The 2020s have no doubt been some of the worst years in the 21st century when it comes to global events. To make up for this though, have been some of the best years when it comes to music. Since the clock struck midnight to end 2019, there have been no shortage of phenomenal outings from artists big and small.
To celebrate the halfway mark of this accursed decade, today we’re counting down the 20 best albums that have been released in the 2020s so far. While there are some artists who have absolutely dominated the decade in terms of quality, I’m limiting the list to one album per outfit. I mean to say an artist’s solo record and one they released as part of a band could make the list, but only one from each of the individual discographies.
HM: Ants From Up There – Black Country, New Road
6.2/10
Nearly every British art-rock album (and a Chilean one) that I’ve reviewed for this publication I’ve drawn back to Black Country, New Road. So much so that I’ve used the term “Post-Ants” to colloquially describe the western art-rock scene because of simply how influential this piece is. My thoughts on this piece are perhaps some of the most at-odds I’ve ever been with myself over an album from the past few years. I have so many criticisms but dear god– are the highs so very high.
I’ll start with what I don’t like. The entire middle of the album totally bores me. The five song run from tracks three to seven absolutely put me to sleep no matter how many times I listen to it. Every single track follows the same pattern: a slow, acoustic guitar-backed introduction with soft vocals, leading into a faux-theatrical finale with saxophone flourishes and screaming. As much as I usually love a good saxophone, the pattern is way too repetitive and frankly quite tiresome.
The lyrics here are also– well, they’re artsy alright. A lot of them are generic love-type lyrics, expressed through numerous references to Billie Eilish and various callbacks to past and future tracks on the album. “Basketball Shoes” is about having a wet dream about Charli XCX. “In my bed sheets now wet, Of Charlie, I pray to forget”. Sorry? You said it’s actually about Wood’s oedipus complex and parental trauma? Well, he should have picked a more reasonable way to express that.
The mixing is also very hit or miss– more miss than not. For the first half of “Concorde” I can barely hear lead vocalist Isaac Wood, even though there’s hardly anything musically going on other than his voice. I love bass, and it’s barely audible throughout the album and the tracks feel more-or-less naked without a good groove beneath them.
The good however, is really, really damn good. The second song (though the first is less than a minute long introduction, so it’s the first in my mind) “Chaos Space Marine” is a phenomenal track. It’s the shortest real song at only around three and a half minutes but it accomplishes so much. Fun, creative lyricism. A great, deep lead from Wood, complimented by the lusher backup from the female band members. The instrumentation is great too, it never goes too overboard with a full orchestra sound, but the combination of guitar, string and saxophone overlaying the pounding drums makes for a phenomenally entertaining piece.
I have a lot to say about the final song too, “Basketball Shoes”. Earlier in this section I complained about an excessive amount of tracks following the same slow start to big finish pattern. Really, the reason I’m complaining so much is because “Basketball Shoes” just does it so, so much better. It’s got the best climax on the record (pun intended) and caps off the album so, so well. Every time I give “Ants From Up There” a listen, I tend to forget how mediocre I find the majority of the tracks because of how good “Basketball Shoes” is.
I do want to emphasize how much I actively dislike the rest of the record. Mostly every single track that isn’t “Chaos Space Marine” or “Basketball Shoes” (with the slight exception of “The Place Where He Inserted The Blade” which only sucks for MOST of the track) is extremely monotonous, repetitive and utterly hollow.
Based on how long this section is– you can tell I have a lot to say. I’m so torn that I’m breaking my own rating system to say that the album’s peaks are so far removed from its troughs, it’s effectively two albums. The best of it hovers around a light 9/10. Everything else is a low 6/10. The high 9’s are the only reason I’m mentioning it here, it’s not actually one of the best releases of the 2020s. Despite that, I still think it’s one of the “must-hear” albums of this decade.
#20: Dream Desert – desert sand feels warm at night
8.8/10
The longest album on this list by over three hours, “Dream Desert” (translated from “ 夢の砂漠”) is a four hour long trip through a lifeless sea of sand, filled with monuments to forgotten gods, storms that tell whispers of a once-lush biome and a sneaking suspicion things aren’t as lifeless as they seem here.
Ambient albums aren’t something I’m always in the mood for. Some records just aren’t as ubiquitous as others and because of that it makes every listening journey into the desert feel so special. It sounds like I’m blowing this album out of proportion but truly, it is such an adventure when you listen.
It manifests itself inside you as both strikingly cold and dizzingly hot. Have you ever been outside when the sun is shining on you but there’s a cold breeze? It’s like that. You feel yourself both sinking into the endless sand and gliding across it. The ambience that’s achieved here is such a monumental accomplishment I’m impressed on every listen.
It’s not until track five, TWO HOURS into the album that it starts to transition from pure ambient slushwave to something with a recountable melody. There’s a gorgeous instrument that comes in towards the start of track five, almost a chirping, asian sounding string-like instrument that plays just a few ascending notes– readers, it is heavenly. It gives you the proverbial strength to carry on through the desert. It’s like seeing a faint shadow move humanely in the distance.
Oh, how I love a good space ambient record! I’m not insisting that you listen to it, I would make no such move to request that you turn this on tonight; the next time that it’s a lukewarm evening and a little windy– turn this album on.
#19: Cheat Codes – Danger Mouse & Black Thought
8.8/10
I’ve commented on this a lot, but hip hop is the genre in which an artist’s vocals age the best. It’s much easier to rap with the same flow and general tone that you had in your younger days than it is to sing. Black Thought is premiere evidence of this, and two decades after he and The Roots shone during the golden age of hip hop, he teamed up with abstract producer Danger Mouse; the result is astounding.
