FAVORITE TWIN CITIES' ALBUMS OF 2020
Music helped us all get through 2020, and while 2021 is off to a rocky start, Twin Cities musicians have proven that they can still put out great albums, even when the rest of the world is falling apart. Here are out favorite albums from 2020.
Andrew’s Favorite Albums
Nur-D 38th
Nur-D had an amazing output this year, dropping three full-length albums (each one worthy of being on this list) and a hand full of singles. Personally, I gravitate towards the more in your face 38th, released back in October. Nur-D tackles racism in Minneapolis and the USA head-on throughout the entire album. On the final track, “Goodbye,” he acknowledges that it’s a departure from his past work and that he’ll likely lose some fans over the subject matter, which is a shame because Nur-D truly took another step on his path to becoming a superstar with this album.
Favorite Track: Burn It Down
Mary Bue The World Is Your Lover
Mary Bue’s country tinged indie-pop album, The World Is Your Lover, carries enough cynical wit to have me smirking throughout its entirety. A mostly acoustic guitar and piano driven album, songs like “Shit Storm,” “You Fuck Me Up,” and ‘Tequila Song” mix in just enough variety to keep your attention. Clever, jaded, and sarcastic, the lyrics contain just the right amount of edge to balance out the poppier and more romantic elements, making Mary Bue’s latest a very fun addition to her catalog.
Favorite Track: The Hanged Man.
PARTITION Prodigal Gun
It is my personal belief that no one in the Twin Cities’ music scene has a better scream than Taylor Nice, best exemplified on “His Weak Arm.” Partition’s sound is raw punk, full of distorted guitars, pounding drums, dynamic vocals, and a lot of in your face attitude. Partition is beautifully brutal, a concept summed up in the title of track #7, “And a Bruise Can Come from Good Times Too.’
Favorite Track: Get Clean
North Innsbruck A Delicate Balance
Perfectly titled, A Delicate Balance strikes the perfect balance of feeling futuristic while also having a retro vibe pulling from the 1980s. This album could easily be used as a soundtrack to a movie and always puts me in the mood to watch Drive. While I personally gravitate towards the purely instrumental tracks, A Delicate Balances also features excellent guest vocals by Paavo and Millennium Falck.
Favorite Track: Distances
Brandon Pulphus/Lazenlow Blind Luck
This brilliant collaboration album between rising rapper Brandon Pulphus and Melodic Noise 2019 Favorite EP listers Lazenlow is straight up fire. Gillian Needham’s haunting vocals provide the perfect contrast to Brandon’s crisp, punching delivery. Ghost Channels provides excellent production but even makes a few vocal appearances throughout the album, and truly shreds on guitar on Voodoo.
Favorite Track: Innocent Man
ROT …As One
Loud and aggressive, hardcore/punk outfit ROT is calling for unity and the realization that we are all in this together, like it or not. Sampling political clips to emphasize their point, the album calls out the evils of the world. The rich, powerful, and well connected are often not held accountable, and ROT is pissed about it. If 2020 made you feel like you need to scream, this is the album to shout along to.
Favorite Track: …As One
Elskavon/John Hayes Du Nord
Composed of Blurstem and Bora York, Elskavon team up with John Hayes to create the tranquil Du Nord. An instrumental album, Du Nord is like listening to a guided meditation without the words, feeling your way through the path to peace. Each song blends into the next with connected themes, yet each is its own unique journey. If you’re looking for calm reflection on the year that was, go Du Nord.
Favorite Track: Closer
I/O the ProcessR Vestiges
I/O the ProcessR lays down rhymes over beats on Vestiges that sound more closely related to Alt-Rock of the early 00’s than what is commonly considered modern rap. Vestiges is I/O’s creation from the ground up as he handles lyrics and vocals, production, and even mixing. Between the dark and grimy production and a vocal delivery that falls somewhere between early Godsmack and Mindless Self Indulgence, the lyrics about demons, killers, and monsters fit I/O’s style perfectly.
Favorite Track: Dust Collection
Sister Species Light Exchanges
Not many artists could pull off starting their album with the inevitable heat death of the universe (where do you go from there?), but Sister Species does just that and somehow manages to only build from there. Light Exchanges almost feels like an EP with short instrumental interludes connection each song to the next, maintaining a run time of under twenty-seven minutes. The light-hearted chamber pop album is like floating through a daydream with accordion and trumpets.
Favorite Track: Heat Death (Hold Me Here)
Brace Cove Quarantine Comp
Released in the relatively early days of the global pandemic, this over stuffed comp features forty tracks from local and regional artists of all genres. The comp’s proceeds were donated to Keystone Community Services. Every track on this comp is a banger, and it flows smoothly through all genres. It’s definitely worth giving this a complete listen through at least once to experience all the talent collected on one amazing compilation.
Favorite track: All of them
Liz’s Favorite Albums
Nur-D, 38th and Chicago
Okay, this is technically two albums, but I feel like I can’t talk about one without also bringing up the other. Minneapolis rapper Nur-D (aka Matt Allen) is an absolute goddamn treasure and has done so much in the community this year. 38th and Chicago is a scathing condemnation of American policing, white supremacy, and society as a whole. Allen was out in the streets for much of 2020 with Justice Frontline Aid and more, and his lens and vision are incredibly powerful. Adding to the excellence, the albums have quite a few special guests, including Psalm One, Brandon Pulphus, and Metasota. Nur-D is incredibly deserving of all the praise he’s been receiving over the last year.
