The 2021 David Music Poll Results

 2021 David Music Poll Results

Hello, everyone.  I’m very happy to share with you this year’s music poll results.

1) Lil Nas X, MONTERO (22 votes)

2) Olivia Rodrigo, SOUR (17)

3) Adele, 30 (10)

4) Lucy Dacus, Home Videos (9)

Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version) (9)

      6)    Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee (8)

             Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever (8)

      8)    Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days (7)

      9)    Julien Baker, Little Oblivions (6)

             Bleachers, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night (6)

             The War on Drugs, I don’t live here anymore (6)

Runners up:  Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails Over the Country Club;  Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert; Halsey, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power (5 votes)

Notes:  There’s some new blood on the top of the list this year, with impressive showings from Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo riding a pop wave to the top. (Technically, these are both debut albums, but Lil Nas X is hardly a debut artist.)  Adele makes her third appearance in the top ten, and Billie Eilish, Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, and The War on Drugs each make their second. Taylor Swift now joins (her friends) The National and (not to my knowledge her friends) Radiohead in the lead with five top-tens over the poll’s 23 years.  57 people participated in this year’s poll.

For everyone’s individual lists, please go here:  http://davidmusicpoll.blogspot.com/

My List, Featuring a Blockbuster Video

My essential albums (in rough order):

Lucy Dacus, Home Videos

girl in red, if I could make it go quiet

Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version) (Vault songs)

Julien Baker, Little Oblivions

Bleachers, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night

CHVRCHES, Screen Violence

Rostam, Changeophobia

Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days

Honorable mention to the new albums by Big Red Machine, Billie Eilish, Courtney Barnett, London Grammar, Lorde, Mickey Guyton, Sam Fender, and The Staves

Thoughts:  There’s actually a strange continuum to many of my choices. My top album is a singer-songwriter looking back at her high school journals and telling their stories from a remove.  My second-place album is full of fresh adolescent confusion.  My third-place album is a revisiting of older songs in a more knowing way.  And the fouth and sixth place albums are what happens when you get to womanhood.  

Favorite songs:

Fanny Anderson, “Wake Up” (my pandemic anthem)

Anais Mitchell, “Brooklyn Bridge” and Rostam, “From the Back of a Cab” (who knew I loved driving-across-a-NYC-bridge songs so much?)

Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever” (most brilliant switcheroo of the year)

Taylor Swift, “All Too Well (Taylor’s 10-minute Version) (I never, ever thought I needed a ten-minute Taylor Swift songs; ends up, I did)

Brandi Carlile, “Right on Time” (epic)

Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, “Like I Used To”

Lucy Dacus, “Brando”

MUNA and Phoebe Bridgers, “Silk Chiffon”  (Phoebe Bridgers took over my musical life this year, basically – how can she be on so many albums?)

And basically all the Olivia Rodrigo and Lil Nas X singles

Anna Q, Optimistically

Olivia rodrigo, sour

Kacey musgraves, star crossed 

Finneas, optimist

 

Chris K’s Celestial Seasonings

Album of the Year: King Woman, Celestial Blues

Demiser, Through the Gate Eternal

Domkraft, Seeds

Hooded Menace, The Tritonus Bell

Steel-Bearing Hand, Slay In Hell

Rob Zombie, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy

VHS, I Heard They Suck...Blood

Darkthrone, Eternal Hails........

Silk Sonic feat. Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, An Evening With Silk Sonic

Cannibal Corpse, Violence Unimagined

Wolves In The Throne Room, Primordial Arcana

Khemmis, Deceiver

Andrew WK, God Is Partying

Fiona S’s Silky Sounds

Adele, 30

Silk Sonic, An Evening with Silk Sonic

ABBA, Voyage

Lake Street Drive, Obviously

Kacey Musgraves, Star Crossed

Bryant P’s Sour Season

Here are my most essential albums of 2021, a year I found myself listening to older music more than new music:

James Vincent McMorrow, Grapefruit Season

Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

Lana del Rey, Chemtrails Over the Country Club

Ekkstacy, Negative

Lil Nas X, Montero

Alex K Takes it to CHVRCH

1) CHVRCHES, Screen Violence

2) London Grammar, Californian Soil

Eugene K, Cultured Vulture

Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises

Mach-Hommy - Pray for Haiti

Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg

Pink Pantheress - to hell with it

Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey: Uneasy

Olivia Rodrigo - Sour

Arya Starr - 19 & Dangerous

Favorite remix: Adele, Easy on me by High Contrast

Favorite DJ sets: Ben Bohmer above Cappadocia, The Blaze at Aiguille du Midi

Jaclyn D Finds Lost

Favorite album of 2021: Lord Huron, Long Lost

Favorite late 2020 album I bought in 2021: Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts

Favorite albums I discovered because I’m a classic rock girl:

Trees, On the Shore

The Kinks, The Village Green Preservation Society

Waylon Jennings, Waylon Live

Jethro Tull, Heavy Horses

Neil Young (in general)

For David G, Queens is King

Number one:

Aimee Mann, Queens of the Summer Hotel

The rest of the top ten:

Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine, A Beginner’s Mind

LUMP, Animal

Michael Hurley, The Time of the Foxgloves

Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails over the Country Club 

Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever

Julien Baker, Little Oblivions 

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, This is a Mindfulness Drill

Oberhofer, Smothered 

Special Mention: 

Sharon Van Etten, epic Ten re-release 

Honorable Mentions:

Martha Wainwright, Love Will Be Reborn

Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days

Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee

Floating Points and Pharaoh Sanders, Promises

Mdou Moctar, Afrique Victime

The Weather Station, Ignorance 

Arooj Aftab, Vulture Prince

Indigo de Souza, Any Shape You Take

Arlo Parks, Collapsed in Sunbeams

Hard Feelings, Hard Feelings 

St Vincent, Daddy’s Home

London Grammar, Californian Soil

Wolf Alice, Blue Weekend

Lil Nas X, Montero

Nite Jewel, No Sun

Natalie Bergman, Mercy

PinkPantheress, To Hell With It

Lucy Dacus, Home Video

And then here are my favorite songs from the year:

Trans Mantra by Ezra Furman

Love More by Fiona Apple (Sharon Van Etten cover)

NDA by Billie Eilish

Chaise Longue by Wet Leg

Soon It Will Be Fire by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble feat Moses Sumney

Dance Till We Die by Lana Del Rey

When The World Wakes Up by Tachys

Stay High by Brittany Howard (Childish Gambino version)

Dream Never Dies by Lo Moon

I See You by Aimee Mann

Right On Time (Orchestral Version) by Brandi Carlile

SIERRA NIGHTS by Kevin Abstract feat Ryan Beatty

Back to Oz by Sufjan and Angelo de Augustine

Ani Kuni by Polo & Pan

Good Morning by Indya Love

Free from Gravity by Django Django

Only Love by Tycho and Benjamin Gibbard

Asking for a Friend by CHVRCHES

Nineveh by Kele

Save Your Tears (with Ariana Grande) (Remix) by The Weeknd

GOOD YEAR FOR MUSIC!

Call Phil B By Your Name

1. Lil Nas X, Montero

2. Rauw Alejandro, Vice Versa

3. Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

Tode de Ti by Rauw Alejandro and That's What I Want by Lil Nas X are my songs of the year.

Justin W’s Inside Job

Most Essential Album of 2021: Bo Burnham, Inside (The Songs of Inside)

Other Essential Albums:

Middle Kids, Today We’re the Greatest

Courtney Barnett, Things Take Time, Take Time Julian Baker, Little Oblivions

Mike R, Everything After Ever

MY (PERSONAL, SUBJECTIVE) TOP 15 ALBUMS:

1. Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever

2. Jonathan Larson, tick, tick... BOOM!

3. Lucy Dacus, Home Video

4. Autoheart, Hellbent

5. Bo Burnham, Inside

6. Maisie Peters, You Signed Up For This

7. Bleachers, Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night

8. The Killers, Pressure Machine

9. Twin Shadow, Twin Shadow

10. Magdalena Bay, Mercurial World

11. Torres, Thirstier

12. Self Esteem, Prioritise Pleasure

13. Sam Fender, Seventeen Going Under

14. AJR, OK Orchestra

15. Aly & AJ, a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then in to the sun

MY (PERSONAL, SUBJECTIVE) TOP 5 SINGLES OF THE YEAR:

1) MUNA ft. Phoebe Bridgers, "Silk Chiffon"

2) Olivia Rodrigo, "good 4 u"

3) Metteson, "Under Your Shirt"

4) Lil Nas X, "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" 

5) Taylor Swift, "All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)"

NOTES:

1) I am not normally a "slow song" or "quiet song" kind of guy, which makes it all the more impressive that I found Billie Eilish's second album to be so undeniably towering in its quality, replayability, and mature, personally-grounded, but still melodic songwriting, that it simply had to be my number one choice.

2) I disqualified Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) from being considered as "new" albums, but rest assured, had I not done that, one or both of them would be my album of the year.

3) If I could recommend some albums on this list y'all may not have heard already, they would be Hellbent by Autoheart (for fans of Erasure, Depeche Mode, and Pet Shop Boys), You Signed Up For This by Maisie Peters (for fans of Lily Allen and Kate Nash at her poppiest), and Twin Shadow by Twin Shadow (for fans of The Clash's Caribbean-influenced period, but this time by an actual Dominican-American pop wunderkind).

4) Long live the music poll!

Samantha M’s Superior War

Here's my list! 

1) War on Drugs, I Don't Live Here Anymore

2) St. Vincent, Daddy's Home

3) Leon Bridges, Gold-Diggers Sound

Cassandra P Heeds the Call

Most essential album:

Tyler, the Creator, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

Other essential albums:

Doja Cat, Planet Her

Lil Nas X, Montero

Adele, 30

Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak, An Evening with Silk Sonic

Kacey Musgraves, star-crossed

Roberto R, Merrily Down the Stream

MY FAVORITE OF THE YEAR:

Damon Albarn, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows 

Collin Q is Funny haha

One of my favorite new year traditions! Here's what I got for 2021...

TOP ALBUM

Faye Webster, I Know I'm Funny haha

Honorable Mentions

Lucy Dacus, Home Video

Snail Mail, Valentine

Arca, KICK ii, KicK iii, kick iiii, and kiCK iiiii

Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee

Hayley Williams, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos

TOP SINGLES

1. Snail Mail, "Valentine"

2. Arca, "Señorita"

3. SZA, "Good Days"

4. serpentwithfeet, "Fellowship"

5. Rebecca Black, "Personal"

6. Muna, "Silk Chiffon (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)"

7. Tinashe, "Bouncin"

8. Lucy Dacus, "Triple Dog Dare"

9. Tobe Nwigwe & Fat Nwigwe, "FYE FYE"

10. Adam Melchior, "i'm not okay"

11. Doss, "Look"

12. Hayley Williams, "Teardrop"

Brent G Loves an Ex

I'm in!..I love this and sad I missed last year so here I go.

