Let’s be honest, 2020 has sucked on almost every level. However, music has been nothing short of incredible this year. The global uncertainty has allowed the world’s biggest star to follow her muse into uncharted waters while young artists are releasing exciting and important work. I don’t want to get to December and try to remember it all because something will fall through the cracks in the pavement (well, my memory).
I also love the different strategies artists are using to bring their art to market. From the spontaneous release of Taylor Swift’s folklore to the growing hype around The Chicks’ Gaslighter, the excitement around new albums has been a welcome distraction to everything else happening in the world. It is also important to note that women are leading this wave of incredible new music. This pandemic has disrupted the industry in a lot of ways and as it re-builds, a lot of the old, patriarchal attitudes will simply not have a place in entertainment. It is an exciting time to be a music fan! Here are some of this year’s highlights both well-known and under the radar.
The Chicks – Sleep At Night
What makes this album so incredible is how flawlessly the band shifts between country, pop, and rock without losing their own unique aesthetic. More importantly, the album tackles the harsh realities of infidelity and divorce on a level popular music often shies away from. This is heavy listening but it is also empowering. This is an album of solidarity in the face of pain and anger. This is life.
Taylor Swift – cardigan
The sudden arrival of folklore hinted at something unique and Swift has not disappointed. An artist who was influenced by the Dixie Chicks, her style has now fed back into the new Chicks album while she takes a different path altogether on this electro-pastoral walk through a forest. It is full of beautiful writing and with Bon Iver and members of The National helping, the music never falters.
Dua Lipa – Physical
Future Nostalgia has to be the best album name of the year! Lipa does exactly that with a forward-thinking dance album that embraces the influence of disco and 80’s pop. Like Swift, Lipa never allows being a pop star overshadow her art. This album is meticulously produced and every song feels essential to the album.
Shopping – For Your Pleasure
While we are on the dance floor, here is Shopping. Mixing the spiky post-punk of Gang of Four with the energy of B-52’s, Shopping are one of the most fun bands in music and deliver incredible live shows. Until they can tour, we have their new album All Or Nothing to keeps us grooving.
Ist Ist – Silence
Featured on The Encores Club where Rhonda and I dissected it along with David O. of the D-Side podcast, Ist Ist are everything you’d expect from a Manchester post-punk band. The shadows of Joy Division and The Cure are on the edge of their sound but their sense of humor insists on drawing you closer. A veil of darkness hangs loosely around the album Architecture but it still draws you close.
Baxter Dury – I’m Not Your Dog
Sounding like his legendary father Ian, Baxter picks up where his last album left off on the new album The Night Chancers. An artist full of acerbic wit, Dury is the sort of friend you hope to make while getting drunk late at night. Its club music for adults where we sit around drinking cocktails and lamenting the state of the world wishing life was more like a James Bond film.
The Pretenders – The Buzz
Remember when we thought All You Need Is Now was the best Duran Duran album in decades? That is what The Pretenders have done with Hate For Sale. A timely record, the spirit of punk runs throughout the lyrics as The Pretenders lash out at a world where democracy is no longer a given. Concise and sharp, this has one of the surprise gems of 2020.
Margo Price – Letting Me Down
Thats How Rumors Get Started is an album title with a deeper meaning. Anyone who loves the California sounds of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors will feel right at home with Margo Price. She adds in some of the country flavor of Gram Parsons on this laid-back but serious album. Already a prolific songwriter, Price has achieved new heights in 2020 and is one of the artists changing how country music mingles with pop and rock.
The Vacant Lots – Rescue Me
If you enjoy Echo & the Bunnymen and Jesus & Mary Chain, The Vacant Lots are your new favorite band. Those two aforementioned legacy acts are also two of the worst live bands I’ve ever seen so I am more than ready to skip their “whatever anniversary” shows to support The Vacant Lots when live music returns. Remember the club where Duckie and Andie hang out in Pretty In Pink? These guys should be the headliner there!
Jehnny Beth – Flower
Another alum of The Encores Club, Jehnny Beth’s first solo record keeps the attitude of her band Savages but brings in a slew of new sonic ingredients. Echoes of PJ Harvey abound but Beth has created a musical journey that implodes concepts of gender. To Love Is To Live is an album that takes work but the rewards are endless.
Fiona Apple – Under the Table
At the end of 2020, it will be surprising if Fetch The Bolt Cutters isn’t at the top of almost every publication’s Best Of 2020 list. Apple continues to create art completely on her own terms. Much like David Bowie, her music can shift and change under your feet at any moment. One of the most significant albums to come along in years, the album is a labyrinth to explore where new secrets lie around every corner. It is magical.
So, what are some of your favorite albums this year?
