Sound Audits

Hello everyone! We are very glad to have our voices heard once again. This year has been a roller coaster, as I am sure it has been for many of you as well. We have compiled two great lists, one apiece, of our favorite songs that were released this year. I will personally guarantee that there will at least be a handful that you have not heard of which would make an excellent addition to a previously existing playlist that you have curated. It feels that our lives are quickly progressing and adulting has made it difficult, at least for me personally (Tyler), to release episodes frequently as we have done in years past. We hope that 2022 will bring not only new episodes but that episodes we have not released yet but recorded in the past year may see the light of day as well.  As always, we love you big time, stay safe in these trying times. Our little music community is one of the coolest corners on the internet and we're glad that you're a part of it. Happy new year, all!

Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti debuted with a repetitive and catchy flow like contemporaries Lil Uzi Vert and Young Thug, gaining recognition in the mid-2010s as an affiliate of A$AP Mob. A steady succession of viral singles helped Carti's first proper album, 2018's Die Lit, debut at number three on the Billboard charts, and he moved into a new phase of his artistry with the riskier and more aggressive Whole Lotta Red in 2020.

The black metal, blues, and African American fusion of Zeal & Ardor's music is the brainchild of musician Manuel Gagneux. He moved from his native Switzerland to New York, and took up the moniker Zeal & Ardor, having previously released music under the name Bird mask.  After a tumultuous start to the year 2020, Gagneux could not hold his tongue and released the crushing EP titled 'Wake of a Nation'.  This EP and episode are the results of atrocities that were committed earlier in the year 2020. Please consider donating to https://www.joincampaignzero.org/ or your charity of choice. Any and all proceeds from this episode will go directly to this cause. 

Rapper, producer, and poet Aesop Rock has received widespread acclaim and amassed a loyal following for his complex, literate rhymes. Aesop's first solo album in four years, the typically heady Spirit World Field Guide appeared in November. https://soundaudits.com/ Donate 99 cents here! https://anchor.fm/soundaudits . Donations are the only way we are able to sustain the show. We love you all. 

Taylor Swift is that rarest of pop phenomena: a superstar who managed to completely cross over from country to the mainstream. Swift's plans to support Lover with a tour in 2020 were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With some unexpected time on her hands, she wrote and recorded a new set of songs, many in collaboration with Aaron Dessner of the National; Bon Iver and longtime Swift associate Jack Antonoff also contributed. The resulting album, folklore, was released on July 24, 2020, and went straight to the top of the Billboard 200.  Less than five months later, Swift released a companion album to folklore called Evermore. Featuring many of the same collaborators as its predecessor, Evermore debuted at number one upon its December 11, 2020 release.

Dinosaur Jr. was largely responsible for returning the lead guitar to indie rock and, along with their peers the Pixies, they injected late-'80s alternative rock with monumental levels of pure guitar noise. As the group's career progressed, they broke into three distinctive acts: the indie years of the original trio, the '90s spent on major labels where the band was mostly a solo vehicle for J Mascis' songwriting and guitar wizardry, and a surprisingly strong reunion of the original lineup beginning in 2006. Early in 1988 they released the seminal single "Freak Scene," a song that captured the feeling and tone of the emerging American post-punk underground. "Freak Scene" became a college radio hit, and it led the way for their acclaimed 1988 album, Bug. This show runs on your generous donations. Consider supporting two broke college kids at the link below :) https://anchor.fm/soundaudits

This year has been a rollercoaster. We took the time to compile our absolute favorite songs of the year (20 from Tyler and 25 from Ian) and hope that you find some in common and discover something new that you may have missed. We love you all endlessly and thank you for your devotion to listening and supporting us.  Here is to another year in music. - Tyler and Ian

Ariana Grande is perhaps the quintessential pop star of the last half of the 2010s, capturing the era's spirit and style. Grande had duets reach the top of the Billboard charts in early 2020 -- first it was "Stuck with U" with Justin Bieber, then it was "Rain on Me" with Lady Gaga -- before she launched her next album, Positions, with the release of its title track. The single reached number one just before the October 30 release of the album, which crowned the Billboard 200.

With an unconventional pairing of technical rap flows and abrasive noise, experimental trio clipping. approached hip-hop production from largely uncharted territory. Though the group would morph into something new with almost every subsequent release, they held on to their core of experimental and often-confrontational energy on independent cassette releases as well as more widely distributed albums like 2020's Sub Pop-issued Visions of Bodies Being Burned.

Japanese musician Joji laces R&B and hip-hop with textured electronics on his atmospheric meditations for the digital age. As part of the 88Rising crew, he experienced a creative rebirth that rebranded him as a serious artist after years as a popular Internet personality. After issuing his first EP, 2017's lo-fi In Tongues, he hit a chart peak with his gold-certified full-length Ballads 1, home to hit single "Slow Dancing in the Dark." Riding the high of that set's international success, he released his 2020 sophomore effort, Nectar.