1. Ex:Re & Josephine Stephnson with 12 Esemble

2. Czarface & MF DOOM - Super What?

3. SAULT - NINE

4. Taylor Swift - Evermore

5. Conway the Machine - La Maquina

6. Silk Sonic - An Evening With

7. BADBADNOTGOOD - Talk Memory

8. Lil Nas X - Montero

9. Aimee Mann - Queens of the Summer Hotel

10. NAS - King's Disease II

Theo M, Lover of Star Crossed

star-crossed - Kacey Musgraves

SOUR - Olivia Rodrigo

30 - Adele

Daniel L’s Lil Winner

Most Essential Album, 2021: Lil Nas X, MONTERO

Other Essentials: 

HAIM, Women In Music, Pt. III

Adele, 30

Kelley S, in a Mood Valiant

Here’s my list. I may have several this year that actually end up on the final list! Look at me getting mainstream…sorta…

In no particular order, my top ten lists of 2021 are:

Vocal:

1. Parannoul, To See the Next Part of the Dream

2. Wednesday, Twin Plagues

3. Nervous Dater, Call in the Mess

4. Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee

5. Julien Baker, Little Oblivions

6. Flock of Dimes, Head of Roses

7. Arlo Parks, Collapsed in Sunbeams

8. Black Country, New Road, For the First Time

9. Hiatus Kaiyote, Mood Valiant

10. Kælan Mikla, Undir Köldum Norðurljósum

Instrumental:

1. Anoice, Hidden Forest

2. Ghost Bath, Self Loather

3. Sadness, April Sunset

4. Theon Cross, Intra-I

5. Trna, Istok

6. Unreqvited, Beautiful Ghosts

7. A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Invisible Cities

8. Ólafur Arnalds, The Invisible EP

9. Grouper, Shade

10. The Ember, The Ash, Fixation

And David, you’re probably already familiar with one (or both???) of these artists, but just in case, since there are a couple lines with multiple commas, the artist names are “Black Country, New Road”, and “The Ember, The Ash”.

Kevin K Starts with Genesis

When I look back on 2021, I will think of it as the year of the single. There were very few albums I would consider “essential.” Instead, I found myself listening to singles more than anything. 

Favorite Singles of 2021

Rose Pink Cadillac – DOPE LEMON

Like A Lady – Pom Poko

Head Cheerleader – Pom Pom Squad

Introvert – Little Simz

This Sound – Greentea Peng

The Other Black Dog – Genesis Owusu

Lover Boy – The Front Bottoms

Pay Your Way In Pain – St. Vincent

Valentine – Snail Mail

Be Sweet – Japanese Breakfast

Follow – Gary Louris

Stop Making This Hurt – Bleachers

MMMOOOAAAAAYA… - illuminati hotties

Racist, Sexist Boy – The Linda Linds

Nervous – Madi Diaz

Turnaround (Cocaine Song) – Toth

Tell Me What You Want – Weezer 

I NEED YOU – Jon Batiste

Orion From The Street – Field Music

Narrator – Squid

BLACKOUT – Turnstile

Track X – Black Country, New Road

ALL FUTURES – The Armed

Snakes – Amyl and The Sniffers

777 – Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, Silk Sonic

I Wanna Be a Dog – Colleen Green

Scratchcard Lanyard – Dry Cleaning

Really Great – The Connells

Da Vinci – Demira

HEAVY METAL – Paris Texas

Essential Albums of 2021

Smiling with No Teeth – Genesis Owusu

Major Prince vibes, so I was all over this entire album in 2021.

Flat White Moon – Field Music

IMHO, they have yet to make a bad record. One of the best bands making music today without major accolades.

Death of a Cheerleader – Pom Pom Squad

I saw them in concert this year and the lead singer tossed a rose to me. That would be enough to make the list, but it helps that the debut rocks.

Sometimes I Might Be Introvert – Little Simz

The first track “Introvert” is huge and majestic. Reminds me of early Fugees.

First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings – Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

This is the album I listened to the most in 2021 and it was only released in December! My favorite incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, playing my favorite songs. Lee Morgan’s flourishes on the trumpet are amazing. Bobby Timmons cements himself as one of the all-time great pianists. Art Blakey simply destroys the Japanese audience with his drums. This list does not often feature jazz records but do yourself a favor and give this one a listen.

Maggie S Strikes Up the Orchestra

I realized I didn't need that long to tell you my favorites from 2021, because I'm still humming them.

BEST ALBUMS

1) Manchester Orchestra, Million Masks of God

when this came out, I was on a retreat, but I left everyone in the house and walked around the cabin for three hours, in the rain, just listening to it over and over and over in my headphones.

2) Grasscut, Overwinter

This is a little on the green man gray sky clannad side of things, but it works.

3) MISSIO, Skeletons, Pt 3

These are ever so much better when stripped down.

BEST SINGLES

mostly minor key, often psychedelic, mostly sad even if they are hiding it deep down inside

1) Animal Collective, "Prester John"

2) Mother Mother, "Weep"

3) Kawala, "Back of My Hand"

4) UPSAHL, "STOP!"

5) BANNERS, "They All Are"

6) Keane, "Dirt"

7) CHVRCHES & Robert Smith, "How Not to Drown"

8) Milky Chance, "Colorado"

9) The Head and the Heart, "Our House"

10) Joywave, "The Inversion

11) Of Monsters and Men, "Destroyer"

12) HEALTH, "COLORS (Thomaas Banks Rmx)"

13) Low, "White Horses"

14) Everything Everything, "Mercury and Me"

15) Dotter, "Little Tot"

16) Lucy Daydream, "Keep it Low"

Gianfranco L Feels Pretty, Oh So Pretty

Now you know what lives inside my head… 

2021:

Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story (2021)

Jonathan Larson/Netflix, tick, tick… BOOM! (2021)

Dan Romer/Disney, Luca

Natalie Holt/Disney, Loki (Vol. 1 & 2)

Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Encanto

Past Albums:

Netflix, Eurovision (2020)

Marina & the Diamonds, The Family Jewels (2010)

Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, SIX the Musical (2018)

Beyoncé, Homecoming: The Live Album (2019)

Various, Mean Girls the Musical (2017)

Shelly R Wants Halsey, and Power

2021 Most Essential Album:

Halsey, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power

This album got me through the rest of the year when it was released. I truly wish I could listen to it again for the first time because every song, even the softer ballads that aren't quite my taste, are incredible. The short film Halsey created for it is so visually stunning. It now means a lot to me...so much that I got the title tattooed on my arm this January.

Honorable Mentions:

Måneskin, Teatro d'ira: Vol. 1

Bo Burnham, Inside (The Songs)

Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

Lil Nas X, Montero

Doja Cat, Planet Her

5 Favorite Songs of 2021:

"SHUM" by Go_A

"La Paura Del Buio" by Måneskin

"Can You Feel My Heart (Remix)" by Bring Me The Horizon & Jeris Johnson

"The Lighthouse" by Halsey

"Good 4 U" by Olivia Rodrigo

Andy P Goes Easy on Us

Lil Nas X, Montero

Adele, 30

Melissa W Knows Her Favorite All Too Well

Essential album: 

Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor's Version)

Essential song from that album:

Taylor Swift,  “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" from Red (Taylor's Version)

Matt U Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Thanks for keeping the music poll going. It’s always a great way to discover new music from people who care about the real thing. 

So, this year was a bit off for me. Nothing really quite rose to essential, maybe I just haven’t heard it yet. Or maybe I can’t figure out what mood I’m in… In the past, artists have either spoken directly to me like Patty Griffin or The Avett Brothers or have spoken to the times succinctly like Lana Del Ray’s Norman Fucking Rockwell. This year, I felt like there were a lot of good records but I was in search of the great. So, here’s my short list in as close to an order as I could land on:

Essential albums:

1. The War on Drugs, I don’t live here anymore

2. Bleachers, Take the sadness out of Saturday night

3. Lord Huron, Long lost

4. Passenger, Songs for the drunk and broken-hearted

My most essential album, or most listened to album anyway, wasn’t from this year or even that recent:

Phosphorescent, Muchacho 

And album from last year that I didn’t really listen to until this year but it’s lovely enough to deserve mention:

Ray LaMontagne, Monovision

Here’s to finding an essential album at last from the poll!

Ben L Can Drink a Kacey of You

Kacey Musgraves, star-crossed

H.E.R., Back of My Mind

girl in red, if i could make it go quiet

Miranda Lambert (etc.), The Marfa Tapes

Ashley Monroe, Rosegold

Adele, 30

Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor's Version)

Tinashe, 333

Lucy Dacus, Home Video

Lil Nas X, MONTERO

WILLOW, lately I feel EVERYTHING

Olivia Rodrigo, SOUR

Lorde, Solar Power

Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever

Daniel H’s Light at the End of the

Colleen, The Tunnel and the Clearing

Helado Negro, Far In

Low, HEY WHAT

Lonelady, Former Things

Lambchop, Showtunes

St. Etienne, I’ve Been Trying To Tell You

Stars, “Build A Fire”

Lonelady, “Threats"

Matthue R Hits the Jubilee

Most essential:

Jubilee, Japanese Breakfast

After beginning the album with a literal gong, which leads into this mellow groove that eventually is supported by a Love Boat-style horn section on "Paprika," the opening track, Jubilee darts in and out of dreamy pop, '80s synth ballads, '70s Linda Ronstadt soft rock, and (deep breath) her own take on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs take on early Cure songs. Michelle Zautner's lyrics straddle this perfect nubile territory between tongue-in-cheek rock lyrics and unchanging truth. Even if one single didn't have an X-Files-inspired video, even if another wasn't about Sopranos-style billionaire preppers, you'd still get a skewed, dangerous, comforting worldview from this short, gorgeous album.

With supporting acts:

Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor's Version)

If we're being completely closet-confessions here, which of course we're not, R(TV) would be my most essential. The sheer amount of salt tears I've shed during the listening of "All Too Well (Taylor's Version) (10 Minute Version)" alone is probably a significant percentage of my body mass. But: is it really fair to stamp "this year's most essential" on a 10-year-old group of songs? (Maybe.) And on the most commercially successful artist of our time? (Maybe.) And on someone who occupied 2 of my most essential slots from last year's poll? Well, any of these factors is not a deciding factor, but if it was Taylor's pick, she'd probably say the name of some obscure album deserving of a wider audience, and you should really listen to Japanese Breakfast. 

