KURATED NO. 200
READERS’ CHOICE 2023
Part One
Contributor Jan Vochten’s top group of the year is Boygenius. They are (from left) Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. Tune into their solid one-hour August Pukkelpop concert in Belgium.
Contributors
The Sixth Annual Edition of Reader’s Choice opens with contributions from two members of my family: Joni Miller – with whom I share two daughters – and my dear Belgian cousin Jan Vochten. He and I have been exchanging and discussing music for more than 50 years.
• VANCOUVER MUSICIAN Miller presents three fine and eclectic tunes starting with her self-penned and recently recorded composition All Just Talk.
• MAJOR MUSIC FAN Vochten draws on years of listening to almost any genre you can think of. This year we’ve divided his varied and wide-ranging 91-song playlist into four separate instalments for easier and more accessible listening.
Because he lives in Belgium, Jan brings a different perspective on music since he’s naturally exposed to artists, musical cultures and scenes we don’t always meet in North America.
The 6th Annual Readers’ Choice
Kurated readers share their favourite music of the last year in the annual Readers’ Choice series. Anything musical is welcomed whether its new, an old favourite, something self-composed and more. Thanks to all of you contributors!
Kurated is a music sharing project.
Share it with your friends!
Stay tuned and enjoy,
Joni Miller
Vancouver, BC
Joni Miller (second from left) and the Usual Suspects have just released their second 5-song EP.
Their next gig is this coming Saturday, January 6 at the Princeton Pub, 9 pm.
My Top 3 Songs
I recently released an EP – All Just Talk. In a brazen act of shameless self promotion I’m sharing it with you here!
1. Here’s the title track of All Just Talk.
Written in about 2017, recorded in Vancouver in 2023 with Jesse Waldman as the engineer and guitar player, Amrit Basi on drums, Rino Marrone on keys, Tiffany Hambrook on back-up vocals.
The songwriter (that would be me) says, “This song comes from a deep place. Concern about the planet, concern about how we deal with each other. Concern.”
TO BUY THE EP email [email protected] to arrange for a physical copy.
Or buy it on Bandcamp https://jonimillertheusualsuspects.bandcamp.com/
2. Ach Adan by Rachid Taha
I found a box of CDs in my closet a few months ago. Some of them I recognized, but some of them were definitely left at my place by some unknown person. And so, I discovered Rachid Taha, an Algerian born singer/songwriter/activist. This is from a 1998 album called Diwan. The whole album gets me dancing around my living room. Here is just one of the tracks. Rachid is no longer with us. More information on his Wikipedia entry.
3. Shotgun Down the Avalanche – by unknown artists
This track was sent to me recently by a former boyfriend – the guy I fell in love with when I was 17. Mr. Gary Wik. Our romantic relationship ended decades ago, but Gary manages to show up every now and then, usually unannounced. He has always been involved with music, as a drummer, sound guy, recording engineer.
And, this year, Gary sent me this track. His comments were “this was recorded entirely remotely. Everyone was in a different place.”
I wrote back asking “who are these people? Where? When?” No word yet. However, I can hear this song in my head, so that makes it a keeper.
About Joni: Joni Miller is a writer, musician, animal lover, and currently schleps beer and burgers at Rogers Arena.
Jan Vochten
Mortsel, Belgium
Me in 20 Years by Moses Sumney is from his second album, grae, and is included on today’s playlist
Playlist Part 1 of 4
21 songs on Spotify
I continue to listen to music as much as possible. I am always trying to find new music and I will try out everything that comes across my path. In the past year, once again I was inspired by my daughter Hanne’s musical discoveries and the suggestions by my cousin Kris in Kurated.
My list of 91 songs (divided into four parts this year) is the result of a long selection process. I mostly limited myself to one song for each artist in the interest of brevity.
Some highlights and remarks
Melanie De Biasio: new music by this Belgian jazz singer, inspired by her extended visit to Italy. She also started a remarkable (and successful) cultural centre, Maison des talents partagés, in
Charleroi, Belgium.
Apart from her, my list contains a rather wide selection of Belgian bands, with new work by Marble Sounds, Loverman, Jef Neve, Isbells, Douglas Firs (& Laura Cortese), Lost Frequencies,
Malvin Moskalez, and Brutus (even though I am not a big fan of metal). And also new Dutch-language music by Kadril and Boudewijn De Groot: an unexpected comeback of old favourites.
Tops for me this year: Boygenius, the fantastic collaboration between three great musicians. They also gave a remarkable show, at last summer’s Pukkelpop festival. This one-hour show received rave reviews.
Classical music: Abel Selaocoe, a South African cello player brings together classical and African music traditions, a warm plea for the universality of music. Musicians are free to draw without restraint from all musical traditions, use all instruments and sounds. Cross-pollination often produces exceptionally beautiful results.
There are also some very beautiful collaborations in the playlist including Arooj Aftab and Anoushka Shankar (Pakistan and India); Bjork and Rosalia; Lonnie Holley and Sharon Van Etten; Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga and more.
About Jan: Jan Vochten, 74, lives in Mortsel, Belgium, has travelled extensively and spent most of his career working in research for VRT – the Flemish-language public broadcaster
