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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
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Blog Entries [360 - 369]Wednesday, February 17, 2021 No Music WeekFebruary archive (in progress). The last two weeks have been brutal. My wife fell and broke her leg. While she was in the hospital, I developed an infection and was sick for the better part of a week. And, as most of you are no doubt aware, it's been brutally cold in the Midwest, even as far south as Wichita (with the whinging even louder in Texas). Second longest stretch of sub-20F weather in history, hitting a low the other day of -17F. Snow more days than not, and while it still doesn't amount to more than six inches, none of it has melted. Looks like it will stay below freezing through Friday, then edge over, then finally warm up a bit next week. Laura got home from hospital last Friday, and we've been struggling on all accounts -- although the first days were the worst, and we're doing a bit better day-by-day. Haven't been out since Friday, aside from taking the trash/recycle cans to the curb on Monday, where they remain untouched. I made a grocery store run on Thursday. Picked up a chicken (since boiled, then baked under biscuits), a piece of chuck steak (since fried, then baked with mushroom gravy), some hamburger (turned that into sloppy joes), and beef/lamb for a future meatloaf. All old family comfort dishes. Took a break from that yesterday and made a Chinese classic, Ants Climbing Tree, with cellophane noodles and ground pork, with garlic and scallions, bean paste, cooked in chicken stock. I bought the essential ingredients many months ago. We can probably go weeks pulling things out of the freezer, although staples we normally keep fresh like potatoes and onions are in short supply. One thing I haven't done is listen to new music, let alone write about it. I usually have a bit of a down after wrapping up a year, but lately I've stuck with old reliables, mostly from the travel cases (Mississippi John Hurt at the moment, preceded by Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield). Started to stream Ethan Iverson's Bud Powell album, but only made it four cuts in. When I realized I wasn't going to have anything to report for Monday's Music Week, I reconciled myself to not reviewing anything until I do a "No Music Week" post. Main thing I wanted to accomplish there was to catalog my incoming mail, which I had neglected for a couple weeks. Took me to Thursday to catch up with the "unpacking." The resulting top line looks like this: Music: Current count 34957 [34955] rated (+2), 253 [233] unrated (+20). The +2 fixes some bookkeeping errors. Related to that, note that I muffed the previous week's count, revising the rated count down from +68 to +58. Still 43 shy of 35,000. Odds of hitting that next week would be 4-6 normally, but this is no normal week. The +20 is the unpacking below. No actual reviews to offer this week, so I'm not even holding anything back. Not sure whether there will be a Music Week on Monday. Depends on whether I can shift out of this rut. Rush Limbaugh died this week. The only time I actually listened to him was a few days in early 2009. We hired a guy to install tile in our kitchen, and he and his son came in with a big boom box tuned to Limbaugh. I was at first pleasantly surprised to find out that Obama is a socialist, but like all of Limbaugh's spew, that turned out to be way off the mark. But lack of direct contact didn't shield me from his impact. He probably ranks as the most toxic figure in American politics ever. I have yet to find any piece that remotely does him justice -- although even efforts to be "fair and balanced" show him to be totally repulsive. If you want to read something, you might start with Zack Beauchamp: Rush Limbaugh's toxic legacy. As the author points out, "The Republican Party he poisoned is very much alive." One particular grudge I have against Limbaugh is that he used a book title I had been toying with: The Way Things Ought to Be. I've been thinking about that title recently, as I've found myself less and less interested in either writing about how vile the Republicans are -- a major concern during the GW Bush years, not that anything they've done since has blunted my outrage -- or what the Democrats need to do to more effectively resist and overcome the Republican derangement (more of an inclination during the Trump years than reiterating the obvious). That always struck me as an aspirational title rooted in basic philosophy and ethics, and that's the sort of thing I feel like working out now. Needless to say, Limbaugh's book was nothing of the sort. Published in 1992, it was mostly a hatchet job on Anita Hill. If you recall the name, you'll recognize several of the levels on which that was inappropriate. (One that I wasn't aware of was that Clarence Thomas officiated over Limbaugh's third wedding, two years after the book was published.) Just noticed that Jamaican toaster Ewart Beckford, better known as U-Roy, has just died, at 78. I strongly recommend the one early record I've heard: Your Ace From Space (1969-70 [1995], Trojan). But many more followed. Maybe I'll check out some more. Minor bookkeeping points:
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Tuesday, February 9, 2021 Music Week
Expanded blog post, February archive (in progress). Music: Current count 34955 [34897] rated (+58), 233 [231] unrated (+2). This will, sorry to say, have to remain brief. I doubt I'll ever get around to writing up a 2020 year-end essay, despite having follow the year's records more closely than ever before. However, no regrets about letting the plague year fade into historical memory. Let's get this over with. I'm surprised to find this post is only a day late. I took ill on Sunday, spent much of Monday with doctors, and tried my best to sleep through Tuesday -- failing mostly because the dog had other ideas. Urinary tract infection, nasty business. Presumably the antibiotics will kick in and I'll be back to normal in a few days. Two additional factors have compounded my misery. For one thing, we're in the middle of what the Wichita Eagle has called our worst cold snap since 1983. That mostly means daytime temperatures in the teens, with overnight lows close to zero. We got a bit of snow early on, and a bit more since. It doesn't amount to much, but it isn't melting either, so going out (as I did on Monday) is treacherous, and the cold itself is painful. The other big thing is that my wife, Laura Tillem, fell on the porch Wednesday and broke her thigh bone. They operated on her, a procedure they call intramedullary nailing. The "nail" is a long titanium rod inserted into the canal of the femur, so it provides weight-bearing structural support even before the bone heals. She was in the hospital through Monday morning, then transferred to a rehab clinic (actually, another hospital on the northwest edge of Wichita). If all goes well, she may come on Friday. Needless to say, her absence has made my condition much harder to deal with. Although the review count is high, all of that came from before Sunday. Since then, the only CD I've played downstairs has been The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 8, where Ben Webster, Red Callender, and Bill Douglass join Art Tatum. It's a extraordinary set of gentle ballads -- perfect, soothing background music, which is all I've been up for. My Year 2020 file has been frozen. The latter is an archive file which captures what I knew at the moment when I decided the year was done. I'll continue to update the former for a year. Same for my jazz and non-jazz EOY files, though I'm likely to stop bothering with them when/if I create 2021 files. The current A-lists are 83 jazz, 72 non-jazz, with old music breaking 12-17. B+(***) records broke 152-105 (27-18 for old). The division among lower grades is pretty close (490-487; 52-41 for old). Total number of reviewed records (from tracking file): 1610. That total was inflated a bit by my decision to include all 2019 albums that hadn't appeared in my 2019 tracking file, plus all December albums even if they had appeared, but that only added 52. I believe my previous high was 1334 albums in 2011, followed by 1230 in 2010, with 1222 in 2019 a close third. (I didn't check every year. Just did an initial sort by file size, then fgrep|wc for the counts. Also, I used the frozen files, to keep the comparisons fair.) I won't be doing that again. My 2021 tracking file has very little in it beyond albums I have promo copies of. Last year I primed my EOY Aggregate files with review grades (mostly from AOTY and Metacritic, but I also tracked other sources, especially jazz and country), so I had a pretty good real-time idea how the year was stacking up before the EOY lists started appearing. I'm not doing that for 2021. While I enjoyed keeping on top of so much information, it took up a lot of time, and I'm thinking that time could be better spent. On the other hand, without that data to guide me, I expect I'll be listening to many fewer albums in 2021. I spent much of last week scrounging up more data for the EOY Aggregate. I think we can say that's done now. The best-regarded albums for 2020 (points in braces, my grades in brackets, with * subdividing B+):
Lenker's Songs and Instrumentals were separate digital releases, but combined on CD. I graded each half, but most list sources combined the two. Most of the recent changes were due to my counting of individual ballots for Francis Davis's Jazz Critics Poll, the Uproxx Music Critics Poll, and the Pazz & Jop Rip-Off. My initial tactic was to only count ballots of individuals I've counted in past years, but I added a few more names where I thought the picks were particularly interesting. One effect of this was to secure 2nd place for RTJ4, after Punisher had briefly topped it. The JCP ballots (all but 17 were counted) explain why jazz is represented here much more than in other aggregates (28, 43, 44, 45, 48, 63, 65, 71, 75, 75, 84, 93, 96, 96). I consider that a feature. New records reviewed this week: 2nd Grade: Hit to Hit (2020, Double Double Whammy): Jangle pop band from Philadelphia, first album, Peter Gill wrote the songs, sings and plays guitar. B+(**) Jhené Aiko: Chilombo (2020, Def Jam): Alt-r&b singer-songwriter, from Los Angeles, third album, title her (and her father's) surname. Pretty chill. B+(*) Thana Alexa: Ona (2020, self-released): Jazz singer-songwriter, born in New York, parents Croatian, plays violin, second album, some strong political themes. Drummer Antonio Sanchez (her husband) is the standout in a sharp band, and various guests drop in. B+(**) Gyedu-Blay Ambolley: 11th Street, Sekondi (2019, Agogo): Highlife musician from Ghana, 31st album since 1973, plays tenor sax and sings. B+(**) [bc] Tim Berne/Matt Mitchell: Spiders (2020, Out of Your Head): Duo, alto sax and piano, former credited with compositions, one of several records they've done together recently, from a partnership going back at least to 2010, but this is the first I've managed to hear all the way through. First-rate pianist, drawing Berne out for a live album that is both intimate and imposing. A- [dl] Jake Blount: Spider Tales (2020, Free Dirt): Banjo and fiddle player from DC, sings some, has a degree in ethnomusicology and puts it to good use, first album after an EP and a couple of group credits (e.g., The Moose Whisperers). B+(***) [bc] Busta Rhymes: Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God (2020, Conglomerate/Empire): Rapper Trevor Smith, tenth album since 1996, returns to his third title after 22 years, offering us 5 more years. Good chance he'll disccover another such event in 2042, by which point his beats and growl will be even older school. Still, I've never understood the point of worshipping a god who promises such wrath, let alone associating with the people who relish devastation. Lost a point for the "Satanic" ending. B+(*) Chika: Industry Games (2020, Warner, EP): Rapper Jane Chika Oranika, from Alabama, got accepted by Berklee but saved money by going local, then dropped out after a year. Second EP (first on a label, 7 cuts, 20:14). Finding her legs, "I'm 22, making money." I can recall the feeling, and it sure beats what went down before. B+(**) Common: A Beautiful Revolution [Part 1] (2020, Loma Vista): Chicago rapper Lonnie Lynn, debuted 1992, a pretty big star with gold records through 2007, with a half-dozen records since; has done some acting, writing, political activism, making him a target for the Fox News crowd (and Obama). Still, surprising this one was so thoroughly ignored -- some pegged it as an EP, but I count nine tracks, 34:14, and it's all pretty solid. B+(***) Chris Crack: White People Love Algorithms (2020, New Deal Collectives): Rapper Christopher Harris, claims a "coming of age as a drug-dealing math wiz." 16 tracks, 28:05. B+(**) Ani DiFranco: Revolutionary Love (2021, Righteous Babe): Buffalo folksinger, now transplanted to New Orleans, 20th studio album since 1990, music a little on the slick side, lyrics sometimes sneak up on you. B+(**) Kevin Dixon: The Summer We All Bought Guns (2020, Covid Charlie's Demo-lution): Singer-songwriter from North Carolina, quarantine project was to "whip up a few demos for my beloved band, Zen Frisbee," but got carried away, winding up with 33 songs that average close to 4 minutes. Lo-fi, a lot to sit through, especially as moments of clarity are rare. B [bc] Che Ecru: Til Death (2020, F Plus): R&B singer-songwriter from Boston, second album, don't know much more -- website says "I'm bored and I make music." B+(**) Wendy Eisenberg: Auto (2020, Ba Da Bing): Guitarist, from Boston, past records tend to be avant/jazz, adds voice here. Some parts are basically strum and warble, but crank up the intensity and things start to break in interesting ways. B+(*) [bc] En Attendant Ana: Juillet (2020, Trouble in Mind): French indie pop group, second album, Margaux Bouchaudon writes and sings, plays guitar and keyboards. Titles in English, although I can't follow the lyrics (or pick up stray French). Nice crunchy riffs. B+(**) See'J Foster: HiSonGreWings (2020, self-released): Rapper, from Mobile, Alabama, dedicates this to his father, who died a year past, contemplating the hole his death left. B+(**) [bc] Gabriel Garzón-Montano: Agüita (2020, Jagjaguwar): Singer-songwriter born in Brooklyn, parents Colombian and French, third album since 2014. B+(*) Dana Gavanski: Yesterday Is Gone (2020, Ba Da Bing): Canadian singer-songwriter, of Serbian descent, from Vancouver, based in Toronoto. Picks up a bit midway. B+(*) Dana Gavanski: Wind Songs (2020, Ba Da Bing, EP): Five songs (22:59), covers, one Serbian folk, others airy ballads. B [bc] Beverly Glenn-Copeland: Live at Le Guess Who? 2018 (2018 [2020], Transgressive): Singer-songwriter, b. 1944 in Philadelphia, father reportedly played classical piano 4 hours a day, mother sang spirituals, "one of the first black students to study at McGill University in Montreal," spent most of his life in Canada, recorded an album of electronics in 1986, "began publicly identifying as a trans man in 2002." References suggested filing under folk or jazz, but is so "beyond category" as to mock it. Plays piano, sings with operatic high notes, talks a lot. B+(***) Goodie Mob: Survival Kit (2020, Organized Noize/Goodie Mob Worldwide): Major Atlanta hip-hop group for three 1995-98 albums, before Cee-Lo Green went solo. Reunited for a 2013 album (Age Against the Machine), and again here. They were overshadowed by OutKast in their heyday, and barely remembered today, but with a little editing this would be the perfect complement to RTJ4. A- Conan Gray: Kid Krow (2020, Republic): Singer-songwriter, "social media personality," first album after singles and an EP, has some pop smarts, issues with alcohol, can blow things out of proportion. Choice cut: "Wish You Were Sober." B+(*) Gunna: Wunna (2020, YSL/300): Atlanta rapper Sergio Kitchens, second album plus the Drip Season series of mixtapes. B+(*) Juniper: Juniper (2020, self-released): Last name Shelley, 15-year-old singer-songwriter from New Jersey, draws on 1960s girl groups plus some bubblegum and a bit of cha cha ("Poke Your Eye Out"). Refreshing to hear teen music I can relate to my teens. (Well, not mine personally, but my general era.) A- [bc] KMRU: Peel (2020, Editions Mego): Joseph Kamaru, a sound artist/producer from Nairobi. Ambient. The 15:10 opener barely engages your consciousness, but isn't bad for background. The one called "Klang" gets a bit louder, but not enough to merit the title. B+(*) [bc] LCSM [Likwid Continual Space Motion]: Earthbound (2020, Super-Sonic Jazz): London group, seems to have existed in various guises at least since 2003, with Ian Grant (aka IG Culture) the central figure (his albums go back to 1994; he's described here as "one of the most important protagonists of the UK's broken beat jazz scene"). What we could call "jazz-funk," but never really satisfied with a groove. B+(***) [bc] Madlib: Sound Ancestors (2021, Madlib Invazion): Otis Jackson Jr., raps a little but is more DJ/producer, with more collaborations than albums under his own name (especially recently). This time it's Kieren Hebden (Four Tet), but he just blends in. B+(*) Maluma: Papi Juancho (2020, Sony Music Latin): Colombian reggaeton star Juan Luis Londońo Arias, fifth album since 2012, long (22 songs, 73:30). Very consistent, nothing really jumps out. B+(**) Shawn Mendes: Wonder (2020, Island): Canadian pop star, fourth album since 2015. Awkward start, recovers, but erratic. Will have a recommendable Greatest Hits some day. Lyric I jotted down: "I'm not the type to overthink." B+(*) Moor Mother & Billy Woods: Brass (2020, Backwoodz Studioz): Philadelphia poet Camae Ayewa, part of jazz group Irreversible Entanglements but also has a number of hip-hop moves, including this with one-half of Armand Hammer. Lot here, but didn't catch much of it. B+(**) Nihiloxica: Kaloli (2020, Crammed Discs): Group bills itself as "Kampala's darkest electro-percussion group." Billed as their "full-length debut," although they have a 26:12 eponymous EP on Nyege Nyege Tapes. B+(**) Kassa Overall: Shades of Flu: Healthy Remixes for an Ill Moment (2020, Flu Note): Drummer, straddles hip-hop and free jazz, combines the two with this 37:24 remix of jazz tracks. Label is a play on Blue Note, down to the logo. B+(*) [bc] Palberta: Palberta 5000 (2021, Wharf Cat): Indie rock band from New York, three women, first DIY albums (2013-14) were called My Pal Berta and Shitheads in the Ditch. Transitioning from punk to pop, not really either at the moment. B+(*) Tayla Parx: Coping Mechanisms (2020, Taylamade): Pop/r&b singer, given name Parks, second album. B+(*) Penya Na Msafiri Zawose: Penya Safari E.P. (2020, On the Corner): UK group, linked to Tanzania at least through vocalist-percussionist Zawose (you may recognize the name, as the daughter of Hukwe Zawose), though on their own they slump toward more basic electronica. "E.P." in title, but runs 34:05 (7 songs). B+(*) [bc] Real Estate: The Main Thing (2020, Domino): Indie band, originally from New Jersey, singer-guitarist Martin Courtney and bassist Alex Bleeker constants through five albums since 2009. Sweet voice, nice indie strum, very par for the course. B+(*) Roddy Ricch: Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial (2019, Atlantic): Los Angeles rapper Rodrick Moore, first album after a couple mixtapes and some singles ("The Box," included here, was a hit). B Roshin: Unrequited (2020, self-released): From Toronto, "raps, sings and plays rudimentary keyboard lines." B+(*) [bc] Lingo Seini Et Son Groupe: Musique Hauka (2020, Sahel Sounds): From Niger, a rare recording of Hauka ritual music -- Hauka was a fringe religious movement which developed over a century ago as resistance to French colonialism (Wikipedia "see also": Cargo cult, Ghost dance). Vocals and percussion, mostly calabash. Recent recording, I presume, but I doubt if the music has changed much in the last century. Notes say that Seini has been performing for 60 years. B+(**) [bc] Shamir: Shamir (2020, self-released): Last name Bailey, singer-songwriter from Las Vegas suburbs, 2015 debut got some attention, but he's been self-releasing since 2017, and this is a short digital only (8 songs plus 3 short skits, 27:41). More rockish, don't get much out of the voice or synths. B Skyzoo & Dumbo Station: The Bluest Note (2020, Tuff Kong, EP): Brooklyn rapper Skyler Taylor, albums since 2006, often with co-credited producers. Dumbo Station is a nu-jazz group from Italy, one previous album, playing rather than sampling the classic jazz riffs (notably Francesco Fratini on trumpet). Hometown tales, steady going. Six tracks, 19:52. A- Skyzoo: Milestones (2020, Mello Music Group, EP): Seven track (24:35) "conceptual EP," recapitulating autobiography from son to father of his own son. Knows his jazz, named his son Miles, doubling the meaning of his title. Another obvious choice: rapping over "Song for My Father." With no children of my own, I'm surprised I find this so touching. A- Stove God Cooks: Reasonable Drought (2020, The Conglomeration Entertainment): Rapper Aaron Cooks, first album, produced by Roc Marciano, who sometimes gets co-credit. B+(**) Thick: 5 Years Behind (2020, Epitaph): Brooklyn punk trio, three women, first album after a bunch of singles/EPs, 11 songs, 27:08. B+(**) Ty Dolla $ign: Featuring Ty Dolla $ign (2020, Atlantic): Trap rapper Tyrone Griffin, from Los Angeles, third album, major effort, doesn't return much. B Westside Gunn: Who Made the Sunshine (2020, Griselda/Shady/Interscope): Buffalo rapper, second album (plus a mixtape) this year. Takes on God and/or the Sun in the opener, but loses me after, impressing me mostly with intensity for some unfathomable purpose. B+(*) Matthew Wright: Locked Hybrids (2020, Relative Pitch): British composer, I guess, perhaps more like a jazz DJ, creates "sound installations" with turntables and electronics, figure this as his quarantine project, working with archived samples of Evan Parker, Toma Gouband, and Mark Nauseef, dating from 2018. Can't say as he really makes much of them. B [bc] YoungBoy Never Broke Again: Top (2020, Never Broke Again/Atlantic): Rapper Kentrell Gaulden, second album, came out before he turned 21. I'm struck by how cramped this feels, and how little I can follow. B- Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Birds of Prey: The Album ([2020], Atlantic): Dubbed a "candy-colored, R-rated new entry in the DC Extended Universe" -- more a conceptually-aligned side-project than a soundtrack, especially since the movie Birds