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Alright. Here it is. This is my end of 2020 ranking. 121 albums released in 2020. I've consumed more new music this year than (I think) any other year of my life. I feel like it's impossible to fully digest 121 albums. But I tried to listen to all of them at least twice (though some I only got to once, front to back). I'm very confident in my top 40. Each of those albums got multiple listens in different contexts: headphones, while writing, while walking, while sitting quietly and listening, etc.
The rest are really more like "first impressions rankings." I think of them more like groupings or tiers. I've divided them into tens for reading ease. That doesn't represent literal tiers. But the idea is that maybe I would rank them differently over time but they would be in roughly the same grouping. I considered doing them alphabetically to illustrate this but decided there was no point. So, everything from 41-121 is roughly in the right "group" but I won't stand by the exact ranking, if that makes sense.
I look forward to keeping a lot of these albums in rotation. I look forward to some of these albums coming back and surprising me over the next decade. This was a fun journey. I know it's been a bit annoying to read through on a message board, so I'm going to post the top 40 and then spoiler tag the rest so you don't have to scan or scroll past all of them.
This was a weird year for so many reasons. But I'm truly grateful for the chance to dive in and explore new music in a way that I've never been able to do previously. I've always loved music. And yet it's an artform that I haven't given as much time and attention to as others. I think it's because of my obsessive tendencies. I tend to find something I love and hold on to it for as long as possible. Most years I'm lucky to get 10 albums because I can't stop listening to the ones I love the most. In that way this endeavor was inspirational and humbling. Comfort zones and predispositions were pressed and exposed. I learned a lot. But maybe the biggest takeaway is that my regular joke that "all songs would be better with a banjo" is actually 100% true.
Rankings in the next post. Thanks for tolerating me this year, RM. It's never easy but I know this year was especially challenging. Love you all.
Untitled (Black Is) - Sault Fetch The Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple Gigaton - Pearl Jam RTJ4 - Run The Jewels On My Own - Lera Lynn Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher & Me - Waylon Payne Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas Kitchen Sink - Nadine Shah Such Pretty Forks in the Road - Alanis Morissette Hey Clockface - Elvis Costello
That's How Rumors Get Started - Margo Price Hearts Town - The War and Treaty It Is What It Is - Thundercat Gaslighter - The Chicks LP2 - Lo Tom Americana - Grégoire Maret / Romain Collin / Bill Frisell Saint Cloud - Waxahatchee Live Forever - Bartees Strange As Long As You Are - Future Islands Bad Vacation - Liza Anne
Dias Raros - Melenas Far From Home - Aubrie Sellers Suite For Max Brown - Jeff Parker Women in Music Pt. III - HAIM SAWAYAMA - Rina Sawayama Reunions - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Asterisk the Universe - John Craigie Old Flowers - Courtney Marie Andrews The Waterfall II - My Morning Jacket Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was - Bright Eyes
Set My Heart on Fire Immediately - Perfume Genius On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment - Ambrose Akinmusire Grae - Moses Sumney Moral Panic - Nothing But Thieves songs - Adrianne Lenker Angular Blues - Wolfgang Muthspiel, Scott Colley, Brian Blade AUGUST - Lewis Del Mar Impossible Weight - Deep Sea Diver Sundowner - Kevin Morby My Love is a Hurricane - David Ramirez
Source - Nubya Garcia Ascension - Sufjan Stevens Wake UP! - Hazel English Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers For Their Love - Other Lives Summerlong -Rose City Band The Universal Want - Doves Sister - Puss N Boots The Loves of Your Life - Hamilton Leithauser McCartney III - Paul McCartney
World On the Ground - Sarah Jarosz Homegrown - Neil Young Love - Torgeir Waldemar folklore - Taylor Swift After Hours - The Weeknd El Dorado - Marcus King Transmigration Blues - The Dead Tongues Rough and Rowdy Ways - Bob Dylan A Hero's Death - Fontaines D.C. Amazones Power - Les Amazones d'Afrique
Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa evermore - Taylor Swift Song For Our Daughter - Laura Marling Sideways to New Italy - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever La vita nuova - Christine and the Queens Cuttin' Grass Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions) - Sturgill Simpson Cuttin' Grass Vol. 2 (Cowboy Arms Sessions) - Sturgill Simpson Old Wow - Sam Lee What's Your Pleasure? - Jessie Ware Modern Dead - Denai Moore
