Tag: Planet Mu

BOUNTY! The Most Striking New Records I Discovered in July (Only Some Were That New, Though)

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YOU WANT PUNK AND ROLL? We got it!!!

YOU WANT 5-STAR, A-GRADE, 9- or 10-OUTTA-10 REKKIDS? We got SIX of ‘em?

YOU WANT THAT GOOD ‘OL (NEW) HIP-HOP AND R&B? We got it!

YOU WANT SOME WICKED, DIRECT, TRUE, SPECIFIC LYRICS THAT AREN’T WHISPERED? We got ‘em!

YOU NEED SOME MORE GARY STEWART & MA RAINEY? We got it!

YOU GOTTA HAVE YOU SOME MORE OF THAT GOOD OL’ INTERNATIONAL FREE JAZZ LIKE WE ALWAYS BRING? We got it?

YOU DEMAND SOME MUSIC THAT MAY CONTAIN HOPE? We got…some!

YOU COULD USE A MUSICAL HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT? Track down a copy of #42 down there (helllloooooo Brooklyn!!), enjoy the heck out of the various artists, then hunt down and sample the albums and EPs of your favorites! You will be rewarded. Not by me.

YOU HAVE TO HAVE MORE INSIGHT THAN THIS? Visit Semipop Life, No Fences, Burning Ambulance, The Other Dave Moore, Steve Pick’s Writing Place, Chris Monsen’s Listening Booth and RIOTRIOT—like I do!—and learn that there’s more great music out there than there’s ever been. Don’t trust me; I don’t (I didn’t initially like the incredibly great new Gogol Bordello album that you can play every day and not tire of, see?).

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

CS Cleaners: What’s This? 

(Wharf Cat) *****

JULY’s JOYS

***** = STELLAR!

****   = STRONG

***     = VERY GOOD

No * at all   = GOOD! NOT BAD!

Italics = Excavation from the Past

  1. Akhavelli: Moorthodox Psyence (Below System) ****
  2. Laurie Anderson & Sexmob: Let X = X (Live) (Nonesuch) *****
  3. Lekan Animashaun: Low Profile (Strut) ***
  4. Badger Hunt: Full Moon in My Pocket (self-released) ***
  5. Barcelona Art Orchestra & Miguel Zenon: Expressions (Miel Music)
  6. Courtney Barnett: Creature of Habit (Mom + Pop) ****
  7. Josh Berman: Everybody Else’s Life, Too (Corbett vs. Dempsey) ***
  8. Bob Bert: Beach Bingo Bloodbath (Bar/None) ***
  9. Carsie Blanton: The Red Album, Volume II (self-released) 
  10. Patricia Brennan & Sylvie Courvoisier: talamanti (Antlia) ****
  11. Marion Brown: Live in Europe 1968 and 1972 (No Business)****
  12. Mara Calder: Patient Zero (Black Metal Archives EP) ****
  13. Mara Calder: We Stay Ugly Til the Pretty Decays (Black Metal Archives) *****
  14. doseone & Height Keech: Wood Teeth II (Handsmade EP) ***
  15. Emmeluth’s Amoeba: With Love (Moserobie Music Production) 
  16. Emperor X: Unified Field (Bar/None) *****
  17. Satoko Fujii: Satoko Fujii’s Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra (Libra) ****
  18. Gogol Bordello: We Mean It, Man (Casa Gogol) *****
  19. Henriette Eilertsen Trio: Moder (Motvind) ***
  20. Imarhan: Essam (Wedge / City Slang) ***
  21. Darryl Jennifer: The Weather Report (Org) 
  22. Kelela: new avatar (Warp) ****
  23. Mark Lomax II & The Urban Art Ensemble: Black Odes—A Reclamation Suite (CFG Multimedia) ****
  24. David Maranha / Rodrigo Amado: Desolation Row (self-released) *****
  25. Mon Rovia: Bloodline (Nettwerk Music) ***
  26. Odd Okoddo & Ogoya Nengo: Palagoma (From Cool Waters)
  27. Adam O’Farrill: Elephant (Out of Your Head) ****
  28. OM: Südpol (Intakt) ***
  29. Los Orientales de Paramonga: 1972-1976 (Analog Africa)
  30. Lido Pimienta: Caribenya (Anti-)
  31. Ma Rainey: Mother of the Blues—The Complete Paramount Recordings 1923-1928 (Black Swan / Jazzology) ****
  32. RAYE: THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE (Human Re Sources) 
  33. RJD2 & Supastition: According To… (Eavesdrop Music) ****
  34. Jill Scott: To Whom This May Concern (Blues Babe) ***
  35. Jimmy Scott: Doesn’t Love Mean More? (Modern Harmonic / Sundazed)
  36. Speaker Music: Synoptic Audio (Planet Mu)
  37. Vince Staples: Cry Baby (Loma Vista) *****
  38. Gary Stewart: One Track Mind (Delmore) ***
  39. Henry Threadgill and Zooid: Cut You Where You Was (Pi)
  40. Frank Trompeter & Richard Gilman-Opalsky: Anti-Fascist Freedom Music (Mahakala Music)
  41. Twisted Teens: Florida Water Blues (cpnpc) ****
  42. Various Artists: CONCRETE ROCK—New York DIY (Desert Island Recordings) ****
  43. Tierra Whack: WHACK’S MUSEUM (Interscope)
  44. Willow: The Thread (360)
  45. Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El art del Bolero, Volume 3 (Miel Music) ***

