@@@ Steve Swell/Mark Tokar/Klaus Kugel: For The People Of The Open Heart (FSR, 2023). I got to this raucous jazz outing via the best jazz of July 2023. Instrumentation is trombone, bass and drums with a few whistles and flutes appearing here and there. The energy is high but not manic and it’s pretty feisty and not despairing. It’s hard to get a sense of the quality of the recording from the streaming on bandcamp and I would really love to hear it streamed at a higher quality but it’s not my choice but the playing here is very engaging with high quality improv at all positions in the trio. Check this out if you’re swinging out bandcamp way, it’s a very strong record.
@@@ Lisa Ullen, Elsa Bergman, Anna Lund: Space (Relative Pitch, 2022) I got to this percolating free jazz record via a tweet on the Twatter from bandcamp highlighting the best jazz albums of March. The musicians hail from Stockholm Sweden and the instrumentation is piano, bass and drums. This is neither your swinging type free jazz nor the skronkfest, it’s a pretty ambient set focusing on the relationships between the three players and their mutterings as individuals and what it makes as a collective effort. Oh, wait a minute, as the quietness has given way to a more active flow with the pianist leading the way followed by the skittering drummer, both of whom I dig. I like the bassist as well, it’s just she’s lower in the mix and not sticking out as much. I’m nearing the end of the second track, Circle of Security, and I’m doing my taxes trying not to take out my feeling about doing these taxes on the music. On to track 3, Joint Attention, opening dark and foreboding on the piano which she is sticking with and I’m feeling that repetitive, slightly dissonant insistence she brings to that, yeah do it!!! This feels like a pretty accurate recreation of certain mental states I have found myself in for sure. Big drama, small drama, big drama, small drama. I finished this whole record while I was doing my taxes and I really like it. The piano is well recorded, the players are of a high level and they’re listening to each other pretty closely.
@@@ Anna Weber: Idiom (N/A, 2021) I got to this jazz record via the daily email from Twatter even though I’m in the middle of serving a 7 day twitter jail term for fake abuse — it’s not like I was starting a riot up there, jeesh. This record is not up on Apple Music but it is over at the recently purchased bandcamp — this is some sort of odd protest that jazz folks have been conducting for a while. I’m not sure how effective it is and how much it stimulates direct download sales but it’s her right to sell her music as she sees fit. There are twelve tracks on this record and four of them are available to stream on bandcamp. If you scroll down here bandcamp page you will see there it’s a two disc effort, one a trio record with her, a drummer and a piano player. I’m currently listening to the track Forgotten Best an 8+ minute banger and I find I’m listening the most to the piano player, he’s hittin’ it pretty good. It straddles a middle place between standard straight jazz and fiery free jazz. I’ve skipped to Idiom VI which I hope is a large ensemble track because that’s what I’m in the mood for. It opens ambient with long tones. This track is a 12 minute banger so I will probably hang for half of it. It unfolds slowly as you would expect from a 12 minute track. It’s interesting how close this is to a lot of electronic music happening out there right now — very ambient, slow melodies, a dreamlike aspiration. Just an observation that I haven’t seen mentioned out there. I’m enjoying this track a lot more than the trio track I checked out. Around the six minute mark the ensemble starts to join in and it’s a bit partyistic and bit cerebral. I like it without loving it.
@@@ FKA twigs: meta angel (Atlantic, 2022) Both of today’s listens are off this week’s Pitchfork 10 most reviewed albums, though I’ve seen bunches of mentions around about FKA twigs’ new record because she goes well on the interwebz as an ethereal hottie. The track below is the third on the record and while I associate FKA with mopey electro indie bangers, this is a major label effort that opens with a little uplifting convo before heading out into big singing with percussive background vocals. Ms. Twigs has traded the mope for the angel wings. I prefer this flavor of the Twigs to the art school spiel, but it still comes off as a bit manufactured. The Autotune is annoying but the distorted drum machine feels are pretty cool. #MixedBag. The sections with beats are much better than the torch-y sections with just the piano and the background vox. I’m getting the distinct feeling that Ms. Twigs wants a new car, and while this is a pretty common thing to hear in mainstream music today, a lot of folks conducting themselves in this manner do not have the artistic pretensions FKA sports. This isn’t a long trip from Beyonce-land which is big shedding of skin and assumption of new feels.
