Music Week

Expanded blog post, September archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 38 albums, 10 A-list

Music: Current count 44818 [44780] rated (+38), 21 [22] unrated (-1).

New records reviewed this week:

• Baths: Gut (2025, Basement's Basement): [sp]: B
• Marilina Bertoldi: Para Quien Trabajas Vol. 1 (2025, Sony Music Argentina): [sp]: B+(**)
• The Beths: Straight Line Was a Lie (2025, Anti-): [sp]: B+(***)
• Sabrina Carpenter: Man's Best Friend (2025, Island): [sp]: A-
• Chicago Jazz Orchestra: More Amor: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery (2024 [2025], Chicago Jazz Orchestra): [sp]: B+(*)
• Chicago Underground Duo: Hyperglyph (2024 [2025], International Anthem): [sp]: B+(***)
• CMAT: Euro-Country (2025, CMATBaby/AWAL): [sp]: A-
• George Coleman: George Coleman With Strings (2022 [2025], Savant): [sp]: A-
• Hannah Delynn: Trust Fall (2025, self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
• Dijon: Baby (2025, R&R/Warner): [sp]: B+(*)
• Fieldwork: Thereupon (2024 [2025], Pi): [cd]: A-
• Folk Bitch Trio: Now Would Be a Good Time (2025, Jagjaguwar): [sp]: B
• Ghostface Killah: Supreme Clientele 2 (2025, Mass Appeal): [sp]: B(*)
• GoGo Penguin: Necessary Fictions (2025, XXIM): [sp]: B+(**)
• Omer Govreen Quartet: All Things Equal (2024 [2025], J.M.I.): [sp]: B+(***)
• Haim: I Quit (2025, Columbia): [sp]: A-
• Ill Considered: Balm (2025, New Soil): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ill Considered: Live at Eye Film Museum (2024, New Soil): [bc]: B+(**)
• Ill Considered & Rob Lewis: Emergence (2024, New Soil): [bc]: B+(**)
• Ill Considered: UnEvensong (2024, New Soil): [sp]: B+(***)
• Larry Keel/Jon Stickley: Larry Keel & Jon Stickley (2025, self-released, EP): [cd]: B
• KRS-One: Temple of Hip Hop Global Awareness (2025, R.A.M.P. Ent Agency): [sp]: A-
• Laufey: A Matter of Time (2025, AWAL): [sp]: B+(**)
• Billy Lester Trio: High Standards (2017 [2025], Ultra Sound): [cd]: B+(**) [09-12]
• Christian McBride Big Band: Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 (2025, Mack Avenue): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ashley Monroe: Tennessee Lightning (2025, Mountainrose Sparrow): [sp]: B+(*)
• Ned Rothenberg: Looms & Legends (2024-25 [2025], Pyroclastic): [cd]: A-
• Superchunk: Songs in the Key of Yikes (2025, Merge): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sunny Sweeney: Rhinestone Requiem (2025, Aunt Daddy): [sp]: A-
• Teyana Taylor: Escape Room (2025, Taylormade/Def Jam): [sp]: B

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Larry Stabbins/Keith Tippett/Louis Moholo-Moholo: Live in Foggia (1985 [2025], Ogun): [sp]: A-

Old music:

• Hannah Delynn: The Naked Room Demos (2021, self-released, EP): [bc]: B
• Hannah Delynn: Making Friends (2023, self-released, EP): [bc]: B
• Evan Parker/Ned Rothenberg: The Monkey Puzzle (1997, Leo): [bc]: B+(***)
• Ned Rothenberg Double Band: Overlays (1991, Moers): [bc]: B+(***)
• Ned Rothenberg: The Crux: Selected Solo Wind Works (1989-1992) (1989-92 [1993], Leo): [bc]: A-
• Ned Rothenberg Double Band: Parting (1996 [2004], Moers Music): [bc]: B+(*)
• Ned Rothenberg: Ghost Stories (1999-2000 [2000], Tzadik): [sp]: B+
• Ned Rothenberg Sync: Harbinger (2001-03 [2004], Animul): [bc]: B+(***)
• Ned Rothenberg/Satoh Masahiko: Decisive Action (2003-04 [2004], BAJ): [bc]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Mike Clark: Itai Doshin (Wide Hive) [10-03]
• Orhan Demir/Neil Swainson: Wicked Demon (Hittite) [07-14]
• Wadada Leo Smith/Sylvie Courvoisier: Angel Falls (Intakt) [10-03]
• Mark Turner: Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) [10-10]

Daily Log

Got up at 9, sleep score 90, everything else worse than usual, especially leaks. Rained all day Monday, accumulating 1.57 inches, almost surely an understatement. I spent all day working on a Substack post, giving up in the middle of a bullet list that started with revolutions and will presumably end with why Trump got away with his but Sanders (and Mamdani) cannot. So lots of thoughts rattling around. Read about an Indian economist, J.C. Kumarappa (1892-1960), who was close to Gandhi.

