My Top Albums of 2020

With each passing year my music listening habits tend to remain the same: I like to stick to a few new releases that I like to get to know better. For one thing I’m not a music critic, so I have that luxury of not having to consume everything that comes out within a calendar year. I do have an interest, however, in keeping up with new releases every so often. Previously unheard-of artists and album recommendations are usually sourced from friends or the critics that do all the hard work for me. See, music critics are useful sometimes!

I seek out new releases mostly to avoid having my listening habits stagnate. Although I can keep going back to old songs that I love so much like a plate of comfort food, listening to new singles and albums is still exciting to me. In a year so abysmal, 2020 was great year for music. All the extra free time made it possible for me to listen to more than a few albums this year and I decided to make a list of my top favorites. Without any further musings, here are my most favorite albums of 2020:

11. Parcels – Live Vol. 1

This live album is exactly what I needed to hear during last year’s lockdown. It’s not entirely new material as it’s a retreading of Parcels’ past discography. Live Vol. 1 conveys what they’re capable of as a live act. It flows through through the 64 minute runtime like a relentless breeze. There’s crisp, immaculate instrumentation and their usual impressive live vocal harmonies throughout. It’s a near replication of their studio output, save for a few changes to keep things novel and moving along between songs. And although it was recorded in a studio, it’s accurate to how they sound on stage and showcases how talented they are working in tandem with one another. If there was a pocket large enough for these five men and all their instruments, they would fit right in it.

10. Mat Zo – Illusion of Depth

The kind of distinction of at home listening and at the club listening of electronic music hasn’t mattered much lately, and for me it personally hasn’t mattered at all even when I had the chance to attend these places. Mat Zo is one such artist that has tracks that are not unheard among those imbibed in the sweaty rituals of a packed room. In his latest release he flows through an eclectic sampling of electronic beats, all ranging from dance-pop to trance to big beat. He comes out sounding like the missing Chemical Brother in the process. The energy doesn’t wane, with each track offering something way more than a usual four-on-the-floor synth-stabbed big room banger. Take a listen to “Problems,” “Bruxism,” “Paralysis” or “Dangerous Feeling” to get a sampling. Mat Zo’s wide-reaching range and detailed sound design is more than welcome for the electronic music fan like myself. For anyone that is remotely interested in this kind of sound, I implore you to listen.

9. Disclosure – Energy

Disclosure’s latest album Energy feels like a bit of a misnomer. No, it does not quite reach the energetic heights of their debut album, but it’s still a worthy output. I’m not the one to favor retreading older sounds from my favorite artists—growth is appreciated. The tone here is more laid back than you would imagine, with chill vibes and smooth textures over familiar garage sounding beats. It’s also less pop influenced than their last album Caracal, featuring artists like Syd, Channel Tres, Animé, slowthai and more. The interludes are an interesting departure from their usual sound, yet I wish it was expanded a bit more. It does make me curious to hear the other outtakes that never made it to this album. Disclosure is one of the more interesting newer electronic live acts today, and this album will surely add to their canon of their dancefloor ready hits.

8. Chloe X Halle – Ungodly Hour

The ever-talented Chloe X Halle shine on their newest album Ungodly Hour. Their influences here are clear, calling back to the days of 90s & 2000s R&B. That era of music has probably been explored and built upon elsewhere, though this kind of resurgence has been due to appear eventually. This is especially true as the youth of that time continue to come of age, and, as someone that grew up during that time, is why it resonates with me as well. It’s no surprise that Beyoncé is the executive producer on this album, as there are immediate comparisons drawn to her throughout. Chole X Halle bring the chemistry on this album, with their angelic voices over the grooving tracks. Take a listen to “Do It,” the title track, and “Don’t Make it Harder on Me” to get a sampling of what this album has in store.

7. The Weeknd – After Hours

If you listened to “Blinding Lights” last year, you would have guessed The Weeknd invented synthpop. It’s still resonating through the public consciousness if the charts were anything to go by, and deservedly so, it’s a good song. After Hours is a bit more nuanced than the 80s throwback of “Blinding Lights.” It’s every bit modern and fresh without banking too much on the borrowed nostalgia that has become overdone in the last decade. Even if The Weeknd can have some tedious lulls in his longer projects, it’s overall a more enjoyable, tighter listen than Starboy. There are some tracks on here that are must listens, such as “In Your Eyes,” “Save Your Tears,” “After Hours,” and “Hardest to Love.” The last of which is a fitting departure to his usual sound and is a pleasant surprise. After Hours doesn’t meander too much, and when it brings the hits it packs a powerful punch.

