Tag: Nyege Nyege Tapes

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

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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

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Back To School: Living to Listen’s Favorite Records, January 1st to September 1st, 2025

To my regular readers: As I type, I have already begun my 42nd (consecutive) year as a teacher. This fall, I am teaching two on-line freshman composition classes at Stephens College (one with the school’s Conservatory and built around Sasha Geffen’s alternative pop history Glitter Up The Dark–read it yourself, folks!—and the other with its regular women’s college students, who are reading Octavia Butler’s Kindred. In addition, I will be teaching an in-person 3.5-week, M-F, three-hours-per-block freshman comp class starting in mid-October; they, too, will be reading Butler’s book. Most of you will not need to guess why I’ve chosen those books to build a composition class around; my Missouri readers will have no doubt. Anyway, I’m devoting this post to my students, so I will now proceed to, ahem, address them….

To my students: Welcome to Living to Listen, the longest list of lovely licorice pizza in Blogtown! When I was your age (zzzzz….) in 1980, I could not have made a list of 35 albums I even owned, nor barely 50 I had heard from beginning to end (I was a singles kid then). If I’d been asked to construct my favorites from those, on the list would have been Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town, Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces, The B-52s, Bob Seger’s Night Moves, The Velvet Underground’s 1969 Live, X’s Los Angeles, Black Sabbath’s We Sold Our Soul for Rock and Roll, “Rapper’s Delight,” Teddy Pendergrass’ Teddy, Neil Young’s Live Rust, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, The Clash’s London Calling, The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Cher’s most recent album (serious outlier)…well, I’ll stop there. Today, the year isn’t even over and the following list isn’t numbered, but odds are it will exceed 200 by New Year’s Eve 2026 and those will just be the ones I heard that I liked.

What’s the point? Good question. Often I wonder that myself. What I think I’m doing is helping my readers wade through a perpetual tsunami of new recordings—literally any sentient being can now make a record and make it available to the public—and find something that will transfix, delight, provoke, stimulate, energize, and maybe even transform them from the creatures that they are…because they did one or more of those things to me. What I am probably doing is nearer to yodeling into the Grand Canyon at 2 a.m. What I am sure I am doing at the very least is preparing myself to vote in a couple of year-end “Best of the Year” polls (though I have yet to even pull my Top 10 out of the jungle below) as well as committing to cybermemory a record (make that very plural) of what I was putting my ear to at the time. It may also appear that I am showing off and that may well be accurate, but I’d argue that I don’t spend money or time on much else than listening to music, books, movie theaters, Stephens Conservatory productions, teaching, and my very saintly bride. Oh yes, food. And occasionally drink. I have to be forced to buy new clothes, I would never drive anything if I didn’t have to, one house will do, thank you—in other words, really, music is not only an obsession for me but a lifeline. I am not religious, but sometimes I have argued with friends that every record in the house (yes, I and you should BUY music to keep food on our musicmakers’plates) is like a book of humanity’s bible to me. Seriously.

A quick scan of my 2025 favorites reveals a few things about me: 1) I listen to a lot of music; 2) I am not exactly a poptimist (I really like Olivia, Beyonce, Rihanna, Harry, and Billie, for example, but I merely seriously admire Taylor Swift and have no use for Sabrina—nor a lot of men who make poppy pop music, and I really only like one of Harry’s albums); 3) Looks like I lean hard toward improvisational jazz (especially the Scandinavian variety—they distill the best stuff!), but it frees my mind, goes great with reading, and fits an ideal I hold about living with other people; 4) I am apparently working for Nyege Nyege Tapes out of Uganda as well as the prolific Japanese jazz pianist Satoko Fujii; and—gotta stop somewhere—5) unlike many, many white men my age (63.666), I like rap music. The list does not show that I LOVE country music, but as far as today’s purveyors go, it’s mostly the women that bend my ear. I love Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan because they sing with intensity and they write outside the lines of the stereotypical “rural” coloring book.

