Gathered for your listening pleasure are a few tracks that Reuben and I have been enjoying over the last year. He has stuck to releases from this period while I have included pieces that I have discovered or re-discovered throughout the year and which offer both decent sound quality and great music. Check them out and let us know which tunes have been on heavy rotation in your system.
Jason Kennedy
Coyote
Dylan Leblanc
A haunting melody with tales of the harsh American south, aided by sounds that evoke fine tunes reminiscent of those once crafted by Crosby, stills, Nash and Young. Short perfection tells a mighty tale. RK
Funky Feet
Nils Landgren Funk Unit
It’s like, you know, as if somewhere in the ‘70s Creed Taylor invited the CTI all-stars to create the freshest funk they could, only much better! RK
Long For The Ruin
Joan As A Policewoman
Joan As A Policewoman is hardly a name that snobs will admit to knowing but Long For The Ruin from Lemon, Limes and Orchids is an impressive track. An anthemic, gospel like tune with enough emotion and grandeur to melt the hardest of audiophiles. The 24/96 on Qobuz is nothing to write home about, but not even that is not going to drench the joy. RK
G.O.A.T.
Polyphia
Aphex Twin meets Tool by way of King Crimson is one way to describe this outrageous bit of math rock. Hyper precise and recorded to impress, G.O.A.T. reveals that rock guitar continues to evolve in strange and fascinating ways. JK
Hammers
Nils Frahm
The last track on Paris, Frahm’s first full concert release, was also a highlight of his first live album, the superb Spaces. This time it proves both entrancing and euphoric, especially in the climax and the applause that follows. JK
I’m Free
Symbolico
Want to make your system sound spectacular, this slice of electronic dance music from Oz has been mixed to fill the room with detail, it’s almost Deep Forest meets Infected Mushrooms but shines brighter than both. JK
Jesus gior me stille
Tord Gustavsen Trio
It’s very hard to pick my favourite track from the Tord Gustavsen Trio’s Seeing, an album that captures the radiant beauty of his playing even better than usual, and the standard was already very high. Superb sound combines with captivating playing on my album of the year. JK
Limerick
Evita Polidoro
Italian drummer Polidoro got together with Nicolò Faraglia on guitar and Davide Strangio on bass to produce Nerovivo released earlier this year and available on Qobuz last time I looked. It combines post and prog rock styles with superb sound quality and admirable restraint. JK
Marcia, Eu Te Amo
Baden Powell
Brazilian jazz guitarist Powell’s heyday was the sixties and seventies, on 1973’s Solitude on Guitar he is joined by Eberhard Weber on double bass and Joaquim Paes Henriques on drums for this absolute cracking tune. JK
Nepalese bliss
The Irresistible Force
I rediscovered this classic from 90s this year and it still sounds great, created by DJ and musician Mixmaster Morris it combines ambient and trance in an explosion of room filling vibes that will have even the most serious listeners raving again. JK
Pipe Down
Bill Frisell
East/West was released in 2005 and is a superb live recording that finds the guitar maestro at the peak of his powers in the company of Viktor Krauss on bass, Tony Scherr on bass and acoustic guitar and Kenny Wollesen on drums. They play all manner of stuff from Heard It On The Grapevine to A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall, this original is however the highlight for me. JK
Product
Nonkeen
Nils Frahm’s first band gets together once every few years and makes interesting music on keyboards, bass and drums, this year they released All good? a great sounding mix of Frahm’s sound with a rhythm section that gives it an extra dimension or two. JK
Quiet Corners
Nils Petter Molvaer
Trumpet playing doesn’t come much more restrained than that of Nils Petter Molvaer, Quiet Corners is really about bass, synth bass of the most juicy and substantial variety. Batten down the hatches and crank up the volume. JK
Quite Logical
Simon Oslender
A 26 year old jazz pianist and an even younger sax player mix it up with a legend who is 79 years old, you may have heard of him, he’s a drummer called Steve Gadd. The talent is flowing, the sounds are funky and the album (All That Matters) is great. RK
Split Level Mirage
Gryphon Rue
4n_Objx is a strange and compelling album of electronic sounds and other hard to pin sounds that Gryphon Rue corals into intriguing patters without resorting to heavy compression or bombast. Split Level Mirage is just one of its highlights. JK
Ramblin’
Ginger Baker Trio
Released back in 1994 Going Back Home was made with Bill Frisell (guitar) and Charlie Haden (acoustic bass) and finds the late Cream drummer in fine fettle alongside musicians of equal talent. On the stand out Ramblin’ they sound absolutely cracking, it took 30 years to find but it’s worth it. JK
Red
Joe Webb
With twists and turns that typified the likes of Lennie Tristano and Art Tatum, Red is a very short burst of some of the most creative jazz piano currently being played in the UK. RK
Sambo Mesmo Sem
Inês Loubet
A gentle samba with melodies and harmonies that will make a hectic day vanish and be replaced with a smile and a gentle sway of heads and feet. A perfection wrapped in exactly 4 minutes and 44 seconds, with the added benefit of being sung in a beautiful language. Grace, talent and musical beauty encapsulated. RK
Seattle Song
Tord Gustavsen Trio
One of the best tracks of the year from possibly the best album of the year. The Tord Gustavsen Trio do romantic, emotional, anthems like nobody else. A slow dance towards a musical delirium. RK
The Man I Love
The Bill Charlap Trio
Old pros going at it with blazing charm and elegance, forsaking any pretentious demonstration of virtuosity, this album (And Then Again) is bound to induce involuntary smiles. RK
Trouble
Me’shell Ndegeocello
Fronted by Me’shell Ndegeocello, though she is but a minor figure in it, Trouble is a spell binding track. It is spoken word, it is gospel, it is a heart breaking lament, delivered with arresting notes and the words of James Baldwin. This is a long track but its addictive properties will keep you listening to the end. RK