Category: THE CURRENT LIST

THIS STUFF! FEELS GOOD!: 110 Truly Interesting Records We’ve Received So Far in ’23 (not bad!)

Hi! I hope summer is off to as dazzling a musical start for you as it has for me! Not only have the records come marching in, but I am teaching a very enjoyable asynchronous class for Stephens College that’s built around Susan Rogers‘ and Ogi Ogas‘ This Is What It Sounds Like (you yourselves might well love not only the book but its fun associated website), which take a look at why our brains push us toward certain kinds of music and not others. My students are doing excellent work: I will send an essay by one of them up very soon, in which the author will enter the current Lewis Capaldi fuck-him/marry-him/kill-him scrum in enthusiastic form. They have to construct, explain, and interpret their unique listening profiles (see the book) for their final project, and I’m definitely looking forward to that.

Nut Notes:

*Boy howdy, that boygenius album has subtle and often barbed charms. Is it just me, or has the counterattack begun?

*It’s quite a boast, but Buck 65 wins this month’s “Truth in Title Advertising” award by a hair over…

*…JESSIE WARE, who got extra points for punctuation and makes me feel young again–seriously. For the record, I am currently 61, and can someone put her and Roisin Murphy on a US tour so I can go dance deliriously and live deliciously?

*The Dropkick Murphys dropped their second (?) album of (literally) unsung Woody Guthrie songs last month–how’d I miss the first, which came out LAST YEAR (it just came in the mail yesterday)? While I was blasting it on Memorial Day, Nicole remarked, “Does his stuff stay relevant or what?” She’s an Okie, so she might be biased–but she’s also correct.

*Wild Up released their third record interpreting the amazing minimalist (but not exactly) work of Julius Eastman. This one is a bit more in your face, which is partly the particular Eastman compositions they chose to work with, but I bet they’ve spent some time with Eight Songs for a Mad King, where he makes one particular unforgettable vocal appearance.

*Nourished by Time…that is one eccentric but impressive r&b album. I was lazy sampling it and assumed from the cover it was going to be a rap album–I know next to nothing about this act–but it sure as hell is not.

*Little Rock, Arkansas’ Kari Faux has a special title message for you that she backs up on her new record.

*Simply put, you’re gonna want that Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens record at the top of the “old stuff” list. I can’t believe it looking back, but I saw a show on that tour–I should have been too ignant to know–and it.is.theshit.

*You think harp and jazz is a twain that never should meet? Brandee Younger does not agree, nor did Dorothy Ashby, whose very convincing soon-come 5-LP reconsideration by New Land Younger contributes notes for.

*”If you’re doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing!” It is SO nice to hear William S. Burroughs‘ inimitable and often prophetic voice coming from my speakers again, via Dais Records’ sharply assembled compilation of 1960s recordings. (That italicized quote isn’t on the record–look for Uncommon Quotes, if it’s still available–but many other worthy utterances are.)

*MARK LOMAX II never makes a foolish move.

*Brazil in the house…always. Check out #27 and #31 for sure.

*Kate Gentile‘s new free/experimental/jazz record is like walking blindfolded through a wind-blown percussion forest in the middle of the night.

*I have a feeling that The Gennett Suite, in which the artists “elasticize” the sound of the original classic recordings released on that label (think Bix), may meet with some jazz argumentation. I stand with Buselli and Walarab–the originals are strong enough to be stretched. They shine in this new light.

*Many (of the few) readers of the blog probably already know that Lux Interior and Ivy Rorshach of The Cramps were ace 45 collectors. I’m a BIG fan of theirs, but even I was not aware that Righteous Records is more deeply mining their collection, getting past that legendary stuff (“Love Me,” “I Can’t Hardly Stand It,” “The Strangeness in Me,’ “Bop Pills”–I can go on) and finding even more pretty worthy curiosities. Don’t miss the latest at the very end of the list, and it’s just the latest volume.

(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. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  5. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  6. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  7. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  8. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  9. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  10. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  11. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo(YB Music)
  12. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  13. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  14. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  15. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  16. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  17. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  18. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  19. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  20. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  21. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  22. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers (Matador)
  23. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  24. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  25. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  26. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  27. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  28. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  29. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  30. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  31. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  32. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  33. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  34. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  35. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  36. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  37. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  38. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  39. ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
  40. Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
  41. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  42. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  43. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  44. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  45. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  46. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  47. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem)
  48. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  49. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  50. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  51. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  52. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  53. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  54. Mat Muntz: Phantom Islands (Orenda)
  55. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  56. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  57. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten(Why Play Jazz)
  58. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  59. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  60. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  61. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  62. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  63. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  64. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  65. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released EP—coming in March)
  66. Ice Spice: Like…?(10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  67. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  68. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  69. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  70. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  71. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  72. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  73. Yves Tumor:Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  74. Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
  75. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  76. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  77. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  78. Lankum: False Lankum (Rough Trade)
  79. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  80. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  81. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  82. Tri-County Liquidators: “Flies” / “Weep Then Whisper” / “Bitter” (self-released)
  83. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  84. Black Country, New Road: Live at Bush Hall (Ninja Tune)
  85. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  86. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  87. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  88. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  89. Angel Bat Dawid: Requiem for Jazz (International Anthem)
  90. Kara Jackson: Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September Recordings)
  91. Billy Valentine: Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth (Flying Dutchman)

Excavations and Reissues

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

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

Gooba Gooba Gooba Gooba, Goodbye: So Long to Huey Piano Smith, last of the New Orleans Professors, and (at long last) a 2023 Top 10.

The great New Orleans piano “professor” Huey Piano Smith–one the last living architects of rock and roll–passed on February 13. Between that date and his first recorded music in 1952 is almost the same span as the distance between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War II. Smith had not played in public for quite a long time, and his catalog is not too deep, but the best of what he did wax is timeless, spirit-liberating, deliriously anarchic rock and roll. Whenever Nicole and I have thrown house parties, regardless of the nature and tastes of the guests, we’ve always included his classic with the Clowns, “Don’t You Just Know It” (anyone who attended one particular party we threw will remember me swinging between two rooms by the door jamb yelling the P-Funk-prophesying “Gooba gooba gooba” refrain), and few documentaries have begun so sublimely as Les Blank’s Always for Pleasure: ships arriving at New Orleans docks to the sound of “Sea Cruise.” I watch that film every Mardi Gras (often forcing it on whatever class I’m teaching, along with King Cake), and the coming celebration will be no exception. I urge you, if you are not familiar with Smith’s music with the Clowns, a group that included at various times some great musicians you probably know, to stream the above album then hit Discogs (your best bet).

Also–and, looking back over my posts from the last few years, I realize I ALWAYS do this–I finally have a Top 10 list of excellent new albums for 2023, though it took me until mid-February to compile one. This portends nothing; I have no doubt my December list will sprawl. I need to cease whining. Here ’tis–kind of a motley crew, but they pack a punch:

  1. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers (Matador)
  2. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  3. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  4. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  5. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  6. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  7. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  8. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  9. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  10. Mat Muntz: Phantom Islands (Orenda)

I’m a day late for Valentine’s Day, which was sort of the occasion for its release (but also not really, since Dr. Mark Lomax’s compositions are always created with the listener’s spiritual sustenance in mind), but this 16-minute “single” by The Urban Art Ensemble, titled “Ho’oponopono,” is a true gift. The song title translates to the name of a traditional Hawaiian “practice of reconciliation and forgiveness.”

Here’s a peek at the trailer for a related production by Dr. Lomax and friends:

Five I Missed That Woulda Made The 2022 List: New Discoveries from the Year That Was (+ a 2023 Addendum)

I don’t need to tell you that you can’t listen to everything. In my darkest moments, the thought that if I chose to step off the edge of the world I might miss a fantastic record has brightened my corner; my (and maybe your ambition) to hear it all is doomed to thwartation, but it never keeps me from trying. I didn’t know about these five records until late last month, but they certainly would have made my 2022 Top 40. Thank the stars or whatever for other blogging rekkid obsessives!

Santigold: Spirituals (Little Jerk Records) — During her early years she was a favorite of favorite students of mine, and thus she was a favorite of mine. I’d largely forgotten about her until I was tipped off about this moving, grooving, and consistent record that, despite the title, begins with this track:

Moonchild Sanelly: Phases (Transgressive Records) — 2022 was a great year for South African dance music, and I stayed well-informed, so don’t ask me why I just know learned about this act. Sanelisiwe Twisha began her career, according to Wikipedia, in “sex entertainment,” and she ain’t shy, for sure, but when I read (not on Wikipedia, though it’s there, but two days ago from a source I already can’t remember) that she called her music “future ghetto punk,” I was all in. Clicked to sample it and was dancing and bouncing around the house. I am 61 and have vestibular neuritis, so that’s saying something. Would’ve been in my Top 20, methinks. I think I’ll send a copy to the the Missouri state capitol of creeps.

Various Artists: Ghost Riders (Efficient Space) — Talk about “other blogging rekkid obsessives”: I am not alone in being grateful for Chuck Eddy‘s existence. He’ll try anything, which is a compliment, and he recommended this Australian collection of strangely moving, eerie, and funny songs from what one Bandcamp user called “garage nobodies” early enough for me to get it onto my 2022 list. I didn’t get it in the mail until late December, then it sat on a stack waiting for me, then in early January I finally dug in. Aside from those other adjectives I used above, it’s also…naively ethereal and lovably camp. Special prizes are a non-country sequel to “Ode to Billie Joe” and a seemingly ill-advised cover of The Beatles’ “Here, There, & Everywhere,” probably my favorite McCartney-sung tune of theirs, that The Common People (heh heh) not only survive but excel on. Thanks, Chuck!

