Tag: Patricia Brennan

A DANGER TO OURSELVES: My Favorite Slabs of 2025, January 1 to October 1

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Thank the stars we have the music. We also are better-looking than they are.

Side note: my head is spinning re: the recurrence of the “poptimism v. rockism” debate / clarification / writer cage match / white-flag-wave.” I’ve never had any doubt massively popular music is interesting, I am very interested in semi-popular music that exists between those poles, and I guess I sometimes wonder where loving pure sound (in the Pauline Oliveras sense) lies in the debate, or if it matters. I hate feeling guilty because I simply don’t see where Sabrina Carpenter connects with my lived life—I respect her talent, but I don’t need her work like I need the stuff listed below—and I have sampled her as well as seen her perform live on my smart TV. On the other hand, and it’s not just that I’m from her corner of Missouri, Chappell Roan was automatic for me: exuberant, clever, catchy, shifty, transgressive (in a way), imaginative, and charismatic, I find plenty to like. But Deepstar Enigmatica, which seems outside of the scrum, is also automatic and reaches deep inside of me. Probably, what it comes down to is I don’t fully get it, despite my having read Carl Wilson’s Let’s Talk About Love, from which I took this maxim: don’t taste-spar with others, because you don’t know what they’ve been through that spurs them to connect to a piece of music. Ok, done.

MY LIST OF AURAL PLEASURE

January 1 – October 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) ****

Mulatu Astatke: Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut) ****

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)


Christer Bothén: Christer Bothén Donso n’goni (Black Truffle) 

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


Patricia Brennan: Of The Near and Far (Pyroclastic) ****

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) ***

Sylvia Courvoisier & Wadada Leo Smith: Angel Falls (Intakt)

Chuck D: Chuck D Presents Enemy Radio—Radio Armageddon(Soundspeak)

Lucrecia Dalt: A Danger to Ourselves (RVNG International) ****

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)

Shamek Farrah: First Impressions (Strata-East) ***

Shamek Farrah & Sonelius Smith: The World of the Children(Strata-East) ****

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)

Tomas Fujiwara: Dream Up (Out of Your Head)

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) ****

HAIM: I quit (Haim Productions) ****

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


Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts (Nonesuch) *****

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

Phil Haynes & Free Country: Liberty Now! (Corner Store Jazz) ***

Heat On: Heat On (Cuneiform)


The Hemphill Stringtet: Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head Records)

Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On (Matador)


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

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) ***


Hot 8 Brass Band: Big Tuba (Tru Thoughts) ***

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) ****


JID: God Does Like Ugly (Dreamville/Interscope) ****

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) ****


Mahotella Queens: Buya Buya—Come Back (Umsakazo) ****

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) ***

Mexstep & Principe Q: Tráfico (Puro Unity EP)

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)

Maria Muldaur: One Hour Mama (Nola Blue)

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) ***

Kassa Overall: Cream (Warp) ***

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)

Preservation & Gabe ‘Nandez: Sortilège (BackwoodzStudioz) ****

The Prize: In the Red (Anti Fade Records) ****

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)

Jussi Reijonen: sayr—salt/thirst (unmusic) *** 

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) ****

Patrick Shiroishi: Forgetting is Violent (American Dream)

Anthony “Big A” Sherrod: Torchbearer of the Clarksdale Sound(Music Makers Recordings EP)

$ilkMoney: WHO WATERS THE WILTING GIVING TREE ONCE THE LEAVES DRY UP AND FRUITS NO LONGER BEAR? (Lex)

Slick Rick: Victory (Mass Appeal) ***

Peter Stampfel: Song Shards (Jalopy Records) ***

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)


The Third Mind: Right Now! (Yep Roc)

Three-Layer Cake: “sounds the color of grounds” (Otherly Love)

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

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


Trio of Bloom: Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) ***

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)


Wednesday: Bleeds (Dead Oceans) ***

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) ***

SAMPLE THIS STUFF AND OTHER 2025 NOTABLES USING THIS SPITIFY PLAYLIST!

Check out my Substack newsletter if you haven’t already. Just tales from the education front, mostly (I’m in my 42nd year as a classroom teacher).

AUGUST 24: 15 New Records That Reached Me

August was a great musical month for us, but new records had little to do with it. Chappell Roan really blew up–deservedly so, but too late for the 2024 list since her record came out in ’23–and I found out her parents were students at Parkview High School in Springfield, Missouri, when I was teaching there. In fact, I was her dad’s student council sponsor, though I don’t remember him very well. We have played that 2023 record a lot and can’t wait for the next one. We also snagged tickets to several concerts scheduled for Columbia’s fabled “We Always Swing!” Jazz Series–check out the schedule, which might be the best in the series’ long history and which was shrewdly enriched by incorporating the sharp ear and skills of Dismal Niche‘s Matt Crook. Also, I discovered a St. Louis jazz series I didn’t know about–it’s only in its 66th year!–and bought tickets to the on-a-serious-roll AACM vet Kahil El’Zabar’s show as well as Nicole Mitchell’s (the best album of her long career is listed below). I’ve built an asynchronous composition class for freshmen around Ann Powers’ alternate American pop history Good Booty here at Stephens College, student writing is just coming in, and it looks promising. Finally, I substitute-taught for a friend at Hickman High School, my old stomping grounds, and he allowed me to construct my own lesson to fit his objectives: we reviewed aspects and “non-negotiables” of poetry by examining the question, “Can song lyrics be poetry with the music and vocals excised?” Students vehemently agreed as we listened to a few songs; I’m usually on the other side of the fence there. I also snuck in a lesson about blackface minstrelsy; Missouri officialdom ain’t so fond of any kind of black history, but Hickman has always been a mental cut above the state it occupies.

OK, my favorites, with my commentary continuing to be limited to single–and I hope simple–sentences (* indicate older recordings brought back to the present in some way):

Patricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic) – Brennan threads strands of strange vibraphone magic through all of her very impressive compositions, and this album may be her best yet.

Melissa Carper: Borned in Ya (Mae Music / Thirty Tigers) – First full album by a member of the Wonder Women of Country Music (Carper, Kelly Willis, and Brennen Leigh) since their outstanding EP appeared earlier this year, and it’s a legit doozy, mixing witty originals with soulful covers of standards that aren’t actually country.

Dead Moon: Dead Ahead (Mississippi Records)* – I very seriously ride or die with Dead Moon, the last of the great garage bands; Mississippi Records has been dedicated to keeping all their work in print, and this was their final record, which I’d call autumnal except the Coles would return a decade later with the more explosive band Pierced Arrows.

Phil Haynes: 4 Horns or What?—The Complete American Recordings (Corner Store Jazz)* – I hadn’t heard of Haynes, received a physical copy of this three-CD rerelease + live show, ignored it, then played it out of obligation–only to have my doors blown off by the power of Haynes’ drumming and writing and his employment of some amazing horns (specifically Ellery Eskelin and John Tchicai on saxophones).

Ka: The Thief Next to Jesus (self-released) – The Brownsville, NY, rapper carefully–and lyrically–examines the minefield of Christianity many of us, but specifically Black Americans, are trying to negotiate in these difficult times on perhaps the finest of his many intriguing albums.

Shelby Lynne: Consequences of the Crown (Monument) – She sounds slightly bruised but very much unbowed, as well as justifies folks’ occasional comparisons between her and Dusty Springfield.

Nicole Mitchell and Ballake Sissoko: Bamako * Chicago Sound System (FPE) – I admire Mitchell so much as a thinker and conceptualist and player, but none of her previous albums have stuck with me permanently until now–Sissoko’s kora contributions are the glue that grounds her flute.

Meshell Ndegeocello: No More Water—The Gospel of James Baldwin (Blue Note) The second quietly powerful tribute Meshell’s assayed in ’24–the first honoring Sun Ra–comes at, as Lightnin’ Hopkins and others have sung, a “needed time.”

OKSE: OKSE (BackwoodzStudioz) – As with Superposition (see below), I am at the beck and call of the sharp-eared Norwegian music writer Christopher Monsen–I have even tried to coin the term “Monsen Bucks” to designate how reliably I shed dollars when he raves–who was the first to hip me to this Danish/Swedish/Haitian/American rap-jazz combo that lured none other than Billy Woods onto their fascinating disc.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus (Milan) – I am not a classical music buff, but this is one of the saddest records I have ever heard, and I mean that as a high compliment.

Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society: Father of Origin (Eremite)* – As with Dead Moon/Pierced Arrows, I ride or die with any record featuring participants in St. Louis’ Black Arts Group; the leader’s on bass, hand drums, and other stuff, but to hear Julius Hemphill, Bobo Shaw, Philip Wilson, and Abdul Wadud on a set of 1969-1970 recordings is a treat.

Moses Sumney: Sophcore (self-released EP) – When I first heard Sumney a few years back, I figured him for a kind of innovator–of depressive r&b or something like that–but the words didn’t hold me like the music and his vocals, and they definitely do here.

Superposition: II (We Jazz) – Another Chris Monsen whisper-in-my-ear, this Finnish group is the latest Scandinavian jazz unit to make me seriously consider traveling to the region and exploring the clubs.

Cecily Wilborn: Kuntry Gurl Playlist (self-released) – This very solid album is not as raw as the title seems to imply, but it’s very high-quality country music with rhythm and blues flavor, Ms. Wilborn can sing and write fetchingly, and I’m intrigued that, though she claims West Memphis, she mentions zydeco and trail rides.

Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand: Willson Williams (One Little Independent Records) – I knew nothing about Kathryn Williams and, for some reason, despite enjoying Dan Wilson’s /Withered Hand’s previous work, thought another contributor might water his very unique yearning, spiritual thing down–but damned if this doesn’t catch me up just as short, and movingly.

Special Bandcamp Friday 2022 Edition: More (and More) Touch–The Best Records I’ve Heard This Year So Far with 29 Days to Go!

Offhand Remarks:

  1. Do you enjoy beautiful trances? These days, I do, and I don’t really like substances to help, because I’m old and fall asleep–which defeats the point. Musically, you’ll be hard pressed to find hypnosis as euphonic as Jeff Parker’s new album on Eremite or Patricia Brennan’s on Pyroclastic. They sustain like a mutha and they are never boring. Proceed.
  2. The number of additions to this list may be a record for a month. Most are available on Bandcamp, today is Friday, and you know what to do.
  3. I am sure I have mentioned Rod Taylor’s Brazil Beat blog here before, but I may have to send him a holiday gift, so many gifts has he led me to. Two cases in point: one, it is Joyce Moreno’s year–she has a lovely, dancing, swinging new album out at 74 and a number of reissues that may convince you (as she, with Rod’s help, has me) that she’s one of the greatest Brazilian singers of the last 60-odd years; two, check out Bruno Berle’s moody, eccentric, and brilliant new album, as well as an older one by Lula Cortes and Ze Ramalho that Berle’s album reminded Rod of, Solar Paebiru–I love Berle’s album so much that I did that old-school blind-dive and bought a hard copy of the latter. Woah. Weird and gorgeous.
  4. If an artist has released 100 albums, that merits a sampling if one isn’t familiar with the artist. Satoko Fujii’s One Hundred Dreams is just that–an exciting, out-there record of imaginative piano combo sounds that will leave you hoping for Album 101.
  5. Adeem the Artist’s second album is red-hot-off-the-presses and surpasses his excellent debut. It is surely the best autobiographical blue-collar Americana release by a non-binary singer-songwriter…ever. And also yet.
  6. That damned SAULT crew! Just when I think (at least for myself) I’ve “cracked the code” and weaned myself off their mystique, they drop a bunch of LPs and EPs that are all pretty fair. I listed my two favorites here–one of which I immediately burned to CD for one of my favorite students this year with whom I’ve had two great spiritual conversations. But as a result of that sticky mystique, I’m still not sure they are the two best.
  7. The excellent Pitchfork critic Sasha Geffen, author of the very-worthwhile Glitter Up The Dark, recently Zoomed with three-count-’em-three separate classes of mine (they’d just finished her book on assignment). He was terrific and very down to earth–more so than my students expected a critic to be–and I told them to be sure to watch for her work on the ‘fork. His first review after our visit (in fact, I think it went up on the day he spoke with us) was of a new work by a band I’d never heard of, Special Interest. Endure JOLTED me–musically and lyrically–and testifies to Geffen’s sharp ear, eye, and mind.
  8. I have a weakness for Little Rock and Memphis. But I think in spite of that my judgement is sound on this list. A stunning number of powerful, varied, and interesting records have been released by LR’s Mahakala Records just this year; Little Rock’s Kari Faux is far from faux, and Memphis’ GloRilla has just become my favorite woman-wildin’-out MC. She is very, very Memphian.
  9. I’ve had a very stubborn Springsteen block since those two records he released at the same time–it’s so stubborn it even prevents me from enjoying his older work like I used to. My wife has a mild crush on both him and Obama, so I ceded to listening to their Renegades podcast (I can admire them both, but that title’s a bit off the mark–unless they were trying to be self-effacing). I rolled my eyes when I learned his new album was soul covers (too easy and safe, I thought, plus the choice of material didn’t meet Cramps/Ray Condo standards, plus so many invitations to strain). Just listened to it this morning for old times’ sake on a long walk…and found it sweet. Nicole will like it, too.
  10. Several cyber-acquaintances of mine are really writing well on Substack. When I read their work, I wanna just fold it up here–that’s how much I enjoy it. If you like this blog, please try out Christian Iszchak’s “An Acute Case” (every Friday–good idea, ’cause that’s a great day to pay musicians!), Brad Luen’s always incisive and witty “Semipop Life,”, and Steve Pick’s “Steve Pick’s Writing Place.” Then stay there and only come back here if you need to–those guys actually write.