One of the most prominent bands to emerge during the late-2000s indie folk boom, Seattle's Fleet Foxes fuse earthy, harmony-rich folk-rock with a sense of lush pop sophistication calling to mind the late-'60s work of acts like the Beach Boys, the Zombies, and Fairport Convention. Following a six-year gap and a switch to Nonesuch, Fleet Foxes returned with the expansive Crack-Up, in 2017. In September 2020, with almost no warning, the band issued their fourth album, Shore, along with a short film.

Delivering lyrics with the speed of a bullet train, Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly experienced a meteoric rise in late 2011 when he transitioned from grinding out self-released mixtapes to working with major labels. From there, the rapper skyrocketed to superstar status, with each of his albums charting in the Top Ten. A beef with Eminem, a film career, and even some reality show appearances would follow as the high-powered lyrical rap style of albums like 2019's Hotel Diablo morphed into a driving emo-rock sound on collaborations with Travis Barker and on the Barker-produced 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall, which topped the Billboard 200.

English singer/songwriter and guitarist Lianne La Havas arrived in the early 2010s with a mostly acoustic and hushed hybrid of alternative folk and soul. Influenced by the likes of Lauryn Hill and Nina Simone, she found success with the release of her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, which reached number five in the U.K. and earned her a nomination for the BBC Sound of 2012 poll. 

Taylor Swift is that rarest of pop phenomena: a superstar who managed to completely cross over from country to the mainstream.  Swift's plans to support Lover with a tour in 2020 were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With some unexpected time on her hands, she wrote and recorded a new set of songs, many in collaboration with Aaron Dessner of The National; Bon Iver and longtime Swift associate Jack Antonoff also contributed. The resulting album, folklore, was released on July 24, 2020, and went straight to the top of the Billboard 200.

The stylistically dynamic and voluble Logic launched his rap career through uploads and mixtapes prior to signing a Def Jam deal that fostered a sustained mainstream presence throughout the second half of the 2010s. The MC, singer, songwriter, and producer made his recording debut in 2009 and five years later hit the Top Five with his debut album, Under Pressure (2014), the first of several conceptual full-length projects to enter the Billboard 200 and rap charts within the upper reaches.  In July of 2020, Logic announced that his sixth album, No Pressure, would mark his retirement from music. The album was released a few weeks after this announcement.

Fiona Apple never quite belonged to a specific scene. The closest she came was at the dawn of her career when her debut album Tidal arrived as the alternative rock wave reached its crest in 1996. Upon its release in 1999, When the Pawn drew attention for its emotional intensity, unconventional arrangements, and eccentric flair, elements that were central to her appeal in the next decades when she worked steadily and rigorously. As her output slowed -- it took her six years to deliver her third album, Extraordinary Machine, and another seven for its sequel, The Idler Wheel, to appear -- her reputation as a daring artist grew. The Idler Wheel and its 2020 successor Fetch the Bolt Cutters confirmed Apple took aural risks without abandoning her strengths as a singer/songwriter, a combination that helped her maintain a devoted cult following.

A Los Angeles-based vocalist, producer, and sketch comedian, Oliver Tree brings a colorful, scooter-loving persona to his indie pop- and hip-hop-informed dance music.

What started as a one-off project and quickly evolved into a Grammy-nominated hip-hop super duo, Run the Jewels features the talents of Brooklyn rapper/producer El-P and Atlanta emcee Killer Mike. Atop hard-hitting beats and ominous production, the pair trade aggressive and often wryly comical rhymes, touching upon social issues, life and death, and a heavy dose of chest-thumping bragging. With a new decade came a new RTJ era. Run the Jewels 4 arrived in June 2020 amid a global pandemic (which postponed a world tour with Rage Against the Machine) and a nationwide movement in the U.S. protesting police brutality. RTJ4 featured guests Greg Nice, DJ Premier, 2 Chainz, Pharrell Williams, Mavis Staples, Josh Homme, and another de la Rocha collaboration.

Nicolas Jaar is one of the least predictable and most experimental dance music producers of the late 2000s and 2010s, composing reflective downtempo numbers indebted to jazz and modern classical as well as minimal techno. In 2016, Jaar released his second proper solo album, Sirens. 2012-2017, a surprise release of dancefloor-oriented material recorded under Jaar's pseudonym A.A.L. (Against All Logic), appeared in 2018. R&S reissued the Nymphs series as a triple-LP in early 2019. 2020 proved to be a prolific year for Jaar with the releases of 2017-2019 -- under his A.A.L. (Against All Logic) alias -- Cenizas, and Telas.

Los Angeles singer/songwriter Moses Sumney first emerged in 2014, combining rich soul balladry with art-pop, folk, and ambient R&B. The San Bernardino native began playing out in his early twenties, quickly crafting a distinctive style that he augmented in the studio with lush multi-tracked vocal arrangements. In September 2017, he delivered his debut full-length, Aromanticism, an artfully crafted meditation on lovelessness and solitude. The following year, an EP was released featuring different versions of his Aromanticism track "Make Out in My Car," as remixed by Sufjan Stevens and James Blake and covered by Alex Isley. Another EP, Black in Deep Red, 2014, was also released in 2018. The musician returned in May 2020 with his second set, Græ. An experimental, sprawling double-album, Sumney's sophomore set reflected on his multiplicity and complex sense of self.