Local Action/2 B Real is probably my favourite label this year - "Microdosing" and "Wish It Would Rain" and "Baby" were all standout bobbins for me too
― boxedjoy, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 16:13 (two years ago) link
Sofia Kourtesis - Fresia MagdalenaThis EP has more bangers than most great albums. Easily my favorite dance record of the year, most of the songs here will probably be on my tracks ballot. Drop anything here in a set FTW.― octobeard, Tuesday, January 4, 2022 8:38 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
― octobeard, Tuesday, January 4, 2022 8:38 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
+1 (my nom). I will be voting for the EP, I think; too many good tracks to just pick one.
Find of the day on shuffle was DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ. 2 hour albums of uh.. is 'future funk' still a thing? This is the one that came on first and hooked me.― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, January 4, 2022 8:47 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, January 4, 2022 8:47 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
Nice - another of my noms. Found it in the EOY list cycle and couldn't resist it. Reminds me of the first Avalanches album, especially bouncier songs like "Electricity". Sample-heavy dance album. Here's one of the tighter songs, as many run over 10 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER7g9hWCOxs
― Indexed, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 16:50 (two years ago) link
I will rep for two country tracks:
Carly Pearce - "Next Girl"
My pop country SOTY. Clever, double entendre-laced songwriting with a muscular beat. Co-written with Shane McAnally & Josh Osborne, the tandem behind many of the great Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark, and Sam Hunt songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5KKh5gFock
Jason Eady - "French Summer Sun"
A beautiful, patient acoustic song from one of the most talented country songwriters of the last decade that delivers it's plain message about the costs of war through vivid narrative. I do believe John Prine would've loved this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGevzDkqhVk
― Indexed, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 17:25 (two years ago) link
Glad some folks like Cawe Yoko, Fely Tchaco is fun. The guitar on that track is ridiculous but I love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSXXvHiqkvw
Here's another good one by her, not nominated but just fwiw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMXHjlIoI-k
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 18:26 (two years ago) link
May as well post the one song that I will absolutely, positively be the sole voter for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5jcXNbFfKQ
― Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 18:37 (two years ago) link
Pleasant discoveries I've made from the playlists so far:
Rochelle JordanLinda FrederikssonBilal Nasser - Where the Orange Groves GrowMaxine Funk Joy CrookesInsides - Soft BondsMoritz von Oswald Trio - Dissent
Although the last one made me put on the Soccer96 because of how incredible it sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38tfTqJFI6I
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 19:07 (two years ago) link
Oh cool, glad you liked Bilal's album.
― treat the gelignite tenderly for me (Sund4r), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 19:14 (two years ago) link
I just want to rep for the LADY BLACKBIRD album, a vocal jazz album that doesn't do anything groundbreaking but it's impeccably produced and she has a really beautiful voice - somewhere between Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughn - I've been enjoying this one immensely this winter season.
There are three wonderful songs of her in the tracks nominations. My nom and vote will go towards "Fix It" which is based on Bill Evans' "peace piece" and floors me everytime. My second favorite would be the James Gang cover of 'Collage' which has a light psychedelic jazz vibe and a great bass sound to it but that one wasn't nominated.
FIX IT:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9-w37kmtKA
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 19:40 (two years ago) link
LindaFred album is sort of cuddly-ECM - no idea whether it got much traction anywhere but it's gorgeous.
Would love to see Insides and Rochelle make the 77 - both very high on my ballot. The Rochelle is joyously hooky and frothy and really grew in stature all year.
― technopolis, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 20:24 (two years ago) link
Find of the day on shuffle was DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ. 2 hour albums of uh.. is 'future funk' still a thing? This is the one that came on first and hooked me.
Did not expect that one to come up here! Being Alone is also really really really good and was my entry point into that record. That album is crazy epic and the artist is ridiculously prolific.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz8410zKbhY
― octobeard, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 20:28 (two years ago) link
The artist she reminds me of is Mylo a bit more than the Avalanches, but that turn of the millennium nostalgia is def there.
