In no particular order 2019: Tiny Desk concerts

The second of my end of year lists pays attention to the glorious entity of NPR’s Tiny Desk and the performances that have happened behind it. I’ve followed TD on youtube for a few years but this year has seen a string of quality ‘concerts’ rolling out one after the other so I decided to do a list of my favourites cos lists are good and entirely objective, no commentary not nuffink, just the music.

So here we, here we, here we fucking go…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In no particular order 2019

There was a time when I would fire up this blog and hurl out paragraphs of what I thought pithy political invective on a weekly basis, sometimes 2 or three times or week. Those times have passed, sadly or not, and now it’s just me forgetting my password and resetting it a once year to do a list of music cos if nothing else it’s a handy guide for me to see what floated my boat in a fixed time period. Onwards…

This year saw Gruff Rhys release his 6th solo album, Pang! – add these to 9 with SFA, 2 with Neon Neon, one with Tony da Gattora and the soundtrack for Set Fire to the Stars, plus numerous other collaborations, and it’s clear to see the creative urge is more than an itch for Rhys (he recently announced his next album is already completed). I was lucky enough to see him and the Pang band in October and was as entranced as ever. Here’s one of my faves from the album.

 

 

Pang! is a welsh language album produced by South African afrobeat/hip hop guru Muzi – a few years ago Muzi hooked up with Stormzy and invited him over to South Africa to check out the scene, and so we have the incredibly clunky link to the next of my pick of 2019…

 

 

Staying in South London for Dave, winner of the Mercury this year and soon to appear on another list of mine (Tiny Desk 2019) – I mean, first the Mercury and now appearing on two of my lists, he’ll never match that.

 

 

Talking of Mercury nominees (this linking shit is easy!), Idles gained acclaim for the album they released in 2018 but they did release a new single this year which carried on where they left off, viscerally and noisily.

 

 

Another Mercury nominee (what? they did a decent list this year) in Black Midi, used a live vid cos of Morgan Simpson’s drumming – watch any live vid of theirs and he’s the fulcrum imo

 

 

Not nominated for the Mercury (linking game is dropping) but with a glorious 7th album, A Bath Full of Ecstacy, I have to include Hot Chip, quite simply one of the best UK bands of this century. They played their biggest headlining gig so far at Ally Pally in October and I was there and it was indeed a bath full of ecstacy (ahem) – their studio output is excellent but they take it to another height live expanding the line up and tweaking the tracks to make them one of the best live acts around. This is why I’ve put a live performance here but you should also check out the official vid for Hungry Child, possibly my favourite of the year.

 

 

Georgia guesting on that performance lead to me checking out her music and this one is a banger – I’m a sucker for good electro pop and she has her crash at a silly height just like yer man from Battles

 

 

My boys QELD are planning a new album to follow their excellent Kush Zombies but in the meantime this kept the flames burning in 2019 – you should also see the brilliant short doc 100 Fishponds Road about a mass grave of paupers in Bristol which Bobby QELD worked on – it’s available to watch here

 

 

I was supposed to see FWF but wasn’t really up to it so gave my ticket to a friend who reports they were magical – really good album this year and a string of compelling videos of which this is just one

 

 

One for those of us who can remember buying Three Feet High and Entroducing when they originally came out – yeah, probably a nostalgia pick but these fellas were, are and always shall be class

 

 

“Recently I’ve been struggling with anxiety, to the point where I find it hard to leave the flat” Richard Dawson makes the mundane and everyday epic things and can make your heart burst with any one of his seemingly prosaic couplets – a writer and performer full of humanity and one of the albums of the year – my mate, Will, introduced me to his music. Thanks, Will. Thill. “One of the girls who works the checkout tuts under her breath and it destroys me for the week”

 

 

That voice tho

 

 

Not much new from the Doomtree collective this year which makes me hopeful for 2020, but Dessa had a couple of new tracks including this belter

 

 

Another act I only discovered this year, this came out in the autumn and I *really* need to see them live

 

 

That’s it for now, there’s stuff I’ve missed off and loads of music I haven’t listened to which I would probably love – don’t let old farts like me tell you there’s no good music coming out these days, it’s always there to be found.