No cafes, no tourists: Virus empties streets of old Athens

Asian shares mixed with most markets closed for Christmas

At the end of a year unlike any other, it&rsquo;s good to look back and reflect on the things we used to keep ourselves sane. While others may have decided to learn a new language or try their hands at gardening, I turned to a source of comfort that&rsquo;s always been reliable: new music.
				And despite the fact that 2020 was essentially just an unmitigated disaster, the challenges the year posed seemed to inspire artists to make some incredible records. Here are 10 &mdash; well, 11, actually &mdash; records that I think define our year and are worth checking out.
				Let&rsquo;s get right into it with number 10.
				10. &ldquo;Ohms&rdquo; &mdash; Deftones
				One of the most remarkable stylistic transitions over the past few years comes via Deftones, a band which got its start in the often (and, in my opinion, fairly) maligned genre of nu-metal, before slowly transitioning into more alternative and progressive forms of metal. And nowhere is that more obvious than on the band&rsquo;s ninth record, &ldquo;Ohms,&rdquo; a tightly-focused selection of songs that combine crushing heaviness with dream-pop songwriting sensibilities. It leads to music that is beautiful either because of or in spite of its brutality. And this isn&rsquo;t to say that it&rsquo;s the most brutal metal of the year &mdash; check out Paysage d&rsquo;Hiver or Oranssi Pazuzu if you want something really crushing from 2020 &mdash; but Deftones&rsquo; main talent as a band is crafting incredibly heavy music that is just so compulsively listenable. I found myself playing this record on repeat a lot this year, and you might, too.
				9. &ldquo;Circles&rdquo; &mdash; Mac Miller
				In many ways, 2020 can be divided into two eras: before COVID-19 hit the United States, and after. Mac Miller&rsquo;s posthumous and presumably final record &ldquo;Circles&rdquo; is undoubtedly the only great album to come out during that all-too-brief era of 2020 that was okay, and is the only one on this list that doesn&rsquo;t feel like it&rsquo;s somehow affected by the constraints of our current world. After Miller&rsquo;s shocking and untimely death in 2018, after his stunningly beautiful transition from rap to R&B on 2018&rsquo;s &ldquo;Swimming,&rdquo; it unfortunately seemed as though we would never see the full culmination of Miller&rsquo;s talents. And we still won&rsquo;t, but &ldquo;Circles&rdquo; is far and away the best record in his discography, a beautifully funky record complete with frank discussions of the drug abuse that Miller knew would eventually kill him. It&rsquo;s a shame that Miller won&rsquo;t be able to top this record, but at least his final album is a beautiful meditation on joy in spite of pain, something that became a theme of 2020.
				8. &ldquo;We Will Always Love You&rdquo; &mdash; The Avalanches
				A new record from The Avalanches always feels like an event. The Australian electronic music dropped one of the greatest dance records of all time with 2000&rsquo;s &ldquo;Since I Left You,&rdquo; before dropping totally out of everyone&rsquo;s orbit until 2016&rsquo;s follow-up, &ldquo;Wildflower.&rdquo; Thankfully, there was no 16-year wait this time, as the band put out &ldquo;We Will Always Love You&rdquo; only about two weeks ago, and it&rsquo;s like a dreamy DJ set that plays at a dance club where everyone is nice and only good things happen. Built around hundreds of samples from funk and R&B from yesteryear and featuring guest vocals from everyone from the Clash&rsquo;s Mick Jones to Jane&rsquo;s Addiction&rsquo;s Perry Farrell, from rapper Denzel Curry to Weezer&rsquo;s Rivers Cuomo, &ldquo;We Will Always Love You&rdquo; is a feel-good psychedelic romp that sounds just as good on Sunday morning as it does on Saturday night.
				7. &ldquo;Alfredo&rdquo; &mdash; Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist
				If you long for the smooth, jazzy days of early 1990s east coast-style gangsta rap, there&rsquo;s really no one doing it better than Freddie Gibbs. This has been apparent for years, with Gibbs dropping buttery-smooth flows over dusty beats that sound so New York City that they betray Gibbs&rsquo; Gary, Indiana, origins. Gibbs has been on hot streak for the past few years, consistently appearing on year-end lists. In 2019, he dropped a collaboration entitled &ldquo;Bandana&rdquo; with Madlib, who is perhaps my favorite modern producer in the post-J Dilla era, and I genuinely didn&rsquo;t think Gibbs would be able to top that work. But now in 2020, this time teaming up with the Alchemist, a producer seemingly more suited for Gibbs&rsquo; smooth stylings, Gibbs has outdone himself again. &ldquo;Alfredo&rdquo; is a hard-hitting yet still laid-back record with emotional bars from Gibbs and incredible features from Rick Ross, Tyler, the Creator and others. Gibbs is at the top of the rap game right now, even if his album sales don&rsquo;t reflect his greatness. Don&rsquo;t sleep on this one.
				6. &ldquo;How I&rsquo;m Feeling Now&rdquo; &mdash; Charli XCX