First and foremost, the production is beautiful. Danger Mouse’s beats are all really warm. There’s a sheen of comfort over this album that feels like the crackling on a vinyl record, or the slight grain on old photographs. It’s really pleasant. Black Thought’s older voice works really well with this nostalgic vibe created. The drums mixing can be a little weak sometimes, but more often than not, there’s no problem. The melodies behind the beats are nice too. “Close to Famous” and “Belize” have really nice bass lines, but most of the tracks do. The occasional vocal samples are really nice. “Belize” is another track that’s a standout in this category.
Black Thoughts rapping is really nice. It’s not top-of-the-line but it’s really good. His flow can be sort of repetitive but it’s pleasant enough that I don’t really mind. Plus, there’s more than enough features to make up for this. “Strangers” has both A$AP Rocky and Run the Jewels. Their combined influence makes the track really stand out amongst the rest of the record and while a part of me wants to say it hurts the pace, a larger part will praise its uniqueness amongst the rest of the record. The most prolific of these features is MF DOOM on “Belize” and his verse is really wonderful. I do have to take points away for A$AP’s verse which is pretty bad. The line “New whips on Dr. Seuss’, one fish, two fish, red whip, blue whip” is one I really, really dislike. That kind of lyricism typically works in abstract rap but A$AP sells on the delivery, and it sounds corny.
While there are some things I don’t really like about this record, and not a ton that makes it stand out against your average 2020s abstract hip hop record, what it does well it does really well, and it wins out against other genre contenders like “Maps” by Billy Woods and Kenny Segal. It’s a hip hop essential. Nothing flashy, but great at what it does.
#18: Spring Island – Delta Sleep
8.9/10
While I love math rock and all its angular, nonlexical and at times unsightly turns of phrase, sometimes I want the uniqueness the genre brings without the hassle. Hence, takes on math pop are often some of my favorite listens and Delta Sleep is perhaps the best band to do it in the 21st century. They’re able to effortlessly take the stop-start mechanics and bendy riffs that mark math rock and dilute them in a way that doesn’t detract from the technical aspect but rather enhances it.
The lead guitar is really pleasant. It has a gorgeous clean tone and unlike a lot of math rock where the notes are too quickly played to fully appreciate the sound, you can hear it shine through the longer, winding melodies. The drums are pretty nice too. The patterns are more interesting than not and while I wouldn’t normally like the snare mixing, it works well enough here for the less intensive sound. Bass is serviceable. Perhaps one of the big reasons I prefer math rock to its poppier variant is because in the former, the bass guitar is allowed to shred crazy too. Here, it does the job rhythmically but is not super interesting.
The reason I regard this album so highly is because it’s great in its simplicity. Take “Spun”. The entire song is centered around this beautiful bendy riff at the start. The tone is on the distorted side, but still clean. In-fact, it progresses to a harder, more metallic sound as the song continues. While the riff is open and slower, when it’s played the exact same behind a fast drum beat, it takes a new shape entirely.
Motifs, lyrics and events are reused over and over throughout “Spring Island”, which allows for a really comfortable story that’s pretty easy to follow. Like “Spun” for example, is never said on the song, but rather is a reference to the chorus of “Planet Fantastic” where lead vocalist Devin Yüceil says “We will be spun, right into the sun”. Guitar chugs in the chorus of that song also reference “Old Soul”. “Water Fall” and “Water Rise” are basically variations on the same song to ring in and out the album.
Those lyrics are one of the more notable aspects of the record. It’s very of the COVID-era. The first line you hear on the record is “I, I’ve been dreamin’, About leavin’ the house.” How does such a situation affect a relationship? Poorly, you’ll learn. On “Forest Fire”, Yüceil tip-toes around the idea that the relationship is doomed, but if they know this, they should have fun a little while longer; “Soon this spring will bring the forest fire,”he says.
It’s mostly his fault, he will admit. On “Hotel 24” he tells us “All of the love that I’ve earned, Still I can’t help but seeing how empty the glass could become, it never stays half full,” knowing that his pessimism is the ultimate decider in the issue.
Every relationship, romantic, platonic, professional and more were affected by the Coronavirus, and even if you specifically never lost a partner, something shifted during that time. It’s incredibly relatable mood-wise and musically it’s an absolute treat. The especially nice thing musically is that its mathier elements are super accessible and work as a gateway to many of the better albums on the list.
#17: Lonely People With Power – Deafheaven
9/10
The last time I reviewed this record, I opened by straight up saying “This album fucks”. Unlike some of the other albums I’ve reviewed since then, I don’t have much new to say about it other than to circle back and confirm that yes, this album does indeed fuck.
With the hazy shredding of shoegaze going toe-to-toe with the growls of death metal, the resultant genre– Blackgaze– is utterly beautiful.
While the mixing can hurt the security of the heavy sound, it’s still very clear what they were going for here and the rest of the music is quality enough your brain fills in most of the gaps. While it’s not my favorite screaming of the 2020s (we’ll get there), it’s breathtaking in the way that the sharpness both compliments and juxtaposes the rich, deep tones of the backing guitars.
Occasionally, they’ll step things back for more traditional sounding dream pop/shoegaze-y tracks and there the range of lead singer George Clarke really shines as his ability to sing in a soft, gentle tone to match the less heavy composition is also really incredible. The guitar work matches this range and can easily jump between clean, gentle bends to shrilling metal-inspired riffs.
