The Best Albums of the 2020’s, So Far
Surprise I guess! Usually January is a dead (read: recovery) month for The Conquest, but at the half decade mark it only seems appropriate to add…ANOTHER LIST! WOOOOO!!!!!
This past half-decade has felt like two full decades, so you’ll be surprised to learn that 2020, the year we all went to Hell, was only five years ago, and as such, will have albums showcased in this article.
But apart from the ever-Cormac-McCarthy-ing of our current timeline, the music selection has been peak. There’s been a TON of great pop, synthpop, folk, hip hop, rock—you know, the genres of popular music—these past few years, so the list is up to 100 from our usual 50. But, that also means, so is the massive wall-of-text that is our Honorable Mentions. Hoo boy, there’s a lot of Honorable Mentions:
Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul Tropical Dancer, Aesop Rock Integrated Tech Solutions, Arooj Aftab Night Reign, Against All Logic 2017-2019, Arca KiCk iii, Armand Hammer & The Alchemist Haram, Backxwash God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It and His Happiness Shall Come First Even Though We Are Suffering, Björk Fossora, Bladee Cold Visions, James Blake Friends That Break Your Heart, Boldy James & The Alchemist Bo Jackson, Brockhampton Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis Carnage, Chloe x Halle Ungodly Hour, Christine and the Queens Paranoia, Angels, True Love, Converge & Chelsea Wolfe Bloodmoon: I, Denzel Curry Kings of the Mischievous South, Vol. 2, Lucy Dacus Home Video, death’s dynamic shroud Darklife, Deftones Ohms, Lana Del Rey Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, Helena Deland Someone New, Dry Cleaning New Long Leg, Dua Lipa Future Nostalgia, Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard and Soft, Avalon Emerson & the Charm, Feu! Chatterton Palais d’Argile, Fleet Foxes Shore, Floating Points Cascade, Fontaines D.C. Skinty Fia, Mabe Fratti Sentir Que No Sabes, Peter Gabriel i/o, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist Alfredo, Kim Gordon The Collective, Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter SAVED!, Tim Hecker No Highs, Brittany Howard What Now, Ibibio Sound Machine Electricity, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit Weathervanes, Japanese Breakfast Jubilee, Jockstrap I Love You, Jennifer B, Johnny Blue Skies Passage du Desir, Ka The Thief Next to Jesus, Kelela Raven, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, Knocked Loose You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To, L’Rain Fatigue, Kendrick Lamar GNX, Lnakum False Lankum, The Last Dinner Party Prelude to Ecstasy, Mary Lattimore Silver Ladders, MJ Lenderman Manning Fireworks, Liturgy 93696, Lost Girls Menneskekollektivet, Low Hey What, Mach-Hommy #RICHAXXHAITIAN, Magdalena Bay mini mix vol. 3, Kali Malone Does Spring Hide Its Joy, Mannequin Pussy I Got Heaven, Laura Marling Patterns in Repeat and Song for Our Daughter, Makaya McCraven In These Times, Naplam Death Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, Nine Inch Nails Ghosts V & VI: Together / Locusts, Angel Olsen Big Time, Oneohtrix Point Never Magic Oneohtrix Point Never, Kelly Lee Owens Inner Song, Parannoul After the Magic, Arlo Parks Collapsed in Sunbeams, Perfume Genius Set My Heart on Fire Immediately and Ugly Season, Jessica Pratt Here in the Pitch, Protomartyr Ultimate Success Today, Pusha T It’s Almost Dry, Queens of the Stone Age In Times New Roman, slothai UGLY, The Smile A Light for Attracting Attention and Wall of Eyes, Soul Glo Diaspora Problems, Spellling The Turning Wheel, Spoon Lucifer on the Sofa, St. Vincent Daddy’s Home, Vince Staples Dark Times, Sudan Archives Natural Brown Prom Queen, Moses Sumney Grae, Swans The Beggar, Tyler, The Creator Chromakopia, Kali Uchis Red Moon in Venus, The War on Drugs I Don’t Live Here Anymore, Faye Webster I Know I’m Funny Haha, The Weeknd Dawn FM, Jack White Fear the Dawn and No Name, Witch Zango, Chelsea Wolfe She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, Nilufer Yanya My Method Actor, yeule Softscars, Yola Stand for Myself, Yves Tumor Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Phew… Did you say them all in one breath like I did? No? Is that why my doctor said I’m not allowed to read Monsanto ingredients out loud anymore? Most certainly. But let’s be honest, you didn’t come here to read about the time I passed out in the freezer section of a Food Lion. You came to vaguely remember the last five years and see me attempt to rewrite reviews/breakdowns I already wrote once before. Well, you’re in luck, because here we go!
Also, please don’t remind me that these are not in the same order that they were on xxxx year’s list. Like, time passes, man. Even that one week between the last article and this one had a bunch of stuff happen. You know the stuff I mean.
