Tag: Music Lists

Glittering Up The Darkness: April’s Offerings to My List of Best Rekkids of 2026

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Yes, Virginia, there has been some good—some GREAT—music released this year! It’s not like “music” is collapsing, too! Uh huh, I know about AI, but music is looking for its slingshot. I will not overtax your time here and get to the very notables:

Anthony Joseph’s on a run of four consecutive terrific poetry-with-rhythm recordings, and the sound behind his new release seems to signify outreach, a fine thing. I’ve long been a fan of Sasha Geffen’s groundbreaking alternate history of pop, Glitter Up The Dark, and it’s inspired a joyous, ebullient record from Jesse Desilva. I continue to be so bewitched by the seemingly endless flow of recordings from the Nyege Nyege Tapes label that I have dreams about a future box set and keep promising myself to create an only-the-wildest mixtape; both new offerings below spring fascinatin’ rhythms. One afternoon last month, I was trying to nap, running my “Records to Check Out ’26” Apple Music playlist on shuffle to try to catch up subconsciously, when my nap was spoiled/made moot by a cool is-this-r&b-and-if-not-whatzis flow of songs; thus, XG has made me a K-Pop X-Pop fan! It’s tempting to claim that everything Zev Feldman’s found in his deep bag of archival jazz concerts is amazing—it’s close—and his 2026 finds from Joe Henderson and Ahmad Jamal cast no doubt on that. Garrett T. Capps is MAFA (“Making Americana Fun Again”). Los Thuthanaka’s street-sweeper dance (?) music continues to stupefy, and I do not use that verb pejoratively. I tried to turn Nicole on to Robyn when she was recently on SNL—I failed, and even I thought her performance there was flat—so don’t tell her how much I love her sexplosive new one. Finally, This is Lorelei’s deluxe release almost gave me the fantods with its pop ’n’ roll rush and loving covers…almost. Have fun and take a chance!

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Anthony Joseph: The Ark

(Heavenly Sweetness) *****

New in March (click this for the Jan-Feb list; this for March’s list—I’m gonna hone it into one list eventually)

No asterisk = good / *** = very good / **** = great / ***** = really great / Italics = an excavation

Rodrigo Amado/Joe McPhee/Kent Kessler/Chris Corsano: Wailers (European Echoes Archives Series) ***

Angine de Poitrine: Vol. II (self-released)

Black Nile: Indigo Gardens (Hen House Studios)

Garrett T. Capps: I Still Love San Antone (self-released)

Caroline Davis: Fallows (Ropeadope) ****

Jesse DeSilva: Glitter Up The Dark (Nine Athens) ***

Antoine Dougbé et L’Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou: 1977 – 1982 (Analog Africa)

EDU & JUDGITZU: Nuku (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ****

Joe Henderson: Consonance–Live at the Jazz Showcase (Resonance) ****

Ahmad Jamal: At the Jazz Showcase–Live in Chicago (Resonance) ***

Kehlani: Kehlani (Atlantic) ****

LOS THUTHANAKA: Wak’a (self-released) ****

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Belonging (Blue Note) ***

MC Paul Barman & Kenny Segal: Antinomian Pandemonium (Fused Arrow) ****

Myra Melford & Satoko Fujii: Katahari (Rogue Art) ***

Robyn: Sexistential (Konichiwa/Young) ****

Adam Rudolph: Sunrise (Meta) ****

Serokolo 7: Maramfa Musick Pro (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ***

Sonic Youth: “Diamond Seas” Plunderphonics RSD Mix 12” *** (Check eBay….)

Starker: Living Type Dangerous, Volume 1—North Face Nace (self-released mixtape) ***

This is Lorelei: Box for Buddy, Box for Star (Super Deluxe) (Double Double Whammy) ****

Various Artists: Fight The Fire—Digital Reggae, Conscious Roots and Dub in Nigeria 1986-91 (Soundway Records)

Jessie Ware: Superbloom (EMI) ***

XG: The Core (XGALX) *****

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed This Month

Ornette Coleman Quartet: The 1987 Hamburg Concert

Dead Moon: Trash & Burn

Joe Dyson: Look Within

The Fall: Bend Sinister

Andrew Hill: Dance with Death

The Essential Billie Holiday, Vols. 1-3 and 8

Hot Chocolate: Cicero Park

Abdullah Ibrahim: Water from an Ancient Well

International Submarine Band: Safe at Home

Gene Jackson: 1963

Gene Jackson: The Jungle

Jlin: Black Origami

The Essential Joyce 1970-1996

Larry Levan: Journey Into Paradise—The Larry Levan Story

Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage

James Brandon Lewis: For Mahalia, with Love

James Brandon Lewis: Apple Cores

Michot’s Melody Makers: Blood Moon

Jimmy Scott: Dream

Sir Victor Uwaifo: Guitar-Boy Superstar 1970-1976

Various Artists: Big Apple Rappin’—The Early Days of Hip-Hop Culture in NYC 1979-1982

Various Artists: No New York

Various Artists: North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, Vols. 2 and 3

Various Artists: RED HOT + RIOT

Mal Waldron: The Quest (with Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin)

Hey! I Read, Too—and So Should You!

Paul Alexander: Bitter Crop—The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday’s Last Year

Adele Bertei: Now New York—A Memoir of No Wave and The Women Who Shaped The Scene

Brandon Hobson: Where The Dead Sit Talking

Bob Proehl: Flying Burrito Brothers’ The Gilded Palace of Sin (33 1/3 #61)

Lisa Sandlin: Sweet Vidalia

Stephanie Shonekan: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Sorrow Tears and Blood (33 1/3 – not numbered)

Bryan Wagner: The Wild Tchoupitoulas (33 1/3 #142)

James Edward Young: Nico—Songs They Never Play on the Radio

Follow me on Instagram and Substack if you get the notion! Also, more of my education adventures found here.

Things Are Unhinged, but Members of The Earth, Do Not Bend to The Set-Up (Living to Listen’s Favorite Records, March ’26)

The national dumpster fire is raging so hot that The Delines’ sobering but skillful portraits and tales (hit the link below) sound like Sly and The Family Stone’s Greatest Hits in comparison. I hope you all are getting out in the street or otherwise making your presence felt—if you’re hostile to the notion that there’s something to defeat out there, you’re come to wrong blog. You probably don’t like music anyway, and you’re certainly not likely to cotton to any of these new platters.

Developments? I’ve zeroed in on a new and very solid candidate for record of the year, at least so far: Tanya Tagaq’s angry and intense new record—she’s good at those, but to my ear this is her best. I once again exalt a splendid recording by one of Argentina’s finest pianists, Rocio Gimenez Lopez, who deserves many more huzzahs and is joined on the 88s by her husband (note album title). It’s an inspired and inspiring recording. If you’d asked me in 2025 if we needed yet another tribute to Duke Ellington, I might have said no, but Jason Moran’s shining and imaginative solo voyage would have made me eat my words. Quandaries: why aren’t more rock-oriented six-string worshippers on the Bill Orcutt train (maybe they are, and I’m just isolated)—a runaway train it is, trailing several creatively skronky recordings over the past few years—and why did Fugazi and Steve Albini agree to abandon the In On the Killtaker the latter “recorded”? If you need some peace, sound-healer Harlan Silverman has some stillness for you. Along with Mr. Moran, the Congolese act Kin’Gongolo Kiniata score a vibrant five asterisks with their debut album, which appears to be associated with a documentary I need to say. KINACT offers up the latest Nyege Nyege dance-racket. Buck 65 keeps passing the test. Finally, Cecil Taylor’s last performance, which includes a spoken scientific trip, has emerged.

Social music notes: a) Nicole and I not only got to witness the 86-year-old jazz groundbreaker Roscoe Mitchell play live, but we experienced him duet with his lab Shuggie, who kept the room in line (the show was arranged by the St. Louis non-profit Dissonant Works, which experimental art fans should keep an eye on); b) We also enjoyed bass player extraordinaire and frequent Bill Evans partner Eddie Gomez, 81 going on 30, lead his expert band through a set of standards and originals as part of Columbia’s annual We Always Swing series; and c) the truly exciting and informative Apple podcast Fela: Fear No Man made two road trips of ours go extremely quickly—check it out, even if you think you know all you need to know about Afrobeat’s Black President. We still have two episodes to go, during which I hope Tony Allen is at least mentioned.

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Kin’Gongolo Kiniata: Kiniata (Helico Music)*****

New in March (click this for the Jan-Feb list) No asterisk = good / *** = very good / **** = great / ***** = really great

Buck 65: Do Not Bend (self-released) ****

The Delines: The Set-Up (decor) ****

E L U C I D & Sebb Bash: I Guess U Had To Be There (Backwoodz Studioz) ***

Fugazi: Albini Sessions (Dischord) ****

Sophie Gault: Unhinged (Torrez Music Group)

Ernesto Jodos / Rocio Gimenez Lopez: Una casa con dos pianos (Blue Art) ***

KINACT: Kinshasa in Action (Nyege Nyege Tapes)****

Jason Moran: Jason Moran Plays Duke Ellington (Yes Records) *****

Angelika Niescier: Chicago Tapes (Intakt) ****

OHYUNG: IOWA (self-released)

Bill Orcutt: Music in Continuous Motion (Palilalia) *****

Robyn: Sexistential (Konichiwa / Young)

Shabaka: Of the Earth (Shabaka Records) ***

Sideshow: Tigray Funk (10k & UA) ***

Harlan Silverman: Music for Stillness (Mississippi Records)

Tyshawn Sorey: Members…Don’t! (Pi Recordings) *** (out May 29)

Alister Spence: Always Ever (self-released) ****

Station Model Violence: Station Model Violence (Anti Fade)

Tanya Tagaq: Saputjii (Six Shooter) *****

Cecil Taylor New Unit: Words and Music—The Last Bandstand (Fundacja Słuchaj Records)

Various Artists: Born in the City of Tanta–Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore and Bedouin

Shaabi from Libya’s Bourini Records 1968-75 (Sublime Frequencies) ***

Weld Khadija ou L-Farqa L-Jilaliya:  Walad Haja Radio Annajah 718 راديو النجاح (Hive Mind)

2025: Too Cool for Me To Have Forgotten (or Missed)

Blanco teta: La Debacle de las Divas (Les Disques Bongo Joe)

kangding ray: SIRAT—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Invada)

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed This Month

Kauro Abe: Winter 1972

Abdul Al-Hannan: The Third World

Polly Bradfield: Solo Violin Improvisations

Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble: Heliopolis

Arthur Doyle + 4: Alabama Feeling

Gang of Four: Another Day Another Dollar EP

G.L. Unit: Oran Gu Tang!

The Grateful Dead: Rockin’ The Rhein

Wardell Gray: Memorial (Volumes 1 & 2)

L7: Fast and Frightening

Ikue Mori: Painted Desert

Mount Everest Trio: Waves from Albert Ayler

Kasey Musgraves: Same Trailer, Different Park

Kasey Musgraves: Golden Hour

Kasey Musgraves: Deeper Well

Public Image Limited: Second Edition

Jimmy Rushing: Rushing Lullabies

Masahiko Sato Trio: Penetration

The Stanley Brothers: The King Years 1961-1965

Swamp Dogg: Total Destruction to the Mind

Swamp Dogg: Gag a Maggot

Charles Tyler: Eastern Man Alone

John Tchicai and Cadentia Nova Danca: Afrodisiaca

Sonny Boy Williamson: The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys: The Tiffany Transcriptions, Volume 3—Basin Street Blues

The Frank Wright Quartet: Church Number Nine

Hey! I Read, Too—and So Should You!

Martin Amis: Money

Dan Flores: Coyote America—A Natural and Supernatural History

Laurel Holliday: Children of the Troubles—Our Lives in the Crossfire of Northern Ireland

Yasunari Kawabata: Snow Country

Freya McClements & Joe Duffy: Children of the Troubles

John D. MacDonald: The Deep Blue Good-By

Toni Morrison: Beloved

Edna O’Brien: Lantern Slides—Stories

Elizabeth Strout: Olive Kitteridge

Follow me on Instagram and Substack if you get the notion! Also, more of my education adventures found here.

