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2020, man. What a year. What a shitty, dour, mournful, hateful, do-nothing year. Here's to hoping 2020 was nothing more than a hurdle for humanity to overcome. Life seemed to turn into an uphill battle, with light just now reaching the tunnel's end. Even art, the main form of escapism that could abate the tremors of reality, struggled to thrive in a world where creation was stifled to bedrooms and privately-owned studios. Lest it be the artists who provided when times weren't kind to them, or anyone. Though it didn't stand out against its recent predecessors, music in 2020 had one thing going for it: determination. The will to create when society crawls to a halt. The alms-giving charity when profit on-stage wasn't attainable. The desire to define culture even in the wake of an insurmountable zeitgeist.
Old favorites reclaimed thrones lost to fresh-faced up-and-comers, stalwart artisans doubled-down on neoteric atmospherics, irate revolutionists sought essential rallying cries, adept starlets used technology to ride out quarantine, and a slew of indomitable musicians purveyed through tumultuous uncertainty. Unlike the majority of us, music persevered, as it has shown for countless centuries beforehand.
As we enter list week, let's look forward by looking back and appreciating all the greatness 2020 offered, in spite of the wretchedness that prevailed. Hopeful discoveries and eager affirmations lie below. Chosen from a collection of 200 albums and 2,000 songs, I present Dozens Of Donuts' Top 50 Albums and Top 100 Songs of 2020. Enjoy.
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Jessie Ware
What's Your Pleasure?
Dance-Pop | Listen
Jessie Ware's reemergence is an inspiring tale, one filled with tenacity, glamour, and perhaps some redemption. It's not everyday a Pop star hits their stride at age 36, yet Ware did just that on What's Your Pleasure by echoing voices of a past enamored with the disco-ball dazzle of 80's Dance-Pop. Meticulously layered, gargantuan in size, yet humbling and fastened onto what matters the most; providing hit, after hit, after hit.
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Inventions
Continuous Portraits
Ambient | Listen
Inventions' eloquent mix of Progressive Electronic and Post-Rock has given way to modest valor, with stripped down variants of each genre that seek utopia rather than armaggedon. Continuous Portrait contains sterilized grace, as tracks like 'Hints & Omens' and 'Outlook For The Future' manifest all humanity's fantastical ideas of a better world in pockets of peace. Subtle use of samples, patient suavity, and harmonious textures make this a hidden gem worth dreaming for.
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Floral Tattoo
You Can Never Have...
Midwest Emo | Listen
Let this be a lesson to all hesitant songwriters; Redundancy can be thwarted when passion is placed above preference. On You Can Never Have A Long Enough Head Start, Floral Tattoo do just that, diving headfirst into a sea of previous influencers - Sebadoh, Built To Spill, Car Seat Headrest, TWIABP, etc. - avoiding the opportune to drown with impassioned cries for help. Tracks like 'She' and 'Julius & Ethel' pass through regret with the determination of a formerly depressed go-getter.
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Kelly Lee Owens
Inner Song
Tech House | Listen
Inner Song flows with a grace of a swan, smooth and unperturbed. At its peak, a metamorphosis engulfs placidity in favor of eruption. The ending moments of 'On,' the tickling flair of 'Melt!,' or the galvanized amour of 'Night' some prime examples. While Kelly Lee Owens falters in her aspirations as sultry R&B singer ('Re-Wild,' 'L.I.N.E.'), her plush, midnight aesthetic presents a world both natural and mechanically-defined. See: Centerpiece 'Corner Of My Sky.'
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Oneohtrix Point Never
Magic OPN
Progressive Electronic | Listen
As discombobulated echoes of the past play out in the interludes, expanding on Daniel Lopatin's meek standing as purveyor of Vaporwave, the rest of Magic OPN flows within the unusual fabric his brand of Progressive Electronic caters to. Loose ideas ooze from rigid compositions, sometimes entwined ('The Whether Channel'), most times segregated. The end result was a tantalizing array of sounds, both good and bad.
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R.A.P. Ferreira
Purple Moonlight Pages
Art Rap | Listen
After setting Milo down to rest, Rory Ferreira emerged as a new figure under the pseudonym R.A.P. Ferreira. The changes were minimal at best, as Ferreira continued to parade around philosophical ideologies and existential what-if's. Yet with the Jefferson Park Boys in tow, Purple Moonlight Pages acquired a live element, one that breathed in the moment like a street preacher gathering inquisitive crowds around his non-sequitur ramblings. Tracks like 'Cycles,' 'Mythical,' and 'Ro Talk' proved Ferreira's growing sense of maturity, masking his lyrical squabble with definitive topics to analyze.
