The Weather Station, Ignorance

If you have never familiarized yourself with Tamara Lindeman, who records under the name The Weather Station, you should. Over the past ten years, Lindeman has established herself as being an exceptional singer-songwriter. But what has been truly exciting to hear and experience is the evolution of Lindeman's sound. From the fingerpicking folk songs on her early albums to the 'sonically adventurous and rhythmically dense (NRP) songs on Ignorance, it's been 'a breathtaking sonic shift' (Record Collector).  

Lyrically speaking, Lindeman's writing has never been stronger. On Ignorance, Lendeman's fifth album, she is consumed 'with and bewildered by a compulsion to care.' (NPR). Lindeman sings "There are many things you may ask of me, but don't ask me for indifference. Don't come to me for distance." It is all in response to the album's title. As Lendeman has explained in interviews, there are so many people who refused to hear each other and refuse to understand. "People destroying things before they know them, people not wanting to know, people pushing and wrecking and breaking, and unable to see. Not seeing. Not wanting to see."There's a lot of ignorance in the world and it's all over the record to." She says that the album is in part about the process of moving through denial into understanding.

From the opener 'Robber' to 'Subdivisions', which closes it out, Ignorance is an impressive album and one that I was glad to have experienced. 

Typhoon, Sympathetic Magic

One of the most haunting and mesmerizing songs that I have ever heard is Typhoon’s Summer Home. Since I first heard it back in 2011, I have been a fan of the art and artistry of this Portland, OR band. Lead by Kyle Morton, this very large at times band (11 members) has released some remarkable albums over the years. Now, this past week without any prior notice, the band released their fifth album, Sympathetic Magic. 

 

This is a much more gentle and intimate album than their last album, Offerings. And that’s just about right, right now. As Morton wrote on the band’s website, ‘Back to basics. Compelled to isolation by the global pandemic, I wrote most of these songs in the summer of 2020 while quietly sitting in the backyard, contemplating the strangeness of life….. As the title suggests, the songs have to do with that specifically human magic - the symbolic world that we co-create and inhabit just by being a person among other people, through our countless, complex, and beautifully, painfully ordinary interactions.’

 

I got lost in this album and I suspect that you will too. Sympathetic Magic is another outstanding and memorable album by a very special band.

Lice, What Ails Our People Is Clear

Every once in a while, an album comes along that defies my understanding of what music can and should be. Lice’s Wasteland: What Ails Our People Is Clear is one of these albums.

 

As DIY Magazine wrote, Lice’s debut albums feels like their ‘conscious uncoupling from the contemporary musical landscape. A conceptual commentary on the band’s perceived banality of the ‘satirical guitar music boom’, they lampoon the cliche across 11 barnstorming tracks. But for all the bridge burning, there is still a touch of the familiar. Deeply rooted in modern left field sensibilities, they combine their unique brand of artistic experimentation with the grounding influence of their peers. The result is a collection of biting, esoteric hymns that readily combine the earthly and the cosmic.’

 

This is an album not to be missed, but come ready to be challenged.

Matthew Sweet, Catspaw

Matthew Sweet’s third album, Girlfriend, is one of my favorite albums. It was release way back in 1991. Thirty years on, on his 15th studio album, Catspaw, Sweet revisits the guitar-driven, alternative-rock sound, with power-pop hooks that that made Girlfriend a classic. What is new is Sweet, for the first time, plays the lead guitar. In fact, he plays every instrument on every song except drums. 

This new taking control of every facet of his music, including mixing and production, has breathed new life and energy into Sweet’s songwriting and music. It’s an absolute joy to hear. From beginning to end, Sweet not only delivers one of his best albums, but one that feels as fresh and relevant today as he did back when.

Cerys Matthews, We Come From The Sun

DJ and musician Cerys Matthews along with Hidden Orchestra and ten renowned British poets have given us We Come From The Sun, the first great album of 2021. 

Matthews, who is an advocate of the spoken word, invited the poets noted below, to record pieces from their collections just before the Covid lockdown in London's Abby Road Studio. In lockdown, working remotely with field recordists and musicians across the globe, Matthews and Hidden Orchestra, created a 'sound journey' for these poems with the theme of 'Genesis: birth, heritage, a journey about to begin. 