So…sample some stuff! I would expect you haven’t heard of a lot of it, but I’ll warn you that that is not because it’s not good—it’s a wide, wide world out there! Each record listing includes a link to a way to get ahold of it or learn about it, a Spotify link (I hate that platform, but I feel I have no choice) for the whole list that follows it, and next you will see the meaning of my typology (?). I hope you find something that lifts you! Also, if something you love from 2025 isn’t on the list, that doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t like it—I might not have gotten to it yet. I also might not have simply gotten it yet. Or it could be it just don’t move me! Students, peace to you unless you have to protect others, then and always may you stay safe, please write so well you’re proud of the output, and talk to me about some of these platters!

MY LIST OF AURAL PLEASURE

January 1 – September 1, 2025

BOLD = New to the List

ASTERISKED* = Damn good!*** to Holy SHIT!*****

ITALICIZED: Excavations from the Past / Reissues

Aesop Rock: Black Hole Superette (Rhymesayers) ****


Africa Express: …Presents…Bahidora (World Circuit Limited) ****

Amarae: Black Star (Golden Angel) ***

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) ****


Bar-B-Q Killers: The Last Shit, Part 1 (Chunklet 45)

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) ***
*

Blood Orange: Essex Honey (RCA) ***

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) ****

Earl Sweatshirt: Live Laugh Love (Tan Cressida) ***

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) ****

Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force: Khadim (Ndagga) ***

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)

Karol G: Tropicoqueta (Bichota) ****

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

Girl Scout: Headache (self-released EP)

Roger Glenn: My Latin Heart (Patois) ***

Woody Guthrie: Woody at Home, Vol 1 + 2 (Shamus) ****

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) ****

Hunx and His Punks: Walk Out on This World (Get Better) ****

Hüsker Dü: January 30, Parts 1 & 2 (Numero EP) ***** (Numero box on the way….)

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) ****


JLZ & GG: Medio Grave (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ***

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) ****

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) ****


Rocio Gimenez Lopez: La Palabra Repetida (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) ***

Alick Nkhata: Radio Lusaka (Mississippi Records) ***

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

Nourished By Time: The Passionate Ones (XL)

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)


Les Rallizes Denudes: Jittoku ’76 (Temporal Drift)

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

Jonathan Richman: Only Frozen Sky Anyway (Blue Arrow)


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) ***

Superchunk: Songs in the Key of Yikes (Merge) ****

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

Atef Swaitat & Abu Ali: Palestinian Bedouin Psychedelic Dabka Archive (Majazz Project/Palestinian Sound Archive) ****

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)

Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka (Studio Pankara) ****

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)

Morgan Wade: The Party is Over (recovered) (Ladylike) ****

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) ****

Miguel Zenon: Vanguardia Subterranea (Miel Music) ***

Put this SPITify sucker on shuffle and free your ears-–so your arse and mind will follow!

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)****

Amerikkkan Top 40: Some New (and Relatively New) Albums That May Help Get You Through the Morning News If You Can Stand to Read It

Hi! I’m early with my 2025 blog update, but I ain’t buying anything Friday anyway (I hope it isn’t Bandcamp Friday). If you happen to be a new reader, what I try to do at the end of each month is highlight the new albums–or recently excavated older works–that I’ve truly enjoyed, that have kept me sane, that have moved me, that have challenged me, etc. etc. etc. A thing about me: I’m the kind of person who always tries to order something different on the menu every time he goes to a restaurant, and I’m even more that way with music. I love a lot of it, I don’t think in genres, I am fascinated as much by pure sound and mood as I am by conventionally structured songs and lyrics, and I see myself as a scout, a finder, a tout (albeit a somewhat inexpressive one, as I’d rather you sample some of this stuff than me try to tell you why it is so attractive to me zzzzzzzzzz). Maybe you should start with the album covers, the album titles, the label names–and recently I’ve been including a boo-hiss Spotify playlist that includes tracks from each work (if possible–I get review copies ahead of time, which I will try to note and which aren’t yet represented in “the stream”–and not everything is on Spotify, in case you didn’t know). Finally, IRL (I’ve always wanted to use that!), I am an English teacher of 41 years’ vintage (a lightly sweet grape Boone’s Farm ’84), and because of my love for reading and teaching novels, I prefer albums to singles–I want to experience an act’s whole world, not just a moment where maybe they got hit by lightning inspiration or just got lucky.

