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| Give Sturgill Simpson an honorable mention for this list—his bluegrass album was kick ass, but it was basically a greatest hits compilation. |
Though my Best of 20XX lists have always documented the music that I liked the most that year, I have also in the past seen them as a sort of "summary" of my year in music. That's why the Top Songs list especially would stretch to close to 100 songs including honorable mentions in years past; it was just hard to fathom spending ten hours listening to a decent album and not having anything to show for it. Also, if I'm being honest with myself, maybe this was some sort of pseudo-bragging exercise too, like: "Look how much music I listened to this year!" It's just not necessary. 25 songs was more than plenty this year.
All that said, there were definitely a bunch of artists, albums, and songs that I enjoyed this year that were completely absent on both lists, and despite my confidence that they didn't earn a spot on them, I still feel a little uncomfortable they didn't get mentioned at all. This is still good music. You should still listen to this.
Ranked from least to most deserving of a spot-on End of Year lists (and indeed, many of them are racking up the accolades elsewhere—true, PoYB is not the only music website that does EoY lists!!!).
10. Cloud Nothings
I originally had The Black Hole Understands getting an honorable mention, but then I had a really good couple of days reacclimating myself with the joys of Pottery, so it got bumped. I still really enjoy it, but I've written about it twice, so you knew that already.
9. Car Seat Headrest
Making a Door Less Open didn't come close to the highs of Teens of Denial or Twin Fantasy, but more so than any other artist this year, I wonder if my disappointment was fueled by the chaos of the early days of the pandemic, or if it truly is a middling album. Time will tell!
8. The Beths
To my ears, Jump Rope Gazers is either Future Me Hates Me's equal, or even possibly a step up, and yet, it didn't grab me as much as that wonderful debut. I have no idea why. This is frustrating!
7. Bad Moves
Holy shit, I was completely enthralled with Bad Moves for like three days this summer, and then completely forgot about them.
6. Dua Lipa
Can pop music be too polished? Probably not. Dua Lipa's Grammy nominations lessen the blow of a PoYB snub.
5. Beach Slang
There's value in being the first good album of the year—it sits all year at the very top of the continually-updated list of all music I've listened to throughout the year, so I never really forget about it. And yet, unless that album is an A+ superior album, it's tough to maintain staying power over eleven months. The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City—WAY better than critics want you to believe, but yeah, not one of the best of 2020.
4. Fleet Foxes
I just need more time with Shore. It's a much easier nut to split than The Crack-Up was, but it's still pretty dense. Give me a few solid listens in the Spring and I'll probably be fully on board.
3. The Chicks
3.5/5 might have even been underselling it a little bit—Gaslighter had some serious staying power this year (probably because Pam loves listening to it, and so I get all the residual listens from sharing a home with her).
2. Matt Berninger
I'm not going to waste too many tears over it, but man, how tragic was it for Matt Berninger that the year he decides to dip his toe in the solo waters is the same year that Aaron Dessner becomes by far the most famous member of the National? Don't let folklore's ubiquity distract you from the slow burn eminence of Serpentine Prison.
1. Run the Jewels
I was pretty harsh on the whole "Run the Jewels always drops an album when we need them the most!" thing that ran through every single review and End of Year blurb for RTJ4, and I've already debunked the theory (tl;dr, it was easy for Run the Jewels to predict something like George Floyd's murder because murders like Floyd's are happening every goddamn day). But I wonder if that was too cynical of me. There's nothing wrong with using music as therapy, and if the heroics of El-P and Killer Mike were able to help people process another summer of unrest, then count me as a fan. I mean, I've always been a fan, but I'm saying that I don't want to be pessimistic anymore, as if it's up to me to gatekeep the reasons anyone could like a particular artist. It's not. Go ahead, let Run the Jewels save you. They're pretty good at it.
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