The 2020 Album Rundown: #10 - #6
The second half of this prestigious Top 20 Albums of 2020 list is, with one exception, host to albums I have been listening to repeatedly from the moment they released. Were it not for a last-minute addition within the last week (as of this posting), I could have written this top 10 list as early as October.
But what are those albums, you ask? Well, you’ll find out the last five tomorrow, but I’ve got Ten through Six for you right…now.
Joywave, Possession
Possession is an album whose name I am constantly conflating with one of its many singles, “Obsession.” You can see my confusion, but there’s nothing inherently confusing about the actual content of the third release from this Rochester, NY rock group. It’s a fairly tight collection of tracks that do largely focus on the idea of “possession:” social media, the political landscape, and just normal romantic travails are all taken to task.
Album opener “Like a Kennedy” is a brooding ballad, but Possession quickly ramps up and maintains a great pace across its lithe 40-minute runtime. The moody, almost jungle-y “Who Owns Who?” has a great back and forth between its verse and chorus, and the bright, glitchy “F.E.A.R.” manages to make a jam out of social anxiety. This album got me to remember how much I love Joywave as a band, and I think it’s their strongest effort to date. The singles all land really well, and the back half of the record doesn’t really lose any steam. It’s also had the added bonus of mixing the incredible “Hott” into my Discover playlist shortly after it dropped, a song you should definitely check out.
Possession is available on, uh, YouTube Music and Spotify.
IDLES, Ultra Mono
It’s kind of incredible how consistent IDLES is as a band. All three of their albums manage to be explosive, evocative, and remarkably…open and considerate? They howl about the importance of inclusion, cut down xenophobes and racists, and do it all while sounding like they’re having a goddam blast.
Ultra Mono is no exception, screaming into existence with the opener “War,” where singer Joe Talbot calls out onomatopoeic actions - “Clack-clack, clack-a-clang clang; that's the sound of the gun going bang-bang” - before the instrumentation yells back at him. At its core, this album is more IDLES, more refined, and more willing to be openly and abrasively political, calling for unity while rejecting those who would seek to undermine it. In a phrase, it’s punk rock for 2020, and it rules. Even the requisite slower track, “A Hymn,” manages to be a fairly heart-wrenching set of lyrics about self-doubt and the feeling that you’re not quite living up to your potential.
IDLES is easily one of my favorite punk outfits working these days, and I will continue eagerly awaiting anything they feel like putting out.
TOBACCO, Hot Wet & Sassy
I’m just gonna say it up front: I think this is Tobacco’s best album yet. It’s got the hallmarks of what we’ve come to expect from Tom Fec’s work: distortion cranked to the max, mad reverb, and pseudo-talkboxed vocals. What sets Hot Wet & Sassy apart is the clear (and, to his credit, stated) focus on making songs that adhere more to “traditional” song structures. So much of Tobacco’s previous releases have had bite-size, minute-to-90-second tracks that feel more like mood pieces or unfinished beats just waiting for a little more flesh. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just always felt like there’s been this active disdain for what constitutes an album for “normal people.”
Hot Wet & Sassy is probably the closest thing to a “normal person’s album” we’ll get from Tobacco, and it oozes with wild creativity while still managing to sound like a collection of fully thought-out songs. The driving synth line of “Centaur Skin” opens the album, as two versions of Fec’s voice croon out, “I’m a warlord, I got warlord skin.” You get the abrasive overlaid vocals of Fec and Trent Reznor on the mid-album “Babysitter,” and the more subdued, almost dreamlike guitar track that echoes through “Poisonous Horses.” Whatever style of Tobacco you’ve traditionally jived with - assuming there is one - you’re sure to find a couple tracks on here that resonate with you. More importantly, I finally have a Tobacco record I can point to when I try and suggest him to people. It’s…something close to approachable?
Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated, Side B
Surprise! Carly Rae Jepsen put out an album this year, and it’s one of my favorite things I listened to. Biggest shocker of the year, I know. Having said that, I don’t know if it’s a retroactive dunk on 2019’s Dedicated - which is a perfectly good album! - that the B-Side collection released this year is…almost track-by-track a better release. Hm.
Dedicated’s biggest issue felt like a lack of focus and consistency in tone, a problem Side B solves with aplomb. From the jump into those first falsetto “oohs” in “This Love Isn’t Crazy,” Side B feels like a peppier, more confident set of tracks, ones that just seem more…fun, I suppose? “Window” has a bouncy bassline that gives the whole song a great energy, “Summer Love” sounds like it’s ripped its instrumentation out of an Electric Guest song in the best way, and “Solo” manages to be a pretty great “break-ups happen, love yourself” sort of anthem. Weirdly enough, Side B also features two entirely different spins on what effectively amount to a very similar set of lyrics: “Felt This Way” is a relaxed downtempo slow burn compared to the explosive “Stay Away.”
All in all, it’s another great set of tracks, even if I think the closer is a bit weak.
Dedicated, Side B is available on Spotify and, uh, Apple Music?
Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
“FUUUUUTURE,” a robotic voice whispers before the beat kicks in on the opener and title track of Future Nostalgia, a sucker punch of danceable, engaging pop music. A friend mentioned it as something I had to check out right as COVID was starting to really set in up here, and before I knew it, I’d listened to the whole damn thing three or four times over the course of a weekend.
Future Nostalgia is this exceptional blend of funky bass, boots-and-cats four-on-the-floor drum beats, and sultry vocal delivery from Dua Lipa herself. She decries an ex in the incredible break-up anthem “Don’t Start Now,” delivers an almost synthwave-y call to action in the standout “Physical,” and gets proper goofy half-lamenting the stressors of an unromantic but still satisfying lover in “Good in Bed.” The album keeps a great pace across its 37-minute runtime, closing on the empowerment ballad “Boys Will Be Boys” that…admittedly doesn’t feel like it belongs here, but is still a good song lyrically.
At the end of the day, y’all, there is so much energy and just…fuckin’ dance vibes, oozing out of every second of this record. Even the slower tracks are still just, “hey, it’s Dance O’Clock, get with the PROGRAM, buster.” I love it.
Future Nostalgia is available pretty much everywhere but Bandcamp.
