COVID 19 and New Music Releases

[Still-One]

I have been thinking about this for the past few months and some of the comments in the Melody Gardot "Sunset In The Blue" thread had me thinking to start this thread.

I thought the year started out great. Each Friday as new music hit the market I was finding new releases that grabbed my attention. I assume that most of this was all finalized well before COVID forced the world into lock down.

As labels ran out of music developed before the lock-downs started they "appear" to be releasing music being created with many of the artists in isolation. The collaboration that occurs with artists jamming and creating music in the same studio seems lost.

I must say that over the past few months there seems to be a dearth of interesting releases even from artists I normally enjoy. Something is missing.

Each Friday I sit down and look for new music on Tidal. I play potions of a few tracks to see if anything grabs my attention. Many of the albums sound like they were recorded in someones basement by one note singers backed by electronically created instruments.

[PHC1]

I'm sure the lockdowns had much to do with it. Music is human, music comes from inspiration, mood, emotional state of the performer. The madness of 2020 had an effect on everyone.

One can not exclude the mood and the state of mind of the listener either. A quick check is to see if the stuff that used to make you feel in a special way, still does.... If not, one has the answer.

I tried my best not to let any of the events of 2020 get me down although the year itself gave me plenty of reasons to.

I enjoyed and will continue enjoying both the Melody Gardot and Diana Krall releases while sadly many others have not....

[JDCheek]

I agree totally that I haven’t had any inspiring new music this year that I would likely listen to more than once. On Serges recommendation, I did try the latest Diana Krall, and love it. Not so much for Melody Gargot, that I didn’t hear until last week.

One exception. Most will laugh or turn up the nose, but I have loved the new Tim McGraw album. It’s not his voice, and certainly not an audiophile recording. It’s the songs. I like almost all of them, a lot. L.A, the first track sounds like a tune Jimmy Webb would have written 40 years ago. Would love to hear any feedback for those willing to step out a little bit!