Exploration #4's Top 20 Albums of 2020
It's that time of year, folks! The time where I simultaneously declare lists useless and also work on my own top XX albums of 20XX list. I struggle a lot with the concept of lists as an avid reader of music journalism. Lists, and numerical scores, are an inherently flawed way to discuss art. What makes an album one point better than another? What makes a folk album rank lower than a techno one? How do you compare apples to oranges?
Pretty easily, it turns out, at least in the context of Exploration #4. I prefer oranges to apples. You can't just dive into one the same way you could an apple. There's a real ritual to oranges that don't exist with other fruit. An orange requires time, intention, and forethought. It's not car food, it's food you have to pay attention to.
Also, I think apples taste like shit.
That's the deal here - it's all opinions. Don't make a bigger deal of it than it should be. I love all of these albums to death, and in my absolute darkest mental moments this year (of which there have been numerous, trust me) I was able to look forward to hearing them just one more time and it carried me through the day.
This list ranks only studio albums comprised of new material. Check the Spotify playlist after the list, I put my favorite song from each album (in reverse order, starting with #20) on it. I tried linking to a Bandcamp or merch shop for each artist where possible - if you enjoyed their art, please consider purchasing a physical copy, a piece of merch, or even just throwing them a few dollars for a digital download. Support artists!
Honorable mentions:
- Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 4
- Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
- Nels Cline - Share the Wealth
- Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake (Deluxe)
- The Microphones - The Microphones in 2020
Improvised music for guitar and percussion that goes back and forth between furious feedback and calming, borderline-American primitivism style playing. Like any great improvised session, it's loose, it's a little sloppy, but it's also incredibly fun. The two instruments fill the space well, augmented by just enough effects and studio fine tuning to bounce and play off each other in the way that only two friends completely locked in a groove can. Really relatable stuff if you've ever had that psychic musical connection with someone in your life. If you want an album that goes everywhere from seaside vistas to grimy New York alleys, Gunn and Truscinki have you covered.
Disco is perpetually back, baby! One of the few records this year that made me really want to get off my ass and move. More than just a disco throwback, Ware (and her go to producer, James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco (suddenly everything is making sense)) move disco firmly into the future. Maybe there's a level of escapism here in envisioning a world where you can dance freely, shoulder to shoulder with complete strangers, but fuck it. Pour another drink, turn off your lights, and enjoy yourself. Dance with yourself tonight.
18) Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never (Warp)
Daniel Lopatin will never, and should never, release a greatest hits album. What would even be on it? How do you stack up the plunderphonics, the drone, the proto-vaporwave, the mutant IDM, and the warped indie rock back to back? Magic Oneohtrix Point Never has your answer. It's as close as a self titled album, a greatest hits compilation, and a mission statement we'll ever get from Lopatin. It simulates driving in between radio stations - one minute you'll hear nu-metal, the next crackling AM pop with warped synthesizers layered on top. I love a concept and I love this record.
17) Deftones - Ohms (Reprise)
"I finally achieved/BALANCE, BALANCE, BALANCE"
Deftones' best since White Pony, easily. The perfect marriage of slick alternative/nu-metal, shimmering atmospherics, and lyrics just cryptic enough (and just horny enough) to be mysterious. Definitely wins the award for the album I've played the loudest this year.
16) Bill Callahan - Gold Record (Drag City)
Finally, full-on folk storyteller Bill Callahan. There's true poetry in songwriting here as Callahan finds himself finally meeting his neighbors (and confronting his child's mortality), watching westerns (and realizing his life is a little too solitary), and idolizing Ry Cooder (no second meaning here, just a cool song about Ry Cooder). What trumps all of those, though, is an updated version of "Let's Move to the Country" from Smog's masterpiece Knock Knock where Callahan finally says the words he could never say out loud 20+ years ago - "family" and "baby." Character development is real.
