Albums

David Allred understands that negative emotions are defined by their positive flipsides and vice versa, and his music reflects that understanding. The pieces on ‘The Beautiful World’ are emotionally complex but admirably light of touch…its quiet power is nothing short of amazing.

Although now in his 81st year, Mulatu Astake demonstrates in his latest album, Tension, that his appetite for pushing his musical envelope in new directions has not diminished. It’s a vibrant, uplifting listen, and the musicianship is of the highest order.

On How to Rescue Things, Bill Orcutt plays his four-string Telecaster over recordings of old RCA easy-listening music…although he often resists going full pelt into his guitar strings, he flirts with the idea, reminding us that he still has plenty of fire in his fingers.

While the latest in the Ceremonial County Series is entirely wordless, both convey striking and very different stories: Bridget Hayden’s mythic and haunting, Daniel Weaver’s inevitable and personal. Rarely can so much have been said, and so eloquently, in half an hour of instrumental music.

Compter Les Dents strengthens the notion that Tartine de Clous’ music is something shared, something that exists in the world with lasting meaning. It’s so refreshing to hear music that is not overtly performative and not intended primarily as a product to be consumed.

Six years after their eponymous debut, Julie Fowlis, Éamon Doorley, Zoë Conway, and John Mc Intyre return with Allt Vol. II: Cuimhne, an album harmonious in every aspect: magnificent vocals, classy musicianship, and absorbing airy arrangements.

The performances on Bridget Hayden’s ‘Cold Blows the Rain’ are spellbinding. It’s an album as distinct and vivid as its characters are dark and illusory.

Sam Amidon’s Salt River is an album whose full kaleidoscopic experience is revealed through repeated listens. Eclectic is an easily applied word, but here we have an artist releasing a groundbreaking, spirited and adventurous album that is genuinely worthy of the description.

Everything The Memory Band do, however varied, is done to a high level. Their music is always interesting, often strange, and usually beautiful, and A Common Treasury is the perfect place to hear it.

Featuring four of America’s most potent musicians, all performing at the top of their game, Jeff Parker’s ‘The Way Out of Easy’ might just be the best jazz album of 2024. Another win for the ever-reliable Chicago label International Anthem.

Jack Cheshire traverses the ragged landscape of the mind and heart on Interloper. Thrown for a loop, battered against psychic rocks, his music is unruly and uncompromising in its journeys through the workings of the soul and the heart.

The true genius of Ross Ainslie’s ‘Pool’ lies in how it reconciles its stylistically varied individual tracks with an overall mood that remains consistent—and consistently engaging, something he pulls off with panache, originality, and an often breathtaking range of musical invention.