Tag: Cooper Crain

33 1/3: My Favorite Albums of the Year So Far (January 1st to April 30th)

Whew! It has been a month.

My in-person musical highlights of April were witnessing the L.A. born-and-bred/St. Louis Black Artists Group-associated poet K. Curtis Lyle perform his long and stunning The Collected Poem for Blind Lemon Jefferson, driven by Damon Smith beating the fuck out of his doghouse bass and creating surprising sounds that perfectly punctuated the work, as well as marveling at Jeffrey Lewis magically taking control of St. Louis’ marvelous dive The Sinkhole like the greatest music teacher alive. I’ve included Lyle’s latest work below, even though it was a late-2024 release–so it goes with the slow. Big thanks to the humble, smiling genius Matt Crook and Dismal Niche for their continued imagination and effort to bring underheard sounds to Columbia, Missouri.

Regarding the rest of the new items on my cumulative list of 2025 records I’ve so far been captivated by?

  1. No, I am not on the Nyege Nyege Tapes or Satoko Fujii payrolls, nor do I get review copies from Nyege Nyege Tapes (I demand them from Libra Records jk). Both forces have truly been on a creative roll and bring life and rhythm to my house with each new release.
  2. The Delines, Patterson Hood, and Craig Finn chipped away at the thickening personal ice block separating me from enjoying most of the “Americana” genre.
  3. If you get a chance to see Jeffrey Lewis, take it. You get excellent songs, impish charm, songs for the hear-and-now…and Lewis-illustrated history lessons.
  4. If you are so fed-up you need some in-your-face music, may I direct you to the new Sumac-Moor Mother team-up? Or would you prefer some Backxwash? Or maybe clipping? All three acts are at their finest on these releases.
  5. I believe Argentinian jazz pianist Rocio Gimenez Lopez is one of the least well-known terrific musicians in the world. Her new album of interpretations of jazz classics is sublime. Please give her a shot.
  6. I have pushed the freak-folk/psychedelic-doom/quiet-REAAAAALLLLY fucking loud-quiet Japanese band Les Rallizes Denudes several times here before. Check out the below RSD reissue for maybe the best way into their work.
  7. There are now several Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet albums out there, many featuring interpretations of the exact same songs in different live settings and also featuring ace Ava Mendoza. You need at least one: you can get the studio version, but I would also take your pick of the live versions, as they all go into different sonic territory. Fans of Quine, 75 Dollar Bill, even Mdou Moctar have no reason to ignore me.
  8. When you hear the NOLA team-up of Galactic and Irma Thomas, you will not believe Irma’s 84. This isn’t their first collab; when they lock in they sound made for each other. And while I’m talking soul, you may have given up on SAULT (not sure why you would have, but they are not exactly stingy with their output, and might have created in you some aural calluses), but please give 10 a chance: it carries a timely, easeful late great-period Sly vibe.
  9. That’s right: Ed Hamell and Jinx Lennon have new records out. Get your rabble roused and your heart emboldened.
  10. The Bitchin’ Bajas’ Cooper Crain: Columbia, Missouri’s Smithton Middle School’s most creative graduate. He wasn’t on my team during his tenure there, but I was made aware of him of my students who were in his orbit.

TO THE LIST: Items in bold are new; I’ve added a track from each album (when available) to an ongoing accompanying Spitify playlist; anything with an asterisk I especially enjoyed; anything fully italicized is an excavation from bygone days; yes, I’m eventually going to put them in order from most enjoyable to simply enjoyable–but not yet.

Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta:  Mapambazuko (Nyege Nyege Tapes)*****

Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons: Live in Philadelphia, Volume 1 (Otherly Love Records—out on May 23 but be on the serious look-out!) ***

The Ancients: The Ancients (Eremite)

Ichiko Aoba: Luminescent Creatures (Psychic Hotline)

Artemis: Arboresque (Blue Note) ****

Backxwash: Only Dust Remains (Ugly Hag)****

Bad Bunny: DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS (Rimas Entertainment)****

Black Milk & Fat Ray: Food from the Gods (Computer Ugly / Fat Beats)

Blacks’ Myths Meets Pat Thomas: The Mythstory School (self-released) ***

Booker T & The Plasmic Bleeds: Ode To BC/LY… And Eye Know BO…. da Prez (Mahakala Music)

