Streamnotes: November 28, 2025

Most of these are short notes/reviews based on streaming records from Napster (formerly Rhapsody; other sources are noted in brackets). They are snap judgments, usually based on one or two plays, accumulated since my last post along these lines, back on October 27. Past reviews and more information are available here (26500+ records).

New Music

Aesop Rock: I Heard It's a Mess There Too (2025, Rhymesayers): Underground rapper Ian Bavitz, regular releases since 2000, this a surprise quick release after May's Black Hole Superette. Not as glib as he was decades ago, but the added weight helps move the mess. A- [sp]

Theo Bleckmann: Love and Anger (2024 [2025], Sunnyside): Jazz singer, from Germany, based in New York since 1989, exceptional skills, has a wide range of work since 1992, significantly expanding the range of vocal jazz (Charles Ives and Kate Bush are two examples), and adding arty vocal dimensions to chamber jazz groups and big bands. While I'm always impressed, I often find very little in his albums that I actually enjoy — here just the closing "Precious Lord." Backed by piano-bass-drums trio (Mike King, Matt Penman, Ulysses Owens Jr.), with spots of guitar (Ben Monder) and/or sax/flute (Timo Vollbrecht). B [cd]

Patricia Brennan: Of the Near and Far (2024 [2025], Pyroclastic): Vibraphonist, from Mexico, based in Brooklyn, follow up to her poll-winning Breaking Stretch, has had a big year already with appearances on new albums by Mary Halvorson (A-), Dave Douglas (**), Tomas Fujiwara (A-), Adam O'Farrill (A-), Dan Weiss (***), and Arturo O'Farrill (***). Original pieces, a large group conducted by Eli Greenhoe, with piano (Sylvie Courvoisier), guitar (Miles Okazaki), bass (Kim Cass), drums (John Hollenbeck), electronics (Arktureye), three violins and a cello. Much of this is very nice, even what seems like an excess of strings. B+(***) [cd]

Carrier: Rhythm Immortal (2025, Modern Love): Brussels-based electronica producer, seems to be one of many aliases for Guy Brewer (Covered in Sand, delete_everything, Tradecraft). B+(*) [sp]

Brìghde Chaimbeul: Sunwise (2025, Tak:til): Scottish smallpipes player, grew up as a native gaelic speaker on Isle of Skye, has several albums since 2019, sings some. B+(*) [sp]

Paul Cornish: You're Exaggerating! (2025, Blue Note): Pianist, from Houston, first album, although he has side credits back to 2017, starting with groups Blue Iverson and Thumpasaurus, and work with Terrace Martin and Joshua Redman. Trio with bass (Joshua Crumbly) and drums (Jonathan Pinson), with a guest guitar spot for Jeff Parker. B+(**) [sp]

Joy Crookes: Juniper (2025, Insanity): British (Bangladeshi-Irish) neo-soul singer-songwriter, started with YouTube covers at 13, moved on to an EP in 2017 and an album in 2021, a Mercury Prize nominee. Second album, catches my ear. B+(***) [sp]

Dave: The Boy Who Played the Harp (2025, Neighbourhood): British rapper David Orbosa Omoregie, third album since 2019, also a 2023 EP with Central Cee. Masterful lyricist, with a conscience. One line noted: "ten years in the game and I won't lie, it's gettin' difficult." But looking easy. A- [sp]

Deena: This Is the Time (2025, self-released, EP): Singer-songwriter, last name Schoshkes, best known for the Cucumbers (with John Fried, 1983-2004, plus an album in 2023). Just three songs, 10:32. B+(*) [bc]

Grey DeLisle & Friends: It's All Her Fault: A Tribute to Cindy Walker (2025, Brooklyn Basement): DeLisle (or Griffin or Van Oosbree) is a singer-songwriter, comedian, and actress (including her claim as "the most prolific voice actress in American animation history, having performed over 1500 cartoon voices since 1996"). I don't know how consistently her 8 previous albums hew country, but titles include Homewrecker and Driftless Girl. Obviously, the songwriter here comes from the deep country, as do most of the 13 women she counts among her friends — she only puts her name to one song, and that is a duet with Brennen Leigh, so this tends to get filed under "various artists." B+(**) [sp]

Sam Dillon: My Ideal (2024 [2025], Cellar Music): Mainstream tenor saxophonist, several albums, more credits back to 2010, quartet with piano (David Hazeltine), bass (Alexander Claffy), and drums (Rodney Green). B+(**) [sp]

Adam Forkelid: Dreams (2024 [2025], Prophone): Swedish pianist, several albums, this one is solo, all original pieces, lacks the big rhythm boost I tend to favor but sticks with you. B+(***) [cd]

