Tuesday, January 17. 2012
Update: The
PazzNJop results came out after this was written but before I
posted it. The Expert Witness results aren't out yet. I haven't
digested them, but there are a lot of surprises, starting with the
tanking of Bon Iver (9th place), Fleet Foxes (18th), Radiohead
(33rd), and James Blake (34th). (Drops like these almost suggest
the new editor rigged the poll with more better-than-average
critics.) Paul Simon rose even more than expected (14th). Another
higher-than-expected that strikes me is Lydia Loveless in 134th
(321 in my file) -- 1 spot below Brad Paisley, 9 below Lucinda
Williams. More of this sort of thing later.
Today's the day I declared 2011 over, at least as far as my year-end
list is concerned. A copy as of today will be
frozen for future reference.
I'll continue to fiddle with the still active
2011 list up to Dec. 31, 2012, but
new adds and belated grades for currently pending records will be flagged
in a different color (as I've done for a number of years now). This has
taken a few days longer than usual, in part because the working list had
turned into such a mess. I finally decided that I can't trust myself to
rank records below A-, so I've alphabetized those sections.
I was tempted to do that with the A- list part as well, but
figured I should at least be able to give the upper regions a decent go.
But it, too, was a mess, so I've wound up doing a lot of resorting. One
result is that the ballots I turned in to
Pazz & Jop, the
Jazz Critics Poll, and the
Expert Witness Poll have all been more or less eclipsed. The only
reason what follows won't be as fleeting is that I'm more likely to
move on to 2012, but what I want to do here is to lay out my most
official A-list of 2012. I'm going to do this in two chunks: the
first is my jazz list; the second non-jazz. They are roughly equal
in length, reflecting the fact that, for professional reasons as
much as taste, I listen to a lot more jazz than anything else. I
could try breaking non-jazz into further genres, but that seems
like overkill. In both cases, I'm mising a few compilations and
vault discoveries in, even though I keep them separate in my main
lists. (The separation dates from writing Recycled Goods. I won't
bother listing favorite reissues here, since whether I listen to
a reissue or not is pretty much -- well, not random exactly, but
contingent on a lot of very arbitrary conditions. Whereas I can
make a strong claim to have listened broadly to jazz, and I can
make a weaker but still substantial claim to have sampled a wide
breadth of non-jazz, I haven't heard more than a small fraction
of the reissues I'd like to hear, much less everything else.)
On both lists, ** indicates something only heard on Rhapsody
or some other download source. I've generally played these less
than records I have hard copies of. Not so noted are records I
later obtained real copies of.
The top jazz list:
- Dan Raphael/Rich Halley/Carson Halley: Children of the Blue Supermarket (Pine Eagle)
- Avram Fefer/Eric Revis/Chad Taylor: Eliyahu (Not Two)
- Allen Lowe: Blues and the Empirical Truth (Music & Arts, 3CD)
- Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya: Sotho Blue (Sunnyside)
- Muhal Richard Abrams: SoundDance (Pi, 2CD)
- Sonny Rollins: Road Shows Vol. 2 (Doxy/Emarcy)
- David Murray Cuban Ensemble: Plays Nat King Cole: En Español (Motéma)
- Matt Lavelle: Goodbye New York, Hello World (Music Now!)
