Most Memorable Songs of 2020

The whole idea of "the best" of this weird year is an oxymoron, so let's change the frame. These were songs that brought comfort, or offered distraction or simply made me present to their beauty. In 2020, that was enough.  

 "Winter in America," The Archives - DC reggae band covers Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson: "And now it's winter in America."  Is it ever!

"Ladies," Fiona Apple - Only a few of Apple's songs hit my radar over the years. This one broke the screen.  

"These Are the Time," Molly Parden -  This beauty came wrapped in a "Dark Side of the Moon" gloss. 

"Time (You and I)," Khruangbin - This mood elevator got me out of the dumps all summer long with the funk vamp of the year. 

"Los Angeles," Haim - A bouncy hymn to the City of Angels that made me want to get on an airplane.  That's so not happening.  

"Circles," Mac Miller - A beautiful postscript to Miller's hard-lived life. 

Cheesin', Cautious Clay - "Cheesin" - (verb) smiling widely with contentment or happiness.  As in, "This song had me cheesin."

"Around the Sun," Poolside - And who didn't need a little Yacht Rock this year?

"Rose in the Dark," Cleo Sol - New neo-soul classic. "Do you know that things get better?"

"Kindness," HNNY -  Sometimes a tight little trip-hop groove with the ambient chops of vintage Brian Eno is all you need. 

"Friday," Real Estate - "Monday last, I had a dream. Not sure I woke up all week."

"Both of Us," Jayda G,  - If I coulda had a party, I woulda started it with this. 

"Ordinary Days," Isaac Waddington - And love kept happening in spite of it all. 

Hang on.  2021's comin'. 

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Honorable Mention:  Deacon Blues, Bill Callahan; Hammond Song, Whitney; Dragonball Durag, Thundercat; Johnny, Sarah Jarosz; Everything You Touch is Gold, Gregory Porter; Nancy Wilson, Jazz is Dead 001; Blinding Light, The Weekend; Pale Blue Moon, A Girl Called Eddy; Wasted, Tomberlin; Woman, Nao; Don't Bring No Ladder, Clem Snide

Coming Into Los Angeles

Women in Music Part III

Haim

With California locking down again, let's lean in and remember how close it sits to the soul of American culture -- and how this frontier surprises us, fascinates us, scares us. This is the moment to listen to Haim's new disk -- in solidarity and celebration. They've made the quintessential summer album for this disorienting summer of 2020.  Brilliant sisters are doing it for themselves:  

'Los Angeles":

"Don't Wanna":

And it goes on!!

Simpler Times: "Rainy Day Music"

The Jayhawks
Rainy Day Music



Released in 2003, Rainy Day Music announced that close harmony singing -- the 60's sound of The Beach Boys, The Mamas and the Papas, Poco and yes, The Burritos -- was a sound for the new millennium.  Breaking out in the first 80's flowering of alt country, The Jayhawks were nearly twenty years in when they released this twangy masterpiece. There are fuzzy guitars and pedal steel anchoring melodic songs about breakups and redemption.  There's rock royalty on hand if you care about that sort of thing: producer Rick Rubin, Mathew Sweet ("Girlfriend," sigh) and Bernie Leadon (Buritos, Eagles). But somewhere, Gram Parsons was smiling when he heard this: