Blog Entries [710 - 719]

Monday, June 12, 2017

Music Week

Music: Current count 28254 [28225] rated (+29), 385 [383] unrated (+2).

Barely less than the thirty that for me marks a productive week, but close enough, especially given that my cutoff for the week's report was relatively early, and since then I'm already as I write this up to seven records for next week. I've continued to add items to the Music Tracking file, especially from early "so far" lists (although I ran out of patience when I tried to scoop up the 2017 jazz review list from All About Jazz). I've been picking promising (well, in some cases just much touted) records from the list, and getting the usual hit-and-miss results. I found two A- records there: a rapper who surprised me, and a pop star who still sounded convincing after four plays. The hardest call was the Mountain Goats' Goths, which probably got six plays without clearly making the grade -- still, a damn nice album. Two records I didn't spend much time on but you might turn out to be more to your taste: MUNA and Jay Som.

The other A- is American Epic: The Soundtrack, which is the tip of an iceberg that includes much more I haven't found time to deal with, notably a 5-CD box and a bunch of individual artist compilations for genres (Blues, Country) and artists I already have serviceable anthologies by (Carter Family, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie Johnson, Leadbelly, Memphis Jug Band). Chances are any of those would do you well. But the box is a lot to focus on coming off the computer, and I wouldn't be able to review the doc -- always important with reissues -- without actually getting my hands on the product. As for the original music, I haven't seen the PBS shows, and don't know where to begin. The whole thing is much like the Ken Burns jazz and Martin Scorsese blues campaigns, except I'm much less engaged.

As for the mid-year lists (and obviously we're still close to a month shy), so I'm working from a short and arbitrary sample. Without resorting to math, I'll give you my subjective impression of how this list would shape up if we had more data. Also, I've included my grades, where known, in brackets:

  1. Kendrick Lamar: Damn (Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope) [A-]
  2. Sampha: Process (Young Turks) [*]
  3. The XX: I See You (Young Turks) [A-]
  4. Father John Misty: Pure Comedy (Sub Pop)
  5. Syd: Fin (Columbia) [A-]
  6. Run the Jewels: Run the Jewels 3 (Run the Jewels) [A-]
  7. Mount Eerie: A Crow Looked at Me (PW Elverum & Sun) [*]
  8. Drake: More Life (Young Money/Cash Money) [*]
  9. Spoon: Hot Thoughts (Matador) [***]
  10. Thundercat: Drunk (Brainfeeder) [*]
  11. Migos: Culture (QC/YRN/300) [***]
  12. Jay Som: Everybody Works (Polyvinyl) [*]
  13. Khalid: American Teen (Right Hand/RCA) [A-]
  14. Perfume Genius: No Shape (Matador) [B-]
  15. Chris Stapleton: From a Room: Volume 1 (Mercury Nashville) [***]
  16. Slowdive: Slowdive (Dead Oceans) [*]
  17. Dirty Projectors: Dirty Projectors (Domino)
  18. Jens Lekman: Life Will See You Now (Secretly Canadian) [***]
  19. Laura Marling: Semper Femina (More Alarming) [*]
  20. The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (Nonesuch) [B-]

The top slot is a slam dunk. The next three could go any way, with XX a clear leader in UK, Misty in US, and Sampha broader (but not so deep) everywhere. I think RTJ3 is underrepresented, probably because its release straddled the New Year. The sample is skewed toward hip-hop, so I tended to slide those records back a bit (especially Drake, which showed up on the third most lists). Also I pushed Christgau favorites Lekman and Magnetic Fields up (onto) the list (the latter quite a bit, but also note that its Metacritic score is very high).

Some other, somewhat less likely, possibilities: Ryan Adams: The Prisoner; Arca [B]; Joey Bada$$: All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ [A-]; Cloud Nothings: Life Without Sound [**]; Future: Hndrxx; (Sandy) Alex G: Rocket; Japandroids: Near to the Wild Heart of Life [**]; Kehlani: SweetSexySavage [*]; The New Pornographers: Whiteout Conditions [***]; Paramore: After Laughter [***]; Priests: Nothing Feels Natural [**]. Also on my "first pass" list: Mary J. Blige: Strength of a Woman [***]; Julie Byrne: Not Even Happiness; Charly Bliss: Guppy; Feist: Pleasure [B]; Future Islands: The Far Field; Girlpool: Powerplant [B]; Gorillaz: Humanz; Jlin: Black Origami [**]; Aimee Mann: Mental Illness; Rick Ross: Rather You Than Me; Sorority Noise: You're Not as ___ as Your Think; Stormzy: Gang Signs & Prayer [*].

More 2017 best of (so far) lists:

I should also note that Robert Christgau has a review of several books by Terry Eagleton: With a God on His Side.

New records rated this week:

  • Joey Bada$$: All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ (2017, Pro Era/Cinematic): [r]: A-
  • Chicano Batman: Freedom Is Free (2017, ATO): [r]: B-
  • Bill Cunliffe: BACHanalia (2013-16 [2017], Metre): [cd]: B-
  • Joey DeFrancesco and the People: Project Freedom (2017, Mack Avenue): [r]: B+(**)
  • Drake: More Life (2017, Young Money/Cash Money): [r]: B+(*)
  • Art Fristoe Trio: Double Down (2017, Merry Lane, 2CD): [cd]: B
  • Gabriel Garzón-Montano: Jardin (2017, Stones Throw): [r]: B
  • Terry Gibbs: 92 Years Young: Jammin' at the Gibbs House (2016 [2017], Whaling City Sound): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Japandroids: Near to the Wild Heart of Life (2017, Anti-): [r]: B+(**)
  • J.I.D: The Never Story (2017, Dreamville/Interscope): [r]: B+(***)
  • Brian McCarthy Nonet: The Better Angels of Our Nature (2016 [2017], Truth Revolution): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Charnett Moffett: Music From Our Soul (2017, Motéma): [r]: B+(***)
  • Kyle Motl: Solo Contrabass (2016 [2017], self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
  • The Mountain Goats: Goths (2017, Merge): [r]: B+(***)
  • MUNA: About U (2017, RCA): [r]: B+(*)
  • The Necks: Unfold (2017, Ideologic Organ): [r]: B+(***)
  • Larry Newcomb Quartet With Bucky Pizzarelli: Living Tribute (2016 [2017], Essential Messenger): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Jay Som: Everybody Works (2017, Polyvinyl): [r]: B+(*)
  • Dayna Stephens: Gratituge (2017, Contagious Music): [r]: B+(**)
  • Becca Stevens: Regina (2017, GroundUp): [r]: B-
  • Matthew Stevens: Preverbal (2017, Ropeadope): [r]: B
  • Dylan Taylor: One in Mind (2015-16 [2017], Blujazz): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Urbanity: Urban Soul (2017, Alfi): [cd]: B
  • Shea Welsh: Arrival (2017, Blujazz): [cd]: B-
  • Wire: Silver/Lead (2017, Pinkflag): [r]: B+(*)
  • Charlie Watts/The Danish Radio Big Band: Charlie Watts Meets the Danish Radio Big Band (2010 [2017], Impulse): [r]: B+(**)
  • Charli XCX: Number 1 Angel (2017, Asylum): [r]: A-

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

  • American Epic: The Soundtrack ([2017], Columbia/Third Man/Legacy): [r]: A-
  • Alice Coltrane: The Ecstatic Music of Turiyasangitananda [World Spirituality Classics 1] (1982-95 [2017], Luaka Bop): [r]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Steve Bilodeau: The Sun Through the Rain (self-released)
  • Burning Ghosts: Reclamation (Tzadik): advance
  • The Four Bags: Waltz (NCM East)
  • Kate Gentile: Mannequins (Skirl)
  • The Great Harry Hillman: Tilt (Cuneiform): cdr
  • Dave Liebman/Joe Lovano: Compassion: The Music of John Coltrane (2007, Resonance): June 16
  • Molly Miller Trio: The Shabby Road Recordings (self-released)
  • Ed Neumeister & His NeuHat Ensemble: Wake Up Call (MeisteroMusic): July 15
  • Jeremy Rose: Within & Without (Earshift Music)
  • Samo Salamon Sextet: The Colours Suite (Clean Feed)
  • The Vampires: The Vampires Meet Lionel Loueke (Earshift Music)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Weekend Roundup

Started this on Saturday and finished before midnight on Sunday, so quick work given all the crap I ran into. If I had to summarize it, I'd start by pointing out that as demented as Trump seems personally, the real damage is coming from his administration, his executive orders, and the Republican Congress, and all of that is a very logical progression from their rightward drift since the 1970s. To paint a picture, if you're bothered by all the flies buzzing and maggots squirming, focus first on the rotting carcasses that are feeding them. Secondly, America's forever war in the Middle East seems to have entered an even more surreal level, which again can be traced back to a bunch of unexamined assumptions about friends and enemies and how we relate to them that ultimately make no sense whatsoever. The simplest solution would be to withdraw from the region (and possibly the rest of the world) completely, at least until we get our shit together, which doesn't seem likely soon. That's largely because we've come to tolerate a political and economic system of all-against-all, where we feel no social solidarity, where we tolerate all kinds of lying, cheating, and gaming -- anything that lets fortunate people get ahead of and away from the rest of us. Last week's UK election suggests an alternative, but while the votes there were tantalizingly close, the resolution is still evasive -- probably because not enough of us are clear enough on why we need help.

Meanwhile. this is what I gleaned from the week that was, starting with a summary piece I could have fit several places below, but it works as an intro here: Matthew Yglesias: The week, explained: Comey, Corbyn, Qatar, and more -- Obamacare repeal, debt ceiling. I don't doubt that the section on Qatar is true, but still don't really understand it (nor, clearly, does Trump: see Zeshan Aleem: Trump just slammed US ally Qatar an hour after his administration defended it; also Juan Cole: Tillerson-Trump Rumble over Qatar shows White House Divisions; Richard Silverstein: All's Not Well in Sunnistan; also Vijay Prashad: ISIS Wins, as Trump Sucks Up to the Saudis, and Launches Destructive Fight with Qatar; and perhaps most authoritatively, Richard Falk: Interrogating the Qatar rift; more on Qatar below).

The UK held its "snap election" on Thursday, electing a new parliament (House of Commons, anyway) and, effectively, prime minister. Conservative (Tory) Party leader Theresa May called the election, hoping to increase her party's slim majority -- a result that must have seemed certain given polls at the time. But after a month or so of campaigning -- why can't we compress American elections like that? -- the Tories lost their majority, but will still be able to form a razor-thin majority by allying with the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party, a right-wing party which holds 10 seats in Northern Ireland). The results: 318 Conservative (-12), 262 Labour (+30), 35 SNP (Scottish National Party, -21), 12 Liberal Democrats (+4), 10 DUP (+2), 13 others (-2). The popular vote split was 42% Conservative, 40% Labour (up from 30% with Ed Miliband in 2015, 29% with Gordon Brown in 2010, and 35% for Tony Blair's winning campaign in 2005 -- almost as good as Blair's 40.7% in 2001).

As victory margins go, the Tories are no more impressive than Trump's Republicans in 2016, but like Trump and the Republicans they've seized power and can do all sorts of horrible things with it. Still, this is widely viewed as a major, perhaps crippling setback for May and party. And while it doesn't invalidate last year's Brexit referendum, it comes at the time when the UK and EU are scheduled to begin negotiations on exactly how the UK and EU will relate to each other during and after separation.

Perhaps more importantly, the gains for Labour should (but probably won't) end the charges that Jeremy Corbyn is too far left to win an election. At the same time the business-friendly New Democrats (e.g., Clinton and Gore) took over the Democratic Party in the 1990s, the similarly-minded Tony Blair refashioned New Labour into a neoliberal powerhouse in the UK. Both movement proved successful, but over the long haul did immense damage to the parties' rank-and-file, who were trapped as opposition parties moved ever further to the right. After New Labour finally crashed, Corbyn ran for party leader, won in a stunning grassroots campaign, and faced down a mutiny by surviving Labour MPs by again rallying the rank-and-file. The result is that this time Labour actually stood for something, and the fact that they improved their standing rebukes the Blair-Clinton strategy of winning by surrendering. We, of course, hear the same complaints about Bernie Sanders. It may well be that the majority is not yet ready for "revolution," but voters (especially young ones) are getting there, and many more are rejecting the NDP/NLP strategy appeasement.

Some scattered UK election links:

And the usual scattered links on this week's Trump scandals:

  • Dean Baker: Trump Versus Ryan: The Race to Eliminate the Federal Government: Another piece on Trump's budget. It bears repeating that the real reason conservatives seek to shrink government is that they want people to forget that the government is there to serve them, and that with integrity and a sense of public service government can make their lives better. So anything they can do to make government look bad works to their favor. And, of course, they don't apply their pitch lines to the parts of government they not only like but depend on to maintain their privilege. On a related issue, see William Rivers Pitt: We Are Not Broke: Trashing the Austerity Lies. One of their favorite pitches is that we can't afford to do things (yet somehow we manage to spend a trillion dollars on a war machine that does little but blowback).

  • Peter Baker/Maggie Haberman: Trump Grows Discontented With Attorney General Jeff Sessions: Trump may have thought he was appointing a loyalist who would make his legal problems go away, but all he got was a racist/right-wing ideologist who recognizes there are still some limits to how much he can undermine America's system of justice.

  • Moustafa Bayoumi: Trump's Twitter attacks on Sadiq Khan reveal how pitiful the president is

  • Mohamad Bazzi: The Trump Administration Could Provoke Yet Another Mideast War: "Trump has emboldened a recklessly aggressive Saudi government, which is now destroying Yemen, imposing a blockade on Qatar -- and could even stumble into a war with Iran." Long piece on how "the Saud dynasty views itself as the rightful leader of the Muslim world" and how that view leads them into conflicts with Iran, all secular Arab nationalists, and challengers (like the Muslim Brotherhood) and pretenders (like ISIS). A little short on exactly why the Saudis turned on Qatar, another rich autocracy which has turned into a rival by becoming even more prone to intervention:

    Aside from their anger toward Iran, the Sauds were also enraged by Qatar's support for the revolutions in Tunisia, Libya, and especially Egypt, where Qatar became a primary backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, which in 2012 won the first free elections in Egypt's modern history. (Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates later backed an Egyptian military coup, in July 2013, against the government of President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader.) The Sauds were already irritated at Qatar for pursuing an independent foreign policy and trying to increase its influence after the regional turmoil unleashed by the US invasion of Iraq. And, like other Arab monarchs and autocrats, the Sauds disdained Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite network, which was critical of the monarchies and supported the uprisings in 2011.

  • Shawn Boburg: Trump's lawyer in Russia probe has clients with Kremlin ties

  • Gilad Edelman: Trump's Plan to Make Government Older, More Expensive, and More Dysfunctional: "Slashing federal employees doesn't save money. It just makes the government more dependent on private contractors and more prone to colossal screw-ups."

  • Robert Greenwald: Trump Is Sending a Murderer to Do a Diplomat's Job: "Trump just put Michael D'Andrea -- the man who invented so-called 'signature drone strikes' -- to head up intelligence operations in Iran. Probably pure coincidence that almost immediately Tehran was hit by an ISIS terror bomb attack (see Juan Cole: ISIL Hits Tehran; Trump Blames Victim, Iran Hard-Liners Blame Saudis -- who probably blame Qatar, a country they've broken relations with while suggesting they have ties to Iranian terrorists). Also, Richard Silverstein asks Iran Terror Attack: Who Gains? And then there's this: US Congressman suggests his country should back ISIS against Iran following Tehran attacks: That's Dana Rorhbacher (R-CA).

  • Mark Karlin: Organizations Representing Corporations Pass Regressive Legislation in the Shadows: Interview with Gordon Lafer, who wrote The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time. One reason Republicans have spent so heavily at taking over state legislatures is that they can use that power base for cultivating corporate favors. For an excerpt from Lafer's book, see Corporate Lobbies Attack the Public Interest in State Capitols.

  • Anne Kim: Deconstructing the Administrative State: "Donald Trump promises that his deregulatory agenda will lead to a boom in jobs. The real effect will be the opposite."

  • Naomi Klein: The Worst of Donald Trump's Toxic Agenda Is Lying in Wait -- A Major US Crisis Will Unleash It: Long piece, adapted from Klein's new book, No Is Not Enough: Resisting Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need.

  • Paul Krugman: Wrecking the Ship of State: Also see Jacob Sugarman's more pointed comments: If You Think the United States Is a Disaster Now, Just Wait.

  • Mike Ludwig: Pulling Out of the Paris Climate Pact, Trump Is Building a Wall Around Himself

  • Josh Marshall: Trump's Saudi Arms Deal Is Actually Fake: $110 billion in arms sales -- think of all the jobs (well, actually not that many, and not working on anything valuable in itself, like infrastructure). But:

    The $110 price tag advertised by the Trump White House includes no actual contracts, no actual sales. Instead it is made up of a bundle of letters of intent, statements of interest and agreements to think about it. In other words, rather than a contract, it's more like a wishlist: an itemized list of things the Saudis might be interested in if the price of oil ever recovers, if they start more wars and things the US would like to sell the Saudis. . . .

    As I said, it's remarkably like the Trump-branded phony job announcements: earlier plans, themselves not committed to, rebranded as new decisions, with the Saudis happy to go along with the charade to curry favor with the President who loves whoever showers praise on him.

    Also, as the Bazzi piece above notes, "From 2009 to 2016, Obama authorized a record $115 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia, far more than any previous administration. (Of that total, US and Saudi officials inked formal deals worth about $58 billion, and Washington delivered $14 billion worth of weaponry from 2009 to 2015.)"

  • Ruth Marcus: Why Comey's testimony was utterly devastating to Trump: This was the story Washington insiders obsessed about all week. Everyone has an opinion, so I should probably just drop into second-tier bullets and let you figure it out (if you care):

  • Jim Newell: Trumpcare Is on the March: "GOP Senators have quietly retooled a Trumpcare bill that could pass." This was also noted by Zoë Carpenter: Senate Republicans Hope You Won't Notice They're About to Repeal Obamacare. Also, in case you need a refresher: Alex Henderson: 9 of the most staggeringly awful statements Republicans have made about health care just this year:

    1. Raul Labrador claims that no one dies from lack of health insurance in the U.S.
    2. Rep. Jason Chaffetz compares cost of health care to cost of iPhones
    3. Warren Davidson's message to the sick and dying: Get a better job
    4. Mo Brooks equates illness with immorality
    5. Mick Mulvaney vilifies diabetics as lazy and irresponsible
    6. Roger Marshall claims that America's poor "just don't want health care"
    7. President Trump praises Australian health care system, failing to understand why it's superior
    8. Steve Scalise falsely claims that Trumpcare does not discriminate against preexisting conditions
    9. Ted Cruz, Jim Jordan claim Canadians are coming to U.S. in droves for health care, without a shred of evidence

  • Ben Norton: Emails Expose How Saudi Arabia and UAE Work the US Media to Push for War

  • Jonathan O'Connell: Foreign payments to Trump's businesses are legally permitted, argues Justice Department: Something else Trump "hoped" the DOJ would see his way.

  • Daniel Politi: Afghan Soldier Opens Fire on US Troops, Kills Three Service Members: I first heard this story from a TV report, where VP Mike Pence was proclaiming the dead soldiers "heroes" and no one mentioned that the shooter was a supposed ally. Now we hear that the shooter was a Taliban infiltrator. However, note another same day report: US Air Raid Kills Several Afghan Border Police in Helmand. "Several" seems to be 10, and they were "patrolling too close to a Taliban base."

  • Nomi Prins: In Washington, Is the Glass(-Steagall) Half Empty or Half Full? Republicans in Congress are hard at work tearing down the paltry Dodd-Frank reforms that Congress put in place to make a repeat of the 2008 financial meltdown less likely -- it was, quite literally, the least they could do. The Wichita Eagle ran an op-ed today by our idiot Congressman Ron Estes and it gives you an idea what the sales pitch for the Finance CHOICE Act is going to be: Repealing Obama's regulatory nightmare. Republicans seem to think that all they have to do to discredit regulations is count them (or compile them in a binder and drop it on one's foot). As Estes put it, "The scale of regulations added is incredible. Dodd-Frank added almost 28,000 new rules, which is more than every other law passed under the Obama administration combined." He may be right that some of those regulations "hinder smaller local lenders" -- the Democrats' Wall Street money came from the top, and while they weren't fully satisfied (at least after they got bailed out), they did get consideration. Beyond that Estes spools out lie after lie -- the baldest is his promise that "consumers must be protected from fraud." (The first bullet item on Indivisible's What is the Financial CHOICE Act (HR 10)? says the act would: "Destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and obliterate consumer protections as we currently know them, including allowing banks to gouge consumers with credit card fees." One reason Dodd-Frank needed so many regulations was how many different ways banks could think of to screw consumers.

    Prins' article doesn't mention Financial CHOICE, but does mention a couple of mostly-Democratic bills to restore the separation concept of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. Arguably that isn't enough, but one can trace a direct line from the 1999 Glass-Steagall repeal (which was triggered by Citibank's merger with Traveler's Insurance -- a much smarter response would have been to prosecute Citibank's CEO and Board) to the 2008 meltdown and bailouts. Also see Paul Craig Roberts: Without a New Glass-Steagall America Will Fail.

