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Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Daily Log
I'm having something of a breakdown today. Follows yesterday, when I
had to go to the dentist (routine cleaning), after which I went shopping
at Home Depot and Dillons (groceries), then picked up Chinese at Great
Wall. After which I finished a rather depressed
Music Week, following a long
Speaking of Which on Sunday. We went for a short walk this afternoon,
during which I found myself leaning against a wall, my face buried in
my arms, trying to control my breathing.
Lots of stress-inducing things going on right now. Since returning
from the walk, I've spent the last hour trying to debug the problem of
no audio on this computer (mingus). Speakers are plugged in, with power.
Pulseaudio Volume Control shows Built-in Audio Analog Stereo; Port:
Line Out (plugged in); alternative: Headphones (unplugged). When I
plug headphones into the computer front port, they are recognized and
take precedence. When I plug headphones into the speaker, I get no
effect. All volume meters are set to medium levels.
Pulseaudio tool has two configurations:
- Oland/Hainan/Cape Verde/Pitcairn HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7000 Series]:
off
- Built-in Audio: Analog Stereo Output
If I wanted to use the speakers in the HDMI monitor, I would presumably
use the former, but as far as I know, I've never done that, because I've
always had speakers directly attached to the green motherbord port.
The speakers stopped working about a month ago. They have a blue
light when in use -- it comes on automatically after a couple seconds,
and turns off 15-30 seconds after the line drops, but if I turn the
Volume knob all the way down, the light comes on, and stays on until
the timeout. I do occasionally hear clicks when I plug in or jostle
the cable.
I get a "System program problem detected" pop-up on reboot, which
asks me "Do you want to report the problem now?" but doesn't offer
me any details on what the problem was.
Looking at /var/log/apport* and /var/crash suggests occasional
problems with cupsd, but nothing to do with audio. Older logs show
problems with vlc, gimp, and gdbus, but not many.
I installed gnome-logs (using snap), but it isn't very helpful.
Nor am I at all enlightened by the state of online troubleshooting
info on audio. It does appear that pulseaudio is the driver, which
is accessed by the Volume Control and Sound apps under Settings.
A ps shows pulseaudio running:
/usr/bin/pulseaudio --daemonize=no --log-target=journal
OK: After typing all of the above, I finally found the idiot
icon under Output Devices that muted the Built-in Audio Analog
Stereo device, causing all of my trouble. Click on the icon,
which then vanishes, and the speaker starts working (after the
usual delay, and volume adjustment).
That then finally allowed me to play the stupid YouTube video
about setting up my new CPAP machine. I got the machine over a
week ago, but only set it up on Sunday. I've used it two nights
so far, and I have, well, questions. I figured I should check
out the provider's
setup
site before I try contacting them, which let me to the YouTube
video, which sent me down the rabbit hole. But let's continue
working through my angst. (I mean, so far, so good, right?)
On the new CPAP machine, most of the details are in the letter
I wrote:
You shipped me a new CPAP machine. Delivery ticket is dated
1/8/2024, sales order 3864329, ID 227245. The machine is NN-Luna G3
APAP./CPAP/Autopap Device, React Health (3B)/NNLG3600, Serial
No. A3123307153.
I got the machine a week ago, but only set it up on Sunday, after
reading all of the documentation that came with it. I was disappointed
to find it incompatible with the filters and tubing I already had.
The most puzzling issue is that while I noticed the slot for a SD
card, I didn't find any SD card in the package, nor was one listed on
the Deliver Ticket. It seemed unlikely that I was supposed to reuse
the SD card from my previous ResMed AirSense 10 machine, so I tried
turning it on, and was surprised to find that it didn't demand a card
be inserted (as the ResMed would have). I've long had to remove the SD
card from the old machine and bring it into the doctor's office so
they could certify compliance and evaluate the machine's
effectiveness.
As I understand it, some of the machine's parameters (at least for
the ResMed) were programmed into the SD card (e.g., the pressure
prescriptions). So my first question is what about the SD card?
The machine does appear to work without it. Two problems are
evident so far:
The time is set 2 hours ahead of here (Wichita, KS, so
CST/CDT). I saw settings for date and time format, but nothing for
timezone or to actually set the clock. The time itself is so small and
hard to see that it's useless for telling time, but it really messes
up my sleep reports. I rarely go to sleep before 4AM, so I often sleep
until after 11AM, or sometimes (if I'm lucky) noon. However, the
machine starts calculating a new day at noon (its time, so 10AM
here). Consequently, the sleep reports only show the last hour or two
of a full night's sleep, so I'm greeted with really mediocre
scores. There should be a better way to do this -- noon is way too
early for a division line (even the worst early birds I know wait
until 7:30 or 8:00PM before going to bed; on the other hand, when I
was working 3rd shift, I often slept until 4-6 PM. But it would
probably suffice if we could just shift the timezone from Newfoundland
to here, or better still to Pacific).
The mode setting is AutoCPAP. The machine does turn on when I
breathe into the mask (as the ResMed did), but it does not turn off
when I disconnect the hose (the manual mentions an Auto Off feature,
but it's not working). Consequently, when I disconnect the hose, it
registers as a mask leak, and those figures shoot off the charts,
burying any actual leak data. (When I did Mask Check, it responded:
"Great!")
I need to go back and reread the manual, to see if there is
anything else. I recall seeing a WiFi icon, but it didn't seem to lead
anywhere. (We have WiFi, but it requires authentication, so the
machine obviously isn't using it.) I've seen QR codes, and have no
idea what they're good for (here or anywhere else -- I'm afraid I've
developed a major mental block against them). I recall brief mention
of an app, but no idea whether I need that, or what for. I used to be
able to go to Res Med's website and get my sleep scores, until the 3G
network they were using to transmit the data stopped working.
Overall, the new machine strikes me as a bit louder and clunkier
than the old one. It's also a bit larger, as is the carrying case.
The hose is a bit shorter, and feels cheaper, like they're trying
to force you to replace them more often. The old hose was so solid
I don't think I ever replaced it (much to Nationwide's chagrin).
The new filters are also much smaller (although the inlet may be
the same size). On the other hand, the water tank appears to be a
bit larger, and easier to refill. They advise you to take it out,
empty, wash, and dry every day, which I have only rarely ever felt
the need to do before.
Monday, January 29, 2024
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
January archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 46 albums, 6 A-list
Music: Current count 41743 [41697] rated (+46), 16 [19] unrated (-3).
Over the weekend, I cobbled together another substantial
Speaking of Which (130 links, 7048 words). Feels pretty
hopeless, but did give me a couple days respite from a week
of flopping haplessly, accomplishing nothing.
Speaking of nothing, here's this week's catch. Five of six
A- releases are jazz; four of six are 2024 releases. The best
of the batch is the exception to both generalizations, which
seems about right. They all seem rather marginal, but so do
most things these days. Still, they're all interesting, very
accomplished records, as are the next tier down. By the way,
there's more "burger highlife" coming from the "mysterious
bin-bags" that brought forth the Jewel Ackah record.
No telling how far behind I am with various bookkeeping
tasks. One thing I did manage to do was to add results from
Brad Luen's
The 13th Annual Expert Witness Poll to the
EOY aggregate, all the
way down to the
singletons. Several things there I still haven't heard.
New records reviewed this week:
- Deena Abdelwahed: Jbal Rrsas (2023, Infiné): [sp]: B+(***)
- Acid Arab: Trois (2023, Crammed Discs): [sp]: B+(**)
- Don Braden: Earth Wind and Wonder Volume 2 (2023, self-released): [sp]: B
- Helena Deland: Goodnight Summerland (2023, Chivi Chivi): [sp]: B+(*)
- Disclosure: Alchemy (2023, Apollo/AWAL): [sp]: B
- DJ Girl: Hellworld (2023, Planet Mu): [sp]: B+(**)
- DJ Ws Da Igrejinha: Caça Fantasma, Vol. 1 (2023, Dalama): [sp]: B
- Dragonchild: Dragonchild (2023, FPE): [sp]: B+(**)
- Baxter Dury: I Thought I Was Better Than You (2023, Heavenly): [sp]: B
- Enji: Ulaan (2023, Squama): [sp]: B
- FACS: Still Life in Decay (2023, Trouble in Mind): [sp]: B+(**)
- Amanda Gardier: Auteur: Music Inspired by the Films of Wes Anderson (2022 [2024], self-released): [cd]: A-
- Samuel Goff/Camila Nebbia/Patrick Shiroishi: Diminished Borders (2023, Cacophonous Revival): [bc]: B+(***)
- Vinny Golia/Max Johnson/Weasel Walter: No Refunds (2014 [2023], Unbroken Sounds): [sp]: B+(**)
- Hands & Tongues: 3 Meta-Dialogues (2023, 4DaRecord): [cd]: B-
- Anders Jormin/Lena Willemark: Pasado En Claro (2023, ECM): [sp]: B+(**)
- La Sécurité: Stay Safe (2023, Mothland): [sp]: A-
- Alex Lahey: The Answer Is Always Yes (2023, Liberation): [sp]: B+(**)
- Maurice Louca Elephantine Band: Moonshine (2023, Sub Rosa/Northern Spy): [sp]: B+(***)
- Salvoandrea Lucifora Quartet: Drifters (2022 [2023], Trytone): [cd]: A-
- Lyia Meta: Always You (2023, self-released): [sp]: B
- Stephan Micus: Thunder (2020-22 [2023], ECM): [sp]: B
- Camila Nebbia: Una Ofrenda a la Ausencia (2023, Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(**)
- Lothar Ohlmeier/Tobias Klein: Left Side Right (2023 [2024], Trytone): [cd]: B+(**) [02-16]
- Omnigone: Against the Rest (2023, Bad Time): [sp]: B+(*)
- Pardoner: Peace Loving People (2024, Bar/None): [sp]: B+(*)
- Reggie Quinerly: The Thousandth Scholar (2023 [2024], Redefinition): [cd]: B+(**)
- Naoko Sakata: Infinity (2023, Pomperipossa): [sp]: B+(*)
- Samo Salamon/Vasil Hadzimanov/Ra-Kalam Bob Moses: Dances of Freedom (2021 [2024], Samo): [cd]: A-
- Sigur Rós: Átta (2023, Krunk/BMG): [sp]: B-
- Ches Smith: Laugh Ash (2023 [2024], Pyroclastic): [cd]: B+(*) [02-02]
- Jimi "Primetime" Smith & Bob Corritore: The World in a Jug (2023, Vizztone/SWMAF): [sp]: B+(***)
- Jim Snidero: For All We Know (2023 [2024], Savant): [cd]: A- [02-16]
- Jonathan Suazo: Ricano (2023, Ropeadope): [sp]: B+(***)
- Surgeon: Crash Recoil (2023, Tresor): [sp]: B+(***)
- Rob Sussman: Top Secret Lab (2023, Sus4music): [cd]: B+(*)
- Tomu DJ: Crazy Trip (2023, No Bias, EP): [sp]: B+(***)
- Rian Treanor & Ocen James: Saccades (2023, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [sp]: B+(**)
- Katie Von Schleicher: A Little Touch of Schleicher in the Night (2023, Sipsam): [sp]: B+(*)
- Bobby West: Big Trippin' (2023, Soulville Sound): [sp]: B+(*)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Jewel Ackah: Electric Hi-Life (1986 [2023], BBE): [sp]: B+(***)
- Eddie Lockjaw Davis Quartet: All of Me (1983 [2023], SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(***)
- J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan Volume 4: The Nippon Columbia Label 1968-1981 (1968-81 [2023], BBE): [sp]: B+(***)
- WaJazz: Japanese Jazz Spectacle Vol. I: Deep, Heavy and Beautiful Jazz From Japan 1968-1984: The Nippon Columbia Masters (1968-84 [2022], Universounds): [sp]: B+(**)
- WaJazz: Japanese Jazz Spectacle Vol II: Deep, Heavy and Beautiful Jazz From Japan 1962-1985: The King Records Masters (1962-85 [2023], Universounds): [bc]: B
- Mal Waldron/Terumasa Hino: Reminscent Suite (1973 [2024], BBE): [sp]: A-
Old music:
- Camila Nebbia/Patrick Shiroishi: The Human Being as a Fragile Article (2021, Trouble in Mind): [sp]: B+(**)
- Tomu DJ: Feminista (2021, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville: Music by and for Sam Jones (Hot Cup) [02-16]
- Annie Chen: Guardians (JZ Music) [02-23]
- Daggerboard: Escapement (Wide Hive) [03-08]
- Emmeluth's Amoeba: Nonsense (Moserobie) [02-09]
- Kaze: Unwritten (Circum/Libra) [02-09]
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Daily Log
Clifford Ocheltree pointed me to this Acclaimed Music
link, which appears to be an individual's statistical analysis
based on a subset of the total data: Solitair selected 11 US/Canada
sources, 9 UK, from 13 EUR/Australia. The result is a weighted list
of 236 albums, the top 100 featured as "headliners." The comments
also include a link to a
Google spreadsheet used to generate the results.
I haven't yet found the official spreadsheet, possibly due to
this comment under
this link: "You do not have the required permissions to view the
files attached to this post." Also note this comment from panam:
I believe that in 2024, younger generations are abandoning written
music criticism and consuming more YouTube and social media
critics. If you review their year lists you will find a mostly
different profile and in another direction (especially under 30). It
may be hateful to say it but written music criticism has aged and will
naturally advocate nostalgia.
HP just raised the price for my Instant Ink plan (50 pages/month)
from $3.99 to $4.99 per month. After my initial shipment of Instant
Ink shortly after I bought the HP Office Jet Pro 9010, they have
billed me over $100, and never shipped any additional ink. That's
probably because the printer has rarely worked -- almost never from
my Linux-based printers (though they supposedly have good Linux
support -- a major buying point for me). I've never come close to
using the allowance, so you'd think I have a rollover allowance,
but they cancel the unused pages. On notice of the price increase
(the second since I bought the printer), I went to cancel, only
to find the following messages:
- Instant Ink subscription cartridges will no longer work after
my final billing cycle ends, even if they are already installed in
my printer. I need to purchase store bought cartridges to continue
printing.
- Because Instant Ink bills at the end of the each billing cycle
I will receive one final bill for $3.99, plus charges for any
additional pages printed.
- I will lose any trial months, prepaid credits, and rollover
pages associated with my account.
- Any add-on services to my subscription, such as paper add-on,
will also be cancelled.
Evidently the Instant Ink cartridges are wired for remote
destruction, so you don't even own the ink you've paid through
the nose for.
I backed down and switched to a 10 page/month plan (30 rollover),
for $1.49/month. I looked for some way to send a message to someone
using the hpsmart.com website, and was unable to find any such thing.
(I mean, "Chat with Virtual Assistant" isn't anything, right?)
It's only a matter of time before the printer goes into the trash.
I suppose I could still use it as a scanner, but thus far I've
never been able to scan using xsane (finds device, does test scans,
chokes on sending anything full res). I have been able to scan using
simplescan, but it lacks the extensive controls of xsane.
I've never tried using it as a copier, which is a big selling point
of all-in-one printers.
I have been able to print from my phone, but I almost never use my
phone for internet browsing, and don't use it for email or other such
tasks, so being able to print from it is practically useless.
As a local printer, sometimes it works, but most often it doesn't.
CUPS sets up multiple interfaces to the printer. The printer was
originally set up to use wi-fi, which is probably a big part of the
problem. I recently hooked a USB cable from it to one computer, in
hopes that might provide a more reliable path, but I haven't disabled
the wi-fi.
I have a much older HP LaserJet 1300 printer, that has worked
reliably for many years, until it finally ran out of toner. I refilled
it with a third-party cartridge, which for a while produced a streak
down the left-side of the page, then eventually cleared up. Recently,
the printer stopped working, with a flashing yellow light -- which
supposedly indicates either a paper jam or out of toner. The former
isn't obvious, and the latter seems unlikely given how little use the
printer has gotten since the toner change.
I have found a page on HPLIP support and diagnostics, but right
now I'm too upset to put any serious effort into troubleshooting
this problem.
Fragment from a letter I sent to a corespondent who recently
moved to Idaho:
I take it you're in/near Boise these days. I have relatives in
Idaho -- admittedly, a dying breed, with two dear cousins lost in the
last couple years. I had an uncle, born like my mother in the
tick-infested hollers of the Arkansas Ozarks, where he was a
blacksmith, before he got a job on the railroad, and they deposited
him in Pocatello. He liked having higher mountains and bigger game,
and that he could keep a horse in his backyard (in what was otherwise
a normal city block). He eventually built a corral out back, and a
barn he moved into when his wife threw him out (although he was just
as likely to sleep in the covered bed of his pickup). He was in
rodeos, and supplemented his retirement income shoeing horses. He had
a hoist that made that relatively easy.
We went out there a couple times in the 1960s, also spending time
in Twin Falls, where his son had a floor covering business, which he
ultimately developed into a real estate/builder empire, and his
daughter taught school -- when she retired, she got a job as a
driver/companion for an older rich guy who spent nine months a year
RV'ing all around the country. I got to know them both pretty well
since we moved to Wichita in 1999. He died a couple years back. She
really retired to Arizona, but after a stroke moved to a facility
adjacent to one of her daughters, so she's in northeastern South
Dakota these days.
I have another cousin who moved from Kansas to Soda Springs, which
is southeast of Pocatello, close enough to Yellowstone they have an
hourly geyser in the middle of town, and a huge pile of Monsanto
detritus on the outskirts. Her husband of 63 years passed a couple
months ago, so she's feeling pretty lonely.
I also had an uncle who moved to Snohomish (later Everett), WA
around 1940. We went up there for the World's Fair in 1962, and drove
back through Idaho. I wanted to stop there and see the state capitol
building, so we took a detour, drove around the block, and my dad
tried to triangulate his way back onto the highway, as one could
always do in Kansas. Just a few blocks later, we found ourselves out
of town, heading northeast on a road to nowhere (actually, we already
were in the middle of nowhere, nothing but yellow scrub as far as one
could see), so it was one of the few times I could say he got lost and
had to turn around.
Last time I drove past Boise, I was amazed at all the
sprawl. Probably just extends along the highway, without a lot of
cross-section, but looked to be a real city/metro area, with all the
modern urban comforts of, well, Wichita, anyway.
Monday, January 22, 2024
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
January archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 56 albums, 7 A-list
Music: Current count 41697 [41641] rated (+56), 19 [22] unrated (-3).
I wrote a pretty substantial
Speaking of Which over the weekend, including more on the
ongoing genocide in Gaza, and on why Israel wants to see the
rest of the Middle East up in flames, figuring that will force
the Americans into the fight, as opposed to their usual role,
which is giving Israel arms, money, and advice (which they are
freer than ever to ignore, although Netanyahu was more public
than usual in slapping Biden down over the two-state fantasy).
I've added a couple more links since initial posting (look for
the red right-border stripe), and will probably add a few more
before (or after) this gets posted.
Also stuff there on Iowa and New Hampshire, as Republicans
continue to embrace the criminality their leaders have been
promoting at least since Nixon.
I haven't made anything like a transition to knuckling down
on the book yet. A big chunk of last week went to adding all of the
Jazz Critics Poll ballots to my
EOY aggregate. The
result was, predictably enough, a massive surge for jazz albums
in the overall standings:
- Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((World War)) (International Anthem)
- James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet: For Mahalia With Love (Tao Forms)
- Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes)
- Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation)
- Steve Lehman/Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi)
- Kris Davis: Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard (Pyroclastic)
- Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi)
- Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Dynamic Maximum Tension (Nonesuch)
- Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
- Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse!)
I expect those standings to slide back down over the next week,
although I'm still searching specifically for
jazz lists. Since I
finished with the ballots, I've already seen one change, where Jaimie
Branch pulled back ahead of James Brandon Lewis -- the former has had
quite a bit of crossover list support, but only came in 9th in the
Poll. Matana Roberts, Lakecia Benjamin, and Irreversible Entanglements
also do somewhat better away from the jazz critics.
I haven't added Brad Luen's Expert Witness Poll results in yet, but
did manage to pick up some individual ballots. A late expansion of
Greg Morton's list led me to Brazilian singer Patricia Bastos this
week. I also picked up two more A- titles from the extraordinary
Hip Hop Golden Age list. I also happened on some pretty decent
electronica while adding Mixmag's 169 albums to the aggregate. And
when I got hard up for something to play at the moment, I dipped
into the 2024 queue, usually (not always) finding items that are
already out.
I'll probably spend some more time wrapping up the EOY aggregate,
and checking out some of the albums I'm only now finding out about,
but should be winding that down this week. I also have a few things
on the Jazz Critics Poll left to wrap up, and some mail I haven't
gotten to. I also have a database update to the
Robert Christgau website
almost ready to go.
New records reviewed this week:
- Agust D: D-Day (2023, Big Hit Music): [sp]: B+(*)
- Altin Gün: Ask (2023, Glitterbeat): [sp]: B+(*)
- B. Cool-Aid: Leather Blvd. (2023, Lex): [sp]: B+(*)
- Ballister: Smash and Grab (2021 [2023], Aerophonic): [cd]: A-
- Patricia Bastos: Vos Da Taba (2023, self-released): [sp]: A-
- Big O: In the Company of Others (2023, Vintage Soundz): [bc]: B+(*)
- Black Milk: Everybody Good? (2023, Mass Appeal): [sp]: B+(*)
- Blonde Redhead: Sit Down for Dinner (2023, Section1): [sp]: B+(*)
- Apollo Brown & Planet Asia: Sardines (2023, Mello Music Group): [sp]: B+(***)
- John Butcher/Dominic Lash/Emil Karlsen: Here and How (2022 [2023], Bead): [sp]: B+(**)
- Rasheed Chappell & the Arcitype: Sugar Bills (2023, Project City Music Group): [sp]: A-
- Gerald Cleaver: 22/23 (2023, Positive Elevation/577): [sp]: B+(***)
- Declaime and Theory Hazit: Rocketman (2023, SomeOthaShip): [sp]: A-
- Mike Flips/Nord1kone/Seize: Life Cycles (2023, SpitSLAM): [sp]: B+(**)
- Anne Foucher & Jean-Marc Foussat: Chair Ça (2022 [2024], Fou): [cd]: B+(***)
- Jean-Marc Foussat/Daunik Lazro: Trente-Cinq Minutes & Vingt-Trois Secondes (2023 [2024], Fou): [cd]: B+(***)
- Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio: Jet Black (2023 [2024], Libra): [cd]: B+(***) [01-24]
- Peter Gabriel: I/O (2023, Real World): [sp]: B+(*)
- Geese: 3D Country (2023, Partisan): [sp]: B-
- Gorillaz: Cracker Island (2023, Parlophone/Warner): [sp]: B
- Marina Herlop: Nekkuja (2023, Pan): [sp]: B+(*)
- Gregory Alan Isakov: Appaloosa Bones (2023, Dualtone): [sp]: B
- Ethan Iverson: Technically Acceptable (2024, Blue Note): [sp]: B+(*)
- Ja'king the Divine: Parables of the Sower (2023, Copenhagen Crates): [sp]: B+(***)
- Benjamin Koppel/Scott Colley/Brian Blade: Perspective (2023, Cowbell Music): [sp]: B+(**)
- Benjamin Koppel: White Buses: Passage to Freedom (2023, Cowbell Music): [sp]: B+(***)
- Talib Kweli & Madlib: Liberation 2 (2023, Luminary): [sc]: B+(***)
- Oliver Lake/Mathias Landćus/Kresten Osgood: Spirit (2017 [2023], Sfär): [sp]: B+(**)
- Lalalar: En Kötü Iyi Olur (2023, Bongo Joe): [sp]: B+(***)
- Dave Lombardo: Rites of Percussion (2023, Ipecac): [sp]: B+(**)
- Van Morrison: Accentuate the Positive (2023, Exile/Virgin): [sp]: B+(**)
- Riley Mulherkar: Riley (2021-22 [2024], Westerlies): [cd]: B+(***) [02-16]
- Estee Nack: Nacksaw Jim Duggan (2023, Griselda): [sp]: B+(*)
- Ndox Electrique: Tëd ak Mame Coumba Lamba ak Mame Coumba Mbang (2023, Bongo Joe): [sp]: B+(*)
- Noertker's Moxie: In Flitters: 49 Bits From B*ck*tt (2023, Edgetone): [cd]: B+(***)
- Hery Paz: Jardineros (2023, 577): [sp]: B+(**)
- Shaheed & DJ Supreme: The Art of Throwing Darts (2023, Communicating Vessels): [sp]: B+(***)
- Shakti: This Moment (2023, Abstract Logix): [sp]: B+(*)
- Louis Siciliano: Ancient Cosmic Truth (2023, Musica Presente, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
- Antero Sievert: Dear Bossa (2023, JMI): [sp]: B+(***)
- Guilty Simpson: Escalation (2023, Uncommon): [sp]: B+(**)
- Josh Sinton: Couloir & Book of Practitioners Vol. 2: Book W (2023 [2024], Form Is Possibility, 2CD): [cd]: B+(***)
- Alex Sipiagin: Mel's Vision (2022 [2023], Criss Cross): [sp]: B+(**)
- Sister Zo: Arcana (2023, All Centre, EP): [sp]: A-
- Chucky Smash: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (2023, King of the Beats): [sp]: B+(*)
- Spectacular Diagnostics: Raw Lessons (2023, Rucksack): [sp]: B+(**)
- Marnie Stern: The Comeback Kid (2023, Joyful Noise): [sp]: B+(**)
- The Dave Stryker Trio With Bob Mintzer: Groove Street (2023 [2024], Strikezone): [cd]: B+(**)
- Sweeping Promises: Good Living Is Coming for You (2023, Sub Pop): [sp]: B+(**)
- Emilio Teubal: Futuro (2021 [2023], Not Yet): [sp]: B+(**)
- V Knuckles & Phoniks: The Next Chapter (2023, Don't Sleep): [sp]: B+(***)
- Yungmorpheus & Real Bad Man: The Chalice & the Blade (2023, Real Bad Man): [sp]: B+(**)
- Yungmorpheus: From Whence It Came (2023, Lex): [sp]: B+(*)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Per 'Texas' Johansson: Alla Mina Kompisar (1998 [2023], Moserobie): [sp]: A-
- Kenneth Kiesler/University of Michigan Opera Theatre: James P. Johnson: De Organizer/The Dreamy Kid (Excerpts) (2006 [2023], Naxos): [sp]: B+(*)
Old music:
- Talib Kweli/Madlib: Liberation (2007, Blacksmith Music): [yt]: A-
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Carlos "Bechegas"/Joao Madeira/Ulrich Mitzlaff: Open in Finder (4DaRecord) [11-13]
- Mina Cho: "Beat Mirage" (International Gugak Jazz Institute) [02-09]
- Hands & Tongues: 3 Meta-Dialogues (4DaRecord) [12-08]
- Richard Nelson/Makrokosmos Orchestra: Dissolve (Adhyâropa) [02-02]
- Samo Salamon/Vasil Hadzimanov/Ra-Kalam Bob Moses: Dances of Freedom (Samo) [01-15]
- Matthew Shipp/Steve Swell: Space Cube Jazz (RogueArt) [01-15]
- Ches Smith: Laugh Ash (Pyroclastic) [02-02]
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
Lots of stuff below. No need for an introduction here.
Top story threads:
Israel:
Mondoweiss:
Ramzy Baroud: [01-19]
100 days of war and resistance: Legendary Palestinian resistance
will be Netanyahu's downfall: You do see what's happening here?
The more Israel attacks, the more valiant (and necessary) armed
resistance appears. And even if they do manage to scratch off their
list of Hamas bad guys, as long as Israel is the one beating Gaza
down, resistance will return.
Ronen Bergman/Patrick Kingsley: [01-20]
In strategic bind, Israel weighs freeing hostages against destroying
Hamas: "Some Israeli commanders said the government's two main
goals were mutually incompatible."
Jason Burke: [01-19]
'We cannot operate, we have no drugs': Gaza's indirect casualties
mount as health service decimated.
Nylah Burton: [01-20]
Palestine awakens the revolution: I wouldn't put much stock in
this "revolution," but the relentless slaughter and destruction is
stirring immense resentment, not just among its immediate victims
but others who see analogous powers (e.g., the US) as responsible
for their own maladies. Israel doesn't care, because they've resigned
themselves to perpetual war, but even they have little inkling of the
hatred they're stirring up.
Jason Ditz: [01-20]
Israel bombs Damascus residential building, kills four Iranian Guard
members.
Mel Frykberg: [01-17]
Netanyahu accused of risking WWIII to save his own skin.
Tareq S Hajjaj: [01-17]
The shocking inhumanity of Israel's crimes in Gaza.
Shatha Hanaysha/Yumna Patel: [01-18]
Drone strikes, mass arrests, and demolitions: Massive Israeli raid
kills at least 11 Palestinians in northern West Bank.
Amjad Iraqi: [01-17]
Israel's right to tyranny: "In justifying the violent unraveling
of Gaza as 'self-defense,' Western capitals have once again signed
off on Israelis' license to act like despots."
Gideon Levy: [01-17]
Israel wants a Palestinian Intifada in the West Bank.
Nancy Murray/Amahl Bishara: [01-16]
In Gaza, Israel has turned water into a weapon of mass destruction.
James North: [01-19]
Netanyahu just said Israel will permanently occupy the land 'from the
river to the sea.' The U.S. media is covering it up.
Jonathan Ofir: [01-19]
If you're surprised by Netanyahu's 'river to the sea' comment, you
haven't been paying attention: "Benjamin Netanyahu has never
made it a secret that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian
state and insists on total Israeli control over 'the territory west
of the Jordan River.'"
Samah Sabawi: [01-21]
War on Gaza: 'There is nothing left. They destroyed everything.'
Asa Winstanley: [01-20]
Israeli HQ ordered troops to shoot Israeli captives on 7 October.
This is one of the few articles I've seen to provide details on
Israel's counteroffensive on October 7. This follows up on previous
reporting by the author:
Genocide watch, around the world: But mostly in
Washington.
Michael Arria: [01-18]
The Shift: IU cracks down on Palestine, Sanders Israel resolution
flops.
Phyllis Bennis: [01-18]
The US attacks on Yemen are a dangerous escalation.
DeNeen L Brown: [01-20]
Why Namibia invoked a century-old German genocide in international
court. The 1904-08 extermination of the Herero and Nama has come
to be viewed as the transition event between the casual starvation
and massacres characteristic of 19th century colonialism and the more
mechanized slaughter of the 20th century. My first encounter with
the story was in Thomas Pynchon's novel, V.
Shane Burley: [01-15]
Jewish activists mobilizing against war are finding a new
community.
David Dayen: [01-16]
Attempt to get Congress to do something on foreign policy fails.
Bernie Sanders offered a resolution to "require the State Department
to write a report detailing any human rights violations stemming from
the use of U.S. military equipment and funding in conjunction with
Israel's bombardment of Gaza since the October 7 attacks." Ben Cardin
(D-DE) denounced the resolution as "a gift to Hamas," and it was
tabled, 71-11.
Melvin Goodman: [01-19]
The dangerous myth of the "indispensable nation".
Zaha Hassan: [01-18]
Why the United States can't ignore the ICJ case against Israel.
Fred Kaplan:
[01-18]
The real reasons the Middle East is blowing up right now.
He doesn't say so plainly, probably because he wants to preserve
some sense of polarity between Israel and Iran, but I'll give you
two big reasons. One is that none of the many sides in the region
feel they can afford to back down and defuse a conflict, because
they don't trust the other side to reciprocate, and because they
fear that backing down will make them look weak, and that will
invite further aggression. That's an old saw, often illustrated
with Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler at Munich, but it entered
the modern Middle East through Israel, which has always formulated
its demands in ways that allowed no compromise. (I can rattle off
ten clear examples here.) And because Israel is insatiable, its
enemies have learned not to appease it. And the US has basically
bought into Israel's line of thinking, partly because Americans
seem to be incapable of original thought on the subject, partly
because they're so conceited about their superpower status.
But that's just the tactical level. The deeper problem is that
Israel wants to see the whole Middle East blow up, because that
gives them cover to carry out their genocide in Gaza, as far as
they can extending it into the West Bank, and because it more war
will tie down the Americans, who'll wind up having to do most of
the fighting, and that will reinforce their subservience to Israel.
Israelis certainly understand that no matter how much Nazis hated
Jews, the only way they were able to kill so many was under the
fog and chaos and dehumanization of a much larger war.
[01-19]
America's terror designation for the Houthis only encourages them --
and Iran.
Mohammad Asif Khan/Aisha Siddiqui: [01-17]
Palestine solidarity protests face repression in Modi's India.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner: [01-18]
'Different rules': Special policies keep US supplying weapons to
Israel despite alleged abuses.
Daniel Levy: [01-17]
Team Biden needs a reset on Israel.
Nesrine Malik: [01-15]
It's not only Israel on trial. South Africa is testing the west's
claim to moral superiority.
Blaise Malley: [01-18]
Why is 'ceasefire' considered a dirty word?
Shaida Nabi: [01-18]
Safeguarding Zionist fragility on British campuses.
Matthew Petti: [01-16]
Congress forms caucus to aid Iranian ex-terror group. Isn't the
MeK still a terror group, even if they're now "one of ours"?
Stephen Prager: [01-17]
Israel has no defense: "After South Africa laid out a damning
case of genocidal intent against Israel in international court,
Israel responded by shrugging it off, hardly even mounting a
defense."
Norman Solomon: [01-19]
How the Gaza war can be big news and invisible at the same time.
Also published in Salon as
Why we're not seeing the real Gaza war in the media.
Robert Wright: [01-19]
How the US created the "Iran-backed Houthis". Also on this:
Trump, and other Republicans: Trump's sweep of the Iowa
caucuses was easily predicted, and seems definitive, but 52% of
practically nothing against practically nobody doesn't exactly
impress as rock solid -- the
glut of endorsements suggest that, at least among Republican
officeholders, Trump is more feared than loved. Trump looks good
to win
New Hampshire next week with a similar near-50% split, but
this time with DeSantis way behind a very second-place Haley
(Jan. 20 poll averages: Trump 48.9%, Haley 34.2%, DeSantis 5.2%).
Then comes
South Carolina, where the polling shows: Trump 60.9%, Haley
24.8%, DeSantis 8.9%. I expect Haley and DeSantis to hang in
through Super Tuesday -- DeSantis can expect to do about as well
in Florida as Haley in South Carolina, which is to say not much --
where the
current national polls should be indicative: Trump 66.2%,
Haley 12.3%, DeSantis 11.1%. After that it's all over, which should
leave Trump plenty of time for courtrooms.
PS: I wrote the above before this [01-21]
Ron DeSantis ends presidential campaign, endorses Trump. Given
that there are no significant policy differences between Republican
candidates, the standard reason for quitting is that your backers
pulled their money, which was clearly in the cards. Quitting now
and endorsing Trump avoids Tuesday's embarrassment, and gives him
a chance to claim a bit of Trump's margin (maybe even the whole
margin, if it's slim enough).
