Magik Markers began with an explosion of noisy improvisational rock in the 2000s and then, like a comet, resurfaced occasionally with a long tail of works that gradually refined their music. As the years between releases grew, so did the band's ability to combine their established and newfound skills in ways that sounded fresh and timeless. This is especially true of 2020, an album that took four years to make and appeared seven years after Surrender to the Fantasy. Though it ignores the trends that sprang up during Magik Markers' absence, its mix of delicate folk-pop, clattering rock, and droning experimental pieces captures the fragmented and challenging feel of its namesake year...
Cartoon supergroup, led by Damon Albarn, who blended Brit-pop and hip-hop while featuring a revolving all-star cast. Gorillaz began as something of a lark for Damon Albarn, a way for the singer/songwriter to explore music his Brit-pop band Blur otherwise couldn't make, but the "virtual band" he conceived with artist Jamie Hewlett in the twilight years of the 20th century turned into his main gig in the new millennium.Gorillaz -
Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez /
Strange Timez feat.
Robert Smith Damon Albarn launched Gorillaz's Song Machine at the dawn of 2020, planning to release one new song a month, then rounding up the results as an almanac at the end of the year. Despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Albarn managed to more or less stick to his schedule, issuing a new song a month until the October release of Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez... pull the album away from the realm of solipsism, suggesting that even when the world is largely isolated from itself, there is still the common language of music that binds us all.
Vibrant dance-rock duo hailing from Salt Lake City, Utah. The members of the vibrant dance-rock duo I Dont Know How But They Found Me (sometimes shortened to IDKHow or IDK) knew each other for years before they formed in secret in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2016. Shrouded in mystery upon the release of their first EP in 2018, Salt Lake City duo I Don't Know How But They Found Me (or iDKHOW) pulled back the curtain to step into the spotlight for their bombastic full-length debut, Razzmatazz. An explosive fusion of alternative rock, pop savvy, and nostalgic funk swagger, the set strikes an infectious balance between the angular grooves of early-aughts ringmasters like the Killers and Franz Ferdinand and '60s glam gods like David Bowie and Marc Bolan. The results are fun, sexy, and absolutely catchy, aligning with output by contemporaries such as Joywave and the 1975. From the start, primary members Dallon Weekes and Ryan Seaman lay their inspirations right on the table, tapping into the funkier sides of Bowie and Peter Gabriel for "Leave Me Alone," which struts with elastic bass, hand claps, and a conviction that establishes Weekes as a consummate showman in the making...
Hushed, Baroque, enigmatic indie pop from a trio formed by members of Cross Record and Shearwater. A Lone Star State trio featuring Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg and Cross Record's Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski, Loma emerged in 2018 with an eponymous debut that paired overcast post-rock with bucolic and baroque indie pop. The sophomore full-length effort from the American indie rock trio featuring Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg and Cross Record's Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski, Don't Shy Away sees Loma deliver an impressive and impressionistic set of songs that combine elemental dream pop and dark folktronica... "Half Silence" follows suit, but swaps out the palliative pulse of its predecessor with an icy motorik cadence that yields a similar cinematic sweep... Inward-looking, mysterious, and awash in found sounds, bucolic electronics, and naturalistic imagery, Don't Shy Away is both inexplicable and compelling, and is easily Loma's most rewarding outing to date.
The primary outlet for the melancholy wanderings of cryptic yet revered lo-fi singer/songwriter John Darnielle. The Mountain Goats are, for all practical purposes, the endlessly clever and prolific John Darnielle and the cast of musicians he surrounds himself with, which means that while the soundscape may change from project to project, the overall tone and feel of Darnielle's work remains remarkably consistent. ...Getting into Knives may well be the best-crafted and most musically satisfying album the Mountain Goats have released to date. Cut in Memphis in March 2020, it finds John Darnielle and his core trio -- Peter Hughes on bass, Matt Douglas on keyboards, woodwinds, and guitars, and Jon Wurster on drums -- playing with the sure-footed interplay of a crack jazz band, even as the melodies are rooted in pop. The easy but vital nuance of the arrangements is reinforced by the welcome interludes from the guest musicians (including Charles Hodges of the legendary Hi Records house band on organ), and Darnielle has learned how to sing with an authority that matches the skill set of the band and gives his characters life and personality...
