“People, I’ve been listening to music”: Andy Johnston’s Best Albums of 2020
What has 2020 done to us?
Here we are at the end of the year, doing the same thing we do for fun that we do every year: arbitrarily ranking the artistic endeavours of our heroes and newest discoveries in order to have our tastes validated by our peers. I’m not mocking it: I love it as much as the next permanently online citizen of music twitter. I’ve made more Topsters than I’ve made hot dinners in 2020; but that’s mostly because I’ve been supporting local restaurants during the COVID crisis by ordering takeaway. It just feels different this time round.
In a year that lacked structure or routine, where every day under lockdown bled into the next, where the borders between our work lives and home lives for many us blurred beyond distinction, there’s something comforting about going through the year’s music and picking our favourites. Of course, every album is tied to the same memories: namely of sitting inside. Or walking around outside with a mask on. In years to come it will be interesting to see how our collective recollection of the art produced this year will have been affected by the unique circumstances precipitated by a global pandemic. Will we all have forgotten about Fetch the Bolt Cutters?
Nevertheless, some musical memories stand out: Finding out that my body would move against my will whenever Christine and the Queen’s “Je disparais dans tes bras” came on; spending a week listening to nothing but Owen Pallett’s new record ahead of its surprise release and speed-writing a review for this very site; Lianne La Havas’ excellent new album soundtracking the homebirth of our third child; and having daily children’s dance parties in my living room to Orchards’ “Magical Thinking”.
In a year that took a lot from us, musicians gave us so much. #BandcampFridays and the ever-growing discourse around unethical streaming royalty models made it clearer than ever before that musicians deserve so much more. Not being able to see bands play live this year has impacted my life in terms of spiritual richness, but it’s impacted the bands themselves very genuinely in terms of material wealth. At the risk of wearing out the hashtag button, I have one more: #SupportArtists
With publications limiting their Album of the Year lists to 50 or 100 entries, and many circling around the same heavily publicised critical darlings anyway, a lot of artists miss out on getting any scraps from the busy trough of publicity. With that in mind, and because arbitrarily ranking albums is so much god-darn’d fun (and, whatever Bandcamp might claim, provides a much needed false sense of structure and order in a world rapidly descending into chaos), I present to you, completely unironically, my Top 220 Albums of 2020:
| 220 | WVRM | Colony Collapse |
| 219 | Jesu | Terminus |
| 218 | Nadia Reid | Out of My Province |
| 217 | Mamaleek | Come & See |
| 216 | Oceanator | Things I Never Said |
| 215 | Yaeji | WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던 |
| 214 | Frances Quinlan | Likewise |
| 213 | Horse Lords | The Common Task |
| 212 | Buscabulla | Regresa |
| 211 | Black Wing | No Moon |
| 210 | Aesop Rock | Spirit World Field Guide |
| 209 | Dinner Party | Dinner Party: Dessert |
| 208 | The Big Moon | Walking Like We Do |
| 207 | Higher Power | 27 Miles Underwater |
| 206 | An Autumn for Crippled Children | All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet |
| 205 | Nap Eyes | Snapshot of a Beginner |
| 204 | Terminal Nation | Holocene Extinction |
| 203 | Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini | Illusion Of Time |
| 202 | Shopping | All Or Nothing |
| 201 | Naedr | Past Is Prologue |
| 200 | Chicano Batman | Invisible People |
| 199 | The Budos Band | Long in the Tooth |
| 198 | Amaarae | THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW |
| 197 | HAAi | Put Your Head Above The Parakeets |
| 196 | Phoebe Bridgers | I See You |
| 195 | Rafael Anton Irisarri | Peripeteia |
| 194 | Year of the Knife | Internal Incarceration |
| 193 | Woods | Strange to Explain |
| 192 | Boris | NO |
| 191 | Umbra Vitae | Shadow of Life |
| 190 | William Basinski | The Wheel of Fortune |
| 189 | Bedsore | Hypnagogic Hallucinations |
| 188 | Loraine James | Nothing |
| 187 | tricot | 10 |
| 186 | Napalm Death | Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism |
| 185 | Mr. Bungle | Sudden Death |
| 184 | Bill Callahan | Gold Record |
| 183 | U.S. Girls | Heavy Light |
| 182 | Hey Colossus | Dances / Curses |
| 181 | Oliver Coates | skins n slime |
| 180 | Laura Veirs | My Echo |
| 179 | Inter Arma | Southern Man |
| 178 | Kacy Hill | Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again |
| 177 | Westside Gunn | Pray for Paris |
| 176 | Lido Pimienta | Miss Colombia |
| 175 | R.A.P. Ferreira | Purple Moonlight Pages |
| 174 | Gaerea | Limbo |
| 173 | SPICE | SPICE |
| 172 | Beatrice Dillon | Workaround |
| 171 | Jerskin Fendrix | Winterreise |
| 170 | Peter Bjorn and John | Endless Dream |
| 169 | Special Interest | The Passion Of |
| 168 | Yashira | Shades Erased |
| 167 | Narrow Head | 12th House Rock |
| 166 | Garganjua | Toward the Sun |
| 165 | Wayfarer | A Romance with Violence |
| 164 | Porridge Radio | Every Bad |
| 163 | Tomberlin | Projections |
| 162 | Elephant Tree | Habits |
| 161 | Déluge | Ægo Templo |
| 160 | Killer Be Killed | Inner Calm from Outer Storms |
| 159 | The Soft Pink Truth | Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? |
| 158 | 070 Shake | Modus Vivendi |
| 157 | Undeath | Lesions of a Different Kind |
| 156 | Insect Ark | The Vanishing |
| 155 | Ichiko Aoba | Windswept Adan |
| 154 | Mary Lattimore | Silver Ladders |
| 153 | Jeff Rosenstock | NO DREAM |
| 152 | Sylvan Esso | Free Love |
| 151 | Rope Sect | The Great Flood |
| 150 | Black Dresses | Peaceful as Hell |
| 149 | Kelly Lee Owens | Inner Song |
| 148 | Nation of Language | Introduction, Presence |
| 147 | Dogleg | Melee |
| 146 | Hum | Inlet |
| 145 | Them Airs | Union Suit XL |
| 144 | Cindy Lee | What’s Tonight to Eternity |
| 143 | MSW | Obliviosus |
| 142 | Holy Fawn | The Black Moon |
| 141 | Pyrrhon | Abscess Time |
| 140 | Waxahatchee | Saint Cloud |
| 139 | Crack Cloud | Pain Olympics |
| 138 | Amiensus | Abreaction |
| 137 | Code Orange | Underneath |
| 136 | Caroline Rose | Superstar |
| 135 | Sufjan Stevens | The Ascension |
| 134 | The Koreatown Oddity | Little Dominiques Nosebleed |
| 133 | Fawn Limbs | Sleeper Vessels |
| 132 | Giver | Sculpture of Violence |
| 131 | Arca | KiCk i |
| 130 | Obongjayar | Which Way is Forward? |
| 129 | Sumac | May You Be Held |
| 128 | Protomartyr | Ultimate Success Today |
| 127 | Chris Keys & Quelle Chris | Innocent Country 2 |
| 126 | Sprain | As Lost Through Collision |
| 125 | Primitive Man | Immersion |
| 124 | Destroyer | Have We Met |
| 123 | Craven Faults | Erratics & Unconformities |
| 122 | The Microphones | The Microphones in 2020 |
| 121 | Old Man Gloom | Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning |
| 120 | Old Man Gloom | Seminar IX: Darkness of Being |
| 119 | Blake Mills | Mutable Set |
| 118 | Against All Logic | 2017 – 2019 |
| 117 | Told Slant | Point the Flashlight and Walk |
| 116 | 16 | Dream Squasher |
| 115 | Rina Sawayama | SAWAYAMA |
| 114 | Yves Tumor | Heaven To A Tortured Mind |
| 113 | Shabaka and the Ancestors | We Are Sent Here By History |
| 112 | True Body | Heavenly Rhythms for the Uninitiated |
| 111 | Stats | Powys 1999 |
| 110 | Trace Mountains | Lost in the Country |
| 109 | Xythlia | Immortality Through Quantum Suicide |
| 108 | Frail Hands | parted/departed/apart |
| 107 | Loathe | I Let It in and It Took Everything |
| 106 | Metz | A Boat to Drown In |
| 105 | Lyra Pramuk | Fountain |
| 104 | Spiritworld | Pagan Rhythms |
| 103 | Wasted Struggle | Agenda of Fear |
| 102 | Dagny | Strangers / Lovers |
| 101 | Turia | Degen van Licht |
| 100 | Caspian | On Circles |
| 99 | Bonny Light Horseman | Bonny Light Horseman |
| 98 | Soul Glo | Songs to Yeet at the Sun |
| 97 | Yelle | L’Ère du Verseau |
| 96 | A.A. Williams | Forever Blue |