Dennis Aftergut/Laurence H Tribe: [01-16]
Judge Aileen Cannon is quietly sabotaging the Trump classified
documents case: The judge was a Trump appointee, with a fairly
long record of showing favor in this case.
Ryan Bort: [01-16]
Every awful thing Trump has promised to do in a second term:
A checklist, but complete? Also note that while he never came close
to fulfilling all the awful promises of his 2016 campaign, he (and/or
his minions) did a lot of really awful things they didn't advertise
in the campaign. Still, all the deliberate malevolence Republicans
aspire to probably pales next to their incompetence at dealing with
the crises their policies feed into. Also, the opportunity costs of
ignoring, misunderstanding, and/or mishandling real problems --
most obviously climate change, but the list is much longer.
Tim Dickinson: [01-17]
Christian nationalists team up on illicit push to get churches to
campaign for Trump: "Far-right 'apostle' Lance Wallnau and
Turning Point USA are partnering on a campaign to turn swing-state
churches into Trump turnout machines."
Lulu Garcia-Navarro:
Inside the Heritage Foundation's plans for 'institutionalizing
Trumpism': An interview with Kevin D Roberts, on how he plans
to use Donald Trump to finally destroy America.
Margaret Hartmann:
Sarah Jones: [01-17]
The class war on kids. E.g., in Mississippi: "Children are
casualties in a much older right-wing campaign to keep the poor
in their place."
Hannah Knowles/Meryl Kornfield: [01-21]
Loyalty, long lines, 'civil war' talk: A raging movement propels
Trump.
Sharon LaFraniere/Alexandra Berzon: [01-21]
How Nikki Haley's lean years led her into an ethical thicket:
"From her earliest days in South Carolina politics, Ms. Haley's
public service paid personal financial dividends." This is, of
course, minor league stuff compared to Trump graft, but still,
as they say, speaks to character.
Eric Levitz:
Matt Lewis: [01-20]
7 reasons Ron DeSantis' campaign was dead on arrival.
Nicole Narea: [01-17]
A calendar of Trump's upcoming court dates -- and how they could
overshadow the GOP primary.
Tori Otten:
Paul Gosar whines there aren't enough white people in the military.
Andrew Prokop:
Nathaniel Rakich: [09-11]
Ron DeSantis probably didn't turn Florida red: A bit late in
noticing this piece, but a useful statistical profile. The most
important chart is the one comparing partisan turnout over the
years. Democrats have done a really poor job of getting their
voters out, especially in 2022.
Andrew Rice: [01-18]
The one room Trump can't dominate: "This time there was no getting
away with attacking his rape accuser, E. Jean Carroll."
Aja Romano: [01-18]
If you want to understand modern politics, you have to understand
modern fandom.
Areeba Shah: [01-20]
MAGA fans cry "fraud" in Iowa -- despite Trump's huge win.
How can it not be suspicious is it that Trump lost one county
(of 99) by one vote to Haley?
Tatyana Tandanpolie: [01-21]
Scholars worry Haley and Ramaswamy's race-blindness helps GOP advance
"white supremacist worldview": "Republican denials of racism in
the US help feed 'fantasy of white victimhood,' professor says."
Scott Waldman: [01-16]
No more going wobbly in climate fight, Trump supporters vow.
Li Zhou: [01-18]
Congress averted a shutdown, but the funding fight isn't over.
James D Zirin: [01-13]
Trump the autocrat at the counsel table.
No More Mister Nice Blog: Steve M. has been one of
the sharpest observers of Republican politics all along, but he's
had an exceptional week:
Closing tweet by
Will Bunch:
It's so tempting to pile on the Ron DeSantis jokes but I keep thinking
about the Black voters he had arrested, the kids who had to leave New
College, the migrants he tricked onto that plane - all for the sake of
the worst campaign in American history. It's actually not that funny.
Biden and/or the Democrats: I haven't seen much comment on
this, but the Democrats' decision to cancel Iowa and New Hampshire
left the impression this week that only Republicans are running
for president in 2024. Biden would certainly have won landslides in
both states this time -- after losing both in 2020, only to have his
candidacy saved by South Carolina. I suspect that the reason they did
this was to deny any prospective challenger a forum to show us how
vulnerable Biden might be. As a tactic, I guess it worked -- it's
highly unlikely that Biden won't get enough write-in votes in New
Hampshire to clear Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson, and even
if he doesn't, it's not like he was actually running -- more a case
of New Hampshire just being spiteful jerks (which, as a long-time
Massachusetts resident, I can tell you isn't a tough sell). Still,
it feels like they're sheltering a lame horse, thereby wasting the
opportunity to see who really can run. So while a Trump-Biden rematch
looks inevitable, both candidates are in such precarious shape, with
such strong negatives, that it's hard to believe that both will still
be on the ballot in November. With no serious primaries, and leaders
ducking debates -- even Haley has got into the act, figuring DeSantis
isn't worthy of debate in New Hampshire, even though she's regularly
mopped the floor with him so far -- 2024 may turn out to be a vote
with no real campaigning. That may sound like a relief, but it's not
what you'd call healthy.
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Economic matters:
Ukraine War:
Blaise Malley: [01-19]
Diplomacy Watch: Zelensky's lonely calls for 10 point peace plan:
He's still making maximalist demands, including "withdrawal of Russian
troops from all Ukrainian territory and the prosecution of Russian
officials for war crimes."
David Rothkopf: [01-19]
The GOP is actively supporting Russia's Ukrainian genocide:
So, if this guy thinks Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine,
why isn't he up in arms against what Israel is doing in Gaza?
What Russia is doing is criminal and reprehensible on many levels,
but it's not genocide, by any stretch of the imagination. That
Russia "openly wishes for the end of the Ukrainian state" isn't
even true. They want regime change, to a regime that's friendly
to their interests, but if that counted, the US would be guilty
of genocide against at least thirty nations since WWII. As for
"kidnapped and indoctrinated hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian
children," I don't know what you'd call that (let alone whether
it's true; it's possible they just moved some children out of
the war zone, for their safety), but it's not genocide. Putin
might even argue that intervention in Ukraine was necessary to
protect ethnic Russians from Ukrainian nationalists -- the term
he used was "Nazis," which wasn't quite right but is not totally
lacking in historical reference -- but while Ukraine may have
behaved prejudicially against ethnic Russians, that too had not
remotely risen to the level of genocide. To have any usefulness,
the term "genocide" has to denote something extraordinary -- as
is the case with Israel's demolition of Gaza.
He is, of course, right that Republicans don't care about
Ukrainians. They also don't care about Russians. They don't even
care about Americans, or for that matter even their own benighted
voters. They just want to win elections, so they can grab power
and dole out favors to their sponsors, while punishing their
enemies. But for some reason they all seem to love Israel. Maybe
because they've set such a role model for how to really smite
one's enemies?
Around the world:
- Ellen Ioanes: [01-14]
In Taiwan's high-stakes elections, China is the lower.
- Joshua Keating: [01-13]
Taiwan elects Lai Ching-te, denying China's hopes for reunification.
Paul Krugman: [01-18]
China's economy is in serious trouble. What's the evidence here?
That a 5.2% GDP growth may have been politically fudged? That Chinese
are investing 40% of GDP instead of spending it on consumer goods?
That they may have a real estate bubble? That the population decline
reminds him of Japan in the 1990s (which, he admits, wasn't as big a
disaster as predicted, but is Xi smart enough to manage it as well?).
Finally, he worries that, "scariest of all, will [Xi] try to distract
from domestic difficulties by engaging in military adventurism?"
China's actual record on that account isn't half as scary as Biden's,
whose "soft landing" on inflation owes no small amount to the primed
business of making rockets and bombs, and shipping LNG to supplant
Russian gas sales to Europe.
Other stories:
Chris Armstrong: [01-08]
What if there were far fewer people? I mention this mostly because
I had cited a NY Times piece by Dean Spears,
The world's population may peak in your lifetime, but searched in
vain for an adequate rejoinder. One could make more points, but this,
at least, is a start. It is well known that population growth alarms --
most famously those by Malthus and Ehrlich -- were easily exaggerated
into doomsday scenarios that have at least been dodged, even if their
logic has never really been refuted. By the way, the "cornucopian"
counter-theories have rarely if ever been tested, mostly because no
one takes them seriously. (For a recent discussion of Malthus, see
J Bradford DeLong's Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History
of the Twentieth Century.) Population growth is something we have
a lot of experience coping with, but make no mistake, it is a strain
that always requires compensatory changes.
As for population decline,
that's rarely occurred, and never been a serious problem. Certainly,
it's not one that Malthus could imagine, as he was perfectly aware of
the standard solution: have more children. Spears' conjecture -- that
population will peak in 2085 then decline ("perhaps precipitously")
thereafter, is far enough into the future as to be the last thing we
should bother with (aside from, you know, the Sun turning super-nova,
that is).
David Dayen: [01-18]
An unequal tax trade: "The business tax credits in the Wyden-Smith
deal are five times as generous as the Child Tax Credit expansion."
This on the "bipartisan" bill that seems to be finally working its
way through Congress. Also see:
Jackson Diiani: [01-21]
Is America like the Soviet Union in 1990? It sometimes feels that
way: "America's symptoms of decline are everywhere -- and history
tells us what happens if we don't change course." Sure, you can make
that case, and find plenty of pictures, like the abandoned diner used
here, to illustrate the case. Or you could take the opposite tack,
and while noting that there are things that need to be fixed up,
those improvements are easily within out means, given a little will
to do so.
This article starts with a question: "Who owns the parking meters
in Chicago?" The answer is: "Morgan Stanley and the city of Abu Dhabi."
A cash-strapped city tried to solve a small problem by turning to the
private sector, turning it into a bigger problem. Privatization was
the buzz word, sold on the promises of efficiency but expanding the
reach of predatory capitalism.
Kevin T Dugan: [01-19]
Greed killed Sports Illustrated. Greed kills everything.
Related here:
Ezra Klein: [01-21]
I am going to miss Pitchfork, but that's only half the problem:
I land on Pitchfork 3-5 times a week (on average, just a guess), but
rarely read anything there, and can't imagine missing it much. Of
the list below, Vox is the only one I would miss.
Sports Illustrated just laid off most of its staff. BuzzFeed News
is gone. HuffPost has shrunk. Jezebel was shut down (then partly
resurrected). Vice is on life support. Popular Science is done.
U.S. News & World Report shuttered its magazine and is basically
a college ranking service now. Old Gawker is gone and so too is New
Gawker. FiveThirtyEight sold to ABC News and then had its staff and
ambitions slashed. Grid News was bought out by The Messenger, which
is now reportedly "out of money." Fusion failed. Vox Media -- my
former home, where I co-founded Vox.com, and a place I love -- is
doing much better than most, but has seen huge layoffs over the past
few years.
News publications are failing too, and while some people are
making a good living writing on Substack (including his increasingly
vacuous co-founder Matthew Yglesias), most don't make any living
at all. As Klein puts it: "A small audience, well monetized, is a
perfectly good revenue stream." That's how these people -- at least
the more successful ones -- think, with the corollary being: and
if you don't cater to a rich-enough audience, you deserve to die.
If we cared about democracy, we'd do something to make sure we had
a reasonably well-informed and thoughtful citizenry. But "greed is
good" went from being a dirty desire to a shameless motto in the
Reagan 1980s, and has remained unquestioned even through Democratic
administrations (with their nouveaux riches presidents), leaving
the rest of us to live in greed's detritus.
Benjamin Mullin/Katie Robertson: [01-18]
Billionaires wanted to save the news industry. They're losing a
fortune. Save? More like "own," which is what they're doing.
And as they've lost money they made way too easily elsewhere,
like vulture capitalists in other industries, they've started
to hollow out these venerable brands, until they're just empty
shells, allowing nothing to grow in their place.
Elizabeth Dwoskin: [01-21]
Growing Oct. 7 'truther' groups say Hamas massacre was a false flag:
No use filing this under the Israel sections up top, as it's solely
meant to muddy the waters. There is no reason to doubt that militia
groups in Gaza, associated with but not identical to Hamas, planned
and executed the attack. Israel has a long history of "false flag"
operations, but this bears no resemblance to them. The precise scale
and effect of the attack are still not clear, but "unprecedented" is
a fair description, and the shock was deeply felt, although it quickly
gave way to cunning political maneuvers. Israeli leaders had always
responded to even the most trivial of attacks from Gaza with threats
of extreme punitive violence, so they immediately realized this as
an opportunity to implement genocide -- a consideration that had
been cultivated for over a century, but only seriously pursued under
the cover of the 1948 war (the Nakba remembered by Palestinians as
their Holocaust, but never quite recognized as such by the world).
The Israeli government quickly worked to mold world opinion -- at
least among critical allies like the US, UK, and Germany -- to go
along with Israel's destruction and depopulation of Gaza, which
meant elevating the by-then-defeated attack to mythic proportions.
Such disingenuity was bound to generate "conspiracy theories" like
these. For now, they can be dismissed as nonsense, and/or conflated
with other easily discredited theories (not least those belonging
to antisemitism). But what they do correctly intuit is that there
were deceitful political interests at work from the beginning,
leaving us with little reason to trust what we are told.
Richard J Evans: [01-17]
What is the history of fascism in the United States? Reviews
Bruce Kuklich's Fascism Comes to America: A Century of Obsession
in Politics and Culture, which starts in 1922 with fascination
and fear of Benito Mussolini and traces the use and abuse of the
word ever since, noting that "over the years, the concept gradually
lost its coherence."
Caroline Fredrickson: [01-19]
Elon Musk's war on the New Deal -- and democracy: "The South
African-born mogul is now trying to gut the 89-year-old National
Labor Relations Board."
William D Hartung: [01-16]
The military-industrial complex is the winner (not you):
"Overspending on the Pentagon is stealing our future." A
record-high $886 billion Defense appropriation bill, another
$100 billion-plus for aid to Ukraine and Israel, much more
buried in other departments. By the way, Hartung also has a
"Costs of War" paper:
Doug Henwood: These are a couple of older pieces I found
in "related" links. I don't especially agree with them, but they
cast doubts on theories and approaches that sound nice but haven't
been overwhelmingly successful.
Phillip Longman: [01-16]
How fighting monopoly can save journalism: "The collapse of
the news industry is not an inevitable consequence of technology
or market forces. It's the result of policy mistakes over the
past 40 years that the Biden administration is already taking
measures to fix." I'm pretty skeptical here. Whatever Biden is
doing on antitrust enforcement -- after decades of inaction, a
bit worse with Republican administrations but still pretty much
ineffective with Democrats in charge -- is going to take a long
time to be felt. And the argument that "advertising-supported
journalism might be the worst way to finance a free press except
for all the rest" is worse than defeatist, in that it doesn't
even allow the option of treating journalism as a public good,
as something we could deliberately cultivate -- instead of just
hoping it somehow pans out. The sorry state of journalism today
has less to do with constrained competition than with the carnage
due to relentless profit-seeking.
Louis Menand: [01-15]
Is A.I. the death of I.P.? Well, it should be, and take its own
I.P.-ness with it.
Doug Muir: [01-15]
The Kosovo War, 25 years later: Things fall apart: Part 3 of
a series, that started with [01-08]
The Kosovo War, 25 years later and [01-08]
The Serbian ascendancy.
Andrew O'Hehir: [01-21]
Never mind Hitler: "Late Fascism" is here, and it doesn't need Hugo
Boss uniforms: "Fascism has been lurking under the surface of
liberal democracy all along -- we just didn't want to see it." Draws
on Alberto Toscano's
book: Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of
Crisis. I'm struck here by the line about how fascism arises
"to save capitalism from itself." But it does so by misdirection,
never really facing up to the source of its disaffection, leading
to its own self-destruction. Such analysis is kids' stuff for
Marxists, who start with a fair understanding of the dynamics.
Yet it's lost on conventional liberals and conservatives, who
assume capitalism is just a force of nature, something they skip
over to focus on abstractions (democracy, freedom, etc.).
James North: [01-18]
What the media gets wrong about the so-called border crisis:
"The mainstream press's dark warnings about a flood of migrants
are underpinned by a staggering ignorance about where asylum-seekers
are coming from -- and why they're fleeing for their lives."
Rick Perlstein: [01-17]
Metaphors journalists live by (Part I): "One of the reasons
political journalism is so ill-equipped for this moment in America
is because of its stubborn adherence to outdated frames." Framed
by a discussion with Jeff Sharlet. Also [01-18]
Part II.
Jeffrey St Clair: [01-19]
Roaming Charges: It's in the bag. Starts by pointing out the
ridiculously low turnout at the Iowa caucuses, which among other
things resulted in this: "Amount GOP candidates spent per vote in
Iowa: Haley: $1,760; DeSantis: $1,497; Ramaswamy: $487; Trump:
$328." Of course, that undervalues the free media publicity given
to all, but especially to Trump. Roaming to other topics, here's:
+ According to Jeffrey Epstein's brother, Mark, Epstein "stopped
hanging out with Donald Trump when he realized Trump was a crook."
Liz Theoharis: [01-18]
Change is coming soon: "The powerful and visionary leadership
of young activists is crucial in these times."
Michael Tomasky:
The right-wing media takeover is destroying America: "The purchase
of The Baltimore Sun is further proof that conservative billionaires
understand the power of media control. Why don't their liberal counterparts
get it?"
Sandeep Vaheesan: [01-16]
Uber and the impoverished public expectations of the 2010s:
"A new book shows that Uber was a symbol of a neoliberal philosophy
that neglected public funding and regulation in favor of rule by
private corporations." The book is by Katie J Wells, Kafui Attoh
& Declan Cullen: Disrupting D.C.: The Rise of Uber and the
Fall of the City.
