Lots of new joy to flag up this week: expansive live sets from Steve Gunn, Ryley Walker and their amazing bands; Rhiannon Giddens covering the Staples; the tremendously Funkadelic Childish Gambino album; Loscil reconfiguring in High Plains; the Willie Lane album, much raved about by guitar soli cognoscenti this past month, turning up on Bandcamp; the Horse Lords chopping and screwing Macca and the Dead; the return of Alasdair Roberts; another great Ethiopian find from Awesome Tapes; Natalie Prassā Christmas song; and Joan Shelley covering Leonard Cohen, which feels like a necessary and beautiful thing to hear in December 2016: āThrough the days of shame that are coming, through the nights of wild distress/Though your promise count for nothing, you must keep it nonetheless.ā
Also, Scissor Tailās amazing Bruce Langhorne tribute album has landed on Bandcamp: great cause, great primer involving many of the most interesting and exploratory guitar players out there at the moment ā please check it out. The Leonard Cohen and Bootsy Collins version of ā1999ā, on the other hand, is not quite so strongly recommended. Approach with cautionā¦
Follow me on Twitter @JohnRMulvey
1 William Basinski – A Shadow In Time (Temporary Residence)
2 Hurray For The Riff Raff ā The Navigator (ATO)
3 Laura Marling ā Semper Femina (More Alarming/Kobalt)
4 Brokeback – Illinois River Valley Blues (Thrill Jockey)
5 Steve Gunn ā Bell House, Brooklyn 09/12/16 (nyctaper.com)
6 Ā Rhiannon Giddens – Freedom Highway (Nonesuch)
7 Nikki Lane ā Highway Queen (New West)
8 High Plains ā Cinderland (Kranky)
9 Childish Gambino ā Awaken My Love (Glassnote)
10 Frank Ocean ā Blonde (Boys Donāt Cry)
11 Tim Darcy – Saturday Night (Jagjaguwar)
12 Brian Eno ā Reflection (Warp)
13 Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band – Live At Union Pool, New York 03/12/2016 (nyctaper.com)
14 Willie Lane – A Pine Tree Shilling’s Worth Of Willie Lane (Bandcamp.com)
15 Horse Lords – T***kin’ – DJ P4UL & L0RD 1NF4M0U$ Feat B0B W3IR/Itās Gonna Snow (Soundcloud)
16 Ryley Walker – Live At Copenhagen Jazzhouse 2016-12-06 (archive.org)
17 Cherry Glazerr ā Apocalipstick (Secretly Canadian)
18 Black Flower ā Artifacts (Sdban Ultra)
19 Eric Arn – Orphic Resonance (Feeding Tube)
20 Natalie Prass – Everybodyās Having Fun (Itās Christmas Time) (Spacebomb)
21 Various Artists ā The Hired Hands: A Tribute To Bruce Langhorne (Scissor Tail/Bandcamp)
22 Alasdair Roberts – The Downward Road (Drag City)
23 Gary Byrd & The GB Experience ā The Crown (Motown)
24 Wilson Pickett ā Hey Jude/Right On (Edsel)
25 Joan Shelley ā Heart With No Companion (Soundcloud)
26 Roha Band ā Instrumental Music (awesometapes.com)
27 Paul Shaffer And The Party Boys Of RockānāRoll ā 1999 (Featuring Leonard Cohen And Bootsy Collins) (SBK)