Seems like I have not done this in a while, and seeing that this is the end of 2020 (hardly a bad thing, all things considered), and seeing that I have been away (if only mentally) for a few months now, these are the best albums of the year.
10. TOBIN SPROUT - Empty Horses
Tobin Sprout is the kind of guy whose solo records you discover only if you are meant to. They are these exquisite pop creations that exist independently of the rest of the world. And yet when I look at his solo work over the years (never mind his Guided by Voices contributions, which Pollard's latest albums are sorely missing), I realise that not too many mortal men can boast of quite that many timeless melodies. "Angels Hang Their Socks on the Moon", "Get Out of My Throat", "To My Beloved Martha", "Doctor #8", "I Think You Would", "I Fall You Fall", etc. These really are about as good as it gets, and
Empty Horses is yet another addition to the man's immaculate catalogue. The album may not be much in the grand scheme of things, but it is still perfect pop music with an edge the size of Robert Pollard's ego.
Best cut: "The Man I Used To Know"
9. АУКЦЫОН / AUKTSYON - Мечты
This, as you may know, is the greatest Russian band bar none. I would actually agree with Boris Grebenshchikov in the sense that we should abandon the term 'Russian rock' as it is a huge disservice to many talented musicians who do not deserve a snide dismissal like that. Auktsyon do not do 'Russian rock'. Instrumentally and melodically, they are well beyond geographical borders, and I have been proven that on a great many occasions.
Мечты (Dreams) is their latest album, and it is as expansive and slightly deranged as ever. There are maybe two or three spots where they come dangerously close to losing a bit of their famous edge, but mostly they hit you where they should. The brass is pulsating and the vocals are emotional regardless of whether you understand what Leonid Fedorov is singing about. "Tиша" is the standout, but do not ignore the bonus track. If you want to know what this band is all about, take "Волны те" as gold standard.
Best cut: "Тиша"
8. THE STROKES - The New Abnormal
I actually have a lot of time for Julian Casablancas. I have always rated the guy. Once you forget the hype,
Is This It is an excellent little album.
Phrazes For The Young is playful and just the right side of self-indulgent. "Under Cover Of Darkness" has one of the greatest choruses ever written.
Comedown Machine is seriously underrated. The Voidz stuff is preposterous but borderline genius. So the quality of
The New Abnormal came as no surprise to me. Yes, the songs are good. All of them, in fact, from the mental hooks of "Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus" to the classy closer "Ode To The Mets" to Julian's falsetto of "Eternal Summer". Kudos to Casablancas and company, of course, I am just slightly disturbed by the amount of praise this album got after the flak spurned the way of an album like
Comedown Machine. Because is this really so much better?
Best cut: "Ode To The Mets"
7. THE APARTMENTS - In And Out Of The Light
Much of what I wrote about Tobin Sprout could be applied to Peter Milton Walsh. Another misunderstood genius, I hear you say. Well, I do not know about misunderstood, but the opening piece here, "Pocketful of Sunshine", is the best thing I have heard all year. All that yearning, all that wistfulness, the sense of taste and the unforgettable atmosphere of an Apartments album - that of a stately evening with the wet snow flirting with a sense of barely understood loss. It is all there, and you know it will be like that throughout the whole album, immaculately conceived but never laboured. Not quite
Life Full of Farewells (his masterpiece), but a very worthy return of a classic songwriter. And, amid the lushness and the restraint, the bitterness of "I Don't Give A Fuck About You Anymore" is a surprising, and welcome, touch.
Best cut: "Pocketful Of Sunshine"
6. MORRISSEY - I Am Not A Dog On A Chain
The title is, of course, a warning. You know he will be coming at you with a vengeance. And by God he does, just listen to the spiteful outburst that is "Jim Jim Falls". "Love Is On Its Way Out" is an infectious single. "Bobby, Don't You Think They Know?" is a rightful Morrissey classic further lifted by some hugely effective backing vocals. The album does lose me occasionally, particularly on side B ("Darling I Hug A Pillow", for instance, is very unsatisfying melodically, and while I praise the experimental nature of "The Secret of Music", it is not an entirely successful experiment), but "Once I Saw The River Clean" and especially the tender drama of "My Hurling Days Are Done" are big highlights. I was sort of interested in how the self-righteous media outlets are going to spin it this time. After all, the album is so well-written, so inescapably good that getting away with a one-star rating would just look silly. And I got my answer, of course, after reading the Guardian review: the fuckers did not even bother listening to the album.
Best cut: "Bobby, Don't You Think They Know?"
