In each summer the last few years, I have listed out my favorite songs and albums to recap the previous six months of music. This year, I’m doing something a bit different and sharing my opinions for all albums I listened to through the scoring system I regularly use. I go through this process every year to just keep up with the vast amount of music released every week and to stay organized, but I figure it’d be more exciting to be transparent and just share that process. This allows me to show you what albums I didn’t enjoy and simply share my takes on some popular albums I maybe didn’t love but people would be interested in.

It’s a simple 0-5 rating with 1/2 intervals. Each rating will be explained using a few albums as examples with a list of all albums alphabetically underneath. Overall though: 0-1.5 (bleh), 2-3 (meh), 3.5-5 (yeh).

This covers releases up to 6/12. The rest of 2020 will be reviewed in November.

0/5

There are no albums I’ve scored a 0 this year, so what does a 0 sound like? Honestly, I don’t know! I haven’t really sought out terrible albums in my free time. It’s probably just something so comically bad or hateful and insensitive to where I wouldn’t feel the need to highlight it in this way. I focus only on releases that at least get some credible coverage elsewhere. Don’t hold your breath — but it’s not a “never.”

0.5/5

A few albums received this score this year, and it essentially represents music with no redeeming qualities. These albums are blaringly annoying or so banal that I wonder how it gets any type of funding in 2020. Eminem’s Music to Be Murdered By may not be his worst album since his comeback, but it features everything that has made him an aggravating listen for quite some time. He works extremely hard to write the dumbest lyrics, and it’s exhausting hearing him trying to sell it as some type of cosplay of his younger self. Kesha’s High Road burns the candle from both ends, and by candle, I mean like those McDonald’s burger-scented ones. She flip-flops between her “s” and “$” self to revive her glory days while still trying to coast on the “serious comeback” narrative that won her some good reviews back with Rainbow. Both avenues just wreak of tacky desperation. Brendan Benson’s Dear Life follows through on its title’s middle-school level of emotional gravitas. This is someone who has never been told that he’s terrible at writing lyrics and worse, that he has no imagination to hide that fact with some interesting pop rock arrangements. It sounds beamed in from 2003, which is where his Raconteurs mate Jack White is still living in. These three albums set the standard for where music is at its worst; everything from here goes up, but it’s admittedly a long trek.

  • Brendan Benson – Dear Life 
  • Eminem – Music to Be Murdered By 
  • Kesha – High Road 

1/5

A 1 is barely listenable — the type of music you skip before it’s even 30 seconds in. This is typical territory for pop albums that don’t move the needle, pop rock bands that “peaked” fifteen years ago, and rappers that bring the whole genre down. One Direction was bad on their own, but now we’re dealing with four different solo careers that stink apart from that one Harry Styles song (you know the one). Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan have no discernable talent yet have both succeeded on the charts with Walls and Heartbreak Weather, respectively. Horan is more of a typical pop producer pawn, while Tomlinson settles into that awful acoustic sentimental faux-DIY sound. Halsey’s Manic has a bit more personality with bigger ambitions, but it’s ground down by complacent songwriting and just downright irritating vocals. Tpday’s British post-punk is a mostly inert subgenre without much forward-thinking beyond an aggressive attitude. Algiers’ There Is No Year and HMLTD’s West of Eden both employ some heavy electronica to try and spice things up but it merely amplifies their lack of interesting songwriting. Nav brought out all the stars for Good Intentions, and he sounds like he won some Make-A-Wish contest. His rapping style is competent and his voice is as dry as unseasoned chicken; every star around him makes it clearer.

