Monday, December 19, 2016

Music Week

Music: Current count 27465 [27433] rated (+32), 383 [385] unrated (-2).

Spent most of last week building the website for the 11th Annual Jazz Critics Poll, which NPR will publish tomorrow, or maybe a bit later. I won't disclose anything here, other than that we received 139 ballots, down a bit from last year's record 147 (where's John Chacona? Steven Dollar? David Hajdu? Lyn Horton? Garrett Shelton?). When they do go up, my pages will look a lot like last year's. Francis Davis again deserves a big round of applause for making this happen.

Mostly picking things off lists opportunistically, as well as mopping up a few 2016 stragglers in my queue: down to 6 pending records. With all the JCP work, I've done very little on my own EOY Aggregate file: today belatedly adding only a few of the recent lists (Blare, Gigwise, Line of Best Fit, Pitchfork, Q, Tiny Mix Tapes). I'll add more when I get some time next week, although several things are going to slow me down. For one, I have dinners to cook on Tuesday and Saturday. For another, I have ballots due for the Village Voice (evidently not Pazz & Jop anymore) and El Intruso polls, though those at least I can safely wing.

New records rated this week:

  • Ab-Soul: Do What Thou Wilt (2016, Top Dawg): [r]: A-
  • Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids: We Be All Africans (2016, Strut): [r]: B+(***)
  • Babyfather: BBF Hosted by DJ Escrow (2016, Hyperdub): [r]: B-
  • Black Art Jazz Collective: Presented by the Side Door Jazz Club (2016, Sunnyside): [r]: B+(**)
  • Jane Bunnett & Maqueque: Oddara (2016, Linus Entertainment): [r]: B
  • Jeff Collins: The Keys to Christmas (2016, Crossroads): [r]: C-
  • Alexis Cuadrado: Poetica (2016, Sunnyside): [r]: B+(**)
  • Deap Vally: Femejism (2016, Nevado): [r]: B+(***)
  • The Dining Rooms: Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra?) (2015, Schema): [r]: B+(**)
  • Dog Leg Dilemma: Not This Time (2016 [2017], self-released): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Dave Douglas/Frank Woeste: Dada People (2015 [2016], Greenleaf Music): [r]: B+(***)
  • Mark Dresser Seven: Sedimental You (2016, Clean Feed): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Fire!: She Sleeps/She Sleeps (2015 [2016], Rune Grammofon): [r]: B+(**)
  • Freddie Hendrix: Jersey Cat (2010 [2016], Sunnyside): [r]: B+(**)
  • Dre Hocevar: Transcendental Within the Sphere of Indivisible Remainder (2016, Clean Feed): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Bobby Kapp/Matthew Shipp: Cactus (2016, Northern Spy): [r]: A-
  • Irene Kepl: SololoS (2016, Fou): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Brad Mehldau Trio: Blues and Ballads (2012-14 [2016], Nonesuch): [r]: B+(**)
  • Moker: Ladder (2016, El Negocito): [r]: B+(*)
  • Donny Most: Swinging Down the Chimney Tonight (2016, Summit, EP): [cd]: B
  • Motif: My Head is Listening (2013-15 [2016], Clean Feed): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Nao: For All We Know (2016, Little Tokyo): [r]: B+(*)
  • Nots: Cosmetic (2016, Goner): [r]: A-
  • Frank Ocean: Blonde (2016, Boys Don't Cry): [r]: B+(**)
  • Schoolboy Q: Blank Face LP (2016, Interscope/Top Dawg): [r]: B+(***)
  • Steve Swell/Gebhard Ullmann/Fred Lonberg-Holm/Michael Zerang: The Chicago Plan (2016, Clean Feed): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Mat Walerian-Matthew Shipp Duo: The Uppercut: Live at Okuden (2012 [2015], ESP-Disk): [bc]: B+(***)
  • Mat Walerian/Matthew Shipp/Hamid Drake: Jungle: Live at Okuden (2012 [2016], ESP-Disk, 2CD): [bc]: B+(***)
  • Neil Young + Promise of the Real: Earth (2015 [2016], Reprise, 2CD): [r]: B+(*)
  • Neil Young: Peace Trail (2016, Reprise): [r]: B+(**)

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

  • Bob Dylan: The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert! (1966 [2016], Columbia/Legacy, 2CD): [r]: B
  • Dizzy Gillespie & Friends: Concert of the Century: A Tribute to Charlie Parker (1980 [2016], Justin Time): [r]: B+(*)
  • Evan Parker/Daunik Lazro/Joe McPhee: Seven Pieces: Live at Willisau 1995 (1995 [2016], Clean Feed): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Howard Riley: Constant Change 1976-2016 (1976-2016 [2016], NoBusiness, 5CD): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Neil Young: Bluenote Café (1987-88 [2015], Reprise, 2CD): [r]: B+(*)

Old music rated this week:

  • Neil Young + Promise of the Real: The Monsanto Years (2015, Reprise): [r]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Jim Black/Óskar Gudjónsson/Elias Stemeseder/Chris Tordini: Mala Mute (Intakt): January
  • Ellery Eskelin/Christian Weber/Michael Griener: Sensations of Tone (Intakt): January
  • Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo: Peace (Libra): January 27
  • Cynthia Hilts: Lyric Fury (Blond Coyote): January 13
  • Gary Lucas' Fleischerei: Music From Max Fleischer Cartoons (Cuneiform)
  • Tell Tale: Film in Music (Drip Audio)

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