2020 Year End Lists Chapter 1: The Production Awards
are getting more and more credit in the modern music landscape. While that was already going on when I first started doing this list in 2016 the trend is accelerating with some of the most acclaimed names in contemporary music production receiving more attention than ever before. So with awards named after last years recipients we will once again jump through a handful of genres to highlight some of the biggest and best moments of great production this year.
The Charli XCX/A.G. Cook Award For Production In Pop - Album
Grimes - Miss Anthropocene
Last year Charli XCX and A.G. Cook wowed everyone with their futuristic take on the world of pop music as a whole on Charli. This time around Grimes pushed the sound of pop music even further into the future with her dystopian electronic interpretation of the genre. With a dark and icy sound palette Grimes is effectively writing pop songs but they refuse to be as accessible as their hookiest moments. These tracks have huge atmospheres that don't command your submission but quietly lull you into it through their runtime. Nothing on this record is as loud or in your face as something like Kill v. Maim but Grimes finds power is that quietness throughout the record. While not everything about Miss Anthropocene is perfect the production is a major highlight that adds to the consistency and conceptual nature of the project.
The Mark Ronson Award For Production In Pop - Song
Clarence Clarity - XS
Last year Mark Ronson showed off his production versatility applying his typically pop leaning sound to the indie realm and supporting a brilliant Angel Olsen performance on the track True Blue. This year Clarence Clarity showed he can do the same, but in reverse. Clarence tamed his wild experimental electronica just enough to blend it with Rina Sawayama's 2000's throwback pop aesthetic for one of the hardest bangers true to form pop music has had in years. Normally with this award we credit producers who elicit the most emotion out of artists like Harry Styles and Ariana Grande but this time around credit needs to be given to Clarence Clarity for sounding like the only guy on earth who can keep up with the fiery songwriting and infectious energy that Rina brings to the table. With Clarence's production signatures all over Rina's debut EP and studio album XS is the pairs most remarkable crossover yet.
The James Blake Award For Production In Electronica - Album
Caribou - Suddenly
Assume Form proved that James Blake, a producer we already knew was thoroughly talented, had even more in his wheelhouse than we anticipated. Dan Snaith has been doing that across his various projects for decades yet on Suddenly he once again managed to surprise. The Caribou moniker has been known for many things over the years but rarely has the music been quite as beautiful as it is here. Suddenly walks an incredibly fine like with electronics that still manage to pack a significant punch yet the wistful vocals and fragile mix gives these songs a gorgeous edge that's intoxicating. A lesser talent at production could have forced these songs too far in one direction or the other and ruined it but Snaith maintains course perfectly on one track after another.
The Matmos Award For Production In Electronica - Song
Nicolas Jaar - Deeeeeeefers
From one regular on the production list to another. Last year Matmos made plastic into one of the hardest hitting songs of the year on The Crying Pill and this year Nicolas Jaar has taken the mantle with a throttling banger of his own on the Against All Logic song Deeeeeeefers. The track is dark and brooding in it's nuances but good luck getting there through the absolutely pounding bass hits and synths that are technically danceable, but only by the harshest of industrial rebels. The track is house music at its most intense maintaining an infectious rhythm but challenging listeners at every turn resulting in a mind crushing banger.
The Stu Mackenzie Award For Production In Rock - Album
Ross Robinson - Lament
If there is one place where producers still don't get the credit they deserve it's in rock music, whatever that means anymore. Last year Stu Mackenzie's production was essential in crafting King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard's foray into thrash metal Infest The Rats Nest. This time around it's hardcore in a different direction as Ross Robinson helped add grit while maintaining emotion on Touche Amore's Lament. While this may not be the bands best or most acclaimed album I was quick to note in my original review just how much I felt the slight polishing of raw live recordings helped the record so much. The highest emotional peaks on the record are dusted with an infectious melancholy but it's the moment to moment mixing that impressed me so much. Where so many hardcore and screamo records turn lo-fi recording style into a genre label Touche Amore crafted a blend of post hardcore and genuine screamo that required a clear vision from top to bottom. Nowhere on the record is the recording style of these tracks ever a hindrance and yet every pounding cymbal crash and roaring guitar feedback have their place clearly defined on these tracks.
The Drums Award For Production In Rock - Song
Rick Rubin - Ode To The Mets
I'll be the first person to admit that every piece of Rick Rubin production isn't perfect. Hell even on the very same record as this song he makes some decisions that I would like to have at least heard another way. But much like the explosion into the hook of The Drums' Body Chemistry last year Rubin has translated effortless coolness into music. From The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas muttering fan favorite line "bring in the drums Fab" to the dreamy impressionist grit of the hook Ode To The Mets oozes with a swagger fitting of New York's coolest rockers. The track is allowed to be measured in its production as Rubin leaves the band plenty of space to do their thing without it becoming mired in production trickery but in the songs most nuanced moments the mixing of the lead guitar lines in particular is completely immaculate. Given the impact of the song as a closer and the impassioned performance from Julian it was surely a difficult task maintaining the emotional highs yet it is pulled off as perfectly as one could ask for and serves as one of the best closing tracks of the year.
The Jonathan Snipes/William Hutson Award For Production In Rap - Album
Exile - Miles
On one of my favorite hip hop records of last year the Clipping boys pushed rap production to its most experimental on an often shrill and terrifying set of halloween themed tracks, which they've done similarly this year. But the most crowning achievement in hip hop production has to be Exile's pitch perfect tribute to rap music's jazz roots on his collaborative album with Blu, Miles. Blu shows an impeccable talent and impressive consistency through his rapping across the album but Exile matches it perfectly. His production employs minimalistic jazz influenced beats and rich soul sampling to create a perfect palette over which Blu can craft his tightly thematic rhymes. The record is a triumph because each of its artists are just as poised and perfect as each other creating a hip hop collaboration for the ages.
