Music — Page 7

→ October 1, 2021
→ By keith

Music update, September 2021.

Whew. That turned out to be an epic month for new music, with my top album of 2021 so far dropping on the first Friday, a bunch of returns from old favorites, even some tracks from artists I didn’t love who surprised me with great new material. That means this playlist is one of my longest ever – 29 songs and 104 minutes. Enjoy. You can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Little Simz feat. Obongjayar – Point and Kill. I’ve said a few times now that Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is my favorite album of 2021, and this track, featuring the Nigerian singer Obongjayar, is a major reason, one of the many standouts on the record along with the title track, “I Love You, I Hate You,” “Woman,” and more.

Sleigh Bells – True Seekers. My favorite track from this duo since “Rill Rill” over a decade ago. Their music can be so deliberately abrasive that it often turns me away even when there’s a good vocal hook, but this song is a sort of anti-pop anthem that I can’t get out of my head.

Hatchie – This Enchanted. I loved the melodies in Hatchie’s first album and earlier singles, all in the sort of dream-pop sound that reminded me of early Cranberries or Lush, but her voice is a little bit soft and I think she fares better when the production puts her voice down into the music rather than out front. This new single does just that and it’s among her best so far.

Snail Mail – Valentine. Lindsey Jordan, who records as Snail Mail, is now all of 22 years old, and her second album, also called Valentine,

Parcels – Somethinggreater. I was not familiar with Parcels at all before hearing this track, but I’m all in on this funky, R&B-inflected pop gem. It’s the third single they’ve released ahead of the double album they’re putting out on November 5^th.

Frank Turner – Haven’t Been Doing So Well. Love when Turner gets into his punk roots more, which he really does here as on “1933” or “Recovery.”

The War on Drugs Feat. Lucius – I Don’t Live Here Anymore. At least Adam Granduciel is just leaning into the Bob Dylan thing, singing “a creature void of form” on this song before name-checking Dylan directly. The singers from Lucius bring a lot to the chorus here, too.

Cœur de Pirate – On s’aimera toujours. Béatrice seems to be locked into singing in French these days, which is fine, as I think her voice is beautiful, as is the language, although I feel like the U.S. audience is going to miss out on some great indie-pop because of it. If you’re wondering, the title means “We will always love each other.”

Jerro & Panama – Lost for Words. Producer Jerro’s debut album comes out today, and this single features Australian producer Panama, who appeared on several of my playlists in the mid-teens with “Always” and “Hope for Something.”

Obongjayar & Sarz – Sweetness. And here’s a track from Obongjayar’s latest EP of the same name, also featuring the Nigerian musician/producer Sarz, an Afrobeats-centric record with a heavy dose of ’80s R&B.

Bartees Strange – Weights. Strange is an avowed fan of the National, but I like him anyway, and here it sounds like he merged the National with the Hold Steady while adding his own vocal flourishes. It’s more than the sum of its parts.

Pond – Human Touch. These Aussie psych-rockers just released their ninth album, simply called 9, today, with this as the second track and third single released ahead of the record, along with the also strong “America’s Cup.” Their brand of psychedelic rock emphasizes groove over the hazy production more typical of the genre.

The Lottery Winners feat. KT Tunstall – Dance With the Devil. I’ve been on the Lottery Winners for a few months now, but just discovered that the bio on their Youtube channel calls them “a mob of four twits from a rubbish working class town called Leigh, near Manchester.” Anyway, Something to Leave the House For, their second album, drops on October 29^th.

Sam Fender – Get You Down. I wasn’t familiar with Fender’s work, although with a name like that, you’d better play one. He’s pretty popular in the UK, with his first album hitting #1 and his second due out on October 8^th, with a sort of emo-tinged indie-rock that I think could play pretty well here too.

Zeal & Ardor – Bow. The gospel/black metal fusion isn’t quite so present here – there’s some distorted guitars at the back of the mix, but this minimalist track from Manuel Gagneux puts his vocals front and center, where they belong.

Yard Act – The Overload. I feel like this particular brand of post-punk music only works if you have a working-class English accent, so that the deadpan talk-sung lyrics sound charming rather than offputting. Whatever the reason, it works for me.

Stereophonics – Hanging on Your Hinges. The Guardian‘s final tracks of the week column called this song “the biggest pile of sh**,” but this song, while not exactly vintage Stereophonics, rocks. That’s a great riff that carries the whole track.

Eels – Good Night on Earth. I didn’t realize Mark Oliver Everett – sometimes known simply as E – was still churning out albums every two years or so, but so it is. This track wouldn’t be out of place on Electro-Shock Blues, which is high praise. Also, I need to say this pretty much every time I talk about Eels: E’s father, Hugh Everett III, came up with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. What’s the cooler legacy: that, or “Novocaine for the Soul?”

Talk Show – Underworld. I feel like at some point this new wave revivalist band will run into trouble thanks to the one-album act of the same name that included three members of Stone Temple Pilots (without Scott Weiland). “Underworld,” the first release off their EP Touch the Ground, due out in early 2022, straddles the genres of new wave and post-punk, like someone remixed a Gang of Four track.

Mini Trees – Carrying On. Lexi Vega, who records as Mini Trees, just released her debut album, Always in Motion, two weeks ago, featuring this lush dream-pop track and earning some extremely positive reviews already.

Ovlov – Land of Steve-O. Ovlov doesn’t release much music – their 2018 album Tru is their only LP since 2013’s am – but their sound is still intact, very ’90s Dinosaur Jr./Sebadoh lo-fi fuzz-rock.

Parquet Courts – Black Widow Spider. I have never been a fan of Parquet Courts, or Parkay Quartz as they once called themselves, but this song is fantastic. It’s off Sympathy for Life, their seventh album, which comes out today.

Aeon Station – Queens. Aeon Station is Kevin Whelan, bassist and co-founder of the dormant band The Wrens, along with two other members of the Wrens. Their first album, Observatory, comes out in December, and includes five tracks Whelan wrote for the never-completed fourth Wrens album. Charles Bissell, the guitarist and co-founder of the Wrens, is not involved, and has said that band is now “dead” and he’ll release his own solo work. It sounds like a big mess. Anyway, I wasn’t familiar with The Wrens at all before this track, but it’s good.

Mastodon – Pushing the Tides. These metal stalwarts’ eighth album, Hushed and Grim, comes out on the 29^th. This track, the first single released off the album, veers back more towards the heavier technical metal of their early career, and while I loved their last record’s more accessible sound, I’m good with just about any direction Mastodon wants to take – as long as they don’t release their version of the Black album.

Thrice – Summer Set Fire to the Rain. Featuring Puig Destroyer drummer Riley Breckenridge, Thrice will release their eleventh album, Horizons/East, next Friday.

Monolord – The Weary. This is the first track I’ve heard from this Swedish doom metal band, with some stoner metal influences here as well, so this is more than just the eight thousandth version of Cathedral or another Sabbath ripoff.

Black Map – Chasms. I thought Black Map, which comprises members of several other bands (Dredg, Far, The Trophy Fire), was a one-off project, but they’re back, with the same style of classic metal with hints of prog.

Iron Maiden – Days of Future Past. Obligatory, although I maintain that the vocal melodies are beyond Bruce Dickinson’s capabilities at this point and end up detracting from the song.

Carcass – The Scythe’s Remorseless Swing. They’re back, with their first album in eight years and only their second in the last quarter-century. Torn Arteries includes this track, which has an incredible 70-second instrumental opening, as well as 2019’s “Under the Scalpel Blade.” I don’t think their sound has changed or evolved much if at all since Surgical Steel, which was the best extreme metal album of the last decade and maybe the best metal album of the decade, period, but I’m okay with this. Carcass more or less perfected melodic death metal, and while I could do without some of the blast beats and will never really enjoy the death growls, the guitar and bass work here is just incredible.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2021 in music, afrobeats, alternative, indie, melodic death metal, metal, Music

→ September 2, 2021
→ By keith

Music update, August 2021.

August finished with quite a bang for new music, so this playlist more than doubled in length in the last week, but I’ll take this as a great sign for how we’ll finish a year that has seemed a little flat for new music. Perhaps the imminent fall/winter tours are driving all this new music coming out. Anyway, if you can’t see the widget below, you can access the Spotify playlist here.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Can’t Let Go. Fourteen years after their hugely acclaimed collaboration Raising Sand, which won six Grammy Awards, Plant and Krauss have reunited for a follow-up, Raise the Roof, due out on November 19^th. This track, written by Randy Weeks and previously recorded by Lucinda Williams, is a hell of a lead single. It’s just about perfect.

Jungle – Truth. Jungle’s third album, Loving in Stereo, has a few bangers, including this, “All of the Time,” and “Keep Moving,” and some slower tracks that don’t do it for me. Jungle’s best work makes you want to dance. I want more of this.

CHVRCHES – Final Girl. CHVRCHES’ fourth album, Screen Violence, is a real return to form for the trio after the disappointing Love is Dead, with stronger lyrics and better hooks, as well as real guitars. This, “How Not to Drown,” and “Good Girls” are the highlights for me.

The Wombats – If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You. Now that’s more like it – this feels almost Glitterbug-esque, from the big hooks to the delightfully absurd lyrics. Their fifth album, Fix Yourself, Not the World, drops on January 7^th.

Geese – Low Era. Geese announced their debut album, Projector, will drop on October 29^th, including this track and their first single “Disco.” The Brooklyn quintet’s second track is slower, more dissonant, but still kind of intoxicating. I get black midi and alt-J vibes from them, which could cut both ways, but for now I’m excited for the album.

Kid Kapichi – American Scream. Kid Kapichi’s This Time Next Year is one of my favorite albums of 2021, and the deluxe version, which comes out on October 29^th, will include four unreleased tracks, including this one.

Purity Ring – soshy. It’s written as one word but Megan James sings it as “so shy,” which I would say is a bit toocute. But it’s a good song, more uptempo than a lot of their stuff, while still a strong musical showcase for James’ vocals.

