[Falling Down]

Again I was thinking about not doing this again this year but, heck y’know, tradition and all that.  It’s been an incredibly difficult year for musicians with live venues closing and streaming services paying close to nothing, actually making any money at all has become incredibly difficult.  Thank heavens for Bandcamp who have really stepped up and offered a genuinely new way of buying and listening to music via downloads, back catalogue purchases and subscriptions for the more prolific musicians releasing music regularly.

Anyway, here are some albums and other things that I’ve enjoyed this year, in no particular order or preference.  Forgive me if some are a bit obscure, blame Bandcamp and The Wire.

Lyndon Scarfe : Shoreline.   Beautiful, cinematic and elegiac ambient electronica on the newly formed, not-for-profit Cue Dot records based in Derbyshire.  Scarfe has a long career dating back to the 80’s in Danse Society and also plays guitar for the Black Lamps and Retreat.  Deep listening music with a few that take your breath away.

Nick Jonah Davis : When the Sun Came.  The Derbyshire based fingerstyle guitarist hits his stride with this one.  The title track is my second favourite piece of music of this year and is a keeper.  Beautifully crafted and played instrumental tunes both uplifting and melancholy.  He did a wee streaming gig from his home the other week and it was an absolute pleasure to listen to live music.  Any Jack Rose fans will love this.

Jeff Parker & The New Breed :  Suite for Max Brown. Tortoise post-rock guitarist and jazz man with another set of deep cut jazz and hip-hop instrumentals. 

Laura Marling : Song for our Daughter.  Lovely. Stripped back rootsy songwriting and tunes with a nod to 70’s era Joni Mitchell (Hejira, Court and Spark).

Terry Allen : Just Like Moby Dick.  Probably my favourite of this year, it was released in January so I tagged it onto the end of last year’s list.  Allen’s a poet, artist and fabulous songwriter. This collection of deep Texas country tells stories with my favourite, the Charlie Sexton penned and sung “All That's Left is Fare-Thee-Well”.

Theo Parrish : Wuddaji.  This new LP is his best for a long time. Live? Improvised? or meticulously assembled? Hard to say but it really grooves. Call it deep house, jazz techno, funk or whatever. It's flippin’ great.   A special honourable mention to Moodymann too for his stripped down angry funk on Taken Away.

Bob Mould’s Blue Hearts  A very welcome blast of righteous angry power pop and a return to Sugar levels of intensity.

Anz : Spring/Summer Dubz 2020. Manchester’s Anz follows up 2019’s banger of a mixtape with another smoking selection of her uk-garage, jungle, rave and electro bass music.  Party time.

Jim O’ Rourke : To Magnetise Money and Catch a Roving Eye.   A hypnotic, four hour long piece of electroacoustic tactile, hallucinatory field recordings and organic sound sculpture. Stretched over four CDs this is O’Rourke in ‘Boiler Room’ guise at his very best.

Touch : Isolation (Various artists).  This was a great subscription project launched at the beginning of lockdown with the Touch roster of primo electroacoustic, field recording and ambient artists releasing a new piece of work every few weeks.  Meditative and reflective sounds mirroring the times and our relationship with time.  Now available in a single LP for download.  Highly recommended.

Coriky : Coriky : A brilliant spiky punky pop collection of songs from Ian MacKaye, Amy Farina and Joe Lally. I love Ian’s voice and with Joe Lally on bass it’s a further evolution of the Fugazi DC sound. 

Vic Mars : Inner Roads and Outer Paths.  Clay pipe music is a label that can only be described as pastoral.  Mars follows up on his The Land and the Garden with this album inspired by his upbringing in rural Herefordshire. It’s a lovely collection of instrumentals calling out the country and industry of the area.  A sepia toned photograph found in a biscuit tin at a Grandparents house.

Gunn-Truscinski Duo : Soundkeeper.  The fourth album from this duo. Steve Gunn and John Truscinski improvise psychedelic freakout rock and quieter phrases into a great piece of work that sits together wonderfully.

Asher Gamedze : Dialectic Soul. This is an incredible album. Free drumming, Coltrane like sax blowing, soulful singing. I keep on listening to this a lot. The second track, Siyabulela is one of the most moving and beautiful pieces of music I have heard in a very long time.

Powers/Rolin duo : ST.  American primitive 12 string, hammered dulcimer and other instruments.  Immersive, hypnotic and transcendental.  Their recent Gerycz/Powers/Rollins collaboration called Beacon is also brilliant with the addition of drums and sax. 

Krust : The edge of everything.  A much welcomed return of Bristol DJ drum ’n bass maestro Krust.  This is an absolute banger of complex, intertwining rhythm and sound. A bit of a grower I suspect.   Some other DnB highlights include Ouevre by Mako, Kim by Adred and Shelflife Six by Calibre.  Summer sunshine music.

Gwenifer Raymond : Strange Lights over Garth Mountain.  She’s hit her stride and found her own voice on this one.  Slightly unsettling guitar instrumentals rooted in Fahey’s Americana and Raymond’s Welsh folk.  “Welsh Primitive” she calls it and you can’t argue with that.

Dragged into Sunlight : Terminal Aggressor II.  A bleak and entirely filthy blast of unholy noise that collapses in on itself into a doom crushing riff as its climax.  Dark and unsettling from the absolute masters. 

Autechre : Sign and Plus. New Autechre in 2020. What more do you need? Brilliant.

William Basinski : Lamentations.  Pretty much a sequel to 2001’s Disintegration Loops.  Desolate and elegiac tape manipulation.

Some reissues I’ve enjoyed:

Richard and Linda Thompson : Hard Luck Stories (1972 - 1982).  A very well remastered box set covering their entire career.  All of these songs are fantastic folk and rock. Loads of extras and live cuts add to the quality studio recordings.
 
O Yuki Conjugate : Into Dark Water.  These guys pre-date Boards of Canada by twenty years for woozy atmospheric electronics.

Coil : Music to Play in the Dark vol 1.  One of Coil’s most haunting albums of lunar music gets the remaster treatment and a new release.

Harry Pussy : Superstar.  A thrilling 15 song 7” Ep from the early nineties. Each one lasts no more than thirty seconds.  Minutemen/Germs with a New York noise twist.

Other stuff:

Bill Callaghan and Bonnie Prince Billy - Our Anniversary.   An absolutely blistering Hendrix’esque cover of Smog’s song.

Penny Rimbaud’s (of Crass) playlist for Drift’s online festival is an introspective and  uplifting collection of classical, opera and jazz. You can find it on Spotify.

My most played Spotify song of the year was Steeleye Span’s ‘All Around My Hat’. The go-to sing in the shower in the morning music with The Kink’s ‘The Village Green Appreciation Society’ coming in a close second.  Arvo Pärt has also been on constant rotation throughout the year.

Looking forward to listening to everyone’s faves and digging through the other thread too.

Merry Christmas all - hope you and your families are all safe and well.











 

[jwi]

Pretty much like the “Aims of 2020” thread, I am still holding out, hoping that something more will come along in the last few days of the year!

I liked the Terry Allen album

[andy_e]

Standout album for me:



Edit: I remembered I already posted this on this thread.

[teestub]

Thought you'd be on straight Cèilidh and pipe music now Andy!

[Fiend]

Albums Of The Year:

Some really great ones this year:

...And Oceans - Cosmic World Mother

https://andoceans.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-world-mother
Not my usual micro-genre taste, so these Finns have done something pretty damn amazing to make this my equal album of the year. I listened to a bit one evening, thought it was promising, then listened to half the album on headphones in bed, and was mesmerised. A couple more listens in the car confirmed it: this album is a hell of an experience with the intensity starting immediately at 00:00 and finishing at 47:30. It does evolve somewhat from the starting blitz to a beautiful finale, but the wall of sound built from machine gun blastbeats, frenetic yet catchy guitars and soaring keyboards is epic, relentless, and to me, thrilling.