An Aural Portal to Here: Preferred Albums, January 1-February 28, 2026

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This month: I’ve begun my very basic asterisky rating system, now that most of the following records have had a chance to sink in, plus I’m continuing to share my lists of carelessly forgotten, underappreciated, or simply “new to me” records from January-November 2025 (December’s children are being counted as ‘26ers since they barely had a chance to be aurally dandled), my return to older records (stimulated by a great oral history of Texas punk rock—see below—Mardi Gras, the Miles Davis Centennial, and PBS’ nice Sun Ra documentary), my bibliobiography (lotsa music books therein)—and a Record of the Month.

Notable Top 10: 1) The two best jazz records I’ve heard this year, from Work Money Death and Dave Adewumi (that one hasn’t yet been released for public consumption). Hot on their heels is one by Chad Fowler and Art Edmaiston that was recorded in Memphis and which makes yet another case for the southern roots of free jazz. 2) A refreshed Van Morrison. 3) Charli XCX refusing to be dismissed. 4) More evidence that, if bassist/composer Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is involved with your project, you will greatly benefit. 5)A legendary P-Funk guitarist thrilling you solo. 6) A six-hour box set of trio interpretations of Morton Feldman compositions (classical music—eek!) (recommended to me by my reliable source at Burning Ambulance) that can calm your afternoon. 7) One rap record to soothe the Golden Agers’ breasts, another one that breaks through my resistance to live rap records. 8) A terrific Floridian singer-songwriter inspiring us over-sixties to finally learn to play and start writing. 9) South African Nandipha808’s can’t-stop-won’t-stop YouTube mixtape. 10) Some Colombian cumbia from the Analog Africa vault!

If you enjoy what I’m doing here, please check out my IG feed ( displaying a quadrant of records that each day thrill my earhole), my Substack newsletter (it purports to deal with my long career as an educator but I squeeze music in whenever possible—as I did in the classroom), and my education blog, “The Overeem Farewell Tour,” , a deeper educational dive that includes both a daily diary from my last year as a full-time public school teacher and a Spring ’20 to Spring ’21 COVID “cloister commentary.”

To the lists!

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

KEY: 
# = Archival release
***Very Good!           ****Really Good!      ****C’est Magnifique
Bolded entries are new to the list! 

NEW ALBUMS

Dave Adewumi: The Flame Beneath the Silence (Giant Step Arts) **** (out March 27)

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

Charli XCX: “Wuthering Heights” (Charli XCX Inc. / Atlantic) ***

Cimota: [ˈkɪmɔtɑː] (Sonic Transmissions) ***

Claire Dickson: Balance (New Amsterdam) (out March 27) ***

Dry Cleaning: Secret Love (4AD)

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

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

Fanfare Ciocarlia: Devil’s Tale (Asphalt Tango)

femcels: I Have to Get Hotter (self-released) ***

GBSR Duo & Taylor McLennan: Morton Feldman–Trios (Another Timbre) ****

Al Green: To Love Somebody (Fat Possum EP)

Grupo Um: Nineteen Seventy-Seven (Far Out Recordings)

Michael Hampton: Into the Public Domain (self-released) DECEMBER ‘25

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

Mark Lomax II: The Unity Suite (CFG Media) JANUARY’S SPOTLIGHT ALBUM ****

Lord Jah Monte Ogbon: As of Now (Lex) ***

Mandy, Indiana: URGH (Sacred Bones)

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

The Messthenics & James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency (Impulse!) ****

Van Morrison: Someone Tried to Sell Me a Bridge (Exile Productions) ***

Nandipha808: No Vocal Album (self-released) DECEMBER ’25 ****

The Outskirts: Orbital (Aerophonic) (out April 7th)

Grant Peeples: Code to Live By (self-released) DECEMBER ’25 ****

#Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical: Galaxia Tropical (Analog Africa) ***

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

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

Ren: Sick Boi Live at Dead Wax (self-released) ***

Ratboy: Singin’ to an Empty Chair (New West) ****

Steve Roach: Sentient Being (Soundquest) ***

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

SAULT: Chapter 1 (Forever Living Originals) ***

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

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

Slutworld: Slut Intent (self-released EP)

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

Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life) ***

Work Money Death: A Portal to Here (ATA) ****

2025: Gone But Too Cool for Me To Have Forgotten

#Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy: African Skies (Listening Position)

Blanco teta: La Debacle de las Divas (Les Disques Bongo Joe) (pictured above)

Kathleen Edwards: Billionaire (Dualtone) Thanks for your patience, Kenny Wright!

Tav Falco: Desire on Ice (Org Music) 

Rois: Mo Lean (self-released)

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed this Month

Louis Armstrong: Louis & The Big Bands

Big Boys: no matter how long the line is in the cafeteria there’s always a seat

Nick Brignola: On a Different Level

Butthole Surfers: PCPPEP

Joe King Carrasco and The Crowns: s/t + Synapse Gap

Ornette Coleman: Beauty is a Rare Thing

The Cramps: URGH! The Complete Show

Miles Davis: The Complete Concert 1964 + Highlight from the Plugged Nickel + Get Up With It

The Dicks: These People

Fela: The Best of the Black President 2 

Sinead O’Connor: The Lion and The Cobra + I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got + “Famine”/”All Apologies” CD Single + Throw Down Your Arms (killer reggae, seriously)

Pylon: Chomp

Sun Ra: The Nubians of Plutonia + The Singles + Cosmo Sun Connection

Hey! I Read, Too-and So Should You!

Martin Amis: Money (Penguin)

Pat Blashill: Someday All the Adults Will Die—The Birth of Texas Punk (University of Texas Press)

Judy Cheeks: Love and Honor—The Life of Reverend Julius Cheeks

Liadan Ni Chuinn: Every One is Still Here—Stories (Stinging Fly Press) (these short stories are astounding)

Byron Coley, Mats Gustafsson, and Thurston Moore: NOW JAZZ NOW—100 Free Jazz and Improvisation Albums (1960-1980) (Ecstatic Peace Library)

Jozsef Debreczeni (trans. Paul Olchvary): Cold Crematorium—Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz (St. Martin’s Press)

Alysson McCabe: Why Sinead O’Connor Matters (University of Texas Press)

Flannery O’Connor: The Violent Bear It Away (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)

Orlando Reade: What in Me is Dark—The Revolutionary Afterlife of “Paradise Lost” (Astra House)

John Szwed: So What—The Life of Miles Davis (Simon & Schuster)