― octobeard, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 20:31 (two years ago) link
Here are a few pretty accessible tracks from me:
SUEP - Domesticated DreamI meant to post about this on one of the indie-related threads but kept forgetting. A project from the keyboardist of Porridge Radio (and feat some other DIY pals), this is a laid-back bop that gets very earwormy and I love it.
Kanano Senritsu - DropJ-pop with a bit of a footwork influence. Slams.
Wheelchair Sports Camp - YESS i'm a MESSKalyn Heffernan is a pretty new discovery for me but I'm completely won over by this hip-hoppy pean to everything being fucking awful.
Taraka - 0010110Ex-Prince Rama member with a sick psych-pop jam.
And of course Go_A - ШУМ (SHUM)The song that should have won the Eurovision Song Contest and should by rights win this poll too. (There's actually an alternative version I prefer but this is the official one, and it rules almost as much.)
― emil.y, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 22:03 (two years ago) link
Whoa at the J-pop + Jersey club song
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 22:15 (two years ago) link
crypto, i love that uncle watson track! painfully accurate
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 22:25 (two years ago) link
ooh "drop" is excellent, that's one track produced by kenmochi hidefumi (of wednesday campanella fame) i hadn't heard
― ufo, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 22:34 (two years ago) link
If the table is the table is in here, I wanna see your ballot
― jpg trouble in wallo gina (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 23:49 (two years ago) link
Thanks, whoever did it, for that Moritz Von Oswald album nom! Completely overlooked it and it’s amazing.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 6 January 2022 01:27 (two years ago) link
Xenia Rubinos is probably my AOTY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_X7yrfWU_U
I really like the Griff EP and "Black Hole" in particular. Sort of expected her to make more of a splash but not yet I guess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2SK_jb68dk
And I just love this Mandy, Indiana track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sUSDQxUV7A
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 6 January 2022 01:51 (two years ago) link
ooh "drop" is excellent, that's one track produced by kenmochi hidefumi (of wednesday campanella fame) i hadn't heard― ufo, Wednesday, January 5, 2022 7:04 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
― ufo, Wednesday, January 5, 2022 7:04 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
ahaaa. Yep. I'm in.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 6 January 2022 02:19 (two years ago) link
Speaking of the Local Action crew, I want to stump for Anz - You Could Be (feat. George Riley). It's both throwback and fresh, perfect pop dance, and the bassline reminds me of Levert's Casanova.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E36658KPKac― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, January 6, 2022 2:45 AM (thirteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E36658KPKac
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, January 6, 2022 2:45 AM (thirteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
This will be close to my #1. Barely stopped rinsing it since I first heard it.
― monotony, Thursday, 6 January 2022 04:49 (two years ago) link
the other fantastic george riley track this year was "power", sublime r&d&b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDpZGvnKqSc
― ufo, Thursday, 6 January 2022 04:58 (two years ago) link
quite possibly voting for both
R&b-wise, 'Amber Mark - What it is' is dead certain to be on my ballot
I'm considering about 5-10 Amapiano / SA songs, and from the top I have a hard time choosing between Ngixolele and Mmapula from Busta 929. Then there's at least Osama, Higher, LiYoshona, Phakade Lami, Gupta, Tyla, nobody nominated La vie est belle so I guess Folasade from the album with Tresor. Choices choices...
― Nabozo, Thursday, 6 January 2022 07:24 (two years ago) link
Vilde Tuv is a Norwegian artist who's worked in an interesting, melodic modern singer-songwriter landscape, but she took a couple of years off to study electronic music production, came back with those skills and a recorder flute and made an instrumental trance epic - the album Melting Songs, which is on the noms list
She's currently in the process of adding music videos to each track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYbTcV1zBc
― abcfsk, Thursday, 6 January 2022 08:22 (two years ago) link
The k-pop lowdown:
Weeekly - After School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfVuRQX0ydQ
A fairly new group that I hadn't noticed before releases a song of pure, bright delight. The chorus is undeniable, the verses have just the right pep.
