Tone Glow 046: Our Favorite Albums of 2020
Our favorite albums of the year, as voted on by Tone Glow's writers and readers
My maternal great-grandmother died young. This was devastating for my grandma, doubly so for how unloving her step-mom turned out to be. There was a persistent sadness that consequently defined her adolescence—how could she feel so distant from those meant to be closest to her? As such, she made a promise to herself: when she was older, she’d have what she couldn’t as a child—she’d have her own family, and it’d be full of love, and everyone would be close. Bless her, because that’s exactly what happened—every weekend, for as long as I’ve known, my extended family has convened at someone’s home to talk, to laugh, to share a meal.
Of course, things changed when the pandemic hit. It was strange how something so foundational to our lives could suddenly end, and stranger still that we managed to be alright. We adapted, we kept in touch, we did a virtual Secret Santa last week. Throughout the year, I kept thinking about my grandmother and the hope she clung onto, and how she made her dreams a reality. She didn’t really know what that reality looked like, and yet she clutched its possibility close to her heart for decades.
I started to better understand my grandma from listening to Adrianne Lenker’s songs, an album I played obsessively this past fall. It was the first time in my life I understood why people want children, at least enough so that it made the desire palpable and moving. Having a child isn’t anywhere near the main focus of the album. Hell, it’s not even the focus of “not a lot, just forever,” a song where Lenker sings “And your dearest fantasy / Is to grow a baby in me / I could be a good mother.” But it is an extension of these diaristic songs about love, about intimacy, about the uncertainty of shared futures.
If there’s anything I learned this past year, it’s that the better realities we wish to see are always going to be unknown, at least in the details. Still, not to fight for them would be a mistake, and is a position allotted to the privileged. I felt that during the protests this past year, I felt that during the mainstreaming of abolitionist thought, I felt that during the pertinent conversations I had with those around me. I regularly thought about a tweet from Thebe Kgositsile aka Earl Sweatshirt: “the role of fantasy in liberation is huge. we are tasked with creating something that we cant really see. building the plane while its flying.”
There was much talk of “unprecedented times,” but it was always spoken of in the context of current suffering. I long to hear about unprecedented times in the context of current victories, of the future worlds we dream of becoming present realties. I came to learn that it’s worth fighting for these futures in every aspect of our lives, in the personal and the global, both collectively and individually. I learned that from my grandma, I learned that from the people I protested with, I learned that from Tone Glow.
I started this Substack iteration of Tone Glow about a year ago because I was unsatisfied with freelancing, wanting to lift up artists who weren’t getting much coverage elsewhere. Along the way, it’s evolved into something I didn’t quite foresee, but at the heart of it is two things: a love for music, and community. And it’s in having this community of writers—and building a publication we can be proud of—that I feel encouraged to approach other aspects of life with a similar tenacity. 2020 may have been miserable in many ways, but I’m thankful that I now know how I want to live my life, even if the particulars aren’t sorted out.
Below, you’ll find a list of our favorite albums of the year. “Our” is used to mean both the Tone Glow writers and readers. In two additional posts, you’ll find our individual lists and reflections on the year. I promised myself I’d keep this going for at least a year, and I think I’ll keep it going for at least one more. Thanks for reading, thanks for listening. Let’s move into 2021 with compassion and vigor, fighting for a world that our governments clearly won’t give us. Let’s keep each other company and broaden the depth of our relationships. Let’s listen to music and feel inspired to live more fully, however that may look. —Joshua Minsoo Kim
Tone Glow’s Top 13 Albums of 2020
The below list is Tone Glow’s Top 13 Albums of 2020 as determined by our individual lists. This list was determined by prioritizing albums that got the largest number of votes, with tie-breakers being settled by averaging individual rankings and discussing with those who decided to present their lists unranked. Every album below received at least 3 votes.
MIKE - Weight of the World (10k)
Choi Joonyong / Jin Sangtae - Hole in My Head (Erstwhile)
Lucy Liyou - Welfare (ijn inc.)