MUNA, Silk Chiffon

A single, not an album (or a really short album), but I take so many forms of joy in this, from watching my 5-year-old jump around on the bed singing this in pure ecstasy to me jumping on my bed singing this in pure I-wish-I-were-a-teenage-gay nostalgia. The video is great. Phoebe Bridgers is great. But the core of this song is a throwback to the Bratmobile/Team Dresch/early Le Tigre '90s, and a time when every song was a revelation of discovery, and I am so glad that I can still find things that make me this happy. This song is one of them.

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine, A Beginner's Mind 

A+.

Josh L, Into Oblivion

Julien Baker, Little Oblivions.

Caveat: I experienced 2021 as, essentially, "long 2020." Therefore the album of the year, really, should still be Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher. But I'll abide by the terms of the poll.

Honorable Mentions: Lucy Dacus, Home Video and The Hold Steady, Open Door Policy. I cannot not mention such excellent lyricist/songwriters dwelling intensely on adolescent love. I'm even pretty sure that "Unpleasant Breakfast" and "Christine" are, due to some mysterious fold in the space-time continuum, actually about the same girl!!!

Brian M’s Outsider Picks

1. Philippe Cohen & Mike Lindsay, Outsider

2. Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails Over the Country Club

3. St. Vincent, Daddy's Home

4. Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever

5. New Bums, Last Time I Saw Grace

6. Sivert Hoyem, Roses of Neurosis

7. Langhorne Slim, Strawberry Mansion

8. Black Pistol Fire, Look Alive

9. Richard Ashcroft, Acoustic Hyms Vol. 1

10. Emma Ruth Rundle, Engine of Hell

Sarah D’s Saturday Night Fever

my most essential album of the year was Bleachers Take the Sadness out of Saturday Night. 

Nick E, Malkin His Move

This might be my longest list ever — and there are still a few 2021 albums I haven’t really gotten around to yet (including Liz Phair & GBV). But here’s the new stuff in my rotation!

1) Zach Holbrook, Malkin

2) Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine, A Beginner’s Mind

3) Sufjan Stevens, Convocations

4) Small Black, Cheap Dreams

5) Arab Strap, As Days Get Dark

6) Moby, Reprise

7) Chvrches, Screen Violence

8) Big Red Machine, How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?

9) Air, More Hertz

10) Max Richter, Exiles

Maya M’s Sweetly Sour

Happy music poll season! 

My favorite album of the year: SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo. 

My favorite song of the year: I’m Trying (Not Friends) by Maisie Peters

My favorite EP of the year: bound by expectations by jenny nuo

Nico M’s Got the Power

All I can say is... 

Halsey, If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power

A pop singer teaming up with Nine Inch Nails to give Nico everything he's ever wanted or needed in an album, and demoting Garbage's "No Gods No Masters" to the #2  slot? Yes, please, and thank you.

Joy P, Right on Time

There is only one album that matters to me this year: Brandi Carlile's IN THESE SILENT DAYS. Best song on the album: RIGHT ON TIME.

I hope this pushes Brandi over the edge. What other album even comes close???

Teri Y Walks the Moon

Lil Nas X, Montero

Walk the Moon, Heights

VINCINT, There Will Be Tears

Todrick Hall, Femuline

Plus singles from Troye Sivan, Years & Years and Kim Petras--very much looking forward to their 2022 albums! A very queer year for music!

Anna C’s Breakfast is Champion

1. Jubilee - Japanese Breakfast

2. Death of a Cheerleader - Pom Pom Squad

3. Glow On - Turnstile

4. Hey What - Low

5. The Sound of Yourself - Mac McCaughan

6. Thirstier - Torres

7. Blood Lemon - Blood Lemon 

8. Year of the Spider - Shannon & the Clams

9. A Southern Gothic - Adia Victoria

10. Between the Richness - Fiddlehead 

Jordan H’s Cat Power

Fav albums of the year:

Doja Cat, Planet Her

Adele, 30

Marina, Ancient Dreams in A Modern Land

Positions, Ariana Grande

Best songs:

Ariana Grande, Off The Table (feat the weekend)

Doja Cat, Get into it ( Yuh)

Cardi B, UP

Marina, Venus Fly Trap 

Megan THEE stallion, Thot Shit

Adele, I Drink Wine 

CHLOE, Have Mercy 

Rumors, Lizzo

Dan P: Video is a Radio Star

It was not a good new music year for me. I listened a lot of stuff from years just prior, as I expect I’ll find last year’s new music this year… ugh. 

The ones I did remember liking are:

*Lucy Dacus, Home Video*

Bleachers, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night

Julien Baker, Little Oblivions

Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

Lil Nas X, Montero 

Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days (though I mostly just loved “Right on Time”)

Joy Oladokun, in defense of my own happiness - (“look up” is sooooo good)

Zach F Says WHAT

Most Essential:

Low, HEY WHAT

Runner-up:

Jon Batiste, WE ARE

Bill K’s Talking About Jamie

Not a banner year for new music for me, but here's what I have:

Essential: 

Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Motion Picture Soundtrack

Also:

Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days

Lil Nas X, MONTERO

Aimee Mann, Queens of the Summer Hotel

ABBA, Voyage

Crowded House, Dreamers Are Waiting

Billy M’s Machine Dreams

Here are my top albums of 2021!

Big Red Machine, Big Red Machine

30, Adele

If I can't Have Love, I Want Power, Halsey

Gabriel B’s Eternal Rey

I am nothing if not predictable…..

1. Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails Over the Country Club

2. Lana Del Rey, Blue Bannisters

3. Lil Nas X, Montero

Best discovery from years past: Amy Winehouse’s cover of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”

Jinny W Takes to the Strings

1. BRUCE LIU / CHOPIN.  Deutsche Grammophon November 2021.

A live recording made in October in the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, with audience masked and orchestra not. Parisian-born Canadian pianist Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu, age 24, won the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition. And we get to hear it happen. Chopin’s glorious range is in full bloom in Liu’s hands: the grit, the satin, the oceanic, the rippling brook. The CD begins with his final round performance of Chopin’s Concerto No. 1, with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Boreyko. And then come Mazurkas, Nocturnes, and other short pieces. Out of 178  contestants, Liu was named winner by the 17 judges from eleven countries. 

The CD was to be released on November 19. Supply chain tangles have delayed shipping. But we can watch sections of this young pianist's winning performance and “inexhaustible imagination” (in the words of one of the judges), on YouTube, a way to recoup our optimism after hearing an abundance of news of the world. 

The Chopin Competition, begun in 1927, is held every five years; the 18th rounds were delayed from 2020 until 2021 because of COVID-19.

2. Juilliard String Quartet: Beethoven, Bartok, Dvorak. Sony Classical April 2021.

The classical music world is in mourning for the recent loss of Roger Tapping, the Juilliard Quartet’s violist, who died of cancer on January 18. Hard to name a chamber musician more humane, patient, dedicated to the generous art of sharing and clarifying the exquisite mysteries of music. This Sony Classical recording is maybe his last. Beethoven’s Opus 59 No. 2 (turbulent and rich, composed in 1806), Bartok’s Quartet No. 3 (from 1927, partly Hungarian folk-derived), and Dvorak’s “American” (his most popular quartet, composed in Spillville, Iowa in 1893). 

Mr. Tapping was also the violist in the Takács String Quartet for a decade, beginning in 1995. Their recordings of Schubert and late Beethoven are gorgeous.  

YouTube has some excellent visits with Tapping, including one from 2015, with his wife, cellist Natasha Brofsky, with pianist Qing Jiang and violinist Lucy Chapman, playing the exuberant, at times frenetic finale of Brahms’ piano quartet in G minor. Also on YouTube, Roger with the Juilliard and the first four sections of Bach’s Art of the Fugue from 2013. Some newcomers might want to stay through this one, others won’t.

And an interview with Roger and Natasha about listening, learning, practicing, teaching music, including stage-fright:

https://bulletproofmusician.com/natasha-brofsky-roger-tapping-on-learning-new-repertoire-and-getting-to-know-a-composers-unique-language/

3. Janine Jansen: 12 Stradivari. Decca Classics and J & A Beare. September 2021.

Performed with pianist Antonio Pappano, who’s also the Royal Opera House’s music director. Twelve of the very best Stradivari violins were—against severe pandemic and logistical odds—brought to London for two weeks. Dutch violinist Jansen recorded music by different composers on each one, from Tchaikovsky to Clara Schumann to Jerome Kern. Some of these Italian violins from the 1700s are in private collections, and you and I are surely never going to find out whose. But a documentary film will get us closer: It’s called Falling for Stradivari.

Andrew E’s Licence to Listen

Coming in under the wire with these under-the-radar hits:

1. Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

2. Lis Nas X, Montero

(I blame my inability to think of *any* other favorite albums from last year on the fact that 2021 was, in general, a blur.)

Jeffrey L’s Name Brandi

I look forward to this ritual every year, especially the part when the results come out and I know what I missed and need to learn about!  I definitely get more from it than I think I'm contributing

Not too much from me this past year musically speaking but of course it's all a bit scattershot.

1. Brandi Carlile: In These Silent Days

2. Yola: Stand For Myself

3. Olivia Rodrigo: SOUR

Also got and enjoy but I don't think I would put on a top anything list:

Kacey Musgraves: star-crossed

ABBA: Voyage

I am aware that I should have bought and listened to and love the Adele 30 album by now.  I'll get around to it.  I will.

2021 discoveries for me which weren't 2021 releases

Years & Years -- I'm way too old to listen to queer brit electropunk led by someone young enough to be my kid but hey.

Maren Morris (I knew her through Highwomen but none of her solo stuff) -- can I vote in retro for your 2016 list?

For Giles G, Little is Large

1) Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

2) Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams

3) Billie Eilish - Happy Than Ever

4) Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend

5) Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee

6) Mustafa - When The Smoke Rises

7) St Vincent - Daddy's Home

8) Navy Blue - Navy's Reprise

9) Lucy Dacus - Home Video

10) Yard Act - Dark Days

Scott T, It’s Easy Here for the Pimps

I feel these days I only discover the essential albums for a year about 3 years later. But this year two favorites:

Most essential

Sneaker Pimps, Squaring the Circle

Other Essential

Still Corners, The Last Exit

The Record Summer, Lay It Bare

Holly B’s Luck of the Eilish

Most significant albums? Probably Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever and Lil Nas X’s Montero.

Certainly last January, Nathan Evan’s cover of Wellerman was a weird, joyful thing, but not an album.

