Our critic’s picks, from righteous old-school hip-hop via euphoric retro pop to classic
American songwritingClassical music: Fiona Maddocks’s 10 best of 2020The Observer critics’ review of 2020 in full1. A Swayze and the Ghosts: Paid SalvationIvy League; SeptemberThe antidote to 2020 bar none: 12 tracks of guaranteed instant uplift from a bunch of righteous Tasmanian garage punks who banished boredom and torpedoed fear with their debut album.
2. Frazey Ford: U Kin B the SunArts & Crafts; FebruaryMore
music as functional medicine: Ford’s ecstatic, smeared soul vocals didn’t mask the depth of her hard-won wisdom – or her faith in progress. Equal parts country, folk and soul, this was an album about travails overcome that built its own dulcet world into the bargain.