The 100 Best Albums of 2020

Here is my list of the 100 best albums of 2020 (all styles, all genres) — and another 100 honorable
mention titles (below) also worth hearing. Happy listening!

John Luther Adams & the JACK Quartet
Lines Made by Walking
Contemporary Landscape Music for String Quartet

Tunde Adebimpe
A Warm Weather Ghost
Soulful Synthpop Meets Classical Music

The Altogether
Silo
Artisan Folk-Pop (with Bits of Bluesiness)

Sam Amidon
Sam Amidon
19th Century Singing Style Juxtaposed with 21st Century Soundscapes

Anakronos
The Red Book of Ossory
Medieval Music Mixed with Folk Sounds, Jazz and Celtic Witchcraft

Fiona Apple
Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Singer-Songwriter

Arab Strap
Primavera Sound: Live in Barcelona
Scottish Indie Rock

Yukihiro Atsumi
Kachofugetsu
Traditional Japanese Music Updated with Guitar

Bab L’ Bluz
Nayda!
If Motown Had Existed in North Africa...

Jeremy Beck
By Moonlight
Contemporary Classical Music from Kentucky

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers
Just Coolin'
Previously Unreleased Album by a Classic Hard Bop Combo

Carla Bley/Andy Sheppard/Steve Swallow
Life Goes On
Jazz Trio

Louise Bock
Sketch for Winter VII - Abyss: For Cello
Mystical Drone Music for Cello

Stefano Bollani
Piano Variations on Jesus Christ Superstar
Solo Piano Reworking of Influential Rock Opera

Stephen Bradley & Edward Ruchalski
Ringing Rock Geo-Phonics
Soundscape Music Made on Mysterious Boulders at Ringing Rock County Park in Pennsylvania

Brooklyn Rider
Healing Modes
Five New Chamber Works with Possible Healing Properties

Cataventos
Cataventos
Medieval-ish Portuguese Bagpipe Music

Chouk Bwa & The Ångstromers
Vodou Alé
Haitian Drumming and Singing with Touches of Electronica and Dancehall Music

Chronos Ensemble
Old Russian Polyphony of the Passion Service
Majestic Russian Polyphony from the Time of Ivan the Terrible

The Ciderhouse Rebellion (Adam Summerhayes & Murray Grainger)
Untold
50-Minute Folk/Celtic Accordion and Violin Improvisation Recorded in a Single Take

Noah Cline
Mountain Opus
Solo Banjo

Federico Colli
Domenico Scarlatti: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2
A More Italianesque Interpretation of the Baroque Keyboard Master

Jacob Collier
Djesse Vol. 3
Experimental Pop/R&B/Electronica

Contours
Balafon Sketches
Gamelan, Percussion and Traditional Instruments Meet Synthesizers, Software and Pedal Effects

Mauro Arias Contreras
Abismo de los Pájaros
Chilean Guitarist and Songwriter

Saskia Coolen
Driftwood — A Gift of Time
Zen Music for Recorder Inspired by the Shakuhachi Tradition, Beat Boxes and Minimalist Ethos

Hugh Crosthwaite/Stefan Cassomenos
16 Lullabies
Contemporary Lullabies for Piano by Australian Composer

Søren Mikkel Dalsgaärd
Aflevere
Emotionally Intense Neo-Noir Music for Medieval Arpeggione, Electronics and Hints of Voices

Darling West
We'll Never Know Unless We Try
Nordic Americana

Deadstring Orkestra
Rhapsody in Blue
Percussion-Driven Reinterpretation of Rhapsody in Blue

Kiko Dinucci
Rastilho
Guitar-Driven Experimental Brazilian Pop

Dirty Projectors
5EPs
Epic 5 EP Rock/Pop Project from Brooklyn-Born (and LA-based) Band

Steve Earle & The Dukes
Ghosts of West Virginia
Country/Roots Music Tribute to West Virginia Coal Miners

Field Music
Making a New World
Indie Rock Song Cycle About the Aftermath of World War I

Ella Fitzgerald
The Lost Berlin Tapes
Previously Unissued Live Recording of Jazz Diva Ella Fitzgerald from Norman Granz's Private Archive