100. All Born Screaming
St. Vincent
Art Rock | 2024
99. Only God Was Above Us
Vampire Weekend
Indie Rock | 2024
98. I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU
JPEGMAFIA
Experimental Hip Hop | 2024
97. NO THANK YOU
Little Simz
Conscious Hip Hop | 2022
96. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Kendrick Lamar
Conscious Hip Hop | 2022
95. Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
Mckinley Dixon
Jazz Rap | 2023
94. And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Weyes Blood
Baroque Pop | 2022
93. Cavalcade
black midi
Avant-Prog | 2021
92. Endlessness
Nala Sinephro
Jazz Fusion | 2024
91. how i’m feeling now
Charli XCX
Hyperpop | 2020
90. We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
Armand Hammer
Experimental Hip Hop | 2023
89. The New Abnormal
The Strokes
Post-Punk Revival | 2020
88. Bright Future
Adrianne Lenker
Contemporary Folk | 2024
87. Cool World
Chat Pile
Noise Rock | 2024
86. For the first time
Black Country, New Road
Post-Rock | 2021
85. Lives Outgrown
Beth Gibbons
Chamber Folk | 2024
84. Diamond Jubilee
Cindy Lee
Hypnagogic Pop | 2024
83. Songs / Instrumentals
Adrianne Lenker
Contemporary Folk | 2020
82. Maps
billy woods & Kenny Segal
Abstract Hip Hop | 2023
81. By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Injury Reserve
Experimental Hip Hop | 2021
80. Night Palace
Mount Eerie
Slacker Rock | 2024
79. Hellfire
black midi
Avant-Prog | 2022
78. Aethiopes
billy woods
Abstract Hip Hop | 2022
77. De Todas Las Flores
Natalia Lafourcade
Chamber Folk | 2022
76. LP!
JPEGMAFIA
Experimental Hip Hop | 2021
75. Ants from Up There
Black Country, New Road
Art Rock | 2022
74. Harmonizer
Ty Segall
Psychedelic Rock | 2021
73. YIAN
Lucinda Chua
Ambient Pop | 2023
72. Nine
SAULT
Neo-Soul | 2021
71. The Love Invention
Alison Goldfrapp
Dance-Pop |2023
70. Rack
The Jesus Lizard
Noise Rock | 2024
69. Texis
Sleigh Bells
Noise Pop | 2021
68. GUTS
Olivia Rodrigo
Pop Rock | 2023
67. I Am Not There Anymore
The Clientele
Chamber Pop | 2023
66. A Hero’s Death
Fontaines D.C.
Post-Punk | 2020
65. Women in Music, Pt. III
HAIM
Soft Rock | 2020
64. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Chappell Roan
Dance-Pop | 2023
63. Wilderness of Mirrors
The Black Angels
Psychedelic Rock | 2022
62. Big Ideas
Remi Wolf
Dance-Pop | 2024
61. A Sliver of Space
Mr. Gnome
Stoner Rock | 2024
60. I Lie Here Buried with My Rings and My Dresses
Backxwash
Industrial Hip Hop | 2021
59. Henki
Richard Dawson & Circle
Progressive Rock | 2021
58. STRUGGLER
Genesis Owusu
Post-Punk Revival | 2023
57. After Hours
The Weeknd
Alternative R&B | 2020
56. God Save the Animals
Alex G
Indie Rock | 2022
55. Something in the Room She Moves
Julia Holter
Art Pop | 2024
54. Afrique Victime
Mdou Moctar
Tishoumaren | 2021
53. Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)
