Overview
(You can skip this bit if you want, but I don’t know how to make a skip button)
All I have to say about 2020 here is that I miss gigs so much.
I’ve only seen 6 gigs this year and it feels like I’ve lost an arm or something. Well, that’s a bit melodramatic (and ableist, I think) but it turns out live music was my main hobby and it’s left a huge hole in my life.
It has been a great year for recorded music though. I know a few albums I’ve really been looking forward to, like Bicep, have been pushed to 20221 but what we did get was gold.
I’ve listened to an incredible amount of music this year, my Last.fm stats are ridiculous. But, even with that, I haven’t been able to give some albums the attention I’ve wanted to. While it’s amazing to just have almost all the world’s new music dumped on you on every Friday, it makes it easy for bands or albums to get lost in the avalanche of the New. There were some weekends where I had up to 7 albums saved to listen to. Now, that’s first world problems right there, but it kinda got exhausting. There was a point where I was burning out, music was becoming a chore but luckily an addiction to the Magnus Archives podcast saved me (and creeped me right out at the same time.) ( http://rustyquill.com/the-magnus-archives/ )
Somehow through the onslaught of new music I found myself going back and exploring bands that I had only given a cursory listen to back in the 00’s. This was probably due to the Drowned in Sound forum to be honest but I found myself checking out Idlewild and Mew.
With Idlewild, I’d liked Hope is Important when it was released, I’d seen them support Placebo a lot, but never bothered to check them out properly, which is something I regret. Their debut EP “Captain” is a blast of punk energy with the Slint inspired, “You just have to be who you are” being my favourite song on the record.
But the real revelation was the album 100 broken windows. I hadn’t bothered with it because of the moaning in the reviews it got at the time, about the band having gotten old and boring (They were 24!) But how wrong I was. There are slow songs here but they’re in no way boring and there are more than enough bangers to keep the less patient happy
Mew
It turns out Mew are my most listened to band this year. Which is pretty odd, as I got my first Mew album in 2005 and never really bothered with them. I’m not sure what about them clicked with me during lockdown but I had (the terribly named) Frengers and And the Glass Handed Kites almost on repeat. I guess they’re very pretty albums and worked well on my many walks to get out of the house.
They’re a prog indie band with a lot of very sweet songs and a grasp on melody that no one else has. If you’re looking for some brilliant indie music both these albums are fantastic. These are my two favourite songs from them. The chorus of She came home for Christmas is just magic.
She came home for Christmas
Comforting Sounds
On the down side, Mogwai released a soundtrack for Zero Zero Zero which I bounced off it. Maybe it was that it came out in the summer when it’s incredibly dark but it isn’t anything I’ve been able to warm to.
But on to the great music of the year.
My top 10 in no order.
Albums of the year.
The Flaming Lips
American Head
It’s been 14 years since the Flaming Lips released an album that I gave a damn about. I stopped caring as they started making day long songs and doing terrible cover albums. This was all topped off by seeing them perform the anniversary of the Soft Bulletin, which without a doubt was the dullest show I’ve ever seen. I was done. If I never hear Wayne yelling “Come on motherfuckers!” again I’m ok with it.
But!
When American Head started to get positive reviews I figured I’d have to check them out for old times sake and I’m so glad I did. This is the Lips that I loved, lush orchestration, strange turns in songs as they veer off in unexpected directions and a tug to the heartstrings that I just don’t get from any other band.
This album is a tough one though, it’s about Wayne’s older brother and his friends and how life crushed a bunch of hippy kids as they grew up. (If you’ve seen the Fabulous Freaks you know how this is going to go.) The drug references can get a bit much but as each song is a character study I can get over it. The sense of loss and heartbreak can almost get too much, but this is the Flaming Lips, they can still bring us all together and help us see hope, even in the darkest places.
In such a shitty year it was great to have the Lips back, it felt like a hug from an old friend.
Huntsmen
Mandala of fear
Huntsmen’s first album was one of my albums of the year when it came out. It mixed Americana and metal in a way I’d never heard before, so when I heard that their second album was going to be a Prog, Sci-Fi concept double album, I was not excited at all. That’s about as many nope things on my check list as you can get.
