[baystateoftheart]

I love Source, and while it didn't impress me as much this listen as the first time, it remains a great contemporary jazz album with interesting diversions into dub and more. 4/5. Red Sun Through Smoke is instrumentally what you might expect from ambient + tape music, but what I didn't expect was how prominent the vocals are. He sounds a lot like James Blake. It's quite good musically throughout, but the combination doesn't completely gel for me and gets a 3.5/5.
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[meccalecca]

Work and life has been extra busy, so I haven't been on much lately.

I feel like I should say something about my pick Red Sun Through Smoke by Ian William Craig. Of all of the albums released in 2020, I don't think there's an album that better emulated my emotional state of mind as the world seemed to decay before my eyes. At the time of its release, I was only a casual fan of Ian William Craig, so I didn't have any real expectations. It immediately caught me off guard with its mesmerizing decaying beauty. In a time at which the world seemed to be spinning off its axis, these patient minimal sounds felt incredibly stabilizing for me. Drifting between revelatory ascension and devastating collapse, this album hit me at the right time just beautifully soundtracks the push and pull of trying to overcome melancholy descent.


I wasn't aware of SOURCE until this tournament and it's quite excellent. I dig that whole jazz scene. It's a very worthy contender, but my vote still easily goes to Red Sun
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[Repo]

Red Sun Source is pretty killer. Reminds at times of both Sufjan Stevens ( "Weight") and Perfume Genius ("Comma").

Going to have to listen to source again! Great match-up, guys!!!

[Repo]

[Skinny]

Ian William Craig is a treasure and needs to be protected at all costs.
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2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

[travelful]

Nubya Garcia fairly easily although I respect what Ian William Craig was able to do on his album. Source is a top highlight in the current London Jazz scene for me though.
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[EyeKanFly]

Just coming back to this because although I nominated Source, I didn't listen to Red Sun until recently. My vote still easily goes to Source.

I appreciate the praise for Source I've seen so far, agreed that Garcia is a shining star among shining stars of the current London jazz scene, and I'm excited to see what she does next. I appreciate the competition too, although I must say... after 2 listens, Red Sun truly didn't do anything for me. In my opinion, there are much better ambient albums in this tournament, some which got eliminated already, and some which look like they will be eliminated. I'm surprised that this is the one that looks to be moving forward. That said however, I'm glad others have found such enjoyment with Ian William Craig. Perhaps I'll give it another shot, or maybe is there another Craig album which might appeal to me better?
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[cestuneblague]

Yeah Ian William Craig has easily been a favorite ever since hearing Centres, an all-time fav, and this feels like resuming the more ambient-but-melodic work he did right before that and this proves he really is at the top of his craft. Easy vote, but Garcia was quite appealing too even if occassionally felt like it was in a bit of a identity crisis.

[baystateoftheart]

Red Sun Through Smoke defeats Source 13-12 to advance to the sweet sixteen.
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