Floral (Nate Sherman & Ty Mayer)
Floral
Guitar-and-Drum Rock Instrumentals

Bengt Forsberg
Swedish Miniatures
Piano Vignettes by Swedish Composers

Sam Gendel
Satin Doll
Los Angeles Nu Jazz Meets the Jazz Standard Repertoire

The Gilberts
The Gilberts: One
Three Siblings Sit on the Floor of their Nova Scotia Home and Record a Folk Album with One Mic & One Take

Michael Gordon/The Crossing
Anonymous Man
Music for 24 Unaccompanied Voices

Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble
Dawn Chorus: Music Inspired by Our National Parks
New Music from 11 Composers Inspired by (and Performed in) National Parks

Tigran Hamasyan
The Call Within
Jazz Trio with Traditional Armenian Ingredients

Blake Hargreaves
Improvisations on the Pipe Organs of Europe
Improvisations on the Pipe Organs of Europe

Clifton Hicks
Banjo Heritage
Music for Archaic Handmade Banjos

Eleanor Hodgkinson
Nino Rota: Complete Solo Piano Works, Vol. 1
Solo Piano Vignettes by Italian Film Composer

Horse Lords
The Common Task
If La Monte Young Ran a Funky Microtonal Rock Jam Band

Luke Howard
The Shadow
Ultra-Minimalist Piano Trio Music from Australian Composer/Improviser

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (with Wynton Marsalis and Wayne Shorter)
The Music of Wayne Shorter
Jazz Tribute to Wayne Shorter

Jimanica
Nothing But Cosmos
Experimental Japanese Electronica/Electropop

Karuna Trio
Imaginary Archipelago
Non-Idiomatic Aural Tapestries

Kitgut Quartet
'Tis Too Late to be Wise
An Inquiry into the Origins of the String Quartet

Rupert Lally
Strange Systems
Fractal-Based, Computer-Assisted Music ("with a Human Touch")

David Lang/Quince Ensemble
Love Fail
Austere Lovelorn Music for 4 Voices

Lee Han
Piwa Pi
Organ Improvisation by a Mysterious 16-Year-Old Korean Woman

Lina_Raül Refree
Lina_Raül Refree
Contemporary Fado with Synthesizers

Lionel Loueke
HH
Solo Guitar Reworkings of Herbie Hancock Compositions

Dmitry Masleev/Siberian State Symphony Orchestra
Rapid Movement
Soviet Union Classical Music Influenced by Jazz

Madison McFerrin
Madison McFerrin on Audiotree Live
R&B Dreamscapes

John McLaughlin / Shankar Mahadevan / Zakir Hussain
Is That So?
New Performances by Pioneers of East-West Musical Fusion

André Mehmari and Danilo Brito
Nosso Brazil
Mandolin and Piano Duet Performances of the Works of Brazilian Choro Composers

Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967)
Previously Unreleased Music Featuring Joni Mitchell Before Her Rise to Stardom

Meredith Monk (with Bang on a Can)
Memory Game
Extracts from a Dystopian Ritualistic Sci-Fi Opera

Thelonious Monk
Palo Alto
Previously Unreleased Thelonious Monk Live Recording from 1968

Tatiana Nikolayeva
J.S. Bach: The Art of the Fugue (The 1993 Sibelius Academy Recital, Helsinki)
Contemplative and Stately Final Live Recording by a Leading Bach Keyboardist

Onyx Collective
Manhattan Special
Richard Rodgers Songs Turned into Art Rock/Pop

Aaron Parks
Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man
Trance Jazz

Penya (with Msafiri Zawose)
Penya Safari
East African EDM/Call-and-Response Tanzanian Pop

Vanessa Perica
Love is Temporary Madness
Debut Album from Australian Composer and Big Band Leader

Bek Phoenix
Park Variations
Man Sits in Park in Geneva, Switzerland and Plays Guitar

Gregory Porter
All Rise
Soul/Pop/Gospel/Jazz

Lyra Pramuk
Fountain
Futurist Art Pop Drawing on Choral Music, Sound Collage, and Contemporary Dance Club Stylings

Hania Rani
Home
Mystical Singer-Songwriter from Gdansk

Reverso (Ryan Keberle/Frank Woeste/ Vincent Courtois)
The Melodic Line
Classical/Jazz Chamber Music for Trombone, Piano and Cello