I didn't touch Music Week yesterday, but should post it later today. Initial count was thin, but after acing Sabrina Carpenter (big Dan Weiss huzzah) I have a bounty of A-list, and I'm probably close to 30 rated. Got the news that my dental insurance is done with me for 2025, so I'll have to pay up over $1500 to fix my old 1980s root canal. Schedule is for Wednesday, so that's sure to shoot a hole in the middle of my week. Eyes especially bad this morning, so I keep having to use the magnifying glass to read the screen. Should get the new glasses this week.

Email (30 messages): noted some upcoming records, Nick Turse articles I should add to Loose Tabs, Rachel Booth articles that might be interesting but probably say things I don't want to hear. Not in the mood for that today. Replayed Sabrina Carpenter today, and watched a couple of her videos, which I don't like much. Music is still good. Dan Weiss panned my endorsement of Sumac & Moor Mother: stick your neck out and get it chopped off. I've panned his Sumac picks in the past.

Daily Log

Got up shortly after 10, so barely cleared the 6 hours mark, for a 100% sleep rating. Read about half of the Joan Robinson chapter. Found considerable support for my ideas about using the state for directed capital distribution -- although I would do it somewhat differently, in that I'm still as wary of concentrations of power as I am of concentrations of money. Weighed in at 197, so the bulge of a couple weeks ago (when I hit 202) seems to have receded. Still above my low point (194?), but under control -- not that I couldn't do with losing a bit more.

Email (14 messages): Allen Lowe rant (with correction). Also have a Brad Luen from last night, with a "countrypop" section.

Daily Log

Slept 95%. Looks like I turned the machine off one minute short of six hours, which would probably have moved me to 100%. AHI was 0.0, and P95 was 9.0. Read about Sweezy and Kalecki. Minimal email (9 messages). Spent most of yesterday on the new computer. I set up the old computer, and got ftp working one way. I archived and copied Laura's old home directory, which was almost all private program data (mostly Firefox and Thunderbird). One approach to importing the previous settings is to simply copy the old trees to the appropriate spot on the new machine. But for Firefox, I tried setting up sync, which worked reasonably well. I haven't done Thunderbird yet, but did create an export file, so I can try importing it today. One problem is that the old machine wasn't connecting to Yahoo right, so that will take some debugging.

Meanwhile, my own work is languishing

Saturday, September 06, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up once in the middle of the night, then again shortly after 10. Read the rest of the Polanyi chapter, and stayed up. Next chapter is on Sweezy, so looking forward to that. I read some of Monopoly Capital 50+ years ago, and was quite impressed, but no telling how much stuck with me. One point I do recall was his speculation that the work week could be greatly shortened if we only did work on necessities. Only much later did I discover Keynes (and Gorz and Frase) writing along those lines. Of course, it didn't happen, as innovations created more necessities, and as services turned out to be an insatiable pit of desire. I've only recently changed my views on this, in part because "leisure" has turned into as much of a hell hole as "work" used to be, but mostly because good works give our lives meaning and purpose. The quest is not so much to free us from work as to free our work from the evils of capitalism.

Email (6 messages): a reply from Jan to my suggestion that she should store her prized cooking equipment with her kids, so she can still do some cooking (mostly baking) when she visits, which she should do more often than is probably the case. I wrote her back, with a photo of Uncle Clagge's pans. I also sent out a photo of Laura's new computer.

Daily Log

Woke up around 8, but went back to sleep, and slept to noon: 503 minutes, low AHI and leak, low pressures. Rained earlier, and was still 55F when I got up. Read about Polanyi, Red and White Hungary, Red Vienna, Fascist Austria, up to his move to London. Woke from a dream where I had made a nice chicken main dish, but evidently nothing else, so I was rumaging to try to fill out a dinner menu while guests were waiting. I found frozen shrimp I could sautee, dried pasta (for a gorgonzola sauce, or a puttanesca), romaine (could make a Burmese tea leaf salad), only vegetable I could think of was stir-fried lima beans. Now that I'm awake, I can think of more options. The dream mostly consisted of searching through drawers and bins. Friday is peak email day (47 messages):

• Vox's highlight article is "Why are single men so miserable?" Sounds like me . . . fifty years ago. Now I'm what? Used to it?

