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RECORDS OF THE YEAR 2020
Well it’s been a strange year here at Scared To Dance. Sadly we haven’t been able to host any events since March and we still don’t know when we will again. We’re just about hanging in there.
Usually at this time of year we would be gearing up for our big New Year’s Eve night. In the absence of that, here’s a list of records we’ve enjoyed in 2020. We encourage you to buy directly from the artists, their labels or from independent record stores if you can.
We hope to be back with things looking a little brighter next year.
Albums
Oceanator – Things I Never Said
Future Islands – As Long As You Are
Kiwi Jr. – Football Money
bdrmm – Bedroom
LYR – Call in the Crash Team
Dana Gavanski – Yesterday Is Gone
Wire – Mind Hive
Pictish Trail – Thumb World
Loaver – Fern
Pottery – Welcome to Bobby’s Motel
Hinds – The Prettiest Curse
Shirley Collins – Heart’s Ease
Tree Trunks – Spirit
Brian Eno – Film Music 1976-2020
Death Valley Girls – Under the Spell of Joy
PINS – Hot Slick
The Magnetic Fields – Quickies
Basic Plumbing – Keeping Up Appearances
Martha Ffion – Nights to Forget
Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
Annie Taylor – Sweet Morality
James Dean Bradfield – Even in Exile
Darren Hayman – Home Time
The Proper Ornaments – Mission Bells
Neil Young – Homegrown
Duncan Barrett – Raise the Effra!
JARV IS… – Beyond the Pale
Tom Sanders – Only Magic
Belle and Sebastian – What to Look For in Summer
Perfume Genius – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately
Savage Mansion – Weird Country
Tugboat Captain – Rut
Freschard – Five Mountains
Paul McCartney – McCartney III
The Luxembourg Signal – The Long Now
Tiña – Positive Mental Health
Matt Berninger – Serpentine Prison
EPs
Why Bonnie – Voice Box
CIEL – Movement
Moon Panda – Make Well
Rosehip Teahouse – Fine
SUDS – The View From My Ceiling
Store Front – Task
Cate Le Bon & Group Listening – Here It Comes Again
Firestations – Automatic Tendencies
Wild Nothing – Laughing Gas
Cheerbleederz – Lobotany
Ralegh Long – Simple Songs
Yumi and the Weather – Some Days
Singles
Big Joanie – Cranes in the Sky
Adwaith – Lan Y Môr
The Tubs – I Don’t Know How It Works
Hanya – Texas
Hot Chip – Straight to the Morning (Ft. Jarvis Cocker)
Soot Sprite – It’s Summer and I Don’t Feel Like Smiling
Melby – Things I Do When I’m Alone
The Radio Dept. – You’re Lookin’ at My Guy
Flowers – Erik
GN – Home Business
Massage – Michael Is My Boyfriend
King Creosote – Susie Mullen
Michael Stipe & Big Red Machine – No Time For Love Like Now
Peaness – Kaizen
Jetstream Pony – It’s Fine
Red Shoe Diaries – Hiding in the Cinema
Rachel Aggs – New Beat
Tacsidermi – Gwir
Dirty Projectors – Overlord
Shade Ray – Emperor
Ynys – Aros Am Byth
Emma Kupa – Nothing at All
Fear of Men – Into Strangeness
Alex Chilltown – Barely Awake
Lyys – I Don’t Fight
Jeffrey Lewis – Keep Chill in the East Vill
THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2017
1. ALVVAYS – ANTISOCIALITES
Track Picks: “In Undertow”, “Plimsoll Punks”, “Lollipop (Ode to Jim)”
Label: Transgressive Records
Release Date: 8th September 2017
Listen: Spotify
2. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – EVERY VALLEY
Track Picks: “Every Valley”, “People Will Always Need Coal”, “Progress”
Label: PIAS Recordings
Release Date: 7th July 2017
Listen: Spotify
3. THE SHINS – HEARTWORMS
Track Picks: “Name For You”, “Fantasy Island”, “Mildenhall”
