Sound Audits

Hello everyone! We are very glad to have our voices heard once again. This year has been a roller coaster, as I am sure it has been for many of you as well. We have compiled two great lists, one apiece, of our favorite songs that were released this year. I will personally guarantee that there will at least be a handful that you have not heard of which would make an excellent additi

Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti debuted with a repetitive and catchy flow like contemporaries Lil Uzi Vert and Young Thug, gaining recognition in the mid-2010s as an affiliate of A$AP Mob. A steady succession of viral singles helped Carti's first proper album, 2018's Die Lit, debut at number three on the Billboard charts, and he moved into a new phase of his artistry with the riskier

The black metal, blues, and African American fusion of Zeal & Ardor's music is the brainchild of musician Manuel Gagneux. He moved from his native Switzerland to New York, and took up the moniker Zeal & Ardor, having previously released music under the name Bird mask.  After a tumultuous start to the year 2020, Gagneux could not hold his tongue and released the crushin

Rapper, producer, and poet Aesop Rock has received widespread acclaim and amassed a loyal following for his complex, literate rhymes. Aesop's first solo album in four years, the typically heady Spirit World Field Guide appeared in November. https://soundaudits.com/ Donate 99 cents here! https://anchor.fm/soundaudits . Donations are the only way we are able to sustain the show. We l

Taylor Swift is that rarest of pop phenomena: a superstar who managed to completely cross over from country to the mainstream. Swift's plans to support Lover with a tour in 2020 were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With some unexpected time on her hands, she wrote and recorded a new set of songs, many in collaboration with Aaron Dessner of the National; Bon Iver and longtime

Dinosaur Jr. was largely responsible for returning the lead guitar to indie rock and, along with their peers the Pixies, they injected late-'80s alternative rock with monumental levels of pure guitar noise. As the group's career progressed, they broke into three distinctive acts: the indie years of the original trio, the '90s spent on major labels where the band was mostly a solo v

This year has been a rollercoaster. We took the time to compile our absolute favorite songs of the year (20 from Tyler and 25 from Ian) and hope that you find some in common and discover something new that you may have missed. We love you all endlessly and thank you for your devotion to listening and supporting us. Here is to another year in music. - Tyler and Ian

Ariana Grande is perhaps the quintessential pop star of the last half of the 2010s, capturing the era's spirit and style. Grande had duets reach the top of the Billboard charts in early 2020 -- first it was "Stuck with U" with Justin Bieber, then it was "Rain on Me" with Lady Gaga -- before she launched her next album, Positions, with the release of its title track. The single reac

With an unconventional pairing of technical rap flows and abrasive noise, experimental trio clipping. approached hip-hop production from largely uncharted territory. Though the group would morph into something new with almost every subsequent release, they held on to their core of experimental and often-confrontational energy on independent cassette releases as well as more widely

Japanese musician Joji laces R&B and hip-hop with textured electronics on his atmospheric meditations for the digital age. As part of the 88Rising crew, he experienced a creative rebirth that rebranded him as a serious artist after years as a popular Internet personality. After issuing his first EP, 2017's lo-fi In Tongues, he hit a chart peak with his gold-certified full-lengt