Totally Tunes: Best of 2020

 2020 was a terrible year for many peeps out there, whereas it was because of COVID-19, because of the fires everywhere, or because Rocketman wasn't even nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Tragedies all around. Anyways, thankfully music was always there for us, and even when tours got canceled, and independent venues are struggling due to it (donate to the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund), artists have found a way to make their melodies available to us, and help soothe the overall pain of 2020.

Shoo! Shoo 2020! Bad boy! Bad boy! via Pexels

My favorite song of the year is without a doubt this fantastic Fratellis piece, in where they collaborated with the magnificent voice of PP Arnold for a haunting, melancholic track. It's a shame the band couldn't release their new album, where this track's from, because of COVID, but 2021 seems to be a promising year.

Also releasing a tremendous track were The Killers, who did get to launch their CD even with the tours postponed, and man it's a great album, but none of the tracks are as epic as this collaboration with Weyes Blood.

Even though I'd save a spot here for some of this year's Eurovision tunes, especially this weird thing and the sure winner hadn't the edition been cancelled, I'm gonna employ the spot for the fantastically odd Icelanders Hatari, who launched their album in January, and it's amazing (listen to it in full on Bandcamp). The best track of Neyslutrans is without a doubt this bop, complete with raunchy Icelandic lyrics and a highly NSFW video (maybe not as NSFW if your job is cool with a poledancing semi-naked dude and BDSM settings):

Speaking of Bandcamp, I like to visit the site in December of every year and listen to various artists on each tag to find new stuff to like. Usually the bluegrass tag spews out a couple great performers a year, such as this year's find, a family band that does really lovely tunes. This year they've released their first album (link to it on Bandcamp), it seems, so that's wonderful.

Also releasing their first album (okay it's an EP) is this country supergroup whose origins I don't know (one of them came out from American Idol, I remember him being lusted at by Kara), but their songs are fine... except one of them, which is magnificent. Sorry, other songs, but you can't really compare to this piece:

To close, why not go with a trippy, always fantastic Jarvis Cocker? Yeah, let's do that.

What are your favorite songs released in 2020? What topics you'd like to see covered in Totally Tunes in 2021? Happy New Year!