My Favorite Albums And EPs of 2020, So Far

I bet you can guess why this year has made music listening distracting. And how the last 2-3 weeks have made saving room in your brain for active music listening a very low priority. My listening habits in this time have consisted of mild escapism that drifts back towards music that fits my mood like a hand in a glove. Christine & the Queens “People, I’ve Been Sad” throws an emotional left-hook that knocks me out every time I hear it, and is tentatively my anthem of the year.

My albums and EPs of the year, so far, have been there for me when I didn’t expect it. I never knew one of the last large social gatherings of the year would be to listen to Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush at The Sultan Room in Brooklyn. Our phones were locked away, the room completely packed, and everyone - yes everyone, was dancing. The few seconds of silence between the house music and the echo chamber of the first few notes of “One More Year”, I’ll remember next year, and the next, and the next…

Leaving Los Angeles after the Grammys, I thought about picking up a copy of the L.A. Times to remember that weekend. Not for the awards show, but because of Kobe’s death. My first childhood dream was to be a sports journalist, on ESPN running through Top 10s with Stuart Scott. I left the paper at Hudson News and instead dove into Cookin Soul’s 4 Dilla Vol. 1-4, a melancholic compilation (melancomp?) of hip hop beats and soul-funk samples in tribute to J Dilla and Kobe.

There have been moments where I forgot Everything Was Going On. One sunny afternoon in March I sprinted down Queens for one of the probably 5 real workouts I’ll do this year to Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia. It knocks on the studio door of Pharrell and Daft Punk to open to a Kylie Minogue-sanctioned disco house of galactic candy. This little monster is thrilled Mother Monster graced us with Chromatica. Yazmin Lacey’s Morning Matters is a 5-song EP of a smooth, fresh and light take of soulful jazz that I’ve taken through mornings, afternoons, evenings, all time in between.

I hope music is fueling your actions, enveloping you in self care and keeping your days filled with something positive. You can follow along on some of my favorite songs with my 2020 playlist.

Against All Logic - 2017 - 2019

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Caribou - Suddenly

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

Brent Faiyaz - Fuck the World

Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans

Freddie Gibbs - Alfredo

Grimes - Miss Anthropocene

Nicolas Jaar - Cenizas

Kota The Friend - EVERYTHING

Khruangbin & Leon Bridges - Texas Sun EP

Yazmin Lacey - Morning Matters EP