March 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To

Tried to keep it to 10 per month. Failed. Not even sure I didn’t fail in NOT keeping it to 10 (having trouble keeping track of what I’ve liked). Have not listened to Beyonce’s yet (other than first two singles–I just have to let her ride for awhile until the dust settles and I can think); also, I am apparently invulnerable to Katie Crutchfield’s charms (based on the songs, she is my kind of person, but her singing does not do it for me–it is what it is). Decided to do a Quarterly Top 10 (coming soon in a separate post). Blessed problems, I suppose.

MARCH TOP 25 (in alphabetical order, even, and under the feared “one sentence” rule)

Florian Arbenz: Conversation #11 / #12 (Hammer) – All twelve of this versatile Swedish percussionist’s conversations with other excellent musicians/responsive listeners are worth your time, and he gave a nice gift to every fan who bought every one of them along the way.

Citric Du: Zen and the Arcade of Beating Your Ass (Feel It Records) – Maybe it’s the marginally witty referential cover art that’s the main attraction, but their sound is redolent of its source and their songs’ words belie the title.

Guy Davis: Be Ready When I Call You (Continental Record Services) – Supposedly, this both has already been released and is not going to be released until later in the year, but it’s all there on Apple Music, and Ossie and Ruby’s son has a distinctly inherited wiliness and world view.

Joan Diaz Trio (Introducing Silvia Perez): We Sing Bill Evans (Fresh Sound Records)– Bill Evans, played and sung, you ask, but yes it works, Brazil is part of the reason, and the young Perez is the rest.

Empress Of: For Your Consideration (Major Arcana / Giant) – I feel like there is a small mountain of dreamy, sensual, hurt, flowing electronic records like this sung by women who can reach me that I can potentially hoist to the deserted island I hope is available if I need it in November.

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit(Spiritmuse) – Kahil El’Zabar is on a three-album roll keepin’ that AACM thang alive, and of the three this strikes me as the deepest.

Amaro Freitas: Y’Y (Psychic Hotline) – A gorgeous, late-night or early morning piano record out of Brazil by a terrific young pianist—and his backing band (on some of the songs) is loaded: do the names Hamid Drake, Jeff Parker, Shabaka Hitchings, or Brandee Younger ring a bell?

The Fully Celebrated Orchestra: Sob Story (Relative Pitch) – Three lively jazz orchestra selections in three months—should I be worried?

Heems & Lapgan: Lafandar (Veena Sounds / Mass Appeal India) – Dude’s funny, smart, verbally ingenious, but he’s never stuck with me long, so maybe it’s Lapgan?

Jlin: Akoma (Planet Mu) – The first song of Jerilynn Patton’s I ever heard, I was like, “I’m ridin’ ‘til I die,” and ain’t a damn thing changed about that here (touches of marching band and home cookin’ are just right), a sentiment collaborators Bjork, The Kronos Quartet, and Philip Glass might well affirm.

Adrienne Lenker: Bright Future (4AD) – It’s kinda one-note, but she (I think Lenker considers her gender undefined, but research turns up this pronoun) strikes that note with deeply moving resonance.

Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven (Epitaph) – And she got Jesus right (t)here.

The Messthetics: The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (Impulse) – My measuring sticks for jazz sax with electric band are prime OC Prime Time and James Carter’s Layin’ in the Cut, and I’ve kept waiting for this to really break loose through three plays, but as a JBL freak I’ll at least say this: it’s got dynamics and guitar feedback, the latter if which those other two didn’t, so like the Marvelettes, I’ll keep on holdin’ on….

Moor Mother: The Great Bail-Out (Anti-) – In these times she’s brave, bold, and boisterous, and the settings always put her across, which in this case are her most varied.

Kasey Musgraves: Deeper Well (Interscope / MCA Nashville) – Many are disappointed by this offering, but actual record critic Jon Pareles nailed what is working for me: a modesty that is very affecting and seems authentic, especially on the heels of her previous records (I would add too that she bares some hard-earned wisdom that’s winning).

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: Four Guitars Live (Palilalia) – My favorite new (see below) record of the year: what would seem like a difficult collaborative project sounds excitingly organic—kinda makes me wish Bob Quine were still alive to hear it.

Ivo Perelman/Chad Fowler/Reggie Workman/Andrew Cyrille: Embracing the Unknown (Mahakala Music) – Perelman can wail beyond the call of the average free jazz tirekicker’s patience, but in the company of a rhythm section of two octogenarian instrumental griots, he sounds more responsive, and when he doesn’t…you can just listen to the rhythm section (and by the way, Fowler’s having a great year behind this and another stunning record).

Pissed Jeans: Half Divorced (Sub Pop) – These dudes have never hit for me, and I’m a punk self-starter, but, as Lightnin’ Hopkins and others have sung, “Now…is a needed time,” and theirs is a rallying cry.

Sai Galaxy: Okere (Soundway EP) – Everybody disco, West African style!

Sheer Mag: Playing Favorites (Third Man) – Rock and roll in many of its infinite varieties, all on one record…and that’s a compliment.

_thesmoothcat & Wino Willy: Ready, Set (Sinking City) – A) I buy everything Sinking City, a crafty New Orleans label, puts out (jazz, brass band, Indian chants, old and new school rap), and have never been disappointed; and B) this dreamy beats ‘n’ rhyme set evokes WWOZ at 3 a.m.

That Mexican OT: Texas Technician (Manifest / Good Talk / Good Money Global / Capitol) – One funny hijo de puta!

D. Clinton Thompson: Donnie’s Mood (Borrowed Records) – From out of obscurity one of the world’s great rock and roll guitarists, squirreled away in Springfield, Missouri, as usual, delivers a mostly instrumental record that “Sleep Walk” fans need—and for Morells / Symptoms / Skeletons fans who’re too late feeling their age, he pens a typically wry and weather-beaten “Live Fast Die Young.”

Tierra Whack: World Wide Whack (Interscope) – This woman is no ordinary rap artist, and I know that’s no great revelation—it’s just that to proceed from a wholly successful and delightful 15-song, 15-minute debut to a psychological (and understandable) (and still occasionally delightful) depth-plumbing that surely has some fans concerned is some kind of whiplash.

Willis, Carper, Leigh: Wonder Women of Country (Bismeaux EP) – It’s too short, and maybe there’s a full-length to follow, but the songs are strong and these women have soul—country-soul.

Coming soon! Noah Haidu: Standards II (Sunnyside) – A bewitching trio album where the spells are cast not so much by the pianist, who is definitely no slouch, but by another octogenarian rhythm section: Billy Hart on drums and Buster Williams on bass.

OLD & MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

Irakere: Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital (Mr. Bongo) – The reissue of the first studio recording by one of Cuba’s hottest bands—and that’s saying something—is a welcome surprise.

Love Child: Never Meant to Be (12XU) – Where the fuck was I when this band was putting out these songs, fired by that guitar, in the early Nineties?

Various Artists: Love Hides All Faults—Deep Gospel Soul Selected by Jumbo (Elusive Vinyl / Pyramid Records) – I have complained to my musico-amis frequently about reissue/excavation bloat—everything ever recorded doesn’t have to be brought to market—but this may well be the most powerful compilation of locally/regionally recorded black gospel I’ve ever heard, and, despite Goner Record’s bait-line of “guitar forward” in advertising it, the real highlights are the true depth of emotional vocal power in these humble offerings and the range of arrangements they employ—can an excavation be my favorite record of the year?

Mississippi Records Blues and Gospel Bargains – Mississippi Records out of Portland does many things right (like keeping Dead Moon records in print), but one of the coolest is offering terrific old blues and black gospel comps on their Bandcamp site for “name your price.”

Franco Luambo Mkaidi: Presents Les Editions Populaires (Planet Ilunga) – The name, and you should know it, is Franco, he played a guitar like he was fencing against a master, and he could lead a band to rhythmic ecstasy—oh yeah, and though he recorded little that wasn’t great, much of it is difficult to attain (hint hint).

February 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To (Plus Stuff)

I think I’m going to stick to recommending just 10 new albums I enjoyed each month and highlighting some non-2024 beauties, then maybe compiling a comprehensive list at the end of June and, finally, at the end of December. Those endlessly unspooling scrolls were starting to drive me nuts, and I need additional storage in my skull. And, let’s face it, the great Tom Hull has the long-list category wrapped up like Sam & Dave. And…I need to write a bit, even if it isn’t all that insightful, as opposed to simple enthusing.

FEBRUARY TOP 10

Beyonce: “Texas Hold ‘Em” b/w “16 Carriages” (Parkwood Entertainment)—I unequivocally love this imaginary 45, which is no small statement from me, as I (like others I have observed) have issues with imperial projection. I have spent many years begging young students to understand that Black Americans have been making (and loving) (and spreading) what can fairly be called country music since the 1920s, I’ve been rigorously pointing out their growing current visibility in that genre over the last few years…so this impassioned foray is so very welcome. I feel more warmly toward Mickey Guyton, but these songs make her sound like Nancy Wilson. I can only chuckle at country radio programmers trying to stop Country Bey.

Burnt Sugar: The Reconstru​-​Ducted Repatriation Road​-​Rage ReMiXeS [of “Angels Over Oakanda’] (self-released)—a cheat, in a way, as you can only obtain it by buying the vinyl version of the band’s wonderful Angels Over Oakand (or by illegally download it, but please honor and remember Greg Tate with cash). It’s sonically and creatively warped enough for one to need it as much as the original, which is among the best of Tate’s stew of funk, ‘70s Miles, Afrofuturist soul, and a sprinkling of Hendrix.

George Cartwright’s GloryLand PonyCats: Black Ants Crawling (Mahakala Records)—I am very loyal to Cartwright’s record label (free and experimental jazz out of Hot Springs, Arkansas? Yes, Pharoah was from Little Rock, but check the variety and volume of the music it puts out). Here, Aylerian alto/tenor saxophonist Cartwright and two comrades collaborate for a honking, skittering recording which the title fits perfectly.

Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Still Alive (Nonesuch)—I have been rooting for Alynda Segarra since their first records; their story, their concerns, their songwriting, their conviction have always added up to my jam, but somehow their singing and music never put them over the top for me beyond first (and sometimes second) listen. This grabbed me from the first line, and, as a friend texted me, “This is a 2024 record for sure. A keeper.” The vocals sound more confident and more charged, the music doesn’t get in the way, and songs like “Hawkmoon,” “Snake Plant,” and “Colossus of Roads” forced me out of my dedication to a straight-through first hearing and into repeat plays. The inclusion of a voice mail from their late father broke my heart. I proceeded to buy the physical copy, which, I suppose, is my signal that an album is in all ways (yes, Brett) a keeper. I’m glad I hung in there.

Legendary Singing Stars: Good Old Way (Music Maker Foundation)—Yet again, here’s a label/company I believe in. It’s dedicated to getting our last generation of long-term practitioners of blues and gospel on record and into solid financial standing. Everything it touches is not exactly gold, but they seem more successful finding and recording gospel acts, and this is a great example. One might not trust the group name (“Legendary? I never heard of ‘em!”) and at first glance the title isn’t mouth-watering, but here’s some enticing tidbits: it’s live and passionate (a tribute to co-founder Tommy Ellison, who passed from cancer), the set list is certainly not the gospel same-ole, and they’re straight out of…Brooklyn. Moving.