				It&rsquo;s no secret that I love Charli XCX; her self-titled album was my favorite album from 2019, a view into the future of pop music in a world dominated by computers and technology and an examination of what&rsquo;s real. &ldquo;How I&rsquo;m Feeling Now&rdquo; was an unexpected follow-up to &ldquo;Charli,&rdquo; entirely written and recorded at the beginning of the pandemic. It&rsquo;s an examination of the things that we&rsquo;ve lost as a result of COVID-19: the simple joys of being around other people, of singing and dancing with friends, of being alive and in love. &ldquo;How I&rsquo;m Feeling Now&rdquo; mourns the loss of all those things, but with incredibly tight pop songs that attempt to recapture the joy that we&rsquo;re all so desperately missing. XCX&rsquo;s infectious pop hooks got buried in my head, and with them comes her infectious hope of a better future, where all of this is over, and we can go and dance again.
				5. &ldquo;Women in Music Pt. III&rdquo; &mdash; Haim
				 The three sisters that make up the soft rock band Haim have been grinding away for the past few years, consistently making some of the most fun and engaging adult contemporary music out there. With infectious hooks, intricate harmonies and playful songwriting, Haim have rightfully earned themselves a reputation for essentially being the closest thing to a contemporary Fleetwood Mac out there right now. If that isn&rsquo;t enough praise to convince you to dig through their back catalog, this might do it: &ldquo;Women in Music Pt. III,&rdquo; the band&rsquo;s third album, is their strongest material to date, digging deep into a vast variety of emotional topics, like love, loss and abandonment, all with Haim&rsquo;s signature poppy style. Throw on the song &ldquo;The Steps&rdquo; to see what I mean; it somehow sounds like the 1970s are happening now. You&rsquo;ll love it.
				4. &ldquo;Folklore&rdquo; and &ldquo;Evermore&rdquo; &mdash; Taylor Swift
				Much like Charli XCX, Taylor Swift spent her time in quarantine cranking out some new music, but we actually got two records from her. I&rsquo;m putting them both in this list because I struggle to decide which one is better, as they&rsquo;re both incredible examples of introspective songwriting. &ldquo;Folklore&rdquo; and &ldquo;Evermore,&rdquo; both dropped nearly by surprise, are Swift&rsquo;s most mature records to date, marking a transition from pop into folk-twinged country music. Featuring the slick production stylings of Jack Antonoff and contributions from the National&rsquo;s Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver&rsquo;s Justin Vernon, the records see Swift making the unexpected turn into indie rock, but one thing is clear: this is the genre where she should&rsquo;ve always been.
				3. &ldquo;Punisher&rdquo; &mdash; Phoebe Bridgers
				I had a habit of thinking of Phoebe Bridgers&rsquo; &ldquo;Punisher&rdquo; as thematically related to Swift&rsquo;s records. In many ways, they&rsquo;re very similar, in that they&rsquo;re folky records that deal with themes of deep sadness. But Bridgers&rsquo; album comes out on top for me due to a rawer production styling and some incredible lyrics. Bridgers almost channels a modern day Bob Dylan in her rambling, stream-of-consciousness style of lyrical delivery that makes her one of the most engaging story-tellers in music out there. While &ldquo;Punisher&rdquo; is an emotional gut-punch, filled with some of the most down-in-the-dumps songs of the year, it&rsquo;s also absolutely essential listening.
				2. &ldquo;RTJ4&rdquo; &mdash; Run the Jewels
				Run the Jewels, a hip-hop group consisting of New York City rapper/producer El-P and Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, continues their stunning streak of politically progressive rap music with their self-titled record, &ldquo;RTJ4.&rdquo; Consisting of some of the most visciously hard-hitting raps of the year, &ldquo;RTJ4&rdquo; is an angry record for angry times. El-P and Killer Mike rap their heads off while trying to tear down the social constructs that cause racism and evil corporations to have massive control over our lives. Featuring guest vocals from Rage Against the Machine&rsquo;s Zack de la Rocha, Pharrell Williams and others, &ldquo;RTJ4&rdquo; was a breath of fresh air for those who can&rsquo;t breathe.
				1. &ldquo;Fetch the Bolt Cutters&rdquo; &mdash; Fiona Apple
				If Bridgers and Swift wrote indie rock albums punctuated by plaintive sadness, Fiona Apple&rsquo;s &ldquo;Fetch the Bolt Cutters&rdquo; was the opposite side of that coin: female rage. It&rsquo;s a raw and aggressive album that is coming for the heads of all the men who try to keep the women in their lives down. It&rsquo;s an album about female empowerment, and perhaps a lesson in men learning to be better. Hopefully. Apple tells deeply personal stories, letting listeners into the pain she&rsquo;s experienced and inviting them to be angry about their own pain. Recorded in Apple&rsquo;s home, but in a time before we weren&rsquo;t allowed to leave our homes, &ldquo;Fetch the Bolt Cutters&rdquo; has an eerie predictive quality to it, somehow managing to sum up the feelings of being isolated, thanks to all the production quirks that come from the home recording process. When Apple&rsquo;s dogs begin to bark and howl along with her on the title track, it gives the entire album a powerful feeling of now-ness, feeling as though it&rsquo;s unfolding before the listener for the first time. And it somehow feels like the first time every time. That&rsquo;s this album&rsquo;s power.

2020 wasn’t all bad: 10 incredible albums to check out from this year