YEAR END LIST: T&E Collective's Favorite Releases of 2020

The annual year end list hits a little different in a year like 2020. These are the songs that got us through isolation, strengthened us through uncertainty, guided us through the ongoing social justice movement,  and overall, helped us process this absolute dumpster fire of a year. Below you'll find over sixty albums from all genres that, despite all the turmoil of 2020, give us reason to celebrate.

​Noe's Picks

After a year like 2020, making a Top 10 year end list feels a bit absurd. Even though I would love to highlight the latest experimental wonders, I feel that it is way more important to use the end of the year to reflect on everything that happened. For me, it was a year of very profound learnings about injustice, race, social issues, and about understanding the capitalist machinery that was laid bare by the pandemic.

In my list, I would like to highlight some releases that are meaningful to this reflection. Music and art have the power to showcase the lived experience of others, convey important ideas, or imagine different worlds. The albums below gave me ways to better understand and process everything that happened through their powerful ideas, and helped me create empathy for those less fortunate than I. 

If you like these albums or any others, consider purchasing them through Bandcamp to support the artists.
​

Album: Immersion
Artist: Primitive Man
Favorite Song: “Consumption”

One of the most prominent impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is how it has laid bare the inner workings and failings of the capitalist machinery. It is a foul system that creates wealth at the cost of the dignity and well being of other human beings. In Immersion, Primitive Man explores the darkest depths of the human soul and its frustrations amidst this precarity. This is a bleak place of anger, despair, and nihilism that many are forced to live in everyday.

It is almost impossible for me to listen to Primitive Man on repeat, as their music is so abrasive that it leaves a lasting impact. With it comes an acknowledgement of the darkness of the world and a catharsis of my anxiety and despair. It is a powerful experience that serves as a reminder of the deep injustice and pain caused by capitalism, and the 2020 release that perhaps best captures our pandemic afflicted reality. 
​

Album: Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry / A bitter but beautiful struggle
Artist: Speaker Music
Favorite Song: “the tragedy of Black citizenship”

Speaker Music is the musical project of DeForrest Brown Jr, Black theorist, journalist, and curator. He produces bass and beat heavy electronic music that blitzes between the stereo channel, creating an arresting and bewildering experience that you cannot turn away from. In his latest two releases, he uses the music as a vessel for a bold political message that seeks to build communitary power and achieve liberation.

“Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry” is the more intellectually charged release, impregnated with theory and political thought that questions the whiteness of technology and explores how it can be re-appropriated by Black people. By purchasing, you can get access to a PDF filled with essays, poetry, and art that deepen the study of the subject. “A bitter but beautiful struggle” is the more visceral and emotional record, exploring the pain and anxiety inherent in this conflict.

Both releases are essential to understanding the protests, and DeForrest Brown Jr’s intellectual edge reminds us that philosophical/critical thought and understanding of structural issues is essential to properly responding to injustice. He and many other members of the black community have given me a profound understanding of the issues at hand thanks to their intellectual tools. 

I would also like to recommend his article How the Dance Music Industry Failed Black Artists, which is an essential piece to read for any fans of electronic music.
​

Album: Grial
Artist: Verraco
Favorite Song: “Sur - Furia”

With such a bleak political landscape, it is easy to lose hope and have no idea of what a better reality would look like. However, there are some that are imagining futures worth striving for. In “Grial”, Verraco creates an astounding IDM release from the heights of Colombia. Though the music is heavily reminiscent of classics such as Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada, Verraco infuses his songs with a sense of Latin American history and the stirring emotion coming from struggle towards a better world.

This year, I took a course on colonialism that through the ideas of non-white, non-Anglo European authors, shaped a new way of thinking on me that went beyond the limited vision of reason and western thought. Through it, I was able to understand the impact of colonialism, the ways through which it perpetuates its oppression, and the philosophies and ontologies that these authors are conceptualizing to create fairer conditions for everyone.

Grial feels like a distilling of the learnings from this course. It captures the violence and tug of war that exists between colonizers and the oppressed. It embraces “mestizaje” and “impurity” by celebrating the blend of IDM and Latin American sounds. It encourages pluriversal thinking, which accepts that many cultures with different worldviews can coexist and build together. And it is a stellar release that encourages me to reconnect with my mexican origins when the pull of western ideology seduced me for far too long.
​

Album: hybtwibt?
Artist: Space Afrika
Favorite Song: “dairyday4”

~ have you been through what i've been through? ~ 
_______________________
because you never asked me.
how it feels 

This year, filled with political turmoil and protests, has been an opportunity to learn about the realities of others and practice empathy. No other releases exemplifies this more to me than “hybtwibt?”, where Space Afrika creates sound vignettes that transport you into different lives and experiences. The beautiful ambient compositions and melodies evoke a time and place, sometimes filled with peace and hope, and sometimes coated in deep sadness and pain. These are coupled with field recordings and dialogues that place different subjects in these sonic worlds, bringing them to life. 

These are the stories of many different Black people, some struggling with the pain of being in constant danger due to racism, some going about their days with their friends, some looking out for each other in a heated protest, and some imagining what a better world would look like. It's an invitation to think of every individual we cross on the streets or see on the news, to put ourselves in their shoes and understand their pain. In a time where everything is so polarized and we easily dismiss, learning to love our fellow humans is essential. Perhaps then we will be willing to ask the other how it feels.

Album: Extreme Lockdown / Club Shanzai Bootleg Compilation
Artist: Various Artists
Favorite Song: It’s impossible to choose

Did you know that India has an active, kickass metal scene? Me neither. Did you know that China has a booming presence of club artists? I didn’t. When thinking about these genres, it's easy to think that the heart of the club lies in Europe, and the latest headbanging wonders occur in the USA. However, if we are willing to venture a little further into the world, we will find expressions of our favorite genres elsewhere, with new creative ideas and interpretations.

These compilations are awesome as they showcase hundreds of different artists, opening a window to a musical ecosystem that is brewing in cities on the other side of the world. It is a reminder that music exists elsewhere, and that it is damn good. For me, it is an invitation to learn more about different countries, cities, and cultures. It is an encouragement to remain curious about the other, instead of assuming that everything falls in a trivial stereotype.
​

Album: No Dawn For Men
Artist: Feminazgul
Favorite Song: “Bury The Antlers with the Stag”

The metal scene has a problem. Many problems in fact. It is mostly represented by men, many of whom are fascist, misogynistic, and gate keep the genre to anyone that doesn’t conform to white supremacist standards. Fortunately, many bands have taken a stand and tried to make the scene better for everyone, with many being overtly anti-fascist in their lyricism and activism.  Feminazgul is one of these bands. However, they stand out thanks to their feminist power. They want to reclaim the genre from the hands of men, and they are doing so with fantastic black metal.

