Pitchfork has made a selection of 12 of their favourite video game music since 2000. The list includes music by Pete Rock, Bad Religion, Frederic Chopin, Jerry Martin, Lena Raine and more, from video games such as 'GTA', 'The Sims', 'Animal Crossing', 'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'...

All of tQ's editorial staff and columnists have voted for their essential 2020 albums of the year so far, and it's a slightly left-field choice, as it is to be expected from the Quietus.

So, the top 10:

1. The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?

2. Einstürzende Neubauten - 'Alles In Allem'

3. Squarepusher - 'Be Up A Hello'

4. Beatrice Dillon - 'Workaround'

5. Jeff Parker - 'Suite for Max Brown'

6. Sex Swing - 'Type II'

7. Nadine Shah - 'Kitchen Sink'

8. Lyra Pramuk - 'Fountain'

9. Perfume Genius - 'Set My Heart On Fire Immediately'

10. Nazar - 'Guerrilla'

The most interesting artists right know, as selected by editor and journalist Matthew Schnipper for Music Journalism Insider: Dean Blunt, Lara Sarkissian, John Beltran, Jabu and Daniela Dyson, DJ Python, Mariah the Scientist, Akasha System, Ydegirl, Celia Hollander, Rod Wave, MIKE, Duval Timothy, Yu Su, Young Jesus, Nkisi, The Weeknd. Best song in the last 12 months - 'Hope Road' by Anne Clark; best music journalists: Cat Zhang, Mina Tavakoli, Ben Dandrige-Lemco, Mankaprr Conteh, Hubert Adjei-Kontoh, Arielle Gordon, Olivia Horn, and Jenzia Burgos.

A great bass line is like a mantra: It sounds like it could go on forever, and it only feels more profound the more you hear it - Rolling Stone says in its introduction to the list of 50 best bassists of all time. It starts with Thundercat - who went from Suicidal Tendencies to West Coast Get Down - on spot No 50, to Motown's home bassist James Jamerson.

opMatters had made a very good selection of 50 best albums released in the first half of the year. There's albums that received wide critical acclaim, like the latest by Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan and Perfume Genius, and some that were less talked about like Amnesia Scanner, Drab City, Yves Tumor etc. To round up the review of the first six months of this year, Pitchfork made a selection of the best overlooked albums released this spring.

"I’ve always liked doing the stuff that I like" - super-producer Rick Rubin told about the way he chooses albums he produces. There were hip-hop albums, metal, pop-superstars, classic rock - The Ringer listed 100 of those, from best to worst. "If Rick Rubin had assisted no superstars and done absolutely no work in the previous two decades (Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Slayer, Johnny Cash, 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik') or the two decades or so to come (Dixie Chicks, Avett Brothers, Adele, Black Sabbath, 'Yeezus'), his superproducer rep would still be assured for "I’m thinkin’ we start '99 Problems' a cappella alone" - The Ringer writes in a profile.

Zora made an unprecedented collection created to honor artists and artworks whose contributions to American culture have not previously been recognized this way, in order to give proper due to Black American women whose monumental influence not only shapes music but is foundational to its past, present, and future. The list goes from 'Ella Sings Gershwin' by Ella Fitzgerald (1950) to 'Jaime' by Brittany Howard (2019). Check out the full list here.

Nick Cave has published a list of his favourite books on his Red Hand Files blog, a "rather formless and incoherent grab bag of titles that come to mind at this moment that, for one reason or another, I have loved over the years" (all of his books are at an exhibition now). It's nice to see there's plenty of poetry there, some familiar names, and some that just might be a starting point of a discovery.

Eminem listed his selection of the best rappers of all time on Twitter, saying that "in no particular order" it was a "toss up between" Lil Wayne, 2Pac, Royce Da 5'9", Jay-Z, Redman, Treach, Kool G Rap, Biggie, and Kxng Crooked, XXL reports. In a second tweet, he added, among others, a few younger ones - LL Cool J, Nas, Joyner Lucas, Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Andre 3000, Rakim, and Big Daddy Kane.

