I’m Jason Boucher and welcome to Nocturnal, a weekly newsletter about sound + music where I highlight some of the best new music, podcasts, stories, and streaming video. I’ll be dispensing related links about music, art, film, and other news that I hope you dig. I don’t know about you, but I get excited for new records, reissues, soundtracks, live music, and films—so I’m sharing with you! My hope is this newsletter increases awareness of the extraordinary art communities all over the world, even if it’s just a smidgen. Questions? jason.boucher@icloud.com
Today in the newsletter: It’s my last newsletter of 2020! Best music lists, record stores, and my latest radio show and playlist.
But first…
A very happy winter solstice and yule to everyone. It’s been quite the year, let’s hope 2021 treats us all kind. Thanks for reading. Joyeux Yule & Solstice d’Hiver!
Despite the awful year that 2020 was, some incredible music was still released. And with live music coming to an end in early March across the entire planet, it was vital that we support the artists (and venues) to keep the industry alive. With nine Bandcamp Fridays complete and more on the horizon, this was the biggest music highlight for me this year — In 2020, I discovered new artists and supported many old favorites, too. Spending not only money, but hours and hours listening, more than I have in previous years, given that I had more time to explore. So here it is, my annual best music list — I hope you find something you like. See you next year!
❗️Top Albums of 2020
SAULT – Untitled (Black Is)
SAULT – Untitled (Rise)
Matt Berninger – Serpentine Prison
Mourning [A] Blkstar – The Cycle
Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud
Moses Sumney – Græ
Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings E&F Sides
Destroyer – Have We Met
Jyoti – Mama, You Can Bet!
Nubya Garcia – Source
Run The Jewels – RTJ4
Sir Richard Bishop – Oneiric Formulary
Shabaka and the Ancestors – We Are Sent Here by History
Arbouretum – Let It All In
Bill Fay – Countless Branches
The Soft Pink Truth – Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
Gwenifer Raymond – Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain
Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven – We’re New Again
Fleet Foxes – Shore
Jeff Parker – Suite For Max Brown
Josh Johnson – Freedom Exercise
RJD2 – The Fun Ones
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl – Artlessy Falling
Thundercat – It Is What It Is
Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Monophonics – It’s Only Us
Taylor Swift – Folklore
Phish – Sigma Oasis
Jeff Tweedy – Love is the King
Demae – Life Works Out… Usually
Siti Muharam – Siti of Unguja (Romance Revolution on Zanzibar)
Aquiles Navarro & Tcheser Holmes – Heritage of the Invisible II
Adrianne Lenker – songs
Nas – King’s Disease
James Tillman – Modern Desires
ohbliv – Spirit Medicine
Bonny Light Horseman – Bonny Light Horseman
Yves Tumor – Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Ambrose Akinmusire – On the tender spot of every calloused moment
Cut Worms – Nobody Lives Here Anymore
Moses Boyd – Dark Matter
Fourtet – Sixteen Oceans
Medhane – Cold Water
Black Devil Disco Club – Lucifer is a Flower
🎷 Top Jazz Albums of 2020
Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings E&F Sides
Nubya Garcia – Source
Aquiles Navarro & Tcheser Holmes – Heritage of the Invisible II
Jeff Parker – Suite For Max Brown
Josh Johnson – Freedom Exercise
Shabaka and the Ancestors – We Are Sent Here by History
Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra – Dimensional Stardust
Sun Ra Arkestra – Swirling
Immanuel Wilkins – Omega
Tom Misch & Yusef Dayes – What Kinda Music
Tino Contreras – La Noche De Los Dioses
Matthew Halsall – Salute to the Sun
Lettuce – Resonate
The Necks – Three
Jahari Massamba Unit – Pardon My French
Yazmin Lacey – Morning Matters
Katalyst – Nine Lives
Susan Alcorn Quartet – Pedernal
Dougie Stu – Familiar Future
Ron Miles – Rainbow Sign
Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder, Kamasi Washington – Dinner Party
Kamaal Williams – Wu Hen
Keith Jarrett – Budapest Concert
Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids – Shaman!
Chip Wickham – Blue to Red
🎙 Top Hip Hop Albums of 2020
Run The Jewels – RTJ4
RJD2 – The Fun Ones
Nas – King’s Disease
ohbliv – Spirit Medicine
Medhane – Cold Water
Shabazz Palaces – The Don of Diamond Dreams
Benny the Butcher – Burden of Proof
Public Enemy – What Ya Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?