Yves Tumor
Neo-Psychedelia | 2023
52. SAWAYAMA
Rina Sawayama
Dance-Pop | 2020
51. Dogsbody
Model/Actriz
Noise Rock | 2023
Halfway there…phew
50. GLOW ON
Turnstile
Post-Hardcore | 2021
49. The Loveliest Time
Carly Rae Jepsen
Dance-Pop | 2023
48. Preacher’s Daughter
Ethel Cain
Slowcore | 2022
47. The Ruby Cord
Richard Dawson
Progressive Folk | 2022
46. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Mitski
Chamber Pop | 2023
45. RENAISSANCE
Beyoncé
Dance-Pop | 2022
44. PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Progressive Metal | 2023
43. Once Twice Melody
Beach House
Dream Pop | 2022
42. That! Feels Good!
Jessie Ware
Disco | 2023
41. A Beginner’s Mind
Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine
Chamber Folk | 2021
40. Smiling with No Teeth
Genesis Owusu
Neo-Soul | 2021
39. Punisher
Phoebe Bridgers
Chamber Folk | 2020
38. 13” Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips
Xiu Xiu
Neo-Psychedelia/Experimental | 2024
37. Call Me If You Get Lost
Tyler, The Creator
West Coast Hip Hop | 2021
36. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Fiona Apple
Art Pop | 2020
35. Mahashmashana
Father John Misty
Baroque Pop | 2024
34. Blue Rev
Alvvays
Shoegaze | 2022
33. Challengers [MIXED] by Boys Noize
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross & Boys Noize
Techno | 2024
32. Mercurial World
Magdalena Bay
Synthpop | 2021
31. Absolute Elsewhere
Blood Incantation
Death Metal | 2024
30. SCARING THE HOES
JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown
Experimental Hip Hop | 2023
29. Promises
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra
Post-Minimalism | 2021
28. Cheat Codes
Danger Mouse & Black Thought
East Coast Hip Hop | 2022
27. Affection
Bullion
Synthpop | 2024
26. The Dream of Delphi
Bat for Lashes
Art Pop | 2024
25. Introduction, Presence
Nation of Language
Synthpop | 2020
24. RAT WARS
HEALTH
Electro-Industrial | 2023
23. Wet Leg
Wet Leg
Post-Punk Revival | 2022
22. Superstar
Caroline Rose
Synthpop | 2020
21. songdreaming
Sam Lee
Contemporary Folk | 2024
20. Strange Disciple
Nation of Language
Synthpop | 2023
19. Forever in Your Heart
Black Dresses
Electro-Industrial | 2021
18. MOTOMAMI
Rosalia
Neoperreo | 2022
17. Funeral for Justice
Mdou Moctar
Tishoumaren | 2024
16. Laurel Hell
Mitski
Art Pop | 2022
15. My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross
ANOHNI and the Johnsons
Soul | 2023
14. RTJ4
Run the Jewels
Hardcore Hip Hop | 2020
13. Melt My Eyez See Your Future
Denzel Curry
Conscious Hip Hop | 2022
12. Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
Caroline Polachek
Art Pop | 2023
11. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Big Thief
Folk Rock | 2022
Daaaaaamn! We made it to the final countdown!
10. What’s Your Pleasure?
Jessie Ware
Disco | 2020
My initial 2020 list left this disco revival masterpiece woefully under-analyzed. Like, what was I thinking?
I’ve been a passing fan of Jessie Ware’s material for years, but when Adele exists, the traditional pop ballad genre is already taken, and even with as talented and Jessie is, she is not Adele.
So, you pivot. Make a place for yourself in a new space. Some more underground dance artists were bringing disco back, and since Jessie is no slouch and has her ears in the scene, she jumped on that train, forced her way to the engine, and took over like a bad Tony Scott movie.
What’s You Pleasure? This album, that’s what. Every moment on this thing is full of leisure suit-wearing, light-up floor-dancing bangers. Specifically, let’s point out the title track, which leans into the more Giorgio Moroder-style of bumpin’ Italo-disco, and has maybe the sexiest line of all time: “I can tell you’ve got potential / Is this love too hot to handle / Make a wish, blow out my candle / Make a wish for me.” Oh, Jessie, you give me the vapors.
But it doesn’t stop there. The bass lines on dancefloor burners like “Ooh La La,” and “Mirage (Don’t Stop)” would give even Funkadelic a run for their money. “Soul Control” is somehow both disco and a nod to Janet Jackson’s “Control” at the same time—a powerful combination. Then there’s “Save a Kiss,” “Adore You,” and “The Kill,” which all take Jessie’s former songwriting style and add truly glorious 70’s and 80’s dance synth patches over them, creating a sonic world that’s both old and new.
Then the closer, “Remember Where You Are,” puts one of those Lexus commercial bows on the whole package, with gorgeous choral backing and lush string arrangements for that extra authentic “original” disco feel. It’s just all so fun and heartfelt and wonderful to listen and dance to, I keep going back again and again.
9. Javelin
Sufjan Stevens
Chamber Folk | 2023
Opposing Jessie’s fun up there is folk genius Sufjan Stevens’ most personal, intimate, and heartbreaking album to date. Dedicated to his late partner, and recorded whilst battling Guillan-Barre, Javelin is a massive compendium of all the dark feelings of loss and hopelessness one can experience, set to a breathtaking score of delicate guitars and orchestral strings.
Setting the emotion aside (which is incredibly hard to do with this album, but to focus solely on that would do it a disservice), I will say that I was starting to fall out of love with Sufjan’s output after, let’s say The Age of Adz, but, if we’re being honest, Illinois. There was something those state albums and Seven Swans had in their…production or instrumentation or composition or something that just made them so unusually warm and fun sounding. Starting a bit with Adz and then…everything he’s even remotely worked on since, there’s been this sort of “too intimate” feeling. Like, if those first couple albums were you listening to him play in his living room, the next set was like listening to him play in a soundproofed linen closet. The music was still technically masterful, of course, but even his deeply biographical Carrie & Lowell was…stuffy?
