The 2020 end of year music lists thread

Rough Trade first to kick it off as usual.

https://blog.roughtrade.com/albums-of-the-year-2020/

fucksake. still so much yet to come

Kinda wish I hadn't clicked on that.

lol I had the same reaction, the exercise feels particularly deadening this year for some reason. Yesterday, I walked by an apt that was already tricked out for Xmas and it looked revolting (didn't help it was 22˚ at the time)

We need a municipal bill to make that shit illegal before, say, Dec 15.

Also the lists increasingly, in many cases, feel like brand positioning exercises. Exceptions to this are dedicated genre lists, which are usually much more interesting

Idk, normally I'd agree with you but that RT list is a genre* list and is not interesting (to me)

* indie, to be specific, which I know is irritatingly nebulous, but I know it when I see it :)

Well it's an extremely bad indie list

Haha fair enough

gotta think record sales factor into rough trade's formulation a bit.

and the reason they make their list so early is that they're primarily a retail operation and want to give their consumers a gift guide.

I like Rina Sawayama's record quite a bit. Seems like Dirty Hit can't miss these days. Still, #3 is shockingly high!

watch me c+p the first 100 posts of last year’s thread

or alternatively:

wake me when you’re done, I guess you’re the only one having fun

this is my favourite time of the year though

Decibel's list is up, another early one:

40. Dark Fortress, Spectres from the Old World, Century Media
39. Fawn Limbs, Sleeper Vessels, Roman Numeral
38. Exgenesis, Solve et Coagula, Rain Without End
37. Megaton Sword, Blood Hails Steel – Steel Hails Fire, Dying Victims
36. Oranssi Pazazu, Mestarin Kynsi, Nuclear Blast
35. Svalbard, When I Die, Will I Get Better, Translation Loss
34. Enslaved, Utgard, Nuclear Blast
33. In the Company of Serpents, Lux, Self-released
32. Xibalba, Años En Infierno, Southern Lord
31. Wake, Devouring Ruin, Translation Loss
30. Cirith Ungol, Forever Black, Metal Blade
29. Proscription, Conduit, Dark Descent
28. Celestial Season, The Secret Teachings, Burning World
27. Midnight, Rebirth by Blasphemy, Metal Blade
26. Krallice, Mass Cathexis, Self-released
25. ACxDC, Satan is King, Prosthetic
24. Temple of Void, The World That Was, Shadow Kingdom
23. Atramentus, Stygian, 20 Buck Spin
22. Tombs, Under Sullen Skies, Season of Mist
21. Haunt, Flashback, Church
20. Kirk Windstein, Dream in Motion, eOne
19. Pallbearer, Forgotten Days, Nuclear Blast
18. Lamp of Murmuur, Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism, Self-released
17. Godthrymm, Reflections, Profound Lore
16. Dropdead, Dropdead, Armageddon
15. Ripped to Shreds 亂 (Luan), Pulverized
14. Vile Creature, Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!, Prosthetic
13. Of Feather & Bone, Sulfuric Disintegration, Profound Lore
12. Armored Saint, Punching the Sky, Metal Blade
11. Incantation, Sect of Vile Divinities, Relapse
10. Goden, Beyond Darkness, Svart
9. Paradise Lost, Obsidian, Nuclear Blast
8. Uada, Djinn, Eisenwald
7. Sweven, The Eternal Resonance, Svart
6. Necrot, Mortal, Tankcrimes
5. Spirit Adrift, Enlightened in Eternity, 20 Buck Spin
4. Paysage d’Hiver, Im Wald, Kunsthall Produktionen
3. Imperial Triumphant, Alphaville, Century Media
2. Eternal Champion, Ravening Iron, No Remorse
1. Napalm Death, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, Century Media

It gives the olds (Napalm Death, Paradise Lost, Göden, Incantation, etc.) more credit than they deserve at present, methinks.

I soured on the Imperial Triumphant after repeated listens – Vile Luxury was much more convincing in the songwriting department. Anyway, I haven't heard all of these (yet) but if I had to put together a top 50 today, the only contenders would be Paysage d'Hiver, Necrot, Lamp of Murmuur, Atramentus and Oranssi Pazuzu.

The Göden was especially bad. It simply doesn't stand comparison with its immediate ancestor (Winter).

Decibel's and my metal priorities this year have been...unaligned

Yeah, I'm not thrilled with that list. I like the Napalm Death a lot, but not nearly AOTY level, since I don't think it's as good as their last couple. I do really love the Imperial Triumphant and Paysage d'Hiver, so I'm glad to see those high up.

Don't get me wrong, the Napalm Death and Paradise Lost LPs aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination (I do think the Incantation is too bland for comfort, though). Like you said, they're just not EOY list material.

Looking at that list makes me feel like it was kind of an underwhelming year for metal.

paradise lost are on a streak of great records tho. napalm death too but i still haven’t heard the latest

Their top 3 will be on my list, and I'm happy to see Slift and Chuck Prophet. I'm glad they're at least delaying the coronation of Fetch the Bolt Cutters a little, because I expect that's going to top a lot of lists and I just have trouble sitting through it.

xpost - The Napalm Death is good! Don't get me wrong, not underselling it at all, but considering how killer their recent run has been, I can't help but think it pales compared to Apex Predator and Utilitarian.

Given Decibel's mainstream-ish proclivities, Deftones's non-inclusion is shameful imo or are they not 'extreme' enough for a list that puts Eternal Champion at #2?

(xposts my post was about Rough Trade not Decibel, obv.)

Figured, though it might have been cool to see Slift crack Decibel's list too!

I liked the Napalm Death, Imperial Triumphant, and Incantation albums a lot. On the other hand, I am completely done trying to give a shit about Enslaved and the Necrot was just OK. Glad to see Spirit Adrift place that high; I figured most critics would basically flip that one and the Pallbearer (which bored the shit out of me). The Deftones album is better than a lot of the other stuff (that I've heard) on that list; it's one of the best records of the year.

Things I included on my Wire year-end list that would have been cool to see on the Decibel list:

Neptunian Maximalism, Éons
Behold the Arctopus, Hapeleptic Overtrove
Xythlia, Immortality Through Quantum Suicide

Neptunian Maximalism presumably too eccentric for Decibel.

Why would you even try getting into Enslaved btw? It’s obviously not your cup of Nordic tea, just as I couldn’t give two shits about anything with ‘core’ in it (except maybe grindcore, and only up to a point).

enslaved are proggy enough for them to seem at least ostensibly like unperson's kind of thing, though i get why he doesn't give a shit

Fair enough. It’s true that BM has taken increasingly more of a backseat in their work over the past decade or so.

The Armed are probably gonna drop theirs inside the next 2 months anyway, rendering all existing metal lists hasty

Why would you even try getting into Enslaved btw? It’s obviously not your cup of Nordic tea

Between Below the Lights and Axioma Ethica Odini, they exhibited just enough potential on each album to keep me handing out second chances. At their Floyd-iest, they almost become something I could really love...but then the death growls come back and I give up on them again. At this point I've given up for good. (They were really boring the one time I saw them live, too, but they were the middle band between Skeletonwitch and Amon Amarth, so the odds were stacked against them.)

pvmic

xp

Enslaved’s Floyd impressions are very solid indeed and I do wish they’d tap into that vein (even) more often.

Stuff that wasn't on the Decibel list I might have included:

Neptunian Maximalism - Eons
Hum - Inlet (I know, not really metal but I would have pushed for it here)
SUMAC - May You Be Held
Deftones - Ohms (see Hum)
Old Man Gloom - Seminar IX
Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough Vol 1
Elder - Omens
Pyrrhon - Abscess Time
Lowrider - Refractions
Primitive Man - Immersion
16 - Dream Squasher

somehow I knew Sault would be at the top of that Rough Trade list. They'll no doubt top a lot of lists this year, even with vote splitting.

Don’t much care for OMG & Bell Witch but I liked all the others. Love the NM, Deftones and Lowrider in particular.

Glad to see someone else that liked the Lowrider, kinda took me by surprise with how great it was!

Same, it’s one of my most listened to metal albums this year, by far!

7. Sweven, The Eternal Resonance, Svart

out on Ván Records, not Svart

Yeah, looks like Decibel fixed that on their list now.

somehow I knew Sault would be at the top of that Rough Trade list. They'll no doubt top a lot of lists this year, even with vote splitting.

lol while I was listing to (Rise) last week I was wondering how the ilx year-end poll is going to handle that. Because that's the kind of thing I think about. (I mean, I assume they'll be handled as two separate albums, and will probably still do well in the poll. But you could make a case for treating them as a double album. Same with the two Adrianne Lenker releases.)

I counted the two Autechre albums as one when submitting my year-end list to The Wire. I bet lots of other people will too.

I'm kinda into lists this year more than the last few because there has been sooooo much good music released, it's one of the few bright spots of 2020 but also overwhelming. And it's still coming.

The Lenker ones were released and reviewed as one package, so I don't see a challenge with that one. I could def see some vote splitting with Sault though.

I definitely see both the Sault and Autechre releases as separate albums. I also look at the Lenker ones as separate, but think there is more of a case to be made for putting them together.

they are literally packaged together in shops

Decibel list makes me feel it has not been an outstanding year for metal

Decibel list is missing a LOT. Including loads of stuff that other ILXors itt haven't caught

victory over the sun, fortress of the olden days, psalm zero, lychgate, mamaleek, azusa, salqiu, couch slut, biesy, hail spirit noir, fucking MYSTRAS, molde volhal, crisis sigil, wyrmwoods

all unmentioned, all worthy. it's always been a good year

oh man i missed a new couch slut record? what am i doing

this is possibly going to be an interesting list year. Other than Fiona Apple I don't know what the consensus albums are. Folklore? Rough & Rowdy Ways? Jessie Ware? Phoebe Bridgers?

unless the critics have gotten more interesting, yes

should be charli obv

should be Brandy!! haha

UNCUT's AOTY has anticipated the ILM poll winner for the past 2 years! This will not continue:

75. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
74. Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown
73. Doves - The Universal Want
72. Tamikrest - Tamotait
71. Andy Bell - The View from Halfway Down
70. Bill Fay - Countless Branches
69. Honey Harper - Starmaker
68. Steve Earle & the Dukes - Ghosts of West Virginia
67. Matt Berry - Phantom Birds
66. Six Organs of Admittance - Companion Rises
65. Garcia Peoples - Nightmare at Wit's End
64. Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink
63. HC McEntire - Eno Axis
62. Aoife Nessa Frances - Land of No Junction
61. Elvis Costello - Hey Clockface
60. Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas
59. Julianna Barwick - Healing is a Miracle
58. BC Camplight - Shortly After Takeoff
57. Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela - Rejoice
56. The Lemon Twigs - Songs for the General Public
55. Khruangbin - Mordechai
54. Perfume Genius - Set My Heart On Fire Immediately
53. Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension
52. Hen Ogledd - Free Humans
51. Haim - Women in Music Pt.III
50. Margo Price - That's How Rumors Get Started
49. Gwenifer Raymond - Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain
48. The Necks - Three
47. Working Men's Club - Working Men's Club
46. Roger & Brian Eno - Mixing Colours
45. Bright Eyes - Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
44. Eddie Chacon - Pleasure, Joy and Happiness
43. Sarah Davachi - Cantus, Descant
42. Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine
41. Keeley Forsyth - Debris
40. Brigid Dawson & the Mothers Network - Ballet of Apes
39. The Psychedelic Furs - Made of Rain
38. Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman
37. Sparks - A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
36. Destroyer - Have We Met
35. Shabaka & the Ancestors - We Are Sent Here By History
34. Rose City Band - Summerlong
33. Bananagun - The True Story of Bananagun
32. The Flaming Lips - American Head
31. Afel Bocoum - Lindé
30. Cornershop - England is a Garden
29. Songhoy Blues - Optimisme
28. Lucinda Williams - Good Souls Better Angels
27. Kevin Morby - Sundowner
26. Rolling Blackouts CF - Sideways to New Italy
25. Nubya Garcia - Source
24. Moses Sumney - Græ
23. Paul Weller - On Sunset
22. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
21. James Elkington - Ever-Roving Eye
20. Bruce Springsteen - Letter to You
19. Brigid Mae Power - Head Above the Water
18. Frazey Ford - U Kin B the Sun
17. SAULT - Untitled (Black Is)
16. Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques
15. Fontaines DC - A Hero's Death
14. Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers
13. Tame Impala - The Slow Rush
12. Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
11. Jason Isbell - Reunions
10. Laura Marling - Song for Our Daughter
9. Shirley Collins - Heart's Ease
8. JARV IS... - Beyond the Pale
7. Bill Callahan - Gold Record
6. Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
5. Thundercat - It Is What It Is
4. Drive-By Truckers - The New OK
3. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
2. Fleet Foxes - Shore
1. Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways

idk, we are getting a bit old here

Ok, now that it's shown up on two lists - is that Jarvis Cocker record really that good? Or is this just a lot of folks glad to have him back around?