  • The Airborne Toxic Event – Hollywood Park
  • Algiers – There Is No Year 
  • Asking Alexandria – Like a House on Fire 
  • CocoRosie – Put the Shine On
  • Enter Shikari – Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible 
  • Halsey – Manic 
  • HMLTD – West of Eden
  • James Taylor – American Standard
  • JoJo – good to know
  • Lee Ranaldo & Raül Refree – Names of North End Women
  • Louis Tomlinson – Walls 
  • Meghan Trainor – TREAT MYSELF
  • Nav – Good Intentions
  • Niall Horan – Heartbreak Weather 
  • Twin Atlantic – POWER

1.5/5

We’re getting into listenable territory, but we’re still talking about music that goes beyond boring or just inessential; this music struggles to find a voice and is flawed at its core. There’s nothing really enjoyable about these releases, even if some would be mostly innocuous as background music. People keep waiting for Childish Gambino to make a classic album, as if the musical version of Atlanta is right around the corner, but 3.15.20 fails at every level in being the high-octane, intelligent, rap/genre mash-up epic that he so wants to make. When 21 Savage pops up on track 4, it’s the first time any rapping on the album works. Justin Bieber’s Changes isn’t as bad as lead single “Yummy,” but that doesn’t mean it’s good. Not a single track stretches beyond the 3:30 mark, and the entire affair feels like a few days of real effort from the group of probably 50 people involved in songwriting and production. This album best displays how shallow, ineffectual, and palatable pop music sounds in 2020. Some blast from the past artists appear here in Moby, Morrissey, Sparks, Body Count, and Ozzy Osbourne, and they all have nothing new to say. The two most surprising failures here are EOB’s Earth and Mura Masa’s R.Y.C.. Ed O’Brien should have at least have some of Radiohead’s legend rub off on him for his solo work, but the end result is dreadfully long-winded. Mura Masa can be a great producer with songs like “Doorman,” but here, they’re lifeless and none of the features feel like they’re trying.

  • 5 Seconds of Summer – CALM
  • AJJ – Good Luck Everybody
  • Banoffee – Look At Us Now Dad
  • Ben Watt – Storm Damage
  • Blueface – Find the Beat
  • Body Count – Carnivore
  • The Boomtown Rats – Citizens of Boomtown
  • Boston Manor – GLUE
  • Childish Gambino – 3.15.20
  • Chris Brown & Young Thug – Slime & B
  • Courteeners – More. Again. Forever.
  • The Dears – Lovers Rock
  • Dune Rats – Hurry Up and Wait
  • Echosmith – Lonely Generation
  • EOB – Earth
  • The Garden – Kiss My Super Bowl Ring
  • Humanist – Humanist
  • Joyner Lucas – ADHD
  • Justin Bieber – Changes
  • Katatonia – City Burials
  • Lauv – ~how i’m feeling~
  • Lil Wayne – Funeral
  • Moby – All Visible Objects
  • Morrissey – I Am Not a Dog on a Chain
  • Mura Masa – R.Y.C.
  • Mystery Jets – A Billion Heartbeats
  • Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man
  • PARTYNEXTDOOR – PARTYMOBILE
  • Russ – SHAKE THE SNOW GLOBE
  • Sparks – A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
  • Stone Temple Pilots – Perdida
  • TOKiMONSTA – Oasis Nocturno
  • Trivium – What the Dead Men Say
  • Wire – Mind Hive

2/5

This is where albums start being more dull rather than dreadful. The albums can be tonally consistent and have some sort of a realized vision, but that doesn’t make it exciting. At times, it can work but more often than not, I start to tune out. Make no mistake — nothing here is worth your time. Drake continues his slow descent into critical irrelevancy with his worst album yet, Dark Lane Demo Tapes. He tempered expectations by not calling it an album and just a mixtape of songs he’s been sitting on. It sure sounds like it, but a 50-minute snore-fest that seems to exist to boost “Toosie Slide'”s streaming numbers is his new low. Your opinion of Code Orange has always been bound to what you think of hardcore in this day & age (me: mostly innocuous and has to be more than hardcore). Underneath goes a step further by embracing the early-aughts metal sound that producing nothing fruitful the first go-around. Most albums here just went one ear and out the other, but there are some promising artists that haven’t maintained their initial impact: Porches, Empress Of, DaBaby. There’s also BTS down here, so don’t tell their fans.

