2020 end of year lists

My boy Bruce, don't want to get too picky but you know...

If you don't mind it I'll move all the other ones a position so it will be:

16 This Is The Kit
17 Taylor
18 The War and Treaty
...
26 Yves Tumour

You two are definitely a couple...



of cunts!

SPOILER: Click to show

hahahahaha  

The lady doth protest too much, methinks..

Haha, oh yes you can, of course.
Made the list while being pretty tired so messed up a bit

I bet you would have fought for Franco if you had the chance

We’re all friends here

Except for you and your couple aye

All I ask is you don’t destroy my list like you destroyed the Aztec Empire

Still time to get your end of decade lists in, folks

List and reactions to others lists coming day after tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the day!

SOME OLDER STUFF I LISTENED TO FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR AND REALLY ENJOYED

John Cale - Paris 1919
Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
Queens of the Stone Age - self-titled
The The - Soulmining
Wire - Pink Flag
Julian Cope - Fried
The Fall - I Am Kurious Oranj
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
The Blue Nile - Hats
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

I was obvs aware of this album for years, but it really clicked for me this year. I've been playing it in my spare bedroom while working from home like a real bad ass, I can tell you! Has a guitar ever sounded better than Eddie Hazel on Super Stupid?

THE COLUMBIA_ROCKS_MAN SINGLE OF THE YEAR

D Double E ft Kano - Tell Me A Ting



It sounds fucking massive. Kano is now the undisputed king of first-gen grime acts since Wiley went full Ken Livingstone.

TOP EPs of 2020
As usual some brilliant Glasgow bands released some of my favourite music of the year... but on digital release EPs as the concept of an album is fast becoming an utter irrelevance to anyone under the age of 30.

Walt Disco - Young Hard and Handsome 
Popular forum member Karl Mahoney described this band as sounding like "Marilyn Manson meets Visage". Need I say more?!

We Should Hang Out More - March Last Year
DJ duo who mix disco and house and a lot more. All their EPs are great fun. Would have loved to have gone to one of their club nights if 2020 hadn't gone all 2020.
Little Simz - Drop 6
Next album should be BIG
Pozi - 176
Don't let the obsessive love of this band from Mahoney and Kev put you off.. they are actually quite good for a TCOTU pub band!

There's a dozen or so albums I could have added to this list (Hello, Catholic Action's second record!)but frankly I don't care enough to rank them. So have a lean 10.

10) Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
The first time a new Dylan album has ever made my end of year lists. Yes, it's the one major award he lacked! Until now. Probably a reflection of my descent into middle age. Tbf the songs are generally strong and I find his voice fine... he's getting the best out of it.
9) Run the Jewels - RTJ4
This was almost overwhelming on first listen. The production and the sheer volume of guests made it sound absolutely massive. On repeated listens the shine comes off somewhat. It doesn't have the staying power or any of the previous three.
8) Nova - Re-Up
Edinburgh's answer to Little Simz? Not quite yet. Production is basic but the chops are there.
7) The Aliens - Electronville
Yes! The band who produced Robot Man are back! With a long, meandering and often baffling psych-folk work-out!
6) Action Bronson - Only For Dolphins
SPLASH!
5) D Double E - Double or Nothing
See above.
4) Callum Easter - Green Door Sessions
Everyone's favourite Ross County left-back continues his rich vein of form.
3) The Strokes - The New Abnormal
HEY! YEAH! OH!
But seriously this was an incredible album title given events. Songs sound great too.
2) Fontaines DC - A Hero's Death
Real dividing line on this forum between the old lads like Karl and the hip young cats like me and JP over this CLASSIC album.
1) Tame Impala - The Slow Rush
I used to enjoy taking the piss out of Lame Impala fans like others on here. But then I wondered why a hipster Aussie surfer with too much money shouldn't be able to make a psych rock record if he fucking well wants. People wanked over Goat (myself included) a few years back, and frankly, they were utter shite bar two or three songs. It's amazing what a couple of masks and a few old Hawkwind riffs can do.

In all honesty I stumbled across Let It Happen at the end of last year and was blown away by how good it sounded. So I was in prime position for when his new album dropped. It's rich, polished, optimistic and exactly what was needed when the shit hit the fan this year. Well done Kevin!

