Albums and tracks of the year 2020
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Interesting listening to veteran artists this year.
In particular 2 aussie acts. Just revisiting Hilltop Hoods and The Cat empire 2019 releases.
They've both been around since the 90s. Hilltops are verging on being able to be called a legit Legacy act, bless 'em.
Hilltops album is good. it's high prod values, as they say, and thoroughly competent, but it's just diminishing returns from a run of 2-3 albums running a similar formula. (Even though that formula produced an AOTY for me only 3 years ago.
Cat Empire suffers from genre and a weak lead MC as always. The musos are all did formal ed at high quality music schools in melbourne and have always been exemplary players. the tunes, arrangements, and particularly the horn arrangements, are all top notch. But it all just amounts to a solid originals band that you'd see at the local small venue. They're great live, and nothing is bad, but there's just nothing at all that says this is a new musical experience.
meh.I'm still great and you still love it. -
Brooks wrote:2019 is the Old Town Road year.
Truth, here. It’s suspiciously missing from the ‘review of 2019’ stuff I’m seeing in the press so far. -
Tempy wrote:Probably others I am forgetting
Reasonably confident Purple Mountains is one of them, it's far too good not to make a long list. -
Albums of the year
1. Between the Country - Ian Noe
Late entry but I'm already besotted with it.
2. Sound & Fury - Sturgill Simpson
A proper record. Every track bar one is great.
3. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
Beautiful and depressing.
4. Western Stars - Bruce Springsteen
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His best collection of new songs since 1995.
5. Psychodrama - Dave
Well now. A genuine sit up and take notice album.
Almost there:
Seneca Creek - Charles Wesley Godwin
Songs of our Native Daughters - Our Native Daughters
Country Squire - Tyler Childers
On the Line - Jenny Lewis
Eve - Rapsody
One of the Best Yet - Gang Starr
Satis Factory - Mattiel
Almost Daylight - Chris Knight
American Love Song - Ryan Bingham
Guy - Steve Earle
There Existed An Addiction to Blood - Clipping
Pony - Orville Peck
Walk Through Fire - YOLA
In with a shot hopefully, but I either haven't listened enough or haven't listened at all:
Ghosteen - Nick Cave
Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest - Bill Callahan
Ride Me Back Home - Willie Nelson
UFOF/Two Hands - Big Thief
All Mirrors - Angel Olsen
Norman Fucking Rockwell - Lana Del Ray -
Moot_Geeza wrote:Tempy wrote:Probably others I am forgetting
Reasonably confident Purple Mountains is one of them, it's far too good not to make a long list.
correct
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poprock wrote:
Truth, here. It’s suspiciously missing from the ‘review of 2019’ stuff I’m seeing in the press so far.2019 is the Old Town Road year.
Baffling. Outrageously well distributed, actually quite listenable pop record. Journalism lol. -
Pitchfork mentioned it. I think The Guardian did.
It’s a truly global one-hit-wonder. Probably the first since Gangnam Style and massively superior in every way.
Also a brilliant bit of trolling against the US country music establishment, making a star out of a gay, black, hip-hop cowboy whose song was built around a Nine Inch Nails sample to game a social media network … and then having him legitimised by Billy Ray Cyrus himself with a collaborative reworking. Which the Billboard charts decreed was ‘not a country record’ and not eligible for the country charts. Amazing scenes. -
Ten tracks of the year
Country Squire - Tyler Childers
Keep the Change - Mattiel
Westside - The Game
Happens to the Heart - Leonard Cohen
Jogging - Richard Dawson
Darkness & Cold - Purple Mountains
The Dead Don't Die - Sturgill Simpson
Nothing is Safe - Clipping
Acid King - Malibu Ken
Letter to Madeline - Ian Noe
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Aye, at least three of those were yours. Possibly Malibu Ken too. Great shouts.
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Can I throw a spanner in the works?
My top five gigs of 2019:- Larkin Poe @ Oran Mor
- Ashley McBryde @ QMU
- Kristin Hersh @ Mono
- Mattiel @ Oran Mor
- Ashley Monroe @ St Luke’s
All Glasgow, because I’m lazy. -
Have you heard this version Mootsy?
