Monday, December 29, 2014

Music Week

Music: Current count 24247 [24221] rated (+26), 509 [490] unrated (+19).

Rated count off this week, partly because I replayed a fair number of 2014 releases around P&J ballot time, partly because I got stuck on re-evaluating Wadada Leo Smith's The Great Lakes Suites. To make a long story short, I concluded that the first disc is solid A-, but I still have some doubts about the second. I still prefer Smith's Red Hill (and still have Smith's The Stone (Akashic Meditation) well off the pace). The Great Lakes Suites came in a close second in NPR's Jazz Critics Poll.

Aside from those dead spots, everything else I rated last week came from Rhapsody (or at least the computer). I did get a comeuppance for my excessive pride over exhausting my 2014 queue: two large packages from Europe (France and Poland) with obscure 2014 releases, plus a few more from domestic sources. With all the year-end polls done, I didn't feel any rushing need to catch up. Rather, I kept on collecting year-end list data, trying to pick at anything I could find that seemed promising.

I totally screwed up on Twitter this past week. I may try to catch up a bit in the next few days, but more likely I'll just try to stuff what I can into a December 31 Rhapsody Streamnotes, then freeze the year-end file (and deep-freeze the 2013 list). Then we will enter 2015, and again try to scale back (somewhat).

New records rated this week:

  • Yemi Alade: King of Queens (2014, Effyzzie Music Group): [r]: B+(**)
  • Melissa Aldana: Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio (2014, Concord Jazz): [r]: B+(*)
  • Arca: Xen (2014, Mute): [r]: B
  • Banks: Goddess (2014, Harvest): [r]: B+(**)
  • Battle Trance: Palace of Wind (2014, New Amsterdam): [r]: B+(**)
  • Rubén Blades: Tangos (2014, Sunnyside): [r]: B
  • Michael Blake: Tiddy Boom (2014, Sunnyside): [r]: A-
  • Jimmy Cobb: The Original Mob (2014, Smoke Sessions): [r]: B+(***)
  • Donald Edwards: Evolution of an Influenced Mind (2013 [2014], Criss Cross): [r]: B+(**)
  • Kevin Gates: By Any Means (2014, Bread Winners Association): [r]: B+(**)
  • Brantley Gilbert: Just as I Am (2014, Valory): [r]: B-
  • Grouper: Ruins (2014, Kranky): [r]: B+(**)
  • Hard Working Americans: The First Waltz (2013 [2014], Melvin): [r]: B+(*)
  • I Love Makonnen (2014, OVO Sound, EP): [r]: B+(*)
  • ICP Orchestra: East of the Sun (2014, ICP): [dl]: B+(**)
  • Oliver Lake Organ Quartet: What I Heard (2013 [2014], Passin' Thru): [r]: B+(**)
  • Ludovic Morlot/Seattle Symphony Orchestra: John Luther Adams: Become Ocean (2013 [2014], Cantaloupe): [r]: B+(***)
  • Objekt: Flatland (2014, Pan, 2CD): [r]: A-
  • Noah Preminger: Background Music (2010 [2014], Fresh Sound New Talent): [r]: A-
  • Sleaford Mods: Austerity Dogs (2013, Harbinger Sound): [bc]: A-
  • Sleaford Mods: Divide and Exit (2014, Harbinger Sound): [bc]: A-
  • Ana Tijoux: Vengo (2014, Nacional): [r]: B+(**)
  • Leon Vynehall: Music for the Uninvited (2014, 3024): [r]: B+(*)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries rated this week:

  • Lewis: L'Amour (1983 [2014], Light in the Attic): [r]: B

Grade changes:

  • The Green Seed: Drapetomania (2014, Communicating Vessels): [was A-] A
  • Wadada Leo Smith: The Great Lakes Suites (2012 [2014], TUM, 2CD): [was B+(***)] A-
  • Wussy: Attica! (Shake It): [was A-] A

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Grazyna Auguscik Orchestar: Inspird by Lutoslawski (Fortune)
  • The Michael Blum Quartet: Initiation (self-released)
  • Lukasz Borowicki Trio: People, Cats & Obstacles (Fortune)
  • Herb Geller/Roberto Magris: An Evening With Herb Geller & the Roberto Magris Trio: Live in Europe 2009 (JMood)
  • Jachna Tarwid Karch: Sundial (Fortune)
  • Lucien Johnson/Alan Silva/Makoto Soto: Stinging Nettles (Improvising Beings)
  • Nikola Kolodziejczyk Orchestra: Chord Nation (Fortune)
  • Leszek Kulakowski Ensemble: Looking Ahead (Fortune)
  • Magnolia Acoustic Quartet: Cinderella (Fortune)
  • Myrczek & Tomaszewski: Love Revisited (Fortune)
  • Adam Pieronczyk Quartet: A-Trane Nights (Fortune)
  • Schizophonia: Cantorial Recordings Reimagined (Blue Thread Music)
  • Linda Sharrock: No Is No: Don't Fuck Around With Your Women (Improvising Beings, 2CD)
  • Emilio Solla y La Inestable de Brooklyn: Second Half (self-released)
  • Tom Trio: Radical Moves (Fortune)
  • Trzy Dni Pozniej: Pokoj Jej Cieniom (Fortune)
  • François Tusques/Mirtha Pozzi/Pablo Cueco: Le Fond de L'Air (Improvising Beings)
  • François Tusques/François Toullec/Eric Zinman: Laiser L'Exprit Divaguer (Improvising Beings)
  • Ksawery Wojcinski: The Soul (Fortune)
  • Waclaw Zimpel To Tu Orchestra: Nature Moves (Fortune)

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