Cabbers Favourite Albums of 2020

[lankyguy95]

Urlab In Polen : All

Enjoying this. Lots of cool ideas but with plenty of space.

[Dirty Boy]

Loads of things i haven't heard in here. Thanks Cabsters. Thabsters.

Anna Von Hauswolff's album was one that narrowly missed the top slot for me. Dronetastic pipe organ reminiscent of Reich and Riley was exactly what i needed after this year of piss. I'm hoping there's something coming out next year that has her lovely witchy voice all over it though.

Fetch The Bolt Cutters is also very good. It's the first Fiona Apple album i've ever listened to, am guessing her other albums are worth investigating too? She's one of those artists i've often read about, but never got around to.

[phantom_power]

I felt the same about Fiona Apple. The only thing I knew about her were her pretentiously long album titles and that she went out with PT Anderson. Fetch The Bolt Cutters was one of those rare album that blew me away the first time I heard it. Usually I need to listen to albums a few times to wheedle themselves into my brain but that just hit the spot from the off

[Bazooka]

WICCA PHASE SPRINGS ETERNAL- This Moment I Miss

https://wiccaphase.bandcamp.com/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xSd0WLn6Spg

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uhi8m8f5SPo

The lad has been great for years, one of those singers who is largely monotone in singing style and delivery yet completely captivating, catchy and creates some wonderful hooks and melodies.

[jamiefairlie]

i think the musical year was, perhaps unsurprisingly, somewhat subdued and low-key but a few albums caught my ear in a positive way.

The Lovely Eggs -  I Am Moron

Formed in 2006, The Lovely Eggs are a two-piece lo-fi psychedelic punk rock band from Lancaster, England. They consist of married couple Holly Ross and David Blackwell. This is their sixth album.

https://youtu.be/YJaUgsmrbb4


The Bats - Foothills

Their tenth album in a near 40 year career, The Bats are an influential New Zealand rock band formed in 1982 in Christchurch by Paul Kean (bass), Malcolm Grant (drums), Robert Scott (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards) and Kaye Woodward (lead guitar, vocals).

https://youtu.be/lVVKxLPm57Y

[jamiefairlie]

Emmy the Great - April / 月音

Emma-Lee Moss (born 4 November 1983), known by her stage name Emmy the Great, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released four studio albums.

"'April / 月音' is something of a time capsule marking Emmy The Great's travels to her birthplace of Hong Kong. These chronicles surface in an ethereal, dream-like fashion across the LP's 10 tracks illustrated with singing bowls, prayer bells and Buddhist percussion picked up on her way."

https://youtu.be/t96njPp0jDA

Pauline Murray - Elemental

Lead singer of Penetration and thereafter as a solo artist in the early 80s.

"Elemental once again reaffirms Pauline Murray as a classic and enchanting voice of our time, with a strong vocal sound full of emotion and melancholy which remains undimmed through the passage of time. "

https://youtu.be/a9g24gWOeDM

[Pauline Walnuts]

I don't really do lists, but I think this is my fav album of the last year

https://genot.bandcamp.com/album/the-secret-weapon


It's a bit early Actress, who's own album makes my most disappointing album of the year list, which I don't have, but the Dream Wife album would probably top it.

[spaghetamine]

Really liked the new OPN, other than that it doesn't seem like anything that came out this year made much of an impression on me - I heard Oar by Skip Spence for the first time earlier this year and that was a big record for me

[Viero_Berlotti]

In no particular order.

Gigi Masin - Calypso - A career defining opus from this Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist.

Huerta - Junipero - Widescreen electronic vistas inspired by the Californian landscape.   

Daniel Avery + Alessandro Cortini - Illusion Of Time - Dark and pulsating electronics from Avery and NIN keyboard player Cortini.

Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song - If this came out in 1997 it would have been regarded as one of the best post-club 'all back to mine' albums of the era, but it's 2020 and nightclubs have been closed for nearly a year and everything has gone fucking weird. Still this is a gorgeous album though.