  • Alice Boman – Dream On
  • All Time Low – Wake Up, Sunshine
  • Allie X – Cape God
  • Austra – HiRUDiN
  • Badly Drawn Boy – Banana Skin Shoes
  • Basia Bulat – Are You in Love?
  • BC Camplight – Shortly After Takeoff
  • Best Coast – Always Tomorrow
  • Black Lips – Sing in a World That’s Falling Apart
  • Bladee – EXETER
  • Blossoms – Foolish Loving Spaces
  • Bombay Bicycle Club – Everything Else Has Gone Wrong
  • Brian Fallon – Local Honey
  • BTS – Map of the Soul: 7
  • Code Orange – Underneath
  • Cornershop – England Is a Garden
  • DaBaby – Blame It on Baby
  • Deap Lips – Deap Lips
  • Diplo – Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil
  • Don Toliver – Heaven or Hell
  • Douglas Dare – Milkteeth
  • Drake – Dark Lane Demo Tapes
  • EDEN – no future
  • Empress Of – I’m Your Empress Of
  • Everything Is Recorded – FRIDAY FOREVER
  • False Heads – It’s All There But You’re Dreaming
  • Field Music – Making a New World
  • Flat Worms – Antarctica
  • Frazey Ford – U kin B the Sun
  • Ghostpoet – I Grow Tired But Dare No Fall Asleep
  • Green Day – Father of All…
  • Greg Dulli – Random Desire
  • Happyness – FLOATR
  • Hazel English – Wake UP!
  • I Break Horses – Warnings
  • Jade Hairpins – Harmony Avenue
  • The James Hunter Six – Nick of Time
  • Jonathan Wilson – Dixie Blur
  • KSI – Dissimulation
  • La Roux – Supervision
  • Lanterns on the Lake – Spook the Herd
  • Lil Baby – My Turn
  • Lil Yachty – Lil Boat 3
  • The Lone Bellow – Half Moon Light
  • Loving – If I Am Only Thoughts
  • Mandy Moore – Silver Landings
  • Margaret Glaspy – Devotion
  • Mark Lanegan – Straight Songs of Sorrow
  • Melt Yourself Down – 100% Yes
  • The Men – Mercy
  • Mick Jenkins – The Circus
  • Moaning – Uneasy Laughter
  • Myrkur – Folkesange
  • Nada Surf – Never Not Together
  • Nick Hakim – Will This Make Me Good
  • Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts VI: Locusts
  • Norah Jones – Pick Me Up Off the Floor
  • Phantogram – Ceremony
  • Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Viscerals
  • POLIÇA – When We Stay Alive
  • Poppy – I Disagree
  • Porches – Ricky Music
  • The Professionals – The Professionals 
  • Riz Ahmed – The Long Goodbye 
  • Royce da 5’9″ – The Allegory 
  • Skepta, Young Adz & Chip – Insomnia 
  • Sløtface – Sorry for the Late Reply 
  • Spinning Coin – Hyacinth 
  • Sports Team – Deep Down Happy 
  • Squarepusher – Be Up a Hello 
  • Sufjan Stevens & Lowell Abrams – Aporia 
  • Thao and the Get Down Stay Down – Temple
  • Tory Lanez – The New Toronto 3 
  • Ulcerate – Stare into Death and Be Still 
  • Wolf Parade – Thin Mind 
  • Yung Lean – STARZ 

