Here are 19 favourite things I heard this year (in alphabetical order): Aldous Harding Designer Third album from the New Zealand singer-songwriter hits the mark with engaging, quirky and original folk music for the 21st century. Angelique Kidjo Celia The African pop queen pays tribute to Cuban musical goddess Celia Cruz, with the same rich results she had with Talking Heads’ Remain in Light. Bruce Cockburn Crowing Ignites With his stunning, all instrumental album, the Canadian folk legend proves his exceptional guitar playing deserves as much acclaim as his songwriting. Bruce Springsteen Western Stars The 19th ...
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The digital home of music journalist Nicholas Jennings, author of Lightfoot, the bestselling biography of Gordon Lightfoot. Includes a searchable database of current and archived work, including thousands of record reviews and feature articles.
1386 Hits
1. Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer She’s made two conceptual albums featuring her alter-ego, the time-traveling android Cindi Mayweather, and starred in two films: the Oscar-winning Moonlight and Hidden Figures. And yet a major commercial breakthrough has so far eluded her. But this could be Monáe’s moment. Working with Prince before he died in 2016, Monáe went on to create a strikingly personal album. The sensual “Make Me Feel” is a direct homage to Prince’s “Kiss,” while “Americans” resembles the free spirit of his “Let’s Go Crazy” and the finger-popping “Pynk” channels the Purple One’s sexually liberated anthems. Monáe uses her new album to explore themes of femininity, LGBTQ and blac...
1706 Hits