First Floor's Favorite Releases of 2020

a.k.a. The releases that made an awful year slightly less awful.

Dec 22, 2020

Hello there. I’m Shawn Reynaldo, and welcome to First Floor, a weekly electronic music digest that includes news, my favorite new tracks and some of my thoughts on the issues affecting the larger scene / industry that surrounds the music. This list is part of a special, paid subscriber-only edition of the newsletter that went out on Tuesday, December 22.

As mentioned in today’s original First Floor mailout, below is a list of my favorite releases from 2020. (A similarly subjective list of my favorite tracks of the year can be found here.) Just FYI, nothing has been ranked, but don’t be dissuaded by the large number of items—the releases with a similar sound / style / vibe have been grouped together, which will hopefully make navigating the list a bit easier.

Also, in the interest of keeping things from becoming too repetitive, please take note that there is no overlap between my separate lists of favorite tracks and favorite releases. (Of course, many of the releases I’ve selected do have individual tracks that are excellent and well worth your time, and they’ve been highlighted here as suggested starting points.)

While scrolling through the selections, click on any release or song title to hear that item individually, or you can also just head over to this convenient Buy Music Club list, where I’ve compiled all of the releases in one place.

If you have any questions, do feel free to drop me a line. Otherwise, dig in and enjoy. There’s a whole lot to explore.

AVANT POP

Like a lot of people this year, I frequently found solace in music that had little or nothing to do with the club, and many of my favorite releases fell into the nebulous region between experimental / ambient electronic and avant-garde pop music. (To be clear, I’m using “pop” in the absolute loosest sense of the word.) I toyed with the idea of calling this section “records that could be described as sounding like Grouper,” but that felt a little too reductionist. Still, the selections do tend to share a certain moody ambiance, not to mention an affinity for reverb and processed vocal manipulations. Some are haunting, some are uplifting and some are borderline religious, but they’re all dripping with emotion, which is likely why these records are the ones I often listened to the most in 2020.

The Soft Pink Truth: Shall We Go on Sinning So That Grace May Increase? (Thrill Jockey)

Start with: “We”

Lucrecia Dalt: No Era Sólida (RVNG Intl.)

Start with: “Revuelta”

Nailah Hunter: Spells (Leaving)

Start with: “White Flower, Dark Hill”

Il Quadro di Troisi: Il Quadro di Troisi (Raster)

Start with: “Non Ricordi”

Penelope Trappes: Eel Drip (Houndstooth)

Start with “Eel Drip”

Ekin Fil: Coda (Helen Scarsdale Agency)

Start with: “Dew-Drops”

Laila Sakini: Vivienne (Total Stasis)

Start with: “Butterflies”

Sign Libra: Sea to Sea (RVNG Intl.)

Start with: “Sea of Nectar”

Heathered Pearls: Cast (Ghostly International)

Start with: “Muscle/Maintain/Feen (feat. Danny Scales)”

MORE AMBIENT-ISH STUFF

I actually considered merging this section with the section above, simply because the aesthetic honestly isn’t all that different. Just like those records, nothing listed here would really qualify as dance music, but there is one key factor separating these selections—vocals don’t really play a major part in this music. Of course, you are still going to hear the occasional voice here and there, but it’s much more likely to be sampled, and it’s not going to be the record’s primary engine or focal point. (Admittedly, I’m probably splitting hairs, but I also wanted to avoid having one giant ambient section with 40 different releases in it.) In terms of vibe, there’s a lot of variety in these records—brightly cinematic sounds, airy field recordings and smudged layers of reverb are all represented, and while some efforts are bursting with colorful bombast, others are mired in tortured introspection. Yet despite their differences, they are all transportive, and in 2020, all of us needed a little escape from time to time.

Space Afrika: hybtwibt? (Self-released)

Start with: “Oh Baby”

Mary Lattimore: Silver Ladders (Ghostly International)

Start with: “Sometimes He’s in My Dreams”

Night Sea: Still (Silent Season)

Start with: “Cherry”

Clarice Jensen: The Experience of Repetition As Death (130701)

Start with: “Holy Mother”

Oliver Coates: skins n slime (RVNG Intl.)