Each month I’ll add to the previous month’s existing list, and bold-face those entries so you know they’re new. Some items may disappear if they fade for me or I just glitch. I’m starting by listing them alphabetically until order of love begins to establish itself, which it hasn’t quite, yet. This month, FOUR asterisks (****) will indicate a few discs I’m really enchanted by, and FIVE asterisks a few discs I’m really really enchanted by. Eventually, too, I’ll separate the list into really new stuff and those excavations I mentioned.

I hope you find something below that makes your day and creates the illusion that we aren’t necessarily facing a barbarian takeover. Take a chance, why doncha?

THE LIST (January 1 – February 26, 2025)

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

The Ancients: The Ancients (Eremite)

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

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

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

Benjamin Booker: Lower(Fire Next Time)

Brother Ali & Ant: Satisfied Soul (Mello Music)

Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson: Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) Note: release date = March 14, 2025

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)

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)*****

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)***

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

James Brandon Lewis: Apple Cores (Anti-)

LOLO: LOLO (Black Sweat)

Mean Mistreater: Do or Die (self-released)

Mac Miller: Baloonerism (Warner Records)

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

Isabelle Olivier: Impressions (Rewound Echoes)

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)

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

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)

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)****

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.

JULY 2024: The Best Newish Releases I Lived to Listen to This Month

‘Twas hard to squeeze in extended and deep listening this month, what with a long and much-needed vacation in Dauphin Island, Alabama, and difficult family matters, but I hung in there. The beach, two rounds of fresh shrimp off a Bayou Le Batre fishing boat, ample portions of Blue Moon, tons o’ time spent with my very best friends and my beloved (I was the house DJ but stuck to old favorites from our past for the most part–along with Fox Green’s new album*), two great audiobooks that cut the feeling of a long-ass drive in half [Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars and James McBride’s The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (still only 67% finished, so don’t send me any spoilers)], and a late-breaking political surprise have done wonders for my mood. And just finishing Ann Powers’ neat Joni Mitchell book led to that estimable music critic’s possible engagement with an upcoming class of mine, during which the students will read, write, and talk about Powers’ equally sterling tome, Good Booty! I need to quit being so emo on this blog….

OK, to the music: lots of new jazz, a clear-cut AOTY possibility which may surprise my handful of readers (don’t sleep on Corb Lund*!), a face-punch of an envoi from X, a fresh blues/r&b voice from (of all places) Memphis. Dig in!

Recorded in 2024

Note: If listed as “self-released,” know that I tried.

[ahmed]: Giant Beauty (fonstret) – When I came back from vacation, news of this somewhat mysterious multi-national improvisatory unit’s five-disc exploration of bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik’s work piqued me as deeply as I can be piqued, then I discovered they were damned serious about their journey and exciting in making it–then, while prepping this post, I listened to their 2023 Abdul-Malik quest Super Majnoon and it might just be better.

Charles Gayle / Milford Graves / William Parker: WEBO (Black Editions) – Gayle could wail, Graves kept all collaborators on their toes with his nimble mind, feet, hands, and heart (both men have gone to meet ‘Trane), and Parker remains simply the reigning master bassist in jazz, so this 1991 concert–the trio seldom recorded together–is special.

John Escreet: the epicenter of your dreams (Blue Room Music) – The above two records roar, and with everything going on in our world they might be too much; however, the fleet inventiveness of Brit pianist Escreet, who’s worked with players ranging from Dr. Tyshawn Sorey to Floating Points, might be more up your alley, especially with Mark Turner, a kind of 21st century Lester Young, flowing beside him on tenor.

Fox Green*: Light Over Darkness (self-released) – I once yelled in a garage band in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and, if we’d been able to stay together over time, considering what we have otherwise ended up doing with our lives, I’d like to think we could have (only) come within spitting distance of this smart Little Rock Americana-rock unit–and have been proud of that.

Boldy James & Conductor Williams: Across the Tracks (self-released) – I’ve tried with Detroiter James’ last few albums, and they’ve just taken me halfway there, so it’s funny that, among other things, cameos from very young guest MCs put this over for me.