All in all, I love this record a lot. Occasionally some of the tracks feel like they drag on, but the record is on the longer side so that’s not particularly surprising. The only thing more that I’d really want from this record is more of the softer, withdrawn songs because of how high quality they are, but I understand that Deafheaven is blackgaze first, and shoegaze second.
If you like metal, shoegaze or both: give it a try!
#16: Charm – Clairo
Throughout my tenure as a white, male music nerd, (chai tea, anyone?) one of my opinions that constantly shocks people is how highly I regard Clairo’s 2024 outing, “Charm”. For a long time, it was stereotypically regarded as “girl pop”. This is misogynist in its own right, but the true tragedy of this album came from the wide “performative male” trend. Though my love for the album never faltered, I was hoping that we would get a trend that propped up her work sooner than one disparaging it, but I digress.
Sophisti-pop is a genre that while tricky to execute well, when done to its full capacity it is just so, so comforting. Warm, soothing, emotional– everything one would want from a pop record. There’s a shockingly noticeable jazzy influence in the various melodic flares throughout that gives the album a homely feel. Piano licks, fun guitar strums and intriguing synthplay. Not to demean her musical ability, but the music is truly adorable.
Her vocals are also very pleasant. The quieter, gentle touches that she does gives so much personality and emphasizes the feel of the album. When Clairo speaks introspectively about her relationships– it feels like she’s truly lamenting to you, the listener. She can harmonize with herself really well, giving her voice a very nice texture. Occasionally there’ll be male backup vocals and their richer, bassier tones contrast so well with her gentler voice.
The album is really great. Despite the long tracklist, there’s a good amount of tracks and each of them feels coherently part of one record but still offers noticeable variety. While the album isn’t mind-blowing it’s a record I come back to time and time again– more so than even the higher rated ones on this list. Give it a listen, though I’d be surprised if you haven’t already.
#15: By the Time I Get To Phoenix – Injury Reserve
9/10
While I do think an album cover can affect the music, I generally try not to let it alter my opinion of an album too much unless it’s totally egregious or really beautiful. I do however factor into account if an album cover really nails the exact vibe of the music. Obviously, don’t judge an album by its cover, but when you look at the cover for “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, you see a figure trapped in a dark, red storm, obscured by the overwhelming gaze of the sun and totally frozen in fear.
That’s exactly what the music sounds like too.
The opener, “Outside” kicks off with a whirly, rising and falling sine lead, a pastiche of a siren as you’re dropped into the sunstorm. Dark, forceful synths swell around you as vocalist Ritchie with a T gets more and more aggressive with his bars. Then, he slows down and the music pauses– right before it all comes back, tenfold in power. Rapidly arpeggiating synths dance eerily through a hazy wall of sound. It’s a beautiful opener, and manages to bridge the gap between the calm before the storm and the aggression that comes after.
It’s not just heavy synths that line the walls of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”. Tracks like “SS San Francisco” feature dark guitar chugs as the focus while the synths creep through the background.
It’s the vocals here though that really make this album as special as it is. “Footwork in a Forest Fire” features vocals that digitally jump from high pitched, distorted screams to low, almost growling as they match the pace of the song, starting, stopping and changing tempo without losing melody at all. “Smoke Don’t Clear” features this layered, whisper-screaming. “Top Picks for You” has some pleasant autotune singing.
There’s a lot going on here and there’s sort of a mystery with the story told that I’d really hate to spoil for any prospective listeners. What I will tell you is that it’s one of the best hip hop albums of all time and is beautiful start to finish.
#14: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You – Big Thief
9/10
Indie Folk band Big Thief (and their leader Adrianne Lenker) have been one of the biggest names in the contemporary folk scene for very good reason. Whether it’s through unique instrumentation, heart-wrenching lyricism, catchy melodies or gorgeous tonality on any of the above, there’s always something to love about Big Thief.
While they (and Lenker alone) have released a good few records through the 2020s, the one that stands far above is their 2LP “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You”.
The most immediate thing that jumps out to me about this record is the beautiful penmanship by Lenker. She understands human emotion so thoroughly and conveys it in a manner that is concise and clear, yet so elegant and beautiful. Here’s a verse from “Simulation Swarm” to demonstrate”
“Once again, empty horses
Gallop through the violet door
Follow red, crooked courses
Shadows on the moonlit floor
O my stars, winged creatures
Gathering in silken height
Like the last human teachers”
It’s poetics of this immaculate quality all throughout. It definitely doesn’t hurt that Lenker has absolutely gorgeous vocals too. She has an undeniably charming midwestern twang that really emphasizes the folky feel. It makes the record feel homely and very warm.
The instrumentation is incredible too. The drumming is perfectly reserved enough where it doesn’t draw too much focus, but still gives great grooves. The guitars are great too. On the more upbeat, slacker rock side the electric tones are beautiful. For the traditional americana pieces, the acoustic strumming is really well done.
It’s the varying, alternate instrumentation though that really draws me in. The non-guitar strings, the non-drum percussion. “Spud Infinity” features a jaw harp. “Wake Me Up To Drive” features an accordion. Multiple tracks have fiddles, flutes, toy pianos and so on. It makes the album feel very welcoming, very playful. While eclectic, these instruments never stray too far off the beaten path.
There’s really not a bad part about this album. Despite the length, it flows really nicely and never feels like it overstays their welcome. I suppose I would have liked to see more tracks like “Little Things” that are more slacker rock than folk rock, but I understand Big Thief is a folk band at heart. It’s a great record all the same.
#13: Hellfire – black midi
9/10
In just the three albums they produced before they went their ways, black midi reshaped the modern art rock scene with a satirical, dystopian look into the future of society; expressed entirely through jazz rock.
