Recent Reading

Music Database

Artist Search:

Browse

Website Search

Google:

Music Week [570 - 579]

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Music: Current count 24422 [24392] rated (+30), 497 [493] unrated (+4).

Closed the count out Sunday evening, trying to get a jump on posting this early, but various distractions today will make this as late in the day as usual.

To save some time, I went ahead and rushed out Rhapsody Streamnotes without having tweeted everything. The tweet reviews are meant as advance news, so seemed like a waste of time to make up lost ground below. The records that lost out: Terri Clark, Peter Evans, Porter Robinson, Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako. I was listening to the three Soundway records as I wrapped up Streamnotes, so they're the first of next column's reviews. After that, I was just browsing around for something interesting to listen to, and noticed that Rhapsody has quite a few releases from the American Music label, which was established in the early 1940s to record the older, but then still living, generation of New Orleans jazz musicians.

In the 1930s jazz moved from New Orleans-style groups -- usually five-to-seven members -- to swing, both in big bands and small groups (usually five or less), and in the 1940s jazz moved on to the more self-consciously virtuosic music known as bebop. Bucking this trend was a sudden revival of interest in traditional jazz, especially in San Francisco (with the Yerba Buena Jazz Band) and later in the '40s in England. The new trad jazz musicians were almost invariably white, but as with the folk-blues movement in the early 1960s, scholars and entrepreneurs went back to find what was left of New Orleans' early jazz musicians. The unrecorded Buddy Bolden, of course, was long gone, as was Freddie Keppard (1890-1933), who at least recorded a it in the mid-1920s. But Bunk Johnson (1879-1949) was justifiably ancient, older than King Oliver (1885-1939) let alone Louis Armstrong's slightly older peers, the late Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) and Johnny Dodds (1892-1940), and the still active Kid Ory (1886-1973), Baby Dodds (1898-1959), and especially the trad-minded George Lewis (1900-68).

The only thing I had heard by Johnson was Bunk and Lu, a compilation of sessions with Lu Watters (one of the West Coast revivalists), so the chance to hear the vastly superior sets on American Music is most welcome -- and not just as a respite from 2014. But speaking of 2014, the latest A-list finds turned out to be two very different fringe-country artists, Kelsey Waldon and Bob Wayne. There are undoubtedly more out there, but it's becoming less and less obvious where to look next.

Sometime between now and the end of January I'll call it quits and freeze the year-end list. After last year's relatively early freeze date I added 69 records to the 2013 file. It certainly wouldn't be hard now to construct a list of 2014 releases I would like to have heard, but finding them and getting to them will be harder. And usually the pressures of the new year dim my interest in the old one. We'll see what happens this time.

New records rated this week:

• 2NE1: Crush (2014, YG Entertainment): K-pop group, four girls, title should be a hit, ballads not bad, rap some, drop in occasional hooks in English [r]: B+(**)
• Ballister: Worse for the Wear (2014 [2015], Aerophonic): free sax trio, Dave Rempis & Paal Nilssen-Love, Fred Lonberg-Holm's cello/electronics in between [cd]: B+(***)
• Caleb Caudle: Paint Another Layer on My Heart (2014, This Is American Music): country singer-songwriter, fine ear and nice voice for ballads, some pedal steel [r]: B+(***)
• Terri Clark: Some Songs (2014, Bare Track): [r]: B+(**)
• Peter Evans Quintet: Destination: Void (2013 [2014], More Is More): [r]: B+(*)
• Fantasma: Eye of the Sun (2014, Soundway, EP): 5-cut EP with South African rapper Spoek Mathambo mixing something old, something new, else too [r]: B+(*)
• Alex G: DSU (2014, Orchid Tapes, EP): singer-songwriter with heart on sleeve, not without pop resonance; ten songs, so short they don't add up to LP [r]: B+(*)
• Gold-Bears: Dalliance (2014, Slumberland): Atlanta "twee-punk" group, no sharp edges with "explicit" vocals buried under guitar roil [r]: B+(**)
• Tom Guarna: Rush (2014, BJU): jazz guitarist, quintet with Joel Frahm on sax and Danny Grissett on piano, postbop set, a little ripe [r]: B
• Barry Guy New Orchestra: Amphi/Radio Rondo (2013 [2014], Intakt): two long pieces for large free ensemble, many name players with knack for dense chaos [r]: B+(*)
• Ali Jackson: Amalgamations (2013 [2014], Sunnyside): drummer-led group (or groups), leans on his LCJO chums (like Wynton Marsalis), plays up Latin tinge [r]: B+(**)
• Amira Kheir: Alsahraa (2014, Sterns): woman from Sudan, basic instrumental backing, typical of the arid Saharan milieu [r]: B+(*)
• Kiasmos (2014, Erased Tapes): Icelandic techno duo with Olafur Arnalds (semi-famous), built on loops, approaches ambient but won't shake dance beat [r]: B+(*)
• The Juan MacLean: In a Dream (2014, DFA): formula works fine: danceable beats, a swish of disco, singers equally functional [r]: B+(***)
• Meridian Brothers: Salvadora Robot (2014, Soundway): Colombian group, started in salsa but evolved into something else, maybe psychedelia [r]: B+(**)
• Porter Robinson: Worlds (2014, Astralwerks): [r]: B
• Reg Schwager: Delphinus (2014, Jazz From Rant): Canadian jazz guitarist, richly melodic paired with Don Thompson's piano, not quite lush but like that [cd]: B+(**)
• Jacques Schwarz-Bart: Jazz Racine Haïti (2012 [2014], Motema Music): tenor saxophonist, dice-ups with Etienne Charles' trumpet sparkle, but singers dominate [r]: B+(*)
• Skyzoo & Torae: The Barrel Brothers (2014, E1/Empire): nothing to say about this rap record except that I enjoyed a second spin [r]: B+(**)
• Kelsey Waldon: The Gold Mine (2014, self-released): Kentucky singer, from cotton country not coal but knows down-and-out happens way too much [r]: A-
• Bob Wayne: Back to the Camper (2014, self-released): real outlaw country, tales of crime that give me the willies, heaven and hell just a joke [r]: A-
• Nate Wooley/Dave Rempis/Pascal Niggenkemper/Chris Corsano: From Wolves to Whales (2014 [2015], Aerophonic): avant pianoless quartet, sax soars, trumpet? [cd]: B+(**)

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

• Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako (1975-77 [2014], Sterns Africa, 2CD): [r]: A-
• Muwei Power: Sierra Leone in 1970s USA (1975-76 [2014], Soundway): lost and found, multi-voiced, some highlife guitar, horns, lots of percussion [r]: B+(***)

Old records rated this week:

• Bunk Johnson: In San Francisco (1943-44 [1994], American Music): "real negro jazz" treated as a rare artifact in a SF museum, its innovators still real [r]: B+(*)
• Bunk Johnson: 1944 (1944 [1991], American Music): New Orleans trumpet legend gets a new set of teeth, returns revitalized with the same old chops [r]: A-
• Bunk Johnson: 1944 Second Masters (1944 [1992], American Music); mostly alternate takes, a bit more relaxed, plus some previously unreleased blues [r]: B+(***)
• Bunk Johnson: 1944/45 (1944-45 [1994], American Music): more fine sessions from the leading light of the Dixieland revival [r]: B+(***)
• Bunk Johnson: Bunk's Brass Band and Dance Band 1945 (1945 [1992], American Music): like they did it in the old days before Louis Armstrong rewrote the book [r]: A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Richie Goods & Nuclear Fusion: Three Rivers (Richman): February 17
• Ted Kooshian: Clowns Will Be Arriving (Summit)
• John Mills: Invisible Designs (Fable): February 17
• John Petrucelli Quintet: The Way (self-released): February 10
• Katie Thiroux: Introducing Katie Thiroux (BassKat): February 3

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Music: Current count 24392 [24347] rated (+45), 493 [503] unrated (-10).

I thought I'd wrap up 2014 last week, freezing my year-end list and shelving my EOY aggregate, so I made a serious effort to cram in as much last-minute listening as possible. My freeze dates have typically fallen mid-to-late January (25th in 2009, 24th in 2010, 18th in 2011; 2012 was anomalous with January 1, and last year was January 9). I often wait for Pazz & Jop to post (usually later than this year's January 14). I have added the albums data to my file, and a couple dozen individual ballots. The main external event I'm waiting for now is Christgau's Dean's List: he's always based his annual summary on P&J data, and D'Angelo's surprise win -- which, by the way, he predicted several weeks ago -- gives him all the more to write about. (Also, his hiatus from posting CG reviews means he's likely to have more unreviewed records than usual on his list, and he often comes up with stuff no one else notices.)

I wound up posting the previous paragraph as a stub on my usual Monday. Two days later all I'm wrapping up is this post. If you follow my Twitter feed, you've already seen most of what follows. The 2015 records are all things I've picked up in the mail, played when I feel like listening to something that doesn't tie me down to the computer. (Although I'll note that the Red Garland set already picked up a vote in the 2014 Jazz Critics Poll -- someone got excited and jumped the gun. It and the Charles McPherson records are my first A-list finds of 2015.) I haven't checked out any 2015 releases on Rhapsody yet -- not even the Sleater-Kinney album that friends say is so good it might even overcome my usual objections.

Last two days I've still been adding to the EOY Aggregate. I have a checklist mostly derived from this link list and I'm somewhere in the R's, occasionally still picking up things of interest (e.g., the list from Potholes in My Blog). I also took the trouble of constructing a composite list from the individual staff top-tens at Reverb. I factored in a number of genre lists from Rolling Stone and Spin, and wrote quite a bit about them -- some last post and more I didn't bother posting but kept in the notebook. This will come to an end soon, but not quite yet.

Plan is still to freeze the year-end lists when I run Rhapsody Streamnotes, most likely later this week. I'd like to end the EOY Aggregate at the same time, but I do want to include Christgau's Dean's List whenever that finally appears. Last thing I'll probably do is factor in my own A-list: I haven't done that yet because it's always changing and the Aggregate is basically a record of what other people think, but I'd like to recognize a few albums that no one else has noticed, and I suppose I do count for something. (By the way, Milo Miles's late lists added a couple of those: e.g., Free Nelson Mandoomjazz and Duduvudo.)

By the way, the Aggregate remains very close and rather volatile. You may recall that War on Drugs jumped to an early lead, then lost it to FKA Twigs. Then a couple weeks ago, War on Drugs recovered the lead, only to lose it this week to Run the Jewels 2. Currently the top three points are 308-304-298, so they could well flip again. Fourth is St. Vincent at 279. Caribou is still in fifth at 200, but Flying Lotus has narrowed the gap at 196, Aphex Twin at 191, then a tie between Sun Kil Moon and Swans at 184. Swans had been in 6th recently, so I'm a bit surprised (and pleased) to see it slip. Also, Beck has slipped out of his longstanding hold on 10th place: at 163, now tied with Angel Olsen and trailing Sharon Van Etten. Taylor Swift continues to gain (now 18th), also Sturgill Simpson (22nd), Parquet Courts (26th), Azealia Banks (27th), Miranda Lambert (28th), and most of all, P&J winner D'Angelo (30th). I've never consciously played favorites here, but find it rather satisfying how neatly the standings are working out. Currently up to 487 lists with 4285 new records and 637 reissues/archives.

By the way, I haven't talked much about the reissues list, mostly because the actual sample size hasn't been very high. The leader right now has accumulated a mere 23 points -- just enough to tie Lily Allen, Mica Levi, The Juan MacLean, Pharmakon, Thee Silver Memorial Orchestra, Mark Turner, and The Twilight Sad for 163rd on the new list. I would have picked Bob Dylan's The Basement Tapes Complete as a priori favorite, and it has a fairly solid lead (23-17) right now over John Coltrane's Offering: Live at Temple University. Beyond that some surprises (Native North America) and somethings that might have been expected (the latest Miles Davis bootleg). Also three Led Zeppelin "deluxe editions" in the top-20, but that was mostly due to the practice of counting each record when listmakers came up with entries like "Led Zeppelin reissues."

I'll also note that among jazz records, Wadada Leo Smith's The Great Lakes Suites has pulled rather clearly ahead of Steve Lehman's Mise En Abime, 34-28 (111th to 138th). I'd say that the Jazz Critics Poll's results are more representative of jazz critical opinion, and Lehman beat Smith in a close race there. Third in the EOY aggregate is Mark Turner's Lathe of Heaven, which was the highest placing jazz album in Pazz & Jop this year, then fourth is Ambrose Akinmusire (second in P&J, followed by Lehman, Marc Ribot, and Bad Plus -- the latter 7th and 6th in my Aggregate).

