Albums of 2020

[Higgs]

That was surprising.

[epilogue]

That was surprising.

2020, amirite

[epilogue]

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.

[epilogue]

My Final Ranking of 2020 Albums:

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

Spoiler: show

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

Marigold - Stu Larsen

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[tree_]

[LetMeSleep]

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.

[epilogue]

Nice little group there, LMS. Love it.

[LetMeSleep]

I still have 5-6 on your list to check out. Very few complete albums did it for me this year.

[epilogue]

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?

[VinylGuy]

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.

[epilogue]

Solid list, TVG. I love a lot of those records.

[psychobain]

I need to listen to Future Islands.

For sure.

This record is so good!

its

[bada]

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.

That Hum album was good.

[Kevin Davis]

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.

[Jorge]

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

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[Jorge]

Addicted to the piano/sax interplay on "The Dream"

[Kevin Davis]

Glad you guys like it! The whole thing is an extremely satisfying listen but "20 Years" and "The Dream" are the highlights for me.

[Jorge]

I've been listening to that thing for 24 hours straight