Converge members list their favorite music of 2020
Converge members J. Bannon (vocals) and Nate Newton (bass) have both posted year-end lists to the band’s Facebook.
J writes:
J. Bannon Best of 2020 List.
Listen now via SpotifyHere is some music that connected with me in 2020.
Sweven – The Eternal Resonance
Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
Soul Glo – Songs to Yeet at the Sun
Autechre – SIGN
Caribou – Suddenly
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin kynski
Xibalba – Anos En Infierno
Dropdead – Dropdead 2020
Cadaver – Edder & Bile
Frozen Soul – Crypt Of Ice (Advance tracks)
Ripped to Sheds – Luan
Benediction – Scriptures
Tar Pond – Protocol of Constant Sadness
Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
Esoctrilihum – Eternity of Shaog
Ulcerate – Stare Into Death and Be Still
Mare Cognitum & Spectral Lore – Wanderers…
Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song
The Soft Pink Truth – Shall We Go…
Chromatics – Faded Now
Blunt Razors – Early Aught
Deradoorian – Find the Sun
Dogleg – Melee
After Dark 3 Compilation (Italians Do It Better)
Liturgy – Origin of the Alimonies
Realize – Machine Violence
Nothing – The Great Dismal
Old Man Gloom – Seminar IX: Darkness of Being
Old Man Gloom – Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning
Sumac – May You Be Held
Sumac – Two Beasts
Napalm Death – Throes of Joy…
Kate Tempest – Unholy Elixir
Jesu – Terminus
Health – Disco4
Steve Von Till – No Wilderness Deep Enough
Paradise Lost – Obsidian
My Dying Bride – The Ghost of Orion
My Dying Bride – Macabre Cabaret
Nate wrote:
Hello world, it’s Nate again. Been a little bit since we’ve talked! So uh, 2020….. that was some shit. I don’t know what to say about it. I can only imagine everyone else has felt as beaten down as I have. The hits just kept coming. And coming. And coming. We lost a lot of good people this year who I’ll miss dearly (some in my own family, some good friends) and I know I’m not alone in that. My heart aches for each and everyone one of you dealing with the same right now.
On a lighter note, there wasn’t much else I could do this year but search out and listen to music (and ride my skateboard)… and there was whole a lot of good music. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it because 2020 was the most distance I’ve ever had from music since I started making noise with my friends in my parents’ garage in high school while at the same time there was so much new music that I absolutely fell in love with. Music that I immersed myself in. Music that lifted me up when I was down. I’m grateful for that. Just like every year, this list isn’t a “best of 2020”, these are just records that I enjoyed and found myself revisiting. Some of them more than others. It’s a long list and I know I missed some. I put my own band Old Man Gloom at the top this year because those two records represent healing with my friends after great loss while remembering why we love the ones who are gone. Both records were cathartic for me. I’m thankful that I’m able to make music with people who I love so much. In Converge, Old Man Gloom, Doomriders, and now Cave In. I am truly lucky. I wrote the lyrics to Love Is Bravery in 2019 about finding a way through grief, pain, loss, and depression with my friends. In 2020 it took on a whole new meaning and became sort of a mantra for me. Maybe it can do the same for you.
I wish nothing but joy for us all in 2021. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Don’t be a dick. Find some joy where you can and please… let’s all get through this madness together safely so we can come together and scream our heads off and jump around like idiots again. I don’t think I’ve ever needed that more than I do now. I hope you find some music you dig on this list. As always I want to know what you’re digging on, every year you end up turning me on to stuff I didn’t even know about. Thanks and enjoy!! Happy new year to all of you!