Jeff Wise: [01-13]
Who will rid us of this cursed plane?: Boeing's "troubled 737 Max,"
although that's just the most obvious of the problems with Boeing.
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Daily Log
Submitted latest list for Brad Luen's EW Poll:
- Olivia Rodrigo: Guts (Geffen) 16
- Rodrigo Amado/The Bridge: Beyond the Margins (Trost) 14
- Buck 65: Punk Rock B-Boy (self-released) 12
- Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse!) 12
- Beneficence & Jazz Spastiks: Summer Night Sessions (Ill Adrenaline) 10
- Steve Lehman/Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi) 10
- James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet: For Mahalia, With Love (Tao Forms) 8
- Billy Woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studioz) 6
- The Rempis Percussion Quartet: Harvesters (Aerophonic) 6
- George Coleman: Live at Smalls Jazz Club (Cellar) 6
No opinion on the other questions.
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Daily Log
Dan Weiss blasted Christgau for reviewing a 12-track Nicki Minaj CD
that also came out in an unreviewed 22-track digital version (as well
as God-knows-how-many other variants). I commented ("ridiculous" was
a term he used):
Sorry if I'm being ridiculous or just negligent, but any time I see an
option between a regular and an expanded edition, I stream the
regular, and almost never bother with the extras (even if I liked the
regular). I didn't see such an option with Minaj, so I streamed the
22-cut version (four times, if memory serves, because I was always on
the fence about it). I speculated that maybe the 14-cut cd might
present a clearer case, but didn't pursue it. I sympathize with the
idea that cd versions are canonical, but I buy virtually nothing these
days (and sure don't make enough for the tax write off to soften the
blow). I might have edited down a playlist to match the 14 cuts, but
Napster makes that painful, and I have no idea how to even do that
with Spotify. All respect due to those of you who care enough to sort
out those details. But this just strikes me as another triumph of what
economists call "the principle of indifference": the notion that
you've optimized your returns from pricing options when consumers no
longer give a shit.
Yesterday, I commented on Ira Robbins, the subject of a New Yorker
piece:
Nick Paumgarten: A D.I.Y. Fanzine, Fifth Years On.
One of the first things I did when I moved to NYC was to get in touch
with Robbins. He was at the height of his discophobia phase, and we
didn't hit it off. I never ran into him again. I don't recall when I
stopped reading the magazine, but I probably have all the editions of
the guides. If he's still at it, you have to respect that. I, at
least, took a 25-year break, during which I had a real career and a
semi-normal life, before I got dragged back into music writing.
Edd Hurt added this comment:
I read it, but I never really agreed with their party line. Alex
Chilton was talking about NY Rocker and Trouser Press in 1981 when he
told me these words to live by: "These Ivy Leaguers, they pretend to
be above rock 'n' roll, therefore they understand it totally and
everything. They don't really have too much of an idea of what it's
all about, as far as I'm concerned."
Monday, January 15, 2024
Music Week
Expanded blog post,
January archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 57 albums, 7 A-list
Music: Current count 41641 [41584] rated (+57), 22 [23] unrated (-1).
Seriously long
Speaking of Which posted yesterday (5748 words, 135 links).
The Joshua Frank piece,
Making Gaza Unlivable, is important, as are the additional points
I made
last week and this. Also consider the
Michael Kruse piece on Trump's long assault on the very notion of
justice.
It's painfully cold here in Kansas tonight, or at least that's how
I'm feeling it. We haven't been out in several days. I still have to
take the trash out tonight, and I have a dentist appointment tomorrow.
I'm dreading both. [OK, trash went out. And dentist office decided to
shut down tomorrow, so I'm off the hook.] Of course, it's worse north
of here. I see where Trump is urging his supporters to
vote in Iowa even if it kills you. Easy for him to say. But
"voting to kill" has been a Republican tradition, at least since
right-wing journo Jim Geraghty used it as a book title (2006,
about the 2004 election). [PS: Trump won, but no reports yet on
the collateral damage.]
I've been trying to clean up some things, especially with the
EOY lists. One big
thing I did was to scan through the
Pazz + Jop Rip-Off Poll ballots, and count a bunch of them
(about 110, out of 338?). Most were names I recognized, mostly
from having counted them before (90), but another 20 or so just
struck me as interesting ballots. This is one way my subjective
bias infects the standings, but the only rooting interest I had
this year was for Olivia Rodrigo over Boygenius, and in that my
selection didn't help at all.
The more substantive biases in the aggregate
are that I follow a lot of jazz
critics, and also know many critics (or just fans) who follow
Robert Christgau. I've also factored Christgau's grades into
the point totals, so his more esoteric picks are generously
represented in
the totals. (As are my grades, as far as they get you.) Since
I regard the EOY aggregate as a tool for prospecting unheard
albums, those biases are mostly useful in finding other lists
with intersecting tastes. Still, our picks don't have a lot
of sway in the upper tiers of the aggregate, and many fall
well down the list.
I finally factored my
Jazz and
Non-Jazz
lists into the aggregate, although I haven't picked up all
the lesser grades yet. And while I've entered the top results
from the
Jazz Critics
Poll, thus far I've entered very few individual ballots.
I'll add some, plus whatever other
jazz lists I
find. After
last
week's bumper crop of underground hip-hop, pickings have
thinned out a bit this week. Saving Country Music's
album of the year (Gabe Lee) got an A- this week, but
nothing else made the grade. Sara Petite came from
Ye Wei Blog,
but other albums I checked from there fell short.
Also, note that three A- albums this week were in Old Music,
but not very old. The tip for the South African record came from
Christgau's
January
CG. The other two came in the mail well after I gave an A- to
Bill Scorzari's The Crosswinds of Kansas (again, following
up on a Christgau tip). Having the CDs helped, but only because
the albums were so good in the first place.
No idea how much more of this I'll bother with. I usually
wait until the end of February to save off a "frozen" annual
list, but my
rated count this year is
already up to 1549, which if not a personal record is pretty
close. And I'm itching to move onto other things, so it's
tempting to call it a year. Now, if only it'd warm up a bit.
New records reviewed this week:
- 75 Dollar Bill: Singularity 06: Anchor Dragging Behind (2023, The State51 Conspiracy, EP): [sp]: B+(***)
- Daniel Bachman: When the Roses Come Again (2023, Three Lobed): [sp]: B+(*)
- Black Belt Eagle Scout: The Land, the Water, the Sky (2023, Saddle Creek): [sp]: B+(**)
- Blockhead: The Aux (2023, Backwoodz Studioz): [sp]: B+(***)
- Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble: Elegy for Thelonious (2022 [2024], Sunnyside): [cd]: B+(**) [03-08]
- CASisDEAD: Famous Last Words (2023, XL): [sp]: B+(**)
- Cat Clyde: Down Rounder (2023, Second Prize): [sp]: B+(*)
- CESRV/Fleezus/Febem: Brime! (2020 [2021],Butterz/Beatwise, EP,): [sp]: B+(***)
- CESVR/Fleezus/Febem: Brime! (Deluxe Edition) (2020-23 [2023], Butterz/Beatwise): [sp]: B+(***)
- Christine and the Queens: Paranoia, Angels, True Love (2023, Because Music): [sp]: B
- The Rob Dixon/Steve Allee Quintet: Standards Deluxe (2023 [2024], self-released): [cd]: B+(**) [02-01]
- Jason Eady: Mississippi (2023, Old Guitar): [sp]: B+(**)
- Easy Star All-Stars: Ziggy Stardub (2023, Easy Star): [sp]: B-
- Mayer Hawthorne: For All Time (2023, P&L): [sp]: B+(*)
- Anna Hillburg: Tired Girls (2023, Speakeasy Studios): [sp]: B+(*)
- Hope D: Clash of the Substance (2023, Hope D): [sp]: B+(**)
- Hozier: Unreal Unearth (2023, Island): [sp]: B+(**)
- Mon Laferte: Autopoiética (2023, Universal Music Mexico): [sp]: A-
- David Larsen: The Peplowski Project (2022 [2023], self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Gabe Lee: Drink the River (2023, Torrez Music Group): [sp]: A-
- Jim Legxacy: Homeless N*gga Pop Music (2023, (!)): [sp]: B
- Carin León: Colmillo De Leche (2023, Socios/Oplaai): [sp]: B+(**)
- Nils Lofgren: Mountains (2023, Cattle Track Road): [yt]: B
- Machine Girl: Neon White Soundtrack Part 1: The Wicked Heart (2022, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Machine Girl: Neon White Soundtrack Part 2: The Burn That Cures (2022, self-released): [sp]: B+(*)
- Melenas: Ahora (2023, Trouble in Mind): [sp]: B+(**)
- Memphis LK: Too Much Fun (2023, Dot Dash, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
- Memphis LK: True Love and Its Consequences (2023, Dot Dash, EP): [sp]: B+(***)
- Hailu Mergia: Pioneer Works Swing (Live) (2016 [2023], Awesome Tapes From Africa): [sp]: B+(**)
- Moka Only: In and of Itself (2023, Urbnet): [sp]: B+(***)
- The Mountain Goats: Jenny From Thebes (2023, Merge): [sp]: B+(**)
- Nas: Magic 2 (2023, Mass Appeal): [sp]: B+(**)
- Nas: Magic 3 (2023, Mass Appeal): [sp]: B+(**)
- The New Pornographers: Continue as a Guest (2023, Merge): [sp]: B+(*)
- Nostalgia 77: The Loneliest Flower in the Village (2021 [2023], Jazzman): [sp]: B+(**)
- Atle Nymo Trio: Circle Steps (2023, Arc): [sp]: B+(**)
- Joell Ortiz & L'Orange: Signature (2023, Mello Music): [sp]: B+(*)
- Pest Control: Don't Test the Pest (2023, Quality Control HQ): [sp]: B+(*)
- Sara Petite: The Empress (2023, Forty Below): [sp]: A-
- Pipe: Pipe (2023, Third Uncle): [sp]: B+(**)
- Andy Pratt: Trio (2023 [2024], Thrift Girl): [cd]: B+(*)
- Prince Kaybee: Gemini (2022, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Queens of the Stone Age: In Times New Roman . . . (2023, Matador): [sp]: B-
- Reneé Rapp: Snow Angel (2023, Interscope): [sp]: B
- Jason Rebello/Tim Garland: Life to Life (Whirlwind) ** [B+(**)]
- Ishmael Reed/West Coast Blues Caravan of All-Stars: Blues Lyrics by Ishmael Reed (2023, Reading Group): [bc]: A-
- Seablite: Lemon Lights (2023, Mt. St. Mtn.): [sp]: B+(*)
- Caitlyn Smith: High & Low (2023, Monument): [sp]: B+(*)
- Joe Stamm Band: Wild Man (2023, self-released): [sp]: B+(*)
- Willie Tea Taylor & the Fellership: The Great Western Hangover (2023, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Tele Novella: Poet's Tooth (2023, Kill Rock Stars): [sp]: B+(*)
- Hank Williams IV: Honky Tonk Habit (2023, Lone Star Reserve, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
- Jaime Wyatt: Feel Good (2023, New West): [sp]: B
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Ary Lobo: Ary Lobo 1958-1966 [Limited Dance Edition No 19] (1958-66 [2023], Analog Africa): [bc]: B+(***)
- Oscar Peterson: Con Alma: Live in Lugano, 1964 (1964 [2023], Mack Avenue): [sp]: B+(**)
- Yo! Boombox: Early Independent Hip Holp, Electro and Disco Rap, 1979-83 (1979-83 [2023], Soul Jazz): [sp]: B+(***)
Old music:
- Native Soul: Teenage Dreams (2021, Awesome Tapes From Africa): [sp]: A-
- Bill Scorzari: Through These Waves (2016, self-released): [cd]: A-
- Bill Scorzari: Now I'm Free (2019, self-released): [cd]: A-
- Bill Scorzari: Just the Same (2015, self-released): [sp]: B+(*)
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Stix Bones/Bob Beamon: Olimpik Soul (BONE Entertainment) [01-12]
- Commodore Trio: Communal - EP (self-released, EP) [02-01]
- Jose Gobbo Trio: Current (self-released) [02-05]
- Tucker Brothers: Live at Chatterbox (Midwest Crush Music) [02-01]
Sunday, January 14, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
Quite a bit below. I figure this as a transitional week, mostly
cleaning up old stuff (like EOY lists), as I get ready to buckle
down and do some serious writing next week. So it helps to do a
quick refresher about what's happening these days.
Although pretty much everything you need to know about the wars
in Gaza and Ukraine is touched on below, you'll be hard pressed to
find much of this elsewhere. The lack of urgency is very hard to
square with reports of what's actually happening.
One thing I will note here is that I made a rare
tweet plugging someone else's article (Joshua Frank's "Making
Gaza Unlivable," my first link under "Israel" this week). I found
it very disappointing that a week later the total number of views
is a mere 91. (My followers currently number 627. The number of
views for my latest Music Week
tweet was only 142, which is less than half of what I used to
get 4-6 months ago, so one thing being measured here is how many
people no longer bother with X.)
Still, it is an important piece, making a point (one I tried
to make
last week, with fewer concrete details but more historical
context) that really must be understood.
Top story threads:
Israel:
Joshua Frank: [01-11]
Making Gaza unlivable: "Or how to create an unlivable hellscape
on one strip of land." Further evidence for the point I tried to make
last week: Israel's essential allies, the US and Egypt, might
never agree to the expulsion of two million Palestinians from Gaza,
but by rendering Gaza uninhabitable, they may have no alternative.
From its conception, Israel has always been a struggle to establish
"facts on the ground." And, indeed, Israel's "facts" have repeatedly
forced others to reluctantly cede ground. Frank provides more detail
here on how Israel is undermining Gaza: flooding tunnels with salt
water, leaking sewage, carpet bombing, destruction of housing and
infrastructure. Moreover, similar efforts have long been used in the
West Bank, where Israel's settlements are designed to monopolize
scarce water resources.
Mondoweiss:
Spencer Ackerman: [01-08]
Israel is not promising to "scale back" its war: "As the US
secretary of state shuttles to stop the war from expanding, the
Israeli defense minister vows "months" more war on Gaza and suggests
taking the fight to Iran."
Mohammed al-Hajjar: [01-14]
In Gaza, you don't only see death. You smell it. You breathe it.
The Cradle News Desk: [01-11]
Israeli army ordered mass Hannibal Directive on 7 October: "An
investigation from Israel's leading newspaper indicates Israel
deliberately killed many of its own civilians and soldiers during
Hamas' Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to prevent them from being taken
captive back to Gaza." Related to this:
Emma Graham-Harrison/Quique Kierszenbaum: [01-13]
'It is a time of witch hunts in Israel': teacher held in solitary
confinement for posting concern about Gaza deaths.
David Hearst: [01-12]
War on Gaza: 100 days on, a regional catastrophe looms.
Taher Labadi: [01-13]
How Israel dominates the Palestinian economy. Useful background
piece, going back to the founding of the Histadrut in 1920, with
its aim to exclude Jewish dependence on Palestinian labor.
Nina Lakhani:
Noah Lanard: [11-03]
The dangerous history behind Netanyahu's Amalek rhetoric: "His
recent biblical reference has long been used by the Israeli far right
to justify killing Palestinians." This piece is a couple months old,
but that's only served to further validate the point.
Mahmoud Mushtaha: [01-11]
'It's like living in a mortuary, waiting for someone to bury you':
"With Israel isolating the northern Strip, displaced Palestinians in
Gaza City are grappling with the immediate perils of starvation and
disease."
Mat Nashed/Simon Speakman Cordall: [01-14]
Israel's 100 days of relentless war on Gaza.
Peter Oborne/Angelo Calianno: [01-13]
With all eyes on Gaza, Israeli settlers are waging a second Nakba
in the West Bank.
Jonathan Ofir: [01-09]
Don't believe Haaretz and the NYT. Israeli society fully supports the
Gaza genocide. "Let's be clear: 83% of the Israeli population is
not an extremist fringe. The vast majority of Israelis support the
genocide -- they just call it other things, like self-defense. Did
we already forget Ben-Barak's party ally Meirav Ben-Ari's claim that
'the children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves' from mid-October?
Have we failed to notice that only 1.8% of Israeli Jews think that
Israel is using too much firepower in Gaza?"
Anat Plocker: [01-08]
How Israel's special antisemitism envoy is getting antisemitism totally
(and dangerously) wrong: "In equating criticism of Israel with
antisemitism, Noa Tishby relies on the same conspiratorial tropes
that fed Jew-hatred through the centuries."
Mushon Zer-Aviv: [01-11]
Israel commits suicide of biblical proportions, and America is there
to assist: "How can those claiming to 'stand with Israel' stand
by and even actively support Netanyahu's atrocious government?"
Some documents:
The genocide trial:
Elsewhere, the world reacts to the genocide, while the US,
UK, and Israel spread the war:
Danica Kirka/Fatima Hussein/Menelaos Hadjicostis: [01-13]
Global day of protests draws thousands to D.C., other cities in
pro-Palestinian marches.
Nadia B Ahmad: [01-11]
White House strategy to counter Islamophobia means nothing while
funding the slaughter of Muslims abroad.
Michael Arria: [01-11]
The Shift: ADL's new report on antisemitism can't be taken
seriously.
Dave DeCamp: [01-11]
Iran seizes tanker in retaliation for the US stealing its oil.
Mahmood Delkhasteh: [01-12]
How the mindset in Germany that led to the Holocaust now enables
Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Melvin Goodman: [01-12]
The United States and the Middle East: Hoist on its own petard.
Sara Haghdoosti: [01-14]
Forgetting the lessons of the war on terror in Gaza.