Molly Lewis: On the Lips (Jagjaguwar)—Yes, I remember her whistling in Barbie, and it was neat. And, among other magic powers, Toots Thielemans could jazz his lips. When I noted that Lewis had a record out, I thought to myself, “I don’t need a whistler’s record” (how many of you wrestle with record need?). But…well…Pitchfork reviewed it, the cover photo and title stimulated me, I did think of Thielemans, who’s a personal favorite, and I streamed it. COOL! Noirish, mischievous, winsome, varied, catchy—in short, one of a kind and the kind of cute I go for. Please, Lord or whatever, do not let Lana Del Rey fold her in.

QOW Trio: The Hold Up (Ubuntu)—Norway jazz aficionado Chris Monsen has an unerring ear for great jazz, especially if it’s not of the States (though he’s reliable on that subject, too). He recommends one new jazz record a week and I do not question him; he provides a link, I click, and I listen. It’s scary! I fancy myself antiauthoritarian, but I do not question Chris. He recommended this release by an English unit earlier this month, and as I was doing his bidding (but also reading and not really homed in), I suddenly sat up from the couch, and said aloud (I was alone—I’m getting old), “Damn, that sounds like Sonny Rollins!” Sad secret: I don’t even read Chris’ reviews of these albums; I just play them first and go back and read them after—that’s trust. So I grabbed my phone, looked at the album track list, and bugged out at the closer: “I’m an Old Cowhand”! Suffice it to say that, if you’re missing new Rollins—we’re long past the end of that line, sadly—you best check this out. Saxophonist Riley Stone Lonergan is no imitator; he’s got his own sense of line, but he steams along with a very powerful tone and has a very familiar sense of humor. The rest of the trio are clearly listening—in some ways, also, more responsive than some of the master’s trios—resulting in an “A” recording. I’m working my way through their previous offerings, and this one’s no fluke. Isn’t it funny how often you’re reminded that you haven’t listened to every great thing?

Joel Ross: Nublues (Blue Note)—I’ve seen Ross thrice: leading a combo and supporting Makaya McCraven and Immanuel Wilkins, respectively. As a player, he’s an angular wonder. I have not been blown away by the recordings he’s made under his own name, but he always makes me sit up and take notice as a sideman. This, I think, is easily his best solo record, and if you feel reluctant when you notice the jazz classics (two well-worn Tranes and a Monk) he’s covering on it, suppress the urge to move on and listen to the interpretive magic he brings to them. His originals are great as well.

Split System: Volume 2 (Legless)—No, garage punk ain’t over. Never has been in Australia. Following a lead from Memphis’ Goner Records—if you’re starved for forcebeat and two- or three-chord energy (or general aggressive outsider weirdness, Memphian and otherwise), subscribe to their mailing list—I checked out this Melbourne unit and they are like running into an electric fence. Fans of Eddy Current Suppression Ring should not tarry, but these guys don’t go on as long. Volume 1? Also, highly recommended.

Ms. Boogie & Ky Ani: The Breakdown (Ms. Boogie Records)—The surprise of the month for me. The New York rapper got a good notice from Pitchfork, but I’ve cooled a little on its rap recs, so streamed this to get it over with. Boom. They rap-whisper, in a way—like what they have to tell are secrets, but secrets one has to fight—daily. Try “Build Me Up,” where the church they attend and need wants them dead, for a convincer.

OLD & MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

Dennis Gonzalez: (with Yells with Eels and his sons) Cape of Storms (featuring Louis Moholo-Moholo / Resurrection and Life (featuring Alvin Fielder) / The Great Bydgosczc Concert (featuring Rodrigo Amado); (with Inspiration Band) Nile River Suite (featuring Henry Grimes)—The Abilene-born and Dallas/FW-headquartered Gonzalez is the most underappreciated jazz composer and bandleader of the post-Trane era. There, I said it. The music journalist Ken Shimamoto, who has been a far kinder Stanley Crouch to Gonzalez’s much more interesting Wynton Marsalis, says it better in one of the last editions of the Penguin Guide to Jazz, and Ken’s the friend that firmly advised me to sample his work. Since I did, it’s been Sally-bar-the-door. Gonzalez’s trumpet and pen knew endless variations, his sons (on bass and drums in the Yells with Eels band) were more than just acolytes, and by the time he died in 2022, he’d gained the respect of many jazz masters. Great starting points for all three claims are these records, which also showcase the distinctive movement and energy Gonzalez’s writing stimulated and prove how wonderfully he engaged with drummers. I used to experience Dylan fixations, and Lou Reed still puts a ring through my nose for weeks, but this month was the fourth time I found myself awash in Gonzalez’s work. You can’t miss with these if you’re adventurous, like some structure with your freedom, and simply want to catch up.

Trouble in Mind (THE Jerry Lee Lewis Documentary, directed by Ethan Coen)—I have been a serious Jerry Lee fan since I first heard “Crazy Arms” and read Nick Tosches’ Hellfire, I own several Killer books and docs, and, even with a Coen Brother at the helm and Mick Jagger, T-Bone Burnett, and Callie Khouri producing, I was skeptical that a) we needed another Lewis documentary, and b) anyone could really do justice to such an enigmatic force of nature, both dangerous and life-affirming. I was wrong again. In 74 minutes of mostly Jerry Lee, through clips, telling his own stories and footage even most JLL adepts have never seen, they nail it. Lone caveat: minutes and minutes of Mickey Gilley and some drama from Jimmy Swaggart, and A FEW SECONDS (!!!!) of Lewis’ wild-assed piano-pounding sister Linda Gail, who got married (the first time out of NINE—the current number as of today, I think) so she could get laid properly under the gaze of God? That’s a serious “what the fuck?” but this documentary is still very much worth your time.

Exploring Gong Culture of Southeast Asia: Massif and Archipelago—A Project by Yasuhiro Morinaga (Sub Rosa)—A typical music junkie Internet experience: I was looking for something else when I saw an ad for a Smithsonian-style collection of gong music from Cambodia. As if my cyber-brakes weren’t working, I kept clicking past it, then tried to back track and lost it. I don’t know how. I wanted gong music so badly (my lip’s always hook-ready) that, after trying in vain to find the album I’d seen an image of, I plugged “gong Cambodia” into a Discogs search and this appeared at the top of the list. I noticed the cover alluded to a David Toop intro, so—what the hell?—like Patty Hearst did to Roland’s Thompson gun, I bought it. It’s been playing enchantingly throughout my drafting this. Certain people, you know what to do!

January 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To (Plus Stuff)

Happy New Year! In the interesting of preserving my sanity–I hereby validate the fears of some of my handful of readers, upon scanning 200+-album lists, that I must be compromising my mental health–I am going to try to do something new with this blog in 2024. First, I’m not going to keep a running list; every month, I’m first going to list the 10-15 new records that grabbed me that month; then, I am going to gab about old stuff (not just reissues and archival digs) plus music-related experiences I had–yes, I don’t just lay on the couch surrounded by cats with my nose in a book and 10-12 albums queued up to play on or through my stereo. I do live. Sorry, as you might already have surmised–I’m really talking to myself. So here goes.

My Favorite 10 New Releases of the Month (alphabetically presented)

*Archival or Reissue

Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville/ Advancing on a Wild Pitch: Disasters, Volume 2 (both featuring the writing and playing of Moppa Elliott—known for leading the oft-exciting and -interesting band Mostly Other People Do The Killing—and both on Hot Cup Records)

I’ve enjoyed several records by MOPDTK in the past, but didn’t dig in enough to know that Elliott led the band from behind his bass. The guy has definite ideas about how to name a band. Seriously speaking, these two records are very strong jazz, the former highlighting compositions by jazz great Sam Jones via a terrific nine-piece band that features the impressive young guitarist Ava Mendoza excelling in a more disciplined format than I’ve ever heard her in, the latter, also conceptual but moodier, made up of compositions representing preventable Pennsylvania disasters that will have me checking out Volume 1.

Friends & Neighbors: Circles (Clean Feed)

Straight out of Trondheim, Norway, this quintet contributes to my growing feeling that I straight-up love Scandinavian jazz. I’m sure there’s BAD Scandinavian jazz, but I’ve been engaged by almost every such record I’ve heard in the last few years. Unsurprisingly, given the band and album name, Ornette is close to this band’s heart, and you can hear it.

Satoko Fujii Trio: Jet Black/ Satoko Fujii and Kaze: Unwritten (both on Libra Records)

I knew nothing about the astoundingly prolific and consistently powerful Japanese pianist Fujii until I wound up on a mailing list and received a few review copies that sent me on a deep dive into her OVER 100 HUNDRED RELEASES and she shows no signs of slowing down. Whether working in a small or large combo, she composes and plays pieces that have very focused moods and complex structures, while allowing room for improvisations by her always high-quality supporting casts. I think of her work as stormy and meditative, and she works seemingly endless variations on producing that feeling. These two records are a great start for the beginner.

Ghetto Brothers: Power-Fuerza (Vampisoul)*

Vampisoul is a Spanish label I keep a close eye on because they often package very interesting vintage releases inexpensively. For example, they offer loads of ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s cumbia; I’ve pigged out on those without being disappointed. The label calls this one a “Latin funk classic,” but it’s also got some decent romantic songs. You might have to be a bit patient.

Enrique Heredia Trio (with Pere Soto and Xavi Castillo): Plays Herbie Nichols (Fresh Sound Jazz)

I know little about Heredia or the other members of his trio, but I instantly purchased this due to my love for the short-lived Nichols’ distinctive compositions (see also A. B. Spellman’s book Four Lives in the Be-Bop Business). I wasn’t sure how a guitar trio would navigate them, but just when you think Heredia is fading into that kind of picking you’ve never liked in this genre, he leans into some mild distortion and slurring to keep you upright. The trio works up a killer groove while staying true to Nicols’ originality.

Abdullah Ibrahim: 3 (Gearbox)

The South African pianistic master turns 90 this October and he sounds undimmed in this studio-and-live trio recording (double bass/cello + flute/piccolo!) featuring his own compositions plus a few by Monk, Ellington and others.

Anna Kiviniemi Trio: Eir (We Jazz)

If you do not follow Chris Monsen’s Substack and you—like me, as I just said—like Scandinavian jazz, please rectify that, as Mr. Monsen has a nigh-infallible ear. I picked up on his plug for this, and was surprised and delighted by its gentle, inventive eloquence. It’s a pretty good month for jazz trio records, if haven’t noticed and /or trust me.

Mark Masters and Adam Shroeder: CT! (Capri Records)

I’ll put it simply: this big band tribute to the work of the irrepressible trumpeter and fluegelhorn enthusiast Clark Terry for the occasion of his 100th birthday is smashing because it captures Terry’s uplifting energy. I’m not that much of a big band fan, but the ebullience of the group quickened my pulse, and Terry would definitely have approved. Masters arranges brilliantly and bari saxophonist leads the group.

Malcria: Fantasias Histericas(Iron Lung)

Had enough of me pluggin’ jazz? Well, ok then: how ‘bout some Mexican hardcore punk? Me, I needed it, and I bet Mexico does, too. I’ve yet to dive into translations, but they kick ass…and I think they’re on the side of the angels.

Montanera: A Flor de Piel (Western Vinyl)

I have developed a weakness for chanteuses embedded in atmospheric musical settings and seeming to sing in very specific chains like the sea. I don’t trust myself in my warm response to this Colombian with a master’s, but my students walked in to her music yesterday and were inspired to ask about it, so maybe I’m right. Isabelia Herrera makes a fascinating case for the album on Pitchfork that is beyond my means, and it feels right. The title apparently translate to “on edge” or “at skin level,” which adds a level of richness to listen for.

