the Wire's top 50

The Wire magazine has posted its typically adventurous top 50 albums of 2021: [www.albumoftheyear.org]. No Olivia Rodrigo here, but the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra pops up.

I've only heard of 3 of those artists!

I read Aidan Moffat's (Arab Strap) best ofs for 2021 and he had the L'Rain record so I gave it a listen last night. Some nice sounds on there.

I can attest that #45 and #13 are great. I just listened to #3 for the first time the other day, and I'm still on the fence. I still haven't gotten to #19, even though I dug the last one and listen to a lot of the bandmembers' other projects, or #5, despite becoming a Bachman fan this year. I've heard of a few of the others, but otherwise I'm with Zoo: most of these artists are unfamiliar to me.

Edit: after reading more about them, putting L'Rain and Moor Mother on the list to check out.

Edit #2: I looked up Moor Mother on Discogs, and was surprised to find that I have a record with her on it: the most recent Art Ensemble of Chicago record. So I've heard her. More exploration will be required.

Edit #3: OK, I'm on board with #3 now (which is the much-ballyhooed Floating Points/Pharaoh Sanders collaboration). I think was expecting it to be more raucous when I first listened to it, more along the lines of Sanders early 70s work like Black Unity, one of my favorite jazz albums. On second listen, knowing what to expect, I was able to better appreciate its beauty.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2021 07:13AM by Michael Toland.

The list and your post got me to check out William Parker at #45. Great combo of jazz and rock!

Parker's guitarist Ava Mendoza (who also has a rock band called Unnatural Ways) is still under the radar, but she won't be for much longer.

One review of the Parker album called her playing a cross between Sonny Sharrock and Neil Young. I couldn't imagine what that sounded like till I actually heard the album, but I'm always happy to hear music that suggests the very early, heavy days of fusion or a next step after Last Exit's IRON PATH.

Thanks to our local company Epistrophy Arts, I was lucky enough to actually see Parker's Mayan Space Station perform last week. They basically improvised for an hour, took a break for Parker to talk for about 15 minutes, then improvised for another 10 minutes of so. It was great, and Ms. Mendoza is indeed amazing.

The Floating Points album hits such a sweet spot and has such an instant classic sound. It nails what it does perfectly. I hope they do more albums.

If you find yourself liking this year's Moor Mother platter, you would probably like last year's release as well.

Interestingly enough I have heard of only four of them [Sons Of Kemet, Anthony Braxton, Circuit Des jeux, and Les Filles de Illighadad]. And I only know the first three because I often attend the Big Ears Festival, where I neglected to see each of them play. I was lucky enough to see Les Filled De Les Filles de Illighadad as my last concert before Covid-19, and this reminds me that I need to buy their new album!

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[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Just picked up the Floating Points album on vinyl… nice die-cut cover! (lp trivia: most annoying die-cut cover? Possibly Foghat Live…)

I’ve ALWAYS loved year-end lists. If nothing else, they’re a terrific guide to new discoveries. There’s just SO MUCH out there that it’s nice to have a little nudge toward certain things that you might not have found on your own.

Discovered from perusing year-end lists, two albums which renew my faith in ‘rock’— this year’s album by Dry Cleaning, and ‘glow on’ by Turnstile. Exciting stuff!