Urban75 Album of the Year 2020 - the Results

[May Kasahara]

Brilliant! More of my picks in this list than in any previous year, and one of my faves at number one. Plus loads of good looking albums that somehow never appeared in the Album Recommendations thread that I can now spend the Christmas holidays catching up with.

Cheers belboid, virtual mince pies and extra sherry to you

 

[Knotted]

Well I'm not normally nearly with it enough to partake in these current year votes. And a lot of the difference is to do with Covid 19, working from home etc. I guess there will be a fair few who are putting in long lists for a similar reason, so not surprisingly a bit of bumper year on urban. There's loads on people's lists that I've never heard of never mind heard yet. And even then on these lists there is an anglophone (British in particular) bias and a first half of the year bias, which is to be expected of course. So not even scratched the surface and loads to listen to and even then I'm already prepping for the 1961 vote.

So thanks belboid. It's been amazing and we've worked you hard.

 

[May Kasahara]

Here's my list:

Margaret Glaspy - Devotion
Taylor Swift - Folklore
Roisin Murphy - Roisin Machine
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes - What Kinda Music
Lanterns on the Lake - Spook the Herd
Marlowe - Marlowe 2
Cecile Believe - Made in Heaven
Raffy Bushman - Look Up
Soccer Mommy - Color Theory
Sorry - 925
K-LONE - Cape Cira
Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
Chad McCullough - Forward
Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders
Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn - s/t
Marie Davidson and L'Oeil Nu - Renegade Breakdown
Nicole Atkins - Italian Ice
Bohren & der Club of Gore - Patchouli Blue
Alabaster dePlume - To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals vol.1

 

[Smokeandsteam]

I refuse to listen to these guys because of their terrible name.

I was the same. But it’s a great album. Obvious influences but so what.

 

[redsquirrel]

Thanks for running this belboid. I could not my act together and submit a list this year.
Bit surprised that Nadine Shah made the top 5, nowt wrong with it but nothing special at all, in fact I'd say it was inferior to her previous

 

[SpookyFrank]

I refuse to listen to these guys because of their terrible name.

I thought the same about 'Alabaster dePlume' tbh. I mean seriously, fuck off with that. The music is nice though so...

 

[braindancer]

D'oh - I failed to get a list together this year. Thanks for doing it belboid - spotted loads of stuff on people's lists that I'll definitely be checking out.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Thanks for running this belboid i didn’t vote as I don’t spend enough time in this part of the site to have clocked this was going on.

My top 10 would be:

The Luxembourg Signal: The Long Now
Working Mens Club: Working Mens Club
Fontaines DC: A Hero’s Death
Mogwai: ZeroZeroZero
The Nightingales: Four Against Fate
Algiers: There is No Year
Throwing Muses: Sun Racket
Soccer Mommy: Color Theory
Nadine Shah: Kitchen Sink
Gorillaz: Song Machine, Season One: Strange Times

 

[Knotted]

Oh missed the Nightingales album. Bet that's good.

 

[Part 2]

My list.

First time I've ever got round to doing this and there's loads missing but I really struggle with putting anything into order so much of this was decided by most plays....but obvs that doesn't work for more recent releases.

Fuck knows... all good fun and pleased to see a lot making the top 30. Thanks belboid for doing this...got loads more to listen to now!

Craven Faults - Erratics and unconformities
Hen Ogledd - Free Humans
Coriky - Coriky
Tunng - Dead Club
Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders
Hey Colossus - Dances/Curses
Pharaoh Overlord - 6
Reigns - The Walled Garden
Ela Minus - Acts of Rebellion
Upsammy - Wild Chamber
The Soft Pink Truth - Shall we go on sinning
Stick in the Wheel - Hold Fast
Dragged into Sunlight – Terminal Agressor II
Shirley Collins - Hearts Ease
RTJ - RTJ4
Pigsx7 - Viscerals
Metz- Atlas Vending
Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans

 

[Favelado]

I thought Chloe x Halle's album was as strong as almost any early 2000s r n b and I voted it for that as a favourite.

