BUMP'S TOP ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (SO FAR)
Artwork by the inimitable Maxwell Wayt. See more on his website.
While putting this article together, we thought about writing an intro without harping on how completely toilet the last 6 months have been and agreed it would be nigh impossible - so let’s be real.
FUCK 2020.
Some good things have happened, but who can remember those amidst the non-stop deluge of plague updates and fascist propaganda? We’ve caught ourselves saying “If we survive this abysmal merry-go-round of suffering, bigotry, incompetence and corruption…” a lot, and I think a lot of humans are feeling something similar right now. The fight to stave off racism and a virulent pandemic have consumed most of our free thought and transformed life as we know it into a bitter simulacrum of itself.
However, to that end, we feel it important to try and re-focus some small part of your day onto something good.
Here are 20 albums that made us feel better this year.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
♥ Zach, Armando and Angel.
Sixteen Oceans
by Four Tet
Legendary British electronic producer Four Tet released his tenth studio album on March 13, 2020. Sixteen Oceans is a paradigmatic piece of electronic dance music. It's the sound of physical and psychological exploration through flourishing landscapes and twisted dance floors. Since its release, its 16-tracks of dreamy downtempo, booty-shaking club beats, and mesmerizing soundscapes have found its way onto our daily queues in one form or another.
Purchase Sixteen Oceans here.
Stream Sixteen Oceans on Spotify here.
- AT
Suddenly
by Caribou
In what seems like a lifetime ago, Dan Snaith under his Caribou persona released Suddenly on February 28th of this year. His tenth studio album, Suddenly is a bright, cloudless sky with intermittent wisps of gloom and foreboding amongst a backdrop of sunlit euphoria. The album represents Caribou's multi-faceted talent as an electronic musician. This album takes all the best bits 'n pieces that characterize his signature sounds and combines them to create a sonic mural. It's a mural that showcases the many styles, genres, and timbres that Snaith has played around with during the last 15 years of Caribou's existence.
Purchase Suddenly here.
Stream Suddenly on Spotify here.
- AT
Deleter
by Holy Fuck
Toronto-based electronic/rock/pop band Holy Fuck stepped into 2020 like they owned the place with their release of Deleter back in January. From the smooth bass lines, to abstract instrumentation, melodic vocals, and a possessive drum beat that carries every track on its back, each track is uniquely crafted to keep you moving.
Purchase Deleter here.
Stream Deleter on Spotify here.
- AT
Blizzards
by Nathan Fake
British producer Nathan Fake released his fifth studio album this year. Blizzards is one of those albums that make me want to wipe my own memory just so I can have an opportunity to listen to it for the first time again before I was finished. The sounds open you up, voiding your body of every bit of energy like the sweat spilling from your pores. While the album contains a few heavy techno tracks like Tbilisi, Stepping Stones, and Vectra (which is one of my absolute favorites), there are also smooth, contemplative tracks sprinkled throughout. They ease you in and out of chaos. Tracks like Ezekiel, Torch Song, and Pentiamonds give you an opportunity to catch your breath before catapulting you back into the pounding beats of Firmament or Eris & Dysnomia. Don’t sleep on this album!
Purchase Blizzards here.
Stream Blizzards on Spotify here.
- AT
Conference of Trees
by Pantha du Prince
German-based minimal techno producer Pantha du Prince released Conference of Trees in March 2020. Conference of Trees is the sound of suns rising over foggy meadows. Its rays clutching onto the horizon like celestial fingers. It pulls itself up and illuminates the earth before retreating back into darkness.
Purchase Conference of Trees here.
Stream Conference of Trees on Spotify here.
- AT
2017-2019
by Against All Logic
Nicolas Jaar's side project, Against All Logic, released its latest LP early this year. 2017-2019 is the soundtrack of a dystopian warehouse rave where everyone is moving, and you're unable to tell whether your clothes are drenched with your own sweat or someone else's. It’s the perfect follow-up to the soul and funk-inspired sounds of 2012-2017, in the sense that it takes those inspirations and replaces them with straight-up electro-futurstic beats and samples. It’s music of the future, and way ahead of its time. It’s incredible.
Purchase 2017-2019 here.
Stream 2017-2019 on Spotify here.