Roomful of Teeth/Michael Harrison
Just Constellations
Celestial Harmonies of the Spheres (for Eight Voices)

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Soundtrack to The Staggering Girl
Film Soundtrack

Maria Schneider
Data Lords
Contemporary Music for Jazz Orchestra

Raymond Scott
The Jingle Workshop: Midcentury Musical Miniatures 1951-1965
Mid-20th Century Commercial Jingles by Electronic/Cartoon Music Innovator

Shabaka and the Ancestors
We Are Sent Here by History
Collaboration Between British-Barbadian Sax Star and Young South African Musicians

Ravi Shankar/London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sukanya
Premiere Recording of Ravi Shankar's Only Opera

Emilio Solla/Tango Jazz Orchestra
Puertos: Music from International Waters
Big Band Tango Jazz

The Sorcerers
In Search of the Lost City of the Monkey God
Moody Late Night Ethiopian-Flavored Funk

Esperanza Spalding & Fred Hersch
Live at the Village Vanguard
Jazz Duets

Colin Stetson
Soundtrack to Color Out of Space
Horror Film Soundtrack

Georgie Sweet
Misunderstood
Debut Album from 20-Year-Old British Singer with an Amy Winehouse/Laura Mvula/Thundercat Vibe

Johanna Summer
Schumann Kaleidoskop
Solo Piano Improvisations Inspired by Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Brother Theotis Taylor
Brother Theotis Taylor
New Music from 92-Year-Old Georgia Gospel/Soul Musician

Richard Thompson
Bloody Noses
Contemporary Acoustic Folk (Recorded at Home During Lockdown)

Jaan-Eik Tulve / Vox Clamantis
Cyrillus Kreek: The Suspended Harp of Babel
Choral Music by Estonian Composer Cyrillus Kreek (1889-1962)

William Tyler
Soundtrack to First Cow
Film Soundtrack Performed on Guitar, Lap Dulcimer, Harp and Other Traditional Instruments

Gottlieb Wallisch
20th Century Foxtrots Vol 1 - Austria and Czechia
Modern Classical Composers Write in Popular Dance Rhythms

Max de Wardener (composer) & Kit Downes (performer)
Music for Detuned Pianos
Music for 4 Types of Detuned Piano

Marcin Wasilewski and Joe Lovano
Arctic Riff
Moody Chamber Jazz

The Westerlies
Wherein Lies the Good
Genre-Fluid Music for Brass Quartet

Cristina Vane
Old Played New
Traditional Blues

Various Artists
Apala Groups In Nigeria 1967-70
First Collection of Apala Music Released Outside Nigeria

Various Artists
I/Still/Play
11 New Solo Piano Compositions by Prominent Composers

Various Artists
Imaginational Anthem, Vol. 10: Overseas Edition
European Exponents of the American Primitive Guitar Tradition

Various Artists
The Missing Link
Compilation of Rare Tracks That Provide a 'Missing Link' Between Ragtime and Jazz

Caetano Veloso & Ivan Sacerdote
Caetano Veloso & Ivan Sacerdote
Leading Brazilian Singer-Songwriter Collaborates with Choro Clarinetist

Frank Zappa
The Mothers 1970
Four Hours of Unreleased Frank Zappa Tracks from 1970

HONORABLE MENTION LIST

Here are another 100 albums from 2020 (all styles, all genres) well worth hearing.
Happy listening!

Algiers: There is No Year
Contemporary Electrified Rock

Anrimeal: Could Divine
Computer Folk

Mara Aranda: Trobairitz
Spanish Singer Performs Songs by Trobairitz (Female Troubadours of the Late Medieval Era)

Kyshona Armstrong: Listen
Soul/R&B/Pop

Bookie Baker: The 1st EP
Folk Pop/Alt Country

Kenny Barron: Without Deception
Jazz Piano Trio

Majid Bekkas: Magic Spirit Quartet
Trance-Indusing North African 'Gnawa' Music Meets Jazz

Jerry Bergonzi: Nearly Blue
Tenor-Sax-Driven Exploration of Jazz Standards

Clair-Obscur Saxophonquartett: Nikolai Kapustin: Saxophone Chamber Music
Jazz-Oriented Russian Chamber Music Adapted for Saxophone