Marjorie Ingall: [01-09]
Want to understand American views on Israel? Take a look at this 1958
novel. "Leon Uris's bestselling epic Exodus -- and its hit
movie adaptation starring Paul Newman -- influenced generations of
Americans, from the suburbs to the State Department."
Ellen Ioanes:
Joshua Keating: [01-12]
How a Yemeni rebel group is creating chaos in the global economy.
Daniel Larison: [01-10]
How did Blinken avoid the 'atrocity famine' in Gaza? "After
his trip the Secretary of State said a lot about humanitarian
need, but nothing about Israel weaponizing food."
Branko Marcetic: [01-13]
US airstrikes in Yemen are risking regional war: I have to disagree
with the headline here: the airstrikes are regional war. The
risk is simply that it will spread and get even worse. The great fear
(or great hope, if you're Netanyahu), of course, is that the US will
directly attack Iran, but that is orders of magnitude beyond stupid.
To have a point, you'd have to have a plan for regime change in Iran,
which means you'd have to invade a nation of 89 million people, spread
out over 636,400 square miles (about 4 times the size of Iraq). Even
if the US could muster a sufficient invasion force, where would they
invade from? The only allies the US has in the region are across the
Persian Gulf, but they literally live in glass houses. Do they really
want to expose themselves to counterattack? Forgoing invasion, the US
could do some damage with long-range missiles, but unless you broke
out the nuclear arsenal, it wouldn't amount to much, and would invite
retaliation -- Iran has a lot of intermediate-range missiles that
could hit US and Israeli targets in the region. And while they don't
have nuclear bombs, they could lash a barrel of HE uranium to the
top of a missile and plop it into Tel Aviv (and for good measure,
Riyadh), which would produce a comparable panic.
Harold Meyerson: [01-09]
Bombed back into the stone age: "An American general's prescription
for how we should have fought in Vietnam has been realized in Israel's
war on Gaza."
Paul R Pillar: [01-12]
US strikes on Yemen won't solve anything
Jennifer Rubin: [01-14]
How Israel and the Palestinians go from war to peace: Sometimes,
despite low expectations, you're really taken aback at how ignorant
American pundits can be. "Make no mistake, however: Unless and until
Hamas is eliminated as a military force in Gaza, none of this is
possible. Rid Gaza of the cancer of a genocidal terrorist group
and maybe, just maybe, the two sides can begin traverse the ocean
of agony, pain and suffering that threatens to drown them both."
Admittedly, one small edit would make a world of difference: just
change "Hamas" to "Israel," and now you're really talking "genocidal
terrorist group," so you might even be able to get by with just one
"maybe." But eliminating Israel isn't really an option, now is it?
But if Israel simply withdrew, you wouldn't have to reconcile two
sides, and Palestinians wouldn't need (much less want) Hamas for
defense. War over, so recovery can begin. Gaza would still need
extraordinary recovery help, and part of the price of that could
be the voluntary disbandment of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and any other
militias in the territory. They'd just be a distraction, anyway.
But pundits like Rubin can't begin to imagine this, because they
can't allow themselves to recognize that Israel is the only force
here with both the means and the will -- that latter consolidated
and consecrated through 140 years of Zionist settlement -- to
commit genocide. The Palestinians' fault in all this is their
failure to figure out a way to blunt the savage force of their
colonizers: violence didn't work (unlike Algeria), nonviolence
didn't work (unlike South Africa), total surrender didn't work
(unlike in America), appeals to international law and conscience
didn't work, and the endless retreat/recycle only seems to have
made Israelis more insatiable, more aggressive, and even more
vindictive.
David E Sanger/Julian E Barnes/Vivian Yee/Alissa J
Rubin: [01-14]
U.S. and Iran battle through proxies, warily avoiding each other:
"Iran wants to flex its muscles without directly taking on the U.S.
or Israel, but that cautious strategy is subject to miscalculation
on all sides." Or maybe this whole view is a miscalculation of US
security elites, cynically stoked by Israelis who see that having
a common enemy helps keep the US in line? I think it's at least as
likely that Iran, having been shunned and isolated by America and
its allies ever since 1979, is so desperate for friends abroad
that they've wound up associating with this weird grab bag of
dissidents from the US-Israeli-Saudi triad, which they have
little-to-no control over. If the US actually had its own
independent foreign policy, free to pursue its own interests --
which really should just be peace, stability, and cooperation,
permitting sustainable economic growth for all -- the smart
move would be to split Iran off from its "proxies" by allowing
them to join in and share that growth.
Norman Solomon: [01-12]
With attack on Yemen, the U.S. is shameless: "We make the rules,
we break the rules".
Robert Wright: [01-12]
Biden takes the bait in Yemen.
Philip Weiss:
Trump, and other Republicans:
Victoria Bekiempis: [01-14]
Trump returns to court for new E Jean Carroll trial -- and it could
prove costly.
Ryan Cooper: [01-10]
Trump's lawyers invite Biden to assassinate him: "And it'll be
find, so long as Biden doesn't get impeached, they implied.
David Corn: [01-11]
Trump II: How bad it could be: "No need to speculate. Just listen
to what he's saying."
Margaret Hartmann:
[01-08]
8 awful things Trump said in Iowa, ranked: All this from quotes:
- He claimed magnets don't work underwater.
- He bragged about his ability to put on pants.
- He said the Civil War could have been "negotiated."
- He posted an ad that asserts "God made Trump."
- He mocked Biden's stutter.
- He mocked injuries McCain received as a P.O.W.
- He glorified January 6 insurrectionists.
- He said Iowans need to "get over" a fatal school
shooting.
[01-12]
Rand Paul dramatically endorses 'not Nikki Haley' for president:
As a peacenik, he's not as consistent or as reliable as you'd like --
or even as his father -- but he's done the least he could do in
calling out Haley as a flaming threat to world peace and our own
security (although in his
website, he still manages to
make it more about himself).
Brian Karem: [01-11]
The GOP sends in the cowards: "It will be a cold day in Iowa that
will test the courage of the American democracy and the cowardice of
its politicians." The Iowa caucuses (Republican, anyway) will be held
on Monday, and indeed it will be very cold.
Erin Keane: [01-14]
"Abbott's inhumanity has no limit": Dems blame Texas governor for
migrant children drowning deaths.
Kabir Khanna: [01-14]
Most Republicans agree with "poisoning the blood" language.
Ed Kilgore:
Paul Krugman:
[01-04]
Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and politically obtuse plutocrats.
[01-11]
Trump dreams of economic disaster. "Trump's evident panic over
recent good economic news deepens what is, for me, the biggest
conundrum of American politics: Why have so many people joined --
and stayed in -- a personality cult built around a man who poses an
existential threat to our nation's democracy and is also personally
a complete blowhard?" The best answer I can offer is that they know
better than to take anything Trump says at face value, but they love
the fact that Trump is free to say such things, and that it drives
the people Krugman used to make fun of as "serious people" to fits --
not least because they suspect those serious types to be up to no
good.
Michael Kruse: [01-12]
'This to him is the grand finale': Donald Trump's 50-year mission
to discredit the justice system: "The former president is in
unparalleled legal peril, but he has mastered the ability to grind
down the legal system to his advantage. It's already changing our
democracy." Long article, some of which desives from Jim Zirin's
book, Plaintiff in Chief: A Portrait of Donald Trump in 3,500
Lawsuits. Trump's ability to flip the scales of justice, or
simply mock them, is not just a threat to democracy, but in many
ways is already his legacy, as millions of Americans have already
learned to see justice as a myth, when all that really matters is
power.
Trump and his allies say he is the victim of the weaponization of
the justice system, but the reality is exactly the opposite. For
literally more than 50 years, according to thousands of pages of
court records and hundreds of interviews with lawyers and legal
experts, people who have worked for Trump, against Trump or both,
and many of the myriad litigants who've been caught in the crossfire,
Trump has taught himself how to use and abuse the legal system for
his own advantage and aims. Many might view the legal system as a
place to try to avoid, or as perhaps a necessary evil, or maybe even
as a noble arbiter of equality and fairness. Not Trump. He spent most
of his adult life molding it into an arena in which he could stake
claims and hunt leverage. It has not been for him a place of last
resort so much as a place of constant quarrel. Conflict in courts is
not for him the cost of doing business -- it is how he does business.
Dan Mangan: [01-12]
Trump ordered to pay New York Times, three reporters nearly $400,000
in legal costs over dismissed lawsuit.
Branko Marcetic: [01-14]
The long, disastrous career of Nikki Haley. Mostly focuses on her
cozy relationship with corporate graft.
Calder McHugh: [12-19]
'Trump knows what he's doing': The creator of Godwin's law says the
Hitler comparison is apt.
Julianne McShane: [01-12]
Abbott: Texas would shoot migrants, but Biden "would charge us with
murder". Well, it would be murder. The DOJ shouldn't need any
political direction to prosecute that. If I'm not mistaken, the state
of Texas has laws against murder also, but prosecution down there
seems to be optional (or so Abbott believes).
Tori Otten:
Kansas legislators to Kansas voters: You spoke loud and clear, and
we don't care: "Kansas Republicans are bringing back their scheme
to overturn voters on abortion."
Heather Digby Parton: [01-12]
Johnson left blindsided by MAGA rebels: Or, "Marjorie Taylor Greene]
is leading a MAGA rebellion against Mike Johnson."
Andrew Prokop:
Andrew Rice: [01-12]
The fraud that made President Trump: "He and Letitia James agree,
in a way, the case against him can't be separated from politics."
Amy Davidson Sorkin: [01-10]
Trump's bizarre immunity claims should serve as a warning.
Emily Stewart: [01-11]
Trump says a lot of stuff about the economy. What would he actually
do?
Matt Stieb: [01-10]
Lauren Boebert didn't punch her ex-husband after all. Original
title was "Lauren Boebert allegedly punched her ex-husband in the
face." It's not often you can sympathize with Boebert, but this
immediately struck me as one time. He was subsequently arrested.
Zeynep Tufekci: [01-14]
A strongman president? These voters crave it. Link to this piece
teased: "Why some voters see Trump as really honest about the world."
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Economic matters:
Ukraine War:
Blaise Malley: [01-12]
Diplomacy Watch: Italy calls for diplomatic effort to end Ukraine
war.
George Beebe/Anatol Lieven: [01-11]
Russia's upper hand puts US-Ukraine at a crossroads.
Douglas Busvine: [01-11]
Russia finds way around sanctions on battlefield tech.
Dave DeCamp: [01-11]
Pentagon did not properly track over $1 billion in weapons shipped to
Ukraine.
Thomas Geoghegan: [01-09]
Why does Ukraine aid drive the Trump right nuts? "It's not just
because the 45th president has a crush on Putin and hates Zelensky."
It's because "the war it really wants to fight is at home -- on our
form of government itself." One of my favorite political thinkers,
but I don't buy this, on several levels. I didn't object to sending
arms to Ukraine to help fend off Russian invasion, although I never
bought the notion that either they or we were fighting Russia to
defend democracy. Russia and Ukraine were both corrupt oligarchies
with thin democratic veneer and diverging economic interests. It
was credible that the ethnic Russian minority in Ukraine reacted
to the 2014 elections by attempting to realign with Russia. The
crisis this caused should have been negotiated away, but festered
as a civil war for six years before Russia grew desperate enough
to invade. Putin deserves most of the blame for this, but Russia
had been pressured by NATO expansion, economic sanctions, and
sharply increased military support after Biden replaced Trump.
The result was a huge boost for the US arms industry -- not just
directly in supplies for Ukraine but in increased sales in other
NATO countries, Taiwan, and South Korea -- but at enormous costs
to the Ukrainian people. The Trumpists care hardly for any of
that (and, sure, democracy is one of many things they have no
concern for). They simply hate Biden. They associate him with
Ukraine, and more than anything else want to see him fail. Much
of this is stupid domestic politics -- the Ukraine-Biden axis
starts with Trump's scheme to implicate Hunter Biden, while the
Democrats' fixation on Trump-Putin starts with the 2016 election
interference. What neither side seems to understand is that war
only destroys and degenerates. Ukraine shows us that deterrence
is as likely to provoke war as to prevent one, and that sanctions
mostly just harden resistance.
Joshua Yaffa: [01-08]
What could tip the balance in the war in Ukraine? "In 2024, the
most decisive fight may also be the least visible: Russia and Ukraine
will spend the next twelve months in a race to reconstitute and resupply
their forces."
Around the world:
Other stories:
Zack Beauchamp: [01-10]
How a horny beer calendar sparked a conservative civil war:
"It's called 'Calendargate,' and it's raising the question of what --
and whom -- the right-wing war on 'wokeness" is really for."
Luke Goldstein: [01-09]
Boeing 737 MAX incident a by-product of its financial mindset:
"The door plug that ripped off an Alaska Airlines plane only exists
because of cost-cutting production techniques to facilitate cramming
more passengers into the cabin."
By the way, this is old (2011), but never more relevant:
Thomas Geoghegan:
Boeing's threat to American enterprise:
Here is yet another American firm seeking to ruin its reputation
for quality. Why? To save $14 an hour!. Seriously: Is that going
to help sell the Dreamliner? . . .
At this moment especially, deep in debt, we cannot afford to
let another company like Boeing self-destruct. Boeing is not a
product of the free market -- it's an extension of the U.S.
government. Over the years, our taxpayers have paid to create a
Boeing work force with exceptionally high skills. That work force
is not just an asset for Boeing -- it's an asset for the country.
Why should the country let Boeing take it apart? . . .
Most depressing of all, Boeing's move would send a market signal
to those considering a career in engineering or high-skilled
manufacturing. It is a message that corporate America has delivered
over and over: Don't go to engineering school, don't bother with
fancy apprenticeships, don't invest in skills. No rational person
wants to take on college or even community college debt to come out
and work on the Dreamliner -- which should be the country's finest
product -- for a miserable $14 an hour. If a single story in the
news can sum up the reasons for America's global decline, it's the
decision to build a Dreamliner that will gut the American dream.
Sarah Jones: [01-11]
Death panels for women: The abortion ban in Texas.
Related:
Dylan Matthews: [01-11]
Do we really live in an "age of inequality"?
Harold Meyerson: [01-08]
Why and where the working class turned right: "A new book documents
the lost (and pro-Democratic) world of Pennsylvania steelworkers and
how it became Republican." The book is Rust Belt Union Blues,
by Theda Skocpol and Lainey Newman.
Nicole Narea: [01-11]
How Iowa accidentally became the start of the presidential rat race:
"The history of the Iowa caucuses (and their downfall?), briefly
explained."
John Nichols: [12-12]
Local news has been destroyed. Here's how we can revive it.
Rick Perlstein: [01-10]
First they came for Harvard: "The right's long and all-too-unanswered
war on liberal institutions claims a big one."
Lily Sánchez: [01-14]
On MLK Day, always remember the radical King.
Michael Schaffer: [12-22]
Liberal elites are scared of their employees. Conservative elites are
scared of their audience. "It's hard to tell who's more screwed
by the new politics of fear."
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins: [01-10]
Wendy Brown: A conversation on our "nihilistic" age: Interview
with the author of Nihilistic Times: Thinking With Max Weber.
Sample (and yes, this is about Trump):
All of these elements -- instrumentalized values, narcissism, a pure
will to power uninflected by purpose beyond the self, the irrelevance
of truth and facticity, quotidian lying and criminality -- are
expressions of nihilistic times. In this condition, values are still
hanging around -- they're still in the air, as it were -- but have
lost their depth, seriousness, and ability to guide action or create
a world in their image. They are reduced to instruments of power,
branding, reputation repair, narcissistic and other emotional
gratifications -- what we today call "virtue signaling."
This also raises another feature of nihilism, namely the refusal
to submit emotionality to reason and a more general condition of
disinhibition. . . . So once values become lightweight, as they do
in nihilistic times, so does conscience and its restricting force.
Conscience no longer inhibits action or speech -- anything goes.
Relatedly, hypocrisy is no longer a serious vice, even for public
figures.
Finally, nihilism generates boundary breakdowns and hyper-politicizes
everything. Today, churches, schools, and private lives are all
politicized. What you consume, what you eat, who you stream or follow,
how you dress -- all are politically inflected, but in silly rather
than substantive ways. "Cancel culture" -- again, on all sides of the
political spectrum -- is part of this, as an utterance, a purchase, an
appearance, becomes a political event and responding to it a political
act! This is politics individualized and trivialized.
Brown traces nihilism back to 19th century existentialists like
Nietzsche, which in turn leads her to focus on Weber. Despite an early
interest in existentialism, I've never really thought of this being
an "age of nihilism." But I have lately referred to Republicans as
nihilists. It's hard to discern any consistent core beliefs, but more
importantly they seem to have no concern for consequences of their
acts and preferred policies. As for nacissism, sure, there's Trump
(and a few more billionaires jump to mind). Whether this amounts to
"an age" depends on how widely people support (or at least condone)
such behavior. The 2024 elections will offer a referendum, and not
just on democracy.
Emily Withnall: [01-13]
For some young people, a college degree is not worth the debt.
I can relate, as someone who forfeited the chance for a degree for
economic considerations, but also with a sense of regret. "Economic
considerations" are the result of policy decisions, which ultimately
are bad both for the people impacted and for the country as a whole.
Li Zhou: [01-08]
The Epstein "list," explained.
Monday, January 08, 2024
Expanded blog post,
January archive
(in progress).
Tweet: Music Week: 53 albums, 8+1 A-list
Music: Current count 41584 [41531] rated (+53), 23 [21] unrated (+2).
Back on regular schedule after the holiday calendar confusion.
The 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll came out quickly
on January 2. Article links at ArtsFuse:
The complete results and all 159 ballots are on my
Jazz Poll Website.
