Tag: Joe MCPhee

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

IT ENDS HERE: My Favorite Albums of 2023

As DJ Heraclitus said, you can’t listen to the same record twice. I was lucky to simply listen to each of these records once (I at least did that), and many of them changed with me when (if?) I came back to them. Anohni’s, though, held my top spot for most of the year and finished there: it’s not a fun record, but this ain’t a fun planet, and I don’t live in a fun state (Missouri), and her album title rings too true around here and so many other places in the world. It’s a reminder to keep fighting, keep living, and keep loving–as well as to knock people off that bridge–and it documents an artist whose singing and writing has grown considerably over the years (the commitment was always there). I might have been influenced by her appearance in two 2023 books on Lou Reed, which caused me to re-examine her early work as well as the Berlin DVD. Anyway, the untamed Niafunke guitarist Bounaly made a strong run at her top spot, even took it for a spell, but that was pure rush instead of a finely honed artistic statement of the times, so…I ended up sticking to my guns. Support trans human beings and fight the heartless to the end.

It was a stunning year for jazz, of all challenging and/or beautiful stripes, and (across genres, too) women continue to make their mark (see next ‘graf). Canto, Chimaera, and Beyond Dragons were among the Top 10 jazz records of the year by anyone, period. The indefatigable Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii (as usual) delivered multiple engaging albums of her own as well as participating in those of others (see the list–they all made it unless I missed one). Make it a 2024 project to investigate her if you’ve yet to.

Jamila Woods took Joni Mitchell to the southside of Chicago. Gina Birch still wears her Docs and plays her bass loud. boygenius are girlgenius. Jessie Ware made us feel good when Roisin Murphy made us feel bad or at best confused. Romy delivered a gorgeous, same-sex-heartbroke (please excuse my awkwardness), late-night electronic telegram. Transformative, liberating lightning hit Corinne Bailey Rae. Big Freedia grew bigger. Kari Faux, Sexxy Red, and–on a different level–K. Michelle handled their shit on the urban streets of the midwest and midsouth. And…oh yeah…Olivia (though could she not have totally rocked OUT on SNL?).

It’s easy to dismiss old soul-blues dudes. I beg of you, LISTEN: 90-year-old Bobby Rush waxed a record that isn’t just good for a nonagenarian–he can still sing, pick, blow, and parse the times with players a quarter of his age–and relative greenhorn Robert Finley handed in a hard-assed, funny, and deep record that Dan Auerbach endowed with just the right touch, do not fear.

Last, this year was the first time I actually witnessed a Top-Tenner play in person. The Columbia Experimental Music Festival went out with a bang, bringing in the titanic tenor of James Brandon Lewis, whose 2-CD For Mahalia / These are Soulful Days (the latter one of the greatest jazz-horn-with-strings performance ever recorded) was the peak of his relatively brief career. We got to see him play with one of his favorite drummers, Chad Taylor, and they ’bout blew the top off of the First Baptist Church of Columbia, Missouri. Speaking of the CEMF, the ending of which has at least temporarily crippled our music scene, its founder Matt Crook somehow found a way to bring the Ukrainian pianist and inventor of continuous music, Lubomyr Melnyk, to town for a solo piano performance in our historic Methodist church downtown. Melnyk debuted a piece called “The Sacred Thousand” at the concert; it had not yet been recorded in the studio. The Bandcamp site for the recently released version says it best: The piece is “[d]edicated to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who held out against the enormous Russian army for several weeks in the Azov Steel Plant of Mariupol…. it is a spiritual journey into the soul of man… into the Beautiful Depths of our spiritual strength.”

Thank all of you who have visited this blog and worried that I hadn’t bathed in weeks in order to keep up. I have indeed listened to most of these albums at least twice and I vouch for their ability to move you. IF you’re receptive. Happy hollerdays and may 2024 not crush us.

My Final 2023 List

–If an album makes the list, it sounds and feels to me like the equivalent of a Pitchfork 7.5 or better, an All Music 3 ½ stars or better, or an Xgauvian **Honorable Mention or better.
–At this point, one can assume that my Top 20-50 sound to me the equivalent of an A-, but I’m a teacher in my other incarnation, so watch me for grade inflation. It cannot be assumed safely, though, that my Top 10 are all straight A’s.
–After the first 50, my “rankings” are a bit loose—though I’ve been toning them up to represent comparative quality to the degree my sanity is not threatened; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 10 (in this “final” case).

Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month. I just added a few today—and I’m done.

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Bounaly: Dimanche a Bamako (Sahel Sounds)
  3. James Brandon Lewis: For Mahalia (with Love) (AUM Fidelity 2-CD version)
  4. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  5. Lubomyr Melnyk: The Sacred Thousand (Jersika Records)
  6. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  7. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  8. Robert Finley: Black Bayou (Easy Eye)
  9. Romy: Midair (Young)
  10. Jamila Woods: Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)
  11. Sylvie Couvousier: Chimaera (Intakt)
  12. Noname: Sundial (AWAL Recordings America)
  13. Buck 65: Punk Rock B-Boy (self-released)
  14. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  15. Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El Arte del Bolero, Volume 2 (ArcArtists)
  16. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  17. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
  18. Corinna Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows (Black Rainbows)
  19. Zach Bryan: Zach Bryan (Belting Bronco)
  20. Armand Hammer: We Buy Diabetes Test Strips (Backwoodz Studios)
  21. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  22. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released)
  23. Ohad Talmor: Back to the Land (Intakt)
  24. The Fugs: Dancing in the Universe (Fugs Records)
  25. Olivia Rodrigo: Guts (Geffen)
  26. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  27. Hamell on Trial: Bring the Kids (Saustex)
  28. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  29. Gard Nilssen’s Supersonic Orchestra: Family (We Jazz)
  30. Aesop Rock: Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers)
  31. Mark Turner: Live at the Village Vanguard (Giant Step Arts)
  32. Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki (Mississippi Records)
  33. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  34. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  35. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  36. Adriana Calcanhotto: Errante (BMG)
  37. Tyler Mitchell Octet: Sun Ra’s Journey featuring Marshall Allen (Cellar Live)
  38. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  39. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  40. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  41. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  42. Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid, and Savannah Harris: Beyond Dragons (Intakt)
  43. Jelly Roll: Whitsitt Chapel (Stoney Creek)
  44. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  45. Filipe Catto: Belezas Sao Coisis Acesas por Dentro (Joia Moderna)
  46. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  47. Susan Alcorn: Canto (Relative Pitch)
  48. DJ Maphorisa & Tman Xpress: Chukela (New Money Gang)
  49. Jason Adasiewicz: Roscoe Village—The Music of Roscoe Mitchell (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  50. K. Michelle: I’m the Problem (No Color No Sound)
  51. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  52. Joe McPhee and Bill Orcutt: A Mouth at Both Ends (ISSUE)
  53. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five—In the garden (Constellation)
  54. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  55. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  56. Ashley McBryde: The Devil I Know (Warner Nashville)
  57. Sexxy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  58. Poli & The Gwo Ka Masters: Abri Cyclonique (Real World)
  59. Bobby Rush: All My Love for You (Deep Rush / Thirty Tigers)
  60. Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse! / Verve)
  61. Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
  62. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  63. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  64. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  65. William Hooker: Flesh & Bones (Org Music)
  66. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  67. J.D. Allen: This (Savant)
  68. Ryoko Ono & Satoko Fujii: Hakuro (label unknown)
  69. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  70. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  71. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  72. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  73. Killer Mike: Michael (Loma Vista)
  74. Emil Amos: Zone Black (Drag City)
  75. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  76. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  77. Maria Jose Llergo: Ultrabella (Sony)
  78. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds) 
  79. Superless: Superless (Oyvind Jazzforum)
  80. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  81. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  82. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  83. Low Cut Connie: Art Dealers (Contender)
  84. Tyvek: Overground (Gingko)
  85. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  86. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  87. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  88. Tri-County Liquidators: cut my teeth (Hitt Rex)
  89. ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
  90. JLin: Perspective (Planet Mu)
  91. Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
  92. Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: The Flower School (Palilalia)
  93. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: Afro-Futuristic Dreams (Strut)
  94. Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson: Loving You (ATO)
  95. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  96. Dlala Thukzin: Permanent Music 3 (Dlala Records EP)
  97. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  98. Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi)
  99. Emmet Cohen & Houston Person: Houston Person—Masters Legacy Series, Volume 5 (Bandstand Presents)
  100. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  101. Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA)
  102. Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly (self-released)
  103. Grupo Frontera: El Comienzo (Grupo Frontera)
  104. Ember: August in March (Imani)
  105. Kevin Sun: The Depths of Memory (Endectomorph Music)
  106. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #10—Inland (Hammer)
  107. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  108. Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted (Morphius)
  109. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  110. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  111. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  112. Morgan Wade: Psychopath (Ladylike)
  113. Shabazz Palaces: Robed in Rareness (Sub Pop)
  114. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  115. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  116. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  117. Lori McKenna: 1988 (CN Records / Thirty Tigers)
  118. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  119. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  120. Various Artists: Red Hot & Ra—Nuclear War (Red Hot Org)
  121. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  122. Hein Westgaard Trio: First as Farce (Nice Things)
  123. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  124. Itamar Borochov: Arba (Greenleaf)
  125. Rodrigo Amado / The Bridge: Beyond the Margins (Trost)
  126. ANTiINDSTRY: Numinous Interference (Muteant Sounds)
  127. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  128. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  129. Trio San (featuring Satoko Fujii and Taiko Saito): Hibiki (Jazzdor)
  130. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  131. Speaker Music: Techxodus (Planet Mu)
  132. Andy Fairweather Low: Flang Dang (The Last Music Company)
  133. ARO40: On the Blink (Aerophonic Records)
  134. Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
  135. Bombino: Sahel (Partisan)
  136. Son Rompe Pera: Chimborazo (AYA Records)
  137. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  138. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  139. Victoria Monet: Jaguar II (Lovett Music)
  140. Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These Either (self-released)
  141. Havard Wiik & Tim Daisy: Slight Return (Relay)
  142. Various Artists: Red Hot & Ra—SOLAR Sun Ra in Brasil (Red Hot Org)
  143. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem)
  144. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  145. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  146. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  147. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  148. feeble little horse: Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
  149. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  150. L’Rain: I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
  151. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ: Destiny (Spells on the Telly)
  152. Nasty Facts: Drive My Car (Left for Dead)
  153. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  154. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  155. Rodrigo Campos & Romulo Froes: Elefante (YB Music)
  156. Kalia Vandever: We Fell in Turn (AKP Recordings)
  157. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  158. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  159. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  160. Blondshell: Blondshell (Partisan)
  161. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  162. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  163. Doja Cat: Scarlet (Kemosabe)
  164. Tianna Esperanza: Terror (BMG)
  165. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  166. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  167. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  168. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  169. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  170. David Murray, Questlove, and Ray Angry: Plumb (J.M.I.)
  171. Tyler Childers: Rustin’ in the Rain (Hickman Holler)
  172. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  173. Ed Sanders: The Sanders – Olufsen Poetry and Classical Music Project (Olufsen)
  174. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  175. City Girls: Raw (Quality Control/Motown)
  176. Grrrl Gang: Spunky (Kill Rock Stars)
  177. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  178. Teenage Jesus and The Jean Teasers: I Love You (Triple J Unearthed)
  179. Caroline Davis: Alula—Captivity (Ropeadope)
  180. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  181. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  182. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  183. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  184. Sofia Kourtesis: Madres (Ninja Tune)
  185. DJ Manny: Hypnotized (Planet Mu)
  186. Josephus and The George Jonestown Massacre: Call Me Animal—A Tribute to the MC5 (Saustex)
  187. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  188. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  189. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  190. Ricardo Dias Gomes: Muito Sol (Hive Mind)
  191. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  192. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  193. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  194. Money for Guns: All the Darkness That’s in Your Head (CD Baby)
  195. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  196. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  197. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  198. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  199. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  200. Tinashe: BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
  201. Hollie Cook: Happy Hour in Dub (Merge)
  202. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  203. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  204. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  205. Dan Ex Machina: Ex’s Sexts (self-released)
  206. Open Mike Eagle: another triumph of ghetto engineering (AutoReverse)
  207. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  208. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  209. Chien Chien Lu: Built in System—Live in New York (Giant Step Arts)
  210. Pangaea: Changing Channels (Hessle Audio)
  211. Lewsberg: Out and About (Lewsberg / 12XU)
  212. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  213. That Mexican OT: Lonestar Luchador (Good Talk)
  214. Daniel Villarreal: Lados B (International Anthem)
  215. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  216. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  217. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg (self-released)
  218. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  219. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  220. Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Munoz: Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out)
  221. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  222. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  223. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  224. Mendoza Hoff Revels: Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)
  225. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  226. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  227. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  228. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  229. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
  230. Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group: Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group (Mississippi Records)
  231. David Dove & Joe McPhee: Where’s the Wine? (C.I.A. Records)
  232. Various Artists: 10 (Music from Memory)
  233. Nellie McKay: Hey Guys, Watch This (Hungry Mouse)
  234. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  235. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released)

Excavations and Reissues

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. The Replacements: Tim—Let It Bleed Edition (Rhino)
  4. Various Artists: Piconema–East African Hits On The Colombian Coast (Rocafort Records)
  5. Les Rallizes Denudes: Citta ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  6. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  7. The Jazz Doctors: Intensive Care & Prescriptions Filled 1983-84 (Cadillac Records)
  8. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  9. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  10. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
  11. Os Tincoas: Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero (Sanzala Cultural)
  12. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  13. Leon Keita: Leon Keita (Analog Africa)
  14. Hiroshi Yoshimura: Surround (Temporal Drift)
  15. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  16. Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
  17. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  18. Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
  19. Les Rallizes Denudes: BAUS ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  20. Gabe Baltazar: Birdology (Fresh Sounds)
  21. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  22. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  23. Various Artists: The Soul of Congo – Treasures of the Ngoma label (1948​-​1963) (Planet Ilunga)
  24. Sonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore—Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective)
  25. Ihsan Al-Munzer: Belly Dance (BBE)
  26. Dredd Foole & The Din: See God 1985-1986 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  27. Johnny Griffin: Live at Ronnie Scott’s, 1964 (Gearbox)
  28. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  29. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  30. Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
  31. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  32. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  33. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  34. Roy Campbell / William Parker / Zan Matsuura: Visitation of the Spirits—The Pyramind Trio Live, 1985 (No Business)
  35. Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
  36. Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
  37. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  38. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  39. Dorothy Carter: Waillee Waillee (Palo Alto Records)
  40. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  41. Wes Montgomery: Maximum Swing (Resonance)
  42. Various Artists: Con Piano, Sublime—Early Recordings from the Caribbean 1907-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  43. Various Artists: Space Echo—The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Revealed! (Analog Africa)
  44. Ibrahim Hesnawi: The Father of Libyan Reggae (Habibi Funk)
  45. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  46. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  47. Alon Nechushtan: For Those Who Cross the Seas (ESP-Disk)
  48. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  49. Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  50. Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)

A Shelf of Witchcraft Books: Best Albums of 2022, January 1st to September 3rd

I’m updating on the the ol’ va-kay, so–you’ll be crushed–I’m gonna have to keep it brief. Plus, I’m (and my wife and our friends) are recovering from my drunken interpretative dance to The Sir Douglas Quintet’s “Song for Everyone,” so I can’t guaranteed being centered as I peck this out.

“Song of Everything / Has somethin’ / For somebody….”

Bleary Blips:

  1. Did some switching around of prior albums, as some have zoomed on me (Beyonce’s), others have receded nearly back under the horizon (I can’t remember their titles), and one I somehow didn’t have near the top from the word “go” (ol’ Willie’s). And Heroes Are Gang Leaders’ live tribute to Amiri Baraka made a big move–check it out, even if you’re not a big fan of the great but complicated poet.
  2. Tommy Womack needs to be your best friend. I’ve known of him for years, but then I READ him and was bedazzled by his new anthology on Schoolkids Records. On constant repeat play: “Fishstick Day”!
  3. Florian Arbenz is a Swedish drummer and percussionist whose multiple volume “Conversations” project is consistently bedazzling and varied–and underrated. I put his newest, Conversations # 5 and Conversations #6 and #7 together, and if you love high-but-still-inside improvisational jazz, you need to check it out.
  4. Rick Rosato’s Homage is not yet out, and when I received a review copy of it the PR of which advertised it as a solo bass tribute to early (Skip James-early) blues legends, I literally blanched. Yuck. Plus. it has one of those not-to-be-trusted seductive ECM cheesecloth-art covers. Plus…well…it’s a solo bass album. Thing is, it is really, really great.
  5. I have been following the career of New Orleans’ r&b/hip hop artist Charm Taylor for years. She’s also on the Crescent City’s Sinking City label, which is impervious to releasing anything dull. I liked her vision, drive, and look–but the music just left me a little (a little) underwhelmed. However, because I never give up on NOLA and Sinking City Records, I took a listen to her new record, which if I’m not mistaken compiles some of her best tracks from the last several years. I was more than whelmed. Whelmed +++.
  6. The post title? It comes, as usual, from a new addition on the list. Iapetus Records hosts one of my favorite MCs, South African Yugen Blakrock, who is the most Afro-Futuristic rapper I am aware of. The rap group known (I think) as WitchCraft, but seeming here to go as Witchcraft Books, plows the same field, and I’m just always going to be interested in that field.

