hel9000's Top 20 of 2020
Not the most concrete ranking. Top 5 are top 5 but everything else just falls under stuff I really enjoyed this year, hard to say what I preferred to others.
Getting back into Sputnik this year has been an unexpected treat, I used to spend a ton of time on this site and even after a ten year absence it still feels like Sputnik. It's been great reconnecting with a few of you and meeting some awesome users too. Happy new year!!! |
| 1 |  | Shabason, Krgovich and Harris
Philadelphia
Obviously, 2020 was the year of COVID, social distancing and quarantine, and frankly I just don't care about "quarantine albums". But Philadelphia is different - a meditation on "the great indoors" that was recorded a few months before anyone was worried about COVID-19. It just so happens to be, thematically, the perfect album for this year imo. And even if some releases this year resonated with me more on a musical level, this is the record I'll first think of when recalling 2020.
"wrap your loving arms around it" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fAiGAyIyY8 |
| 2 |  | The Microphones
Microphones in 2020
An unforced return to the Microphones moniker, and Phil's best since Clear Moon. The perfect culmination of 20+ years of musical mythmaking. |
| 3 |  | Endling (UK)
Proper Nouns
This never fell out of rotation since i heard it this summer. "Night Markets" was my most listened to song last year and is genuinely perfect imo |
| 4 |  | Gia Margaret
Mia Gargaret
A gorgeous, put-on-anytime type record. Perfectly sentimental and yet detached. |
| 5 |  | URA
Blue
A relatively unassuming ambient techno/"illbient" release but this was my shit for months. Probably #1 driving record this year too. |
| 6 |  | Imperial Triumphant
Alphaville
I like some metal yea |
| 7 |  | Rob Clouth
Zero Point
Damn this is good. |
| 8 |  | Black Wing
No Moon
Best since Deathconsciousness imo |
| 9 |  | Jesu
Terminus
The title track!!!! |
| 10 |  | Bohren und der Club of Gore
Patchouli Blue
Nothing unexpected but still so so good. |
| 11 |  | Mary Lattimore
Silver Ladders
It's pretty. |
| 12 |  | Space Afrika
hybtwibt?
hugely moving sound tapestry |
| 13 |  | Rafael Anton Irisarri
Peripeteia
dope drones |
| 14 |  | Midwife (USA)
Forever
grief-stricken gorgeousness. |
| 15 |  | Respire
Black Line
These guys have been local heroes for a while, awesome to see them get some more exposure this year. Very well deserved cause this is easily their best album yet. |
| 16 |  | AIR Krew
Discuss and Come Back
Lo-fi, tapey, ambient goodness from Russia |
| 17 |  | Eerie Gaits
Holopaw
Bridge Music is basically a perfect album imo, so I had big expectations for this. I was initially disappointed, mostly due to the lack of pedal steel which was one of the best parts of their debut. But this is still a wonderful, if simple album. |
| 18 |  | Ezra Feinberg
Recumbent Speech
Nice ambient/acoustic guitar record... idk what to say, i like boring shit. |
| 19 |  | Khotin
Finds You Well
i liked this. |
| 20 |  | Eluvium
Virga I
MORE boring ambient shit. |
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