Besides the amazing name, Feminazgul are devoted to fighting for a better metal scene, by deplatforming men, destroying gatekeeping (they welcome anyone, even if they haven’t listened to their music, to wear their t-shirts), and reinterpreting myths to provide a vision that empowers women and minorities. In 2020, after everything we have been through, it is unacceptable to have any more tolerance for bigotry and elitism. Everyone deserves to participate in musical communities while feeling safe. And what a better way of doing this than taking the spotlight because your riffs kick ass?
​

​Andrej's Picks

My top ten, in order from #10 to the #1 spot.
​

Album: The Eternal Resonance
Artist: Sweven
Favorite Song: “Sanctum Sanctorum”
​
Morbus Chron’s final album, Sweven, was a brilliantly psychedelic and progressive metal infused take on the classic Swedish death metal formula. It was a fitting evolution of the young band’s sound, but clearly an early farewell for such a talented and adventurous group. Thus, when Morbus Chron’s guitarist and main songwriter, Robert Andersson, announced he was returning with a new band, and one named after Morbus Chron’s swansong at that, the anticipation was immense. 
 
What’s surprising is just how progressive, dreamy, and emotional The Eternal Resonance ultimately is. The pensive and somber psychedelia first explored with Sweven is fully embraced here, with Swedeath riffs and motifs mostly absent from the hour-long runtime. Instead, the guitars and bass melodically stretch their legs, the drums flow between various progressive rock grooves, and Andersson’s trademark vocals sporadically appear, acting more as harsh counterpoint than driving force. The Eternal Resonance is an exercise in emotional introspection and soundscape exploration; while these themes made appearances in the band’s previous incarnation, with their debut release Sweven firmly push forward in their new direction.

Album: Alphaville
Artist: Imperial Triumphant
Favorite Song: “City Swine”
 
New York City is many things: a melting pot of sights, sounds, and culture; a mecca of glamorous opulence and wealth; a filthy, brutal monolith that takes no prisoners; an epicenter of artistic expression; a new start; or the end of the road. For avant-garde metallers Imperial Triumphant, NYC is a glaring symbol for the class and wealth inequality that is at the core of American life. Imperial Triumphant’s visual and thematic style, a retro futuristic framing of the juxtaposition between the mysterious, wealthy elites in their art deco high-rises and the squalid poor in the decaying expanses of the city, is as important as their sonic one. 
 
Ultimately, Imperial Triumphant as an avant-garde jazz band that uses black and death metal as core elements of their sound. On Alphaville we see both a maturing and solidification of the approach taken on their last few albums and a new breadth of experimentation that sets this latest release apart. The metal elements are as jagged, harsh, and atonal as ever, but the inclusion of a menagerie of new sounds from brass instrumentation and barbershop quartets to chaotic tribal percussion serve to further disorient the listener and, as ever with the avant-garde, expand the tonal pallete. Standouts like “City Swine” and “Rotted Futures” brilliantly balance modern dissonant free-jazz-infused metal with anachronistic passages, linking our fucked-up present to the fondly remembered, but equally fucked-up past. The music may not be, but the message is clear: whether it’s 1930 or 2020, while we die on the streets, the elites are having Eyes Wide Shut parties and losing the equivalent of your desperately needed stimulus check in their couch cushions. Now die swine!

Album: Melinoë
Artist: Akhlys
Favorite Song: “Pnigalion”
 
Atmospheric black metal’s adoption of dark ambient is a natural outcome of the genres’ shared approach to atmosphere and tone, with well-played dark ambient the perfect dance partner to black metal, oftentimes cleansing the palate while retaining the desired sinister atmosphere. Despite this style being so common in the modern black metal sound, I tend to avoid it, because frankly, it’s often pretty boring. But, amongst the countless stinkers a few glittering gems emerge that use both sides of the dark ambient/black metal spectrum to their full effect. In 2015, Akhlys made such a gem with The Dreaming I, a truly evil record that mixed keyboard-based dark ambient with disturbing black metal perfectly. This year, the band is back with Melinoë, a record with a different balance of dark ambient and black metal than its predecessor, but one with an even darker and more suffocating darkness permeating its sound. 
 
While the dark ambient interludes are less pronounced and separate than before, the keyboards themselves are a bigger part of the picture here, with the keys often following the guitars lead, but in a higher, eerier register. The fretwork too plays with the higher end of the scale at times – not in an overtly dissonant way, but one that’s meant to unsettle and capture that demonic-induced sleep paralysis thing the band is quickly making their trademark. At times, the album sounds almost industrial and sterile, but it never quite gives in and shows anything beyond the blackness of its tenebrous abyss. Melinoë is a further maturation of a unique brand of wickedness that expands Akhlys’s sound in new directions but retains a familiar sense of ungodly horror. If you’re looking for an album that’s genuinely terrifying, you’ve found it.
​

Album: Sulfuric Disintegration
Artist: Of Feather and Bone
Favorite Song: “Sulfuric Sodomy (Disintegration of Christ)”
 
Seriously, what is in the water in Colorado? The 2010s have seen the emergence of absolutely sensational death metal acts like Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice, and the more recent Black Curse, black metal cowboys Wayfarer, and that’s before we get to doomier bands like Primitive Man and Khemmis. It does help that many of the bands listed above share one or more members, but even unrelated bands, like Of Feather and Bone seem to share Colorado’s, and in particular, Denver’s current peculiar knack for releasing incredible metal music.
 
While the fully death metal sound on Sulfuric Disintegration is a more recent direction from Of Feather and Bone, who started life as a hardcore punk band, with their second release in this style, the band is already playing and writing songs like grizzled veterans. Sulfuric Disintegration sounds like a less spacey and more grindcore Blood Incantation at times; less technical and open-minded, but with that same crushing, macabre overtone that so many attempt to ape. Caked in absolute filth, the massive, cavernous production is perfect, whether it be for vicious, blast-a-thons like in “Sulfuric Sodomy (Disintegration of Christ)”, slow, grotesque sections like in “Noctemnania”, or even the Slayer-esque chaotic solos sprinkled throughout. None of the tracks here are attempting to reinvent the wheel or branch out into new territories like some others on this list, but where Of Feather and Bone keeps it simple, their songwriting, atmosphere, and monstrous riffs shine. Maybe it’s the legal weed, maybe it’s the craft beer, but whatever is going on in Denver, Colorado, it’s a special time for death metal in particular, and long may it continue.
​​

Album: Skáphe3
Artist: Skáphe
Favorite Song: “IX – The Lowest Abyss”
 
I’ve always been partial to psychedelia in metal music because it’s usually much more interesting than the one-noted psychedelia typically explored in progressive rock circles. As anyone with their fair share of psychedelic experience will tell you, not every trip is rainbows and sunshine – sometimes things go horribly, horribly wrong, and your mind-bending trip turns into a mind-melting journey through agonizing surrealism impossible to describe. Even within this latter category though, there are distinct differences to the madness. Is it simply a flavour of overwhelming fear and horror? Or is it the outcome of relentless waves of unspeakable insanity that culminate in a terrifying break with reality? It is at the nexus of these madnesses that Skáphe typically operate, having shown a propensity for capturing different forms of mental delirium on tape. 
 