After the fact, and not as part of the package, I wrote up a little
Music Week: Jazz Poll blog piece. I offer a little bit of
analysis there, not so much about the winning records but of the
process of putting the Poll together. Obviously, I could have
written a lot more, but I was frustrated by the lack of analysis
tools. [PS: One mistake in that piece was citing Pyroclastic when
I meant Tao Forms, for James Brandon Lewis's label. Both are small,
artist-owned labels that extend significantly beyond their owner's
albums, and in our Poll punch way over weight. Pyroclastic, whose
ace publicist is Braithwaite & Katz, has 16 albums by 10 artists
in our top-fifties. Tao Forms has 5 top-fifties by 3 artists, with
two wins.]
But one bit of data I did manage to include is a list of albums
that made my
Jazz A-list (80 new
and 22 old albums) but didn't show up on any of the voters' ballots:
16 new and 3 old. On the other hand, I calculated that, even after
enjoying the advantage of seeing voters' ballots weeks in advance
of their publication, and having logged grades for
865 jazz albums this year,
I still hadn't heard 34% of the 535 new albums that got votes, or
39.8% of the old.
If/when I get time, I'd like to do some more analysis of the
data. And, of course, I'd like to see what other people can do in
terms of analyzing the data. At some point I hope to collect some
of the mail and discussion based on the Poll. One thing I can point
you to now is a
Facebook post by Matt Merewitz (the publicist for the winning
album), which I also collected notes from in my
notebook.
Several people have offered to help, which I much appreciate --
although I haven't had time yet to figure out what help I most need.
At this point, the things that would be most useful for me are to
take a critical look at the website, especially the early years,
and note where information needs to be improved (or in some cases,
provided in the first place). Also, send me
questions. I started to write a
FAQ file,
but it's always harder to think of questions than it is to answer
them. I'm usually pretty diligent about working off assigned tasks,
but I tend to flounder when I have to figure out what to do myself.
One thing I want to do more of is to compare our Poll against
others. I haven't added much jazz data to my ever-growing
EOY aggregate file,
but will try to remedy that next week. In particular, I should
then be able to generate a list of albums that appeared on other
jazz lists but not on our ballots.
Meanwhile, one poll I want to mention here is one just published
this week by the Spanish jazz magazine,
El Intruso (which I voted in). Short on albums, with only a top
five, and long on categories (instruments, groups, functions -- for
them, with no pretense of significance, I just pick a few names off
the top of my head, figuring they deserve mention, but of course so
do many others). The top six albums (our finish in brackets):
- Steve Lehman & Orchestre National De Jazz, Ex Machina (Pi) 43 [3]
- Sylvie Courvoisier, Chimaera (Intakt) 40 [19]
- Jaimie Branch, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem) 30 [9]
- James Brandon Lewis/Red Lily Quintet, For Mahalia, With Love (TAO Forms) 27 [1]
- Darius Jones, fLuXkit Vancouver (i-t-s suite but sacred) (We Jazz Records/Northern Spy) 23 [15]
- Rodrigo Amado The Bridge, Beyond The Margins (Trost) 23 [24]
I often tack my grades onto lists like this one, but the only one
here that didn't make my A-list was Jaimie Branch's, after two previous
ones that did (perhaps one I should revisit?). Their poll tilts more
toward European artists (two in the top six; the same two finished
highest among Europeans in our poll, but at 19 and 24). That's no
surprise, given that our share of American voters is still up around
80%, where theirs is a bit less than 40% (still a pretty large bloc).
They also lean slightly more avant, although I can't say how much of
that has to do with nationality as opposed to taste and interest.
Of El Intruso's 62 voters, 31 also voted in our poll; 7 more were
invited but didn't respond; leaving 24 not invited (some I knew the
names of but hadn't gotten around to vetting, and probably didn't
have email for, plus a few more I wasn't even aware of). Given that
their ballots and credentials are included in the poll, I should have
studied harder.
I mentioned the EOY Aggregate file above. I've been trying to add
specialized lists for hip-hop into it, as those records seem to be
especially underrepresented in the lists collected by outfits like
Album of the Year. By far the most useful list I've found is HHGA's
The Best Hip Hop Albums of 2023. That send me looking for more
than a dozen albums I was previously unaware of, eight of which I
wound up adding to my
Non-Jazz A-List
just this week (stretching it out to 68 albums, still well short
of the 80 on the
Jazz A-List.
Although it seems like list-making season should be over now,
there are still a lot of lists I haven't gotten to (current total:
238; last year:
565). No chance I will
come close to 2022, but I have yet to factor in the Jazz Critics
Poll (aggregate and most individual ballots), and while I've picked
up some ballots from PJRP on the fly, I haven't yet made a systematic
trawl through
their feed. I also haven't counted sources like
Ye Wei Blog, or
Saving Country Music. Nor have I looked through the many
international lists at
Acclaimed Music Forums. I haven't even glanced at Uncle Fester
yet (and may not, given how metal-heavy his lists are).
I'm torn right now because I have a lot of momentum toward
wrapping up
Music Year 2023, and readying
the jazz poll for next year's round. On the other hand, I've
resolved to spend the next month making a serious push toward
writing the long-simmering political book. It's getting late
to have any practical effect in 2024, and plenty of people will
tell you that this is the year that will break democracy in
America . . . if we don't rally and do lots of things to change
people's minds. Those things seem clear enough in my mind to
write without getting bogged down in research. So I figure I
should give it a month, and see if what I come up with makes
my friends think the effort is worth the trouble.
I've been pacing myself with my weekly
Speaking of Which posts -- the first under that name dating to
June 18, 2021, the latest
yesterday (110 of them, with 561,232 words, but there are more
similar pieces going back to the early days of the
notebook, the political pieces
collected into four
Last Days book files: 2000-09 (766k words),
2009-2013 (768k), 2013-2017 (675k), 2017-2020 (651k), so I can look
back on 3.4 million words. Reducing them to 60k would be a daunting
amount of work, but remembering enough basic ideas to rattle off 30k
from the top of my head should be easy. From that point, I could use
some help checking facts, adding fine points, and tightening up the
prose a bit, but there's reason to think that help might not be too
hard to come by. Getting the thing started is, and has always been,
the problem.
I won't start today, and I may not tomorrow -- it going to snow
tonight, and I'm going to make meatloaf tomorrow -- plus I have some
fairly urgent housekeeping chores I've been putting off. But sometime
in the next week or so I am resolved to set out and start grinding
down on it.
One more pretty major correction: in my review of Don Fiorino/Andy
Haas: The Accidentals (from
Dec. 4, 2023)
I wrongly assumed that Jay Dee Daugherty was the same person as the
late Bush Tetras and Radio I-Ching drummer Dee Pop.
Daugherty,
who appeared with Fiorino and Haas at a tribute for Dee Pop (Dimitri
Papadopoulos), is very much alive.
New records reviewed this week:
- Alfa Mist: Variables (2023, Anti-): [sp]: B+(*)
- Beneficence & Jazz Spastiks: Summer Night Sessions (2023, Ill Adrenaline): [sp]: A
- Mykki Blanco: Postcards From Italia (2023, Transgressive, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
- Cautious Clay: Karpeh (2023, Blue Note): [sp]: B+(*)
- Chembo Corniel Quintet: Artistas, Músicos Y Poetas (2023, Chemboro): [sp]: B+(***)
- Chino XL & Stu Bangas: God's Carpenter (2023, Brutal Music/1332): [sp]: A-
- Czarface: Czartificial Intelligence (2023, Silver Age/Virgin): [sp]: A-
- Day Tripper: What a Time to Be Dead (2023, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Elzhi x Oh No: Heavy Vibrato (2023, Nature Sounds): [sp]: A-
- Fatboi Sharif X Steel Tipped Dove: Decay (2023, Backwoodz Studioz): [sp]: B-
- Four Elements & Beyond: Clock the Chemistry (2023, Four Elements & Beyond): [sp]: B+(***)
- Derrick Gardner & the Jazz Prophets: Pan Africa (2022 [2023], Impact Jazz): [sp]: B+(***)
- Sam Gendel: Cookup (2023, Nonesuch): [sp]: B
- Nabihah Iqbal: Dreamer (2023, Ninja Tune): [sp]: B+(***)
- Kid Abstrakt & Leo Low Pass: Still Dreaming (2023, Melting Pot Music): [sp]: A-
- King Kashmere X Alecs DeLarge: The Album to End All Alien Abductions (2023, High Focus): [sp]: B+(*)
- Kool Keith & Real Bad Man: Serpent (2023, Real Bad Man): [sp]: B+(***)
- Madlib/Meyhem Lauren/DJ Muggs: Champagne for Breakfast (2023, Soul Assassins): [sp]: B+(***)
- Neak: Die Wurzel (2023, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Ivan Neville: Touch My Soul (2023, The Funk Garage): [sp]: B+(**)
- Offset: Set It Off (2023, Motown): [sp]: B+(*)
- Dolly Parton: Rockstar (2023, Butterfly/Big Machine): [sp]: B
- Vinnie Paz: All Are Guests in the House of God (2023, Iron Tusk Music): [sp]: B+(**)
- Prins Emanuel: Diagonal Musik II (2023, Music for Dreams): [sp]: B+(**)
- Purelink: Signs (2023, Peak Oil): [sp]: B+(*)
- Quantic: Dancing While Falling (2023, Play It Again Sam): [sp]: B+(***)
- Raw Poetic: Away Back In (2023, Def Pressé): [sp]: B+(**)
- Recognize Ali: Back to Mecca II (2023, Greenfield Music): [sp]: B+(***)
- Jay Royale: Criminal Discourse (2023, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
- Shabazz Palaces: Robed in Rareness (2023, Sub Pop, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
- Kavita Shah: Cape Verdean Blues (2023, Folkalist): [sp]: B+(***)
- Jae Skeese: Abolished Uncertainties (2023, Empire): [sp]: A-
- Jorja Smith: Falling or Flying (2023, FAMM): [sp]: B+(***)
- Cleo Sol: Heaven (2023, Forever Living Originals): [sp]: B+(*)
- Cleo Sol: Gold (2023, Forever Living Originals): [sp]: B+(**)
- Stik Figa X The Expert: Ritual (2023, Rucksack): [sp]: A-
- AJ Suede & Televangel: Parthian Shots (2023, Fake Four): [sp]: B+(*)
- Walter Wolfman Washington: Feel So at Home (2022 [2023], Tipitina's Record Club): [sp]: B+(*)
- Sam Wilkes: Driving (2023, Wilkes): [sp]: B+(*)
- Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Jazz Is Dead 16: Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison (2023, Jazz Is Dead): [sp]: B+(**)
Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:
- Cannonball Adderley Quintet: In Concert: Falkoner Centret, Copenhagen, Denmark, April 13, 1961 (1961 [2023], SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(***)
- Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (1957-65 [2023], New Land): [r/yt]: B+(*)
- Danger Mouse & Jemini: Born Again (2003-04 [2023], Lex): [bc]: A-
- Evan Parker: NYC 1978 (1975 [2023], Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(***)
Old music:
- Dorothy Ashby: The Jazz Harpist (1957, Regent): [yt]: B+(**)
- Dorothy Ashby With Frank Wess: Hip Harp (1958, Prestige): [r]: B
- Dorothy Ashby and Frank Wess: In a Minor Groove (1958, New Jazz): [r]: B
- Dorothy Ashby: Soft Winds: The Swinging Harp of Dorothy Ashby (1961, Jazzland): [yt]: B
- Dorothy Ashby: Dorothy Ashby (1962, Argo): [yt]: B+(**)
- Dorothy Ashby: The Jazz Harpist (1957-62 [2012], Fresh Sound, 3CD): [r/yt]: B+(*)
- Dorothy Ashby: The Fantastic Jazz Harp of Dorothy Ashby (1965, Atlantic): [yt]: B+(*)
- Dorothy Ashby: Afro-Harping (1968, Cadet): [sp]: B+(*)
- Dorothy Ashby: The Rubáiyát of Dorothy Ashby (1969-70 [1970], Cadet): [sp]: B
- Danger Mouse & Jemini: Ghetto Pop Life (2003, Lex): [sp]: B+(***)
Grade (or other) changes:
- James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet: For Mahalia, With Love (2023, Tao Forms, 2CD): [cd]: [was: A-]: A
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Bill Anschell: Improbable Solutions (Origin) [01-19]
- Peter Erskine and the Jam Music Lab All-Stars: Bernstein in Vienna (Origin) [01-19]
Sunday, January 07, 2024
Speaking of Which
Blog link.
I didn't open this until Friday, when I wrote the introduction
to the Israel section. I only got to collecting links on Saturday.
Still, quite a bit here. The main reason for the late start was
work wrapping up the 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll,
including
this blog post, and a big chunk of time I spent
documenting the discussion
generated by
Matt Merewitz's Facebook post.
I should also note here that after posting last week's
Speaking of Which a day early, I went back and added a few more
links and notes, marked with a red border stripe, like this paragraph.
Top story threads:
Israel: We speak of Israel's war against Gaza as genocide,
because it fits the technical definition, and because genocide was
formerly regarded as such an extraordinary crime as would compel
other powers to intervene and stop. The classic model was what Nazi
Germany did to European Jews during WWII -- the the discriminatory
but less lethal period from 1933-39 now recognized as a precursor to
genocide. But we've come to recognize other episodes of systematic
killing and/or expulsion as other examples of genocide. (Some people
like the term "ethnic cleansing" for expulsions, but the term first
gained currency as used by Serbs in Bosnia, where it was plainly a
euphemism for mass murder. I don't see any distinct value to the
term, as the very idea of "cleansing" ethnics points to genocide.)
There can be no doubt that what Israel is doing in Gaza is genocide.
(As for the West Bank, there is little difference between what Israelis
are doing and what Nazi Germans did taking power in 1933, which doesn't
necessarily mean that Kristallnacht, let alone Vernichtung, is coming,
but certainly doesn't preclude it.) However, there is no precise word
for what Israel is doing. The Germans had precise words to explain
what they wanted: Lebensraum, Judenrein, Endlösung: they wanted land
to settle, they insisted that no Jews could live there, and they meant
this state to be final. What Israeli Nazis (I'd be open to a different
term, but we routinely distinguish between Nazis and ordinary Germans,
and that's precisely the distinction at work here) want in the West
Bank is clearly articulated in the first two German terms (substituting
Palestinians for Juden). But in Gaza they're moving straight to Final
Solution, which they're willing to pay for even by giving up what has
always been their prime directive: settlement (or Lebensraum).
There is a word for what Israel is doing, but it has rarely been
used, and never by its practitioners: ecocide. Israel's goal (or to
be more precise, the goal of the Israeli Nazis in power) is to make
Gaza uninhabitable. If they succeed at that, they won't have to kill
every Gazan. The land will be free of Palestinians, and Israel will
have reasserted its Iron Wall. This shouldn't be much of a surprise.
The catchphrase we've been hearing for decades was "facts on the
ground." This was the motto of the post-1967 settlement movement in
the West Bank: to establish "facts" that would make it politically
impossible to undo. So while Israeli and American diplomats talked,
in increasingly ridiculous terms, of "two-state solutions," Israeli
policy was making any such thing impossible. And so, today, diplomats
and pundits talk of postwar schemes for containing Gazans in their
rapidly demolished surroundings, Israel is making life impossible,
and irrecoverable.
The closest thing I can think of to an historical analogy is
Sherman's efforts to exterminate the bison on the Great Plains.
As a result, many Plains Indians starved, but more importantly
the survivors realized that they couldn't sustain the way of life
they had enjoyed when the buffalo roamed, so they gave up, trudged
into the concentration camps the government set up for them as
reservations, while settlers turned the vast grazing lands into
farms. When Israelis spoke of their desire to turn Palestinians
into "an utterly defeated people," I always thought back to the
Plains Indians.
I also noted that at some point the US became
satisfied with its Lebensraum, and realized that they didn't have
to exterminate the last Indians, who in any case had started to
adapt to their changed reality. The Final Solution turned out to be
liberal democracy -- a stage that Israel is far from realizing,
and may never given demographics and psychology. Indeed, any other
"solution" would have failed, as Israeli history is repeatedly
showing us.
This week's links:
Seth Ackerman: [01-04]
There was an Iron Wall in Gaza: "Addicted to territorial aggrandizement
and encircled by enemies of its own making, Israel has freed itself of all
moral constraints." This is a fairly long historical piece, basic stuff to
understand what's been going on for decades. Meanwhile, for today:
AP: [01-05]
UN warns Gaza is now 'uninhabitable' as war continues: "Humanitarian
chief fears 'famine is around the corner' with 85% of population displaced
and more than 20,000 dead."
Mondoweiss:
MEE Staff:
Yuval Abraham: [01-05]
Inside Israel's torture camp for Gaza detainees.
Ahmed Al-Sammak/Elis Gjevori: [12-26]
Netanyahu looking for countries 'to absorb' ethnically cleansed
Palestinians: There are several reports like this. They remind
me that before started building extermination camps, they floated
the idea of expelling Jews to Madagascar (then a Vichy French colony,
but still "impractical" -- and probably not "final" enough).
Ruwaida Kamal Amer: [01-04]
In Gaza 'safe zone,' Palestinians are living out their nightmares.
Zack Beauchamp: [01-03]
Israel's Supreme Court just overturned Netanyahu's pre-war power
grab.
Jason Burke: [01-02]
Saleh al-Arouri: assassinated leader was Hamas's link to Iran and
Hezbollah. "Most recently, Arouri played a role in talks
brokered by Qatar, which led tot he release of some of the 240
hostages taken by Hamas."
Isaac Chotiner: [01-03]
Gaza is starving: Interview with chief economist of the World
Food Program, Arif Husain.
