This has been a pretty great year for music tomes. Simply at present, three are battling for my attention and holding it why they get it: John Doe, Tom DeSavia, and friends’ sequel to the LA punk kinda-oral-history Under the Big Black Sun, titled More Fun in the New World: The Unmaking and Legacy [key subtitular words] of LA Punk; Vivien Goldman’s Revenge of the She-Punks: A Feminist Music History from Poly Styrene to Pussy Riot [oh, those subtitles!], which is passing my first rule of excellent music books by costing me money in buying CDs (yes, I know I could download or stream, but fuck it); and Will Ashon’s inventive and surprising Chamber Music: Wu-Tang and America 9in 36 Pieces, which keeps Jeff Chang’s streak alive of never blurbing a bad book. In the recent past, I’ve devoured Hannah Ewens‘ groundbreaking FANGIRLS, due out in the States next year and possibly landing in my freshman comp/pop music womens’ college class as an assigned text next semester (Ewens’ book passed my second rule of excellent books in that it forced me to read another book, in this case Sady Doyle’s Trainwreck, which in turn led me to the aforementioned Goldman book), and luxuriated in Celeste Bell and Zoe Howe’s Day Glo! The Poly Styrene Story, an oral history of the life, times, vision, and work of Ms. Bell’s influential punk mom. Again, that’s just the last three weeks or so. Get your ass to the library.
Speaking of books, Will Friedwald’s The Great Jazz & Pop Vocal Albums is finally letting go its grip on me. However, thinking about the eccentricity of some of his choices, I began to wonder why the distinctive Al Hibbler, a fellow Missouri native (from the metropolis of Tyro!) and maker of terrific albums with the likes of both Ellington and Kirk, didn’t make the cut. Hibbler had a resonant, rich-coffee voice as well as quirky, almost-Cockney articulation on some words (such his pronunciation of “I” as “Oy”). The resulting weird sound matched perfectly with those produced by Rahsaan, as can be sampled on their splendid A Meeting of the Times, on the short list of the best albums ever made by two blind men teaming up:
I’ve played that album many times, but lately I moved on to Hibbler’s two Classics label entries (featuring much of his work with Duke) as well as his romantic, passionately sung, but little-heard mid-Fifties releases (most of them piquantly-titled, such as Torchy & Blue and Al Hibbler Sings the Blues Monday Every Day).
Black Sabbath is really good peace-making music. My wife and I were having a mild dispute Saturday evening as she attempted to prepare some pulled pork sandwiches and I tried to convince her I was correct about several non-pork-related points. It had been her turn for stereo control about a half-hour prior to this discussion, and she asked for some Sabbaf. I pulled the two-CD compendium Symptom of the Universe, loaded, and cranked it up, and headed back into the kitchen. Did you know it is fairly impossible to keep a straight face while arguing about anything with a Black Sabbath song as a backdrop? “God knows as your dog nose, bog blast all of you / Sabbath, bloody sabbath, nothing more to do / Living just for dying, dying just for you, yeah”?” Well, OK, then! (I can’t resist sharing the below, which is kind of how I feel about this set):
I have to put in a strong word for New Orleans’ Sinking City Records and its new release, Byron Asher’s Skrontch Music. This label’s put out precious few records, and it doesn’t knock itself out in getting them distributed, but they are always very interesting and usually really damn good on top of that (try their 79rs Gang or Michot’s Melody Makers or Stooges Brass Band records–or their reissues of Ricky B and Danny Barker singles). Take it from me; I think I’ve bought them all, and I never wait for a review or stream samples to cut my losses. Asher’s only-in-NOLA experiment, which–and this doesn’t capture it–reaches both forwards and backwards through Crescent City music history and features some very bracing ghost appearances, is likely to inch into my Top 10 by the end of next month. Think about giving it a shot. Also, SCR’s pretty much vinyl-only, and I like that.
Many of my friends consider me at least somewhat of a music expert, but I regularly demonstrate I couldn’t possibly be. Just f’rinstance: last week, I screened Asif Kapadia’s harrowing documentary Amy for my Stephens College students. They’d been working on writing reviews, we’d Zoomed in some very excellent thinkers and writers to give advice, and they’d sampled several divergent models. For our final piece in the unit, I thought the film (which is more than a little complicated, and that’s a compliment) would make excellent substance for our final Socratic seminar. I’d seen it thrice before, still wasn’t sure it didn’t exploit what it seemed to want to criticize, and–most important to this blather–found myself still pretty resistant to Winehouse’s wiles. Something about her delivery (even after she’d really perfected it) seemed affected to me, without Dap Band bolstering I questioned whether her work would stand up as straight and strong, and I didn’t trust the throwback bouffant, which played to my taste (I love me some girl groups, as well as some bad girls). While watching the film two more times (I have two classes), performance clips of “You Know I’m No Good” and “Love is a Losing Game” finally perforated my shell of ignorance, and I spent a good chunk of the weekend listening to Back to Black. You know what? That sucker is a classic! Eureka–it only took me a decade to figure that out. The thing is, pop music’s so deep and rich that, even if you’re an occasional lunkhead in perceiving it (like me), at least (we hope) you’ll catch up to it later when you need something durable, powerful, and wonderful.