@@@ Wadada Leo Smith: From Pacifica Koral Reef (577 Records, 2022) We switch gears to something completely different. Big Wadada Leo Smith fan, I dig his conciousness as well as his trumpet playing. Instrumentation here is trumpet, guitar from Henry Kaiser, and some drone-y ambient keyboard like sounds that may be another guitar or keyboard patches. Not a big fan of the plinky guitar tone and as usual Mr. Smith’s trumpet tone is massive and majestic, kinda taking up all the listener’s ears but he’s the main draw here sonically by a whole bunch. There is only this track up on Apple Music and that’s a bit unfortunate as I would like to hear some more but if I’m rolling on this track, a different guitar tone would have really deepened the listening experience for me.
@@@ Sonic Liberation Front: Moon Rust Red Streets (High Two, 2021) This is a jazz record by musicians from the Philadelphia area with pretty heavy electronic and funk flavors to it. It was made during the forgotten racial protests of 2020 and just came out this week. It’s a 39 minute record consisting of 6 pieces, the shortest clocking in at just under 6 minutes so it has a groove oriented and slightly jammy feel. That said there’s plenty of good stuff going on here and I found myself listening to the purveyor of electronics most of all, followed by the rhythms. The instrumentation is pretty standard but enhanced by a variety of synth sounds. For example, in the title track opening up the record there’s a boing-y synth patch that bounces off the horn section consisting of flute, trumpet and at least one saxophone. This track is a big fat banger, the synth funkafies and deepens the track with its just beneath chaotic rhythm. There is a possibility that the bassist is producing those synth sounds, it’s hard to say there’s so many ways to get there these days. The second tune, Lumbering Giant switches the keys over to a water droplet vampy electric piano thing and the congas have moved over to make way for the drumkit which is kinds tinking in back of the mix. There’s upright bass on some tracks and electric on others, and sometimes there’s a little dubwise delay action. Overall there’s a lot to listen to here without it coming across as scattered and/or unfocused. This second track certainly lives up to its name. Also big ups on the fourth track Breath Sounds which showcases some interesting vocalizing though my 18 year old thought it could have been developed more. I’d have to check it out again and I told him not everything has to be all over. Definitely a Bitches Brew flavor while doing its own thing for sure.
@@@ Chris Liebing: Whispers and Wires (Mute, 2021) This is the eighth song off this techno record that just came out. It’s pretty sci-f in the beginning here, churning and refraining from the classic unt-sss. Oooh, a female vocalist, sultry — will we have a song or a techno jam with diva bits? It’s a just shy of 6 minute banger and she’s back for another verse, the vocals really change the vibe bigly. He busts out with a long dubby vocal churn and also what might be considered a solo so there’s not only a song feel here, but a bit of a rock feel. The last 90 seconds, noop, I was gonna say it was a reflection of the intro with a dubbed out snare but the vocalist is back again. I’m agnostic on the singer, she’s cool but I think I enjoy my techno more without a lot of singing. I’m giving a quick peep to the third track, 10 West, and it’s similar. I like it, am not jumping up and down but some nice arranging here.
@@@ Ben LaMar Gay: Aunt Lola and the Quail (Nonesuch, 2021) I put this listen second for today because it’s on Nonesuch and well Nonesuch is kinda a full of shit label for people with really good jobs playing like they’re hip. I will be happy to admit if this turns out not to be the case. The video clipped below is is the fourth track of the record and it has a looser feel than the record above. It sports a bit of a noodly keyboard feel in the opening but it’s not what I expected from such a buttlocked label. I like the looseness of the arrangement over the toms and it comes off as undercover jazz. Imma check out who’s on this biscuit. Ah, once in a while I hit the shit correctly, Mr. LaMar Gay is a jazz cornetist from Chicago that sometimes lives in Brazil and I’m feeling the two places in this record — he sounds like Henry Threadgill filtered through a bunch of VSTs. I’m super feeling this record and it will end up on my year end list. It is a super interesting blend of electronic and improvised music. I did not think I would like it but I do and I hope folks out there check it out.
