Category: record reviews

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Best Of record reviews

Best of 2021 – Recorded Music

As per the last couple years, my comments will be with more wide-ranging playlists going up in a week or so, this is a place holder because I do like to look back at a snapshot of what records spoke to me as I looked back on the year. Bandcamp links where available. 

New Material 

  1. Allison Russell, Outside Child 
  1. Tyshawn Sorey and Alarm Will Sound, For George Lewis/Autoschediasms 
  1. John Paul Keith, The Rhythm of The City 
  1. Moor Mother, Black Encyclopedia of the Air 
  1. Genesis Owusu, Smiling With No Teeth 

(Could not find Bandcamp)

  1. Marisa Anderson and William Tyler, Lost Futures 
  1. Reigning Sound, A Little More Time With The Reigning Sound 
  1. Sons of Kemet, Black To The Future 
  1. Powers/Rolin Duo, Strange Fortune 
  1. William Parker, Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World 
  1. Adia Victoria, A Southern Gothic 
  1. Moviola, Broken Rainbows 
  1. Arooj Aftab, Vulture Prince 
  1. Gentleman Jesse, Lose Everything 
  1. James Brandon Lewis’s Red Lily Quartet, Jesup Wagon 
  1. Yasmin Williams, Urban Driftwood 
  1. Jojra Smith, Be Right Back 

(Couldn’t Find Bandcamp)

  1. James McMurtry, The Horses and The Hounds 
  1. Elizabeth King, Living in the Last Days 
  1. Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson, Searching For the Disappeared Hour 

Reissue and/or Archival 

  1. Various Artists, It’s a Good, Good Feeling: The Latin Soul of Fania Records 

(Couldn’t Find Bandcamp)

  1. PJ Harvey, Stories From The City, Stories From the Sea – Demos 

(Couldn’t Find Bandcamp)

  1. Various Artists, The Daptone Super Soul Revue LIVE at the Apollo 
  1. The Long Blondes, Someone To Drive You Home: 15th Anniversary Edition 

(No embed link) https://thelongblondes.bandcamp.com/releases

5. Various Artists, Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1 

(Couldn’t find Bandcamp)

  1. The Bush Tetras, Rhythm & Paranoia: The Best of the Bush Tetras 
  1. Joni Mitchell, Archives Vol. 2, The Reprise Years

(Couldn’t Find Bandcamp)

  1. Lee Morgan, Complete Live at the Lighthouse 

(Couldn’t Find Bandcamp)

  1. Various Artists, Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1 
  1. Roy Hargrove/Mulgrew Miller, In Harmony 
  1. Don Cherry, The Summer House Sessions 
  1. Leo Nocentelli, Another Side 
  1. Sun Ra, Lanquidity (Definitive Edition) 
  1. Squarepusher, Feed Me Weird Things (25th Anniversary Edition) 
  1. Various Artists, Cameroon Garage Funk 
Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – October 2021

It feels like Fall, my favorite season, in more than one sense. And this marks a full year since I’ve been doing these – they helped keep me tethered to some sense of loving music and art and wanting to share that with people even as other outlets dried up in the depths of last year, and I’m grateful for anyone who pressed play, who said something kind or told me they found a song or an artist they didn’t hear before, or who read any of these notes. Thanks, as always. 

Bandcamp links where available, courtesy of Hype Machine’s Merch Table function: https://hypem.com/merch-table/0BgevKbvPofQ0xMv6zweXs

Continue reading “Playlist – October 2021”
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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – September 2021

Stumbled hard a few times this month but righted the ship. Still struggling with some levels of burnout but I see the light, and I’ve started some habits that are showing some positive signs. And had some remarkable feelings of normality, in all the best ways – the first weekend I had to review three shows. First writing for a new outlet run by good friends.

Seeing other friends for the first time in person since before the pandemic and good lord, it’s amazing how much energy I’ve missed from those people it never would have occurred to see every week or anything but who bring something ineffable to my life. First Pink Elephant in 18 months, coupled with returning from Gonerfest and a full week of theater reviews led to this being a little more delayed than I’d like; back to the first week of the month next month. 

And this, the year anniversary of these playlists which give me more joy than I expected when I started and I’ve gotten remarkably positive feedback about. Thanks for listening. Thanks for letting me know what you think. Thanks for being here. I love you. 

For bandcamp links, courtesy of Hype Machine’s essential Merch Table feature: https://hypem.com/merch-table/4lo8VPqshOImwYp23tpQBD

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"Hey, Fred!" Playlist record reviews

Playlist – August 2021

Had a hard time getting going, a hard time connecting for the first half of this month: to music, to relationships, to writing. Some of that was the lingering fallout from my COVID breakthrough case, part was in response to the overwhelming, oppressive heat beyond what Ohio’s used to in August, and some was just ennui, the wall I hit after rushing too hard to get things close to a normal we might not see again without making the proper allowances for stamina and change. 