With Skáphe3, yet another form of lunacy is explored, as noisey interludes and motifs are mixed with shrill dissonant guitar runs and superhuman machine-gun-like percussion. Here, Skáphe are less heavy and opaque than in previous outings; the production is deliberately clearer than usual so that the more complex compositions aren’t buried. The sound is less an ominous and mysterious fear of the unknown and more that evil revealing its disturbing, sickly form. That form in turn is a nauseatingly precise and layered torture of the senses. Much like listening to the music on Skáphe3, attempting to adequately describe its tormented absurdity becomes harder the longer you take part, though in the latter case the difficulty is clearly due to the dwindling number of synonyms for insanity I have left. The simultaneous continued incrementing of song numbers and of psychotomimetic tendencies of Skáphe’s releases gives the impression they’re on a descent through progressively deeper levels of some alternate hallucinatory hellscape dimension; will you follow on them on their latest nightmarish trip? 

Album: The Sanguinary Impetus
Artist: Defeated Sanity
Favorite Song: “Imposed Corporeal Inhabitation”
 
Technical brutal death metal veterans Defeated Sanity have been releasing outstanding, genre-defining albums since 2007’s Psalms of the Moribund. Throughout this long history, Defeated Sanity have set themselves apart from their contemporaries with a finely tuned balance of the technical and brutal sides of their niche subgenre, refining and expanding upon their trademark approach of soul crushing riffs and slams with flourishes of jazzy drum breaks and bass runs. The Sanguinary Impetus instead eschews this approach entirely, cranking up the technicality to near incomprehensible levels, and nearly flipping our beloved German recipe on its head. 
 
Every moment of the album is a neck-snapping, disorientating, and crushing jazz-from-hell odyssey that often doesn’t bother attempting to pass as traditional song structure, groove, or really anything familiar to us mortals. But it’s the band’s very human and familiar roots in 70’s avant-garde and jazz that saves such an ambitious effort from devolving into an instrumental wank-a-thon. The virtuosity serves to bring forth a familiar brutality, though in a gruesome new form. While Defeated Sanity’s trademark, de-tuned, slow, slamming sections are fewer and far between here, the sheer density of the compositions captures that same heaviness, whether it be during finger-bleeding atonal guitar/bass shreds, mind-melting polyrhythmic drum grooves, or the now technicality-superpowered slams that Hulk-smash you into the ground like never before. The Sanguinary Impetus is clearly a big statement from Defeated Sanity, and not unlike my mother’s reaction upon seeing my shirt for the band’s Chapters of Repugnance album, us listeners can do little else but be shocked and enthralled by its otherworldly message.

Album: Viperous 
Artist: Vredehammer
Favorite Song: “Winds of Dysphoria”
 
Contrary to popular belief, Norway isn’t all fjords and mist. It’s not quite the multi-cultural melting pot we have in the US, but the same Norway with those breathtaking natural landscapes is home to a highly modern society with that unique Scandinavian flavor. This diversity is reflected in the country’s music, be it their frankly weird free jazz, wonderfully European electronica, or various metal scenes. With their third album, Vredehammer add a classic to the country’s lesser known industrial-tinged black/death metal style’s canon, managing to squeeze together black metal riffs that would make Thorns proud, hyperfast guitar/drum combinations like that of countrymate’s Keep of Kalessin, overt use of 90s style electronica, and crushing modern death metal. 
 
Viperous is a maturation of Vredehammer’s sound, more effortlessly swinging between industrial black metal and industrial death metal. The band’s fluidity across genres allows them to seamlessly meld disparate styles of riffing and song structure, effectively blurring the lines between death-infused black metal, blackened death metal, and industrial metal. Bandleader Per Valla’s vocals are restrained, lower register rasps that allow the mechanically pummeling drums, spacey keyboards, and thick-toned guitars to come to the forefront. Special mention needs to be given to the keyboards, which in the hands of less abled musicians would be a nuisance. On standouts like “Suffocate All Light” and “Aggressor”, the keyboards are an overt part of the instrumentation, diversifying the tone of the riffs and drums, and codifying that bleak, heartless industrial atmosphere. At times Zyklon, at times Thorns, sometimes Rammstein, and simply outstanding, Vredehammer’s Viperous is the musical equivalent of a pristine Scandinavian bulldozer that flattens you with ease.

Album: Uinuos syömein sota
Artist: Havukruunu
Favorite Song: “Kunnes varjot saa”
 
Pagan/Viking themed black metal was some of the earliest metal music I got into, though it’s not a subgenre I find myself particularly steeped in these days. Still, when a fantastic album in that vein comes along, the ol’ nostalgia kicks in and I feverishly blast it ad nauseum, my fondness for the style and my clear bias elevating it to unimaginable heights. It came as a shock then that despite 2020’s general shittiness, this year had not one, but two fantastic pagan black metal releases. Releases that not only justified my irrational hype, but delivered fantastic guitars, pounding drums, and thrilling takes on that classic Nordic vibe. 
 
Havukruunu’s latest album is first up, with its rather upbeat balance of the rawness of Finish black metal and traditional heavy metal melodicism that is so synonymous with the style. The individual songs of Uinuos syömein sota are tight, well-written affairs that harken to frost-bitten battles with fellow men and giants alike. But it’s the perfect balance of the constituent elements, the epic, ripping black metal, the uber-catchy Bathory-esque hooks, the neoclassical solos, and that delightfully raw production that combine to make wholes greater than the sums of their parts. I’ve always appreciated the variety of dark, evil, and monstrous atmospheres black and death metal bands can conjure, but when a pagan metal band is firing on all cylinders, the grand sense of scale of epic and ancient battles that their atmosphere creates can’t be beat.

Album: The Funeral Pyre 
Artist: Kvaen
Favorite Song: “Revenge by Fire”

Second on the list of fantastic Pagan/Viking themed black metal released this year is Kvaen’s debut The Funeral Pyre. As evidenced by my glowing praise for Uinuos syömein sota, this other album must be something special to displace Havukruunu’s effort. So why is The Funeral Pyre the better album? Simply put, the riffs are faster, more aggressive, more speed metal than heavy metal, and downright more vicious. Whereas Havukruunu calls back to Bathory’s Viking period and its epic battles, Kvaen merges those same sensibilities with the dirty, disgusting black/speed metal of Deströyer 666, reminding us that those same glorious battles were bloody, limb-lobbing sword fights to the death for the boots on the ground.
 
The Funeral Pyre starts by turning its Viking sword around and using that blunt, blood-caked handle end to bash in your teeth. “Revenge by Fire” shows you exactly what is in store with this album: a finely tuned balance of delicious black/speed metal riffs, melodic Pagan/Viking metal passages, and searing and often soaring vocals. While ‘riffs’ is the word that comes to the forefront when listening to Kvaen’s debut, the variety and placement of those riffs is what makes it stand out. Simply writing killer metal riffs is enough to get a Top 10 spot from a degenerate like me, but Kvaen goes beyond that, excelling everywhere the riffs go, be it the aforementioned speed metal headbangers, melodic, tremolo picked second-wave passages like in “The Funeral Pyre” and “The Wolves Throne” or somber, classic Viking worship like on “Yee Naaldlooshii”. The Funeral Pyre is simply bursting at the seams with well-written riffs across a variety of subgenres in a truly virtuosic display of style mastery.