Sample Living to Listen’s “Best of 2026” Bandcamp Playlist

My mid-year best-of, drawn from my previous ’26 posts.

The ballot I submitted for The Francis Davis Memorial Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll

If it be your will, follow me on Instagram (“Good to My Earhole”: daily album cover quadrant), Substack (“The Overeem Failed Farewell Tour”: reflections on my ongoing teaching career with frequent lacing-throughs of music experience), and elsewhere on WordPress (“The Overeem Farewell Tour—Dispatches from The Public School Trenches”: a much deeper dive into pub-ed, featuring a “final” year day-by-day verbal highlight reel and a Covid diary, 3/3/2020 to 3/3/2021).

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed This Month

David Bowie: Station to Station

Dennis Brown: Visions of Dennis Brown

The Cosmosamatics: Magnitudes

Dead Moon: Echoes of the Past

George Jones: Sings the Songs of Bob Wills

Marisa Monte: Mais

Bettye LaVette: I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise

Soft Cell: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

James Talley: Woody Guthrie and Songs of My Oklahoma Home

Various Artists: L’Afrique Danse, Vols. 1-10

Various Artists: All the King’s Men

Various Artists: Put the Whole Armour On

O. V. Wright: The Soul of O. V. Wright

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

Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart

Kaveh Akbar: Martyr!

Alison Bechdel: Fun Home

Zayd Ayers Dohrn: Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young—A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground

Lucy Ellmann: Sweet Deserts

Melvin Gibbs: How Black Music Took Over the World

Jean Stein: Edie—American Girl

Barry Walters: Mighty Real—A History of LGBT Music 1969-2000

James Welch: Winter in the Blood

June, Moon, Spoon—Goons: Living to Listen’s Midyear Sanity-Inducing, Joy-Eliciting Sweepstakes

We made it through a half-year of this* (well…some of us were fortunate to have). Music sure helped. I’m doin’ things a mite different this month: below are my 50 favorite releases and 10 favorite excavations of 2026, rather than my usual cumulative list of all the really good ones I’ve hunted down. See my other 2026 posts for those, those I’ve somewhat shorted the month of June. I am recognizing a spotlight record of last month, though—it’s not on the sweepstakes list, but it’s my favorite debut recording, by a terrific improvising Argentine trio that evokes traditional New Orleans thanks to a very empathetic relationship between drummer and clarinetist over bassist glue. Also, if you show up her regularly, new items to be recognized here are italicized.