Aespa - Savage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPdWvnAAurg
Aespa's hate it or love it embrace of SM's divisive signature mashed up sound peaked with 'Savage', going from the harsh and metallic to the soaring rnb bridge. For me it's a welcome statement in a scene where some artists with international ambitions water down their sound:
― abcfsk, Thursday, 6 January 2022 08:44 (two years ago) link
SW2 & Moses Boyd's "Dirty South", a great track in its own right, was remixed by Sully into something even better, cutting up Boyd's jazz drumming from the original and turning the track into full-on drum & bass. One of my most played tracks from last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5XjEMPFNJQ
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 6 January 2022 10:12 (two years ago) link
Couple of afrobeat tracks for your consideration:
(Ayra Starr is currently getting hard done by on Tom's Peoples Pop Poll of 2021 so hopefully will make more of a splash in the ILM 77)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Sp0jIHDYE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_-n_RHDyuA
― groovypanda, Thursday, 6 January 2022 11:06 (two years ago) link
I was sure this was a lost C86 band when I first heard them. Gorgeous melancholy jangle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC0xoDdLbo8
― Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Thursday, 6 January 2022 15:17 (two years ago) link
xpTems looks to get ruthlessly vote split, so I hope people vote for the ep in the albums poll despite the brevity
I was somewhat indifferent to the music (sorry), but I loved that Vilde Tuv video
― rob, Thursday, 6 January 2022 15:20 (two years ago) link
xp good one michael, very verlaines-esque
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 6 January 2022 17:04 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwPyZgE-FKk
this somalian banger actually came out a few years back but it really blew up on the internet this year and it's been stuck in my head for days at a time. not really sure what's going on in the video - nimco's getting down with a load of military personnel who are super into it, meanwhile an audience in civilian clothing look on impassively
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 6 January 2022 17:15 (two years ago) link
I hope I'm not the only person to vote for Rema - Bounce, which is just so much fun and has featured in so many of my DJ sets this year. Rema as horny dude is nothing new, but he generally paints himself out as a loverboy or a ladies' man. Here he doesn't muck around though. There is one thing on his mind and he wants you to know it. By the middle-eight he's whipped himself up into such a frenzy he's just spitting the word "booty" repeatedly. But aside from crass objectification, there's something unique about the way the "Huuuuuuh when I weigh the thing" line is delivered. In fact I'd say it's my favourite Rema vocal to date. But by far my favourite thing about this song is the incongruously cartoonish haunted castle backing riddim which has nothing to do with the song but nevertheless propels it into sheer greatness in my eyes.
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, 6 January 2022 17:19 (two years ago) link
xp I love this NickB. Surprised I'd not heard it yet!
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, 6 January 2022 17:21 (two years ago) link
the incongruously cartoonish haunted castle backing riddim
oh wow you're not kidding, those chords are proper scooby doo
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, 6 January 2022 17:24 (two years ago) link
ha I hadn't quite got to "haunted castle" but that is otm
― rob, Thursday, 6 January 2022 17:26 (two years ago) link
It's the first thing that struck me about it - a Scooby Doo booty anthem
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, 6 January 2022 17:56 (two years ago) link
given how possessed by booty he is in that middle bit, I think it ends up being more congruous than expected
― rob, Thursday, 6 January 2022 18:20 (two years ago) link
Haha
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Thursday, 6 January 2022 18:26 (two years ago) link
Some propwash 4 my noms starts here, from RJ 2021:
75 Dollar Bill's live ateliers claus, out this year, starts with tracks from a 2016 show, right after the election: Chen says he's pissed with himself because he didn't see it coming, but takes out his frustrations in acerbic, swirling, African-influenced folk-rock-jazz, steadfast and developmental (sometimes sounding like two guitars), while Brown's found crate is very supportive. Later, in 2019, Chen also plays the lower register of soprano sax, while Andrew L.'s wide-ranging contrabass arco and Brown's "homemade horns" join in. One of their most consistent collections, https://75dollarbill.bandcamp.com/album/live-ateliers-claus
― dow, Thursday, June 17, 2021
― dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 19:03 (two years ago) link
omg Dedicated to Saint Escrava Anastacia.creditsreleased June 19, 2021
All instruments, vocalz, and synths performed, produced, recorded, arranged & mixed By Angel Bat Dawid.https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/hush-harbor-mixtape-vol-1-doxologyFirst encounter w this, and don't know of course if it will seem as amazing now that I know what to expect (nothing like what I did expect from several titles, which is prob the point), but so far it's immediately compelling, often beguiling, with an eerie, tranquil intensity, and some shifting surfaces and perimeters (for inst, what's happening to the vocals going around the room---"I know I should be grateful"---in " 'Goree,' or Slave - Stick"---we also get the improbably redemption of overt Auto Tune sometimes, or maybe keys, emphasizing the inflection (of male group vocals? Or herself treated?) that suggests a African-Hebraic-Isalmic chain, rattling a little (the clarinet encourages this). One of the most affecting tracks is her untreated, a capella , "Bet"--followed, in a plausible way, by a calmly killer finale trilogy. None of this is an onslaught of sounds, though; each room is only as full as need be. Seems like a rec to fans of adventurously historical clarinetists John Carter and Matana Roberts (her Coin Coin series, and maybe all of his Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music, although the album from that I'm thinking of, and most familiar with, is Fields).