But starting with 2021’s A Beginner’s Mind, his stunningly beautiful collaboration with Angelo De Augustine (and #41 on this list), Sufjan began working some of that twee magic and—thank the old gods—banjos back in. His electronic detour, The Ascension, was actually an album I thoroughly enjoyed (though I think I may have been the only one) that reintroduced us to glitch-pop Sufjan, who also makes an appearance here. And that’s where the “no emotion” aside was going: Javelin is like a perfect distillation and sampler of all of Sufjan’s various eras, expertly combined so that every song sounds like it could have come from any album. And yet only on this album was it possible.
This mastery is supremely evident on the utterly devastating single, “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” The song, filled with all the grief and despair of someone who lost the only person they felt actually saw them, begins with the plucked folk guitar and banjo of those early albums. But after the first chorus, electronic meters and chirps come into the background, along with an “old” Sufjan staple: the perfectly arranged chamber choir. And during these choruses, Sufjan’s own voice is kept in that “too intimate” space, allowing his raw emotion to stay in plain view while the dazzling musical acrobatics continue behind him.
The album’s penultimate track, and one of the best songs of this decade, “Shit Talk,” is perhaps the most obviously wondrous showcase of Sufjan’s songwriting prowess. It also serves as Javelin’s most heart-wrenching story point. Written seemingly as a breakup song, further examination sees Sufjan filled with self-hate over his inability to emotionally cope with a dying loved one: “Do as I say, not as I give up / Not as I’ve failed to live / … / I will always love you / But I cannot watch.”
The song resolves into a wordless, orchestral ambient piece. With death, a song ends, but the music goes on.
8. Visons of Bodies Being Burned
clipping.
Horrorcore | 2020
Okay, phew, let’s wipe away those tears and switch up the mood, from funerary to…
Oh God, Hamilton’s Thomas Jefferson rapping about gruesome serial murder.
Alright, hear me out. This album is the shit. For as highly experimental co-producers/beat-makers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes can be (I saw that “What’s in My Bag” episode, you two), the semi-industrial influence they bring to Visions—the second in a “diptych” of horrorcore albums by clipping. (following 2019’s equally brilliant There Existed an Addition to Blood)—creates some truly addictive and atmospheric hooks that make an album written from the point-of-view of a slasher a breeze.
Obviously “Say the Name” is an easy standout. The morphed Geto Boys sample that somehow both fits into the time signature and doesn’t, the off-putting claps that could just as easily be a slamming door somewhere in an abandoned warehouse, the synth beat that’s so low-pitch it might as well be a drum, it’s all so genius.
But the standout, like so many things he’s in, is Daveed Diggs. His flow cannot be broken or even approached. He had to come up with so many artful descriptions of murder scenes for this album I’m assuming he turned into Goya’s Saturn. Utterly fantastic tracks, like the deliciously tongue-in-cheek “‘96 Neve Campbell,” where he’s matched flow-for-flow with Cam & China, see him brilliantly combine “standard” hip hop parlance with gory horror movie cliches.
On “Something Underneath,” Diggs has to essentially keep his own beat over an industrial drone for the first half of the song before some semblance of an instrument appears to match him, then that becomes a full cast of Stomp-style drum torrent. And there’s the group’s approach to “standard” hip hop, “Check the Lock,” which certainly presents a bleak image of humanity, but it’s rhymed out over the most addictive 80’s horror movie soundtrack you’ve never heard.
I get it, a horrorcore masterwork isn’t going to be the most appealing entry for people looking to expand their musical horizons, what with track names like “Pain Everyday,” and “Looking Like Meat” (that last one is an industrial BANGER by the way). But let me say, if you are a fan of horror, or rap, or insane production, or fantastic beats you’ve only imagined were possible, or all of the above, clipping. actually is for you.
7. Imaginal Disk
Magdalena Bay
Synthpop | 2024
Okay, now let’s really reset the mood. Nothing like a good Magdalena Bay retro-futuristic synthpop album to buoy the spirits.
Not long after I discovered Magdalena Bay’s 2021 album, the dazzling Mercurial World (#32 on this list), I fell head over heels in love with their sonic palette, their aesthetic, the upbeat songwriting, the catchy hooks, and the deceptive lyricism (it’s a lot deeper than you’d think). That they could even attempt a follow-up to something so elegant, so masterful, was unthinkable.
Thank the old gods I was so very, very wrong. Imaginal Disk is all the promise of Mercurial World delivered with interest. Even the interludes like “True Blue” and “Feeling DiskInserted?” are fantastic. Seriously. “True Blue” is literally an atmospheric fake ad for the rest of the album, and you could put that shit on for background music at a spa and no one would bat an eye. It’s amazing.
That pop bangers like “Image” and “Death & Romance” are then couched in this self-discovery-through-therapy-via-CD-ROM narrative framing device is so immensely confusing in the most delightful way. And the latter there is just a truly fantastic track: the live drums—particuarly the kicks—are bumping, the yacht rock pianos are bringing all their Elton John fullness, and Mica Tenenbaum’s vocals are at their most powerful on the whole album.