Alternative folk band with an ever-revolving lineup, but with Kate Stables at its core. Alternative-folk act This Is the Kit's rise to recognition was a slow and steady one. The name is essentially an alias for British musician Kate Stables who, along with a cast of both regular and revolving contributors, has been creating a unique style of literate, rhythmic indie folk since the mid-2000s. ...Off Off On, This Is the Kit's fifth album overall, finds Stables and her crew working alongside New York-based producer Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman, Muzz) on another warmly literate and subtly complex collection, essentially picking up where its predecessor left off. Largely written during a 2019 tour with the National, there is an undercurrent of restlessness in this material, with Stables' observations of life in motion complimented by skittering percussion, agile fingerpicking, and colorful horn lines dancing across the stereo field... Although This Is the Kit is ultimately Stables' project, regular collaborators like bassist/singer Rozi Plain, guitarist Neil Smith, and drummer Jamie Whitby-Coles once again bring her detailed music into focus, locking in together like a single organism while her husband, multi-instrumentalist Jesse D. Vernon, further paints the canvas in earthy hues. In spite of its musical intricacy, This Is the Kit remains a relatable portal into the human experience and Off Off On is as appealing as anything Stables has ever released.
Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Vermont with a keen ear for both traditional and avant folk music. A contemporary folk musician specializing in guitar, fiddle, and banjo, Sam Amidon is known for both his original songs and his often-ambitious updates of traditional folk tunes. An unofficial companion album of sorts to 2017's The Following Mountain, which consisted entirely of Amidon originals, Sam Amidon (2020) returns some of the same key contributors -- multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, drummer Chris Vatalaro, and saxophonist Sam Gendel -- for a full set of covers. As such, it's reminiscent of earlier works including his Nonesuch label debut, the folk-covers album Bright Sunny South (2013), but this time with a generally more ambitious design. While the likewise expansive The Following Mountain was produced by seasoned producer/composer/sideman Leo Abrahams, Amidon takes on the role himself here for the first time since his solo debut nearly 20 years prior... While the album focuses mostly on traditional song, including an updated, saxophone-streaked version of the tragic "Pretty Polly," some more-modern, attributed works get the Amidon touch, as well...
Alternative singer/songwriter who has displayed enviable verbal skills to match her intricate arrangements and superb musicianship. Singer and songwriter Laura Veirs blends the poetic sensibilities of contemporary folk music with the more ambitious melodic frameworks of indie rock. ...Laura says: "My Echo is “my songs knew I was getting divorced before I did" album. My conscious mind was trying as hard as I could to keep my family together but my subconscious mind was working on the difficult struggles in my marital life. I was part of a “Secret Poetry Group”that met and wrote poems monthly for a year during the writing of this record. Many of my poems turned into songs for this album. By the time the album was being mixed last fall, my ex-husband/producer Tucker Martine and I had decided to go our separate ways. We were a great musical team for many years but we struggled to be compatible in our marriage and family life and that struggle is reflected in this album.In this new batch of songs I imagine escaping from some sort of prison or cage. Advancing age, the confines of domesticity, our oppressive government and the threat of the apocalypse permeate these songs.In these songs my heart craves certainty and permanence but none is to be found. It’s an album about disintegration. It reveals my artist’s intuition at work."
Songwriter and vocalist who helped birth alt-country with Uncle Tupelo before becoming an indie rock icon as the leader of Wilco. Of the artists who rose to prominence as part of the alt-country scene of the '80s and '90s, none would have a higher profile or create a more eclectic body of work than Jeff Tweedy. It has been clear from the start that Wilco was first and foremost Jeff Tweedy's vehicle, one where he's given his collaborators plenty of space to show off their talents but ultimately in the service of his songs and his musical vision.. 2020's Love Is the King feels like a blend of the themes and approach of Warm and Warmer with the more experimental bent of Sukierae, the 2014 album Jeff made with his son Spencer Tweedy on drums under the group name Tweedy. Love Is the King is the unofficial second Tweedy album, as Jeff and Spencer take on all the instrumental duties, while Spencer's brother Sammy contributes the occasional harmony vocal...
