What I’m Listening To – February 2023

Welcome back to What I’m Listening To, where, look the title is kinda self-explanatory. This is just a small selection of 3 or 4 albums that have been in heavy rotation for me this month.

I listen to music constantly, grabbing old favorites alongside new (to me even if not new to the world) ones. This month I’ve been grooving out to these three especially:

I first grabbed Bombino’s Azel back near its 2016 release and was blown away by the guitarists deft playing. He creates an eclectic, globe-spanning, soundscape drawing on the music of his home in Niger, as well as American blues and rock motifs and themes from other regions. The result cuts through the room the way only great guitar can.

Meanwhile, somehow I only discovered Nao Yoshioka this month which feels like I both won something and am also guilty of being asleep at the wheel. The Light, her first album, is a revelation, with her soul singing just radiating outward to rattle around in your head for days afterward. Her cover of Newley and Bricusse’s Feeling Good is stunning, taking a song that has been covered by everyone imaginable and just nailing it down in a memorable way that will leave you, or at least it left me, needing to dig ever deeper into her catalog.

Finally this month I’m gonna toss out Theo Katzman’s Modern Johnny Sings: Songs in the Age of Live. The original records (Modern Johnny Sings: Songs in the Age of Vibe) landed on my Top Ten Albums of 2022 so this may not be the biggest surprise. But Kaztman live is even stronger than his album versions so this has been getting a lot of playtime.

Next month…well I don’t know yet, do I?