Here it is - the big reveal! As you can imagine I've spent a great deal of time listening to new music this (last) year and that has made itself blatantly obvious as I tried to whittle down to my top 10 albums. There was so much that deserved recognition that you'll see an expanded countdown below (and extra content in the way of a long-list and top EPs still to come - so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out)!
Starting From Twenty
#20. [Grand Pop] Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
#19. [Hip Hop of Import] Run the Jewels – RTJ4
#18. [Indie Songstress] Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
#17. [Boppy Pop] Vistas – Everything Changes in the End
#16. [Adult Punk] Sløtface – Sorry for the late reply
#15. [Indie Rock] The Flaming Lips – American Head
#14. [Epic Pop] Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension
#13. [Lovely Electro] Caribou – Suddenly
#12. [Folk Rock] The Howl & the Hum – Human Contact
#11. [Pop Folk] Donovan Woods – Without People
The Top Ten
#10. [Punk] Dogleg - Melee
· I love the Sound of this record; it deserves no less than 9 on the volume dial. Very much a guitar-forward record, it is the absolutely crushing – just pum-mel-ling – drums that raise it up. A herky-jerky punk rock record with shout-along vocals that has been universally adored by everyone I thought might remotely appreciate it. What a wonderful debut album. Never change, Dogleg.
Just One Song: I listened carefully in search of a stronger track than my initial pick, Fox, but it doesn't exist. The group vocals are like the Swiss flag - a big plus, the guitar line is one of their best, and the tempo changes keep you, the listener, on your toes.
#9. [New Wave] The Killers – Imploding the Mirage
· Expectations are powerful. When The Killers burst onto the scene with the follow-the-bouncing-pronouns Somebody Told Me [2004] we were all delightfully curious about this little-known Vegas band. Despite some frankly middling albums since then, not to mention early rumours of terrible live shows, they managed to more than just stick around and have risen to the top of huge festival bills. (I’ve always suspected this to simply be the Mr. Brightside effect.) Therefore, it was with due diligence and not enthusiasm that I hit play on ‘Imploding the Mirage’ in August… and my expectations were blown out to sea. A grand, triumphant album, smashing ‘80’s new wave into their contemporary pop roots. Don’t be put off by the past; implode your own mirage.
J1S: BOOM BOOM! The first two words of the lines in the chorus make me want to double throw my fist and yell every time. Also, major kudos to Weyes Blood for the complementary vocals. BIG LOVE! MY GOD!
#8. [Pop Punk] girlfriends – girlfriends
· What started as a guilty pleasure is ending up on my year-end top ten. I worried the production was too slick, the punk was too pop, that it was somehow too catchy, that the lyrics were too juvenile (okay, this one is occasionally true.) Yet over and over when I flipped open my phone to select a record my thumb darted to girlfriends by girlfriends before my brain could override. And I was never disappointed. It brings me back to the best of the millennium pop punk – the blink-182’s and the Yellowcards. I will no longer deny myself and proudly admit, no, declare: I like girlfriends.
J1S: It's like John Feldmann [Goldfinger] keeps mining the same California and the gold rush continues. After his production work on blink's comeback album of the same name (with an eponymous track even) he has now helped girlfriends with their biggest single, an earnest gem with the same handle.
#7. [Timeless Punk] The Lawrence Arms – Skeleton Coast
· The Lawrence Arms have been around for some two decades and in Skeleton Coast they have made a timeless punk album. [Full disclosure, I never listened to them before this and have yet to deep-dive their back-catalogue.] I can imagine listening to Skeleton Coast before the turn of the century in my most punk days and liking it as much as I will when I’m reviewing for my “Best of the 20’s” lookback come December 2029. The rock instrumentation is clear and straight-ahead, yet engaging, while the juxtaposition of Brendan Kelly’s gritty rasping with Chris McCaughan’s clearer vocals varies the feel from song to song.
Just One Song: I said it originally and stick with the choice. Last, Last Words with it's mid-song breakdown and chugging guitar restart showcases The Lawrence Arms' strengths in just shy of three minutes.
#6. [Indie Folk] Taylor Swift – folklore
· Not only did Taylor Swift shift genres yet again in her career but she totally smashed indie-folk just as well - or maybe better than - she has country and pop. The woman is mind-bogglingly talented and it’s an absolute pleasure to have her demonstrate it time and again (and once more with late 2020’s ‘evermore’). One of the added bonuses of the stripped back instrumentation and production is that the outstanding storytelling comes to the fore. Exhibit A, B, and C are cardigan, betty, and august, each of which portray one side of the same love triangle, whereas the last great american dynasty stands on its own. Honestly, it would be a push to name a truly weak minute of this hour-long album.
J1S: From the very first piano key exile connects. A gorgeous, romantic interplay between Taylor Swift and Justin Vernon [Bon Iver] that grows to its heart-breaking climax with the contrasting “You never gave a warning sign/I gave so many signs” making the hair on my neck stand.
