Yes, it’s been a hard year, and yes, we’re also tired of confronting that fact. But the bizarrely repetitive and numbing hermetic existence most of us have endured this past year has made for a strange experience, one thankfully made more tolerable by all the art and pop culture streamed, downloaded, mailed, and delivered into our homes. A lot of the music that ended up on our list of the 20 best albums of the year already made an appearance at 2020’s halfway point, showing up on the list of our favorite music thus far. Most of those records were made before lockdown began, but there’s more than a couple here—Charli XCX, Taylor Swift—that drew inspiration from the same wellspring of hardship that created our present circumstances.
It’s also not a shock that most of these are familiar faces; in times of trouble, going with what you know is understandable, and the degree of comfort our favorite artists can bring is incalculable. (That being said, there’s a couple newcomers among them, ready to shake things up.) We know there will be something you can’t believe is missing, something that is so good, it’s a crime against taste that it hasn’t been included here. So let us assure you, that album definitely almost made the cut, it was only a few votes short. But here are the 20 best albums we heard in 2020, as voted upon by The A.V. Club’s music critics. (You can find the ballots here.) And if you’re curious, the contest for the top spot wasn’t even close.
20. Perfume Genius, Set My Heart On Fire Immediately
Set My Heart On Fire Immediately is Perfume Genius’ most vivid work to date, a sweeping record that feels as alive as the musicians that poured their heart and soul into it. On this bracing fifth album, the branches of Mike Hadreas’ soul-bearing musical endeavor have never been so far-reaching—culling inspiration from baroque pop, bluesy Americana, and beyond—but it’s clear that his roots have grown deeper too. Assured and intensely intimate, the record excavates a past of queer shame and pain (the stunning “Jason” and its tale of a one-night-stand gone wrong comes to mind) in order to build a future that feels remarkably warm and inviting. Through its sorrow and its ecstasy, Set My Heart On Fire Immediately sounds like a burden lifted. [Cameron Scheetz]
19. Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud
After nine months sitting with Saint Cloud, a single lyric resonates more than the others: “When you get back on the M train, watch the city mutate.” Waxahatchee’s fifth studio LP is an album in motion, simultaneously reflective and anticipatory. It’s an album of departures, of the open roads and crowded trains that led us here. Katie Crutchfield recorded Saint Cloud in the wake of a cross-country move, a transition that coincided with her newfound sobriety, and the internal struggles coloring her words speak to that renewed perspective. It’s appropriate, then, that Saint Cloud is the best showcase yet for Crutchfield’s rich and robust voice, shades of which she still appears to be discovering. The city mutates, and so do we. [Randall Colburn]
18. Hayley Williams, Petals For Armor
It’s not often that an already beloved mainstay finds a way to exceed the public’s expectations, especially when you’re the frontwoman of pop-punk lions Paramore. With her debut solo effort Petals For Armor, Hayley Williams not only tapped into her long-heralded handle of her righteous rage, she refined it. “Simmer” and “Dead Horse” were simpering badges of a woman who has grown significantly, trading roaring refrains for slightly quieter introspection. And yet, free-wheeling cries like “Sudden Desire” and “Pure Love” still bring the untethered emotion that has rendered Williams such a beacon of raw emotion. Experimental and incredibly vulnerable, Petals For Armor mines sweet melodies from previously open wounds, synthesizing hurt, healing, and intimacy in one fortuitous, mellifluous therapy session. [Shannon Miller]
17. Dogleg, Melee
If anyone was solely responsible for tiding us over to next year for that feeling of a sold-out venue collectively losing its mind, it’s Dogleg. The Detroit emo group’s debut album, Melee, is overflowing with unrepentant power chords, full-force drum fills, and blistering guitar riffs you can sing along to. Live, it would have prompted mosh pits and rhythmic stage-diving on par with that of the hometown crowd seen in the band’s “Fox” video. Instead, it served an equally noble and much needed purpose: soundtracking at-home workouts and feverish gaming streaks during quarantine. (The latter is inherently endorsed through lyrical nods to Pokémon, Star Fox, and Super Smash Bros.) Despite canceled tours, Dogleg managed to have a breakout year thanks to the timelessness of their pent-up punk and anxious hollering, an outlet that everyone, not just emo fans, needed. [Nina Corcoran]
16. Oneohtrix Point Never, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
Is there a partnership in music more exciting than the one between The Weeknd and Oneohtrix Point Never? Emerging from the amniotic void of Uncut Gems, the duo first banged out the low-key highlights of the former’s best album in almost a decade, then turned to OPN’s oeuvre, which Tesfaye executive produced thusly: “Burn it down! This is an OPN record.” Well, then: How about the whole OPN saga as a dying radio station, a journey to the center of the mind, and also the discography—some sort of rock-radio afterlife, all-static, where soft-rock and schmaltz and those starbursts of synthesizer all coexist peacefully? You wanted the hits, baby! Even the song titles nod toward this delirious self-mythologizing. It’s vapor-vaporwave, a dream within a dream, the sound of a year spent inside, talking to yourself until your selves start to talk back. [Clayton Purdom]
15. Jeff Rosenstock, NO DREAM
The more time passes, the stronger Jeff Rosenstock’s distillation of pop-punk, ska, and folk-punk sounds. On NO DREAM, his latest full-length with his Death Rosenstock bandmates, the DIY icon recounts impulse internet buys in the pursuit of happiness, breathing exercises as a mental bottomless pit, and the desperate sacrifices of parents-turned-reluctant Airbnb hosts—the type of astute observations that are depressingly bleak. A year like 2020 should theoretically feel even worse with someone pointing out your existential, capitalist, socially stunted problems in songs while you experience them in real time. And yet, in classic Rosenstock fashion, NO DREAM is the exact type of album you need to bear it at all. As a cathartic group chant in “f a m e” puts it, at least you’re still in control of who you are. [Nina Corcoran]
14. Grimes, Miss Anthropocene
Post-Millennium Tension would be an apt alternate title for Miss Anthropocene, Grimes’ latest bold and transportive album, and not just because the Massive Attack-like grooves and soundscapes littering the record mark her as the real heir to the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink style of avant-pop music-making. It’s also the steady churn of her lyrical obsessions—fear, death, apocalyptic visions, and the fragile, ethereal nature of love and the human condition—marking the record’s dark themes and creating a cohesive framework to structure her restless musical muse. Yet amid the sturm und drang, moments of organic beauty, like “Delete Forever”’s guitar strumming or the soaring, lush pop of “IDORU,” remind the listener that beneath the layers of complex arrangements and orchestration lie the gifts of a truly inspired songwriter. [Alex McLevy]
13. Charli XCX, How I’m Feeling Now
Hyper-pop meets hyper self-awareness on Charli XCX’s exhilarating fourth album, How I’m Feeling Now, one of the first to be conceived of and produced in lockdown, and one of the year’s enduring odes to our elemental need for connection. An artist who thrives off the energy of live shows and ecstatic fans, Charli used quarantine as an opportunity to invite them into her process, collaboratively crafting the record over six weeks of livestreams. The end result is every bit as fun and frenetic as her previous work—from the sweetly tempered “Forever” to the cathartic cry opening “Anthems”—but with a vulnerable through line highlighting the unique sense of community found through music and our shared longing to return to late nights at bars with our closest friends. [Cameron Scheetz]
12. Lianne La Havas, Lianne La Havas
Though its narrative is centered around a doomed personal relationship, Lianne La Havas’ self-titled third record isn’t really a breakup album. Rather, it charts the British singer-songwriter’s journey of emotional and artistic reawakening. The basic building blocks of her sound are still here—mesmerizing vocals, muted guitar melodies, vibrant instrumentals—but she’s more in control this time around. It’s evident on the soulful ballad “Paper Thin,” where she’s reached her breaking point, singing “You understand the pain I’m in / Slippin’ in and out of such confidence / And overwhelming doubt.” Or the album’s opener, “Bittersweet,” where she flashes forward to the end of the breakup, stoutly proclaiming “I’m born again,” as if to reassure listeners that the ensuing story isn’t really a tragedy. Those moments of quiet intimacy cover the album, lending it an air of self-assurance. [Baraka Kaseko]
11. Jay Electronica, A Written Testimony
Jay Electronica’s decade-in-the-making debut is a wonderfully perplexing work. It sounds contemplative and dream-like, sidestepping expectations (after his classic 2009 single “Exhibit C”) that this would be a big, booming epic. When Jay explains his myth, like on “The Neverending Story,” he opts to deepen his portrait as well as exaggerate his own powers. (He asks, “Have you ever heard the tale of the noblest of gentlemen that rose up from squalor?”) Then there’s the fact that the first voice you hear after a Louis Farrakhan recording is Jay-Z, and that the album is couched in controversial Nation Of Islam symbology. But save for the mournful “A.P.I.D.T.A.,” no one can plumb ego and pathos quite like Jay Electronica. Even with Jay-Z assisting him, this is his moment. [Mosi Reeves]
10. Thundercat, It Is What It Is
In an alternate universe, Thundercat followed up the crusty otaku-gone-supernova opus Drunk with some sort of “return to form,” by a certain perspective at least—a triple-LP opus with a colon in its title, say. Instead, after a brief detour into Screwcraft country, he reemerged, resplendent in cat hair, but still smelling good, with this: It Is What It Is. And if that title seems tautological, well, it is, right? This is not an album of identity crisis, it is an album of identity assured: those gliding pop-funk bass-lines on “Black Qualls,” the David Axelrod mise-en-scene of “King Of The Hill,” the instant-classic Feeling Of One’s Self of “Dragonball Durag.” It’s euphoric even after it crash-lands into existential dread: an album pulsing with light and life. Instructive, honestly. [Clayton Purdom]
9. Moses Sumney, græ
“I insist upon the recognition of my multiplicity.” This unshakable assertion arrives halfway through Moses Sumney’s sophomore LP, on the spoken-word interlude “also also also and and and.” In the wake of his debut, Aromanticism, Sumney lost some control of his narrative, with fans and critics thrusting the “R&B singer” label upon the multi-faceted artist. Rather than let that derail him, he doubles down with græ, expanding his sonic palette while taking aim at those man-made identity constructs. On the propulsive lead single, “Virile,” he rages against traditional masculine notions, his angelic tenor contrasting sublimely with booming percussion. The devastatingly intimate “Polly” sees him mourn an unrequited love over plucking acoustic guitar. Across a dense but sprawling hour, græ shifts from art-pop to indie rock to jazz, never getting weighed down by its ambition. Instead, it feels as free-forming and light as Sumney’s otherworldly falsetto. [Baraka Kaseko]
8. Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
In a year when joy is such a precious commodity, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia served as a necessary balm, thanks to a hearty confection of Europop and disco. Yes, there are multiple opportunities to dance—and you will definitely dance, if retro hits “Physical” and “Hallucinate” have anything to say on the matter—but more than that, the British performer’s second album showed such a command and appreciation of the timeless luminaries like Kylie Minogue and Donna Summer without sacrificing her specific voice. That’s a good thing: Between the honey-toned sensuality that fueled “Pretty Please” and the raucous spin on low-key ’90s classics like White Town’s “Your Woman” in the funky “Love Again,” Dua Lipa is particularly skilled at bridging the past and future of pop music. [Shannon Miller]
7. Rina Sawayama, SAWAYAMA
On her star-making debut album, Japanese-British pop experimenter Rina Sawayama traverses as many profound memories as she does invigorating sonic styles. “Dynasty,” “Akasaka Sad,” and “Paradisin’” all detail family trauma, but they respectively resemble metal-sprinkled cinematics, jolting synthpop, and city pop turned arena-ready. Other than its sarcastically cheery chorus, “STFU!” is a straight-up nu-metal manifesto against anti-Asian microaggressions, while “Chosen Family” is the total opposite, a mega-ballad about the ineffable bonds that queer people form outside their bloodlines. “Bad Friend” is a radio-destined anthem full of regret and, among other memories, Sawayama belting along to her beloved Carly Rae Jepsen. What she didn’t know then is that her debut LP would place her firmly on her idol’s level. [Max Freedman]
6. Taylor Swift, folklore
It’s entirely unsurprising that a restless creative soul like Taylor Swift would release an ambitious album like folklore during a period when live music wasn’t possible. It also makes sense that the sparse indie-folk record, which she conceptualized with The National’s Aaron Dessner and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, is a rich, elegant affair. Yet what’s most exciting is the way Swift used creative isolation to expand the scope of her songwriting outward. The album’s best songs scan like intertwined short-fiction stories—specifically the quiet power of “betty,” starring a character who’s coming into her own after a messy affair that’s detailed in the painful, vivid “august.” Best of all is “the last great american dynasty,” about a real-life heiress with a colorful backstory that turns at the end to reflect insights about Swift herself. [Annie Zaleski]
5. Chloe x Halle, Ungodly Hour
Chloe x Halle absolutely flexed on quarantine. Even amidst social distancing, nothing stopped the Bailey sisters from making immaculately produced, fashion-forward, internet-breaking “live” videos for the BET Awards, the VMAs, the GLAAD Awards—the kinds of places you don’t usually get invited unless you’re making truly astounding pop music. Ungodly Hour, the Beyoncé protégés’ second album, is exactly that. Chloe’s co-production, which is as indebted to Grimes as to Missy Elliott, pulses thrillingly wobbly bass through highlights including “Forgive Me” and “Tipsy,” the most mischievous, taunting pop song in recent memory. “Do It” is the viral TikTok hit, and for good reason: Its ode to friendship and self-made confidence makes for an anthemic, bottom-heavy pop balm in this awful year, a vivid fantasy of girls’ night out rendered from a distance. Chloe x Halle were everywhere this year, even as people couldn’t go anywhere—Bey really knows how to choose ’em. [Max Freedman]
4. Soccer Mommy, Color Theory
Soccer Mommy’s second full-length arrived right on the cusp of the spring COVID-19 lockdown, and although the album was recorded well before the pandemic, its themes felt entirely relatable to this fraught, uncertain year. Bandleader and songwriter Sophie Allison confronts depression, self-doubt, and anxiety with complete vulnerability, whether she’s confessing to relationship insecurity (“Up The Walls”) or trying to get to the root of self-sabotage (“Bloodstream” and its prescient lyrics, “I guess the lesson’s learned, I’ve barely left my room in the past week / And I’ve got my guard up trying all the time to stay clean”). Musically, Color Theory echoes multiple kinds of laconic, melodic ’90s alternative rock, including the sweet pop side (“Circle The Drain,” the Liz Phair-esque “Crawling In My Skin”) and electrified folk-grunge era (“Lucy”). However, on stripped-back tunes such as “Royal Screw Up,” Allison’s bold, honesty delivery cements her as one of 2020’s most inspiring voices. [Annie Zaleski]