About the album, Matthew says; “I’ve always been in awe of the power of a great turn of phrase; in poems, songs and prose. There are some exceptional poems being added to the world right now. So I invited poets whose work I admired for years to join me in this project. I wanted them to work across and with each other to become this journey, an aural adventure....with life on earth as inspiration. As Simple and complex as that."

Poets:

Ma.Moyo

Raymond Antrobus

Lemn Sissay

Cia Mangat

Anthony Anaxagorou

Kim Moore

Liz Berry

Adam Horovitz

Kayo Chingonyi

Imtiaz Dharker

TOP ALBUMS OF 2020

This past year was not the one that any of us expected or wanted. And I think that it's safe to say that everyone experienced such a wide range of thought, feels, and emotions as we all moved through it. This was certainly the case for me. Fortunately with each passing month, there were new albums that provided me with outlets to escape...with any hope to my happy place. 

At different times, I reach for each one of these albums again and again. Here are my top albums of 2020!

10. Airbag, A Day At The Beach

I got excited when I first learned that Airbag was back in the studio recording a new album. Since 2009, the band, hailing from Oslo, Norway, had only released four albums. Each one has become favorites of mine. I was ready for more. Almost a year later, A Day At The Beach arrived back in June and I got my Airbag fix.   

One would never say that Airbag has a totally original sound. Influences of bands like Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree have always been present. On A Day At The Beach, the band does move in a bit of a new directly with the addition of electronic elements which they say were inspired by the resurgence of ‘80’s electronica and new wave. In this regard, they have tapped into a bit of The Cure circa Disintegration.

With six songs clocking in at almost fifty minutes, there is plenty of music to consume here. I cannot recommend A Day At The Beach enough. This is a fantastic album. 

9. Creeper, Sex, Death & The Infinite Void

WOW. WOA?! WOW! That was my reaction listing to Creeper's amazingly original, inventive, and over-the-top sophomore  album. Since then, I have been trying to figure out just how to describe this one. Then I read Kerrang!'s perfect review; 'If the coquettish camp of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is your idea of a good time, or you’ve enjoyed the morbid-idiosyncrasies of a John Waters movie, the lovingly-crafted universe evoked by Sex, Death & The Infinite Void might just feel like home. Imbued with endless passion, colour and a carnival of glorious sound, it’s a musical marvel.' A marvel indeed.

8. Glass Animals, Dreamland

Four years after the release of their Mercury Nominated album, How To Be A Human Being, Glass Animals are back and better than ever. A much more personal album, ‘Dreamland is the awakening moment from a turbulent time’ for the band and the ‘nostalgic personal journey of front man and producer Dave Bayley.’ (OMH) 

In the hands of other bands, exploring difficult childhood memories, relationships, and the topic of recovery might weight down an album, but not with Glass Animals. Dreamland’s heavy topics are disguised with psych-pop upbeat tones and by ‘referencing people and/or characters as food.’ Using these tactics, the band creates a dream-like state that allows the reality of Bayley’s past to ‘seem a little less intense’ (MFN). 

7. The Haar, The Haar

The story goes that Irish folk and traditional percussionist Cormac Byrne and fiddler Adam Summerhayes were on holiday in Inis Oírr when they walked into a pub and were silenced along with everyone else as Molly Donnery began to sing unaccompanied. Fast forward some time and the three meet up in a studio along with accordionist Murray Grainer to record some Irish traditional songs. The four made no plans in advance of entering the studio. As they explained, they just let the music create itself. 

What resulted was the creation of a truly stunning collection of songs captured on their first and only takes. As Folk Radio wrote about The Haar, it's 'a very evocative record, bringing senses of the pain and futility of war and the salt of the ocean, as well as the beauty of the land and the strength of human relationships through its works and music. We need more music like this; spontaneous, alive and affecting, The Haar will take you on a journey and have you appreciating the purest of life's pleasures. Wonderful stuff.' I so agree.

