🌎 Greg's Newsletter Goes Intergalactic [No. 070]

Plus 5 good albums from 2020.

I was on an evening stroll last night, thinking about what I wanted to publish today while listening to my algorithmically-created “Discover Weekly” Spotify playlist.

As I do every week, I hoped that there are at least a few tracks or artists that I connect with, but it turns out last night was about a song—and an album—from back in the day.

I was served up “I Don’t Know” by the Beastie Boys. It’s slow, acoustic song with MCA singing instead of a typical, rambunctious Beastie track. And it took me the fuck back to middle school when I obliterated my CD copy of Hello Nasty. So I decided to put the album on for the first time in… 20 years?

My god is it good. It’s long and takes you on an interplanetary journey (ahem, “Intergalactic”) and so all over the place, in the best way. All the lyrics came back to me like it was yesterday.

So that was my big (re)discovery of the day. As for new stuff? Here are five albums from 2020 that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

• Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown: left-field jazz with heavy hip-hop mixtape vibes that you can put on repeat.

• Navy Blue - Ada Irin: lo-fi hip-hop from a dude in the larger Odd Future network; again, something you can vibe on loop.

• Real Estate - The Main Thing: crafty, airy pop-rock.

• Cleo Sol - Rose in the Dark: a timeless r&b sound that still feels modern.

• Little Dragon - New Me, Same Us: electropop, sometimes danceable, always solid.

That’s all today. Talk soon!