- AT
W
by Populous
Italian electronic music producer Populous released his latest album, W in the Spring. It consists of 10 tracks of Populous' characteristic blend of electronica and Latin-American-inspired beats and timbres. Enlisting the collaboration of woman-identifying Italian, Latin-American, and Japanese electronic artists, the tracks coalesce to celebrate: queerness, movement, femininity, vulnerability, and the raw strength of women. This album made us move, made us vogue, and most importantly, it made us feel.
Purchase W here.
Stream W on Spotify here.
- AT
RTJ4
by Run The Jewels
LP and Killer Mike have been decrying the dystopian state of things for 7 years, but when 2020 came knocking they bumped up the release date of their 4th feature-length and dropped it for free on Twitter, donating a pay-what-you-will price to the Mass Defense Program. The beats are cloaked in cinders and industrially serrated, eclectic of influence but united in their darkness and urgency. These rising star MCs dazzle endlessly as they weave together clever critiques of police brutality and wealth disparity with comic metaphors and ridiculous entendre. The golden fringe on this masterwork of socially-conscious rap is an expansive guest list including legends from every corner of the music tapestry - Zack de la Rocha, Mavis Staples, Josh Homme, Pharell, DJ Premiere, Greg Nice and 2 Chainz all step into the arena to lay a massively satisfying sonic beatdown to 2020. This is required listening whether you’re despairing and disenfranchised or raising a fist to rage on the street.
Purchase RTJ4 here. Stream RTJ4 on Spotify here.
- ZF
What Kinda Music
by Tom Misch, Yussef Dayes
Heart-throb and multi-talent Tom Misch has been steadily accumulating accolades in the burgeoning UK R&B scene with his buttery voice and characteristic funk guitar playing. Until now his music has overflown with confidence and seeming ease but rested weakly on programmed drums and plain arrangements that leave things just a bit stale. What Kinda Music sees Misch team up with talents to rival his own and create something greater than the sum of its parts by pushing into the experimental. Yussef Dayes is prodigal on drums and Rocco Palladino lives up to his father’s legacy of greatness on bass, while Freddie Gibbs lends an off-kilter flow that feels right at home in such a deep pocket. This album is progressively expansive, leaning on mutating grooves and big risks in big spaces to lend a sense of cosmic awe and vital freshness to Misch’s already impressive discography.
Stream What Kinda Music on Spotify here.
- ZF
Hundred Fifty Roses
by Duñe, Crayon
From duo Crayon (producer) and Duñe (vocals) comes a funky, smooth and surprisingly deep LP released on our favorite French label, Roche Musique. Hundred Fifty Roses splashes color from 80s nostalgia, poolside R&B and soulful delivery of lyrical themes touching on addiction, obsession, prostitution, overstimulation, and self isolation. The title is a nod to the cost of an escort, transcribed into a currency more befitting the city of love and romance, and if you’re a fan of Daft Punk, FKJ, Anderson .Paak, Poolside, Breakbot, or Hablot Brown, this album is going to hit just right. Crayon’s production melts you into spring with thick basslines, woozy guitars and layered vocals floating like silk scarves in a summer breeze - from the opening sun-splashed moments of Save Yourself First to the deliriously funky Flowers and Honey Interlude that sounds like the new Tom Misch fucked a Daniel Caesar joint and beyond, this is beach music, love-making music, losing yourself in the vibe for the rest of the evening music.
Stream Hundred Fifty Roses on Spotify here.
- ZF
The Slow Rush
by Tame Impala
Syrupy-warm and neon-sunset-bright, Tame Impala’s 4th LP is a breezy summer afternoon on a planet with 96 extra colors and an atmosphere comprised primarily of synthesizers. The Slow Rush marks 10 years of psychedelic dream rock from Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. This album represents another step in the gradual yet chameleonic shift in Tame Impala’s sound, from Innerspeaker’s hallucinogenic garage rock to sleeker, more dancefloor-oriented psych pop that Currents brought us. Guitars have largely been supplanted by a diverse flora of pianos and synthesizers, and progressive songwriting has been somewhat simplified to allow room for incredibly catchy basslines and carefully layered production. The songs feel denser, every second thoughtfully arranged for maximum sonic engagement. Anthemic vocal melodies take the spotlight, supported by melting, warping, filter-sweeping synthesizers and huge, warm bass riffs. Whatever your opinion on this album, it must be said that Parker has continually pushed the envelope throughout his career, keeping his past on a kite string while striding boldly into tomorrow.
Stream The Slow Rush on Spotify here.
- ZF
It Is What It Is
by Thundercat
Thundercat’s 4th studio LP is a triumph of sonic emotional duality. If you’ve been in the same room at Stephen Bruner or read any of the myriad interviews he’s done over the course of his legendary career, you know the man is at once fiercely honest about his feelings and unapologetically ridiculous, equally likely to crack a dick joke as to bear his broken soul after the death of his best friend Mac Miller. It Is What It Is wraps this yin and yang within pearlescent petals of cosmic jazz, tigersilk soft R&B and the molten debris of lightspeed bassplaying. Convention fails to find purchase on much of Thundercat’s discography and this LP is no different, combining guest features like a stoned man doing refrigerator chemistry late at night. Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington (1970’s funk star of the band Slave) and Childish Gambino join forces on Black Qualls while Ty Dolla $ign and Lil B trade verses on Fair Chance. Jazz virtuoso Louis Cole graces the album on his own tribute track, I Love Louis Cole. Overall, It Is What It Is triumphantly swaggers forth, holding the banner of Bruner’s irresistible funk fusion high.
Purchase It Is What It Is here. Stream It Is What It Is on Spotify here.
- ZF
Spirituality and Distortion
by Igorrr
French multi-instrumentalist Igorrr just might be something of a musical madman, grafting together discordant genres and instruments into a monstrous album the likes of which I could’ve never imagined in my most frantic fever dream. Opera, flamenco, francophone music and shamanic chanting are seamlessly smelted together with the heat and intensity of heavy metal, creating a daunting, psychedelic and mesmerizing cacophony that is just as hard to put down as it is to comprehend. Programmed drums race past 128bpm, mutating bass textures roil like a lake of serpents, and overdriven guitars erupt from the earth in comically intense geysers of adrenaline - all while an accordion screams or a lute strains to breaking. For fans of novel musical experimentation like myself, this album is a prize jewel that must be examined closely and often.
Purchase Spirituality and Distortion here. Stream Spirituality and Distortion on Spotify here.
- ZF
Instrumental Relics
by Clams Casino
Michael Volpe, one of the 2010’s most prolific underground beat producers, has salvaged a double handful of his most beloved creations and put them on display for the world. Starting on MySpace and SoundCloud, Clams Casino cultivated a rabid following around his beautiful, etheric compositions and mastery of the sample, his beats often outliving the rappers they were made for. Instrumental Relics is a shining example of how easily these moonlight creations of texture and digital entropy stand on their own, capturing the mind with expressive vocal fragments endlessly chopped and flipped into unrecognition whilst taming the heart with massively satisfying drum programming. This album serves as the dark entrance to a rabbit hole tracing deep into the internet and its many forgotten artifacts and treasures.
Purchase Instrumental Relics here. Stream Instrumental Relics on Spotify here.
- ZF
Terraphage
by Ovid’s Withering
Seven long years after the explosive arrival of Scryers of the Ibis, a breakout LP that sought to combine the crushing polyrhythms of djent with the orchestral grandeur of symphonic black metal, metal pioneers Ovid’s Withering have released their second and final album, over 4 years in the making. Terraphage doesn’t feature quite the same level of production Scryers benefited from, but the things I love so dearly about the first album are present here as well: huge, juicy riffs over malevolent orchestral movements, frantic, spidery synths and somber piano passages over crisp, machine-gun like drum patterns. The vocals drip with almost the same level of grotesque ire that Scryer’s Shiv brought to the group, an incredible testament to newcomer Cael Foster’s ability, and the lyrics are just as grand and full of malediction. Despite Ovid’s troubling past, Terraphage is undeniably a musical triumph the likes of which the metal world rarely sees.
Purchase Terraphage here. Stream Terraphage on Spotify here.
