In this episode, the hosts discuss the best and worst in music from 2020, including songs about the coronavirus, notable lawsuits, and musical collaborations. They also share their excitement for upcoming topics and wrap up the season with gratitude and promises for the future.

Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters isn’t just the best album of 2020, it’s the sort of masterpiece that defines an entire era. On this episode, Pitchfork Editor Puja Patel is joined by Contributing Editor Jenn Pelly, who wrote Pitchfork’s 10 Fetch the Bolt Cutters review and spent the year in communication with Apple for a series of follow-up pieces, and Features Editor Ryan Dombal, who wrote Pitchfork’s previous 10 review a decade ago—for Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy—and worked closely with Pelly on her Apple coverage. The three discuss the brilliance of Fetch the Bolt Cutters, and Apple’s unorthodox approach to making it; as well as the process of deciding that an album should receive a perfect score, and what a 10 really means.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In the latest installment of our year-end podcast coverage, we’re talking about 2020’s best rock and rap albums. Pitchfork Editor Puja Patel is joined by News Editor Evan Minsker, Contributing Editor Jayson Greene, and Staff Writers Alphonse Pierre and Madison Bloom, who argue in favor of their personal favorites, from Yves Tumor and U.S. Girls to Westside Gunn and Jay Electronica. They also get into some broader discussions about the state of the genres more generally, including: Which old heads or new kids ruled rap in 2020? And what does “rock” even mean these days?  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Over the last several years, American listeners have grown more and more attuned to the sounds of West African pop music—also known as Afrobeats–whether it’s the swaggering Nigerian Afro-fusion of Burna Boy, the playfully genre-bending anthems of Ghanaian-American singer Amaarae, or the enthusiastic dabbling of stateside superstars like Drake and Diplo. On this episode, Pitchfork Editor Puja Patel is joined by Nigerian journalist Joey Akan, publisher of the Afrobeats Intelligence newsletter, and Mankaprr Conteh, Pitchfork Editorial Operations Associate, for a discussion about the music’s global rise and the West’s complicated rush to embrace it, as well as the fraught nature of the term “Afrobeats” itself.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The podcast discusses the process of choosing music for Pitchfork's year-end list, including debates on songs by favorite artists like Waxahatchee, Phoebe Bridgers, Destroyer, and Moses Sumney. They delve into the catchy chorus and unexpected second hook of Waxahatchee's 'Lilac' and the influences behind Jesse Ware's jazz and theatrical song 'Spotlight'. The power of music as exercise, release, and therapy in 2020 is explored, highlighting its ability to foster a sense of community and provide solace. Other podcasts like 'Switch On Pop' and 'Run Through with Vogue' are recommended.

A few months ago, we launched the Pitchfork Request Line, asking listeners to call in with requests for music to soundtrack whatever is going on in their lives. On this episode, Pitchfork Editor Puja Patel is answering your requests along with Contributing Editors Rawiya Kameir and Philip Sherburne. They take calls from a midwestern transplant who’s nostalgic for her suburban D.C. hometown, a Mancunian looking to recapture the feeling of his city’s famously vibrant live music scene, and a father who’s teaching his kids music history by way of Willie Nelson. They also discuss the music they’ve been turning to for comfort during a difficult year. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In a year of historic protests, on the eve of a critical election, we’ve been thinking a lot about the place of music in movements for social and political change. In this episode, Pitchfork Editor Puja Patel speaks with Jason King, professor at NYU and founding faculty member of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, and Allison Hussey, Pitchfork Associate Staff Writer, about the changing role of protest music across American history, from 19th-century Black spirituals to Public Enemy, Lady Gaga, and Janelle Monáe. They also touch on the secret history of a Bob Dylan classic, and the new ways pop stars have engaged with activism in the social media era. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A global pandemic hasn’t slowed the prolific output of Adrianne Lenker, who released her gorgeous solo collections songs and instrumentals this week, not long after making two of 2019’s most celebrated albums with her band Big Thief. On this episode, Lenker chats with Pitchfork Editor Puja Patel about the music that accompanied her occasionally turbulent journey from childhood as a musical prodigy to adulthood as one of her generation’s greatest songwriters. She touches on an early fascination with jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, a teenage encounter with the songs of Elliott Smith, and the story behind her Leonard Cohen tattoo. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

What is hyperpop? A movement? A meaningless label? A Spotify playlist? Whatever the answer, it surely has something to do with 100 gecs, the duo of Laura Les and Dylan Brady, whose songs sometimes sound like the last three decades of popular music happening all at once. On this episode, Pitchfork Editor Puja Patel interviews Les and Brady about their conflicted relationship to the genre they’ve come to embody, as well as their influences—ranging from PC Music to Lil Wayne to John Zorn to Britney Spears—and a new wave of artists who are taking their cues from gecs themselves.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It’s been six months since the live music industry operated under any semblance of normalcy in the U.S., thanks to COVID-19. Which means most of us haven’t seen a proper show in at least that long. When will concerts come back, and what needs to happen before they do? Are outdoor events and reduced-capacity venues safe and financially viable options? Can a livestream really match the energy of an in-person performance? On this episode, Pitchfork Editor Puja Patel is joined by two veterans of putting on shows—Kristen Kaza, co-founder of Chicago’s beloved Slo ‘Mo series of queer dance parties, and Adam Krefman, Pitchfork’s own Executive Director of Festivals—to discuss those questions, as well as their own experiences with navigating the pandemic’s challenges Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices