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2020: Some Music

In 2016, Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes than Trump. In 2020, Biden received nearly 7 million more votes than Trump. Two similar lines of objective evidence, two vastly different sets of outcomes based on geography and circumstance and perception, the same factors that help to make music resonate in our hearts and minds and asses. In other words, the music is out there for everyone, but it's clearly not for everyone, so let's face the music and dance.

When I wanted to dance, these ladies brought the grooves and joy and verve and escape:

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia / Annie - Dark Hearts / Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure? / Ela Minus - Acts Of Rebellion / Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song / Billy Nomates - Billy Nomates

When I wanted to rock, these artists supplied the muscle and nuance and intensity:

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full / Algiers - There Is No Year / Wire - Mind Hive / Bruce Springsteen - Letter To You / The Pineapple Thief - Versions Of The Truth / Bartees Strange - Live Forever / Secret Machines - Awake In The Brain Chamber

When I wanted to toggle between the two, I turned to these gems:

The Weeknd - After Hours / Poppy - I Disagree / Soccer Mommy - Color Theory / Grimes - Miss Anthropocene / The Magnetic Fields - Quickies / Louise Patricia Crane - Deep Blue / U.S. Girls - Heavy Light / Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher / Perfume Genius - Set My Heart On Fire Immediately / Nicole Atkins - Italian Ice / Molchat Doma - Monument / Westerman - Your Hero Is Not Dead / Jarv Is - Beyond The Pale / Pharaoh Overlord - 6 / Yves Tumor - Heaven To A Tortured Mind / Bobby Conn - Recovery / Working Man's Club - Working Man's Club

And there are a few that I liked more than others, regardless of utility or genre:

Destroyer - Have We Met / Sparks - A Steady Drip Drip Drip / Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine / Owen Pallett - Island / Haim - Women In Music Pt. III / Norah Jones - Pick Me Up Off The Floor / Luke Haines & Peter Buck - Beat Poetry For Survivalists / Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today / Hey Colossus - Dances / Curses

Lastly, there are two artists who kicked out two solid albums each, an embarrassment of riches in a year of paucity and desiccation. While it's Taylor Swift who made the headlines with the release of Folklore and Evermore -- more nuanced and adult works from someone who's been widely famous and artistically underestimated for over half her life -- it's a harder trick to make you dance and think and feel, and it's even harder to do it twice in one year.

Sault -- with Untitled (Rise) and Untitled (Black Is) -- managed to do just that, swaying and footstomping and grooving while providing social commentary that was both pointed and insinuating. In short, in a year that meant something, the music of Sault meant something. Hopefully, it will mean something to you, too.

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