Personally, the main thing getting me through Covid has been music. Not only have many of my favourite artists released new music in the past two years, but I’ve also discovered hundreds of new genres and styles of music that I love and managed to go to a couple of music gigs in the process.
I’ve included 4 albums in this article, three that were released during Covid and one that turned 10, that have had a huge impact on myself and that I’ve really enjoyed. I urge you to listen to them if you are looking for something new, or old, to discover!
An Evening with Silk Sonic - Silk Sonic
The collaboration of styles that Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak bring to the table with their newly released album ‘An Evening with Silk Sonic’ is probably the highlight of my year musically. Since its release in November 2021, I have genuinely not gone one day without listening to it. Not only do the tracks on the album have a refreshing style that is quite dissimilar to what we are used to hearing on the radio, but the lyrics are extremely catchy as well as the composition of the R&B music featured.
For my birthday I only asked for one thing; a vinyl copy of this album because I knew that this was going to be a prominent album in my life and the music industry for a long time. My only wish is that the album was longer because 30 minutes is not long enough to appreciate just how good this pairing is at making music.
Strange Satisfaction - Woody & Jeremy
Woody & Jeremy is a musical duo that I only discovered a few months ago through my Spotify suggestions but they’ve already become a firm favourite for me. Their newest album, Strange Satisfaction, released in March 2020 has only six songs. My favourite from these is Hollywood Witches, a song that exudes extremely funky vibes due to the loud bass playing as well as the attendance of trumpets throughout the chorus.
Throughout their music, there is a lot of brass in the backing track which gives the songs a very positive vibe which throughout Covid was extremely needed. Their lyrics are quite ambiguous in places which I like as it shows that their music is subject to your interpretation.
Zeros - Declan Mckenna
Declan Mckenna is by far my favourite music artist and has been for a long time, since his mainly acoustic album ‘What do you think about the car’ in 2017. However, his newest album, Zeros, is far from what you would expect. Released in September 2020, this album has the recorded genre of ‘Glam rock’ which after listening to
it, completely agree with. The bold introduction to the album with ‘You Better Believe!!!’ is the perfect example of Declan’s diverse talents when it comes to music production.
I had the opportunity to see Declan at Brixton in September of this year and he was incredible. His stage presence was brilliant and his vocals were just as good live as they were on the recording. I’m seeing him at the Royal Albert Hall in May of 2022 and I’m sure it will be one of the highlights of my year. His performance of Zeros is one of the best live performances I have ever experienced.
Stereo Typical - Rizzle Kicks
The ten year anniversary of Stereo Typical by Rizzle Kicks only reignited my love for the group. Although they never officially disbanded, they have not produced any music together since 2016 and
have gone on to have solo careers. Stereo Typical is my favourite Rizzle Kicks album and I was hoping for the 10 year anniversary there would be some sort of celebration but… no. Nevertheless, my love for this hip hop album contains many of my favourite songs of all time especially ‘Miss Cigarette’ and ‘Traveller’s Chant’. Their lyrics rely on wordplay extensively and I love this about their music as it is always enjoyable to listen to it and try to figure out what they are trying to say. Overall, I would say this is one of my favourite albums of all time.
Have you heard any of these?
By Felix Wiseman
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