  • Ned Resnikoff: Trump ends infrastructure week with some binder-themed prop comedy

  • Chris Riotta: Donald Trump Is Sputtering with Rage Behind the Closed Doors of the White House

  • Mica Rosenberg/Reade Levinson: Trump targets illegal immigrants who were given reprieves from deportation by Obama

  • Bill Scheft: Who in the hell is Scott Pruitt?! Everything you were afraid to ask about this suddenly important person

  • Derek Thompson: The Potemkin Policies of Donald Trump: Last week was "Infrastructure Week," during which he unveiled a plan to privatize air traffic control that the big airlines have been lobbying for quite a few years, and something about reducing environmental impact studies to no more than two pages, presumably by eliminating the study part. Trump has also been heard complaining that all the Russia investigations have gotten in the way of doing important work, like jobs, or terrorism, or something like that.

    The secret of the Trump infrastructure plan is: There is no infrastructure plan. Just like there is no White House tax plan. Just like there was no White House health care plan. More than 120 days into Trump's term in a unified Republican government, Trump's policy accomplishments have been more in the subtraction category (e.g., stripping away environmental regulations) than addition. The president has signed no major legislation and left significant portions of federal agencies unstaffed, as U.S. courts have blocked what would be his most significant policy achievement, the legally dubious immigration ban.

    The simplest summary of White House economic policy to date is four words long: There is no policy.

    To be sure, this void has partially been filled up with Paul Ryan's various plans -- wrecking health care, tax giveaways to the rich, undoing regulation of big banks, etc. -- which is the point when people finally realize just how much damage Trump and the Republicans are potentially capable of. So much so that the one thing I'm not going to fault Trump on is the stuff he's threatened but never tried to do. There's way too much bad stuff that he's done to shame him for not doing more. It used to be said that at least Mussolini got the trains to run on time. About the best Trump can hope for is to destroy all the schedules so no one can be sure whether they're on time or not.

  • Trevor Timm: ICE agents are out of control. And they are only getting worse.

  • Paul Woodward: Whatever we call Trump, he stinks just as bad: Reports that CNN fired Reza Aslan after a tweet about Trump, then hired former Trump campaign strategist Corey Lewandowski. For the record, here is Aslan's tweet:

    This piece of shit is not just an embarrassment to America and a stain on the presidency. He's an embarrassment to humankind.

    Woodward comments:

    Donald Trump is the embodiment and arguably purest distillation of vulgarity and yet the prissy gatekeepers of American mainstream-media civility have a problem when vulgar language is used to describe a vulgar man.

    What other kind of language is in any sense appropriate?

    There's no good answer to this. The fact is it's impossible to convey the extent and intensity to which I'm personally disgusted by Trump both in word and action, and I'm not alone. Sometimes I erupt with vulgarity. Sometimes I try to be clever. Most of the time I try to explain with some factual reference which should be self-evident. But nothing seems to break through the shell his supporters wear. Still, I can't blame anyone for trying. I can't blame Kathy Griffin for her severed head joke. (Actually, I smiled when I saw the picture, and that doesn't happen often these days. Then my second thought was, "that's too good for him.") But I don't like getting too personal about Trump, because regardless of how crass he seems, the real problems with his politics are much more widespread, and in many cases he's just following his company around. So that's why I'd object to Aslan's tweet: it narrows its target excessively. Still, I wouldn't fire him. He's got a voice that's grounded in some reasonable principles -- more than you can say for "the tweeter-in-chief."

  • Stephen M Walt: Making the Middle East Worse, Trump-Style: I've lodged a number of links on the Saudi-Qatari pissfest, the ISIS-Iran terror, and the long-lasting Israel-Palestine conflict elsewhere in this post, and apologize for not taking the time to straighten them out. But this didn't fit clearly as a footnote to any of those: it's more like the core problem, so I figured I should list it separately. Walt continues to be plagued by his conceit that the US has real interests in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world other than supporting peace, justice, and broad-based prosperity, so what he's looking for here is a "balance of power" division, something Trump is truly clueless about.

    I don't think Trump cares one way or the other about Israelis or Palestinians (if he did, why would he assign the peace process to his overworked, inexperienced, and borderline incompetent son-in-law?) but jumping deeper into bed with Saudi Arabia and Egypt isn't going to produce a breakthrough.

    The folly of Trump's approach became clear on Monday, when (Sunni) Saudi Arabia and five other Sunni states suddenly broke relations with (Sunni) Qatar over a long-simmering set of policy disagreements. As Robin Wright promptly tweeted, "So much for #Trump's Arab coalition. It lasted less than two weeks." Trump's deep embrace of Riyadh didn't cause the Saudi-Qatari rift -- though he typically tried to take credit for it with some ill-advised tweets -- but this dispute exposed the inherent fragility of the "Arab NATO" that Trump seems to have envisioned. Moreover, taking sides in the Saudi-Qatari rift could easily jeopardize U.S. access to the vital airbase there, a possibility Trump may not even have known about when he grabbed his smartphone. And given that Trump's State Department is sorely understaffed and the rest of his administration is spending more time starting fires than putting them out, the United States is in no position to try to mend the rift and bring its putative partners together.

    One completely obvious point is that if the US actually wanted to steer the region back toward some sort of multi-polar stability the first thing to do would be to thaw relations with Iran, and to make it clear to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Israel that we won't tolerate any sabotage on their part. The US then needs to negotiate a moderation of the efforts of all regional powers to project power or simply meddle in other nations' business (and, and this is crucial, to moderate its own efforts). Obviously, this is beyond the skill set of Trump, Kushner, et al. -- they're stuck in kneejerk reaction mode, as has been every American "tough guy" since (well before) 2001. But this isn't impossible stuff. All it really takes is some modesty, and a willingness to learn from past mistakes. Would Iran be receptive? Well, consider this:

    Last but not least, Trump's response to the recent terrorist attack in Tehran was both insensitive and strategically misguided. Although the State Department offered a genuine and sincere statement of regret, the White House's own (belated) response offered only anodyne sympathies and snarkily concluded: "We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote." A clearer case of "blaming the victim" would be hard to find, and all the more so given Trump's willingness to embrace regimes whose policies have fueled lots of terrorism in the past.

    Contrast this with how Iranian President Mohammad Khatami responded after 9/11: He offered his "condolences" and "deepest sorrow" for the American people and called the attack a "disaster" and "the ugliest form of terrorism ever seen." There was no hint of a lecture or snide schadenfreude in Khatami's remarks, even though it was obvious that the attacks were clearly a reaction (however cruel and unjustified) to prior U.S. actions. It is hard to imagine any modern American presidents responding as callously as Trump did.

  • Matthew Yglesias: The Bulshitter-in-Chief: "Donald Trump's disregard for the truth is something more minister than ordinary lying." Quotes philosopher Harry Frankfurt's essay "On Bullshit" for authority when making a distinction between bullshitting and lying, then gives plenty of examples (most familiar/memorable). One interesting bit here comes from Tyler Cowen: Why Trump's Staff Is Lying:

    By asking subordinates to echo his bullshit, Trump accomplishes two goals:

    • He tests the loyalty of his subordinates. In Cowen's words, "if you want to ascertain if someone is truly loyal to you, ask them to do something outrageous or stupid."
    • The other is that it turns his aides into members of a distinct tribe. "By requiring subordinates to speak untruths, a leader can undercut their independent standing, including their standing with the public, with the media and with other members of the administration."

    Sounds to me like how cults are formed. Yglesias continues:

    But the president doesn't want a well-planned communications strategy; he wants people who'll leap in front of the cameras to blindly defend whatever it is he says or does.

    And because he's the president of the United States, plenty of people are willing to oblige him. That starts with official communicators like Spicer, Conway (who simultaneously tries to keep her credibility in the straight world by telling Joe Scarborough she needs to shower after defending Trump), and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But there are also the informal surrogates. . . .

    House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes embarrassed himself but pleased Trump with a goofy effort to back up Trump's wiretapping claims. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who certainly knows better, sat next to Trump in an Economist interview and gave him totally undeserved credit for intimidating the Chinese on currency manipulation. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross hailed a small-time trade agreement with China consisting largely of the implementation of already agreed-upon measures as "more than has been done in the whole history of U.S.-China relations on trade."

    This kind of bullshit, like Trump's, couldn't possibly be intended to actually convince any kind of open-minded individual. It's a performance for an audience of one. A performance that echoes day and night across cable news, AM talk radio, and the conservative internet.

Plus a few other things that caught my eye:

  • Patrick Cockburn: Britain Refuses to Accept How Terrorists Really Work: After ISIS-claimed attacks in Manchester and London:

    When Jeremy Corbyn correctly pointed out that the UK policy of regime change in Iraq, Syria and Libya had destroyed state authority and provided sanctuaries for al-Qaeda and Isis, he was furiously accused of seeking to downplay the culpability of the terrorists. . . .

    There is a self-interested motive for British governments to portray terrorism as essentially home-grown cancers within the Muslim community. Western governments as a whole like to pretend that their policy blunders, notably those of military intervention in the Middle East since 2001, did not prepare the soil for al-Qaeda and Isis. This enables them to keep good relations with authoritarian Sunni states like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, which are notorious for aiding Salafi-jihadi movements. Placing the blame for terrorism on something vague and indefinable like "radicalisation" and "extremism" avoids embarrassing finger-pointing at Saudi-financed Wahhabism which has made 1.6 billion Sunni Muslims, a quarter of the world's population, so much more receptive to al-Qaeda type movements today than it was 60 years ago.

  • Eric Foner: The Continental Revolution: Review of Noam Maggor: Brahmin Capitalism: Frontiers of Wealth and Populism in America's First Gilded Age, about economic development following the US Civil War.

  • Thomas Frank: From rust belt to mill towns: a tale of two voter revolts: The author of What's the Matter With Kansas?, The Wrecking Crew, and Listen, Liberal tours Britain on the eve of the election. He doesn't predict the election very well, but he does notice things, like this:

    When I try to put my finger on exactly what separates Britain and America, a story I heard in a pub outside Sheffield keeps coming back to me. A man was telling me of how he had gone on vacation to Florida, and at one point stopped to refuel his car in a rural area. As he was standing there, an old man rode up to the gas station on a bicycle and started rummaging through a trash can. The Englishman asked him why he was doing this, and was astonished to learn the man was digging for empty cans in order to support his family.

    The story is unremarkable in its immediate details. People rummaging through trash for discarded cans is something that every American has seen many times. What is startling is that here's a guy in Yorkshire, a place we Americans pity for its state of perma-decline, relating this story to me in tones of incomprehension and even horror. He simply couldn't believe it. Left unasked was the obvious question: what kind of civilisation allows such a fate to befall its citizens? The answer, of course, is a society where social solidarity has almost completely evaporated.

    What most impressed me about the England I saw was the opposite: a feeling I encountered, again and again, that whatever happens, people are all in this together. Solidarity was one of the great themes after the terrorist bombing in Manchester, as the city came together around the victims in a truly impressive way, but it goes much further than that. It is the sense you get that the country is somehow obliged to help out the people of the deindustrialised zones and is failing in its duty. It is an understanding that every miner or job-seeker or person with dementia has a moral claim upon the rest of the English nation and its government. It is an assumption that their countrymen will come to their rescue if only they could hear their cries for help.

  • John Judis: What's Wrong With Our System of Global Trade and Finance: Interview with economist Dani Rodrik, who has written several books on globalization. The main thing I've learned from him is that when nations open up trade (and/or capital and/or labor flows), sensible ones recognize that there will be losers as well as winners and act to mitigate losses. The US, of course, isn't one of the sensible ones. And while Trump seems to recognize some of the losses, he doesn't have anything to offer that actually helps fix those problems. Still, he offers that some sort of real change needs to come:

    I think the change comes because the mainstream panics, and they come to feel that something has to be done. That's how capitalism has changed throughout its history. If you want to be optimistic, the good news is that capitalism has always reinvented itself. Look at the New Deal, look at the rise of the welfare state. These were things that were done to stave off panic or revolution or political upheaval. . . .

    So I think the powerful interests are reevaluating what their interest is. They are considering whether they have a greater interest in creating trust and credibility and rebuilding the social contract with their compatriots. That is how to get change to take place without a complete overhaul of the structure of power.

  • Christopher Lydon: Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy: An interview with Noam Chomsky.

  • Ed Pilkington: Puerto Rico votes again on statehood but US not ready to put 51st star on the flag; also Michelle Chen: The Bankers Behind Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis.

  • Matthew Rozsa: Kris Kobach, "voter fraud" vigilante, is now running for Kansas governor: He's been Kansas' Secretary of State since 2011, a fairly minor position whose purview includes making sure elections are run fairly, and to that end he's managed to get a "voter ID" bill passed, purge thousands of voters from the registration rolls, and prosecute perhaps a half dozen people for voting twice. Earlier he was best known as author of several anti-immigration bills, and he's continued to do freelance work writing far right-wing bills -- by the way, virtually all of the ones that have been passed have since been struck down as unconstitutional. He is, in short, a right-wing political agitator disguised as a lawyer, and is a remarkably bad one. He was the only Kansas politician to endorse Donald Trump, and he wrangled a couple job interviews during the transition, but came up empty. It's not clear whether Trump worried he might not be a team player (i.e., someone who sacrifices his own ideas to Trump's ego), or simply decided he was an asshole -- the binders he showed up with suggest both. Kobach launched his gubernatorial campaign with a ringing defense of Sam Brownback's tax cuts, which the state legislature had just repealed (overriding Brownback's veto). Rosza asks, "have the people of Kansas not suffered enough under Sam Brownback?" Good question. Although he's by far the most famous (or notorious) candidate, and he ran about 4 points above Brownback in their 2014 reëlection campaigns, I think it's unlikely he will win the Republican primary. For starters, his fanatical anti-immigrant shtick doesn't play well in western Kansas where agribusiness demands cheap labor and hardly anyone with other options wants to live. But also, most business interests would rather have someone they can keep on a tighter leash than a demagogue with national ambitions (a trait Kobach shares with Brownback). Still, either way, I doubt the state's suffering will end any time soon.

  • Reihan Salam: The Health Care Debate Is Moving Left: "How single-payer went from a pipe dream to mainstream." The author isn't very happy about this, complaining "that Medicare has in some ways made America's health system worse by serving the interests of politically powerful hospitals over those of patients." Still:

    If faced with a choice between the AHCA and Medicare for all, Republicans shouldn't be surprised if swing voters wind up going for the latter. The AHCA is an inchoate mess that evinces no grander philosophy for caring for the sick and vulnerable. Single-payer health care is, if nothing else, a coherent concept that represents a set of beliefs about how health care should work. If Republicans want the single-payer dream to go away, they're going to have to come up with something better than the nothing they have now.

  • Sabrina Siddiqui: Anti-Muslim rallies across US denounced by civil rights groups: On Saturday, a group called Act for America tried to organize "anti-Sharia law" rallies in a number of American cities ("almost 30"; I've heard 28). They seem to have been lightly attended. (My spies here in Wichita say 30 people showed up. There wasn't a counter-demonstration here, although in many cases more people came to counter -- needless to say, not to defend Sharia but to reject ACT's main focus of fomenting Islamophobia.)

  • Ana Swanson/Max Ehrenfreund: Republicans are predicting the beginning of the end of the tea party in Kansas: The overwhelmingly Republican Kansas state legislature finally managed to override Gov. Sam Brownback's veto of a bill that raised state income taxes and eliminated a loophole that allowed most businessmen to escape taxation altogether. The new tax rates are lower than the ones in effect before Brownback's signature "tax reform" became law and blew a hole in the state budget, leading to a series of successful lawsuits against the state over whether education funding was sufficient to satisfy the state constitution. Republicans have done a lot of batshit-insane stuff since Brownback took office in 2011, but the one that kept biting them back the worst was the Arthur Laffer-blessed tax cut bill. One can argue that this represents a power shift within the Republican Party in Kansas: in 2016 rabid right-wingers (including Rep. Tim Huelskemp) actually lost to "moderate" challengers, whereas earlier right-wingers had often won primaries against so-called moderates. But as this article points out, right-wingers like Kris Kobach and their sponsors like the Koch Brothers are pissed off and vowing civil war. Meanwhile, the Ryan-Trump "tax reform" scam looks a lot like Brownback's, with all that implies: e.g., see Ben Castleman et al: The Kansas Experiment Is Bad News for Trump's Tax Cuts.

  • Mark Weisbrot, et al: Did NAFTA Help Mexico? An Update After 23 Years: Executive summary to a longer paper (link within):

    Among the results, it finds that Mexico ranks 15th out of 20 Latin American countries in growth of real GDP per person, the most basic economic measure of living standards; Mexico's poverty rate in 2014 was higher than the poverty rate of 1994; and real (inflation-adjusted) wages were almost the same in 2014 as in 1994. It also notes that if NAFTA had been successful in restoring Mexico's pre-1980 growth rate -- when developmentalist economic policies were the norm -- Mexico today would be a high-income country, with income per person comparable to Western European countries. If not for Mexico's long-term economic failure, including the 23 years since NAFTA, it is unlikely that immigration from Mexico would have become a major political issue in the United States, since relatively few Mexicans would seek to cross the border.

  • Lawrence Wittner: How Business "Partnerships" Flopped at the US's Largest University

I've also collected a few links marking the 50th anniversary of Israel's "Six-Day War" and the onset of the 50-years-and-counting Occupation:

  • Ibtisam Barakat: The Persistence of Palestinian Memory: "Growing up under occupation was like living in a war zone, where people were punished for wanting dignity and freedom."

  • Omar Barghouti: For Palestinians, the 1967 War Remains an Enduring, Painful Wound

  • Neve Gordon: How Israel's Occupation Shifted From a Politics of Life to a Politics of Death: "Palestinian life has become increasingly expendable in Israel's eyes." The piece starts:

    During a Labor Party meeting that took place not long after the June 1967 war, Golda Meir turned to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, asking, "What are we going to do with a million Arabs?" Eshkol paused for a moment and then responded, "I get it. You want the dowry, but you don't like the bride!"

    This anecdote shows that, from the very beginning, Israel made a clear distinction between the land it had occupied -- the dowry -- and the Palestinians who inhabited it -- the bride. The distinction between the people and their land swiftly became the overarching logic informing Israel's colonial project. Ironically, perhaps, that logic has only been slightly modified over the past 50 years, even as the controlling practices Israel has deployed to entrench its colonization have, by contrast, changed dramatically.

    By the way, the bride/dowry metaphor is the organizing principle for Avi Raz's important book on Israel's diplomatic machinations following the 1967 war: The Bride and the Dowry: Israel, Jordaon, and the Palestinians in the Aftermath of the June 1967 War (2012, Yale University Press). Based on recently declassified documents, the book shows clearly how Israel's ruling circle (especially Abba Eban) weaved back and forth between several alternative post-war scenarios to make sure that none of them got in the way of Israel keeping control of its newly conquered territories.

  • Mehdi Hasan: A 50-Year Occupation: Israel's Six-Day War Started With a Lie

  • Rashid Khalidi: The Israeli-American Hammer-Lock on Palestine

  • Guy Laron: The Historians' War Over the Six-Day War: Author of a recent book, The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East (2017, Yale University Press). Surveys a number of earlier books on the war, including works by Randolph Churchill, Donald Neff, Michael Oren, and Tom Segev (1967: Israel, the War, and the Year That Transformed the Middle East -- the one of those four I've read, but far from the only thing).

  • Hisham Melhem: The Arab World Has Never Recovered From the Loss of 1967: I'm reminded here of Maxime Rodinson's late-1960s book, Israel & the Arabs, which was written at a time when many Arab countries were palpably moving toward modern, secular, socialist societies. The 1967 war didn't in itself kill that dream, but it tarnished it, with Egypt, Syria, and Iraq soon calcifying into stultifying militarist (and hereditary) dictatorships, sad parodies of the monarchies Britain left in its wake. The US Cold War embrace of salafist-jihadism (and the ill-fated Shah in Iran) further clouded the picture, turning Islam into the last refuge of the downtrodden.

  • Jonathan Ofir: The issue isn't 'occupation,' it's Zionism:

    The status of Palestinian citizens within Israel has likewise not been regulated into equal status, as one might expect from a democratic country when it finally offers citizenship. This community is subject to some 50 discriminatory laws, as well as -- and this deserves special attention -- ethnic cleansing, as we have seen recently in the case of Umm Al-Hiran [a Bedouin village razed in 2015].

    We must therefore see Israel's 'occupation' as an all-encompassing paradigm, reaching beyond isolated localities and beyond this or that war or conquering campaign. Occupation is simply what we DO, in a very broad sense.

  • Philip Weiss: How 1967 changed American Jews: Weiss gives many other telling examples, but the one I most vividly recall was that of M.S. Arnoni (1922-1985), who edited and largely wrote a very pointed antiwar (or at least anti-Vietnam War) publication called A Minority of One. I found this magazine early on as I found my own antiwar views, but after the 1967 Six-Day War Arnoni shifted gears and from that point on wrote almost exclusively about Israel and its valiant struggle against the exterminationist Arab powers. I recall that even before I bailed, Bertrand Russell resigned his honorary seat on the editorial board. At the time I was generally sympathetic to Israel -- I hadn't read much about it, but had read a number of things on the Holocaust, including Simon Wiesenthal's The Murderers Among Us. Still, this struck me as a bizarre personal change, which only many years later started to fit into the general pattern Weiss writes about. I do recall watching all of the UN debates on the war, and being impressed both by Israeli ambassador Abba Eban and by whoever the Saudi ambassador was. The event which really made me rethink my sympathy to Israel was the 1982 Lebanon War, although I didn't read Robert Fisk's 1990 book Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon until after 2001. Since then I've read a lot on the subject -- most recently Ilan Pappe's Ten Myths About Israel, a very useful short primer. Still, the single best book is probably Richard Ben Cramer's How Israel Lost: The Four Questions (2004), because it makes clear the subtle self-deceptions that success and power breed, how the quest for safety morphed into an addiction to war. And that ties back around to how Arnoni (and many other American Jews) got lost in identity and paranoia and gave up what they once understood about peace and justice.