I’d love to have a definitive Top 10, but it’s too early for me. Yes, the list is jazz-heavy (in fact, the Bobby Bradford offering is the most sublime thing I’ve heard this year, and it’s from a nonagenarian+ other than Willie Nelson or Marshall Allen—I hear it’s the new 70!). However, I’ll note that within there’s a fantastic modern classical record (the latest Julius Eastman exaltation by Wild Up), an Americana EP by a 77-year-old garage punk widow whom I’ve personally pledged fealty to (she actually got her start playing Americana with her legendary husband in the ‘80s), my continued unpaid celebration of Nyege Nyege Tapes’ mission, a happy surrender to the Forces of Rodrigo (she does have multiple “forces”), a little OMINOUS footwork, a 45 that won’t let me up, some K- (I mean, X-) Pop, and a jubilant, breezy, very funny and very successful jazz ’n’ spoken word run at Joyce’s Ulysses. So gimme a break, jazz-haters.

*Sentence should be spat out à la Gary Stewart.”

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Las Instancias: Las Instancias (625 Discos)

Here’s a public Bandcamp playlist with 50 selected tracks from many of these releases.

2026 Mid-Year Sweepstakes Roll Call

Items new to the list are in italics.

  1. The 5678s: Run Run Run (Bomb)
  2. Dave Adewumi: The Flame Beneath the Silence (Giant Step Arts) 
  3. [ahmed]: Play Monk (Otoroku) 
  4. Zoh Amba: Eyes Full (Matador)
  5. MC Paul Barman & Kenny Segal: Antinomian Pandemonium (Fused Arrow) 
  6. Steven Bernstein: ResoNation Trio/Ultraresonance (Royal Potato Family)
  7. Carsie Blanton & The Burning Hell: Everything is Great (self-released)
  8. Bobby Bradford/Mark Dresser/Hafez Modirzadeh: Sonic House Reunion (No Business)
  9. Buck 65: Do Not Bend (self-released)
  10. The Delines: The Set-Up (decor) 
  11. Jesse DeSilva: Glitter Up The Dark (Nine Athens) 
  12. Art Edmaiston and Chad Fowler : Memphis Mandala (Mahakala Music)
  13. EDU & JUDGITZU: Nuku (Nyege Nyege Tapes) 
  14. Joel Futterman & William Parker: Transcendent Universe (Burning Ambulance)
  15. Golomb: The Beat Goes On and On and On (No Quarter EP)
  16. Itak Tek: Mind Abandon (Planet Mu) 
  17. Anthony Joseph: The Ark (Heavenly Sweetness)
  18. Kehlani: Kehlani (Atlantic) 
  19. Kneecap: FENIAN(Heavenly) 
  20. KINACT: Kinshasa in Action (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  21. Kin’Gongolo Kiniata : Kiniata (Helico Music)
  22. Mark Lomax II: The Unity Suite (CFG Multimedia)
  23. Mod Lang: Borrowed Time (Jaw)
  24. Ava Mendoza: Alive Alone, Alive Together (Burning Ambulance)
  25. Jason Moran: Jason Moran Plays Duke Ellington (Yes Records)
  26. Kasey Musgraves: Middle of Nowhere (Lost Highway)
  27. Angelika Niescier: Chicago Tapes (Intakt) 
  28. Bill Orcutt: Music in Continuous Motion (Palilalia) 
  29. Orcutt/Shelley/Miller: “Hothead” / “A Man Needs a Maid” (Silver Current 45)
  30. Genesis Owusu: Redstar Wu & The Worldwide Scourge (Ourness PTY)
  31. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet: Happy Today (International Anthem) 
  32. Grant Peeples: Code to Live By (self-released) 
  33. Ivo Perelman and Damon Smith: Duologue 6—Core of Existence (Squidnote)
  34. Pinky Tex: The Singing Angel from Devil Rock Canyon (Mississippi Records EP)
  35. Tomeka Reid: dance! skip! hop! (Out of Your Head Records)
  36. Olivia Rodrigo: you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (Geffen)
  37. Talibah Safiya: Eternal (self-released)
  38. Serengeti: KENNYV (self-released)
  39. Serokolo 7: Maramfa Musick Pro (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  40. Sha Ra and DJ Haram: Critical Thot (BackwoodzStudioz)
  41. SML: Spontaneous Music Live (International Anthem) 
  42. Tyshawn Sorey: Members … Don’t (Pi Recordings)
  43. Swamp Dogg: …Contemplates the Afterlife (S-Curve)
  44. Tanya Tagaq: Saputjii (Six Shooter) 
  45. This is Lorelei: Box for Buddy, Box for Star (Super Deluxe) (Double Double Whammy) 
  46. LOS THUTHANAKA: Wak’a (self-released EP) 
  47. Harriet Tubman & Georgia Muldrow: Electrical Field of Love (Pi Recordings)
  48. Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life)
  49. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5—Gay Guerilla (New Amsterdam)
  50. XG: The Core (XGALX) 