Mary Halvorson: Belladonna and Amaryllis (Nonesuch Records) — A) For some reason I back away from any artist no matter how much I enjoy their work when they release two records at once (except for Ka). B) I have usually been disappointed by “with strings” albums by artists I’m not totally nuts about (Belladona is such). C) I didn’t have time for this project. I’m just being honest. Plus Mary with strings did not appeal to me, despite the fact I dearly dig her even if it were just for this clip that I always show my women’s college students. BUT the strings album is quite beautiful especially because (not in spite) of plectoral soundwave warping, and I discovered too late that the Halvorson-influenced vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, whose 2022 record More Touch is mesmerizing, plays with and around Halvorson on it. So…fuck me, live and learn!

Mary J. Blige: Good Morning, Gorgeous (300 Entertainment Records) — One of the records my wife and I courted to was What’s The 411? I happen to think her team-up with Method Man, “All I Need”, is ETERNAL. I’ve liked everything I’ve heard by her, and enjoyed her in the film Mudbound. I recently taught the mother of her road band’s guitarist (Ma is three days older than me!), who told me many stories and showed me cool pics. I have no reason not to keep up with Mary, but I don’t. Too bad, because I think I love this record more than others who also do–there’s something about the production (by 17 different individuals? but it coheres!) that fits her like a silk glove. Now, I need to play it for Lady O.

BONUS 2022 ALBUM I ALSO FORGOT BUT I SHOULD HAVE PUT AT THE TOP:

Alaide Costa: O Que Meus Calos Dizem Sobre Mim (Tres Selos) — Truly one of the most gorgeous and richly detailed recordings of last year. It’s bossa nova of the highest order sung by the 87-year-old Costa couched in imaginative settings created by the Brazilian production team of Marcus Preto, Emicida, and Pupillo. Thanks to the intrepid Rod Taylor at Brazil Beat, my connection to the country that seems to create a wider and more consistent variety of interesting music than any I’m aware of. I would love a vinyl copy of this but it’ll be a pretty penny. Yesterday was pay day, so maybe I’ll jump. Check this out:

NOW, if you’ve read this far, last post I was moping about being driven half-insane by listing records month by month, year by year–it feels like a competition, governed by the law of diminishing returns, that inhibits my actual full enjoyment of music. Maybe I was in a bad mood–or maybe that post and this post are the emerging answer (now I need to quit Goodreads). Anyhow, here are two records from this year I inexplicably left off that post! I think I was trying not to lean to jazzward, but fuck it–this is good stuff, Maynards!

Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind) — Saxophonist Benjamin’s previous album was a tribute to John and Alice Coltrane that held up very well. In between that and this, she was involved in a car wreck that literally busted her chops. She’s rehabbed that problem–and how. This is a blazing set of original compositions augmented by some very notable guest appearances (Angela Davis? Sonia Sanchez? Wayne Shorter? Georgia Anne Muldrow? Patrice Rushen (my favorite of those names to see the light), and I’m not sure they’d have appeared if they hadn’t recognized the power of Benjamin’s playing and writing. Strongly recommended to Trane fans, but she’s got a sound all her own–and style. Dig:

Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records) — Moran’s last tribute, to Fats Waller on his last album for Blue Note, didn’t move me, and as a deep-down Wallerite that was deeply disappointing. This tribute (in Moran’s words, “a meditation on”) to the magnificent and hugely important bandleader and 369th Division Harlem Hellfighter and bandleader, the ill-fated James Reese Europe, is something else entirely. It is going to take a minute for me to fully unpack this varied, exciting, educational, and RICH record, but my sense is it will be in many Jazz Top 10s in December. It mixes takes on Reese’s tunes (and others they played), Moran’s compositions, and even a perfect contribution by none other than Pauline Oliveros, and makes a unified statement about someone most of us don’t know or at least know little about. Here’s a good original starting place: Europe’s “Memphis Blues.”

What To Do?

For several years this has been the spot where I have created gradually expanding lists of my favorite new albums and archival releases that turned my crank for each calendar year. It’s been quite fun most of the time, and recently got me on a few lists to receive review copies, many of which are actually pretty damn good. Thing is, doing so seems to encourage me to have to keep up with everything I hear about that sounds cool. That motivation, plus my natural curiosity and fear that I might miss something, inflates this seemingly fun project into a major pain in the ass too frequently and causes something that I really don’t think is healthy: I spend so much time cramming stuff in my earhole that I spend far less time listening to music I have loved for years. I’m freshly into my sixties, and I am not sure I want to keep doing it. Face it: when you keep hearing “Watching the Wheels” in your head and feeling upbraided by poor ol’ doomed John, you might wanna shift down. Also, so many of my talented, sharp-eared and big-hearted friends–many via the kind graces of Substack–are already doing the work; when you take their work together and add in the indefatigable Tom Hull–and these people do a lot of writing–I have to question what need have you/they of me. Seriously. I ain’t fishin’ for compliments. I mean, I know all that this has been and what it hasn’t.

So…I have some ideas. Obviously, if I only wrote about a few records I liked each month–wrote about them, much more fun than listing–regardless of vintage, I’d solve two problems: 1) I could watch the wheels more frequently, and 2) I’d have time and be motivated to listen to time-tested favorites. I could supplement that new practice by scribbling a bit about how music has manifested itself in my private and professional life, which it always does in interesting ways every month. I could write about ONE new record and ONE old one that really knocked me for a loop–and, again, give the reader a peek into music’s impacts on my domains (I think I actually have more than two, if I get out of the private – professional split and subdivide them. I could just look back into the history of this blog–some readers may not have noticed I’ve done several different things with it over the years–and pick up where I left off with something that was working when real life knocked me off the tracks for a bit.

I’ll figure it out. In the meantime, jeez, at least 10 new records have been rattling my bones by the end of January since I’ve been posting lists. I really can’t say that right now, but I can say this:

Tyler Keith’s seldom if ever disappointed me, going back to the earliest days of his I know, when he co-led The Neckbones, a Southern-fried Voidoids in more than a few ways. Keith wrestles with sin and salvation as regularly but more explicitly than Jerry Lee, he’s a reminder to listeners that much of the best rock and roll–and that’s what Hell to Pay is, even if a violin sneaks in–has come from the working class, and he’s got a way of conjuring desperation that always feels like the United States to me. His first new record in awhile, Hell to Pay, on Black and Wyatt Records, shows his commitment to those values has waned not a whit, and that his musical attack coheres with his excellent dark ‘n’ pulpy ‘n’ sweaty Southern noir novel The Mark of Cain, published last year. I highly recommend both vinyl and book, the latter his first.

Japanese pianist and bandleader extraordinaire Fujii released her 100th album as a leader or co-leader in 27 years (Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams–check it out), sending me on a backwards binge through her catalog that’s yet to hit an impasse. Fujii can do it all scintillatingly: lead big bands and ensembles, duet with all manner of instruments (with other pianists, with violin, and here, with electric guitarist Yoshihide), play like petals falling and landing or a rockslide rattling down to the road. She’s been a “Where have I been?” artist for this listener, and I suspect I’ll spend the year continuing to get caught up. On Ayler Records, and that should tell you something about her intensity.

Am I the only one who mourns the death of the hard-copy music guide? (It sure put the damper on my bathroom reading.) Moping the other day, I was thumbing through an old Penguin Guide to Jazz–I always loved them because they covered European jazz very well and very reliably–and came upon this 1974 **** record I’d overlooked. I then hit Discogs, found a decently-priced copy, and there weren’t many, then waited for Mr.Postman. I’ve played it 4-5 times since then (a few months ago); the band was a cooperative that notably included Sun Ra vet Ahmed Abdullah on trumpet and a young William Parker on bass. At many points on the record they sound like the Arkestra as if led by Ayler: almost magically structured, but intense–intensely martial. I can’t get enough of it; it’s out of print, so if you want to sample it…well, you knows what to do (RIP Barrett Strong). On No Business Records, and good luck. And here’s your luck–whaddya know?

YES THANK YOU: The Best of a Bounty of Absorbing, Motorvating, Challenging, Exciting Albums Gifted Us By 2022

190 albums of new music I can sit down with and which will at the very least engage and stimulate me enough to play them again. 45 albums of music made in the past that’s been reissued or freshly excavated that make me realize I’m never going to get to the point where I don’t have to dive into the past anymore and simply live in the musical moment. Does it all make me feel something akin to Jerry Lee Lewis’ music does? No–none of it does. It makes me feel new and different things, though; Live at the Star Club was a high bar for all popular performers when it came out, has been in the interim, and will continue to be, I can hear it first second to last in my head without having to put it on, and it still makes my skin prickle. BUT I’m all about feeling new feelings (and thinking new thoughts) (and experiencing new physical reactions) today’s music (be it acoustic or electric or organic) can conjure before I die. It’s been a salve as well as a shot in the arm and ass for me all year, and simply surveying the diversity of the list stuns me…and gives me hope. That last is important, because I seriously contemplate (once in a while) the possibility, voiced by folks far more educated than I am, that we’re a virus on this globe. We aren’t, or at least we don’t have to be, and we choose to be, at least some of us will create sounds that honor us, and help us go down feeling fully alive. Merry fucking Christmas, eh? YES. Merry fucking Christmas!