of Prey has its own "Original Motion Picture Score." Fifteen sharp-edged pop tunes by women, only four household names chez moi (Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Halsey, Summer Walker; ok, I've also heard of K.Flay and Jurnee Smollett-Bell). Does it a few high points. B+(***) Billy Brooks: Windows of the World (1974 [2002], WeWantSounds): Trumpet player (1926-2002), played for Lionel Hampton, recorded this one album under his own name, a big band Ray Charles co-produced and released on his Crossover Records. Lasting impact was a sample A Tribe Called Quest lifted. Best forgotten: flute with horn blasts. B- [bc] Beverly Glenn-Copeland: Transmissions: The Music of Beverly Glenn-Copeland (1970-2019 [2020], Transgressive): Scattered picks from "her" eponymous debut through "his" latest live outings (repeating "Deep River" from Live at Le Guess Who? 2018). The gospel electronica of "A Little Talk" is a favorite, followed by stronger rhythm tracks, but the album is interesting in all sorts of ways. A- [bc] Honey Radar: Sing the Snow Away: The Chunklet Years (2015-18 [2020], Chunklet Industries): Jason Henn's alt/indie group dates back to 2008, starting in Indiana and winding up in Philadelphia, along the way throwing some lo-fi singles out on this Atlanta label. B+(**) Portals: A Kosmische Journey Through Outer Worlds and Inner Space ([2020], Behind the Sky): Thirteen artists, mostly 5-minute chunks, working with analog synths for a retro space vibe, with a "Berlin-school" influence. Presumably recent music, although some of the artists (Ian Boddy, Steve Roach) go back to the 1980s. B+(***) [bc] Nancy Sinatra: Start Walkin' 1965-1976 (1965-76 [2021], Light in the Attic): Frank Sinatra's daughter, 25 when she scored her iconic hit ("These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"), 80 last week when she made the news for saying something intemperate about Donald Trump (her father was famously liberal until he switched rat packs to pal around with Spiro Agnew). Her only other bit hit was a duet with Dad, skipped here, focusing on songs with Lee Hazlewood (mostly writing/producing, but some duets; label has reissued a lot by Hazlewood). Bag gets mixed over time -- more his fault than hers. Low point: "Arkansas Coal" ("so this is how it feels to be dead"). B+(**) Southeast of Saturn: Michigan Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Space Rock (1990s [2020], Third Man): Obscure bands, which seems about right for this kind of anonymous drone. B+(*) Voz Di Sanicolau: Fundo De Marę Palinha (1976 [2020], Analog Africa, EP): Short album (6 tracks, 18:39) recorded in Rotterdam by Cabo Verdean emigrés. B+(**) [bc] Mike Westbrook: Love and Understanding: Citadel/Room 315 Sweden '74 (1974 [2020], My Only Desire): British pianist, ambitious composer, a Penguin Guide favorite I've heard very little from. Commissioned by Sveriges Radio, played by their big band -- most famous: Arne Domnérus (alto sax/clarinet), Jan Allen (trumpet/alto horn) and Bengt Hallberg (piano) -- with Westbrook on electric piano and John Surman on his usual reeds. High point is the 14:40 "Pastorale." A- [bc] Old music: Beverly Glenn-Copeland: Keyboard Fantasies (1986, Atlast): Six minimalist compositions played on a Yamaha DX-7 Synthesizer and a Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer, fetching in their simplicity, plus voice, which is an acquired taste. B+(**) [bc] Playboy Tre and DJ Swatts: Goodbye America: Da Story of a Drunk Loner (2008, Last Call Entertainment): Saw this on a 2013 list of "The Five Best Atlanta Hip-Hop Albums of All Time," topped by OutKast, Goodie Mob, Ludacris, and Bubba Sparxxx, the only one I had never heard of. Still surprised to find that neither AMG nor Discogs lists this (at least under "Playboy Tre"), while Wikipedia redirects me to B.o.B. -- someone else, linked by the production group HamSquad and the occasional shout outs. This rapper Clarence Montgomery III, from Decatur, Georgia, formerly dba Y.B.M., for all I know may be calling himself something else these days. Sloppy mixtape, with enough brilliant runs to mark it as a cult classic. But he was already selling his future short. As he put it: "Cause, you know, I like to get fucked up." A- Playboy Tre: Liquor Store Mascot (2009, Playboy Music): Banner across top proclaims: "DJ Swatts and Ham Squad Present." The beats get you going, but the interludes work too, and the star has an appealing delivery. Too much alcohol, but "Remember Me" will sober you up. Epitaph: "the breaks won't come for you." A- SK Kakraba: Songs of Paapieye (2015, Awesome Tapes From Africa): From Ghana, plays gyil, a "xylophone made of 14 wooden slats strung across calabash gourd resonators." Label specializes in reissues, as its name claims, but Kakraba moved to Los Angeles, and this seems to be a recent recording. B+(**) [bc] Unpacking: Sorry, I haven't gotten around to listing the half-dozen or so CDs I received in the mail last week Ask a question, or send a comment. Sunday, January 31, 2021 Music Week
Music: Current count 34897 [34864] rated (+33), 231 [224] unrated (+7). I started this week a day late, and ended it a day early to squeeze all I could into January, but rated count is pretty decent for 5 days. I hoped I could wrap up 2020 by the end of January, and move onto 2021 and possibly a new stage in my life/work, but as the clock wound down, I had to decide whether to publish on time or hold back and try to wind things up. I decided to publish what I have, leaving a bunch of things to wrap up later. These include: indexing January Streamnotes; freezing Year 2020; ending updates to the EOY Aggregate and writing up some kind of summary of what I've learned from the year. I should get all of those things "done" by next week. I normally continue to add stragglers to the jazz and non-jazz EOY files for some time after "freeze" date, so no decision there. Freeze means I save off a copy of the file as of an arbitrary date, but I usually continue updating the Year files until the end of the following year -- the new entries are flagged by using different color type. Very little time to write more here. One source of records here was Robert Christgau's latest Consumer Guide and Dean's List. The Dean's list encouraged me to recheck a couple of country albums I liked earlier and like even more now, as well as a couple albums Christgau published reviews of yet. Several more quick notes:
New records reviewed this week: Karrin Allyson Sextet: Shoulder to Shoulder: Centennial Tribute to Women's Suffrage (2019, EOne Music): Standards singer, from Kansas, all women in the sextet -- Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Mindi Abair (alto sax), Helen Sung (piano), Endea Owens (bass), Allison Miller (drums) -- but John Daversa did much of the arranging, and a few men (and many more women) drop in as guests, ranging from old texts (though Sojourner Truth hasn't lost much relevance since 1851) to a Rapsody rhyme. B+(***) Callum Au/Claire Martin: Songs and Stories (2020, Stunt): British trombonist and vocalist, the latter with 20+ albums since 1992, a debut for the former, flexing his talents arranging for big band plus strings (24 violins, 8 violas, 6 cellos, 4 basses, harp). Standards Sinatra would be at home with. B+(**) Peter Bernstein: What Comes Next (2020, Smoke Sessions): Guitarist, couple dozen albums since 1992, many more side credits. Early album titles included A Tribute to Tal Farlow and A Groovy Affair, and and he's rarely tried to extend those boundaries. With Sumner Fortner (piano), Peter Washington (bass), and Joe Farnsworth (drums). B+(*) Binker and Moses: Escape the Flames (2017 [2020], Gearbox): Popular UK sax/drums duo Binker Golding and Moses Boyd, several records together, as well as notable solo efforts. Six pieces averaging a bit over 10 minutes. At speed they are terrific, and even the change-of-pace pieces have their moments. Too bad it's not on CD. A- [os] The Bombpops: Death in Venice Beach (2020, Fat Wreck Chords): San Diego band, founded by Poli van Dam and Jen Razavi (both guitar/voice), debut was a 2009 EP. Punk speed/intensity, storming through 12 songs in 29:42, with bass and drums, but also cello -- no chamber move, just more intensity. B+(**) Peter Campbell: Old Flames Never Die (2020, self-released): Jazz singer from Toronto, third album since 2014 (with a fourth hot on its heels), dedicates this to voice teacher Joyce McLean. Kevin Turcotte (trumpet) and Reg Schwager (guitar) have nice turns. I have to admit that the voice has a strange allure, but I could see getting tired of him fast. B+(*) Luca Collivasone/Gianni Mimmo: Rumpus Room (2019 [2020], Amirani): Duo, Mimmo plays soprano sax, Collivasone has an invention called the cacophonator, which generates a variety of string and percussive sounds, though not quite a cacopohany. B+(*) Brandon Evans: The Grove (2020, Human Plastic, EP): Saxophonist (plus woodwinds), considerable discography since 1997 which I've never explored -- found his name in my database for work with Anthony Braxton. Solo bass clarinet, also credits synthesizers but they're not conspicuous. Three tracks, 23:58. B+(**) Justin Farren: Pretty Free (2020, Bad Service Badger): Singer-songwriter from Sacramento, fourth album since 2004, the kind of unheralded, eloquent folkie Christgau has been finding and pushing lately, doesn't get interesting for me until he works up some tension, as in "Two Wheel Drive and Japanese." A- Michael Formanek: Pre-Apocalyptic (2014 [2020], Out of Your Head): Bassist-led quartet with Tim Berne (alto sax), Craig Taborn (piano), and Gerald Cleaver (drums). Stellar spots, sometimes tends to slip away. B+(***) [dl] The Henrys: Paydirt (2020, HR-2019): Instrumental folk group from Toronto, seventh album since 1994. Easy listening. B+(*) Dave Liebman/Randy Brecker/Marc Copland/Drew Gress/Joey Baron: Quint5t (2020, Inner Voice Jazz): All-star group, order on the cover, but the Bandcamp stream I found singled-out Copland -- the only one who didn't contribute a song, unless he suggested Ellington to open. Also appears that Ralph Alessi took over trumpet on 2 tracks (leaving 7 for Brecker). B+(**) Gianni Mimmo/Alison Blunt: Busy Butterflies (2020, Amirani): Italian saxophonist, albums since 2005, plays soprano here, duet with the violinist. Kind of scratchy, but not without charm. B+(**) Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow: In the Wake of Memories (2020, Clermont Music): Three surnames: Syrian oud player Wassim Mukdad, based in Berlin, as is percussionist Volker Lankow. They are joined by New York-based musicologist David Rothenberg -- he writes books on bird and bug music, encountering the others while researching his Nightingales in Berlin Project. Here he plays clarinet. Fine work all around, nice balance, comparable to Aly Keita's Intakt records. A- Ratboys: Printer's Devil (2020, Topshelf): Chicago indie group, Julia Steiner sings, writes, plays one (of two) guitars. Third album since 2015. B+(*) Enrico Rava/Matthew Herbert/Giovanni Guidi: For Mario (Live) (2020, Accidental): Trumpet-electronics-piano, dedicated to the pianist's late father, Mario Guidi. B+(*) [bc] Raw Poetic & Damu the Fudgemunk: Moment of Change (2020, Redefinition): Rapper Jason Moore and producer Earl Davis, five records together since 2017. B+(**) [bc] Tim Ray: Excursions and Adventures (2019 [2020], Whaling City Sound): Pianist, early records from 1997 and 2003, more side credits including a recent stint with Tony Bennett. Trio with John Patituci and Terri Lyne Carrington. Two originals, one piece each from the others, wide range of covers from Monk to "Paint It Black." B+(*) Reciprocal Uncles [Gianni Lenoci/Gianni Mimmo]: The Whole Thing (2019 [2020], Amirani): Piano and soprano sax duets, group named for a previous effort, pianist died in 2019 a few months after this was recorded. One 50:48 joint improv. B+(**) Romare: Home (2020, Ninja Tune): British electronica producer Archie Fairhurst, third album, singles and EPs back to 2012. Strong dance beat patterns, run on a bit. B+(**) Mara Rosenbloom Trio: Respiration (2020, Fresh Sound New Talent): Pianist, from New York, records since 2009. Trio with Sean Conley (bass) and Chad Taylor (drums), five originals plus two songs each by Ellington and Amina Claudine Myers. B+(**) David Rothenberg: Nightingales in Berlin (2019, Terra Nova): Clarinet player, couple dozen albums since 1995 but is probably more famous as a musicologist specializing in sounds of nature. He's written a number of books on this, often tied into albums, ranging from Bug Music to Whale Music via Why Birds Sing. This is another one, mostly bird song with human accompaniment -- eight guest artists as well as clarinet. B+(*) Jeff Rupert/George Garzone: The Ripple (2017 [2020], Rupe Media): Two tenor saxophonists, both educators, one teaches at Central Florida, the other is a legend. Backed here by Richard Drexler (piano), Jeremy Allen (bass), and Marty Morell (drums) -- names on the cover close enough to the headliners that Discogs credits the album to all five. B+(*) Dave Stryker: Baker's Circle (2019 [2021], Strikezone): Guitarist, long career, mainstream with a soft spot for soul jazz, and good taste in saxophonists: Walter Smith III makes a strong impression early here. With Jared Gold (organ), McClenty Hunter (drums), and extra percussion here and there. B+(***) [cd] [03-05] Tchami: Year Zero (2020, Conession): French house producer Martin Joseph Léonard Bresso, first album after five years of EPs and singles. B+(**) TOC: Indoor (2019 [2020], Circum-Disc): French group, touted as "unclassifiable" ("free hypnotic pop punk, post-rock, jazz-core"), initials for Jérémie Ternoy (keyboards), Peter Orins (drums), and Ivann Cruz (guitar). Discogs treats this as an EP, but with 8 tracks (41:25) I don't see why. Dense rhythm tracks, nothing as comfortable as a groove. B+(***) TOC & Dave Rempis: Closed for Safety Reasons (2019 [2020], Circum-Disc): Picked up a saxophonist here, a damn good one who adds direction and a leading voice to the volume. Four pieces, the 15:18 finale adding a second saxophonist (Sakina Abdou) to kick it up yet another notch. A- [bc] Anna Webber: Rectangles (2019 [2020], Out of Your Head): Tenor saxophonist, quartet with piano (Marc Hannaford), bass (Adam Hopkins), and drums (Mark Ferber). One 34:30 live piece, plus an promo excerpt (the bit you can hear on Bandcamp) -- probably the hot spot. B+(**) [dl] Ndabo Zulu & Umgidi Ensemble: Queen Nandi: The African Suite (2020, Mageba Music, 2CD): Trumpet player, from Durban, first album. Strikes me as big and messy, especially with the vocals, but the trumpet is fine, as is the sax (Linda Sikhakhane?). B+(*) Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Dexter Gordon: Montmartre 1964 (1964 [2020], Storyville): The tenor saxophonist moved to Paris in 1962, then on to Copenhagen, recording often enough at this Jazzhus that when I first heard of this, I confused it with later recordings. Quartet with a "local" rhythm section -- Tete Montoliu (piano), Niels-Henning Řrsted Pedersen (bass), and Alex Riel (drums). Gordon sings one song -- an anomaly not without interest. Real nice "Misty." B+(***) Dexter Gordon: The Squirrel: Live at Montmartre Copenhagen '67 (1967 [2020], Parlophone): Another live date from Jazzhus Montmartre, another quartet -- Kenny Drew (piano), Bo Stief (bass), Art Taylor (drums) -- didn't appear until Blue Note released it in 1996. Stretches out four cuts (66:18), starting with Tadd Dameron's title track. B+(**) New Orleans Mambo: Cuba to NOLA (1974-2019 [2020], Putumayo World Music): "Latin tinge" has been a New Orleans calling card since long before Jelly Roll Morton named it. This mostly picks New Orleans bands that push the concept hard. While they are enjoyable, I'm more impressed with Poncho Sanchez bouncing through "Going Back to New Orleans." B+(***) The Tabansi Studio Band: Vol. 3: Wakar Alhazai Kano/Mus'en Sofoa (1970s [2020], BBE): Nigerian (Igbo and Hausa) Afrobeat, label ran from 1975-85, dates no clearer than that, but these are two supposedly very rare albums from the period plus two short edits as bonus tracks, total 67:14. High energy, can't even fault the vocals. A- [bc] Turn Me Loose White Man (1900-60 [2020], Constant Sorrow, 30CD): Admittedly, I have done little more than thumb through the accompanying 352 pp. book, which offers detailed notes on this massive trove of early American music. (Actually, just the first 15 CDs, through 1930. The forthcoming Volume 2 should cover the rest, but the CDs are all here.) It's likely to take me months to get through the whole thing, maybe even a life time for it all to sink in, but the production (and Lowe's reputation as a voracious connoisseur and astute critic) tempt me to assign this preliminary (and most likely minimal) grade. Besides, I'm trying to wrap up 2020 this month, and I'd rather not leave this bookkeeping detail hanging over my head. A- [cd] Old music: Charles Mingus: Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden (1973 [2018], BBE, 5CD): Live radio shot, recorded over a week, digital has 12 tracks, 249:56 (including a 38:59 interview), 5-CD and 5-LP versions a bit less. Quintet, with Joe Gardner (trumpet), John Stubblefield (tenor sax), Don Pullen (piano), and Roy Brooks (drums). This got a lot of attention when it first appeared, but I could only find fragments to stream. Strikes me as patchy, especially compared to the live 1973 Bremen set Sunnyside unearthed last year. B+(***) [bc] 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. Luke Norris: Northernsong (2020, Ears & Eyes): Saxophonist (soprano/tenor), quartet with guitar (Mike Baggetta). [bc: 3/8, 22:16/57:21]: + David Ramirez: My Love Is a Hurricane (2020, Sweetworld): Ex-folkie turned crooner. [r: 3/10]: -- Grade (or other) changes: Hayes Carll: Alone Together Sessions (2020, Dualtone): Quarantine project: acoustic versions of old songs, many memorable, ranging from 2002-19, plus a Lefty Frizzell cover, with extra help phoned in (Darrell Scott "played just about all the instruments"; Allison Moorer and Ray Wylie Hubbard sang one each). Line I jotted down: "why doesn't anybody speak about truth any more/maybe that's what songs are for." That from Trouble in Mind, still his best. I discounted the old songs when I first heard this, but it works fine as a best-of for our diminished times. [Was B+(**)] A- Ashley McBryde: Never Will (2020, Warner Nashville): Country singer-songwriter from Arkansas, based in Nashville, second big-league album, strong voice, big production, but enough attitude and observation and storytelling moxie to break through it. "Album of the year" according to the country music critics. [was: B+(**)] A- Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Tuesday, January 26, 2021 Music Week
January archive (in progress). Music: Current count 34864 [34804] rated (+60), 224 [221] unrated (+3). The end of January is usually my demarcation point between years. Last year I postponed Music Week to get to January 31, giving me the full month to try to wrap up 2020. This is the last Monday of January, so should be the last week, but lots of things feel unsettled. I thought about giving myself a few extra days, like last year, but when I ran the week's count, it was so high I decided a better plan would be to publish what I have now, then move next Music Week up a day, so it will land on January 31 instead of February 1. Or I could run it on next Monday, but back-date the files. Besides, I won't be doing a Weekend Roundup, so the slot's open. It will be a "short" week, but promises to be an intense one. Accordingly, I won't try to write up any EOY comments here. (No guarantee I will get it done next time, but that's the plan.) You should be able to find links to the usual files here. One thing I will be adding will be Robert Christgau's 2020 Dean's List, which I've heard will be delivered to subscribers on Wednesday. I know this because I had to make some updates to his website to fix errors he noticed in working on this. (My Young M.A regrade was occasioned by one of those errors. I initially reviewed it in late 2019, when it came out, before he reviewed it in March 2020.) Surprised I didn't come up with more A- records this week, but I've had quite a few distractions. The two I did find are obscure African reissues, checked out when I finally got around to adding the 65-deep reissues list from Ye Wei Blog (Jason Gross). In fact, most of the reissues/old music entries below were recommended by Jason, or one-step removed, including the Mainstream jazz reissues. Note that some items from his list appear as "old music" instead of as "reissues": I designated the latter when I found a reissue date, otherwise I reverted to the original release date. I need to make some changes in my music coverage after this month, but no need to rush into that now. Suffice it to say that I will continue to try to write up notes/reviews on the new (for me) records I hear, especially those CDs I receive as promos. But I will be less aggressive about tracking and searching out new music -- e.g., I have a 2021 music tracking file, but it has little in it beyond what I have heard or have in my queue, and I'm not starting a metacritic/EOY aggregate file as I've done for the last few years. I've started to play more old records for nothing but my own pleasure, and I hope to have a happier year in 2021. New records reviewed this week: Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet: Social Distancing (2020 [2021], Saponegro): Peruvian trumpet player, teaches at NYU, albums with his Sextet since 2008, adds some guests here, vocals up front. B+(**) [cd] [01-29] Juan Pablo Balcazar: Suite Resbalosa (2018 [2020], Fresh Sound New Talent): Spanish bassist, label credits him with 7 albums since 2005, his first remembered as a fine HM in an early Jazz CG. All original pieces, with two alto saxophonists, piano, and drums. B+(***) Big Sean: Detroit 2 (2020, GOOD Music/Def Jam): Detroit rapper Sean Anderson, fifth studio album sice 2011. B+(**) Nicholas Brust: Frozen in Time (2018 [2020], Fresh Sound New Talent): Alto saxophonist, studied in Boston, based in New York, first album, postbop quintet with piano (Tuoo Uusitalo), guitar (Ben Eunson), bass, and drums. B+(**) Aaron Burnett & the Big Machine: Jupiter Conjunct (2019 [2020], Fresh Sound New Talent): Tenor saxophonist, from California, studied at Berklee, several previous records. Sextet with trumpet (Adam O'Farrill), vibes (Joel Ross), piano, bass, drums, plus two Esperanza Spalding vocals (not a plus). B Cable Ties: Far Enough (2020, Merge): Australian garage rock band, Jenny McKechnie sings, second album, brash but catchy enough. B+(***) Cam: The Otherside (2020, RCA): Country singer-songwriter Camaron Ochs, from California, third album. B+(***) A.G. Cook: Apple (2020, PC Music): Initials for Alexander Guy, British electropop producer, founded PC Music label in 2013, may be better known for work with Charli XCX. Second LP after a number of singles and EPs back to 2013. B [bc] Deerhoof: Future Teenage Cave Artists (2020, Joyful Noise): Experimental rock group, discography starts in 1996, not one I was tempted to follow but Greg Saunier (drums) and John Dieterich (guitar since 1999) have been showing up in jazz and hip-hop contexts recently. (The other long-termer is bassist-singer Satomi Matsuzaki.) Scattered psychedelia, somehow more appealing than you'd expect. B+(*) Deerhoof & Wadada Leo Smith: To Be Surrounded by Beautiful, Curious, Breathing, Laughing Flesh Is Enough (2020, Joyful Noise): Two live sets, the first (6 tracks, 17:52) with just the band, the second (5 tracks, 19:04) adds the trumpet player. B+(**) [bc] Deerhoof: Love-Lore (2020, Joyful Noise): Surprise album, nominally a covers album, with five medleys (one 19:02, which winds through Silver Apples/Police/Kraftwerk through Babbitt/B52s to Penderecki/Cage/Brecht). Very mixed bag, but the short B52s bit is great, as is the Velvet Underground ("All Tomorrow's Parties"). B+(*) Eyelids: The Accidental Falls (2020, Decor): Indie band from Portland, fourth album since 2014. B+(*) Laura Fell: Safe From Me (2020, Balloon Machine): Singer-songwriter, from London, day job psychotherapist, first album. B+(*) Fireboy DML: Apollo (YBNL Nation/Empire): Nigerian singer-songwriter Adedamola Adefolahan, second album, closer to global soul/hip-hop than to afrobeat let alone juju, but pretty upbeat. B+(*) Keeley Forsyth: Debris (2020, The Leaf Label): English singer-songwriter, better known as an actress -- I'm sure I've seen her in a half-dozen series going back as far as Dalziel and Pascoe (2002), but I don't see any starring roles. First album at 41 -- a short one, 8 tracks, 27:56, but slow enough it seems longer. B Angelica Garcia: Cha Cha Palace (2020, Spacebomb): Singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, based in Richmond, second album, an arty pastiche with nods to Mexican and Salvadoran roots. B Groupe RTD: The Dancing Devils of Djibouti (2020, Ostinato): From the former French Somaliland, a tiny enclave on the Red Sea between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, mostly known in these parts for hosting a US military base (although they also have bases for France, Japan, and China). RTD is Radiodiffusion-Télévision Djibouti, the state-controlled media. Upbeat crossroads music, whiffs from Bollywood to Jamaica, maybe a bit of Scottish jig. B+(***) HHY & the Kampala Unit: Lithium Blast (2020, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Portuguese producer Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, has a couple soundtracks, pop-jazz albums with the Macumbas, now this slab of electronica, now this slab of electronica from his visit to Uganda. B+(*) Juniore: Un Deux Trois (2020, Le Phonographe): French indie pop group, led by Anna Jean (daughter of novelist JMG Le Clézio), second album, in French, big beats and cool vibes. B+(**) Kiwi Jr.: Football Money (2020, Persona Non Grata): Canadian group, from Toronto. Punk economy (10 songs, 27:18) with grander pop gestures. B+(**) [bc] Adrianne Lenker: Instrumentals (2020, 4AD): Big Thief leader (singer/guitarist), has released a couple solo albums alongside four group efforts. This one was bundled with Songs on CD, but the digitals are separate, so I didn't feel compelled to review this when I did Songs [B+(*)]. However, so many reviewers and EOY lists combined the two I counted them as one. Only later did I realize that this isn't instrumental versions of the Songs but two more pieces (total 37:24). Not bad, but strikes me as rather trivial. B Lydia Loveless: Daughter (2020, Honey, You're Gonna Be Late): Alt-country singer-songwriter Lydia Ankrom, from Ohio, coming off five albums on Bloodshot. I was impressed by her feisty debut, but she's settled down since then. B+(*) Melkbelly: PITH (2020, Wax Nine/Carpark): Chicago noise rock band, second album, Miranda Winters sings, seems a bit off. B Blake Mills: Mutable Set (2020, New Deal/Verve): Singer-songwriter from California, has some production credits and a rep as a guitarist (including a Dylan side-credit), fourth album since 2010. Slow, quiet, painstaking. B Moby: All Visible Objects (2020, Mute): Electronica producer, big in the late 1990s, someone I had lost track of since 2013's still-pretty-good Innocents (sixth studio album since). Familiar use of vocals, big beats, lush textures. Hit and miss, but glorious when it works. B+(*) Jim Noir: A.M Jazz (2019, Dook): Singer-songwriter from Manchester, UK; plays guitar, bass, keyboard, drums; fifth album since 2005. Not jazz, but he enjoys letting waves of wound wash over, sort of a lighter, airier shoegaze effect. B+(**) [bc] The Orielles: Disco Volador (2020, Heavenly): British indie band ("surf pop, garage/psych"), from Halifax (West Yorkshire), second album. Shiny. B+(*) Popcaan: Fixtape (2020, OVO Sound/Warner): Jamaican singer-songwriter Andre Hugh Sutherland, fourth album since 2014, draws on dancehall, punches it up. B+(**) Pottery: Welcome to Bobby's Motel (2020, PTKF): Five piece indie rock/garage punk band from Montreal, which is to say a bit much for punk. So no surprise this feels a bit luxe, but does rock a bit. B+(*) Spanish Love Songs: Brave Faces Everyone (2020, Pure Noise): Rock band from Los Angeles, Dylan Slocum singer, described as punk but lacks the economy, compensating with volume. Not bad as this sort of thing goes, but by the time he pleaded "don't take me out back and shoot me," I was beginning to have second thoughts. B- Special Interest: The Passion Of (2020, Thrilling Living): New Orleans group, but nothing you'd associate with the Big Easy -- Cleveland, maybe, or Leeds, new wave industrial not without a hint of dance beat. B+(***) Macie Stewart & Kia Kohl: Recipe for a Boiled Egg (2020, Astral Spirits): Violin and cello duo, both also credited with voice. B+(*) [bc] Dougie Stu: Familiar Future (2020, Ropeadope): Doug Stuart, from Oakland, first album; plays bass, keyboards, percussion. Jeff Parker helps out on guitar. Fusion, funky but glossy. B Teyana Taylor: The Album (2020, GOOD Music/Def Jam): R&B singer-songwriter (with lots of help) from New York, third album, second ran lite (22:52) but this one doesn't stop until 77:19. Too much, but most of it is cracking good. B+(***) Teenage Halloween: Teenage Halloween (2020, Don Giovanni): Punk group from New Jersey, second album, fast and short: 10 songs, 23:23. B+(*) Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Damily: Early Years: Madagascar Cassette Archives (1995-2002 [2020], Bongo Joe): Malagasy musician, Discogs lists four albums 2007-18, plus this earlier archive. B+(***) The Disciples: For Those Who Understand (1991-95 [2020], Partial): British DJ/dub producer Russel Bell-Brown, aka Russ Disciple, aka Russ D, doing business since 1986. This was originally released on his Boom Shacka Lacka label in 1995, and reissued on vinyl in 2020. Always good, but probably a lot of similar material over the years. B+(**) [bc] Bonnie Hayes With the Wild Combo: Good Clean Fun (1982 [2020], Blixa Sounds): First album, a Christgau pick I missed at the time, subsequently followed by a 1984 EP he panned, and two albums since (1996, 2003) he ignored. Rocks hard enough I could see the attraction, but not sure it delivers much. New edition tacks on the panned EP and five demos. B+(**) Kakai Kilonzo & Les Kilimambogo Brothers: Buffalo Mountain (1975-85 [2020], No Wahala Sounds): Kenyan band, a pioneer in the guitar-driven benga style, a bit less flashy than the better-known Daniel Owino Misiani, but infectious nonetheless. Dates are approximate ("mid-1970s to mid-1980s"), with Kilonzo dying in 1987, aged 33. A- [bc] Pedro Lima: Maguidala (1985 [2020], Bongo Joe): Touted as "the people's voice" after Sao Tomé gained independence from Portugal in 1975, died in 2019 boasting "his funerals were the biggest ever organized on the island." Four songs, sustained grooves averaging 9 minutes, voice is exemplary but the secret sauce is Leopoldino "Gúndu" Silva's guitar. A- The Mighty Three's: Africa Shall Stretch Forth Her Hand (1978 [2020], Jah Fingers): Jamaican vocal trio, released some singles, this plus a dub album. B+(**) [bc] Jay Migliori and Dick Twardzik: Jazz Workshop Quintet: A Harvard WHRB Session (1954 [2020], Fresh Sound): Tenor sax and piano, with vibes (Johnny Rae), bass, and drums. Twardzik is semi-infamous, having made a huge impression with Chet Baker (also Russ Freeman and Lars Gullin) then dying at age 24 (heroin overdose). Migliori (1930-2001) had a less meteoric career, although Discogs tells us that he "played on more than 4,000 commercial recordings, ranging from Charlie Parker to Tito Puente, and from the Beach Boys to Celine Dion. Radio shot, both principals and Rae have good spots. B+(**) Tony Oxley: February Papers (1977 [2020], Discus Music): English avant-jazz drummer, released this album on Incus in 1977. Basically a strings group -- two violins, electric guitar, Barry Guy on double bass and bass guitar, which keeps it abstract and scratchy. B [bc] Max Romeo: Revelation Time (1975 [2020], 17 North Parade): Reggae singer-songwriter Maxwell Smith, first hit 1969, introduced to US audiences via his 1976 album War Ina Babylon (with Lee Perry). B+(*) Scorcha! Skins, Suedes and Style From the Streets 1967-1973 (1967-73 [2020], Trojan): Soundtrack tied to Paul Anderson's book on the UK skinhead subculture, same title, originally released as a box of 10 45rpm 7-inch singles. Cover shows a white couple in close dance embrace. Songs are mostly obscure, but the artists I recognize are Jamaicans: Desmond Dekker, Cornel Campbell, Tommy McCook, Ken Boothe, Phyllis Dillon ("Don't Stay Away"), the Melodians ("Sweet Sensation"). B+(*) Phil Seymour: If You Don't Want My Love (1980-85 [2020], Sunset Blvd): There was a moment in 1976 when Dwight Twilley seemed like the future of rock and roll, although like other contenders (Nick Lowe, Bruce Springsteen) his key was a knack for summoning past glories. He came out of Oklahoma, which may have had something to do with why I was partial to him. Seymour was his drummer, and embarked on a short-lived solo career in 1980-82, another band (the Textones, 1984-85), and cancer (died 1993 at 41). These are mostly demos from around his first album, with a couple Textones live cuts. Note writers on title song: John Prine and Phil Spector. B+(**) Silkworm: In the West (1994 [2020], Comedy Minus One): Indie band, founded by Tim Midyett, Joel RL Phelps, and Andy Cohen in Missoula in 1985, changing their name from Ein Heit in 1987. Moved on to Seattle in 1990 and later to Chicago. Three later records on Touch & Go appeared in Christgau's CG, then they broke up in 2005 after their drummer was the victim of a car homicide. Early record, seems very much part of the time. B+(***) Sugar Billy: Super Duper Love (1975 [2020], Mainstream): Willie Garner, from Detroit, cut some singles for New Day and Fast Track 1971-76, plus this one-shot album. Aims for funk, but he's got a lot of grit in his voice and blues in his soul. Reminds me of Swamp Dogg, but not as funny, nor as lazy when he sells out. B+(***) Keith Tippett: The Monk Watches the Eagle (2004 [2020], Discus Music): British avant pianist, commissioned to write a large choir piece, with Julie Tippets contributing the text, and a pair of saxophone quartets. Probably should have turned it off as soon as I realized the setup, but I sat through to the end. Hated the voices, of course, and had mixed feelings about the saxes. Missed his piano. B- [bc] Old music: Bonnie Hayes With the Wild Combo: Good Clean Fun (1982, Slash): Thought I'd strip the expanded reissue back to the original album to see how it holds up on its own. Better. B+(***) Stan Hope: Stan Hope (1971, Mainstream): Pianist from New Jersey, handful of records since 1968, this a trio with bass (Peck Morrison) and drums (Walter Perkins). B+(**) [bc] Charles McPherson: Charles McPherson (1971, Mainstream): Alto saxophonist, started with Prestige in 1964 as a bebopper, broadened his horizons with three albums for Mainstream 1971-73, then five for Xanadu 1975-81, and is still active in his 80s. With Lonnie Hilliard on trumpet, two electric guitars, more focus on groove. B+(**) [bc] Reggie Moore: Furioso (1972, Mainstream): Pianist, from New York, father was Billy Moore Jr. (1917-89), a pianist and arranger for Jimmie Lunceford, Charlie Barnet, and others. Trio with bass (Hank Haynie) and drums (Chip Lyles). Four originals, four covers, ranging from Wynton Kelly to Bo Diddley -- my fave is "High-Heeled Sneakers." B+(**) [bc] Prince Alla: The Best of Prince Alla (1976-79 [1981], Redemption Sounds): Roots reggae singer, started with the Leaders, singles date from 1975, this 8-track LP was only his second, and I'm not totally clear on dates (especially the "Disco Style" versions which open and close (the latter being closer to dub). B+(**) Clark Terry & Bob Brookmeyer: The Power of Positive Swinging (1965, Mainstream): Bob Shad ran this label from 1964 to 1978, starting with reissues from Commodore (1939-54). This is the only Mainstream record on my old shopping list, so seemed like a good place to start with their catalog on Bandcamp. Quintet, leaders on flugelhorn/trumpet and trombone, backed by Hank Jones (piano), bass, and drums. B+(***) Clark Terry/Bob Brookmeyer Quintet: Gingerbread Men (1966, Mainstream): Another quintet, also anchored by pianist Hank Jones. Vocals on "I Want a Little Girl." Terry is credited, but he's bouncing off someone else. B+(**) [bc] Clark Terry: Mumbles (1966, Mainstream): Nickname for when he "sings," a slurry of gravel and muck I've seen more politely referred to as "verbal salad." I'm not aware of him ever doing it for an entire album. Even here, it's only on 3-4 cuts, and in limited doses it can be inspired. Of course, he also plays his superb trumpet and flugelhorn, with Jerome Richardson on reeds, Frank Anderson on organ and piano, two guitars, two basses, even more percussion (including Willie Bobo on congas). B+(**) Ernie Wilkins and His Orchestra: Hard Mother Blues (1970, Mainstream): Saxophonist from St. Louis, 1919-99, played in and arranged for big bands, most famously Count Basie's, favoring the form into the 1990s -- he led an "Almost Big Band" in the 1980s, and his Kaleidoduke (1994) is a personal favorite. He shows up as a producer on many Mainstream releases, and takes the helm here, with light and frothy arrangements of tunes like "Dock of the Day" and "Funky Broadway," with organ and full horn sections. B+(*) Pete Yellin: Dance of Allegra (1972, Mainstream): Saxophonist, pictured playing flute on the cover of this debut album, recorded a half-dozen more through 2008, many more side credits including stretches with Buddy Rich, Joe Henderson, Bob Mintzer and Tito Puente. Eddie Henderson opens strong on trumpet, Kenny Barron plays electric piano, Stanley Clarke bass, and Billy Hart and Dom Um Romao keep the rhythm bubbling. B+(**) [bc] 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. Roscoe Mitchell: Splatter (2017 [2020], I Dischi Di Angelica): Big band, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, plus the saxophonist on his compositions. [bc: 1/3, 5:32/74:07]: - Grade (or other) changes: Young M.A: Herstory in the Making (2019, M.A Music): New York Rapper Katorah Marrero, first album after EP Herstory, a couple mixtapes, a hit single ("OOOUUU"). Gender not always clear, especially when she goes on a rant about her "bitches." [was: B+(*)] B+(***) Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, January 25, 2021 Weekend RoundupTuesday before Inauguration Day, we were watching television, and someone made a comment about what that evening felt like. I don't remember what he said, but the feeling I had reminded me of Christmas Eve when I was a child. I was anticipating a day of peace, tranquility, and bounteous presents. Not a feeling I've had often since, so I was surprised to find how vivid it felt. Still, unlike my childhood, I didn't get up early and excited the next day. I slept in, so by the time I came downstairs it had happened: Trump left the White House and flew off to Florida; Biden and Harris had been sworn in, and my wife reported that the ceremony had been peaceful, solemn, and a bit inspiring. Then she complained about something stupid Jake Sullivan had written, but I wasn't in any mood to go there. Biden's domestic policy promises to offer a break from the recent past: not only from the increasingly extreme Republican service to the rich and the bigoted but from the supposedly moderate (but more like Reagan-lite) Clinton-Obama periods. On the other hand, Biden's initial take on foreign policy is to return to pre-Trump orthodoxy, which includes a lot of destructive baggage -- not least personnel heavily implicated in past mistakes. No doubt I'll write more about that in the future, but I'd rather not spoil the vibe. Besides, Biden's first two foreign policy moves -- rejoining WHO and the Paris Accords -- were exactly right, both as policy and priority. By the way, this should be my last Weekend Roundup. I started doing something like this in June 2007, in a segment I originally called Weekly Links, then renamed Weekend Roundup a couple months later. I saw it as a method to keep track of what was happening, to keep a journal for future reference. I've collected those pieces in book files, one for 2000-08, then one more for each subsequent four-year term. Trump's ended this week, so I figure I'm done with it, but I don't feel like starting another one on Biden. Age factors into this, as does weariness, and a desire to focus on other projects. But also I don't want to spend the next four years regularly finding fault with Biden like I did with Obama. I wound up very bitter over Obama's failures. I don't expect much better from Biden, but also would like to enjoy what little good we get out of him. Over the last year, I've been spending an average of 3 days a week putting Weekend Roundup together, and that's way too much. I imagine they went quicker further back, but lately we've seen both an explosion of scandalous stories worth covering and of thoughtful critiques -- the latter is one reason I'm finding my own contributions less and less necessary. I wonder, for instance, if it might be more useful for me to occasionally tweet links and notes as they occur to me, rather than saving them up for a weekly piece that few ever manage to read through. But freeing up time will also allow me to focus on other projects, not least other ways to present my thinking. I've long thought of the world in terms of possible book projects, and I have several of those stored up, as well as a fairly vast trove of writing. (A quick wc of the notebook directory counts 7,169,740 words, not including 8,536 so far here.) While they are currently organized chronologically, one project would be to go back and pull select excerpts and sort them thematically. I have a publisher interested in publishing a short volume of extracts, so that should be the low fruit. Beyond that, we'll see. I also have a few other ideas to start sorting out. We'll go into them later. I'll continue doing Music Week on Mondays, although this week will be late -- not just because this Weekend Roundup ate up my Monday but because we're approaching the end of January, and that's when I like to wrap up the previous year. That should include the last additions to the EOY aggregate files, the freeze of a copy of the 2020 file, and so forth. I'll add more 2020 records to my EOY lists as I find them, and move on to 2021, but I expect to cut back on my searching and tracking. Table of contents: Exit TrumpTrump pardoned a bunch of people -- mostly friends, fellow travelers, and people who committed crimes Trump is particularly fond (or maybe envious?) of, including a couple rappers busted for guns -- then flew off to Florida, with considerably less pomp than he had hoped for. This section also includes a few more pieces on the Capitol insurrection and its supporters. Seems like the right place, since Trump owns all that. Alex Abad-Santos: Donald Trump's presidency was the worst thing that happened to the Trump brand. Includes comments from "five branding experts." Zeeshan Aleem/Sean Collins: On his last full day in office, Trump sinks to his lowest low in major polls. There's a tweet here by Manu Raju showing "final presidential approval ratings before leaving office," with Trump at 34%, just a bit above Truman (1952) at 32%, but one name is conspicuously missing: GW Bush, in 2008-09 -- they mention that Bush's net approval rose 13 points between the 2008 election and Obama's inauguration, but don't say from what (if memory serves, well less than 34%) to what. (Obviously, one difference between Bush and Trump was that the former exited gracefully, whereas the latter went kicking and screaming.) Also missing was Herbert Hoover in 1933, for lack of polling data back then, but he would have ranked pretty low. Bill Allison: Organizers of Trump rally had been on campaign's payroll. Zack Beauchamp: Trump is gone. But the threat of right-wing violence that arose under his watch remains. Tom Boggioni: Does Ivanka Trump really have a "political future" after this disaster? "Ivanka and Jared Kushner reportedly "in a bit of a panic" -- her plan to primary Marco Rubio in '22 may be on hold." I didn't think she had any political future even before Trump's post-election death spiral. Aside from the name, she doesn't have any of the charisma that gave Trump his limited following, nor does she have any substance to make up for her shortcomings. Same goes for the rest of the clan. I'd go further and speculate that the whole aristocracy thing has worn thin (and not just thanks to the Bushes and Clintons, although they do come to mind), but that's just an added handicap. Moreover, while I find Rubio thoroughly loathsome, I suspect he will be very hard to beat. Christina Cauterucci: What Donald Trump did to DC. Kyle Cheney: Trump authorizes DOJ to declassify Russia probe documents. Kyle Cheney/Josh Gerstein: Feds: Evidence shows well-laid plan by some Capitol insurrectionists. Adam Ciralsky: "The President threw us under the bus": Embedding with Pentagon leadership in Trump's chaotic last week. Anthony Clark: Will there be a Trump presidential library? Don't count on it. Ta-Nehisi Coates: Trump is out. Are we ready to talk about how he got in?