Archival Releases

  1. Antoine Dougbé et L’Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou: 1977 – 1982 (Analog Africa)
  2. Fugazi: Albini Sessions (Dischord)
  3. Joe Henderson: Consonance–Live at the Jazz Showcase (Resonance) 
  4. Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra: Concert a Prades Le Lez, Volumes 1&2 (Souffle Continu)
  5. Ahmad Jamal: At the Jazz Showcase–Live in Chicago (Resonance) 
  6. Louis Stewart: Joyce Notes (Livia Records)
  7. Les Rallizes Dénudés: Disque 4—’76 Studio et Live (Temporal Drift)
  8. Ranil y su Conjunto: Galaxia Tropical (Analog Africa) 
  9. Alan Silva Celestrial Communication Ensemble: 2000-06-24 Amherst (Eremite)
  10. Cecil Taylor New Unit: Words and Music—The Last Bandstand (Fundacja Słuchaj Records)
  11. Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004 (Burning Ambulance)

Special Note: If you have never heard of electro-country, please check out Owen Lake and The Tragic Loves’ new album Bury Deep My Heart, on Carrier Records. It’s a little more country (Americana-honky-tonk-rockabilly stylee) than electro, but its quirky wit while messing with tradition is worth snatchin’ a flyer on.

If you enjoy these lists, please follow my IG feed (“Good to My Earhole”), where regardless of whether I’m sick, traveling, stranded, partying, mourning, working, going insane, panicking, or just lovin’ ’n’ livin’ I post a quadrant of four records I listened to the previous day, or my Substack education blog, The Overeem (Failed) Farewell Tour.

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed This Month

Everything I own of the late James Blood Ulmer’s discography (which is most of it). His Caravan of Dreams live album is better than most have reported.

Pretty much Tom Waits’ entire discography, but especially the swordfishtrombones/Rain Dogs/Frank’s Wild Years/Big Time run, which my wife and I courted to, doncha know?

Phil Freeman of Burning Ambulance recommended some vintage recordings to listen to to staunch the magnetic power of the Miles Centennial, and I’ve found he’s extremely reliable. In this case: Teramasu Hino’s Hi-Nology and Donald Byrd’s Electric Byrd.

Thanks to Barry Walters’ terrific book Mighty Real (a revelatory—maybe just for cishets?–LGBTQ+ Stonewall-to-Y2k music survey), Off the Wall and Diana.

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

Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart

Lucy Ellmann: Sweet Desserts and Ducks, Newburyport (the latter’s gonna take all year but what a ride!)

Barry Walters: Mighty Real

Then Came the Last Day of May—And I Missed It: Favorite Slabs of Music from the Fifth Month

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I’m lagging a day behind, and that ain’t cool in the blogosphere, so I’ll cut the oddservational chase:

–Great, great, great month for free and improvised music if you can dig it. I know that you can, I know that I do. Yeah, that’s physical media down there (I picked up the ancient copy of Mofungo’s “End of the World” sealed for $4), with a tip of the hat to Burning Ambulance.

–Album everyone whose sick of this sh*t would enjoy hearing?  Guide your eyes and ears to Ms. Blanton’s offering below.

–I’ve been reading quite a bit of Irish lit over the last, what, six years and Kneecap’s album helped me maybe understand why.