I’ll talk about this more later in the list, but when you talk about black midi you have to get the Geordie Greep discussion out of the way as soon as possible. He’s the lead singer and wrote most of the songs, and his style of aggressive, horny talk-singing is not for everyone.
The music is phenomenal though. It’s exactly what you’d expect from an album cover like that, it’s all over the place. Songs start and stop at random intervals, melodies change for reasons unbeknownst to the listener and instruments scatter wherever they please.
This album is at its best when it’s as loud as possible. When black midi is firing on all cylinders, Greep’s unsexy yelling is surrounded in a tornado of overblown sax, harsh guitar, crashing cymbals, reverberating strings and god knows what else they’ll throw in. It’s not just these climaxes though, it’s when the climax will suddenly stop and go back to a quiet, slow movement before it hurls you back upside the storm again. The ability to stop and start over and over makes for such a fun record.
Though my favorite moments are the ones that sound like a disaster is happening like the occasional explosions on “Dangerous Liaisons” or the rapid fire arpeggios during the choruses of “Sugar/Tzu”, it’s the brief moments that black midi musically wrangles the musical disaster and manages to ride it and feel it into something beautiful that I love almost as much.
“The Defence”, stapled between two manic, jumpy, ramble-filled tracks, it crescendos not into free jazz-esque nightmare, but a beautiful, shockingly lush finale. It’s a great twist and while I love this album because it sounds like a musical disaster, I also love the rare moments it shelters you from the storm.
This is one of the albums that we will come back to time and time again over the next several decades and look upon what it started with a similar nostalgia that you would look at Nirvana starting the great grunge wave, or King Crimson more or less creating progressive rock altogether. Though they’ll never make a better album than this (or another album altogether), they don’t need to.
12: Apiary – Gingerbee
9.1/10
Screamo meets samba jazz meets chiptune meets art pop. Welcome to “Apiary”.
With members of Gingerbee living anywhere in the world from Brazil to Canada, it’s a wonder we got a project of this length from them at all. The production on this album is absolutely mind blowing. Every instrument sounds perfect and there’s so many of them. Multiple guitars, violins, saxophones, two vocalists, however many traditional Brazilian instruments and a near infinite amount of synths are somehow all balanced perfectly between each other.
They create this explosion that I love, jumping between solos. “Say the Rest” a shredding violin jumps into a rapidly descending synth that both led off the backs of a guitar solo. It sounds great when they go all out, but they’re not afraid to take a step back either. The opening of “Honey” is really gentle and beautiful. The same can be said for “Samba do Nosso Céu”.
It’s really incredible what humans can do. This album makes me remember how there’s an artist inside each and every one of us, and no walls can stop us from making what we love in the end. I’m very hesitant to call anything perfect– many albums I rated above this one on this list don’t have any songs I would rate a 10/10, but opener “Petal Dance” is one of my favorite songs of all time. I would say it might be my favorite song from the 2020s. It’s the kind of song that makes you wonder– how the hell did they even think of that?
I don’t know, but I’m damn glad they did.
#11: Magic, Alive! – McKinely Dixon
9.1/10
“Magic, Alive!”, Richmond-based rapper McKinely Dixon’s fifth record, won The Blue Banner’s award for the best album of 2025 and for good reason. It’s a heartfelt story about love and loss scored with some of the most creative and exciting jazz rap I’ve ever heard.
Where most jazz rap opts for samples and simple loops, Dixon orchestrates lines for the entire song, allowing the saxophones, horns and other woodwinds to play like they would in an ordinary song– not serving as a mere base for the vocals but rather a companion. Everything from the wild woodwinds to the humming of brass perfectly compliments Dixon’s flow and the other instruments.
How about that flow though? It’s incredible. Dixon puts his heart and soul into every single line– he sounds near-breathless by the end of each bar but he still pushes. It gives the album such an authentic vibe that by the end, you might truly believe that Dixon and his friends used the magical concrete of his Virginian slum to revive their friend. Maybe he really did.
Whether it’s hard, thumping bass pushing forward a powerful, aggressive flow or a gentle harp and string ensemble while Dixon laments over the loss of his friend, there’s a little something for everyone here. That “little something” is called “Magic, Alive!”. I mean to say– the entire album is phenomenal.
#10: While of Unsound Mind – nouns
9.1/10
Ah, the perfect emo record. This album is such a beautiful collage and group effort from the internet’s emo, alt rock and math rock scenes that it was inevitable that it would be phenomenal. It perfectly captures nearly every emotion it sets out to, that list of emotions covering nearly all of them that one can experience.
The modern day, fifth wave screamo scene (sometimes referred to as post-emo) is one of the most interesting developing genres to watch and has continuously impressed me in what they’ve done to the genre. There’s so many different genre inspirations here and influences stretch from the more traditional emo influences like math rock, all the way to sounds like brutal prog and art punk. Those are just the broad descriptors though. Songs will feature chiptune electronic melodies, death metal breakdowns and saxophone explosions.
The vocals are at the forefront of the record and for great reason. Hunter Clifton Mann has one of the most beautiful voices in the genre. He has such a great range too. At times, he takes on this gorgeous, gravelly deep tone that’s blues-esque in its roughness. At others he switches to this higher, desperate yelling that’s still musical, but borders on an emotional shout more than singing. Sometimes, he goes even higher and whips out a falsetto for tracks like “While Of Unsound Mind”. Mann ALSO does the death growls for the occasional metal-inspired breakdowns. Truly, his vocal chords know no bounds.
