Listed below are the best albums of the 2020s (so far) as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 3 hours ago).
"This album was an experience. It's not an album to be listened to passively, but one to give your full attention to. The night I first listened to it, not once through, but three times, will forever be burned into my brain. At times the music overwhelms you, and that's exactly the point."Reply
"Any doubts that they wouldn't recover from Isaac Woods departure are quickly squished with this fantastic live album. Definitely prefer the tracks with Mae Kershaw as the lead vocalist over the male vocalists. Not that Tyler Hyde's and Lewis Evan's vocals are inherently bad, just that with Mae sh...""Any doubts that they wouldn't recover from Isaac Woods departure are quickly squished with this fantastic live album.
Definitely prefer the tracks with Mae Kershaw as the lead vocalist over the male vocalists. Not that Tyler Hyde's and Lewis Evan's vocals are inherently bad, just that with Mae she seems to have a fragility to her vocals in the same way that Isaac had.
The obvious standout is "Turbines/Pigs" which is a gorgeous piano ballad, but "The Boy" and "Dancers" are fantastic as well.
I was very worried about how BC/NR would move into their next full length album but this has very much put my mind at ease. Cannot wait for future releases from them. "[+]Reply
"(Nostalgic and bittersweet album. Manages to take that 90s Shoegaze/Noise Pop influence and warp it to something very personal and moving. When the album rocks it really rocks and when the big emotional screamed crescendos hit they really hit..) Overall, I saw the growing hype for this album and ...""(Nostalgic and bittersweet album. Manages to take that 90s Shoegaze/Noise Pop influence and warp it to something very personal and moving. When the album rocks it really rocks and when the big emotional screamed crescendos hit they really hit..)
Overall, I saw the growing hype for this album and I meant to get to it before the hype got out of hand. Well, too late. This is one of the surprise hits of the year amongst music nerds. And I listened with that in the back of my mind. I was thinking I may be disappointed. I wasn't. At least, not much.
The guitars and especially the drums here are excellent. The drums have a clear and crunching compressed intensity that is cool. Makes the otherworldly Shoegaze waves of sound a bit more grounded and tangible, which I much prefer over a general sense of just walls of s=disorienting pretty sound and noise. The guitar sounds are similarly cool, drawing not only from ethereal waves of sound in MBV albums but also from more clear and structured riffs you may find in a Smashing Pumpkins or more direct post-punk album. It's a nice mix.
The vocals are clearly very emotional. On some of the songs a clear Emo influence comes over the tracks, especially on the cathartic climaxes where the vocals scream with intense sadness or anger or some other passion.
The songs are consistently beautiful and not super samey. The more catchy alternative rock songs, especially "Analog Sentimentalism", "Excuse", and "Chicken" all have an infectious and catchy power to them. They somehow made me feel bliss by how damn great the tunes were and also a deep sad nostalgia. Great tunes.
The Epic songs, of which there are 2 and arguably 3, (10 minutes, 9 and a half minutes and 7 minute jams are these ones) are cool and give the music time to build and breathe. The best of the big towering tracks is track 6 "Age of Fluctuation". It is also maybe the heaviest song here and very noisey. But it creates a really inviting world that explodes into a screaming emo crescendo.
There are a lot of highlights - the guitars and their sounds, the drums and the way they are recorded, the excellent vocals, the flow of the album is good, the nice little unexpected touches that Parannoul throw in when least expected etc etc. The only tracks that I maybe wasn't vibing with nearly as much on my first couple listens were track 8 "Extra Story" and maybe "Youth rebellion". But really those will probably grow on me. This is a really nice album."[+]Reply
"Warren Ellis is a subtle genius. Cave is an intimidating genius. Together they make swirling mixtures of contrasting hues of musical mischief to lose your mind within."Reply
"I have had a hard time (relatively hard time) expressing myself regarding this album. I think the reason for this is despite being a mesmerizingly produced and detailed and professional, chiseled piece of music, featuring super well written songs that have a certain throwback sound that St. Vince...""I have had a hard time (relatively hard time) expressing myself regarding this album. I think the reason for this is despite being a mesmerizingly produced and detailed and professional, chiseled piece of music, featuring super well written songs that have a certain throwback sound that St. Vincent puts her own modern spin on,... it doesn't deeply move me. As I listen and without fail every time I listen I am blown away by the technical details and the execution of the songs and the way the bass sounds and the way her voice is recorded and the way that these elements of 70s cool are brought in and mixed and all that. I am never in a state of rapture, annoyance, I never close my eyes and feel a need to focus on the emotional heft of the words and the message, nor do I ever feel repulsed by some ugly mess of a turd of a song nor do I ever look forward to a particularly stellar standout track later. This is a great album technically and yet it has yet to really capture on an emotional, physical, or spiritual level.
