[Shaun]

#10 - "A Hero's Death" by Fontaines D.C.
I'm hard-pushed to name a song that better kicks off an album than "I Don't Belong" does here; the Irish post-punk band came along with a second release in as many years and there's something so Joy Division and misanthropic and menacing about this record that really gave me chills at times.


#9 - "Miss Anthropocene" by Grimes
Look, no one who calls themselves a Grimes fan is really enjoying the bizarre soap opera of her personal life over these past couple of years. As a matter of fact, I'm starting to feel like my 2012 music tastes have been cast a spell upon, to turn into spectral ghouls in 2020/21 turning up at the Capitol, sacrificing cats and chickens, and marrying the richest man in the world and birthing his unpronounceable children. All I'm saying is: the madness is a little easier to take when her foot isn't easing off the gas in terms of the quality of her music output. There are elements of house, her signature ethereal voice whispers into your ear as you fall under her spell, and the club mixes combine to make this one of the most alienating and fascinating records she's released.


#8 - "We Will Always Love You" by The Avalanches
Sneakily dropped off at the very end of 2020, I'm still unpacking this 26-track monster by the Australian mashup kings... but at least we didn't have to wait another 15 years since Wildflower. WWALY presents itself as a pretty bleak and morbid record, dealing with concepts like death, grieving and leaving an impact on the world, but to expect bleakness from the Avalanches seems naive. Indeed, by track 10 we're in the throes of a disco, worshipping the sun. There is a notable increase in collaborations here: legends past (Tricky, Neneh Cherry, Johnny Marr) and present (Jamie xx, Blood Orange, Denzel Curry) are thriving, and putting together an album with the scope that only the Avalanches can really imagine.


#7 - "What's Your Pleasure?" by Jessie Ware
I'm at the point now where I have nothing but praise to lavish upon these albums, because Jessie Ware really did save music for a brief period this summer with one of many great 2020 disco records. This was inarguably one of the greatest: a modern pop classic that stands up well next to the likes of Robyn's Honey. Not one filler track dampens the urgency to dance, and Ware's voice serves as a soothing tonic throughout.


#6 - "Song For Our Daughter" by Laura Marling
I have to admit that there have been times, since 2008, where I've reacted to the news of another Laura Marling album with this energy. 2015's Short Movie and 2017's Semper Femina, in particular, underwhelmed me somewhat, so I was tricked not only by this album's title (no such daughter, yet) but also its content. SFOD is comfortably her greatest yet, or at least tied with Once I Was an Eagle, and whilst there have been hundreds of comparisons to Joni Mitchell over the past decade and a bit, there's never really been a voice - until now - to warrant the flattery and make it seem accurate.


#5 - "Róisín Machine" by Róisín Murphy
Murphy's solo material has always been good; I remember finding a track that was particularly memorable on some American dance TV competition (that song was Ramalama (Bang Bang)) way back in the middle of the 2000s and found it utterly bizarre and disconnected from the hits she'd released under the name of Moloko. I was only a teenager susceptible to pop and commercial rock at the time, so held it at an arm's length, but over time her music has grown on me considerably - and her cool drawls on some of this Machine are like those of someone whose authority cannot be questioned. She's the queen of dance music, and it never really seems in doubt at any point during this record.


#4 - "RTJ4" by Run the Jewels
They've only had the time of, oh, just the Trump presidency to mull things over and put out their fourth record, so when it dropped it felt less atomic than they have done in the past, perhaps only because we'd become so desensitised to the bull**** going on in America since 2016. I've always adored the duo; their rhymes and potency are matched only by Kendrick Lamar in recent years, and their ability to combine old-school sounds with modern production techniques just makes their material all the more explosive.


#3 - "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" by Fiona Apple
If this placing shocks you: please accept my apologies, because trying to set apart this top 3 when I gave them all the exact same score has been a nightmare. All three will surely go down as some of my all-time favourites: but let's first talk about Apple. Aside from being the latest in a long line of Scott username changes, FTBC stole every award in 2020 and it's hard to argue with that; few musicians channel the same emotional energy and poetry that she able to wield, and pairing that with sublime instrumentals means this, and she, is a match made in heaven. I've placed it below the other two purely because I've listened to - and wanted to listen to - the other pair more; there's not really any reason to call FTBC anything less than perfect.


#2 - "Set My Heart On Fire Immediately" by Perfume Genius
I sort of curl up into a ball and feel like sobbing with every Perfume Genius release, and they've all been good - but this was something else. His voice is always shaking with emotion and fragility, but an amping up of the orchestration on this record made it feel like he was finally playing out on IMAX. Classic rock and roll balladry kicks the record off with 'Whole Life', but we're taken on a journey that takes on psychedelic elements ("Jason"), baroque stylings ("On the Floor") and cold, metallic industrialism ("Your Body Changes Everything"), and the end result is a record that explores sexuality, body dysmorphia and the human spirit with a master touch.


#1 - "Punisher" by Phoebe Bridgers
So then: my favourite album was in my avatar the whole time. Don't let the anticlimax take hold, though, because Punisher deserves to be heard. The list of people who've contributed to this record in some way is astronomical, with help from members of Warpaint and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, producers of Fiona Apple and long-time collaborators like Conor Oberst... and in a way the list makes sense because the end result is something so rich and well put-together; every drumbeat precise and strategically placed. There's poppier, catchy elements like on 'Kyoto', but I think the thing that swayed this as being my record for 2020 came on its closing track "I Know the End"; there's surely no better descriptor of 2020 than hearing "the end is here" blast through your headphones, only for it to feel reassuring rather than frightening.