And the song I have been listening to over and over was Cosmo Sheldrake’s Come Along from 2017.

Crissa C’s Convocations

Essential album: Sufjan Stevens, Convocations

Music I liked in 2021:

--The War on Drugs, I Don't Live Here Anymore

--Bibio, "Vidiconia"

--Geographer, "Garden"

--Beach House, "Over and Over"

--Bonobo, Jamila Woods, "Tides"

--Robert Glasper, "Shine"

--Sufjan Stevens, Angelo De Augustine, "Olympus"

Brant R’s Reasonable Doubt

My Essential Albums of 2021:

Quivers, Golden Doubt

Deafheaven, Infinite Granite

Benny Sings, Benny Sings Music

Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee

The War on Drugs, I Don't Live Here Anymore

Rostam, Changephobia

The Go! Team, Get Up Sequences Part One

Tex Crick, Live in... New York City

Lily Konigsberg, Lily We Need to Talk Now

Indigo de Souza, Any Shape You Take

The Weather Station, Ignorance

Some of My Essential Tracks of 2021:

beabadoobee, “Last Day on Earth”

CHAI, “Donuts Mind if I Do”

Indigo de Souza, “Hold U”

Japanese Breakfast, “Be Sweet”

Quivers, “Gutters of Love”

Suave Punk, “Heaven Is a Night Drive”

The Weather Station, “Robber”

Elder Albums I Found Essential in 2021:

Cannonball Adderley, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club"

Herb Alpert, Fandango

Chet Baker, (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen to You

Chic, Risqué

Booker T. & The MG's, Melting Pot

Iris DeMent, Infamous Angel

The Dream Syndicate, The Days of Wine and Roses

Georgie Fame, Fame at Last

The Flirtations, Sounds Like the Flirtations

Grant Hart, Hot Wax

Johnny Hodges, Johnny Hodges with Billy Strayhorn and the Orchestra

Keith Jarrett, The Melody at Night, with You

Stanley Jordan, Magic Touch

Khruangbin, Con Todo El Mundo

Hugh Masekela, Home Is Where the Music Is

Eddie Rabbitt, Horizon

Erik Satie, Gymnopédies

Luther Vandross, Never Too Much

White Town, Women in Technology

Steve Wonder, Eivets Rednow

X marks Lawrence U’s spot

Looking past many aspects of 2021, I do have to say last year did not disappoint when it came to new music. Picking my top 10 from the year's catalog was no small feat (except for #1,that was easy). 

So with that being said, here are my top ten albums of 2021: 

 

1. Lil Nas X, Montero

2. Finneas, Optimist

3. Honne, Let's Just Say the World Ended a Week From Now, What Would You Do?

4. Quinn XCII, Change of Scenery II

5. Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

6. Lany, gg bb xx

7. Tones and I, Welcome to the Madhouse

8. Valley, Last Birthday

9. Alessia Cara, In The Meantime

10. Adele, 30

Bob B Strolls down the BLVD

Always wonderful to see your email for the David Music Poll come in. And fun as hell to participate. 

For album of the year, once again I nominate Travis Thompson for his release of BLVD BOY. The album really shows his growth and is a fabulous example of Seattle hip-hop. A contemporary of Macklemore, his work here shows that he’s no longer a sidekick, but has the talent and skills to hold his own. 

As for treasures found in unusual places, I discovered a great song published in 2014. And I found it in the boarding music on our Delta aircraft. The song is “Little Giant” by Roo Panes. It was a great introduction to a folk artist out of England. 

Lucy C Feels the Power

I've had a whirlwind of a year, one where mostly I have reached for old favourites or classical music in an effort of calming down the buzz!  But I have found a little time to listen to some new music (though not enough, I know, I know).

Anyway, I really enjoyed these albums:

Lorde - Solar Power (Again, reaching for the calmer songs to cope with the past hectic year, but I like how Lorde has developed and, at least in my opinion, matured. Plus, I've always enjoyed her voice.)

Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under  (I love a bit of guitar-y Springsteen-y rocking, and even better it's from a Geordie!)

Little Simz - Sometimes I Might be an Introvert (I found this fun, interesting, and I have to wiggle when I hear it. )

Benjy A, Seeing Red

Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor's Version)

Lil Nas X, Montero

Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

Best single: Billie Eilish, Happier than Ever [and I have a feeling you agree!]   (DL Note: I do.) 

The 2020 David Music Poll Results

  

 

The 2020 David Music Poll Results

 

1)  Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters (39 votes)

2)  Taylor Swift, Folklore (36)

3)  Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia (23)

4)  Taylor Swift, Evermore (17)

5)  The Chicks, Gaslighter (16)

6)  HAIM, Women in Music Part III (13)

      Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher (13)

8)  Lady Gaga, Chromatica (11)

9)  Jessie Ware, What’s Your Pleasure? (9)

10)  Run the Jewels, RTJ4 (8)

       Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated Side B (8)

 

Honorable mention:  Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud (7); Kylie Minogue, Disco (6); Sufjan Stevens, The Ascension (6); Chloe x Halle, The Ungodly Hour (5); Perfume Genius, Set Me Heart on Fire Immediately (5)

 

Notes: This was one of the tightest races we’ve had in years, with Fiona Apple narrowly pulling past Taylor Swift. But Taylor Swift is still the first artist to have two albums in the top 10 in one year. And Dua Lipa placed strong, as well. In total, 71 people participated in this year’s poll.  

 

If you’re curious, this year’s list also had a larger number of acts that had hit the top ten before. The all time roster of acts that have hit the top ten more than two times:

 

5 times:  The National, Radiohead

4 times:  Fiona Apple, Taylor Swift, Vampire Weekend, Beach House, Arcade Fire

3 times:  The Chicks, Carly Rae Jepsen, Lana Del Rey, Janelle Monae, Bon Iver, Ryan Adams, Beck, TV on the Radio, Kanye West, Death Cab for Cutie, Jack White/The White Stripes, Lady Gaga

 

 

My List, In Which I Think Fiona is So Good It’s Criminal

 

Even though I tend to listen to a lot of female artists, this is, I think, my first all-female list.  The Fiona Apple transfixed me from the first listen. The Chicks were exactly what I needed in 2020.  Phoebe Bridgers became a force – a bootleg of all the covers she’s performed during her pandemic shows would easily make this list, too. The HAIM album took a few spins for me to get into its groove, but once I was there, I was there (with the fascinating-to-me footnote that the bonus tracks might be my favorites on the album).  If I could take my favorite five songs from Folklore and my favorite five songs from Evermore and put them on one album, it would have made this list. Carly Rae Jepsen gave more of the same – which pretty much means pop perfection. And Sufjan’s new album was the one I was sure would be on this list (based on the first two songs released)…but I didn’t really jibe with it. Honorable mention to Miley Cyrus (if her album had come out earlier in the year, it would probably be on the list, but I’m still getting into it), Jessie Ware, Alicia Keys, Declan McKenna, and Laura Marling.  Also honorable mention to Harry Styles, whose album came out too late in 2019 for me to appreciate it enough to put on my list –it, too, probably has five songs I love and the rest I could live without. (Those five songs, though, are pure gold.)

 

Now, what I just said in list form:

 

1.  Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

2.  The Chicks, Gaslighter

3.  Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

4.  HAIM, Women in Music Part III

5.  Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated Side B

 

And ten songs I love:

 

1.  The Chicks, Gaslighter

2.  Fiona Apple, Shameika

3.  Jonsi with Robyn, Salt Licorice

4.  Annie, The Streets Where I Belong

5.  Alanis Morissette, Reasons I Drink

6.  Alicia Keys, Good Job

7.  Overcoats, Fire and Fury

8.  Sufjan Stevens, America

9.  Jack Garratt, Time

10.  The Staves, Home Alone Too  (from 2018, but so be it)

 

 

Anna Q Makes Fetch Happen

 

Fiona Apple, fetch the bolt cutters

Taylor Swift, folklore.  

 

 

Chris K, As Nasties As He Wants To Be

 

Let's do this!

 

Album of the Year: Video Nasties, Dominion

2. Carnation, Where Death Lies

3. Malokarpatan, Krupinské ohne

4. The Black Dahlia Murder, Verminous

5. Tombs, Under Sullen Skies

6. Temple of Void, The World That Was

7. Wayfarer, A Romance With Violence

8. Revolting, The Shadow at the End of the World

9. Laser Dracul, Hagridden

10. Vampire, Rex

 

Singles of 2020:

Ozzy Osbourne, "Under the Graveyard"

Carpenter Brut feat. Yann Ligner, "Maniac"

Avatar, "Colossus"

 

Big discoveries that didn't come out this year:

That Handsome Devil, The Heart Goes to Heaven, The Head Goes to Hell

Terrortron, Orgy of the Vampires

 

 

Sarah L’s Maines Event

 

One answer:

 

The Chicks, Gaslighter 

 

 

Michael T, Taylor-Made

 

Taylor Swift, Folklore  

 

End of list

 

 

Jessica S Finds Ore in These Hills

 

1. Taylor Swift, Folklore 

2. Taylor Swift, Evermore 

3. The Chicks, Gaslighter 

 

 

Bryant P, In the Swift Boat

 

Here's my most essential album of 2020:

 

Taylor Swift, folklore

 

And here are the rest:

 

Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud

Lady Gaga, Chromatica

The Chicks, Gaslighter

Taylor Swift, evermore

Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

Fleet Foxes, Shore

HAIM, Women in Music Part III

 

 

Dedicated to Jack M

 

Albums

Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated Side B

Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

Boy Meets Girl, New Dream

Delta Rae, The Light

Kylie Minogue, Disco

The Chicks, Gaslighter

 

Singles / EPs

Erasure, Hey Now (I Think I've Got A Feeling)

Jonas Brothers, What A Man Gotta Do

Doja Cat, Boss Bitch

Griff, The Mirror Talk EP

Genesis, Invisible Touch

Fountains Of Wayne, '92 Subaru

La Roux, Sexotheque

Swing Out Sister, Breakout

Debbie Harry/Blondie, Rush, Rush

 

 

David A’s Big Apple

 

Most Essential Album of 2020:

FIONA APPLE, Fetch the Bold Cutters

 

Runner-up:

ANDY SHAUF, The Neon Skyline

 

Other Great 2020 records:

NOVO AMOR, Cannot Be, Whatsoever

SUFJAN STEVENS, The Ascension

BLEACHERS, 45 (single)

 

 

 

Roberto R Has a Ball with Disco

I'm going to live my truth and go for:

 

Kylie Minogue, DISCO

 

But those PJ Harvey re-issues and Demo album releases, DRY-THE DEMOS, TO BRING YOU MY LOVE- THE DEMOS were the highlight of 2020.

