Every year there are those that complain that new year’s is just another day.  It is, sure, but get over it.  We measure time and as arbitrary as January one is, that’s just how she goes.  That said, January one is coming up and it reminds me to look back and consider which music I got into over the course of the year.  I’m not going to worry about a number or even if the albums came out this year.  I’m just going to tell you which albums I really liked that I found this year.  I don’t know how to do song snippets on here so only the curious of you will be rewarded by hearing this amazing music.

Asaf Avidan & The Mojo’s The Reckoning. Asaf is an israeli guy whose voice is the product a young Geddy Lee and back in the day Janis Joplin harmonizing.  Unbelievable stuff.  Reckoning Song and Weak are two of the most touching song I’ve heard written by someone whose first language is not English.

Rolling Stones Black And Blue. We know everything, right?  That’s how I feel.  Every Beatles song, every Stones song.  We know it all.  Of course we haven’t, but it feels like we have.  At some point we’ve had the radio on and magically the Stones and the Beatles have played in the background and if we haven’t heard every song selectively, they’ve still managed to creep into our heads.  Then all of the sudden some dude gives you the Stones’ discography and Black and Blue rears up and punches you in the face and makes you realize there is still so much to discover from bands we think we know.  Hey Negrita.  Listen to that jam and it might just make you go shit… these guys are British?

The Antlers Hospice. Drastic and beautiful, the album deals with the ambiguity of life when dealing with terminal illness.  The terminal illness of a child, to be specific.  The lead singer’s voice has the haunting familiarity of Bon Iver which adds to the emotional effect of the song writing, yet somehow the album manages to hint at hope despite the difficult theme.   Check out Two or Kettering then go hug a loved one.

Beck Sea Change. I really like Beck.  Just about everything I’ve ever heard by him is, at worse, entirely passable.  So why don’t I get into his shit more?  I don’t know.  I really should be listening to all his music all the time, but for whatever reason there are still a bunch of his albums I haven’t taken the time to consider.  From what I understand, Beck likes to switch it up, album to album, creatively speaking.  If this is true, that would make Sea Change Beck’s country or folk album.  I’m not a crazy country or folk album kind of guy, but Sea Change is all right by me.  And by all right I mean I listen to that shit front to back at least once a week.  I don’t even know what any of the song titles are.

The Black Crowes …Until The Freeze I’m one of those people that is loyal to certain bands and would lie to myself if they came out with something I didn’t like.  The Black Crowes is one of those bands.  I don’t even know which albums by them are no good because I’ve convinced myself they are all the greatest.  Until this one.  Released as a fan club only, get it for free when buying another album album, …Until The Freeze was recorded at a studio with a room full of people enjoying the Black Crowes doing what they do.  It feels like you’re in the room with them.

Jadiohead You can find this on the internet.  It’s a downloadable mash up betwen Radiohead and Jay-Z.  Those two are heavy hitters and their styles mash well.  Awesome party music.

L.L. Cool J Walking With A Panther.  When it comes to hip hop, I sometimes consider L.L. Cool J to be a bit of a ‘never was’, more of a R. Kelly than a Chuck D.  That’s because I never listened to this album.  This shit is hot.  Sizzling.  I’m sorry I doubted you L.L.

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears Tell ‘em what your name is. I want to have a beer with these guys.  They’ve got that approachable quality of cool to them.  You’re having a bad day, boss on your back, car out of gas.  Shit’s just fucked up.  Then Black Joe or one of the Honeybears calls you out of the blue to say hey and you’re just immediately cool.  “How’s it going?”  “I’m good man, thanks for calling!”  Listen to the song Bitch I love You and you’ll get the James Brown comparisons in three point ass seconds.

Wale A Mixtape About Nothing This mixtape is awesome.  You know what a mixtape is?  They’re basically free music artists do to pump their name.  You get it a lot with up and comers in hip hop.  They’ll collab with other artists they may not know or have clearance from their recording contract to work with.  Sometimes they do it because they are using songs or samples that they don’t have clearance to make money off of.  Sometimes they are doing it just because.  A Mixtape About Nothing uses tonnes of Seinfeld samples and is just a cool album.  You can really hear the fun Wale (pronounced Wall-eh) is having making it.  More label albums need to have that sound of joy.

K’naan The Messengers. Again, this is a free downloadable mixtape.  It’s a project K’naan put together with mixtape extraordinaire J.Period.  The 3 albums act as tributes to Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, and too under the radar Fela Kuti.  K’naan prefaces each album with a little love fest to the respective artists over the beat of reworked songs the artists have done over the years, and the albums flow from there, juxtaposing K’naan’s raps with short stories or anecdotes from his life.  Find the albums on J.Periods web sites.

Last 5 posts by brad

• On Art And Leaving - May 21st, 2010
• Besides the olympics - March 15th, 2010
• Favourite Band Names - February 27th, 2010
• Chips'n'dips Is Too Crunchy For Shows - February 11th, 2010
• Avatar vs. Sherlock Holmes: What audience is cooler? - January 7th, 2010