Top Albums of 2020
It’s December here at Do You Know What I Love The Most?, and that means it’s time for Year End Lists! I’ll be devoting the rest of this month to rounding up and discussing the various media released in 2020 that meant the most to me — just like every other website on the internet! Isn’t that special?
For our final list of 2020, we’re going to tackle my personal favorite: my favorite albums of the year. This is a list I’ve been doing every year even before I had an official newsletter, and 2020 just wouldn’t feel right without it. But it’s also been an odd year for me musically, not only because live music wasn’t a part of my life for ten months (which robbed me of the greatest way I used to find and interact with new music), but also because not a lot of full length albums really blew me away for some reason (and some of the albums that seemed to resonate throughout the scene didn’t really work for me personally either). So, this year’s list has more EPs and singles mixed in along with the full length LPs; the only rule is that they were all released in 2020.
As always, this list is subjective, based on my own taste in music and off of the 55 new releases I sampled this year; if you want something a bit more expansive or objective, I get it, but you’re at the wrong newsletter. I’m trying something a bit different with my list this year; I’m not limiting it to exactly ten entries, and I’m also not numbering the entries. Often I would spend an agonizing amount of time deciding, say, which album should be #4 or which should be #3 only for me to change my mind immediately after hitting “publish.” As you read this list, you can assume that the further you get down the list, the more I like the album, and the final entry will be my favorite album of the year, but otherwise, the order is more like a general suggestion of quality rather than a hard and fast rule. Two albums right next to each other aren’t necessarily better or worse than the other.
Anyway, that’s enough rambling from me. Hope you can find something here to enjoy, and I’ll talk to all of you in 2021!
Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties — Live From Asbury Park
If you look at the bottom right hand corner of this video you’ll see a blonde kid in glasses and a jean jacket with fluorescent earplugs; about two minutes in he very clearly starts recording the song on his phone. That kid is me, the footage I recorded can be found here, and I’d be lying if I said that the fact that I was actually at the show they turned into Live From Asbury Park isn’t a huge part of why this album makes this list (hell, I’m even on the album cover). I was in a pretty dark place the week of this show, and while Aaron West’s efforts to be a better person and make his family proud really struck on a few of the things that were specifically upsetting me at the time, it ended up being just the cathartic experience I needed to start moving out of my funk. Being able to revisit that very special show any time I want is a huge, huge thing, especially in a year without concerts. The record is pretty great on its own, too, playing the stellar Routine Maintenance (my #5 record of 2019, though in retrospect I’d probably move it up to at least #2) in full plus a few favorites from We Don’t Have Each Other with as much of that “live music” energy as can possibly be crammed onto vinyl.
Highlights: Bury Me Anywhere Else, Runnin’ Towards The Light, God & The Billboards
Best Ex — Good At Feeling Bad (EP)
I’ll probably always be more partial to singer/songwriter Mariel Loveland’s more pop-punk inspired work with her previous group, Candy Hearts, simply because that’s where my tastes lie, but her Best Ex project still has all the heart that made me fall in love with her music in the first place. The poppier sheen has grown on me too, bringing an interesting energy to some of the tracks that allows them to switch more easily between moods and tones throughout a song than her previous work could. Good At Feeling Bad is a record about accepting and perhaps even embracing your flaws, and that’s always a welcome message, especially when embodied by Loveland’s candid and achingly personal, self-deprecating yet uplifting lyrics. The vinyl release also includes the previously-unpressed 2017 Ice Cream Anti Social EP on its B-Side, packing in twice the bang for its buck.
Highlights: Lemons, Good at Feeling Bad
PUP — This Place Sucks Ass (EP)
Leave it to PUP to bring us all a breath of fresh air deep into the hell-world of 2020, even when they’re operating at what seems to be their bleakest and most self-deprecating. Much of This Place Sucks Ass is harsh and discordant, a mode PUP always works well in but one that feels especially well suited to our current climate, yet “Anaphylaxis” brings a touch of dark humor, “A.M. 180” an aura of soothing familiarity with its catchy cover, and “Nothing Changes” turns gripes about the monotony of life in quarantine into a fun mid-tempo jam that’s anything but monotonous, feeling unintentionally yet unquestionably cathartic, and perhaps even a bit inspiring. What a fun surprise this EP turned out to be.
