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2020: The Year in Tiers - The Best

The final tier of our 2020 recap is the tip of the mountain top, best of the best, undisputed heavyweight champions of the world. The standard all future generations will be measured against, I give you - The Seinfelds.


#10. Inlet by Hum

The most improbable comeback story of the year, Hum returns after a 22 year gap between albums and it's as seamless as you could possibly imagine. Fuzzy sick riffs on top of fuzzy sick riffs, "Inlet" is music to get high and head bang yourself stupid music. Carrying a dense atmospheric cloud that envelopes you from the opening track, Hum crafts the perfect end-cap to their trilogy of remarkable 90s alternative post-metal. "Shapeshifter" is the stand out for me but honestly, the entire record is a trip you should take all at once and fully immerse yourself in to get the most out of it.


#9. Runaway Dog by Retirement Party

While its' detractors may point to the lack of whimsy that made their debut so much fun, Runaway Dog's sophomore album packs a much heavier emotional punch and already feels like it has a longer shelf life as a result. Songs like "Are You My Mother?" will no doubt hook you into the Retirement Party---well party---but this album's incredible stretch from "Fire Blanket" to "Better Off Now" are what will keep you there. This isn't just another "weedmo" flavor of the month, Retirement Party has shown an incredible ability to grow passed their influences with this album and matured into something remarkable.


#8. Miles by Blu and Exile

Holy shit, this one totally blind sided me. Blu & Exile haven't been on my radar since their 2007 magnum opus "Below the Heavens" and honestly, this album might be just as good as that. Usually I rail against long albums but somehow this 90 minute double album is virtually flawless throughout the entire duration. Granted, Jacinto Rhines nearly single handily ruins it (the dude rambles on after "The Feeling" ends repeating "THE FEEL LING" for 2 straight minutes. GOT. DAMN. Will you shut up, man!) but Exile's soft and uplifting production under Blu's hopefully exuberant bars makes for an incredibly soothing listening experience. It's rare to find a hip hop album that can put you in this good of a mood but listen to "Music is My Everything" or "African Dream" and you'll see exactly what I mean.


#7. Frail Bray by Western Addiction

Speaking of improbable comebacks, Western Addiction's 3rd album not only recaptures the melodic hardcore energy of their 2005 Fat Wreck debut but builds upon it as if they band had never dissolved in the first place. "Frail Bray" occupies the deserted terrain groups like Rise Against and Good Riddance occupied in the mid 00's and infuses a hard edge rock and roll style with break neck skate punk speed and intensity. It's such a relief to see this group back on top of their game after showing so much promise in their debut just to up and disappearing shortly thereafter. With "Frail Bray" the promise they instilled with their debut is fully realized.


#6. Melee by Dogleg

One of the last bands I actually got to see in person, I saw Dogleg last August opening up for Prince Daddy and the Hyena and was absolutely blown away by their infectious energy and insanely talented drummer. I was even more stunned when I headed for the merch table and found they didn't have an LP out yet. "Melee" sounds like the product of a grizzled post-hardcore veteran and the fact that this is the starting point for the Lansing 3 piece instills insanely high hope for the future of this group. "Melee" is a relentlessly punchy power pop debut for one of the most promising groups to emerge in some time. Take the ingenuity of Meat Wave and the intoxicating energy of PUP and you've got yourself one hell of a debut LP.


#5. Alfredo by Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist

After the underwhelming follow up to "Pinata", Freddie Gibbs and Madlib both dropped new records less than a year later with different collaborators. "Alfredo" finds Gibbs in a sprawling gangster epic with a slower, classical production from The Alchemist which accentuates Gibbs' frenzied delivery perfectly. The smooth jazz guitar and subtle lounge instrumentation clears the runway for Freddie to abuse lines at a rapid fire pace, further establishing himself as one of the most prominent MCs in the game. But the breakout star here is The Alchemist, who curates an ideally mellow backdrop for the gangster coke raps spun by Gibbs, making it feel very much like a mafia epic in itself - framing a rise to prominence through crime and violence through the lens of a classical anti-hero parable.