Rheinzand - Rheinzand - Piccadilly Records no1 album of the year, and for good reason. An impeccably recorded and performed sensual Euro-Prog-Disco record.

Jon Collin + Demdike Stare - Sketches Of Everything - A moody and hallucinatory soundscape from the dark and mystical heart of Lancashire

Goldmund - The Time It Takes - Simple ingredients; piano, synth, reverb. Keith Kenniff creates hauntingly beautiful, melodic vignettes that are simultaneously from another time and of today.

Boof - Rebirth of Gerberdaisy - The latest album from House music legend Maurice Fulton under his 'Boof' moniker. A superior production.

A Certain Ratio - ACR Loco - First album of new material in 10 years for ACR. On form beat driven jazz-funk-indie-rock/pop.

Horse Meat Disco - Love and Dancing - The first ever full length album from the Horse Meat Disco collective. Seven years in the making this is an epic album of glittering, all killer, disco floor fillers.

Tom Misch + Yussef Dayes - What Kinda Music - A couple of talented players from the South London Jazz scene team up to make this formidable cosmic soul album.

Michael Rother - Dreaming - Krautrock legend Rother returns with his first album in over 10 years. Thankfully this collection of sincerely ethereal pop songs doesn't disappoint.

Sinichi Atobe - Yes - Cult Japanese Techno/House producer Atobe continues his comeback with a deceptively simple and upbeat album.

AceMo - Mind Jungle - 8 track Drum and Bass workout from prolific New York producer AceMo. A name to watch out for.

Cavern of Anti-Matter - In Fabric OST - I've not seen the film yet, but after listening to the amazing soundtrack I'm going to hunt it down. Quirky, kitsch, dreamy...

Primitive Knot - Lost Wisdom - Manchester's Jim Knot with this 70s 'eavy Rock/Metal homage is just the kind of balls out riff monster I needed this year.

Cantoma - Into Daylight - Balearic pioneer Phil Mison is back with the latest instalment from his Cantoma project. A collection of grooving, sun kissed, laid back pop from the top drawer.

Luke Slater - Berghain Funfzehn - Cavernous club techno bangers from UK techno originator Luke Slater.

Jex Opolis - Net Worth - Effervescent Synth Pop/Electro/Italo from Canadian DJ and producer Jex Opolis

Four Tet -Sixteen Oceans - Probably the best Four Tet album released in recent years. An early 2020 lockdown classic.

Hear & Now - Alba Sol - Smooth and sophisticated sunset grooves from Italian Deep House producers Ricky L and Marco Radicioni and their Hear & Now project.

Chris Korda - Polymeter - Complex algorithmically generated solo pieces for piano and guitar.

[idunnosomename]

Blue Öyster Cult - The Symbol Remains top for me. fucking awesome. way better than I expected. and i expected it to be good. it's varied but cohesive. brilliant stuff. if you like BÖC at all, give it a go

after that probably, in order
Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment (omg they gave the lyrics out. pretty trad metal in some ways but I still loved it, much much better than last effort)
Deeds of Flesh - Nucleus (came out the other week, only recorded because of COVID, last part of the legacy of their late mastermind Erik Lindmark)
Napalm Death - Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism (spoke a bit about this here when it came out, the best thing they've done since Harmony Corruption imo)
Evildead - United $tate$ of Anarchy (came out recently, just resonates in a lot of ways, the pure anti-establishment thrash we need now)
Messiah - Fracmont (the big comeback of the year, kind of muted by the fact there can't be a fanfare, really liked the proggy/choral elements without it being too blatant)
Venom Prison - Primeval (one of the best British death acts going, and this has put them up in my estimation)
Primal Fear - Metal Commando (i love my meat and potatoes)
Ayakasi Kagura - Tokusa no Kandara (I had them last year too, only 27 min but I love his Japanese folk/brutal death metal sound)
The Black Dahlia Murder - Verminous (wasn't a fan before but did enjoy this as an album more than anything they've done)

