“THE BEST THING I’VE HEARD ALL YEAR” 2019
MOJO’s favourite musicians on what waltzed right up their strasse in 2019.
MICHAEL KIWANUKA Widescreen soul man digs the sadness
Strange, by Celeste, is such a beautiful, beautiful song. The melody and lyrics evoke a Dinah Washington tune, and it sounds of a completely different era without sounding retro. I’m a big fan of the melancholy atmosphere behind it. I’ve been a fanof Brittany Howard for years, and her solo album, Jaime, didn’t let me down. Her voice is an incredible instrument in itself and she’s in complete control of it. Stay High is ridiculous. I saw her live recently in New York and it was a complete masterclass in being a performer. She’s such a statement artist, and this record is a big statement. My album of the year. The late Richard Swift’s The Hex is another beautifully melancholic record. I had heard a couple of tunes off it when it was first released, and enjoyed them, but it was only this year when my drummer played it to us in the dressing room before a show and it made me immediately want to investigate further. It’s so heartbreaking and beautiful. A real stunner.
AMY TAYLOR Amyl And The Sniffers’ distaff Bon Scott
When I saw JPEGMAFIA play at Primevera, it blew my mind – I’d never seen a crowd get loose like that before. Peggy [AKA rapper Barrington Hendricks] has a staunch but fun energy and it’s contagious. A lot of the time I only see guitar bands live, so when I see different genres it’s real magic, like when I saw Sleaford Mods play last year. Anyway, I think the shit Peggy does is a new version of punk. All year all the time any time I listen to [US garage punkers] Surfbort: it’s like FUCK YEAH over and over again. I can’t put my finger on it, and won’t do it justice, but it’s freak music and I love it. Been pumping Wendy O Williams/The Plasmatics the last couple weeks more than usual. Her lyrics are my favourite. Oh, and Pinch Points from Melbourne: their album fucked me up.
MICHAEL ROTHER Neu! legend’s new sensations
Best record: Arvo Pärt’s Mirror In The Mirror. This delicate piece of music moves my heart as much as it fascinates my musical mind ever since I rediscovered it this year. When you listen carefully to it, time seems to stand still – the clarity, depth and
sheer beauty are overwhelming. Best gig: Bob Log III in Berlin, October 5. I was fortunate to see this unique musician play in a small punk music club. His performances are organised chaos, both exciting and liberating. He makes you want to jump around and go wild. Pure and unstoppable energy.
ROBERT FORSTER There’s a bustle in his hedgerow
Aldous Harding’s The Barrel was my favourite song of the year, the one that stopped me in my tracks. Her album Designer is bold and uncluttered. Sharon Van Etten’s Seventeen is a beautiful ’80s-style pop song. Speaking of which, Springsteen’s Hello Sunshine sounded great on the radio driving around Brisbane. A friend introduced me to Led Zeppelin I to IV
– they’re not a bad band. Stairway To Heaven is gorgeous. I love Plant’s vocal and the “There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west” stuff is fantastic. Two films: Visconti’s The Leopard was three hours of magic. Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue I saw once and didn’t go back to. Great concert footage, but the fake narrative bits – and usually I’m up for Dylan mind games – left a sour taste.
BRITTANY HOWARD Prince vibes for next-level humans
My Feelings Be Peeling by MonoNeon [AKA 29-year-old Dywane Thomas Jr] is incredible. He’s one of the greatest bass players out there, a savant and a bad-ass dude. He was one of the last people to play with Prince, who had pretty high standards, and right now when there are so many people making money from simple shit it blows my mind that Dywane put so many details into his music. He’s a next level human being.
GEORDIE GREEP Black Midi’s OTT singer-guitarist
Danny Brown’s UknowhatimsayinÀ is a more traditional collection of tracks than his last album. It has simpler beats but interesting textures throughout and on top of it all is his virtuosic rapping style. The succinct length keeps you coming back and each time the record gets better. At this point I’d say it’s terrific. It is an album worth listening to.
