2020 Favorite Music

End of the year lists are the best, even (or especially) in mid-January. Here are some of my favorite albums from 2020, in no particular order:

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – Temple

I’ve been listening to Thao Nguyen since 2006 when I first heard the acoustic, low key Like the Linen. Temple has a similar, consistent energy to it.

My favorite tracks: Phenom, Pure Cinema, Marauders, Marrow.

Run the Jewels – RTJ4

This is the first Run the Jewels album I’ve listened to. I was surprised how dense and consistent in it. Listening to it for the 20th time there aren’t any tracks I want to skip. There wasn’t one song I wanted to skip. Is it worth going back to listen to the earlier albums?

My favorite tracks: ohh la la, walking in the snow, a few words for the firing squad (radiation)

Sarah Mary Chadwick – Please Daddy

I’m not sure what to say about this. It is really good, I really like it. Very down beat, not quite depressing the whole time, but bordering on it. This might actually be my favorite album of the year. The track Nothing Sticks is so good, if it were released as single that would have been my album of the year.

My favorite track is Nothing Sticks runners up are: Please Daddy, Make Hey, Let’s Fight

Iggy Pop – The Bowie Years

Disc 6 – Live at the Agora in Cleveland is the best part of this collection. I listened to the other discs one time through, but they didn’t offer much that I hadn’t heard before.

My favorite tracks from disc 6: Dirt, Turn Blue, I wanna Be Your Dog.

Norah Jones – Pick Me Up off the Floor

The opposite of Sarah Mary Chadwick we have Norah Jones, who can turn the sad stuff into simple melancholy, or something more up beat.

My favorite tracks: Hurts to be Alone, To Live, Were you watching?

I also put together this playlist with some of my favorite songs in 2020 that aren’t from the above albums.