Nothing Feels Real is actually Bleach Lab’s first two EPs put together. Listening through the 10 tracks, there is not a weak one amongst them.

Last year, in the middle of lockdown, several readers asked me to do the popular “Ten Albums in Ten Days” challenge on social media. I am nowhere near organized enough to do that, but those messages planted a seed. So, in between major reports, I put together this list, with some context, written in the same vein as my article Ten Wines that Changed my Life from a few years ago. Every now and then writing about something other than wine is cathartic. I hope this article might provide something different to read over the holidays.

Whoever Sault is or are, there is no question that they have made a huge impact on the UK music scene and their refusal to promote themselves makes their music stronger.

I cannot write too much about Promises – it is something you really have to listen to and immerse yourself in, preferably late at night with the lights dimmed, preferably on vinyl on a high-end audiophile system.

The first time I heard of Dry Cleaning was when I caught Scratchcard Lanyard on BBC Radio 6, the title alone alerting me to something different, two unconnected words co-habiting a title that is totally meaningless and yet…scratchcard lanyard…yes, they belong together. It sticks in your head.

I have been slightly obsessed with Brighton-based Black Honey for a while now. They have the whole package. Written & Directed is a step up from their impressive eponymous debut in 2018. Everything is bigger, louder and bolder.

It was via Bandcamp that I stumbled upon 19-year old Cumbrian-born but Leeds-based Amber Strawbridge, who goes under the moniker, Bored At My Grandma’s House. Great name, although one I cannot relate to because I always loved going to my grandma’s house.

Since time immemorial, I have argued, mostly in vain, that the 1971 is one of the great postwar vintages. To mark my 50th birthday, I gathered 50 tasting notes composed over the years to argue my case and celebrate the half-centuries of the wine and wine writer.

During the first lockdown, a friend/angel working on the National Health Service frontline asked me to recommend tunes to lift her spirits. I duly offered one song per day on my Facebook page so that everyone could marvel at my terrible taste in music. Given that we are back in lockdown and suffering the January blues, I decided to put my posts together for this article with just a little editing and updating.

Though 2020 was tumultuous, the virus failed to stop great wines, wonderful dinners, amazing music or classic TV. It made them even more precious - shards of light in dark times. Now that I managed to reach the end of the year, time to look back before looking forward.

The recently released Maze of Sounds shows that the 80-year old Nilovic has lost none of his touch.

I doubt I will hear an album as good as In Waiting in what has been a strong year for new releases. I go as far to say that it constitutes one of the best debuts in recent years and it deserves a wide audience.

Hats off to Wayne Coyne and his very able band. How many artists in the fourth decade of their career remain as enticingly outré and original, but as popular as ever, and produce some of their best music.

Since my trip to Bordeaux in late February, the question on my mind has been when and how I could restart visits abroad. Five months later I ventured back into a new landscape when I drove to Chablis and found aspects that are reassuringly exactly the same and others that are different.

In a change to our scheduled program, instead of a single album, such is the flurry of wonderful music popping up in an industry that badly needs support that this time around, I send several music recommendations Vinous readers’ way. When the world goes down the pan, it seems to stir creativity in any art form, not least music, which has helped me through the current crisis, as it has countless others. Now is a great moment to seek out new bands, particularly here in the UK, which seems to have rediscovered its musical mojo in 2020.

In My Tribe remains an important album for me. It brings back a lot of memories of growing up in my hometown. My social life might have revolved around clubbing and the exciting new sounds of techno, but when I got home, it was music like 10,000 Maniacs that I listened to.

“Song About Our Daughter” is a triumph for an artist who has quietly gone about building a considerable profile. Deftly splicing Americana with English folk, “Songs For Our Daughter” might well be the high point on what is turning into one of the finest careers in recent years.

I will admit it, I am not impartial. Rush was a big part of my musical education. I remember one of my best friends in school handing me an album with a burning red star floating in a galaxy. It was, of course “2112.” The album opened to reveal a photo of the band dressed in what looked like satin cream and white kimonos, a look that was at once weirdly futuristic and ancient. The term “WTF” did not exist back then, but if it had, that’s exactly what I would have uttered. Then I put the record on the turntable, and my whole idea of what rock music could be changed. Forever. So, to say I am a huge Rush fan is an understatement.

If you have not discovered Father John Misty, I suspect you now have plenty of time to do so. “Off-Key in Hamburg” is available to download via Bandcamp and all proceeds go to the MusiCares Covid-19 Relief Fund.

“The Slow Rush” took five years to see the light of day, though Parker apparently recorded the tracks in a period of frenzied activity in recent months. The soundscape is so enormous that you almost have to listen to this hour-long opus in separate sittings.

Mogadisco - Dancing Mogadishu (Somalia 1972-1991) is a considerable achievement for Samy Ben Redjeb, and the mere fact that this compilation exists is thanks to people like Colonel Ali, who risked his life to protect the recordings for so many years.

Penguin Eggs is easier to track down and currently the only one available on streaming services, although needless to say, only on vinyl does it sound magical, where you can hear the intricacies of his playing. No, it’s not the kind of music for everyone.

All Mirrors is Angel Olsen’s best album in what has, until now, been a slow-burn career, evolving from her lo-fi roots to a cavernous, lush sound.

“Love Will Find A Way” is a fantastic album that adds to the canon of a deeply impressive body of work.

It is difficult to put my finger on exactly why, but Denny’s voice, her timbre and inflection, makes her sound as if she is singing from centuries back in history, like medieval princess pining from her castle tower to a lost prince.