Well, I should have trusted them, shouldn’t I?
I was sure this was going to be my album of the year for a few months, and while I may have wandered off from it, it’s still amazing.
It’s a scorching album, pushing it’s post metal heaviness while mixing in more prog elements, keeping things interesting and evolving, avoiding the grinding repetition that post metal sometimes falls into.
This will be held up as one of the genre greats over the years, you should get on board now.
A Nameless Dread
bow church
The Spirits in this Forest are older than your Gods
Another act that came out of nowhere for me. Bow Church is a Berlin based producer and that’s all I can find about him.
The album is dark electronica, it’s a pure grab bag of styles, house, techno, witch house, rave and even ambient parts. So far, not that interesting, everyone is trying to meld genres these days, what’s impressive is that this works flawlessly. From huge dance floor stormers like the rave stomp of Defend to the techno / witch house of Summon, this is an album perfectly built for people who like the darker side of dance music. Which I do. Which is why These Spirits is on this list.
The album’s best track isn’t even on youtube!
Defend
https://bowchurch.bandcamp.com/track/defend
Hunt
Paradise Lost
Obsidian
Not many bands are making people’s best of lists 30+ years into their careers but the PL revival (for me) that started with The Plague Within in 2015 isn’t showing any sign of stopping.
From the opening track Darker Thoughts is obvious that PL haven’t changed their M.O. over the years but it is still amazing that they can produce an album that focuses all that has come before and distill it into something that sounds so fresh. The songs still rattle with Greg’s guitar tone, something you’d still recoginse anywhere, the deft handling of the heavy, the huge doom chugging riff and cleaner melodic sides of the band are in perfect harmony here.
In the pre-release run up the band said that they were leaning into the goth music they loved growing up but only Ghosts has that feeling, reminding me of Walk Away by the Sisters of Mercy (Which the band has covered). The rest is just The Lost doing what they do best, may they long continue.
Oh, I’m not sure why, but it amuses me no end that there’s a song on here with a name as ridiculous as Ravenghast.
Darker thoughts
Run The Jewels
RTJ4
It’s been a hell of a year for Mike and El-P. After years of working the Hip Hop underground they finally broke out with RTJ 4. It feels like a mix of hard work, finally getting their dues and the timing of such a politically furious album finally broke them to the mainstream. Dropping an album with Walking in the Snow on it, a few days after George Floyd’s murder was always going to set the world on fire. But for me the line of the album is “Remember, in the story of Jesus, the hero was killed by the state”. It’s just cheeky and so perfectly aimed.
But That’s not all there is to RTJ, the opening song “The Yankee and the Brave” pitches the duo as the stars of an 80’s style action show, “Ooh la la” is a hip hop throwback, keeping things fun. But with this album, it will always come back to the anger “Ju$t” features Zack de la Rocha and Pharrell Williams and is scathing. Hearing Williams yelling “Look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar” was a bit of a shock after years of hearing him working on pop music.
There’s so much written about this album it feels like there isn’t much more to add, which is an incredible thing to say for 2 of Hip Hop’s perennial outsiders. It’s brilliant to see RTJ finally get the spotlight that they’ve deserved for so long.
The Yankee and the Brave
Exhalants
Atonments
There are subtle albums, albums of grace and deep reflection, albums that take your breath away, almost blind you with their beauty.
This is not one of those albums.
Exhalants really like 90’s noise rock and the opening of this album is like a boot to the face and about as friendly. The band come across as an unholy mesh of the Jesus Lizard, Shellac and on the last song of the album, Slint.
I’m not normally a fan of bands that you can pick the influences of as you can here, most times that feels like a poor copy, rather than something that can stand on its own. But with Exhalants I’m willing to throw my snobbery away and jump in the pit. The unrelenting blast of The Thorn You Carry in Yr Side is just a rush of blood to the head, it makes me want to run around the room, jump on things and set stuff on fire. Which is as good a complement as I can give to this kind of music.
