Hello everyone. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday season. You’re probably not in the mood for another best-albums-of-the-year list, but will you indulge me? It’s been a decent year for new albums and a fantastic year for reissues and archival recordings. I’ll try to get the duco01 25 Favourite Reissues and Archival Recordings of 2022 list out before the end of the year, but for the moment, let’s concentrate on the new records.
Looking at the chart, it’s fairly even distributed over my standard favourite genres that crop up every year. You know the usual suspects: ambient, chamber jazz, world music, solo acoustic guitar, and other types of folky stuff. All the classical recordings that I bought this year were not 2022 releases so, unusually, there’s no classical albums on the list.
In my sixty-first year, music is still my sustenance, my succour. And the record that I’m usually most excited about is the one I’ve ordered but have yet to hear – it’s still in a padded envelope from a retailer, making its way rather slowly across Europe towards my address. I hope you find an unfamiliar album or two here that you enjoy investigating. As ever, the chart is presented in reverse order, to create a tangible air of excitement and intrigue as we count down. We start with the first twenty platters: numbers 50 to 31. Eyes down for a full house…
50. Group Listening – Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works vol. 2
Not as good as volume 1 a few years ago, but still features a fine cover version of the theme tune to Camberwick Green.
https://grouplistening.bandcamp.com/album/clarinet-piano-selected-works-vol-2
49. Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch – Ravage
The 2015 debut “Like Water Through Sand” by French pianist Levienaise-Farrouch is a killer record. This one … doesn’t quite measure up.
https://emilielevienaise-farrouch.bandcamp.com/album/ravage
48. Jozef van Wissem – Behold! I Make All Things New
The long-haired, grim-faced Dutchman is back with his mean old baroque lute. And this time it’s serious.
https://jozefvanwissem.bandcamp.com/album/behold-i-make-all-things-new
47. Ry Cooder & Taj Mahal – Get on Board
A couple of old American masters enjoying themselves doing these classic blues tunes. But … I don’t know … it’s not quite as compelling as I thought it would be.
46. Ian Noe – River Fools and Mountain Saints
Three years ago, Ian Noe made one of the great Americana albums of the century in “Between the Country”. This follow-up is perfectly OK, but can’t help but pale in comparison. Full marks for covering Bonny Tyler’s “It’s a Heartache”, though.
45. Abdullah Ibrahim – Solotude
Every year, the great South African pianist plays a solo concert in Riedering, Germany to celebrate his birthday. And here’s a recording of a recent birthday concert. Good stuff.
44. Tord Gustavsen Trio – Opening
My favourite TGT album will always be “The Ground”, their sophomore effort from 2005, but hey – this is decent, too. It’s got that cool Norwegian ECM vibe.
43. John Zorn – A Garden of Forking Paths
Zorn’s compositions here are actually performed by the all-star guitar trio of Bill Frisell, Julian Lage and Gyan Riley. If you know Zorn, you’ll know what to expect.
42 Jon Porras – Arroyo
Four nice pieces of Californian drone
https://jonporras.bandcamp.com/album/arroyo
41 Brian Eno – Foreverandevernomore
I love Eno’s vocal albums of the 70s, which are light-hearted, quirky and enormous fun. This is all right, but – as it’s about the impending end of the world due to climate change – it’s extremely po-faced and grim.
40. Duncan Marquiss – Wires Turned Sideways in Time
Very listenable Scottish guitar-based ambient stuff.
https://duncanmarquiss.bandcamp.com/album/wires-turned-sideways-in-time
39. Ben Morgan-Brown – Down by the Great River Ouse
Proper-job English solo acoustic folk guitar. Download/streaming only. No physical product. Pity.
https://benmorganbrown.bandcamp.com/album/down-by-the-great-river-ouse
38. Benjamin Lackner – Last Decade
Is it just me, or has 2022 been an unusually weak year for ECM Records? This pleasant-enough quartet album is ECM’s highest placing on this year’s list at only no. 37.