  • Philip Weiss: 'The greatest sustained exercise in utterly arbitrary authority world has ever seen' -- Chabon on occupation: On a recent book edited by Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon, Kingdom of Olives and Ash.

  • Charlie Zimmerman: Dispatch from 'the most ****ed up place on Earth,' Hedron's H2 quarter: And this is what the Occupation has come down to.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Music Week

Music: Current count 28225 [28187] rated (+38), 383 [387] unrated (-4).

Published April's Streamnotes last Wednesday. I usually try to make a push at the end of the month to find a few more A-list albums, but gave up after nothing but the Paul Rutherford archival tape clicked. I stopped adding records late Tuesday and posted mid-day Wednesday, but as it turned out Wednesday netted seven good records: 1 A- (Lord Echo), 3 B+(***) (Heliocentrics, Sleaford Mods, Chris Stapleton), and 3 B+(**) (Gato Libre, Ryan Keberle, Umoja). A good start for a better June column.

Still, I decided I needed to do some better research for the future. For some years now, I've kept a file I call Music Tracking: basically a long list of the year-to-date's releases. Records I have physical copies of are shown in blue (220 so far this year) -- I add them to the list during unpacking -- and other records I've sampled off the internet and written about are in green (110). For most of this year that's all I've done with the file (although previous year's files have been much more extensive). But the idea is to sort the unheard records into four priorities (0, 1, 2, 3), where: 3 = things I must hear; 2 = things I want to hear, or things lots of other people think I should hear; 1 = things some people think are worth hearing, but I'm not in much of a rush; and 0 = things I've noticed but have no real interest in. The 0 priority albums don't show up in the default presentation, but when I search the source file I'll find them (and think, no bother looking into that further).

This year I haven't been using 0 or 3, but I do find myself searching for priority 2 records for something to listen to. So last week I added a bunch of albums to the file. I got these first by going through AOTY's Highest Rated Albums of 2017 list, jotting down everything in the top 200 and a few things I recognized as interesting below that. I then used the "Source" option to select specific publications, and picked up the top 25 for most of them (I skipped Alternative Press but have since gone back and picked up their 90+ ratings). Also, in a few cases that review a lot of varied records, I went deeper (Pitchfork, PopMatters, Guardian -- those three had 100+ records rated 80+). I probably need to go back and probe a few other sites deeper, and maybe check Metacritic's album releases by score list, and look at a few mid-year best-of lists: thus far I've checked Billboard, DJBooth, Entertainment Weekly, Mass Appeal, NME, Observer [Hip-Hop], Observer [Jazz], Thrillist; I also see new lists from: The Free Weekly, The Musical Hype, Spin, The Telegraph, and Uproxx. (Note that I've opted not to pursue several lists of minor interest and/or unfriendly to my browser: FACT, HotNewHipHop, Loudwire, Metal Storm, PopCrush, Sputnik, Time.) I also notice there are a few things on Phil Overeem's First Quarter Report I haven't heard. including his top rated Harriet Tubman album (also number 2 for Chris Monsen).

The file currently lists 105 priority 2 albums and 503 priority 1, so there should be enough there to keep me busy in weeks ahead.

New records rated this week:

  • Tony Allen: A Tribute to Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (2017, Blue Note, EP): [r]: B+(**)
  • Mary J Blige: Strength of a Woman (2017, Capitol): [r]: B+(***)
  • Blondie: Pollinator (2017, BMG): [r]: B
  • Chastity Belt: I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone (2017, Hardly Art): [r]: B+(*)
  • Gato Libre: Neko (2016 [2017], Libra): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Freddie Gibbs: You Only Live 2wice (2017, ESGN/Empire): [r]: B+(**)
  • The Brett Gold New York Jazz Orchestra: Dreaming Big (2016 [2017], Goldfox): [cd]: B+(*)
  • GoldLink: At What Cost (2017, Squaaash Club/RCA): [r]: B+(***)
  • Halsey: Hopeless Fountain Kingdom (2017, Astralwerks): [r]: B+(**)
  • The Heliocentrics: A World of Masks (2017, Soundway): [r]: B+(***)
  • Innocent When You Dream: Dirt in the Ground (2017, self-released): [cd]: B+(*)
  • The Jesus and Mary Chain: Damage and Joy (2017, ADA/Warner): [r]: B+(**)
  • Jlin: Black Origami (2017, Planet Mu): [r]: B+(**)
  • Ryan Keberle & Catharsis: Find the Common, Shine a Light (2017, Greenleaf Music): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Zara Larsson: So Good (2017, Epic/TEN): [r]: B+(**)
  • Lord Echo: Harmonies (2017, Soundway): [r]: A-
  • Low Cut Connie: "Dirty Pictures" (Part 1) (2017, Contender): [r]: B
  • John McLean/Clark Sommers Band: Parts Unknown (2017, Origin): [cd]: B-
  • Jason Miles: Kind of New 2: Blue Is Paris (2017, Lightyear): [cdr]: B+(*)
  • Thurston Moore: Rock N Roll Consciousness (2017, Caroline): [r]: B+(*)
  • John Moreland: Big Bad Luv (2017, 4AD): [r]: A-
  • Quinsin Nachoff/Mark Helias/Dan Weiss: Quinsin Nachoff's Ethereal Trio (2016 [2017], Whirlwind): [cd]: A-
  • Vadim Neselovskyi Trio: Get Up and Go (2017, Blujazz): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Mason Razavi: Quartet Plus, Volume 2 (2016 [2017], OA2): [cd]: B
  • Riverside [Dave Douglas/Chet Doxas/Steve Swallow/Jim Doxas]: The New National Anthem (2015 [2017], Greenleaf Music): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Sleaford Mods: English Tapas (2017, Rough Trade): [r]: B+(***)
  • Slowdive: Slowdive (2017, Dead Oceans): [r]: B+(*)
  • Omar Souleyman: To Syria, With Love (2017, Mad Decent): [r]: A-
  • Chris Stapleton: From a Room: Volume 1 (2017, Mercury Nashville): [r]: B+(***)
  • Tamikrest: Kidal (2017, Glitterbeat): [r]: B+(**)

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

  • Hayes McMullan: Everyday Seem Like Murder Here (1967-68 ]2017], Light in the Attic): [r]: B+(***)
  • The Rough Guide to Hillbilly Blues (1920s-30s [2017], World Music Network): [r]: A-
  • The Rough Guide to Jug Band Blues (1920s-30s [2017], World Music Network): [r]: A-
  • Sun Ra & His Arkestra: Thunder of the Gods (1966-71 [2017], Modern Harmonic): [r]: B-
  • Paul Rutherford/Sabu Toyozumi: The Conscience (1999 [2017], NoBusiness): [cd]: A-
  • Umoja: 707 (1988 [2017], Awesome Tapes From Africa, EP): [r]: B+(**)

Old music rated this week:

  • Gregg Allman: One More Try: An Anthology (1973-88 [1997], Capricorn/Chronicles, 2CD): [dl]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Gerald Cannon: Combinations (Woodneck)
  • Steve Coleman: Morphogenesis (Pi): June 23
  • Alex Goodman: Second Act (Lyte): June 23
  • Errol Rackipov Group: Distant Dreams (OA2): June 16
  • Scenes: Destinations (Origin): June 16
  • Carlos Vega: Bird's Up (Origin): June 16

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Weekend Roundup

These weekend posts are killing me. I didn't even make it through my tabs this time -- nothing from Alternet, the New Yorker, Salon, TruthOut, Washington Monthly, nor much of what I was tipped off to from Twitter. Just one piece on the upcoming UK elections, which would be major if Jeffrey Corbyn and Labour pull an upset. Just a couple links on Israel, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of their great military land grab in 1967, which is to say 50 years of their unjust and often cruel occupation. A couple of uncommented links on the problems Democrats face getting out of their own heads and into the minds of the voters. And only a mere sampling of the Trump's administration's penchant for graft and violence. Just an incredible amount of crap to wade through.

Big story this week was Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate change deal, joining Nicaragua and Syria as the only nations on record as unwilling to cooperate in the struggle to keep greenhouse gases from pushing global temperatures to record highs. One might well criticize the Paris accords for not going far enough, but unlike the previous Kyoto agreement this one brought key developing nations like China and India into the fold.

Here are some pertinent links:

  • Vicki Arroyo: The US is the biggest loser on the planet thanks to Trump's calamitous act:

    The Paris agreement was a groundbreaking deal that allowed each country to decide its own contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Even though it is non-binding, the agreement puts the world on the path to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2C, which scientists warn would be disastrous for our planet.

    By abandoning the agreement, we are not only ceding global leadership but also effectively renouncing our global citizenship. The US is joining Nicaragua (which felt the agreement did not go far enough) and Syria (in the midst of a devastating civil war) as the only nations without a seat at the Paris table. As an American, I am embarrassed and ashamed of this abdication of our responsibility, especially since the US has been the world's largest contributor of carbon emissions over time. We have become a rogue nation.

  • Perry Bacon Jr/Harry Enten: Was Trump's Paris Exit Good Politics? They look at a lot of polling numbers, and conclude it was fine with the Republican base, but unpopular overall. Key numbers:

    Only a third of Republicans rate protecting the environment from the effects of energy production as a top priority. Polling from Gallup further indicates that 85 percent of Republicans don't think that global warming will pose a serious threat in their lifetime. Education was a major dividing line in the 2016 election, but Republicans of all education levels think the effects of global warming are exaggerated. . . .

    An overwhelming majority of Democrats (87 percent) and a clear majority of independents (61 percent) wanted the U.S. to stay in the climate agreement, according to a poll that was released in April and conducted jointly by Politico and Harvard's School of Public Health. Overall, 62 percent of Americans wanted the U.S. to remain part of the accord (among Republicans, 56 percent favored withdrawal). . . .

    It's also possible that Trump gave a win to his base on an issue they don't care that much about while angering the opposition on an issue they do care about. Gallup and Pew Research Center polls indicate that global warming and fighting climate change have become higher priorities for Democrats over the past year.

    As of this writing, 538's "How Popular Is Donald Trump?" is at 55.1% Disapprove, 38.9% Approve, so down a small bit since the announcement.

  • Daniel B Baer, et al: Why Abandoning Paris Is a Disaster for America:

    The president's justifications for leaving the agreement are also just plain wrong.

    First, contrary to the president's assertions, America's hands are not tied and its sovereignty is not compromised by the Paris climate pact. The Paris agreement is an accord, not a treaty, which means it's voluntary. The genius (and reality) of the Paris agreement is that it requires no particular policies at all -- nor are the emissions targets that countries committed to legally binding. Trump admitted as much in the Rose Garden, referring to the accord's "nonbinding" nature. If the president genuinely thinks America's targets are too onerous, he can simply adjust them (although we believe it would be shortsighted for the administration to do so). There is no need to exit the Paris accord in search of a "better deal." Given the voluntary nature of the agreement, pulling out of the Paris deal in a fit of pique is an empty gesture, unless that gesture is meant to be a slap in the face to every single U.S. ally and partner in the world.

    The second big lie is that the Paris agreement will be a job killer. In fact, it will help the United States capture more 21st-century jobs. That is why dozens of U.S. corporate leaders, including many on the president's own advisory council, urged him not to quit the agreement. As a letter sent to the White House by ExxonMobil put it, the agreement represents an "effective framework for addressing the risk of climate change," and the United States is "well positioned to compete" under the terms of the deal.

    Action on climate and economic growth go hand in hand, and are mutually reinforcing. That is why twice as much money was invested worldwide in renewables last year as in fossil fuels, and why China is pouring in billions to try to win this market of the future. A bipartisan group of retired admirals and generals on the CNA Military Advisory Board is about to release a report that will also spell out the importance of competitiveness in advanced energy technologies -- not just to the economy, but also to the country's standing in the world. Pulling out of climate will result in a loss of U.S. jobs and knock the United States off its perch as a global leader in innovation in a quickly changing global economic climate.

    The article especially harps on "Trump is abdicating U.S. leadership and inviting China to fill the void." As you may recall, China pretty much torpedoed the Kyoto accords in the 1990s by insisting on building their burgeoning economy on their vast coal reserves, but lately they've decided to leave most of their coal in the ground, so agreeing to the Paris accords was practically a no-brainer. The same shift has actually been occurring in the US, admittedly with Obama's encouragement but more and more it's driven by economics, even without anything like a carbon tax to factor in the externalities. And unless Trump comes up with a massive program to subsidize coal use, it's hard to see that changing, and even then not significantly.

    Another point they make: "Pulling out of Paris means Republicans own climate catastrophes." Over the last several decades, we've all seen evidence both of climate drift and even more so of freakish extreme weather events, and the latter often trigger recognition of the former, even when they are simply freakish. But also, despite the popularity of Reagan's "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" joke, when disaster strikes, no one really believes that. Rather, they look immediately (and precisely) at the government for relief, and they get real upset when it's not forthcoming, even more so when it's botched (e.g., Katrina).

  • Coral Davenport/Eric Lipton: How GOP Leaders Came to View Climate Science as Fake Science: Trump's decision shows how completely his mind has been captured by a propaganda campaign orchestrated by "fossil fuel industry players, most notably Charles D. and David H. Koch, the Kansas-based billionaires who run a chain of refineries (which can process 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day) as well as a subsidiary that owns or operates 4,000 miles of pipelines that move crude oil." The Kochs run Americans for Prosperity, perhaps the single most effective right-wing political organization (e.g., they've been critical in flipping Wisconsin and Michigan for Trump). One of their major initiatives has been to get Republicans they back to sign their "No Climate Tax Pledge," which appears here:

    Americans for Prosperity is launching an initiative to draw a line in the sand declaring that climate change legislation will not be used to fund a dramatic expansion in the size and scope of government. If you oppose unrestrained growth in government at taxpayer's expense and hidden under the guise of environmental political correctness, then sign the pledge at the bottom of this page and return it to our office, or visit our website at www.noclimatetax.com.

    Regardless of which approach to the climate issue you favor, we should be able to agree that any climate-change policy should be revenue neutral. Revenue neutrality requires using all new revenues generated by a climate tax, cap-and-trade, or regulatory program, dollar for dollar, to cut taxes. There must also be a guarantee that climate policies remain revenue neutral over time. . . .

    Any major increase in federal revenue should be debated openly on its merits. We therefore encourage you to pledge to the American people that you will oppose any effort to hide a revenue increase in a feel-good environmental bill.

    Thus they ignore any substantive environmental impacts while tying the hands of lawmakers, preventing the people from using government to do anything for our collective benefit. That's one prong of their attack. Denying climate science is another, and a third is their long-term effort to undermine collective efforts through international organizations -- a complete about-face from the 1940s when the US championed the UN and the Bretton-Woods organizations as a way of opening the world up and making it more hospitable to American business. Back then Americans understood that they'd have to give as well as take, and that we as well as they would benefit from cooperation. That's all over now, thanks to the right-wing propaganda effort, itself based on the premise that dominant powers (like corporate rulers) can impose dictates to mold their minions to their purposes.

    When I opened the opinion page in the Wichita Eagle today, I found an op-ed piece, Withdrawing from Paris accord is a smart decision by Trump. The contents were total bullshit. And the author, Nicolas Loris, was identified is "the Morgan Research Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy at The Heritage Foundation."

    By the way, the Eagle's other op-ed was by Sen. Jerry Moran: A strong national defense also means a strong economy, which was almost exclusively taking credit for some work on the B-21 ("the world's most advanced stealth bomber") will be done in Spirit's Wichita plant. Evidently no problem with spending precious taxpayer money to better threaten a world that Trump has clearly shown nothing but contempt for.

  • Geoff Dembicki: The Convenient Disappearance of Climate Change Denial in China: "From Western plot to party line, how China embraced climate science to become a green-energy powerhouse." The transition seems to have occurred in 2011, when the leadership stopped publishing tracts decrying climate change as a Western plot and started investing heavily in renewables. One thing that helped tip the balance was air pollution in Chinese cities. Another was a purge of corrupt managers in the oil industry.

    Shortly after Donald Trump won the presidency, Xi told him in a call that China will continue fighting climate change "whatever the circumstances." Though the new U.S. president has staffed his administration with skeptics such as Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, China released data suggesting it could meet its 2030 Paris targets a decade early. "The financial elites I talk with," Shih said, "they think that the fact that the Trump presidency has so obviously withdrawn from any global effort to try to limit greenhouse gases provides China with an opportunity to take leadership."

    The paths both countries are taking couldn't be more divergent. While Trump rescinded Obama's Clean Power Plan with a promise to end America's "war on coal," China aims to close 800 million tons of coal capacity by 2020. The U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy is facing a budget cut of more than 50 percent when China is pouring over $361 billion into renewable energy. All this "is likely to widen China's global leadership in industries of the future," concluded a recent report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

  • Michael Grunwald: Why Trump Actually Pulled Out of Paris: "It wasn't because of the climate, or to help American business. He needed to troll the world -- and this was his best shot so far."

    No, Trump's abrupt withdrawal from this carefully crafted multilateral compromise was a diplomatic and political slap: It was about extending a middle finger to the world, while reminding his base that he shares its resentments of fancy-pants elites and smarty-pants scientists and tree-hugging squishes who look down on real Americans who drill for oil and dig for coal. He was thrusting the United States into the role of global renegade, rejecting not only the scientific consensus about climate but the international consensus for action, joining only Syria and Nicaragua (which wanted an even greener deal) in refusing to help the community of nations address a planetary problem. Congress doesn't seem willing to pay for Trump's border wall -- and Mexico certainly isn't -- so rejecting the Paris deal was an easier way to express his Fortress America themes without having to pass legislation. . . .

    The entire debate over Paris has twisted Republicans in knots. They used to argue against climate action in the U.S. by pointing out that it wouldn't bind China and other developing-world emitters; then they argued that Paris wouldn't really bind the developing world, either, but somehow would bind the United States. In fact, China is doing its part, dramatically winding down a coal boom that could have doomed the planet, frenetically investing in zero-carbon energy. And it will probably continue to do its part even though the president of the United States is volunteering for the role of climate pariah. It's quite likely that the United States will continue to do its part as well, because no matter what climate policies he thinks will make America great again, Trump can't make renewables expensive again or coal economical again or electric vehicles nonexistent again. California just set a target of 100 percent renewable energy by 2045, and many U.S. cities and corporations have set even more ambitious goals for shrinking their carbon footprints. Trump can't do much about that, either.

  • Mark Hertsgaard: Donald Trump's Withdrawal From the Paris Accords Is a Crime Against Humanity; also Sasha Abramsky: Trump Echoes Hitler in His Speech Withdrawing From the Paris Climate Accord.

  • Zachary Karabell: We've Always Been America First: "Donald Trump is just ripping off the mask."

    Also cites l David Frum: The Death Knell for America's Global Leadership. Frum was actually talking more about Trump's refusal to commit to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, but the two go hand-in-hand. Karabell also wrote: Pay attention to Donald Trump's actions, not his words.

  • Naomi Klein: Climate Change Is a People's Shock: Long piece, prefigured by her 2014 book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Also includes a link to Chris Hayes' 2014 piece The New Abolitionism, about "forcing fossil fuel companies to give up at least $10 trillion in wealth" (by leaving that much carbon in the ground).

  • Tom McCarthy: 'Outmoded, irrelevant vision': Pittsburghers reject Trump's pledge: "The president said he was exiting the Paris climate deal on behalf of Pittsburgh -- but his view of the environmentally minded city is off by decades, residents say." Also: Lauren Gambino: Pittsburgh fires back at Trump: we stand with Paris, not you; and Lucia Graves: Why Trump's attempt to pit Pittsburgh against Paris is absurd.

  • Daniel Politi: John Kerry: Trump Plan for Better Climate Deal Is Like OJ Search for "Real Killer"

  • Joseph Stiglitz: Trump's reneging on Paris climate deal turns the US into a rogue state

  • Hiroko Tabuchi/Henry Fountain: Bucking Trump, These Cities, States and Companies Commit to Paris Accord

  • Katy Waldman: We the Victims: "Trump's Paris accord speech projected his own psychological issues all over the American people."

  • Ben White/Annie Karni: America's CEOs fall out of love with Trump: An amusing side story is that several corporate bigwigs have started to distance themselves from Trump, especially over the decision to pull out of the Paris climate accords. As the US evolves from hegemonic superpower to tantrum-prone bully, laughing stock, and rogue state, America's global capitalists have ever more to disclaim and apologize for, and it won't help them to be seen as too close to Trump. On the other hand:

    Trump regularly touts himself as a strongly pro-business president focused on creating jobs and speeding up economic growth. But both of those depend in part on corporate confidence in the administration's ability to deliver on taxes and regulation changes. . . .

    One corporate executive noted that Trump is often swayed by the last person he talks to, so, the executive said, remaining in the president's good graces and keeping up access is critical. The senior lobbyist noted that next week is supposed to be focused on changing financial regulations with the House expected to pass a bill rolling back much of the Dodd-Frank law and Treasury slated to release a report on changing financial laws.

    One problem here is that so many of the things corporations and financiers want from Trump come at each other's expense, Thus far, Republicans have been remarkably sanguine about letting business after business rip each other (and everyone else) off, because few businesses look at the costs they incur, least of all externalities like air and water, but those costs add up. For instance, one reason American manufacturing is at a disadvantage compared to other wealthy countries is the exorbitant cost of health care and education, and making up the difference by depressing wages isn't a real solution. There are corporations that love Trump's Paris decision -- ok, the only one I'm actually sure of is Peabody Coal -- but they're actually few and far between. Most don't care much either way, or won't until the bills come due.

    By the way, this piece also includes this gem:

    From a purely political perspective, the distancing of corporate CEOs may not be especially bad for Trump. He won as a populist railing against corporate influence, specifically singling out Goldman Sachs.