New records rated this week:

• African Express: African Express Presents . . . Terry Riley's In C Mali (2014, Transgressive): minimalism in the tropics, a hot desert anyhow, with drums, voices [r]: B+(***)
• Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires: Dereconstructed (2014, Sub Pop): back-to-basics rock and roll band with a bit of twang, loud and inarticulate [r]: B
• Jon Batiste/Chad Smith/Bill Laswell: The Process (2014, MOD Technologies): piano trio looks for the perfect groove to float horns, voices, more grooves [r]: B+(***)
• Elvis Bishop: Can't Even Do Wrong Right (2014, Alligator): at 71 contemplates his own mortality, deciding to keep on doing what he's been doing [r]: B+(**)
• The Michael Blum Quartet: Initiation (2014, self-released): guitarist backed with piano-bass-drums, has a light touch and tone, well suited for his Jobim [cd]: B+(*)
• Lukasz Borowicki Trio: People, Cats & Obstacles (2014, Fortune): Denmark-based guitar-bass-drums, wouldn't call it raw but still flexes muscle [cd]: B+(**)
• Clipping: CLPPNG (2014, Sub Pop): LA hip-hop trio, fairly minimal beats with an industrial clang, monotone raps, could grow on you [r]: B+(**)
• Richard Dawson: Nothing Important (2014, Weird World): British guitarist-singer produces long, twisted, distorted pieces, musicality hard to access [r]: B
• Dej Loaf: Sell Sole (2014, World): Detroit girl rapper, sounds young, tends to go deadpan, not without winning charm but doesn't make it easy [r]: B+(*)
• Akua Dixon: Akua Dixon (2014 [2015], Akua's Music): cellist, first album in her 60s, picks great songs and violinists to lead, sings one, her daughter another [cd]:
• DJ Quik: The Midnight Life (2014, Mad Science): rapper, working at it since 1991, understands the importance of a good beat as well as street cred [r]: B+(*)
• The Flaming Lips: With a Little Help From My Fwends (2014, Warner Brothers): "Sgt. Pepper" done mischievously, as if it were really about psychedelics [r]: B+(**)
• Fred Frith and John Butcher: The Natural Order (2009 [2014], Northern Spy): the saxophonist keeps this within jazz, while the guitar sonics try to break out [r]: B+(**)
• Herb Geller/Roberto Magris: An Evening With Herb Geller & the Roberto Magris Trio: Live in Europe 2009 (2009 [2014], JMood): all the more poignant since the alto sax great died [cdr]: B+(***)
• Lucien Johnson/Alan Silva/Makoto Soto: Stinging Nettles (2006 [2014], Improvising Beings): tenor saxman from New Zealand comes out in a sparkling avant trio [cd]: A-
• Manu Katché: Live in Concert (2014 [2015], ACT): French drummer roils the riddims, leading a quintet that turns into a showcase for Tore Brunborg [cd]: B+(**)
• Justin Kauflin: Dedication (2014 [2015], Qwest/Jazz Village): young, blind jazz pianist, a mix of trio and quartet, the latter adding Matt Stevens on guitar [cd]: B+(**)
• Look Again to the Wind: Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears Revisited (2014, Masterworks): various artists remake 1964 album, Kristofferson growls the hit [r]: B+(**)
• Charles McPherson: The Journey (2014 [2015], Capri): alto saxophonist, tried to launch a bebop revival in the 1960s and is still chasin' that bird [cd]: A-
• Migos: Rich Ni**a Timeline (2014, Quality Control Music): Atlanta hip-hop trio's long mixtape, asterisks on the cover, where they belong [r]: B+(*)
• Mindtroll: And That's Just Some of the Good Ones (2013, self-released): 24, if you're counting, and not all good ones, 3 later punched up for EP [bc]: B+(**)
• Mindtroll: EP #4 (2014, self-released, EP): four songs, three superb, remind me of the early B-52s, but a little odder, as befits the times [bc]: B+(***)
• PC Worship: Social Rust (2014, Northern Spy): some kind of postrock ennui, exhausted and bewildered, and judging from this rather ear-damaged [r]: B-
• Pinch & Mumdance: Pinch B2B Mumdance (2014, Tectonic): two Brit dubstep/grime producers, shroud their beats in deep mystery [r]: B+(***)
• Eric Reed: Groovewise (2014, Smoke Sessions): pianist returns to his originals for a quartet, tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake punches them up [r]: B+(***)
• SBTRKT: Wonder Where We Land (2014, Young Turks): flat on the dancefloor, I'm afraid; second dubstep album loses a lot [r]: B
• Schizophonia: Cantorial Recordings Reimagined (2014, Blue Thread Music): guitarist Yossi Fruchter rocks the old sacred music, jazzes it up too [cd]: B+(*)
• Brian Settles and Central Station: Secret Handshake (2010 [2011], Engine Studios): tenor saxophonist's debut album, gets to quintet with extra percussion [bc]: B+(**)
• Brian Settles Trio: Folk (2013, Engine Studios): another avant tenor sax trio, exceptionally sharp and clear [bc]: A-
• Vance Thompson's Five Plus Six: Such Sweet Thunder (2014 [2015], Shade Street): a little light for a big band (5 brass, 3 reeds), but enough to swing [cd]: B+(**)
• François Tusques/Mirtha Pozzi/Pablo Cueco: Le Fond de L'Air (2014, Improvising Beings): [cd]: B+(***)
• François Tusques/François Toullec/Eric Zinman: Laiser L'Exprit Divaguer (2014, Improvising Beings, 2CD): [cd]: B+(**)
• Warpaint: Warpaint (2014, Rough Trade): Emily Kokal sings, slow and moody, posing the question: is this dream pop? or just tired and sleepy? [r]: B
• Watsky: All You Can Do (2014, Steel Wool Media/Welk Music Group): rapper, started in poetry slams but beats are musical enough, at least for such an awkward persona [r]: B+(**)
• Anna Webber's Percussive Mechanics: Refraction (2014 [2015], Pirouet): saxophonist but mostly flute here, with clarinet and lots of percussion [r]: B+(*)
• Whiskey Myers: Early Morning Shakes (2014, Wiggy Thump): southern fried rock band from Tyler TX, a mix of hippie raunch and class consciousness [r]: B+(*)
• White Lung: Deep Fantasy (2014, Domino): postpunk/riot grrrl band from Vancouver BC, 10 songs, 22 minutes, doesn't feel short, just fast [r]: B+(**)
• A Winged Victory for the Sullen: Atomos (2014, Kranky): ambient music duo, appealing and unthreatening [r]: B+(**)

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

• Angola Soundtrack: The Unique Sound of Luanda 1968-1976 (1968-76 [2010], Analog Africa): more like the derivative sound, but nuance counts for something [r]: B+(**)
• Angola Soundtrack 2: Hypnosis, Distorsions & Other Sonic Innovations 1969-1978 (1969-78 [2014], Analog Africa): with independence looming, lots get rough/risky [r]: B+(***)
• Red Garland Trio: Swingin' on the Korner (1977 [2015], Elemental Music, 2CD): [cd]: A-
• I'm Just Like You: Sly's Stone Flower 1969-70 (1969-70 [2014], Light in the Attic): hoping the magic rubs off on younger, cheaper talent, and sometimes it does [r]: B+(***)
• The Sound of Siam Volume 2: Molam and Luk Thung From Northeast Thailand 1970-1982 (1970-82 [2014], Soundway): with more western pop/rock absorbed, less strange [r]: B+(*)
• X__X: X Sticky Fingers X (1978-80 [2014], Smog Veil): archivists stretch Cleveland punk band's two singles with rough live cuts, almost get an album [r]: B+(**)

Old records rated this week:

• Elvin Bishop: Raisin' Hell: Live! (1976 [1977], Capricorn): still cranking out fun new records, but this was his heyday, celebrating an AM hit even [r]: A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Dave Bass: NYC Sessions (Whaling City Sound): February
• Charles McPherson: The Journey (Capri): February 17
• Lisa Parrott: Round Tripper (Serious Niceness): February 24
• Reg Schwager: Delphinus (Jazz From Rant)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Music: Current count 24347 [24286] rated (+61), 503 [505] unrated (-2).

It's been cold outside, and I've done very little but cram new lists into the EOY Aggregate File and listen to marginal list picks -- some well-regarded (and often awful), some quite rare (and occasionally wonderful). And this time they've really piled up: the 61 in the count above includes a couple corrections for bookkeeping omissions, but there are still 58 records listed below -- eight per day on average, with all the A- records getting at least two spins (although few of the ***-HMs got a shot to improve their lot -- the best prospects are Karen Jonas, Tom Trio, Matt Woods, and Wild Rockers 3). I will admit I saved a few minutes by hitting the reject on Ariel Pink -- graded it leniently as a hedge against missing something, although I hope you don't bother to call me on it. I did make it all the way through Scott Walker but playing them back-to-back was a big mistake. For the record, both are tours de force, conceptually brilliant and catchy in perverse ways -- I can see why some people love them, or at least find them amusing, but they perturb the universe in ways I find appalling. Not a lot of jazz in the list below, although I'm most of the way through the Polish Fortune (or ForTune or For Tune) albums -- surprisingly diverse for a label I had pegged as strictly avant.

The Kinks was a diversion. Their albums are gradually coming out in bonus editions, and I had written up the first three a while back. I was looking for a new 2-CD compilation on Legacy, but found a 5-CD box and a 1-CD best-of instead, and didn't really feel like bothering with either, but I found five more 1966-71 albums -- four I could swear I once had on LP but only Muswell Hillbillies had been recorded in the database (B+). For some reason, Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the English Empire) (1969) isn't available (and it looks like only about half of it is on the 5-CD box). I lost interest in the group shortly after Kink Kronikles (1972), with only Everybody's in Showbiz (1972: B) and Low Budget (1979: B+) in the database.

The EOY lists are still a work in progress, but one that should come to an end soon -- I'll add in Pazz & Jop when it appears later this week, Christgau's Dean's List whenever that appears, and maybe I'll drop in my own list (just to give Lily Allen a boost). Usually at this point the top ranks are stabilizing, even spreading out a bit, but a funny thing happened when I sorted the list a few days ago: War on Drugs (the early leader) edged back ahead of FKA Twigs for the top spot (the current margin is 272-268, with Run the Jewels a close third with 260, St. Vincent a solid fourth with 246). The other thing that's happened is that after Caribou, the 6-9 slots have tightened up and are pretty much dead even at 170-169-167-167 for Sun Kil Moon, Swans, Flying Lotus, and Aphex Twin. Beck is well back with 148 for 10th, and the next dozen or so albums have been pretty stable even though the deltas are pretty tight: 145 (Sharon Van Etten), 142 (Angel Olsen), 139 (Spoon), 130 (Future Islands), 125 (Todd Terje), 123 (Damon Albarn), 120 (Mac DeMarco), 116 (Perfume Genius), 109 (Taylor Swift), 103 (Lana Del Rey), 102 (Ty Segall), 97 (Jack White), 93 (Freddie Gibbs/Madlib). The only order change there was Del Rey passing Segall. Below that the list is a bit more dynamic, with a three-way tie at 88 between Parquet Courts, Real Estate, and Sturgill Simpson. Further down at 68, D'Angelo is still rising, most recently passing Scott Walker and Ariel Pink (two of the year's most horrible albums, by the way).

I haven't been scoring lists, but one I was struck by was David O'Brien's at Atlanta Constitution Journal: his top-50 includes 13 of my A-list albums (D'Angelo, Spoon, Leonard Cohen, Big KRIT, Mary Gauthier, Dave & Phil Alvin, Ought, The Delines, Statik Selektah, Parquet Courts, Thurston Moore, Angaleena Presley, and Cloud Nothings -- make that 14 with Tami Neilson), plus 3 more in the HMs (Rodney Crowell, Miranda Lambert, Billy Joe Shaver). I also count 7 3-star B+ and 8 more 2-star -- that's where the median lies. He likes some records I don't (Swans, Sharon Van Etten, Beck, Jack White, YG), has a minor interest in metal (Mastodon and YOB in the HMs), doesn't show any jazz or electronica (not even Caribou), or any of the more narrowly Christgauvian cult items (absence of Wussy almost certainly means he hasn't heard them).

One more announcement: I've added Francis Davis' annual list of jazz (and some other) musicians who passed away in 2014 to the Jazz Critics Poll website: Always Say Goodbye.

Expect a Rhapsody Streamnotes later this week. I've started to play some 2015 jazz, but mostly I'm still trying to mop up late finds from 2014.

New records rated this week:

• Alt-J: This Is All Yours (2014, Canvasback/Atlantic): British neo-prog group, makes beguiling chamber pop, pretty, pleasant, the future of elevator music [r]: B
• Grazyna Auguscik Orchestar: Inspired by Lutoslawski (2013 [2014], Fortune): vocalist backed mostly by strings, not something I go for, but not so bad [cd]: B+(*)
• Courtney Barnett: The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas (2012-13 [2014], Mom + Pop Music): Australian singer-songwriter, not much of an accent [r]: B+(*)
• Gorka Benitez: Gasteiz (2012 [2014], Fresh Sound New Talent): tenor sax trio, sweetened by replacing the bass with Ben Monder's guitar, in turn brings out the flute [r]: B+(**)
• Beverly: Careers (2014, Kanine): lo-fi pop duo, singer-guitarist Drew citron helped out by drummer-singer Frankie Rose (Dum Dum Girls, etc.) [r]: B+(*)
• Jonatha Brooke: My Mothers Has 4 Noses (2014, Bad Dog): songs from a one-woman play, as a daughter faces her mother descending into dementia [r]: A-
• Bushwick Gospel Singers: Songs of Worship Vol. 2 (2014, The Church of Universal Knowing): Peter Stampfel insists he's just a fan, but they sound/play/weird like him [r]: B+(***)
• Billy Childs: Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro (2014, Masterworks): pianist + strings + 10 singers + more retread 10 songs, 2 not so bad [r]: B-
• Theo Croker: AfroPhysicist (2014, Okeh): deliriously scattershot, with Dee Dee Bridgewater singing three, but the trumpet does stand out [r]: B+(*)
• First Aid Kit: Stay Gold (2014, Columbia): Swedish sisters ease up on their folkie act, settle for generic pop, prisoners of their harmonies [r]: B
• Lee Gamble: Koch (2014, Pan, 2CD): [r]: B+(*)
• Steve Gunn: Way Out Weather (2014, Paradise of Bachelors): could be way too smart for the folkie singer-songwriter he presents himself as, but hard to tell [r]: B+(*)
• The Heliocentrics & Melvin Van Peebles: The Last Transmission (2014, Now-Again): spoken word should be more riveting; still sets the spacey beats [r]: B+(***)
• Arve Henriksen: The Nature of Connections (2014, Rune Grammofon): Norwegian trumpet player leads string-laden sextet, chamber jazz quick frozen [r]: B
• Honeyblood: Honeyblood (2014, Fat Cat): two Glasgow girls, rough enough for noise-pop, but the lyrics I caught were mostly cliches, not even camp [r]: B
• The Hotelier: Home, Like Noplace Is There (2014, Tiny Engines): punkish group with higher ambitions but hard to decipher, maybe not worthwhile [r]: B+(*)
• Jachna Tarwid Karch: Sundial (2013-14 [2014], Fortune): flugelhorn-piano-drums trio, slow even for chamber jazz, hoping the harmonies flower [cd]: B+(*)
• Karen Jonas: Oklahoma Lottery (2014, self-released): Virginia singer-songwriter, has poise and a knack for spinning country stories [r]: B+(***)
• Kenosha Kid: Inside Voices (2014 [2015], self-released): Pynchon-reading guitarist from Athens GA leads a sextet, three horns, some kind of postbop [cd]: B
• Khun Narin: Electric Phin Band (2014, Innovative Leisure): Thai group, lead instrument is a 3-stringed lute called a phin, plus bass and three drummers [r]: B+(**)
• Leszek Kulakowski Ensemble: Looking Ahead (2014, Fortune): third-stream pianist, not that classical and jazz mean anything different anymore [cd]: B+(**)
• The Lawrence Arms: Metropole (2014, Epitaph): Chicago post-punk group, perhaps mellowed with age but can still talk the talk, er, rant [r]: B+(**)
• Little Big Town: Pain Killer (2014, Capitol Nashville): wouldn't you expect Nashville's Mamas & Papas to have family values? what about personalities? [r]: C+
• Jan Lundgren: All By Myself (2014, Fresh Sound): bebop-oriented Swedish pianist rehearses fourteen standards, played solo, straight, lovely [r]: B+(**)
• Magnolia Acoustic Quartet: Cinderella (2012 [2014], Fortune): Polish group, pianist Kuba Sokolowski de facto leader, plus sax, bass, drums [cd]: B+(**)
• Microwaves: Regurgitant Phenomena (2014, New Atlantis): Pittsburgh noise/post-punk group, songs short, vocals buried so deep they hardly matter [r]: B
• Myrczek & Tomaszewski: Love Revisited (2013 [2014], Fortune): Wojciech M., a Sinatra-ish crooner, backed by pianist Pawel T., do standards and scat [cd]: B+(*)
• Tami Neilson: Red Dirt Angel (2008, self-released): New Zealand's country princess faces Nashville demons and slips in "Missin' the Groom" joke [bc]: B+(**)
• Tami Neilson: Dynamite! (2014, self-released): short but diverse: honky tonk, rockabilly, folkie duet, paean to Texas, title cut beyond category [bc]: A-
• Charlie Parr: Hollandale (2014, Chaperone): folk guitarist in the Fahey-Kottke tradition throws in a little Son House for resonance [r]: B+(*)
• Perfect Pussy: Say Yes to Love (2014, Captured Tracks): maybe if they hadn't formed to play a band in a movie they'd try to be more, you know, musical [r]: B-
• Ariel Pink: Pom Pom (2014, 4AD): lo-fi eclecticism yields fantastic range of upbeat kitsch, not without humor but I'm less sure of humanity [r]: C-
• PRhyme [Royce da 5'9"/DJ Premier]: PRhyme (2014, PRhyme/Universal): classic turntablism, but the bitch rants, money grubbing, and don't-give-a-f take their toll [r]: B+(**)
• Protomartyr: Under Color of Official Right (2014, Hardly Art): Detroit post-punk, hooks similar to the Fall's, but lacks the accent/class analysis [r]: B+(**)
• Royal Blood: Royal Blood (2014, Warner Brothers): leave it to the aristocracy to make such utterly basic, chord-crunching rock & roll [r]: B
• Ruby: Waiting for Light (2014, Fireweed): UK singer-songwriter Lesley Rankine carries on, eclectic, means sometimes it works, unpredictably [bc]: B+(**)
• Linda Sharrock: No Is No: Don't Fuck Around With Your Women (2014, Improvising Beings, 2CD): 45 years after debut, band supplies old avant, she adds attitude [cd]: B+(***)
• Emilio Solla y La Inestable de Brooklyn: Second Half (2013 [2014], self-released): Argentinian tango meets Brooklyn horns and Meg Okura's violin [cd]: B+(**)
• St. Paul & the Broken Bones: Half the City (2014, Single Lock): more than Sam Phillips was shopping for in the '50s, but that value has depreciated [r]: B+(*)
• Sylvan Esso: Sylvan Esso (2014, Partisan): singer Amelia Heath, electronics wiz Nick Sanborn, America's answer to trip-hop, meaning no sense of impending doom [r]: B+(*)
• Throttle Elevator Music: Area J (2013 [2014], Wide Hive): fusion brought indoors, call it "garage jazz," a rockish platform for Kamasi Washington's sax [r]: B+(**)
• Tom Trio: Radical Moves (2013 [2014], Fortune): Tomasz Dabrowski's avant trumpet trio -- Nils Bo Davidsen on bass, Anders Mogensen on drums [cd]: B+(***)
• Trzy Dni Pozniej: Pokoj Jej Cieniom (2014, Fortune): vocal trio, three Polish women, backed by electronics and viola, serious but not cloying [cd]: B+(**)
• Viet Cong: Cassette (2014, Mexican Summer): [r]: B
• Scott Walker + Sunn O))): Soused (2014, 4AD): insufferably operatic singer emotes over the ambient drone of horror movies; is this a joke? [r]: C
• Don Williams: Reflections (2014, Sugar Hill): back on Sugar Hill, the perfect retirement home for a guy who never made a hit look like work [r]: B+(*)
• Hank Williams III: Ramblin' Man (1999-2010 [2014], Curb, EP): third post-contract album Cub put together, 7 cuts, shit they'd hate if they didn't own it [r]: B+(*)
• Matt Woods: With Love From Brushy Mountain (2014, Lonely Ones): Knoxville country singer, goes out of his way to make his career difficult [r]: B+(***)
• Waclaw Zimpel To Tu Orchestra: Nature Moves (2014, Fortune): works minimalist themes into something sublime, then adds free jazz energy [cd]: A-

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

• Arkansas at 78 RPM: Corn Dodgers & Hoss Hair Pullers (1928-37 [2014], Dust-to-Digital): enticing pickings from unknowns, the scratch groove feels like my roots [r]: A-
• Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Wild Rockers (1958-64 [2011], BBE): 2011 comp started annual series, rockabilly hot but a little weirder [r]: B+(**)
• Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Wild Rockers 3 (1956-66 [2013], BBE): third volume of crackling obscurities edges slightly into stoned surf [r]: B+(***)
• Native North America, Vol. 1: Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985 (1966-85 [2014], Light in the Attic, 2CD): 2cd survey of Native American musicians, not that different [r]: B+(*)
• Sun Ra and His Blue Universe Arkestra: Universe in Blue (1971-72 [2013], El Saturn): two good cuts (one a black power anthem), three were they get lost [r]: C+

Old records rated this week:

• The Kinks: Face to Face (1966 [2004], Sanctuary): [r]: B+(**)
• The Kinks: Something Else by the Kinks (1967 [2004], Sanctuary): [r]: B+(**)
• The Kinks: The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968 [1998], Sanctuary): [r]: B+(***)
• The Kinks: Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970 [2004], Sanctuary): [r]: B

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Gene Argel: Luminescent (Origin): January 20
• Joey Calderazzo: Going Home (Sunnyside): March 31
• Chamber 3: Grassroots (OA2): January 20
• George Colligan & Theoretical Planets: Risky Notion (Origin): January 20
• Hypercolor (Tzadik): advance, January 20
• Renaud Penant Trio: Want to Be Happy (ITI Music)
• Denia Ridley & the Marc Devine Trio: Afterglow (ITI Music): January 20
• Marc Seales: American Songs Volume 3: Place & Time (Origin): January 20
• Gebhard Ullmann Basement Research: Hat and Shoes (Between the Lines): February 10
• Joanna Wallfisch with Dan Tepfer: The Origin of Adjustable Things (Sunnyside): March 3

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Music: Current count 24286 [24247] rated (+39), 505 [509] unrated (-4).

A bit out of sync here, having closed the count last night but adding two incoming discs today -- otherwise last week was pretty barren at the mailbox. Actually, I could have posted this early, but what's held me back was stuffing the EOY aggregate list -- now up to 310 lists, 3470 new records, 524 reissues/comps/vault jobs. I'm getting close to wrapping that up -- the last step is usually to fold in the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop album results, or Christgau's Dean's List, whichever comes last. I've picked up some more jazz lists, including the Jazz Critics Poll (down to 150), and I've also picked up a cluster of lists from the Christgau-focused Expert Witness group -- close to two dozen ballots to Odyshape's Expert Witness Pazz & Jop album poll (see below), plus some longer lists from that direction (including 150 albums from Jason Gubbels). The top twenty albums in Odyshape's poll, followed by their bump in my aggregate file:

1. Wussy, Attica!: +30 (9 to 39), 254th place to 67th
2. Withered Hand, New Gods: +21 (9 to 30), 253 to 93
3. Miranda Lambert, Platinum: +38 (36 to 74), 54 to 26
4. Old 97's, Most Messed Up: +23 (8 to 31), 278 to 83
5. Drive-By Truckers, English Oceans: +15 (11 to 26), 202 to 106
6. Lily Allen, Sheezus: +13 (4 to 17), 456 to 167
7. Azealia Banks, Broke With Expensive Taste: +27 (44 to 71), 38 to 28
8. Parquet Courts, Sunbathing Animal: +33 (44 to 77), 39 to 25
9. D'Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah: +41 (13 to 54), 171 to 42
10. Angaleena Presley, American Middle Class: +14 (16 to 30), 137 to 91
11. Young Thug & Bloody Jay, Black Portland: +17 (14 to 31), 169 to 86
12. Tune-Yards, Nikki-Nack: +19 (33 to 52), 64 to 46
13. Toni Braxton & Babyface, Love, Marriage & Divorce: +12 (12 to 24), 185 to 116
14. Jason Derulo: Talk Dirty: +10 (4 to 14), 497 to 204
15. Run the Jewels 2: +63 (150 to 213), 4 to 3
16. Taylor Swift, 1989: +23 (71 to 94), 21 to 19
17. Jenny Lewis, The Voyager: +21 (47 to 68), 34 to 32
18. Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues: +22 (42 to 64), 43 to 34
19. Spoon, They Want My Soul: +33 (81 to 114), 18 to 13
20. Sisyphus: +4 (3 to 7), 790 to 422

The EW voters aren't the only factor here: Run the Jewels has been gaining ground steadily for several weeks, and D'Angelo has picked up speed after a very late start. Nor is their (or should I say our?) representation untoward: I expect that close to two dozen critics will vote in both Odyshape and Village Voice polls, so if they/we weren't counted here, that would introduce a skew there. Even so, it's likely that a dozen or more of this list of twenty will place higher in P&J than in my aggregate.

There's probably a lot more interesting data that could be mined from the aggregate chart, but the one thing I want to point out here is that the top four have narrowed: the points are 236-223-213-205 (with Run the Jewels passing St. Vincent). Fifth place Caribou is down at 159, followed by 152, 144 (twice), 138, and 125. Usually at this point the top few slots are spreading out, so this is about as close a top bunch as you'll ever see.

Recommended music links:

• Jason Gubbels: Art Pepper Quintet: Smack Up: looks like the first review in a series delimited by the "official" Kicking the Canon list. Also see Gubbels' EOY list: 150 Albums: The Best of 2014, Roughly Ranked.
• 2014 Expert Witness Pazz & Jop Album Poll Results: first poll all year won by Wussy. There's also a Singles Poll (also won by Wussy), but no ballots.
• Robert Christgau's keynote address at a 2014 conference honoring Simon Frith.

New records rated this week:

• Alvvays (2014, Polyvinyl): Toronto alt-rock group, gets pop kudos for singer Molly Rankin plus a good dea of jangle mixed in with the guitars [r]: B+(*)
• Basement Jaxx: Junto (2014, Atlantic Jaxx): had big albums c. 2000, but steady streaming product now; they do know how to keep a dance beat running [r]: B+(**)
• Mary J. Blige: The London Sessions (2014, Capitol): a real pro r&b singer, past her angst, past her divadom, gets guests and passes them too [r]: B+(***)
• Benjamin Booker: Benjamin Booker (2014, ATO): no bluesman, a rocker so straight up he cites Jack White, but actually is fuzzier, crankier, grungier [r]: B+(***)
• Peter Brendler: Outside the Line (2014, Posi-Tone): bassist-led two-horn quartet, Rich Perry on the inside, Peter Evans quantum leaping outside [r]: B+(***)
• Hollie Cook: Twice (2014, Mr. Bongo): reggae spawn of Sex Pistols, Culture Club, and Slits may or may not aim for minisculism but hits it [r]: B+(*)
• Ian William Craig: A Turn of Braeth (2014, Recital): trained as an opera singer, makes lovely abstract music with tape loops of voice samples [r]: B+(*)
• Chet Faker: Built on Glass (2014, Downtown): Australian singer-songwriter/electronica producer, crafts songs as tidy as Beck, but less pat [r]: B+(**)
• Bunji Garlin: Differentology (2014, RCA/VP): soca star from Trinidad, favors hard ragga over lilting calypso, works sometimes, can be too much [r]: B+(**)
• Polly Gibbons: Many Faces of Love (2014 [2015], Resonance): Brit standards singer's US debut packaged like a big deal with DVD, but same old same old [cd]: B+(*)
• GOAT: Commune (2014, Sub Pop): Swedish band appropriates world musics but won't get nailed down to tribal specifics, prefer feeding their amps [r]: A-
• Leela James: Fall for You (2014, J&T): a soul singer for today, neither retro nor nu, just at ease working out problems of everyday life [r]: B+(***)
• Luke James: Luke James (2014, Island): R&B singer from New Orleans, takes sweet time connecting until his falsetto flares to the heavens on the single [r]: B+(**)
• Jungle: Jungle (2014, XL): indulging all the usual stereotypes, a Brit Earth Wind & Fire -- falsettos less fluid, beats a bit grimey [r]: B+(**)
• Nikola Kolodziejczyk Orchestra: Chord Nation (2011 [2014], Fortune): Polish big band plus extra reeds and strings, snappy as many more I could name [cd]: B+(**)
• Lee Scratch Perry: Back on the Controls (2011-13 [2014], Upsetter Music, 2CD): seems to have forgotten that the producer's job is to mint hits, so doubles down on the dub [r]: A-
• Adam Pieronczyk Quartet: El Buscador (2008 [2010], Jazzwerkstatt): Poland's premier tenor saxophonist, flanked by Adrian Mears' trombone, with Latin tinge [r]: B+(***)
• Adam Pieronczyk Quartet: A-Trane Nights (2008-09 [2014], Fortune): same group, same dynamic, but only one night on my promo -- where's disc 2 [cdr]: B+(***)
• Adam Pieronczyk: The Planet of Eternal Life (2013 [2014], Jazzwerkstatt): solo soprano sax, easy on the ears when played this methodically, but, you know [r]: B+(**)
• Quraishi: Mountain Melodies (2014, Evergreene Music): an Afghan rubab master, his instrument a poor cousin to the sitar, makes something out of poverty [r]: B+(**)
• John Schooley: The Man Who Rode the Mule Around the World (2014, Voodoo Rhythm): old-timey banjo shrouded with real metal machine music [r]: B+(**)
• Shamir: Northtown (2014, Godmode, EP): 5-cut, 19:58 EP for a very young soul man, growing up way too fast [r]: B+(*)
• Sonny Simmons & Moksha Samnyasin: Nomadic (2011 [2014], Svart): alto sax blows way over French sitar-bass-drums trio's exotic but sturdy rhythm [r]: B+(***)
• Sly & Robbie: Underwater Dub (2014, Groove Attack): dub stripped down to bare basics, just beats/accents/echoes, but in such hands who needs more? [r]: B+(***)
• Sly & Robbie: Dubrising (2014, Taxi): but if you do want more, this adds vocals on timeless topics like war and the effects shoot up the sky [r]: A-
• Betty Who: Take Me When You Go (2014, RCA): Aussie teen-pop starlet hits the fast ones just fine but has a little trouble with the ballad [r]: B+(*)
• Ksawery Wojcinski: The Soul (2013 [2014], Fortune): bassist turned one-man-band, singer too, ending with a gorgeous bit of gospel chorus [cd]: B+(***)

