On Friday January 8th I read a review of Black Star by David Bowie. On Monday January 11th, he was dead. Incredible timing. The review written by Alex Petridis in The Guardian Film & Music section was very enthusiastic in its praise of the album and the direction Bowie had taken. It sounded original, different, intriguing and strange – just like a good Bowie album should. I was keen to get hold of it. On the Monday, when I turned on 6Music to hear the news of Bowie’s passing, the need to buy a copy of Black Star suddenly became urgent. I was in Soho at the end of that week but Sister Ray had sold out of the vinyl. I attempted to buy a copy on several occasions from a variety of shops and each time there were none in stock. Demand was outstripping supply. It wasn’t until early February, a month after release that I managed to buy a copy from Sister Ray. The allure and hold of David Bowie was immense and had been intensified with news that he was gone. He was controlling his image even in death, expanding his mystery.
I hadn’t heard the album before I played it at home, so there was that kid in a sweetshop sense of anticipation – yet also lingering in the back of my mind, the slim thought that I could be in for disappointment. You never know until you have listened to something.
I needn’t have worried.
The opening track, Black Star, seemed to be a foreboding prophecy of his death and is one of the most unnerving songs I have ever experienced listening to. Bowie was in my front room, his voice sounding jaded yet vital, coming out of the speakers, telling me about the vision of his demise – "in the Villa of Ormen stands a solitary candle." Then out of this obscure doom comes light – "something happened on the day he died. Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside." He then appears to cut his ego down to size – "I’m not a film star, I’m a black star" – preparing for some kind of after life, before the track resumes its original sombre tone and we are taken back to the Villa of Ormen. Mind blowing stuff. He was writing his own eulogy. The first time I listened was spellbinding. It felt weird and exciting. Surely the timing of his death and release of the record was too impeccable to be a coincidence. It’s as if he said once I’m gone put it out there and after his passing, the personal tracks on the album become all about Bowie’s death, with him trying to make sense of the situation and say farewell. The album certainly took on a more profound status following the shock of Bowie’s sudden death. Dollar Days is a longing for England, his home, which he grapples with, then dismisses – "If I’ll never see the English evergreens I’m running to, It’s nothing to me" – and a sense of personal lament runs through I Can’t Give Everything Away, with the words - "seeing more and feeling less, saying no but meaning yes" - a feeling of drifting away.
To be writing his story and continuing his creative path, with the Black Star album and the musical Lazarus, even when he is no longer walking the planet, shows exceptional vision. Bowie’s major albums were released before my time; Young Americans, Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust are my top 3 but I have always been listening in retrospect. Black Star on the other hand was here and now, in the present, whilst he was soon to be spoken of in the past tense. Bowie was always known as the pop chameleon, because of his ability to change image and direction. This was beyond reinvention, this was pop resurrection. Following his passing, several of his albums were charting high up in the albums chart and staying there for weeks on end. Black Star was his parting gift and is a truly great album.
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2 Kate Tempest – Let Them Eat Chaos
Kate Tempest is one of the most vital voices in Britain today. I love her words and I love her music. I love her inspiration. I love that she makes sense of the world. To me, she is THE most vital voice, eloquently telling it how it is, from her point of view, through characters you feel you know, fiction that feels real, words that have you enthralled and music that makes you want to move. Her voice quivers with a rising sense of urgency, which holds you in its grip and forces you to stop in your tracks and pay attention. I wholeheartedly agree with her sentiment but whether you agree or not, she is undeniably essential and musically and lyrically challenging and alive. This is spoken word story telling, with a sharp, quick fire delivery, underscored and enhanced by an electro sound track. Kate Tempest has learnt her craft and worked up her style over the years by spitting her lyrics at poetry jams and the like. She writes what she sees and she sees what she writes. You can’t learn this on the X Factor. Her last album Everybody Down was the Head Space Daily number one album of 2014, (HSD Top 10 Albums 2014) with more great storytelling, set within a desperate social climate, which led to the book The Bricks That Built The Houses which came out this year – an essential read. Let Them Eat Chaos is more politically direct than Everybody Down and lays life bare. This is vital listening, with a vital message. It is always 4:18 in some peoples’ lives...
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3 Charles Bradley – Changes
Charles Bradley is a true soul man. He has been through so much in his life and faced so many terrible situations, that the average person would have been pushed over the edge. Charles has never lost hope or given up – and for that we must all be thankful, for we would be without his incredible, heart wrenching, emotive voice and the amazing soul music which he creates with his fantastic band. There is so much love for Charles Bradley. He sings every line as if his life depends on it, every word like it could be his last. He has that very real essence of an artist who has experienced suffering, heartaches and pain. He has a very pure innocence to his personality and only wants to see the good in people. If only we all carried less cynicism in our hearts. I saw him at the Forum in March, on the eve of the release of his latest album Changes (HSD - Charles Bradley Gig Review) and the love flows both ways. To see this 67 year old man – The Screaming Eagle Of Soul – with a searing shriek of a voice, joyously shaking his thing, is a sight to behold. He is celebrating being alive, having the opportunity to make his music and being able to do what he loves. His label, Daptone Records and his band The Extraordinaires, must take great credit for Charles Bradley’s emergence as a soul star. The musical backing he is given on stage is supreme and puts the funk into his soul. After having had a sensational year, 2016 closes on a sour note, with Charles having been recently struck down by stomach cancer. My thoughts are with him in his latest battle. We're with you Charles...