Xpost Yeah, it’ll be up near the top.

Jarvis is our Bob Dylan

The Jarvis popalbum is hrrrrm fine; the Keeley Forsyth and Brigid Dawson albums from the middle of the Uncut list are both really glowering and wonderful and poss a bit neglected here

Yeah that Brigid Dawson record is so good.

6 Music's Albums Of The Year

MOJO:

75. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Sideways to New Italy
74. U.S. Girls - Heavy Light
73. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Reunions
72. Wire - 10:20
71. Field Music - Making a New World
70. Angel Olsen - Whole New Mess
69. The Psychedelic Furs - Made of Rain
68. The Homesick - The Big Exercise
67. Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown
66. Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman
65. Beck - Hyperspace
64. The Lemon Twigs - Songs for the General Public
63. Car Seat Headrest - Making a Door Less Open
62. Ren Harvieu - Revel in the Drama
61. Chris Forsyth with Garcia Peoples - Peoples Motel Band
60. Doves - The Universal Want
59. Baxter Dury - The Night Chancers
58. Working Men's Club - Working Men's Club
57. Songhoy Blues - Optimisme
56. The Magnetic Fields - Quickies
55. Tim Burgess - I Love the New Sky
54. The Waterboys - Good Luck, Seeker
53. Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink
52. SAULT - Untitled (Rise)
51. Don Bryant - You Make Me Feel
50. Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension
49. Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas
48. Nadia Reid - Out of My Province
47. Tricky - Fall to Pieces
46. Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets - Live at the Roundhouse
45. Bruce Springsteen - Letter to You
44. Pearl Jam - Gigaton
43. Blake Mills - Mutable Set
42. Bill Fay - Countless Branches
41. Tame Impala - The Slow Rush
40. Thurston Moore - By the Fire
39. HAIM - Women in Music Pt. III
38. Lucinda Williams - Good Souls Better Angels
37. Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
36. Drive-By Truckers - The Unravelling
35. Rose City Band - Summerlong
34. Maria McKee - La Vita Nuova
33. The Necks - Three
32. Coriky - Coriky
31. Taylor Swift - Folklore
30. Sam Lee - Old Wow
29. Thundercat - It Is What It Is
28. Shirley Collins - Heart's Ease
27. Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques
26. Khruangbin - Mordechai
25. Sparks - A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
24. Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
23. Shabaka & the Ancestors - We Are Sent Here By History
22. Leonard Cohen - Thanks for the Dance
21. Mark Lanegan - Straight Songs of Sorrow
20. Nubya Garcia - Source
19. SAULT - Untitled (Black Is)
18. Toots and the Maytals - Got to Be Tough
17. Laura Marling - Song for Our Daughter
16. Nick Cave - Idiot Prayer
15. Frazey Ford - U Kin B the Sun
14. Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela - Rejoice
13. Moses Sumney - Græ
12. Idles - Ultra Mono
11. Paul Weller - On Sunset
10. The Flaming Lips - American Head
9. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
8. Run the Jewels - RTJ4
7. JARV IS... - Beyond the Pale
6. Cornershop - England is a Garden
5. Fleet Foxes - Shade
4. Bill Callahan - Gold Record
3. Fontaines D.C. - A Hero's Death
2. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
1. Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways

This is not a terribly exciting list and as ever there's approx a 60% overlap with Uncut but there's some great stuff tucked away in the specialist top 10 lists (each compiled by a single writer).

Beatrice Dillon is no.1 in the "electronica" list with K-LONE, Soft Pink Truth, Luke Abbott and Katie Gately also in the top 10. L'inattingible by Delphine Dora in the "underground' list is gorgeous in a vaguely Broadcast + Focus Group vein; Apká! by Céu is a lovely bit-overlooked trinket from the "world" list.

Also there's a nice Moses Sumney feature in the middle of the albums list with some nice photos of Moses Sumney taken by Moses Sumney.

lol @ that #1.

I love that K-Lone album. beautiful record!

Yeah, it's so lush

I'm just looking forward to the Quietus and RA lists, tbh. The rest just have no appeal to my tastes, at this point.

the Keeley Forsyth and Brigid Dawson albums from the middle of the Uncut list are both really glowering and wonderful and poss a bit neglected here

― technopolis, Thursday, 12 November 2020 21:03 (one week ago) link

Yeah that Brigid Dawson record is so good.

― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 12 November 2020 21:09 (one week ago) link

I have it on right now and it's dope!! Getting some Cate Le Bon vibes, at least from this number ("The Fool")

Also looking forward to the Picadilly Records compilations one as I usually find some amazing stuff on there every year xp

Here's the Musicophilia end-of-year list:

https://www.twitter.com/musicophiliamix/status/1331894795778859008

I'll try that again...

The fifty-three months the year of 2020 have been... yeah. But musicians have carried us through.

From the 300 LPs and EPs from 2020 I bought this year, here are my very favorites. I'll link to every album's @Bandcamp page in the thread below.

What were your favorites? pic.twitter.com/7YXjbacQTG

— Musicophilia (@musicophiliamix) November 26, 2020

https://time.com/5915313/best-albums-2020/

tiwa savage!

Interesting list. Ungodly Hour is good, but it’s not all that.

Ugh at Grimes and Taylor Swift on that TIME Top 10 but otherwise a very solid list. Tiwa Savage and Fiona Apple, Chloe x Halle and Makaya McCraven make me particularly happy.

Top 10 songs list also online, good choices but not many surprises... makes me wish they had a top 50:

https://time.com/5914984/best-songs-2020/

Grimes totally deserving, IMO. Excellent album

the grimes album was quite mediocre but the taylor album was her very best

Amanda Petrusich's favorite album of 2020 ... is from 2018:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2020-in-review/the-best-music-of-2020

ok in what world does the time track list not have many surprises. i don't think many other lists are going to have any south african house tracks

xp the Etran de L'Aïr album is dope and placed pretty high on my 2018 list iirc

Yeah, that Time tracks list is ridiculously eclectic (even by ILM standards). These past few linked write-ups keepmentioning “the pandemic” too much, though (IMO). How about we forget about it for a few minutes while we enjoy music? I get that covid provided a certain context for these writers, but I can’t relate to that.

Maybe I’m an anomaly, but I don’t reflect on any the music I loved this year and think, “Ah yes – this was perfectly suited for these times of isolation,” blah blah.

HAIM seemed that way to me tbh

The Charli XCX album is the one true quarantine album.

yeah that one too

Allow me to rectify: not that many surprises - for me - as I had heard every song in that top 10. I actually love how eclectic it is for a top 10 hence I’d love if we got a top 50 following that same spirit.

Anyhow... another one:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2020-in-review/the-best-music-of-2020

Oops shared above already sorry

Just voted in the Pitchfork Readers’ Poll, where I can be assured to see few of my picks show up in the final accounting (if last year’s performance is any indication of future results).

I soured on the Imperial Triumphant after repeated listens

Yeah same here

UNCUT's AOTY has anticipated the ILM poll winner for the past 2 years! This will not continue:/

Ha! I loved R&RW way more than I expected but no way is it coming anywhere near my ballot

Yeah, that Time tracks list is ridiculously eclectic (even by ILM standards)

Ehh I feel like this list only works tbrr if you need TIME magazine to clue you in on "Yo Perreo Sola" or "#WAP" in 2020. Is "Uwrongo" a p cool Afrobeats track? Because Yo Perreo Sola basically sucks

Reggaeton is getting super dreamy lately but you'd never guess from what's crossing over into the Anglosphere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRl7siIfcPc

Obviously not “WAP,” but most of the others.

I'm giving it the twice over; it def covers a lot of bases, its true

"uwrongo" is cool and not really afrobeats as that generally means west african stuff. south african house like "uwrongo" is a totally different scene that hasn't had anywhere near the same level of attention from the western music press (so, basically none) so it's very cool to see it show up there

Yeah I was giving it a couple listens, its great!

uwrongo is great and it got extensive love on the afro thread, didn't it?

nope, sun-el. #onethread

rolling stone's top 2 is probably bob dylan and taylor swift

sitting in a tree

quietus list is out, once again ruined by not having me as a contributing voter

oh this year's quietus list is a bunch of stuff i've mostly never heard of instead of a bunch of stuff i'm totally baffled that they like. it's always one of the two so i'm glad this year's is the more interesting one

for me it is a mixture of those two things but with an emphasis on the latter

well not baffled - it's clear by now they love a dirge

My favorite list! I'm so excited to spend some time with it today.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-albums/best-albums-of-2020/

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-albums/best-albums-of-2020/

That’s strange. Link doesn’t seem to work, but on the homepage it does...

The backslash on the end isn't part of the url code in your post and should be

Also think that's the first list I've seen with both Sault albums in. Seemed to be one or the other so far elsewhere

I've got over 20 on that Quietus list, which is a new record for me I think. Had no idea Young Knives had an album out this year!

Lots of great records by mates on that Quietus list but I've got to admit I was secretly hoping we'd sneak in the lower levels ;_;

your album would be one of the better things on there, absolutely

Some good stuff in the Quietus list, as usual, yet very few real favourites of mine, as usual, except for the Autechre, Sarah Davachi, Oranssi Pazuzu and Alison Cotton (rightly ahead of this year’s Richard Skelton LP imo).

I did that oh-so-shallow flash sampling thing where I listen to a few seconds of each entry I’m unfamiliar with and the Pa Salieu sounds like it’s worth investigating further, as do the Antonina Nowacka, Mary Lattimore and Squarepusher, of all things (never been a huge fan). Top 6 mostly just drew a ‘life’s too short’ reaction from me tho.

It did remind me to order that new Pharaoh Overlord record though.

God, listening to a minute of that made me want to die.

I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, anticipating some disappointment as well as some shared faves.

Haha, I haven't listened to any of it yet, prefer to go into my Circle and offshoot bands blind. Every single album Jussi has ever released has at least one amazing moment, even when you have to sit through some misfires to get there.

Emily what’s the album you released this year, I haven’t heard it!

Pretty much only know three bands from that Quietus list.

Damn, I was sure all of ilx had had enough of my shameless self-promotion, but it is at least asked for this time. Moka: https://slumoflegs.bandcamp.com/album/slum-of-legs

We got a nice write-up from the Quietus when it came out and I know JD has liked our stuff so I did have my fingers crossed a little for us. Ah well. I've got to say it does look like my EoY list might be more Quietus-y than usual, there's usually a reasonable overlap but I've clocked a bunch of things that are in my 'definite' column for ilx ballotry.

i'm glad the quietus made space for that glorious duval timothy album

I knew about 15 or so, and had meant to get to another 20 or so.

Glad that Nazar, Duma, Allison Cotton, Memnon Sa, and our own beloved DD made it on, along with some others. Also was happy to see some old friends (Special Interest) get a shout out— their bassist and I used to have a joke about how whenever he'd move out of a punk house in Oakland, I was inevitably the one to move in next, which was kind of true for a few years, before he moved down to New Orleans.

My gripe with the Quietus lists is very personal and small, and that is that for whatever reason, I find the style of rapping associated with a lot of grime and drill music to be irritating in the extreme— I love the beats, and love rap and hip-hop from the US and non-English speaking countries, but something about the accent and plosives or intonation or something just makes me want to press the skip button. That basically winnowed the list down to 90, and throw in the unlistenable experimental grindcore crap that I got over in 10th grade, and I'm at about 80 records that could hold interest.

Some notable records to which they gave good reviews are missing, imho:
Rian Treanor- File Under UK Metaplasm
Ustad Saami- Pakistan is for the Peaceful
Nicholas Bougaïeff- The Upward Spiral
Ambrose Akinmusire- On the Tender Spot...
Nihiloxica- Kaloli
Klara Lewis- Ingrid
Lunch Money Life- Immersion Chamber
fra fra- Funeral Songs

To be honest, kind of disappointed that so little jazz was mentioned— I know that the genre has its own robust journalism culture, but I'm just a lot more interested in jazz than some of the other stuff to which they gave space.

Most excited by seeking out the Dead Meat, Antonina Nowacka, and the Katie Gately.

yeah that Ustad Saami was so great, better than the first one for sure

My gripe with the Quietus lists is very personal and small, and that is that for whatever reason, I find the style of rapping associated with a lot of grime and drill music to be irritating in the extreme— I love the beats, and love rap and hip-hop from the US and non-English speaking countries, but something about the accent and plosives or intonation or something just makes me want to press the skip button. That basically winnowed the list down to 90, and throw in the unlistenable experimental grindcore crap that I got over in 10th grade, and I'm at about 80 records that could hold interest.

you should definitely still check out that pa salieu album which made their top ten and is likely to make my personal one

Oh I didn’t know Ustad Saami had a new one out this year. Nice.