Daily Log

Got up before 9, sleep score 85, but was thinking too hard to even consider going back to sleep. Yesterday's total wipe out may have left me wanting to work. Still, tired as I'm writing this, and bewildered by all the things left to do. Yesterday's hail has literally carpeted the back yard, much of the front, and any flat surfaces (carport, flat roof above the den) with small branches and leaf clusters. I haven't gone out yet to fully assess the damage, but it is considerable.

Email (24 messages):

• Notice that my Corsair support ticket has closed, as I haven't responded in a week (but they're allowing another week in case I wish to reopen it). As the computer build is essentially done, I should hook it up today and install Xubuntu. Then I can reply with good news (or bad).
• Mail from Cadence features pictures of old issues. I still have a box of old issues, which should be of some value to someone somewhere, but not much to me anymore. I've long wished they would put their back issues up on the web, where they would be a valuable resource, but the response has always been, "how can we make money from that"? Since then Bob Rusch has died, leaving Slim in charge (and she's a jazz poll voter), so maybe I should approach her?
• New Rodrigo Amado Bridge album coming in October.
• Notice from Vox that I can share up to 10 gift links per month.

Daily Log

Woke up abruptly at 10:15, realizing I have an 11:45 appointment out west (Wichita Endodontics) to evaluate teeth 18-19, which have been a source of persistent, low-grade pain since I had a root canal and crown in February. I was preoccupied with eye surgery at the time, but complained on my next cleaning, and Dr. Tsao wrote up the referral as one of several ways of dealing with the problem. I did a round of antibiotics, which had no effect. I finally followed up yesterday, and got the appointment today.

So my morning wake up ritual is very compressed today. I read a bit about Kondratiev, the Russian Revolution, and the NEP. Ate breakfast. Found a playlist on Spotify for Tougher Than Tough (original box set not available), and kicked it off, figuring that my phone will pick it up and continue playing in the car. Not the degree of control over music control I want in the car, but should beat silence (let alone radio). After the appointment, my plan is to go to WalMart and see if I can get new glasses. They seem to have the sunglass clip-on frame I wanted, and otherwise to be cheap enough. Then I'll probably hit a grocery store.

Email (23 messages):

• Substack stats: 61 free subscribers (+33 for August); 223 post reads (+205); subscribers come: Substack App: 48%; [www.]tomhull.com: 27%; Facebook: 6%.

I didn't get back home until after 6. Orthodontist thought the root canal/crown looked fine, but detected a problem in the tooth next to it, where I had a root canal back in the 1980s. He saw a dark spot at the base of one of the three roots. The tapering of the root canals was very uneven, and one had a large metal post, which he felt couldn't be removed without cracking the tooth, and didn't need to as that base looked to be in good shape. So what he proposed was drilling through the crown, refinishing the other two roots, and filling in the holes. We scheduled that for next Wednesday. It sounded like it's not certain to work, but it makes sense that it could help.

Trip out there was rather unpleasant. I had to maneuver around some repaving on our block. I couldn't get any music to play, although my phone did connect through bluetooth, and music sources displayed the next song in my Spotify playlist. I did get the GPS maps, and asked for the destination to be set to the orthodontist's office. It did that, but I didn't believe the left turn off 21st until I saw it -- I was expecting somewhere further out west. After the appointment, I took a bit more time to get Spotify working, and eventually managed. I felt like lunch, so drove over to McAllister's, which was close to my Walmart destination.

I saw an AT&T store in the same strip mall, so went in to ask them about the car internet connection -- a short free trial came with the car, and is scheduled to expire tomorrow. I've gotten a bunch of email from AT&T about this, but none that explained why I might actually want their service. The guys in the store were helpful only in the sense that they were pretty sure I should just let it lapse and be done with it. Even if I wanted it, they couldn't sign me up unless I already had an AT&T account (and there was some doubt even then). I thought there was a T-Mobile in the area, so I might go over there and try talking to someone. (T-Mobile has a similar service, but little if any information about it online.) Turned out it was a Cox store, so I didn't bother.

