advertisement


PFM AOTY

Tony L said:
I think you’ll find both Kamasi’s are three hour albums! Nubya’s is a very nicely cut 2xLP/normal CD length. Not hard to get around. Abstractions is just a standard length 33 rpm LP, so about 40 minutes I guess.
Click to expand...
Yes, I don’t like multi album 45rpm nonsense. The beauty of vinyl is brevity. Give me your best 40 minutes.
 
Tony L said:
Some amazing stuff this year IMO here’s eight to start with...
Click to expand...
Woo-hoo! I’m learning how to stream. I managed to put Tony’s 1-4 one after the other on Tidal using LMS/iPeng. Then I found a button that offered a ‘save’ option and it looks like I now have what Young People call a ‘Playlist’ called Tony1. Now I can listen to them all before buying, hooray! Keep those cheapo offers coming, Tidal!
 
Completely agree with the recommendations for Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd and Matthew Halsall. My copy of Gary Bartz and Maisha is in the post, but will probably be up there too!

Also:
Dylan "Rough and Rowdy Ways" Er, Dylan.
Craven Faults "Live Works" (digital only, https://cravenfaults.bandcamp.com/album/live-works) Old school analogue modular synth techno meets Steve Reich.
Kelly Lee Owens "Inner Song" Stronger songs than her debut and great beats.
Holy Tongue "Holy Tongue" (https://amidahrecords.bandcamp.com/album/holy-tongue) Dub, techno.
Rose City Band "Summerlong" Ripley Johnson brings his guitar delay thing to a country-rock vibe.
Max Richter "Voices". Beautful music and a timely reminder of the value of human rights (live broadcast on R3 as I type).

Archive and delving in the vault:
Richard and Linda Thompson "Hard Luck Stories"
Gillian Welch "Boots No.2" (3 volumes) (digital only, https://gillianwelch.bandcamp.com/music)

Groove of the year:
Afrobeat! Fela, Seun and Femi of course, Kokoroko, Dele Sosimi, Tony Allen + Hugh Masekela, Ezra Collective, Newen, Bixiga 70... Kept me smiling (Shuffering and Shmiling) through a difficult year for us all :)

It was out last year but I got into it this year:
Yazz Ahmed "Polyhymnia". The first track "Lahan al-Mansour" might be my track of the year. Arabic / jazz / rock / dub.

Overall number 1 as a great album and and representative of the most vital - as in alive, and important - music happening now: Nubya Garcia "Source".
 
vince rocker said:
Groove of the year:
Afrobeat! Fela, Seun and Femi of course, Kokoroko, Dele Sosimi, Tony Allen + Hugh Masekela, Ezra Collective, Newen, Bixiga 70... Kept me smiling (Shuffering and Shmiling) through a difficult year for us all :)
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Loads of great stuff happening there for sure and I need to research a couple in your list. Two great direct cuts on Night Dreamer records Sean Kuti and Etuk Ubong, the former out of list contention as its 2019, though everyone should buy it anyway as it is great. Kokoroko are just wonderful, I’m really hoping for a proper full-length album from them next year, though last year’s self-titled 12” is great (it plays at 33 for LP12 users!). I’d love to catch them live to as they look like real fun! Here’s some great footage of them playing outside at the V&A:

 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Tony L said:
Some amazing stuff this year IMO here’s eight to start with:

Nubya Garcia - Source. Wonderful spiritual/soul jazz from a rising star of the current London jazz scene. She really has a great feel and tone, it will be fascinating to watch her grow and this is an amazing major label (Concord) debut.

Moses Boyd - Dark Matter. Jazz, grooves and beats from the current London scene. Mercury nominee but didn’t win. A really strong album.

Shabaka And The Ancestors - We Were Sent Here By History. Really powerful political spiritual jazz that absolutely belongs on Impulse. A noticeable development from his debut.

Matthew Halshall - Salute To The Sun. Wonderfully contemplative jazz ambiance from Manchester on Gondwana Records. If you generally like ECM give this one a go. Vinyl is a very nice half-speed master.

Gary Bartz & Maisha - Gary Bartz & Maisha. American sax legend teams up with underground London soul-jazz outfit for a wonderful ‘direct cut’ vinyl recording. Proper audiophile stuff in a top ten!

Mugstar & Damo Suzuki - Invisible Wind Factory. Liverpool space-rockers doing a full-tilt live set with Can’s Damo Suzuki and totally delivering.

The Flaming Lips - American Head. A real return to form IMO, their best since Yoshimi.

Various artists: Blue Note: Re:Imagined. Another signpost of intent from the London jazz scene, this time reworking a catalogue of Blue Note classics very much in their own individual style. It is very good indeed.

PS All these were initially available on vinyl, many on wonderful limited editions, some still findable if you hunt. Here’s the Flaming Lips!

50375077491_51e8b0a832_b.jpg


The Moses Boyd is black & white split half and half across the record!
Click to expand...