Relatively Merry Musings:

  1. It’s absurd to try and put 190 (or even 45) records in precise modern music lovers’ order. After about #30, the procession gets a little I-Chingish; even so, days after I publish these, I find myself thinking, “Why’d I put that at #112?” I’m not gonna drive myself crazy, though. I feel pretty strongly about my Top 30, though when the wonderful and exacting Facebook group Expert Witness and the comfortably less exacting Facebook group Village Voice Pazz & Jop Rip-Off Poll comes a-calling for my final Top 10, mine might not be THIS Top 10. WON’T be THIS Top 10. Might even have something in it not even among these 235 slabs.
  2. Thank you to one of my phenomenal Stephens College students (also a single mom) (also a veteran of our Middle Eastern wars) for writing an amazing essay on Mary Gauthier’s Rifles and Rosary Beads, which I forced on her (“folk music is not my jam”) and she ended up admiring, and giving a great presentation and handing in a nice research paper on previous-unknown-to-me Colombian-Canadian Jessie Reyez. Reyez has gotten her through some rough nights and I understand why.
  3. I am a Little Simz self-starter. Though, pre-Grey Area, I merely appreciate her work, from that point on I’ve gone starry-eared, and her brand-spanking-new one, delicately Saulted, is no exception. She sounds great, she writes tough, and she inspires. I may come down to Earth in the next month, but I can’t worry about that now.
  4. I have a California friend named Chris who often feeds me fuel I somehow miss, and he recently passed along a powerful, even rowdy record from Kinshasa, Lady Aicha and Pisko Crane’s N’Djila Wa Mudujimu, that moved me to immediately buy a vinyl copy. I could picture myself playing it over and over–and milady also seriously digs music from many African countries. I owe ya, Chris. THAT one may move UP.
  5. Petrol Girls’ new album lives up to the band name. On fire, and fire burns.
  6. Los Angeles’ Juke Bounce Werk label, which I just learned about a couple weeks ago, submitted an inexpensive 52-song comp of consistently propulsive–I dare say bangin’–dance music on Bandcamp. I thought, “Wow! I need to tell people about this!” Then I noticed it was the 10TH VOLUME of such compilations. Where’s the longform piece on these folks?
  7. Above, I mentioned the Facebook group Village Voice Pazz & Jop Rip-Off Poll, which ably–I mean, ably–replaces the Voice’s influential but very gone original poll. Honestly, I like the Facebook version better: it’s more personal, interactive, flexible, surprising, funny–and group members’ early Top 10 submissions remind even the most avid music consumer that YOU CAN’T LISTEN TO EVERYTHING. Together, though, we can. I knew nothing about Mama’s Broke, took a flyer on Mama’s Broke’s Narrow Line on name and title alone from another user’s list…and heard echoes of Dock Boggs and The Carter Family modernized expertly for Struggle 2022. If I’d read about it, I’d have thought, “Not my jam”; it is my jam and peanut butter, too. Generic jars of each, because they’re more affordable.
  8. I came late to both Tyler Childers’ and Pillbox Patti’s albums. Childers had won my heart by writing a song about jacking off on the road, but I’d lost touch with him–and was a bit cold-cocked by his sober-Gram-Parsons gospel album. I knew nothing about Pillbox Patti, but I’d just finished Patrick Haddon Keefe’s Sackler-skewing Empire of Pain, which set me up to be knocked out by her tales of Parsonian heart-pain and substance reliance. Talk about a country paradigm.
  9. Anyone out there annually purchase Blues Images‘ calendar-and-CD combo that keeps the world of country blues alive? Well, hate to tell ya, this one’s the last one–they can’t afford to keep knocking them out. Follow that preceding link to help John Tefteller and crew go out in much-deserved fine and dignified style. PLUS? The accompanying CD, which includes the most amazing job of restoration of ’20s records I’ve heard so far, will stun you.
  10. Can you resist cumbia? I cannot. The two cumbia compilations, one from Mexico, the other from Peru, both from the esteemed Analog Africa label, that I just added to my archival dig list, aren’t just fun–they add twists, even experimentation, to that addictive rhythm.
  11. (Bonus Track I) Dickie Landry. No one like him.
  12. (Bonus Track II) D. Boon died UNJUSTLY–damn you, cosmos–on December 22, 1985. Too cool to be forgotten, corndog.

RELEASES OF NEWLY-MADE MUSIC

(New additions to the list are bolded.)

