Favorite Albums of 2020

2020 has been a massive dumpster fire for multiple reasons. However, there were some bright spots, and that includes the music released this year. It's not surprising that most of my picks are related to the 80s and 90s somehow. Between revisiting albums for Dig Me Out on a weekly basis for the podcast, plus reviewing albums each week for our Box newsletter, most of what I'm hearing is connected to the past rather than being something completely new.

With all that said, here (in no particular order) are my top five favorite albums of 2020:

Favorite Albums Of 2010s

Favorite album by year in the 2010s.

2010: Treats by Sleigh Bells













2011: All Hail The Crown by All Hail The Crown


2012: A Different Kind Of Truthy by Van Halen













2013: Rewind The Film by Manic Street Preachers


2014: Do To The Beast by The Afghan Whigs


2015: Doubt & Distortion by Bicentennial Bear


2016: Unnecessary Evil by The Lees Of Memory


2017: Slowdive by Slowdive


2018: In The Future Your Body Will Be The Furthest Thing From Your Mind by Failure


2019: Sound And Fury by Sturgill Simpson

Albums That Changed My Life

At Pencil Storm they have a recurring series of posts about albums that "changed your life." I decided to tackle this in my own way.

My first question was - how did it change my life? In what way? For the better or the worse? I’ve listened to albums that were so lyrically and thematically dark, I spent days in a depressed fog afterward. I’m still haunted by them, and revisit when I want to wallow, but they are certainly not my favorite in any sense, nor did they make my life better. Maybe they acted as a temporary salve on wound - hey bud, you suffering? Here’s some minor chords to commiserate and some dissonance to drown your sorrows.

To actually change my life, something good had to come out of it. A better path had to be opened and explored. That’s the directive I’m following with this. Here goes.

Repeat These Words After Me: Black Love by The Afghan Whigs

I tend to shy away these days from using words or phrases like greatest, most important, best, etc. when it comes to art, namely movies, books and music. As many who are deeply invested in such things, to apply such definitive tags to something subjective and personal gets tiresome.

Favorite Albums of 2010

I listened to a lot of music this year, although not all of it was new. Truth is, 2010 was the first year I went full ’90s nostalgia, digging out as many lost college rock-gems and clunkers as I could. Some of it was for pure sentimentality, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I really dig a lot of that stuff.

With that, here’s the best new stuff I listened to. Sometime soon, I’m gonna dig up previous lists and compare.

YES! (albums)
The National – High Violet
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
Sleigh Bells – Treats
Spoon – Transference
Gaslight Anthem – American Slang
Manic Street Preachers – Postcards from a Young Man
The Dead Weather – Sea of Cowards
Sweet Apple – Love & Desperation
The Social Network (original score)
Neil Young – LeNoise
Imperial State Electric – s/t

YES! (singles)
Arcade Fire – Month of May
Superchunk – Digging for Something
Paul Weller – Wake Up The Nation
Cee-Lo Green – F*ck You
Free Energy – Dream City
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Mighty Sparrow
Stone Temple Pilots – Between The Lines
Interpol – Barricade
Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist
Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

MEH…
Tim Kasher – The Game of Monogamy
Helmet – Seeing Eye Dog
The Hold Steady – Heaven Is Whenever
Weezer – Hurley/Death to False Metal
Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat the Devil’s Tattoo
Stereophonics – Keep Calm and Carry On
Editors – In This Light & On This Evening
Slash – Slash
Minus The Bear – Omni
The Hot Rats – Turn Ons
Nada Surf – If I Had A Hi-Fi
Chromeo – Business Casual
Idlewild – Post Electric Blues
Massive Attack – Heligoland
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
Early Man – Death Potion
The Whigs – In The Dark

YEEEE-UCK.
MGMT – Congratulations
Hole – Nobody’s Daughter
Jimmy Eat World – Invented
Liz Phair – Funstyle
M.I.A. – Maya
Futureheads – The Chaos
Ozzy Osbourne – Scream