George T Conway III: Donald Trump's new reality: "Former president, private citizen and, perhaps, criminal defendant." Nick Corasaniti: Rudy Giuliani sued by Dominion Voting Systems over false election claims. Michael Crowley: Trump's '1776 report' defends America's founding on the basis of slavery and blasts progressivism. That was quick, given that the "advisory committee" wasn't established until September 2020, but when all you're doing is writing up pseudohistory for preconceived political purposes, it wasn't that big of a reach. And how funny they released it on Martin Luther King Day? We often comment on how often Trump lies, but rarely on how today's lies depend on belief in a mythic past constructed of lies meant not just to misinform but to prevent us from understanding how we got to where we are. For more:
Josh Dawsey/Michael Scherer: Trump jumps into a divisive battle over the Republican Party -- with a threat to start a 'MAGA Party'. Won't happen, and not just because Trump is too old and lazy and ignorant to become the American Marine Le Pen. If he did, the rump Republicans would have to destroy him, and he wouldn't last a minute against Team Fox. Further comment:
Ryan Devereaux: Capitol attack was culmination of generations of far-right extremism. Tom Dreisbach/Meg Anderson: Nearly 1 in 5 defendants in Capitol riot cases served in the military. That's three times the share of veterans in the adult population (7%). Josh Gerstein/Kyle Cheney: Trump pardons dozens, including Steve Bannon, as he exits White House. As noted in the intro, the most interesting thing about the pardons is what they reveal about Trump's psyche, as he picked out people who were useful to him, and/or people who committed crimes he could identify with. What's less clear at this moment is how much graft was involved, and how close it came to him personally. After all, his Blagojevic pardon doesn't immunize him from being charged for committing virtually the same crime. Clearly, people around him were actively collecting money to influence pardons, but some of the better publicized cases (like Joe Exotic) didn't happen. A third question, which we still know less about, is where the "self-pardon" and all the "pre-emptive pardons" went (aside from Bannon, who has been charged but not yet convicted). Some pieces:
Karen Heller: Attorney Roberta Kaplan is about to make Trump's life extremely difficult: "On the other side of Donald Trump's turbulent presidency, the lawyers are waiting." She has three lawsuits pending against Trump, in what promises to be a booming business. She also co-founded the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, which "offers financial assistance for plaintiffs filing harassment cases." Kali Holloway: Are we witnessing the emergence of a new 'lost cause'? "Just as after the Civil War, desperate attempts to preserve white supremacy are being camouflaged as a valorous fight for a noble end." Umair Irfan: A federal court just struck down Trump's attempt to make power plants even dirtier. Peter Kafka: How will Trump handle life without Twitter and Facebook? Ask Alex Jones. Glenn Kessler: Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims as president. Nearly half came in his final year. Well, maybe they should have paid more attention earlier. Ankush Khardori: The Trump administration let Boeing settle a killer case for almost nothing.
Carol D Leonnig/Nick Miroff: Trump extended Secret Service protection to his adult children and three top officials as he left office. The officials: Steven Mnuchin, Mark Meadows, and Robert C O'Brien. Pence is also entitled to protection for six months after leaving office. Clinton, Bush, and Obama made similar arrangements for daughters in college or high school, but not for staff. Eric Levitz: We're lucky the Trump presidency wasn't worse: "Electing an authoritarian reality star brought us mass death and insurrection. But it's also left us with a fighting chance to fortify our democracy." It will take some time to assess how disastrous the Trump presidency turns out. The most obvious question is how easy it will be to reverse its many bad policies and acts -- obviously the lifetime court appointments loom large there, but executive orders take time, legislation even more (especially with such a thin majority), many repercussions only slowly emerge. One should recall that Taft-Hartley, passed over Truman's veto by Republican Congress elected in 1946, took until the 1980s to cripple the labor movement (although it had a more immediate effect in dissuading the AFL-CIO from organizing in the South). While Trump was the weak link in his administration, it is already clear that his underlings were very effective at imposing their will on the federal bureaucracy. Eric Lipton: Trump administration quietly eased sanctions on Israeli billionaire. Sara Luterman: The ignominious deceits of Congressman Cawthorn: "Representative Madison Cawthorn has misled the public about training for the Paralympics, just as he misrepresented his education and business history." Steve M: Guy proposing a Donald Trump highway checks all the boxes: Gun nut, Covid denialist, QAnon fan: Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini. Amanda Marcotte: Trump's coup didn't fail just from incompetence -- credit the progressive activists who stopped him. One thing I flashed on while the Capitol was being overrun was the Soviet coup attempt against Gorbachev. It was stopped by a massive outpouring of citizens in the street, which fairly quickly convinced the military not to go through with the coup. One thing notable throughout Trump's whole effort to steal the election was that his dead-enders were almost never met by anti-Trump voters -- about the only appearance of the latter was a brief celebration once the election was called. This was because demonstrations of support for Biden weren't necessary. The vote counts broke in Biden's favor -- very narrowly in Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona, but clear enough for the people who counted them -- and Trump's legal (and political) challenges were easily rebuffed. Biden voters learned to trust the system, so when the final insurrection took place, we could trust in the cops to restore order (not that a few didn't help order break down in the first place). Still, I wonder how well founded that faith was. I'm still bothered by how Republicans ran 4-5 points better, especially in battleground states and critical Senate contests, than polls suggested. While there are explanations that aren't completely implausible, it does seem like Republicans have some kind of hidden edge -- not enough to save Trump, but enough to set them up very nicely elsewhere. So I'm not convinced that the election wasn't stolen; just that it wasn't stolen from Trump. And I'll also note that had Trump's steal succeeded, he'd be facing much larger street protests than he was able to foment. We saw a bit of that in 2017 when the electoral college gave him a win with a three million vote deficit, and it would have been much worse this time (or, I suppose, more glorious, if you're into that sort of thing). Even though the right is far more violent than the left, I shudder to think about the turmoil and heavy-handed repression a Trump victory would have generated. Nick Martin: Republicans rethink "law and order" once they become its target: One of the most common problems we have in America is people who can't imagine what it would feel like should the tables be turned. This despite the fact that we've all heard some version of the golden rule, such as "do not do to others that which you would not like done to yourselves." However, while one might imagine this problem to be widespread, it likely occurs much more often among right-wingers, who believe that people are intrinsically unequal and should be sorted into hierarchies where they are treated differently, than with the left, who believe that all people are fundamentally similar. It is far easier to imagine how others may feel if you recognize that we all feel much the same.
Seth Maxon: Violence is mainstream Republican politics now: "The party spent these four years increasingly accepting, then celebrating, right-wing threats and attacks." Possibly the deepest article in a series called What We Learned. Jane Mayer: Why Mitch McConnell dumped Donald Trump? "Was it a moral reckoning or yet another act of political self-interest?" Silly question. Ian Millhiser:
Zach Montellaro: State Republicans push new voting restrictions after Trump's loss: "Georgia is at the center of the effort, with state Republicans discussing voter ID changes and other new policies after Biden won the state." David Neiwert: Global radical right celebrated when extremists breached the Capitol -- and drew lessons from it. Rick Perlstein: This is us: Why the Trump era ended in violence. Daniel Politi: Arizona GOP censures Cindy McCain for failing to support Donald Trump. One of many examples as the far-right purges intensify. Nor was she the only one: The Arizona GOP censures 3 prominent members for not sufficiently supporting Trump. The others are Gov. Doug Ducey and former Sen. Jeff Flake. Andrew Prokop: Why Trump couldn't steal the election -- and how a future demagogue could. Francine Prose: The last four years of Trump were hell. What a relief it's finally over: "I don't cry easily, but this week I just burst into tears thinking about all we have lived through." Aja Romano: Kicking people off social media isn't about free speech. Aaron Rupar:
Theodore Schleifer: Trump issued a pardon for the man at the center of an epic fight between Google and Uber: "The full pardon of Anthony Levandowski came out of nowhere." Alex Shephard: Why Donald Trump is already teasing a 2024 campaign. Because he wants Republican Senators to convict him? More likely because he wants another election slush fund. Or maybe he just figures he needs to spread a little shit around to attack the media flies? The changes of any of those things working out are slim and getting slimmer, and in each case the attention is likely to do him more harm than good. He never achieved his goal of getting tired of winning, but I bet he gets real tired of losing. Tierney Sneed/Matt Shuham: The Capitol mob was only the finale of Trump's conspiracy to overturn the election. Rebecca Solnit: The Trump era wasn't all bad. We saw progress -- thanks to social movements. The optimism fairy strikes again. Yes, it was all bad. Any time millions of Americans have to take to the streets to protest disasters, atrocities, and injustices reveals that the system has broken down in some fundamental way. Maybe those protests will amount to something, but more often than not they won't. Moreover, protest space is increasingly being taken over right-wingers who make a mockery of the progressive protests we grew up with. In any case, protests take a lot of effort and tsuris. It would be much preferable if you could just sit down with people in a position to do something, and resolve your differences in ways that are mutually beneficial. Although I agree with Solnit that independent single-issue movements are still useful, the most important change I see over the last four years has been a turn toward practical electoral politics. And while Trump inadvertently spurred that by being such an ass, by important development was how Bernie Sanders showed that progressive Democrats could run effective campaigns without having to pander to business interests, as the "New Democrats" had done. Elizabeth Spiers: Farewell to Trump's baby sociopaths: "Good riddance to the fake redneck, the cancer-charity grifter, and the amoral Florida woman." Not bad, but it shouldn't be hard to come with better tags -- e.g., ones that build on "baby sociopaths."
Megan K Stack: The week the Trump supporters disappeared. Joseph E Stiglitz: Republicans, not Biden, are about to raise your taxes: "President Trump built in tax increases beginning in 2021, for nearly everyone but those at the very top." Zoe Tillman: Trump left a big legal mess for Biden: "There are numerous lawsuits pending over Trump-era policies Biden doesn't support, along with cases that ensnared the Justice Department with Trump's own legal troubles." Francis Townsend: Cornered weasel Josh Hawley files ethic counter-suit against seven Democratic senators: I've skipped over at least a half-dozen Hawley pieces, figuring he's not worth the print, but this title managed to catch my fancy. Having broken the ice, more on Hawley:
Craig Unger: The rise and fall of the Trump-Epstein bromance: "The sex trafficker and future president shared tastes for private planes, shady money, and foreign-born models -- many of them "on the younger side." Anya van Wagtendonk: Trump reportedly considered putting an ally willing to dispute election results in charge of the DOJ. The idea was to replace acting AG Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey Clark. "A rash of DOJ officials, briefed on the plan via conference call on January 3, threatened to resign if that occurred." The New York Times story: Frank Vyan Walton: Trump fans file suit to block Biden's executive orders and rerun election: No chance, even now, but if the courts were as packed as they want they'd win even cases like this one:
Amy B Wang/Josh Dawsey/Amy Goldstein: Democrats press ahead with second impeachment trial, as GOP is divided on how to defend Trump. Enter BidenBiden was inaugurated on Wednesday, and quickly went to work signing several batches of executive orders, signifying a major changes by reversing many Trump orders. His efforts on Covid and foreign policy will appear in those sections. For an overview with links to more articles, Vox has Joe Biden's first 100 days. Kainaz Amaria/Ella Nilsen: Joe Biden's unique Inauguration Day, in photos. Katelyn Burns:
Charlotte Klein: What did Biden's day-one executive orders achieve? Ezra Klein: Democrats, here's how to lose in 2022. And deserve it. "You don't get re-elected for things voters don't know about." German Lopez: Biden's flurry of first-day executive actions, explained Dylan Matthews: Will Biden's $15 minimum wage cost jobs? The evidence, explained. The evidence mostly says no, although people who studied Econ 101 but not the world are always tempted to argue otherwise, although rarely without ulterior motives. Still, this argument shouldn't be decisive. Two further points: if the minimum wage had kept pace with productivity increases, it would be over $22/hour today, so $15 isn't a real reach; more importantly, the core meaning of minimum wage is the minimal value we put on human dignity (time and work). A minimum wage that doesn't clear the poverty level, at least without other compensation, says we think poverty is fine. Sara Morrison: How Biden's FCC could fix America's internet. At least, in replacing Trump's FCC chair Ajit Pai, it could restore "net neutrality" -- the rule that says internet providers can't solicit bribes from content producers for better throughput (or punish those who don't pay up with poorer service). I will add one cautionary note: Obama's FCC was largely captive to Silicon Valley business interests, who made big contributions to Obama (and Biden). Although consumers have a clear interest in "net neutrality," so do big businesses like Google and Facebook. Other things that should be done are less likely to find corporate sponsors, which makes it less likely that Biden will champion them. Nicole Narea: Ella Nilsen: Joe Biden's impossible mission: "The new president wants to unite a divided America. That's even harder than it sounds." Easy to make fun of Biden here, but an aspiration toward unity is part of the Democratic Party's identity -- a part not shared by the Republicans, which makes it a critical distinction -- because Democrats imagine that their policies will benefit everyone. Hence, both parties aim or claim to help business, the rich, whites, the rural, the religious, veterans, but only Democrats expand that circle to include everyone else. They see unity as both a source and a validation of policies which promote social cohesion and a shared sense of justice, and they recognize that Republicans have clawed their way to power by dividing people, both by promoting individualism and by directing people frustrations at supposed enemies -- the non-white, the poor, the non-religious, the insufficiencly patriotic cosmopolitans, the "deviant," the "free thinkers," the "socialists." Nixon hit on that strategy with his "silent majority," and Republicans have repeatedly doubled down even as their ranks became less silent and less than a majority. (It's worth noting that Nixon learned the politics of division as a world-class red-baiter in the 1940s. When Republicans shriek about "socialists" these days they're summoning up their most primal fears and hatred -- not that racism isn't even deeper-rooted, but racists were among the first to adopt red-baiting as a tactic.) By the way, some of us would even argue that socialist policies would be better for the 1%. True, they wouldn't like not being the 1% any more, but equality would save they from the economic worries that dominate their lives, not least the fear of being ripped off -- not just with guns but more commonly the pen -- because, as Willie Sutton liked to say, that's are where the money is. Related:
Timothy Noah: The end of the 40-year war on government: "Biden's election can be ore than a repudiation of Trumpian misrule. It can reject Ronald Reagan's cynicism, as well." Anna North: Biden's planned actions on reproductive health care, explained. Aldous J Pennyfarthing: Harriet Tubman $20 bill fast-tracked by Biden following Trump administration delay: I've never cared much one way or the other about this: not that I'd defend Jackson over Tubman as a human or a worthy political figure, but it is just money. Besides, I always suspected that the choice of Tubman was not just a way of ticking two boxes but a tease, given how obsessed Republicans are with putting their names on things. On the other hand, I saw this Ashley Stevens tweet just before noticing the article, and she may be onto something:
On the other hand, Steve M has collected some of the racist reaction to the Tubman bill: Likely to be the most defaced bill, thanks to our conservative friends. Andrew Perez/Julia Rock:
Seth Perlow: What made Amanda Gorman's poem so much better than other inaugural verse. Lisa Rein/Anne Gearan: Biden is firing some top Trump holdovers, but in some cases, his hands may be tied. Aaron Rupar: No meltdowns: Jen Psaki's first briefing as Biden press secretary was a breath of fresh air. Three video clips provided, including one Sean Spicer for comparison ("a flashback to the moment when it became clear that the Trump administration was going to be the stuff of dystopian novels"). Emily Stewart: Biden faces a historic unemployment crisis: "The week before Biden took office, 1.4 million Americans filed for unemployment." Li Zhou: The 50-50 Senate is already running into trouble figuring out its rules. Depending on the VP to break ties isn't quite the same thing as having a majority. On the other hand, McConnell's scheme to keep the filibuster is a recipe for obstruction and inaction. One more thing that should be stressed is that there is no scenario where the filibuster helps Democrats now, or really in the future. If they don't get rid of it, they'll be signaling to the people that they're not really serious about passing legislation. Related:
Covid-19Latest map and case count: 25.1 million+ cases (14 day change -31%, total up 1.2 million in last week), 419,077 deaths (-4%), 113,609 hospitalized (+5%). As Atlantic's Covid Tracking Project notes, Pandemic numbers are (finally) tiptoeing in the right direction. Still, Wednesday and Thursday were two of the three highest daily death totals ever. According to New York Times, 18.5 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose (5.6%), of which 3.2 million have received two. Kansas ranks 46th (ahead of Alabama, Nevada, Idaho, and Missouri). Kansas has used the 2nd lowest percentage of vaccines received (43%; only Virginia, with 42%, is lower). German Lopez: Donald G McNeil Jr: Fauci on what working for Trump was really like. Also:
Sarah Mervosh: How West Virginia became a US leader in vaccine rollout. They managed to deliver 83% of allotted vaccines, a higher percentage than any other state. Rachael Rettner: US life expectancy drops dramatically due to COVID-19: "It's the largest drop in life expectancy in at least 40 years." Aaron Rupar: Fauci threw a lot of shade at Trump in his first comments as a Biden adviser: "What a difference a new president can make." Dylan Scott: America's Covid-19 death toll has surpassed 400,000. Alex Ward: Biden will use the Defense Production Act in his anti-coronavirus effort. The WorldTrump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, continued to poison the earth under possible Biden diplomatic initiatives. Meanwhile, Biden's Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, tried to reassure Congress that he's as callous and dim-witted as his predecessors (with the possible exception of Pompeo). Goes to show that American foreign policy is still governed by fantasies, where jobs are only doled out to those who attest that "the emperor's new clothes" are magnificent indeed. (On the other hand, note that their critics like to call themselves "realists." See Jordan Henry: Just how good is Joe Biden's foreign policy team?) Bernard Freamon: Gulf slave society: "The glittering city-states of the Persian Gulf fit the classicist Moses Finley's criteria of genuine slave societies." Rebecca Gordon: The fall of the American empire: Inside title: "The rubble of empire: doctrines of disaster and dreams of security as the Biden years begin." When I started to compile my blogs from 2001-08, my working title was The last days of the American empire. This could be a foreword to the book I was imagining, with its litany of doctrines, invasions, "grotesque economic inequality," corruption, "ever-deepening conflict." Still, as the years piled on, the slow-motion crash never quite came to its expected end, but also I started to doubt the "empire" concept. Now I'm leaning toward The eclipse of the American Century, not least because the 1900-2000 time frame also defines a unique period of enormous, relentless technological change -- I imagine it as the steep slope of an S-curve, rising quickly around 1900 and starting to plateau around 2000. The US was positioned to take maximum advantage of tech growth, until we started taking riches as entitling us to run the world, and that conceit and hubris spelled the end. But oddly enough, Americans only thought of themselves as an empire at the beginning and end of the 20th century. In between, the operative word was hegemony, the soft glove of power. Jen Kirby: President Biden's international restoration project has begun: "The US is rejoining the Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization on day one." Andrea Mazzarino: Indirect deaths: "The massive and unseen costs of America's post-9/11 wars at home and abroad." Lili Pike: The US is back in the international climate game. Jennifer Scholtes/Connor O'Brien: Adios AUMF? Democrats press Biden for help in revoking old war powers. Alex Ward/Jen Kirby/Nicole Narea: Biden's key national security picks had their confirmation hearings. Here's what to know. Avril Haynes (CIA), Alejandro Mayorkas (Homeland Security), Tony Blinken (State), Lloyd Austin (Defense). They spouted a fair amount of orthodox bullshit to help expedite confirmation. E.g.:
The bit that got me first was the "strength" fetish, as if all we had to do to bend China to our will was get stronger -- that same approach having failed repeatedly against far less formidable foes. But there's much more to puzzle over, like why we confuse "US values" and "the interests of the American people," when the last four years suggests the US government cares for either. Perhaps in the future US policy (both foreign and domestic) could embrace common principles of human rights and international law, and from that vantage point we could join others in shaming China -- and other malefactors, a list which certainly includes our "allies" in Israel and Saudi Arabia) -- into behaving better. But an essential first step is to behave better ourselves. Blinken offered a slight hint when he talked about ending US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. However, he went on to weasel out of any commitment:
Few things are clearer than that the aggressor in Yemen is Saudi Arabia. Also note that Austin waffled on Afghanistan, holding open the possibility of re-escalating the war. Evidently, that makes him more attractive to the Senate, which went on to confirm him 97-2. More on these picks: Alex Ward:
Edward Wong/Chris Buckley: US says China's repression of Uighurs is 'genocide': "The finding by the Trump administration is the strongest denunciation by any government of China's actions and follows a Biden campaign statement with the same declaration." I don't doubt that China's repression of ethnic minorities in Sinkiang (and, for that matter, Tibet) is heavy and oppressive, but doesn't genocide mean killing large numbers of people? And doesn't it also imply an obligation for other countries to intervene? Given that the latter is a practical impossibility, shouldn't one tone down the rhetoric? Alternatively, shouldn't the same criteria be applied elsewhere? I don't think that Israel's treatment of Palestinians amounts to genocide, but it is ethnically based and comparably oppressive. (Main difference is that China has "re-education camps" that attempt to integrate Uighurs into Chinese society, whereas Israel has no such desire -- which is worse is debatable.) Saudi Arabia's war against the Houthis of Yemen is if anything more lethal (latest: Saudi airstrikes kill 34 Houthis in central Yemen, although probably less systematic. There are other cases one might consider, but the US only seems to consider cases where it has an ulterior motive. The designation on Trump's last day was a typical poison pill move, meant to further the ridiculous meme that Biden is soft on China -- if Biden revokes the designation, that will be taken as proof of point; if not (and thus far Biden hasn't taken the bait), it will be taken as proof that Biden is so weak he's unwilling to stand up to genocide, while it hands over diplomatic efforts where cooperation with China is essential. More on China (also see Ward, above):
And Everything ElseSome other entries that didn't fall into the buckets above. Gilbert Achcar: The Arab Spring, a decade later. [subscriber-only article] Reed Berkowitz: A game designer's analysis of QAnon. Chris Bertram: Branching points: Short post, tries to list "events that took place since the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) are the important moments when something different could have been done that might have saved us from being in the situation we are in." His list:
Some other suggestions from the comments (sorted by year):
Fabiola Cineas:
Diana Falzone/Lachlan Cartwright: Fox News launches 'purge' to 'get rid of real journalists,' insiders say: "Fox laid off at least 16 staffers, including Chris Stirewalt, who defended the election-night call that pissed off Trump." Related:
Melissa Gira Grant: The beginning of the end of meaningless work. Checks in with Kathi Weeks, ten years after publication of her book, The Problem With Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries. Robert Greene II: Hank Aaron was more than a man who hit home runs: Aaron died last week, at 86. I date my interest in baseball to 1957, not least because I can still recite the All-Star Teams from that year (at least the ones who played: that was the year Cincinnati stuffed the ballot boxes, but the NL overruled the fans, giving OF slots to Aaron and Willie Mays instead of Gus Bell and Wally Post, and the SS-3B spots to Ernie Banks and Eddie Matthews instead of Don Hoak and Roy McMillan). Thanks to my cousin, I was a Yankees fan, perhaps because I was drawn to winners, a trait that also worked in Aaron's favor. Milwaukee had a farm team in Wichita, and went on to win the pennant in 1957 and the World Series in 1958. They had a great team those years, but Aaron was clearly the star, which made him one of my favorite players, and kept me from entertaining any stupid ideas about race. More:
Rebecca Heilweil: Parler begins to come back online with the help of a Russian tech company. Meryl Kornfield: Six shot dead, including pregnant woman, in 'mass murder,' Indianapolis officials say. Branko Marcetic: The CIA's secret global war against the left. This focuses on Operation Condor (from the 1970s), although the CIA's "secret global war against the left" dates back to its inception in the late-1940s, with the CIA's efforts in Italy and France to keep Communists from winning elections, and more violently in Greece to defeat leftist partisans who had fought against the Nazi occupation. Everything the CIA did from the '50s through the '80s was justified as anti-Communist -- even the 1954 coup in Iran, which was mostly about undoing Iran's nationalization of British oil interests, was justified as preventing a Communist takeover. Condor was significant as it turned a series of Latin American countries into dictatorships, with several bloody purges (especially in Chile and Argentina), but it was neither the first nor the last time the US has sought to prop up right-wing terror in Latin America, nor was it as bloody as the coup and purge in Indonesia in the 1960s, or the much more protracted war in Vietnam (where the CIA's failure led to the military stepping in, and failing even worse). Rani Molla: Why right-wing extremists' favorite new platform is so dangerous. Bill Pearis: Here are your Bernie Sanders music memes. Jeffrey St Clair: Roaming charges: New days, old ways: So, it took St Clair less than a week to attack the Biden administration with the same snark he used to critique Trump. But he does have a good story on Hank Aaron. Scott W Stern: Remembering Margo St James, a pioneering sex worker organizer. She died recently, at 83. Michael G Vann: The true story of Indonesia's US-backed anti-communist bloodbath: "The massacre of the Indonesian left in 1965-66, backed by Washington, was one of the great cries of the twentieth century." Review of John Roosa: Buried Histories: The Anticomunist Massacres of 1965-1966 in Indonesia. Anya van Wagtendonk: Legendary broadcaster Larry King has died at age 87. I literally have nothing to say about him, and almost didn't bother with the link. The writer doesn't have much to say either: e.g., "And he was perhaps equally known for his bold sartorial choices -- he was rarely seen without his signature suspenders, often paired with a bright shirt and colorful necktie." Ask a question, or send a comment. Tuesday, January 19, 2021 Music Week
January archive (in progress). Music: Current count 34804 [34756] rated (+48), 221 [219] unrated (+2). Not much to say right now, so probably best to go ahead and post this. I figure on making some changes after next week (or perhaps I should say the end of January), but I can wait until then to explain what and why. Still fiddling with EOY Aggregate, but that's one thing that I'll stop working on in the next week or so. I'll try to sum up what I've learned next week. I meant to write a postscript to last week's Music Week, but moved on to other things and never got to it. My recollection is rusty now, but I had made some speculation about Robert Christgau's Wednesday Consumer Guide, and felt like I should follow up. Doesn't really matter now. The CG had three new and two old records I hadn't heard, so they loom large below. I also bumped Open Mike Eagle up after a relisten, but didn't bother going back to other B+ albums by Taylor Swift, Toots and the Maytals, or 75 Dollar Bill (the one I prefer is Live at Café Oto Dec. 19, 2019). I will say that my one-play reaction to Evermore was that it was every bit as good as Folklore. I did a much needed update to the Robert Christgau website last week. The main thing was to add all of the CG reviews from his And It Don't Stop newsletter. As it's a paid subscription thingy, it was felt that there should be a delay before non-subscribers can see the reviews on the website, so the big thing was writing code to enforce that, although the bigger thing was keeping everything else working as various changes to the PHP programming language broke old code. I got a couple of letters about old things that were wrong, but the update seems to have worked reasonably well. We kicked around some ideas for a redesign (more under the hood than external), and I plan to start working on that within two weeks -- as recent things wind down and new projects get going. I'm getting tired of trying to keep track of recent deaths, and was hoping to skip that part this week (after linking to a couple pieces on Phil Spector yesterday), but when I checked the list, I recognized Junior Mance (a fine pianist who had a long career after his early-1960s peak -- seek out Junior's Blues) and Duke Bootee (early hip-hop producer, co-wrote "The Message" for Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, and had a good one-shot album in 1984, Bust Me Out). Oh, also Jimmie Rodgers (1933-2021) -- not the legendary country singer but a pop star with some big hits in the late-1950s -- "Honeycomb" and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" were among my first (and most played ever) 45s. New records reviewed this week: Adulkt Life: Book of Curses (2020, What's Your Rupture?): British post-punk group, from London, first album, short one (10 tracks, 25:21. B+(***) Daniel Avery: Love + Light (2020, Phantasy Sound): British electronica producer, from Bournemouth, EPs from 2012, five albums. Fourteen tracks range from ambient (blah) to much sharper (and more compelling) machinery. B+(**) BC Camplight: Shortly After Takeoff (2020, Bella Union): Singer-songwriter Brian Christinzio, from New Jersey, fifth album since 2005. Occasionally reaches for a Beach Boys harmony. B Beach Bunny: Honeymoon (2020, Mom + Pop): Chicago indie pop band, Lili Trifilio singer, first album after a bunch of EPs and singles, short at 9 songs, 25:00. B+(*) Belle and Sebastian: What to Look for in Summer (2019 [2020], Matador, 2CD): Live double (99:54) by the Scottish band, founded 1994 and led by Stuart Murdoch. Gets better and better, although that may be because the older songs are the ones I recognize. B+(**) BlackPink: The Album (2020, YG Entertainment/Interscope): K-pop girl group, four singer/dancers recruited and orchestrated by the label, released a Japanese album in 2018, this their first in South Korea and the US. More English and more hip-hop than most K-pop, with guest features for Selena Gomez and Cardi B. Short: eight tracks, 24:26. B+(**) Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas: Bye Bye Blues (2020, Seraphic): Western swing band, based in Chicago, led by singer Solitaire Miles, who snagged the credit for the band's eponymous debut (2015). Mostly repertoire, and not just Bob Wills, like whom they used fiddle and pedal steel, but also borrowed heavily from the jazz du jour. B+(**) James Dean Bradfield: Even in Exile (2020, Montyray): Welsh singer-songwriter, Manic Street Preachers leader, second solo album. This album bears a relationship to his former band much like Bob Mould's solo work does to Hüsker Dü: same but slightly diluted. B+(*) Brian Charette: Beyond Borderline (2019, SteepleChase): Organ player, one of the few who doesn't sound like a soul jazz throwback, more than a dozen albums since 2009, solo here. B+(*) Brian Charette: Like the Sun (2020, Dim Mak): This one also looks to be solo, but the "live" organ is surrounded by "drum machines, samplers, and arpeggiators . . . programmed to react . . . in provocative ways." Not really. B John Craigie: Asterisk the Universe (2020, Zabriskie Point): Singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, alt-country, albums since 2009. Video suggests this was recorded in a country commune, as he has a lot of musicians and backup singers without making it feel cluttered. More like richly detailed, which fits the songs. A- Cut Worms: Nobody Lives Here Anymore (2020, Jagjaguwar): Singer-songwriter Max Clarke, from Ohio, based in Brooklyn, second album. Wikipedia advises: "for moth larvae that feed at night, see cutworms." Nice, melodic, even gets into some Beach Boys overtones. B+(*) Nick Dunston: Atlantic Extraction: Live at Threes (2020, Out of Your Head Untamed): Bassist, live followup to group's 2019 album. Quintet, with Louna Dekker-Vargas (flutes), Ledah Finck (violin/viola), Tal Yahalom (guitar), and Stephen Boegehold (drums). B+(**) [dl] Dvsn: A Muse in Her Feelings (2020, OVO Sound/Warner Bros.): Canadian r&b duo, singer Daniel Daley and producer Anthony Paul Jefferies (aka Nineteen85), pronounced "division," third album. Empress Of: I'm Your Empress Of (2020, Terrible): Singer-songwriter Lorely Rodriguez, from Los Angeles, parents Honduran, third album. B+(**) Fantastic Negrito: Have You Lose Your ind Yet? (2020, Cooking Vinyl/Blackball Universe): Xavier Dphrepaulezz, father Somali, he was born in Massachusetts, moved to Oakland when he was 12, heavily influenced by Prince. Recorded an album as Xavier in 1996. Adopted this name for his 2014 album. Stradles blues and funk, rocks some, asks the question, "is there justice in America." B+(***) Ghetto Kumbé: Ghetto Kumbé (2020, ZZK): Colombian group, main focus on the drums spritzed up with a wash of electronica. B+(**) The Grasso-Ravita Jazz Ensemble: Jagged Spaces (2020 [2021], Grassvita Music): Guitarist Skip Grasso and bassist Phil Ravita, with Benny Russell (tenor/soprano sax), Greg Small (piano), and Nuc Vega (drums). B+(*) [cd] Guiss Guiss Bou Bess: Set Sela (2019, Helico): From Senegal, although increasingly I'm seeing music from all over the non-English-speaking world classified not as "world" but under genres -- in this case, deep dubstep, bass house, or more broadly electronica. Still, the beats sound like drums, and profusion such as rarely found outside of Senegal. A- The Happy Fits: What Could Be Better (2020, The Happy Fits): Rock trio from New Jersey, second album, upbeat, hooky. B+(**) Roderick Harper: Evolving (2020 [2021], R.H.M. Entertainment): Crooner, full name ends in Muhammad, originally from DC but found himself in New Orleans, couple previous albums, featured spots here for Ellis Marsalis and Donald Harrison. B+(*) [cd] Stephanie Lambring: Autonomy (2020, self-released): Singer-songwriter, based in Nashville, second album, plays guitar and keyboards. Some songs touch on religion, not that it does much good. "Old Folks Home" seems appropriately sad. B+(**) Pak Yan Lau & Darin Gray: Trudge Lightly (2016-18 [2020], By the Bluest of Seas): Piano-bass duo, but both are "prepared," and credits include synths, objects, electronics. Gray is American, discography goes back to 1999. Lau is based in Brussels, has appeared in groups like Dream & Drone Orchestra and The Crappy Mini Band. This is her fourth album. B+(**) [bc] Lomelda: Hannah (2020, Double Double Whammy): Singer-songwriter Hannah Read, from Texas, handful of albums since 2012. Wrote one of those albums "over a few months while sleeping in her car." B+(*) Sabir Mateen/Christopher Dell/Christian Ramond/Klaus Kugel: Creation (2012 [2020], 577): Tenor sax, vibes, bass, drums. Takes a while, but two-thirds through the "bonus track" Mateen really catches fire. B+(***) McCarthy Trenching: Perfect Game (2020, self-released): Omaha singer-songwriter Dan McCarthy, albums since 2003 (demos) or 2007 (eponymous). As Christgau says, "clear, mild, droll, calculated, casual, and clever." I doubt I would have noticed without his review. B+(***) Melenas: Dias Raros (2020, Trouble in Mind): Spanish indie rock quartet, all women, from Pamplona, second album, lyrics in Spanish. B+(**) Buddy & Julie Miller: Lockdown Songs (2020, self-released): Country duo since 1995, both also have records on their own. Little info available, but obviously new songs for the glum occasion, with several public service announcements ("stay home," "put on your mask," "don't drink bleach no matter what the president said"), several about Black Lives Matter and John Lewis, a look back at "The Terrible Spanish Flu." Both sound considerably gruffer than I remember them. Time 26:22, but like the year, feels longer. B+(***) MoE With Mette Rasmussen and Ikuro Takahasi: Painted (2019 [2020], Relative Pitch): Experimental rock duo from Norway -- bassist Guro Skumsnes Moe and guitarist Hĺvard Skaset -- plus saxophone and drums. Moe is also credited with voice, but not much of that. Noise meets free jazz, roughly. B [bc] Munson-Hicks Party Supplies: Munson-Hicks Party Supplies (2020, Soft Launch): From Minneapolis, John Munson ("who does most of the singing") and Dylan Hicks ("who writes the songs") -- I filed it under Hicks because I've heard of him before. Erudite, measured, not much of a party. B+(**) NZCA Lines: Pure Luxury (2020, Memphis Industries): British synthpop band, founded by Michael Lovett, third album. One foot in cheezy disco, the other less decisive. B+(*) Okan: Espiral (2020, Lulaworld): Afro-Cuban group, led by Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne, based in Toronto. B+(***) J.S. Ondara: Folk N' Roll, Vol. 1: Tales of Isolation (2020, Verve Forecast): Born in Kenya, was so taken with Dylan he moved to Minneapolis to retrace his steps. Second album. Has the guitar and harmonica down, phrasing but not quite voice, impressive and sometimes annoying. Does have one thing right: "nobody wins in war." B Chris Pitsiokos: Speak in Tongues and Hope for the Gift of Interpretation (2020, Relative Pitch): Alto saxophonist, solo, six exercises, each dedicated to master: Charlie Parker, Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, John Zorn. Not so easy listening. B+(*) [bc] The Justin Rothberg Group: Hurricane Mouse (2020 [2021], self-released): Guitarist, based in New York, second or third album, Group includes Todd Groves (woodwinds), bass, drums, and percussion. Races along, guitar sometimes standing out. B+(*) Sleaford Mods: Spare Ribs (2021, Rough Trade): British duo, Andrew Fearn generates the beats, bass lines, and whatever, while Jason Williamson sings/rap, embodying embittered working class consciousness, despite considerable success over the last decade. I won't say the new one suggests they're going soft, but it does nick off some rough edges. B+(***) Sweeping Promises: Hunger for a Way Out (2020, Feel It): Boston post-punk group, Lira Mondai the singer, "angular guitars and sharp synth notes float atop a raw rhythm section." Sure, anyone can claim that, but not many start their influences/comparisons lists with Kleenex/LiLiPUT. A- [bc] Aki Takase/Rudi Mahall: Fifty Fifty (2018 [2019], Trouble in the East): Piano-clarinet duo, opens with the whimsical percussion of toy piano. B+(**) [bc] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Man Jumping: Jumpcut (1984 [2020], Emotional Rescue): Early electronica, a sort of minimalism meets disco, first of two 1984-87 records, half-dozen names I don't recognize. B+(**) [bc] Mirah: You Think It's Like This but Really It's Like This (2000 [2020], K): Singer-songwriter Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, born in Philadelphia, went to Olympia for college and enjoyed the antifolk and riot grrrl scenes there -- she worked with Kimya Dawson there, and this debut album was co-produced by Phil Elvrum. Sometimes she sounds like a frailer Liz Phair, but she can also get tough and noisy, and even flashes a bit of swing on the closer. B+(***) [bc] Lon Moshe & the Southern Freedom Arkestra: Love Is Where the Spirit Lies (1976-77 [2020], Strut): Vibraphone player Ron Martin, from Chicago, based in San Francisco, only album as leader but played with Juju (Oneness of Juju) in the 1970s. Vocals, spiritual airs. B+(**) [bc] Sun Ra Arkestra: Egypt 1971 (1971 [2020], Strut/Art Yard, 4CD): First two discs slightly expand on previously released sets (e.g., Nidhamu/Dark Myth Equation Visitation, 2009). This box adds two more discs of unreleased recordings, "In Heliopolis" and "Egyptian Oasis." Lots of typical Sun Ra moments, but becomes a chore to sit through in one pass. (I had to take a break.) B+(*) [bc] Riley: Grandma's Roadhouse (1970 [2010], Delmore Recording Society): This popped up in a 2020 reissues EOY list, but I can't find that recent a reissue date. Riley Watkins wrote or co-wrote 6 of 10 songs, credited with "lead & 12-string guitars & vocals" in what appears to be his only album, but another better known artist has similar credits, and co-wrote 4 songs (with rhythm guitarist Bill Eldredge): Gary Stewart, a few years before he started knocking out hits. The only song that's clearly Stewart's is "Drinkin' Them Squeezins." B [bc] The Ibrahim Khalil Shihab Quintet: Spring (1968 [2020], Matsuli Music): South African pianist, originally Chris Schilder, first album (age 22), featuring tenor saxophonist Winston "Mankuku" Ngozi, with guitar, bass, and drums. Piano comparable to Abdullah Ibrahim, and some lovely saxophone. A- [bc] Old music: Group Doueh & Cheveu: Dakhla Sahara Session (2017, Born Bad): Group from Western Sahara, which has mostly been under disputed Moroccan control since 1970. Several previous albums, this one joined by a French trio, adding guitar and synth to the group's guitars and synths. A- [bc] Solitaire Miles: The Solitaire Miles Jazztets With Willie Perkins (2008-10 [2018], Seraphic, EP): A four cut, 14:24 set of outtakes from three albums the singer did with the pianist and eight more musicians listed on the front cover -- Eric Schneider (clarinet), Art Davis (trumpet), and Jim Gailloreto (sax) got larger type. B+(*) [bc] Solitaire Miles: Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas (2015, Seraphic): Several sources credit this to the singer, although her name doesn't appear on the front cover. B+(**) Viktor Vaughn: Vaudeville Villain (2003, Sound-Ink): Rapper Daniel Dumile, born in London, parents from Trinidad and Zimbabwe, grew up on Long Island, first group (KMD) broke up after his brother (aka DJ Subroc) was hit and killed by a car. Released his first album as MF Doom in 1999, his second as King Geedorah, then two as Viktor Vaughn before returning to MF Doom (and other variants). Terrific flow here, much imagination. He's going places. A- Grade (or other) changes: Open Mike Eagle: Anime Trauma and Divorce (2020, Auto Reverse): Underground rapper, has a decade-plus of sly, clever, often inscrutable albums. First spin sounded like another one, second got a bit catchier, further plays revealed further depth, which I should have been clued to by the title. [was: B+(**)] A- Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, January 18, 2021 Weekend RoundupTable of contents:
Again failed to wrap this up on Sunday. Even a day late, I'm faced with a choice between cutting it loose now or writing some introductory comments, which I actually had given some thought to. I think I'll cut it loose, if for no other reason than that Tuesday promises to reveal a hundred-plus pardons for the highest bidders -- yet another story one can't omit. Then on Wednesday, Trump will supposedly fly off for Florida, while Biden is inaugurated in a secure bunker in Washington, DC, to be witnessed by crowds even smaller than Trump's in 2016. I guess he gets the last laugh on that score. Congress reconvenes on Tuesday, so conceivably the Senate could vote to convict and remove Trump, although no one expects that to actually happen. Of course, I sympathize with Charles Pierce: Donald Trump cannot be allowed to be the President* of the United States for a single second longer, but I'm used to disappointments in political life, and I'm patient enough to give Trump one last day in office, knowing that will be the end of it, and thinking rationally that even though he could do something truly horrific with that day, most likely he'll dedicate it to graft and ego-stroking. Nothing below on Martin Luther King Day. I wasn't even aware of the holiday until I leafed through the paper this morning. By then, I had put two discs from Rhino's superlative The R&B Box into the changer. They were brilliant, and I was deeply touched by the occasion. It reminded me that a huge slice of what's great and glorious in America has been the work of African-Americans. While music has long stood out among those contributions, the one I'm even more thankful for today was providing the margin to defeat Donald Trump. Black lives not only matter; they're often our salvation. InsurrectionI originally thought I'd combine insurrection and impeachment into a single section, but a quick glance at the first batch of articles suggested splitting them. Although insurrection led to impeachment, the latter was narrowly political, based on the House Democrats' slim majority and their felt compulsion to do what they could when they could to register how profoundly they were unsettled by the president's mob's violent uprising against democracy. If Democrats didn't have a House majority, they wouldn't have impeached Trump, no matter how much they wanted to. And, as usual, impeachment is little more than a hollow political gesture. On the other hand, the insurrection was rooted in a broader conception of politics, rooted in the "culture war" Trump has spent his entire political career stoking. Moreover, insurrection is still ongoing, as the planned "demonstrations" in DC and at 50 state capitols attests. Moreover, there is no reason to doubt that the hard core of pro-Trump militants will stop after January 20. Many of these same people were responsible for the uptick of right-wing violence after Obama was elected in 2008. They became Trump's people in 2016, and he has done nothing but encourage them over the last four years. They started forming militias by the 1980s and 1990s, so expect some of them to go underground and dedicate themselves to guerrilla war against the democratic state and its soft targets. Therefore, we need to look at last week's insurrection as a prelude not just to this week's but to months and years of "domestic terrorism" if not outright civil war. Devlin Barrett/Matt Zapotosky: FBI report warned of 'war' at Capitol, contradicting claims there was no indication of looming violence. Dalton Bennett, et al: 41 minutes of fear: A video timeline from inside the Capitol siege. Miriam Berger: US pundits keep comparing Washington to a war zone. People who know war disagree. Kyle Cheney/Sarah Ferris: Mikie Sherrill says unidentified lawmakers led 'reconnaissance' tours ahead of Capitol attack. Sean Collins: Lawmakers are testing positive for Covid-19 after the Capitol lockdown: "At least five." Jesselyn Cook/Nick Robins-Early: Online police communities are rife with conspiracies and support for the Capitol riot. Matthew Cunningham-Cook: Arizone GOP chair urged violence at the Capitol. The Mercers spent $1.5 million supporting her. Jerusalem Demsas: The online far right is angry, exultant, and ready for more. Elizabeth Dias/Ruth Graham: How white evangelical Christians fused with Trump extremism: "A potent mix of grievance and religious fervor has turbocharged the support among Trump loyalists, many of whom describe themselves as participants in a kind of holy war." Matt Fuller: House Democrats briefed on 3 terrifying plots to overthrow government. Hilary George-Parkin: Insurrection merch shows just how mainstream extremism has become. Fiona Hill: Yes, it was a coup attempt. Here's why. "What Trump tried is called a "self-coup," and he did it in slow motion and in plain sight." Mara Hvistendahl: Capitol mob has roots in anti-lockdown protests: "Reopen and anti-mask groups were a crucial recruiting ground for the 'Stop the Steal' effort that culminated in last week's deadly siege." Joshua Kaplan/Joaquin Sapien: "No one took us seriously": Black cops warned about racist Capitol police officers for years. Kimberly Kindy/Kim Bellware/Mark Berman: Off-duty police were part of the Capitol mob. Now police are turning in their own. Paul Krugman:
Luis Feliz Leon: Chickens coming home to roost: Far right storms US Capitol: "The Capitol Riot recalls right-wing counterinsurgencies the US has sponsored in the Dominican Republic and around the world." David A Lieb/Adam Geller: Pro-Trump protests fizzle out at Capitol buildings across the US. Luke Mogelson: Among the insurrectionists: "The Capitol was breached by Trump supporters who had been declaring, at rally after rally, that they would go to violent lengths to keep the President in power. A chronicle of an attack foretold." Also: A reporter's footage from inside the Capitol siege. Anna North:
Olivia Nuzzi: What Madison Cawthorn saw at the insurrection: "The youngest member of Congress is invigorated by the mob he helped incite." Benjamin Parker: The alt-right is now the entire right: "The voices of reason, reality, and responsibility are a cowering minority in the Republican party." Cameron Peters: A new report shows Capitol Police knew Congress might be targeted days before Capitol attack. Justin Rohrlich:
Aja Romano: Baked Alaska's clout-chasing spiral into white supremacy is an internet morality tale. Aaron Rupar:
Liz Scheltens: The warning signs before the Capitol riot. Video, cites sources:
Adam Serwer: The Capitol rioters weren't 'low class': "The business owners, real-estate brokers, and service members who rioted acted not out of economic desperation, but out of their belief in their inviolable right to rule."