Creeper – Midnight. Creeper’s EP American Noir is supposed to serve as an epilogue to their incredible 2020 album Sex, Death, and the Infinite Void, with 8 new tracks running 19 minutes, including this very “Because the Night”-like duet, and the intro song “Midnight Militia”, a 75-second throwback to the punk sound they showed on their debut album, Eternity, in Your Arms.

Quicksand – Colossus. I was a little underwhelmed by Quicksand’s latest album, Distant Populations, after their surprisingly strong comeback album, 2017’s Interiors. It’s their first album without guitarist Tom Capone, who was arrested for shoplifting while on their last tour and appears to have some mental health issues. This is the best track on the record, though, with the most vintage Quicksand sound to it.

Turnstile – DON’T PLAY. Turnstile is definitely the it band on the rock side of things right now; I compared their song “BLACKOUT” to early Helmet, and Helmet certainly had that kind of buzz before Meantime hit. Anyway, Turnstile’s album GLOW ON is out now, and it’s great, a mixture of hardcore punk and plenty of post-punk tracks, more of the latter, really, which makes all the talk of them as a hardcore band seem a little behind the times. They’re good, and I think this album is going to be all over year-end lists, but they’re a lot more than just a hardcore punk band now.

Deafheaven – In Blur. So Deafheaven has gone from blackgaze to shoegaze, dropping almost all the trappings of death/black metal that characterized their previous four albums; the only screamed vocals on Infinite Granite come at the very end of a few songs, and I don’t think I heard any blast beats. Sunbather was on every critic’s top ten list for its year, or so it seemed, and I would bet you a huge amount of money most of them never got through the entire album and/or have never listened to it since, because almost nobody can stand that much screaming. If they could, extreme metal would be a shit-ton more popular than it is. Anyway, my guess is Deafheaven realized that they’d make a lot more money by toning down the black metal nonsense and crafting something that would appeal to a wider audience – which they could do without compromising the remainder of their musical aesthetic. Infinite Granite is a good shoegaze album, and that should boost their popularity. It is, however, not exactly groundbreaking stuff; if you put this album in 1993, it would fit in nicely with Ride and Slowdive, more accessible than My Bloody Valentine’s two albums of the era but with a similar vibe. The crime will be if this record gets worse reviews than Sunbather despite being music most people could actually enjoy.

Thrice – Robot Soft Exorcism. It’s funny; I always like Thrice’s lead single off a record a bit more than their second single, regardless of how much I end up liking the eventual album. I like “Robot Soft Exorcism,” especially the energy in the chorus, although “Scavengers” was better. Anyway, Horizons/East will be out on the 17^th, and I look forward to seeing them here in Philly in October.

Chrome – Terminate. Not gonna lie: I had no idea Helios Creed was still going. Scaropy is the 23^rd album released under the Chrome name, although I think it’s also fair to say Chrome hasn’t been real Chrome since the last Edge/Creed record, 1982’s 3^rd From the Sun. Anyway, I don’t think Scaropy is very good, but this is the best track on it.

Unknown Mortal Orchesta – That Life. I included this track primarily for that weird, briefly dissonant guitar riff. Without that, the track would be utterly generic, but that riff is great.

Ariel Posen & Cory Wong – Spare Tire. Instrumental jazz-funk from two great guitarists … and it’s under 3 minutes, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome (if anything, they could have gone another minute and it would have been fine considering how strong the groove is).

Griff – One Night. Griff’s mixtape came out in June and reached #4 on the UK album charts, and now she’s back with another gem of a new single. The 20-year-old singer/songwriter seems headed for pop stardom, at least over in Europe, although I’m hoping the U.S. will catch on.

Maisie Peters – Elvis Song. Speaking of heading for stardom, Peters’ debut album, You Signed Up for This, came out a week ago on Ed Sheeran’s record label, and is likely to debut in the top 3 on the UK albums chart on Friday. The album is very good, with Peters’ great knack for telling stories about teenage romances gone wrong, but it’s also slickly produced pop that made me miss Peters’ more singer-songwritery stuff from when she was first starting out.

Courtney Barnett – Before You Gotta Go. I love Barnett the lyricist, and I have resigned myself to Barnett the singer. Whether I like her songs comes down to whether there’s a decent melody beneath them, regardless of tempo, although there’s a clear correlation between the two. This song is a little faster than her norm, and it has a little groove to it, so that the thing she does best – I’d call her a top 5 wordsmith in music right now – gets a chance to shine.

Alien Boy – The Way I Feel. This Portland quartet might have just stepped out of the mid-90s, with jangle-alt-indie-pop sounds and a hint of shoegaze in the production. The band’s name comes from a 1980 Wipers song, which was about James Chasse, who was later murdered by police in 2006 after he was arrested and beaten, breaking 26 bones, while he was probably having a psychotic episode.

Gorillaz feat. AJ Tracey – Jimmy Jimmy. I might be alone in this, but I’ve found most of Gorillaz’ output since their first two albums to be pretty boring. Even this song sounds like Damon Albarn mailed in the music – is that just a sample from “Clint Eastwood” on a loop in the background – but Tracey’s vocals make it something better than the typical Gorillaz track.

Jorja Smith x GuiltyBeatz – All of This. Smith did tell us in May that she would Be Right Back, and here she is again, now with an amapiano collaboration with Ghanaian-Italian producer GuiltyBeatz.

Tom Morello & Phantogram – Driving to Texas. This sounds like a great Phantogram song, but it’s going to appear on Morello’s upcoming album, and I don’t know that I hear him here. Maybe that’s a sign of how expansive the new record will be?

Dream Theater – Alien. It’s 9 minutes, just to warn you, but if you like Dream Theater’s proggy style, then you’re probably okay with that. There are some great guitar lines here, although James LaBrie’s voice is sounding a bit worn.

Exodus – The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves). I can’t believe these guys are 1) still at it and 2) still making almost exactly the same music as they did 35 years ago. Also, I have to make my Exodus joke: It will never not bother me that “Toxic Waltz” is in 4/4 time.

Omnium Gatherum – Paragon. This Finnish melodic death metal band tends towards a more progressive sound than, say, the Gothenburg school that influenced them, and Omnium often mixes some clean vocals in with the death growls, as they do here in the choruses (are those actual harmonies?). It’s the guitar work that reels me in, though, enough for me to ignore some of the ridiculous vocals.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2021 in music, alternative, indie, melodic death metal, metal, Music, progressive metal, rap, thrash

→ August 5, 2021
→ By keith

Music update, July 2021.

With a slew of artists hitting the road this fall, releasing new albums in the next 2-3 months, or both, July turned out to offer a cornucopia of strong singles, including a couple of unexpected tracks from familiar names. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Jonah Nilsson feat. Steve Vai – Diamond Ring. Nilsson is one-third of the Swedish jazz-pop (jazzy-pop?) group Dirty Loops, a classically trained musician who sought out guitar virtuoso Vai for the solo at the end of this incredibly catchy, funk-infused gem that is easily one of the best pop songs of 2021.

Little Simz – I Love You, I Hate You. This is the fourth track we’ve heard so far from the British rapper’s upcoming second album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, due out September 3^rd, and like the first single “Introvert,” the lyrics are intensely personal.

Amyl and the Sniffers – Guided by Angels. This Aussie punk act’s name is so anachronistic I’m almost forced to admire it. This is the catchy lead single from their upcoming second album Comfort to Me, due out September 10^th.

CHVRCHES – Good Girls. I’m just excited for the Scottish trio’s fourth album, Screen Violence, now that we’ve heard three great singles from it; it drops August 27^th.

Slow Pulp – At It Again (Again). A quiet track befitting the name of this Chicago indie group, “At It Again (Again)” was one of two tracks cut from their debut album Moveys that the band is releasing this fall as the Deleted Scenes EP.

Maisie Peters – Psycho. I’m not in love with the ableist language here, but this track, co-written with the head of Peters’ record label, some bloke named Ed Sheeran, does a great job of showcasing Peters’ voice and her skill with creating images around stories of teenaged romance.

Nas feat. Cordae and Freddie Gibbs – Life is Like a Dice Game. Okay, but which dice game? That’s Pretty Clever? Encore? Yahtzee? I would play a dice game with these guys. I think.

Big Boi, Sleepy Brown, and Killer Mike – Lower Case (no cap). This is the good stuff from Big Boi, reminiscent of Speakerboxxx.

Abstract Mindstate – A Wise Tale. Kanye West got this duo, last active about 15 years ago, back together by contributing beats and agreeing to produce their new album, Dreams Still Inspire, out this Friday.

Wye Oak – Electricity. I like a lot of Wye Oak’s stuff, but when they increase the tempo and the layering of their instruments, it grabs me more immediately, as did this, the third single from them so far in 2021.

Inhaler – Totally. Bono’s kid may never quite get out of his father’s shadow, but Inhaler is worth listening to on their own merits, not just their lineage. It Won’t Always Be Like This, their debut album, also features the 2019 single “My Honest Face,” which was #63 on my ranking of the top 100 songs from that year.

Gang of Youths – unison. This track also appears on total serene, the new three-track EP from this Aussie indie-rock act, who’ve become extremely popular in their home country.

Foxing – Draw Down the Moon. The title track from the indie quintet’s fifth album, due out this Friday, has a big hook in the chorus and a subtle groove in much of the percussion work.

Lorde – Stoned at the Nail Salon. I can’t decide if I like this track or not. I’m including it anyway, because if nothing else, it’s interesting.

Thrice – Scavengers. Thrice is back with a new record, written during the lockdown, and will be back on the road this fall. I’ll be there when they visit Philly.

The Lottery Winners – Sunshine. A candy-sweet track that lives up to its title, and another little pop banger from this Mancunian quartet, who just keep churning out great song after great song.

Joy Oladokun – look up. Oladokun’s first album in five years, in defense of my own happiness, mostly comprises her signature R&B-tinged folk music, but there are occasional moments where she stretches her voice and shows more of its power and range, as on this anthemic, upbeat track.

