kagablog

11. The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (Vagrant)

- if the constant comparisons with Springsteen and Thin Lizzy haven’t yet persuaded you to at least try the Hold Steady, maybe the guest appearances on this, their fourth album, by members of Dinosaur Jr (J Mascis, of all people, on banjo), the Drive-By Truckers and Guided By Voices will do so, suggesting, as they do, serious indie cred to go with all that rock classicism and lyrical Catholicism – “Stay Positive” sounds more closely produced than its predecessors, and that has caused some anxiety in certain critical circles – to these ears, though, all it does is move the band up a level – they were clearly headed this way, so be thankful they got here with integrity intact and without artistic or intellectual sacrifice

12. Rokia Traoré – Tchamantché (Nonesuch)

- one of the constants of just about any musical year is the amount of great music generated by the remarkable Mali, whether from within the country or via expatriates like the increasingly adventurous Rokia Traoré – “Tchamantché” is all the more welcome given the fact that it seemed at one point as if the so-called sophistication Western influence and her multi-cultural background was lending her music might cause a drop off in the arguably more critical (depending what you’re aiming for, I suppose) elements of excitement and soul; this has the lot, from the muscular drive of the traditional n’goni and use of the classical harp rather than its cousin the kora to the rolling guitar of the northern deserts and even Gershwin (with n’goni accompaniment) - Traoré’s quite bewitching vocals, intimate and personal as usual rather than powerful and declamatory like so many of her countrywomen, set the seal on a fabulous performance

13. Dub Colossus – A Town Called Addis (Real World)

- the idea of marrying Ethiopian singing and playing to Jamaica’s reggae rhythms and overlaying the result with dub production methods might seem obvious given the way Rastafarianism has connected the two countries, yet the trick has been tried so seldom (if ever) that this album came as one of the year’s nicest surprises – Dub Colossus (Nick Page of Transglobal Underground, an important champion of cross-cultural collaboration) finds the fit in such a way that this remains a dub album with Ethiopian music rather than the other way round, somewhere between, say, Bill Laswell and Adrian Sherwood, both operating near the peak of their form

14. Okkervil River – The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar) / Shearwater – Rook (Matador)

- it seems that Okkervil River’s fabulous 2007 album, “The Stage Names”, was initially intended to be a double, and that this may have been the other disc, at least conceptually – well, that’s as may be, but, while this clearly sounds like Okkervil River, it feels essentially different from its predecessor … quieter, perhaps, even though there’s still rock, and volume, to be had, and more downbeat (the album ends, like its forerunner, with a tribute to a tragic artist - then poet John Berryman, now singer Jobriath, but this time without the familiar Sloop John B chorus to lift the spirits - and a suggestion that Sheff might be headed into Scott Walker territory) – it took longer to get into as well, but Will Sheff is such a fine songwriter, and the band such an intuitively great vehicle for his songs, that, as soon as I had stopped making those comparisons, “The Stand Ins” soon revealed itself to be a more than worthy addition to, and broadening of, what is turning out to be a seriously impressive catalogue – and so, on the evidence of their two latest albums, is Shearwater’s, where Okkervil River’s Jonathan Meiburg (Sheff was also once a member) gets to exercise his own substantial songwriting ability as the angel-voiced leader of a band less earthy, perhaps, and more arty, and more precious, but no less precocious, than the Okkervils – it seems that, with both bands starting to make a few commercial waves, he’s chosen Shearwater, where the bleaker, more wintry sound is a perfect fit for his soaring vocals and ravishing songs

15. Dave Holland Sextet – Pass It On (Dare2)

- the magisterial bass player’s ability (yes, bass players like this are always magisterial) to keep putting together ensembles that never dip below magnificent, and then to write material worthy of them, continues to inspire – this time Holland and long serving trombonist Robin Eubanks, who wrote the opening Sum Of All Parts, which perfectly describes the group and its synergistic chemistry, are joined by Russian trumpeter Alex Sipiagin and such stars of the modern mainstream as altoist Antonio Hart, pianist Mulgrew Miller and drummer Eric Harland, the latter two new to Holland recordings though Miller and Hart are well acquainted with each other – as ever, there was hardly anything obviously more impressive in the jazz year

