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 

Two albums that define me....

Hi everyone!

I've had this idea in my head for a while now, but I've been debating whether or not to write it as it would involve revealing quite a lot about me. Anyway, I've finally decided that I think it would make a fun/interesting blog post. so here are two albums that define me.

Please note, both of these albums are undoubtedly amongst my favourite albums, this isn't a "favourite albums" list. These are albums that I feel some form of strong personal connection with, albums that provided a soundtrack to moments of my life story, or a soundtrack to a part of my personality.

So, here goes....

1.

Poses by Rufus Wainwright

What an interesting album to start off with! I'll start by saying that I have yet to come across an album I relate to more than Poses. For those familiar with Rufus and this album, I'm well aware that one of the core themes of this album is Rufus' struggle with drug addiction that he was experiencing at the time. Please don't worry! I'm not, nor have I ever, had any experience with addiction of that sort. I'm saying that I relate to many of the other themes that Rufus addresses throughout this album.

I started listening to Rufus when I was about 18, but I had a very difficult connecting to Poses at that time. Now that I'm 22 (about five or six years younger than Rufus when he wrote this album) I feel like I relate to it more than ever. I can only imagine that, over time, my connection with this album will grow even stronger.

I won't say too much about how I relate to it exactly, as that would mean delving into the depths of my personal life, but the character Rufus centred this album around, a young, non-heterosexual male with a passion for city life and filled with ambition, is very easy to identify with, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I think the part of this album that I identify with the most is the way Rufus writes about the idea of love and lust, not necessarily the romantic encounters he writes about in this record, but his relationship with romance as a concept.

I feel that, while I find this album relatable, it's also helped me to understand a lot about myself that I perhaps hadn't made the effort to understand before.

2.

Speak For Yourself by Imogen Heap

This album was life-changing for me. I soon learnt that there are a number of artists who have recorded in home studios and produced their own records before Imogen, but this was the first time I had heard a record created by a "D-I-Y" artist. Imogen released this album on her own record label, recorded the album in her home studio, wrote/produced every song by herself and performed most of the instruments. It might sound silly, but before hearing this record and learning about how it was created, I had no idea it was possible for people to do that! 

It was around 2007 when I bought this album, so I was 14. This album proved to be so inspirational to me, because it encouraged me to learn how to write songs and produce my own music. Now, that's exactly what I do! Without hearing this album at the time that I did, who knows what I would be doing now?!

Thank you so much for reading this, I'm planning to share the stories behind even more albums that define me in the future!

Josh :-)