I could go on and on: how “That’s My Floor” gave me yet another whole new appreciation for what pop music was capable of with that line “That’s my door / I let it open me,” or how most of Magdalena Bay’s work is actually prog rock just run through a bunch of synth patches so no one notices, or how sickeningly awesome it is that “The Ballad of Matt and Mica” is both a sweet little ode to the duo’s friendship-through-music but also a musical summary of the album.
I feel like Troy Barnes trying to explain glee club. Like, how do I convince you to enjoy…joy? It’s just so good, y’all, take a moment for yourselves.
6. brat
Charli xcx
Electropop | 2024
Never has there been a better pairing than Charli xcx and hyperpop. The weird, experimental, over-stylized version of pop music essentially invented by the likes of SOPHIE and A.G. Cook over at PC Music allowed Charli to put the “will she make it or not” stage of fame firmly in the rearview. Vroom Vroom and Charli were so supremely weird, and so supremely excellent that there was no way she would be anything other than “world tour” level famous.
And here to prove, for the fourth time, that that is still true, is one of the most inventive, insane, and ingenious pop albums I have ever heard. brat should not exist, and yet it is here, its putrid lime green and god-awful typeface mocking us from the alternate universe where the most interesting music actually becomes the most popular.
Since this past year’s list delved into a lot of my favorite songs already, we can go ahead and talk about different ones, a.k.a. my other favorites. “Club Classics” is a hardcore rave banger that is as good an ode to the late SOPHIE’s production as the text of “So I” is. The repetitiveness of the “right now” sample and the cut-up “club classics” line hides a deeper investigation of self-love and dancing your pain away: “Play the track fast, not slow / Pull it back twice, let’s go / Sweat marks all on my clothes / I wanna be blinded by the lights.” Plus the bravado of the “I wanna dance to me when I go to the club,” is pure dancefloor fuel.
Then there’s the feminist philosophy masterclass that is “Girl, so confusing,” a surprisingly raw track about the self-doubt and self-consciousness of being a woman in the spotlight. That so many issues: paparazzi, questions about weight, doubts about authenticity, criticisms about lifestyle, and the harsh realities of the music industry; can be included in such a sick club track should be studied. And then she redid it with Lorde and made the song about a whole other set of problems facing women in the industry? At this point it should be an exhibit in a congressional inquiry.
And I did mention closer “365” last time, but it’s so good it deserves more than a mere mention. Obviously the pitched-up and sped-up beat of opener “360” is S-tier songwriting, but I see less mention of the “bumpin’ that” sample being taken from that first song, not a recorded version from “365.” And then writing a whole party-girl anthem around that phrase and all it’s different meanings: bass, drugs, dancing, sex? Where’s my Tim & Eric mind blown meme? Then it breaks down into the wildest, most wicked underground rave track while Charli sings “dial 999 it’s a good time.” Like, holy Christ this song is transcendently amazing.
This album is my transfiguration.
5. Untitled (Black Is / Rise)
SAULT
Neo-Soul | 2020
Revisiting this one is tough. It brings back a lot of awful feelings from 2020, not only because of the nostalgia filter (that is the year it was released, and was my album of the year that year), but also because it is almost explicitly about that year. That year, and that world events of that time brought to light the fact our so-called advanced, post-racial society still has many grievous and horrifying issues. Issues that, for many people, headline after headline, every…single…day, have never truly gone away.
But amongst all the evil beset upon people of color in this country (and really everywhere) that the first half of this album exposes, there is also the beautiful celebration of culture and history on the second half. It really is a project of two faces. My heart stops for a second every time “Stop Dem” comes to its emotion-shattering conclusion: a sample of a woman crying for help while witnessing/experiencing violence. And I am reminded again and again of Michael Kiwanuka’s genius via his guest spot on “Bow,” a bass driven slow burner that has all the hallmarks of his best work while still staying within the assignment of this album.
The musical experimentation of a song like “Black,” that uses slight variations on a highly repetitive theme to highlight some truly inspiring production techniques, and its breaks with the marvelously sung “don’t you dare lose yourself, beautiful,” that give each iteration a fresh start. Or the dark as all hell “Monsters” that is both regretful and righteous. Its chorus of “just so you know, they call us monsters ‘cause they’re in denial,” makes me feel a deep sorrow and a deep rage simultaneously: that a person would be labeled a monster because of their skin (or origin, or sexuality, and on and on) is so disgustingly abhorrent, yet it seemingly will never stop. But the phrase can also be one of self-empowerment: remember, “they” are in denial. You have so much more power than you know, and they don’t want you to ever find out.
The second half of the project sees some of the more celebratory fare, though it’s equally as brilliant in its songwriting and production. The back-to-back body moving tracks of “I Just Want to Dance,” and “Street Fighter,” use some high-speed jazz drumming to maximum effect. You simply cannot listen to these songs without at the very least tapping your feet, if not fully standing up and dancing around the house. Then there’s the pure beauty of voice, instrumentation, and message of “Free,” and the sarcastic silliness of “You Know It Ain’t.”