RELEASES OF NEWLY-MADE MUSIC

(New additions to the list are bolded.)

  1. Rosalia: MOTOMAMI (Columbia)
  2. Willie Nelson: A Beautiful Time (Sony)
  3. Beyoncé: Renaissance (Parkwood Entertainment)
  4. Tanya Tagaq: Tongues (Six Shooter) 
  5. Ricky Ford: The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford—Paul’s Scene (Whaling City Sounds)
  6. Stro Elliot & James Brown: Black & Loud—James Brown Reimagined (Polydor)
  7. 75 Dollar Bill: Social Music at Troost, Volume 3–Other People’s Music (Black Editions Group)
  8. Tommy Womack: I Thought I Was Fine (Schoolkids Records)
  9. Jeff Parker ETA IVTet: Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy (Eremite)
  10. Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets (TUM)
  11. Wet Leg: Wet Leg (Domino)
  12. Anitta: Versions of Me (Deluxe) (Warner)
  13. Ka: Languish Arts (Iron Works)
  14. Sudan Archives: Natural Brown Prom Queen (Stones Throw)
  15. Lady Wray: Piece of Me (Big Crown)
  16. Harry Styles: Harry’s House (Columbia)
  17. Sun Ra Arkestra (featuring Marshall Allen): Living Sky (Strut / Omni Sound)
  18. Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents The Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
  19. Horace Andy: Midnight Rocker (On-U Sound)
  20. Amanda Shires: Take It Like a Man (ATO)
  21. Mary Gauthier: Dark Enough to See the Stars (Thirty Tigers)
  22. Patricia Brennan: More Touch (Pyroclastic)
  23. black midi: Hellfire (Rough Trade)
  24. Heroes Are Gang Leaders: LeAutoRoiGraphy (577 Records)
  25. The Mountain Goats: Bleed Out (Merge)
  26. ensemble 0: Music Nuvulosa (Sub Rosa)
  27. Gogol Bordello: Solidaritine (Das Grand Kapital)
  28. Steve Lacy: Gemini Rights (RCA)
  29. Superchunk: Wild Loneliness (Merge)
  30. Gonora Sounds: Hard Times Never Kill (Phantom Limb)
  31. Ches Smith: Interpret It Well (Pyroclastic)
  32. The Ogun Meji Duo: Freedom Suite (self-released)
  33. SAULT: Untitled (God) (self-released)
  34. SAULT: Today & Tomorrow (self-released)
  35. Phelimuncasi: Ama Gogela (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  36. Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn: Pigments (Merge)
  37. 700 Bliss: Nothing to Declare (Hyperdub)
  38. Bruno Berle: No Reino Dos Afetos (Far Out)
  39. The Chats: Get Fucked (Cooking Vinyl)
  40. Jinx Lennon: Pet Rent (Septic Tiger)
  41. Freakons: Freakons (Fluff & Gravy)
  42. Jeong Lim Yang: Zodiac Suite—Reassured (Fresh Sound)
  43. Etran de L’Air: Agadez (Sahel Sounds)
  44. Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These (self-released)
  45. Bitchin’ Bajas: Bajascillators (Drag City)
  46. Horsegirl: “Billy” / “History Lesson, Part II” (Matador)
  47. Mark Lomax Trio: Plays Mingus (CFG Multimedia)
  48. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #5—Elemental; Conversations #6 and 7
  49. Moor Mother: Jazz Codes (Anti-)
  50. Buck 65: King of Drums (4320739 Records DK)
  51. Mdou Moctar: Niger EP Volume 1 (Matador)
  52. ifsonever: ifsonever (Jazz & Milk)
  53. Various Artists: Lespri Ka—New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe (Time Capsule Sounds) 
  54. Satoko Fujii: One Hundred Dreams (Libra)
  55. Mark Lomax II: Prismatic Refractions, Volume I (self-released)
  56. Special Interest: Endure (Rough Trade)
  57. James Brandon Lewis: MSM Molecular Systematic Music—Live (Intakt)
  58. Kari Faux: Lowkey Superstar (Don Giovanni)
  59. Adeem the Artist: White Trash Revelry (self-released)
  60. Miranda Lambert: Palomino (Vanner)
  61. Backxwash: HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING (Ugly Hag / self-released)
