THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2020

BACKXWASH God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It ( INDEPENDENT)

Although chances are that you may have first heard of Backxwash from the many music critic co-signs, culminating in her Polaris Music Prize win in October, no one deserves credit for the success of God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It but the rapper-producer herself. Across a scant 22 minutes, the Montreal-based, Zambia-born musician manages to pull together a hefty and unlikely range of sounds, influences and moods, coming off compellingly dark and gothic on “Into the Void,” expertly melding a Black Sabbath sample into the album’s potent title track, and sharing the spotlight with a variety of expertly curated guest stars. God Has Nothing to Do with This is a sonically raw, emotionally honest and starkly creative piece of art that completely blows minds, challenges how we think about the art of hip-hop, and — most importantly — stands on its own merit. DANIEL SYLVESTER

FIONA APPLE Fetch the Bolt Cutters ( EPIC)

Coming eight years after mystifying singer-songwriter Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel…, Fetch the Bolt Cutters couldn’t have arrived at a more perfect time. Meticulous and poetic, Apple explores the intimate and explosive moments of womanhood while breaking free of isolating restrictions, cutting her way out by whatever means necessary. With swerving rhythms, galloping pianos and vocals that range from guttural hums to feral rasps and squeaks, the album maintains its splendour while keeping a charmingly unpolished and homemade quality. With each brazen track, Fetch

the Bolt Cutters grounds listeners back to our primal human emotions. JORDAN CURRIE

CARIBOU Suddenly ( MERGE)

Caribou’s Suddenly is a culmination of all of Dan Snaith’s past work — the off-key folktronica of his Manitoba days, looped hip-hop samples like his club-ready Daphni work and dancefloor beats reminiscent of 2010’s Swim and 2014’s Our Love. Suddenly’s abrupt shifts are gleefully stitched together, sweetly brushed with an air of heartache, while vocal samples are masterfully atomized into indecipherable bits and purposely mixed into Caribou’s warm and tidy collages. It all comes together to elicit a potent emotional response based purely on Snaith’s impeccable ability to pair cerebral sonic adventurism with disorienting familiarity. CHRIS GEE

YVES TUMOR Heaven to a Tortured Mind ( WARP)

Change is the only true constant in Yves Tumor’s discography, which sees them trying on mask after mask and creating through different sets of eyes. In Heaven to a Tortured Mind, their fourth full-length release, the many worlds Tumor traverses — from noisy psych rock to ambient R&B — are fused and polished into a brand new persona, resulting in an apocalyptic foray through strange dualities. Tumor seduces the possibilities of contrast: doomsday poetry swallows love songs, musique concrète weaves into raw instrumentals, and even the most grating distortions feel refined. Collisions abound between morbidity and magic, chaos and coordination, reverent lust and disgust. SAFIYA HOPFE

PHOEBE BRIDGERS Punisher ( DEAD OCEANS)

If Phoebe Bridgers’ Stranger in the

Alps was the type of debut that hinted at greatness, Punisher is the kind of follow-up that proves the theory. The 26-year-old is already a master of exposition, description and moodsetting, making poetry that’s imbued with rich details, lived-in memories and an air of mystery. With

Punisher, she has drawn comparisons to Elliott Smith and Joni Mitchell, and for good reason. In just a few years, Phoebe Bridgers has demonstrated that she has the sharp mind, musical instincts and sense of whimsy to eventually join them among the ranks of all-time great singer-songwriters. ADAM FEIBEL

HAIM Women in Music Pt. III ( COLUMBIA)

On Women in Music Pt. III, the HAIM sisters dig into a buffet of sounds and styles on their lengthiest and strongest project so far. Dipping into R&B on “3AM,” country/folk guitars on “Leaning on You” and bluesy horns on “I’ve Been Down,” the album is rich with experimentation. Singles “Now I’m in It,” “The Steps” and “Summer Girl” are some of the strongest songs in the band’s catalogue, and are reflective of the sisters’ ever-evolving passion for crafting a variety of innovative pop-rock hits. SARAH JESSICA RINTJEMA

BOB DYLAN Rough and Rowdy Ways ( COLUMBIA)

Marking his first album of original songs since 2012, Rough and Rowdy

Ways finds Bob Dylan and his band working at full power — blunt yet enigmatic (and funny) lyrics swimming at the surface of positively stirring and hypnotic soundscapes. The sentiments are either plain as day or else shadowy and weird but, in its reflection of American history and his own lives and times, it’s beguiling, forward thinking, and some of his best work. As he has been wont to do for so long, Dylan again teaches us history lessons, as though he is looking back at us over his shoulder, from the future. VISH KHANNA

RUN THE JEWELS RTJ4 ( JEWEL RUNNERS/ BMG)

Released at the height of global protests on racial injustice, RTJ4 might as well fill in for Merriam-Webster’s definition of “zeitgeist.” El-P and Killer Mike capture America’s searing anger and moral crossroads unlike any other album in 2020. In under 40 minutes, Run the Jewels drop atomic truth bombs on everything from the evils of corporate media to the prevalence of police brutality. It is undeniably punchy and raw, leaving the listener emotionally drained: both a healing and a revolution enmeshed. Channelling America’s blunt force trauma, RTJ4 cuts deep and cuts often. Its tragic, prescient lyric “I can’t breathe” lingers long after the last note. DYLAN BARNABE

LIDO PIMIENTA Miss Colombia ( ANTI- / FONTANA NORTH)

Taking a brassy strut down the catwalk, Lido Pimienta intercepted Steve Harvey’s 2015 Miss Universe fumble and ran with it, giving the country she formerly called home a postcolonial pageant. With contributions by Sexteto Tabalá and Bomba Estéreo’s Li Saumet, Afro-Colombian rhythms serve as the album’s heartbeat as Pimienta unpacks colonialism’s residual effects and delivers sermons about self-worth and the importance of second chances. Arriving in a year where we’ve all been forced to reduce our worlds, Miss Colombia’s widescreen vision let Pimienta get lost in a larger sandbox. TOM BEEDHAM

PANTAYO Pantayo ( TELEPHONE EXPLOSION)

Toronto-based kulintang ensemble Pantayo break genre barriers and the fourth dimension on their debut record. Pantayo sounds both ancient and futuristic, blending the distinctive ring of Filipinx gongs with pulsing synths to craft a unique blend of R&B, pop and punk. The album flows freely through percussive explosions and cinematic choruses, unified by a feeling of communal triumph as these self-proclaimed “everyday witches” celebrate the magic of queer camaraderie with the cheeky temerity of international icons. SAM BOER Full disclosure: Pantayo member Kat Estacio is Exclaim! Magazine’s layout editor.