Taylor’s Top 25 Albums of 2020: #15-11

Editor’s Note: This part 3 of a 5 part series. Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.

We’re at the heart of this year’s countdown and here’s where it gets really tough. To me, the top 15 albums of the year are usually the ones I spent the most time with. While the first 10 we covered are great, these are the ones that resonated with me most in 2020. Without further delay, we’re diving into #15-11 this round!

#15: Khruangbin – Mordechai

Khruangbin prides itself on creating retro R&B sounding tunes with a world influence. There are influences in their songs that you can’t even pick out because, frankly, you haven’t heard of the artists they’re drawing inspiration from. The Texas-based trio is heavily swayed by Afghani music, Eastern staples we Westerners aren’t aware of, and still makes their music incredibly accessible. You can vibe to their 2020 album Mordechai with intense focus, as well as totally space out and groove mindlessly.

I think a lot of people dismissed the record as more of the same. In reality, it’s similar to their past works but it’s because their past works are great as well. I think the thing that really works for Mordechai is the timelessness of their sound. In 2020, you could spin a Khruangbin unknowingly and think they’re from the 60s, 70s, 80s, or now without question. This sort of music might not be your go-to on a night where you need to get pumped up, but it will keep you steadily bopping your head and feeling happy. We needed that this year.

“Call me what you want/Call me what you need/Words don’t have to say/Keep it to myself” – “So We Won’t Forget”

#14: Charli XCX – how I’m feeling now

Hyperpop boomed in a big way at the end of 2019 thanks to acts like 100 Gecs and Arca. In the end, the best album of the genre in 2020 was by the person who put the genre on the mainstream map in the first place. Charli XCX has completely established a sweet little corner in Pop music for herself. After releasing Charli in 2019, she ended up recording again this year in quarantine, and it’s her best work to date. No album made me miss going out and experiencing everyday life quite like this record.

Track 3, “clawz,” might be one of the most telling songs in Charli’s career. It’s lyrically simplistic, the beat is almost juvenile to the point of annoyance, and yet I can’t stop listening to it months after its release. What Charli captures that other artists don’t is a sheer force of will. She takes stellar productions and effortlessly glides over chopped beats and militaristic synths in a way that sounds chaotic and so much damn fun. Themed around how we all felt in 2020 away from friends and family, this album hits close to home in a fun yet bittersweet way.

“Staring out to oblivion/All my friends are invisible/Twenty-four-seven, miss ’em all/I might cry like a waterfall.” – “anthems”

#13: Jhené Aiko – Chilombo

Jhené Aiko is my favorite R&B singer in the genre at the moment and that was true before her 2020 record Chilombo. Now, I’m only further convinced that her mastery of the heart-wrenching and soul-crushing is years beyond her competition. “Triggered (freestyle)” released as a single and immediately became the best screw-you song of 2020. It’s not all-parts anger. It’s a brutally honest landscape of all the emotions we feel when we are let down, beat down, and cheated by the ones we care most about.

Other tracks on Aiko’s album dance between R&B ballads and croon-rap masterpieces. Her career persists each passing year because of the staying power her words and voice have in music. She’s a leading example of how to be honest to yourself and allow yourself the space to feel, react, and demand the respect and love you deserve as an individual. She’s influential to so many because she seems to have a grasp on the things so many of us struggle with. In reality, she’s struggling just like us but walks us through her journey so we feel less alone.

“Look how the sun is shining/Over everything it seems/Very accepting of me/Even when I don’t believe.” – “LOVE”

#12: Beach Bunny – Honeymoon

My go-to happy album this year was Beach Bunny’s Honeymoon. As a Chicago-area native, I have a soft spot in my heart for acts from the Windy City. Growing up, the Pop-Punk and Emo scene in the city was outstanding, and Beach Bunny encapsulates the spirit of the city along with great contributions to deeper songwriting and more interesting melodies. I think the best part of Honeymoon is how smooth these songs move one after the other without sounding the same. There’s so much to love.

In pure Punk-Pop fashion, there are lyrical themes of self-doubt, anxiety, and melancholy. There are also elements singer-songwriter Lili Trifilio adds that are all her own. I’m enamored with her diary-style approach to songwriting. She also has a unique voice that immediately grabs your ear, something other Pop-Punk acts can’t necessarily do. The future is bright for this band, and there’s a new EP on the way in early 2021. I’ll likely still be bumping Honeymoon at that point too.

“Sometimes I just want somebody/Someone who reminds me that they’ll always love me/Sick of counting tears/Wishing you were here” – “April”

#11: Thundercat – It Is What It Is

My own musical journey and early days of working in radio involved a lot of jazz. Thundercat has been on my radar since his work with The Young Jazz Giants and it’s incredible to see him come into his own on It Is What It Is. When 2017’s DRUNK released, many couldn’t pin where Stephen Bruner’s music fits in the genres. In actuality, it transcends everything, mixing Jazz, Blues, R&B, and even elements of Pop into a gorgeous palate of sounds and sensations.

There are quite a few elements to Thundercat worth applauding, but one I’d love to point out is that Bruner doesn’t shy away from being ambitious in one breath and playfully irreverent in the next. Sticking a song like “Dragonball Durag” between two mysterious and gorgeous tracks like “Overseas” and “How I Feel” is bold and brash. There’s so much to soak in on this album that the 15-track record feels too brief. There’s a solution I applied in this case: keep replaying it over and over.

“Somewhere beneath the stars/Beyond just more of our space/Nothing is yours, nothing is mine/We are decaying, over time” – “Interstellar Love”