Tag: Marshall Allen

June, Spoon, Moon…GOONS: My Favorite Albums of 2025, January 1st to June 1st, for Chasing Them Away

Is there balm in Gilead? Hell to the yeah, folks! It might last only 30-75 minutes, but that’s 30-75 minutes not staring into the abyss! Just for example, May gave us four of the best rap albums of 2025, from Canada (the so-on-a-roll-he-must-be-unconscious Buck 65), South Africa (Yugen Blakrok–remember her bar on the Black Panther soundtrack?), and the good ol’ States (billy woods & Aesop Rock); two African compilations that remind us that revolutions can be successful (if complicated); a live excavation that demonstrates what a group of likeminded individuals (The Pan African Peoples Orchestra) can do in their own ‘hood under the guidance of a dedicated leader (Horace Tapscott) to keep hope alive (seriously); the return of Christer Bothen with the band Cosmic Ear; and a transcendently eccentric throwback r&b record that proves that, while the bros squeezed the weird out of Austin, tryin’ that shit on Memphis would be a whole other story (MonoNeon). Also, please attend to 101-year-old Sun Ra Arkestra mainstay Marshall Allen’s live-from-home (aka Philly) album, which is a more proper celebration of his passage into centenarianism than his respectable but sometimes faint solo album. Please sample some of what I’m talking about via the cumulative Spitify playlist I have included at the very bottom. Tits up, people!

Aesop Rock: Black Hole Superette (Rhymesayers) ****
Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta: Mapambazuko (Nyege Nyege Tapes) *****
Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons: Live in Philadelphia, Volume 1 (Otherly Love Records) ****
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)****
Julien Baker & Torres: Send a Prayer My Way (Matador) ****
billy woods: GOLLIWOG (x) (Backwoodz Studios)
The Bitter Ends: The Bitter Ends (Trouble in River City)
Black Milk & Fat Ray: Food from the Gods (Computer Ugly / Fat Beats)
Blacks’ Myths Meets Pat Thomas: The Mythstory School (self-released) ***
Yugen Blakrok: The Illusion Of Being (I.O.T. Records) ***
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)
Buck 65: Keep Moving (self-released)
clipping: Dead Channel Sky (Sub Pop)
Cosmic Ear: TRACES (We Jazz) *****
Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson: Bone Bells (Pyroclastic)
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)
DJ Shaun-D: From Bubbling to Dutch House (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)
Robert Forster: Strawberries (Tapete) *****
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)
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
Jako Maron: Mahavelouz (Nyege Nyege Tapes)****
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)
Billy Mohler: The Eternal (Contagious)
MonoNeon: You Had Your Chance…Bad Attitude! (Color Red) ****
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)*****
Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra Led by Horace Tapscott: Live at Widney High December 26th, 1971 (The Village)***
Ivo Perelmamn and Matthew Shipp: Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms)
Pitch, Rhythm, and Consciousness: Sextet (Reva Records)
Marek Pospieszalski Octet & Zoh Amba: NOW! (Project financed by a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage “Młoda Polska” & Katowice City of Music UNESCO)
Les Rallizes Denudes: Blind Baby Has Its Mother’s Eyes (Life Goes On)
R.A.P. Ferreira: Outstanding Understanding (Ruby Yacht)
Adam Rudolph, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart: Beingness (Meta)
Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Young Fashioned Ways (Deep Rush / RAM Records) ***
Sverre Sæbo Quintet: If, However, You Have Not Lost Your Self Control (SauaJazz)
SAULT: 10 (Sault Global)***
Serengeti: mixtape 2 (serengetiraps / self-released)
Serengeti: Palookaville (serengetiraps / self-released) 
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 and Keb’ Mo’: Room on the Porch (Concord Jazz)
Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’: Room on the Porch for Everyone (UMG EP) 
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)
Kali Uchis: Sincerely (Capitol) ***
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory: Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (Jagjaguwar)
Various Artists: African Jazz Invites O.K. Jazz (Planet Ilunga) ***
Various Artists: Prisoners’ Day Compilation (Majazz Project / Palestinian Sound Archive) ***
Various Artists: Roots Rocking Zimbabwe– The Modern Sound of Harare’ Townships 1975-1980 (Analog Africa) ****
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)
Wheelhouse: House and Home (Aerophonic)
Simon Willson: Bet (Endectomorph Records)
Jeong Lim Yang: Synchronicity (Fully Altered Media) 

