AP’s Local Faves of 2020

Everything was different this year, but one thing will remain the same: We’ve put together a list of our favorite local releases that came out in 2020, unranked and uncriticized. We know we’re in good company when we say that we’ve missed live music performances so, so dearly. For musicians and music fans, that constant lacking has taken a toll on an integral part of our identities. And for the staff writers at AP (who are music fans and musicians alike), we’ve been searching for new ways to experience this thing we love. While we’ll never forget the twitch performances, there’s nothing that’s going to come close to the feeling of seeing your favorite song played less than six feet from you. Next year, we enter a painfully different music scene from the one we left behind in the spring. But we’re also stepping into an era where we can proudly acknowledge that despite a global pandemic, our city (and surrounding areas)’s artists did not stop creating. And music fans did not stop listening. And mark our words, we will not stop listening. So the results are in: These 25 artists put incredible work, perhaps even their best to date.

 

adammmmmmmmmmmm, ok im real i think

[RIYL: Atari Teenage Riot, PC Music, ASMR]

Positioned somewhere between an industrial record and the silicone trance of some of PC Music’s gnarlier releases, adammmmmmmmmmmm’s ok im real i think is basically a sonic fever dream. As a member of the multimedia collective Media_Rins, adammmmmmmmmmmm helped bring like-minded artists and DJs that pull apart pop and the avant garde like puddy to Boston, but their debut for the Prague-based tape label Genot Centre boldly stands on its own. At times sounding like an internet radio station playing on a computer riddled with spyware, the album’s distorted-but-familiar samples— or maybe they’re just covers— pop up and minimize freely, producing a hallucinatory effect not unlike the album’s dissociative title. Elsewhere, pummeling rave kicks fall through trap doors into noise outbursts or ambient soundscapes, or both; simultaneously. ok im real i think is a lot to take in, but the future of anything is always hard to comprehend at first brush.

Dillon Riley

Alexander, Wonderland

[RIYL: short plainspoken songs by a nice young man, Jonathan Richman, (Sandy) Alex G]

The short, plainspoken songs on Alexander’s Wonderland have this very specific late-oughties indie folk sound that have eluded so many this decade. On top of that, Wonderland exudes warmth (like how Florist’s songs feel) and nostalgia (like the haunting sound that Big Thief taps into). Most songs on the album don’t even hit the two minute mark, but Alex Fatato somehow manages to fit a world of sparkly, dreamy indie pop—complete with lyrics about potatoes, Christmas trees, moms, and dogs—into nine songs. It’s a gorgeous triumph.

Jackie Swisshelm

Anjimile, Giver Taker

[RIYL: lush indie folk, inspirational tales of self-discovery, Sufjan Stevens]

From the opening finger-picked acoustic guitar and sweeping flute on “Your Tree,” Giver Taker is an all-enveloping tidal wave of an album that is as deeply moving as it is compellingly realized. The breakthrough debut album from Jamaica Plain’s Anjimile Chithambo, Giver Taker culls from years of songwriting and reflection to paint an intimate portrait of recovery, gender identity, spirituality, and family history. Often, Anjimile explores the intersections of these various subjects, as on how family and gender inform his sense of spirituality on standouts “1978” and “Maker,” respectively. Delivered with a bevy of gorgeous acoustic arrangements and Anjimile’s thunderously passionate voice, Giver Taker is a monumental folk album that serves as a grand coronation for tremendous talent on the rise.

Nat Marlin

bedbug, life like moving pictures

[RIYL: thinking of communism in a field of flowers, The Radio Dept.]

bedbug has become one of the most prolific current songwriters in Boston, and their fourth full-length album life like moving pictures builds on their sample-based bedroom pop from their previous three records. Dylan Citron’s growth shows through the increasing political conversations brought into life like moving pictures, using music as a way to educate their listeners with interspersed speeches. There is also a beautiful connection by following the four seasons throughout the album, and these two parts create a dichotomy that makes life like moving pictures a perfect album for both very active listening or passive listening. It fits whichever mood your melting brain can handle from the year that has been 2020.

