Every year brings old and new faces alike, even if they all arrive masked. We’re starting to see artists adapt to the reality of a post-pandemic world where performance, recording, and fandom have all taken some strange turns. Music abides, though, and artists persevere despite significant obstacles.
Read MoreFuck Covid. Music isn’t going anywhere. Live shows may have ground to a halt. Musicians are learning entirely new skills, mastering the live streaming broadcast. And we’re seeing a whole new side of our favorite artists, often set in their living rooms.
Read MoreA solid dozen new faces this year, and another eight making their second appearance. Buckle up for some new stuff.
Read More2018 sees the return of several favorite and familiar artists: Elvis Costello, the Decemberists, Editors, Neko Case, Richard Thompson, and Metric.
Read More2016 was no easy year and to say 2017 is somehow better would really miss the mark. So many musicians lost across so many ages and all lost too soon: Grandaddy, Steely Dan, Husker Du, Smithereens, Tom Petty, Glen Campbell. These are the musicians of my youth, my adulthood, and my life. With their passing come new artists rising to comfort a saddened world and recharge a weary soul.
Read MoreDavid Byrne turned me onto this stunning psychedelia compilation from West Africa. He was moved to eulogize the passing of his friend, William Onyeabor, an amazing talent I am only now discovering. I am pretty dumbstruck by how amazing this is and I hope you are, too.
2016, musically, will forever be my worst. Music from the 31 list covers some tremendous acts, new and familiar. But I lost David Bowie; we all did. Not only was he my musical touchstone, spanning an entire adult life, he inspired me to listen to new artists and genres. He made it glorious to be weird and inspired unrepentant self-expression. Bowie’s influence went far beyond music yet remained anchored to the epochs defined by his albums: Ziggy, the thin white duke, a harlequin. With his passing it feels like time, itself, has been set adrift.
We have no real choice but to live. And to live means celebrating the things that make us alive. Bowie always embraced new sounds and new visions. I will honor his memory with each new song and share them with you.
Read More2015 energies were focused on my first, feature-length music documentary Turn It Up Louder. Happily the world did not come to a halt while I was holed up in the editing suite. This year brought a bounty of new and exciting albums that I enjoyed while cutting the movie.
Read MoreNerina Pallot played a large part of my 2014 world: she, and her fans, were the subjects of my under-development documentary on what makes music personal. Nerina, herself, undertook an amazing feat: releasing an EP a month for the entire year (see supplemental playlist). With so much music from her the 31 list could easily have been swamped. But it was not.
Read More2013 was a pretty normal year. We reviewed around ninety albums, distilling the following 31 list.
What wasn’t normal was the passing of Lou Reed. I was a latecomer to Reed’s brilliance, later learning how deep his influence truly was. Today I wonder what it would have been like to visit Warhol’s Factory and watched the Velvet Underground. Or to have been at the table when Reed, Bowie, and Iggy Pop would hold court. Even a simple coffee with he and wife Laurie Anderson would have been unbelievably amazing. Not that any of that would have happened, and I’m grateful for his music from which I have been given so much.
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