Yearend Musings Part 1

Happy Saturday and I hope everybody has been enjoying the holiday season. As 2022 is beginning to wind down, it’s time to revisit new music released this year. I decided to do this in two parts. Part 1, which draws on my weekly Best of What’s New feature, looks back at some of the new songs I like. Part 2 focuses on new albums that speak to me. To avoid overlap between the two parts, I won’t feature any tunes in part 1 that are on albums highlighted in part 2.

Following are 12 tunes released this year, one from each month. I’m doing this in chronological order. There’s also a Spotify playlist at the end, which includes all highlighted and some additional 2022 tunes.

John Mayall/Can’t Take No More (feat. Marcus King)

I’d like to kick off this post with the amazing John Mayall, who on November 29 turned 89. On January 28, the Godfather of the British Blues released The Sun is Shining Down, a true late-stage career gem I reviewed here. The soulful blues rocker Can’t Take No More, penned by Mayall, features Marcus King on guitar.

Gregor Barnett/Driving Through the Night

On February 19, Gregor Barnett released his debut solo album Don’t Throw Roses in My Grave during COVID downtime for The Menzingers, the Philadelphia-based punk band he co-founded in 2006. Driving Through the Night was written by Barnett like all other tracks on the Americana rock-focused album, a departure from his more punk-leaning music with The Menzingers.

Young Guv/Couldn’t Leave U If I Tried

Young Guv is a solo project of Toronto-based guitarist and vocalist Ben Cook. After playing in two Canadian hardcore punk bands, Cook launched a solo career in 2015 and has since released five power pop-oriented albums under the Young Guv moniker. I immediately loved the beautiful Byrdsy-sounding Couldn’t Leave U If I Tried, included on Guv III, his fourth album that came out on March 11.

The Linda Lindas/Talking to Myself

When I first came across The Linda Lindas in early March, I was struck by the energy of this Los Angeles-based all-female punk pop and garage band. The four-piece was founded in 2018 when their members were still young teenagers. Talking to Myself is a tune from the group’s first full-length album Growing Up, which appeared on April 8.

49 Winchester/All I Need

Va.-based 49 Winchester describe their music as “tear-in-your-beer alt-country, sticky barroom floor rock-n-roll, and high-octane Appalachian folk.” Formed in the mid-2010’s, the group has put out four albums to date. Lynyrd Skynyrd-flavored country rocker All I Need appears on their most recent Fortune Favors the Bold, released on May 13.

Lettuce/RV Dance

American jazz and funk band Lettuce were formed in Boston in the summer of 1992 when all of their founding members attended Berklee College of Music as teenagers. Initially a short-lived venture for just one summer, the group reunited in 1994 and released their debut in 2002. RV Dance is a groovy track from their latest album Unify, which came out on June 3. As I said at the time, you could picture James Brown singing to this great tune!

Dawes/Ghost in the Machine

Los Angeles-based folk rock band Dawes emerged from Simon Dawes in 2009 after that rock group’s co-songwriter Blake Mills had left. His departure did not only result in a new name but also in a change of music style from post-punk to folk rock. Here’s Ghost in the Machine, a cool tune from the group’s eighth and most recent studio album Misadventure of Doomscroller, out since July 22.

Marcus King/Blood On the Tracks

Guitarist and songwriter Marcus King is one of the most exciting young contemporary artists in my book. The 26-year-old has been on stage since he was 8 when he started performing alongside his family. Here’s the soulful rocker Blood On the Tracks from King’s second solo album Young Blood released on August 26.

Ringo Starr/Free Your Soul (feat. Dave Koz and José Antonio Rodriguez)

“Every band deserves a Ringo.” Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I read that great quote, which perfectly describes Ringo Starr. The ex-Beatles drummer always has been all about the music, never about himself. A perfect illustration is the All-Starr Band, his touring rock supergroup Ringo formed in 1989. Now 82 years young, he’s still rocking – and recording! Free Your Soul is the smooth closer of Starr’s most recent release, an EP titled EP 3 that appeared on September 16.

The Star Crumbles/Desperately Wanting

The Star Crumbles is a cool music project by fellow blogger Marc Schuster from Abnominations and his friend Brian Lambert. After meeting on Twitter and working together on one of Lambert’s songs earlier this year, they hit it off and decided to form The Star Crumbles. Both are into ’80s music and bands like The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, New Order and Ultravox, which is noticeable on their first album The Ghost of Dancing Slow released on October 7. Here’s one of my favorites, Desperately Wanting.

Larkin Poe/Southern Comfort

Sister act Larkin Poe have been among my favorite contemporary artists since they entered my radar screen a few years ago. Not only are Rebecca Lovell and her slightly older sister Megan Lovell great songwriters, but they are also really talented musicians and sing together in perfect harmony. Southern Comfort is a sizzling southern blues rocker from their sixth full-length album Blood Harmony, which came out on November 11 and which I reviewed here.