Fabrice Bollon/Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra: Albéric Magnard: Symphonies 1 & 2
Orchestral Music from the "French Bruckner"

Guy Buttery & The Bandura Express Marimba Ensemble: Guy Buttery & Bandura
Marimba-Driven South African Jazzy World Pop

Caixa Cubo: Angela
Electric Brazilian Jazz-Rock-Pop

Sharel Cassity: Fearless
Jazz Saxophony

Evelyn Chen / Brinton Averil Smith: Exiles in Paradise: Émigré Composers in Hollywood
Music by 20th Century European Composers Living in the US

Childish Gambino: 3.15.20
Experimental R&B

Evan Christopher & David Torkanowsky: Live at Luthjen's
Clarinet and Piano Jazz Duets in a Traditional Style

Shirley Collins: Heart's Ease
Traditional Folk Music from 85-Year-Old Who Helped Launch 1960s Folk Revival

DakhaBrakha Alambari
Eccentric Folk-Pop from Kiev

Dumama + Kechou: Buffering Juju
African Traditional Song Meets Synthpop

Seamus Egan: Early Bright
Alt Celtic

Kurt Elling (with Danilo Pérez): Secrets Are the Best Stories
Jazz Vocals

Ensemble Italiano: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Chamber Music
Chamber Music from an Émigré Hollywood Composer (& Teacher to J. Williams, Mancini, Previn, Riddle, etc.)

Ēriks Ešenvalds: There Will Come Soft Rains
Contemporary Choral Music from Latvian Composer Ēriks Ešenvalds

Eteria: V Sadu, V Sadu
Ukrainian Choral Folk Music

Elliot Galvin: Live In Paris, At Fondation Louis Vuitton
Solo Jazz Piano

Tim Garland: ReFocus
Reinterpretation of Stan Getz's Seminal Focus Album

Grimes: Miss Anthropocene
Electropop

Trilok Gurtu: God Is a Drummer
Drum-Driven Improvisational Music

Idjah Hadidjah/Jugala Jaipongan: Jaipongan Music of West Java
Classic Tracks of Sensual Indonesian Slow Groove Music (Influenced by Rural Fertility/Harvesting Rituals)

Harmonicblend: Sandhikala: Mantradeva Vocal Soundtrack
Video Game Music Sensibility Infused with Gamelan Sounds and Balinese Mythology

Heare Ensemble: Vox
Contemporary Classical Music

Daniel Hersog (with Noah Preminger and Frank Carlberg): Night Devoid of Stars
Compositions for 16-Piece Canadian Big Band

Ray Wylie Hubbard (with Guest Stars): Co-Starring
Outlaw Country/Roots Rock

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (with Wynton Marsalis): Duke Ellington: Black, Brown & Beige
Concert Hall Presentation of Duke Ellington's Most Expansive Work

Clarice Jensen: The Experience of Repetition as Death
Contemporary Music for Cello (with Electronic Effects)

Seu Jorge & Rogê: Night Dreamer Direct-To-Disc Sessions
Acoustic Brazilian Popular Music

Matthew Joseph: Mood Masala
Funk Influenced by Indian Music and Fingerstyle Guitar

The Just Joans: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of the Just Joans
Scottish Indie Pop

Jyoti: Mama, You Can Bet!
R&B/Hip-Hop/Nu Jazz

Nick Keeling: A Slow Dance With Someone Who Is Leaving You
Nostalgic Experimental Music for Piano and Four 8-Track Cartridge Players

Khruangbin: Mordechai
Psychedelic Texas Trio

Sonny Landreth: Blacktop Run
Contemporary Louisiana Roots/Blues/Country Music

Lauv: How I'm Feeling
Pop Singer-Songwriter

Lighthawk: Shape Shifter
Atmospheric (and Sometimes Punk-ish) Music for Didgeridoo

Charles Lloyd 8: Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobero)
Jazz

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Hero Trio
Jazz Sax Trio

Meadow Maker (Ty Maxon): Newborn
Solo Guitar Music for Sleeping

Stephen Malkmus: Traditional Techniques
Psych-Folk/Alt Folk

Laura Marling: Song for Our Daughter
Pared-Down Songs for an Imaginary Child

Matthew Marshall: Fragments
Music for Classical Guitar by 7 New Zealand Composers

