I have tried to use care in making this list. As I was making it, more and more titles came to me, encompassing a wide variety of styles. For instance there is credible reggae by the Daniel Wesley Band and Empire Alley, bluegrass by Shearwater, singer songwriter material by Christa Couture and Rodney Decroo, worldmusic by Tambura Rasa and Five Alarm Funk, rowdy country by Big Joe Burke and his rousing Love Or Money. Then there is Steve Dawson who not only released two fine albums but made his presence felt as a session guitarist and producer.
In the end, I just named records that made a good first impression and continued to grow.
1. Wyckham Porteous: 3am
The first word that came to mind when I fondly thought of this album was "solitude." That might not be Porteous’s intention but this folk-rock is reflective and quietly evocative of a dark but warm night.
2.Green Hour Band: Green Hour Band
Sure, 60s psychedelia apparently exerts a strong influence on the sound of this band, but the Green Hour Band does this so well that the results are more authentic than a slavish retroactive copy. It’s following in the spirit of invention, not a blueprint.
3. Top Drawers: You’re So Fine
Both delightful and a guilty pleasure, Top Drawers’ album finds the narrow period just after Merseybeat and before freakbeat, when innocence gave way to curiosity. Just after rock left home and supposedly came of age. The band sounds authentic without a trace of irony.
4. Veda Hille: This Riot Life
Listening to a Veda Hille album is like accepting a challenge. This album’s lyrics are derived from biblical tracts and drawn from personal grief, but the difference is that this time Hille makes it easier to take the test by providing her most lush and elegant music.
5. Orchid Highway: Orchid Highway
Yet another band that takes from the past but uses it as a resource. Melodic power-pop of unusually broad scope and awareness.
6. Sumner Brothers: Sumner Brothers
The sepia tone of the album graphic recalls another time, and the Sumners’ brand of roots rock seems to come from the era of not only Hank Williams but Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. There is a sense of morality that resonates through their spare take on folk, country and rock.
7. Black Mountain: In The Future
It’s hard to be both heavy and eclectic. If you’re heavy, that implies metal, and if you’re metal, you aren’t allowed to be eclectic (that is experimental, or employing a variety of styles). Black Mountain manages to be both.
8. Cinderpop: A Lesson In Science
Power-pop has a bad name in that it implies a certain softness. So, it is with some hesitation that Cinderpop’s music is described as power-pop. It’s really in praise of the band’s awareness and gift for melody that might be construed as soft.
9. The Vincent Black Shadow: El Monstro
No doubt having its Bodog label fold prior to the release of the sophomore album was a setback, which somehow makes this rebound on the band’s retroactively created Beef label more impressive. It exudes a confident progression and is aggressive but not at the cost of songwriting.
10. I was holding this position open for a great record that might appear before the year’s out, and beginning to consider Fito Garcia’s Mi Bajo Rumbero when I remembered Herald Nix’s Everybody Loves You. It’s a blues based album that cuts deep and has a pre rock ambiance that is spooky.
