Thought I forgot, didn’t you?
Well, I couldn’t fully start a new year, without some sort of recap of the year in black rock and black alt music. Many other blogs have weighed in on their “best of”, so it’s only fair that Boldaslove.us represents as well. Here goes. Some you’ve heard, others are things you might’ve missed. All were honest explorations of the new black imagination. No particular order:
ALBUMS
Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid
Earl Greyhound – Suspicious Package
Tamar-kali – Black Bottom
Rich Medina & The Marksmen – The King Meets The President In Africa
Chocolate Genius Inc – Swansongs
The Family Stand – In A 1,000 Years
Tecla – Strangers in Masks
Shad – TSOL
Pigeon John – Dragon Slayer
Lightspeed Champion – Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You
Twin Shadow – Forget
California King – La Belle Epoque
Flying Lotus — Cosmogramma
SINGLES aka heavy rotation on my iPod
Gordon Voidwell – “Ivy League Circus”
Galaxy of Tar – “When The Hour Glass Has Run Out”
Tamar-Kali – “Warrior Bones”
Kelsey – “Calendar”
The 54 — “Overrated” + “Crazy”
MuthaWit – “Wasted (Fill My House with Salt)”
No Surrender — “Gotta Get It”
Janelle Monae – “Come Alive (The War of the Roses)” + “Say You’ll Go”
Bad Rabbits – “Stick Up Kids”
Twin Shadow – “I Can’t Wait (Gordon Voidwell remix)”
Ebony Bones – “Guess We’ll Always Have New York”
Earl Greyhound – “Ghost and the Witness” + “Shotgun”
The Family Stand – “Story”
Tecla — “So Have I”
Socialybrium – “Another Day”
Noiseaux – “Cry of Rage”
Bang Language – “Tenaz”
Bilal – “Little One”
Johnny Swim – “Bonsoir”
Kokayi – “Roxtar”
Just A Band – “Huff + Puff”
Kanye West – “Power”
The Five One – “Mandatory”
BLK JKS — “Zol!”
