What are your favorite albums of the year / of the last months?

[mark wollschlager]

For 2020, in no particular order:

Jaga Jazzist - Pyramid
Ghost Rhythms - Imaginary Mountains
Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile - Not Our First Goat Rodeo
Gösta Berlings Saga - Konkret Musik
Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Ekhidna

[SlimChances]

Leslie Mendelson- If You Can't say Anything Nice

[garym]

Nobody else who want to share their favorite albums of 2020?
I hope that 2020 was not THAT bad for you that you didn't enjoy listening music.

Most listened to:

Waxahatchie, Saint Cloud (#1 by far)
Otis Gibbs, Hoosier National
Neil Young, Neil Young Archives, Vol II
Jerry Garcia, GarciaLive Vol. 15
Tom Petty, Wildflowers and All the Rest

[reinholdk]

Nobody else who want to share their favorite albums of 2020?
I hope that 2020 was not THAT bad for you that you didn't enjoy listening music.

[skind56]

2020

Nathaniel Rateliff - And It’s Still Alright

Wishing everyone all the best for 2021 and back to a normal life soon.

[sitro0]

December 2020 , today

I'm listening Zaz :

[reinholdk]

2020

2020 was certainly a hard year for many people in various aspects.
Music-wise it was a mixed experience for me.
Regarding live concerts it was the worst year ever for me since the four decades I'm visiting concerts: nichts, nada, nothing.
But I'm still buying albums as before and enjoying listening at home. Due to working in home office for most of the year this even increased.

Currently there are 90 albums released in 2020 in my library.

My favorite album of the year is Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods.
Lunatic Soul is the side project of Riverside's singer and bass player Mariusz Duda, who plays all instruments on this album.
While his previous Lunatic Soul albums sounded more electronic, the new one is an acoustic folk/rock album.
I'd recommend buying the 2-CD version which comes with 3 additional tracks where one is a 27-minutes track reminding me a bit to Mike Oldfield.

So my top ten are these:

Lunatic Soul - Through Shaded Woods
Crippled Black Phoenix - Ellengæst
Matthew Halsall - Salute to the Sun
Jonathan Hultén - Chants From Another Place
Nubya Garcia - Source
Nick Cave - Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace
Nighthawks - Only (Vocal Tunes 2004-2016)
Eric Clapton - Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019
The Waterboys - Good Luck, Seeker
Joe Bonamassa - Royal Tea

And here are some more I'd recommend, in alphabetical order:

Matt Berninger - Serpentine Prison
Ane Brun - After The Great Storm
Ane Brun - How Beauty Holds the Hand of Sorrow
Dion - Blues With Friends
The Dream Syndicate - The Universe Inside
Eels - Earth to Dora
Gazpacho - Fireworker
Glass Museum - Reykjavik
GoGo Penguin - GoGo Penguin
Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas
Christian Kjellvander - About Love and Loving Again
Robby Krieger - The Ritual Begins at Sundown
Kruder & Dorfmeister - 1995
Mino Cinelu & Nils Petter Molvær - Sulamadiana
Agnes Obel - Myopia
Pearl Jam - Gigaton
The Pineapple Thief - Versions of the Truth
Robert Plant - Digging Deep: Subterranea
Toots & The Maytals - Got To Be Tough
Nils Wülker - Go

Wishing you all a happy and healthy year 2021!

[Mycenius]

I "discovered" Elbow through a life concert with the BBC orchestra many years ago. I had heard them before but didn't quite noticed them until that particular concert. As a result ...So, all in all, I quite like Elbow. They are also a great life band.

Cool - I will get on with listening to them!! I think its the latest album I have in my library - but might be one from a couple of years ago...

Yes, these are great speakers. i have them for several years now and they get daily use. the Beryllium tweeters are in a league of their own. Focal have nice speakers in different budget ranges and they are usually not difficult to drive either. Very happy with my 1028Be's !

