Tag: Sylvie Courvoisier

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

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

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

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

THE LIST (January 1 – February 26, 2025)

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

The Ancients: The Ancients (Eremite)

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

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

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

Benjamin Booker: Lower(Fire Next Time)

Brother Ali & Ant: Satisfied Soul (Mello Music)

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

doseone & Steel Tipped Dove: All Portrait, No Chorus (BackwoodzStudios) ****

Ex-Void: In Love Again(Tapete Records)

FKA twigs: Eusexua (Young Recordings Limited)

Satoko Fujii GEN: Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra)

Satoko Fujii Trio: Dream a Dream (Libra)****

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

The Hemphill Stringtet: Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head Records) Note: release date = April 4, 2025****

William Hooker: Jubilation (Org Music)*****

Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On (Matador)

Michael Gregory Jackson: Frequency Equilibrium Koan (moved-by-sound)

Anthony Joseph: Rowing Up the River to Get Our Names Back (Heavenly Sweetness)****

JPEG Mafia: I Lay Down My Life for You (Director’s Cut) (self-released)*****

Kelela: In the Blue Light (Warp)***

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

James Brandon Lewis: Apple Cores (Anti-)

LOLO: LOLO (Black Sweat)

Mean Mistreater: Do or Die (self-released)

Mac Miller: Baloonerism (Warner Records)

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

Isabelle Olivier: Impressions (Rewound Echoes)

Marek Pospieszalski Octet & Zoh Amba (see below): NOW! (Project financed by a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage “Młoda Polska” & Katowice City of Music UNESCO) Note: release date = November 29, 2024

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

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

Ebo Taylor, Adrain Younge, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Jazz Is Dead 22 (Jazz is Dead)

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

Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory: Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (Jagjaguwar)

The War & Treaty: Plus One (Mercury Nashville)

Jesse Welles: Middle (Jesse Welles Music)

Alfred White: The Definitive Alfred White (Music Makers Recordings)

Simon Willson: Bet (Endectomorph Records)

Jeong Lim Yang: Synchronicity (Fully Altered Media)

The Young Mothers: Better If You Let It (Sonic Transmissions)****

IT ENDS HERE: My Favorite Albums of 2023

As DJ Heraclitus said, you can’t listen to the same record twice. I was lucky to simply listen to each of these records once (I at least did that), and many of them changed with me when (if?) I came back to them. Anohni’s, though, held my top spot for most of the year and finished there: it’s not a fun record, but this ain’t a fun planet, and I don’t live in a fun state (Missouri), and her album title rings too true around here and so many other places in the world. It’s a reminder to keep fighting, keep living, and keep loving–as well as to knock people off that bridge–and it documents an artist whose singing and writing has grown considerably over the years (the commitment was always there). I might have been influenced by her appearance in two 2023 books on Lou Reed, which caused me to re-examine her early work as well as the Berlin DVD. Anyway, the untamed Niafunke guitarist Bounaly made a strong run at her top spot, even took it for a spell, but that was pure rush instead of a finely honed artistic statement of the times, so…I ended up sticking to my guns. Support trans human beings and fight the heartless to the end.

It was a stunning year for jazz, of all challenging and/or beautiful stripes, and (across genres, too) women continue to make their mark (see next ‘graf). Canto, Chimaera, and Beyond Dragons were among the Top 10 jazz records of the year by anyone, period. The indefatigable Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii (as usual) delivered multiple engaging albums of her own as well as participating in those of others (see the list–they all made it unless I missed one). Make it a 2024 project to investigate her if you’ve yet to.

Jamila Woods took Joni Mitchell to the southside of Chicago. Gina Birch still wears her Docs and plays her bass loud. boygenius are girlgenius. Jessie Ware made us feel good when Roisin Murphy made us feel bad or at best confused. Romy delivered a gorgeous, same-sex-heartbroke (please excuse my awkwardness), late-night electronic telegram. Transformative, liberating lightning hit Corinne Bailey Rae. Big Freedia grew bigger. Kari Faux, Sexxy Red, and–on a different level–K. Michelle handled their shit on the urban streets of the midwest and midsouth. And…oh yeah…Olivia (though could she not have totally rocked OUT on SNL?).

It’s easy to dismiss old soul-blues dudes. I beg of you, LISTEN: 90-year-old Bobby Rush waxed a record that isn’t just good for a nonagenarian–he can still sing, pick, blow, and parse the times with players a quarter of his age–and relative greenhorn Robert Finley handed in a hard-assed, funny, and deep record that Dan Auerbach endowed with just the right touch, do not fear.