The War on Drugs – Living Proof. Perhaps I don’t know TWoD’s catalog enough, but I don’t recall many intimate ballads in the vein of this track. Their fifth album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, will be out on October 29^th.

Turnstile – BLACKOUT. These Baltimore punks, who sound a whole shit-ton like Meantime-era Helmet on this track, will release their third album, Glow On, on August 27^th.

Iron Maiden – The Writing on the Wall. Bruce Dickinson sounds every bit of 62, but the music here is still tremendous – a bit slower in tempo than peak Maiden, with an intro that recalls that of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: alternative, hip-hop, indie, metal, Music, rap

→ July 4, 2021
→ By keith

Music update, June 2021.

Life is busy here, in good ways, and with the draft now just a week away I’ve been extremely preoccupied … but the good new music keeps coming, so here’s a new playlist for you.

CHVRCHES featuring Robert Smith – How Not to Drown. I did not see this collaboration coming. So many pairings of current artists with some of their heroes from prior generations only serve to highlight how the older artists have lost their fastballs – especially singers whose voices have started to go. Smith sounds the same as ever, and this is the second great CHVRCHES single ahead of their upcoming fourth album.

Gang of Youths – the angel of 8^th ave.GOY are stars in their native Australia, but they might be a little too indie to see that kind of success here. There’s some Echo & the Bunnymen, The Church, and even early U2 in here.

Wolf Alice – How Can I Make It OK? Blue Weekend is one of the best-reviewed albums of the year … and I think it’s good, but it has some of the same issues I had with Visions of a Life. When Wolf Alice rocks, they rock. When they slow things down, the formula doesn’t work as well. That’s not a universal truth – “Safe from Heartbreak” is a 150-second acoustic track that has a strong hook in the chorus, and “How Can I Make It OK” has a slower tempo but is boosted by a big guitar riff. I just like their music best when they let it rip.

Little Simz – Rollin Stone. I’m all in. Little Simz’ new album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, comes out on September 3^rd, and the songs she’s released so far make me think it’s going to be her best yet.

Tom Morello, The Bloody Beetroots, Pussy Riot – Radium Girls. Morello and the Italian electronic duo The Bloody Beetroots have an EP coming out in the fall called The Catastrophists, featuring this track co-written by Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, Savages’ Jehnny Beth, and frequent Morello collaborator Carl Restivo.

YONAKA – Raise Your Glass. YONAKA’s new stuff is veering towards the anthemic, which is fine in and of itself as long as the hooks are good (this one is), although I hear this song and worry it’s going to show up in a Heineken commercial in two years.

James BKS – Kusema. James BKS’s debut album Wolves of Africa is due out in the fall, and the son of the late Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango (who died last year of COVID-19) has released at least three tracks from the album so far, including this one, with a Swahili title that means “to express” and that features BKS rapping for the first time.

Jungle – Talk About It. Jungle’s third album Loving in Stereo comes out on August 13^th, and this second track from the record is among the most straight-up dance tracks they’ve done (lighter on the ’70s soul and funk elements) to date.

SAULT – London Gangs. SAULT just released Nine, their fifth album in the last 25 months, although this is the shortest one to date, clocking in at just over a half an hour. The band is also saying they’re removing the album from the internet after 99 days, which means it’ll vanish from streaming sites (and from my Spotify playlist) at some point in October, which strikes me as a stunt. You can (and should) grab the album for free from their official site, although I don’t think it’s as strong as either of their 2020 releases.

Inhaler – It Won’t Always Be Like This. Solid work from this Irish band, although they can’t really get away from the U2 comparisons when the lead singer sounds so much like his father, Bono.

Everything Everything – Natural’s Not In It. The Gang of Four tribute album The Problem of Leisure was delayed five months but came out on June 4^th, featuring two covers of this track, which gives the album its title, two of “Damaged Goods,” and three of “Not Great Men,” but none of “At Home He’s a Tourist.” At least EE’s singer Jonathan Higgs pronounces “migraine” in the American style.

Wye Oak – Its Way With Me. That’s the second single from Wye Oak this year, along with “TNT,” to go with singer Jenn Wasner’s solo effort as Flock of Dimes.

Kiwi jr. – Cooler Returns. I wasn’t familiar with this Canadian indie band until my friend Paul Boyé named their new LP one of his favorites of 2021 so far. There’s something a little too hipstery in their lyrics and vocals for me, but this title track from the record is strong.

Floatie – Shiny. “Math rock” is kind of a meaningless term, no? This is experimental music, and I don’t mean that adjective in the way anti-vaxxers use it, although I doubt Floatie’s debut album Voyage Out is FDA approved.

The Lottery Winners – Favourite Flavour. I’m becoming a bigger fan of The Lottery Winners all the time, and I can’t get over how prolific they are, approaching King Gizzard level, but in this case churning out one catchy indie-pop single after another.

Descendents – Nightage. I mean, all good Descendents songs sound pretty much the same, but that’s what we pay for, right?

Quicksand – Missile Command. If bands still released singles with B-sides, Quicksand should have paired this with a cover of Killing Joke’s “Asteroid.”

Accept – Zombie Apocalypse. I had no idea Accept was still around and recording music, and while I suppose purists might object that it’s not Accept without Udo, but I don’t have that same history with the band that I might with other ’80s metal acts, so the new vocalist doesn’t faze me. Their newest album, Too Mean to Die, leads off with a pair of impressively heavy songs for a band that was often lumped in with hair-metal acts in their heyday, with thrash elements in both this song and the title track.

FALSET and James Labrie – Kickstart My Heart. “Kickstart My Heart” is actually my favorite Mötley Crüe song, and this track is quite faithful. FALSET’s drummer is the son of James Labrie, longtime lead singer of Dream Theater, who does a very reasonable imitation of Vince Neil here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2021 in music, alternative, experimental music, Music, rap

→ June 4, 2021
→ By keith

Music update, May 2021.

I’m not sure if this was a weak month for new tracks or if I just missed a lot as I spent more time seeing games and working on some stuff around the house. It ended strongly, however, with a slew of important album releases on the last Friday in May and the first one in June. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist here.

black midi – Chondromalacia Patella. black midi are back, with their second album, Cavalcade, dropping on the last Friday in May. It’s frenetic, cacophonic, and deeply unsettling music, similar in attitude to their debut record, Schlagenheim, but differing enough in tone and style to mark a real progression in their sound. This was one of the lead singles and remains one of the better tracks on the record, which in some ways is more accessible than the first LP but which, on first listen, doesn’t have enough great hooks in the longer tracks like “Ascending Forth” or “Diamond Stuff.”

Pond – America’s Cup. Pond have always been weird, sometimes to good effect but sometimes to the point where it was easy to dismiss some of their experiments. Whatever the hell this is, though, I want more of it. This is early ’80s funk, still bearing the influence of peak disco, around lyrics about the rapid gentrification of Fremantle in Western Australia after that country’s entry won the America’s Cup sailing race in 1983 and the city hosted the Cup in 1987. This is the good shit.

YONAKA – Call Me a Saint. That’s three new singles this year from this Brighton quartet, whose feminist alt-rock made Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrrow one of my favorite albums of 2019. Still no word on a release date for a second LP.

Little Simz feat. Cleo Sol – Woman. The second single ahead of Little Simz’s sophomore album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, due out in September, “Woman” is also her second collaboration with singer Cleo Sol. Little Simz is easily one of my favorite rappers working today, both for her own vocal style and her choices of backing music.

Bobby Gillespie & Jehnny Beth – Chase It Down. That’s the lead singer of Primal Scream and the lead singer of Savages, respectively, and their album, Utopian Ashes, will be out on July 2^nd. There are hints of Primal Scream’s more psychedelic leanings in here – rather than the straight-up Rolling Stones homage they did on “Rocks” – along with a fantastic guitar solo at the end.

Emma-Jean Thackray – Say Something. I’ve seen Thackray called a jazz musician, but this isn’t jazz – this is smart, textured dance music, with elements of jazz, and R&B, and house, and more. She has her own record label, Movementt, and appears to be building up towards a debut album after releasing two singles in the last two months.

Jorja Smith feat. Shaybo – Bussdown. Smith’s EP Be Right Back feels like a tease, as the nine-song, 25-minute release just isn’t enough from the talented R&B singer/songwriter, whose debut album Lost & Found came out three years ago this week. I’ll take any Jorja Smith I can get, though.

Freddie Gibbs, Swizz Beats, and Shoota93 – We Want Justice Dammit! This track comes from season 2 of the series Godfather of Harlem, and both Gibbs and Swizz Beats deliver strong verses despite the near lack of a beat beneath them.

Atlas Genius – Elegant Strangers. I was seriously concerned these guys had hung it up for good, with only one new track in the last four years, but it appears we will get a third album from the guys behind “Trojans,” “If So,” and “Molecules.”

Renée Reed – Neboj. Reed is from Louisiana and sings in both English and French, but it’s the intricate finger-picked guitarwork that drew me to this song, from her self-titled debut album.

The Lottery Winners – Times Are Changing. I was very late to this parade, but damn can the Lottery Winners churn out pop bangers as fast as anyone. Their next album, which will be their second in 18 months (third if you count their lockdown covers record), is due out on September 24^th.

The Wombats – Method to the Madness. There’s a distressingly slow start to this new track from Matthew Murphy and the lads, but it picks up in the second half and sounds far more like a Wombats song. They haven’t announced when their next album, which will be their fifth, will appear, but are planning their biggest concert ever at London’s O2 Arena next April.

Cœur de Pirate – Plan à Trois. Béatrice Martin released a surprise EP of instrumental piano tracks last month, and now she’s back with the kind of synth-heavy alternative pop for which she’s known. This isn’t quite up there with “Prémonition,” still my favorite song of hers, but it’s promising.

Greentea Peng – Dingaling. Peng’s debut album MAN MADE came out on Friday, June 4^th, so it’s still in my queue, but her lead-up singles have all shown off her incredible ability to combine widely divergent genres. I feel like fans of the short-lived jazz-rap movement that started with Native Tongues and peaked briefly with Digable Planets will especially appreciate this track (and, I assume, the album).