Janel Leppin: Ensemble Volcanic Ash—To March is to Love (Cuneiform) – This is cellist/composer Leppin’s second excellent album of 2024–the first was the wonderfully spacy New Moon in the Evil Age, a duet with her husband Anthony Pirog on which she also sings–and its wide-ranging sounds are anchored by the justifiably ubiquitous bassist Luke Stewart, who along with Leppin is making a run at Jazz Musician of the Year.

Corb Lund*: El Viejo (New West) – This is an AOTY-worthy country concept album about gambling–not simply with a hand of cards–and Lund’s writing (he has occasional assistance) and his band’s living-room playing are astoundingly sharp.

Charles McPherson: Reverence (Smoke Sessions) – Along with Bobby Watson, McPherson is one of the last of the great Charlie Parker torch-carriers, though here he demonstrates that he’s learned plenty of other moves in his eighty-five years on the most recent of a shining run of records…and I get to see him live in a few months!

Moor Mother: The Great Bailout (Deluxe Edition) (Anti-) – Camae Ayewa never takes a historical prisoner, and this is one of two excellent and musically complex Afrofuturism-meets-Europastism records of 2024 (the other being Red Hot Org / Kronos Quartet’s Sun Ra tribute Outer Spaceways Incorporated)–but for that you have to get the deluxe version.

David Murray: Francesca (Intakt) – Twenty years ago, poring over jazz record guides and hunting down a myriad of terrific Murray releases on DIW, I just knew this guy couldn’t keep up such prolific musical fecundity for much longer….

Pet Shop Boys: Nonetheless (Parlophone) – The limited series It’s a Sin, which I took in several years ago, sent me back to luxuriate in the power, wit, and effervescence of the first PSB albums, and, though the world has taken a toll on the last of those, and though “wit” seems too light a word for the wisdom on display here, they remain…unbowed.

Roberto Ottaviano: Lacy in the Sky with Diamonds (Clean Feed) – Jazz fans familiar with the other Steve Lacy probably won’t think that’s a terrible title–the band’s aim in this tribute is to write the mighty soprano saxophonist’s name in the sky, and they nail it, especially the leader.

Red Kross: Red Kross (In the Red) – They definitely still got it, and I really hear prime Raspberries in this one.

Rempis / Adasiewicz / Abrams / Damon (coming in October): Propulsion (Aerophonic Records) – All four of these men are superior improvisors, but Jason Adasiewicz, who last year transformed AACM star Roscoe Mitchell’s compositions into something completely different on an album of his own, is the star, laying a calming bed of imaginative, evocative vibes underneath the others’ blooms of sound.

Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (Atlantic) – Straight outta Willard, Missouri, an unfettered soul that has not a little in common with none other than Little Richard–yeah, I said it!

Christopher Rountree / Wild Up: 3BPM (Brassland) – Though I was a bit disappointed in Wild Up’s fourth volume of Julius Eastman tributes/interpretations, I still buy sound-unheard anything with which they associate their name, and founder Rountree’s debut, enlisting the group’s help, tops it.

Taliba Safiya: Black Magic (self-released EP) – The Memphis blues again–with a vengeance.

SAULT: Acts of Faith (self-released) – Now you’ll have to lean on Soulseek or your pals for it, or wait–I never can with them–and you’ll have to believe me when I say it’s near the top of the group’s pretty solid catalog, thanks to a Mayfieldian streak running through its 32 unbroken minutes.

Ren: Sick Boi (renmakesmusic.com) – Unlike Eminem, Ren’s really ill; also unlike Eminem, Ren’s really ill.

Takkak Takkak: Takkak Takkak (Nyege Nyege Tapes) – It’s hard to keep up with releases from this Kampala label, and I’ve tried, but out of them all, turned up loud, this one thumps so hard and weird I immediately played it twice.

Natsuki Tamura & Satoko Fujii: Aloft (Libra) – Tamura (trumpet) and Fujii (piano) are married in more ways than one; they’ve made several duet albums and their telepathy is well-honed here.

X: Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum) – The band thanks the original Ramones by first name in the notes, open with what sounds like a tribute, then proceed to say so long to us and their partnership in style: Zoom zooming, Bonebrake cracking the skins hard, and John and Exene harmonizing like yesterday was tomorrow. (The LP version was released early, without a lyric sheet, or I’d comment on those–what I could pick up seems appropriately bittersweet.)

