Album/s of the year 2020

So everyone what’s your choice/s of best albums for this monumental year?

I’ll start with my shortlist have not been able to narrow it down to one yet.

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Recorded early lockdown in a log cabin out in the wilds of Massachusetts very basic guitar and her unique voice with a bit of weather. Adrianne is always a great listen solo or with Big Thief. This is an exceptional personal record for her as it let her heal a broken heart. Zombie Girls is my favourite at the moment from it.

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Great album from Apple, never really listened to her much but this is absolutely brilliant.

This also I have played and liked very much since it came out.

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And of course Laura Marlings latest stunning as ever.

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Other contenders are :
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I seem to have gone for female vocalists this year a good year for them.

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Hayley Williams “Petals for Armor” would be on my short list too.

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It is rather good isn’t it.

I just bought Melodies Avec Orchestre by Saint-Saens, and am loving it.

Just love the Genre categories displayed, but what the hell is Left-Field Pop " Petals For Armor ". Got to listen to it now to find out and might be pleasantry surprised.

Here are some 2020 releases I keep coming back to. I don’t think I could ever narrow them down to one best of the year.

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My Top 10 of the year

  1. Hypoluxo - Hypoluxo

  2. Frankie & The Witch Fingers - Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters

  3. Adrianne Lenker -Songs

  4. Porridge Radio - Every Bad

  5. Damaged Bug - Bug On Yonkers

  6. Keleketla - Keleketla

  7. Tony Allen/Hugh Masekela - Rejoice

  8. Doves - The Universal Want

  9. Andy Bell - The View From Halfway Down

  10. Lost Horizons - In Quiet Moments

Honourable mentions…

James Elkington - Ever Roving Eye

Widowspeak - Plum

Fontaines D.C. - A Hero’s Death

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G.

Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink

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Two great ones from this year:
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2020 has been a great year for music releases. I put together a list of a dozen albums (not in any order - that would be too hard) that I have enjoyed probably more than most others this year - but that list could be different tomorrow :upside_down_face:

Sadler Vaden - Anybody Out There?
Fish - Weltsmerz
King Witch - Body of Light
Laura Marling - Song for our Daughter
Abel Ganz - The Life of the Honey Bee
Fates Warning - Long Day Good Night
Big Big Train - Empire
The Midnight - Monsters
Pain of Salvation - Panther
Conception - State of Deception
Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods
The Avett Brothers - The Third Gleam

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(not ordered, hard choices)

  1. Silver Age, Daniil Trifonov
  2. Fantastic Mrs. 10, Tim Berne’s Snakeoil
  3. 8: Kindred Spirits, Charles Lloyd
  4. We Are Sent Here by History, Shabaka & the Ancestors
  5. Debussy — Rameau, Vikingur Ólafsson
  6. Trio Grande, Will Vinson, Gilad Henkselman, Antonio Sanchez
  7. Imaginary Archipelago, Kahuna Trio
  8. Hero Trio, Rudresh Mahanthappa
  9. Sentinel, Erik Friedlander
  10. Encounter, Igor Levit

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This is a preliminary list. All these albums impacted me in one way or another.
It can change in the coming weeks.

01 - Haken - Virus
02 - Afsky - Ofte Jeg Drørmer Mig Død
03 - Auõn - Vöudraumsins Fangi
04 - Diamond Head - Lightning To The Nations 2020
05 - Luna’s Call - Void
06 - Mors Principium Est - Seven
07 - Power Trip - Live in Seattle
08 - Second To Sun - Leviathan
09 - Havok - V
10 - Septic Flesh - Infernus Sinfonica MMXIX

11 - Kansas - The Absence of Presence
12 - Redemption - Alive in Color
13 - The Ocean - Phanerozoic II Mesozoic | Cenozoic
14 - King Witch - Body of Light
15 - Derek Sherinian - The Phoenix
16 - Furious Trauma - Decade at War
17 - Omniarch - Omniarch
18 - Igorrr - Spirituality and Distortion
19 - Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment
20 - Arch Echo - Story I

21 - GoGo Penguin - Live From Studio 2
22 - Ruin - Foretoken
23 - Cloudkicker - Solitude
24 - LIK - Misanthropic Breed
25 - Inferi - Of Sunless Realms

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• Smoke Fairies - Darkness Brings The Wonders Home - Indie folk that could be used as part of the Twin Peaks soundtrack
• The Mountain Goats - Getting Into Knives - I first noticed Goats in 2005 with the track Love Love Love but didn’t like the album it came from. Thought I would give them another go in 2020 and this album reminds me of Barenaked Ladies which is no bad thing.
• Tunng - Tunng Presents…Dead Club - an adjunct to their podcast about death https://www.tunng.co.uk/dead_club/podcast/
• Gwenifer Raymond - Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain - amazing and, looking at her YouTube videos, seemingly effortless finger picking guitar playing https://youtu.be/1zyE5pkTfo8

• Gerry Cinnamon - The Bonny - man with guitar and Scottish social commentary
• Caribou - Suddenly - a sample based dream pop album that would fit well in a festival live set
• Baxter Dury - The Night Chancers - not sure I really like this album and it’s the one that has been in and out of the list the most.
• Fleet Foxes - Shore - same format as other Fleet Foxes albums but trying less hard so more successful.
• Low Cut Connie - Private Lives - a double album of piano bashing rock 'n roll
• Tame Impala - The Slow Rush - Indie, Pop, Disco not really sure where this fits

My favorite albums of the year, no particular order

Marcus King – El Dorado https://tidal.com/browse/album/127818839

Kem – Love Always Wins https://tidal.com/browse/album/152640580

Infinity Song – Mad Love https://tidal.com/browse/album/156449777

Gregory Porter – All Rise https://tidal.com/browse/album/152610347

Aloe Blacc – All Love Everything https://tidal.com/browse/album/153398479

Maceo Parker – Soul Food: Cooking With Maceo Parker https://tidal.com/browse/album/144639828

Jessie Reyez- Before Love Came To Kill Us https://tidal.com/browse/album/134894864

Raul Midon – The Mirror https://tidal.com/browse/album/126099907

Horizons – Surfaces https://tidal.com/browse/album/132512412

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Alison Cotton - Only Darkness Now (Bandcamp)
Autechre - SIGN (Bandcamp)
Joachim Spieth - Tides (Bandcamp)
Deadbeat and Paul St Hilaire - Four Quarters of Love and Modern Lash (Bandcamp)
Brian Eno & Roger Eno - Mixing Colours (Norman Records)
Electric Indigo - Ferrum (Bandcamp)
Dave Phillips - Post Homo Sapiens (Bandcamp)
Andreas Tilliander - Case Studies For Buchla Volume One (2020) (Bandcamp)
Anna von Hausswolff - All Throughts Fly (Bandcamp)
Panasonic - Remix EP (Boomkat)

Today this feels like this was the list. Tomorrow or in a week, it is most likely slightly different.

Adding this into my list now. Listened to it so many times since He’s posted it over the weekend on the main music thread.

Last minute addition from me, My apologies for the cross-posting from the main thread, but this is a pretty great album, although they were already one of my favourite bands: