And while the subject matter is anguished, the album is far from a difficult listen: Cunningham recruits some of the world’s best jazz musicians—like the guitarist Jeff Parker and the cellist Tomeka Reid—to create gorgeous textures and probing melodies.—Andrew R. Chow, In March, while much the world’s population was cocooning in their homes, an impish 25-year-old iconoclast from Philadelphia erupted back into the cultural stratosphere riding a UFO and three alter egos. The trio, which also includes multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman (The National, Josh Ritter), came together during two 2018 festivals connected to Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner—Eaux Claires in Wisconsin and the 37d03d Festival in Berlin. He is Jeff Parker, not Ben Parker. In Fetch the Bolt Cutters’ case, these psalms beam clearer than ever before. By turns moody and reflective (“Chicago Freestyle“), aggressive and omnivorous (the UK drill-leaning “War“), and lighthearted (“Toosie Slide“), Dark Lane watches Drake touch all his familiar bases on an easy, in-field home run.–A.W. —Max Freedman, At this time, political rap heroes Run the Jewels and Rage Against the Machine were supposed to be on taking a break in the middle of their co-headlining international tour, but it was postponed due to COVID-19. Many of the albums we were excited to hear this year got delayed, and some of them arrived just when we needed them. Her mixtape What We Drew is an extension of this expansive vision: it includes producers from London and Tokyo and rappers from Oakland and North Carolina and pulls from trap, footwork, industrial music and even ASMR. It’s also home to his breakout single, “The Box,” which sat at No. There might not be a more difficult listen in 2020, but Miller’s genius is underscored throughout, leaving the listener lamenting a life gone too soon.–P.C. Black people are continuing to die at the hands of racists and law enforcement, over 100,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19, and tens of millions are unemployed. Every Bad is the nuanced album that indie rock has needed for years. The Strokes: The New Abnormal. It runs on twang, jangle, truth and wide open spaces; on the album cover, Crutchfield, dressed in a billowy baby-blue frock, sprawls across an old Ford truck bearing a license plate from her native Alabama. The 11-track project demonstrates why so many fans thought Jay Electronica would be a 2010s GOAT, with his existential musing and spiritually-tinged lyrics looming over warm, meditative beats — with the help of Jay-Z, who got as vulnerable as he ever has on songs like “Universal Soldier” and “A.P.I.D.T.A.”–A.G. Fearlessly combining elements of punk and glam rock with dance-floor beats and ‘90s pop, there’s something for everyone in the Japanese-British pop star’s eclectic sound.
So far, the music of 2020 has been defined by its absences. Further, deep inside Beyond Bulletproof lies a leader who has chosen to use his platform to push his people in the right direction with tracks such as “Boyz To Men” and “Overcame.” “I’ve been on a more progressive hype,” the Grammy Award-nominated rapper told Uproxx. Bad Bunny, Best Albums of 2020, Bob Dylan, Dua Lipa, Fiona Apple, Hip-Hop, Latin, Lil Uzi Vert, Reggaeton. It’s the voices—of decorated singer/songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and Fruit Bats leader Eric D. Johnson, especially—that make Bonny Light Horseman more than just another rehash of traditional songs. Harry Styles is redefining what it means to be a rockstar with his sophomore album Fine Line. Success neither curing mental illness nor reversing a parent’s medical death sentence is a lot for a 22-year-old to face, but Allison is more than up to the task. Through scratchy indie rock (“Don’t Ask Me Twice,” “Give/Take”), grand punk (“Lilac”) and even auto-tuned pop (“Something”), Porridge Radio take pop songs much further than listeners might’ve thought possible. On this album, Andrew’s death is confronted in direct ways—voice message tributes from family members and friends, spoken word poems—as well as in musical form. For the past several years, 27-year-old Brooklyn native Kota The Friend has been a champion of independent record-making, grinding out his intensely personal music and refusing to compromise on quality for the sake of quantity. Throughout this catastrophic period, Deeper decided not to let Clawson’s passing derail their tour and release schedule, instead using them as a way to pay tribute to his contributions to the band and speak out about mental health (as they did with Paste earlier this year). 2020 has been a hard year to love, but thankfully, the music has still been a highlight. Mozzy realized his power and gave the people a place to feel at home with Beyond Bulletproof. The result is ten tracks that cement Allison as a star with a firm grasp on emotional and resonant lyricism.–Z.G. Fast forward two years later and the Cactus Jack artist is continuing to make a name for himself with his debut album Heaven Or Hell. The Compton crooner’s No. Here’s our unranked rundown of the year’s most noteworthy releases. At first glance, its muddled electro-pop aesthetic and lyrics might seem to obscure Grimes’ lofty stated goal of creating a “death god” representing climate change. Here are the best albums (so far) of 2020. Does it matter, when it sounds good?—Raisa Bruner, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately starts with a ragged intake of breath.