Start with: “Butoh Baby,” “Honey”

Richard Skelton: These Charms May Be Sung Over a Wound (Phantom Limb)

Start with: “For the Application of Fire”

Perila: META DOOR L (Paralaxe Editions)

Start with: “mag cent re”

Rafael Anton Irisarri: Peripeteia (Dais)

Start with: “Arduous Clarity”

KMRU Peel (Editions Mego)

Start with: “Why Are You Here”

Green-House: Songs for Invisible Gardens (Leaving)

Start with: “Perennial Bloom”

Khotin: Finds You Well (Ghostly International)

Start with: “Ivory Tower”

Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini: Illusion of Time (Mute / Phantasy Sound)

Start with “Illusion of Time”

Nathan Micay: Industry OST (LuckyMe)

Start with: “Industry”

Nathan Micay: The World I’m Going to Hell For (LuckyMe)

Start with: “Who Shaves the Barber”

Pontiac Streator: Triz (Motion Ward)

Start with: “Trizlang Gem (feat. Ulla)”

Kevin Richard Martin: Sedatives (Self-released)

Start with: “Airborne”

Goldmund: The Time It Takes (Western Vinyl)

Start with: “Day In, Day Out”

Helios: Domicile (Ghostly International)

Start with: “Penumbra”

Dream_E: Dreams on 22 (Pace Yourself)

Start with: “DreamTwo”

Dylan Henner: The Invention of the Human (AD 93)

Start with: “Little Frogs Swam By Every Now and Then”

Quiet Places: Volume 1 (A Strangely Isolated Place)

Start with: “Track 6”

Merrin Karras: Northwest Passage (A Strangely Isolated Place)

Start with: “Meridian”

Mike Slott: Vignettes (LuckyMe)

Start with: “Letting Go”

Waclaw Zimpel: Massive Oscillations (Ongehoord)

Start with: “Release”

Ulla: Tumbling Towards a Wall (Experiences Ltd.)

Start with: “Stunned Suddenly”

Molero: Ficciones del Trópico (Holuzam)

Start with: “Jaguar Capybaras”

Emily A. Sprague: Hill, Flower, Fog (RVNG Intl.)

Start with: “Horizon”

BARELY ELECTRONIC MUSIC

For more than a decade now, my musical interests have been almost entirely focused on various strains of electronic music, but I can’t deny that “indie” was once a very big part of my life. And while I still manage to steer clear of most new guitar bands, occasionally I will check out artists who might be best described as “electronic adjacent.” The records here all have electronic elements, but the music is rooted in more traditional song structures (with vocals), and is likely more influenced by new wave, post punk or even psychedelic rock than Detroit techno, UK bass or any other of my most frequent reference points. That said, these releases are all great—maybe it’s just my indie nostalgia talking, but I can’t deny the joy of actually singing along with a new record every once in a while.

Deradoorian: Find the Sun (ANTI-)

Start with: “It Was Me”

Kate NV: Room for the Moon (RVNG Intl.)

Start with: “Plans”

White Poppy: Paradise Gardens (Not Not Fun)

Start with: “Broken”

Cold Beat: Mother (DFA)

Start with: “Flat Earth”

INSPIRED BY THE CLUB, BUT NOT NECESSARILY FOR THE CLUB

Back in the ’90s, many of these releases would have likely been labeled as IDM (“intelligent dance music”), but given the problematic nature of that term, these records now defy easy description. They’re laid back, but they’re not really ambient. They reference dance music, but they haven’t been created with the dancefloor (or DJ functionality) in mind. Nowadays, they often get lumped into the nebulous “bass music” category, but these aren’t screwface anthems. In truth, they don’t really “belong” anywhere, but their intricate construction and blurred genre lines make them endlessly compelling all the same. (And yes, this stuff is catnip for music journalists.)

Beatrice Dillon: Workaround (PAN)

Start with: “Clouds Strum”

K-Lone: Cape Cira (Wisdom Teeth)

Start with: “In the Pines”

Actress: Karma & Desire (Ninja Tune)

Start with: “Angels Pharmacy (feat. Zsela)”

Minor Science: Second Language (Whities)

Start with: “Gone Rouge”

DJ Python: Mas Amable (Incienso)

Start with: “ADMSDP (feat. LA Warman)”

Jay Glass Dubs: Soma (Berceuse Heroique)

Start with: “Now Set Up”

FRKTL: Excision After Love Collapses (Self-released)

Start with: “Fire Upon the Deep”

upsammy: Zoom (Dekmantel)

Start with: “Twisted Like a Flame”

Alloy Sea: Petrichor (Syn Syn)

Start with: “Petrichor Part One”

Perko: The City Rings (Numbers)

Start with: “Stutter”

