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Starting a #music thread to share the music I've loved this year. Whether or not it was actually released this year.
I'm making a conscious choice to move away from 'best of' anything lists, but towards 'stuff I love'. Here goes:
Kahlil El'Zabar, legendary Chicago jazz musician, had a great album called "A Time for Healing" that connects jazz with its African roots. The best way to describe it is 'healing'. This is clear on the track 'Urban Shaman'.
Its cover of 'Summertime' is also special.
I bought an album on Bandcamp: https://kahilelzabar-is.bandcamp.com/album/a-time-for-healing
I don't usually listen to Americana or folk at all, but Allison Russell's music defies genres.
Her album "Outside Child" is transformational. Part memoir, part journey, this is the first album that I've heard that is almost entirely about SA. Yet it defies all expectations.
Watch her on Tiny Desk: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/14/1121277047/allison-russell-tiny-desk-concert
Ahmad Jamal's lost Paris recordings were recently issued by the French publisher: I bought a vinyl, it's so precious!
Stream it here also:
Here's a collaboration I never expected: Khruangbin made an album with Vieux Farka Touré.
If you've liked Mongolian music like The Hu, check out Mongolian metal.
MIIIST's album on Bandcamp is pay what you want. (Caution: loud and amazing)
As a clarinet player myself, Anat Cohen has been such an inspiration. She's been called the greatest living clarinet jazz player, for good reason! I had an opportunity to see her live at SFJazz this year. Took my breath away.
This year, she released Quartetinho. Listen to it here:
Cuban big band Orquesta Akokán's 2021 album '16 Rayos' has been playing on repeat all of 2022 and will probably continue well through the next year.
Fearless and intimate are the best words for this album.
The guitarist Jun Xiao is the first Chinese musician to have an album on Blue Note. There's a bit of emo, trip hop, rock... I love it.
There was a big band x Chinese folk x jazz scene in China in the 20s, you can still see snippets of it in Shanghai. But the contemporary stuff, I want to learn more about. Jun Xiao is a sterling place to start.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/atypical-airship/1644243906
South African jazz has such a storied history.
Nduduzo Makhathini's "In The Spirit of Ntu" explores indigeneity, ancestry, spirituality, with urgency and beauty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y62yYslF3n8&list=PLXeeNKNC4Ws9hL5n6GLm0yh1OuM6k2Es1
Queen G is a Kuwaiti hip hop star. Many people compare her to the other female rapper who is now an anti-vaxxer, but Queen G is better.
Sadly, there's only been a bunch of singles. Happily, it's magical. The video is cool too.
Tom Skinner's "Voices of Bishara" EP is a winner if you're a fan of his other work on Sons of Kemet. Also moving, a little dissonant, but always beautfiul
billy woods' Aethiopes: one of the best hiphop albums this year, for sure. Poetic, brave and meaningful, like great hiphop is.
Nerves Baddington's double albums this year (Micro and Macro) are expansive and ambitious projects that makes for very interesting and inventive #hiphop
Kibrom Behane's Ethiopian-Californian Coltrane-ish jazz is a balm for my soul
https://kibrombirhaneflyingcarpetrecords.bandcamp.com/album/here-and-there
I’m a sucker for Cat Power. Her “Covers” is exactly what you’d imagine a Cat Powers cover album will be. She definitely has a distinct sound.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMzepslwWUzo7llO2l82HqPwHpiKUm_kp
Quelle Chris's Deathframe is one of my favorite #hiphop albums of the year.
My wife grew up in France and she listens to a lot of French music. Sometimes I like some of it.
Belgian-Rwandan musician Stromae has a great track out this year (and also a wonderful recent Tiny Desk concert, after many years of not performing due to anxiety). What a comeback!
@skinnylatte Am listening on YouTube - In the Quest for the High Tower is really cool, thanks.
But wait - are they from Mongolia or China? YT says it's from China and I am confused.
@Alon Inner Mongolia is part of China, Mongolia is a country, but they are both culturally Mongolian
@skinnylatte Oh! Okay, that makes sense, thanks :).
@skinnylatte Thank you for the recommendation! I like it! 
@skinnylatte my first thought was "oh shit is Shadia Mansour an anti-vaxxer?!" but now I realize you mean *that* other female rapper.
Very cool video.
@skinnylatte Discovered Stromae in the last year, and, given what was going on with me, quand c’est? ripped me up, then Invaincu was my motto after nuking therapy and a busted neck, and Santé is just good stuff for a former union organizer.
https://youtu.be/8aJw4chksqM
https://youtu.be/rw0XBin_r9s
https://youtu.be/P3QS83ubhHE
@skinnylatte
my beloved 
@skinnylatte cat power! I discovered her on emusic.com, back when that was a thing
@skinnylatte okay so I just begged for no more bandcamp lists for my poor wallet's sake but this list absolutely crushes. Fantastic!
This album is glorious, glossy, mesmerizing. Love it
@mrcompletely This was posted last year before the Bandcamp shenanigans! Hopefully I can make a new list soon. Enjoy!
@skinnylatte if you haven't heard it, I think his newer one Maps with Kenny Segal is great too, especially the jazz-heavy tracks which have a splintered, surreal sound to them. And he's on Shabaka Hutchings' Kofi Flexx project, and apparently Shabaka will be on his next album under a pseudonym, that's a cool pairing (Shabaka is also on that Tom Skinner album you posted of course)
@mrcompletely Thank you! Will check it out
Figured I'd poke my head in at this point to congratulate you on what (for me) is a finefine music thread.
Et pour la charmante épouse, mes félicitations pour s'être associée à cette personne manifestement très intelligente...
@tuban_muzuru @mrcompletely thanks for listening and sharing!
@skinnylatte wow killer example of what @nnedi has named Africanfuturism
@skinnylatte here's one, not jazz, but interesting: https://youtu.be/v7wkxwb_Iqo
First heard Fred O's work by a local chorus, "who is that guy?", and now looking for more things played by Rebecca Omordia.
@skinnylatte I need to check that out. I love the HU
@skinnylatte WHAT
Thank you for posting this!! 
@skinnylatte I really love that one.
@skinnylatte Thanks so much for putting that up. I really enjoyed the Tiny Desk with Allison Russell. Never would have seen it otherwise.
@skinnylatte my friend Megan is the drummer in this tiny desk concert!
@jsatk that’s amazing! They are so good!
@skinnylatte His America the Beautiful is great, too!
@skinnylatte I'm working through this one slowly, so far so good 
@skinnylatte Thanks! bookmarking this thread.
@skinnylatte Thanks for this. Have heard only Khruangbin/Toure from this list. As someone looking out for new stuff to listen to, these sound really interesting.
@skinnylatte here’s an old one that I love. I have the original import tape. https://youtu.be/bz1MEOXCpu4
@skinnylatte looking forward to digging into these, thanks.
@skinnylatte Nice to meet you & thank you for the great selection of music! Just about to turn up the volume and enjoy with my coffee
@skinnylatte please please please more music toots 
Love this *diverse* selection and think we need more of it here and everywhere.
@airfive thank you! Definitely!
@skinnylatte such a wonderful list - thank you! Off to the YouTube rabbit hole I go...
It was actually released last year, but 1 album I adored this year was Halsey and Trent Reznor teaming up on If I Can't Have Love I Want Power. I've never been a huge fan of either, but they complemented each other so well they became greater than the sum of their parts.
@skinnylatte Thank you for sharing these
@skinnylatte thanks for the idea. I might do that for this past year. :)
@skinnylatte bookmarked this thread for some quiet time with new music, thanks for sharing!