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It’s become a cliché, even for post-Baby Boomers, to look back wistfully on the early ’70s as some kind of untouchable golden age for popular music. But when you survey all the era’s best albums in list form, it’s hard not to trust that instinct.
I mean…
holy shit.
In 1971, the psychedelic era hadn’t completely wilted; prog was nearing its popularity apex; Motown was still a revolutionizing soul music; the folk-rock movement was in full flight. The possibilities were limitless.
You know it’s a banner year when 50 albums don’t begin to scratch the surface when both John Lennon and Paul McCartney release definitive LPs and neither make the top 10. Was 1971 the greatest album year ever? We’ll save that debate for another time (or maybe another list).
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With most indie venues closed due to the pandemic and many record stores altering their business methods, it was a challenging year for music discovery.
Luckily, we live in the internet age, where a glowing album review, trending social media post or intriguing Bandcamp tag can instantly connect fans to their next favorite band. As the music world remained stuck in quarantine limbo, upcoming songwriters had more time than usual to record, hype, network and livestream and it’s safe to say we all needed the distraction.
To cap off the year’s depressing madness with a glimmer of optimism, we gathered this list of our 20 Most Interesting New Artists of 2020 from indie-pop to Afrobeat.
CREDIT: Bandcamp/Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
In 1969, folk trio Crosby, Stills & Nash recorded and released a cryptic chestnut entitled “Guinnevere.” The next year, two jazz masters tried their hands at the tune: flautist Herbie Mann emerging with a faithful instrumental cover, and trumpeter Miles Davis reinterpreting it as an intergalactic, unrecognizable epic that neared the 20-minute mark. For the live version appearing on
Axiom, New Orleans bandleader Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah is most interested in Davis’ vision of the song. Electric piano, sitar and a hepcat languor are out in favor of djembe, congas and a hothouse zest. Here, Adjuah who plays trumpet and reverse flugelhorn, among other instruments and his band condense “Guinnevere,” investing it with a pointed verve. The horns veer from woozy to celestial to frenetic, with Corey Fonville’s drums, in particular, elevating this music to new, daring heights. –
Talking that talk times two, City Girls highly anticipated sophomore album,
City On Lock, would have made perfect party music if we were not in a global pandemic. Even without clubs, Rodeo is a gem, as JT and Yung Miami assert their right to have erotic experiences, explaining them in detail over pounding drums. It s filled with quotable one-liners I m young and I m sexy and reckless JT declares in the opening verse that uphold the tradition of Black women using rap to conceive of and construct their sexuality, and it s the first thing I m playing when it s safe to be outside again.