  1. Rosalia: MOTOMAMI (Columbia)
  2. Willie Nelson: A Beautiful Time (Sony)
  3. Beyoncé: Renaissance (Parkwood Entertainment)
  4. Tanya Tagaq: Tongues (Six Shooter) 
  5. Ricky Ford: The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford—Paul’s Scene (Whaling City Sounds)
  6. Stro Elliot & James Brown: Black & Loud—James Brown Reimagined (Polydor)
  7. 75 Dollar Bill: Social Music at Troost, Volume 3–Other People’s Music (Black Editions Group)
  8. Tommy Womack: I Thought I Was Fine (Schoolkids Records)
  9. Jeff Parker ETA IVTet: Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy(Eremite)
  10. Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets (TUM)
  11. Wet Leg: Wet Leg (Domino)
  12. Harry Styles: Harry’s House (Columbia)
  13. Sun Ra Arkestra (featuring Marshall Allen): Living Sky (Strut / Omni Sound)
  14. Horace Andy: Midnight Rocker (On-U Sound)
  15. Amanda Shires: Take It Like a Man (ATO)
  16. Little Simz: NO THANK YOU (Forever Living Originals)
  17. Mary Gauthier: Dark Enough to See the Stars (Thirty Tigers)
  18. Patricia Brennan: More Touch (Pyroclastic)
  19. black midi: Hellfire (Rough Trade)
  20. Heroes Are Gang Leaders: LeAutoRoiGraphy (577 Records)
  21. SAULT: Untitled (God)(self-released)
  22. Lady Aicha & Pisko Crane’s Original Fulu Miziki of Kinshasa: N’Djili Wa Mudujimu (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  23. Sudan Archives: Natural Brown Prom Queen (Stones Throw)
  24. Gogol Bordello: Solidaritine (Das Grand Kapital)
  25. Bitchin’ Bajas: Bajascillators (Drag City)
  26. Ashley McBryde: Presents…Lindeville (Warner Nashville)
  27. Steve Lacy: Gemini Rights (RCA)
  28. Suzi Analogue: Infinite Zonez (Never Normal)
  29. Superchunk: Wild Loneliness (Merge)
  30. Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn: Pigments(Merge)
  31. Various Artists: Sowal Diabi—From Kabul to Bamako (Accords Croises)
  32. Gonora Sounds: Hard Times Never Kill (Phantom Limb)
  33. Ches Smith: Interpret It Well (Pyroclastic)
  34. Anitta: Versions of Me (Deluxe) (Warner)
  35. Ka: Languish Arts (Iron Works)
  36. Lady Wray: Piece of Me (Big Crown)
  37. Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
  38. SAULT: Today & Tomorrow(self-released)
  39. The Mountain Goats: Bleed Out (Merge)
  40. ensemble 0: Music Nuvulosa (Sub Rosa)
  41. The Ogun Meji Duo: Freedom Suite (self-released)
  42. Phelimuncasi: Ama Gogela (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  43. 700 Bliss: Nothing to Declare (Hyperdub)
  44. Bruno Berle: No Reino Dos Afetos(Far Out)
  45. The Chats: Get Fucked (Cooking Vinyl)
  46. Jinx Lennon: Pet Rent (Septic Tiger)
  47. Freakons: Freakons (Fluff & Gravy)
  48. Jeong Lim Yang: Zodiac Suite—Reassured(Fresh Sound)
  49. WeFreeStrings: Love in the Form of Sacred Outrage (ESP-Disk)
  50. Etran de L’Air: Agadez (Sahel Sounds)
  51. Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These (self-released)
  52. Horsegirl: “Billy” / “History Lesson, Part II” (Matador)
  53. Mark Lomax Trio: Plays Mingus (CFG Multimedia)
  54. Makaya McCraven: In These Times (International Anthem)
  55. Moor Mother: Jazz Codes (Anti-)
  56. Buck 65: King of Drums (4320739 Records DK)
  57. JID: The Forever Story (Dreamville/Interscope)
  58. Mdou Moctar: Niger EP Volume 1 (Matador)
  59. ifsonever: ifsonever (Jazz & Milk)
  60. Various Artists: Lespri Ka—New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe (Time Capsule Sounds) 
  61. Satoko Fujii: One Hundred Dreams (Libra)
  62. Mark Lomax II: Prismatic Refractions, Volume I (self-released)
  63. Special Interest: Endure (Rough Trade)
  64. Petrol Girls: Baby (Hassle)
  65. James Brandon Lewis: MSM Molecular Systematic Music—Live (Intakt)
  66. Kari Faux: Lowkey Superstar(Don Giovanni)
  67. Adeem the Artist: White Trash Revelry(self-released)
  68. Miranda Lambert: Palomino (Vanner)
  69. Backxwash: HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING(Ugly Hag / self-released)
  70. Daniel Villareal: Panama ’77 (International Anthem)
  71. Kehlani: blue water road (TSNMI/Atlantic)
  72. Iara Renno: Oriki (self-released)
  73. Dr. John: Things Happen That Way (Rounder)
  74. Horace Andy: Midnight Scorchers (On-U Sound)
  75. Ka: Woeful Studies (Iron Works)
  76. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 2—Joy Boy (New Amsterdam)
  77. Various Artists: Juke Bounce Werk Presents JBDUBZ Volume X (Juke Bounce Werk)
  78. Lucrecia Dalt: Ay!(RVNG International)
  79. GloRilla: Anyways, Life’s Great (CMG/Interscope)
  80. Mama’s Broke: Narrow Line (Free Dirt)
  81. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: Lift Every Voice (Division 81 Records)
  82. Tyshawn Sorey: The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism (Pi)
  83. Amber Mark:Three Dimensions Deep (PMR / Interscope) 
  84. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #5—Elemental; Conversations #6 and 7
  85. Morgan Wade: Reckless (Deluxe) (Ladylike) 
  86. Zoh Amba: O, Sun (Tzadik)
  87. Jussi Reijonen: Three Seconds I Kolme Toista (Challenge Records International)
  88. Ran Blake: Driftwoods (Tompkins Square)
  89. Whit Dickey: Root Perspectives (Tao Forms)
  90. Billy Woods: Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studios)
  91. Ishmael Reed: The Hands of Grace(Reading Group)
  92. Dan Ex Machina: All is Ours, Nothing is Theirs (self-released)
  93. Anna von Hausswoolff: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival (Southern Lord) 
  94. Felipe Salles: Tiyo’s Songs of Life (Tapestry)
  95. Steve Lehman: Xaybu—The Unseen(Pi Recordings)
  96. Tom Zé: Lingua Brasiliera (Selo Sesc)
  97. Tyler Childers: Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven (Hickman Holler)
  98. Joyce Moreno: Brasilieras Cancoes(Biscoito Fino)
  99. M.I.A.: Mata(Island)
  100. Pillbox Patti: Florida (Monument)
  101. Elaine Elias: Quietude(Candid)
  102. Nancy Mounir: Nozhet El Nofous (Terrorbird)
  103. Rick Rosato: Homage (self-released)
  104. The Beths: Expert in a Dying Field (Carpark)
  105. Alvvays: Blue Rev(Polyvinyl / Transgressive)
  106. Ari Lennox: age/sex/location (Dreamville/Interscope)
  107. Oumou Sangare: Timbuktu (World Circuit Limited)
  108. Various Artists: Hidden Waters—Strange and Sublime Sounds from Rio de Janiero (Sounds and Colours)
  109. SeaJun Kwon: Micro Nap (Endectomorph Music)
  110. Gilla Band: Most Normal(Rough Trade)
  111. Dry Cleaning: Stumpwork(4AD)
  112. Jessie Reyez: Yessie (FMLY/Island)
  113. Brian Eno: FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE(Verve / UMC)
  114. Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Universal)
  115. Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity:Elastic Wave (ECM)
  116. Miguel Zeñon: Musica de las Americas (Miel Music)
  117. Priscilla Block: Welcome to the Block Party (InDent)
  118. The Comet is Coming: Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam(Impulse)
  119. Serengeti: Kaleidoscope III (Audiocon)
  120. Snotty Nose Rez Kids: I’m Good, HBU? (Distorted Muse)
  121. Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (pgLang/Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope)
  122. Charm Taylor: She Is The Future (Sinking City)
  123. OGJB: Ode to O (TUM) (Note: Band name – O = Oliver Lake, G = Graham Haynes, J = Joe Fonda, B = Barry Altschul / Title – O = Ornette) 
  124. Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, and Enrico Rava: Two Blues for Cecil (TUM) 
  125. Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio: The Bottom (Cuneiform) 
  126. Tyler Mitchell: Dancing Shadows (featuring Marshall Allen) (Mahakala Music)
  127. Crow Billiken (aka R.A.P. Ferreira): If I don’t have red I use blue (self-released)
  128. Dopolarians: Blues for Alvin Fielder—Live at Crosstown Arts, Memphis(Mahakala Music)
  129. The Paranoid Style: For Executive Meeting(Bar/None)
  130. Carl Stone: Wat Dong Moon Lek (Unseen Worlds)
  131. Joy Guidry:Radical Acceptance (Whited Sepulchre)
  132. Tasche de la Rocha: Tasche de la Rocha & The Psychedelic Roses (Sinking City)
  133. Meridian Brothers and El Grupo & Renacimiento (Ansonia)
  134. Avram Fefer Quartet: Juba Lee(Clean Feed)
  135. Jeffrey Lewis: When That Really Old Cat Dies(self-released)
  136. Mitski: Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
  137. Jockstrap: Jockstrap (Rough Trade)
  138. Earthgang: Ghetto Gods (Dreamville/Interscope)
  139. Breath of Air: Breath of Air (Burning Ambulance Music)
  140. Immanuel Wilkins: The 7th Hand (Blue Note) 
  141. David Murray Brave New World Trio: Seriana Promethea (Intakt)
  142. Fulu Miziki: Ngbaka (EP)
  143. David Virelles: Nuna (Pi / El Tivoli)
  144. Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni: The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson) 
  145. Leikeli47: Shape Up (Hardcover/RCA)
  146. Witchcraft Books: Volume 1—The Sundisk (Iapetus Records)
  147. Hurray for The Riff Raff: Life on Earth (Nonesuch)
  148. Qasim Naqvi/Wadada Leo Smith/Andrew Cyrille: Two Centuries (Red Hook)
  149. Rokia Koné and Jacknife Lee: Bamanan (3DFamily)
  150. Tomas Fujiwara: Triple Double (Firehouse 12)
  151. DJ Black Low: Uwami (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  152. Ibibio Sound Machine:Electricity (Merge)
  153. Zoh Amba: O Life, O Light, Volume 1(577 Records)
  154. Burton/McPherson Trio: The Summit Rock Session at Seneca Village (Giant Step Arts)
  155. Kahil El’Zabar Quartet: A Time for Healing (Spirit Muse)
  156. Pastor Champion: I Just Want to Be a Good Man (Luaka Bop)
  157. Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Blue Note)
  158. Pusha T: It’s Almost Dry (G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam)
  159. Elza Soares: Elza Ao Vivo No Municipal (Deck)
  160. Nilufer Yanya: Painless (ATO)
  161. Open Mike Eagle: a tape called component system with the auto reverse (Auto Reverse)
  162. Chad Fowler/Ivo Perelman/Zoh Amba/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Steve Hirsch: Alien Skin(Mahakala Music)
  163. Tommy McLain: I Ran Down Every Dream (Yep Roc)
  164. Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda: Thread of Light (Fundacja Słuchaj)
  165. Charli XCX: Crash (Atlantic)
  166. Pete Malinverni: On the Town—Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein (Planet Arts) 
  167. Marxist Love Disco Ensemble: MLDE(Mr. Bongo)
  168. Samara Joy: Linger Awhile (Verve)
  169. Dedicated Men of Zion: The Devil Don’t Like It (Bible & Tire)
  170. Tyshawn Sorey Trio: Mesmerism (Pi Recordings)
  171. Dezron Douglas: Atalaya(International Anthem)
  172. Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer (DeeWee)
  173. Tomeka Reid & Joe McPhee: Let Our Rejoicing Rise (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  174. Earl Sweatshirt: Sick! (Tan Cressida / Warner) 
  175. Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD)
  176. Jeff Arnal and Curt Cloninger: Drum Major Instinct (Mahakala Music)
  177. R.A.P. Ferreira: 5 to the Eyes with Stars (self-released)
  178. Natsuki Tamura: Summer Tree (Libra)
  179. Ghais Guevara: There Will Be No Super-Slave (self-released)
  180. Manel Fortia: Despertar (Segell Microscopi/Altafonte)
  181. Ray Wylie Hubbard: Co-Starring Too (Big Machine)
  182. Various Artists: if you fart make it sound good (WA Records)
  183. Marta Sanchez: SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) (Whirlwind)
  184. Sonnyjim & The Purist: White Girl Wasted (Duape)
  185. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #8—Ablaze (Hammer Recordings)
  186. Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home (Anti-)
  187. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom: Reset (Domino)
  188. Blue Reality Quartet: Ella’s Island (Mahakala Music)
  189. Cost of Living: Apollo Brown & Philmore Green (Mellow Music Group)
  190. Taylor Swift: Midnights(non-expanded) (Republic)

ARCHIVAL DIGS

  1. Los Golden Boys: Cumbia de Juventud (Mississippi Records)
  2. Albert Ayler: Revelations—The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (Elemental)
  3. Cecil Taylor:The Complete Legendary Live Return Concert at the Town Hall (Oblivion)
  4. Tommy Womack: 30 Years Shot to Hell! An Anthology (Schoolkids Records)
  5. Various Artists: Lovers Rock—The Soulful Sound of Romantic Reggae (Trojan)
  6. Staples Jr. Singers: When Do We Get Paid (Luaka Bop)
  7. Dickie Landry: Solos (Unseen Worlds)
  8. Albert Ayler: La Cave Live 1966 (Ezz-Thetics) 
  9. Various Artists: Cumbia Sabrosa—Tropical Sound System Bangers From The Discos Fuentes Vaults 1961-1981 (Rocafort Records)
  10. Biluka y Los Canibales: Leaf-Playing in Quito (1960-1965) (Honest Jon’s)
  11. Various Artists: OZ DAYS LIVE ’72 – ’73 Kichijoji–The 50th Anniversary Collection (featuring Les Rallizes Dénudés)  (Temporal Drift)
  12. Les Raillizes Denudes: Live ’77 (Temporal Drift)
  13. Ernest Hood: Back to the Woodlands (Freedom to Spend)
  14. Various Artists: A Chat About the Beauty of the Moon at Night–Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  15. The Rolling Stones: Live at the El Mocambo (Interscope)
  16. Various Artists: Blues Images—1920s Blues Classics, Volume 20 (Blues Images)
  17. Son House: Forever on My Mind (Easy Eye Sound)
  18. Lavender Country: Blackberry Rose and Other Songs & Sorrows (Don Giovanni)
  19. Mal Waldron: Searching in Grenoble—The 1978 Solo Piano Concert (Tompkins Square)
  20. Horace Tapscott Quintet: The Quintet (Mr. Bongo)
  21. Horace Tapscott Quintet: Legacies for Our Grandchildren (Dark Tree)
  22. Dickie Landry & Lawrence Weiner: Having Been Built on Sand(Unseen Worlds)
  23. Various Artists: The D-Vine Spirituals—Sacred Soul (Bible & Tire)
  24. Various Artists: Saturno 2000—La Rebajada De Los Sonideros 1962-1983 (Analog Africa)
  25. Various Artists: Peru Selvatico—Sonic Expedition into the Peruvian Amazon 1972-1986 (Analog Africa)
  26. Kabaka International Guitar Band: Kabaka International Guitar Band (Palenque Records)
  27. The Pyramids: AOMAWA—The 1970s Recordings (Strut)
  28. Hermeto Pascoal: Hermeto (Far Out Recordings)
  29. Sun Ra: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Strut)
  30. Asha Puthi: The Essential Asha Puthi (Mr. Bongo)
  31. Malik’s Emerging Force Art Trio: Time and Condition (moved-by-sound)
  32. Volta Jazz: Air Volta (Numero)
  33. Blondie: Against the Odds—1974-1982 (3-CD Rarities Version) (UMe / Numero Group)
  34. Joyce Moreno: Natureza (Far Out Recordings)
  35. Various Artists: From Lion Mountain—Traditional Music of Yeha, Ethiopia (Dust-to-Digital)
  36. Charles Stepney: Step-on-Step(International Anthem)
  37. Ronnie Boykins: The Will Come is Now (ESP-Disk)
  38. John Ondolo: Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo (Mississippi Records)
  39. Luciano Luciani y sus Mulatos: Mulata, vamos a la Salsa (Vampisoul)
  40. Cecil Taylor: Respiration (Fundacja Stuchaj)
  41. Norma Tanega: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964-1971 (Anthology)
  42. Irma Thomas: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 (Good Time)
  43. Afrika Negra: Antologia, Volume 1 (Bongo Joe)
  44. Various Artists: Summer of Soul (Legacy)
  45. The Heartbreakers: LAMF—The ’77 Found Mixes (Jungle)