― dow, Tuesday, June 29, 2021
― dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 19:07 (two years ago) link
yes, very good release, will vote
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 6 January 2022 19:26 (two years ago) link
Arthur Russell: 24 to 24 Music Live at the Kitchen Yeah00:00 / 01:06:53: That's it, one seamlessly interweaving banger--dunno how much is through-composed, but it's all very conversational, with 0 chatter, though some clatter, of Mustafa Ahmed's congas, Jeff Berman's drums, Rome Neal's percussion--times Larry Salzman's guitar, with Peter Gordon's tenor sax crackles and Peter Zummo's trombone hums and holds and (you know it) slides along(the maestro doesn't sing, plays "Pizz Cello" upfront for first 7 minutes at most, then mans the bass function)--while Julius Eastman's organ punctuates, inflects, succinctly comments (incl. exclaims) on and over it all---and eventually, the Downtown crowd does disco, as could still happen then (spoiler) https://arthurrussell.bandcamp.com/album/24-to-24-music-live-at-the-kitchen
― dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 19:33 (two years ago) link
*while* Peter Gordon's
― dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 19:34 (two years ago) link
also on my ballot!
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 6 January 2022 19:37 (two years ago) link
My intrepid jazz buddy John Wojtowicz has sent me the bandcamp link to Lucky Man, the recently released soundtrack/audiodoc version of the 2010 film, which tracks Vietnam War vet Billy Bang's return to the country, traveling all through it, playing and talking with local musicians and maybe others--- I gotta see the whole thing for context, but it all comes into focus right away, and in effect completes a trilogy, following his Vietnam: The Aftermath, which I think first came out in 2002, and is like it says here:As a belated document of his traumatic experience as a soldier in Southeast Asia, Vietnam: The Aftermath was a painful but cathartic album for free jazz violin great Billy Bang to make. Joined by fellow Vietnam vets including tenor saxophonist Frank Lowe, trumpeter Ted Daniel, drummer Michael Carvin, and "conductionist" Butch Morris, Bang paints a harrowing picture of the conflict on "TET Offensive." But employing Asian folk melodies like rays of sunshine through the darkness and sturdy bop lines as friendly arrows pointing the way back home, he offsets visions of death and destruction with humane insight and saving humor (then and now, there's nothing like a little '60s-styled "Saigon Phunk" to prop a grunt up). Bolstered by some richly textured ensembles, Bang rips off some of his most impressive and stirring solos. The contributors also include pianist John Hicks and flutist Sonny Fortune. --Lloyd Sachs
Frank Lowe, Bang's frontline partner in the Jazz Doctors, died before Vietnam: Reflections (2005), but it has James Spaulding, with guest Henry Threadgill on flute, joining Daniels, Hicks, Carvin, Morris,Carmen Lundy, Rob Brown, plus Vietnamese singer Co Boi Nguyen and Nhan Thanh Ngo on the 16-string dan tranh. As with The Aftermath, we get an intersection of post or late bop and Asiatic asssociations (which John says he always though of Bang's violining as having, way before he knew about any of these albums; I think it has something to do with his bluesiness too). They also perform some Vietnamese melodies, and--not seeing the credit on "Doi Moi," but it's one on of my favorite ballad tracks by anybody ever, and a poignant countercurrent to the rest of Reflections's dance thus far.
