FAVORITE TWIN CITIES' EPS OF 2020
To quote Keith Harris, final music editor for City Pages, “I too have noticed it was a hard year.” Music has made the suffering this year more bearable, even though it was one of the hardest-hit industries. It would be truly impossible to try and list all of the projects we’ve enjoyed this year, but here are just a few of our favorites.
Andrew’s Favorite EPs
Granddad What Happens After
Lyrically one of the darkest albums to come out of the Twin Cities this year, and that’s really saying something given the lyrics 2020 has inspired. Granddad pairs their melancholy with crunchy guitars and genre perfect dynamic shifts. Whether you’re giving up on your dreams, pessimistic about the afterlife, or just not twenty anymore, What Happens After has the singalong to get you through the day.
Favorite Track: Heaven
Astralblak Space & Time EP
A sound that lives up to the far-out title, Space & Time EP feels like a sonically-funky journey that’s a pleasure through and through. Simultaneously feeling like a throwback and futuristic, the EP is great for kicking back and letting it all wash over you. The first three songs are ultra-enjoyable funk and groove, then the final two tracks are more message-driven without disrupting the flow.
Favorite Track: Out in the Woods
Allergen Honesty Hour
Honesty Hour is just that, honest. While much of the year was shaped by the pandemic, it’s easy to forget all of that while listening to Honesty Hour, as it gives the feeling of a younger, more innocent time. The line “I wear my heart on my sleeve, to remind me it’s still beating,” stands out as a perfect summary for the EP - clever, painful, beautiful.
Favorite Track: Last Year
Jackson Atkins Bootstraps
Bootstraps is a collection of charming songs. It feels as if Jackson Atkins is telling you a series of short stories that, whiles simple, hold a larger meaning. All the songs are composed of just an acoustic guitar and vocals, keeping the vibe of the EP extremely intimate.
Favorite Track: Battleship
Lucid VanGuard Golden Eye Empyrean
Golden Eye Empyrean is the type of chill, laid back, alt-pop EP you can set to repeat all Sunday afternoon. This is a bit little ironic given the second track, “Sunday,” is all about how they can’t slow down and relax on Sundays because someone left them. Every time I listen to this EP, I come out of it in a better mood than I the one I went into it with.
Favorite Track: Sundays
Admiral Fox Nowhere Is Safe
Synth-folk, with a punk edge. Nowhere Is Safe is a perfect EP for an uncertain time. In a world where literally no public place feels safe and all the sacred venues have been closed, “Lift My Spirit” feels particularly like a pandemic anthem, even if it was written months before it even started. It’s all not all doom and gloom as “So Proud” adds a bit of dark-levity to the EP.
Favorite Track: So Proud
Reed Benjamin Heirlooms (3x4)
Part of an excellent EP series, Heirlooms contains four tracks focused on legacy and family. Dealing with the pressures of the future and coming to terms with past regrets, Reed uses the EP to highlight how fragile and short our lives are and puts into perspective what is really important in life. The lyrics that most strike home are when Reed raps about ignoring their grandfather at a young age, then realizing it’s too late to get those memories as an adult.
Favorite Track: Legacy
GOWNS The Hollows
I’ve written a couple times about how GOWNS make being cool look effortless, and I’m doing so once again. GOWNS channel the best parts of early 2000s rock while adding their own flair for the dramatic. Lyrically trending toward slightly dark imagery, The Hollows is a fun rock EP with nostalgic instrumentations and vocal deliver.
Favorite Track: Karianne
Wannabianca Belly
Containing possibly the catchiest song written about quarantine, Belly is infectious with multiple pop-rock earworms guaranteed to get stuck in your head for the better part of 2021. Every track has a pleasant touch of levity to help soften the edges of the punkier songs like ‘Halloween Summer” and elevate poppier songs like “Johnny Gurrs.”
Favorite Track: Halloween Summer
Blue Venus Ear Coffee Sessions
Blue Venus released an amazing EP earlier this year in Papercut, but there is something special in the live feeling that was missing through too much of 2020. Ear Coffee Sessions provides extra chaotic energy that is almost exclusively found in DIY basement house shows. The whole thing sounds like it could fall apart at any moment, but the beauty of Blue Venus is in the fact that they are able to balance that line of organized chaos.
Favorite Track: Am I Punk Yet?
Honorable Mentions:
Catbath Table Scraps
Dad Bod Precursor
Why Not Dust
Bugsy Teratoma
Night Jobs The Shape of Bummers to Come
Con Davison Your Love and Rent
Liz’s Favorite Eps
Dua Saleh ROSETTA
I think this one might have been my top release of the year as a whole. Dua Saleh is one of the most talented artists active right now, not just in the Twin Cities but as a whole. The EP is a perfect storm of different themes and genres, mixing dreamy instrumentals that sound almost shoegaze-y in spots with pulsing beats gliding over Saleh’s sultry, gritty vocals. ROSETTA was a gorgeous sophomore effort, and at less than twenty minutes, it leaves you longing for more.