3. Run The Jewels, RTJ4
RTJ4 benefited from a dearth in major rap events this year—with fans split between drowning in iHeartRadio-marketed melodic rap or navigating Bandcamp-approved indie-rap—while addressing the political unrest, antiracist protests and mass death that marked a hellish 2020 with impressive angst. By now, El-P and Killer Mike’s frenetic and noisy formula is well established, and both engage in the kind of punchy back-and-forth that can feel both anachronistic and innovative. However, the duo cannily ups the ante: There’s a renewed focus on samples and disparate electronic tones, from Gang Starr and Nice & Smooth’s “Dwyck” (“Ooh La La”) and Gang Of Four’s “Ether” (“The Ground Below”) to dread bass, rave, and other ear-twisting sounds. Dad jokes from 2 Chainz (“I buy a hot dog stand if I’m tryin’ to be frank”) and frequent collaborators Zach de la Rocha and Gangsta Boo add sizzle to the affair. Social-media rap purists may blanch at Run The Jewels’ gleeful kitchen-sink approach, but, as Killer Mike warns on “walking in the snow”: “I promise I’m honest / They comin’ for you the day after they comin’ for me.” [Mosi Reeves]
2. Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher
It’s been a banner year for Phoebe Bridgers, who not only skirted the sophomore slump with her soul-piercing Punisher but managed to milk it for more beauty with Copycat Killer’s string-heavy reinterpretations. Lovely as those are, though, Bridgers’ restless musings shine brightest when bathed in the original’s gauzy arrangements, like moonlight through smudged glass. Punisher sounds like a sleepless night, after all, Bridgers’ delicate vocals trading between self-reflection, relationship anxiety, national tragedy, and dark humor, often within a single verse. It’s the online brain, the one that scrolls to stop thinking and encounters a dozen different apocalypses in the process—so much to worry about and so little to believe in. It’s hard not to relate when Bridgers longs for a UFO to “take me to where I’m from.” It’s nice sometimes to imagine what another world might teach us about ourselves. [Randall Colburn]
1. Fiona Apple, Fetch The Bolt Cutters
It’s not just the immediacy of Apple’s signature vocals, tremulous and note-perfect and raw and sweet and raspy all at the same time. It’s not just the expansive nature of the songs, where the silence between notes and the pauses between grooves are as impactful as the sounds themselves, with tempos and melodies shifting and switching via unpredictable virtuosity. It’s not simply the endlessly inventive production and instrumentation, already the stuff of legend from the musician recounting tales of pushing around furniture and banging on kitchen implements to create the noises she envisioned in her head. And it’s not just the razor-blade-sharp wit and evocative intimacy that has come to define her singular lyricism, where couplets like “No love is like any other love / So, it would be insane to make a comparison with you” and “I’ve been sucking it in so long / That I’m bursting at the seams” flow one into the next and the listener always feels like they know exactly what she means. No, what makes Fetch The Bolt Cutters great isn’t any one of those things. It’s all of those things, working in tandem, a record that feels just as thrillingly authentic and alive the hundredth time it’s played as the first. Sure, there are other artists that can create such vibrant art—but let’s be honest: It would be insane to make a comparison with Fiona Apple. [Alex McLevy]
169 Comments
[Fiona Apple] can do what she wants because she actually has talent unlike Lady GooGa, Miley Cyprus and Katy Perry. — Simon, Surrey, 7 years ago
No thanks mate!
Here, have these…
ORANSSI PAZUZU – “Mestarin Kynsi”
NIHILOXICA – “Kaloli”
HORSE LORDS – “The Common Task”
MOSES BOYD – “Dark Matter”
BEATRICE DILLON – “Workaround”
UKAEA – “Energy is Forever”
MR BUNGLE – “The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny demo”
JUANA MOLINA – “ANRMAL”
SAULT – “Untitled (Rise) / Untitled (Black Is)”
JARS – “ДЖРС III”
Soccer Mommy’s music sounds like it’s tailor-made for mid-budget romcoms from the early-to-mid 2000s.
And yes, I know the story behind the album. It’s just so musically uninteresting that I cannot get into it.
A disturbing lack of AC/DC on this list and all the ballots (if only Hyden were still around)!
Funny, I was thinking the same about the lack of Dawes.
The sun has finally set on Laurel Canyon, yet the sweet sound still echoes in our hearts.
Dawes memes will be 10 years old soon 😢
With AC/DC, I don’t really like to listen to them post-Bon Scott period (Back in Black and For Those About to Rock, We Salute You being the exceptions). Nothing against Brian Johnson, he’s been a great singer, but I like the rougher and dirtier sound of Scott-era AC/DC. However, I’ve heard so many good things about the latest album, I might give it a try.
For albums, I mostly agree – although I stick Flick of the Switch in there, too. Flawed in spots, but much better than its reputation. But I’ve stuck with them through the years because they’re great live and even their worst albums have 2-3 great tracks. But yeah, this one really surprised me with how good it is. Maybe I just needed something like this for the year it is, but the album is short, aggressive, really well produced – the rhythm section is on fire – and they manage to range across the whole of their catalogue for throwback sounds, while still adding a few surprising new twists. I’d say there are 2 so-so tracks, about 5 really good tracks, and 5 killers.
Yes! I consider it disrespectful to the legacy of the Little Scotsman with the Big Thirst to listen to the new guy.
Don’t bother. Stick to exactly the ones you mentioned. The rest is just inferior, especially this new one.
No kidding, was this list made by 19 year old club kids?
I thought this was about ACxDC at first.
Things that are legit disturbing: the seeming lack of any contemporary hip-hop literacy at AVC anymore. “RTJ4 benefited from a dearth in major rap events this year.” Now I love RTJ and 4 RIPS but… what??? Putting aside the Jay Electronica debut accounted for on this list, there were major releases from other “legacy” acts: Future, Eminem, Nas, Busta; as well as Act II from Electronica himself and Cudi’s Man on the Moon III, capping off arguably the most successful hiphop album trilogy.
And as far as stuff that could actually Flo Milli dropped one of the best debuts in recent years, Gunna’s basically carved out the first psych trap album on Wunna, Baby’s come into his own, City Girls made another party banger, Lil Uzi Vert put out a legit epic that managed to tow the line between pop and experimentalism (and had time for a Future collab tape too), 22Gz or EITHER of Pop Smoke’s 2020 releases or really any representation of BK drill (which has become go-to BLM call-to-action anthems), while Open Mike Eagle and MIKE sharpened their things to fine points. And like… all that shit is relatively popular or legitimately charted so idk where the blind spot comes from…. Plus, there’s the lack of non-English music as well. In a few years pubs are gonna have wicked egg on their faces when they realize they slept on BTS’s baroque era bc of preconceived notions of k-pop — def think “7″ will go down as k-pop’s “White Album,” and Agust D’s D-2 is a great companion piece highlighting the band’s hip-hop influenced sound. Plus J. Balvin and Bad Bunny deserve to be in the mix this year imo.
For the record, I’ve also listened to the majority of the stuff and love a lot of these artists, but let’s be real, this list is just “albums made by people we already liked” as many of these are clearly not career peaks (see, at least imo: Phoebe Bridgers, Jeff Rosenstock, Thundercat). Also, sorry to ramble, but AC/DC rips pls ungray me lol
Ha ha, I’ll take your word for it on most of those – but yeah, DC rips. Cheers!
