The 2020 end of year music lists thread

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

I liked those two Sault albums well enough, but they felt a bit… basic? Like a few extra sonic tricks would increase their replay factor; maybe some more adventurous songs as well. I get the sense that the best is yet to come.

P4K’s list is surprisingly decent.

PopMatters list looks boring. I might check out the Ital Tek, though.

there’s more stuff i haven’t heard on the pitchfork list than usual, idk if that means they dug a little deeper or i just read the site less

i like both, but the Waxahatchee album makes me *feel* more in about 30 seconds than both Sault records combined

The Quietus mustered a jazz shortlist:

https://thequietus.com/articles/29308-nate-wooley-susan-alcorn-eric-revis-jazz-review

Of those I've heard, I liked the Anna Högberg Attack the most.

I just listened to 30 seconds of Waxahatchee and it's true I did feel ~something~

imo, Sault are classicists--so I have a hard time imagining a more adventurous version of them--but they're very much invested in feeling

judging from p4k’s instagram comments, waxahatchee is probably gonna win the site’s reader poll

I got the sense, as I was listening, that a single spin was enough to exhaust each song, in no small part because of their self-consciousness directness. There was no mystery, no ambiguity, which is a near-dealbreaker as far as I'm concerned. I love the sound palette they draw upon, though, and Cleo Sol in particular is a great vocalist.

xp

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

Seconded – I'd love to see the full lists as well.

I got the sense, as I was listening, that a single spin was enough to exhaust each song, in no small part because of their self-consciousness directness. There was no mystery, no ambiguity, which is a near-dealbreaker as far as I'm concerned. I love the sound palette they draw upon, though, and Cleo Sol in particular is a great vocalist.

xp

― pomenitul, Monday, 7 December 2020 15:56 (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think this rather neatly explains my lukewarm response to Sault as well

#50 Fleetwood Mac "Dreams"

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-2020-1097442/fleetwood-mac-dreams-tiktok-1097741/

pom, i think your criticisms apply to (black is), but less to (rise), which I greatly prefer

Really glad to see the JD Allen album show up on the Quietus jazz list. It's a great record, but exactly the kind of thing that falls through the cracks because there's no hook or gimmick for a critic to latch onto; it's just three guys playing really, really well together in a traditional style — if you like circa-1964 John Coltrane, you'll like Allen — but absolutely putting their own spin on it. (Full disclosure: JD is a friend, and I wrote the liner notes for the album.)

vc, that's fair – I do agree that there's an audible progression.

I would also be interested in seeing the WIRE lists.

I helped put on a show for Mourning A BLKStar here in Philly once— it turned into a total nightmare because of a serious miscommunication with the venue, and I ended up having to pay their entire fee out of my own pocket (long story!). BUT!! They were an exceptionally good live band, and interesting, fun people to be around. Glad they're getting love.

that RS song list has Oxlade’s “Away” at 23 - I approve. I also like that they have Curtis Waters’s “Stunnin’” somewhere too. I love that big dumb track.

do we have a thread where Mourning A BLKStar has been discussed? this is srsly great stuff

they’ve hidden those lists very well, I went to the site but wasn’t able to find them. do you have a link?

no, it's in the print issue out today...

Wire Magazine - Releases Of The Year 2020

1. Beatrice Dillon - Workaround
2. Moor Mother - Circuit City
3. Mourning A BLKstar - The Cycle
4. Bob Dylan - Rough And Rowdy Ways
5. Duma - Duma
6. Jeff Parker & The New Breed - Suite for Max Brown
7. Still House Plants - Fast Edit
8. Jennifer Walshe - A Late Anthology Of Early Music Vol 1: Ancient To Renaissance
9. White Boy Scream - Bakunawa
10. Carl Stone - Stolen Car

11. Backxwash - God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
12. Armand Hammer - Shrines
13. Sarah Davachi - Cantus, Descant
14. Zeroh - BLQLYTE
15. Bill Nace - Both
16. William Basinski - Lamentations
17. Albert Bouchard - Re Imaginos
18. Rhodri Davies - Telyn Rawn
19. Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Innocent Country 2
20. Special Interest - The Passion Of

21. Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You?
22. Aksak Maboul - Figures
23. Liv.e - Couldn't Wait To Tell You
24. Ellen Fulman & Theresa Wong - Harbors
25. ONO - Red Summer
26. The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go On Sinning So The Grace May Increase?
27. Sun Ra Arkestra - Swirling
28. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
29. Autechre - SIGN
30. Gogoj aka Sheng Jie - Oviparity

