Frustrated at not tending to my vast responsibility to, um, someone, I donned the headphones and powered through some new slabs. Fortunately, they were all at least good.

Mdou Moctar Meets Elite Beat in a Budget Dancehall–The star of the Saharan Purple Rain ducks out of the desert and into a club, and things get looser than they tend to on the sands…not a bad idea at all.

Dave Holland: Uncharted Territories–Two septuagenarian vets of European improvised music join two American youngsters for a two-disc creation session, and the kids’ ideas win (as does the listener, in one of the best free records of 2018).

The Young Mothers: Morose–The latest work starring a product of Texas’ House of Gonzalez (one brainstormed by a Norwegian) melds free jazz, rap, punk, metal, and maybe other stuff in a furious attempt to change that mood–be it in us or the musicians themselves.

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: Hope Downs–Seems like folks are struggling to describe this Australian act (they’re not a jam band to my ears), but they seem a more straightforward version of The Feelies to me, and that’s a good thing.

Nidia: Nídia É Má, Nídia É Fudida–Just as I’m wondering when JLin going to deliver another package of EDM even a Southwest Missouri boy can love, I find out a Portuguese wizard damn near matched Black Origami with this quirky jam (there may be hope for me yet).

Bonus Bounce:

An Apple Music playlist of some my recent wanderings in that streaming world.