It ends with another double-take combo heartbreaker/spirit-lifter with “Little Boy.” The music is a totally uplifting little ditty with a classic jazz trio sound. But that ditty hides the darker message: “When you get older / You can ask me all the questions / And I’ll tell you the truth / About the boys in blue / … / When you get older / And you’re searching for the answers / And the lost truth / For those who look like you.” But it also reminds the boy to not be scared of change, and that the change that was promised will, one day, God willing, be made for everyone and for all time.
4. Girl with No Face
Allie X
Synthpop | 2024
There’s probably some recency bias here, but this album slaps.
A lot of what I’ll talk about here will probably be a repeat of this album’s #1 spot on the 2024 list, but I still can’t stop listening to it, so neither will you.
To start with, opener “Weird World” is a perfect encapsulation of Allie X’s whole…deal, a perfect abstract for the rest of the album, and a fantastic anthem for the self-identifying strange, quirky, and queer folk out there. The music is constantly moving, paired wonderfully in its video companion with Allie X wearing a combo goth/alien get-up while running on a treadmill, and the drum kit is only hitting fills the whole time while new wave synths fill all the space. Then there’s that chorus, which I will never stop loving: “I used to be a dream girl / But the world interfered / At least now I know / Now I know I’m weird.”
The incredible darkness to the title track that still leaves just enough room to groove, like emergency lighting that leads you to a dancefloor. And whether they’re really high-quality synths or actual guitars, I don’t know, but those backing chords in the chorus breakdown are sick. Then you have the complete opposite, a totally synthetic, nearly deadpan for “John and Jonathan,” which is quickly becoming my favorite song off the album. It’s so simplistic, but the retro-feels are so thick I can see the terrible 80’s sci-fi B-movie playing behind it. That deep in the mix, those opening bleeps and bloops are covering a delicious descending line of scratchy synths and an almost imperceptible wood block is a production nerd’s fantasy come true.
“Galina,” one of the best songs I heard this year, is a fabulous testament to the power of great songwriting. Allie X was able to take the tale of her skin care consultant retiring and taking her home remedies with her, and turn it into a romantic tale of betrayal and abandonment. That utterly insane yet somehow very real sentence is then set to some of the most beautiful synth combinations I’ve heard in a long time, comparable to the best stuff from Carly Rae Jepsen last year.
Even the totally bizarre and silly “Hardware Software” has fantastic moments like the gob-smacking line “I wanna line my bed with a mountain of debt / I wanna earn my face on the internet.” And I won’t say much more about “Black Eye” since it was already on the 2024 songs list and album list (orchestra hits for the win!!!!), except dear lord do my ears just totally melt when she comes back in after the instrumental interlude with “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Like, …. FUCKING EPIC!
Songs not previously discussed are also totally awesome, like the self-empowering “You Slept on Me,” that no only keeps up the crazy tempo of a zumba class while kicking your ass with the best of Kajagoogoo’s synths, and sick burns like “spent your coins on a counterfeit / She got rainbow hair, she got a BB lift / I guess you never learned about quality.” Like, goddamn! Then she lays down one of the best lines of 2024 in the back half with “I’m an icon, honey, this isn’t a chore / And I need to make money, so give me yours.” El Oh El. And then there’s “Slept”s partner in self-empowerment, “Staying Power,” which uses a similar structure to “John and Jonathan” but adds about seven billion layers of texture and industrial drums. Plus, the guitars and ghostly synths give the song an air of dread-mystery to Allie X’s chorus of “the world, come hurt me, I don’t mind,” and “staying power, minute or hour / I’ll wait you out, I’ve got all night.”
Girl With No Face is an album that will totally transport you to another place and time if you let it. But much like teleportation in The Fly, it’s addictive and feels dangerous.
3. SINNER GET READY
Lingua Ignota
Neoclassical Darkwave | 2021
“All that I’ve learned is everything burns.”
I’ve used the word “stunning” a lot recently. It’s almost always to mean that something is so pretty or glittery so as to take your breath away. Lingua Ignota’s Sinner Get Ready is stunning in the other way. Her raw emotion and her choice to express them over a bare piano and strings accompaniment is so…devastating. Listening to her use the words of her childhood faith to then condemn the sickness and perversion of that faith by evil men is like watching someone discover a mass grave. Sinner Get Ready is The Bridge of albums.
Yes, I understand, that is not a good sales pitch if you haven’t already experienced this for yourself. In fact, it almost seems a little macabre to be recommending it at all. But what I can tell you is that Sinner Get Ready will reach parts of your human psyche you didn’t know you had, and listening to it in full will allow you to confront your (and much of humanity’s) darkest corners.
I liken it to a soul cleansing. You probably don’t really want to know what’s buried down there, in that place you used to casually throw all your worst thoughts and repressed memories, but leaving it alone is unhygienic and fire hazard.