Superbloom – Pollen. The title track from this group’s debut album couldn’t sound any more ’90s – I hear Hum more than anything else – if they tried, but as someone who wanted the music of that decade to last forever, I’m here for it.

Squid – Pamphlets. The British music press loves Squid’s debut album Bright Green Field, but it’s just too much of itself for me. I can do modern punk, I don’t mind music with a sneer, and I certainly like the art-rock stylings of Squid’s guitar work, but the lyrics combined with the deliberately obnoxious delivery just leave me feeling a bit too “oh shut up already” before the record is half done. I thought this was the best song on the record, but it’s nearly eight minutes long, and that is absolutely enough of Squid for me.

Mastodon – Forged by Neron. Mastodon has so many sides to its music that saying this is my favorite style of Mastodon track does something of a disservice to their ingenuity and breadth. But I do like when they pick up the pace a little and ensure their tracks have stronger melodies.

Sabaton – Defence of Moscow. These guys are ridiculous but I love it – it’s right out of a 1989 episode of Headbanger’s Ball. Savatage would be proud.

Gojira – Into the Storm. The French avant-garde metallists returned with the long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s Magma, which Decibel named the best metal album of the decade and which earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album, a rarity for any extreme metal band. Highlights from the new record, called Fortitude, include this track, “Sphinx,” “Amazonia,” “Born for One Thing,” and “Another World.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2021 in music, alternative, experimental music, hip-hop, indie, metal, Music

→ May 3, 2021
→ By keith

Music update, April 2021.

April didn’t bring quite as much new music as March did, or as May will with its five Fridays, but the first three songs on this list are among my favorites of the year, and I’m guessing they’ll all still be very high when my annual top 100 rolls around. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Wolf Alice – Smile. I loved Wolf Alice’s first album, My Love is Cool, but was more lukewarm on their sophomore LP, Visions of a Life, which won the 2018 Mercury Prize. This song, though … this is the good stuff. Wolf Alice is at their best when they churn out huge, often heavy guitar riffs, and contrast them with quieter moments that make use of singer/guitarist Ellie Roswell’s impressive range of vocal styles. Now I can’t wait for their third album, Blue Weekend, due out June 11^th.

AJ Tracey – Little More Love. The British rapper/singer’s new album Flu Game didn’t live up to this single, but this is a banger.

Manchester Orchestra – Telepath. ManOrch’s latest album, The Million Masks of God, just came out on Friday, and it’s both excellent and a real surprise, showing entirely sides of lead singer/guitarist Andy Hull as a lyricist and a songwriter. This song could have easily come from Lord Huron or Josh Ritter, except for how distinctive Hull’s voice is.

CHVRCHES – He Said She Said. Speaking of lyrics, this feels like a possible return to form for Lauren Mayberry after the disappointing, mailed-in feel of the trio’s last album Love is Dead.

Freddie Gibbs – Big Boss Rabbit. Gibbs is the best male rapper working right now, bar none, and he’s absurdly prolific.

Moses Boyd and SW2 – Bridge the Gap b/w Dirty South. I couldn’t decide which of these two tracks to include – they’re both superb, and yet very different from each other – so I put them both on the list, because I’m the boss here. Boyd’s drum work is revelatory, and he might be even more prolific than Gibbs. I doubt I’ll ever fully grasp jazz the way an aficionado would, but Boyd has made me a bigger fan of the genre than I ever was. (Also, no one seems to know who SW2 are. I wonder if they’re connected to SAULT at all.)

HAERTS – Why Only You. This track comes from the duo’s third album, Dream Nation, which was due out March 12^th but doesn’t seem to have actually come out on that date, or any date since. We have four singles so far, and they’re all good, so I’m still eager to hear the full LP.

Paul McCartney feat. Khruangbin – Pretty Boys. I think this the third most-talented Beatle’s first appearance on my playlists, but that’s due to the tremendous work here by Khruangbin.

Royal Blood – Boilermaker. The singles I’ve heard so far from Typhoons, which just came out on Friday, made me think of Queens of the Stone Age’s sonic shift on their last record, Villains, thanks for the production work of Mark Ronson. Turns out that QotSA’s Josh Homme helped produce Typhoons, so I’m not crazy – and just like with Villains, the addition of dance elements and more funk influence in the rhythms really works.

Jorja Smith – Gone. Smith has been all over the place since her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Lost & Found back in 2018, but she’s finally releasing another EP, Be Right Back, on May 14^th, featuring this song and “Addicted,” but neither of the two songs she released in 2020 (“Come Over” and “By Any Means”).

Sarah Chernoff – Remains of the Way. Chernoff just released Transitions, a five-song EP, last April, highlighted by this song, which makes the best use of her voice while bringing a little more uptempo vibe to the backing music.

Jade Bird – Black Star. This lovely acoustic cover of the Radiohead track, from her RCA Studio A Session, remagines the song as a bittersweet ballad.

Little Simz – Introvert. This track starts out almost like a sketch you’d find on old-school hip-hop records, but then transitions into a typically great Little Simz joint, the lead single from the London rapper/actress’ fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, due out September 3^rd.

Teenage Fanclub – In Our Dreams. If you’d played this song for me and told me it was by Teenage Fanclub, I would have assumed it was from somewhere in the mid-1990s – it’s that sort of slightly muted power-pop, and while one of the group’s vocalists, Gerard Love, departed the band in 2018, this still pretty much sounds like Teenage Fanclub to me.

Sports Team – Happy (God’s Own Country). This is Sports Team’s first new track since their Mercury Prize-nominated album Deep Down Happy, and the likely lads, several of whom went to the University of Cambridge, manage to sound reminiscent of Gang of Four, the Libertines, and Art Brut all at once.

Elvenking – The Moon and Magic. An Italian power/folk-metal band, or so Wikipedia tells me, although I would have guessed Elvenking were Norse in origin given their sound and subject matter. I think a lot of bands in this weird niche appeal to me because the guitar work often sounds a lot like the bands I enjoyed while first learning guitar in the late ’80s, before groove & death metal competed with grunge and pulled this sort of music apart at the seams.

Bala – X. I wasn’t familiar with this Galician duo, both women, but I’m into the guitar work here, as well as the rapid tempo shifts, drawing from thrash and punk while incorporating the kind of guitar/drum sound popularized by Royal Blood, the White Stripes, and Drenge.

At the Gates – Spectre of Extinction. These melodic death metal legends have been as good or better in their return (2014 to now) as they were in their heyday (through 1995’s Slaughter of the Soul). It’s not for everyone, not with those throat-shredding vocals, but the guitar work is fantastic.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2021 in music, alternative, hip-hop, melodic death metal, metal, Music, rap

→ March 3, 2021
→ By keith

Music update, February 2021.

My first draft prospect ranking for 2021 is now up for The Athletic subscribers.

I didn’t post a playlist for January, as that month didn’t give me anywhere near enough new tracks even if I’d accepted that I’d have to make the playlist shorter than usual, but now, with two-plus months since my last music post, we’re back to normal again. Three great albums have helped kick off 2021, with a few stragglers from 2020, and a slew of singles heralding upcoming LPs from artists new and old. As usual, I’ve pushed the heavier material to the back of the list. You can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Kid Kapichi – Working Man’s Town. This Time Next Year, the debut record from this Hastings quartet, sounds like something Alex Turner might have cooked up if he wanted to do something grittier and more abrasive. The record is brilliant, witty, and surprisingly full of hooks, featuring this track, “Sardines,” and “Don’t Kiss Me (I’m Infected).”

Arlo Parks – Hope. Parks’ debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams dropped in January, featuring all of the great singles she’d released in the preceding eighteen months, including “Hurt,” “Green Eyes,” “Black Dog,” and “Caroline.” This track has more of her gorgeous vocals, sharp lyrics, and soulful, jazzy (but not jazz) backing music, making it the best of the new songs on the record.

Gum Country – Somewhere. As the year came to a merciful close, I found more and more best-of lists to peruse, including some great genre-specific ones over at Paste. Gum Country’s debut album Somewhere took the last spot (that is, #50) on Paste‘s top 50 albums of 2020 list, and it’s worthy of the praise, combining elements of power pop, indie rock, and psychedelia, like Velocity Girl met My Bloody Valentine by way of early Mercury Rev.

Black Honey – Believer. Black Honey have been among my favorite indie pop/rock bands for at least three years now, and they put out two songs since my last playlists went up, this straight-up pop track and the much harsher “Disinfect,” although even that song has an undeniable hook.

HAERTS – Shivering. HAERTS’ third album Dream Nation will be out on March 12^th, and I can’t wait, even though I think you could argue their sound hasn’t really changed in the nine years since they first appeared.

The Lottery Winners feat. Frank Turner – Start Again. I missed the Lottery Winners’ self-titled debut album last March, but it’s fun, hooky indie-pop, and their sound works really well with Turner’s vocals here.

Royal Blood – Typhoons. I’m cautiously optimistic that Royal Blood are going to correct course a little bit and get closer to the heavy hooks of their debut album, although nothing will ever touch “Out of the Black.” This song really grooves with more bottom than a good splitter.

FRITZ – Jan 1. FRITZ’s sophomore album Pastel feels like something out of the mid-90s, kind of Lotion meets early Lush, fuzzy, reverbed-out, guitar-driven indie-pop with a coming-of-age theme to it.

Griff – Black Hole. This is Griff’s eleventh single, according to Wikipedia, although she has yet to release a full album, although I suppose we can forgive her since she just turned 20 in January. This was the first track of the pop singer/songwriter’s to cross my radar, but the hook in this chorus – “there’s a big black hole where my heart used to be” – is a hell of an earworm.

Allie X – GLAM! That intro sounds like I’m about to play a video game … 15-20 years ago, maybe? But then the singer/model Allie X starts with a whoa-oh-oh-oh that would have fit in on pop radio in 1985. I mean, listen to this chorus. How is this song not already an enormous hit?

