MAY 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To

This was a tough month. I was finishing up teaching and getting ready to start up again, very fatigued; trying to organize scholarship awards in memory of a too-soon-departed friend; playing Cecil Taylor albums every day very loudly (Nicole hadn’t finished teaching yet, so I was home alone with six cats and the stereo turned to 11), thanks to Phil Freeman’s outstanding upcoming biography In the Brewing Luminous (read my pal Ken Shimamoto’s outstanding review here); experiencing unusual trouble really getting into new albums (I can hear my current Conservatory students and my lovable provocateur Kevin Bozelka whispering, “Get into singles, get lit, and sing some karaoke, Phil!”); and…also being more than a bit depressed about the state of the country and this world, my mom having to be in an assisted living facility, and already having 62 trips around the sun under my belt while, with Sandy Denny on heavy rotation, wondering in vain who really knows where that time has gone. I couldn’t even imagine getting this done.

BUT the indefatigable Adeem the Artist–why could I not muster the energy to go see them when they were playing a little club here, after all they’ve done for humanity in just three albums?–Mdou Moctar‘s defiant guitar and words, and a wonderfully weird Sun Ra excavation jolted me into action. I hope you all are not having the same struggles. But I bet you are having some of them.

(I would also like to thank, along with the above artists, my current students in an alleged “rock and roll” class at Stephens College for delighting me with their work and commentary–enjoy their “Top 5 Album” lists below.)

These records made me happy in May.

Adeem The Artist: ANNIVERSARY (Thirty Tigers /Four Quarters) From the personal to the public, this pansexual writer continues to vividly capture the complications and cruelties that are us–they could stand to work on the melodies, though, but I’ll settle.

Les Amazones d’Afrique: Musow Dance (Real World). Jumpin’, jubilant, empowering, even if I’m not an African woman and I don’t understand the words–and I love the synths and 808s!

Anitta: Funk Generation (Republic / Universal) This Brazilian temptress is edging toward “force of nature” status, and I think the label may have misspelled the first word of the album title.

Bloodest Saxophone featuring Crystal Thomas: Extreme Heat (Continental Record Services) I am charmed by this jubilant 25-years-together-and countin’ Japanese jump blues outfit, and Ms. Thomas, while not exactly Ruth Brown or Etta Jones–those are high bars–gives it her boisterous all.

Creation Rebel: High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 (On-U Sound) I am pretty new to the Creation Rebel experience–I knew not of their Prince Far I and Adrian Sherwood connections–but the inexpensiveness and cover photo, plus a reggae jones that I can never quite dampen, pushed me forward with the following result: I’ve listened to the entire six-disc box three times and, thanks to some pit-stops in space and other non-Caribbean locations, they hold one’s attention.

Billie Eilish: HIT ME HARD & SOFT (Dark Room / Interscope) I listened to it and heard a remarkable stylistic tour de force for one so young (including a very welcome opening-up of her voice and one of the most vivid, longing, and funny oral sex songs I’ve ever heard); many others listened and heard a scattershot record, so…whom do you trust more, me or the many?

Ibibio Sound Machine: Pull the Rope (Merge) 2017’s Uyai lifted me so much I still have a poster of Eno Williams up in my office, but she and they have struggled to match that one since, though this comes awfully damn close.

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, and Tyshawn Sorey: Compassion (ECM) A bracingly calming (is that a possible state of being?) set by three relatively young masters–I can simply listen to Sorey and be entranced–and maybe that’s what they mean by “compassion”: couldn’t we all stand to be braced by calm?

Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble: Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble (Palmetto) I received a review copy of this and, for some reason, the cover photo (which is fine) left me in a mood of obligation when I slid it into the CD changer, but I found it exciting: a) John Lewis’ title concept we still need to be reminded to mind; b) Wilson’s one helluva a drummer; c) the saxophonists–Jeff Lederer and Tia Fuller–are on fire; and d) they cover Prime Time Ornette (“Feet Music”!) with panache.