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Klô Pelgag
Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
Baroque Pop | Listen
There's a reason why Klô Pelgag has transcended language barriers, becoming your token French-singing for the Indie community. Notre-Dame arrived in the wake of a pictorial, feminine takeover, with acts like Weyes Blood (Titanic Rising), Angel Olsen (All Mirrors), and Julia Holter (Aviary) utilizing Baroque Pop to ascend with fantastical whimsy. What goes well with that? The idealized version of French culture, which Notre-Dame epitomized with romanticized soliloquies ('Soleil') and renaissance style eloquence ('Unami,' 'À L'ombre Des Cyprès').
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Protomartyr
Ultimate Success Today
Art Punk | Listen
Prior to Ultimate Success Today, Protomartyr's tenuous emotional strings have always felt disingenuous. Here though, tension spirals upwards as a descent into madness splits the void. Tracks like 'Day Without End' and 'Processed By The Boys' exploit anxieties with building carnage, while others like 'The Aphorist' and 'Worm In Heaven' expose fragilities only divulged after weathering brutal, Post-Punk storms. Though not without fault, as 'Modern Business Hymns' and 'Bridge & Crown' slow the pacing and necessity, Ultimate Success Today works admirably as a boilerplate for a genre inundated with connected detractors.
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Deradoorian
Find The Sun
Psychedelic Rock | Listen
Rather than watering down her sound in an effort to garner a new audience, Deradoorian doubled down. Find The Sun explores a mysterious world entrenched in unchartered aesthetics, spanning the desert in search of ancient temples, lost cities, and two-faced mirages. Psychedelics are spawned not by the use of mushrooms, but rather exposure to an ever-marauding sun, beating down on Deradoorian, causing delirious sojourns as seen on 'Illuminator' and 'Sun.' It's a fascinating record, one seeped in atmospherics not often heard.
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Fennec
Free Us Of This Feeling
Deep House | Listen
Fennec's liquid brand of Deep House transports listeners to a rollerskating rink, a packed mall, or a neighborhood barbecue. Communal events both festive and indefatigable, made all the more bleak by the year, 2020, Free Us Of This Feeling was released. Tracks like 'Boy-U' and 'Dreemin' slide with ebullient Soul samples, like a dance number composed primarily of Footwork, while others like 'Frontier Identity' and 'Elysian Dust' provide the essential narcotic downers in order to wisp that accumulated sweat away.
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Phoebe Bridgers
Punisher
Singer/Songwriter | Listen
Though evolution was minimal when compared to her debut, Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher showcased a firsthand songwriter capable of treading down the same avenue, unearthing and inspecting more pitfalls along the way. Plus, one can never go wrong with compelling Indie Rock anthems, as seen in the Beulah-inspired 'Kyoto' and the Sufjan Stevens-inspired 'I Know The End.' Dotted stories of regret, remorse, and acceptance fulfilled Bridgers' role as Elliott Smith fill-in.
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Pink Siifu
Negro
Sound Collage | Listen
America's fucked. No artistic piece in 2020 represented that better than Pink Siifu's Negro, a visceral, challenging, unnerving look into the life of a black American. Released on April 8th - a month before George Floyd's death which sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the country - Negro's unwavering depiction of America's racial, class, and cultural divide enrages as much as it enlightens. Tracks like 'Fk' and 'Deadmeat' find an inflamed man at his wits end, while the sporadic, 24/7 news style Sound Collage presents little hope for an outlet.
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Fax Gang
FXG3000
Cloud Rap | Listen
Believe it or not, many sub-genres form from a farce. Projects not meant to be taken seriously, like Monks' Black Monk Time or Chuck Person's Eccojam's Vol.1, suddenly spring-load a wave of imitators with more sensible aspirations. In a way, Fax Gang's Fxg 3000 feels that way to me. Potentially due to a cultural barrier, as denizens of the Philippines, Fax Gang's unnatural variant of Cloud Rap pushes improper malformation to the extreme, using 8-bit Trance techniques and crushed compression to unleash a style wholly original and equally as ludicrous.
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Jeff Rosenstock
NO DREAM
Power Pop | Listen
There's something exhilarating about Jeff Rosenstock's music. Well, it's not 'something,' but rather the iconoclastic singer's entire modus operandi. On NO DREAM, Rosenstock continues to herald the nonconformists of society, branding them as essential detractors that move the progress of America forward. Couple that with impassioned Power Pop ('f a m e,' 'State Line') and introspective reflections on the self ('***BNB,' 'Ohio Tpke'), and NO DREAM has all the makings a beatnik could ever want.
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Fontaines D.C.