The Young Mothers: Better If You Let It (Sonic Transmissions)****
Hiroshi Yoshimura: Flora (Temporal Drift) ***

SAMPLE THIS STUFF ON SPOTIFY

Long on Sounds, Short on Ides: The Living to Listen List, Marching Forward into The 2025ire

THE LIST (January 1 – April 1, 2025)

Bolded = New to the list

***Neaty ‘n’ Spiffy / ****Eyebrow-Raising / *****Do-Ya-RIGHT

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) ****

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)

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

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

Ex-Void: In Love Again (Tapete Records)

FKA twigs: Eusexua (Young Recordings Limited)

Satoko Fujii GEN: Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra)

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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)*****

James Brandon Lewis: Apple Cores (Anti-)

LOLO: LOLO (Black Sweat)

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

Mean Mistreater: Do or Die (self-released)

Mac Miller: Baloonerism (Warner Records)

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

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

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

Isabelle Olivier: Impressions (Rewound Echoes)

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

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

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

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)

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

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)****

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

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

The War & Treaty: Plus One (Mercury Nashville)

Jesse Welles: Middle (Jesse Welles Music)

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)****

Bark Out Thunder, Roar Out Lightning–Albeit in a Small Dose: 150 Absorbing New and Old Recordings Released So Far in 2023

Grey Matter Natter

I am still behind–I feel I owe ten or fifteen records I haven’t laid ear to some time–but sometimes it be’s that way. The most important thing about this update is a new record is at the top of my list. If I graded albums, it just might be an A+. I don’t even give those to my students’essays.

  1. I am a helpless gestaltist–I am really blown away by works that, though they must be somewhat imperfect, make a powerful impact as a whole. From its wraith-like but oh-so-corporeal vocals to its music to its lyrics to its production to its accompanying art to its title to its assessment of this world, Anohni’s My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross checks the boxes. Even if I wasn’t a Missourian, where cruelty is our state adjective, it would have knocked me out. After all, I am still an American. I’ve always been careful not to overrate a record that is topical in ways I care deeply about, but a) the cruelty the record addresses is definitely nothing new; b) it’s an undeniable message from the targets of cruelty; and c) as a work of art, it would move me if it were sung in Sanskrit. My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross is the best–and my favorite–album of the year. It rocks in good measure, too, for those who must have that.
  2. I am also a helpless devotee of New Orleans music, especially any that is connected with the Mardi Gras Indian tradition. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s been on a roll, but I’ve been too late to recognize his last couple of releases. Not this time. In some ways, it’s a strong pairing with Anohni’s record–but again, if it were sung in Tamasheq, I’d be down with it. Oddly, he doesn’t play much trumpet but it doesn’t really matter.
  3. In Columbia, Missouri, the indefatigable Matt Crook, a Howard Zinn-inspired high school social studies teacher and father of two youngsters, annually puts together the Columbia Experimental Music Festival (as well as ancillary shows of fascinating variety). This year, in partnership with another great local and annual offering, the We Always Swing Jazz Series, Matt and WAS founder Jon Poses will be bringing the Sun Ra Arkestra to our citizens. I saw Sun Ra himself with the Arkestra here twice, once in the late Eighties and once in the early Nineties, shortly after which The Sun One passed. I’d never have expected that, in 2023, I’d be seeing bandleader Marshall Allen still blowing at 99. I mention Allen because he and fellow Arkestra member Knoel Scott come very correct on the latter’s new album Celestial. Reaper, stay thy scythe.
  4. For Mr. Crook, “experimental” folds in hip hop culture, and why shouldn’t it? Last year, he arranged for three pretty underground figures to give a beat- and bar-making workshop at a local high school; this year, he’s snagged London-born, Queens-raised, Bed Stuy-representing Rome Streetz, whom I’d never heard of (Matt always snaps my earlids up like roller blinds). He’s tough, talented, and worth your time–even if you can’t come to Columbia for the fest.
  5. Regarding the Coltrane and Simone excavations–you’ve probably already heard this–temper your sonic expectations and instead focus on the expression and before-your-very-ears musical evolution you’re experiencing. Evolution isn’t ever…pristine.