Album: Visitations from Enceladus 
Artist: Cryptic Shift
Favorite Song: “Moonbelt Immolator”
 
Two of my favorite niche metal styles in the past few years have been Vektor’s space themed hyperspeed tech-thrash and Timeghoul’s (or more recently Cosmic Atrophy’s) unorthodox cosmic opera-esque death metal. For a band to finally combine these styles into one glorious, over-the-top, space-themed masterpiece (and to do so on their full-length debut no less) means that album, Cryptic Shift’s Visitations from Enceladus, has only one spot it can be on my albums of the year list. But Visitations from Enceladus is more than just a perfect fusion of two excellent styles of metal. Cryptic Shift’s sound is rooted in the aforementioned tech-thrash and old-school tech-death, but the band is talented enough to pull-off inspiration from everything from Cynic and Atheist’s demo days to Gorguts’ Obscura and extended bass noodling that wouldn’t be out of place in today’s modern tech death. 
 
The album opens up with the most ambitious cut, the 26-minute “Moonbelt Immolator”, a behemoth of staggering complexity that runs the gamut of ultra-technical thrash, impeccable guitar solos and bass runs, atmospheric-laden death metal sections of various styles, and scene-setting interludes that would feel right at home on Occurrence on Mimas. Everything you need to know about Cryptic Shift’s talent, aspirations, and modus operandi is captured in the opening track. But if that’s not enough, the three other tracks that round out the album maintain this insane level of consistency, albeit each showcasing another facet to their sound, be it the stunning bass work of “(Petrified in the) Hypogean Gaol”, the dissonant melodies of “The Arctic Chasm”, or the frenetic transitions of “Planetary Hypnosis”. Regardless of length or tonal scope, Cryptic Shift’s acute sense of songwriting is the guiding light for these young astral travelers. Visitations from Enceladus is truly a remarkable release, it is a jaw-dropping technical and creative effort, transporting the listener to the farthest reaches of the cosmos musically and thematically, reaching for the stars, and, most importantly, sticking the landing.

Honorable Mentions

11. Skeletal Remains – The Entombment of Chaos
12. Black Curse – Endless Wound
13. Svartkonst – Black Waves
14. Proscription – Conduit
15. Dearth – To Crown All Befoulment

Parisa's Picks
​

For obvious reasons, it was a challenge to be motivated or enthusiastic about anything this year. While normally I would listen to several new albums every day, I felt too burnt out this year to absorb any more emotions and carry on that tradition. Community radio stations, mainlyKEXP in Seattle, were the real MVPs for me this year. Listening to my favorite DJs share their mixes and stories from listeners around the world helped me feel connected during the most lonely and isolated times.

There was a huge advantage to not pushing as hard as I normally would with researching new releases, though. I learned to let music come into my life in a more organic way, and naturally create a soundtrack to the chaotic world we've been living in. So these are the albums that found a way into my life, and I think should find a way into yours too. 

And to continue on my annual T&E year end list tradition, I’ll be writing about them in haiku. (My list is in no particular order.)
​

Album: Nayda!
Artist: Bab L’Bluz
Favorite Song: “Illa Mata” or “El Watane”
​
Gnawa traditions
Soul of the Maghreb desert
Blues and psych infused

(You can learn how Bab L’Bluz combined ancient Gnawa traditions with electric psych rock in this interview I did with them here.)
​

Single: “Lockdown” 
Artist: Anderson .Paak 

No justice, no peace
An anthem for the movement
Voice of the people
​

Single: “Hurt”
Artist: Arlo Parks 

Pain and suffering
Won’t hurt so much forever
We will get through this

(Read my interview with Arlo Parks where we discuss intimacy, nostalgia and poetry here.)
​

Album: Shabrang
Artist: Sevdaliza
Favorite Song: “Lamp Lady”

Trip hop masterpiece
My Iranian icon
So proud I could cry
​

Album: 2020
Artist: Magik Markers
Favorite Song: “Surf’s Up”

Noise and dissonance
Unveil to show tenderness
A slow burning warmth

Album: Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical
Artist: Ranil
Favorite Song: “Las Oladas” but honestly every song is a 10/10

A lost treasured gem
Peruvian cumbia
like you’ve never heard

(P.S. - This is a 2020 re-release compilation of tracks from the ‘70s, but since most of these tracks never left the Peruvian coast ‘til now, it’s essentially a “new” release for most so I'm counting it!)

Album: acts of rebellion
Artist: Ela Minus
Favorite Song: “el cielo no es de nadie” or "dominque"

Minimal techno
Dance songs that you can cry to
A brooding affair
​

Album: Sexy Planet
Artist: Bonnie Banane
Favorite Song: “Flash”
​
Neo-soul French pop
A classically timeless sound
Brazen attitude

Album: Untitled (Black Is)
Artist: SAULT
Favorite Song: “Wildfires”

Valiant voices
Messages of Black power
Rhythm, blues and soul
​

Album: Global Control/Invisible Invasion
Artist: Ammar 808
Favorite Song: “Geeta Duniki (feat. Sasha)”

Carnatic music 
Polyrhythms meet heavy bass
This shit goes so hard
​

And here is my excessive list of honorable mentions in no particular order: 
"Idontknow" - Jamie xx
​“Antifa Dance” - Ana Tijoux
“Leyla bir Özge Candır” - Bülent Ersoy
“Agüita” - Gabriel Garzón-Montano (my fave music video of the year!)
“Rose Rouge” - Jorja Smith
All the new singles from Greentea Peng
All the new singles from Medusa TN (who I interviewed here)
Lightswitch EP - CHAII (read my interview with the NZ-based Iranian rapper here)
S/T - Shamir (read my interview with Shamir on self-evolution here)
Necroscape - tētēma (read my interview with singer Anthony Pateras here)
2017 - 2019 - Against All Logic
Black Kaveera - Nihiloxica
S/T - Keleketla!
​Honey for Wounds - Ego Ella May
Sons of Ethiopia - Admas
Untitled (Rise) - SAULT
SAWAYAMA - Rina Sawayama
I Disagree - Poppy
176 EP - Pozi
APKÁ! - Céu 
hybtwibt? - Space Afrika
Miss Anthropocene - Grimes
Heaven to a Tortured Mind - Yves Tumor
Zan - Liraz
Migrant Birds - Tootard
Magic Oneohtrix Point Never - Oneohtrix Point Never
Cenizas - Nicolas Jaar
Funeral Songs - fra fra
Ecstasy - Etran Finatawa & Disclosure
Immersion - Primitive Man
Less is Moor - Zebra Katz
I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep - Ghostpoet
Dinner Party - Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper & 9th Wonder 
Tinn Tout - Danyèl Waro
Love is the only way - Bep Kororoti & Akin
Fall To Pieces - Tricky
Cantus, Descant - Sarah Davachi 
All Thoughts Fly - Anna von Hausswolff
The Promise - Mehmet Polat
Lina_Raül Refree - Lina & Raüul Refree
Tamotaït - Tamikrest
We Are - Lucidvox
Ultra Mono - Idles
RTJ4 - Run the Jewels
No Visa - Captain Planet
Glsah Sanaanea with Shiran - Shiran
​

