Top 10 Albums of 2020
It’s a rock-heavy year. It feels weird to not have a hip-hop or metal record crack the top 10. Many easily could have, so check out my full 200 track playlist at the end for deserving contenders. But these 10 stuck with me the most this year.
1.A Girl Called Eddy — Been Around
It was my favorite record of the first half of the year, and nothing beat it. The songs adopt a number of musical styles, from 70s jazz to 90s rock, and they’re all top-notch. At mid-year I said to check out the song Jody, but I’ve come to love Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart even more.
2.Jessie Ware — What’s Your Pleasure?
A lot of dance-pop is going full disco these days. Some of it is as bad as the genre sounds, but some of it is good. Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue, and Lady Gaga all went there successfully. But Jessie Ware topped them all. Check out Soul Control.
Can a big release by a major rock band be underrated? This is a fantastic album that stands with all of their great work, but I don’t think it’s getting the attention it deserves. It takes some of the advanced musicality of Crack-up and drops the indulgent parts. It’s arguably the best record Robin Pecknold has ever made, and I seriously considered making it my album of the year. Sample Maestranza.
4.The Orielles — Disco Volador
Disco strikes again! But this is more indie rock than the aforementioned pop albums. I loved their last record, and they came back 2 years later just as strong. Try Come Down on Jupiter, the first track.
5.Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever — Sideways to New Italy
Similar story here: the band came back 2 years after a great first rock record with a great second one. Lots to love here, but She’s There is a standout.
6.Low Cut Connie — Private Lives
I wasn’t that big of a fan of Low Cut Connie going into this one, but I may have to reassess their past work. This is the most straight-ahead rock record I heard this year, and easily the best of that genre. If you like Exile on Main Street (lots of rock, lots of dirt, lots of tracks), listen to Now You Know and take-off from there.
I’m a sucker for wry-humor indie singer-songwriters (all worship Aimee Mann), and like last year’s Marika Hackman album, Liza Anne has come up with a fun, catchy, hilarious indie rock record. Devotion is a good a track to give you a sense of it.
I had to bow to the earworm gods on this one. I couldn’t get these country-tinged indie songs out of my head all year. Some of the songs sound so similar to each other I have a hard time distinguishing them. But even if this album is just one song, it’s a great song. Try Lilacs.
I always try to include one album in the top 10 that’s a genre-stretcher that had to grow on me over time. This year, it’s Shamir, who is doing fun new things with indie rock. Running, for example.
10.James Dean Bradfield — EVEN IN EXILE
Bradfield seems to be at his best when he’s handed a concept and words, and gets to focus all of his energy on the music. The Manic Street Preachers’ Journal for Plague Lovers had this setup and was one of my favorite records of the 2000s. Here, Bradfield is inspired by the life of Chilean poet Victor Jara, drawing lyrics from a story by Patrick Jones. It’s a moving work that tempers some of the bombast of the Preachers, and the music is better for it. Example: THE LAST SONG.
I’m not going to do honorable mentions this year — it’s always torture to pick a top 10, and then I torture myself again cutting to 50 or so. I had to drop Thundercat, Code Orange, Zaia, and even Bruce Springsteen’s new record, which is a late-career triumph. I loved all of those. Ask me tomorrow, and they might be the best records of the year. Anyway, I’d rather just give you all the whole 200+ track playlist. I think each of these albums is awesome.