Your top 20 albums of the 2020s (or less)

Edited by Lewian - September 02 2022 at 17:58

Subject to change. Too much great music to choose from.

Pat Metheny - From This Place
Bubblemath - Turf Ascension
Sanguine Hum - A Trace of Memory
Helmet of Gnats - Travelogue
Lyle Workman - Uncommon Measures
Thank You Scientist - Plague Accommodations
Dewa Budjana - Naurora
Ske - Insolubilia
Plini - Impulse Voices
French TV - All Our Failures Are Behind Us
Wippy Bonstack - Wippy Bonstack's Dataland
Panzerballett - Planet Z
Beautiful Bedlam - s/t
The Lickerish Quartet - Threesome Vol. 1
Them Moose Rush - Dancing Maze
Covet - Technicolor
Haken - Virus
Vulkan - Technatura
Intervals - Circadian
MFTJ - s/t
Lonely Robot - Feelings are Good
Simon Phillips - Protocol V

Edited by Grumpyprogfan - September 03 2022 at 06:31

^^ Thanks Will. I'm an old fan of French TV and have liked Bubblemath, Ske and Panzerbellett very much.

^ Thanks Mira, really glad you enjoy Bruno Pernadas. He is brilliant; so very accomplished. His Those Who Throw Objects at the Crocodiles Will Be Asked to Retrieve Them (2016) is I think such a terrific album. And he is excellent to hear/see in concert (not that I have been to a concert of his, but watched it online).

Also thanks so much for providing links, I look forward to listening through those. I might make a playlist for yours and one for mine. That Binary Digit Temple I found reminiscent of music off a 1975 album, Jean-Philippe Goude & Olivier Colé's Jeunes années (just an impression that came into my mind quickly no matter how off-base) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upzm9h0rqK8

And of course 25 is fine. The twenty was for twenty and twenty (two twenties or 2020s). Sometimes people may throw most everything they have heard at at a topic, and I do like some quality control process to be in play. My focus was mostly on ones I have heard pretty recently, but then I have been deep into recent music of late.

To echo what Will said, so much great music to choose from. I heartily believe that we are today living in a fabulous time for music and artistic creativity, and to those who might say otherwise, it's not just that you're not trying hard enough or are not open-minded enough (overly biased), you're not searching efficiently or using the right tools I would reckon. I'm thinking of topics such as this one CLICK . As a CEO I know said, it's not so much about working hard, it's about working smart. I think it's both, but then I'm more hardly working than hard at work too often.

Edited by Logan - September 03 2022 at 12:04

^ Thanks for the list, Kees. I too discovered Lingua Ignota thanks to Saperlipopette, and there are various albums there that I really want to explore due to the Interactive Polls: loved what I hear of Mondkopf, Yôkaï, Kaboom Karavan,, and I remember liking Tindersticks too. And Tunng, tuning into Tungg on youtube now, very tasty. Good atmosphere.

What a great time for music. Just these lists alone could keep my ears satisfied for a long time (well, that and the non-music things I listen to such as THIS -- I'm rather addicted to such things.

^ Thanks for sharing. 20, 25, or two, doesn't matter much to me.

Actually, that's not exactly true, it's interesting to me to see how much of this decade people have explored as well as what kinds of music they are most exploring. Most of what I have listened to is not in PA, and has certain atmospheric qualities that Kees has remarked on (and cinematic as Snicolette has said) as typical for what I share (as commonly evidenced by my picks in the Interactive Polls for instance). And I often like melancholic music, a lot of darkwave, art pop, progressive pop, jazzy music, more experimental kinds of music, neo-folk, neo-psych, neoclassical... Haha, for all those Neos (well, only three), I haven't managed to really get into Neo-Prog (there usually are exceptions I find).

I listened to a fair amount of that Mostly Autumn album due, I think, to some conversation in one of Paul's polls.

^ I would like to think no-one would,have issue with your stance. It can rub me up the wrong way (depending on how rudely it is expressed) when someone says they onl6 listen to music from pre [year X] because no music after that arbitrary cut off point is any good. You, on the other hand, acknowledge that there is nothing wrong with new music - and some of it may even still manage to make it into your listening- but you want to focus on what’s already there. And, honestly, I’m coming closer and closer to that point of view myself - almost necessarily as finances bite, in the present austerity and future fuel poverty of the UK.

Edited by nick_h_nz - September 04 2022 at 12:16

^ This last (Bandcamp) Friday is the first since Bandcamp Fridays began, that I simply have not been able to afford to buy anything. I felt bad for not doing so, as those who make new music (as you say) are in more dire need of financial support than they have been in years. Already many bands, artists and labels have gone up against the wall, and many more will follow. I know several who are considering their future,

Jared wrote: nick_h_nz wrote: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3844459035574965 Since then, I’ve listened to even more albums from 2020, and I suspect if I made a list of my favourite 2020 albums now, it would feature quite a few not in the above album. I will endeavour to work out a list of (around 20) albums for the 2020s, but I can’t guarantee I will be able to come up with one. I find all that really quite overwhelming in it's scope, but I doff my cap to you Nick... phenomenal. I've always this hard line personal view (and I stress this is personal) that out of respect for the artist, any new (to me) album should be listened to at least 6 times before I feel qualified to make any value judgement on it, which tends to slow me down considerably...

They’re not my favourite band in the world. They’re not even my favourite band from Netherlands. But I have enjoyed their music in the past, and I did very much enjoy Mosaic - which I think is probably their best album (of those I’ve heard). I suspect they are very good live, and worth going to see.

WESERBERGLAND Sacrae Symphonae nr. 1