18. Jaga Jazzist - Pyramid
Genre: Jazz-Fusion
Put On A Playlist With: Return To Forever, Lonnie Liston Smith, Alice Coltrane, Jan Hammer
An ode to the spacey sounds of post-Bitches Brew jazz fusion and it is every bit as awesome as the album cover indicates. The pad choices sound closer to what guys like Tangerine Dream were playing around with in the latter half of the 70's and early 80's, but the overall vibe veers closer to Soft Machine and their ilk. Opening track 'Tomita' is particularly appealing, spiraling gloriously into the stratosphere on a wave of dreaming Vangelis-esque synthscapes until a killer Rickenbacker bassline kicks in after a few minutes and really sets things up nicely.
17. Keleketla! – Keleketla!
Genre: Afrobeat, Hip-Hop, Electronic
Put On A Playlist With: Tony Allen, Fela Kuti, Thievery Corporation, The Heliocentrics
A massive international effort spread across sessions throughout South Africa, L.A. and London, this album is a collaboration between one of the founders of jazz label Ninja Tune and hip-hop artist Yugen Blakrok (know for his contributions to Black Panther's soundtrack, among other things), plus a ****ton of other legends. Very energetic and warm sounding overall, if Afrofuturism needed a funky shot in the arm in the wasteland of 2020...this album does it in spades and is a real joy from start to finish.
16. Huntsmen – Mandala Of Fear
Genre: Doom Metal, Americana, Sludge
Put On A Playlist With: Yes, Kyuss, Candlemass, Mastodon
Interesting band that combine elements of classic doom, modern sludge and Americana with Yes-esque vocal harmonies juxtaposed against occasional harsher sounding vox that sound like something out of an early Slipknot album. There was a lot of great metal this year in general, but this album stood out to me immediately, which isn't an easy feat. I suppose a good litmus test of whether or not you'll like this depends on your reaction to opening cut Ride Out, which has a little bit of everything that constitutes their sound.
Last edited by Anteater; 11-27-2020 at 06:22 PM.
|