2020 Records of the Year
Albums, compilations, reissues and books from a year united in adversity.
We are delighted to present issue 21, our annual assessment of the last 12 months of - mostly - new music. Whereas DELUXE normally focus on the bricks, the mortar, the walls, the racks, the diligent and sonically enlightened folks that tend the till and all of the weird and wonderful creatures that shop there - this issue of DELUXE is all about the music, man.
We don’t think that anyone would argue that 2020 has so far been a real sonofabitch, but you know what, reading through this top 100 albums list, it has at the very least sounded fantastic. For your consideration, one hundred albums (plus choice reissues, books and compilations) released between January and late October of this year that we have loved playing.
You can pick up issues now at all good record shops, and our best buds and ROTY curators - Drift - are putting them into all mail order.
Written and compiled by The Drift Record Shop / Designed by Jenny Frances / Cover illustration by Ailsa Johnson / Sub edited by Lu Overy / Printed by Newspaper Club / Distributed by Forte Music DistributionThe Top 100
2020 Records of the Year in full…
№ 1 Fuzz III
№ 2 Mary Lattimore Silver Ladders
№ 3 SAULT Untitled (Black Is)
№ 4 Richard Norris Elements
№ 5 Moses Boyd Dark Matter
№ 6 Green-House Six Songs for Invisible Gardens
№ 7 Gil Scott Heron We’re New Again:
A Re-imagining by Makaya McCraven
№ 8 Kelly Lee Owens Inner Song
№ 9 Aoife Nessa Frances Land of No Junction
№ 10 Peel Dream Magazine Agitprop Alterna
№ 11 Working Men’s Club Working Men’s Club
№ 12 Tiña Positive Mental Health Music
№ 13 Yves Tumor Heaven To A Tortured Mind
№ 14 Bill Callahan Gold Record
№ 15 Kevin Morby Sundowner
№ 16 Surprise Chef Daylight Savings
№ 17 Four Tet Sixteen Oceans
№ 18 Sunwatchers Oh Yeah?
№ 19 Modern Nature Annual
№ 20 Stephen Malkmus Traditional Techniques
№ 21 Hania Rani Home
№ 22 Rose City Band Summerlong
№ 23 Ben Lukas Boysen Mirage
№ 24 Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters
№ 25 Thundercat It Is What It Is
№ 26 Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Viscerals
№ 27 Mildlife Automatic
№ 28 Machinedrum A View of U
№ 29 Holy Fuck Deleter
№ 30 Protomartyr Ultimate Success Today
№ 31 Waxahatchee Saint Cloud
№ 32 Bing & Ruth Species
№ 33 OSEES Protean Threat
№ 34 Erland Cooper Hether Blether
№ 35 Adrianne Lenker songs and instrumentals
№ 36 Moses Sumney græ
№ 37 Shit and Shine Malibu Liquor Store
№ 38 Bent Arcana Bent Arcana
№ 39 Widowspeak Plum
№ 40 Keeley Forsyth Debris
№ 41 Trees Speak Ohms
№ 42 Crack Cloud Pain Olympics
№ 43 Shabaka & The Ancestors We Were Sent Here By History
№ 44 Kamaal Williams Wu Hen
№ 45 Bibio Sleep On The Wing
№ 46 Fontaines D.C. A Hero's Death
№ 47 Run The Jewels RTJ4
№ 48 Daniel Avery Love + Light
№ 49 The Orielles Disco Volador
№ 50 Sarah Davachi Cantus, Descant
№ 51 Craven Faults Erratics & Unconformities
№ 52 North Americans Roped In
№ 53 Laura Marling Song For Our Daughter
№ 54 Caribou Suddenly
№ 55 Islet Eyelet
№ 56 Porridge Radio Every Bad
№ 57 Delmer Darion Morning Pageants
№ 58 BC Camplight Shortly After Takeoff
№ 59 Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes What Kinda Music
№ 60 Khruangbin Mordechai
№ 61 Phoebe Bridgers Punisher
№ 62 Nubya Garcia Source
№ 63 Angel Olsen Whole New Mess
№ 64 Kate NV Room For The Moon
№ 65 Georgia Seeking Thrills
№ 66 Field Music Making a New World
№ 67 Squirrel Flower I Was Born Swimming
№ 68 Shopping All Or Nothing
№ 69 Douglas Dare Milkteeth
№ 70 Anna von Hausswolff All Thoughts Fly
№ 71 Hailu Mergia Yene Mircha
№ 72 Sorry 925
№ 73 Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini Illusion Of Time
№ 74 The Solt Pink Truth Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
№ 75 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Sideways to New Italy
№ 76 Pottery Welcome To Bobby's Motel
№ 77 Jaga Jazzist Pyramid
№ 78 Jason Molina Eight Gates
№ 79 Andy Bell The View From Halfway Down
№ 80 Juniore Un Deux Trois
№ 81 Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela Rejoice
№ 82 Nap Eyes Snapshot of a Beginner
№ 83 Tim Burgess I Love The New Sky
№ 84 La Priest GENE
№ 85 bdrmm Bedroom
№ 86 Nadia Reid Out of My Province
№ 87 Daniel Blumberg On&On
№ 88 U.S. Girls Heavy Light
№ 89 EOB Earth
№ 90 Brigid Dawson & The Mothers Network Ballet Of Apes
№ 91 IDLES Ultra Mono
№ 92 JARV IS... Beyond The Pale
№ 93 Bananagun The True Story of Bananagun
№ 94 Colorama Chaos Wonderland
№ 95 Sink Ya Teeth Two
№ 96 Mark Lanegan Straight Songs of Sorrow
№ 97 Muzz Muzz
№ 98 Wajatta Don’t Let Get You Down
№ 99 Rival Consoles Articulation
№ 100 Melt Yourself Down 100% YES
