As a follow-up to my post in the
2000 thread, here's my new and improved take on the year 2020.
10 - Masterpiece that hits target on my personal preferences
9 - Masterpiece
8 - Great
7 - Very good
6 - Good
5 - Worth your time
4 - Somewhat ok
3 - Bland, common
2 - Poor
1 - Atrocious
* means it's really not my type of music and might be rated too low
+ means I'm aware this should probably be higher, but just couldn't
So, my new top-10 and the other 120+ albums I listened to:
1) Sun Ra Arkestra – Swirling [9.5/10]
2) Old Man Gloom – Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning [9/10]
3) John Zorn – Les Maudits [8.5/10]
4) Okuden Quartet (Walerian, Shipp, Parker, Drake) – Every Dog Has Its Day But It Doesn't Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter [8.5/10]
5) Anna Högberg Attack – Lena [8.5/10]
6) Red Fiction – Visions Of The Void [8.5/10]
7) The Spike Orchestra – Splintered Stories [8.5/10]
8) Neptunian Maximalism – Éons [8.5/10]
9) Crywank – Fist Me 'Til Your Hand Comes Out My Mouth [8/10]
10) Agile Experiments – Alive In the Empire [8/10]
8
Teodross Avery – Post Modern Trap Music [8/10]
John Zorn – Azoth [8/10]
Pink Siifu – Negro [8/10]
Tētēma – Necroscape [8/10]
Clara Iannotta – Earthing (JACK Quartet) [8/10]
Merzbow, Mats Gustafsson & Balázs Pándi - Cuts Open [8/10]
blackhandpath – These ****** Is At It Again [8/10]
Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet – Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet [8/10]
Ambrose Akinmusire - On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment [8/10]
Still House Plants – Fast Edit [8/10]
Gezan - 狂 (Klue) [8/10]
Boris with Merzbow – 2R0I2P0 [8/10]
Scarlxrd – FANTASY VXID [8/10]
Duma – Duma [8/10]
Old Man Gloom – Seminar IX: Darkness of Being [8/10]
Vladislav Delay – Rakka [8/10]
7.5
Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra - If You Listen Carefully the Music is Yours [7.5/10]
Mr. Bungle – The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo [7.5/10]
Nick Keeling – Queensgate [7.5/10]
Nick Keeling – A Slow Dance With Someone Who Is Leaving You [7.5/10]
clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned [7.5/10]
You Ishihara – Formula [7.5/10]
Shabaka and the Ancestors – We Are Sent Here By History [7.5/10]
Merzbow – Screaming Dove [7.5/10]
Fange – Pudeur [7.5/10]
Ellen Fullman – In the Sea [7.5/10]
Heads. – Push [7.5/10]
Exhalants – Atonement [7.5/10]
Moor Mother – Circuit City [7.5/10]+
Cindy Lee – What's Tonight To Eternity [7.5/10]
John Zorn – Calculus [7.5/10]
Diamanda Galás – De-Formation: Piano Variations [7.5/10]
7
冥丁 [Meitei] - Kofū / 古風 [7/10]
The Necks – Three [7/10]
Backxwash - God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It [7/10]
Deerhoof – Love-Lore [7/10]
John Zorn – Baphomet [7/10]
Igorrr – Spirituality And Distortion [7/10]
Eartheater – Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin [7/10]
The Microphones – Microphones In 2020 [7/10]
Merzbow – Mukogenerator [7/10]
Fuubutsushi – Fuubutsushi (風物詩) [7/10]
William Basinski – Lamentations [7/10]
Moor Mother & billy woods – Brass [7/10]
6.5
Deerhoof – Future Teenage Cave Artists [6.5/10]
Perfume Genius – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately [6.5/10]
Boris – NO [6.5/10]
Scarlxord – Scarhxurs [6.5/10]
Poppy – I Disagree [6.5/10]
Scardust – Strangers [6.5/10]+
Stimulant – Sensory Deprivation [6.5/10]
6
Boldy James & Sterling Toles - Manger on McNichols [6/10]+
Mark Fell & Will Guthrie – Infoldings [6/10]
The Strokes – The New Abnormal [6/10]
John Zorn – The Turner Études [6/10]+
Drain – California Cursed [6/10]
Windy & Carl - Allegiance and Conviction [6/10]
Negativland – The World Will Decide [6/10]
EABS – Discipline of Sun Ra [6/10]
King Buzzo With Trevor Dunn - Gift of Sacrifice [6/10]