2.5/5

Meh, shrug emoji, blank stare — these are the albums that inspire no strong opinion or emotion out of me. If you say any of these albums are awful, I’ll go, ‘well, it ain’t so bad,” and if you say any of these are great, I’ll go, ‘now hold up, that’s ridiculous.’ Over 100 albums have this score, so that’s right — I spent over 25% of my time listening to new music feeling absolutely nothing. Over 70% of new albums were scored in the 2-3 range, so my approach to new music is mostly one of “I neither hate it nor love it.” It’s weird; I enjoy this though. The Strokes’ The New Abnormal is about where post-Room on Fire Strokes have been on every album; ‘that song’s fine….that one’s fine, too…..and that one’s ok.’ They’ve really honed in on that inoffensively mediocre pop rock sound with enough of their original edge to still have a successful career. Car Seat Headrest’s Making a Door Less Open is Will Toledo’s first flop, though I passively enjoyed some of it. I’m not writing him off yet, but nothing here matched up to Teens of Denial. The 2.5 is also the perfect place for those pop albums that are not immediately repulsive but still have nothing to chew on. Lady Gaga’s Chromatica, Kehlani’s It Was Good Until It Wasn’t, and The Weeknd’s After Hours fit that description perfectly.

  • 070 Shake – Modus Vivendi 
  • Agnes Obel – Myopia 
  • Alexandra Savior – The Archer 
  • Anna Burch – If You’re Dreaming 
  • Anna Calvi – Hunted 
  • Arbouretum – Let It All In
  • Baxter Dury – The Night Chancers
  • Beach Slang – The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City 
  • The Big Moon – Walking Like We Do 
  • Boniface – Boniface 
  • Born Ruffians – JUICE 
  • Brandy Clark – Your Life Is a Record 
  • Brooke Bentham – Everyday Nothing 
  • Caleb Landry Jones – The Mother Stone 
  • Car Seat Headrest – Making a Door Less Open 
  • Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated Side B 
  • The Chats – High Risk Behaviour 
  • Chloe x Halle – Ungodly Hour 
  • Christian Lee Hutson – Beginners 
  • Cindy Lee – What’s Tonight to Eternity
  • Conan Gray – Kid Krow 
  • Dan Deacon – Mystic Familiar 
  • Diet Cig – Do You Wonder About Me? 
  • The Dream Syndicate – The Universe Inside 
  • The Drive-By Truckers – The Unraveling 
  • dvsn – A Muse in Her Feelings
  • Elder – Omens 
  • Ellie – Born Again 
  • Georgia – Seeking Thrills 
  • Hailey Whitters – The Dream 
  • Harkin – Harkin 
  • The Homesick – The Big Exercise 
  • Honey Harper – Starmaker 
  • Horse Lords – Common Task 
  • Islet – Eyelet 
  • Isobel Campbell – There Is No Other… 
  • Jadakiss – Ignatius 
  • Jehnny Beth – TO LIVE IS TO LOVE
  • Jessie Reyez – BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US 
  • Jhené Aiko – Chilombo 
  • Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – The Mosaic of Transformation 
  • Kali Uchis – To Feel Alive 
  • Katie Von Schleicher – Consummation 
  • Keeley Forsyth – Debris 
  • Kehlani – It Was Good Until It Wasn’t 
  • Kevin Krauter – Full Hand 
  • Khruangbin / Leon Bridges – Texas Sun 
  • Knxwledge – 1988 
  • Kvelertak – Splid 
  • LA Priest – GENE 
  • Lady Gaga – Chromatica 
  • Lapsley – Through Water 
  • Leeched – To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse 
  • LEYA – Flood Dream 
  • Little Dragon – New Me, Same Us 
  • Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels 
  • M. Ward – Migration Stories 
  • The Magnetic Fields – Quickies 
  • Man Man – Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between 
  • Marcus King – El Dorado 
  • Maria McKee – La Vita Nuova 
  • Megan Thee Stallion – Suga 
  • Moses Boyd – Dark Matter 
  • Muzz – Muzz 
  • Nadia Reid – Out of My Province 
  • Nathaniel Rateliff – And It’s Still Alright 
  • Nicolas Godin – Concrete and Glass 
  • Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts V: Together 
  • of Montreal – UR Fun 
  • The Orb – Abolition of the Royal Familia 
  • The Orielles – Disco Volador 
  • Pearl Jam – Gigaton 
  • Peel Dream Magazine – Agitprop Alterna 
  • Peggy Sue – Vices 
  • Pet Shop Boys – Hotspot 
  • Princess Nokia – Everything Is Beautiful 
  • Princess Nokia – Everything Sucks
  • Public Practice – Gentle Grip 
  • Purity Ring – WOMB 
  • Real Estate – The Main Thing 
  • Ren Harvieu – Revel in the Drama 
  • Roedelius – Wahre Liebe
  • Roger Eno & Brian Eno – Mixing Colours 
  • Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Sideways to New Italy 
  • Ron Sexsmith – Hermitage
  • Sam Hunt – SOUTHSIDE 
  • Sarah Mary Chadwick – Please Daddy
  • The Secret Sisters – Saturn Return 
  • Sepultura – Quadra 
  • Sewerslvt – Draining Love Story 
  • Six Organs of Admittance – Companion Rises
  • Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal 
  • Steve Earle & the Dukes – Ghosts of West Virginia 
  • Stephen Malkmus – Traditional Techniques 
  • The Strokes – The New Abnormal 
  • Swamp Dogg – Sorry You Couldn’t Make It 
  • Tennis – Swimmer
  • Testament – Titans of Creation 
  • Tim Burgess – I Love the New Sky 
  • Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes – What Kinda Music 
  • TOPS – I Feel Alive
  • The Wants – Container 
  • The Weeknd – After Hours 
  • X – Alphabetland 