This Art Ain’t Languishin’: Best New Album Sounds and Dug-Up Tracks, January 1 – September 29

Odd-servations:

  1. Two of my pop music / freshman composition classes independently chose Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights for their first “Album Socratic,” and it a lil’ bit blew my mind. I am (or at least HAVE BEEN) TikTok-resistant, but I learned Steve’s swimming powerfully in that ocean. Even more fruitfully, the seminar made Lacy at least ten total new raving fans who previously hadn’t heard of him. That’s education! (P. S. The 8:00 am Socratic was regarding Lacy’s new one paired with Lucas Combs’ current release, which might seems like a spinach ice cream cone, but the contrast revealed much about artist personae, music marketing, and audience engagement.)
  2. I don’t know what 71-year-old reggae legend Horace Andy’s feeding himself, but I want some of it. I quite frankly am immune to most current rhythm music out of Jamaica, but Andy’s two 2022 records are miraculous medicine. Recommendation: turn up both volume and bass. Reassurance: Andy’s singing just fine.
  3. I barely squeezed Brownsville rapper Ka’s first of two brand-new releases under my deadline. It’s got an education thread that I had to pull on, and it held firm. Ka’s music reminds me of Sahel desert blues–it’s very marginally differentiated but irresistible. I’m listening to the second, and it is no slouch. It might make the list before I hit “Publish.”
  4. Just gotta say that I was very late to the virtues of Chicago’s electronic wonders The Bitchin’ Bajas, and even then figured the album I landed on (their previous one, a Sun Ra cover version flight) might be the only one I’d need. I was wrong. Actually, their new one is even more hypnotic and pleasing than their Sun One experiment.
  5. On the other hand, the brave and few who follow this blog may begin to think I have a vested interest in pushing ANYTHING Columbus, Ohio’s Mark Lomax II creates. Well, ok: first, he’s a master musician with a bursting heart, endless ideas, and a pretty flawless ear for supporting musicians; second, I simply haven’t heard an album of his that didn’t bear replaying and replaying (IF you’re a fan of jazz); third, when I learned he decided to cover the permanently instrumentally sidelined Sonny Rollins’ Freedom Suite, I honestly wondered if I needed to check it out: the original is a masterwork, and David S. Ware’s previous cover version was, um, titanic. Of course, I did check Dr. Lomax’s out, and reached the conclusion that it’s just not smart to doubt his commitment and feeling. It’s the best of the three-count ’em-three records he’s put out this year, and it befuddles me that what remains of the jazz press doesn’t seem to be that curious about them. Their loss.
  6. Last year, I stayed very hot and bothered listen after listen about Swedish bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten’s free-but-coherent-and-textured concept album Exit (Knarr). This year’s candidate for free-improv album that might Venus-flytrap the unconvinced is the not-quite-released album Micro Nap, by the Korean-born bassist SeaJun Kwon. It’s alternately–but not jarringly–meditative and raucous, as well as subtly tuneful in perfect tandem with thunderous and exciting cacophony.
  7. The Mr. Bongo label is having a great year. Did I say that last time?
  8. In a somewhat related development, the late, great, and extremely underappreciated Horace Tapscott’s rediscovery, the fuse of which was lit a few years back by Dark Tree Records and which has been helped along this year by–there they are again–Mr. Bongo, continues unabated. If you’ve never heard of Mr. Tapscott, in terms of composing, arranging, and playing jazz, and (even more important) nurturing a musical community across almost a half-century in South Central Los Angeles, he was a 20th century giant who unfortunately wasn’t all that motivated to push his own recordings out there. Perhaps the most famous record he’s been associated with, and which isn’t exactly canonized (though it should be) is Sonny Criss’ Sonny’s Dream: Birth of the New Cool, which he wrote and arranged but didn’t play on. Well, he cut some dandy slabs of impressive variety of format that got limited release and disappeared, but are now re-emerging. Dig in, jazzers.
  9. Unless the earth explodes before November, I’ll be able to see one of my favorite MCs, R.A.P. Ferreira in person, and maybe do Q & A with him. I was not expecting him to release a solo country blues album this month. It’s far from not-bad, from the selections to the faux-Crumb cover art.
  10. Need a dose of that very entertaining but Dixieland-stale stuff called rock and roll? The Mountain Goats have something for you.
  11. Bonus track: weird, ongoing wrestling match between 75 Dollar Bill and Rosalia. Somehow, creaky old Shotgun Guillermo got Beyoncé in a full-Nelson and moved up to #3.
  12. Hidden track: #82 is dedicated AND recommended to my pal Kevin Bozelka!

Note: New additions to the list are in bold.