Production is really nice too. There’s a lot of quirky sound effects and fun synths that get thrown in. “Interlude” (the first track, for some reason) has an N64-era styled calliope synth that is mixed in with the guitars and other real instruments very well.
The guitar tone and the riffs that display it are phenomenal too. They capture everything a mathy riff should do. It feels slanted, oddly out of order but still totally under the guitarist’s control. Look at the introduction riff to “Sentai Quarry”. It goes on just a second longer than your brain thinks it will, but the full line that plays out is just so phenomenal and it sounds better than if it was adjusted to be in 4/4.
That track there, “Sentai Quarry” is probably the best song of the 2020s. It captures everything I love about this album. The beautiful, crunchy yet sharp electric tone, the infinitely wide vocal range and the endless well of inspirations. The climax features a cutesy chiptune arpeggio that seals the deal.
If the first half of the record wasn’t so incredible, I would be a little more harsh on the second half. I think if you trim some of the fat on this piece (particularly the too-long and a bit boring final track “To See The Other Side”) it could get bumped up this list to the #2 or even #1 slot. This album wouldn’t be the same without the extras though. Affectionately speaking, it’s a mess. Every piece of this album is all over the place from the video game sound effects in “Interlude” to the anime-esque vocals in “FEEDBACK LOOPS”, and it’s perfect just the way it is.
You really should listen to “Sentai Quarry”, though.
#9: The Lamb as Effigy – Sprain
9.2/10
This is perhaps the least “universal” album on this list. What I mean to say, is that while not everybody is going to go out of their way to listen to each piece, I don’t think many of them are going to be expressly disliked by the vast majority. This album is the exact opposite and while I personally hold it in very high regard, I don’t think that many people will. For those that dare to try however– it’s an extremely rewarding experience.
It’s noisy, it’s dissonant, it’s anxiety-inducing. It’s sexual, it’s theatrical, it’s exceptionally dense. It’s downright scary at times. Am I doing a good job selling you on the album’s positives? Yes, these are positives.
Sometimes a record is so grand that even I struggle to fully describe it. At just over 90 minutes long, some tracks hovering around the 25 minute range and track-to-track variety that makes some playlists look coherent: it’s hard to put it all into words. The opening tracks start with screaming vocals, noisy guitar and pounding drums. The longer tracks feature huge, drawn out organ sections with gentle hums before the crashing symbols and operatic vocals come in. Every track is an adventure.
I don’t want to describe this album too much. It’s a hidden gem and is vastly underrated in many music communities and I think each and every one of you should discover it for yourself. Trust me. I’m a stark advocate that everyone should listen to an album at least a few times before they make a final decision on it. Had I listened to this record even just a few years ago, I would have despised it– but through patience and time, I learned to appreciate No Wave music and perhaps you could too.
#8: Call Me If You Get Lost – Tyler, The Creator
9.2/10
Tyler, The Creator will always represent inconsistency to me. He’s released some albums that are modern classics, and though his fanbase hypes him up too much I think there’s at least a handful of records that are far better than good. Others are terrible. Others are worse than terrible. While many point towards his 2019 record “Igor” as his masterpiece, I’m of the opinion that it was the more hip-hop oriented “Call Me If You Get Lost” is not only his best record, but one of the best of the 2020s.
Wall-to-wall this album clocks in at just under an hour, but experiments with so many ideas and ultimately feels much longer than that in a good way. This is probably due to the high variance in track length. Some tracks stretch over the eight minute mark, while others barely scratch two. This means that there’s a lot to go over here and while some of the songs are more on the uninteresting side, there are more than enough that are really great.
I struggle to name a genre that really encompasses this album clearly. Just hip-hop. You could call it pop rap but there’s enough here that’s unique enough to be clearly not pop rap. Tyler Okonma’s rapping is pretty aggressive for the most part here, but he can reel himself back in for some more sing-songy moments. “CORSO” features bars that feel like Okonma is spluttering into the microphone, but “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” is a cute piece where– like I said– he’s singing along to the backup singers and melody.
The beats on the album are really nice. The drumming is usually more on the aggressive side but there’s a lot of cute samples throughout to break up the darker melodies that line most of the songs. Some of the beats can feel a bit samey, but there’s enough difference flow-wise and melodically that I feel each song is unique.
It’s the interludes however that really shine. Interludes have been a staple of rap records since the very beginning and they’re very, very hit or miss. Atlanta-based disk-jockey D.J. Drama features here and is throughout the album shouting nonsense and introducing the tracks. “HOT WIND BLOWS” has a great introduction. “We on a yacht, A young lady just fed me French vanilla ice cream, We all got our toes out, too”. It’s all stuff like that, and it’s usually pretty funny and doesn’t kill the pace.
Okonma’s own bars are also great. There’s a lot of memorable stuff in here that while corny, is played straight enough that it’s fine. “Got too much self respect I wash my hands ‘fore I piss” on “MASSA”, and “Rolls Royce pull up, Black boy hop out, Shout out to my mother and my father didn’t pull out” on “LUMBERJACK”.
“WILSHIRE” is my personal favorite track here. It’s an absolutely gorgeous song that explores the deep pain that comes from being in love with someone who’s dating your friend. It’s over eight minutes long and was reportedly done in one take. It centers around a beautiful jazzy chord progression and lo-fi drumming and boils down to Okonma ranting about the situation and ad libbing between the verses. It’s a great penultimate cap to an already great record.
