Music Suitcase: Favorite Albums of July 2020
My favorites albums of July are diverse enough that I can’t actually find a theme that unites them. The first 5 here are all from different countries. South African jazz makers Keleketla! dominated most of my July, but then a couple of indie rockers came toward the end to hold court. Aside from my normal slight slant toward indie rock, it’s a pretty broad spread of genres represented here. Let’s get right to ’em:
Fontaines DC, A Hero’s Death
This Dublin post-punk band made the best album of 2019; they’ve followed it up with a profoundly different sophomore record, teaching us something new about themselves with each song. On the whole it’s slower, softer, darker, murkier — often hypnotically so — and the lyrics are somehow even stronger. Highlights: “A Hero’s Death,” “No,” “I Don’t Belong”
Keleketla!, Keleketla!
A collaboration between South African musicians, largely from the jazz world, Keleketla!’s multifarious, multi-lingual debut was the brainchild of charity organization In Place of War, and it’s produced by Coldcut. It’s uplifting, powerful and transcendent. Highlights: “Future Toyi Toyi,” “Shepherd Song,” “Crystallise”
Dehd, Flower of Devotion
Rich and emotionally direct, the Chicago trio’s third album uses the cool, casual sound of their surf/garage rock instrumentation as lubrication for the passionate lyrics and vocal delivery of their its lead singers. Highlights: “Desire,” “No Time,” “Disappear”
Denai Moore, Modern Dread
This Jamaican-English artist centers her sound in a tuneful, punchy blend of electro-pop and alternative R&B on her third full-length studio album, with infectious choruses aplenty. Highlights: “Cascades,” “Fake Sorry,” “Slate”
The Beths, Jump Rope Gazers
The New Zealand band’s third album is more emotionally direct, more melodically nimble and features juicier guitar work, interspersed with softer, subtler moments than we’d seen from them before. Highlights: “I’m Not Getting Excited,” “You Are A Beam Of Light,” “Dying To Believe”
Rufus Wainwright, Unfollow The Rules
Described as a bookend to the first half of his career, Wainwright‘s 10th album is full of sweeping, operatic, often Queen-inspired harmony-soaked pop and deliberately and splendidly recalls his first album. Highlights: “Peaceful Afternoon,” “Angels and Devils (Hatred on the Horizon),” “Damsel in Distress”
Lori McKenna, The Balladeer
A Boston-based singer/songwriter who’s written numerous hits for Nashville country artists, McKenna’s own eleventh album has an organic, authentic feel and its songs are poignant, heartfelt and often timeless. Highlights: “The Balladeer,” “Marie,” “The Dream”
Kestrels, Dream Or Don’t Dream
This Canadian band’s third album recalls certain dreamy but grungy, shoegazery alt-rock albums of the early 90s where all the songs blended into one magical wash of fuzzy guitars. Incredible guitar solos, too. Highlights: “Grey and Blue,” “Don’t Dream,” “Feels Like the End”
Juice WRLD, Legends Never Die
The heartbreaking, posthumous album, on which this 21-year-old rapper has vulnerably and vividly documented the addiction to pain medication that killed him, is as intense and important as you’d imagine. Highlights: “Bad Energy,” “Come & Go,” “Wishing Well”
Thanya Iyer, KIND
This singer and violinist’s ethereal but well-structured experimentation generally focuses somewhere between baroque pop and jazz, but anyone who appreciates quirky, ambitious music will dig this. Highlights: “Please Don’t Hold Me Hostage For Who I Am, For Who I Was,” “Look Up to the Light,” “My Mind Keeps Running”
Taylor Swift, folklore
I’m as shocked as anyone to see a Taylor Swift album here, but the pop star’s almost jarringly literate, indie-inspired 8th album features solid storytelling songs and fantastic production, mostly by The National’s Aaron Dressner. Highlights: “The Last Great American Dynasty,” “Exile,” “The 1”
Lianne La Havas, Lianne La Havas
Folk-inflected, alternative soul music from the UK, the singer’s third album thankfully brings her silky but versatile voice to the fore in an array of diverse original compositions, and one great Radiohead cover. Highlights: “Green Papaya,” “Courage,” “Weird Fishes”
Courtney Marie Andrews, Old Flowers
On an especially painful break-up album that is understandably less self-assured and less high-minded than her previous efforts, the Arizonian folksinger wrings her heart out with these slow, intimate folk-country songs. Highlights: “Ships in the Night,” “Old Flowers,” “Burlap String”
Apollo Brown and Che’ Noir, As God Intended
Though Detroit producer Brown gets top billing, this is essentially Buffalo-area rapper Che’ Noir’s full-length debut album. It’s gritty and fairly violent, but genuine, and politically astute. Highlights: “Hustle Don’t Give,” “12 Hours,” “Freedom”
The Streets, None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive
Returning after 9 years with what is nominally a mixtape rather than a studio album, UK hip hop vet Mike Skinner’s comeback is full of solid collaborations with a younger generation of artists he influenced. Highlights: “The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer,” “Falling Down,” “Conspiracy Theory Freestyle”
Illuminati Hotties, Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For
Noisier, dirtier and more severe than on her 2018 solo project’s debut, veteran producer Sarah Tudzin focuses her vision within the confines of mostly guitar-driven indie rock and then completely lets loose. Highlights: “Freequent Letdown,” “Content/Bedtime,” “Reasons 2 Live”
Hey, by the way…
Did you enjoy this article? Cool. It was written by a white guy privileged enough to have time listen to like 40 albums every month and write a blog as a passion project, for free.
If you white and you are also are privileged enough to have some time on your hands, or some money to donate, please check out some anti-racism resources and help fight the good fight.
Nerding out over music is fun, but let’s not forget that we live in a burning world that needs our help! Black lives matter.
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