6. Tame Impala – The Slow Rush

Tame Impala to me is one of those artists that I feel I got into late, making me ask where they have been all my life while everyone moves on to the next thing. Maybe for the cool cats at least because this band is arguably at their most popular right now. This album immediately resonated for me – I kept going back to it for the first half of the year. The overall theme of the album is paired to the lyricism, bringing to the listener what it entails to have time escape from your grasp. However, most listeners would much rather forget their own mortality and groove to Kevin Parker’s impressively layered instrumentation and production. He’s at his most electronic in this release, sounding more like a sequenced dance act than a live band some points. Older Tame Impala fans might be apprehensive to that, if they haven’t bounced already in previous album cycles. For the rest that are all for it, crank the bass up.

5. Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia

Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia is like Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? younger, energetic pop-obsessed sister. An apt comparison, but she can hold her own independent of any sibling. The crunchy basslines on a few songs set the groovy foundation that complement Dua Lipa’s vocals wonderfully. Superficially, it’s easy to write off this album as forgettable radio fodder at the outset, but that’s not so—it’s bright, catchy and makes you want to go back for another listen. Most of this album demands every minute of your consideration for its eventual induction as a pop classic.

4. The Strokes – The New Abnormal

The Strokes have released their best new album. Here they go back to guitar basics while still somehow taking things in an exciting new direction. The songs here stick around longer than normal and never wear the welcome. In addition, Julian Casablancas becomes more than his usual too-cool-for-school microphone eating with some of his best vocals yet. His usual esoteric lyricism is still imbued with emotional delivery over the slick instrumentals. Per usual, some of those instrumentals still borrow elements from an era of rock that is increasingly fading away to time, but it rarely sounds pastiche. It’s almost refreshing even though the showcase of their influences has already been championed in the past. It’s as if the sound they borrow from has come back around and now has established itself as essential hits from The Strokes.

3. Gorillaz – Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez

It’s never been a better time to be a Gorillaz fan. Their steady releases has made last year more bearable, with each new entry in the Song Machine series sounding like the Gorillaz fans have known to love. They remain focused, not becoming drowned out by the features like in Humanz. Previously released songs that were just okay on their own became fully realized as a cohesive album. The feature list is impressive and broad, fitting to the styles of music Gorillaz have presented in each song. However, the album does not rely on the featured artists’ talents entirely: the vocals of Damon Albarn as 2D and the sounds of band are present and real (as real as they can be) on each track. I wait in anticipation for what Song Machine Season Two has in store, hopefully in more normal timez.

2. Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure?

Jessie Ware is an artist that I always wanted to get into but never took the time until this year. This album was certainly was an excellent introduction. In this release, Jessie Ware comes to us as a spacey disco goddess as if she was possessed by a more subdue, vibey Donna Summer. It’s disco-pop for the more sophisticated type that inhabits a perfume commercial. That’s to say it’s not pretentious like those commercials—the music is still fun in every way while containing its own sense of style. There’s smooth beats, hazy synths, and sensual, flirtatious lyrics. Although she has a child on the way, I’m more than ready to hit the dancefloor with Jessie Ware crooning on stage when the time is right.

1. The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You

The Avalanches are no stranger to thematic elements in their music. Their imagined soundscapes paint entire movies for the ears. While Wildflower did not have as a cohesive feel as their acclaimed debut, their latest release We Will Always Love You is a return to that thematic form of music-telling they’re known for doing. They present their music as a ghostly presence of long since deceased musicians on old worn-out records. Their interpretations of death and afterlife becomes cosmic, comparing messages of loved ones speaking from the great beyond to those sent out to space. Never has an album nearly driven me to tears right at the introduction, starting with a voicemail that was originally a breakup message, re-contextualized to someone that has transitioned from this mortal world. Even down to the album cover, it presents something that is beautiful as it is haunting.

These themes resonate throughout, such as using interpolated lyrics of the late David Berman featured in the back half of the album at an emotional peak of “Running Red Lights.” The theme of loss presented here is even more poignant in a year that is so full of strife. Even still, the album does not wallow in grief, it can seem blissful at times, such as in the songs “The Divine Chord,” “We Go On,” and “Born to Lose.” It’s a mishmash journey of delightful sonic moments, grooving beats, and earworm melodies. It results in an impressive undertaking of an album that resonates both musically and emotionally. We Will Always Love You is a high caliber project that sits flush among the other albums that I will always love.

Honorable mentions: Tennis – Swimmer, Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter, Cut Copy – Freeze Melt, La Roux – Supervision