Fav 40 Albums of 2020 Part 2
May your indie heroes live long enough to appear on a Taylor Swift album.
This week marks the surprise release of Taylor Swift’s Man of the Woods-esque project.
When I booted up Twitter this morning, the news was everywhere. This reaction is always expected from a new Taytay album, but it was surprising to see The National and Bon Iver featured.
Aaron Dessner, guitarist and producer for The National, has worked with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver on many projects over the years, including Swift’s album from earlier this year. But it’s surreal to see the gloom rockers of The National credited as a whole on a track.
While Bon Iver makes sense and often cruises in the comfort of adult contemporary, it isn’t easy to picture any of the bands from Meet Me in the Bathroom giving interviews on Disney+ about one of music’s biggest pop stars.
Credit is due to Swift for surrounding herself with a great cast, but there’s no way this thing will be as successful as The Beach Boys and Fat Boys teaming up in 1987.
Anyways, here’s Wonderwall… ✌️🕶️
#30 Tennis - Swimmer
I would be lying if I said I’ve always been into Tennis. Denver’s husband and wife duo have been around for a decade now, and when Tennis released their first few albums, I lost them in the shuffle with all of the other indie pop bands at the time. This year found them releasing Swimmer, their fifth album, and I cannot get enough.
Members Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley produced and self-released the album, which finds them growing as a band and as a couple. As noted in the press cycle, Moore had a severe health scare last year, and the heavier lyrics reflect this even when sung over the breezy pop grooves.
If Tennis floats your boat, they also have an upcoming livestream concert on December 23.
Swimmer is available via Mutually Detrimental.
#29 All Them Witches - Nothing as the Ideal
Nothing as the Ideal finds the longtime psychedelic hard rock band All Them Witches down another member, but they may be better for it. As a three-piece, the Nashville group has tightened their jams with guitar, bass, and drums, all playing an equal role to fill out the album's textures. Nothing as the Ideal is also sequenced perfectly, demanding a complete listen to appreciate the entire project.
All Them Witches recorded the album in the infamous Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios (used by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and “Beatles Jr.” band Oasis), and the analog equipment almost acts as a fourth member. The studio’s tape reels can be heard throughout the album, often used as transition pieces between the songs. Digital recording has made the music industry more accessible, but records like this serve as a great reminder of how excellent tape to tape reels still sound.
Nothing as the Ideal is available via New West Records.
#28 Windows96 - Glass Prism
Cancel your anxiety meds and instead listen to Glass Prism, the new album by Brazilian based composer Gabriel Eduardo, aka Windows96.
Long part of the vaporwave scene, Eduardo continues to evolve by creating great little pieces that move beyond 80s synths and more into 90s video game sounds. Windows96 is best when creating tracks that sound like Donkey Kong Country remixed with Pure Moods drum beats. It’ll bring back memories of guiding Ecco the Dolphin around his 16-bit ocean.
This is the kind of record that can be played on repeat and thrown on in the background for almost any situation. Need a night drive or ear support at the grocery store? Windows96 has you covered.
Glass Prism is available via 100% Electronica.
#27 Neil Young - Homegrown
“And I try to wash my hands / And I try to make amends / And I try to count my friends.”
It’s hard to believe that Neil Young wrote the perfect lyrics for 2020 back in 1973. It’s also hard to believe that Homegrown, Young’s latest release in his Archives series, has been sitting on the shelf for 45 years.
Homegrown is an open wound of a breakup record, and after playing it for close friends, Young decided to shelve the album in favor of the all-time classic Tonight’s the Night. The sessions include Robbie Robertson of The Band, Emmylou Harris, as well many other studio legends.
While a handful of these tracks have been available on compilations over the years, the album presented in its entirety is easily one of his best albums in a ridiculously deep catalog.
Homegrown is available via Reprise Records.
#26 Damien Jurado - What’s New, Tomboy?
I’ve been listening to Damien Jurado for over half my life at this point, and while everything else changes, he continues to release an album every year or two. Jurado has always been one of my favorite songwriters because he’s a storyteller who has a knack for writing little postcards that find their subjects in sticky situations or grappling with the mundaneness of life.