- ZF
WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던
by Yaeji
Korean-american producer Kathy Lee, stage name Yaeji, dazzled the world back in April with her longest release to date, the ephemeral mixtape WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던. After countless repetitions, I have one single complaint: the 38-minute runtime leaves me wanting so much more. Yaeji’s subterranean basslines and mesmeric vocals - delivered in Korean and English, either hypnotically monotone or in ethereal falsetto - combine with vintage synths and a focused production sensibility to dominate and demand your filthiest dance moves. Yaeji has easily usurped the crown as my favorite up and coming electronic artist - the originality and soul behind these minimal and dangerously catchy house tracks is undeniable. Throw this mixtape on to turn your quarantine into an exclusive house show in seconds.
Purchase WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던 here. Stream WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던 on Spotify here.
- ZF
Circles
by Mac Miller
The name Mac Miller catches our ears differently these days. I don’t want my opinion on the album to be too heavily dependent on his passing, but It’d be silly to ignore that on some levels these artists' lives (and deaths) do affect how we take in their work. Fortunately, Miller was very talented. The same way that listening to Linkin Park post Chester Bennington’s death made the words he sung carry a more serious weight, Miller’s work vibrates with humanity. Mac’s career had one of the most exciting arcs, beginning with widely-appealing pop-rap and slowly maturing into creative, jazz-influenced hip-hop that spoke more intimately about existence. Miller’s work has been in transition for some time now, so it’s arguable where this one fits in his discography, but it does beg to question what we might’ve seen from the artist in the future. Mac’s death halted production on the project and so it was finished by collaborator and composer Jon Brion, which gives it a finessed throughline vibe, making it a special, complete love letter to the never dimming star, and one of the most soulful albums to come out this year.
Purchase Circles here. Stream Circles on Spotify here.
- ADR
Punisher
by Phoebe Bridgers
Soft, folksy and shamelessly Elliot Smith inspired, Punisher is commuter music. It’s been a long while since I’ve succumbed to the pleasantries of indie sad rock like Phoebe Bridgers, but she creeps up on your “Shut up and Feel Something” playlist along with Patrick Watson and Angel Olsen. Her sound starts to feel uniform, but she’s good at it. She appeals to the parts of us that were fans of Death Cab and Royal Tenenbaums. If you start feeling the weight of state of things in the era of COVID-19, take a second to calm down and listen to the soft mellow plucking of Bridgers and her tender vocals that cross between Fleetwood Mac and Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos.
Purchase Punisher here. Stream Punisher on Spotify here.
- ADR
Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
by Perfume Genius
Michael Alden Hadreas has an immediately recognizable, angelic voice - but even more so, Michael knows how to write a beautiful melody, playing with notes that are portals to new adventures. His music is cinematically epic, and plays to pieces that are a little more tender in listener’s ears. In his fifth LP, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, he covers many of the same themes Perfume Genius is known for: his personal health struggles, sexuality, gay men in contemporary society and domestic abuse. Easily one of the most beautiful songs in his catalogue appears on this album - Jason is a track about two young lovers exploring each others bodies, but poor closeted and repressed Jason sobbs as he touches the narrator, too nervous to even undress himself. “Jason, there's no rush, I know a lot comes up, ooh, Letting in some love, Where there always should have been some”. If you haven’t listened to him yet, this is a great start. If you have, you’ll find Hadreas at a point in his career where he’s flexing how polished his skills have become.
Purchase Set My Heart On Fire Immediately here. Stream Set My Heart On Fire Immediately on Spotify here.
- ADR
Everything
by Kota the Friend
This young Brooklyn-based rapper reminds me of the first iterations of J. Cole and Chance the Rapper - his music exudes heart. Kota is real, and he’s avoided detouring from his sound by staying grounded and independent. On one hand, this means Kota’s sound is safe and mellow - it hasn’t found roads less traveled - but on the other, this simplicity is what makes his music so enjoyable. There’s no frills, no flexing, just Brooklyn beats and flow. Everything features Kyle, Lakeith Stanfield, Braxton Cook and Toby Lou. Kota knows his sound, which may be why he released another album this year called Lyrics to Go, Vol 1. which is more heavily focused on rap. The beats are more repetitive, setting him up for some good old fashioned flow. Everything is not the album of the century, but it's important because the messages and future sounds of Kota the Friend are ones we should all be keeping our peeled ears to.
Stream Everything on Spotify here.
- ADR
