Tag: Robert Forster

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

Quiet Dog

I’m still struggling with what to do with this blog. I flit from idea to idea; I get discouraged because I feel I’m just doing it as an exercise (what’s wrong with that?), and get frustrated because I not only get bored with formats too easily, but also frequently feel my spigot twist violently shut and hear voices telling me I’ve got nothing to say: “You’re just a kind of aggregator!” (What’s wrong with that?)

Anyhow, well, here’s some things I can report from recently.

I had a headphone experience with the New York Dolls’ debut. I’ve listened to that disc a million times, but it really popped out the chicken skin this time ’round. I’m usually the first to roll my eyes when I hear someone (usually around my age) says there isn’t good music anymore, but it’s this shit that makes me wonder (for a few minutes). If anyone or any band is saying this much right now, it’s not being said with so much thrilling musical hell breaking loose all around it. If anyone or any band is loosing this thick a slab of musical hell right now, they ain’t saying near as much. “I’m talkin’ ’bout your overview,” indeed–David’s words must resonate with any conscious adult walking around in this world, and the noise Johnny wrenches from his axe testifies to his resulting dislocation.

I bitched about the mildness of 2019’s best records and got my comeuppance. It’s all coincidence, but March’s music came in like a lioness, and delivered quite a litter. I was really craving a undeniable, catchy, beatwise classic, and I got at least one of those, though its classic status will depend on how many other people feel the same way. To wit:

Little Simz: Grey Area (“Lady Don’t Tek No” division–this is my “undeniable, catchy, beatwise classic, although it tails off a bit on the back end)

Royal Trux: White Stuff (“Rock and Roll Never Gives Up” division)

James Brandon Lewis: An Unruly Manifesto (“Call & Response” division)

2 Chainz: Rap or Go to the League (“Ball is Life” division)

Rosie Flores: A Simple Case of the Blues (“Doing the Work” division)

Dave: PSYCHODRAMA (“Rap Opera” division)

Robert Forster: Inferno (“Old Friends” division)

…and I haven’t even absorbed the new Solange yet.

My life was enriched by a couple Toms. Specifically, Tom Moon, the admirable and indefatigable author of 1000 Records to Hear Before You Die (published in 2008), and Tom Hull, a fellow Midwesterner who quietly, reliably, intelligently and astonishingly keeps record nerds country-wide abreast of a truckload of new records each month that they might want to familiarize themselves with. They are men after my own heart because they strive to listen to the most promising example of damn near everything, the music lovers’ equivalent to diners who’d never order the same thing from the same menu twice if they could help it. Aren’t you suspicious of anyone who just likes one thing? For some reason looking for more reading to add to my already mountainous pile, I realized I hadn’t really looked carefully at the last half of Moon’s book. Many hours later, I had a bulging-at-the-seams Apple Music playlist of mostly international releases like this gem from the Andes:

Mr. Hull was so kind to reference this blog in his monthly Streamnotes report–to my delight (mainly because I was able to pay him back for his many hot and accurate tips) I’d encouraged him to listen to a few items he liked. Here’s a neat thing he pushed me towards:

I suggest that my readers make themselves familiar with both these Tom cats and you’ll seldom lack for anything substantial to feed your ears. And here is a Spotify playlist derived from Moon’s book to back me up.

My wife and I had a Hank Williams jam on a Saturday night. On the way to and back from a dinner at one of our favorite restaurants–one hour round-trip–Nicole and I indulged in a Hillbilly Shakespeare yell-along. Hank’s the country version of Sam Phillips’ comment about Howlin’ Wolf: his music is where the soul of man never dies. Nicole: “Somehow I know the lyrics to all of these songs.” Indeed. It is near mystical. The next day, she beckoned her Facebook friends to share their favorite Hank songs, and we were surprised to find that he is not as well-known and thoroughly absorbed by our population as we thought, another sign of the apocalypse. One of my very favorites (Hiram liked to talk to his heart):

I found out 504 Records is still releasing music. 504 Records is an itsy-bitsy New Orleans label that, in my experience, has never released an uninteresting record. Its focus is local–and why not? New Orleans music is inexhaustible. Whenever I’m in the Crescent City, I head to the French Market, where there is one-count ’em-one music kiosk that always offers 504 stock. The “new” release contains very rare and fascinating recordings by local hero Cousin Joe, James Booker (“The Bayou Maharajah”), and jack-of-all-pickin’ guitar ace Snooks Eaglin. It is nicely titled Rhapsody in Bronze, if you can’t access the French Market you can order it pretty much JUST from Louisiana Music Factory, and…here’s a sample:

Annnnnnnd–guess who’s back? That’s right! The Meat Puppets (on record)…

…and Ian Hunter (on the page–his 1972 tour diary’s seen a new edition published).

Ian