But I made it through, some interactions with old and new friends, a couple astonishing shows, some mind-blowing theatre as local troupes come back, and a handful of those moments where I was playing a new record while I’m on the treadmill at the gym or walking to the bus to work and a song felt like a lightning bolt going up and down my spine. They all reminded me why I do this and what I want to be. Thanks for listening and checking in. I hope you find something to enjoy here. 

As usual, keep reading below for notes on the songs. 

Bandcamp links courtesy of Hype Machine’s Merch Table: https://hypem.com/merch-table/671AAQ5TJFQzBboAqN20E6

Continue reading “Playlist – August 2021”
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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – July 2021

Riding the wave of my return to New York but brought down by one of those breakthrough infections you hear about, and that colors the party we were planning to throw as I wrote this but held off a month considering the numbers as well as this playlist. The crushing heatwaves in both cities I wandered through this month also seep into the sticky party and the sweaty paranoid melancholy of this month’s selections. Hope you enjoy, as always. Continue reading for notes. 

Bandcamp versions via Hype Machine’s merch table feature: https://hypem.com/merch-table/7u5B2p361qPgOG7JUcApPu

Continue reading “Playlist – July 2021”
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Playlist record reviews

Monthly Playlist – June 2021

As spring rounded its bend toward summer, Anne and I took our first extended vacation since prior to the pandemic and it was a good mix of doing things, seeing both strangers and friends, and chilling the hell out. Saw phenomenal sets of Reigning Sound, Chuck Mead, and The Veldt. I think that influenced this month’s selections – reacquainting myself with the rhythm of airports, planes, favorite roads and coffee shops in beloved cities but also the surprising kind of slowed-down vacation where my usual Friday’s sort through new records was done with coffee on the porch of a beach house I’d never done before. 

Columbus is returning to life and most of what has my number so far has been jazz – Randy Mather leading the Joe Diamond tribute act Rhinestone Quartet getting a packed dancefloor to the hard bop anthem “The Sidewinder” was magic. Brett Burleson leading another quartet with the great Eddie Bayard on tenor moving from one of his slow-burn ballad originals into an eye-of-the hurricane stomping take on Monk’s “Rhythm-a-ning” almost knocked me out of my chair. 

Also, as you can probably tell from the full-to-bulging nature of this list, a bounty of music to love. Continue reading for notes on the songs.

Bandcamp links courtesy of the Hype Machine’s Merch Table feature: https://hypem.com/merch-table/0o869LnrgxOKiD4yyxpvqi

Continue reading “Monthly Playlist – June 2021”
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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – May 2021

I spent April in an anxiety-ridden state of transition: a dash of survivor’s guilt, a splash of irrational exuberance, a sprinkling of always-remember-it’s-not-over-yet, and a magnum of remembering how my socialization muscles feel when they move.  

May was better, even as my heart went out to friends still suffering – with a particular eye on the Hyderabad team who I work with every day and who have taken some horrific losses. Only time will tell, but I think this month’s selections reflect that. As always, thank you for reading, for commenting, for turning me onto stuff that made this list, and for being part of my life. 

Bandcamp links where available, courtesy of Hype Machine’s Merch Table feature: https://hypem.com/merch-table/53h8NSehhgehtUqPtube5l

Continue reading for notes on each song: 

Continue reading “Playlist – May 2021”
Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – April 2021

Thank you, as always for reading and listening. Continue reading for notes on these songs. Bandcamp links courtesy of Hype Machine’s merch table functionality: https://hypem.com/merch-table/6VJZXb6W3X9LsAaHw7gCGo

Continue reading “Playlist – April 2021”
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Playlist record reviews

Playlist – March 2021

Spring feels good as it comes in fits and starts. Optimism leavened with more loss – most recently one of the best, kindest, most enthusiastic music fans I ever had the opportunity to know (and not know as well as I wish I had), Matt Bush. It’s hard to think of going back out to shows again and not seeing Matt’s face. Continue reading for notes on these songs.

Courtesy of the Hype Machine’s merch table function, links to Bandcamp for much of this: https://hypem.com/merch-table/57zbpIN0jYPAPewlwQJBE5

Continue reading “Playlist – March 2021”
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Playlist record reviews

Monthly Playlist – February 2021

Thinking a lot about absent friends lately, and I’m sure that colored these choices. But usual winter melancholy and spiraling showed up, so I tried to counteract that with as much dancing as possible. Courtesy of Hype Machine, a merch table for this playlist: https://hypem.com/merch-table/42OpOdyNgQoMcq1KHEqQ45

Continue reading for notes on these songs.

Continue reading “Monthly Playlist – February 2021”