This month: I’ve begun my very basic asterisky rating system, now that most of the following records have had a chance to sink in, plus I’m continuing to share my lists of carelessly forgotten, underappreciated, or simply “new to me” records from January-November 2025 (December’s children are being counted as ‘26ers since they barely had a chance to be aurally dandled), my return to older records (stimulated by a great oral history of Texas punk rock—see below—Mardi Gras, the Miles Davis Centennial, and PBS’ nice Sun Ra documentary), my bibliobiography (lotsa music books therein)—and a Record of the Month.

Notable Top 10: 1) The two best jazz records I’ve heard this year, from Work Money Death and Dave Adewumi (that one hasn’t yet been released for public consumption). Hot on their heels is one by Chad Fowler and Art Edmaiston that was recorded in Memphis and which makes yet another case for the southern roots of free jazz. 2) A refreshed Van Morrison. 3) Charli XCX refusing to be dismissed. 4) More evidence that, if bassist/composer Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is involved with your project, you will greatly benefit. 5)A legendary P-Funk guitarist thrilling you solo. 6) A six-hour box set of trio interpretations of Morton Feldman compositions (classical music—eek!) (recommended to me by my reliable source at Burning Ambulance) that can calm your afternoon. 7) One rap record to soothe the Golden Agers’ breasts, another one that breaks through my resistance to live rap records. 8) A terrific Floridian singer-songwriter inspiring us over-sixties to finally learn to play and start writing. 9) South African Nandipha808’s can’t-stop-won’t-stop YouTube mixtape. 10) Some Colombian cumbia from the Analog Africa vault!

If you enjoy what I’m doing here, please check out my IG feed ( displaying a quadrant of records that each day thrill my earhole), my Substack newsletter (it purports to deal with my long career as an educator but I squeeze music in whenever possible—as I did in the classroom), and my education blog, “The Overeem Farewell Tour,” , a deeper educational dive that includes both a daily diary from my last year as a full-time public school teacher and a Spring ’20 to Spring ’21 COVID “cloister commentary.”

To the lists!

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

KEY: 
# = Archival release
***Very Good!           ****Really Good!      ****C’est Magnifique
Bolded entries are new to the list! 

NEW ALBUMS

Dave Adewumi: The Flame Beneath the Silence (Giant Step Arts) **** (out March 27)

Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic (In Finé)

Charli XCX: “Wuthering Heights” (Charli XCX Inc. / Atlantic) ***

Cimota: [ˈkɪmɔtɑː] (Sonic Transmissions) ***

Claire Dickson: Balance (New Amsterdam) (out March 27) ***

Dry Cleaning: Secret Love (4AD)

Art Edmaiston & Chad Fowler: Memphis Mandala (Mahakala Music) ****

fakemink: The Boy who cried Terrified . (EtnaVeraVela EP)

Fanfare Ciocarlia: Devil’s Tale (Asphalt Tango)

femcels: I Have to Get Hotter (self-released) ***

GBSR Duo & Taylor McLennan: Morton Feldman–Trios (Another Timbre) ****

Al Green: To Love Somebody (Fat Possum EP)

Grupo Um: Nineteen Seventy-Seven (Far Out Recordings)

Michael Hampton: Into the Public Domain (self-released) DECEMBER ‘25

Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan (Solid Jackson/Palmetto)

Mark Lomax II: The Unity Suite (CFG Media) JANUARY’S SPOTLIGHT ALBUM ****

Lord Jah Monte Ogbon: As of Now (Lex) ***

Mandy, Indiana: URGH (Sacred Bones)

Joyce Manor: I Used to Go to This Bar (Epitaph)

The Messthenics & James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency (Impulse!) ****

Van Morrison: Someone Tried to Sell Me a Bridge (Exile Productions) ***

Nandipha808: No Vocal Album (self-released) DECEMBER ’25 ****

The Outskirts: Orbital (Aerophonic) (out April 7th)

Grant Peeples: Code to Live By (self-released) DECEMBER ’25 ****

#Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical: Galaxia Tropical (Analog Africa) ***

Tomeka Reid: dance! skip! hop! (Out of Your Head Records) ****

Ren: Vincent’s Tale (self-released…I think) 

Ren: Sick Boi Live at Dead Wax (self-released) ***

Ratboy: Singin’ to an Empty Chair (New West) ****

Steve Roach: Sentient Being (Soundquest) ***

Talibah Safiya: Eternal (self-released…I think) ****

SAULT: Chapter 1 (Forever Living Originals) ***

Noé Sécula & Jorge Rossy: A Sphere Between Other Obsessions (Fresh Sounds) ***

#Alan Silva Celestrial Communication Ensemble: 2000-06-24 Amherst (Eremite) ****

Slutworld: Slut Intent (self-released EP)

Harriet Tubman & Georgia Muldrow: Electrical Field of Love (Pi Recordings)

Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life) ***

Work Money Death: A Portal to Here (ATA) ****

2025: Gone But Too Cool for Me To Have Forgotten

#Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy: African Skies (Listening Position)

Blanco teta: La Debacle de las Divas (Les Disques Bongo Joe) (pictured above)

Kathleen Edwards: Billionaire (Dualtone) Thanks for your patience, Kenny Wright!

Tav Falco: Desire on Ice (Org Music) 

Rois: Mo Lean (self-released)

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed this Month

Louis Armstrong: Louis & The Big Bands

Big Boys: no matter how long the line is in the cafeteria there’s always a seat

Nick Brignola: On a Different Level

Butthole Surfers: PCPPEP

Joe King Carrasco and The Crowns: s/t + Synapse Gap

Ornette Coleman: Beauty is a Rare Thing

The Cramps: URGH! The Complete Show

Miles Davis: The Complete Concert 1964 + Highlight from the Plugged Nickel + Get Up With It

The Dicks: These People

Fela: The Best of the Black President 2 

Sinead O’Connor: The Lion and The Cobra + I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got + “Famine”/”All Apologies” CD Single + Throw Down Your Arms (killer reggae, seriously)

Pylon: Chomp

Sun Ra: The Nubians of Plutonia + The Singles + Cosmo Sun Connection

Hey! I Read, Too-and So Should You!

Martin Amis: Money (Penguin)

Pat Blashill: Someday All the Adults Will Die—The Birth of Texas Punk (University of Texas Press)

Judy Cheeks: Love and Honor—The Life of Reverend Julius Cheeks

Liadan Ni Chuinn: Every One is Still Here—Stories (Stinging Fly Press) (these short stories are astounding)

Byron Coley, Mats Gustafsson, and Thurston Moore: NOW JAZZ NOW—100 Free Jazz and Improvisation Albums (1960-1980) (Ecstatic Peace Library)

Jozsef Debreczeni (trans. Paul Olchvary): Cold Crematorium—Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz (St. Martin’s Press)

Alysson McCabe: Why Sinead O’Connor Matters (University of Texas Press)

Flannery O’Connor: The Violent Bear It Away (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)

Orlando Reade: What in Me is Dark—The Revolutionary Afterlife of “Paradise Lost” (Astra House)

John Szwed: So What—The Life of Miles Davis (Simon & Schuster)

Paul Youngquist: A Pure Solar World—Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism (University of Texas Press)