  62. Daniel Villareal: Panama ’77 (International Anthem)
  63. Kehlani: blue water road (TSNMI/Atlantic)
  64. Elaine Elias: Quietude (Candid)
  65. Dr. John: Things Happen That Way (Rounder)
  66. Horace Andy: Midnight Scorchers (On-U Sound)
  67. Ka: Woeful Studies (Iron Works)
  68. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 2—Joy Boy (New Amsterdam)
  69. Lucrecia Dalt: Ay! (RVNG International)
  70. GloRilla: Anyways, Life’s Great (CMG/Interscope)
  71. Amber Mark:Three Dimensions Deep (PMR / Interscope) 
  72. Morgan Wade: Reckless (Deluxe) (Ladylike) 
  73. Zoh Amba: O, Sun (Tzadik)
  74. Jussi Reijonen: Three Seconds I Kolme Toista (Challenge Records International)
  75. Ran Blake: Driftwoods (Tompkins Square)
  76. Whit Dickey: Root Perspectives (Tao Forms)
  77. Billy Woods: Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studios)
  78. Ishmael Reed: The Hands of Grace (Reading Group)
  79. Dan Ex Machina: All is Ours, Nothing is Theirs (self-released)
  80. Anna von Hausswoolff: Live at Montreaux Jazz Festival (Southern Lord) 
  81. Felipe Salles: Tiyo’s Songs of Life (Tapestry)
  82. Steve Lehman: Xaybu—The Unseen(Pi Recordings)
  83. Tom Zé: Lingua Brasiliera (Selo Sesc)
  84. Joyce Moreno: Brasilieras Cancoes (Biscoito Fino)
  85. M.I.A.: Mata (Island)
  86. Taylor Swift: Midnights (non-expanded) (Republic)
  87. Nancy Mounir: Nozhet El Nofous (Terrorbird)
  88. Rick Rosato: Homage (self-released)
  89. The Beths: Expert in a Dying Field (Carpark)
  90. Alvvays: Blue Rev (Polyvinyl / Transgressive)
  91. Oumou Sangare: Timbuktu (World Circuit Limited)
  92. Various Artists: Hidden Waters—Strange and Sublime Sounds from Rio de Janiero (Sounds and Colours)
  93. SeaJun Kwon: Micro Nap (Endectomorph Music)
  94. Gilla Band: Most Normal (Rough Trade)
  95. Dry Cleaning: Stumpwork (4AD)
  96. Brian Eno: FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE (Verve / UMC)
  97. Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Universal)
  98. Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity:Elastic Wave (ECM)
  99. Miguel Zeñon: Musica de las Americas (Miel Music)
  100. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: Lift Every Voice (Division 81 Records)
  101. Tyshawn Sorey: The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism (Pi)
  102. Priscilla Block: Welcome to the Block Party (InDent)
  103. The Comet is Coming: Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (Impulse)
  104. Serengeti: Kaleidoscope III (Audiocon)
  105. Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (pgLang/Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope)
  106. Makaya McCraven: In These Times (International Anthem)
  107. Charm Taylor: She Is The Future (Sinking City)
  108. OGJB: Ode to O (TUM) (Note: Band name – O = Oliver Lake, G = Graham Haynes, J = Joe Fonda, B = Barry Altschul / Title – O = Ornette) 
  109. Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, and Enrico Rava: Two Blues for Cecil (TUM) 
  110. Luke Stewart’s Silt Trio: The Bottom (Cuneiform) 
  111. Tyler Mitchell: Dancing Shadows (featuring Marshall Allen) (Mahakala Music)
  112. Crow Billiken (aka R.A.P. Ferreira): If I don’t have red I use blue (self-released)
  113. Dopolarians: Blues for Alvin Fielder—Live at Crosstown Arts, Memphis (Mahakala Music)
  114. The Paranoid Style: For Executive Meeting(Bar/None)
  115. Carl Stone: Wat Dong Moon Lek (Unseen Worlds)
  116. Joy Guidry:Radical Acceptance (Whited Sepulchre)
  117. Tasche de la Rocha: Tasche de la Rocha & The Psychedelic Roses (Sinking City)
  118. Meridian Brothers and El Grupo & Renacimiento (Ansonia)
