My favorite records from 2020
This year has seen a ton of new releases from musicians both familiar and unknown-to-me. I haven't got around to giving a proper listen to many albums I had on my radar, but here's a sampler of what I liked, or found interesting, in 2020.
- Against All Logic — 2017-2019
- Alva Noto — A Forest, and Unieqav Remixes
- Anoushka Shankar — Love Letters
- Baxter Dury — The Night Chancers
- Brendan Perry — Songs of Disenchantment: Music from the Greek Underground
- Burial, Four Tet & Thom Yorke — Her Revolution / His Rope
- Caribou — Suddenly
- Carl Stone — Ganci & Figli
- ★ Christian Löffler — Parallels: Shellac Reworks (Beethoven)
- Clara Sverner — Reminiscences (Vol I & II)
- Daniel Avery — Love + Light
- David Toop — Apparition Paintings
- Devendra Banhart — Vast Ovoid
- Dominik Eulberg — Mannigfaltig Remixes (Pt. 2)
- Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou — May our Chambers be Full
- Fabrizio Paterlini — Transitions II, Transitions III
- Faux Real — Faux Real
- Four Tet — Sixteen Oceans
- Gill Scott-Heron — We're New Again: a Reimagining by Makaya McCraven
- Gyda Valtysdottir — Epicycle II
- Hania Rani — Home
- Ital Tek — Outland
- Jesu — Terminus
- Jónsi — Exhale
- Kastil — The Falling Acts
- Keleketla! — Keleketla!
- Kelly Lee Owens — Inner Song
- Kevin Morby — Sundowner
- ★ Khruangbin — Mordechai
- Laurel Halo — Possessed
- Lido Pimienta — Miss Colombia
- Lisa Gerrard & Genesis Orchestra, Conducted by Yordan Kamdzhalov — Górecki Symphony No. 3: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
- Locust – The Plaintive
- Matt Berninger — Serpentine Prison
- Meitei — Kofu
- Melt Yourself Down — 100% Yes
- Michelle Gurevich — Ecstasy in the Shadow of Ecstasy
- Mikael Lind — Give Shape to Space
- Mogwai — ZEROZEROZERO
- ★ Muzz — Muzz
- Nick Cave & Nicholas Lens — L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S.
- Nils Frahm — Empty
- Okay Kaya — Surviving is the New Living
- Ólafur Arnalds — Some Kind of Peace
- Perfume Genius — Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
- Philip Glass ft. Ruth Wilson — King Lear
- ★ Phoebe Bridgers — Punisher
- Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd — Another Flower
- Roger Eno & Brian Eno — Mixing Colours
- Roman Flügel — Acid Test
- ★ Rone — Room with a View
- Sarah Mary Chadwick — Please Daddy
- Sevdaliza — Shabrang
- Sigur Rós, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Andersen, Páll Guðmundsson & Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir — Odin's Raven Magic
- ★ Slow Meadow — By the Ash Tree
- Taylor Swift — Folklore
- Tennis Pagan — EKO
- Thao and the Get Down Stay Down — Temple
- The Black Dog — Final Collected Vexations
- Thomas Bartlett — Shelter
- Tricky — Fall to Pieces
- UKAEA — Energy is Forever
- Various Artists — Ambient Layers
- Various Artists — Uzelli Elektro Saz
- WhoMadeWho — Synchronicity
- William Basinski — Lamentations
- Zebra Katz — Less is Moor
And a few individual tracks:
- Ariel Sharratt & Mathias Kom — The Rich Stuff
- Daniel Avery — Lone Swordsman
- Dope Lemon — Streets of your Town
- Doves — Carousels
- Jon Hopkins — Dawn Chorus
- Thomas Feiner — Guide for the Perplexed and Encounters at the End of the World
- Tindersticks — You'll Have to Scream Louder
- Yasmine Hamdan — Choubi (2017)
- Francis Bebey — Sanza Tristesse (1982–1984)
Timeline of favorite records: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.
Lists from around the www:
R.I.P. Harold Budd (1936–2020)