 

 

Dan E Runs the Jewels

 

Run The Jewels, RTJ 4

The Avalanches, We Will Always Love You

 

 

Mike R Cried Lore More Lore

 

I've had this ready to go for WEEKS:

MY (PERSONAL, SUBJECTIVE) TOP 15 ALBUMS

1. Taylor Swift, folklore / evermore 

3. Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
4. Fiona Apple, Fetch The Bolt Cutters

5. Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated Side B

6. Delta Rae, The Light
7. Kylie Minogue, DISCO / HAIM, Women In Music, Pt. III

9. The Killers, Imploding The Mirage / The Chicks, Gaslighter

11. Eerie Gaits, Holopaw

12. Jack Garratt, Love, Death & Dancing

13. Charli XCX, how i'm feeling now

14. Softee, Keep On / Shamir, Shamir

 

NOTES: This was an incredible year for new music, so I couldn't keep it to a top 10. There's a lot of obvious, massively popular albums on this list, but guess what? Massively popular artists really stepped up this year, and I am grateful that they did! If I could encourage people to check out an album they might not know about, I would say that "The Light" by Delta Rae is truly an all-killer, no-filler, Fleetwood-Mac-meets-CCR album full of jumping jams and beautiful harmonies, and I wish more people were giving them their money and attention.

 

MY (PERSONAL, SUBJECTIVE) TOP 15 SINGLES:

1. Beyonce, "Black Parade"

2. OK Go, "All Together Now"

3. Orville Peck, "Fancy"

4. Kiesza, "Crave"

5. Tove Lo, "Bikini Porn"

6. Phoenix, "Identical"

7. BLACKPINK & Selena Gomez, "Ice Cream"

8. Bartees Strange, "Boomer"

9. 5 Seconds of Summer, "Wildflower"

10. Jake Speikers, "in case i never see you again"

11. Jonas Brothers, "What A Man Gotta Do"

12. Brandy Clark ft. Brandi Carlile, "Same Devil"

13. Goodnight, Texas, "Hypothermic"

14. Miley Cyrus, "Midnight Sky"

15. AJR, "Bang!"

 

NOTES: Just a damn good year for new music. 

 

 

Jordan H, Grande Dame

 

This year was truly a year of MUSIC. One of the only positives of 2020.

Fav Albums in no particular order bc they are ALL so great:
Ariana Grande,  Positions (I think she has been my #1 3 years in a row)
Harry Styles, Fine Line (came out at the end of 2019, but listened in 2020)
Lady Gaga, Chromatica
Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
Jojo, Good To Know
Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts (Came out recently but I think I love every song)
Jessie Ware, What's your pleasure?

Fav Songs that got me through IT:
Katy Perry -Cry About It Later (My Aunt died due to COVID so I didn't want to cry all the time)
Melanie Martinez- The Bakery
Ariana Grande- 34+35 & POV
Miley Cyrus- Gimme What I Want & Bad Karma (very HOT songs) 
Lady Gaga- Free Woman & Fun Tonight
Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B, WAP (duh)
Marina- Man's World
Jojo- So Bad (also a hot song)
SZA- Good Days & Hot Different

 

Zak G Shines Bright

 

1. Bright Eyes, Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was

2. The Strokes, The New Abnormal

3. Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

4. Boris, No

5. The Microphones, Microphones in 2020

6. Touche Amore, Lament

7. Animal Collective, Bridge to Quiet

8. La Dispute, Fifteen

9. Dirty Projectors, 5EPs

10. Sufjan Stevens, The Ascension

 

 

Kristen K Back to the Future

 

1. Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

2. Lady Gaga, Chromatica

3. Taylor Swift, Folklore

4. Halsey, Manic

 

 

Elizabeth W, RT place, RT time

 

Most Essential Album

Run The Jewels, RTJ4

(2020 required serious motivation)

 

Honorable Mention:

Let it Be, The Beatles

(also serious comfort)

 

Single:

Kygo & Chainsmokers, Family

 

 

Zach F’s Frank Oceans

 

Four Tet, Sixteen Oceans

Tame Impala, The Slow Rush

Taylor Swift, Folklore

Haim, Women in Music Pt. III

Run the Jewels, RTJ4

 

 

David G, Apple-Jacked

 

I'm so grateful for the abundance of good music this year!

1. Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters
2. The Strokes, The New Abnormal
3. Jessie Ware, What's Your Pleasure?
4. Ryan Beatty, Dreaming of David
5. _BY.ALEXANDER, 000 Channel Black

Despite a decade of disdain for Taylor Swift, I liked half of folklore and half of evermore. I wish I could piece together the parts I like as folkmore. 

Outside of the music from those albums, I valued these tracks:

1. "Cut Me" by Moses Sumney
2. "Broken Sleep" by Agnes Obel
3. "Mountain Baby" by Austra
4. "I'm Not My Season" by Fleet Foxes
5. "Run Away With Me" by Sufjan Stevens

6. "Easy" (with Kacey Musgraves feat. Mark Ronsom) by Troye Sivan

7. "Love is Back" by Celeste

8. "Something More" by Roisin Murphy

9. "Smalltown Boy" by Orville Peck

10. "4 American Dollars" by U.S. Girls

 

 

Phil B’s Halle of Fame

 

Essential Album

Chloe X Halle -- Ungodly Hour

 

Other Excellent Ones

Bad Bunny -- YHLQMDLG

BTS -- Map of the Soul: 7- The Journey

Taylor Swift -- Folklore (which will win for the year)

 

Singles

The Weeknd -- Blinding Lights

BTS -- Dynamite

Lil Nas X -- Holiday

 

 

Alex L Gives a Folk

 

It's obvious at this point but 

• Taylor Swift, Folklore

And, I'm probably gonna be the only to add a new children's album:

• Pierce Freelon, D.A.D 

and for the Holidays and because she helped fund a world-saving vaccine:

• Dolly Parton, A Holly Dolly Christmas

 

 

Charlie O Says King’s Queen Reigns

 

1. Cheap Queen (Deluxe), King Princess

2. Texas Sun, Leon Bridges

3. Pony, Orville Peck

4. After Hours, The Weeknd

5. Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can't We, The Cranberries

 

Local Philly artist that I spent the latter part of 2020 vibing to: 

Hold Space For Me, Orion Sun

 

And the old James Bon record that I picked up for two good American dollars that spent a surprising amount of time on the turntable: 

You Only Live Twice, John Barry i.e. the Bond movie that Roald Dahl wrote with the Nancy Sinatra title theme  

 

And the album that found new meaning during the pandemic

What's Going On, Marvin Gaye 

 

 

Sam P Builds Bridgers

 

Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher 

Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Fleet Foxes – Shore

Thundercat – It is what it is

And I’m including Death Cab for Cutie – The Georgia EP 😊

 

 

Collin R, Glutton for Punisher

 

essential album of 2020

Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher (yes, I'm sad! Yes, I'm gay!)

 

other essential albums, in no particular order

Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters (neck and neck with Phoebe)

Perfume Genius, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

Baths, Pop Music / False B-Sides II

Sylvan Esso, Free Love

Ungodly Hour, Chloe x Halle

Andy Shauf, The Neon Skyline

Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud

Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated Side B

Owen Pallett, Island

Adrianne Lenker, songs

Rina Sawayama, SAWAYAMA

(not a full album, but deserves mention) Christine and the Queens, La vita nuova

 

essential singles

Charli XCX, claws

Perfume Genius, describe

Jensen McRae, Wolves

Rico Nasty, IPHONE

Christine and the Queens, People, I've been sad

Jack Garratt, Mara

Carly Rae Jepsen, It's Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries

 

 

Kevin K Surfs the Year

 

Below are my Top Albums of 2020.

• Nada Surf – Never Not Together
• The Jayhawks – Xoxo
• The Front Bottoms – In Sickness & In Flames
• Old 97’s – Twelfth 
• Clem Snide – Forever Just Beyond
• Brendan Benson – Dear Life
• Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – Temple
• Various Artists – Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987
• John Wesley Harding – The Man with No Shadow
• Thelonius Monk – Palo Alto

 

Link to my Spotify Top 40 Favorite Tracks of 2020 - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0QDQeDMAfiNNOk3BDop8aa?si=YYkiTppeTRq5eUtxx_jtwQ

 

 

 

Lucy C is Marling’s Darling

 

1. Laura Marling, Songs for Our Daughter 

2. Taylor Swift, Folklore

3. Mary Lattimore, Silver Ladders 

 

 

 

Shelly R’s Grand Horizon

 

Best Album of 2020:

Bring Me The Horizon, Post Human: Survival Horror

 

Post Human: Survival Horror is the BMTH album of my dreams. Inspired by its namesake video game genre, this a no-skip album for me. Each song is just incredible, angsty, and everything I needed for the trashfire year that was 2020. 

 

More importantly, the album gifted me with “Parasite Eve.” My ultimate top 2020 song. With lyrics such as “It's the Parasite Eve / Got a feeling in your stomach 'cause you know that it's coming for ya…When we forget the infection / Will we remember the lesson?” that hauntingly echo the pandemic, despite being written in late 2019, I found the perfect song to get me through the year. So much so, that I’m definitely planning a themed tattoo inspired by the music video’s visuals.

 

Top 3 2020 Singles/Songs: 

Tonight is the Night I Die by Palaye Royale

Paparazzi (cover) by Kim Dracula

no body, no crime by Taylor Swift feat. Haim

 

Top 3 2020 Best Discoveries: 

Babooshka by Kate Bush (40 years late, I know)

Ruh by She Past Away (Amazing goth goodness)

peachy by Saint Slumber (A whole bop)

 

 

 

Josh L Knows the End

 

1. Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher.  Was the iconic image of the pandemic year a middle-aged white guy banging out "I Know the End" on an old piano while his children alternately rolled their eyes and sung along? Perhaps not. But in my house it was. Me and Emma wouldn't have made it through the summer without Punisher; best album by anyone in years... 

 

2. Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud.

 

3. Mountain Goats, Songs for Pierre Chuvin/Getting into Knives. Two good albums in six months is par for the course for Darnielle, but these are both quite good.

 

4. If an EP counts, then Neil Young, The Times, which was a release of his home-shot lockdown concerts from the spring, and counts, with Homegrown, as a double re-release of classics. Old man still has it.

 

5. I didn't like the Fiona Apple as much as everyone else, but it's powerful, so let's put Fetch the Bolt Cutters here, ahead of...