(Bolded items are new to the list)

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  3. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs(Dog Show/Atlantic)
  4. boygenius:the record (Interscope)
  5. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  6. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  7. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  8. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  9. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  10. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  11. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  12. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  13. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  14. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  15. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  16. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  17. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  18. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  19. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  20. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  21. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  22. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  23. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  24. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  25. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  26. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  27. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  28. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  29. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  30. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  31. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  32. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  33. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  34. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  35. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  36. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  37. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  38. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  39. Tyshawn Sorey:Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  40. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  41. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  42. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  43. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  44. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  45. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  46. ensemble 0: Jojoni(Crammed Discs)
  47. Henry Threadgill: The Other One(Pi)
  48. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  49. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  50. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  51. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  52. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  53. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  54. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  55. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  56. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  57. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  58. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  59. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  60. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  61. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  62. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  63. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: LightningDreamers (International Anthem)
  64. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  65. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  66. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  67. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  68. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  69. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  70. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  71. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  72. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  73. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  74. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  75. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  76. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  77. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  78. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  79. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  80. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  81. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam(Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  82. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  83. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  84. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  85. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  86. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  87. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  88. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  89. Sexyy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  90. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  91. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  92. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  93. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  94. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released EP—coming in March)
  95. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  96. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  97. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  98. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  99. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  100. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  101. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  102. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  103. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  104. Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
  105. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  106. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  107. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  108. Lankum: False Lankum (Rough Trade)
  109. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  110. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  111. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg
  112. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  113. Tri-County Liquidators: “Flies” / “Weep Then Whisper” / “Bitter” (self-released)
  114. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  115. Black Country, New Road: Live at Bush Hall (Ninja Tune)
  116. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  117. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  118. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  119. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  120. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  121. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  122. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  123. Kara Jackson: Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September Recordings)
  124. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
  125. Billy Valentine: Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth (Flying Dutchman)

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. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  4. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  5. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  6. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  7. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  8. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  9. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  10. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  11. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  12. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  13. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  14. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  15. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  16. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  17. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  18. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  19. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  20. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  21. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  22. Luther Thomas: 11th Street Fire Suite(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  23. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  24. Professor James Benson:The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  25. Various Artists: Strontium 90, Shrimps & Gumbo—Lux & Ivy Dig Motorcycle Boots & Mutants (Righteous Records)

LET’S STAMP (and maybe something GOOD will happen)!–Some of the Best New (and Newly Excavated Music) from 2022

Odd-servations:

  1. Up for a cool oud-fuelled album? I thought so. Jussi Reijonen’s Three Seconds I Kolme Toista (Challenge Records International) is just the thing for you. Reijonen (also on stunning guitars) is joined on his sophomore recording by players from Turkey, Jordan, Japan, Palestine, and America, on instrumentation ranging from violin to cello to microtonal piano, and creates a potent, moody brew that eludes genre and features fresh textures that connect back to the leader’s broad travels. “Something different” is a much-abused description, but this is that.
  2. I have missed Gogol Bordello. Lucky enough to have seen their live and mad rabble-rousing twice, I’ve wondered over the past couple of years just what they’d been up to. On first listen, I thought their new Solidaritine was a tad lacking in dynamics; on the second, third, fourth, and fifth listens I haven’t cared much. At all. Our rabble needs rousing, and sometimes dynamics can stall the ol’ rabble motor.
  3. I had to explain to several of my current students (I teach at the country’s second-oldest women’s college) that I was not pandering to their taste in admitting that I love the new Harry Styles album (he’s an acute singer–not just a cute one–I like the settings, and yes, it is dynamic) and like the new Taylor Swift album. The latter would be only the third one I’ve ever seriously listened to. The first was her first, which a fierce 10th grade student burned for me back in the burnin’ days and insisted I listen to; the second was the day before Midnights came out, at the behest of a fierce college sophomore who noted, after I mentioned in class that Mickey Guyton was working in the space Taylor made, that Taylor was in a whole different space and I needed to listen to Folklore, which I kind of loved until it went on too long (it–and the LONG version of Midnights–seemed like a marathon phone call from a friend with problems I wasn’t qualified to answer). But, hey, I listened to a couple artists I’d have been too snooty to before.
  4. Special shout out to the White Wino, who pushed me to check out the new Elaine Elias album, which is simply lush, rolling bossa nova sung and played with expertise and ease.
  5. I can always count on Jeffrey Lewis to write a song that hits me right where I’m living at the time. My oldest cat is still hangin’ in there, but Lewis’ writing on his new record’s title cut is all too specific.
  6. Anybody know Cecilia, Louisiana’s Dickie Landry? Sharp-as-a-tack horn player with the Cajun Traveling Wilburys–Little Band of Gold–before that co-conspirator with the likes of Laurie Anderson and a frequent New Orleans bandleader, but most notably a genius musician who has never seen a challenge he didn’t like. Fans of Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together might want to make a bee-line to the 84-year-old’s new music-and-spoken-word album with Lawrence Weiner (#118 below).
  7. Speaking of numbers? I would not trust my current numbering system as reliable rankings even as far as my own favorites are concerned. A simply overwhelming amount of music is roaring out, and this is just a hobby for me, ya hear? A HOBBY!
  8. This month, I happened upon an article about a group I’d never heard of, Les Rallizes Denudes, and record label Temporal Drift’s superb effort to bring them to our attention (out digitally but not as a physical copy). If you love “I Heard Her Call My Name” and the Velvets’ dynamics–there’s that word again–in particular, I strongly recommend you at least sample the group’s Oz Days recordings.
  9. If you’re a Ran Blake fan (his The Short Life of Barbara Monk is one of the most heartbreaking jazz records ever recorded), don’t miss his tender, wistful, autumnal Tompkins Square record, perfectly titled Driftwoods. Give the man props while he’s livin’, as a very wise man who is no longer with us once said.
  10. Joyce Moreno! Joyce Moreno! Joyce Moreno! See Brazil Beat to find out what’s right with me–and Joyce!

