In a weird and chaotic year like 2020, it's totally normal to get lost in the whirlwind of new releases, and there are plenty of albums that slipped through our fingers over the past 12 months. Luckily, some of them still ended up on our personal best-of-the-year-lists and today the writers of NBHAP share some of their favourite hidden treasures of the year with you, including records by Billy Nomates, Mavi Phoenix, Eddie Chacon, Riz Ahmed, Spunsugar, Pillow Queens, Christian Lee Hudson, Pip Millett and many more.
Songwriting against quarantine boredom. The American superstar simply continued to record more music in the wake of her ‘folklore’ sessions. The world never asked for this sequel but Taylor Swift couldn’t care less about that. Since NBHAP head Norman already reflected on the first album, it made sense for another reflection on a record that couldn’t be anything else but a disappointment, right?
It has been quite a hard year for everyone earning their money in the cultural scene in Germany. One of the affected persons is Timo Kumpf, the organizer of beloved German indie festival Maifeld Derby. NBHAP author Miriam Wallbaum, who attended the festival regularly the last years, took the nearby end of the year as a chance to recap the past months together with the organizer and had a little look at the near future with him.
Following the legendary 16-year-gap between their first two albums the genre-breaking Australian group now returns with their relatively quick third album "We Will Always Love You." Following a year that was clearly lacking of hope and positive moments they couldn't have picked a better timing for their life-affirming pop cocktail. NBHAP head Norman Fleischer phoned up one half of the duo to discuss the process of making this record happen along with a few other subjects.
The German psychedelic rock outfit returns with a fitting anthem for socially distanced 2020. Check out "Meet U In RL" in our newcomer playlist along with highly recommendable new music by Claud, Chez Ali, Marie Noreger, Alice Ray, KWAYE and more.
The 2020 holiday season will be a bit different than the last ones, a bit more lonely maybe for many of us or at least a bit more intimate. And maybe that's not the worst thing to happen in order to return to the core of the Christmas spirit. As always music can be a helpful ally in a time of despair and that's why we stocked up our moody festive playlist with great songs by some of your and our favourite artists. May this selection help you to get through this bleak winter time.
Friday is release day. But what to listen to from the sheer endless sea of new records? Don't worry, NBHAP's editors can help you with that. These are our Top 5 recommendations from today.
This year has been a challenge for all of us and we were lucky enough to have such tremendous records on our side to comfort us in difficult times. From gentle melancholia, to raging fury - the albums of 2020 had a lot of stories to tell and these are the ones our staff enjoyed the most. If you haven't listened to all of them you now got a whole lockdown winter ahead of you to do that.