    Since the election, he has continued to single out Goldman Sachs: he's tapped more of their executives for key administration jobs than any other business.

  • Richard Wolffe: Trump asked when the world will start laughing at the US. It already is

  • Paul Woodward: Trump believes money comes first -- he doesn't care about climate change

Plus more on the Trump administration's continuing looting and destruction:

  • Daniel Altman: If Anyone Can Bankrupt the United States, Trump Can

  • Bruce Bartlett: Donald Trump's incompetence is a problem. His staff should intervene: The author is a conservative who worked in the White House for Reagan and Bush I, though he was less pleased with Bush II. Still, his prescriptions hardly go beyond what was standard practice for Reagan: "He should let his staff draft statements for him and let them go through the normal vetting process, including fact-checking. And he must resist the temptation to tweet or talk off the top of his head about policy issues, and work through the normal process used by every previous president." Of course, what made that work for Reagan was that he was used to being a corporate spokesman before he became president -- after all, he worked for GE, and he was an actor by trade. Trump has done a bit of acting too, but he's always fancied himself as the boss man, and bosses in America are turning into a bunch of little emperors. On the other hand, Reagan's staff were selected by the real powers behind the throne to do jobs, including keeping the spokesman in line. Trump's staff is something altogether different: a bunch of cronies and toadies, whose principal job seems to be to flatter their leader. And that's left them sadly deficient in the competencies previous White House staff required -- in some cases even more so than the president himself.

  • Jamelle Bouie: What We Have Unleashed: "This year's string of brutal hate crimes is intrinsically connected to the rise of Trump."

  • Juliet Eilperin/Emma Brown/Darryl Fears: Trump administration plans to minimize civil rights efforts in agencies

  • Robert Faturechi: Tom Price Bought Drug Stocks. Then He Pushed Pharma's Agenda in Australia

  • David A Graham: The Panic President: "Rarely does a leader in a liberal democracy embrace, let alone foment, fear. But that's exactly what Donald Trump did in response to attacks in London, as he has done before." Graham starts by showing how London mayor Sadiq Khan responded to the attack, then plunges into Trump's tweetstorm. Also see: Peter Beinart: Why Trump Criticized a London Under Attack; and David Frum: What Trump Doesn't Understand About Gun Control in Great Britain.

  • Matthew Haag: Texas Lawmaker Threatens to Shoot Colleague After Reporting Protesters to ICE

  • Whitney Kassel/Loren De Jonge Schulman: Donald Trump's Great Patriotic Purge: "The administration's assault on experts, bureaucrats, and functionaries who make this country work isn't just foolish, it's suicidal." The most basic difference between Republicans and Democrats is how they view the government bureaucracy: Republicans tend to view everything government does as political, so they insist on loyalists consistent with their political views; Democrats, on the other hand, see civil servants loyal only to the laws that created their jobs. Republicans since Nixon have periodically tried to purge government, but those instincts have never before been so naked as with Trump, nor has the Republican agenda ever before been so narrow, corrupt, or politically opportunistic. Moreover, instilling incompetency doesn't seem to have any downside for Republicans, as they've long claimed that government is useless (except for lobbyists).

    In a signature theme of its first 100 days, the Trump administration, encouraged by conservative media outlets, has launched an assault on civil servants the likes of which should have gone out of style in the McCarthy era. Attacks on their credibility, motivations, future employment, and basic missions have become standard fare for White House press briefings and initiatives. In doing so, the administration and its backers may be crippling their legacy from the start by casting away the experts and implementers who not only make the executive agenda real but provide critical services for ordinary Americans. But in a move that should trouble all regardless of political affiliation, they also run the risk of undermining fundamental democratic principles of American governance.

    Searching for policy-based or political rationale for these moves overlooks a key point: that the United States civil service can be an enormous asset for presidential administrations regardless of party, and undermining it belies a misunderstanding of what public servants actually do. These good folks, the vast majority of whom do not live in Washington, get up in the morning to cut social security checks, maintain aircraft carriers, treat veterans, guard the border, find Osama bin Laden, and yes, work hard to protect the president and make his policies look good. Many of them earn less than they would in the private sector and are deeply committed to serving the American people. Any effort to undercut them is irrational on its face.

  • Mark Mazzetti/Matthew Rosenberg/Charlie Savage: Trump Administration Returns Copies of Report on CIA Torture to Congress

  • Daniel Politi: Democratic Challenger to Iowa Lawmaker Abandons Race Due to Death Threats

  • CIA Names the 'Dark Prince' to Run Iran Operations, Signaling a Tougher Stance: Michael D'Andrea.

  • Rebecca Solnit: The Loneliness of Donald Trump: "On the corrosive privilege of the most mocked man in the world." She cites a Pushkin fable on green, and is surely not the first to apply F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic line to Trump: "They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." She goes on, adding to the mocking of "the most mocked man in the world":

    The American buffoon's commands were disobeyed, his secrets leaked at such a rate his office resembled the fountains at Versailles or maybe just a sieve (this spring there was an extraordinary piece in the Washington Post with thirty anonymous sources), his agenda was undermined even by a minority party that was not supposed to have much in the way of power, the judiciary kept suspending his executive orders, and scandals erupted like boils and sores. Instead of the dictator of the little demimondes of beauty pageants, casinos, luxury condominiums, fake universities offering fake educations with real debt, fake reality tv in which he was master of the fake fate of others, an arbiter of all worth and meaning, he became fortune's fool.

    Still, if someone made him read this, he would surely respond, "but I'm president, and you aren't." And while he goes about his day "making America great again," he gives cover to a crew that is driving the country into a ravine. When they succeed, all this mockery will seem unduly soft and peculiarly sympathetic. On the other hand, I suspect that treating Trump and the Republicans as badly as they deserve will provoke a kneejerk reaction to defend them. Even now, the scolds are searching hard for instances where they can argue that satire has crossed hypothetical boundaries; e.g., Callum Borchers: Maher, Griffin, Colbert: Anti-Trump comedians are having a really bad moment. I found the Griffin image amusing -- not unsettling like the first time I saw an image of one person holding up the severed head of another, because this time the head was clearly fake and symbolic. The other two were jokes that misfired, partly because they used impolite terms but mostly because they made little sense. That's an occupational hazard -- no comedian ever hits all the time -- but singling these failures out reveals more about the PC squeamishness of the complainers. (Where were these people when Obama was being slandered? Or were they just overwhelmed?) And note that Maher is often a fountain of Islamophobic bigotry, but that's not what he's being called out for here.

  • Lisa Song: Trump Administration Says It Isn't Anti-Science as It Seeks to Slash EPA Science Office

  • John Wagner: Trump plans week-long focus on infrastructure, starting with privatizing air traffic control: During his campaign one of Trump's most popular talking points was on the nation's need for massive investment in infrastructure. After the election, Democrats saw infrastructure investment as one area where they could work with Trump, but as with health care the devil's in the details. Since he took office, it's become clear that Trump's infrastructure program will be nothing but scams fueling private profit with public debt.

    It's worth noting that the scam for "privatizing" air traffic control has been kicking around for years, backed by big airlines, but it's very unpopular here in Kansas because it portends higher charges to general aviation users. That should cost Trump two votes, so his only hope of passing the deal is to pick up Democrats, who should know better.

  • Paul Woodward: Donald Trump plays at being president. He doesn't even pretend to be a world leader:

    At this stage in his performance -- this act in The Trump Show which masquerades as a presidency -- it should be clear to the audience that the motives of the man-child acting out in front of the world are much more emotive than ideological.

    Trump has far more interest in antagonizing his critics than pleasing his base.

    No doubt Trump came back from Europe believing that after suffering insults, he would get the last laugh. A senior White House official (sounding like Steve Bannon) described European disappointment about Trump's decision on Paris as "a secondary benefit," implying perhaps that the primary benefit would be the demolition of one of the key successes of his nemesis, Barack Obama.

    Thus far, The Trump Show has largely been ritual designed to symbolically purge America of Obama's influence.

  • Matthew Yglesias: Trump has granted more lobbyist waivers in 4 months than Obama did in 8 years; also by Yglesias: An incredibly telling thing Trump said at today's Paris event wasn't about climate at all ("He simply has no idea what he's talking about on any subject"); and Jared Kushner is the domino Trump can least afford to fall in the Russia investigation ("His unique lack of qualification for office makes him uniquely valuable").

And finally a few more links on various stories one or more steps removed from the Trump disaster:

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Streamnotes (May 2017)

With 111 titles (90 new) my shortest Streamnotes column this year. Fewer A- records too (6 + 1 new, 3 old). Old music mostly came from trad jazz revivalists (mostly on the reclusive Stomp Off label).

Most of these are short notes/reviews based on streaming records from Napster (formerly Rhapsody; other sources are noted in brackets). They are snap judgments based on one or two plays, accumulated since my last post along these lines, back on April 29. Past reviews and more information are available here (9625 records).

Recent Releases

Gonçalo Almeida/Rodrigo Amado/Marco Franco: The Attic (2015 [2017], NoBusiness): Tenor sax trio from Portugal, avant, all joint improv but bassist got his name listed first -- alphabetical, I presume, but he opens with an arco solo and makes himself heard throughout. Amado, of course, is terrific. He's had quite a run since 2010's Searching for Adam. A- [cd]

Amok Amor [Christian Lillinger/Petter Eldh/Wanja Slavin/Peter Evans]: We Know Not What We Do (2016 [2017], Intakt): In my unpacking, I missed the title (going with the group name), and misspelled bassist Eldh's name. Same quartet has a 2015 album named Amok Amor, so this is one of those groups. All four members contribute songs (3-2-1-3, although it was 3-4.5-2.5-0 last time; I filed under drummer Lillinger, but Discogs lists Eldh first on the previous album). Slavin plays sax, Evans trumpet -- strongest showing I've heard by him since he left MOPDTK. A- [cd]

Anemone [Peter Evans/John Butcher/Frederic Blondy/Clayton Thomas/Paul Lovens]: A Wing Dissolved in Light (2013 [2017], NoBusiness): Piccolo trumpet, tenor/soprano sax, piano-bass-drums, two improv split into two parts. Some dead spots, or maybe just ambient noise, but Butcher has strong moments, and when things pick up it's usually the French pianist at the center. B+(***) [cdr]

David Binney: The Time Verses (2016 [2017], Criss Cross): Alto saxophonist, twenty-some albums since 1990, leads a postbop quartet with Jacob Sacks (piano), Eivind Opsvik (bass), and Dan Weiss (drums) through fourteen of the leader's pieces. Most impressive when he cuts loose. One vocal by Jen Shyu, not a plus. B+(**)

Body Count: Bloodlust (2017, Century Media): Rapper Ice-T's metal band, sixth album since 1992 when "Cop Killer" became a national political scandal. I hadn't noticed any of their albums since the first, but word is that Trump got them energized again, and they sure are. A spoken intro cites Slayer for their precision, and that's sure here. Razor sharp barbs, brutal volume. I'm duly impressed without feeling like giving it a second spin. B+(***)

Bryan and the Aardvarks: Sounds From the Deep Field (2017, Biophilia): Packaging is called BiopholioTM, "a two-sided, 20-panel origami-inspired medium," but does not include a CD -- you get a download code instead, so while they eschew "the harmful effects of plastic in the environment" you'll have to get your own. I've never had a problem with Rubik's Cube, but folding this packaging back together tight enough to slip the little paper band around it is a tall order. I won't comment on the downloading process because the publicist was good enough to mail me a CDR (ok, after I complained). For grading purposes let's forget about the packaging and just deal with the music. Group is led by bassist Bryan Copeland, with Fabian Alamzan (piano), Chris Dingham (vibes), and Joe Nero (drums), plus Dayna Stephens plays EWI and Camila Meza sings some. Frothy fusion with a mind toward the wonders of deep space. B- [cdr]

Buffalo Jazz Octet: Live at Pausa Art House (2016 [2017], Cadence Jazz): Cover suggests title is PausaLive, but spine says otherwise. Local Buffalo musicians, only a couple familiar to me -- chiefly pianist Michael McNeill -- but they form a remarkable large free jazz ensemble, with standout solos on sax, trumpet, and drums, and brisk and energetic group improv that never breaks down. A- [cd]

Peter Campbell: Loving You: Celebrating Shirley Horn (2016 [2017], self-released): Vocalist, second album, voice eerily similar to the sepia tones of the famous line of female jazz singers from Sarah Vaughan to Cassandra Wilson, so he's right at home wading through Horn's ballads. Mark Kieswetter plays piano and directs, and Kevin Turcotte adds some tasteful trumpet. B+(**) [cd]

Cloud Nothings: Life Without Sound (2017, Carperk): Indie rock band from Cleveland, fourth album, good for a swirling storm of guitar-bass-drums, intermittently catchy, so I was surprised when they cranked up the intensity for the closer ("Realize My Fate"). B+(**)

Daddy Issues: Can We Still Hang (2015, Infinity Cat, EP): Three-piece "grunge pop" band from Nashville -- Jenna Moynihan (guitar/vocals), Jenna Mitchell (bass), Emily Maxwell (drums) -- with an eight-cut, 27:12 cassette. Sometimes they work through their issues with punk rage, sometimes just refrain them to death ("Creepy Girl," "Shitty World"). B+(***)

Daddy Issues: Deep Dream (2017, Infinity Cat): A bit longer -- 10 songs, shortest 3:10, longest 4:13 -- guitar deeper, more resonant, lyrics deeper too, more mature, the one about "boring girls" self-inclusive, though they rise above all that. A-

Whit Dickey/Mat Maneri/Matthew Shipp: Vessel in Orbit (2017, AUM Fidelity): Drums, viola, piano, listed alphabetically with all compositions jointly credited, but the viola is the most obvious lead, with the others adding impressive density. B+(***)

Diet Cig: Swear I'm Good at This (2017, Frenchkiss): Pop-punk duo from New Paltz, NY: Alex Luciano (guitar, vocals) and Noah Bowman (drums). She has a small voice and a couple songs just hang out waiting for a melody, but it usually comes. B+(***)

Duo Baars Henneman & Dave Burrell: Transdans (2016 [2017], Wig): Violinist Ig Henneman has been playing with saxophonist Ab Baars at least since 2006, often as a duo, sometimes with others. Their interaction strikes me as rather sparse and reticent here. Perhaps the pianist has them spooked, but he hardly imposes himself, mostly laying back and looking for cues. B [cd]

Andrew Durkin: Breath of Fire (2012-16 [2016], PJCE): Pianist, released four albums 2001-06 as Industrial Jazz Group, plus a book called Decomposition: A Music Manifesto (2014). Label acronym stands for Portland Jazz Composers' Ensemble, and they're showing more than two dozen albums (by nearly as many artists) on Bandcamp. Group here adds two saxes, guitar, bass, and drums. Postbop, fits nicely together without seeming obvious. B+(***)

Dominique Eade & Ran Blake: Town and Country (2015-16 [2017], Sunnyside): Voice and piano duo, something the pianist has done numerous times, including with Eade on the 2011 album Whirlpool. This seems slight, although familiar tunes like "Moon River" and "Moonlight in Vermont" resonate. B+(*) [cd]

Brian Eno: Reflection (2017, Warp): Solo electronics, although Peter Chilvers is also credited with "mutation software." One 54:00 piece, what you'd call quietly reflective, fully within his ambient range. B+(**)

Feist: Pleasure (2017, Interscope): Singer-songwriter from Nova Scotia. Title song is not just a good idea, it even delivers a bit. But it's also a reminder of what the rest of the album has too little of. B

Joe Fiedler: Like, Strange (2017, Multiphonics Music): Trombonist, has mostly recorded trios including a tribute to Albert Mangelsdorff but went for something funkier with his band Big Sackbutt, and continues that here: a quintet with Jeff Lederer's tenor/soprano sax for contrast, and terrific support from guitarist Pete McCann. B+(***)

Craig Fraedrich With Trilogy and Friends: All Through the Night (2017, Summit): Trumpet/flugelhorn player, Trilogy is presumably the Tony Nalker-led piano trio who backs him, and Friends, as far as I can tell, is singular: singer Christal Rheams, who does a nice job working through old standards, including six credited to Traditional (also two Fraedrich originals). B+(*) [cd]

Fred Frith/Hans Koch: You Are Here (2016 [2017], Intakt): Guitarist, also credited with "various small objects," in a duo where Koch plays "bass clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophones, spit." Interesting when they mesh or just clash, separated by awkwardly indeterminate slots. B+(**) [cd]

Gas: Narkopop (2017, Kompakt): Wolfgang Voigt, German electronica producer, co-founded Kompakt, has used many aliases over the years, releasing four albums as Gas 1996-2000, and now he's dusted that old alias off one more time. Probably because the ambient electronics are so thin and dispersed. B

Freddie Gibbs: You Only Live 2wice (2017, ESGN/Empire): Rapper from Gary, IN, originally Fredrick Tipton. Third album, along with a joint with Madlib and a pile of mixtapes. Cover a Rennaissance painting of the rapper resurrected and ascending to heaven, an idea that may have occurred to him after being acquitted of rape charges in Austria. But the short (31:49) album is more quotidian, dense and impenetrable, though the closer ("Homesick") does hint at the cover. B+(**)

David Gilmore: Transitions (2016 [2017], Criss Cross): Guitarist, not to be confused with the Pink Floyd guy (Gilmour) despite Google's insistence. Fifth album since 2000, had a lot to do with Steve Coleman's funk-fusion in the 1990s. Quartet with Mark Shim (tenor sax), Victor Gould (piano), Carlo DeRosa (bass), E.J. Strickland (drums), plus a couple guest spots. Various postbop looks, although the one funk-fusion throwback ("Kid Logic") is the most engaging. B+(*)

Girlpool: Powerplant (2017, Anti-): Two girl guitar-bass group based in Los Angeles (Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad) plus a session drummer, variously described as folk punk and dream pop. They play twelve songs in 28:30 without ever seeming rushed. B

GoldLink: At What Cost (2017, Squaaash Club/RCA): Rapper D'Anthony Carlos, from DC, grew up on go-go, which explains why this has more than the usual funk quotient. First album after two mixtapes. Starts a bit tentative but grows on you, then slips up a bit. B+(***)

Grandaddy: Last Place (2017, 30th Century/Columbia): Alt/indie band from Modesto, California, principally Jason Lytle; emerged in the late 1990s, hung it up in 2006, regrouped in 2012 with this their/his first post-hiatus album. Alt/indie, but dreamier than most "dream pop." B+(**)

Pasquale Grasso/Renaud Penant/Ari Roland: In the Mood for a Classic (2014 [2017], ITI Music): Guitar-drums-bass, Grasso born in Italy, moved to New York in 2012, playing in bop bands for Chris Byars and Roland. Classics as advertised, with the bassist rescuing "These Foolish Things." B+(**) [cd]

Chris Greene Quartet: Boundary Issues (2016 [2017], Single Malt): Saxophonist from Illinois, based in Chicago, favors tenor over soprano (7 tracks to 2), quartet includes keyboards, bass, and drums -- some electric, some not. Cover suggests a mad rush, but album itself is fairly even tempered. B [cd]

Jari Haapalainen Trio: Fusion Madness (2017, Moserobie): Swedish drummer, parents from Finland, now based in Berlin. Was lead guitarist for the Bear Quartet (15 albums), also a member of "pop combo" Heikki. Second Trio album, cover just says JH3, with bass guitar (Daniel Bingert) and sax (Per Texas Johansson) that recalls r&b honkers more than prog fusion. Twelve cuts, but short (27:11). B+(**) [cd]

Larry Ham/Woody Witt: Presence (2016 [2017], Blujazz): Piano and tenor sax, in a quartet with bass and drums. Neither has much discography, Ham mostly recording in retro-swing groups, this one more postbop. B+(*) [cd]

Rebecca Hennessy's Fog Brass Band: Two Calls (2017, self-released): Trumpet player from Canada, the extra brass coming from trombone and tuba but none of the horns make a huge impression (though the tuba keeps things moving). Sextet also includes piano, guitar, and drums. B+(*) [cd]

Mats Holmquist: Big Band Minimalism (2015 [2017], Summit): Swedish big band leader, discography goes back to 1986 including tributes to Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter. This time out he borrows the Latvian Radio Big Band and adds guest stars Dick Oatts (alto sax) and Randy Brecker (trumpet). No idea what a successful implementation of his concept might sound like, but this doesn't sound like much of anything coherent. C+ [cd]

Tristan Honsinger/Antonio Borghini/Tobias Delius/Axel Dörner: Hook, Line and Sinker (2016 [2017], De Platenbakakkerij, DVD): Cello, bass, tenor sax/clarinet, trumpet, with Honsinger also singing something vaguely folkish in a sea of free jazz. Recorded live at Spinhuis Amsterdam, pressed up as a DVD -- just musicians at work, the camera wandering, only rarely capturing the full stage, not that I watched much of it. B+(*) [dvd]

Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Navigator (2017, ATO): Alyndra Segarra, a Puerto Rican from the Bronx, a folkie attracted to New Orleans, although her label deal affords her a lusher band -- hard to hear this as Americana, though of course it's as wholeheartedly American as can be. B+(*)

Jason Kao Hwang: Sing House (2015 [2017], Euonymous): Violinist, born in Waukegan, IL but developed an interest in Chinese classical music, and has played that off against avant jazz. Quintet, with Steve Swell (trombone), Chris Forbes (piano), Ken Filiano (bass), and Andrew Drury (drums), a group so stellar he has trouble getting out in front -- the trombonist is especially impressive. B+(***) [cd]