Joe McPhee (with Ken Vandermark): Musings of a Bahamanian Son (Catalytic Sound) Anyone who’s followed my blog for long knows I ride or die with this 84-year-old multi-instrumentalist, imaginative noise-maker, and cultural envoy from Poughkeepsie–but damned if I expected he’d release a terrific album of original poetry (with some honking assists by long-time buddy Ken Vandermark) that any young gun will have trouble topping this year.

Mdou Moctar: Funeral for Justice (Matador) I have been to many concerts in my life, and heard some amazing guitar players–including Sonic Youth’s at their absolute peak–but the 10+-minute wildfire I saw Moctar start in a little cafe in Columbia, Missouri, in 2019 tops them all, and this AOTY candidate’s his first one that gets within spitting distance of that (oh, and the translations are worth reading, as the album title has probably already tipped you).

Rapsody: Please Don’t Cry (We Each Other / Jamla Records) I’ve actually been longing for a new Rapsody record for awhile, as perhaps many of you have, and, for the patient–it’s a bit of an epic–the wait’s been worth it, especially because one of the best rappers alive tempers her wrenching reportage of her mental health struggles with a very combative spirit.

Sun Ra: Excelsior Mill (Sundazed / Modern Harmonic) The Sun One, in a perfect sound-image of the Phantom of the Opera, playing “the biggest pipe organ in the South” at Atlanta’s title club with just a bit of percussional help from the Arkestra–if you think that over 40 minutes of that would have to be a bit much, you’re just wrong, as it is an astonishing aural trip–complete with wry quotes, Ellingtonian choo-choo noises, phantasmagoria, and (of course space) travel–that was by far my favorite trip of any kind in May.

Sun Ra: Pink Elephants on Parade (Modern Harmonic) Most readers who know the work of Sun Ra and His Arkestra also know they would occasionally knock out a Disney cover, and, while this could actually benefit from a little more weirdness, it’s fun for the whole family, unlike most Arkestra records.

Students in Stephens College’s outstanding Conservatory are taking an asynchronous online course with me that’s stubbornly titled “Rock and Roll History” by the school. It’s actually built around Berklee neuroscience professors Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas’ book This is What It Sounds Like, which examines what brain science tells us about our connections to music, most fascinatingly through establishing a listening profile that asks the reader to truly examine their attractions. The neat thing–to me, anyway–is that students bring their own musical passions to the course and don’t have to endure me cramming “historically significant works” down their throats. To try to keep a toe in the titular pool, every week they are required to ask me a question about “rock and roll history”–and I ask them one. I often go to great lengths to answer their questions (it’s actually the lecture section of the course) and they (wisely) go to lesser lengths to answer mine.

Last week, I asked them to assess Billie Eilish’s new album (their takes resemble very closely the current critical division on that subject), plus post their Top 5 albums. When I ask students about their jams, I’m consistently amazed, considering how much music I listen to and how widely I range to do so, how little I really know about. For your pleasure, here are their lists (for their amusement, I bolded the relatively few albums they’ve chosen that I’ve actually heard). Mine (at least at the time of my posting them) are at the end–they change daily, if not hourly.

Student 1

(I am only naming the students if I have their permission, and I’m still waiting for some of those.)

A Letter To My Younger Self – Quinn XCII

Inside – Bo Burnham

Death of a Bachelor – Panic! at the Disco

Off to the Races – Jukebox the Ghost

The Greatest Showman – Various Artists

Student 2

Cowboy Carter – Beyonce

GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo

Emails I can’t send – Sabrina Carpenter

The Rise and Fall Of a Midwestern Princess – Chappell Roan

IGOR – Tyler, The Creator

Student 3

Obviously – Lake Street Dive

SOUR – Olivia Rodrigo

Emails I Can’t Send – Sabrina Carpenter

Oh the Places You’ll Go – Doechii

Stick Season – Noah Kahan

Student 4

The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology – Taylor Swift

Songs I Wrote in My Bedroom – Anson Seabra

cemeteries and socials – Paris Paloma

Now That I’ve Been Honest – Maddie Zahm

EPIC: The Underworld Saga – Jorge Rivera-Herrans

Student 5

Shrek the Musical

Hadestown

The Lightning Thief

Come from Away

Something Rotten!