 

6. ...the other essential old man. Bob Dylan, Rough and Rowdy Ways.

 

 

 

To Andrew F, Bolt is Lightning

 

Most Essential:

 

1) Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

 

Other:

2) Chris Stapleton, Starting Over

3) The Chicks, Gaslighter 

 

 

Daniel H Searches for Destroyer

 

Destroyer - Have We Met

The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go on Singing So That Grace Shall Increase?

 

songs:

A Girl Called Eddy - “Big Mouth”

Sufjan Stevens - “Video Game”

Prince - “Blanche”

Avalon Emerson - “Long Forgotten Fairy Tale"

 

 

No Need to Counter Brian J’s Pick

 

What a strange year. One where nothing felt right, except for the music of course:

 

1. Liar Flower, Geiger Counter

2. Jason Molina, Eight Gates

3. Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

4. Big Blood, Do You Wanna Have a Skeleton Dream

5. Cut Worms, Nobody LIves Here Anymore

6. Flaming Lips, American Head

7. Man Man, Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between

8. Elvis Perkins, Creation Myths

9. The Sonic Dawn, Enter the Mirage

10. Matt Berry, Phantom Birds

11. Three Queens in Mourning, Hello Sorrow

 

 

Bands that I’ve fallen in love with during the pandemic, either for the first time or simply back in love:

 

Swans

Big Blood

Cut Worms

Czarface 

Fugazi

RHCP

and “JAZZ”.... my jazz collection is getting quite extensive, but especially Art Pepper, Art Blakey, Sonny Criss.

 

Bill K's (very short) list, as he listened mostly to 70s and 80s stuff this year

Most essential: 
Taylor Swift, Folklore

Others
HAIM, Women in Music Pt. III
The Chicks, Gaslighter
The Weeknd, After Hours
Brandy, B7
Bruce Springsteen, Letter to You

Alanis Morissette, Such Pretty Forks in the Road
Rufus Wainwright, Unfollow the Rules

 

 

Cecil C Cuts to the Feeling

 

Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Taylor Swift, Folklore

 

 

Apple of Joel P’s Eye

 

1. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

2. Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?

3. Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

4. Lady Gaga - Chromatica

5. Haim - Women in Music Part III

6. Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

7. Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

8. Disclosure - Energy

9. James Blake - Not an album but everything from Before to Godspeed to Are You Even Real he released this year

10. Bombay Bicycle Club - Everything Else Has Gone Wrong 

 

 

Lucas K, Free to B

 

Hi! My music consumption dropped significantly in 2020, due to being trapped inside with small children at all times. But I emerged with a list nevertheless. Special mention goes to Andrew Bird's Christmas album. 

 

1. Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated Side B

2. Soccer Mommy, color theory

3. Brandy Clark, Your Life is a Record

4. The Midnight, Monsters

5. LANY, Malibu Nights

6. Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

7. Haim, Women in Music Pt. III

8. Real Estate, The Main Thing

9. Rufus Wainwright, Unfollow the Rules

10. Erlend Øye, et al, Quarantine at El Ganzo

 

 

Josh W Brings Joy to the World

 

Been going through my spotify and very disappointed to find that I really didn’t discover a whole lot of music that made me excited last year. Not that it’s not out there - - it surely is. It’s just hard to find new stuff, when there’s no organic discovery - live shows, listening to stuff in coffee shops, all the things that make this city a special place. 

 

Boooooo!

 

For all that, have you heard the album THIS JOY by the Resistance Revival Chorus? I’ll go with that as essential-esque. 

 

 

 

Keirsten G’s Days of Thunder(cat)

 

Last year my only song was the Rachel Maddow Show podcast and it's mostly true of this year but there were a few exceptions. Hoping now that Joe and Kamala are in office, I’ll have less insane news and more music in my life again.

 

Essential Album 2020

It Is What It Is by Thundercat (Dragonball Durag!!!)

 

Other music that got me through this crazy year:

PeteStrumentasls by Pete Rock

Not an album but Pipe Dreams (radio show) Sunday evenings on WQXR Don’t laugh before you listen. It’s good.

 

 

Ben L’s 2020 was Good Until it Wasn’t

 

Top 5 are locked in and ranked. Rest are just ones that I quite enjoyed.

 

1. Kehlani, It Was Good Until it Wasn't

2. The Chicks, Gaslighter

3. Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

4. Troye Sivan, In a Dream

5. Jessie Ware, What's Your Pleasure?

 

Kylie Minogue, Disco

Fletcher, The S(ex) Tapes

Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts

Carly Pearce, Carly Pearce

Teyana Taylor, The Album

Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

Lady Gaga, Chromatica

Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated Side B

Perfume Genius, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

Hayley Williams, Petals for Armor

JoJo, Good to Know

Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Purity Ring, Womb

Conan Gray, Kid Krow

King Princess, Cheap Queen

Kesha, High Road

Selena Gomez, Rare

 

 

Lizette S’s Golden Hour

 

Chloe x Halle, Ungodly Hour

Ariana Grande, Positions

Tame Impala, The Slow Rush

Bad Bunny, YHLQMDLG

Beyonce, Black is King 

 

 

Jon S’s Big Bully

 

Favorite Albums with Vocals

• Bully, Sugaregg
• Arianne Lenker, songs
• Svalbard, When I Die, Will I Get Better?
• Teenage Halloween, Teenage Halloween
• Eyesore & the Jinx, The Exile Parlour
• Glorious, Unashamed
• Preservation, Eastern Medicine, Western Illness
• Grimes, Miss Anthropocene
• Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters
• Porridge Radio, Every Bad
• Ratboys, Printer’s Devil
• Lomelda, Hannah
• Amnesia Scanner, Tearless
• Coriky, Coriky
• Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Temple
• Khruangbin, Mordechai
• Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

 

 

Favorite Instrumental Albums

• This Will Destroy You, Vespertine
• Rebecca Foon, Waxing Moon
• Adrianne Lenker, instrumentals
• Ólafur Arnalds, some kind of peace
• Robin Schlochtermeier, Spectral
• Unreqvited, Empathica
• Nils Frahm, Empty
• Yoshimi & ninomiya tatsuki, 優しい時間
• Eli Tausen á Lava, Impressions
• Julia Kent, Green and Grey

 

Singles

 

These are songs I loved that were either released on their own or the album may not have grabbed me but these individual songs did:

 

• Yaeji, “WAKING UP DOWN”
• Dioganhdih, “Native New Yorker”
• Anton Belov, “Grandmother”
• Andy Shauf, “Try Again”
• Birthh, “WHOA”
• Bee Bee Sea, Daily Jobs
• Arca, KLK (feat. ROSALÍA)
• Laura Jane Grace, “The Swimming Pool Song”
• Hinds, “Riding Solo”
• A Winged Victory for the Sullen, “Desires Are Already Memories”

 

 

 

Teri Y’s Good Nostalgia

 

What is time?!? I found it way more difficult to remember what came out this year and what was just blending in.

 

Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

Ava Max, Heaven & Hell

Declan McKenna, Zeros

Taylor Swift, Folklore/Evermore

Lady Gaga, Chromatica

 

I've found myself listening to a lot of HAIM, Walk the Moon and Bleachers as well. That rounds out most of my playlists these days (other than random singles).

 

 

Cassandra P Walks the Line

 

My most essential album, though it was released at the end of 2019:

Harry Styles, Fine Line

 

Other essential albums actually released in 2020:

1.     Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

2.     BTS, Be

3.     Bad Bunny, El Último Tour Del Mundo

4.     Beyoncé, The Lion King: The Gift

5.     Chloe x Halle, Ungodly Hour

 

 

Maggie S’s Heart of Glass

 

This actually IS winnowed down, even though it probably doesn't look like it. I swear this is 1/10th of what I found and loved this year.

 

In no particular order, a bunch of minor key albums for a very minor key year.

1. Glass Animals, Dreamland

2. Principleasure, I

3. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Blue Moon Rising

4. The Sweet Serenades, City Lights

5. PLGRMS, Chapter I

6. Giant Rooks, ROOKERY

7. Declan McKenna, Zeroes

8. The Franklin Electric, In Your Heart

9. Cosmo Sheldrake, Nightingale Wake Up Calls

10. Half Moon Run, Look Me in the Eyes (this 2 song EP is the saddest, hugest thing)

11. Mating Ritual, The Bungalow

 

And because I still mostly scavenge a la carte, some highlights:

 

"Ferris Wheels" - Sylvan Esso (and basically every remix that came out after)

"Stranger," Jacob Banks (this one hit hard after all the BLM marches)

"The Great Divide," The Shins (thank you for saving 2020 for me, Shins)

"My Rajneesh," Sufjan Stevens

"Catch Me Falling," Cold War Kids

"Arch Enemy," Everything Everything (at least someone's more bitter than I am)

"Color Me," Active Child

"Take Some Time," Wilderado (I cannot BELIEVE how sad the transition is at 2'12 is, O M G)

"Dopamine," Barns Courtney

"Guillotine," Mansionar & NoMBe

"Who's Gonna Stop Me (feat. Weird Al)," Portugal the Man

"Numb," Elderbrook (the video on this is so good)

"A Good Song Never Dies," Saint Motel

"Chlorine," XYLO

"Low," Chet Faker (who remarkably decided to no longer go by Chet Faker but his real name after 10 years because he decided it was time to grow up, a thing that seemed nice in 2020)

"Carry On," Martin Jensen & Molow (this song is ridiculous, why have I listened to it 86 times this year) 

"Like This Like That," BEGINNERS & Night Panda (oh right probably the same reason I blew out a speaker on this one)

"Radio Silence," Samsaruh

"Unity," Paul Mounsey & Czarina Russell

"I Can Hardly Speak," Bombay Bicycle Club

"Goliath," Woodkid (not loving the rest of this album was crushing)

"Bulletproof," Dotter (this song is a Tardis, bigger on the inside than outside)

"Hits Different," Astrid S 

"Unchained Melody" Cold Weather Company

"Roses (Imanbek Remix)," SAINt JHN (I'm so unhappy to admit I got this song after watching this video: https://twitter.com/mstiefvater/status/1250817360535093254)

"Why," The Big Moon

"Hate the World," Gordi

 

Bonus, not from 2020, but found in 2020:

 

"Grizzly Man" by Rockettothesky (this song makes me feel like I'm dying and I want to keep on doing it)

"Purple Hat" by Sofi Tukker (what the hell, what has happened to my impeccable music taste)

 

 

Sara F’s Fetching Choices

 

My favorite albums of 2020:

 

1) Fetch the Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple

 

2) Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa

 

3) Neon Skyline by Andy Shauf

 

4) Good to Know by JoJo

 

