Yesterday was such a success that I thought I would do it all over again. This time I listened to bands beginning with A that aren’t from Europe. I think I established that in the blog title.
Yep.
-
The Abyssinians – Arise (Jamaica)
With apologies to Adrian Slatcher (@adrianslatcher) who suggested African Head Charge, I went slightly more old school with The Abyssinians’ 1978 album, Arise. Soz and that. It’s a classic.
-
Aldous Harding – Designer (New Zealand)
This was the selection of Picky Bastards (@PickyBastards) and popular and enjoyable website/podcast or not, I couldn’t see them repeating the quality of yesterday’s recommendation. However, they did. I loved this album too. So that’s two for two from Picky Bastards. Nice work. Maybe next week they will suggest B*Witched and ruin their cool, but I doubt it.
-
Amon Tobin – Supermodified (Brazil)
This was recommended by Graham Cox (@grahamcox1991) and was the first thing I played today that I didn’t love. I liked it but I didn’t love it. Admittedly it is probably better suited to listening to on a Friday night out than while writing a blog post about Jason Statham’s performance in the film The One, and that might have had something to do with it. I’ll try listening to it the nest time I go out on a Fri… oh. yeah. that.
-
Abdel Aziz El Mubarak – Straight from the Heart (Sudan)
What I won’t be listening to is this live album of very very long songs that most definitely go on a bit. You made your point in the fourth minute, pal. We don’t need another twelve.
-
Alexisonfire – Crisis (Canada)
Chris Bissette (@pangalactic) tweeted, “I have no idea what kind of music you like but my Canada recommendation will ways be Alexisonfire – Crisis.” Well, I like lots of sorts of music, and now I like another sort of music, and that sort of music is, the music of Alexisonfire. Thank you. I was particularly fond of the song Boiled Frogs, because it’s a banger.
-
The Avalanches – Wildflower (Australia)
Graham Cox also suggested The Avalanches, which was an excellent suggestion because I had actually decided at about lunchtime yesterday that I wanted to revisit this album today because. I think it is really good but that it possibly has too many endings. The last three songs all feel like they could be the last one. I need to listen to it all again, I think.
-
Anarchy – DGKA (Japan)
By the time Richard Jones (@rlwjones) suggested Asobi Seksu I had already spent twenty minutes researching Japanese hip hop so I was reluctant to listen to anything but Anarchy. Did I make the right decision? Maybe. I don’t know. DGKA is a bit patchy but I would recommend checking out the Wings sampling Much Later and/or the day-glo buzz of Energy Drink.
-
Amadou and Mariam – Tje Ni Mousso (Mali)
I haven’t got a lot to say about this one. It was pretty good but after a while I forgot it was on. Sorry.
-
Arca – Arca (Venezuela)
This was recommended by Fat Roland (@FatRoland). Should I have liked it more than I did? Possibly. Arca has worked with Björk (who is, obviously, the best) so how could this not be brilliant? I think it probably is brilliant, just too far along the musical spectrum toward classical/experimental for a dunce like me to understand.
-
Ambulance Ltd – LP (USA)
Dave Hartley (@DHartleyWriter) suggested this. One of the nicest things about this weekend is I hadn’t previously listened to the choices for the UK or the USA – it was new stuff all round. It will need more than one listen to get all cozy with, but I liked it, especially the track Young Urban.
-
Amor Elefante – Billetes Falsos (Argentina)
All out of recommends, I searched the internet for something to listen to. I found this. It’s well good too. A lazy description would be that they sound a bit like a dreamy version of CSS or something like that. That doesn’t come close to describing them really, but I am pretty lazy, so…
AND NOW THE EXCITING BIT!!!
It has occurred to me that I could do a leaderboard of the people who made the best suggestions each week, and then at the end of the alphabet have a winner who is officially The Best Music Recommender In The World!!!!
So, without further ado, here are this week’s top recommenders
- Picky Bastards – who recommended two great albums, Aventine by Agnes Obel and Designer by Aldous Hardy. 5 points
- Lucy Lapwing – who recommended Voulez-Vous by ABBA which gave me the purest joy of all the albums I listened to. 4 points
- Richard Jones – for suggesting Forever Young by Alphaville which was a piece of pop history that was missing from my brain. 3 points
- Chris Bissette – for introducing me to Boiled Frogs. 2 points
- Marv – for getting me to listen to an Asia album. 1 point
Commiserations to everyone else, especially Fat Roland who actually put quite a lot of effort into finding stuff only to get no reward. Better luck next week.