Listening to the Bougaïeff right now, it's really one of the best techno full-lengths of the year, and could certainly hold enough interest for those not normally interested in the genre. And it got a great review!

Will check out the pa salieu record, vc.

Aside from #1, the Paste list was not what I was expecting from them - e.g., would have expected Dylan, Haim, and Bridgers higher.

Also think that's the first list I've seen with both Sault albums in. Seemed to be one or the other so far elsewhere

I know at least one other that did:

The fifty-three months the year of 2020 have been... yeah. But musicians have carried us through.

From the 300 LPs and EPs from 2020 I bought this year, here are my very favorites. I'll link to every album's @Bandcamp page in the thread below.

What were your favorites? pic.twitter.com/7YXjbacQTG

— Musicophilia (@musicophiliamix) November 26, 2020

I figure they'll end up vote-split in publications that poll participants...

Re: Slum of Legs, I was not at all aware, emil.y! Just listened to the first track now, and it’s great – I love the folk song undertones.

xxpost to Indexed, scroll through the bylines of that list and you can probably figure out why that is

(i'm not saying it's a bad thing.)

Revolver’s top 25:

https://www.revolvermag.com/music/25-best-albums-2020

Not my take on metal at all but a worthy #1, considering.

Oh, thank you pom!

xxp

xpost - that Revolver list has a few surprises, can't say I ever would have pegged Imperial Triumphant to show up on their list, and a lot of stuff that is, well, not my thing at all.

the Greg Puciato album is the Petals for Armor of metal

also I didn't know the Killer Be Killed album was out now, and it fucking rips

I keep forgetting about that Killer Be KIlled album, better than the debut?

I like it better so far yes, feels more cohesive to me

paste magazine list is limp as hell, lol

apart from backxwash incongruously sitting there amidst all the polite indie

Wasn't that always Paste's thing? Polite indie?

Oh, I also forgot to mention something about the Quietus list— Magik Markers! Really? Gonna go ahead and say that they're the worst band on record vis-a-vis live performances I've ever come across. They *rip* live, and except for maybe a record or two at their beginnings, it's just miss after miss, for me.

Oh man strong disagree here, the new Magik Markers album is good as hell. I agree that most of their previous albums (at least those I've heard, can't say I've caught 'em all) have been underwhelming, but this new one hits all the spots for me.

Mystery City, Blues for Randy, and I trust my guitar etc. are all pretty good. I just can't get into anything else...and the new one just sounds awful, but I'll give it another go. Might be one of those bands that really only appeals to me live.

Interesting promotional item in Dalston (possibly items, I have seen it in two spots now) for the Pa Salieu record: a traffic diversion sign by the roadside.

the overall paste list is pretty limp, sure, but they did make room for some awesome records that i'd be surprised to see in too many other lists: ela minus, chubby & the gang, young jesus, thanya iyer

young jesus making my list for sure

i liked the slum of legs album a lot btw!

’Tis the season…for Album of the Year lists! Here’s the 2020 spreadsheet, with data wizardry from @jrock16c. Bookmark this link:https://t.co/dzYEyN0V53

— Rob Mitchum (@robmitchum) November 30, 2020

Where the hell is Taylor Swift on the Paste list, or have I totally misjudged where that publication is these days?

xxpost to Indexed, scroll through the bylines of that list and you can probably figure out why that is

(i'm not saying it's a bad thing.)

― alpine static, Monday, November 30, 2020 12:16 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

am i supposed to know these names or is it just the fact that there are like 5?

one of them appears 20+ times, if my ctrl+f is correct. i'm just saying there's a writer there whose taste imprint is on that list, that's all.

indexed, the kind of indie-sphere folk that paste champions, especially considering the contributions from dessner and vernon

*folklore is the kind, etc.

Lol I stopped myself from soft-ripping on the tQ list for snubbing Slum of Legs

emily, really like the Slum of Legs record! listened while working this afternoon

Thank you emily!

Hearing it now! Agree with pom love those folk undertones but the synth really sells it for me, really like the mix of styles, I wasn’t expecting where it went in that opening track (great opener btw)

So far my fav is track 3, kind of reminded of the Sugarcubes (it might not be an influence at all but for me it’s a good thing)

Ah jeez, thanks guys. Now let's get a crew together and picket Quietus HQ.

Sugarcubes not a conscious influence but certainly not a bad thing imo!

Moar lists

https://thefortyfive.com/opinion/best-songs-of-2020/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/30/the-20-best-songs-of-2020

https://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-albums-of-2020/

Nice whirled music list in Songlines:
https://www.songlines.co.uk/explore/guides-and-lists/top-10-albums-of-2020

Not much love for the Hayley Williams or Killers albums so far

> https://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-albums-of-2020/

nice to Cindy Lee getting a top 10 spot there. both albums! (that second mini-album-y one that's only available via a blinking geocities-page is especially wonderful).

Also, the international perspective. Oor is the Netherlands' Mojo/Q/Rolling Stone: https://oor.nl/news/eefje-de-visser-maakt-het-beste-album-van-2020/

noteworthy in that it’s the first time in their almost 50-year history they’ve chosen an album by a Dutch artist (singing in Dutch to boot) as the year’s best.

Salem brought out an album this year wtf? oh my god loooool

also, is this the year where all the album covers are really dark and deliberately underexposed? the opposite of The Great Millennial Colour Drought

Dog Latin, all I got for a few weeks was suggested videos for Salem. I was like 'WHY'

i gave the opening tracks a quick listen and, yeah, nobody asked for this

Is Gorilla vs. Bear a hipster fashion magazine or...?

basically yes

One of the biggest mp3 blogs that is still standing, also recently founded a record label called Luminelle Recordings with the following acts:

Anemone
Bodywash
Das Body
FADE
Hana Vu
Helena Deland
Jackie Mendoza
Lisel
Magdalena Bay
Morabeza Tobacco
MUNYA

Kind of cheating since his top pick (Helena Deland) is on Luminelle but all of the artists in there are actually good and very “on brand” to the music he likes. Helena Deland in particular is really good, I’d have no problem picking her as a top 20 AOY.

I’ll check out Deland, if only to pretend I’m keeping up with local acts.

I’d say he was definitely influential for hipster subculture in the mid to late 00s so yeah describing it as a hipster fashion zine is not that off.

Stereogum's list is up. I did not vote (and there are no jazz albums on it), though I did review two of the listed albums for them during the year — Thundercat and Autechre.

Jessie Ware has been ranked way too low in every list so far. Happy to finally see Haim in the top 10, that album defined my early quarantine months.

Boldy James & Sterling Toles, Hum, Kelly Lee Owens, Autechre, Ka: 5 faves out of 50 is more than I expected.

just chiming in to say that the slum of legs album is straight fire! I barely listen to indie(i mean 'indie' in the british broadest possible way) any more probably because it used to be p much all i ever listened to alongside hip hop. Now all I mostly listen to is kpop and whatever paolo posts on the grime thread, but listened to slum of legs and it was absolutely joyous. only complaint would be that it took me 45 mins to get past 'RUTHE14ME' cos i had to keep playing it over and over. Probably haven't so wholly enjoyed an album in this sorta genre since los campesinos.

sometimes wonder if people outside the emo thread regulars here would love the touché amoré record, feel like it really earns its placement on the stereogum list

feeling bad that this is the third year straight i haven't been tapped for pfork eoy blurbs but i certainly voted, god help us all

man not to be a bitch but both my albums this year got album of the week on steregum and there hasn't been 50 weeks in this year yet how is neither album in the top 50 albums is this because i said ur new website is hard to read im sorry my bad

— katie dey (@katie_dey) December 1, 2020

it's ok im grateful im grateful . shoutout phoebe bidges

— katie dey (@katie_dey) December 1, 2020

Brad, they need other people to say some Philadelphia band's record is "a beacon of connection in a year marked by isolation"

Here’s a snapshot (Dec. 1) of RYM’s top 50 albums of 2020:

1. The Microphones – Microphones in 2020
2. clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
3. Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
4. Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure?
5. Run the Jewels – RTJ4
6. Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
7. Charli XCX – How I’m Feeling Now
8. Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
9. Nobuo Uematsu / Masashi Hamauzu / Mitsuto Suzuki – Final Fantasy VII Remake Original Soundtrack
10. Paysage d’Hiver – Im Wald
11. Natalia Lafourcade – Un canto por México Vol. 1
12. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo
13. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
14. Adrianne Lenker – Songs
15. R.A.P. Ferreira – Purple Moonlight Pages
16. Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide
17. Lianne La Havas – Lianne La Havas
18. Fleet Foxes – Shore
19. Mac Miller – Circles
20. Neptunian Maximalism – Éons
21. Yves Tumor – Heaven to a Tortured Mind
22. Jeff Rosenstock – NO DREAM
23. Protomartyr – Ultimate Success Today
24. Kaatayra – Toda história pela frente
25. Blu & Exile – Miles
26. The Strokes – The New Abnormal
27. Akhlys – Melinoë
28. Chuck Salamone & Mason Lindroth – Hylics 2 OST
29. Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
30. Kevin & the Bikes – Ironic Songs
31. Deftones – Ohms
32. Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
33. Of Feather and Bone – Sulfuric Disintegration
34. Róisín Murphy – Róisín Machine
35. Against All Logic – 2017 - 2019
36. Boldy James & Sterling Toles – Manger on McNichols
37. Mick Gordon – Doom Eternal (Original Game Soundtrack)
38. Havukruunu – Uinuos syömein sota
39. Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
40. Gustavo Santaolalla – The Last of Us Part II
41. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – K.G.
42. Rina Sawayama – Sawayama
43. Lunatic Soul – Through Shaded Woods
44. Wobbler – Dwellers of the Deep
45. The Ocean Collective – Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic
46. Chris Stapleton – Starting Over
47. Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog
48. Spectral Lore & Mare Cognitum – Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine
49. Kaatayra – Só quem viu o relâmpago à sua direita sabe
50. Mach-Hommy – Mach’s Hard Lemonade

obviously too much metal for most folks but really a pretty good list

the Natalia Lafourcade album is the business

the ff7r soundtrack in the rym top 10 is particularly baffling even by rym's standards of regularly highly rating vg soundtracks. also still don't get why they like that very mediocre strokes album so much, especially when they hated comedown machine which is probably the best thing the strokes ever did.

RYM list is p great (vmic ik)

I really *hated* the Microphones album but there’s a lot of excellent stuff in that top 50 (and beyond). I’m also a bit puzzled by the obsession with video game soundtracks, but pourquoi pas.

the ff7r soundtrack is just some perfunctory rearrangements of some of the original ff7 soundtrack + some pretty terrible new tracks. at no point when i was playing it did it really stand out as good to me, often the opposite. like there are plenty of vg soundtracks where i enjoyed them and understand why they've ended up highly rated on rym but this was really not one of them.

complaining about your own album's eoy list "snub" is a new low imo

katie dey is a wonderful internet presence how dare u

complaining about your own album's eoy list "snub" is a new low imo

complaining about your own album's eoy list "snub" is a new low imo

Thought that was directed at me for a minute. Tbh I think katie dey's response is more similar to mine than you might think - not angry b/c we thought we were entitled to placement, just a bit bummed out we didn't make it and finding somewhere to express that (me here, her on twitter). But I dunno, maybe she is an entitled cow. Maybe we both are!

just chiming in to say that the slum of legs album is straight fire! I barely listen to indie(i mean 'indie' in the british broadest possible way) any more probably because it used to be p much all i ever listened to alongside hip hop. Now all I mostly listen to is kpop and whatever paolo posts on the grime thread, but listened to slum of legs and it was absolutely joyous. only complaint would be that it took me 45 mins to get past 'RUTHE14ME' cos i had to keep playing it over and over. Probably haven't so wholly enjoyed an album in this sorta genre since los campesinos.

― oscar bravo

On the other hand, after a drainingly shit day today, this was so so nice to read and made me crazy emotional. Thank you, oscar bravo.

Tbc I otm’d re: Katie Dey, not you, emil.y.