The alias of producer Darren Cunningham, Actress released some of the least predictable categorization-defying electronic dance music of the 2000s. Darren Cunningham broke from his solitude by collaborating with the London Symphony Orchestra for LAGEOS, and doesn't return to his previous state for his follow-up Actress LP, Karma & Desire... Tracks unloading Actress trademarks like clinking and swarming FX ("Diamond X") and fitful kick-drum jabs ("Leaves Against the Sky") are more alluring and welcoming than usual. Six years after he etched a headstone for music, this enigma has made the easiest point of entry into his catalog.
John Frusciante has achieved widespread fame, mainly through his tenures as the guitarist for Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as a fervent cult audience for his more challenging, experimental solo works. Amalgamating a wide range of influences, from Hendrix and prog rock to punk and new wave, and eventually incorporating R&B, hip-hop, and electronic music. John Frusciante has long acknowledged techno and rave culture as a major interest and a significant influence on his singular, sometimes confounding solo career, but it wasn't until the 2010s that the off-again, on-again Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist began releasing purely instrumental electronic music... Maya is Frusciante's second album released in 2020, following a Trickfinger set titled She Smiles Because She Presses the Button. Titled after his feline companion of 15 years who had passed away, Maya is credited to Frusciante's given name, which is fitting as it has more personality than much of his Trickfinger work, even if the album lacks his knotty guitar playing or falsetto vocals... Tracks like "Usbrup Pensul" are filled with clattering, stuttering drums and rave stabs... Each of the tracks took a while to prepare, as Frusciante would fine-tune synth patches and arrange breakbeats, but the actual recordings were bashed out pretty quickly, and they all maintain that sense of elaborately designed spontaneity, making it easily the artist's most successful electronic work.
This Ty Segall side project builds on a foundation of early-'70s proto-metal psychedelia and jammy guitar heaviness. Living up to their name, Fuzz take influence from heavy, caustic, fuzz pedal-worshiping '60s proto-metal and psychedelic acts like the Groundhogs, Jimi Hendrix, and Blue Cheer. After two albums where Fuzz's dynamic duo of Ty Segall and Charles Moothart set the controls to the heart of the late '60s/early '70s in a (mostly successful) quest to recapture the vital moment in history when garage rock met acid rock and got super heavy, they've truly hit the bull's-eye with III. With new bassist Chad Ubovich on board, the group have made a record that not only brings to mind early Black Sabbath or Blue Cheer but also stands proudly next to them like a conquering hero. With the help of Steve Albini's no-frills recording job and a general lack of overdubs, reverb, and frills, the sound is immediate and powerful. Segall's drums are a force of nature, Ubovich's bass thuds when it needs to, then jousts with the guitar melodically when that's required, and Moothart's guitar is an overdriven thing of ugly beauty. He conjures up molten riffs that tumble out of the speakers, doles out shards of overblown noise, unleashes snaky solos, and basically makes claim to a seat at the table of guitar heroes circa 2020...
Pallbearer channel the brutal, straight-ahead heaviness of classic doom into their bleak, no-frills sound. Little Rock, Arkansas' Pallbearer are a doom metal quartet whose penchant for extreme, monstrously thick heaviness has drawn fans from across the globe. Forgotten Days, produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth), will put trepidations to rest. The album's primary lyric themes are time's passage, with heavy yet intimate reflections on family, loss, and healing framed by music at once massively heavy and heartfelt... Closer "Caledonia" is an outlier. Using melodic doom to frame Campbell's sublime vocal, the guitar harmonies are stitched inside a goth metal frame that meets prog head on. Forgotten Days is the album that will likely unite all Pallbearer fans...