A few things that I was looking forward to and were ok but never clicked for me: Rage, Annihilator, Sepultura (some people LOVED this), Anvil (good live though right before it went to shit), Wolf, Testament (again saw on the brink of fuckdown), Grave Digger, Ingested, Heathen, Sodom

yeah i know. but 2020 wasn't a year to branch out from distortion i reckon

edit oh also Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations 2020. really good re-record: taking into account most re-records are shite

[Custard]

I've not really heard many records from this year, and spent more time discovering old stuff, but I did really enjoy the Dua Lipa and Strokes albums

Just call me John Peel

[jamiefairlie]

the innocence mission - See You Tomorrow

"Their twelfth album, See You Tomorrow, is an introspection of people and how life's daunting uncertainty impacts the love and anxiety attached to those we cherish. It's a reflection of chronology, echoing where and what we've come from whilst simultaneously gazing at the winding road lying ominously ahead."

https://youtu.be/-bMAdjq6svs

Shopping - All or Nothing

Shopping are British post-punk trio based in London and Glasgow. Its members are Rachel Aggs (guitar and vocals), Billy Easter (bass guitar and vocals), and Andrew Milk (drums and vocals), who formed the band in November 2012.
This is  their fourth album.

"Their music is all sweat and swagger, a breathless regimen of pulse-pounding rhythm and hectoring directives that both berate you into thinking you're not doing enough while inspiring you to do better. "

https://youtu.be/hE0bpIQ5BEs

[jamiefairlie]

Moaning - Uneasy Laughter

formed in LA in 2014 and this is their second album.

"With its often bright, and chill nature, the album is a fitting soundtrack for the transition from spring into summer. It saunters by delicately, evoking floral scents and pastel colours."

https://youtu.be/hJ8HWvM17LM

Fenne Lily - Breach

Born in Dorset, she released her debut album in 2018 and this is from her follow-up.

"It's a raw, cathartic, but incredibly gentle record that pushes through personal boundaries, and wonderfully reiterates the fact that it's okay to be alone"

https://youtu.be/byjZFkj3Thg

[Key]

Shinichi Atobe - Yes
Cindy Lee - What's Tonight To Eternity
CS & Kreme - Snoopy
Ben Bondy & Exael - Aphelion Lash
Zoviet*France - Russian Heterodoxical Songs

[willbo]

I really like the Lianne La Havas album...I think that came out this year...I was thinking of getting the 2 Taylor Swift albums when I get a chance. I randomly bought a spiritual UK jazz album by an artist called Angel Bat Dawid that I really liked. I got that 2 disc Nick Cave piano set and the female tribute album to Tom Waits. Oh and Waxahatchee's St Could album. I think that's kind of my big ones for the year. I really like the female fronted metal band New Years Day's Unbreakable, but I think that came out last year.

I did listen to the Haim one a little, I streamed Kelly Lee Owens a bit...I want to get more pop to be honest, something like Dua Lipa, I need something upbeat. I wanna get into more offbeat stuff like Eartheater and AV Hausswolff. Moron Police sound fascinating too.

[purlieu]

Goldmund - The Time It Takes - Simple ingredients; piano, synth, reverb. Keith Kenniff creates hauntingly beautiful, melodic vignettes that are simultaneously from another time and of today.

Ooh, I had no idea he had a new one out. Will have to catch up with this. Although I do miss the starker, mostly-solo-piano intimacy of his two albums on Type, he rarely disappoints.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

I've never done one of these little charts before but here's my top ten released this year



1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMTcY4WqfJI
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LVqSAesb3Y
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTwpCLZLdRs
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GayrEVEKnd8&t=699s
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B681JYjxYow
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq_6cq4AEko
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rM--6pl9rU
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMEIuZEX5lk
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-GOVQLqMYs
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx1IILqrL84

[WhoMe]

Lots of good stuff to get stuck into here, thank you. These threads give me massive FOMO.

