that won't make my final list will be honorable mentions. Kansas - Absence Of Presence Demons & Wizards - III Deep Purple - Whoosh! Testament - Titans Of Creation Lady Gaga - Chromatica Grave Digger - Fields Of Blood AC/DC - Power Up Primal Fear - Metal Commando At the end of the year I will update my list with their final rankings, along with my top archival, reissues, live, and box set releases.
I like stopping by the Resident Advisor site once in a while, I do have it bookmarked as one of my favorite record review sites. Not much they review that I buy, but an occasional overlap. And their year end lists do have more overlap with mine, especially this year with Julianna Barwick and some of the other more ambient electronic albums I've been more in tune with this year. This one below is especially good, one of my top favorites this year, nice to see her getting some deserved attention, this latest record is outstanding, Faten Kanaan ...
Pretty terrific year for music, considering our worldwide crisis. My top new release faves, no specific order Fleet Foxes - Shore Sault - Untitled (Black Is) Nada Surf - Never Not Together Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways HAIM - Women in Music Pt III Madeline Kenney - Sucker's Lunch Sakuran Zensen - I Am Sakuran Zensen The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers War On Drugs - Live Drugs My Morning Jacket - Waterfall II Ray Lamontagne - Monovision Datura4 - West Coast Highway Cosmic Lucinda Williams - Good Souls Better Angels Malojian - HUMM Alexandra Savior - The Archer Colter Wall - Western Swing and Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs Tame Impala - The Slow Rush CeeLo Green Is Thomas Callaway Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher X - ALPHABETLAND M Ward - Migration of Souls Larkin Poe - Self-Made Man Gerry Cinnamon - The Bonny (so, is that 10? F me.) And some pretty fine reissues with mucho bonus tracks ... Prince - Sign O The Times Neil Young - Archives II (including Homegrown) Richard and Linda Thompson - Hard Luck Stories The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me (deluxe) Wilco - Summerteeth (deluxe) Iron City Houserockers - Have A Good Time (But Get Out Alive) The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup (worth it for Criss Cross alone!)
no order Stone Temple Pilots - Perdida Bobby Bare - Great American Saturday Night Smashing Pumpkins - CYR Marilyn Manson - We Are Chaos Psychedelic Furs - Made of Rain Kansas - Absence of Presence Chicano Batman - Invisible People Circle Around The Sun - Circles Around the Sun Testament- Titans of Creation Allman Betts Band - Bless Your Heart
In no particular order Waxahatchee- Saint cloud Elizabeth Cook - Aftermath Chris Stapleton - Starting Over Laura Marling - Song For Our Daughter Kathleen Edwards - Total Freedom Ray LaMontagne - Monovision (Grew on me in a huge way) Whitney Rose - We Still Go To Rodeos Jason Isbell - Reunions (although I didn't quite connect with this one as much as previous records) Steve Earle - Ghosts of West Virginia Neil Young - Homegrown Bubbling under/honorable mentions...While acknowledging they are very good I just didn't fully connect with them: Fleet Foxes - Shore Pretenders - Hate For Sale Lucinda Williams - Good Souls Better Angels Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher Allman Betts - Bless Your Heart (a band that works better on paper than in actual execution) Still curious to hear: Taylor Swift - Folklore Marcus King - El Dorado
I wanted it to be and, in the initial flush of release excitement, I was very happy to have Fiona back. I spent about two weeks desperately trying to convince myself that I loved it. And I did find it...stirring (is that the right word?) on my first few listens. It is certainly striking and parts of it appealed to me the way that The Idler Wheel had. However, the more I listened, the less I liked it and the more complicated my feelings regarding it became. Both musically and lyrically. Especially as I began to see some reviews that praised it as being significantly better than her previous work, which I did not and do not agree with. My slow realization that the album and I were jarring against one another is documented through the Fetch the Bolt Cutters thread. Most importantly, I simply haven't listened to it in months. I never want to. The music I gravitated towards in 2020 took care of me, rather than battered me as that album did. And it may be a masterpiece for someone else. It's a unique artistic statement. Just not one for me. "You don't have to apologize for growing, or learning or changing your mind." - Tori Amos
Bought Fiddle Back a couple of weeks ago. It's a wonderful release and is certain to be in my top ten when I compile it later today. Chris gets short shrift from a lot of Fairport fans, at least the ones who post on Talkawhile, but I think he is at least as good as, and certainly more consistent than, any songwriter who's been through their ranks. Just before the virus got a grip, I finally found a copy of the duo album he made with his brother John in 1976, The Ship Of Time. It's very accomplished indeed. Well beyond mere juvenilia and well worth a listen, if you haven't already heard it.
I agree on your comments re-Chris. If you actually look back, Sandy, Richard, Swarbrick etc actually wrote very few songs for Fairport (albeit the quality was very high). Chris continues to produce high quality material for Fairport for over 20 years now and is a great storyteller in the folk tradition. I reckon his solo albums Origins and Turquoise Tales are as good as anything (if not better) than anything that has been produced by the Fairport alumni. I found Fiddle Back captured the solitude feel of lockdown perfectly (although none of the songs are of this subject) and walking the dog through empty streets with this on my headphones was a phenomenal listening experience.
I somehow managed to miss Turquoise Tales on its release. I picked it up at the same time I bought Fiddle Back. I've been, essentially, treating them as a double album. It's interesting how well the Fairport songs work in their more pared down settings on these albums.
1: Christian Kjellvander - About Love and Loving Again 2: Avishai Cohen - Big Vicious 3: Moses Boyd - Dark Matter 4: Chritian Kjellvander and Tonbruket - Doom Country 5: Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire 6: Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher 7: Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers 8: Kanaan - Double Sun 9: Rival Consoles - Articulation 10: Fluxion - Perspectives
I came out of 2019 so deep in the hole that, even with my new job, I haven’t bought 10 albums of new music this year. And, honestly, I was underwhelmed by the Dylan and Fiona Apple records that so many seem to love. I do intend on picking up the new Springsteen, Bridgers, BOC and Phish albums after Christmas is over.
I was thinking about this last night but it is too early to say until the McCartney album comes out next week. It may or may not make the 10 (probably not) but 2020 isn't over yet, unfortunately.
If you don't have Origins, contact Chris direct. He had copies for sale but none on his website - I had to do a paypal transfer to him.