Oh yeah, I realised it wasn't aimed at me after a moment, unless bsj was aiming for us both! I think "snub" is the operative factor, it definitely makes you sound like you think someone's deliberately taking away what's rightfully yours, just to be spiteful.

shoutout phoebe bidges

people really liked that fleet foxes album, huh

barcode gets it

I adore the Slum Of Legs album and had no idea you were involved, emil.y <3

Also: unless you've yourself put out an album, spent a year promoting it (touring it when it's not 2020), done interviews, received nothing but superlative response, only for the end of year to roll around and see that the mechanism of list-aggregation has elected to erase your years of work from the history books, and that at best your work may been retrospectively deemed "slept on" or "underrated", please don't shit on the fact that EoY lists are a shitty thing, psychologically, for 99% of working musicians out there and some of us just are better at directing our bitterness toward private venues

Fair enough, fgti. I understand the bitterness and it can be genuinely justified in some cases, but I also hate Twitter drama, and here the latter feeling prevailed.

I'm genuinely not trying to argue with you fgti, since that is an extremely good point and worth keeping in mind, but at the same time an argument could be made about all of those artists that did all the same toil with their blood, sweat and tears and never even got reviewed by the "right" publications in the first place. Some might say an artist in 2020 should consider themselves extremely fortunate to rise up above the glut enough to even get that fleeting "record of the week" stamp from an outlet like Stereogum in the first place.

Ted Gioia's list is up:
http://tedgioia.com/bestalbumsof2020.html

That's always a great list to read, thanks jaymc. I've heard a whopping five of his top 100 this year!

I’ve heard 7, heh. The Cyrillus Kreek and Lina_Raül Refree are essential listening imo.

Ha, I was just about to post that. One of about three lists I pay attention to.

It’s a great list if we go by those tiny blurbs alone.

I see your point, jon, and don't disagree-- but my first- and second-hand experiences have shown me that the acts of list-making and "putting numbers on the art" create uniformly negative psychological effects on the content creators regardless of the placement or perceived success of the sorted work

Ted's list is great, excellent new classical choices in there :)

I wasn't too hot on that Field Music album, after liking basically all the previous ones

Love that Louise Bock album on the Ted Gioia list, will almost certainly make my list too. Very intrigued by Lina_Raül Refree - "Contemporary Fado with Synthesizers" sounds awesome.

Also <3 to fgti

Premiere Recording of Ravi Shankar's Only Opera

This is intriguing.

that lina raul refree record is awesome, and lives up to the capsule description

lists are bad and bum me out yet i cant stop clicking on this thread

is this the first time one of gioia's favorites was nominated for the album of the year grammy?

To Pimp a Butterfly made his list in 2015, for a start.

lists are bad and bum me out yet i cant stop clicking on this thread

Do you think he meant to use this image?

http://tedgioia.com/sitebuilder/images/boltcutters-149x150.jpg

Not sure why that didn't embed. The Fiona Apple album.

Gioia annoys me often, but I admire him for doing a 100-entry alphabetical list with no regard for genre. (And yeah, another vote for the Lina_Raül Refree record. I interviewed them both way back in January.)

I guess it depends on what you take out of EOY lists?

Personally speaking I don’t really care about ranked lists (but they’re pretty useful to know if you’ll care for the rest of the list or to get an idea of the styles pushed throughout the year in that site) and I mostly glance EOY lists to listens to things out of my comfort zone. The lists where I’ve only listened to two or three albums are my favorites each year and I’ve found some of my favorite albums of all time by reading those.

From the more “pop-oriented” singles list/ I do find it fun to read the reasoning on why something like “Rain on Me” or “WAP” or whatever are the songs of the year.

I’ll say that I enjoy that there has been an increasing shift on consensus picks from the major publications. There was a couple of years where it was immensely boring seeing the same albums and singles in every list.

Yes and yet Fiona Apple seems destined to be the consensus pick this year (already #1 for COS, Paste, and Stereogum, and #2 for Mojo and Uproxx), and the perhaps cynical / overly-generous-to-their-influence question I have is: Would that consensus have emerged as clearly without the Pitchfork 10.0?

No music has ever sounded quite like it tbf.

hmm

Combing through that Gioia list one split minute at a time has made me realize that at least 3/4 of it is Not For Me (too many comfortably positive vibes tbh) but I’ll definitely be checking out: Bab L’ Bluz, Karuna Trio, Louise Bock, Max de Wardener and Yukihiro Atsumi.

I already mentioned the Cyrillus Kreek and Lina_Raül Refree but the John Luther Adams and Kitgut Quartet are quite good as well. Am struck also by the high quotient of ECM-affiliated artists who released their material via other labels this year – a conscious bias on Gioia’s part?

I have no problem with Fiona Apple being the consensus pick this year. In my ears it sounds as if it was recorded at home, during cabin fever. It almost sounds like a live recording, very rough around the edges which works so well in this particular set of songs.

Re: Gorilla vs. Bear, Helena Deland reminds me of Men I Trust a bit, another Montreal act I shouldn’t like on paper but enjoy anyway, mostly because of the melancholy undertow.

Hehe GvB also loves Men I Trust and I think their song Tailwhip was in his top 20 of the 2010s (completely on board with that pick)

I adore that palm mute bass sound they use

Their bassist really is great. Turns out Men I Trust have collaborated with Helena Deland already, so it’s a predictably small world.

I just need to know all the hot 2020 rap tracks besides “jungle”

I guess there’s a thread for that

i regret to inform you that most of the rap tracks on that thread aren't as good as "jungle" (assuming you're talking about shootergang kony)

yah

the consensus pick this year should be i disagree by poppy, i have spoken

all of these lists are jokes because they do not include i disagree by poppy. especially rym

None of them seem to include the Ariana Grande album, so they’re all full of shit to some degree.

i hope poppy wins the metal poll here

Hmmmm

ted gioia list is always a highlight and fun to read. probably the only list i really care about excepting those my friends make.

"balafon sketches" by contours — this should interest some of the ECM / cherryhead / "obscure sound" ilxors i think

The Bab L'Bluz album is officially this year's first big find for me off the EOY lists. They're great.

Not every track is a winner but I like it a lot too.

"balafon sketches"

shake it!

Revolver Magazine
Top Albums of 2020

25. Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville
24. Touché Amoré - Lament
23. The Acacia Strain - Slow Decay
22. Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man
21. Avatar - Hunter Gatherer
20. Necrot - Mortal
19. Puscifer - Existential Reckoning
18. Mrs. Piss - Mrs. Piss
17. Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo
16. Nothing - The Great Dismal
15. Gulch - Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
14. Lamb of God - Lamb of God
13. Marilyn Manson - We Are Chaos
12. Poppy - I Disagree
11. Higher Power - 27 Miles Underwater
10. Ghostemane - Anti-Icon
9. Killer Be Killed - Reluctant Hero
8. Spirit Adrift - Enlightened in Eternity
7. Bring Me the Horizon - POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
6. Run the Jewels - RTJ4
5. Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything
4. Body Count - Carnivore
3. Greg Puciato - Child Soldier: Creator of God
2. Code Orange - Underneath
1. Deftones - Ohms

http://www.revolvermag.com/music/25-best-albums-2020

finally a real list

I believe the Mrs. Piss album is actually titled Self​-​Surgery.

We discussed it a bit upthread fwiw.

Huh, don’t see it... anyway, sorry to be a PEE-dant! (Geddit?)

Sorry, I meant the Revolver list as a whole.

x-post-- Amanda Petrusich's favorite album of 2020 ... is from 2018:

She's the New Yorker critic. She picked the 2018 album "No. 1" from Etran de L'Air who are a guitar band from Niger. The rest of her list includes : Adrianne Lenker albums; Mary Lattimore -Silver Ladders; Dua Lipa -Future Nostalgia; Fiona Apple -Fetch the Bolt Cutters; Jyoti- "Mama, You can Bet!"; Bob Dylan- Rough and Rowdy Ways; Fleet Foxes- Shore; Freddie Gibbs & the Alchemist - Alfredo; Phoebe Bridgers- Punisher

She gave Honorable Mentions to- Taylor Swift; Megan Thee Stallion; Natalia Lafourcade- Un Canto por Mexico Vol. 1; Kehlani; Jay Electronica; The Strokes; Waxahatchee

https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/12/top-50-albums-of-2020/full-post/

i think consequence of sound might be more rolling stone than rolling stone are these days

Why do they list the “origin” of every artist?

Jessie Ware has been ranked way too low in every list so far

Definitely. I'm not sure if it's because it came out more recently but I've been very surprised to see Kylie placing above Jessie and Roisin in lots of the lists so far

i like the kylie album but i was pretty confused by that yeah

gen xers be gen xing

Drift Records

https://driftrecords.com/blogs/drift/deluxe-2020-records-of-the-year

Just catching up here and still am but just want to add I'm sorry Emily, we failed you in launching a targeted campaign to get SoL on tQ's list, no doubt (though it shouldn't even have needed a campaign tbf). One of my most played lp's of the year!

drift list yet another chock full of the sort of worthy alt-drudgery that isn't remotely at the cutting edge but which sounds edgy enough to excite sufficiently jaded listmakers

yes that's right it's EOY season and i am getting in the mood

One of the few I’ve seen with my own AOTY near the top (Moses Boyd), so good on ‘em.

the kelly lee owens record is so great and also deserves to be near the top of most lists

Don't know about that but it def feels underrated so far.

It was a September album right? It feels underrated, yes. I'm wondering how many Jan/Feb (pre-covid abyss) records will be forgotten about. My AOTY is actually from before March, it turns out.

Was listening to the KLO record for the first time this morning and was very impressed

RYM sez August 28, so might as well be September, yeah.

I just mentioned it in the fourth world music thread but I belatedly came across Healing Cycles by Koyil and it's blowing my mind right now, way more than Jon Hassell's own 2020 LP. Would've fit snugly alongside Gioia's picks, much like Jéricho's De dreit nine (neo-medieval avant-folk sung in French and Occitan).

xp

*nien, not nine. Fuck autocorrect 4evah.

I was weirdly hit and miss with the KLO record, the hits were v v nice though

I sometimes get bored of the KLO on headphones, but it's riveting when I play it on speakers.

That dull-as-dishwater Jessie Ware album seems to be on every one of these lists, and some of you are complaining that it's too low? I mean, honestly! Take the W!

Careful.

haven't listened to it yet; keeping powder dry for the EOYs. maybe i'll like it! 'spotlight' is pretty archetypical middlebrow catnip tho, i was convinced i'd heard it before when i first did

xp You figured it out but yea my snark was re: katie dey's stupid entitled sounding tweet and not re: any music from ilm people. I def empathize with the frustration detailed upthread and have nothing but respect for ilm musicians.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/02/930492613/the-50-best-albums-of-2020-page-1

npr list is interesting

NPR list is very NPR.

Of the stuff I haven't heard, the Siti Muharam and Nubya Garcia seem cool. As though there wasn't enough catching up to do...

Nice to see Victoria Monét show up on a list.

NPR list reminded me of the Buscabulla album, which I like but had sort of forgotten. Also nice to see Lido Pimienta near the top of a list, that album's great.

https://www.loverecordstores.com

The #loverecordstores ‘Independent Albums of the Year’ list is 2020’s favourite releases from independent labels voted for by a cross section of notable independent record stores including Drift, Resident, Rough Trade, Normans, Piccadilly, Bear Tree, Assai, Banquet, Stranger Than Paradise, Bleep and Monorail among many others.

Rose City Band in the top 10, that's one of my faves and it hasn't shown up many places.

the orielles record was solid and overlooked too, glad to see the love (record stores)

I think the NPR list is vastly more interesting than most

yeah the NPR list is interesting. The description of Clarice Jensen's The experience of repetition as death intrigued me & holy cow this is my thing. Any tips for other things in the vicinity would be appreciated!

As in drone music?

If so, this year I quite liked Alison Cotton's Only Darkness Now, Anna von Hausswolf's All Thoughts Fly and Ellen Fullman & Teresa Wong's Harbors, which feature different degrees of single-minded droniness. You may also enjoy Sarah Davachi's Cantus, Descant.

I don't know, is this drone music? I am enchanted, that's all I know.

I call it low-cal classical

Not a dis, I love this shit

Happy to hear it!

Let me know if the others pique your fancy.

xp heh, that's a good way of putting it.

low-cal classical is a great name & def something I like a lot

I will go for the others too, playing the Debussy-Rameau off that NPR list now (Vikingur Ólaffson), a little higher cal I guess

beautiful record that ólaffson one

Love seeing Sault at #1 for NPR.

Surprised to see Tame Impala on the list at all - I thought that was a huge critical dud. (I certainly didn't like it!).

I root for the Spillage Village collective, love a lot of their past work (including various Earthgang & JID releases). But I was disappointed in the album they released this year.

the tame impala record is the best tame impala record imo

puts me in the mind of like a sprawling '70s double album with weird subspaces to get lost in, while also being majorly funky and fusion-y

Based on Rob Mitchum's sheet, NPR has ~ 5 or 6 albums in their top 20 that don't appear on any of the other lists logged so far. For those who haven't checked out the Katie Pruitt thread/album yet (their #16), I expect it to do well in the ilm poll.