The first 3 songs are just an abrasive rush (again, a good thing) but the album does slow down and this is when the Shellac influence shows it’s head as we get some cracking bass driven, filthy songs (Again, this is a good thing)
The highlight for me is the slowest song, it feels like Shellac covering Good Morning Captain by Slint but using a trumpet player as well, because why not, trumpets make almost everything better.
Lake Song
Kelly Lee Owens
Inner Song
Even as I slide gracelessly into middle age, I still find it hard to let go of the idea that dance music should be all bangers. I mean, I am getting better but with electronica albums, if it’s not thumping, I’ll probably just listen to it once and go off and listen to something else. I almost did it with this album and I would have missed out badly.
No to say that this is a chill out album. If you have it on quietly in the background, it’s perfectly nice, pretty even. You can just nod your head and get lost in the gentle vocals and that’s fine, but you’ll be doing the album a massive disservice. Turn this album up, push your bass levels and this becomes a different beast, when the beat picks up you can lose yourself and suddenly you could be on the dance floor. I’m really looking forward to seeing her live at some point because this is going to destroy in clubs.
But I’m over stating the dance side of things, the album opens with Arpeggi, a Radiohead cover, which is a ballsy way to start any album. It’s pleasant enough but I had to be told it was a cover version. Other songs like L.I.N.E. are as pretty as they are melancholy but these tracks balance perfectly with the dancier tracks. Unfortunately there is one misstep, her collaboration with John Cale is just dull, but on an album of such highs, it’s easy to forgive.
On
Phoxjaw
Golden Swan
Just about everything about Phoxjaw screams “Bristol” I honestly don’t know what’s in the water down there but there are a lot of great bands playing kinda strange (or very strange in a lot of cases), really interesting music at the moment. This is incredible work for a first album, Phoxjaw show a confidence that most bands never find and the confidence to have no two songs sound the same is very welcome around these parts. While some of the tracks are pretty odd, “You Don’t Drink a Unicorn’s Blood” is built around a huge doom riff and some very strange lyrics, other tracks like Triple AAA would sound at home in a Foo Fighters set (If a bit heavy for the Foo’s these days).
The most fun track on here is Bats for Bleeding, a goth-ish Bauhaus alike built on a sleazy guitar riff and some Hammond keys that makes me smile every time.
If you’re up for something different in your rock music this is the best place to find it this year.
Bats for Bleeding
Panzerfaust
The Suns of Perdition – Chapter II: Render Unto Eden
Just like last year, a Canadian Black metal band came storming out of nowhere to crash my top 10 list. I know nothing about the band and couldn’t find much about them online other than they took a picture of themselves pissing on the Westboro Baptist Church and that they’re not Nazis. Which seems to be something you have to be worried about with a Black Metal band named after a German anti tank weapon.
But I guess that means you only have the music to talk about and it’s really, really good.
The thing that I find most striking about the band is that no matter how atonal and growly it gets, there is always a hook coming to grab you. The second track, The Faustian Pact is the best example of this. Four minutes of full on blackened death metal, which then slows down, the drums take the lead and by the end of the song, they remind me of Tool. It’s an amazing transition and carried out brilliantly.
Areopagitica is the album standout, it’s the perfect mix of the fast and the filthy sludge Panzerfaust do so well.
If you like heavy music, this album is a must.
Areopagitica
Bound
Haunts
There was a point in my life where if you suggested that I listen to anything Prog I’d have laughed in your face. I’m not sure why but it’s starting to creep into my life and I’m not sure how I’m feeling about that.
When I first listened to Haunts, I just thought it wasn’t for me, but something kept drawing me back, and like all the best albums, every time I listened to it I would pick out a new piece that caught my ear or another song that suddenly clicked. Now, this isn’t a prog odyssey, this is an indie rock album with a large dash of shoegazing thrown in. it’s an incredibly crafted album that carries you through quite an intense 45 minutes. It’s an album about loss and reflection, so possibly landed at the perfect time this year, as the days shortened this album came into its own in the dark evenings. The song “The last time we were all together” feels as prescient as it feels sadly cathartic.