I did stop in at Lowe's, and spent considerable time looking around for various things: a broom and dustpan for the garage; some granite surface cleaner; a couple motion-sensor nite lites; a bracket I could use to repair a gap in a fence; another (smaller) component box; some 2-inch angle brackets; some 6-foot stick lumber: 1x3 (2), 1x2 (4). I've been using the smaller sizes quite a bit recently, so felt it would be good to have some surplus on hand. When I got back, I unloaded into the garage, but figured I wouldn't have time to work on much, so closed up. Good thing, as a pretty severe thunderstorm hit an hour or so later We got 0.57-inch rain, and some pretty serious hail, which knocked a lot of leaves down -- I'll have to look for further damage tomorrow.

After Lowe's, I went to Walmart, and ordered two pair of glasses. For distance, I wanted to get a frame with a magnetic clip on to double as sunglasses. I found an Easy Clip frame for $124 that seemed ok, and they wanted $185 for the lenses (standard progressive with anti-glare). For computer, I didn't find a frame I liked better than some of my old ones, so I gave them the old glasses agreed to a $20 service charge. Should come out to $514 plus taxes, minus whatever insurance pays (not much, I gather). That's less than half the price I was looking at with the optometrist's side-business, but a bit more than I was finding for mail order. Should be ready in a week. That's a fairly large item to scratch off my checklist. (As is the dental issue, but that too will take another week to play out.)

Afterwards, I got no real listening or writing done. I did take a look at the bathroom sink cabinet. I pulled everything out a few days ago, a side-effect of trying to clean the floor (which had a half-dozen items one would normally stash under the sink, but there was no room). I need to replace the sink drain pipe, which is badly corroded -- and after I finished sweeping out the cabinet, I had knocked enough gunk off the pipes to open up a small leak. I'm torn between fixing it myself and hiring a plumber: should be pretty easy, but I suspect that when I take a pipe wrench to the fittings, the whole thing is going to crumble. I've been saving the job up to add on to whatever else I need a plumber for next. (One candidate is fixing the basement floor drain. Another is rerouting the water inputs to a new basement sink/cabinet. I basically understand how to do both of those projects, but they involve special equipment as well as expertise. I really should get that floor drain taken care of, as the other basement projects depend on it.)

Meanwhile, I started looking for some kind of organizer for the bathroom cabinet. I didn't find anything usable at Lowe's, but Amazon has a dozen or more options for two-tier slide-out units that can easily fit inside a 30-inch cabinet. (The two door openings are 12w x 17h, with about 21d back to the wall, but more like 16d to the shutoff valves. Most of the units are 7-8w and 11-5d, usually about 12h but taller items would rise above the unit. I eventually decided to splurge a bit with this Toyear unit (black metal, wide bottom basket, narrower top basket, $36 for 2).

I also looked for something I could attach to the doors, but found very little of interest. I may try making something, once I get an idea of how much depth I have left after installing the interior units.

Daily Log

Didn't get to bed until after 4, but slept well enough. Rained quite hard yesterday afternoon, 0.70 inches on gauge, which knocked some more branches down in front. I packed the bigger ones into the trash. Still unseasonably cool: 65F, overcast. Nothing much I have to do today, so the smart thing would be to wrap up last week's big projects: computer, upstairs light, carport pads, wood pile final sort, maybe even start building the kiosk. Alternate would be to write a NOEL post on "More Thoughts About Sanders and Capitalism." Or just piddle away with Loose Tabs. Morning music is the new Fieldwork album.

Email: 23 messages: nothing special.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, September archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 35 albums, 8 A-list

Music: Current count 44780 [44745] rated (+35), 22 [24] unrated (-2).

New records reviewed this week:

• Gino Amato: Latin Crossroads 2 (2025, Ovation): [cd]: B+(*)
• Oren Ambarchi & Eric Thielemans: Kind Regards (2023 [2025], AD 93): [sp]: B+(**)
• Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werlin: Ghosted III (2024 [2025], Drag City): [sp]: B+(***)
• Apollo Brown & Bronze Nazareth: Funeral for a Dream (2025, Escapism): [sp]: A-
• Rodney Crowell: Airline Highway (2025, New West): [sp]: B+(***)
• Jesse Daniel: Son of the San Lorenzo (2025, Lightning Rod): [sp]: B+(**)
• Matt Daniel: The Poet (2025, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Joe Ely: Love & Freedom (2025, Rack 'Em): [sp]: B+(***)
• Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds Featuring Catherine Russell: Cat & the Hounds (2024 [2025], Turtle Bay): [cd]: A-
• The Hives: The Hives Forever Forever the Hives (2025, PIAS): [sp]: B+(***)
• Cody Jinks: In My Blood (2025, Late August): [sp]: B+(*)
• Olivia Ellen Lloyd: Do It Myself (2025, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
• Tony Logue: Dark Horse (2025, Jenny Ridge Productions): [sp]: B+(***)
• Roberto Magris: Lovely Day(s) (2024 [2025], JMood): [cd]: B+(***)
• Juliet McConkey: Southern Front (2025, Soggy Anvil): [sp]: B+(*)
• Brad Mehldau: Ride Into the Sun (2025, Nonesuch): [sp]: B
• Nerves Baddington: Driving Off Cliffs (2025, Apt. B Productions): [sp]: B+(**)
• Cam Pierce: A Thousand Lonely Horses (2025, self-released): [os]: A-
• Ken Pomeroy: Cruel Joke (2025, Rounder): [sp]:
• Queen Herawin: Awaken the Sleeping Giant (2025, Matic): [sp]: A-
• Ravita Jazz: Alice Blue (2025, Ravita Music): [cd]: B
• Steve Rosenbloom Big Band: San Francisco 1948 (2024 [2025], Glory): [cd]: C
• Gonzalo Rubalcaba/Chris Potter/Eric Harland/Larry Grenadier: First Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club (2022 [2025], 5Passion): [cd]: B+(***)
• Jaleel Shaw: Painter of the Invisible (2022 [2025], Changu): [cd]: A-
• Sam Stoane: Tales of the Dark West (2025, Cloverdale): [sp]: A-
• Turnpike Troubadours: The Price of Admission (2025, Bossier City): [sp]: B+(*)
• Molly Tuttle: So Long Little Miss Sunshine (2025, Nonesuch): [sp]: B+(**)
• Vega7 the Ronin/Machacha: The Ghost Orchid (2025, Copenhagen Crates): [sp]: B+(***)
• Hayley Williams: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party (2025, Post Atlantic): [sp]: B+(**)
• Miguel Zenón Quartet: Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (2024 [2025], Miel Music): [cd]: A

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• John Lee Hooker: The Standard School Broadcast Recordings (1973 [2025], BMG): [sp]: A
• Steve Tintweiss and the Purple Why: Live in Tompkins Square Park 1967 (1967 [2025], Inky Dot Media): [cd]: B+(**)
• Zulu Guitar Blues: Cowboys, Troubadours and Jilted Lovers 1950-1965 (1950-65 [2025], Matsuli Music): [sp]: B+(**)

Old music:

• Brad Mehldau: Après Fauré (2023 [2024], Nonesuch): [sp]: B
• Brad Mehldau: After Bach II (2017-23 [2024], Nonesuch): [sp]: B
• Brad Mehldau/Ian Bostridge: The Folly of Desire (2022 [2023], Nonesuch): [sp]: B-
• Perico Sambeat: Ademuz (1995 [1998], Fresh Sound New Talent): [sp]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Armen Donelian: Stargazer (Sunnyside) [10-03]
• Phil Haynes & Free Country: Liberty Now! (Corner Store Jazz) [10-17]
• Rubén Reinaldo: Fusión Olivica (Free Code Jazz) [06-04]
• Jovino Santos Neto Quartet: Mais Que Tudo: Live at Kerry Hall 1995 (Origin) [09-19]
• Craig Taborn/Nels Cline/Marcus Gilmore: Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) [09-26]
• Milan Verbist Trio: Time Change (Origin) [09-19]

Daily Log

Well, August is done. I suppose I should count surviving it as some kind of accomplishment, but I have little more to show for the month, or for that matter for all of summer. I'll probably write about that in Music Week later today, so I should skip that for now. I did get a reasonable night's sleep, until 11:10 AM, 411 minutes, using the large mask, AHI down to 1.0, average pressure 8.5, high pressure 12.0. Got up and read about John Hobson, the paradox of thrift, and the economic folly of imperialism. He also appears to have been one of the first to discover what was later dubbed the military-industrial complex. There is a line about when a nation reaches a certain level of "development, inequality, and rent-seeking." We've been there for a long time, but it does seem to have continued getting worse.

Mail: 11 messages, but nothing much. Brad Luen's "Odds & Ends 148" suggests some listening.

Aug 2025