From Future Islands and Interpol to The 1975 and TOPS, countless bands from the last two decades have found success filtering their music through distinctly ’80s lenses. It’s no secret that 1980s nostalgia has been prevalent in indie rock for years now. Nation of Language: Introduction, Presence That magic reappears in flashes on The New Abnormal-the first Strokes release since Future Present Past and their first full-length in seven years-but even if the album’s strong songs are among the liveliest, most effortless music the band has made in over a decade, their bursting energy only modestly offsets the LP’s many sharp lows. Angles’ “Taken for a Fool,” Comedown Machine’s “All the Time” and a handful of Impressions songs suggested that our leather-clad early-aughts heroes might still possess a flicker of their initial spark. have avoided anything resembling musical consistency on every Strokes release since. Seemingly in direct response to those criticisms, Julian Casablancas and co. When the seminal, ’70s-inspired garage rock group dropped the latter of those albums, 2003’s Room on Fire, some fans and critics complained that it sounded too similar to 2001’s groundbreaking Is This It. Let’s face it: In 2020, nobody is expecting a new Strokes album to compete with the band’s classic, essentially perfect first two albums. Here are the 25 Best Albums of 2020 (So Far): We hope you found something to love this year, but whether you’ve completely checked out or you’ve been along for the ride this whole time, we present to you our favorite albums for the first half of an unprecedented year. From Fiona Apple’s giant comeback record to Moses Sumney’s mystifying double album to Run the Jewels’ sadly timely LP about systemic oppression, listeners were still blessed with a solid haul of albums. The albums we did end up hearing in the first half of 2020 were hugely important in keeping us sane. Many of the albums we were excited to hear this year got delayed, and some of them arrived just when we needed them. We’ve experienced an onslaught of live-streamed performances and home-recorded albums-churned out at a time when artists have lost most of their revenue streams. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, people have been connecting with each other and making meaningful art-two things that are integral to the human soul.
But we simply have no choice but to persevere.
To start the decade on such a tragic note is truly soul-crushing, and there’s no sense in dressing it up. For many of us, this has been the most tumultuous year of our lifetimes.
0 kommentar(er)
