Music: Best album of 2020

[plank]

Rose City Band - Summerlong 6/19/20

 

[peate]

I consider myself pretty open music wise, I'll give anything a listen to see what it about, but honestly, I just don't get the whole Taylor Swift movement.

 

[peate]

 

[peate]

 

[plank]

The Nude Party - Midnight Manor 10/2/20

 

[plank]

Garcia Peoples - Nightcap at Wits' End 10/9/20

 

[Saturated Fats]

Just announced, to go along with new Sufjan Stevens and Anna von Hausswolff on Friday.

Shit just got reeeeeal.

 

[Saturated Fats]

Hang on, so this week (on basically the same day) we've got new:

- Fleet Foxes
- Deftones
- IDLES
- Sufjan
- Tim Heidecker
- Anna von Hausswolff
- Jonsi
- Touché Amoré (or maybe next week)

OK 2020, you trying to make it up to us all at once!?

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Huh. Deftones still exist.

 

[Saturated Fats]

Huh. Deftones still exist.

Their last album was in 2016, and I can barely remember listening to it once, so it probably wasn't very good? Koi no yokan from 2012 was excellent, though. This new one is getting some strong buzz. I still have faith in Chino and Carpenter.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Their last album was in 2016, and I can barely remember listening to it once, so it probably wasn't very good? Koi no yokan from 2012 was excellent, though. This new one is getting some strong buzz. I still have faith in Chino and Carpenter.

Yeah, Gore was a pretty disappointing effort.. everything on it is listenable but nothing stuck out as a returning track, most people ended up not revisiting it on the regular.

 

[Thucydides]

Hang on, so this week (on basically the same day) we've got new:

- Fleet Foxes
- Deftones
- IDLES
- Sufjan
- Tim Heidecker
- Anna von Hausswolff
- Jonsi
- Touché Amoré (or maybe next week)

OK 2020, you trying to make it up to us all at once!?

Going to be a great week! Can't wait. What are you guys most excited for? Any other big albums left to drop this year?

 

[Saturated Fats]

I regret to inform you that Shore has got me on my Autumn bullshit again. It's great.

 

[Thucydides]

What did you guys think of the Fleet Foxes album?

 

[tacogeoff]

What did you guys think of the Fleet Foxes album?

I had not heard of this band before. listened to four of the tracks off their new album. for me its a weird mix between a Beatles and medieval minstrel sound. not for me ha.

 

[Saturated Fats]

Look, I'm biased. I hold their original S/t album in the highest of high regards. It's in my top-5 albums of all-time.

Do I think Shore touches that level? No, of course not. At least not upon my first 3 listens. There are some extremely-high points ('Featherweight', 'Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman', 'Sunblind' chief among them), but it feels a little bloated. There are a few songs that are very samesy, and that they probably could've shuffled over to a B-sides collection.

I probably hold it in higher-esteem than Crack-Up, but it is decidedly below Helplessness Blues in my ranking of their stuff. And obviously below the self-titled. But it's definitely in my top-10 on the year.

 

[Thucydides]

Look, I'm biased. I hold their original S/t album in the highest of high regards. It's in my top-5 albums of all-time.

Do I think Shore touches that level? No, of course not. At least not upon my first 3 listens. There are some extremely-high points ('Featherweight', 'Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman', 'Sunblind' chief among them), but it feels a little bloated. There are a few songs that are very samesy, and that they probably could've shuffled over to a B-sides collection.

I probably hold it in higher-esteem than Crack-Up, but it is decidedly below Helplessness Blues in my ranking of their stuff. And obviously below the self-titled. But it's definitely in my top-10 on the year.

I felt the same - it was a little bloated, for sure, but the high points were very high. I think they could have whittled this down from 54 minutes to 40 and it would have been a much stronger album as a result. A good album that I will return to again. 7.5/10

 

[Roo Returns]

Joan Osbourne recently put out a new album. The great Nels Cline from Wilco among 100 other things plays guitar all over it.

We've talked about Deftones tomorrow, but Bob Mould of Husker Due and Sugar fame has a new album coming out.

For those who like metal and industrial metal Realize on Relapse Records has a new album out.

Another underrated guitarist and songwriter, Josh Klinghoffer who many didn't give him the props he deserves for his work with RHCP and thirty other projects, his second solo album under the PluralOne moniker is out on October 16th.

 

[Roo Returns]

Yeah, Gore was a pretty disappointing effort.. everything on it is listenable but nothing stuck out as a returning track, most people ended up not revisiting it on the regular.

Doomed User, Geometric Headdress and the title track were very memorable to me. Especially the first it's like Deftones do djent.

I liked the single Prayers (Triangles) better than both of Ohms and Genesis from this album so far. However reviews have been extremely positive of Ohms much stronger than Gore so we'll find out in a few hours.

 

[Saturated Fats]

I am going to give a more comprehensive review set tomorrow, but I am sitting here absolutely gobsmacked by both the new Sufjan and the new Deftones. And I have Anna von Hausswollf, Will Butler, and IDLES lined up to listen to before the night is out. What a day for new music.

