Happy new year from Folded Wing! Hope you all enjoyed the festive season and haven't given up on your resolutions yet!
As a final hoorah to 2011 the Folded Wing team have chosen their favourite albums of the last 12 months!
Eliza’s choice: Nicolas Jaar – ‘Space Is Only Noise’ (Circus Company)
“Nicolas Jaar's debut album breathed a whole new life into the electronic music scene, slowing the tempo and bringing in influences from Ethiopian jazz to avant-garde pop. A multi-instrumentalist analogue dancefloor hero!”
Rachel’s choice: Metronomy – ‘The English Riviera’ (Because Music)
“I’ve been a fan since the beginning and love that they took their music in another direction with this album. Sounds really great listening to the album as a whole entity and great for road trips too!”
John’s choice: Ghostpoet – ‘Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam’ (Brownswood Recordings)
“In the face of bland manufactured rappers clogging up the charts, Ghostpoet's debut LP leaped out. Clever lyrics, wicked production and alongside ‘GOB’ by DELS, one of the few albums of 2011 that encapsulates the views of disaffected British youth in a genuine and innovative way.”
Jim’s choice: Matthew Halsall – ‘On The Go’ (Gondwana Records)
“James Blake, Anna Calvi, Little Dragon, Kate Bush… 2011 was a vintage year for albums. Matthew Halsall’s third LP on Gondwana gets my vote though. Very much in the spirit of Coltrane’s ‘Olé’ and Miles’ ‘Kind Of Blue’... tracks like ‘Song For Charlie’, ‘The End of Dukkha’ and ‘Samatha’ are timeless classics. Matthew and his band also blew me away when they played the Pizza Express in Soho back in March. A very special night.”
Karen’s choice: Mara Carlyle – ‘Floreat’ (Ancient & Modern)
“It’s so hard to pick just one album… there’s been so much amazing stuff this year. A big artist for me though is Mara Carlyle. She did an amazing session at Maida Vale for us for Jamie Cullum’s BBC Radio 2 show and she’s just a super talented lady with a lovely warm sound.”
