The 2020 end of year music lists thread

I like Stranger, I like Punisher more, and if she makes the pop-rock-folk-psych record that I hope is her next one, I'll love it.

(Punisher isn't in my personal top 10, but if we were going for lyrics alone it would be)

It's a weird feeling when an artist you think was unduly ignored in one cycle suddenly gets heaps of praise (too much?) in the next.

Ah yes, the Be Here Now effect.

????

I would hardly call the record before Be Here Now "unduly ignored"!

the effect is much more akin with what happened to Weyes Blood, who released 3 masterpieces in a row, with only the 3rd widely recognised as such

i was pretty certain either bob dylan or taylor swift would RS's #1 and i probably should have bet on it.

Yeah Strangers.. was my favourite of the last decade, but I didn't hear it until a year after its release.

fwiw breastcrawl, Pitchfork seem to have gone all in on afrobeats this year...we'll see I guess

I would hardly call the record before Be Here Now "unduly ignored"!

It's generally considered that music critics overrated Be Here Now because of a perception that they had underrated What's the Story Morning Glory. It's the canonical example of such an overreaction IMO. (I disagree that they underrated What's the Story in the first place, but that's irrelevant)

well established that a breakthrough in the ILM EOY top 10 is key part of the campaign for the following year's #1 spot

if anyone missed it:
The Pre-Poll Lobby - Tracks You Want People to Consider for ILM's Top 77 of 2020

Once again, Concrete Islands’ EOY list is the one that is most in tune with what I bought and listened to during the year:
https://concreteislands.com/concrete-islands-albums-of-the-year-2020/

Glad to finally see some love for Trees Speak, with both of their 2020 records on that Concrete Islands list.

Two cheerful summer tracks:
Disclosure & Fatoumata Diawara - Douha (Mali Mali). 2014 UK Funky, improved by inscrutable lyrics.
5K HD - Happy Fxxxing Life. Austrian La Roux vibes. Now happy Fugging Life.

And one for the winter:
KeiyaA - Negus Poem 1 & 2. ASMR soul

Oops, wrong thread. Hangs head in shame.

That Concrete Islands list looks fascinating, I only know about 10 records from the list and they are amazing. Need to listen to the rest asap.

disappointing lack of kassa overall in these lists, tho I’m sure it’ll make the Bandcamp list, whenever that comes out

That Concrete Islands list is way more intriguing and ear-opening than the average fare. Thanks for the heads up.

re: the Concrete Islands list, I haven't thought about Plone since "For Beginner Piano" in 1999, their last album (!), which presaged the hauntology era and which was remarkable for foregrounding an interesting interpretation of cheesy mall/elevator music

as far as this year goes, I love the Magic Oneohtrix Point Never and Sun Araw Rock Sutra albums

good call on Kassa VC; i thought this was his breakout year

Dan: you’re right! I used to love that album. Saw it there but didn’t give it a second thought that this was a comeback album of sorts.

There’s a dedicated thread that was revived for Puzzlewood - although only about half a dozen posters contributed:
Whatever happened to... Plone?

The Wire lists are out. Top 5 albums are Beatrice Dillon, Moor Mother, Mourning A BLKstar, Bob Dylan and Duma

there's some scores in this house

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2020/

25. 100 gecs: “hand crushed by a mallet (remix)” [ft. Fall Out Boy, Craig Owens, and Nicole Dollanganger]

listen i love fall out boy but lmao at people voting for this shit

fwiw breastcrawl, Pitchfork seem to have gone all in on afrobeats this year...we'll see I guess

― rob, Friday, December 4, 2020 5:00 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

this manifested in one (1) song by burna boy

lol I was just about to post "guess I was wrong about pfork + afrobeats" though ftr there's an Amaarae song too

i saw amaarae, but there's no afro influence on the song they picked

i should say that the song isn't informed at all by the kinds of sounds that populate the rolling afro thread

I will be p surprised if Made In Lagos and Twice As Tall aren't on their albums list, but yeah it's a very parochial list, though I'm bored myself of making that observation now

well, Amaarae has been on the rolling afro thread several times, and I think that argument can get dicey pretty fast but I get what you're saying.

anyway, the real clear signal is that awful line about Fela in the BB write-up: no capacity for thinking about this music as anything other than continent-wide representation

wow the p4k list feels particularly uninteresting this year

also very confused by "what's your pleasure?" being the jessie ware track to place ???

p4k liked afrobeats more last year with burna & davido getting BNMs. this year it's just been amaarae i think.

fireboy got BNM, but he didn't make the list

I think that argument can get dicey pretty fast but I get what you're saying.

― rob, Monday, December 7, 2020 9:49 AM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah i know, which is why i tried to hedge haha. at any rate, that particular track that they picked has elements of pitch-shifted alt-r&b that fits very snugly into p4k's milieu.

oh you're right about those BNMs, shit I'm probably also wrong about those albums placing then, oh well

listen i love fall out boy but lmao at people voting for this shit

the combinations of the words "fall out boy" and "remix" have produced some of the worst music I've ever heard

lifestyle magazine Pitchfork's list has a lot of problems but at least it's correctly identified the best track on the Fiona Apple album

oh right i forgot about fireboy. only burna made the albums last year so probably fireboy or amaarae will i guess, but the don't seem to have gone all-in compared to last year or anything.

I posted about the Amaarae album on the Rolling R&B thread yesterday myself as a matter of fact

baffled by their love of Dogleg

"money machine" was only #61 last year so i'm guessing the shitty fall out boy remix placing much higher (and the remix album scoring better) is because way more pitchfork writers are paying attention to 100 gecs now lol. guess they were slow on the uptake?

but at least we now have clarity about Masego: he’s a “future-soul artist”!

(he’s on the Kehlani track that placed)

would also like to politely enquire why waxahatchee is still a thing

They really erase the good will I have toward them as a useful way to keep track of a decent (but not comprehensive; don't start yelling at me) cross-section of music throughout the year with these lists. I think the "WAP" blurb made me dislike that song even more than I already did; why is it "a feat that the song exists at all"?

this year's waxahatchee album was pleasant but i was quite surprised just how acclaimed it's ended up being?

also p4k's biggest blindspot is still sault. even the rest of the us press is starting to catch on!

https://www.popmatters.com/best-albums-of-2020-2649094823.html

xp
I like Sault a lot, but given how determined their fans are around here, I'm starting to find Pitchfork ignoring them amusing