15) David Nance - Staunch Honey (Trouble In Mind)
Out of Trouble in Mind's absolutely insane 2020 (FACS! Lithics! En Attendant Ana!), David Nance's new folk record stands the tallest. I'm just as shocked as you are. Trading in blistering feedback and punk ethos for an acoustic guitar and distorted drums, David Nance solidifies himself as the new Yo La Tengo: a true Swiss army knife of indie rock. Imagine the fried, burnt out parts of Neil Young and Grateful Dead sped up and warmed over a campfire in between two graham crackers. That's Staunch Honey.
14) Against All Logic - 2017-2019 (Other People)
Nico Jaar just went and dropped a fucking Lydia Lunch sample in the middle of his Boiler Room set. The rest of the album could've sucked and I would've ranked it high based on that fact alone. Luckily it's one of the best slabs of leftfield house and techno I've heard in a minute.
13) Special Interest - The Passion Of (Thrilling Living)
"What happens when there's nothing left to gentrify?"
Special Interest is the future of punk - black, queer, and unapologetically abrasive. The Passion Of is a completely mindbending mix of no wave, industrial, and disco mixed in with politics, both local and interpersonal. This album covers a lot of ground in less than 30 minutes and left my head feeling like it had been bashed in by a lead pipe.
12) Charli XCX - How I'm Feeling Now (Atlantic)
I remember reading that Charli XCX was going to try to make an album in self isolation, doing most of it herself or over zoom calls with her producers. "Huh," I thought. "That'll probably suck." Turns out it's her best album and I am a goddamn fool. My issue with Charli was that there wasn't enough Charli. There were too many guests and too many unfocused stabs at mainstream pop stardom. How I'm Feeling Now is sheer hyperpop gold and a true singular vision. This is the Charli I've wanted to hear.
11) Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist - Alfredo (ESGN)
I could listen to Gibbs rap about cocaine over crackling soul soul and jazz samples all day. It's a little surprising that Gibbs can strike gold again with a non-Madlib producer but The Alchemist brings a little bit more of a modern flair to the sessions than Madlib did. The junk samples are still there, but they're augmented by subdued drum machines instead of played straight on every song. But, god, the samples. I really just want to give a shoutout to "Skinny Suge" here - it's more or less Gibbs rapping about the darkest parts of drug dealing for 3 minutes over a guitar solo. Why isn't every album like this?
10) Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today (Domino)
You really love to see a band do exactly what they do right, smeared around with completely new elements. Clarinet, sax, female vocals, and flute all intertwine themselves with Protomartyr's unique brand of well arranged, intentional post-punk. Where the songs on The Agent Intellect and Relatives in Descent bloomed, these intensify until they become violently repetitive. Protomartyr has a point they really want you to understand, and they'll make sure you do. I'm really attracted to music that bludgeons you with it's point to an extent where it almost consumes itself and Ultimate Success Today delivers that in spades.
9) Open Mike Eagle - Anime, Trauma, and Divorce (Autoreverse)
I don't understand anime unless we're talking about Dragonball Z or Yu-Gi-Oh and even then I'm kind of at a loss. From how I understand it, though, one of the bigger appeals of anime is the exploration of deeper themes through fantastical means - like Gundam Wing exploring the hells of war and politics through giant robots. I think the appeal of hip-hop is similar. You're drawn in by the beats and the comedy of a Black Mirror episode ruining Eagle's marriage, but suddenly you realize, damn, it is October and I am tired and I should never start a business with my friends and I should probably actually do something for myself to fix the shit that's going wrong with my life. Also dude's voice is mixed on some ASMR shit and I'm really into it.
8) Liturgy - Origin of the Alimonies (YLYLCYN)
I'm going to do a full dive on Liturgy at some point, so I won't say much here. I will say that this is a black metal opera featuring a song with trap drums, flutes and harps all over it, and an absolutely insane amount of ambition. I don't really understand it either, but I love it. A more than worthy follow up to the post-black metal masterpiece H.A.Q.Q. that points to even more exciting things from probably the most exciting band in the world. I feel like I say this about every Liturgy album but you will never hear another album like this in your life.
