The Almosts
Lots to work with this year. This year we have ten ‘almosts’ and ten ‘on the outside looking in’.
First the almosts. A list of albums that I am confident that you will find at least one new artist to engage in. Comment below if any artists catch your ear. (playlists are embedded below)
Tom Caruana- Strange Planet – Best mixtape of the year. Nice instrumental companion piece is available too.
Ghost Funk Orchestra – A New Kind of Love – Reminds me of early Stones Throw beats records. Ghost punk, orchestra, music, instrumental, punk, masterpiece. It’s a record where every single song to be sampled in the future by rappers all over the world. It’s a Pure Funk and it sounds like it came out in 1971 good life.
Elzhi and Georgia Anne Muldrow – Zhigeist . A hip hop gem. Pitchfork review.
Spoon – Lucifer On The Sofa. A great solid rock album. Incredibly listenable. Kind of kicking myself for not being in the loop with them all along.
Butch Walker – Butch Walker as……Glenn – The most fun and brilliant record idea of the year. This is catchy. Total cheese. This creative genius puts on the persona of a 70’s pop singer ala Elton John, Greg Kihn, Electric Light Orchestra. It mostly works. It actually sounds like an album of yesteryear. If 70’s pop/rock is your thing you will love this.
Conway the Machine – God Don’t Make Mistakes / Westside Gunn – 10
Conway and Westside are perennially solid. Storylines, beats, flow, guests, and commitment to detail are always in play. Are you an old school head who is out of the loop? Re-enter the listening game with modern day legends like these.
Action Bronson – Cocodrillo Turbo – Action always gets me with his samples. Album is solid. Samples are supreme.
The Black Moods – Into The Night – Probably the best traditional rock album of the year. Just a hard rock gem. These guys have the capacity to grow their base at festivals. Keep your eye on them.
Noah Kahan – Stick Season. This artist’s title song went viral on tik tok this past summer. I lean toward “Northern Attitude” due to its anthemic sing a long lyrics. Noah does have a Paul Simon vibe to him. Definitely sensed in the tik tok linked here.
The Tik Tok that blew up.
@noahkahanmusic The chorus u requested #foryou #foryoupage #forjewpage #stickseason