Loudwire made a selection of 40 best debut thrash metal albums, starting with Metallica's 'Kill 'Em All' released in June of 1983. The list is dominated by '80s era albums - proving the first five years of genre were the most fruitful. It contains all the biggest names - Slayer, Sepultura, Exodus, Anthrax, Megadeth...

Rolling Stone made a list of 100 greatest debut singles that became building blocks to great careers, and a couple of seismic one-hit wonders. It goes from 'Achy Breaky Heart' by Billy Ray Cyrus which "helped shift the trajectory of country music", to '…Baby One More Time' by Britney Spears - "this girl changed the sound of pop forever". Check out the full list - 100-51, 50-1.

All Music made a selection of single-artist soundtracks, some lesser-known scores, worthy of a listen. It's all great, different kinds of soundtracks, being it 'Virgin Suicides' by Air, 'Tron Legacy' by Daft Punk, 'Death Wish 2' by Dan the Automator, or 'Dead Man' by Neil Young.

“Synth-pop” is less about the "synth" and more about the "pop", a product of movements and musicians trying to democratize musical performance - Treblezine argues in favor of the often disputed genre. It presents synth-pop with a chronological selection of 50 essential, and great, tracks - from Jean-Michel Jarre, over Prince and New Order, to Sharon van Etten.

Blogger Dave Strickson did an A-MA-ZING job - he made an alphabetized roundup of all the Peel Sessions he found on YouTube. There’s nearly a thousand, including Nirvana, Pulp, Nick Drake, The Fugees, Sonic Youth, David Bowie and The Spiders From Mars, Joy Division and New Order, The Smiths, Roxy Music, The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Fall, Echo & The Bunnymen, Hole, Jack White, Elvis Costello, Cocteau Twins, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Wedding Present, The Raincoats, T-Rex, Buzzcocks, Can, Billy Bragg, Fairport Convention, The Breeders, The Kinks, The Specials, The Slits, Thin Lizzy.

Classical critic Alex Ross has made a list of his ten favorite books on music. (via Twitter). It goes from "the book that affected me more perhaps than any other: Thomas Mann's monumental, bone-chilling, strangely exalting composer-novel, 'Doctor Faustus'" to an easier read - "'Out of the Vinyl Deeps', a wide-ranging collection of the incisive, impassioned, posture-free pop-music criticism of Ellen Willis".

Bandcamp is waiving their cut of all sales through the website for one day (today, March 20), which is a good opportunity to support artists directly and 100% in the time of the shutdown. Brooklyn Vegan recommends 30 albums from 2020 - Bill Fay, Caribou, Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats, Irreversible Entanglements, Katey Gately, Moses Sumney, and 15 metal albums (aren't those albums too?!?) - Envy, Sightless Pit, Yatra.... Stereogum recommends 15 albums - Okay Kaya, JFDR, Dogled, Facs... The Quietus is expectedly more avant-garde in their choice - Lyra Pramuk, The Silver Field, Lingua Ignota, Aya...

NPR did a great job - they selected 100 best acts that were going to play at SXSW, of more than 1,500 acts scheduled to perform. Music varies from delicate folk to punishing metal, from Afropop to Latin rock to country to hip-hop and beyond; it's a 100 songs fest in six-hour playlist.

The woman from the Dirty Dancing song teams up with a mobster and a kid from a pizza parlor to - by a combination of timing, luck, forethought, and stolen lyrics - start a revolution - Complex says about Sylvia Robinson, their choice of the best hip-hop producer od 1979. The best in 2019 - Madlib, for creating soulful, era-spanning beats. In-between the two - Kanye West, Dr. Dre, The Neptunes...