3/5

This score has the most albums, and it’s mostly for albums that I don’t have many major issues with, but I also have no need to listen to them considering what better music is available. A 6 out of 10 or 3 out of 5 is a bad score for most sites and are rarely given out. It’s the type of score that gets James Blake, Lizzo, and Halsey to attack Pitchfork on Twitter, but honestly, Pitchfork took it easy on them. All of these music sites take it easy on them. This project seeks to destigmatize a 6 out of 10 because it’s a good score. Every album here is a good listen, and some might be your favorites of this year. They’re not my favorites, but I see what’s good about them. Rina Sawayama’s SAWAYAMA is a breakthrough for her that has some really nice singles. It’s not consistent though, and I’m looking forward to honing in on her creative pop style. Rappers like Gunna, Kamaiyah, Sada Baby, Future, G Herbo, and Polo G are all here with albums that effectively display their skills but don’t end up being essential releases. Nicolas Jaar and Yaeji are two of the most exciting electronic artists going, and their albums reflect that. They’ve done better though, and it hangs over the entire record. Beach Bunny’s Honeymoon effectively displays the band’s straightforward and relatable aesthetic, and hopefully they have more to offer than an easygoing 25 minutes next time around. Folksy acts like Laura Marling and Jason Isbell do their thing on new releases, but I wish they would try harder to avoid the complacency of their respective genre’s long history. 

  • Against All Logic – 2017-2019 
  • …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – X: The Godless Void and Other Stories
  • Andrea – Ritorno 
  • Aoife Nessa Frances – Land of No Junction
  • Auscultation – III
  • Bad Bunny – LAS QUE NO IBAN A SALIR
  • Bambara – Stray
  • Beach Bunny – Honeymoon
  • Bill Fay – Countless Branches 
  • Black Curse – Endless Wound 
  • Black Dresses – Peaceful As Hell 
  • Boldy James & the Alchemist – The Price of Tea in China 
  • Brent Faiyaz – Fuck the World 
  • Brigid Mae Power – Head Above the Water 
  • Buscabulla – Regresa
  • Caroline Rose – Superstar 
  • Choir Boy – Gathering Swans 
  • Christine and the Queens – La vita nuova 
  • Chubby and the Gang – Speed Kills 
  • D Smoke – Black Habits
  • Damien Jurado – What’s New Tomboy? 
  • Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini – Illusion of Time 
  • Deerhoof – Future Teenage Cave Artists 
  • Default Genders – Pain Mop Girl 2020 
  • Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats – UNLOCKED
  • Desire Marea – Desire 
  • Disq – Collector 
  • The Districts – You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere 
  • Drakeo the Ruler – Thank You for Using GTL
  • Empty Country – Empty Country 
  • Erik Hall – Music for 18 Musicians 
  • Floral Tattoo – You Can Never Have a Long Enough Head Start 
  • Four Tet – Sixteen Oceans 
  • Freddie Gibbs & the Alchemist – Alfredo 
  • Future – High Off Life 
  • G Herbo – PTSD 
  • Gunna – WUNNA
  • Half Waif – The Caretaker 
  • Hamilton Leithauser – The Loves of Your Life 
  • Hanni El Khatib – FLIGHT
  • Hayley Williams – Petals for Armor 
  • Hinds – The Prettiest Curse 
  • Holy Fuck – Deleter
  • Infant Island – Beneath 
  • The Innocence Mission – See You Tomorrow 
  • J Balvin – Colores 
  • Jackie Lynn – Jacqueline 
  • Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Reunions
  • Jeff Rosenstock – NO DREAM
  • Jess Williamson – Sorceress 
  • Jim White & Marisa Anderson – The Quickening
  • John Moreland – LP5
  • K-Lone – Cape Cira 
  • Kamaiyah – Got It Made
  • Kassa Overall – I Think I’m Good
  • Katie Gately – Loom 
  • Kota the Friend – EVERYTHING
  • Laura Marling – Song for Our Daughter
  • Lilly Hiatt – Walking Proof
  • Lily Konigsberg – It’s Just Like All the Clouds
  • Little Simz – Drop 6 
  • Loathe – I Let It in and It Took Everything
  • Lorenzo Senni – Scacco Matto
  • Mac Miller – Circles 
  • Machine Girl – U-Void Synthesizer
  • Medhane – Full Circle
  • Melkbelly – PITH
  • Michael Vallera – Window In
  • Minor Science – Second Language
  • Moneybagg Yo – Time Served
  • Nap Eyes – Snapshot of a Beginner
  • The Necks – Three
  • Nicolas Jaar – Cenizas 
  • No Age – Goons Be Gone
  • Obongjayar – Which Way Is Forward?
  • Ohmme – Fantasize Your Ghost
  • Okay Kaya – Watch This Liquid Pour Itself
  • Okkyung Lee – Yeo-Neun
  • Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynsi
  • Owen Pallett – Island
  • Pantha Du Prince – Conference of Trees
  • Paradise Lost – Obsidian
  • Pinegrove – Marigold
  • Polo G – The GOAT
  • Pop Smoke – Meet the Woo 2
  • Ratboys – Printer’s Devil
  • Rina Sawayama – SAWAYAMA
  • Robert Haigh – Sarabande
  • Sada Baby – Brolik 
  • Sam Gendel – Satin Doll
  • Selena Gomez – Rare
  • Serengeti – Ajai
  • serpentwithfeet – Apparition
  • Shabazz Palaces – The Don of Diamond Dreams
  • Shopping – All or Nothing
  • Soakie – Soakie 
  • Sorry – 925
  • Spanish Love Songs – Brave Faces Everyone
  • Squirrel Flower – I Was Born Swimming
  • Thundercat – It Is What It Is
  • Tony Allen & Hugh Masekala – Rejoice
  • TORRES – Silver Tongue 
  • Trace Mountains – Lost in the Country
  • Ultraísta – Sister
  • Vladislav Delay – Rakka
  • Westerman – Your Hero Is Not Dead
  • Westside Gunn – Pray for Paris
  • Wilma Archer – A Western Circular
  • Windy & Carl – Allegiance and Conviction
  • Woods – Strange to Explain
  • Yaeji – WHAT WE DREW
  • Zebra Katz – LESS IS MOOR

