Pantayo - Pantayo (Telephone Explosion)
Brilliant all female contemporary kulintang ensemble.
Pantha Du Prince - Conference Of Trees (Modern Recordings)
Addressing the secret life of trees through percussive electronic music.
Paradise Cinema - Paradise Cinema (Gondwana)
Percussion-focused project from Jack Wyllie, recorded in Senegal.
Pat Metheny - From This Place (Nonesuch)
First studio recording from Pat Metheny's current touring quartet with Gwilym Simcock, Linda May Han Oh and Antonio Sanchez brings lush, expansive arrangements and resplendent romanticism.
Paul Burch & WPA Ballclub - Light Sensitive (Plowboy)
The former Lambchop member continues to inhabit a range of timeless song forms with genuine enthusiasm.
Paul McCartney - McCartney III (MPL Communications/Universal)
Lockdown prompted McCartney to revisit the approach of his previous self titled albums, playing all the instruments and handling production duties himself. The result is his bravest, most musically intriguing album for some time.
Pearl Jam - Gigaton (Monkeywrench/Universal)
Now something of a rock behemoth, it's not clear that Pearl Jam are actually developing any further musically with each album, although the unexpected burst of disco on Dance Of The Clairvoyants works well. They trundle on consistently - and that is welcome enough.
Pet Shop Boys - Hotspot (x2 Recordings)
Another sleek and dependable, cannily observed modern pop record. Their continued existence and success is a wonder.
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher (Dead Oceans)
Literate and acutely observed songwriting, unafraid of expressing emotion and deploying absorbing textures in the sound.
Pinch - Reality Tunnels (Tectonic)
First album in thirteen years from genre-crossing electronic producer Rob Ellis.
Pink Siifu - Negro (Field-Left)
Pink Siifu & Fly Anakin - FlySiifu's (Lex)
'Negro' is fragmented, inspired, brutalist hip hop. The Fly Anakin collaboration is more easily approachable, but also full of distinctive ideas.
Pole - Fading (Mute)
A new album from Stefan Betke is always welcome - and his minimalist, shielded aesthetic works as well as ever here.
Porridge Radio - Every Bad (Secretly Canadian)
One of 2020's most confident and convincing indie rock albums.
Powers/Rolin Duo - Powers/Rolin Duo (Feeding Tube)
Powers/Rolin Duo - The Nightland (Trouble In Mind)
Beautiful, transcendent guitar/hammered dulcimer duo collaboration strikes gold twice.
Pretty Sneaky - Pretty Sneaky (Mana)
Very little seems to be known about Pretty Sneaky - as very little information is provided, the music seemingly appearing through stealth. So the protracted and mesmerising dub techno has to speak for itself, which it does most effectively.
Psychic Temple - Houses Of The Holy (Joyful Noise)
Epic exploration of a variety of set-ups and approaches from the excellent Chris Schlarb.
Pulled By Magnets - Rose Golden Doorways (tak:til)
Sebastian Rochford's outstanding latest project, a very different beast from Polar Bear, explores both sound and space with depth and contemplation.
I interviewed Sebastian for musicOMH here, touching on compelling themes of identity and self realisation.
Pure Bathing Culture - Hats (Better Company)
A bold move - the dreamy electro pop duo reimagine The Blue Nile's masterpiece.
Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Innocent Country 2 (Mello Music)
One of 2020's most ambitious, high concept and powerful hip hop albums, with a compelling roster of guests.
Raul Monsalve y los Forajidos - Bichos (Olindo)
Thrilling, kinetic Afro-Venezuelan music with a superbly articulate horn section, produced by Malcolm Catto (The Heliocentrics).
Ray Russell - Fluid Architecture (Cuneiform)
Drawing from blues, progressive rock, electronic and ambient music, the great guitarist crafts something modernist and unpredictable. In the words of Jim O'Rourke, 'Russell makes it sound as if the guitar is not enough'.
