I’ve added Bandcamp links where they exist. Where they don’t, you can generally find them on Spotify if that's your thing, or dig out the physical release if it's available near you.
BIG.O (illMilliliter)
2020年は総じて意気消沈気味だったので、歌と言葉の強いロックバンドに鼓舞される事が多かったなと言うことで個人的な2選。
In 2020, I was mostly pretty depressed and what inspired me was mostly rock bands with strong songwriting and lyrics, so I made two personal choices.
SuiseiNoboAz - 3020こんな世の中にあって真っ直ぐに未来を歌っていて、それがこんなに様になるバンドというのも中々いないんじゃないでしょうか。"それから"という曲の「この希望には必ずパート2があるぜ」というフレーズの力強さに随分助けられました。
I don’t think there are many bands in this world that can sing about the future as honestly and purely as this. The power of the phrase "There is always part 2 in this hope" in the song “Sore kara” helped me a lot.
これだけキャリアのある人がこんな衝動剥き出しのアルバム作ってくれたというだけで2020年という年にも意味があったなと思えるくらい。バンドって良いぜ。俺もやるぜ、とそういう気持ちになれました。ありがとうございます。
One of the few things that gave 2020 some meaning was that someone with such a career made such an album with this sense of raw motivation. Good band. It made me want toi do this too. Thank you very much.
JON (illMilliliter)
19年振りに新譜って、それだけ長い時間が経過したにも関わらず今も変わらず当時の衝撃を受けることが出来る。心掻き毟られるよう。
OGNX (illMilliliter)
サブスクで音楽聴くようになって、国外作品は殆ど古いのしか聴いてないことに気づき反省しています。
As I started listening to music on subscription services, I realized that I was only listening to foreign music and nearly all old stuff, which I kind of regret.
無機質なトラック上に突然出てくる有機的なギターソロがカッコよくて、これはコピーしたいと久々に思った（してない）
The organic guitar solo suddenly appearing on an inorganic track was cool, and for the first time in years I got the feeling of wanting to do a cover version (I didn’t do it).
全編リモートで制作し、そのまま配信のみでリリースされた意欲作。複雑なクロスリズムの本楽曲を必死で再現している様は最近のライブの見どころの一つ。
An ambitious work that was produced remotely and released as it is. One of the highlights of recent live performances is the frantic reproduction of this complex cross-rhythmical song.
作品の内容にコロナ禍の状況が後追いでマッチした、東京インディーズバンドの鬼滅の刃。1000年単位で歌を歌えるのはハイロウズとボアズだけ。
The Demon Slayer of Tokyo indie bands, in a year when the corona catastrophe caught up with the content of their work. Only the High-Lows and Suiseinoboaz can sing in terms of 1000 years like this.
Oonishi Kazumasa (TG.Atlas)
今年は家でこればっかし聞いてました。アルバム通して湿度が高くて好き
I listened to this a lot at home this year. I like the sense of humidity that runs through it.
ラストひと展開ゾワゾワする
買うと国境なき医師団に寄付されるそうです
The last movement in this made the hairs on my arm stand on end. If you buy this, they will donate the money to Doctors Without Borders.
Sato Motoi (TG.Atlas)
熱くて格好良くて押しのバランスも最高の8分
Eight minutes of hot and cool with a fantastic balance of tension.
新しいことは何も無い、Sonic Youthのニューアルバム
There’s nothing new here. It’s a new Sonic Youth album.
聞くほど脳に残り、残り始めたらもっと欲しくなるやつ
The more you listen, the more it sticks in your brain, and once it sticks, you just want more.
Sean (Tropical Death, Sharkk)
Alchemist, Boldy James - The Price Of Tea In China
This is not a very good album. This is a very, very good album.
Killah Priest - Rocket to Nebula
Pairs well with a bottle of gin and a serviceable couch.
Every now and then there is an artist that you really enjoy listening to. I enjoy listening to this artist.
Shingo (Tropical Death)
高級ホテルのラウンジでコーヒーを飲みながら聴きたいスモーキーでムーディな一枚。今年聴いた中で1番スムーズでジャジーなエレクトロニカアルバムです。近年盛りあがっているニューエイジ、オブスキュア感も程よく含まれていて、室内でリラックスしたい人に超オススメ！
A smoky and moody piece that you want to listen to while drinking coffee in the lounge of a luxury hotel. This is the smoothest, most jazzy electronica album I heard this year. It also has a new age and obscure feeling that has been gaining momentum in recent years — highly recommended for people who want to relax indoors!
Thiago Nassif - Mente
リオデジャネイロ出身の新世代変態ギターリスト・コンポーザーによるボサノバニューウェーブアルバム。アートリンゼイがプロデューサーとして参加との記載があり、気になってジャケ買いしたら大当たりでした！ノーニューヨークのD.N.Aを受け継ぎながら、トロピカリア、ミュータントディスコ感もありブラジルという土地柄の陽気な感じか出ていて最高な一枚！最先端のワールドミュージックをご堪能あれ。
A bossa nova new wave album by a new generation metamorphosis guitarist composer from Rio de Janeiro. I saw a statement that Arto Lindsay would participate as a producer, which made me curious curious enough to buy it just from the jacket and it was a big hit! While inheriting the DNA of No New York, there is also a feeling of tropicalia and mutant disco, and the cheerful feeling of Brazil is the best piece! Enjoy cutting-edge world music.
脱力系オルタナトロピカリアバンド、バナナガンのニューアルバム。1曲目からキラーチューン。ゆるゆるでトリッピーで何度も聴きたくなる。ワウペダルを使うバンドっていつもダサいとずっと思っていたけど、これはあり！こんなバンドやったら楽しそう。シルバーアップルズとかムタンチス等のサイケバンド好きにおすすめ。
The new album by Banana Gun, an easygoing alternative tropicalia band. It’s all killer tunes from the first song. Loose and trippy, I want to listen to it over and over again. I've always thought that bands that use wah pedals suck, but then this comes along! I think it would be really fun to do a band like this. Recommended for lovers of psychedelic bands like Silver Apples and Os Mutantes.
Eugene (Tropical Death)
Like a Call and Response Quarantine 2020 album, except made by someone with talent. Coriky - Coriky
I’ve often thought “What is the natural maturation process for aging post-hardcore musicians,” and, as with most genres, the answer is “make it jazzier.” This might not be one of the best albums of the year, but for the last time will you stay off my lawn you fucking kids?
Haruka (Looprider)
LINKIN PARK - Hybrid Theory: 20th Anniversary Edition
LINKINPARKが好きなので
Because I like LINKIN PARK.
実はほんとについ最近知って聴きはじめたんだけど天才すぎて衝撃だった。アルバムももちろん良かった。多才。
I only just found out about him recently, but I was shocked at how much of a genius he is. His album was great too. Very multi-talented.
とにかく聴きまくった。deftonesあんまりハマったことなかったけどこれは聴いた瞬間やられた。ギターのリフもグッとくるのが多いけどとにかくリズムが最高。そしてドラムのサウンドが美しい。下半期こればかり聴いてた。
I listened to this album a lot. I was never really super into Deftones but this drew me in as soon as it started. The riffs are great but the rhythms are amazing. The drum sounds are beautiful. I listened to this all throughout the second half of the year.
Ryo7 (Looprider)
I love it when directors make their own film soundtracks and this drone/ambient album is a damn fine accompaniment to a damn fine film. Serene soundscapes are interrupted with an overwhelming sense of dread - something bad is going to happen; it’s just a question of when.
Yeah, a bit of a cliche to think that every Dylan album is some sort of messianic scribe, but seriously, this period of Dylan’s output will be studied just as much as Johnny Cash’s last few albums were once he’s left us.
A compilation?! That can’t be on a top album list, surely? Well, yes it bloody well can be. TMR’s collection of shoegazer/dreampop lost heroes, fronted by one of the best bands who ever walked the planet, Majesty Crush, shines a spotlight on some truly unknown aural pioneers. Fun fact: Majesty Crush once supported Curve and the Verve in their shoegaze days and I cannot think of a better reason to try to build a time machine that to see that gig.