 

[Saturated Fats]

Alright, here we go. 2020 album dump - stuff I've listened to over the past month or so, including the stuff I gorged on this most serene of music days, September 25th.

Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension: Holy shit, not what I was expecting. Obviously, the connection to make is with Age of Adz, but I get a lot more of a Glitchpop/Electronica vibe. Feels like folk with the production of Stereolab, FKA Twigs, or Bjork. There are some deep soul-searching from Sufjan here, and some of the best songs he's ever written. There are also some songs that feel... Silly. It's tough to take the red velvet cake-delicacy that is his voice, and transpose it against beats that you'd hear in a Charli XCX song - and when he writes to try and be funky or clever, rather than heartfelt, it comes across as a little fake. Still, a record that is absolutely worth your time, and that'll stick with you. 8/10
Favourite Track: Sugar
Least Favourite Track: 'Death Star

Fleet Foxes - Shore: This is a record that I'm having a hard time with, if only because I want everything Fleet Foxes does to be great. I hold their first three albums to such esteem - and while I like Shore, and there are some HIGH-high points, I find that there are a handful of songs that are eminently forgettable. So much of Robin's singer-songwriter influences come through here, and I feel David Berman and John Prine and a whole whack of others are different times. But I've listened to it through 3 times and I can't shake the feeling that there are a few to forget here. Which makes me sad. 7/10
FT: Featherweight
LFT: I Am Not My Season

Deftones - Ohms: Being that I grew up with Deftones wrecking my eardrums like I allowed few other bands to do, I can't say that I've been excited about a record from the boys since probably Diamond Eyes (although more probably the self/titled). Ohms is an album that I will be returning to in joyous repetition, though - because it absolutely friggin slaps, as the kids say. The album opens up with so much of that trademark Deftones comfort food, and although I wouldn't have minded a 'Minerva'-like softie somewhere in there, the songs have enough variance and flavour to not overlap. It's so cool that they're still putting out stuff this good 25 years in. 8/10
FT: Ohms
LFT: The Link is Dead (although that's a reach)

Idles - Ultra Mono: 5/10
Will Butler - Generations: 7/10
Anna von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly : 7/10
Napalm Death - Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism: 8/10
Teenage Halloween - Teenage Halloween: 4/10
Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers: 6/10
The Killers - Imploding the Mirage: 5/10
Skyler Skjelset - Back in Heaven: 3/10
Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink: 5/10
Sprain - As Though Lost Through Collision: 8/10
Tim Heideckder - Fear of Death: 4/10

Some of these are first and only through listens, so they very well could change at any time. My favourite album on the year is still Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today

 

[Thucydides]

I just came here to ask if anyone had listened to the new Sufjan. Going to give it a listen today for the first time. Excited now. Thanks for your reviews. Haven't listened to Deftones in years and years, but have fond memories of a summer smoking hash in my buddies camper in his parents backyard and listening to White Pony on repeat. Might have to check it out, too. That's awesome they are still putting out music. I had no idea.

 

[ghostnights]

New Mil-Spec album is good if you like punk/hardcore

 

[les Habs]

I regret to inform you that Shore has got me on my Autumn bullshit again. It's great.

Look, I'm biased. I hold their original S/t album in the highest of high regards. It's in my top-5 albums of all-time.

Do I think Shore touches that level? No, of course not. At least not upon my first 3 listens. There are some extremely-high points ('Featherweight', 'Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman', 'Sunblind' chief among them), but it feels a little bloated. There are a few songs that are very samesy, and that they probably could've shuffled over to a B-sides collection.

I probably hold it in higher-esteem than Crack-Up, but it is decidedly below Helplessness Blues in my ranking of their stuff. And obviously below the self-titled. But it's definitely in my top-10 on the year.

I agree, it's a little bloated. I can comfortably get through the first half of the album (in terms of time), but have yet to really get through the second half. I also agree it can be a bit samey.

I much prefer Crack-Up at the moment. Same for Helplessness Blues. I do prefer their EP to their s/t album though.

I felt the same - it was a little bloated, for sure, but the high points were very high. I think they could have whittled this down from 54 minutes to 40 and it would have been a much stronger album as a result. A good album that I will return to again. 7.5/10

Yes, high points were very high. For me at the moment they are "Jara" and "Can I Believe You" followed by "Featherweight", "Sunblind", "Wading in Waist-High Water" and "A Long Way Past The Past". I think it's and 8 out of 10 for me.

Call me a homer as I'd say they're my favorite "contemporary" artist, but the fact they've released what they've released is incredible. Not a single bad release much less average one.

 

[Roo Returns]

New Deftones was very good. Like around 7.5 or 8/10. Some of it did fall into the older band category where they couldn't keep the intensity or Carpenter fell into his autopilot style of playing, BUT when Chino went off, the rhythm section of Cunningham and Vega got to paint or expand on the tracks, or when Delgaldo got to put in his keyboards and sampling which had a very cold 80s-inspire Blade Runner or cyberpunk feel is when the album worked best. And that was more often than not.