I’m happy to see all the Rosenstock love this year, but every time I see it in a list, I can’t help but think, “where was the love when Worry came out”?
To be fair he’s been an AVC fav for years, but yeah, Worry! is by far in a way my favorite of his solo work; that end medley really is a thing of punk beauty.
This List is incomplete
I really liked all of Phoebe Bridgers’ work up until Punisher, which for some reason does absolutely nothing for me. Listened to it once, thought, meh, and never went back to it. Not sure what it is about it but it just falls flat to me.Then again, I gave that Fiona Apple record several listens to see what the big deal was about, and that was even more befuddling.
I do LOVE that Waxahatchee record, though. Woulda been a great summer road trip record. If summer had ever happened.
I had the same thought on Punisher, listened a couple times when it came out and forgot about it…but then I listened to it yesterday while making dinner and something connected in me with the songwriting. I think it’s really good but it is a bit over-praised.Agree with you on Waxahatchee, something I’d love to listen to while winding through I-70 in Colorado.
I like all of the above, but Saint Cloud is the one I go back to the most by a significant margin. So good.
Funny. Those two albums – from Bridgers and Apple – are the only ones I like on this list at all.
try again, start with Graceland, Too; maybe check out the orchestral EP versions of a few of them she released recently, worth the effort
that Moses Sumney album has been bafflingly excluded from most other year-end lists I’ve seen, props for having it here. I think it’s basically a masterpiece
Yup.
Run the Jewels 4 was great as was Christine and the Queens’ EP La Vita Nuova which had my favourite new song of the year – People, I’ve been Sad.Of non-2020 albums I listened to this year, There was a massive amount of late-period Roxy Music (Manifesto/Flesh + Blood/Avalon) as well as mid-late 80s era REM and most of Dire Straits’ back catalogue (Their two live albums are fantastic).
I think Christine’s EP is probably what I’ve listened to most this year. It’s so good!
Not a slideshow. Christmas came early.
idk you’ve done a Pitchfork and ignored Sault.They released TWO of the best albums of the year. Untitled (Black Is) and Untitled (Rise).NPR, BBC6 #1s, multiple top tens but here. Damn. I genuinely thought it was doing to be (Black Is) when the subhead said it wasn’t even closed but gotta say. I’m stunned at the omission.
I know it’s old hat to complain about it at this point, but remember back when the AV Club covered music that wasn’t mostly the same crap that all the regular blah sources reviewed? I remember when the end of year album lists would be full of stuff to discover and albums that went beyond what you could just hear being played over the loudspeakers at a grocery store. Here are some bands who put out albums that I really liked this year: 16, Brainbombs, Code Orange, Exhalants, Expander, Fontaines DC, Idles, Intronaut, Jello Biafra & Guantamamo School of Medicine, Kvelertak, Mr. Bungle, Napalm Death, Protomartyr, Puscifer, Rosy Finch, Stay Inside, Throwing Muses.
Kvelertak album is my favorite by leaps and bounds. And then, astonishingly, their former lead singer also put out an album this year … and it’s nearly as good!
I need to revisit that album. I’ve loved their prior stuff, but thought the most recent album was that memorable on first listen.
I love Kvelertak’s previous album (Nattesferd) to death, but haven’t listened yet to the new one— I’d heard about the change of singer and was wary— though, really, I guess if any genre can withstand that sort of lineup change— especially with the lyrics in another language— it’s theirs. So I’ll give the new one a shot soon.
Maybe I have no taste, but I think the new guy is just as good in his own way. Definitely brings a new dynamic to the band, and in a positive way.
Saw them live with Mastodon and Gojira. Wasn’t really that impressed, but not terrible. Mastodon is one of my favorite bands, and the reason I went to the show, but Gojira live….they are probably the best live band I’ve ever heard. Incredible.
Me and you are on the same page, my friend. Those are two of my favorites as well. Gojira live is, indeed, a thing every metal fan must see.
I just noticed yesterday that he put something solo out — I will take your recommendation and run with it. 🙂
On one hand, you can’t force people to like things they don’t like, but on the other… it gets kind of frustrating to consistently look at these lists (and the other lists they put out through the year) and see essentially no coverage given to any heavier music.But sure, fill up the top 20 with like 13 indie/indie-adjacent pop albums, because nothing else good came out this year, right?
I’ll concede that maybe none of the writers listen to metal or anything that heavy, but it is really surprising to not even see Nothing, The 1975 or Yves Tumor on the list. I really think Pitchfork, NME or Brooklynvegan probably have significantly less surface level cuts than AV Club which is really surprising. I feel like the AV Club’s list probably looks exactly the same as like Rolling Stones’.
I just went and looked at the ballots out of curiosity. It looks like there’s only 10 people involved with this list, and the lists are very homogeneous. One person had Yves Tumor on their “next 10″ (a band I’m not aware of but the name stuck out since you mentioned it).There’s just a lot of the same acts over and over. I’m guessing that there’s not a ton of diversity of opinion on this site, at least when it comes to music.Again, it’s all fine… it’s not like I come to A/V Club to get the latest news on metal and hard rock, because that would be dumb… but to see 10 people essentially have the same list is really weird.
Totally agreed. I mean too each their own in regards to the writers/voters musical taste but I guess I just find it surprising that these people can fire off a 600 word shpiel on the importance of My Night At Maud’s or Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives but only listen to Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift. Also I gotta shill pretty hard for Yves Tumor. They were an interesting bizarre noise artist who then did an Avalanches-style plunderphonics album for Warp called Safe In The Hands Of Love that is absolutely worth checking out, as is their debut Serpent Music. Their album this year was fantastic but checking out their old work and then their new work really makes it better.
The difficulty is that, by and large (though not universally), the “popular” end of heavier music tends to be the most mediocre examples (for various reasons, though obviously there are exceptions).So the stuff that you might consider more ambitious/creative and generally excellent doesn’t quite get the level of exposure needed to attract the attention of sites with a wide remit (which is why they tend to get covered more at niche sites which, inevitably, have a smaller reach and readership).
Very true, but it’d be cool to see even a passing mention of something metal/metal-adjacent on these lists for once.I admit that I’m woefully ill-informed when it comes to newer releases, so I tend to use these end-of-year lists to catch up. Not here, obviously, but it would be nice to see sometimes instead of a list with 10 variations on the same basic theme.
You’re not wrong. I tend to use these lists to see what I may have missed outside of my niche (which I’m pretty embedded in – I tend to go for “deep” rather than “broad” when it comes to music, though I do actually already know and like some of the albums on this list) but perhaps a bit of representation would be nice.Still, all lists are, by their very nature, limited in what they can cover/include, so perhaps it might come off as a bit tokenistic?
Yeah… I mean, like I said… I don’t come here for the music content anyway, but what struck me after reading the ballots article was just how damn similar everything was. It’s really weird to me to see 10 people in virtual lockstep musically. Even among the friends I have who generally share my musical taste, we’d be hard-pressed to even try to come up with lists that similar, but here you have 10 people coming up with essentially the same top 10.
Nah, I don’t mean that people have to like the shit that I like (I know that’s not going to happen), but rather, the AVClub used to be more than just “hey let’s talk about Taylor Swift and Cardi-B”… there’s nothing that sets them apart anymore. (Other than the generally excellent comments sections) 🙂
I’m tired of the elitist indiepop thing. Tired. I really have no connection to pale, wan, privileged young people mithering on and listlessly strumming.
