Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen a plethora of year end lists published. Many profess to be a definitive ranking of the best albums released this year. Obviously they’re not. I often love the idea of these lists more than the end result; the best lists allow me to discover releases that may have fallen through the cracks, but too often they are comprised of the same handful of albums ranked in a slightly different order. At the core of this endeavor is a certain futility; our relationship to any piece of art is personal and will evolve over time (the New York Times music critics did a great podcast about this topic last year). There cannot be any universal or definitive ranking of art.
About a month ago, I asked friends of Undrcurrents if they’d be interested in reflecting on their year in music. The results do not claim to be definitive in any way, shape or form. They’re merely about the music that got us through this insane year. They reflect our actual listening habits, including new albums we loved as well as older albums we discovered. They’re a snapshot of our 2020, preserved in amber for posterity. Our opinions on these releases may change over time; all I know is this is the music we love now.
We’ll be publishing these reflections over the next two weeks. We hope you enjoy and discover some music you may have missed.