It’s been an unpredictably rough year for everyone but we’re somehow still here and in 2020 that’s already enough to be happy about. The amount of music posted has been out of control so for whoever is interested in catching up here’s the TOP 30 albums as voted by the members of the group. Enjoy!
Check out the poll here to see/know more:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Eaposting/permalink/1857416207730671/
30. Speaker Music – Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry
The ever-prolific DeForrest Brown Jr’s 2020 output includes 3 EPs, a collaborative illbient tape with bookworms, A/V performances, and a wealth of critical writing and speaking. The centerpiece, though, is this album released on Planet Mu. His seething, relentless brand of techno surges along with a breathless insistence, drawing into focus music’s inherently political nature as well as its potential for liberation.
By Patrick Miller
29. Bladee – 333
An incredibly productive year for Bladee and all of his drain gang. 333 has been voted as the best one by him this year but if you like it you’r lucky, there’s at least another great album with Mehcatok and a stunning mixtape from 2020 you can catch up with.
By Thomas Borgogni
28. Ange Halliwell – The Wheel of Time
With a meditative focus on softly plucked guitar harp washed in shimmer, Halliwell crafts a meditation on seasonal change and internal metamorphosis. Assisted by guests Malibu, Odete, Avril23, Sarahsson, and Sandylene’s luminous contributions, “The Wheel of Time” aches with ineffable tenderness.
By Patrick Miller
27. bod [包家巷] – Music for Self Esteem
Don’t be afraid of the 37 tracks long tracklist. As the first track says correctly “Listen To The Whole Series It’ll Be Rewarding“. We can definitelly confirm that. One of the most transporting ambient releases of 2020.
By Thomas Borgogni
26. Jessy Lanza – All The Time
Bouncy and poppy as ever Jessy Lanza is back with a new set of catchy yet intimate tunes that make this cold year a little more bearable.
By Thomas Borgogni
25. Rian Treanor – File Under UK Metaplasm
A body work as twisted as it is accomplished, technically excellent and constantly exciting. A perfect example of calculated insanity.
By Michele Sinatti
24. A. G. Cook – Apple
If 7G was a paradoxical “behind the scene” of something yet to be heard, Apple is the actual “movie”, it’s A.G.’s ultimate, boldest and concise musical statement. A cross-genre, polarising work, that sees rock ballads and trance-like super-saws go hand in hand with chart pop and electronic avant-garde. Simply put: it’s music that explores what music is (and could be) in the post-internet era.
By Michele Sinatti
23. Duma – Duma
Varied background of punk and metal evolutions of the late 90s, alongside with the instances of the present, to create the rebellious, vital and wishful music for the future.
By Giovanni De Scisciolo
22. Sega Bodega – Salvador
On every moment the album sounds ironic, caustic and sharp but not less open hearted and intimate, like a both merciless and caring love letter to Salvador Navarrete, aka himself.
By Giovanni De Scisciolo
21. Actress – Karma & Desire
Extremely delicate and light digital dreamscape and a steady stream of consciousness whispered by the masterful voices of Zsela and Sampha are the key element of the seventh album of the british producer. However, there is no shortage of club aimed tracks, such as “Leaves Against the Sky”, “Loveless”, featuring Aura T-09, or “Loose” with Christel Well.
By Giovanni De Scisciolo
20. Jesse Osborne-Lanthier – Left My Brain @ Can Paixano (La Xampanyeria) OST
Raw and coarse as a non finito sculpture, Osborne-Lanthier‘s latest work is a restless body of music, that spans between and mixes different sounds, genres and styles, as a mind in the act of remember something. Never fully quiet, even in its more resting moments, Lanthier’s music is always seething, as in search of something forever lost.
By Michele Sinatti
19. Beatrice Dillon – Workaround
Composed during free moments in the past three years, Workaround reflects many features of Dillon’s music as we’ve known it from years of tapes, EPs, collaborations and DJ mixes; from its hypnotic hold on the dancefloor to its tendency to editing and manipulation, a particular way to clean sounds and make them crystalline.
By Francesco Cellino
18. Yung Lean – Starz
Starz isn’t fully comparable to any of Lean’s previous works, yet it surely borrows a bit from Warlord, Frost God and Stranger, as well as his side projects. What really makes it a potential staple of contemporary experimental music is the level of artistic consciousness the album reaches.
By Margherita Rho
17. Shygirl – ALIAS EP
An EP that perfectly fits in a year when everyone has to come to terms not only with a sometimes forced virtual sex life, but even with a picture of itself dancing and singing in a virtual rave or live concert.
By Giovanni De Scisciolo
16. Nicolas Jaar – Cenizas
On what is perhaps his most intimate and graceful work to date, Nicolas Jaar puts any dance fascination aside and delivers an album dense with ambient, neo classical and almost sacred music. Cenizas, meaning ashes, is as mournful and beautiful as they come.
By Lorenzo Montefinese
15. Roly Porter – Kistvaen
Kistvaen is built upon field recordings made on site, which makes it a site-specific work; ultimately, though, it trespasses the physical and conceptual boundaries of its genesis to become a universal sonic meditation. In the words of the press release, “this is otherworldly sonic necromancy”.
