|
An occasional blog about populist politics and popular music, not necessarily at the same time. LinksLocal Links My Other Websites Music Politics Others Networking Music DatabaseArtist Search: Website SearchGoogle: Recent Reading
Music DatabaseArtist Search: Website SearchGoogle: |
Sunday, January 12, 2020 Music Week
January archive (in progress). Music: Current count 34756 [34687] rated (+69), 219 [214] unrated (+5). Worked very fast and hard last week, trying to update the EOY Aggregate file, knocking out a long and troublesome Weekend Roundup, and doing some website maintenance. The extra day contributed to the rated total, but it was mostly a matter of sitting on my ass in front of the computer, rifling through often short albums where I didn't put a lot of thought into what to play next. For instance, I added Jason Gross's new albums list, 152 albums long, which suggested more than I could get at. Later on, I took a different tack, knocking off many of the highest-rated unheard albums from the aggregate. At this point I've heard all but one of the top 190 albums (Nick Cave, at 168, is the only album I haven't heard), although from 191-208 I'm only hitting 50%. NPR Jazz Critics Poll is unlikely to come out before Friday, and could slip to early next week. I was given until Wednesday noon to turn in a short piece on my top-rated album, Mark Lomax's 400 Years Suite. By the way, NPR just published a statistics piece, Equal at Last? Women in Jazz, by the Numbers, by Lara Pellegrinelli and others, on the distribution of poll picks by sex, up through last year. I doubt I'm betraying any deep confidences in pointing out that the 2020 results (not considered here) are either down significantly from the 2019 peak or comfortably above the long-term trendline. Here is a spreadsheet of results of the 2020 Pazz & Jop Rip-Off Poll, compiled from votes by 200 fairly serious fans. (It was originally conceived as a fans' version of the critics-only Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll, but since the latter's demise has attracted a number of recognizable critics.) The most obvious difference I see, at least compared to The 2020 Uproxx Music Critics Poll, as well as aggregates at Album of the Year and Metacritic, is significantly more Christgau influence. For example, Christgau A- (or higher) picks ranked by PJRP (numbers in parens are rank in AOTY aggregate; including HMs down to 100):
* This is an expanded reissue on a new label of a self-released 2019 album Christgau reviewed (grade: A) in February 2020. I expect it will replace the earlier release in his Dean's List. I don't have any inside knowledge of what will appear in his January CG (out tomorrow), but I wouldn't be surprised to see the list expand a bit. (If the skew is not just influence but shared taste, records which did much better in PJRP would be more likely to show up in Christgau's CG. Sault is the obvious test case.) Sure, the top 8 (plus Fontaines D.C. at 11, but less so X at 10) are consensus picks, but they skew slightly higher here than on the other lists (mostly at the expense of Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift, Perfume Genius, and Dua Lipa -- Christgau graded Swift at B+ and Lipa at ***; their drops from AOTY to PJRP were 4-9 and 5-15). Below 11, the Chicks have the most widespread support, followed by Lucinda Williams. I should also note that the records in the list above skew white (3 exceptions). Some Christgau A-list albums that didn't make the list: Al Bilali Soudan: Tombouctou; Bktherula: Nirvana; Black Thought: Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane and Abel; City Girls: City on Lock; Kehlani: It Was Good Until It Wasn't; Les Amazones d'Afrique: Amazones Power; Lil Wayne: Funeral; Princess Nokia: Everything Is Beautiful; Serengeti: With Greg From Deerhoof; Serengeti & Kenny Segal: Ajai; Westside Gunn: Pray for Paris. Note several 2021 releases in today's list -- only one