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. Beyoncé: Renaissance (Parkwood Entertainment)
  4. Willie Nelson: A Beautiful Time(Sony)
  5. Billy Woods: Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studios)
  6. Tanya Tagaq: Tongues (Six Shooter) 
  7. Ricky Ford: The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford—Paul’s Scene (Whaling City Sounds)
  8. Stro Elliot & James Brown: Black & Loud—James Brown Reimagined (Polydor)
  9. Tommy Womack: I Thought I Was Fine (Schoolkids Records)
  10. Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets (TUM)
  11. Superchunk: Wild Loneliness (Merge)
  12. Gonora Sounds: Hard Times Never Kill (Phantom Limb)
  13. Wet Leg: Wet Leg (Domino)
  14. Anitta: Versions of Me (Deluxe) (Warner)
  15. Amber Mark:Three Dimensions Deep (PMR / Interscope) 
  16. Morgan Wade: Reckless (Deluxe) (Ladylike) 
  17. Lady Wray: Piece of Me (Big Crown)
  18. Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
  19. Moor Mother: Jazz Codes(Anti-)
  20. Mark Lomax II: Prismatic Refractions, Volume I (self-released)
  21. Horace Andy: Midnight Rocker (On-U Sound)
  22. black midi: Hellfire (Rough Trade)
  23. Heroes Are Gang Leaders: LeAutoRoiGraphy (577 Records)
  24. Miranda Lambert: Palomino (Vanner)
  25. ensemble 0: Music Nuvulosa (Sub Rosa)
  26. Anna von Hausswoolff: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival (Southern Lord) 
  27. Various Artists: Lespri Ka—New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe (Time Capsule Sounds) 
  28. Ches Smith: Interpret It Well (Pyroclastic)
  29. Mark Lomax Trio: Plays Mingus (CFG Multimedia)
  30. Mdou Moctar: Niger EP Volume 1 (Matador)
  31. 700 Bliss: Nothing to Declare (Hyperdub)
  32. The Chats: Get Fucked (Cooking Vinyl)
  33. Dan Ex Machina: All is Ours, Nothing is Theirs (self-released)
  34. Jinx Lennon: Pet Rent (Septic Tiger)
  35. Freakons: Freakons (Fluff & Gravy)
  36. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #5—Elemental; Conversations #6 and 7
  37. Daniel Villareal: Panama ’77 (International Anthem)
  38. Mary Gauthier: Dark Enough to See the Stars (Thirty Tigers)
  39. Phelimuncasi: Ama Gogela (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  40. Joy Guidry:Radical Acceptance (Whited Sepulchre)
  41. Etran de L’Air: Agadez (Sahel Sounds)
  42. Kehlani: blue water road (TSNMI/Atlantic)
  43. Zoh Amba: O, Sun (Tzadik)
  44. Felipe Salles: Tiyo’s Songs of Life (Tapestry)
  45. Steve Lehman: Xaybu—The Unseen (Pi Recordings)
  46. Tom Zé: Lingua Brasiliera (Selo Sesc)
  47. Nancy Mounir: Nozhet El Nofous (Terrorbird)
  48. Rick Rosato: Homage (self-released)
  49. Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni: The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson) 
  50. Oumou Sangare: Timbuktu(World Circuit Limited)
  51. Various Artists: Hidden Waters—Strange and Sublime Sounds from Rio de Janiero (Sounds and Colours)
  52. Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity: Elastic Wave (ECM)
  53. Miguel Zeñon: Musica de las Americas (Miel Music)
  54. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: Lift Every Voice(Division 81 Records)
  55. Priscilla Block: Welcome to the Block Party (InDent)
  56. Serengeti: Kaleidoscope III (Audiocon)
  57. Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers(pgLang/Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope)
  58. Charm Taylor: She Is The Future (Sinking City)
  59. OGJB: Ode to O (TUM) (Note: Band name – O = Oliver Lake, G = Graham Haynes, J = Joe Fonda, B = Barry Altschul / Title – O = Ornette) 
  60. Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, and Enrico Rava: Two Blues for Cecil (TUM) 
  61. Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio: The Bottom(Cuneiform) 
  62. Tyler Mitchell: Dancing Shadows (featuring Marshall Allen) (Mahakala Music)
  63. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 2—Joy Boy (New Amsterdam)
  64. The Paranoid Style: For Executive Meeting (Bar/None)
  65. Carl Stone: Wat Dong Moon Lek (Unseen Worlds)
  66. Meridian Brothers and El Grupo & Renacimiento (Ansonia)
  67. Mitski: Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
  68. Breath of Air: Breath of Air (Burning Ambulance Music)
  69. Immanuel Wilkins: The 7th Hand (Blue Note) 
  70. David Murray Brave New World Trio: Seriana Promethea (Intakt)
  71. Fulu Miziki: Ngbaka (EP)
  72. David Virelles: Nuna (Pi / El Tivoli)
  73. Leikeli47: Shape Up(Hardcover/RCA)
  74. Witchcraft Books: Volume 1—The Sundisk (Iapetus Records)
  75. Hurray for The Riff Raff: Life on Earth (Nonesuch)
  76. Rokia Koné and Jacknife Lee: Bamanan (3DFamily)
  77. Tomas Fujiwara: Triple Double (Firehouse 12)
  78. DJ Black Low: Uwami (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  79. Ibibio Sound Machine: Electricity (Merge)
  80. Zoh Amba: O Life, O Light, Volume 1(577 Records)
  81. Burton/McPherson Trio: The Summit Rock Session at Seneca Village (Giant Step Arts)
  82. Kahil El’Zabar Quartet: A Time for Healing(Spirit Muse)
  83. Pastor Champion: I Just Want to Be a Good Man (Luaka Bop)
  84. Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Blue Note)
  85. Pusha T: It’s Almost Dry(G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam)
  86. Elza Soares: Elza Ao Vivo No Municipal (Deck)
  87. Nilufer Yanya: Painless (ATO)
  88. Tommy McLain: I Ran Down Every Dream (Yep Roc)
  89. Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda: Thread of Light (Fundacja Słuchaj)
  90. Charli XCX: Crash (Atlantic)
  91. Pete Malinverni: On the Town—Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein(Planet Arts) 
  92. David Friend & Jerome Begin: Post- (New Amsterdam)
  93. Dedicated Men of Zion: The Devil Don’t Like It (Bible & Tire)
  94. Tyshawn Sorey Trio: Mesmerism (Pi Recordings)
  95. Space Afrika: Honest Labour (Dais)
  96. Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer (DeeWee)
  97. Earl Sweatshirt: Sick! (Tan Cressida / Warner) 
  98. Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD)
  99. Jeff Arnal and Curt Cloninger: Drum Major Instinct (Mahakala Music)
  100. Tee Grizzley: Half Tee Half Beast (self-released)
  101. Hoodoo Gurus: Chariot of The Gods (Big Time Photographic Recordings)
  102. Natsuki Tamura: Summer Tree (Libra)
  103. (D)ivo: Perelman, Berne, Malaby, Carter (Mahakala Music)
  104. Daniel Carter et al.: Telepatica (577 Records)
  105. Ghais Guevara: There Will Be No Super-Slave (self-released)
  106. Pierre Kwenders: Jose Louis and the Paradox of Love (Arts & Crafts)
  107. Manel Fortia: Despertar (Segell Microscopi/Altafonte)
  108. Ray Wylie Hubbard: Co-Starring Too (Big Machine)
  109. Various Artists: if you fart make it sound good (WA Records)
  110. Marta Sanchez: SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum)(Whirlwind)
  111. Earthgang: Ghetto Gods (Dreamville/Interscope)
  112. Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home(Anti-)
  113. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom: Reset (Domino)
  114. 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. Horace Tapscott Quintet: Legacies for Our Grandchildren (Dark Tree)
  14. Various Artists: The D-Vine Spirituals—Sacred Soul (Bible & Tire)
  15. Kabaka International Guitar Band: Kabaka International Guitar Band (Palenque Records)
  16. The Pyramids: AOMAWA—The 1970s Recordings (Strut)
  17. Hermeto Pascoal: Hermeto (Far Out Recordings)
  18. Sun Ra: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Strut)
  19. Asha Puthi: The Essential Asha Puthi (Mr. Bongo)
  20. Malik’s Emerging Force Art Trio: Time and Condition (moved-by-sound)
  21. Volta Jazz: Air Volta (Numero)
  22. Various Artists: From Lion Mountain—Traditional Music of Yeha, Ethiopia (Dust-to-Digital)
  23. Ronnie Boykins: The Will Come is Now (ESP-Disk)
  24. John Ondolo: Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo (Mississippi Records)
  25. Cecil Taylor: Respiration (Fundacja Stuchaj)
  26. Norma Tanega: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964-1971(Anthology)
  27. Irma Thomas: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976(Good Time)
  28. Afrika Negra: Antologia, Volume 1 (Bongo Joe)
  29. Various Artists: Summer of Soul (Legacy)
  30. The Heartbreakers: LAMF—The ’77 Found Mixes (Jungle)

