I know there's a desire to not let Aja dominate any more than it needs to, but yeah - "Deacon Blues" is awesome and belongs on there. Even if it means cutting the excellent "Black Cow".
I also never saw Katy Lied as being part of "the classic run", let alone the start of it since I prefer the first two over it. But I guess it fit the career narrative Phil was laying out.
Loved seeing "Kid Charlamagne" get its due. I'd probably swap out at least some of teh Gaucho and Katy Lied stuff for some combination of "Deacon Blues", "Bodhisattva", "Dirty Work", maybe "Charlie Freak" or "Barrytown", and some more Royal Scam.
I definitely noticed the weird divide between album and song nominations, but I kind of liked it. Give us older folks albums we can maybe fuck with because we like albums and then give the real vital young nods to songs.
But nominating THIS Royce album was sure a weird call. He put out a genuine fire album in 2018 and got no love for it, then put out a shaky follow-up full of questionable lyrics and got a Best Rap Album nod for it? Well, it IS The Grammys....
I haven't listened the whole thing and don't consider myself a fan...but I do want to go back and listen to it all before the year's out.
That said, I do agree that she she seems to have permanent Grammy nom. reservations.
Cool piece. "Hypnotic Eye" was really strong, especially coming so late in the game. The new Petty/Heartbreakers releases from the 21st Century were usually a bit uneven or otherwise short of "great", but a) they always had some really strong stuff (for example, people think of The Last DJ and dismiss it for being kind of crotchety on a few of the rockers, but the ballads like "Dreamville", "Like a Diamond", "Have Love Will Travel" are gorgeous) b) Hypnotic Eye was very possibly the best of them. There's surprising urgency on tracks like "Fault Lines", "Red River", and "Forgotten Man".
I thought In the Morse Code of Brake Lights was the best they've put out since TC, actually. A lot of the stuff in between didn't connect for me, but Whiteout Conditions got my attention again and ItMCoBL was a solid pay off.
I've always loved that he pseudo-sequelled it on Twin Cinema, especially since "Jackie, Dressed in Cobras" is probably my favorite of his NP songs and one of my favorite NP songs period.
I know I'm a outsider with this opinion and can accept that maybe it's a deficiency of mine, but What's Going On is loaded with filler - nothing between "What's Going On" and "Mercy Mercy Me" has ever sounded like anything special to me, and I can take or leave Wholy Holy, too. The remaining 4 songs are 10/10, though.
So yeah I'll take Mama's Gun over it in a heartbeat.
Nice call - my favorite band of the 21st Century with probably my favorite female soul singer of all time and I love that they rocked a stage together (they also did "Twinkle" off of New Amerykah Pt. 1 as I recall!).
Also meant to acknowledge how crazy it is for stuff like Fan-Tas-Tic V.2, First Born Second, Electric Circus, Amplified, etc to be the second tier of any grouping. Because they are all awesome.
Probably my favorite "scene" or the last 25 years. It hits so many of my pleasure points so consistently. Electric Circus was a key part of my early years of finally getting into hip-hop, but little did I know I'd wind up finding near-infinite joy and treasure in the run of releases that that essentially put a cap on and took to its furthest extent.
And Mama's Gun is absolutely a contender for the best of their releases - the fact that Things Fall Apart, Like Water for Chocolate, Voodoo and this all came out of the same set of minds is absurd because each one is a strong contender for AotY for their respective years (up against some seriously steep competition - Kid A, Soft Bulletin, The Fragile, Midnight Vultures, Mule Variations, Stories from the City, Supreme Clientele, Relationship of Command, ETC!).
The grooves are so warm and deep and Badu navigates them with such ethereal dexterity while still imbuing them with so much substance. Her entire catalog is awesome, but this is the crown jewel.
I'm pretty neutral on beabadoobee and I definitely prefer Angel (though I wasn't listening to her when she started), but why does beaba need in any way match up to Angel Olsen? And people liked this kind of music the first time around in the 90s, why can't they like it again now? It clearly hits some people's pleasure centers - they may just actually like it rather than "buying" it.
What a silly take!
Also, as much as I love it, I definitely never once considered it to be empowering (I guess I can see the logic of saying it is, but too heavy and devastating to empower, IMO).
The Stapleton was good but migth have been a bit worse than I expected - the moments where it's at its most rote-country, whether they're the sappy moments like the dog song or rowdy ones like the "Arkansas" bring it down a bit for me. But when it's good it's fire, and it has success in tender and rowdy moments, too ("Starting Over", "When I'm With You", "Whiskey Sunrise"> "Worry Be Gone" is a monster pairing, and he does a really nice, tender take on that Fogerty cover).
October was just stupidly good for new releases for me, including some of the ones you mentioned - OME, Sylvan Esso (not gonna make my Top 10 or anything, but 3 or 4 of the songs are among my favorites of the year, similar to how I feel about the Khruangbin alum this year), Clipping. Plus Black Thought, Sturgill, the second Dinner Party EP, Gorillaz (to my surprise), the Tom Petty Wildflowers expanded release, the second Hiss Golden Messenger live album, etc.