from my queue but not officially out yet. I figured that having listened to one of Ivo Perelman's 2020 releases I should compare with the forthcoming one. Only one previously unheard A- so far from the Jason Gross list cited above. In past years I've found a half-dozen or more, but 2020 has been a rather peculiar year. Seems like a lot of musicians have died recently. Rapper MF Doom has gotten the most press, and deservedly so. I've lost track of the others, but do recall: Howard Johnson (the tuba player in Gravity), Ed Bruce (who wrote the Waylon-Willie Outlaws' greatest hit), Bobby Few (pianist), Gerry Marsden (of the Pacemakers), Claude Bolling, Frank Kimbrough, David Darling, Harold Budd. Sheldon Adelson also died. Few rich people have spent more money to make the world a worse place. One can only hope that his most notorious beneficiaries (Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump) won't know what to do without him. [PS: Christgau's Consumer Guide is here. ] New records reviewed this week: André Akinyele: Uniglo Boy (2020, Orange River): American r&b singer-songwriter, based in Toronto, third album, "a black gothic, futuristic, and universal odyssey of hardcore beats, electro love songs, and dance music." B+(**) Roo Arcus: Tumbleweed (2020, Social Family): Country singer-songwriter from Australia, lots of pictures on his website with horses, some with barbed wire. Third album, voice the best faked twang since Kasey Chambers, a natural wonder. B+(*) Baba Zula: Hayvan Gibi (2020, Night Dreamer/Gulbara): Turkish "psychedelic Istanbul rock 'n roll" group, led by electric saz player Osman Murat Ertel, also credited (along with baritone electric oud player Periklis Tsoukala) with vocals, although they sound less like singing than getting caught up in the rapture. The string grooves are indeed exhilarating, but I'm just as pleased with a relatively quiet drum (darbuka?) solo. A- Bdrmm: Bedroom (2020, Sonic Cathedral): Shoegaze group from Hull, England; lot of releases on their Bandcamp page, but this seems to be the only full album. B+(**) The Big Moon: Walking Like We Do (2020, Fiction): British indie band, from London, led by Juliette Jackson (vocals, guitars, keyboards). Second album. B Nat Birchall Meets Al Breadwinner: Tradition Disc in Dub (2020, Tradition Disc): Tenor saxophonist, elsewhere deep into Coltrane, hooks up with Manchester reggae buff Alan Redfern, of the Breadwinners (plays drums, guitar, piano, organ, melodica here, and does the dub mix). Second of three such meetings to date (according to release date). No showcase for his impressive sax, but close to note-perfect dub groove. B+(***) [bc] Brothers Osborne: Skeletons (2020, EMI Nashville): Country-rock duo, singer T.J. and guitarist John Osborne, from Maryland, not to be confused with the long-running (1953-2005) bluegrass Osborne Brothers. Upbeat, some pop hooks, probably a good show, wears thin over time. Good line: "Hating somebody ain't never got nobody nowhere." B+(*) Playboi Carti: Whole Lotta Red (2020, AWGE/Interscope): Atlanta rapper Jordan Carter, started in his teens as Sir Cartier, adopted this moniker for his 2017 mixtape (when he was 20), second album since, a sprawling work which suggests his adolescent freak is maturing in Young Thug's footsteps. B+(**) Collocutor: Continuation (2018-19 [2020], On the Corner): British modal jazz quintet, led by saxophonist Tamar Osborn, third album. B+(*) Marco Colonna & Alexander Hawkins: Dolphy Underlined (2020, Fundacja Sluchaj): Clarinet and piano duo. Eight Dolphy pieces, one by Colonna. B+(***) [bc] Coriky: Coriky (2020, Dischord): DC rock trio, has punk roots but is comfortably alt/indie. B+(*) [bc] Elvis Costello: Hey Clockface (2020, Concord): Pub rock singer-songwriter from the late 1970s, 31st studio album, I haven't been impressed by anything he's done since 1986 (more for The Costello Show than for Blood and Chocolate), as he's mined ever deeper into songbook traditions. This one seems to have a fairly decent title song, a lot of spoken word, and not much else worth noting. B- Crack Cloud: Pain Olympics (2020, Meat Machine): Canadian "art punk" band, originally an alias for Zach Choy, but grown to seven pieces so a little fancy for punk. Second album. B+(*) Dan Ex Machina: Pity Party Animal (2020, self-released): Dan Weiss, from New Jersey, not the drummer or the rapper, but well known to me as a rock critic -- a major contributor to my Turkey Shoots, and a reliable pop/rock junkie. Heard about his band years ago, but this is the first evidence I've seen. Mostly alt/indie, but ranges a bit. He must have been working on it some while, given how quaint his GW Bush song sounds on the day of Trump's Capitol riot, followed by a Celtic jig named for a fossil. B+(***) [bc] Dan Ex Machina: My Wife (2020, self-released): Nice instrumental opener, before the alt/indie signature sound takes over. As before, smart and/or clever, although not so much sunk in after two plays. B+(**) [bc] Dan Ex Machina: Bail Shag EP (2017 [2021], self-released): Seven songs, 20:23, five written in one day in 2009, same sound, roll past me easy. B+(*) [bc] Ward Davis: Black Cats and Crows (2020, Ward Davis Music): Country singer-songwriter from Arkansas, moved to Nashville in 2000, writing songs for others before recording his an EP in 2014. Second album. B+(*) Dehd: Flower of Devotion (2020, Fire Talk): Chicago indie rock trio, founded by Emily Kempf (bass) and Jason Balla (guitar), adding drummer Eric McGrady, all credited with vocals first. B+(*) Helena Deland: Someone New (2020, Luminelle): Singer-songwriter from Montreal, first album after five EPs. B+(*) Diabla Diezco: Memento Mori (2020, Mord): Dutch electronica duo, Bas Mooy and Charlton Ravenberg, the former with the more substantial discography under his own name (starting in 2004). Chugging electronic beats, occasionally some noise wafting through the upper reaches. Something I enjoy, but can't credit much significance to. Vinyl is short (5 tracks, 24:55, but digital adds three tracks, another 15:34. B+(***) Dogleg: Melee (2020, Triple Crown): Hardcore punk group from Detroit, led by singer Alex Stoitsiadis, first album after a couple EPs. Some people like them, and sometimes I think I can hear it, but before long I tire of the thrash. B Dave Douglas: Overcome (2020, Greenleaf Music): Political statement, occasioned by the BLM protests, built around an arrangement of "We Shall Overcome" with voices of Fay Victor and Camila Meza, with brass, bass, drums, and Meza's guitar. Ends with a tribute, "Good Trouble, for John Lewis." B+(**) [dl] Steve Earle: J.T. (2021, New West): Ten songs written by Earle's son, Justin Townes Earle, who died of a drug overdose last year. The younger Earle recorded nine albums 2007-19. I've heard the last six, thought he was a decent songwriter -- I warmed most to his last, The Saint of Lost Causes -- but not nearly as good as his father. This offers the best of both: cherry-picked songs, performed adroitly by a much better singer and a first-rate band. A- Bill Fay: Countless Branches (2020, Dead Oceans): English singer-songwriter, recorded two albums 1970-71, one 1978-81 that wasn't released until 2005, and three since 2012. Simple songs, backed with piano. B+(**) Future Islands: As Long as You Are (2020, 4AD): American synthpop band, from Baltimore, sixth album since 2008. Sam Herring is a striking singer, not unlike the band so pumped up with keyboards. B+(*) Melody Gardot: Sunset in the Blue (2020, Decca): Singer, from New Jersey, 5th album since 2008. Mixed originals and standards, mostly Brazilian rhythms with stringy background. B Selena Gomez: Rare (2020, Interscope): Pop star, from Texas, released three studio albums as Selena Gomez & the Scene (2009-11), three more solo albums, all hits but like everyone else, sales trajectory is downward. Appealing. B+(**) Jerry Granelli: The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison (2020, RareNoise): Drummer-led piano trio, with Jamie Saft and Bradley Christopher Jones, playing two tracks by Guaraldi, five by Allison, two originals, one trad. B+(*) Siul Hughes: Hueman (2020, Fake Four): Connecticut rapper, first name pronounced "see all," as in "SEEALLHUES." Seems deep but inscrutable. B+(***) [bc] Siul Hughes: Stoopkid (2018 [2019], Fake Four): Previous album, officially his 5th release (probably not all LPs; this one runs 35:09). B+(**) [bc] Sierra Hull: 25 Trips (2020, Rounder): Bluegrass singer-songwriter, plays mandolin and guitar, fifth album since 2002. Nice. B+(**) Kelley Hurt/Chad Fowler/Christopher Parker/Bernard Santacruz/Anders Griffen: Nothing but Love: The Music of Frank Lowe (2019 [2020], Mahakala Music): Seven compositions by the late saxophonist (plus two alternate takes), each musician -- voice, sax, piano, bass, drums/trumpet -- somehow connected to the source. Hurt is only a plus on the one song with a lyric, but Fowler is a tower of strength throughout. B+(***) [bc] Kang Tae Hwan/Hang Hae Jin: Circle Point (2019 [2020], Dancing Butterfly): South Koreans, alto sax and violin duo, live improv, "50 minutes without pause." B+(**) [bc] Hwyl Nofio: Isolate (2020, Hwyl): Welsh group, name translates as "swimming fun," founded 1998 by Steve Parry, credited here with "guitarlin, toy piano, church organ, prepared guitar, harmonium, piano, noise," with sax, bass, and a guest spot for harp (Rhodri Davies). B+(*) [bc] Ital Tek: Outland (2020, Planet Mu): British electronica producer Alan Myson, seventh album since 2008. I like the beats a lot, ambient washes somewhat less. B+(**) Sarah Jarosz: World on the Ground (2020, Rounder): Singer-songwriter from Texas, leans bluegrass (main instrument is mandolin, but also plays guitar and banjo), fifth album since 2009. B+(***) Hermione Johnson: Tremble (2019 [2020], Relative Pitch): Pianist, from New Zealand, second album, solo, no overdubs, the piano prepared by "inserting tiny sticks at diverse angles between the strings," producing an effect likened to gamelan. B+(**) [bc] Last Dream of the Morning [John Butcher/John Edwards/Mark Sanders]: Crucial Anatomy (2018 [2020], Trost): Avant sax trio, Butcher playing tenor and soprano. B+(**) Lithics: Tower of Age (2020, Trouble in Mind): Portland post-punk band, third album. Aubrey Hornor sings and plays guitar, backed by three guys who keep the rhythm on edge and the edges sharp and sparkly. A- Luca T. Mai: Heavenly Guide (2018 [2020], Trost): Baritone saxophonist, first album under his name but he's been a major player in the punk/jazz/metal band Zu since 1999, joined here by drummer Tomas Jamyr and Zu bassist Massimo Pupillo. Short, grungy album: seven tracks, 25:14. B Roc Marciano: Mt. Marci (2020, Marci): New York rapper Rahkeim Calief Meyer, eighth album, fourth to work "Marci" into the title. B+(*) Roc Marciano: Marcielago (2019 [2020], Marci Enterprises): Previous album, looks like digital was available in December, 2019, but CD and LP didn't appear until January 24. B+(**) [yt] Gia Margaret: Mia Gargaret (2020, Orindal): From Chicago, first album reportedly more singer-songwriter, this short (11 songs, 27:08) one more instrumental, mostly synthesizer, with some voice (including a sample from Alan Watts) and a couple guest spots. B+(*) Branford Marsalis: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom [Original Soundtrack] (2020, Milan): Film by George C. Wolfe, based on a play by August Wilson, which explains why it was framed so narrowly, set almost completely in two rooms of a Chicago studio, with a lot more talk than music, staring Viola Davis in horror makeup and Chadwick Boseman in a final over-the-top performance as an arrogant, terrified, and tragic trumpeter. I didn't bother trying to follow Allen Lowe's critique, but found the movie so unenjoyable that I don't much care for matters of accuracy and