What a year.
2020 was a year to learn from. I’ll be happy to take the lessons with me and move on, leaving 2020 in the dust. On the bright side, tumultuous times can ignite great art and this year’s music highlights highlight this possibility and the potency of our need to confront and escape.
Waxahatchee: Saint Cloud (Merge Records)
Phoebe Bridgers: Punisher (Dead Oceans)
Fontaines D.C.: A Hero’s Death (Partisan Records)
Adrianne Lenker: songs and instrumentals (4AD)
Kelly Lee Owens: Inner Song (Smalltown Supersound)
Ana Roxanne: Because of a Flower (Kranky)
Porridge Radio: Every Bad (Secretly Canadian)
Margo Price: That’s How Rumor’s Get Started (Loma Vista Recordings)
Jyoti: Mama, You Can Bet! (SomeOthaShip Connect)
SPAZA: UPRIZE! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Mushroom Hour Half Hour)
SAULT: Untitled (Black Is) (Forever Living Originals)
Juliana Barwick: Healing Is A Miracle (Ninja Tune)
Grimes: Miss Anthropocene (4AD)
Yves Tumor: Heaven To A Tortured Mind (WARP)
Franz Zwartjes: Tapes 2 (Trunk Records)
Deadbeat and Paul St Hilaire: Four Quarters of Love and Modern Lash (BLKRTZ)
Couronne de Merde: ﺍﺗﻤﻨﻰ ﻟﻮ ﺍﻥ ﺍﻟﺮﻳﺎﺡ ﺗﺠﻠﻲ ﺍﻟﺮﻣﺎﺩ (wannamarchi.club)
Louise Bock: Sketch for Winter VII – Abyss: For Cello (Geographic North)
evicshen: Hair Birth (American Dreams Records)
Bruce Springsteen: Letter To You (Columbia Records)