Monthly Playlist – January 2021

Back again! January’s always a pretty slow month but I found a lot to like. A mix of things that hit my radar as I read other people’s year end lists, advance singles of Spring records I’m salivating over, and a smattering of new records.

Where to buy selections here available on Bandcamp, courtesy of Hype Machine’s Merch Table feature – https://hypem.com/merch-table/7BKaiIU7RORD4z0VEkLQEy

Read on for notes.

• El Michels Affair with Piya Malik, “Murkit Gem” – Piya Malik’s gorgeous, silky smoke vocals drift through the infectious organ and widescreen drums on this new classic El Michels Affair track. 
• Here Lies Man, “Come Inside” – Here Lies Man returned with a slab of the heavy ‘60s psych rock flecked with touches of Afrobeat they’re known for and I don’t think there’s a bad song on it. If touring music comes back this year, they’re at the top of bands I want to see come through my town.
• Orgone, “Picture on my Wall – Live” – One of my favorite live acts, I’ve watched LA’s funk lifers Orgone burn down rooms so full the walls were cracking and bars that only had five people I didn’t know. With Raw & Direct they finally bottle that sweaty power for your own house parties. When we get to have parties again, expect to become intimately familiar with this record, especially this raw, slinky take on this 2015 gem.
• Kalbells, “Purplepink” – Continuing the train threading the needles of woozy and funky we’re on, this project that combines Rubblebucket’s Kalmia Traver and Angelica Bass’s vocals with Sarah Pedinotti’s surging synth bass, Zoe Brecher’s tight and jittery drums, and Maddie Rice’s neon guitar. A couples skate juiced by an eighth of mushrooms.
• Jazmine Sullivan featuring H.E.R, “Girl Like Me” – An early contender for record of the year, Sullivan’s flawless Heaux Tales is a riveting, personal record with vocal melodies as addictive as they are hard to pin down and witty, incisive lyrics. This duet with H.E.R was an early standout but it’s already got half a dozen of my favorite R&B songs.
• Pink Siifu and Fly Anakin, “Suitcase Special” – FlySiifu’s collaboration album works beautifully as simultaneously a throwback to the classic digging in the crates rap I OD’ed on in college and a fresh, updated version of same. The kind of textured songs that dare you to unravel them and keep revealing something new.
• Nick Waterhouse, “Place Names” – Delicious new slab of Nick Waterhouse in his lower-register dramatic Roy Orbison mode. Drenched in strings around strutting piano and crisp snare like cold rain falling on a long downtown walk.
• Sunburned Hand of the Man, “A Deep Root” – 2019’s show at Dirty Dungarees reacquainted me with one of my favorite bands from shortly after college, Boston’s freak folk collective Sunburned Hand of the Man, and revealed new urban angular funk textures, a serrated On The Corner-era Miles energy. This new record Absolute Flake in the Forest deploys that power in spades and it’s one of my favorite things to write to in the new year.
• The Cavemen, “Eat Your Heart and Wear Your Face” – This injection of snotty, knucklehead New Zealand punk was exactly the palate cleanser I needed. Whenever I need a jolt, I throw this on.
• Fox Face, “Fan the Flames” – Milwaukee’s Fox Face are my first new favorite band of 2021. Out of the fertile but frequently underrecognized Milwaukee scene, they remind me of Sheer Mag but with a much heavier post-hardcore bend. Big hooks burst out of the guitars and the driving rhythms seem born to soundtrack your next dance party that breaks out in the middle of a fistfight.
• shame, “Nigel Hitter” – London’s shame turn up the nascent dance elements in their blistering classic post-punk on this, one of my favorites of their new one, Drunk Tank Pink. One of my favorite live bands of recent years, they turned Spacebar – usually one of the more staid venues in town – into a maelstrom of beautiful chaos when they came through in 2018 and they do a stellar job capturing that energy on record.
• Mmzy with Seun Kuti, “Animal” – New start of the Nigerian scene Mmzy brings in true Lagos royalty Seun Kuti (whose show at Alrosa a few years ago still reverberates in my bones) for a wistful sax solo on this infectious, hypnotic hip-hop track.
• The City Champs, “Luna ‘68” – The City Champs sounded like Memphis before I ever went there. After a couple of killing organ trio records in the late ‘00s they splintered to do other things – guitarist Joe Restivo played in fiery soul traditionalists The Bo-Keys, organist Al Gamble was key to St Paul and The Broken Bones’ rocket ride. This tune conjures a bursting, grainy opening credits sequence with characters walking with big strides – as the first taste of their reunion record, it gives me so much joy. 
• PJ Harvey, “This Mess We’re In (Demo)” – I’ve been a massive PJ Harvey fan since Rid of Me came out when I was in High School and love most of her records. I have a special soft spot for her New York record, Stories of the City, Stories of the Sea, and attach countless fond memories to playing songs off it on the St. James Tavern jukebox with some of my best friends to this day, This demo – in advance of an expanded reissue – takes the sultry duet with Thom Yorke from the final record and puts that dialogue back in a single person’s head and a single voice, it feels like those looping, jittering conversations, what I said and wished I did or didn’t, walking down a city street. It’s beautiful to someone who loves and lived with the other version for 20 years and I’m curious how it feels to someone coming to the song for the first time.