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4 Angel Olsen – My Woman
Angel Olsen is utterly mesmerizing, entrancing you to enter her world and discover it’s hazy warmth, like a sepia tinged photograph. The mood gently broods and sways, builds and drops, never fully lets rip but always holds something back, leaving you wanting more. She takes you to the edge and then slams the brakes on. Her vocals on the track Woman have an ethereal ambience, and the album as a whole, has a languid, other dimensional atmosphere, which reminds me - and those who remember the early 90s may understand - of the melancholy sense of Twin Peaks. A sweet layer of fuzz draped over her voice always hints at nostalgia, a sentiment of fondly remembering times past and moments shared, never to be regained. Discovering My Woman by Angel Olsen, with its exquisite songs and mellifluous vocals, like picturing a scene through frosted glass, was a lovely surprise and I am looking forward to seeing her play at The Roundhouse in May 2017.
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5 BadBadNotGood – IV
BadBadNotGood are present day jazz renegades. This is up front music with one finger on the pulse of trip hop, another on the heartbeat of electronica, with a confident nod to the breaks of hip hop. The album is a glorious, uninhibited foray into a modern take on jazz. When Blue Note Records were releasing their catalogue in the 60s or artists like Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane and Miles Davis were coming to the fore, it must have been incredible to be discovering this astounding new music. BBNG capture a fresh excitement of jazz and no doubt there is a whole new, younger audience who are coming across and falling in love with the music, discovering and being amazed. Jazz has for a long time had a slightly elitist feel, so for the genre to be spreading out and being explored by a newly initiated and eager audience is a beautiful thing. When I saw them recently at The Electric in Brixton, they name checked Kamasi Washington amongst others and there is a thriving jazz scene developing right now. It is happening. Get on board!!
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6 Hinds – Leave Me Alone
I love this record. It never fails to put a smile on face, with its beautifully disjointed, wonderfully discordant yet perfectly made collection of songs. Guitars pick sweet melodies over the lo-fi indie sensibility, as raucous female Spanish voices overlap with one another, singing English lyrics. You know they are having an absolute wail of a time. Four mates doing their thing and you want to get up on stage and join them, which is exactly what twenty or so of their mates did at the end of the gig at KOKO in February (HSD - Hinds Gig). What a terrific, feel good night that was and I walked out into the cold of winter enveloped by a nice warm, satisfied glow.
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7 Cate Le Bon – Crab Day
Cate Le Bon is an artist and her art form is an eccentric and unique style of indie guitar music. I can’t think of any other similar sounding artists, although I’m sure she has plenty of influences, no doubt including Nico from The Velvet Underground. Cate Le Bon, the Welsh Nico!! Cate’s voice reaches a falsetto pitch at times whilst the music swirls and dances at arms length, creating its own almost dream like, off key patterns. Her lyrics, like the music, are intriguing, yet unknowable, lost in her own mind. She is an enigma, hidden behind thick black theatrical eye liner. I am looking forward to seeing her perform at Islington Assembly Hall on December 14th. Crab Day is a strange, captivating and rewarding album and an unexpected pleasure of 2016.
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8 Gregory Porter – Take Me To The Alley
There is a deep, timeless quality to the voice of Gregory Porter, the tone of which is warm, comforting, rich and reassuring. Gregory and the distinguished musicians, who support him, transport me to another era, where classic jazz is played in smoky clubs, finger snapping punters nod to the music, and velvety vocals hang delicately in the air. Gregory projects his soul in a different way to Charles Bradley for instance, as his voice is rooted in jazz. It is measured, full, controlled and calm but resonates joyfully. You know what you are going to get with a Gregory Porter record and Take Me To The Alley is no exception. It oozes class. It would be interesting to hear him push himself in another direction to see where he ends up. We are lucky to have a voice like Gregory Porter singing in the world today. A true gentleman and a truly soulful jazz man.
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Gregory Porter - Holding On
9 Kamsi Washington – The Epic
I bought Kamasi’s album in January of this year but like Ezra Furman's Perpetual Motion People which began the countdown yesterday at No.10, it was actually released in 2015. However, it has been a big musical part of my 2016. It is a quite incredible piece of music. In fact, it's length makes it more than simply a piece of music - it is a WORK - like a classical masterpiece. The Epic does indeed live up to its name, running to just under three hours in duration and is lovingly crafted. The music is uplifting, soulful, spiritual, pure jazz. Surrounded by other exceptionally gifted musicians, Kamsi’s music doffs its cap to jazz of a bygone era, yet he is so in the now. Having performed on Kendrick Lamarr’s To Pimp A Buterfly, and being fully connected with Flying Lotus, Thundercat and the Brainfeeder label, he couldn’t be more relevant and is well placed to bring this type of jazz music to the masses. The tracks that feature the wonderful voice of Patrice Quinn, remind me of Fertile Ground and their Perception album from 2001. Kamasi and his band played at Green Man this year and were superb. This is sensational music to be savoured. Kamasi Washington is a star and your time is well worth investing in this beautiful work of music.
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10 Ezra Furman – Perpetual Motion People
Perpetual Motion People came out in 2015 so I can’t really place it any higher up the chart but it has been a big record for me this year. Ezra is an absolute character, a tornado of charisma and personality, who wears his heart on his sleeve. He can be a 50s rock and roller, or a punk rocker and enjoys a large helping of 80s sax with his music. I was listening to the Young Americans album by Bowie the other day and the sax made me think of Perpetual Motion People. Ezra gives the impression that he is continually on the verge of a nervous breakdown, which adds a real sense of hammed up drama to his music and his live show. He gave a brilliant performance at The Roundhouse in October. Don’t stand still Ezra, perpetual motion please.
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