Noname – Rainforest. I confess Noname’s laconic delivery has never done much for me, but the syncopated beat and her somewhat faster tempo here caught my ear in a way none of her previous tracks had.

Potty Mouth – Let Go. Speaking of Velocity Girl, I feel like this Massachusetts all-girl trio is sort of VG’s spiritual heirs with their sunny power-pop tracks, although I think their lyrics slipped a grade here.

Django Django feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg – Waking Up. The third new album of 2021 that’s likely to show up on my year-end list – although I’d rank it third of those three – is the Djangos’ fourth album Glowing in the Dark, which has this surprising collaboration with erstwhile Lars von Trier muse Gainsbourg.

YONAKA – Seize the Power. This Brighton quartet, led by the charismatic singer Theresa Jarvis, plan to release their sophomore album this year, with this first single a slight departure from the style of Don’t Wait Til Tomorrow.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – East West Link. This prolific Australian prog/psych rock band just released L.W., their 17^th album in just eight and a half years. I assume the title refers to the vaguely “eastern” sounds – I’d say more south Asian, or even the southwestern part of Asia, but I’m no expert in music from either region – which sort of give this whole thing a Physical Graffiti vibe.

Greentea Peng – Nah It Ain’t the Same. Peng’s debut album MAN MADE is due out this summer, and I’m at least curious after this lead single, which has elements of hip-hop, soul, funk, andthe sort of Thai jazz brought to the mainstream by Khruangbin.

Freddie Gibbs – Winter in America. Gibbs is an unusual but inspired choice to cover Gil-Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s 1975 track, which originally appeared on The First Minute of a New Day. This cover is part of a partnership between ESPN’s The Undefeated and Hollywood Records and appeared on an EP called Black History Always – Music For The Movement Vol. 2.

Iceage – Vendetta. This Danish post-post-punk band’s fifth album Seek Shelter is due out May 7^th, with this tense, sludgy track the lead single.

Death from Above 1979 – One + One. Driven by a guitar riff to make Josh Homme blush, this song also has a real groove to it, like a lost track from the Mark Ronson-produced QotSA album.

Gojira – Born for One Thing. I think Gojira is the most interesting metal band going right now, as they’ve gotten more progressive and creative with each album, moving from straight death metal to more technical material to their current hybrid of thrash, prog, and even “groove” metal sounds. I never got into Pantera, but I can hear the influence of Diamond Darrell on the guitarwork here as I did on Magma.

Angelus Apatrida – Bleed the Crown. These Spanish thrash stalwarts released their self-titled seventh album late last year, showing a strong influence from both Bay Area thrash and the giants of Teutonic metal like Kreator and Destruction, although the vocals are mostly death growls and in many cases overtook the pleasure of the guitar riffs.

Memoriam – Failure to Comply. Memoriam are often tagged as straight death metal because of Karl Willetts’ (ex-Bolt Thrower) guttural vocals, but they have more in common with traditional thrash than current extreme metal. This track is directly inspired by the BLM protests that took place across most of last summer in the US, as Willetts has a friend who participated in and recorded one event, ending up in jail and receiving community service (in his telling) for protesting.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2021 in music, alternative, hip-hop, indie, metal, Music, progressive metal, thrash

→ December 24, 2020
→ By keith

Top 100 songs of 2020.

It turned out to be a good year for music despite the pandemic and various responses by incompetent governments; perhaps there was a lot of good music already recorded and ready, but at least some of the songs on this ranking were recorded during lockdowns. I had more songs on my first cut at the top 100 than I have in years, and I’m sure I omitted something I liked, although I have proofed this list a few times now. You can also check out this year’s top albums ranking, and previous years’ top 100 lists are all here: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012.

If you can’t see the Spotify widget below, you can listen to the playlist here.

100. Creeper – Cyanide. Creeper’s sophomore album, Sex, Death, and the Infinite Void, was my #2 LP of 2019, with multiple, hook-filled tracks that draw on multiple genres. The best tracks recalled early Suede and other glammy Britpop darlings, including this one, the first of two on my top 100.

99. The Weather Station – Robber. I didn’t care for this folk-jazz-rock hybrid track when I first heard it in the spring, probably because it’s so subtle and has a slow build, but it has grown on me, especially in the last few weeks as I was reviewing songs for this ranking.

98. Disclosure ft. Eko Roosevelt – Tondo. Disclosure’s ENERGY was an honorable mention for my best albums list, but “Tondo,” which features the prominent Cameroonian musician Eko Roosevelt, is only on the deluxe edition. The most interesting tracks on the album are those with African musicians contributing, like “Douha (Mali Mali),” with Malian singer/actress Fatoumata Diawara; and “Ce n’est pas,” with Cameroonian singer Blick Bassy. If they’d made the whole record out of this, it would have been in my top 5.

97. Purity Ring – Stardew. I finda little of Megan James’ vocals goes a long way for me, but it only works in certain musical contexts, rather than across an entire album or body of work.

96. Christine and the Queens – People, I’ve been sad. This tenebrous, soulful track made numerous top ten lists for 2020, including Pitchfork (#2), NPR (#2), Paste (#1), and the Guardian (#3), and I agree it’s a great song … but it wasn’t my favorite song from Héloïse Letissier this year.

95. Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death. For some reason, repeating the line”Life ain’t always empty” makes it seem far more convincing that life is, in fact, quite often empty. This Dublin group might be the most authentic punk band in the world right now, and while they don’t always hit with their formula, when they do it’s up there with classics of the genre.

94. Dirty Streets – Can’t Go Back. Unapologetic blues-rock throwback songs will always go over well with me. If you think there’s something clever or interesting about Greta Van Fleet, go listen to Dirty Streets instead.

93. Moon Destroys, Paul Masvidal – Stormbringer. This might have been the heaviest song I’ve ever included on a top 100 – I’ve had an Opeth track, but modern Opeth is more prog-rock than metal anyway – except for an even heavier track in my top 25 this year. Masvidal, who adds vocals on this song, is the only remaining original member of technical heavy metal icons Cynic, two members of which died this year (Sean Reinert at age 48 in January, Sean Malone at age 50 just two weeks ago).

92. MID CITY – Forget It. Australian indie rock that reminds me a bit of the Killers’ first album. MID CITY just released their first EP, Wishing for the Best, three weeks ago, including this banger.

91. LA Priest – Beginning. When I first heard this song, I thought it was Hayden Thorpe, former lead singer and guitarist/keyboard player of Wild Beasts, but Thorpe’s solo stuff since Wild Beasts broke up isn’t actually this upbeat or interesting. My second guess was Neon Indian, but the voice wasn’t right. LA Priest is neither of those artists, but a singer and electronica musician (formerly of a band called Late of the Pier) who released his second LP, Gene, this June, five years after his solo debut.

90. The Go-Go’s – Club Zero. I don’t quite know how this song fell so far under the radar; maybe because the documentary with which it was released was only on Showtime. It’s vintage Go-Go’s, which is amazing since we’re 39 years past Beauty and the Beat.

89. Zeal & Ardor – Vigil. Zeal & Ardor dialed down the death-metal aspects of their gospel/metal blend, and it’s for the better, especially on this track, where the lyrics are quotes uttered by black people murdered by the police (“I can’t breathe/It’s a cellphone, please/don’t shoot”).

88. Sunflower Bean – Moment In The Sun. I know Sunflower Bean haven’t remained critical darlings since their debut, but their sunny indie-pop sound is just right for me even if they never evolve away from it.

87. Texas & the Wu-Tang Clan – Hi. This improbable pairing has a long history, as they collaborated on a live rendition of Texas’s best song, “Say What You Want,” with new vocals from Method Man and RZA, after they were both playing the same event in 1998 and Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri heard that the promoters had segregated the rappers to keep them away from other (white) artists. The groups have stayed in touch over the ensuing two decades, and collaborated again on this brand-new track, which works better this time because the song is specifically built around the rappers’ contributions.

86. The Amazons – Howlin. A compilation album called Introducing … The Amazons appeared in the U.S. this past January, featuring tracks from their first two proper LPs as well as several bonus tracks, including this one, which has the kind of big, muscular guitar riff that has made me a fan since their debut.

85. Public Enemy featuring Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, Jahi, YG, and ?uestlove – Fight The Power: Remix 2020. This song was the opener on the 2020 BET Awards and later appeared on PE’s comeback album What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down? Artists revisiting and re-recording their classics nearly always goes wrong, sometimes to cringey effect, but this song, with these new lyrics, appearing this summer was spot-on. The video, built around images from this past summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, is also worth watching.

84. HAERTS – It’s Too Late. Here’s hoping 2021 brings us a new album from this indie/soft-pop duo, whose sound also hasn’t changed much since their Hemiplegia EP appeared seven years ago.

83. Working Men’s Club – White Rooms and People. If you just heard this without any context, assuming you’re old enough to make this connection, wouldn’t you think this was some English post-punk track from 1981? The guitar and synth lines could have appeared on any number of albums back then, and the off-kilter vocals will always evoke that particular time in music, even though it’s become more common (at least in European pop/rock) in the interim.

82. Pale Waves – Change. This Mancunian band got quite a bit of airplay back in 2017 for “There’s a Honey” and “Television Romance,” but I’d rate this as their best single to date, a timeless pop track with a clear nod to the heyday of late 1990s alternative music.

81. Radkey – Seize. Why haven’t Radkey broken through yet?They write hooky songs that blend punk and power-pop, they’re a good story, and as an all-Black rock band, they’re still a bit of a rarity in the music world (although I hope that’s becoming less notable over time). Their fourth album, Green Room, just dropped a month ago and I still need to dive into it, but this lead single rocks.

80. Tame Impala – Lost In Yesterday. Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush was one of my favorite albums of the year, taking Kevin Parker’s project from psychedelic rock into everything from acid house to ’70s soft rock, with at least four songs I considered for the top 100.