#5. [Folk] Rose Cousins – Bravado
· The subject matter is laid bare from the opening track title and though it may seem heavy Rose Cousins manages to make this a gorgeous, exultant album through and through. Her approach is commendable in that it strikes just the right balance of emotionally bared, matter-of-fact, with the right hint of humour. On top of this the music matches it perfectly. Varying between raw finger plucking guitar, tumbling piano keys, lush strings, and even brass in all the right places, this is a bold and downright praiseworthy piece of art. It deserves an impulsive, immediate standing ovation.
J1S: This song may not show off the fuller sound of the record as this is just Rose and her piano, but The Time Being (Impending Mortality Awareness Society) does display a brilliant mix of earnestness and tongue-in-cheek humour.
#4. [Metal] Protest the Hero – Palimpsest
There’s a lot of metal tropes that end up being a turn off. ‘Palimpsest’ tiptoes the fine line of all the best aspects of the genre without overindulging. For example, it’s technical with plenty of tricky electric and bass guitar lines but overall is oh so melodic. The schmaltz is definitely there - that album cover with the torn stars and stripes on the horn, and the near-future, matriarchal, alternative American reality lyrical concept (what?), but it’s veiled enough that from song to song it’s not overwhelming. And yes, it’s loud but it’s offset with quiet too – like the piano interludes on all of the -side songs (Harborside, Mountainside, and Hillside) that provide welcome reprieve and assist with the overall pacing. Add to all this the grand touch of the symphonic strings and everything comes together perfectly.
J1S: Wanta taste of everything touched upon in the description above? Press play on Reverie, which uses the strings to the fullest of any song here.
#3. [Dance] Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
· Stacked dancefloor to disco ball with absolutely massive bangers, it is no wonder that Dua Lipa has been a mainstay of mainstream radio all year. The production quality is top notch, sounding big, bold, and hitting all the right beats, and whoever decided to pair the violins with that Your Woman [Whitetown] sample on Love Again deserves a Grammy or something. Yes, it’s a lot of love/lust and love-lost lyrics but they’re smarter and more genuine than the majority of this genre, and Dua’s delivery is ace. Plus, she uses her platform on the closing track to call out the patriarchy and normalization of male violence with Boys Will Be Boys.
Just One Song: Sure it's her biggest tune but could 1.2 billion plays on Spotify be wrong? (Editor's Note: Yes! They absolutely could be, and are in many instances.) Don't Show Up totally throws down with the provocative lyrics, the strings, the slap, not to mention the cowbell.
#2. [Strange] Bartees Strange – Live Forever
· At the age of 30 Bartees Strange got sick of his friends pestering him and signed up for one of those silly talent shows. Expecting nothing he arrived in front of the panel of judges and played his first song but when it was over there was no response. So he continued... and continued... crossing genres and moods, from chilled indie to acoustic, rock to dance beats, all the while crooning with his most magnificent soulful voice. After a half hour he had exhausted his existing catalogue and finally stopped. The judges who had been gaping at this multi-talented virtuoso finally gathered their jaws from the table to heap praises on the performance. A blank cheque was cut, the show was renamed “Bartees Got Talent”, ‘Live Forever’ was born.
J1S: Honestly, I can’t give you one song that would encapsulate everything that happens here. It’s 35 minutes well worth your time. I do love Flagey God “with its disorienting bassy rumble and electro beat overlaid by his smooth vocals,” to quote myself from earlier this year.
#1. [Rage Punk] Spanish Love Songs – Brave Faces Everyone
· Shamelessly - meaning just that, without shame - SLS lay bare what it’s like for an unfortunate number of millennials facing society today. It encapsulates the anxiety and angst of the minimum-wage-in-the-internet-age, still living at home, over-medicated and over-stimulated. It’d sound emo if it weren’t so damn true, and tragically poetic in the face of it all. Yet Dylan Slocum and his LA band rage against it in a way that would surely have created the world’s biggest frustration-purging mosh pit this year, had the fucking pandemic not locked us all down, ratcheting these feelings of impotence further off the charts than previously imagined possible. This beauty of a punk rock record may not solve the system that’s stacked against us but it’s a lifeline to everyone who is dealing with the same bullshit. So brave faces everyone.
J1S: Losers is therapeutic in the way that punching a wall in response to whacking your head on a cupboard corner is. Bringing in the instruments one at a time is the only refuge before the all-too-real lyrics, but that’s exactly what this music is – but a momentary refuge. “It gets harder, doesn’t it?”
There you have it! The best of what 2020 had to offer in albums, according to yours truly. Agree? Disagree? Tell me where I went wrong, and even better still, what I missed. Roast my list; make me cry... start my new year right! In this case, do @ me (and subscribe while you're at it).
Keep those ears open.
-Stefan