Ronny's Picks
​

Album: Help
Artist: Duval Timothy
Favorite Song: “C”
​
“What kind of music is this?” my wife asked me. “I have no idea.” It sounds as complex and precisely orchestrated as classical music, yet somehow as improvisational as jazz. Even the instrumental tracks could be described as lyrical, as if it’s hip hop, but when vocals do come in it sounds like R&B. And then the more you listen, the more you realize the piano and other live instruments aren’t operating alone; this is electronic music too. I put this on the list not just because it’s one of my favorite albums, but because this is my favorite artist of the year. As someone who adores all kinds of music, I am increasingly excited about new music because you can tell artists are increasingly incorporating an unprecedented diversity of influences. With this artist, it’s not just music either: Describing himself as a multidisciplinary artist across music, photography, textiles, painting, sculpture, design, cooking and video, Duval Timothy is a prime example of someone successfully tapping into that synthesis.
​

Album: The Dancing Devils of Djibouti
Artist: Groupe RTD
Favorite Song: “Raga Kaan Ka'Eegtow (You Are the One I Love)”

​On that same note, it makes sense that I would fall deeply in love with an album that melds a wide variety of styles. But as someone inspired by the infinite possibilities of electronic music to combine musical styles, I was somewhat surprised that the album that did it most effectively for me was performed by a nine-piece live band from Djibouti. Accurately described as “a stunning collision of Indian Bollywood, Jamaican dub and reggae, Harlem’s jazz era, Somali funk, and synthesizer melodies of the Red Sea,” it’s my favorite album of the year. The horn lines are infectious. The keys are full of praise. The rhythm section is tight as Fela Kuti. The energy sizzles colorfully like oil-drenched stir-fry in a blazing hot pan. If your feet don’t dance, your soul does. And tying it all together are the angelic voices of Hassan Omar Houssein, Guessod Abdo Hamargod, and Asma Omar. The last of these, most captivating on the second track , singing the words I can’t understand but feel. I feel it for this song, I feel it for my wife, I feel it for everyone I know and this giant insane planet of which we only get to experience a painfully blissful moment.
​

Album: 1988
Artist: Knxwledge.
Favorite Song: “do you”

What's the difference between downtempo electronic music and instrumental hip hop? Who cares. One of the best producers out of LA, and just one of the best right now, period, Knxwledge found time between flooding Bandcamp with mixtapes to drop a brand new, hella high-quality, full-length LP on Stones Throw Records. With only a couple tracks venturing beyond the two-minute mark, the album feels like a mixtape, except that you can tell it got a little more love and polish. Even the random samples are memorable. As Knxwledge tends to mix it up, not all the songs are strictly instrumental : Anderson Paak even tiptoes in for a delicious feature on "itkanbe[sonice]" (under NxWorries) . But overall the beats dominate, and that's all for the best.

Album: Still
Artist: Night Sea
Favorite Song: “HDSB”
​
Aside from COVID, which happened to everyone, the biggest thing that happened to me this year was that I moved out of San Francisco, which had been home for the past decade. I didn’t go far: just across the Bay to Oakland, so I’m still close to the SF suburb where I was born and raised. It was a long train of random, very intense thoughts passing through my brain—the madness of the pandemic, the daily thoughts of my own mortality, getting older, losing touch with friends, staying in touch with others, the move to Oakland plus the acceptance that the Bay Area has always been and will always be my home, and the need (more pressing than ever) to support artists—that led me this year to decide to consciously seek out, listen to, and support local musicians. And then I discovered this heavenly album. Made up of two guys from Oakland, Night Sea follows in the footsteps of dub techno legends like GAS (Wolfgang Voigt), Dettinger, and Rhythm & Sound. What I love is that while the feeling of dreamy lightness permeates the entire album, the pulsing bass shifts its rhythm from track to track: Here it’s pulsing four on the floor, here it’s a heartbeat, here it’s dubbed out even further. I’m proud to call this 50 minutes from my own backyard one of the best albums of the year.
​

EP: La vita nuova
Artist: Christine and the Queens
Favorite Song: “People, I’ve been sad”

The opening song on this EP is one of those songs where you’re like, was this made for life in a pandemic? (See also: Yaeji below.) But no, this is just life. Oh, and it’s not just the ennui part of life, but also the joie de vivre. It’s tears that come out like glitter, it’s plunging from a giant cathedral into a loved one’s arms. It’s 23 minutes of pristine indie dance pop. And damn, she can sing.

EP: AUNTIE
Artist: Ian Isiah
Favorite Song: “N.U.T.S.”
​
After being completely shook by Ian Isiah’s “Shugga Sextape (Vol. 1)” last year, I was delighted to learn that he was working with Chromeo for his newest work. The EP starts with a recording of someone on the street shouting hateful, transphobic things—and you never quite forget it. But then Ian Isiah launches into one of the most affirming, uplifting, loving soul funk jams of the year, and you realize there’s some work for you here; there’s something in that juxtaposition of love and hate. Perhaps: recognize the hate in the world, see it, but also be such a powerful force of love that nothing, not even the worst haters, can stop you. Just under a half hour long, the EP runs through vocoder-powered funk jams (“Princess Pouty”), chilled out groovers (“Bougie Heart”), and ends on a note that could almost be gospel (“Loose Truth”).
​

Album: A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean
Artist: Various
Favorite Song: “Momoto Carenado”
​
It wasn’t just my roots in the San Francisco Bay Area that tugged at my heart this year (see Night Sea above). It’s also now been three years since I visited my mother’s homeland of Nicaragua. That last visit was a monthlong joy, celebrating love and life with family and friends. Less than a year later, a movement erupted across the country in protest of the blatantly corrupt nepotism of the dictator president (he literally made his wife the vice president). They crushed the protests and they’re still in power, but the peace presiding now is an uneasy one. Add the pandemic, and visiting just hasn’t been in the cards for me. So I was grateful to stumble upon this compilation that featured a super creative electronic production by NAOBA, aka Tamara Montenegro, an artist focused on creating music inspired by native people's wisdom. For this album—collecting new music inspired by the song of endangered birds with 100% of the profits going towards the organizations working to protect them—NAOBA worked with the momoto carenado, a bird famous in Nicaragua for its flamboyant tail. The song itself actually incorporates the birdcall, but also builds sounds around it to create something completely new. And when I listen to it, I feel a little closer to my roots, and just a little more peaceful.

