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Patrick Masterson writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2020: Patrick Masterson
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2020. Our next list is from volunteer Patrick Masterson.
In addition to my usual favorite local releases, I've also included 10 new pizzas I tried in 2020 — think of it as bonus content I don't feel like I have to explain after the kind of year we've had. Scroll down, tune in, drop out, eat up.
#1 œurve d'isolement by Oui Ennui (self-released)
"In April of this year, I came down with COVID-19, and I thought I was gonna die," Jonn Wallen, aka Oui Ennui, said in an October interview for our Artist Interview Series. "I was having all these really morbid thoughts of, 'Is all of this music that I've been creating for the last 20 years gonna die on a hard drive on a computer?'" Thankfully, Wallen still walks among us at the time of this writing to the best of my knowledge — and even more thankfully, the illness motivated him to open the floodgates on all that music he'd been carrying around. It's been a great pleasure to keep up with the drops; practically every month, a new full-length has appeared, from Sirius Bismuth that first Bandcamp Friday right on up to December's Pastiche Libra (one even features a collaboration with Angel Bat Dawid under the Daoui alias). The range of his talents transcends mere lo-fi hip-hop playlist placements and each record's mood is a world unto itself; I could've picked any one among them, but œurve d'isolement was what I loved first and best, so here it goes. When I look around at all my local listening, the message is clear: It was Oui Ennui's year for me. You too, maybe. Pair with Table, Donkey & Stick's pizza, literally any of them, which I spent a stupid amount of money on this year. Empires have fallen for less than that 'nduja pie is worth to these taste buds.
#2 Ambertron by Mint Mile (Comedy Minus One)
While I'd never doubt Tim Midyett's abilities given his experience in Silkworm, Bottomless Pit and Sunn 0))), a run of quietly pretty EPs that I completely missed culminated in this springtime full-length debut that I'm very glad I didn't. Featuring an ensemble of people like Mabel Kwan (who did that Georg Friedrich Haas album I loved in 2018), Kelly Hogan and Helen Money as well as the usual Mint Mile unit (still trying to figure out what Howard Draper's "magic spackling thing" is here, exactly), everything coalesced beautifully and peaked with "Amberline," one of my favorite songs of the year. Someday, if we're lucky enough, we'll get that Hideout album release performance we were due in April. Pair with the Covfefe from one-man ghost kitchen Milly's in the Pan, a pie that might be the most aesthetically beautiful pizza (thing?) I've ever eaten.
#3 Disappears + Steve Shelley + White/Light by Disappears + Steve Shelley + White/Light (self-released)
Supposedly lost to the sands of time, this record is a sentimental favorite not just because it's from the same sessions that birthed the Live at Echo Canyon cassette I wrote the blurb for a million years ago, but also because Disappears were always an excellent band and I'm mostly just happy to see there was more on the cutting room floor in the form of these 2009 sessions. Don't get me wrong, I think Facs' Void Moments and the Lincoln Hall live record are great, too — but this one hits just that little bit harder, enough even to give serious reconsideration to which Disappears record is the best one. Pair with Panino's, the Lakeview Italian institution I genuinely can't believe I hadn't ordered a pizza from sooner.
#4 Dive by Lifeguard (self-released)
"Guitars are back, baby!" you might be screaming at me sarcastically, but I assure you it's pure happenstance this list is so guitar-forward; any year would be with albums like Lifeguard's Dive coming out, though. The real story here isn't that this is the band's first LP or only its third release or that one of the trio is Brian Case's kid or that they've seemingly absorbed the lessons of Rodan and Unwound before them to make the rock record of the year (apologies to Crowning's Survival/Sickness, Snooze's Still and STAR's Violence Against STAR, which are all also tremendous); the real story is that the band's actual best release of the year was the 10-minute "Tin Man" single. Utterly absorbing post-hardcore of a particular bent that ticks all the right boxes, I enjoyed every minute of this band's work this year and I'm excited to hear more. Pair with a product from Crushed Pizzeria on Montrose. Not only is the pizza good, but I got a free brownie with my order and I definitely didn't deserve it.
#5 Live by Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood (International Anthem)
Such is International Anthem's roster that you could substitute any one of its Chicago-related releases here and I'd be equally satisfied (looking at you, Jeff Parker and Rob Mazurek), but in the end, it had to be this fire n' brimstone set from Berlin. Far apart from her more restrained Oui Ennui collab, this is Angel and The Brothahood unleashed, and it's enough to get any listener's food stomping, arms waving, body moving. An incredibly powerful, uplifting slice of jazz that's without a doubt among the year's best live recordings (not to mention Raimund Wong's instantly iconic cover art). Pair with the prosciutto/pistachio combo from Ike & Oak Brewing in Woodridge after a long, cold, gray October day walking around Morton Arboretum trying to find all the trolls for a third year in a row like I did and you'll swear warm pizza never felt so good to a belly.