| 95 | Neptunian Maximalism | Éons |
| 94 | Sevdaliza | Shabrang |
| 93 | Modern Rituals | This is the History |
| 92 | Coriky | Coriky |
| 91 | Closedown | Bask in the Dancing Light |
| 90 | keiyaA | Forever, Ya Girl |
| 89 | Carly Rae Jepsen | Dedicated Side B |
| 88 | envy | The Fallen Crimson |
| 87 | SAULT | Untitled (Black Is) |
| 86 | Lola Marsh | Someday Tomorrow Maybe |
| 85 | TOPS | I Feel Alive |
| 84 | Katie Gately | Bracer |
| 83 | Nuvolascura | As We Suffer From Memory & Imagination |
| 82 | Moses Sumney | græ |
| 81 | Seahaven | Halo of Hurt |
| 80 | Moor Jewelry | True Opera |
| 79 | Spirit Adrift | Enlightened In Eternity |
| 78 | Touché Amoré | Lament |
| 77 | BRIQUEVILLE | Quelle |
| 76 | Autechre | SIGN |
| 75 | Imperial Triumphant | Alphaville |
| 74 | Westerman | Your Hero Is Not Dead |
| 73 | Black Curse | Endless Wound |
| 72 | Boldy James | Manger on McNichols |
| 71 | Krallice | Mass Cathexis |
| 70 | Half Waif | The Caretaker |
| 69 | Necrot | Mortal |
| 68 | Katie Dey | Mydata |
| 67 | Pallbearer | Forgotten Days |
| 66 | Wake | Confluence |
| 65 | Lupin | Lupin |
| 64 | Arca | @@@@@ |
| 63 | Armand Hammer | Shrines |
| 62 | HAIM | Women In Music Pt. III |
| 61 | END | Splinters from an Ever-Changing Face |
| 60 | Fluisteraars | Bloem |
| 59 | Kvelertak | Splid |
| 58 | Mikau | Phantoma |
| 57 | Frazey Ford | U kin B the Sun |
| 56 | Keeley Forsyth | Debris |
| 55 | Adrianne Lenker | songs |
| 54 | Stay Inside | Viewing |
| 53 | Vous Autres | Sel De Pierre |
| 52 | Uboa | The Flesh of the World |
| 51 | Helena Deland | Someone New |
| 50 | Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou | May Our Chambers Be Full |
| 49 | Fall Of Messiah | Senicarne |
| 48 | Tennis | Swimmer |
| 47 | Run The Jewels | RTJ4 |
| 46 | Mare Cognitum & Spectral Lore | Wanderers: Astrology of The Nine |
| 45 | Svalbard | When I Die, Will I Get Better? |
| 44 | Oneohtrix Point Never | Magic Oneohtrix Point Never |
| 43 | Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist | Alfredo |
| 42 | Empress Of | I’m Your Empress Of |
| 41 | Of Feather And Bone | Sulfuric Disintegration |
| 40 | Vile Creature | Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm! |
| 39 | Open Mike Eagle | Anime, Trauma and Divorce |
| 38 | Caribou | Suddenly |
| 37 | Boldy James & The Alchemist | The Price Of Tea In China |
| 36 | Gulch | Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress |
| 35 | Bartees Strange | Live Forever |
| 34 | Wake | Devouring Ruin |
| 33 | Laura Marling | Song For Our Daughter |
| 32 | Sightless Pit | Grave of a Dog |
| 31 | Infant Island | Sepulcher |
| 30 | Kate NV | Room For The Moon |
| 29 | Boneflower | Armour |
| 28 | Phoxjaw | Royal Swan |
| 27 | Oranssi Pazuzu | Mestarin kynsi |
| 26 | Dua Lipa | Future Nostalgia |
| 25 | Hidden Mothers | Hidden Mothers EP |
| 24 | Jessy Lanza | All The Time |
| 23 | …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead | X: The Godless Void and Other Stories |
| 22 | Lianne La Havas | Lianne La Havas |
| 21 | Charli XCX | how i’m feeling now |
| 20 | Ulcerate | Stare Into Death And Be Still |
| 19 | Ka | Descendants of Cain |
| 18 | Orchards | Lovecore |
| 17 | Everything Everything | RE-ANIMATOR |
| 16 | Liturgy | Lonely OIOION |
| 15 | Klô Pelgag | Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs |
| 14 | SAULT | Untitled (Rise) |
| 13 | Fiona Apple | Fetch The Bolt Cutters |
| 12 | Backxwash | God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It |
| 11 | Annie | Dark Hearts |
| 10 | Young Jesus | Welcome to Conceptual Beach |
| 9 | Couch Slut | Take a Chance on Rock ‘n’ Roll |
| 8 | Andy Shauf | The Neon Skyline |
| 7 | Respire | Black Line |
| 6 | Jessie Ware | What’s Your Pleasure? |
| 5 | Empty Country | Empty Country |
| 4 | Perfume Genius | Set My Heart On Fire Immediately |
| 3 | Infant Island | Beneath |
| 2 | Owen Pallett | Island |
| 1 | Christine and the Queens | La vita nuova |
And one last beautiful Topster for the Top 20:
Find links to purchase these albums here.
Read Andy Johnston’s BPM posts here and follow him on Twitter.
