Music & Films for
Common People
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A solid debut of a band that could pass as a more experienced one given the precise instrumental execution and the easy creation of a slacker mood.
Best tracks: Anti-glory, World of Pots and Pans, Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)
50
VERSIONS OF MODERN PERFORMANCE
Horsegirl
Mabe Fratti is the virtuoso musician that finally puts Guatemala on the map of international music relevance with her haunting and beautiful experiments.
Best tracks: Cada Músculo, Algo Grandioso, Con Esfuerzo
49
SE VE DESDE AQUÍ
Mabe Fratti
Maturing quickly as a songwriter, Tomberlin crafts an intimate indie folk album that embraces you when the weather is cold and life gets hard.
Best tracks: Tap, Happy Accident, Idkwntht
48
I DON'T KNOW WHO NEEDS TO HEAR THIS...
Tomberlin
Lenae made us wait a few year to get a full debut LP, but the result made the wait worthy. Her soothing R&B is rich in textures and emotional depth.
Best tracks: Xtasy, Light me up, Skin Tight
47
HYPNOS
Ravyn Lenae
The 1975 keeps developing a narrative that reflects the anxieties of a generation that is too young for being millennial and too old to be Gen Z.
Best tracks: Part of the Band, Happiness, About You
46
BEING FUNNY IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
The 1975
It's thrilling to see a band taking risks and setting highet stakes for their sound, while also baring their vulnerabilities and anxieties.
Best tracks: Let the Lights On, Closer, There's so Many People that Want to Be Loved
45
ANYWHERE BUT HERE
Sorry
Styles has worked hard to shake the image of prefabricated pop star, and here he shows that his stylistic range can go from indie rock to funk.
Best tracks: As it Was, Satellite, Late Night Talking
44
HARRY'S HOUSE
Harry Styles
Sault are as prolific as they are enigmatic, and from the five albums they delivered this year, 11 is the most consistent and solid of the lot.
Best tracks: Glory, Higher, Morning Sun
43
11
Sault
One of the most clever and original albums in electronic comes from the fusion of techno and Armenian rhythms that celebrate Tchaparian's heritage.
Best tracks: Right to Riot, GL, Round
42
BOLTS
Hagop Tchaparian
Through 23 tracks, SZA shows that even when her work provokes immediate sensuous reactions, it has much more depth and complexity than just that.
Best tracks: Blind, Shirt, Nobody Gets Me
41
SOS
SZA
The traces of Americana folk have been present before on Olsen's work, and yet no one expected her to turn full country, and also to be this good at it.
Best tracks: All the Good Times, Through the Fires, Big Time
40
BIG TIME
Angel Olsen
Hval keeps cementing herself as one of the most fascinating musicians in Art Pop and this new work, again, eludes an easy categorization.
Best tracks: Year of Love, Jupiter, Classic Objects
39
CLASSIC OBJECTS
Jenny Hval
One of the biggest J-pop stars, Utada gives a big direction change on their new work, embracing house and disco, getting ready for new dancefloors.
Best tracks: Somewhere near Marsailles, Kireina Hito, Bad Modo
38
BAD MODO
Hikaru Utada
It seems like Sophie Allison has finally has reached a maturity on her sound and has found a unique voice that potentiate her talents as an indie rocker.
Best tracks: Shotgun, Bones, Don't Ask Me
37
SOMETIMES, FOREVER
Soccer Mommy
Although it's not the most popular album with the Monkeys fans, one just can't deny the quality on the instrumentationd for this retro suave album.
Best tracks: Body Paint, I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am, There'd Better be a Mirrorball
36
THE CAR
Arctic Monkeys
Nigerian singer-songwriter Black Hibiscus crafts a breezy R&B infused with retro psychedelia, that is a sensual arousal to the senses.
Best tracks: Basquiat, Angelica, Love
35
THE END OF THE WORLD
Black Hibiscus
With luscious jazz arrangements that give an atmosphere of faded classic Hollywood, Father John Misty's new album is a departure of his usual style.
