Here's my annual list, wondering what others heard that was new and good this year...not in order of preference...
1. The Shins, Wincing the Night Away
2. The Earlies, The Enemy Chorus
3. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Some Loud Thunder
4. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
5. Bright Eyes, Cassadaga
6. The Waterboys, Book of Lightning
7. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
8. Rush, Snakes & Arrows
9. Tuatara, East of the Sun
10. Warm in the Wake, Gold Dust Trail
11. Buffalo Tom, Three Easy Pieces
12. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
13. Prince, Planet Earth
14. New Pornographers, Challengers
15. Oakley Hall, I’ll Follow You
16. Warm in the Wake, American Prehistoric
17. Radiohead, In Rainbows
18. Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
19. Neil Young, Chrome Dreams II
20. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Raising Sand
21. Rogue Wave, Asleep at Heaven’s Gate
22. Joni Mitchell, Shine
23. Iron & Wine, The Shepard’s Dog
24. White Stripes, Icky Thump
25. Yeasayer, All Hour Cymbals
I spend so much time searching the roots that I got no real desire to keep up with whats newest, but one thing did catch my ear this year. A singer I work with turned me on to Rehab- by Amy Winehouse. I expected it to be a commercial POS, even though I had seen some concert footage and I knew she was really good.
But when I heard it it just struck me as being a great song, powerfully personal and very sad. Frankie Lee used to say: it's ok to have the blues but its trouble when you live the blues. And everytime she screws up she probably sells another 10,000 units.
But thats my song of the year.
Cheers!
Oh yeah. My other discovery this year is Tal Wilkenfeld.
Tal is a 22 year old woman from Austrialia who plays world class bass guitar. Her first tewo gigs were as part of Jeff Beck's band and Chick Correa's as well. They showed Eric Claptons Crossroad Concert on PBS a couple weeks back and she just tore it up with JB.
She could be a real giant, not just as a bassist, but as a composer as well. I sense something extraordinary in her. Check her out.