Here's the sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vpxZunN4M8gvnsireG4TEPSlA-pxo8Ta9Y6Kj8zgWwg/edit#gid=1452150872

the extent to which the zines concur is always just incredibly mindnumbing

if only they were to concur with specific user such as imago instead

well i wouldn't want that either, but there are SO MANY albums released in a year & yet the overlap on these lists is always just ridiculous, it (criticism) really is just mutual backscratches and lifestyle blogging now

at least the quietus list, for example, is genuinely unlike any other, even if i don't like most of it

anyway can we get on with the ILX EOYs which are invariably an improvement on all this nonsense

I haven't looked at Rob's spreadsheet yet so maybe I'd be proven wrong, but the NPR one seemed generally filled with stuff I haven't seen popping up a lot (with a few obvious exceptions). Seemed to be the first one of the "big" ones I've seen that had a ton of stuff I was unfamiliar with.

yeah that's fair

Assume Chloe x Halle was covered in the rolling R&B thread but I'd never heard of them before. Made the Complex, NPR, and Uproxx lists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9HIaGcBocc

Yes – "Do It" is one of the year's top tracks for sure.

ilx 2020 traxpoll feels absolutely wide open tbh

https://medium.com/@joshuacopperman1/what-your-favorite-album-of-2020-says-about-you-930285dad454

Excruciating

Impressive, I couldn't even make it past the first sentence in the first blurb.

It took 16 people to write that

A contender for OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?.

Hahaha yeah it’s not good

"Hm, the lead single was called 'Cardigan', this one just writes itself!"

I hope you won't mind my x-posting it there, Moka.

xp

I’m also certain half of the jokes in there are recycled from previous years. I think the concept could be fun but the execution in here is trying too hard.

are you saying they do this every year

actually i have some dim memory now

Not at all pom. It’s worthy of that thread.

I have no beef with the concept itself, but it's just one faceplant after another.

Lolol wow

Some pop album: You are a messy bitch who TikTok bisexual lighting horoscope candle bops swipe right corncob

You’re honestly weird to be around.

You’re honestly weird to be around.

You’re honestly weird to be around.

You’re honestly weird to be around.

You’re honestly weird to be around.

That Ari one though, jfc.

a Singles Jukebox contributor trying too hard???

(sorry, I know there's a few TSJ writers on here but I couldn't resist)

https://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-songs-of-2020/
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/03/931771524/the-100-best-songs-of-2020-page-1
https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/12/top-50-songs-of-2020/full-post/

here's some songs lists. as usual i'm enjoying the stuff from gvb's i haven't heard before, even the salem track

none of those do anything to convince me that this isn't the most open year for EOY tracks in ILM history

Yeah I could hazard some guesses for album of the year, but I haven't got a clue about tracks.

yeah absolutely, it seems like "WAP" is the critical consensus pick which i'm sure will do decently here but can't imagine it coming close to winning

and there's been no 🎈 afaict

If memory serves, there was never much of a 🎈 consensus on this side of the pond.

i'll have to figure out which of the million great sun-el-adjacent sa deep house tracks to heavily campaign for

I’d be open to make this years poll a top 100 for tracks instead of the usual top 77 given how diverse it could get.

nah 77 is fine, if anything the diversity means we'll have a spectacular 77

the important thing is to start the nominations thread asap ;)

SALEM at the #1 spot for gvb makes me lol but there’s at least 5 songs in that top 20 that I think I would consider in my own top 20.

Oddly enough there’s not a song in NPR’s top 20 which I’d consider (or even heard) and I found myself agreeing with most of their top albums list.

Still not a bad list I guess

These 5 are also top 20 2020 for me:

02 SAULT | Wildfires
04 070 SHAKE | Guilty Conscience
12 BULLION | We Had a Good Time
14 OKLOU | Entertnmnt
17 WESTERMAN | Blue Comanche

I expected way more love for Haim and Ariana Grande at this EOY lists.

If memory serves, there was never much of a 🎈 consensus on this side of the pond.

We got a whole month and a whole bunch more music left to come out!

the ilx eoy track list is wide open, which means there will be 3 sault tracks and 4 tracks by the 1975

oh god the purple mountains thing is gonna happen with fiona apple isn't it, except with like 8 tracks instead of 5

Also like 3 Taylor Swift tracks which I will never understand the appeal of.

Xpost: every list posted so far seems to pick different Fiona Apple songs so you might be right.

actually no, folx, this is your selection for this year:

🇳🇬 NAIJA SPECIAL: which of these *seven* current high-profile Nigerian hit songs is the best one? please help me decide

oh the nominations thread is usually started in mid-december

there are about 2 songs i like on the FA album, expecting neither to be among the 8 ofc

breastcrawl ur a traitor to southern africa

i am definitely voting for one of those songs, i'll you be surprised on which one (or you could, uh, read the thread)

xp

I expected way more love for Haim and Ariana Grande at this EOY lists.

one thing at a time, imago

also, I’m not South African

what is the jessie ware song i am supposed to stan for this year anyways? I am torn.

yes ur dutch iirc, just observing ur usual musical loyalties :)

breastcrawl is very "all-inclusive" when it comes to the realm of contemporary african music

I’m now hearing Jessie Ware doing a cover of “Torn” and Simmy interpolating it in one of her songs, both at the same time. Time to go to bed.

public service announcement: the new Sun-El album is out 37 minutes from now!

I see tracks by Roisin Murphy, Jessie Ware, Christine and the Queens, Master KG, Victoria Monet, Jorja Smith, Rina Sawayama and Azana that could do well. Not speaking of Charli MMXX or Dua Lipa. And there's lots more: Klo Pelgag, Liturgy, Wizkid, Rema, Tiwa Savage, Lianne La Havas, Kali Uchis, Masego.

klô pelgag absolutely, so long as we all choose correctly

I was gonna be uncomplicated and propose Rémora

nah. and so we sail into votesplit city lol

(a l'ombre des cypres, imo. would also be one of hopefully multiple appearances in the 77 for a certain wearer of goon ties)

have listened to those NAIJA songs and am handing my belated vote to Fireboy DML fyi

We should have done (or do) a South African version of that poll with
John Vuli Gate
Emcimbini
Jerusalema
SBWL
Emakhaya
Your Love
Uhuru

i think it's possible "delete forever" could win the tracks poll

'Violence' is the only Miss Anthropocene track I unambiguously liked.

i just wanna stay
in the moonlight this is our time
in the spotlight

i think it's possible "delete forever" could win the tracks poll

― monotony

I like it but I’d be terribly disappointed if that’s the winner.

Top 50 RYM singles (not to be confused with tracks, obv.):

https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/single/2020

Mmm 3 Jessie Ware singles in the top 10. Wont complain.

Too much love for clipping on both the singles and albums charts. What’s that about? Is that a fantano thing or something? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone excited about that one elsewhere.

lol wait till DJP gets here.

will def vote for one of the clipping singles

I like the clipping. record

in fact, the one that's at #5 in the RYM singles chart. it's...genuinely incredible

hi moka

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/arts/music/clipping-daveed-diggs-chapter-319.html

Different initials, must be some other guy.

Hi!

Ok ok I’ll check them out. They sound good enough on paper.

going through the gvb songs playlist and wow "volcano" by eartheater is great

also nabozo please make that poll!

Don't think Jhene Aiko's showed up on any of these lists. I really love that album.

Some people think her songwriting's too ethereal, I think that airy dreaminess is a strength, but regardless, the album is her best-selling yet, relatively late in her career she's found a new popular peak, while doing her own thing, against trend, so she's unique enough and I think it's weird that she's totally ignored in this setting.

also nabozo please make that poll!

The New York Times jazz list:

1. Immanuel Wilkins - Omega
2. Jyoti - Mama, You Can Bet!
3. Charles Lloyd - 8: Kindred Spirits
4. Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul
5. Exploding Star Orchestra - Dimensional Stardust
6. Nduduzo Makhathini - Modes of Communication: Letters From the Underworlds
7. Keith Jarrett - Budapest Concert
8. Susan Alcorn - Pedernal
9. Sun Ra Arkestra - Swirling
10. Webber/Morris Big Band - Both are True

The Slate jazz list:

1. Ron Miles - Rainbow Sign
2. Charles Lloyd - 8: Kindred Spirits
3. Jimmy Heath - Love Letter
4. Maria Schneider - Data Lords
5. Aaron Diehl - The Vagabond
6. Ran Blake and Christine Correa - When Soft Rains Fall
7. Ben Perowsky - Upstream
8. Matthew Shipp Trio - The Unidentifiable
9. Raphaël Pannier Quartet - Faune
10. Fred Hersch - Songs From Home

Each of these lists contains at least one album that's on my own year-end list, which will be up at Stereogum next week. But there's also a lot of stuff on both that's...fine, but hardly the best music of the year. (The Sun Ra album is a curiosity, the Charles Lloyd is as dull as 95% of his work, I don't even think the Jyoti album is jazz, and I will never understand why critics like Fred Hersch — or Keith Jarrett — as much as they do.)

xps eartheater is incredible
well worth checking irisiri from a couple of years back if you haven't

I expected way more love for Haim and Ariana Grande at this EOY lists.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, December 3, 2020 4:06 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Agreed, though Haim has been top 10 on a few lists - Stereogum, Exclaim, Uproxx.

Other surprises to me so far:
- The 1975 - expected them to land in the 30-50 range of lots of lists and instead I've barely seen them at all
- Phoebe Bridgers is now #1 on Rob's sheet - maybe I'm misremembering (?) but the consensus Punisher has garnered seems at odds with the fact Stranger in the Alps barely registered in 2017, which I prefer

Psych rock list courtesy of The Quietus:

https://thequietus.com/articles/29311-the-best-psych-rock-2020

can literally guarantee that the Slift album is better than all of those combined

the Charles Lloyd is as dull as 95% of his work

He always skirts that line but much of his ECM material is quite good. I haven't heard his latest, mind you.

Jarrett at his absolute best is unfuckwithable. The Budapest Concert is by no means up there, although given the circumstances of his retirement I'm not surprised that it's garnering plaudits.

This is going to sound awful but I can't stand French bands that sing in English, especially when the accent is that thick. The Slift would make my EOY list otherwise.

The aggregate list of albumoftheyear currently has fiona apple, run the jewels and phoebe bridgers as the top 3 albums:

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2020/

yeah of course it does

quite admire pom's francophone purity haha

Rolling Stone

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-2020-1096814/

Would it seriously be a dealbreaker for non-francophone heavy psych enthusiasts if they were singing in French instead?

Let’s be real

Fiona Apple >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Taylor Swift’s album

xp of course not!

moka you don't need to press FA's case lol, she will smoke taytay in trax and albums and probably everyone else too

I'd rather watch that horrible video of David Guetta riffing on 'I have a dream' (clearly a 10/10 on the Villejuif scale) twenty times over than hear another note of Taylor Swift's music ever again.

Finally Ariana makes a list. But Sheffield’s blurb is stupid.

If you're curious to compare some algorithmic 2020 lists constructed from Spotify listening patterns, the first version of my 2020 Around the World explorer (with data through 11/30) is up with country and genre lists and a few global ones:

http://everynoise.com/2020_around_the_world.cgi

(this will get updated again with full calendar-year data after 12/31)

I actually really love her record from this year, but I'm so embarrassed when I say out loud, "I really like Soccer Mommy". Such a terrible name.

It's a great album!

Finally Ariana makes a list. But Sheffield’s blurb is stupid.

― wet tip hen ax (egg drop mix) (morrisp), Friday, December 4, 2020 9:37 AM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

These blurbs can be very formulaic

Aren’t these ppl paid to say something interesting about music?

(Sorry, guess I have a chip on my shoulder. At least she made the list.)

- Phoebe Bridgers is now #1 on Rob's sheet - maybe I'm misremembering (?) but the consensus Punisher has garnered seems at odds with the fact Stranger in the Alps barely registered in 2017, which I prefer

― Indexed, Friday, December 4, 2020 9:15 AM (thirty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I also prefer Stranger in the Alps, but I feel like it was kind of a slow burner that people discovered over time. I heard it when it came out in late 2017, but it wasn't until early 2018 that it really clicked with me, and I remember being kind of surprised that I was still enjoying it a year later. Her involvement in boygenius and Better Oblivion Community Center also contributed to her growing stature in between albums, which meant that a lot of people were primed to be excited for Punisher, and there was a bigger publicity machine behind it.

Yeah tbf I learned about Stranger in the Alps from the NYT EOY recap.

^ otm, every word (xpost to jaymc)

by the end of 2017, there was very little buzz about Stranger in the Alps (which I also prefer)

obviously that has changed now

i knew she'd been nominated for a Grammy, i didn't realize she'd been nominated for 4!