Ryotaro (Looprider)
For whatever reason, this was the album I kept coming back to in 2020. Entirely instrumental featuring just pipe organ, the sonics and drones on this album are at times lush and beautiful, and then sometimes feel like you are peering into the voids of death itself.
An appealing part about Ai Aso’s music is the space she creates. When watching her perform, she never brings that chord or vocal line in exactly when you expect it to. Stripped down to the core but never feeling bare, the lack of sounds is what’s carefully constructed here.
The combination of the funeral/sludge doom of Thou with the ethereal vocals and melodies of Emma Ruth Rundle is perfect here. The behemoth riffs blanket the haunting but beautiful songwriting in a fuzzy haze that just works.
Onuki Makoto (Sea Level)
ALSO: Oscar Jerome - Breathe Deep | Blank Banshee - Gaia | Anthony Moore - out (re-issue) | John Carroll Kirby - conflict | Sam Gendel - DRM | Frankie Reyes - originalitos (re-issue) | Villaelvin - headroof | Jeff Parker - suite for max brown | G.I.S.M. - detestation (re-issue)
石原洋がダントツ後は気分的な物でした。
The Ishihara You album was by far the top one, and I picked the rest based on how I was feeling in the moment.
Yamamoto Takeshi (Sea Level)
ニューエイジやアンビエントなどの余白がありイメージを想起させるような音楽がフィットする一年でした！
It was a year suited to music like new age and ambient, that bring an image of space in the margins!
Soejima Takuma (Sea Level)
ポップでアフリカン。今年一番聞いていて気持ちいいアルバムでした
Pop and African — this album was the most comfortable liste for me this year.
anndoe (jailbird Y)
ようこそ ヤバトピアへ の一言でぶっ飛ばされる尊さ溢れる一作 ブッとびました
2020年ブチギマりで賞 受賞
ヤバさとPOPさがヤバトピアの扉を開く、、
満州候補者ectで活動する mori、yocoscumらによるカラフルな犯罪的音響記録。ゲスト共犯陣もカラフル。
Welcome to Yabatopia, a precious work that will blow you away in one word! This takes the award for most fucked-up high of 2020! “Yaba” (“dangerous”/“super”) and POP open the door of Yabatopia:
Colorful and criminal acoustic recording by Mori, Yocoscum and others who are active in the band Manchurian Candidate ect. — The guest accomplices also make a colourful contribution. It was released on cassette by Soloist Anti Pop Totalization’s Instant Tunes label.
ユニークなのに刺してくる歌詞と曲の合い方がすごい 世界観が完成されている…
めっちゃ素晴らしい作品 泣きそうになる。LPもしっかりした作りだし。後世に残る作品だなって思いました。ライブもめちゃかっこよかったです
There’s a complete worldview here in how the unique lyrics and the the songs are all tied up together. Very nice work; I almost cried. The LP is also very well made. I thought this is a work that will stand the test of time. They were really cool live too.
Voの等身大な歌とオルタナティブなハードコアサウンドがカッコよすぎました。ライブもめちゃかっこよかったです 泣きました。新譜ももうすぐ出るみたい めちゃくちゃに楽しみ 生き様を感じるバンドだなって思います
The vocalist’s life-sized songs and alternative hardcore sound were too cool. Their live performance was also really cool - I cried! It feels like they’ll have a new album coming out soon.
ドープ…！！！！！！！！
宇多田のスクリューで幕を開けたかと思いきや冷たい音色のネガティヴポストパンクハードコアサウンズがはじまった時はマジでビビりました すごい世界観 刺しまくりです。
ロウなトラップやエクスペリメンタルノイズ(?)インダストリアル的(?)なリミックスもおり混ぜてもうやりたい放題で最高！Z世代感じる！！！Voのタキシタ君はBushBashで定期にパーティーオーガナイズをしています！広島でライブやりたがってくれているので何とかしたい…！
This is doooope!!!!!