Matt Shuham: A common line keeps emerging from Capitol rioters: Trump asked us to be here. Richard Silverstein: At MAGA rally, Israeli flag and neo-nazis co-exist, awkwardly.
Stuart A Thompson/Charlie Warzel: They used to post selfies. Now they're trying to reverse the election. "Right-wing influencers embraced extremist views, and Facebook rewarded them." Alex Ward:
Benjamin Wallace-Wells: The long prologue to the Capitol Hill riot. ImpeachmentI spent much of last week's Weekend Roundup doubting that impeaching Donald Trump would be worth the trouble, but the House Democrats (plus 10 Republicans) went ahead and did it anyway. Bully for them. Now I doubt that it's worth the trouble for the Senate to try him, especially as the trial won't start until he's out of office. (There's some debate below on whether trying him after he's gone is even legal, but my point is that there's more urgent work for the new Democratic Senate to do.) One argument in favor of trial is that conviction will bar Trump from running again, but I don't see that a Trump 2024 campaign is much to worry about. (Indeed, precluding that could be a big reason for Republicans to step up.) Even without a Senate conviction, Trump is likely to face consequences for his many offenses. Some are noted below. Perry Bacon Jr: Trump has been rebuked like no other president -- but really only by Democrats. On the other hand, I'd argue that partisan opposition to Trump is not unprecedented, and possibly not as nasty and vituperative as the Republican attacks on Bill Clinton. One should also note that the precedent for using impeachment as a narrow partisan cudgel was set by Newt Gingrich against Clinton. Pelosi has wound up using it twice, but only in response to much more serious offenses than Clinton's petty lie. Indeed, if Pelosi had tried to impeach Trump every time he lied, she'd never have had time for anything else. Ultimately, Trump was "rebuked like no other president" because he behaved like no other president. The real shame is that only Democrats could see and act on that. Zack Beauchamp: The case for consequences: "Why Republicans have to be held accountable for the attack on Capitol Hill." Jerusalem Demsas: A fight over metal detectors reveals how broken Congress really is. Ross Douthat: Could Mitch McConnell get to yes? "Why the Republican leader should be tempted by the Senate's opportunity to bar rump from running for president again." I can't imagine why anyone would take McConnell's suggestion that he might be open to convicting Trump at face value, but then few pundits are more credulous when it comes to Republican motivations than Douthat. A long Senate trial would be the perfect excuse for McConnell to avoid dealing with Biden's appointments and initial legislative proposals. The real question is whether McConnell decides to repeat his extreme obstructionism from 2009 (his vow to make Obama a one-term president). I can think of several reasons why that not play so well this time. But one thing you can be sure of is that no matter which way he plays it, it won't be because he's grown a conscience about the tattered state of American democracy, or that he's developed the slightest care about what's best for the country. Melinda Fakuade: A running list of corporate responses to the Capitol riot. Anita Kumar/Daniel Lippman: 'Supremely self-absorbed': Isolated Trump unlikely to mount an aggressive impeachment defense. J Michael Luttig: Once Trump leaves office, the Senate can't hold an impeachment trial. This argument makes sense to me: there's no point removing from office someone who's already left office. But the wrinkle here is the possible banning of Trump from ever holding office again -- that would still seem to be a consideration even after Trump departs. Still, I'm surprised to hear so little about this position. Laurence H Tribe argues otherwise: The Senate can constitutionally hold an impeachment trial after Trump leaves office. Harold Meyerson:
Ian Millhiser: New poll shows Trump's support dropping sharply among Republicans. Cites polling from Pew showing Trump's approval rating dropping to 29% -- Biden begins presidency with positive ratings; Trump departs with lowest-ever job mark. I think "lowest-ever" means for Trump -- as I recall, GW Bush got down around 21% (and Cheney 9%). Although Trump has lost support among Republicans, his current approval number is still 60%, down from 77% before the election and 85% peak (he got a little bump early in the pandemic, when it wasn't yet clear how badly he blew it; at that point, Democratic approval also peaked at 12%, down to 4% now). More: Alex Pareene: An impeachment trial will be good practice for actual oversight. Andrew Prokop: Michael S Rosenwald: There's an alternative to impeachment or 25th Amendment for Trump, historians say: Having recently read Eric Foner's book on the Reconstruction amendments (The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution), section 3 of the 14th Amendment was something I recognized, but while it was clear who it applied to then, I couldn't recall how new people could be declared insurrectionists and stripped of their political rights. I still don't quite get it. Moreover, I think we need broader and deeper democracy, so I don't see how that's advanced by excluding people we don't like (even if the reason we don't like them is that they're trying to take away our rights). Philip Rucker/Josh Dawsey/Ashley Parker: Trump to flee Washington and seek rehabilitation in a MAGA oasis: Florida. Headline reads like he's looking for a comeback, perhaps as governor. But then the article veers to his children buying property in Florida, and speculates that Ivanka might run for Marco Rubio's Senate seat. Emily Stewart: Corporate America takes away Trump's toys: "America's elites got what they wanted from Donald Trump. Now they're walking away." Amy B Wang: Republicans call for unity but won't acknowledge Biden won fairly. Li Zhou: Here are the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. Notes that that's all it took to make this the most bipartisan impeachment ever. Still, that's less than 5% of the Republican caucus. Jonathan Zimmerman: Impeach Trump but not for what he said on January 6th: Well, there are so many things Trump could (and should) be impeached for that the debate has always been more practical: what charges stand the best chance of widespread support and possible conviction? Polls have often shown a majority in favor of impeachment, but no issue has ever stood a chance of conviction. Given that's the case, I have to ask: why bother? Maybe you can use impeachment as a "teachable moment" to advance the political critique of Trump, and perhaps you'll score a point or two as Republicans are forced to defend unpopular positions (like insurrection) in order to protect political power. But the inevitable fruitlessness of impeachment makes me wonder whether the effort wouldn't be better spent elsewhere. That leaves me ambivalent: on the one hand, I wouldn't impeach Trump for anything, but I'd never miss a chance to vote against him. Zimmerman's point is somewhat different: he worries that impeaching Trump over a speech could be used to suppress further speech. I don't feel like going into that. Exit TrumpPolitico: 30 things Donald Trump did as president you might have missed: This gives you a pretty good idea of the range of things Trump's administration touched. I would edit this to make it significantly more critical (e.g., Trump's efforts to repeal Obamacare did make it more popular, but he still managed to undermine the law, especially by keeping more people uninsured); the obvious point on Defense spending isn't that he did an audit, which for sure showed gross mismanagement of funds, but that he wound up spending more than ever, while filling the Department with industry lobbyists.)
New York Times: The business rules the Trump administration is racing to finish: Bullet points:
All these are in addition to the already staggering list of rules and rollbacks the Trump administration has issued. See: The Trump administration is reversing more than 100 environmental rules. Here's the full list. Peter Baker/Maggie Haberman/Annie Karni: Pence reached his limit with Trump. It wasn't pretty. "After four years of tongue-biting silence that critics say enabled the president's worst instincts, the vice president would not yield to the pressure and name-calling from his boss." Julian E Barnes/Michael S Schmidt: NSA installs Trump loyalist as top lawyer days before Biden takes office: "The acting defense secretary ordered the spy agency to appoint Michael Ellis, who has been accused of having a hand in one of the Trump administration's most contentious legal decisions." Laura Bassett: All that's left of Trumpism is hilariously stupid, deadly serious social media stunts: "MAGA nation's thirst for viral clout is going to get more people killed." Jonathan Chait:
Chuck Collins/Omar Ocampo: Trump and his many billionaire enablers. Includes a list of billionaire doors to the Trump Victory Fund, where Sheldon Adelson ranked a mere 8th. McKay Coppins: The coming Republican amnesia: "How will the GOP recover from the Trump era? Pretend it never happened." Jerusalem Demsas: Deep cleaning, packing supplies, and a concession: The Trumps plan their White House exit. Elizabeth Dwoskin/Craig Timberg: Misinformation dropped dramatically the week after Twitter banned Trump and some allies: "Zignal Labs charts 73 percent decline on Twitter and beyond following historic action against the president." Richard Fausset/Danny Hakim: Atlanta prosecutor appears to move closer to Trump inquiry: "The Fulton County district attorney is weighing an inquiry into possible election interference and is said to be considering hiring an outside counsel." Scott Galloway/James D Walsh: The most important takeaways from big tech's deplatforming of Trump. Starts with "Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey didn't kick Trump off Facebook and Twitter, respectively; Stacey Abrams did." Peter Jamison/Carol D Leonnig/Paul Schwartzman: The $3,000-a-month toilet for the Ivanka Trump/Jared Kushner Secret Service detail. Jeffrey St Clair pointed me to this article, after noting that Ivanka had tweeted: "Disrespect for our law enforcement is unacceptable." Carol D Leonnig/Josh Dawsey/Rosalind S Heiderman: Trump prepares to offer clemency to more than 100 people in his final hours in office. Looks like this will be his last act as president. Some more pardon pieces:
Lisa Lerer/Reid J Epstein: Abandon Trump? Deep in the GOP ranks, the MAGA mind-set prevails. Nancy LeTourneau: To no one's surprise, Trump is still lying. Eric Levitz:
Eric Lipton/Ben Protess/Steve Eder: An urgent reckoning for the Trump brand: "Companies and institutions are shunning President Trump and some associates after the attack on the US Capitol. The Trump family business, built on luxury hospitality, is contemplating a reinvention." Martin Longman: When a lie gets too big. Andrew Marantz: The importance, and incoherence, of Twitter's Trump ban. It's been about a week since Trump was booted off Twitter, and it already counts as possibly the best quality-of-life move in some while. Not only does it make it harder to Trump to impinge on your life, its absence means the media and late night comics have to dig a little deeper for stories (and jokes). Nick Martin: Trump's four-year drilling binge has done irreparable damage. True enough, but nothing here on Obama's eight-year drilling binge, which had more dramatic effect, reversing the declining production since Hibbert's Peak in 1969, not only making the US the world's largest oil producer but wiping out the trade deficit in oil. Sure, Trump has been even more lax on the environmental front (but most of Obama's production gains were through fracking, which has its own environmental problems). The big difference was probably that Obama took over after record high prices under Bush, so the industry was more inclined to invest. Those prices dropped first with the recession (which both reduced demand and stopped the banks from speculating on futures), then with the glut, and lower prices (and more "green" competition) have depressed investment. Trump's own efforts to prop up prices have concentrated on banishing low-cost producers Iran and Venezuela. Dylan Matthews: The F word: "The debate over whether to call Donald Trump a fascist, and why it matters." Cites a letter by Robert Paxton (author of The Anatomy of Fascism):
For more on the 1934 crisis, see Wikipedia. Matthews also quotes from Paxton's book:
The problem with applying this definition to Trump has been the relative lack of organized violence, although I've long suspected that this is due less to beliefs and desires than to the constraints that have thus far limited Trump's power: the more power you give him, the more likely he is to rival Hitler. Even so, Trump is likely to be limited by his incompetence, his vanity, and the historical untenability of racism, imperialism, and war. Still, a fascist doesn't have to be as disastrous as Hitler to be a fascist. It would be wise to detect the impulses before they get out of hand -- as they did with the Capitol insurrection. One more question is why does it matter whether people make the link between Trump and pre-WWII fascists? It all depends on who you are talking to. The US fought WWII specifically against fascism, and that resonates even today. To say Trump is a fascist emphasizes how he runs counter to American political traditions -- an appeal not just to liberals but to conservatives who value the freedom secured by American democracy. Such people have had a peculiar sense of when fascism needs to be opposed. They coined the term "premature anti-fascists" to describe leftists who recognized the danger of fascism long before the US government felt the need to fight fascism in WWII. For leftists, Trump's fascist affinities were recognized early -- long before the attack on the Capitol. But the charge of fascism has always been a heuristic (a pattern through which various perceptions come into focus). It may (or may not) make practical sense to use the term, as opposed to the many other ways one might talk about Trump's bad deeds. But Trump's fomenting of mob violence against Congress certainly expanded the circle of people willing to talk about Trump's fascism. Nicole Narea: Trump's border visit was a desperate attempt to preserve his legacy on immigration. When I first heard of this, I thought maybe Trump was making some kind of grand tour of his accomplishments, but then I remembered he didn't have any -- at least not ones he'd like to draw attention to. Cameron Peters: Alex Azar's resignation letter paints a misleading picture of Trump's coronavirus response. Sabrina Rodriguez: Trump's partially built 'big, beautiful wall': In the end, President Donald rump built a mere fraction of what he promised." Austin Sarat: Trump targeted the mentally ill with his lame duck execution spree. This ranks high on the list of disgusting things Trump has done (not that I have the stomach to try ranking them). I've long thought that the key question on capital punishment is not whether the covict has done something deserving of death but whether the state should have the power to kill securely incarcerated people in cold blood. I can think of lots of reasons to say no, including the fact that the other nations who still slaughter prisoners are the world's leading human rights abusers, which come to think of it is why the US is one of them. But another is that the punishment is applied so inconsistently and haphazardly, as is clear from this tendency to single out the most helpless prisoners available. Also note that while many of Trump's orders can (and will) be reversed, his killings are final -- the one part of his legacy he can always look back on and relish. Related:
Emily Stewart: Why the MyPillow guy was at the White House, explained as best as we can: Mike Lindell. Enter BidenSee Building Biden's Cabinet for a survey of who's been selected for Biden's top administration positions, and who's being considered for still open slots. Another updated scorecard is Intelligencer's All of president-elect Joe Biden's cabinet nominees. Also: Who Joe Biden picked to fill his cabinet. David Dayen: How Biden can move on from the Obama era: "The American Economic Liberties Project's 'Courage to Learn' report explains Obama's failures on competition policy, and a path forward for the new president." It's hard to think of anything the Obama administration did a poorer job of than antitrust ("if you block the last two companies in the economy from merging, that's not a successful antitrust policy" -- and that only happened toward the end of the second term). Connor Echols: Biden's hidden hawks: This singles out several "particularly concerning" second-tier appointees, "both for their lack of repentance for past sins and their potential to do harm going forward."
Dino Grandoni/Juliet Eilperin: Biden swells the ranks of his White House climate team. Anne Kim: Joe the centrist? Biden's Family Assistance Plan is really bold. Nicholas Kristof: When Biden becomes . . . Rooseveltian! Seems premature, but the conditions are ripe, even if there's never been any reason to think the man might rise to the occasion. Starts with a famous story: Soon after Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933, a visitor assessed the stakes of his New Deal proposal. Paul Krugman: Four rules that should guide Bidenomics: Ugh! Can we start by banning the personalized term? Call it "Democratic economic politics" if you must, as it's a shared set of precepts and policies which can be meaningfully contrasted to "Republican economic politics" -- and that wouldn't surrender the concept of an economic science separate from partisan preference (not that academic economists don't have their partisan loyalties). Still, let's list the rules:
Nancy LeTourneau: The attacks on Biden's Civil Rights Division nominee have already started. Kristen Clarke. You may recall that Republicans singled out Clinton's and Obama's nominees for this position (Lani Guinier, Debo Adegbile). They get nervous at the prospect of the Civil Rights Division being led by someone serious about civil rights. German Lopez: Biden's plan to fix the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, explained. Bullet points:
Ian Millhiser: McConnell is already sabotaging Biden's presidency: "The Senate hasn't held a single confirmation hearing on Biden's nominees. That's not normal." Nicole Narea: What we know about Biden's inauguration plans. Cameron Peters: Emily Stewart:
Bill Scher: It's time for a domestic terrorism law: Filed this under Biden because "Joe Biden's transition team was already working on a domestic terrorism law before the insurrection." I've been worried about right-wing violence at least since the 1990s (remember Oklahoma City?), and of course I know it wasn't newly minted then: the practice of violence is deeply embedded in the DNA of conservatism. I would even venture that aside from 9/11, I doubt there's ever been a year since the 1990s where Islamic terrorists (or "antifa" or "eco-terrorists") have killed more Americans in America than right-wingers have. Still, it's unclear to me that new anti-terrorism laws are either needed or useful. On the other hand, I can understand the fear, as I expect right-wing terror is going to get much worse before the "fire and fury" Trump (and Fox) stoked burns itself out. Some debate: Jon Walker: Democrats must federalize Medicaid. Well, sure, but while the states bear a lot of responsibility for not expanding Medicaid per the ACA, a more fundamental problem is having a second-class Medicare-for-some in the first place. Alex Ward: Biden taps Bill Burns, a career diplomat, to lead CIA. Note that Robert Wright/Connor Echols gave Burns a relatively decent mark on their Grading candidates for Biden's foreign policy team. The Covid-19 Pandemic SurgeLatest map and case count: 23.9 million+ cases (14 day change +9%, total up 1.5 million in last week), 397,566 deaths (+27%), 126,139 hospitalized (+5%). While today's numbers are down a bit from the peak, the 14-day changes are still rising, giving us The worst week for deaths since the pandemic began. Monday will probably top the 400,000 deaths mark. According to Bloomberg's Covid-19 vaccine tracker, the US has administered 14.7 million doses. The number of people who have received two doses is still very small. Marc Fisher/Lori Rozsa/Mark Kreidler/Annie Gowen: 400,000: The invisible deaths of covid-19: "It took just over a month for the US coronavirus death toll to clib from 300,000 to nearly 400,000" (see chart). Dhruv Khullar: Five countries, five experiences of the pandemic. Ezra Klein: Biden's Covid-19 plan is maddeningly obvious: "It is infuriating that the Trump administration left so many of these things undone."
Concerning the WorldWilliam LeoGrande: Putting Cuba on the terrorism list is unjustified and unwise. James North: Pompeo's lie of al-Qaeda link raises risk of conflict with Iran. More on Pompeo:
Yumna Patel: In 'watershed' moment, B'Tselem labels Israel 'apartheid regime'. More comments, and more on Israel:
Charles Pierson: A Yemeni famine made in Washington and Riyadh. Gareth Porter: How CENTCOM Chief McKenzie manufactured an Iran crisis to increase his power. Everything ElseWilliam Astore: We're all prisoners of war now: "When will America free itself from war?"
