Top 10 Albums of 2020 (Part 1)
by Killian Laher

We asked each of our regular music writers to give us their Top Ten Albums of the the year. You can see the results below…

In a year where so much of our way of life was restricted, albums have become more important than ever.  The ranking of these albums isn’t so important, but they made a difficult year a little easier.

10. Bob Mould – Blue Hearts
Others may be treading water at this stage in their careers.  But Bob Mould sounds as vital as ever on an album full of aggressive hard rock.

9. Protomartyr – Ultimate Success Today
Another album of joyous, knotty, difficult songs from Joe Casey and co.

8 Mogwai – ZeroZeroZero
If any band was going to release suitable music this year it was going to be Mogwai.  This crime series soundtrack is every bit as good as anything else in their back catalogue.

7. Fontaines DC – A Hero’s Death
An album full of great songs, definitely moodier and maybe even better than their debut.

6. Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts V
An eerie soundtrack to the very beginning of the lockdown, made available for free by Trent Reznor.  Some really dense and affecting music here.

5. The Last Dinosaur – Wholeness
An inscrutable oddity of an album.  Explanations are futile.  Let its wondrous 26 minutes wash over you.

4. Bill Callahan – Gold Record
Another gift from Bill Callahan of ten finely crafted, timeless songs.

3. Aoife Nessa Frances – Land of No Junction
The perfectly formed debut still resonates across. Seemingly arriving from nowhere, it’s a languid joy.

2. Mark Lanegan – Straight Songs of Sorrow
An artist for the ages.  Nobody sings the blues like Mark Lanegan on an album that harks back to some of his earlier solo work, making for a great companion piece to his autobiography.

1. The Apartments – In And Out of the Light
Peter Milton Walsh as The Apartments is a criminally overlooked artist.  Here he has penned a perfectly pitched album of songs to get utterly lost in.