“A FRIEND INTRODUCED ME TO LED ZEPPELIN I TO IV – THEY’RE NOT A BAD BAND.” ROBERT FORSTER
JARVIS COCKER Pulp polymath learns a lesson…
There’s a [County Cavan folk singer] Lisa O’Neill song I heard, Three Babies. That’s a good track. It’s so simple. I’m in the middle of making a record and you can get very complicated: “How may tracks of audio have we got?” “120” “Let’s do another 40 then.” So to see someone do a song which is just a voice and guitar, both happening that same time, makes you slightly jealous but it’s also so refreshing. It shows you there’s something indefinable and it communicates itself and it’s good to remember that’s the real point of music. It’s not piling stuff on, it’s communication. As long as you do that it doesn’t matter how you do it, you’ve got to make that connection with someone.
KARL HYDE Underworld’s übermensch is vibrating
Girl Band’s
The Talkies is absolutely fantastic. The noise they make is beautiful, and I love beautiful noise. I heard them on the radio when I was driving with my daughter Tyler, who told me it was her current favourite band. In the absence of John Peel, I end up looking to younger generations for recommendations. They’re not as tribal or as uptight as we used to be. The band I’ve loved the most is Black Country New Road – though not for the obvious reasons [Tyler Hyde plays bass]. If anything, I’m able to be more critical because of our relationship. I’ve found myself constantly astonished at how they’ve evolved and adapted, they make a sound unlike any other band. Isaac Woods is my current favourite lyricist. Over the last year, it’s felt like the jazz scene in London has been a catalyst for the capital having something new to say. It didn’t feel like anything fresh was coming out of London for ages – now, all these young bands from different genres know each other and they’re all taking bits from one another and mutating sounds. It’s vibrant and not restricted. I’m in awe. It reminds me of all of the things I didn’t do very well when I was younger. These kids are doing it naturally.
SHARON VAN ETTEN New Jersey’s other great singer-songwriter
Being a new mom, I am experiencing music in a brand new light. What is my son responding to? Why? How can I encourage his own taste and not just my own? I have been a fan of Aldous Harding since her first record and her album was on constant rotation while I was exploring my sonic palate for my last record. However, Fixture Picture came on the radio while my son and I were hanging at home and he stopped dead in his tracks, started air drumming, in time, and singing along to the chorus. Well, I was in tears. This song is the soundtrack of my son and I discovering music together and
I will never forget it. Great song, great memory.
STEVEN WILSON Porcupine Tree’s space ace blasts off
I’m going to be slightly self-indulgent, and pick something I had the honour of being involved with: the 18-disc box set of Tangerine Dream’s ’70s Virgin recordings: In Search Of Hades. This was probably the first electronic ambient music I heard as a teenager, at a time when I was obsessed with the early space rock explorations of Pink Floyd, and it opened up a whole new world of
improvised experimental music to me. You can imagine what a kick it was for me to mix from the multitrack tapes a “lost” studio album for the set, recorded in 1974 when the band were at their absolute creative peak, and to be the first person in 45 years to have heard this music!
JUDY COLLINS The Wise Woman of folk and art song
This year I was given the honour by Joe’s Pub in New York City to be their Vanguard Resident and one of my duties was to curate the 2019 season of up and coming artists. One of my discoveries on this journey was the incredible songwriter, performer and standout guitarist – Fay Wildhagen. Fay has released her sophomore album, Borders, on Warners and has been gearing up to a new 2020 release. Her latest single is called Different – about loving what is unique about yourself. A message that is vitally important to every generation.
STEVE HILLAGE System 7/Gong guru goes Mongolian
Among the most interesting things I listened to in 2019 was some music from Mongolia. First, the chanting and throat singing of Huun Huur Tu; then those bad boys The Hu, who bring a heavy, leather-clad modern take to the whole Mongolian traditional sound. Another major highlight for me was seeing Michael Rother playing live. As a fellow guitarist, his music means a lot me. When I produced Simple Minds in the early ’80s we bonded over a shared liking of Neu! and Rother, playing his solo album Katzenmusik a lot in the studio.
“WHEN I PRODUCED SIMPLE MINDS WE BONDED OVER A SHARED LIKING OF NEU! AND MICHAEL ROTHER.” STEVE HILLAGE