Albums of 2020

[tragabigzanda]

[Brett]

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.

Yeah, I picked up his 2016 album, The New Breed, as well, and it feels like a prototype for the new record. There's similar approaches to composition there from a structural and emotional standpoint, but Max Brown is more successful at hitting the mark more often.

And Trag, yessir, the album reminds me most of Standards and TNT, which is peak era Tortoise in my reckoning.

[Mickey]

Yeah the first track of The New Breed is great but the rest of it doesn't hold my attention the same way.

[Kevin Davis]

Really enjoying Bill Frisell's new album Valentine -- I always love it when he works in the trio format, great interplay but also laser-beam focus on his guitar playing, which is always the main event...

[epilogue]

Current ranking of the 2020 albums I've heard (updated):

Fetch The Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple

Could u listen to a Hero's Death please?

This was fine. Opening three tracks are not my bag. Samey, droning, wallpaper music that almost got me to switch records. But A Lucid Dream is really interesting. And the You Said - Living in America run is great.

Had this been an EP, I think it would rank much higher on the 2020 release list for me. As it stands, it's an interesting, if sometimes monotonous, listen that has some great highs. There are plenty of songs I imagine I'll return to frequently. Wouldn't surprise me if the entire album grows on me. There's much there to work with. But upon first listen, I'd say it's a middling record. I think it'll just be fatigue level that determines how often I choose to spin the entire album from the start.

[epilogue]

Current ranking of the 2020 albums I've heard (updated):

Fetch The Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple
Gigaton - Pearl Jam
Kitchen Sink - Nadine Shah
It Is What It Is - Thundercat
RTJ4 - Run The Jewels
Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas
Such Pretty Forks in the Road - Alanis Morisssette
That's How Rumors Get Started - Margo Price
Saint Cloud - Waxahatchee
Far From Home - Aubrie Sellers

Dias Raros - Melenas
Gaslighter - The Chicks
LP2 - Lo Tom
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was - Bright Eyes
Suite For Max Brown - Jeff Parker
Reunions - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Bad Vacation - Liza Anne
Set My Heart on Fire Immediately - Perfume Genius
The Waterfall II - My Morning Jacket
Ascension - Sufjan Stevens

Old Flowers - Courtney Marie Andrews
Source - Nubya Garcia
grae - Moses Sumney
Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers
Wake UP! - Hazel English
Homegrown - Neil Young
On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment - Ambrose Akinmusire
UR FUN - Of Montreal
folklore - Taylor Swift
Women in Music Pt. III - HAIM

Amazones Power - Les Amazones d'Afrique
Summerlong -Rose City Band
Angular Blues - Wolfgang Muthspiel, Scott Colley, Brian Blade
After Hours - The Weeknd
Modern Dead - Denai Moore
Old Time Feeling - S.G. Goodman
For Their Love - Other Lives
Strange Fascination - Chatham County Line
The Loves of Your Life - Hamilton Leithauser
SAWAYAMA - Rina Sawayama

Logan Ledger - Logan Ledger
Song For Our Daughter - Laura Marling
Sideways to New Italy - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
La vita nuova - Christine and the Queens
Transmigration Blues - The Dead Tongues
What's New Tomboy? - Damien Jurado
Petals For Armor - Hayley Williams
Rose In The Dark - Cleo Sol
Are You Gone - Sarah Harmer
Expectations - Katie Pruitt

Folk N' Roll, Vol 1: Tales of Isolation - J.S. Ondara
Saturn Return - The Secret Sisters
Whole New Mess - Angel Olsen
TO LOVE IS TO LIVE - Jehnny Beth
Muzz - Muzz
Thank You Ancestor Finger - Harper's Jar
The Unraveling - Drive-By Truckers
The New Abnormal - The Strokes
American Death Squad (EP) - Jeff Ament
Straight Songs of Sorrow - Mark Lanegan

A Hero's Death - Fontaines D.C.
Notes On a Conditional Form - The 1975
Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman
Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa
Likewise - Frances Quinlan
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
Beginners - Christian Lee Hutson
color theory - Soccer Mommy
Heavy Light - U.S. Girls
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
Marigold - Stu Larsen

[dad]

I've listened to Saint Cloud more than any other album in 2020.

Flowers of Devotion by Dehd probably second-most.

[epilogue]

I thought for sure Saint Cloud would end up in my top four when it first dropped. It's a great record.

[Brett]

A couple new things:

Another new album from Automatisme, his second full-length this year, is called Terrain Reduction, out now on the Chilean label, G89 Records. It's a further permutation of his interest in time and space conveyed and manipulated through generative sound creation. Here's the Bandcamp link to the album where it can all be listened to except for the second track, "Terrain," which is only available to those who purchase the album or support the label on Patreon:


Out today is this new, 21-minute piece by Efrim Manuel Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion), "Starling Troubles Sparrow," on the Australian imprint Longform Editions, which is basically what it says on the tin, a label that specializes in releasing long pieces of music. Efrim's contribution is a looped piano phrase that he applied various filters to in real time and then further processed through an amplifier chain to be re-recorded. It's kinda like a shambling, punk-rock version of the Disintegration Loops.
Check it here: https://longformeditions.bandcamp.com/t ... es-sparrow
And a Youtube link for those that prefer:

[chewm]

new young jesus is fantastic, these vocals take a while to get used to, but it's loaded with beautiful melodies and instrumental passages

[psychobain]

new albums by The Killers, Cut Copy, Cold War Kids and Secret Machines out since yesterday

that Killers LP isnt bad, may be their best in a long time

[psychobain]

this is my fav video of 2020, and its related to the thread so....
18 minutes of joy




love that album...

[Mickey]

Going to take the new Microphones album on a spin today, looking forward to it.

[Kevin Davis]

Pre-ordered the new Angel Olsen, Bill Callahan, and Elvis Costello albums today. My new music listening this year has been very jazz-centric so I am looking forward to these.

[Chris_H_2]

Pre-ordered the new Angel Olsen, Bill Callahan, and Elvis Costello albums today. My new music listening this year has been very jazz-centric so I am looking forward to these.

I gotta sadly confess that I’m not into the Angel Olsen new singles at all. Hopefully they don’t portend anything resembling the album.

[epilogue]

All this new listening and I've missed all the Angel Olsen stuff! I had no idea she had new shit out there.

Thanks for fixing that, RM.

[Kevin Davis]

I haven't previewed any of the tracks yet, but my understanding is that the whole thing is completely solo.

[Kevin Davis]

I just listened to the performance of "Whole New Mess" she did on Fallon and enjoyed it very much. As usual, I find her lyrics a little half-cooked for how dramatic her presentation is, but I don't care -- I love her voice. Solo electric guitar in this style always gives me Superwolf vibes so I suspect I'll enjoy the album

[Mickey]

Going to take the new Microphones album on a spin today, looking forward to it.

This is very good.

[epilogue]

I haven't previewed any of the tracks yet, but my understanding is that the whole thing is completely solo.

Interesting. I'm so excited to check this stuff out. I liked her last album but it took a few listens and still felt like a step down from previous work. Still, always excited for new stuff from her.