Last, this year was the first time I actually witnessed a Top-Tenner play in person. The Columbia Experimental Music Festival went out with a bang, bringing in the titanic tenor of James Brandon Lewis, whose 2-CD For Mahalia / These are Soulful Days (the latter one of the greatest jazz-horn-with-strings performance ever recorded) was the peak of his relatively brief career. We got to see him play with one of his favorite drummers, Chad Taylor, and they ’bout blew the top off of the First Baptist Church of Columbia, Missouri. Speaking of the CEMF, the ending of which has at least temporarily crippled our music scene, its founder Matt Crook somehow found a way to bring the Ukrainian pianist and inventor of continuous music, Lubomyr Melnyk, to town for a solo piano performance in our historic Methodist church downtown. Melnyk debuted a piece called “The Sacred Thousand” at the concert; it had not yet been recorded in the studio. The Bandcamp site for the recently released version says it best: The piece is “[d]edicated to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who held out against the enormous Russian army for several weeks in the Azov Steel Plant of Mariupol…. it is a spiritual journey into the soul of man… into the Beautiful Depths of our spiritual strength.”

Thank all of you who have visited this blog and worried that I hadn’t bathed in weeks in order to keep up. I have indeed listened to most of these albums at least twice and I vouch for their ability to move you. IF you’re receptive. Happy hollerdays and may 2024 not crush us.

My Final 2023 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.
–At this point, one can assume that my Top 20-50 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—though I’ve been toning them up to represent comparative quality to the degree my sanity is not threatened; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 10 (in this “final” case).

Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month. I just added a few today—and I’m done.

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

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. Various Artists: Piconema–East African Hits On The Colombian Coast (Rocafort Records)
  5. Les Rallizes Denudes: Citta ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  6. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  7. The Jazz Doctors: Intensive Care & Prescriptions Filled 1983-84 (Cadillac Records)
  8. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  9. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  10. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
  11. Os Tincoas: Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero (Sanzala Cultural)
  12. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  13. Leon Keita: Leon Keita (Analog Africa)
  14. Hiroshi Yoshimura: Surround (Temporal Drift)
  15. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  16. Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
  17. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  18. Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
  19. Les Rallizes Denudes: BAUS ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  20. Gabe Baltazar: Birdology (Fresh Sounds)
  21. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  22. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  23. Various Artists: The Soul of Congo – Treasures of the Ngoma label (1948​-​1963) (Planet Ilunga)
  24. Sonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore—Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective)
  25. Ihsan Al-Munzer: Belly Dance (BBE)
  26. Dredd Foole & The Din: See God 1985-1986 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  27. Johnny Griffin: Live at Ronnie Scott’s, 1964 (Gearbox)
  28. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  29. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  30. Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
  31. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  32. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  33. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  34. Roy Campbell / William Parker / Zan Matsuura: Visitation of the Spirits—The Pyramind Trio Live, 1985 (No Business)
  35. Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
  36. Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
  37. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  38. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  39. Dorothy Carter: Waillee Waillee (Palo Alto Records)
  40. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  41. Wes Montgomery: Maximum Swing (Resonance)
  42. Various Artists: Con Piano, Sublime—Early Recordings from the Caribbean 1907-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  43. Various Artists: Space Echo—The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Revealed! (Analog Africa)
  44. Ibrahim Hesnawi: The Father of Libyan Reggae (Habibi Funk)
  45. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  46. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  47. Alon Nechushtan: For Those Who Cross the Seas (ESP-Disk)
  48. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  49. Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  50. Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)

THIS STUFF! FEELS GOOD!: 110 Truly Interesting Records We’ve Received So Far in ’23 (not bad!)

Hi! I hope summer is off to as dazzling a musical start for you as it has for me! Not only have the records come marching in, but I am teaching a very enjoyable asynchronous class for Stephens College that’s built around Susan Rogers‘ and Ogi Ogas‘ This Is What It Sounds Like (you yourselves might well love not only the book but its fun associated website), which take a look at why our brains push us toward certain kinds of music and not others. My students are doing excellent work: I will send an essay by one of them up very soon, in which the author will enter the current Lewis Capaldi fuck-him/marry-him/kill-him scrum in enthusiastic form. They have to construct, explain, and interpret their unique listening profiles (see the book) for their final project, and I’m definitely looking forward to that.

Nut Notes:

*Boy howdy, that boygenius album has subtle and often barbed charms. Is it just me, or has the counterattack begun?

*It’s quite a boast, but Buck 65 wins this month’s “Truth in Title Advertising” award by a hair over…

*…JESSIE WARE, who got extra points for punctuation and makes me feel young again–seriously. For the record, I am currently 61, and can someone put her and Roisin Murphy on a US tour so I can go dance deliriously and live deliciously?