Ibibio Sound Machine: Uyai (2017, Merge): Leader Eno Williams, born in London but raised in Lagos, sings in Ibibio (from southeast Nigeria) while drawing on musican sources from all over the map (as Pitchfork put it: "Nigerian highlife as much as new wave, South African jazz as much as techno, Cameroonian makossa as much as disco"). B+(**)

José James: Love in a Time of Madness (2017, Blue Note): Jazz singer, from Minneapolis, based in New York, seven albums since 2007. Has split credits on most songs, with synth player/programmer Antario Holmes his main partner. Soft and slinky, more appealing than usual. B+(*)

B.J. Jansen: Common Ground (2016 [2017], Ronin Jazz): Baritone saxophonist, born in Cincinnati, based in New York, has a couple previous records. A big mainstream sound, powered by a mostly famous sextet: Duane Eubanks (trumpet), Delfeayo Marsalis (trombone), Zaccai Curtis (piano), Dezron Douglas (bass), Ralph Peterson (drums). B+(*) [cd]

Jentsch Group Quartet: Fractured Pop (2009 [2017], Fleur de Son): Guitarist Chris Jentsch, based in Brooklyn, first two releases were styled as suites, and this fits that mold. Two programs, separated by a dead spot with muffled cricket sounds. Group includes Matt Renzi (tenor sax, clarinet, alto flute), bass and drums. Package includes a DVD. B+(*) [cd]

Jlin: Black Origami (2017, Planet Mu): Jerrilynn Patton, from Gary, IN, second album (plus two EPs), associated with Chicago footwork, probably all electronics (aside from scattered voices), but especially strong on percussion, dense and varied, with a quasi-industrial air. B+(**)

Keith Karns Big Band: An Eye on the Future (2015 [2017], Summit): Trumpet player, website has a section called "Woody Shaw Research," big band recorded in Dallas. Karns wrote five (of seven) pieces, covering "Like Someone in Love" and "Without a Song." Tenor saxophonist Rich Perry gets a featuring credit. C+ [cd]

Kehlani: SweetSexySavage (2017, Atlantic): Surname Parrish, from Oakland, 21 when this came out, first album after a couple mixtapes but her career started at age 14 in group PopLyfe -- they had a run on America's Got Talent, but after they broke up she couldn't work and spent some time homeless. This one's got some good songs, some bounce and sass, some oversinging. B+(*)

Diana Krall: Turn Up the Quiet (2017, Verve): Standards singer, also plays piano, became a big star in the 1990s and still has remarkable phrasing. She recorded this with three small and mostly interchangeable guitar-bass-drums groups (Marc Ribot-Tony Garnier-Kariem Riggins the most interesting on paper but I can't say I noticed much difference, even from Anthony Wilson-John Clayton-Jeff Hamilton). Plus hints of strings and a bit of vibes. All very agreeable, typically remarkable. B+(***)

Oliver Lake Featuring Flux Quartet: Right Up On (2016 [2017], Passin' Thru): The leader is credited with alto sax, although in two plays I didn't notice any -- and he's not normally one to hide in the shadows. Rather, you get an avant string quartet playing rather abstractly modernist compositions, by Lake, some dating back to 1998. B [cd]

Chad Lefkowitz-Brown: Onward (2017, self-released): Tenor saxophonist, at least one previous album. Quartet with piano (Steve Feifke), bass and drums, plus guest trumpet (Randy Brecker) on two cuts. Five originals, four covers ("Isn't She Lovely," "Giant Steps," "The Nearness of You," "All of You"). Impressive sax runs, conventional rhythm, makes for a solid mainstream album. B+(**) [cd]

Les Amazones d'Afrique: République Amazone (2017, RealWorld): New group, all women, mostly names I recognize from solo careers -- Angélique Kidjo, Kandia Kouyaté, Mamani Keita, Nneka, Mariam Doumbia (of Amadou &) -- none from Les Amazones de Guinée, last heard from on their brilliant 2008 Wamato. This is more limited to beats and chants, but they grow on you. A-

Gregory Lewis: Organ Monk: The Breathe Suite (2017, self-released): Organ player, released Organ Monk in 2010 followed by a couple more sets of Monk tunes, but here he's moved into something else -- song titles like "Chronicles of Michael Brown," "Trayvon," and "Eric Garner" will give you an idea. Mostly quintet with trumpet (Riley Mullins), tenor sax (Reggie Woods), and relative stars on guitar (Marc Ribot) and drums (Nasheet Waits). Fast, furious, a bit heavy. B+(*) [cd]

Jesse Lewis/Ike Sturm: Endless Field (2017, Biophilia): Guitar and bass, as a duo they fashion intricate, pleasant pastorales -- the sort of thing "new age" promised but rarely delivered. However, they also entertain guests (Donny McCaslin, Ingrid Jensen, Fabian Almazan, Chris Dingman, Nadje Noordhuis "& More"), some a plus, some not. [PS: Packaging comes with download code, probably no CD -- mine came with CDR.] B [cdr]

Ed Maina: In the Company of Brothers (2017, self-released): Saxophonist, plays everything from soprano to baritone plus piccolo to alto flute, clarinet, and EWI. From Miami, likes Latin percussion and smooth guitar. B [cd]

Mas Que Nada: Sea Journey (2017, Blujazz): Brazilian and Afro-Cuban jazz group directed by Tom Knific at Western Michigan, eight pieces plus two singers, mostly doing standard fare -- "If I Fell in Love" (John Lennon) the furthest reach. B [cd]

Bob Merrill: Tell Me Your Troubles: Songs by Joe Bushkin, Volume 1 (2017, Accurate): Trumpet player-vocalist, fourth album, all songs by pianist Bushkin (1916-2004), bracketed by stories about Bushkin from Frank Sinatra and Red Buttons, plus a snippet of Bushkin's own piano, all very nicely done -- mostly smooth crooning, but outliers include "Hot Time in the Town of Berlin," "Boogie Woogie Blue Plate," and "Man Here Plays Fine Piano." B+(***) [cd]

Migos: Culture (2017, QC/YRN/300): Atlanta hip-hop crew, three rappers (Quavo, Takeoff, Offset) related and raised by the same mother. Second album, a dozen mix tapes. The polyrhythmic voices can turn catchy, but no guarantee of that. B+(***)

Jason Miles: Kind of New 2: Blue Is Paris (2017, Lightyear): Keyboard player, claims credits on 130 albums, tends toward pop jazz grooves but occasionally throws something more, as when he brought Ingrid Jensen in for his previous Kind of New album. This isn't a repeat, although he's thrown four trumpet players into the void: Russell Gunn, Theo Croker, Patches Stewart, and Jukka Eskola. Says this was "written in reaction to the 2015 Paris terror attacks." The groove pieces are actually rather catchy, and the title vocal (reprised at the end) works just well enough. B+(*) [cdr]

Yoko Miwa Trio: Pathways (2016 [2017], Ocean Blue Tear Music): Pianist, born in Kobe, Japan, studied at Berklee, has six albums. This a trio with Will Slater on bass and Scott Goulding on drums. Four originals, covers of Marc Johnson (2), Joni Mitchell, and "Dear Prudence." Runs 72 minutes but is delightful all the way through. A- [cd]

Michael Morreale: Love and Influence (2013-16 [2017], Blujazz, 2CD): Trumpet player, also some flugelhorn and piano, based in New York. I don't know of any previous albums, but hype sheet says he's been active thirty-some years, and I've seen a number of side credits, especially with Joe Jackson. Mainstream, with Jon Gordon on alto sax, lots of piano. First disc is brighter and sharper; second includes a vocal. B+(*) [cd]

Mount Eerie: A Crow Looked at Me (2017, PW Elverum & Sun): Singer-songwriter Phil Elverum, formerly of the Microphones, whose last album (2003) was titled Mount Eerie. As I write this, the first- (Metacritic) or second-best (AOTY) reviewed album of 2017, a remarkable consensus for a guy with almost no pulse much less dynamism. Still, a not unpleasant waste of time. B+(*)

Mumpbeak: Tooth (2017, Rare Noise): Roy Powell, based in Oslo, plays piano but credited here with "Horner clavinet, Moog Little Phatty, Hammond organ, tubular bells"; backed by Lorenzo Felicati on bass and Torstein Lofthus on drums, so basically midway between an organ trio and keyboard fusion. B [cdr]

Willie Nelson: God's Problem Child (2017, Legacy): Working title: "Still Not Dead" -- one of seven new songs by Nelson and producer Buddy Cannon, but they wound up going with the title song from Jamey Johnson and Tony Joe White, with what sounds like Johnson doing the bulk of the singing (the bulky parts, anyway). Seems like a perfectly respectable, perfectly average album, which given recent fads may indeed prove he's not dead yet. B+(**)

Noertker's Moxie: Druidh Penumbrae (2011-15 [2016], Edgetone): Bassist Bill Noertker's main group (he also has one called the Melancholics), pieced together from live recordings over the band's run. Annelise Zamula (alto/tenor sax, flute) is the only other constant, with a series of three drummers, two pianists (4/11 cuts), and more horns (ranging from cornet to oboe). B+(*) [cd]

Linda May Han Oh: Walk Against Wind (2016 [2017], Biophilia): Bassist, born in Malaysia, raised in Australia, previously recorded three good albums as Linda Oh plus side credits with Dave Douglas and others. Group features Ben Wendel on sax, plus Matthew Stevens on guitar and Justin Brown on drums, joined by Fabian Almazan (piano on 3 cuts) and Minji Park (janggu & kkwaenggwari on 1). Another solid record, especially when I focus on the bassist. New label, has come up with a packaging gimmick that unfolds into a large many-faceted surface, roughly the equivalent of a 16-page booklet turned into crumpled chaos -- really awful. But the music: [PS: $20 product just comes with empty packaging and a download code.] B+(***) [cdr]

Paramore: After Laughter (2017, Fueled by Ramen): Pop/rock band originally from Tennessee, fifth studio album, only constant member since 2004 is singer-keyboardist Hayley Williams. Starts strong, an interesting voice over the pop hooks, somewhat less so the slow one. B+(***)

William Parker & Stefano Scondanibbio Duo: Bass Duo (2008 [2017], Centering): Two bassists, one famous, the other not (at least not that I'm aware of; he died at 55 in 2012), performing improv duets at a jazz festival in Udine, Italy. Probably not your cup of tea, but I'm fascinated, and don't even mind it for background ambience. B+(**)

Sarah Partridge: Bright Lights & Promises: Redefining Janis Ian (2016 [2017], Origin): Singer from New Jersey, favors standards, half-dozen albums, devoted this one to the songs of Janis Ian, a folkish singer-songwriter who first emerged in 1967 (and who joins for one song here). Somewhat (but not very) surprised I don't have any Ian albums graded in my database, so no surprise that the songs here don't stick with me either. Some nice Scott Robinson saxophone. B [cd]

Simona Premazzi: Outspoken (2016 [2017], self-released): Pianist, originally from Italy, moved to New York in 2004. First album, quartet with Dayna Stephens (tenor/soprano sax), Joe Martin (bass), and Nasheet Waits (drums), plus guest shots (one track each) by vocalist Sara Serpa and trumpeter/producer Jeremy Pelt. B+(*) [cd]

Preservation Hall Jazz Band: So It Is (2017, Legacy): Band dates back to 1963, with bassist/tuba player Ben Jaffe taking over from his father in 1987, and evidently another turn following a tour of Cuba in 2015. For one thing, this is all original material, related to New Orleans trad (and for that matter Afro-Cuban) only in that it's upbeat, celebratory social music. And being geared for hot jazz, they can do that. B+(**)

Chuck Prophet: Bobby Fuller Died for Your Sins (2017, Yep Roc): Retro rocker from California, was in the pretty good late-1980s group Green on Red, fourteenth album under his own name -- I liked the only one I've heard, The Hurting Business (2000). Title song is slight, and not as amusing as "Jesus Was a Social Drinker" or "If I Was Connie Britton." On the other hand, "Alex Nieto" does matter, and they crank the guitars up to drive the point home. B+(*)

Eve Risser/Benjamin Duboc/Edward Perraud: En Corps: Generation (2016 [2017], Dark Tree): French piano trio, second album as they carry on their debut title, recorded live in Austria. Two pieces ("Des Corps" and "Des Âmes"), slow to develop from repeated rhythmic patterns, impressive when they do. B+(**) [cd]

Riverside [Dave Douglas/Chet Doxas/Steve Swallow/Jim Doxas]: The New National Anthem (2015 [2017], Greenleaf Music): Pianoless quartet, the brothers playing clarinet/sax and drums, Swallow electric bass, the leader trumpet. The title and two other tunes come from Carla Bley -- the album's most striking pieces -- plus one each by Swallow and Chet Doxas, the title tune bracketed by the leader's "Americano." Full of remarkable passages, but after many plays I'm still finding it a bit too solemn. B+(***) [cd]

Tom Rizzo: Day and Night (2015 [2017], Origin): Guitarist, second album although his side credits go back to 1976. Three originals, covers mostly from jazz sources ranging from Ornette Coleman to Vincent Herring, so not so surprising I don't start recognizing them until he gets to "Living for the City" and "Moon River." With piano-bass-drums plus six horns I scarcely noticed. B [cd]

Jamie Saft/Steve Swallow/Bobby Previte With Iggy Pop: Loneliness Road (2017, Rare Noise): Saft plays piano here, turning this into a classy little cocktail trio, though nothing really familiar as the tunes are all originals. The surprise is his guest crooner, instantly recognizable as Iggy Pop, who pops up 4, then 9, then 12 songs in, personifying the title. B+(**) [cdr]

Shakira: El Dorado (2017, Sony Latin Music): Superstar from Colombia, eleventh album, mostly (but not all) in Spanish, mostly has a good pop beat with a little extra. B+(***)

Elliott Sharp With Mary Halvorson and Marc Ribot: Err Guitar (2016 [2017], Intakt): Three guitarists, nothing else, more stutter than flow or harmony, which I take to be Sharp's dominance (he had a hand in 10/12 songs, 5 co-credits with Halvorson, 2 with Ribot, 1 with both). B+(**) [cd]

Jared Sims: Change of Address (2017, Ropeadope): Baritone saxophonist, leads a quintet balanced on Nina Ott's organ, with guitar, bass, and drums -- a funky soul jazz update with distinguished by the deep breathing of the big horn. B+(***) [cd]

Günter Baby Sommer: Le Piccole Cose: Live at Theater Gütersloh (2016 [2017], Intuition): Swiss avant drummer, past 70, leads a pianoless quartet, names likely to be known in his environs -- Gianluigi Trovesi (alto sax/alto clarinet), Manfred Schoof (trumpet/flugelhorn), Antonio Borghini (bass), with all but the bassist contributing pieces. Most work up an interesting sound. Concludes with an 11:06 interview, in Deutsch. B+(*) [cd]

Stormzy: Gang Signs & Prayer (2017, Merky): English rapper, genre's called grime, first album after singles, an EP, and a mixtape. B+(*)

Sult/Lasse Marhaug: Harpoon (2017, Conrad Sound/Pica Disk): Sult is a Norwegian trio -- Håvard Skaset (guitar), Jacob Felix Heule (percussion), Guro Skumsnes Moe (contrabass) -- with three previous albums. They built the source for this jazz-noise fusion, and Marhaug (probably best known in these parts for his work with Ken Vandermark) "constructed and produced" the result -- i.e., made it somewhat noisier. B+(*) [cdr]

Jeannie Tanner: Words & Music (2017, Tanner Time, 2CD): From Chicago, plays trumpet, wrote nineteen songs here in the "Great American Songbook" vein, had pianist Dan Murphy arrange horns and strings, and brought in "twelve of Chicago's finest vocalists" to sing. The women outnumber the men, and are pretty interchangeable so the album has a consistent flow. No instant classics, but time will tell. B+(**) [cd]

Joris Teepe & Don Braden: Conversations (2009-16 [2017], Creative Perspective Music): Bass and tenor sax/flute, the earliest tracks duos, most with drums (Gene Jackson or Matt Wilson). One original each, one from Wilson, the rest well-worn standards -- the duo on "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" an especially good match. B+(**) [cd]

Klaus Treuheit/Lou Grassi: Port of Call (2016 [2017], NoBusiness): Piano and drums, released as limited edition vinyl. The pianist, from Germany, has several previous albums, going back at least to 1986. The drummer, American, has led several "Po" bands and appeared on dozens more. Pretty sharp all around. B+(***) [cdr]

Trichotomy: Known-Unknown (2016 [2017], Challenge): Piano trio, from Australia, fourth album, principally Sean Foran (piano) and John Parker (drums) plus new bassist Samuel Vincent, all also credited with electronics, helping their bounce and shuffle. B+(***) [cd]

Paul Tynan & Aaron Lington Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Five (2016 [2017], OA2): Conventionally-sized big band led by trumpet and baritone sax, respectively -- until now the collective has always been smaller, down to a quintet last time. Writing duties split between the leaders, Craig Marshall charged with conducting. Recorded in equally inconvenient Dallas, the least impressive of their five convocations, not that there are no sweet spots. B [cd]

Vagabon: Infinite Worlds (2017, Father/Daughter): Laetitia Tamko, born in Youundé, Cameroon, moved to New York at 13, first (short: 8 songs, 28:18) album after an EP. B+(*)

Cuong Vu 4-Tet: Ballet (The Music of Michael Gibbs) (2017, Rare Noise): Trumpet player, born in Saigon during the war, now based in New York, with a dozen albums since 1996. No idea of his relationship to Gibbs, who toiled in obscurity since 1970 but came up with two good 2015 albums on Cuneiform with the NDR Bigband. One of those Gibbs albums was Play a Bill Frisell Set List, and the guitarist is a major addition here -- along with Luke Bergman on bass and Ted Poor on drums. B+(***) [cdr]

Torben Waldorff: Holiday on Fire (2016 [2017], ArtistShare): Danish guitarist, has a handful of records since 1999. Tends to weave his guitar into the mesh, but big help here from Ingrid Jensen on trumpet and Maggi Olin on keyboards. B+(**) [cd]

Bobby Watson: Made in America (2017, Smoke Sessions): Alto saxophonist, one of the greats although he hasn't recorded much lately. Quartet with Stephen Scott (piano), Curtis Lundy (bass), and Lewis Nash (drums). Nine pieces dedicated to more/less obscure black American cultural figures. B+(**)

Ronny Whyte: Shades of Whyte (2016 [2017], Audiophile): Classic crooner stylist, also plays piano, which must be cost-effective, although he uses a bassist here, alternates two drummers, and benefits from Lou Caputo's tenor sax (if not his flute). B [cd]

Jürg Wickihalder/Barry Guy/Lucas Niggli: Beyond (2016 [2017], Intakt): Sax-bass-drums trio, the leader playing soprano, alto and tenor, and writing 7 (of 9) pieces (bassist Guy one, plus one by Michael Griener). B+(***) [cd]

Alex Wintz: Life Cycle (2016 [2017], Culture Shock Music): Guitarist, born in California, raised in New Jersey, studied at Berklee and Juilliard, first album, adds tenor sax (Lucas Pino) on 4/9 cuts, piano on 4 (3 both), nice postbop vibe, and the sax helps. B+(**) [cd]

Zeal & Ardor: Devil Is Fine (2016 [2017], MKVA): Swiss-born New Yorker Manuel Gagneux fuses black field hollers (or chain gang chants) with black metal (and a little xylophone) -- a fairly amusing rather than overbearing combination. Short, but long enough: 9 tracks, 25:00. B+(***)

Recent Reissues, Compilations, Vault Discoveries

Joseph Bowie/Oliver Lake: Live at 'A SPACE' 1976 (1976 [2017], Delmark/Sackville): Trombonist, younger brother of Art Ensemble of Chicago trumpeter Lester Bowie, doesn't have much under his own name -- only record I see was Trombone Riffs for DJ's (1993), although he made it to the headline a half dozen times. Duet with the alto saxophonist, who also plays some flute. B+(**) [cd]

Itaru Oki/Nobuyoshi Ino/Choi Sun Bae: Kami Fusen (1996 [2017], NoBusiness): Two trumpets (Oki also plays bamboo flute), bracketing bassist Ino. Contrast interesting, but doesn't generate much momentum. B+(**) [cd]

Outro Tempo: Electronic and Contemporary Music From Brazil, 1978-1992 (1978-92 [2017], Music From Memory): An exotic travelogue, probably more interesting if you have a booklet to follow, but as background it keeps changing without finding its center. B+(*)

Paul Rutherford/Sabu Toyozumi: The Conscience (1999 [2017], NoBusiness): Trombone and drums duo. Rutherford (1940-2007) was one of the most important avant-trombonists in Europe, a pioneer in the rare art of solo trombone. This is as fine a showcase for him as I've heard, but it's the drummer -- previously unknown to me -- who put this archive tape over the top. A- [cd]

Old Music

Gregg Allman: One More Try: An Anthology (1973-88 [1997], Capricorn/Chronicles, 2CD): A founding father of Southern Rock, formed the Allman Brothers Band in 1969 with brother Duane, who died in a 1971 motorcycle crash. The band carried on, released their biggest album in 1973, and broke up and regrouped several times. Meanwhile, from 1973 Gregg had a lackluster solo career, releasing four studio albums 1973-88, one in 1997, another in in 2011, plus live albums in 1974 and 2015, before dying on May 29. A fan recommended this compilation, combining 6 album cuts and 28 previously unreleased demos, live shots, and so forth, and indeed it does a nice job of showcasing the man's voice and keyboards, a charming remembrance. It does, however, get a bit worn when he veers toward gospel. B+(**) [dl]