DONE WITH IT. WHERE IS THE YOUTH?
Bungle forever. Also: I wish I was a better person but I can’t Grimes again post-Musk.
I was so excited for Miss Anthropocene, but same. I’ve just had my fill of Grimes for a while. Ah well, I’ll listen to and probably love it eventually.
I do love that new Throwing Muses album. For sure. The two acts that weren’t my radar at ALL but wound up impressing the hell out of me once I was introduced to them via other lists were Gulfer and IDLES.
Also, Porridge Radio. Their Every Bad album wound up bumping Alphabetland off the top spot for my work-time commute music.
If you like the new Throwing Muses album and haven’t checked out Kristen Hersh’s “Possible Dust Clouds” from last year, you should do so.
I bought that one last February after I heard ‘No Shade in Shadow’.
“I know it’s old hat to complain about it at this point, but remember back when the AV Club covered music that wasn’t mostly the same crap that all the regular blah sources reviewed?”Honestly, no. I’ve been here for a few years (pre-Kinja) and one of my complaints is that while the Film and TV sections of the site tended to be a little less mainstream, the music section was filled with long rambling thinkpieces on Taylor Swift and Beyonce.I have discovered a couple of bands here but for the most part it’s all been very pop oriented.
There used to be specialized columns for punk, metal, etc but those all went by the wayside. Even when that stuff was segregated into their own areas there would still occasionally be features and long form reviews of other styles in the main feed but this year, for fuck’s sake, they couldn’t even muster up an obituary or a news item for Riley Gale from Power Trip when he died. That’s how low the music coverage at this place has fallen or been editorially gutted, whichever is more accurate.
Permanent Records and the one about albums released in a year that didn’t chart are still readable but yeah, the music section was never great but it was never this bland in the past either. At this point it seems like all they’re willing to dedicate to it is five boring capsule reviews of mainstream records per week. Honestly they should just phase out music coverage all together and put the freelancer budget into other areas.
Good insight, and thanks, I’ll check out Stereogum. I’ve been looking for better music coverage since Pitchfork turned into the 3500th outlet for Taylor Swift news.I remember back when the internet made it easier to find people writing about obscure or overlooked music, rather than encouraging every outlet to align their coverage to whatever is trending on Instagram.
The last time I recall AVClub covering music I hadn’t heard of was the PWR BTTM saga, and talking about how Car Seat Headrest was a shit name for a band.
The reason I discovered the AV Club was their old Random Rules segment, which was based on a Silver Jews song. I suspect many of the current music writers do not know who the Silver Jews are. I’ll point to the fact that Purple Mountains wasn’t on this list, despite maybe being the best David Berman, and Billie Eilish was. I’m still listening to Purple Mountains, you guys still listening to those Eilish deep cuts?
The continued pretense by some critics that Taylor Swift is anything other than bland commercial pop is particularly baffling. It’s like reading a thousand ernest heart-on-sleeve thinkpieces about the transformative power of Kajagoogoo.
Bands like “Fucked Up” routinely ended up on best-of-year lists and there was the “This month in heavy” (or something like that) column that ran for a while. There’s really nothing outside of the mainstream, or the fringes of the mainstream anymore. It doesn’t *have* to be heavy music, per se, but AVClub always felt like it was at least outside of the mainstream.
I missed out on that period of AV Club, but even still I just wonder what people or how many people go crazy for Moses Sumney or Thundercat- I try to enjoy it, but can’t find a single purchase.I absolutely love the new Idles album (glad that they’re three in and haven’t had a dud), and Fontaines DC slipped by me so I have some new listening to do! Dune Rats have been the main listen for me this year, they were due to come to town about a week after venues started cancelling shows 🙁
Existential Reckoning should be on any list of the year’s top albums, period. It’s better than 9 of the 10 albums on this list.
Napalm Death is my album of the year for sure. It’s really mind blowing that a band as long running and influential as ND has released their best music in the last decade. I love Scum and FETO, but their last three albums are bar none my favorite work of theirs.
I’ve been with ND since I picked up the double-CD Scum/FETO back in… what? 1990? Sounds about right. Saw them the first time opening for Sepultura on the Arise tour (along with Sacred Reich and Sick of it All)… I agree — love, love, love the last several albums. And the new one is probably my most listened to album of 2020.
Of all places Stereogum (who for years I always wrote off as pretty much Pitchfork lite and poptimism central before it took over every other larger music news website) has a better and more robust coverage of heavier, non-indie pop/pop rap/pop r&b than The AV Club. Tom Breihan, even if he’s into more pro-gear/pro-attitude “let’s make laminates for our tour and hire a publicist!” style hardcore than I am, is a big part of that over on SG.
I had heard of exactly two of these albums before I saw this article.
The new Ulcerate was a favorite of mine this year. Most of the music coverage here just makes me feel old, even back when there was more variety in taste among the writers. What bums me out more is that NPR’s lists, which had been my go to for music outside my usual tastes, have also been declining over the last few years.
I’ve seen Ulcerate a few times in some very cosy venues here in NZ… they’re from just up the road (well… 10 hours up the road, but it’s a small country) 🙂
It’s astounding how every review site praised Protomartyr’s new album only to completely forget about it at the year-end lists. I was pretty disappointed with DC Fontaines second album. I found it drab and dull. My favorite albums this year were by Protomartyr, Deradoorian, En Attendant Ana, Gino and the Goons, Tim Heidecker, Hinds, Idles, Magik Markers, Mac Miller, Rituals of Mine, Jeff Rosenstock, Sorespot, Sorry, Special Interest, SPICE, Sugar High, Syko Friend, Thanks For Coming, Yves Tumor, Vintage Crop, and Wednesday.
Saw Protomartyr in a tiny club here in NZ back when touring was still a thing. They were so freakin’ tight (was the Relatives in Descent tour)… Joe Casey was being a bit of a dick. Then again, the weather was shit and it was absolutely pissing down for the entire time they were in town.
Mr. Bungle’s “Raping Your Mind” and Puscifer’s “Fake Affront” are glorious.
I wrote a treatise on a thread below that’s still in the grays, but basically boils down to: where’s the hip-hop???!? Seems they haven’t had anyone literate in either contemporary and/or classic hip hop on staff for years, and it seems super pronounced in this year’s list. The line “RTJ4 benefited from a dearth in major rap events this year—with fans split between drowning in iHeartRadio-marketed melodic rap or navigating Bandcamp-approved indie-rap” boggles the mind in about a dozen different ways I don’t wanna get all up into, but y i k e s.
I love that Brainbombs is on your list.
I know it’s an old song of theirs, but I can’t tell you the amount of times I had “Die You Fuck” running through my head this year, usually when a certain politician did something particularly detestable.
Brainbombs are like the Lars von Trier of music — people love ‘em or hate ‘em… but just about nobody says “yeah, they’re ok I guess”
I can’t believe that Mr Bungle wrote those songs when there were around 18 years old. If that had the production they had on this newly released version, we’d probably be talking about the big 5 instead of the big 4 for thrash. Then again, Mr Bungle is all over the map, so that would probably have been the only thrash album we’d have gotten from them.
Oops
Mostly a really solid list, with quite a few picks I’d put in my top 20, but I can’t abide the lack of Yves Tumor. Heaven for a Tortured Mind was my solid number one all throughout the year, and one of the most exciting albums I’ve heard in a long time.