Hi Tony - was the Blue Note: Reimagined after my prompting a few weeks back? So glad you got that. I know 6 Music bigged it up, but it slipped under the mainstream radar a bit, which is a shame as it's genuinely excellent. Beautifully done & definitely in my top 5 for the year.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
springer said:
Hi Tony - was the Blue Note: Reimagined after my prompting a few weeks back? So glad you got that. I know 6 Music bigged it up, but it slipped under the mainstream radar a bit, which is a shame as it's genuinely excellent. Beautifully done & definitely in my top 5 for the year.
Click to expand...

I was certainly a little late to the party with it as all the limited blue vinyl copies had pre-sold so I ended up just buying the CD (which means I can play it upstairs so not a disaster!).
 
springer said:
Blue? I didn't know there was such a thing!! The black vinyl sounds great....
Click to expand...

Yes, different cover too! Still listed on the Blue Note store here, but sold out since day of issue.

PS Here’s some footage of Binker Golding in quartet mode on the launch of his album, though different piano player (she is very good too):

 
I’ve tried Tony’s 1-3 so far, with mixed results. Nubya Garcia didn’t really do it for me - I found it a bit smooth and comfort zone-y, although I liked the George Duke keyboard flourishes. Moses Boyd - I liked about half very much, I’ll give that another go tonight. For some reason I’m not convinced by Shabaka Hutchings yet - whether I like his music or not seems to depend on who his fellow band members are. Perhaps I was getting a bit despondent by this stage - I’ll try that one again, and put Matthew Halsall on the end of the list. I have high hopes there, I’ve liked his stuff in the past.

Chas B said:
Jazz Sabbath. One that I keep going back to this year. Great music and great fun.
Click to expand...
I quite enjoyed this, but the joke was a little wasted on me as the only tune I recognised was Iron Man!
 
Last edited:
[I had a look through your list & didn’t recognise any of it apart from Flaming Lips (who I am a little bored by). I am not into the modern Jazz/Fusion, I’ve really tried with ‘the comet is coming’ & quite like it but I think it probably has to be seen live?[/QUOTE]

I was very much someone who liked Jazz, but only live. I've been listening to the Bluenote Reimagined a lot and now Moses Boyd. I've been a life long Indy fan but have been growing tired of it lately and don't like Fontaines DC, Idles et al. The London Jazz scene is providing something new for me. Will be getting the new Eels and Flaming Lips albums at Christmas I expect and like both of them.

Cheers BB
 
I’ve been pretty bored with rock/indie in general for years now with a few exceptions such as Beach House, Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead etc who still deliver interesting stuff. Electronica seems pretty stale too, I’m not certain it has shifted noticeably in the past 20 years really. That’s not to say there is nothing there that is great, but I’m not hearing ‘new’. Jazz, rap and all crossover points therein seems to be the place to be at present. That is the area that is getting younger and more politically aware.
 
Strictly speaking this is late 2019 but arrived in 2020 and probably my most played album this year. Some strong performance and an antidote to previous Wait’s covers like Rod Stewart’s schmaltzy version of DTT.

 
A few off the top of my head:

Sault - untitled (Rise).
Moses Sumney - Grae
Adrianne Lenker - songs/instrumentals
Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Nubya Garcia - Source
Destroyer - Have We Met
Agnes Obel - Myopia
Wilma Archer - A Western Circular
Thundercat - It Is What It Is
Jeff Parker - Suite For Max Brown
 
Tony L said:
I’ve been pretty bored with rock/indie in general for years now with a few exceptions such as Beach House, Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead etc who still deliver interesting stuff. Electronica seems pretty stale too, I’m not certain it has shifted noticeably in the past 20 years really. That’s not to say there is nothing there that is great, but I’m not hearing ‘new’. Jazz, rap and all crossover points therein seems to be the place to be at present. That is the area that is getting younger and more politically aware.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there doesn't seem to much in the way of 'new' , a lot of dross and me too, though I've found some stuff that appeals to me in the country/ Americana/ indie/ pop / rock crossover, I pretty much don't like Jazz or Rap or certainly any that I've heard.
 
Brown Bottle said:
[I had a look through your list & didn’t recognise any of it apart from Flaming Lips (who I am a little bored by). I am not into the modern Jazz/Fusion, I’ve really tried with ‘the comet is coming’ & quite like it but I think it probably has to be seen live?
Click to expand...

I was very much someone who liked Jazz, but only live. I've been listening to the Bluenote Reimagined a lot and now Moses Boyd. I've been a life long Indy fan but have been growing tired of it lately and don't like Fontaines DC, Idles et al. The London Jazz scene is providing something new for me. Will be getting the new Eels and Flaming Lips albums at Christmas I expect and like both of them.

Cheers BB[/QUOTE]
I’ve not got round to Eels album, I thought his last was rather disappointing despite being a big fan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top