New Archival Excavations (a somewhat paltry selection, but I welcome tips):

Bessie Jones, John Davis, the Georgia South Sea Island Singers with Mississippi Fred McDowell and Ed Young: The Complete “Friends of Old-Time Music” Concert (Smithsonian) – The musical Bessie many know best is Smith, the Mississippi bluesman they may be most familiar with John Hurt, but Jones was one of the greatest folk-gospel singers of all-time, and McDowell, best known as the source of The Rolling Stones’ “You Got to Move,” played spiritual tunes with as much–possibly more–stinging fire than he did blues.

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre: Rivbea Live! Series, Volume 1 (No Business) – AACM stalwart meets primo NYC Loft-era setting for serious fireworks.

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!

“Be M’Guest”: DIG IN TO A HALF-ANNUM TREASURE TROVE — Outstanding Platters from 2023, January 1 – July 2

I was beginning to think I was just going to have to write this month’s post off. Many of you know; many more will find out–caring for your parents as they head into the twilight is not for the faint-hearted. That’s the world I’ve lived in for the past two-and-a-half years, but especially the last five days, and really especially today. But things sometimes take a turn right when you need them to–like a mom dealing with a thyroid condition, skyrocketing blood sugar, AND a UTI (and inconsistent health professionals) suddenly deciding, “Hey! I think I can get my cane and do a lap around the center!” Then doing it, without a rest stop or my assistance. Then watching three episodes of Somebody Somewhere, which I’d been telling her she just HAD to see for months (she has trouble with a remote), then having a real REAL talk about health and the future. She’s sleeping, I’ve got a great BBE South African dance comp in the headphones, and I’m gonna get this posted!

Also, thanks to my friend Steve Pick, excellent Substack record reviewer and often the man behind the counter at St. Louis’ Euclid Records, for inspiring me to not give up. You da man–see ya next Sunday.

No odds and ends other than phrases: black woman magic, country ladies taking no quarter, don’t fuck with a black marching band, Randall Bramblett not forgotten, Janelle–you GO, girl!, Dylan TWICE?, Natural Child I’ll never give up on y’all, and travel the world with some of those excavations. Love y’all and thanks for reading!

(Bolded items are new to the list)

  1. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  2. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs(Dog Show/Atlantic)
  3. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  4. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  5. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  6. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  7. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  8. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  9. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  10. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  11. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  12. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  13. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  14. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  15. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  16. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  17. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  18. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  19. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  20. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  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. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  25. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  26. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  27. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  28. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  29. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  30. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  31. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  32. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  33. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  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. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  38. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  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. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  50. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  51. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  52. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  53. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  54. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  55. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: LightningDreamers (International Anthem)
  56. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  57. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  58. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  59. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  60. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  61. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  62. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  63. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  64. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  65. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  66. Mat Muntz: Phantom Islands (Orenda)
  67. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  68. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  69. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  70. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  71. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  72. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam(Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  73. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  74. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  75. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  76. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  77. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  78. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  79. Sexyy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  80. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  81. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released EP—coming in March)
  82. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  83. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  84. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  85. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  86. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  87. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  88. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  89. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  90. Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
  91. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  92. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  93. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  94. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  95. Lankum: False Lankum (Rough Trade)
  96. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven(EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  97. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  98. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg
  99. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  100. Tri-County Liquidators: “Flies” / “Weep Then Whisper” / “Bitter” (self-released)
  101. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  102. Black Country, New Road: Live at Bush Hall (Ninja Tune)
  103. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  104. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  105. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  106. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  107. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  108. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  109. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  110. Angel Bat Dawid: Requiem for Jazz (International Anthem)
  111. Kara Jackson: Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September Recordings)
  112. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
  113. Billy Valentine: Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth (Flying Dutchman)

Excavations and Reissues

(Note: These are not in order of my love for them–I’m still still sorting that out.)

  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. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  7. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  8. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  9. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  10. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  11. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  12. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  13. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona(Black Editions)
  14. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  15. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  16. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  17. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  18. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  19. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  20. Luther Thomas: 11th Street Fire Suite(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  21. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  22. Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  23. Various Artists: Strontium 90, Shrimps & Gumbo—Lux & Ivy Dig Motorcycle Boots & Mutants (Righteous Records)