It's a weird feeling when an artist you think was unduly ignored in one cycle suddenly gets heaps of praise (too much?) in the next. Like, I'm very happy for her! But also, Punisher is like the ~50th best album I heard this year?

it’s not exactly surprising given what came before, but the continued lack of love (or even acknowledgement) for (of) African pop and house in all its shapes and forms by these supposed arbiters of musical taste, even in what was on many levels a breakthrough year, is something to behold.

so far - please do correct me if I’ve missed something - we’ve had:

albums:
Burna Boy • TWICE AS TALL (#37 Consequence of Sound)
Duma • DUMA (#15 Quietus - not *quite exactly* pop or house tho!)
Tiwa Savage • CELIA (#10 Time)
Wizkid • MADE IN LAGOS (#43 Guardian)

songs:
Prince Kaybee ft. Shimza, Black Motion & Ami Faku • Uwrongo (#9 Time)
Sun-El Musician ft. Azana • Uhuru (#37 NPR)
Tiwa Savage • Dangerous Love** (#95 NPR)
**weirdly for one of its remixes, as if the original wasn’t magnificent enough

so a grand total of 4 albums and 3 songs, each of them only mentioned once. very impressive.

not for the first time, Time Magazine (or their music person at least) showing everybody they know where it’s at

feeling alone but correct in the "punisher > stranger" camp today

I love them both, but I'm with you in that Punisher is the slightly better record.

if the record you're going to complain about getting a lot of year-end list love is punisher... idk, we got it pretty good this year

it’s not exactly surprising given what came before, but the continued lack of love (or even acknowledgement) for (of) African pop and house in all its shapes and forms by these supposed arbiters of musical taste, even in what was on many levels a breakthrough year, is something to behold.

so far - please do correct me if I’ve missed something - we’ve had:

albums:
Burna Boy • TWICE AS TALL (#37 Consequence of Sound)
Duma • DUMA (#15 Quietus - not *quite exactly* pop or house tho!)
Tiwa Savage • CELIA (#10 Time)
Wizkid • MADE IN LAGOS (#43 Guardian)

songs:
Prince Kaybee ft. Shimza, Black Motion & Ami Faku • Uwrongo (#9 Time)
Sun-El Musician ft. Azana • Uhuru (#37 NPR)
Tiwa Savage • Dangerous Love** (#95 NPR)
**weirdly for one of its remixes, as if the original wasn’t magnificent enough

so a grand total of 4 albums and 3 songs, each of them only mentioned once. very impressive.

not for the first time, Time Magazine (or their music person at least) showing everybody they know where it’s at

― fat ass deep state operative (breastcrawl)

I’m sure most of those will make the ILM top 77 tracks and that’s the only list that matters

xp not complaining! just surprised it's the #1 overall album so far

yeah, def not complaining here, either. i like it more than Indexed ... i think it's a top 10 record of this year. and Stranger was more like top 3 or top 5 of that year.

they're both incredible! and i'm happy to see Punisher at the top of lists. i just think jaymc was spot on with his analysis of why this feels so different than Stranger did.

i mean, my place that i write for didn't even review Stranger when it came out. at year-end list season, i had to convince them to put it in the albums list and let me write a new blurb for it.

It's a weird feeling when an artist you think was unduly ignored in one cycle suddenly gets heaps of praise (too much?) in the next.

i think this is really common, maybe moreso than it used to be? ... critics - esp. those at bigger pubs focusing on bigger stuff - miss out on a great small record, then discover it in the subsequent years or hear so much about it that when the next album comes out, they latch onto it early and over-praise it to make up for missing out on the previous one. i see it all the time on twitter.

(i'm NOT saying this is Brad w/r/t Punisher!)

I like Stranger, I like Punisher more, and if she makes the pop-rock-folk-psych record that I hope is her next one, I'll love it.

(Punisher isn't in my personal top 10, but if we were going for lyrics alone it would be)

It's a weird feeling when an artist you think was unduly ignored in one cycle suddenly gets heaps of praise (too much?) in the next.

Ah yes, the Be Here Now effect.

????

I would hardly call the record before Be Here Now "unduly ignored"!

the effect is much more akin with what happened to Weyes Blood, who released 3 masterpieces in a row, with only the 3rd widely recognised as such

i was pretty certain either bob dylan or taylor swift would RS's #1 and i probably should have bet on it.

Yeah Strangers.. was my favourite of the last decade, but I didn't hear it until a year after its release.

fwiw breastcrawl, Pitchfork seem to have gone all in on afrobeats this year...we'll see I guess

I would hardly call the record before Be Here Now "unduly ignored"!

It's generally considered that music critics overrated Be Here Now because of a perception that they had underrated What's the Story Morning Glory. It's the canonical example of such an overreaction IMO. (I disagree that they underrated What's the Story in the first place, but that's irrelevant)

well established that a breakthrough in the ILM EOY top 10 is key part of the campaign for the following year's #1 spot

if anyone missed it:
The Pre-Poll Lobby - Tracks You Want People to Consider for ILM's Top 77 of 2020

Once again, Concrete Islands’ EOY list is the one that is most in tune with what I bought and listened to during the year:
https://concreteislands.com/concrete-islands-albums-of-the-year-2020/

Glad to finally see some love for Trees Speak, with both of their 2020 records on that Concrete Islands list.

Two cheerful summer tracks:
Disclosure & Fatoumata Diawara - Douha (Mali Mali). 2014 UK Funky, improved by inscrutable lyrics.
5K HD - Happy Fxxxing Life. Austrian La Roux vibes. Now happy Fugging Life.

And one for the winter:
KeiyaA - Negus Poem 1 & 2. ASMR soul

Oops, wrong thread. Hangs head in shame.

That Concrete Islands list looks fascinating, I only know about 10 records from the list and they are amazing. Need to listen to the rest asap.

disappointing lack of kassa overall in these lists, tho I’m sure it’ll make the Bandcamp list, whenever that comes out

That Concrete Islands list is way more intriguing and ear-opening than the average fare. Thanks for the heads up.

re: the Concrete Islands list, I haven't thought about Plone since "For Beginner Piano" in 1999, their last album (!), which presaged the hauntology era and which was remarkable for foregrounding an interesting interpretation of cheesy mall/elevator music

as far as this year goes, I love the Magic Oneohtrix Point Never and Sun Araw Rock Sutra albums

good call on Kassa VC; i thought this was his breakout year

Dan: you’re right! I used to love that album. Saw it there but didn’t give it a second thought that this was a comeback album of sorts.

There’s a dedicated thread that was revived for Puzzlewood - although only about half a dozen posters contributed:
Whatever happened to... Plone?

The Wire lists are out. Top 5 albums are Beatrice Dillon, Moor Mother, Mourning A BLKstar, Bob Dylan and Duma

there's some scores in this house

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2020/

25. 100 gecs: “hand crushed by a mallet (remix)” [ft. Fall Out Boy, Craig Owens, and Nicole Dollanganger]

listen i love fall out boy but lmao at people voting for this shit

fwiw breastcrawl, Pitchfork seem to have gone all in on afrobeats this year...we'll see I guess

― rob, Friday, December 4, 2020 5:00 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

this manifested in one (1) song by burna boy

lol I was just about to post "guess I was wrong about pfork + afrobeats" though ftr there's an Amaarae song too

i saw amaarae, but there's no afro influence on the song they picked

i should say that the song isn't informed at all by the kinds of sounds that populate the rolling afro thread

I will be p surprised if Made In Lagos and Twice As Tall aren't on their albums list, but yeah it's a very parochial list, though I'm bored myself of making that observation now

well, Amaarae has been on the rolling afro thread several times, and I think that argument can get dicey pretty fast but I get what you're saying.

anyway, the real clear signal is that awful line about Fela in the BB write-up: no capacity for thinking about this music as anything other than continent-wide representation

wow the p4k list feels particularly uninteresting this year

also very confused by "what's your pleasure?" being the jessie ware track to place ???

p4k liked afrobeats more last year with burna & davido getting BNMs. this year it's just been amaarae i think.

fireboy got BNM, but he didn't make the list

I think that argument can get dicey pretty fast but I get what you're saying.

― rob, Monday, December 7, 2020 9:49 AM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah i know, which is why i tried to hedge haha. at any rate, that particular track that they picked has elements of pitch-shifted alt-r&b that fits very snugly into p4k's milieu.

oh you're right about those BNMs, shit I'm probably also wrong about those albums placing then, oh well

listen i love fall out boy but lmao at people voting for this shit

the combinations of the words "fall out boy" and "remix" have produced some of the worst music I've ever heard

lifestyle magazine Pitchfork's list has a lot of problems but at least it's correctly identified the best track on the Fiona Apple album

oh right i forgot about fireboy. only burna made the albums last year so probably fireboy or amaarae will i guess, but the don't seem to have gone all-in compared to last year or anything.

I posted about the Amaarae album on the Rolling R&B thread yesterday myself as a matter of fact

baffled by their love of Dogleg

"money machine" was only #61 last year so i'm guessing the shitty fall out boy remix placing much higher (and the remix album scoring better) is because way more pitchfork writers are paying attention to 100 gecs now lol. guess they were slow on the uptake?

but at least we now have clarity about Masego: he’s a “future-soul artist”!

(he’s on the Kehlani track that placed)

would also like to politely enquire why waxahatchee is still a thing

They really erase the good will I have toward them as a useful way to keep track of a decent (but not comprehensive; don't start yelling at me) cross-section of music throughout the year with these lists. I think the "WAP" blurb made me dislike that song even more than I already did; why is it "a feat that the song exists at all"?

this year's waxahatchee album was pleasant but i was quite surprised just how acclaimed it's ended up being?

also p4k's biggest blindspot is still sault. even the rest of the us press is starting to catch on!

https://www.popmatters.com/best-albums-of-2020-2649094823.html

xp
I like Sault a lot, but given how determined their fans are around here, I'm starting to find Pitchfork ignoring them amusing

I liked those two Sault albums well enough, but they felt a bit… basic? Like a few extra sonic tricks would increase their replay factor; maybe some more adventurous songs as well. I get the sense that the best is yet to come.

P4K’s list is surprisingly decent.

PopMatters list looks boring. I might check out the Ital Tek, though.

there’s more stuff i haven’t heard on the pitchfork list than usual, idk if that means they dug a little deeper or i just read the site less

i like both, but the Waxahatchee album makes me *feel* more in about 30 seconds than both Sault records combined

The Quietus mustered a jazz shortlist:

https://thequietus.com/articles/29308-nate-wooley-susan-alcorn-eric-revis-jazz-review

Of those I've heard, I liked the Anna Högberg Attack the most.

I just listened to 30 seconds of Waxahatchee and it's true I did feel ~something~

imo, Sault are classicists--so I have a hard time imagining a more adventurous version of them--but they're very much invested in feeling

judging from p4k’s instagram comments, waxahatchee is probably gonna win the site’s reader poll

I got the sense, as I was listening, that a single spin was enough to exhaust each song, in no small part because of their self-consciousness directness. There was no mystery, no ambiguity, which is a near-dealbreaker as far as I'm concerned. I love the sound palette they draw upon, though, and Cleo Sol in particular is a great vocalist.

xp

The Wire lists are out. Top 5 albums are Beatrice Dillon, Moor Mother, Mourning A BLKstar, Bob Dylan and Duma

Seconded – I'd love to see the full lists as well.

I got the sense, as I was listening, that a single spin was enough to exhaust each song, in no small part because of their self-consciousness directness. There was no mystery, no ambiguity, which is a near-dealbreaker as far as I'm concerned. I love the sound palette they draw upon, though, and Cleo Sol in particular is a great vocalist.

xp

― pomenitul, Monday, 7 December 2020 15:56 (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think this rather neatly explains my lukewarm response to Sault as well

#50 Fleetwood Mac "Dreams"

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-2020-1097442/fleetwood-mac-dreams-tiktok-1097741/

pom, i think your criticisms apply to (black is), but less to (rise), which I greatly prefer

Really glad to see the JD Allen album show up on the Quietus jazz list. It's a great record, but exactly the kind of thing that falls through the cracks because there's no hook or gimmick for a critic to latch onto; it's just three guys playing really, really well together in a traditional style — if you like circa-1964 John Coltrane, you'll like Allen — but absolutely putting their own spin on it. (Full disclosure: JD is a friend, and I wrote the liner notes for the album.)

vc, that's fair – I do agree that there's an audible progression.

I would also be interested in seeing the WIRE lists.