Christine Varriale

Billy Dean Thomas, For Better Or Worse

[RIYL: measured self-reflection & flexing]

Billy Dean Thomas has become one of the area’s best rappers through sheer force and flow, and their latest release is the first of hopefully many victory laps. It isn’t all fun and games, as the seven songs share a brutal honesty in the lyrics. Thomas is open on a personal level, rapping about financial struggles on “Balance” and the weariness of day-to-day life on the standout “Stressin & Flexxin.” They also zoom out to a divided nation on “Trump vs. Biden” and to the marginalized people that saw neither as a viable option for change. For Better or Worse does live up to its title however, as there are plenty of masterful one-liners and lyrical flexes throughout (as on the rollicking “Trust No Mo”), all cemented by Thomas’s unique and robust vocal flow. This album is short but eclectic and thoroughly human.

Andrew McNally

Cliff Notez & Dephrase, Social Absence

[RIYL: Anderson .Paak, Flying Lotus, killer rapper-producer collabs]

Even with social distancing being part and parcel of our COVID-afflicted days, rapper Cliff Notez and producer Dephrase still managed to come together (while distanced) to deliver one of the most potent hip-hop EPs of the year. A Boston collaboration dream team, Cliff and Dephrase bring out the best in each other’s styles on Social Absence, with the former’s descriptively introspective lyrics matched with the energetic syncopated beats of the latter. The combined effect of both artists’ contributions consistently enthrall, as on the beat switch into double-time on the Latrell James-guesting “Voodoo Doll,” or the synchronicity between Cliff’s flow and Dephrase’s persistently bounding bass on “Spiral.” With each of the EP’s three short tracks vividly evoking the frantic frustrations and anxieties of these strange times, Social Absence makes the most of its time to boldly play to both Cliff Notez and Dephrase’s greatest strengths.

Nat Marlin

DJ WhySham, Finally

[RIYL: Boston, the 617 area code, art openings at Dorchester Art Project]

There’s a magnetic quality to DJ WhySham’s album, Finally. The album is a 28-minute talent showcase, a glorious smattering of local flavor. Rappers, singers, and spoken word poets coexist under WhySham’s steady hand at the turntable. No genre is off limits. Horny trap, futuristic R&B, protest rap. Everyone gets a turn at the mic, and everyone goes for broke.

Ben Bonadies

Eleanor Elektra, Exquisite Corpse

[RIYL: Joni Mitchell, environmentalism]

I would not call Eleanor Elektra’s Exquisite Corpse a “happy” record, but there is an ecstatic quality to Elektra’s presentation of our coming doomsday. Each song is sung with the emotion of a pastor but feels like her version of The 95 Theses as she enumerates the causes of our ruination in great detail, all without a whiff of piety. The music, jazz-inflected folk, is beautifully orchestrated and transmutes her storytelling to modern myth. In her hands, the sweeping scope of songs like “1921” or “Condor” feel as intimate and devastating as any diaristic, singer-songwriter number. The political has never felt so personal.

Ben Bonadies

food house, food house

[RIYL: 100 gecs, Minecraft, energy drinks]

Sounding like the greatest party that none of us could attend this year, complete with Spongebussy, dead presidents and dreams of kissing Skrillex, food house is served. The latest project from hyper pop pioneers Gupi and Fraxiom, the pair manages to pump enough pop culture references into these eleven tracks to make even the most seasoned influencer scratch their heads. When they’re not dissing Vineyard Vines, they’re turning the dance floor on its head with chaos you can only expect from signees of Dog Show Records, the label started by 100 Gecs’ Dylan Brady. It’s loud, it’s lawless and it’s never taking itself too seriously. Bouncing between absurdity with playground insults, “im sick of your poo, you smell like yucky shoe,” to more scathing remarks, “you only want the me you built for me, and he’s fucking dead,” leaves me hungry for more and food house is open for business.