Tyler, The Creator unfortunately has a reputation of being corny and I feel like the negative reception from releases like “CHROMAKOPIA” and “Don’t Tap The Glass” and his years long streak of abysmal trash like “Goblin” have soured his image in recent years; many people seem to forget where Tyler, The Creator got such a large following to be corny in the first place. It was from great releases like this.
#7: SCARING THE HOES – JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown
9.2/10
Sometimes, an album being too much of its time can be to its detriment. Classics like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”– which is so quintessentially eighties it’s like a time capsule in a bottle– are viewed in a positive light because the era is generally viewed as such today. The early 2020s however, are seen in such a way by almost nobody. So does an album that’s as chaotic as the time it was released still hold up despite the aging lyrics? Yes, it does.
The two rappers represent two different generations of alternate hip hop artists, and while they’re both explicitly of the 21st century, Danny Brown ruled the early to mid 2010s, and in 2023 JPEGMAFIA had been on absolute tear since 2018. While they had collabed before (once) getting this entire album at once was both a symbolic bridging of musical talent and an absolute gift for all of us.
My favorite part of this record is the beats. No question. The beats are absolutely insane. Every track is a total masterclass in sample chops from two of the best to ever do it and each song is a journey in and of itself through a totally different idea.
“Steppa Pig” is filled with a huge array of trance sounds, with swirling transitions between verses, low-pass filtered melodies and piercing lines through the chorus. “Garbage Pale Kids” features a sampled Japanese beef bowl commercial from the ‘90s, and a beautiful guitar shredding in the chorus. “Kingdom Hearts Key” features a sample from the 1996 anime “The Vision of Escaflowne” (yeah, I had never heard of it either), and JPEGMAFIA even sings along to it during a lull in the song. I could go on and on about them, but those three examples should be enough.
Lyricism is a big focus here from these two masters of abstraction. From the moment JPEGMAFIA hits you with “First off, fuck Elon Musk, Eight dollars too much, bitch, that’s expensive (True)” you know exactly what you’re in for. “Uh, it’s Black AOC, No matter what they try to say they can’t K.O. me,” says JPEGMAFIA on “Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up / Muddy Waters”. “”We don’t wanna hear that weird shit no more”, “What the fuck is that? Give me back my aux cord”” he mimes on the title track “SCARING THE HOES”, which is what many a person has said when someone tries to put them on either of the featured rappers here.
Both artists clearly had a ton of fun. I mentioned JPEGMAFIA singing along to an anime intro sample, but he gets musical a few times throughout the record. On “Orange Juice Jones” he’s almost talk-singing at the start of his verse. In the bridge of “Jack Harlow Combo Meal”, he throws on an autotune and says “Uh, girl, it’s been minutes, it’s been hours, And it’s been days” mimicking the cheesy, overproduced pop of the 2010s.
It’s my favorite rap album of the 2020s. It’s a contender for my favorite rap album of the 21st century. Hell, if Nas’ “Illmatic” didn’t exist and so handily beat out nearly every other rap album for my favorite spot of all time, I might even consider it for that spot too. Every song on here is incredible in its own way and the instrumentals alone could make for one of the greatest instrumental hip hop albums of all time. I HIGHLY recommend you listen to this record.
#6: Songs of a Lost World – The Cure
9.2/10
Considering The Cure is my second favorite band of all time, you might think that I would have listened to this much sooner than I did. Well, to be honest, I was quite scared. I knew from the get-go that when it comes to a group as emotional as The Cure, their final album would wound me as a longtime listener with a deep emotional attachment. I was right in that prediction and once I finally listened to this piece, it was entirely about death, impermanence and the endless marching of time. But I’ll be damned if that depressive, no-fun-allowed moniker didn’t allow Robert Smith to write and sing some of his finest.
I’ve said this before, but Robert Smith has an exquisite understanding of misery. The way he expresses grief through the lyrics and music (but especially the lyrics) is truly unmatched. Particularly on this album though, the theme follows that aforementioned feeling of growing old.
On “Drone:Nodrone” Smith talks about a time he was filmed by a paparazzi drone at his own home, and the shock and sudden realization of your age that comes from that. “Down, down, down, yeah, I’m pretty much done, Staring down the barrel of the same warm gun”. On “And Nothing Is Forever”, these themes are most apparent, with the chorus being “I know, I know
That my world has grown old, And nothing is forever”.
The compositions are such classic The Cure too, but it feels appropriately aged up. The music is overall slower, it’s less guitar-centric and more focused on the piano and synths lining the slow, atmospheric chord changes. The result is some of the darkest, most depressive songs the group has ever penned. The slow entry of the piano on “And Nothing Is Forever”, the sudden, spacey guitar that cuts through a reed organ-esque synth on “Drone:Nodrone”. It runs just under an hour, but at only eight tracks, they’re each their own adventure into a slow, macabre dance.
Even the darkest of their albums had some upbeat, pop hits sprinkled throughout the darkness. Songs like “Just Like Heaven” and “Lovesong”. This album has none, and song after song it leads you through Smith’s own mind. When a new track starts you wonder “Is this going to be their next ‘Just Like Heaven’?”, and instead you’re met with more darkness. By the time the album ends you realize there was no pop hit.
There’s no upbeat drums. There’s no cutesy guitar riffs. There’s no bright synths. There’s no way to go back. This album is about accepting that, and it captures this message to an absolute tee.
#5: Promises – Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra
9.2/10
Pharoah Sanders is perhaps the greatest saxophone player of all time. Though he did pass in 2022, just a year after this record’s release, he was still one of the latest surviving jazz musicians of the golden age in the 1960s. In his day, he pushed the boundaries of the spiritual jazz genre with intense overblowing, crazy solos and incorporation of traditionally non-jazz instruments, like flutes and yodeling.
