End of a Year 2020: Albums Pt. 2

 Here is part 2 of my AOTY list. Part 1 is here. This category is called...

Albums I was obsessed with/bumped all year.

This is self explanatory. Below are my heavy hitters for 2020.

Gulch

6. Jelly & Pi'erre Bourne -- Wolf of Peachtree (SOSSHOUSE)

Pi'erre Bourne is my pick for producer of the year after dropping two trap master classes with his SOSSHOUSE affiliates. Jelly, the first beneficiary, doesn't just allow his mentor to carry him past the limits of his ability. He excels in the format set for him. The hooks on this project are high energy. The verses are full of quotables. The songs are all short and sweet in that "leave you wanting more" kind of way. Wolf of Peachtree is the type of fun, easy listen you can come back to again and again.  I don't know how it will hold up, but I loved it in 2020.

5. Gulch -- Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (Closed Casket Activities)

Gulch have been one of the biggest "newsmakers" in hardcore for the past two years. They break Hardcore Twitter any time they do anything, it seems. It comes as no surprise then, that their debut "full length" on Closed Casket Activities made the biggest noise of any hardcore release in 2020. It sold out of its first pressing in minutes, and subsequent pressings didn't last much longer. For good reason, too. Gulch mesh the blistering energy of punk with the technical brutality of death metal and the bouncy rhythm of moshcore. The result is something dangerous yet oddly digestible for all stripes of hardcore kid. My only gripe is that three of the albums' eight short songs were previously released. Plus the last track is a Siouxiee and the Bandshees cover. We got less than seven minutes of new Gulch material on this album. Seven great minutes, nonetheless.

Lil Uzi Vert

4. Drain -- California Cursed (Revelation)

Gulch's sister band edge them out on my list, partly because there was a fair bit more music on their Revelation debut. This album was a grower for me, but once you get used to the choppy key changes there's very little to criticize. Drain pour thrash riffs into a modern hardcore cast, resulting in perfectly dynamic, mosh ready burners. Unfortunately the songs weren't pit-tested. Drain only got to play one show on this album before everything was shut down in March. Too bad, because there are more than enough moments on California Cursed to make my old, fat, weak ass jump in the pit and hurt myself.  

3, Lil' Uzi Vert -- Eternal Atake (Generation Now)

Uzi's long awaited follow-up to Love is Rage 2 went through the full cycle of public opinion. First, there were over-zealous 16-year-olds calling it the best trap album ever. Then people suddenly grew off it (thanks, Fantano) and it was "mid" or "overrated". Now I'm starting to see people come back around a little bit. EA hardly left my rotation. The beats on this project are intricately crafted. It sounds like it was mixed by an alien with super-hearing on the planet of Protoolsia. Uzi can rap too -- as much as the Griselda heads don't want to admit it, this project has its fair share of sleepy-good bars. The production is what keeps drawing me back though. EA paints an out-of-this-world sonic landscape for Uzi and the listener to get lost in, proving that trap, as a genre, can innovate when it wants to.

Terminal Nation

2. Terminal Nation -- Holocene Extinction (20 Buck Spin)

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this album because I'm not super familiar with the source material it cites. I believe Nails are a band who pull from the similar well of early 90's Earache Records shit. The main difference is that while Nails like to pummel you over the dome with powerviolence flavoured brutality, Terminal Nation prefer to draw it out a little. The songs on Holocene Extinction provides a lot of touchstones for hardcore kids to latch onto. There are stompy mosh parts. There are lots of meaty riffs. The "long" songs are more crushingly repetitive than technically obtuse, and even then, they aren't that long. The lyrics are politically charged without being corny or stupid *coughvanguardcough*. This record is thoroughly enjoyable and there was a two week period this year where I listened to it on repeat almost exclusively.

1. 21 Savage & Metro Boomin' -- Savage Mode II (Slaughter Gang/Boominati)

I'm not gonna lie, the album art on SMII had me loving the record before I heard a note of music. I wasn't disappointed when it dropped either. This album was labelled trap because of who worked on it, but there's so much more going on. Metro's production touches on a number of different influences. He has soul samples, major key pop production, 90's drum sounds, 80's drum sounds, and more. Savage performs about as well as any pop or mainstream rapper in his lane. He's got punchlines, storytelling bars, concept songs and even ballads, all sewn up with his infectious flow and cool-as-a-cucumber delivery. There isn't a bad or even "just okay" song on this project. The whole thing bangs from start to finish and the narration from Morgan Freeman gives an epic, iconic feel to an already phenomenal musical performance. This record is just about perfect.

EPs of the year

Big Laugh

There were a ton of great EPs that dropped this year as well. Here are my five favourites.