Label: Columbia
Release Date: 10th March 2017
Listen: Spotify
4. FUTURE ISLANDS – THE FAR FIELD
Track Picks: “Ran”, “Cave”, “Shadows”
Label: 4AD
Release Date: 7th April 2017
Listen: Spotify
5. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – AMERICAN DREAM
Track Picks: “Oh Baby”, “Tonite”, “Call the Police”
Label: DFA Records
Release Date: 1st September 2017
Listen: Spotify
6. THE HORRORS – V
Track Picks: “Hologram”, “Machine”, “Something To Remember Me By”
Label: Caroline International
Release Date: 22nd September 2017
Listen: Spotify
7. LOS CAMPESINOS! – SICK SCENES
Track Picks: “I Broke Up in Amarante”, “The Fall of Home”, “5 Flucloxacillin”
Label: Wichita Recordings
Release Date: 24th February 2017
Listen: Spotify
8. DELAY TREES – LET GO
Track Picks: “Black Ice”, “Brightest Eyes”, “It’s Not Who You Are”
Label: Soliti Music
Release Date: 24th March 2017
Listen: Spotify
9. DARREN HAYMAN – THANKFUL VILLAGES VOLUME 2
Track Picks: “Cundall”, “Chantry”, “Cromwell”
Label: Rivertones
Release Date: 26th May 2017
Listen: Spotify
10. SACRED PAWS – STRIKE A MATCH
Track Picks: “Nothing”, “Everyday”, “Strike a Match”
Label: Rock Action Records
Release Date: 27th January 2017
Listen: Spotify
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Belle and Sebastian – How to Solve Our Human Problems EP
Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums – Better Friends
Butcher Boy – Bad Things Happen When It’s Quiet EP
Jarvis Cocker & Chilly Gonzales – Room 29
Deerful – Peach
Depeche Mode – Spirit
Rose Elinor Dougall – Stellular
Baxter Dury – Prince of Tears
Matthew Edwards & The Unfortunates – Folklore
Enderby’s Room – Enderby’s Room
Feist – Pleasure
Fever Dream – Squid
Girl Ray – Earl Grey
Wesley Gonzalez – Excellent Musician
The Hayman Kupa Band – The Hayman Kupa Band
The Just Joans – You Might Be Smiling Now
The Leaf Library – City In Reverse EP
Jens Lekman – Life Will See You Now
Ralegh Long – Upwards of Summer
Lyys – Darling Enemy EP
The Magnetic Fields – 50 Song Memoir
The National – Sleep Well Beast
The New Pornographers – Whiteout Conditions
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Echo of Pleasure
Papernut Cambridge – Mellotron Phase: Volume 1
Peaness – Are You Sure? EP
PINS – Bad Thing EP
The Proper Ornaments – Foxhole
Sea Pinks – Watercourse
Sleaford Mods – English Tapas
Sparks – Hippopotamus
Spinning Coin – Permo
Suggested Friends – Suggested Friends
The Surfing Magazines – The Surfing Magazines
Sweet Baboo – Wild Imagination
Teleman – Fünf EP
Tree Trunks – Big Rush EP
The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
Wire – Silver/Lead
THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2016
1. TELEMAN – BRILLIANT SANITY
Track Picks: “Düsseldorf”, “Tangerine”, “Drop Out”
Label: Moshi Moshi Records
Release Date: 8th April 2016
Listen: Spotify
2. BOYS FOREVER – BOYS FOREVER
Track Picks: “Poisonous”, “Voice In My Head”, “Brian”
Label: Amour Foo
Release Date: 5th August 2016
Listen: Spotify
3. KING CREOSOTE – ASTRONAUT MEETS APPLEMAN
Track Picks: “You Just Want”, “Melin Wynt”, “Wake Up To This”
Label: Domino
Release Date: 2nd September 2016
Listen: Spotify
4. CATE LE BON – CRAB DAY
Track Picks: “Crab Day”, “Love Is Not Love”, “Wonderful”
Label: Drag City
Release Date: 15th April 2016
Listen: Spotify
5. FLOWERS – EVERYBODY’S DYING TO MEET YOU
Track Picks: “Pull My Arm”, “Ego Loss”, “Russian Doll”
Label: Fortuna POP!
