Eleven years of the Tories, Jesus Christ, is it any wonder, we're all poor depressed on top of the pandemic, that continues to impact our lives. Despite all the strangeness music at least has continually arrived to give much needed respite.Music acting as a lifeline.helping many of us cope with the stress of the pandemic, whilst having a positive impact on our lives,.It felt like every other week was a wave of new records being released, of genuine emotion and depth, dark, joyful, heartbreaking and celebratory, a reminder of the pull and power of music.
The year saw the release of albums featuring new directions that artists devised during the lockdowns as well as albums postponed from their 2020 release due to COVID-19. Proper live music of course remained very thin on the ground, let's hope things gradually improve, guess for now we just have to remain ever cautious.
.To all those who’ve struggled or lost sleep not knowing how they would be able to protect and care for their loved ones in these uncertain times, I sincerely hope music has at least comforted your life as much as mine.Despite the lack of gigs music consumption has remained robust.
Bandcamp by the way, an artist-focussed platform that allows people to support their favorite musicians and labels continues to support musicians and artists who have been hit especially hard .Lets continue to try and support those that continue to enrich our lives. Every day is a good day to directly support artists on Bandcamp!” Fuck Amazon.
Seasons greetings, and much love, stay safe, stay alert. heddwch/peace. As Boris Johnson remains in a deep hole, let's hope more stable days arrive soon for the rest of us.The following in no particular order are some of my musical highlights that have guided me through another strange year. Included are a smattering of reissues.
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1.Afro Cluster - The Reach
2. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - Carnage
3.Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs
4.Idles- Crawler
5.Manic Street Preachers - Ultra Vivid Lament
6.Datblygu - Cwm Gwagle
7.Gruff Rhys - Seeking New Gods
8.Superfjord - For The Moment Volume 1
10.Matt Berry - The Blue Elephant
12.Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
13.Tibetan Miracle Seeds - Inca Missiles
14. Bob Vylan -We Live Here
15.Sadder Bazaar - Seventh Valley
16. Shining Tonques - Milk of God
17.Andrew Lile's - It's Only Pain
18.Nathan Hall and the Sinister locals - Pointing Paw
19. Andy T - Clinging onto Sanity with a Broken Fingernail
20.Richard Dawson & Circle - Henki
21. John Coltrane - Love Supreme, Live in Seattle
22.Leslie Winer - When I Hit You, You'll Feel It
23.Arthur Russell - Another Thought
24. Nik Turner- I Do What I like
25. Marianne Faithful - She Walks in Beauty
