Overlooked records 2020 (so far)

A few records that seem to have gone under the radar here and elsewhere:

Disheveled Cuss - S/T: Just found out about this one. FFO of Weezer, I guess, sounds a bit like Ovlov to give a more recent example.

Arboretum - Let It All In: Rock/Folk/Country with great meandering guitar jams.

Tesa - Control: Latvian post-metal. Satisfyingly heavy.

Arvo Party - Electronic in the Jon Hopkins/FourTet mould. But they’ve also released 3 (!) other records this year, 2x ambient and the 3rd sort of sunny Balearic 80s tunes

2nd Grade - Hit to Hit: 24 songs clocking in at 41 minutes, there are a few misses among the “hits”. But at their best they are brilliant small nuggets of indie perfection.

Arvo Party is great

2nd Grade are boss and more people need to listen to them

2 Likes

Going to shout out releases by Okay Kaya and Cecile Believe.

Okay Kaya - Watch This Liquid Pour Itself
Probably my album of the year so far, touches of folk, alt rock and synth-pop a plenty. The lyrics might not be for everyone but there’s plenty of choice quotes that are achingly honest when the sarcasm isn’t on full comedic force.

Cecile Believe - Made in Heaven
You might recognise Cecile for providing half the vocals and songwriting to SOPHIE’s OIL OF… album. It’s more of a mini album, but some really nice synth poppy goodness here. Not as abrasive as a lot of PC music tunes, but one I keep coming back to.