Favorite Albums of 2020

I didn’t listen to much new music in 2020. Instead, I found myself turning to old familiar tunes in search of comfort. But that just made the time I spent with new releases more memorable. Here are the 10 that rose to the top.

10

Suite For Max Brown by Jeff Parker

I listened to loads of focus music this year while I worked. Its raw refrains, gossamer guitar runs, and ice-melting basslines make this album a perfect companion to the other jazz and ambient staples in my rotation.

9

Gold Record by Bill Callahan

There’s a certain playfulness in Bill Callahan’s Smog-era music that’s missing from his later work. On Gold Rush, Callahan combines old and new. While the instruments are streamlined, the lyricism is lusher and sillier than ever. Only an artist fortified with the confidence of experience dares to pare back the music, boiling everything down to the essentials, just to fill the beautifully rendered, sparsely arranged songs with jokes. Maybe we can have it all sometimes.

8

EP! by JPEGMAFIA

You may think it’s cheating to include an EP on a list of best albums, but these tracks were present in too many moments to exclude them. Anytime Peggy released a new single, I’d drop what I was doing and tune in. I remember waking up to hear“Living Single” the day after I quit my job—the oversized, arena-worthy synths and playful lyrics washed away the momentary self-doubt that inevitably accompanies any major life change. I’ll listen to these songs for years to come.

6

EP by No Pressure

Along with open windows and afternoon walks with my partner, the highlight of early quarantine was connecting with friends in various group chats. From iMessage to Slack to Discord, my mental well-being was carried by a set of caring friends who invested a part of each week in ongoing conversations. No Pressure was a weekly topic in multiple group chats. I’m reminded of these crucial conversations anytime one of these furious songs plays in my headphones or over the speakers of my brother’s car.

5

Purple Moonlight Pages by R.A.P. Ferreira

On these creative tracks that defy categorization, Ferreira paints an ambitious vision of the future rooted in deceptively simple ingredients—love and community. If you’d told me in high school that music like this exists, I wouldn’t have listened to anything else.

4

Color Theory by Soccer Mommy

On Color Theory, we find Sophie Allison of Soccer Mommy processing her past and catching a glimpse of her future for the first time. While Allison asks listeners to press onward with her, Color Theory offers safe ground to those who need to rest between past and future just a little longer. In a year of pandemic-fueled uncertainty, it felt extraordinarily special to find so much of myself in these songs.

3

Songs by Adrianne Lenker

This collection of songs is as daring as it is familiar.

2

Heaven to a Tortured Mind by Yves Tumor

Blending pop, old school glam, and a healthy dose of noise, Heaven to a Tortured Mind is a rare example of an artist simultaneously inventing and mastering a musical niche. I dream of wielding this kind of creative control. Tumor exhibits understanding and openness while navigating themes like violence, abandonment, and identity.

1

Fetch the Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple

Like many folks, I spent a lot of time reflecting this year. In many ways, I had to break myself down to the studs in order to find what works. I learned to embrace what I found there. Fetch the Bolt Cutters offers a window into a seasoned artist’s soul as she embraces feelings like anger, humor, regret, kindness, and hate and transforms them into something lasting and beautiful. It could not have come at a better time.