  119. Avram Fefer Quartet: Juba Lee (Clean Feed)
  120. Marxist Love Disco Ensemble: MLDE(Mr. Bongo)
  121. Jeffrey Lewis: When That Really Old Cat Dies (self-released)
  122. Mitski: Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
  123. Jockstrap: Jockstrap (Rough Trade)
  124. Breath of Air: Breath of Air (Burning Ambulance Music)
  125. Immanuel Wilkins: The 7th Hand (Blue Note) 
  126. David Murray Brave New World Trio: Seriana Promethea (Intakt)
  127. Fulu Miziki: Ngbaka (EP)
  128. David Virelles: Nuna (Pi / El Tivoli)
  129. Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni: The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni (Solid Jackson) 
  130. Leikeli47: Shape Up (Hardcover/RCA)
  131. Witchcraft Books: Volume 1—The Sundisk (Iapetus Records)
  132. Hurray for The Riff Raff: Life on Earth (Nonesuch)
  133. Qasim Naqvi/Wadada Leo Smith/Andrew Cyrille: Two Centuries (Red Hook)
  134. Rokia Koné and Jacknife Lee: Bamanan (3DFamily)
  135. Tomas Fujiwara: Triple Double (Firehouse 12)
  136. DJ Black Low: Uwami (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  137. Ibibio Sound Machine:Electricity (Merge)
  138. Zoh Amba: O Life, O Light, Volume 1(577 Records)
  139. Burton/McPherson Trio: The Summit Rock Session at Seneca Village (Giant Step Arts)
  140. Kahil El’Zabar Quartet: A Time for Healing (Spirit Muse)
  141. Pastor Champion: I Just Want to Be a Good Man (Luaka Bop)
  142. Nduduzo Makhathini: In the Spirit of Ntu (Blue Note)
  143. Pusha T: It’s Almost Dry (G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam)
  144. Elza Soares: Elza Ao Vivo No Municipal (Deck)
  145. Nilufer Yanya: Painless (ATO)
  146. Open Mike Eagle: a tape called component system with the auto reverse (Auto Reverse)
  147. Chad Fowler/Ivo Perelman/Zoh Amba/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Steve Hirsch: Alien Skin (Mahakala Music)
  148. Tommy McLain: I Ran Down Every Dream (Yep Roc)
  149. Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda: Thread of Light (Fundacja Słuchaj)
  150. Charli XCX: Crash (Atlantic)
  151. Pete Malinverni: On the Town—Pete Malinverni Plays Leonard Bernstein (Planet Arts) 
  152. JID: The Forever Story (Dreamville)
  153. Dedicated Men of Zion: The Devil Don’t Like It (Bible & Tire)
  154. Tyshawn Sorey Trio: Mesmerism (Pi Recordings)
  155. Dezron Douglas: Atalaya (International Anthem)
  156. Space Afrika: Honest Labour (Dais)
  157. Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer (DeeWee)
  158. Earl Sweatshirt: Sick! (Tan Cressida / Warner) 
  159. Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD)
  160. Ashley McBryde: Presents…Lindeville (Warner Nashville)
  161. Jeff Arnal and Curt Cloninger: Drum Major Instinct (Mahakala Music)
  162. Tee Grizzley: Half Tee Half Beast (self-released)
  163. Natsuki Tamura: Summer Tree (Libra)
  164. Ghais Guevara: There Will Be No Super-Slave (self-released)
  165. Bruce Springsteen: Only the Strong Survive (Columbia)
  166. Manel Fortia: Despertar (Segell Microscopi/Altafonte)
  167. Ray Wylie Hubbard: Co-Starring Too (Big Machine)
  168. Various Artists: if you fart make it sound good (WA Records)
  169. Marta Sanchez: SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) (Whirlwind)
  170. Sonnyjim & The Purist: White Girl Wasted (Duape)
  171. Earthgang: Ghetto Gods (Dreamville/Interscope)
  172. Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home (Anti-)
  173. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom: Reset (Domino)
  174. Blue Reality Quartet: Ella’s Island (Mahakala Music)
  175. Sarah Ruth and Monte Espina: quatro estaciones (Full Spectrum)