 

[hitmouse]

The nine albums released this year that I really liked and managed to remember to vote for were:

Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today
Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
Porridge Radio - Every Bad
Crystal Furs - Beautiful and True
Algiers - There Is No Year
The Cool Greenhouse - The Cool Greenhouse
Peel Dream Magazine - Agitprop Alterna
Moscow Death Brigade - Bad Accent Anthems
Billy Nomates - Billy Nomates

Which if I'd remembered about RTJ4 could have made an even ten, would probably have got in there at number 4. I did try using my music library's sort by year function to remind me what came out this year, but that wasn't too much help since the RTJ album didn't show up as being from this year, but for some reason Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica did.

 

[billy_bob]

My list was very hastily thrown in Belboid's direction this year due to other things going on, and I'm not surprised little of it stuck - only nos 39 and 48, which given how the spread out the voting seems to have been this year probably means max. 2 other people liked them!

The first below was my no. 1, the rest all equal.

Naujawanan Baidar - Naujawanan Baidar
Randal & Mortimer - Manifesto for a Modern World
Filmmaker - Dimensional
Sam Barton - Acid Apple Satin Walls
Flat Worms - Antarctica
Behold a Pale Horse - Today's News ... Stay Happy

Going to enjoy trawling through some of the top 50 I'd missed, and the lists of favourite recommendations-thread contributors above.

 

[stavros]

As I said upthread, I didn't vote, so here are some that might've made my list, which I don't think have been mentioned:

Jehnny Beth - To Love is to Live
Blanck Mass - Calm with Horses
Brainbombs - Cold Case
Charli XCX - How I'm Feeling Now
Grouplove - Healer
The Rentals - Q36
Sunwatchers - Oh Yeah?

 

[SpookyFrank]

I never bother voting in this but I have actually heard enough new albums this year to put a list together. Only thing I might have nomimated that hasn't been mentioned yet is Belbury Poly - The Gone Away.

 

[AverageJoe]

Gorillaz: Song Machine, Season One: Strange Times

Good grief. I totally forgot about this

 

[belboid]

Thanks for running this belboid i didn’t vote as I don’t spend enough time in this part of the site to have clocked this was going on.

My top 10 would be:

The Luxembourg Signal: The Long Now
Working Mens Club: Working Mens Club
Fontaines DC: A Hero’s Death
Mogwai: ZeroZeroZero
The Nightingales: Four Against Fate
Algiers: There is No Year
Throwing Muses: Sun Racket
Soccer Mommy: Color Theory
Nadine Shah: Kitchen Sink
Gorillaz: Song Machine, Season One: Strange Times

damn, forgot about the Mogwai. Doubt it would have been top ten, but would have made it somewhere.

Quite enjoying that Luxembourg Signal too

 

[souljacker]

These were my choices:

Sault - Untitled (Black Is)
Sink Ya Teeth - Two
Cornershop - England is a Garden
Pharaoh Overlord - 6
Jyoti - Mama, you can bet!
Theo Parrish - Wuddaji
Caribou - Suddenly
Doves - The Universal Want

I didn't really listen to much new stuff that wasn't individual house or techno tunes so the above is actually more of a list of new stuff I've listened to. Either way, I expected Sink Ya Teeth to be higher up and Theo Parrish to get in the list somewhere.

 

[hash tag]

Fantastic effort belboid even if none of mine made the cut, but no surprises there.

 

[MBV]

Cheers belboid - I always enjoy this thread.

 

[Cloo]

I can't suggest any of my own as I listen to so little new music I haven't heard any of these except Nadine Shah (which is excellent), but will be streaming these over the next few weeks. Glad to see a strong showing from the laydeez as is their rightful place!

 

[ManchesterBeth]

So there you go.