authenticity. Not much to the soundtrack, but as I said, not much music to the movie either. B Metz: Atlas Vending (2020, Sub Pop): Canadian noise rock band (or post punk or something like that), fourth album since 2012. B Kevin Morby: Sundowner (2020, Dead Oceans): Singer-songwriter, born in Lubbock, grew up in Kansas City, sixth album since 2013. B+(*) Jason Palmer: The Concert: 12 Musings for Isabella (2019 [2020], Giant Step Arts, 2CD): Trumpet player, albums since 2014. Isabella is the namesake of the Gardner Museum in Boston, which in 1990 was robbed of 13 famous paintings (including ones by Rembrandt, Degas, Vermeer, and Manet). Those paintings inspire 12 pieces, performed by a quintet with Mark Turner (especially strong on tenor sax), Joel Ross (vibes), Edward Perez (bass), and Kendrick Scott (drums). A- Esmé Patterson: There Will Come Soft Rains (2020, BMG): Singer-songwriter from Denver, started in indie folk band Paper Bird, fourth album since 2012, veering toward pop with help from Tennis (Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore). B+(**) Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp/Joe Morris: Shamanism (2020, Mahakala Music): Brazilian avant tenor saxophonist, his (of late) frequent piano partner -- the first two have produced so much exhilarating music in recent years that I've gotten acclimated -- so it's worth noting the extra jolt the guitar provides. A- Ivo Perelman Trio: Garden of Jewels (2020 [2021], Tao Forms): Tenor saxophonist, with longtime collaborators Matthew Shipp (piano) and Whit Dickey (drums). One of their more impressive outings. A- [cd] [01-22] Gonzalo Rubalcaba & Aymée Nuviola: Viento Y Tiempo: Live at the Blue Note Tokyo (2019 [2020], Top Stop Music): Cuban pianist, promoted by Dizzy Gillespie, based in Florida since 1996, 30+ albums since 1986. Nuviola is a Cuban singer/actress, handful of albums, makes this a pop album, though the horns and piano are jazzy enough, and the percussion is brilliant. A- Samo Salamon & Friends: Almost Alone Vol. 1 (2020, Samo): Slovenian guitarist's quarantine project, eleven long-distance duos with as many guitarists. Still feel remarkably together. B+(***) [cd] Jeannie Seely: An American Classic (2020, Curb): Country singer, from Pennsylvania, had her top charting single and album in 1966 ("Don't Touch Me," from The Seely Style), recorded annual albums through 1973, and has never gone more than eight years without a new album since, releasing this one shortly after turning 80. Eight (of 13) tracks feature guest vocalists, to various effects. B James Solace: Mind Music (2020, Hot Creations, EP): British electronica producer James Burnham, aka Burnski (2005-20), Ladzinski (2009-11), Instinct (2017-20), James Infiltrate (2018), Daniel Akbar (2019), and now this (2018-20). Four strong beat pieces, 23:25. B+(**) James Solace: Setting Sun/The Light (2020, Four Thirty Two, EP): Totals 31:52, but really just a two-sided single with three remixes tacked on for £4.95, so we'll honor the EP designation. B+(**) Touché Amoré: Lament (2020, Epitaph): Post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, fifth studio album since 2009. Not something I gravitate towards, but listenable on their own terms, sometimes better than that. B+(**) Two Weeks Notice: A Calm, Measured Response (2020, Fake Four, EP): Hip-hop crew from New Haven, rappers Tribal One and Mikal kHill, latter also plays fretless acoustic ukelele bass and keyboards. Six tracks, 16:44. How calm and measured? "Everything's going to be much better/ because it can't be worse than this." B+(**) Ugly Beauty: Ugly Beauty (2019 [2020], self-released): Boston-based Monk tribute trio -- Andrew Stern (guitar), Jef Charland (bass), Jared Seabrook (drums) -- formed over a decade ago but this is their first album. Monk tunes, the signatures often hammered out of recognition. B+(*) Rufus Wainwright: Unfollow the Rules (2020, BMG): Second-generation singer-songwriter, tenth