RELEASES OF NEWLY-MADE MUSIC

  1. 75 Dollar Bill: Social Music at Troost, Volume 3–Other People’s Music (Black Editions Group)
  2. Rosalia: MOTOMAMI (Columbia)
  3. Willie Nelson: A Beautiful Time (Sony)
  4. Beyoncé: Renaissance (Parkwood Entertainment)
  5. Tanya Tagaq: Tongues (Six Shooter) 
  6. Ricky Ford: The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford—Paul’s Scene (Whaling City Sounds)
  7. Stro Elliot & James Brown: Black & Loud—James Brown Reimagined (Polydor)
  8. Tommy Womack: I Thought I Was Fine (Schoolkids Records)
  9. Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets (TUM)
  10. Superchunk: Wild Loneliness (Merge)
  11. Gonora Sounds: Hard Times Never Kill (Phantom Limb)
  12. Wet Leg: Wet Leg (Domino)
  13. Anitta: Versions of Me (Deluxe) (Warner)
  14. Ka: Languish Arts (Iron Works)
  15. The Mountain Goats: Bleed Out (Merge)
  16. Sudan Archives: Natural Brown Prom Queen (Stones Throw)
  17. Lady Wray: Piece of Me (Big Crown)
  18. Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
  19. Horace Andy: Midnight Rocker (On-U Sound)
  20. black midi: Hellfire (Rough Trade)
  21. Heroes Are Gang Leaders: LeAutoRoiGraphy (577 Records)
  22. ensemble 0: Music Nuvulosa (Sub Rosa)
  23. Ches Smith: Interpret It Well (Pyroclastic)
  24. The Ogun Meji Duo: Freedom Suite (self-released)
  25. Phelimuncasi: Ama Gogela (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  26. 700 Bliss: Nothing to Declare (Hyperdub)
  27. The Chats: Get Fucked (Cooking Vinyl)
  28. Dan Ex Machina: All is Ours, Nothing is Theirs (self-released)
  29. Jinx Lennon: Pet Rent (Septic Tiger)
  30. Steve Lacy: Gemini Rights (RCA)
  31. Freakons: Freakons (Fluff & Gravy)
  32. Mary Gauthier: Dark Enough to See the Stars (Thirty Tigers)
  33. Etran de L’Air: Agadez (Sahel Sounds)
  34. Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These (self-released)
  35. Bitchin’ Bajas: Bajascillators (Drag City)
  36. Miranda Lambert: Palomino (Vanner)
  37. Horsegirl: “Billy” / “History Lesson, Part II” (Matador)
  38. Mark Lomax Trio: Plays Mingus (CFG Multimedia)
  39. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #5—Elemental; Conversations #6 and 7
  40. Moor Mother: Jazz Codes (Anti-)
  41. Mdou Moctar: Niger EP Volume 1 (Matador)
  42. Various Artists: Lespri Ka—New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe (Time Capsule Sounds) 
  43. Billy Woods: Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studios)
  44. Mark Lomax II: Prismatic Refractions, Volume I (self-released)
  45. James Brandon Lewis: MSM Molecular Systematic Music—Live (Intakt)
  46. Daniel Villareal: Panama ’77 (International Anthem)
  47. Kehlani: blue water road (TSNMI/Atlantic)
  48. Horace Andy: Midnight Scorchers (On-U Sound)
  49. Ka: Woeful Studies (Iron Works)
  50. Amber Mark:Three Dimensions Deep (PMR / Interscope) 
  51. Morgan Wade: Reckless (Deluxe) (Ladylike) 
  52. Zoh Amba: O, Sun (Tzadik)
  53. Whit Dickey: Root Perspectives (Tao Forms)
  54. Anna von Hausswoolff: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival (Southern Lord) 
  55. Felipe Salles: Tiyo’s Songs of Life (Tapestry)
  56. Steve Lehman: Xaybu—The Unseen (Pi Recordings)
  57. Tom Zé: Lingua Brasiliera (Selo Sesc)
  58. Nancy Mounir: Nozhet El Nofous (Terrorbird)
  59. Rick Rosato: Homage (self-released)
  60. The Beths: Expert in a Dying Field (Carpark)
  61. Oumou Sangare: Timbuktu (World Circuit Limited)
  62. Various Artists: Hidden Waters—Strange and Sublime Sounds from Rio de Janiero (Sounds and Colours)
  63. SeaJun Kwon: Micro Nap (Endectomorph Music)
  64. Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Universal)
  65. Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity:Elastic Wave (ECM)
  66. Miguel Zeñon: Musica de las Americas (Miel Music)
  67. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: Lift Every Voice (Division 81 Records)
  68. Tyshawn Sorey: The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism (Pi)
  69. Priscilla Block: Welcome to the Block Party (InDent)
  70. Serengeti: Kaleidoscope III (Audiocon)
  71. Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers(pgLang/Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope)
  72. Makaya McCraven: In These Times (International Anthem)
  73. Charm Taylor: She Is The Future (Sinking City)
  74. OGJB: Ode to O (TUM) (Note: Band name – O = Oliver Lake, G = Graham Haynes, J = Joe Fonda, B = Barry Altschul / Title – O = Ornette) 
  75. Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, and Enrico Rava: Two Blues for Cecil (TUM) 
  76. Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio: The Bottom(Cuneiform) 
  77. Tyler Mitchell: Dancing Shadows (featuring Marshall Allen) (Mahakala Music)
  78. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 2—Joy Boy (New Amsterdam)
  79. Crow Billiken (aka R.A.P. Ferreira): If I don’t have red I use blue (self-released)
  80. The Paranoid Style: For Executive Meeting (Bar/None)
  81. Carl Stone: Wat Dong Moon Lek (Unseen Worlds)
  82. Joy Guidry:Radical Acceptance (Whited Sepulchre)
  83. Meridian Brothers and El Grupo & Renacimiento (Ansonia)
  84. Marxist Love Disco Ensemble: MLDE (Mr. Bongo)
  85. Mitski: Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
  86. Jockstrap: Jockstrap (Rough Trade)
  87. Breath of Air: Breath of Air (Burning Ambulance Music)
  88. Immanuel Wilkins: The 7th Hand (Blue Note) 
  89. David Murray Brave New World Trio: Seriana Promethea (Intakt)
  90. Fulu Miziki: Ngbaka (EP)
  91. David Virelles: Nuna (Pi / El Tivoli)
  92. Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni: The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson) 
  93. Leikeli47: Shape Up (Hardcover/RCA)
  94. Witchcraft Books: Volume 1—The Sundisk (Iapetus Records)
  95. Hurray for The Riff Raff: Life on Earth (Nonesuch)
  96. Rokia Koné and Jacknife Lee: Bamanan (3DFamily)
  97. Tomas Fujiwara: Triple Double (Firehouse 12)
  98. DJ Black Low: Uwami (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  99. Ibibio Sound Machine:Electricity (Merge)
  100. Zoh Amba: O Life, O Light, Volume 1 (577 Records)
  101. Burton/McPherson Trio: The Summit Rock Session at Seneca Village (Giant Step Arts)
  102. Kahil El’Zabar Quartet: A Time for Healing (Spirit Muse)
  103. Pastor Champion: I Just Want to Be a Good Man (Luaka Bop)
  104. Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Blue Note)
  105. Pusha T: It’s Almost Dry (G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam)
  106. Elza Soares: Elza Ao Vivo No Municipal (Deck)
  107. Nilufer Yanya: Painless (ATO)
  108. Tommy McLain: I Ran Down Every Dream (Yep Roc)
  109. Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda: Thread of Light (Fundacja Słuchaj)
  110. Charli XCX: Crash (Atlantic)
  111. Pete Malinverni: On the Town—Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein(Planet Arts) 
  112. JID: The Forever Story (Dreamville)
  113. Dedicated Men of Zion: The Devil Don’t Like It (Bible & Tire)
  114. Tyshawn Sorey Trio: Mesmerism (Pi Recordings)
  115. Space Afrika: Honest Labour (Dais)
  116. Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer (DeeWee)
  117. Earl Sweatshirt: Sick! (Tan Cressida / Warner) 
  118. Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD)
  119. Jeff Arnal and Curt Cloninger: Drum Major Instinct (Mahakala Music)
  120. Tee Grizzley: Half Tee Half Beast (self-released)
  121. Hoodoo Gurus: Chariot of The Gods (Big Time Photographic Recordings)
  122. Natsuki Tamura: Summer Tree (Libra)
  123. (D)ivo: Perelman, Berne, Malaby, Carter (Mahakala Music)
  124. Daniel Carter et al.: Telepatica (577 Records)
  125. Ghais Guevara: There Will Be No Super-Slave (self-released)
  126. Pierre Kwenders: Jose Louis and the Paradox of Love (Arts & Crafts)
  127. Manel Fortia: Despertar (Segell Microscopi/Altafonte)
  128. Ray Wylie Hubbard: Co-Starring Too (Big Machine)
  129. Various Artists: if you fart make it sound good (WA Records)
  130. Marta Sanchez: SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) (Whirlwind)
  131. Sonnyjim & The Purist: White Girl Wasted (Duape)
  132. Earthgang: Ghetto Gods (Dreamville/Interscope)
  133. Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home (Anti-)
  134. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom: Reset (Domino)
  135. Blue Reality Quartet: Ella’s Island (Mahakala Music)

ARCHIVAL DIGS

  1. Los Golden Boys: Cumbia de Juventud (Mississippi Records)
  2. Albert Ayler: Revelations—The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings(Elemental)
  3. Cecil Taylor:The Complete Legendary Live Return Concert at the Town Hall (Oblivion)
  4. Tommy Womack: 30 Years Shot to Hell! An Anthology (Schoolkids Records)
  5. Various Artists: Lovers Rock—The Soulful Sound of Romantic Reggae (Trojan)
  6. Albert Ayler: La Cave Live 1966 (Ezz-Thetics) 
  7. Various Artists: Cumbia Sabrosa—Tropical Sound System Bangers From The Discos Fuentes Vaults 1961-1981 (Rocafort Records)
  8. Biluka y Los Canibales: Leaf-Playing in Quito (1960-1965) (Honest Jon’s)
  9. Various Artists: A Chat About the Beauty of the Moon at Night–Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  10. The Rolling Stones: Live at the El Mocambo (Interscope)
  11. Son House: Forever on My Mind (Easy Eye Sound)
  12. Lavender Country: Blackberry Rose and Other Songs & Sorrows (Don Giovanni)
  13. Mal Waldron: Searching in Grenoble—The 1978 Solo Piano Concert (Tompkins Square)
  14. Horace Tapscott Quintet: The Quintet (Mr. Bongo)
  15. Horace Tapscott Quintet: Legacies for Our Grandchildren (Dark Tree)
  16. Various Artists: The D-Vine Spirituals—Sacred Soul (Bible & Tire)
  17. Kabaka International Guitar Band: Kabaka International Guitar Band (Palenque Records)
  18. The Pyramids: AOMAWA—The 1970s Recordings (Strut)
  19. Hermeto Pascoal: Hermeto (Far Out Recordings)
  20. Sun Ra: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Strut)
  21. Asha Puthi: The Essential Asha Puthi (Mr. Bongo)
  22. Malik’s Emerging Force Art Trio: Time and Condition (moved-by-sound)
  23. Volta Jazz: Air Volta (Numero)
  24. Blondie: Against the Odds—1974-1982 (3-CD Rarities Version) (UMe / Numero Group)
  25. Various Artists: From Lion Mountain—Traditional Music of Yeha, Ethiopia (Dust-to-Digital)
  26. Charles Stepney: Step-on-Step (International Anthem)
  27. Ronnie Boykins: The Will Come is Now (ESP-Disk)
  28. John Ondolo: Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo (Mississippi Records)
  29. Luciano Luciani y sus Mulatos: Mulata, vamos a la Salsa (Vampisoul)
  30. Cecil Taylor: Respiration (Fundacja Stuchaj)
  31. Norma Tanega: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964-1971 (Anthology)
  32. Irma Thomas: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 (Good Time)
  33. Afrika Negra: Antologia, Volume 1 (Bongo Joe)
  34. Various Artists: Summer of Soul (Legacy)
  35. The Heartbreakers: LAMF—The ’77 Found Mixes (Jungle)

“Interpret It Well: Life in All Its Rich Musical Variety”–Best Rekkids of 2022, January 1st-April 27)

Random bits?