I helped put on a show for Mourning A BLKStar here in Philly once— it turned into a total nightmare because of a serious miscommunication with the venue, and I ended up having to pay their entire fee out of my own pocket (long story!). BUT!! They were an exceptionally good live band, and interesting, fun people to be around. Glad they're getting love.

that RS song list has Oxlade’s “Away” at 23 - I approve. I also like that they have Curtis Waters’s “Stunnin’” somewhere too. I love that big dumb track.

do we have a thread where Mourning A BLKStar has been discussed? this is srsly great stuff

they’ve hidden those lists very well, I went to the site but wasn’t able to find them. do you have a link?

no, it's in the print issue out today...

Wire Magazine - Releases Of The Year 2020

1. Beatrice Dillon - Workaround
2. Moor Mother - Circuit City
3. Mourning A BLKstar - The Cycle
4. Bob Dylan - Rough And Rowdy Ways
5. Duma - Duma
6. Jeff Parker & The New Breed - Suite for Max Brown
7. Still House Plants - Fast Edit
8. Jennifer Walshe - A Late Anthology Of Early Music Vol 1: Ancient To Renaissance
9. White Boy Scream - Bakunawa
10. Carl Stone - Stolen Car

11. Backxwash - God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
12. Armand Hammer - Shrines
13. Sarah Davachi - Cantus, Descant
14. Zeroh - BLQLYTE
15. Bill Nace - Both
16. William Basinski - Lamentations
17. Albert Bouchard - Re Imaginos
18. Rhodri Davies - Telyn Rawn
19. Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Innocent Country 2
20. Special Interest - The Passion Of

21. Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You?
22. Aksak Maboul - Figures
23. Liv.e - Couldn't Wait To Tell You
24. Ellen Fulman & Theresa Wong - Harbors
25. ONO - Red Summer
26. The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go On Sinning So The Grace May Increase?
27. Sun Ra Arkestra - Swirling
28. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
29. Autechre - SIGN
30. Gogoj aka Sheng Jie - Oviparity

31. Mary Halvorson's Code Girl - Artlessly Falling
32. Jay Electronica - A Written Testimony
33. PRAED! Orchestra - Live In Sharjah
34. Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brotherhood - Live
35. Tara Clerkin Trio - Tara Clerkin Trio
36. Crazy Doberman - Illusory Expansion
37. Oliver Coats - skins n slime
38. Clipping - Visions Of Bodies Being Burned
39. Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders
40. Pink Siifu - NEGRO

41. Sara Serpa - Recognition
42. Thundercat - It Is What It Is
43. Anna Von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly
44. Neptunian Maximalism - Eons
45. Headie One x Fred again. - GANG
46. Neil Charles - Low And Beyond
47. Wendy Eisenberg - Auto
48. Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul
49. Tricky - Fall To Pieces
50. Sylvia Hallett - Tree Time

apologies in advance for any typos

B. Dillon and B. Dylan together at last

...and in the correct order

Thanks!

no problem! can do some of the genre lists a bit later if there are any requests

wow once again i love the wire list

thank you, NickB!

9. White Boy Scream - Bakunawa

Yesssss.

Wire Magazine - Releases Of The Year 2020

2. Moor Mother - Circuit City
21. Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You?
Good for Moor Mother, doing Philly proud almost placing two records in their top 20!

5. Duma - Duma
Brilliant Kenyan industrial grind.

11. Backxwash - God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
My favorite hip-hop album this year.

44. Neptunian Maximalism - Eons
Lots of metal friends love this but I got bored about 90 minutes in.

Good list.

I'm a Wire voter and I'm surprised someone else voted for Éons to get it into the top 50. These were my lists:

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2020
Ambrose Akinmusire, On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment (Blue Note)
Shabaka And The Ancestors, We Are Sent Here By History (Impulse!)
Neptunian Maximalism, Éons (I, Voidhanger)
Autechre, PLUS/SIGN (Warp)
Spirit Adrift, Enlightened In Eternity (20 Buck Spin)
Anna Högberg Attack, Lena (Omlott)
Darragh Morgan/John Tilbury, Morton Feldman: For John Cage (Diatribe)
Napalm Death, Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism (Century Media)
Behold The Arctopus, Hapeleptic Overtrove (Willowtip)
Xythlia, Immortality Through Quantum Suicide (I, Voidhanger)

TOP 10 REISSUES/ARCHIVAL RELEASES OF 2020
Anthony Braxton, Town Hall 1972 (Trio)
Pharoah Sanders, Live In Paris 1975 (Transversales Disques)
Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Birdland, Neuburg 2011 (Fundacja Słuchaj)
Sonny Rollins, Rollins In Holland (Resonance)
The Meters, Gettin’ Funkier All The Time (Cherry Red)
Iggy Pop, The Bowie Years (Universal)
Randy Holden, Population II (RidingEasy)
Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit, Axis/Another Revolvable Thing (Blank Forms Editions)
Sir Lord Baltimore, Complete Recordings 1970-2006 (Cherry Red)
The Stooges, Live At Goose Lake August 8, 1970 (Third Man)

22. Aksak Maboul - Figures

Massively satisfying slab of systemspop aceness - totally approachable and glorious fun

Glad to see the Anna Högberg Attack and Neptunian Maximalism on your list, unperson.

That performance of For John Cage is predictably superlative, but I've been totally burnt-out on Feldman for a long time now, especially his 1980s stuff.

Really glad to see the JD Allen album show up

Listening to this now, it's really good!

I'm a Wire voter and I'm surprised someone else voted for Éons to get it into the top 50

The person who complied the 'avant rock' top ten (Antonio Poscic) included Neptunian Maximalism in there too, so i guess that's the other voter. Also in that list: Duma, ONO, Imperial Triumphant, OOIOO, Bloodmist, Bill Nace, tetema, Faucet, Expander

NickB, do they still run the 'critical beats' list? if so, could you post it?

sure, here you go...

Wire Critical Beats 10 (compiled by Joe Muggs)

Anz - Loos In Twos
Andrew Weatherall - Unkown Plunderer
Nazar - Territorial EP
Azu Tiwaline - Magnetic Service EP
Krust - TEOE Remixes #1
KG - Sensei EP
Robert Hood / Floorplan - The Struggle / Save The Children
Uj Bala - Grey Gardens
Lila Tirando A Violeta - Tungsten Tears
Hard Ton - Beats For Straight Boys

many thanks!

good call on Kassa VC; i thought this was his breakout year

― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 6 December 2020 21:50 (yesterday) link

got an honorable mention slot on Carl Wilson’s list for slate, that’s something I guess!

https://slate.com/culture/2020/12/best-albums-2020-plus-best-songs.html

Textura's lists are up:
https://www.textura.org/archives/articles/2020top10s.htm

The NPR individual lists haven’t been shared yet have they?

Liking this a lot better.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/04/942133359/the-best-music-of-2020-npr-staff-picks

Oh the Textura reps for:

Christian Löffler: Parallels (Beethoven): Shellac Reworks

That’s a great one! Love it.

And that’s about the only record I know from that list...

That Burial comp is frankly depressing. The more recent material on disc 1 pales in comparison with the 'classics' on disc 2.

though rival dealer is on the first disc and that's his very best release

Title track is good and serves as an appetizer for disc 2, but I've never been too keen on 'Hiders' and 'Come Down to Us'.

Anyway, Textura's EOY picks are always welcome but that classical list couldn't be any further from my own tastes.

Damn, Wire's list was about the only hope I had for Zeroh's 'BLQLYTE' to get its due, so bummer to see it come in only at #14.

I listened to the Rebecca Hennessy album once when Textura reviewed it the first time and it was p good iirc. I still don't completely know how I manage to have so little overlap with any of these lists, even Wire and Textura, although I feel like I listen to and enjoy a decent amount of music.

I mean, there is probably is stuff I would like on those lists.

I've been writing for The Wire since 2002 and I've only heard 15 of those albums:

2. Moor Mother - Circuit City
5. Duma - Duma
6. Jeff Parker & The New Breed - Suite for Max Brown

11. Backxwash - God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It

21. Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You?
24. Ellen Fulman & Theresa Wong - Harbors
27. Sun Ra Arkestra - Swirling
28. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
29. Autechre - SIGN

31. Mary Halvorson's Code Girl - Artlessly Falling
34. Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brotherhood - Live

42. Thundercat - It Is What It Is
43. Anna Von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly
44. Neptunian Maximalism - Eons
48. Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul

I just listened to the Jeff Parker and tbh I was a little surprised they would pick this as the best jazz album of the year. I did like the last track quite a bit. A lot is likeable, though, and it may well benefit from more listens.

xp heard 16:

1. Beatrice Dillon - Workaround
4. Bob Dylan - Rough And Rowdy Ways
11. Backxwash - God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
12. Armand Hammer - Shrines
13. Sarah Davachi - Cantus, Descant
15. Bill Nace - Both
16. William Basinski - Lamentations
24. Ellen Fulman & Theresa Wong - Harbors
28. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
29. Autechre - SIGN
33. PRAED! Orchestra - Live In Sharjah
38. Clipping - Visions Of Bodies Being Burned
39. Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders
43. Anna Von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly
44. Neptunian Maximalism - Eons
48. Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul

Armand Hammer, Sarah Davachi, Ellen Fulman & Theresa Wong, Autechre, Anna von Hausswolff and Neptunian Maximalism are the ones I'd stan for.

Re: Textura, Causa Sui sounds pretty cool – laid-back fusion-y psych rock jamming.

I also enjoyed track 1 of the Douglas MacGregor. Simple yet emotionally effective solo guitar work.

The Moor Mother album at #2 is kinda the highest ranking jazz record on the list, as it’s pretty much a stealth Irreversible Entanglements record with more electronics than usual and some guest vocalists.

Anna Högberg Attack sounds good so far.

I saw this Lewsberg album show up a few places. At first they just seemed like V.U. fetishists to me, but they've got their own thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61P-0bAuqTM

The Quietus's metal sub-list, which is better than most imo, although I'm not sold on the rankings:

https://thequietus.com/articles/29321-the-best-heavy-metal-2020

The Rambler (aka ex-ILXor Tim Rutherford-Johnson) published an excellent list of mostly contemporary classical EOY picks:

https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/2020/12/08/rambler-releases-of-2020/

The Liza Lim is a no-brainer and the Clara Iannotta is amazing as well.

been revisiting this year's code orange record and it's like.... so amazing, and apparently way too cool to be on a metal list

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-albums-2020/

oh genuinely surprised waxahatchee is #2? amaarae and burna boy are indeed the token afro picks

Metalcore isn't my jam, but does the Code Orange top the Gulch?

xp

imo it's a computer program that splices together metalcore, nu-metal, and straight up linkin park pop-alt-metal and it's glitching really intensely

Re: 1975 not showing on EOY lists

the music critic establishment rallied together two years too late to anoint the 1975's worst album their best and then turned on them arbitrarily after they made a far better record. this is how you know they're an incredible band.

— jordan (@jordansarge) August 10, 2020

digidoom metal xp

Waxahatchee at #2 is a joke.

j0rd otm as usual

I can't recall the last time p4k's EOY list was this divorced from my own preferences, possibly because I was more intent than usual on staying abreast of new releases this year. Not even a token metal record lol.

Happy to see Ka in the top 40, though.

I pushed hard for Ka.

Waxahatchee's album is their best, but I know nothing.

the waxahatchee album was pleasant enough when i listened to it but never stood out as something particularly special and i haven't really come back to it at all this year

i hate having a "their debut is the best" opinion bc i rarely think any artist debuts at their best, but no katie crutchfield project has resonated for me quite as much as the first p.s. eliot record. i assume this is a problem with me and not with her albums

ufo that is the reaction I have to every waxahatchee thing

some pleasant surprises on the p4k list, like duval timothy, kate nv, choosing act ii as their jay electronica pick instead of that ponderous jay-z collab

One thing I'm really happy about this year is that these music sites have finally figured out how to publish their lists on a single page.

the Pitchfork is actually far better than I was expecting. Great to see the Yves Tumor and Moses Sumney both getting good placements in various places. Also pleasantly surprised to see the Bartees Strange in a few of them - it's really a fantastic debut.

Agreed - personally think the P4k list is far more interesting than it has been in years past, especially the first half. Notably elevated Jessie Ware, Haim, and Roisin Murphy in the rankings compared to a lot of other outlets. Some of their favs (OPN, Sufjan, Caribou) are also absent. I, too, think the Moses Sumney album is quite good, and had been surprised it was not landing in more top 10s. Still don't get the complete absence of Sault, and the top of their tracks and albums list have a lot of overlap.

chipping in to add my 'j0rdan otm' to all the others

Hadn't listened to the Mary Lattimore album at the top of their list. Lovely.

p4k list is surely a narrower concentration of their brand than ever

Last time I listened to Waxahatchee was probably her second album, years ago. I don't recall her having any country leanings back then. Anyway I've been listening to the new one for a week now and it is definitely growing on me. I don't begrudge anyone rating it highly.

p4k list is surely a narrower concentration of their brand than ever

Not saying this isn't true, but how so, exactly?