6. Eric Hutchinson, Class of 98

In the press release for Class of 98, Eric Hutchinson explains that sometime last year, he came to a strange realization: he kept daydreaming about high school. It had been over 20 years since the singer-songwriter had graduated, yet the adolescent dreams, hopes, fears, anxieties and emotions he faced as a kid began flooding back. Suddenly, he felt transported back into his teenage self and those years filled with the kind of alienation and private angst that is recognizable to most anyone who’s ever been 16. 

Now, years later, he has chronicled those adolescence years. Wrapping them in ’90s inspired alt-rock-pop music from bands like Fountains Of Wayne and Weezer, Hutchinson has crafted a memorable set of songs and album.

5. Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia

Having no idea who Dua Lipa was when I first listened to Future Nostalgia, I got all excited that I had made some great musical discovery that I would share with my kids. The album fits squarely in their musical lane. Turns out that I'm about the only one who doesn't know about Britain's biggest female musical artist. 

I will just say that I love Future Nostalgia. As Variety wrote, "It's an impeccably crafted, gleefully executed half-hour plus of pop perfection that does meet the moment, maybe, in just reminding you how good it feels to be human, And to be in love. And to be in Studio 54." This is modern pop at its best. 

 

4. Siv Jakobsen, A Temporary Smooth 

Gentle and calming, Oslo-based singer-songwriter Siv Jakobsen’s ambient, folky tunes belong in an independent coming of age film, or at very least, a heartbreaking scene in Normal People. Poised with an unhinged rawness, Jakobsen’s sophomore album ‘A Temporary Soothing’ does just as the title says, acting a security blanket to offer shelter during those blue Sunday evenings or summer thunderstorms. Clash Magazine 

I was immediately drawn to this album and have come back to it many times. It's captivating and hard to escape.

3. Lime Cordiale, 14 Steps To A Better You 

What a FUN album! Australian brothers, Oliver and Louis Leimbach, along with their bandmates are back with another gem of an album. With their sound that blends 'summery vibes and harmonies and bouncing melodies' (Billboard), Lime Cordiale's catchy sing-along-songs are second to none. 

Listening to this album will put a smile on your face and bounce in all 14 of your steps...to a better you. This is one of those albums that we all could use a bit more of this year. 

2. Katie Melua, Album No. 8

Katie Melua is one of the UK's best selling artists of all time. Yet, here in the states she is not widely known. It's really ashamed. Melua is that rare artist who's music radiates and captivates while remaining quiet and gentle. These are two qualities that we don't see too much of anymore. Being loud, shocking, and controversial seems to sell more albums these days. 

Now in her mid-thirties and recently divorced, Melua's lyrics go deeper and get more personal than on past albums. Wrapped in a beautiful cinematic melancholy soundscape, Melua reflects on  thoughts and feelings of loss, of heartbreak, and of appreciation for what has been and what is to be. While Album No 8 is Melua's story, passages throughout are recognizable and relatable. It all makes Album No. 8, Melua's most special album to date.   

1. Motorpsycho, The All Is One

I was not familiar with Motorpsycho when I first sat down to listen to The All Is One. I also had no idea of it's running time. Turns out that the album, the last in a trilogy by the Norwegian trio, clocks in at one hour and twenty four minutes. It’s a good thing that I did not know or I probably would have never started listening. But honestly, when I go to the end….I was truly disappointed that it was over. I just wanted more. And I wanted to learn everything that I could about this band that has produced 24 albums over the past 30 years.

 

As Everything Is Noise wrote about The All Is One, ‘Truly, this is an album you give yourself up to. It can be a demanding task to surrender your whole attention and time to just listening to music, no matter how good it is – albums like The All Is One not only make it simple, but incentivize you for doing so. The reward is the experience itself: a swaddling of progressive, psychedelic (called ‘psychodelic‘ by the band) rock that’s equal parts calming and transcendent. It’s a portal to another world or dimension, one with technicolor skies, drinkable air, and tingling currents that prick your corporeal form to remind you that you’re the most alive you’ve ever been, all while floating on a magic carpet.'

Listening to The All Is One, I could not help but reflect on the truly epic albums that I listened to as a kid and absolutely devoured as they transported me someplace that I had never been. It is exactly what I needed this year...or any year.