JR Moores
, February 15th, 2021 09:09
JR Moores first column of 2021 has all you need to hear from the worlds of psych rock, noise rock and (erm) chamber psych. Homepage portrait of Sunburned Hand Of The Man by Sarah Gibbons
Chamber psych. Did any two words strike such fear and trepidation into the heart and mind of somebody who is supposed to know about this shit? Well, maybe the words Anton Newcombe but now s not the time to open that can of worms. When that category, chamber psych , popped into the roundup of everybody s Spotify listening habits at the end of last year, I have to admit I didn t have a clue what it meant either.
The 10 best jazz albums of 2020 John Fordham
Pat Metheny – From This Place
Being both a bestselling jazz-fusion superstar and an experimental collaborator with John Zorn and Ornette Coleman takes rare agility, but guitarist Pat Metheny has managed both. Metheny’s 2020 album, performed by his current live band (UK pianist Gwilym Simcock, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Antonio Sánchez) with guest appearances from vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello and harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret, showcases his famously cinematic compositional muse, shrewdly balanced with the group’s off-the-leash inventiveness, and for the most part subtly applied synthesised orchestral effects. Read the full review.
15 Great Jazz Albums of 2020
Jazz may not have the mainstream cultural dominance that it once did, but it remains a thriving, multi-faceted form of music that continues to have so much more to say. Jazz informs so much of the rap and electronic music that
does have mainstream cultural dominance today, and it s long popped up in indie rock, metal, punk, and other styles of popular music too. Though jazz never went away, the past few years have seen a serious jazz renaissance that continues to grow, branch out into new innovative territory, and attract new listeners. The world of jazz is so vast and we don t claim to be experts of all of it, but if you re looking to catch up on some of the great jazz albums released in 2020, we put together a list of 15 that we strongly recommend. It s not a definitive best-of, and we probably haven t even heard all of the great jazz albums released this year, but we d like to think it s a pretty good place to start.
Albums of the Year 2020: Melt Yourself Down - 100% Yes | reviews, news & interviews Albums of the Year 2020: Melt Yourself Down - 100% Yes
Albums of the Year 2020: Melt Yourself Down - 100% Yes
The music that kept spirits raised during the year of you-know-what
All a bit of a blur
I’ll leave it to others, better placed, to unpack 2020’s gruelling impact on so many. But one of its side effects was the elevation, alongside food and television, of recorded music. It became a salve, a focus, a locus of social media blather about what was getting us through. Lockdown ears were lifted by a heady gumbo of new discoveries and old favourites. Certainly, my best-of-year lists are overfull.
The Quietus
, December 14th, 2020 11:58
These are our favourite tracks of the last 12 months as voted for by Jennifer Lucy Allan, Bobby Barry, Aaron Bishop, Patrick Clarke, John Doran, Christian Eede, Noel Gardner, Ella Kemp, Fergal Kinney, Sean Kitching, Anthea Leyland, Peter Margasak, David McKenna, JR Moores, Luke Turner, Kez Whelan and Daryl Worthington. Illustration by Lisa Cradduck
There s not much more I can add to what has already been said about our relationship to music in this pandemic-hit year by my colleagues Luke Turner and Patrick Clarke in their respective introductions to our lists of the year s best albums and best reissues, compilations, mixes etc.