An annual tradition, shared various ways, not all were released in 2020, but its stuff I discovered in the past year that kept rattling around my ears and playlists. The YouTube playlist has some great finds of the video versions, including some live ones as a preference over the official or missing ones. There's a pretty broad variety in this year's list again - I hope there’s something for everyone. Enjoy. For those of you on Apple Music, the playlist is there too.
The order goes like this - starts with some straight-up Canadian rock and transitions with the biggest Canadian music headliner followed by the kid down the street to bring in some electronic sounds, with dashes into pop, hooks, riffs, melodies, stand-up-and-listen voices and closing out musical commentary on the big stories of of the year: BLM, the environment, the US presidency and the pandemic.
- Years in the making - Arkells - great distanced vid and solid catch hooks
- Get Precious - Yukon Blonde - hooks with blues and funk feel
- I like the Way You Talk About the Future - Sam Roberts Band - beats and Montrealer mood
- Blinding Lights - The Weeknd - you may be sick of it, but solid 80’s redux was fun for me
- I’ll Come Back to You - Powfu, Sarcastic Sounds & Rxseboy - neighbourhood beat producer meets the big time
- Time (You and I) - Khruangbin - I listened to their Thai Funk groove a lot this year
- Got to Keep On - The Chemical Brothers - Soul train vid turns weird but beats keep going
- Don’t Call Me Up - Mabel - first track that dropped onto the radar in 2020 triggered by a “what’s this?” performance on a 2019 award show
- A Love Like That - Katie Melua - new soothing sounds from an old favourite
- Little Something - Melody Gardot & Sting - exotic duet from two of my favourite voices
- On Sunset - Paul Weller - a very late entry but immediate big smash in my books
- Caution - The Killers - pop/rock at its finest with Flowers’ fantastic delivery
- I Do - John Legend - got to get movin’ and swoon to these silky R&B lines
- The 1 - Taylor Swift - her many, many beautiful melodies took up a lot of this year’s playlist rotation
- July - Noah Cyrus and Leon Bridges - sweet, sweet sounds with cross-over potential
- I Can’t Breathe - H.E.R - powerful stuff from a magical musician
- Oh, What a World 2.0 (Earth Day Edition) - Kacey Musgraves - remix from the voice of an angel
- Living In a Ghost Town - The Rolling Stones - guitar licks and tight message, give me more lads
- Lookin’ for a Leader - 2020 - Neil Young - politics too - singing what many were thinking
- (E) Zen - X Ambassadors, K. Flay & Grandson - Big expletives sum up a downer of a year
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