Best Rekkids of ’19 – End of Febru-weary Edition

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Behold–a rather tentative list of 30 pretty damn decent releases from the 2019th year of our lord (is that right? asks the history-challenged heathen). I would not say that, so far, our musical high priests have laid a cornucopial spread before our weary, hungry, hopeful selves; I would say, however, that plenty of interesting stuff is at your fingertips. The following are in rough order of how much enjoyment I’ve gained from and willing repetition I’ve applied to each long-player. Certain of my regular prejudices are in play: Joe McPhee is a genius and a saint to me, musically and personally, and in his 79th year (50 or so of them as a devoted free-playing jazz multi-instrumentalist and happy noise-maker) he shows no signs of slowing down or having passed his sell-by date–I love all three of his new records, including all six discs of his “Nation Time!”-keyed live collaboration with DKV (that’s Hamid Drake, Ken Kessler, and Ken Vandermark); I come alive at the sound of a Tuareg guitar, no matter how familiar or how augmented by Western intrusion; I am certain Yugen Blakrok needs more recognition and I will bend over backwards to see that, at least within my very circumscribed social range, she gets it; I have a very soft spot for the hoarier artist. But I’d almost argue that those strong prejudices, built from high expectations, might just make me more likely than most to recognize why records therein don’t really cut it. Almost.