Release Date: 12th February 2016
Listen: Spotify
6. SEA PINKS – SOFT DAYS
Track Picks: “(I Don’t Feel Like) Giving In”, “Ordinary Gaze”, “Yr Horoscope”
Label: CF Records
Release Date: 8th January 2016
Listen: Spotify
7. WILD NOTHING – LIFE OF PAUSE
Track Picks: “Reichpop”, “Lady Blue”, “TV Queen”
Label: Bella Union
Release Date: 19th February 2016
Listen: Spotify
8. DAVID BOWIE – BLACKSTAR
Track Picks: “Blackstar”, “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)”, “I Can’t Give Everything Away”
Label: RCA
Release Date: 8th January 2016
Listen: Spotify
9. PAPERNUT CAMBRIDGE – LOVE THE THINGS YOUR LOVER LOVES
Track Picks: “Love The Things Your Lover Loves”, “Chartreuse”, “We Are the Nut”
Label: Gare du Nord Records
Release Date: 13th May 2016
Listen: Spotify
10. ALEXIS TAYLOR – PIANO
Track Picks: “I’m Ready”, “Without Your Name”, “Don’t Make My Brown Eyes Blue”
Label: Moshi Moshi Records
Release Date: 10th June 2016
Listen: Spotify
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Steven James Adams – Old Magick
Pete Astor – Spilt Milk
The Avalanches – Wildflower
Bat For Lashes – The Bride
Boys – Love On Tour EP
Billy Bragg & Joe Henry – Shine A Light: Field Recordings From The Great American Railroad
Jarvis Cocker – Music From Likely Stories EP
Cosines – Transitions EP
Deerful – Staying Still EP
DIIV – Is The Is Are
Emmy the Great – Second Love
Evans the Death – Vanilla
Fear of Men – Fall Forever
Freschard – Sunday Night
Darren Hayman – Thankful Villages Volume 1
Hinds – Leave Me Alone
Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression
Nat Johnson – The Liberty System EP
Ralegh Long – We Are In The Fields EP
LUST – Lovender EP
Mystery Jets – Curve Of The Earth
of Montreal – Innocence Reaches
Pinkshinyultrablast – Grandfeathered
The Radio Dept. – Running Out Of Love
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Robert Rotifer – If We Hadn’t Had You EP
Savages – Adore Life
Slow Club – One Day All Of This Won’t Matter Anymore
Sweet Baboo – Dennis EP
The Tuts – Update Your Brain
Ultimate Painting – Dusk
The Wave Pictures – Bamboo Diner In The Rain
Wild Beasts – Boy King
Wire – Nocturnal Koreans
Wolf Girl – We Tried
Woodpigeon – T R O U B L E
Young Romance – Another’s Blood
YUKKA – A Long Way EP
THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2015
1. NEW ORDER – MUSIC COMPLETE
Track Picks: “Singularity”, “Plastic”, “Tutti Frutti”
Label: Mute
Release Date: 25th September 2015
Listen: Spotify
2. THE DECEMBERISTS – WHAT A TERRIBLE WORLD, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD
Track Picks: “Make You Better”, “Lake Song”, “Till the Water’s All Gone”
Label: Rough Trade Records
Release Date: 20th January 2015
Listen: Spotify
3. FFS – FFS
Track Picks: “Johnny Delusional”, “Call Girl”, “Piss Off”
Label: Domino
Release Date: 9th June 2015
Listen: Spotify
4. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – GIRLS IN PEACETIME WANT TO DANCE
Track Picks: “Nobody’s Empire”, “Enter Sylvia Plath”, “Play For Today”
Label: Matador
Release Date: 19th January 2015
Listen: Spotify
5. TIGERCATS – MYSTERIES
Track Picks: “Junior Champion”, “Wheezer”, “Sleeping in the Backseat”
Label: Fortuna POP!
Release Date: 10th March 2015
Listen: Spotify
6. COURTNEY BARNETT – SOMETIMES I SIT AND THINK, AND SOMETIMES I JUST SIT
Track Picks: “Pedestrian at Best”, “Dead Fox”, “Nobody Cares If You Go to the Party”
Label: Mom + Pop Music
Release Date: 20th March 2015
Listen: Spotify
7. SWEET BABOO – THE BOOMBOX BALLADS
Track Picks: “Sometimes”, “Got to Hang on to You”, “Walking in the Rain”
Label: Moshi Moshi Records
Release Date: 14th August 2015
Listen: Spotify
8. BEST COAST – CALIFORNIA NIGHTS
Track Picks: “Feeling OK”, “Heaven Sent”, “California Nights”
Label: Harvest
Release Date: 1st May 2015
Listen: Spotify
9. JOANNA GRUESOME – PEANUT BUTTER
Track Picks: “Last Year”, “Honestly Do Yr Worst”, “I Don’t Wanna Relax”
Label: Fortuna POP!
Release Date: 11th May 2015
Listen: Spotify
10. KID WAVE – WONDERLUST
Track Picks: “Wanderlust”, “Honey”, “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart”
Label: Heavenly
Release Date: 1st June 2015
Listen Spotify
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Being There – Overnight EP
Blur – The Magic Whip
Euros Childs – Sweetheart
Chorusgirl – Chorusgirl
Club 8 – Pleasure
Django Django – Born Under Saturn
Drinks – Hermits on Holiday
Emmy the Great – S EP
Evans the Death – Expect Delays
Fever Dream – Moyamoya
Robert Forster – Songs to Play
Colleen Green – I Want to Grow Up
Richard Hawley – Hollow Meadows
Emma Kupa – Home Cinema
The Leaf Library – Daylight Versions
The Legends – It’s Love
Ralegh Long – Hoverance
The Lovely Eggs – This Is Our Nowhere
Mammoth Penguins – Hide and Seek
Model Village – Burger EP
Modest Mouse – Strangers to Ourselves
Elizabeth Morris – Athens EP
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Hell EP
Papernut Cambridge – Nutlets 1967-80
Pinkshinyultrablast – Everything Else
The Radio Dept. – Occupied EP
Rozi Plain – Friend
The Spook School – Try to Be Hopeful
Summer Camp – Bad Love
Trust Fund – No One’s Coming For Us
Tuff Love – Dross EP
The Wave Pictures – Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon
Young Romance – Wild EP
THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2014
1. ALVVAYS – ALVVAYS
Track Picks: “Archie, Marry Me”, “Next of Kin”, “Party Police”
Label: Transgressive Records
Release Date: 22nd July 2014
Listen: Spotify
2. MANIC STREET PREACHERS – FUTUROLOGY
Track Picks: “Walk Me to the Bridge”, “Europa Geht Durch Mich ”, “Between the Clock and the Bed”
Label: Columbia
Release Date: 7th July 2014
Listen: Spotify
3. WITHERED HAND – NEW GODS
Track Picks: “Horseshoe”, “King of Hollywood”, “New Gods”
Label: Fortuna POP!
Release Date: 10th March 2014
Listen: Spotify
4. NIGHT FLOWERS – NIGHT FLOWERS EP
Track Picks: “Bound”, “Embers”, “Neverlands”
Label: Dirty Bingo Records
Release Date: 7th April 2014
Listen: Spotify
5. SLOW CLUB – COMPLETE SURRENDER
Track Picks: “Tears of Joy”, “The Pieces”, “Complete Surrender”
Label: Caroline International
Release Date: 14th July 2014
Listen: Spotify
6. TELEMAN – BREAKFAST
Track Picks: “Steam Train Girl”, Skeleton Dance”, “Lady Low”
Label: Moshi Moshi Records
Release Date: 16th May 2014
Listen: Spotify
7. ALLO DARLIN’ – WE COME FROM THE SAME PLACE
Track Picks: “Bright Eyes”, “History Lessons”, “Romance and Adventure”
Label: Fortuna POP!
