#315

Thanks for sharing this - have bought it on the strength of those two tracks. Looking forward to it coming in the post!

1 Like
#316

Love this record. It’s a strange, unclassifiable, beast but one that deserves a bigger audience I think.

1 Like
#317

Such a great record, really giving me a headache in finalising my top 5!

1 Like
#318

This is so great. Wonderful melodies and chord progressions throughout. Mad that something as simple as the outro to Seeing Eye Dog can sound so affecting.

3 Likes
#319

Yeah, that outro is incredible, it might be my favorite bit of music all year. There’s something about repeating a phrase over a sad chord progression at the end of a song, it’s so simple but so effective.

1 Like
#320

Jesu - Terminus

The end of the year surprise. I’d only been familiar with the Silver EP and have repeatedly read that it’s all diminishing returns from there, but I love this and it’s been all I want to listen to lately. Definitely an album for when it’s getting dark out - slow, bleak, sad, and beautiful. It wouldn’t surprise me if people who like Midwife end up liking this too.

Keeps getting more miserable and pretty:

Tempted not to link this one because it feels like the climax / resolution of the album, but that twist outro is magical.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10

0 voters

2 Likes
#321

It’s only diminishing returns in that Silver is the perfect Jesu song. Nails the aesthetic so well there’s almost nowhere to go. All of the post-Silver records have good stuff on them though.

2 Likes
#322

I should finally get around to trying them this upcoming year, that EP was one of my first and favorite discoveries from this place.

1 Like
#323

Bit off topic but you should check out Iroha if you haven’t heard of them - Andy Swan, who was in Final with Justin Broadrick, ending up in a very Jesu place musically (also featuring Jesu bassist Diarmuid Dalton and occassional mixing from Broadrick). Very much in that Silver post-metal/shoegaze washed out ballpark and often hitting the same heights imo.

3 Likes
#324

Thanks, I’ve never heard them before, I will definitely check them out.

1 Like
#325

Was putting together a playlist today of songs from this year which I loved and even restricting it to 1 song per artist I couldn’t get it below 2 hours. In terms of actual albums, though

Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces, Everyone
I have a lot tied up in this album emotionally. The last thing I did before lockdown was fly back to London to see the Forum show, which was my third date on that tour during which the band ended up staying with me in Amsterdam for a couple of nights, so this album evokes the last properly good weekends I had before the world ended.

It also happens to be fucking phenomenal, proving that “pop punk” doesn’t need to be a dirty word and that you can write insightful, heartbreaking commentary on the millennial experience while also writing catchy 4-chord bangers.

RTJ4
I am a white rock fan who does not listen to a lot of hip-hop. Next.

Four Year Strong - Brain Pain
Four Year Strong coming back with one of, if not the best album of their career certainly wasn’t on my 2020 bingo card but this album is wall-to-wall easycore joy.

Haim - Women In Music, Pt.3
I love everything Haim have done but this album is an undeniable step up and continues to get better with every listen. I love this band, can’t wait to be able to see them tour these songs.

Biffy Clyro - A Celebration of Endings/Vennart - In the Dead, Dead Wood
Cheating here. Firstly, Biffy released their best album since Puzzle and have proven you can have your cake and eat it in terms of being a weird little rock band AND a huge arena-bothering, number-one-album act (we’ll pretend that WAP cover didn’t happen if that’s OK with everyone).

Bolting on the lockdown solo album from Mike Vennart, erstwhile Oceansize frontman and Biffy’s live guitarist. Totally unexpected and absolutely fantastic.

Honorable mentions to Sault (x 2), Taylor Swift, Touché Amoré and Tired Lion (the latter of which may well become a favourite but it’s just too new to judge rn)

2 Likes
#326

This is another memerizing record from Emily A Sprague, along with their Florist records, I think they are probably one of my favourite artists from the past couple of years. Really calming and beautiful stuff.

1 Like
#327

Really love this and spot on comparison’s too!

2 Likes
#328

Austra – HiRUDiN (Alt-pop)

Listening Links

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nEaM9nbDqm5xb1VAiYthCNLG86X1HdVEM

https://open.spotify.com/album/70dAWY6KDpSriewnxFngXt&ved=2ahUKEwjZjv3OhcHtAhU5QkEAHcNzAlYQjjgwAHoECAEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw04VXfrWd6UgMb65vhqhelw

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/hirudin/1498195842?ls

More of the dance-y sad bangers that everyone loved off last album Future Politics, only this time mixed in with piano-led pop and beautiful orchestral-backed pieces. Fans of Grimes may well enjoy this. Just dont ask me what’s going on with the title or the music videos because honestly I havent the foggiest.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10

0 voters

#329

I’m concerned by the thumbnail for that Biffy video. Has the guitar been enlarged for the purposes of that video or is he tiny?

#330

haha, excellent question. I believe what you have there is a perspective trick…

#331

Early Humans - A Wave

On the surface it’s very easy listening emo pop, but after a couple of listens it flourishes into sone of the warmest hugs I’ve had in ages. Twinkly synths and hamonies galore. Just gorgeous.

This was an early stand out, but in all honesty it is all lovely.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10

0 voters

#332

Dagny - Strangers/Lovers

One hevk of an out an out synth pop banger album. There are obvious nods to contemporaries in places but in a way that makes you feel like you’re all friends. It seems to have been widely overlooked in all the lists I’ve seen so far.

This is easily my pop banger of the year.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10

0 voters

1 Like
#333

Great album

#334

Bright Eyes - Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was (indie-folk)

Listening Links

https://open.spotify.com/album/1GMHBkCYVzWqrrczVDBJKm&ved=2ahUKEwjUt_WO28PtAhXzQhUIHd90CqwQjjgwAHoECAEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0V7iexCytX0fl8FELdPbCD

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/down-in-the-weeds-where-the-world-once-was/1516556868?ls

The first Bright Eyes album in 9 years. It’s a very welcome return that strikes an impressive balance between the widescreen indie-folk and the more experimental sci-fi/electronic efforts into which most of their back catalogue could be split. So it serves as a great reminder of a lot of the different sides to them that make them so special to many listeners, whilst also throwing in some charming new tricks too.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10

0 voters