Here are a few releases I gleaned from other people’s best of 2020 lists that I wanted to spread the word on…

Channelers – Isles Beyond (Inner Islands)

Sean Conrad’s a Bay Area local I was not previously aware of. Here he is spinning an inviting soft quilt made up of New Age and Psych-folk threads. Popul Vuh springs to mind immediately in their more angelic ‘70s phase, also the dreamy dollar bin winterscapes of Steve Halpern and Windham Hill. These are mellow morning songs made of piano, dulcimer, mandolin, harmonium and just enough synth and effects to make it other-worldly around the edges.

Svitlana Nianio & Oleksandr Yurchenko – Znayesh Yak? Rozkazhy (Night School)

Oh here’s an impossibly good record. It’s a reissue of a 90s cassette by a couple Ukranians. I have stumbled on this before and could never remember the name later. Here it is again. Like some lo-fi 4AD or timeless acid folk beamed in from the mystic mountains, this thing is captivating. Hammered dulcimer and casio (?) doing droning folk dirges with layers of delay and gorgeous Cocteau Twins/Dead Can Dance-is vocals. OK! You are already hitting “BUY”.

Sally Anne Morgan – Thread (Thrill Jockey)

This one stopped me in my tracks the other day. Sally Anne Morgan was a member of Black Twig Pickers, a bluegrass-ish outfit that shared members with avant-drone legends PELT (who did one of the best drone sets I ever witnessed in a 200-year-old barn in rural Wisconsin back in the ‘00s). Here she is stepping out with some excellent private press style folk music that takes influence from ’60 and ‘70s UK stuff and USA traditional but sounds completely fresh. She does what folk musicians should do, take a bit of the old and apply it to their own lives. This is new music! Great vocals and lyrics on the originals, masterful covers too. Occasional drumming by Nathan Bowles is a bonus.

…and thanks to @weirdearzine and @RoseCityBand for pointing these out!

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