Brooklyn Voices – January 2016

Nicole Atkins tells Brooklyn Roads that, “I’m currently writing record number four,” the follow-up to her well-charted an critically acclaimed Slow Phaser…Norah Jones is also hard at work on a new solo album, her sixth, the first since since 2012’s Little Broken Hearts…Likewise, Amber Rubarth states on her website that her new album, The Maiden and the Ram, “is in the works and coming very soon.” Besides having lived and recorded in Brooklyn for several years, Rubarth once toured with Richie Havens and can be heard on the soundtrack of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work…Congratulations to Brooklyn’s 2016 Grammy nominees, including Elle King (Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song, “Ex’s & Oh’s”), Barry Manilow (Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, My Dream Duets) and Punch Brothers (Best American Roots Performance and Song, “Julep,” and Best Americana Album, The Phosphorescent Blues)…King’s signature opus was also among local artists’ efforts that made WFUV’s Listener Poll of Top 90 Songs of 2015, joining Lone Bellow’s “Then Came Morning,” EL VY’s “Return to the Moon,” Ratatat’s “Cream on Chrome” and Sufjan Stevens’ “Should Have Known Better”…Stevens’ album Carrie and Lowell finished a strong number six in The Village Voice’s 2015 Pazz + Jop Poll. In that same poll, Sprinter by Torres (aka Bushwick’s Mackenzie Scott), landed at 28 (seven places higher than Adele!) and Lana Del Rey’s Honeymoon came in at a respectable 61.

Notable Quote: “I think it’s important to let people take what they need from songs instead of explaining too much about what they mean for me personally.”  — Twin Shadow, whose Eclipse was cited as one 2015’s Top 10 Albums by WFUV Music Director Russ Borris