Andrew Bourque

Freezepop, Fantasizer

[RIYL: Metric, The Human League, neon lights with vintage keyboards]

Even in a year without gigs, Freezepop could not have returned at a better time. Following a five year absence, the long-running Boston electropop outfit resurfaced with a bang in 2020, tossing out several maxi-singles complete with b-sides, remixes, and alt versions before Fantasizer’s mid-autumn release. As always, the band came armed with songs that are sonically infectious and lyrically stout. From the star-crossed lovers of the widescreen-ready title track to the girl group nods of “Rare Bird,” Liz Enthusiasm remains a captivating storyteller. Also of note is the always-stellar keyboard work from Sean Drinkwater and co., teasing hooks out of every corner of Fantasizer’s tight framework. Suffice to say everyone could use some upbeat bops to help glide around the rooms we’ve barely left since last March, and Freezepop delivered the goods with ease.

Dillon Riley

Handsome Ghost, Some Still Morning

[RIYL: Iron & Wine, grappling with past regrets, Jenny Owen Youngs]

There are several moments on Handsome Ghost’s sophomore album where everything else just seems to pause. Fitting that it’s titled Some Still Morning as each track embodies that just-before-the-dawn peacefulness. Without the distractions of noise and traffic, the early morning provides ample space to reflect, something that Tim Noyes and Eddie Byun explore throughout eleven blissful tracks. Recalling past relationships, the duo walk a tightrope between longing and acceptance. On one hand pleading, “if for a moment I am crossing your mind I hope it lingers,” before shifting to a more regretful, “I wish you’d never think of me, I honestly believe that would be best.” Standout track “Massachusetts” plays like a past memory. One that returns with the same anxiety and pressure to reach out to someone who isn’t looking back. Handsome Ghost will grab you by the heartstrings and never let go, and you won’t want them to.

Andrew Bourque

Honey Cutt, Coasting

[RIYL: Alvvays, dream pop in your surf rock]

Honey Cutt has been making waves in the indie dream pop genre since 2017, but the release of this masterfully crafted album rightfully took the Boston area by storm. While Coasting is bound to make you jump, swing, and spin, it’s also romantic and whimsical, making this the perfect accompaniment for walking around and noticing the beautiful wonders that often are overlooked.

-Allyssa DelVecchio

House of Harm, Vicious Pastimes

[RIYL: black eyeliner, driving at night]

As the weather gets colder, it is perfect time to get cloaked in the warm blanket of House Of Harm’s Vicious Pastimes. With tones and aesthetics inspired by, but not derivative of, classic ’80s synth rock bands like The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen, HOH has managed to create a refreshing and original album that feels as needed in 2020 as it would’ve been in 1984. The Boston trio’s debut album is the perfect cruising soundtrack for driving aimlessly down a dark highway with no destination. Vicious Pastimes is for fans of ’80s synth-goth nostalgia and getting lost in an atmospheric wave of reverb and analog synths. Put on some eyeliner and let it overtake you.

Joey DelPonte

Jiles, It’s Not Much, but it’s Mine (Deluxe)

[RIYL: Earl Sweatshirt, IDK, early Tyler, the Creator]

Each year that goes by is only going to feature more members of Brockton’s Van Buren collective. Last year, we had Lord Felix, and now SAINT LYOR and Jiles have both added their names to our list. It’s Not Much, but it’s Mine initially dropped as a five song EP earlier in the year, and it got an extended re-release just in time for Halloween, which fit the heavy brooding bass lines and eerie synths of “Stones.” Bonus track “Rutland” has the VB crew show up for an all-star game. The deluxe version doesn’t add much content in terms of elapsed time, but it rounds out the project and makes it feel more complete. Jiles raps with a calm intensity, a storyteller inhabiting a dark, twisted world.

Harry Gustafson

Jymmy Kafka, Lil Nothin’

[RIYL: Vince Staples, Joey Bada$$, skateboarding]

Jymmy Kafka is a true proponent of the principle of writing what you know. On his debut LP Lil Nothin’, Kafka takes us through the days of his life: riding the green line, the reggaetón blasting out of car speakers that wakes him up each morning, wanting to quit his job but worrying about paying the bills just the same. It’s minutiae for sure, but, due in no small part to the masterful production throughout from fellow Massachusetts hitmaker Rilla Force, he continually finds ways to make the trivialities of real life unnaturally captivating. The duo make for an exciting team, with Kafka finding all sorts of unique pockets to rap within Rilla’s multidimensional, but always tuneful beats. Although 2020 was a rich year for collaboration within Boston’s ever-vibrant hip-hop scene, Lil Nothin’ still feels like a giant leap forward for both artists involved.

