A varied menu for you this month, pop, soul, country, electronica, rock, jazz, but hopefully cohesive, nevertheless. Fewer albums than normal, instead a number of interesting singles, perhaps previews of albums to come. And for the nostalgic, two albums that will never fade, from Eagles and Paul McCartney & Wings.
If you want to go straight to the list, follow the Short List below. If you miss tracks from previous blog posts, click on the The Long List. And if you want to listen to a specic reviewed album and suggested single, click on the title.
The Short List: New Tracks
The Long List: Previous Tracks
New Albums
The Avett Brothers: The Avett Brothers
This is already a contender for top ten albums of the year. Such confidence of two brothers and their band! San Fransisco Cronicle said it better than I can: a novel sound with the «heavy sadness of Towne Van Zandt, the light popo concision of Buddy Holly, the tuneful jangle of the Beatles, the energy of the Ramones.»
Amanda Mammana became a star on Americ’s Got Talent, with her story of how her speech impediment, stuttering, limited her in every way except singing and performing. Her debut album with her major hit, Back to Life, must surely be inspiring to everyone with a similar infliction.
Remi Wolf is a feisty artist, performing what she herself calls funky soul pop, an accurate description in mye view. This is music bursting with mood enhancing energy and exhaltation.
The Bygones are Allison Young and Joshua Lee Turner, two musicians stuck in the past, and thank god for that. Their mostly original music stretches from the sound of the 1930s to country to South American bossa novas.
deClair: hiding mountains in the palm of my hand
A fairly new genre that emerged from the democratization of recording music, is bedroom pop. Social Media is full of examples, and some artists make the transistion to an even larger format. deClair is one of them, and one of the most interesting.
Richard Hawley: In This City They Call Love
One of my favourite voices belongs to Richard Hawley, a Sheffield boy, who has collaborated with bands like Pulp, Elbow and scores of others, but he is in his home territory on his solo albums, with his silky Roy Orbinsonesque rockabilly sound. I can’t get enough of this, and love his latest album.
Tucker Harrington Pillsbury, started his professional career as a rapper, but realized he was a better singer than rapper. We should be very happy he changed from the artist Tucker to the artist Role Model. Kansas Anymore offers spicy pop with some really catchy tracks. You’ll find them in the playlist.
I discovered the talented pianist Steve Dobrogosz when he collaborated with Radka Toneff in the 1980s. Their Fairytales is still one of my favourite albums of all time (coming soon to a playlist near you, I imagine). Dobrogosz has continued recording, mostly giving us new versions of popular music. His latest album, Relived, is no exception. I love how he uses familiar themes, but presenting them to us, often in a totally new way. I bet you’ll recognize most songs from the album.
This 1976 album by the American group Eagles is considered by many to be one of the best albums of all time. I don’t think it is, there are quite a few run-of-the-mill tracks on it. But I still consider it ground breaking and a true classic, with its allegorical lyrics that will keep any drunken afterparty debate alive for hours. The title track is the most memorable, but I take great pleasure in a number of lesser known tracks, all of wich are in the playlist.
Paul McCartney & Wings: Band on the Run
Can you believe it is 50 years ago? Half of the music press who hated McCartney who they blamed for the Beatles breakup, suddenly agreed with the other half that this album was McCartney’s masterpiece. Recorded in Lagos, Nigeria, it is truly great and so impeccably produced it is almost like a symphony, with repeating themes and a wholeness to it that lacks in most other albums.
Music Hunter 