Saying that, this album isn’t drifting wistfulness, when needed, this record packs a real punch. The band are in full control of the shoegaze side of their sound, and the album dynamics are perfect.
Haunts may touch on sounds that are common enough in my music collection but I honestly have never heard an album quite like it.
The Known Elsewhere
These 2 came out too late for me to put them in the top 10, there’s no way of knowing if they have the staying power to deserve taking a place here. However, I’ve been playing them both almost every day since they’ve come out so they do deserve a lot of praise and they’re going to get overlooked in the end of year lists.
Palm Reader
Sleepless
I saw Palm Reader support Employed to Serve last year and they were stunning, Full on face melting hardcore, putting them firmly on my watch list.
But I wasn’t expecting this. While this isn’t as fast as their earlier merarial, it isn’t any less intense. This is probably more alt rock than hardcore and there is a touch of Deftones in here but PR are very much their own thing at this point. Check it out for (mostly) melodic heaviness. It’s a gem of an album and can’t wait to catch them live again.
A Bird And Its Feathers
Dawnwalker
Ages
I feel a bit guilty about Dawnwalkers 2018 album, Human Ruins. It should have been my album of the year but I had no idea how to explain how I felt about it. I was new to the Blackened side of music so I wussed out and figured I wouldn’t cover it at all rather than sound like an idiot who had no idea what they were talking about.
I’m pretty sure if Ages had been released a month ago it would be sitting pretty close to the top of this list.
Dawnwalker play a mix of Folk, post, prog and black metal. Even though that sounds like it should be a mess, it’s a sound they’ve been perfecting for a long time. I mean, there’s a flute on here, this should be some eyebrow raising stuff, but it works and works well.
I haven’t managed to pick my way into the album fully, four of the songs are over 10 minutes long and it’s taking me a while to digest them, but what I have heard I love.
If you like heavier music and can deal with a Black metal singer in places, run towards this album.
Colony / A Gathering
The best EP’s of the year
In Parallel
Fashioner
If you take goth (or post punk if you’re too cool for goth) bass, a dash of Depeche Mode and a lot of shoegaze you’ll get this amazing ep.
It’s just a perfect blending of some of my musical favourites, all meshed together in a confident swagger of an ep. I could have picked any of the songs on here, they’re all that good but Threat of Heaven encapsulates their sound best.
Hidden Mothers
Hidden Mothers EP
As first introductions to a band go, Hidden Mothers really kick the doors down with their first ep. This is mixing post metal and scremo (apparently, I know nothing about scremo) and it is fantastic. While it is furious music it has a lot of control and power in those sludgy riffs. I’m really looking forward to their album.
Dawnwalker
Crestfallen
Dawnwalker promised that they’d have their new album out in 2020 so when the shit hit the fan in March they started working on an ep to tide things over. While this could have very easily been tossed off but Crestfallen lives up to DW’s high standard.
The EP is lighter than the albums before it and might work well as an introduction to the band. There are less Blackened parts and on a whole it’s quite pretty. Even the acoustic reworking of one of their older songs works well, which is unusual in the heavier corners of metal.
Podcast of the year
The Magnus Archives
This is an absolute gem of a podcast. I’d only listened to a few narrative ‘casts before and enjoyed them but never committed to one that has 250+ episodes and is still going. Not only is it worth it, it got me through some of the toughest parts of lockdown.
The show is about the Magnus Institute, a London based organisation that collects the statements of people that have had paranormal experiences. The show is built off the head archivist dictating these statements to tape and doing follow up enquiries if needed. (Yes, there is a plot reason they’re using tape)
At first this is just some entertaining and pretty creepy horror stories, but as the series progresses, how these stories interconnect becomes more obvious and more impressive. Other archive staff members are introduced and it becomes narrative fiction rather than the Archivist just reading statements and its scope is just breathtaking.
It’s one of the best works of fiction I’ve ever enjoyed and I can’t recommend it enough. Especially for dark, winter, lockdown walks.
http://rustyquill.com/the-magnus-archives/
The ways of exile 