2016 was not a kind year to our world community of important musicians. We lost way too many musical legends last year! Yet, despite all these losses, 2016 was a wonderful year for new music. There were so many wonderful records which inspired me greatly. When I was working on my first draft of albums I loved in 2016, I had well over 30 on my list! So… I have narrowed these down to 10. These are not scaled, but rather in alphabetical order. Instead of giving “music critic” type of descriptions of each album, I have decided to write a Haiku review/impression of each album.
Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop
“Love Letter for Fire”
Harmonies in groove
“Don’t even know me that well”
Fractures of the heart
David Bowie
“Blackstar”
A swansong supreme
“At the center of it all”
Starman waves goodbye
Leonard Chiyanike
“Kamusha 2016”
Mbira master
Extended hypnotic spin
Get down in the depths
The video below is not taken from the album but shows Leonard and his brother playing mbira together
Leonard Cohen
“You Want It Darker”
Leonard spins song craft
“Lift the veil and see your face”
Fades into the light
Christian Fennesz & Jim O’Rourke
“It’s Hard for Me to Say I’m Sorry”
Brooding soundscapes
Sonic layers on layers
Soothes and scrapes longing
Lisa Hannigan
“At Swim”
Deep subtle textures
“Hide the rich and spare the young”
Melodies on ice
Invisible Guy
“Knuckle Sandwich”
Angular movement
Clarinet-piano-drums
Shifty interplay
Live footage of Invisible Guy – not from album
Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom
“Otis Was a Polar Bear”
Now who was Otis?
Polar bear Mingus glacier
counter point in punch
Radiohead
“A Moon Shaped Pool”
Haunting majestic
“The white room by the window”
Caressed in deep strings
Kjartan Sveinsson
“Der Klang der Offenbarung des”
Ex Sigur Ros man
“Sonics of Divinity”
Rising orchestral
Please feel free to post/share some of the music that moved you the most in the past year..
Blessings for 2017!!