Paul Youngquist: A Pure Solar World—Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism (University of Texas Press)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Mark Lomax II: The Unity Suite (CFG Multimedia)

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

Other Favorite New Albums, January 2026 

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

Dry Cleaning: Secret Love (4AD)

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

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

Fanfare Ciocarlia: Devil’s Tale (Asphalt Tango)

Al Green: To Love Somebody (Fat Possum EP)

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

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

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

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

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

SAULT: Chapter 1 (Forever Living Originals)

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

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

Slutworld: Slut Intent (self-released EP)

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

Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life)

2025: Gone But Too Cool for Me to Have Forgotten

C-MAT: Euro-Country (CMATBABY)

Griot Galaxy: Live on WUOM 1979 (Two Rooms)

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

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

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed

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

79rs Gang: Expect the Unexpected (Sinking City)

Collocutor: Continuation (On the Corner)

The Killer Shrews: The Killer Shrews (Enemy)

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

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

The Supreme Angels: The Supreme Angels (Nashboro)

Hey! I Read, Too! 

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

Sivina Ocampo: The Promise (City Lights)

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

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

In From the Storm: My Favorite Records from ’25, January 1st to August 1st

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I fell behind in June but revved up to as close to the front of the line as can be expected, I suppose. I still have much business swirling around my head—every time I’ve dealt with the last piece of post-mortem paperwork, something new arrives in the mail, and there’s always grief—so I’m not going to say much other than what a rush of recorded matter has there been into this deity-forsaken world, and I’m thankful.

I have provided album cover images to stimulate you (above) and links in the items’ titles to lead you to purchase (please buy musicians’ music—please?). Later, I will add an updated Spitify playlist with a track a piece from everything on the list if you want to have a…song tasting. If an item is bolded, it is new to the list; if an item is italicized, it is a newly released record that contains older music (there are a few late-’24 entries that might have flown under your radar); if an item is asterisked, it’s very good up to the everlovin’ shit, depending on the number of *s; if an item you think is dandy isn’t on the list, I might not have caught up to it yet (or it didn’t move me, so it got real gone for a change). A truckload of new thangs have been loosed as I hunt and peck this morning; I’m just gonna have to wait until September 1st for the best of those. I hope you find something that can distract you beatifically (but temporarily) from the destruction at large. And…try the Red Hot Org EP that mixes the Kronos Quartet, Dylan’s most surrealistic protest song, and Terry Riley. It ain’t a spinach ice cream cone—it’s brilliant, and necessary.

AND OH YEAH! Do not overlook two shining 5-asterisk discs: jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson’s most mesmerizing recording in a career of them (special assistance from Patricia Brennan) and Irish folk giant Christy Moore’s powerful take on the troubles nouveux in his country (and the world).

MY LIST OF RECENT AURAL PLEASURE – SAMPLER PLAYLIST BELOW
BOLD = New to the List
ASTERISKED* = Damn good! to Holy SHIT! (one day, I will organize them)
ITALICIZED: Excavations from the Past / Reissues


Aesop Rock: Black Hole Superette (Rhymesayers) ****
Zoh Amba: Sun (Smalltown Supersound) ****
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) ****
Gina Birch: Trouble (Third Man)
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)
Peter Brotzmann: The Quartet (Otoroku)****
Master Wilburn Burchette: Master Wilburn Burchette’s Psychic Meditation Music (Numero Group)***

Joe Chambers, Kevin Diehl, Chad Taylor: Onilu (Eremite) ****
Tyler Childers: Snipe Hunter (RCA / Hickman Holler)
Christer Bothén 3: L’Invisible  (thanatosis)****
clipping: Dead Channel Sky (Sub Pop)
Clipse: Let God Sort ‘Em Out (Roc Nation)***
Common and Pete Rock: The Auditorium, Volume 1 (Casa Loma)
Cosmic Ear: TRACES (We Jazz) *****
Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson: Bone Bells (Pyroclastic)
Chuck D: Chuck D Presents Enemy Radio—Radio Armageddon (Soundspeak)

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 Haram: Beside Myself (Hyperdub)
DJ Shaun-D: From Bubbling to Dutch House (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr. & The Wild Magnolias: Chip Off The Old Block (Strong Place)
Doseone & Height Keech: Wood Teeth (Hands Made EP) ****
doseone & Steel Tipped Dove: All Portrait, No Chorus (BackwoodzStudios) ****

Silke Eberhard Trio: Being-A-Ning (Intakt)
Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Shapes and Forms (Cool Death EP)***
Marty Ehrlich Trio Exaltation: This Time (Sunnyside) ***
Electric Satie: Gymnopedia ’99 (In Sheep’s Clothing)****
Marco Eneidi Quintet: Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (Balance Point Acoustics / Botticelli) ****
Ex-Void: In Love Again (Tapete Records)

Fieldwork: Thereupon (Pi 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)

Galactic and Irma Thomas: Audience with the Queen (Tchoup-Zilla)
Girl Scout: Headache (self-released EP)

Keiji Haino and Natsuki Tamura: what happened there? (Libra)
Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts (Nonesuch)*****
Hamell on Trial: Harp (for Harry) (Saustex)
Heat On: Heat On (Cuneiform)
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) ****
Hüsker Dü: Jan.30, First Ave., Part 1 (Numero EP) ****

Mikko Innanen and Ingebrigt Häker Flaten: Live in Espoo (Sonic Transmissions)
Michael Gregory Jackson: Frequency Equilibrium Koan (moved-by-sound)

Jeong – Bisio Duo (featuring Joe McPhee): Morning Bells Whistle Bright (ESP-Disk) ****
Rico Jones: Bloodlines (Giant Step Arts)
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) *****

Karol G: Tropicoqueta (Bichota) ****

Kelela: In the Blue Light (Warp) ***

KINGDOM MOLOGI: Kembo (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ***
Kronos Quartet + The Hard Rain Collective: Hard Rain (Red Hot Org EP)

