In the future, you will look back on this era with rose-colored glasses.
When the angst and anxiety of 2020 have faded, you will fondly remember all the positive things that happened this past year. You might have picked up a new skill like baking, or started a yoga or meditation practice. This might have been the year that you got more intentional about your diet and exercise. In this past year of video calls and virtual hangouts, you might have had the opportunity to reconnect with old friends from your past If you’re like me, you probably spent a lot of time listening to music.
This playlist features music that came out this year. Old rockers like The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan showed they are still relevant and haven’t lost a step. There are also international sounds from Egypt, Israel, Cuba, Australia, and “across the pond.” Some artists like Anderson .Paak and Tenderlonius addressed the pandemic directly in their music. Twenty One Pilots’ Level of Concern is pop music’s best expression of the times we live in, and anchors our only cocktail hour mix from this past year.
(more liner notes below)
Stream Revisionist Nostalgia on Spotify
Revisionist Nostalgia Playlist
- Goodbye Jimmy Reed – Bob Dylan
- Now That Everything’s Been Said – The City
- Level of Concern – Twenty One Pilots
- Lockdown – Remix – Anderson .Paak, JID, Jay Rock, Noname
- When The World Says No – J.D’s Time Machine, Lorenzo Owens
- Sugar and Spice – Jimi Tenor
- Less Is More – The New Mastersounds, Lamar Williams Jr.
- Yo Si Quiero – Pedrito Martinez, Eric Clapton, Kenny Garrett
- Midnight Round Mekines – Original Mix – Javier Bergia
- Guilty Conscience – Tame Impala Remix – 070 Shake, Tame Impala
- Never Not – The Steve McQueens
- Shida – Khruangbin
- Caterpillar Style – KerenDun, Roy Reemy
- Sof Layla (Ba Hoodna) – Hoodna Orchestra
- Machu Picchu – Vinyl Williams
- Already Gone – Wooden Shjips
- Kirwani – Tenderlonious, Jaubi
- Sah – Al Massrieen
- In the Kingdom – Mazzy Star
- I Know Myself – Amen Dunes
- Bummer Days – Liza Anne
- Anthem – Father John Misty
- Hold on – Dojo Cuts, Karl S. Williams
- If He – Mk.gee
- Bach Vision Test – Vulfpeck
- Oolong – LoPhi
- Lockdown Boogie – Tenderlonious
- Scarlet – The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page
- Fallin’ Rain – Father John Misty
- Mighty Good Book – Gillian Welch
- Honey – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
- Let’s Move To The Country – Bill Callahan
- Daydream (feat. Alia Farah) – M. Ward, Alia Farah
- Mind Blower – Scone Cash Players
- Got it to Work – Earth Boys
- Maybe Just Once – Video Age
- Vidas Negras Sim Importam – Gabriel Moura, Banda Black Rio
- What Is Promise? – Secret American
- May – Vicious Blossom
- Waterforms – Magick Brother & Mystic Sister
- מלכה ומלך – Kutiman, Shai Tsabari
- Takin’ It To The Streets (feat. Drea Rhenee) [Live] – Michael McDonald, Drea’ Rhenee
- Borderline – Blood Orange Remix – Tame Impala, Blood Orange
- Olympus Mons – Rick Wakeman
- Cold Brew – LoPhi, Mark Dollar
- XCV Noir – Fila Brazillia
- Family Farm – The Hold Steady
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More Liner Notes
This was a particularly good year for my personal musical taste. Some of my favorite electronica/ambient DJs released stuff that has been sitting in their vaults for almost two decades, like Kruder & Dorfmeister – 1995 and Fila Brazillia – From The DATs. One half of Fila Brazillia, Steve Cobby, put out two (!) excellent releases which were particularly soothing in the first half of 2020: СТИВИ and Nostalgia Intensa. Rick Wakeman made my progressive rock dreams come true when he released The Red Planet, his first prog album since 2003.
One of the tracks on this playlist wasn’t released this year. It’s a track called “Now That Everything’s Been Said” by The City which is a short-lived group featuring Carole King right after her divorce and before her classic Tapestry album. Her intense stage fright prevented the band from touring, and soon after and the band fizzled out. Their album was then deleted from her catalog and languished forgotten for nearly 30 years until it was reissued in 2010. If you listen to it, you can hear the threads she used to weave her Tapestry.
There’s a track on this playlist by LoPhi who puts his own spin on the genre of Lofi Hip Hop Music. He put out an album this year called LoPhi II, but under a different name, he recorded a jingle for a fictional scented candle.
Cover Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash
