Of the three New York Times music critics, Lindsay Zoladz’s list definitely appeals to me the most. In addition to the inclusion of Haim, Fiona Apple, Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers, she gave her #3 slot to an artist I’m thrilled to have discovered, Waxahatchee.
Waxahatchee is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield, a native of Alabama who named her one-woman band after Waxahatchee Creek in her hometown. She released her fifth album, Saint Cloud, in March.
None of the New York Times critics picked my beloved Dua Lipa for their year-end top ten lists, but Lindsay Zoladz did mention Lipa’s Future Nostalgia as one of a few disco-themed albums that made an impact this year.
She gave her seventh slot to another one of those records, the fourth album by English singer-songwriter Jessie Ware. She calls Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure? a “lusty feat of dance-floor escapism.”
New York Times music critic Lindsay Zoladz placed Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters in her #1 spot, but her second best album of 2020 belongs to another fiercely independent female indie artist: Phoebe Bridgers.
Bridgers broke out this year with her sophomore album, Punisher, earning Grammy nods for Best Alternative Album, Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Rong (the latter two for ‘Kyoto,’ today’s SOTD). The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter previously earned a cult following for her evocative, and deeply melancholy, folk rock.
For the top spot on his 2020 list, lead New York Times music critic Jon Pareles chose Sufjan Stevens’ Ascension, the indie artist’s eighth studio album.
Perhaps best known for his Oscar-nominated contribution to Call Me By Your Name, Stevens is partial to dreamy acoustic ballads. On this record, however, he makes heavy use of synthesizers and drum machines, though the end result is still an ethereal wall of sound over which he drapes his half-whispered vocals.
It’s December already, in what seems like both the longest and shortest year in memory. And even in a calamitous year like 2020, December means year-end best-of lists.
Last week, the New York Times published the year’s best albums according to its three top music critics, Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz. I’ll use their lists as a blueprint to explore some of the most heralded albums of 2020.
Meet Me In Montauk 