@@@ James McMurtry: Canola Fields (New West, 2021) I got to this record via music business honcho Bob Lefsetz. His taste is often janky. This is the first track of the record and he looks set to grab in this moment the mantle of poetic country music. The band is pretty standard with nice tones and pretty straight playing, his voice is certainly many notches above Bob Dylan but the focus here is on the lyrics first and then the melodies. I don’t know how old this cat is but he’s doin all right on the microphone. I skipped to the third track Operation Never Mind cuz I liked the title. There’s more rock in this album than I initially caught on. I like this record without jumping up and down. The tones are great, especially the guitars. I don’t get fully off on the lyrics and the songs are good without making me jump up and down. I was raised on rock and I find it tough to listen to now.
@@@ —___–___: Sadness, infinite America (Orange Milk, 2021) Off this week’s Pitchfork 10 most reviewed albums. I don’t know what I thought this was going to be but this track is crazy mash of free jazz, autotuned vocals, vibes, sax, and voice. It’s got a desolate vibe for sure, so we’re far past mope and straight into dystopia. And I’m much more into dystopia than bourgeois mope. The way the teched out voice goes with the jazz elements is fresh and I’m super into it. It doesn’t feel random, it sounds arranged but there’s no way to know for sure. Someone is slipping one past the goalie here as it’s slotted as ambient, and it does have an ambient feel to it but it’s got more going on than a typical ambient record and it’s just not an accurate description of the music. Well done, and I’m listening to my second selection and I’m digging it as much as the video clipped below. Check this out if you’re up for some freshness. A little sweet, a bit abstract, a bit lonely and darker — yadda yadda yadda. There’s also some orchestral classical feels going here.
@@@ Mankwe & Body MemOri: under inside/climbing (Auspice Now, 2021). I found this free jazz with strong pan-African flavors via a bandcamp best of tweet page. I’ve looked pretty extensively on Apple Music for the record but could not locate it. This track is almost 10 minutes long and while it has a female vocalist these are not standard vocals and the description for the track seems to be an attempt to give all manner of things that come out of the human body — memories, emotions, histories, other bodies (that last one is my add). The instrumentation is bass, cello, drums and vocals and I think it’s an abstract musical approach that’s abstract in the way it connects to very concrete things. There’s a section that seems closer to a jazz scat but it’s still not words and I dig that. It’s not particularly confrontational jazz as some free jass can be quite skronky, this is more piecemeal and internal. Hard to put into words but if it’s something that sounds interesting you could check it out. The last third of the track really percolates.
@@@ Tremblers Of Sevens – Nonesuch/If (NoiseAgonyMayhem). We’re coming from bottom to top on this blog post and this first pocket review is a second listen off this week’s CFUV playlist email. It comes on retro Hendrix with wambly electric guitar and organ before perking up with a drummer busting a steady beat. The guitar player goes from evoking Hendrix to a more Richard Thompson-esque flavor and is supported by a stylish organ player and an active drummer. When the vocalist appears he sounds a whole lot like grunge icon Mark Lanegan so it is a basket of familiar sounds combining for a pretty fresh rock flavor. These are lean times for rockers so when something not super derivative comes along it’s good to push it up.
@@@ Zoon – Bleached Wavves (Paper Bag). The title track of a shoegaze record I got to from Vancouver’s CFUV. There’s an odd chopped/phased sound to the guitar which makes it uncommon shoegazeto my ears. I think of shoegaze guitar as Lord Byron-esque waves of distorted slightly dissonant distortion. His vocals qualify as classic shoegaze and I’m wondering if there will be drums here, hoping so. And hoping for lots of them and loud, waiting. It never does erupt with drums but the player has brought the next track and it is indeed oddball shoegaze that I like. It’s got both uplifting and more mumbly dark shoe business. No vocals on this one so maybe he leaves an element out of every track! He’s got a cowbell on this next track and it does make you wonder if cowbell has been used on a shoegaze record, somebody should try it.
@@@ Bryce Sainty: Nervous (Self-released, 2020) I saw this track mentioned on online Australian music outlet Happy Mag. It’s a slowish adult alternative ballad with classic rock and just a wee bit of country feels. It aspires to be huge in sound, emotion, and scope. He’s nervous because he hasn’t seen her and he’s wondering if she/he is feeling the same feelings that he’s feeling. I’m feeling it’s a tad claggy and could stand to use a fresh sonic approach. He goes a coupla verses before somebody uncorks a John Mayer style rock guitar solo and meh. I don’t want to meh but I meh. Also a bit too much reverb on the voice.
@@@ Alexander Hawkins & Tomeka Reid: Shards and Constellations (Intakt, 2020). I’m on the mailing list for this Swiss jazz label and I saw this record as part of their most recent email. I’ve seen Tomeka Reid’s name here and there in my jazz scrounging and have wanted to check out her playing so I am. Here she is playing in a duo setup with a piano player I think I’ve heard before and they’re in a staccato back and forth place at the beginning of this track. I like the playing of both musicians but wish the cello was a bit louder and more present. I can’t tell you why but the tune is appropriately titled as Shards and Constellations. I’m not usually huge fan of jazz piano but this combination of piano and cello is compelling. I’m going to swing back and listen more but how I wish they mixed her louder, she’s a great player and I crave hearing them both at the same volume.
YTD recordings listened to: 560
Good music, not list worthy: 284
Not good music: 247
Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid
@@@ The Chicks: March March (Sony, 2020) I saw a rehashing of the drama unfolding over these badass Texas women in the runup to the Iraq war and their recent name change disavowing the Dixie part of their name. The interest here resides in the lyrics as the sounds are pretty straightforward modern country. They call out climate change deniers, gun nuts, all sorts of ill American behaviors. The arrangement is purposely stripped down which serves to highlight the fiddle solo better. I have to take back the statement that these are straightforward country songs, it never really gets to that. They have a nice ambient electronic sound in there, the fiddle solo, a marching snare roll, it’s a pretty fresh mix for the genre the Chicks are working in. These women are super smart with soul and looking to make trouble. This is a pre-release track.
@@@ Holly Humberstone: Overkill ( 2020) I listen to the recommendations of music biz blogger/sometimes big mouth Bob Lefsetz — I don’t usually feel the things he recommends as his taste is overly mainstream but I like to know what’s floating out there in the big ol’ interwebz in the sky. It’s a straight rock track with low energy in the verse that steps up to a stack of vocal tracks in the chorus. It also sports a bit of singer/songwriter in there. Some new sounds come along on top of a pretty familiar bass and drum framework. This stands as an outstanding example of adult alternative — it hints at rocking without exploding into full rocking, it’s a bit songwriter, it’s a feeling. I’m not quite sure what the feeling is but it’s a feeling. I think it has something to do with breaking out of one place into another in your mind within the context of a frustrating relationship. That’s my theory and I’m sticking with it. If the vocals are going to be that sweet, I think there should be more crunch in the arrangement.
@@@ Freddie Dickson: Touch Over Distance (Self-released, 2020) I was contacted by a European music publicist about this track via email. This track is not up on Apple Music so feel free to stream it on the GooglePimp. It’s a blend of lonesome country and a bit of singer/songwriter guitar strum up in there. Big spacious sounds and fragile singing highlight this track and I’m liking this track more than I expected. Dickson’s gender defying voice carries the track.