Highlights: Nothing Changes, A.M. 180
Roe Knows Best — Muscle Memory (EP)
Every time I talk about this EP I mention how I think these songs would’ve been all over the radio in the 90s, and I mean that as a huge compliment; Muscle Memory has inherent mass appeal, but also a sense of individuality that helps it stand a cut above similar acts. The lyrics are refreshingly, compellingly earnest, and there’s an eagerness to the music itself, just the slightest bit of a punk edge that takes the earworm hooks and riffs to the next level. I sent this EP to a friend and he replied back with “I just put it on and it slaps holy shit!!” If that isn’t enough of a recommendation for you, I don’t know what would be.
Highlights: Gotta Get Out, I’m Feeling Lost!
MXPX — Worry/Fever Dream (single)
These two tracks are nothing less than pop-punk perfection, six minutes of fun, catchy guitar and lyrics that find romance even in the anxiety of 2020 life. It’s a formula MXPX has perfected over the last couple of years, churning out songs that manage to walk the razor-thin line between fast, youthful musicality and slightly more mature lyrics that provide their tracks just enough thematic heft without ever losing the fun inherent to the genre. Though these songs were initially released separately, they were recently pressed together on a 7” record, and that’s a one-two punch that’s impossible to ignore.
Bad Moves — Untenable
Bad Moves have the range. Untenable is largely about what it’s like to live in a capitalistic society that cares less and less about its workers by the second, what it’s like to try to survive in a world where survival so often just feels untenable, but Bad Moves tackles that subject from a variety of angles, with a variety of musical approaches. “Night Terrors” explores the more personal ramifications, the way anxiety can effect every waking (and sleeping) moment of your life; “Local Radio” is a bit more tongue-in-cheek in its approach, while “Working for Free” is practically a screed, fast and vital and unavoidable. Untenable still finds the room, though, to dig into the other kinds of emotion that just come with living life, be it the joy of self-discovery in “Cape Henlopen” or the fragile, ethereal wonder of “Fog is a Funny Thing,” a track about depression that also manages to be the most beautiful and interesting song on the album. Ultimately, Untenable proves that Bad Moves’ brand of harmony-laden power-pop can turn any subject into something fascinating.
Highlights: “Fog is a Funny Thing,” “Working for Free,” “Cape Henlopen”
[I previously wrote about Untenable in the “Check Out” segment of this newsletter.]
Teenage Halloween — Teenage Halloween
Every year I seem to stumble across a band who comes out of nowhere and secures their place on this Best Album list with decisive force, and in 2020 that band is Teenage Halloween. There’s undeniable youthful energy to this band, an anarchic, punk spirit to its fast paced songs packed to the brim with gonzo guitar riffs and raspy vocals, yet their lyrics are filled with depth and wisdom, with longing for a better life. Lyricist Luke Henderiks brings a unique perspective to their songs, an understanding of what it means to walk through a world that doesn’t understand you and the effect that can have on someone. This is an album packed front-to-back with thoughtful jams, with truly meaningful anthemic sing-alongs. How awesome is that?!
Highlights: “Clarity,” “Drown,” “Figwit”
Jeff Rosenstock — No Dream
No Dream is a study in contrasts. On one hand it’s a relentless album, fueled by frantic, raucous punk and vocals sometimes rendered unintelligible because they’re delivered with such righteous fury. On the other hand it’s also complex and intricate, focused on the way the personal and the political connect, how our actions inform and connect us to the world around us, the lengths it takes to survive and the toll that can take on us all. It’s weighty stuff, and Rosenstock pulls no punches in his unflinching take on humanity-at-large, but he’s not just the voice of a generation—he’s also a brilliant composer. Every song on No Dream has at least one stand-out moment, be it the sublime solo in “Leave It In The Sun,” the intense slow build in “N O D R E A M” that evolves from practically a dirge to a cathartic explosion of mile-a-minute rage, the alluringly-abrasive intro/outro to “State Line,” or even just the clever transition between its first two tracks. No Dream delivers on every possible level. Jeff Rosenstock has done it again.