"Emo has long been denied serious critical assessment, often dismissed as music for teens but never subject to the generous leeway or empathy given to pop music specifically designed for adolescents. But unlike with grunge or goth or any other subgenre that evolved from a defined set of sonic characteristics to a fashion phenomenon, the definition of 'emo music' is either too narrow or too vague to the point of being almost completely useless" - Ian 'Master of Emo' Cohen writes in the introduction to his list of 100 best emo songs, going back almost 40 years.

Brooklyn Vegan made a selection of best screamo albums from 2019. Not a perfect selection, but a good start. There is: Zeta with their mix of screamo, post-hardcore, prog, psychedelia, jazz, and experimental rock on 'Mochima'; Shin Guard who started out with emo, and got to it's "nastier cousin screamo" on '2020'; Frail Body are cross-over with […]

Brooklyn Vegan combed through the 2010s as well and came up with 141 best albums of the last ten years (it was a shame to kick out Leonard Cohen, right?!? :_) ). The first ten are: 10. The National – 'Trouble Will Find Me Read More' 9. PJ Harvey – 'Let England Shake' 8. Beyonce […]

There is fun in these albums, there's happiness, love, hope, braveness, stepping out and forward, sincerity, wisdom... All we are saying is - give these songs a chance! 1.Black Midi: 'Schlagenheim' They're new, they don't care about what was before them, or what comes next, they just play how they feel. The most earnest album […]

The Guardian made a list of 50 up-and-coming artists for the next year. Still, they pick their favourites among these - it's British electronic musician Beatrice Dillon with "masterfully light yet complex music", American singer-songwriter Eli Winter, gospel-influenced singer Lynda Dawn, Brit-rock band Sports Team, "shimmering chanson post-punk" singer Charlène Darling, Asagraum because - "totally […]

Quite a good selection of rap and R&B (actually, mostly rap) albums of 2019 by the Brooklyn Vegan. An inclusive list covers majority of the most important moments in this year's rap/R&B - they've got Skepta's 'Ignorance Is Bliss', Pivot Gang's 'You Can’t Sit With Us', Stormzy's 'Heavy Is The Head', Danny Brown's 'uknowhatimsayin?', Solange's […]

2019 saw dancefloor boundaries staked out in exciting new territory, Guardian says in their introduction to the best underground club music of the year. Producers that broke those boundaries, the G says, were DJ Plead, Loraine James, Barker, Aya, Sherelle, Conducta...

To cap off a year of endless incredible mixes from much-loved stalwarts and game-changing newbies alike, we present our 25 favorite mixes - Fact Magazine says in the introduction of their choice of mixes for the year. It's really a colourful mix, incorporating even Mariah Carey and Linkin Park's late Chester Bennington.

The list goes from 'Titanic Rising' by Weyes Blood at the top (because "we too are lost in the stars"), to 'Animated Violence Mild' by the Blanck Mass at the spot No. 50 ("one of the harshest sounding albums"). Check out the full list here. BV made a separate list of 40 best indie-music albums - here […]

Pitchfork made a great selection of music books published this year - a collection of best writings by the satire website The Hard Times, high-school biography by Tegan and Sara, journals by ’70s gay porn flicks soundtrack author Patrick Cowley, a case against R. Kelly by journalist Jim DeRogatis who investigated him for 20 years, […]

Brooklyn Vegan's choice of 100 best emo and punk albums of 2010s includes a whole lot of it found in between Converge and Mitski, meaning "punk" and "emo" is taken as an attitude/philosophy, rather than a genre. The top 10 (below) might be the least varied here... 10. The Menzingers – 'On the Impossible Past' […]

BC's selection is different from the most other big outlets, plus we like BandCamp, so here it is, their 100. The top 10 - mostly albums that others don't feature: 10. False - 'Portent' 9. Helado Negro - 'This Is How You Smile' 8. Ex Hex - 'It’s Real' 7. Jamila Woods - 'LEGACY! LEGACY!' […]