Wall Matthews: The Plum Women's Blues: The Guitar Music Of Wall Matthews, Volume 3, 1994-96
Solo Blues Guitar

Makaya McCraven/Gil-Scott Heron: We're New Again: A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven
Reworking of the Final Album from Jazz Poet and Proto-Rapper Gil-Scott Heron

Brad Mehldau: Suite: April 2020
Solo Jazz Piano

Pat Metheny: From This Place
Jazz

Cahalen Morrison: Wealth of Sorrow
Stark, Underproduced Folk Made with a Guitar, Banjo, Wood Stove and the Wind

Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge: Jazz is Dead 1
LA Hip-Hop/R&B Producers Collaborate with Jazz Veterans

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Angular Blues
Jazz Guitar Trio

Willie Nelson: First Rose of Spring
Country

Uncle Nop Nen: Kite Songs: Traditional Music from Cambodia
Traditional Songs Performed on the Chapei (2-Stringed Cambodian Guitar)

Johnny Nicholas: Mistaken Identity
Louisiana Swamp Rock

Oregon Symphony/Carlos Kalmar: Aspects of America: Pulitzer Edition
Pulitzer Prize-winning Symphonic Works from Walter Piston (1961), Morton Gould (1995) and Howard Hanson (1944)

Orgone: Connection
LA Funk Ensemble (with Lots of Horns and Voices)

Owl's Head Mountain: Loon Callas
Minimalist Guitar Plus Soundscapes of Wind and Birds

Ed Palermo Big Band: The Great Un-American Songbook
Unconventional Big Band Arrangements of Unconventional Songs

Maceo Parker: Soul Food: Cooking with Maceo
R&B Saxophony

Ed Peekeekoot: Front Porch
Native American Roots Guitarist

Bec Plexus: Sticklip
Björk-ish Amsterdam Art Pop

Giulio Prandi / Ghislieri Choir / Orchestra Ghislieri: Niccolò Jommelli: Requiem
Serene Requiem Mass by Neglected Neapolitan Composer

Gabriel Prokofiev: Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra No. 1
Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra

Gwenifer Raymond: Strange Lights over Garth Mountain
Neo-Noir Traditional Folk Guitar

Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau (with Christian McBride and Brian Blade): RoundAgain
All-Star Jazz Quartet

Ricardo Richaid: Travesseiro Feliz
Brazilian Pop with Rock/Jazz/Funk Ingredients

Rookie: Rookie
Chicago Rock (in More Ways Than One)

Roomful of Teeth/Wally Gunn: The Ascendant
Unconventional Contemporary Choral Music

Royce da 5'9": The Allegory
Allegorical Hip/Hop

Denzel Sachs: I Thought About You
Tenor Sax Playing Out of a Time Machine from the 1930s

Caroline Shaw: Is a Rose/The Listeners
Contemporary Classical Music

Andrei Shereshovets & Mamkin Maxim: Six Fragments
Music for Two Shakuhachi flutes (and Other Wind Instruments)

Patti Smith with Soundwalk Collective: Peradam
Metaphysics and Soundscapes

Martial Solal & Dave Liebman: Masters in Paris
Piano-and-Sax Jazz Duets

Son Rompe Pera: Batuco
Traditional Mexican Marimba Music

Luciana Souza and the WDR Big Band: Storytellers
Brazilian/Jazz Vocals with Big Band

Swamp Dogg: Sorry You Couldn't Make It
Soul/R&B

Benedict Taylor: Swarm
Hive-Like Drone Music for 100 Violins/Violas and 1 Guitar

Fred Thomas: J.S. Banjo
Renaissance and Baroque Music Performed on Solo Tenor Banjo

Triantán: Triantán
Unaccompanied Irish & Scottish Traditional Songs Performed by 3 Singers (in Gaelic & English)

Jimmy Triplett: Lee Hammons Repertoire Vol. 1
Traditional Fiddle Music from West Virginia

Various Artists: Anthology Of Contemporary Music From Indonesia
Experimental and Underground Music from Indonesia

Various Artists: Blue Note Re:imagined
Updatings/Remixings of Blue Note Hard Bop Tracks in Contemporary Commercial Stylings

