The ageing process makes me very discerning when it comes to parting with my cash, especially for new music. The Webster, in it’s grand egalitarian principle, fuelled by cheap and ever evolving technology, has made music making the simplest of tasks if you are so inclined. This, on the one hand is great, on the other, eschews any quality control. The quality control is up to you and the effort you put into making sure that your hard-earned cash goes to supporting the artistes you enjoy. Perhaps it was always thus but with several thousand unplayed tracks on Spotify who is the arbiter but yourself ? Not Spotify, obviously, or any of the other streamers.
So, here is the list so far of those people who have benefited from my hard-earned cash ……
Dhafer Youssef
Of Monsters and Men
Ojos de Burjo
Tinariwen
Koffie
Jason Rebello
Simphiwe Dana
Le Trio Joubran
Habib Koite
Habib Koite and Eric Bibb
Sam Amidon
And the most played with 6 months still to go ………..
Dhafer Youssef – “Birds Requiem” – just perfect. I think his best and most consistent album yet.
Sami Amidon – “Bright Sunny South” – simple songs with inventive arrangements. Chilled and clever.
Of Monsters and Men – “My Head is an Animal” – I was late to this. The album came out in 2012 actually and is great fun. A new take on singable pop. Infectious.
Check’em all out.
https://soundcloud.com/okeh-records/sets/dhafer-youssef-birds-requiem
singlemaltmonkey 
Nice post Al. Especially loving the Sam Amidon myself.
Thanks, John. I listen to the Sam Amidon album a lot. Each time new features of the arrangements pop up….. love Kenny Wheeler;’s freaky “out of tune” solos, for instance.