December 2020 has felt like the shortest and the longest month at the same time, however weird that may sound. Working from home, I had all the time in the world to listen to new music, yet it took me until the last few days of the year to actually decide on my favourite 10 (see my albums of the year 2020). And I didn’t find any room to write or post anything else at all.
So here is the list that I usually have accompany my AOTY list: my most listened albums of the year. I always love contrasting my favourite releases with what I actually listen to.
This year, the premier thing to note is that 9 out the 10 are albums from 2020. I really made it a habit to listen to new music, and only occassionally dug out some old favourites. It was no year for discovering older music, maybe because so little pre-2020 music actually provides great context for whatever has happened this year.
The list:
- fabric presents Maribou State
- Tame Impala - The Slow Rush
- Little Dragon - New Me, Same Us
- Caroline Rose - Superstar
- POLIÇA - When We Stay Alive
- Peter McConnell - The Grim Fandango
- Preservation - Eastern Medicine, Western Illness
- Arms and Sleepers - Safe Area Earth
- The Weeknd - After Hours
- Mac Miller - Circles
- Caribou - Suddenly
Some special mentions in this list:
fabric presents Maribou State Some would call an album like this easy listening, muzak or some other term that would imply creating music for setting a scene isn’t an art or a skill. This record didn’t make a particular emotional impression on me or anything, but it flows like an absolute dream. I can listen to it early morning, put it on in the background when I have guests, have it accompany a late night whisky, or I could put it on at a party and it would be great. That is a quality in itself, and if nothing else it has made this my most listened album of 2020.
Peter McConnell - The Grim Fandango One of my quarantine activities was playing some old games I had lying around but never played. One of these was the 90’s puzzle adventure The Grim Fandango, and I had an absolute blast with it. Partly because of its amazing soundtrack, which was rerecorded with an actual orchestra some years ago because of the game’s anniversary remaster. It contains many great tracks that hold their own outside of the game, which caused this album’s appearance as the only non-2020 album in my list. And in fact, the only non-2020 album in my top 26 most listened albums this year…
Felt like writing today, so a little more context than usual. Hope you enjoyed reading and hope you can take away one or two great albums from my list. Cheers and have a great 2021!