To be honest, I mostly listened to a lot of 80's music and vintage tiki tunes. Here is a playlist if you have absolutely nothing else to listen to haha: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6mNR83WZrmCMB5WfsqJ0Zl?si=gIx7aM0lS7a77ap78oBf5Q

 

 

Théo M’s Dua Linga

 

From 2020:

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

Lady Gaga - Chromatica

Kylie Minogue - Disco

Megan Thee Stallion - Suga

Troye Sivan - In A Dream

 

Best single:
Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande - Rain on Me

Not from 2020 but I have gone back to a lot this year:

Madonna - Confessions On A Dancefloor
Ariana Grande - thank u, next

Charli XCX - Charli

Kim Petras - Clarity

 

 

 

Melissa W’s Spirits are Lighter

 

Essential Album: 

The Chicks, Gaslighter

 

 

Joseph H’s Hymn to HAIM

 

Here are my top albums of 2020:

 

Top – Haim, Women in Music Part III

 

Other favourites:

Lianne la Havas - Lianne la Havas

Grimes - Miss Anthropocene

Taylor Swift - Evermore (interesting to see proportion of Folklore/Evermore) 

Roisin Murphy - Roisin Machine 

Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia 

Disclosure - Energy

Sufjan Stevens - Ascension 

 

 

Jeffrey L Loves the Lore

 

It must be 12 or 14 years since I've given you any titles for this.  I made a lot of effort (well, for me) last year to buy new music.  Much of it was "new for me" but not actually new in 2020 -- several albums from the National, pretty much the entire Jason Isbell back catalog, John Prine's 2019 album "The Tree of Foregiveness" (this got lots and lots of play after he died and the song Summer's End is really just beautiful).

 

The new Barry Gibb Greenfields album is an early candidate for a 2021 list but I'll get back to you about that in a year.

 

Here's what I (a) got last year that (b) actually came out last year and (c) I've loved.

 

1. Taylor Swift -- Folklore

2. the Chicks -- Gaslighter

3. Thundercat -- It is what it is

4. RTJ4 -- Run the Jewels

 

I got the Indigo Girls album, which is really good in the context of what they've put out in the past 15 years but I don't think I would put it on a top list.  Mary Chapin Carpenter's album is, I suppose, in that same vein.

 

 

Maya M’s Swift-ly Tilting Planet

 

I didn’t listen to that much new music this year but I was reminded that no one should ever waste a vote so here’s my pick: 

 

Taylor Swift, Folklore

 

 

Ben A’s Future is Bright

 

The most essential:

 

Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

 

The other essentials:

 

Little Mix, Confetti

Lady Gaga, Chromatica

Taylor Swift, Folklore

Taylor Swift, Evermore

Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts

 

 

Andrea R, Forever and Ever

 

My favorite album of 2020 was Evermore and favorite single Seven.

 

 

Emmauel H’s Taylor-made List

 

1. taylor swift, folklore

2. taylor swift, evermore

3. grimes, miss anthropocene

4. fiona apple, fetch the bolt cutters

5. dua lipa, future nostalgia

 

 

Anna C’s Queen Fiona

 

1. Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple

2. Saint Cloud, Waxahatchee

3. Silver Tongue, Torres

4. Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa

5. Country Westerns, Country Westerns

6. LP2, Lo Tom 

7. Every Bad, Porridge Radio

8. Teenage Halloween, Teenage Halloween

9. Gold Record - Bill Callahan

10. Letter To You - Bruce Springsteen

 

 

Matthue R’s Just Plain Folk

 

Taylor Swift, Folklore [sic]

Taylor Swift, Evermore [sic]

Rami Wolf, I'm Allergic to Dogs

Sun Ra Arkestra, Swirling

Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud

Sufjan Stevens, The Ascension

Adrianne Lenker, songs

 

 

Dan P’s Fresh Tay-ke

 

1. Taylor Swift, folklore

2. Taylor Swift, evermore

3. Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

4. The Chicks, Gaslighter

5. Philip Glass & Paul Leonard- Morgan, Tales From the Loop (Original Soundtrack)

6. Sara Bareilles, More Love

7. Lady Gaga, Chromatica

8. Sufjan Stevens, The Ascension 

9. Haim, Women in Music Pt. III

 

Future favorites (recent discoveries from 2020 I wish I’d heard earlier):

Moses Sumney, grae 

The Weeknd, After Hours

 

 

 

Jonas R’s Lips Are Sealed

 

Top Albums for 2020

 

Deap Lips, Deap Lips

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, Temple

Dirty Projectors, Super João

Chuck Prophet, The Land that Time Forgot

Rilo Kiley, Rilo Kiley

Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, All the Good Times

Charlie Hunter, Patton in Percussion

 

Top Songs for 2020

 

US Girls, 4 American Dollars

Deap Lips, Home Through Hell

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, Temple

Chuck Prophet, Best Shirt On

Deap Lips, Motherfuckers Got to Go

 

 

Jeramey K Wares it Well

 

Essential Album: Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?

There are no skips on this album but "Spotlight" was my most-played track of the year, the background to countless nights of cape/kaftan grooving around my home (martini in one hand optional but encouraged). 

 

Other Standouts:

Orville Peck - Show Pony 

Best live performer I've seen in years/the man my loving partner understands I would leave him for (and that was before he covered "Fancy" on this EP).

 

Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters

I mean, come on. Obviously. 

 

The Gaga-Kylie-Dua-Roisin neo-disco onslaught that helped give me the energy to get out of my house and say hi to the neighborhood cats.

 

Song I can't wait to pretend I can dance to in a club one day: Megan Thee Stallion - Body

 

Anime song made solely of curse words that expressed a lot of 2020 feelings in the cheeriest barbershop quartet way possible: "Galactic Mermaid" from Carole and Tuesday.

 

 

Brant R, By George!

 

My Essential Albums of 2020:

George Clanton and Nick Hexum, George Clanton and Nick Hexum

Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

Cut Worms, Nobody Lives Here Anymore

Dehd, Flower of Devotion

L.A. Takedown, Our Feeling of Natural High

Destroyer, Have We Met

Mike Polizze, Long Lost Solace Find

Real Estate, The Main Thing

The Strokes, The New Abnormal

Haim, Women In Music Pt. III

Tame Impala, The Slow Rush

Dave + Sam, No Shade

Bob Dylan, Murder Most Foul

Belle and Sebastian, What to Look for in Summer

 

Some of My Essential Tracks of 2020:

Dua Lipa, “Future Nostalgia”

George Clanton and Nick Hexum, “Out of the Blue”

Jayda G, “Both of Us”

Cut Worms, “Sold My Soul”

Destroyer, “Cue Synthesizer”

Yaeji, “Waking Up Down”

Georgia, “About Work the Dancefloor”

Haim, “Now I’m in It”

Dave + Sam, “Facts”

Hoops, “Don’t Panic” (Coldplay cover)

Death Cab for Cutie, “Waterfalls” (TLC cover)

Helado Negro with Flock of Dimes, “Lotta Love” (Neil Young cover)

Tame Impala, “One More Year”

 

Elder Albums I Found Essential in 2020:

Labi Siffre, Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying

Brockbeats, Easy Listening

Panchiko, D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L

The Pointer Sisters, Break Out

Benny Carter, Jazz Giant

Horace Silver, Serenade to a Soul Sister

Miles Davis, L'ascenseur pour l'échafaud

Dave Brubeck, Jazz Impressions of Japan

The Crusaders, Southern Comfort

Glen Campbell, Rhinestone Cowboy

Cal Tjader, Soul Sauce

Bob James, Touchdown

Tom Lehrer, That Was The Year That Was

 

 

Danielle P, Saved by Swift

 

I might not have made it but Folklore and Evermore! Taylor helped us through the #2020 trash fire!!

 

 

Giles G, Fetch As Fetch Can

 

Here a few things that made 2020 slightly less of a turd.  Slightly.

 

1. Fiona Apple, Fetch The Bolt Cutters

2. Jay Electronica, A Written Testimony

3. Hayley Williams, Petals For Armor

4. Run The Jewels, RTJ4

5. HAIM, Women In Music, Pt.III

6. Nas, King's Disease

7. Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

8. Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud

9. Jessie Ware, What's Your Pleasure?

10. Chloe Lilac, DOUCHEBAG

 

 

Scott T, Faithless . . .and Blessed

 

Ok, I know I'm 10 hours late but I decided what the heck.  Rather than use my normally high "essential" standard for albums that some years has left me unable to vote for any, this year I thought I'd just recognize a couple of albums I enjoyed, merely because they came out.

 

Faithless - All Blessed

You know when a group says its done but then surprises you by coming back together and releasing a new album after 10 years? Such was the case here.

 

Freezepop - Fantasizer

A Boston band I gave money to years ago as part of a GoFundMe campaign.  They sent adorable emails for years as they worked on this, apologizing for the delays.  And then to my surprise it finally came out for real and all was good.

 

Brendan Perry - Songs of Disenchantment - Music from the Greek Underground

Another fave artist (half of Dead Can Dance) who releases one album a decade.  Again, had no idea this was in the works or coming out.  This one you might even like yourself.

 

Assemblage 23  - Mourn

Another artist (one guy actually, who makes industrial synth-pop) I contributed money to sometime in the past.  Unlike Freezepop he delivered his autographed album right on time.  And it was great.

 

Rodg - Evocations

The world of electronic dance music is now huge (yay!) and Spotify puts me onto so many artists I never would have found otherwise.  Rodg is one of my favorites and unlike the other artists on this list, is in the midst of his youthful, prolific peak.  And he's at his upbeat best here.

 

So as usual I doubt a single one of my choices will get another vote but it was still fun to give them their due.

 

 

Andrew E’s Ever-lasting Love

 

Top albums of 2020:

1. Taylor Swift, Evermore (with an MVP nod to "Marjorie")

2. Alanis Morisette, Such Pretty Forks in the Road

3. Taylor Swift, Folklore

4. Perfume Genius, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

 

Pandemic single that deserves a shout-out:

Florence + the Machine, "Light of Love"

 

 

Veronica, Dunking for Apple

 

Most essential: Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

 

Additional albums on repeat as I sat alone at my desk refreshing the news or Twitter, pretending like I was working:

Run the Jewels, RT4

Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud 

Haim, Women in Music Pt. III

rina sawayama, SAWAYAMA

Phoebe Bridgers, Punisher

Perfume Genuis, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

The Chicks, Gaslighter

 

 

Nick E Wears His Choice Like a Cardigan

 

A short list for me this year, as I’ve mostly been listening to older stuff! (Lots of Air and Slowdive and Trembling Blue Stars, all of which I can have on while writing.) There are several 2020 releases that I’ve meant to make time for and just haven’t yet.