Various Artists: New Horizons
Anthology of New Jazz Music from South Africa

Varo: Varo
Traditional Irish

Andrey Vinogradov: Distant Calls
Neo-Medieval Music for Hurdy-Gurdy

Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton: Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton
Previously Unreleased Live Tracks from Folk Music Legend from Greenwich Village 1962

Gillian Welch: Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs, Vol. 1
Previously Unreleased Home Recordings of a Leading Contemporary Folk Singer-Songwriter

Immanuel Wilkins: Omega
Rising Star Jazz Saxophonist

Marcel Worms: Piano Works by Jewish Composers 1922-1943
Modern Concert Works for Solo Piano

yMusic: Ecstatic Science
Contemporary Chamber Music

Benny Yurco: You Are My Dreams
"Alternative World Album of Instinctual Free Thought, Spirit-Guided"

Denny Zeitlin: Live at Mezzrow
Jazz Piano Trio

Evritiki Zygia: Ormenion
Thracian Fusion-Funk

T ED GIOIA

Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/tedgioia

MUSIC: A SUBVERSIVE HISTORY

"I can't speak highly enough about Music: A
Subversive History."
Michael Dirda in Washington Post

“A dauntingly ambitious, obsessively researched
labor of cultural provocation."
Robert Christgau in the Los Angeles Times

"An entirely new way to look at how music
evolved."
The Atlantic

"One of the most perceptive writers on music has
cut a wide swath down the path of history,
illuminating details often left in the shadows and
broadening our understanding of all things sonic.
Gioia vividly points out that the wheels of cultural
advancement are often turned by the countless
unsung heroes of inventiveness. A mind opening
and totally engaging read!"
Terry Riley

“In the past, [Gioia has] written a series of
acclaimed books about jazz, but Music: A
Subversive History is by some distance the most
wide-ranging and provocative thing he’s come up
with.”
Alexis Petridis, The Guardian

“The highlights are too many to list, and mostly
arrive via Gioia’s refreshingly non-academic take
on the subject – he knows how to tell a story in a
way that will keep people reading….He has a
lovely light touch, a mischievous sense of humour
and a determinedly skewed take on how music
has been chronicled.”
Lloyd Bradley, The TLS

"In this excellent history, music critic Gioia dazzles
with tales of how music grew out of violence, sex,
and rebellion. Crisply written with surprising
insights."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Gioia's sprawling and deeply interesting history
of music defies all stereotypes of music
scholarship. This is rich work that provokes many
fascinating questions. Scientists and humanists
alike will find plenty to disagree with, but isn't that
the point? 'A subversive history' indeed."
Samuel Mehr
Director, The Music Lab, Harvard University

“This book fells like the summation of a lifetime’s
avid musical exploration and reading. It has an
epic sweep and passionate engagement with the
topic that carries one along irresistibly.”
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph

"Ted Gioia's Music: A Subversive History is one of
the most important and welcome books I've
encountered in the last decade. If ever there were
a book the world sorely needed, it's Gioia's."
Jeff Simon in Buffalo News.

"As a fan of 'big histories' that sweep through
space and time, I gobbled this one like candy as I
found myself astounded by some idea, some fact,
some source, some dots connected into a fast-
reading big picture that takes in Roman
pantomime riots, Occitan troubadours,
churchbells, blues, Afrofuturism, surveillance
capitalism, and much more. A must for music
heads."
Ned Sublette
Author of Cuba and Its Music and The World
That Made New Orleans

"In this meticulously-researched yet thoroughly
page-turning book, Gioia argues for the
universality of music from all cultures and eras.
Subversives from Sappho to Mozart and Charlie
Parker are given new perspective--as is the role
of the church and other arts-shaping institutions.
Music of emotion is looked at alongside the
music of political power in a fascinating way by a
master writer and critical thinker. This is a must-
read for those of us for whom music has a central
role in our daily lives."
Fred Hersch

“A sweeping and enthralling account of music as
an agency of human change.”
Booklist (starred review and selected as one of the 10
best arts books of 2019)

"A bold, fresh, and informative chronicle of
music's evolution and cultural meaning."
Kirkus