On screen, Lucky Man climaxes with a new arrangement of "Mystery of the Mekong," from The Aftermath, now performed with the Hanoi Symphony Orchestra: it's rich, dark, profuse, surefooted, river delta music for sure---but here, it's not the grand finale, it's track 4, dig.
Along the way, Bang's flying strings get matched by marching folk bands, and "Jungle Lullaby" starts nighty-night and then everybody goes wild as dreams, for a while, also into two shots of "New Saigon Phunk," rippling and loping. "Song For Don Cherry" is another good 'un, and can Bang keep up with the stone lithophone of "Dan Da"? It rings like a bell, but not too often and not too chime-y, and so far I prefer it to vibes---come back and start over, Gary Burton.
Incisive speed burns incl. excerpts of a Vietnamese woman on how her father changed after the War (with music far in the background, and what I'd hoped was an tape artifact turning about to the kind of engine still associated with war footage), and Bang in little spills of his own lifelong coming to grips. (This particular project was three years before he died.)https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/billy-bang-lucky-man
Here's a reasonable take on the music, incl. in context of the movie, with backstory to it and relevant aspects of Bang's life: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/lucky-man-billy-bang-bbe-records
― dow, Tuesday, May 18, 2021
― dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 19:41 (two years ago) link
From Greg Tate thread---need to say more about these later:
...Meanwhile, archival 2021 release Making Love To The Dark Ages incl at very least an LP's-worth of instrumental goodness-to-greatness(good measure, in this vinyl-high, "post-album" age)---that is, my fave raves so far are the second half, at least impact-wise: "Dominata (the gabri ballad)"(15:47), and the two-part title work: https://burntsugarthearkestrachamber.bandcamp.com/album/making-love-to-the-dark-ages-livewired-2009
Now listening to yet another of their 2021 releases, younger contingent up front this time, Tate & other elders still along for the ride: https://burntsugarthearkestrachamber.bandcamp.com/album/the-darknuss Brides of Funkensteinoid for openers--
― dow, Friday, December 10, 2021 8:19 PM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink
"No culuds, no culuds allowwwed,"The Darknuss, by REBELLUM ~ Burnt Sugar Arkestra's Avant Funk & Roll Splinter Cell
― dow, Friday, December 10, 2021 and the set finds, mined and minds a deep sweetness, w/o ever going mushy (only disappointment, at least to non-prog-me, is that Vernon Reid shows up to play what sounds like guitar synthesizer, vintage if you want to say it politely---but may come around to this cameo, in such persuasive context).
― dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 19:54 (two years ago) link
julian lage - "quiet like a fuse" was a revelation from the playlist, so thank you to the nominator
― roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Thursday, 6 January 2022 20:05 (two years ago) link
Ooo, I just got to see Lage play live with Dave King and Jorge Roeder, he was great.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 6 January 2022 20:12 (two years ago) link
that one is mine! the live version is good too. the sadness in the song is just so heavy to me.
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 6 January 2022 20:31 (two years ago) link
I would like to rep for the Sam Gendel/Sam Wilkes album and particularly the THEEM PROTOTYPE track which is a certified banger and definitely going on my ballot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CdSzWTx-f0
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 6 January 2022 20:33 (two years ago) link
ahoyILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2021
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 29 January 2022 21:11 (two years ago) link
So I am deep listening to the "F" artists now, about 350 tracks out of 1110. Maybe will go back to posting reactions here?
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 20 February 2022 21:20 (two years ago) link
Go for it, I enjoy your write ups
― punching the clock on a tambo (morrisp), Sunday, 20 February 2022 21:46 (two years ago) link