It’s that time again when I share my favorite albums and other musical discoveries from the past month. I love finding new music and hope this inspires you to find something new as well.
October is generally one of my favorite months of the year, but this year the month was a bit scattered and I didn’t seem to get as much critical (mellow) listening in as would have liked. Nevertheless, there was more than enough to fill my eardrums. Here are the tunes that grabbed me most in October.
Freddie Gibbs – $oul $old $eparately
An adventurous album from the veteran rapper. I’ve previously only really vibed with Freddie’s albums with sole producers (i.e. Madlib and Alchemist) but this one is an exception. A bullseye.
Louis Cole – Quality Over Opinion
From what I hear, Louis one of the class of new jazz artists mixing genres and mastering instruments with ease. This album certainly makes that sound like the truth. An addicting blend of jazz and funk.
Broken Bells – INTO THE BLUE
Another album from the duo of Danger Mouse and James Mercer (from The Shins). It’s psychelic cosmic pop music and it’s “pretty”, but not too much. Danger Mouse keeps it from being too melancholy. This one hits all the right notes for the season.
Sam Gendel – blueblue
I’m not sure how to describe this one. Kind of ambient and experimental jazz born from a collaboration with a Japanese textile company (I’m not kidding). I’ve loved having this on in the background this month.
Arctic Monkeys – The Car
The new album from the Arctic Monkeys reminds me of what I love about listening to a Bowie playlist. The variety in production and song writing, and the high quality of it all, keeps this in rotation.
Honorable mentions
- Daphni – Cherry – high energy EDM from the artist otherwise known as Caribou
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down
- Bonny Light Horseman – Rolling Golden Holy – a great country folk album
- Ahmad Jamal – Live in Paris (1971)
- The Comet Is Coming – Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam – hypnotic and pulsing jazz album…so good
See what else I found in months past or on this ever-changing list of my favorite tracks on Spotify.
Comments welcome!