Totally Subjective and Biased Albums of the Year: 2020’s Top 20

Perhaps middle age has opened the cosmic boundaries of my mind. Or maybe it’s much more simple than that and three months of lockdown had me seeking out the new and unfamiliar. Or maybe it’s the litany of top shelf recommendations that come in daily from Neddyo and the NYC Freaks. Regardless, I spent more time in 2020 not just exploring but deep diving into new artists than at any other time in my life. At the same time, however, I also wrapped myself in the comfort of artists whose songs have been the soundtrack to my life. Spotify Wrapped figures I listened to a whopping 1,218 new artists. My Best Albums of 2020 list honors a number of those as well as some long time favorites and at least one relative newcomer. I put # 1 at the top in case you wish to scroll no further and a quick glance at number two tells you that this is not a contrarian list but comes directly from my heart, my soul, and with my life and history in mind. Wiht no further ado, here are twenty-twenty’s top twenty.

#1. Gigaton – Pearl Jam. When Pearl Jam puts out their first album in seven years, it’s highly likely to find a spot on my list. I’ll admit that Gigaton didn’t fully resonate with me on the first or even the fourth listen, but these tracks are just what I needed just when I needed them. Here’s to hoping yours truly finds his way into a rescheduled Apollo Theater release show and these songs are played live sooner rather than later. I wrote a detailed review when the album dropped in March, linked below.

Pearl Jam: Gigaton Album Review

#2. Sigma Oasis – Phish. I really identify with Trey Anastatio’s mid-life spiritual epiphany and journey through recovery. While I’ve been seeing Phish since 1993, I have never felt more connected to The Phish from Vermont than during these last five years. This album, recorded live at The Barn, came with relatively few surprises and I’ve previously heard all but one of these songs live, yet these songs revealed a layer of depth, intricacy and double meaning that I didn’t discover until they were included on Phish’s fourteenth studio album, dropped on a YouTube watch party at the beginning of the pandemic. A detailed review published back in March follows.

Phish: Sigma Oasis. You’re Already There!

#3. Floor It!!! – Texas Gentlemen. The best band that I just learned about in 2020, this album probably deserves to be number one — it’s that good. 13 perfect tracks laid out on a double LP whose center gatefold is a board game about weed, this album is pure fun. Good ol’ American rock ‘n roll with several Beatles-esque moments, the influences that inform this record are a veritable who’s who from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I can’t wait for the chance to see this Texas quintet live.

#4. Tailwinds – Fearless Flyers. This album might have gotten more play than any other on my list. The sophomore effort from this Vulfpeck meets Snarky Puppy offshoot checks all my boxes … funk, jazz, rock, and soul … with some next level horn play. {ISO the vinyl which was crowd-funded and no longer available if any of my two or three readers can help.}

#5. Our Kind of Movement – Speedometer. I’ve been late to more than one party so no surprise that it took a fifth album to bring this UK funk outfit that’s been around since 1999 to my attention. Better late than never, yeah?!? Funk that dabbles in Afrobeat, Latin funk, psychedelic funk, and soul, the full album hits hard and spans a litany of genres while calling to mind a number of influences both modern and classic, from Fela Kuti to Budos Band. If you’re only going to listen to one track, make it “Kashmir”. Pretty sure this was a RecommNed at some point.

#6. Sault – Untitled (Black Is). I don’t know anything about Sault, but then no one does. NPR voted this their #1 album of the year and had the following to say:

“In just over a year, Sault has released three albums with little warning and scant member information. If the group’s previous albums, ‘5’ and ‘7’ brought the funk-soul party, then ‘Untitled (Black Is)’ “funnels rage and sorrow into contemplative streams of thought, over equally brooding music meant to slow your heart rate,” Marcus J. Moore wrote in his review for NPR Music. He further called the album “a robust collection of funk, soul, meditative spoken-word and protest chants meant to score the full spectrum of Blackness.” {ISO this vinyl as well :)}

#7. The Waterfall II – My Morning Jacket. Though these tracks were written and recorded in 2015, this authentic companion effort to The Waterfall qualifies based upon its 2020 release. Though not widely met with critical acclaim, perhaps due to the fact that this is more of a vintage effort than a continuation of their growth, this is classic MMJ that figured heavily as the soundtrack to my summer. Six months after its release, “Feel You” stands up as one of my favorite tracks of the year.

#8. Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple. I didn’t know I was a Fiona Apple fan until this album came out. Dropping at the perfect time with the perfect message, I was immediately taken in by Apple’s seductiveness. I”ll borrow a quote from The Guardian, who selected this as their No. 1 Album of 2020.

“Fetch the Bolt Cutters contains a lifetime’s worth of compassion. For long-term fans, part of the impact of Apple’s fifth album was knowing how much she has survived to reach this lucidity – she was raped by a stranger at the age of 12, thrust into an exploitative and male-dominated music industry at 16 and has experienced mental ill-health and substance use. There is no shortage of scathing, brilliant wisdom on each of her albums, but Fetch the Bolt Cutters is exceptionally openhearted and patient; conscious of the difference between who you are and what people have said you are; between knowing something intellectually and being ready to hear it – or to let it go. It was the perfect album for lockdown – Apple’s tenderness and sense of justice subverted the cult of stoicism that hardened in an intolerable year and said it was OK to expect more. But it’s also a whole toolbox for the future. “Whenever you want to begin, begin,” she sings on ‘I Want You to Love Me’, “We don’t have to go back to where we’ve been.””