- Ellery Eskelin Trio: New York (Prime Source)
- De Nazaten & James Carter: For Now (Strotbrocck)
- Tommy Smith: Karma (Spartacus)
- Ted Rosenthal: Out of This World (Playscape)
- Adam Pieronczyk: Komeda: The Innocent Sorcerer (Jazzwerkstatt)
- Tyshawn Sorey: Oblique - I (Pi)
- Mathias Eick: Skala (ECM)
- Darius Jones: Big Gurl (Smell My Dream) (AUM Fidelity)
- Colin Stetson: New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (Constellation) **
- Carlo De Rosa's Cross-Fade: Brain Dance (Cuneiform)
- Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble: The Prairie Prophet (Delmark)
- Wadada Leo Smith's Organic: Heart's Reflections (Cuneiform, 2CD)
- Andrew Cyrille & Haitian Fascination: Route de Frères (TUM)
- Rudresh Mahanthappa: Samdhi (ACT)
- Alexis Cuadrado: Noneto Ibérico (Bju'ecords)
- The Chris Byars Octet: Lucky Strikes Again (SteepleChase)
- Starlicker: Double Demon (Delmark)
- David S. Ware/Cooper-Moore/William Parker/Muhammad Ali: Planetary Unknown (AUM Fidelity)
- Jake Fryer/Bud Shank Quartet: In Good Company (Capri)
- Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton: Play the Blues: Live From Jazz at Lincoln Center (Reprise, CD+DVD)
- Claire Ritter: The Stream of Pearls Project (Zoning)
- Maïkotron Unit: Ex-Voto (Jazz From Rant)
- FAB Trio: History of Jazz in Reverse (TUM)
- Yaala Ballin: On the Road (Gallery)
- Luis Lopes: Lisbon Berlin Trio (Clean Feed)
- Kieran Hebden/Steve Reid/Mats Gustafsson: Live at the South Bank (Smalltown Superjazz, 2CD)
- Marcus Strickland: Triumph of the Heavy: Volume 1 & 2 (Strick Muzik, 2CD)
- Side A: A New Margin (Clean Feed)
- Joe McPhee/Michael Zerang: Creole Gardens (A New Orleans Song) (NoBusiness)
- Gerry Hemingway Quintet: Riptide (Clean Feed)
- Joe Fiedler Trio: Sacred Chrome Orb (YSL)
- Harrison Bankhead Sextet: Morning Sun Harvest Moon (Engine) **
- Jason Stein Quartet: The Story This Time (Delmark)
- Charles Lloyd Quartet with Maria Farantouri: Athens Concert (ECM, 2CD)
- Miles Davis Quintet: Live Europe 1967: Bootleg Vol. 1 (Columbia/Legacy, 3CD)
- Andrew Atkinson Quartet: Live: Keep Looking Forward (self-released)
- Deborah Pearl: Souvenir of You: New Lyrics to Benny Carter Classics (Evening Star)
- Brian Charette: Learning to Count (SteepleChase)
- James Carter Organ Trio: At the Crossroads (Emarcy)
- Eliane Elias: Light My Fire (Concord)
- Phil Ranelin: Perseverance (Wide Hive) **
- Lim: With Marc Ducret (Kopasetic) **
- Jerry Leake & Randy Roos: Cubist Live (Rhombus Publishing)
- Jerry Bergonzi: Convergence (Savant)
- Honey Ear Trio: Steampunk Serenade (Foxhaven)
- Inzinzac: Inzinzac (High Two)
- Moon Hotel Lounge Project: Into the Ojalá (Frosty Cordial)
That's the second (or third) time in the last week or two I've
published the jazz list -- see my year-end piece at Rhapsody,
Tom Hull: The Thrill of Discovery, and the completist
Extended Year-End Jazz List. While the order has changed,
I haven't added anything lately -- a clear admission that I've
taken a break from jazz lately. Usually it's only a matter of
a week or two until I find something I missed. In fact, here
are the post-freeze 2010 (Jan. 24, 2011) finds:
- ICP Orchestra: ICP 049 (ICP)
- Dadi: Bem Aqui (Sunnyside)
- Free Fall: Gray Scale (Smalltown Superjazz)
- Ideal Bread: Transmit: Vol. 2 of the Music of Steve Lacy (Cuneiform)
- Dmitry Baevsky: Down With It (Sharp Nine) **
- Gord Grdina Trio with Mats Gustafsson: Barrel Fire (Drip Audio)
- Roger Davidson Quintet: Brazilian Love Song (Soundbrush)
Although had I been able to back up a couple weeks I would have added
Benjamin Herman: Hypochristmastreefuzz (Dox) to the top of that
list.