 

1. Taylor Swift, Folklore
2. Alanis Morissette, Such Pretty Forks in the Road
3. Taylor Swift, Evermore
4. The Magnetic Fields, Quickies
5. Belle & Sebastian, What to Look for in Summer

 

 

Bill C’s Paris Match

 

1. Paris Jackson, Wilted
2. Noa Cyrus, The End of Everything
3. Taylor Swift, Folklore
4. Taylor Swift, Evermore
5. Max Berninger, Serpentine Prison
6. Lady Gaga, Chromatica
7. Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
8. Megan Thee Stallion, Suga
9. Kathleen Edwards, Total Freedom
10. Rickie Lee Jones, Kicks

 

 

Billy M Goes for a Taylor, But Not That Taylor

 

My year has been more nostalgia-based than in the past. Goes with the theme of inner rather than outward exploration. But some new favorites took hold as well. 

 

1. The Album - Teyana Taylor

2. Fetch the Boltcutters - Fiona Apple

3. The Ascension - Sufjan Stevens

 

Otherwise, I discovered Frank Ocean and had him and Soul Coughing on heavy rotation. :)

 

 

Jonathan V’s Killers Instinct

 

One thing that really made the awfulness of 2020 stand out was all the incongruously good music that came out in it! Here are some albums that matched the uniqueness of their infamous release year—but thankfully, not its quality.

 

1. The Killers, Imploding the Mirage

It's inspiring in its own right for a nearly-two-decade-old band to release an album as good as "Imploding the Mirage"—but for them to have done so in 2020 calls for a toast. 

https://www.thekillersmusic.com/music/imploding-mirage

 

2. Lane 8, Brightest Lights

I first listened to Lane 8's masterful "Brightest Lights" back in February, and I never really stopped. He knows how to craft his music into an experience, and it's one that still surprises meat every turn.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6EdbqQvOCialJuOjEEUlsL

 

3. Khruangbin, Mordechai

This was my official stand-in for being up too late at a dive bar. It's a modern classic, and we'll be talking about it for a long time…but we should really just be listening to it again.

https://khruangbin.bandcamp.com/album/mordechai

 

4. Various Artists, After Dark Volume 3

Johnny Jewel scored another hit with "After Dark Volume 3"—and when he commandeered the album's entire synth rogue's gallery for an international livestream, it made my virtual year.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2BDus8vAdWDkrq027uTks9

 

5. Future Islands, As Long as You Are

Samuel Herring got personal with the new Future Islands album, and the result was unlike anything the band has done before. (Except for its being great, natch.)

https://futureislands.bandcamp.com/album/as-long-as-you-are

 

6. Tycho, Simulcast

This instrumental reinterpretation of 2019's "Weather" really is a whole new album—and a new album from Tycho is always cause for celebration.

https://twitter.com/ISO50/status/1222546596618887169?s=20

 

7. Destroyer, Have We Met

Dan Bejar's latest Destroyer album is so wicked, and so witty, and ugh, so well-timed. He truly is the Henny Youngman of existential dread. "Just look at the world around you—actually no, don't look."

https://destroyer.bandcamp.com/album/have-we-met

 

8. OTR, Lost at Midnight

This debut came out of nowhere and swept me away.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0oeUdHJ3cy1oveb8WguJJt?si=4MFAniXFSu2ZBpGbet1A5g

 

11. Bronson, Bronson

The debut album from Bronson was a dimensional, precision-crafted journey.

https://bronson.lnk.to/bronson?utm_source=Microsite&utm_medium=Artist_Site&utm_campaign=Bronson

 

9. Doves, The Universal Want

After their long absence from the scene, I thought @dovesmusicblog's new album was just an iTunes store mirage—but this was the rare instance when that shimmering oasis in the distance is really there.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6Te4QI3zfiqePHm4tViGzq

 

12. Caribou, Suddenly

Dan Snaith's latest Caribou album added still new lands to the universe of his sound, and I will never stop revisiting them. Plus, fun fact: the track "New Jade" was my #1 source for writing-fuel self-hypnosis in 2020.

https://caribouband.bandcamp.com/album/suddenly

 

I also did my best to backtrack during 2020, and "re" visit bands I had never actually visited to begin with. This year's new-to-me albums of note were:

 

Devo - Q: ARE WE NOT MEN? A: WE ARE DEVO!

 

A rite of passage for geeks of a certain age.

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/1u2Qni8cVRptDTaA00fmBC

 

Pulp - HIS N HERS

 

This is one of those albums you could have told me was the band's greatest hits, it's that good.

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/2HyDLO6tHAOx2QiQr9RLCf

 

Talking Heads - FEAR OF MUSIC

 

I have long been a fan of the band, but I've only ever heard a selection of hits, and the "Stop Making Sense" soundtrack. Diving into their back catalog was like finding buried treasure, and I think this album is my favorite one of all.

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/4OLsnJQPTX0S6lODXw1MqC

 

 

Goldy M’s Lore-y Days

 

Essential: 

Taylor Swift, Folklore 

 

Others:

The Chicks, Gaslighter

Troye Sivan, In A Dream

Nada Surf, Never Not Together 

Taylor Swift, Evermore 

Beabadoobee, Fake It Flowers 

And finally, Louis Tomlinson had the best post 1D album with Walls and I am not ashamed (a little ashamed...) to admit that!

 

 

Nico M’s Lipa Suction

 

Hands-down #1 and maybe my favorite pop album since Madonna’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor” (2005) ...

 

Dua Lipa: Future Nostalgia

 

I will love this album forfuckingever, no joke, and when karaoke bars reopen, get out of my way, because I call dibs on “Love Again.” 

 

It really was a damn good year for music—and getting to listen to so much of it during work-at-home life was a true bright spot—so I have some honorable mentions to round out a Top 5:

 

Roísín Murphy: Roísín Machine

Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure?

Georgia: Seeking Thrills

Caribou: Suddenly

 

Top Track from non-Top 5 Album:

- Lady Gaga: Babylon

 

Surprises of the Year:

- Kylie’s “Disco” not making my Top 5 list  (Who am I? Maybe I just couldn’t take ALL that escapism? That was some aggro-disco)

- Marilyn Manson’s “WE ARE CHAOS” was actually GOOD (my favorite in 20 years)

 

Favorite Newly Discovered Bands: 

- Drab Majesty (a true and moody Depeche Mode-y throwback I couldn’t stop listening to in the early lockdown days)

- Cabaret Nocturne (when I just needed a break from lyrics and to zone TF 

 

Would Have Been Top If 9 Songs Constituted an Album...

- Raye: Euphoric Sad Songs

 

 

Kristin E Has Potential (According to Shameika)

 

Not sure where the year went. I wonder. Here are some that are essential if only because I somehow remember hearing them amongst all the cacophony of life and what passed as such in 2020:

 

Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Belle and Sebastian, What to Look for in Summer

Haim, Women in Music Pt. III

 

 

All Lawrence U Needs is Lauv

 

Here is a list of my top played tracks from 2020:

 

1. Modern Loneliness by Lauv

2. i don't wanna know by GOLDHOUSE, Mokita

3. Healing by Arlissa

4. It's Alright by Motel 7

5. I'll Wait by Kygo, Sasha Sloan

6. Feel Alive by Red Red Lips

7. i don't want to watch the world end with someone else by Clinton Kane

8. About Love by Marina

9. All My Friends Are Falling In Love by Jack Newsome

10. fuck, i'm lonely by Lauv, Ann-Marie

11. Blinding Lights by The Weekend

12. I Got to Live by Sam Fischer

13. Mine by Felix Cartal, Sophie Simmons

14. Break My Heart by Dua Lipa

15. A Little Bit Yours by JP Saxe

16. lonliness for love by lovelytheband

17. To Die For by Sam Smith

18. The Road by Faouzia

 

 

Bach Strikes for Jinny W

 

Most essential album of 2020:

 

Shirley Hunt, J.S. Bach Suites & Sonatas, Volume 3. Letterbox Arts, October 2020. The radiant culmination of Shirley Hunt’s virtuosic exploration of Bach's low-voiced glories features her playing viola da gamba, as well as a rare 18th-century 5-string cello from the collection of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Harpsichordist Ian Pritchard joins her in the rich Sonata in D Major, BWV 1028. 

 

And on YouTube: Jennifer Koh, violinist, Alone Together.  Early in the pandemic, Koh established a collaborative composing project. A group of composers each donated a 30-second solo violin piece, and each recommended a freelance composer to create a commissioned work of the same length. The non-profit ARCO Collaborative paid the commissions. Jennifer Koh recorded the results between April and June, 2020. YouTube /jenniferkohviolin has archived the Alone Together recordings, new music from beginning to end. 

 

About Beethoven’s 250th birthday and the memorial concerts we didn’t get to go to or play in: Deutsche Grammophon brought out a set: 123 CDs, 175 hours of music, weighing nearly 18 pounds. $421.02 at Amazon. Apparently DG took a casual approach to editing and labeling but gave out with a lot of Beethoven. Deaf to the clamor, he probably would have liked the good intentions. 

 

Other essential albums: 

 

Because 2020 was the kind of year it was, I sought the past. A few of the Found Treasures:

 

Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Bach Trios. Nonesuch 2017. Inexhaustible Bach again. Playing cello, mandolin, and double bass, with bluegrass skills and crazy-good dexterity and joyful appetites for collaboration, these three find the sweet spots and the boisterousness that had been hiding in plain view all these centuries.  

 

Bill Evans, You Must Believe in Spring. Warner Brothers Records, remastered 1981 and 2003. Evans’ piano, with drummer Eliot Zigmund and Eddie Gomez on bass. Sink into misery and find it a redemptive experience. A reminder that we’ll never know all the secrets but for whole moments at a time we can be fully alive. 

 

And on YouTube: Michel Petrucciani Trio at the Philharmonie Im Gasteig, Munich 1997. French pianist Michel Petrucciani (1962-1999); Miroslav Vitous on bass; Steve Gadd on drums. Petrucciani listened to Bill Evans, beginning at age 10, and wrought his own enchantments at the keyboard with captivating impatience and élan.

 

And Happy New Year:

 

Annelle Gregory, YouTube,  Antonio Vivaldi: Winter from The Four Seasons for violin/viola/piano. This YouTube performance appeared on January 19, 2021. But it deserves at least Very Honorable Mention (we’ve been missing Honor for so long). Believe your eyes as Annelle Gregory turns into quintuplets to blanket us in  zesty Vivaldi.