• Richard Hell, “Time (Destiny Street Demos) – Live” – Richard Hell’s Auden-like peripatetic reworking of his slim but classic rock and roll catalog is a mixed bag, but you can say the same thing about Auden (I’ve heard far more people quote the first “September 1, 1939” than the more poetically airtight later version). His Destiny Street always felt harder to love than the scorching debut Blank Generation and his attempts to layer on different lead guitars in Revisited had some interesting elements. This new deluxe reissue – Destiny Street Complete –  is the best of all worlds. The original mix and re-recording paired on one disc, a remix with Nick Zimmer that makes the original pop and sparkle in its grime, and a jaw-dropping set of demos and singles. This live take on one of my favorite of his songs puts the ragged, wistful quality of the voice front and center, nudged and jousted with by a guitar (I assume Quine but I’ve been wrong before on that), in a bravura, tearjerking ending. “Time and time again, I knew what I was doing. And time and time again I just made things worse. It seems you see the most of what is really true when you’re stepping into your hearse.”
• Bilal featuring Nikki Jean, “Black Coffee in Bed” – Kind of continuing the theme of artists I went nuts for around the time of college, neo-soul exemplar, Bilal (who’s still crushing, seeing him at Note still grows in my memory) takes on, with Minnesota singer-songwriter Nikki Jean, one of my favorite Squeeze songs. They capture the joy, laughing with the character’s predicament at starting over and making it into art; buoyed by jaunty horns and a stinging, slithering guitar line.
• Milly May, “Someone 2 Me” – These Milly May songs keep getting better and better, some of the best club music hitting my radar with the right mix of melancholy and hope I remember from my 20s and a light, grooving touch that never overpowers the lyric or melody but would keep a floor moving.
• Nao featuring Adekunle Gold, “Antidote” – English singer-songwriter Nao teams up with Nigerian rising star Adekunle Gold for this beautiful ode to their daughters, all dappled sunlight and wam breezes and promise things will get better and hanging on just enough of an unresolved melody to acknowledge there will be more darkness and keep us in suspense but without invalidating or cutting down the joy in the rest of the track.
• Mocky featuring Liliana Andrade, “Feeling Like I Like” – Another playful slab of retro club fun, one of the most infectious hooks I’ve heard in forever. I wish I’d made notes of whose year end list hipped me to this track because it made me wish we were throwing a party tomorrow.
• Palberta, “All Over My Face” – I always liked Palberta but often it felt like the elements didn’t cohere for me. This new one, Palberta5000, finally made everything click in my head but without losing any of their sublime weirdness, their hunger to chase ideas down alleyways and off cliffs. This exuberant, messy, ingenious track grabbed me the minute I heard it and I’ve probably played it 20 times in the last few weeks.
• Valerie June, “Stay” – This taste of a new album by one of my favorite songwriters is the kind of stirring, rich soul song nobody does better, with a luxurious hook and words that burned right into me fused to an exciting, dramatic arrangement pairing martial drumming with bright, crackling strings and deep, rich horns.
• Gary Smulyan and Ronnie Cuber, “Well You Needn’t” – Hat tip to Andrew Patton’s unfailing radar for the low horns, this record of two of the finest bari sax players working today, appropriately called Tough Baritones, backed by a burning rhythm section of Gary Versace’s piano, Jay Anderson’s bass and Jason Tiemann’s drums, was exactly the classic hardbop I’ve been craving on some cold nights. This take on one of my favorite Monk tunes is one of many highlights here.
• Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo, “Juguete” – One of my favorite alto players, Miguel Zenón brought out this gorgeous record of duets with pianist Perdomo, diving deep into the bolero form. This tune by the great Puerto Rican writer Bobby Capó, dances between childlike joy and a deep undercurrent of sadness.
• Bill Callahan and Bonnie “Prince” Billy featuring George Xylouris, “Rooftop Garden” – I love both of their bodies of work but these covers coming out of Callahan and Oldham have been hit and miss for me. This beautiful, fragile take on Lou Reed’s meditation on peace in the middle of urban chaos is the exception, it gripped my heartstrings immediately, helped by Xylouris’s chiming lute. A strong breeze could make me miss New York as I pass a year since I was last there but this hit me hard with those feelings.
• Tekla Waterfield and Jeff Fielder, “Let There Be” – This loping hymn from the wife and husband duo of Waterfield and Fielder is like unexpected warm sunshine right when you’re sure the world will never be anything but gray again.
• Kacy & Clayton and Marlon Williams, “I’m Unfamiliar” – Duo Kacy & Clayton, and a stellar rhythm section teamed up with New Zealand singer-songwriter Williams, songs all written by Kacy and Marlon, for a delightful shot of classic folk. This songs glides on an organ line I couldn’t get enough of and a swinging, dusty drum pattern. “The moon shines like a beacon through the night as we are wanderin’ home”
• Aaron Frazer, “Ride With Me” – Reminding me a little of Mayer Hawthorne, Frazer’s grinning soulman falsetto and the bouncing rhythm here arrived early but came tailor made for long, sunny drives.
