Nite Songs Best Of 2020 - Top 50 Albums Part 2 (40-31)

 

So here we go, part 2 of the end of year rundown as we reach the Top 40. Cue up one of the old Top of the Pops themes if it helps with the atmosphere for this bit. Anyway...

40. PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS - "Viscerals" (Bandcamp)

Unquestionably the heaviest album on this list, it's easy to get put off Pigs x7 (as I will refer to them here to save space) by the hipster-ish name but lurking within Viscerals is a brutally heavy guitar assault with Sabbath-heavy sludge-metal riffs on tunes like Reducer, Crazy In Blood and Hell's Teeth which sink their teeth into you and refuse to let go. Slightly terrifying on your first listen, oddly addictive by your fourth.

***

39. RIZ AHMED - "The Long Goodbye" (Bandcamp)

Best known for his role in the excellent film Four Lions, The Long Goodbye proved that Riz Ahmed is a hell of a talent as a musician as well. A furiously angry diatribe from the point of view of a British Muslim which compares his relationship with his country to a long and painful romantic break-up with some clever but righteously angry wordplay and a slew of guest appearances including Asim "Chabuddy G" Chaudry from People Just Do Nothing, this was an accomplished piece of work and one of the most thought-provoking albums of 2020.

***

38. THE CHATS - "High Risk Behaviour" (Bandcamp) (Review)

With Aussie garage-punks the Chats, it's all simple two minutes or less blasts of snotty attitude about living the down and out lifestyle down under with odes to booze (Drunk and Disorderly), drugs (The Kids Need Lunch), bin diving (Pub Feed) and getting beaten up by neanderthal bouncers (Keep The Grubs Out). Think simple three chord no-brainer fun, think Amyl & The Sniffers if they'd actually lived up to the hype but most of all think simple knucklehead rock 'n' roll at its best.

***

37. FONTAINES DC - "A Hero's Death" (Bandcamp) (Review)

When Fontaines DC made their debut with Dogrel a year ago it's safe to say I wasn't entirely convinced by them but 12 months on, the progress this group of youngsters have made is nothing short of remarkable with a new goth/post-punk indebted sound on I Don't Belong and Love Is The Main Thing which owed more to Echo & The Bunnymen or Joy Division than it does to trying and failing to sound like the Fall. If the evolution continues at this rate on album number three then the potential of this band is truly scary.

***

36. MR B THE GENTLEMAN RHYMER - "A Thoroughly Modern Existential Crisis" (Bandcamp)

Sometimes during trying times, you just need something to make you laugh and that's where Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer comes in. Although his tongue's firmly in his cheek, you can't help but find yourself chuckling at songs such as All I Do Now, Live Stream For One and You're A Twerp On Zoom. All in all, A Thoroughly Modern Existential Crisis provided a bit of much needed humour and stress alleviation amid the darkness of 2020.

***

35. THROWING MUSES - "Sun Racket" (Bandcamp) (Review)

First album in seven years for Kristin Hersh’s crew and it finds them as bruised and beguiling as ever. With songs such as Milk At McDonald's and Kay Catherine almost veering off into dream-pop territory but with the trademark barbed lyrics hiding underneath the warm fuzz, plus Hersh's smoky vocals adding a world-weariness to the likes of Bo Diddley Bridge, this proves that the Muses are very much still a force to be reckoned with in 2020. 

***

34. RICHARD DAVIES & THE DISSIDENTS - "Human Traffic" (Review)

Mixing the laid back vulnerability of Peter Perrett or Johnny Thunders with the widescreen Americana style songwriting of Tom Petty or Ryan Hamilton, Human Traffic was a good first offering from former Snakes/Tiny Monroe man Richard Davies and his group. The sound of driving down some midwest highway under a big open sky, this was a bit of much needed escapism amidst the turmoil of the year just gone.

***

33. THE DOWLING POOLE - "See You See Me" (Bandcamp) (Review)

Still out there and still as difficult to pin down musically as ever, the Dowling Poole are continuing to delight and intrigue in equal measure on their third album ranging from XTC style pop-post-punk through Prince-esque funk workouts to Beach Boys style harmony drenched power-pop. Sometimes all in the space of the same song. Definitely one of the more out-there releases of the year and all the better for it.

***

32. THE SPEEDWAYS - "Radio Sounds" (Bandcamp) (Review)

Following up 2018's superb debut album Just Another Regular Summer was always likely to be a tricky job for the Speedways but with Radio Sounds they've made a sophomore album that can stand confidently next to its predecessor. With tips of the hat to the Buzzcocks, the Undertones and the Ramones on songs like The Day I Call You Mine and Number Seven this is a perfect sunny soundtrack to a summer that sadly never really got started this year.

***

31.  LOUISE PATRICIA CRANE - "Deep Blue" (Bandcamp) (Review)

A heady mix of the Banshees' post-punk melodrama and All About Eve's more gentle folk-goth stylings, this debut album from sometime Eden House collaborator Louise Patricia Crane was certainly one of the more ambitious offerings of 2020 but she carried it off well, veering between epic goth balladry, more down-to-earth acoustic led moments and a healthy dose of psychedelia thrown in to top the pot up. Good stuff.