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

• Bring It On Home: Black America Sings Sam Cooke (1959-76 [2014], Ace): Trayvon Martin wasn't the first killed by a confused/stupid white with a gun [cd]: A-
• Chris Butler: Easy Life (1970 [2014], Future Fossil): in fact, confused/stupid armed whites with guns have been known to kill their own, like in Kent OH 1970 [bc]: A-
• Chubby Jackson Big Band: New York City 1949: Ooh, What an Outfit! (1949 [2014], Uptown, 2CD): big band will swing or bop, whichever's fastest/hardest [r]: B+(***)
• Bill Jennings: Architect of Soul Jazz: The Complete Early Recordings 1951-1957 (1951-57 [2014], Fresh Sound): guitarist's early combos, with singers, honkers, organ players, a vibraphonist [r]: B+(**)
• Peru Bravo: Funk, Soul & Psych From Peru's Radical Decade (1968-74 [2014], Tiger's Milk): or the real garage bands of Lima learn to play "Hey Joe" [r]: B+(*)
• Junior Wells: Southside Blues Jam (1969-70 [2014], Delmark): near-classic Chicago blues with Buddy Guy and Otis Spann, but a little short on jam [r]: B+(***)
• Wilco: What's Your 20? Essential Tracks 1994-2014 (1994-2014 [2014], Nonesuch, 2CD): can't recall any of these 38 tunes, nor did I mind hearing any, nor will I soon [r]: A-

Old records rated this week:

• Raiders of the Lost Dub (1981, Mango): dub never did Black Uhuru any favors, but this early Sly & Robbie effort puts them into the flow [r]: B+(**)
• Arthur Russell: World of Echo (1986, Audika): [r]: B+(**)

Grade changes:

• Billy Joe Shaver: Long in the Tooth (2014, Lightning Rod): [was B+(**)] A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Jovan Alexandre: Collective Consciousness (Xippi): February 24
• Rudresh Mahanthappa: Bird Calls (ACT): February 10
• Mark Wade Trio: Event Horizon (self-released): February 17

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, December 29, 2014

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)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Music: Current count 24221 [24186] rated (+35), 490 [509] unrated (-19).

With Rhapsody broken for most of the last two weeks (v. Saturday's Condemned to Hack post), I wiped out everything that was left in my 2014 queue, wrote up my first 2015 album, and started scrounging through the nether regions of the unplayed queue. The three records listed under "old music" below were actually advance copies from 2004-07, most likely unplayed because I was waiting for finals that never came. There is a good deal more like that -- probably between 50 and 100 records, some final copies (but those are more obviously by choice). I long prided myself on playing everything that came my way, but evidently there were limits -- while my 2014 "pending" list is currently (momentarily?) empty, and my 2013 was reduced to one slab of vinyl, some earlier lists show a dozen or more records as "pending."

Also cleaned out the Christmas records (v. yesterday's Holiday Music Special). Chuck Powell wrote in afterwards to point out that I "missed the only good one": John Zorn's Dreamers Christmas. As I said, I wasn't actually searching for "good" Christmas music; I was just cleaning house. I did have a fleeting thought of using Rhapsody to check out some relatively current product, but didn't have the stomach for it. (Sample titles from Billboard: Pentatonix, That's Christmas to Me; Idina Menzel, Holiday Wishes; Michael Buble, Christmas; Darius Rucker, Home for the Holidays; Josh Groban, Noel; Kelly Clarkson, Wrapped in Red; Mannheim Steamroller, 30/40; Amazon also recommends: Ellen's The Only Holiday Album You'll Ever Need, Vol. 1 (note contradiction); Christmas at Downton Abbey; Dave Koz & Friends, The 25th of December; Christmas With Nashville (the TV series, a "limited collector's edition"); Motown Christmas; A Boston Pops Christmas.)

I also thought about rumaging through my database for previous grades, but I don't have genres tagged so any sort of completism would have been impossibly tedious. Still, some samples:

• Louis Armstrong & Friends: What a Wonderful Christmas (1950-66 [1998], Hip-O) B+(***)
• Tony Bennett: Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album (1968 [2007], RPM/Columbia/Legacy) B-
• Tony Bennett: The Classic Christmas Album (1968-2008 [2011], Columbia/Legacy) B+(*)
• Carla Bley/Steve Swallow/The Partyka Brass Quintet: Carla's Christmas Carols (2008 [2009], Watt) B+(*)
• Ramsey Lewis: Sound of Christmas (1961 [2004], Verve) D+
• Johnny Mathis: Gold: A 50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration (1958-2006 [2006], Columbia/Legacy) C+
• Anita O'Day: Have a Merry Christmas With Anita O'Day (1942-70 [2013], Kayo Stereophonic) B+(*)
• Phil Spector: A Christmas Gift for You (1963, Abkco) B

That's about half of the albums I've rated with "Christmas" in the title -- not many but not nothing either; the only other one rising to low-B+ is John Brown's Merry Christmas, Baby (2007). Someday I might try to survey the "classics" I've missed -- James Brown, Dave Brubeck, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Vince Guaraldi, Spike Jones, Elvis Presley, John Prine, Mike Seeger, Frank Sinatra -- but I've seen that Ramsey Lewis album show up in an "all-time top five" list, and it's hard to convey just how awful it is.

With all the computer problems I've been facing the last few weeks, I missed posting anything on the 9th Annual Jazz Critics Poll, which Francis Davis started at the Village Voice and most recently found a home for at NPR. A record 140 jazz critics voted this year. The key links:

• The 2014 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll: The top-50 standings and Francis Davis' notes on the top-10 finishers.
• An Upset Either Way: Steve Lehman and Wadada Leo Smith Triumph: Davis' essay analyzing the poll results plus annotation of his own ballot.
• My collation of the complete totals and all of the ballot data.

When Rob Harvilla was involved, both at the Voice and during the poll's brief residency at Rhapsody, I was also asked to write up my own annotated ballot, but that hasn't happened with NPR. While my own ballot is here, a better place to look is my still-evolving file here. Part of the value is that the A-list goes much deeper than top-ten: currently I have 64 new jazz records on the list (plus 65 on the corresponding non-jazz list). But I also give you the complete context with lists of all the other records I didn't think were that good. When I do my EOY list counts, I don't stop at 10 because most of what interests me is further down on the lists -- and frankly, I trust critics with big lists to have done more homework (even if some of it looks suspiciously rote).

But if I could ask one follow-up question of the voters, it would be: which of the top-50 (or top-100) albums have you not listened to? My answer:

12. Bad Plus, The Rite of Spring (Sony Masterworks) 88.5 (15)
13. Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden, Last Dance (ECM) 83 (14)
18. Fred Hersch, Floating (Palmetto) 67 (12)
26. Tom Harrell, Trip (HighNote) 56 (9)
32. Frank Kimbrough, Quartet (Palmetto) 45.5 (8)
38. Avishai Cohen, Dark Nights (Anzic) 42.5 (11)
44. Melissa Aldana, Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio (Concord) 39.5 (9)
47. Sean Jones, Im·pro·vise Never Before Seen (Mack Avenue) 37 (6)
50. Mary Halvorson, Reverse Blue (Relative Pitch) 34 (5)
51. Denny Zeitlin, Stairway to the Stars (Sunnyside) 32.5 (6)
57. Billy Childs, Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro (Sony Masterworks) 30 (4)
59. Michael Blake, Tiddy Boom (Sunnyside) 29 (5)
63. Diego Barber & Craig Taborn, Tales (Sunnyside) 28 (4)
63. Martin Wind, Turn Out the Stars (What If? Music) 28 (4)
67. David Weiss, When Words Fail (Motéma) 26.5 (5)
70. Johnathan Blake, Gone But Not Forgotten (Criss Cross) 26 (4)
71. Jemeel Moondoc, The Zookeeper's House (Relative Pitch) 25 (3)
73. Ron Miles, Circuit Rider (Enja/Yellowbird) 24 (4)
75. Matthew Shipp, Root of Things (Relative Pitch) 23.5 (5)
76. Hush Point, Blues and Reds (Sunnyside) 23 (5)
76. Jerome Sabbagh, The Turn (Sunnyside) 23 (5)
79. Bobby Bradford & Frode Gjersted, Silver Cornet (Nessa) 23 (3)
83. Audio One, The Midwest School (Audiographic) 22 (3)
91. Sylvie Courvoisier, Double Windsor (Tzadik) 20 (4)
92. Andy Bey, Pages From an Imaginary Life (HighNote) 20 (3)
92. Jimmy Cobb, The Original Mob (Smoke Sessions) 20 (3)

Looking over this list, there are a couple items that seem like very strong A-list candidates (Moondoc finished high on the three ballots that named him, and they're all critics I tend to agree with; same for The Midwest School, plus I heard a cut on bandcamp that blew me away), plus a lot of no doubt quality records -- solid B+ fare with a chance of being better than that. Also occurs to me that I screwed up in several cases -- I must have received download links from Sunnyside and ECM that I failed to act on, and I let HighNote take me off their mailing list when I expected to write much less about jazz than I wound up doing. On the other hand, this rather underscores the point that the labels with good PR distribution are the ones that place in polls like this. They don't have to be big: Pi only released five albums this year, but they placed 1-6-14-33-54. On the other hand, major labels Universal (Verve/Blue Note/ECM) and Sony (Okeh/Masterworks) hogged 11 of the top 20 slots. (Warner's Nonesuch had two top-50 spots at 36 and 43.) And when obscure labels do place, that's often thanks to independent PR firms (e.g., Braithwaite & Katz helped the superb Finnish label TUM take 2nd, but they only placed Wadada Leo Smith, who finished 3rd and 17th the last two years; on the other hand, Smith's other record this year, on Rare Noise (Red Hill), wound up way down at 140th).

I should probably note that this is probably the first year since the first poll in 2005 where my top pick was the poll's top pick. (The winner back then was Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammar -- not a squeaker or anyone's idea of an upset.) Still, I wouldn't read this as implying a convergence of critical opinion -- it's just an exceptional album that hit several different pleasure spots. My only other A-list album was the latest installment of Sonny Rollins' Roadshows -- now that's a consensus pick! Only one more A-list in the next ten (Vijay Iyer), two in the following ten (Thumbscrew and Eric Revis), and three more (Marty Ehrlich, James Brandon Lewis, Farmers by Nature) in the top fifty (making a total of eight). There are a few things we disagree over (I should probably recheck Akinmusire -- I was very surprised to see his record on Davis' ballot; my recall of what's wrong with Jason Moran's Fats Waller rehash is clearer, and I can see that Darius Jones' The Oversoul Manual is a love-or-hate matter), but most of the top-50 records are very respectable efforts -- not sure how much of that to pin on my bias towards sax over piano (lot of piano records on the list), but I'm inclined to think that I rate those records down a bit only because I've looked much further.

My three A- records this week are all pop, all December releases with virtually no EOY list presence thus far. Charli XCX evidently had some advance publicity, popping up on six lists, including 5th place at Rolling Stone and 43rd at Spin. Nothing yet for highly touted D'Angelo (Metacritic score is 95 for 23 reviews -- their second highest rating this year for a new record, edged out by Machine Head's Bloodstone & Diamonds with only 5 reviews; metal albums often have ridiculously high scores because only metalheads can stand to review them) or for Nicki Minaj (Metacritic 71 for 22 reviews; NYT: "full of compromises and half-successes"). I found them all on Rhapsody, and connected almost instantly to Charli XCX. On the other hand, D'Angelo got a lot of spins and is still pretty marginal for me, although no doubt it is a very distinctive album.