Note: New additions to the list are in bold.

RELEASES OF NEWLY-MADE MUSIC

Jerry Lee Lewis…so long.

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

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: OZ DAYS LIVE ’72​-​’73 Kichijoji–The 50th Anniversary Collection (featuring Les Rallizes Dénudés)  (Temporal Drift)
  10. Various Artists: A Chat About the Beauty of the Moon at Night–Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  11. The Rolling Stones: Live at the El Mocambo (Interscope)
  12. Son House: Forever on My Mind (Easy Eye Sound)
  13. Lavender Country: Blackberry Rose and Other Songs & Sorrows (Don Giovanni)
  14. Mal Waldron: Searching in Grenoble—The 1978 Solo Piano Concert (Tompkins Square)
  15. Horace Tapscott Quintet: The Quintet (Mr. Bongo)
  16. Horace Tapscott Quintet: Legacies for Our Grandchildren (Dark Tree)
  17. Various Artists: The D-Vine Spirituals—Sacred Soul (Bible & Tire)
  18. Kabaka International Guitar Band: Kabaka International Guitar Band (Palenque Records)
  19. The Pyramids: AOMAWA—The 1970s Recordings (Strut)
  20. Hermeto Pascoal: Hermeto (Far Out Recordings)
  21. Sun Ra: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Strut)
  22. Asha Puthi: The Essential Asha Puthi (Mr. Bongo)
  23. Malik’s Emerging Force Art Trio: Time and Condition (moved-by-sound)
  24. Volta Jazz: Air Volta (Numero)
  25. Blondie: Against the Odds—1974-1982 (3-CD Rarities Version) (UMe / Numero Group)
  26. Joyce Moreno: Natureza (Far Out Recordings)
  27. Various Artists: From Lion Mountain—Traditional Music of Yeha, Ethiopia (Dust-to-Digital)
  28. Charles Stepney: Step-on-Step(International Anthem)
  29. Ronnie Boykins: The Will Come is Now (ESP-Disk)
  30. John Ondolo: Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo (Mississippi Records)
  31. Luciano Luciani y sus Mulatos: Mulata, vamos a la Salsa (Vampisoul)
  32. Cecil Taylor: Respiration (Fundacja Stuchaj)
  33. Norma Tanega: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964-1971 (Anthology)
  34. Irma Thomas: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 (Good Time)
  35. Afrika Negra: Antologia, Volume 1 (Bongo Joe)
  36. Various Artists: Summer of Soul (Legacy)
  37. The Heartbreakers: LAMF—The ’77 Found Mixes (Jungle)
  38. Various Artists: Let’s Stamp—1950s Folk Dance Recordings from Bulgarian and Yugoslavian 78 Discs (Canary Recordings)

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

Random bits?

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

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

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

Archival Digs:

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

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

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

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

Hermeto Pascoal: Planetário da Gávea (Far Out Recordings)

Hermeto Pascoal: Hermeto (Far Out Recordings)

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

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

Afrika Negra: Antologia, Volume 1 (Bongo Joe)

Various Artists: Summer of Soul (Legacy)

Neil Young: Carnegie Hall 1970 (Reprise)