The last new music you heard that left you stunned?

Time goes by so quickly these days, so what seems very recent to me might have the status of 'oldie' for a younger person.

Anyway, this one from Eleanore & The Lost (from 2014) felt like and instant classic to me. I remain stunned.

 

I only started delving into Leonard Cohens catalog a couple of years ago, so most of his material is fairly knew to me. There's at least a dozen or so songs that leave me stunned every time I hear them, among them "First We Take Manhattan, Tower Of Song, Everybody Knows, I'm Your Man etc...

 

Beach House: Bloom back in 2012. I can't believe how often I played that album in a virtual loop for months.

 

I've not been "stunned" by anything for decades but I was pleasantly surprised by this performance by Thundercat on the Jools Holland show:



Reminds me of Keziah Jones. I listened to some of his albums on YouTube and they're very impressive (not that I really like them though). He comes across as a mad blend of Zappa, Rundgren, Stevie Wonder, James Blood Ulmer, Keziah Jones and God knows what else.

 

I saw St Paul and the Broken Bones last year in Byron Bay and was blown away
Soul music with a 7 piece band including a small white guy with a voice that was bigger than the tent they played in
Each member of the band got to demo their playing skills but for the most of the time played as a band
Did a cover of the Abbey Road songs I want You/She's So Heavy that still resonates today
The records are good but irrelevant to the live performance
One of the best dozen or so concerts I have ever seen

 

You should watch the DVDs of the London concerts recorded on his first comeback tour
A sublime group of musicians and great female backing vocals but the concert really helps understand the humour and sexual nature of the songs and of course way God is woven into some of them
And the genuine humbleness of Lenny himself
The music world is a lesser place without him

 

Oh yes this, in particular the track DNA. Absolutely blown away by the virtuosity on this:

 

Agnes is likely my favorite artist from the past 10 years. I got to hang out with her and she signed all of my stuff.

 

The last current song that totally blew me away was Story in Your Eyes by the Moody Blues, and that was in 1971.

However, Up on the Hill by Mark Burgess, which I discovered a year or two after it came out, in 1995, must have been fairly close.

Around the same time, the last full LP that did the trick as a unified whole would be Different Class by Pulp.

A few songs that have had that effect lately, but they're all from the '60s. Most notably If You Ever Need Me by Margaret Mandolph, although Every Little Prayer by the Ashes and a few others haven't been far off. Actually, one was from the '70s: 1905 by Shona Laing.

I've listened to Boston by Augustana and currently A Little Late by Skating Polly, both mentioned in the thread. I've certainly heard far worse. Dare I try Kendrick Lamar?

 

I've recently discovered Glenn Hughes outside of his contributions to Deep Purple Mk III.

His voice and bass playing are seriously top notch on the Black Country Communion records as well as the one California Breed CD he released a couple years ago.

If you are a rock fan, his voice is so powerful and vital and his songwriting is of a high standard as well. Many of his peers have mellowed with age but I argue that he is peaking as an artist now.

 

every day I hear something that leaves me stunned. It's why I love music. Latest joys - The Magnetic Fields 50 Song Memoir, Jens Lekman Life Will See You Now. The New Pornographers latest album is all kinds of glorious ear candy. Rihanna's stunning doo wop inspired track Love on the Brain stops me short every time I hear it. Body Count's "No Lives Matter" floored me last night...etc...etc...

 

Been blown away weekly or monthly for years by live free jazz/improvisation shows. All new, all live. Some musicians I've known for decades, some new to me. The level of musicianship among creative free jazz improvisers in NYC is off the charts.

 

Does it count as "new" if it was recorded almost 50 years ago but not released till 2015? Roy Orbison's version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" on "One of the Lonely Ones" left my jaw on the floor the first time I heard it.

 

For what it's worth I got no issues with anyone for loving the Monkees' last album -- I'm a casual fan myself, though I couldn't get into Good Times -- but I can't help wondering how those enamored of it would feel about the same exact music issued by a new band. (Then again, am I fully capable of hearing the good and sharp in a new Monkees or Paul McCartney album? You could probably argue I'm not.) At any rate, everyone's going to have different definitions for "stunned," different reasons for using it, etc.

 

This kid, and I do mean kid, on Austin City Limits. Whoa.

 

Vampire Weekend's "Contra". Their S/T was good, and "Modern Vampires of the City" is excellent as well, but I was floored by Contra.

 

Chaz Bundick Meets the Mattson 2 - "Star Stuff"

 

Downloaded the album. I like it a lot! Thanx for the turn on. Peace brother, Iam

 

Now you're talking! Absolutely no one phrases a song like Sinatra. People think you're crazy when you say you like Frank, but if you LISTEN to him you're hooked. Great choice! Stay groovy, Iam

 

From 2010 (MGMT -Congratulations)

 

Goes way back to 2002 or so when I discovered Porcupine Tree, I have not heard anything 'new' since that has made me go out and buy everything they did.