Here though, he doesn’t bring that energy. Accompanied by British electronic artist Floating Points, it’s a slow, minimalist take on his jazzy playing, with soft, fluttering solos of saxophone coming in and out against the electronica background. Though you might not think it, the spacey synths match with the saxophone and string sections very, very well.
This record was conceptualized as one, slowly progressing piece of music that evolves. While I’m of the opinion that the majority of the best albums should be viewed in such a way, I struggle to name more than a few albums ever that do the idea better than “Floating Points”. Song titles are ejected in favor of movements, with the nine tracks being numbered as movements one through nine, the vinyl splitting them between one to five and six to nine.
I absolutely adore this album. It is so utterly complete in every element that it can’t leave you wanting more because there’s nothing more to want. The electronic sounds are beautiful, and Floating Points creates a feeling much like his name, leaving the listener feeling like they’re ascending through a world on the brink of collapse but never seeing any destruction.
The London Philharmonic’s support is also incredible. I love a good string accompaniment and the unique blend created between the minimalist IDM and full orchestra is incredible. While the compositions are never insane, they don’t really need to be. A feeling is painted with even just a small amount of lines.
Of course, the real focus is on Pharoah Sanders. Once again, I’ve said this before, but I believe the greatest saxophone playing of all time is featured on “Karma” by Sanders himself. Mainly due to the overwhelming ferocity that Sanders displays on the instrument. Like I said above though, there’s nothing ferocious about his performance here. It’s introspective, suspenseful and strangely instills a sense of longing.
With no lyrics, very few climaxes and a majority of the album being the music that isn’t being played, you may wonder how emotional it can be. This album was Sanders’ final record, and you can hear it in his playing. Not to degrade his performance, I mean to say that you can tell in his playing that he knows. There’s a strange melancholy that’s undeniably laced throughout the endless, repeating saxophone motifs that tells the listener that Pharoah Sanders is dying soon; and he did.
It’s sad in retrospect, but not in practice. Empirically listening to this album, it’s anything but sad. It’s uplifting, spacey and ethereally beautiful.
#4: To See The Next Part of a Dream – Paranoul
9.2/10
Perhaps the greatest solo artist of the 2020s, Paranoul is behind at least three different pseudonyms that are all constantly producing high-quality music of different genres. Under Mydreamfever, they’re producing IDM and electronica. Under Huremic, they’re making post-rock. There are others, but despite the quality of these outings, the best of the best comes under the original Paranoul title.
There aren’t many shoegaze albums I like more than “To See The Next Part of a Dream”. Hell, there aren’t many albums I like more than “To See The Next Part of a Dream”. Let’s open by looking at the quintessential single from this record “Analog Sentimentalism”.
Immediately, the listener is washed over by a gorgeous, hazy guitar tone. A thick, chugging chord progression backed by pounding, intentionally lo-fi drums. These are some keys to a great shoegaze piece, but it’s what follows that grabs me. A sine lead cuts through and unlike the other lush, heavy mixing on the other instruments, the synth is totally clear. It’s a beautiful juxtaposition and the riff is so goddamn catchy. I’m whistling it to myself as I write this.
Paranoul’s vocals are closer to the lo-fi guitars in terms of production. They’re almost mixed into the guitars giving it a dreamy feel. It feels like Paranoul is clawing through a warm, springtime daydream to relay some kind of message to you.
Everything I said about “Analog Sentimentalism” applies to the rest of the album. There’s also a pretty good amount of sampling too, which helps with the theme and atmosphere a lot. Movie clips, cheer sound effects and field recordings are all sprinkled throughout to make things feel so much more real.
I love the production here. The album is mixed, well, badly. It makes everything sound like a daydream. Both extremely real and totally unreal feeling. The drums are also really pleasant. They may or may not be sampled, but if they are, they’re mixed well enough that sonically it could pass for Paranoul actually playing.
The album is also a concept album, with a coming-of-age story at the center. It expressed the youthful frustrations of a “Losеr jobless virgin jackass fucking dickhead” (as said on “Youth Rebellion”) who doesn’t really have anything going on in his life. The story of the album is also based on the 2001 Japanese coming of age movie “All About Lily Chou-Chou”, with references to it throughout. The movie isn’t required to understand the album, but it does accentuate the experience.
#3 Windswept Adan – Ichigo Aoba
9.3/10
Does anyone else remember that forgotten Studio Ghibli film? The one about a young girl who gets magically swept away to an island where nobody can talk? It’s got a gorgeous, chamber-esque soundtrack with soft, jazzy piano, gentle vocals and a caressing string section? You may now realize that I have actually played a practical joke on the lot of you: this film does not exist. Luckily for us however, thanks to Ichigo Aoba, the soundtrack does.
The wonderful thing about the musicality expressed here is that even without the knowledge of the vibe that Aoba was going for, you’ll immediately feel it from the moment the album begins. I always try to describe an album in one word so you, the reader, can easily see if you’re interested at a glance. Luckily, Aoba does that for you as the vibe created here is absolutely “Windswept”.
The soft guitar arpeggios, swirling strings, basically non-existent percussion, sparkling chimes and other instruments all work together to capture the feeling of being caught in a gentle gust of wind, magically carrying you across the sea.
I could harp on about the instrumentation but as beautiful as it is– the highlight is really Aoba’s voice. Her voice is beautiful on its own, there’s no doubt; on this album however, it also serves exactly the niche it needs to. The soft, adoring instruments are a perfect balance for her high-pitched, soothing vocals. She sounds siren-like at times which must be intentional, because after hearing some of the highlight performances on “Horo” or “Hagupit”, I’d like to jump in the water and swim to her myself.
