We all had plans, we all expected something, we all thought everything was going to turn out very differently.

One of my discarded plans of 2020, that was more influenced by the psychological unbalance created by the lockdown than the actual restrictions, was a plan of reviewing albums that had significant anniversaries. Yes, I did a few but there were at least other ten in my mind. This worked as an important demonstration that I still have no control over the words I transfer to this blog from the dungeons of my brain, which have to be closely related to how I feel and what music is relevant in a particular moment for me.

In any case, writing was hard to come by, but listening was not. Not only there were several great new releases this year, I returned to great albums from the past, both part of the original tributes’ list and gems that I have in high regard. However, more importantly, I discovered (or finally listened) albums from the past and in a more relevant manner from the last decade, which I made an effort of summarizing personally at the beginning of 2020.

The fact is there’s loads and loads of unheard stuff that you will like, sometimes you know about it and have it there in your library waiting. Sometimes you just come to find it in a more than unexpected manner. The point of the next list is recommending more music that I found essential last year besides the new releases and that I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

Casanova by The Divine Comedy

As the famous literature masterpiece that gives its name, The Divine Comedy are an ambitious act with music that strives for grandeur. Neil Hannon, frontman of the brit-pop band, is a hopeless romantic that unabashedly expresses desire in the band’s fourth effort, Casanova. Influenced by the early works of Scott Walker and borrowing from the English songbook as much as the scene that saw them flourish, the record is engaging from the beginning with lush intrumentation embellishing Hannon’s penchant for dramatic melodies. Is a very much fun experience and as inviting as a West End musical production without overshadowing the great songwriting Hannon conveys at every step.

Essential cuts: ‘Something For The Weekend’, ‘The Frog Princess’, ‘Becoming More Like Alfie’.

Dots and Loops by Stereolab

This French-English band decided to rewrite what post-rock is. Abandoning the penchant of the genre for layered instrumentation and dense melody, Stereolab decided to take it more in the direction of using various instruments, rhythmic influences and quirky electronics to transform the traditional rock song. Dots and Loops, their fifth album is one of their best because it capitalizes in the elements exposed in their previous records while they combine it with a more pop-leaning approach. Later in their career, they wouldn’t quite achieve the excellent mix of sounds in this collection, one of the definitive records of alternative rock in the 90s.

Essential cuts: ‘Brakhage’, ‘Miss Modular’, ‘Refractions In The Plastic Pulse’.

Endtroducing….. by DJ Shadow

Sampling is pretty much everywhere right now. But DJ Shadow’s creative vision showcased a new never seen approach to the technique in Endtroducing….., an album that pays homage and transforms hip-hop music at the same time. Its influence goes beyond the genre it stemmed from by way of using samples to form the music instead of them being an added element. The result is a collection of songs conformed by both upbeat and slow jams that borrow from funk, soul, R&B and electronic music to give the album an effervescent flow. Despite being a surreal group of sounds, Endtroducing….. is the more striking because of the cohesiveness not only of its music but the feelings it bursts out and invites in. A classic.

Essential cuts: ‘The Number Song’, ‘Organ Donor’, ‘Midnight In A Perfect World’.

Get to Heaven by Everything Everything

You read the articles. You share the videos. You know people that is as passionate about music as you, and yet, an album of this magnitude misses your attention entirely. Get To Heaven, an album by the British band Everything Everything, is a falsetto-filled exercise in grandiose pop with massive hooks. The solos are there, the powerful drums too, you get catchy, danceable art-pop songs. And then there’s the lyrics. The scenario painted by the band in their songs is as bleak as the real world and Everything Everything is as tormented as anyone can be with impending catastrophes and egregious injustice being the daily basis in our planet. ‘No Reptiles’ is probably one of the most important songs of the century. This is the album I heard the most in 2020 (maybe just outshined by #1) and despite missing it for 5 years, I seriously recommend it.

Essential cuts: ‘Distant Past’, ‘Regret’, ‘No Reptiles’.

Have One On Me by Joanna Newsom

It’s probably one of the most discussed things about Joanna Newsom, but there’s obviously ripples to be send across the indie scene when a classically trained harpist is one of its best exponents. On her third, long-winding album, Have One One Me, Newsom explores the growing uncertainty a woman her age experiences as she’s also part of a flourishing relationship (with one of my favorite US comedians, Andy Samberg) that was forever changing her view of what surrounds her. She clenches to the idea that whatever will happen to the both of them in the future is a complete mystery and the urgency of her search is magnificently expressed throughout 124 minutes of beautiful music across 18 tracks. All of them ultimately enlarged by Newsom’s love and hope for this reality and her marvelous voice.

Essential cuts: ‘Good Intentions Paving Company’, ‘Go Long’, ‘Does Not Suffice’.

Hounds of Love by Kate Bush

I can imagine. This album should’ve taken the 80s by surprise. In 1985 Kate Bush, by that time already a known name in the art-pop scene, released her fifth album, Hounds Of Love. It marked her return to the public attention, and at the same time, the utmost peak of her career. This album is quite fairly her best work, and not only that, is a pure demonstration of songwriting as an artistic expression. After the masterpiece of a song that is ‘Running Up That Hill’, the album unravels like an eventful dream, with explosive moments (‘The Big Sky’), unforgettable tunes (‘Cloudbusting’) and heaven-like balladry (‘And Dream of Sheep’). Her early work is definitely influential (see above), but Bush reached a climax in this record because she sacrificed nothing and undoubtedly succeeded.

Essential cuts: ‘Running Up That Hill’, ‘Cloudbusting’, ‘Watching You Without Me’.