Benjamin Booker: Lower (Fire Next Time)

Johnny Bragg: Let Me Dream On (Org Music) ***

Brother Ali & Ant: Satisfied Soul (Mello Music)

Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson: Bone Bells (Pyroclastic)

clipping: Dead Channel Sky (Sub Pop)

Christopher Dammann Sextet: Christopher Dammann Sextet (Out of Your Head)

Deepstaria Enigmatica: The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk)

The Delines: Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom (Jealous Butcher)****

DJ Dadaman & Moscow Dollar: Ka Gaza (Nyege Nyege Tapes)

doseone & Steel Tipped Dove: All Portrait, No Chorus (BackwoodzStudios) ****

Ex-Void: In Love Again (Tapete Records)

Craig Finn: Always Been (Tamaric / Thirty Tigers)***

FKA twigs: Eusexua (Young Recordings Limited)

Satoko Fujii GEN: Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra)

Satoko Fujii Trio: Dream a Dream (Libra)****

Satoko Fuji / This is It!: Message (Libra)

Keiji Haino and Natsuki Tamura: what happened there? (Libra)

Galactic and Irma Thomas: Audience with the Queen (Tchoup-Zilla)

Hamell on Trial: Harp (for Harry) (Saustex)

The Hemphill Stringtet: Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head Records) Note: release date = April 4, 2025****

Patterson Hood: Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams (ATO)***

William Hooker: Jubilation (Org Music)*****

William Hooker: A Time Within: Live at the New York Jazz Museum, January 14, 1977 (The Control Group / Valley of Search) ***

Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On (Matador)

HHY & The Kampala Unit: Turbo Meltdown (Nyege Nyege Tapes)****

Michael Gregory Jackson: Frequency Equilibrium Koan (moved-by-sound)

Jeong – Bisio Duo (featuring Joe McPhee): Morning Bells Whistle Bright (ESP-Disk) ****

Anthony Joseph: Rowing Up the River to Get Our Names Back (Heavenly Sweetness)****

JPEG Mafia: I Lay Down My Life for You (Director’s Cut) (self-released)*****

Kelela: In the Blue Light (Warp)***

KINGDOM MOLOGI: Kembo (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ***

Lady Gaga: Mayhem (Interscope)

Steve Lehman: The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi Recordings)*****

Jinx Lennon: The Hate Agents Leer at the Last Agents of Hope (Septic Tiger)

James Brandon Lewis: Apple Cores (Anti-)

Jeffrey Lewis: The Even More Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis (Don Giovanni)

LOLO: LOLO (Black Sweat)

Rocio Gimenez Lopez: La Forma Del Sueno (Blue Art)****

K. Curtis Lyle, Jaap Blonk, Damon Smith, Alex Cunningham: A Radio of the Body

Mazinga: Chinese Democracy Manifest—Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (Rubber Wolf)

The Mekons: Horror (Fire)***

Mean Mistreater: Do or Die (self-released)

Mac Miller: Baloonerism (Warner Records)

Jako Maron: Mahavelouz (Nyege Nyege Tapes)****

Billy Mohler: The Eternal (Contagious)

Matthew Muneses and Riza Printup: Pag-Ibko, Volume 1 (Irabbagast Records)

David Murray Quartet: The Birdsong Project Presents Birdly Serenade (Verve)

Natural Information Society and Bitchin’ Bahas: Totality (Drag City)

NOBRO: Set Your Pussy Free (Dine Alone) ***

Isabelle Olivier: Impressions (Rewound Echoes)

The Onions: Return to Paradise (Hitt Records)

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: Hauslive 4 (Palilalia)***

Organic Pulse Ensemble: Ad Hoc (Ultraaani Records)*****

Pitch, Rhythm, and Consciousness: Sextet (Reva Records)

Marek Pospieszalski Octet & Zoh Amba (see below): NOW! (Project financed by a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage “Młoda Polska” & Katowice City of Music UNESCO) Note: release date = November 29, 2024

Les Rallizes Denudes: Blind Baby Has Its Mother’s Eyes (Life Goes On)

R.A.P. Ferreira: Outstanding Understanding (Ruby Yacht)

Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Young Fashioned Ways (Deep Rush / RAM Records) ***

SAULT: 10 (Sault Global)***

Serengeti: mixtape 2 (serengetiraps / self-released)

Serengeti: Palookaville (serengetiraps / self-released) Note: release date = December 25, 2024

The Sex Pistols: Live in the U.S.A. South East Music Hall, Atlanta, January 5th, 1978 (UME)

The Sharp Pins: Radio DDR (K / Perennial Death)****

Luke Stewart / Silt Remembrance Ensemble: The Order (Cuneiform)***

Ray Suhy / Lewis Porter Quartet: What Happens Next(Sunnyside) ***

SUMAC and Moor Mother: The Film (Thrill Jockey)

John Surman: Flashpoint and Undercurrents (Cuneiform Records) ***

Masahiko Tagashi: Session in Paris, Volume 1—Song of the Soil (with Don Cherry and Charlie Haden) (We Want Sounds)

Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’: Room on the Porch for Everyone (UMG EP) (Note: a related full album releases in May that contains NONE of these excellent songs)

Ebo Taylor, Adrain Younge, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Jazz Is Dead 22 (Jazz is Dead)

Trio Glossia: Trio Glossia (Sonic Transmissions)****

The Tubs: Cotton Crown (self-released)

Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory: Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (Jagjaguwar)

Various Artists: Prisoners’ Day Compilation (Majazz Project / Palestinian Sound Archive)***

Various Artists: Sweet Rebels—The Golden Era of Algerian Pop-Rai (We Want Sounds) ***

The War & Treaty: Plus One (Mercury Nashville)

Alfred White: The Definitive Alfred White (Music Makers Recordings)

Simon Willson: Bet (Endectomorph Records)

Jeong Lim Yang: Synchronicity (Fully Altered Media) The Young Mothers: Better If You Let It (Sonic Transmissions)****

SAMPLE THIS SHIT!

Living to Listen’s Top Albums of 2020, Part II (I refuse to admit we’re in a different calendar year–even today, which is the dawn of 2020, Part III)

Yes, I know it’s 2022, and this list is dedicated to the top spins of 2021. But it feels to me as if 2020 started on March 15 of that actual year (The Ides, you know) and has declared the turning of the last two annums invalid. Until I feel differently, I’m gonna keep believing it, though, like Joe Tex’s man in that Viet Nam foxhole, I believe we’re gonna make it.

If you follow this blog, you know the good records mount and mount until there seems to be no sane scaling of them. For your pleasure and convenience, I’ve topped them off to a mere 50 like I’m lookin’ for coal and to hell with the slag (the still-pleasurable slag). This time, my rubric is simple: How likely, really, am I to listen to these albums several times more while I continue trying, in my futile battle against the dustbin of time to save every flower, to keep up with the mounds of fresh sounds? You can always access the previous months’ lists for those a cast a cold eye upon, though December’s getting shafted in that regard. Also, I’ve voted in a couple of year-end polls and, as usual, I make no promises (to anyone who really cares) that these results will match up with those. One never drops the same needle on the same record twice.

The archival digs I’ve trimmed to 25. I know I had that massive, well-appointed, and long-overdue Marian Anderson box at #1 last month, and now it’s not on the list at all–I guess that was a) pretentious; b) the happy historian in me; and c) overambitious.

Goodbye, Greg Tate. Why’d you have to go? I hope there is enough of your uncollected passionate criticism to fill another bucket of buttermilk with (gad)flies. It’s hard to imagine not being able to keep reading your newest insights for the rest of my life. And one thing I really appreciate looking back on your work I’ve read (most of it) is how seldom you were an asshole…if ever. Your style seemed to exclude that as a choice.

Thanks to the kindness of Tom Hull, I was invited to vote in the Jazz Critics Poll. Should you be curious, here’s my ballot (scroll down to the O’s).

In a related development, I’m considering a move to Scandinavia….

Bolded titles are new to the list, and to be fair, most of the releases I dug in December are on the list.

