CONSIGLI PER GLI ACQUISTI Mar-Apr 2024

ANOTHER SKY (2024) Beach Day

Genere: Indie rock

Simili: Radiohead + Idles

Voto Microby: 8.2

Preferite: A Feeling, I Never Had Control, The Pain, Playground

BLACKBERRY SMOKE (2024) Be Right Here

Genere: Southern rock

Simili: The Outlaws, Lynyrd Skynyrd, A Thousand Horses, The Sheepdogs, Marshall Tucker Band

Voto Microby: 7.6

Preferite: Dig A Hole, Other Side of The Light, Azalea, Watcha Know Good

CAST (2024) Love Is The Call

Genere: Britpop

Simili: Suede, Pulp, Oasis, Verve, Supergrass, Jarvis Cocker

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: First Smile Ever, The Rain That Falls, Love You Like I Do

ED HARCOURT (2024) El Magnifico

Genere: Adult british pop, Adult contemporary singer-songwriter

Simili: Embrace, Starsailor, Keane, Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker, Ocean Colour Scene

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: Broken Keys, Into The Loving Arms of Your Enemy, El Magnifico

FRIKO (2024) Where We've Been, Where We Go From Here

Genere: Alternative-Indie rock

Simili: Radiohead + Arcade Fire + Idles

Voto Microby: 7.8

Preferite: Where We’ve Been Where We Go From Here, For Ella, Crimson To Chrome 

GARY CLARK JR. (2024) JPEG RAW

Genere: Funk, R&B, Hip-Hop, Blues, Jazz

Simili: Fantastic Negrito, Funkadelic, Sly Stone, Black Joe Lewis

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: Maktub, JPEG RAW, What About The Children

JESPER LINDELL (2024) Before The Sun

Genere: Country-soul, Blue-eyed soul ‘70

Simili: The Band, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, John Craigie, Taylor McCall

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: One Of These Rainy Days, Before The Sun, Never Gonna Last 

JJ GREY & MOFRO (2024) Olustee

Genere: Rock-blues, Soul, R&B, Funk, Southern rock

Simili: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Marcus King, North Mississippi Allstars, Blackberry Smoke, Drew Holcomb, Widespread Panic, Delbert McClinton

Voto Microby: 8.3

Preferite: Seminole Wind, Olustee, The Sea

JOHN CRAIGIE (2024) Pagan Church

Genere: Southern country-soul, Americana

Simili: Taylor McCall, Chris Stapleton, Ryan Bingham, Zach Ryan, John Prine

Voto Microby: 7.6

Preferite: While I’m Down, Viking Sex, Grand Junction

JULIA HOLTER (2024) Something In The Room She Moves

Genere: Avantgarde, Ambient-pop, Art-rock

Simili: Julianna Barwick, Laurie Anderson, Animal Collective, Sigur Ròs, David Sylvian, Mark Hollis/Talk Talk

Voto Microby: 7.5

Preferite: Something In The Room She Moves, Spinning, Evening Mood

NADINE SHAH (2024) Filthy Underneath

Genere: Urban/Industrial Singer-songwriter

Simili: St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Torres, Aldous Harding, Marika Hackman, Courtney Barnett, Anna Calvi, Blondshell, Nilufer Yanya, Jesca Hoop

Voto Microby: 7.6

Preferite: Greatest Dancer, Twenty Things, See My Girl

SAN FERMIN (2024) Arms

Genere: Chamber-pop, Adult oriented pop

Simili: Woodkid, The National, Steve Mason, Gruff Rhys, Sufjan Stevens

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: Arms, Weird Environment, Didn’t Want You To, Useful Lies

TAYLOR McCALL (2024) Mellow War

Genere: Outlaw country, Southern country-soul, Americana

Simili: Chris Stapleton, Ryan Bingham, Zach Ryan, Lee Clayton, Amos Lee, Micah P. Hinson

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: Whiskey Costs Less, Born Again, Hard To Love You

THE BLACK CROWES (2024) Happiness Bastards

Genere: Southern rock, American Classic Rock ‘70

Simili: The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chris Robinson Brotherhood

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Dirty Cold Sun, Cross Your Fingers, Flesh Wound

VAMPIRE WEEKEND (2024) Only God Was Above Us

Genere: Alt-pop, Indie-pop

Simili: Alt-J, Prefab Sprout, Orange Juice, The Leisure Society, The Flaming Lips, Grizzly Bear, Hamilton Leithauser, Death Cab For Cutie, Lord Huron, Dirty Projectors