Knxwledge – 1988
clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned
Black Thought – Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane and Abel
Navy Blue – Àdá Irin
Beans – Venga
Astairé – Volume 1
The Koreatown Oddity – Little Dominiques Nosebleed
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo
Mo Fingaz – Gusto
Armand Hammer – Shrines
💿 Top Reissues of 2020
Various Artists – The Harry Smith B Sides
Tom Petty – Wildflowers
Black Unity Trio – Al Fatihah
Grateful Dead – Dave’s Pick Vol. 36 – Hartford, CT • March 26, 1987
Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen – Found in the Ozone
Windy & Carl – Unreleased Home Recordings
Thelonious Monk – Palo Alto
Heshoo Beshoo Group – Armitage Road
Bill Evans – Some Other Time: The Lost Session from Black Forest
Various Artists – Southeast of Saturn: Space Rock
I Miss Record Stores
During these days of COVID-19, I began to think what I miss most about being out in public. I miss record stores. I miss digging through crates of albums, sifting through collections, talking to people about music, and learning about new artists. Please enjoy these photos I've taken at many vinyl and CD shops across the United States., Canada, and the U.K. To see the record stores up close, click the photo below. 🎧
Nocturnal: A Sound + Music Experience is delivered fresh each Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. EST through an ominous freeform cloud featuring hubbub from then and now. Listen live on WSCA.
December 22nd Playlist: Merry and Bright
The Flaming Lips "Winter Wonderland" Imagene Peise - Atlas Eets Christmas (Warner Bros.)
Harold Budd w/ Eraldo Bernocchi & Robin Guthrie"Winter Garden" Winter Garden (Soleil Après Minuit)
The Rolling Stones "Winter" Goats Head Soup (Polydor Records)
Purple Mountains "Snow is Falling in Manhattan" Purple Mountains (Drag City)
Wall Matthews "Jingle Bells" Christmas Guitar (Tompkins Square)
Vashti Bunyan "Winter Is Blue" Just Another Diamond Day (Dicristina Stair Builders)
Khruangbin "Christmas Time Is Here" 7” (Dead Oceans)
Low "Just Like Christmas" from Christmas on kranky
John Fahey "Christmas Medley (Oh Tannenbaum Angels We Have Heard On High Jingle Bells" Christmas With John Fahey, Vol. 2 (Takoma)
Martin Denny "Exotic Night" Ultra-Lounge / Christmas Cocktails Volume II (Capitol Records)
Byron Lee & The Dragonaires "Happy Christmas (feat. Toots and The Maytals)" Christmas Party Time In the Tropics (VP Records)
The Avalanches "Winter Wonderland" Ski Surfin' (WMG)
The Ventures "Frosty The Snowman" The Ventures' Christmas Album (Capitol Records)
Loretta Lynn "To Heck with Ole Santa Claus" White Christmas Blue (Sony/Legacy)
Three Aces & A Joker "Sleigh Bell Rock" Christmas Carousel (Imperial Music Group)
The Outlaws "Run Rudolph Run" Rockabilly Christmas (Imperial Music Group)
Los Straitjackets "Feliz Navidad" Tis The Season For Los Straitjackets (Yep Roc Records)
Jimmy Butler "Trim Your Tree" Mr. Santa's Boogie (Rhythm & Blues Christmas 1948 - 1957) (Season's Greetings)
Akim, Teddy Vann "Santa Clause Is a Black Man" John Waters Christmas
Elvis Presley "Blue Christmas" The Christmas Hits (River Records)
She & Him "The Christmas Song" A Very She & Him Christmas (Universal Music)
Vince Guaraldi Trio "Christmas Time Is Here" A Charlie Brown Christmas (Fantasy Records)
The Band "Christmas Must Be Tonight (Alternate Version)" Northern Lights-Southern Cross (Capitol )
The Magnetic Fields "Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree" Realism (Nonesuch)
Ray LaMontagne "Winter Birds" Christmas Cafe (Columbia)
Galaxie 500 "Listen, the Snow is Falling" This Is Our Music (Rykodisc)
Cocteau Twins "Frosty The Snowman" Lullabies To Violaine, Volume 2 (4AD)
The Halo Benders "Snowfall" God Don't Make No Junk (K Records)
Thank you! See you next year…. - JB