• Matt LaJoie, “Kuchina’s Dance” – LaJoie’s glistening guitar instrumentals build into gleaming crystal structures changing the light that shines through them with almost imperceptible waves of motion. I’m still unpacking the bottomless beauty of this record.
• Landlady, “Supernova” – One of my favorite projects from Adam Schatz returns with a piece that plumbs darker, more tightly coiled depths than his previous Talking Heads-y material. Lush and weird and tense in all the right places as he moans “Why did my friend have to die?”
• Menahan Street Band, “The Duke” – Concluding this chunk of the playlist marked by bouncy, infectious organ, this return from Menahan Street Band takes an outtake from their acclaimed collaboration with Charles Bradley and fleshes it out into an explosive, poppy carnival ride.
• Frozen Soul, “Twist The Knife” – This might only fall into that same carnival ride category for me. As a teenager, I gravitated hard to the Earache-style death metal bands and this Texas band’s first full-length hits all those buttons of nostalgia and fist-pumping catharsis without being a slavish throwback.
• The Notwist featuring Juana Molina, “Al Sur” – I went down a Juana Molina rabbithole after Marcy Mays mentioned the terrific Wexner Center show I’d seen of hers a decade ago and this new collaboration with German band The Notwist fulfilled that sweet tooth I was hungry to indulge: a featherlight dance number with her evocative vocals and unmistakable synth playing.
• Vast Aire and Cosmiq, “Good Fuel” – In a crowded field of gems, Cannibal Ox’s first record The Cold Vein was my favorite Def Jux disc for many years. Even an odd live show at Springfest featuring just Vast Aire and Metro (later of the fantastic party duo SA Smash Bros) as hypeman without the other rapping member of the group, Vordul Mega, didn’t diminish my ardor for that brilliant, bitter record. This new Vast Aire collaboration with the producer Cosmiq is a strong, pure dose of that energy.
• Terminal Bliss, “March of the Grieving Droid” – Short, stabbing furious dystopian post-punk from this Virginia band.
• The Jazz at Lincon Center Orchestra Septet with Wynton Marsalis, “Be Present” – I’ve softened significantly on Wynton Marsalis’s work over the years – going back to records I liked but still felt regressive in my teens like Hothouse Flowers and Black Codes From the Underground, and checking back in with what he’s doing now. His new The Democracy! Suite is an excellent example of his powers as composer and bandleader, leading a tight and flexible selection of players from his JLCO in a driven, purposeful, melodic suite of pieces.
• Patricia Brennan, “Magic Square” – This solo record by vibes/marimba player Brennan is a magical collection of swirling, almost surreal landscape painting. This piece in particular feels like walking through an Olafur Eliasson installation, surprising but organic, warm but threaded with intellectual rigor.
• Ayelet Rose Gottlieb, “Moon Story” – I became a fan of Gottlieb’s work through her early pieces on John Zorn’s Tzadik label but lost touch for a while. Her masterful new record, 13 Lunar Meditations: Summoning The Witches features that clear voice, thickened and sharpened, swimming through beguiling melodies in concert with other astonishing vocalists and a crack band including Aram Bajakian on guitar and Stéphane Diamantakiou on bass.
• Cassandra Jenkins, “Michelangelo” – This song made my blood run cold when I first heard it. A perfect declaration of self-determination whose low-key melody makes the first burn hotter, and an acknowledgement of the loss that comes with trying to invent yourself. Swirling strings and echoing, ominous drums help propel this into three dimensions. “I’m Michelangelo and I carve myself out of marble when I don’t know how to grow flowers out of arrows.:
• Lydia Luce, “All The Time” – Nashville’s go-to string player deepens her songwriting and singing on this bombastic lightning bolt that recalls classic Emmylou Harris and early Sarah Borges. “Oh, I need you to step into the light.”
• Corey Ledet Zydeco, “Buchanan Ledet Special” – Zydeco’s always had a place in my heart and this magical, swinging tribute from accordionist-singer Corey Ledet to his grandfather who played drums with legends like Clifton Chenier and Rockin’ Dopsie is everything I love about the genre.
• Michael Beach, “De Facto Blues” – This taste of a new album from one of my favorite acts in this year’s weird but lovely virtual Gonerfest is a snarling tribute to disaffection and a classic slice of dirty Americana filtered through that thriving Melbourne scene. A big hook roughed up just enough.
• Steve Earle, “Ain’t Glad I’m Leaving” – Released on Justin Townes Earle’s birthday, his father’s tribute J.T. was the first no-qualifications great record of 2021. On the spectrum of Earle’s tribute records, this is closer to Guy with its flexible arrangements highlighting the best parts of these songs and approached from one writer to another. Earle highlights the loose ragtime his son did better than most and goose it with the classic Texas swing he grew up with. A joyous celebration and a wink back at his own past, the ragged bad-boy jean jacket he wore for years with the muscle memory that no amount of maturity and good sense can ever fully eradicate. “If you ain’t glad I’m leaving, girl, you know, you oughta be.”