Regis - Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss (Downwards)
Unflinching brutalist electronica.
RG Lowe - Life Of The Body (Western Vinyl)
Smooth, soulful and sensuous pop songs from the former neo-classical artist.
Rhyton - Krater's Call (Bandcamp)
Six studio improvisations from the rhythmically malleable rock trio.
Rian Treanor - File Under UK Metaplasm (Planet Mu)
Informed by footwork and dubstep, but far more frenetic, wild and disorientating, Rian Treanor's music is overwhelming and full on.
Richard Skelton - Lastglacialmaximum (Corbel Stone Press)
Richard Skelton - These Charms May Be Sung Over A Wound (Phantom Limb)
The great chronicler of the British and Irish landscape meditates on the Ice Age.
On his first album for the Phantom Limb label, he eschews all acoustic instrumentation and aims for somewhat different textures and effects.
Rick Simpson - Everything All The Time: Kid A Revisited (Whirlwind)
Released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Radiohead's Kid A, this album of small acoustic jazz group interpretations demonstrates both an inherent curiosity and affinity for the source material, using it as a template from which to explore new ideas and interactions. The result is a more human take on this anxious, edgy turn of the millennium treatise.
Rina Sawayama - Sawayama (Dirty Hit)
All encompassing, urgent, daring pop music.
Riz Ahmed - The Long Goodbye (Mongrel)
An album that speaks to the British moment - reflecting on the relationship of British Asians with Britain as an abusive one, reflections inevitably made through the prism of colonial history.
Rob Luft - Life Is The Dancer (Edition)
The guitarist is one of the most exciting musicians at work in contemporary jazz. After a surprising and brilliant motorik opener ('Berlin'), the rest of the album is in more familiar contemporary jazz mode, but the compositions are confident and striking, and the album as a whole is agile and jubilant.
Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra - Dimensional Stardust (International Anthem/Nonesuch)
Masterful, awe inspiring large ensemble work featuring some of the most imaginative and dynamic musicians currently at work on the US scene (including Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Damon Locks, Jeff Parker and Joel Ross).
Robert Haigh - Black Sarabande (Unseen Worlds)
Minimal, intimate and gorgeous piano and electronics pieces.
Robert Hood - Mirror Man (Rekids)
Techno pioneer continues to produce high quality, powerful work.
Roisin Murphy - Roisin Machine (Loaded/BMG)
Sleek, majestic, hugely enjoyable dance pop workout. Perhaps Murphy's best album?
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Sideways To New Italy (Sub Pop)
Crisp, pacy, power pop with a refreshing attention to melodic detail.
Romeo Poirier - Hotel Nota (Sferic)
Abstract electronic/musique concrete travelogue.
Ron Miles - Rainbow Sign (Blue Note)
A dream ensemble lead by trumpet and cornet player Ron Miles (with Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan, Jason Moran and Brian Blade) negotiate sincere, emotional but nonetheless knotty compositions, reflecting Miles' period providing end of life care for his father in 2018.
Roly Porter - Kistvaen (Subtext/Multiverse)
Kistvaen takes its name from a type of granite tomb found on Dartmoor and this reflection on burial sites is starkly evocative.
Rose City Band - Summerlong
Exuberant, loosely propulsive second album from Ripley Johnson's recording project.
Ross McHenry - Nothing Remains Unchanged (First Word)
Tricksy, complex jazz compositions executed with daring precision. Typically tremendous drumming from Eric Harland on this.
Rudresh Mahanthappa - Hero Trio (Whirlwind Recordings)
A modern standard repertoire delivered with ingenuity and a playful sense of fun.
Run The Jewels - RTJ4 (Jewel Runners/BMG)
The strongest example of EL-P and Killer Mike's enduring collaboration since the first release.
Rustin Man - Clockdust (Domino)
Bonus second helping of Paul Webb's pastoral, ambitious modern folk music. I had really been excited about seeing this music live towards the end of this year - sadly not to be.