Starting with 2020 and going up through 2023, what were your albums of the year each year? And if you’re willing to expand, what albums you been listening to so far in 2024 that have stood out to you?
I’ll leave my own response in a comment so as to not clog the screen and detract from the question
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2024: album that has my attention is Prelude to Ecstasy by The Last Dinner Party. Glorious, dramatic chamber pop with many lyrical nods for the History majors in your life.
2023: Javelin by Sufjan Stevens + Expert In A Dying Field by The Beths. Suf is the easy choice but man is it good and, in typical fashion, heart-breaking. I don’t know how The Beths continue to make their style sound fresh, but they do. The songwriting, harmonies, guitar work, all so excellent.
2022: The Festival by Tim Baker + Revealer by Madison Cunningham. Tim Baker just doesn’t miss. Leaning heavily into the horns and soul influence, but still grounded in composed, mature folk-pop. Madison Cunningham on the other hand varies style a good deal but it works every time. Great guitar, interesting compositions, lyrically strong.
2021: Peace Or Love by Kings of Convenience + Stunning & Atrocious by Fleece. Kings of Convenience, your modern-day Norwegian Simon & Garfunkel, return in perfect form. Feist returns for a few tracks, every song is strong. Fleece level up from complex guitar-heavy indie-rock to delicious funky indie-pop. The most fun I’ve ever seen a band have together on stage was seeing them play this album.
2020: Half-Empty by The Little Hands of Asphalt + Every Bad by Porridge Radio. Missed Half-Empty until a year ago but wow, it’s such a stellar singer-songwriter album - string arrangements are mouthwateringly good. Begs to be listened to as an album. Every Bad is, to me, pure catharsis in musical form. Vocal performances on tracks like Circling and Sweet are gut wrenching.
Favorite songs not in any of these: Oh How We Drift Away by Tim Heidecker & Weyes Blood (this is what I’d put as my Song of the Decade so far), Feelings Meeting by Living Hour ft. Jay Som, Jackie Down The Line by Fontaines D.C., Your Light by The Big Moon, Hounds of Hell by The Phoenix Foundation ft. Nadia Reid.
Oh and if we’re doing non-album SONGS of the year, I’m gonna have to give that some more thought for the rest of the years, but 2020 is an easy answer for me: Gas City by Cliffdiver
29 by Yaeji would be on my list of singles.
2020: The Pilgrim - Walking Into The Forest
Acoustic Psychedelia that is infectiously uplifting. I can’t listen to this album and not have feelings of gratitude just being alive and able to experience the world (including listening to this band).
Honorable Mentions: Thundercat - It Is What It Is, The Budos Band - Long In The Tooth
2021: Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
The beats, the samples, the fucking raw lyrics. Not really digging the sound on her latest release, but Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and 2022’s NO THANK YOU are amazing accomplishments in artistry.
Honorable Mentions: Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee, Adia Victoria - A Southern Gothic
2022: Elder - Innate Passages
One of my favorite bands that is the pinnacle of Stoner/Doom Metal. Innate Passages felt like a return to form for Elder after a couple of albums that were good but felt middling compared to their earlier albums.
Honorable Mentions: Little Simz - NO THANK YOU, Daníel Hjálmtýsson - LABYRINTHIA, Weyes Blood - And In Darkness, Hearts Aglow, Ezra Collective - Where I’m Meant to Be, Cassandra Lewis - Always, All Ways, Mt. Fog - Spells of Silence
2023: Whatitdo Archive Group - Palace Of A Thousand Sounds
Soul/Funk that sounds like it’s cut from a bygone era of cinema, only better. It’s easy to visualize some grainy B movie filled with action and intrigue while listening to this album. The grooves just keep rolling it’s hard not to move to.
Honorable Mentions: Lamassu - Made of Dust, Altın Gün - Aşk
Thanks for adding your list!
Glad to see Thundercat made the honorable mention list for you too (I always preferred Drunk personally, which may have been a AOTY contender for 2017 for me, but It Is What It Is is still dynamite)!
Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee would have been my fourth honorable mention for 2021, but I felt indulgent already and capped myself at three. Excellent album though; my fiancée and I and my ex-girlfriend saw them live together with Belle & Sebastian and it was a great show. Picked up some shirts and the Jubilee vinyl there.
I know of Little Simz, and I like what I’ve heard so far a lot, but I have to admit she’s one of those artists I’ve only encountered in single/individual song contexts, so I haven’t actually sat with one of her albums yet.
Aside from those, the rest are all pretty much brand new to me, so I’ve added them all (along with @metaphortune’s suggestions) to a playlist to check out over the next few days; thanks for giving me some new tunes to explore!
For sharing lists I definitely try to prioritize albums that don’t get as much love. Little Simz got alot of critical praise and is probably the exception, but 2021 was a little slow (wonder why…). 2022 however was so amazing, I am still discovering banger albums that I missed on release.
I feel like in the current streaming landscape it can be really difficult to catch new stuff on release. KEXP helps a ton but so much still slips by from my favorite genres. I’ve checked out a few genre specific podcasts and found some great stuff, but if I am in a music mood I don’t want to listen to talking about music and if I am in a podcast mood I usually just want to laugh.