Indeed, Indeed - the light weight ultra rigid "W" Cone makes them super easy to drive with nearly anything (compared to something like B&W with Kevlar drivers, super rigid too but so so heavy you need a power amp with lots of Ooommmph to control them)... I used to sell Hi-Fi, inc. full Focal range, in NZ for a while...

[Pascal Hibon]

Pascal - how do you rate 'elbow' - just about to listen to the latest releases (I have never heard or heard of them before)?

I "discovered" Elbow through a life concert with the BBC orchestra many years ago. I had heard them before but didn't quite noticed them until that particular concert.
As a result of that concert I bought their album The Seldom Seen Kid. That's a great album. At this time, Elbow played several big Belgian famous music festivals. And due to this also had a lot of radio coverage on StuBru (an important rock radio station). I became a fan of Elbow :-)

I also own a copy of their Build a Rocket Boys!, Little Fictions and Giants of All Sizes albums. Their latest album is probably my least favorite but that still can change as I listen to it a couple of times more.
So, all in all, I quite like Elbow. They are also a great life band.

Beautiful - the 'Electras' are great speakers! Can't beat Focal's 'W' Cone Drivers and Beryllium Tweeters!

Yes, these are great speakers. i have them for several years now and they get daily use. the Beryllium tweeters are in a league of their own.
Focal have nice speakers in different budget ranges and they are usually not difficult to drive either.
Very happy with my 1028Be's !

[reinholdk]

Thanks all for sharing your 2019 top albums.
I'm still in the process of exploring & listening. There are many artists I've never heard of before, but I've already bought some of the albums.

Rhiannon Giddens...
Bill Callahan...
Bruce Cockburn...

@RonM: I remembered you've recommended an album of Rhiannon Giddens already before. I can't understand why I've ignored that. Now I bought her new album and I find it quite exciting. I also bought and like Bill Callahan's. I already owned the Bruce Cockburn album. When I first listened to it, it reminded me of a German acoustic guitar duo being active in the late 70s and 80s, Martin Kolbe & Ralf Illenberger. While Kolbe had to retreat from music for a long time due to a disease, Illenberger was still quite active and is living in the US. Their 'Essentials' album was on my top list for 2017.

Mono...
Her Name Is Calla...

@Wombat: I have & like the Mono album as well. Now I bought the Her Name Is Calla album. Too bad they broke up now!

[Mycenius]

Elbow - Giants Of All Sizes

Pascal - how do you rate 'elbow' - just about to listen to the latest releases (I have never heard or heard of them before)?

-> Focal Electra 1028 Be

Beautiful - the 'Electras' are great speakers! Can't beat Focal's 'W' Cone Drivers and Beryllium Tweeters!

[Mycenius]

Have enjoyed some new local pop:

• BENEE - Life on Marzz EP
• BENEE - Stella and Steve EP

Plus some new albums from artists who are old favourites:

• Beck - Hyperspace
• Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
• Of Monsters And Men - Fever Dream
• Six60 - Six60 (2019 Self-Titled Album)*

* If you aren't familiar with Six60 all their albums and EPs are titled 'Six60' - so the year is the distinguishing identifier...

EDIT: P.S. I have Norah Jones & Lana Del Rey's new releases lined up for some belated listening in the coming weeks.

[Blackfiction]

Here are mine (excluding classical);
De Staat - Bubble gum
Lana del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
Balthazar - Fever
Durand Jones And The Indications - American Love Call
The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger

[Pascal Hibon]

Well, well, well, bought only 5 albums from 2019 last year. The rest of the purchased albums are dated from the 70's till 2018.
In no particular order:

Ash Walker - Aquamarine
Cigarettes After Sex - Cry
Elbow - Giants Of All Sizes
Geike - Lost In Time
Arno - Santeboutique

[RobbH]

Your link is pointing to the cover only. I assume you meant this one: https://theseconddisc.com/2018/12/03...-of-the-storm/

Thanks for the correction! I've edited the post.