Best of 2020 • Girl Skin • You're A Freak

The song builds slowly like an overloaded locomotive making its way up a steep-incline that is powered by synths and haunting, but rich harmonies. Once that train reaches the apex there is a feeling of being weightless, then the bass, percussion and strings hit us – bringing the dizzying-descent. When we reach the bottom, there is a sense of freedom and belonging while the violin and lyrics wash over us to end the track. P&W

Best of 2020 • Clem Snide • Forever Just Beyond

This comeback album, assisted by Scott Avett, feels both charmingly at ease and refreshingly ambitious, grappling with life’s big questions over understated, easygoing production…  Clem Snide has stumbled through all the trappings of alternative fame: a short-lived major-label deal, a tight-knit community of fans, a self-sustained schedule of crowd-sourced tours and new releases. But his timing has never quite worked. Pf

  

Best of 2020 • NPR's Best 100 Songs

Welcome to a whopper of a mixtape. If you've been living under the rock 2020 dropped on all of us back in March and spent the last nine months finding comfort in the sounds of your childhood (hell, even 2019), we have some good news for you: As crappy as this year has been for anyone with a shred of empathy, the jams were ample. When the news cycle had us at a loss for words, we found quiet songs to speak for us. When we wanted to smile without looking at our phones, buoyant distractions abounded. If racism, xenophobia and sociopathic behavior made us want to scream, Black musicians found astonishingly inventive ways of saying "um, did you just start paying attention?" NPR

Best of 2020 • Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, Volume 2

A who’s who of indie rock royalty are contributing to a new charity compilation benefiting voters’ rights ahead of the 2020 election.

Aptly titled Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, the 40-track album collects previously unreleased recordings from the likes of R.E.M., Hayley Williams, Phoebe Bridgers, Angel Olsen, The National’s Matt Berninger, Jamila Woods, Rostam, Flume, Weyes Blood, and more. CoS

 

The best of 2020 • Slate best albums

This year has seen fewer releases, no live concerts to ground them in the outside world, and less word-of-mouth recommendation and IRL discussion. Yet there’s been no lack of urgency and impact on our distanced but concentrated existences. This year my ears felt less like professional tools and more like human organs again. Assessing which artists’ works “matter” most has been even more of a mug’s game, but this has still felt like a profound year in music. Slate

 

I’ve joked to friends that my year-end list was going to read, “Don’t ask me—I only listen to Phoebe Bridgers.”

The best of 2020 • Nathaniel Rateliff • Mavis

 

https://www.nathanielrateliff.com

If Rateliff is anything, it’s doggedly earnest. Whether he’s grinding out old-school soul with the Night Sweats or flying solo, he’s obsessed with the idea of authenticity: the idea that a song isn’t a song unless it can be convincingly played alone on an acoustic guitar. PF

The best of 2020 • Josephson • Port Cath

Josephson is a singer-songwriter, producer and band from Brisbane, Australia who write modern folk music focussed around meaningful lyrics, ambient electric guitar, powerful rhythms and layered vocals. Inspired by artists such as Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens and Nick Cave, Josephson paints a rich and emotional musical landscape delivering a powerful and captivating live performance. Off the back of the recent release of their debut single ‘The Coast’ and a highly successful launch show at one of Australia's most revered venues, the Tivoli Brisbane, Josephson is set to release their full length debut album in late November 2020. 

https://www.josephsonmusic.com

Gustaf • Design • 2020

Royal Mountain Records

Blurring the line between art-punk and post-punk, adding a fresh and freaky take to both genres, their latest single “Design” sees the band once again paired up with Chris Coady (Beach House, Future Islands, TV On The Radio) for an off-kilter track, following last month’s “Mine”. Reminiscent of bands like The B-52s and Alan Vega, the constant and repetitive bass line in “Design” lays the groundwork for vocalist Lydia Gammill’s confident and self-aware musings on desire before descending into a rambunctious kazoo solo! 

"Drawing on old school NYC art-punk, “Mine” is a snappy two-minute tune of talky, bass-driven post-punk. It’s got the confident ego of Alan Vega and the sass of The B-52’s."

Paste

"Some worthy competition for ‘Losing My Edge’-style self-deprecation. Add some deliciously clashing riffs and you’ll be wishing cross-Atlantic air travel was a less ill-advised proposition."

DIY

Adrianne Lenker • Tiny Desk (Home) Concert • 2020

https://www.adriannelenker.com

By Bob Boilen | November 18, 2020

For her Tiny Desk (home) concert, Adrianne Lenker's home is a camper trailer parked somewhere in Joshua Tree National Park. It's the appropriate setting for the five songs she performs from her new album, tunes birthed in a wooden cabin in Massachusetts.

The songs, the words, the voice of Adrianne Lenker has been at the top of my year-end musical loves for the past five years, more so than any other artist. It began with her work as the singer and songwriter on Big Thief's electric debut album, Masterpiece, in 2016 and runs through this year's two sister solo albums, one titled songs and the other instrumentals. Those albums contain nothing more than an acoustic guitar, voice, and the bug, birds, and creatures captured while recording.

Her yearning voice, simultaneously frail and strong, draws me to those songs — songs about people, everyday life, everyday death, and ordinary places. All the while, she picks the tunes out of her guitar or paints the rhythms with a brush. These are songs worth spending time with, simple on first listen, but so much more profound once you live with them. 