37. Julian Lage – View with a Room
Top jazz guitarist Lage and his trio/quartet now have a home at the famous Blue Note Records. An enjoyable outing. I need to listen to this more.
36. Jake Xerxes Fussell – Good and Green Again
Jake Fussell reminds me of early-70s Ry Cooder, in that he takes old gems from many types of American roots music, and makes them his own.
https://jakexerxesfussell.bandcamp.com/
35. Espen Eriksen Trio & Andy Sheppard – In the Mountains
UK saxophonist Sheppard brings an extra dimension to the Norwegian trio’s sound in a live setting.
https://espeneriksentrio.bandcamp.com/track/in-the-mountains
34. Fergus McCreadie – Forest Floor
The Scottish pianist is really on a roll at the moment. His Mercury Prize nomination was richly deserved.
https://fergusmccreadie.bandcamp.com/album/forest-floor
33. Heal and Harrow – Heal and Harrow
Scottish female duo. Harp, fiddle, piano, mandolin, vocals. Lovely.
https://healandharrow.bandcamp.com/album/heal-harrow
32. The Delines – The Sea Drift
Hang on a minute. This is really good. It should’ve been higher than 31. I demand a recount!
https://thedelines.bandcamp.com/album/the-sea-drift-3
31. Noori & His Dorpa Band – Beja Power!
The always-great Ostinato Records continue their string of fab Sudanese releases. Joyous stuff.
https://ostinatorecords.bandcamp.com/album/beja-power-electric-soul-brass-from-sudans-red-sea-coast
Stay tuned for the next bunch of ten – coming soon.
What’s happening??
I’ve actually heard of some of these artists and seen five of them in concert. The Delines twice!
Yikes! Hipsterville, here I come!!!
Only joking!
For example,thanks to the Duke, I also went to see this wonderful Norwegian combo at the Fasching Jazz Club. Exquisitely melodic jazz that I just drift away on.
Always had a feeling that you were on the tram to Hipsterville, KFD…
Have to agree that, sadly, ECM seem to have blanded out a bit. Or maybe it’s me getting too familiar with their oevre.
Nice enough stuff in their very recognisable style, but nothing very compelling this year.
There are things to explore in your list, above. That’s always good.
Thanks for your comments, Mike and KFD. And now we move on swiftly to the deep centre of the chart: nos. 30 to 21…
30. John Zorn – Perchance to Dream
This time, Zorn has a piano-organ-guitar-drums quartet for another set of intricate musical conundrums.
29. Esbjörn Svensson – Home.S
I’ve only heard this once so far, so it’s difficult to rank. Solo piano pieces that Esbjörn’s widow Eva found at the bottom of a wardrobe 10 years after his premature death.
28. Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita – Echo
A Finch/Keita album is always welcome. This is their third collaboration, and is naturally lovely stuff. There’s an extra string section of a few tracks, but I still prefer the duets that are just the Welsh harp and the Senegalese kora. That’s all that’s needed.
27. Jasmine Myra – Horizons
Nice to see Gondwana Records giving the young West Yorkshire saxophonist a chance with her sprightly, engaging debut album.
https://jasminemyra.bandcamp.com/album/horizons
26. Matthew Halsall – The Temple Within (EP)
Instead of putting out one album, Halsall released two EPs, which of course cost more. The music is proper Gondwana quality, though.
https://matthewhalsall.bandcamp.com/album/the-temple-within
25. Kjetil Mulelid Trio – Who Do You Love the Most?
Top Norwegian jazz trio. They even do a Judee Sill cover, with is always a sign of impeccable taste.
https://mulelid.bandcamp.com/album/who-do-you-love-the-most
24. Joan Shelley – The Spur
Ms Shelley, accompanied by her husband Nathan Salsburg, is back with 12 more reflective, world-weary tunes from rural Kentucky.
https://joanshelley.bandcamp.com/album/the-spur
23. The Unthanks – Sorrows Away
Rachel, Becky and the rest of the band have been a force for good in English folk for a long while now. And long may they continue.
22. Phil Cook – All These Years
A clutch of delicate solo piano pieces by the North Carolina folkie.
https://philcookmusic.bandcamp.com/album/all-these-years-expanded-edition
21. William Basinski & Janek Schaefer – … On Reflection
Really nice straight ambient set by the US/UK duo.
https://williambasinski.bandcamp.com/album/on-reflection
Stay tuned for nos. 20 to 11 pretty soon!
Loved that Unthanks album. Really sweet packaging too.
Yes – made me wish I’d bought the vynil instead of the CD!
Hi there, Duke! Based on your comment above about Kjetil Mulelid Trio – I wonder if you’ve ever assembled a playlist of your favourite Judee Sill covers? Guaranteed to be a list of impeccable taste…
Re. Judee Sill covers:
Fleet Foxes do a nice version of “Crayon Angels”. And I believe they also do “The Kiss” live in Concert.
And … let’s see now … Warren Zevon did “Jesus was a Crossmaker”
And, on “Cover Girl”, Shawn Colvin did a bangin’ version of Judee’s “There’s a Rugged Road”.
I can’t think of any more at the moment, but there’s bound to be lots…
And now we enter the dizzy heights of the Top 20:
20. Flore Laurentienne – Vol. 2
Flore Laurentienne is basically this Québécois guy Mathieu David Gagnon and his vast bank of keyboards and synthesizers, aided and abetted by a 19-piece string section and 8 clarinettists. Nice! There are two reasons for liking this album: i) it’s got lots of nice tunes on it, and ii) some of the profits go to maintaining the delicate ecosystem of the St. Lawrence River. So, basically, buy this, and you’re saving the beaver. Probably.
https://florelaurentienne.bandcamp.com/album/volume-ii
19. Glenn Jones – Vade Mecum
With his fine finger-picking, Jones has been channelling the ghost of John Fahey for almost 20 years now. Start with any of his albums. You simply can’t go wrong.
https://glennjones.bandcamp.com/album/vade-mecum
18. Megan Henderson – Pilgrim Souls
Debut album by folkie Scottish composer and violinist and her 8-piece ensemble. The opening instrumental pieces are particularly fine.
https://meganhendersonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/pilgrim-souls
17. Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer – Recordings from the Åland Islands
Åland is a Finnish archipelago where everyone speaks Swedish. The two Americans Chiu and Honer travelled there and made some field recordings embellished with viola and pipe organ. Gratifyingly obscure, and very chilled.
https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/recordings-from-the-land-islands
16. Chip Wickham – Cloud 10
Saxophonist/flautist Wickham has been a sideman on a few Gondwana albums, but this is his first outing as a leader. He grabs the opportunity with both hands, turning in a super spiritual jazz set.
https://chipwickham.bandcamp.com/album/cloud-10
15. Leyla McCalla – Breaking the Thermometer
Following the real turkey that was 2019’s “Capitalist Blues”, Ms McCalla is right back on form here. She explores her Haitian roots in a charming, richly melodic collection.
https://leylamccalla.bandcamp.com/album/breaking-the-thermometer
14. Elvis Costello – The Boy Named If
One of his two best albums of the past 30 years (the other being “National Ransom” from 2010).
13. Vega Trails – Tremors in the Static
Another Gondwana winner: a side project by bassist Milo Fitzpatrick out of the Portico Quartet and saxophonist Jordan Smart out of Mammal Hands. Bullseye first time!
https://vegatrails.bandcamp.com/album/tremors-in-the-static
12. Roger Eno – The Turning Year
In the battle of the Eno brothers this year, underdog Rog comfortably beats Bri. Deutsche Grammophon Records asked Roger Eno to record an album of short instrumental pieces for a full orchestra. What a triumph it is.
