- Top Tens
All the votes are in and our number one album for 2020 is;
1. Laura Marling - Song For Our Daughter
- Top Tens
1. Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
This year, for many reasons - no doubt including the longing for reassurance and the comfort of safe favourites - I have found or made less time to listen to new music. Older and especially instrumental music of all kinds has totally dominated my listening. But there has been some good new music.
- Top Tens
1. Working Men’s Club - Working Men’s Club
The first time I heard this debut album in autumn of this year I was totaly bowled over. A pulsating and hypnotic sound that makes you want to turn the dials up to full volume up and dance!
- Top Tens
1. Nirvana: Unplugged in NY
So my top 10 is less a reflection of new albums this year but i) what I’ve listened to the most during this strangest year ever plus ii) me moving across to vinyl and discovering new acoustics I had forgotten about and /or have never heard before. The number one is purely for both these reasons - his voice and the rawness of the album, you can hear every note, good or bad, plus I listened to it a lot during all 3 lockdown(s). It’s been my go-to album this year
- Top Tens
1. Laura Marling – Song for our Daughter
I have always enjoyed Laura’s work, but this album has stuck with me throughout the year, I have found myself always going back to it through the highs and lows of 2020.
- Top Tens
1. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit- Reunions
In a year when the lack of anything much else to do saw me listening to more, and more varied music than I have in decades, it was still to the records with something to say lyrically I found myself returning to: Cornershop’s brilliant rampage over Brexit Britain, Drive-By Truckers’ American ‘State of the Nation’, Ben Watt’s bleary eyed takes on middle age; but most of all, I found myself listening to Reunions by Jason Isbell.
- Top Tens
1. Beths - Jump Rope Glazers
I absolutely loved the first Beth's album so it's no surprise I would spend alot of time with their second album "Jump Rope Glazers". The second album deals with much darker subject matter then the first...crappy relationships, being away from those you love, hardship/isolation but it's done in a splendidly fun and upbeat way.
- Top Tens
1. Blue Note Reimagined
In a difficult year where there were less tours and fewer new releases, it was good to see the further emergence of many excellent UK jazz artists that contributed to a celebration of the 80th anniversary of Blue Note Records. This album sounds modern in every way which is down to the artistes’ approaches. It’s a mixed bag but a brilliant representation of the diversity of Blue Note and of the modern scene.
- Top Tens
1. Sault – Untitled (Black Is)
The first of two albums released by the mysterious Sault this year initially draws you in through its brilliant production. It's hard to tell whether the music is mostly sample based, freshly recorded, or a mixture of the two, but it somehow has a timeless and non-geographic quality that means you could believe it was recorded in Bristol in the early 90s, or New York this year, or at any point in between.
- Top Tens
1. Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
Spring 2020 for me meant so many fears, including wondering if we would ever see festivals or live music again. Perhaps not the greatest fear, but such a big part of my life that was suddenly missing.
- Top Tens
Infra Violet is a collaboration between producer Toby Campen & guitarist singer-songwriter Bethany Munroe they were formed in early 2020. The duo's debut release 'Polaroid' with b-side 'Naïve' was released in the summer and followed by the single ‘Water’ on 27th November 2020. Here are their Top Ten albums of 2020