BIG AND BRIGHT

With dancefloors shuttered around the globe, it’s easy to wonder what exactly is the point of dance music. Even for diehard fans, it’s sometimes been difficult to fully enjoy genres like house and techno, simply because their intended context has been snatched away. Memories and imagination can help fill the gaps, but there’s definitely a difference between thinking something is a “banger” and actually experiencing how it sounds on a massive soundsystem. As such, 2020 undoubtedly had fewer “big tunes” than usual, and listeners living through lockdown often drifted towards headier material, but for those who were still in search of bright and bouncy dance music, the year still had plenty of choice offerings. If you’ve found yourself longing for gleaming synths, neon Italo flourishes, piano vamps, rave euphoria, trancey grandeur or good old-fashioned fun, then these selections are for you. They may have been designed for the big room, but even in the living room, they still sound potent.

India Jordan: For You (Local Action)

Start with: “For You,”“I’m Waiting (Just 4 U)”

Sofia Kourtesis: Sarita Colonia EP (Studio Barnhus)

Start with: “Akariku”

Marlon Hoffstadt: Planet Love (Midnight Themes)

Start with: “Mantra of a New Life”

Adelphi Music Factory: Joy & Fantasy EP (Shall Not Fade)

Start with: “Area 39”

Elijah: Augmented (Contagion Discs)

Start with: “Augmented (Ascendent Mix)”

Various Artists: HOA010 (Haus of Altr)

Start with: AceMo “Heaven (2020 Mix),”Amal “Psychopass”

GROOVERS

When you’re stuck at home for months on end, sometimes the songs that speak to you the most are the ones whose vibe is a bit more subdued. For the most part, the following selections could all be described as house music, but they largely turn down the volume, prioritizing hazy atmospheres, dusty rhythms and funky, late-night grooves over brightly colored escapism. Some are upbeat and others are more contemplative, but either way, they all have a definite sense of soul. In a “normal” year, these are the records you’d hope the DJ would reach for when they party is either gently warming up or cooly winding down. In 2020, however, they’re probably best suited for an afternoon listening session when you want to hear something relaxing, but need something with a bit more bounce than the average ambient record can provide.

Fennec: Free Us of This Feeling (Self-released)

Start with: “So Far Now,”“Frontier Identity”

Moodymann: Taken Away (KDJ)

Start with: “Taken Away,”“Do Wrong”

Jupiter Jax: Dee-Life Mix (100% Silk)

Start with: The whole thing, it’s a single, 42-minute-long faux “mix”

Josey Rebelle: Josey in Space (Beats in Space)

Start with: The whole thing, it’s a mix compilation

Joey Anderson: Rainbow Doll (Avenue 66)

Start with: “Heaven Help Us,”“Cindy”

BASS MUTATIONS

People have been saying “bass music” for more than a decade now, so it appears that we’re stuck with the term, no matter how vague and unsatisfying it may be. That said, 2020 was rife with bassy innovations, as artists were more determined than ever to slice up the hardcore continuum and sew it back together again in wild new ways. Dubstep, jungle, drum & bass, dub, grime, hardcore, gqom—there are bits of all of those sounds here (often with some techno elements thrown into the mix), and while the pandemic-induced absence of large-scale soundsystems meant that we couldn’t experience these records’ full, gut-rumbling fury, the music is creative enough to be compelling in just about any setting.

Andrea: Ritorno (Ilian Tape)

Start with: “TrackQY”

Al Wootton: Witness (TRULE)

Start with: “Starlite Xpress”

Hodge: Shadows in Blue (Houndstooth)

Start with: “Shadows in Blue”

Zora Jones: Ten Billion Angels (Fractal Fantasy)

Start with: “Melancholy Princess,” “Low Orbit Ion Cannon”

Sully: Swandive (Astrophonica)

Start with: “Swandive”

Scratchclart: DRMTRK X (DRMTRK)

Start with: “Ammo (feat. Citizen Boy)”

Pugilist: Horizon (Nous’klaer)

Start with: “Shimmer”

Ploy: Unlit Signals (L.I.E.S.)

Start with: “Clubtek”

FROM THE VAULTS

Although this list is primarily focused on highlighting new music that emerged during the past year, I did want to shine a little light on a few of 2020’s reissues. Stylistically, these records are all over the map, with different releases touching upon raucous jungle, ambient serenity and numerous points in between, but irrespective of their individual tempo or genre, they all offer a tantalizing portal into electronic music’s past. (And by the past, I mostly mean the ’90s.)

Otherwise, if you’d like to check out First Floor’s favorite tracks of 2020, that list is here.