I enjoy putting together the annual “My Year in Music.” However, I think I enjoy combing through various year-end lists more, looking to find what I’ve missed. Most of these lists aren’t all that helpful, but it’s interesting to see what albums emerge as media darlings. This year Boygenius’ Record seems to have been a favorite, and I think that’s a good thing. The lists I’m looking for are the ones that dive deep into some area of music – I’m looking for specialists.
This year, I gained a few amazing recommendations from friends. So, well done, community! ANNA’s Intentions is a meditative gem, and Angie McMahon’s Light, Dark, Light Again reminds me of Maggie Rogers in all of the best ways. Thank you for those, Mark! A former student shared a couple of reviews he’d written with me. One of them was for Ryan Beatty’s Calico. The review was compelling, and the record lives up to it. What a beautiful statement. All Beatty’s pop knowledge applied to deeply personal songwriting and anchored in warm, organic instruments. Thank you, Nigel!
Two year-end lists have given me more to listen to than I’ve been able to manage over the holidays. Every year, Aquarium Drunkard delivers the obscure and niche. Run out of LA, into psychedelia, global music, and the pleasures of crate-digging, their annual list is exhaustive. Not everything there is for me, but it’s all interesting, and a few of them carry me through the new year. This year, Nico Paulo’s self-titled, Cactus Lee’s Caravan, and Anna St Louis’ In the Air are the big finds.
A list new to me was Folk Radio. A UK site, it leans more into traditional folk than my listening habits, but I swim in those waters from time to time. Their year-end list was amazing. I’m still digesting it all. But so far, I can say Joseph Decosimo’s While You Were Slumbering is a gorgeous traditional banjo and fiddle album. He’s part of the Durham, North Carolina scene, so, turns out, he’s appeared on plenty of albums I enjoy. Rachel Sermanni is a Scottish artist I’ve known about for a while, and I like her work, but I did not know she had a new album out. Dreamer Awake is wonderful. Her voice is something special. Much of the rest of the playlist below is from the Folk Radio list, and I’m still making my way through the albums.
Hope you find something new to love.