David Greenberger & the Hi-Ho Barbers: Ginger Ale (2025, Pel Pel): Spoken word artist, also plays bass guitar, started on radio with Duplex Planet, has more than a dozen albums since 2003, most starting with him quoting monologues collected in nursing homes, sort of like reading Studs Terkel with scattered musical accompaniment. The Hi-Ho Barbers were an amalgam of name fragments: Robyn Hitchcock (guitars), Mark Greenberg (drums), Paul Cebar and Kelly Hogan (chorus vocals). More of the latter than usual, filling a gap I never noticed before, but the extra musicality doesn't hurt. A- [cd] [11-17]

Jazzwrld & Thukuthela: The Most Wanted (2025, Waltz Music Group/Empire): South African amapiano duo, first album, don't know much else. B+(**) [sp]

Cate Le Bon: Michelangelo Dying (2025, Mexican Summer): Welsh singer-songwriter, moved to Los Angeles in 2013, seventh studio album since 2009, someone I've been aware of but never paid much attention to. I'm not noticing words, but I'm getting a nice layered vibe, which shifts tone on a piece that features John Cale. B+(**) [sp]

Demi Lovato: It's Not That Deep (2025, Island): Dance-pop singer-songwriter, started as a Disney teen actor, ninth studio album since her 2008 debut went gold. B+(*) [sp]

Joe McPhee & Strings: We Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (2021 [2025], RogueArt): A major free jazz figure since 1969, just plays tenor sax and offers some spoken words here, backed by viola (Mat Maneri), cello (Fred Lonberg-Holm), and double bass (Michael Bisio), a younger generation he's well acquainted with. B+(***) [cdr]

Roscoe Mitchell/Michele Rabbia: In 2 (2024 [2025], RogueArt): Duo, the venerable saxophonist (bass and sopranino here), and percussion/electronics. B+(**) [cdr]

Mobb Deep: Infinite (2025, Mass Appeal): New York hip-hop duo from the gangsta 1990s, Havoc and Prodigy, seven albums 1993-2006, one more from 2014, this 9th album coming 11 years later. Name-dropping Tupac and Biggie, who overshadowed them but are still locked in their identity. They lament: "they don't make 'em like us no more." No need. B [sp]

Roberto Montero: Todos Os Tempos (2025, Vaicomtudo Music): Brazilian guitarist, based in Los Angeles, seems to be his first album, various supporting cast. B+(*) [cd]

John O'Gallagher/Ben Monder/Andrew Cyrille/Billy Hart: Ancestral (2024 [2025], Whirlwind): Alto saxophonist, many albums since 2002, some quite impressive. With guitar and two drummers here. Here again he rises to the occasion. A- [cd]

Tom Ollenberg: Where in the World (2025, Fresh Sound New Talent): British guitarist, has a couple previous albums since 2021. Mild-mannered quartet with piano (Aaron Parks), bass, and drums, playing original pieces. B+(**) [cd] [11-21]

Ted Piltzecker: Peace Vibes (2024 [2025], OA2): Vibraphone player, half-dozen albums since 1985, some large gaps (12, 17 years), some smaller (4, 5), two originals plus his arrangements of mostly bop-era jazz standards. Sextet with trumpet (Brad Goode), bass, drums, Brazilian and Peruvian percussion. B+(**) [cd]

Nick Shoulders: Refugia Blues (2025, Gar Hole): Country singer-songwriter, from Fayetteville, Arkansas, fifth album since 2018, trimmed the music back, sometimes puts the politics forward. B+(**) [sp]

Deborah Shulman: We Had a Moment (2025, Summit): Standards singer, sixth album since 2004, recording dates unlisted but three songs date back to early work with Terry Trotter (piano), the other 7 from "the last couple of years," with "longtime pianist and arranger" Jeff Colella. B+(*) [sp]

Enoch Smith Jr.: The Book of Enoch Vol. 1 (2025, Misfitme Music): Pianist, several albums since 2011, trio with bass (Kai Gibson) and drums (David Hardy). One original, but opens with two public domain gospels, followed by an Andrae Crouch. B+(*) [cd] [11-07]

Pat Thomas: Hikmah (2024 [2025], TAO Forms): British avant-pianist, started appearing around 1990 with Derek Bailey (Company), Lol Coxhill, and Tony Oxley, but his profile increased significantly in recent years, especially with the quartet Ahmed. This is one of several recent solo albums. B+(***) [cd] [11-07]

Premik Russell Tubbs & Margee Minier-Tubbs: The Bells (2025, Margetoile, EP): Actually just a single, 6:42, kind of cute if you're into Xmas cheer. B [cd]