Old Time Feeling - S.G. Goodman Logan Ledger - Logan Ledger Earth - EOB Plastic Hearts - Miley Cyrus Letter To You - Bruce Springsteen Likewise - Frances Quinlan Valentine - Bill Frisell Petals For Armor - Hayley Williams Rose In The Dark - Cleo Sol how i'm feeling now - Charli XCX
Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman UR FUN - Of Montreal Strange Fascination - Chatham County Line What's New Tomboy? - Damien Jurado Saturn Return - The Secret Sisters Whole New Mess - Angel Olsen Thank You Ancestor Finger - Harper's Jar Painted Shield - Painted Shield TO LOVE IS TO LIVE - Jehnny Beth Muzz - Muzz
Sugaegg - Bully Getting Into Knives - The Mountain Goats Total Freedom - Kathleen Edwards Are You Gone - Sarah Harmer Expectations - Katie Pruitt Folk N' Roll, Vol 1: Tales of Isolation - J.S. Ondara The New Abnormal - The Strokes American Death Squad (EP) - Jeff Ament Straight Songs of Sorrow - Mark Lanegan Notes On a Conditional Form - The 1975
The Unraveling - Drive-By Truckers I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep - Ghostpoet It Was Good Until It Wasn't - Kehlani Aporia - Sufjan Stevens Hannah - Lomelda Eclipse - Addy I'm Your Empress Of - Empress Of There Is No Other... - Isobel Campbell Neon Cross - Jaime Wyatt Manic - Halsey
Beginners - Christian Lee Hutson color theory - Soccer Mommy Heavy Light - U.S. Girls Roisin Machine - Roisin Murphy Cold Water - Medhane From Liberty Street - Mapache Invisible People - Chicano Batman 3.15.20 - Childish Gambino Music To Be Murdered By - Eminem Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs - Colter Wall
Joined: Wed February 06, 2013 2:47 am Posts: 17469 Location: Scooby Doo
Laura Marling - Songs For Our Daughter Lo Tom - LP2 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Sideways to New Italy Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways Kevin Morby - Campfire Soccer Mommy - color theory Roadside Graves - That's Why We're Running Away Hum - Inlet The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers Phoebe Bridges - Punisher
2/3 of Gigaton was enjoyable and it would probably come in at #11.
I still have 5-6 on your list to check out. Very few complete albums did it for me this year.
That's interesting. I think I had the opposite experience. I was trying to put together a Best Songs of 2020 Playlist and it was so difficult for me because I don't think there were many singles or individual songs that outshined their respective albums. I can't think of many songs to name but I can think of several albums, y'know?
1- Pearl Jam, Gigaton. 2- Fiona Apple, Fetch The Bolt Cutters 3- Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher 4- Taylor Swift, folklore 5- Matt Berninger, Serpentine Prison 6- Marilyn Manson, WE ARE CHAOS 7- Painted Shield, Painted Shield 8- Deftones, Ohms 9- Mark Lanegan, Straight Songs Of Sorrow
I maintain my list and maybe add Taylor Swift´s evermore or the Waxahatchee album, but i need to listen to them more.
overall i listen to a lot of PJ this year, boots, studio albums, gigaton of course, and i had big Smashing Pumpkins, AIC and Soundgarden phases.
Laura Marling - Songs For Our Daughter Lo Tom - LP2 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Sideways to New Italy Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways Kevin Morby - Campfire Soccer Mommy - color theory Roadside Graves - That's Why We're Running Away Hum - Inlet The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers Phoebe Bridges - Punisher
2/3 of Gigaton was enjoyable and it would probably come in at #11.
One more jazz album (sorry) sliding onto my 2020 list -- Oded Tzur's Here Be Dragons, a beautiful, late-night album that in places feels so frail it might blow away, dating all the way back to the beginning of the year when we were all standing less than six feet apart from each other and cavalierly going to the grocery store not dressed like Ninja Gaiden. What glorious days.
Jazz on the ECM label has probably been my most prominent soundtrack this year, for 2020 releases and otherwise. Lots of stuff on this label just scratches me right where I itch.
Last edited by Kevin Davis on Mon January 04, 2021 2:36 am, edited 2 times in total.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 3:35 pm Posts: 32050 Location: Buenos Aires
Kevin Davis wrote:
One more jazz album (sorry) sliding onto my 2020 list -- Oded Tzur's Here Be Dragons, a beautiful, late-night album that in places feels so frail it might blow away, dating all the way back to the beginning of the year when we were all standing less than six feet apart from each other and cavalierly going to the grocery store not dressed like Ninja Gaiden. What glorious days.
Jazz on the ECM label has probably been most prominent soundtrack this year, for 2020 releases and otherwise. Lots of stuff on this label just scratches me right where I itch.
I saw this on the AAJ year-end list and thought the description sounded interesting but then forgot to seek it out. Thanks -- two tracks in, this is really lovely. I love the soft focus of it
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