2020 was not a great year by any standard, but there was still a lot of great music that came out this year. So continuing on from Ricky’s recent rundown of his favourite songs to come out this year, here’s a few of the songs I enjoyed quite a bit this year.
Molly Tuttle – A Little Lost
I first discovered Molly Tuttle last year (and subsequently came to regret not catching her November 2019 show at The Horseshoe – who could have predicted that’d be my last chance to see her live for the foreseeable future?) but this was the year I really got into her discography, beginning with her most recent release, a collection of covers entitled …but i’d rather be with you. Her cover of Arthur Russell’s “A Little Lost” stood out as one of the highlights, but it’s a great album overall that really shows off her talents as both a guitarist and a singer.
Shitkid – Waste of Time
Like a lot of musicians who weren’t able to tour through most of this year, Åsa Söderqvist of Shitkid turned to recording instead. And while there were others who were more prolific (top prize would likely go to Daniel Romano, who put out a total of 9 albums this year … though I didn’t listen to most of those, so he’s not on this list), Shitkid did end up putting out a total of four releases this year. “Waste of Time” comes from her 20/20 Shitkid album, which came out in September on PNKSLM Recordings.
Kelly Lee Owens – On
Kinda sad video but a great song from Kelly Lee Owens’ latest, Inner Song.
Tim Burgess – Empathy For The Devil
Tim Burgess deserves an honourable mention for this year based solely on him starting up the “Tim’s Twitter Listening Party” series, which helped to bring people together through a shared love of music, but he also released a pretty solid album (I Love The New Sky) this year as well.
The Beths – I’m Not Getting Excited
With their 2018 debut Future Me Hates Me, The Beths became one of my favourite acts to emerge over the last few years and with their second album Jump Rope Gazers, they continue to impress. Oh how I envy the people of New Zealand who will be able to see the band on tour next month …