Glam Rock

Music Year-End List || Niek’s Favorite Albums of 2020

I am a sucker for year-end lists. They help uncover releases I missed, artists I overlooked, and curators worth following. I equally love the process of creating my own lists. There is an instrinsic value and joy in revisiting and reflecting on the records that come out each year. It offers a reminder that some records take time to appreciate, while others’ immediate appeal ultimately proved to be short-lived. One noticable trend in this streaming age is that artists release a crazy amount of great songs, whereas their albums often fail to live up to that promise. Quite a lot of my favorite songs of the year were on releases I left out my top 50. This top 50 celebrates the art of great collections of songs, records I own, records that are on my wantlist,records I’ve played and enjoyed front to back. What about those great individual songs? I will share my favorites in a playlist before the year is over (Update: I made two). I will also publish a list of my favorite singles (7″, digital) and EP’s of 2020 next week (Update: it’s here). And, of course, don’t forget to check out Dennis’ favorite records of 2020.

Ok, less talk, more rock. Below you’ll find my favorite records of the year. Mostly punk, garage, powerpop, rock-‘n’-roll, indiepop and indierock releases.  I’ve added short descriptions of what I love about each record, and sample songs and video’s. If you like what you hear, just click on the album title and AddToWantlist. Oh yeah, and for you streamers out there, there’s a playlist with my favorite song of each record at the bottom of this post. Let’s go!

Music Year-End List || Dennis’ Favorite Albums of 2020

OK, let’s start with the obligatory cliché intro text. The only good thing about 2020 was that by being at home more often you could listen to even more music and for those who want to hear it, enough good music has been made. Since January I have checked out 1,100+ new albums. Sometimes after half a minute I knew it wasn’t for me, sometimes I just couldn’t get enough. No doubt I missed a few things that I should not have missed, but right now this is what it is. And it doesn’t really matter either. Music lists are by definition debatable, because they say something about taste and taste is personal. What follows does not really say anything about quality, but simply reflects what I have played and enjoyed the most. In my list guitars and distinctive voices predominate, it’s mostly rock orientated (alternative, garage, jangle, roots, post-punk, …) plus a little bit of soul, with both debuting bands and old rockers with renewed energy who could have been their grandfather. It turns out that 2020 was not that bad at all!

New EP: Silver Synthetic || Out of the Darkness

True, these 5 songs have been available for 2 months now, but I’m only discovering them now (thanks Shindig! Magazine!) and this debut EP is too good not to share. The 4-peace consists of members of Bottomfeeders and Jeff the Brotherhood and they play driving guitar rock with garage-psych and glam influences that could have come straight from the 70s. The Out Of The Darkness EP is out digitally via Third Man Records and the label promises a self-titled full-length LP for 2021. Yeah!

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Friday on my mind: TV’s Daniel || Better Than It’s Been

I know, this 7″ from TV’s Daniel (Daniel Fried from Bad Sports, Mind Spiders, Radioactivity, among others) is over a year old, but the flip side has become one of my favorite Friday night anthems lately. I like the A side of the single – Maybe We’ll All Die, but what I really love is the B-side (always check the B-side!). Sing along: It’s Better Than It’s Been!

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp (Wild Honey Records) || Discogs

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