I thought the curtain was rising with a screwed Utada, but when the negative post-punk hardcore sounds with a cold tone kicked in, I was really freaked out. It was an amazing feling of being stabbed with this band’s worldview.
There’s low traps, experimental noise, industrial, remixes, so you can mix them as much as you want! I git a real feeling of Generation Z!!! Vocalist Takishita regularly organizes parties at Koiwa BushBash and he wants to do a live show in Hiroshima, so I want to do something about that!
necccにも参加しているYOCOSCUM君のソロ音源。Aaron Dillowayばりのノイズエレクトロニックサウンドを奏でながら自由奔放に己のチャントをシンギングしてて最高だなって思いました！かっこいいです！魂は自由！って思った。すごい世界を描いてると思う
This is a solo release by YOCOSCUM, who’s also in neccc. I love how he sings these chants so freely while playing this Aaron Dilloway-esque noise electronic sound! I thought “The soul is free!” creating an amazing world with sound.
Saeki (jailbird Y)
染みます。
This touched me deeply.
Tagesu (jailbird Y)
Los piranas, Frente Cumbiero 等でも活躍するコロンビアの鬼才ギタリストEblis Javier Alvarezさんのプロジェクト。この人の腰が砕けたみたいな放屁サウンドが大好きです。
A project by Colombian genius guitarist Eblis Javier Alvarez, who is also active in Los Piranas, Frente Cumbiero, etc. I love his sound, like a laid-back guy farting.
Mayumi (P-iPLE / jailbird Y)
すき
Like.
Mariah Yonic (The Buildings, ex. The Male Gaze)
Our lord and savior Fiona is back once again with a brutally transcendental album that reminds me that life is still worth living.
This was the year of my Kpop enlightenment. Honestly thought pop music had grown stale over the past few years, but it turns out that the best of it had been happening in South Korea.
Kubo Masaki (former_airline)
近づき過ぎず離れ過ぎず。そことここの絶妙な境界でふわり漂い遊ぶ無意識の脳内音楽は、現実の外気から身をそらして繭の中で陶酔するにはすこぶる多機能な音景色であり、誰もが接続可能でひたすら居心地が良い。極めて清らかなコロナ時代のアヴァンBGM。何周もしたしこの先何周でもイケる。
Don't get too close, don't get too far. The unconscious music in the brain that floats and plays on the precise border between here and there is an incredibly diverse sonic scenery that’s extremely versatile in how it distracts from the real outside air, lets you get euphoric in your cocoon, and anyone can connect and earnestly. It's cosy. Extremely pure Corona-era avant-BGM. I've done many laps with this album and it'll be cool for many laps in the future.
Joe (Velvet Ants)
I hadn’t been aware of the existence of this band from Bristol called Idles who’ve already put out two full lengths, several singles and EPs before this record, full of not only anger and anxiety for the environment we are living in, but also energy and attitude going forward.
Most of all the songs from Ultra Mono will be our anthems for the future. It’s everything.
Who would have been looking forward to this veteran band’s new stuff? Me, never.
When I was in a car, the lead track from The New Abnormal was aired on the radio and I thought it was interesting but I didn’t dig it at that moment. A few weeks later, I tried to listen to the whole album on Spotify and I was so shocked. The first track titled The Adults Are Talking sounds exactly how they've kept doing, but something is slightly different. I don’t know what it is. Then the second track, titled Selfless, which is my favorite one from this record, is totally awesome. The rest is also great to have a listen. I think they spent 20 years to make this masterpiece. You may think this is not The Strokes but this definitely is.
First I thought from its cover art and the name of the band that Disq was post punk/new wave somehow. It was all wrong I know. Disq is absolutely like something I’ve already known but the additional tone of synthesizer makes it a little bit different than what I know. Although their guitar driven emotional songs easily remind me of Weezer, they are very unique. If I was a teenager, Disq could be my heroes.
Kayoko Yoshizawa - Service Area
She’s simply my muse. This is her long awaited fourth single.
