Mince Pies And Twiglets!

This blog is going to be a little self indulgent I’m afraid, but bear with me! Basically it is a big shout out for some of my favourite music of the year just gone (2022 in case you’d forgotten in a haze of football and reality TV mediocrity). I am always on the lookout for new pieces of music that are a little off the beaten track but are a dead cert to make your hifi system sound amazing. 2022 has been a year that has seen so many stunning new albums from a plethora of stupendous bands and artists

Mistletoe and Wine!

First on the list (but in no particular order) comes this juicy little improv spiritual jazz thing from Flock.

Beutiful Artwork by Muhammed Fatchurofi sets the scene for some sublime music

Flock consist of and all music is improvised by….

Bex Burch: gyil, vibraphone, bass drum, shakers, bells, gong, snake drum, electronics
Sarathy Korwar: drums, tabla
Danalogue: fender rhodes, roland juno-60, upright piano, roland SH-09 bass synth
Al MacSween: prepared piano, piano, Moog Sub37
Tamar Osborn: bass clarinet, flute, soprano sax, EHX deluxe memory boy

All the pieces were recorded in one day with the emphasis on breathing and listening to one other,” explains Bex Burch. “Improvisation is composition in itself, so although the music was freely improvised, we sometimes chose to stay on form and rhythm, repeating melodies and groove.” As Dan commented on the day, we “murmurated”.

For me the standout track is the expansive 13-minute piece ‘How Many Are One’. This is the perfect example of a collective following and leading as the music and rhythms shift and fold into each other as they develop. And the bass on this track will really test out your speakers. Just as you think the bottom end goes down low it gets even deeper……Nice!!

Figgy Pud

Next on the ( in no particular order ) list is the very wonderful album By Fenella that goes by the title “The Metallic Index”.

Fenella is Jane Weavers experimental ensemble in collaboration with Peter Philipson and Raz Ullah, They return with a hallucinogenic excursion into ambient textures and hypnagogic drones on new album ‘The Metallic Index’. Taking further steps into their combined compositional universe with this follow-up to 2019’s acclaimed Fehérlófia album.

Loosely based on a genuine story recounting the short-lived abilities of a young psychic nurse in 1920s London, Fenella’s niche muse Jane Weaver justifies this celebratory return to vinyl, as she says “not once does it fall into the supposed tropes of staid hauntological-plunderphonics which repeatedly come to muddy our thirsty streams”. Fenella make spirited melodic progressive pop music that pulsates with the same magnetism that fans of Jane Weaver's own The Silver Globe and Modern Kosmology have come to respect and hold closely.

Handcrafted using a generous archive of some of the best vintage equipment in the country, the sound structures you hear at the heart of this album form the basis for Fenella's best work yet, while the individual spectral vocalisations and ethereal electronics that circle the room capture this trio's return, as peripheral visions, in full. The result is truly breathtakingly gorgeous and wonkily weird. Stand out track is “Telekinetoscopes” The soundstage is huge with sounds appearing and disappearing way outside the plane of the loudspeakers. See how good your hifi system is at revealing the beauty from within the glitchiness and the power from the propulsive deep bass. Go on try it, you never know you might just fall in love! Oh, the movie is a real corker too!

Crackers and Cheese

My final choice is “Solace” by Held By Trees.

The Beautiful cover painting is by nicola stockley

Held By Trees is an instrumental prog rock/post-rock collaboration of musicians heavily inspired by Talk Talk/Mark Hollis, consisting of musicians that took part in the infamous sessions for Spirit of Eden (1988), Laughing Stock (1991) and Mark Hollis' solo album (1998). Other inspirations include the minimal piano work of Ryuichi Sakamoto, and early 70's Pink Floyd. Not a bad little list of influences then eh?

Musically there is more than a hint of Talk Talk and any one who is a fan of theirs will really enjoy this. Legendary guitar player Eric Bibb guests on a couple of tracks too! Stand out track is definitely the six minute long “In The Trees”. The moment when the acoustic bass comes in is drop dead gorgeous.

Don’t Let The Bells End

These are just a few of the great albums from 2022 and I believe are much more fun than your run-of-the-mill hifi show demo smooth jazz, Nightfly by Donald Fagan anyone? Or any one of the awfully recorded Oasis albums? Play these and I guarantee that you will be more than pleasantly surprised at how good your hifi can sound when it is fed with top quality music that is well produced and recorded. And strictly speaking ( well writing actually ) all the greatest hifi equipment in the world would be totally useless if the music we played on it wasn’t up to snuff wouldn’t it?

Right ….now I am off to scoff mince pies and stollen….see you all on the other side!

Many thanks for reading, hope you have a great Christmas.

Andy, Jon and Farid - Audio T Cheltenham.

If you have any questions about any of the music featured in this article, and would like to hear how good your favourite albums can sound on some of our finest systems, or if you have any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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