What’s New, Tomboy? is Jurado’s 15th album and an acoustic return to his earlier work. After working with the late Richard Swift on an excellent psychedelic trilogy (Maraqopa, Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun, Visions of Us on the Land), Jurado has returned to his roots for his last three albums, often solo or accompanied by sparse drums and bells.
I look forward to his inevitable release next year.
What’s New, Tomboy? is available via Mama Bird Recording Co.
#25 Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Innocent Country 2
My first experience with Detroit rapper Quelle Chris came from an excellent recommendation with the 2018 album Everything’s Fine, a project Chris made with his partner, Jean Grae. Last year was followed up with the great Guns, but Innocent Country 2 finds Chris re-teaming up with producer Chris Keys for his headiest but most grounded album.
The two are joined by a wide cast of guest features that blend in seamlessly with the jazz piano and blissed out beats that reach towards gorgeous heights in the soul-tinged “Graphic Bleeds Out.” Innocent Country 2 is a long album but breezes along in the right situation and was in regular rotation throughout the summer.
Innocent Country 2 is available via Mellow Music Group.
#24 Steve Buscemi’s Dreamy Eyes - Sweetie
This is my wife’s favorite album of the year, and on some days, I’d have to agree. Don’t be fooled by the meme band name; Steve Buscemi’s Dreamy Eyes’ Sweetie has more hooks in its first half than many bands can produce in a career.
Formed in 2016, this Swedish band had released an EP and some singles, many of which are found on this debut album. Throughout the record, singers Tilde Hansen and Siri Sjöberg complement each other by laying down soaring Florence Welch-esque vocals over synth and drum beats that would fill the “dansgolv” in normal times.
While Sweetie loses some of its steam in the last few tracks, the first seven songs can’t miss, something that can’t be said about many records these days.
Sweetie is available via Rama Lama Records.
#23 White Denim - World As a Waiting Room
Taylor Swift may have just released her quarantine album, but the Austin based band White Denim had her beat back in March.
World As a Waiting Room is the product of the band’s self-challenge to write, record, and press an album in 30 days. After having their tour canceled, White Denim hunkered down and produced this speedy little blues record at a breakneck pace. This could have been a throwaway effort, but White Denim had succeeded at providing a cheeky record that’s a time capsule of earlier this year when all of this mess was new.
Side note - a few years ago, I saw White Denim play a day set in a rear parking lot at the Underground Music Showcase, where they put on much more of a show than their slot demanded. They’re worth checking out when touring resumes.
World As a Waiting Room is available via Radio Milk Records.
#22 Caribou - Suddenly
Caribou has been around so long, I saw him open for the Welsh band Super Furry Animals, all the way back in 2005. It made for a strange bill, and I wasn’t an electronic fan at the time, but his live show was great.
Caribou, aka Dan Snaith, celebrated his two-decade recording career with this year’s Suddenly, an album that finds him continuing to explore more pop song structures while still building around great samples. This is also the first Caribou album to have Snaith singing on each track, and he still keeps one foot in his past work by treating it as another instrument in the mix.
There’s something for everyone here, whether it’s “Home,” which features an Otis Redding sample, or “Never Come Back,” a track that could have been played overhead at an Express in the 90s.
Suddenly is available via Merge Records.
#21 Westerman - Your Hero is Not Dead
Most any track from Your Hero is Not Dead could be shuffled between Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins songs, and one would believe it was released in the same era.
Performing as Westerman, England’s Will Westerman has been building hype for the last few years, one single at a time. Your Hero is Not Dead is his full-length debut, but with producer Buillion, Westerman creates the sound of a more established artist. This record builds around a steady base of chorus guitar, synths, and drum machines that reward the listener as they pull back the tiny layers throughout.
This is one of the more intimate and understated records of the year and will scratch an itch for 80s soft rock nostalgia you didn’t know you had.
Your Hero is Not Dead is available via Partisan Records.
Thanks for reading, and be sure to comment on any of the releases.