I listened to almost 40 records last month that passed muster–many did so in splendid style. A huge chunk of my time was taken up by a new studio (!) album by the forceful, imaginative, and focused jazz improvisers known as [ahmed] (a double set that requires very close attention and replaying) and Corbett vs. Dempsey’s shining new six-disc compilation of Chicago and international players known and relatively unknown blowing the doors off The Empty Bottle, one of the country’s greatest dives, circa 1996-2005. In addition, I was fortunate to receive review copies of two live Rahsaan Roland Kirk excavations by the indefatigable Zev Feldman for Resonance Records, and I’ll stop doing almost anything for Rah. Plus, I was finishing teaching two on-line classes plus a 3.5-week, three-hour-per-session, M-F freshman comp course during which many unpredictable things occurred that ’bout had me losing my religion. Add my first Thanksgiving without either of my parents above ground (ghost distraction) and Todd Snider’s passing hitting me harder than I’d figured, and I feel like I’ve been through a very slow-moving, tight wringer. I am through it, so some quick observations:
Sabrina Carpenter–I give. I give. You are the master.
If you watched Big Freedia‘s show back in the day, it’ll be impossible not to be moved by her new gospel album devoted to her departed long-time paramour.
Re: Snider‘s passing? So fucking sad, so weird, probably in the end, if all the facts ever come out, not surprising. But his last album (see below) is Americana’s version of Billie Holiday’s Lady in Satin: it is very painful to hear a powerful voice and spirit reduced to a near-husk–but the word is NEAR.
If you’ve never heard an album by the musician/writer/performance artist/stutter-battler JJJJJerome Ellis, you might give his new one a try. I witnessed him live perform much of the material, and, while it’s demanding, it’s astonishingly inspiring.
Thank you, Alfred and Joey, for the tips on Home Front (my kind of punk) and the new Allo Darlin’ (my kind of, um, twee…but I don’t like that appelation). Where would we be without other scouts?
If you have a taste for eccentric, intriguing, and impish jazz, you’ll be hard-pressed to find two albums that fit that bill better than Yuhan Su‘s and Joe Westerlund‘s new records. Delightful is another good adjective for those two.
No, these are not those Wrens. Not by a long shot. But they are tres interesante.
If you can’t decide between the Huskers and the Mats of your youth (assuming you were a youth at that time), go Huskers! You may be tempted by the live Replacements disc, but, though they actually sound pretty together, the sound is not great. On the other hand, the Du discs explode (though some are still complaining about mixes).
Regarding trends–I’m really backtracking to last month, when I should have said more about the even newer (and improved) Sharp Pins release–is there such a thing as a power-poptimist?
The billy woods reimagining is better than the originally imagined. And that would be about the music, which with woods is often a kind of sticking point.
What about the new De La Soul? It is de la sweet.
Sorry no playlist but I am still not gonna play with Spotify.
MY LIST OF AURAL PLEASURE—January 1 – December 2, 2025
BOLDED = New to the List
ASTERISKED* to ***** = Damn good! to Holy CANNOLI!
ITALICIZED: Excavations from the Past / Reissue
Aesop Rock: Black Hole Superette (Rhymesayers) ****
Aesop Rock: I Heard It’s a Mess There (Rhymesayers) ****
Africa Express: …Presents…Bahidora (World Circuit Limited) ****
[ahmed]: Sama’a [Audition] (Otoroku) *****
Allo Darlin’: Bright Nights (Slumberland)
Rodrigo Amado / The Bridge: Further Beyond (Trost) ****
Amarae: Black Star (Golden Angel) ***
Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 (Archetext)
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) ***
Anna Hogberg Attack: Ensamseglaren (fönstret) ***
Ichiko Aoba: Luminescent Creatures (Psychic Hotline)
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist: Mercy (BackwoodzStudioz)
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) ****
Mohinder Kaur Bhamra: Punjabi Disco (Naya Beat) ***
Bar-B-Q Killers: The Last Shit, Part 1 (Chunklet 45)
Big Freedia: Pressing Onward (Queen Diva Music) ***
Big Thief: Double Infinity (4AD) ***
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)
Bob Dylan: Through the Open Window—The Bootleg Series Volume 18(Columbia) ***
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) *****
Danny Brown: Stardust (Warp) ***
Master Wilburn Burchette: Master Wilburn Burchette’s Psychic Meditation Music (Numero Group) ***
Sabrina Carpenter: Man’s Best Friend (Island) ****
Joe Chambers, Kevin Diehl, Chad Taylor: Onilu (Eremite) ****
Tyler Childers: Snipe Hunter (RCA / Hickman Holler) *****
Christer Bothén 3: L’Invisible (thanatosis) ****
Citric Dummies: Split with Turnstile (Feel It)
clipping: Dead Channel Sky (Sub Pop)
Clipse: Let God Sort ‘Em Out (Roc Nation) ***
Common and Pete Rock: The Auditorium, Volume 1 (Casa Loma)
Hollie Cook: Shy Girl (Mr. Bongo) ***
Cosmic Ear: TRACES (We Jazz) *****
The Cosmic Tones Research Trio: The Cosmic Tones Research Trio (Mississippi Records) ***
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)
cupcakKe: The Bakery (self-released) ***
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)