Bryan Bender: The military has a hate group problem. But it doesn't know how bad it's gotten. Constance Grady:
William Grimes: Phil Spector, famed music producer and convicted murderer, dies at 81: "Pop genius and NRA poster-boy" is the way I'd put it. On the former, see Jon Pareles: Phil Spector: Listening to 15 songs from a violent legacy. Those songs range 1958-80, with the string most associated with him ending in 1966 with "River Deep, Mountain High." The murder occurred in 2003. Spector had long been fascinated with guns, liked to bring them out and play around with them, and eventually killed an actress named Lana Clarkson. At the time, he claimed it was an accident, but it was the sort that seemed bound to happen, and he was convicted of 2nd degree murder. Hardly a loss to music at that point, but a cautionary tale about guns. Also see: Robert D McFadden: Sheldon Adelson, billionaire donor to GOP and Israel, is dead at 87. New York Times obituary, so not the most critical, but a fair place to start. Adelson was an extreme example of how someone who was extremely rich ("$34.9 billion at the time of his death") could exert extraordinary political influence. He was Trump's top financial backer in 2016, and contributed much more in 2020: "about $250 million in checks to support Trump and GOP House and Senate candidates." He had so much influence over Republicans that in 2016 there was much talk of a "Sheldon Adelson primary," where hopefuls trekked to Las Vegas to beg for his support. Although he embraced most of the political causes of the very rich, his overriding issue was support for Israel and its racism and militarism, and he may have had even more influence there, both through his direct control of much Israeli media (see How US billionaire Sheldon Adelson is buying up Israel's media) and his political contributions, especially his sponsorship of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. For some more on Adelson:
Ian Millhiser:
Jeffrey St Clair: Roaming charges: Do me two times, I'm goin' away. Makes fun of Biden for calling Trump "an embarrassment." Of course, there are worse things you can (and should) charge Trump with, but embarrassment is the common denominator, something we should (if not can) all be able to agree on. Dorothy Wickenden: The pre-Civil War fight against white supremacy: "In a country riven by racial politics, three women strove for a just society." Frances Seward, Martha Coffin Wright, Harriet Tubman. Ask a question, or send a comment. 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 Ł4.95, 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], SĹJ): Initials stand for Bergische-Brandenburgisches Quartett, a mostly German free jazz group with Sven-Ĺke 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], SĹJ): Piano-drums duo, first names Alexander [von] and Sven-Ĺke. 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:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, January 11, 2021 Weekend RoundupTable of contents:
Last week, I found myself flashing back to scenes in the 1980 movie Airplane!. It was a very funny spoof of late-1970s disaster movies (especially Airport 1975, but the series of gags I most recall featured the air traffic controller (played by Lloyd Bridges), admitting "this was the wrong week to quit" various vices (cigarettes, booze, cocaine, sniffing glue -- by which point it was smeared all over his face and hair). Well, this was the wrong week to quit Weekend Roundup. My plan was to keep doing it through the Biden inauguration, then free up my weekends. I've collected my posts in four long book files. While I feel obligated to wrap up the Trump term, I'm too old and tired to contemplate doing this for another four years. Still, last week was one for the book. I grabbed a couple items as early as Friday, but unfortunately I wasn't able to knuckle down and focus on this until mid-afternoon Sunday. So this will probably be shorter (and glibber?) than is deserved. The key events were:
I'm somewhat ambivalent about what to call the storming of the Capitol. In most regards it resembles the general unruliness of a riot, but the fact that the mob was organized and directed not at a mere symbol of state power but at the literal seat of democracy, where representatives were engaged in a process meant to insure the orderly transfer of power, marks it as an insurrection. Its target also underscores that it was not a protest against state power but a direct attack on democracy, and as such on the fundamental belief that the power of the state is rooted in the will of the people. Whether it was a coup attempt is a somewhat messier question. Coups (from a French word for a sudden strike) are normally conflicts within the power structure, where one faction (usually from the military and/or the state security groups) moves to seize control of the state. That didn't happen, and I have no reason to think that the US military would do such a thing -- not that they, nor especially the CIA, have scruples about organizing and/or supporting coups abroad. On the other hand, Trump made no secret of his desire that someone intervene to deliver his re-election. In his methods, he most resembles a monarch (or mob boss) who obliquely wonders whether someone will relieve him of some problem person, then feigns surprise when some underling kills the offender. Trump didn't care who would save him, nor did he worry about the means. He would have been happy had state election officials "found" enough votes to overcome the shortfall. He wanted state legislators to approve alternate electors, regardless of state laws. He repeatedly appealed to the courts. He urged his allies in Congress to challenge the counting, and he ordered his VP to throw the election to him. So when his mob stormed the Capitol, he was briefly optimistic. There is no reason to think he wouldn't have been thrilled to have the mob forced Congress at gunpoint to throw the election to him. And when all his efforts failed, he still gets to walk away pretending he never did anything wrong -- and that he is still the aggrieved party. Ainsley Earhardt, the blonde sandwiched between the two douchebags at Fox & Friends, offered this emotional plea:
Tony Karon cited this quote, then added:
Actually, I'm all for respecting people's hurt feelings, but where is there any acknowledgement that the 82 million Biden voters care at least as much, as intensely, as existentially as those Trump voters? (Actual totals are closer to 81-to-74 million, but the margin is more than 7 million votes.) I shudder to think what the reaction would be if Trump somehow managed to steal this election, especially after all the damage he's done since unfairly, undemocratically seizing the election in 2016. And, like, we're the side that believes in peace, in equality, in civility, in law, in order, in community, and in reality. Twitter ChatterI wound up collecting enough of these to merit their own section (although note that I only started collecting them on Friday (and didn't keep it up), and I only follow a tiny number of feeds -- although retweets expand what I see significantly):
Georgia and the End of the 2020 ElectionOn Tuesday, Georgia elected two new US Senators, with Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeating incumbents Kelly Loefler and David Perdue. See: Senate live results. Perdue and Loeffler led in the November election (which Trump lost by 11,789 votes), so one can take an extra pleasure in seeing how the runoff system, designed during the Jim Crow era to preserve white supremacy, finally opened the door. From what I can tell, it looks like turnout was more than 90% of the presidential election, which is remarkably high for a runoff election. As I recall, on the night of the election, the Democrats jumped to an early lead, lost that late in the evening, then came back overnight. Ossoff's win wound up at about 45,000 votes, and Warnock did better (or Loeffler did worse), with a margin of 83,000 votes. There was a lot of speculation that Trump's post-election antics could cost Republicans in this race. I never put much stock in that, but what is unquestionably true is that Democrats stepped up and took the runoff very seriously. This results in a 50-50 tie in the Senate. As the Vice President can break ties, that should give Democrats the ability to organize and run the processes. Still, as "control" goes that's a pretty tenuous margin, and depends a lot on keeping the most conservative senator(s) happy -- Joe Manchin is the obvious bottleneck here. Not much recent talk about ending the filibuster. If that doesn't happen (and Manchin is on record against changing the filibuster rule), it will be very hard to get any very progressive bills through the Senate. While the tie makes it harder for Republicans to obstruct everything, it relieves them of some of the pressure to cooperate with Biden. Republicans should be in a very good position to regain control of Congress in 2022, if they can avoid blame for whatever goes wrong -- which given the state they've left the nation in is quite a lot. On Wednesday, Congress met to count and certify the Electoral College votes, with a substantial faction of Republicans trying to steal a win for Trump. Before they got very far, Trump's mob stormed the Capitol, disrupting the proceedings. I cover that in two later sections, but here I'll include stories that relate to the session, both before and after the disruption. Vox [Dylan Matthews, Ella Nilsen, Zack Beauchamp, Andrew Prokop, Li Zhou, Ian Millhiser]: 5 winner and 2 losers from the Georgia Senate elections. Winners: Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff; Joe Manchin (as the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, he can play hardest-to-please, making him the bottleneck for Democratic votes); Stacey Abrams and Georgia organizers; Ketanji Brown Jackson (or Leondra Kruger); more stimulus. Losers: Mitch McConnell; Trump's election discrediting strategy. Chas Danner: Trump made earlier call to pressure Georgia election investigator. Jerusalem Demsas: The 14 Republican senators objecting to the Electoral College's certification. Ella Nilsen: Democrats win the Senate -- by the slimmest margin possible. Andrew Prokop:
Bill Scher: Electoral College certification is dividing the GOP. Good. Dylan Scott: "Phenomenal" Black turnout won the Senate for Democrats in Georgia. Nate Silver: Georgia was a disaster for Republicans, and it's not clear where they can go next.
Emily Stewart: David Perdue may follow the Trump playbook on Senate election loss: He ultimately didn't, as the margin of his loss grew throughout Wednesday, eventually hitting 45,000, so he finally conceded. Perdue and Loeffler also backed off from their promise to support Trump's ersatz electors, although Perdue's term had expired before the vote, and Loeffler's ends as soon as Georgia certifies Warnock's win. Li Zhou: 147 Republican lawmakers still objected to the election results after the Capitol attack. Trump's InsurrectionOne thing I wish I had time to do was to dig up some of the video that exposes the actual and potential violence of the mob's storming of the Capitol Building. It's worth noting that rioters came armed with everything from zip-ties and pepper spray to pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails. Another thing I didn't get to is the threat of further "protests" and more violence around the inauguration. Devlin Barrett: Trump's remarks before Capitol riot may be investigated, says acting US attorney in DC. Dan Barry/Mike McIntire/Matthew Rosenberg: 'Our president wants us here': The mob that stormed the capitol. Zack Beauchamp:
Kim Bellware: Police departments across the US open probes into whether their own members took part in the Capitol riot. I'd venture to say that if they purged the ones who did participate, that would help with some of the other problems that plague police departemnts. Normally I'd oppose any sort of politically-defined job restriction, but the people who actually participated in the violence and insurrection (as opposed to people who merely attended the rally) aren't fit to be police. Aaron Blake: What Trump said before his supporters stormed the Capitol, annotated. Sidney Blumenthal: Trump's MAGA insurrectionists were perverse US civil war re-enactors. Jonathan Chait:
Fabiola Cineas:
Aaron C Davis/Rebecca Tan/Beth Reinhard: Several Capitol police officers suspended, more than a dozen under investigation over actions related to rally, riot. Josh Dawsey/Ashley Parker: Inside the remarkable rift between Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Jason Del Rey: Shopify hits President Trump where it hurts: His wallet: "The software firm has taken down President Trump's online stores." Jerusalem Demsas:
Anthony DiMaggio: Fascism by gaslighting: Trump's coup and the grassroots insurrection strategy. Includes a revealing study of Trump speeches, wherein he "spent radically more time fixating on his partisan political opponents than did Obama or Bush."
Joshua Frank: Fools rush in: Trump, pardons and the tyrant's cult.
Shirin Ghaffary: Why Twitter finally banned Trump: "The company suggested that Trump's tweets risk further violence during a critical time for democracy." Melissa Gira Grant: This isn't an insurrection. It's an alliance. Miranda Green: Who dies for Donald Trump? Profile of Ashli Babbitt, the one rioter shot and killed by Capitol Police while trying to take over the Capitol building. Benjamin Hart: Capitol police officer dies after sustaining injuries in riot. Rebecca Heilweil/Shirin Ghaffary: How Trump's internet built and broadcast the Capitol insurrection: "Online extremists started planning the chaos of January 6 months ago." Sean Illing: The fantasy-industrial complex gave us the Capitol Hill insurrection: "This is America's brain on misinformation." Kellie Carter Jackson: The inaction of Capitol Police was by design.
Sarah Jones: This is what Trumpism without Trump looks like. Peter Kafka: Fox News wants its viewers angry enough to watch but not angry enough to riot. "Guess what happens when you tell people, over and over, that they're being robbed? They may believe you." I don't think that's quite right: they don't care how angry you get; they just don't want to be held culpable for what you do with that anger. Maybe they should change their motto from "we report/you decide" to "we incite/you do the time"? Robert Klemko/Kimberly Kindy/Kim Bellware/Derek Hawkins: Kid glove treatment of pro-Trump mob contrasts with strong-arm police tactics against Black Lives Matter, activists say. Paul Krugman: How the Republican Party went feral, and Appeasement got us where we are: "It's time to stand up to the fascists among us." Akela Lacy: Rep. Cori Bush on Republicans who fueled attack on Capitol: "That blood is on all of their hands". Nancy LeTourneau: Why the GOP will remain a threat to democracy, even after Trump is gone: Posted Jan. 5, avant le deluge, but even as Trump surged to the forefront of our fears, a point worth remembering. The only thing that the GOP split over certifying electors proved is that Republicans may differ on tactics, but remain united on their fundamental goal of subverting democracy. Eric Levitz: Impeach and remove Trump now. "He must be frog-marched out of our civic life in disgrace." Agreed, but impeachment won't do that. What's needed is to teach people to recognize what indulging Trump's vanities and paranoia has cost them, so they learn not to let people like Trump back in the halls of power ever again. Adam Liptak: Can Twitter legally bar Trump? The first amendment says yes: "There are reasons to question the wisdom of recent actions by Twitter in barring President Trump from its site and Simon & Schuster in canceling the publication of Senator Josh Hawley's book. But the First Amendment is on their side." Mike Ludwig: The Trumps have fueled a far right media monster that is not going away. Jane Lytvynenko/Molly Hensley-Clancy: The rioters who took over the Capitol have been planning online in the open for weeks. Andrew G McCabe/David C Williams: Trump's new criminal problem: "The president could face charges for inciting the Capitol riot -- and maybe even for inciting the murder of a Capitol Police officer." Stephanie McNeal: Here are some of the most horrifying and stunning videos from the assault on the Capitol. Ian Millhiser: 13 federal criminal laws that the pro-Trump mob may have violated, explained. Parker Molloy: Desperate not to take responsibility for what they've set in motion, pro-Trump media pivot to conspiracy theories. Sara Morrison: The Capitol rioters put themselves all over social media. Now they're getting arrested. Tina Nguyen: MAGA activists plot revenge on Republican 'traitors': "The swift move to vengeance offers a preview of how Trump and his MAGA community plan to reshape the GOP in the coming months." Anna North: Police bias explains the Capitol riot. Anna North/Ella Nilsen: The catastrophic police failure at the US Capitol, explained. Olivia Nuzzi:
Molly Olmstead: What new details tell us about the Capitol rioters' plans. Ashley Parker/Josh Dawsey/Philip Rucker: Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump's failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol. Madeline Peltz: YouTube terminated Steve Bannon's account. He had blood on his hands after months of calling for revolution and violence. Andrew Perez/David Sirota: We should know exactly who funded last week's right-wing riot: "Last week's right-wing riot at the Capitol was egged on by politicians and organizations that have received substantial dark-money funding from corporate interests. It's past time to enact reforms to end the era of dark money -- and find out who exactly is bankrolling the anti-democratic far right." Cameron Peters:
James Poniewozik:
Andrew Prokop: Republican senator: White House aides say Trump was "delighted" as Capitol was stormed: "Sen. Ben Sasse said that, according to senior White House officials, Trump was 'confused' why others weren't as excited." Frank Rich: The trashing of the republic: "The only response to the carnage in Washington is to banish Trump and his traitorous collaborators from civil society." And how do you do that, given that you don't have the power, and they feed on contempt? Alexander Reid Ross: Inside the alt-right meltdown after failed Capitol putsch. Aaron Rupar:
Andrea Salcedo: Republican AGs group sent robocalls urging protesters to the Capitol. GOP officials now insist they didn't know about it. Neil Schoenherr: WashU Expert: Mob at US Capitol building amounts to insurrection: So says Greg Magarian. Melody Schreiber: The actual death toll from the pro-Trump won't be known for weeks: "Many who stormed the Capitol in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic did not wear masks. Then they went back to D.C.'s hotels and shops." We've already seen two Democratic Representatives test positive after sheltering with Republicans who refused to wear masks -- Pramila Jayapal and Bonnie Watson. Alex Shephard: The conservative media really wants you to think the Capitol riot is the left's fault. Fran Shor: White chickens, coming home to roost. Her backfile includes the book, Weaponized Whiteness: The Constructions and Deconstructions of White Identity Politics, and The long life of institutional white supremacist terror. Timothy Snyder: The American abyss: "A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next."
Craig Timberg/Drew Harwell: Pro-Trump forums erupt with violent threats ahead of Wednesday's rally against the 2020 election. Emily VanDerWerff: Is the country falling apart? Depends on where you get your news? Alissa Wilkinson: Jennifer Williams: Was the US Capitol attack "domestic terrorism"? Offers definitions by "analysts," "law enforcement," and "politicians/pundits," which vary somewhat. I have reservations, but one thing I'm sure of is that we'll be hearing a lot more about "domestic terrorism" in the near future, and the applicability of the term won't be debatable. Jennifer Williams/Alex Ward: Trump has the authority to launch nuclear weapons -- whether Pelosi likes it or not: The authors are critical of Pelosi for talking to generals about limiting Trump's ability to launch nuclear weapons, arguing "there is no reason to think Trump plans to randomly nuke anybody." Given how fascinated Trump evidently is with nuclear weapons -- he's championed a budget of more than $1 trillion for new bombs, he threatened North Korea with them, he ended several treaties with Russia limiting them, he wondered whether we could use them on hurricanes -- and how deranged he currently is, I'd say Pelosi has something to worry about. Still, the problem is that no president should have this power -- not just an especially bad one. Unfortunately, that's not a problem Democrats have much power to fix right away. And one they may well forget exists when one of their own gets his itchy fingers on the trigger. Impeachment and AftermathI think we should have learned two things from the impeachment of Clinton: that it's a cheap trick for a House majority to harass an president from the other party, and that it's not an effective way to deal with serious executive malfeasance. Part of the problem is that the constitutional bar is too low in the House and too high in the Senate, but the bigger problem is how both sides (but mostly, and most irrationally, the Republicans) have adopted blinders which allow them to see political opponents as criminals and traitors, and leave them blind to similar faults on their own side. Democrats have been itching to impeach and remove Trump ever since he slipped into office thanks only to the skewed Electoral College vote. And, frankly, he's done much to deserve such condemnation, while making zero effort to ingratiate himself with the majority of the country that voted against him (in 2016, and more emphatically in 2020). Still, I think we have to recognize that impeachment is a political matter, not a moral one. And it is unclear to me that impeaching Trump over the Ukraine scandal did the Democrats any good. So I'm skeptical that a rushed impeachment in the last two weeks of Trump's term is worth the trouble, even given his obvious culpability for the insurrection. Nonetheless, it looks like Democrats will seize on this gesture, as if doing so is the most necessary thing they can do to save democracy. I think they need to focus more on what it takes to win elections. Erin Banco/Asawin Suebsaeng: Trump officials rush to keep him from sparking another conflict -- at home or abroad. Charles M Blow: Trump's lackeys must also be punished. Katelyn Burns: Top Democratic lawmaker says an impeachment vote will come this week: "House Majority Whip James Clyburn said Trump will likely face an impeachment vote by Wednesday." Paul Campos: Pence should invoke 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office immediately. Pelosi has also argued this, and at this point this seems like the only alternative to her bringing an impeachment vote in the House. One question is whether Pence has the power to win a vote in the Cabinet to do this. I suspect he does, as he was the main person responsible for staffing decisions early on (but figure he lost two votes with the Chao and DeVos resignations). The bigger question is why should he bother. Why isn't it enough just to have his staff bottle Trump up? If Trump can't organize events, speak on camera, tweet, launch a war or a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the inauguration -- why turn him loose (where he can do all but the latter)? Democrats may argue that his behavior was so despicable he needs to be made an example of, but they don't really have the power to do that, and failure could be worse than doing nothing. (Still, how certain can you be that Trump is really bottled up?) Marjorie Cohn: Trump can be indicted under federal, state and DC laws for his role in Jan. 6. She argues that "Trump must be impeached and removed from office," but I'm more intrigued by the title -- although the specific charges she mentions ("seditious conspiracy" and "inciting insurrection") strike me as a bit on the nebulous side. On the other hand, I don't see a problem with investigating such charges, even if indictment and conviction seem unlikely. Also, if Trump is immune from prosecution due to a self-pardon, wouldn't he lose his 5th Amendment protection to avoid having to answer questions? And wouldn't he still be liable should he perjure himself? Sean Collins: Americans are divided on wether to remove Trump, according to the polls. The key number here is "69 percent of Republicans saying the president was either not at all or not very much to blame." Even more deranged: "52 percent of Republicans told YouGov that it was actually Biden's fault." Nicholas Fandos: How to impeach a president in 12 days: Here's what it would take. Bryan Garsten: Impeach and convict Trump. Congress must defend itself. The problem with this argument is that Congress hasn't defended its constitutional prerogatives for a long time. As they've ceded more and more power to the executive, and adopted the increasing political polarization of the public, members of Congress have reduced themselves to being political team players, subordinate to their party's president, or intractably opposed to an opposition party president. The Judiciary has done a somewhat better job of maintaining its independence, but that's unraveling as well. John Judis: Democrats: Impeachment is a political trap.