Some personal favourites from this year:

Pat Metheny - From This Place. Full scale, panoramic jazz with orchestral backing. The opening 12 minute epic especially is just something else.
https://patmetheny.bandcamp.com/album/from-this-place


Flora Yin-Wong - Holy Palm. Field recordings and snippets of sound stitched together with ambient and electronic elements. Somewhere between Yosi Horikawa and Jackson Pollock.
https://florayinwong.bandcamp.com/album/holy-palm-2


Muriel Grossman - Reverence. Came out in December 2019 but want to mention it. Winding explorations of dense afro rhythms and spiritual jazz
https://murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/reverence


Wilma Archer - A Western Circular. Did make a thread on this at the time. Ostensibly hip-hop but he uses his multi-instrumentalist talent to create something unique and intriguing.
https://wilmaarcher.bandcamp.com/album/a-western-circular

[phantom_power]

I really like the Lianne La Havas album...I think that came out this year...I was thinking of getting the 2 Taylor Swift albums when I get a chance. I randomly bought a spiritual UK jazz album by an artist called Angel Bat Dawid that I really liked. I got that 2 disc Nick Cave piano set and the female tribute album to Tom Waits. Oh and Waxahatchee's St Could album. I think that's kind of my big ones for the year. I really like the female fronted metal band New Years Day's Unbreakable, but I think that came out last year.

I did listen to the Haim one a little, I streamed Kelly Lee Owens a bit...I want to get more pop to be honest, something like Dua Lipa, I need something upbeat. I wanna get into more offbeat stuff like Eartheater and AV Hausswolff. Moron Police sound fascinating too.

I was quite impressed by what I have heard of the Charli XCX album, and that is pretty poppy

[willbo]

I was quite impressed by what I have heard of the Charli XCX album, and that is pretty poppy

had my copy of "how im feeling now" arrive today bud

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Haven't listened to a huge number of new albums this year, but recently I've been very taken with Nobody Lives Here Anymore by Cut Worms, aka Max Clarke - it's unashamedly rooted in very old-fashioned country-tinged pop styles (shades of the Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison) while still being fresh-sounding rather than self-consciously retro. It's a 17-song double album but it's packed with hooks and melodies.



Sold My Soul: https://youtu.be/-b6kuKoFyjk

Every Once In A While: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eNQ0d-r9nw

All The Roads: https://youtu.be/Z3Z8GyfGED8

[jamiefairlie]

This is the Kit - Off Off On

This Is the Kit is the alias of Paris-based British musician Kate Stables. This is her fifth album.

"This Is The Kit have developed a peculiar intra band empathy with guitars, bass, drums and occasional horns responding to the rhythm of Kate Stables' vocal cadences. ... The overall message is of gentle positivity"

https://youtu.be/JVLCDNrQfdE

Marla Hansen - Dust

Hansen's primarily a violist and violinist in addition to being a singer and composer and this is her first full solo album.

"This album as a whole shimmers and sparkles like dust in the bright light. "

https://youtu.be/znfuD9cchRQ

[Gregory Torso]

Music to bathe in, as the putrid flakes drift above the cemetery. Two black wings tattooed on my chest.

A lot of music I have liked this year didn't even come out this year, but if there's one thing that my horribly misaligned testicles have shown me, it's that nothing is ever in its right place and mundane horror is the default setting.

Patrick Shiroshi - Descension. A lonely shrieking saxophone reveille drizzled over banks of malfunctioning digital gravestones.

Once There Was Only Dark

Alison Cotton - Only Darkness Now. Your soul being called up to heaven on mouth-softened spaghetti strands of oblivion. One note, forever, held on a string until you can't conceive of hearing anything else.

Behind The Spiderweb Gate

Scarlatine - Mimosa. Secret synth bedroom music, completely inclusive, more skullcrushing than a hundred face-scowl church-gnashers throwing their bic lighters at a picture of our lord the jesus.

Uptown Top Ranking

Orgue Agnès - A Une Gorge. This came out two years ago but I only heard it this year so deal deal deal. The nights I have spent crawling around in whiskery purgatory to this stuttering, jittery beauty. "Ping pong dance music".

Le désert est une nonne

Yokel - Safernoc feat Dali de St Paul. I crank this track in the evil fog as I cruise with my crumbling arsehole in my Citroen Douglas, down the brazilian strip admiring the zz topiary.

