Listen to Father/Daughter's Best of 2020 picks
Posted on December 18th, 2020
As the year comes to a close, we'd love to share a mix of songs that helped us through this crummy year. Enjoy 22 songs hand picked from the F/D team, our artists and friends who've made so many of our releases this year possible. Listen to the playlist here!
Carmen (Remember Sports)
Hannah Sun - Lomelda
The first time I heard this song was when we did a few shows with Hannah in January 2019 and it's been stuck in my head ever since, like a ghost, because all I could do was hum along with what I remembered of the song. To me it perfectly encapsulates feeling blue on tour and I will always love any song that shouts out my home state, New Jersey. Hannah is the best at writing a soaring melody that sticks to all the edges of your heart.
Andrew Lopez (Father/Daughter)
Fact Almighty - Yves Jarvis
The closing track to a beautifully textured and emotive record from Yves Jarvis. The echoes of Acetone alongside blues tinged riffs on this track make me feel like sitting on my porch on a rainy day, watching people go by for hours. The drifting cadence and earnestness of this closer make it impossible to not hit repeat.
Jordan Lee (Mutual Benefit)
If You're Sure You Want To - Alabaster DePlume
I was immediately drawn to these subtle little melancholy instrumentals which valued humanity over virtuosity in the performances and have spent many long walks around Brooklyn with this album playing in my headphones. In particular, If You're Sure You Want To takes a simple motif and builds a whole world out of it while still pausing in between each phrase as if to remind the listener to take a deep breath. I don't know about you but that is a reminder I've needed more than a few times this year.
Esther Rose
Shadow on the Wall - Video Age
This song is a pop masterpiece; every second and every beat feels like it was designed to make you want to dance.
Jessi Frick (Father/Daughter)
Waxahatchee - Can’t Do Much
It was really, really hard to listen to new music in 2020. I wanted the comfort of the familiar, old staples that could transport me back to a time that felt more “normal.” But one album gave me those feels, and that was Waxahatchee’s Saint Cloud. “Can’t Do Much” in particular makes me want to go for a long drive to nowhere, blasting it on repeat until I reach the end.
Anjimile
On the Floor - Perfume Genius
I think it's a perfect song in every way, and it's the coolest song I've heard in a long time. It's retrofuturistic, it's exciting, and it's beautiful.
Shamir
Rollerskating - Sizzy Rocket
Sara Gibbs (Father/Daughter)
Pretty Please - Dua Lipa
Future Nostalgia coming out at the very beginning of quarantine was such a blessing. I would listen/sing/dance to this album to trick myself into believing I was in a good mood at least once a day.
Tyler Andere (Father/Daughter)
Big Fun Party - Eliza Niemi
This little slice of Canadian indie pop stayed in my head rent free all year. It zips and zaps with Eliza’s cool as a cucumber vocal delivery and her perfectly placed cello accompaniment. Put this on a loop and every detail starts to come to life.
Joe (Sat. Nite Duets)
Describe - Perfume Genius
Andrew (Sat. Nite Duets)
Be There Still - Woods
Makes me feel like I am in the midst of a peaceful montage in a movie about my life riding in a convertible feeling serious in a good way.
Anna McClellan
Hannah Please - Lomelda
This song makes me sad in a happy way. Fiercely relatable, I can practically feel her breath waft through the speakers and enwrap me, reminding me that we are both small potatoes and the big picture all at once. "Swear I try/ I'll be sky/ Somehow"
Tasha
Dumb Driver - IAN SWEET
Everything from the drums to the guitar to the vocal is hypnotizing. This song has been on repeat on my long drive to work when I want to feel powerful and achey.
Robin Edwards (Lisa Prank)
Back of the Truck - Michete
This song (and the corresponding video) is the best thing to come out of Seattle since the Space Needle. Michete is a genius.
Christelle Bofale
Mother Nature’s Bitch - Okay Kaya
This song always comes on at the right time one hundred percent of the time because I don’t think there is a moment these days where I am not feeling like I’m mother nature’s bitch. I just feel like this is what the inside of my brain sounds like.
Drake Maxson (Polyvinyl Records)
Loom - Olafur Arnalds
The whole album radiates this soothing energy that is beautiful to listen to and provided me with many moments of peace; standing in stark contrast to this very un-peaceful year. If you need to slow down and relax, I highly suggest making a huge cup of tea and listening to this.
Chris Burque (Ghost Town)
The Serpent (In Quicksilver) - Harold Budd
Do Me Like That - E. Live feat. Chesta Blake
I Wish You Love, Pt. 1 - Joe Bataan
Working from home, navigating the very weird waters of the music + entertainment industries in 2020, while also overseeing remote learning for three kids, the moods in our house were constantly shape shifting. Depending on where we were at at any given moment, the music played in our house was either a way to calm and anchor us, bring us max joy, or ride a peaceful wave in between. Harold Budd (RIP), E. Live, and Joe Bataan were three of the artists who helped accomplish that and helped me and my family get through this year.
Chris Hassen (Polyvinyl Records)
Simmer - Hayley Williams
This song came out right at the beginning of the year as the first taste of her debut solo record and true to its name, "Simmer" was a slow burner for me. It initially caught me off guard with how different it is sonically from her work with Paramore, but something about it just kept tugging at me until I gave in and my love for this song (and the whole album, really) reached a full boil.
Shannon Kurlander (Terrorbird Media)
Hearts Collide Way 2 Fast - Jasper Lotti
Any song that doubled as a therapeutic song in both my bathtime and morning walks, immediately became my most played in 2020.
Dawood Nadurath (Terrorbird Media)
Pashto - Gary, Indiana
2020 has been a year of pretty heavy personal music discovery, and very few labels have aided in that search by championing a specific and evasive allure the way that Fire Talk has. Their risk-taking on artists from across the pond has not gone unnoticed, and I'll die singing their praises - "Pashto" is the perfect example of a track that, without their help, I would never have come across before but can confidently say has shifted my taste for the better. The raw, discordant, pulsing guitar feedback swims menacingly below the borderline-panicked and breathless vocals, while explosive percussion crashes and shatters along the craggy shoreline of a track that leaves you feeling winded and desperate for more. The title's nod to my own personal heritage is a nice bonus too :-)