–Rock (and maybe roll) Is Not Dead Department: Mod Lang, The Sleveens, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Golems of the Red Planet (yay, we’re hearing surf music again, Jimi).

–Helplessly devoted fan continues waving arms in your direction re: legendary Japanese supposedly psych-rock band (see if you can guess it—if you’ve been here before, you can) that anticipated The Pixies’ and Nirvana’s quiet-loud trick.

—[ahmed] is incredible.

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Mod Lang: Borrowed Time (Jaw) ****

New in May 

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

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

[ahmed]: Play Monk (Otoroku) *****

Ran Blake & Dominique Eade: Roots & Byways (Sunnyside) ****

Carsie Blanton & The Burning Hell: Everything is Great (self-released at $1!) ****

Boards of Canada: Inferno (Warp) 

Alan Braufman: Anthem for Peace (The Control Group / Valley of Search) ****

CHEER ACCIDENT: Live—CheerAx Basement, Chicago 4/2/22 // Reggie’s Chicago 9/26/23(Cuneiform) ***

Columbia Icefield: A Silence Opens (Out of Our Heads) *****

Charles Downs Quartet: inner (ESP-Disk) ***

Eddy Current Suppression Ring: In Light of Recent Events (Cool Death) *** 

Joel Futterman & William Parker: Transcendent Universe (Burning Ambulance) ****

Golems of the Red Planet: Surf “Masada”—The Compositions of John Zorn (self-released) ***

Wendell Harrison: Tribute to Pharoah Sanders (Org Music) ***

Itak Tek: Mind Abandon (Planet Mu) ****

Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart: BODY SOUND (International Anthem) ***

JPEG Mafia: EXPERIMENTAL RAP (self-released) ***

KJADE: THE SOUND THAT TREES MAKE (self-released) ***

Kneecap: FENIAN (Heavenly) ****

LICE: Miami Lice—Season Four (Rhymesayers)

Ava Mendoza: Alive Alone, Alive Together (Burning Ambulance)

Namasenda: Limbo (YEAR 001) ***

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet: Happy Today (International Anthem) ****

The Phoenix Trio (featuring Mark Turner): Tomorrow is Today (Giant Step Arts) ***

Les Rallizes Dénudés: Disque 4—’76 Studio et Live (Temporal Drift) ****

The Sleeveens: National Anthem (Goner)

Tyshawn Sorey: Members…Don’t (Pi Recordings) *****

Stare Into the Night: the new abyss (self-released)

Various Artists: Kaiso Power—Sound Revolution in Trinidad 1970-1980 (Soundway) ***

Victor Vieira-Branco’s Bark Culture: The Giant is Awkward (temperphantom) ****

Immanuel Wilkins Quartet: Live, Volume 1 (Blue Note)

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed This Month

Carsie Blanton: The Red Album, Volumes 1 & 2

Clarence Carter: Snatchin’ It Back—The Atlantic Recordings

Johnny Coles: Little Johnny C

Dag Nasty: Field Day

The Gift of Gab: 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up

Lightnin’ Hopkins: The Herald Recordings

Freddie Hubbard: Hub Cap

Sonny Rollins: This is What I Do

Jimmy Scott: Falling in Love is Wonderful

Woody Shaw Quartet: Live in Bremen 1983

John Tchicai and Cadentia Nova Dance: Afrodisiaca

Various Artists: Nigeria Special, Volumes 1 & 2

Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy: Live at Dreher

David S. Ware: Freedom Suite

Hey! I Read, Too—and So Should You!

Cynthia Connolly, Leslie Clague, Sharon Cheslow: Banned in D.C–Photos and Anecdotes from the D.C. Punk Underground

Lucy Ellmann: Ducks, Newburyport

Melvin Gibbs: How Black Music Took Over the World

Claire Hoffman: Sister, Sinner—The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson

Nancy Lemann: Lives of the Saints

Lisa Sandlin: In the River Province–Stories

Integrated List Solutions: 2023’s Best Discs With a Month to Go

RIP Shane MacGowan.

