20. Yore / Evenings

In the digital age listeners can cherrypick music from endless branches.  This can be a blessing because it allows instant access to untold artists, and it can be a curse because it often engenders distracted, surface-level engagement.  Another internet byproduct: listeners can enjoy music without knowing anything about its source.  This faceless interaction with artists is difficult to weigh in your hands or head.  No record needs to be purchased.  No recommendation needs to be considered.  Just click play on YouTube and do your taxes.

After streaming Evenings' excellent album Yore for several months at work, The D Man figured he should find out something regarding the maker of its hi-fi, sample-laden intricacies.  Recently signed to the Friends of Friends label, Nathan Broadus is a twenty-something student at the University of Virginia.  The warm prettiness of his music makes his very modern mashups sound as if they have been around for a long time.  But Yore is more than nostalgia, it is a record filled with surprisingly soulful soundscapes that deserve both ambient companionship and more meaningful listening.