Whether buying records, sharing songs, making collaborative playlists or seeing live performances, our voracity for music seems to be never-ending. Our favorite releases from this year vary and, like the year itself (unsteady, unpredictable, at times joyous and others disquieting), follow no clear theme. While genres continue to be less important and harder to define, we found ourselves grounded by elements of neo-soul, loosened up …
When Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard teamed up with Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Amy Douglas, a project that began as a couple of songs grew into an EP and then the eight-song banger that is the album HARD FEELINGS. Out today, it’s a loose conceptual record that’s slinky, sarcous and dramatic. Available as a double-LP, this house/disco bonanza incorporates elements of pop, new wave and more.
A seemingly reticent but brilliant British producer, and a bawdy New York songstress, Joe Goddard of Hot Chip and Amy Douglas possess the underpinnings of a legendary pop duo. One is a master of electronic music; the other, a rock and jazz performer and a self-confessed “Brill-Building-nerd-level singer-songwriter.” But these two apparently disparate identities have plenty of overlap (a love of pop music and great songwriting …
