2020: 25 Songs That Got Me Through

 

Since time is relative and still pretty meaningless, I trust you won't mind that I'm sharing my favorite songs of 2020 now. Nearly halfway through 2021. 'Cause that's what I do. I take way too long to do these things. It almost makes me wonder why I even bother. Anyways, most of these songs were written and recorded pre-Covid but some touch on very pandemic-related topics like loneliness, isolation and death. And some of the accompanying videos were clearly shot during quarantine, as evidenced by the empty streets in major cities and Zoom-like split-screen that has become a part of everyday life. Years from now I hope I'll be able to appreciate these songs as being damn good and not tied to the worst year of our lives. The artists and their songs deserve as much.


The Cool Greenhouse - Alexa!
We all needed a laugh last year and as winter approached the northern hemisphere, 6 months into pandemic life, The Cool Greenhouse obliged! A bouncy, wiry post-punk ode to Amazon's evil-yet-sweet-voiced virtual assistant, it's got the token wit and cheekiness that we've all come to know and love about The Cool Greenhouse . We all know and love The Cool Greenhouse, right? It's interactive too so crank it up and let your favorite eavesdropping AI device set a timer, call your mum, even order a Cool Greenhouse record!


The Cool Greenhouse - The Sticks
Holy shit! No more fun and games for the typically minimal, laid back and light-hearted Tom Greenhouse. The first single off his band's full-length debut is some wicked stuff, a noisy and hypnotic two-chord post-punk banger with an equally noisy and mesmerizing video that should come with one of those flashing light warnings. Tom's dark wit is on full display here as he rambles on about the strange people and experiences you encounter when visiting the backwoods. Released on the day before the US went on lockdown, it features one of the most prophetic lines imaginable ("Better stay in, from here on in"). It seemed so innocent at the time.

Dead Ghosts - Tell Me How
Here's a track from Vancouver's stoner cowboys, Dead Ghosts. It's a twangy, country western garage punk song with tambourine smacks where you'd expect whip cracks, because this band is too heady for sharp, startling noises. The heavily-reverbed and drowned out vocals (plus lack of a lyric sheet) makes it difficult to make out the lyrics but to me it sounds like vocalist/guitarist Bryan Nicol is lamenting the loss of a loved one -- possibly a lover, most likely his dealer. Life on the range is hard enough as it is, but it's even harder without a little help from your friends.


DEHD - Loner
A song about isolation and learning that it's ok to be alone sometimes, you'd think it was written during Covid. But it wasn't! It was just eerily prescient when it dropped in May. The second single off DEHD's Flower of Devotion LP, Loner features Emily Kempf showing her vocal range, shifting seamlessly from low growls to high-pitched howls over shimmery, reverbed guitar and e-drums for extra bounce and shine. It was released in conjunction with a Heaven or Hell theme that includes this music video, t-shirts and even a hotline that's still in service! Give it a ring at 1-833-636-DEHD and save your soul, sinner!


Dry Cleaning - Scratchcard Lanyard
The first single off Dry Cleaning's fresh debut album was released back in November amid so much fanfare, even Rolling Stone covered it! Scratchcard Lanyard is a fresh and vibrant post-punk song with a taut bassline and tension and release guitar riffs. Vocalist Flo Shaw's delivery is as dry as ever as she speak-sings seemingly random and nonsensical phrases about how little distractions can get you through tough times, in this case a breakup. She's so bitter, she doesn't even crack a smile in this silly video.


Eggy - HAL 9000
The second song on the list to reference the creepy AI system in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL 9000 is the third single off Bravo!, the debut album from Melbourne's Eggy. Filled with layers and textures, it's a bubbly and noisy psychedelic art pop song, mostly bright but with hints of darkness and uneasiness. To that effect, Dom Moore ponders feeling overwhelmed with information in this internet and social media age, and declares that "pop culture's killing me." I feel the same way and wish I could quit social media but I'm sorry Dom, I'm afraid I can't do that.


Gen Pop - Bright Light People
With the world locked up in solitary confinement, Olympia's Gen Pop dropped the first single off their debut full-length album PPM66. Bright Light People is a snappy, noisy punk ripper with dual male/female vocals, spitting authoritatively about paranoia and control (or lack thereof). When they ask if the Bright Light People "come into your home, will you know?," all I can picture in my head are the zombie astronauts in E.T. Those bastards creeped me out.


Holy Motors - Choose Your World
Stop me if you've heard this one before: band from the once Soviet-occupied country of Estonia plays twangy, moody Americana. Is "Estoniana" a thing? Well it should be! Holy Motors, from the capital city of Tallinn, included this song on the London-based Group Therapy collective's compilation which raised money for charity during lockdown. The first time I heard this track I was blown away by its beautiful and melancholic charm. It sounds like something you might hear on an episode of True Detective -- dark and cinematic, the perfect soundtrack for driving down a long dusty highway with the windows down in the middle of the night. 


