Cole Thompson is an excellent black and white photographer. I especially like “Harbinger”, a series of photos of lone clouds.
Lenscrcatch has a good interview with Cole
Cole Thompson also writes a great blog on black and white photography
I love this long exposure of fireflies in Japan.
Rut Blees Luxemburg is an excellent German photographer, based in London, who focuses on the urban landscape at night and is best known for two photographs used on the front covers of “The Streets – Original Pirate Material” and on “Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City”.
I couldn’t see any galleries on her website but it is possible to find a lot of her work across the web.
Artist Yayoi Kusama created an installation in the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art by allowing children visiting the musician to add coloured dots to an all white room. Over two weeks the room was transformed in a way that could only be done by children.
Miles Davis dominated much of 2011 in jazz for me. In January I set myself the challenge of listening to all the Miles Davis I have including the Columbia box sets (a total of more than 150 discs). This took more than 6 months and was mostly a pleasure (though I confess to struggling with the complete On The Corner and all of the 80s). And then just when I thought that I was done, more came: the excellent Live in Europe 1967- Bootleg Series Vol. 1 set, Unissued Japanese Concerts, and Bitches Brew Live.
In what was not an especially great year for jazz 2011 (I struggled to get a top 20) there were a number of very good albums by jazz trumpeters (it is nearly impossible to hear any contemporary jazz trumpeter without hearing some element of Miles): Akinmusire, Rava, Halsall, and Peter Evans (who appears twice on my list – once on his own, once with Mostly Other People Do The Killing)
The jazz I had got the most out of in 2010 was small / medium size bands creating a big band like sound. I found little of that in 2011 with the exception of the aforementioned Mostly Other People. It was again a good year for Scandanavia (the excellent Splashgirl, Helge Lien, Kvernberg, Neset, Five Corners). Keith Jarrett released one of his finest live solo albums and The Necks proved once again that they are one of the best and most interesting bands currently around.
1. Ambrose Akinmusire – When The Heart Emerges Glistening
2. The Necks – Mindset
3. Keith Jarrett – Rio
4. Splashgirl – Pressure
5. Marcin Wasilewski Trio – Faithful
6. Helge Lien Trio – Natsukashii
7. Matthew Halsall – On The Go
8. Ola Kvernberg – Liarbird
9. Enrico Rava – Tribe
10. James Farm – James Farm
11. Five Corners Quintet – Helsinki Sessions
12. Julia Hulsmann Trio – Imprint
13. Mostly Other People Do The Killing – Coimbra Concert
14. Gwilym Simcock – Good Days at Schloss Elmau
15. Kit Downes Trio – Quiet Tiger
16. Peter Evans – Ghosts
17. Joe Lovano US Five – Bird Songs
18. The Impossible Gentlemen – The Impossible Gentlemen
19. Trichotomy – The Gentle War
20. JD Allen Trio – Victory
Eve Arnold, one of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century, sadly passed away this week age 99.
I found 2011 a very strong year for music on the non-jazz side.
It was a strong year for British folk/roots music – (King Creosote, Laura Marling, Rob St John) not a genre I typically follow closely. It was a year in which a number of musicians I had lost interest in over recent albums returned with their strongest work for some time (PJ Harvey, Wilco, REM, Cowboy Junkies (twice), Low, John Hiatt, Ryan Adams). And a few very promising debuts (Braids, Yuck, and King’s Daughters and Sons). It was also a year for female vocalists (Harvey, Marling, Li, Florence, TuneYards, Hval, Bush, and, with her debut, Birdy).
And finally it was a year for some glorious ambient/post classical music especially that on the Erased Tapes record label (A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Peter Broderick, Nils Frahm) and Johann Johannsson.
So below are my top 20 (non-jazz) albums of the 2011 with some honourable mentions at the end. I’ll put my jazz list up in the next day or two.
1. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
2. A Winged Victory for the Sullen – A Winged Victory for the Sullen
3. Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
4. Wilco – The Whole Love
5. P J Harvey – Let England Shake
6. Yuck – Yuck
7. Braids – Native Speaker
8. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
9. Johann Johannsson – The Miners’ Hymns
10. Low – C’mon
11. TV On The Radio – Nine Types Of Light
12. Cowboy Junkies – Sing In My Meadow / Demons
13. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath 1972 / Dropped Pianos
14. Radiohead – The King Of Limbs
15. Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials
16. Tune-Yards – W H O K I L L
17. Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
18. British Sea Power – Valhalla Dancehall
19. Peter Broderick – Music for Confluence
20. Jenny Hval- Viscera
Honourable mentions
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
Birdy – Birdy
Caveman – Coco Beware
Nils Frahm – Felt
Joe Henry – Reverie
John Hiatt – Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns
King’s Daughters and Sons – If Not Then When
M83 – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming
Noah And The Whale – Last Night On Earth
R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
Rob St John – Weald
Tom Waits – Bad As Me
The War on Drugs – Slave Ambient
I will be taking a break for a week over the Christmas and New Year period and will be back in early 2012 with my albums of the year list.
Have a very Happy Christmas and New Year
Both The Big Picture and In Focus have collected together stunning photos from 2011 which tell of a year of pain, of revolution, but also of hope. Some of my favourites are below but take the time to look through all of them.