I continue to add lists into my aggregation as I find time (and lists). FKA Twigs maintains a small lead over War on Drugs, and there's little reason to think the former has much of a UK bias. I have to rate it a slight favorite to win P&J, but any of the top four would win -- FKA Twigs, War on Drugs, St. Vincent (3), and Run the Jewels (tied at 4 with Caribou although I'd count the latter out) -- with momentum and skew if anything favoring Run the Jewels.

File has grown to 2195 records, but that's still way short of last year's 7867. The 157 polls is also well under half of last year's total (not that the number for 2013 is easy to count). The leader's current score is 148, vs. Kanye West's 356 last year. All of those totals will wind up less than last year because I've changed the methodology.

Pazz & Jop ballot is due December 26, so more on that then. My guess is that about twenty voters there are heavily Christgau-influenced, which this year can be measured by votes for Wussy, Withered Hand, and Black Portland -- very little support for any of those albums elsewhere (current scores: Black Portland 8, Wussy 6, Withered Hand 5). I'll post another Rhapsody Streamnotes by the end of the month, but probably not next week.

New records rated this week:

• Dean Blunt: Black Metal (2014, Rough Trade): more of a left-field IDM guy, but looking for dramatic gestures, or maybe just a product niche [r]: B+(*)
• Fiorenzo Bodrato: Travelling Without Moving (2012 [2014], CMC): bassist, frames spoken word like hip-hop, only more complex and sublime [cd]: B+(***)
• Patrick Breiner's Double Double: Mileage (2013 [2014], Sulde): tenor saxophonist leads rough and scratchy double-bass quartet, pulsing with energy [bc]: B+(*)
• Peter Brötzmann/John Edwards/Steve Noble: Soul Food Available (2013 [2014], Clean Feed): avant sax-bass-drums trio, live at Ljubljana doing their thing [cd]: B+(***)
• Malonie Carre: Forever (2014, self-released): singer-songwriter; finally hit the bottom of my 2014 queue -- how appropriate is that? [cd]: B
• Charli XCX: Sucker (2014, Atlantic): big beat dance pop with postpunk sneer and swagger; imagine "London Queen" as flipside to "I'm So Bored" [r]: A-
• D'Angelo and the Vanguard: Black Messiah (2014, RCA): 14 years in the desert wilderness, returns with fractured funk, oblique, mysterious [r]: A-
• Jeff Davis: Dragon Father (2013 [2014], Fresh Sound New Talent): drummer-led postbop quintet, cornet and alto sax up front but Russ Lossing's piano roughs the edges [r]: B+(***)
• Sax Gordon: In the Wee Small Hours (2013 [2014], Delmark): tenor saxophonist, mostly honks in blues bands but goes for ballads here [cd]: B+(**)
• Hildegard Lernt Fliegen: The Fundamental Rhythm of Unpolished Brains (2013 [2014], Yellowbird): vocalist Andreas Schaerer contorts around horns/recorders [bc]: B+(*)
• Anthony Jefferson: But Beautiful (2014, self-released): standards singer from New Orleans, rich and subtle voice on songs that could easily go awry [cd]: B+(**)
• Link of Chain: A Songwriters' Tribute to Chris Smither (2011 [2014], Signature Sounds): Dave Alvin, Loudon Wainwright, Josh Ritter, others raid the songbook [r]: B+(**)
• Collette Michaan: Incarnate/Encarna (2014, self-released): jazz flute, camouflaged by Latin beats and chromatic harmonica, offset with trombone [cd]: B
• Nicki Minaj: The Pinkprint (2014, Young Money): unlikely to duplicate Beyonce's P&J rush even though a better album, just neither great nor safe [r]: A-
• Paal Nilssen-Love/Terrie Ex: Hurgu! (2013, PNL): guitar-drums duo, half of Vandermark's Lean Left or a smaller fraction of the Ex [bc]: B+(**)
• Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit: Erta Ale (2014, PNL, 3CD): eleven-piece group, only two reeds and three brass, more rumble room for the rhythm [bc]: B+(***)
• Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: The Offense of the Drum (2014, Motéma Music): pianist competent as ever, gets bump from the horns [r]: B+(**)
• Sonya Perkins: Dream a Little Dream (2014, self-released): standards singer, good songs, decent piano trio, delicious guest spot for Warren Vache [cd]: B
• Scurvy: Fracture (2010, Johnny Butler Jazz): scraping the bottom of my barrel, came up with this pretty good avant-fusion group, kudos for the trombone [cdr]: B+(*)
• Judy Silvano with Michael Abene: My Dance (2014 [2015], JSL): jazz singer backed by nothing but piano; when pressed, she responds with tons of scat [cd]: B-
• Chris Smither: Still on the Levee (2014, Signature Sounds, 2CD): for his 70th, the folksinger offers his own tribute, old songs redressed, guests invited [r]: B+(*)
• Michael Snow & Thollem McDonas: Two Piano Concert at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2014, Edgetone): two avants, complex verging on difficult [cd]: B+(**)
• Jesse Stacken: Helleborus (2014, Fresh Sound New Talent): the pianist continues to grow, but he's not the first leader to be eclipsed by Tony Malaby's sax [r]: B+(***)
• Subtle Lip Can: Reflective Drime (2014, Drip Audio): violin-guitar-drums, an abstract turmoil of soft sounds, not jarring but definitely abrasive [cd]: B+(**)
• Scott Wendholt & Adam Kolker Quartet: Andthem (2011 [2014], Fresh Sound New Talent): trumpet and tenor sax for the leaders, bass and drums for lift, the Monk explodes [r]: B+(**)

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

• George Van Eps: Once in Awhile (1946-49 [2014], Delmark): radio shots from guitar legend, feat. pianist Stanley Wrightsman and tenor sax Eddie Miller [cd]: B+(***)

Old records rated this week:

• Phil Driscoll: Drops of Praise (2006, Jordan/Koch): [cdr]: B
• The Gang Font feat. Interloper (2007, Thirsty Ear): [cdr]: B+(*)
• Carl Hancock Rux: Apothecary RX (2004, Giant Step): [cdr]: B+(*)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Andrew Drury: The Drum (self-released): February 17
• Andrew Drury: Content Provider (self-released): Febuary 17
• Kenosha Kid: Inside Voices (self-released): March 3

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Music: Current count 24186 [24146] rated (+40), 509 [521] unrated (-12).

Pretty well sandbagged at the moment. I got a very late start on my bit posting the ballots for Francis Davis' Jazz Critics Poll (at NPR again this year -- at least the top of the charts and Davis' year-end summary essay). I've been bedeviled by computer problems, and they've wiped out my ability to play Rhapsody in my office. I've spent a lot of time trying to debug that, and won't bore you with details now, but I believe Rhapsody is culpable both for a glaring strategic error -- why adopt proprietary Adobe software when HTML 5 eliminates most of its previous utility, and Firefox's developers would rather implement the HTML spec than try to figure out how to contain Flash's bugs? -- as well as a detection bug (i.e., they think Flash isn't available when it is). Anyhow, screws me over big time -- although I did manage to get through Leonard Cohen's Live in Dublin on my Chromebook.

Much of what's listed below appeared in last week's Rhapsody Streamnotes, so shouldn't be new. I had missed a lot of tweets at that time, and haven't fully caught up. Last couple days, without Rhapsody, I decided to slog through my Xmas music queue -- much of which dates from 2009. I'm not going to bother to tweet on them -- they aren't timely, and they aren't much good. I'll probably run them as a separate post later this week, then archive them with the next RS column. Looking at the database there are a few items I haven't found yet, but really who cares how bad Anita Baker's Christmas Fantasy is, let alone Putumayo Presents Christmas Around the World? My main motivation has been to get them out of the queue and packed away safely out of sight. Oddly enough, I did find one good record in the batch, but its only holidays concession is to start out with "Chanukah, O Chanukah." On the other hand, I can say that the albums aren't as dreadful as I had feared.

One other note: I mentioned some average times for adding new records to my year-end lists after having to cast some ballot. Following the deadline for the Jazz Critics Poll, it took me less than a day to find another A-list record, and little more than a week to find one that would have cracked my top ten. Both figures are less than half of previous medians. Of course, if you want the real Dudu Pukwana, the record to seek out is In the Townships (1973). The new Duduvudu is a little messier, a little more in-your-face, but I don't mind that at all.

Need to get back to work.

New records rated this week:

• Big K.R.I.T.: Cadillactica (2014, Def Jam): rapper from Mississippi, has underground mores, big time songcraft, exquisite flow, ideas, cares [r]: A-
• Juan Pablo Carletti/Tony Malaby/Christopher Hoffman: Niño/Brujo (2013 [2014], NoBusiness): drums, tenor sax, cello, Carletti writing, Malaby selling [cdr]: B+(***)
• Leonard Cohen: Live in Dublin (2013 [2014], Columbia, 3CD): if you loved "Live in London" as much as I did, you'll dig this too, but have to pay more [r]: A-
• J Cole: 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014, RCA): beats quasi-underground, stories real enough, too much N but his free association sparkles [r]: B+(***)
• Frankie Cosmos: Zentropy (2014, Midheaven, EP): celebrity kid Greta Kline tries for some spit and polish after 40 "albums" in five years [bc]: B+(*)
• De Beren Gieren & Susana Santos Silva: The Detour Fish: Live in Ljubljana (2014, Clean Feed): piano trio + trumpet, a nice pairing on easy side of free jazz [cd]: B+(**)
• Duduvudu: The Gospel According to Dudu Pukwana (2009 [2014], Edgetone): remembering the late great South African saxophonist, pumping up township jive [cd]: A
• Justin Townes Earle: Single Mothers (2014, Vagrant): countryish singer/songwriter, comes up with half a concept, the other half for a sequel [r]: B+(**)
• Ghostface Killah: 36 Seasons (2014, Tommy Boy): always a story teller, a problem for me because I need to see the printed word, so I go on beats [r]: B+(***)
• Barry Guy: Five Fizzles for Samuel Beckett (2009 [2014], NoBusiness, EP): solo bass, EP-length for 10-inch vinyl, not every day a bass solo ends too soon [cdr]: B+(**)
• Half Japanese: Overjoyed (2014, Joyful Noise): been making irritable albums with a few greatest-hits-worthy gems embedded, and do it again [r]: B+(***)
• Maggie Herron: Good Thing (2014, self-released): standards singer from Hawaii, plays piano, fares best with classics and with two songs in French [cd]: B+(**)
• Hiss Golden Messenger: Lateness of Dancers (2014, Merge): singer-songwriter from NC does a fair Dylan impression, except I didn't note lyrics [r]: B+(*)
• How to Dress Well: What Is This Heart? (2014, Domino): mostly sings falsetto, often over synth strings, an effect some consider soulful [r]: B
• Sam Hunt: Montevalo (2014, MCA Nashville): Nashville rookie sounds like he's trying to sneak into the party behind Luke Bryan, but not shameless enough [r]: B
• Paul Jones: Short History (2014, Blujazz): [cd]: B+(**)
• K Michelle: Anybody Wanna Buy a Heart? (2014, Atlantic): [r]: B+(*)
• Loscil: Sea Island (2014, Kranky): [r]: B+(*)
• Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Blue (2014, Hot Cup): note-for-note "Kind of Blue" copy, adds nothing, subtracts nothing, is nothing? [dl]: B
• Rod Picott: Hang Your Hopes on a Crooked Nail (2014, Welding Rod): welder turned singer/songwriter, breaks up, lives on wheels, not really mobile [r]: B+(***)
• Diane Roblin: Reconnect (2014, self-released): [cd]: B+(*)
• Joanne Tatham: Out of My Dreams (2014, Cafe Pacific): [cd]: B
• The Vamps: Meet the Vamps (2014, Island): Brit boy group, built on time-tested commercial riffs, from Paul Simon to Bruno Mars and back [r]: B+(**)
• Colin Webster/Andrew Lisle/Alex Ward: Red Kite (2014, Raw Tonk): sax-drums-guitar trio, keys off the guitar which can drive the others to fury [bc]: B+(**)
• Zanussi 5: Live in Coimbra (2013 [2014], Clean Feed): Norwegian quintet, bassist-led with three saxes, propulsive grooves set up sax wails and rumbles [cd]: A-

Christmas clearance sale:

• Eddie Allen: Jazzy Brass for the Holidays (2009, DBCD): [cd]B-
• Chris Bauer: In a Yuletide Groove: Harmonica Jazz for the Holidays (2011, self-released): [cd]: B-
• Alexis Cole: The Greatest Gift: Songs of the Season (2009, Motéma): [cd]: C+
• Nathan Eklund: Craft Christmas (2011 [2012], OA2): [cd]: B-
• Tobias Gebb Presents Trio West: Plays Holiday Songs, Vol. 2 (2009, Yummy House): [cd]: B
• Milt Hinton/Ralph Sutton/Gus Johnson/Jim Galloway: The Sackville All Star Christmas Record (1986 [2014], Sackville/Delmark): [cd]: B+(*)
• The Hot Club of San Francisco: Hot Club Cool Yule (2009, Azica): [cd]: B-
• Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: Christmas Time Is Here (2012, self-released): [cd]: B-
• Elisabeth Lohninger Band: Christmas in July (2011, JazzSick): [cd]: B+(*)
• Eugene Marlow's Heritage Ensemble: Celebrations (2010, MEII Enterprises): [cd]: A-
• Ellis Marsalis: A New Orleans Christmas Carol (2011, ELM): [cd]: B-
• Will Scruggs Jazz Fellowship: Song of Simeon: A Christmas Journey (2012, self-released): [cd]: B
• Donna Singer with the Doug Richards Trio: Kiss Me Beneath the Mistletoe (2012, Emerald Baby): [cd]: B
• The United States Air Force Band: Cool Yule (2009, self-released): [cd]: B
• Ezra Weiss: Alice in Wonderland: A Jazz Musical (2009, Northwest Childrens Theater and School): [cd]: B

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

• Julian Bahula: Spirit of Malombo: Malombo Jazz, Jabula and Jazz Africa 1966-1984 (1966-84 [2014], Strut, 2CD): 2CD career reconstruction makes case for and sense of South African bandleader [r]: B+(**)
• Francis Bebey: Psychedelic Sanza 1982-1984 (1982-84 [2014], Born Bad): from Cameroon highlife pioneer, more electronics pushing envelope even further out [r]: B+(**)
• Disco: A Fine Selection of Independent Disco, Modern Soul and Boogie 1978-82 (1978-82 [2014], Soul Jazz, 2CD): a 2CD crate dive, digging up obscure 12-inchers only a DJ could love [r]: B+(*)
• Gipsy Rhumba: The Original Rhythm of Gipsy Rhumba in Spain 1965-1974 (Soul Jazz): Spanish flamenco artists discover the Afro-Cuban dance groove, and make it sound like flamenco [r]: B+(**)
• Willie Nelson and Sister Bobbie: December Day [Willie's Stash, Vol. 1] ([2014], Legacy): scattershot sampler re-peddles memories, slights his pianist [r]: B
• Verckys et l'Orchestre Vévé: Congolese Funk, Abrobeat & Psychedelic Rumba 1969-1978 (1969-78 [2014], Analog Africa): actually a second tier soukous band, in top form [r]: A-

Grade changes:

• Bette Midler: It's the Girls! (2014, East/West): [r]: [was: B] B+(**)
• Rod Picott: Welding Burns (2011, Welding Rod): [cd]: [was: B+(***)] A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Fiorenzo Bodrato: Travelling Without Moving (CMC)
• Duduvudu: The Gospel According to Dudu Pukwana (Edgetone)
• Sax Gordon: In the Wee Small Hours (Delmark)
• Michael Snow & Thollem McDonas: Two Piano Concert at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Edgetone)
• Subtle Lip Can: Reflective Drime (Drip Audio): December 16
• George Van Eps: Once in Awhile (1946-49, Delmark)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Music: Current count 24146 [24105] rated (+41), 521 [518] unrated (+3).