Fred Kaplan: Trup still has the power to blow up the world. Annie Karni: On the way out, Melania Trump denounces attacks on her as 'shameful'. Ed Kilgore:
Ian Millhiser: How Congress can permanently disqualify Trump from office after impeachment. OK, can be done, but odds against it are very steep, as it requires a second vote after a Senate conviction, which requires agreement by two-thirds (so at least 17 Republican Senators). Ella Nilsen/Li Zhou: Why Democrats are moving toward impeachment -- 12 days before Trump leaves office. Cameron Peters: Mitch McConnell outlines what a second Trump impeachment trial might look like. Basically, he sees it as a good, inconsequential way to kill time while avoiding dealing with appointments and legislation Biden wants to advance. Andrew Prokop: Will Trump be impeached or face removal under the 25th Amendment? Nathaniel Rakich: Slightly more Americans are ready to impeach Trump this time around. Asha Rangappa: If Trump pardons himself now, he'll be walking into a trap: "Self-pardons threaten the rule of law. The Justice Department would have to charge him." Katherine Stewart: The roots of Josh Hawley's rage: "Why do so many Republicans appear to be at war with both truth and democracy?" From her backfile, Stewart is author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism; also: Trump or no Trump, religious authoritarianism is here to stay, and Why Trump reigns as King Cyrus: "The Christian right doesn't like the president only for his judges. They like his style." More on Hawley:
Mimi Swartz: Never forget what Ted Cruz did: "The senator has been able to use his Ivy League pedigree as a cudgel. After last week, his credentials should condemn him." JD Tuccille: Sedition charges are almost always a terrible idea. Politics as UsualSome pieces on resignations, regrets, and realignments wound up here, but not enough on the bad jobs report and the need for further economic relief legislation. Katelyn Burns:
Jen Kirby: Here are the few Republicans who have called for Trump's removal. Ian Millhiser: America's anti-democratic Senate, in one number: "Once Warnock and Ossoff take their seats, the Democratic half of the Senate will represent 41,549,808 more people than the Republican half." Terry Nguyen: Millions of students and adult dependents won't receive a $600 stimulus payment. Dylan Scott:
Emily Stewart: "Buckle up": Democrats signal they're ready to go on stimulus. Li Zhou: "I want him out": Lisa Murkowski calls for Trump's resignation. Further qualifications:
Biden's "Build Back"See Building Biden's Cabinet for a survey of who's been selected for Biden's top administration positions, and who's being considered for still open slots. Another updated scorecard is Intelligencer's All of president-elect Joe Biden's cabinet nominees. Quint Forgey/Natasha Bertrand: For CIA director, Biden taps veteran diplomat William Burns. Umair Irfan: How Joe Biden plans to use executive powers to fight climate change. Tyler Pager/Josh Gerstein/Kyle Cheney: Biden to tap Merrick Garland for attorney general. The Covid-19 Pandemic SurgeLatest map and case count: 22.4 million+ cases (14 day change +34%, total up 1.9 million in last week), 374,389 deaths (+43%), 130,781 hospitalized (+11%). January 7 set records with over 4,100 deaths and more than 280,000 new cases. Vaccination first dose is up to 5.9 million. Vaccination is increasing at a slower rate than cases. Ariel Gold: Is Israel practicing vaccine leadership or medical apartheid? German Lopez: America's messy Covid-19 vaccine rollout, explained: "The US was supposed to vaccinate 20 million people in December. It didn't get to 5 million." Josh Rogin: 1,100 State Department employees got vaccinated. At USAID, zero did. Matt Stieb: US surpasses 4,000 Covid deaths in a day for the first time. Around the WorldDamelya Aitkhozhina: Russia is cracking down on political performance art. It should listen, not lash out. Robert Herbst: Jonathan Kuttab's one state vision. Kuttab describes his vision in a short book, Beyond the Two-State Solution (ebook available from Nonviolence International). John Hudson/Anthony Faiola/Karen DeYoung: On its way out the door, Trump administration names Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism.
Nino Pagliccia: Venezuela: The United States is experiencing what it has generated in other countries with its policies of aggression. The view from another nation Trump has tried to destroy democracy in. Michael D Swaine: Pompeo makes last hour push to set the US up for confrontation with China. Other Matters of InterestRon Charles: Conservatives crying 'Orwell' are downright Orwellian. Patrick Cockburn: What Assange's victory really means: A judge in the UK ruled not to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the US, where he would face espionage charges and a possible sentence of up to 175 years. Assange remains in jail in the UK. More:
Jariel Arvin: 2020 ties for the hottest year on record. Only surprise here is "ties." Note the map of "US 2020 Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters" (a record-breaking 22 of them). Matt Gertz: Fox throws in the towel on its "news" side: Fox is shifting its primetime slots from "news" to "opinion."
Ishmael Reed: The tragedy of Stanley Crouch. Ben Smith: Heather Cox Richardson offers a break from the media maelstrom. It's working. On the historian's Substack newsletter. Probably worth reading if not for the hassle of the sales pitch. Jacob Soll: This is the conservative tradition: "A new history traces an anti-democratic politics of hate, repression, paranoia, and revenge to its origins." Review of Edmund Fawcett's book, Conservatism: The Fight for a Tradition. Jeffrey St Clair: Roaming charges: White riot, they wanna riot, they wanna riot of their own. Matt Taibbi: We need a new media system: "If you sell culture war all day, don't be surprised by the real-world consequences." Conclusion is right, but adding just one channel that meets his definition of balance doesn't seem like much of an answer. Moreover, what makes you think he'd be happy if such a thing existed? He condemns the New York Times ("Criticism of Republicans is as baked into New York Times coverage as the lambasting of Democrats is at Fox"), even though their opinion pages are meticulously balanced between center-right and center-center, and they can be counted on to spread establishmentarian takes on everything. Jeff Wise: Two-mile nose dive by a Boeing 737 in Indonesia as yet unexplained. PS: A right-wing relative posted a meme saying "63 million Trump voters will never leave him! I am one of them. Are you one of us?" I rarely respond to taunts like that, but this time I commented:
I might have added that even the meme already allowed that 11 million Trump voters had already left him. He replied with something snarky, and I didn't pursue it further, but one other commenter said he didn't understand why folks were so hung up on Trump personally. Ask a question, or send a comment. Saturday, January 4, 2020 Music Week
January archive (in progress). Music: Current count 34687 [34643] rated (+44), 214 [212] unrated (+2). Too late to try to write anything significant here, and doubtful that delaying another day will change much. Still spending a lot of time adding lists to the EOY Aggregate, and still a long ways from catching up. My plan is to stop after folding in the Jazz Critics Poll results, although I'm already feeling like I'm getting diminishing returns. A week ago it seemed like Taylor Swift might be making a run for 4th place, but this week she loses ground to Bob Dylan, and is closer to losing her 5th slot to Waxahatchee (currently -1) and maybe even Dua Lipa (-7). Fair number of records below, but fewer A-list than is usual at this time of year. Could be I'm getting diminishing returns from the EOY lists, or perhaps I'm the one running out of steam. Picked up my first 2021 rating, but release date was Jan. 1, and it's a follow-up to the week's top rated album. I had the 2020 promo queue cleaned out until Samo Salamon's latest arrived today (not counted in the unrated). I haven't dipped into the 2021 promo queue yet, which is 11 deep. I'll get to them in due course, but figured it would be confusing to consider them early. Little progress on anything else. Still haven't done the December Streamnotes indexing, nor answered the pending queue of questions. Jazz Critics Poll should be unveiled at NPR later this week, but I haven't heard much detail yet, so wouldn't be surprised to find it slipping a week. Everything is counted, and this year I've forwarded the compiled ballots to the critics, so I expect the error count will be closer to zero than usual. I hope to get some cosmetic development done, but nothing actually depends on it. New records reviewed this week: 3unshine: We Are 3unshine (2019 [2020], Real Show): Chinese "Mandopop" group, three girls -- Ji Xingyue ("Abby"), Fan Lina ("Cindy"), and Wang Xiaodie ("Dora") -- from Bozhou, Anhui, inland between Shanghai and Beijing. First such record I've heard, and only heard about it from a purloined email. No telling how many more records like this there are, but this one is fun, especially when it starts to click midway through. B+(**) AC/DC: Power Up (2020, Columbia): Australian rock band, debut in 1975, massively successful, with over 200 million albums sold worldwide (Black in Black counting for a quarter of those, the second highest-selling album in history). Releases thinned out after 1990, with a new one every 5-8 years. I've seen a few people tout this as their best, which seems possible yet doesn't inspire me to backtrack. I did find it listenable, and found something respectable in how simple their basic formalism is. B Alma: Have U Seen Her? (2020, PME): Finnish pop singer Alma-Sofia Miettinen, called her first EP Die My Hair (from what I've seen, her hair is significantly brighter and more unnatural than Billie Eilish's). First album, although Robyn-like she released most of it through EPs. Choice cut: "Loser." B+(**) BbyMutha: Muthaland (2020, The Muthaboard): Rapper Brittnee Moore, from Chattanooga, first album after a dozen EPs (going back to 2014). At 31, has had a life, with physically abusive father, turbulent adolescence (depression, ADHD, expelled from school, drugs, pregnant with twins at 17), now a single mom with four children and her father living next door to help out. She was so stressed after finishing this she vowed it would be her last album. I feel much the same listening to it, but don't doubt there is some genius among the debris. A- Brandy: B7 (2020, Brand Nu/Entertainment One): R&B singer Brandy Norwood, a star since her 1997 debut went 4xPlatinum. Seventh album, first since 2012. B+(*) Dean & Britta: Quarantine Tapes (2020, Double Feature): Wareham and Phillips, married couple, best known for their band Luna (from 1992), but have also recorded several albums as a duo (from 2003). Recorded at home, old songs given minimal dressing. Most striking for me is the most familiar: "I'm So Bored With the USA." B+(**) [bc] Drunken Kong: Where We Start (2020, Tronic): Japanese techno duo, D. Singh and DJ Kyoko, EPs since 2015, second album (plus remixes of each). Beats sharp and catchy, and while they repeat a lot -- 16 tracks run 107:47 -- they seem to know when to break up the flow with a subtle shift of focus. B+(***) Dueling Experts: Dueling Experts (2020, Mello Music Group): Verbal Kent (from Chicago, yet another Dan Weiss) and Recognize Ali (from Ghana, Nii Ayitey Ajin Adamafio), both with long lists of separate credits (Kent's going back to 2004, Ali's to 2014). Enough distance to generate some tension, the edge reduced somewhat by the grungy din. B+(***) Hazel English: Wake UP! (2020, Polyvinyl): Australian singer-songwriter, Eleisha Caripis, moved to Bay Area, first album after several EPs. B+(*) Erasure: The Neon (2020, Mute): British electropop duo, Andy Bell and Vince Clark, eighteen studio album since 1986. Beats OK, vocals leave something to be desired. B R.A.P. Ferreira: Purple Moonlight Pages (2020, Ruby Yacht): Rapper, initials for Rory Allen Philip, born in Chicago but grew up in Maine and Wisconsin, previously recorded a half-dozen albums as Milo (2011-18). Understated underground, produced by the Jefferson Park Boys (best known: Kenny Segal), the "poetry" basic but smart, with feat. spots for Mike Ladd and Open Mike Eagle, and a lightly sung "Creator Has a Masterplan" for the coda. A- R.A.P. Ferreira: Bob's Son: R.A.P. Ferreira in the Garden Level Cafe of the Scallops Hotel (2021, Ruby Yacht): Refers back to another of Ferreira's aliases: Scallops Hotel. Drop off is slight. Twelve tracks, 35:06. B+(***) [bc] The Full Salon: The Full Salon (2018 [2020], self-released): New York bassist Henry Fraser's "polycephalic seven piece ensemble," the vocals (Mel Stancato) but also the guitar, synth, drums moving it closer to art rock than jazz, though not without moments of surprise. B [bc] A Girl Called Eddy: Been Around (2020, Elefant): Erin Moran, from New Jersey, based in England, second album, long time after her eponymous 2003 debut. B+(*) Marquis Hill: Soul Sign (2020, Black Unlimited Music Group): Trumpet player, from Chicago, started as a mainstream player, moves into some kind of crossover zone here, with this grand tour of the zodiac in hip-hop beats and spoken word. Music is neither bad nor special. The astrology is nonsense. B Rui Ho: Lov3 & L1ght (2020, Planet Mu): Born in China, based in Berlin, typographically challenged electropop artist, "non-binary," first album, synths are light and airy, chinoiserie bits filtered through manga, beats danceable, voices ubiquitous but hard to pin down. B+(**) Hum: Inlet (2020, Earth Analog): Rock band from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, released four albums 1991-97, quit in 2000, regrouped 2011 but no new album until this one. Suggested genres include shoegaze and alt-metal. Melodies have some appeal, but also some sludge. B Illuminati Hotties: Free I.H.: This Is Not the One You've Been Waiting For (2020, self-released): Los Angeles "tenderpunk" group led by Sarah Tudzin, second album, although barely -- 10 tracks, 23:16, dubbed a mixtape -- the subtitle as much as admitting this is a stopgap. B+(*) Juice WRLD: Legends Never Die (2020, Grade A/Interscope): Chicago rapper Jarad Higgins, died at 21 of an overdose during a drug bust, so this third album was released posthumously. Album includes songs dedicated to XXXTentacion (shot dead at 20) and Lil Peep (OD at 21) -- still, hardly grimmer than his previous titles Goodbye & Good Riddance and Death Race for Love, or his mixtape Wrld on Drugs. Sample lyrics: "I'm a high guy/ kinda fly too"; "we don't live long"; "hell if I know." B Maria Kannegaard Trio: Sand I En Vik (2020, Jazzland): Pianist, born in Denmark, lived in Norway since age 10, half-dozen albums since 2000, this a trio with Ole Morten Vĺgan (bass) and Thomas Strřnen (drums). Strong rhythmic backbone. B+(***) The Killers: Imploding the Mirage (2020, Island): Rock band from Las Vegas, sixth studio album since 2004, Brandon Flowers sings and plays keyboards, a big part of their sound. Not terrible, but not very interesting either. B Sonny Landreth: Blacktop Run (2020, Provogue): Singer-songwriter, born in Mississippi but long-based in southwest Louisiana, broke in with Clinton Chenier's cajun band, 18th album since 1981, mostly blues. B+(*) Bob Mould: Blue Hearts (2020, Merge): Ex-Hüsker Dü singer-guitarist, 14th solo album since 1989. Reverberations and echoes of his early work. I've long since lost interest, but hear something I once admired every time. B+(*) Keir Neuringer/Ensemble Klang: Elegies & Litanies (2019 [2020], Ensemble Klang): Alto saxophonist, American, wrote all of the pieces here, including spoken text. Group is Dutch, "playing only the newest of new music," with saxes, trombone, guitars, keys, and "stuff we like hitting" (sounds like Han Bennink fans). For one thing, the texts add to the music. Also, the 14:50 finale, "Litanies of Trees," is the best piece of ambient music I've heard in recent memory -- at least until the words 10-minutes in, which again are a plus. A- [bc] Kyle Nix: Lightning on the Mountain & Other Short Stories (2020, self-released): Alt-country singer-songwriter from Oklahoma, first solo album after five fiddling with the Turnpike Troubadours. Some good songs, hot fiddle, annoying tics. B+(*) Christopher Parker & Kelly Hurt: No Tears Suite (2020, Mahakala Music): Leaders (piano and voice) hail from Little Rock, where 63 years ago nine black students sought to attend classes in a previously all-white Little Rock Central High School. Gov. Orval Faubus led the white opposition, which was overcome only after Eisenhower sent the National Guard in to protect the students. This is their story, narrated by Hurt, performed by a sextet -- there is a second version performed by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. B+(**) Poppy: I Disagree (2020, Sumerian): Alias for Moriah Rose Pereira ("American singer, songwriter, musician, YouTuber, and religious leader"). Originally signed with hip-hop label Mad Decent, but went to heavy metal Sumerian for her third album -- most obvious impact has been to her cover art, but there's some kind of musical synthesis as well, as she garnered a Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance" ("the first female artist to ever be nominated in the 30 year history of the category"). No reason for metal fans to put any more store in the Grammys than I do. And not amusing or weird enough for camp. B+(*) Soho Rezanejad: Honesty Without Compassion Is Brutality (Volume 1) (2019, Silicone): Born in New York, based in Copenhagen, does electronics but main focus is voice. I was attracted by the title, which is a dilemma for critics who are often celebrated for "brutal honesty," or scoffed at as suckers or sell-outs. It's not always clear, just as it's difficult to take these cerebral pursuits as "acted compassion." B+(*) [bc] Soho Rezanejad: Honesty Without Compassion Is Brutality (Volume 2) (2020, Silicone): More is more: more variety, more depth, more opaque. But the drums are real. B+(*) [bc] Jeff Rosenstock: No Dream (2020, Polyvinyl): From Long Island, early bands include the Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb the Music Industry! Fourth solo album since his 2012 mixtape I Look Like Shit. Rocks hard, not sure there's much beyond the surface. B Ana Roxanne: Because of a Flower (2020, Kranky): RA describes her as "an intersec Southeast Asian musician based in Los Angeles," and notes her "love for singing." Bandcamp puts her in New York, but includes a Philippines tag. First album, after an EP. Voice gives way to some nice ambient electronica. B+(*) Royce Da 5'9": The Allegory (2020, EOne): Detroit rapper Ryan Montgomery, eighth studio album since 2002. I get most of this, especially the smart girl in the skits, but what's with the anti-vaccine shit? B+(**) Sports Team: Deep Down Happy (2020, Island): English indie rock band, met at Cambridge but moved to London, first album after two EPs. Pretty upbeat, their happiness infectious, lead singer Alex Rice a voice that sticks with you. B+(***) Cristina Vane: Old Played New (2020, Blue Tip): Born in Turin, Italy; studied classical voice before falling into classic country blues, picking up a resonator guitar, moving to Southern California to busk on the beach, winding up in Nashville. Voice strong and clear, guitar sharp, six songs (five I've tracked down to old masters), 27:57. B+(***) Cristina Vane: The Magnolia Sessions (2020, Anti-Corp): Voice and guitar, mostly original songs, solo except for a chorus of cicadas. Left to her own devices, she leans folkie more than classic blues. Still impressive. B+(**) Luke Vibert: Luke Vibert Presents Amen Andrews (2020, Hypercolour): British electronica producer, 30+ albums since 1993, some with aliases, like Wagon Christ, Plug, and Amen Andrews -- reviving the latter here, for a set of "raucous breakbeat bangers." B+(**) Luke Vibert: Luke Vibert Presents Modern Rave (2020, Hypercolour): Main thing I'm struck by here is how little "modern rave" has changed from the hard-hitting dance rhythms rave pioneers like Vibert came up with in the early 1990s. But with so little new, retro just brings back memories of youth (relative, in my case). B+(***) Luke Vibert: Luke Vibert Presents Rave Hop (2020, Hypercolour): I always have trouble making marginal distinctions in electronica, but generally approve of good dance beats. B+(**) Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: London Is the Place for Me 7: Calypso, Palm-Wine, Mento, Joropo, Steel & Stringband ([2019], Honest Jon's): I loved this label's first volume of "Trinidadian Calypso in London" back in 2002, but didn't realize it had turned into a long series. Mostly calypso, some West African, mostly minor fare. B+(**) [bc] London Is the Place for Me 8: Lord Kitchener in England, 1948-1962 (1948-62 [2019], Honest Jon's): Single-artist volume in a multi-artist series, Aldwyn Roberts toured Jamaica and New York before arriving in England, where "he was much in demand for live perforances," returning to Trinidad in 1962 as a major star. Some familiar songs here, probably better heard on Klassic Kitchener, Volume One. B+(***) [bc] Uzelli Elektro Saz (1976-1984) (1976-84 [2020], Uzelli): Turkish compilation, based on electrifying a folk instrument (the saz), so it fits somewhere on the ancient-to-postmodern continuum. B+(**) Old music: Don & Dewey: Jungle Hop (1957-64 [1991], Specialty): Rock and blues duo, Don Harris (1938-99) and Dewey Terry (1937-2003), from Pasadena, recorded a bunch of singles for Specialty 1957-59, returned in 1964 -- enough (with some outtakes) to collect 25 songs here. No hits, missed them completely when I was snapping everything I could find in this "Legends of Specialty Series," but when I saw a cover scan I had to check them out. Tried a bit of everything, with filler covers like "Pink Champagne" and "Justine" faring best. B+(**) Ensemble Klang: Tom Johnson: Cows, Chords & Combinations (2009 [2010], Ensemble Klang): Dutch new music group, instrumentation more like a jazz sextet (two reeds, trombone, piano, guitar, percussion). I was tempted to parse the cover with Johnson first (as with their more recent collaboration with Keir Neuringer), but he is only the composer here, with five short pieces from his Rational Melodies, plus three longer ones (13:16-17:28). The cows are a bit much, but "Vermont Rhythms" justifies its 17:28. B+(***) [bc] 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. Tim Berne/Matt Mitchell: Spiders (2020, Out of Your Head Untamed): Alto sax/piano duets. [bc: 1/5, 12:31/42.46]: + Nick Dunston: Atlantic Extraction: Live at Threes (2020, Out of Your Head Untamed): Bassist, group from 2019 album. [bc: 1/3, 3:13/48:11]: + Michael Formanek Quartet: Pre-Apocalyptic (2014 [2020], Out of Your Head Untamed): Bassist, with Tim Berne, Craig Taborn, Gerald Cleaver. [bc: 2/7, 22:06/66:08]: ++ Steve Lehman: Xenakis and the Valedictorian (2020, Pi, EP): Alto sax solo, a slim sample from a slim quarantine project. [bc: 1/10, 0:46/9:06]: - Bob Vylan: We Live Here (2020, Venn, EP): Brit rapper, biracial I gather, dash of Sleaford Mods; title single a smash anti-anti-immigrant anthem. [bc: 2/8, 5:20/18:41]: ++ Anna Webber: Rectangles (2019 [2020], Out of Your Head Untamed): Tenor saxophonist, quartet with piano-bass-drums. [bc: 3:39/38:19]: ++ Dan Weiss Starebaby: Natural Selection (2020, Pi): Drummer-led quintet with two piano/keyb players (Matt Mitchell and Craig Taborn), guitar (Ben Monder), and electric bass (Trevor Dunn). [bc: 29:02/78:14]: - Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
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