Top 10 Favourite Albums of 2020

 Hi Everyone!

Hope you're all doing well! 2020 has been a very strange year for every single one of us.

One of the positives to come out of this year that's helped me get through is the really excellent music that has been released throughout. Some artists used lockdown as an oppurtunity to get creative! 

Even I re-arranged and re-recorded an old song of mine which you can stream here (or download here) 😉

Anyway, here is a list of my Top 10 favourite albums of 2020:

10. Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger

The debut solo album from Matt of The National. 
Not too disimilar from his work with The National but this appears to take more influence from some of the great singer-songwriters of the late 60's/early 70's (think Bob Dylan, Neil Young, etc).

Standout Tracks: Serpentine Prison, Loved So Little, One More Second

9. Unfollow The Rules by Rufus Wainwright

This is Rufus doing what he does best, writing beautifully crafted songs.
Reminds me stylistically of his 2007 'Release The Stars' album.

Standout Tracks: Peaceful Afternoon, Alone Time, Early Morning Madness 

8. How I'm Feeling Now by Charli XCX

A totally unexpected lockdown album entirely created in just a few weeks!
One of Charli's more experimental (and personal) creations that also features some bangers!

Standout Tracks: I Finally Understand, Visions, Enemy 

The Flame (2020)

Hey everyone,
Hope you're all well and staying safe safe!

I'm sure you don't need me to go into details so... lets just say there's a lot going on in the world right now and the safest place for us to be at the moment is in our homes. Hopefully things will start to look up sooner rather than later but, in the meantime, many of us (myself included) have suddenly found ourselves with a lot of extra time on our hands.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that a chunk of that time hasn't been spent binge-watching Netflix & YouTube whilst getting fat on quarantine snacks, however, I have also been spending time being productive (believe it or not)😉

And, as a result of that time spent, I present to you... The Flame (2020)! 🥳

LISTEN & DOWNLOAD HERE!

This is an arrangement based on my original acoustic version that I've been gradually developing for a while with the intentions of possibly using it for live performance. 

I was 18 when I wrote The Flame and it's been quite a few years since I released it (eek 😬) and I feel like The Flame (2020) is the most mature version of the song. Unfortunately, due to social distancing rules, Poppy couldn't be featured on this version but hopefully one day we'll get to play it together!

It's also worth noting that this arrangement features the extra verse at the end, which I (inexplicably) didn't include in the original acoustic version despite it being my favourite part of the whole song!

The mix of this is track pretty "bare bones" (if that makes sense) and I've mentioned in the past that the reason I haven't been so prolific lately is because I'm kind of limited in terms of recording resources at the moment whilst saving for some new equipment, so I'm taking time out to focus on writing so that I can come back with something I hope you'll truly love!

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share this with you! I know a few of you seem to particularly enjoy the original versions of this song and I hope you love this new arrangement too!

Like most of my music, this song is available to download at a no minimum "name your price" (if you want it for free, you can have it for free!) from http://joshstarmer.bandcamp.com or  https://soundcloud.com/joshstarmermusic

If you like what I do, I would really appreciate it if you like and share this song with your friends and family! Your support means the world ❤️
Also, if anybody fancies making a remix or cover of this, please get in touch! I'd love to hear 'em!

Thank you for listening! Now it's time to go back to the drawing board and figure out what I can do next 🤪

Stay home and stay safe 😇

Top 10 Favourite Albums of 2019

Hi everyone!

Yes, I know... once again I'm very late to this (but I'm slightly earlier than last year 😉) but here's a list of my top 10 favourite albums of 2019!

Also, as we've just said goodbye to the 2010's, I complied a small selection of some my favourite albums of the decade on my Instagram - click here to take a look 😀

Anyway, lets get on with the list...

10. Clarity by Kim Petras

A debut album of modern day pop done right!
Kim is iconic and the whole world will soon be saying "woo-ah!" 💙

Favourite Tracks: Icy, Got My Number, Personal Hell

9. Love + Fear by Marina

It's no secret that I've been a huge fan of Marina since before 'The Family Jewels' was released but, I must admit, I was a little underwhelmed by this album upon early listens.
However, I grew to appreciate the growth and maturity Marina shows on this album, and while it's still not her best imho, I feel like some of her best songs are on here. 

I feel like 'Love + Fear' is Marina's answer to Kate Bush's 'The Sensual World'.

Favourite Tracks: Handmade Heaven, Emotional Machine, Karma, True

8. A Bath Full Of Ecstasy by Hot Chip

A brilliant synthpop album with some house influences thrown in.
Plenty of 80's references without ever sounding dated.
I think it's safe to say by now that Hot Chip will never make a bad album.  

Favourite Tracks: Spell, Hungry Child, Melody Of Love