Dolphin - Ebbs And Flows

https://bandcamp.prspct.nl/album/ebbs-flows-lp-prspctlp019
One of the most important electronic albums of this year and indeed recent years in general, showing how even the most uncool and disdained genres can be as thoroughly refined and well-crafted as anything else. Equal album of the year, and a milestone. In Dolphin's own words:

After the release of my first album, ‘Information Asymmetry’, I started thinking about how I could take my productions to the next level. I spent a year studying music theory and piano from an amazing teacher and musician, Jordan Hunt. Together we broke down compositions by artists like Nils Frahm and Beethoven in order to try and understand their musical trickery –– what made these pieces so emotionally powerful? Armed with a wealth of new musical knowledge, the first track I wrote was “Ebbs”, quickly followed by “Flows”. From there the album took the form of a triptych, a body of work divided into three parts, with each part responding to a different element of the human experience. More on that soon…

ASC - Isolated Systems

https://asc77.bandcamp.com/album/isolated-systems
Prime quality crisp and clear jungle breakbeat explorations - both reverent to the past and as fresh as the future.

Ingested - Where Only Gods May Tread

https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/where-only-gods-may-tread
Kings of SLAMchester!! I don't usually feel much affiliation with the city in which I skulk, but I'm happy to be sharing it with these guys.  The whole sound is spot on, fast, heavy, varied, crunchy riffs, melodic leads here, blasts there, bassy drops now and then. But for me the vocals stand out - yes of course they're shrieked and growled, but Jason not only has a broad enough range to make you believe there's 2 or 3 vocalists at work, the vocal pacing matches the music perfectly, much better than most other metal I hear. Having that extra "harmony" of sound, vocals used as an instrument as well as a weapon, it's great.

Drokz - Defender Of Terror

https://www.mastersofhardcore.com/music/defender-of-terror/
Another well thought-out dance music album, lacking in compromise and packed with energy and excitement, culiminating in the already classic "Failure" a 13 minute epic, rolling at high speeds after an intro longer than most actual pop songs - a flagship example of extreme dance music that is properly crafted, atmospheric, melodic and constantly evolving as well as furiously intense.

Last Life - Recon

https://lastlife.bandcamp.com/album/recon
A more typical sound from the excellent Samurai records, submerging the listener in all sorts of depths and variances of the previously seemingly worked-out tempos. Cutting edge sounds for thoughtful times.

Ulcerate - Start Into Death And Be Still

https://ulcerate.bandcamp.com/album/stare-into-death-and-be-still
An epic album of hauntingly heavy blackened death (the tone of which reminds me of one of my favourite tracks - Disentomb's Collapsing Skies).

Tech Itch - Find Your Darkness

https://technicalitch.techitch.com/album/find-your-darkness
The venerable lord of darkness shows he still has it after a good couple of decades, where "it" is not just the skull-shaking amen workouts he's notorious for, but the full spectrum of acid-laced rollers and techstep head-nodders.

Konvent - Puritan Masochism

https://konvent666.bandcamp.com/album/puritan-masochism
Danish girls with an absolute powerhouse of an album. Mid-paced metal built on riffs, riffs, and, well, you've got proper vocals from the abyss and a lovely guitar tone with fuzzy distortion like a gentle caress of barbed wire, but....riffs!! Catchy as absolute fuck. If you're not head-nodding immediately.....there is no hope.

Bonuses, EPs, etc:

ASC - An Exact Science

https://asc77.bandcamp.com/album/an-exact-science
A precursor to the album that made it an instant purchase.

Kilbourne & Plexos - Pleasure Becomes Pain

https://kilbourne.bandcamp.com/album/pain-becomes-pleasure-nekro006-2
This is my headbang-of-the-year track, I can't resist it any time. In an era when a lot of harder dance music is trying to be too clever with samples drops and chopping up tracks, this is refreshingly direct and banging as fuck. Fresh bleeps and stabs carried by relentless kicks and it works perfectly for me.

[Fultonius]

Fiend, your description of the Dolphin album, with references to Nils Frahm (docu/music film on Mubi just now) and my liking of Electronic had me intrigued. I thought

maybe a this one time, maybe I'll like on of Fiend's suggestions... Just maybe?

Alas, no, the world order remains....

[Fiend]

Yes, sorry, there isn't the full album uploaded on Youtube so I thought the mini-mix might give the closest impression but obviously it misses a lot of nuances and scope so it's much better to check out the full 15 track album on Bandcamp 

[Andy F]

Personal new musical highlights from this year:

Fish - Weltschmerz. A triumph of a final album. For me, the best thing he's done post Marillion. Beautiful and moving in equal parts.

Avatar - Hunter Gatherer. Angry, brutal and melodic. A return to their melodeath roots, but with added complexity and nuance.

Pearl Jam - Gigaton. A real return to form, with Vedder railing at Trump in places, but also musically expanding. Excellent.

One from last year: Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas. Disturbed doesn't get anywhere near this. Brutal but beautiful. Thanks Fiend for this recommendation.


 

[andy_e]

Thought you'd be on straight Cèilidh and pipe music now Andy!

I listen to nothing but Peatbog Faeries, Martyn Bennett, King Creosote and Frightened Rabbit now. That album was released before I moved north though..

[jwi]

La variété française of the year: “Comment est ta peine?” by Benjamin Biolay. Just like British pop sounds the same as American pop—but with lower production values, French francophone popular music is like Belgian pop with worse lyrics and bad mixing. This, however, is well mixed and has touching lyrics. Is this kind of music (3 chord vamp, not that high production values) possible to enjoy if you don't connect with the lyrics? Doubtful. Nevertheless.




Rookie of the year DOMi & JD Beck. Rumour has it that their debut album has already been recorded, but that there are legal issues more complex than JD Beck's jungle rolls and DOMi's left hand playing to be resolved for the album to be released. Not surprising if the appearance rights are hard to collect since everyone who's something on the LA music scene,, from Ariana Grande to Mononeon, wants to work with them.




Most upbeat pop of the year: Sauti Sol's Brigher Days. Sauti Sol happens to play live in Barcelona in January at the same week as I will be there for work. Putain de merde la crise sanitaire....





The best piano djent/armenian folk fusion of the year. This year and every year: Tigran Hamasyan. Will not link to the official video as it is meh. Here is a transcription video instead to help you play along.




Best duo of D'Angelo epigones of the year: Daniel Cesar / Jacob Collier.



(December 2019 still counts as 2020 in these kind of lists I understand.)


The insanely talented Jacob Collier is also providing backing vocals on the Christmas Song of the year (The song was released on December 25, so it must be a Christmas Song, right?)



Best smooth jazz/Kenny G award of the year goes to 40 melodies, Ibrahim Maalouf




Best NPR Tiny Desk of the year:




Highest rotation song of the year spotify+youtube.



Alas, every time I start humming this song I only get so far before noticing that my range is an octave or two too small

[dontfollowme]

Some of my picks from this year:

Quite a bit of mystery of who this person is and the music fits my mood for the year:

Craven Faults - Erratics & Unconformities



Next, Julianna Barwick from her album Healing is a Miracle:



Soela - Genuine Silk

[Tom J]

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

Really pretty voice and decent songwriting, sort of folky pop/indie. Love it.

Thanks for the all the recommendations people. This thread is always so great, I've lost count of the number of times somebody asks 'how did you find this gem?' and I say I found it on a weird sub sub board of a bouldering forum.

[JamieG]

Good shout Tom. I've been really enjoying Phoebe Bridgers too. Her previous album is also well worth a listen.

If you like her I'd also recommend Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee. Maybe my album of the year overall. More lovely folky/country songs. And a fantastic voice.

[Tom J]

Cheers Jamie I'll check em out 

[JamieG]

Also, I forgot to mention. Phoebe Bridger teamed up with Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes fame) and released an album called Better Oblivion Community Centre. Its fantastic. Well worth checking out.