Cameron Winter: Heavy Metal (2024, Partisan): Singer-songwriter, from Brooklyn, fronts the band Geese, which has four albums since 2018, with a growing critical and popular reputation, although I have yet to hear it. I'm not hearing much here either, just tortured riffing and ululating. Doesn't really register as metal, but that's hardly a saving grace. B- [sp]

Recent Reissues, Compilations, Vault Discoveries

Alts 'N Outs: The Other Side of Blue Note (1958-64 [2025], Blue Note): Lazy product, compiling six alternate takes from the label's the label's most vital period, one each from Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Clark, Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, and Wayne Shorter (sessions which by my reckoning produced one A, four A-, and one B+). I don't find this very useful, but it's enjoyable enough for your time. B+(**) [sp]

Big L: Harlem's Finest: Return of the King (1992-99 [2025], Mass Appeal): New York rapper Lamont Coleman, released one album (Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous) before being shot dead at 24 in 1999, followed by a couple of posthumous releases. Part of the Nas label's "Legend Has It" series. I've heard a couple albums in the series without wondering about recording dates — no surprise that still-living old-timers like Slick Rick, Ghostface Killah and Mobb Deep sound like they always did, so those albums could have been crafted from old tapes. But Coleman's clearly were, with dates given for his gree styles, and also for a 1995 pairing with Jay-Z. But this isn't strictly a reissue: new stuff has been added and/or old stuff has been merged (e.g., Mac Miller, who was 7 when Big L died, and who died in 2018, makes an appearance). B+(***) [sp]

Joseph Kamaru: Heavy Combination 1966-2007 (1966-2007 [2025], Disciples): A major Kenyan musician (1939-2018), ethnically Kikuyu, style Benga, although he's broader than that, with "afro-funk, disco grooves, and folk style laments." Remastered by a grandson also named Joseph Kamaru, who is now based in Berlin and records as KMRU. A- [sp]

Mike LeDonne's Groover Quartet: Turn It Up!: Live at the Sidedoor (2004-24 [2025], Cellar Music, 2CD): Pianist, but plays Hammond B3 organ in this long-running quartet, with Eric Alexander (tenor sax), Peter Bernstein (guitar), and Joe Farnsworth (drums). This double album offers two live sets, one from way back in 2004 (at Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club), the other recent, from the Side Door Jazz Club in Old Lyme, CT. B+(**) [sp]

Horace Silver: Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965 [2025], Blue Note): Pianist, initially led the Jazz Messengers, the genre-defining hard bop group that went through many editions led by drummer Art Blakey. Silver continued to lead 5/6-piece groups, drawing on many of the same musicians as Blakey, but where he was unique was in composing some of the catchiest tunes ever to come out of jazz. His Blue Notes from 1956-66 were often classic. This previously unreleased live tape features Woody Shaw (trumpet) and Joe Henderson (tenor sax), with Teddy Smith (bass) and Roger Humphries (drums), stretching out on five of hi better known tunes. A- [sp]

Old Music

Big L: Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous (1995, Columbia): New York gangsta/horrorcore rapper Lamont Coleman (1974-99), first and only album before he was killed in a drive-by shooting, sold well, as did his posthumous The Big Picture. I never liked the philosophy, but the big, hard beats had their attractions, as they do here. And I do get "I Don't Understand It." Hardly anyone did. B+(***) [sp]

Big L: The Big Picture: 1974-1999 (1997-99 [2000], Rawkus): Posthumous album, includes a 1998 single, completed by manager Rich King and various producers, including DJ Premier and Ron Browz. B+(**) [sp]

Limited Sampling

Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect.

Grade (or other) Changes

Sometimes further listening leads me to change an initial grade, usually either because I move on to a real copy, or because someone else's review or list makes me want to check it again. Also some old albums extracted from further listening:

Rechecked with no grade change:

Additional Consumer News:

Grades on artists in the old music section.

Music Weeks

Music: Current count 36534 [36534] rated (+0), 149 [149] unrated (+0).

Excerpts from this month's Music Week posts:

Notes

Sources noted as follows:

• [cd] based on physical cd
• [cdr] based on an advance or promo cd or cdr
• [lp] based on physical lp (vinyl)
• [dvd] based on physical dvd (rated more for music than video)
• [bc] available at bandcamp.com
• [r] available at napster.com (formerly Rhapsody)
• [sc] available at soundcloud.com
• [sp] available at spotify.com
• [yt] available at youtube.com
• [os] some other stream source
• [dl] something I was able to download from the web; may be freely available, may be a bootleg someone made available, or may be a publicist promo

Grades are probably self-explanatory, aside from B+, which is subdivided 1-2-3 stars, because most records that come my way are pretty good, but they're not all that good.