The 2020 Ho Media Awards
Honestly I expected more of 2020. I thought that a year when everyone is expected to stay home would see a whole host of projects released for consumption by all of those bored, quarantined consumers, whether it was a music album or a book or anything else. I heard a variety of reasons tossed around as to why it didn't happen that way, although they didn't all hold water.
So in large part, it meant I continued working hard on the TBR pile of books in SF/F and assessing the music collection where it stands. I was able to purge quite a few of the 62 books I was able to finish this year, but the CDs are about as trimmed as they can get. The reading focus moves to general fiction and the philosophy/theology bookcase this year. Though those collections are smaller, there are books that have been there since college that I've meant to read but just haven't bothered with yet. The rule here is the same - every book I don't need to take across the country to the next house makes the trip that much easier, so I need to set set goals, be honest with myself about what I will or won't be willing to attempt, and trim the shelves where possible.
How did everything fare? Read on.
Music first, as usual. Four categories this year.
Outstanding:
After 11 years, most people would be forgiven for thinking a band has no chance of being as good as they were a decade ago. That who those band members were over a decade ago are so far removed from who they are now that they may as well call themselves something entirely different. I was definitely one of those who didn't expect much from Doves' 5th full length album. LP4 was like a playlist made by someone else that just doesn't hang together very well to you for reasons you just can't figure out. There were good songs, to be sure - that year, "10:03" was the best song I'd heard. But for the most part the songs were hindered rather than helped by their fellow album-mates.
They made a substantial improvement here. "I Will Not Hide" sits in a bit of a weird place, but otherwise the flow is pretty solid. It doesn't just rely on a couple of banging tracks to carry the whole thing either. More than half of these are undoubtedly going to stand the test of time as some of the best songs they've written. I'm looking in particular at "For Tomorrow," one that would have carried the year almost any other year. What a perfect throwback sound with Rebelski working the keys and everything.
Technically a very late 2019 release, this one pushes all the right buttons for 2020. It's almost painful that way. Loads of brass, groovy beats, and lyrics that cut deep enough to bleed, this is the Album of the Year. And "All I Ever Knew Was Wrong" is a slam dunk for Song of the Year.
Good:
Impossible Weight by Deep Sea Diver
This is an album with a great first half and a second half that goes a bit off the rails. I wish that wasn't true because that first half is really good.
Pick Me Up Off The Floor by Norah Jones
This just needed two more tracks with a bit more kick to be really, really good. Still sits in the same vein as "Day Breaks," which is to say it's more of her original sound. Just a bit on the slow side.
folklore by Taylor Swift
I am just as surprised as you to find Taylor Swift on this list. If only it wasn't tainted by "Betty." Still, if you're going to get it, make sure you get the version with the bonus track "the lakes."
The soft ache and the moon by Richard Edwards and The Velvet Ocean
Sitting in the same mellow groove as Norah's album, it's still pretty damn good. One more upbeat track toward the end would have helped. It's a step up from "Verdugo" anyway.
Almost:
A Blemish in the Great Light by Half Moon Run
Another entry in the list of "great Side A, meh Side B" albums, this was disappointing since their second album was so, so good.
Shore by Fleet Foxes
I really haven't figured this one out yet. It's certainly more accessible and more palatable than "Crack-Up." But it's definitely long and starting with a song sung entirely by a guest vocalist is an off-putting choice. It's a mood from start to finish, which is nice, but it limits its usefulness to that narrow emotional band. I need more time with it, to be honest.
10 Songs by Travis
It's a Travis album. It's...just kind of there.
JFC:
Imploding the Mirage by The Killers
Everyone's going on about the second coming of The Killers and I'm just not hearing it. It's "Battle Born" all over again. No desire to even pick this up used.
Through a Dark Wood by Sea Wolf
This is the most disappointing thing I heard this year by far. How an album could fail so hard after such a phenomenal album like Cedarsmoke is beyond me. He quoted a lot of life changes and scrapped sessions between then and now in run-up interviews to its release, so maybe it's the other side of the Doves coin I mentioned up above. Sometimes, you come back after a long break and nail it. Sometimes, you pull a Sea Wolf.
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Despite the time off, I didn't really find a lot of new sounds to follow. Fort Frances showed up on my radar in 2019 on a streaming playlist somewhere or another with a track off of their 2016 album "Alio." Another track hit me early this year and I decided to look them up. Found out about the TFPOTMA release and streamed it and "Alio" both until I felt guilty that they were getting fractions of a penny off my streams and picked them up to keep. On that note, Bandcamp gets the tip for Website of the Year for their Bandcamp Fridays promotion that gives more back to artists and keeps less for themselves, which has been a real difference maker for bands who are unable to make their touring dollars this year.
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Piranisi was a short, quirky, delightful return from Susanna Clarke and I'm looking forward to the next one she has coming out in a year or two. The Last Druid was an ending to the Shannara books that I am still of two minds about. The Starless Sea was better than a lot of people gave it credit for, although the ending got a bit hand wavy.
The biggest letdown was probably Ian Tregillis' Alchemy Wars books. I eventually got through the first, but I just couldn't bring myself to make it to the 100 page mark in the second. After his Milkweed Triptych books, I didn't think he could fail. The failure was mine!
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Movies didn't exist. Dune, this was supposed to be your year!
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Surely 2021 can only get better...right?
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