Student 6

evermore – Taylor Swift

Muna – Muna

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan

the record – boygenius

The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift

Claire McLewin

Build a Problem – Dodie

Demidevil – Ashnikko

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – Billie Eilish

Typical of Me EP – Laufey

Midwest Kids Can Make It Big – Lauren Sanderson

Student 8

Misadventures – Pierce the Veil

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan

How to Be a Human Being – Glass Animals

After Laughter – Paramore

SOUR – Olivia Rodrigo

Sawyer Nevins

Julie Is Her Name – Julie London

Latin ala Lee – Peggy Lee

Tragic Kingdom – No Doubt

Under the Pink – Tori Amos

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort – Michel Legrand

Student 10

ORQUÍDEAS – Kali Uchis

Gemini Rights – Steve Lacy

Willow – Willow

Volcano – Jungle

Portals – Melanie Martinez

Student 11

Montero – Lil Nas X

Call Me By Your Name Soundtrack – Sufjan Stevens and Various Artists

Something To Give Each Other – Troye Sivan

Night Work – Scissor Sisters

I Disagree – Poppy

Student 12

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – Billie Elilish

RAZZMATAZZ – I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

American Boys – Don McLean

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan

Now, Not Yet – Half•Alive

Izzy Porzillo

AAAH!BA – Brian David Gilbert

SCREAMING IN THE MIRROR – Sunday Cruise

Big Man Says Slappydoo – GUPPY

LOUDMOUTH – VIAL

Am I Pretty? – Sunday Cruise

Makenzie Schutter

Impera – Ghost

The Connect: Déjà vu – Monsta x

How to: Friend, Love, Freefall – Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Who Am I? – Palewaves

Inside – Bo Burnham

Kaley Sikora

Next to Normal – Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY – Taylor Swift

Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 – Dave Malloy

Love Me Forever – Pinkshift

Paige “Blue” Trew

When the World Stopped Moving: The Live EP – Lizzie McAlpine

Prelude to Ecstasy – The Last Dinner Party

Sunset Season: EP – Conan Gray

Through the Tides – Fish in a Birdcage

Waterfall – Fish in a Birdcage

Student 17

Into The Woods – 2022 Broadway Cast Recording

Faith In the Future (Deluxe) – Louis Tomlinson

The Comeback – Zac Brown Band

Portraits – Birdy

Kid Krow – Conan Gray

Student 18

Where Owls Know My Name – Rivers of Nihil

The Violent Sleep of Reason – Meshuggah

Masego – Masego

It Is What It Is – Thundercat

Remember That You Will Die – Polyphia

My Lists (of course I had to make two)!

My five favorite albums when I was 19:

The Clash: London Calling

Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited

Public Image Limited: Second Edition

Gang of Four: Entertainment

John Coltrane Quartet: A Love Supreme

My five favorite albums at 62 (these change from day to day–I have thousands of them):

Professor Longhair: Crawfish Fiesta

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys: The Tiffany Transcriptions, Volume 3–Basin Street Blues

Carmen McRae: As Time Goes By-Alone-Live at the Dug

Joni Mitchell: Blue

Tie: The Velvet Underground: 1969 Live / The Flying Burrito Brothers: The Gilded Palace of Sin

Special Bandcamp Friday 2022 Edition: More (and More) Touch–The Best Records I’ve Heard This Year So Far with 29 Days to Go!

Offhand Remarks:

Do you enjoy beautiful trances? These days, I do, and I don’t really like substances to help, because I’m old and fall asleep–which defeats the point. Musically, you’ll be hard pressed to find hypnosis as euphonic as Jeff Parker’s new album on Eremite or Patricia Brennan’s on Pyroclastic. They sustain like a mutha and they are never boring. Proceed.
The number of additions to this list may be a record for a month. Most are available on Bandcamp, today is Friday, and you know what to do.
I am sure I have mentioned Rod Taylor’s Brazil Beat blog here before, but I may have to send him a holiday gift, so many gifts has he led me to. Two cases in point: one, it is Joyce Moreno’s year–she has a lovely, dancing, swinging new album out at 74 and a number of reissues that may convince you (as she, with Rod’s help, has me) that she’s one of the greatest Brazilian singers of the last 60-odd years; two, check out Bruno Berle’s moody, eccentric, and brilliant new album, as well as an older one by Lula Cortes and Ze Ramalho that Berle’s album reminded Rod of, Solar Paebiru–I love Berle’s album so much that I did that old-school blind-dive and bought a hard copy of the latter. Woah. Weird and gorgeous.
If an artist has released 100 albums, that merits a sampling if one isn’t familiar with the artist. Satoko Fujii’s One Hundred Dreams is just that–an exciting, out-there record of imaginative piano combo sounds that will leave you hoping for Album 101.
Adeem the Artist’s second album is red-hot-off-the-presses and surpasses his excellent debut. It is surely the best autobiographical blue-collar Americana release by a non-binary singer-songwriter…ever. And also yet.
That damned SAULT crew! Just when I think (at least for myself) I’ve “cracked the code” and weaned myself off their mystique, they drop a bunch of LPs and EPs that are all pretty fair. I listed my two favorites here–one of which I immediately burned to CD for one of my favorite students this year with whom I’ve had two great spiritual conversations. But as a result of that sticky mystique, I’m still not sure they are the two best.
The excellent Pitchfork critic Sasha Geffen, author of the very-worthwhile Glitter Up The Dark, recently Zoomed with three-count-’em-three separate classes of mine (they’d just finished her book on assignment). He was terrific and very down to earth–more so than my students expected a critic to be–and I told them to be sure to watch for her work on the ‘fork. His first review after our visit (in fact, I think it went up on the day he spoke with us) was of a new work by a band I’d never heard of, Special Interest. Endure JOLTED me–musically and lyrically–and testifies to Geffen’s sharp ear, eye, and mind.
I have a weakness for Little Rock and Memphis. But I think in spite of that my judgement is sound on this list. A stunning number of powerful, varied, and interesting records have been released by LR’s Mahakala Records just this year; Little Rock’s Kari Faux is far from faux, and Memphis’ GloRilla has just become my favorite woman-wildin’-out MC. She is very, very Memphian.
I’ve had a very stubborn Springsteen block since those two records he released at the same time–it’s so stubborn it even prevents me from enjoying his older work like I used to. My wife has a mild crush on both him and Obama, so I ceded to listening to their Renegades podcast (I can admire them both, but that title’s a bit off the mark–unless they were trying to be self-effacing). I rolled my eyes when I learned his new album was soul covers (too easy and safe, I thought, plus the choice of material didn’t meet Cramps/Ray Condo standards, plus so many invitations to strain). Just listened to it this morning for old times’ sake on a long walk…and found it sweet. Nicole will like it, too.
Several cyber-acquaintances of mine are really writing well on Substack. When I read their work, I wanna just fold it up here–that’s how much I enjoy it. If you like this blog, please try out Christian Iszchak’s “An Acute Case” (every Friday–good idea, ’cause that’s a great day to pay musicians!), Brad Luen’s always incisive and witty “Semipop Life,”, and Steve Pick’s “Steve Pick’s Writing Place.” Then stay there and only come back here if you need to–those guys actually write.

RELEASES OF NEWLY-MADE MUSIC

(New additions to the list are bolded.)