Stanley L Cohen: [01-05]
Guilty as charged: A New York City lawyer looks at the the laws
governing genocide and war crimes.
Alain Gabon: [01-02]
Israel's eight methods of genocide.
Tareq S Hajjaj: [01-06]
The new Nakba generation enters a new year in Gaza: "Israel's
genocidal war of expulsion is nothing like the people of Gaza have
ever seen -- not this generation, not their parents' generation,
and not the generation that survived the Nakba."
Ibtisam Mahdi: [12-20]
Gaza's health crisis 'catastrophic,' say Palestinian experts.
Nicola Perugini: [01-06]
Safe zones: Israel's technologies of genocide: "The designation
of safe area in Gaza allows the Israeli army to carry out war crimes
more efficiently and then to deny them."
Meron Rapoport: [01-02]
The 'second Nakba' government seizes its moment: "Israeli leaders
are explicit about reusing the methods of 1948 in Gaza today."
Matt Shuham: [01-04]
Israeli officials' calls for 'voluntary' migration of Palestinians
alarm human rights experts.
Richard Silverstein:
Philip Weiss:
Robert Wright: [01-05]
Israel's ethnic cleansing push. Wright cited this piece in a tweet,
"If anyone tells you Biden doesn't have the leverage to wind down the
Gaza war before it turns into a regional conflagration, read them this
quote":
Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brick was quoted recently in Mother
Jones as saying, "All our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided
bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it's all from the US. The minute
they turn off the tap, you can't keep fighting . . . Everyone understands
that we can't fight this war without the United States. Period."
Israel, America, and the search for a larger war in the Middle
East:
Erin Banco/Lara Seligman/Alexander Ward: [01-04]
The war in Gaza may widen. The Biden admin is getting ready for it.
But note: "a Quinnipiac poll in November showed that 84 percent of
Americans were either very or somewhat concerned that the U.S. would
be drawn into the Middle East conflict. And with each passing month,
more and more Americans fear the Biden administration is offering
too much material support to Ukraine."
Ramzy Baroud: [01-05]
Rage over Gaza: Washington will pay for its support of Israel.
Oliver Eagleton: [01-05]
Joe Biden's unconditional support for Israel risks creating a regional
war. Biden's desire to be seen as backing Israel let him be suckered
into sending forces into the Mediterranean and Red Sea, in addition to
the troops already in Iraq and Syria, on the theory that they would
deter others from attacking Israel. What they did was to give Israel
cover for striking Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. If they manage to draw
the US into war with them, that will give Israel further coverage for
genocide in Gaza.
Connor Echols:
Tanya Goudsouzian:
Ellen Ioanes: [01-06]
What Houthi attacks in the Red Sea mean for global shipping -- and
conflict.
James North: [12-30]
Israel is provoking the U.S. into a conflict with Iran -- but the
media ignores the danger: "In addition to killing thousands of
Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has been routinely attacking at least
four other nations in the region: Iran, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon."
Trita Parsi: [01-03]
Will Israel drag the US into another ruinous war? "Biden refuses
to pursue the most obvious way of de-escalating tensions and avoid
American deaths: a cease-fire in Gaza."
Paul R Pillar: [01-03]
Israelis step up assassination tactics outside Gaza: "Killings at
the center of Iran-supported militant groups in Lebanon and Syria may
force a 'wider war' everyone says they don't want."
Mitchell Plitnick: [01-06]
The U.S. can't blindly support Israel and prevent escalation in the
region at the same time.
Mustafa Salim/Louisa Loveluck/Dan Lamothe/Alex Horton: [01-04]
U.S. strike in Baghdad raises specter of wider regional war: "Iraq
says the strike violated agreements between Baghdad and Washington."
David Sylvan: [01-02]
Washington's Gaza kabuki: "Professions of concern about the war's
destruction are unlikely to be translated into real pressure on
Israel."
Israel, genocide, and conscience around the world: Israel
is not just fighting Palestinians. They're also, with American help,
waging a propaganda war around the world, not just against sympathy
for Palestine but against the possibility that people around the
world will develop a conscience and try to hold Israel accountable.
Trump, and other Republicans:
Isaac Arnsdorf/Marianne LeVine: [01-06]
Trump tries reappropriating 'insurrection' on Jan. 6 anniversary.
Michael Bader: [01-02]
Poor, pitiful conservatives: How the right's counterfeit victimhood
narratives harm us all.
Zack Beauchamp: [01-02]
How death threats get Republicans to fall in line behind Trump:
"The insidious way violence is changing American politics -- and
shaping the 2024 election."
Michael C Bender/Lisa Lerer/Michael Gold: [01-06]
Trump signals an election year full of falsehoods on Jan. 6 and
democracy.
Jamelle Bouie:
David Dayen: [01-05]
Republicans don't want to win an immigration policy fight: "They
just want to sustain the image of an immigration crisis."
Melvin Goodman: [01-05]
The commonality of megalomania: About Trump, and some other guy.
Ed Kilgore: [01-06]
How Republicans learned to love January 6.
Althea Legaspi: [01-06]
Trump says Civil War could have been 'negotiated' in bizarre Iowa
speech.
Charisma Madarang: [01-05]
Trump on Iowa school shooting: 'get over it': "comments come a
day after a gunman killed a sixth grade student and wounded five
other people at Perry High School."
Amanda Marcotte: [01-05]
Jan. 6 was bound to be celebrated by Republicans -- it was only a
matter of time.
Harold Meyerson: [11-27]
The blueprint: "The far right has a plan to remake America. They
even wrote it down." I've noted "Project 2025" before, but somehow
missed this important piece.
Molly Olmstead: [01-06]
The radical evangelicals who helped push Jan. 6 to wa ge war on
"demonic influence": "Mike Johnson has deep ties to groups that
encouraged the Capitol raid -- out of conviction that they're in a
literal battle between supernatural forces of good and evil.
Interview with André Gagné, author of American Evangelicals for
Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times.
Charles P Pierce:
Jeremy Schulman: [01-06]
Trump's own appointees will decide if he stays on the ballot. That's
a good thing. "If the ex-president is disqualified from office,
it will be because at least one of the justices he nominated votes
to do it."
Benjamin Wallace-Wells: [01-07]
How Trump captured Iowa's religious right.
No More Mister Nice Blog: [01-07]
Would Trumpism have happened even without Trump? This starts with
"an interesting question" from Ross Douthat, which I won't bother
you with (hint: not that interesting, and probably not at all by the
time Douthat gets done with it), but I felt like quoting this comment:
I think I know why right-wing populism is thriving. It's fairly simple:
Moneyed interests worldwide don't want to cede any more of their
ill-gotten gains than they do now, and they have power -- especially
in America -- to prevent any additional wealth transfers to the
have-nots. That means liberalism always disappoints voters, whose
material circumstances are never allowed to improve. Right-wing
politicians don't even bother trying to improve the lives of ordinary
people, but right-wing populists at least know how to create liberal
and left-wing scapegoats for the public to hate. For many voters,
watching a right-wing populist treat, say, immigrant asylum seekers
or LGBTQ people cruelly feels like at least some kind of victory.
It's more than liberals can offer as long as the plutocracy always
has the final say.
I'd take the next paragraph in a slightly different direction,
but the idea that Democrats can implement necessary reforms while
still catering to the super-rich has clearly been tried, and found
wanting. Democrats have to deliver concrete results, and where
they fail, they need to clearly assign blame, which means they
have to start shaming the moneyed interests, even the ones whose
checks they seek. So in the end, sure, "confront the superwealthy
directly," but make sure the message is clear.
I also recommend this blog piece: [01-05]
Don't be afraid to insult the Republican Party, Democrats. And
for an example: [01-05]
There are no mainstream Republicans: On Nikki Haley and her
endorsement by Don Bolduc.
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Edward-Isaac Dovere: [01-02]
How the Biden campaign hopes to make 2024 less about Biden and more
about a contrast with Trump. The worst part of this strategy is
the temptation to try to drive a wedge between Trump and supposedly
less extreme Republicans (like Nikki Haley?). There is no practical
difference. Forget about Trump and Biden for the moment. Democrats
do much better in generic polls than when they're represented by
Biden, in large part because people understand that Republicans are
worse. Campaign on that. The only downside is realizing that Biden
is dead weight, dragging the whole ticket down.
Noah Lanard: [12-22]
How Joe Biden became America's top Israel hawk: "The president
once said 'Israel could get into a fistfight with this country and
we'd still defend' it. That is now clearer than ever."
Ruy Teixeira: [01-03]
How did we get stuck with Biden and Trump again? I should read
this more carefully, and maybe even read the book he wrote with John
B Judis (Where Have All the Democrats Gone? -- on my proverbial
bedstand), but I'm suddenly gobsmacked by the bio line: what kind of
Democrat cashes checks from the American Enterprise Institute?
Michael Tomasky: [01-05]
Americans don't care about democracy? Well, Democrats -- make them
care: "What Biden needs to tell American voters today -- and
every day until the election." Actually, Democrats need to do more
than lecture Americans on their civic duty. They need to show the
people that democracy serves them, and not the special interests
(which most of them spend most of their time pursuing).
Legal matters and other crimes:
Climate and environment:
Economic matters:
Ukraine War:
Around the world:
Other stories:
AP: [01-05]
Boeing still hasn't fixed this problem on Max jets, so it's asking
for an exemption to safety rules. Then, a day later, there's
this coincidence:
Jeff Wise: [01-06]
Alaska Airlines inflight blowout raises new doubts about 737 MAX.
Branch Rickey used to say that "luck is the residue of design." So,
surely, is bad luck, the residue of bad design, sloppy execution, a
mentality that never looks beyond the bottom line, and an arrogance
that thinks nothing else matters.
Dave Barry: [01-01]
2023 in review: Or, as the title appeared in my local paper:
"2023 was the year that AI and pickleball came for humanity."
Fabiola Cineas: [01-05]
The culture war came for Claudine Gay -- and isn't done yet:
"Harvard's former president is just one target in the conservative
uproar over higher education."
Also:
Adam Gabbatt: [01-03]
'A bully': The billionaire who led calls for Claudine Gay's Harvard
exit: Bill Ackman.
Aaryan Morrison: [01-04]
On white supremacy and Zionism: a reflection on Claudine Gay's tenure
as president of Harvard University.
Jon Schwarz:
Let's seize this opportunity to destroy Harvard! "After that,
progressives should extirpate the entire Ivy League." Right-wingers
may see Harvard as a bastion of the left, a view not shared by many
real leftists.
Christopher Sprigman: [01-07]
Neri Oxman and Claudine Gay cases show we need new rules on
plagiarism. Like, maybe, who cares? I recall a story about
a semi-famous programmer having a placcard on his desk saying
something like "any idea worth having is worth stealing."
Everything creative comes from other sources, some conscious,
some not. Even Newton "stood on the shoulders of giants." If
he didn't quote and footnote them properly, was he a fraud?
You can't steal something that's not property. Do we really
want every idea, every sequence of words or notes, to belong
to other people, to monetize and collect rent on? According
to some laws, I guess we do, but really, should we?
Jeffrey St Clair: [01-05]
Roaming Charges: Let the (far) right ones in: Leads off with
the Harvard/Claudine Gay story, roaming afterwards.
Rachel M Cohen: [12-29]
Why treatments for severe mental illness looks radically different
for rich and poor people: "And a new way to understand cities'
response to tent encampments." Interview with Neil Gong, author of
Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics: Mental Illness and
Homelessness in Los Angeles.
Sheon Han: [01-05]
What we lost when Twitter became X: "As former Twitter employee,
I watched Elon Musk undermine one of the Internet's most paradoxical,
special places."
Sarah Jones: [01-04]
Who gets to be a person? By the way, she's become my favorite
columnist of the past year, so let me remind you of a few of
her pieces:
Fred Kaplan: [01-05]
Nostalgia for Cold War diplomacy is a trap: "Compared with the
international problems of today, post-World War II diplomats had
it easy." Responds to an article in Foreign Affairs, which given
that foreign policy wonkery is a reserve for elites is beyond my
budget -- the piece is Philip Zelikow:
The atrophy of American statecraft: How to restore capacity for
an age of crisis -- I can't fully engage in. I will note one
aspect of Cold War diplomacy that I am nostalgic for: mutual fear
that even small conflicts could escalate into world war (as, e.g.,
happened after an assassination in Sarajevo in 1914) led the US
and USSR to force ceasefires urgently, as happened with Israel's
wars in 1967 and 1973. Since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991,
the US has never shown any urgency in ending conflicts, because
that fear of escalation has been lost, and more fundamentally
because the US is increasingly in the business of intimidation
and escalation, and as such has set the model for other nations --
above all our supposed enemies -- to follow. The irony is that
peace has never been more urgent, because the world has become
ever more complex, interdependent, and fragile.
Kaplan quite rightly points out that the Cold War diplomats
were pretty fallible. I would also add that they enjoyed two big
advantages over current diplomats: after WWII, America was very
rich, compared to the rest of the (largely devastated) world, so
could afford to be generous in its dealings; and the US enjoyed
a great deal of good will, largely because the US was not viewed
as an aggressor in the World Wars, and had a relatively small and
benign imperialist footprint. Both of those advantages dissipated
over time -- especially the latter, as American bases, arms, and
banks replaced colonial with capitalist exploitation.
Still, the sorry decline of American diplomacy since 1990 isn't
a mere function of declining advantages and increasingly complex
terrain. A toll is also being taken by arrogance, greed, special
interests, domestic political calculations, the persistence of myths
(many dressing up plain stupidity), disregard for justice (partly
due to increasing inequality in America), and sheer pettiness. One
could (and someone should) write a book on these mistakes. It is
hard to think of any other area of public policy where so many
ostensibly smart people have been so wrong for so long with such
disastrous consequences, yet they continue to be celebrated in
the annals of elite publications like Foreign Policy. (Need I
even mention Henry Kissinger?)
Doug Muir: [01-06]
The Kosovo War, 25 years later: First of a promised series of
three posts.
Rick Perlstein: [01-03]
You are entering the infernal triangle: "Authoritarian Republicans,
ineffectual Democrats, and a clueless media." The former is what it is,
but we rarely examine it critically, or even honestly. Much of the blame
for looking away lies with the latter two, for which the author gives
numerous examples. Argues that "all three sides of the triangle must be
broken in order to preserve our republic, whichever candidate
happens to get the most votes in the 2024 Electoral College."
Nikki McCann Ramirez/Tim Dickinson: [01-05]
Longtime NRA chief resigns ahead of corruption trial: Wayne
LaPierre.
Clay Risen: [01-06]
Arno J. Mayer, unorthodox historian of Europe's crises, dies at
97: "A Jewish refugee from the Nazis, he argued that World War I,
World War II and the Holocaust were all part of a "second Thirty
Years' War." A little late -- I've cited pieces on the late historian
two previous weeks running -- but does a good job of defending his
"nuanced" view of the Nazi Judeocide and his disillusionment with
Israel, both of special relevance today.
Paul Rosenberg: [01-01]
Project Censored top 10 stories: Corporate abuse and environmental
harm dominate: "The pattern signals a deeper truth about economics
and human survival." Fyi, let's list these:
- "Forever chemicals" in rainwater a global threat to human health
- Hiring of former CIA employees and ex-Israeli agents "blurs line"
between big tech and big brother
- Toxic chemicals continue to go unregulated in the United States
- Stalkerware could be used to incriminate people violating abortion
bans
- Certified rainforest carbon offsets mostly "worthless"
- Unions won more than 70 percent of their elections in 2022, and
their victories are being driven by workers of color
- Fossil fuel investors sue governments to block climate regulations
- Proximity to oil and gas extraction sites linked to maternal health
risks and childhood leukemia
- Deadly decade for environmental activists
- Corporate profits hit record high as top 0.1% earnings and Wall
Street bonuses skyrocket
Dean Spears:
The world's population may peak in your lifetime. What happens
next? Argues that world population will peak with six decades,
then lead to a precipitous depopulation, which is supposed to be
some kind of problem -- one in need of "a compassionate, factual
and fair conversation about how to respond to depopulation and how
to share the burdens of creating each future generation." People
who worry about such things worry me.
Emily Stewart: [01-04]
You don't need everything you want: "Our expectations around money
are all out of whack." Pull quote: "There is nowhere you can look in
society that isn't screaming at us to spend, spend, spend."
Friday, January 05, 2024
Jazz Critics Poll Discussion
Long Facebook comment by Matt Merewitz on the Poll
[link]:
I am proud to have contributed my professional efforts to projects
that seem to have some critical consensus around them (and after all,
are profound works of art, in an age where most people do not
appreciate the album as an artform anymore) like James Brandon Lewis'
"For Mahalia, With Love" and Myra Melford's Fire & Water Quintet's
"Hear The Light Singing" among several other clients and friends (Art
Ensemble of Chicago, Rudy Royston, Todd Sickafoose, Linda May Han Oh,
Darcy James Argue Aaron Diehl, Darius Jones, Ambrose Akinmusire,
Allison Miller, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Steve Lehman, etc.). I do find
it a bit troubling however that certain recordings that I feel were
truly amazing that I listened to over and over (Simon Moullier, Adam
Birnbaum, Michael Blake, Brad Mehldau, Roxana Amed/Frank Carlberg,
Naya Baaz, Charles Owens, Kassa Overall, Jo Lawry) seem to have
engendered almost no critical love at year-end and that is the
inherent problem with lists composed of 10 records or of the
methodology of the Francis Davis/Tom Hull Poll with the ranked points
system. I've said it before but there is implicit critical bias in
these lists where those voting clearly prefer or prioritize more avant
garde work. However this year's top 20 does recognize a few more
populist efforts than in past years and admittedly none of the top 20
are that "out." Greater attempts need to be made by the poll's (unpaid
and unappreciated) organizers to broaden the tent of participants;
including to badger non-responders (those who are invited to vote, but
don't or don't reply on time). Or maybe the whole enterprise is
futile. I dunno. I think we can all agree that we deserve more
thoughtful accompanying essays than what we were offered this
year. But that's what no money supporting music criticism buys us. For
those types of lists or commentary, I would direct you to recent
Substack posts by Nate Chinen (The Gig), Peter Margasak (Nowhere
Street), Tom Moon (EchoLocator), and blog posts by other unpaid
enthusiast-scholars like Dr. Mark Lommano. Also columns by folks like
Carl Wilson or Fred Kaplan, ironically both in Slate offered a more
nuanced take on things. Congrats to everyone who put themselves out
there with new music of any stripe in the last year. It is incredibly
hard, often unrewarding work.
