Most Popular
The hit counter here broke around the first of May, 2020 and does not seem to be fixable. Up to that point, on just about any particular day, the most popular post here was usually the constantly updated, monthly NYC Live Music Calendar. Obviously, since the lockdown, that has changed.
Some other very popular pages were the Best Songs of 2019 page; the Best Albums of 2019 page; as well as the Best Albums and Best NYC Concerts for 2018 pages. The Best Albums , Best Songs and Best New York City Concerts of 2017 pages as well as Best Albums and Best Songs of 2015 pages along with ones from previous years, 2014, 2013 and 2012 also still get a surprising amount of traffic. The 2016 pages are down for repairs and probably will be for the foreseeable future.
Otherwise, this list probably says more about the people who frequent this site than it does about the site itself. Everybody seems to like the sad stuff: three of the alltime most popular pieces here are an announcement that beloved East Village music venue Lakeside Lounge would be closing, along with obituaries for well-loved powerpop singer Michal the Girl and Dimestore Dance Band violist Dylan Willemsa.
Beyond that, these were the ten most popular reviews dating from the time New York Music Daily went live in August of 2011 through May of 2020:
1. The Ghost Train Orchestra – Book of Rhapsodies, Vol. 2
The albums by bandleader Brian Carpenter’s irrepressibly cinematic, noir-tinged group have consistently topped the jazz charts, year after year, so it’s no surprise that this 2018 record became so popular.
2. Brian Carpenter & the Confessions – The Folkadelphia Session
Carpenter’s even more noirish, cinematic rock band put out this album as a free download, and unsurprisingly, this went viral – three years after the band released it in 2015.
3. Andrew Rosciszewski – Sonic Real Estate
The 2018 debut recording of string quartet and chamber works by this haunting, Shostakovich-influenced contemporary composer
4. Cliff Westfall – Baby You Win
Classic honkytonk and vintage C&W as Elvis Costello might have done it on this lyrical New York Americana songwriter’s 2018 debut album
5. Michael Hersch’s Violin Concerto and End Stages suite
Was it because this blog called this recording the most disturbing music released in 2018, or because Hersch’s music is as electrifying as it is harrowing?
6. Banda Magda – Tigre
The eclectic, psychedelic New York Mediterranean/cumbia/Middle Eastern/French chanson band’s often searingly political 2018 album
7. Alfredo Rodriguez – The Little Dream
Ironically, this album, also from 2018, by the incisive, classically-inspired Cuban jazz pianist isn’t even his best one. But as you can see, everybody seems to love it.
8. Satoko Fujii Solo
Recorded live in concert in the fall of 2017 in Yawatahama, Japan, this magical, often otherworldly performance was the first in a series of twelve albums the great jazz pianist released throughout 2018.
9. The Harlem Quartet Live at Lincoln Center, 2/22/18
The alltime most popular concert review here captured this brilliant string quartet playing a typically diverse program of music by Debussy, Duke Ellington and Walter Piston, among others
10. Lorraine Leckie & Her Demons Live at Mercury Lounge 2015
This blistering, careening live album proved to be the eclectic psychedelic/Americana rock band’s final performance with their brilliant drummer, Paul Triff, who died only a few days after the show.
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