Highlights: “Scram,” “State Line,” “Ohio Tpke”
The Wonder Years — Out On My Feet/Brakeless (single)
For the tenth anniversary of their first two albums The Wonder Years decided to do something special, digging into their notebooks from the time for inspiration and hiring the producer of those records; the result was “Out On My Feet” and “Brakeless.” I’ll stop short of calling these two of the bands’ best songs ever, but they are absolutely two of their biggest jams, and I cannot wait until I live in a world where I can mosh to these songs. I’ve listened to these so much I should be sick of them (“Brakeless” wound up my #15 most played song of 2020 on Spotify despite only coming out in November), yet every time they finish I’m compelled to hit that play button again and again. Both songs feel like quintessential Wonder Years, so intensely personal that they’re somehow infinitely relatable yet also capable of capturing the anxiety gripping not only their 20 and 30 something fans but also the entire world, but all wrapped up in lightning fast guitar, upbeat choruses, and even a welcome bit of screaming, rather than the somewhat gloomier modern-rock sounds of their most recent releases. These songs are every bit the reward for fans that the Wonder Years’ intended them to be, and I predict them staying in my rotation for a long, long time to come.
Magazine Beach — Friendless Summer (EP)
Magazine Beach grew by leaps and bounds in 2020, taking everything I loved about last year’s Sick Day EP — the fast-paced, peppy guitar, the sarcastic, clever lyrics that brilliantly tapped into everyday frustrations, the heavenly harmonies — and elevating them to the next level. The addition of Casey Rutter’s vocals allowed for more intricate harmonies and dual-vocal lines, for songs written and sung from multiple perspectives, for some truly hooky, sing-along choruses. There’s more variance in tone, too, with the last few songs on the EP each sounding quite different while all still being recognizable as Magazine Beach. Friendless Summer is also just so much more earnest in a way that truly, truly excites me; the lyrics are still clever and funny, but also naked and direct in how they address emotion in a way that opens them up to weightier topics and grander resolutions. “I’m upset, because I’m exactly the same as I was last summer” is a line that resonates because it’s direct, rather than tongue-in-cheek. With this kind of exponential growth, I can’t wait to see what Magazine Beach does next.
Highlights: “Friendless Summer,” “How Many Bees? (3 Pounds)”
[I previously wrote about Friendless Summer in this newsletter.]
Spanish Love Songs — Brave Faces Everyone
“It won’t be this bleak forever—yeah right. It won’t be this bleak forever—I hope you’re right.” Brave Faces Everyone is a bleak album for a bleak year, an even darker outing than 2018’s tremendous Schmaltz. Where that album could poke a bit of fun even as it dove head-first into deep personal insecurities, Brave’s investigation of more systemic issues requires something a bit more solemn, a bit more serious, a standard Brave holds itself to with its moodier guitars and unflinching lyrical focus on inter-generational debt and financial crises, climate change, addiction, and how it affects us all on a personal level. When a bit of hope does break through the fog it’s usually in the form of solidarity, in weathering the storm by sticking together, even just in accepting and embracing your shortcomings as a kind of badge of honor (“We’re mediocre, we’re losers forever!”). Sometimes victory is just soldiering along, but with Spanish Love Songs, with Brave Faces Everyone, you never feel like you’re soldiering along alone.
“We don’t have to fix everything at once. We were never broken, life’s just very long. Brave faces, everyone.”
Highlights: Losers, Kick, Losers 2
Do You Know What I Love the Most’s “Best Of 2020” series:
December 3: Top 10 Newsletters of 2020
December 9: Top Television, Podcasts, and Movies of 2020
December 14: Top Books and Comics of 2020
December 17: Let’s Talk About Substack
December 23: 2020: A Playlist
Today: Top Albums of 2020
Previous “Top Album” Lists:
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“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!