Rob Shepherd commented:
To provide a counter argument to that, part of it has to do with the
fact there's often more innovation with the avant-garde. What do you
think will generate a more passionate response in a writer who has to
find ways to turn what they hear into words? Album A where the
highlight is the 20 millionth straight ahead version of "Footprints"
but with some killer solos or Album B which is, say Steve Lehman's
latest where he's experimenting with AI and spectral harmony. There is
so much more to write about with album B and it shouldn't be
surprising that the critics want to write about it more. Even if A had
a lot of great original compositions but they all sound similar to
music that came before, B would still be more interesting to write
about.
That's not to say there aren't any more straight-ahead albums that
deserve more recognition - there certainly are - but they come from a
starting point of being less compelling to most writers. And
ultimately, it is how compelling the writer finds the work that
dictates how it gets ranked.
Many more comments worth mentioning. Here's one from Ludovico
Granvassu:
Let's introduce another angle: 50 albums on the list Matt shared [the
top-fifty poll albums, as published by ArtsFuse]. If my math is
correct: there's only 4 albums by bands from outside the US. Plus 3
non-US musicians who are based in NYC. Keeping the focus to the US:
only one band from Chicago? No albums from the vibrant LA scene? The
polls are interesting insights not just on what great music is being
released (because those 50 albums are of very high level) but of how
much great music does not even make it to the desks/ears of so many
(and if it doesn't make it to the ears of those who devote so much of
their time to parsing what the scene has to offer . . . what are the
chances it makes it to the ears of everyday fans/record buyers?). And
yes, NYC remains a fundamental piece of the jazz ecosystem, but in the
aggregate there's way more jazz being produced and released in the
rest of the world than in NYC. What does this mean at the end of the
day? That a jazz fan who lives in NYC has a much smaller choice/access
than one that lives in Tokyo, or Berlin . . . it's too expensive for a
foreign musician to tour here, the radio does not play foreign
musicians, their albums don't make end of the year lists . . . whereas
in Japan or Germany (just to randomly pick two countries) - through
local venues/record stores/radio/magazines - jazz fans get exposed to
both US jazz (because it cannot but be that way) and jazz from
everywhere else.
Merewitz responded to Granvassu:
I have repeatedly given European and Japanese in Australian names to
the organizers and they have said that they don't respond to
him. Maybe you and I should create a true international critics poll
of TODAY. We welcome collaborators.
Bret Sjerven commented:
Interesting . . . . I don't think the divide is anything new. Just
check the Critics Poll vs. the Readers Poll in DownBeat. The critical
hive mind has seems to always skew toward the creative rather than the
more widely accessible. This is important. The public needs to know
there are options beyond what they hear on WBGO. I do think there are
limits there but it has always been the way that the music advances
and widens its scope. It just so happens that the musicians who can
bridge the gap tend to have better careers. Seems to me that some of
the more wooly of the creative composers/performers who broke in on
the wave experimental are trying more palatable music and are getting
their just rewards.
Andrea Wolper commented:
I so appreciate the thoughtfulness of this post, Matt. There's a lot
to unpack, as the saying goes. Yes, the writers' polls seem to favor
the more "avant garde," and it's always been interesting to me that,
as Bret Sjerven put it, "The critical hive mind seems to always skew
toward the creative rather than the more widely accessible," though
(a) while I get it, I take some issue with how we've come to use the
word "creative," and (b) hive mind!--no matter which part of the jazz
spectrum anyone favors, people are influenced by trends, popularity,
etc.
Rob Shepherd's point that innovation "will generate a more
passionate response in a writer" makes sense, though (a) I agree with
you, Matt, that there's a whole lot of music between his examples A
& B and (b) let's be honest: not everything we put in the "avant"
or "out" or "creative" bin is in fact innovative. There are artists
across the gamut from the most straight ahead to the most experimental
who haven't figured out what is uniquely theirs to say. Yes, this is a
life's work, but consider someone like Jay Clayton--much on my mind
now for obvious reasons--who had a powerful identity out of the box,
and just grew and grew from there. I'm not at all convinced that the
combination of individuality, communication, and skill is any more
certain to be present in more "innovative" music than it is to be
absent in the 20 millionth version of "Footprints." Mediocrity,
brilliance, and everything in between can be heard all across the
spectrum.
Mark Lomanno noted (I've spent a lot of time thinking about this):
I'm still hoping for some sort of central database for releases. I
know it's a pipedream but, to your point, I spend a lot of time trying
to find records in hopes of not missing much and there always seem to
be a lot that slips through the cracks. There's a lot of labor and
time spent for discovering the records that could be redirected to
listening and writing.
Merewitz replied:
Tom Hull's website is a freakishly good place to start. He tallies
them all year by genre and does not just listen to jazz.
Merewitz also replied to a thing about Wire contributors:
a good question is why aren't the poll organizers soliciting lists
from all your jazz contributors. Granted they have Phil, Stewart,
Bill and maybe Peter but there are others for sure!
Noah Baerman:
The most sobering part to me is simply the juxtaposition of increasing
glut of "product" and decreasing outlets that discuss it all. I am as
thorough and systematic as I can be (especially as an "unpaid"
listener/shiner-of-lights) and find myself constantly finding things
that had gone under my radar even though they're beautiful and
represented the artist's whole heart (and often whole wallet).
I don't know which is more sobering in the grander scheme of the
ecosystem - a great new record by an "obscure" artist that is amazing
but ignored or a great new record by a "name" artist that would've
gotten major buzz 20-30 years ago but makes only a small and momentary
blip on the radar of public consciousness.
Also, the subject of publicists came up, to which Merewitz added:
I want to acknowledge my colleagues in this endeavor: Lydia Liebman,
Ann Braithwaite, Seth Douglas Rosner, Jason Byrne, Jesse Cutler, Don
Lucoff, Jon Solomon, Carolyn McClair, Kim Smith, Daniela Siemon, Terri
Hinte, Melissa Cusick Weiss, Chris Taillie, Brett Loeb, Jacob Daneman,
Sam McCallister, Judy Miller Silverman, Kevin Calabro, Damien
Besançon, Cary Goldberg, Chris Digirolamo and many more!
I finally wrote a series of comments:
I want to express my gratitude and delight at seeing so much
really intelligent discussion of our Poll. This has stimulated many
thoughts in me, which I can only begin to hint at here. But first I
should mention that after the official files got sent off to ArtsFuse,
I wrote a blog piece on the Poll, which at least starts to address
some of the questions about what kind of records do well in the Poll,
and why it's really important that the lists don't stop at 10 or
50. It occurs to me that I should write a postscript to address these
and a few more points there (I'm interrupting many other things I need
to do, so don't expect it right away, but I will add a couple more
comments here, while they're still fresh). The blog post
link.
A lot of questions have to do with the composition of the
Poll. I invited about 210 people to vote in 2022, and got 151
ballots. Nearly all of those people had voted in previous polls, so
were vetted by Francis Davis. I invited about 240 people this year,
and got 159 ballots. Something like 20 of those invited responded and
declined, for a wide range of reasons (aside from health, the biggest
chunk came from former JazzTimes writers). Some of the rest probably
didn't get email (bad addresses, or overvigilant spam traps), or
deleted it without reading it, but most simply ignored it. Some of
these comments imply that we're omniscient but engaged in devious
rigging of the vote. We (for 2023 I probably should switch to I, as
Davis had no real involvement in the invitation process this year)
have very little time or energy for identifying, vetting, and tracking
down possible voters, so much of the composition comes down to
luck. Of the writers Merewitz mentions, all voted except for: Tom Moon
was invited but didn't respond; I didn't think to invite Carl Wilson,
even after logging his Slate piece in my EOY aggregate (I see that he
mentioned 7 jazz albums, but only 2 in his top tier). As an old-time
rock critic myself, I've invited several similar critics (as had Davis
before me). As for the Wire writers, tell me who we need to invite. I
did make an effort to get more European critics this year. I also
added voters from Chicago and New Orleans, but the effect of these
changes is mostly to add more records on the fringes, not to tilt the
consensus.
- I rather doubt that the structure of the Poll makes much
difference, especially given the large number of voters. I prefer the
logic of using P&J-type points, but don't relish the extra work,
and it would also be more trouble (or at least confusion) for the
voters, which we don't want. Allowing for longer lists would also mean
a lot more work, but at least it would be more fun, and generate more
information. It would greatly increase the total number of albums
mentioned, which list bottom-dwellers like myself would enjoy. Higher
up, I suspect it would mostly reflect the influence of
publicists. Nobody votes for records they haven't heard, and most of
us hear about (and are given the chance to hear) thanks to
publicists. A couple years ago, I wrote a piece to draw attention to
this. This year's results seem less easily explained by
publicity.
Thanks for the Lomanno and Granvassu links above. I've asked
voters to send me URLs of their annual pieces, so I can add them to
their ballots. And I've encouraged them to write their own pieces,
which allow them to escape the straitjacket of the ballot rules. I
will eventually post an index of those pieces, plus whatever
unaffiliated jazz lists I manage to stumble upon. One thing I should
be able to derive from that is a list of records that didn't get votes
in our Poll but did elsewhere. Among other things, that will be a
sanity test for the Poll. I should also note that if you want to run a
poll with a different set of voters, I could make my software
available. I'm a big believer in open source software. The reason it
isn't yet available is that it's a lot more work to write software for
other people to run than crap that you run yourself (and can fix on
the fly). But in principle, that's not a problem.
Thursday, January 04, 2024
The 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll
Blog link.
Dead Drafts
Here are a couple more paragraphs originally written for this piece,
that my nephew advised me to cut:
You can look at this year's top-ten and see various approaches
to putting together enough of a pile of votes to place. Established
names matter. Conceptual weight and daring help (Lewis's gospel,
Moran's James Reese Europe, Matana Roberts' ongoing sage). Large
scale orchestration (Darcy James Argue, but also Steve Lehman)
has a following. Sometimes a record will crossover beyond jazz,
yet still be regarded as legit jazz (Jaimie Branch, following her
death at 39, got a lot of non-jazz press).
Most basically, the record has to be adventurous enough to stand
out, but not too far out for sophisticated listeners. Francis Davis
talks about "how the jazz mainstream changed direction to accommodate
Ornette Coleman rather than the other way around." That case was
closed when Martin Williams ended his box of The Smithsonian
Collection of Classic Jazz with Coleman, making him as much a
part of the canon as Armstrong, Hawkins, Ellington, Parker, and
Coltrane. There may still be some avant-fringes that haven't been
swallowed up by postbop, but the sprawling core of the Poll covers
a lot of ground.
Also this:
There are other problems with the Old category. Somewhere [I can't
find offhand] I wrote about it comprising four distinct categories of
product, which (if memory serves) are: vault recordings (including
more official releases of bootlegs); compilations (bests of, themes,
various artists, big boxes); straight (or augmented) reissues (some
for audiophiles); and something else (or maybe I subdivided one of
those). And there are divisions that cut across these: famous vs.
obscure, expensive vs. small, audiophile vs. the rest of us, plus
the whole gamut of history and style. It's very hard to compare,
even within subdivisions. Plus the market is small and divided,
with relatively little upside to be gained from marketing, which
results in few critics ever running across many of these albums.
I might also point out that while most of our critics are American,
most Old music is released in Europe -- partly because they have
saner copyright laws than the U.S. Streaming helps, but I'm less
than half as likely to find an Old release than a New one there.
I don't know that there's a solution for this, but I'm rather
doubtful that pretending they're all part of one pile isn't very
helpful. I have even graver doubts about the other three categories.
They certainly made sense to Francis Davis when he devised them,
but I find they're a lot of overhead for very little additional
information.
Monday, January 01, 2024
Dead Drafts
I wrote these fragments in my first stab at a Jazz Poll essay:
Back in the 1960s, there was a magazine called Jazz & Pop, which
got a popular end-of-year feature by polling prominent jazz and pop
critics and tallying up their favorite album picks. In 1974 (or was it
1971?) Robert Christgau picked up that idea, flipped it over, and
shook all the jazz out of it, establishing The Village Voice as the
watchtower of "a rock critic establishment." The "Pazz & Jop" poll ran
under Christgau's direction through 2005, and inertia and popularity
kept it going a few more years, until the vulture capitalists finally
picked the carcass clean.
It's natural for people to want to take stock at the end of a year,
and also to compare your notes with those of others. Indeed, the
latter creates demand for the former. Lists of favorite records are
the currency of this exchange. Polls seek to impose some structure on
this exchange, to turn lists into data, leading to analysis. They also
define a community. Pazz & Jop effectively excluded jazz from
consideration, leaving us in need of another poll.
Francis Davis ventured into polling jazz critics in 2006, starting
off with thirty "New York-affiliated" critics and expanding
nationwide, up to 137 when the poll moved to NPR in 2013. I've written
about the history of the poll before, and my experience from being a
charter voter up through last year, when I was tasked with sending out
the invitations, compiling the votes, and wrapping the whole package
up for publication. The main thing I've learned this year is even
deeper admiration and feeling for the community who contributed to
making this poll even more useful -- it is, at least, the largest ever,
with 159 voters.
More voters meant that more albums got votes: 535 New Releases, and
129 Rara Avis (Reissues/Historical). But the leaders were very much in
keeping with past polls. James Brandon Lewis won his second poll, with
For Mahalia, With Love, a conceptual nod to gospel great Mahalia
Jackson that again showcased some of the most imposing tenor sax
anywhere. Lewis won easily, despite having a second album, Eye of I,
splitting the vote, and finishing 26.
The rest of the top ten had finished there before, with previous
poll winners Jason Moran (from 2010), Steve Lehman (2014), Kris Davis
(2019), and Henry Threadgill (2016). Tyshawn Sorey had four previous
top-ten appearances (including fourth and fifth in 2022); Darcy James
Argue and Myra Melford had two each; and Matana Roberts and the late
Jaimie Branch one apiece. The only surprise here is Moran, who was
enormously respected while on Blue Note, but scarcely noticed on his
own label. I figured that was lack of publicity, but this year's album
is his most ambitious ever, a deep exploration of the world of James
Reese Europe, and as word got out, it steadily rose in the ranks to a
very solid second place.
The second tier of ten is also dominated by well-known names:
Joshua Redman had finished in the top-50 ten times (high 8), and Chris
Potter eight (high 11). Singer Cecile McLorin Salvant had moved into
the top tier with her third place finish in 2022, but slipped to 16
this year (while still easily winning the Vocal category). The only
newcomers to the top-twenty are Lakecia Benjamin (previous high 21),
and Sullivan Fortner (no previous top-fifty finishes, only his third
album).
I'll add some further notes after the standings.
Also:
Further notes:
The deadline for submitting ballots was Dec. 15. That was also
the release date of Ambrose Akinmusire, Owl Song (Nonesuch), which
received 54.5(8) votes. Akinmusire had placed five albums in the
top-ten in previous polls, most recently second place in 2020. His
only other album was this year's solo trumpet album, which came in at
38. If Owl Song gets more than 8 votes next year, we'll add the two
year totals together, which probably will push it into the top-ten. It
is rare, but not unheard of, for albums to increase their points this
way. This year, 17 albums with 2022 votes received new votes, but none
enough to add the totals together.
Akinmusire's total vote for the two albums is 99.5(16), which
would move him from 38/39 to 16, just behind Sylvie Courvoisier's
two-album 99.5(18), and ahead of Matthew Shipp's three-album
99(16). James Brandon Lewis and Jason Moran would retain their top
spots with 372(59) and 243(35). Other artists with multiple albums:
Ingrid Laubrock: 2, 74(13); John Zorn: 7, 67.5(13); Satoko Fujii: 3,
43.5(10); Ivo Perelman: 6, 42.5(7); Allen Lowe: 2, 37(6); Miguel
Zenón: 2, 33(5); Joe McPhee: 4, 26.5(7); John Butcher: 2, 22.5(4);
Gerry Hemingway: 2, 20(2); Dave Rempis: 3, 17(5); Zoh Amba: 2, 17(3);
Peter Brötzmann: 2, 19.5(4); Aruán Ortiz: 2, 19(3); Lina Allemano: 2,
18(3); Nate Wooley: 3, 15(3); Hedvig Mollestad: 2, 12.5 (2); Paul
Dunmall: 3, 11.5(3).
Last year's winner, Mary Halvorson, kept a low profile in 2023,
but has a new album, Cloudward, scheduled for Jan. 19. She did appear
on three albums that ranked this year: Myra Melford (10), Illegal
Crowns (40), and Ned Rothenberg (164).
Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, Chimaera (at 19) was the
highest-ranked album by a European artist this year, followed by
Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, Beyond the Margins (23), and
Norwegian group Fire! Orchestra, Echoes (26).
Three Canadians finished in the top twelve: Darcy James Argue
(5), Kris Davis (7), and Anna Webber (12).
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