I think probably June/July was the only stretch that rivaled it for sheer density of stuff I got into.
The rollout has left me way more skeptical about the album than I was in January, but “Take Care In Your Dreaming” is awesome and how can I not get at least kind of excited again with that lineup laid out?
The front end grabbed me immediately but yeah, I initially dismissed the second half or so as an underwhelming slow fade. Now it's one of my dozen favorite albums of the last decade and I prefer it, perhaps sacrilegiously, to the debut. It's one of the happiest, most positive & feel-good albums I've ever heard and the back end that I once dismissed is like floating in a warm sea of comforting, playful bliss.
Gah, too much new stuff I'm interested in! LIVE DRUGS, the new Neil live archival, this new King Gizz, and I suppose this Routine project I wasn't aware of...plus maybe eventually checking out the Fogerty and Tank & the Bangas and the new King Gizz live?!? In mid-November when I just discovered SLIFT's Ummon?
All to say, you can find anyone who voted Trump in 2020 to be a thoroughly loathsome creature while still not putting the core of the Democratic Party on a pedestal/acknowledging their hand in the country being where it is in terms of political climate and policy failings (though it's nigh impossible to overstate the damage McConnell has done to the chances of improved policies in his run as top dog in the Senate).
Well they are pond scum. Some morally deficient, some mentally, many both.
People are allowed to feel a little relief after having spent so much time in the pressure cooker this year/since 2016 and as they're constantly hearing about the newest COVID surge going around the country. Do I have vast confidence in Biden to do what I want, only to a very limited extent/in certain areas. Do I regret that he was what was apparently needed to get Trump out? Oh yes. Do I think he & his administration need to be scrutinized, pressured, guided, etc? Again, yes.
But phenste can do phenste for a few weeks.
I don't disagree with much of anything you said there, but they also lack any aspirational ingredient to be better ("they" only = the specific type or rapper being discussed in this conversation, not rappers in general....but all Trump supporters). They take pride in the rat racing, fuck-or-be-fucked aspect of human nature with no acknowledgement of the better parts of humanity or what it could be.
Notice I said nothing either way about the Democratic Party, so no need for anyone to come in and lecture me about their own real but different shortcomings.
That whole run "HUMBLE" through "FEAR" is as good a run as he has on any of his album, IMO.
I love DAMN. and how it distills a lot of his favorite tricks and topics and structural tendencies from the previous albums into something cleaner and more concise, but doesn't lose the magic or impact. He even made 2010s U2 seem worth a....damn as anything other than a live act.
I love how hard it is to make a list for him - so many greats. I love Damn. and roll my eyes in disgust whenever I see people act like it's not in the same league as gkmc or TPaB, but "Humble" wouldn't be my #1. Great track, though.
Anyone else thing that "Never Catch Me", while not eligible for this list, is as strong a contender for his #1 as anything released as a "Kendrick Lamar" song?
Cool, cool. I have to say, this just made me realize that as much as I love Vol. 2, I've never listened to anything from Fan-Tas-Tic Vol 1.
And boy oh boy did I love Dr. Octagon in my earliest hip-hop days (not like that makes me special or unique, but it can't be understated).
Hell yes it was. I had a lot of really good times with it, none moreso than when I ate a light dose of mushrooms and threw it on. It's so warm, fun, and vibrant; love the Tropicalia and Afrobeat elements mixed with first-wave psych.
Or for Cee-Lo being an attempted date rapist?
That sucked enough back when I primarily knew him for Gnarles Barkley and his solo career, but even more once I finally went back and listened to Goodie Mob on their own and realized he wasn't always a clown (as well as realized just how shatteringly powerful "Liberation" off Aquemini really is in large part thanks to him), but in fact was one a really tuned-in, powerhouse soul singer and rapper.
Hey, don't doubt live albums, Ryan - this has been their best year in ages:
Sylvan Esso - WITH (awesome)
2 from Hiss Golden Messenger benefitting Durham public schools, the later of which I think is much stronger
a bunch from King Gizzard
LIVE DRUGS
that awesome DARKSIDE a week or two back
and while it's going to drop in January, they just announced what should be a great one from Kikagaku Moyo
plus some archival stuff from classic rockers
I feel like I'm missing a couple, still, too.
Not a combination I was expecting to see/hear today, but I'm glad I did. All involved have had good years already. My appreciation for Sylvan Esso has skyrocketed this year between the much-better-than-expected (based on when I saw them open for David Byrne in...2017?) live album and the very solid studio album. Free Love isn't quite in my Top 10 for the year or anything, but "Rooftop Dancing", "Ferris Wheel", and "Train" are all among my absolute favorite songs of the year and "Numb" is right behind them.
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