Lady Gaga: Mayhem (Interscope)
Lambrini Girls: Who Let The Dogs Out (City Slang US) *****
Steve Lehman: The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi Recordings) *****
José Lencastre: Inner Voices (Burning Ambulance)***
Jinx Lennon: The Hate Agents Leer at the Last Agents of Hope (Septic Tiger) ***
James Brandon Lewis: Apple Cores (Anti-)
James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Abstraction is Deliverance (Intakt) ***
Jeffrey Lewis: The Even More Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis (Don Giovanni)
Little Simz: Lotus (AWAL) ***
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)
Mean Mistreater: Do or Die (self-released)***
The Mekons: Horror (Fire) ***
Ava Mendoza/Gabby Fluke-Mogul/Carolina Perez: Mama Killa (Burning Ambulance) ***
M(h)aol: Something Soft (Merge) ***
Mac Miller: Baloonerism (Warner Records)
Billy Mohler: The Eternal (Contagious)
Moonchild Sanelly: Full Moon (self-released)
MonoNeon: You Had Your Chance…Bad Attitude! (Color Red) ****
Christy Moore: A Terrible Beauty (Claddagh) *****
Jason Moran/Trondheim Jazz Orchestra/Ole Morten Vågan: Go To Your North (Yes Records)
Matthew Muneses and Riza Printup: Pag-Ibko, Volume 1 (Irabbagast Records)
David Murray Quartet: The Birdsong Project Presents Birdly Serenade (Verve)
Amina Claudine Myers: Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) ****

Natural Information Society and Bitchin’ Bahas: Totality (Drag City)
Louis Nevins: The Fumes (Cavetone Records)
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) *****
Aruan Ortiz: Creole Renaissance (Intakt)

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)
Public Enemy: Black Sky Over The Projects—Apartment 2025 (self-released) ***

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) ****
Matthew Shipp: The Cosmic Piano (Canteloupe Records) ****
Anthony “Big A” Sherrod: Torchbearer of the Clarksdale Sound (Music Makers Recordings EP)
Slick Rick: Victory (Mass Appeal)
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)
Sun Ra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght 5 August 1970 (Strut) ***
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) 
Cecil Taylor / Tony Oxley: Flashing Spirits (Burning Ambulance)
Ebo Taylor, Adrain Younge, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Jazz Is Dead 22 (Jazz is Dead)
Three-Layer Cake: “sounds the color of grounds” (Otherly Love)
Trio Glossia: Trio Glossia (Sonic Transmissions) ****
The Tubs: Cotton Crown (self-released)***

Kali Uchis: Sincerely (Capitol) ***
Akira Umeda & Metal Preyers: Clube de Mariposa Mórbida (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
The Untamed Youth: Git Up and Go (Hi-Tide / Nu-Tone)

Various Artists: African Jazz Invites O.K. Jazz (Planet Ilunga) ***
Various Artists: A Tribute to the King of Zydeco (Valcourt)
Various Artists: Democracy Forward (Bitter Southerner)
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) ***
Vibration Black Finger: Everybody Cryin’ Mercy (Enid)

The War & Treaty: Plus One (Mercury Nashville)
Wet Leg: moisturizer (Domino)
Alfred White: The Definitive Alfred White (Music Makers Recordings)
Wheelhouse: House and Home (Aerophonic)
Simon Willson: Bet (Endectomorph Records)
billy woods: GOLLIWOG (x) (Backwoodz Studios)
Wu-Tang Clan: Black Samson, The Bastard (All Maf / 36 Chambers)

Jeong Lim Yang: Synchronicity (Fully Altered Media) 
Hiroshi Yoshimura: Flora (Temporal Drift) ***
Brandee Younger: Gadabout Season (Impulse) ***
The Young Mothers: Better If You Let It (Sonic Transmissions)****

SAMPLE THIS SHIT AND PUT IT ON SHUFFLE! We are not alone in the musical cosmos!







	


	


			
				


			

			
Death Don’t Have No Mercy: In Lieu of My Monthly List, Would You Care for My Mid-Year Francis Davis Memorial Jazz Critics Ballot?
		
	
	

		















My mother, Mary Jane Overeem, passed away from dementia in her assisted living facility early in the morning of Wednesday, June 18, 2025. I am sure it was a coincidence, but she left in the midst of 15-minute wind, lightning, thunder, and pouring rain storm that seemed to harness the furiousness of the battle between her physical determination to keep living and her spiritual will to be released–after months of begging to be. It was exceedingly difficult to witness. I had hoped to be there at her side when she finally passed, but I had to sleep. She might have been waiting for me to pass all the way out so she could slip away alone.





Once during her final four torturous days, the topic of music arose. One of her best friends in the community was an English octogenarian named Rita who happened to come by and check on her. My mom had mentioned to Rita that I kinda-sorta liked music, so she casually offered to tell me the story of her having seen the 1965 edition of The Rolling Stones in Coventry when she was 20. I have a very soft spot for the Jones-era Stones, so I was all ears—especially when she groused, “I was on the front row, and I tried to grab Mick’s balls but a cop grabbed me before I could get ‘em. I almost had his balls—I would have been on the cover of The Daily Mirror, you know?” I was doubled over, crying with laughter. She went on to mention that she’d only seen Gene Vincent three times (!!!) and Eddie Cochran once (!!!!). I will always treasure that pop-by, and when Rita rolled up to express her condolences after the funeral this past Sunday, I wanted to tell her, “I wish I could grab death by the balls,” but I settled for giving her a big hug, wetting her shoulder with tears, and whispering, “Sweet Gene Vincent.”





All of that is to say that I was not able to attend to a June new music inventory, though I will also say that passionate new records by the Irish folk legend Christy Moore, the fiery and spirited saxophone sprite Zoh Amba, and a heap of very inspired rock and rollers and zydeco masters paying tribute to Clifton Chenier will be crowned with four or five stars when I catch up, maybe this week or next.





What I can do is share the ballot I submitted to the Francis Davis Memorial Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll, topped, naturally, by an album that came out in November of 2024 (that’s within the rules, since it barely had time to be distributed; also, see the video above). It’s a great year for jazz, and especially for piano records, four of which made my Top 10.





Enjoy yourself, and keep livin’….





NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (ranked)





Organic Pulse Ensemble: Ad Hoc (Ultraaani Records)





Cosmic Ear: TRACES (We Jazz)





Matthew Shipp: The Cosmic Piano (Cantaloupe Music)





William Hooker: Jubilation (Org Music)





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





Amina Claudine Myers: Solace of the Mind (Red Hook Records)





Zoh Amba: Sun (Smalltown Supersound)





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





Trio Glossia: Trio Glossia (Sonic Transmissions)





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





RARA AVIS 





(ranked—these are older recordings come to the light of day)





Marco Eneidi Quartet: Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (Balance Point Acoustics)





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





Sun Ra and His Inter-Galactic Research Arkestra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght 3rd August 1970 (Strut)





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





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










	


	


			
				


			

			
Fetching Recordings from January 2025–For Month 1, Not Too Skimpy!
		
	
	

		






I am restless. As a teacher, I cannot teach the same lesson twice the same way (nor should anyone, but maybe I’m wrong). Last year, I tried to write more about the albums I loved on this blog but ended up very unsatisfied, plus it was a pain when it came to assembling a complete year-end list. So…I think this year, I’ll go back to my cumulative listing and let y’all follow the links and divine from those whether the records are worthy of your time…unless you just trust me. I wouldn’t. I am going to stick with closing with a Spotify playlist sampler, though I hate Spotify and, since I receive some review copies, songs from those might not yet be available–especially on this one. 





New Releases:





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





Bad Bunny: DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS (Rimas Entertainment)





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





Benjamin Booker: Lower (Fire Next Time)





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





Ex-Void: In Love Again (Tapete Records)





Satoko Fujii GEN: Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra)*





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





LOLO: LOLO (Black Sweat)





Mac Miller: Baloonerism (Warner 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





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





Omar Thomas: Griot Songs (Omar Thomas Music)





Simon Willson: Bet (Endectomorph Records) @





Jeong Lim Yang: Synchronicity (Fully Altered Media)





@Features Neta Raanan, a terrific young saxophonist whose debut last year was SHARP.





*Fujii can’t stop, won’t stop–first album out of considerably over 100 (!!) with a string section.





*A terrific free jazz tenor last heard from about 40+ years ago who’s resurfaced.





Old Stuff I Happily Listened To:













Zoh Amba: Every album she’s released and appeared on. We saw her play live and it was a chicken-skin experience! Blazing and dynamically moody free jazz plus surprise acoustic guitar versions of new songs that both rended and expanded one’s heart. Check out the way she finishes out Myriam Gendron’s track on the playlist below!





Bob Dylan’s folk stuff: I was subbing the other day shortly after A Complete Unknown was released and I’d seen it—it sent be back to my favorites of his early period, especially the first album (what writer recently said he was electric from the first, because the electricity was in the way he sang those songs?) and “Only a Pawn in Their Game,” which I’ve always loved and repeat played to the point it was worming my ear all day)—and I casually sidled up to a table of 10th grade “advanced placement” dudes. Me: “Hey, have you guys heard of Bob Dylan?” Them (in tandem): “He’s dead, right?” I have some issues with the movie but it was entertaining and has a reason for being.





Culture and Burning Spear in the schools: Sometimes if I’m subbing for an old English-teaching comrade, they’ll let me write my own lesson and teach. A recent job was for a guy who teaches classical ideas and world religions and his students are currently studying Judaism; he asked if I could talk about Rastafarian reggae’s connections with Judaism and play some examples. They didn’t know dick about Rastafarianism or reggae, so it was a good call. We studied The Melodians’ “Rivers of Babylon,” sections of Culture’s Two Sevens Clash and aspects of Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey. I also pushed Safiya Sinclair’s memoir of wrasslin’ to liberate herself from the clutches of her Rasta dad, How to Say Babylon. I’ve listened to reggae every day since.





Sinead O’Connor: Nicole and I watched the SNL Music special ?Love put together (apparently he was ordered by Lorne to exclude any evidence of The Replacements’ TRANSCENDENT appearance, the petty bastard) and got chills revisiting Sinead’s appearance. Listened to her all of the next day (yesterday, as it were) and kept getting chills, though I found myself wondering how much more she could have accomplished without the after-effects of the backlash (as Al Franken said, “She was kind of right,” though I’d say “She was right.”).










Black Female Gospel Warriors All Day on January 20th. Folks? Put the whole of the armour on.










	


	


			
				


			

			
No!vember ’24: A Spare Commentary on the Best New (and Newly Discovered) Music I Heard
		
	
	

		






I’ve got a cold Huey Piano Smith could write another song about, my new block-style teaching assignment is intense (but I like it), and I’ve been traveling throughout the month, so I’m scrambling to get this out on the first. You don’t want to hear me yammer anyway, even if I got to witness both Hailu Mergia and Nicole Mitchell live since last time. Thus:





Albums below in bold font strike me as possible Top Tenners in their respective categories.





NEW WORKS I DUG (in alphabetical order)





    

  1. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: The World is on Fire (Division 81)—Collier and band are in a serious Trane mode, and the media clips make it sound like the record was made in 2020–but isn’t it really still, and might it possibly eternally stay, 2020?
    2. 




  2. Jazz Sabbath: The 1968 Tapes (Blacklake)—Yes: early Sabbath jazzed impressively and with a wry sense of humor.
    3. 




  3. Kenneth Jimenez: Sonnet to Silence (We Jazz)—It’s a musical sonnet to silence, not of silence, and bassist Jimenez’s quartet’s noise is splendid.
    4. 




  4. Ava Mendoza: The Circular Train (Palilalia)—Is this a Year of the Guitar?
    5. 




  5. Kendrick Lamar: GNX (pgLang/Interscope)—Sounds great to me, I guess because the music I’m loving most is his cadences and the production is brightly…defiant.
    6. 




  6. Oaagaada: Music of Ogaadaa (We Jazz)—Finnish free quartet augmented by shruti box and log drum and generating serious energy that’s just contained enough for a dabbler.
    7. 




  7. Kelly Lee Owens: Dreamstate (dh2)—My friend Kevin suggested this to somebody else when I was in a low mood, I stole the suggestion, and quickly added her to (a bit lesser light, but not by much) Jessie Ware as a mood shifter.
    8. 




  8. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet: The Way Out of Easy (International Anthem)—Is this a Year of the Guitar?
    9. 




  9. Paper Jays: Paper Jays (ESP-Disk)—Rhode Island instro-combo combines the spaciness of very early Meat Puppets with the weird, itchy vibe of Penguin Café and a touch of…the Middle East?
    10. 




