This year has sucked across multiple dimensions, but new music has been one of the few bright spots of the first half of 2020 \u2013 although I worry that there’s a time lag here, and we’re getting great singles and albums recorded before the world ended. Anyway, here are the best albums I have heard so far this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7. SAULT \u2013 Untitled (Black Is)<\/a><\/em>.<\/strong> SAULT released one of the best albums of 2019 but did so after my 2019 rankings came out \u2013 in fact, they released two albums (7 <\/em>and 5<\/em>) last year, and both were great, but I didn’t hear either until May of this year. The identities of the band members are still unknown, but they’ve gained some critical attention nonetheless for their soul\/funk\/spoken word sound, and with Untitled (Black Is)<\/em> 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; “Monsters;” “Why We Cry Why We Die;” and “Black.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Tame Impala \u2013 The Slow Rush<\/a><\/em>.<\/strong> 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 <\/em>still has too many tracks that go on too long \u2013 half of the twelve songs here run five minutes or more, up to 7:13 for the closer \u2013 but it’s the most coherent record he’s released to date. Standout singles include “Borderline,” “Lost in Yesterday,” and “Breathe Deeper.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Bananagun \u2013 The True Story of Bananagun<\/a><\/em>.<\/strong> I only heard about this Melbourne psychedelic rock\/funk group a few weeks ago, but I’m all about this album and their strange m\u00e9lange 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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Waxahatchee \u2013 Saint Cloud<\/a><\/em>.<\/strong> 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<\/em> (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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Grimes \u2013 Miss Anthropocene<\/a><\/em>.<\/strong> A good example of when to separate the art from the artist. Grimes’ last album, Art Angels<\/em>, 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,” “4\u00c6M,” and “Delete Forever.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n