Rosalia: MOTOMAMI (Columbia)
Willie Nelson: A Beautiful Time (Sony)
Beyoncé: Renaissance (Parkwood Entertainment)
Tanya Tagaq: Tongues (Six Shooter)
Ricky Ford: The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford—Paul’s Scene (Whaling City Sounds)
Stro Elliot & James Brown: Black & Loud—James Brown Reimagined (Polydor)
75 Dollar Bill: Social Music at Troost, Volume 3–Other People’s Music (Black Editions Group)
Tommy Womack: I Thought I Was Fine (Schoolkids Records)
Jeff Parker ETA IVTet: Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy (Eremite)
Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets (TUM)
Wet Leg: Wet Leg (Domino)
Anitta: Versions of Me (Deluxe) (Warner)
Ka: Languish Arts (Iron Works)
Sudan Archives: Natural Brown Prom Queen (Stones Throw)
Lady Wray: Piece of Me (Big Crown)
Harry Styles: Harry’s House (Columbia)
Sun Ra Arkestra (featuring Marshall Allen): Living Sky (Strut / Omni Sound)
Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
Horace Andy: Midnight Rocker (On-U Sound)
Amanda Shires: Take It Like a Man (ATO)
Mary Gauthier: Dark Enough to See the Stars (Thirty Tigers)
Patricia Brennan: More Touch (Pyroclastic)
black midi: Hellfire (Rough Trade)
Heroes Are Gang Leaders: LeAutoRoiGraphy (577 Records)
The Mountain Goats: Bleed Out (Merge)
ensemble 0: Music Nuvulosa (Sub Rosa)
Gogol Bordello: Solidaritine (Das Grand Kapital)
Steve Lacy: Gemini Rights (RCA)
Superchunk: Wild Loneliness (Merge)
Gonora Sounds: Hard Times Never Kill (Phantom Limb)
Ches Smith: Interpret It Well (Pyroclastic)
The Ogun Meji Duo: Freedom Suite (self-released)
SAULT: Untitled (God) (self-released)
SAULT: Today & Tomorrow (self-released)
Phelimuncasi: Ama Gogela (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn: Pigments (Merge)
700 Bliss: Nothing to Declare (Hyperdub)
Bruno Berle: No Reino Dos Afetos (Far Out)
The Chats: Get Fucked (Cooking Vinyl)
Jinx Lennon: Pet Rent (Septic Tiger)
Freakons: Freakons (Fluff & Gravy)
Jeong Lim Yang: Zodiac Suite—Reassured (Fresh Sound)
Etran de L’Air: Agadez (Sahel Sounds)
Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These (self-released)
Bitchin’ Bajas: Bajascillators (Drag City)
Horsegirl: “Billy” / “History Lesson, Part II” (Matador)
Mark Lomax Trio: Plays Mingus (CFG Multimedia)
Florian Arbenz: Conversation #5—Elemental; Conversations #6 and 7
Moor Mother: Jazz Codes (Anti-)
Buck 65: King of Drums (4320739 Records DK)
Mdou Moctar: Niger EP Volume 1 (Matador)
ifsonever: ifsonever (Jazz & Milk)
Various Artists: Lespri Ka—New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe (Time Capsule Sounds)
Satoko Fujii: One Hundred Dreams (Libra)
Mark Lomax II: Prismatic Refractions, Volume I (self-released)
Special Interest: Endure (Rough Trade)
James Brandon Lewis: MSM Molecular Systematic Music—Live (Intakt)
Kari Faux: Lowkey Superstar (Don Giovanni)
Adeem the Artist: White Trash Revelry (self-released)
Miranda Lambert: Palomino (Vanner)
Backxwash: HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING (Ugly Hag / self-released)
Daniel Villareal: Panama ’77 (International Anthem)
Kehlani: blue water road (TSNMI/Atlantic)
Elaine Elias: Quietude (Candid)
Dr. John: Things Happen That Way (Rounder)
Horace Andy: Midnight Scorchers (On-U Sound)
Ka: Woeful Studies (Iron Works)
Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 2—Joy Boy (New Amsterdam)
Lucrecia Dalt: Ay! (RVNG International)
GloRilla: Anyways, Life’s Great (CMG/Interscope)
Amber Mark:Three Dimensions Deep (PMR / Interscope)
Morgan Wade: Reckless (Deluxe) (Ladylike)
Zoh Amba: O, Sun (Tzadik)
Jussi Reijonen: Three Seconds I Kolme Toista (Challenge Records International)
Ran Blake: Driftwoods (Tompkins Square)
Whit Dickey: Root Perspectives (Tao Forms)
Billy Woods: Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studios)
Ishmael Reed: The Hands of Grace (Reading Group)
Dan Ex Machina: All is Ours, Nothing is Theirs (self-released)
Anna von Hausswoolff: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival (Southern Lord)
Felipe Salles: Tiyo’s Songs of Life (Tapestry)
Steve Lehman: Xaybu—The Unseen(Pi Recordings)
Tom Zé: Lingua Brasiliera (Selo Sesc)
Joyce Moreno: Brasilieras Cancoes (Biscoito Fino)
M.I.A.: Mata (Island)
Taylor Swift: Midnights (non-expanded) (Republic)
Nancy Mounir: Nozhet El Nofous (Terrorbird)
Rick Rosato: Homage (self-released)
The Beths: Expert in a Dying Field (Carpark)
Alvvays: Blue Rev (Polyvinyl / Transgressive)
Oumou Sangare: Timbuktu (World Circuit Limited)
Various Artists: Hidden Waters—Strange and Sublime Sounds from Rio de Janiero (Sounds and Colours)
SeaJun Kwon: Micro Nap (Endectomorph Music)
Gilla Band: Most Normal (Rough Trade)
Dry Cleaning: Stumpwork (4AD)
Brian Eno: FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE (Verve / UMC)
Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Universal)
Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity:Elastic Wave (ECM)
Miguel Zeñon: Musica de las Americas (Miel Music)
Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: Lift Every Voice (Division 81 Records)
Tyshawn Sorey: The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism (Pi)
Priscilla Block: Welcome to the Block Party (InDent)
The Comet is Coming: Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (Impulse)
Serengeti: Kaleidoscope III (Audiocon)
Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (pgLang/Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope)
Makaya McCraven: In These Times (International Anthem)
Charm Taylor: She Is The Future (Sinking City)
OGJB: Ode to O (TUM) (Note: Band name – O = Oliver Lake, G = Graham Haynes, J = Joe Fonda, B = Barry Altschul / Title – O = Ornette)
Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, and Enrico Rava: Two Blues for Cecil (TUM)
Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio: The Bottom (Cuneiform)
Tyler Mitchell: Dancing Shadows (featuring Marshall Allen) (Mahakala Music)
Crow Billiken (aka R.A.P. Ferreira): If I don’t have red I use blue (self-released)
Dopolarians: Blues for Alvin Fielder—Live at Crosstown Arts, Memphis (Mahakala Music)
The Paranoid Style: For Executive Meeting(Bar/None)
Carl Stone: Wat Dong Moon Lek (Unseen Worlds)
Joy Guidry:Radical Acceptance (Whited Sepulchre)
Tasche de la Rocha: Tasche de la Rocha & The Psychedelic Roses (Sinking City)
Meridian Brothers and El Grupo & Renacimiento (Ansonia)
Avram Fefer Quartet: Juba Lee (Clean Feed)
Marxist Love Disco Ensemble: MLDE(Mr. Bongo)
Jeffrey Lewis: When That Really Old Cat Dies (self-released)
Mitski: Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
Jockstrap: Jockstrap (Rough Trade)
Breath of Air: Breath of Air (Burning Ambulance Music)
Immanuel Wilkins: The 7th Hand (Blue Note)
David Murray Brave New World Trio: Seriana Promethea (Intakt)
Fulu Miziki: Ngbaka (EP)
David Virelles: Nuna (Pi / El Tivoli)
Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni: The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson)
Leikeli47: Shape Up (Hardcover/RCA)
Witchcraft Books: Volume 1—The Sundisk (Iapetus Records)
Hurray for The Riff Raff: Life on Earth (Nonesuch)
Qasim Naqvi/Wadada Leo Smith/Andrew Cyrille: Two Centuries (Red Hook)
Rokia Koné and Jacknife Lee: Bamanan (3DFamily)
Tomas Fujiwara: Triple Double (Firehouse 12)
DJ Black Low: Uwami (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
Ibibio Sound Machine:Electricity (Merge)
Zoh Amba: O Life, O Light, Volume 1(577 Records)
Burton/McPherson Trio: The Summit Rock Session at Seneca Village (Giant Step Arts)
Kahil El’Zabar Quartet: A Time for Healing (Spirit Muse)
Pastor Champion: I Just Want to Be a Good Man (Luaka Bop)
Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Blue Note)
Pusha T: It’s Almost Dry (G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam)
Elza Soares: Elza Ao Vivo No Municipal (Deck)
Nilufer Yanya: Painless (ATO)
Open Mike Eagle: a tape called component system with the auto reverse (Auto Reverse)
Chad Fowler/Ivo Perelman/Zoh Amba/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Steve Hirsch: Alien Skin (Mahakala Music)
Tommy McLain: I Ran Down Every Dream (Yep Roc)
Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda: Thread of Light (Fundacja Słuchaj)
Charli XCX: Crash (Atlantic)
Pete Malinverni: On the Town—Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein (Planet Arts)
JID: The Forever Story (Dreamville)
Dedicated Men of Zion: The Devil Don’t Like It (Bible & Tire)
Tyshawn Sorey Trio: Mesmerism (Pi Recordings)
Dezron Douglas: Atalaya (International Anthem)
Space Afrika: Honest Labour (Dais)
Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer (DeeWee)
Earl Sweatshirt: Sick! (Tan Cressida / Warner)
Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD)
Ashley McBryde: Presents…Lindeville (Warner Nashville)
Jeff Arnal and Curt Cloninger: Drum Major Instinct (Mahakala Music)
Tee Grizzley: Half Tee Half Beast (self-released)
Natsuki Tamura: Summer Tree (Libra)
Ghais Guevara: There Will Be No Super-Slave (self-released)
Bruce Springsteen: Only the Strong Survive (Columbia)
Manel Fortia: Despertar (Segell Microscopi/Altafonte)
Ray Wylie Hubbard: Co-Starring Too (Big Machine)
Various Artists: if you fart make it sound good (WA Records)
Marta Sanchez: SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) (Whirlwind)
Sonnyjim & The Purist: White Girl Wasted (Duape)
Earthgang: Ghetto Gods (Dreamville/Interscope)
Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home (Anti-)
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom: Reset (Domino)
Blue Reality Quartet: Ella’s Island (Mahakala Music)
Sarah Ruth and Monte Espina: quatro estaciones (Full Spectrum)