ARCHIVAL DIGS

  1. Los Golden Boys: Cumbia de Juventud (Mississippi Records)
  2. Albert Ayler: Revelations—The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (Elemental)
  3. Cecil Taylor:The Complete Legendary Live Return Concert at the Town Hall (Oblivion)
  4. Tommy Womack: 30 Years Shot to Hell! An Anthology (Schoolkids Records)
  5. Various Artists: Lovers Rock—The Soulful Sound of Romantic Reggae (Trojan)
  6. Albert Ayler: La Cave Live 1966 (Ezz-Thetics) 
  7. Various Artists: Cumbia Sabrosa—Tropical Sound System Bangers From The Discos Fuentes Vaults 1961-1981 (Rocafort Records)
  8. Freestyle Fellowship: To Whom It May Concern….
  9. Biluka y Los Canibales: Leaf-Playing in Quito (1960-1965) (Honest Jon’s)
  10. Various Artists: OZ DAYS LIVE ’72​-​’73 Kichijoji–The 50th Anniversary Collection (featuring Les Rallizes Dénudés)  (Temporal Drift)
  11. Various Artists: A Chat About the Beauty of the Moon at Night–Hawaiian Steel Guitar Masters 1913-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  12. The Rolling Stones: Live at the El Mocambo (Interscope)
  13. Son House: Forever on My Mind (Easy Eye Sound)
  14. Lavender Country: Blackberry Rose and Other Songs & Sorrows (Don Giovanni)
  15. Mal Waldron: Searching in Grenoble—The 1978 Solo Piano Concert (Tompkins Square)
  16. Horace Tapscott Quintet: The Quintet (Mr. Bongo)
  17. Horace Tapscott Quintet: Legacies for Our Grandchildren (Dark Tree)
  18. Dickie Landry & Lawrence Weiner: Having Been Built on Sand (Unseen Worlds)
  19. Various Artists: The D-Vine Spirituals—Sacred Soul (Bible & Tire)
  20. Kabaka International Guitar Band: Kabaka International Guitar Band (Palenque Records)
  21. The Pyramids: AOMAWA—The 1970s Recordings (Strut)
  22. Hermeto Pascoal: Hermeto (Far Out Recordings)
  23. Sun Ra: Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Strut)
  24. Asha Puthi: The Essential Asha Puthi (Mr. Bongo)
  25. Malik’s Emerging Force Art Trio: Time and Condition (moved-by-sound)
  26. Volta Jazz: Air Volta (Numero)
  27. Blondie: Against the Odds—1974-1982 (3-CD Rarities Version) (UMe / Numero Group)
  28. Joyce Moreno: Natureza (Far Out Recordings)
  29. Various Artists: From Lion Mountain—Traditional Music of Yeha, Ethiopia (Dust-to-Digital)
  30. Charles Stepney: Step-on-Step(International Anthem)
  31. Ronnie Boykins: The Will Come is Now (ESP-Disk)
  32. John Ondolo: Hypnotic Guitar of John Ondolo (Mississippi Records)
  33. Luciano Luciani y sus Mulatos: Mulata, vamos a la Salsa (Vampisoul)
  34. Cecil Taylor: Respiration (Fundacja Stuchaj)
  35. Norma Tanega: Studio and Demo Recordings, 1964-1971 (Anthology)
  36. Irma Thomas: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 (Good Time)
  37. Afrika Negra: Antologia, Volume 1 (Bongo Joe)
  38. Various Artists: Summer of Soul (Legacy)
  39. The Heartbreakers: LAMF—The ’77 Found Mixes (Jungle)
  40. Various Artists: Let’s Stamp—1950s Folk Dance Recordings from Bulgarian and Yugoslavian 78 Discs (Canary Recordings)