Dillon Riley

Kira McSpice, Aura/Attack

[RIYL: Grouper, Lingua Ignota, ambient and heavy drone]

If you’re looking for one of the most versatile years any local artist has had, look no further than experimental singer-songwriter Kira McSpice. Currently in the midst of a conceptual project about the various stages of a migraine across four corresponding EPs, McSpice followed up 2019’s initial phase Prodrome with Aura and Attack this year. Each release takes a completely different sound and approach to mimicking the sensory effects of their titular phases, with Aura using electronic ambient to evoke visual disturbances and Attack shifting into doom metal to embody sensations of pain. McSpice’s vocals act as the constant foundation that ties the EPs together, layered in compounding drones or anguished cries to fit each record’s mood, building to soaring highs at climactic swells. Both EPs take wholly unique approaches to capturing the sonic representation of living with mental illness, and build high expectations for the project’s upcoming conclusion with Postdrome.

Nat Marlin

Landowner, Consultant

[RIYL: Q and Not U, Big Ups, IDLES, Ought]

One of the best local rock records of the year, Landowner’s Consultant is an absolute blood rush of staccato guitars, raspy vocals and anxious lyrics. The opening track “Victim of Redlining” is immediately unsettling with lyrics about your own home being bought out from under you, and this sense of dread permeates the whole album. The always gruff and sometimes strained vocals add a sense of uneasiness, as do the lyrics about foundations being uprooted. But don’t think this isn’t also a party! The persistent choppy guitar and bass rhythms lead to some genuine earworms, as on “Swiss Pavilion” and “Mystery Solved.” The end result is a noisy but danceable rock record that’s more hyper than anything. The paranoia is maybe an emotion that we don’t want to revisit, yet it’s a welcome distraction from the otherwise general complacency of 2020.

Andrew McNally

Mallcops, We Made Plans to Self-Destruct and Return to the Stars*

*Note to readers: Joey DelPonte from Mallcops writes for Allston Pudding, but we still wanted to include his work in our list as we believe it to be one of the best albums of the year.

[RIYL: never leaving your emo phase, Neck Deep, Origami Angel]

If you’re looking to relive your emo glory days, or just looking to get a feel for emo pop punk in Boston, this album is a great place to start. With melodies that you’ll often find yourself humming and captivatingly raw metaphors, Mallcops’s We Made Plans to Self-Destruct and Return to the Stars is a fantastic representation of some of the best music put out this year. If one thing is for certain in 2020, it’s that Mallcops never disappoints.

Allyssa DelVecchio

NOVA ONE, lovable

[RIYL: Angel Olsen, hazy ’60s guitar pop, if Dolly Parton were kind of emo]

months later i’m still gushing over roz raskin (NOVA ONE’s) album lovable. offering escape during bleak times this lucid dream-like compilation welcomes us into NOVA ONE’s curated alien world of semi-distorted reality. much like synesthesia, our senses are awakened and mingle when we enter raskin’s lovable trance. the last line of the album leaves us with “and I want to know how it ends,” a question that lingers in our minds as each strange day passes by. with these songs we can float away from it all.

mira kaplan

Optic Bloom, Space Garden

[RIYL: space but also underwater but in a forest too, The XX]

A rapper-producer partnership between Flowerthief and Dephrase, this duo had been garnering some advance hype after their 2019 Boston Music Awards performance. In 2020, they delivered on that hype with their debut album, an emotional journey that celebrates those who feel like outsiders in a world not made for them. It moves between soulful and sad to incredibly danceable, which owes itself to Dephrase’s deft production style and uncanny ability to turn the spaciest beat into an irresistible dance rhythm. The deeply layered beats matched with Flowerthief’s lyrics that yearn to find place and meaning show this is an album made for more than just casual listening: something to come back to years down the road as a guiding light in difficult times.

