2020 Year-End Music Round-Up Wrap-Up Extravaganza
No one could have predicted a year like 2020. The live music industry is on life support. Bandcamp came through just about better than anyone else to support music. And there was a ton of great music released this year.
Per the norm, I do not rank albums. Music is not a competition and my taste is not your taste. So, after lots of thought and list-shuffling and winnowing, these are the 75 albums that really stood out for me. My original list was quite a bit longer (and you can always keep up in real-time by following the Yearly Bookkeeping page), so I can tell you that this list provides a great overview of my music listening for this crazy year.
Here are my favorite 75 albums of 2020.
The Visual List:
The Alphabet List:
- Live at Tubby's by 75 Dollar Bill Little Big Band 
- Shaman! by Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids 
- Time is A Gift Which We Share All The Time by Afriquoi 
- Rejoice by Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela 
- Live by Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood 
- Fu Chronicles by Antibalas 
- Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple 
- Roy Ayers JID002 by Roy Ayers, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad 
- Ex-Voto by Jamie Barnes 
- Please Advise by Beauty Pill 
- Crash Test Kid by Sammy Brue 
- Long In The Tooth by the Budos Band 
- Regresa by Buscabulla 
- Shadow Talk by Café Racer 
- Echo Mine by Califone 
- Gold Record by Bill Callahan 
- Have We Met by Destroyer 
- I Just Wasn't Made For These Set Times by Dire Wolves (Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band) 
- Rough and Rowdy Ways by Bob Dylan 
- Afternoon Tea at Six by Eishan Ensemble 
- Acoustic Storm Sessions by Elkhorn 
- Kahil El’Zabar’s Spirit Groove by Kahil El'Zabar & David Murray 
- Wake Up! by Hazel English 
- Shore by Fleet Foxes 
- A Hero’s Death by Fontaines D.C. 
- Peoples Motel Band by Chris Forsyth and Garcia Peoples 
- SOURCE by Nubya Garcia 
- Nightcap at Wits' End by Garcia Peoples 
- Big Dark Bright Futures by Growing Concerns Poetry Collective 
- Women In Music Pt. III by Haim 
- Infinity Of Now by the Heliocentrics 
- National Freedom by Lonnie Holley 
- Muerto, Carcel o Rocanroll by Huntingtons 
- Beginners by Christian Lee Hutson 
- Reuinions by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit 
- Babani Koné by Babani Koné 
- Mutation by Les Freres Smith 
- 2020 by Magik Markers 
- Eno Axis by H.C. McEntire 
- Joshua Massad & Dylan Aycock by Joshua Massad & Dylan Aycock 
- Microphones in 2020 by the Microphones 
- Circles by Mac Miller 
- Dimensional Stardust by Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra 
- Annual by Modern Nature 
- Getting Into Knives by the Mountain Goats 
- Staunch Honey by David Nance 
- Three by the Necks 
- Rob Noyes & Sam Moss by Rob Noyes & Sam Moss 
- We No Be Machine by Onipa 
- Jams From The Sun by Oregon Space Trail of Jazz 
- High Upon The Mountain by Pacific Range 
- Suite For Max Brown by Jeff Parker 
- Summerlong by Rose City Band 
- RTJ4 by Run The Jewels 
- Landwerk demos by Nathan Salsburg 
- Acoustic by Oumou Sangaré 
- Untitled (Black Is) by Sault 
- We Are Sent Here By History by Shabaka and the Ancestors 
- The Don of Diamond Dreams by Shabazz Palaces 
- Ocean Bridges by Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic & Damu the Fudgemunk 
- Companion Rises by Six Organs of Admittance 
- Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? by The Soft Pink Truth 
- Optimisme by Songhoy Blues 
- Swirling by Sun Ra Arkestra 
- Oh Yeah? by Sunwatchers 
- Wooden Flower by Tambourinen 
- Folklore by Taylor Swift 
- Nomad by Tengger 
- Sun Racket by Throwing Muses 
- Siftorde by Tidiane Thiam 
- New Vanitas by William Tyler 
- The Great Mountain by Waterless Hills 
- Eau’d To A Fake Bookie Volume 3 by Wet Tuna 
- Strange to Explain by Woods 
- Homegrown by Neil Young 

 
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
             
             
             
             
             
            