THE BEST MUSIC OF 2020

ALBUM OF THE YEAR : JONATHAN HULTEN "Chants from Another Place"

Tribulation guitarist turns to ethereal folky singer/songwriter mode and lays down emotive and compelling meditations about the cycle of life.

A modern day Nick Drake, the beauty overflows...

                                                    

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX : "Ellengaest"

Mesmerising post rock and melancholic gloom, this may be their best album so far, focused, with dynamic sensibilities that thrill and guest vocalists that elevate the compositions and musicianship. CBP used to "lose" themselves in the course of a song, in the past (sometimes). Not anymore...

IGORRR : "Spirituality and Distortion"

Gautier Serre is a mad genius! Preposterously experimental but concise this is the most "out there" metal album of the year.

NICK CAVE : "Idiot Prayer"

Cave and a piano alone in a large music hall, his songs reverberate more harrowing and quintessentially human. Quintessential and human together may be an oxymoron...

This is an artist's artist...

DRIVE BY TRUCKERS : "The Unravelling"

Patterson Hood sounds angry on this most political of records. A gem of a southern rock album and timely too...

ENVY : 'The Fallen Crimson"

A reinvigorated Envy (2.0) are back to their intense best led by the brilliant vocalist Tetsu. Here's to another 25 years...

THE OCEAN : "Phanerozoic II : Mesozoic/Cenozoic"

Experimental post-metal, imaginative, challenging, ambitious. Stupendous musicianship and smart concepts. This band has been together for 20 years and is still evolving its earth shattering music.

BOB DYLAN : "Rough and Rowdy Ways"

Dylan dropped this bleak and majestic masterpiece in a time of plague and quarantine-the perfect soundtrack. Tangible lyrics that dig deep into the american psyche, he remains the world's most treasured and relevant artist. Nobel prize for Literature? It should've been the Peace prize.            

"I've already outlived my life by far" he sings in "Mother of Muses". No you haven't, Bob. For us, you haven't...

GARCIA PEOPLES : "Nightcap at Wits' End"

Psychedelic cosmic jam band with a dual guitar threat. Since becoming a six-piece they've expanded their musical palette but still retain a charming mystique about them...

SNOWY WHITE and the WHITE FLAMES : "Something On Me"

For many years the "extra" guitar for Pink Floyd and solo Gilmour and Waters, this is his most consistent outing. His stop-start solo licks are as graceful as ever. His most focused songwriting. Elegant blues...

UNLEASH THE ARCHERS : "Abyss"

The progress of this Canadian band has been steadily meteoric from album to album. Unparalleled confidence, better songwriting, unafraid to move outside their comfort zone. Anthemic headbanging songs.

BLACKBIRD & CROW : "Ailm"

Atmospheric arrangements and goth vocals grace this unsettling dark folk 2nd album of theirs.

PYOGENESIS : "A Silent Soul Screams Loud"

The final album of their steampunk trilogy. Pyogenesis has been such fun to follow, jumping from genre to genre, integrity intact. Unafraid to experiment (unlike most in metal...)

LOW CUT CONNIE : "Private Lives"

Adam Weiner could easily rub shoulders with 70s/80s era Springsteen/Petty/Seger. Cool songwriter and breathtaking frontman.

FISH : "Weltschmerz"

His final album is something to behold. As a lyricist, he has never been replaced in Marillion. Heartfelt and eloquent, his last goodbye will resonate forever...

SPECTRAL LORE & MARE COGNITUM : "Wanderers: Astrology of              

                                                                                                    the Nine"

Almost 2 hours of atmospheric black excursions from the Greek Spectral Lore and the American Mare Cognitum. A split album that sees the two acts collaborating on the two final songs. Smart concept and good production values, this is a trip...

DREAM SYNDICATE : "The Universe Inside"

4 albums in since Steve Wynn reunited the Syndicate and this album kicks off with the 20 minute bold and exploratory jam "The Revelator"

and for this song alone, it's worth the price. Wonderful "head" music...

YAWNING MAN : "Live at Giant Rock"

The originators of the desert rock scene offer a stoner/desert/heavy psych record which is cinematic, trippy, dreamy and, of course, full of heavy jamscapes.

SPECIAL MENTION

Our local boys are World Class. It is still not easy to maintain a band or record an album, on the island.

As veterans go they have learned the ropes that make it possible for them to achieve. But achieve they do despite the odds, making wonderful albums that stand shoulder to shoulder with the mega production behemoths of the world. Yes, our local boys are World Class, so...WINTER'S VERGE and ARRAYAN PATH, take a bow...