Single: “Lento”
Artist: Lauren Jauregui, Tainy

Like a lot of my friends, I have a running playlist on Spotify with my top songs of the year. Every once in a while, I’d put it on shuffle and either remove songs or like them even more. With this track, it was always the same: I just kept falling deeper and deeper and deeper in love. It’s so simple, but something about the production and Lauren’s lovely voice makes me feel like I’m almost right there... on the dancefloor... surrounded by a crowd... dancing ecstatically with another beautiful human being. And despite the crowd and the dancefloor and the DJ and the whole insane world, it seems to us that our movement to the music is all that exists.

Single: “WAP”
Artist: Cardi B feat Megan Thee Stallion

​Sorry for being as basic as a Pitchfork writer cramming in a three-martini brunch before the next COVID lockdown, but this song fucking rules. A quick word to the dudes who somehow found offense: it would be almost laughable if it weren’t so depressing that you forgot that you spent the last two decades jamming to dudes talking about how their dicks are so great. But whatever. Cardi B is hilarious, and Megan Thee Stallion is the rapper of the year: “WAP” is like the flaming cherry on top of the fine ass cake that was her “Suga” EP. Why is Kylie Jenner in the music video? I have no idea. Maybe you should ask yourself why you’re analyzing a Cardi B music video. The lyrics, the asses, the beats, the boobs, the fire, the flows, the tigers. So many tigers. Oh, and Rosalía! As the wise philosopher Missy Elliott once declared: “Let's just have fun, it's hip-hop man, this is hip-hop!”

Single: “Waking Up Down”
Artist: Yaeji
​
While a lot of cheesy lockdown-themed music came out this year, there were also a lot of songs about regular life that ended up sounding like they were planned for our current situation. Released one day before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and one week before the San Francisco Bay Area issued a “stay at home” order effectively shutting down offices, restaurants, and nightlife, “Waking Up Down” is one of my favorite examples of this. It’s very obviously just a reflection on celebrating the small wins in everyday life: You know, like waking up. Cooking yourself a meal. Or even just remembering to hydrate. Before coronavirus struck, anxiety was already plaguing millions of people. Yaeji understood this feeling and captured it in a bubbly, pop-inspired house track. It’s the perfect thing to dance to in your bedroom, or just to play in the background while you’re “making a list and checking down.”

Alex's Picks
​

Album: I Let It In And It Took Everything
Artist: Loathe
Favorite Song: “Two-Way Mirror”

One thing about 2020 that made me happy was that we were graced with a lovely new album from the Deftones. You’d be fair to assume I would write up a glowing review of that album here, both because I love that band and I need to hold it down for my city of Sacramento; however, there was another similar album from a young band out of Liverpool that caught my attention earlier this year and that I still listen to more. One listen to “Two-Way Mirror” will make it clear that Loathe are Deftones disciples, but I Let It In…  showcases their ability to incorporate their influences into their own style without treading into the territory of copycat idol-worship. The album also has plenty of punishing heavy riffs that put them in the same league as Gojira, Code Orange, and Meshuggah, yet Loathe still sound uniquely like themselves through it all. These Scousers made a heavy, dreamy, memorable album that can get you lost in your headphones. I’m looking forward to hearing more from them in the future.
​

Album: Under The Skin 
Artist: Code Orange  
Favorite Song:  "Sulfur Surrounding"

What a year it’s been for Code Orange. They released their new studio album, Underneath, right as coronavirus was beginning to explode in America, and their album release show in their hometown of Pittsburgh was cancelled as the public health measures that were being implemented across the country shut down music venues everywhere and brought the lives of touring musicians to a grinding halt. Instead of giving up and going home, Code Orange thought on their feet and quickly put together a live-stream broadcast of their performance to an empty venue while thousands of fans watched from home. In doing so, they revolutionized the entire music industry. Artists everywhere and across all genres followed their lead in order to adapt to the new normal.

Later in the year, they put together another live stream event that showed how outside-the-box this band can really think. Under The Skin is an acoustic performance based off the classic MTV Unplugged series, in which Code Orange heavily channels Alice in Chains’ performance from that program and strips down songs from all of their albums to date. As a bonus, they coupled the live event with a resurrection of MTV’s Headbangers’ Ball, with host Riki Rachtman interviewing the band members and playing music videos from Turnstile, Gojira, and more of their peers before the show started. It was a creative event in itself, but hearing the acoustic versions of songs by one of the toughest, heaviest bands in the scene showed how strong they are as songwriters. Code Orange has never kept anything about their band sacred, and their out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new mentality prepared them well to adapt to the challenges of 2020. We could all learn a thing or two from their example.
​

Album: Unlocked 
Artist: Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats  
Favorite Song: “‘Cosmic’.m4a”

Yes, I’m aware that this year gave us new music from Run The Jewels, Freddie Gibbs + Alchemist, and multiple releases from the Griselda Records family. Even with all those great albums, Unlocked was the hip-hop project that I kept coming back to the most over the course of the year. It’s a short, sweet, grimy-as-hell EP that clocks in at a grand total of 18 minutes long, but Denzel makes every second count in a concentrated punk-rap tour de force that can hang with the likes of MF Doom and the Wu-Tang Clan. Denzel takes no prisoners across the length of the EP, which warrants multiple listens in order to make sure you caught absolutely everything that he spits.
​

Album: Speed Kills
Artist: Chubby and the Gang
Favorite Song: “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”

You almost know what you’re walking into from the moment you lay eyes on the busy album art that calls back to that of Green Day’s Dookie. Chubby and the Gang’s aptly-named Speed Kills is an animated, no-holds-barred debut album from a bunch of rowdy West London hooligans. They adopt a classic 1970’s UK punk sound, slosh down a few pints in a pub off Uxbridge Road, and have a little bit of fun with their throwback style. The end result is a catchy, cartoonish cacophony of 100 mile-an-hour guitar riffs balanced by vocalist Charlie “Chubby” Manning-Walker brutishly barking out lyrics on issues such as trade unionism, police brutality, and working-class pride. I can only imagine that their live show is even more fun; I hope I can catch them on the road sometime soon.

Album: The Slow Rush
Artist: Tame Impala
Favorite Song: “Is It True”

Back in late February/early March, I was in Europe taking the solo travel adventure of a lifetime that took me through France, Switzerland, and Austria over the course of two weeks. I went snowboarding in the French and Austrian Alps, stayed out at the club until 6 AM with a beautiful French girl that I met at my hostel in Lyon, went to a live top-flight soccer game between two cross-town rival French teams, and ate some of the best food and drank some of the best wine I’ve ever had in my life. On the last night of my trip, before my flight back from Charles de Gaulle to SFO, I didn’t sleep. Instead, I got on a Jump bike and rode through the old, empty, misty streets of Paris while listening to The Slow Rush by Tame Impala. I did as much nighttime sightseeing as I could, rode up the Champs Elysees and pretended I was finishing the Tour de France, and ended my journey by smoking a joint of shitty Swiss weed underneath the Eiffel Tower at 5 AM before heading to the airport.