Best tracks: Buddy's Rendezvouz, Q4, Funny Girl
34
CHLOË AND THE NEXT 20TH CENTURY
Father John Misty
Eccentric and playful, Harding shows her histrionic side as she embodies different characters on puzzling pieces that form an intriguing whole.
Best tracks: Fever, Lawn, Tick Tock
33
WARM CHRIS
Aldous Harding
In an alternate world this is the emotional and creative album that Arcade Fire would have made to stay relevant and atop of the chamber pop game.
Best tracks: The Place where He Inserted the Blade, Basketball Shoes, Snow Globes
32
ANTS FROM UP THERE
Black Country, New Road
Moving to more accessible territory, Two Ribbons is Let's Eat Grandma collection of pure pop bliss with fireworks and strobe lights.
Best tracks: Happy New Year, Levitation, Watching you Go
31
TWO RIBBONS
Let's Eat Grandma
Jacklin keeps showing her amazing talent for narrating life and relationships, and is able to pair her stories with vibrant riffs and exciting arrangements.
Best tracks: Lydia Wears a Cross, I was Neon, Be Careful with Yourself
30
PRE PLEASURE
Julia Jacklin
Painless keeps building what Yanya already proved in Miss Universe, that she is one of the most refreshing and vital voices in contemporary indie rock.
Best tracks: Midnight Sun, The Dealer, Anotherlife
29
PAINLESS
Nilüfer Yanya
Hardcore punk for hardcore topics. Soul Glo denounce the ever-present systemic racism in a world of poverty and violence that chokes black folks.
Best tracks: Jump!! (Or get Jumped!!!) ((by the Future)), Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?), Thumbsucker
28
DIASPORA PROBLEMS
Soul Glo
Alex G has consistently improved his project, and God Save the Animals is a great take of intimate songwriting delivered with aplomb and confidence.
Best tracks: Runner, Blessing, Cross the Sea
27
GOD SAVE THE ANIMALS
Alex G
Abel Tesfaye keeps navigating succesfully the border between pop bangers and alternative experimentation on this retro 80's compilation.
Best tracks: Take My Breath, Less than Zero, Sacrifice
26
DAWN FM
The Weeknd
Disruptive, discordant and disorienting, Gilla Bands first album under that name is not for everybody, but if you can connect with their twisted ideas of industrial chaos, you'll be generously rewarded.
Best tracks: Backwash, Post Ryan, Eight Fivers
25
MOST NORMAL
Gilla Band
Mitski moves towards 80s pop, but retains the qualities of powerful indie rock that captivated us first. Still, the shimmer of the synths gives new light on her usual topics of belonging, loneliness and vulnerability.
Best tracks: The Only Heartbreaker, Love me More, Working for the Knife
24
LAUREL HELL
Mitski
Although this is, at its core, a contemporary R&B album, Brittney Parks uses her talents of multi-instrumentalist and her knowledge of musical references to take this album to places full of creativity and beauty.
Best tracks: Home Maker, NBPQ (Topless), ChevyS10
23
NATURAL BROWN PROM QUEEN
Sudan Archives
Each new Perfume Genius album creates a new Perfume Genius persona, and in Ugly Season we welcome him at his most avant-garde, experimental and industrial. Mike Hadreas just can't fail us.
Best tracks: Eye in the Wall, Hellbent, Pop Song
22
UGLY SEASON
Perfume Genius
Nine years after the flawed Mosquito, the Yeahs come back to the charge. The passing of years make make maturity palpable form the first moment, but that hasn't made them any less cool or subersive.
Best tracks: Spitting off the Edge of the World, Wolf, Burning
21
COOL IT DOWN
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
In 7 they already showed us they could get out of the confort zone, so in Once Twice Melody they reinhabit the dreamy spaces that they are experts in redecorating once and again to find exciting results.
Best tracks: Once Twice Melody, Pink Funeral, Superstar
20
ONCE TWICE MELODY
Beach House
Following the amazing Every Bad, Porridge Radio's new album keeps displaying the angst, but know rather than using snarkiness as a weapon and shield, they expose their vulnerabilities in full.