I’d just like to see the new Strokes record on any one of these lists, man
Have to step in here to say I knew AV Club would be too cool for the new, GOOD Bob Dylan
2020 music, same as everything else this year.
I loved Fiona Apple’s album, something urgent about it when I listen but not in a stressful way.I would have knocked Swift’s album off and put Miley Cyrus’ if I were to choose one of the pop stars albums this year (I know they are different sounds hehe)
I was thinking I’d swap folkore with evermore, and pull Dua Lipa off the list and replace with either Miley’s Blondie/Benatar homage, or Jessie Ware’s or Kylie Minogue’s disco albums. This sad and horrible year needed a bunch of shoegaze music but those three albums were mood enhancers.
Great choices too, I thought Gaga’s album was garbage so I’m glad nobody seems to be fighting for its spot on the list.
Also, agreed. This would’ve been a great year for Gaga to pull a Charli XCX and make something pared down in her bedroom.
2020 is a very worst year.
Interesting list, with a lot of albums that I liked (though I can’t say the Rina Sawayama or Fiona Apple records did much for me). Here’s my top 20:20. Varsity – Fine Forever
19. Fleet Foxes – Shore
18. The Fall of Troy – Mukiltearth
17. The Lawrence Arms – Skeleton Coast
16. Dikembe – Muck
15. Hot Mulligan – You’ll Be Fine
14. Gulfer – Gulfer
13. Phoxjaw – Royal Swan
12. Snarls – Burst
11. Beabadoobee – Fake It Flowers
10. Soccer Mommy – Color Theory
9. Tricot – Makkuro
8. Barely Civil – I’ll Figure This Out
7. Tricot – 10
6. The Winter Passing – New Ways of Living
5. Stay Inside – Viewing
4. Haru Nemuri – LOVETHEISM
3. Dogleg – Melee
2. Dabda – But, All The Shining Things Are
1. Hayley Williams – Petals For Armor
Thanks for the recs. Your knowledge of Asian rock bands is a most refreshing. Also didn’t know that Dikembe released a new album this year.
Thanks! If you’re looking for more releases by Asian artists, Sokoninaru, LiSA, Chelmico, DAOKO, Scandal, and Akai Koen (RIP Maisa Tsuno) all put out pretty good records this year.
I had no idea Tricot put out albums this year–guess I’m off to listen to them!
Starred for including snarls
Bigger than Myself by Bug Hunter is the best thing to come out of this year in general. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you’re in for a treat!
Since I’ve complained about slideshows in the past, I’ll praise the lack of slideshows on these “Best Of…” lists. Mind you, I still reflexively clicked the minimize button on my browser window shortly after clicking the tab, because AVC has still got a long way to go on that front.Also, I am a big fan of Fiona Apple and I loved this most recent album, so does it’s inclusion at the top spot mean I’m finally hip to today’s music?!? I doubt it, but it feels good regardless…
I have lots of opinions about your ballots, but the top 3 are:Multiple writers didn’t have the Phoebe Bridgers album in the top 20 at all??Bless the writers who gave love to the Hum and Innocence Mission records.Nobody had the Routine (Annie Truscott/Jay Som) EP on their EP lists. Sadness! Yet multiple people had the Li’l Simz EP on their EP lists. Happiness!For me, the Phoebe Bridgers album was my favorite this year, but I can’t be too mad that it’s not number one here.
Man, Thundercat really knows how to balance on a knife-edge between snooze-inducingly bland and gratingly atonal.
Cut Copy underappreciated and overlooked again. “Freeze, Melt” is fantastic.
Big fan of Zonoscope, but haven’t really checked in with them in awhile. Will have to listen.
Here’s the rest of the top 40, if I understand the methodology:21. Kehlani
22. Arca
23. Sylvan Esso
24. Bright Eyes
25. Hum
26. KA
27 (tie). Jacob Collier/SAULT
29. Megan Thee Stallion
30. HAIM
31 (tie). Amaarae/Sen Morimoto/Tayla Parx/US Girls
35. The Weeknd
36. Freddie Gibbs & the Alchemist
37 (tie). Mac Miller/Snarls/Andy Shauf
40. Julianna Barwick
Fiona Apple is 43. At a certain quickly approaching point in time, physical age will no longer be a good excuse. If you are lame you will simply be lame, regardless of age.
Wait, are you saying I’m lame or she’s lame? Because I’ve always been lame. But she used to be good.
I was so proud of myself for knowing (read: actually heard of) 11-12 of the artists on last year’s list, despite me being old. Looks like it couldn’t last as I’m back down to single digits: 8.
Yeah, you beat me by two. I only have ever heard of 6 of the people on this list. I am so old.
I know all but one of them! And I have about seven!
I’m at 7, but something else feels like an age thing. I honestly can’t tell why these albums/songs are standouts in their respective genres. I didn’t dislike anything on that list, but I’d genuinely appreciate some YT/podcast/etc that could explain why any one of these is deemed better than everything else in the same segment.
Oooo, I recognize 13 of these artists. Suck it, olds!*
*Recognize does not equal familiarity though. Literally, what kind of hipster-hellscape birthed this list?
THANK YOU! All the stars for this.Granted, there are some bona fide good albums on this list, and definitely from people I’ve never heard of. (I think I recognized 4.)But if the included tracks are any indication, I can understand why. Music is music is music, and it’s ALL about individual taste… But let’s face it — the reason why NO ONE has lamented the lack of staying power from the Plastic Ono band is because it SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!Case in point — the Green Day wanna-be punkers (Dogshit, was it) on this list have some pretty clean guitar, and the overall song is a toe-tapper, but those vocals are high-school-talent-show-we-lost-to-the-kid-who-did-magic-tricks BAAAADDDD. My wife made better sounds when she gave birth to our son.Just because they’re not “commercial” doesn’t make them instantly talented or noteworthy. I can’t imagine purposefully listening to #19,16,13,11, or 9 unless it was some sort of sonic stamina competition. Hypno-electronica, music to do heroin to, yawn-worthy art-house garbage. That said, I’m going to find more of Lianne Le Havas and Thundercat right quick. Slick, professional, and worth a longer listen.I’m too old to do the whole insert video thing, but I think this quote by Grandpa Simpson says it best: “I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to youuuuuuu!!!”
I know most of them but don’t think they belong on this list.
Chloe x Halle really shined this year, they found their voice in Ungodly hour and deserve all the praise.
Really, no rock or metal but Taylor Swift.
So “We Will Always Love You” by The Avalanches didn’t make the list? That seems like a severe oversight. Not having “On The Take” by Love Hustler, while still a pretty heinous sin, is almost forgivable if not for the fact that they are still WAY under everyone’s radar. LH’s song “OMW (2U)“ pretty much seals the deal.
Agree about Fiona Apple being #1 but no Wolf Parade?
That Wolf Parade album was the weakest they’ve put out.
How is it? Does it come close to “Queen Mary”?
lol I just learned Wolf Parade released an album this year from your commentthanks!
Some lesser known ones:Crepuscule Disquietude, As Dusk Descends to Darkness https://crepusculedisquietude.bandcamp.com/album/as-dusk-descends-to-darknessMeitei, Kofu https://meitei.bandcamp.com/album/kofuF.W. Tittenbrow, Propagandaphonics https://fwtittenbrow.bandcamp.com/album/propagandaphonics
1 – Saint Cloud, Waxahatchee2 – Songs, Adrianne Lenker3 – Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple4 – folklore – T Swizzle5 – Punisher – Phoebe BridgersWomen kicked some serious ass this year. FUCK YEAH!
