Best music of 2020... so far

Does anyone have an explanation for 2020? Anyone?

Yeah, neither do I.

In other years I've tried to say something wry and bleak but ultimately hopeful about the current state of affairs, but I really don't have anything. The best I can do is this: support Black Lives Matter and remember that your actions affect other people (so maybe wear a fucking mask, yeah?).

In other words, take Dr. Dreyfuss' advice from The Apartment: " Be a mensch! You know what that means? A human being."

Here's my list of 25 favorite albums from the first six months of the year, followed by 50 songs.

Albums

1. The New Abnormal – The Strokes 

2. Dedicated Side B – Carly Rae Jepsen 

3. SOUTHSIDE – Sam Hunt

4. Notes On A Conditional Form – The 1975

5. Alfredo – Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist 

6. Everything – Kota the Friend 

7. how i’m feeling now – Charli XCX 

8. It Is What It Is – Thundercat 

9. The Album – Teyana Taylor 

10. Rough and Rowdy Ways – Bob Dylan

11. Truth or Consequences – Yumi Zouma

12. Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa 

13. Local Honey – Brian Fallon 

14. Women In Music Pt. III – HAIM 

15. After Hours – The Weeknd 

16. It Was Good Until It Wasn’t – Kehlani

17. Introduction, Presence – Nation of Language 

18. The Slow Rush – Tame Impala

19. Printer’s Devil – Ratboys 

20. It Was Divine – Alina Baraz

21. Cold Water – Medhane 

22. Everything Is Beautiful – Princess Nokia 

23. RTJ4 – Run The Jewels 

24. Modus Vivendi – 070 Shake 

25. Bonny Light Horseman – Bonny Light Horseman

Songs

1. "Murder Most Fowl" – Rough and Rowdy Ways – Bob Dylan

2. "People, I’ve been sad" – La vita nuova – EP – Christine and the Queens

3. "Young Once" – SOUTHSIDE – Sam Hunt

4. "Hard Feelings" – Local Honey – Brian Fallon

5. "Texas Sun" – Texas Sun – EP – Khruangbin and Leon Bridges

6. "party 4 u" – how i’m feeling now – Charli XCX

7. "Circles" – Circles – Mac Miller

8. "Tomorrow’s Dust" – The Slow Rush – Tame Impala 

9. "Don’t’ Stop… Demo" – Single – Oasis

10. "Something to Rap About" feat. Tyler, The Creator – Alfredo – Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist

11. "JU$T" feat. Pharrell Williams and Zack de la Rocha – RTJ4 – Run The Jewels 

12. "Inside Friend" feat. John Mayer – Single – Leon Bridges 

13. "Fast Car" – Single – Black Pumas

14. "God Whispered Your Name" – Single – Keith Urban

15. "Martin " – Making a Door Less Open – Car Seat Headrest

16. "The Wall and I" – Introduction, Presence – Nation of Language

17. "Dear April" (Side A – Acoustic) – Single – Frank Ocean

18. "Southwark" – Truth or Consequences – Yumi Zouma

19. "Sweeter" feat. Terrace Martin – Single – Leon Bridges

20. "Cool" – Future Nostalgia – Dua Lipa

21. "Stumble On My Way" – Pick Me Up off the Floor – Norah Jones

22. "Misunderstood" (Live in New Orleans) – Painted (Deluxe Edition) – Lucky Daye

23. "Endamame" – Single – Zacari

24. "Time Flies" – Dark Lane Demo Tapes – Drake

25. "Pretty Lady" – Single – Tash Sultana

26. "SAVAGE ANTHEM" – PARTYMOBILE – PARTYNEXTDOOR

27. "Bad Behaviour" – Single – Elli Ingram

28. "To Me" – It Was Divine – Alina Baraz

29. "Hate The Club" (feat. Masego) – It Was Good Until It Wasn’t – Kehlani

30. "King Prospero" – World As a Waiting Room – White Denim

31. "Rapper Weed" feat. Boogie – Single – SiR

32. "You Amaze Me" – Devotion – Margaret Glaspy

33. "Shawn vs. Flair" – Pray for Paris – Westside Gunn

34. "Fake Love" feat. Elcamino – No One Mourns the Wicked – Big Ghost Ltd and Conway the Machine

35. "Lockdown" – Single – Anderson .Paak

36. "Something Comforting" – Single – Porter Robinson

37. "Universal Soldier" – A Written Testimony – Jay Electronica

38. "sadder badder cooler" – Sunshine Kitty (Paw Prints Edition) – Tove Lo

39. "Dangerookipawaa Freestyle” – Single – Ab-Soul

40. "Magic Hour " – Chilombo – Jhené Aiko

41. "In A Good Way" – Single – Faye Webster

42. "Fall_Window" – Forever – Starchild and The New Romantic

43. "Strobe Lights" feat. Gallant – Produced By: Adrian Younge – Adrian Younge

44. "In the World" feat. Nick Hakim – Single – Lance Skiiiwalker

45. "Whiskey Regrets" – Single – Rationale & TS Graye

46. "More Than My Hometown" – Single – Morgan Wallen

47. "Stick That In Your Country Song" – Single – Eric Church

48. "Murphy’s Law" – Single – Róisín Murphy

49. "Headlights" – I Was Born Swimming – Squirrel Flower

50. "Chapter 319" – Chapter 319 – EP – clipping.

