The best musical moments and releases of 2020, the COVID year
The Australian’s music writer nominates his highlights of 2020, from the best albums, books and concerts to the most heartwarming stories in a challenging year for the arts.
BEST ALBUM
The Slow Rush by Tame Impala, an engrossing melange of pop, rock and electronic music. The solo project of Fremantle musician Kevin Parker continues to evolve in fascinating new directions without sacrificing any of the melodic or stylistic hooks that first endeared his work to a wide audience a decade ago.
Runners up: RTJ4 by Run the Jewels; Ohms by Deftones; Dreamland by Glass Animals; Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa.
BEST SONG
One More Year by Tame Impala, the layered five-minute album opener to The Slow Rush wherein Parker effortlessly flexes all of his musical muscle groups. A masterful song that has brought me a whole lot of joy across the last 12 months.
Runners up: First Nation by Midnight Oil; Batflowers by Megan Washington; There You Are by Rob Hirst and Jay O’Shea; Life is a Game of Changing by DMA’S; Mercy by Max Richter.
BEST BOOK
Sing Backwards and Weep by Mark Lanegan, a painstakingly unflinching account of a troubled life further troubled by the excesses of rock ’n’ roll. This book chronicles about a decade in Lanegan’s life in Seattle and abroad — from the mid-80s onward — in ultra-high definition, and it’s one of the best music memoirs I have read.
Runners up: Killing Time by Jimmy Barnes, and Paul Kelly by Stuart Coupe. Special mention to a couple of older titles in The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC by Jesse Fink (2013) and How Music Got Free by Stephen Witt, a rare re-read of a memorable book I first reviewed in these pages in 2015.
BEST COMEBACK
Midnight Oil, which released a striking mini-album of collaborations with Indigenous musicians named The Makarrata Project after 18 years away from the recording studio. Its artistic triumph stands alone, but the recent death of its beloved bassist and co-vocalist Bones Hillman has cast a pall over an otherwise celebratory year for the Sydney rock group, which also marked 20 years since its memorable “sorry” suit performance at the Sydney Olympics closing ceremony.
Runners up: Powderfinger’s One Night Lonely online concert, which saw the Brisbane band regroup remotely after 10 years apart for a seven-song set to raise money for charity; and Something For Kate’s first album in eight years, The Modern Medieval.
BEST CONCERT
Tool, the US progressive metal band which toured its fifth album Fear Inoculum – composed of some of the heaviest, trickiest songs in its 30-year career – just before our international borders closed due to COVID-19. Special mention to the unique overhead “effects PA” employed by its audio technicians, which added a curious surround-sound experience to an already exhilarating show.
Runners up: Queen + Adam Lambert during torrential rain at Suncorp Stadium, and the Abbey Road Collective, which reprised the final Beatles album (and a lot more other songs) with stunning accuracy. Post-COVID, the two best sets I’ve seen were by Sydney indie rock trio DMA’S in acoustic mode, and Brisbane band Ball Park Music launching its sixth album at The Triffid.
BEST ONLINE CONCERT
Idiot Prayer by Nick Cave, which proved that one man alone in a giant room – London’s Alexandra Palace – with piano and voice can be plenty compelling if the camerawork and sound production is up to scratch.
Runner up: Apart Together, The Album Live by Tim Minchin.
BEST FESTIVAL
FOMO Festival in Brisbane at the start of the year, which included an incredibly charming and satisfying midafternoon appearance from US pop singer-songwriter Lizzo, as well as great night-time sets by Brockhampton and Kaytranada.
Runner up: Tamworth Country Music Festival, which is always a pleasure to attend each summer, and yet another unfortunate scratching from the 2021 calendar due to the virus.
BEST FINALE
Cold Chisel, which ended its Blood Moon tour with two shows at Mount Cotton near Brisbane in February. I caught the rain-drenched Saturday night show and loved it; with no future plans to record or perform, that might well have been the curtain call for the great Adelaide-born rock band.
MOST CONSISTENT
Kylie Minogue and AC/DC, two great Australian artists who released new music this year – Disco and Power Up, their 15th and 17th albums, respectively – and topped the charts both here and around the world. Hats off to both acts, who have not only survived multiple decades in the fickle entertainment business, but continue to thrive.
BEST PODCAST
Strong Songs, wherein US writer and musician Kirk Hamilton unpacks the inner workings of some of the greatest songs in pop culture history to see how they tick. For newcomers, I recommend his recent episode devoted to A Day in the Life by The Beatles; after that, go back through the entire archive, as the quality is uniformly high, and Hamilton a joyfully nerdy host.
Runners up: The ever reliable US podcast Song Exploder; the hilarious ABC musical comedy CrossBread. And completely unrelated to music, but Roy & HG’s consistently hilarious sports show Bludging on the Blindside was an utter highlight of 2020, especially during the malaise of lockdown.
BEST TV SERIES
The Sound, the ABC series hosted by Jane Gazzo which began in August and has since aired about 12 hours of music comprising dozens of unique performances from some of Australia’s best artists, including Tones and I, Tash Sultana, Missy Higgins and Paul Kelly.
Runners up: Upright, an eight-part dramedy starring Tim Minchin in a story centred on a piano travelling from Sydney to Perth; and Song Exploder, the music analysis podcast which recently debuted as a limited series on Netflix featuring the likes of R.E.M. and Alicia Keys.
BEST FEEL-GOOD STORY
Review’s Isolation Room, co-ordinated by this newspaper section, which featured 39 intimate at-home performances from the likes of Sarah Blasko, John Williamson and Vika & Linda Bull during the national lockdown months of April and May. A pure, uncomplicated joy to share with our readers, and one of my highlights of 2020.
Runners up: Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl accepting a drum battle challenge from 10-year British girl Nandi Bushell; Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams resurfacing on global pop charts after becoming a surprise hit on TikTok; Jimmy and Jane Barnes serenading millions of viewers from their home on social media; and more recently, Mental as Anything’s Live It Up ascending the British iTunes singles chart after Glasgow Rangers FC adopted the 1985 hit as its unofficial anthem.
BEST FILM
David Byrne’s American Utopia, which saw the 68-year-old former Talking Heads frontman and his 11 all-singing, all-dancing musical offsiders performing for a Broadway audience and Spike Lee’s cameras while in constant motion.
Runner up: Bruce Springsteen’s Letter To You, which accompanied The Boss’s 20th album; and Viva the Underdogs, a travelogue and concert film which tracked the extraordinary globetrotting adventures of Byron Bay metalcore quintet Parkway Drive.
BEST SUCCESS STORY
Vika & Linda Bull, the Melbourne soul-singing sisters who in June achieved their first No 1 album after 30-plus years in Australian music. A more deserving and more universally loved pair you won’t find.
Runner up: Teeny Tiny Stevies and Fanny Lumsden, both of whom recently won their first ARIA awards – in the children’s music and country music categories, respectively – on their third occasion of being nominated; and The Church frontman Steve Kilbey overcoming a debilitating 30-year battle with tinnitus thanks to hearing aid technology.