@@@ Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit: My Friend, Blood Shaking My Heart (Jinya Disk, 1975) I saw this Japanese guitarist’s music reissued on vinyl over at Stranded Records. This is old school free jazz freakout material right here. Squealing guitar, chaotic drumming, bipping and bapping horns, etc. It’s a 20 minute banger so I will have to wait a few minutes to see how it rolls in the first third here. It is impressively blustery with a two guitar attack and a commitment to vein popping energy wail. One threedling guitar blast and another slow rolling feedback-y swelling up from underneath. As this storm continues to rage I’m starting to feel this blend of insanity with the horns and the wah wah guitar and the drums combining into a skull scraping mental enema.
YTD recordings listened to: 516
Good music, not list worthy: 259
Not good music: 228
Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi
@@@ Ryuichi Sakamoto: Dance (Sony, 2020) Off the Apple Music experimental section and what we have here is a blend of electronic music, classical string flourishes and a bit of off kilter piano. I’m not sure what to say. It doesn’t meet my definition for experimental music and I myself prefer Four Tet flavored sonic explorations over this.
@@@ yMusic: Thousandths (New Amsterdam, 2020) Some classical music that sounds as if it’s a blend of composition with a little bit of improvisation. Just a guess on that. It’s a medium large ensemble and there are some really nice passages here. Strings mostly with some horns and flutes. Lot’s of melodic runs that end in clusters of sounds.
@@@ Forq: M-Theory (Forq, 2020) Some prog flavored ‘experimental’ rock off the Apple experimental section. It’s a bit of grab bag of sounds, some tinkly glitch business, some rock flavored, guitars and synths getting it on. It’s got a big winding guitar riff that leaves me a bit queezy in the knees. I would call this Halloween nerd rock, a bit sinister in its aspirations.
@@@ Rashied Ali & Frank Lowe: Duo Exchange Part II (Survival Records, 1973) Some reissue free or mostly free jazz sax and drums to switch the flavors in the Apple Music experimental section. How did the black folks sneak up in here? It’s most welcome to my ears! More fire in the sax area but plenty of energy from drummer Ali. The sax player blows the microphone out in places which creates a fuzzy sax throwdown but I find this energy interesting. Some of the skronk I find tiresome but overall I dig the drummer and most of the sax work.
YTD recordings listened to: 153
Good music, not list worthy: 87
Not good music: 66
Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets
@@@ Better Oblivion Community Center: Better Oblivion Community Center (Dead Oceans, 2019) Today’s listens come from Slate’s best of 2019 list. This is a collaboration between Conor Oberst and a woman from Boygenius. I don’t follow indie music closely enough to remember everybody’s name but I’ve seen Boygenius namechecked all over the interwebz. The first tune, Didn’t Know What I Was in For, is a faded, slack tune — I’m not sure what the song is about lyrically but the sounds surely are downer-ish. It might be best left unspecified. The second tune is a full band number which maintains the mope and it is reminiscent of Pavement but not as disjointed and sweeter. I guess the main thing for my ears is I don’t have much love for the indie aesthetic regardless of how well it’s executed. This is toppish shelf indie but I find it bo-ring. I know hipsters will recoil in horror but there’s not a lot of freshness in here and the strum along most notable track, Dylan Thomas, is even less interesting.
@@@ Jaime Branch: Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise (International Anthem, 2019) I’m a tad shocked and a bit psyched to see a free jazz record make it to Slate’s top records of 2019. America is mad conservative aesthetically and there’s not much love for the free playing up here in this house of flirting fascists. I’m on the second track of the record and my general impression is that this is more of a blues jazz record than a free jazz record. I say that without aspiring to be a genre bitch. I like it as it is but I would have to hear more free jazz-like music to call it free jazz. While I like the vocalizing here the singing does push this in the direction of an album with songs. Over the course of the 11+ minute centerpiece second track Prayer for Amerikka Pts 1&2 it does come more unhinged. I like the combination of jazz sounds and electronic sounds in the fourth track but I find Kelly Moran’s record Ultraviolet to be a more compelling mash of acoustic and electronic. I like this record, I wouldn’t put it on my year end list but I like it.