79. SAULT ft. Michael Kiwanuka – Bow. Get usedto seeing SAULT on this list, since they released two full-length albums in 2020, one of which, Untitled (Rise), was my #1 LP of 2020. This sparsely arranged track, driven by a potent bass line and wah-wah guitar riff, features the artist who scored my #1 LP of 2019, the amazing, Mercury Prize-winning singer/guitarist Michael Kiwanuka.

78. Yard Act – Fixer Upper. The most British song on this list, bar none, with spoken-word lyrics like a short story where the presence of music is almost a happy coincidence.

77. The Mysterines – Love’s Not Enough. Add The Mysterines to the list of bands I think should be a lot bigger than they are, although the fact that they haven’t released a proper LP yet might be holding them back. Singer/guitarist Lia Metcalfe is a force on vocals and with the axe, and the group just keeps churning out songs with powerful riffs and incisive lyrics.

76. Ten Fé – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart. This track was the only release this year from the soft-rock quintet Ten Fé, and it’s a cover of the Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus song, performed in a bare-bones vocals/acoustic guitar rendition by bandmember Leo Duncan.

75. Space Above, So Below – Golden. Space Above is the new project from former Naked & Famous keyboardist and producer Aaron Short, releasing their second album this August at the same time that TNAF’s Recover dropped. It’s more atmospheric and slightly more experimental, but on this, the album’s best track, you can hear the same pop influences you do in his former band.

74. Arlo Parks – Black Dog. I root for the success of many artists, and sometimes express surprise when certain artists aren’t more successful, but I am cautious not to predict success very often because so many variables go into it beyond just talent or musical quality. But my God, if Arlo Parks isn’t the next big thing in 2021, there’s no justice whatsoever in the world of music.

73. Black Honey – Run For Cover. One of twonew singles from this Brighton indie-rock group who have a real knack for great pop hooks.

72. Middle Kids – R U 4 Me? An exuberant pop/rock track from the band behind 2016’s alternative radio hit “Edge of Town.”

71. Wild Nothing – The World is a Hungry Place. I go back and forth on Wild Nothing; I prefer him to be a little less experimental, generally like his sense of melody, but have also found him being extremely derivative (never more so than on “To Know You,” which borrows very liberally from Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life”). There is something about his sound that keeps bringing me back, and it’s here on the one standout from his EP of songs cut from his previous record, Indigo.

70. Pure Reason Revolution – Silent Genesis (Edit). Go with the six-minute edit, not the 10:20 version on their album Eupnea. PRR’s music is a peculiar mix of electronic music and ambient metal, and while it doesn’t always work, the ceiling, which they approach here, is pretty high.

69. Jake Bugg – Saviours of the City. Bugg hasn’t built on his first two albums, released in 2012 and 2013, after turning in a slower, more folk/country direction, which led to his original label dropping him after his deal expired. He released three singles in 2020, with this folk-tune more in line with his first album, the more rock-oriented “Rabbit Hole,” and the overly poppy “All I Need.”

68. Ministry – Alert Level (Quarantined Mix). A bunch of 1990s artists had bigand unexpected comebacks this year, including Hum (whose Inlet was their first album in 22 years), the GoGo’s, Rob Zombie (further up the list), Arab Strap (ditto), and industrial metal pioneers Ministry, whose grim outlook on modern, post-capitalist life could not feel more apposite to 2020.

67. Talk Show – Stress. British press call them a punk band, but they’re definitely more post-punk, less abrasive than straight punk and more melodic, although the same indignant attitude is present here on the lead track from their four-song EP These People.

66. Waxahatchee – Can’t Do Much. If this was Katie Crutchfield’s best song of 2020, that would be a strong cap to a year that saw her produce one of its best albums in Saint Cloud. It’s the second-best song on the record, though, which is more evidence of why she’s so great.

65. SAULT – I Just Want to Dance. How can you resist a title and line like that? SAULT sucks you in with the groove, and then the anonymous singer explains that she can’t just dance because Black people are being murdered by cops and nobody cares.

64. Artificial Pleasure – The Movement of Sound. Artificial Pleasure might be the direct descendants of Heaven 17 and the Human League, with just a brief nod to modernity in some of the drum and bass elements, like the pounding backdrop to this very danceable track.

63. Hot Chip, Jarvis Cocker – Straight To The Morning. Hot Chip are good for one banger an album, and this is at least the equal of “Huarache Lights,” but I couldn’t even tell Cocker was on this track.

62. L.A. WITCH – True Believers. The best track on this all-female hard-rock trio’s new album Play with Fire.

61. PAINT – Strange World. This is the best Badly Drawn Boy track in 20 years (that is not actually by BDB).

60. Sprints – The Cheek. The first single from this new Irish band, whose music is a half-step less outraged than Fontaines D.C.’s but still shows a close kinship with vintage pink.

59. Ghost of Vroom – Rona Pollona. The new project from former Soul Coughing lead singer Mike Doughty and bassist Andrew Livingston is more like Soul Coughing than any of Doughty’s solo work, between his free-flowing, half-spoken lyrics and emphasis on the drum-and-bass elements over other instruments.

58. Lauren Ruth Ward – Water Sign. The best track of Ward’s album Volume II pairs her evocative, smoky voice with a heavy bottom of bass and pounding drums.

57. Deep Sea Diver – Hurricane. The intro to this song might mislead you into expecting some sort of big, over-the-top horn section, but it’s subtler and more folk-tinged than that, with a strong hook to support it.

56. Jade Bird – Headstart. The 23-year-old Bird is about to release her second album, led off by this bouncy single that still lets her release her inner Janis Joplin on the chorus.

55. Jackie Venson – Make Me Feel. I missed Venson’s album release in late October, but loved this lead single from the spring, which showcases her guitarwork – even though she’s only played since 2011, according to Wikipedia – and distinctive vocal style.

54. Black Orchid Empire – Natural Selection. If I hadn’t included “Stormbringer,” this would be the heaviest track on the top 100, although I think BOE’s music is a lot more accessible, just produced in a way that emphasizes the heavy drum work in the chorus – which is the best part of the song.

53. James BKS feat. The New Breed Gang – No Unga Bunga. I didn’t know James BKS was the son of Manu Dibango, a famous and popular Cameroonian musician, until the latter’s death this spring from COVID-19. This song, released just last month, is meant as a tribute to Dibango, and brings in more of the Afropop elements that BKS showed on his debut track “Kwele.”

52. Tori Handsley, Ruth Goller, Moses Boyd – What’s in a Tune. The only instrumental track on this ranking probably would never have crossed my radar if it weren’t for the presence of jazz drummer Moses Boyd, whose name you’ll see again on this list. Handsley is a jazz/rock harpist who gets sounds from the instrument like I’ve never heard before. The riff here – and, guitar or no, that’s a damn riff – is good enough to support the whole track without vocals.

51. Django Django – Spirals. As lead singles go, this is promising – better than anything off their last album, I think, and on par with “Shake and Tremble” from the previous LP. They still haven’t matched “Default” or “Hail Bop,” but I suppose that’s a lot to ask of any group.

50. BLOXX – Coming Up Short. This West London quartet’s sound reminds me more of California indie pop/rock, for reasons I can’t quite pin down, but their debut album Lie Out Loud was solid, highlighted by this song and the title track.

49. Are We Static – Wildfire. This is how you build a crescendo in a rock song – the song sets your mind running and pays it off with a hook in the chorus that brings the vocals and the lead guitar together.

48. TRAAMS – Intercontinental Radio Waves. It’sarather lo-fi affair – is that guy playing drums, or just some overturned buckets? – and the vocals sound just as unpolished, but the layering that takes us into the chorus of this alt-rock track is brilliant.

47. The Wants – The Motor. I talk a lot about punk, post-punk, and new wave, since my formative years as a music fan came during the heyday of the latter two and were influenced heavily by the main bands of the first one, so artists that remind me of those periods score well with me. I’m not sure I’ve heard anything as reminiscent of the first generation of post-punk bands, like Gang of Four or Magazine, as this song, from the Brooklyn trio’s debut album Container.

46. Glass Animals – Your Love (Déjà Vu). If it’s not quite up to their peak of “Life Itself,” “Your Love” is still a great Glass Animals track – memorable, danceable, driven by unusual percussion sounds, without too much tweeness in the vocals.

45. Grimes – 4ÆM. Grimes’ album Miss Anthropocene was my #5 LP of the year, placing two songs on this year’s list and one on last year’s (“Violence,” #53). “4ÆM” shows Grimes’ strength on the electronic side, while the track I ranked even higher shows off her straight musicianship.

44. Khruangbin – Pelota. Khruangbin added vocals for their third album, Mordechai, and got worse reviews for it – but for my money, it’s their best album to date, as the added vocal melodies make their incredible technical skills far more accessible.

43. Disclosure – ENERGY. Disclosurewent back to the well that produced their first big hit, “When a Fire Starts to Burn,” once again sampling minister and motivational speaker Eric Thomas over a strong beat for one of their best tracks to date.

42. Fake Names – Brick. If you like the Descendents’ style of tight punk with just a slight nod to the demands of melody, you’ll probably enjoy this new punk supergroup, with former members of Minor Threat, the Refused, and Girls Against Boys.

41. Sad13 – Sooo Bad. The reviews for the second solo album from Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), Haunted Painting, were stronger than I expected; I think I come down more on the side of her noise-pop sounds with Speedy Ortiz, but this was my top song off the solo album.

40. Mourn – Stay There. The bestsongoff my #15 album of the year is one of the more interesting tracks musically thanks to an off-beat drum line that gives the whole song a sense that it’s about to fall apart.

39. Goodie Mob, Organized Noize – Frontline. This is just right in my wheelhouse, at least in terms of the style of rap, but that’s probably because these guys are all right about my age.

38. Everything Everything – Arch Enemy. I give E2 a lot of rope when it comes to experimentation, but I definitely favor their songs with a strong beat, even if you wouldn’t call them dance songs. This one, my favorite track off RE-ANIMATOR, is definitely good for hitting the floor.

