So I was reading a post in another thread. One person was making the argument (and I"m editorializing here) that there was no good “new” music, and that good music was only found mining backwards. The other was advocating that music discovery is very much part of what Roon is about.
So I thought. What if you were presented with the person that really believes that NEW music is, by and large, no good. And you ONLY have ONE album to demonstrate otherwise. Which album do you choose?
To make it interesting, let’s define NEW as 2015 or more recent. What’s your pick?
To start us off, I’m going to propose this one released in February this year:
So was part of the argument “what’s new for me might not be new for you”. Or does it have to be like fashion new today old tomorrow? I am discovering new music for me everyday which can range from 1 year old to 20 years or more.
Now, that’s real provocation! This is very good new music (for me), just scanning the most recent additions to my Roon collection, skipping anything composed more than a a few decades ago, stopping at 10 because I had to at some point. There’s lots more.
One of the reasons I suggested just one album is that I’d love to listen to what folks suggest. You just added 10 h to my potential listening! So given that, which one do you suggest I start with?
Listening to Rhiannon Giddens. Great production, good instrumentation, but I wouldn’t add it to my collection. My wife was saying that while she is clearly a good singer, the words could be anything. Her example was that she could be reading an email to the music…and it would essentially be the same.
Other opinions may vary.
I’ll work my way through your list, but I’ll get to some others first. Excited to see what others have contributed.
Maybe I’m biased because I heard Giddens live earlier this year and she had an outstanding vocal and emotional range — humor, love, sadness, anger, irony — and I’m hearing that too in her recorded work.
Will continue to listen through your list.