Here is them on NPR's tiny desk series.

[Plattsy]

Restarting gaming last year introduced to some great gaming music and mostly that's what I've been listening to (with the usual movie soundtracks, metal, post punk and older stuff) during the last year. Here's a selection of some of the best.

Witcher3
Slavic sounds


Gods of War
Gregorian chanting seems to feature quite a lot in this post. Some here.


Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
More Gregorian chanting and a great 40 odd minutes of Skyrim atmospheres at the end.


Ori and the Blind Forest
Great strings


Monument Valley 2
Ambienty


My Friend Pedro
Dizzying electronica

[Tom J]

If you like her I'd also recommend Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee. Maybe my album of the year overall. More lovely folky/country songs. And a fantastic voice.

Took me a couple of weeks to get around to this due to just discovering Aldous Harding and being a bit obsessed with her music, but put it on a couple of days back and really enjoying it - cheers

[JamieG]

If you like her I'd also recommend Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee. Maybe my album of the year overall. More lovely folky/country songs. And a fantastic voice.

Took me a couple of weeks to get around to this due to just discovering Aldous Harding and being a bit obsessed with her music, but put it on a couple of days back and really enjoying it - cheers

Glad you are enjoying it. Heard the name Aldous Harding, but not listened to her music before. I'll have to check it out.

[Yossarian]

Four Tet - Parallel
I quite liked Sixteen Oceans (especially the opening track School, which he played in an AMAZING Boiler Room set) but I've had this on almost every day since it came out at the end of the year. Beautiful synthy stuff that he'd been releasing under a weird dingbat-coded alter ego since 2018.



Pantha du Prince - Conference of Trees
Generally very chill electronica (with occasional cowbells, etc) that I put on when I have some quite intricate stuff to draw. His 2010 techno album Black Noise is also amazing.



Alva Noto - Unieqav Remixes
Discovered Alva Noto via his video art (as Carsten Nicolai). Turns out he did the soundtrack to The Revenant with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Anyway, this is just amazing weird techno, especially the Ben Frost mix.



Colter Wall - Western swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs
Got quite into country last year having loved Colter Wall's previous Songs of the Plains (initially because of the graphics of the cover). The kids love this in the car.



Georgia - Seeking Thrills
Another car stereo favourite.



Bad Boy Chiller Crew - Full Wack No Brakes
LDNCLMBR album of the year



The New Division - Hidden Memories
Tasty 80s / 90s inspired electronic pop



Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
Very beautiful vocall techno / electronica



Run The Jewels - RTJ4
Obvs...



Taylor Swift - evermore
This is fucking great.



9ToEarth - Kogarashi Tales
No idea where I found this, but its amazing dark synth core or something. Mostly feels like you've been dropped into the climactic scenes of an arthouse horror film.

We also listened to a lot of early Sabbath (which I embarrassingly was extremely unacquainted with), and AJ Tracey.

[andy_e]

Craven Faults - Erratics & Unconformities

Can't believe I slept on this one until now! Superb.

Gwenifer Raymond : Strange Lights over Garth Mountain.  She’s hit her stride and found her own voice on this one.  Slightly unsettling guitar instrumentals rooted in Fahey’s Americana and Raymond’s Welsh folk.  “Welsh Primitive” she calls it and you can’t argue with that.

Need to check this out, Sometimes there's blood is probably the only non-techno/drum and bass tune that gets me properly hyped up and mesmerised at the same time.

[Johnny Brown]

Have you checked out any Jack Rose Andy?

[andy_e]

No, but now I am! Cheers. Enjoying the rhythm and melodies laid on top of each other.

[Tom J]

Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
Very beautiful vocall techno / electronica

Not my usual bag but really bumpin this right now, the track with John Cale is TFS (totally fu****g sweet)

[jwi]

La variété française of the year: “Comment est ta peine?” by Benjamin Biolay. ...

Benjamin Biolay also won male artist of the year and best album of 2020 at the Victoires de la musique (French equivalent to grammies.)