The Best of Brooklyn: The Year So Far

August 5, 2022 by

Thus far in 2022, Brooklyn Roads has continued its tradition of spotlighting local talent of various genres with interviews and album reviews, while also showing how the borough draws top established artists as well. Here’s a brief look back at some of what we’ve covered over the past seven months:

When we talked with new wave punk band My Son the Doctor, they praised how Brooklyn has “given us access to a community with a huge spectrum of sounds and approaches to music.”

Beareather Reddy told us she “didn’t hear a lot of blues music” in Brooklyn when she moved here from Georgia. So she started her own production company and, in 2006, launched the annual Big Eyed Blues Festival here.

Jazz pianist Jeff Franzel told us about his creative process and how his latest song, “Lonely People,” came to be an international hit.

Singer-songwriter Cassandra Jenkins’ latest album, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, was the impetus for Brooklyn Roads to reach out to her. She praised her home borough as “a hub” where she has been able to collaborate with a variety of artists and where venues such as Jalopy and Union Pool let her “work out my kinks and try new things.”

Regarding Big Thief’s new album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, we found it “eccentric and fun to listen to,” noting folk, country and rock elements and a hint of “late Fleetwood Mac.”

Our Lady of Radium from Goth-folk duo Charming Disaster proved to be filled with “harmonies in minor keys,” “magic and mystery” and “spooky influences,” which “[leave] listeners to crave more.”

East Flatbush/Brownsville native Adrian Daniel’s six-track EP Crimson highlights his “effortless falsettos and riffs” in a mix of classic, R&B, relationship ballads and danceable beats.

We found that Tori Amos’ new Ocean to Ocean album “has a captivating range of sounds that accentuate her talents and take them to new heights.” Those talents were fully on display when we saw her at Kings Theatre in May – her first-ever Brooklyn concert. Said Amos: “I can’t wait to come back.”