Also, I am being very strict about releases being from 2019. If I am not, I will get my wrists slapped.

If anything really obvious is missing (Sharon Van Etten, Future, Gary Clark, Jr.) it might well be assumed that I am immune to its spells.

Finally, I am including new releases of material recorded in bygone days (rather than listing those separately) because pickings are just that slim. So far. [Ex Hex, Mekons, Jamila Woods, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Royal Trux (Royal Trux?), Quelle Chris, hell, ol’ dead Marvin Gaye each have one in tha chamba for future firing.]

After the list is a YouTube playlist where you can test-drive some of the stuff if it’s unfamiliar to you.

  1. Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty
  2. DKV and Joe McPhee: The Fire Each Time
  3. Yugen Blakrok: Anima Mysterium
  4. Heroes are Gang Leaders: The Amiri Baraka Sessions
  5. Various Artists: All the Young Droogs–60 Juvenile Delinquent Wrecks
  6. Various Artists: Travailler, C’est Trop Dure–The Lyrical Legacy of Caesar Vincent
  7. Que Vola: Que Vola
  8. Kel Assouf: Black Tenere
  9. Aesop Rock & TOBACCO: Malibu Ken
  10. Sir Shina Peters and His Internation Stars: Sewele
  11. Eric Dolphy: Musical Prophet
  12. Usted Saami: God is Not a Terrorist
  13. Joe McPhee / John Butcher: At the Hill of James Magee
  14. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Miri
  15. People Under the Stairs: Sincerely, The P
  16. Powder: Powder in Space (DJ Mix)
  17. Hama: Houmeissa
  18. Bob Mould: Sunshine Rock
  19. Ill Considered: 5
  20. M’dou Moctar: Blue Stage Session
  21. CZARFACE & Ghostface Killah: Czarface Meets Ghostface
  22. Greg Ward and Rogue Parade: Stomping Off from Greenwood
  23. Matthew Shipp Trio: Signature
  24. Angel Bat Dawid: The Oracle
  25. Better Oblivion Community Center: Better Oblivion Community Center
  26. Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez: Duologue
  27. Bad Bunny: X 100PRE
  28. The Clifford Thornton Memorial Quartet (featuring Joe McPhee): Sweet Oranges
  29. Our Native Daughters: Songs of Our Native Daughters
  30. The Specials: Encore

A note on the playlist: two-three full albums are included (one of them a three-disker) because single tracks were not available, so you may want to be prepared to click past them after an initial taste. Or you may not…

 

 

Three Lists (which The Blogger Sheepishly Submits)

Posting every other day has been the hardest of the five-six resolutions I cornily made for myself (I’m doing great on the others). Life has happened, and you can’t push that river. Perhaps I should post just when I want to and I have something urgent to communicate? Yes, and that would be today.

TEN OF MY “FAVORITE ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME”

Recently I asked my Facebook friends the impossible: name your favorite album of all-time. I led with my choice (Professor Longhair’s Crawfish Fiesta, which I’ve definitely played more than any other over the past 15 years) and instantly regretted it, not because it isn’t sublime, but someone else listed something more important. So, here aren’t my 10 favorite albums of all-time, in order; here are 10 records I’d list as my very favorite record, based on number of lifetime plays, significance to my development as a human, sparked joy, and facility in connecting me with other humans. I steadfastly avoided trying to have a politically correct representative list; these are the ones my heart reaches for, instantly.

The Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime

Professor Longhair, Crawfish Fiesta

Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited

Howlin’ Wolf

The Flying Burrito Brothers: The Gilded Palace of Sin

Lucinda Williams

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

The Best of Doug Sahm & The Sir Douglas Quintet 1968-1975

The Clash: London Calling

Having a Good Time with Huey “Piano” Smith and The Clowns

 

MY TEN FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2019

I don’t know about you, but the offerings thus far have been slim compared to last January. I will stretch to 10, nonetheless, though I may have to lean on reissues of older stuff. There is no serious priority order–it’s too early, and some of these may not end up making my Top 100 in the end. Also: a deep bow of amazement to the ageless Joe McPhee, who’s the star of no less than three of these; an acknowledgement that I have only sampled the glam comp below via YouTube searches; a thank you to my young friend Lucas Fagen, who convinced me that I was not too old and trap-rattle-addled to return to, and enjoy, Bad Bunny; and my apologies if some of these are kinda-’18. I remain needing serious convincing regarding Sharon Van Etten (Remind Me Tomorrow is an “up” album for her???).

Heroes are Gang Leaders: The Amiri Baraka Sessions

Various Artists: Travailler, C’est Trop Dure–The Lyrical Legacy of Caesar Vincent

Greg Ward and Rogue Parade: Stomping Off from Greenwood

Usted Saami: God is Not a Terrorist

Joe McPhee / John Butcher: At the Hill of James Magee

DVK and Joe McPhee: The Fire Each Time

The Clifford Thornton Memorial Quartet: Sweet Oranges

Sir Shina Peter and His Internation Stars: Sewele

Various Artists: All the Young Droogs–60 Juvenile Delinquent Wrecks

Bad Bunny: X 100PRE

 

TEN GREAT BRAZILIAN ALBUMS THAT PAAL NILSSEN LOVE AND CATALYTIC SOUND HAVE LED ME TO (SO FAR)

I ordered and received a CD recently from the fascinating experimental music label Catalytic Sound (Sweet Oranges, above), and within was a neat little ‘zine-styled “quarterly” with poetry and other neat stuff–especially master free drummer Paal Nilssen-Love’s list of his 100 favorite Brazilian records. Nilssen-Love’s made many sojourns to Brazil in the recent past, and he’s clearly a sharp, indefatigable crate-digger (that describes his drumming, too). What blew my mind is, though I really love Brazilian music, I’d only heard of 10 or so of them, and didn’t own many. Thus–and this is a reason I haven’t posted recently–I’ve been on a grail quest of my own, using his list as a road map. I’ve heard at least 20 of the records he’s listed since Friday; these are my favorites, and I only have 60-70 to go!

