Caro - Burrows Slotface - Sorry for the late reply Deep Sea Diver - Impossible Weight Joywave - Possession Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher Beach Bunny - Honeymoon Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA TORRES - Silver Tongue The Front Bottoms - In Sickness & In Flames Poppy - I Disagree
Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces, Everyone // RIYL The Wonder Years or The Menzingers of montreal - UR FUN // Indie/psychedilic Charli XCX - how i’m feeling now // I play this all the time. I love the production and her voice. I’m Glad It’s You - Every Sun, Every Moon // One of the best in the "emo" genre I've heard in a long time. Mandancing - The Good Sweat // Emo RIYL Moneen Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA // She is hard to define. I would say RIYL Lady Gaga. Dorian Electra - My Agenda // This album makes a statement and is super gay. RIYL 100gecs. Polo G - THE GOAT // Rap with honest lyrics, hooks, and bars. Juice WRLD - Legends Never Die // His posthumous album. The melodies are excellent and the lyrics are brutally honest about his addiction and depression. I get the goosebumps listening. Taylor Swift - folklore // Different for her, RIYL indie/folk Sara and the Safe Word - Good Gracious! Bad People. // Theatrical. It could be a musical. RIYL Panic at the Disco! Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind // A person of color that makes a genre of his own. Freddie Gibbs - Alfredo // Hip hop with fantastic production by The Alchemist Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher // Excellent songwriting, lyrics, and vocals. Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake (Deluxe) - LUV vs. the World 2 // The deluxe version has twice as many tracks. Some go hard and some are bops. Rod Wave - Pray For Love // Melodic rap with singing too Oceanator - Things I Never Said // Emo I guess Poppy - I Disagree// Pop metal, RIYL Babymetal Beach Bunny - Honeymoon// Female fronted emo pop Goalies Anxiety At The Penalty Kick - Ways of Hearing // RIYL empire! empire! i was a lonely state
Absolute Faves Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud Big Big Faves Christian Lee Hutson – Beginners Hayley Williams – Petals for Armour The 1975 – Notes on a Conditional Form Nat Vazer – Is This Offensive and Loud? HAIM – Women in Music, Part III Kevin Morby – Sundowner Glass Animals – Dreamland Bartees Strange – Live Forever Tennis – Swimmer Beach Bunny – Honeymoon MAITA – Best Wishes Mac Miller – Circles Frances Quinlan – Likewise Soccer Mommy – Color Theory Katie Malco – Failures Laura Marling – Song for our Daughter Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately Bright Eyes – Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was Dog Day – Present Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated Side B Adrienne Lenker - Songs The Front Bottoms – In Sickness & In Flames Samia – The Baby Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension Pillow Queens – In Waiting Fenne Lily – Breach Braids – Shadow Offering ManDancing – The Good Sweat Porridge Radio – Every Bad Haley Blais – Below the Salt Sylvan Esso – Free Love Big Faves Novo Amor – Cannot Be, Whatsoever Matt Berninger – Serpentine Prison Half Gringa – Force to Reckon Momma – Two of Me The Strokes – The New Abnormal Fleet Foxes – Shore Snarls – Burst Death Valley Girls – Under The Spell of Joy Tenci – My Heart is an Open Field Nnamdi – BRAT Lianne La Havas – Lianne La Havas Anjimile – Giver Taker Mansions – Big Bad Kicksie – All My Friends Oceanator – Things I Never Said Liza Anne – Bad Vacation Anna Burch – If You’re Dreaming Margaret Glaspy – Devotion Bombay Bicycle Club – Everything Else Has Gone Wrong Caveboy – Night in the Park, Kiss in the Dark Orlando Weeks – A Quickening Kehlani – It Was Good Until It Wasn’t Long Neck – World’s Strongest Dog Sir Chloe – Party Favors Soft Blue Shimmer – Heaven Inches Away Becca Mancari – The Greatest Part Run The Jewels – RTJ4 Purity Ring – Womb Oklou – Galore Ben Seretan – Youth Pastoral Dirty Projectors – 5EPS Chloe x Halle – Ungodly Hour Helena Deland – Someone New All Other Faves Retirement Party – Runaway Dog Ratboys – Printer’s Devil Gordi – Our Two Skins Tame Impala – The Slow Rush Allie X – Cape God Illuminati Hotties – FREE IH: This is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For Thank You, I’m Sorry – I’m Glad We’re Friends Half Waif – The Caretaker Land of Talk – Indistinct Conversations Girl Friday – Androgynous Mary Phantogram – Ceremony Naeem – Startisha Gladie – Safe Sins Caroline Rose – Superstar Jealous of the Birds – Peninsula Basia Bulat – Are You In Love? Lomelda – Hannah Aquakulture – Legacy Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon III Cassino – Yellowhammer Childish Gambino – 3.15.20 EPs and Covers Tomberlin – Projections EP KennyHoopla – how will I rest in peace if I’m buried by a highway? James Blake – Before EP James Blake – Covers EP 6lack – 6pc Hot EP Skullcrusher – Skullcrusher EP Local Natives – Sour Lemon EP Orla Gartland – Freckle Season EP The Japanese House – Chewing Cotton Wool EP Pip Millett – Lost in June EP Phoebe Bridgers – Copycat Killer EP Cecile Believe – Plucking A Cherry From the Void EP Routine – And Other Things EP Christine and the Queens – La Vita Nuova EP Cajsa Siik – Ninjo – Part 1 Kevin Devine – No One’s Waiting Up For Me Tonight EP PUP – This Place Sucks Ass EP Markika Hackman – Covers Rosie Carney – The Bends
Albums: Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today (the dark underbelly of The National) Silo’s Choice - Twilight on the Trail (good, prolific songwriter - this album is a little more straightforward, songs about death and being broke) Cordoba - Specter (necessary jazz punk, baby!) Lomelda - Hannah (fuckin catharsis) Frances Quinlan - Likewise (best singer out there) Lunch Money Life - Immersion Chamber (flashes between chaotic and gorgeous) Slow Pulp - Moveys (reminds me of Jay Som, or what everyone else seems to have seen in the Soccer Mommy record but me) Freddie Gibbs & the Alchemist - Alfredo (Freddie is just the best) Madeline Kenney - Sucker’s Lunch (makes me feel like i am riding a bike in space) Retirement Party - Runaway Dog (big step up from their other releases, can’t wait to see this live in a sweaty Chicago bar) Jeff Rosenstock - No Dream (America’s anti-capitalist sweetheart is back) Mountain Goats - Songs for Pierre Chuvin (god i missed this sound) Kassa Overall - I Think I’m Good (when i think of 2020, this is the music i will be thinking of) Jeremy Cunningham - The Weather Up There (drum choiiiiirrr) Fred Thomas - Another Song About Riding the Bus (little compilation of songs from the past two decades on bandcamp only; no one sounds like Fred Thomas, and Fred Thomas sounds like everyone) Craig Finn - All These Perfect Crosses (the new songs are heartbreaking, and the demos of old ones fascinating) Westerman - Your Hero is Not Dead (makes me feel like I’m British but in a cool way) Thundercat - It Is What It Is (thunder cat) Yeaji- What We Drew (good to sit down in the shower stoned to) Ratboys - Devil’s Printer (why does this remind me of Rilo Kiley? It doesn’t sound like Rilo Kiley) Freedom Nicole Moore & the Electric Moon - Green Grass Grows (r&b that is warm and cares about you, specifically) Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown (ever stay up til 2am in a rocking chair and the lights are dim and you’ve been drinking? Love this JAZZ for that vibe) Bully - SUGAREGG (punched the roof of my car when i heard Every Tradition the first time) Yutaka Hirasaka - Anecdotes Tape 2 (everything i want out of lo-fi beats hegemony but it’s made by an actual artist and i have no concerns it’s a robot) Teenage Halloween - S/T (sing their ass off the whole way through) Omar S - You Want (You Want *the best*) RAP Ferreira - Purple Moonlight Pages (we all know Milo and his million aliases by now) Landowner - Consultant (good jangly paranoid Chicago music) Miserable chillers - Audience of Summer (somehow sounds like the Killers and Prefab Sprout all in one) Melkbelly - Pith (favorite snare sound of the year) EPs: Bumper - Pop Songs 2020 (perfect blend of J Brekkie subject matter and CRJ-type pop perfection) Wavelette - Good and Fine EP (if you asked me to show an alien what indie rock sounded like? I’d send them this on bandcamp) Chad Matheny - United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobics (this is good until there is a proper Emperor X record, hopefully next year) Phoebe - Copycat Killer (the record was great and all, but i was sure these songs going to be schlock because i don’t trust the concept but that’s what you get when you don’t trust in Phoebe) all the Yo La Tengo releases (mom and dad? mom and dad’s friend, James McNew?) song i listened to most this year: Wonder by Lomelda (the best song of the year)
There are always a handful of albums I get SUPER into the following year which would have been high in my AOTY list if I discovered them sooner. Last year it was Origami Angel & Small Talks. Very excited to dive through tons of these lists!