The top non-jazz list:
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Tell My Sister (1977-78, Nonesuch, 3CD)
- Lobi Traore: Bwati Kono "In the Club" (Kanaga System Krush)
- Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & the Big Band Cumbia and Descarga Sound of Colombia 1962-72 (Sounday)
- The Mekons: Ancient & Modern 1911-2011 (Bloodshot)
- Jimmie Dale Gilmore/The Wronglers: Heirloom Music (Neanderthal Noise)
- Dave Alvin: Eleven Eleven (Yep Roc)
- Todd Snider: Live: The Storyteller (Thirty Tigers/Aimless, 2CD)
- Raphael Saadiq: Stone Rollin' (Columbia)
- Lupe Fiasco: Lasers (Atlantic)
- Das Racist: Relax (Greedhead)
- Mayer Hawthorne: How Do You Do (Universal Republic)
- The Weeknd: House of Balloons (mixtape) **
- Nigeria 70: Sweet Times: Afro-Funk, Highlife and Juju From 1970s Lagos (Strut)
- Girls: Father, Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther Sounds)
- Frank Ocean: Nostalgia, Ultra (mixtape) **
- Teddybears: Devil's Music (Big Beat/Atlantic)
- Cunninlynguists: Oneirology (RBC) **
- Fucked Up: David Comes to Life (Matador) **
- TV on the Radio: Nine Types of Light (Interscope)
- Kanye West/Jay-Z: Watch the Throne (Roc-A-Fella)
- Wussy: Strawberry (Shake It) **
- Drive-By Truckers: Go-Go Boots (ATO/Red)
- Fruit Bats: Tripper (Sub Pop) **
- Terakaft: Aratan N Azawad (World Village)
- Serengeti: Family & Friends (Anticon) **
- Class Actress: Rapprocher (Carpark) **
- Group Doueh: Zayna Jumma (Sublime Frequencies)
- Buck 65: 20 Odd Years (WEA Canada) **
- Elzhi: Elmatic (Jae B Group) **
- Pistol Annies: Hell on Heels (Columbia Nashville)
- Tinariwen: Tassili (Anti-) **
- Steve Cropper: Dedicated: A Salute to the 5 Royales (429)
- Low Cut Connie: Get Out the Lotion (self-released)
- Emperor X: Western Teleport (Bar/None)
- Poly Styrene: Generation Indigo (Future Noise)
- Neil Young: International Harvesters: A Treasure (1984-85, Reprise)
- Tom Waits: Bad as Me (Anti-)
- Ry Cooder: Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (Nonesuch) [**]
- Bootsy Collins: Tha Funk Capital of the World (Megaforce) **
- Merle Haggard: Working in Tennessee (Vanguard)
- The Dirt Drifters: This Is My Blood (Warner Brothers)
- Afro Latin: Via Kinshasa (Syllart, 2CD)
- Hot Chelle Rae: Whatever (RCA) **
- Blaqstarr: Divine EP (NEET, EP) **
- Viceversah: Shine Not Burn (AR Classic) **
- Peter Stampfel/Jeffrey Lewis: Come on Board (self-released) **
- Rainbow Arabia: Boys and Diamonds (Kompakt)
- Limousines: Get Sharp (Dangerbird) **
- Bombino: Agadez (Cumbancha) **
- Generation Bass Presents: Transnational Dubstep (Six Degrees)
- Bibio: Mind Bokeh (Warp) **
- The Baseball Project: Vol. 2: High and Inside (Yep Roc) **
- Sofrito: Tropical Discotheque (1976-2010, Strut)
- 9th Wonder: The Wonder Years (Traffic Entertainment)
- Johnny Cash: Bootleg Vol I: Personal File (1973-83, Columbia/Legacy, 2CD)
- Connie Smith: Long Line of Heartaches (Sugar Hill) **
- Eddy Current Suppression Ring: So Many Things (2003-04, Goner) **
- Vijana Jazz Band: The Koka Koka Sex Battalion: Rumba, Koka Koka & Kamata Sukuma (1975-80, Sterns) **
- Miranda Lambert: Four the Record (RCA Nashville)
- Scroobius Pip: Distraction Pieces (Speech Development) **
- Cornershop: Cornershop and the Double-O Groove Of (Ample Play) **
- Hail Mary Mallon: Are You Gonna Eat That? (Rhymesayers Entertainment) **
- Jill Scott: The Light of the Sun (Blues Babe/Warner Bros.)
- J Mascis: Several Shades of Why (Sub Pop) **
- Britney Spears: Femme Fatale (Jive)
- Sorry Bamba: Volume One 1970-1979 (Thrill Jockey) **
- William Elliot Whitmore: Field Songs (Anti-) **
- Hayes Carll: KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories) (Lost Highway)
- Swollen Members: Dagger Mouth (Suburban Noize) **
- Note of Hope: A Celebration of Woody Guthrie (429)
- La Cherga: Revolve (Asphalt Tango)
- Middle Brother (Partisan) **
- Afro Latin: Via Dakar (Syllart, 2CD)
- Lucinda Williams: Blessed (Lost Highway)
- BLNRB: Welcome to the Madhouse (Out Here)
- New York Dolls: Dancing Backward in High Heels (429)
- Lydia Loveless: Indestructible Machine (Bloodshot) **
Post-freeze 2010 release finds:
- Plastic People of the Universe: Magical Nights (1969-85, Munster, 2CD)
- The Henry Clay People: Somewhere on the Golden Coast (TBD) **
- Aaron Neville: I Know I've Been Changed (Tell It) **
- OFF!: First Four EPs (Vice) **
- Smile Smile: Truth on Tape (Kirtland) **
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Odditties (1973-90, Quebeservice) **
Didn't expect to have so much more non-jazz than jazz, even before
the compilations tilted 10-to-1. Could know a couple of marginals off
the bottom of the list, but doesn't seem worth the paperwork. Christgau's
Dean's list, with both McGarrigles and virtually no jazz (a Nils Petter
Molvaer album he likes more than I do) runs much longer (107, albeit
with 12 pre-2011 releases, where I moved my onto the late-2010 list),
so I figure I'm being picky enough.