Black Curse - Endless Wound [6/10]
Rustin Man – Clockdust [6/10]
Dave Vettraino – Exercise [6/10]
Gonin-Ish - 死人贊歌 (Anthem Of The Dead) [6/10]
5.5
Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter [5.5/10]*
Bright Eyes – Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was [5.5/10]
Arca – KiCk I [5.5/10]*+
Incapacitants – Onomatopée Suicida [5.5/10]
Lionel Marchetti – Planktos [5.5/10]
Wagner Ödegård - Om Kosmos Och De Tolv Järtekn [5.5/10]
A.A. Williams – Forever Blue [5.5/10]
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full [5.5/10]+
Napalm Death – Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism [5.5/10]
KA – Descendants Of Cain [5.5/10]+
The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You [5.5/10]*
Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi [5.5/10] (very interesting stuff, but the repetitive vocal demonic growls is a turn off)
Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters [5.5/10]
Ada Rook – 2020 Knives [5.5/10]*
Isabella James - Climbing Mt. Zion [5.5/10]
Anna Von Hausswolff – All Thought Fly [5.5/10]
Metrorrhagia - Metrorrhagia [5.5/10]
Haken – Virus [5.5/10] (vocals don't work for me)
Deafheaven – 10 Years Gone [5.5/10]
5
John Zorn – Songs for Petra: Petra Haden Sings the Zorn / Harris Songbook [5/10]+
Spook the Horses – Empty Body [5/10]
Various – Really Bad Music For Really Bad People: The Cramps As Heard Through The Meat Grinder Of Three One G [5/10]
Trhä – Nvenlanëg [5/10]
Jason Molina – Eight Gates [5/10]
Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Jazz Is Dead 1 [5/10]
Mary Halvorson's Code Girl - Artlessly Falling [5/10]
Aoba Ichiko – Windswept Adan [5/10]*
Bagdadski Vor – Колхида [5/10]
Omnipotent Youth Society 万能青年旅店 - 冀西南林路行 (Inside the Cable Temple) [5/10]*
4.5
Isabella James - Transgender Bard Tunes [4.5/10]
Nick Cave & Nicholas Lens - L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S. [4.5/10]+
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo [4.5/10]
Marilyn Manson – We Are Chaos [4.5/10]
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi [4.5/10]
Yves Tumor – Heaven To A Tortured Mind [4.5/10]*
Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine [4.5]*
Dogleg – Melee [4.5/10]
Autechre – Sign [4.5/10]
Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas [4.5/10]*
Material Girl – Tangram [4.5/10]
Adrianne Lenker – Songs [4.5/10]
4
Hum – Inlet [4/10]
Hexecutor – Beyond Any Human Conception of Knowledge... [4/10]
Natalia Lafourcade - Un canto por México vol. 1 [4/10]*
Celer - Future Predictions [4/10]
Demoniac - So It Goes [4/10]
GoGo Penguin – GoGo Penguin [4/10]
36 & zakè – Stasis Sounds For Long-Distance Space Travel [4/10]*
Lord of the Lost – Swan Songs III [4/10]
R.A.P. Ferreira And The Jefferson Park Boys – Purple Moonlight Pages [4/10]*
Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Jazz Is Dead 2 [4/10]
Armand Hammer – Shrines [4/10]
Ulcerate - Stare Into Death and Be Still [4/10]
3.5
Matthew Halsall - Salute to the Sun [3.5/10]
Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Jazz Is Dead 3 [3.5/10]
Bohren & der Club of Gore - Patchouli Blue [3.5/10]
Tuluum Shimmering - Flowers of Daybreak [3.5/10]
Aksak Maboul – Figures [3.5/10]
3
Eternal Champion - Ravening Iron [3/10]
Idris Ackamoor ☥ The Pyramids – Shaman! [3/10]
Auscultation – III [3/10]*
Autechre – PLUS [3/10]
Seether - Si vis pacem, para bellum [3/10]
2 and less
No Spirit & Kyle McEvoy - Stuck in Nostalgia [2/10]
Kyle McEvoy & Ezzy - Mood Ring [2/10]
John Frusciante – Maya [2/10]*
Sewerslvt - Draining Love Story [1.5/10]
Again big shout out to
@Saturated Fats for the threads, and a special thanks to
@Ouroboros whose post in the thread here pointed me towards quite a few very interesting finds.