  1. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 1–Femenine 
  2. Ingebrigt Håker Flaten: (Exit) Knarr 
  3. James Brandon Lewis: Jesup Wagon  
  4. East Axis: Cool With That  
  5. Gift of Gab: Finding Inspiration Somehow
  6. Ka: Martyr’s Reward
  7. Little Simz: Sometimes I Might Be Introverted 
  8. Miguel Zenon: Law Years—The Music of Ornette Coleman  
  9. Gimenez Lopez: Reunion en la granja 
  10. No-No Boy: 1975  
  11. The Halluci Nation: One More Saturday Night 
  12. Robert Finley: Sharecropper’s Son  
  13. Mauricio Tagliari: Maô_Danças Típicas de Cidades Imaginárias 
  14. Mickey Guyton: Remember Her Name 
  15. Mdou Moctar: Afrique Victim  
  16. King Britt & Tyshawn Sorey: Tyshawn and King  
  17. For Those I Love: For Those I Love 
  18. Mariá Grand: Reciprocity 
  19. R. A. P. Ferreira: The Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures 
  20. R.A.P. Ferreira: Bob’s Son   
  21. Trondheim Jazz Orchestra & Ole Morten Vågan: Plastic Wave 
  22. The Source: …But Swinging Doesn’t Bend Them Down 
  23. Peter Stampfel and Jeffrey Lewis: Both Ways 
  24. Various Artists: Sacred Soul of North Carolina 
  25. Mexstep: Vivir 
  26. The Ebony Hillbillies: Barefoot and Flying
  27. William Parker: Mayan Space Station
  28. Marta Gabriel: Metal Queen 
  29. Snotty Nose Rez Kids: Life After 
  30. Fire in Little Africa: Fire in Little Africa  
  31. Tim Berne: Broken Shadows  
  32. Dwayne Dopsie and The Zydeco Hellraisers: Set Me Free 
  33. Monster Magnet: A Better Dystopia 
  34. Dry Cleaning: New Long Leg  
  35. Dawn Richard: Second Line  
  36. Lukah: Why Look Up, God’s in the Mirror 
  37. Marianne Faithfull (with Warren Ellis): She Walks in Beauty  
  38. Low-Cut Connie: Tough Cookies  
  39. Paris: Safe Space Invader  
  40. girl in red: if I could make it go quiet   
  41. Orquestra Brasileira: 80 Anos 
  42. Bitchin’ Bajas: Switched-On Ra  
  43. Body Metta: The Work is Slow  
  44. Anthony Joseph: The Rich are Only Defeated When Running for Their Lives  
  45. Ducks Ltd: Get Bleak 
  46. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: Cosmic Transitions 
  47. Backxwash: I Lie Here with My Rings and Dresses  
  48. Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber: Angels Over Oakanda 
  49. Neil Young: Barn 
  50. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raise the Roof 
     
    Archaeological Digs 
  1. Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multinational Crusade for Harmony   
  2. JuJu: Live at 131 Prince Street  
  3. The Plastic People of the Universe: Egon Bondy’s Happy Hearts Club Banned 
  4. Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber: 20th Anniversary Mixtapes / Groiddest Schizznits 
  5. Bobo Jenkins: My All-New Life Story 
  6. Khaira Arby: Khaira Arby in New York  
  7. Various Artists: A Stranger I May Be—Savoy Gospel 1954-1966  
  8. ICP Orchestra: Incipient ICP (1966-1971) 
  9. Plastic People of The Universe: Apokalyptickej pták   
  10. Roy Brooks: Understanding 
  11. Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band: The Legendary No Nukes Concerts 
  12. Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Down in the Rust Bucket  
  13. Mujician: 10 10 10 
  14. Various Artists: Journeys in Modern Jazz–Britain
  15. Leo Nocentelli: Another Side 
  16. Agustin Pereyra Lucena Quartet: La Rana 
  17. John Coltrane: A Love Supreme—Live in Seattle 
  18. Screamers: Demo Hollywood 1977 
  19. Hamiet Blueitt: Bearer of the Holy Flame  
  20. Byard Lancaster: My Pure Joy  
  21. Various Artists: The Smithsonian Anthology of Rap and Hip Hop  
  22. Charles Mingus: Mingus at Carnegie Hall # 
  23. The J Ann C Trio: At Tan-Tar-A 
  24. Mistreater: Hell’s Fire  
  25. Pure Hell: Noise Addiction