My Album-Lover’s Honor Roll for 2019 (as of November 3, 2019)
(bolded items are new additions to the ongoing list)
- Little Simz: Grey Area
- Various Artists: A Day in the Life–Impressions of Pepper*
- Jamila Woods: Legacy! Legacy!
- Peter Perrett: Humanworld
- Rapsody: Eve
- Mexstep: Resistir
- Billie Eilish: WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
- Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, Jesse Paris Smith: Songs from The Bardo
- Chance The Rapper: The Big Day
- Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: Bandana
- Royal Trux: White Stuff
- Yugen Blakrok: Anima Mysterium
- Mdou Moctar: Ilana (The Creator)
- Purple Mountains: Purple Mountains
- Danny Brown: uknowwhutimsayin
- Pere Ubu: The Long Goodbye
- J Balvin & Bad Bunny: OASIS
- Lightning Bolt: Sonic Citadel
- Sheer Mag: A Distant Call
- Billy Woods & Kenny Segal: Hiding Places
- Damon Locks / Black Monument Ensemble: Where Future Unfolds
- Jeffrey Lewis: Bad Wiring
- Raphael Saadiq: Jimmy Lee
- Byron Asher: Byron Asher’s Skrontch Music
- Young Thug: So Much Fun
- Kel Assouf: Black Tenere
- James Brandon Lewis: An Unruly Manifesto
- Teodross Avery: After the Rain–A Night for Coltrane
- Various Artists: Total Solidarity
- Lana Del Rey: Norman F***ing Rockwell
- Control Top: Covert Contracts
- Miranda Lambert: Wildcard
- Beyoncé: Homecoming
- The Comet is Coming: Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery
- 2 Chainz: Rap or Go to the League
- Joel Ross: Kingmaker
- Tyler Childers: Country Squire
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Tuba in Cuba
- Sote: Parallel Persia
- I Jahbar: Inna Duppy SKRS Soundclash
- Quelle Chris: Guns
- Heroes Are Gang Leaders: The Amiri Baraka Sessions
- DaBaby: KIRK
- Ben Lamar Gay: Confetti in the Sky Like Fireworks
- Tanya Tagaq: Toothsayer EP
- Abdullah Ibrahim: The Balance
- Senyawa: Sujud*
- Dave: PSYCHODRAMA
- Rocket 808: Rocket 808
- Various Artists: Weaponize Your Sound
- Maxo Kream: Brandon Banks
- BaianaSystem: O Furturo Nao Demora
- Aesop Rock & TOBACCO: Malibu Ken
- Lizzo: Cuz I Love You
- DaBaby: Baby on Baby
- DKV and Joe McPhee: The Fire Each Time
- Elza Soares: Planeta Fome
- Denzel Curry: Zuu
- Michael Kiwanuka: Kiwanuka
- Saul Williams: Encrypted & Vulnerable
- Young M.A.: Herstory in the Making
- Ken Vandermark: Momentum 4—Consequent Duos 2015-2019
- The New Orleans Dance Hall Quartet: Tricentennial Hall Dance 17. October
- Mario Pavone: Philosophy
- Alcorn/McPhee/Vandermark: Invitation to a Dream
- Joachim Kuhn: Melodic Ornette Coleman—Piano Works XIII
- Rachid Taha: Je Suis Africain
- Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra: Songs from The Sun Ra Cosmos
- The Coathangers: The Devil You Know
- GoldLink: Diaspora
- Joe McPhee and Paal Nilssen-Love: Song for the Big Chief
- Megan Thee Stallion: Fever
- Lee Scratch Perry: Rainford
- G & D: Black Love & War
- Girl Band: The Talkies
- The Paranoid Style: A Goddamn Impossible Way of Life
- Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys: 30 Years Live
- Sleater-Kinney: The Center Won’t Hold
- Gilberto Gil: OK OK OK
- JPEGMAFIA: All My Heroes Are Cornballs
- Resavoir: Resavoir
- Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die II—Bird of Paradise
- Ras Kass: Soul on Ice 2
- Flying Lotus: Flamagra
- Angel-Ho: Death Becomes Her
- JD Allen: Barracoon
- Big Thief: Two Hands
- Usted Saami: God is Not a Terrorist
- Mantana Roberts: COIN COIN Chapter Four–Memphis
- Youssou N’Dour: History
- Guitar Wolf: Love & Jett
- Tinariwen: Amadjar
- Cashmere Cat: Princess Catgirl
- Mannequin Pussy: Patience
- LPX: Junk of the Heart (EP)
- Chuck Cleaver: Send Aid
- Terry Riley and Kronos Quartet: Sun Rings
- Boris: Love & Evol
- Deerhunter: Death in Midsummer
- Various Artists: Typical Girls Three
- Various Artists: Travailler, C’est Trop Dur–The Lyrical Legacy of Caesar Vincent
- black midi: Schlagenheim
- Nots: 3
- Josh Berman / Paul Lytton / Jason Roebke: Trio Correspondences