Know by Heart by The American Analog Set

Every few months or so an indie rock band (mainly from the 90’s or the 2000s) appears from nowhere and feeds my need for new sounds of the genre I so faithfully loved back in high school and college. The American Analog Set is last year’s model, a band that their first few records courted post-rock and while Know By Heart does incorporates elements of their early sound, it veers more towards gentle, melodic and textured indie rock. The record is comprised by slow tracks, instrumental numbers and more rhythmic tunes that keep it moving forward, never stagnating in the melodrama that was used by many bands throughout the first decade of this century. I came by this album because Death Cab For Cutie covered ‘Aaron & Maria’, one of the album’s most affecting ballads, last year. And while the cover is good, it doesn’t compare to the subtle and nuanced approach that made the song, the album and The American Analog Set an overlooked gem in the early 2000s alternative scene. I want to keep discovering these, without a doubt.

Musas Vol. 2 by Natalia Lafourcade

I mean, I listened to Volume 1. Natalia Lafourcade’s second project with guitarist duo Los Macorinos is a further and more accomplished exploration and homage to the Mexican traditional song and influential songwriters from our country. The arrangements are evocative and pristine, with the guitars from Los Macorinos and their on point choruses framing perfectly Natalia’s seasoned voice as she, with great expertise, interprets songs that are well known in the Mexican culture. In the songs penned by Lafourcade on Musas Vol. 2 she expands on subjects about social justice and her own identity in the context of the place she was born in and lives as an artist. Surrounded by sounds of deep Mexican roots, this album is her best achievement in the newfound purpose of reviving a somewhat rusty side of our folklore. (Something to which she added a third record on 2020).

Essential cuts: ‘Danza de Gardenias’, ‘Un Derecho de Nacimiento’, ‘La Llorona’.

Pieces of a Man by Gil-Scott Heron

Before being a deeply influential soul musician and artist (with his influences going as far as modern hip-hop, jazz and electronic music), Gil-Scott Heron was a poet. The opener of Pieces Of A Man is one his best and most known works: ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’, essentially a poem of deeply political nature, surrounded by R&B instrumentals that pretty much preceded modern rap. That is Heron. This, his first studio album, is an open portrayal of his scathing view of the world in the 70s, regarding most of the time of the Black experience. When not being socially conscious, the record veers towards irresistible soul rhythms and tones that are all but forgettable, specially when it comes to Heron’s eloquent delivery and unique voice. This is an instant classic LP, as it represented the dawn of an unparalleled discography from a brilliant artist.

Essential cuts: ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’, ‘Home Is Where The Hatred Is’, ‘Pieces Of A Man’.

The Something Rain by Tindersticks

Tindersticks are my favorite rock band since at least 4 years back (probably just rivaled by Wilco…then again, who’s counting?). And to me, there’s no one like them. The Something Rain, their ninth album, should be enough evidence. Stuart A. Staples, frontman of the band, is a storyteller with a baritone that trembles with theater levels of drama. The songs in this record are slow, sometimes gently simmering in the background, sometimes urgent but not enough to sound noisy. By the time this record came out, the band had already plenty of experience in creating nostalgic and deeply surreal scenes by way of making rock for late-night driving and calm contemplation. They manage to pump every record with its own focus but the consistency of their discography is maddening. Ultimately The Something Rain became one of my favorite albums from Tindersticks simply by playing to the band’s plenty of strengths and the way they let themselves grow through it, almost 20 years after their debut. It’s intoxicating.

Essential cuts: ‘Show Me Everything’, ‘Medicine’, ‘Slippin’ Shoes’.

Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter

At this point, I think hard-bop is my favorite period of Jazz’ golden years. I say this to make emphasys in the fact that Jazz is not dead at this time and it never will be. Wayne Shorter is actually very much alive, one of the few greats of this genre’s greatest epoch that is still with us. But Shorter’s best years came at the end of that time, the middle sixties, when household names like John Coltrane and Miles Davis where already surpassing the genre’s frontiers and more recent artists like Ornett Coleman, where shaping the sound of Jazz for the future (pun intended). Shorter’s Speak No Evil has remained a classic after more than 50 years because of his melodic and engaging approach to modal jazz and the aforementioned hard-bop. His compositions are a new way to portray hard-bop’s tested qualities both in balladry and the more swing-influenced tunes. An essential collection.

Essential cuts: ‘Dance Cadaverous’, ‘Speak No Evil’, ‘Wild Flower’.

There Is Love In You by Four Tet

First of all, quick reminder that this guy released two albums at the end of last year. Parallel in particular is pretty good, (and he produced/mixed Madlib’s new album, out last January 29th). Great way to start the new decade, but in 2010 he released an album that has loomed over the last ten years. There is Love In You, Kieran Hebden’s fifth album as Four Tet is a textured, at times deeply moving and inevitably groovy collection of electronic songs that balance perfectly between dance music and ambient backgrounds. Hebden includes acoustic instrumentation, sampling, and his creative use of synths and beats, melting years of music into one pristine recording. It is endlessly listenable and its widescope nature help it never feel repetitive or boring. After listening to it, I decided to explore Four Tet’s discography, only to discover I was missing an astounding catalogue, one that has There Is Love In You in the middle, which is a perfect introduction to the artist, and one of his most engaging works.

Essential cuts: ‘Love Cry’, ‘This Unfolds’, ‘She Just Likes To Fight’.

I’ll leave you with a playlist where I put songs from albums that I am discovering simultaneously to the current year’s new releases. (There’s one for the current year, too. Feel free to follow me on Spotify and /or Apple Music 🙂 ).

https://music.apple.com/mx/playlist/decadence-is-trending-topic/pl.u-11zBJWBf8P38K0z?l=en&ls