R.A.P. Ferreira & Fumitake Tamura: the First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap (Alpha Pup)

Trust Ferreira’s own words about the release, via the album’s Bandcamp site: “…this album more than any other i’ve made encapsulates my vision of rap music. it is free. it is international. it is beloved. it is sharp and silly. it presents one way and participates another. it flexes and is flexible. there is study and there is the mystical. slices and crumbs. it’s something my whole family listened to and enjoyed first.” And trust the words he spits that live up to that vision. He continues to honor the work of one of his guiding lights, Bob Kaufman.

Lou Reed: Hudson River Meditations (Light in the Attic)*

Frankly, my wife and I meditate. This music was created to support that, and it does. The opening track is ideally looped for focused awareness of just being; the bass throb of the second reminds you of your body. Well, that’s enough for now, but I can listen to it for pleasure and reading, too.

Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope (Loma Vista)

I have never been an S-K fanatic—I saw them live on the last Weiss tour and they rocked my ass, and I still dig and dig out Dig Me Out—and the last couple haven’t helped, but I really like this one. The writing’s excellent, the drums are fine…but there’s a new Rosanne Cash-like ache to Tucker’s vocals I hadn’t picked up before that keeps me locked in.

Kali Uchis: Orquideas (Geffen)

Uchis keeps getting better. She’s very assured here, her singing and the rhythms are very seductive, and…again…I have three obligations in this list alone…I need to check out the translations, but I love the sound of her singing in Spanish. Sound is enough.

Wildernauts: Wildernauts (Don Giovanni)

It’s a joy to hear Pete Stampfel’s voice further up the road to recovery—really, he’s there—and his fiddle joyfully scratching out not only some old ones but also (as far as I can tell) a new weird and funny one called “Peyote Blues.”

My Favorite Music Experiences, Late Discoveries and Dives Into Music I Already Have But Barely Have Time to Listen To (One-Sentence Limit!)

Musical Poker Night—at almost 62, I’ve lost several friends and sometimes feel isolated and lonely for buds, but, thanks to someone’s recommendation, I was invited to a kind of “Record Poker” night where we took turns playing stuff for each other, and, while I created a Carnival theme out of the 45s I brought, I got to hear some interesting noise records and some really quite fetching proto-dream-pop by Terry “Seasons in the Sun” Jacks’ sister!

Danny Brown—Everything I’ve ever heard by him I’ve liked, but due, I think, to the avalanche of stuff that rumbles into my ears, I’d never “taken his CDs to the truck” for a very close listen: Be Real 2.0 with much better range in subject matter and mood, plus it’s got to be hard to pull off autumnal rap.

Chet Baker book leads to Twardzik and Freeman—I finally cracked and read James Gavin’s painful Chet Baker bio Deep in a Dream, in which the facts reveal Baker able to make Jerry Lee Lewis seem like David Gates, but at least I was moved to check out the pianistics of the doomed Dick Twardzik (whom Baker may have left to die when he was overdosing) and the not-doomed Russ Freeman (check out Richard Meltzer’s interview with him in A Whore Just Like the Rest).

Hannah Ewens and Fans—I am just a really big fan of UK Rolling Stone editor and FANGIRLS author Hannah Ewens—I have an “intellectual” rock and roll crush on her, I think—and chose to teach that book to my current group of college freshman, unaware that it would perfectly dovetail into Taylor Swift ruining football and prove Ewens’ wisdom.

Birmingham Influence—Did you know how wide Birmingham, Alabama’s influence was on nearly the whole of pre-WWII jazz (plus post- if you count Sun Ra and Basie’s rebound), because if you didn’t, please read Burgin Mathews’ Magic City, which one of my remaining great buds (almost all of whom live miles upon miles away) gave me for Christmas.

Cuticles!!!—Why the hell didn’t I know (too late for the lists) that one of the best rock and roll albums of 2023 is funny as hell and came out of New Zealand—someone shoulda told me, and thankfully Isaac Davila did, albeit this month?

Embarrassment Documentary + Toons—I was an Embarrassment fan back in their days, but hadn’t listened to them in awhile, and I bet neither have you; should you want to change that, please watch the documentary We Were Famous Once, Don’t You Remember, one of the best-ever made on an ‘80s indie band, this one from WICHITA, not LAWRENCE!!!

Joni Mitchell Carnegie Hall Thrills—I have very mixed feelings about these big boxes repackaging a ton of stuff we already have, but by god, this concert wedged into the Asylum Years set makes my short hairs stand up for most of its duration, and I prefer her backed by a band.

IT ENDS HERE: My Favorite Albums of 2023

As DJ Heraclitus said, you can’t listen to the same record twice. I was lucky to simply listen to each of these records once (I at least did that), and many of them changed with me when (if?) I came back to them. Anohni’s, though, held my top spot for most of the year and finished there: it’s not a fun record, but this ain’t a fun planet, and I don’t live in a fun state (Missouri), and her album title rings too true around here and so many other places in the world. It’s a reminder to keep fighting, keep living, and keep loving–as well as to knock people off that bridge–and it documents an artist whose singing and writing has grown considerably over the years (the commitment was always there). I might have been influenced by her appearance in two 2023 books on Lou Reed, which caused me to re-examine her early work as well as the Berlin DVD. Anyway, the untamed Niafunke guitarist Bounaly made a strong run at her top spot, even took it for a spell, but that was pure rush instead of a finely honed artistic statement of the times, so…I ended up sticking to my guns. Support trans human beings and fight the heartless to the end.

It was a stunning year for jazz, of all challenging and/or beautiful stripes, and (across genres, too) women continue to make their mark (see next ‘graf). Canto, Chimaera, and Beyond Dragons were among the Top 10 jazz records of the year by anyone, period. The indefatigable Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii (as usual) delivered multiple engaging albums of her own as well as participating in those of others (see the list–they all made it unless I missed one). Make it a 2024 project to investigate her if you’ve yet to.

Jamila Woods took Joni Mitchell to the southside of Chicago. Gina Birch still wears her Docs and plays her bass loud. boygenius are girlgenius. Jessie Ware made us feel good when Roisin Murphy made us feel bad or at best confused. Romy delivered a gorgeous, same-sex-heartbroke (please excuse my awkwardness), late-night electronic telegram. Transformative, liberating lightning hit Corinne Bailey Rae. Big Freedia grew bigger. Kari Faux, Sexxy Red, and–on a different level–K. Michelle handled their shit on the urban streets of the midwest and midsouth. And…oh yeah…Olivia (though could she not have totally rocked OUT on SNL?).

It’s easy to dismiss old soul-blues dudes. I beg of you, LISTEN: 90-year-old Bobby Rush waxed a record that isn’t just good for a nonagenarian–he can still sing, pick, blow, and parse the times with players a quarter of his age–and relative greenhorn Robert Finley handed in a hard-assed, funny, and deep record that Dan Auerbach endowed with just the right touch, do not fear.

Last, this year was the first time I actually witnessed a Top-Tenner play in person. The Columbia Experimental Music Festival went out with a bang, bringing in the titanic tenor of James Brandon Lewis, whose 2-CD For Mahalia / These are Soulful Days (the latter one of the greatest jazz-horn-with-strings performance ever recorded) was the peak of his relatively brief career. We got to see him play with one of his favorite drummers, Chad Taylor, and they ’bout blew the top off of the First Baptist Church of Columbia, Missouri. Speaking of the CEMF, the ending of which has at least temporarily crippled our music scene, its founder Matt Crook somehow found a way to bring the Ukrainian pianist and inventor of continuous music, Lubomyr Melnyk, to town for a solo piano performance in our historic Methodist church downtown. Melnyk debuted a piece called “The Sacred Thousand” at the concert; it had not yet been recorded in the studio. The Bandcamp site for the recently released version says it best: The piece is “[d]edicated to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who held out against the enormous Russian army for several weeks in the Azov Steel Plant of Mariupol…. it is a spiritual journey into the soul of man… into the Beautiful Depths of our spiritual strength.”

Thank all of you who have visited this blog and worried that I hadn’t bathed in weeks in order to keep up. I have indeed listened to most of these albums at least twice and I vouch for their ability to move you. IF you’re receptive. Happy hollerdays and may 2024 not crush us.

My Final 2023 List

–If an album makes the list, it sounds and feels to me like the equivalent of a Pitchfork 7.5 or better, an All Music 3 ½ stars or better, or an Xgauvian **Honorable Mention or better.
–At this point, one can assume that my Top 20-50 sound to me the equivalent of an A-, but I’m a teacher in my other incarnation, so watch me for grade inflation. It cannot be assumed safely, though, that my Top 10 are all straight A’s.
–After the first 50, my “rankings” are a bit loose—though I’ve been toning them up to represent comparative quality to the degree my sanity is not threatened; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 10 (in this “final” case).

Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month. I just added a few today—and I’m done.