Great list, although I’d place Phoebe Bridges higher!And replace folklore with evermore, it’s the more cohesive album in my paltry opinion
Punisher was amazing, also discovered Rouse The Boroughs from Montreal with their debut EP Cosmic Creatures which was almost like getting an unexpected wave of 90s Sonic Youth in a year that felt like a decade https://rousetheboroughs.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-creatures-2. I’m listening to that and a fair bit of Pat Parker from Philadelphia who is an amazing vocalist and beautifully instrumented, almost like Macy Gray meets Dido.I was spoiled this year with music
Unleash The Archers, motherfuckers!
I’ve heard of three of these. Almost.
I recommend the releases by Country Westerns and High on Stress if anyone is looking for some Replacements style college rock. Speaking of Minneapolis bands, Soul Asylum released their best album in a long time this year as well (“Hurry Up and Wait”)
No American Aquarium or Katie Pruitt or Zach Bryan?Nonsense list.
It just came out but Cudis MOTM3 is pretty fire
I don’t have any big issues with this list, which overlaps significantly with my list and with everybody’s lists…consensus picks are consensus. I’d put Perfume Genius and Waxahatchee much higher and I had Phoebe Bridgers number 1 but who cares who’s number 1. I also think the Weeknd’s album fully deserved all the praise, Dylan’s also. I love Oneohtrix but the new album didn’t cohere for me (or not-cohere either, I suppose). I think that these lists are heavy on pop-punk maybe, but they are generally not all white males…the interesting thing is that other than RTJ4 how middling of a year it was for rap. Hopefully next year is better. I tried to listen to Jay Electronica but he says a lot of antisemitic stuff that turned me off. I can’t fuck with the whole Everything Is Beautiful album (and Everything Sucks is embarrassing), but some of Princess Nokia’s tracks like Gemini are really good.I had confirmation bias because I wanted Grimes’ new album to suck…but I really thought it sucked…the praise is mystifying me.
My list is better. Best Albums of 20201. Nate Wooley: Seven Story Mountain VI — This album
transcends the medium of music and attains a level of creative brilliance that
might be called art, or meditation, or cacophonic noise. The Seven Story
compositions are what every creative should aspire to. Many years ago, Wooley
read a biography about a priest and decided he wanted to create hours of music
about how that biography made him feel, but he distinctly found nothing
interesting about the spiritual aspects of the book, or the typical spirituality
associated with orchestral arrangements. There’s something to the commitment to
an idea, to following through on the crazy inspirations that hit while sitting
on the porch drinking a Saturday morning coffee, to taking a note and bending
it beyond its breaking point.There’s no category to safely put Nate Wooley inside of,
though if you pressed the issue, I might say Avant Jazz, but I don’t really
think that means anything. All I can recommend is that you listen the album and
let it wash over you, allow it to infect your dreams. But if all you hear is
noise, then that’s okay too.2. Brotzman, Gania, and Drake: The Catch of a Ghost — (Best
Jazz Album) This live recording finds a more subdued Brotzman avoiding his
penchant for overwhelming a trio with trilling, Gania transcending what the
human voice ought to be able to do, and Hamid Drake holds it together as only
Drake can do. This really is an album centered on Drake. The dude has been
holding together the wildest and weirdest ensembles for decades and if this
trio ever goes off the rails you never hear it. The guy could play back-up to
my dishwasher and make it sound like they spent a couple months rehearsing.3. Colter Wall: Western Swing and Waltzes and Other Punchy
Songs — (Best Country Album) Don’t let the album title fool you, this record
is Colter’s love letter to Bob Dylan filtered through the wide-open prairies
inside the mind of a Great Plains living, Saskatchewan born and bred maestro.
From the high point of the album, a cover of “Diamond Joe,” to his
take on Dylan’s “Last Thoughts on Woodie Guthrie” (“Talkin’
Prairie Boy”), this album blends poetry with cow-pokes, Western Swing and
Beatnik folk rock. The thing I love about Colter and really all of the upstart
“new country” heroes (looking at you Ian Noe) is their relationship
with where they come from, from a literal geographical location and
socio-economic stand point. Wall is from Saskatchewan and he ain’t going to
apologize for it and he really does paint a truthful and poetic picture of a
land ravaged by farmers and time that’s lost in an era I’ll never understand.4. Nick Cave : Idiot Prayer (Nick Cave Alone at Alexandria
Palace) — (Best Live Album) This live album follow-up to last years superb
Ghosteen finds Nick Cave seething, searching, mourning and yearning for some
kind of cathartic break from the pain of losing his son to a tragic accident a
few years prior. Cave shoves aside his backing band (The Bad Seeds) as well as
his typically distant stage presence to methodically work through his recent
catalog, a couple of covers and new songs.5. Ingrid Laubrock and Kris Davis: Blood Moon — Last year
found Davis’s Diatum Rhythm on top of
pretty much every list for best jazz album, and in many ways this record is a
continuation of whatever headspace she was in when she recorded Rhythm, albeit
slightly more paired down and focused. This is an album by two heavy weights in
the Jazz scene at the top of their game.6. Damien Jurardo: What’s New Tomboy? — (Best Folk Album)
Paired down and focused could easily be the defining theme for musicians in
2020. After selling most of his possessions and moving to a small house on
Vancouver Island, Jurardo finds himself reflecting on a world of loss, with
stories gleaned from dreams and tragedy, and through visions of a country at
odds with itself in search of a reckoning that may never come.7. Skyway Man: Greetings From Marquette: Music from Joe
Perra Talks With You Season 2 — (Best Soundtrack Album) Skyway Man doesn’t
typically make soundtracks, but he should. This album has a pastoral quality
that reminds me a lot of Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It’s playful with its
orchestration and rhythms, while mining some depth for real emotion. On a side
note Joe Perra Talks With You is one of the best shows to come out in the past
couple of years.8. Khraungbin: Mordechai — (Best Psychedelia Album) There’s
this mixture of world music, dance music, pscyh music, jazz music hidden in
plain sight on this album that really highlights everything great about a
global world in sixty odd minutes of music. If it’s late and I’m driving this
is the album I put on. If it’s early and there’s dishes to be done, but I don’t
really want to do them, this is the album I put on. It’s just got that
motivating wokeness to it. 9. Mark Fredson: Going to the Movies — (Best New Artist)
Fredson has been working as a lead singer in the Nashville scene for years but
this is his first self-titled album and man, I don’t know what’s in the water
in the Nashville but the scene there has been churning out incredible new
artists at a clip unseen since the seventies. Fredson’s song writing reminds me
of Randy Newman, in the way that he seems to write from the perspective of the
downtrodden, the racists, the toxic males of the world. A definite highlight is
“To the Moonlight,” but overall this album may take a few listens,
it’s deeper than it appears from the surface.10. Orville Peck: Show Pony — The elaborately masked, gay,
country cowboy strikes again and by strike again I mean he hits you with the
vocal weight of a full-on tornado. Absconding from his alt-country roots Peck
goes full on old country with a Shania Twain duet, a Bobbie Gentry cover, and a
Duncan Jennings collaboration.
The Colter Wall album is the only one of these I’ve come across. I like it, but not as much as his previous albums.
This was my feeling on this Colter Wall album, enjoyable but havent found myself going back to it as much as some of his others. Personally on the Country front, I think Arlo McKinley put out the best record this year.