When I came back to the States, I immediately had to go to San Diego for a weeklong work trip and to spend the following weekend visiting old friends that I knew back in the Bay Area. I landed in San Diego on March 9; Tame Impala were in town for the first date of their first tour in support of The Slow Rush that night at the San Diego Sports Arena. The show was sold out, and tickets on Stubhub were expensive, but I had been wanting to see them for years and I finally had my chance. I bit the bullet and paid way too much money to go see them. They were incredible. They were one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, with a performance matched only by their lights show. They played songs from the new album for the first time ever live, along with older songs that brought back a flood of memories from the drunken misadventures in San Francisco that defined my mid-20s. I danced like no one was watching. I was a month away from turning 30. The past three weeks had been the perfect way to say goodbye to my 20s.

You know what happened during the rest of that week.

My final memories of the before times are some of the best memories of my life, and they’re attached at the hip to The Slow Rush. I need to give Tame Impala a spot on my list for that.


Honorable Mentions:
The Weeknd - After Hours
Deftones - Ohms
Code Orange - Underneath
Black Soprano Family - Benny the Butcher & DJ Drama Present: The Respected Sopranos
END - Splinters from an Ever-Changing Face
Hundredth - Somewhere Nowhere

Hazel's Picks
​

Album: What’s Your Pleasure? 
Artist: Jessie Ware 
Favorite Song: "Mirage (Don’t Stop)"

This is the one folks. 10/10 perfect, album of the year no contest. I don’t say this lightly but What’s Your Pleasure is the best pop album of the 2000’s---it edged out CRJ’s Emotion, which I never thought I’d say. What’s your pleasure is smooth, polished, sexy, disco inspired pop, there are no misses. “Step into My Life,” “Read My Lips,” and “Mirage (Don’t Stop)” is the best 1-2-3 of songs since “Run Away With Me,” “Emotion,” and “I Really Like You.” Not only that, but Ware pulls off this incredible 1-2-3 near the end of the album and it still packs one hell of a punch. Even the ballads are amazing! That kind of range is so impressive. I can’t recommend this record highly enough, moody bass, restrained but powerful percussion, a dynamic range not often seen in contemporary pop. It’s got it all. AOTY and best pop on the block. ​
​

Album: Róisín Machine 
Artist: Róisín Murphy
Favorite Song: "Jealousy"

Róisín Murphy dropped the single “Incapable” at the end of last year. It was another perfect piece of polished disco pop. The restraint of that song was incredible. The hi-hats come in about 4 minutes into the piece and it’s like, a moment. Not a bass drop but the addition of cymbals. I had no idea who Murphy was and immediately thought “there better be an album soon.” There was! A string of amazing singles, “Murphy’s Law,” “Narcissus,” “Something More” ramped up my excitement for this album. All of these cuts showed up with significantly different edits in the LP, and they still work great! (The deluxe edition has all the extended 12” mixes, I highly recommend listening to those as well). If it weren’t for Jessie Ware this would be the best disco inspired release this year, and we’re lucky to have had so many! Murphy’s voice cuts through smoky atmospheres often pulled forward by amazing basslines and restrained drums. Another great pop record, though a little weirder than Ware’s.

Album: Cumbia Siglo XXI 
Artist: Meridian Brothers
Favorite Song: "Cumbia de la Igualdad"

This album! Wacky electro-cumbia with lyrics heavily invested in social equality, against machismo, fascism, totalitarianism. I’ve never heard anything quite like this record. Gosh does it bop too. There’s a goofy tongue in cheek reference to “Son of a Preacher Man” that I’m not quite into, but I’ve made many a breakfast dancing in my socks to this record. For fans of cumbia and scrappy electronic stuff!

Album: All Thoughts Fly
Artist: Anna von Hausswolff
Favorite Song: "Sacro Bosco"

All Thoughts Fly is a ripper of an organ album. I’ve been obsessed with the organ the past few years, especially women playing the organ, because I’m just like that. Sarah Davachi’s “Cantus, Descant,” (which narrowly missed this list), Maja Ratkje’s “Sult,” Ellen Arkbro’s “CHORDS,” Kali Malone’s “The Sacrificial Code”---there’s a whole lot and it’s all amazing! All Thoughts Fly, though, among this list, holds a lot of the restraint that all of these records thrive on, but also has some amazing moments of crescendo, of in your face loud melodies, and I love it. This album explores not only the timbral range of the pump organ, but it’s dynamic range as well. Top notch.

Album: Debris
Artist: Kelley Forsyth
Favorite Song: "Butterfly"

What a debut. This was out of left field for me. Keeley Forsyth’s voice gathers a lot of comparisons to Scott Walker. I’m not sure about that, but it’s singular, low, powerful, commanding, breathy. The production on these tracks is so minimal, it’s all about Forsyth’s voice and damn does it shine. This is one of the most unique albums I’ve heard this year. It came out way back in January, so I definitely thought it came out last year, but it didn’t! She’s since dropped a great EP as well, Photograph. Quiet moments of tape delay, texture texture texture, and powerful, cryptic lyrics. Big fan.

Album: Six Songs for Invisible Gardens
Artist: Green-House
Favorite Song: "Perennial Bloom"

Green-House has turned out a spiritual successor to Mort Garson’s “Plantasia,” and it’s incredible. Aside from the theme and general synth tones, movements, atmospheres of Garson’s ilk, there’s also little bits and pieces that remind me of Haruomi Hosono’s delightful quiet music. I think about Hosono’s “Watering a Flower” all the time. This album fits so well into the small delightful pantheon of soft synthesizer music about plants. 

Album: Red Sun Through Smoke
Artist: Ian William Craig
Favorite Song: "Weight"

I’m a huge fangirl of Ian William Craig. There’s nothing quite like his textures, his voice, and his use of tape loops/distortion/space. This album is no different. Not quite as subdued as last 2018’s “Thresholder,” this new record features a lot of plaintive and sparse piano and is relatively quiet. This brings a lot more emotional immediacy to the forefront, but doesn’t sacrifice the wonderful atmospheres, and beautiful multitracked vocal harmonies that are Craig’s hallmarks. For fans of textures over structure and rainy days.
​

Album: To Myself
Artist: Baby Rose
Favorite Song: "Sold Out"

Baby Rose’s voice has shades of Nina Simone, and the production of all these tracks is so wonderful. I don’t know how much the labels “soul” or “r&b” mean these days, but this album is one of my favorites in whatever that genre looks like. I pause here because generally white artists’ music is called “pop” and Black and brown artists’ music is called “r&b.” Something worth dissecting but I don’t have the time here. In the neighborhood of quiet, emotional songs focused on voice, and using much more complicated chords/progressions than radio pop, this album shined (shouts out to Lianne La Havas as well). Rose’s voice is just amazing, and the emotion she pours into each song is amazing. When I’m in a pouty sort of mood, I throw this record on, almost without fail.