#4. Good Luck Everybody by AJJ

It's not the most consistent album they've put out but as a whole, you really couldn't ask for a better listening companion to get you through 2020 than this. And yet the manic energy of past AJJ (formerly Andrew Jackson Jihad) is replaced with an eerily calm and soothing tone, as if frontman Sean Bonnette is relieved that the end times hellscape America he's spent the entirety of his career prophesying about has finally been exposed. He's been prepared for a doomsday event like 2020 his entire life and now he's here as a tour guide to lead you through the wasteland. And the scary thing is, not only that he's right, but also that this was released IN JANUARY. To say this has aged well would be the understatement of the year. Who knows how much more bleak a picture Sean would've painted had this record been written just a few months later. As it is though, it's hard to find a more poignant portrait of the year we've endured than the lyrical genius found on "Normalization Blues", "No Justice, No Peace, No Hope", or "A Big Day for Grimley".


#3. The Professionals by The Professionals

While I didn't hate "Bandanna", I definitely felt like it lacked the personality it's predecessor had. And a lot of that fell on Madlib's production but also, it felt like he and Gibbs were just moving in different stylistic directions. On this record, Madlib feels like he's practically produced a solo effort. No offense to his brother Oh No, who pulls MC duties here, but goddamn. The production is immaculate. The instrumental version of this record slaps harder than most any other rap album released this year. The dark, grimy feel of underground hip hop and throwback 70's horns over dulcet key tones intercut with hilariously obscure sound clips feels like the backdrop for the "Pinata" follow up Madlib envisioned. The gritty black market collection of chopped up classic instrumentation and analog sound clips fills the record with a secondhand store aesthetic of rediscovered gems. The curated collection forms a soundtrack to a place only Madlib can take you and it's an absolute blast.


#2. The Black Hole Understands by Cloud Nothings

ICYMI, Cloud Nothings put out the record of the decade with 2012's "Attack on Memory" and with "The Black Hole Understands" they're starting the 2020's with their best material since. The 90's inspired indie alt-rockers have teetered between chaotic angst and soft spoken power pop intermittently between their various follow up records but this feels like the first time they've perfected the slightly subdued approach into fresh territory. Recorded entirely in quarantine, "The Black Hole Understands" captures the hopeless longing of the pandemic without beating you over the head with the anxiety and dread involved. Instead, it casts itself out like a beacon of relatable companionship with sing along chorus lines under their signature nervous energy running through each wavy guitar strum and spastic snare roll. "An Average World" and "A Silent Reaction" are particularly striking and seem to pay subtle homage to recently deceased Fountains of Wayne singer/songwriter Adam Schlesinger in their unabashed pop sensibility. Cloud Nothings have slowly dipped their toes in the poppier end of the power pop spectrum over the years but fully embracing it like they do on this record shows a maturation into a new and exciting phase for the group which continues to produce new music at a remarkable rate.


#1. N O D R E A M by Jeff Rosenstock

With 2016's "WORRY", Jeff Rosenstock perfectly encapsulated the looming anxiety of a Trump presidency to a fucking tee. 4 years later and he's returned with yet another flawless collection of power pop anthems that solidifies his place as the counter culture voice of our generation. He embodies all the political savvy of a Jello Biafra, but rather than berate you with a preachy superiority complex he offers to get high and talk about girls while spinning some records and watching cartoons. From his prolific production resume to his tenure with Bomb the Music Industry and his uncanny ability to prove time and time again that he's the creator of the catchiest fucking hooks on the planet - Jeff is a living legend. The amount of thought and crafty precision fuming out of every infectious chorus line here is absolutely baffling. He makes it seem as if it comes easy to him and even still, you can hear him continuing to push his sound musically passed what you'd expect to hear in a pop punk outfit. From 808 double bass breakdowns to spastic tempo changes, Jeff never compromises his musical or personal integrity. But it's balanced with a care free attitude and an ability to laugh at himself that shows he's never taking himself too seriously. The gang vocal sing alongs and face shredding guitar leads make this feel like a party with close friends instead of a political manifesto and yet somehow Jeff is able to occupy both spaces successfully. Again.


View the Rest of the 2020 Year in Tiers Here:



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