Isotope Soap - Ingo Swan
Stockholm's Isotope Soap is the brainchild of one Peter Swedenhammar (amazing name, btw) and is known for its futuristic, off-the-wall electro-synth punk and zany live performances. This short instrumental demo (which hopefully ends up on their upcoming LP) features a driving krautrock jam that gets interrupted by carnival sounds and other weird electronic noises sprinkled in. No surprise that this weirdo named the song after another weirdo, American psychic Ingo Swann.


Kitchen's Floor - Expiry
Here's a track from Matt Kennedy, everyone's favorite downer punk from Brisbane, that is probably about death. Sounding even more bleak and downtrodden than usual, Matt lays down a simple beat with a heavily-distorted synth effect that sounds like something out of a horror movie, nightmarishly mournful and ugly. But quite lovely to these demented ears. Between this video, his Look Forward to Nothing album cover, and the title of his debut album (Loneliness is a Dirty Mattress), it seems like Matt is in rough shape and lives his life in relative squalor. I hope he's ok. Sometimes I worry.


L'Eclair - Dallas
Here's an upbeat, psychedelic disco funk jam from Geneva, Switzerland's L'Eclair. Taken from their Noshtta EP, it's an uplifting dance party track that will make you feel like you're hovering, like an angel.


Lewsberg - The Door
This tender track from Dutch band Lewsberg is highlighted by vocalist Arie van Vliet's Lou Reed-esque speak-singing style, as he eloquently describes an uncomfortable standoff with a lover. It's a lovely and elegant slow burner. That is, until about the halfway point when it's disrupted by the harsh squeal of feedback. Lewsberg may be softies at heart, but the clear Velvet Underground influence shows they also live the #noiselife


Melkbelly - Kissing Under Some Bats
Kissing Under Some Bats, from Chicago's Melkbelly, clocks in at nearly 8 minutes so don't expect to hear it on the radio. It bursts out of the gate with their signature explosive and revved up brand of post-hardcore noise rock highlighted by James Wetzel's rapid-fire drumming (clearly inspired by Brian Chippendale of the mighty Lightning Bolt) and singer/guitarist Miranda Winters ranting about being young and dumb and raving about literally kissing under some bats. Then it devolves into a noisy and relentless 5 minute free-form, sludgy and swirling jam. Watching the ridiculous video should make one thing abundantly clear: MELKBELLY SICK AS FUCK.

Mini Skirt - Brigantine St
There aren't many rowdy pub punk band that are socially-conscious, but Byron Bay, Australia's Mini Skirt is leading the charge. On Brigantine St, the second single from their excellent debut Casino, Jacob Boylan voices his frustration and disillusion with the people in charge. When he sings, "I want to believe in the revolution / I want to believe in my contribution / But the bastards keep winning!" it's easy to empathize and sympathize from all the way across the pond. There are heaps of punk bands that are mindless fun but Mini Skirt can stir up a pit AND make you think. And that makes me smile!


Ostraaly - Salty Dog Tears
A lovely folk pop song named Salty Dog Tears off an album named Misery Guests, so you know the melancholy runs deep. It begins with the light strum of an acoustic guitar and Katharine Daly's sweet voice, trying to pick up the pieces after a breakup. As the rest of the band chimes in and the tempo picks up, you can feel the sense of longing and desperation in her heart as she tries to hold out hope. In a cruel case of life imitating art, the band broke up in December and now I'm crying salty dog tears ;(.


Oscar Perry - Perry Como
I don't know much about this Aussie bloke -- he's listed as a poet and painter -- but this much I do know: this song slaps. Perry waxes poetic over a funky '80s electronic beat programmed by Jack Farley, with Nick Pearson adding some fuzzy and heavily-reverbed guitar. It kinda sounds like the Knight Rider theme, and with a disorienting and impaired nighttime driving video, one can only hope that the person behind the wheel let KITT handle the driving duties.


R.M.F.C. - Reader
Rock Music Fan Club is the one-man band of Buz Clatworthy (amazing name) naturally from a town in Australia named Ulladulla (also amazing). Reader is a scuzzy, garagey lo-fi synth punk blast with Devo-esque vocals that's actually about something rather deep: the concept of thinking about death on a daily basis in order to normalize and accept its inevitability. Not what you'd expect from a band that runs in the same circles as jokesters like Gee Tee, Research Reactor Corp, Set-Top Box and Garbage Disposal Union.