5. Self Defense Family -- Long Island (Run For Cover)

Self Defense Family's prodigious output has dropped off in recent years, but they blessed us in 2020 with a two-month long dump of old unreleased material. This sounds like a throwaway from the Heaven is Earth days , which is my favourite period of SDF. This two track offering is grimy, seedy and washed out.

4. X. Kubrick -- The Sevel Levels of Happiness (Self-Released)

This was another standout from my podcast. Delaware's X. Kubrick makes a time capsule of late 90's hardcore rap that's full of hard ass bars and well written choruses. His expert-level flow betrays his relative inexperience as a rapper. 

3. Koyo -- Painting Words Into Lines (Self-Released)

This is a warm blanket for a post-hardcore fan, threading the needle on influences as diverse as Silent Majority, The Movielife and Saosin. This will scratch an itch for anyone who likes a bit of bittersweet melancholy in their punk rock.

2. Big Laugh -- Manic Revision (11PM)

Big Laugh's demo was straightforward youth crew revival with a distinctly basement charm. This EP dials up the weirdness, as the band cites Infest and Heresy as influences. Oddly enough, Manic Revision has a big-room production feel that gives it heavy crossover appeal. 

1. Pummel -- Our Power (Atomic Action)

Pummel was the last band I got to see before lockdown, and boy am I glad for that. This EP blends a ton of disparate hardcore styles through a distinctly "Boston" lens for something entirely cohesive and unique. Pummel is going to be the best band in hardcore if this EP is any indicator of things to come.

Honorable Mention:

Westside Gunn - Pray For Paris
Nick Enaigbe - The Sight Beneath My Eyelids
Polo G - The Goat
Code Orange - Underneath
Brick - The Intro
No Cost - Demo
Highway Sniper - Greatest Hits
Youth Collapse - New Form

Stuff I didn't get enough time with:

42 Dugg - Young n' Turnt 2
Chavo & Pi'erre Bourne - Chavo's World
Kodak Black - Bill Israel
Mozzy - Occupational Hazard
Spillage Village - Spilligion
Undeath - Lesions of a Different Kind
Fluids - Ignorance Exhalted.

~~~

Thanks for another great year everyone. Part 1 is here.

End of a Year 2020 - Albums Pt 1.

 *Staind Voice* It's been a while.

I haven't posted anything on here for eight months. I know it's not entirely out of character for this blog, but I've still been busy. Check out my new podcast and follow me on Twitter for fuck's sake. 

Part 2 is here.

I've had more time to listen to new music this year than ever before, due to circumstances I'm sure you're aware of. That means I've got 20 fuckin albums to talk about instead of the usual 10. I'm doing the rankings a bit different this year too. This year is gonna be a lot more personal, and that starts with dividing the albums into three categories based on listening habits.

Category 1: Good albums I didn't listen to often.

I only spun these albums like five times all year, despite thoroughly enjoying them. I feel like I'm going to revisit a lot of these down the line, but for whatever reason, they just weren't top of mind in 2020.

Ecostrike

20. Peace Maker - Peace Be With You (Self-Released)

This album is arguably the best thing I reviewed on my podcast. Peace Maker spits complex bars over mellow production with a gritty but honest sensibility. It's hard without having to front and smart without smelling its own farts.

19. Internal Rot -- Grieving Birth (Iron Lung)

I don't know how to contextualize this album because the world of DIY caveman grind is pretty new to me. Grieving Birth is brutal to the point where it's hardly even music. It's way too cool to leave off this list, though.

18. Ecostrike -- A Truth We Still Believe (Triple B)

The lyrics on this record push it into contention for one of the corniest albums of the year. I don't think you'll catch a single "cool" hardcore kid saying they like this. Fuck those kids though. Ecostrike moves further into their own lane and away from the cries of "Strife worship" on this album. They also write some of the best riffs of their career.

Three Knee Deep

17. The Fight -- Their New Aesthetic (Triple B)

Triple B are the masters of finding the best and most accessible bands in every subgenre of hardcore. The Fight, like Restraining Order, are playing basement music to festival kids. Their New Aesthetic is ferociously catchy d-beat with oi and street punk garnish that every stripe of hardcore kid can enjoy.

16. Three Knee Deep -- Three Knee Deep (Triple B)

Holy shit. Three Triple B records in a row! This album is incredibly fucking stupid, but in the most endearing and enjoyable way possible. The Florida band's first full length is a cacophony of mosh parts interspersed with numerous strange vocal stylings, including a rap song (featuring hardcore legend Danny Diablo). This might suck if it took itself even a little bit seriously. Luckily, 3KD are fully in on the joke.

15. Heavy Discipline - Heavy Discipline (Painkiller)

The saturation point of the Disembodied revival has been reached. Sanrio-hoodie-gate has laid the fashion-core posers bare. Discerning hardcore aficionados are now looking for something punk inspired but with a bit of crunch. Heavy Discipline scratch that itch. This is idiot hardcore for the thinking man. Or thinking man's hardcore for the idiot. Really though, it just sounds like Rival Mob. Who's complaining? Not me.

Gag

14. Burning Strong -- The Fire Rages On (From Within)

This album comes out strong with the 90's worship vibe of bands like Magnitude and Ecostrike, but it doesn't take long to roll over and show its Amazingcore belly. The stomp on Fire Rages On is all New Age, but the melody and structure conjure up ghosts of Have Heart and Bane. I don't know if that's intentional. Either way, people aren't browbeating that style to death these days. Burning Strong also manage to avoid the corny pitfalls of over-earnestness. This album is a winner for those reasons.

Category 2: Great albums that didn't thoroughly resonate.

These albums are (mostly) a cut above in quality, but didn't quite move me in the way my favourites of the year did. I don't think I'll revisit them often, but it would be silly to leave them off this list.

13. Seed of Pain -- Flesh, Steel, Victory (Plead Your Case)

This album kind of grew off me after being one of my early-year favourites. Still, it's ferocious, high energy, and full of ass-beating mosh parts. Seed of Pain nail the 90's metallic sound without the nu-metal bullshit I wish these bands would either lean into fully or completely avoid. This record gets a little repetitive, but on a good day it will have you bedroom moshing like an idiot.

12. Gag -- Still Laughing (Iron Lung)

I don't really want to like the new Gag, because the people in my town who go to these shows kind of annoy me. I don't have a choice, though. This record is too good. Still Laughing displays a deft songwriting skill, an infectious ear for melody, and a weirdness that's often imitated but seldom replicated. It's a great hardcore record, all in all. I probably would have been at the back of the show watching this with my arms crossed while idiots pogo'd into each other.

Freddie Gibbs

11. Conway the Machine -- From King to a God (Griselda)

The Griselda collective dominated online hip-hop discourse this year, dropping a staggering number of projects. Conway the Machine's "debut" studio album, From King to a God is the most interesting and well-crafted of them. The typical Griselda "64 bars over a piano loop" formula is here, but it's interspersed with actual attempts at songwriting and a desire to do something different production-wise. Mix that with Conway's expert pen and you've got something worth going back to.

10. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist -- Alfredo (ESGN)

Freddie Gibbs is one of my favourite rappers ever. He consistently appears on my year-end lists and 2020 is no different. The Alchemist doesn't hold up his end of the bargain on this album, otherwise it probably would rank a lot higher. Either way, Afredo is the most lauded "coke rap" album to come out in a year when that style dominated the discourse. It's also the best.

9. Mil-Spec -- World House (Lockin' Out)

World House is a late-year drop. I expect it to grow on me once I see it (again) in a live setting. Hometown heroes Mil-Spec take a big step forward from their already great 2018 EP Changes on this new record. The Revolution meets Revelation hybrid has been tweaked, with nods to bands like Leatherface and maybe even The Tragically Hip. Some physical copies of the 12" came with a beautiful 90+ page coffee table book, boosting World House to "must cop" status in 2020.

Young Dolph

8. Rat Cage -- Screams From the Cage (La Vida Es Un Mus)

I find D-beat to be miss more than hit. Bands can come firing out of the gate on a record, just to get bogged down by rhythmic sameness. Rat Cage completely avoid that pitfall by being unreal songwriters. The riffs are super catchy and creative. The vocal melodies are ripping and infectious. The band's feel for dynamics and transitions are immaculate. Screams From the Cage has an almost-pop sensibility, but it's being played sloppily at breakneck speed. Not bad for only playing two different drumbeats. 

7. Young Dolph -- Rich Slave (Paper Route Empire)

Young Dolph would be the biggest rapper in the world if he was flowing over snare-less piano loops. The Memphis rapper has all the braggadocios, pimp-a-liscious swagger of your favourite coke rapper. He just approaches his craft from a distinctly southern viewpoint. "Manny Fresh was my Jam Master J" he remarks on "Benz", a line that perfectly encapsulates this project. Dolph spits Cash Money inspired schemes over splashing hi-hats (including a few beats from the legendary Juicy J). The relatively out-of-vogue style mixed with the independent release made Rich Slave a bit of a sleeper this year. The substance is there, though.

~~~

That's the first part of my year end list. Part 2 is here. -- the rest of the albums and my favourite EPs. I might also do some extra fun shit this year, Who knows?