Harry Gustafson

Pink Navel, Giraffe Track

[RIYL: R.A.P. Ferreira, reminiscing with your mom, ’90s animated movies]

Maine-based alternative rapper Pink Navel’s work has often dealt in the concept of nostalgia, but their latest album takes their exploration of the subject into new territory for Devin Bee. Described as “a love letter to my upbringing,” Giraffe Track weaves their signature intricately detailed lyricism and laid-back synthy beats with interstitial home recordings of Bee reflecting with their mother. The record’s near-continuous flow lends it the atmosphere of flow-of-consciousness reminiscing, where each memory holds personal connections to another. It’s a structure that lends the album both a sweet poignancy on tracks like “Paradiddle” and a playful fondness on songs like “Conductor” (not to mention Bee’s unique take on the Hercules musical number “One Last Hope”). Giraffe Track is one of Pink Navel’s most keenly observant albums to date, greatly showcasing Devin Bee’s natural talent for musing on the past and its impact on everything that follows.

Nat Marlin

SAINT LYOR, IF MY SINS COULD TALK

[RIYL: JID, BROCKHAMPTON, Princess Nokia]

Van Buren Records have taken over the Boston music scene in the last few years, continually churning out releases from the Brockton-based crew. SAINT LYOR’s IF MY SINS COULD TALK is one of the many excellent albums they released this year, and it’s a refreshing and fun album in a year full of tragedy after tragedy. I’ve found myself needing to let loose alone in my apartment many nights this year, and I always came back to this album. Songs like “FINSTA” appear superficial when glancing at the title, but dig deep into issues of self-doubt, paranoia, and Black pride. IF MY SINS COULD TALK is the album Boston, and the country needs in 2020.

Christine Varriale

SEA, Impermanence

[RIYL: Vile Creature, Insect Ark, depressive post-metal]

Boston atmospheric doom band SEA has more than made good on the promise of their early splits and EP with their debut LP Impermanence. At a haunting but brisk 42 minutes, the grinding beauty of Impermanence reveals itself with repeated listens. Among the record’s many peaks is “Dust,” its closing track. A towering 13 and a half minutes of swaying bliss, “Dust”’s opening blast beats drop into a soothing post-rock shuffle as co-vocalists Stephen LoVerme and Liz Walshak deliver their cleanest melodies, mirroring the opening salvo of “Penumbra” but in reverse. Walshak and Mike Blasi’s guitars are also of note: heavy and imposing, but never atonal; they provide a bedrock for the band’s majestic sprawl. Serving as the unofficial heavier house band at Somerville’s sadly gone (but not forgotten) ONCE, SEA has become a key figure in Boston’s vital metal scene. May another venue soon take its place in housing these riffs.

Dillon Riley

Squirrel Flower, I Was Born Swimming

[RIYL: Mitski, Adrianne Lenker, reading Allston Pudding]

I Was Born Swimming was my number two most-listened-to album of the year… and that’s only counting Spotify streams. How many times did I smash that play button on Bandcamp? How many loops around the ol’ record player? We can never be sure, but it was definitely enough times to wonder if singer/guitarist Ella O’Connor Williams is pulling in Bonnie Raitt vibes in the second verse of “Rush,” and enough times to remember what ‘plans’ were when she sings “Don’t say that you love me, then make other plans” in “Streetlight Blues.” One of the best lines of all time, and one of the very best albums of the year.

Jackie Swisshelm

Sweeping Promises, Hunger for a Way Out

[RIYL: Dehd, Mini Dresses, Slumberland Records]

Post-punk Boston band Sweeping Promises have only played one show, yet they’ve somehow landed big time critical acclaim on both sides of the pond. Turn on their debut LP, Hunger for a Way Out, and you’ll hear why. The title track is a rush of adrenaline, an addictive tune ripe for repeat listens. Not to be out done, Hunger is chock-full of punk nuggets. Heavenly pop vocal acuity can be heard throughout, while chugging bass lines and lo-fi beats propel slicing guitar licks. I disagree with the dismissive notion that this brand of under-produced punk rock is a throwback to a specific time period, as some writers have noted. ‘Making more with less’ has been around forever. Sweeping Promises carry the mantle better than most.

Dan Moffat