exploremusic

1) Brothers- The Black Keys

Having been a Black Keys fan from what I like to call day 1 ( back around May of 2002 when The Big Come Up) released, it is only natural that due to their hard work, insanely passionate delivery, fine crafted songs and continual commitment to respecting the blues and the art of making “records” … that “Brothers” be number one on this list. This album was a leap away from 2008′s ” Attack and Release” Which Danger Mouse produced and painted with more layers sonically than on any other previous recording of theirs; and it also to me made a lot of sense with its mature and Ernest melodies following in the natural footsteps of Auerbachs solo record ” Keep it hid” where he delved into the soul/Motown waters more so than with the keys. I always feel like bands after their 4th or 5th album get into this hypnotic groove and intuition with themselves and the writing that they come out with such a cohesive “every-song-is-a-single-quality” type of record. For the Kings of Leon ” Only by night” would be that, for The B ack Keys ” Brothers” is it. However unlike the slightly disappointing follow up ” Come Around Sundown” from KOL I truly believe with every inch of my body Dan and Pat will come back with their next release and do what they do best, drop our jaws and get our feet moving, heart pumping and sweat dripping.

2) Sea Of Cowards- The Dead Weather

There is absolutely no denying that I worship Jack White and pretty much anything he gets his hands on. When  ”Horehound”  came out in 2009 I was immediately slayed with tracks like ” Cut Like a Buffalo”, ” Treat me like your mother” …clearly I have a thing for single-type-catchy-melodies. It wasn’t until I dropped the needle on “Sea Of Cowards” that I was sold entirely on The Dead Weather as a band and not just another Jack White genius project. Every single song on this record I love. Alison’s painfully screamed sexy vocal deliveries, Dean Fertita’s howling guitar, Jack Lawrence killing it on bass, and of course Jack White playing the drums like he was born doing it..All together everything is loud, unapologetic, aggressive and  filled with some sort of secret that only those four know and will never tell us…forcing us to keep listening over and over again.

3) Soldier Of Love- Sade

If mother nature had a voice Sade would be it. I don’t have words to describe how perfect and beautiful and flat out healing this record is. I have every single Sade vinyl because every single one is magnificent. “Soldier of Love” is no exception. This woman has a strength and depth to her voice that is unparalleled. No one has her power, No one is as dominating with just one note, No one and I mean no one is as much of a radiant woman as she is musically. Sade is not something you can fuck to, Sade is what you make love to…enough said.

4) I’ll Meet You on That other shore- Alan Lomax /field recordings collection

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5) Wave the Ocean, Wave the Sea- Alan Lomax/field recordings collection

Alan Lomax is one of my favourite people in the world and one of the most important individuals in the preservation and history of music. It’s not a hidden fact that I would be insanely grateful to this man for doing what he did in the early on with his Father ( John  A. Lomax)  by recording songs sung by sharecroppers and prisoners in  Texas,  Louisiana, and  Mississippi. Following with which he continued to go out and document/record history for years with some of my idols. ( Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lead Belly, Muddy Waters etc.) If it were not for Alan and his father a lot of us would not know a thing about folk & blues music also known as “field music”. All that being said, when I walked into my record shop and found the new released : Field Recordings From Alan Lomax’s Southern Journey 1959-1960 ( w ich included 5 titles: I’ll meet you on that other shore, Wave the ocean, Wave the Sea, Worried now, Won’t be worried long, I’ll be so glad when the sun goes down & I’m going to live anyhow until I die ) I was filled with excitement. The only reason I am putting ” I’ll Meet you on the other shore” first on this list before ” Wave the Ocean Wave the sea” is because I bought them in that order. They are both gems filled to the brim with deep swampy history. You will never hear more haunting and honest voices than you do on all five of these incredible compilations.