PREJUDICES:

  1. I don’t trust critics’ positive evaluations of art when they’re mostly grounded in politics (of one sort or another). Yet I am frequently guilty of it here.
  2. Related: For much of my life I have thought women were clearly the superior of the two traditionally recognized genders. My wife has helped me sustain that viewpoint; the last seven years of public mad, toxic explosions has convinced me we are equally flawed. Just sayin’: if the upper reaches of my list are dominated by women, it’s not because I’m still guided by romantic notions.
  3. I love jazz right now more than any other major genre. Within that larger genre, I find experimental and free jazz more interesting than its other subgenres. It engages my mind and skin more regularly than other kinds of music. That said, it’s really hard to rank such records. I could spend another hour rearranging my favorite experimental and free jazz records, and I’d change that arrangement again this afternoon. In addition, it’s been a GREAT (and scintillatingly varied) year for those.
  4. Few country records are on my list. I’m not resistant to that genre; I just insist on distinctly unique singing (it’s a tradition) and interesting lyrics. I was weaned on George, Merle, Willie, Dolly, Lorretty, and Tammy–what can I say?
  5. As a writer, I “come out of” punk, garage rock, and rock when it rolled–my first writing “gigs” were with punk zines. Over the last decade, a group of friends on Facebook have given me a great crash course (if a crash course can last a decade) in busting out of that particular popular/semipopular music pen, though I still like galloping around in it. It could be, as a result, that I am too eager to enthuse about intriguing poptimistic sounds. Also, some eyebrows might jump at the exclusion from the list of a certain mega-phenomenon in light of that admission. I still struggle with blandness, even impressively mounted and executed blandness. Oh, and about my punk-pen-past: if the band Dredd Foole & the Din is unfamiliar to you, change that (see “Excavations and “Reissues”).
  6. I like music made by melanated people more than the pale offerings. I don’t think about it beforehand–it just turns out that way. Sue me.

TRUNCATED OBSERVATIONS–PAIRINGS!:

–So-called “desert blues”? Folks, if you don’t know about it or have never gotten on the train, it’s not too late to hop on, and your first stop should be Bounaly’s glowing-orange-hot wailing guitar record Dimanche a Bamako. All hail the Sahel Sounds label. Next stop: Bombino’s Sahel.

–Prolific rappers? From Canada? Yep–it’s old news. BUT…Buck 65’s placed two releases in my Top 25 records of the year, and I had to think and listen awhile before I moved one of those out of the Top 10. Crisp beats, consistently engaging words, and a confident flow. I want to pose a question to aficionados: Buck 65 or Homeboy Sandman, if you could only take one of these fecund MCs’ oeuvres to a desert island?

–Brazilian music: I forgot a prejudice! I start out leaning forward when I put on a new Brazilian record, especially if it’s been touted by Rod Taylor of the Brazil Beat blog. And this year my Top 40 (so far) contains two great and VERY DIFFERENT–yet uniquely Brazilian–releases: Adriana Calcanhotto’s addictive samba-with-Waitsian-rhythmic-flecks Errante and Filipe Catto’s dark-toned tribute to the departed tropicalia legend Gal Costa, Belezas Sao Coisis Acesas por Dentro. Note 1: Catto’s album and Anohni’s still-chart-topping My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross is a terrific pairing as well.

The Updated List

–If an album makes the list, it sounds and feels to me like the equivalent of a Pitchfork 7.5 or better, an All Music 3 ½ stars or better, or an Xgauvian **Honorable Mention or better.
–It can be assumed that my Top 30-40 sound to me the equivalent of an A-, but I’m a teacher in my other incarnation so watch me for grade inflation. It cannot be assumed safely, though, that my Top 10 are all straight A’s.
–After the first 50, my “rankings” are a bit loose; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 3. Also, I usually jigger the rankings every month upon reflection.
–Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month.

Note 2: I’ve repeatedly pored over this month’s list and rearranged it, after some re-listening and simple reflection. My Top 50 is approaching as much permanence as I’m capable of, though Bounaly’s record so thoroughly kicked my ass last night it may take the top spot. We also have four weeks to go….

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

Excavations and Reissues

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