Missing from playlist:
50. "Chapter 319" – Chapter 319 – EP – clipping.

Favourite Things I Heard in March 2019

Albums
1. American Love Call - Durand Jones and The Indications
2. Live in London - Flight of the Conchords 

3. American Football (LP3) - American Football

4. LIL BIG MAN - Maxo
5. Sucker Punch - Sigrid

6. Rap Or Go To the League - 2 Chainz
7. When I Get Home - Solange
8. You're The Man - Marvin Gaye
9. GIRL - Maren Morris
10. Death Race for Love - Juice WRLD

Songs
1."Seagull" - Live in London - Flight of the Conchords
2."Make Out With Me"- GIRL - Maren Morris
3. "Don't Kill My Vibe" - Sucker Punch - Sigrid
4. "Patience" - Single - Tame Impala
5. "Dogwood" - On the Line - Jenny Lewis
6. "Jerrod'" - When I Get Home - Solange
7. "Fast" - Death Race for Love - Juice WRLD

8. "Left Hand" feat. Joey Bada$$, Flatbush Zombies, The Underachievers, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution and CJ Fly - Single - Beast Coast
9. "Downhill Lullaby" - Single - Sky Ferreira
10. "Momma I Hit A Lick" feat. Kendrick Lamar - Rap Or Go To the League - 2 Chainz

Album of the Week: Tame Impala Currents

The challenge of following up what many critics and listeners dub a classic almost as soon as it's released is a kind of creative challenge that takes no small amount of courage to address. The fickleness of musical taste, the fear of stagnation and repetition, and fan pressure can all mix to create a lethal cocktail that can just kill any creative impulses an artist has.

So give it up to Tame Impala front man Kevin Parker for leaning into all the expectations created by the group's previous album, Lonerism, and not blinking. What he did do on Currents was dive into a whole new sonic palette and come up with a synthy, groove-heavy head trip of an album that rewards careful listening while it floats the listener away on a tinkling cloud of keys.

Parker has one of my favorite voices in music right now, and I'd listen to him do almost anything, but it's a delight to hear him front and center here. Parker can hit these high notes that can take your breath away with seeming ease, and without all the vocal tics and tricks that made Lonerism such a wild ride, Currents features some of his purist singing yet. Just listen to "The Less I Know The Better" or "Reality in Motion" to hear just why his voice is so special – there's a luminosity to his delivery and the way he layers the vocals that recalls The Beach Boys at their height.

Currents represents a great leap forward for Parker as a writer, both of music and lyrics. My favorite Tame Impala song (as of now) is "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards," and Currents feels like a full-album expansion of that sound. The hooks are there, but they're a little more subtle, a little more insinuating, but no less infectious once you find them. If anything, their hold is stronger because they sneak up on you. The band takes the repetition that can often be found in electronic music, and uses it to get these hooks into the listener. You can hear it on "Let It Happen," a seven-minute swirl of a lead single, driven by a repeated synth line that just gets into your head and plants a flag there.

When it comes to songwriting, there's a clarity that is completely refreshing on the album. In all honesty, as much as I adore Lonerism, I have no fucking idea what Parker was signing about on that album. Here, the lyrics chart the dissolution of a relationship – not in any kind of linear way, but with a kind of memory loop of stories and images. There's bitterness, self-deprecation and sly-humor in equal measure.

The best distillation of this blending of approaches to a break-up (and my favorite song on the record) is "'Cause I'm A Man," an almost Bob Dylan-eque ballad, brimming with brutal lines like "Lost in the moment for the second time,/Each fucking doubt I make, unleash a cry/I'm just pathetic, that's the reason why." It's an ode to the weakness of Parker in the relationship and men in general compared to women, and it absolutely kills.

There are more gorgeous moments than one could count throughout Currents – the interludes "Nags" and "Gossip" are particularly beautiful – and "Love/Paranoia" may well be the prettiest song about regret I've heard in ages. You also have to give it up for the sequencing and tracking, which makes the album as a whole sound damn near flawless.

In short, Tame Impala may have another classic on their hands. I can't wait to hear how the band rises to meet this new challenge next time.

Currents is out on Interscope.

Also recommended this week:

Iron & Wine & Ben Bridwell's (of Band of Horses) covers album, Sing Into My Mouth.

Future's surprise album, Dirty Sprite 2.

White Reaper's reberb-drenched White Repaer Does It Again.