Release Date: 6th October 2014
Listen: Spotify
8. BAXTER DURY – IT’S A PLEASURE
Track Picks: “Palm Trees”, “Other Men’s Girls”, “Police”
Label: [PIAS] Le Label
Release Date: 20th October 2014
Listen: Spotify
9. THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – DAYS OF ABANDON
Track Picks: “Simple and Sure”, “Kelly”, “Until the Sun Explodes”
Label: Fierce Panda
Release Date: 13th May 2014
Listen: Spotify
10. FIRST AID KID – STAY GOLD
Track Picks: “My Silver Lining”, “Master Pretender”, “Stay Gold”
Label: Columbia
Release Date: 6th June 2014
Listen Spotify
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures – Gin
Delay Trees – Readymade
Dum Dum Girls – Too True
Ex Hex – Rips
Flowers – Do What You Want To Do, It’s What You Should Do
Future Islands – Singles
The Hidden Cameras – Age
Honeyblood – Honeyblood
The Horrors – Luminous
Island Twins – Spanish Blood
Let’s Wrestle – Let’s Wrestle
The Luxembourg Signal – The Luxembourg Signal
Making Marks – A Thousand Half-Truths
Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business
The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers
Papernut Cambridge – There’s No Underground
Nina Persson – Animal Heart
Tuff Love – Junk EP
The Tuts – Time to Move On EP
TV On the Radio – Seeds
The Understudies – Let Desire Guide Your Hand
The Vaselines – V for Vaselines
The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2013
1. SWEET BABOO – SHIPS
Track Picks: “If I Died…”, “The Sea Life Is the Life For Me (Mermaid Cutie)”, “Cate’s Song”
Label: Moshi Moshi Records
Release Date: 22nd April 2013
Listen: Spotify
2. VERONICA FALLS – WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN
Track Picks: “Teenage”, “Waiting For Something To Happen”, “My Heart Beats”
Label: Bella Union
Release Date: 12th February 2013
Listen: Spotify
3. MANIC STREET PREACHERS – REWIND THE FILM
Track Picks: “Show Me the Wonder”, “Rewind the Film”, “Anthem For a Lost Cause”
Label: Columbia
Release Date: 16th September 2013
Listen: Spotify
4. CAMERA OBSCURA – DESIRE LINES
Track Picks: “Troublemaker”, “Do It Again”, “Break It To You Gently”
Label: 4AD
Release Date: 3rd June 3013
Listen: Spotify
5. CATE LE BON – MUG MUSEUM
Track Picks: “I Can’t Help You”, “Are You With Me Now?”, “Wild”
Label: Turnstile
Release Date: 12th November 2013
Listen: Spotify
6. FRESCHARD – BOOM BIDDY BOOM
Track Picks: “Boom Biddy Boom”, “Cheese and Crackers”, “And the Rain”
Label: b.y_records
Release Date: 16th September 2013
Listen: Spotify
7. THE BALLET – I BLAME SOCIETY
Track Picks: “Difficult Situations”, “Feelings”, “Turn You”
Label: Fortuna POP!
Release Date: 10th June 2013
Listen: Spotify
8. THE PASTELS – SLOW SUMMITS
Track Picks: “Check My Heart”, “Kicking Leaves”, “Come to the Dance”
Label: Domino
Release Date: 27th May 2013
Listen: Spotify
9. THE SPOOK SCHOOL – DRESS UP
Track Picks: “I’ll Be Honest”, “You Make It Sound So Easy”, “The Cameraman”
Label: Fortuna POP!
Release Date: 7th October 2013
Listen: Spotify
10. JUST HANDSHAKES – SAY IT
Track Picks: “London Bound”, “Say It”, “Shadows”
Label: Bleeding Gold Records
Release Date: 20th May 2013
Listen: Spotify
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Arcade Fire – Reflektor
David Bowie – The Next Day
Club 8 – Above the City
Edwyn Collins – Understated
Depeche Mode – Delta Machine
Franz Ferdinand – Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
Joanna Gruesome – Weird Sister
The Just Joans – 6.9 Love Songs EP
Los Campesinos! – No Blues
Elizabeth Morris – Optimism EP
Public Service Broadcasting – Inform – Educate – Entertain
Savages – Silence Yourself
Rotifer – The Cavalry Never Showed Up
Summer Camp – Summer Camp
The Wave Pictures – City Forgiveness
Wire – Change Becomes Us
Without Feathers – Three Songs EP
Yo La Tengo – Fade
Young Knives – Sick Octave