So, anyway, I have heard this album half a dozen times and the listens have been spaced out, meaninbg I have never listened to this album in twice in a week not to mention a day. Instead I listen, I am impressed and I may move it up or down on my charts and then I move on and then I come back a month later and see that this is the one album that I never worked myself up to saying a damn thing about and I listen again with the intention of saying what I feel and formulate somewhat concrete thoughts on this album. I never have the will or interest to do any writing however.
Anyway, enough weird meta bullshit that no one cares about including me tbh. Instead now I am listening and I am starting to have some thoughts on this record outside of the one-liner "Really well recorded and solid 70s throwback album". For some reason the first 2 songs here never really hit me on any level, outside of the fact that they are sexy and they have these bass lines and grooves that are so slinky and cool and effortless sounding. Only after those first 2 does this album kind of start coalescing with the title track. The title track is great, the drum fills and that sexy full-throated soul scream noise she makes vocally...hot damn. This is followed by a very VERY Pink Floyd-esque slow burning psychedelic lullaby-esque tune which is beautiful. Love the big chorus. Like the guitar which sounds like a slightly dirtier and much less emotionally impactful take on David Gilmour's style and sound. By this point of this little album I am thinking "great we are onto something tangible and sweet if still not particularly inspiring to me."
Then, holy shit, something wild happens. That something is called "The Melting of the Sun". jiminy cricket this song! This is so luscious, so rich, so detailed, so absurdly well engineered and produced it almost gets to be TOO produced. Not quite does it cross that line. But holy shit. This is like one of those songs that should be on a stereo system salesman's speed dial. The way the keyboard's funky bass notes work with the bass guitar, the way the St. Vincent vocals work with the back up singers, the way the drum fills - ever so precise and perfect - oscillate between left and right and the way guitar comes in and almost crackles, the subtle honking horn sound effect or the instrument that makes that sound early on, the way the song ends and builds up to that ending, everything about this sounds so full-bodied. The song itself? like, what its about and what it makes me feel? not much to say there. This maybe is a bit indicative of my thoughts on this album as a whole. The album and the song is a technical accomplishment of great merit. The actual enjoyment of the material is mixed at best.
The funk of "Down" is well executed and pretty cool and retro, the corny police call at the center of "The Laughing Man" feels, well, corny and strained (if, predictably and again, well produced), the humming interludes are fine and as interludes they aren't nonsensical or obtrusive to the flow of the album nor do they provide much to the album that I have discerned.
The final 35% or so of the albums provides some really quality stuff, not going to lie. As a song that actually moved me and I thought was just a great song full stop (and not just a miracle of production) "Somebody Like Me" is much appreciated. The melody and the steel guitar and the vocals here are all tops and I just really love this song. I have located a genuinely felt favorite on this record with this track #10 and actual song #8. Phew! I was starting to worry! This gem is followed up by another gem with "My Baby Wants A Baby". Although this is less of a gem than the previous track, I still quite like its corny straight out of 1975 sound and those big drum sounds and that vocal delivery and the way the bass rumbles along and kills it here, its alllll gooood. Oh and it climaxes beautifully and passionately. Then this gem is followed by a third straight morsel of 70s soul and funk goodness with "...At the Holiday Party", which features an incredible drum sound and drum work in general with some added spicy percussion. And damn those horns and those back up singers and the way Clark comes in with those falsetto vocals and the way she songs this song is gorgeous. Then "Candy Darling" is a very fine, woozy, piece of sleepy pop, which I like as a closer.
Okay, so that listen was productive and somewhat illuminating. The last run of songs saves it for me from being a technically solid if soulless album to being a pretty soulful and lovingly crafted album. Yet... I still feel mixed about it. It feels like this was just a project that St. Vincent had been hankerin' to do for years. She clearly has a deep and basic understanding and love of psychedelic soul, funk rock, soft rock, psych rock, yacht rock and other mid 70s musical trends and it seems like she wanted to flex her muscles a bit by making this album sound as good and as sexy as possible while making the mid 70s her musical sandbox. And she pulled it off. But I don't feel like the themes or subjects or the whole sweep or concept of the album provides much to me.
