Tag: CFG Multimedia

A Moment of Silence for January 2026—Then Let It Blast! Some Records (and Books) That Kept My Head Up During the Horror

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I retreated into music and books this month. The books I chose to help me find answers and a path forward; the music I explored to stay connected.

As usual with Januaries past, new so-called pop (and semi-pop) music oozed out slowly. Jazz, as is its wont, continued to issue forth like a live Sonny Rollins calypso solo. You will see evidence of such in my list, though maybe my perception is due to my leanings (jazz has been a more reliable stimulant to me than anything as I’ve grown suddenly into my sixties).

Also as usual, I am restless when it comes to formatting this blog, and this year, along with tracking my favorite new releases, I’ve decided to return to documenting older purchases I’ve recently returned to and the books I’m currently reading. In this post, I shamefacedly shine light on a few albums I should have pushed harder last year, especially one by the great Memphis singer of bluesy rhythm and blues (the blues? what are those?), Talibah Safiya. She has a new one in the February chute that I paid for the privilege of sampling early—see below. Verdict: it, too, is terrific—she has a gift for soft grit, something like legendary trumpeter Clifford Brown’s tone of “soft fire” (can’t remember what musician described it thus). The other most notable “coming soon” release is the product of the ever-sublime, ever-simply complex music partnership of bassist.cellist Tomeka Reid and guitarist Mary Halvorson.

I will always supply links to my recommendations. I would post a playlist, but I am not thrilled with the connections of any streaming platform, and, if the recommendation has a Bandcamp link, you can play tracks from there.

If the urge strikes you, check out my education Substack, The Overeem (Failed) Farewell to Teaching Tour, which almost always makes contact with the world of music even though I can’t play an instrument and I’ve taught English for the last 42 years. My other WordPress blog, the original Overeem Farewell to Teaching Tour, has deeper and broader reaches, especially as it traces every day of my final year of public school teaching (2012-2014) as well as my wife Nicole’s and my winding trek through peak COVID (March 2020-March 2021). For rock and rollers, it also includes school-related pieces on Dead Moon (played at my school), Bobby Rush (housed the audience at my school), and Chuck Berry (provoked a parent to question my principal about my morals).

Keep your eye on the ball, don’t turn away from life, and don’t panic. Freedom is a constant struggle, but it doesn’t have to be this horrible. Be the opposite of what they are. And get your feet in the street if the situation calls you to it.

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Mark Lomax II: The Unity Suite (CFG Multimedia)

Dr. Lomax and his combo continue to deliver spiritual jazz of considerable power—you can meditate to it, but it hits your body as well. His music is disciplined and devout, yet it celebrates and inspires freedom, not to mention the title adjective—we need all of that right now.

Other Favorite New Albums, January 2026 

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

Dry Cleaning: Secret Love (4AD)

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

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

Fanfare Ciocarlia: Devil’s Tale (Asphalt Tango)

Al Green: To Love Somebody (Fat Possum EP)

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

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

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

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

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

SAULT: Chapter 1 (Forever Living Originals)

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

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

Slutworld: Slut Intent (self-released EP)

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

Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life)

2025: Gone But Too Cool for Me to Have Forgotten

C-MAT: Euro-Country (CMATBABY)

Griot Galaxy: Live on WUOM 1979 (Two Rooms)

Anthony Joseph: Rowing Up the River to Get My Name Back (Heavenly Sweetness)

Talibah Safiya: a lil’ more Black Magic (High Water)

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed

79rs Gang: Fire on the Bayou (Urban Unrest / Sinking City)

79rs Gang: Expect the Unexpected (Sinking City)

Collocutor: Continuation (On the Corner)

The Killer Shrews: The Killer Shrews (Enemy)

Donal Lunny: Donal Lunny’s Definitive Moving Hearts (Warner Ireland)

The Supreme Angels: If I’m Too High (Nashboro)

The Supreme Angels: The Supreme Angels (Nashboro)

Hey! I Read, Too! 

Adam Morgan: A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls—Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to Modernize Literature (One Signal)

Sivina Ocampo: The Promise (City Lights)

József Debreczeni: Cold Crematorium (St. Martin’s Press)

Orlando Reade: What In Me Is Dark—The Revolutionary Afterlife of Paradise Lost (Astra House)

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)