- Jacob Wick & Phil Sudderberg: Combinatory Pleasures
- Leyla McCalla: Capitalist Blues
- Tyshawn Sorey and Marilyn Crispell: The Adornment of Time
- Tropical Fuck Storm: Braindrops
- Santana: Africa Speaks
- Judy and The Jerks: Music for Donuts
- Tyler, The Creator: IGOR
- Fennesz: Agora
- Salif Keita: Un autre blanc
- Robert Forster: Inferno
- Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty
- Whit Dickey Tao Quartets: Peace Planet / Box of Light
- Blacks’ Myths: Blacks’ Myths II
- The Art Ensemble of Chicago: We Are On the Edge
- Ibibio Sound Machine: Doko Mien
- Solange: When I Get Home
- James Carter Organ Trio: Live from Newport Jazz
- Freddie Douggie: Live on Juneteenth
- Joe McPhee / John Butcher: At the Hill of James Magee
- Ahmad Jamal: Ballades
- Dump Him: Dykes to Watch Out For
- Branford Marsalis Quartet: The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul
- Helado Negro: This is How You Smile
- Little Brother: May the Lord Watch
- Blood Orange: Angel’s Pulse
- Lost Bayou Ramblers: Rodents of Unusual Size (Soundtrack to the Motion Picture)
- slowthai: Great About Britain
- Silkroad Assassins: State of Ruin
- Steve Lacy: Apollo XXI
- Mekons: Deserted
- Que Vola: Que Vola
- Kelsey Lu: Blood
- Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Miri
- Hama: Houmeissa
- Steve Earle: Guy
- Mdou Moctar: Blue Stage Session
- Ill Considered: 5
- Girls on Grass: Dirty Power
- Stella Donnelly: Beware of the Dogs
- Matthew Shipp Trio: Signature
- Shovels & Rope: By Blood
- Angel Bat Dawid: The Oracle
- Spiral Stairs: We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized
- Our Native Daughters: Songs of Our Native Daughters
- Rosie Flores: A Simple Case of The Blues
- Jenny Lewis: On the Line
*Technically, these are 2018 releases, but for now, I’m claiming their impact is being felt more strongly this year.
New Releases of Older Material
- Peter Laughner: Peter Laughner
- Eric Dolphy: Musical Prophet
- Burnt Sugar: 20th Anniversary Mixtapes—Groiddest Schizznits, Vols. 1-3
- Creedence Clearwater Revival: Live at Woodstock
- The Royals: Gish Abbai
- Various Artists: Bulawayo Blue Yodel
- Various Artists: Put The Whole Armour On—Female Black Gospel 1940s and 1950s
- Screaming Females: Singles Too
- Horace Tapscott and the Pan Afrikan Orchestra: Why Don’t You Listen–Live at Lacma, 1998
- Various Artists: Outro Tempo II–Electronic and Contemporary Music from Brazil 1984-1996
- Various Artists: All the Young Droogs–60 Juvenile Delinquent Wrecks
- Gregory Isaacs / Ossie All-Stars: Mr. Isaacs
- Various Artists: Jambu
- Erroll Garner: Closeup in Swing
- John Coltrane: Blue World
- James Booker: Live at Onkel PO’s, Carnegie Hall, Hamburg 1976
- Cornell Campbell: I Man a the Stall-A-Watt
- Various Artists: World Spirituality Classics 2—The Time for Peace is Now
- Tubby Hayes: Grits, Beans and Greens—The Lost Fontana Studio Sessions 1969
- Star Band de Dakar: Psicodelia Afro-Cubana de Senegal
- Big Stick: Some of the Best of Big Stick
- Primal Scream: Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll—The Singles
- Masayuki Takayanagi New Directions Unit: April is the Cruellest Month
- Various Artists: Rhapsody in Bronze
- Various Artists: Fania Goes Psychedelic
- Stan Getz: Getz at the Gate
- Sir Shina Peters and His Internation Stars: Sewele
- Sounds of Liberation: Sounds of Liberation
- Prince: Originals
- Various Artists: Nigeria 70–No Wahala, Highlife, Afro-Funk & Juju 1973-1987
- Lee Moses: How Much Longer Must I Wait? Singles & Rarities 1965-1972
- John Carter & Bobby Bradford Quartet: No U-Turn
- Various Artists: Siya Hamba! 1950’s South African Country and Small Town Sounds
- Johnny Shines: The Blues Came Falling Down–Live 1973
- Terry Allen & The Panhandle Mystery Band: Pedal Steal + Four Corners
- Neil Young & The Stray Gators: Tuscaloosa
- The Replacements: Dead Man’s Pop
- Scientists: Not for Sale (Live, 1978-1979)
- Abdallah Oumbadougou: Anou Malane
- George Jones: United Artists Rarities
Living To Listen 