In fairness, St. Vincent is one of the most acclaimed artists that I have yet to "get". There is clearly some brilliant genius at work. I have just never quite cracked the code or heard what so many other music fans have heard over the last 14 or so years. This album is pretty cool and I can hear that I am listening to a total musical boss. But it didn't yet show me or make me see what exactly makes St. Vincent such a titan in music. I will soon go back and give some of her other classics more spins, such as Strange Mercy, but until then I am feeling like this was a very very solid album with God-tier production and engineering but not much real emotional or otherwise heft."[+]Reply
"(Well, it’s another excellent Lana Del Rey album. Lyrically excellent and balanced. Musically lush yet stripped down with just the right amount of subtle spice and variety added in to keep it low key riveting. If you like her standout 2019 album, you’ll like this. Probably my fave Lana album yet....""(Well, it’s another excellent Lana Del Rey album. Lyrically excellent and balanced. Musically lush yet stripped down with just the right amount of subtle spice and variety added in to keep it low key riveting. If you like her standout 2019 album, you’ll like this. Probably my fave Lana album yet.)
Well, after much waiting and oodles of anticipation, this thing dropped. I listened to it last night and today several times. I feel I have a pretty clear idea of how much I like it and why.
For one, just want to say that this is, for me, a better album than Norman Fuckin Rockwell in terms of length and ease of listening. NFR was a little (not a lot) bloated and, although the ending tracks were also excellent, I usually felt a bit warn out by the end. And the quality of songs here is close enough to the heights of NFR that the aspect of length and brevity does push it slightly above her amazing ‘19 album. (But honestly, they are essentially the same level of great and my opinion may flip flop many times.)
As far as what I like about the music, well geez, basically everything. Her lyrics are spectacular in their poetic directness and her humor. And there is a sweetness and a lightness and a sense of comfort in the songs here that I didn’t hear in earlier albums. The whole getting famous and thinking back on how much has changed motif is not my favorite, but she does well on this album with expressing the contradictions and self-doubts that go along with this ascendancy. And the excellent cover of Joni Mitchell’s “For Free” just nails it right on the head. It’s a perfect song to cover, almost TOO on the nose. But she does such an excellent job with the material I will forgive the anti-subtlety.
Musically, much like her previous album, there is an assuredness and an ear for detail in these songs that I find impressive. It’s never over the top, it all just floats and feels right, and when Lana does some nifty switch up or introduce a cool rocking drum beat, it hits all the harder due to the awesome restraint of her songwriting. She’s just a generational talent, and one of the best songwriters going.
I don’t have many or really any complaints. I think this album embodies beautifully much of my favorite music. The fact that Lana both pays homage to those great songwriters of the early 70s as well as create her own sound and identity is incredible to me."[+]Reply
"There is a great 12 song album in here There is another completely different, 7 song good EP in here as well Then there is some filler and should have been labeled bonus tracks When you put it all together it sounds like a pretty cool Spotify Playlist. But how many times am I gonna be able to sit...""There is a great 12 song album in here
There is another completely different, 7 song good EP in here as well
Then there is some filler and should have been labeled bonus tracks
When you put it all together it sounds like a pretty cool Spotify Playlist. But how many times am I gonna be able to sit my down and listen to 1:48 minutes of uninterrupted kanyeisms.
Still better than most other albums I heard this year"[+]Reply
"To be honest I truly thought she would go even further into the classical sound and that's the only non-positive thing I will say about this album. When she released Motomami I thought to myself wow how is she gonna top that? She'll have to divert to a totally different direction and still delive...""To be honest I truly thought she would go even further into the classical sound and that's the only non-positive thing I will say about this album. When she released Motomami I thought to myself wow how is she gonna top that? She'll have to divert to a totally different direction and still deliver in order to keep up with Motomami's greatness and boy did she do that. Rosalia is insane in the best way possible and this is one of the best albums not only of 2025 but of the decade, and I believe one day it will be regarded as one of the greats. Such beautiful songwriting, from lyrics to melodies and vocal delivery. She sounds amazing, the record is produced perfectly and the sound (even though a bit safe for me, I wish she went harder here and there) goes so hard. This is music that makes you feel and experience and that is what music is all about. 10s across the board."[+]Reply
Mattdup279 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +15 votes (15 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Mercury | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Strangel | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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