Scottibrains - Aristorats
This one starts as a fuzzed out shoegaze jam that gradually picks up the tempo and about halfway through morphs into a wicked, pulsating psychedelic krautrock banger. Featuring producer and head of the so-hot-right-now Speedy Wunderground label Danny Carey on guitar (and mixed by his 15 yo daughter Orla), it's six and a half minutes of intense aural bliss. Carey is understandably too busy with his other gigs to release more than one song on average every other year with Scottibrains, which is a bummer because they're all rippers. Covid threw a wrench into their grand plans for an amazing video (which will happen, Carey promises) so until then enjoy this very 2020 remote-style video, won't you?


The Shifters - Left Bereft
Melbourne's The Shifters has always been a socially and politically conscious band and on Left Bereft, they double down on it. A grim and menacing song for grim and menacing times, it's a beautifully psychedelic guitar pop track with hypnotic synths and lyrics that read as a damnation of the state of their country and the world. "We're sick of the news / and the papers too / the left, bereft / and the right's just frightening / We're sick of the banks / and their CEOs / We're tired of Jihad / and the USA!" Very relatable! It's always nice to be reminded of what other countries think of us, lest we forget.


The Strokes - The Adults Are Talking
Sue me.


The Stroppies - Look Alive
Another in a long line of 'dolewave' bands from Down Under, The Stroppies released an EP last year and this is the title track. It's a pleasant, jangly guitar pop song  that'll make you tap your toes and bob your head from side to side. Singer/guitarist Gus Lord says the lyrics are "inspired by ugly experiences I’ve had after dark" in his home town of Melbourne while the video was shot on predominantly empty streets at night during lockdown, "an eerie juxtaposition to the song’s themes.” Thankfully all of my experiences in Melbourne after dark have been rather pleasant and joyous.


Terry - Take the Cellphone
Yet another song from an Australian band (I'm so predictable!), this one from Terry, featuring members of heaps of other super cool Australian bands. It's an upbeat and catchy psychedelic post-punk song with a thumping bassline and a fun outro with electronic blips and bleeps. With the chorus "break the window / take the cellphone" I can't help but wonder if  this song is about the time their van got broken into in Belgium??


Tiña - Dip
This song was my introduction to Tiña. At first I didn't know what to make of it, what with Joshua Loftin's super high-pitched vocals and his half-naked, pink cowboy hat look. But eventually this song embedded itself firmly into my skull. As he opens up about his crippling anxiety, isolation and general malaise, the band sweetly and deftly jangles away, seemingly without a care in the world.


Tiña - Rosalina
Frankly, I could put 5 or 6 songs from Tiña's debut album Positive Mental Health Music on this list -- it's that damn good. This track is probably the darkest one on the album., with a slow-plodding melody and Joshua Loftin's lyrics about isolation, loneliness and the crazy thoughts that happen as a result. A mental breakdown (or a full year in quarantine) will do that to ya.


The Woolen Men - Alley Cat
One of the most consistent and prolific bands in underground music the past decade plus, Portland's Woolen Men released a song a month for 4 months during quarantine as part of their singles club. Alley Cat was the first release and is the best of the lot. A super catchy punky power pop number that's so fun, you might not realize it's a breakup song.


Honourable Mention

2200 - Cryo Freeze


Alien Nosejob - Blending In


The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers


Bin Licker - Pram


C.H.E.W. - Noise Square


Cable Ties - Hope


Cindy - CSI: Creeptown


The Cowboys - The Beige Collection


The Cowboys - Susie, Susie


Disappears + Steve Shelley + White/Light - Legs Woman


Dr Sure's Unusual Practice - Super Speedy Zippy Whipper


Gad Whip - Desk Gate


Holy Motors - Country Church


Horse Lords - Against Gravity


Jockstrap - The City


Lewsberg - From Never to Once


Marker Starling - Silk Rock


Modern Studies - The Blue of Distance


Nervous Tick and the Zipper Lips (feat. Ricky Hell) - City Boys


New Fries - Arendt / Adler / Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley


Nightclub - Out & About


Plastic Chairs - Storm Surf


Dougie Poole - Los Angeles


Public Practice - How I Like It


Radical Kitten - I'm Bored


Romero - Neapolitan


Soakie - Boys on Stage


Spin Dash - Aliens Told Me to Kill the President!


Straw Man Army - Option Despair


Sweeping Promises - Hunger for a Way Out


Tiña - Golden Rope


Tropical Fuck Storm (Feat. Amy Taylor) - This Perfect Day (The Saints)


Viagra Boys - Common Sense


Viagra Boys (Feat. Amy Taylor) - In Spite of Ourselves (John Prine)


Wax Chattels - No Ties


The Woolen Men - Outta Reach


The Yearners - Give it to the Spirit