Wow, what a year! Honestly, I'm simply happy to be here for another year-end wrap up. For the first time in my life, I had to actually consider the possibility of dying. True story. Music as always was there to help get me through some very dark shit. I'm so thankful these artists put in the work when they could have just hidden, given up, or bided their time for better circumstances. I am truly humbled by their ability to create and communicate and happier than ever to be sharing all of their music that gave me so much joy and comfort this year.
So, here are my TOP 50 records of 2020 and, as usual, a bunch more that I loved as well. I also included lists of my favorite reissues and non-full length releases. Hope you enjoy looking over the lists and clicking through on some of the links. Let me know if you find something you like or maybe hadn't heard before. Thanks. Enjoy.
1. The Necks / Three (Northern Spy)
2. Home / 18 (Screw Music Forever)
3. Sunn Trio / Electric Esoterica (Twenty One Eighty Two)
4. Sunwatchers / Oh Yeah? (Trouble In Mind)
5. Container / Scramblers (ALTER)
6. Luke Stewart / Luke StewartExposure Quintet (Astral Spirits)
7. Speaker Music / Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry (Planet Mu)
8. Chris Forsyth / Dave Harrington / Ryan Jewell / Spencer Zahn – First Flight (Algorithm Free)
9. Grid / Decomposing Force (NNA Tapes)
10. Villaelvin / Headroof (Hakuna Kulala)
11. Nick Cave & Nicholas Lens / L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S (Deutsche Grammofon)
12. WULFFLUW XCIV / Ngoma Injection (Hakuna Kulala)
13. Mdou Moctar / Mixtape Volumes 1 – 8 (No Label)
14. Duma / Duma (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
15. Fire! Orchestra / Actions (Rune Grammofon)
16. Ricardo Villalobos & Oren Ambarchi / Hubris Variation Parts 2 & 3 (Editions Mego)
17. Merzbow/Mats Gustafsson/Balazs Pandi / Cuts Open (Rare Noise)
18. Quinn Kirchner / The Shadows and The Light (Astral Sprits)
19. Special Interest / The Passion of (Thrilling Living)
20. Praed Orchestra! / Live In Sharjah (Morphine)
21. NÍDIA / Não Fales Nela Que A Mentes (Príncipe)
22. Sir Richard Bishop / Oneiric Formulary (Drag City)
23. Destroyer / Have We Met (Merge)
24. Horse Lords / The Common Task (Northern Spy)
25. Adulkt Life / Book of Curses (What’s Your Rupture?)
26. Ak’Chamel The Giver of Illness / The Totemist (Akuphone)
27. Midnight Mines / Up All Night At Stereo Mars (Mystery Plane)
28. Mint Mile / Ambertron (Comedy Minus One)
29. Slum of Legs / Slum of Legs (Tuff Enuf)
30. Nightshift / s/t (Cusp)
32. Madmadmad / More More More (Stac)
33. Metal Preyers / Metal Preyers (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
34. Irreversible Entanglements / Who Sent You? (International Anthem)
35. Mars Williams / Mars Williams Presents An Ayler Xmas Vol. 4: Chicago vs. NYC (Soul What Records & Astral Spirits)
36. Coriky / Coriky (Dischord)
37. The Left Outsides / Are YouSure I Was There? (Feeding Tube)
38. Loose Koozies / Feel A Bit Free (Outer Limits Lounge)
39. En Attendant Ana / Juillet (Trouble In Mind)
40. Black Holes Are Cannibals / IMR041:Special Telemetry Research and Tracking (Infinity Mirror)
41 - 50:
42. Stephen Fellows / Slow Glass (Self/ Released)
43. Drew McDowall / Agalma (Dais)
44. Jennifer Walshe / A Late Anthology of Early Music Vol. 1: Ancient to Renaissance (Tetbind)
45. MSSV – Main Steam Stop Valve (Big Ego)
46. The Gagmen – s/t (iDeal)
47. J.R. Bohannon/Ben Greenberg/Ryley Walker – For Michael Ripps (Husky Pants)
48. Steph Richards – Supersense (Northern Spy)
49. Rob Mazurek Exploding Sun Orchestra / Dimensional Stardust (International Anthem/Nonesuch)
50. Xetas – The Cypher (12XU)
2. Silkworm / Live at Lounge Ax – 4.15.94
3. Sun City Girls / Live at the Sky Church September 3rd, 2004
4. Pylon / Box
5. Prince / Up All Nite with Prince: The One Nite Alone Collection
6. Prince / Sign O’ The Times [Super Deluxe Edition]
7. THE MASTER MUSICIANS OF JAJOUKA feat. BACHIR ATTAR / Apocalypse Across The Sky
8. Miles Davis Septet / Live in Tokyo 1973
9. Les Conversions / Cassette
10. Slikback / Lasakaneku / Tomo
11. Karel Appel / Musique Barbare (1963)
12. Phelimuncasi / Phelimuncasi: 2013 - 2019
13. Astaron / Astaron
14. Laibach / Bremenmarsch (Live at Schlachthof 12.10.1987)
15. Iggy and The Stooges / You Think You're Bad, Man? The Road Tapes '73-'74
16. Vertical Slit / Live At Browns 1979
17. Mamman Sani / Unreleased Tapes 1981-1984
18. Sidiku Buari / Revolution (Live Disco Show in New York City)
19. Rashied Ali Quintet / First Time Out: Live at Slugs 1967
20. Black Unity Trio / Al Fatihah