ARCHIVAL DIGS

Los Golden Boys: Cumbia de Juventud (Mississippi Records)
Albert Ayler: Revelations—The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (Elemental)
Cecil Taylor:The Complete Legendary Live Return Concert at the Town Hall (Oblivion)
Tommy Womack: 30 Years Shot to Hell! An Anthology (Schoolkids Records)
Various Artists: Lovers Rock—The Soulful Sound of Romantic Reggae (Trojan)
Albert Ayler: La Cave Live 1966 (Ezz-Thetics)
Various Artists: Cumbia Sabrosa—Tropical Sound System Bangers From The Discos Fuentes Vaults 1961-1981 (Rocafort Records)
Freestyle Fellowship: To Whom It May Concern….
Biluka y Los Canibales: Leaf-Playing in Quito (1960-1965) (Honest Jon’s)
Various Artists: OZ DAYS LIVE ’72-’73 Kichijoji–The 50th Anniversary Collection (featuring Les Rallizes Dénudés) (Temporal Drift)
Various Artists: A Chat About the Beauty of the Moon at Night–Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
The Rolling Stones: Live at the El Mocambo (Interscope)
Son House: Forever on My Mind (Easy Eye Sound)
Lavender Country: Blackberry Rose and Other Songs & Sorrows (Don Giovanni)
Mal Waldron: Searching in Grenoble—The 1978 Solo Piano Concert (Tompkins Square)
Horace Tapscott Quintet: The Quintet (Mr. Bongo)
Horace Tapscott Quintet: Legacies for Our Grandchildren (Dark Tree)
Dickie Landry & Lawrence Weiner: Having Been Built on Sand (Unseen Worlds)
Various Artists: The D-Vine Spirituals—Sacred Soul (Bible & Tire)
Kabaka International Guitar Band: Kabaka International Guitar Band (Palenque Records)
The Pyramids: AOMAWA—The 1970s Recordings (Strut)
Hermeto Pascoal: Hermeto (Far Out Recordings)
Sun Ra: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Strut)
Asha Puthi: The Essential Asha Puthi (Mr. Bongo)
Malik’s Emerging Force Art Trio: Time and Condition (moved-by-sound)
Volta Jazz: Air Volta (Numero)
Blondie: Against the Odds—1974-1982 (3-CD Rarities Version) (UMe / Numero Group)
Joyce Moreno: Natureza (Far Out Recordings)
Various Artists: From Lion Mountain—Traditional Music of Yeha, Ethiopia (Dust-to-Digital)
Charles Stepney: Step-on-Step(International Anthem)
Ronnie Boykins: The Will Come is Now (ESP-Disk)
John Ondolo: Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo (Mississippi Records)
Luciano Luciani y sus Mulatos: Mulata, vamos a la Salsa (Vampisoul)
Cecil Taylor: Respiration (Fundacja Stuchaj)
Norma Tanega: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964-1971 (Anthology)
Irma Thomas: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 (Good Time)
Afrika Negra: Antologia, Volume 1 (Bongo Joe)
Various Artists: Summer of Soul (Legacy)
The Heartbreakers: LAMF—The ’77 Found Mixes (Jungle)
Various Artists: Let’s Stamp—1950s Folk Dance Recordings from Bulgarian and Yugoslavian 78 Discs (Canary Recordings)