37. Allie X – Sarah Come Home. I wasn’t wild about Cape God, which was as inconsistent with hooks and melodies as her previous releases, but this song is a real standout and deserved a lot more airplay than it got.

36. Cut Copy – Like Breaking Glass. Cut Copy might not reach the heights of their 2011 album Zonoscope again, but with “Black Rainbows” off their last album and this track off Freeze, Melt, they’re at least good for one great pop single per LP.

35. The Beths – Dying to Believe. I liked Jump Rope Gazers, but I had kind of expected to love it; this New Zealand quartet have a great knack for pairing sweet vocal harmonies with crunchy guitar riffs, best showcased here in the bridge and chorus.

34. Lupin – May. Lupinis Jake Luppen, lead singer of Hippo Campus, who released his first solo material this year, including this surprisingly funky synth-heavy track.

33. Arab Strap – The Turning of Our Bones. Arab Strap’s first new music in 14 years also gave us a new sound, gothic, haunting, with unabashedly erotic lyrics.

32. San Cisco – Reasons. This Australian pop trio leaned hard into the vocal and visual presence of drummer Scarlett Stevens, although the music suffers when she takes the lead at the mic, as she doesn’t have the vocal range of singer Jordi Davieson. They’re at their best on tracks like this one, where there’s some back-and-forth between the two, not to mention another great hook. Some other highlights from their newest album Between You and Me: “On the Line,” “When I Dream,” and “Flaws.”

31. The Districts – Cheap Regrets. Definitely the best thing I’ve heard from the Districts. The opening builds so much drama, and it pays off as soon as the vocals and drums enter around the one-minute mark.

30. Little Simz – might bang, might not. The only flaw in this furious burst of hip-hop energy is that it’s barely two minutes long.

29. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Be Afraid. Peak Isbell for me. Or, the peak of a certain type of rock/country hybrid that has to be near its ceiling to get my attention.

28. Lucius – Man in My Radio. Thistrack actually dates back to 2013, from the sessions for their debut album Wildewoman, which makes no sense because it’s better than anything on that album.

27. clipping. – Say the Name. Daveed Diggs as MC with a pair of his friends as producers. The album Visions of Bodies Being Burned had a lot of experimental noise that made it a tougher listen than it should have been given Diggs’ technical skill as a rapper and facility with wordplay.

26. Jorja Smith, Popcaan – Come Over (feat. Popcaan). Still waiting on Smith’s sophomore album, although she keeps teasing listeners with one-off singles like this one and her appearance on a song from the Eddy, “Kiss Me in the Morning.”

25. The Killers – Dying Breed. My favorite track from my #9 album of the year, although I also really liked “Caution.”

24. Pallbearer – The Quicksand of Existing. The title track from the doom-metal stalwarts’ fourth album is almost certainly the heaviest song I’ve ever included on a top 100, but the way the band managed to increase the tempo and reincorporate the feel of rock into a subgenre that is often so distant from it made it the best track they’ve ever recorded.

23. SAULT – Wildfires. The best track off Untitled (Black Is) follows the same template as most of that album, marrying lyrics of stark protest against police violence against Black Americans with a sparse but uptempo funk backdrop. The vocals here, possibly by American rapper/singer Kid Sister, are just gorgeous.

22. Fontaines D.C. – I Was Not Born. “I was not born/into this world/to do another man’s bidding” puts the band’s ethos front and center, and it sits atop a driving guitar and drum pattern that refuses to give you a chance to catch your breath.

21. Catholic Action – Another Name for Loneliness. The intro to this track will never not remind me of New Order’s “Love Vigilantes,” but in the right way, and the hook in the chorus is perfectly melancholy. This album appeared on a number of best-of-2020 lists too.

20. Rob Zombie – The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition). This track was Zombie’s first new music in over four years, and it’s a glorious throwback to his halcyon days with White Zombie and his earliest solo work, if maybe a half-step heavier and more abrasive than “Dragula” or “More Human than Human.”

19. Anderson .Paak – Lockdown. The best song written about the lockdowns of 2020 wasn’t actually about lockdowns, but about the Black Lives Matter protest movement that swept the country in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

18. Doves – Carousels. Doves’ first new music since 2009 was extremely promising, something that sounded right out of the sessions for The Last Broadcast, but the album failed to live up to this lead single’s potential.

17. All Them Witches – Lights Out. A number of critics loved this album, but some of it is just too noodly and navel-gazing for me; three minutes of ATW’s dark, gothic-blues riffing is perfect, but nine minutes is a bridge too far, I suppose.

16. The Mysterines – I Win Every Time. Another killer single from the Mysterines, powered by Metcalfe’s charismatic and vaguely threatening vocals.

15. Porridge Radio – 7 Seconds. Every Bad wasone of the most acclaimed albums of 2020, but I wanted more memorable hooks or melodies than the album could provide. This track had the best earworm of anything on the record, an alternative rock track that seems like it could come from any decade.

14. Bananagun – The Master. This Australian band’s debut album The True Story of Bananagun borrows heavily from late 1960s psychedelic rock, but with some elements from funk and terrific musicianship. The way the vocals are mixed on this, the album’s best track, definitely evokes something from just before I was born, but the music is more daring and experimental.

13. Bartees Strange – Mustang. Strange’s debutalbum met with rave reviews, although his love of the National, and critics’ love of the same, show through in both the music and critical responses. This rocks a good bit more than the National’s music does, more like a good Hold Steady track, and the droning guitars work well with Strange’s voice.

12. Shamir – On My Own. If you rememberShamir at all, it might be from his debut single “On the Regular,” where he rapped rather than sang, but he has a beautiful singing voice that shines here over a swirling, jangly guitar lick.

11. Grimes – Delete Forever. The softer side of Grimes is every bit as interesting as her jagged, rougher side, so while it’s not as daring or experimental as some of the tracks on Miss Anthropocene, but it’s the one I come back to most often.

10. Christine and the Queens – I disappear in your arms. This is the Christine and the Queens song that has been stuck in my head all year; it’s incredible that this and the widely acclaimed “People, I’ve been sad” both came off a six-song, 22-minute EP (La vita nuova) that seemed like a brief filler between albums. With this song, “Tilted,” and “5 dollars,” she should be globally acclaimed by now for her pop songcraft.

9. Creeper – Annabelle. The most Suede-like song on Sex, Death, and the Infinite Void is my favorite, of course.

8. The Naked And Famous – Monument. Alisa Xayalith’s vocals elevate this song above the rest of the tracks on TNAF’s outstanding fourth album, Recover, with some help from a cracking call-and-response moment in the chorus.

7. Tame Impala – Borderline. Kevin Parker’s ability to take a synth riff that sounds like he recorded it in a bathroom on an old Casio home keyboard and build a billowing cloud of melody and intrigue around it is unparalleled.

6. Arlo Parks – Green Eyes. Parks’ debut record, Collapsed in Sunbeams, is due out January 29^th, and I don’t think I’m looking forward to any album more. “Green Eyes” showcases her voice, her lyric writing, and her sense of melody as well as anything she’s released so far.

5. Khruangbin – Time (You and I). The best song off Mordechai is its funkiest track, right down to the vocals, all of which owes a huge debt to ’70s funk and disco. The interplay between the guitar and the walking bass lines is utter genius – taken on their own, they sound like they’d work at cross purposes, but they marry perfectly once combined.

4. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Automation. A heavy dose of psychedelia beneath my favorite guitar riff of the year produced a song that’s been in my rotation for months. King Gizzard flows so easily between styles of rock, blues, and metal, but this right here is his sweet spot.

3. Waxahatchee – Lilacs. My earliest contender for song of the year has just the right balance of country elements in Crutchfield’s formula of indie or roots rock, and her voice shines here on the chorus and every time she sings “And the lilacs drink the water.”

2. SAULT – Free. I dare you to sit stillwhen this song – and its infectious bass line – come on the speakers. The song shifts gears into the chorus, but doesn’t lose any of the momentum from that bass or the drum beat as it moves.

1. Moses Boyd ft. Poppy Ajudha – Shades of You. Boyd, a jazz drummer who’d recorded previously as half of Binker and Moses, was everywhere this year, including his incredible solo debut Dark Matter, his collaborations with jazz/rock harpist Tori Handsley, and work with Village of the Sun (which also includes Binker Golding). This song has elements from jazz, trip-hop, trap, and more, while jazz singer Ajudha sears her way across the intricate instrumentation with one of the year’s best vocal hooks in the chorus. This song floored me when it came out in March and it still floors me now. It’s a great single, but even more, it’s a brilliant piece of genre-bending songwriting.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2020 in music, Music, rankings

→ December 22, 2020
→ By keith

Top 15 albums of 2020.

I tried to do a longer list, but in the end couldn’t really get behind any more albums than these – which isn’t to say there were no other good albums, but there were the fifteen about which I felt the strongest. Disclosure, Working Men’s Club, King Gizzard, Bartees Strange, Freddie Gibbs, and San Cisco all put out interesting albums that just didn’t quite make the cut.

Previous years’ album rankings: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.

15. Mourn – Self Worth. Mourn appeared on the scene around the same time as another all-woman rock band, the critical darlings Hinds, who barely knew how to play their guitars but succeeded with sheer enthusiasm and a few infectious hooks. Mourn, on the other hand, was more polished out of the gate, and on this album they’ve refined their sound and produced their best, most complete record yet. Running just 34 minutes, this collection of a dozen songs finds the trio contemplating the worthlessness of men and the heartbreaks of loving them anyway, along with more nuanced guitar riffs that seem harder-edged, even to the borderline of old-school metal. Highlights include “Stay There,” “Men,” “Call You Back,” and “I’m in Trouble.”

14. LA Witch – Play With Fire. Barely long enough to call it an album, Play With Fire runs a scant 29 minutes, but packs a punch in these nine songs, recalling some of the earliest female-fronted punk bands, where that scene was more open to women who wanted to be serious rock musicians than the typical avenues of pop radio and commercial labels. L.A. Witch’s sound is probably more gothic rock than punk, though, and has more in common with Killing Joke or Siouxsie and the Banshees than, say, Blondie or even the Slits. Standout tracks include “Fire Starter,” “True Believers,” and “I Wanna Lose.”