I try not to get too personal when sharing my feelings on albums– but it’s with a smile on my face (and a finger to convention) that I anecdotally prop this album up. The first time I listened to “Parfum D’étoiles” I teared up. The piece was too beautiful for me to bear. Do you need anything more than that? You do? Well, I don’t care.
#2: Imaginal Disk – Magdalena Bay
9.3/10
Oh yeah, now this is the good stuff.
Though Magdalena Bay’s 2021 debut album “Mercurial World” was one of the most uninteresting and “I don’t care” synthpop records I’ve ever heard– they followed it up with one of the most interesting and “I care immensely” synthpop records I’ve ever heard. With gorgeous instrumentals, beautiful vocalizing and a truly timeless story: “Imaginal Disk” is perhaps one of the best albums ever.
Instrumentation-wise, it’s an instant classic. Being mostly electronic save for a few guitars and pianos here and there means that there’s an endless amount of unique sounds that the duo have to choose from. It gives every track a sense of uniqueness despite the overall coherence of the record.
This is one of those albums that I struggle to find a single part that I really dislike. I could listen to this album on repeat several times over and not get sick of it for quite some time. The bouncy, head-nodding drums. The gorgeous, lush synth progressions that back the tracks. The intermittent piano that sparkles alongside the more bombastic sounds. The damn-near disco-esque string flares. The sharp leads that punch alongside Mica Tenembaum’s phenomenal vocals– my word; I haven’t even begun to talk about her vocals!
While normally the whisper-singing that is a trademark of modern pop is lost on me, it’s never annoying, as I usually find it to be. She sings with such elegance, like she’s ballet dancing through each track. The ethereal softness of her voice manages to both compliment the quieter tracks and juxtapose the more aggressive ones without her having to change her style too much. She doesn’t have an excessive vocal range, but she doesn’t need it. Her natural tone is so wonderful that I struggle to think of places it could be better.
Sonically speaking I can’t say much more– it’s heaven.
The story is great too. It’s about your self-image, and how others perceive that image based on how you perceive yourself. How does one’s image affect their love life? Their sex life? How are those two different from each other? What even is your image? Imaginal Disk? Imaginal Disk.
The first time I heard this album all the way back in the spring of 2024 I immediately knew it would become a classic. Like I said: it’s heaven. Blue, disk-filled heaven. Imaginal Disk-filled heaven that is.
#1: The New Sound – Geordie Greep
9.3/10
I love it when an album is filled to the brim with influences from genres here and there, near and far and from all over the musical world. While it’s no doubt possible to describe “The New Sound” by Geordie Greep as “Latin Rock”, it would be a disservice to the wild display of art and life that’s strung about this record.
It’d also be a disservice to give this album any other position than number one on our list.
Geordie Greep is one of the most inventive musicians in recent memory, and in just the few years while leading group black midi through three phenomenal records, he pushed the bounds of rock music. Though black midi regrettably broke up, Greep didn’t wait long to go solo and drop a record of his own. Though there are heavy stylistic influences from his prior work, the album is shockingly latin-flavored despite his British origin. Greep credits this to growing up surrounded by racial minorities who consumed Latin music far more than his racial peers would have.
Musically speaking, it’s the definition of manic fun. Greep’s phenomenal guitar playing doesn’t feel stilted or uneven at all despite the unusual time signatures and tempo changes. It feels totally natural whenever he starts, stops or switches things up. The non-lead guitar is also gorgeous too, with a spacey, clean tone that serves its purpose rhythmically; never getting in the way while still providing a solid foundation.
This isn’t just his work though, the surrounding musicians also play to back him up and cover for what might otherwise sound awkward. There’s a bafflingly large accompaniment; a huge horn section, woodwind section, string section, multiple drummers, a goddamn talkbox and more. Counting the sound technicians, there’s over 40 people who worked on this album.
Whether it be an ethereal, fluttery sax solo that floats through quiet moments or a powerful adornment between lines to keep things punchy and relentless, the horns are absolutely phenomenal. The strings are no worse; they’re on virtually every track and serve their purpose to a tee every time. The drumming is phenomenal too, utilizing local musicians from Brazil (where the record was recorded) allowed for a pure mastery of indigenous Brazilian percussion in tandem with a more traditional drumkit.
Why then, do 80% of the people I show this album to hate it? Well, fans might already suspect: it’s Greep’s vocals. They’re… unique. He has an aggressive style of talk-singing that jumps from yelling to whispering, from singing to rambling and from sounding good to not. Take the climax of “Holy Holy”, where he’s basically just doing spoken– no, shouted word segment. Compare this to just a few minutes earlier in the song when he’s dancing around gentle touches of vocalization so as not to upset the balance between him and the instruments.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: he sounds like an extremely horny Disney villain on Broadway. It’s not for everyone. I, however, love it. The huge orchestra behind Greep allows this to be played off very nicely.
If all that wasn’t enough, the album tells a story through its songs so poignantly. “The New Sound” follows the story of a man who gets addicted to hiring prostitutes while chasing a feeling of power– eventually he falls in love with one and it ruins his life. I absolutely adore the story and Greep manages to sell this misogynist scumbag– who I’ve taken to calling “John Newsound” – so well.
By the end of the record, despite being so hateable, you kind of feel for John Newsound as he desperately cries out for his love during the finale and Sinatra cover “If You Are But A Dream”.
Check your balls for lumps and give this absolute masterpiece a listen.
