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In treading through the annals of rock music, it’s hard to argue that any approach to the genre has been more persistent than psychedelic-rock. From the jangling opening riff of 13th Floor Elevators’ “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” to the outpouring of groups that flocked to Haight-Ashbury in the late- 60s (therein forging a widespread counterculture), to the shoegaze sounds that swept the U.K. throughout the 90s, rock artists have continuously found new ways to interpret the ever-malleable, wide-ranging sound of psychedelic music.
Aside from modern pop’s incorporation ( cough appropriation) of the genre’s aesthetic, the national craze around this music and its culture is clearly not as prevalent as it once was, when thousands of young Americans blew off their middle-class expectations for the Learyology of “dropping out and tuning in.” Since the start of the decade, however, a more subtle independent scene has been brewing thanks to forward-thinking artists like The Bl
LOMA VISTA
Recording in Hollywood with Sturgill Simpson in the producer’s chair, the Midwest farmer’s daughter tried her hand at a West Coast pop album for her third LP. Rather than country confessionals, then, here were 10 songs taking in Heartbreakers-esque new wave, gospel and prime Fleetwood Mac. Complete with a more oblique, lyrical voice from Price, the result was another step forward for a musician who respects tradition but has never been shackled by it.
49 GWENIFER RAYMOND
TOMPKINS SQUARE
A fearsome live performer, foregoing chat for instrumental acoustic guitar intensity, Gwenifer Raymond in 2020 made the album that gave recorded shape to her uncompromising approach. Grown in ambition, if not noticeably in length from her 2018 debut, Garth Mountain drew both on the rabbit skulls and damp moss of British folk horror, and also a compositional wisdom that broadened the horizon of her American Primitive twang.
Records of 2020 Part II, Nos. 5 to 1
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Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020 4:40 PM
Toggle font size Escuchar en Español: Bryant Liggett
This list is a continuation of what began last week, the top five of my favorite 10 records of 2020.
This collection comes from a year’s worth of listening. This list is not based on consumer numbers and sales, as most-consumed does not equal quality. This list is based on what personal impact this record had on the listener (me), and how much it was played, as some of these releases had trouble finding their way off the “currently playing” stage of my personal digital music device or turntable. They’re also on this list because they’re good, and I’ll likely still feel this away about these records in 2030.
It goes without saying that 2020 has been a year we’d rather forget an endless feedback loop of disappointment and disaster. It’s further obvious that few have had a more difficult path navigating this mess than the countless number of musicians whose financial and creative livelihoods have been put on an indefinite halt, given their increasing reliance on entertaining large (and preferably jam-packed) gatherings of people.
Yet that isn’t to say these folks have merely gone dormant over the last nine months. Whether adapting to the burgeoning live stream model, shifting their financial focus to physical merchandise, or hunkering down to write and release new music all together, artists across all borders have found new ways to not only get art out into the world for their own sake, but to also provide the rest of us with plenty to cling on to as we sift through our own personal hurdles.