Good golly, folks–it’s a good year in pop music when after 12 months you can get behind almost a hundred records you’ve enjoyed. It’s still a few days shy of July, and I’ve listened to 95 I’d give a B+ (or 7.5–grade inflation if that’s equivalent!) or better. It would have been 96, but somehow I lost one in the text transfer that I cannot ferret out. The bold-faced albums are in priority order from the ones I love most to love a whole lot; 25-50 are jockeying for position; and the rest are kind of in grab-bag, I’m-too-mentally-tired-to-deal formation.
I think I mentioned it last time, but 2018 has been a fantastic year for female artists. Also, guitar bands are starting to wake up (no pun intended) and address the shit-show we have on our hands. The jazz world is asserting itself, especially the free improvisors who have feet inside. Reissues: hard to keep up with, especially Atlanta’s Dust-to-Digital, who just released two terrific and typically well-appointed boxes that repay concentration and multiple listens. Personally, falling under the spell of Apple Music has vastly increased my, um, unique listens (at the expense of old faves I’ve always played a lot), and the exploration of electronic music and r&b fellow fanatics have pushed me to continues to pay dividends as far as picking beauties is concerned.
I wish I could link all these, but goddam you can copy and paste into a browser, can’t ya? Just try to pay an artist as much as possible if you can.
- Tracy Thorn: Record
- Nona Hendryx and Gary Lucas: The World of Captain Beefheart
- CupcaKe: Ephorize
- Mary Gauthier and Songwriting with Soldier: Rifles and Rosary Beads
- Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile
- Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer
- Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed
- JD Allen: Love Stone
- Berry: Everything, Compromised
- Joe McPhee: Imaginary Numbers
- Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright
- Superchunk: What A Time to Be Alive
- Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar
- Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!
- Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer: Nordub
- Orquesta Akokan: Orquesta Akokan
- Sidi Toure: Toubalbero
- Quelle Chris & Jean Grae: Everything’s Fine
- No Age: Snares Like a Haircut
- Grupo Mono Blanco: ¡Fandango! Sones Jarochos from Veracruz
- Elza Soares: Deus É Mulher
- John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness
- Zeal & Ardor: Stranger Fruit
- Dave Holland: Uncharted Territories
- Toni Braxton: Sex & Cigarettes
- Nidia: Nídia É Má, Nídia É Fudida
- Wynton Marsalis & Friends: United We Swing–Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas
- Jonghyun: Poet / Artist
- Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: Hope Downs
- Halu Mergia: Lalu Balu
- Jeffrey Lewis: Works by Tuli Kupferberg
- Bombino: Deran
- Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: An Angel Fell
- Rapsody: Laila’s Wisdom
- Sarayah: Feel the Vibe
- Anelis Assumpcão: Taurina
- Jinx Lennon: Grow a Pair
- Nas: Nasir
- Speedy Ortiz: Twerp Verse
- Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel
- Peter Brotzmann and Fred Lonberg-Holm: Ouroboros
- Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy
- Evan Parker, Barry Guy, and Paul Lytton: Music for David Mossman
- Salim Washington: Dogon Revisited
- Angelika Niescier: The Berlin Concert
- Jon Hassell: Listening To Pictures (Pentimento, Vol. One)
- Charge It to The Game: House with a Pool
- JPEGMAFIA: Veteran
- Various Artists: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun…and Rights!!!
- Apolo: Live in Stockholm
- Mdou Moctar & Elite Beat: Mdou Moctar meets Elite Beat In a Budget Dancehall
- Willie Nelson: Last Man Standing
- Wussy: What Heaven is Like
- Meshell Ndegeocello: Ventriloquism
- Kamasi Washington: Heaven & Earth
- Cardi B: Invasion of Privacy
- Shopping: The Official Body
- Young Mothers: Morose
- The Thing: Again
- Ebo Taylor: Yen Ara
- Alice Bag: Blue Print
- Dana Murray: Negro Manifesto
- David Murray (featuring Saul Williams): Blues for Memo
- Pusha T: Daytona
- Shame: Songs of Praise
- Low Cut Connie: Dirty Picture, Pt. 2
- Henry Threadgill: Dirt..and More Dirt
- Hot Snakes: Jericho Sirens
- Ceramic Dog: YRU Still Here?
- Van Morrison & Joey DeFrancesco: You’re Driving Me Crazy
- Various Artists/Sahel Sounds: Field Recordings
- Marc Sinan & Oğuz Büyükberber: White
- Kendrick Lamar, et al: Black Panther—Music from and Inspired by the Film
- Jay Rock: Redemption
- MC Paul Barman: Echo Chamber
- Kris Davis and Craig Taborn: Octopus
- Tal National: Tantabara
- Wilko Johnson: Blow Your Mind
- Rodrigo Amado (with Joe McPhee): History of Nothing
- Rich Krueger: Life Ain’t That Long
- MAST: Thelonious Sphere Monk
- Silvana Estrada: Lo Sagrado
- Big Freedia: Third Ward Bounce
- Tallawit Timbouctou: Takamba WhatsApp 2018
- Amy Rigby: The Old Guys
- Busdriver: Electricity Is On Our Side
- Dr. Michael White: Tricentennial Rag
- Migos: Culture II
- Angélique Kidjo: Remain in Light
- Parliament: Medicaid Fraud Dogg
- Yo La Tengo: There’s a Riot Goin’ On
- The Carters: Everything is Love
- The Del McCoury Band: Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass
- Superorganism: Superorganism
- Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet: Landfall
- Sleep: The Sciences
- Teyana Taylor: K.T.S.E.
- Ibibio Sound Machine: Eyio
- Various Artists: I Only Listen to The Mountain Goats
- Princess Nokia: A Girl Cried Red
OLD MUSIC NICELY REPACKAGED
- Sonny Rollins: Way Out West (Deluxe Reissue)
- Neil Young: Roxy—Tonight’s the Night
- Various Artists: Voices of Mississippi—Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris
- Various Artists: Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central and East African Music
- Gary Stewart: “Baby I Need Your Loving” / “Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yester-Day”
- Various Artists: Outlaws and Armadilloes
- The Revelators: In which the Revelators perform live renditions of selections from the Billy Childish songbook
- Against All Logic: 2012-2017
- Grant Green: Live at Oil Can Harry’s
- Entourage: Ceremony of Dreams—Studio Sessions & Outtakes 1972-1977
- Kuniyuki Takahashi: Early Tape Works 1986 – 1993 Volume 1
- Camarao: The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie
- Various Artists: Africa Scream Contest, Volume 2
- Wussy: Getting Better
- The Beginning of the End: Funky Nassau
Living To Listen 
I have 1 2 4 7 12 14 21 27 32 38 48 49 50 63 69 76 77 80 and have heard only 1 2 7 21. SAD. Impetus now to get the Janelle and will move on JDAllen.. LCC’s Dirty over Threadgill’s Dirt?!l Found last year’s Z&A in my unopened pile. New copy arrives Friday. STUPID. R&B push, if you don’t have it: Where Southern Soul Began 1954-1962, 2CD (History of Soul). What is a browser? OLD.
Remember: after #25 they’re pretty much in random order. Also, there’s a fussiness to Threadgill’s recent stuff that trips me up a little. I’m on the fence w/LCC, too, for the record. We’ll see if either is making an impact in December! I will look up that collection — thanks!