11. Svaneborg Kardyb – Over Tage
Gondwana Album of the Year! (amid very stiff competition). Danish keyboard/drums duo whose sound is pitched somewhere in that no-man’s-land between quiet jazz and modern chamber music. Plenty of good tunes.
https://svaneborgkardyb.bandcamp.com/album/over-tage
That’s all for tonight. In the next instalment, tomorrow, we’re into the Top Ten.
Bore da.
Quite a few of these have been amongst my favourite listens from the rapidly disappearing 2022. I’ve been nudging them towards a mostly disinterested rabble on that Twitter over the previous months to little reaction. Cloth-eared knuckle pustules the lot of ’em.
I assume that mention of Chip Wickham’s recent foray being his first as leader is in regard to his move to Gondwana as he has previously released a few equally pleasurable albums on Lovemonk over the intervening years.
I’m looking forward to reading what makes the top ten. Happy new year to you.
And Happy New Year to you, too, pencil.
I confess that I didn’t know that Chip Wickham had already released several albums as a leader on Lovemonk records, but now that you’ve told me, I’m interested in ’em!
Thanks for mentioning Chip’s earlier career @pencilsqueezer!
He’s had a long and varied career, to put it mildly!
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chip-wickham-mn0002400980/biography
Chip has been based in Madrid for many years: Lovemonk (as I’m sure you two know) is a Spanish label.
https://shop.lovemonk.net/
Here is Chip live on Radio Gladys Palmera with the title track of his album La Sombra.
And here he is in very funky mood: Snake Eyes.
Here’s a sampler for you to dip into the artists on the lists. Spotify does not have the two John Zorn albums or the Jozef Van Vissem
Lots of music here that sounds very promising.
Bubbling under at No 50 on this list are Welsh duo: Group Listening. To be frank, that was not a name that instantly got me curious.
And their album title is even worse! Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works vol. 2.
Duh! I now understand it’s classic ambient understatement.
Mercifully, their music did make me curious. And this review provided some useful background information.
https://www.backseatmafia.com/album-review-group-listening-clarinet-piano-selected-works-vol-2-essential-piano-and-clarinet-reworkings-with-a-sense-of-place/
“They came together in 2018 as the hauntological sounding Group Listening for an excellent album entitled Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works, Vol.1, in which the two reworked tracks mainly drawn from the back catalogue of ambient pioneers and leftfield legends such as Brian Eno, Roedelius, Robert Wyatt, Arthur Russell, and brought these songs wholly into their world of clarinet and piano.
The result? Atmosphere in spades, lovely, haunting reinventions which found absolute acclaim and immediately positioned the pair in a lineage alongside luminaries like the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Virginia Astley, others; a record of delicacy that seemed removed from the struggles and concerns of the present day, to be beamed in from some familiar but hard-to-locate place you’re sure you’ve visited. If you haven’t? Do, please do, although the three various vinyl pressings, as I’ve discovered: hen’s teeth.”
They’ve also done an album of remixes with Cate LeBon:
https://www.backseatmafia.com/ep-cate-le-bon-group-listening-here-it-comes-again/
I want to hear more from these wacky chaps from Wales!
As always, the DuCool list is bursting at the seams with new discoveries.
For example, I can easily understand your enthusiasm for Yorkshire jazzer Jasmine Myra.
The title track of her album is superb!
A short set from her band which includes a harpist. Nt such a common sight in jazz combos.
I hope we can now persuade her to come to Stockholm!
Over on Spotify, Jasmine has made a playlist of her favourites entitled Horizons. Well worth a look!
Ooops! I’ll try again.
As we embark upon the Top Ten, it’s as exciting as a penalty shoot-out at the end of a World Cup Final. Probably.