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Bounaly: Dimanche a Bamako (Sahel Sounds)
  3. James Brandon Lewis: For Mahalia (with Love) (AUM Fidelity 2-CD version)
  4. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  5. Lubomyr Melnyk: The Sacred Thousand (Jersika Records)
  6. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  7. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  8. Robert Finley: Black Bayou (Easy Eye)
  9. Romy: Midair (Young)
  10. Jamila Woods: Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)
  11. Sylvie Couvousier: Chimaera (Intakt)
  12. Noname: Sundial (AWAL Recordings America)
  13. Buck 65: Punk Rock B-Boy (self-released)
  14. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  15. Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El Arte del Bolero, Volume 2 (ArcArtists)
  16. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  17. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
  18. Corinna Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows (Black Rainbows)
  19. Zach Bryan: Zach Bryan (Belting Bronco)
  20. Armand Hammer: We Buy Diabetes Test Strips (Backwoodz Studios)
  21. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  22. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released)
  23. Ohad Talmor: Back to the Land (Intakt)
  24. The Fugs: Dancing in the Universe (Fugs Records)
  25. Olivia Rodrigo: Guts (Geffen)
  26. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  27. Hamell on Trial: Bring the Kids (Saustex)
  28. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  29. Gard Nilssen’s Supersonic Orchestra: Family (We Jazz)
  30. Aesop Rock: Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers)
  31. Mark Turner: Live at the Village Vanguard (Giant Step Arts)
  32. Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki (Mississippi Records)
  33. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  34. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  35. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  36. Adriana Calcanhotto: Errante (BMG)
  37. Tyler Mitchell Octet: Sun Ra’s Journey featuring Marshall Allen (Cellar Live)
  38. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  39. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  40. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  41. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  42. Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid, and Savannah Harris: Beyond Dragons (Intakt)
  43. Jelly Roll: Whitsitt Chapel (Stoney Creek)
  44. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  45. Filipe Catto: Belezas Sao Coisis Acesas por Dentro (Joia Moderna)
  46. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  47. Susan Alcorn: Canto (Relative Pitch)
  48. DJ Maphorisa & Tman Xpress: Chukela (New Money Gang)
  49. Jason Adasiewicz: Roscoe Village—The Music of Roscoe Mitchell (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  50. K. Michelle: I’m the Problem (No Color No Sound)
  51. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  52. Joe McPhee and Bill Orcutt: A Mouth at Both Ends (ISSUE)
  53. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five—In the garden (Constellation)
  54. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  55. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  56. Ashley McBryde: The Devil I Know (Warner Nashville)
  57. Sexxy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  58. Poli & The Gwo Ka Masters: Abri Cyclonique (Real World)
  59. Bobby Rush: All My Love for You (Deep Rush / Thirty Tigers)
  60. Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse! / Verve)
  61. Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
  62. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  63. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  64. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  65. William Hooker: Flesh & Bones (Org Music)
  66. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  67. J.D. Allen: This (Savant)
  68. Ryoko Ono & Satoko Fujii: Hakuro (label unknown)
  69. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  70. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  71. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  72. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  73. Killer Mike: Michael (Loma Vista)
  74. Emil Amos: Zone Black (Drag City)
  75. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  76. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  77. Maria Jose Llergo: Ultrabella (Sony)
  78. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds) 
  79. Superless: Superless (Oyvind Jazzforum)
  80. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  81. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  82. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  83. Low Cut Connie: Art Dealers (Contender)
  84. Tyvek: Overground (Gingko)
  85. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  86. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  87. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  88. Tri-County Liquidators: cut my teeth (Hitt Rex)
  89. ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
  90. JLin: Perspective (Planet Mu)
  91. Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
  92. Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: The Flower School (Palilalia)
  93. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: Afro-Futuristic Dreams (Strut)
  94. Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson: Loving You (ATO)
  95. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  96. Dlala Thukzin: Permanent Music 3 (Dlala Records EP)
  97. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  98. Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi)
  99. Emmet Cohen & Houston Person: Houston Person—Masters Legacy Series, Volume 5 (Bandstand Presents)
  100. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  101. Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA)
  102. Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly (self-released)
  103. Grupo Frontera: El Comienzo (Grupo Frontera)
  104. Ember: August in March (Imani)
  105. Kevin Sun: The Depths of Memory (Endectomorph Music)
  106. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #10—Inland (Hammer)
  107. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  108. Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted (Morphius)
  109. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  110. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  111. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  112. Morgan Wade: Psychopath (Ladylike)
  113. Shabazz Palaces: Robed in Rareness (Sub Pop)
  114. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  115. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  116. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  117. Lori McKenna: 1988 (CN Records / Thirty Tigers)
  118. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  119. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  120. Various Artists: Red Hot & Ra—Nuclear War (Red Hot Org)
  121. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  122. Hein Westgaard Trio: First as Farce (Nice Things)
  123. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  124. Itamar Borochov: Arba (Greenleaf)
  125. Rodrigo Amado / The Bridge: Beyond the Margins (Trost)
  126. ANTiINDSTRY: Numinous Interference (Muteant Sounds)
  127. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  128. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  129. Trio San (featuring Satoko Fujii and Taiko Saito): Hibiki (Jazzdor)
  130. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  131. Speaker Music: Techxodus (Planet Mu)
  132. Andy Fairweather Low: Flang Dang (The Last Music Company)
  133. ARO40: On the Blink (Aerophonic Records)
  134. Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
  135. Bombino: Sahel (Partisan)
  136. Son Rompe Pera: Chimborazo (AYA Records)
  137. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  138. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  139. Victoria Monet: Jaguar II (Lovett Music)
  140. Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These Either (self-released)
  141. Havard Wiik & Tim Daisy: Slight Return (Relay)
  142. Various Artists: Red Hot & Ra—SOLAR Sun Ra in Brasil (Red Hot Org)
  143. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem)
  144. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  145. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  146. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  147. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  148. feeble little horse: Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
  149. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  150. L’Rain: I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
  151. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ: Destiny (Spells on the Telly)
  152. Nasty Facts: Drive My Car (Left for Dead)
  153. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  154. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  155. Rodrigo Campos & Romulo Froes: Elefante (YB Music)
  156. Kalia Vandever: We Fell in Turn (AKP Recordings)
  157. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  158. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  159. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  160. Blondshell: Blondshell (Partisan)
  161. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  162. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  163. Doja Cat: Scarlet (Kemosabe)
  164. Tianna Esperanza: Terror (BMG)
  165. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  166. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  167. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  168. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  169. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  170. David Murray, Questlove, and Ray Angry: Plumb (J.M.I.)
  171. Tyler Childers: Rustin’ in the Rain (Hickman Holler)
  172. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  173. Ed Sanders: The Sanders – Olufsen Poetry and Classical Music Project (Olufsen)
  174. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  175. City Girls: Raw (Quality Control/Motown)
  176. Grrrl Gang: Spunky (Kill Rock Stars)
  177. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  178. Teenage Jesus and The Jean Teasers: I Love You (Triple J Unearthed)
  179. Caroline Davis: Alula—Captivity (Ropeadope)
  180. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  181. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  182. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  183. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  184. Sofia Kourtesis: Madres (Ninja Tune)
  185. DJ Manny: Hypnotized (Planet Mu)
  186. Josephus and The George Jonestown Massacre: Call Me Animal—A Tribute to the MC5 (Saustex)
  187. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  188. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  189. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  190. Ricardo Dias Gomes: Muito Sol (Hive Mind)
  191. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  192. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  193. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  194. Money for Guns: All the Darkness That’s in Your Head (CD Baby)
  195. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  196. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  197. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  198. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  199. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  200. Tinashe: BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
  201. Hollie Cook: Happy Hour in Dub (Merge)
  202. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  203. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  204. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  205. Dan Ex Machina: Ex’s Sexts (self-released)
  206. Open Mike Eagle: another triumph of ghetto engineering (AutoReverse)
  207. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  208. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  209. Chien Chien Lu: Built in System—Live in New York (Giant Step Arts)
  210. Pangaea: Changing Channels (Hessle Audio)
  211. Lewsberg: Out and About (Lewsberg / 12XU)
  212. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  213. That Mexican OT: Lonestar Luchador (Good Talk)
  214. Daniel Villarreal: Lados B (International Anthem)
  215. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  216. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  217. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg (self-released)
  218. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  219. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  220. Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Munoz: Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out)
  221. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  222. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  223. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  224. Mendoza Hoff Revels: Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)
  225. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  226. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  227. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  228. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  229. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
  230. Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group: Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group (Mississippi Records)
  231. David Dove & Joe McPhee: Where’s the Wine? (C.I.A. Records)
  232. Various Artists: 10 (Music from Memory)
  233. Nellie McKay: Hey Guys, Watch This (Hungry Mouse)
  234. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  235. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released)

Excavations and Reissues

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. The Replacements: Tim—Let It Bleed Edition (Rhino)
  4. Various Artists: Piconema–East African Hits On The Colombian Coast (Rocafort Records)
  5. Les Rallizes Denudes: Citta ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  6. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  7. The Jazz Doctors: Intensive Care & Prescriptions Filled 1983-84 (Cadillac Records)
  8. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  9. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  10. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
  11. Os Tincoas: Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero (Sanzala Cultural)
  12. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  13. Leon Keita: Leon Keita (Analog Africa)
  14. Hiroshi Yoshimura: Surround (Temporal Drift)
  15. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  16. Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
  17. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  18. Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
  19. Les Rallizes Denudes: BAUS ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  20. Gabe Baltazar: Birdology (Fresh Sounds)
  21. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  22. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  23. Various Artists: The Soul of Congo – Treasures of the Ngoma label (1948​-​1963) (Planet Ilunga)
  24. Sonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore—Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective)
  25. Ihsan Al-Munzer: Belly Dance (BBE)
  26. Dredd Foole & The Din: See God 1985-1986 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  27. Johnny Griffin: Live at Ronnie Scott’s, 1964 (Gearbox)
  28. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  29. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  30. Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
  31. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  32. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  33. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  34. Roy Campbell / William Parker / Zan Matsuura: Visitation of the Spirits—The Pyramind Trio Live, 1985 (No Business)
  35. Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
  36. Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
  37. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  38. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  39. Dorothy Carter: Waillee Waillee (Palo Alto Records)
  40. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  41. Wes Montgomery: Maximum Swing (Resonance)
  42. Various Artists: Con Piano, Sublime—Early Recordings from the Caribbean 1907-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  43. Various Artists: Space Echo—The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Revealed! (Analog Africa)
  44. Ibrahim Hesnawi: The Father of Libyan Reggae (Habibi Funk)
  45. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  46. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  47. Alon Nechushtan: For Those Who Cross the Seas (ESP-Disk)
  48. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  49. Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  50. Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)

Integrated List Solutions: 2023’s Best Discs With a Month to Go

RIP Shane MacGowan.

PREJUDICES:

  1. I don’t trust critics’ positive evaluations of art when they’re mostly grounded in politics (of one sort or another). Yet I am frequently guilty of it here.
  2. Related: For much of my life I have thought women were clearly the superior of the two traditionally recognized genders. My wife has helped me sustain that viewpoint; the last seven years of public mad, toxic explosions has convinced me we are equally flawed. Just sayin’: if the upper reaches of my list are dominated by women, it’s not because I’m still guided by romantic notions.
  3. I love jazz right now more than any other major genre. Within that larger genre, I find experimental and free jazz more interesting than its other subgenres. It engages my mind and skin more regularly than other kinds of music. That said, it’s really hard to rank such records. I could spend another hour rearranging my favorite experimental and free jazz records, and I’d change that arrangement again this afternoon. In addition, it’s been a GREAT (and scintillatingly varied) year for those.
  4. Few country records are on my list. I’m not resistant to that genre; I just insist on distinctly unique singing (it’s a tradition) and interesting lyrics. I was weaned on George, Merle, Willie, Dolly, Lorretty, and Tammy–what can I say?
  5. As a writer, I “come out of” punk, garage rock, and rock when it rolled–my first writing “gigs” were with punk zines. Over the last decade, a group of friends on Facebook have given me a great crash course (if a crash course can last a decade) in busting out of that particular popular/semipopular music pen, though I still like galloping around in it. It could be, as a result, that I am too eager to enthuse about intriguing poptimistic sounds. Also, some eyebrows might jump at the exclusion from the list of a certain mega-phenomenon in light of that admission. I still struggle with blandness, even impressively mounted and executed blandness. Oh, and about my punk-pen-past: if the band Dredd Foole & the Din is unfamiliar to you, change that (see “Excavations and “Reissues”).
  6. I like music made by melanated people more than the pale offerings. I don’t think about it beforehand–it just turns out that way. Sue me.

TRUNCATED OBSERVATIONS–PAIRINGS!:

–So-called “desert blues”? Folks, if you don’t know about it or have never gotten on the train, it’s not too late to hop on, and your first stop should be Bounaly’s glowing-orange-hot wailing guitar record Dimanche a Bamako. All hail the Sahel Sounds label. Next stop: Bombino’s Sahel.

–Prolific rappers? From Canada? Yep–it’s old news. BUT…Buck 65’s placed two releases in my Top 25 records of the year, and I had to think and listen awhile before I moved one of those out of the Top 10. Crisp beats, consistently engaging words, and a confident flow. I want to pose a question to aficionados: Buck 65 or Homeboy Sandman, if you could only take one of these fecund MCs’ oeuvres to a desert island?

–Brazilian music: I forgot a prejudice! I start out leaning forward when I put on a new Brazilian record, especially if it’s been touted by Rod Taylor of the Brazil Beat blog. And this year my Top 40 (so far) contains two great and VERY DIFFERENT–yet uniquely Brazilian–releases: Adriana Calcanhotto’s addictive samba-with-Waitsian-rhythmic-flecks Errante and Filipe Catto’s dark-toned tribute to the departed tropicalia legend Gal Costa, Belezas Sao Coisis Acesas por Dentro. Note 1: Catto’s album and Anohni’s still-chart-topping My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross is a terrific pairing as well.

The Updated List

–If an album makes the list, it sounds and feels to me like the equivalent of a Pitchfork 7.5 or better, an All Music 3 ½ stars or better, or an Xgauvian **Honorable Mention or better.
–It can be assumed that my Top 30-40 sound to me the equivalent of an A-, but I’m a teacher in my other incarnation so watch me for grade inflation. It cannot be assumed safely, though, that my Top 10 are all straight A’s.
–After the first 50, my “rankings” are a bit loose; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 3. Also, I usually jigger the rankings every month upon reflection.
–Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month.

Note 2: I’ve repeatedly pored over this month’s list and rearranged it, after some re-listening and simple reflection. My Top 50 is approaching as much permanence as I’m capable of, though Bounaly’s record so thoroughly kicked my ass last night it may take the top spot. We also have four weeks to go….

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Bounaly: Dimanche a Bamako (Sahel Sounds)
  3. Gina Birch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  4. James Brandon Lewis: For Mahalia (with Love) (AUM Fidelity 2-CD version)
  5. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  6. Buck 65: Punk Rock B-Boy (self-released)
  7. Olivia Rodrigo: Guts (Geffen)
  8. Jamila Woods: Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)
  9. Romy: Midair (Young)
  10. Noname: Sundial (AWAL Recordings America)
  11. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  12. Robert Finley: Black Bayou (Easy Eye)
  13. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  14. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  15. Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El Arte del Bolero, Volume 2 (ArcArtists)
  16. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  17. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
  18. Corinna Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows (Black Rainbows)
  19. Adriana Calcanhotto: Errante (BMG)
  20. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  21. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released)
  22. Ohad Talmor: Back to the Land (Intakt)
  23. Gard Nilssen’s Supersonic Orchestra: Family (We Jazz)
  24. Aesop Rock: Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers)
  25. Mark Turner: Live at the Village Vanguard (Giant Step Arts)
  26. Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki (Mississippi Records)
  27. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  28. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  29. Tyler Mitchell Octet: Sun Ra’s Journey featuring Marshall Allen (Cellar Live)
  30. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  31. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  32. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  33. Armand Hammer: We Buy Diabetes Test Strips (Backwoodz Studios)
  34. Hamell on Trial: Bring the Kids (Saustex)
  35. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  36. Jelly Roll: Whitsitt Chapel (Stoney Creek)
  37. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  38. Filipe Catto: Belezas Sao Coisis Acesas por Dentro (Joia Moderna)
  39. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  40. Ashley McBryde: The Devil I Know (Warner Nashville)
  41. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  42. Jason Adasiewicz: Roscoe Village—The Music of Roscoe Mitchell (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  43. William Hooker: Flesh & Bones (Org Music)
  44. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  45. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  46. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  47. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  48. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  49. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  50. Zach Bryan: Zach Bryan (Belting Bronco)
  51. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  52. J.D. Allen: This (Savant)
  53. Ryoko Ono & Satoko Fujii: Hakuro (label unknown)
  54. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  55. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  56. Bobby Rush: All My Love for You (Deep Rush / Thirty Tigers)
  57. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  58. Les Raillizes Denudes: Citta’ ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  59. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  60. Killer Mike: Michael (Loma Vista)
  61. Emil Amos: Zone Black (Drag City)
  62. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  63. Shabazz Palaces: Robed in Rareness (Sub Pop)
  64. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  65. Maria Jose Llergo: Ultrabella (Sony)
  66. Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse! / Verve)
  67. Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
  68. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds) 
  69. Superless: Superless (Oyvind Jazzforum)
  70. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  71. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  72. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  73. Tyvek: Overground (Gingko)
  74. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  75. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  76. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  77. Tri-County Liquidators: cut my teeth (Hitt Rex)
  78. ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
  79. JLin: Perspective (Planet Mu)
  80. Sexxy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  81. Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
  82. Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: The Flower School (Palilalia)
  83. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: Afro-Futuristic Dreams (Strut)
  84. Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson: Loving You (ATO)
  85. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  86. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  87. Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi)
  88. Emmet Cohen & Houston Person: Houston Person—Masters Legacy Series, Volume 5 (Bandstand Presents)
  89. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  90. Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA)
  91. Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly (self-released)
  92. Grupo Frontera: El Comienzo (Grupo Frontera)
  93. Ember: August in March (Imani)
  94. Kevin Sun: The Depths of Memory (Endectomorph Music)
  95. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #10—Inland (Hammer)
  96. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  97. Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted (Morphius)
  98. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  99. The Fugs: Dancing in the Universe (Fugs Records)
  100. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  101. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  102. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  103. Morgan Wade: Psychopath (Ladylike)
  104. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  105. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  106. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  107. Lori McKenna: 1988 (CN Records / Thirty Tigers)
  108. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  109. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  110. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  111. Hein Westgaard Trio: First as Farce (Nice Things)
  112. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  113. Itamar Borochov: Arba (Greenleaf)
  114. Rodrigo Amado / The Bridge: Beyond the Margins (Trost)
  115. ANTiINDSTRY: Numinous Interference (Muteant Sounds)
  116. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  117. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  118. Trio San (featuring Satoko Fujii and Taiko Saito): Hibiki (Jazzdor)
  119. Susan Alcorn: Canto (Relative Pitch)
  120. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  121. Speaker Music: Techxodus (Planet Mu)
  122. Andy Fairweather Low: Flang Dang (The Last Music Company)
  123. ARO40: On the Blink (Aerophonic Records)
  124. Money for Guns: All the Darkness That’s in Your Head (CD Baby)
  125. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five—In the garden (Constellation)
  126. Bombino: Sahel (Partisan)
  127. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  128. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  129. Victoria Monet: Jaguar II (Lovett Music)
  130. Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These Either (self-released)
  131. Havard Wiik & Tim Daisy: Slight Return (Relay)
  132. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: LightningDreamers (International Anthem)
  133. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  134. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  135. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  136. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  137. feeble little horse: Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
  138. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  139. L’Rain: I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
  140. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ: Destiny (Spells on the Telly)
  141. Nasty Facts: Drive My Car (Left for Dead)
  142. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  143. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  144. Kalia Vandever: We Fell in Turn (AKP Recordings)
  145. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  146. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  147. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  148. Blondshell: Blondshell (Partisan)
  149. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  150. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  151. Doja Cat: Scarlet (Kemosabe)
  152. Tianna Esperanza: Terror (BMG)
  153. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  154. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  155. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  156. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  157. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  158. David Murray, Questlove, and Ray Angry: Plumb (J.M.I.)
  159. Tyler Childers: Rustin’ in the Rain (Hickman Holler)
  160. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  161. Ed Sanders: The Sanders – Olufsen Poetry and Classical Music Project (Olufsen)
  162. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  163. City Girls: Raw (Quality Control/Motown)
  164. Grrrl Gang: Spunky (Kill Rock Stars)
  165. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  166. Teenage Jesus and The Jean Teasers: I Love You (Triple J Unearthed)
  167. Caroline Davis: Alula—Captivity (Ropeadope)
  168. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  169. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  170. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  171. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  172. Sofia Kourtesis: Madres (Ninja Tune)
  173. DJ Manny: Hypnotized (Planet Mu)
  174. Josephus and The George Jonestown Massacre: Call Me Animal—A Tribute to the MC5 (Saustex)
  175. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  176. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  177. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  178. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  179. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released)
  180. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  181. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  182. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  183. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  184. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  185. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  186. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  187. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  188. Tinashe: BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
  189. Hollie Cook: Happy Hour in Dub (Merge)
  190. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  191. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  192. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  193. Dan Ex Machina: Ex’s Sexts (self-released)
  194. Open Mike Eagle: another triumph of ghetto engineering (AutoReverse)
  195. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  196. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  197. Chien Chien Lu: Built in System—Live in New York (Giant Step Arts)
  198. Pangaea: Changing Channels (Hessle Audio)
  199. Lewsberg: Out and About (Lewsberg / 12XU)
  200. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  201. That Mexican OT: Lonestar Luchador (Good Talk)
  202. Daniel Villarreal: Lados B (International Anthem)
  203. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  204. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  205. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg (self-released)
  206. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  207. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  208. Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Munoz: Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out)
  209. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  210. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It ForMe (Music Maker Foundation)
  211. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  212. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  213. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  214. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  215. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  216. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)

Excavations and Reissues

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. The Replacements: Tim—Let It Bleed Edition (Rhino)
  4. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  5. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  6. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  7. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
  8. Os Tincoas: Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero (Sanzala Cultural)
  9. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  10. Leon Keita: Leon Keita (Analog Africa)
  11. Hiroshi Yoshimura: Surround (Temporal Drift)
  12. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  13. Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
  14. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  15. Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
  16. Gabe Baltazar: Birdology (Fresh Sounds)
  17. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  18. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  19. Various Artists: The Soul of Congo – Treasures of the Ngoma label (1948​-​1963) (Planet Ilunga)
  20. Sonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore—Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective)
  21. Ihsan Al-Munzer: Belly Dance (BBE)
  22. Dredd Foole & The Din: See God 1985-1986 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  23. Johnny Griffin: Live at Ronnie Scott’s, 1964 (Gearbox)
  24. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  25. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  26. Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
  27. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  28. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  29. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  30. Roy Campbell / William Parker / Zan Matsuura: Visitation of the Spirits—The Pyramind Trio Live, 1985 (No Business)
  31. Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
  32. Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
  33. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  34. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  35. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  36. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  37. Wes Montgomery: Maximum Swing (Resonance)
  38. Various Artists: Con Piano, Sublime—Early Recordings from the Caribbean 1907-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  39. Various Artists: Space Echo—The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Revealed! (Analog Africa)
  40. Ibrahim Hesnawi: The Father of Libyan Reggae (Habibi Funk)
  41. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  42. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  43. Alon Nechushtan: For Those Who Cross the Seas (ESP-Disk)
  44. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  45. Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  46. Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)

THE SPRAWL: A Tentacular List of Really Good Records Released in 2023, Most of Which I Can Remember Listening To (November 1st Update)

Regarding Some of the Newbies:

  1. Soul Music! I thought Robert Finley‘s very solid Sharecropper’s Son, from 2021, was probably going to be the man’s one essential offering–it seems to me hard to follow up a kind of throwback record that appears out of the blue. Unsurprisingly, I was incorrect, as Finley’s new offering is just as powerful musically as its predecessor with a wider emotional range. If that weren’t enough of a blot on my critical faculties, I was also expecting some fall-off from Chicago’s multitalented, multifaceted Jamila Woods even though I advance-ordered her new album–her first two really hit me where I needed hitting, and I suppose I didn’t want to take a chance it might happen again. Well, it did: her writing’s grown; in fact, it’s taken on a personal dimension that reminds me of Joni Mitchell, and the music suits it. You cannot go wrong with either of these individuals’ new albums if my ranking of them hasn’t already convinced you.
  2. A writer whose work I have recommended before and will again now, and which I regularly envy, Brad Luen, remarked to me recently that there is simply a tidal wave (my quasi-paraphrase) of excellent jazz curling down upon us right now. So you love Charlie Parker? Check out Gabe Baltazar‘s lustrous bow to Bird. Can a jazz orchestra truly be supersonic? Buckle yourself in for Norwegian Gard Nilssen‘s proof (yes, it is a jazz orchestra). You can’t really interpret compositions as distinctly abstract as Roscoe Mitchell’s with vibes, can you? Well, Jason Adasiewicz thought so, and, strangely enough, his is one of my very favorite “Roscoe Mitchell” records and has helped me hear the man himself better. Can an intriguingly delicate two-record jazz set that, if you furrow your brow and bend your ear diligently enough, justifies its title The Depths of Memory, also justify its length? The nicely surnamed Kevin Sun says, “No problem,” and there’s a whole other one he has for us I’ve only sampled that seems to prove he’s not kidding. Steel guitar? Jazz? Experimental jazz? Susan Alcorn has news for us. And can Satoko Fujii turn out albums faster than John Zorn without some dip in quality, imagination, versatility, and intensity? Well, Hibiki, a trio also featuring the magic vibraphone of Taiko Saito (vibes are truly having a moment), is only the fourth record she’s on that’s made the list, so…yes. That isn’t even all of the NEW jazz records on the list–but the list is tapping its fingers on my desk.
  3. The Fugs live! And Ed Sanders is not done! (By the way, keep your eyes peeled for his reissuing of America: A History in Verse, which he thinks and I totally agree is the best thing he’s ever written.)
  4. Need some tranquility? Of course you do, if your eyes are open and your heart works! But none of that “nature sounds” or Muzak-y stuff, right? While it does seem like Japanese albums from the 1980s that evoke/create/embody tranquility have been pouring forth from specialty (boutique?) reissue labels for the last few years, Hiroshi Yoshimura‘s 1986 gift Surround (Temporal Drift–these folks know what they are doing) is a cut above. It will force you to sit back and take notice.
  5. Just when I’m thinking, “Rosalia is about to cut flamenco all the way loose” (not yet! not yet!), Maria Jose Llergo‘s Ultrabella saves the day.
  6. Tri-County Liquidators: remember their name. Their first singles were so good I pretended they were an EP and put them on earlier versions of this list, but their first full-length record, piquantly titled cut my teeth and released by Hitt Rex, justifies their growing reputation as Columbia, Missouri’s sharpest current band–and one of the best ever. I’ve lived in Columbia for 33 years and heard plenty of others, and I think that reputation is wholly justified, based on this album (I will witness for the first time Friday night). The music is dynamic and defies category–it evokes multiple subgenres within the arenas of indie, punk, and (I’m just gonna say) pandemic rock–the group operates democratically by design (everyone writes, plays, and sings), they can but don’t cover anyone else, writing songs with wide emotional range and occasional poetic dabs, and they employ a secret weapon. This does not quite honor their dedication to democracy (fucking music writers!), but Spenser Rook’s shape-shifting guitar is something well worth concentrating on. I must confess that I have known Spenser and bassist/singer/songwriter Marielle Carlos since they were high school sophomores–I taught Marielle (though I learned more from her than she did from me), and Spenser once physically guided me to play the riff to The Sonics’ “The Witch” (not exactly Joe Maphis fare in its degree of difficulty, but I am completely devoid of musical talent, so that’s a small miracle). I am straining but (I think) succeeding at maintaining critical distance, but please just listen for yourself. A band that hand-delivers its new vinyl to advance-orderers deserves at least THAT!

The Updated List

* If an album makes the list, it sounds and feels to me like the equivalent of a Pitchfork 7.5 or better, an All Music 3 ½ stars or better, or an Xgauvian **Honorable Mention or better.
* It can be assumed that my Top 30-40 sound to me the equivalent of an A-, but I’m a teacher in my other incarnation so watch me for grade inflation. It cannot be assumed safely, though, that my Top 10 are all straight A’s.
* After the first 50, my “rankings” are a bit loose; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 3. Also, I usually jigger the rankings every month upon reflection.
* Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month.

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Olivia Rodrigo: Guts (Geffen)
  3. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
  4. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  5. James Brandon Lewis: For Mahalia (with Love) (AUM Fidelity 2-CD version)
  6. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  7. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  8. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  9. Robert Finley: Black Bayou (Easy Eye)
  10. Romy: Midair (Young)
  11. Noname: Sundial (AWAL Recordings America)
  12. Mark Turner: Live at the Village Vanguard (Giant Step Arts)
  13. Jamila Woods: Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)
  14. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  15. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  16. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  17. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  18. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  19. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  20. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  21. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  22. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  23. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  24. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  25. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  26. Ohad Talmor: Back to the Land (Intakt)
  27. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  28. Les Raillizes Denudes: Citta’ ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  29. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  30. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  31. Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El Arte del Bolero, Volume 2 (ArcArtists)
  32. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  33. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  34. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  35. Corinna Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows (Black Rainbows)
  36. Gabe Baltazar: Birdology (Fresh Sounds)
  37. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  38. Jelly Roll: Whitsitt Chapel (Stoney Creek)
  39. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  40. Gard Nilssen’s Supersonic Orchestra: Family (We Jazz)
  41. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  42. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  43. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  44. Armand Hammer: We Buy Diabetes Test Strips (Backwoodz Studios)
  45. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  46. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  47. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  48. Bobby Rush: All My Love for You (Deep Rush / Thirty Tigers)
  49. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  50. Shabazz Palaces: Robed in Rareness (Sub Pop)
  51. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  52. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  53. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  54. Lori McKenna: 1988 (CN Records / Thirty Tigers)
  55. Jason Adasiewicz: Roscoe Village—The Music of Roscoe Mitchell (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  56. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  57. Tri-County Liquidators: cut my teeth (Hitt Rex)
  58. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  59. Ashley McBryde: The Devil I Know (Warner Nashville)
  60. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  61. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  62. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  63. Killer Mike: Michael (Loma Vista)
  64. Emil Amos: Zone Black (Drag City)
  65. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  66. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  67. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  68. Morgan Wade: Psychopath (Ladylike)
  69. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  70. ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
  71. JLin: Perspective (Planet Mu)
  72. Sexyy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  73. Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
  74. Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: The Flower School (Palilalia)
  75. Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA)
  76. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  77. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: Afro-Futuristic Dreams (Strut)
  78. Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson: Loving You (ATO)
  79. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  80. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  81. Ember: August in March (Imani)
  82. Kevin Sun: The Depths of Memory (Endectomorph Music)
  83. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #10—Inland (Hammer)
  84. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  85. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  86. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ: Destiny (Spells on the Telly)
  87. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  88. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  89. Hein Westgaard Trio: First as Farce (Nice Things)
  90. Maria Jose Llergo: Ultrabella (Sony)
  91. Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse! / Verve)
  92. Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
  93. Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi)
  94. Caroline Davis: Alula—Captivity (Ropeadope)
  95. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  96. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  97. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  98. Trio San (featuring Satoko Fujii and Taiko Saito): Hibiki (Jazzdor)
  99. Susan Alcorn: Canto (Relative Pitch)
  100. Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted (Morphius)
  101. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  102. Speaker Music: Techxodus (Planet Mu)
  103. Andy Fairweather Low: Flang Dang (The Last Music Company)
  104. ARO40: On the Blink (Aerophonic Records)
  105. Money for Guns: All the Darkness That’s in Your Head (CD Baby)
  106. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five—In the garden (Constellation)
  107. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  108. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  109. Victoria Monet: Jaguar II (Lovett Music)
  110. Havard Wiik & Tim Daisy: Slight Return (Relay)
  111. David Murray, Questlove, and Ray Angry: Plumb (J.M.I.)
  112. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: LightningDreamers (International Anthem)
  113. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  114. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  115. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  116. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  117. feeble little horse: Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
  118. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  119. L’Rain: I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
  120. Nasty Facts: Drive My Car (Left for Dead)
  121. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  122. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  123. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  124. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  125. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  126. Blondshell: Blondshell (Partisan)
  127. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  128. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  129. Doja Cat: Scarlet (Kemosabe)
  130. Tianna Esperanza: Terror (BMG)
  131. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  132. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  133. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  134. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  135. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  136. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  137. Tyler Childers: Rustin’ in the Rain (Hickman Holler)
  138. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  139. The Fugs: Dancing in the Universe (Fugs Records)
  140. Ed Sanders: The Sanders – Olufsen Poetry and Classical Music Project (Olufsen)
  141. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  142. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  143. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  144. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  145. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  146. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  147. Sofia Kourtesis: Madres (Ninja Tune)
  148. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  149. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  150. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  151. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  152. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released)
  153. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  154. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  155. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  156. Itamar Borochov: Arba (Greenleaf)
  157. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  158. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  159. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  160. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  161. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  162. Tinashe: BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
  163. Hollie Cook: Happy Hour in Dub (Merge)
  164. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  165. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  166. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  167. Open Mike Eagle: another triumph of ghetto engineering (AutoReverse)
  168. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  169. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  170. Chien Chien Lu: Built in System—Live in New York (Giant Step Arts)
  171. Pangaea: Changing Channels (Hessle Audio)
  172. Lewsberg: Out and About (Lewsberg / 12XU)
  173. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  174. That Mexican OT: Lonestar Luchador (Good Talk)
  175. Daniel Villarreal: Lados B (International Anthem)
  176. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  177. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  178. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg (self-released)
  179. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  180. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  181. Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Munoz: Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out)
  182. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  183. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  184. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  185. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  186. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  187. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  188. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  189. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)

Excavations and Reissues

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. The Replacements: Tim—Let It Bleed Edition (Rhino)
  4. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  5. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  6. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  7. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
  8. Os Tincoas: Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero (Sanzala Cultural)
  9. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  10. Leon Keita: Leon Keita (Analog Africa)
  11. Hiroshi Yoshimura: Surround (Temporal Drift)
  12. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  13. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  14. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  15. Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
  16. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  17. Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
  18. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  19. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  20. Sonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore—Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective)
  21. Ihsan Al-Munzer: Belly Dance (BBE)
  22. Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
  23. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  24. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  25. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  26. Roy Campbell / William Parker / Zan Matsuura: Visitation of the Spirits—The Pyramind Trio Live, 1985 (No Business)
  27. Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
  28. Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
  29. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  30. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  31. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  32. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  33. Various Artists: Con Piano, Sublime—Early Recordings from the Caribbean 1907-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  34. Various Artists: Space Echo—The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Revealed! (Analog Africa)
  35. Ibrahim Hesnawi: The Father of Libyan Reggae (Habibi Funk)
  36. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  37. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  38. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  39. Professor James Benson:The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  40. Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)

Guts in Midair: The Best Albums of 2023, 3/4ths the Way Down the Road

Ponderings:

  1. I’m getting ready to have this conversation with one of my classes when we discuss Billie Holiday’s Lady in Satin: what is the role of pleasure in assigning an aesthetic rank to an album? I’ve thought about this quite a bit regarding my favorite album of the year, which does give some pleasure but the primary excellence of which is in its multi-faceted capturing of a frightening moment in time. I was starting to doubt myself, but someone else’s take on the album on the No Fences Substack spot bolstered my belief. My doubts were also poked a bit by the arrival of Olivia Rodrigo’s phenomenal sophomore album, but then, when holding it in my mind side by side with My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross, moving Guts up to my #1 spot felt like a betrayal. Which might not really be about aesthetics, but then again, it is, because the art holding the response to the horror together on Anohni’s record is just as high-caliber.
  2. James Brandon Lewis’ For Mahalia (With Love) is the most powerful jazz album of the year, and the high point in Lewis’ sterling output so far–though, if you buy the hard copy, the live concert with strings that’s added might give the main attraction a run for its money. It’s easily one of the very best of its kind, especially since Lewis’ playing and the string arrangements are more daring than what is typical; in fact, they vie with each other for most thrilling.
  3. The albums by Romy and Mark Turner mark the first time either artist (Romy has previously been part of the xx) has broken through to me, and that’s been with a vengeance. Midair is a romantic and moving electronic dance music album; Live at The Village Vanguard features an admirably cohesive band, Turner’s playing, which has always seemed to me a more cerebral version of the Prez Style on tenor–not that Lester Young was lacking any grey matter!–is full-bodied and inventive, and the compositions are consistently interesting.
  4. I’ve frequently pushed the recent stream of recordings by the Japanese punk band (they sound punk to me) Les Raillez Denudes that the hard-working folks at Temporal Drift Records has excavated for us. If you’ve yet to jump, Citta’ ’93 might be the best ticket so far. If you’ve never gotten enough of the Velvets’ “I Heard Her Call My Name” and wondered if that sound could ever be harnessed ever so carefully to create a style, this might also be the answer.
  5. I saw The Replacements when Bob Stinson was still with us (when he was with us, he often wasn’t). When Tim came out I listened to it every day for weeks; I did detect the sound was weird compared to its predecessor Let It Be, but the power and desperation of the best songs spoke to me very directly at 24. I sprung (in advance) for Rhino’s “Let It Bleed” expanded version and don’t regret it; it sounds terrific, and I like the live show better than their Maxwell’s set. I think there’s some waste in the set–what else is new with such projects?–and IF ONLY Lorne Michaels could have had the grace to grant permission for a special Blu-ray of the band’s immortal performance on SNL to be included, the price would have been a bargain. A man can dream.
  6. Attention Ornette Coleman fans: saxophonist Ohad Talmor recently gained access to a rehearsal tape featuring Coleman and Lee Konitz, and was so stunned by the results he put together a killer band to interpret the recordings it contained. It’s not quite on sale to the public yet, but I can vouch that OC diehards MUST obtain it. Here’s the Bandcamp site at which you can lie in wait.
  7. Biggest surprises of September: listening to Corinne Bailey Rae’s wild and varied new album–that’s something I always needed more from her–and being introduced to Jelly Roll. I’d heard the name bandied about (seemed like that would be a stage name for a blues dude), I’d heard him connected to Christianity by my students in vague ways, and figured I could pass. Then his new album got a nice push from the witty and reliable Brad Luen, who, via his Substack blog, has begun colonizing a chunk of my brain, so I took a skeptical plunge while grading some essays. I couldn’t concentrate on that task for all the right reasons; I have no affection for male aggro-country vocals, and I’m an atheist, but neither fact mattered as his grapplings with demons made me pay attention.
  8. Every semester a student opens my ears to an artist very worthwhile. I spent most of my first 28 years in the Ozarks, and about eight years of that a few miles away from where someone new to the list went to high school–you’d think I’d have gotten a heads-up before this week, but a very sharp costume-designing theater major pulled my coat and asked, “Have you heard Chappell Roan?” I hadn’t but promised I would. Suffice it to say the young lady’s first full-length album impressed the living hell out of me (that’s an appropriate metaphor). My eyebrows were touching my hairline on a regular basis–she not a little much, she’s a lot much, and in a great way. When I touched base with the student a few days later, I told her, “She’s like Lana Del Rey minus the codeine vibe, contained cool, and California.” You might say that’s a lot to subtract, but Roan’s additions go quite a way toward cancelling them out. Oh yeah: she’s currently touring with Olivia Rodrigo–I’d shell out for THAT show.
  9. Am I wrong, or has Killer Mike’s Michael gotten a lot of lukewarm press? If I’m right, I don’t get it. I really like it, and I probably need to move it up 10-15 slots.
  10. The most beautiful album that’s new to the list is a reissue of Os Tincaos’ Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero. What’s beautiful are the group vocals. Stunningly beautiful.

The Updated List

* If an album makes the list, it sounds and feels to me like the equivalent of a Pitchfork 7.5 or better, an All Music 3 ½ stars or better, or an Xgauvian **Honorable Mention or better.
* It can be assumed that my Top 30-40 sound to me the equivalent of an A-, but I’m a teacher in my other incarnation so watch me for grade inflation. It cannot be assumed safely, though, that my Top 10 are all straight A’s.
* After the first 50, my “rankings” are a bit loose; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 3. Also, I usually jigger the rankings every month upon reflection.
* Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month.

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Olivia Rodrigo: Guts (Geffen)
  3. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
  4. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  5. James Brandon Lewis: For Mahalia (with Love) (AUM Fidelity 2-CD version)
  6. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  7. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  8. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  9. Romy: Midair (Young)
  10. Noname: Sundial (AWAL Recordings America)
  11. Mark Turner: Live at the Village Vanguard (Giant Step Arts)
  12. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  13. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  14. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  15. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  16. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  17. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  18. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  19. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  20. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  21. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  22. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  23. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  24. Ohad Talmor: Back to the Land (Intakt)
  25. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  26. Les Raillizes Denudes: Citta’ ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  27. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  28. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  29. Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El Arte del Bolero, Volume 2 (ArcArtists)
  30. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  31. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  32. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  33. Corinna Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows (Black Rainbows)
  34. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  35. Jelly Roll: Whitsitt Chapel (Stoney Creek)
  36. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  37. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  38. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  39. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  40. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  41. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  42. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  43. Bobby Rush: All My Love for You (Deep Rush / Thirty Tigers)
  44. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  45. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  46. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  47. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  48. Lori McKenna: 1988 (CN Records / Thirty Tigers)
  49. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  50. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  51. Ashley McBryde: The Devil I Know (Warner Nashville)
  52. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  53. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  54. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  55. Killer Mike: Michael (Loma Vista)
  56. Emil Amos: Zone Black (Drag City)
  57. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  58. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  59. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  60. Morgan Wade: Psychopath (Ladylike)
  61. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  62. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  63. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  64. ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
  65. JLin: Perspective (Planet Mu)
  66. Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
  67. Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: The Flower School (Palilalia)
  68. Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA)
  69. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  70. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: Afro-Futuristic Dreams (Strut)
  71. Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson: Loving You (ATO)
  72. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  73. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  74. Ember: August in March (Imani)
  75. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #10—Inland (Hammer)
  76. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  77. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  78. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ: Destiny (Spells on the Telly)
  79. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  80. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  81. Hein Westgaard Trio: First as Farce (Nice Things)
  82. Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse! / Verve)
  83. Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
  84. Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi)
  85. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  86. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  87. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  88. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  89. Speaker Music: Techxodus (Planet Mu)
  90. Andy Fairweather Low: Flang Dang (The Last Music Company)
  91. Money for Guns: All the Darkness That’s in Your Head (CD Baby)
  92. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  93. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  94. Victoria Monet: Jaguar II (Lovett Music)
  95. Havard Wiik & Tim Daisy: Slight Return (Relay)
  96. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: LightningDreamers (International Anthem)
  97. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  98. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  99. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  100. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  101. feeble little horse: Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
  102. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  103. Nasty Facts: Drive My Car (Left for Dead)
  104. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  105. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  106. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  107. Chien Chien Lu: Built in System—Live in New York (Giant Step Arts)
  108. Lewsberg: Out and About (Lewsberg / 12XU)
  109. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  110. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  111. Blondshell: Blondshell (Partisan)
  112. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  113. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  114. Tianna Esperanza: Terror (BMG)
  115. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  116. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  117. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  118. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  119. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  120. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  121. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  122. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  123. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  124. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  125. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  126. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  127. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  128. Sexyy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  129. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  130. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  131. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  132. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  133. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released)
  134. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  135. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  136. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  137. Itamar Borochov: Arba (Greenleaf)
  138. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  139. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  140. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  141. Tinashe: BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
  142. Hollie Cook: Happy Hour in Dub (Merge)
  143. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  144. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  145. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  146. Open Mike Eagle: another triumph of ghetto engineering (AutoReverse)
  147. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  148. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  149. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  150. That Mexican OT: Lonestar Luchador (Good Talk)
  151. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  152. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  153. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg (self-released)
  154. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  155. Tri-County Liquidators: “Flies” / “Weep Then Whisper” / “Bitter” (self-released)
  156. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  157. Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Munoz: Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out)
  158. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  159. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  160. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  161. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  162. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  163. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  164. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  165. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)

Excavations and Reissues

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. The Replacements: Tim—Let It Bleed Edition (Rhino)
  4. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  5. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  6. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  7. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
  8. Os Tincoas: Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero (Sanzala Cultural)
  9. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  10. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  11. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  12. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  13. Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
  14. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  15. Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
  16. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  17. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  18. Sonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore—Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective)
  19. Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
  20. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  21. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  22. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  23. Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
  24. Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
  25. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  26. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  27. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  28. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  29. Various Artists: Con Piano, Sublime—Early Recordings from the Caribbean 1907-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  30. Various Artists: Space Echo—The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Revealed! (Analog Africa)
  31. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  32. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  33. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  34. Professor James Benson:The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  35. Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)

Happy Hour in Excelsior Springs: Not Feeling Tardy Delivering My Favorite Records of 2023, January 1 – September 1

Comin’ atcha from one of Al Capone’s old haunts! Nicole’s gettin’ a CBD massage in this haunted hotel’s famous spa, we got kicked out of the pool for some reserved loud wedding strutting, and I’m sippin’ Blue Moons to the tune of my $100 worth of Bandcamp Friday investments. School’s in for me, so with three freshman comp classes and tutoring, I haven’t even been able to read–man, when that happens, I’m like Antaeus without his feet on the ground. BUT…I made it, smellin’ like chlorine and all.

Suite Sweets:

*In 2009, at 75, Bobby Rush played a show at the school I taught at, to an audience composed mostly of our black students, their parents, and even grandparents. Though it fell into my lap, I still had to do some legwork; in the end, it’s one of my Top 3 greatest experiences as an educator. AT 89, Rush just delivered his best album since Live at Ground Zero and Folkfunk (if anyone’s keeping track)–a team-up with Willie awaits, and I am not joking. Their people need to think about it.

*I was starting to think Noname was too good to wax rap records, and that’s a statement of respect. I am glad to see her back in the game, elegant, concise, and powerful.

*The year’s most gorgeous jazz album might be Miguel Zenon’s second record of boleros.

*St. Louis’ best rock and roll band (Americana, if you prefer) is Money for Guns. They just released their very best record, so if you still recognize those two genres, you might wanna sniff it out. I must admit that their co-lead singer and songwriter substitute-taught at my school over a decade ago when he was a Frustrated Bachelor, but as sharp as he was, I figured he’d be teaching at this point. He wisely keep his shoulder to the musical wheel.*

*Those of you that are free jazz fans might still be processing all those Zoh Amba records from 2022. Her new one with Orcutt on guitar might be THE ONE you need if she hasn’t hooked you yet.

*I’ve been lucky enough to see Sonic Youth live at their peak (I’m calling that the Goo tour) and in their admirable, um, dotage (2002, maybe?). The new live-in-Brooklyn document is a lovely gift to us, and does it open with some painful honesty.

*Ember. Who the funk are they? Well, they just released the most fascinatingly responsive jazz record of the year. I need to do more research, but I played it out of obligation and ended up hypnotized.

*Steve Pick, my man! Thank you for pointing me to That Mexican OT. If you miss fun and outrageous rap, and maybe like Mexican wrestling, please don’t hesitate. Unless it’s to helmet-polish for a bit.

*It might set you back some, but The Village’s six-decade overview of the great Horace Tapscott’s musical world of Watts is well worth it. He is the most underrated figure in jazz history (mostly because he chose to devote his efforts to local musical work rather than pursuit of fame), and his accomplishment has never been better documented than on the Pan Afrikan Peoples Orchestra set.

*I am standing firm on my feeling that Anohni’s My Back was a Bridge for You to Cross is the most powerful (and therefore best) record of the year. I’ve been told the vibrato is too much (tell that to the ghost of Sarah Vaughan) and that the quality tails (I think it simply shifts in kind of quality), but it still haunts me, and I know I am not alone.

BONUS TIP: If you happen to love balls-out drums (especially drums)-and-guit Devotion-like wailing…check out Spiritual Drum Kingship. Sometimes you just need your ass kicked by surging plugged-in improv.