  1. Thank you, Christian, for Bob Vylan at the last minute. I needed that.
  2. Ricky Ford? Who’s Ricky Ford? Well, I knew him best through his stellar tenor on Ran Blake’s The Short Life of Barbara Monk and Abdullah Ibrahim’s Water from an Ancient Well, both modern jazz classics. I remember trying some of his solo albums and thinking he was kind of like an Ellingtonian without Ellington. BUT…35-40 years later his new album sounds like something we will sadly never get again: a new Sonny Rollins album. That’s high praise, and he’s not that inventive, but you’ll hear what I mean: power, confidence and wisdom of tone, steaming momentum, ideas extended lyrically and imaginatively.
  3. Wet Leg the album not as good as Wet Leg the singles machine, but still FUN. And I (and probably you) need that. One of my students liked their sense of camp, and I get that. I have film students in class, too, and they’re curious about those Wighters’ taste.
  4. I am already feeling I’ve underrated percussionist Ches Smith’s new album Interpret It Well. It’s one of those rare albums that establish a mood and flow and sustains it from beginning to end. The whole is much more powerful than the sum of its parts, and the playing is stimulatingly precise and responsive.
  5. I’m as atheist as can be (I neither have, recognize nor pursue a theology), but it’s been a good couple of years for new black gospel records in the traditional vein. Thanks, Hardin, for pushing Pastor Champion on me, and thanks, Bible & Tire / Fat Possum, for just sticking to that old mission. It’s liberation music, at heart, and I’m ’bout it.
  6. When I heard the Mekons and Freakwater were doing a set of acoustic mining songs, I asked myself, “Do I really need that?” Mekons being involved, I had to dip a toe (or a lobe) in; I just prefer Mekons with DRUMS. Actually, the album’s rousing, moving, and not necessarily about mining, and I recommend it.
  7. Is there such as thing as discorrhea? Sometimes I think about that when I think about Jinx Lennon (I’m not sure how many people think that much about Jinx Lennon, but he’s worth it). Maybe it’d be better to really hone and weed before he lets another one go. The thing is, though, Pet Rent rocks harder than any of the last few, and it’s hard to think of any artist who’s so alive and receptive in his immediate environment than Lennon. I’m currently reading Henry Miller’s Black Spring, and “Horseshit!” has popped up a few times in the first twenty pages as ol’ Hank instructs us on immediacy of living, but maybe Jinx achieves that. Maybe.
  8. Speaking of horseshit, I’ve been alive and listening to records long enough to smell it, but, dammit, SAULT has my detector on the blink. And by blink I mean my detector blinks off and on. I am keenly aware their “mystery” is part of the attraction (or marketing); on the other hand, when I’m really leaning forward and undistracted, they seem to be so much of these times and their struggles, endless tragedies, and fleeting glow that I buy what they’re offering. And AIR? It’s a test. An early morning game of art-critical Texas Hold ‘Em.
  9. As he always seems to be, Sun Ra makes new appearances on this update: first, represented more than ably by the soon-to-be-98 (you are reading that correctly) Arkestra glue-guy Marshall Allen on Tyler Mitchell’s outstanding Dancing Shadows, then on a Seventies archival dig working close to one his many homes (Egypt) with the talented Salah Ragab. Both recordings are outstanding.
  10. I always make at least one Record Store Day purchase. I hate crowds, so I usually hit eBay first thing the next morning, but this year the proprietor of Dig It! Record Barn / Records to Go in Carterville (or is it Duenweg?), Missouri, established a tiny call line for people who could not make it–I’m about 250 miles away. If you answer the phone when there’s a lull in traffic through the stacks, you might get a chance; I was completing a three-mile stroll when the phone buzzed and I became the proud owner of Albert Ayler’s Revelations—The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings on Elemental Records. I’ve heard the original recordings, which were not complete and didn’t sound that swell, but had never owned them. This heavy item arrives Thursday, so truth be told, I have not listened to it yet. But I’ve got a hand in another Texas Hold ‘Em game….

New Music (bolded items are new to the list):

  1. 75 Dollar Bill: Social Music at Troost, Volume 3–Other People’s Music (Black Editions Group)
  2. Rosalia: MOTOMAMI (Columbia)
  3. Tanya Tagaq: Tongues (Six Shooter) 
  4. Ricky Ford: The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford—Paul’s Scene (Whaling City Sounds)
  5. Stro Elliot & James Brown: Black & Loud—James Brown Reimagined (Polydor)
  6. Superchunk: Wild Loneliness (Merge)
  7. Gonora Sounds: Hard Times Never Kill (Phantom Limb)
  8. Wet Leg: Wet Leg (Domino)
  9. Amber Mark: Three Dimensions Deep (PMR / Interscope) 
  10. Etran de L’Air: Agadez (Sahel Sounds)
  11. Billy Woods: Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studios)
  12. Morgan Wade: Reckless (Deluxe) (Ladylike) 
  13. Lady Wray: Piece of Me (Big Crown)
  14. Tyler Mitchell: Dancing Shadows (featuring Marshall Allen) (Mahakala Music)
  15. Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
  16. Mark Lomax II: Prismatic Refractions, Volume I (self-released)
  17. ensemble 0: Music Nuvulosa (Sub Rosa)
  18. Anna von Hausswoolff: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival (Southern Lord) 
  19. Various Artists: Lespri Ka—New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe (Time Capsule Sounds) 
  20. Ches Smith: Interpret It Well (Pyroclastic)
  21. Jinx Lennon: Pet Rent (Septic Tiger)
  22. Freakons: Freakons (Fluff & Gravy)
  23. Joy Guidry: Radical Acceptance (Whited Sepulchre)
  24. Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni: The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson) 
  25. OGJB: Ode to O (TUM) (Note: Band name – O = Oliver Lake, G = Graham Haynes, J = Joe Fonda, B = Barry Altschul / Title – O = Ornette) 
  26. Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, and Enrico Rava: Two Blues for Cecil (TUM) 
  27. Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio: The Bottom (Cuneiform) 
  28. Priscilla Block: Welcome to the Block Party (InDent)
  29. Anitta: Versions of Me (Warner)
  30. Mitski: Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
  31. Immanuel Wilkins: The 7th Hand (Blue Note) 
  32. Fulu Miziki: Ngbaka (EP) 
  33. Hurray for The Riff Raff: Life on Earth (Nonesuch)
  34. Rokia Koné and Jacknife Lee: Bamanan (3D Family)
  35. Tomas Fujiwara: Triple Double (Firehouse 12)
  36. Ibibio Sound Machine: Electricity (Merge)
  37. Kahil El’Zabar Quartet: A Time for Healing (Spirit Muse)
  38. Pastor Champion: I Just Want to Be a Good Man (Luaka Bop)
  39. Pusha T: It’s Almost Dry (G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam)
  40. SAULT: AIR (Forever Living Originals)
  41. Nilufer Yanya: Painless (ATO)
  42. Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda: Thread of Light (Fundacja Słuchaj)
  43. Charli XCX: Crash (Atlantic)
  44. Pete Malinverni:  On the Town—Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein (Planet Arts) 
  45. David Friend & Jerome Begin: Post- (New Amsterdam)
  46. Dedicated Men of Zion: The Devil Don’t Like It (Bible & Tire)
  47. Space Afrika: Honest Labour (Dais)
  48. Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer (DeeWee)
  49. Earl Sweatshirt: Sick! (Tan Cressida / Warner) 
  50. Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD) 
  51. Tee Grizzley: Half Tee Half Beast (self-relased)
  52. Hoodoo Gurus: Chariot of The Gods (Big Time Photographic Recordings)
  53. Natsuki Tamura: Summer Tree (Libra)
  54. (D)ivo: Perelman, Berne, Malaby, Carter (Mahakala Music)
  55. Spoon: Lucifer on the Sofa (Matador)
  56. Manel Fortia: Despertar (Segell Microscopi/Altafonte)
  57. Ray Wylie Hubbard: Co-Starring Too (Big Machine)
  58. Keith Oxman: This One’s for Joey (Capri)
  59. Marta Sanchez: SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) (Whirlwind)
  60. Earthgang: Ghetto Gods (Dreamville/Interscope) 

Archival Digs:

Albert Ayler: La Cave Live 1966 (Ezz-Thetics) 

Albert Ayler: Revelations—The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (Elemental)

Son House: Forever on My Mind (Easy Eye Sound)

Lavender Country: Blackberry Rose and Other Songs & Sorrows (Don Giovanni)

Hermeto Pascoal: Planetário da Gávea (Far Out Recordings)

Hermeto Pascoal: Hermeto (Far Out Recordings)

Sun Ra: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Strut)

Cecil Taylor: The Complete Legendary Live Return Concert at the Town Hall (Oblivion)

Afrika Negra: Antologia, Volume 1 (Bongo Joe)

Various Artists: Summer of Soul (Legacy)

Neil Young: Carnegie Hall 1970 (Reprise) 

90 Degrees of Freedom Found: My Favorite Rekkid Releases of 2021, and We’re Only Halfway There

Random observations on the recent explosion of excellent recordings I always should expect but never do and grouse about the paucity of then look dim-witted as a result of my shitty memory:

  1. You may think I’m a little nuts by including so many box sets, but they really are that good and I have been listening to them. Is sitting around listening to box set really a pop thang? Should I even care? Somebody’s gotta do it.
  2. The Puerto Rican saxophonist Miguel Zenon is having a great year. He’s on two records here (Law Years and Path of Seven Colors) and his duet album of boleros with Luis Perdomo is stunning but I need to listen to it one more time.
  3. I have moved many items around, but I finally hooked right into AUM Grand Ensemble & Ensemble O’s interpretation of Julius Eastman’s Femenine. Eastman’s having a MUCH-deserved revisiting and several interpretations of this piece are out there, but none this hypnotic and beautiful.
  4. How much mileage does SAULT get out of mystique?
  5. I’ll have some of what Loretty’s having, please.
  6. I’m sorry, I just don’t fucking trust Lana Del Rey and I really despise Olivia Rodrigo’s single, but the sonics and words of the former’s album (I’m just blocking out her persona) and the rest of the latter’s songs (for the most part) have broken my resistance. For now.
  7. That Screamers excavation is the first new record I have surprised my wife Nicole with that we both instantly jumped up and down joyfully to. Myself, I’d really mostly only read about them in West Coast punk tomes, but after a 40-year-burial this item really explodes out of the vault.
  8. Is it fair to list Record Store Day releases on these lists? I admit I just lie in wait with my bobber floating in eBay Lake, and I assume anyone else can as well.
  9. If you’re needing a guitar-helping and moping ’cause you can locate one, I urge you to dip into the Moctar, Arby, and Young items in the Top 10. Seriously.
  10. SUPPORT FIRE IN LITTLE AFRICA’S PROJECT. It’s worthy.