Top stuff, especially the YEEEEE at the end. -
I hadn't. Amazing. There are some cracking performances of Count Your Blessings from the previous album out there too.
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Nice tip Sparkles. Liked that version.
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Okay, here we go. The usual disclaimer applies, that what I consider favourites today might well change tomorrow. Or even later this evening. Pop music is a fickle mistress. These have definitely been highlights of my year though.
Mattiel – Food for Thought (YouTube link)
I know that Keep the Change is her hit single, but some things age better than others. Keep the Change faded into my memory as a core soundtrack to the year, but Food for Thought? It still makes me stop and pay attention every time I hear it. It’s a little bit off. A little bit uncomfortable. And given the subject matter, it should be. One of the best pieces of off-kilter pop I’ve ever heard. I didn’t really get it at first, but it was the standout of the night when I saw Mattiel live. Her whole aesthetic – modern girl in a retro world – came into focus on that one song. Her band pushing out a solid ’60s groove while she stalked the front of the stage like a caged predator, practically spitting the lyrics and daring us to disagree. Such venom. Such conviction. And then a little giggle and a “thank you” afterwards. Like she could just switch that anger off at will. Fucking devastating.
Sleater-Kinney – Hurry on Home (YouTube link)
The anticipation for this song was almost too much to bear. Sleater-Kinney with St Vincent on production.The old guard meets the new. And then the video dropped – Miranda July made the whole damn thing in one take as a capture from her iPhone. Sleater-Kinney, St Vincent, Miranda July. That’s one hell of a dream team. The song didn’t just live up to the hype, it obliterated it. Sleater-Kinney had pivoted from grunge to gloss. Embraced a machine aesthetic and a shiny facade … but the words. Fuck me, the words. So much pop music is about frustrated desire, but Hurry on Home distils it to pure, carnal, need in a way that very little since Closer has managed. This is the sound of desperate want, set to a slick beat. It’s pure emotion and I fucking love it. Shame the rest of the album doesn’t quite hit such heights.
Honeyblood – The Third Degree (YouTube link)
I wasn’t expecting this. I was expecting typical Glaswegian indie-rock-punk. When I heard that Stina had dumped her bandmate and gone solo, I thought her sound was going to mellow and fade into bland singer-songwriter territory. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and thank fuck for that. The Third Degree is a joyous celebration of ’60s girl group harmonies, rock’n’roll guitar, and nights out lost in a haze of sweet drinks and sour relationships. Rising above used as a battle cry. Outstanding.
Haim – Summer Girl (YouTube link)
This one is a mood. Haim put aside their usual ‘California party girls’ vibe and chilled the hell out. The most languid girl-pop since Luscious Jackson – and I mean that as the highest of compliments. So laid back I can hardly bear to listen to it standing up, Summer Girl is simultaneously right now and the perfect soundtrack to a ’70s movie that doesn’t exist. That repeated sax bar irritates on first listen, but by your fifth or six time around, it’s the killer part of the song. The notes that stick in your hindbrain and won’t let go.
The Comet is Coming – Summon the Fire (YouTube link)
It’s like nothing else out there. Another one that took time and repeated listens to grow on me, but then really grew on me. Electro beats and frenetic jazz sax that hits with more energy than a hundred identikit punk rock bands ever could. It’s just fucking joyous and doesn’t need any depth beyond that.
Shout out for Halsey with Nightmare, which might actually be my number one song of 2019 … but I can’t include it because the acoustic performance on YouTube is the one I’m in love with – not the actual full-on-rawk single. (YouTube link)
Also a possible late entry for Elbow with White Noise White Heat. It’s clearly a great single, with a killer opening line, but it’s just too soon to know whether it will stand up in the long term. Releasing your best track this late in the year is just too risky. (YouTube link) -
One of my tracks of the year is from the forever underrated Spoon. I think it came out with their Best Of collection. I love Britt Daniel's voice so much, and this is Top Tier, Premium Spoon content.
