Readers of this blog who follow me on Twitter already know that I got into the habit, on almost every morning, to propose an album selected among those released in the recent past, of which I also provide the link to Spotify and a very short introductory note, short enough to fit into the 280 characters of the tweet. This started because I spend a lot of time browsing into the music released in the past years and sometimes I meet (or discover) something particularly interesting and meaningful. I wanted to find a way to keep track for myself of these valuable albums and soon I started writing down the links to these albums and, for each one, just a few brief sentences for helping me remember what caught my attention and why I thought it was important to keep the memory of that particular album. At some point I thought it could be nice to share these notes with my small group of followers, and from the reactions I recorded so far there are many of them who appreciate my daily posts with the “Album of the Day”.
The first dozen of selected albums is available here. In this post I collect the second group of records. As usual, take this list as a potential inspiration for putting something new on your music player. Enjoy!
#13) Kronos Quartet – Folk Songs (2017). Kronos has become one of the world’s most celebrated and influential ensembles. Folk Songs is the quartet’s emotional exploration of the folk world.
#14) Polyrhythmics – Caldera (2017). Rich with bold brass and hypnotic percussions, Polyrhythmics showcase their impressive skills through a singular blend of funk, soul, rock, jazz and afrobeat.
#15) Arthur Vint & Associates – Death Rides A Horse (2017). Drummer Arthur Vint recasts into a jazz setting the music of Ennio Morricone, adapting the western tunes for his 9 piece ensemble.
#16) Robert Haigh – Creatures of the Deep (2017). A beautiful album of piano driven ambient music from British composer Robert Haigh, filled with noir, minimal, and neo-classical landscapes.
#17) TootArd – Laissez passer (2017). This five-piece ensemble comes from the contested region of Golan Heights between Israel and Syria and plays a brilliant blend of Arabic and African styles with American funk influences.
#18) Enrico Pieranunzi, André Ceccarelli, Diego Imbert – Ménage à trois (2016). In this beautiful album the three masters mix masterfully jazz and classical music, in a way that neither one prevails over the other.
#19) Bruce Brubaker – Hope Street Tunnel Blues: Music for Piano by Philip Glass & Alvin Curran (2007). Brubaker executes pieces which highlight the expressive possibilities of Glass’ and Curran’s minimalism.
#20) Allison Pierce – Year of the Rabbit (2017). This album launched Allison Pierce’ solo career after that the folk singer spent two decades recording and performing with her sister Catherine as The Pierces.
#21) Erik Levander – Halv (2016). The dark Swedish romantic artits composed a haunting album which blurs the boundaries of acoustic, analogue and digital music, This is high-quality mood music for those who keep getting lost.
#22) Benny Andersson – Piano (2017). The former member of Swedish pop masters ABBA showcases his classical sensibility with these touching and emotional pieces for piano solo.
#23) Skatalites: Independence Ska And The Far East Sound (2017). A stunning compilation from the greatest ska band of all times, The Skaltalities, from Jamaica.
#24) Saeid Shanbehzadeh, Rostam Mirlashari, Naghib Shanbehzadeh, Manu Codjia – Pour-Afrigha (2017). Bagpipes, saxophones, jazz guitar, percussions and the magnificent voice of Rostam Mirlashari: the true sound of Africa.
S.B.G. 