Greetings! Coming back after a long winter break, the first post of 2020 is here to report on what’s been happening in music since the start of the year. In terms of new releases, January to mid-February often is a period with very little happening. Something we, Polish people describe as a “cucumber season” and is here known as a “silly season”. 

I had been expecting tumble weeds rolling through the streaming platforms during those first weeks of the new calendar year. And boy, haven’t I been proven wrong. Arriving with a bang, 2020 have completely caught me by surprise. Right from the beginning it has pronounced itself to be an exciting one for music fans, brimming of tunes, news and announcements. 2020 is going to be massive! Is it too early to make such bold, dramatic statement? No, I don’t think so. 

To support my declarations, I’ve put together a playlist made up of 200 high quality tunes carefully selected from oodles of fresh produce. The list reads like a litany of the biggest names in music. Some returning from a longer, some shorter hiatus and either sharing one off tracks (SEVDALIZA) or singles heralding a new album (THE AVALANCHES). To be more specific, 2020 looks like it’s going to be dominated by high profile rock comebacks. GREEN DAY and OZZY OSBOURNE already have done so, while PEARL JAM and THE STROKES have shared new material from their upcoming LPs. Robert Smith assures that the near future will see the release “Live From The Moon”, The Cure’s first studio album in 12 years. According to Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins are “taking risks” while recording a “conceptual”, double album. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE are set to embark on a massive world tour and will be making a stop at Stradbally’s ELECTRIC PICNIC FESTIVAL in August. Not exactly a comeback but RADIOHEAD have gifted their fans with something called Radiohead Public Library, an online archive containing band’s full discography and videography, complete catalogue of past merchandise and artworks. The website is filled with previously unreleased or unavailable in digital form gems, live versions, remixes and edits. A real treat for all radioheads.

As usual, the mixtape is venturing out from the comfort zone by introducing a handful of new artists each time. Which of the newcomers included this selection will become this year’s BILLIE EILISH? SEGA BODEGA, ISSY WOOD, HAWA, BECKY AND THE BOYS are the first ones to throw their names into the hat. 

            Much to my delight, Some of the highly anticipated albums of 2020 have hit the shelves early; TAME IMPALA’s monumental “The Slow Rush”, ALICE BOMAN’s gorgeous “DREAM ON”, MAKAYA MCRAVEN’s new take on GIL SCOTT-HERON’s final album “I’m Hew Here”, Nicolas Jaar’s club alter ego AGAINST ALL LOGIC’s surprise collection“2017-2019”, as well as new LPs from Air’s NICHOLAS GODIN, PET SHOP BOYS, GRIMES, and KING KRULE. And the list of the forthcoming releases is still extensive and it’s getting longer with every week. I’m certainly excited with the prospect of hearing new ones from the likes of M.WARD, SKALPEL, RINA SAWAYAMA, SUFJAN STEVENS, YVES TUMOR, ROGER & BRIAN ENO, GORILLAZ, COCOROSIE, AUSTRA, SEBASTIEN TELLIER, ALICIA KEYS and TYCHO. 

This is also a good moment to start distributing your time and funds among the upcoming gigs and summer festivals. Luckily, there are a lot of great concerts scheduled in Dublin itself in the coming months. You don’t need to leave the city to get your live music fix anymore. CARIBOU (July 11), Pixies, James Blake (July 16) and Fontaines D.C. will play shows at The Iveagh Gardens, while BECK (July 5), MICHAEL KINAWUKA (June 29 with Britanny Howard)will be joining The Summer Series at Trinity College Dublin. KENDRICK LAMAR, TYLER, THE CREATOR and A$AP ROCKY are scheduled to headline three days of Longitude at Marley Park during the first weekend of July. THE AVALANCHES, CELESTE and PEGGY GOU are among the acts playing Forbidden Fruit at Royal Hospital Kilmainham this year. There’s a number of other events happening around the country too. Hot off the press poster for the Third Chapter of All Together Now bears the names of this month’s mixtape contributors; LITTLE DRAGON, MURA MASA and AGNES OBEL are included in another stellar line-up from the festival. This summer will also see live return of NYC ‘s dance-punks, The Rapture at Vicar St (July 3) as well as their ex-label boss, JAMES MURPHY who will dj at District 8(May 31). And that’s just a snippet of a long list of upcoming Irish gigs. 

I hope I have convinced you that 2020 is going to be special year music-wise. I cannot wait to see what else it has in store for us. And I will make sure to report on that in the upcoming posts accordingly. 

Peace and love,

Piotrek