I can be hypocritical about critics. Roland, a colleague, asked me if I know anything about Joanna Newsom. I've yet to know as much as I will about the harp-playing hippie poet who dislikes it when people call her voice "childlike" once I've listened to 'Ys'. "Hippie", a word Roland chose, was a good one for a new generation of broadly folk musicians whose work can recall that bygone lifestyle and outlook.
The refined orchestration of the new Newsom of 'Ys' lies in wait. I devoured those "Best of 2006" lists, the better to scoff since my head has no such classification system. 'Ys' was almost everywhere and I got it for Christmas. But then I returned to Joanna's 'The Milk-Eyed Mender' and dived into it for nearly a week.
Last year I sought to be soothed, chilled out and comforted by music, but also challenged by musicians who took time to grow on me. Joanna Newsom is sharp and sufficiently à la mode today to live down a flattering "childlike" note I made about her perceptions in July 2005. For now, however, I leave 'Ys' and its long songs amply covered elsewhere: damned by a few as pretentious, esteemed by most as masterly in its poetic and musical daring. It's an unwrapped gift.
 Lily Allen brings an earthier wit to bear on a cunning musical sense of humour. The young Londoner's "ace lyrics" and vicaciously good pop songs made Marianne delighted to spy the girl's 'Alright, Still' on my shelf. Allen can be spot-on funny about life. Check out the colourful MySpace Lilymusic page. Lily's amusing blogged rant at the New Musical Express about the rag's alleged promotion of women in music conveys the same sense of justice served as some of her songs.
Now I'm going to say ''Redbird' again.
Don't stone the birds, since the name will suffice for a record I've written up amply before. The point is that Heather Nova's songs embedded themselves deep enough to sustain me through good and vile periods. Such albums are super-duper!
So to revive "Sounds great", here are nine more names culled from the little red notebook. When you're too old to talk about having "best friends" any more, you value ones on whom you know you can depend for depth and sustenance, which doesn't mean they have to be heavy.
If you haven't heard of some of these musicians, so much the better:
 'Stolen Moments' by Alison Brown. Americana - often acoustic - fine band - bluegrass - harmonies. You may hate the banjo. Or so you think. Until you hear what Alison does with one. Joyous - uplifting - sad - hopeful - virtuoso - inventive.
'Plans' by Death Cab for Cutie, with 'Transatlanticism'. American indie rock - dream pop. They're men. I admit it. Not a woman in sight or in sound. But, my goodness, are they good! Intimate - growing up - thoughtful - gentle - long train journeys.
'Quick Look' by Pina Kollars. Austrian, living in Ireland. Country - rock - folk. A throaty, sometimes percussive voice. Sharp lyrics - angry - yearning - angry - surprising - warm - tight band - enraptured.
A second album, 'Guess You Got It,' released once Pina had got over a break-up that provided material for the first, is less intense, more relaxed. Both CDs are short, but it's about quality, not quantity.
About...' (at Google music)' by Tok Tok Tok. Tokunbo Akinro is Nigerian, living and working in Germany with Morten Klein. Jazz - soul - Fender Rhodes - acoustic. A singer-songwriter's album "about..." everybody's good (and bad) days, racism, love and simply living. Melodious - spartan - heart-warming - funny - thoughtful - relaxing.
'Space Lullabies and Other Fantasmagore' by Ekova. Ambient - dream pop - (other)world. Dierdre Dubois, Californian French, sung intentional nonsense, accompanied by Ekova's Algerian, Iranian and French members. There are real words in there too. It sounds gorgeous. I follow Mlle Dubois's career with fascinated admiration.
'Full Moon in Three' (at CD Baby) by Jennifer Terran. Vocal - piano - bass - electronica - tweaks. 'The Musician' was marvellous, especially on repeated listening. 'Live from Painted Cave' is disarming, heart-breaking and fun. 'Full Moon in Three' breaks new ground. I love it, but have yet to sound all its depths. Dark - terran - outer space - bewitching - a class of her own.
'Solace' by Mandalay. Electronica - dream pop - trip-hop. I have been listening to it for days, interrupting Nicola Hitchcock's light, fabulous vocals only for African and jazz singers to remind me occasionally what planet we live on. Solace - ethereal - reflective - energy - space.
Most of the "bonuses" are selfish travesties of Saul Freeman's soundscapes; boring beats mismatch the voice. The outstanding exception is Nitin Sawnhey's remix of 'Deep Love'; he understands Nicola, who was the only musician in ages to woo me into buying her first solo album immediately.
'Beautiful Collision' by Big Runga. Pop - acoustic - vocal - guitarist/pianist. I didn't know Bic Runga was a New Zealand superstar when I first heard this. When fine lyrics on universal themes soar on a stellar voice, you listen again ... and again. Elegant - adult - relaxing - gentle - happy - sad - sublime.
'Shine of Dried Electric Leaves' by Brazil's Cibelle. An astonishing progression from the eponymous 'Cibelle' album discovered and enjoyed, with Portugal's Mariza, in March 2004 (latter half of entry). Trip hop - bossa (very nova) - modern folk - Latin - electronica. Cibelle catches up with Texas-born "psych folk" musician Devendra Banhart, turned a gentle guru of the New Weird America (Wikipedia) stable. Compulsive - funny - Portuguese (at times) - trippy - clever - innovative - relaxing.
 'The Chase' by Brisa Roché. American, resident in France. Jazz - rock - punk - roots - blues - indeterminate. I mean indeterminate and the woman is seriously good! Quirky - funny - sultry - lively - romantic - suave - smart.
xxx
'The Chase' is one of those début albums that may you leave wondering if Roché is a musician still in search of a style of her own, until you acquire a sense of the whole and the musical logic that weaves through her songs.
"I am attached to the physical aspect of singing, the breathing and phrasing, and the storytelling. I also like repetition - in my music, lyrics, in my writing, in all of my projects, there is this driving repetition, interwoven with twists and changes. Between the repetition in melody and words, and the rhythmic act of breathing and singing, there is a very hypnotic angle," Brisa says at MySpace.
There's no predicting what she'll record next, but for my part, a trend is now set. A sixth set of who "Sounds great" has started to take shape and will be eclectic and international. I shall post it in February.
Meanwhile, I hope you like some of this selection and wish you good listening in fine company.
2:21:05 PM link 
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