Pedro Santos: Krishnanda

Alessandra Leao: Dois Cordoes

Underground Samba Lapa

Ile Aiye: Canto Negro

O Som Sagrado de Wilson Das Neves

Clara Nunes: Esperanca

Tim Maia: Racional, Volumes 1 and 2

Moacir Santos: Coisas

Grupo Fundo De Quintal: Samba E No Fundo Do Quintal

Elis Regina: Samba, Eu Canto Assim

 

 

Three for A King

Let me recommend three records that can help you celebrate the life work and vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wadada Leo Smith: Ten Freedom Summers (upper square, lower right)

This four-disk, Pulitzer Prize-winning set looks back at the titular time period and ahead to the massive work we still have to do. In 19 pieces composed across 35 years, trumpeter Smith, his celebrated Golden Quartet, and Southwest Chamber Music tap into the danger, gravity, turbulence, and intensity and purity of focus that defined the Civil Rights Movement. Almost five hours in length, the set is never less than absorbing. Special props to the dual drummers of the Quartet: Pheeroan akLaff and Susie Ibarra.

Click here to sample an excerpt of the composition “Martin Luther King, Jr: Memphis, the Prophecy,” the set’s coda.

Joe McPhee / John Butcher: At the Hill of James Magee (upper square, lower left)

Two hornmen dialogue about oppression, freedom and resistance in the Chihuahuan Desert, at the site of Magee’s mysterious sculpture near Cornudas, Texas. The recording has the character of a religious service and includes the ambient noise of the place. One of the best records of 2019.

Click here to sample the track “Sometimes Yes, Sometimes No” (McPhee is in the left stereo channel, Butcher in the right).

Ustad Saami: God is Not a Terrorist

Saami, a Palestinian, is the last living practitioner of a pre-Islamic music (featuring elements of Farsi, Hindi, Vedic, and Sanskrit) that does not endear him to local extremists. His practice is a testament to courage, belief, and devotion–and it sounds fascinating and moving (and good, to be sure): a kind of Middle Eastern Gregorian chant with tense instrumental backing.

Click here to sample a track and read more about Saami’s background.

Click here for an album “teaser.”

Quick Takes on My Other Listening Adventures

James Brown: Foundations of Funk–A Brand New Bag 1964-1964

Brown at his finest, on tracks that are gripping and propulsive not even considering his vocals, which are punctuated by screams that sound as avant-garde as Ayler’s honks.

Sharon Van Etten: Remind Me Tomorrow

Though I found myself enjoying “Comeback Kid,” I just don’t have patience for whites people miserably moaning right now.

Greg Ward Presents Rogue Parade: Stomping Off from Greenwood

That title’s enticing, and the music’s admirable intense when the guitarist isn’t taking a turn; fortunately, the leader’s sax, Quin Kirchner’s drums and the compositions (!) win the day.

JLin: Black Origami

This landmark of EDM and the style known as footwork has spell-casting power: normally immune to such stuff, I’ve played it 20-25 times since its 2017 release and it mesmerizes and mesmerizes, even though I’m too old and not imaginative enough to dance to it.

Hama: Houmeissa

Synth music is back–even in the Sahara (try it–you’ll like it)!

Skulldoggery (May 7th, 2018, Columbia, MO)p

Under the weather and confined somewhat to bed, I needed musical medicine. As happens more and more as I age, I turn to free music, and more and more as I turn to free music, I turn to the work of Joe McPhee. This time, it was his Skullduggery album, recorded with Amsterdam’s Universal Indians (named very appropriately after an Albert Ayler composition) and American saxophonist John Dikeman. I find that McPhee’s performances, where he employs multiple instruments in playing reactively to his fellows but also creates , sustains, and deconstructs themes, often mirror the hops, skips, jumps, and stretches of straight travel by which my mind works. Whether I am listening in dedicated fashion or reading, his work (quite frequently without regard to with whom he’s working–and he has many playmates) calms me. I’ve grown deeply familiar with and fond of his sound, whether he’s wielding sax, pocket trumpet, or something else; I feel confident I could pick him out of any free lineup in a blindfold test. Here–try the title track, and listen for what I mean when I say he doesn’t just react in a free context, but creates and sustains (bass player Jon Rune Strok is great here, too):

McPhee’s music may relax me, but my dog? He became disturbed, as this sequence demonstrates (you can see my little Bluetooth speaker on the window’s ledge):

Enjoy more of McPhee, Dikeman, and Universal Indians live, right here, from a year ago:

Speaking in Tongues: Diary Playlist 2 (April 15-21)

My second week of reviewing my seven days’ listening with a Spotify playlist and dispensing imaginary awards to notable records.

Plucked from History’s Dustbin (best recent purchase of an old record): Joe McPhee, Oleo

Grower, Not a Shower (old record I already owned that’s risen significantly in my esteem): Grace Jones, Island Life

Encore, Encore! (album I played at least twice this week): Tracey Thorn, Record

Through the Cracks (sweet record I forgot to write about): Sons of Kemet, My Queen is a Reptile

Coming Attractions (Sunday’s Children): Hamilton (traveling to St. Louis to see–and mos def hear–it today); all things Shabaka Hutchings!