From 1 - 50 they were:

Roisin Murphy-Roisin Machine
Craven Faults - Erratics and unconformities
Sault - Untitled (Black Is)
Taylor Swift - Folklore
Bob Dylans - Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink
Sault - Untitled (Rise)
Cabaret Voltaire - Shadow of Fear
Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Mirry - Mirry
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Viscerals
Stick the Wheel - Hold Fast
Coriky - Coriky
Cornershop - England is a Garden
Margaret Glaspy - Devotion
Fontaines D.C. - A Hero's Death
Hey Colossus - Dances/Curses
Julianna Barwick - Healing Is a Miracle
Alabaster DePlume - To Cy and Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1
Hen Ogledd – Free Humans
Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?
Working Men's Club - Working Men's Club
Run The Jewels – RTJ4
Aksak Maboul - Figures
Billy Nomates - Billy Nomates
Moor Mother - Circuit City
Sink Ya Teeth - Two
Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
Soccer Mommy - Color Theory
Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela - Rejoice
Toots and the Maytals - Got To Be Tough
Cecile Believe - Made in Heaven
Lanterns on the lake - Spook the Herd
Pharaoh Overlord - 6
Rina Sawayama - Sawayama
Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic OPN
Sorry - 925
Naujawanan Baidar - Naujawanan Baidar
Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini - Illusion of time
Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You?
Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today
Speaker Music - Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry
Theo Parrish - Wuddaji
Luke Vibert - Presents Amen Andrews
Horselords - The Common Task
Shabason, Krgovich, Harris - Philadelphia
Behold A Pale Horse - Today's News...Stay Happy
Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders
Andrea - Ritorno

I'll post 'interesting' facts and 'unsuccessful' Number 1's shortly, but I'm off to have me tea and wine now.

Reads quite like a Quietus end of year list tbh. Must remember to send you a load of bandcamp speedcore in 2021.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Somehow forgot to check this thread earlier in the week - yet again I've only heard of about half of what made the final cut.

Here's my list:

Soccer Mommy - color theory
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Margaret Glaspy - Devotion
Jealous of the Birds - Peninsula
Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA
Brooke Bentham - Everyday Nothing
Dream Wife - So When You Gonna...
Baby Chaos - Ape Confronts Cosmos
Car Seat Headrest - Making a Door Less Open
IDLES - Ultra Mono
I Break Horses - Warnings
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - X: The Godless Void and Other Stories
Stormzy - Heavy Is The Head
Alanis Morissette - Such Pretty Forks In The Road
Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension
Oceanator - Things I Never Said
Behold A Pale Horse - Today's News...Stay Happy
Run The Jewels - RTJ4
The Dears - Lovers Rock
Pillow Queens - In Waiting

Sounds like I might have to give that new Taylor Swift another listen, because the first time it just sounded like generic modern country to me.

 

[Part 2]

Following from other comments in the thread, Car seat headrest are my 'cant listen to them because of the name' band.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

I always lurk in this yearly joyous thread - just wanted to say I’m loving that latest from Cornershop. Will make my way through the top 3 this hol too! Thanks all x

 

[Dr. Furface]

Following from other comments in the thread, Car seat headrest are my 'cant listen to them because of the name' band.

Mine from the list is Stick in the Wheel

 

[belboid]

looking back over the list...what I can’t believe is that no one pointed out that I chose to illustrate the brilliance of Roisin Murphy with a track by Margaret Glaspy

 

[MBV]

looking back over the list...what I can’t believe is that no one pointed out that I chose to illustrate the brilliance of Roisin Murphy with a track by Margaret Glaspy

I think we let it go because of all the work you put in

 

[Dr. Furface]

looking back over the list...what I can’t believe is that no one pointed out that I chose to illustrate the brilliance of Roisin Murphy with a track by Margaret Glaspy

After your earlier numeracy malfunction, I didn't have the heart to kick a guy when he was down

 

[belboid]

After your earlier numeracy malfunction, I didn't have the heart to kick a guy when he was down

what numeracy malfunction? Just cos you couldn't read.........