Voto Microby: 8.4

Preferite: Classical, Connect, Mary Boone

CONSIGLI PER GLI ACQUISTI Gen-Feb 2024

 

AMOS LEE (2024) Honeysuckle Switches: The Songs of Lucinda Williams

Genere: Tribute-album, Singer-songwriter, Americana

Simili: Jason Isbell, Jesper Lindell, Josh Rouse, Josh Ritter

Voto Microby: 7.5

Preferite: Fruits of My Labor, Compassion, Everything Has Changed

BILL RYDER-JONES (2024) Iechyd Da

Genere: Indie-pop, Alternative Singer-songwriter

Simili: Steve Mason, Gruff Rhys, Balmorhea, Peter Broderick, Leonard Cohen

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: If Tomorrow Starts Without Me, A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart pt.3, I Hold Something In My Hand

HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF (2024) The Past Is Still Alive

Genere: Americana, Indie Country-rock

Simili: Rhiannon Giddens, Waxahatchee, Conor Oberst, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: Buffalo, Vetiver, Alibi

KULA SHAKER (2024) Natural Magick

Genere: Retro-rock, Mantra-rock, Neo-Psichedelia

Simili: George Harrison, Beady Eye/Liam Gallagher, The Beatles, Oasis, The Kinks, Small Faces

Voto Microby: 8.3

Preferite: Waves, Natural Magick, Gaslighting, Indian Record Player

LYR (2024) An Unnatural History

Genere: Indie-rock, Spoken-driven pop-rock

Simili: Public Service Broadcasting, Kae Tempest, The Cool Greenhouse, Tindersticks

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: Promenade, Theodolite Pt. II, A Brief Chronicle of Birds In The Autumn and Winter Months of 1886 Pt. III

MARIKA HACKMAN (2024) Big Sigh

Genere: Indie-rock, Alternative Singer-songwriter

Simili: Blondshell, Laura Marling, Torres, Lucy Dacus, Nilufer Yanya, Jesca Hoop, Anna Burch, Nadine Shah, Julia Jacklin

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Slime, Big Sigh, No Caffeine, Please Don’t Be So Kind

RYAN ADAMS (2024) Sword & Stone

Genere: Outlaw country, Alternative Country-rock

Simili: Chris Stapleton, Ryan Bingham, Zach Ryan, Jason Isbell, Rhett Miller, Todd Snider, Elliott Murphy, Amos Lee

Voto Microby: 7.7

Preferite: Nuclear War, Manhattan In The Rain, Sword & Stone

SPRINTS (2024) Letter To Self

Genere: Garage-punk

Simili: Porridge Radio, Savages, Hole, Sleater-Kinney, Idles, Fontaines D.C.

Voto Microby: 7.5

Preferite: Adore Adore Adore, Cathedral, Shadow of A Doubt

TAPIR! (2024) The Pilgrim, Their God And The King of My Decrepit Mountain

Genere: Indie-folk, Art-folk

Simili: Espers, The Skygreen Leopards, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, Black Country New Road, Arc Iris

Voto Microby: 7.8

Preferite: On A Grassy Knoll (We’ll Bow Together), Gymnopédie, Broken Ark, The Nether (Face To Face)

THE SMILE (2024) Wall of Eyes

Genere: Avant-pop, Alternative rock

Simili: Radiohead, Black Country New Road, Jonny Greenwood, Squid

Voto Microby: 7.6

Preferite: Friend of A Friend, Read The Room, Teleharmonic

THE VACCINES (2024) Pick-up Full of Pink Carnations

Genere: Punk-funk, Punk-pop

Simili: The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Fontaines D.C., Art Brut

Voto Microby: 7.6

Preferite: Lunar Eclipse, Sometimes I Swear, Discount De Kooning (Last One Standing)

VERA SOLA (2024) Peacemaker

Genere: Adult Alternative Pop-rock, Singer-songwriter

Simili: Marika Hackman, Mary Coughlan, Nancy Sinatra, Blondshell

Voto Microby: 7.6

Preferite: The Line, Desire Path, Get Wise

Top 'ol 55 del 2023: classifica di Microby. I migliori 20 album.

