2020 Media Roundup: Music
Dec. 26th, 2020 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyI normally do a thing where I post all the stuff I enjoyed reading, watching, and listening to over the year. But this year has been such a weird one that I've gone back and forth on whether to do it. I've read way more, but I haven't had the attention span for film or most TV, and I haven't been able to bond with new music as much. And I'm operating in a fog, so my ability to retain information is quite diminished. Still, I think I will at least attempt, because hell, media has saved us all this year. For every cancelled show, I've had a watch party for some of my favourite artists, and DJ Joyrider's weekly Friday Night Parkdale Special (8-9:45ish every Friday) has introduced me to a ton of new genres and often kept me going. With that said, my favourite music this year.
Riverside:
I don't think this band actually released anything in 2020, but I got into them in December/January and have had them on repeat. They're from Warsaw and are kind of gloomy, vaguely folk-metal sounding, and they have a lot of songs about the apocalypse, hence my listening to them a lot. Here is my favourite song by them, from 2018's Wasteland:
Bob Vylan:
I posted about them already, as they're the first new punk band I've heard in ages that reminded me of what I love in punk. Unabashedly angry and political and in-your-face, their 2020 release We Live Here perfectly captured the worldwide challenge to white supremacy that happened this year.
Zeal & Ardor:
Along similar thematic lines but radically different and always incredibly innovative musical lines, Zeal & Ardor released his new EP, Wake of a Nation. At 18 minutes long, it is way too short but every second is amazing.
While we're on the topic of short, a bunch of other artists that I love released the odd song or two to get us through these horrible times. Grace Petrie's phenomenal cover of the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" is the one I have on constant repeat, I'd like to nominate her utterly heartbreaking version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as your new favourite song to cry to.
Death in Rome are generally a lulzy band that does silly neofolk covers of pop songs, but their cover of Alliance's Na Zare, a 1987 groundbreaking Russian synth-pop song, is legit amazing and you should hear it, especially if you're into Soviet sci-fi. They also recreated the video because they lean in to their own weirdness.
Absolute legend Orville Peck has continued to do his best to make 2020 less terrible by doing a bunch of excellent livestreams and dropping another album, Show Pony. Unlike his first album, it's hard for me to pick a favourite track, but his moody, trans inclusive cover of "Fancy" is the one that sticks in my head the most:
There is absolutely no contest as to my album of the year, though, because after 15 years, my favourite band released a new album. I was supposed to see Einstürzende Neubauten play in October and I will die mad about it because the last show I was supposed to see of theirs got cancelled too. But at least they released an album the day before my birthday, and of course it's awesome. Here comes "Ten Grand Goldie," featuring a tiny child whom I'm pretty sure is Blixa Bargeld's daughter, if the song/video wasn't already adorable enough:
Riverside:
I don't think this band actually released anything in 2020, but I got into them in December/January and have had them on repeat. They're from Warsaw and are kind of gloomy, vaguely folk-metal sounding, and they have a lot of songs about the apocalypse, hence my listening to them a lot. Here is my favourite song by them, from 2018's Wasteland:
Bob Vylan:
I posted about them already, as they're the first new punk band I've heard in ages that reminded me of what I love in punk. Unabashedly angry and political and in-your-face, their 2020 release We Live Here perfectly captured the worldwide challenge to white supremacy that happened this year.
Zeal & Ardor:
Along similar thematic lines but radically different and always incredibly innovative musical lines, Zeal & Ardor released his new EP, Wake of a Nation. At 18 minutes long, it is way too short but every second is amazing.
While we're on the topic of short, a bunch of other artists that I love released the odd song or two to get us through these horrible times. Grace Petrie's phenomenal cover of the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" is the one I have on constant repeat, I'd like to nominate her utterly heartbreaking version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as your new favourite song to cry to.
Death in Rome are generally a lulzy band that does silly neofolk covers of pop songs, but their cover of Alliance's Na Zare, a 1987 groundbreaking Russian synth-pop song, is legit amazing and you should hear it, especially if you're into Soviet sci-fi. They also recreated the video because they lean in to their own weirdness.
Absolute legend Orville Peck has continued to do his best to make 2020 less terrible by doing a bunch of excellent livestreams and dropping another album, Show Pony. Unlike his first album, it's hard for me to pick a favourite track, but his moody, trans inclusive cover of "Fancy" is the one that sticks in my head the most:
There is absolutely no contest as to my album of the year, though, because after 15 years, my favourite band released a new album. I was supposed to see Einstürzende Neubauten play in October and I will die mad about it because the last show I was supposed to see of theirs got cancelled too. But at least they released an album the day before my birthday, and of course it's awesome. Here comes "Ten Grand Goldie," featuring a tiny child whom I'm pretty sure is Blixa Bargeld's daughter, if the song/video wasn't already adorable enough:
no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 05:50 pm (UTC)Genius.
My only excursions outside my area are my weekly Northern Line trip to work.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 11:12 pm (UTC)