IT WON'T GET ANY BETTER

Star Slushy - Spikes/Spires. Bunny-brained chaos squeak, cackle and roll. Shouty musical tantrums just how I like them.

Star Slushy S/Way


Finally, I've got no pain anymore. I've tortured myself so much over the last twelve months, and much of it was soundtracked by all this - ersatz sun-baked beach dream pop fluff, I don't know how to describe it - but you can find reams of it within the folds of the infinite youth tubes. David Dean Burkhart is the channel I got stuck on. Jelly bracelet nostalgia for the trapped fog VHS era.

Otha - I'm On Top
Deep Sea Diver - Lightning Bolts
Babeheaven - November
Laurel - Scream Drive Faster

I spent a good two months listening to music like this and watching videos of people walking around bits of Japan and China with a gro-pro.

The days are built from desires that nights give no answer on how to fulfil.

[Gregory Torso]

edit glitch thing

[chveik]

Patrick Shiroshi - Descension. A lonely shrieking saxophone reveille drizzled over banks of malfunctioning digital gravestones.

Once There Was Only Dark

this is nice. I like his Oort Smog project

[jamiefairlie]

The Mountain Goats - Getting Into Knives

19th album in 26 years from the prolific singer-songwriter John Darnielle, originally from Claremont, California.

"Darnielle's best songs stick like parables, leaving behind lasting images both poetic and mundane. "

https://youtu.be/UegR4kw5FZM

Mr. Elevator - Goodbye, Blue Sky

Formed in Southern California in 2012 by Thomas Dolas and Justin Martinez. This is their fourth album.

"It is sonically ambitious and rewarding. They've moved far beyond the garage pop sensibilities of Nico...and her Psychedelic Subconscious into a universe of dark atmospheric swells, lush vocals, and larger than life synth and organ arrangements. Goodbye, Blue Sky is a captivating, somber, and atmospheric trip that invites you to get lost in its massive expanse."

https://youtu.be/tnvM6-RhQ8A

[Pauline Walnuts]

edit glitch thing

It was alright if a little bit too mainstream for me, I prefer their earlier, less commercial stuff.

[SteveDave]

From 2020
Alexandra Savior- "The Archer"
"John Mulaney And The Sack Lunch Bunch OST"
Jarv Is- "S/T"
Man Man- "Dream Hunting In The Valley Of The In-Between."
El Goodo- "Zombie"
Flaming Lips- "American Head"
Paul McCartney- "McCartney III"

From before 2020
Andy Shauf- "The Bearer Of Bad News"
Super Furry Animals- "Love Kraft"
"Paper Moon OST"
Edan- "Beauty And The Beat"
Ween- "12 Golden Country Greats"
Steely Dan- "Countdown To Ecstasy"

Favourite songs
Swamp Dogg- "Sleeping Without You Is A Dragg"
The Black Lips- "Get It On Time"
Las Kellies- "Funny Money"
Emma Swift- "I Contain Multitudes"
Darren Hanlon- "Elbows"
Connie Converse- "Talkin' Like You (Two Tall Mountains)"
Gorillaz- "Momentary Bliss"

I'm sure there were more modern records but I stopped taking notes.

I'd like to add "Surf Music" by Paul Williams from 2016 that I've only just heard.

[drummersaredeaf]

Fancy twisting my arm towards Love Kraft? I got into SFA late around Phantom Power (which is incredible) but couldn't get into Love Kraft other than Zoom (one of their best in my view).

[SteveDave]

Fancy twisting my arm towards Love Kraft? I got into SFA late around Phantom Power (which is incredible) but couldn't get into Love Kraft other than Zoom (one of their best in my view).

It was one of their only LPs that I never heard. I fell off them after "Phantom Power" (and, looking at the rest of their discography, I've not heard anything after "Love Kraft" either) but a friend said it was one of his favourites so I gave it a go and, it doesn't really sound like them but it sounds exactly like them. The mixture of different members singing lead is a nice change too. Weirdly, listening to it again today it seems a bit like "Tranquility Base Hotel+Casino" in terms of attempting something different.