13. Pallbearer – Forgotten Days. The best metal album of the year, without any close competition, was the fourth LP from these American doom stalwarts, quite likely the best doom metal band still active today. (While it’s not a metal album per se, Inlet, the comeback album from 1990s alt-rock band Hum, has a lot of doom elements to it.) Forgotten Days has a little something for everyone, from the practically exuberant title track to the crunching “Rite of Passage” to the twelve-minute opus “Silver Wings.” The album distills everything Pallbearer did well on their first three albums into a single 50-minute record, and pushes them from much-admired heirs to the Black Sabbath/Cathedral throne to undisputed kings of modern doom.

12. Everything Everything – RE-ANIMATOR. More consistent start to finish than their previous albums, RE-ANIMATOR works better as a cohesive whole than anything they’ve released to date, which makes up for the lack of a huge single like “Cough Cough” or “I Believe It Now.” The frenetic arrangements, falsetto vocals, rapid tempo shifts, and idiosyncratic vocals are all still here, but now they’re just a bit more under control. Standout tracks include “Planets,” “Violent Sun,” “In Birdsong,” and “Arch Enemy.”

11. The Naked & Famous – Recover. This New Zealand duo’s fourth album, and first since 2016, is their best yet – although, as with RE-ANIMATOR, it doesn’t have a single to match their all-time best (I’d argue “Young Blood,” my partner would say “Punching in a Dream,” and is either of us really wrong?). There’s a new lyrical sophistication here, and they maintain their melodic strength over the entire album, where on the last two records in particular it seemed to lag as the albums went on. Highlights include the title track, “Sunseeker,” “Death,” “Everybody Knows,” and “Monument.”

10. Bananagun – The True Story of Bananagun. I only heard about this Melbourne psychedelic rock/funk group a few weeks ago, but I’m all about this album and their strange mélange of late ’60s flower-child rock and funk guitar work from the decade afterwards. Standout tracks include “The Master,” “Freak Machine,” and “Bang Go the Bongos.”

9. The Killers – Imploding the Mirage. I was never a huge Killers fan beyond a couple of their singles, especially when they turned towards a more over-the-top, affected sound on their second album, Sam’s Town. On their sixth album, they seem to have rediscovered a lot of what made their first album successful without regressing to an earlier, less musically sophisticated style. There’s still a lot going on across Imploding the Mirage, from vibraphones to E-bows to a makeshift string section, but this time that all feels like it’s in service of the music, not the other way around. Standout tracks include “Dying Breed,” “Caution,” and “Blowback.”

8. Tame Impala – The Slow Rush. I’ve always been a few degrees short of the critical acclaim for Kevin Parker’s music; I’ve liked many of his tracks but he often needs an editor to rein him in, and his albums haven’t come together as well as they should. The Slow Rush still has too many tracks that go on too long – half of the twelve songs here run five minutes or more, up to 7:13 for the closer – but it’s the most coherent record he’s released to date. Standout singles include “Borderline,” “Lost in Yesterday,” and “Breathe Deeper.”

7. SAULT – Untitled (Black Is). SAULT released one of the best albums of 2019 but did so after my 2019 rankings came out – in fact, they released two albums (7 and 5) last year, and both were great, but I didn’t hear either until May of this year. Despite working to cloak their identities for over a year, they’ve gained some critical attention nonetheless for their soul/funk/spoken word sound, and with Untitled (Black Is) they’ve become overtly political with a series of anthems supporting Black Lives Matter and other causes of equality and justice. Standout tracks include “Bow,” featuring Michael Kiwanuka; “Wildfires;” “Monsters;” “Why We Cry Why We Die;” and “Black.”

6. Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud. Folk-rocker Katie Crutchfield bares her soul, recounting her struggles with alcoholism and decision to get sober after her previous album, the uneven Out in the Storm (which still gave us “Never Been Wrong”), and the result is her best and most complete album to date. Standout tracks include “Lilacs,” “Can’t Do Much,” and “Hell.”

5. Grimes – Miss Anthropocene. A good example of when to separate the art from the artist. Grimes’ last album, Art Angels, was my #1 album of 2015; this record is more experimental and expansive, but still has several tracks that stand well on their own thanks to strong melodies, including “Violence,” “4ÆM,” and “Delete Forever.”

4. Khruangbin – Mordechai. I was late to the Khruangbin party, only hearing their last album, Con Todo El Mundo, a year after it came out, helped by The RFK Tapes’ podcast’s use of “Maria También” as its theme song. I think I got here just in time, though, as Mordechai is going to be their big breakout, as it has the same kind of Thai jazz/funk/rock hybrid sound as their last album, but now with extensive vocals from all three members. Standout tracks include “Pelota,” “Time (You and I),” the funky “So We Won’t Forget,” and “Connaissais de Face.”

3. Moses Boyd – Dark Matter. I don’t have any comparison for this album by percussionist Moses Boyd, one half of Binker and Moses. It’s a dark, swirling journey of modern jazz and house that has the energy of improvisational music but the tighter focus and melodic sensibility of more mainstream genres. Standout tracks include the stellar “Shades of You” (feat. Poppy Ajudha), shimmering opener “Stranger than Fiction,” and the guitar-laden “Y.O.Y.O.”

2. Creeper – Sex, Death, and the Infinite Void. Soapparently Creeper was a punk band just a few years ago on their debut album, but completely changed their sound for this sophomore release, a bombastic, showy, riveting album that recalls the earliest days of post-punk/New Wave with a very heavy dose of early Suede, especially in Will Gould’s swaggering vocals. It’s a concept album about an angel who has fallen from the heavens into a small town in California, and experiences love and heartbreak for the first time. Highlights include “Cyanide,” “Annabelle,” “Born Cold,” the country-tinged “Poisoned Heart,” and the Roxy Music-esque “Paradise.”

1. SAULT – Untitled (Rise). SAULT’s second album of 2020 and their fourth in about 14 months was their best yet, tighter than Untitled (Black Is) and more focused without losing any of their previous three albums’ strength, sense of rhythm, or lyrical indignation. “Free” is one of the best songs of the year, a timeless funk/dance song powered by an epic earworm of a bass line, while “I Just Want to Dance” deceives you with its title and rhythm when it’s actually another protest song about police killings of black men. Untitled (Black Is) earned more praise this year, topping NPR’s best albums of 2020 list and coming in at #5 on the Guardian‘s, but my argument here is that Untitled (Rise) is better start to finish, whereas its predecessor loses some steam towards the finish. They’re both tremendous albums, and any publication – looking at you, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone – that omits them from their year-end lists should at least explain their absence. Other highlight tracks include “Strong,” “Fearless,” “Little Boy,” and the spoken-word track “You Know It Ain’t.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2020 in music, Music, rankings

→ December 6, 2020
→ By keith

Music update, November 2020.

A quick playlist of new tracks from November, as we head into mid-December and time for my year-end lists of 2020’s best albums and singles, which I’m tentatively planning to run on December 21^st and 22^nd. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

James BKS feat. The New Breed Gang – No Unga Bunga. French producer and hip-hop artist JamesBKSwas the first signing to Idris Elba’s new record label, and this is now his fourth single for the imprint, following last year’s “New Breed,” with guest spots from Q-Tip, Little Simz, and Elba himself.

Arlo Parks – Caroline. At this point, I might be looking forward to Parks’ debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, due out January 29^th, more than any other album scheduled for next year. Her voice is stunning and I love the lush sound of just about everything she’s released so far.

Jade Bird – Headstart. The Welsh singer-songwriter Bird hasn’t announced a new album but this is her first new track in over a year, since her debut album dropped in May 2019.

HAERTS – It’s Too Late. The duo announced a release date for their third album, Dream Nation, of March 21, with this track and “For the Sky” to be included.

Mourn – Stay There. ThisBarcelona punk-rock trio seem to be getting more experimental as they get older – although they’re still all between 20 and 23 years old – with their fourth album, Self Worth, released on October 30^th.

Khruangbin – Summer Madness. Khruangbin had already released one of the year’s best albums in Mordechai, and now they’ve put out a full album with 15 covers, including this reworking of a Kool & the Gang track from 1974.

Django Django – Glowing in the Dark. The title track from the Djangos’ fourth album, due out February 12^th, is more of the same electronic rock we’ve gotten from the group since their more experimental first record, 2012’s self-titled debut.

Radkey – Seize. The Brothers Radke are at their best when they turn up the tempo, which they do here on this punk-infused track. Their newest album Green Room just came out on November 27^th.

Record Heat – Nathan. Record Heat used to be called Spirit Animal, but they changed their name based on criticism of the possible cultural appropriation involved in the old moniker. I find their music a mixed bag – when they try to introduce anything resembling rap, it doesn’t work, but their straight rock tracks can be pretty strong.

Romero – Troublemaker. A new power-pop group from Melbourne, Romero just released this, their third single, in advance of a debut album coming out next year.

The Lounge Society – Burn the Heather. This West Yorkshire teenaged quartet have called themselves “the antidote to The 1975,” which is good enough for me, although I also dig the post-punk vibe on this, their second-ever single.

Pale Waves – Change. This is my favorite song to date from the Mancunian indie-rock band, whose second album, Who Am I?, is due out on February 12^th.

Middle Kids – R U 4 Me? I never got this Sydney indie-pop act’s their 2016 hit “Edge of Town,” but this new track, their first since an EP came out last May, is pretty solid.

Zeal & Ardor – Wake of a Nation. The title track from this gospel-blues-metal band’s new EP, released October 23^rd, has more of the same righteous anger in the lyrics and tones down the harshest elements (e.g., blast beats) of some of their earlier output.

Moonspell – The Greater Good. The Portuguese doom metal stalwarts announced their 12^th album, Hermitage, will come out on February 26^st; it’s their first since 2017’s concept album 1755.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2020 in music, alternative, hip hop, indie, metal, Music

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