*The Dropkick Murphys dropped their second (?) album of (literally) unsung Woody Guthrie songs last month–how’d I miss the first, which came out LAST YEAR (it just came in the mail yesterday)? While I was blasting it on Memorial Day, Nicole remarked, “Does his stuff stay relevant or what?” She’s an Okie, so she might be biased–but she’s also correct.

*Wild Up released their third record interpreting the amazing minimalist (but not exactly) work of Julius Eastman. This one is a bit more in your face, which is partly the particular Eastman compositions they chose to work with, but I bet they’ve spent some time with Eight Songs for a Mad King, where he makes one particular unforgettable vocal appearance.

*Nourished by Time…that is one eccentric but impressive r&b album. I was lazy sampling it and assumed from the cover it was going to be a rap album–I know next to nothing about this act–but it sure as hell is not.

*Little Rock, Arkansas’ Kari Faux has a special title message for you that she backs up on her new record.

*Simply put, you’re gonna want that Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens record at the top of the “old stuff” list. I can’t believe it looking back, but I saw a show on that tour–I should have been too ignant to know–and it.is.theshit.

*You think harp and jazz is a twain that never should meet? Brandee Younger does not agree, nor did Dorothy Ashby, whose very convincing soon-come 5-LP reconsideration by New Land Younger contributes notes for.

*”If you’re doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing!” It is SO nice to hear William S. Burroughs‘ inimitable and often prophetic voice coming from my speakers again, via Dais Records’ sharply assembled compilation of 1960s recordings. (That italicized quote isn’t on the record–look for Uncommon Quotes, if it’s still available–but many other worthy utterances are.)

*MARK LOMAX II never makes a foolish move.

*Brazil in the house…always. Check out #27 and #31 for sure.

*Kate Gentile‘s new free/experimental/jazz record is like walking blindfolded through a wind-blown percussion forest in the middle of the night.

*I have a feeling that The Gennett Suite, in which the artists “elasticize” the sound of the original classic recordings released on that label (think Bix), may meet with some jazz argumentation. I stand with Buselli and Walarab–the originals are strong enough to be stretched. They shine in this new light.

*Many (of the few) readers of the blog probably already know that Lux Interior and Ivy Rorshach of The Cramps were ace 45 collectors. I’m a BIG fan of theirs, but even I was not aware that Righteous Records is more deeply mining their collection, getting past that legendary stuff (“Love Me,” “I Can’t Hardly Stand It,” “The Strangeness in Me,’ “Bop Pills”–I can go on) and finding even more pretty worthy curiosities. Don’t miss the latest at the very end of the list, and it’s just the latest volume.

(Bolded items are new to the list)

  1. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  2. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
  3. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  4. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released?)
  5. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  6. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  7. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  8. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  9. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  10. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  11. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo(YB Music)
  12. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  13. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  14. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  15. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  16. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  17. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  18. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  19. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  20. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  21. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  22. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers (Matador)
  23. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  24. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  25. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  26. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  27. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  28. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  29. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  30. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  31. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  32. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  33. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  34. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  35. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  36. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  37. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  38. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  39. ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
  40. Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
  41. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  42. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  43. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  44. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  45. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  46. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  47. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem)
  48. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  49. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  50. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  51. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  52. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  53. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  54. Mat Muntz: Phantom Islands (Orenda)
  55. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  56. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  57. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten(Why Play Jazz)
  58. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  59. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds) (coming soon….)
  60. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  61. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  62. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  63. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  64. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  65. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released EP—coming in March)
  66. Ice Spice: Like…?(10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  67. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  68. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  69. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  70. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  71. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  72. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  73. Yves Tumor:Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  74. Lonnie Holley: Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
  75. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  76. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  77. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  78. Lankum: False Lankum (Rough Trade)
  79. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  80. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  81. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  82. Tri-County Liquidators: “Flies” / “Weep Then Whisper” / “Bitter” (self-released)
  83. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  84. Black Country, New Road: Live at Bush Hall (Ninja Tune)
  85. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  86. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  87. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  88. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  89. Angel Bat Dawid: Requiem for Jazz (International Anthem)
  90. Kara Jackson: Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September Recordings)
  91. Billy Valentine: Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth (Flying Dutchman)

Excavations and Reissues

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

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  3. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  4. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  5. Balka Sound: Balka Sound(Strut)
  6. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  7. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996​-​2003) (Music from Memory)
  8. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  9. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  10. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  11. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  12. Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind Stripped Naked (Columbia)
  13. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  14. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  15. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  16. Luther Thomas: 11th Street Fire Suite (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  17. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen(Craft)
  18. Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  19. Various Artists: Strontium 90, Shrimps & Gumbo—Lux & Ivy Dig Motorcycle Boots & Mutants (Righteous Records)