24 Albums of December - THE COMET IS COMING - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery

How on earth are we supposed to select 24 albums representative of Fascinating Rhythm’s 2019? Trust us that it’s an unenviable task, but we’ve given it a good ol’ go. In my opinion this year has been a vintage one for music, so in truth we’d could have picked 100 or even 200 great records all worthy of inclusion. For example, we didn’t include releases by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Lizzo, Deerhunter, Steve Gunn, The National, black midi or Sacred Paws – whose 2019 album I’m still obsessed with. So, there’s a LOT of great stuff we didn’t include, but we’ve done our best to present a span of selections from every area of the store, including some great local and wider Canadian releases. Between now and Christmas Eve, we hope you enjoy the tracks we’ve put together for you.

For all your music needs, go to Fascinating Rhythm, located in downtown Nanaimo.

6/ THE COMET IS COMING – Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery

One of a great many hilarious quotes from the late Frank Zappa was “Jazz isn’t dead, it just smells funny,” and in the best possible way the British hipster jazz trio The Comet is Coming is a perfect illustration of what he meant. Featuring ‘King Shabaka’ (real name Shabaka Hutchings) on sax, keyboardist Danalogue (Dan Leavers) and drummer Betamax (Max Hallett), the band is interwoven with Shabaka’s other major project, Sons of Kemet, but produces an entirely different sound to that percussion-driven outfit. Experimental and accessible at once, this second album from the trio – with a third, The Afterlife released on November 29th – has made such a widespread impact that it featured in the Top 5 of both Uncut and Mojo magazines’ end-of-year charts – a very rare feat for a jazz recording. From this amazing album, here’s Summon the Fire.

Dave Morrison
Fascinating Rhythm
51 Commercial St, Nanaimo.
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