#6 The Goat by Polo G (Columbia)
I liked Die a Legend a lot last year, but without the inescapable "Pop Out" to potentially hide behind, The Goat was always going to be a more interesting prospect, for better or worse. Luckily, Polo G came through, narrowly escaping the fate of compatriot Juice WRLD (who features here posthumously on "Flex") last August and delivering a sophomore album in the spring at least as playable as his debut. Though there are cameos from all-pro hook man BJ the Chicago Kid and Revolution Summer anthem generator Lil Baby, this is really Polo's show. Fingers crossed we get a third album as good as the first two to talk about this time next year. Pair with Saba's excellent rustic pizzas and a half-priced bottle of wine if that deal reappears when they reopen in 2021. As with Polo G's future, I remain hopeful.
#7 Acquiesce by TALsounds (NNA Tapes)
I already knew Natalie Chami from her time in l'éternèbre (though I didn't write that blurb) and my affection for Good Willsmith is no secret, either, but the largely improvisational TALsounds alias didn't come as a surprise to me so much as the right record at the right time, released in late May when the dread of an unending pandemic and approaching election and noisy fact-fighting began to settle in for the long haul. Acquiesce is, by contrast, a simple record, a gentle hypnosis that asks little of its listeners except to breathe in and out. Like KMRU's releases and, to a lesser extent, the Mary Lattimore album I played a lot of this fall, it comes as a welcome breather from the bustle that lies beyond its warm confines. Aural revitalization in slow-moving waveforms for you n' yours. Pair with the chorizo and smoked salsa pie from Alulu. I picked one up from the window on an evening when I did not look or feel what anyone might call "alive," but I came away feeling like I could once again function in the corporeal realm. Sorry, I don't have the talent to write a more convincing Yelp review than that.
#8 Suffering by Jeremiah Meece (self-released)
Following the Halloween-themed electro of 2019's Mutant Future, $&M/The-Drum/JODY/VALIS/Clique Talk member Jeremiah Meece dropped a full album's worth of quarantine tunes as May dawned. Recorded in the space of barely half a month at the beginning of April, Meece says it was made "to document the isolation and uncertainty I was feeling and to channel the manic energy into music." These synth-heavy songs range from movie workout montage cuts ("Purgatory") to pop oddities ("Anthem for the Anxious") to beatless set pieces ("Self Isolating"). Pick one and play at your next Late Bar late night to watch the creatures come out from the shadows. Pair with a Pizza Lobo thin crust and if you're really desperate enough to suffer through the cold, they have a raging fire on the patio that seems about as safe a gathering space as one is liable to find in this city so close to fresh pizza.
#9 Warm Violet: A Compilation for Chicago Community Jail Support by Various Artists (Chicago Community Jail Support)
Got someone in your life who can't fully understand the ruinous implications of our prison industrial complex? Send them this and change their minds instantly. I know this only came out a couple of weeks ago, but man, what a tracklisting: Ohmme, Bill Mackay, Ariel Zetina, Half Gringa, Fire-Toolz, Into It. Over It., maybe my favorite Nnamdï song? And that's just for starters? Hell yeah I'm ready to tear down the walls (or at least swap out anyone convicted on drug charges for presidents and senators, which seems like a good place to start). Let this be thy soundtrack. Pair with Pizza Friendly Pizza's refreshing rapini and lemon square, which I devoured in the bliss of a late summer sunset. May everyone know this kind of freedom and happiness once in their lives (RIP Bite Cafe).
#10 BBQ Fingaprints by Sharkula (Static Switch)
Logan Square local legend Brian Wharton followed up his collaboration with Mukqs (another artist who dumped a ton of music in December to make first-to-the-punch listmakers look foolish) on 2019's Prune City with the slightly more digestible BBQ Fingaprints on Zachary Caputo's Static Switch imprint. It's a succinct eight tracks and the beats complement Sharkula's free associative riffing well for entry-level Sharkula followers. Find a copy on Bandcamp or grab him outside Dill Pickle on Milwaukee. Get it however he'll let you. You won't regret it. Pair with the Gianni from Pisolino, an Italian market in Avondale that will have you walking in to pick up a pizza and walking out thinking you've never considered the option of crepes as a layer in a chocolate ganache cake. Again: You won't regret it.
Next entry: CHIRP Radio Best of 2020: Mike Bennett
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