Album: Global Control / Invisible Invasion
Artist: Ammar 808
Favorite Song: "Mahaganapatim"

God this album rips. Ammar 808 brings a lot of Maghrebi artists and textures to this record. There’s a ton of features. There’s a ton of bass too. The dance tunes on the record really foreground the polyrhythms found in lots of percussion the so-called “Middle East.” Ammar 808 blows these rhythms into massive engines driving these songs forward, relentlessly piling on layer on to layer until each of your limbs is trying to dance to a different beat at once. It’s amazing! I find myself drumming on the steering wheel every time I throw this on in the car. Bops! Bangers!. 
​

​Ray's Picks

In no particular order:
​​

Album: Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Artist: Yves Tumor
Favorite Song: "Kerosene!"

Is there anything Yves Tumor can’t do? They try on genres like we try on clothes. Their fourth album delivers a lot of twists and turns, from the laid back closer “A Greater Love” to smoldering, borderline industrial tracks like “Medicine Burn” and “Folie Imposée”. “Kerosene!” is my absolute favorite though, recalling grunge hits of the 90’s and featuring searing vocals from Diana Gordon.  

Album: Lianne La Havas
Artist: Lianne La Havas
Favorite Song: "Sour Flower"

Lianne La Havas’ self-titled third album was a breath of life into an especially challenging summer. La Havas combines pop-folk songwriting sensibilities with jazzy instrumentals and an absurdly powerful voice into a collection of songs that explores the progression of a romantic relationship, and absolutely crushes me in the process. Standouts include Radiohead cover “Weird Fishes”, “Please Don’t Make Me Cry” and “Can’t Fight”, but “Sour Flower” is stunning and one of my favorite songs of the year.
​

Album: Synthetic Soul
Artist: Chiiild
Favorite Song: "Back to Life (ft. Shungudzo)"

I wrote about this album back in the April Collective Collaborative blog around the time I first discovered it, and it’s been on repeat ever since. The album title perfectly captures the sound of this debut - soulful hooks over infectious beats and melancholic instrumentals. It was hard to pick a favorite, but “Back to Life” ft. Shungudzo takes the cake, between the catchiness of the chorus and the relevance of its lyrics to the events of this summer - “Tell me what we're learning / Guess no one read the history we're burning / Don't understand the way the world is turning / Are we movin' backwards? / If there's a God / I hope she's Black / And when I die she brings me back, back to life, back, back to life”.

Album: græ
Artist: Moses Sumney
Favorite Song: "Bless Me/Before You Go"

Moses Sumney left it all on the table with this gorgeous, sweeping, genre-defying double album. Sumney’s voice is haunting and otherwordly, and the slow-build to the anthemic conclusion of “Bless Me” and outro track “before you go” feels like a gift. There’s a lot going on in this album and it’s definitely best consumed in its entirety, all at once, but some other standout tracks include “Neither/Nor”, “Two Dogs” and “Me in 20 Years”. 

Album: Waking Hours
Artist: Photay
Favorite Song: "Pressure"
​
This whole album goes so hard and has been on repeat for me since it came out in June. Photay’s third full-length is still full of all the heavy-hitting, syncopated beats and lush instrumentation you’ve come to expect, but is unique in that he actually sings on most of the album’s tracks, usually to great effect. “Pressure”, “The People” and “Rhythm Research” standout among a beautiful album start to finish. 

Album: Shore
Artist: Fleet Foxes
Favorite Song: "Going-to-the-Sun Road"
​
Ok, maybe it’s a little basic of me, but I’m a huge Fleet Foxes fan, and this album dropping in late September was a much-needed brightspot at a time when the seasonal affective disorder usually starts coming in hot here in Seattle. Their fourth album is full of warmth and is thankfully light on the medieval-folksiness of their earlier work. The refrain on “I’m Not My Season” - “Time’s not what I belong to / and I’m not the season I’m in” - is a nice reminder to all of us that the hellscape we are currently living through is (hopefully) not forever. Other highlights include “Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman”, “Going-to-the-Sun Road” - which features a guest spot from Brazilian singer-songwriter Tim Bernardes (his 2017 album Recomeçar is great) - and “Sunblind”, a tribute to some of the late great giants of American songwriting, from Jimi Hendrix to John Prine. 

Honorable Mentions, also in no particular order:
Sucker’s Lunch - Madeline Kenney
It Is What It Is - Thundercat
I’m Your Empress Of - Empress Of
Freeze, Melt - Cut Copy
What Kinda Music - Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes
A Written Testimony - Jay Electronica
Inner Song - Kelly Lee Owens
The Slow Rush - Tame Impala
Brightest Lights - Lane 8

A. Iwasa's Picks

​In all reality, half of my favorite albums for 2020 came out a while ago as I try to keep an open mind about finding new to me old music.  Also, COVID shutting down shows ended my runaway favorite way to find new music.  But the fact remains, this was a good year for new music!
​

Album:  The New Abnormal
Artist:  The Strokes
Favorite Song:  “The Adults Are Talking”

​The first track on The Strokes new album gets it off to a good start, then every following track delivers in its own way.  My favorite album of theirs remains Room On Fire, but it's great to know this band can continue to make phenomenal and original sounding rock ‘n roll.  Well worth the seven year wait, and a nice touch for a year that's been pretty rough on many of us.
​

Album:  The Ride
Artist:  Bad Cop Bad Cop
Favorite Song:  “Pursuit of Liberty”

​Another strong album by a great band.  High energy pop punk with many combative in all the right ways yet frequently celebratory lyrics.

Album:  Kicks, Hits and Fits
Artist:  The Exbats
Favorite Song:  “Doorman”

I quite literally stumbled across this album's release party while slumming 4th Ave., when a comrade from Food Not Bombs invited me to go see the Wanda Junes, who I had been really into back in 2014.  The Wanda Junes were great, but the two musicians I liked the most had left the band.  As luck would have it, I stuck around for the Exbats, who totally stole the show.  An intergenerational family rock band, with, fun lyrics.  Great harmonies both vocally and in the guitar work. 
​

Album:  Hammering Upwards
Artist:  N.C.N.S.
Favorite Song:  “Scratch Match”

​Reminiscent of circa 1965 Los Angeles bar rock bands like Love and The Byrds, Tucson's own N.C.N.S. play rock ‘n roll that still sounds fresh and original.

Album:  The Passion Of
Artist:  Special Interest
Favorite Song:  “With Love”

​I'm not an expert on any kind of electronic/industrial music, nor has it ever been my thing.  But everything I've ever liked about it is nailed by Special Interest's new album.  I was shocked to learn this band is relatively new, I had no idea people still made music like this.  They have got the skills and the energy, it will be interesting to see how they evolve.  I'm sure they are a blast live, and they top my list for bands I'm looking forward to seeing when shows are safe again.

​