Old Man Gloom – Light Of Meaning
Old Man Gloom – Darkness Of Being
ACDC – Power Up
Dropdead – 2020
Henrik Palm – Poverty Metal
Sumac – May You Be Held and Two Beasts
C.H.E.W. – In Due Time
Angel Bat Dawid and The Brotherhood – Live
Blues Pills – Holy Moly
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Carcass – Despicable
Metz – Atlas Vending
Jaime Wyatt – Neon Cross
Run The Jewels – RTJ4
Dool – Summerlands
Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
Hedvig Mollestad – Ekhidna
African Head Charge – Churchical Chant of the Iyabinghi
Moor Mother & Billy Woods – Brass
Moor Jewelry – True Opera
Moor Mother & Nicole Mitchel – Offering:Live At Le Guess Who
Deafkids and Petbrick – Deafbrick
All Them Witches – Nothing As The Ideal
Necrot – Mortal
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – May Our Chambers Be Full
Chubby And The Gang – Speed Kills
Shiner – Schadenfreude
Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit – Axis/Another Revolvable Thing
Nothing – The Great Dismal
Steve Von Till – No Wilderness Deep Enough
Mrs Piss – Mrs Piss
X – Alphabetland
Amirtha Kidambi & Lea Bertucci – End Of Softness
Goatsnake – Breakfast With The King
Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi
Couch Slut – Take A Chance On Rock And Roll
Doug Carn, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge- Jazz Is Dead 005
Ichiko Aoba – Windswept Adan
House Of Harm – Vicious Pastimes
Gag – Still Laughing
Magic Markers – 2020
Okkultokrati – La Ilden Lyse
Twisted Thing – Sacred Cement
Fu Manchu – FU30
Elder – Omens
Raspberry Bulbs – Before The Age Of Mirros
Six Organs Of Admittance – Companion Rises
Beach Bunny – Honeymoon
Danzig – Sings Elvis
Blind To Faith – Unstoppable War
Nekra – Royal Disruptor
Boris & Merzbow – 2ROI2PO
Rat Cage – Screams From The Cage
Gil Scott Heron & Makaya McCraven – We’re New Again
ETID – A Colossal Wreck ep
Idles – Ultra Mono
Kvelertak – Splid
Oh Sees – Panther Rotate and Protean Threat
Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin Grass vol 1 and 2
Jahari Massamba Unit, Madlib & Karriem Riggins – Pardon My French
LUT – Bangkok Nonstop
Pharaoh Overlord – 6
Touche Amore – Lament
Godthrymm – Reflections
Blunt Razors – Early Aughts
Bonnie Prince Billy & Matt Sweeney – Make Worry For Me
Gillian Welch – Boots No 2 The Lost Songs Vol 1-3
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – All The Good TImes
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – KG
Mr Lif & Stu Bangas – Vangarde
Mustard Gas & Roses – We Are One
Busta Rhymes – ELE 2
Blood From The Soul – DSM 5
Budos Band – Long In The Tooth
Common – A Beautiful Revolution
Pretty Sick – Deep Divine
Dope Body – Crack A Light
Descendents – Suffrage
Keith Jarrett – Budapest Concert
Einstürzende Neubauten – Ten Grand Goldie
Mourn – Self Worth
Soft Kill – Premium Drifter (demo)
Pallbearer – Forgotten Days
Holy Motors – Horse
Annie – Dark Harts
The Damned – The Rockfield Files
Molasses – Through The Hollow
Lana Del Rey – Let Me Love You Like A Woman
Black Thought – Streams Of Thought Vol 3
Seized Up – Brace Yourself
Ashley Campbell – Something Lovely
Public Enemy – What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?
Crippled Black Phoenix – Ellengaest
SG Goodman – Old Time Feeling
Svalbard – When I Die Will I Get Better?
Butcher Brown – #KingButch
Anna Von Hauswolf – All Thoughts Fly
Bob Mould – Blue Hearts
Tyler Childers – Long Violent History
Napalm Death – Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeat
Napalm Death – Logic Ravaged By Brute Force
Soulside – This Ship
PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love Demos
Uniform – Shame
Die Kreuzen – Demos
Katy Perry – Smile
Throwing Muses – Sun Racket
Bill Fisher – Mass Hypnosis And The Dark Triad
Faim – Hollow Hope
Spy – Service Weapon
Bully – Square Egg
Char-Man – Power Of The Night
Guerilla Toss – Human Girl
Duma – Duma
Orville Peck – Show Pony
Primitive Man – Immersion
Kathleen Edwards – Total Freedom
Jaye Jale – Prisyn
Vein – Old Data In a New machine
Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings E&F Sides
Land Of Talk – Indistinct Conversations
Illuinati Hotties – FREE IH
Black Bra – Black Bra
Zombi – 2020
Gosta Berlings Saga – Konkret Music
Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers
Bufo Borealis – Pupilas Horizontals
Worship – Tunnels
Aleah – Aleah
Ambrose Akinmusure – on the tender spot of every calloused moment
Hum – Inlet
Kool Keith & Thetan – Space Goretex
Vampire – Rex
Kirby – Sis
Coriky – Coriky
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo
Lesser Glow – Nullity
Killer Be Killed – Reluctant Hero
Katie Pruitt – Expectations
Umbra Vitae – Shadow Of Life
Hexvessel – Kindred
Bitter Branches – This May Hurt A Bit
Eye Flys – Tub Of Lard
Escuela Grind – Indoctrination
Lucifer – Lucifer 3
Myrkur – Folksange
Come To Grief – Pray For The End
Shabaka And The Ancestors – We Are Here By History
Wire – Mind Hive
Viagra Boys – Common Sense
Internal Rot – Grieving Birth
Dystopian Future Movies – Invoilate
Sightless Pit – Grave Of A Dog
Bib – Deluxe
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Patchouli Blue
Jehnny Beth – To Love Is To Live
Konvent – Puritan Masochism
Caspian – On Circles
Midnight – Rebirth By Blasphemy
GREENMACHiNE – Howl From The Ocean & We Must Die
Gordon Koang – Unity
Taylor Swift – Folklore & Evermorealso
THE FUCKING MANDALORIANEdit: someone made a playlist of this.
As Nate mentioned, his other band Old Man Gloom released two albums in 2020 (which both made J’s list), and J’s new band Umbra Vitae released their debut album (which made Nate’s list).
Listen to both playlists below…