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My man. No Bullets Spent was on my shortlist. Edged out by the ladies in the end.
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Send messageGood shout on Purple Mountains. Had not heard of them before. Listened through the lot in work earlier. Nice.http://horganphoto.com My STILL under construction website
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It's a side project by David Berman of the Silver Jews. Sadly killed himself a few months after releasing the album.
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I forgot to include Lizzo's Cuz I Love You! That'd be number 5 on my list!"Given how long it's taken for me to reconcile my nature, I can't figure I'd forgo it on your account."
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The Lizzo album is brilliant. Not quite an all-timer for me, but only because my favourite Lizzo song is still Good as Hell, from a previous record.
(Good as Hell has just been rereleased with a fun new video, to capitalise on Lizzo’s new-found fame. As well as being rereleased with a guest spot from Ariana Grande a few months ago. Both are now included on the latest ‘Super Deluxe’ edition of Cuz I Love You. Neither are as perfect as the original video was.) -
Yep, it was the same with Frank Ocean and Channel Orange. I liked it a lot but it didn't have his best song ever, Novacane on it, so I always felt it was missing something."Given how long it's taken for me to reconcile my nature, I can't figure I'd forgo it on your account."
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My too 5, a very reg list.
5) father of the bride - vampire weekend (hey, my wife walked down the wedding aisle to "step"
4) nick cave and the bad seeds - ghosteen (just a really upsetting but important listen)
3) tool - fear inoculum (fucking try me on this one)
2) the national - I am easy to find (sucker for Matt's voice)
1) Twilight sad - it won't be like this all the time -
Nice. That vamp weekend is on my list of relistens, but already in the top 20 pile.
It got a fair chunk of play.
Not sure if my listening habits help or hinder certain genres.
Stuff like vamp weekend and Jens lekman get a lot of play as background music, either when folks are around or we're all cleaning the house.
That can leave close listens missing.
Rare I get the chance to pump a tobe nwigwe or denzel curry at home, but I can attentively listen through headphones while commuting. So they get fuller attention.
Can leave some pop/easier listening missing out.I'm still great and you still love it. -
Huh, checking through my downloads to see what else I might have forgotten.
Krafty kuts and chali 2na album.
Won't crack top 10, but it's solid.I'm still great and you still love it. -
Some great stuff in this thread I hadn't heard of before/forgot to check out. Not sure my top 5's will change much due to it being so late in the year, but looking forward to finding out.
LOL also mistook Richard Dawson for Richard Dawkins for a minute; did a WTF at that.
Facewon wrote:Interesting listening to veteran artists this year. In particular 2 aussie acts. Just revisiting Hilltop Hoods and The Cat empire 2019 releases. They've both been around since the 90s. Hilltops are verging on being able to be called a legit Legacy act, bless 'em. Hilltops album is good. it's high prod values, as they say, and thoroughly competent, but it's just diminishing returns from a run of 2-3 albums running a similar formula. (Even though that formula produced an AOTY for me only 3 years ago.
I feel a bit like that about Nick Cave. Have only given his new album 1 spin (something early 20's me would never believe!). Really should give it a fair go but the desire just isn't there and I'm not a huge fan of their sound this decade. Maybe later.
Same with Hold Steady who were my favourite band through the 00's. Their new album seems not far off their early albums, but they've done it all before. Just made me get back into their old stuff which I hadn't listened to in a while, but still knew by heart and have fallen back in love withWhen you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose -
The new one is fine but I left it off my long list on purpose. Separation Sunday is as good as it gets though. 'It' being anything by anyone.
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It certainly is! I missed their first when it came out and Your Little Hoodrat Friend was my introduction.
Was pretty surprised to find out that Craig Finn looked like such an unassuming normal dude, figured he'd look like he was out of Shameless or something, hahaWhen you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose -
It's worth cherry picking from his solo stuff but it'll never get as good for him as those first two THS albums. I started with Boys and Girls in America so worked backwards to get to them. Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday are both near-perfect raucous goodtimes/tough times/wail of a time sozzled storyteller records and I'm going to do them back to back rn o/
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