Ted Des Plantes' Washboard Wizards: Midnight Stomp (1991, Stomp Off): Trad jazz band from Ohio, led by the pianist. Info remarkably scarce, but First album, I think, with: Leon Oakley (cornet), Jim Snyder (trombone), Larry Wright (clarinet, alto/tenor sax, occarina), John Otto (clarinet, alto sax), Frank Powers (clarinet, alto sax), Mike Bezin (tuba), Jack Meilhan (banjo), Hal Smith (washboard, drums), with vocals by Des Plantes and Otto. B+(***)

Ted Des Plantes' Washboard Wizards: Shim-Sham-Shimmy Dance (1997 [1998], Stomp Off): Third album on Stomp Off (plus a couple more elsewhere); Oakley, Otto, Wright, and Smith remain essential, plus a new tuba player and John Gill takes over the banjo and gives them another vocalist (though I have no idea who sings what). Still pulling obscurities out of the '20s, but more assured, less frantic. A-

John Gill's San Francisco Jazz Band: Turk Murphy Style (1989 [1992], GHB): Napster's cover doesn't have this title, but other images do, as do most of the web pages matching this songlist. Moreover, the trombonist on the cover looks like Murphy (1915-1987). Banjoist Gill, pictured on the back cover, started in Murphy's trad jazz band, which carried on the Dixieland flame from Lu Watters. The band: Bob Schulz (cornet), Lynn Zimmer (clarinet, soprano sax), Charlie Bornemann (trombone), Pete Clute (piano), Bill Carroll (tuba), with Gill on banjo and vocals, plus Pat Yankee on two Bessie Smith songs. A-

John Gill's Novelty Orchestra of New Orleans: "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile" (1991, Stomp Off): Can't find any info on this other than the front cover art. Presumably the musicians were similar to those listed below, except that this doesn't show up in Dan Levinson's discography. The title song dates back to a 1931 cartoon short, recorded by Ambrose and His Orchestra, and that's the sort of mirth they're aiming for. B+(***)

John Gill's Novelty Orchestra of New Orleans: Headin' for Better Times (1992 [1993], Stomp Off): All I know about this is from Gerard Bielderman's Swinging Americans discography posted by Dan Levinson (tenor sax and clarinet). The lineup: Charles Fardella (trumpet), David Sager (trombone), Tom Fischer (clarinet, soprano/alto sax), Levinson, Debbie Markow/Elliot Markow (violin), Tom Roberts (piano), Gill (banjo), Tom Saunders (tuba), Hal Smith (drums), with vocals (12/15 songs they list, album has 22) by Sager, Gill, Saunders, and Chris Tyle. B+(***)

John Gill's Dixie Serenaders: "Listen to That Dixie Band!!" (1997 [1998], Stomp Off): Banjo player, a major figure in San Francisco's trad jazz scene starting with bands led by Turk Murphy and Duke Heitger, and on to the Bay City Stompers and his main outfit since 2001, Yerba Buena Stompers, but there is little on him online, and much confusion with London-born/Australian ragtime pianist John Gill (1954-2011). This was the last of his three Dixie Serenaders albums, "featuring" blues singer Lavay Smith (on less than half of the tracks), with Heitger on trumpet, Chris Tyle on cornet, Frank Powers on clarinet, Vince Giordano on tuba, Steve Pistorius on piano -- a fine Dixieland band that doesn't quite take off. B+(**)

John Gill's Jazz Kings: "I Must Have It!" (2004, Stomp Off): Only info I can find is the cover scan, which shows a stage empty except for "Joe Oliver's cornet" and "Johnny St. Cyr's banjo." Back cover offers the date and musician list -- Jon-Erik Kellso (cornet), Orange Kellin (clarinet), Brad Shigeta (trombone), Hank Ross (piano), John Gill (banjo, vocals), and Joe Hanchrow (tuba) -- plus a list of 22 songs (no credits, but "total time: 79:26"). Odd song out is "That's All Right," but where else can you hear it with a tuba break? B+(***)

John Gill: Learn to Croon: John Gill & His Sentimental Serenaders Remember Bing Crosby (2009 [2011], Stomp Off): Very little info online, but I've seen a hint that the old-fashioned crooner here is Gill. The band itself is thick with strings -- couldn't be more retro if Gill had discovered ancient outtakes. Sentimental is an understatement, but oddly enough the soppier it gets, the more I like it ("Pennies From Heaven," "Blue Hawaii"). B+(**)

Duke Heitger and His Swing Band: Rhythm Is Our Business (1998-99 [2000], Fantasy): Trad jazz trumpet player, also sings, from Ohio, moved to New Orleans, eight albums as leader plus side credits (the only one Google seems to care about is with the Squirrel Nut Zippers). This is a mid-sized swing outfit -- trombone, two saxes (with some clarinet), piano, guitar-bass-drums (no banjo-tuba), and Rebecca Kilgore splitting vocals with Heitger. Good showcase for the leader's trumpet, and Chris Tyle's drums really help. A-

Duke Heitger's Big Four: Prince of Wails (2001, Stomp Off): Quartet is compact by trad jazz standards, but stellar: Evan Christopher (clarinet/alto sax), John Gill (banjo), Tom Saunders (tuba/string bass). Gill and Saunders generate plenty of rhythm, and Christopher has an especially strong showing. B+(***)

Duke Heitger With Ken Mathieson's Classic Jazz Band: Celebrating Satchmo (2010, Lake): The trumpeter pledged allegiance to Louis Armstrong when he moved to New Orleans, and drummer Mathieson's Scottish trad jazz band has spent lifetimes learning this music. Still doesn't come close enough to leave you wanting the originals, nor so deficient you wonder why they bother -- actually, rather delightful. B+(**)

Independence Hall Jazz Band: Louis: The Oliver Years (2002, Stomp Off): Yet another New Orleans-based repertory band, best known names trumpet players Jon-Erik Kellso and Duke Heitger. Second album, tunes Armstrong played with King Oliver, done picture-perfect if not all that exceptionally. B+(**)

Sergey Kuryokhin: The Ways of Freedom (1981 [2001], Leo Golden Years of New Jazz): Russian pianist (1954-1996), his first album (of 40+ over 15 years), evidently unauthorized, the reissue adding three cuts. Solo, has no real sense of swing or bop but gets a rhythm going that turns fascinating. Only thing I've heard -- few titles are available, with only the second disc of his 4-CD posthumous Divine Madness online. B+(***)

Joëlle Léandre & William Parker: Live at Dunois (2009, Leo): Avant bass duets, both masters with plenty of tricks up their sleeves, but they open politely, teasing their instruments to sing. Of course, later on Léandre does literally sing -- or something approximate. B+(**)

Keith Nichols & the Cotton Club Orchestra: Harlem's Arabian Nights (1996 [1997], Stomp Off): British pianist, started as a ragtime specialist but expanded to stride and swing. Smallish big band akin to Henderson and early Ellington: three reeds, two each trumpets/trombones, the guitar-bass-drums players doubling on banjo-tuba-washboard. Nichols sings some, as does Janice Day. B+(***)

Chris Tyle's New Orleans Rover Boys: A Tribute to Benny Strickler (1991, Stomp Off): Grew up in Portland where his father, Axel Tyle, was drummer in the Castle Jazz Band. He formed a swing band called Wholly Cats, played some with Turk Murphy, and moved to New Orleans in 1989. His main instrument is cornet and he sings some, but elsewhere I've seen him credited with drums. Strickler played trumpet in the wartime Yerba Buena Jazz Band, but he also shows up in Bob Wills' discography, and died quite young. Clarinet player Bob Helm, whose name is singled out on the cover, was close to Strickler. This group includes Orange Kellin (clarinet), David Sager (trombone), Steve Pistorius (piano), John Gill (banjo/2 vocals), Bill Carroll (tuba), and Hal Smith (drums, 1 vocal). One highlight is what the horns add to the Wills tune ("It Makes No Difference Now"), but there are many more in a typically (for the label) long program. B+(***)

Additional Consumer News:

Previous grades on artists in the old music section.

  • Gregg Allman: Low Country Blues (2011, Rounder): B+(*)
  • Gregg Allman Live: Back to Macon, GA (2014 [2015], Rounder, 2CD): B+(***)
  • Ted Des Plantes: Ohio River Blues (1994, Stomp Off): B+(*)
  • Ted Des Plantes: Thumpin' and Bumpin' (2006 [2007], Stomp Off): A-
  • John Gill's Dixie Serenaders: Looking for a Little Bluebird (1994 [1996], Stomp Off): A-
  • John Gill's Dixie Serenaders: Take Me to the Midnight Cakewalk Ball (1995 [1998], Stomp Off): A-
  • Duke Heitger/Bernd Lhotzky: Doin' the Voom Voom (2008 [2009], Arbors): B+(*)
  • Joëlle Léandre: 8 other albums
  • Keith Nichols: I Like to Do Things for You (1991 [1992], Stomp Off): B+
  • Keith Nichols: Henderson Stomp (1993, Stomp Off): A-
  • William Parker: 43 other albums
  • Chris Tyle's Silver Leaf Jazz Band: Sugar Blues: A Tribute to Joseph "King" Oliver (1995, Stomp Off): A-
  • Chris Tyle's Silver Leaf Jazz Band: New Orleans Wiggle (1999, GHB): A-

Notes

Everything streamed from Napster (ex Rhapsody), except as noted in brackets following the grade:

  • [cd] based on physical cd
  • [cdr] based on an advance or promo cd or cdr
  • [dvd] based on physical dvd (rated more for music than video)
  • [dl] something I was able to download from the web; may be freely available, may be a bootleg someone made available, or may be a publicist promo

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Music Week

Music: Current count 28187 [28166] rated (+21), 387 [397] unrated (-10).

As this weekly post falls on Memorial Day, I'd like to dedicate it our fallen heroes: not those who lost their lives in the many pointless wars this nation has waged since shortly before I was born, but to those who spoke, wrote, and often demonstrated against those wars, especially those who recognized how tightly war was bound up with social and economic injustice, who saw the struggle against both as equally necessary.

Foremost in my mind today are Alice Powell and Mary Harren, who late in their lives became good friends as well as comrades, and Elizabeth Fink, one of the finest, most steadfast, and most principled legal minds of our generation. I could, of course, come up with a few dozen more names of people I've known, and many more who inspired me from a distance -- David Dellinger is one of the latter I often find myself returning to. And, thankfully, there are many more still living, still struggling to turn minds and souls against America's fascination with empire and its attendant inequality and injustice.

Among the living one I should mention is Gail Pellett, who I knew briefly in St. Louis in the early 1970s. She was a graduate student in the sociology department at Washington University, and I was in several classes with her and ran into her socially and politically. She graduated and left for Boston, then a couple years later moved to New York, working in public radio and teaching journalism. In 1980 she got a job as a "foreign language expert" for Radio Beijing in China, and spent a year there trying to fit in and ultimately getting rejected (or at least dejected). A couple years ago she wrote a memoir of her time in China, Forbidden Fruit, which I recently read. Terrific book, taught me a lot about the post-Mao transition in China -- the scars of the Cultural Revolution and the fitful reforms of Deng Xiaoping's zig and zag toward economic reform and prosperity minus democracy. But it also filled in some earlier and later history of Gail I never knew, and reminded me how much I adored her when our paths crossed. Also note all the music she mentions. Those years were the ones that got me interested in music and its social context, so she probably had something to do with all that.

Relatively light week of record processing: partly because I was distracted with all the Trump nonsense, partly because I took some time off to paint the fence and cook, partly because I'm having a lot of trouble making up my mind about good-but-not-great albums. Two of those inched into the A- column this week, with a couple more falling arbitrarily short (Cuong Vu was probably the most tempting, followed by Diet Cig and Klaus Treuheit, with Shakira most volatile (only 2 plays, could go either way), and I still haven't made up my mind on Riverside after 6-7 plays).

Feeling a big nostalgic, so I made fried chicken, biscuits & gravy, and green beans tonight -- the chicken and gravy like my mother taught me (and they came out near-perfect), but I cheated a bit on the rest (much to the meal's detriment: I used a microwave bag of green beans and some really old Bisquick that didn't rise). Just for us, so I wasn't too embarrassed, but I can do better.

Looks like I need to post Streamnotes tomorrow or Wednesday. Draft file currently has 106 albums, so the post will be lighter than usual, not that I've slacked off too badly this month. Still don't have many good non-jazz leads to chase down.

New records rated this week:

  • Amok Amor [Christian Lillinger/Petter Eloh/Wanja Slavin/Peter Evans]: We Know Not What We Do (2016 [2017], Intakt): A-
  • Anemone [Peter Evans/John Butcher/Frederic Blondy/Clayton Thomas/Paul Lovens]: A Wing Dissolved in Light (2013 [2017], NoBusiness): [cdr]: B+(***)
  • Daddy Issues: Deep Dream (2017, Infinity Cat): [r]: A-
  • Diet Cig: Swear I'm Good at This (2017, Frenchkiss): [r]: B+(***)
  • Fred Frith/Hans Koch: You Are Here (2016 [2017], Intakt): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Navigator (2017, ATO): [r]: B+(*)
  • José James: Love in a Time of Madness (2017, Blue Note): [r]: B+(*)
  • B.J. Jansen: Common Ground (2016 [2017], Ronin Jazz): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Diana Krall: Turn Up the Quiet (2017, Verve): [r]: B+(***)
  • Ed Maina: In the Company of Brothers (2017, self-released): [cd]: B
  • Mumpbeak: Tooth (2017, Rare Noise): [cdr]: B
  • Simona Premazzi: Outspoken (2016 [2017], self-released): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Tom Rizzo: Day and Night (2015 [2017], Origin): [cd]: B
  • Jamie Saft/Steve Swallow/Bobby Previte With Iggy Pop: Loneliness Road (2017, Rare Noise): [cdr]: B+(**)
  • Shakira: El Dorado (2017, Sony Latin Music): [r]: B+(***)
  • Klaus Treuheit/Lou Grassi: Port of Call (2016 [2017], NoBusiness): [cdr]: B+(***)
  • Cuong Vu 4-Tet: Ballet (2017, Rare Noise): [cdr]: B+(***)
  • Jürg Wickihalder/Barry Guy/Lucas Niggli: Beyond (2016 [2017], Intakt): [cd]: B+(***)

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

  • Itaru Oki/Nobuyoshi Ino/Choi Sun Bae: Kami Fusen (1996 [2017], NoBusiness): [cd]: B+(**)

Old music rated this week:

  • Independence Hall Jazz Band: Louis: The Oliver Years (2002, Stomp Off): [r]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Ignacio Berroa Trio: Straight Ahead From Havana (Codes Drum Music): August 7
  • Roger Davidson: Oração Para Amanhã/Prayer for Tomorrow (Soundbrush): June 14
  • Rick Davies: Thugtet (Emlyn)
  • Brian McCarthy Nonet: The Better Angels of Our Nature (self-released)
  • Kyle Motl: Solo Contrabass (self-released)
  • The New Vision Sax Ensemble: Musical Journey Through Time (Zak Publishing): June 12
  • Simona Premazzi: Outspoken (self-released)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Weekend Roundup

Three fairly prominent figures died in the last couple days -- at least prominent enough to warrant articles in the Wichita Eagle: Jim Bunning, Greg Allman, and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Naturally, I go back furthest with Bunning. I became conscious of baseball in 1957, when I was six, and for many years I could recite the all-star teams from that (and practically no other) year. Bunning was the starting pitcher for the AL, vs. Curt Simmons for the NL. That was the year Cincinnati stuffed the ballot boxes, causing a scandal by electing seven position players to the NL team. Commissioner Ford Frick overruled the voters and replaced Gus Bell and Wally Post with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. In my memory, he also picked Stan Musial over Ted Kluszewski at 1B and Eddie Matthews over Don Hoak at 3B, but he stopped short and didn't pick the equally obvious Ernie Banks vs. Roy McMillan. According to the Wikipedia page, Musial actually won, and Hoak (and McMillan and 2B Johnny Temple and C Ed Bailey) started. My memory of the AL team somehow lost 1B Vic Wertz (no idea who played there, since I was pretty sure it wasn't Moose Skowron, on the team as a reserve) and 2B Nellie Fox (I thought Frank Bolling, who didn't make the team -- Casey Stengel liked to stock his bench with Yankees, so he went with Bobby Richardson).

Bunning won the game, pitching three scoreless innings while Simmons walked in two runs. Biggest surprise from the game summary was that Bell pinch-hit for Robinson (no doubt the only time that ever happened, despite being teammates for many years) and came up with a two-run double. Bunning had his best season in 1957, going 20-8, although he also won 19 in 1962, and after he was traded to Philadelphia in 1964 had three straight 19-win years, winding up with a 234-184 record and a lot of strikeouts (2855). He played during a period (1955-71) when W totals were especially depressed -- I worked out a system for adjusting W-L totals over the years but don't have the data handy (one significant result was that Cy Young, Walter Johnson, and Warren Spahn came out with almost identical adjusted W-L totals). But also Bunning spent most of his career as the star on losing teams, so that also reduced his career standing. Still, a marvelous pitcher. He was also one of the more militant leaders in the baseball players union, but after he retired he turned into an extreme right-wing crank and got elected to the Senate from Kentucky, where his two terms went from dismal to worse. If there was a Hall of Fame for guys kicking the ladder away after they used it, he'd be in.

I have far less to say about Allman, but nothing negative. His most recent albums were engaging and enjoyable, and early in his career he contributed to some even better ones.

People much younger than me might remember Brzezinski for his biting criticism of GW Bush's Iraq fiasco. He was the Democrats' original answer to Henry Kissinger, a foreign policy mandarin with a deep-seated hatred of the Soviet Union and anything even vaguely communist, and he seemed to be the dominant force that bent Jimmy Carter's his initial foreign policy focus on human rights toward an unscrupulously anti-communist stance. Still, decades later, after the fall of the Soviet Union, even after Carter wrote his essential book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, Carter stuck to his line that his signature peace treaty between Israel and Egypt was driven primarily by his desire to curtail Soviet influence. It's not that Brzezinski offered any real break from the rabid anti-communism of previous administrations so much as he kept Carter from changing course, and in their Iran and Afghanistan policies they set the stage for everything the US has butchered and blundered ever since -- including Trump's "Arab NATO" summit last week.

Last week when I was reading John D Dower's new book The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II I ran across a paragraph I wanted to quote about how Reagan both adopted and extended policies begun under the Carter administration, while simultaneously belittling and slandering Carter. It seemed to me that we are witnessing Trump making the same move. But since then Zbigniew Brzezinski died, so I figure in his honor I should start with the previous paragraph:

Although Carter failed in his bid for a second term as president his "doctrine" laid the ground for an enhanced US infrastructure of war, especially in the Greater Middle East. Less than two months after his address, Carter oversaw creation of a Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force that tapped all four major branches of the military (army, navy, air force, and marines). Within two years, this evolved into Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for operations in Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, initiating what one official navy historian called "a period of expansion unmatched in the postwar era. Simultaneously, Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski launched the effective but ultimately nearsighted policy of providing support to the Afghan mujahedeen combating Soviet forces in their country. Conducted mainly through the CIA, the objective of this top-secret operation was in Brzezinski's words, "to make the Soviets bleed for as much and as long as is possible."

Carter's successor Ronald Reagan inherited these initiatives and ran with them, even while belittling his predecessor's policies. In his presidential campaign, Reagan promised "to unite people of every background and faith in a great crusade to restore the America of our dreams." This, he went on -- in words that surely pleased the ghost of Henry Luce -- necessitated repudiating policies that had left the nation's defense "in shambles," and doing "a better job of exporting Americanism."

If Trump seems less committed to "exporting Americanism" than Reagan (or Luce, who coined the term/slogan "American century"), it's not for lack of flag-waving bluster, arrogance, or ignorance. It's just that decades of excoriating "weak leaders" like Carter, Clinton and Obama, and replacing them with "strong" but inept totems like Reagan, the Bushes, and Trump have taken their toll. The lurches toward the right have weakened the once-robust economy and frayed social bonds, and those in turn have degraded institutions. And while it's easy to put the blame for this decay on a right-wing political movement dedicated to the aggrandizement of an ever-smaller circle of billionaires, the equally important thing I'm noticing here is how completely Carter, Clinton, and Obama internalized the logic of their/our enemies and failed to plot any sort of alternative to the right's agenda, which ultimately has less to do with spreading "the American way of life" than with subjugating the world to global capital. Indeed, it appears as though the last people left believing in Luce's Americanism are the hegemonic leaders of the Democratic Party.

I wound up completely exhausted and disgusted from last week's compilation of Trump atrocities (see my Midweek Roundup). I know I said, shortly after Trump's inauguration, that "we can do this shit every week," but I'm less sure now -- not to mention I'm doubting my personal effectiveness.

In particular, the Montana election loss took a toll on my psyche. Then I saw the following tweet (liked by someone I thought I liked): "I wonder what Bernie has learned from his massive loss and that of his scions, Mello, Feingold, Teachout, Thompson, Quist. Probably nothing." Quist, in Montana, ran anywhere from 6-12% ahead of Clinton (at least in the counties I've seen). So did Thompson here in Kansas. They lost, but at least they ran, they gave voters real choices, and they got little or no support from the Clinton-dominated national party (which has made it their business to reduce party differences to a minimum, even as the Republicans stake out extreme turf on the right). The others I haven't looked at closely, but Bernie wasn't the one who lost to Donald Trump. What lessons should he learn from those defeats? Offer less of an alternative? Take his voters for granted? Further legitimize the other side? Clinton Democrats have been doing those things for 25 years now, and look where they've gotten us.

Meanwhile, a few quick links, probably little commentary -- but these things pretty well speak for themselves.

Some scattered links this week in Trump world:

Also a few links less directly tied to Trump, though mostly still to America's bout of political insanity:

What a bummer this is all turning into. Nor can I say it's different than I expected. And it's really unhealthy to go through life with so many occasions to say "I told you so."