Idiot Prayer is the most boring Nick Cave album and movie ever. I’ve seen him live playing piano and it was drastically better.
Dogleg would be so much more interesting if they didn’t use the same overcompressed guitar effects as every.other.band. in the genre.
This is a pretty good list, loads of stuff that I’ve enjoyed in there and a couple I missed that I’m curious about. I do think Special Interests ‘The Passion Of…’ is criminally absent, however.
My top 10:10. David Nance – Staunch Honey – The album is an awesome mix of classic rock and blues, all under a muddy production that enhances the mood. It reminds me of Jimmywine Majestic, my favorite Red Red Meat album.
9. Coriky – Coriky – Just super chill post punk from Ian MacKaye, Amy Farina, and Joe Lally. It’s a beaut.8. Marlowe – Marlowe 2
7. Run the Jewels – RTJ4 – I’m not the biggest rap fan, so it really says something when 2 rap albums make my year end list. What I like is how different the Marlow album sounds from RTJ. Marlowe sounds like something Dan the Automator would produce, while RTJ is full of perfect fury.6. Wasted Shirt – Fungus II – I never even thought to ask Ty Segall to make an album with Brian Chippendale from Lightning Bolt, but here we are, and it’s awesome. A perfect combination of two great tastes.5. Low Cut Connie – Private Lives4. Special Interest – The Passion Of
3. Machine Girl – U-Void Synthesizer – Two albums that are garnished with an industrial sound. Special Interest uses it to punch up their punk, while Machine Girl is a blast of industrial-hardcore-death metal-EDM. U-Void Synthesizer sounds like they listened to Blanck Mass’s Animated Violence Mild from last year and decided it needed to be way more violent.2. Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters1. Crack Cloud – Pain Olympics – It’s wild how this album with over 30 contributing members and disparate songs still comes together as a comprehensive whole. Some tracks emulate early Arcade Fire, others Devo. Halfway into “Post Truth”, a space opera chorus kicks in. “The Next Fix” first uses its rhythm to generate a feeling of anxiety, then somehow uses that same rhythm to deliver hope. This is by far the most compelling and unpredictable album of the year for me.
And 10 more in unranked order:Algiers – There Is No Year
Cafe Racer – Shadow Talk
Gong Gong Gong, Anton Rothstein, and Angel Wei Bernild – Rtyme Og Drone III
Holy Fuck – Deleter
Jess Cornelius – Distance (“Body Memory” is my pick for song of the year)
Laura Jane Grace – Stay Alive
Lee Paradise – The Fink
Oh Sees – Metamorphosed (weirdest track list – first 3 songs are a combined 6 minutes long, last 2 tracks are a combined 38 minutes long)
Secret Machines – Awake in the Brain Chamber
Shepparton Airplane – Sharks
Nice to see another person with that Secret Machines record on their list.
So the new Secret Machines is good. I was not a huge fan of the album released by SM immediately after the one brother left.
That was meant to be a question. But I will just check it out.
It snuck up on me. The first time hearing it, I thought it was fine, but I like it more and more with each listen.
Thanks for the Crack Cloud recommendation. You had me when you referenced Arcade Fire and Devo. I’m checking it out now, and it’s pretty great.
Infinitely more interesting list that this drivel AV posted.
I’m surprised Temple from Thao & the Get Down Stay Down wasn’t on any ballots. It’s a really well-crafted personal album which starts with a banger in the title track and stays strong right through “Marrow”, which goes right onto the list of best closing tracks ever.
Good to hear. I only heard the title song months ago but I liked it – hope I can listen to the whole album eventually.
Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? had to be my album of the year. Of all the disco-flavored pop music that came out this year, I thought this one was the top of the lot
What’s Your Pleasure finally made Jessie Ware click with me. I’m currently relistening to her back catalog and realizing how great it is.
I like a lot of her previous work, particularly Devotion, but WYP? is her strongest album so far, in my opinion. So sleek, sexy and fun.
it’s so good, and I’m not seeing it on most end-of-year lists. Weird.
I was about to ask the same thing. At least Popmatters had it top five.
Was coming here to say the same. I mean I was thrilled with all of the disco-flavoured stuff from Dua Lipa to Kylie to Roisin Murphy (whose album, thankfully, did crack a number of these lists), but Jessie Ware’s album was tops.
Seconded. Still loving how good it is.
Absolutely. While I have a certain affection for disco, smooth r&b, synthpop and adjacent genres, What’s Your Pleasure? is on a different level. It’s my favorite, most played album of the year, a first for any of the above named genres. It is supremely warm, luminous, sensitive and seductive. The Kill gives me chills every time I hear it. More importantly, for me at least, it’s also surprisingly comforting. Covid aside, 2020 has been a brutal year for me personally, a definitive turning point in my life. Add Covid, being cut off from other people, death, and uncertainty all around, I can’t express how bleak I felt. For the most part, I couldn’t even listen to music for over three months, because I felt like I was drowning every time I put my headphones on. One evening though, I decided to take a walk along the beach at sunset, What’s Your Pleasure? being the soundtrack. It couldn’t have been more perfect, as I felt a little lighter by the end, even though night was falling.
+1 for Oneohtrix Point Never
-100 for not mentioning DISCO by Kylie Minogue
you know the apocalypse is upon you when AVC puts out a better best of list than p4k
“Hallucinate” is a fucking jam and it’s criminal that it wasn’t a hit in the US.
No clipping.? “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” was terrific.
This list is missing the albums that I like and you don’t.
Heard of seven, have listened to five. Others here may consider me supermarket music literate. I. Consider. Myself. Awesome.
Jesus that Fiona album was awful.
Thanks for turning me onto Dogleg! No 2020 list is complete without Igorrr’s “Spirituality and Distortion” IMHO.
This whole list, regardless of content, is by olds for olds.
Lol, what’s an “album”?
Looks like a big hipster fest.
I only heard 3 albums this year, the new Trail of Dead, the new Strokes record which I didn’t see even in comments (!) and Rina. Rina was good.
I was going to picket A. V. Club headquarters if Punisher wasn’t on here, so I’m happy; that and the number-one spot were well-deserved.
Jesus Fuck a list of pure shit. What else should we expect from 2020?
I tied to listen to Taylor Swift’s Folklore with an open mind. I could not get through 3 songs. It was still her singing like a teenage popstar. And that Dua Lipa is just rehashed Gaga/Madonna/80s dance music meaning boring.
ROISIN MURPHY-ROISIN MACHINE….SO damn good!
Zzzzzz imagine a best of list not looking nearly identical to every other damn list. Such a bore.
It’s hard for me to talk about the best albums of the year cuz I haven’t listened to much outside of what I already enjoy. But here’s the albums I bought and loved (all of them really lol)- Chromatica by Lady Gaga, Gaslighter by The Dixie Chicks, Heaven and Hell by Ava Max, Melanie C by Melanie C, They Never Leave Their Wives by Maria Mena (it’s an EP with more music coming in the spring), Disco by Kylie Minogue, and What the Future Holds by STEPS. I’ve constantly been listening to these and love every track on each one. I love that so many of my favorite artists released new music this year
I’m really not into the current wave of indie folk. It’s all pretty backdrops but the vocal melodies don’t have hooks. I need stronger tunes. The Strokes’ album got the most play for me this year.
Thank you for not making this a slide show.Unfortunately, that’s the highest praise as I can give this (though Thundercat, Chloe x Halle, Phoebe Bridgers, and RTJ definitely belong on the list).