Need to give Gleemer a shot. I keep mixing them up with Glitterer, which I love Ned, but I cannot get into.
Hahaha. Very different artists. Glitterer isn’t for me either. The Gleemer record is great though. Perfect if you want some PV era Turnover sounds.
yeah I don't know how I mixed them up. I think I just see the same people talk about both acts and the names are slightly similar, idk...
My list as it stands right now. 1. Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone 2. Maxwell Stern - Impossible Sum 3. Nana Grizol - South Somewhere Else 4. Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud 5. Bruce Springsteen - Letter To You 6. Taylor Swift - Folklore / Evermore 7. The Mountain Goats - Songs For Pierre Chuvin 8. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher 9. Caspian - On Circles 10. Dogleg - Melee 11. The Chicks - Gaslighter 12. Ruston Kelly - Shape and Destroy 13. City Mouth - Coping Machine 14. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Reunions 15. Touché Amore - Lament 16. Jeff Parker - Suite For Max Brown 17. The Killers - Imploding the Mirage 18. Frances Quinlan - Likewise 19. Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways 20. Jeff Rosenstock - No Dream 21. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters 22. Beach Bunny - Honeymoon 23. Bright Eyes - Down In the Weeds Where the World Once Was 24. Bartees Strange - Live Forever 25. Cinema Stare - Hum and the Glow
@Importer/Exporter so weird seeing Omar-S on this site, big up also first time I’ve seen Landowner mentioned anywhere, hell yeah
yeah i found out about Landowner because Emperor X tweeted about that record, then realized they’re here in Chicago. Real excited to see them play sometime when that is a safe thing to do again. And Omar-S
This might change, but for now: 1) The Microphones - Microphones in 2020 2) Atrementus - Stygian 3) Clipping - Visions of Bodies Being Burned 4) Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated Side B 5) Fluisteraas - Bloem 6) Cloud Nothings - Life Is Only One Event 7) The Lawrence Arms - Skeleton Coast 8) Protest The Hero - Palimpsest 9) Run The Jewels - RTJ4 10) Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today
Man, this Snarls album should be higher on my list. This is the kind of album that makes me miss writing about music.
post-rock/math-rock caspian - on circles holy fawn - black moon vasudeva - generator hakanai - foundation/woman, bird star floral - floral lp standards - fruit island emo/pop punk hot mulligan - you’ll be fine charmer - ivy i love your lifestyle - no driver miss new buddha - the situation is excellent kicksie - all my friends heavy portrayal of guilt/slow fire pistol split viva belgrado - bellavista nuvolascura - as we suffer from memory and imagination if i die first - my poison arms sprain - as lost through collision svalbard - when i die, will i get better? exhalants - atonement naedr - past is prologue envy - the fallen crimson soul glo - songs to yeet at the sun ett dödens maskineri - det svenska hatet odoacer - there the vultures will gather system of a down - protect the land/genocidal homonoidz army wives - armywives edit: + respire & NØMAN electronic rockwell - isolation ritual minor science - second language walton - debris interplanetary criminal - nobody sparkle division - to feel embraced skee mask - iss005 de grandi - 11-100-jaille bop + subwave - dream on need for mirrors - flames halogenix - dragonforce hollow comet - exhibition v/a - microfunk lost dubs vol. 3 ize - this is not a drill leall - baile etch - polarity mark kloud - moonquake on1 - ryobi on1 ft. rame - on sight donato dozzy - the tao fracture + sam binga - on right now/chessington epsom - yerba mate kiyoko - a room of you/barrows/inside number nine indie rock trace mountains - lost in the country little kid - transfiguration highway hovvdy - runner/im sorry lomelda - hannah teethe - teethe crisman - crisman tomberlin - projections bendrix littleton - deep dark south another michael - new music/boring for the times joe vann - assorted singles lunarette - austin st. options - window’s open gleemer - down through strange ranger - needing you
Something I’d be interested in is a little exchange project or something. I get bummed out because all year end lists of big publications are the same 50 records shuffled around, and i like to use this time to try and figure out music i may have missed. So yeah, we all love Phoebe and Waxahatchee. But what are albums that you really wish more people caught but didn’t make such a splash? Specifically from smaller/independent/local artists, or genres not so represented in most EOTY lists. If anyone would be interested in an exchange, LMK. I’d be down to recommend 2 or 3 records for 2 or 3 other records.