(Bolded items are new to the list)

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  3. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
  4. boygenius:the record (Interscope)
  5. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  6. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  7. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  8. Noname: Sundial (AWAL Recordings America)
  9. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  10. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  11. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  12. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  13. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  14. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  15. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  16. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  17. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  18. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  19. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  20. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  21. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  22. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  23. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  24. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  25. Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El Arte del Bolero, Volume 2 (ArcArtists)
  26. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  27. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  28. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  29. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  30. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  31. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  32. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  33. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  34. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  35. Bobby Rush: All My Love for You (Deep Rush / Thirty Tigers)
  36. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  37. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  38. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  39. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  40. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  41. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  42. Tyshawn Sorey:Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  43. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  44. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  45. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  46. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  47. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  48. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  49. Lori McKenna: 1988 (CN Records / Thirty Tigers)
  50. ensemble 0: Jojoni(Crammed Discs)
  51. Henry Threadgill: The Other One(Pi)
  52. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  53. Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: The Flower School (Palilalia)
  54. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  55. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  56. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  57. Ember: August in March (Imani)
  58. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  59. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  60. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  61. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  62. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  63. Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
  64. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  65. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  66. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  67. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  68. Money for Guns: All the Darkness That’s in Your Head (CD Baby)
  69. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  70. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  71. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: LightningDreamers (International Anthem)
  72. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  73. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  74. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  75. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  76. feeble little horse: Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
  77. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  78. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  79. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  80. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  81. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  82. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  83. Blondshell: Blondshell (Partisan)
  84. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  85. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  86. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  87. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  88. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  89. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  90. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  91. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam(Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  92. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  93. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  94. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  95. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  96. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  97. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  98. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  99. Sexyy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  100. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  101. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  102. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  103. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  104. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released EP—coming in March)
  105. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  106. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  107. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  108. Itamar Borochov: Arba (Greenleaf)
  109. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  110. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  111. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  112. Hollie Cook: Happy Hour in Dub (Merge)
  113. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  114. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  115. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  116. Open Mike Eagle: another triumph of ghetto engineering (AutoReverse)
  117. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  118. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  119. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  120. That Mexican OT: Lonestar Luchador (Good Talk)
  121. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  122. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  123. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg
  124. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  125. Tri-County Liquidators: “Flies” / “Weep Then Whisper” / “Bitter” (self-released)
  126. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  127. Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Munoz: Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out)
  128. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  129. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  130. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  131. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  132. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  133. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  134. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  135. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)

Excavations and Reissues

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  4. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  5. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  6. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
  7. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  8. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  9. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  10. Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
  11. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  12. Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
  13. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  14. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  15. Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
  16. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  17. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  18. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  19. Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
  20. Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
  21. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  22. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  23. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  24. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  25. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  26. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  27. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  28. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  29. Professor James Benson:The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  30. Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)

Bark Out Thunder, Roar Out Lightning–Albeit in a Small Dose: 150 Absorbing New and Old Recordings Released So Far in 2023

Grey Matter Natter

I am still behind–I feel I owe ten or fifteen records I haven’t laid ear to some time–but sometimes it be’s that way. The most important thing about this update is a new record is at the top of my list. If I graded albums, it just might be an A+. I don’t even give those to my students’essays.

  1. I am a helpless gestaltist–I am really blown away by works that, though they must be somewhat imperfect, make a powerful impact as a whole. From its wraith-like but oh-so-corporeal vocals to its music to its lyrics to its production to its accompanying art to its title to its assessment of this world, Anohni’s My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross checks the boxes. Even if I wasn’t a Missourian, where cruelty is our state adjective, it would have knocked me out. After all, I am still an American. I’ve always been careful not to overrate a record that is topical in ways I care deeply about, but a) the cruelty the record addresses is definitely nothing new; b) it’s an undeniable message from the targets of cruelty; and c) as a work of art, it would move me if it were sung in Sanskrit. My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross is the best–and my favorite–album of the year. It rocks in good measure, too, for those who must have that.
  2. I am also a helpless devotee of New Orleans music, especially any that is connected with the Mardi Gras Indian tradition. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s been on a roll, but I’ve been too late to recognize his last couple of releases. Not this time. In some ways, it’s a strong pairing with Anohni’s record–but again, if it were sung in Tamasheq, I’d be down with it. Oddly, he doesn’t play much trumpet but it doesn’t really matter.
  3. In Columbia, Missouri, the indefatigable Matt Crook, a Howard Zinn-inspired high school social studies teacher and father of two youngsters, annually puts together the Columbia Experimental Music Festival (as well as ancillary shows of fascinating variety). This year, in partnership with another great local and annual offering, the We Always Swing Jazz Series, Matt and WAS founder Jon Poses will be bringing the Sun Ra Arkestra to our citizens. I saw Sun Ra himself with the Arkestra here twice, once in the late Eighties and once in the early Nineties, shortly after which The Sun One passed. I’d never have expected that, in 2023, I’d be seeing bandleader Marshall Allen still blowing at 99. I mention Allen because he and fellow Arkestra member Knoel Scott come very correct on the latter’s new album Celestial. Reaper, stay thy scythe.
  4. For Mr. Crook, “experimental” folds in hip hop culture, and why shouldn’t it? Last year, he arranged for three pretty underground figures to give a beat- and bar-making workshop at a local high school; this year, he’s snagged London-born, Queens-raised, Bed Stuy-representing Rome Streetz, whom I’d never heard of (Matt always snaps my earlids up like roller blinds). He’s tough, talented, and worth your time–even if you can’t come to Columbia for the fest.
  5. Regarding the Coltrane and Simone excavations–you’ve probably already heard this–temper your sonic expectations and instead focus on the expression and before-your-very-ears musical evolution you’re experiencing. Evolution isn’t ever…pristine.

(Bolded items are new to the list)

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  3. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs(Dog Show/Atlantic)
  4. boygenius:the record (Interscope)
  5. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  6. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  7. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  8. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  9. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  10. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  11. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  12. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  13. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  14. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  15. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  16. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  17. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  18. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  19. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  20. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  21. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  22. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  23. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  24. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  25. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  26. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  27. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  28. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  29. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  30. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  31. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  32. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  33. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  34. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  35. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  36. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  37. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  38. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  39. Tyshawn Sorey:Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  40. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  41. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  42. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  43. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  44. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  45. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  46. ensemble 0: Jojoni(Crammed Discs)
  47. Henry Threadgill: The Other One(Pi)
  48. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  49. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  50. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  51. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  52. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  53. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  54. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  55. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  56. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  57. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  58. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  59. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  60. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  61. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  62. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  63. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: LightningDreamers (International Anthem)
  64. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  65. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  66. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  67. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  68. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  69. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  70. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  71. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  72. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  73. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  74. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  75. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  76. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  77. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  78. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  79. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  80. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  81. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam(Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  82. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  83. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  84. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  85. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  86. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  87. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  88. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  89. Sexyy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  90. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  91. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  92. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  93. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  94. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released EP—coming in March)
  95. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  96. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  97. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  98. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  99. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  100. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  101. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  102. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  103. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  104. Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
  105. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  106. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  107. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  108. Lankum: False Lankum (Rough Trade)
  109. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  110. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  111. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg
  112. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  113. Tri-County Liquidators: “Flies” / “Weep Then Whisper” / “Bitter” (self-released)
  114. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  115. Black Country, New Road: Live at Bush Hall (Ninja Tune)
  116. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  117. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  118. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  119. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  120. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  121. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  122. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  123. Kara Jackson: Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September Recordings)
  124. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
  125. Billy Valentine: Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth (Flying Dutchman)

Excavations and Reissues

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  4. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  5. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  6. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  7. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  8. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  9. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  10. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  11. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  12. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  13. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  14. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  15. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  16. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  17. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  18. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  19. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  20. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  21. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  22. Luther Thomas: 11th Street Fire Suite(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  23. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  24. Professor James Benson:The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  25. Various Artists: Strontium 90, Shrimps & Gumbo—Lux & Ivy Dig Motorcycle Boots & Mutants (Righteous Records)

“Be M’Guest”: DIG IN TO A HALF-ANNUM TREASURE TROVE — Outstanding Platters from 2023, January 1 – July 2

I was beginning to think I was just going to have to write this month’s post off. Many of you know; many more will find out–caring for your parents as they head into the twilight is not for the faint-hearted. That’s the world I’ve lived in for the past two-and-a-half years, but especially the last five days, and really especially today. But things sometimes take a turn right when you need them to–like a mom dealing with a thyroid condition, skyrocketing blood sugar, AND a UTI (and inconsistent health professionals) suddenly deciding, “Hey! I think I can get my cane and do a lap around the center!” Then doing it, without a rest stop or my assistance. Then watching three episodes of Somebody Somewhere, which I’d been telling her she just HAD to see for months (she has trouble with a remote), then having a real REAL talk about health and the future. She’s sleeping, I’ve got a great BBE South African dance comp in the headphones, and I’m gonna get this posted!

Also, thanks to my friend Steve Pick, excellent Substack record reviewer and often the man behind the counter at St. Louis’ Euclid Records, for inspiring me to not give up. You da man–see ya next Sunday.

No odds and ends other than phrases: black woman magic, country ladies taking no quarter, don’t fuck with a black marching band, Randall Bramblett not forgotten, Janelle–you GO, girl!, Dylan TWICE?, Natural Child I’ll never give up on y’all, and travel the world with some of those excavations. Love y’all and thanks for reading!

(Bolded items are new to the list)

  1. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  2. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs(Dog Show/Atlantic)
  3. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  4. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  5. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  6. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  7. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  8. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  9. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  10. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  11. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  12. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  13. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  14. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  15. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  16. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  17. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  18. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  19. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  20. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  21. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  22. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  23. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  24. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  25. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  26. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  27. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  28. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  29. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  30. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  31. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  32. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  33. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  34. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  35. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  36. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  37. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  38. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  39. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  40. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  41. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  42. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  43. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  44. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  45. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  46. ensemble 0: Jojoni(Crammed Discs)
  47. Henry Threadgill: The Other One(Pi)
  48. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  49. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  50. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  51. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  52. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  53. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  54. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  55. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: LightningDreamers (International Anthem)
  56. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  57. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  58. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  59. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  60. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  61. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  62. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  63. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  64. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  65. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  66. Mat Muntz: Phantom Islands (Orenda)
  67. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  68. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  69. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  70. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  71. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  72. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam(Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  73. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  74. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  75. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  76. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  77. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  78. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  79. Sexyy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  80. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  81. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released EP—coming in March)
  82. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  83. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  84. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  85. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  86. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  87. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  88. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  89. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  90. Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
  91. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  92. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  93. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  94. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  95. Lankum: False Lankum (Rough Trade)
  96. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven(EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  97. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  98. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg
  99. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  100. Tri-County Liquidators: “Flies” / “Weep Then Whisper” / “Bitter” (self-released)
  101. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  102. Black Country, New Road: Live at Bush Hall (Ninja Tune)
  103. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  104. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  105. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  106. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  107. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  108. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  109. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  110. Angel Bat Dawid: Requiem for Jazz (International Anthem)
  111. Kara Jackson: Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September Recordings)
  112. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
  113. Billy Valentine: Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth (Flying Dutchman)

Excavations and Reissues

(Note: These are not in order of my love for them–I’m still still sorting that out.)

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  4. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  5. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  6. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  7. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  8. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  9. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  10. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  11. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  12. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  13. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona(Black Editions)
  14. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  15. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  16. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  17. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  18. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  19. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  20. Luther Thomas: 11th Street Fire Suite(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  21. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  22. Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  23. Various Artists: Strontium 90, Shrimps & Gumbo—Lux & Ivy Dig Motorcycle Boots & Mutants (Righteous Records)