And the musical performances on the album do just as much to thrust the dark parts into light as the words. Since so much of Kristin Hayter’s lyrics are about her abuse at the hands of religious leaders (or, at least, religious people), the album is almost entirely performed with instruments that could be found at any parochial school, save for a doom-laden synth drone that begins the opening track.
Many of Hayter’s vocal deliveries are also backed by brilliantly mixed choral layers of her own voice, so as to sound like a contemporary service in a small parish church, thus highlighting her message so hard it’s like she’s drawing on your face with it. But given what I’ve seen in recent months of the general public’s inability to read the oligarchic playroom, I fear she somehow still didn’t go far enough.
It’s hard to recommend songs from something so close to self-flagellation, but one that particularly sticks out to me is “Pennsylvania Furnace,” from which the line that opens this recap comes. It is also a terrifying portrait of a girl who is promised a life with a trusted man, only to find out she is purely a sex object to him. When she discovers his “secret” family, she completes the heartbreaking line: “Do you want to be in Hell with me? / I wish things could be any other way / I watched you long in the home where you live with your family / And all that I’ve learned is everything burns.” The song resolves into a beautiful chamber orchestra piece, seeking absolution, and retribution.
Kristin Hayter no longer makes music as Lingua Ignota. The project existed to express, relive, and resolve her trauma, and in releasing Sinner Get Ready, she gave us permission to resolve ours as well.
2. 3D Country
Geese
Art Punk | 2023
Trying to explain Geese’s second album is an arduous task. Like, imagine if a more-punk-than-post post-punk band tried to make a Brad Paisley album. Imagine Arctic Monkeys’ AM with a ton of twang. Imagine Fontaines D.C. with banjoes and cowbells. Then add a ton of yacht rock influences from Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan and you’re kind of, maybe halfway there.
Opener “2122” could easily be mistaken for pop-punk at first, until all the 70’s blues rock coded guitars come in. Then Cameron Winter’s lyrics enter, not moored to any kind of rhyme structure, leaning more into freeform poetry than anything resembling song structure. Their content is a mishmash of Norse and Egyptian mythology references used to describe a hedonistic night out. There is no chorus, just instrumental breaks between Winter’s various ramblings, each more unhinged than the last, like a jam band that’s constantly getting interrupted and forgot where they were. Then the conclusion ramps up and up and up, until the whole package explodes.
The title track cools the excitement a bit via tempo, but only ups the musical ante, delicately balancing the various genres and influences. Wham bar-laden guitars and glistening chimes back a honkey-tonk rhythm section and Winter’s best Donald Fagen homage. Then, the chorus has these wonderful backing vocalists giving the whole track a metric tonne of soul. It is one of the finest songs written this decade (so far).
Single “Cowboy Nudes” gives us the first real glimpse of the country influence on the album, mainly through its use of picked guitars and a ton of handheld percussion like shakers and cowbells. But it also really cranks up that Todd Rundgren sound, especially in the silly little breakdown about a minute in: “New York City!!!!!” the background singers yell as a million billion drum tracks come in including floor toms, bongos, and scrapers. The whole party atmosphere makes the song one of most fun I’ve heard in modern rock music.
The hardest those 70’s soft rock influences hit is on the hyper-popular “I See Myself.” The track is clearly a nod to that time the Rolling Stones wrote a disco song, while also including a ton of old-school electric keyboards and even more handheld percussion. The backing vocalists are at their peak usage here as well, and they shine through so beautifully, expertly countering Winter’s overcranked delivery of the chorus to bring the lofty aspirations of the song back to reality.
The alt-rockingest song on the album, the most hardcore, and probably my favorite, is “Mysterious Love.” It’s loud, brash, and off-kilter. The end of the first verse has winter at his most wistful: “This love is my only window,” he muses, but only before screaming into the void, “TWENTY POUNDS OF GLASS IN MY EYE!!!” The utterly depressing refrain of the outro, “some people are alone forever, some people are alone forever,” is undercut by the buoyant, major-chord music, and its hyper-repetition makes the statement more facetious than factual.
Real true country influences can be heard in tracks like the fantastically two-steppin’ “Crusades,” where a Toby Keith-level of saloon piano is paired with Winter’s musings on religion and spiritualism (“Men die, but the devil is ageless / The Lord lifts me every breath I take”), and includes the absolute best hard-cut at the midpoint when all the music stops to leave Winter whispering, “and I will take your side every time,” before exploding back open again. And even more in the closer, “St. Elmo,” which is by far the most country-fried track on the album, with its steel guitars, honky-tonk piano, and fiddles while Winter sings a real down-in-the-dirt knife-twister: “Why don’t you go home and rot / You and the kids you grew up with.”
Like I said, the album is tough to talk about because it is just so damn unique. I’ve never heard anything like it, yet it all sounds so strikingly familiar. If I could find away to play it for every person I met, I would, and I can almost guarantee it would get at least a 90% “like” rate. 3D Country has something for everybody. It’s smooth some places, kick-ass in others. The lyrics are both well-thought-out and well-sung. The musical performances are top notch, and the production is just wonderful—crisp and clean so even when the band is jamming way off the rails you can still hear each individual instrument. It’s a little bit country. It’s a little bit rock and roll.