BOLDED ITEMS ARE NEW TO THE LIST.

Mdou Moctar: Afrique Victim

JuJu: Live at 131 Prince Street #

Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multinational Crusade for Harmony 

James Brandon Lewis: Jesup Wagon

Miguel Zenon: Law Years—The Music of Ornette Coleman

Khaira Arby: Khaira Arby in New York #

Fire in Little Africa: Fire in Little Africa

Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Down in the Rust Bucket #

R.A.P. Ferreira: Bob’s Son 

AUM Grand Ensemble x Ensemble 0: Performs Julius Eastman’s Femenine

Screamers: Demo Hollywood 1977 #

No-No Boy: 1975

Robert Finley: Sharecropper’s Son

Gimenez Lopez: Reunion en la granja

Penelope Scott: Public Void 

Paris: Safe Space Invader

Various Artists: A Stranger I May Be—Savoy Gospel 1954-1966 #

Can: Live in Stuttgart 1975 #

Hamiet Blueitt: Bearer of the Holy Flame #

Byard Lancaster: My Pure Joy #

Ashnikko: Demidevil 

Dax Pierson: Nerve Bumps (A Queer Divine Satisfaction)

Chrissie Hynde: Standing in the Doorway—Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan

Charles Mingus: Mingus at Carnegie Hall #

Various Artists: Chicago / The Blues / Today, Volumes 1-3 #

Dry Cleaning: Sweet Princess (EP)

Sons of Kemet: Black to the Future

Dawn Richard: Second Line 

Brockhampton: Roadrunner—New Light, New Machine

Ches Smith and We All Break: Path of Seven Colors

Hasaan Ibn Ali: Metaphysics—The Lost Atlantic Album #

Amythyst Kiah: Wary + Strange

Genesis Owusu: Smiling with No Teeth

Marianne Faithfull (with Warren Ellis): She Walks in Beauty

Jaubi: Nafs at Peace (featuring Latamik and Tenderlonious)

SAULT: Nine

Vincent Herring: Preaching to the Choir

Lukah: When the Black Hand Touches You

Angelique Kidjo: Mother Nature

ICP Orchestra & Nieuw Amsterdams Peil: 062 / De Hondemepper

Damon Locks / Black Monument Ensemble: NOW

Loretta Lynn: Still Woman Enough

Anthony Joseph: The Rich are Only Defeated When Running for Their Lives

Jason Moran & Milford Graves: Live at Big Ears

Mistreater: Hell’s Fire #

Blue Gene Tyranny: Degrees of Freedom Found #

Various Artists: He’s Bad!—11 Bands Decimate the Beat of Bo Diddley 

Various Artists: Wallahi Le Zein!

Various Artists: Indaba Is

Wau Wau Collectif: Yaral Sa Doom

Yvette Janine Jackson: Freedom

Various Artists: Alan Lomax’s American Patchwork #

Peter Stampfel: Peter Stampfel’s 20th Century in 100 Songs

Backxwash: I Lie Here with My Rings and Dresses

Various Artists: Doomed & Stoned in Scotland

Jazmine Sullivan: Heaux Tales

Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber: 20th Anniversary Mixtapes / Groiddest Schizznits, Volumes 1-3#

Various Artists: Allen Ginsberg’s The Fall of America–A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute

Billy Nomates: Emergency Telephone (EP)

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley: 11th Street, Sekondi

Various Artists: Rare.wavs, Volume 1

Dry Cleaning: New Long Leg

Nermin Niazi: Disco Se Aagay #

Madlib: Sound Ancestors

Joe Strummer: Assembly #

Julien Baker: Little Oblivions

Cedric Burnside: I Be Trying

Archie Shepp and Jason Moran: Let My People Go

Roisin Murphy: Crooked Machine 

girl in red: if I could make it go quiet

Lana Del Rey: Chemtrails Over the Country Club

Robert Miranda’s Home Music Ensemble: Live at The Bing #

Vijay Iyer, Linda Han Oh, and Tyshawn Sorey: Uneasy

Olivia Rodrigo: SOUR

Steve Earle: JT

Tee Grizzley: Built for Whatever

Tony Allen (and friends): There is No End

Jinx Lennon: Liferafts for Latchicos

The Hold Steady: Open Door Policy 

Elizabeth King & The Gospel Souls: Living in the Last Days

Alder Ego: III

Garbage: No Gods No Masters

Shem Tube, Justo Osala, Enos Okola: Guitar Music of Western Kenya

Contour: Love Suite

Alton Gün: Yol

Various Artists: Edo Funk Explosion, Volume 1 #

Hearth: Melt

Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders: Promises

Sana Nagano: Smashing Humans

serpentwithfeet: DEACON

AFTERNOTE (is that a word?):

Top 10 Artists I’ve Been Listening to Over the Last 72 hours / A Nod to Will Friedwald

Carmen McRae (I’m pretty much always listening to–at the very least hearing in my head–Lady McRae)

Anita O’Day (I’m pretty much always listening to–at the very least hearing in my head–Lady O’Day)

Moody Marilyn Moore

Cliff “Ukelele Ike” Edwards

Herb Jeffries

Jackie Paris

Carol Sloane

Earl Coleman–LOTS of Earl Coleman

Al Hibbler

Jeanne Lee

STREAM ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM….

“Chrissie, Bar the Door”–A Gush of Recorded Matter into the LTL List: January 1st – June 1, 2021

All I have to say is the size of my list of 2021 go-to albums just increased by 30%, no surprise, as the gears of normal creativity and associated production are grinding into motion. That, and the two new albums created by African artists that stormed my top five are crackling with six-string (and vocal) intensity.

Bolded items are new to the list; items followed by a # are reissues or archival digs; all items are linked to pages of interest or usefulness.

  1. Mdou Moctar: Afrique Victim
  2. JuJu: Live at 131 Prince Street #
  3. Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multinational Crusade for Harmony #
  4. James Brandon Lewis: Jesup Wagon
  5. Khaira Arby: Khaira Arby in New York #
  6. Fire in Little Africa: Fire in Little Africa
  7. Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Down in the Rust Bucket #
  8. Miguel Zenon: Law Years—The Music of Ornette Coleman
  9. R.A.P. Ferreira: Bob’s Son 
  10. No-No Boy: 1975
  11. Ashnikko: Demidevil 
  12. Robert Finley: Sharecropper’s Son
  13. Gimenez Lopez: Reunion en la granja
  14. Penelope Scott: Public Void 
  15. Paris: Safe Space Invader
  16. Can: Live in Stuttgart 1975 #
  17. Byard Lancaster: My Pure Joy #
  18. Jazmine Sullivan: Heaux Tales
  19. Dax Pierson: Nerve Bumps (A Queer Divine Satisfaction)
  20. Hamiet Blueitt: Bearer of the Holy Flame #
  21. Brockhampton: Roadrunner—New Light, New Machine
  22. Dawn Richard: Second Line 
  23. Chrissie Hynde: Standing in the Doorway—Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan
  24. Various Artists: Alan Lomax’s American Patchwork #
  25. Peter Stampfel: Peter Stampfel’s 20th Century in 100 Songs
  26. Various Artists: He’s Bad!—11 Bands Decimate the Beat of Bo Diddley 
  27. Hasaan Ibn Ali: Metaphysics—The Lost Atlantic Album #
  28. Various Artists: Doomed & Stoned in Scotland
  29. Genesis Owusu: Smiling with No Teeth
  30. Marianne Faithfull (with Warren Ellis): She Walks in Beauty
  31. Vincent Herring: Preaching to the Choir
  32. Lukah: When the Black Hand Touches You
  33. Damon Locks / Black Monument Ensemble: NOW
  34. Various Artists: Allen Ginsberg’s The Fall of America–A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute
  35. Various Artists: Indaba Is
  36. Wau Wau Collectif: Yaral Sa Doom
  37. Yvette Janine Jackson: Freedom
  38. Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber: 20th Anniversary Mixtapes / Groiddest Schizznits, Volumes 1-3 #
  39. Jason Moran & Milford Graves: Live at Big Ears
  40. Nermin Niazi: Disco Se Aagay #
  41. Billy Nomates: Emergency Telephone (EP)
  42. Mistreater: Hell’s Fire #
  43. Madlib: Sound Ancestors
  44. Joe Strummer: Assembly #
  45. Julien Baker: Little Oblivions
  46. Archie Shepp and Jason Moran: Let My People Go
  47. Roisin Murphy: Crooked Machine 
  48. Robert Miranda’s Home Music Ensemble: Live at The Bing #
  49. Ensemble 0: Performs Julius Eastman’s Femenine
  50. Vijay Iyer, Linda Han Oh, and Tyshawn Sorey: Uneasy
  51. Alder Ego: III
  52. Shem Tube, Justo Osala, Enos Okola: Guitar Music of Western Kenya
  53. Steve Earle: JT
  54. Tee Grizzley: Built for Whatever
  55. Tony Allen (and friends): There is No End
  56. Jinx Lennon: Liferafts for Latchicos
  57. The Hold Steady: Open Door Policy 
  58. Elizabeth King & The Gospel Souls: Living in the Last Days
  59. Contour: Love Suite
  60. Alton Gün: Yol
  61. Various Artists: Edo Funk Explosion, Volume 1 #
  62. Hearth: Melt
  63. Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders: Promises
  64. Sana Nagano: Smashing Humans
  65. serpentwithfeet: DEACON