Guitar virtuoso whose trademark technique has redefined what it means to play the instrument. American guitarist and composer Kaki King has spent her career redefining what it means to play the guitar. Her technical mastery is combined with an unquenchable desire to expand her instrument's physical and sonic boundaries. Kaki King's Modern Yesterdays is the guitar magician's first studio outing in five years, and her debut for Cantaloupe Music... Modern Yesterdays offers abundant articulations of post-classical, jazz, folk, and blues motifs, and electro-acoustic influences... Modern Yesterdays was recorded in Brooklyn with sound designer Chloe Alexandra Thompson and Arjan Miranda as co-producers. The album title deliberately reflects the global COVID-19 pandemic's before and after, made more poignant as King and her co-producers contracted the virus despite being quarantined.... Closer "Forms of Light and Death" was arranged by Icelandic composer and synthesist Úlfur Hansson, and it's the only track here to feature King on electric slide guitar. It touches on Eastern modes and blues forms with slippery electronics that unobtrusively underscore and highlight each weighty line. Even by King's standards, Modern Yesterdays is remarkable: It extends the guitar's role in contemporary music to one of nearly limitless possibility without leaving the realm of deeply pleasurable listening.
The Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based vibraphonist Joel Ross is a sophisticated jazz performer with a sound steeped in the post-bop tradition. The sophomore album from Joel Ross, 2020's Who Are You? showcases the Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based vibraphonist's expansive post-bop jazz. The record follows his critically acclaimed debut, 2019's Kingmaker, and again finds him engaging in warm long-form interplay with his distinctive sextet. Joining Ross are pianist Jeremy Corren, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, and drummer Jeremy Dutton -- bandmates who all played on Kingmaker. Added to the ensemble this time are bassist Kanoa Mendenhall and harpist Brandee Younger. The addition of Younger is an especially interesting choice. Informed by jazz harp pioneers like Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby, she brings an unusual texture to the ensemble. Her presence also means Ross' group has four chordal instruments (vibes, piano, bass, and harp) interacting at any given time. There's an impressionistic sound to many of Ross' songs, as on the opening "Dream." A wave-like composition, it brings to mind the work of artists like pianist Keith Jarrett and vibraphonist Wolfgang Lackerschmid...
Mexican jazz pioneer with a career stretching over six decades and 40 albums. Jazz drummer Tino Contreras is one of Mexico's national cultural treasures. He is an award-winning composer, arranger, and bandleader, whose percussion-centric approach is almost always melody-based with tempos usually suitable for dancing. While in Tokyo in 2018, musical impresario and Brownswood Recordings boss Gilles Peterson found and purchased a copy of Tino Contreras' 1979 classic Musica Infinita. The following year in Mexico City, he was introduced to Contreras through record collector and musician Carlos Icaza. Peterson licensed Musica Infinita to inaugurate his reissue label, Arc Records. He also signed the iconic Mexican musician to cut a new album for Brownswood. With Icaza producing, the nonagenarian Contreras went straight to work and completed La Noche de los Dioses with an octet that included his nephew Valentino on bass and his producer on pre-Hispanic percussion and Arp Harmonic synths... La Noche de los Dioses displays the hallmark qualities Contreras has developed over 75 years. His compositions meld music from various jazz periods -- from swing and hard bop to modal and vanguard -- with gritty lounge blues, exotica, and folk musics from several nations... "Al Amanecer" is a humid collision between modern son -- with wild piano montunos from Reyes -- exotica, spacy post-bop, and grimy electric guitar blues... At 96, Contreras remains a vitally creative musician and explorer; the basket of traditions and sounds he creates and weaves are nothing less than astonishing and almost shamanic in their emotional and spiritual power.
Powerful blues singer whose award-winning recordings run the gamut from electric blues to soul and Americana. The daughter of renowned Texas blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, award-winning blues singer Shemekia Copeland began making a splash in her own right before she was even out of her teens. Given the vitally important place the blues holds in the history of black culture, it's surprising (and perhaps a bit disappointing) that so many contemporary blues artists don't deal with more political and social issues in their songs. But Shemekia Copeland is not one of those performers, and her 2020 album, Uncivil War, finds her singing about America's racial and cultural divide with heart, soul, and compassion... Shemekia Copeland is one of the best singers in contemporary blues, not just for her voice but for her courage to use it to say something about American culture, and Uncivil War shows good times and a social conscience can co-exist on the same LP.
Magik Markers,Gorillaz, Robert Smith, Loma, I Don't Know How but They Found Me, The Mountain Goats, This Is the Kit, Sam Amidon, Laura Veirs,Jeff Tweedy, Actress, John Frusciante, Fuzz, Pallbearer, Kaki King, Joel Ross, Tino Contreras, Shemekia Copeland
