Soundtrack For My Life; 2020
Having no gigs to perform, and nowhere to really go in 2020 afforded me a rare opportunity to really listen to music. Here are some releases that I enjoyed this year.
I do two types of music listening; passive and active. While I am actively listening, I am putting together playlists that become a soundtracks for my life.
With music, the moment is everything. After listening to an album, like Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”, I can be indifferent the first time, then love it. Context and mood are everything. Music is magic and you have to boil the cauldron, drink the soup and warm the stones on the hearth. Music is nothing without a place and space to put it. Tomorrow, in a different place and state, I could make a much different list.
There is a LOT of music out there. The positive/negative side of easier access to recording tools, and many independent online vehicles is that there is a lot more music being put out each year, and so many places to find it. I am finding that the homogenized crap floats on top, because, well, money and marketing. But, the good stuff is there if you want to find it, you just have to dive a bit out of the main stream.
You will notice modern rap is not equally represented on this list (I listened to Bad Bunny, Chloe x Halle, Megan Thee Stallion, Freddie Gibbs, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby). I just can’t get warm to the auto tune formant shifting of modern Trap -Rap -R&B, as soon as I hear that warble(which gets more pronounced each year), I hit skip. Didn’t like it when Cher used it in 1998, or Lil Nas on Old Town Road) Be real! For some artists, it is their entire vocal sound. Ugh. <end rant>
Country Music. Even though I have Country (and Western) in my roots, there is not much modern country on this list. I used to watch Grand Ole Opry on PBS in the late 70’s with my Mom on Saturday nights, but most of the New Country leaves me disinterested, it’s formulaic, and trite and like auto tune rap, as soon as I hear an eye rolling play on words like; “Her and I go way back, like Cadillac seats..”, well, you know.
There is some crazy electronic shit out there, breaking all the rules, thanks to technology. I need to listen to more of that to “get” it. It seems to lack something to connect to me. (Arca, Kate NV, Beatrice Dillon, ) genius, but…..
Finally, a brief statement on the money side of music delivery systems. As a musician, I can tell you streaming services suck. As a consumer, they are amazingly convenient and full featured. In the past, a musician could count on CD sales for most of their revenue (90% in 1999). In 2020, many people don’t even have CD players. CD sales only represent 2% of total music sales now and vinyl makes up 4%. Not surprisingly, only 10% of people now pay directly for their music. That leaves streaming services, which a paltry 25% of people pay for. That means the majority of consumers don’t pay for music. Musicians are putting music out there for little or nothing. Think of that. Taking a piece of art from the store, hanging it on the wall and then deciding to keep it, but not pay for it. There is about $1,000 worth of music on this list, and I listened to another $2,000 worth (some just for a few seconds). In 1999 I spent at least that every year. Now my annual Spotify subscription is only $150 a year, but I can listen to thousands of artists, create playlists and share with friends. Is the convenience worth not paying for the product, and how will this drive future output? Stay tuned.
*For the record, I learned about the music on this list from a variety of sources; Iowa Public Radio Studio One, and public radio syndicated music shows, Radio Garden, Social Media posts by friends, “Magazines” and blogs, and my favorite someone talking with words in a conversation and telling me what they like!
Albums that I enjoyed most:
The Microphones — The Microphones in 2020 (44:45 autobiographical stream of consciousness acoustic trance.)
Futurebirds — Teamwork (“Smokin’ weed and solvin’ mysteries — keepin’ heaven close within our reach..”)
Heirlooms — Reilly Partridge (Don’t Let This World Break Your Heart)
Sawyer Frederichs — Flowers for You (Raw, Rock, Roots, Sugar)
Lilly Hiatt — Walking Proof (The album so many people want to make)
Kathleen Edwards — Total Freedom (Doing what Canadians do so well with music — 8 years later)
Chad Elliot — Tangle With The Ghost (Might be biased on this one, but it has the grit and lyrical imaging to make it personal, and comfortable AND has groovy R&B energy)
Emma Swift — Blonde on the Tracks (Literary, sapiosexual slow burn )
Chris Stapleton — Starting Over (Sounds like your old favorite record right out of the chute. The rockers like “Devil Always Makes Me Think Twice, Arkansas, and Whiskey Sunrise will be arena anthems.)
Sturgill Simpson — Cuttin’ Grass, Vol. 2: The Butcher Shoppe SessionsReunions (I like Vol. 2 much better than Vol. 1)
Jason Isbell — Reunions(It Get’s Easier)
Waxahatchee — St. Cloud (Gets me every time)
Bob Dylan — Rough and Rowdy Ways (*False Prophet, Goodbye Jimmy Reed- Dylan’s Well is sooo Deep)
Run The Jewels — RTJ4 (*Doesn’t let up, and it shouldn’t)
Jeff Parker — Suite for Max Brown (Jazz if Miles and Mingus had access to an Akai Sampler, at 25 seconds long, “C’mon Now” begs to be sampled, forever)
Flaming Lips — American Head
Chuck Prophet — The Land That Time Forgot (*Get Off The Stage, HIgh as Johnny Thunders)
SAULT - Untitled (Rise) (Fresh and Groovy. Curtis Mayfield called collect and wants his Fleetwood Brougham back)
SAULT -(Black Is)
Colter Wall — Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs (git around the campfire and sing with the coyotes)
Fiona Apple- Fetch the Bolt Cutters (Quirky-jerky Beat Poet Jazz Pop — Had to give this a couple hard listens to fall into it, then I couldn’t get out)
Mavericks — En Espanol (That voice! A Fiesta Mexicana in your ears!)
