The top 30 of 2020, Part 2

Happy New Year! and welcome to the first post on WoNoBlog of 2023. Traditionally the first days of the new year are used for looking back. Tradition is tradition.

Another year over, it's listing time once again. Picking out the favourite albums of the year is hard (work) and also tends to be a little unfair. The most recent albums always stick with me just a little easier. Everything was weighed, striped away, listened to once again. When all was listened to and done, I had to make up my mind and this is it for 2022. Today number 30 to 11.

30. Plenty Of Blankets. No Ninja Am I

Beautiful album with inventive songs often bringing CSN&Y to mind. Sander van Munster is on top of his game here.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/09/plenty-of-blankets-no-ninja-am-i.html

29. The Origin Of Air Quotes. The Slow Clock

Alternative rock with a twist or two from Amsterdam. The Origin Of Air Quotes is an album full of nice little surprises.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-origin-of-air-quotes-slow-clock.html

28. Κάπου Αλλού (Somewhere Elsewhere). Bazooka

Not understanding a single word and still be mesmerised by a Greek band playing music somewhere, elsewhere between pop, indie and alternative in very convincing ways.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/11/somewhere-elsewhere-bazooka.html

27. Big Love Blanket. Personal Trainer

The Dutch album of the year for many professional journalists. I am still finding my way in. Two weeks ago the album would not have made this list. Today it has, so who knows where it is going to end? Only time can tell.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/11/big-love-blanket-personal-trainer.html

26. Barn. Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Some albums of "older" acts did not make this list because they do what they are good at, other do, because they do what they are good at. Don't ask me to explain the difference. it's a feeling. Like Neil Young and Crazy Horse. On Barn the band sounds soothingly familiar and good.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/01/barn-neil-young-crazy-horse.html

25. Wilderness Of Mirrors. The Black Angels

Psychedelia still rules in the realm of The Black Angels. Wilderness Of Mirrors falls into the 'Barn' category: The Black Angels simply does a lot right on its latest album.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/09/wilderness-of-mirrors-black-angels.html

24. The Analogues Sideshow. The Analogues

Having made a huge name for itself as THE Beatles re-creation band, now The Analogues play its own songs. Most of the songs on The Analogues Sideshow would have stood out on most if not any of the solo albums of the Fab Four. They sound slightly familiar and have the quality I have come to expect from a band this good.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/12/introducing-analogues-sideshow-analogues.html

23. Dreaming Of The Future. Womb

The first of a few albums coming out of New Zealand in this list. A sonorous and solemn sounding album Dreaming Of The Future is. Something to sit and wind down for and truly listen.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/11/dreaming-of-future-again-womb.html

22. A Light For Attracting Attention. The Smile

I'm still not certain whether I truly like this album or not. (Like many Radiohead albums I should add.) It impresses more than it is good, but still, it's extremely well made and certainly interesting enough.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/09/three-albums-02-09-2022.html

21. Skinty Fia. Fontaines D.C.

And this band simply keeps getting better and better. The first album did not touch me in any way, although by now I should give it another chance. The second went down well and Skinty Fia is simply it.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/three-albums-17-may-2022.html

20. Autofiction. Suede

Just a little louder, just a little more prominent, more punk, as Brett Anderson said himself. It works for me. Always on the edge of kitsch, Autofiction steers well away from the Suede that is just on the wrong side of music I like.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/10/three-albums-gogol-bordello-suede-and.html

19. Ghosts On Tape. Blood Red Shoes

Yes, no, yes, no? Yes, Ghosts On Tape is in and in a comfortable position. Blood Red Shoes simply delivers with its latest album as it has with most of its albums. Not my favourite but certainly in a comfortable position there as well.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/01/ghosts-on-tape-blood-red-shoes.html

18. Orbit 1. Recitals

More from Flying Nun Records, the indie label in the world perhaps with the highest quality output. Recitals simply surprises in so many ways on this album. Nothing is what it seems. When finished, an overwhelming sense of musical sensations is what remains.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/08/orbit-1-recitals.html

17. Lewis & Clark. Mountaineer

Marcel Hulst is one of The Netherlands' hidden treasures. His songs are so exquisite that they deserve an audience far beyond the borders of our at best medium sized kingdom. Lewis & Clark, named after two U.S. explorers from the earliest 1800s, contains a multitude of fantastic songs, delicate, beautiful, great harmonies and lovingly arranged.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/01/lewis-clark-mountaineer.html

16. Dropout Boogie. The Black Keys

The Black Keys are back at what they are good at. Boogie. These words suffice.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/dropout-boogie-black-keys.html

15. Solidaritine. Gogol Bordello

After years of silence, including an album I had missed, Gogol Bordello is back with an album that sounds 100% familiar, yet filled with the quality I want to hear when hearing the band. Eugene Hotz and his current band members are on a roll on Solidaritine.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/10/three-albums-gogol-bordello-suede-and.html

14. Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky. Porridge Radio

The surprise is gone, that overwhelming intensity that rolled over me in 2020. That surprise can never be matched, probably. That doesn't make Waterslide etc., a lesser album. Porridge Radio has deepened its music and that pays off.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/05/waterslide-diving-board-ladder-to-sky.html

13. Welcome To KooKoo Island. Cari Cari

The first two lines directly above can be repeated here. Welcome To KooKoo Island is a fun album that shows how inventive a duo can be. It has the songs and the way to play it to stand out.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/09/welcome-to-kookoo-island-cari-cari.html

12. ... And You Will Know Us By The Greatful Dead. Trixsi

Punkrock from Hamburg. Trixsi may not have started 100% serious. And, despite the not so serious album title, comes up with a great punkrock album. Including one of the best songs of 2022, 'Schlangenmann'.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/and-you-will-know-us-by-greatful-dead.html

11. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. Big Thief

Until 2022 I never really knew what to make of Big Thief. Everybody was cheering, not me. Enter the new album with the incredibly long if not ridiculous name. Some already call it Big Thief's 'White Album'. I'm not that far yet, but as you can see, this album made a serious impression on me.

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2022/04/dragon-new-warm-mountain-i-believe-in.html

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