krj
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Favorite Albums and Songs of 2003
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Jan 15 06:52 UTC 2004 |
OK, music fans! It's time to get those "Best of 2003" lists turned in!
By my rules, it's a 2003 album if you bought or downloaded it in 2003,
but feel free to apply your own rules.
Please try to say something about each entry so this doesn't become
just a dry list of titles. Music tastes are so fragmented these days
that few readers are likely to know much about any one person's
favorites.
Previous years' lists can be found in the Music and Music2 conferences.
((( Linked between Agora and Music conferences. )))
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krj
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response 1 of 14:
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Jan 15 06:59 UTC 2004 |
Martyn Bennett, GRIT
Samples of old recordings of Scottish traditional song, and old
texts, given a sparkling dance pop setting incorporating some
folk instrumentation. Yes, in spots that means Techno Bagpipes.
Bennett's fourth top-quality CD in a row; he's doing the most
consistent work of anyone I follow.
FOURTOLD
Cindy Mangsen, Steve Gillette, Anne Hills, Michael Smith;
an album full of story songs and old-fashioned harmony singing.
Anyone who loved 1960s folksinging needs this CD. Their
live workshop performance at the Philadelphia Folk Festival
was my best show of the year.
Richard Thompson, THE OLD KIT BAG
Richard Thompson, 1000 YEARS OF POPULAR MUSIC
Like other midcareer artists, RT has blossomed since leaving
the major label. THE OLD KIT BAG was the first studio album
in a decade which I truly enjoyed and played repeatedly.
1000 YEARS is a live musicology lesson ranging through
medieval song, folk song, Gilbert & Sullivan, music hall,
blues and rock.
Thea Gilmore, SONGS FROM THE GUTTER
British singer-songwriter who I like best in her rock stylings.
She's channelling The Pretenders, down to recruiting the old
Pretenders guitarist.
L'Ham de Foc, CANCO DI DONA I HOME
Male/Female duo from Spain doing original songs in a folk
idiom with an early music influence.
Dikanda, JAKHANA JAKHANA
Second album from the most obscure great band I know.
Polish folk group with a fabulous rhythmic sense does music
from all across Eastern Europe.
John Spiers & Jon Boden, BELLOW
Accordion, fiddle and singing; English traditional song
delivered with energy and style. Somewhere Peter Bellamy
is smiling.
Luigi Cinque & Tarantula Hypertext Orchestra, TANGERINE CAFE
Moody late night jazz-roots stream-of-consciousness from
Italy.
--- Songs & Streams ---
Ketil Bjornstadt, GRACE
Poetry of John Donne in a jazz setting. The official CD release
was overblown; the BBC-streamed concert from the London Jazz
Festival stripped the arrangement to one singer, piano bass and drums,
and made it a classic beauty.
FRoots Radio, March 2003
This show appears monthly, and for some reason the March show
is the one which really caught my fancy this year.
Alas, I'm not sure this one is still online.
Nuova Agricola Associazione, "Vacri"
Italian folk band with contemporary influences. This song was
discovered on that March radio show, and I went to a lot of bother
to order the EP direct from the band. Only this one song is
worthwhile, alas, but it *has* stuck in my head for ten months,
down to the details of the final drum riff.
Coldplay, "Moses"
The White Stripes, "The Hardest Button To Button"
I stopped paying attention to current rock music about five
years ago and these are the first rock songs to catch my ear
since then. Suddenly I developed a craving for electric guitars
and started listening to BBC Radio 6; it will be interesting to
see where this leads in 2004.
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