Kevin Curtin's Top 100 Austin Albums of 2020
COVID couldn’t stop hundreds of Austin releases
By Kevin Curtin, Fri., Dec. 18, 2020
No tours, no festivals, few concerts, music retailers operating at minimum capacity, and yet ... several hundred albums emerged from Austin artists in 2020. One of COVID-19's undisputed truths is that art matters – on both sides of the fence: maker and consumer. Here roll my 100 favorite full-lengths, EPs, SoundCloud mixes, and even a conceptual visual LP – but strictly no singles – that came out locally over the last 12 months.
1) David Ramirez, My Love Is a Hurricane (Sweetworld/Thirty Tigers)
2) Seth Gibbs, We Are All Connected
3) Botany, End the Summertime F(or)ever (Western Vinyl)
4) Deezie Brown & EC Mayne, Candy Blue Like Screw (5th Wheel Fairytale)
5) Caroline Rose, Superstar (New West)
6) Sweet Spirit, Trinidad (Merge)
7) Bill Callahan, Gold Record (Drag City)
8) Skeleton (20 Buck Spin)
9) RG Lowe, Life of the Body (Western Vinyl)
10) Mobley & various artists, A Home Unfamiliar
11) Eternal Champion, Ravening Iron (No Remorse)
12) Malik, Spectrum (Artium)
13) Spirit Adrift, Enlightened in Eternity (20 Buck Spin)
14) Ley Line, We Saw Blue
15) White Denim, World as a Waiting Room (Radio Milk)
16) Jake Lloyd, Lloyd Pack (Kicks & Khords)
17) Wilson Marks, True Beauty Is in the Random (Furry Chords)
18) .dani, 19
19) Why Bonnie, Voice Box (Fat Possum)
20) BoomBaptist, Boom Shakalaka ((iN)Sect)
21) Jonathan Terrell, Westward
22) Gina Chavez, La Que Manda
23) Drakulas, Terminal Amusements (Dine Alone)
24) Alex Maas, Luca (Innovative Leisure)
25) ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, X: The Godless Void and Other Stories (Dine Alone)
26) JaRon Marshall, The Black Power Tape (Cascade)
27) Exhalants, Atonement (Hex)
28) Jay Wile, Better Times
29) Kay Odyssey, Knock Out! (Pecan Crazy)
30) Churchwood, Plenty Wrong to Go Awry (Saustex)
31) Star Parks, The New Sounds of Late Capitalism (Modern Outsider)
32) Monte Warden & the Dangerous Few (Break a Leg)
33) Will Johnson, El Capitán (Keeled Scales)
34) Click-Clack, Songs I Don't Hate (Ballteam)
35) We Are the Asteroid, WATA Wonderful World (Bad Rope)
36) Nevil, Having Fun for Once
37) Shakey Graves, Look Alive
38) Tender Things, How You Make a Fool (Spaceflight)
39) Royal Forest, Waiting Drum (King Electric)
40) Jana Horn, Optimism
41) Night Glitter (Nine Mile)
42) Bird Peterson, I Am What You Am I Am
43) Tia Carrera, Tried and True (Small Stone)
44) Dallas Acid, Bubble Club Vol. 1 (Odeon Broadcasting)
45) PR Newman, Private Lives
46) Scott H. Biram, Fever Dreams (Bloodshot)
47) Saliyah, Sanctification (Growth in Decay)
48) Devin James Fry & Sari Andoni, Radicans (Old Faithful)
49) Charley Crockett, Welcome to Hard Times (Son of Davy/Thirty Tigers)
50) Holy Wave, Interloper (Reverberation Appreciation Society)
51) Jackie Venson, Vintage Machine
52) Wood & Wire, No Matter Where It Goes From Here (Blue Corn Music)
53) Greyhounds, Primates (Nine Mile)
54) Ringo Deathstarr (Reverberation Appreciation Society)
55) Israel Nash, Topaz (Desert Folklore/Soundly)
56) Pocket Sounds, The Way Home (Mr. Pink)
57) McPullish, Lone Wolf McDub (Charlie's)
58) Black Vice, The Alchemist's Vision (Crown and Throne Ltd.)
59) A. Sinclair, In the Middle of the Night (Nine Mile)
60) Nemegata, Hycha Wy (Sonorama Discos)
61) Aaron Parks, Parks & Wreck
62) Lord Buffalo, Tohu Wa Bohu (Blues Funeral)
63) The Teeta, Quarantine (Netherfriends)
64) Ryan Sambol & the Interstate Group, Rail Sing
65) Jonas Wilson, Science Fiction Post Blues (Mr. Pink)
66) Future Museums, Damo's Dream (Aural Canyon)
67) Chucky Blk, A Scathing Critique of Current Affairs
68) Glasshealer, Cranberry Stream
69) Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol, Burger Babes ... From Outer Space
70) Cactus Lee, Tarantula (709)
71) Flobama, Warp Mode ((iN)Sect)
72) Ruthie Foster, Live at the Paramount (Blue Corn)
73) Dewey Ivy, Water Tower (Mr. Pink)
74) Michael C. Sharp, Trip Further (Aural Canyon)
75) Clarence James, Fucked Me Up
76) Daniel Fears, Canopy (Locknkey)
77) Ben Buck, Kilroy
78) The Midgetmen, It Is Now Recursive
79) Krista Van Liew, Born
80) Black Mercy, For the Man That Has Everything ((iN)Sect)
81) Chief Cleopatra
82) The Boomswagglers, Heartbreaking Places in My Mind (Hillgrass Bluebilly)
83) Sex Pümp
84) Hey Cowboy!, Get in My Fanny Pack and Let's Go
85) Starving Wolves, True Fire
86) Stiletto Feels, Push Back (GTZ)
87) New Druids, Making Love to Make Music to Make Love To (Mr. Pink)
88) KindKeith, Phone
89) The Bright Light Social Hour, Jude Vol. II
90) Sailor Poon, Sailor Poon's First Album
91) Nayome, Personal
92) Cold Jackets, Affairs of the Heart (Mr. Pink)
93) US Weekly, Peace Network
94) Jesse Dayton, Gulf Coast Sessions (Blue Élan)
95) Billy King & the Bad Bad Bad, Stealing Your Potential
96) Njune, I Hope You're Happy
97) Pelvis Wrestley, Vortexas Vorever (Austin Town Hall)
98) Strahan & the Good Neighbors, Sadie (Blood Chili)
99) The Sideshow Tragedy, After the Fall (Spaceflight)
100) Sheverb, Once Upon a Time in Bombay Beach