16. Umalali - The Garifuna Women’s Project (Cumbancha/Stonetree)

- Garifuna is an Afro-Caribbean culture, descended from slaves and marginalised for centuries, whose music suddenly came to international notice in 2007 on the heels of Belizean Andy Palacio’s wonderful “Watina” album - Umalali, which means voice, is a collective of Garifuna women singers and their album, produced, like “Watina”, by Palacio compatriot Ivan Duran, makes a terrific successor to that record (sadly Palacio himself died early last year) – it seems that women are the principal bearers of Garifuna culture, so the album is more traditional sounding than “Watina” (though it does include contemporary songs too), with some of the singers, who come from Honduras and Guatemala as well as Belize, strongly reminiscent in style and timbre of their West African ancestors, while the musical backing, which pretty much covers the Caribbean waterfront, brings the sound right up to date

17. Bellowhead – Matachin (Navigator) / Spiers & Boden – Vagabond (Navigator)

- if the second full length release by the remarkable folk big band is not as startling as the first (it could not realistically have been), it’s hardly less worthy of your love and attention - Jon Boden’s wonderful rendition of Fakenham Fair, learned from his hero, the vocally singular Peter Bellamy whose setting of Kipling’s Cholera Camp is here as well, sets the perfect mood for a set that roves imaginatively, eccentrically and sometimes inspirationally across an English folk music landscape that accommodates stirring balladry and bloody murder as naturally as raucous sea shanties and The Flight Of The Folk Mutants – the fiddle and intrinsically English guitar playing Boden’s other project, aside from a burgeoning solo career, is the duo he forms with Bellowhead’s outstanding squeeze box man, John Spiers, and their “Vagabond”, an outlet for a somewhat more conventional, if no less exciting, approach to traditional English music, could hardly have been bettered – it’s all a question of taste, but acquiring both will dramatically improve your world

18. Issa Bagayogo – Mali Koura (Six Degrees)

- known in his native Mali as Techno Issa because of the way he, mostly seamlessly, incorporates electronic sound and rhythm into his traditional, kora-centric West Afropop, Bagayogo has moved up a gear for this album, subtly incorporating horns and slightly more overt jazz influences into the always reliable marriage of ancient and modern elements that sets him apart from most of his colleagues – it’s a difficult balance to achieve, but he achieves it more often than not

19. Robert Forster – The Evangelist (Yep Roc)

- it’s inevitable, of course, that the memory of Forster’s tragically departed fellow Go-Between Grant McLennan will pervade this album (three of the songs are McLennan co-writes) and, trusting Forster’s ability and taste as I have for about 25 years, that would have been fine on its own – yet he manages, against all odds, and without avoiding either that memory or the pain that must have been present throughout, to fashion something that is neither just a wistful, wishful Go- Betweens epilogue (though there are, inescapably, elements of that) nor a maudlin tribute, but probably the best Robert Forster album to date - I’m even tempted to suggest that it might be the best solo offering to emanate from either of the brilliant Brisbanites but my love for McLennan’s “Horsebreaker Star” keeps getting in the way

20. Marcin Wasilewski Trio – January (ECM)

- though this is only the second album released under its name, the trio has been together since they were teenagers making music for film projects, and, as three quarters of the outstanding Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko’s band, is now widely considered one of the finest groups in jazz; and “January” is likely to remain a piano trio staple of a label whose love for and care of the form is impressive - Wasilewski’s The Young And The Cinema and Ennio Morricone’s lovely Cinema Paradiso reference their roots, and they pay homage by revisiting Stanko’s Balladyna – Prince may be a less obvious source, but their Diamonds And Pearls is gorgeous, and no less confidently essayed than the album’s Gary Peacock and Carla Bley pieces or the five outstanding originals