A Hero's Death
Post-Punk | Listen
Released a mere 14 months after their debut, A Hero's Death caught Fontaines D.C. seizing their newfound fame by the balls. Emboldening their Post-Punk edge, with tracks like 'Televised Mind' and 'Living In America,' while simultaneously allowing Grian Chatten the space to flaunt his lyrical prowess ('I Don't Belong,' 'No') allowed A Hero's Death enough validation to separate itself from Dogrel; their debut. While 'A Hero's Death' and 'I Was Not Born' proved their commitment to energizing a disenfranchised, disgruntled populace.
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A Girl Called Eddy
Been Around
Sophisti-Pop | Listen
Once a promising Pop Soul artist, catching the tail-end of a Contemporary Pop wave rife with sophisticated, yet troubled female songwriters, A Girl Called Eddy's reemergence after 16 years is as sanguine as it is reflective on what could've been. Tracks like 'Been Around' and 'Not That Sentimental Anymore' parade around past conflicts with a renewed heart, while others like 'Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart' and 'Come To The Palisades!' convey life lessons through the guise of fulfilled individuality. On Been Around, the sated predisposition comes out in the uplifting, uproarious Sophisti-Pop.
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Boldy James & Sterling Toles
Manger On McNichols
Gangsta Rap | Listen
Situated thickly in a dire Gangsta Rap era, Manger On McNichols invokes an uncomfortable atmosphere often lost by semantics and braggadocios personalities. Sterling Toles' production uses hectic techniques, provocative samples, and unnatural structuring to throw Boldy James, and more importantly the environment behind him, off its axis. Pieces like 'Detroit River Rock' and 'B.B. Butcher' accentuate this vulnerability, while others like 'Mommy Dearest' and 'Got Flicked' reveal a shattered soul with a tumultuous past.
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Dan Deacon
Mystic Familiar
Indietronica | Listen
No one is more maximal than Dan Deacon. His brand of kaleidoscopic bedlam came out in full effect on Mystic Familiar, with a flurry of uptempo percussion, inhuman piano cascades, and euphoric synthesizers on the fritz. While the sound was familiar, Deacon's maturity grew, as seen on introspective works like 'Sat By A Tree' and 'Fell Into The Ocean,' which examined one's minuscule state of being in this grand, grand universe.
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Caribou
Suddenly
Indietronica | Listen
Suddenly's the type of album that rarely impresses, but when it does, magnificence is achieved. Caribou's latest features two of his best works, 'Home' and 'Ravi,' each excellent for singular reasons. The former, a refreshing take on crate-digging Plunderphonics, the latter a Microhouse masterstroke in fidelity and grace. Though they're the headliners, the schizophrenic groove of 'You & I,' Snaith's slender vocals on 'New Jade,' and the teasing pace of 'Cloud Song' all contribute to Suddenly's pure and courteous quality.
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IDLES
Ultra Mono
Art Punk | Listen
Surprising to say considering IDLES' past records, but Ultra Mono is truly the first to live on a razor's edge. John Talbot's lyrics come across as blunt and insistent, like a man whose liberalism has imposed a self-exile from societal norms. The production, both anxious and imposing, mimics the mental state of such reformers found at their wit's end as well. Whether it's 'War,' 'Grounds,' or 'Reigns,' IDLES' guttural recklessness works as a soundtrack to 2020. Hell, the captious, hypersensitive efforts - 'Kill Them With Kindness,' 'Ne Touche Pas Moi,' and 'The Lover' - fit as well.
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Ela Minus
acts of rebellion
Electropop | Listen
Electronic music is in a better place when women invade. Not just vocally, but behind the boards. On acts of rebellion, that deceptive femininity comes with a scornful bite. Though her English still conjures up some questionable lyrics, the essence behind Ela Minus' fortitude isn't lost on the listener. Couple that with the endearing 'dominique' and the heartwarming 'close,' and suddenly acts of rebellion descends far deeper than the Deep House opus of 'they told us it was hard, but they were wrong.'
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Machine Girl
U-Void Synthesizer
Digital Hardcore | Listen
To those unaware of Machine Girl's music: Prepare yourself. For those keen on his Digital Hardcore aesthetic, rife with manic bombast set to extremes difficult to surpass, U-Void Synthesizer provides a nuanced set of expanded parameters pungent enough to warrant comparisons to his excellent debut WLFGRL. Tracks like 'Fully In It' and 'Suck Shit' exist in the world of Death Grips' Gabber, obsessed with assaulting the establishment through caustic anarchism. Others, like 'Scroll Of Sorrow' and 'Batsu Forever,' distance Machine Girl from the froth of vengeance with more melodious beats Cybergrind aficionados wouldn't be opposed to raving to.