#9. Bonny Light Horseman. Self titled. This album appears as #1 on many lists and probably would have been on this one as well had I spent more time with it. I just missed seeing this folk supergroup of Eric D. Johnson, Josh Kaufman, and Anaïs Mitchell at both Rough Trade in Brooklyn and Boot & Saddle in Philly a few days apart in February, a regret that still lingers and I’ll hope to rectify at some point in the not too distant future.

#10. From Within Marin – Green Leaf Rustlers. The only live album on this list proper, and comprised wholly of covers taboot, these ten tracks were recorded live in and around Marin County where this supergroup led by Chris Robinson plays their live shows. Robinson had this to say, “The Green Leaf Rustlers are a Marin County hippie hayride, rockin’ and rollin’ through our favorite classic cosmic country covers and keeping the good people dancing the night away under star-filled western skies.” This album dropped rather quietly and was my introduction to the band; unless you frequent Marin County, this may be your only chance to hear them, too.

#11. Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? – Fantastic Negrito. I was introduced to Fantastic Negrito when he opened for Temple of the Dog at Tower Theater in late 2016. Though Xavier Dphrepaulezz (his real name) has been on my radar for about four years now, I’ve neither deep dove into his story nor his art. Now awake to both, this album is a call to social justice that arrived just as 2020 woke me from a lifelong slumber with regards to racism and political activism.

#12. Szabodelico – Casa Sui. Need more Danish psych rock in your life? Natch. I thank the NYC Freaks for this one – among many others on this list, but especially this one. A total contrast to some of their earlier efforts which hit much harder, this album is warm and soothing, inviting moments of vivid clarity and introspection.

#13. Mordechai – Khruangbin. I fell hard for this Houston trio a few years back and it’s not just because I’m crushing on bassist Laura Lee. The Houston trio playing an amalgam of international funk on the back of guitarist Mark Speer’s inventive sound and Lee’s rolling bass lines just strike all the right notes for me. Their first album that deviates from purely instrumentals, Lee’s vocals are a welcome addition. “Time” was my most-played track of the year according to Spotify.

#14. Folklore – Taylor Swift. Yep. Been crushing hard on Taylor Swift for quite some time now, but was never such a fan of her music until now. This stunning effort is a collaboration with The National’s Aaron Dessner that marries her world class voice with piano and acoustic guitar in a storybook for the ages. Oh yeah, and a duet with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Bravo, Ms. Swift.

#15. Apotheosis – Escaper. The Brooklyn-based quartet put out their third album this summer and it’s their best yet. There’s far much more to their inclusion on this list than the fact that Marckomitoville doubled as an album release show. Frontman Will Hanza draws you in with pscyhdelic lead guitar that led Spotify to generate daily mixes that included a few of these tracks with the likes of Khruangbin and Kikagaku Moyo. Meanwhile, Jay Gray’s seductive bass lines keep you dancing in a tight pocket as rythm partner Ricky Petraglia’s drums anchor the album in funk fusion. For good measure, Phil Kadet’s synth layers Apotheosis with an element of jamtronica. That’s psych-funk-fusion-jamtronica if you’re keeping score. This album really speaks to me and not just because these guys are my friends.

#16. Crooked Tree – Mike Jaskewicz. Another Marckomitoville alum, Mike is the lead singer and guitarist of Cosmic who branched out on his own to record and produce this debut album out of his basement. Mike wrote better than fifty (!) songs during the pandemic and selected these eight as part of his first ever solo release. I’ve heard these songs live more than any this past year and they’ll forever be entwined with my memories of 2020, the title track especially. Crooked Tree is a stunning effort for this singer/songwriter and I really hope Mike gets a chance to take these songs on the road and show the world his stuff.

#17. Summerlong – Rose City Band. One man band Ripley Johnson of Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo plays everything but drums on this gorgeous eight track album, his second as Rose City Band. GIven the enchanting nature of this album, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to fall under his live spell.

#18. Monovision – Ray LaMontagne. His 8th studio album, Ray LaMontagne not only played every instrument on Monovision but produced and engineered this album himself. I just found this album to be extremely soothing in its clarity of voice and instrumentation.

#19. Sean Watkins & Matt Chamberlain – Self titled. Bluegrass guitarist and vocalist Sean Watkins, who comprises one-third of Nickel Creek and one half of the Watkins Family Hour, is joined by session drummer (and the second drummer to hit the skins for Pearl Jam!) Matt Chamberlain on this album that was discovered as a RecommNed and Freaks list favorite back in May.

#20. Early Songs & Rarities – The Record Company. Another band that’s new to me, this trio from Nashville encompasses what I consider to be the blues meets rock sound of their home city. This compilation of outtakes, b-sides, and a couple seriously choice covers include a bluesy version of The Beastie Boys’ “So What’cha Want” that really leaves me pining to see these guys live and dive deeper into their first two albums. Maybe it doesn’t belong here since the album debuted as vinyl only on Record Store Day 2019 but since it was officially released in February of this year, I decided to include it. That and it’s my list.