Old Music Friday

Non-algorithmic music recommendations every week.

Grace Jones - Hurricane
Wall of Sound, 2008

This is a sprawling, groovy, dark hulk of an album released by Jamaican musician, model, and cultural icon Grace Jones in 2008 following a 19 year gap after the release of Bulletproof Heart. There is electro here, and trip hop, but the bones of this album take much more from dub and reggae than most of her previous work and it feels far more personal and turned inward. She released a true dub version of the album with most vocals removed in 2011, but I prefer the originals here that feature her voice, which has only improved with age on this record. The production on both versions is mostly by Ivor Guest, Jones' fiancee at the time (no longer) who is the 4th Viscount Wimborne, an Oscar-nominated film scorer, and won a Grammy for work on Beyonce's Renaissance.

More music from each of them is also below.

Every week I recommend music 10 years old or more that I love listening to. I carry a great deal of concern about the domination of our shared cultural life by opaque recommendation algorithms, and this is my way of pushing back.