2020 has been the weirdest year in generations. No one was prepared for the pandemic, the social uprisings, and the isolation that dominated 2020. Artists as they always do evolved and created music that beautifully chronicled these extremely strange times.
Here are the ten best albums of the year according to your host of the Mother Night Radio Hour. Enjoy.
10. CIRCLES – MAC MILLER
Posthumous albums usually suck. Cash grabs to profit once more off of already over-exploited artists. Circles is not that. Circles is a beautifully complete album. Composer Jon Brion, who worked with Mac on his 2018 Swimming album, continued work on the album after Mac’s passing later that year. He pieced together a portrait of Mac we had never seen before. He’s more vulnerable, down to earth, and personal than ever before. Almost none of us really knew Mac Miller but like all artists, we feel like we do. It’s moments like Good News that make the feeling all the more poignant and saddening.
Favorite tracks: Blue World, Good News, Hand Me Downs
9. MAN ALIVE! – KING KRULE
Compared to his hyper-isolated 2017 OOZ album, Man Alive! is King Krule at his most positive. Archie Marshall, the man behind King Krule is recently married and has a baby now. Light beams through the dark blanket of cloud on songs like Energy Fleets and Perfecto Miserable. Despite the light present in the album, Marshall’s love is a dark and volatile one. That is all present in Stoned Again, a song full of raspy screams and menacing imagery. This is Marshall’s best album to date.
Favorite Tracks: Alone Omen 3, Stoned Again, Perfecto Miserable
8. HOW IM FEELING NOW – CHARLI XCX
Fresh off her 2019 Charli album, Charli XCX was on top of the pop world. But when COVID-19 hit any hope of a world tour ended and the momentum slowed. So with the world at a standstill do you take a break? Not if you’re Charli XCX. If you do happen to be Charli XCX then you make an entire album in 40 days. You let your fans suggest changes and help pick the tracklist. And if you’re Charli XCX then you make one of the best albums of the year. A project full of isolated rave music like on anthems and bubbly and glitchy love songs like the Dylan Brady produced claws.
Favorite Tracks: pink diamonds, claws, anthems
7. SAWAYAMA – RINA SAWAYAMA
Rina, a London-based artist, is leading the new wave of pop music. This group including Charli XCX, A.G Cook, 100 gecs, and more are making pop music brimming with forward-thinking production and super sticky hooks and songwriting. With Clarence Clarity on the production end, Sawayama indulges in a wide range of styles from the bouncy and funky Comme des Garcons to the nu-metal riffs on STFU and even pop balladry on Chosen Family. This album’s first half is my favorite run of songs this year and honestly, if some of the songs on the back half could be taken out this would be AOTY.
Favorite Tracks: XS, Comme des Garçons, Akasaka Sad
6. RTJ4 – RUN THE JEWELS
If Run the Jewels are anything they’re consistent. Whenever Killer Mike and El-P decide to drop a new project there is never a doubt in my mind that it’ll be bad. RTJ4 is no exception. Offering timely political commentary, throwback beats, and killer features; RTJ4 has something for all hip-hop fans. I really love the dark and urgent walking in the snow which features Gangsta Boo of three six mafia fame.
Favorite Tracks: ooh la la, walking in the snow, JU$T (feat. Pharrell and Zach De La Roche)
5. PUNISHER – PHOEBE BRIDGERS
Phoebe Bridgers has one of the clearest voices in alternative music. You can hear every syllable, every moment of pain and sadness with such clarity that you might as well be Bridgers. The wonderful and vivid songwriting when paired with Bridger’s beautiful instrumentation helps to create a truly immersive listening experience.
Favorite tracks : Garden Song, Kyoto, ICU
4. SONGS – ADRIANNE LENKER
Adrianne Lenker, the lead singer of Big Thief, calls me to adventure. The songs have a warm and wandering nature to them. Her music feels like fall incarnated through song. The bird sounds, the wind chimes, the country roads its all there. Songs is so perfect and tight that I am always forget to change the song because I’m always carried away into another rich landscape of sound.
Favorite Tracks: anything, heavy focus, zombie girl
3. MY AGENDA – DORIAN ELECTRA
Hyper Pop artist Dorian Electra takes a deep dive into Incel culture on their My Agenda project. Dorian blends elements of pop, electronic, EDM, metal, and glitch to create a sinister, revealing, insane roller coaster of a project. At only 25 minutes the short length invites listeners to indulge in many relistens, each time sinking deeper and deeper into the album world.
Favorite Tracks: My Agenda, Sorry Bro (I Love You), Edgelord (feat. Rebecca Black)
2. LAST YEAR WAS WEIRD VOL. 2 – TKAY MAIDZA
Last Year Was Weird is the best rap project of the year. At a snug 27 minutes, Tkay shows off her mastery of the genre. He raps with supreme confidence over a loud 2000’s Missy Elliot like beat on Shook, industrial rap drones on Awake, and a flowery pop rap beat on You Sad. Every moment on this record is polished, catchy, and of an extremely high caliber. Maidza has infinite potential and I’m excited for what’s next.
Favorite Tracks: Awake (feat. JPEGMAFIA), You Sad, Don’t Call Again (feat. Kari Faux)
1. FETCH THE BOLT CUTTERS – FIONA APPLE
The moment I knew that Fetch the Bolt Cutters was my favorite album came 2 minutes into I Want You To Love Me. “And while I’m in this body, I want somebody to want, and I want you” Apple sings. The way the chords resolve and tension builds is masterful. I had chills and my face puckered up like I had just eaten a lemon. It’s the face of being witness to a moment of supreme funkiness. Fetch the Bolt Cutters is harrowing, it’s somber and mournful. It’s a product of Apple’s environment. Apple brings the audience into her home. We hear her dogs barking. We hear her pounding on the table, and we hear the ambiance of her bedroom. And in these self-isolated times, it feels sorta comforting to be in a small room with someone else. A small safe space where even though everything is going to hell, at least we’re together. Alone, but never really.
Favorite Tracks: I Want You To Love Me, Shameika, Cosmonauts
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Ichiko Aoba – Windswept Adan
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ – Charmed
Khotin – Finds You Well
Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song
Blu & Exile – Miles
100 gecs – 1000 gecs and the Tree of Clues
Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist – Alfredo
Against All Logic – 2017-2019
Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown
Sault – Untitled (Rise)