Best Albums of 2020

SAULT - Untitled (Black Is...) / Untitled (Rise)

SAULT eschews all press, fully content with letting the work speak for itself. Easily the most compelling output of the year. "Wildfires" was my top track by any artist.

Taylor Swift - folklore / evermore

Taylor dropped 2 surprise records in 2020, both collaborations with Aaron Dessner of The National. The pairing is effortless, the results are stunning.

Run the Jewels - RTJ4

The sound of the summer protests, for me, was Run the Jewels. Although it was written well before George Floyd's murder, no other record captured the global response quite as well.

The Killers - Imploding the Mirage

Underestimate The Killers at your own peril. I was stunned how much this album moved me in a year where it seems violently out of place.

Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud

Katie Crutchfield continues to make timeless classics.

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Fiona Apple received a 10.0 from Pitchfork for this instant classic.

Moses Sumney - græ

Moses Sumney's follow-up to 2017's Aromanticism is epic, erotic, and wild.

Perfume Genius - Set My Heart On Fire Immediately

Mike Hadreas delivered a solid follow-up to 2017's No Shape. I stopped counting the number of key tracks on it at 4.

Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

Kevin Parker's home studio is ready-made for pandemic-sized TV appearances, where he often performed his tunes in stripped down arrangments with a mix of analog synths, loops, and some more modern gear - often by himself, or with a bandmate or two.

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

Indie rock's It Girl was extremely online all year. Her omnipresence led to a handful of Grammy noms for her sophomore debut.