The Trusty Steed

While the title is in jest, I am assuming I have listened to more music this year than 95% of the population that creates these types of lists. In 2020, I listened to at least part of every single record that showed up in “Suggested New Albums” section of Tidal. Each Friday release day that section gets updated with new releases and there’s usually between 80-120 titles weekly, so let’s cut that down the middle and say 100 a week. I have listened to at least the first couple tracks of every one of these releases no matter the genre. If neither of the first two tracks were good, I moved on. If either one was even remotely worth listening to, I listened to the whole album. My logic being of course is that most artists at least put one of the best songs on the album right up front to grab the listener, so logically if I’m not interested in either of the first two, then the rest of the album won’t be much better. So let’s say over the course of the last 51 weeks, I have listened to at least part of 5100 albums and while I don’t have a count of all the records I listened to in full, I’m sure it has to be in the 60-70% range. As a guy who’s always gravitated towards lists and rankings but realizing that the person writing them probably listened to virtually nothing, I feel damn good that these are at least solid lists, if not great ones. Of course, they still must be in my wheelhouse, but my tastes are as wide open as anyone I know. So yeah, these are perfect lists. Just go with it.

Ranking: #10
Artist: Blom
Song: Meat
Album: Flower Violence
Release Date: 5/1/2020
Label: Line Box
Genre: Post-Punk

Ranking: #9
Artist: Aluna
Song: Sneak
Album: Renaissance
Release Date: 8/28/2020
Label: Mad Descent
Genre: R&B

Ranking: #8
Artist: Moses Sumney
Song: Virile
Album: Græ
Release Date: 5/15/2020
Label: Jagjaguwar
Genre: Electro-Soul

Ranking: #7
Artist: Melt Yourself Down
Song: Crocodile
Album: 100% Yes
Release date: 4/3/2020
Label: Universal
Genre: Free Form Jazz

Ranking: #6
Artist: The Wants
Song: Container
Album: Container
Release Date: 3/23/2020
Label: Council
Genre: Post-Punk

Ranking: #5
Artist: Griz
Song: My Friends and I, Pt. 3
Album: Bangers[5].zip EP
Release Date: 5/8/2020
Label: None
Genre: Dance

Ranking: #4
Artist: Die Antwoord; Bukhulubakhe, Gqwa!
Song: Zonke Bonke
Album: House of Zef
Release Date: 3/16/2020
Label: Zef
Genre: Eh?

Ranking: #3
Artist: Idles
Song: Grounds
Album: Ultra Mono
Release Date: 9/25/2020
Label: Partisan
Genre: Post-Punk

Ranking: #2
Artist: Jordin Sparks
Song: Red Sangria
Album: Sounds Like Me
Release Date: 8/14/2020
Label: Disrupt Group
Genre: R&B
Notes: Okay, this probably could have made it into the pop category but I kept it in here as R&B because that’s the underlying base of her sound.