Genre breakdown, as best I can reckon: rock singer-songwriters: 6
(including McGarrigles, so 2 old); rock groups: 11; electro-pop: 7, plus
4 further into electronica; world: 15 (6 old); country and americana: 15
(including a few who could be traded to the rock categories, like Cooder
and Dirt Drifters); hip-hop: 12 rap, plus 7 with singers (including
Cropper); other: Note of Hope (folk songwriter/rock singers).
Below the fold, I'll present two tables, each grading records from
a friendly long (100+ record) year-end list (Jason Gross and Robert
Christgau).
Every year Jason Gross drops a huge year-end list, including a lot of
shit I've never heard of. Last year his list proved exceptionally fruitful
as I chased down various obscurities. This year, uh, less so. (Lots of
surprises, but thus far only one previously unrated A-, five
***, four **, although there are still lots of records
I haven't been able to track down.) Can't tell
you how many times I looked up one of his bands in AMG and discovered they
are "quirky." I know Jason well enough to say he's pretty quirky, so that
may be the norm, but he does listen to as much new music as anyone, and
one of the good things about being quirky is that you welcome surprises.
The following is his new records list. I don't know that he meant it to
be ordered -- he didn't number anything, but he didn't alphabetize either.
But I figure the best thing to do is to sort it by my grades, if for no
other reason than because I'm curious how it breaks down that way.
| A- |
- Bombino: Agadez (Cumbancha)
- Hayes Carll: KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories) (Lost Highway)
- Das Racist: Relax (Greedhead)
- The Fruit Bats: Tripper (Sub Pop)
- Miranda Lambert: Four the Record (RCA Nashville)
- The Limousines: Get Sharp (Dangerbird)
- Lupe Fiasco: Lasers (Atlantic)
- Middle Brother: Middle Brother (Partisan)
- Jill Scott: The Light of the Sun (Warner Bros)
- Raphael Saadiq: Stone Rollin' (Columbia)
- TV on the Radio: Nine Types of Light (Interscope)
- Tom Waits: Bad as Me (Anti-)
- The Weeknd: House of Balloons (weeknd.com)
- Kanye West/Jay-Z: Watch the Throne (Def Jam)
- Sofrito: Tropical Discotheque (Strut)
|
| B+(***) |
- Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2 (Capitol)
- Common: The Dreamer/The Believer (Think Common)
- T-Model Ford and GravelRoad: Taledragger (Alive)
- The Front Bottoms: The Front Bottoms (Bar/None)
- Gold-Bears: Are You Falling in Love? (Slumberland)
- Kembe X: Self Rule (no label)
- Seun Anikulapo Kuti & Egypt 80: From Africa With Fury: Rise (Knitting Factory)
- Los Chicharrons: Roots of Life (Tummy Touch)
- Shackleton: Fabric 55 (Fabric)
- Sidi Touré & Friends: Sahel Folk (Thrill Jockey)
|
| B+(**) |
- Battles: Gloss Drop (Warp)
- Deaf Center: Owls and Splinters (Type)
- Eilen Jewell: Queen of the Minor Key (Signature Sounds)
- J-Rocc: Some Cold Rock Stuf (Stones Throw)
- Kitty, Daisy & Lewis: Smoking in Heaven (Verve Forecast)
- Kendrick Lamar: Section.80 (Top Dawg Entertainment)
- Sonia Leigh: 1978 December (Southern Ground)
- Let's Wrestle: Nursing Home (Merge)
- M.I.A.: Vicki Leekx (vickileekx.com)
- Andy Petr: Rapper Turned Singer (Mixpak, EP)
- The Roots: Undun (Def Jam)
- Wild Flag: Wild Flag (Merge)
- Yuck: Yuck (Fat Possom)
|
| B+(*) |
- British Sea Power: Valhalla Dancehall (Rough Trade)
- Childish Gambino: Camp (Glassnote)
- Danny Paul Grody: In Search of Light (Students of Decay)
- Sean Jones: No Need for Words (Mack Avenue)
- Mazes: A Thousand Heys (Fat Cat)
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong (Slumberland)
- Brad Paisley: This is Country Music (Arista Nashville)
- The Postelles: The Postelles (+1)
- Prince Polo: Brooklyn Bodega (DubShot)
- Rose Hill Drive: Americana (Slow and Shirley)
- Sleeping in the Aviary: You and Me, Ghost (Science of Sound)
- Tune-Yards: Whokill (4AD)
|