 1. PRETENDERS - RELENTLESS

2. STORNOWAY -  DIG THE MOUNTAIN!

3. DEWOLFF - LOVE, DEATH & IN BETWEEN

4. Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds

5. Margo Price - Strays

6. Glen Hansard - All That Was East is West of

7. Iggy Pop - Every Loser

8. dEUS - How to Replace It 

9. Gaz Coombes  - Turn The Car Around

10. Matt Andersen - Big Bottle of Joy

11. Blur - The Ballad of Darren

12. Peter Gabriel - i/O

13. The Clientele - I Am Not There Anymore

14. The Lemon Thwigs - Everything Harmony

15. The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein

16. Half Moon Run - Salt

17. Ben Folds - What Matters Most

18. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit  Weathervanes

19. The Third Mind - 2

20. Tré Burt  - Traffic Fiction

Top 'ol 55 del 2023: classifica di LucaF. I migliori 20 album.

 1. PETER GABRIEL - i/O

2. NATALIE MERCHANT   Keep Your Courage

3. GAZ COOMBES  Turn the Car Around

4. Dylan Le Blanc - Coyote

5. Noah Gundersen - If This is the End

6. Matt Maltese - Driving Just to Drive

7. DeWolf - Love, Death & In Between

8. Butch Walker - Butch Walker as....Glenn 

9. Ben Folds - What Matters Most

10. Bernhoft - Avenue of Loveless Heart

11. Half Moon Run - Salt

12. Margo Price - Strays

13. Mark Erelli - Lay your Darkness Down

14. Iggy Pop - Every Loser

15. The Jorgensens - Americana Soul

16. Tapestri - Tell Me World

17. Murray A. Lightburn - Once Upon a Time in Montreal

18. City And Colour - The Love still Held Me Near

19. Gov't Mule - Peace...Like a River

20. Daniele Silvestri - Disco X

Top 'ol 55 del 2023: classifica di Fabius. I migliori 10 album.

 1. PETER GABRIEL - i/O 

2. ANDREAS SCHAERER and KALLE KALIMA - Evolution

3. MASSIMO PRIVIERO - ESSENZIALE

4. Unitopia - Seven Chambers

5. Noah Gundersen - If This is The end

6. Coral - Sea of Mirrors

7. MJ Lenderman and The Wind - Live and Loose

8. d'Virgilio, Morse & Jennings - Sophomore 

9. Jeffrey Martin  - Thank God We Left the Garden

10. Trevor Horn - Echoes

Top 'ol55 - Le classifiche del 2023: presentazione.

Al momento delle classifiche di fine anno si arriva sempre un pò impreparati, consapevoli di non avere ascoltato abbastanza, un pò per ovvia mancanza di tempo ma spesso anche per mancanza di energie e per pigrizia (vedasi il ritardo epico di queste classifiche, anche se a parziale discolpa mi ero ripromesso di terminare tutti gli album del 2023 che avevo ancora da ascoltare). Musicalmente parlando il 2023 è stato un buon anno ("a year of little miracles" come dice Mojo), particolarmente illuminato da lavori di grande spessore da parte dei soliti "grandi vecchi" (Peter Gabriel, Pretenders, Ben Folds, Iggy Pop, Blur, Rolling Stones) ma anche da quei più giovani che ci hanno abituato a dischi di grande ispirazione (Gaz Coombes, Noah Gundersen, Dylan Le Blanc, Margo Price, Matt Andersen). Le liste dei vari co-blogger presentano un podio differente l'uno dall'altra e, sebbene i titoli ricorrenti non manchino, il loro ordine è spesso ben diverso, figlio di un'epoca dominata dallo streaming, il cui tempo di ascolto non è mai adeguato a quanto ci sarebbe bisogno. In altri tempi il disco di PG, per quanto mi compete, l'avrei devastato a forza di ascolti: ora passa un pò via assieme agli altri. Procediamo con le varie classifiche (da domani): long life RnR!

CONSIGLI PER CONCLUDERE AL MEGLIO IL 2023

Dopo le schede dedicate al primo semestre, eccoci tra le brume invernali e voilà le mie personalissime preferenze tra gli album pubblicati nel 2023 e da me ascoltati nella seconda parte dell'anno, per affrontare al meglio i bagordi natalizi. Segnalo solo i dischi che per me hanno meritato almeno le 4 stelle (8/10): pur senza capolavori, il 2023 si sta chiudendo con molti ottimi lavori. Quindi "keep on rockin' in a free world!" (Nello il Giovane)

BEN FOLDS (2023) What Matters Most

Genere: Singer-songwriter, Adult pop

Simili: Bruce Hornsby, Billy Joel, Neil Finn, Regina Spektor, Tori Amos, Guster, Joe Jackson, Burt Bacharach