Best tracks: Back to the Radio, The Rip, End of Last Year
19
WATERSLIDE, DIVING BOARD, LADDER TO THE SKY
Porridge Radio
South America might very well be one of the most fertile regions for avant-garde experimental music, and Dalt shows a reinterpretation of son and bolero music through the sieve of ambient minimal electronics.
Best tracks: El Galatzó, Dicen, No Tiempo
18
¡AY!
Lucrecia Dalt
Sounding a bit like Pulp and a bit like Franz Ferdinand, Yard Act are ready to keep on burning the flame of britpop and post-punk into a new decade with their witty and almost-danceable tunes.
Best tracks: The Overload, 100% Endurance, Land of the Blind
17
THE OVERLOAD
Yard Act
Nigerian singer Eno Williams is a force of nature, and now, with an album produced by Hot Chip, she is able to unleash the full electric power of her danceable house music with African funk roots.
Best tracks: Protection from Evil, All that you Want, Electricity
16
ELECTRICITY
Ibibio Sound Machine
Not many bands manage to reach and sustain that level of incendiary urgency for two whole records, but in Hellfire, Black Midi manages to expand the sonic innovations of progressive rock jazz of Cavalcade.
Best tracks: Welcome to Hell, Sugar/Tzu, Eat Men Eat
15
HELLFIRE
Black Midi
If any American artist says that they don't dream of being compared to Dylan, they are lying. Seven albums in, Kevin Morby has finally reached a level of introspection and observation that get him to that comparison.
Best tracks: This is a Photograph, Rock Bottom, A Random Act of Kindness
14
THIS IS A PHOTOGRAPH
Kevin Morby
Kendrick Lamar is not a man, he is a revolution. He keeps opening musical paths in ways that no other rap artist is even close to, and his lyricism is still showing the richness and urgency of a modern prophet.
Best tracks: The Heart part 5, N95, Mother I Sober
13
MR. MORALE & THE BIG STEPPERS
Kendrick Lamar
Master of experimentation with sounds and instruments, Björk uses brash percussions and bouncy clarinets in her album that deals with hope, death and mushrooms. Mind-blowing as anything she has made.
Best tracks: Atopos, Ancestress, Ovule
12
FOSSORA
Björk
Dan Bejar's alternative rock has always been interesting and his lyricsm has always been cryptic, but in his new album it reaches new heights of brilliance in how disorienting and elusive he gets with his use of words.
Best tracks: June, Tintoretto it's for You, Eat the Wine Drink the Bread
11
LABYRINTHITIS
Destroyer
Natalie Mering departs from a mundane emotion, feeling isolated at a party, to a bigger understanding: it is that shared loneliness what could connect human beings and give a hope to humanity. Heavily influenced by 70's singer-songwriters, but adorned with luscious and rich instrumentation, it is an album about mourning our present times, but about finding the hope to rebuild a better world.
Best racks: It's not Just Me It's Everybody, Grapevine, Children of the Empire
10
AND IN THE DARKNESS, HEARTS AGLOW
Weyes Blood
Being one of the biggest trailblazers in pop music, one would have expected Beyoncé to arrive earlier to the disco revival party. But if not the first there, she certainly landed with a bang of an album, a reminder that when she puts her mind into it, no one can make a banger the way she does. Yet, one wonders if her pop feminism really aims to celebrate black women after that Kelis controversy on authorship.
Best tracks: Alien Superstar, Virgo's Groove, Break My Soul
9
RENAISSANCE
Beyoncé
Power Pop has never been about what you feel when you're young, but about the way you remember feeling when you were young. In those terms, Alvvays have excelled on their third album with a faded shoegaze sound full of nostalgia that paints a halo over the aches and thrills of our youth. To make this ideas even more vivid, Molly Rankin describes specific vague moments with a lucid lyrical attention to details.
Best tracks: Belinda Says, Pharmacist, Easy on your Own?
8
BLUE REV
Alvvays
Although on first impression, Adigéry and Pupul strike as totally different from each other, they made music based on the biggest bond they share: feeling as they don't belong in their own country due to the racism that they experience as a Black woman and an Asian man. Yet, they are able to confront all the aggressions and hate with danceable pop music that is political, clever and incredibly fun.
Best tracks: It Hit Me, Ceci n'est pas un Cliché, Blenda
7
TOPICAL DANCER
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul
One simply doesn't expect that a band with a name like Jockstrap would sound in any of the many ways that they sound in I Love You Jennifer B. The juxtaposition of styles and genres, the amount of experimentation and new ideas that overflow from every corner of this labyrinth of an album is mesmerizing. We're clearly in front of one of the most exciting new bands in recent years.
Best tracks: Concrete over Water, Greatest Hits, Glasgow
6
I LOVE YOU JENNIFER B
Jockstrap
It is 20 tracks long, but it never feels like it stretched its duration. Through each one of this songs, the folk band keeps expanding their palette of sounds and emotions, as to show how much they are capable of achieving. At times ethereal, and at times raw; verging from old-school country to trip hop, this is a band that is pushing the boundaries on what folk music could actually be.
Best tracks: Stimulation Swarm, Change, Spud Infinity
5
DRAGON NEW WARM MOUNTAIN I BELIEVE IN YOU
Big Thief
Previous to this year, we knew Special Interest as a confrontational as riotus punks that were voicing the concerns of gender and racial justice. In Endure, they take their fight from the streets to the dancefloor, pairing their harsh riffs and loud cries with vibrant disco synths that are calling for a dance. With this experiments, they are embodying a revolution of the pleasure of being oneself.
Best tracks: Midnight Legend, (Herman's) House, Cherry Blue Intention
4
ENDURE
Special Interest
The evolution of Fontaines D.C. is clear. Whilst the fun they were having in Dogrel taking a piss at everything was quite enjoyable, it is in Skinty Fia that we can see a rock project in its full maturity. Moving from punk rock to a darker and richer post-punk that flirts heavily with goth rock, with its meditations on heavy topics of despair, they are sounding very close to Joy Division in all the best possible ways.
Best tracks: Jackie Down the Line, I Love You, Skinty Fia
3
SKINTY FIA
Fontaines D.C.
Listening to last year's breakthrough single full of puns, Chaise Longue, was a thrilling experience, but it was hard to think that a full album could sustain that amount of shamelessness irreverence for long. Yet, the duo proved us wrong and gifted us with a riotus album where every track finds new ways of express the cheeky brashness of their project. This is how 2020's indie rock will sound like.
Best tracks: Chaise Longue, Angelica, Ur Mom
2
WET LEG
Wet Leg
1
A LIGHT FOR ATTRACTING ATTENTION
The Smile
If it looks like Radiohead, and tastes like Radiohead, what's the point of calling it by a different name? Well, to start, it is a way to work without the expectations of coming with a follow-up to their immaculate catalogue, but it also is a way to revisit what makes the songwriting partnership between Yorke and Greenwood one of the best ones that have ever existed. You can hear echoes of all previous Radiohead albums: the dystopian synths of Kid A, the energetic rock of The Bends, the emotional despair of A Moon Shaped Pool... it all makes guest appearances throughout the album. But beware of thinking of it as a "greatest hits" compilation, this geniuses manage to make it all sound a coherent progression, as if whatever make Radiohead albums so different on the first place it was never a need to innovate and break paths on music, but a natural connected evolution.
Thematically, A Light for Attracting Attention also is an album for current times. Opening with a plea for mutual understanding, then the album revisits pig abusers falling on #MeToo, right-wing populists, the cities ravaged by war, the shadow of fascism coming closer, the demand for instant-gratification in entertainment, and ends up in a warning note on the fragility that life, on a personal and a collective level, could disappear at any minute.
Best tracks: Free in the Knowledge, You Will Never Work in Television Again, The Smoke, Skirting on the Surface, Thin Thing.