Comfort Food (April 20, 2018, Columbia, MO)

Hustlin’ and bustlin’ for my baby today, I was in both vehicles doing errands today.

Had a chance run-in with the sister of one of our state senators; she noticed the blazing orange #NeverAgain shirt I was wearing while having coffee in a local shop (national student rallies on the Columbine anniversary), sat down across from me and introduced herself. I’d have preferred to talk about rock and roll, but we chatted for a half hour about politics and I learned why I should want our oily governor Eric Greitens to go down (he’s put himself under serious fire) later than sooner.

After Nicole got off work, we had Friday comfort food and drink–pints and cheeseburgers–at Booche’s, a fantastic local tavern, where we listened to Springsteen, Skynyrd, and The New York Dolls on the sound system, then crossed the street to hear Zadie Smith open the controversy ridden Unbound Book Festival with a keynote address; she opened by reading her essay “Speaking in Tongues.” Among the many things of interest she said, she acclaimed Kendrick Lamar a genius. I would have liked to, but didn’t get a chance to, ask her about the genesis and development of her stunning piece on Billie Holiday, “Crazy They Call Me.” We left a bit early for last beers at another bar we ended up getting kicked out of. (Fortunately, Smith talks about the piece here, I just discovered.) In Little Rock, some friends were at a Charles Portis festival (!) where they heard the bands Wussy and The Paranoid Style, but I still think Nicole and I won.

All this is to say that I did my serious listening, mostly to aural comfort food, on the fly:

Grace Jones–can’t wait for the doc!

John Prine–had to hear the hilarious “The Accident,” and more, from Sweet Revenge!

Gary Stewart–the prime Record Store Day jewel is a 45 from much-rumored demo session where he cut Motown songs; the simple knowledge of this (I’ve got an eBay bid down on it–I go to record stores regularly) was enough for me to bring along The Essential Gary Stewart for the ride!

The “comfort food” to beat all comfort food, though I suppose it can still make some listeners uncomfortable!

And…well…I told you I listen to Joe McPhee a lot!

All those exclamation points are very deliberate. It was a good day–musically and otherwise.

McPhee-ver (April 19th, 2018, Columbia, MO)

McPhee

Poughkeepsie, NY, legend Joe McPhee will turn 79 in November. I already have a predilection for musicians whose work continues to astound beyond their fifties–it’s probably partially because I require hope as I age myself–and I am not sure I know of one who’s work is more astounding, more prolific, and more consistently satisfying to me than Joe’s. His late-’17/early-’18 album Imaginary Numbers, in a responsive trio setting and featuring a scintillating Coltrane nod, is one of my recent favorites (I’ve probably played it seven times in four months), and I learned yesterday that he has a new one in the chamber, access to which follows, should I seduce you into partaking of the man’s magic:

McPhee plays tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone–at least. I suspect that’s a partial list. Also, “plays” is a reductive verb in Joe’s case; from caresses and whispers to jolts and hollers, he knows how to speak multiple musical, emotional, and intellectual languages through his instruments. Yes, he’s a jazz player, and he can play inside, outside, and in between, sometimes all in the same song–try “Never Again,” from In Finland, with Matthew Shipp, if you can find it.

But he also defies that categorization. He can play, and has played (damn near) with everyone: the example I’m listening to as I hunt and peck is one of his recordings with Two Bands And A Legend (that’s also the title), which features Norwegian garage rockers the Cato Salsa Experience and Scandinavian wailers The Thing. By his partners’ acclaim, McPhee is the legend, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find another album that includes covers of “Louie Louie,” The Sonics (taken into free jazzland and dragged screaming back), Ornette Coleman, and The Cramps.

In additional, he’s comfortable in every numerical combination I can think of. He’s heart-piercing on the solo Tenor, endlessly interesting across seven discs with only his drummer (and frequent partner) Paal Nilssen-Love on Candy (yes, I’ve listened to it in its entirety twice, holding his own and then some with a free jazz big band (Peter Brotzmann’s Chicago Octet / Tentet).

Yesterday, I listened to McPhee’s Hat Hut label release Oleo, which is built around an at times very straightforward cover of Sonny Rollins’ title composition. At times, because another of McPhee’s frequent partners, guitarist Raymond Boni sproings into the fray with a spree of spastic-intergalactic wah-wah, which leads the rest of the unit into a strategy of deconstruction of which Rollins himself would probably approve. I feel like I shouldn’t need to say it, but I will: one who puts merely a skimming ear to work like McPhee’s might come to the conclusion that the players are just making noise, that that’s easy, that if they really had to play conventionally, they’d find it rougher going. Therefore, one reasons, one doesn’t need to respect McPhee’s kind of music. Au contrair. Joe’s work far exceeds in imagination, diligence, close listening, physical energy, and challenge 90% of the music you’d read about in Downbeat or Jazz Times. And. And. McPhee does play tight and inside when he feels like it, and when it fits his chosen design, and when he does, on conventional terms, he’s a skilled and even easily recognizable player.

Joe McPhee is one of my biggest heroes. I hope he makes it past 100, and I hope I make it to his current age of 78 with a fraction of the vigor, curiosity, dedication, and imagination he puts into his work. If you’ve been curious about free music, his oeuvre ain’t a bad place to dip in. If you like folks who enjoy getting out of their lanes on a regular basis, or who aspire to get to know and work with as many people as they can, you’ll like him for sure. You can even start at his own beginning, with the legendary recordings Underground Railroad and Nation Time, the vintage of which you can likely guess from the titles and the quality of which is even more exciting when you consider he grew by leaps and bounds from those starting points.