I Don’t Feel Tardy. I Don’t Feel Hardy. But I Feel That Wild Loneliness…. (January 1 – March 6, 2022)

Sorry I’m late; life is interfering. Not for the first time has a family (or other loved one’s) health crisis interrupted my much less important obsession with documenting my favorite records of the past days, weeks, months, and years–and with me, it seems, when it rains, it’s like a cow pissin’ off a cliff onto a flat rock. I’m truly multiply occupied (I am also teaching a brand-new class on groundbreaking women in this country’s music that is requiring regular and very exciting hard work), so I am behind in some ways. But I just turned 60, I feel like I’m 35 in a sea of stress, so it must be real love…and the music.

What I’m really waiting for are the new albums by Wet Leg (can the whole album be that good?) and Rosalia (the flamenco touches seem to be wafting away, but on the evidence of the singles, she remains a force). The former’s out soon; the latter will require enduring a multi-month tease.
I often check things out on a whim. Joy Guidry’s new album’s cover and title had me thinking a very interesting rap album–but it’s improvisational jazz, and good stuff at that.
Superchunk’s never been one of my top faves, but their classic What a Time to Be Alive dragged me kicking and screaming into a state of deep admiration and a practice of repeat plays. Their new record is almost a companion piece, but from a completely different and powerful emotional direction–I just listened to it for the first time today and, in the state I’m in, it killed me.
One of the world’s greatest rock and roll deejays, Whitney Shroyer, a longtime friend and advisor, implored me to sample Lady Wray, whom I’d not heard of (it happens–a lot). Though I like its predecessor a little better, from a singing, songwriting, and production standpoint, Piece of Me is a solid pleasure.
Did I tell ya to read Tanya Tagaq’s Split Tooth and check out her new album Tongues? Yes, I did. I was fucking serious. They go together, and they deliver.
It’s not every late winter that you can buy two classic creations by a known wizard reissued from those too-halycon-from-a-preservationist-perspective Seventies. This is one of them. They also call him Hermeto.
High on the “appreciation” scale but wavering on the “diggit” scale: the new offerings by Big Thief and Black Country, New Roads.
Lavender Country is a gay and politically smart-ass country outfit dating back to 1972. Their album in the archival digs category is only three years old, but it might as well have come out today. It is NOT simply a novelty; it’s well-played, wittily sung and written, and will cattle-prod you out of the corner of your ear.
I feel like I’m experiencing an explosion of sharp country music women coming from tantalizingly marginally differentiated viewpoints (JUST IN TIME FOR MY NEW CLASS). Priscilla Block’s the latest, and I’ll let you discover the viewpoint.
Gonora Sounds’ Hard Times Never Kill is a beautiful-sounding album from Zimbabwe.
I wish I had heard Adeem the Artist‘s Cast-Iron Pansexual (like about 20 other 2021 albums) when it came out. Great songs, one of which made me tear up, and he wished me a happy birthday on Twitter!
(Hidden track)(Whispered to avoid having things thrown at me, but…) I’ll say it: Spoon’s never really done it for me. I’ve learned never say never–but my first listen was at 5:15 this morning and it livelied me up. Could have been the Death Wish coffee pods my brother left at my mom’s house, though.