Music for 2022- Is It Just Me Or?..


Hello All!

December is now here and I realize that I have not purchased as much music this year. Being a Redbook guy I normally buy an average of 150-200 titles a year. So far this year-30 (and it’s not for lack of looking). I’m getting another order ready and have only 25 titles that want to own so far.

So- I wanted to put this question out to the group to see if it’s just me thinking this or if others feel the same- 

Have you found 2022 do be a boring year when it comes to new and interesting music?

Not talking about reissued “one more for the road” stuff.

 

designsfx

stereo5

 

I am looking forward in reading about your impressions and thoughts on the Animals SACD. I, too, have multiple copies on CD.

 

Happy Listening!

I can’t get into the new stuff. I’m still mining record shops for old cds to rip to my nas and used lps. I’m so downloading much more that I ever have. There’s still lots of old gems just waiting to be explore….I stay excited about that and the hunt. Streaming on the other hand isn’t doing it for me right now. Maybe the next phase. 

So Far this year I've purchased 3 albums (CD) and a 13 CD box set Of Jean Ferrat's work (1961-1979)..

I have the Ferrat collection (plus more) on LP, but wanted it on CD for the convenience.

The last purchase was "A Meeting by the River" Cooder/Bhatt released in 1993.

The Cooder album came from a link/referral I read in these forums and it was puchased and on its way within an hour of reading the post.

I listen to new music on YT, but rarely come across anything I wish to own.

However, I do find older music that I missed along the way.

My time frame (poplar music) ranges from the 1930's through to the mid 1980's, or so.

A wider range than what bigtwin mentions, but then I do seem to pretty much stop in the 80's.

I was 30 years old in 1985 so I do think that he's onto something.

 

DeKay

 

Not for me!

For the genres I listen to (various subgenres of prog, jazz, modern classical), 2022 was a pretty good year. Not as good as some, but still good.

This is probably about 25% of my purchases of new, not reissues or archive material, in 2022.

Green Asphalt - S/T / New Swedish band with some definite Gentle Giant influences. Really good stuff, this!
Eclectic Maybe Band - Again Alors? / Belgian avant-prog band, with a bit of Zappa influence, and even a touch of Canterbury. This one is certainly ’out there’, but it is still compelling. There are 21 musicians that play on the album, but not all at the same time.
Alex Anthony Faide - Particles of the Infinite / To say this is a Fripp/Crimson inspired recording, does not do it justice. This Argentinian guitarist has Fripp’s monstrously difficult picking technique down. But he uses Fripp as a jumping off point, and adds his own personality.
Karfagen - Land of Green and Gold / While I admit, this Ukrainian artist/band treads over some familiar prog ground, it is done so well, with such great melodies, that it is hard to argue with the results. Not breaking any new ground, but just plain good.
Scatter The Atoms That Remain - Emancipation Suite / The best terms I could use to describe this monster album, would be ’spiritual jazz’, not too unlike something from Pharoah Samders. All members are world class jazz players.
Yang - Designed for Disaster / Quite heavy (but not metal) Crimson influenced prog, from long time influential French guitarist, Frédéric L’Épée.

October Equus - Noches Blancas, Luces Rojas / Spanish band in the avant-prog subgenre. Somewhat dark, but with moments of playfulness.
Bubblemath - Turf Ascension / Unique sounding prog band from the US. Usually quite complex, but doesn’t lose sight of melody.
Knekklectric - Alt Blir Verre / very good melodic prog band from Norway, with a touch of jazz.
Janel Leppin - Ensemble Volcano Ash / Excellent chamber-jazz, with a bit of avant-garde leanings.
The Tangent - The Songs from the Hard Shoulder /Another killer release by prog band, The Tangent. Van Der Graaf Generator heaviness at times, with some Canterbury touches.
Thumbscrew - Multicolored Midnight / NY scene jazz with the great Mary Halvorson on guitar, and Michael Formenak on upright bass. Sometimes avant-garde.
7th Sense - Light in Chaos / Contemporary jazz. While not avant-garde, it is certainly progressive. Great playing, and rhythmically complex.

Mary Halvorson - Amarylis / Near brilliant progressive jazz by this creative guitarist.

Mary Halvorson - Belladonna / More in the chamber-jazz vein.

Unsuk Chin – Scherben der Stille (Shards of Silence), for violin and orchestra / This woman can do no wrong, in my book. Another great contemporary composition.

Magnus Lindberg - 3rd piano concerto

This list is far from complete, and I didn’t even list any of the great ECM label releases for 2022.