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Big Blood
Do You Wanna Have A Skeleton Dream?
Psychedelic Folk | Listen
From the cradle to stage, Quinnisa has never known a life without Big Blood. Now, entering her late adolescence, the familial band welcomes her with open arms. The first result? Do You Wanna Have A Skeleton Dream, a motley assortment of kooky Halloween visuals ('Pox') and newfangled teenage distress ('Real World,' 'Insecure Kids'). Throw in a whopping spice of Doo-Wop ('Sugar') and dashes of Big Blood chestnuts ('Providence,' 'Monsters Of Men'), and their first release as an official trio promises of an intriguing future while satisfying the present.
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Rina Sawayama
SAWAYAMA
Contemporary R&B | Listen
Packed to the brim with potent Dance-Pop hits, SAWAYAMA asserts a new potential Pop star into the fray. Whether it's in the form of Alternative Metal, as we see on the taxing 'STFU!,' or generic, Lady Gaga-inspired Electropop on 'XS' or 'Who's Gonna Save U Now?,' Sawayama never slouches when it comes to demanding the spotlight. There's a style present for every Pop-fueled addict, even those who prefer lyrical emphasis ('Bad Friend,' 'Dynasty') that's typically sent off into the void of Pop.
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James Blake
Before
Alternative R&B | Listen
Though it was a measly, four-track EP, Before packs quite the punch. Capturing an inspired James Blake, able to reach back to his early Future Garage years while maintaining a well-fed tether to his Glitch Pop future, was Before's greatest calling card. 'I Keep Calling,' 'Before,' 'Do You Ever,' all evocative and original, hypnotic yet sensible. Chipmunk vocals, shrewd drums, and a nocturnal atmosphere fester with flirtatious spunk.
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Pet Shimmers
Face Down In Meta / Trash Earthers
Psychedelic Pop | Listen
With an approach to Neo-Psychedelia that siphons color, rather than emancipates it, Pet Shimmers' emergence has been one filled with delight and anticipation. Two projects graced our earholes this year, Face Down In Meta and Trash Earthers, so why not combine them? There's so much gooey Pop melodies hidden in the trove of excess Pet Shimmers pride themselves on, whether it's unearthed in 'Super Natural Teeth,' 'Duvet Day,' or 'All Time Glow,' you're never far from a frosting-smothered treat.
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Poppy
I Disagree
Alternative Metal | Listen
Modern art has taught us never to lull into expectation. Take Poppy, the once-unsettling, yet notably-dainty YouTube sensation turned manic defender of malfeasance. Her brand of feminism sits, defiantly, at odds with masculinity, fighting fire with fire as we bear witness to on I Disagree. The brash, bold, and batty combination of Pop and Metal lives in a state of grotesque antagonism, with clever, perfunctory lyrics and a fearsome personality staunch at the helm. 'Concrete,' 'I Disagree,' 'BLOODMONEY,' they're all symbols of a new era of demand.
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The Microphones
Microphones In 2020
Singer/Songwriter | Listen
It's difficult to avoid pretension when penning an autobiography. Now transpose that to the musical realm, where it's sorely underutilized, and add a single, 45-minute acoustic loop. For Phil Elverum, in his return to The Microphones, to eschew such fustian labels is nothing short of salient. Tracing his lineage, regrets and achievements sewn like fabric into the skin of eternity, on Microphones In 2020 Elverum relates macrocosmic ideologies into the pantomime of human frailty. It's difficult to withstand, but impossible to neglect.
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Katie Dey
Mydata
Indietronica | Listen
Most artists commenting on the Internet's dominion over humanity do so through sonic textures, fusing the natural with the synthetic. Not Katie Dey, whose vocal impairments provide the coalescence. On Mydata, her tether to reality decayed further than ever, like a text-to-speech robot suddenly gaining emotionality. Fantastic cuts like 'Dancing' and 'Bearing' grapple with this sudden sentience, contorting one's and zero's into pleasant backgrounds both melodic and humanized.
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Against All Logic
2017 - 2019
Outsider House | Listen
When Nicolas Jaar took up the moniker Against All Logic, a new era for the seasoned production began. Outsider House, maligned and grotesque ('If You Can't Do It Good, Do It Hard'), warm and welcoming ('Penny'), defined 2017 - 2019, an album that gave Jaar the freedom to work with extremes. Take the rambunctious, two-track tandem 'Alarm' and 'Deeeeeeefers,' with their suppressed basement bass and siren-wailing synthesizers. The goal? To make House music precarious and unpredictable.
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20-11 | 10-1 | Top 100 Tracks
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