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Midweek Roundup

Didn't do a Weekend Roundup on Sunday, not for lack of material but because I had something better to do. Still, this stuff has been piling up at an incredible rate, with no likelihood of abating any time soon. One thing I didn't get to is the terror bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, UK, which killed 22, mostly young girls. The bomber was from Libya, set loose by NATO's entry into civil war there, itself prefigured by the 2003 US-UK invasion of Iraq, and indeed decades of UK and US intervention in the area, originally to exploit resources (and open the Suez Canal), then to support repressive crony governments, and ultimately just to sell arms and encourage everyone to kill each other. When atrocities like this happen, it's always proper not just to condemn the ones who directly did this but to recall and curse those US/UK politicians who paved the way, including Democrats like Obama and the Clintons, Labourites like Blair, as well as the usual right-wingers.

Some quick links on Manchester:

Trump's Thursday schedule includes a meeting of NATO, where UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to use the Manchester bombing as an excuse to formally join fight against Isil. No one expects Donald Trump to be the voice of reason at this meeting: even without NATO's "help" US Killed Record Number of Civilians in Past Month of ISIS Strikes.

Also on Thursday, Montana will elect a new House member. See Both Parties Are Spinning Hard in Montana's Strange, Evolving Special Election; also Ed Kilgore/Margaret Hartmann: Montana GOP Candidate Allegedly 'Body Slams' Journalist, Is Charged With Assault.

Some scattered links this week in the Trumpworld:

  • Dean Baker: Will President Trump Make Rust-Belt Manufacturing Great Again? No evidence so far. Baker also wrote A Job Guarantee and the Federal Reserve Board.

  • Sharon Begley: Trump wasn't always so linguistically challenged. What could explain the change? Some people who have researched Trump's various utterances from decades ago argue that he wasn't always such a scattered, incoherent moron:

    For decades, studies have found that deterioration in the fluency, complexity, and vocabulary level of spontaneous speech can indicate slipping brain function due to normal aging or neurodegenerative disease. STAT and the experts therefore considered only unscripted utterances, not planned speeches and statements, since only the former tap the neural networks that offer a window into brain function.

    The experts noted clear changes from Trump's unscripted answers 30 years ago to those in 2017, in some cases stark enough to raise questions about his brain health. They noted, however, that the same sort of linguistic decline can also reflect stress, frustration, anger, or just plain fatigue.

    Begly also wrote: Psychological need to be right underlies Trump's refusal to concede error.

  • Russell Berman: The Trump Organization Says It's 'Not Practical' to Comply With the Emoluments Clause

  • Bridgette Dunlap: Trump's Abortion Policy Isn't About Morality -- It's Coercion

  • Mike Konczal: How the "Populist' President Is Creating an Aristocracy

  • Sharon Lerner: Donald Trump's Pick for EPA Enforcement Office Was a Lobbyist for Superfund Polluters: Meet Susan Bodine.

  • Eric Lipton: White House Moves to Block Ethics Inquiry Into Ex-Lobbyists on Payroll:

    Dozens of former lobbyists and industry lawyers are working in the Trump administration, which has hired them at a much higher rate than the previous administration. Keeping the waivers confidential would make it impossible to know whether any such officials are violating federal ethics rules or have been given a pass to ignore them.

  • Dahlia Lithwick: Is Donald Trump Too Incapacitated to Be President? The 25th amendment to the constitution would seem to be the simplest way to dispose of the increasingly erratic Donald Trump. Whereas impeachment requires a simple majority of the House and a two-thirds super-majority of the Senate to convict, all the 25th amendment takes is the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet to decide that the President is "incapacitated but not dead." Still, this approach suffers from the fact that so many of the people who would have to sign off were chosen by Trump primarily for their own incompetence (a list I would start with Mike Pence himself):

    Moreover, so many of the Cabinet officials who might rightly affirm that Trump is unable to discharge his duties are similarly unable to discharge their own. Trump's chief infirmity -- the vanity, wealth, and self-regard that was mistakenly confused with effective leadership -- is actually shared by the vast majority of his Cabinet, most of whom -- in the manner of any individual Kardashian -- seem to prize money and power more than they prize governance or democracy. For instance, it's abundantly clear that neither Betsy DeVos nor Ben Carson are fit to execute their own Cabinet positions. Are they also to be summarily removed? Jeff Sessions has gone along with the worst of Trump's plans, drafting the legal justification for the stalled-out Muslim ban. If we can see clearly enough to judge Trump unfit, surely Sessions is as well.

    We already know that the people with the power to stop Trump -- the Republicans in the House and Senate who declare themselves "troubled" and "concerned" by his actions -- are so hell-bent on destroying the regulatory state, harming the weak, imposing Christianity on nonbelievers, and giving tax breaks to the wealthy that Trump's fitness raises no alarms. Unfortunately, that isn't a DSM-IV level diagnosable pathology. It's what we call conservatism in America.

  • Lauren McCauley: Comcast Threatens Legal Action Against Net Neutrality Proponents: FCC chairman Ajit Pai is working on rescinding the "net neutrality" rules, which currently require internet service providers (like Comcast) to provide equal access to all websites. Without those rules, they'd be free to pick and choose, and to scam both providers and users.

  • Jose Pagliery: Trump's casino was a money laundering concern shortly after it opened: Old history, but recently dug up through a FOIA request:

    The Trump Taj Mahal casino broke anti-money laundering rules 106 times in its first year and a half of operation in the early 1990s, according to the IRS in a 1998 settlement agreement. . . .

    Trump's casino ended up paying the Treasury Department a $477,000 fine in 1998 without admitting any liability under the Bank Secrecy Act.

  • Jamie Peck: Billionaire Betsy DeVos wants to scrap student debt forgiveness. Surprised? After WWII the American economy was growing fast and science was held in high esteem, so government worked hard to expand access to higher education, to make it affordable and accessible to many more people, to build up a much better educated workforce (and citizenry). Then, from the 1980s on, the economy slowed, collage came to be viewed more as a certification program for getting ahead (or not falling back), and costs skyrocketed. Now we've entered into a stage where the rich want to keep the advantages of education to themselves, or at the very least make everyone else pay dearly for the privilege. And that's the mindset of rich people like DeVos and Trump, who inherited their fortunes. So, sure, this policy makes perfect sense to them, while condemning everyone else to servitude and penury.

  • CJ Polychroniou/Marcus Rolle: Illusions and Dangers in Trump's "America First" Policy: An Interview With Economist Robert Pollin

  • Priebus: Trump Considering Amending or Abolishing 1st Amendment: One of the scarier things Trump said during the campaign was how he wanted to change libel laws so that people with thin skins and deep pockets (like himself) can sue people who criticize (or make fun of) them. Libel laws are primarily limited by the first amendment (freedom of speech and press), although one always has to worry that the courts will carve out some kind of exception (as they did, for instance, to prosecute "obscenity"). It's not inconceivable that Trump could pass something like that and pack the courts to uphold it, although it's also not very likely. But repealing the first amendment is certainly way beyond his dreams, and if he recognizes that that's what it would take, his scheme is pretty much dead. Still, useful to know that his respect for American democracy is so low that he'd even consider the prospect. But didn't we already know that?

  • Shaun Richman: Republicans Want to Turn the National Labor Relations Board Into a Force for Union Busting: I already thought it was, but I suppose it could get even worse.

  • Jeremy Scahill/Alex Emmons/Ryan Grim: Trump Called Rodrigo Duterte to Congratulate Him on His Murderous Drug War: "You Are Doing an Amazing Job"

    According to one former hitman, Duterte formed an organization called the "Davao Death Squad" -- a mafia-like organization of plainclothes assassins that would kill suspected criminals, journalists, and opposition politicians, often from the backs of motorcycles. Multiple former members of the group have come forward and said that they killed people on Duterte's direct orders.

    Duterte has even bragged that he personally killed criminals from the back of a motorcycle. "In Davao I used to do it personally," he told a group of business leaders in Manila. "Just to show to the guys [police officers] that if I can do it, why can't you."

    In 2016, Duterte campaigned on a policy of mass extermination for anyone involved in the drug trade. "I'd be happy to slaughter them. If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have me," Duterte said after his inauguration in September.

    Despite human rights concerns, the U.S. has long considered the Philippines a military ally, and under Obama the U.S. gave the country's military tens of millions of dollars in weapons and resources per year. The U.S. government does not provide lethal weapons directly to the Philippine National Police, which has a decadeslong history of extrajudicial killings. But it does allow U.S. weapons manufacturers to sell to them directly. In 2015 the State Department authorized more than $250 million in arms sales from U.S. defense contractors to security forces in the Philippines.

  • Nate Silver: Donald Trump's Base Is Shrinking: His overall approval numbers haven't dropped this much, but those who "strongly approve" of Trump has dropped "from a peak of around 30 percent in February to just 21 or 22 percent of the electorate now." Meanwhile, the number of people who "strongly disapprove" of him has shot up "from the mid-30s in early February to 44.1 percent as of Tuesday."

  • Matthew Stevenson: Is Trump the Worst President Ever? Posted back on February 17, so too early for a fair hearing, but it's not really his point to answer the question ("such a milestone could be a tall order. He would need to match Nixon's paranoia and arrogance with Lyndon Johnson's military incompetence, and then throw in Chester Arthur's corruption and maybe Harding's lust for life") -- just to provide a quick review for your history buffs.

  • Amy B Wang: Sinkhole forms in front of Mar-a-Lago; metaphors pour in

  • Matthew Yglesias: Trump isn't a toddler -- he's a product of America's culture of impunity for the rich: Notes that both Ross Douthat and David Brooks have recently tried to explain Trump away as "a toddler" (so that's the kind of original thinking that lands you a job writing opinion for the New York Times?):

    My 2-year-old son misbehaves all the time. The reason is simple: He's a toddler.

    He stuck his foot in a serving bowl at dinner Tuesday night. He screams in inappropriate situations. He's terrified of vacuum cleaners. He thinks it's funny to throw rocks at birds. He has poor impulse control and limited understanding of the consequences of his actions.

    But he's also, fundamentally, a good kid. If you tell him no, he'll usually listen. If you remind him of the rules, he'll acknowledge them and obey. He shows remorse when his misdeeds are pointed out to him, and if you walk him through a cause-and-effect chain he'll alter his behavior. Like all little kids, he needs discipline, and he's got a lot to learn. But he is learning, and he has some notion of consequences and right and wrong.

    Trump is not like that -- at all. . . .

    He's 70 years old. And he's not just any kind of 70-year-old. He's a white male 70-year-old. A famous one. A rich one. One who's been rich since the day he was born. He's a man who's learned over the course of a long and rich life that he is free to operate without consequence. He's the beneficiary of vast and enormous privilege, not just the ability to enjoy lavish consumption goods but the privilege of impunity that America grants to the wealthy.

  • Scattered links on Trump's holy war trek:

    • Peter Beinart: What Trump Reveals by Calling Terrorists 'Losers':

      So why is Trump putting ISIS in the same category in which he places Rosie O'Donnell? Because for him, America's primary goal is not freedom or tolerance. It's success. Trump espouses no deeply held political, religious, or moral doctrine. He sees government through the lens of business. And thus, he's more comfortable with the language of winning and losing than the language of right and wrong. That's why he's so obsessed with the margin of his electoral victory and the size of his crowds. It's why he responds to articles critical of him by saying that the newspapers that published them are "failing." For Trump, losing is worst thing you can do.

      If there's a silver lining here, it's that people who judge right and wrong (or good and evil) are often far more deranged, precisely because their value judgments are more deeply buried in their personal history and circumstances. It's interesting how quickly Trump's prejudices seem to melt away when he actually meets such obviously successful people as the leaders of China, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia (and, one might add, Russia). Maybe he needs state visits to Iran and North Korea? I might add that for normal people, being called a "loser" is less taunting (and less inaccurate) than what Bush called the 9/11 terrorists: "cowards."

    • Bryan Bender: Israeli Officers: You're Doing ISIS Wrong: Israel has its own foreign policy objectives, and they've long been peculiarly at odds with its supposed ally, the United States. When, for instance, the US was supporting Iraq's war against Iran, Israel was helping Iran -- even to the point of selling Iran American weapons (which was OK with Reagan as long as some of the profits were channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua, which Reagan was legally barred from funding on his own -- you know, the "Iran-Contra Scandal"). Israel has repeatedly intervened in Syria, not to promote any constructive agenda, just to balance off the forces to keep the war going longer. But if they had to choose, they'd rather see ISIS come out ahead than Hezbollah, and now they're casting aspersions about the US for tilting the other direction. The bottom line is that while the US always assumes that the goal is peace and stability -- even if that's hard to discern from what the US does -- Israel never wants peace or stability: they seek continual turmoil and conflict, because any lasting peace would involve them settling with the Palestinians, and that's the one thing they can't consider. When this finally sinks in, you'll begin to understand how schizophrenic US policy is in the region. We keep thinking we have allies in the region, but actually all we have are alignments: temporary, fragile, counterproductive, and often downright embarrassing.

    • Natasha Bertrand: Flabbergasted anchor points out to commerce secretary why there wasn't a 'single hint of a protester' in Saudi Arabia: Wilbur Ross was delighted by the reception the Trump entourage received in Saudi Arabia ("there was not a single hint of a protester anywhere there during the whole time").

    • James Carden: What Explains Trump's Sharp About-Face on Saudi Arabia? I don't quite buy that the Trump administration really has an "obsession with Iran" -- that's just a clever way to curry favor with people who still have deep-seated resentment against post-Shah iran. It's obvious that Israel turned on Iran only once Iraq was squashed in 1991 because they needed an "existential security threat" to talk about whenever brought up the Palestinians. (For the long history of this, see Trita Parsi's 2007 book, Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States.) Saudi Arabia was threatened by Ayatollah Khomeini during the 1979 revolution -- effectively he challenged Saudi pre-eminence in the holy places of Islam, which hit the Kingdom very close to home. But nothing since then justifies the Saudi's evident obsession with Iran -- other than the ease with which anti-Iranian rhetoric ingratiates themselves with the US. Before the Saudis got all worked up over Iran, their desires to purchase American arms were frustrated by the Israel lobby -- the two states were, after all, nominal enemies. Now they seem to be virtual allies inasmuch as they share a common enemy, but isn't the real reason that matters their new desire to become an effective hegemon over the Sunni Arab world? Meanwhile, first Obama and now Trump have found it convenient to sell arms to the Saudis: effectively, it's a jobs program that never has to navigate through Congress or even hit the US budget. The new thing is that Trump's finally selling it as such, but he's picked a terrible time to do so: pre-Salman the Saudis never used their expensive toys, but lately they've been increasing violence and chaos everywhere they reach, and entangling the US as they go.

      I should work this in somewhere and this seems as good a place as any: the visceral reaction most Americans had to the self-declaration of an Islamic State would have been just as easy to stir up against the real Islamic State: Saudi Arabia. This didn't happen because the Saudis have a lot of oil and money, and because they feign allegiance and (perhaps rent?) alliance to the United States. They also may have seemed less threatening for lack of territorial ambitions, but they have invaded Yemen, attempted to buy Lebanon (through Rafik Hariri), supported proxy forces in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, and largely treat the Persian Gulf sheikdoms as vassals. Although they've bought lots of American arms for a long time, they never organized them into an effective military for fear of a coup -- until Salman acceded to the throne and they launched the war in Yemen. Until recently they had enough money to buy loyalty, but they're faced now with both sinking oil prices and declining reserves -- along with buying more arms, that means belt-tightening elsewhere, and the most obvious waste is the bloated and often embarrassing royal family. The odds of a coup in the near future have shot up, and if/when it happens it is most likely to adopt the IS model with its renewed Caliphate. It may be possible to rout ISIS from the cities of Upper Mesopotamia, but the idea of a Caliphate will survive, as it has since the 7th Century, and no one could adopt it more readily then the regime that controls Mecca and Medina -- a regime armed to the teeth thanks to Obama and Trump.

    • Patrick Cockburn: Trump's Extravagant Saudi Trip Distracts from His Crisis at Home

    • Andrew Exum: What Progressives Miss About Arms Sales: Thinks "Trump had a great visit to Saudi Arabia" -- great for him, great for the Saudis "and other Arab Gulf states, and -- last but not least -- it was a great visit for magical, glowing orbs." Especially great was the "deliverable": "$110 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia -- with an additional $240 billion committed over a 10-year period." He then chides "progressives" for not celebrating:

      I want to spend a little time talking about one of the reasons why the trip went so well. I'll warn you: This is a somewhat taboo subject for progressive foreign-policy types. The subject, friends, is arms sales. Progressives don't like arms sales very much, but they need to pay attention to them, because they're one big way Republicans are fighting for -- and winning -- the votes of working-class Americans who have traditionally voted for Democrats.

      As I've pointed out elsewhere, Obama (considered a "progressive" in some parts) has been using arms sales, especially to dictatorial Arab States and Eastern Europe, as a jobs program for much of his two terms. For many years selling arms to the Saudis seemed harmless enough -- they never used them, and they had lots of dollars we wanted back -- but eventually these arms sales started to make the world more conflict-prone and dangerous: US relations with Russia deteriorated as Obama kept pushing NATO closer to Russia's borders, and the Saudis and Qataris started using their arms, first in Libya and even more dramatically in Yemen. While the Saudis have generally tried to align their foreign interventions -- until recently mostly cash and propaganda -- with the US, they've always cast their efforts in their own terms, which from the founding of the tribe with its Wahhabist trappings in the late 18th century has always been framed as jihad. Jihadist warfare has actually been very rare in Islamic history, but since the Saudis started spending billions to promote their peculiar flavor of Salafism it's become ubiquitous, more often than not rebounding back against the US, who so encouraged the Saudis to frame their opposition to Communism (and Nasserism and Baathism, nationalist movements seen as Soviet proxies) in religious terms. Further complicating this is that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies are among the most reactionary and repressive states in the world. By feeding them arms -- and by little things like Trump participating in that sword dance and orb touching -- the US becomes complicit not only in their jihadism but also in their suppression of human rights. One effect of this is that US leaders have lost control of their own policy, and while this has become increasingly evident over the past year -- the tipping point was Saudi Arabia's attack on Yemen -- the event that people will remember is Trump's visit, where the formerly "great" America has been reduced to grovelling for arms sales (or, if you're a pseudo-progressive, "jobs").

      Exum may be right that many defense contractor workers voted for Trump, but that's only after the Democrats abandoned the unions that were formerly common -- e.g., Boeing shut down their Wichita factory after office workers there unionized, moving their operations to union-free South Carolina and Texas. Still, what Chalmers Johnson liked to call Military Keynesianism has steadily declined in value ever since WWII, and there are plenty of healthier things progressives can push for. Meanwhile, it's no accident that Republicans like Trump have thrived in the increasingly vicious atmosphere of violence and hate generated by perpetual war.

    • Kareem Fahim: After assurances by Trump, Bahrain mounts deadliest raid in years on opposition

    • Emma Green: Pope Francis, Trump Whisperer? Article is interesting, but let me first point to the picture, which shows Melania and Ivanka wearing headware (veils), in marked contrast to their scarfless appearance in Saudi Arabia.

    • Fred Kaplan: Trump's Sunni Strategy: "The president wants America to take sides in the Middle East's sectarian rivalry. That won't end well." Actually, it's already started badly. As recently at the 1970s there was essentially no violent conflict between Sunni and Shi'a, but then the Saudis started pushing their Salafist sectarianism, Ayatollah Khomeini challenged their control of Mecca, and the Saudis backed the US-Pakistani promotion of jihadism in Afghanistan. In the 1990s the US tried to raise up Shi'a resistance in Iraq, which became the basis of a sectarian civil war after the US invasion in 2003 -- one where the US played both sides against one another. Then the US wound up opposing both sides in Syria through various proxies it has no real control over, including the Saudis and Qataris, both backing jihadist groups. Year after year this muddled strategy has only produced more war and more backlash.

    • Rashid Khalidi: Why Donald Trump's 'Arab Nato' would be a terrible mistake

    • Paul Pillar: Trump's Riyadh Speech: Bowing to the Saudi Regime

    • David Shariatmadari: Who better to lecture Muslims than Islam expert Donald Trump? Worse still, Trump's big speech in Saudi Arabia was mainly written by Steven Miller, although the result was little more than a sop -- for someone so belligerent toward strangers, it doesn't seem to take more than a little shameless flattery to win Trump over.

      This is not only hard to defend morally. Siding with Saudi Arabia and antagonising Iran in order to weaken jihadism won't work, to put it mildly. Though the Saudi kingdom has taken part in military action against Isis, its state textbooks are deemed acceptable in Isis-run schools. It has backed militant Islamist rebels in Syria, and continues to export an extremely intolerant version of Islam.

      Trump cut a weird figure at Murabba Palace on Saturday night, bobbing along to a traditional sword dance like someone who'd stumbled into the wrong wedding reception.

    • Richard Silverstein: Trump's Saudi Soliloquy: "one of the most hypocritical speeches in American political history." Curious that I have yet to see a single post which contrasts Trump's Riyadh speech with the Cairo speech Obama gave early in his presidency, even though the latter turned out to be pretty hypocritical as well. Still, reading Silverstein's comments I'm more stuck by the extraordinary amount of falsehood and nonsense in the speech. Silverstein also wrote a bit about the Jerusalem leg of Trump's tour: Trump Selfie with Israeli MK Features Two Moral Degenerate Birds of a Feather. The selfie Trump was cornered into was with Oren Hazan, who bills himself "the Israeli Trump."

    • Paul Woodward: Trump struts onto the world stage only to become a laughingstock: Also cites Susan B Glasser: 'People Here Think Trump Is a Laughinstock'.

