2020

Wire 15 (8)
Catatonic Effigy - Putrid Tendency (Iluso)
Tyshawn Sorey & Marilyn Crispell - The Adornment of Time (Pi Recordings)
Chaos Motion - Psychological Spasms Cacophony (Transcending Obscurity)
Jan St. Werner - Molocular Meditation (Editions Mego)
Witch ‘n’ Monk - Witch ‘n’ Monk (Tzadik)
GRID - Decomposing Force (NNA Tapes) +#435
MSHR - Signal Hybrid Recursion (De Player)
Moor Jewelry - True Opera (Don Giovanni)
Maggi Payne - Arctic Winds (Aguirre)
Bob Vylan - We Live Here (Venn Records)
Hedvig Mollestad - Ekhidna (Rune Grammofon) +#439
Tashi Dorji - Stateless (Drag City)
Clipping - Visions of Bodies Being Burned (Sub Pop)
Laura Cannell, Kate Ellis, Stewart Lee, et al - These Feral Lands Vol.1 (Brawl) +#441
Krust - The Edge of Everything (Crosstown Rebels)

record of the year
Witch ‘n’ Monk - Witch ‘n’ Monk (Tzadik)

#442

Krust - The Edge of Everything (Crosstown Rebels)



As he has done for decades Thompson wrestles new innovations from his productions while using his music as a conduit to touch the very depths and heights of human feeling. — John Morrison

#441

Clipping - Visions of Bodies Being Burned (Sub Pop)



Continuing the horrorcore orientation of the previous album, Clipping include several collaborations, pushing their sonic experiments in new directions, defying genre while tapping into the curious world of Foley sound. — Mariam Rezaei

#440

Tashi Dorji - Stateless (Drag City)



Cerebral turns and Derek Baileyesque abstractions burble throughout, but Stateless hits more like a punk rock record than a study in extended technique. — Marc Masters

#439

Bob Vylan - We Live Here (Venn Records)



Bobby Vylan’s vocals throughout the album have a ragged rage that’s utterly compelling, adhering less to grime or hiphop patterns than a direct, unmannered arrhythmia akin to Bad Brains or Sleaford Mods. — Neil Kulkarni

#438

Maggi Payne - Arctic Winds (Aguirre)



In the Arctic, extreme atmospheric conditions can create aural and visual mirages; distant shorelines become huge cliffs. The longer you listen, the more disorienting and powerful this isolationist suite becomes. — Chal Ravens

#437

Moor Jewelry - True Opera (Don Giovanni)



Here, [Moor Mother] plays guitar and sings while [Mental Jewelry] plays drums and bass and the results are a fiery homage to the duo’s punk/no wave roots. — Neil Kulkarni

#436

MSHR - Signal Hybrid Recursion (De Player)



If a better realisation of a totalising digital media aesthetic exists, I’m not aware of it. — Emily Pothast

#435

Witch ‘n’ Monk - Witch ‘n’ Monk (Tzadik)



Hard to imagine that voice, guitar and flute could groove so hard and deliver so much. — Brian Morton

#434

Jan St. Werner - Molocular Meditation (Editions Mego)



The words and unmistakable voice belong to the late Mark E Smith, whose observations on mundane objects and events combine with moments of typical lucidity. — Neil Kulkarni

#433

Chaos Motion - Psychological Spasms Cacophony (Transcending Obscurity)



The death metal avant garde continues to embrace atonality and compositional complexity, and Mexican quartet Chaos Motion, whose name is incredibly apt, are pushing the music into the same realms of science fiction hyper-technicality and inhumanity occupied by Spain’s Wormed, among others. — Phil Freeman

#432

Tyshawn Sorey & Marilyn Crispell - The Adornment of Time (Pi Recordings)



The final 20 minutes are sublime, as a delicate chordal figure develops into a passage of astonishing sensitivity and power. — Stewart Smith

#431

Catatonic Effigy - Putrid Tendency (Iluso)



Catatonic Effigy’s debut album is a powerful and effective attempt at inhabiting the zones between extreme metal, free jazz and modern composition. — Phil Freeman