Worthless dreaming
In a dying world
That I already love
So I can’t give it up yet.
Intro Written February 12th, 2021.
This is my third revision of this opening paragraph. On previous attempts I tried to make it sound professional, to acknowledge and somewhat handwave the events of 2020, and make a fun and inoffensive list of albums that might give somebody something to listen to and even brighten their day a little bit.
I tried, I really did.
But here’s the thing:
2020 was fucked.
There is very little I could say positive about the past year. In my initial writeup of this intro I almost played it off as “but hey, at least we got some good music out of it right?” but even that comes with a sweeping caveat that can’t be ignored: the death of live music and entertainment to the COVID-19 pandemic. No matter how much you try to kick that can down the road eventually it’s gonna come back and bite you, and that’s what happened in the writing of this list. There were multiple points in writing the final segments on the list in which I broke down into tears, finally being forced to put to words what I’d refused to acknowledge until this point. I took a month longer than I wanted to because I dreaded it, I couldn’t bring myself to face those final albums which are so intimately tied with the issues we’d all faced this past year.
And so I tried, initially, to keep it clean. I stayed professional, and made a standard “here are the albums and this is why I like ‘em” list. It felt good at first! But the longer I went on the more and more it started to feel like a lie. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when it happened but there was a shift in mood along the way, and an acceptance of what 2020 really meant to me, not just what I wanted it to mean. I’ve kept all of the original text from my first rundown intact, both for the sake of integrity and because I believe it paints an incredibly vivid picture of the mindset that I’ve been in these past few months going through the writing process. This is easily my roughest work, and I have no intention of using it in any professional sense, but it is exactly as I feel it needs to be. This is my 2020 breakdown in 25 albums (including EPs.)
List writing began December 21st, 2020
25. Tricot – 真っ黒 (Makkuro)
If I could only list one thing that I think Japan does better than anywhere else in the world, it would be Math Rock. Tricot, with their energetic performances, hooky melodies, and misleading accessibility, are one of my personal favorite examples of this. With crisp and spacious drums, prominent bass, and the twinkling guitar we’ve come to expect, the band builds a collection of tracks that range from hard-hitting punk-y ragers to softer ballads, all with a hidden layer of technicality under its poppier sensibilities. The production is crisp and gives a great amount of space to the flawlessly performed instrumentation, but the real highlight here is the vocals. Ikkyu Nakajima has a way of captivating the listener with her soothing tones before erupting into frantic barking and high-energy singing tying the tracks together with some incredibly memorable hooks and harmonies. Even after ten years, Tricot proves that they have no intentions of slowing down with a fantastically captivating effort that keeps me coming back for more.
Favorite Tracks: 右脳左脳 | 秘蜜 | 真っ黒
24. Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide
Eleven albums and over twenty years into his career, it’s astonishing to me that Aesop Rock has managed to maintain a consistently quality catalog of records, and his first foray into the new decade is no exception. On Spirit World Field Guide Aesop’s iconic verbosity and unpredictable rhyming schemes are backed by some of his best instrumentals to date, fusing the crisp chiptune-esque synths of The Impossible Kid with some of the more psychedelic and bizarre elements of last year’s Malibu Ken to create some of his most interesting and evolving tracks yet. From the opening moments to the last, a constant sense of restlessness populates the tracks. Paranoia, determination, confusion, and aggression color the dense lyrics which are made more digestible by Aesop’s pronounced delivery and some incredible hooks that leave every track feeling distinct from the others. With hardly a single dud in the tracklist, I’m once again left in awe of the sheer consistency that Aesop Rock has managed to maintain after all this time.
Favorite Tracks: Gauze | Coveralls | Kodokushi
23. Deftones – Ohms
Despite my disappointment in 2016’s Gore, there has never been a time where I’ve doubted Deftones’ ability to craft fantastic alternative metal tracks, and with Ohms it really feels like they’ve hit their stride. With a greater focus on their heavier guitar riffs and Chino’s range of vocal stylings, and by fully embracing the melodic and shoegaze-y elements that helped them stand out from the crowd of 90s Alternative Metal, they’ve brought forward a project that not beautifully exemplifies why Deftones remains relevant to this day, and created a sound that is unique to them. From the dynamic and beautiful tones on ‘Pompeji’ to the balls-out heft and aggression of ‘This Link Is Dead,’ the band pulls off every sound they attempt here, and play to their strengths without ever becoming stagnant. There was never a doubt in my mind that Deftones would be able to pull off another great album, but I’m glad it turned out so unique.
Favorite Tracks: This Link Is Dead | Pompeji | Error
UBOA – The Flesh of the World
Hot off the release of her masterwork The Origin of My Depression, the album I crowned as my album of the year last year, Xandra is back with a new EP and a new sound to go with it. No longer consumed by seas of industrial noise and harrowing shrieks of emotional turmoil, Uboa’s sound has shifted to something more softly introspective and beautiful. With dozens of layers of synths, choral harmonies, and keys, we’re presented with a soundscape that truly lends a sense of epic scale and proportion to the monumental performances that Xandra delivers. The songwriting here is tighter, more confined than last time around, leading to a sense of forward motion and purpose in the tracklist, with some truly hair-raising climaxes. While not quite the viscerally distressing monolith of her best work, it holds a special place as a moment of growth in her career, and for Uboa as a project going forward. I can’t help but wonder whether or not this more melodic songwriting style will translate to a full album in the future, but as-is this is easily one of the best EPs I’ve heard all year.
Favorite Tracks: Inside/Outside | The Flesh of the World | God Unbounded
21. Loathe – I Let It In and It Took Everything
I had never heard of Loathe until this year, and honestly I still haven’t gotten around to checking out their debut record, but I honestly feel that this is one of the most impressive and fantastic metal records of the year. Not dissimilar to the ways that Deftones fused Alternative Metal with Shoegaze later in the year, Loathe fuses and contrasts the sheer ballistic energy of Alternative Metal with the distorted and warm sounds of shoegaze to craft one of the most impressively smooth listening experiences I’ve had with a metal record in a long while. Though never lacking in heavy and intense riffing and guitarwork, where the band truly shines here is in its melodic moments, where everything comes together as a beautiful soundscape with gorgeous vocals, driving instrumentals, and a splash of shoegaze distortion to seal the deal. When the album does get heavy, though, it’s practically unrivalled in its field this year. The warmth and breadth of the mix translates perfectly between sounds and leads to an all-encompassing sense of scale to everything being thrust forth. What might normally be seen as relatively standard hardcore riffs are made infinitely more special and fully solidifies the record and the band as one to look out for.
Favorite Tracks: Is It Really You? | Gored | I Let It in and It Took Everything…
Writing About Music and Games Sometimes 