Thinking about year-end lists, which has meant a mad rush to sample as much reputable but unheard music as possible. That in turn has led to the huge number of new A- records pictured to the right. Unfortunately, virtually none of them come off of the upper reaches of published lists -- the sole exception is Kate Tempest's Everybody Down, briefly in the top-20 of my metacritic aggregate file but totally unknown outside of the UK and currently tied for 44th. My other list-based find is Call Super's Suzi Ecto, a techno album that topped the list at Juno Plus but has yet to appear on a second list. Even the two records that I had previously panned but this week regraded just above the A-/B+ line, Withered Hand's New Gods and Young Thug/Bloody Jay's Black Portland, have fewer points in my aggregate (2 and 1 respectively) -- this after looming large in Odyshape's Mid-Year Report (Withered Hand won; Black Portland, which Christgau has dubbed "the rap album of the year," came in 8th on points, tied with Miranda Lambert's Platinum).

I'll also point out that my own favorite album this year, Lily Allen's Sheezus (which finished 4th in Odyshape) is also stuck with a single aggregate point (The Telegraph ranked it 47). As I proceed, I fold all the new records into my jazz and non-jazz year-end lists -- the former currently lists 62 A/A- albums, the latter 61. There are 95 lists in the current aggregate file, but very few even touch on much less specialize in jazz -- although it's worth noting that my jazz favorite, Steve Lehman's Mise en Abime, is currently leading the jazz subset by a nice margin (7-to-4 for BadBadNotGood). In previous years, I used to be able to find many jazz critics' lists at JJA, but they don't seem to be doing that today. (Also slowing me down is that Large Hearted Boy has stopped posting his invaluable list index.) Nor have I seen the results from Francis Davis' Jazz Critics Poll (which I've collated in past years and presumably will again this year). Looks like I'll have to start scouring the blogs. (I did just add Tim Niland's ballot, and have just found one from Lyn Horton.)

One thing that should be clear is that the top totals are no guarantee of quality. I've heard the top 19 records, so I'll list them here with my grade in brackets (and points in braces):

1. {88} The War on Drugs: Lost in the Dream (Secretly Canadian) [***]
2. {76} FKA Twigs: LP1 (Young Turks) [B]
3. {73} St Vincent: St Vincent (Loma Vista/Republic) [***]
4. {63} Caribou: Our Love (Merge) [**]
5. {57} Beck: Morning Phase (Capitol) [B-]
6. {55} Future Islands: Singles (4AD) [*]
7. {53} Sun Kil Moon: Benji (Caldo Verde) [***]
8. {52} Sharon Van Etten: Are We There (Jagjaguwar) [B-]
9. {51} Angel Olsen: Burn Your Fire for No Witness (Jagjaguwar) [*]
10. {50} Aphex Twin: Syro (Warp) [A-]
11. {50} El-P/Killer Mike: Run the Jewels 2 (Mass Appeal) [**]
12. {49} Damon Albarn: Everyday Robots (Parlophone) [*]
13. {48} Flying Lotus: You're Dead (Warp) [**]
14. {47} Mac DeMarco: Salad Days (Captured Tracks) [B]
15. {47} Swans: To Be Kind (Young God, 2CD) [B]
16. {42} Jack White: Lazaretto (Third Man) [B-]
17. {39} Todd Terje: It's Album Time (Olsen) [A-]
18. {38} Perfume Genius: Too Bright (Matador) [B]
19. {37} Real Estate: Atlas (Domino) [**]

That works out to 2 A-, 4 ***, 3 **, 3 *, 4 B, 3 B-; which is to say that quality on the list is little better than random. Of course you probably disagree with some (or many) of my judgments here. (Michael Tatum, who correlates with me better than most, had Jack White at A- and Todd Terje at C+.) But odds are that if you have heard 300+ albums this year -- my non-jazz count is currently 322; my jazz count is 563 -- and weren't so sectarian you'd dismiss most of these records a priori you'd come up with a similar range. And the pattern would most likely repeat on down the list, albeit with diminishing returns as the records become ever more obscure (and things like jazz, country, world, and metal creep in).

The list of records I've heard breaks at 20-21 with Ty Segall and Taylor Swift -- neither on Rhapsody, and then there's another gap at 24-25 for Royal Blood and Goat (records I haven't bothered to look up). From there on down to about 150 I've heard about half, and my share thins out past there. Conversely, about one third (20) of my 61 A/A- non-jazz albums have no points so far. Eleven more have 1 point, so that covers the median. (I haven't figured my own list in yet, nor that of many similar-minded critics.) My list sorted by aggregate score:

10. {50} Aphex Twin: Syro (Warp)
17. {39} Todd Terje: It's Album Time (Olsen)
22. {35} Spoon: They Want My Soul (Anti-)
38. {22} Cloud Nothings: Here and Nowhere Else (Carpark)
44. {19} Leonard Cohen: Popular Problems (Columbia)
45. {19} Kate Tempest: Everybody Down (Big Dada)
47. {18} Parquet Courts: Sunbathing Animal (What's Your Rupture?)
66. {14} Ought: More Than Any Other Day (Constellation)
84. {11} Miranda Lambert: Platinum (RCA Nashville)
116. {8} Pharrell Williams: Girl (Columbia)
161. {6} The Delines: Colfax (El Cortez)
162. {6} Lee Ann Womack: The Way I'm Livin' (Sugar Hill/Welk)
180. {5} Brian Eno/Karl Hyde: High Life (Warp)
181. {5} Thurston Moore: The Best Day (Matador)
203. {4} Allo Darlin': We Came From the Same Place (Slumberland)
204. {4} Willie Nelson: Band of Brothers (Legacy)
205. {4} Angaleena Presley: American Middle Class (Slate Creek)
266. {3} Iggy Azalea: The New Classic (Island)
267. {3} Call Super: Suzi Ecto (Houndstooth)
268. {3} The Hold Steady: Teeth Dreams (Razor & Tie/Washington Square)
269. {3} Old 97's: Most Messed Up (ATO)
270. {3} Wussy: Attica! (Shake It)
357. {2} The Coathangers: Suck My Shirt (Suicide Squeeze)
358. {2} Rodney Crowell: Tarpaper Sky (New West)
359. {2} Fumaça Preta: Fumaça Preta (Soundway)
360. {2} Mary Gauthier: Trouble & Love (In the Black)
361. {2} Grieves: Winter & the Wolves (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
362. {2} Orlando Julius with the Heliocentrics: Jaiyede Afro (Strut)
363. {2} The New Mendicants: Into the Lime (Ashmont)
364. {2} Withered Hand: New Gods (Slumberland)
618. {1} Lily Allen: Sheezus (Warner Brothers/Regal)
619. {1} Dave Alvin/Phil Alvin: Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy (Yep Roc)
620. {1} Big Ups: Eighteen Hours of Static (Tough Love/Dead Labour)
621. {1} Laura Cantrell: No Way There From Here (Thrift Shop)
622. {1} Chumped: Teenage Retirement (Anchorless)
623. {1} Jason Derulo: Talk Dirty (Warner Brothers)
624. {1} John Hiatt: Terms of My Surrender (New West)
625. {1} Ricardo Lemvo/Makina Loca: La Rumba Soyo (Cumbancha)
626. {1} Shakira: Shakira (RCA)
627. {1} Statik Selektah: What Goes Around (Duck Down Music)
628. {1} Young Thug & Bloody Jay: Black Portland (self-released)

Missing completely are records by: Big KRIT, Company Freak, Deena, Dub Thompson, Golem, The Green Seed, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, Homeboy Sandman, Kool AD, Jon Langford, Amy LaVere, Mursday, Parkay Quarts (Content Nausea) Jenny Scheinman, Doug Seegers, Serengeti, The Strypes, Supreme Cuts, Jonah Tolchin, and Leo Welch. Notably, 6 of those 20 are rap records. I've noted previously the relative paucity of (especially US) rap records in a year that is really not lacking for good ones, so won't dwell on that here -- you can, after all, look it up.

The number of EOY lists are likely to nearly double next week, but I don't see a lot of trends in the data. The top five have been very stable (once St. Vincent overcame a shaky start). I don't put a lot of weight on differences in rank -- most lists are graded 3 for 1st place, 2 for 2-20, and 1 for everything else -- so nothing much changes with lists that include all of the top five (which is to say most of them). I'm personally much more interested in what shows up on the margins (again, see that Call Super album): that's why I count everything and don't weigh it much.

You can compare this with the top-ten-only aggregates at places like Metacritic if you want to focus on rank. The big gainers there are Run the Jewels (11-to-4), Taylor Swift (21-to-8), and La Roux (42-to-18), and those will definitely do better at P&J than in my aggregate. (The largest loser is probably Sun Kil Moon, dropping 7-to-12.)

I should be running December's first Rhapsody Streamnotes later this week. Draft file is pretty huge. Two things I wanted to do won't happen this time: one is to clear my queue of Xmas music (didn't happen because I can't stand the stuff); the other is to look at the "deluxe editions" that dominate major label reissues, using Rhapsody to program out the core albums so I just listen to the ephemera. I was originally thinking I'd like to sort through the Led Zeppelin reissues, but there are many more like that. Maybe next time, closer to Xmas. Or maybe next year.

One final announcement is that I'd like to invite you to take a look at Carola Dibbell's new website. It's more focused on her forthcoming novel, The Only Ones, than on her superb music writing, but there are links back to her "corner" of Robert Christgau's website. Right now it's sort of a three-headed hybrid, but in the not-too-distant future I hope to integrate it better stylistically. Let me also note that my wife has read the novel and thinks it's really terrific. Plenty of places you can order a copy. (I haven't read it, but I haven't read any novel since Tom Carson's Gilligan's Wake -- had to since he practically wrote it for me.)

New records rated this week:

• Lotte Anker/Jakob Riis: Squid Police (2014, Konvoy): a duo, but the latter's minimalist electronic tableaux don't leave the sax much to do [r]: B+(*)
• Billy Bang/William Parker: Medicine Buddha (2009 [2014], NoBusiness): violin-bass duet, seems like a narrow idea but little short of magnificent here [cd]: A-
• Beyoncé (2013, Columbia): finally on Rhapsody a year late, the anticipation diminished, leaving fairly prosaic love songs, better than her norm [r]: B+(**)
• Bishop Nehru/MF Doom: NehruvianDOOM (2014, Lex): young rapper starts to find his way, aided by a producer who likes to invent his own worlds [r]: B+(**)
• Dave Burrell/Steve Swell: Turning Point (2013 [2014], NoBusiness): another inspired duet, a legendary piano master's sound filled out with rich trombone [cd]: A-
• Busdriver: Perfect Hair (2014, Big Dada): once-idiosyncratic hip-hop takes several bizarre turns, flinging guests off cliffs as various jokes miss [r]: C
• Call Super: Suzi Ecto (2014, Houndstooth): techno from Berlin, a hint of industrial with a gentle woosh, barely substantial, endlessly playable [r]: A-
• The Cookers: Time and Time Again (2014, Motéma): all-star septet likes it hot: better Billy Harper dishing out grits than the trumpet harmony [r]: B+(**)
• The Core Trio With Matthew Shipp (2014, self-released): Houston-based free sax trio adds the perfect pianist to wind them up and round out the sound [r]: A-
• Toumani Diabaté/Sidiki Diabaté: Toumani & Sidiki (2014, World Circuit): Mali father-son kora masters play it safe, stress how pretty they can play [r]: B+(**)
• Emperor X: The Orlando Sentinel (2014, self-released): smart singer/songwriter with electronics minor goes to Europe, writes strange Sarkozy songs [r]: B+(***)
• Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Black Is Back: 40th Anniversary Project (2014, Katalyst): Kahil El'Zabar's 40th anniversary bash w/his best horns, Ernest Dawkins/Corey Wilkes [r]: B+(***)
• Orrin Evans: Liberation Blues (2014, Smoke Sessions): pretty good hard bop group on the upside, then come the ballads, then the singer [r]: B+(**)
• Fire! Orchestra: Enter (2014, Rune Grammofon): whole new dimension in de trop, Marian Wallentin's texts, 29 credits, and can they ever bring the noise [r]: B+(**)
• Aretha Franklin: Sings the Great Diva Classics (2014, RCA): which don't mean any of that Verdi/Wagner shit -- more like "I Will Survive" [r]: B+(***)
• Friends & Neighbors: Hymn for a Hungry Nation (2012-13 [2014], Clean Feed): Swedish postbop group named for Ornette; piano lush, horns shiny, bit edgy [cd]: B+(**)
• Gazelle Twin: Unflesh (2014, Last Gang): Elizabeth Bernholz fills her electronica with industrial klang and mordant vocals, chilly, creepy even [r]: B+(**)
• Jimmy Greene: Beautiful Life (2014, Mack Avenue): grieving Sandy Hook father plays soothing sax, indulges a children's choir and too many guests [r]: B+(*)
• Hail Mary Mallon: Bestiary (2014, Rhymesayers Entertainment): Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic try to infect the upper crust with underground beats and snappy rhymes [r]: B+(***)
• Russ Johnson: Still Out to Lunch! (2014, Yellowbird): trumpeter, Roy Nathanson, and Myra Melford salute Eric Dolphy's 50-year-old masterpiece [r]: B+(**)
• Kool A.D.: Word O.K. (2014, self-released): follow up to "Not OK," reportedly the outtakes to this one, more proof of how a slacker never misses a trick [bc]: A-
• Let's Wrestle: Let's Wrestle (2014, Fortuna Pop): British group, has an ear for pop hooks for tends toward twee, comes up shy a title and a couple deeper songs [r]: B+(*)
• Tony Malaby's Tubacello: Scorpion Eater (2014, Clean Feed): interesting idea to replace bass with cello and tuba, but only works when the sax flies [cd]: B+(***)
• Nick Mulvey: First Mind (2014, Fiction/Harvest): English singer-songwriter, ethnomusicologist with jazz background feed into subtler details [r]: B+(*)
• Perfume Genius: Too Bright (2014, Turnstile): third album, trends toward mopey, melodramatic ballads with an air of lushness for comfort [r]: B
• Roil [Chris Abrahams/Mike Majkowski/James Waples]: Raft of the Meadows (2013-14 [2014], NoBusiness): piano trio led by Chris Abrahams, an impressive figure I missed -- Australian, favors group names [cdr]: B+(***)
• Slackk: Palm Tree Fire (2014, Local Action): British electronica, grime or garage or house or something like that, neither here nor there [r]: B
• Tommy Smith/Brian Kellock: Whispering of the Stars (2014, Spartacus): tenor sax-piano duets, mostly ballads ranging from lovely to gorgeous [r]: B+(***)
• Kate Tempest: Everybody Down (2014, Big Dada): London-born "performance poet" channels class and war through Wu-Tang Clan and Samuel Beckett [r]: A
• Tinashe: Aquarius (2014, RCA): neo-soul singer from Kentucky via LA, gets a boost when a rapper drops in, or when they just pick up the beat [r]: B+(**)
• Ton Trio II: On and On (2013 [2014], Singlespeed Music): basic alto sax-bass-drums trio, led by Aram Shelton, who always gets a terrific sound [r]: B+(***)
• Us Free [Bill McHenry/Henry Grimes/Andrew Cyrille]: Fish Stories (2006 [2014], Fresh Sound New Talent): sax trio with vets who keep it interesting, far from easy [r]: B+(***)
• The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: The Music of Bob Brookmeyer (2014, Planet Arts): the former Jones-Lewis group at big band strength with Jim McNeely plays Bob Brookmeyer [r]: B+(*)
• Velkro: Don't Wait for the Revolution (2012 [2014], Clean Feed): sax-guitar/bass-drums trio, builds tone on its groove, no postbop, post-Velvets maybe [cd]: A
• David Virelles: Mbokó (2013 [2014], ECM): Cuban pianist composes sacred music for biankomeko abakua -- key is "sacred," which means slow it down [dl]: B+(**)
• Wildest Dreams (2014, Smalltown Supersound): throwback to '60s psychedelic rock, with the instrumental passages much more impressive than the vocals [r]: B+(**)
• Wu-Tang Clan: A Better Tomorrow (2014, Warner Brothers): a family reunion after seven years, their best times behind them, but mature to worry on [r]: B+(***)
• Neil Young: Storytone (2014, Reprise): have orchestra, will croon, but deluxe ed. disc of solo demos improves on the standard product [r]: B+(*)

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

• Ted Daniel's Energy Module: Interconnection (1975 [2014], NoBusiness, 2CD): avant trumpet in the NY lofts, with Daniel Carter and Oliver Lake blasting away [cd]: A-

Old records rated this week:

• Lotte Anker/Craig Taborn/Gerald Cleaver: Live at the Loft (2005 [2009], ILK Music): Danish saxophonist graples with an impressive young rhythm duo [r]: B+(***)
• Lotte Anker/Craig Taborn/Gerald Cleaver: Floating Islands (2008 [2009], ILK Music): . . . and all three move on to bigger and bolder things [r]: A-

Grade changes:

• Withered Hand: New Gods (2014, Slumberland): [r]: [was B+(**)] A-
• Young Thug & Bloody Jay: Black Portland (2014, self-released): [r]: [was B-] A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Billy Bang/William Parker: Medicine Buddha (2009, NoBusiness)
• Peter Brötzmann/John Edwards/Steve Noble: Soul Food Available (Clean Feed)
• Dave Burrell/Steve Swell: Turning Point (NoBusiness)
• Juan Pablo Carletti/Tony Malaby/Christopher Hoffman: Niño/Brujo (NoBusiness): cdr
• Ted Daniel's Energy Module: Interconnection (1975, NoBusiness, 2CD)
• De Beren Gieren & Susana Santos Silva: The Detour Fish: Live in Ljubljana (Clean Feed)
• Barry Guy: Five Fizzles for Samuel Beckett (NoBusiness): cdr
• Tony Malaby's Tubacello: Scorpion Eater (Clean Feed)
• Roil [Chris Abrahams/Mike Majkowski/James Waples]: Raft of the Meadows (NoBusiness): cdr
• Zanussi 5: Live in Coimbra (Clean Feed)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Music: Current count 24105 [24067] rated (+38), 518 [519] unrated (-0).

My 2014 jazz stocks are dwindling: the pending list is down to 12 records, including two of last week's Clean Feeds. (The package was, by the way, a little light, with only four of eight new titles. Hope they split the shipment rather than start to cut me off.) Beyond that, there's no one I recognize: many singers, at least one flute record. (I've been putting off dealing with 2015 titles -- I have 10 of them, and a few of them are more promising.) I'll square away my jazz ballot sometime in the next few days.

I continue to revise the current jazz and non-jazz lists -- currently I have 58 A-list records on the jazz side, 56 on the other. (By the way, I still need to rewrite the intros and factor the late 2013 releases into those lists. Also need to work on the 2% lists.) I've been looking at available EOY lists, and I've started to count them up. The legend is here, and the new records count is here. Almost 40 lists counted to date, most of the early ones coming from UK/Europe (main resources for me: Acclaimed Music Groups, Ilxor; still waiting for Large Hearted Boy; also see the tabulations at AOTY).

Previous metacritic files have included review grades as well as EOY lists, so I get some idea of how the year is shaping up well ahead of list season. This year I just started the file this past week, and the only data in it are EOY lists, so it started out really skewed when five of the first six lists were from UK mags and record stores (the latter often go 100 deep, since they have that more to sell; the mags usually draw the line around 50, which is about where most serious fans draw the line between A- and B+). The first time I noticed from those lists was the near complete shutout of US rap/r&b albums. For comparison, in 2013 US rap/r&b finished (and I'll throw in the usually higher Pazz & Jop finish in brackets):

1. Kanye West: Yeezus [1]
10. Chance the Rapper: Acid Jazz [5]
16. Janelle Monae: The Electric Lady [8]
20. Danny Brown: Old [27]
25. Earl Sweatshirt: Doris [42]
27. El-P/Killer Mike: Run the Jewels [22]
31. Drake: Nothing Was the Same [18]
47. Pusha T: My Name Is My Name [30]
56. Beyoncé: Beyoncé [4]
68. ASAP Rocky: Long.Live.ASAP [123]
75. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP 2 [58]
84. DJ Rashad: Double Cup [73]
94. Charles Bradley: Victim of Love [131]
99. Valerie June: Pushin'; Against a Stone [61]

Also finishing P&J top 100:

106. Ka: The Night's Gambit [69]
132. Ghostface Killah/Adrian Younge: Twelve Reasons to Die [91]
285. The Uncluded: Hokey Fright [75]

That strikes me as a pretty typical year, and while it's helped by a few big names (Kanye West, Janelle Monae, Drake, Beyonce, Eminem) it includes a fair number of names you probably hadn't heard of before the year started (Chance the Rapper, Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt, etc.). The shutout of the first few lists has opened up a crack, but still this is looking like the year critics forgot about black music. Currently all I see:

18. Flying Lotus: You're Dead
34. Neneh Cherry: Blank Project
37. El-P/Killer Mike: Run the Jewels 2
38. Freddie Gibbs and Madlib: Piñata
55. Shabazz Palaces: Lese Majesty
60. La Roux: Trouble in Paradise
93. Pharrell Williams: Girl

That's less than half as many records, and some of those are pretty marginal. (Cherry grew up in England and Scandinavia, is on a Norwegian record label, and isn't really hip-hop.) Nor do I see much in the wings. Christgau predicts that Black Portland will "finish P&J" (i.e., top 40), but that record has only one mention so far (31 on Rolling Stone's list). Nor have any of Christgau's other A-list hip-hop records this year garnered even a single mention (Atmosphere, Jason Derulo, Homeboy Sandman, Roots -- I could also add Babyface/Toni Braxton, Iggy Azalea [not US but not FKA Twigs either], Kool A.D., and with one mention Azealia Banks). From my list, aside from Pharrell only Statik Selektah has one mention, while Mursday, Green Seed, Grieves, and Serengeti are shut out. I dug up yet another list, XXL's 25 best from mid-year, and it, too, fared very poorly: only 3 (of 25) records there had been mentioned (at least when I checked; may be one or two more now).

So just because Kanye West sat this year out doesn't mean the records aren't there. What's lacking is the recognition. I suppose one reason that bugs me more than usual is news like Ferguson and the elections. Still, when I shared my early findings with Christgau, he wrote back: "And in case you didn't know, the sites you aggregate are generally speaking black-music clueless, stupidly anti-pop, heedlessly prog, and fatally faddish. . . . PJ will be better." Sure, because it is even more US-biased than my early list returns have been UK/Europe-biased, and because it still polls a lot of newspaper critics (who generally have to write about popular music once in a while, or at least be flexible enough to do so -- something not required of bloggers). But looking at the data, I have no reason to overestimate the smarts and taste of the lists: after all, the current top-10 includes four B/B- records by my counting (FKA Twigs, Beck, Sharon Van Etten, Mac DeMarco), and three more not enough better to actually recommend (Caribou, Damon Albarn, Future Islands).

By the way, I didn't get around to tweeting on the Young Thug records -- for one thing, don't have much to say -- but I have warmed somewhat on Black Portland.

New records rated this week:

