ALBUMS OF 2020: LABYRINTH RECORDS | FEATURE
Tom Morgan, founder of this vinyl emporium which opened in the summer and forms part of the equally new Goodsheds development in Barry, waxes lyrical about his top 10 long players to have dropped this year.
Inner Song (Smalltown Supersound)
The best release by a Welsh artist in 2020, Kelly Lee Owens’ Inner Song is a joyful, captivating slice of transcendent electronica. By turns both cerebral but fun, cosmic but earthy as well as bold but accessible, like all of the best art, Inner Song is an album that gives back whatever you want to get out of it. Most remarkable is how Owens [above] manages to turn the loops and arpeggios of her pristine techno into something almost meditative, in service of an album that gradually reveals itself as a work of great healing and depth.
May You Be Held (Thrill Jockey)
A true monolith of an album, Sumac’s May You Be Held is the sound of pure, emotional catharsis. Its tangible sense of musical freedom makes it a strong contender for best metal release of the year, one not for the closed-minded or faint of heart, yet one that contains real rewards for those willing to dive into its intimidating slab of experimental sludge metal. Featuring complex song structures, interlocking musical virtuosity, and sections of free jazz-inspired noise, May You Be Held is a thorny, difficult masterwork by an immensely skilled band.
All The Time (Hyperdub)
In a year of darkness, Jessy Lanza’s All The Time provided us with a day-glo vision of the future. Contrasting familiar pop songwriting tropes with an eclectic, bold production style, the album was filled to the brim with music that was both artistically singular and effortlessly accessible. Released on the ever-reliable Hyperdub label, All The Time is a forward-thinking work of deceptive depth, one that further cements the idiosyncratic Canadian’s reputation as an electronica auteur to be reckoned with.
Atlas Vending (Sub Pop)
Metz are something special. Atlas Vending is their fourth album of punk and grunge-influenced noiserock, one that sees the band operating at the peak of their incendiary powers. Everything about it works, from the more eclectic, dissonant tracks to the three engrossing lead singles that feature bursts and stabs of confident melody. Here Metz display all of the idiosyncratic, confrontational and stellar songwriting that solidifies their position as a modern treasure, the sound of decades worth of alternative rock influences colliding together in a ferocious display of the power of band-driven rock music.
Dark Matter (Exodus)
The UK’s jazz scene is firing right now. 2020 saw excellent releases from, among others, Nubya Garcia, Oscar Jerome, Emma-Jean Thackray and Kamaal Williams (more on whom later), all of which succeeded in stretching this old genre into new and unexpected shapes. Moses Boyd’s Dark Matter was an especially strong highlight of the bunch, fusing hip-hop, dance and afrobeat to the prodigious drummer’s sinuous jazz rhythms. All of this combined with a strong undercurrent of social and political awareness made Dark Matter an endlessly fascinating cut of urgently contemporary jazz.
Ohms (Reprise)
Though perhaps not Deftones’ finest hour, Ohms is still a wonderful addition to the back catalogue of one of the greatest metal bands of the last few decades. More straightforward and direct than much of the Sacramento group’s recent oeuvre, Ohms is a work of muscular, riff-driven songcraft that plays intuitively to each members’ strengths. There’s something refreshing about hearing Deftones [above] strip down their sound, almost always opting for a less-is-more approach where they would have once chosen excess.
Visions Of Bodies Being Burned (Sub Pop)
In a year where society seemed to plunge to new levels of dystopian misery, clipping. were there to pick up the pieces and reshape them into a hallowed, fractured mirror. An auditory assault of fearless ambition, Visions Of Bodies Being Burned saw the productive L.A. trio plumb new depths of noise-fuelled industrial hip-hop, filtering the anger of contemporary America through a lens of uncanny, visceral horror. From Daveed Diggs’ virtuoso flow to William Huston and Jonathan Snipes’ harrowing production, Visions Of Bodies Being Burned plays out like the finest of horror films; punishing, captivating and deeply troubling.
Internal Incarceration (Pure Noise)
The essential hardcore punk release of 2020, Internal Incarceration is a kinetic and brutal work of heaviness, in both the musical and thematic sense. Combining breakneck tempos and death metal-inspired riffing with Year Of The Knife’s thoughtful musings on the myriad ills of addiction, Internal Incarceration is so throat-grabbingly intense you can practically feel its hot breath across your face. Those willing to subject themselves to its righteous fury will discover a work of deep humanism, one fuelled by great understanding and empathy, as well as anguish and despair.
Wu Hen (Black Focus)
One of the most purely ‘fun’ albums of 2020, Kamaal Williams’ Wu Hen is a wonderful encapsulation of contemporary UK jazz. With little time for noodling or jamming, Wu Hen is a remarkably focused and linear work of funky electronica that shares as much DNA with house music and modern hip-hop as it does with the iconic greats of jazz. Not only is it great entertainment for those already steeped in the previously-mentioned genres, for the uninitiated, Wu Hen also serves as an excellent introduction into these colourful worlds.
I Let It In And It Took Everything (SharpTone)
Loathe are the next great act in UK rock and metal. A staggeringly confident sophomore release, it’ll be used as their personal benchmark and, in time, held up as a classic of its era. Shifting from ruthlessly heavy to textured and emotional, the tonal register of I Let It In And It Tooks Everything is vast and rich, yet not a moment feels misplaced or tacked on. They’re immensely talented, and seem to have just about everything in their locker. This was the moment for Loathe to prove that the hype surrounding them had substance, and they stepped up to the plate and smashed it out of the park.
Labyrinth Records, The Goodsheds, Barry. Info: www.labyrinthrecords.co.uk / [email protected]
words TOM MORGAN photos KIM HIORTHØY (Kelly Lee Owens) / TAMAR LEVINE (Deftones)