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Kristine From The 7th Grade, But Wait There’s More, Clouds With Ellipses, Winslow Gardens

BLUR (2023) The Ballad of Darren

Genere: Alternative british pop-rock

Simili: Damon Albarn, The Waeve, David Bowie, Teardrop Explodes, Graham Coxon

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Barbaric, The Narcissist, The Ballad

GLEN HANSARD (2023) All That Was East Is West of Me Now

Genere: Singer-songwriter, Indie-rock, Heartland rock

Simili: Michael McDermott, The Frames, Vic Chesnutt, Sturgill Simpson, Bruce Springsteen, Nathaniel Rateliff, John Mellencamp

Voto Microby: 8.2

Preferite: There’s No Mountain, Bearing Witness, Short Life

HALF MOON RUN (2023) Salt

Genere: Alt-pop

Simili: Alt-J, Run River North, Crowded House, Lord Huron

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Alco, You Can Let Go, Dodge The Rubble, 9 Beat

JASON ISBELL & The 400 Unit (2023) Weathervanes

Genere: Classic rock, Roots rock, Southern rock

Simili: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Lukas Nelson, Neal Casal,  Lee Bains III, The Avett Brothers

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Save The World, Miles, Strawberry Woman

JOE BONAMASSA (2023) Blues Deluxe Vol. 2

Genere: Electric Blues

Simili: Mike Zito, Eric Gales, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Walter Trout, Eric Clapton

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: I Want To Shout About It, Is It Safe To Go Home, Hope You Realize It (Goodbye Again), Win-O

JONATHAN WILSON (2023) Eat The Worm

Genere: Progressive, Folk-pop

Simili: Roger Waters, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Todd Rundgren

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Charlie Parker, Marzipan, B.F.F., Hey Love

MATT ANDERSEN (2023) Big Bottle of Joy

Genere: R&B, Soul, Rock-blues

Simili: DeWolff, Joe Cocker, Tas Cru, Levon Helm, Zucchero

Voto Microby: 8.2

Preferite: Golden, How Far Will You Go, What’s On My Mind, Keep Holding On

NOEL GALLAGHER’s High Flying Birds (2023) Council Skies

Genere: Britpop

Simili: Oasis, Beady Eye

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Pretty Boy, Dead To The World, I’m Not Giving Up Tonight, Council Skies

PRETENDERS (2023) Relentless

Genere: Alternative Rock

Simili: Patti Smith Group, Lou Reed, R.E.M., Iggy Pop, The Runaways, PJ Harvey

Voto Microby: 8.5

Preferite: A Love, Just Let Go, Let The Sun Come In, Domestic Silence

STORNOWAY (2023) Dig The Mountain!

Genere: Pop-folk, Indie pop

Simili: The Leisure Society, Fanfarlo, Fleet Foxes, Decemberists, Guillemots, Mumford & Sons, James, Neil Finn

Voto Microby: 8.5

Preferite: Trouble With The Green, Bag In The Wind, Anwen, The Navigator

SUSANNE SUNDFOR (2023) Blòmi

Genere: Alternative singer-songwriter, Avant-pop, Chamber Folk-pop

Simili: Agnes Obel, Lisa Hannigan, Sòley, Meg Baird, Ane Brun

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Leikara Ljòo, Blòmi, Alyosha, Runa

THE CLIENTELE (2023) I Am Not There Anymore

Genere: Chamber pop, Baroque pop

Simili: The Lilac Time, Penguin Cafè, Camera Obscura, Louis Philippe, Alfie, Felt

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Blue Over Blue, Lady Grey, Fables of The Silverlink, Through The Roses

THE ROLLING STONES (2023) Hackney Diamonds

Genere: Classic Rock, Rock blues

Simili: The Animals, Faces, The Pretty Things, Free, Steppenwolf, CCR, Aerosmith, Joan Jett

Voto Microby: 8.4

Preferite: Angry, Get Close, Mess It Up, Whole Wide World

TRE’ BURT (2023) Traffic Fiction

Genere: R&B, Soul-rock

Simili: Garland Jeffreys, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, Willy DeVille, Percy Sledge, DeWolff, Nataniel Rateliff

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Piece of Me, To Be A River, Santiago, Traffic Fiction

YUSUF-CAT STEVENS (2023) King of a Land

Genere: Singer-songwriter ‘70

Simili: James Taylor, Ralph McTell, Gordon Lightfoot, Graham Nash

Voto Microby: 8

Preferite: Pagan Run, Train On a Hill, All Nights All Days, How Good It Feels