• Damon Albarn: Everyday Robots (2014, Parlophone): threatening to turn into an old geezer, tries to make the best of it by singing like Robert Wyatt [r]: B+(*)
• Fatima Al Qadiri: Asiatisch (2014, Hyperdub): Kuwaiti jet setter, leery of how orientalism works, rolls her own Chinese caricatures [r]: B+(**)
• Aurelio: Lándini (2014, Real World): surname Martinez, from Honduras, plays paranda or garifuna, looser and lighter than salsa [r]: B+(***)
• Iggy Azalea: Reclassified (2014, Def Jam): 5-cut EP padded to LP-length with 7 recycles from her debut, the catchy ones if you still need them [r]: B+(**)
• Beck: Morning Phase (2014, Capitol): no longer a "loser" or a "soul vulture"; now just pretty and soft and flat, nearly featureless [r]: B-
• Caribou: Our Love (2014, Merge): utilitarian electronica, whatever works to frame and fashion his pleasant and forgettable pop songs [r]: B+(**)
• Eric Church: The Outsiders (2014, Capitol Nashville): still one of Nashville's better singer-songwriters, except when working with Casey Beathard [r]: B+(*)
• Ron Di Salvio: Songs for Jazz Legends (2006 [2014], Blujazz): "Mingustino," "Bud's Blossom," "Mulligan's Stew," like that, for '50s-style vocal quartet [cd]: B
• Far East Movement: KTown Riot (2014, Interscope, EP): 5-cut EP, featuring monster funk grooves and guest rappers not quite up to them [r]: B+(*)
• Fucked Up: Glass Boys (2014, Matador): post-hardcore vocal snarl, but the turbulent music is subtler with a sense of popcraft [r]: B+(**)
• Johnny Griffith: Dance With the Lady (2014, GB): name reminds you of Johnny Griffin, and so does his sax; hard bop quintet with Jeremy Pelt [cd]: B+(*)
• David Guetta: Listen (2014, Atlantic): hit producer trades quality for quantity, finds he strikes out more often than not; we find that annoying [r]: B
• Grünen [Achim Kaufmann/Robert Landfermann/Christian Lillinger]: Pith & Twig (2012-13 [2014], Clean Feed): German avant-piano trio, led by Achim Kaufmann but bass and drums play a fully equal role, lots of flex [cd]: B+(***)
• Hookworms: The Hum (2014, Weird World): Brit drone band with catchy melodies and pop hooks, would be even more impressive with less organ on top [r]: B+(***)
• Hurray for the Riff Raff: Small Town Heroes (2014, ATO): surprised to see this worthy New Orleans folkie pop up on so many UK EOY lists [r]: B+(**)
• Jonas Kullhammar: Gentlemen (2014, Moserobie): Swedish saxophonist plays extra nice with Bernt Rosengren joining in, sort of like Sonny and Hawk [cd]: A-
• Michel Lambert: Journal des Épisodes II (1992-2014 [2014], Jazz From Rant): 97 fragments from a journal, most piano trio, some strings, nicely interleaved [cd]: B+(***)
• Nikki Lane: All or Nothin' (2014, New West): alt-country singer, short of voice, makes up with songs looking for right time to do wrong thing [r]: B+(*)
• Luis Lopes Lisbon Berlin Trio: The Line (2014, Clean Feed): electric guitarist, plays the feedback as much as the guitar, w/bass-drums from Grunen [cd]: A-
• Brian Lynch and Emmet Cohen: Questioned Answer (2012 [2014], Hollistic Musicworks): trumpet-piano quartet (Boris Kozlov, Billy Hart), more in common than they think [r]: B+(**)
• Wolfgang Muthspiel: Driftwood (2013 [2014], ECM): guitar trio turns down the heat, busts up the groove, as if looking for his inner Ralph Towner [dl]: B+(*)
• Naomi Punk: Television Man (2014, Captured Tracks): math rock trio, loud, a little stilted, but isn't spasticky just an awkward stage of youth? [r]: B
• Old Crow Medicine Show: Remedy (2014, ATO): Virginia band, grew up on grunge but found they could play fiddle and banjo faster and louder [r]: B+(**)
• Old Style Sextet (2014, Blujazz): Illinois music profs, young enough to think trad jazz was invented in the 1960s, mostly by Art Blakey [cd]: B+(*)
• Parker Abbott Trio: The Wayfinders (2012-13 [2014], self-released): Toronto keybs by Teri Parker and Simeon Abbott (plus drummer), somewhat more than pop jazz [cd]: B
• Peaking Lights: Cosmic Logic (2014, Weird World): husband-wife duo make lo-fi synth pop, neither here nor there but not without plain appeal [r]: B+(***)
• Rich Pellegrin Quintet: Episodes IV-VI (2014, OA2): pianist-led hard bop quintet with some postbop tricks, horns shine, surprises scarce [r]: B+(*)
• Louis Sclavis Quartet: Silk and Salt Memories (2014, ECM): French clarinetist, has drawn on Euro-folk in the past and wanders east here [dl]: B+(***)
• Brandon Seabrook: Sylphid Vitalizers (2014, New Atlantis): banjo/guitar shredder wreaks havoc solo, give or take Dr. Vitalizer's drum programming [r]: B+(*)
• Sleaford Mods: Chubbed Up (2013-14 [2014], Ipecac): odds and sods from bitter, angry, sarcastic, not exactly cynical Brit neo-punk duo [r]: B+(***)
• Sam Smith: In the Lonely Hour (2014, Capitol): young Brit has doo-wop vocal chops, but torturing songs doesn't make them soulful [r]: B-
• The Soundcarriers: Entropicalia (2014, Ghost Box): Brit group, more prog/psych than anything else, no feel for the jungle, but garish and fun [r]: B+(**)
• Sunny Sweeney: Provoked (2014, Aunt Daddy): Nashville striver with a chip: "here's to the working class, everyone else can kiss my ass" [r]: B+(*)
• Mark Turner Quartet: Lathe of Heaven (2013 [2014], ECM): saxophonist gains strength, but the two-horn quartet format could use a hotter trumpet [dl]: B+(**)
• Marcin Wasilewski Trio w/Joakim Milder: Spark of Life (2014, ECM): renowned Polish piano trio (Kurkiewicz! Miskiewicz!) adds sax appeal [dl]: A-
• Bill Watrous/Pete Christlieb/Carl Saunders/The Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra: A Beautiful Friendship (2014, Summit): semi-stars join the latter's big band [r]: B
• Young Thug & DJ Swamp Izzo: I Came From Nothing (2011, self-released): [r]: B+(*)
• Young Thug: I Came From Nothing 2 (2011, self-released): [r]: B+(*)
• Young Thug: I Came From Nothing 3 (2012, self-released): [r]: B+(***)
• Young Thug/Rich Homie Quan/Birdman: Birdman Presents Rich Gang: The Tour Pt. 1 (2014, Cash Money): [r]: B+(*)

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

• Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian: Hamburg '72 (1972 [2014], ECM): recaptured bootleg honors the late greats, shows off a minor sax genius [dl]: A-
• Salsa de la Bahia: A Collection of SF Area Salsa and Latin Jazz: Vol. 2, Hoy Y Ayer (1983-2013 [2014], Patois, 2CD): not where I'd go looking for boogaloo, but makes a case for respecting the SF Latin scene [cd]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Friends & Neighbors: Hymn for a Hungry Nation (Clean Feed)
• Grünen [Achim Kaufmann/Robert Landfermann/Christian Lillinger]: Pith & Twig (Clean Feed)
• Justin Kauflin: Dedication (Qwest/Jazz Village): January 13
• Luis Lopes Lisbon Berlin Trio: The Line (Clean Feed)
• Vance Thompson's Five Plus Six: Such Sweet Thunder (Shade Street): January 6
• Velkro: Don't Wait for the Revolution (Clean Feed)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Music: Current count 24067 [24030] rated (+37), 519 [527] unrated (-8).

The high rated count comes from hustling for last week's Rhapsody Streamnotes. More generally, I'm trying to sort out year-end lists -- the working files are here for jazz and non-jazz. By some quirk of fate, both lists currently have 55 A-list albums. I think in past years I've had a fair amount more records in the jazz column, but I'm getting less and less jazz these days. For instance, Tim Niland, whose blog a few years back ran very parallel to mine, posted his Jazz Critics Poll ballot today, and his top-ten includes four records I haven't heard (John Zorn, Audio One, Lean Left, and Brandon Seabrook), and two more I didn't receive (Chicago Underground Duo, Raoul Björkenheim).

I haven't seen much else in the way of year-end lists, although they should start appearing any day now (indeed: Mojo: Beck, War on Drugs, Sleaford Mods, Jack White, St. Vincent, Steve Gunn; Q: War on Drugs, Alt-J, Damon Albarn, Manic Street Preachers, Beck, St. Vincent; American Songwriter: Sturgill Simpson, War on Drugs, Strand of Oaks, Taylor Swift, Ryan Adams, Hurray for the Riff Raff, St. Vincent at 21). Still don't have a plan on how to do a year-end list metacritic file, but thinking about it.

Did some resorting on the year-end lists, resulting in a couple of grade promotions. I'm not able to find time to play many of my favorite records after rating, but Revolutionary Snake Ensemble and Jenny Scheinman have been exceptions.

New records rated this week:

• Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra: Pulsion (2014, Ubiquity): misnomers all around, closer to electric Miles Davis than anything else, maybe denser [r]: B+(***)
• Eric Bibb: Blues People (2014, Stony Plain): soft-spoken blues archaeologist spreads his net wide, comes up with mixed bag (maybe the guests?) [r]: B+(*)
• Big Freedia: Just Be Free (2014, Queen Diva): New Orleans bounce artist, bangs his rap rhymes so hard they double for beats [r]: B+(*)
• Chumped: Teenage Retirement (2014, Anchorless): punkish group fronted by Anika Pyle, cuts through the gloom, give this a fresh face [r]: A-
• Dee Daniels: Intimate Conversations (2012 [2014], Origin): standards singer takes it slow, gets little mileage out of a star-studded backing band [cd]: B-
• Deerhoof: La Isla Bonita (2014, Polyvinyl): polymorphuously perverse noise-pop band thinks of Madonna; for once their twists aren't so ridiculous [r]: B+(**)
• Michael Denhoff/Ulrich Phillipp/Jörg Fischer: Trio Improvisations for Campanula, Bass and Percussion (2014, Sporeprint, 2CD): for campanula (a tricked-up cello), bass, and drums [cd]: B+(***)
• Paul Dietrich Quintet: We Always Get There (2013 [2014], Blujazz): Chicago trumpeter plays conventional postbop, with tenor sax, piano, Bjork cover [cd]: B+(*)
• Ani DiFranco: Allergic to Water (2014, Righteous Babe): staying happy in New Orleans, music not lazy or indifferent, but no tilting at windmills either [r]: B+(*)
• Expansions: The Dave Liebman Group: Samsara (2013 [2014], Whaling City Sound): Dave Liebman's new quintet, with second reedist (Matt Vashlishan), Bobby Avey on piano, adventurous postbop [cd]: B+(*)
• Bryan Ferry: Avonmore (2014, BMG): title plays off Ferry's last triumph, but that was 1982; you can't go home, just dream wistfully about it [r]: B+(*)
• David Friesen Circle 3 Trio: Where the Light Fails (2013 [2014], Origin, 2CD): bassist-led piano trio, plus guitarist Larry Koonse enough to mix it up [cd]: B+(**)
• Danny Green Trio: After the Calm (2014, OA2): postbop piano trio, works on that Latin tinge thing, finds it often enough [cd]: B+(**)
• Lefteris Kordis: "Oh Raven, If You Only Had Brains . . .": Songs for Aesop's Fables (2010 [2012], Inner Circle Music): Aesop's fables scored whimsically, narrated, way too often divafied [cd]: B
• Kronomorfic [David Borgo & Paul Pellegrin]: Entangled (2013 [2014], OA2): long suite, engaging postbop, septet/octet/more led by David Borgo (sax) and Paul Pellegrin (drums) [cd]: B+(*)
• Little Dragon: Nabuma Rubberband (2014, Republic): bland Swedish electropop fronted by exotically named but also bland singer (Yukimi Nagano) [cd]: B
• Low Society: You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down (2014, Icehouse): nor can you shut up a Janis Joplin wannabe, not one so armed with '60s blues licks [r]: B+(*)
• Thurston Moore: The Best Day (2014, Matador): thinner and lighter than your average Sonic Youth album, better for the austere/luxurious guitar [r]: A-
• Naked Wolf (2014, El Negocito): Dutch group, instrumental passages show jazz prowess but vocals move this into rock, at least skronk [r]: B+(*)
• The New Basement Tapes: Lost on the River (2014, Island): T-Bone's friends add music to Dylan lyrics, the last gasp of a Woody Guthrie wannabe [r]: B+(*)
• Sam Newsome: The Straight Horn of Africa: A Path to Liberation [The Art of the Soprano, Vol. 2] (2014, self-released): more art of the soprano, helped by drums and good humor ("Good Golly Miss Mali") [cd]: A-
• Jim Norton Collective: Time Remembered: Compositions of Bill Evans (2013 [2014], Origin): Bill Evans arranged for an almost-big band, lush with lots of lovely detail [cd]: B+(**)
• Pink Floyd: The Endless River (2014, Rhino): absence makes the heart grow fonder, especially since the samples revive much of the band's heyday [r]: B+(*)
• Plymouth: Plymouth (2014, Rare Noise): Jamie Saft project so the organ runs roughshod over avant guitars (Joe Morris, Mary Halvorson), not your old soul jazz [r]: B+(*)
• Serengeti: Kenny Dennis III (2014, Joyful Noise): third round with the Chicago rapper's fictional mentor, pretty much the same story as last time [r]: A-
• Noura Mint Seymali: Tzenni (2014, Glitterbeat): griot nobility from Mauritania, conjures up a trance groove for Paris as well as Timbuktu [r]: B+(**)
• Brian Swartz & the Gnu Sextet: Portraiture (2014, Summit): mainstream postbop, but Swartz's trumpet shines bright, and the rhythm swings some [cd]: B+(**)
• Natsuki Tamura/Alexander Frangenheim: Nax (2013 [2014], Creative Sources): duets, scratchy avant trumpet and inscrutable double bass [cd]: B+(*)
• Temples: Sun Structures (2014, Fat Possum): Brit psychedelia, flashback to '60s guitar drone around great clarity with King Crimson flashes [r]: B+(*)
• TV on the Radio: Seeds (2014, Harvest): fifth album, full of arena-scale grandeur but avoiding pomposity, a good sign but not enough to care [r]: B
• Piet Verbist/Zygomatik: Cattitude (2014, Origin): Belgian bassist leads quintet w/two saxes -- the baritone is strategic -- and electric keyb [cd]: B+(**)
• Jessie Ware: Tough Love (2014, Interscope): Brit pop singer masquerading as a soft soul sister; good enough at that, but still looking for a hit [r]: B+(*)

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

• Peter Brötzmann/Sonny Sharrock: Whatthefuckdoyouwant (1987 [2014], Trost): you're in the wrong house if you expect them to turn it down or make nice [r]: B+(**)
• Illinois Jacquet/Leo Parker: Toronto 1947 (1947 [2013], Uptown): who says honking r&b sax is incompatible with the breakthroughs of bebop? [r]: B+(***)
• Howard McGhee: West Coast 1945-1947 (1945-47 [2013], Uptown): weird scenes from the birth pangs of bebop, with Teddy Edwards, Sonny Criss, Hampton Hawes [r]: B+(**)

Old records rated this week:

• Club Ska '67 (1967 [1980], Mango): 1980 Mango LP catches up on reggae's backstory, one key year anyway [dl]: A-

Grade changes:

• The Coathangers: Suck My Shirt (2014, Suicide Squeeze): [was: B+(**)] A-
• Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: Live Snakes (2014, Accurate): [was: A-] A
• Jenny Scheinman: The Littlest Prisoner (2014, Masterworks): [was: A-] A

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Akua Dixon: Akua Dixon (Akua's Music): January 13
• Red Garland Trio: Swingin' on the Korner (1977, Elemental Music, 2CD): January 20
• Johnny Griffith: Dance With the Lady (GB)
• Manu Katché: Live in Concert (ACT): January 15
• Jonas Kullhammar: Gentlemen (Moserobie)
• Wolff & Clark Expedition: Expedition 2 (Random Act): advance, February 24

Ask a question, or send a comment.

prev -- next