I haven't played Saint Cloud much since the weather cooled, but it had a rock-solid spot in my rotation back when the lockdown madness was first setting in, when I began taking long drives to nowhere in particular and going through automatic carwashes several times a month (the most exciting instant-gratification purchase you can make without human interaction!)

"Fire" would probably be in my top 10 songs of the year, and it loses none of its appeal when you slide it into a tracklist surrounded by her other excellent songs, so I'm fine with the #2 placement.

Not saying this isn't true, but how so, exactly?

― pomenitul, Tuesday, 8 December 2020 17:41 (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

scrolled through it and my eyebrows flickered precisely once, for Ka

that doesn't really answer the question

them going to bat for that massive-step-down mediocre and cloying us girls album while forgetting that, say, katie gately did an album this year is extremely on brand

i do my 'pitchfork isn't avant-garde enough' spiel every year though and it is important to note that it is first and foremost a pop lifestyle magazine nowadays so zero expectations rly

Anyway, Textura's EOY picks are always welcome but that classical list couldn't be any further from my own tastes.

I don't generally find their classical taste that reliable, although tbh I don't know the albums they picked for this year.

but why are you surprised they picked the ka album? they've been covering him very positively for over a decade.

xp

I genuinely hadn't noticed! Good that they did obv, it's a really good album

I haven't played Saint Cloud much since the weather cooled, but it had a rock-solid spot in my rotation back when the lockdown madness was first setting in, when I began taking long drives to nowhere

Same. I found her other albums worthy but wispy. This one has a thickness and precision I appreciated.

I think the Waxahatchee is great, though I've been pretty invested since American Weekend

One I'm mildly surprised I haven't noticed having any presence (although I haven't been ctrl+f-ing all lists or anything): Selena Gomez's Rare. Curse of early-January release?

Listening to some of the high albums I've not heard on The Wire list. The Duma record is wild and will definitely revisit. Amongst the razor wire vocal there's a strange, calming and pretty ambience.

But I LOVE the Still House Plants record. How did I not know this before? It's absolutely fantastic and I can't really place why I love it so much on first listen. Just bought the vinyl.

Went to look at The Quietus metal list and the website is down. :(

vice list always includes some great overlooked albums along with many head-scratchers

https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a7xa/the-100-best-albums-of-2020-noisey

yeah that's a real good list

Feels very similar in spirit to p4k's, which is to be expected, I suppose.

Made in Lagos at 74 and Twice as Tall at 21 (the reverse would have been more accurate), slim Afropop pickings on an otherwise interesting list.

agree with that, hopefully they'll include some more african inclusions in their tracks list.

That list reminded me I need to check out that Jeremy Cunningham record.

featuring some honest-to-god imagocore in Machine Girl!

they also included many of the rap albums i liked a lot this year (was kind of a weak year for rap albums overall tbh, much stronger for singles)

ctrl + f 'armand hammer'

no results

shame on u, vice

xp
Hey NYCNative: if the Quietus metal list is still currently down, this Cryptic Shift album was my big new-to-me discovery from it, FWIW
(a slightly more tech take on the sci-fi, slightly prog death angle that Death Incantation and Tomb Mold are perhaps best known for running with over the past 3-4 yrs,
but this release impresses me a fair bit more than either of those bands have, TBH):

https://cryptic-shift.bandcamp.com/album/visitations-from-enceladus

(^ Blood Incantation, whoops)

I, too, was impressed by Visitations from Enceladus but its formlessness is a bug rather than a feature imo. I look forward to their next couple of releases.

Fair enough!
This Vassafor album's the other metal record that I only just got into in the past few days via it getting enough year-end notice to likewise grab my attention--
lots of riffs strung into/after riffs on this one tool, but I really like how these New Zealanders stick an early, thrashy, out-and-out Satanic sensibility with that Antipodean post-Portal caverncore approach with nice murk/clarity balance in the production:

https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/vassafor-to-the-death

...And, uh, am much more into Swearin' than Waxahatchee, haha

One of my favorite albums of the year is Blake Mills' "Mutable Set"--admittedly a very quiet record that might pride itself on fading away, so perhaps not surprising that I haven't seen it on any EOY lists. I guess since P'fork gave it a BNM I thought it had a chance of showing up on their list, but nope.

"vanishing twin" did ok on the p4k songs list so i'm a little surprised it didn't make the albums list, great album

vice list is interesting as usual, there's lots to dig through there.

been enjoying The Cycle by Mourning (A) BLKstar from the Wire list

the Beatrice Dillon album is really nice listening to on headphones

End-of-year music mix, for a change of pace:

'Hindsight Twenty Twenty': The most essential music of the year of 2020, reflecting our anger, hope, love, fears, beauty and the fight.https://t.co/C3z6ZFfsxP

w/ @SaultGlobal @NAEEMmusic @terencenance @_zeroh @Aho_Ssan @JUNGLEPUSSY @ghostpoet @YvesTumor @RoyKinsey @beautypill pic.twitter.com/hVEjoCB4Yx

— Musicophilia (@musicophiliamix) December 9, 2020

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/musicophilia_00_various_-_hindsight-twenty-twenty_2020_cover-a-front.jpg?w=3600

Part I

01 [0:00:00] Sault – “Fearless” (‘Untitled (Rise)’)
02 [0:03:40] Naeem – “Tiger Song” (‘Startisha’)
03 [0:08:10] Terence Etc. – “Like That Tho?” (‘Things I Never Had’)
04 [0:13:00] Zeroh – “The Lord & Nature” (‘BLQLYTE’)
05 [0:17:10] Aho Ssan – “Intro” (‘Simulacrum’)
06 [0:20:40] Junglepussy – “Spiders” (‘Jp4’)
07 [0:23:05] Ghostpoet – “Nowhere to Hide Now” (‘I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep’)
08 [0:27:35] Yves Tumor – “Dream Palette” (‘Heaven To a Tortured Mind’)
09 [0:30:30] Roy Kinsey – “Everything is Everything” (‘KINSEY: A Memoir’)
10 [0:33:35] Beauty Pill – “The Damndest Thing” (‘Please Advise’)

Part II

11 [0:38:35] Bartees Strange – “Far” (‘Live Forever’)
12 [0:42:25] Nazar – “Retaliation” (‘Guerrilla’)
13 [0:45:30] Moor Mother & Olof Melander – “Hemlock” (‘Anthologia 01’)
14 [0:48:15] Moses Boyd – “Only You” (‘Dark Matter’)
15 [0:52:20] Wayne Phoenix – “Reserve” (‘Soaring Wayne Phoenix Story The Earth’)
16 [0:53:45] Nnamdi – “Heartless” (‘Black Plight’)
17 [0:56:50] Algiers – “Losing Is Ours” (‘There Is No Year’)
18 [1:00:25] Zsela – “For Now” (‘Ache of Victory’)
19 [1:04:40] Anjimile – “1978” (‘Giver Taker’)
20 [1:09:10] Tek.Lun – “No Peace!” (‘The Opression Olympics’)
21 [1:12:55] Kassa Overall – “Show Me a Prison” (‘I Think I’m Good’)
22 [1:16:20] Jeff Parker – “Go Away” (‘Suite for Max Brown’)
23 [1:21:15] KMRU – “Why Are You Here?” (‘Peel’)

Part III

24 [1:22:00] Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals – “The Black Power Paradox” (‘Rhino XXL’)
25 [1:26:00] Oui Ennui – “A Man Who Began To Suspect He Was Made of Glass” (‘Wytai’)
26 [1:28:10] Dua Saleh – “Windhymn” (‘Rosetta’)
27 [1:31:15] Fusilier – “Upstream” (‘Upstream’)
28 [1:37:20] Loris – “Driver Nephi” (‘Loris’)
29 [1:42:55] Nailah Hunter – “White Flower, Dark Hill” (‘Spells’)
30 [1:45:20] Moses Sumney – “Polly” (‘Grae’)
31 [1:48:55] Zeal & Ardor – “Vigil” (‘Wake of a Nation’)
32 [1:52:05] Space Afrika – “Oh Baby” (‘Hybtwibt?’)
33 [1:54:05] Lamin Fofana – “I Ran From It and Was Still In It” (‘Darkwater’)

[Total Time: 1:59:55]

turning 40 tomorrow so here's my top 40 (listened to) albums from the last 365 days regardless of release year, which is pretty much why I read ILM, to get this from everyone else, so thank you and you're welcome

1 The Sir Douglas Quintet - The Complete Mercury Masters
2 Al Green - Gets Next to You
3 X - Wild Gift
4 Various Artists - Bachata Roja: Acoustic Bachata from the Cabaret Era
5 Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls, and Marches
6 Them - Them Again (feat. Van Morrison)
7 The Funkees - Dancing Time, The Best of Eastern Nigeria's Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77
8 Glen Campbell - The Capitol Years 1965-1977
9 Mulatu Astatke - Ethiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz 1969-1974
10 The Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard in my Back Yard
11 James Brown - Love Power Peace (Live at the Olympia in Paris, 1971)
12 Merle Haggard - A Portrait Of
13 The Replacements - Tim
14 The Meat Puppets - II
15 James Brown - Live At Home With His Bad Self
16 Stan Getz - Verve Jazz Masters 53
17 Mac Dre - What's Really Going On?
18 Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques
19 The Howling Hex - All Night Fox
20 Los Tucanes De Tijuana - Para Tucanillos y Tucanillas
21 Susso - Kiera
22 The Left Banke - Walk Away Renée/Pretty Ballerina
23 Jimmy Smith - Softly As A Summer Breeze
24 Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
25 The Replacements - For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986
26 Sharhabil Ahmed - The King of Sudanese Jazz (Habibi Funk 013)
27 Women - Public Strain
28 Al Green - Let's Stay Together
29 Novos Baianos - Acabou Chorare
30 Teenage Fanclub - A Catholic Education
31 The Replacements - Let It be
32 Walter Wanderley - Rain Forest
33 Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
34 Trumans Water - Spasm Smash XXXOXOX Ox & Ass
35 U-Roy - Versions Galore
36 Various Artists - Habibi Funk: An Electic Selection of Music From the Arab World
37 Dick Stusso - In Heaven
38 Dungen - Haxan
39 Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey - Ebenezer Obey in London
40 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory (40th Anniversary Edition)

Very cool list--happy birthday

Love the Waxahatchee record, don't care for her earlier efforts though! This one has been on heavy rotation all year. Her take on Country Roads (Take Me Home) with Whitney is very addictive as well.

hb burrito!

The bar is pretty low but Vice is the best list so far. Wouldn't surprise me if it stayed that way.

I don't care for "WAP" but they're the only one so far with RMR in the top 10 which tbh should be in every tracks list this year.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzgp7/the-100-best-songs-of-2020-noisey

noisey list made me realize "if you're too shy" is pretty underrepresented on these lists

i guess "critically-acclaimed band the 1975" was doomed to be a short-lived phenomenon :)

No Clean Singing's 'great' metal albums of 2020:

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2020/12/09/2020-a-year-in-reviews-the-great/

omg what a nice surprise at the end

https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2020/the-best-club-music-of-2020

Made in Lagos at 74 and Twice as Tall at 21 (the reverse would have been more accurate), slim Afropop pickings on an otherwise interesting list.

― fat ass deep state operative (breastcrawl), dinsdag 8 december 2020 23:41

agree with that, hopefully they'll include some more african inclusions in their tracks list.

― la table sur la table (voodoo chili), dinsdag 8 december 2020 23:47

they did not, just... one: Wizkid's "Blessed" ft. Damian Marley at... 89 (it would be a strange pick as the highlight of the album imho, let alone as the de facto best afropop song of the year).

it's nice to see Lila Iké's "I Spy" in there tho.

The 1975 confuse me in a way that I find unpleasant.

Very well put, that's exactly it for me as well.

Looking forward to the Vinyl Factory album list. In the meantime, this one aligns nicely with my tastes:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/best-music-2020-theo-parrish-pop-smoke/2020/12/07/2039bc8c-3581-11eb-b59c-adb7153d10c2_story.html

Especially happy to see Ulla and Bergsonist in there. Really enjoy those.

I actually went and listened to a bunch of the new album by the 1975 last night, as well as older tracks, to try and figure it out.

The songs are decent pop, lyrics inoffensive and crooned in a fine range of different voices. I think there's something about the production that bothers me. It's very polite and seems made for an Apple commercial-- I want to say it is too quantized, but my music production chops have fallen by the wayside over the past decade.