There’s a clear reference to Bruce Springsteen (instead of being “Born to Run,” Remy would say she’s “Born to Lose”) throughout Heavy Light, with Springsteen’s current E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons interjecting a soul-rousing solo in lead single “Overtime.” It’s here, after the only two songs on Heavy Light that even slightly resemble Poem (“4 American Dollars” and “Overtime”), that Remy begins to build the conscience-focused rhetoric of the record. Yves Tumor have long skirted the line between pop candor and experimental psychedelia, often landing somewhere far away from both in a wonderland of threatening, dagger-sharp guitar riffs and gossamer vocal production. - Metascore: 83 - Release date: April 24, 2020. That magic reappears in flashes on The New Abnormal—the first Strokes release since Future Present Past and their first full-length in seven years—but even if the album’s strong songs are among the liveliest, most effortless music the band has made in over a decade, their bursting energy only modestly offsets the LP’s many sharp lows. Two of the most affecting tracks, “Dreamsicle” and “Letting You Go,” are parental narratives in which the troubled boy in the first song becomes the anxious parent in the second. Like most areas, the music world has been profoundly affected: A lot of artists have (understandably) held back on plans for new material out of respect for the many things that have happened and remain ongoing. —Ellen Johnson, Fiona Apple engages our minds like no one else. Over the past six months, we’ve seen artists like the Weeknd, Westside Gunn, and Lil Baby rise to the moment and deliver outstanding projects that we’ve kept in constant rotation since they’ve arrived. Is it all performance, or is it authentic playfulness? In other words, it’s not just the material that’s timeless on the new self-titled album from folk supergroup Bonny Light Horseman. As a woman who lives mostly secluded from society and releases music so rarely, she’s frequently the object of speculation and even sexualization (see: the late ’90s). Largely, the album is a move to activism of consent: She isn’t making assumptions about what people want or how they feel; they have to want it too, and need to get there in their own right. He’s always been an empathetic songwriter with a distinctive willingness to see the world from a point of view other than his own. - Release date: Feb. 14, 2020. The Best Albums of 2020 So Far The Best Albums of 2020 So Far Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia ; Lil Uzi Vert, Eternal Atake ; Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters Perfume Genius has regularly plumbed his experiences of identity, relationships and pain for lyrical content. - Release date: April 10, 2020. Or, as on “Without You,” he can make a rock tune that twinkles, full of color. That, perhaps, is the point. Tours have been postponed; festivals have been canceled. The 30 Best Albums of 2020 (So Far) Written By SPIN Staff May 21 2020, 1:39 PM ET. Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia; Lil Uzi Vert, Eternal Atake; Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters. But Hailey Whitters’ heartfelt manner of describing those ups and downs is what makes her dream so damn charming.
“The Long Goodbye” was released alongside a short film depicting a South-Asian family in the U.K. who are targets of a merciless hate crime. Anticipation for a follow-up has run high in recent months, stoked by a series of gorgeous singles and an unconventional roll-out: Sumney released part one of his sophomore album, græ, in February, and part two arrived this month. “I can’t do it all on my own,” he sighs contemplatively on “Sister” over a spectral synth and the sound of his mother singing a lullaby.