Despite being in quarantine for the better part of 2020, I listened to far fewer new albums last year than usual. Despite topping over 450 albums in some past years, I hit only 225 new albums listened to in 2020. I didn’t feel like I listened to less music last year, but I probably listened to less new music, instead playing old favourites or comfortable tunes a lot more than usual. That being sad, there were some truly spectacular albums released last year and in this piece I’ll give thanks to a few of them in my own small way.
The List
- Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
(Indie Folk/Rock) ➚ - Touché Amoré – Lament
(Punk) ➚ - Bartees Strange – Live Forever
(Indie) ➚ - Angel Bat Dawid / Tha Brothahood – LIVE
(Jazz/Spoken Word) ➚ - Deftones – Ohms
(Rock) ➚ - Yaeji – WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던
(Experimental/Pop) ➚ - Dogleg – Melee
(Punk) ➚ - Empress Of – I’m Your Empress Of
(Electronic/Pop) ➚ - Open Mike Eagle – Anime, Trauma and Divorce
(Hip-Hop) ➚ - AceMoMA – A New Dawn
(Electronic/Experimental) ➚
Honourable Mentions
Each of these half dozen albums was in my top 10 or 12 albums of the year at some point, before ultimately being bumped for this final list.
- Arca – KiCk i
(Electronic/Experimental) ➚ - Freddie Gibbs / The Alchemist – Alfredo
(Hip-Hop) ➚ - Marcin Przybylowicz, PT Adamczyk & Paul Leonard Morgan – Cyberpunk 2077 (Original Score)
(Electronic) ➚ - Pop Smoke – Meet the Woo 2
(Hip-Hop) ➚ - Helena Hauff – Kern Vol. 5
(DJ/Electronic) ➚ - HEALTH – DISCO 4 :: Part I
(Industrial/Electronic) ➚