| B |
- The Chain Gang of 1974: Wayward Fire (Modern Art)
- Dum Dum Girls: He Gets Me High (Sub Pop, EP)
- Tracy Nelson: Victim of the Blues (Delta Groove Productions)
- Portugal. The Man: In the Mountain In the Cloud (Atlantic)
- R.E.M.: Collapse Into Now (Warner Bros)
- Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde (Fat Possom)
|
| B- |
- Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes (Atlantic)
|
| U |
- Hayvanlar Alemi: Guarana Superpower (Sublime Frequencies) *
- Antietam: Tenth Life (Carrot Top)
- The Axis of Awesome: Animal Vehicle (Laughspin) *
- Barreracudas: Nocturnal Missions (Douchemaster) *
- Black Keys: El Camino (Nonesuch) *
- James Blackshaw: Holly EP (Important) *
- Blondie: Panic of Girls (Noble ID)
- Harold Budd: In the Mist (Darla)
- Chicago Blues: A Living History: The (R)evolution Continues (Raisin' Music) *
- Evolution Control Committee: All Rights Reserved (Seeland 2010)
- Brain F{/=}: Sleep Rough (Grave Mistake) *
- Fennesz + Sakamoto: Flumina (Touch) *
- Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma Alt Takes (Warp)
- Justice of the Unicorns: Animals Will Be Stoned (Little Lamb)
- Los Massieras: Better Than Italian (Clone) *
- Lunch: Lunch EP (Mightier Than Sword)
- Lupe Fiasco: Friend of the People (no label) *
- Stephen Marley: Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life (Universal/Tough Gong)
- McKnight & Bogdal: Zombie Nation (Indie Extreme)
- Milo: I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here (miloraps.com)
- Milos: Mediterraneo (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Occult: Detective Club Crimes (Alive)
- Prefuse 73: The Only She Chapter (Warp) *
- Resoe: The Black Void of Space (Echocord)
- Pete Rock/Smif N Wessun: Monumental (Duck Down)
- Robert Scott: Ends Run Together (Flying Nun, 2010)
- Shackleton: Fireworks (Honest Jon's) *
- SMM: Context (Ghostly International)
- Omar Souleyman: Haflat Gharbia: The Western Concerts (Sublime Frequencies) *
- Spook Houses: The Home EP (bandcamp.com)
- STS: The Illustrious (stsisgold.com)
- Swimsuit: Swimsuit (Speakertree)
- Thievery Corporation: Culture of Fear (Eighteenth Street)
- Viva Brother: Famous First Words (A&M)
- Dominique Young: Unique Glamorous Touch Mixtape (Art Jam)
- Air Textures Volume 1 (Air Textures)
- Unclassified (Adult Swim)
|
*Looked for album on Rhapsody and didn't find it.
While I was working on the above, Robert Christgau's
year-end list came out. Michael Tatum noted that he had six top-ten
records in common with Christgau. As expected, I had none (at least in
my Pazz & Jop and Expert Witness ballots) -- the list above rates
the McGarrigle's Tell My Sister high enough, and might include
Magical Nights if I allowed 2010 releases (which in this case,
a record that never appeared in my 2010 metacritic file, would be a
pretty reasonable decision).
We can do the same grade chart here as with Gross above:
The huge A- bump, along with the slope of everything else,
shows that we still correlate rather well regardless of the top-10
split -- indeed, much better than I do with Gross.
I reckon I could do a third chart with another long listmaker
Fast 'n' Bulbous,
but it would only show more distance, and more disinterest on my part
in checking out Fester's recommendations. There are categories where
I've heard a fair amount of what's listed -- e.g., Hip Hop/Rap (12/12),
Electro/Dream Pop (13/13), Country/Folk/Americana (10/13),
R&B/Soul/Funk/Dancepop (7/13), Electronica/Techno/Dance (7/13),
but there are also things like Metal (0/13), Doom (0/13, but I looked
for YOB), Stoner Rock (0/13), Psych Rock (1/13, Psychic Paramount),
and Heavy Rock (1/13, Fucked Up); some other stuff is in between,
but the overall list leans toward the things I like least. Not many
other critics go that deep that consistently, but I find it most
interesting when they do.
|
