The 10 Best Indie Rock Albums of 2020
Whether influenced by 1970s folk and soft rock, 1980s post-punk, 1990s alternative and grunge music, or indie rock from the 2000s, guitars are all over this list.
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The 10 Best Indie Pop Albums of 2020
The best indie-pop in 2020 privileged self-questioning and human connections over showy declarations of greatness. Small music with a big impact.
The 10 Best Progressive Rock/Metal Albums of 2020
Rather than succumb to the difficulties of our era, many progressive creators doubled down on their artistry to produce some of their best work and tighten their relationships with their admirers.
The 10 Best World Music Albums of 2020
The 10 best world music albums of 2020 remind us that we are all part of the same global system, an understanding that we can imbue with endless possible meanings as, like the musicians named here, we find new ways to build connections.
The 90 Best Songs of 2015
Travel back five years ago when the release calendar was rife with fabulous songs. 2015 offered such an embarrassment of musical riches, that we selected 90 songs as best of the year.
The 80 Best Albums of 2015
Travel back five years ago when the release calendar was rife with stellar albums. 2015 offered such an embarrassment of musical riches, that we selected 80 albums as best of the year.
The 20 Best Electronic Albums of 2015
Electronic music is one of the broadest reaching genres by design, and 2015 showcased that spectacularly well with a bevy of albums still heavily represented on playlists today.
The 50 Best Albums of 2020 So Far
Even in the coronavirus-shortened record release schedule of 2020, the year has offered a mountainous feast of sublime music. The 50 best albums of 2020 so far are an eclectic and increasingly "woke" bunch.
The Most Memorable Albums of 1999
PopMatters is 20 this year -- until October when we are 21 -- and a 2009 special section celebrates the popular music that defined the year of our birth. Today we kick things off with albums from January through March, highlighted by Eminem's debut and stellar pop from XTC and Blur.
The Best Jazz Albums of 2010
Jazz was working all the angles in 2010. Is there any other genre that has as much range -- from solo instruments to big bands, from instrumental to vocal, from European musicians to both North and South Americans, from truly pretty music to raucously avant-garde "noise"?
The 10 Best Country Albums of 2010
The synthesis of the past, present, and future was so much of what country music was about in 2010. Country was still fairly male-dominated in the era, although the changing winds, wherein women would create the most forward-looking music, were already beginning to blow.
The 10 Best Indie Pop Albums of 2010
2010 was a great year for indie-pop, with an assortment of new bands making an impression by putting a fresh new stamp on old sounds. Meanwhile, bands on their second, third, or fourth albums took their sound and refreshed it.