Your best new music 2016, what it is and why others might like it
Posted by: Bruce Woodhouse on 08 February 2016
As somebody who rarely buys re-issues and re-masters I thought I'd create a thread of new music for the year.
I also find threads with just photos of album covers not terribly enlightening.
The premise for this thread is must be new music (even if an established artist), must be accompanied by a bit of description or even a link to a review/sample. Must be something that is standing out for you so far this year, a bit special.
I will kick off with Tindersticks 'The Waiting Room'.
Rich, atmospheric, melancholy, arty indie music with accompanying short films for every track (which I'm not bothered about). Lovely production too-as the Guardian says 'The Waiting Room is not an album which needs adornments: there is a simple, traditional pleasure in its earthy, untampered warmth – it is an album to be ingested in one sitting; the kind of immersive, intricately produced music designed to be listened to on some extravagantly priced, high-quality audio player.'
Well that is what I've been doing and very fine it is. if you liked previous Tindersticks albums this is probably as good as any. If you can get past his voice (which irritates my wife badly!) there is much to enjoy for fans of intelligent, crafted music. I'm struggling to think of a band similar, perhaps Smog, an anglicised Lambchop or even Nick Cave in his quieter introspective moments (Boatmans Calls).
Bruce
Hungryhalibut posted:
My favourite 2016 album so far is Tord Gustavsen's What Was Said. John Fordham, writing in The Guardian, said of it:
"Tord Gustavsen, the lyrical and scholarly Oslo-born pianist, got big with a blend of pensive improv and Norwegian hymns, but lately he has moved closer to jazz. This album, however, finds him returning to simple songs with religious roots, and to collaboration with a remarkable singer (he has previously worked with compatriots Solveig Slettahjell and Silje Nergaard) in the tender-toned German-Afghan Simin Tander. Tander sings Norwegian traditionals and hymns in Pashto, and Beat icon Kenneth Rexroth’s stark renewal poem I Refuse and Persian sufi mystic Rumi’s writings in English, while Gustavsen gradually adds melodic embroidery, glimpsed grooves and electronics, with Jarle Vespestad’s fragile percussion the only other instrumental sound. The set occasionally suggests an early Gustavsen band spliced with Susannah and the Magical Orchestra, and the mixture of the instrumentalists’ distilled reflections with Tander’s palette of hummed tones, sighing note-bends and pristine inflections represents a beguiling new Gustavsen collaboration".
It really is a super album, just like all of his. As is typical with ECM, it has sound quality to die for.
I was given the Lubomyr Melnyk album for my birthday today, and will be giving it a spin later. What a coincidence that it's been mentioned here. And yes, the Nils Frahm Solo album is well worth getting hold of.
HH is your birthday 10 Feb?? (Just noticed this.)