  • Scattered links on Trump/Comey/Russia:

Also a few links less directly tied to Trump, though sometimes still to America's bout of political insanity:

  • Max Boot: The Seth Rich 'Scandal' Shows That Fox News Is Morally Bankrupt

  • Beth Gardiner: Three Reasons to Believe in China's Renewable Energy Boom: Some astonishing numbers here, like "China added 35 gigawatts of new solar generation in 2016 alone" and that coal consumption "fell in 2016 for the third straight year." Meanwhile, back in the USA: Dahr Jamail: Scientists Predict There Will Be No Glaciers in the Contiguous US by 2050 -- but Trump Is Stomping on the Gas Pedal.

  • Paul Krugman: Trucking and Blue-Collar Woes: Starts with a chart on "wages of transportation and warehousing workers in today's dollars, which have fallen by a third since the early 1970s." He further explains the obvious:

    Why? This is neither a trade nor a technology story. We're not importing Chinese trucking services; robot truck drivers are a possible future, but not here yet. The article mentions workers displaced from manufacturing, but that's a pretty thin reed. What it doesn't mention is the obvious thing: unions.

    Unfortunately the occupational categories covered by the BLS have changed a bit, so it will take someone with more time than I have right now to do this right. But using the data at unionstats we can see that a drastic fall in trucker unionization took place during the 1980s: 38 percent of "heavy truck" drivers covered by unions in 1983, already down to 25 percent by 1991. It's not quite comparable, but only 13 percent of "drivers/sales workers and truck drivers" were covered last year.

    In short, this looks very much like a non tradable industry where workers used to have a lot of bargaining power through collective action, and lost it in the great union-busting that took place under Reagan and after.

    Krugman speculates that "the great majority of the people whose chance at a middle-class life was destroyed by those political changes voted for Trump." But he doesn't follow up. Why did they vote for Trump? It sure wasn't because Trump promised to bring unions back, because he never did. All they got from Trump was a chance to vent their spleen. But Clinton didn't offer to bring back unions either. Maybe she offered them a chance to go back to school somewhat cheaper, but even that wasn't clear. If you want to have a middle class, you have to pay middle class wages to blue-collar workers. And if you aren't willing to go that far, everything you say about "middle class" is cant.

    Elsewhere, Krugman linked to Sarah Birnbaum: An Economist reporter dishes on Trump's 'priming the pump' interview, including the story of how Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue saved NAFTA:

    So Sonny Perdue literally asked his staff to draw up a map of the bits of America that had voted for Donald Trump and the bits of America that do well from exporting grain and corn through NAFTA. [The map] showed how these two areas often overlap. So he went in, said to Donald Trump, "Actually, Trump America, your voters, they do pretty well out of NAFTA." And the president said, "Oh. Then maybe I won't withdraw from NAFTA."

    Evidently there was no one around to point out that those same grain and corn exports was what drove so many Mexican peasants from their farms to seek employment in the US -- the single most dramatic effect of NAFTA wasn't the loss of American factory jobs but the decimation of Mexican agriculture due to the flood of cheaper US grain. But then, the piece also includes a quote from David Rennie, describing the "atmosphere" of the Oval Office:

    It's kind of like being in a royal palace several hundred years ago, with people coming in and out, trying to catch the ear of the king. That's the feel at the Trump Oval Office. He likes to be surrounded by his courtiers. . . .

    And the role of some pretty senior figures, including cabinet secretaries, was to chime in and agree with whatever the president had just said, rather than offering candid advice.

    There was a moment with Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary.

    We were talking [to Trump] about China and currency manipulation. On the campaign trail, Trump was very ferocious about [calling China a currency manipulator.] [In our interview], he said, "As soon as I started talking about China being a currency manipulator, they cut it out." Actually that's not true. China [stopped manipulating the currency] two or three years ago.

    What was striking was, when he made that point, Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, chimed in and said, "Oh yeah. The day he became president, they changed their behavior!" And factually, that's just not right. It's quite striking to see a cabinet secretary making that point in that way.

  • Laura Secor: The Patient Resilience of Iran's Reformers: While Trump was forging his anti-Iran coalition in Saudi Arabia, Iran had a presidential election, where 75% of the electorate turned out and 57% of the voters reëlected Hassan Rouhani, the "moderate reformer" who signed the deal halting Iran's "nuclear program," over a much more conservative, anti-Western opponent. Also: Hooman Majd: Iran Just Prove Trump Wrong; Muhammad Sahimi: As Iran Elects a Moderate, Trump Cozies up to its Terrorist Enemy Saudi Arabia.

  • Matt Taibbi: Roger Ailes Was One of the Worst Americans Ever: Makes a good case, but that got me wondering who were the ten worst Americans ever. Naturally, the list tends toward political figures, because their misdeeds tend to be amplified in ways that mere bank robbers and serial killers can never attain (compare, e.g., Ted Bundy and McGeorge Bundy, although at least Ted was solely culpable where McGeorge was wrapped up in groupthink and depended on others to do the actual dirty work. Here's a quick, off the top of my head, list, in more-or-less chronological order:

    • Aaron Burr, who made the first blatant attempt to turn the young republic into a kleptocracy; he could have been our Yeltsin or Suharto or Mubarak or Mobuto.
    • John C. Calhoun, the would be architect of slavocracy and de facto designer of the use of "states rights" to perpetuate white supremacy.
    • John Wilkes Boothe, whose assassination of Abraham Lincoln ended any chance for a graceful reconstruction (not that such was actually guaranteed).
    • John D. Rockefeller, whose ruthlessness turned business into empire building on a grand scale.
    • J. Edgar Hoover, whose iron control of the FBI created a bureaucracy that could cower presidents.
    • Joseph McCarthy, whose witch hunts elevated the "paranoid style" so common in American politics to an unprecedented level of viciousness.
    • Richard Nixon, for many things including his singular lack of scruples when it came to winning elections.
    • Henry Kissinger, the foreign policy mandarin who exported dirty wars all around the world.
    • Antonin Scalia, the judge and legal theorist whose "originalism" set new standards for sophistry in support of right-wing politics.
    • Dick Cheney, the prime driver behind the so-called "global war on terrorism"; i.e., the poisonous projection of American power into every corner of the globe.

    Can Ailes crack that list? That's a tall order, but I wouldn't dismiss the suggestion out of hand. One might argue that the conservative backlash that lifted Nixon and Reagan was just a matter of re-centering politics after exceptionally liberal periods, but the right-wing resurgence from 1994 onward has almost exclusively been manufactured by a broad network of well-funded behind-the-scenes actors and their success is mostly due to the creation of a hardcore propaganda network, of which Ailes' Fox News has been the flagship. The only other individual to rise out of this swamp to a comparable level of notoreity has been Charles Koch -- another prime candidate, especially if we expand the list a bit.

    Back to the story, Taibbi writes:

    Moreover, Ailes built a financial empire waving images of the Clintons and the Obamas in front of scared conservatives. It's no surprise that a range of media companies are now raking in fortunes waving images of Donald Trump in front of terrified Democrats.

    It's not that Trump isn't or shouldn't be frightening. But it's conspicuous that our media landscape is now a perfect Ailes-ian dystopia, cleaved into camps of captive audiences geeked up on terror and disgust. The more scared and hate-filled we are, the more advertising dollars come pouring in, on both sides.

    Trump in many ways was a perfect Ailes product, merging as he did the properties of entertainment and news in a sociopathic programming package that, as CBS chief Les Moonves pointed out, was terrible for the country, but great for the bottom line.

    The the nth time, Taibbi exaggerates the symmetry, because right and center have very distinct approaches to reality, not to mention vastly different political agendas. Right-wing fear and loathing of Clinton/Obama had less to do with policy than with style, and only touched reality when they caught the Democrats doing something corrupt. Clinton and Obama, at least, almost never actually changed anything, so heaping scorn on them seemed to have little effect. The media might be just as happy ridiculing Trump -- indeed, the effort bar is pretty low there -- but less obviously (especially to the media) Trump and the Republicans are doing real damage, undermining our welfare and way of life, and it's pretty scandalous just to think of that as entertainment.

  • Alex Tizon: My Family's Slave: "She lived with us for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized who she was."

Whew! Think I'll spend the next couple days away from the computer, out back painting the fence.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Music Week

Music: Current count 28166 [28141] rated (+25), 397 [394] unrated (+3).

I spent pretty much all of Sunday and Monday cooking birthday dinner for my sister, Kathy, after spending a good chunk of Saturday shopping. During that time I mostly played oldies, especially 50 Coastin' Classics, which never sounded better. She requested a couple Indian curries "and all the fixin's" so I did what I could. I wound up making (mostly from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking):

  • Lamb brained in aromatic cream sauce: Rogani gosht, with chunks of lamb and potatoes.
  • Fish in velvet yogurt sauce: Pacific cod, but I substituted coconut cream for the yogurt.
  • Smooth buttered cabbage
  • Smoked eggplant with fresh herbs: ok, roasted eggplant (and Japanese at that), with frozen peas
  • Green beans with coconut and black mustard seeds
  • Fragrant buttered greens: spinach, kale, collard greens with fried potatoes
  • Patiala pilaf: minus the fried onion garnish
  • Okra and yogurt salad: fried okra folded ito raita
  • Tomato, onion, and cucumber relish: from Madhur Jaffrey
  • Hot Hyderabad tomato relish: well, maybe not so hot
  • Banana tamarind relish: cheated, using tamarind paste
  • Major Grey chutney: mango chutney, from a web recipe
  • Sweet lemon pickle with cumin: ok, made this way back, so just pulled from refrigerator

Half of the dishes were made on Sunday then reheated, again taking hints from Sahni. I had hoped to make kadhi (chickpea dumplings in yogurt sauce), but got cold feet, then added several relishes/salads that seemed easier. Too many dishes, but not many complaints: the lamb and fish were luxurious, the four vegetables dishes superb, the rice a little bland but sumptuous, the yogurt/okra lovely, the chutneys/pickles intense. I meant to fry up some frozen, store-bought paratha but it slipped my mind in the rush to serve everything (which, by the way, was on scheduled time).

For dessert we had spiced tea, flourless chocolate cake, and store-bought vanilla ice cream.

We had eight people for dinner. Fairly extravagant, but I've made at least three larger Indian dinners -- a birthday dinner in NJ consumed 22 onions, whereas this one only took 10. Aside from the chutneys, the tomato-cucumber-onion (the least impressive dish), and the rice, not a lot of leftovers. Seems like a lot of work, but I don't get many chances to do something nice for others, nor to feel like I'm actually being productive -- e.g., as opposed to just reacting to the worldwide train wreck. (Expect a belated Weekend Roundup mid-week, and a Streamnotes by end-of-month.)

The jazz guides are up to 661 + 527 pages, still less than midway in the Jazz '80s-'90s database file. I never expected the 20th century to reach 700 pages, but that now seems likely. Still, I think, only has 1/4 to 1/3 as many records as The Penguin Guide, which has long been my bible. The 21st century file should still more than double in length, and it's not inconceivable that the pair will top 2000 pages.

One side effect of that work is that every now and then I check Napster for missing jazz records, as I did with banjoist John Gill's early work. I was pleased to find many recordings on Stomp Off, long one of the best trad jazz labels. As you're probably aware, most of my higher picks are avant-garde, but I've always had a soft spot for trad jazz, and even more so for small group swing (which I swear was the cradle of rock and roll). So I went on a bender here, checking out Gill, his trumpet buddies Duke Heitger and Chris Tyle, and records I had missed by two pianists I liked, Ted Des Plantes and Keith Nichols. Biggest problem here is that they're hard to sort out on just one or two plays -- they nearly all sound good, but differentiating isn't as easy. Second biggest problem is that Stomp Off is probably the most media-adverse label in the world -- they don't have a website, and almost none of their records are listed by Discogs -- so it's been very hard to get any info on them (the most reliable source is The Penguin Guide, plus occasionally I've found back cover scans which at least give credits, release dates, and song lists. Probably quite a few more to check out in weeks to come.

In contrast, new jazz seems to sit in my changes for 3-4 plays regardless of whether it's much good or not, so I'm making slow progress through the queue. (The unpacking below is longer than usual because I forgot to post last week's intake.) And the only non-jazz records I checked out last week were two from Robert Christgau's Expert Witness (couldn't find the newer, and longer, Daddy Issues last week, but it's there now, so next week). I'm just not aware of much I want to seek out there, at least for now.

New records rated this week:

  • Daddy Issues: Can We Still Hang (2015, Infinity Cat, EP): [r]: B+(***)
  • Girlpool: Powerplant (2017, Anti-): [r]: B
  • Jari Haapalainen Trio: Fusion Madness (2017, Moserobie): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Rebecca Hennessy's Fog Brass Band: Two Calls (2017, self-released): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Jason Kao Hwang: Sing House (2015 [2017], Euonymous): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Chad Lefkowitz-Brown: Onward (2017, self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Bob Merrill: Tell Me Your Troubles: Songs by Joe Bushkin (2017, Accurate): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Eve Risser/Benjamin Duboc/Edward Perraud: En Corps: Generation (2016 [2017], Dark Tree): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Sult/Lasse Marhaug: Harpoon (2017, Conrad Sound/Pica Disk): [cdr]: B+(*)
  • Joris Teepe & Don Braden: Conversations (2009-16 [2017], Creative Perspective Music): [cd]: B+(**)

Old music rated this week:

  • Ted Des Plantes' Washboard Wizards: Midnight Stomp (1991, Stomp Off): [r]: B+(***)
  • Ted Des Plantes' Washboard Wizards: Shim-Sham-Shimmy Dance (1997 [1998], Stomp Off): [r]: A-
  • John Gill's San Francisco Jazz Band: Turk Murphy Style (1989 [1992], GHB): [r]: A-
  • John Gill's Novelty Orchestra of New Orleans: "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile" (1991, Stomp Off): [r]: B+(***)
  • John Gill's Novelty Orchestra of New Orleans: Headin' for Better Times (1992 [1993], Stomp Off): [r]: B+(***)
  • John Gill's Dixie Serenaders: "Listen to That Dixie Band!!" (1997 [1998], Stomp Off): [r]: B+(**)
  • John Gill's Jazz Kings: "I Must Have It!" (2004, Stomp Off): [r]: B+(***)
  • Learn to Croon: John Gill & His Sentimental Serenaders Remember Bing Crosby (2009 [2011], Stomp Off): [r]: B+(**)
  • Duke Heitger and His Swing Band: Rhythm Is Our Business (1998-99 [2000], Fantasy): [r]: A-
  • Duke Heitger's Big Four: Prince of Wails (2001, Stomp Off): [r]: B+(***)
  • Duke Heitger With Ken Mathieson's Classic Jazz Band: Celebrating Satchmo (2010, Lake): [r]: B+(**)
  • Sergey Kuryokhin: The Ways of Freedom (1981 [2001], Leo Golden Years of New Jazz): [r]: B+(***)
  • Keith Nichols & the Cotton Club Orchestra: Harlem's Arabian Nights (1996 [19997], Stomp Off): [r]: B+(***)
  • Chris Tyle's New Orleans Rover Boys: A Tribute to Benny Strickler (1991, Stomp Off): [r]: B+(***)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last two weeks:

  • Bill Cunliffe: Bachanalia (Metre): June 2
  • Art Fristoe Trio: Double Down (Merry Lane): June 2
  • Gato Libre: Neko (Libra)
  • Terry Gibbs: 92 Years Young: Jammin' at the Gibbs House (Whaling City Sound)
  • The Brett Gold New York Jazz Orchestra: Dreaming Big (Goldfox)
  • Innocent When You Dream: Dirt in the Ground (self-released): May 26
  • Ryan Keberle & Catharsis: Find the Common, Shine a Light (Greenleaf Music): June 16
  • Christian Lillinger/Petter Eloh/Wanja Slavin/Peter Evans: Amok Amor (Intakt)
  • Quinsin Nachoff's Ethereal Trio (Whirlwind): May 19
  • Vadim Neselovskyi Trio: Get Up and Go (Blujazz): May 19
  • Larry Newcomb Quartet With Bucky Pizzarelli: Living Tribute (Essential Messenger): June 2
  • Riverside [Dave Douglas/Chet Doxes/Steve Swallow/Jim Doxas]: The New National Anthem (Greenleaf Music): June 16
  • Elliott Sharp With Mary Halvorson and Marc Ribot: Err Guitar (Intakt)
  • John Stein/Dave Zinno: Wood and Strings (Whaling City Sound)
  • Dylan Taylor: One in Mind (Blujazz)
  • Urbanity: Urban Soul (Alfi)
  • Shea Welsh: Arrival (Blujazz)
# 15-May-2017

Music Week

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Music Week

Music: Current count 28141 [28119] rated (+22), 397 [399] unrated (-2).

A bit surprised that the rated count isn't any higher. I couldn't think of much to stream on Napster, so decided to focus on the jazz queue, and most of those records were instantly forgettable. However, the two I did like took a lot of time -- Amado was pretty automatic, but still got many plays before I finally wrote something, while Miwa had to overcome my normal "that's nice" reaction to piano trio. The other new A- record was reviewed by Robert Christgau here. (Christgau also published a piece in the Voice last week: Songs of Love and War: Syria's Omar Souleyman.)

I keep expecting a new Downloader's Diary from Michael Tatum any day now, so thought I should check before posting this, and found instead something he posted back on February 20: Orts from the 2016 Table -- just three reviews: American Honey (A+), Car Seat Headrest: Teens of Denial (A), and De La Soul and the Anonymous Nobody (B). I should add them to his Archive -- but later this week, I think, or maybe when the first 2017 column appears.

I didn't do anything for Mother's Day other than write my long Weekend Roundup, but the day before I tried making one of the few non-traditional dishes from my childhood: Spanish rice with pork chops. I made it the way Mom might have made it: using Zatarain's boxed rice kit (add water, a can of diced tomatoes, butter). As best I recall, she browned the pork chops, then baked them with the rice, but I did it all on the stove top, starting the rice in one pot while I browned the chops in a deep skillet. I then dumped the partly cooked rice on top of the chops, covered, and turned the heat low to finish. The mix had long-grain rice, dried onions, and spices. It wouldn't be hard to come up with a scratch recipe -- Google has many suggestions. Mom almost never made rice -- this was the only real dish I can recall, but I vaguely remember her making Minute Rice as a side some time. Much later I taught her how to make Chinese fried rice to go with 1-2-3-4-5 Spare Ribs, but she most often just made the latter -- especially after she got my sister to pre-mix the ingredients, so she just ad to measure out 1/2 cup.

I hope to write up some sort of cookbook/food memoir built around her cooking (but with a few of my things slipped in). I have her recipe cards, but they're mostly disappointing and unrepresentative: too many things that she collected from friends and family to be polite -- way too many casseroles and jello salads -- but never made again. The main things that are well covered are cakes, cookies, and candy. Virtually absent are meats (she fried, or sometimes roasted, them), gravy, and vegetables (mostly boiled to death). I don't recall her ever consulting a cookbook (though she may have had one, possibly Betty Crocker) but she did crib recipes off cans and boxes, which is where she got the idea for baking fried steak in mushroom soup. I've tried recreating some of her dishes, and had generally good results, so that will eventually go into the book.

Other big project last week was to repaint the steel fence on the south side of the back yard. Got everything scraped earlier last week, then painted primer on 2 (of 7) penels on Saturday. Slow going, will probably take most of this week to finish (or longer, allowing for periodic storms).

New records rated this week:

  • Gonçalo Almeida/Rodrigo Amado/Marco Franco: The Attic (2015 [2017], NoBusiness): [cd]: A-
  • David Binney: The Time Verses (2016 [2017], Criss Cross)
  • Joseph Bowie/Oliver Lake: Live at 'A SPACE' 1976 (1976 [2017], Delmark/Sackville): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Bryan and the Aardvarks: Sounds From the Deep Field (2017, Biophilia): [cdr]: B-
  • Duo Baars Henneman & Dave Burrell: Trandans (2016 [2017], Wig): [cd]: B
  • Dominique Eade & Ran Blake: Town and Country (2015-16 [2017], Sunnyside): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Craig Fraedrich With Trilogy and Friends: All Through the Night (Summit)
  • Grandaddy: Last Place (2017, 30th Century/Columbia): [r]: B+(**)
  • Mats Holmquist: Big Band Minimalism (2015 [2017], Summit): [cd]: C+
  • Jentsch Group Quartet: Fractured Pop (2009 [2017, leur de Son): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Kehlani: SweetSexySavage (2017, Atlantic): [r]: B+(*)
  • Les Amazones d'Afrique: Republique Amazone (2017, RealWorld): [r]: A-
  • Jesse Lewis/Ike Sturm: Endless Field (2017, Biophilia): [cdr]: B
  • Migos: Culture (2017, QC/YRN/300): [r]: B+(***)
  • Yoko Miwa Trio: Pathways (2016 [2017], Ocean Blue Tear Music): [cd]: A-
  • Michael Morreale: Love and Influence (2013-16, Blujazz, 2CD): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Noertker's Moxie: Druidh Penumbrae (2011-15 [2016], Edgetone): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Paramore: After Laughter (2017, Fueled by Ramen): [r]: B+(***)
  • Jeannie Tanner: Words & Music (2017, Tanner Time, 2CD): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Trichotomy: Known-Unknown (2016 [2017], Challenge): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Paul Tynan & Aaron Lington Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Five (2016 [2017], OA2): [cd]: B
  • Ronny Whyte: Shades of Whyte (2016 [2017], Audiophile): [cd]: B

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

  • Joseph Bowie/Oliver Lake: Live at 'A SPACE' 1976 (1976 [2017], Delmark/Sackville): [cd]: B+(**)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

prev -- next