Still House Plants - Fast Edit (Bison / Blank Forms Editions)
Sarah Hennies - The Reinvention of Romance (Astral Spirits)
Speaker Music - Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry (Planet Mu)
Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood - LIVE (International Anthem)
Playboi Carti - Whole Lotta Red (AWGE / Interscope)
Adrianne Lenker - Songs (4AD)
Elysia Crampton Chuquimia - ORCORARA 2010 (PAN)
Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You? (International Anthem / Don Giovanni)
Dewa Alit & Gamelan Salukat - Genetic (Black Truffle)
KeiyaA - Forever, Ya Girl (Forever Recordings)
Read our individual contributor lists and reflections: Part 1 | Part 2
Tone Glow Readers’ 50 Favorite Albums of 2020
Hundreds of our readers submitted a list of their favorite albums for our Readers’ Poll. Below, find your Top 50 Albums of 2020. Albums with the largest number of votes were prioritized, and then tie-breakers were determined via individual rankings.
Beatrice Dillon - Workaround (PAN)
Autechre - SIGN (Warp)
Sarah Davachi - Cantus, Descant (Late Music)
Jeff Parker - Suite For Max Brown (International Anthem / Nonesuch)
Jim O’Rourke - Shutting Down Here (Portraits GRM)
The Microphones - Microphones in 2020 (P.W. Elverum & Sun)
Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters (Epic)
Still House Plants - Fast Edit (Bison / Blank Forms Editions)
Speaker Music - Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry (Planet Mu)
Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind (Warp)
Okkyung Lee - Yeo-Neun (Shelter Press)
Irreversible Entanglements - Who Sent You? (International Anthem / Don Giovanni)
Elysia Crampton Chuquimia - ORCORARA 2010 (PAN)
Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never (Warp)
KMRU - Peel (Editions Mego)
Carl Stone - Stolen Car (Unseen Worlds)
Charli XCX - How I’m Feeling Now (Atlantic)
Ulla - Tumbling Towards a Wall (Experiences)
The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? (Thrill Jockey)
Kate NV - Room for the Moon (RVNG Intl.)
Horse Lords - The Common Task (Northern Spy)
Choi Joonyong / Jin Sangtae - Hole in My Head (Erstwhile)
Armand Hammer - Shrines (Backwoodz Studios)
Duma - Duma (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Wendy Eisenberg - Auto (Ba Da Bing!)
Ana Roxanne - Because of a Flower (Kranky)
Autechre - PLUS (Warp)
Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways (Columbia)
Sarah Hennies - The Reinvention of Romance (Astral Spirits)
DJ Python - Mas Amable (Incienso)
Destroyer - Have We Met (Merge / Dead Oceans)
Claire Rousay - A Heavenly Touch (Already Dead)
Toshiya Tsunoda / Taku Unami - Wovenland 2 (Erstwhile)
Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders (Ghostly International)
Charles Curtis - Performances & Recordings 1998-2018 (Saltern)
Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl - Artlessly Falling (Firehouse 12)
Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud (Merge)
Oliver Coates - skins n slimes (RVNG Intl.)
KeiyaA - Forever, Ya Girl (Forever Recordings)
Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine (Skint / BMG)
Adrianne Lenker - Songs (4AD)
clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned (Sub Pop)
Bill Nace - Both (Drag City)
Dewa Alit & Gamelan Salukat - Genetic (Black Truffle)
Kiera Mulhern - De ossibus 20 (Recital)
Cindy Lee - What’s Tonight to Eternity (W.25th)
Nazar - Guerrilla (Hyperdub)
FUJI||||||||||TA - iki (Hallow Ground)
Jessy Lanza - All the Time (Hyperdub)
Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood - LIVE (International Anthem)
The winners of our Readers’ Poll raffle are listed below. You will receive an email shortly so you can claim your prize.
Garrett P. (USA)
David F. (USA)
Clara T. G. (Spain)
Austin R. W. (USA)
Jonathan M. (USA)
Jih-Yao W. (England)
Mikko K. (Finland)
John K. (Greece)
Dipika M. (USA)
Filip G. (Poland)
René M. (Germany)
Joe C. (UK)
Jennifer J. S. (Australia)
Charlie M. (UK)
Ian P. (Japan)
Thanks for reading Tone Glow this year. We hope you enjoyed your time with us in 2020.
If you appreciate what we do, please consider donating via Ko-fi. Tone Glow is dedicated to forever providing its content for free, but please know that all our writers are paid for the work they do. All donations will be used for paying writers, and if we get enough money, Tone Glow will be able to publish issues more frequently.