7) Yaeji - WHAT WE DREW (XL)
"WHAT WE DREW" is the mission statement from Yaeji that I had been waiting for: a longform merger of her chief influences (house, hip-hop) with plenty of guest spots. Hearing Yaeji produce for other people is exciting enough, but the mixtape''s "no bad ideas" view on creativity means Yaeji finally gets to imploy every avenue of her sound, from pitched down vocals over skittering drums and booming bass to would-be club anthems about knocking items off your todo list. Definitely the album I did the most chores to this year, which should honestly tell you a lot.
6) The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? (Thrill Jockey)
I wrote a longform piece about how much I loved this album here but I'll sum it up in five words: ambient techno record about Jesus.
5) Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters (Epic)
An absolute masterstroke. Apple's attention to the percussive aspects of her music (after gaining some prominence on The Idler Wheel) turns this from another great Fiona Apple album to The Great Fiona Apple album. There is so much space in between every drum hit and every lilting vocal inflection; more than ever, this is the sound of Apple having fun for once as she explores every part of her vocal range (from high pitched squealing to chest burting exclamations) and hits any object in sight with drum sticks. There's a real youthful wonder to this album, like the kind of music you envision making before there are real expectations and rules placed on creativity. I know I'm just piling onto the already enormous pile of praise for this record, but it deserves every bit of it.
4) clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned (Sub Pop)
It's not often that a band's leftover tracks, especially ones from an album as conceptual as There Existed an Addiction to Blood, somehow overshadow the album itself. Visions of Bodies Being Burned does just that. The album features some of clipping.'s most ambitious production yet - bitcrushed synths, musique concrete, and jazz drumming all flirt with horror movie screams and chilling atmospherics. Whereas There Existed felt like an album about horror movies, Visions feels like you're placed directly inside of one. It's aural anxiety, with very little light poking through. I don't feel like I can do it justice, it's a true experience that has to be listened to to be believed.
3) SAULT - Untitled (Black Is)/Untitled (Rise) (Forever Living Originals)
"Free your mind and your ass will follow" doesn't really track in 2020 anymore, at least not according to SAULT. We can all stand to learn something while dancing, gainingknowledge through movement. It's just a blessing that we get to do it to albums this funky. If anything can be described as the "album we need in 2020" it's this pair - groovy, futuristic, and thoughtful. (Black Is) personally helped me navigate the Black Lives Matter protests and soundtracked the very necessary introspection and action that came after. Not much is known about SAULT, but the mystique adds a lot to a record like this in the age of bands posting too much shit on social media. I don't know, I don't care, but I have to make sure I get a copy.
2) Beatrice Dillon - Workaround (PAN)
Workaround is clinical approach to electroacoustic IDM that comes across more science project than club ready, and I mean that as the highest praise an album like this can get. Mixing staccato synths, stilted drum machines, and, of all things, tabla, Beatrice Dillon concocts an absolute world of sound that hit me like nothing else this year. Especially notable is the use of negative space here - each component of the song sits in it's own distinct sonic space, drawing attention to the air around it. It's easy to get lost in the space between each atom, which feels exactly what Dillon wants. IDM occasionally leans more on the "dance music" side a little more than the "intelligent" side but, Workaround implores us all to consider the eternal "what if?" questions of gyration and bodily propulsion as human connection rather than actually sweating it out ourselves, which may be the most 2020 thing I've ever said.
1) Guardian Singles - Guardian Singles (Moral Support)
I wrote another piece here about my #1 album of 2020 but I'll make it clear here - "Tea Lights Exploding" might be the best punk song written by anyone ever. I watched their Gonerfest set again to make sure I was right about how good it was and I think I may have been underselling it. There's rumors of Trouble in Mind finally pressing this album for American audiences soon and I highly, highly encourage you to pick up a copy whenever they're available.
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