The contemporary music appreciation thread

There’s a lot of good music out of Texas. White Denim are also great. Half of that band left to help Leon get his start, and he’s done some interesting stuff. Then the Khruangbin/Leon collaboration is also really good. A different vibe for both of them, which is perfect for an EP. Black Pumas are another great recent Texan band.

 

I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen of them online, including a their Tiny Desk. That bass player, though. No shirt and a funny kid’s hat? Yikes... maybe in King Gizzard or some neo-psych band, but it feels like the wrong vibe for Big Thief.

 

Here are a few more that I really like from the last few years:

Dori Freeman (self-titled)

Heard it in a Past Life by Maggie Rogers

You Never Were Much of a Dancer by Gwenifer Raymond

No Place by Danielle Durack

The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers by Valerie June

 

To be fair that performance was recorded on Halloween 2019 so I think they were dressing that way for the occasion.

 

On with some more synths (and a little 80s vibe) with I DONT'KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME. I came across this band by sheer accident when Youtube Played their video as part of an an advertising campaign to promote the album:


It's from the album RAZZMATAZZ, and to be honest, the rest of the album has difficulty living up to this song.

 

The next artist I came across while getting tattooed. My tattoo artist put on some music (can't remember which album) and afterwards, Spotify played some 'similar music' and when the next song played it immediately clicked:



While at this stage probably not really a contemporary artist anymore (his first music was released in 1989), Swedish Born Osborne revitalized his career in 2009, while recording American Patchwork, which subsequently got picked up by Alligator Records.

Its 2012 follow-up, Black-Eye Galaxy is a mix of hard rock, country rock and a bit of Psychedelics (mainly the title track). It is the struggle of a man to survive addiction and find some peace and redemption.

 

Twice last year I discovered an artist I really liked, only to find out they had committed suicide not long before. There is sadness in that, a young person feeling so low that he doesn't see any other way out on the one end and not being able to get more music from someone you really like listening to on the other. One of these artists is Justin Townes Earle, the other David Berman (of Purple Mountains), who died only 4 weeks after the release of Purple Mountains' first album, previously he was associated with Silver Jews. Justin Townes Earle (son of Steve) had already released a number of albums and had receiced the Americana Music Award for Song of the Year for Harlem River Blues (with none other than Jason Isbell on Electric Guitar):

 

And from Purple Mountains, Margaritas at the Mall:

 

Check out Ryley Walker. Six albums since 2014 plus a number of collaborations.

 

I already have his album Golden Sings that Have Been Sung, but need to revisit that. That 41 minute version of Sullen Mind is not very accessible though...

 

This Korean girl Park Hye Jin is making excellent house music. Here's her first EP:

 

I agree but to be fair that live track wasn't part of the actual album, but a bonus disc with the Deep Cuts edition.

 

Sadly, Berman's suicide came as no surprise to any Silver Jews fan. Even hearing Purple Mountains before his death, it sounded like a goodbye.

There's a new album by the singer-songwriter Cassandra Jenkins called An Overview of Phenomenal Nature. Berman had hired her to be the second guitarist in the touring lineup of Purple Mountains, and this album is deeply influenced by his death. It's great stuff.

 

Another day, another artist from Dead Oceans: Strand of Oaks, whom I discovered through his 2019 album Eraserland. Moon landing might my be representative of the album's sound, which is a bit more melancholic, but I really dig it:

 

I love The Aboslute Universe. It's Transatlantic at their best - with the usual excellent songwriting, singing and playing (especially Pete's bass parts) - and is a complete joy to listen to. It's my favourite album of the decade so far and Looking For The Light is currently my favourite track.



I'm currently also enjoying Prehensile Tales (2020), the second album by the Pattern-Seeking Animals. Like Transatlantic, it doesn't really break any new ground. It's just high-quality "comfort" prog that's good to listen to.

 

So, I did some backtracking in this topic.

@LilacTeardrop:
Joana Serrat is definitely an artist I'll check out some more.
Katie Crutchfield I didn't know, she's not part of his (Morby's) touring band is she? I saw Morby at Paradiso in Amsterdam in 2019 (awesome show) and really liked Lauren Balthrop's contributions, along with those of Sam Cohen (who opened for Morby). Anyway, Katie's style is quite similar to Kevin's, so I'll give that a go as well.
Amanda Shires is right up my alley as well (Break Out The Champagne that is). The Drop and Lift has a bit of a Carrie Rodriguez feel.
Aaron Lee Tasjan: another artist I could get into, I like the synths and I get the Tom Petty comparison.

