Current ranking of the 2020 albums I've heard (updated):
Fetch The Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple Gigaton - Pearl Jam Such Pretty Forks in the Road - Alanis Morisssette RTJ4 - Run The Jewels Far from Home - Aubrie Sellers Gaslighter - The Chicks That's How Rumors Get Started - Margo Price Set My Heart on Fire Immediately - Perfume Genius Saint Cloud - Waxahatchee Suite For Max Brown - Jeff Parker
Dias Raros - Melenas Reunions - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Bad Vacation - Liza Anne Old Flowers - Courtney Marie Andrews Wake UP! - Hazel English Homegrown - Neil Young Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers Old Time Feeling - S.G. Goodman On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment - Ambrose Akinmusire folklore - Taylor Swift
Women in Music Pt. III - HAIM grae - Moses Sumney Angular Blues - Wolfgang Muthspiel, Scott Colley, Brian Blade After Hours - The Weekend For Their Love - Other Lives Strange Fascination - Chatham County Line The Loves of Your Life - Hamilton Leithauser Rose In The Dark - Cleo Sol Are You Gone - Sarah Harmer Song For Our Daughter - Laura Marling
Expectations - Katie Pruitt SAWAYAMA - Rina Sawayama Sideways to New Italy - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever La vita nuova - Christine and the Queens Folk N' Roll, Vol 1: Tales of Isolation - J.S. Ondara Saturn Return - The Secret Sisters TO LOVE IS TO LIVE - Jehnny Beth Muzz - Muzz Notes On a Conditional Form - The 1975 Petals For Armor - Hayley Williams
Thank You Ancestor Finger - Harper's Jar American Death Squad (EP) - Jeff Ament Eclipse - Addy Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman The New Abnormal - The Strokes Straight Songs of Sorrow - Mark Lanegan Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa Likewise - Frances Quinlan Beginners - Christian Lee Hutson color theory - Soccer Mommy
I'm Your Empress Of - Empress Of Heavy Light - U.S. Girls From Liberty Street - Mapache Invisible People - Chicano Batman Music To Be Murdered By - Eminem Marigold - Stu Larsen 3.15.20 - Childish Gambino
VinylGuy wrote:Both Fiona and PJ made excellent albums. And you cant point out that Joe doesnt listen to new music...the guy is a beast of new releases.
Im intrigued with the new alanis album but im guessing ill be bored by it.
I definitely don't think the new Alanis is for everyone. But I am surprised how solid it is. And I'm saying that as a massive fan of her stuff. It really is the best she's done in a long time. But if you're not a fan or if you don't really love her sort of therapy-ish lyrical quirks then I can't imagine you'd like it very much. Shit works like a charm on me, though. I goddamn love it.
well, Jagged is one of the classics of the 90s. Insuperable for me. Then she had a few songs, but overall im not sure i can pass a whole album from her again.
VinylGuy wrote:well, Jagged is one of the classics of the 90s. Insuperable for me. Then she had a few songs, but overall im not sure i can pass a whole album from her again.
Mini-reviews of 2020, Part 5 (which I think will be the last for now):
Deerhoof - Future Teenage Cave Artists I really need to give this some more time and attention, but so far it hasn't grabbed me at all, very much like every other Deerhoof album since La Isla Bonita. I think there's some interesting ideas in here that I could really get into if I hear it in the right mindset or something. Hopefully this becomes a grower.
Patten - Glow While it's a little longer than it really needs to be, this is a nice moody ambient album filled up with some interesting texture and sound work, and it gets a lot of rhythmic mileage out of being completely beatless. Fans of patten's early work should find something to enjoy here as the artist returns to a broader, more idiosyncratic palette than the more typical trancey sounds of his last two albums. This has also been followed up by a companion called GLO))) which consists entirely of solo electric guitar reinterpretations of these songs.
Inventions - Continuous Portrait Despite consisting of two musicians who have made a lot of music that I've enjoyed (Matthew Cooper, aka "Eluvium," and Mark T. Smith from Explosions in the Sky), I feel like I've never given a fair shake to this project. Joyously detailed instrumental pop that traces its lineage through ambient, post-rock, gentle IDM, fourth world music, etc. I've only given this a couple listens so far, but I think I'm about ready to finally dive into the Inventions sound-world.
Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown I've been kicking myself for not finding out about Jeff's solo material before now, as this is right up my alley and I daresay closer to the direction I'd like to to have seen Tortoise go after Standards. A bit jazz, a bit hip-hop, a bit funk, a bit electronic, a bit R&B, and it's all run through a simultaneous feeling of wistful nostalgia and exuberant hope. This has shot towards the top of my list for this year and I imagine it will fight hard for the number one spot.
Brett wrote:Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown I've been kicking myself for not finding out about Jeff's solo material before now, as this is right up my alley and I daresay closer to the direction I'd like to to have seen Tortoise go after Standards. A bit jazz, a bit hip-hop, a bit funk, a bit electronic, a bit R&B, and it's all run through a simultaneous feeling of wistful nostalgia and exuberant hope. This has shot towards the top of my list for this year and I imagine it will fight hard for the number one spot.
I truly cannot get enough of this album, but it has also driven me to Jeff's previous solo work--which isn't quite as good but has still been a delight.