Skip to main content

20 From 2020

Every year since 2003 (coincidentally, the year I started this blog), I've made a compilation of some of my favorite songs of the year. I love the act of compiling and ordering, finding songs that speak to one another lyrically and that flow together seamlessly. 

In order for the mixes to have longevity, I've typically avoided choosing too many songs that lyrically reflect the events of the year. That's gotten harder every year since 2016, and I was initially worried 2020 was going to be the tipping point. This year's mix might have looked a lot different if the presidential election had gone the other way. It would have certainly been more angry and despairing, and would have included such topical songs as Ben Folds's "2020," Ben Gibbard's "Proxima B," and Sloan's "Silence Trumps Lies." All good tunes, but I'm not sure how much I'll want to revisit them.

Thankfully, instead, we have a mix with a variety of moods and cover art with a nice blue color scheme.

Tracklist:

1.  Josh Rouse - "I Miss You"

2. Vicious Vicious - "Satellite of Love"

3. Kylie Minogue - "Say Something"

4. Old 97s' - "Diamonds on Neptune"

5. Matt Wilson and His Orchestra - "Come to Nothing"

6. Turn Turn Turn - "Delaware Water Gap"

7. Taylor Swift - "The Last Great American Dynasty"

8. Kathleen Edwards - "Glenfern"

9. Fiona Apple - "Shameika"

10. Carroll - "Nona"

11. Motion City Soundtrack - "Crooked Ways"

12. Anjimile - "Baby No More"

13. Communist Daughter - "You'll Never Break My Heart"

14. Teddy Thompson - "Heartbreaker Please"

15. Caitlyn Smith - "Damn You For Breaking My Heart"

16. Semisonic - "Lightning"

17. Carly Rae Jepsen - "Comeback"

18. The Killers - "Fire in Bone"

19. Bruce Springsteen - "Letter to You"

20. Rufus Wainwright - "Peaceful Afternoon"

Comments

Maya Aaliyah said…
Kids can feel cheerful and smart when they start to watch Nursery Rhymes. The most beautiful animated nursery rhymes for Kids. Join us to teach your children through fun and entertainment.

Let's Play in the Park Rhyme
Wheels on the Bus Rhyme
Head Shoulders Knees & Toes Rhyme
5 in One Rhymes

Popular posts from this blog

12 by Matthew Sweet (2002 - 2021)

Sometimes a huge part of an artist's career has not been summarized. Case in point... Matthew Sweet has a couple of compliations out there, but neither of them cover the past couple of decades, a span that has seen him release 8 albums of original material and 3 albums of covers.  I followed Sweet's career religiously early on, with my ardor gradually diminishing after the magnificant one-two punch of In Reverse (1999) and The Thorns (2003) That's not to say he hasn't produced some great work since then, it's just that it requires bit of effort to pick out the gems. Here's my college try: (Two of these albums are not available on streaming servies, so here's a slightly modified version of the playlist on YouTube .) 1. "I Can't Remember" ( The Thorns , 2003) The Thorns was a rootsy, close-harmony early-aughts version of Crosby, Stills, and Nash, featuring Shawn Mullins (of "Lullaby" fame) and Pete Droge (of "If You Don't Lov

2022: The Album

Since 2003 I've made a mix of some of my favorite songs of the calendar year. Here's the cover art and track listing for the 2022 edition. 1. BODEGA - "Pillar on the Bridge of You" 2. Harry Styles - "Late Night Talking" 3. Vicious Vicious - "Evolution" 4. Hot Freaks - "Lovely" 5. Carly Rae Jepsen - "The Loneliest Time" 6. Tears for Fears - "End of Night" 7. Spoon - "Wild" 8. Death Cab for Cutie - "Here to Forever" 9. Citrine and GUKKO - "Feel Better" 10. Rhett Miller - "Fascination" 11. Broken Bells - "Fade Away" 12. Leah Marlene - "Flowers" 13. Robbie Williams - "The World and Her Mother" 14. Jimmy Eat World - "Something Loud" (acoustic version) 15. Sloan - "Dream It All Over Again" If you have Amazon Unlimited, you can listen at this link . 

Weezer: SZNZ Abbreviated

One of the most oldest and most enticing thought exercises in pop music is: What if (artist) had released the best songs from (double album) as a single disc instead?  Pre-Internet, folks used their cassette decks to create their own truncated versions of likes of The Beatles'  White Album ("Revolution 9" has to go, for sure) and Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (sorry, "Jamaica Jerk-Off"), some out of artistic vision, others because the tape just wasn't long enough to hold all the songs. Now, with mp3s and streaming, we have the ability to curate everything for ourselves, which means even a single album could be reduced to an EP of your faves, with the shuffle feature making it so the order doesn't even have to be the same every time. Here's where I could detour into a healthy digression about the negative consequences of that total freedom, but I'll resist the temptation. Our good friends Weezer - who are not typically known for rest