“Thought-provoking….Gioia’s argument is
persuasive and offers a wealth of possibilities for
further exploration.”
Library Journal

The One Hundred
Best Albums of 2020

One of the 15 Best Books of the Year
(The Atlantic)
One of the 50 Notable Nonfiction Books of the Year
(Washington Post)
One of 13 Best Non-Fiction Books of the Year
(Christian Science Monitor)
Best Art Books of the Year
(Library Journal)
Best Art Books of the Year
(Booklist)

CRITICS' RESPONSES TO TED GIOIA'S
MUSIC: A SUBVERSIVE HISTORY

BACKGROUND ON THE BEST
ALBUMS OF 2020 LIST

I am often asked how I compile my
annual list of the 100 best albums.
Here is some background information.

Why isn't this list in rank order (from
best to worst)?

I am listing my top 100 and honorable
mention albums for 2020 in alphabetical
order, rather than ranking them. This
marks a change from some of
my earlier end-of-year lists. I am doing
this because each of these albums
deserves recognition and a purely
sequential ranking tended to focus
too much attention on just a few
recordings.

What styles of music do I include in my
listening?

I listen to all genres and all styles of
music. I like to listen to music that is
fresh and different, and this spurs me
to search outside the dominant
commercial categories and hit
releases. But I also listen to the
heavily promoted albums from the
major labels.

How much music do I listen to?

I like to hear new music every day.
During 2020 I listened to more
than 1,000 new album releases.
(The exact number was 1,032.)

Why do I compile this list?

Like any music lover, I enjoy
sharing my favorite music with others.
But in the last few years, a different
motivation has spurred me. I believe
that the system of music discovery is
broken in the current day. There is
more music recorded than ever before,
but it is almost impossible for listeners
to find the best new recordings. The
most creative work in music is
increasingly found on self-produced
projects and releases from small
indie labels— to an extent hardly
conceivable only a decade ago. Very
little of this music ever shows up on
the radio or the heavily-promoted
playlists, where formats seem to get
narrower and narrower with each
passing year. Music fans once heard
good new music at indie record stores,
but most of them have closed. Or
they could read reviews in the
newspaper, but both the newspapers
and the music reviews are shrinking or
disappearing. And the big record
labels are the worst culprits of all,
picking acts for their looks or their
potential appeal to fourteen-year-olds,
or some other egregious reason, and
in general jumping on the most trivial
passing fads. On the other hand,
the Internet presents an almost
infinite amount of music and music
commentary—yet where do fans
even begin to separate the good from
the bad and ugly? My personal solution
to this dilemma has been to listen to
lots and lots of music, and try to
identify recordings of quality and
distinction. I share my list because
I know, from past experience, that
many other listeners are frustrated
with the broken system of music
discovery, and are also looking for
good new music.

Why is this list so strange?

There are two kinds of end-of-year
lists. The first type celebrates
cultural heroes and popular successes.
But there's a second type of list that
focuses on musical discovery and digs
deeply into under-the-radar releases
seeking hidden gems. This list is
clearly in the second camp.

What criteria do I apply?

I have no axe to grind. My list is
filled with music I enjoy, and suspect
others will too—especially if they
have a reasonably good ear, and
an open mind. I like recordings that
show some flair and creativity, a
sense of style, solid musicianship,
and an emotional commitment to
the moment of performance. I
appreciate it when an artist
possesses a sense of musical
tradition; on the other hand, I don’t
want to see slavish imitation of the
past. When music strikes me as
too formulaic or contrived or cold,
I start to lose interest. Like any critic,
I want my readers to think that I am
cool and hip and oh-so-up-to-date,
but I learned some time ago that
many of the best recordings are
decidedly uncool and unhip. So if
you want to laugh at me for honoring
some superannuated country star or
unfashionable Celtic or lullaby album,
go right ahead. But also check
out some of the lesser-known titles on
the list...you might just be pleasantly
surprised by what you hear.

Happy listening!

Related Links:
The 100 Best Albums of 2019
The 100 Best Albums of 2018
The 100 Best Albums of 2017
The 100 Best Albums of 2016
The 100 Best Albums of 2015
The 100 Best Albums of 2014
The 100 Best Albums of 2013
The 100 Best Albums of 2012
The 100 Best Albums of 2011