****
De La Soul: Cabin in the Sky (Mass Appeal) ***
The Delines: Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom (Jealous Butcher) *****
Dial Up: Dial Up (Aerophonic)
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)
Kenny Dorham: Blue Bossa in the Bronx—Live from the Blue Morocco (Resonance) ***
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) ****
JJJJJerome Ellis: Vesper Sparrow (Shelter Press) ***
Marco Eneidi Quintet: Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (Balance Point Acoustics / Botticelli) ****
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force: Khadim (Ndagga) ***
Silvana Estrada: Vendran Suaves Lluvia (Glassnote)
Ex-Void: In Love Again (Tapete Records)
Augustus Fanon & billy woods: gowillog (reimagined) (Backwoodz Studios) ****
Shamek Farrah: First Impressions (Strata-East) ***
Shamek Farrah & Sonelius Smith: The World of the Children (Strata-East) ****
Fieldwork: Thereupon (Pi Records) ****
Robert Finley: Hallelujah! Don’t Let the Devil Fool Ya! (Easy Eye) ****
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 Quartet: Burning Wick (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)
The Hives: Forever Forever The Hives (Play It Again Sam)
Home Front: Watch It Die(La Vida Es En Mus) ****
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: 1985—The Miracle Year (Numero Group) *****
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) ****
Kahil El’ Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Live at ‘mu’ London (Spiritmuse) ***
The Kasambwe Brothers: The Kasambwe Brothers (Mass MoCA) ****
Tyler Keith: I Confess (Wyatt & Black)
Kelela: In the Blue Light (Warp) ***
KINGDOM MOLOGI: Kembo (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ****
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Seek & Listen—Live at the Penthouse (Resonance) ****
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Vibrations in the Village—Live at the Village Gate (Resonance) ****
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)
Makaya McCraven: The People’s Mixtape (International Anthem EP—best of the three to my ear) ***
Stephen McCraven: Wooley the Newt (moved-by-sound) ***
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) *****(late 2024 BUT that was in Ireland…)
Jason Moran / Trondheim Jazz Orchestra/ Ole Morten Vågan: Go To Your North (Yes Records)
kelly moran Don’t Trust Mirrors (Warp)
The Morells: You’re Gonna Hurt Yourself (Sound Asleep)
Gurf Morlix: Bristlecone (self-released) ****
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: Perseverance Flow (Eremite) *****
Natural Information Society and Bitchin’ Bahas: Totality (Drag City)
The Necks: Inquiet (Northern Spy) ***
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)
Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavens (Biophilia) ****
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) ***** (late 2024)
Otherlands Trio (Crump/Jones/McPherson): Star Mountain (Intakt) ****
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) ***
Raphael Pannier: Live in St. Louis, Senegal (Miel Music) ***
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) ****
Princess Nokia: Girls (Artist House) ***
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 & Kenny Segal: The Night Green Side of It (Ruby Yacht / Alpha Pup) ***
R.A.P. Ferreira: Outstanding Understanding (Ruby Yacht)
Vernon Reid: Hoodoo Telemetry (Artone / The Players Club)
Jussi Reijonen: sayr—salt/thirst (unmusic) ***
Jussi Reijonen: sayr-kaiho—Live in Helsinki (unmusic) ****
The Replacements: Let It Be (Rhino) ***
Jonathan Richman: Only Frozen Sky Anyway (Blue Arrow) ***
Rosalía: Luxe (Columbia) ***
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)
Talibah Safiya: a lil more Black Magic (High Water) ***
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)
Noura Mint Seymali: Yenbett(Glitterbeat) ****
Sharp Pins: Radio DDR (K / Perennial Death) ***
Sharp Pins: Balloon Balloon Balloon (K / Perennial Death) ****
Mark Sherman: Bop Contest (Miles High)
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)
Laura Singh: Mean Reds (Out of Your Head)
Slick Rick: Victory (Mass Appeal) ***
Todd Snider: High, Lonesome, and Then Some (Aimless / Thirty Tigers) ***
Snocaps: Snocaps (Anti-) ****
Peter Stampfel: Song Shards (Jalopy Records)
Mavis Staples: Sad and Beautiful World (Anti-)
Luke Stewart / Silt Remembrance Ensemble: The Order (Cuneiform) ***
Yuhan Su: OVER the MOONs (Endectomorph Music) ***
Sudan Archives: THE BPM (Stones Throw)
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)
Pat Thomas: HIKMAH (TAO Forms)
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)
Ken Vandermark: October Flowers for Joe McPhee (Corbett vs. Dempsey) ****
Various Artists: African Jazz Invites O.K. Jazz (Planet Ilunga) ***
Various Artists: The Bottle Tapes (Corbett vs. Dempsey) *****
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) ***
Various Artists: A Tribute to the King of Zydeco (Valcourt) *****
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) ****
Joe Westerlund: Curiosities from the Shift (Psychic Hotline) ***
Wet Leg: moisturizer (Domino) ***
Alfred White: The Definitive Alfred White (Music Makers Recordings)
Wheelhouse: House and Home (Aerophonic)
Simon Willson: Bet (Endectomorph Records)
Wrens: Half of What You See (Out of Your Heads) ****
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) ***
Living To Listen 