By Lorenzo Montefinese
14. Lorenzo Senni – Scacco Matto
Scacco Matto is an excellent and enjoyable album, but it’s even more exciting to think of it as a stepping stone towards new sonic territory for the Warp-signed artist.
By Carlo Casentini
13. Oneohtrix Point Never – Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
On what sounds like a “lost&found” collage of pop transmissions mingled and stitched with fragments of radio interferences and experimental episodes, OPN confirms his fascination with more canonical song format already tackled by Age Of. Themes of memory, longing, nostalgia and technology are present as always, yet molded in a form which is at the same time familiar and uncanny.
By Giovanni De Scisciolo
12. SALEM – Fires In Heaven
The unexpected comeback of the cult band SALEM reminds us how the taste for Southern rap, Dj Screw and shoegaze of the Midwest duo (originally trio) has always been there as an influence for a whole decade dominated by the idea of the end of the world. Now they come full circle, resuming the speech at their best during one of the most dramatic years of the modern history.
By Giovanni De Scisciolo
11. Arca – @@@@@
In this uncommon 62 minutes long single she shapes intelligible music for a dystopian, AI-dominated future that seems closer than ever to us. In our present, already dominated by algorithms, @@@@@ challenges the rules experimenting an impenetrable and emotional language.
By Francesco Cellino
10. Autechre – SIGN
On their much awaited – and perhaps unexpected – return after the epic mayhem of elseq1-5 and NTS sessions, the British duo returns with Sign. Favoring accessibility and melody over extreme impenetrability, Sign is Autechre at their most easy-listening without sacrificing any complexity they got us used to.
By Lorenzo Montefinese
09. A.G. Cook – 7G
A deep dive into the creative mind of one of the most revolutionary producers of the last decade, 7G is a unique, deconstructed listening experience. Each of the seven discs explores a different element of Cook’s production, like drums or piano, and acts as a sonic time-capsule for the artist itself that one can jump in as a listener or as musician, discovering different things dive after dive.
By Michele Sinatti
08. Elysia Crampton – ORCORARA 2010
ORCORARA 2010 empowers the listener to envision and create a reality where these stories of violence and destruction are not pushed into obscurity. Instead these stories, and the people they represent, are treated with the high status of any greek Epic or modern big-budget Superhero film–as they should be.
By Heather Mitchell
07. Nazar – Guerrilla
Guerrila gives us all the elements to reflect on how the good old visceral low frequencies which constitute the hardware that move the collective body can interact with the alienation and individuality of the HD interface, to define new paths for the music in these foolish times.
By Giovanni De Scisciolo
06. Lyra Pramuk – Fountain
Classically-trained, especially in opera, Pramuk takes her background towards a deliberately experimental path: the result is a curious hybrid sound, a post-human, non-binary and mostly wordless language made by complex textures, alternations of baritone and falsetto voices, echo effects and timbres joints.
By Francesco Cellino
05. Charli XCX – How I’m Feeling Now
Even if initially teased as a “quarantine album”, how I’m feeling now is far from a concept album. But still, it perfectly captures the present zeitgeist, made by the internet warping every aspect of our locked-up lives, missing hanging out with friends and great love stories to celebrate.
By Francesco Cellino
04. Arca – Kick i
By the end of the record, Arca has moved through so many different soundscapes that could make someone feel confused or destabilized. But nevertheless, her volcanic ability to push forward new ideas and to innovate musically as only a very few can do is remarkable.
By Francesco Cellino
03. Oklou – Galore
A record that will bring to tears and touch even the most soulless of your friends. For what regards emotions and emovity in music it doesn’t get much better than this. Galore is the last outstanding chapter from one of the most promising artists of our generation.
By Thomas Borgogni
02. Yves Tumor – Heaven to a Tortured Mind
As a demiurge on Heaven to a Tortured Mind, Yves Tumor intersects visions and soundscapes in a psychedelic vortex. Turning the tables once again, they remain true to themselves but goes beyond all conventions and expectations, succeeding as only the most talented artists do.
By Francesco Cellino
01. Eartheater – Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin
Acoustic guitars and soft voices hold sway over a dramatic, freaky world of mechanic manipulations and electronic disturbances. NY-based musician Alexandra Drewchin combines folk songwriting and chamber music with the post-club aesthetic, achieving an elegant and intimate synthesis even in the most baroque passages: a perfect balance between the warmest flames and the chilliest dew. Two years after IRISIRI, she delivers another outstanding album on PAN which perfectly sums up her multifaceted artistic attitude.
By Francesco Cellino
A.G. Cook Actress Ange Halliwell Arca autechre Beatrice Dillon Bladee bod [包家巷] Charli XCX Duma Eartheater Elysia Crampton Jesse Osborne-Lanthier Jessy Lanza lorenzo senni Lyra Pramuk Nazar Nicolas Jaar oklou Oneohtrix Point Never Rian Treanor Roly Porter SALEM Sega Bodega Shygirl Speaker Music Yung Lean Yves Tumor
Last modified: December 28, 2020