Favorite Track: umbrellar .
a mess. Golden Age of Television
Damn, I have been waiting for these two to release an album or EP since they first announced they were starting a band in 2017, and they really did not disappoint. The Minneapolis dream-pop duo of Hannah Boundy and Sara Liebl followed up their 2019 singles with their lovely September debut EP, and it was well worth the wait. Boundy and Liebl work in great harmony, figuratively and literally, and the whole EP is a gorgeous trip from start to finish.
Favorite Track: You Don’t Want Me
Fragile Canyons Lavender
You know, not going to lie, sometimes I forget that Fragile Canyons/Andy Engstrom make music and not just biting social commentary. But with Lavender, it’s Engstrom and co.’s musical talents that are on full display. In what is most likely their final record (frontman Andy Engstrom moved to Switzerland in 2020,) Fragile Canyons left us with something lovely to remember them by. The EP is full of warm and fuzzy feelings of love and sunny days. It’s a feel-good record in more ways than one - all of the proceeds from the band’s music and merch are donated to charity. Fragrant Crayons, you’ll be missed.
Favorite Track: Border
Zaq Baker Cardio
Of all the things we needed in 2020, a new Zaq Baker record was one of the things we needed the most. On Cardio, Baker and his band, along with some special guests, use a jaunty blend of mid-2000s pop-punk and modern showtune elements to do what they do best: tell stories and inspire you to believe in yourself through song. After pouring over a year, lots of heart, blood, sweat, and tears into the EP, the result is some of his best work yet. Baker brought in the Aftergreens and Lydia Pelletier to harmonize on some of the tracks, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Though it came out in the last few weeks of 2020, it was well worth the wait.
Favorite Track: Teammate
Careful Gaze LOUD HOWLS THE ETERNAL WOLF!
Much like the aforementioned Zaq Baker EP, Careful Gaze also dropped a well-worth-the-wait release in the last couple weeks of 2020. Capping off a super eventful year for the band, LHTEW is one of the records from this past year that I am most stoked to hear live whenever that happens again. In less than 20 minutes, the band covers topics from religion to mental health to the unrest in the Twin Cities last summer. There really isn’t a weak spot anywhere on this EP or anywhere in the band’s discography for that matter.
Favorite Track: Crop of Bones
Paul Thorson’s Favorite EPs
Reed Benjamin 4x4 Series
Reed Benjamin dedicated the 4 quarters of the year to his 4x4 Series. A collection of 4 separate EPs that range from the blues of cold season in “Cold Winter” to the highly endearing and important family-based “Heirlooms.” With the other half of the projects ranging from the complications of love and relationships to commenting on materialism, Reed planned this series to cover some of life's most important gauntlets of discussion.
Svanoe Alignment
With this long-awaited release, Alignment is the perfect argument for waiting until the end of the year to finish these types of lists. Svanoe uses her powerful, rich voice to swim through this 4 song collection. Her soulful, melodic notes chronicle a cathartic journey of Svanoe’s growth and healing from past addictions and toxic environments. Alignment is a picturesque interpretation of how one can reach illumination from a dark place.
Darren Sipity Probably Your Cousin
Short in length and simplistic in instrumentation, with a lyrical performance that is anything but. With impeccable guest appearances from Oknice and Manny Phesto, Darren Sipity continues to reinforce why he’s one of the best lyricists around.
Monopolejoe Hangin’ With My Sensis
Although this is labeled a mixtape, I still wanted to give some recognition on my EPs list. Mono gives a great amount of depth in 5 tracks. As I said in the review of this project, it acts as a hip-hop works cited as Mono delves deep into his influences and gives them references throughout the entire project. Although the project is short in length, the sheer weight of depth can outweigh some LPs.
Oknice Social Distance
While being put out in the midst of the rising climax of fear and chaos that was 2020, Oknice releases a calming hand to ease you through the apocalypse. Surrounded by slow-paced and soft instrumentation, Oknice puts the world's problems at the forefront but does so not to raise fear. The Social Distance EP comments on today’s world with the goal of coming to a soothing acceptance of our volatile and complicated existence.
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Reviews by: Paul Thorson, Hip-Hop Writer @PaulyT03, Liz Brooks, Writer @easytargetmpls, Andrew Perrizo, Owner @PlaylistTC
Edited by: Eric Martin, Writer/Assistant Editor @eamartin95
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