@Exitmusic: The first song you posted, Bartees Strange's Mustang didn't really appeal to me, but Boomer sounds quite fun. On a Dutch music forum, where I'm also a regular, Bartees Strange was compared to Kings of Leon. I can hear why people would say that when listening to Mustang and explains why it didn't appeal to me.

@angelo73: I really like Durand Jones & the Indications. Morning in America is such a great album opener. I still need to check out Aron Frazer's solo album.

@lahtbp: Sam Fischer reminds of Sam Smith. I'm not too much of a pop-music lover (though I like me some Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey). This City sounds nice, if a bit generic. I noticed it has 318 million plays on Spotify, the second song from his EP Homework, 'only' has 9 million, the rest even less. I can see why.

@speedracer: now, I'm usually a bit skeptical when it comes to Grammy award winning artists, but in my ears, based on this track, Sarah Jarosz is very deserving of one. I also really like the video LilacTeardrop posted of Morning.

As I said before, I have about 20 to 30 artists I follow, with an average output of about 1 new album per 1 or 2 years, along with all the music I already own and revisit, I don't feel a real need to discover new music. Of course, I'm always open to new music, but I'm a bit cautious. End of last year I had to take care of an estate of a deceased relative of my wife who owned thousands of records, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays, some of them still sealed. I don't want to end up like that. For this very reason I don't buy anything that I don't think I'll be revisiting more than once or twice. I used to be a completist (especially for Neil Young), but I just can't justify buying everything and anything anymore.

I'll try and get to the rest of the songs later and post my thoughts.

 

Katie Crutchfield is given name. Stage name is Waxahatchee - that's what she records under. I doubt she has time to be in her personal-partner, Kevin Morby's touring band. She has her own music career, which has quite a high profile, especially after last year's *Saint Cloud album.
*Her catalog is diversified & ranges from indie r. lo-fi to that most recent being americana.

 

“Introducing Aaron Frazer” is a brilliant album. one of the best Soul albums ever, imho.

 

I'll do some more backtracking the rest of the week. As for contemporary artists, Justin Vernon probably doesn't need any introduction. Quite the multi-faceted artist, with projects in bands like DeYarmond Edison, Vulcano Choir and Gaygns, collaborations with Kanye West, Taylor Swift and what not.

His major breakthrough occurred with For Emma, Forever Ago, which he recorded isolated in a northern Wisconsin cabin during the winter months of 2006 and 2007, while he was going through health and personal difficulties. Skinny Love became a major hit for English singer Birdy and Vernon himself received a Grammy for the albums follow up, Bon Iver, Bon Iver.

After taking a sabbatical from Bon Iver in 2012, Vernon returned in 2016 with 22, A Million, a radically different sounding album, with heave use of synths. He continued on this path in 2019 with i,i. Bon Iver has a ton of song I love, from Skinny Love, to Blood Bank, to Holocene, Calgary to Hey Ma and U (Man Like). I hate to use the term genius, but Vernon comes pretty close. I saw him live in 2012 and rather than compromising the live sound he took a 8 (or 9) piece band with him, all of whom multi-instrumentalists to accurately capture the sound of his then current album. There are a lot of full live concerts on YouTube all worth checking out.

 

And while his vocal style is a bit atypical, I just love this cover of Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me:

 

Sometimes I'm a bit oblivious to new bands that are actually quite popular. The War on Drugs is one of those bands. I had honestly never heard of them until their album A Deeper Understanding showed up in best of year album lists. I gave it a listen and it immediately struck a chord. Pain is a killer of a song, but Thinking of a Place is just next level, it has so many layers and just never gets boring:

 

I only heard of them as they did a remix of 'Scarlet', one of the new tracks on the bonus disc of the remixed Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup. 'Scarlet' is the track the Stones did with Jimmy Page.

 

Next up, Marcus King, who's album El Dorado (produced by Dan Auerbach) was nominated for a Grammy and is one of my favourites of 2020.


A nice timeless mix of R&B, Gospel, Soul and country and southern rock. Somewhat in the same vein as Ray Lamontagne.

He needs to grow a beard though, looks younger than Dylan did when he released his first album

 

We've had a few holidays in the Netherlands, so I've been neglecting this topic for a few days. Anyway, the next artist I'd like to 'introduce' is a guy from South Africa who immigrated to the US and currently lives in Boulder, CO. His album This Empty Northern Hemisphere made a big impression on me. According to Spotify Big Black Car is the most played song from that album (probably because of it's association with a McDonald's ad), but my personal favourite is If I Go, I'm Going:



It's 2013 follow-up, The Weatherman is also really good.