31. Mary Halvorson's Code Girl - Artlessly Falling
32. Jay Electronica - A Written Testimony
33. PRAED! Orchestra - Live In Sharjah
34. Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brotherhood - Live
35. Tara Clerkin Trio - Tara Clerkin Trio
36. Crazy Doberman - Illusory Expansion
37. Oliver Coats - skins n slime
38. Clipping - Visions Of Bodies Being Burned
39. Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders
40. Pink Siifu - NEGRO

41. Sara Serpa - Recognition
42. Thundercat - It Is What It Is
43. Anna Von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly
44. Neptunian Maximalism - Eons
45. Headie One x Fred again. - GANG
46. Neil Charles - Low And Beyond
47. Wendy Eisenberg - Auto
48. Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul
49. Tricky - Fall To Pieces
50. Sylvia Hallett - Tree Time

apologies in advance for any typos

B. Dillon and B. Dylan together at last

...and in the correct order

Thanks!

no problem! can do some of the genre lists a bit later if there are any requests

wow once again i love the wire list

thank you, NickB!

9. White Boy Scream - Bakunawa

Yesssss.

Wire Magazine - Releases Of The Year 2020

2. Moor Mother - Circuit City
21. Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You?
Good for Moor Mother, doing Philly proud almost placing two records in their top 20!

5. Duma - Duma
Brilliant Kenyan industrial grind.

11. Backxwash - God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
My favorite hip-hop album this year.

44. Neptunian Maximalism - Eons
Lots of metal friends love this but I got bored about 90 minutes in.

Good list.

I'm a Wire voter and I'm surprised someone else voted for Éons to get it into the top 50. These were my lists:

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2020
Ambrose Akinmusire, On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment (Blue Note)
Shabaka And The Ancestors, We Are Sent Here By History (Impulse!)
Neptunian Maximalism, Éons (I, Voidhanger)
Autechre, PLUS/SIGN (Warp)
Spirit Adrift, Enlightened In Eternity (20 Buck Spin)
Anna Högberg Attack, Lena (Omlott)
Darragh Morgan/John Tilbury, Morton Feldman: For John Cage (Diatribe)
Napalm Death, Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism (Century Media)
Behold The Arctopus, Hapeleptic Overtrove (Willowtip)
Xythlia, Immortality Through Quantum Suicide (I, Voidhanger)

TOP 10 REISSUES/ARCHIVAL RELEASES OF 2020
Anthony Braxton, Town Hall 1972 (Trio)
Pharoah Sanders, Live In Paris 1975 (Transversales Disques)
Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Birdland, Neuburg 2011 (Fundacja Słuchaj)
Sonny Rollins, Rollins In Holland (Resonance)
The Meters, Gettin’ Funkier All The Time (Cherry Red)
Iggy Pop, The Bowie Years (Universal)
Randy Holden, Population II (RidingEasy)
Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit, Axis/Another Revolvable Thing (Blank Forms Editions)
Sir Lord Baltimore, Complete Recordings 1970-2006 (Cherry Red)
The Stooges, Live At Goose Lake August 8, 1970 (Third Man)

22. Aksak Maboul - Figures

Massively satisfying slab of systemspop aceness - totally approachable and glorious fun

Glad to see the Anna Högberg Attack and Neptunian Maximalism on your list, unperson.

That performance of For John Cage is predictably superlative, but I've been totally burnt-out on Feldman for a long time now, especially his 1980s stuff.

Really glad to see the JD Allen album show up

Listening to this now, it's really good!

I'm a Wire voter and I'm surprised someone else voted for Éons to get it into the top 50

The person who complied the 'avant rock' top ten (Antonio Poscic) included Neptunian Maximalism in there too, so i guess that's the other voter. Also in that list: Duma, ONO, Imperial Triumphant, OOIOO, Bloodmist, Bill Nace, tetema, Faucet, Expander

NickB, do they still run the 'critical beats' list? if so, could you post it?

sure, here you go...

Wire Critical Beats 10 (compiled by Joe Muggs)

Anz - Loos In Twos
Andrew Weatherall - Unkown Plunderer
Nazar - Territorial EP
Azu Tiwaline - Magnetic Service EP
Krust - TEOE Remixes #1
KG - Sensei EP
Robert Hood / Floorplan - The Struggle / Save The Children
Uj Bala - Grey Gardens
Lila Tirando A Violeta - Tungsten Tears
Hard Ton - Beats For Straight Boys

many thanks!

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

― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 6 December 2020 21:50 (yesterday) link

got an honorable mention slot on Carl Wilson’s list for slate, that’s something I guess!

https://slate.com/culture/2020/12/best-albums-2020-plus-best-songs.html

Textura's lists are up:
https://www.textura.org/archives/articles/2020top10s.htm

The NPR individual lists haven’t been shared yet have they?

Liking this a lot better.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/04/942133359/the-best-music-of-2020-npr-staff-picks