3.5/5

This is where I start recommending albums. 56 albums in total have this score and higher (that’s 14%). It’s not a lot of albums, so even with a 7 out of 10, we’re talking about the cream of the crop. To put that into perspective, go to the site AOTY where they keep track of all review scores for new releases and average them together. So far in 2020, 319 albums have received 5 reviews or more; 294 of them have an average score of 7 out of 10 or higher (at least a 65 on their site). Because every site either grades on a curve or employs writers who aren’t critical enough or are scared to write bad reviews, we’ve allowed music review scores to become meaningless. This project and scoring system aims to actually be helpful. A 7 out of 10 is a damn good score, and I want that to actually be true. Many of these albums will make up my year-end top 50, but I wouldn’t consider them in my top 20 or 25. They’re essential listens, but if you want the best of the best, I would listen to albums 4 and higher. The flaws are there if you’re picky — Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush is a step back from his previous classics; Destroyer’s Have We Met is not the best display of Bejar’s lyrical magnetism; Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia is a bit low-stakes in its glossy retro production and efficient runtimes. Their positives certainly outweigh those flaws though. Some jazz musicians pop up here like Jeremy Cunningham, Makaya McCraven, and Jeff Parker as they excel within a genre that has been pretty plundered and out of the cultural zeitgeist since the ’70s. Great alt-rap releases from R.A.P. Ferreira, Ka, Armand Hammer, Medhane, & Quelle Chris make it here as their albums flow pretty well but lack standout tracks or a breakout potential that would put them over the hump. Some of the best-reviewed albums of the year reside here with Perfume Genius’ Set Your Heart on Fire Immediately and Run the Jewels’ RTJ4 being obviously good but a step down from their previous work.

  • Andy Shauf – The Neon Skyline
  • Arca – @@@@@
  • Armand Hammer – Shrines
  • Beatrice Dillon – Workaround
  • Bill Nace – Both
  • Blake Mills – Mutable Set
  • Bonny Light Horseman – Bonny Light Horseman
  • Caribou – Suddenly
  • Charli XCX – how i’m feeling now
  • Destroyer – Have We Met
  • Dogleg – Melee
  • Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
  • Elysia Crampton – Orcorara 2010
  • Frances Quinlan – Likewise
  • Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven – We’re New Again
  • Hailu Mergia – Yene Mircha
  • Imaginary Softwoods – Annual Flowers in Color
  • India Jordan – For You
  • Irreversible Entanglements – Who Sent You?
  • J Hus – Big Conspiracy
  • Jay Electronica – A Written Testimony
  • Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown
  • Jeremy Cunningham – The Weather Up Here
  • Johanna Warren – Chaotic Good
  • Ka – Descendants of Cain
  • Kate NV – Room for the Moon
  • keiyaA – Forever, Ya Girl
  • King Krule – Man Alive!
  • Lido Pimienta – Miss Colombia
  • Lil Uzi Vert – LUV vs. the World 2
  • Lyra Pramuk – Fountain
  • Medhane – Cold Water
  • Moodymann – Taken Away
  • The Mountain Goats – Songs for Pierre Chuvin
  • Natalia Lafourcade – Un Canto por México, Vol. 1
  • Navy Blue – Àdá Irin
  • Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
  • Pink Siifu – NEGRO
  • Quelle Chris & Chris Keys – Innocent Country 2
  • R.A.P. Ferreira – Purple Moonlight Pages 
  • Run the Jewels – RTJ4
  • Shabaka and the Ancestors – We Are Sent Here By History
  • Soccer Mommy – color theory
  • Tame Impala – The Slow Rush
  • U.S. Girls – Heavy Light
  • Young Nudy – Anyways

4/5

These albums are great — essential listens and the best of the year. Some of these might make the top 10 by the end of the year. For now, these eight albums round out the top 10 of 2020. They have no major or distracting flaws, and they manage to keep you interested all the way through. They have a strong aesthetic and a thematic message that’ll remain impactful years down the road. Every one of these artists found a way to say something new and to change their sound enough to be a distinct enough release. Why not a higher score? Well, they’re not always perfect (Lil Uzi Vert & Bad Bunny) or they could have left something on the table in terms of ambition (Waxahatchee & Yves Tumor). A couple of these albums are great all the way through but feel a bit too cultish or minor to be considered outright classics yet (The Soft Pink Truth & Porridge Radio). I highly recommend all these albums, and any year-end list without all these albums needs to be criticized.

