What is it that makes me write a column every week? Is it the satisfaction of speaking my mind to a public forum? The hope that I might make someone's day a little brighter? Seeing my incredibly sexy face in the paper every week?
Or is simply the knowledge that for one week every year, I get to live out my childhood fantasy of being an Important Music Critic and devote an end-of-year column to my picks for the best albums of the year? The one thing I predicted about the pandemic is that a whole lot of creatives would get a whole lot of creativity, and they certainly didn't let me down. 2020 had some amazing records - here's the soundtracks that got me through many lonely lockdown days.
#10 - Tim Burgess - I Love The New Sky - Tim Burgess is the frontman of The Charlatans, a band that soundtracked my entire college experience like no other. This year, he's practically been my best friend. Burgess took it upon himself in 2020 to host nightly Twitter listening parties, where fans simultaneously press play on classic records while the artists hang out on Twitter with Burgess commenting and responding to questions. Hands down, it's been my favorite bit of 2020, and Burgess' new solo album is like getting a much-needed hug from an old friend. He's the musical hero I needed this year.
#9 - Carla J. Easton - This is hands-down the synth record of the year, delivered by one of my favorite weirdos on the planet. Easton comes across like Cyndi Lauper with a Scottish brogue, with a record oozing with confidence and few apologies. "Weirdo" is a cacophony of unrelenting wonky synths and the kind of pop hooks that grab you by the throat and make you repeat a song the second it's over. In a perfect world, she'd be ruling the pop charts.
#8 - Sault - Untitled (Rise) - For the second year in a row, the mysterious UK dance collective Sault released two records in one calendar year. This time around, the dual assault of "Untitled (Black Is)" and "Untitled (Rise)" focus the black experience into a soundtrack of 70s Afrobeats and samples behind messages of anger, protest, power, and ultimately hope for a better tomorrow. It's a powerful record in a year where racial divides and civil unrest took center stage. "We gonna fight it whether or not you like it / Keep playing the music loud."
#7 - Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia - If there was a pandemic this year, no-one told Dua Lipa. While most artists made soul-baring introspective lockdowns in 2020, Dua Lipa instead released an album of unrelenting polished disco made for packed dancefloors, crowded parties, and driving down crowded expressways on a potential-filled Saturday night. It's just what I needed this year to remind myself that life is more than Zoom meetings, talking to my cats, and playing solitaire on my phone. I honestly hope no one releases a better pop record before the world opens back up - these songs deserve heavy rotation in DJ booths.
#6 - Of Montreal - UR Fun - It's legit tough to be a fan of Of Montreal (aka singer/songwriter Kevin Barnes.) I was a HUGE fan of his early records and traveled far and wide to see him over a dozen times, but a mid-career reinvention turned away from twee indie aesthetics in favor of a hyper-sexualized low-budget Prince vibe that ran the gamut from interesting to straight-up cringy. 'UR Fun," though, tones down the white-boy funk and lands squarely in the land of 80s synths, robot hand-claps, and the kind of pop hooks that's made Barnes one of the most interesting musicians alive.
#5 - Andy Bell - The View From Halfway Down - Andy Bell's had a long and storied career as co-leader of shoegaze legends Ride, bassist for Oasis, guitarist for Hurricane #1, and the brains behind the electronica of GLOK. But he's never released a proper solo record until now, and its everything you'd expect given his musical path in life. Less a proper record and more a proper vibe, it's a melange of psychedelic swirls, loops, acoustic picking, and musical healing.
#4 - Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters - I've never been a huge Fiona Apple fan, but there's simply no denying the power of this record. It demands to be heard. Recorded live and raw in her home, most of the percussion comes from banging on walls and boxes and household items. It's rough, it's raw, it's equal parts angry and funny and cathartic. It's the sound of self-assured mature chaos, and it's her best record yet.
#3 - Taylor Swift - Folklore - Okay, she's amazing. From country troubador to pop starlet to, now, a pastoral folk singer. A quiet, introspective, storytelling Taylor Swift is exactly what 2020 needed, and she delivered -- twice, with TWO surprise albums. Both are great, but Folklore is the better of the two. This is the wistful sound of reflection, romance, and sweater weather -- and possibly my most-played record of 2020.
#2 - The Flaming Lips - American Head - It was starting to get easy to write off the Flaming Lips. After their unexpected evolution from drug-addled garage rockers into symphonic psychedelic showmen, the Lips spent the past decade making dense, difficult anti-pop that seemed to purposely challenge their fanbase. "American Head," however, reaffirms everything wonderful, weird, and scary beautiful about the Flaming Lips. Haunting treatises on coping, regret, and the fragility of life hit devastingly close to home in 2020, but it's a beautiful, life-affirming journey.
#1 - The Brother Kite - Make It Real - It's tough for me to talk about this band without just coming across as a fanboy. For fifteen years, this largely unheralded outfit from Rhode Island have been putting out magical records that combine everything I love about music: catchy hooks, power pop, lush arrangements, fierce percussion, and a passion that leaps out the loudspeakers. Their first record after a 7-year hiatus, it's almost good enough to make me momentarily forget how awful this year was.