Just numbers 10 to 6 first…
10. Armbruster – Masses
Upstate New York violinist Connor Armbruster makes ghostly, scratchy, bowed droning and sawing sounds. I like this sort of stuff.
https://armbruster.bandcamp.com/album/masses
9. Bonny Light Horseman – Rolling Golden Holy
Better than their eponymous debut, I think. What can you say about Anais Mitchell? That voice! She’s just great, she really is.
https://bonnylighthorseman.bandcamp.com/album/rolling-golden-holy
8. Andrew Tuttle – Fleeting Adventure
The Australian guitarist and banjo-man has conjured up a series of instrumental pieces that sound as wide and sparse and arid as the Western Desert.
https://andrewtuttle.bandcamp.com/album/fleeting-adventure
7. Joseph Allred – The Rambles and Rags of Shiloh
Allred is a non-binary person (using the pronouns they/them) living deep in the dark, creepy backwoods of East Tennessee. They’ve cooked up a sumptuous stew of banjo and guitar instrumentals here. Fantastic playing throughout. Pity about the dreadful sleeve design, but hey! – you can’t have everything.
https://worriedsongs.bandcamp.com/album/the-rambles-rags-of-shiloh
6. Andrew Bird – Inside Problems
Another year, another top-class Andrew Bird album. Sometimes I wonder what the amiable Chicagoan has to do to be better-known.
https://andrewbird.bandcamp.com/album/inside-problems
Well, I know and love him – near completist, which isn’t easy since he’s so prolific – but until the poll started I had no idea that he’d released a new album this year (though I should have guessed, I suppose, since he is so very prolific…)! This is very upsetting, because I’m pretty certain that had I heard said album, it would have been on my list as well, based on everything else he’s ever made, more or less.
Oh well, off to find it now, should be a good start to the new year.
(You are 100% correct in your top choice, BTW!)
Every year The Duke slips in a Ringer. I’ve spotted it – Number 17!
“Finnish archipelago where everyone speaks Swedish”.
“Two Americans, Chiu and Honer”.
Bravo!
I’m getting excited for Seonaid!
You won’t have to wait too long, retro!
Could it be a top 5 placing for Charlie XCX? Expectations are high.
Erm … you might want to calm your expectations a little, there, Diddley.
Beth Orton says she’s happy to come over and accept her “Duke” in person …
Well, I saw Ms Orton a couple of times in concert, in 1997 and 1999. She was excellent both times. I also liked the Trailer Park and Central Reservation albums. But since then … I don’t know… we’ve sort of drifted apart. So, sadly, no “Duke” for Beth this year.
I go awol for a couple of days and duco has posted almost his entire top fifty! I’m grateful for the Roger Eno nudge because I haven’t given it the attention it deserves. I’m also impressed with the loyalty to Matthew Halsall. I confess I’ve become a little tired of his music. My money is on Nat, back with a band, for number one.
Well, Tigger, I saw that Nat Birchall released his “Spiritual Progression” album this year. But it isn’t available on CD, and the vinyl would’ve cost me about £40 including postage. So sadly, I refrained from the purchase. Perhaps I should buy it as a download, although that isn’t my preferred format.
Tigger – I think you’ll find plenty of items of interest in my Reissues and Archival Recordings chart in a few days…
First there was the mashed potato, then there was the hustle, then the wop, now there is the Roger Eno Nudge.
Moosey are you OK? You could have slipped frug and shag into this. I blame too much rich food and a fireside snooze.
Fruggin ‘ell.
I mentioned Jasmine Myra’s Horizons Spotify Playlist above. Now I see that Svaneborg Kardyb have done something similar.
In both cases, they have created a playlist of some of their favourite tracks, interspersed with the tracks from their own new albums. An ingenious idea which promises some very enjoyable listening.
Is this a new trend? Or just a coincidence that two of the Duke’s current faves have done this?
