My 2020 in Music: A Tiny Best-Of List from the Dumpster Fire that Was

A Tiny 2020 “Best-Of” List

To be honest with you, 2020 was a bit of a letdown in terms of new purchases. Usually I am inundated with releases to consider for my year-end best-of list, but this year I only bought about a dozen albums.

Part of that is because I was being a lot more frugal and picky than in years past, but part of it was also the sheer impossibility of getting my hands on new music thanks to the pandemic. Taiwan was pretty hard-hit in terms of shipping. We were lucky enough to have escaped the horrible lockdowns, furlough schemes, and rising unemployment that affected most other countries (knock wood), but our postal service was really cut off from the rest of the world, with no shipping available from Taiwan to most countries, and even a few countries added to a “no incoming parcels accepted” list. Most recently, the United Kingdom was added to this incoming-post blacklist. Since I usually buy most of my new music from the UK, this made it particularly difficult to get my regular fix of new releases.

To be perfectly honest, this year was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of new music. There were a few reissues that were exciting, but not so many new releases. There were a few I was looking forward to that turned out to be disappointing, and a few I didn’t care about at all that ended up among my all-time favourites.

This doesn’t mean there was nothing to look forward to! A few new releases grabbed my attention this year, though not as many as in years past. Some of the releases I was most excited about just came and went without making too much of an impression, like Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica.” It wasn’t bad… I still gave it four stars… but it wasn’t particularly essential. There are a few fantastic songs on it, hence the four stars, but as an album it’s a bit bloated and a drag to sit through (at least it was better than “Artpop,” but I digress).

One thing that was quite exciting was a new release from Marina (AKA Marina Lambrini Diamandis, AKA Marina and the Diamonds). The new song “Man’s World” was only released on digital platforms, but I expect it will eventually show up on an album (and hopefully said album will get a vinyl release like all of her previous efforts!). It’s quite a bizarre, though thought-provoking, video… but I love the song!

Other 2020 releases I enjoyed include Elephant Stone’s brilliant album “Hollow,” Vandal Moon’s “Black Kiss” (which I reviewed here on May 24, 2020), New Spell’s “Of Time, Part III” (which I reviewed here on June 3, 2020), Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia,” AC/DC’s “Power Up,” and yes, even Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica” … but nothing could have prepared me for the powerhouse burst of joy that was Kylie Minogue’s “Disco”!

As Kylie herself suggested back in 2001, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. The album has been on repeat since I got it. I’ve played it while driving, while going for walks, while relaxing at home, while housecleaning, while at my friend’s coffee shop, while getting ready to sleep, and even during class while teaching. This album is far and away my favourite album of 2020.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, a lot of music gets shipped to my door every year. This year, however, excluding reissues, I only bought a measly 28 new releases, and six of them were singles. Only two of them got five stars. The aforementioned Kylie Minogue “Disco,” which I ended up buying twice (because … well … because I wanted the double album deluxe edition and I didn’t want to sell my pretty turquoise-vinyl standard edition!), and Elephant Stone’s fantastic psychedelic rocker “Hollow,” which somehow manages to sound modern and yet channels the spirit of the ’60s and the spirit of ’90s Britpop… and it also inspired me to seek out this Montreal band’s previous releases, none of which have disappointed.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t like anything else this year. Eight releases were strong enough to get four-and-a-half stars, while a further twelve got four stars. I guess, like many of you, I ended up focusing more on comfort music and buying a lot of older albums I already knew and loved.

As you might already know, I try only to review music that I actually own (vinyl, or CD in a pinch) and rarely review digital releases, so the only things included in this best-of list had physical releases. In fact, I bought all of them on vinyl.

Before I drop my list of favourite vinyl releases for 2020, here are two honourable mentions. They should both be on the year-end best-of list, but neither has been released on physical format yet and are so far digital only. Fingers crossed they both get vinyl releases in the near future!

Honourable Mentions:

Yemi Alade “Empress”… released November 2020. An amazing digital-only album. I can’t wait for it to get a physical release.
Marina “Man’s World”… also released November 2020. A killer track and I am really looking forward to the album!

Here is my list of new releases I bought this year. The lists are in alphabetical order, by the way, not preference… they are too disparate to actually rank!

FIVE STARS (albums I can listen to from beginning to end over and over, never skipping more than one song):

Elephant Stone “Hollow” (Fuzz Club) – Psychedelic. Brilliant from start to finish.
Kylie Minogue “Disco” (BMG) – Pop. I only skip one song that I just can’t deal with.

FOUR AND A HALF STARS (albums I can listen to from start to finish, but with a few weak spots – I likely skip one or more songs each time):

AC/DC “Power Up” (Sony) – Rock.
The Bonnie Nettles “The Bonnie Nettles” (Blackspin Records) – Indie Rock.
Dua Lipa “Future Nostalgia” (WEA) – Pop.
Helicon “This Can Only Lead to Chaos” (Fuzz Club) – Psychedelic.
Indochine “Singles Collection (2001–2020)” (Sony) – Rock.
Toots and the Maytals “Got to Be Tough” (Trojan Jamaica) – Reggae.

FOUR STARS (albums I can listen to all the way through, but I regularly skip more than two tracks):

Bleak Engineers “New Frontiers” (Six Tonnes De Chair Records) – Chillwave.
Lady Gaga “Chromatica” (Sony) – Pop.
Loveblind “Sleeping Visions” (Saint Marie Records) – Shoegaze.
Ozzy Osbourne “Ordinary Man” (Sony) – Hard Rock.
Pretty Lightning “Jangle Bowls” (Fuzz Club Records) – Psychedelic.
Servo “Alien” (Fuzz Club Records) – Psychedelic.
Sunfruits “Certified Organic” (Six Tonnes De Chair Records) – Indie Rock.
Whimsical “Bright Smiles and Broken Hearts” (Self-Released/Q-Rates) – Shoegaze.

SINGLES AND EPS WORTH HAVING:

Korto “Korto EP” (12″) – 4-track EP (Six Tonnes De Chair Records) – Psychedelic. 4½ stars.
Mt. Mountain “Tassles” (7″) – 2-track single (Six Tonnes De Chair Records) – Psychedelic. 4½ stars.
Jeanines “Things Change” (7″) – 4-track EP (Where It’s At Is Where You Are) – Indie Pop. 4 stars.
Lake Ruth “Crying Everyone Else’s Tears” (10″) – 4-track EP (Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten) – Indie Pop. 4 stars.
Pale Lights “You and I” (7″) – 2-track single (Slumberland Records) – Indie Pop. 4 stars.
Rolling Stones “Living in a Ghost Town” (10″) – 1-track single (Universal Music) – Rock. 4 stars.

JUST NOT MY CUP OF TEA (an album I listened to when it arrived and just did not like at all):