The Madlib Award For Production In Rap - Song
Parker Corey - Fetus
Rarely does a song essential lock up this award the moment it first hits my ears. But for the 2nd year in a row the rap song award was the easiest pick of the bunch although for very different reasons. Last year veteran Madlib perfectly melded together gangster rap and jazz rap for a shimmery soul sampling beat to which Freddie Gibbs delivered a killer performance on Crime Pays. This time around Injury Reserve member Parker Corey assembled one of the most raw and emotional instrumentals I've ever heard on a rap song in order to let Amine and fellow IR bandmates Ritchie and Groggs muse on their respective relationships to their own children, present or future. The serious nature of the song combined with the tragic passing of Steppa J Groggs presented a difficult nearly impossible task for Parker Corey. Hip hop instrumentals often demand such rigid rhythm and timing that the slurring inconsistencies of raw emotion can often be impossible to achieve instrumentally but Corey's work here succeeds two fold. Not only is it a flawless base over which each MC's can spin their unique interpretations of the songs premise but it also elicits an incredibly passionate emotion within itself. The song had this award locked up from the moment it was released.
The Jonathan Rado/Weyes Blood Award For Production In Indie - Album
The Avalanches - We Will Always Love You
I had already started planning and writing this list before The Avalanches released their 3rd studio album but once I first heard it the decision became a lot easier. Much like Jonathan Rado and Weyes Blood crafted a unique and dramatic chamber pop sound for last years Titanic Rising, The Avalanches have used the far reaches of space to sonically assemble a wide variety of songs and make them fit together perfectly. Looking at the variety of names who worked on this album it feels like a compilation of sorts but when all is said and done the records 60+ minutes never once breaks stride. Through musings on relationships, existentialism, life, death and everything in between the records sound is dreamy and blissful. To take samples, features, and original recordings and combine them into something so sonically consistent and cohesive is alone worthy of this award, but the incredible quality of the record pushes the merit of the bands achievement even further.
The Justin Vernon Award For Production In Indie - Song
Blake Mills - On The Floor
Every time Blake Mills and Perfume Genius unite there's a good chance they're coming for the indie production record on this list. While the album title fell to another exceptional piece of work the duo showed their potential on the 80's flavored indie dance number On The Floor. Last year Justin Vernon delivered folktronica bliss on Faith but this time around Mike's lustful powerful vocals were given an arrangement that made them instantly danceable. The track has a shimmering bliss to it from start to finish that not only netted it a ton of instant critical acclaim but kept it in the rotation of so many indie fans this year. While you could pick out almost any track from Perfume Genius' new album as an example of incredible production On The Floor stands as a titan among the giants in 2020.
The Jonathan Rado/Weyes Blood Award For Best Produced Album Of The Year
Grimes - Miss Anthropocene
Caribou - Suddenly
Ross Robinson - Lament
Exile - Miles
The Avalanches - We Will Always Love You
As far as full records go it's harder to find an album with a more impressive mission statement as far as production in 2020 than We Will Always Love You. While all of these records maintain a consistent sound and standard of excellence The Avalanches just made something incredibly unique and special that sounds both very familiar yet all their own. With the quality of their execution and how perfectly the entire record fits together it was impossible to go with any other choice here even though Miles and Suddenly both have excellent cases.
The Matmos Award For Best Produced Song Of The Year
Clarence Clarity - XS
Nicolas Jaar - Deeeeeeefers
Rick Rubin - Ode To The Mets
Parker Corey - Fetus
Blake Mills - On The Floor
Just as easy as it was to award Fetus the best produced rap song award it once again just seems to be in another galaxy compared to it's contemporaries despite each of them being wonderful in their own right. The rich and raw emotion of Parker Corey's beat is enough on its own to be a shining example of the wide reaching capacity of music. Alongside the variety of performances the song is graced with it enters another galaxy of being both a wonderful song and a remarkable achievement in production. I would go as far as to say it may be the best produced song I've heard since I started doing this list with only JPEGMAFIA's Baby I'm Bleeding or Blake Mills and Perfume Genius' Slip Away anywhere close.
The Kenny Beats Award For Producer Of The Year
Dylan Brady
Last year when I called Kenny my producer of the year it was for one reason, rap music in 2020 sounded like him. In 2020 there is one voice, style and philosophy that has dominated the entirety of pop music's ever growing sub-category Hyper Pop. Dylan Brady introduced himself to the world last year with 100 Gecs and work on Charli XCX and Dorian Electra projects. Not only did all three of those artists once again return to the Dylan Brady well with even more effective use in 2020 but he extended his discography to more artists than ever before. Not only did Dylan get a lot of work this year but he changed the outlook of the trend he was so influential in bringing to the masses through his 100 Gecs project. The sound of pop music's present and near future was shaped in 2020 and nobody had a hand in that more than Dylan Brady. Providing one explosive busy banger after another he turned singles into a hard-hitting personality filled hyper pop ragers like clockwork through the 12 months of this year and looks to have a great shot at winning again next year. Not only was Brady one of the most in demand producers for up and coming artists this year but he also delivered fresh and fitting takes on his now signature sound over and over again. Someone working behind the scenes maintaining this level of quality over such a prolific year is the exact achievement that nets the Producer of the Year award and frankly in 2020, it was a runaway.
This is just the first list of SEVEN, that's right seven lists that will be coming over the next 6 days so follow the Blog and keep your eyes out for Instagram posts to stay up to date when each list drops.
Thanks for reading!
If you're craving more production here is the 2019 Production Awards