And finally we arrive at my favourite five new albums of this year. Two albums I bought as
downloads too late, and they were therefore not eligible for consideration: “Piano 3” by the
Bristolian pianist Pete Judge (a big favourite here on the Afterword) and Landwerk No.3 by
the ubiquitous US guitarist Nathan Salsburg. But of the records I heard this year, these five
ended up on top of the heap…
5. Seonaid Aitken Ensemble – Chasing Sakura
This was a recommendation from the Gallant Sir retropath of the Afterword! Seonaid
(pronounced ‘Shona’) Aitken is a Scottish composer and violinist, and “Chasing Sakura” is a
10-part suite for a six-piece ensemble. It’s modern classical: very accessible, with top tunes
and generous tablespoon of jazz, thanks to Helena Kay’s tenor sax. I’d love to see this
performed live.
https://seonaidaitken.bandcamp.com/album/chasing-sakura
4. Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin – Ali
This, of course, is Vieux Farka Touré’s tribute to his father Ali. Vieux’s silky kora and
Khruangbin’s bass-heavy spaciness interweave and play off each other better than I
would’ve thought possible.
https://khruangbin.bandcamp.com/album/ali
3. Fleet Foxes – A Very Lonely Solstice
The most overlooked album of the year – I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere! I know the
download came out in December 2021, but the physical product was released this year, so
I’m calling it for 2022. It’s just Robin Pecknold and his acoustic guitar in a Brooklyn church,
accompanied by a choir on a couple of numbers. He/they basically do all your favourite Fleet
Foxes songs, and Pecknold sings like an angel. The whole concert’s available on YouTube,
too. What a treat.
https://fleetfoxes.bandcamp.com/album/a-very-lonely-solstice
2. Ablaye Cissoko & Cyrille Brotto – Instant
A few years ago, Senegalese kora player/vocalist Ablaye Cissoko made a couple of stellar
albums with the German trumpetman Volker Goetze. Now Cissoko’s back with the French
accordionist Cyrille Brotto, and this duo is just as dynamic. If you like the sympathetic sound
of the kora and the accordion, you simply can’t go wrong with this. No wonder it came
second in Songlines magazines Albums of the Year.
https://ablayecissoko.bandcamp.com/album/instant
1. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
No.1 by a comfortable margin. Adrianne Lenker is riding an extended streak of prolific
brilliance, and can do no wrong. Following two Big Thief albums in 2019 and two solo albums in 2020, she topped them all with this big, 80-minute, 20-song masterpiece. Like Donald
Fagen, Bill Frisell, and Keith Jarrett, Big Thief are alumni of the Berklee School of Music in
Boston, and they really show their musical chops here, mastering a whole range of styles
with unwavering confidence. Ms Lenker writes 19 out of the 20 songs and co-writes the
other. “I already died – I’m singing from the other side”, she declares in “Love Love Love”,
and indeed her lyrics are both personal and oddly detached. DNWMIBIY sounds like a band
at their absolute peak; where on earth do they go from here?
https://bigthief.bandcamp.com/album/dragon-new-warm-mountain-i-believe-in-you
That’s it as far as the new albums go. I’ll try to get my 25 Favourite Reissues and Archival
Recordings list together as soon as possible, and squeeze it in before New Year. Until then,
keeping feasting your ears with your favourite aural tipples.
//duco
Seonaid has appeared on almost as records I have bought this year as anyone*: she is the go-to string arranger across the whole range of Scottish music, encompassing jazz, folk, trad and much, much more. So she and her quartet, often including Patsy Reid’s viola and Alice Allen’s cello, both on Sakura, added orchestration to Niteworks, Elephant Sessions, Hannah Rarity, Heidi Talbot and legions more.They were also the string quartet for AW favourite, Gretchen Peters’ Live In The UK album. The inventiveness of her arrangements make other strings seem pedestrian, she in a league with the late Robert Kirby. She also has a jazz show on Radio Scotland, where she warbles inoffensively, if a little too supper club for my taste in that mode.
You can guarantee she will be playing most nights at Celtic Connections, probably in different ensembles, genres and styles nightly.
*James Lindsay, the bassist for Breabach, probably pipped her into second hardest working musician, he popping up as the bassist for any and every solo album going, as well as the latest from his own Band, as well as on the road depping for the Elephant Sessions bassist who was indisposed.
Well indeed! Retrocool and Ducopath2 : you two really are a dynamic duo,
I’d never heard of Seonaid Aitken and she is a wonderful discovery.
