The Best Albums of 2020
Anxious
Sound
2020 / 10
Never Rarely Sometimes Always OST
Julia Holter
13-Song LP released July 12 on Back Lot Music
Favorite track: “Stealing Money (Extended)”
Apple Music
Favorite track: “Stealing Money (Extended)”
Apple Music
2020 / 9
Shore
Fleet Foxes
2020 / 8
The experience of repetition as death
Clarice Jensen
2020 / 7
Love is the King
Jeff Tweedy
2020 / 6
Love Touched Time and Time Began to Sweat
Pool Holograph
2020 / 5
Ultimate Success Today
Protomartyr
2020 / 4
May You Be Held
SUMAC
2020 / 3
Two Beasts
SUMAC
2020 / 2
Atlas Vending
METZ
2020 / 1
Rarities 2007-2010
Women
During its all-too-brief 3+ years, Calgary art-rock group Women created two of the best post-punk albums I have ever heard: the self-titled Women (2008) and Public Strain (2010). Beautifully bleak, unsettled, and idiosyncratic, Women's sound is a captivating, often subdued synthesis of dissonant noise, atmosphere, and asymmetrical melody. At its most affecting, it nods to the hooky sensibilities of 1960s pop, masterfully reimagined and distorted through their chilly grey-sky filter: “...the sound of vintage psychedelia bleached of its color.” (Pitchfork)
The EP's standout track is “Bullfight”, whose bright, punctuating guitar notes interwoven by Patrick Flegel and the late Christopher Reimer (1986-2012) superbly complement the jaunty, rhythmic undercurrent created by Matt Flegel (bass) and Mike Wallace (drums). It's the perfect soundscape for Patrick's haunted, often inflectionless vocals, which, tuned with the guitars, achieve a uniquely melodic quality. “Bullfight” resonates with an affecting beauty that dares to suggest something close to optimism as it fades out. Contrasted with the desolate, subterranean palette of much of the band's other material, it represents an uplifting and unforgettable coda.
Other Albums I Liked
Featured
The past is full of dead men
The future is a cruelty
The future is a cruelty
Protomartyr, “Modern Business Hymns”