Best Music of 2020

Bonny Light Horseman continues to impress me with each listen and moves up a few notches in this year’s top ten.


1. Aoife O’Donovan- Bull Frog Croons (and Other Songs)
2. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
3. Katie Pruitt - Expectations
4. Monophonics - It’s Only Us
5. Bonny Light Horseman
6. Moses Sumney - Grae part 1
7. Waxahatchee - St Cloud
8. Futurebirds - Teamwork
9. Devon Gilfillian - Black Hole Rainbow
10. Steep Canyon Rangers and The Asheville Symphony Orchestra - Be Still Moses
 
I dig CSH and the new one is growing on me but I do miss the epic songs they are built around. The one 7 minute track about blood on the new one is by far my favorite. It's no Moon and Antartica, though.
 
I've always thought Car Seat Headrest's arc so far has kinda lined up with Death Cab. A surprisingly successful solo project that expanded. Critically acclaimed albums to a small but enthusiastic audience, a mild breakthrough (Transatlanticism/ToD), and now firmly in the fine but disappointing follow-up that would probably never live up to expectations anyway (Plans/Door) stage.
 
sahomerrocks said:
I've always thought Car Seat Headrest's arc so far has kinda lined up with Death Cab. A surprisingly successful solo project that expanded. Critically acclaimed albums to a small but enthusiastic audience, a mild breakthrough (Transatlanticism/ToD), and now firmly in the fine but disappointing follow-up that would probably never live up to expectations anyway (Plans/Door) stage.
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It’s a substantial shift towards electronic so I understand indie rock purists being upset, man I dunno. Like I absolutely love Making a Door.

It’s weird, it’s fresh and it has some of the strongest hooks he’s ever written. It’s also extremely trippy in places.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
It’s a substantial shift towards electronic so I understand indie rock purists being upset, man I dunno. Like I absolutely love Making a Door.

It’s weird, it’s fresh and it has some of the strongest hooks he’s ever written. It’s also extremely trippy in places.
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I was pretty excited when the more experimental singles came out because I thought re-recording an old album and releasing a live album were unbelievably lame punts following up your breakthrough album. I was happy they were trying something different after what I saw as a crisis of confidence, and I probably would have been happier with an album full of that. Instead it just kind of makes me feel like there are two albums stuck in here crammed together. I really like the highs but the whole thing is uneven to me.
 
Woob_woob said:
Favorite albums of the year so far (alphabetical order, updates in bold):
A.A.L. - 2017-2019
Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman
Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
Caribou- Suddenly
Dan Deacon- Mystic Familiar
Boldy James - The Price of Tea in China
Kamaiyah - Got It Made
Makayah McCravin and Gil Scott Heron- Were New Again
Jeff Parker - Suite For Max Brown
R.A.P. Ferreira- Purple Moonlight Papers
The Sorcerers - In Search of The Lost City of the Monkey God
Tame Impala - The Slow Rush
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Favorite albums of the year so far (alphabetical order, updates in bold):

A.A.L. - 2017-2019
Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman
Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
Caribou- Suddenly
Chris Crack - White People Love Algorithms
Conway - Lulu
Dan Deacon- Mystic Familiar
DJ Python- Mas Amable
Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans
Boldy James - The Price of Tea in China
Kamaiyah - Got It Made
Makayah McCravin and Gil Scott Heron- Were New Again
The Mountain Goats- Songs For Pierre Chuvin
Jeff Parker - Suite For Max Brown
Peel Dream Magazine- Agitprop Alterna
R.A.P. Ferreira- Purple Moonlight Papers
Sada Baby -Skuba Sada 2
Serengeti- Ajai
Shabaka and the Ancestors- We Are Sent Here By History
The Sorcerers - In Search of The Lost City of the Monkey God
Tame Impala - The Slow Rush
Westside Gunn- Pray For Paris
Yaeji- What We Drew
Yves Tumor-Heaven to a Tortured Mind
 
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debianlinux said:
I dig CSH and the new one is growing on me but I do miss the epic songs they are built around. The one 7 minute track about blood on the new one is by far my favorite. It's no Moon and Antartica, though.
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The other forum I frequent is more positive about the album than this place (it also leans more electronic in taste since it's international), but it does seem destined to be the most polarizing release of the year.

That said, the M&A comp (which is a definitive album in my life) was more in regards to evolution is sound from lo-fi to polished lo-fi to an album drenched in studio tinkering that alienates some long time fans. Sound wise, to quote that other forum, the album strikes me more as "what new Beck would sound like if he were still putting out good music". Clearly people disagree on whether it's actually good though.

I'm 5x through (it's been my Animal Crossing soundtrack since Thursday). The only song I don't particularly care for is Martin. Deadlines (Thoughtful), Can't Cool Me Down, Weighlifters, There Must Be More Than Blood (strong LCD vibes) and Hollywood all rank among my favorite songs he has written. That said, I'm somebody who calls Reflektor my favorite Arcade Fire album, and I know how scattered people here are on their feelings towards that album. So maybe I'm just a weirdo (answer: I am).
 
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sahomerrocks said:
I was pretty excited when the more experimental singles came out because I thought re-recording an old album and releasing a live album were unbelievably lame punts following up your breakthrough album. I was happy they were trying something different after what I saw as a crisis of confidence, and I probably would have been happier with an album full of that. Instead it just kind of makes me feel like there are two albums stuck in here crammed together. I really like the highs but the whole thing is uneven to me.
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Yeah I feel the same way about being happy he tired something different, since it had been so long since ToD and Twin Fantasy, as good as it was, is only looking backward. I think I was worried he had run out of ideas and that is clearly not the case with this album. I got the LP in the mail on Wednesday so it was a shocker to listen to the album on Spotify yesterday, very different experiences. I was so accustomed to There Must Be More Than Blood closing the first half of the album. My second and third time listening I was worried that the songs weren't going to grow on me, but it is starting to really work for me. I get the feeling this album will become a fan favorite down the road, as mixed as the reception is now.
 
My favorite albums so far this year, separated by tiers:

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC
R.A.P. Ferreira - Purple Moonlight Pages
Makaya McCraven & Gil Scott-Heron - We're New Again
Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Moor Jewelry - True Opera

REALLY REALLY GREAT
Dogleg - Melee
Westside Gunn - Pray for Paris
Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Zebra Katz - Less Is Moor
A.A.L. - 2017-2019
Melt Yourself Down - 100%
Thundercat - It Is What It Is

REALLY GREAT
Rav x KB x Scuare - SKIN
HMLTD - West of Eden
Empress Of - I'm Your Empress Of
The Heliocentrics - Infinity Of Now
The Orb - Abolition of the Royal Familia
Baxter Dury - The Night Chancers
The Sorcerers - In Search of The Lost City of the Monkey God
Cleo Sol - Rose in the Dark
Antibalas - Fu Chronicles
 
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I've been listening to Son Little - Aloha a ton lately. I first listened to this when it came out in January because it was on NPR's playlist the day it was released, and thought it was pretty good. Decided to revisit it a couple weeks ago and after a few listens, I was hooked. Some very low key, chill jams that I guess I would classify as bluesy, soulful R&B. Either way, fantastic album that's worth checking out!

 
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