2020 - album of the year, your choice.

[Crawford Glissadevil]

Wobbler- Dwellers of the Deep

[Jimmy Giant]

Lots of good ones this year.
However, a late contender really caught my ear last night.

Sonus Umbra - A Sky Full of Ghosts

Outstanding CD Luis!

[arturs]

Right now I'd have to say: Thumbscrew -- the Anthony Braxton Project. I've been a fan of this band for a few years now but this one really puts them over the top, for me. And I will need to check out more by Braxton.

I admit there's still a lot of 2020 music I have yet to hear.

[Sputnik]

It's got some stiff competition from Wobbler, Helmet of Gnats, and Zopp, but in the end I think I'll get the most mileage out of Ghost Rhythms Imaginary Mountains. So that's my pick as of right now.

Bill

[mylard]

Gonna have to go with Motorpsycho - The All is One. I love everything on the album, but the N.O.X suite is one of the best things I've heard. The way the track pulses and breathes like a like a living being, kinetically evolving from part to part. It's beautiful and intense and captivating. It's two excellent musicians who have been playing together for decades, along with a world class drummer, plus features from Ova Kvernberg and others, and it all comes together perfectly. Hearing it for the first time was so good.

[Trane]

If I must name only one: Trees Speak - Ohms Neo-krautrock (Köln-Dusseldorf school) done the US way by a pair of brothers

I hate to go with what some would consider an obvious choice for me, but I’d say Aka Moon - Opus 111. It’s their best work in 10 years and shows how far Cassol has come as a composer.

Fùçk!! I must still check this one out! wall.gif

[mozo-pg]

I'll go with Wobbler's Dwellers Of The Deep.

[Lesanderd]

Panzerballett – Planet Z The musicianship is simply on another plane of existence.

[JKL2000]

Lots of really good albums getting mentioned here, and for me to there are a lot I just haven't spent enough time with or even gotten around to yet. But for now I have to say that my sentimental, neo-prog heart wins out and I choose:

Pendragon - Love Over Fear

It really is one of the best neo-prog albums ever, IMO, and certainly the band's best

[begnagrad]

Cunning Folk - A Casual Invocation

Floyd meets T-Rex, hawkwind, the orb, what an amazing album this one is, lysergic jam that fuses elements of doomy space prog rock, trance and new psychedelia

[polmico]

Gonna have to go with Motorpsycho - The All is One. I love everything on the album, but the N.O.X suite is one of the best things I've heard. The way the track pulses and breathes like a like a living being, kinetically evolving from part to part. It's beautiful and intense and captivating. It's two excellent musicians who have been playing together for decades, along with a world class drummer, plus features from Ova Kvernberg and others, and it all comes together perfectly. Hearing it for the first time was so good.

This is likely my choice as well.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

For me it's a close decision between Nektar's The Other Side and BOC's The Symbol Remains.

Forced to choose one, I guess I'll pick the BOC as the higher energy of the two.

[mightcould Tim]

Lots of good ones this year.
However, a late contender really caught my ear last night.

Sonus Umbra - A Sky Full of Ghosts

Outstanding CD Luis!

Thanks! (Tim, also of Sonus, here.) I'm proud of this one. Glad you like it! We've almost rounded up what we need to ship the presales and can't wait for people to see the physical copies.

[karel hupjé]

Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi, by far the best 2020 album for me

[SteveSly]

Gonna have to go with Motorpsycho - The All is One. I love everything on the album, but the N.O.X suite is one of the best things I've heard. The way the track pulses and breathes like a like a living being, kinetically evolving from part to part. It's beautiful and intense and captivating. It's two excellent musicians who have been playing together for decades, along with a world class drummer, plus features from Ova Kvernberg and others, and it all comes together perfectly. Hearing it for the first time was so good.

I need to get this one.

[Zappathustra]

Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi, by far the best 2020 album for me

I like it a lot

[rdclark]

"Chants from Another Place," Jonathan Hulten. Came from nowhere and bashed me in the head. In a good way.

[profusion]

I didn't listen to a lot of new music, but the new Flower Kings album, Islands, is fantastic.

[Shadow]

Sitting here listening to the Gavin Harrison & Antoine Fafard - Chemical Reactions. What an impressive piece of work.

[JKL2000]

This is a great thread - I’m getting loads of suggestions for new albums I need to check out.

I listened to the Motorpsycho album in the car, and it’s great! I didn’t know Reine Fiske was associated. Between this and discovering Jaga Jazzist, the door to new Norwegian music has been opened for me. I already liked Elephant9 and...a band whose name I forget right now.* Back at the ProgFest that Landberk played, I felt like I was the only person there who thought they were the best band!

Now I’m listening to the AKA Moon album. Excellent! But how come I can’t find a single review of it? Can anyone help with that?

*What’s the name of this Norwegian psych band that I can’t remember? They’ve been around for a while now - Fiske was involved, and I think Elephant9 was an offshoot?

[aith01]

This is a great thread - I’m getting loads of suggestions for new albums I need to check out.

I listened to the Motorpsycho album in the car, and it’s great! I didn’t know Reine Fiske was associated. Between this and discovering Jaga Jazzist, the door to new Norwegian music has been opened for me. I already liked Elephant9 and...a band whose name I forget right now.* Back at the ProgFest that Landberk played, I felt like I was the only person there who thought they were the best band!

Now I’m listening to the AKA Moon album. Excellent! But how come I can’t find a single review of it? Can anyone help with that?

*What’s the name of this Norwegian psych band that I can’t remember? They’ve been around for a while now - Fiske was involved, and I think Elephant9 was an offshoot?

Dungen, maybe? Though I think they’re Swedish...?

[JKL2000]

Dungen, maybe? Though I think they’re Swedish...?

Yes, Dungen! Oops, they are Swedish, and so is Landberk. Duh! Thanks for that!

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Behold...The Acrtopus - Hapelectic Overtrove

[yodathedog]

The Backstage -Isolation.

Just scratches that fusion vibe for me.

[Rarebird]

Hard choice. Let's say:
Mammal Hands - Captured spirits