CJLO's Top 100 of 2020

2020 may be in our rear-view mirror, who says we can't look back and reminisce on the dumpster fire that was 2020. A year filled with natural disasters, a global pandemic, and political mobilization.

Despite all the odds, CJLO has been able to thrive in 2020 by maintaining and introducing new programming. Music is at the heart of CJLO as we explore and highlight artists of all styles. This year will be a little different, as we provide a few comments on the top 10 albums of 2020!

Thanks again to Andrew, our Metal Music Director and an extremely patient human being for compiling this list for us!

1. Nap Eyes - Snapshot of a Beginner

These Halifax indie-rockers offered a beacon of light for a tumultuous year. The band’s fourth offering showcased a more assured sense of songwriting and composition, proving that within the deepest corners of existential dread and anxiety lies a shining light at the end of the tunnel.

2. Les Deuxluxes - Lighter Fluid

With deft musicianship and a solid scene of musical lineage, Montreal’s Les Deuxluxes. The duo, Anna Frances Meyer and Étienne Barry, combined their dual talents to bring a rapturous blending of diverse influences, ranging from jazz, psychedelic rock and good old fashion 60s’ inflected rock.

3. Elephant Stone - Hollow

Taking a departure from the deep-fried psychedelic sounds of their early work, Elephant Stone rung in the new year with an album chock-full of densely composed soundscapes that bridged a gap between the worlds of pop and experimental rock.

4. TOPS - I Feel Alive 

The now legendary Montreal band culminated a ten-year long career with an album that sounds eons beyond their early work. I Feel Alive feels, for a lack of better words, alive, thanks due in part to the shimmery production flourishes and intricate guitar licks that compose it.

5. Waahli - Soap Opera

The flows on Soap Opera alone make it a worthwhile listen. If that weren’t enough, Waahli’s professionalism and brainy combination of influences, including Afro-Caribbean and Haitian music, breathes life into these tracks. The album dropped just two years after his first solo album, and despite that, Soap Opera sounds infinitely more assured and dynamic.  

6. Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia

Much like the album’s namesake, Lido Pimienta’s Miss Colombia acts as a proclamation and repossession of her heritage, all the while recollecting the experiences that fortified her musical ability and proficiency. The end result is a melting pot of regional genres that delineate the contours of tradition, while keeping a watchful eye on the future.

7. Pantayo – Pantayo

The self-titled album from Toronto-Filipina exports Pantayo, expertly melds the familiar songcraft of their homeland with the sounds of Western pop. Incorporating a wide range of instruments, including a traditional Filipino instrument called the kulintang, Pantayo re-contextualizes old-school tradition through a modern lens, all the while never losing sight of the music that made them.

8. KAYTRANADA - BUBBA

After years of masterfully redefining the lineage of black musical subgenres by way of house and soul, KAYTRANADA kept his hot streak rolling with an album packed to the brim with infectious grooves, invigorating beats and mind-bending samples. BUBBA is an album of unequivocal confidence that begs to be listened to long after the party’s ended.

9. BACKXWASH - GOD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS LEAVE HIM OUT OF IT

No artist this year delivered an that’s equally hopeful and tortured as BACKXWASH. With forward-thinking production at the forefront and an edifying expressionism of queer and black identity, GOD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS brings BACKXWASH’s politized take on industrial-rap to HD clarity.

10. Thanya Iyer - Kind

Montreal-based singer-songwriter and violin extraordinaire, Thnya Iyer believes in the healing powers of compassion. Much like the album’s title, Kind finds Iyer using the nurturing powers of unity as a driving force for emotional fluidity. The instrumentation on Kind feels crowded with feeling; the compositions are stacked with harmony and the backing instrumentation feels just as complete. It’s truly a testament to the potential of collaboration. 

*Our charts are compiled from actual airplay, broadcast live on 1690 AM in the Montreal region, as well as via our website at www.cjlo.com,  denotes Canadian Content