NMW: Top Twenty Albums of the Year (20-11)!!!

Hey there music lover! You like new stuff? Great! You’ve stumbled into the perfect corner of the internet. Each week all sorts of audiolicious goodies are unleashed onto the masses and this is where they come to be judged. I’ll tell ya what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s a waste of your precious time. So strap on your headphones and let’s take a ride!

The Big News
It’s that time of year music lovers, time for the end of the year lists! This is round two, featuring the first installment of my Top 20 albums of the year, numbers 11-20, the second year with such an expanded list. This is the sixth year of this list. The first two editions (2013-14) were published when this site was called 8th Circuit (8CN) which dissolved into internet ether during the change over from 8CN to Overmental… so I can’t link to them. How ‘bout we start by reviewing the last five winners of album of the year.

2013
Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, Anti-

2014
Jolie Holland, Wine Dark Sea, Anti-

2015
Public Image Limited, What the World Needs Now, PiL Worldwide

2016
David Bowie, Blackstar, Columbia

2017

EMA, Exile in the Outer Ring, City Slang

Supplemental Rules
2014: The Neil Young rule: Cover songs and records cannot make the list. Instead, great cover songs are listed under Special Consideration section.
2016: The Blackstar rule: If you die you cannot make the list unless you are named overall album of the year.

20. Alejandro Escovedo with Don Antonio, The Crossing, Yep Roc