I watched this short film and learnt how the poor woman had fallen off a horse and broken lots of bones and had a long journey back to a normal life.
Here’s a whole movement of Chasing Sakura:
And now, er brother, Ali Aitken’s techno remix
I am astounded -.I have 10 of the selections and will possibly add Fleet Foxes since it is recommended so highly.
Great stuff.
What a delight to go foraging through The Duke’s Domains.
Some of these artists on the playlist are hitting the spot at first listen.
I know they are very popular here, but I hadn’t really listened to Bony Night Norseman before.
Just one track this afternoon and I was smitten by Anais Mitchell and her bandmates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJcWlZmPE-4
They exude such a joy in playing together and boy, can they play! Rootsy, organic, melodic, authentic: when they come to Stockholm, I will be in the audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ25n9oLFvk
And now, what, pray tell me, are the Delines doing languishing there at No 32??
(I must point out that is it was not for the Duke. I would never have discovered this magnificent band.)
Here’s Little Earl, the opening track from The Sea Drift.
They opened with it, when I saw them a while back live in Stockholm and I was knocked for six.
Willy Vlautin is, quite rightly, getting a lot of praise for his novels these days. But as a songwriter he is up there with the best.
And no one delivers a Vlautin song like the magnificent Amy Boone!
I have to confess. When they played the Nalen Club a few years back, I ended up loitering round the merch table and having a long chat with all of the band.
Fan for life that’s me!!
A poor year for ECM on the Dukelist. It sounds as though they are struggling to come up with interesting new releases.
But a very good year for Gondwana. I thought it was very Manchester-centric: a local label for local people. So I was surprised to find this excellent Danish duo on their roster.
Wikipedia got me up to date:
“Gondwana has grown into an international record label with offices in Berlin, London and Manchester and working with artists from America, Australia, Belgium, Poland and the United Kingdom.
In 2018, Gondwana celebrated its tenth anniversary with a series of performances and festivals in Tokyo, Berlin, Brussels and London.”
Going off at a tangent now, I suddenly remembered the Gondwana Choirs who appeared on an Australian thread we had a while back.
No connection to the record company. Both choir and record company are named after
Gondwana, a supercontinent formed in the Neoproterozoic Era.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondwana
Dunce’s Hat for me for not knowing that!
Just as a little postscript to this thread, I thought I’d post a link to the genuinely greatest end-of-year albums list – the one that leaves all others in the shade. I refer to Aquarium Drunkard’s (unranked) 2022 Year in Review. Concise, well-written summaries of their 100 favourite albums of the year in 25 handy groups of four. I had to stop reading about a third of the way through, because I found that I wanted to buy almost all of them, which would’ve bankrupted me. Here it is:
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2022/12/12/aquarium-drunkard-2022-year-in-review/
The other annual online list that used to be outstanding was Ted Gioia’s 200 favourite albums of the Year. But since 2020 or something, it’s sadly only available behind a paywall. You have to be a subscriber to Ted’s content in order to see it. What a pity.
I suspect that you are not a Spotify user @duco01. But if you are, you might be interested to hear that Aquarium Drunkard have produced a playlist : Year in Review 2022.
There are 187 tracks. I’m certainly going to explore it.
Well @DuCo01, I’ve really been enjoying foraging around your favourites.
Number 20 – Flore Laurentienne Vol 2 gets better with every listen. Googled today and discovered that Mathieu David Gagnon has a sister Chloé Pelletier-Gagnon whose stage name is Klô Pelgag.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kl%C3%B4_Pelgag
He has done a lot of arrangements for her and I think one can clearly hear that.
(Pretty spaced-out video. Calling @RobC! Can you help explain all this stuff? Why has Bigfoot gone all pink? Has he morphed into Bigclit?)
Let’s look at another vid. She’s hanging onto a tree high above the Amazon rainforest. Gosh! File under….Different.
I am extremely impressed. Discovery of the Week!