All three of the albums that my top three came from are great, but I think I’d have to choose Tessuti<\/em> as my fave album of the year, with the other two coming a very, very close second. Angeli’s music has such depth, power, and finesse that I find myself drifting to the language of classical music to describe it, and I mean that in the best possible way. Profound and wonderful stuff.<\/p>\n

The albums by Sage Francis and Mavis Staples are also incredibly powerful, if in very different ways to Tessuti<\/em>. Francis’ work is so full of intelligence and perception that it makes my head spin, and even after many months Sub-Evil and I still love jamming out to almost anything from this album. (He, in fact, argued quite cogently for “Civil Obedience” from this disc, but in the end I had to go with my gut and choose “Going back to rehab”.) Staples’ voice is rich and powerful, projecting all her years of experience as a musician and civil rights activist. An album like this could have sounded like a museum piece, retreading songs that were important decades ago. In her hands, though, these songs are fresh and powerful and relevant. Truly great stuff.<\/p>\n

Go enjoy some music, and consider voting if that’s your sort of thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"