5. TUNNG - Dead Club
No album this year has meant to me quite as much as Dead Club by Tunng. I have been listening to it incessantly since its release in early November. A concept album about death (in 2020, no less) and inspired by Max Porter’s novel
Grief is The Thing with Feathers, this is a beautifully realised set of songs and poems. The melodies are mostly strikingly simple and the presentation is mostly folkish and tastefully electronic. Tunng's most consistent work to date, and one I keep coming back to, if only to slip again into the mournful yet strangely uplifting atmosphere of the short story "Woman" (read by Max Porter) that closes this album. Along with Faten Kanaan's
A Mythology Of Circles, Dead Club is the soundtrack of my autumn, one of the most horrifying and memorable autumns of my life. File alongside
Bone Machine,
Murder Ballads and
Magic & Loss.
Best cut: "Death Is The New Sex"
4. JARV IS - Beyond The Pale
This album is beguiling, intoxicating. Seven new songs from Jarvis Cocker that sound completely unlike his previous album,
Room 29, the beautiful and unjustly ignored collaboration with Chilly Gonzales. That record was stately and depressing where
Beyond The Pale is groovy and playful. Seven engaging, cleverly constructed songs brimming with vocal and instrumental ideas. The giddiness-inducing single "Must I Evolve?" builds up breathlessly to some powerful "Common People" like bliss. "Am I Missing Something?" has every ingredient of a Pulp classic from, say,
This Is Hardcore. "Swanky Modes" is a terrific half-whispered ballad from Jarvis, and "House Music All Night Long" is the standout that should rank alongside the man's greatest creations. I could go on, of course, so let's just say I like everything about this album except the name of the band. Jarv Is? God what a horrible pun.
Best cut: "House Music All Night Long"
3. LUKE HAINES & PETER BUCK - Beat Poetry For The Survivalists
I can't think of a year when Luke Haines released a new album and it was not in my top ten at the end of the year. His collaboration with Peter Buck sounds exactly the way you would imagine it: pretty, if sinister, melodies and vocal performances from Haines, and beautiful distortion from the R.E.M. man. Remember
Monster? Remember how you liked the guitar tone but hated the songs? Well, it is all fixed here, so you get the best from both worlds (take a listen to "Last of the Legendary Bigfoot Hunters", for instance, which would not have worked with either on their own). If you need details, "Bobby's Wild Years" is a loving tribute to Robert Forster, "Apocalypse Beach" is a Donovan Leitch-referencing ballad that has one of my favourite Luke Haines choruses ever (and I have been a fan for years), and "Jack Parsons" is the obligatory nod to an American rocket engineer.
Beat Poetry For The Survivalists is tastefully distorted glam rock for men who do not mind the sound of a recorder.
Best cut: "Apocalypse Beach"
2. JIM BOB - Pop Up Jim Bob
I guess I should preface this by saying that I first heard Jim Bob not on "Sheriff Fatman" but on The Indelicates' "McVeigh" (from the brilliant
David Koresh Superstar). A great song, but somehow I never got down to listening to Jim Bob's own music. And then, completely by chance, I heard this LP and was instantly blown away. I do not even know what it is, the clever Zeitgeist-trolling lyrics or the sheer melodic genius of these songs, but the man is one hell of a songwriter. The hooks are fucking enormous. "Jo's Got Papercuts" is as good a single as you will hear all decade, "2020 WTF!" is all you wanted to know about the year in 25 seconds and "#thoughtsandprayers" is something else. I guess "BIG Boy" could be described as somewhat uneventful (lyrics aside) until the piano kicks in, but the rest is pure gold. The pop smarts that Jim Bob has are off the charts, and what a way to finish the album.
Best cut: "#thoughtsandprayers"
1. BAXTER DURY - The Night Chancers
Long described as the best-kept secret of Great Britain, Baxter Dury (Ian's son) has been my greatest musical discovery of 2020. I think it took me ten seconds to fall in love with this album, and about fifteen more to order my vinyl copy. Back in March, I described
The Night Chancers as a cross between Sleaford Mods and Serge Gainsbourg, and I pretty much stand by what I said back then. Baxter is a unique talent, by turns sleazy and romantic. A man in an old-fashioned suit singing about slumlords and 'some broads laughing'. The orchestration is clever and beautiful and blends perfectly with the downbeat lyrics. The vocals are part Baxter doing his Leonard Cohen-like crooning and part effective female backup singing. Palpable bass, nocturnal vibes. And then, when you do not quite expect it, the heavenly elegance of "Daylight". Christ what a record. Best of the year.
Best cut: "I'm Not Your Dog"