Top track: Misdemeanor
Lazenlow, Pretty Dark
Damn, this is a good record. Lead vocalist Gillian Needham has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard, and she meshes incredibly well with guitarist/producer Ghost Channels and drummer Mo Bluntz. To me, Pretty Dark feels almost like a cross between Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, Dua Saleh’s Rosetta, and Sade. Pretty Dark is also a really apt title for the record, it’s dark and sexy and mysterious and beautiful all at once. The band tweeted at the beginning of January that they have a new album 95% finished, and based on how good this one was, I’m stoked to hear what they do next.
Top track: Pistol Whip
niiice., Internet Friends
Full disclosure: I booked niiice.’s first show ever back in 2016, and I still think it was the best decision I’ve ever made. The Minneapolis trio dropped their third record in 2020, and it somehow surpassed the high expectations set by their prior two releases. Internet Friends is an earnest, fun midwest emo record. Watching Roddie Gadeberg, Sage Livergood, and Abe Anderson grow as people and musicians through the last three records, many shows, lineup changes, and general life bullshit has been really cool, and it’s great to see how much they’ve found themselves as musicians.
Top track: coachella
Double Grave, Goodbye, Nowhere!
Double Grave are one of my favorite bands to come out of the Twin Cities in the almost six years I’ve lived here, and Goodbye, Nowhere! really cements that. It’s a pretty, refreshing indie folk emo (??? genres are hard) that reminds me a lot of Neutral Milk Hotel, but not creepy. And honestly, anything with an In The Aeroplane Over The Sea reference is sick in my book.
Top track: Too Late
BLOOD $MOKE BODY, Lovesick Animal Online
With the addition of LiBan, the duo of Nazeem and Spencer Joles became BLOOD $MOKE BODY and put out an incredible record. Released in May, Lovesick Animal Online feels like a quintessential summer record. If and when driving around with your friends in the summer is an option again, this is the perfect soundtrack. The beats are smooth as hell, and the lyrics and vocals are even better. I’m so stoked to see what they do next.
Top track: Black Velvet
Paul’s Favorite Albums
Nur-D, 38th and Chicago
There’s a reason why Nur-D’s album appears on both Liz and Andrew’s as well. With top-end production and with even more important subject matter; Nur-D gave us projects that we not only wanted but immeasurably needed. With it being two albums, the work ethic is noticed and much appreciated.
Favorite Track: Black Kid, White Town
A.K.A Kobi, American Ego$
A.K.A Kobi dropped one of the rawest projects last year. “American Ego$” does not pull any punches. Kobi gives passionate vocal performances that executed with precision. The weight of what Kobi discusses is heavy and pairs well with the smooth, but some times gritty production.
Favorite Track: Shundown
Mijo, Omens
Before “Omens” dropped last April. You can hear it in Mijo’s music (and even more live) that Mijo has a bevy of raw talent. With an assist from the founder of Minnesota Cold and Good Company Shon, Mijo entertains, but at the same time reflects on some important issues we all must face. “Safe” is by far the best opening track I’ve heard on an album in a while. That first track shows what’s to come in the project: a cinematic auditory experience. I must also note, that the mixing on “Omens” is some of the best I’ve heard this past year.
Favorite Track: Harderway
Born Hated, Double Distilled: Happy Hour
B&E releases a lot of music any given year. With such a loaded roster, it’s hard to choose which to talk about as a “favorite.” I’m a fan of their work, but will myself to my favorite one and choose Born Hated’s for good reason. It’s been 7 years since M.I.S.T.A LEGACY and Skydro paired up and formed their dynamic duo, and it was worth the wait. LEGACY and Skydro kick it OG style for almost an hour. With great chemistry back and forth along with perfectly matching production, “Double Distilled: Happy Hour” is a low-key classic.
Favorite: Addicted to Spittin’
Rising Path, Rising Path
Rising Path’s self-titled album was truly a feat. The producer/ singer duo gave us great chemistry over the length of the project. Golden Era classic boom-bap was the bed for masterful and silky singing. Not only were the melodies on point by Quentdiggy, but the bars were as well. With the help of countless features, this became much bigger than a duo’s project. Adamiak and Quentdiggy gives us dominant compilation, highlighting so many different artists in such a short time.
Favorite Track: Pepper Spray
Various Artist, When This is All Over: MPLS Quarantine Mixtape
Uncle T dropped an impressive and pristine project in “Late Bloomer” last year, but when the whole world went on lockdown, the Side Hustle Salt tycoon had a bigger picture in mind. With everyone stuck at home, artists had plenty of time to create. Uncle T decided to reach out and challenge artists around the Twin Cities to write about the current state of our world. The Hip-Hop community came through. With 25 tracks with as many various artists, Uncle T curated and arranged a compilation album that has something for everybody with still being relevant to our perspective amidst this pandemic.
Favorite Track: Too many to name
Minnesota Cold, Dopesauce
This one is pretty special. Dopesauce was a concept me and my homie had since forever. It was the first full project we worked on together. The name Dopesauce rings nostalgia for me. Shon resurrects this concept nearly 6 years after its inception and shows an insurmountable amount of growth he has gone through since then. Shon takes this concept and intertwines it with a tribute to the late and great Ras G. His production appears more than once throughout the project along with other soulful clean cuts for instrumentation. MC gave the most polished and well-mixed projects of last year.
Favorite Track: Steel on Steel
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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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