Mahanthappa's Hero Trio Listed in Paste's Favorite 100 Albums of the Year (#6)
“When we assess the best music of a particular year, we’re not always considering music made in that year. There’s usually a time lag between the writing of a song and the recording of it, and then between the recording and release. When the album is finally released, what you’re hearing is not a snapshot of how the artist is feeling now but of how the performer was feeling at some point in the past.
Streaming technology has made it possible to narrow that gap; theoretically you can record something one day and post it on the net the next, but it usually doesn’t work that way. Both artists and their labels like to mix and remix the music, then set up the release of an album with singles for fans and radio and advance copies for the media. Depending on the record company’s promotional strategy, that lapse can be anywhere from a month to three years…”