SET LIST

    "zombie girl"

    "two reverse"

    "dragon eyes"

    "anything"

    "ingydar"

Bad Sauna • Haluun pois • 2020

https://allthatplazz.com

The singles “Haluun pois”, “Moon Sun” and “Niin kuin se ennen oli” have all gained airtime on Finnish and Swedish national radio stations (YleX, Radio Suomi, Radio Rock, Sveriges Radio Finska), YleX (Finnish BBC) also picked Bad Sauna as one of the most promising new acts. The singles has also been featured in Spotify’s editorial playlists such as New Music Friday, Suomirock tänään (Finnish rock today) and Suomi-indien helmet (The Pearls of Finnish Indie). New album will be Album of the Week next week on Radio Helsinki, Finland’s leading indie station.

Cool Sounds • Hula Hoop Group • 2019

Yo La Tengo • NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert From The Archives • 2013

We've been filming Tiny Desk concerts for more than 10 years. While revisiting our archives, we discovered that some of our earliest concerts never made it to YouTube! 

Watch Yo La Tengo’s Tiny Desk concert from 2013 

Ness Lake • close my eyes • 2020

nesslake.com

Told Slant • Point The Flashlight and Walk • 2020

dbldblwhmmy.com

Felix Walworth’s third album of skewed indie pop is solitary but inviting, setting songs about the pitfalls of intimacy against the most accessible sonics of their career. PF

Andrew Bird • Night's Falling • 2020

Official Site 

Watch “Night’s Falling,” created and animated by Katherine Freer and inspired by Beth Bird, whose ​HARK! ​artwork comes to life in a vivid scene of seasonal soul-searching

Talkboy • Sky Is Falling • 2020

“An exciting new indie proposition, placing jangling melodies alongside joyful harmonies to beautifully playful effect” The Line Of Best Fit

“Harmony-laden indie-pop” Dork

“A woozy guitar pop ear-worm” Clash

“Talkboy are riding a wave of adulation at the moment…it’s time to start believing the hype” Gigwise

“Stringy guitars, kick drums and dominant vocals” Earmilk

Talkboy · Sky Is Falling

 

October and The Eyes • Dark Dog • 2020

https://orcd.co/octoberandtheeyes

New Zealand-born, London-based singer/songwriter and producer October and The Eyes has shared her new single “Dark Dog,” alongside its music video. It’s the first track she wrote for her forthcoming debut EP, Dogs and Gods, out now through KRO Records. “Dark Dog” follows two previously released singles, “Playing God” and “All My Love.” October and The Eyes says of the new song, “It’s about the uneasy feeling of being watched, that at any moment something bad could happen. There’s an anecdotal malformed dog who’s always near—limping, snarling, growling and drooling. It’s one you feel equally sorry for as you do fear it. You cannot outrun this dark dog, so you decide to make peace.” —Paris Rosenthal

Anna McClellan • I saw first light • 2020

Anna McClellan began performing original songs in her hometown of Omaha, NE at the age of seventeen and has been actively recording and touring ever since. Her debut, Fire Flames, earned her an opening slot on a Frankie Cosmos tour. Through the doors that tour opened, McClellan eventually met Father/Daughter Records which led to the release of her second full-length record, Yes and No, in 2018. After a stint in NYC, several subsequent tours and meandering, Anna returned to Omaha and recorded I saw first light, her latest effort for Father/Daughter. 

The album was recorded over two weeks with a multitude of local cohorts, and it documents Anna’s journey from the Midwest to the east coast and back again, probing both the roots of her creative impetus and her ongoing commitment to social issues. The process of composing and recording I saw first light has both reformed and renewed her dedication to exploration, be it inward or external, and to her own boundless creative energy.

"...her most personal work to date." The FADER

"...the record stays with you, popping into the subconscious throughout the day. Anna’s lyrics are there with a knowing smirk." Raven Sings The Blues

"McClellan’s songs have a woozy and whimsical swing to them that’s distinctly her own." Consequence of Sound

"I saw first light continues her experimentation within the contexts of lo-fi bedroom recordings and folk rock..." FLOOD Magazine

"Anna McClellan’s music feels immediately sprightly, grounded, frankly ruminative, and playful all at once..." London in Stereo

Gold Connections • New Religion • 2018

http://www.goldconnectionsmusic.com

Gold Connections is Charlottesville-based musician Will Marsh, a new Fat Possum signee with a self-titled EP on the way this spring. The record was actually recorded back in 2014 when Marsh was an undergrad at William & Mary, with help from Marsh’s classmate: Car Seat Headrest mastermind Will Toledo, who produced, engineered, and mixed it in addition to contributing drums, electric guitar, bass, and backing vocals. Marsh briefly played guitar in Car Seat Headrest, and Toledo spent time drumming for Gold Connections. Their history with each other runs deep; in an excerpt below, Toledo cites Marsh’s influence on his own music. But “New Religion,” the Gold Connections track we’re premiering today, is an animal of its own. Languid atmospherics give birth to howlingly aggressive rock ‘n’ roll that ultimately builds to a richly arranged climax. SG

Tomberlin • Projections • 2020

Tomberlin's new Projections EP (co-produced by Alex G and his bandmate Sam Acchione) continues the arc of her critically acclaimed 2018 debut At Weddings, weaving new collaborators and new techniques into her signature dusky milieu.