Beat Authority best of 2020: The year of no live music – North Country Public Radio

Sault's Untitled (Black Is) was a wide-ranging soundtrack for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Photo: album cover

Dec 18, 2020

Not gonna lie. There were few mega-standout albums for me in 2020, unlike last year.

2020 was hard for everyone, but in particular for musicians, who essentially lost their source of income when live concerts were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. They performed from home, on Zoom, or to empty venues. But it wasn't the same, of course.

The most moving music of the year (see #1) was tied to the Black Lives Matter movement, the international protests over violence against people of color at the hands of police, and the larger consideration of systemic racism in our country.

Music kept me going in 2020, as it always does. Thank you deeply to all the musicians who are our muses and inspirations and role models.

Let's count down the best of 2020, Beat Authority style:

10. Kali Uchis - Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios)

This would be much higher if it hadn't come out just a couple weeks ago. Colombian-American Kali Uchis follows up on her breakout Isolation with another drop dead gorgeous R&B-meets-torch-song-meets-reggaeton-meets-Portishead full-length, all in Spanish to boot. Slow burn beats, lush strings, passionate vocals. Yes, please.

9. Various Artists - Lve Lve: Sao Tom & Principe Sounds (70s - 80s)

I love these compilations that take us back to a different (funky) place and time I never thought of before. This one from Bongo Joe records brings us the groove from the tiny island just off the West African Coast. When funk was blowing up here in the U.S., artists over there were giving it their own spin.

8. Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia

I saw Lido Pimienta in Ottawa once, and her driven, almost frenetic performance blew me away. On this brilliant record, the Torontonian of Colombian decent lays majestic beats over her haunting vocals, interspersed with more traditional Colombian music.

7. Songhoy Blues - Optimisme

Songhoy Blues, from Timbuktu, is rooted in the Malian tradition of legends like Ali Farka Tour, but, man, they rock so hard, taking more modern artists like Tinariwen and Bombino in a smokin' new direction.

6. Fat Freddy's Drop - LOCK-IN

It's easy to call Fat Freddy's Drop a reggae band. But the New Zealand outfit is equal parts jazz and trance. They lock in a groove and never let go, taking you along for jams almost as long as a Fela Kuti song. But the name of the album comes from our quarantine reality. This performance in a (beautiful!) empty concert hall will transfix you. I mean really, just watch the whole thing.

5. Mulatu Astatke & Black Jesus Experience - To Know Without Knowing

Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke can't compose or perform a wrong note. Lately, he's been collaborating with young musicians, this time with a band from the UK which includes an MC who drops timely rhymes over absolutely delicious Ethio-jazz.

4. Bad Bunny - YHLQMDLG

I dunno, maybe this should just be #1, it's so crazy good. 2020 was the year the Puerto Rican megastar crossed over and became a celebrity far beyond Spanish language media. This album is such a studied, scholarly history of reggaeton and a tribute to those who made the man with the indescribably good voice who he is. And he's funny. And he dresses incredible.

3. Keleketla! and Coldcut - Keleketla!

Keleketla! is a community arts space in Johannesburg, South Africa. British production duo Coldcut got together with musicians there and built a powerful set of afrobeat, dance, out-there jazz, and hip hop. For me, the most unheralded best release of the year.

2. Natalia Lafourcade - Un Canto por Mxico, Vol.1

Really, you could listen to this album forever. After a career making irresistible pop music, Natalia Lafourcade has dug deep into Mxico's folkloric roots for her last few albums. On this one celebrating her home province of Veracruz, she interprets traditional songs and covers her own originals in totally inventive ways. Lafourcade has grown into one of the great musicians of Latin America, and she's not even forty.

1. Sault - Untitled (Black Is) & Untitled (Rise)

How can a British collective remain a total mystery, and yet drop not one but two (!) internationally critically acclaimed albums that channel the Black Lives Matter moment so completely? Track after track of deep contemplation of race and pain and life and love, set to rich R&B, disco, jazz, and hip hop beats. I learn and feel more and more each time I listen to these albums.

Honorable mentions go to: Open Mike Eagle - Anime, Trauma, and Divorce; La Dame Blanche - Ella; Nubya Garcia - The Source; Khruangbin - Mordecai

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Beat Authority best of 2020: The year of no live music - North Country Public Radio