Black Pumas — Deluxe (Nuevo R&B, As smooth as a starry Austin night)
Bonny Light Horseman — Bonny Light Horseman (Supersmooth super folk, super group)
John Moreland — LP5 “all the gods are watching wars on Television…”
Yaeji — What We Drew (Cinamesque tech house atmospheres — I want escape to this place sometimes, but being trapped here would be a nightmare)
Twins — Dream On (Iowa highway pulse — “I wonder if you might like to come out on a drive, yeah, I was thinking you just might.)
Dua Lipa — Future Nostalgia (Flawless pop dance groove)
Beach Bunny — Honeymoon (Indie pop so sweet it makes your teeth hurt)
Toots and the Maytals — Got to be Tough (Go out leaving them dancing and singing)
Justin Well — The United State (if ya’ll like Sturgil, Waylon and Merle)
Oranssi Pazuzu — Mestarin kynsi (Finnish metal that takes it’s time and takes you for a ride)
My Morning Jacket -The Waterfall III
Songs that made me pay attention, or warmed my heart:
John Prine -I Remember Everything
The 1975 — People (Stop Fuckin’ with the Kiiiddz!)
Y.O.G.A — Your Devotion (Sebastian remix) *(Cinematic dance groove that mesmerizes and keeps your interewst)
WizKid — Blessed(Featuring Damian Marley)
Kathleen Edwards — Glenfern
Larkin Poe — Rockin’ In The Free World
Sawyer Frederichs — Amen
Molly Tuttle — She’s a Rainbow
John Moreland — East October
Chad Elliot — Cold Nevada Rain
Katie Pruitt — After The Gold Rush
Diego Danger — The Times They Ain’t A-Changin’
Reilly Partridge — Don’t Let this World Break Your Heart
Honey Child — Hard Times
Amanda Sires, Featuring Jason Isbell — The Problem (Seeing this live hooked me)
EP’s Worth a listen:
Henry Pope — Ngene (*Jungle groove techno)
Caribou — Home
Phoebe Bridgers (Kyoto)
Jay Electronica — Ghost of Soulja Slim
Róisín Machine — We Got Together
Lianne La Havas — Lianne La Havas
Zach Bryan — Quiet Heavy Dreams
Real Goods…you decide:
Soccer Mommy — Color Theory (Poppy goodness, but needs to set a destination in the navi app)
Painted Shield — Painted Shield (Gut punch rawk with some surprises)Jessy Lanza — All the Time (*Chilly Sexy Electronic beats for the bedroom)
KeiyaA — Forever, Ya Girl (*Erykah Badu for 2020’s)
Fontaines D.C. — A Hero’s Death (*Ireland Does It Again)
Haim — Women in Music Pt. III
Neil Young — Homegrown (*We don’t smoke it no more!”)
Elizabeth Cook — Aftermath (Fresh cosmic poppy approach to the Grand Ole Opera)
Jehnny Beth — To Love is To Live (Listens like a soundtrack for Peaky Blinders — the track with Cillian Murphy seals the deal)
Marcus King — El Dorado
Markaus — Burn the Boats (Smart rap flows from Iowa with soft nostalgic beats)
Jeff Tweedy — Love is The King (Great songs all gliding at the pulse rate of a couched stoner)
Ray Wylie Hubbard — Co-Starring
Brent Cobb — Keep ’Em On They Toes
Molly Tuttle -…but i’d rather be with you (Watch out for this young flat picking phenom, you will hear her name a lot)
Dehd — Flower of Devotion (finds a nice space between the electronic wave of Depoche Mode and the indie brit-op vibe of Arctic Monkeys)
Duval TImothy — Brown Loop (vibey classical jazz tones. Put this on and bake bread, clean the house, watch snow with a cup of warm something)
Drakeo the Ruler — Because Yall Asked (Minimalist rap conversation with himself in his head, unique given the circumstances)
Ruston Kelly — Shape and Destroy (Good Almost Country Music)
Taylor Swift — Evermore, Folklore
Brian Johannsen — Holster Your Silver
Nubya Garcia — Source (Tasty contemporary jazz with world rhythms — first album for this tenor saxophonist)
Lori McKenna — The Balladeer (Nashville’s hottest songwriter proves why)
Dustin Arbuckle and Matt Woods- 2020
Susan Alcorn — The Heart Sutra (Pedal Steel like you’ve never heard it)
Napalm Death — Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism (METAL as it was meant to be performed. Not for sissies!) *Fuck the Factoid
Lido Pimienta — Miss Columbia (world music vibes for days)
Mickey Guyton — Bridges (Positive Country from a person of color, *Black Like Me)
Gabe Lee — Honkey Tonk Hell (Fresh Old Country, with a little Elton John Soul)
Todd Partridge is a musician, businessman, poet and writer. When he is home he listens to music in Auburn, Iowa.
