What are your favorite albums of the year / of the last months?

[Wombat]

Somehow this year had not so much greats for me.
Some i like looking into my short 2018 list in Media Server.

Noonday Dream - Ben Howard
Mandy (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Jóhann Jóhannsson
Great Escape - Crippled Black Phoenix
Dead Magic - Anna Von Hausswolff
Egypt Station - Paul McCartney
Epitaph - God Is An Astronaut

Also imho some shouldn't have tried to turn back the time like Mr. Jarre or Dead can Dance.

[garym]

My favorite 2018 new release was Charles Lloyd & The Marvels (with Lucinda Williams and Bill Frisell). Very interesting mixture of jazz and americana.




Also very much enjoyed John Prine's new album, Tree of Forgiveness. I have everything he's ever done and have seen him live many times starting in 1972 or 73. I saw him at the Ryman in Nashville in fall 2018 and the show was as good as any I've ever seen him do. He is clearly having lots of fun.

This year had some excellent re-releases. My favorites have been Bob Dylan's "More Blood, More Tracks" and the Beatles White Album box set. Also very much enjoyed Big Brother & The Holding Company's "Sex, Dope, & Cheap Thrills".

[RonM]

My favorite 2018 new release was Charles Lloyd & The Marvels (with Lucinda Williams and Bill Frisell). Very interesting mixture of jazz and americana.

Gary and I seem to have similar tastes! I discovered these albums through a podcast interview that Steve Dawson did with Greg Leisz (http://www.stevedawson.ca/makersands...-53-greg-leisz), which was conducted shortly before Vanished Gardens was released. I got both this one and the earlier I Long To See You, and they are together one of the highlights of the year for me musically.

It's notable that Lloyd has Frisell and Leisz playing together -- they match very well, and both fit the jazz context nicely. Frisell obviously, but Leisz as well, who has played steel guitar with Frisell many times before. And Frisell, while a jazz icon, has also worked the Americana/roots context, first notably on his album Nashville. I think Lucinda Williams adds a nice touch to the second album, her vocals work in a similar range to Lloyd's sax, also fitting the jazz context well.



In the purer folky vein (call it roots if you want), I really like Pharis and Jason Romero's Sweet Old Religion. Handcrafted and sweet without stickiness. And very late in the year we finally got a new album from Kevin Welch, Dust Devil. Well-aged voice, ageless songs.



The new-but-old category. The Jarrett album was recorded 20 years ago, but just released this year; still state-of-the-art for the jazz piano trio. Kat Edmonson's album is a very nice cabaret-style vocal album in the style of the earlier 20th C.; very very nicely done.



Listened to a lot of classical, but not a lot from this year. Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan won a Grammy for this one, and even though it's technically from 2017 I'm including it here. A good portion is purely orchestral, it's not wall to wall singing.

R.

[garym]

trying out Sweet Old Religion right now via Spotify...Thanks.

[RobbH]

I've got to put in a word for Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Cowboys, a CD released late in the year. Jonathan is a singer/songwriter/poet based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I don't know if he's best described as roots, American, folk, or what. His web site quotes a review that calls him “...a folk singer with the heart of a rock n roll band,” and that seems about right.

I first encountered Jonathan about 15 years ago, while working in radio. I've been impressed by every album he's released, but this time it's different. He calls this the record of a lifetime, and I can see why. It's a highly crafted studio album that has the impact of a live performance. And it preserves a moment that is forever lost. Just after the sessions for this album, Paul Ford, the cellist in Jonathan's band, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Jonathan sat on the recordings for more than two years, until he could release them as a proper tribute to Paul. Also present is the amazing multi-instrumentalist, Johnny Waken, who is still very much in the band.

[reinholdk]

Thanks garym for recommending the Charles Lloyd album. Have some of his earlier albums and some more recent (including 'I long to see you'), but didn't know Vanished Gardens yet. Listened to it and bought it right away. While Country is usually not my style, I like some stuff of Lucinda Williams, esp. when she sings the Blues.

From mark wollschlager's recommendations I also listened to, liked and bought the Sonar album.

Will listen to more of the recommendations of all of you and I'm sure I'll find more that I like as well. Thanks!

[garym]

I've got to put in a word for Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Cowboys, a CD released late in the year. Jonathan is a singer/songwriter/poet based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I don't know if he's best described as roots, American, folk, or what. His web site quotes a review that calls him “...a folk singer with the heart of a rock n roll band,” and that seems about right.

I first encountered Jonathan about 15 years ago, while working in radio. I've been impressed by every album he's released, but this time it's different. He calls this the record of a lifetime, and I can see why. It's a highly crafted studio album that has the impact of a live performance. And it preserves a moment that is forever lost. Just after the sessions for this album, Paul Ford, the cellist in Jonathan's band, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Jonathan sat on the recordings for more than two years, until he could release them as a proper tribute to Paul. Also present is the amazing multi-instrumentalist, Johnny Waken, who is still very much in the band.

Love the cover. Cued up on Spotty.....

[Fahzz]

Happy New Year

Really glad I looked at this today. I'm a big Lucinda Williams fan, jazz fan, Coltrane fan, and that Dandelion Radio looks interesting too!

[RonM]

trying out Sweet Old Religion right now via Spotify...Thanks.

Just got the new Penguin Eggs magazine (https://www.penguineggs.ab.ca/), a long-standing folk music publicaton. Canadian, although the focus is not remotely exclusively on Canada. They had their annual music ranking, which to my mind is more credible than most. Uses a kind of ranking system that involves credible and knowledgeable individuals listing their top 10 albums of the year, unranked, and then tabulates number of nominations. I think universal approval is a better method than a gameable ranking system.

Anyway, Pharis and Jason Romero won best of the year for Sweet Old Religion.