  10. Pascal & Baya Rays: Sonic Joy (Ultraani)—Freaky and fun Finnish funk.
    11. 




  11. claire rousay: The Bloody Lady (Viernulvier)—Ambient master writes a mysterious score for Viktor Kubal’s 1980 film The Bloody Lady doesn’t require you to watch the film to be hypnotized.
    12. 




  12. Various Artists: TRANSA (Red Hot Org)—Eight “chapters,” 46 songs, a dazzling array of performers (Larraji, Tweedy, Julien Baker, Sumney + ANOHNI, JLin + Moor Mother), consistent quality, surprising musical coherence, and good reason to worry made it easy for me to listen to this beginning to end.
    13. 




  13. Wussy: Cincinnati Ohio (Shake It)—I really like the lyrics, I’m not too sure about the music, and I can’t hear Lisa well enough.
    14. 




  14. Charli xcx: Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat (Atlantic)—This irresistibly trashy brat dragged me kicking and screaming and grinning ear to ear through this version.
    15. 




  15. Dwight Yoakam: Brighter Days (Via/Thirty Tigers)—Dude really cannot make a bad album (always reminds me of Tom Petty that way) and this one (despite a very corny and terrible song and thanks to my favorite-ever cover of “Keep On the Sunny Side”) is no exception: sings great, surrounds himself with a crack band, and writes solidly—and, weirdly, often BRIGHTLY.
    16. 




  16. Tucker Zimmerman: Dance of Love (4AD)—I was telling a friend the other day that, for a reason I can’t pin down that has to do with the way things are, I am tired of Americana even when it’s good…but I have a feeling I’m (and possibly you’re) gonna need this one, knocked out by a resurfaced legend who has his finger on the pulse o’things, Big Thief behind him, and his arms around a few friends.
    17. 






EXCELLENT EXCAVATIONS





    

  1. Black Artists Group: For Peace & Liberty, in Paris, December 1972 (We Want Sound)—Too few recordings are available from a St. Louis, Missouri, gang of players who would later help fire up the NYC loft jazz movement, and this has never before been released.
    2. 




  2. Emily Remler: Cookin’ at Queens (Resonance)—This short-lived, Wes Montgomery-influenced guitarist had already raised the eyebrows of her fellow players and was poised for bigger things when she stepped on a narcotic rainbow; she is flying on these live recordings.
    3. 




  3. B. B. King: B. B. King in France (Elemental)—The most famous of the several “King”s of the blues is in exceptional form on this unearthed ‘70s set.
    4. 




  4. Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Live in France—The 1966 Limoges Concert (Elemental)—Her guitar is shorter on beautifully ugly noise than on other available live recordings, but otherwise, 51 and just seven years from passing on, she’s all the way on.
    5. 




  5. Various Artists: Super Disco Pirata—De Tepito Para El Mundo 1965-1980 (Analog Africa)—Don’t we all need even more cumbia (and related contagious rhythms) in our lives right now?
    6. 






Check the shit out aurally–though I wish I had a better option than Squatify.










	


	


			
				


			

			
Apples of My Ear (in Stereo) , 75% of the Way Through This Year of Our Horde
		
	
	

		

After several years of just keeping cumulative, priority-ordered lists of my favorite new and excavated recordings here, and feeling guilty that I usually wasn’t writing (or saying) much, I decided in January to take a new approach, which I’ve enjoyed–but it’s been hell on my long-term memory. I feel I’m sure to have left something I loved out of the lists below, even after arduously scrolling through past posts. Maybe I’ll go back to listing in 2025 if I haven’t flexed my passport. On the positive side, I’ve abjured the priority ordering in favor of alphabetical, since I’d begun to suspect my Top 10s and 20s of the past had become somewhat calcified by June or July; saving the priority ordering for the end of the year forces me to have to re-evaluate records a little more carefully. On the other hand, who but I really cares?





Thusly, firstly:





MY 30 VERY FAVORITE NEW RECORDS FROM 2024 SO FAR





(Alphabetical…BUT * = Potential Top 10er; $ = Vying for #1)





    

  1. Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville (Hot Cup)
    2. 




  2. Adeem The Artist: ANNIVERSARY (Thirty Tigers /Four Quarters) 
    3. 




  3. Big Freedia & The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra: Live at the Orpheum Theater (Queen Diva)
    4. 




  4. Alan Braufman: Infinite Love Tears (The Control Group / Valley of Search)
    5. 




  5. Patricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic) 
    6. 




  6. Buck 65, doseone, Jel: North American Adonis (Handsmade)
    7. 




  7. Ingebrigt Haker Flaten & (Exit) Knarr: Breezy (Sonic Transmissions)*
    8. 




  8. Fox Green: Light Over Darkness (self-released)
    9. 




  9. Amaro Freitas: Y’Y (Psychic Hotline)
    10. 




  10. Satoko Fujii Trio: Jet Black (Libra)
    11. 




  11.  Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Still Alive (Nonesuch)*$
    12. 




  12.  Jlin: Akoma (Planet Mu)*
    13. 




  13.  Darius Jones: Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)*
    14. 




  14.  Ka: The Thief Next to Jesus (self-released)*
    15. 




  15.  El Khat: Mute (Glitterbeat)
    16. 




  16.  Corb Lund: El Viejo (New West)*$
    17. 




  17.  Mdou Moctar: Funeral for Justice (Matador)
    18. 




  18.  Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: Four Guitars Live (Palilalia)*
    19. 




  19.  QOW Trio: The Hold Up (Ubuntu)
    20. 




  20.  Ren: Sick Boi (renmakesmusic.com) 
    21. 




  21.  Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus (Milan) 
    22. 