Mthunzi Mvubu/Mom vs the Bad Man

The final pick I’d like to highlight is by South African-based saxophonist, flute player and composer Mthunzi Mvubu. Playing professionally since he was 14, Mvubu has traveled globally with jazz luminaries since he was 18. Mom vs the Bad Man is a track from The 1st Gospel, Mvubu’s debut album as a leader, released on December 2.

Last but not least, here’s the above-mentioned Spotify playlist. While finding new music I sufficiently like can be quite time-consuming, I feel it’s been another rewarding year. Hope there’s something here that speaks to you as well!

Sources: Wikipedia; 49 Winchester website; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday and hope your weekend is off to a great start! It’s been a busy week on my end, which is also why this Best of What’s New installment is coming out later than usual. The first two selections are on albums released yesterday (December 9), while for the final two picks, I went back to December 2.

River Tiber/In Between

First up this week is River Tiber, the moniker of Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tommy Paxton-Beesley. Born and raised in Toronto, Paxton-Beesley also lived in Italy for a year near to the Tiber River, presumably the inspiration for this moniker. His AllMusic bio notes he is classically trained and picked up the cello at a young age before learning the drums, trombone and guitar. Prior to launching his solo career in 2013 with the debut EP The Star Falls, Paxton-Beesley wrote for hip-hop artists. Over the years, he has co-written charting songs, such as No Tellin’ by Drake, Broken Clocks by SZA, AstroThunder by Travis Scott and I Keep Calling by James Blake – frankly not the type of music that grabs me. By now you may be wondering why I decided to feature Paxton-Beesley. Well, his latest album Dreaming Eyes sounds different from the aforementioned music. By the time I got to the third track In Between, a co-write by Paxton-Beesley and Johnathan Mavrogiannis, I felt sufficiently intrigued.

Sam Ryder/Deep Blue Doubt

Sam Ryder is a British singer-songwriter who first rose to prominence with music covers he posted on TikTok in March 2020 during the first COVID lockdown period. Here’s more from his Apple Music profile: After years of playing in rock and metal bands and trying to break into the songwriting game in Nashville, Ryder took to posting cover songs to the internet during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, and quickly caught the attention of stars like Sia and Justin Bieber. In short order, he skyrocketed to social media stardom. In 2021, he released his debut EP The Sun’s Gonna Rise, which has received over 100 million global streams. He also represented the UK at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Space Man and finished second overall. Ryder has cited David Bowie, Elton John, and Queen as his artistic influences. He’s now out with his debut album There’s Nothing But Space, Man! Ryder’s high vocals remind me a bit of Sam Smith. His music, which I guess could be characterized as contemporary power pop, is a bit of a stretch to me. Let’s listen to the album’s opener Deep Blue Doubt, credited to Ryder, Ben Kohn, James Napier, Peter Kelleher and Tom Barnes.

Sophie Jamieson/Addition

Next up is Sophie Jamieson, a British singer-songwriter based in London. Here’s more from her AllMusic bio: Jamieson started writing songs as a teen and cites Elena Tonra, Sharon Van Etten, and Scott Hutchison among her later songwriting inspirations. She started playing live while living in Cambridge and taking in the university music scene. A Ben Walker-produced EP titled Where appeared in 2013 and led to an inclusion on Folkroom Records’ Anthology Two compilation. The double A-side “Stain/Other” followed in 2014. In the meantime, a bad recording session and mental breakdown ultimately resulted in a six-year break from music. The first of a pair of self-released EPs, hammer EP, appeared in March 2020 featuring hazy electric guitar and keyboard songs, usually with a rhythm section. Arriving in December of the same year, the four-song release EP, if slightly sparer, followed suit. This brings me to Jamieson’s full-length debut album Choosing. Apparently, it was written during a period in which the artist was struggling with alcohol. Here’s the powerful opener Addition, which drew me in.

Mthunzi Mvubu/Mom vs the Bad Man

Closing out this week’s new music revue is Mthunzi Mvubu, a South African-based saxophonist, flute player and composer. While I frequently feature jazz in my Sunday Six weekly feature, I rarely include it in Best of What’s New – frankly, I really don’t know why, especially when the music is as great as Mvubu’s! From his AllMusic bio: Possessed of a reedy yet smooth, nearly mellifluous tone on the horn, his playing style draws on the North American and African jazz traditions; he also has an extensive post-bop vocabulary. Playing professionally since he was 14, Mvubu has traveled globally with jazz luminaries since he was 18. He is also a member of Londoner Shabaka Hutchings’ Shabaka & the Ancestors. Mvubu is a founding member of the Amandla Freedom Ensemble and, for a decade, has played in drummer Tumi Mogorosi’s band, appearing on 2014’s Project Elo and 2022’s Group Theory: Black Music. While I admittedly know nothing about these albums and other artists, this sounds like a pretty impressive resume to me! Now, Mvubu can add his debut as a leader to his credits: The 1st Gospel, recorded with five other jazz musicians from South Africa. Check out Mom vs the Bad Man – love this!

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of the above picks and a few additional tunes by each of the artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; Apple Music; YouTube; Spotify