  • Bad Bunny – YHLQMDLG
  • Grimes – Miss Anthropocene
  • Lil Uzi Vert – Eternal Atake
  • Moses Sumney – græ
  • Porridge Radio – Every Bad
  • The Soft Pink Truth – Shall We Go on Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
  • Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud
  • Yves Tumor – Heaven to a Tortured Mind

4.5/5

Classic albums receive this score or higher, and their classic status should be obvious. They’re epic and deserve every bit of praise heaped upon them. When an album of this caliber is released, the music world stops and listens — and more than that, the treatment is deserved. They represent the best of that artist and of where music is now. If they’re not instrumental, the lyrics are interesting, sharp, and maybe culturally insightful. The song arrangements are vibrant and epic in equal measure. It should also have multiple classic tracks that are the best of that year. Two albums this year truly fit that description: the 1975’s Notes on a Conditional Form and Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters. Both albums are the only time I was in awe of what I was listening to. They’re almost opposites of each other.

Fiona Apple made this realtively-concise set of songs that all reach their proper unique climax. There are no hiccups or a wasted line. It might be the best display of Apple’s broad personality on record to date. It received rave reviews and is destined to be the unanimous best album of 2020. Pitchfork gave it a 10 — the first one in almost ten years.

The 1975 made a messy 80-minute epic that often doesn’t feature Matt Healy behind the mic. It starts with a 5-minute speech on our environmental crisis from Greta Thunberg, features three long instrumentals, and a Cutty Ranks electro-rave anthem. There are so many tonal shifts that it should absolutely not work, but it does. It’s an album from a huge pop act that says ‘Ok, give it ’til track 8 and then the hits will start piling up.’ They want to be Radiohead. They want to be Queens of the Stone Age. They want to be Pinegrove. They want to be Madonna. They speak for leftist disillusionment and for the petty concerns of the young and rich. It’s one of the worst-reviewed major releases of 2020. Pitchfork gave it an 8.

Which is better? I’d say they’re about equal, but I just enjoy The 1975’s album more at this point. It’s the breakthrough of an act that has been great but not necessarily made great albums. I also prefer Fiona Apple’s previous release (The Idler Wheel) more than Fetch the Bolt Cutters; the 10 from Pitchfork just hasn’t sat well with me because that should be sacred territory. Still, they underrated The 1975 this year more than overrated Fiona Apple — both should have got a 9.3 or so.

  • The 1975 – Notes on a Conditional Form
  • Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters

5/5

No albums have received a 5 this year, so what does a 5 sound like? I’ll give you examples. The most recent album that I would give a 5 is Solange’s A Seat at the Table, which came out four years ago. Here’s a list of albums from the 2010s that I would give a 5; it’s a short list.

  • Beach House – Teen Dream
  • Beyoncé – Beyoncé
  • Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
  • Destroyer – Kaputt
  • Drake – Take Care
  • Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…
  • Frank Ocean – Blonde
  • Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
  • Grimes – Art Angels
  • Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
  • Kanye West – Yeezus
  • Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d. city
  • Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
  • Solange – A Seat at the Table
  • Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City

It’s not an exact list — I could add Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell, Jamie xx’s In Colour, and Tame Impala’s classics are really close. No matter what, it’s less than 25 albums in the last 10 years. They all are legendary — defining records of a generation. Often with 5’s, their status reveals itself over time. A Seat at the Table and Blonde might not have received that score from me at initial release with their extended use of skits, but I’ve grown to love every excursion in each. A 5 is more than the best album of the year; it can be compared all time with classics from any era. It has to honestly hold up to an album like Hounds of Love or Hunky Dory or Kind of Blue. I can’t say that about Fetch the Bolt Cutters or Notes on a Conditional Form, though they are the best of 2020.