As 2020 draws to a close, we reflect on 10 top PBS feature albums that helped us survive this most challenging of years. Before doing this, however, we'd like to reminisce on PBS' Radio Festival fundraiser, our annual two-week campaign that helps keep PBS going as an independent, free-to-air radio station.
In 2020, we ran Radio Festival under the banner, ‘You Can’t Stop The Music’. We chose to promote this message of resilience and hope for obvious reasons. Though nothing was obvious about 2020. It was a year characterised by an unsettling murkiness that we nonetheless had to somehow navigate. The unusual circumstances that the COVID-19 pandemic brought were perturbing, to say the least. Our music community was especially affected by social restrictions and lockdown measures. Venues were forced to close, gigs were cancelled, and many releases were put on hold. And it felt like our entire cultural structure was held hostage. Accordingly, we had to make radio differently. Radio Festival did not boast the lively hustle and bustle of the volunteer phone room, nor were we able to host the array of wonderful artists who ordinarily visit the station to offer their most heartfelt messages of support. Instead, we ran pre-recorded testimonials from artists and asked our listeners to sign up for their membership online. Despite this, our brilliant announcers ensured that the festive nature of this event was not compromised, as they continued to broadcast excellent, diverse, engaged and engaging content to our listeners, during Radio Festival and beyond.
We bring this up because it is an example of how PBS is situated at the centre of the music community, connecting music makers with music lovers, providing respite to listeners, and making sure that the music never stops. During a time marked by distance and distancing, PBS strives to maintain closeness and our weekly feature albums are very much an integral part of this story. They are carefully selected for their capacity to reflect an important relationship between movement and stillness. The music here offers a wide spectrum of emotional responses, from the meditative to the chaotic. Listening back to these albums now is a way to celebrate the ebbs and flows of a year that we just cannot wait to end. We invite you to revisit them with us and we ask you to stay close and stay safe. Happy holidays and see you on the other side of this!
The Necks - 'Three'
Anna Cordell - 'Nobody Knows Us'
Cable Ties - 'Far Enough'
Natalie Slade - 'Control'
Andrea Keller's Five Below - 'Life is Brut[if]al'
Jon Hassell - 'Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two)'
Crack Cloud - 'Pain Olympics'
Lianne La Havas - 'Lianne La Havas'
Surprise Chef - 'Daylight Savings'
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks - 'Crossover'
