Top 50 Albums of 2020 (50-41)

2020 what a year.  I don't really have anything to say other that, despite all the shit we've endured, there was so much amazing music to get us through.  And this was definitely the year of women.  24 of my top 50 was either a solo female artist or fronted by a woman.  They caught my ear, my head, and my heart.  Here is to better times and even better music.  Here is my top 50 albums of 2020: 

50.  

No Joy - Motherhood

No Joy is one of the best shoegaze revivalists in recent years and what makes them good is that don't stay in one place but keep restlessly toying with their sound.  On Motherhood they take an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach that oddly enough works, mixing their signature sound with nu-metal, funk, synthpop, new wave, and trip-hop into something bizarre and gorgeous.

49. 

Lewis Del Mar - AUGUST

Structured in three chapters like a novella, AUGUST finds the duo of Danny Miller and Max Harwood musing on identity and circumstances.  Each song is like a detailed short story, providing tension, catharsis, and release.  The music is restless and inventive, using layered beats, folky guitars, and synths to create an atmosphere for Miller's stunningly nuanced vocals.

48. 

Muzz - Muzz

Muzz is a supergroup consisting of Paul Banks of Interpol, Matt Barrick, of The Walkmen, and Josh Kaufman of Bonny Light Horsemen. The album is a deceptively low-key batch of moody rock and folk-leaning songs, but there is a lightness of touch that makes this more than a simple vanity project.  

47. 

Molchat Doma - Monument

Belarusian band Molchat Doma jumped from Tik Tok phenoms to the top of the goth-rock heap on their third album, the hook-heavy Doomer manifesto Monument.  The band expertly mixes 80s like industrial drum machines, raging synths, atmospheric guitars, and Egor Shkutko's moody Ian Curtis baritone.  

46. 

Chloe x Halle - Ungodly Hour

One of the best R&B/pop records this year comes from these Beyonce proteges.  Leaping well past their debut record, they fully embrace a more mature sound.  Not to say the record sounds stuffy, on the contrary, maturity, in this case, means confident and bold. It's an exciting record that makes these women ones to watch.

45. 

William Basinski - Lamentations

Lamentations is pretty much the record for these times, full of foreboding, melancholic drones that somehow show rays of light through the darkness.  It's a tough listen at times, but its stark beauty is palpable.

44. 

Rina Sawaymama - SAWAYAMA

If you mixed up early Britney Spears, J-Pop, and Linkin Park into a blender you would come up with Rina Sawaymama.  The Japanese-British singer takes so many chances on her debut, and while sometimes she comes up a little short, the majority of these songs are just stunning mashups of incongruent styles.

43. 

Yves Tumor - Heaven To A Tortured Mind

Majesterial art-rock masterpiece from Yves Tumor finds their restless experimentation reigned in but not overwhelmed. They draw from styles as varied as Prince-ian funk workouts, motorik kraurock explorations, cut and paste sampling, Brit-pop, 60s psychedelia, trip-hop, and a go-for-broke enthusiasm that is stunningly realized.

42. 

Machine Girl - U-Void Synthesizer

Hyperactive mix of industrial, death metal, grindcore, emo, synthpop, and rave from the Pittsburgh dup Machine Girl.  Each song is like a whiplash of 20 genres at once.  It's electrifying in its pure audacity.

41. 

When Saints Go Machine - SO DEEP

Honestly, there is no other electronic act that sounds quite like Danish trio When Saints Go Machine.  Each album has the same elements, complicated beats and programming, twisted and skewed basslines, and otherworldly synths and samples, however, each sounds distinct.  The only grounded element is the bizarre falsetto of vocalist Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild who, in turn, molds and contorts his instrument with a variety of effects and filters.  SO DEEP feels like an alien transmission from millions of miles away.