Oh…
Oh god no 😂
1. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Little Simz
UK Hip Hop | 2021
There wasn’t a musical event quite like my first playthrough of Little Simz’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. I had become slightly enamored with the London native’s previous effort, GREY Area. That album was a mighty statement, full of bravado and addictive beats. It took Little Simz from brilliant unknown to genius jazz rapper. But what could she possibly do to follow-up such an introspective and passionate project?
Go. Even. Deeper.
The opener, “Introvert,” is an explosive thesis statement for the album. Full orchestras back Simz’s dissection of her own psychology: her stage fright, her inability to maintain relationships, her insatiable desire to climb even higher up the ladder. There are horns blasting a 007-style theme, there is a full choir following her every move, it’s all so very dramatic, but it never feels mawkish or overdone. The stakes aren’t just those set by the industry, the public, and her peers. These stakes are the highest of all: those set by herself.
Some of the grooviest jazz beats you’ve ever heard follow Simz on “Woman.” The track is an homage to all the women that inspired Simz along her journey to this point, including several allusions to places largely populated by people of color, including Brooklyn, Jamaica, India, and many countries through Africa. Each line offers deeper insight into the ways that women have aided and uplifted cultures, industries, and political movements around the world. And the voicemail recording that then smash-cuts to the jump-scare opening of “Two Worlds Apart” is *chef’s kiss*.
Bond-esque horns once again appear to open “I Love You, I Hate You,” a fantastic example of all that Simz is truly capable of. The song discusses the un-returned love she has for her father, because he is family, and her hatred for him, because of his absence. Her words roll off in what feels like an endless waterfall of feeling, likely to drown a lesser soul. As the final verse builds and builds, Simz is surrounded by swelling strings and a quickly loudening choir, when she reveals her true purpose: “I’m not forgivin’ for you, man, I’m forgivin’ for me.”
After a sample-based interlude, “Little Q, Pt. 2” opens up with some really gorgeous jazz loops. Simz’s story is that of her cousin growing up poor in the same neighborhood as her, but the how the different family, economic, and sliding doors circumstances totally morphed their respective life trajectories. The parts of the song she tells from her cousin’s point-of-view are heartbreaking, like his brush with death from a gang member: “Not the mental scars, the physical’s all you see / But the boy that stabbed me is just as damaged as me / I could have been the reflection that he hated / The part of him he wishes God didn’t waste time creating.” Fortunately, that beat is there to perfectly balance the mood.
“Speed” and “Standing Ovation” are both fine examples of Simz’s GREY Area bravado set to new production. The former is set to a sick synth-bass line over some hyper-complex hand drums. The latter sees more of a return to the big strings and backing vocals of the surrounding album, but the return to such a glamorous sound doesn’t mean Simz will shy away from the spotlight. The track is huge, almost overly ambitious, reveling in all she’s achieved, but Simz sticks the landing perfectly, solidifying her legacy as an artist.
Then there’s my favorite back-to-back of the decade so far: “Rollin Stone” and “Protect My Energy.” I said shit goddamn, “Rollin Stone” is a banger of trap production but with Simz light-speed rhyming about her world travels over top. The beat is thick and fucking massive, meant to be played on crazy good headphones or the biggest stadium speakers you can get to, playing over some nasty Beastie Boys-style raps. Like, how does she go that fast? Then “Protect My Energy” rips open the whole setting with a full-on 80’s Prince-inspired beat. It’s a total dance-pop stepper, featuring Simz natural singing voice, about how she needs her personal time to re-energize. You know…an introvert. But trust me, no one’s an introvert on the dance floor when this track pops off.
The penultimate track, “How Did You Get Here,” slows and calms the album down for a full memoir from Simz. The beat is a simple jazz piano and drum kit, supplemented occasionally by a cast-of-Rent-style backing group. It’s another waterfall of words, but this story is all inspiration and gratitude as Simz recounts her school days and first rap group, Space Age. It’s a beautiful encapsulation of her career to this point, her life and influences, and a wonderful to start the album’s wind-down.
Breaking down Sometimes I Might Be Introvert in its entirety would require me to get a dual-degree in psychology and music theory. It is a sprawling, complex epic of an album that requires multiple listens. Fortunately, it’s so well written, performed, and produced that listening multiple times is truly easy.
This album is four years old now, and I still can’t stop revisiting it. It is rewarding and an absolute treasure. The best album of the decade.
Thanks to everyone who has been following along the last few years, especially during the lull period of 2021-2022 where only year-end listicles came out. I appreciate you all, and I hope the next five years are as good—musically at least (they could stand to be a shitload better in other aspects)—as the last five.
As always, happy listening!