@@@ Cate Le Bon: Reward (Kemado, 2019) Opening the record with a tune called ‘Miami’ Le Bon sings meaningfully over a synth-centric orchestral arrangement. I skipped to the second song which brings in a drummer while relegating the synths to a lesser role. It’s most definitely sonically inspired by 1980’s synth rock. Her singing is good but it’s a tad precious and artful. I find it low on energy though this is a central ingredient to post-Wilco indie music. I’m not a huge fan, it’s too slack for me ear. I know I’m in the minority on this but I’m a bit shocked this record made it onto a year end list.
YTD recordings listened to: 647 Good music, not list worthy: 390 Not good music: 219
Best: 8 Honorable Mentions: 15
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik
@@@ Tropical Fuck Storm: A Laughing Death in Meatspace (Joyful Noise, 2018). It’s a great name and I got to this via the Slate best of 2018 list which hasn’t turned up any gems thus far. My first impression is that this first tune ‘You Let My Tyres Down’ is an update ’70s era classic rock tune. I like it, it’s just funny to hear. The second tune is more adventurous blending some noisy blasts with staccato guitar and oddly spaced out doubletracked vocals. I can tell you it’s been so long since I’ve heard a halfway interesting rock record I’m almost in shock. I’m going to swing back on this record.
@@@ Tracy Thorn: Record (Merge, 2018). Also off the Slate best of 2018. I’m not usually psyced about Merge releases and I notice they also put the ’18 Superchunk record up on their list so maybe they’re bffs or some such shit. It’s straight out of the previous sloppy rock to the ’80s influenced straight ass synth rock. This is most definitely for vanilla ice cream eaters — no funk, straight than Trump’s dick at a Miss America contest. I kid, I kid, I bet that shit is hooked like a banana. I don’t really like this kind of music so Imma tip without sending bad vibes out there. Everybody likes what they like even if I don’t like it.
@@@ Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty (Sunnyside, 2018) I’m a huge Wadada Leo Smith fan, he’s a badass trumpeter who does real ass music. This is blurbed as a power trio and usually when jazz cats go that way I think it’s gonna be soft (cuz it usually is) but this first tune is thick and dubby and surprisingly muscular. The artists and the label only give listeners 2 tracks to stream for free which I think is a tad cheap but they’re free to do as they wish. Ah, I found it up on the Apple Music. I’m also a fucking idiot because Wadada Leo Smith is not on this record, it’s a power trio with a guitar player. #dumbass. Any seasoned jazz listener would compare this to Sonny Sharrock’s Ask the Ages which does sport a horn player and is not in the trio format. I’m really feeling the rhythm section here, it’s really pleasurable listening. I like the guitar player just a tiny bit less but I’m feeling him more in the second tune. I’m going to have to swing back on this as I consistently love the rhythm section and am back and forth over the guitar player.
YTD recordings listened to: 690
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 373
Not good music: 266
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman
Irreversible Entanglements: Irreversible Entanglements (International Anthem, 2017)
The most notable aspect of this jazz trio/spoken word record is the black female poet. There are some great lines in the first tune, Chicago to Texas (clipped below) and she delivers them with the appropriate disdain and pissed off-ness required by the topic of the tune. My favorite line is ‘there is no justice, there is no rehabilititation, no religion either, just four pills and a dixie cup called America’. Excellent work on that. She is ferocious and I see this record as the antidote to the Kendrick Lamar Walt Disney record that recently won a Pulitzer Prize.
The trio plays really well but this woman is the star here and they burn all the way through. Check it out.
These guys are playing the Vision Festival here in Brooklyn, NY so if you’re a resident of these five boroughs I’m sure they kill it live.
Instrumentation on this medium out jazz record is sax, piano, drums and bass. There are more composed moments as well as some bursting skronk. Hogberg has a solid horn tone and the energy is fresh. The piano player and the drummer get a shout out with some particularly ear catching work.
The second track, Familjen, is clipped below. It is my favorite track on the record so check it out and see if it works for you.
The Cross Pollinator 