What better time of the year is there for a list like this? After all, discovering each one of these up-and-coming standouts was like finding a Christmas-morning surprise under the tree. You May Also Like: No related posts.

There is a shambling, plain-spoken beauty to this track as Cary Morin, a Crow Indian from North Dakota, sings about dancing his way toward salvation. You May Also Like: No related posts.

More Nine Inch Nails than “Cars,” Gary Numan’s ‘Dead Son Rising. is a smeared, squelchy outburst of guitar noise, weird psychodrama, face-slap beats and visceral emotion.

Drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, the grease-popping soul stylist of Meters fame, settles into a creamy seasonal groove here — sounding in no small way like chitlin-circuit crooner Tyrone Davis. Appearing on this year’s New Life, a genre-busting triumph, “Holiday Kiss” turns the typical Christmas-time theme on its ear — following theRead More

Paul McCartney, sitting in a plane waiting to return to his native England, saw the smoke rising from the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. The son of a volunteer firefighter during the German Blitz of World War II, McCartney was moved to assemble an all-star concert You May AlsoRead More

The Cure, appearing at this year’s Bestival, offered a fibrous retrospective — tearing its textured later gothy efforts down to a nervy, straight-forward post-punk vibe that recalled the group’s breakthrough triumphs. You May Also Like: How I Belatedly Learned to Love the Cure’s ‘Wish’

Ellis Marsalis’ ‘New Orleans Christmas Carol’ is a showcase for the underexposed patriarch of the city’s first family of jazz, and a record of sumptuous charm.

There’s something at once familiar, and entirely brand new, about Turkish drummer Ferit Odman’s just-released Autumn In New York. Taking his cue from jazz drumming and bandleading legend Art Blakey, Odman investigates a series of tunes associated with the Blakey band, and even includes former members of the Jazz MessengersRead More

Here’s a run down — with a few of our thoughts — on some notable music projects, both new and reissue, slated for release for the week of Dec. 6, 2011. You May Also Like: No related posts.

The Gathering, a homey Christmas-themed Americana and roots album, features singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett and others recording in a suitably rustic locale: a house in Greensboro, North Carolina. You May Also Like: Richard Lloyd Giddens Jr. – Mimosas (2017)