  22.  SAULT: Acts of Faith (self-released)
    23. 




  23.  Ann Savoy: Another Heart (Smithsonian Folkways)
    24. 




  24.  Brandon Seabrook: Object of Unknown Function (Pyroclastic)*
    25. 




  25.  Patrick Shiroishi: Glass House (Otherly Love)
    26. 




  26.  Snotty Nose Rez Kids: Red Future (Savage Mob)
    27. 




  27.  Swamp Dogg: Blackgrass—From West Virginia to 125th Street (Oh Boy! Records)*
    28. 




  28.  Takkak Takkak: Takkak Takkak (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
    29. 




  29.  Fay Victor:  Life is Funny That Way—Herbie Nichols Sung (TAO Forms)
    30. 




  30.  X: Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum)
    31. 






…and secondly:





MY TOP 15 VERY FAVORITE EXCAVATED OR REISSUED RECORDS 





(I always list these alphabetically anyway, but * = my faves and $ = tops)





    

  1. Christer Bothen Featuring Bolon Beta: Trancedance—40th Anniversary Edition (Black Truffle reissue)*
    2. 




  2. Alice Coltrane: The 1971 Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse!) (Goner Records reissue)
    3. 




  3. Cosmic Psychos: Go the Hack (Goner Records reissue)
    4. 




  4. Creation Rebel: High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 (On-U Sound) 
    5. 




  5. Charles Gayle / Milford Graves / William Parker: WEBO (Black Editions)
    6. 




  6. Phil Haynes: 4 Horns or What?—The Complete American Recordings (Corner Store Jazz)*
    7. 




  7. Love Child: Never Meant to Be (12XU) 
    8. 




  8. Franco Luambo Mkaidi: Presents Les Editions Populaires (Planet Ilunga) 
    9. 




  9. Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver–The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)*$
    10. 




  10.  Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society: Father of Origin (Eremite)
    11. 




  11. Sun Ra: Excelsior Mill (Sundazed)*
    12. 




  12. Unholy Modal Rounders: Unholier Than Thou 7/7/77 (Don Giovanni)*$
    13. 




  13. Various Artists: Congo Funk! Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Analog Africa)
    14. 




  14. Various Artists: Love Hides All Faults—Deep Gospel Soul Selected by Jumbo (Elusive Vinyl / Pyramid Records)*
    15. 




  15. Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors Live in Antwerp (Elemental Music)
    16. 


	


	


			
				


			

			
JUNE 2024–Halfway There: 10 Newish Albums I Lived to Listen To + My 10 Favorite Jazz Albums of 2024 So Far + Encounters with Old Reggae
		
	
	

		






I really don’t have much to write this month. My mind feels paralyzed; at least my ears are working. Also, I am behind due to being distracted by non-new musical explorations, as you will see. Thus, I am just going to make three lists (this will help me get to THIS faster, too–I need it and I hope it’s great, but I can’t really listen to it until I’m done here).





The 20 Best Albums Released in 2024 That I First Heard This Month (in alphabetical order, but * = really kicking my butt)





Arooj Aftab: Night Reign (Verve)





*Christer Bothen Featuring Bolon Beta: Trancedance—40th Anniversary Edition (Black Truffle reissue)





*Alan Braufman: Infinite Love Tears (The Control Group / Valley of Search)





Jonas Cambien: Macu Conu (Clean Feed)





Charli xcx: BRAT (Atlantic)





*Cosmic Psychos: Go the Hack (Goner Records reissue)





Janel [Leppin] and Anthony [Pirog]: New Moon in the Evil Age (Cuneiform) (The “Janel disc” rools, although they are both on all of it.) (Wait, I said I wasn’t writing.)





*Kronos Quartet: Outer Spaceways Incorporated (Red Hot Org)





*Corb Lund: El Viejo (New West) 





*Willie Nelson: The Border (Sony Music)





*Nestor: Teenage Rebel (Napalm Records/Handels GmbH) (I would have hated this in my 20s, in its way its allegiance to the laws of 1980s hard rock–passionate allegiance!–is stunning.) (I’m writing!)





Ngwaka Son Systeme: Iboto Ngenge (Eck Echo Records)





Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo: Pra voce, Ilza (Rocinante Records)





Sexyy Red: In Sexyy We Trust (Rebel/gamma)





Sisso & Maiko: Singeli & Maiko (Nyege Nyege Tapes)





*Swamp Dogg: Blackgrass—From West Virginia to 125th Street (Oh Boy! Records) (I’ve LONG been a fan but this is by far his best record in many moons.)





Rapsody: Please Don’t Cry (We Each Other, Inc. / Jamla Records / Rock Nation Records) (jeeze lou-eeze, even the label/s is/are lonnnng!)





Staples Jr. Singers: Searching (Luaka Bop)





Esy Tadesse: Ahadu (FPE Records)





*Tri-County Liquidators: Shining Through (Hitt Records / Big Cartel EP) (Columbia, MO, locals’ follow-up to an impressive debut shines)





My Top 10 Favorite Jazz Albums of 2024 (In order of preference)





Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: Four Guitars Live (Palilalia)





Miha Gantar: New York City (Clean Feed)





Amaro Freitas: Y’Y (Psychic Hotline)





Satoko Fujii Trio: Jet Black (Libra)





QOW Trio: The Hold Up (Ubuntu)





Fay Victor:  Life is Funny That Way—Herbie Nichols Sung (TAO Forms)





Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville (Hot Cup)





Alan Braufman: Infinite Love Tears (The Control Group / Valley of Search)





Kronos Quartet: Outer Spaceways Incorporated (Red Hot Org)





James Carter: UN (JMI Recordings)





5 Stellar Jazz Excavations from 2024 (in order of preference):





Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver–The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)





Sun Ra: Excelsior Mill (Sundazed / Modern Harmonic)





Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors Live in Antwerp (Elemental Music)





Art Tatum: Jewels in the Treasure Box—The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (Resonance)





Christer Bothen Featuring Bolon Beta: Trancedance—40th Anniversary Edition (Black Truffle)





OLD REGGAE ALBUMS I’D NEVER HEARD BEFORE WERE MY JUNE SALVATION!





It was all triggered when I rather randomly chose to read Alex Wheatle‘s memoir, Sufferah. Wheatle’s childhood experiences inspired one of the best episodes of Steve McQueen’s limited series Small Axe, all of which I thoroughly loved. Reggae songs were extremely important to Wheatle’s survival as a youth, and he mentioned so many I didn’t know (and I’m pretty well-informed) that I made a playlist as I read (which I accidentally deleted yesterday!). Unsurprisingly, the best of those songs led me to research the albums from which they came via two excellent out-of-print reggae guides, one by Lloyd Bradley, the other by Randall Grass, both acknowledged genre adepts. While researching those, I bumped into non-Wheatle-related records I’d somehow missed. That resulting research led me willy-nilly to Discogs, where–oh hell, I’ll just take a picture. This is the life of a music fanatic folks!