album since 1998, some classified as baroque pop. Not sure what that means, but "This One's for the Ladies" is pretty awful. B- Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: BBQ With Fred Frith: Free Postmodernism/USA 1982 (1982 [2020], SÅJ): Initials stand for Bergische-Brandenburgisches Quartett, a mostly German free jazz group with Sven-Åke Johansson (drums), Rüdiger Carl (sax), Hans-Reichel (guitar), and Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky (alto sax/clarinet/flutes), with some accordoin and voice, on an American tour, joined by Frith (violin/guitar/electronics) for a set in Allentown (31:12 of 81:36). B+(**) Erotique New Beat (1989 [2020], Mental Groove): Belgian dance music, from "the peak of the New Beat craze," a fake various artists compilation used as a low budget soundtrack. Most songs have lyrics but they are extremely rudimentary, few with any obvious erotic content, but dumb has its own appeal. B+(***) [bc] Sun Ra: On Jupiter (1979 [2021], Enterplanetary Koncepts): Originally credited to Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra, or more fully Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra. Hard-swinging big band, lots of organ/keyboards, vocals about UFO's. B+(***) Buddy Rich: Just in Time: The Final Recording (1986 [2019], Gearbox): Drummer, introduced here as "the world's greatest," and while I don't concur, that wasn't an common view. Big band, from two nights at Ronnie Scott's, less than five months before he died (at 69). Band swings hard. Endes with Cathy Rich singing a blistering "Twisted." B+(*) [bc] Schlippenbach & Johansson: Onkel Pös Carnegie Hall Hamburg 1978 (1978 [2021], SÅJ): Piano-drums duo, first names Alexander [von] and Sven-Åke. Spectacular piano, no doubt partly because the drummer never lets up. A- [bc] Soul Love Now: The Black Fire Records Story 1975-1993 (1975-93 [2020], Strut): Jimmy Gray started Black Fire as a magazine, then expanded it into a label, releasing Africa-oriented spiritual jazz and soul. Wayne Davis' gospel-inflected "Look at the People!" is a choice cut. B+(***) [bc] Jack Wright/Michael Taylor: Kryptischgasse (2001 [2020], Right Brain, EP): Wright's a saxophonist (mostly alto) from Pittsburgh, credited by Discogs with 62 albums since 1982 (not including this one), only one I've heard, while Taylor, a bassist from Philadelphia, is even more obscure (I've yet to find him among the 42 Michael Taylors listed by Discogs). Duo, five tracks, 22:42. B+(*) [bc] Old music: Jeannie Seely: The Seely Style (1966, Monument): First album, opens with her Hank Cochran-penned hit "Don't Touch Me. Cochran wrote (or co-wrote) five more songs, one with Seeley, who also shared one other credit. Countrypolitan production avoids ick, and she has a nice ballad voice, but the pop picks ("Yesterday," "Let It Be Me") aren't very inspired. B Jeannie Seely: Thanks Hank! (1967, Monument): Subtitled: "Jeannie Seely Sings a 12 Song Salute to Hank Cochran." Cochran helped get her a contract, and wrote her hit single. A couple years later she did this album one better and married him (they divorced in 1971). More countrypolitan ballads, but has a nice consistency. B+(*) Cristina Vane: Troubled Sleep (2017, self-released, EP): Deep blues sound, but more impressive when she picks on the old songs. Billed as an EP: six songs, 27:33. B+(**) Further Sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect. Mark Helias/Tim Berne: Blood From a Stone (2020, Radiolegs): Bass/alto sax duo. [bc:1/5, 9:07/51:04]: + Evan Parker/Matthew Wright/Trance Map+ [Adam Linson/John Coxon/Ashley Wales]: Crepuscle in Nickelsdorf (2017 [2019], Intakt): Soprano sax, turntables, electronics. [bc: 2/7, 13:48/58:44]: + Manuel Valera New Cuban Express Big Band: José Martí En Nueva York (2019 [2020], Greenleaf Music): Inspired by the Cuban writer/revolutionary's 1891 poems. [bc: 3/7, 24:19/61:24]: + Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
|