Here we gan..















































SpoilerZ:

30 - Coriky -Coriky
29 - Thurston Moore - By The Fire
28 - Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today
27 - Caribou - Suddenly
26 - Peggy Sue - Vices
25 - Happyness - Floatr
24 - Jockstrap - Wicked City
23 - pozi - 176
22 - Black Midi - The Black Midi Anthology Vol. 1: Tales of Suspense and Revenge
21 - Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink
20 - The Cribs - Night Network
19 - Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind
18 - Jerry Paper - Abracadabra
17 - Laura Marling - Song For Our Daughter
16 - Action Bronson - Only For Dolphins
15 - Home Counties - Redevelopment - EP
14 - Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
13 - Bastien Keb - The Killing of Eugene Peeps
12 - Run the Jewels - RTJ4
11 - JARV IS... - Beyond The Pale
10 - Sophie Hunger - Halluzinationen
9 - Hotel Lux - Barstool Preaching EP
8 - PVA - Toner EP
7 - Marlowe - Marlowe 2
6 - Baxter Dury - The Night Chancers
5 - Moor Jewelry True Opera
4 - The Strokes - The New Abnormal
-3 - Horse Lords - The Common Task
-3 - Tiña - Positive Mental Health Music
-3 - The Cool Greenhouse - The Cool Greenhouse

#COPOUTKEVIN

HERE WE GAN:

Top 7 gigs:

1. Nadine Shah, Moth Club, February
2. Gurr, Lexington, February
3. Supergrass/The Coral, Alexandra Palace, March (aka "the last gig ever")
4. Jarv Is, The Steel Yard, March
5. Howie Payne, The Old Queen's Head, February
6. Dog/Lime, George Tavern, October
7. Richard Dawson, Barbican, October

Single of the year: Talk About It by Andreya Casablanca aka the unhinged one from Gurr



Top 10 albums:

10. The Orielles - Disco Volador
I think I gave them my top album a couple of years ago, which on reflection seems excessive. Their second LP continued in much the same vein as the first, but without a killer single or anything as expansive as Sugar Tastes Like Salt. They seem destined to become a Sterolab tribute act now.

9. Monophonics - It's Only Us
I made the predictable Kelly Jones solo gag at the time, but this was an autumn recommendation from popular forum member Deleted. A decent modern soul pastiche which grows with repeat listens.

8. Nadine Shah - Kitchen Sink
Like many folk have said, it's a bit of a step down from Holiday Destination but credit to Shah for not making the same record again. She's a really interesting artist and I look forward to seeing what she does next (probably OnlyFans, eh JP).

7. Jarv Is - Beyond the Pale
Going against the grain with this one but I don't think it's as good as his two solo records. House Music... is an absolute banger but a lot of the ideas are just stretched out for that minute too long. Always good to have Jarvis back though.

6. US Girls - Heavy Light
It feels about a decade since I was giving this regular rotation but amazingly it was only at the beginning of this year. Far preferred it to her/their last one.

5. Doves - The Universal Want
About as good a record as you could expect from Doves on their return. Not a complete retread of their earlier work and a lot more emphasis on groove rather than just writing four ANTHEMS and seven dirges. A grower.

4. Andy Bell - The View from Halfway Down
The surprise for the year for me. I fully expected it to be terrible, but it grew on me through repeat listens almost against my better judgement. Bell's lyrics remain trite but I prefer it to the woeful last Ride album.

3. Peter Bjorn & John - Endless Dream
Hahahahaha yes, it's one of the Jocks making a PBJ reference despite nobody else having bothered with them since 2006. My first lockdown record as it came out a couple of weeks before the world went to shit. Not exactly breaking new ground but it has everything you expect: a few of Bjorn Yttling songs which verge on contemporary pop; a handful of Peter Morén power-pop numbers and a couple of left field John Eriksson moments.

2. Catherine Anne Davies and Bernard Butler - In Memory of My Feelings
I haven't heard any of Davies' stuff under The Anchoress banner but was drawn to this by North TCOTU Twitter hype. It pays a deliberate nod to PJ Harvey's work with John Parish, and for all Butler might be the most embittered man in music he still knows his way around an arrangement. The production is almost understated by his standards, too.

1. The Strokes - The New Abormal
By no means my most played record of the year, but one I'll always associate with long, sunny evenings and getting quietly hammered through the first lockdown. Not sure I prefer it to Comedown Machine but I will always have time for this band and it's great to hear them putting out a record which it sounds like they enjoy, rather than simply going through the motions.

(Dis)honourable mentions: I get why that Fiona Apple LP is such a critics' choice, and while I found it fascinating on first listen I couldn't really go back to it time and again. McCartney III had a couple of moments but I don't see myself returning to it, and I'm sure there was a Real Estate LP back in the Spring but it slipped out of my mind straight away. Eels' LP was hands down the worst of Mark Everett's career and I'm beginning to wonder if they should call it quits.

the Scottish couple that like peter, bjorn & john getting their lists in on time was never in doubt.


WHERE THE FUCK IS BAZ

Still need stocky's yearly return to post his list too.