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Sarah Spencer writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2020: Sarah Spencer
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2020. Our next list is from DJ (Saturdays 6-9am) Sarah Spencer.
2020 may have been a rotten year in many ways, but it was a great year for music. These year-end top ten lists always give me a little anxiety. I mean, what if there's someone I missed? With the volume of music that came my way this year, I have had no option but to leave some very worthy albums off my list. The albums in my top ten are all albums I've spent a lot of time with, and that have been medicine for me in one way or another during this year in lockdown.
#1 Roisin Machine by Roisin Murphy (Skint)
In this year of isolation and social distancing, one of the things I miss the most is live music and dancing. This album exorcised COVID from my soul, and mentally transported me to the dance floor. Roisin Murphy is phenomenal, and fully owns her disco persona on this record.
#2 RTJ4 by Run the Jewels (Jewel Runners, BMG)
Killer Mike and EL-P return with their best album yet. Powerful rhymes, killer beats, and a sense of humor.
#3 Fetch the Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple (Epic, Clean Slate)
This is an album that has received lots of critical acclaim, and for good reason. A brilliant double-album that I will be revisiting for years.
#4 Superstar by Caroline Rose (New West)
Caroline Rose put out a fantastic pop album in the earlier part of the year that continues to get better every time I listen to it. She saved the best for last -track 11 "I Took a Ride" is the best of the bunch.
#5 Dance Without Me by DRAMA (Ghostly International)
It's the local duo's first release on the Ghostly International label, and man it's a good one. Via Rosa's smooth voice and Na'el Shehade's beats make for catchy, danceable pop music. I hope to catch these two live in 2021.
#6 Miss Anthropocene by Grimes (4AD)
It's Grimes, but darker and grittier. "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth" and "Violence" are particular highlights.
#7 UNTITLED (Black Is) by SAULT (Forever Living Originals)
Along with its sister album UNTITLED (Rise), these are powerful protest songs, exploring the entirety of the black experience.
#8 Spirit World Field Guide by Aesop Rock (Rhymesayers)
Aesop Rock is a master wordsmith, and this year he released an album where he unleashed that skill on the subject of the occult. There's so much to enjoy here.
#9 Share the Wealth by The Nels Cline Singers (Blue Note)
If you had told me at the beginning of the year that I would fall madly in love with a 17+ minute free-jazz track, I'd have said you'd lost your mind. But this album did that. This record will take you for a ride.
#10 There is No Year by Algiers (Matador)
Poignant, catchy songs from the post-punk gospel noise band.
Honorable Mentions:
Alabaster DePlume - To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol 1
Clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned
Keleketla! - Keleketla!
Car Seat Headrest - Making a Door Less Open
Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans
Swamp Dogg - Sorry You Couldn't Make It
Purity Ring - WOMB
Skylar Gudasz - Cinema
Sa-Roc - The Sharecropper's Daughter
Next entry: CHIRP Radio Best of 2020: Steven Grady
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