I thought the detailed results, with lists of the nominees from each of the raters, were very interesting. Several placed Charles Lloyd and the Marvels with Lucinda Williams in their best-ofs, though to my mind this album is hardly folk. It's jazz with a rootsy singer.

R.

[garym]

Just got the new Penguin Eggs magazine (https://www.penguineggs.ab.ca/), a long-standing folk music publicaton. Canadian, although the focus is not remotely exclusively on Canada. They had their annual music ranking, which to my mind is more credible than most. Uses a kind of ranking system that involves credible and knowledgeable individuals listing their top 10 albums of the year, unranked, and then tabulates number of nominations. I think universal approval is a better method than a gameable ranking system.

Anyway, Pharis and Jason Romero won best of the year for Sweet Old Religion.

I thought the detailed results, with lists of the nominees from each of the raters, were very interesting. Several placed Charles Lloyd and the Marvels with Lucinda Williams in their best-ofs, though to my mind this album is hardly folk. It's jazz with a rootsy singer.

R.

Looks like a cool magazine from the website. never heard of it. (agree Lloyd is NOT folk!)

[RonM]

I'm pretty much digital, as far as reading goes. E-books, online news from near and far, etc. But I do like my hard copy magazines, and music mags are right up there. I'd not want to do without my periodic hard copy Penguin Eggs fix, especially since they don't exactly have a user friendly website.

And a shout-out to No Depression, which has BOTH a usable website and an excellent hard copy magazine. Virtually no overlap between the print and web versions, and the print version is just excellent in its themes and thoughtful (sometimes long-form) journalism. The web content is current, with reviews, articles and interviews, as well as columnists and a modest amount of subscriber dialogue. Www.nodepression.com.

R.

[Pascal Hibon]

I've bought quite a bit of music last year but only a few of those are 2018 releases.
I guess this means I'm getting old... Never thought it would come to this but I can't listen to the radio anymore. Most of "today's music" just doesn't excite me.

Anyway, here's my list:

Axelle Red - Exil
The Cramberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (vinyl re-issue)
Hooverphonic - Lokking For The Stars
Mark Knopfler - Down The Road Wherever
Mumford & Sons - Delta
Van Morrison - The Alternate Moondance (RSD release)

[reinholdk]

New Albums in 2019

Time to look back to 2019.

From the ~90 albums released in 2019 in my library, I'd say these are my top 20 (the Nick Cave album being my favorite, the others are in alphabetical order):

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

4 Wheel Drive - 4WD
Anna Ternheim - A Space For Lost Time
Bill Evans - The East End
Bruce Soord - All This Will Be Yours
Coldplay - Everyday Life
Erik Truffaz Quartet - Lune rouge
Fink - Bloom Innocent
Gary Clark Jr. - This Land
Glen Hansard - This Wild Willing
Iamthemorning - The Bell
Jan Garbarek & The Hilliard Ensemble - Remember me, my dear
Joe Bonamassa - Live at the Sydney Opera House
Manu Katché - The Scope
Martin Tingvall - The Rocket
Mike Stern & Jeff Lorber Fusion - Eleven
New Model Army - From Here
Robben Ford & Bill Evans - The Sun Room
Van Morrison - Three Chords & The Truth
Walter Trout - Survivor Blues

[Grumpy Bob]

Some album highlights of 2019:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
Peter Perrett - Humanworld
Fontaines DC - Dogrel
75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real
Sunn O))) - Life Metal
Spike Fuck - Smackwave EP
Xylouris White - The Sisypheans
Lightning Bolt - Sonic Citadel
Various - STUMM433
Carter Tutti Void - Trumvirate
Cosey Fanni Tutti - TUTTI
Les Bof! - Voila!
Edwyn Collins - Badbea
Pavlov's Puss - Comfort Food

And some reissues
Mark Stewart & Maffia - Learning to Live with Cowardice
Jimi Hendrix - Songs for Groovy Children - The Fillmore East Concerts

Robert

[RonM]

I've not listened to as much music this year, due to various life and health complications; wasn't sure I had much to add to the 2019 best-of conversation. But then I looked at my "new music", and wow! There are some things I really like. Highly diverse, but high quality all.



Rhiannon Giddens continues on a roll. She's an unusual musician -- trained in opera, sung traditional celtic songs, founded a black stringband, a real musical historian. This one is a collaboration with new musical/personal partner, Italian guitarist Francesco Turrisi. Giddens' voice is operatically powerful and precise, the songs are folk/roots, an odd but wonderful combination. The Linden/Dickensen album is a more traditional roots effort, with excellent vocal support from several others. Both are wonderful and are tied for my favorites of the year



Cate Le Bon's Reward (no words on the cover) was described by Pitchfork as "strange and beautiful", and that's exactly right. Her voice floats above and in front of various synthesizers and instruments, and it's really compelling. Bill Callahan is an icon to a generation of folkies and has finally (after many years) produced another oddly compelling album, replete with the satisfaction of family life.



Here we have two non-vocal albums. Dave Douglas, a trumpet player, combines here with Uri Caine on piano and Andrew Cyrille on percussion for an outstanding jazz trio album. It's not overly focused on trumpet, the first track has only Caine and Cyrille in a great example of jazz piano. Wonderful. Bruce Cockburn's Crowing Ignites is an exemplar of what folk acoustic guitar can be. Also wonderful.



And finally, two American icons with outstanding albums. Springsteen produces what Rolling Stone called country-tinged California pop from the sixties and seventies, and that's about right. Great songs, great band, great singing. Norah Jones keeps changing her approach, and this one is really different from her pop-piano jazz of her early recordings. Hard to categorize, Begin Again is smoothly wonderful, with an edge. Outstanding collaborators