Hey, remember what a crappy year 2020 was? Me too! But I did make a mix that year! Here are my favorite then-mostly-new-to-me songs that helped get me through it.
Also: there was nothing I picked that was too obscure to make a Spotify playlist of it! So now you don't have to overcome the social distance, or your aversion to asking for things, to listen to the mix.
1. Cristo Redentor - Donald ByrdI heard this on the Jazz station, and it might have actually been in the 2019 holiday season. Gorgeous, though, in any case.
2. Faraway Look - Yola
Lovely. Didn't know how prevalent the faraway look would become.
3. Think About Things - Daði Freyr
This was to be Iceland's entry to the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, and was apparently a favorite to win, had it not been canceled. It's a bop, about wanting to know more about what's going on in the head of your new kid.
4. Santiago - Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Somehow the PHJB broke through from the Jazz format silo into the NPR eclectic world a few years ago. So whenever they drop a new album, we get a couple more great cuts from them on The Current.
5. Domino - Nicole Atkins
A fun, fuzzy groove that hit the radio just before the pandemic when I was still driving enough to hear a fair amount of new stuff on the radio. In hindsight, the lyrics kind of went on to fit the feeling of bits of society collapsing.
6. Ghost Town - The Specials
5. Domino - Nicole Atkins
A fun, fuzzy groove that hit the radio just before the pandemic when I was still driving enough to hear a fair amount of new stuff on the radio. In hindsight, the lyrics kind of went on to fit the feeling of bits of society collapsing.
6. Ghost Town - The Specials
7. Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing - Stevie Wonder
A little while into the lockdown, I finally started meeting up with friends for outdoor hangouts. On the way one day to hang out with Nels in a park, I heard these two back to back on the radio. The first obviously reflected how the world felt in the Spring of 2020. The latter was a welcome balm.
8. Cosmonauts - Fiona Apple
When it came out in April, "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" was making the rounds on my Twitter feed, where it seemed to take root as expressing feelings of isolation. A writer at Salon even declared it "the unofficial soundtrack of the pandemic." Apparently Apple recorded it at home, mostly by herself, during a long period since her previous album in which that's mostly how she lived her life. Anyhow, this was the standout track for me.
A little while into the lockdown, I finally started meeting up with friends for outdoor hangouts. On the way one day to hang out with Nels in a park, I heard these two back to back on the radio. The first obviously reflected how the world felt in the Spring of 2020. The latter was a welcome balm.
8. Cosmonauts - Fiona Apple
When it came out in April, "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" was making the rounds on my Twitter feed, where it seemed to take root as expressing feelings of isolation. A writer at Salon even declared it "the unofficial soundtrack of the pandemic." Apparently Apple recorded it at home, mostly by herself, during a long period since her previous album in which that's mostly how she lived her life. Anyhow, this was the standout track for me.
(The description of one video I found of the song notes: "The last date that all living humans were together on Earth was 2000-11-02. Since then there has always been 3 to 6 people constantly onboard the International Space Station." I think that's pretty cool.)
9. Uh Huh - Jade Bird
Not quite sure how I missed this one, when it had been released as a single in 2018 and on an album in 2019. But it's a straight-ahead, driving, country-tinged rock barnburner. Great stuff.
10. After the Lights Go Out - The Walker Brothers
The Walker Brothers specialized in a certain evocative, almost ghostly pop. This one was used in the end credits of the Denis Villeneuve thriller Enemy, which Melissa and I watched in June, immediately following one of the most unexpectedly frightening moments I'd seen in a movie.
11. My Silver Lining - First Aid Kit
Heard this loud in the car one day and was deeply moved. Another pandemic button-press, I suppose. The lyrics certainly map onto the lockdown mood and wanting to be safe but feeling held back.
12. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (1979 Version) - Prince
This 1979 demo of Prince's 1987 hit was on the deluxe reissue of "Sign o' the Times." It's a fun artifact, to hear a late-80s hit in the New Wave setting of the earlier era.
13. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Live) - Cannonball Adderly Quartet
My beloved iPod's hard drive died in March, and I got a replacement with a solid state drive for Father's Day. In the process of rebuilding some playlists on the thing, I was looking at the Pitchfork "Best Songs of the 1960s" list, and noticed I'd previously overlooked this one. I'd been familiar with the Buckinghams' pop cover from Oldies radio growing up, and was only dimly aware of the original from hearing it in Wolf of Wall Street a couple years back. But listening closer, I loved the sweet and smooth setting for the improvisational skills of Adderly et al.
9. Uh Huh - Jade Bird
Not quite sure how I missed this one, when it had been released as a single in 2018 and on an album in 2019. But it's a straight-ahead, driving, country-tinged rock barnburner. Great stuff.
10. After the Lights Go Out - The Walker Brothers
The Walker Brothers specialized in a certain evocative, almost ghostly pop. This one was used in the end credits of the Denis Villeneuve thriller Enemy, which Melissa and I watched in June, immediately following one of the most unexpectedly frightening moments I'd seen in a movie.
11. My Silver Lining - First Aid Kit
Heard this loud in the car one day and was deeply moved. Another pandemic button-press, I suppose. The lyrics certainly map onto the lockdown mood and wanting to be safe but feeling held back.
12. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (1979 Version) - Prince
This 1979 demo of Prince's 1987 hit was on the deluxe reissue of "Sign o' the Times." It's a fun artifact, to hear a late-80s hit in the New Wave setting of the earlier era.
13. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Live) - Cannonball Adderly Quartet
My beloved iPod's hard drive died in March, and I got a replacement with a solid state drive for Father's Day. In the process of rebuilding some playlists on the thing, I was looking at the Pitchfork "Best Songs of the 1960s" list, and noticed I'd previously overlooked this one. I'd been familiar with the Buckinghams' pop cover from Oldies radio growing up, and was only dimly aware of the original from hearing it in Wolf of Wall Street a couple years back. But listening closer, I loved the sweet and smooth setting for the improvisational skills of Adderly et al.
14. It's Not Easy - Ofege
15. A Hero's Death - FONTAINES D.C.
16. Impossible Weight - Deep Sea Diver ft. Sharon Van Etten
The peril of writing these up almost two years after the fact is that the details of when and how a song hit me may be lost to time. So it goes.
17. Be An Astronaut - Declan McKenna
I love how theatrical this is.
I love how theatrical this is.
18. I Am Your Gummy Bear - Fanfare Ciocărlia
I knew the song because of the kids, so I was utterly delighted when this cover popped up in the Borat sequel. The band appeared on the Beukemix way back in 2007 because of their cover of "Born to Be Wild" in the first Borat movie. I don't know whether I'd want to listen to a whole album of off-kilter Romani Balkan brass band covers, but I sure hope they'll pop into my awareness every 13 years or so.
19. So Says I - The Shins
Despite Zach Braff and Natalie Portman trying to convince me that the Shins would change my life, I never paid them much attention. But this popped up on the radio or a playlist, and really grabbed me. I enjoy how it seems to wind down and need to be started back up a couple times.
20. You're Not Alone - Semisonic
The first new Semisonic music in nearly 20 years would have been an occasion itself. But a bracing power pop anthem about the challenges of life really hit the spot as the shitty year was waning.
21. BONUS TRACK: Empire Recruitment - John Powell
Right as I was putting the 2020 mix together, I discovered that there was an expanded soundtrack to the 2018 semi-failure Solo: A Star Wars Story, and that it had this wonderful bit of ridiculousness on it. Not only does it recast John Williams' Imperial March in a triumphal British style simply by shifting to the major key, but it also played diegetically in the movie, which means that this music exists in the Star Wars galaxy. And that is silly and great.
