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Best Of theatre

Best of 2023 – Theater/Opera/Dance

Brother/Hood/Dance, photo by Ryan Muir, courtesy of the Wexner Center

What a great year for theater – seeing 53 shows over four cities, with particularly good batting averages on the three New York trips. Also, every company in Columbus was hitting this year. Some of the best work I’ve seen in years from MadLab, Opera Columbus, and Evolution, lined up with front-to-back strong seasons from The Contemporary (formerly CATCO) and Available Light, a renewed interest in dance and theater from the Wexner Center, Short North Stage stretching its wings, all added up to more I wanted to see than I could make happen. Even when I didn’t love some of the work, almost every single thing I saw, I admired the effort and the swing they took. It’s a good time to be a fan of theater in town, get out and see as much as possible,

Everything listed here is in chronological order and in Columbus unless otherwise noted. The companies provided all photos for promotion, either sent to me directly or taken from websites.

Wilma Hatton and Ricardo Jones in ‘Snowville Cafe’, photo by Steve Malone
  • KL II by Kaneza Schaal, directed by Kaneza Schaal and Christopher Myers (Under the Radar Festival, NYC) – I only made it to one thing out of the three I had booked at Under the Radar this year – one canceled early, one canceled while I was at the Public – but this reaffirmed what a great thing the festival is for those of us who love experimental theater. Kaneza Schaal braided the text of Mark Twain’s King Leopold’s Soliloquy with a personal history with Patrice Lumumba’s independence speech with personal history with so much else and fused it to a blue flame of a performance and fascinating design and direction choices.
  • Snowville Cafe by Julie Whitney-Scott, directed by James Blackmon (MadLab) – Julie Whitney-Scott, one of my favorite theater artists in town, had an astonishing year directing a regional premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Lynn Nottage, classics like Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun, leading her spectacular tradition of Columbus Black Theater Festival, writing her first novel, it was a dazzling record of work. But my favorite piece, the thing that I kept talking about months after it closed, was this luminous slice of life James Blackmon directed for MadLab. I called it “a poetic character study that also makes its setting a vibrant, fascinating character, with a real love for its characters but a sometimes unsparing eye for their faults. The empathy of the writing and direction are so perfectly in sync they almost seem invisible,” in my review for Columbus Underground.
  • Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by David Glover (Available Light) – Available Light continued their astonishing streak this year. Everything they did had the unshakable feeling of “I can’t picture anyone else doing this.” David Glover’s stunning production and brilliant cast were up to the challenge of fusing the technical difficulty – the main five actors pull their characters out of a hat – to the piece’s deep themes and rich humor. I said it, “[highlights the shifting volatility, the danger of using our friends as a mirror of ourselves, but the absolute necessity of friends,” in my review for  Columbus Underground.
  • Afro/Solo/Man by Orlando Zane Hunter, Jr. and Ricarrdo Valentine (Brother(hood) Dance, presented by Wexner Center for the Arts) – The Wexner Center also pulled itself up this year, drawing on some local talent and some far-flung relationships, to put out work I can’t picture any other presenting organization bringing to town. This gut-wrenching dance piece by Hunter and Valentine, about generational trauma and internalized shame but also abundant, bursting-at-the-seams joy, had me babbling about it for weeks after seeing it.
Monica Danilov-Marquez, Maria de Buenos Aires, Opera Columbus; photo by Terry Gilliam
  • Maria de Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer, directed by Christopher Darling (Opera Columbus) – Opera Columbus continues killing it and this Piazzolla operetta lined up with my tastes with sniper-like precision. I said, “The parallel singing and dancing choruses also set the world of the play, accentuating the collage aspects and the surging drama and eroticism. This riff on an opera-ballet with tango feels simultaneously organic and surprising,” in my piece for Columbus Underground.
  • Seven Guitars by August Wilson, directed by Ron OJ Parson (Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati) – Finally got to see the last of the August Wilson Pittsburgh cycle with this sumptuous production at one of Ohio’s shining theaters, Cincy’s Playhouse in the Park. Bryant Bentley’s Red Carter and Dimonte Henning’s Schoolboy Barton are performances burned into my brain.
Sue Wismar in foreground, Elizabeth Girvin and Sydney Jordan Baker in background, When We Were Young and Unafraid, photo by Cat McAlpine
  • When We Were Young and Unafraid by Sarah Treem, directed by Michelle Batt (eMBer Women’s Theatre) – eMBer Women’s Theatre has come into its own over the last few years, and this year they blew me the hell away with a gorgeous, knife-twisting look at shifting social mores, pervasive sexual violence, the need to connect – and the way that can be a source of strength or twisted into something terrible, with astonishing performances, especially by Sue Wismar and Matthew Sierra. I said, “[The] characters’ arguments about the times changing and the chilling prescient words “They’ll change back,” resonate long after the lights go back on the play,” in my review for Columbus Underground.
  • The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, directed by Aviva Helena Neff (The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio) – The second production of Sarah DeLappe’s magnificent coming-of-age play The Wolves I’ve seen in a few years, and I’m still knocked out by the play and the synchronicity in coming together and splitting apart personified by the cast hear left my jaw in my lap with awe and broke me in the right measures. For Columbus Underground, I said, “[It] reminded me of its ability to surprise through the quality and sharpness of its execution. It’s hard for me to picture seeing a better production of this beautiful, life-affirming, heartbreaking play.
  • Machinal by Sophie Treadwell, directed by Ryan Naughton (The Sound Company) – Ryan Naughton and Jessica Hughes gave the Columbus theatrical scene a powerful shot in the arm in their few years here, teaching at OSU, and their crowning achievement was a powerful production of landmark expressionist play Machinal by their Sound Company. I said, This production is rich with jagged beauty and a perfect example of how irony can be used to make something hurt more, not less. How much more potent can abstraction be at evoking a feeling than spelling something,” for Columbus Underground.
Jessica Hughes, Machinal, photo by Blake Mintz
  • Beautiful by Doug McGrath and the music of Carole King et al, directed by Dionysia Williams (Short North Stage) – I didn’t see a bad production by Short North Stage all year, but this jukebox musical – which might have had the hardest go with me walking in, given the depth of my familiarity and love of the Carole King-Gerry Goffin songs and the milieu around them, and this captured it so perfectly, anchored by brilliant performances by Britta Rae, Corbin Payne, and Nick Lingnofski. For Columbus Underground, I said, “The book has enough pain and richness to give ballast to the material, but Beautiful never lets anything get in the way of the power and beauty of these songs.”
  • The Comeuppance by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Eric Ting (Signature Theatre Company, NYC) – Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is one of the playwrights I’ll see anything that comes out if I can at all make work. I was overjoyed that one of the last matinees overlapped with our middle trip to New York this year. I got there – after two hours a few blocks north of the Signature complex having some drinks and laughs at staple Rudy’s Bar and Grill- and was dismayed to find out the performance was over two hours with no intermission. I’m used to that meaning, “We don’t trust the material/we want to exert some dominance over the audience/people will leave.” But for 2:15, I was staggered, enraptured, blown away. Every tool Jacobs-Jenkins has carefully sharpened is deployed in heartbreaking, unsettling ways with a phenomenal cast in this mythopoetic riff on The Big Chill that tells a story about reckoning with youth, trauma, and who has the right to a story; to pain; that I haven’t heard before. I’m dying to see this again and have already pre-ordered the script in book form (coming out next summer). I saw a couple of things this year where I both immediately said, “This is the best thing I’ve seen,” and I still think that later in the year (you’ll see the other further down this list); this was one of them.
  • Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, directed by Thomas Kail (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, NYC) – I’ve seen a good number of the recent Sweeney Todd revivals, the first Sondheim I loved thanks to an introduction to the taped George Hearn/Angela Lansbury performance from childhood friend Matt Porreca, and I love the attempts at realism, psychological or otherwise. But it was an unalloyed joy to see this Thomas Kail-directed version that focused on the sumptuous music, playing the original orchestrations and with a dynamite lead from Josh Groban, in almost a sharp-edged comic book interpretation. And as with the Sunday Anne and I saw a few years ago, Annaleigh Ashford’s Mrs. Lovett runs away with the whole goddam show, just a dynamite performance.
The Comeuppance photo by Monique Carboni
  • The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez, directed by Joe Bishara (Evolution Theatre Company) – Evolution has been swinging for the fences the last couple of years, and, in my eyes, it’s really paid off. The ambition of this huge cast recasting of Howard’s End to deal with the aftermath of the AIDS crisis, which was the play everyone was talking about when Anne and I were in London (and I couldn’t fit it into the schedule), follows great work Evolution has done with Lopez’s writing like the intimate character-driven Poz and gets to luxuriate in this over two three-hour parts. I called it, “About how we tell stories, how stories bring us together, give us a framework for living, and in the same breath – and sometimes the same story – let us delude ourselves and others, build walls, and slowly (or slowly-then-suddenly) rot us from the inside,” as I reviewed Part 1 and Part 2 for Columbus Underground.
  • POTUS by Selena Fillinger, directed by Leda Hoffmann (The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio) – Fresh off Broadway, POTUS affirmed Hoffmann’s commitment to brand new work and stewardship as CATCO transitioned into The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio. It’s a crackling burlesquing of the highest hallways of power and riotous, hilarious entertainment. It may have been the hardest I laughed all year. I said the production was “A springloaded machine of everything getting worse in ways we see coming, but at just enough of an angle, the wind is knocked from our lungs as a precursor to the following laughs. Hoffmann and her cast excel at this, ratcheting in the tension up, weaving in call-backs (if there’s another inflection you can put on “ass play” we don’t see in this play, I can’t think of it) so they embed in our brains and still getting that jolt of surprise when they detonate, with just enough release to make the pace feel frenzied without being exhausting,” in Columbus Underground.
  • What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck, directed by Dakota Thorn (Available Light) – Dakota Thorn, who I’ve long admired as an actor, hit it out of the park with her first – I think – directing and Available Light member Michelle Schroeder-Lowrey is the perfect fit for this funny, intensely moving snapshot of a slice of America from Heidi Schreck. I said, “Hilarity – starting with the 15-year-old Heidi talking about the constitution in bodice-ripper terms (“a sweaty, steamy document”), deep dives into specifics of language, and abject horror bump right up against one another, without feeling unbalanced. In the late-play discussion of Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, the play draws a clear line between an abstraction being the point, the nitpicking of “shall” as a dodge, a way to avoid letting people into the argument being seen by the court, and the breathless, sometimes delirious love of words as a way to let people in, to truly see them, instead of shutting them out, as the play does,” in my review for Columbus Underground.
  • Infinite Life by Annie Baker, directed by James Macdonald (Atlantic Theatre, NYC) – I can’t think of a contemporary writer who burrows into the most banal – and simultaneously most intimate – spaces of modern life with more agility and a sharper knife than Annie Baker. This look at seven women in a spa/health retreat that’s not explicitly described is a master class in interweaving perspectives; the way we talk with the knob turned all the way up until it seems strange. Anne and I talked about this all the way down 8th Avenue to the Vanguard (see this year’s live music list), and I’m still turning it over in my head, trying to make sense of it in the best way.
Laurie Carter Rose, Arriah Ratanapan, Noelle Anderson, and Shanelle Marie, POTUS, photo by Terry Gilliam
  • Merrily We Roll Along by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, directed by Maria Friedman (Hudson Theatre, NYC) – Everything you’ve heard about this is true. Easily the strongest, most fully realized version of this underdog of the Sondheim canon, directed with a sure hand and razor-sharp timing by Maria Friedman, who uses her storied history with Sondheim and her internalizing of those rhythms to make everything breathe and, crucially, peels back a little more of the onion on Franklin Shepherd (a stunning Jonathan Groff) to show the people pleaser quality at the heart of all that grasping – the first time I really believed that line, “I’ve only made one mistake in my life but I’ve made it over and over again: saying ‘Yes’ when I meant ‘No.’” Daniel Radcliffe kills me as the righteous purist Charley Kringus, and Lindsay Mendez, new to me, gives a more fleshed-out version of Mary Flynn, taking her out of the Dorothy Parker caricature while still nailing those lines than I’d previously seen.
  • Which Way to the Stage? by Ana Nogueira, directed by Edward Carignan (Short North Stage) – I didn’t realize how much I’d missed Short North Stage’s taste in non-musical plays until this breath of fresh air reminded me. It felt really good being back in the Green Room, laughing and thinking. In Columbus Underground, I said, “[It] treats these heavier themes with the gravity they need – how does this thing you love change, and what happens when it doesn’t? How do we look to other people? – but they never get in the way of the laughs. It’s a delightful comedy with a sniper-targeted sense of its audience.”
  • Ghost Quartet by Dave Malloy, directed by Drew Eberly (Available Light) – The other thing that stood out to me as the best thing I saw all year, a song cycle with theater running through its veins, that denied my easy understanding as much as it made me love it. For Columbus Underground, I said, “Malloy and the cast, under Eberly’s sure hand, dig into a purer emotional landscape, the way a song feels as it moves through you, and the late nights of wanting to one-up one another because you love the people you’re with so much; while still having all the insecurities and viciousness that makes us human.”
  • Good Grief by Ngozi Anyanwu, directed by Shanelle Marie and Alan Tyson (Contemporary Theatre of Ohio) – Shanelle Marie and Alan Tyson collaborated on directing this lovely meditation on loss, friendship, and growing up by Ngozi Anyanwu, a jewel in a very strong season from The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio. For Columbus Underground, I said, “The ability, starting in Anyanwu’s text and emphasized by Marie and Tyson’s direction, not to demonize anyone, to find drama without making anyone a villain, showing us people who are all doing their best is a rare gift and a pleasure I don’t get often enough in any medium.”
Amy Rittberger in the foreground, Katie Giffin and Jo Michelle Shafer in background on the bar, Ghost Quartet, photo by Kyle Long
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Playlist – August 2023 (No Descriptions)

Just the playlist this time – digging myself out of some work holes, including the first travel in almost a year; writing ramping up with the fall season; and some general time mis-management have all come to a head with two reviews written and submitted in the last 24 hours and one more getting written on the plane to Gonerfest.

Apologies, I moved four or five tracks I specifically wanted to talk about (and my notes of same) to September and I hope you enjoy the music here. Thanks, and I love you all.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/73be7480-c7c1-4b4b-8986-b661d4b5ad32

Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – July 2023

Finishing this up as I recover from my fourth round with COVID – right before a new booster is ready – so not a big summation except to say it’s been an excellent summer (even this included). Excellent for seeing people here in my town and in theirs, beautiful culturally and culinarily, and as I’ve got my and Anne’s traditional marking of the end of the summer, Gonerfest, and my first work travel for the new job both in my sights, plus the 13th anniversary of the Pink Elephant, all coming in the next weeks, I’m very grateful. I don’t think this is as dark as June’s churning of emotions – more sunshine grooves and dancefloor bangers; but, as always, I could be full of shit. Thanks for reading and listening – love you all.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/c84759f9-3338-415d-b1b3-d242fdd27748

  • Dom Deshawn, “09 Nostalgia” – Columbus rapper-songwriter Dom Deshawn has been on my radar for a while, but I was reminded how much I enjoy his work catching him at the Goodale Park Music Series last week. This benediction and wish for the world is a perfect wave of dancing sunlight that reminds me of Dead Prez’s “Happiness” in the best way. “Built my own lane, don’t care about gatekeeping. You know I’m trying to make it, giving you every reason. Tell me, are you feeling good? Maybe yes, no, I don’t even know.”
  • 79.5, “Club Level” – At the forefront of NYC’s neo-disco scene, 79.5 made one of my favorite summertime albums this year with their self-titled sophomore full-length, produced by retro soul superstar Aaron Frazer. Mike Dillon’s percussion and co-vocalist Kate Mattison’s Rhodes set the sound world of this sticky lead-off track in seconds, and the wild, sexy ride never lets up. Ben Campbell’s thick synth bass, a sizzling horn solo from Izaak Mills, and the union vocals of co-vocalist Aisha Mills send this into outer space. The rest of the album keeps up this pace. “Cruel games. Hot flames. Say you wanna play.”
  • Nubya Garcia, “Lean In” – I’ve written about the great London saxophonist Nubya Garcia many times, and this new single plays with 2-step garage in a really delightful, joyful way that feels like summer in the same way as the previous two tracks but filtered through a different cityscape.
  • Sexmob featuring DJ Olive, “Dominion” – One of jazz’s most indefatigable, questing, and cohesive groups, the quartet Sexmob – trumpeter Steven Bernstein, saxophonist Briggan Krauss, bassist Tony Scherr, and drummer Kenny Wollensen – resume their collaboration with producer Scotty Hard, bringing his contributions of beats, synth bass, and soundscapes to the fore on their invigorating new record The Hard Way. This track adds the great DJ Olive, who helped me down the road of reshaping how I thought about turntables when I was 20 with SYR 5 with Ikue Mori and Kim Gordon. A spiky, shifting mood piece.
  • Gil Scott-Heron and Kek’star, “Whitey On the Moon (Deep Mix)” – South African producer Kek’Star reconfigures one of my favorite Gil Scott-Heron tracks, one I heard on the very first Best Of I bought in early college that sparked the need to have everything he’d touched, including his two novels. Kek’star’s deep house treatment layers an additional throbbing insistence to the coolly reported snapshots of desperation in the original poem that sadly gets more and more relevant. “With all the money I made last year, how come I ain’t got no money here? Hmm, whitey’s on the moon.”
  • BJ The Chicago Kid featuring Freddie Gibbs, “The Liquor Store in the Sky” – Contemporary soul singer BJ The Chicago Kid teams up with fellow Chicago rapper/representative Freddie Gibbs on this gorgeous, honeyed elegy for old friends built around intertwining guitar and organ parts and a loping drum beat. “We was raised blocks from each other; we grew up like brothers. That was my dawg, swear to God, would’ve gave him what I had.”
  • Lucas de Mulder and the New Mastersounds, “Underground Dance” – To my ears, there’s a similar warmth and depth connecting this beautiful collaboration between Spanish jazz guitarist and British funk band The New Mastersounds – hat tip to Andrew Patton for turning me onto them in the first place and nudging a merrry band of us to duck out of Pink Elephant early one month and head down to see them tear the roof off of the Park Street Saloon – also produced by Mastersounds’ guitarist Eddie Roberts. It’s a great track from a remarkably cohesive, empathetic record.
  • Misha Panfilov, “Dr. Juvenal’s Solution” – This Estonian composer based in Portugal flitted around the periphery of my notice for the last few years, but this slab of easy-going instrumental soul is the first time I really sat with one of his releases – I assume he played everything based on the Bandcamp – and it hooked me. Every time I play it, I have a hard time getting that guitar riff out of my head.
  • Dark Colors, “Memories” – I couldn’t find anything about this slice of melodic minimal techno, so I’m guessing this was an algorithm suggestion, but I love it. I love the controlled swoops and the splashes of color seeping through the cracks – the hints of a Bob James/Roy Ayers color palette that vanish almost as quickly as they arise – and it shivers the same parts of my spine as the more direct connections to soul music of the previous two tracks.
  • Annika Socolofsky and Latitude 49, “Loves don’t / go” – Composer-vocalist Annika Socolofsky drills deep into the substrata of her own history and psychology and the whole of the world on her strongest album yet, Don’t say a word, with chamber music sextet Latitude 49. This track sets a Molly Moses poem to riveting, crushing music – the building rumble of the piano and Socolofsky’s voice surfing over it is one of my favorite musical moments of the year.
  • Josh Ritter and Aoife O’Donovan, “Strong Swimmer” – Josh Ritter got my attention with “Golden Age of Radio,” particularly an acoustic version I think I found on AudioGalaxy in 2002, and every time he hits my radar, I think I should delve deeper into his work. This duet with Aoife O’Donovan (who anyone with even a passing glance at this blog knows my love for) is early August morning perfection, fog over the grass, and hints of the oncoming chill threaded through the warmth. “On the night that you were born, your Mama, who had many friends, took you down across the reach to meet the tide come in.”
  • Amanda Shires and Bobbie Nelson, “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” – This collaboration record between violinist-singer-songwriter Shires and longtime keystone of Willie Nelson’s Family (musical and otherwise), pianist Bobbie Nelson, Loving You, is a stunning, intimate thing, with minimal accompaniment from bass and drums, and this reading of long one of my favorites of brother Willie’s songs devastates me every time, letting me hear a song I’ve known my whole life with new eyes. “I patched up your broken wing and hung around for a while, trying to keep your spirits up and your fever down.”
  • Jess Williamson, “God in Everything” – Last year’s collaboration with Waxahatchee as Plains put singer-songwriter Jess Williamson on my radar, and her new album Time Ain’t Accidental knocked the wind out of my lungs. This song gorgeously captures a time and place, putting her acoustic at the forefront, with Dashawn Hickman’s pedal steel almost serving as a Greek Chorus, flowing over and around the minimal backing and subtle, perfect production from Brad Cook. “Did you see or appreciate the wisdom in me? Was I something for you to play with? Did you notice how I serve my tea?”
  • Madison Cunningham, “Inventing the Wheel” – This new song on the deluxe version got me to go back and check out Cunningham’s Revealer record from last year, and it highlighted what a great piece of work and what a fascinating songwriting voice I missed. The surprising twists in the melody and the unsettling, harmonium-driven atmospheres keep me engaged in this fascinating look at the peril inherent in the hunger of trying to both live as much of life as you can and synthesize it into something that lasts. “Waking up to a heavy cup: ambition drinking me. Helpless, as I watch another death lay out on TV. I render it down to size and sound, ’til it comes as no surprise, to sleep all through the night and still wish to open my eyes. Life and all her fragility, the midwife of this urgency: a moment I may never get again.”
  • Javier Nero Jazz Orchestra, “Kemet (The Black Land)” – I knew very little about trombonist-composer Javier Nero before I think I got tipped to the excellent record this is the title track of through, I suspect, Phil Freeman’s always great monthly column. Trumpeter Sean Jones is the main foil for Nero here; check the fiery solo around the four-minute mark, rising out of but without losing touch with the lushness around him, and the rhythm section of drummer Kyle Swan, pianist Josh Richman, and bassist William Ledbetter provide a richly textured landscape for these intertwining, glowing melodies.
  • Killer Mike featuring Andre 3000, Future, Eryn Allen Kane, “Scientists and Engineers” – I love the Run the Jewels stuff, but it’s an utter joy to get to hear Atlanta’s Killer Mike play in a variety of different sound worlds again on his excellent record Michael. This track is overstuffed with ideas – opening with lush orchestrations and Kane’s vocals that reminded me of the previous track, then powering through a series of hairpin turns – and powered by a fire at its heart, a love for the world – or at least his world, his community – that needs to speak the truth (and, as Hotspur reminded us, shame the devil), with all the collaborators here bringing their A game. “It ain’t enough that I hit my opp and his block: we burned down his whole fucking village. Did it with a smile, not a grimace.”
  • Monica Rocha and Malik Malo featuring The Intuitions, “I Love You For All Seasons (Live)” – Picking up the thread of vintage West Coast soul guitar that was part of the mix on the previous track, this instant classic sweet soul duet between California natives Monica Rocha and Malik Malo, is quintessential wandering through sunny streets or driving slow music, with the rich harmonies of The Intuitions pushing it over the top. “I love you for so many reasons.”
  • Captain Fathands, “The Great Flood” – I remember a conversation at the St James tavern almost two decades ago where childhood friend, bassist/composer Captain Fathands (probably best known musically for his time in the nu-metal comers Groundwar but also the rap-rock fusion The Wick and a series of cover bands) about his desire to put out soundtracks. His music for the wildly popular podcast True Crime Garage the Captain hosts with his brother is frequently my favorite part of the episodes, and I’m delighted to see him expanding and releasing full tracks in this mode like this shadow-splashed, surging piece.
  • Buscrates, “Early Morning” – Pittsburgh-based Orlando “Buscrates” Marshall gives us a sun-drenched, loping, utterly infectious instrumental that nods to Dam-Funk and a history of classic roller skating jams and hints at early Detroit techno in the best way. That rhythm somewhere between a hip dip and a finger snap falls squarely in my sweet spot.
  • Amy Douglas and JKriv, “Freak at Night” – The bouncing, fluid bass line on this courtesy of JKriv doesn’t just set up a backdrop for Amy Douglas’s knock-you-against-the-back-wall sharp disco vocal; the two things joust with one another. The dance floor as seduction and cage match, teetering over the edge but always pulling itself back. “She’s a freak at night. She’s got to satisfy her appetite.”
  • The Crystal Furs, “Gay Bar” – One of my guilty pleasures of all time – and I can do 1,000 words on the problematic concept of a guilty pleasure just like the next blowhard, but you should find me in a bar to go in on that – is that first Electric Six album; as much as I love this song, I wondered how it’s aged. Portland-based queer three-piece Crystal Furs find the pure joy that’s still in this track and give it a contemporary updating that maybe improves on the original’s infectiousness. Kara Buchanan’s Farfisa organ is a particular delight for me on this track.
  • Mightmare, “Can’t Get What I Want” – One of my favorite singer-songwriters working, Sarah Shook, stretches their wings to go different places stylistically with the indie rock project Mightmare. Their voice is right up front over ominous, decay-laden guitars and a crunching postpunk beat. “Anger makes a lonely man. I got things to say I don’t think I can.”
  • Ivan Julian, “Cut Me Loose” – Ivan Julian’s guitar is the blood through the veins of a particular swath of New York music I’ve loved since the moment I heard Blank Generation, and beyond his long association with Richard Hell, he’s lit up records  I’ve loved by Matthew Sweet, Sandra Bernhard, Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, King Missile, and Hunx. The solo record Swing Your Lanterns, and this barbed punk-funk lead-off track is an excellent example of what he’s given to American music and, with a cast of underground music lifers like Florent Barbier and Nicholas Tremulis, still sounds incredibly vital. “I know you brought a whole new bag of hurt from Tennessee and a brand new box of pain that you just found. I kissed you, and I put you on a train; you bit me, and you said we’d meet again.”
  • Kalle Hygien, “Dope Him Up” – This dose of synth-and-drum-machine Swedish punk is adrenaline right into my veins. “His mouth looks like an enema, we’re going to the cinema.”
  • Cerified Trapper, “Trapper of the Year” – The liquid synths and dry, crackling drums are a perfect jumping off point for the furious braggadocio from this rising Milwaukee star, who produced as well. “Tweak out in the store, get hit with this fuckin’ switchy.”
  • Izzaldin, “Spike” – This advance single off the third record – Futura in Retrograde – from rising New York rapper-producer Izzaldin rides a subway-under-not-well-maintained-streets rumble of synth bass and boom bap drums refracted through some contemporary damage with a baritone voice that feels both familiar and fresh. This checked all my boxes. “Took a shot from the three-point arc, took a seat next to Spike just to see the star. I thought it started off as friendly banter: and then he started really disrespecting Indiana, talking ’bout ‘There ain’t gonna be no Pacers shit in here.'”
  • Jay Vega featuring King Ezz and OG VERN, “Smackdown Vs. Raw” – This miniature uses a deceptively easy swagger for a perfect showcase for Columbus producer and rapper Jay Vega, who worked on this with King Ezz and features a verse from OG Vern. Distilled to around two minutes and with no room for filigree. “”No bad business, that ain’t on my name: what they say ’bout you?”
  • System Exclusive, “Party All the TIme” – Pasadena synth-pop duo System Exclusive hit my radar with this surging post-punk take on one of my favorite ’80s guilty pleasures, this Rick James/Eddie Murphy collaboration. “You never come home at night because you’re out romancing. I wish you’d bring some of your love home to me.”
  • King Vision Ultra featuring DJ Haram, Marcus, Dis Fig, “Tragic World Weapon” – I’m not sure how I’ve slept on King Vision Ultra so long but the Algiers connection put this on my radar and it’s exactly the kind of record I love. King Vision Ultra worked with the original stems from Algiers’ record Shook and intertwined them with his own archive to create Shook World (Hosted By Algiers), an investigation of histories, his hometown of New York, his relationships with people, and of the ways we hurt ourselves and one another. DJ Haram from the Discwoman crew supplies the lacerating poetry here, with Berlin-based producer Dis Fig on the sung vocals and a turntablist I wasn’t familiar with, Marcus, adding a perfectly unbalancing layer. “You can’t affirm this madness but I like to imagine it.”
  • The OG Players, “Third Eye Vibe” – Columbus hip-hop/soul super group OG Players consists of trombonist Elaine Mylius (Waves de Ache, Derek DiCenzo), MC/Producer Eric Rollin (Mistar Anderson), Producer Kito Denham, keyboardist Brandon “Bjazz” Scott (Liquid Crystal Project),  and drummer Robert Riley aka Dezoul1 (Talisha Holmes). I had high expectations having seen all – I think, I couldn’t swear I’ve heard Denham’s other work – of their earlier projects and this first single hit it over the fences for me, the loping finger-snap rhythm and that infectious, squelching long, slow drive on a sunny day keyboard part. “Let me tell you about a secret to see us through.”
  • Marquis Hill featuring Joel Ross, “Stretch (The Body)” – The first time I saw Chicago’s Marquis HIll play the trumpet – at Winter Jazzfest – it cut through everything else that night, burning both his name and that tone into my brain. Hill aligns a tight rhythm section anchored by Junius Paul on bass with Micheal King on keys, and new-to-me Indie Buz on drums, and special guests (the great vibes player Joel Ross on this track) to make something that stretches genres. This track bridges lighter flavors of drum ‘n’ and spiritual jazz, riding waves of small percussion instruments and wrapping a wordless chorus around a clattering beat from Buz pinballing back and forth between King’s Rhodes and Ross’s vibes, lit up by Hill’s searing trumpet and a sampled lackadaisical vocal that nods at Ken Nordine.
  • Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim, “Placelessness – Side B Excerpt” – Chris Abrahams, pianist from longstanding Aussie avant-garde trio The Necks teams up with guitarist/electronics player Oren Ambarchi (who I got into via SUNN O))) and a gorgeous eai record Cloud with Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Christian Fennesz in the same year) and drummer Robbie Avenaim who’d done other work with Ambarchi I loved. This excerpt from the upcoming full-side piece is full of the powerfully understated drama and righteous mystery I want from these players and left me hungry for the whole thing.
  • Marisa Anderson and Tara Jane O’Neil, “Wishing Well” – This stunning collaboration on a Bert Jansch classic (written with Anne Briggs) features an OG of the kind of guitar that fuses the accessible and the avant-garde, sometimes disparate histories of the instrument and the future, Tara Jane O’Neil (also on vocals) from the great Louisville band Rodan (who I finally saw live at Terrastock 15-ish years ago) and someone carrying that torch high, Marisa Anderson. Clarity and clatter in exactly the right measures. “Wishing well, wilt thou waters hide my burden until I return, return this way again?”
  • Nora Stanley and Benny Bock, “Into the Flats” – Saxophonist Nora Stanley and keyboardist Benny Bock teamed up for a luminous collaborative record (they co-wrote all compositions and play almost everything heared) Distance of the Moon that reminds me of classic ECM but still has its arms around what’s come since. That splash of sparks from the keys washed over by a saxophone figure around 3:30 exemplifies what I love so much about this album. Drummer Myles Martin, a rising star on the LA scene I wasn’t familiar with and the only guest on this track, adds some fascinating color, less driving forward propulsion of the track and more presenting other options.
  • Emily King featuring Lukas Nelson, “Bad Memory” – Singer-songwriter Emily King has always been at the periphery of my awareness but this single from Special Occasion, a burnished, ’60s-vintage slow dance duet with Lukas Nelson landed squarely between my ribs. Their matched low-key vocals and that aching, echoing guitar, the clatter of castanets skipping across the languid melody like a polished stone, it’s all perfect. “Used to dream about my past, now I’m running from it fast.”
  • Melenas, “Bang” – The sense of similar tones getting stretched out and the pulsing krautrock beat gave me the sense of taking off from the last couple of songs in placing this lilting slice of pop-rock perfection from Pamploma-based band Melenas right here.
  • M. Ward featuring first aid kit, “Too Young To Die” – M. Ward’s Supernatural Thing reaffirms his status as one of the great melodists of my generation, full of examples of that rare gift of playing with retro sounds without seeming stuck in some other era. And this perfect example, aided by the sparkling harmonies of first aid kit, is one of the songs on the new one I go back to the most often. “Sailing, sometimes failing, that’s the only way, the only way to fly. Crying, sometimes wailing, that’s the only way that we learn how to try.”
  • Tommy Prine, “Mirror and a Kitchen Sink” – Tommy Prine’s This Far South, produced with Rushton Kelly and Gena Johnson, plants a flag in territory that’s clearly his own, using contemporary colors and rhythms alongside the kind of sharply defined characters and witty wordplay that defined his legendary father. This, like the M. Ward, was a hard call to make – I think at one point I had three songs from this record on the nascent version of this month’s playlist – but I kept coming back to the jaunty bounce of this track, that impossibly catchy acoustic guitar riff underpinning the gimlet gaze of the lyrics. “So what’s the difference between you and me? I’ll tell you right now, it’s a couple teeth. And then I decide whether or not to be crueler than I already am.”
  • Tanya Tucker featuring Brandi Carlile, “The List” – Sweet Texas Sound builds on the momentum and power of Tanya Tucker’s great comeback record While I’m Still Livin’, pairing her again with producers Shooter Jennings and Brandi Carlile. This track is one of several Tucker co-wrote with Carlile and it’s a brilliantly clear-eyed taking stock and kiss off, with a classic sawdust-spattered two-step backing highlighting Jennings’ piano and John Schreffler’s pedal steel. “I ain’t here to make excuses and I’ve since lost all track of my demons and their muses. But if you’re still keeping score, then you can keep your heart attack.”
  • Dale Watson, “I Ain’t Been Living Right” – Dale Watson leans into his spending more time in Texas after some fruitful years in Memphis with the lean and mean Starvation Box, inspired by the example of Marshall, Texas’s legendary son Leadbelly (the title is what Ledbetter’s father called the guitar). This acoustic-driven shuffle is exactly the slow twisting of a knife in the gut that I think Watson does better than any country artist and what drew me to him 25 years ago, making the most of every crevice and scar in that magnificent baritone. “Now, the older I get, I’m finding more regrets: regrets that have been lurking in my mind. Maybe I’ll find solace in my old age and forget I ain’t been living right.”
  • Brian Thornton and Iranian Female Composers Association featuring Katherine Bormann, Alicia Koelz, Eliesha Nelson, “And the Moses Drowned” – I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t familiar with the IFCA before this beautiful record Sirventès but I was a little more familiar with cellist Brian Thornton of the Cleveland Orchestra. The quartet he assembled for this evocative piece by Mahdis Golzar Kashani finds every bit of nuance and mystery, it’s a stunning lead-off to a marvelous record.
  • Tyshawn Sorey Trio, “Seleritus” – Tyshawn Sorey continues to dig into standards with surprising, breathtaking results on Continuing, his new record with Aaron Diehl on piano and Matt Brewer on bass. This gorgeous Ahmad Jamal piece gets to the heart of the fragility and power Jamal conjured simultaneously in a way few piano trios have been able to live up to since; it’s a magical reminder how much life still pumps through the veins of this music and also a stunning tribute to a generational artist who opened up an entirely new pathway in American music.
  • Greg Ward presents Rogue Parade, “Noir Nouveau” – Chicago-based saxophone player and composer Greg Ward’s quintet Rogue Parade’s follow up Dion’s Quest expounds on everything great from their debut Stomping Off From Greenwood. This appropriately smoky, hard-shadows track flanks a blue flame of a saxophone line with the sparkling guitars of Matt Gold and Dave Miller, and the rich, subtle rhythm section of Matt Ulery on bass and Quin Kirchner on drums.
  • Olivia Dean, “The Hardest Part” – British R&B singer-writer Olivia Dean’s debut full length Messy is a remarkable record, consistent and smooth – mostly cowritten with Bastian Langebæk and Max Wolfgang – but knowing exactly when and where to cut and how much of a mark to leave. This smoky slow-drag number exemplifies the mood I come back to this record for, reminding me of early Erykah Badu, and I can’t wait to see what else Dean turns into. “Call me up to meet you: static on the phone. Normally I need you; this time I don’t wanna go. Lately, I’ve been growing into someone you don’t know. You had the chance to love her, but apparently you don’t.”
  • Kris Gruen featuring Anaïs Mitchell “Anchors” – I’ve been hearing the name Kris Gruen – singer-songwriter son of famed photographer Bob – but it took seeing this luminous duet with one of my favorites, Anaïs Mitchell, to finally check his work out. It’s soaring and wistful, like a sunrise over the Hudson. “I forgive you, circle broken, by and by.”
  • Miranda Lambert and Leon Bridges, “If You Were Mine” – Two of my favorite Texas singer-songwriters of relatively (I still had roommates when I first heard Lambert so it’s been at least 20 years) recent vintage team up on a perfect example of finding middle ground, and that space where their voices meet on this perfect piece of longing, this moment frozen in amber, hits exactly right. “‘I’d drink you down like fine wine, till there was nothing left.”
  • Gus Dapperton featuring BENEE, “Don’t Let Me Down” – Another duet shot through with longing and promise but set to more of an insistent clubby rhythm, this duet between New York-based Guy Dapperton and New Zealand-centered BENEE has an extremely appealing groove; I especially love the way their voices melt around one another. “I’m just gonna burn out and fall out of my head.”
  • Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love, “Part 2” – One insistent rhythm gives way to another. Nyemiah SThis classic Norwegian rhythm section who’ve lit me up so many times, live and on record, team up to pay tribute to the Trondheim Conservatory of Music where they met, on its 40th anniversary, with Guts & Skins. They assembled a killing octet featuring players whose work I know well like pianist/organist Alexander Hawkins and completely new to me like baritone saxophonist Hanne deBacker, and delivered a record that walks the line between post-bop and free jazz that doesn’t sell out the pleasures or core of either.
  • Nyemiah Supreme, “Last Day” – The stabbing cymbals and rumbling bass on the track for this electrifying song from rising Queens rapper Nyemiah Supreme seemed to call on the previous tracks and I was stunned by the crackle of her pavement-mosaic-dry delivery and the flashing wit of the wordplay. “There’s nowhere to get – all of that paper, you only enrich.”
  • Wireheads, “Detective” – The bluesy post-punk chug – Fall-ish vocals laid against a mournful harmonica like the smokestack of a passing train – of this Adelaide-based band made me immediately sorry I hadn’t heard their earlier work; Potentially Venus is a terrific rock record. “‘I’m merely scratched,’ he hollered. I am bothered less than Donna; she’s like a fire burning carefree in biosolids.”
  • Smug Brothers, “Let Me Know When It’s You” – I got turned onto the Smug Brothers through friend and Columbus locus Kyle Sowash’s involvement. This song is a lovely slice of middle-American powerpop, jangle poured over a crunching rhythm section like syrup, and it’s on a record The Book of Bad Ideas spilling over with these big hooks and sparkling harmonies. “When you think you’ve heard about a situation and you’re trying to tune into the conversation, you know I won’t pass the test and maybe that’s for the best.”
  • Byron Messia, “Talibans” – St Kitts-based dancehall artist Byron Messia is having a moment with this bolt-from-the-blue (at least to those of us outside the genre) smash hit. While I love dancehall, I don’t pretend my knowledge goes deep; this infectious, menacing watch-yourself tune with a smooth quaver in the vocal over clipped drums, caught my ear immediately. “Make unruh sleep inna yard in four months.”
  • Vox Sambou, “Libète (remix) – Montreal-based singer-bandleader Vox Sambou draws on the various music of the African disapora and mixes it in a way that never feels random or scattered. This single in advance of We Must Unite starts with the Haitian Creole word for freedom and builds to a powerful crescendo, rippling guitars and a thicket of percussion rising behind a powerful, ragged voice.
  • Ken Ishii, “Liver Blow (Ken Ishii 2023 Remix One)” – I got into Ken Ishii a little late – the Nonesuch compilation Reich Remixed came out when I was 18 or 19 and drew a connection between the electronic music I loved getting down to with my friends in clubs and at parties and the avant-garde classical I’d recently discovered. One of my favorite tracks was Ishii’s so I started grabbing anything of his I could find. When I finally got to see him spin in person with my old roommate and friend Jon Rood a couple of years later, in a club I don’t think lasted 9 months called Pulse, it was every bit as revelatory as I hoped. I haven’t done the best job of keeping track but this rework of a 2022 track hit my radar and it gives me the same jolts of experimentation and sensuality his work did when I first discovered it, without feeling like he’s been static.
  • Jorja Smith and Nia Archives, “Little Things (Nia Archives Remix)” – I don’t think it’s any surprise I think London’s Jorja Smith is one of the great soul singers to emerge in the last 10 years, and I’ve loved everything I’ve heard from Nia Archives. Their collab on this remix delivered on those high expectations and then some – the speeding up and layering it over post-jungle drums actually enhances the cold menace in Smith’s original; snippets of vocal dance in the air  between the verses, like slivers of shattered mirror in an image I always remember from a poem of old pal Dave Gibbs. “It’s the little things that get me high. Won’t you come with me and spend the night?”
  • Tego Calderón, “La Receta” – One of the voices that helped define reggaeton to the world, Puerto Rican superstar Tego Calderón returns eight years after his last record, and over 20 since he first appeared, with this dance floor smash of the perreo variety, produced by DJ Urba & Rome. If this doesn’t make your hips move, I’m not sure what to tell you.
  • Tyson, “Promises” – Like the warm breeze coming in from a door opening on a cool dark bar just before the late-evening sunset of Jul while watching a carved ice cube tumble into a rocks glass that fits just so in your hand, this single by Tyson, the daughter of Neneh Cherry and Cameron McVey (Massive Attack, Groove Armada, Yossou N’Dour), is the perfect mix of sensations and architecture. The spaces and the echo around the sparse, crisp beats slit the skin to make space for that melody. “How do I read you when you’re giving me nothing?”
  • Miles Miller, “Passed Midnight” – Another perfectly constructed song keyed for the sweltering middle of summer, from Miles Miller, better known as Sturgill Simpson’s drummer, and exemplary of his stellar Solid Gold. “The shape I’m in doesn’t make me want to give you a call. You’re probably holding on so tight to somebody else tonight. Well, I’m holding on to nothing but the twilight; ain’t it a pretty sight?”
  • Jerry Joseph, “The War I Finally Won” – Singer-songwriter Jerry Joseph’s been making great records since the mid-’90s that completely flew under my radar until 2020’s breathtaking The Beautiful Madness and even that I heard late, so I’m still playing catch up. If this evocative barn burner, with a fiery tambourine so far up in the mix it feels like it might break the fourth wall and slap me in the face, is any indication, the follow-up Baby, You’re the Man Who Would Be King, is a record to watch out for coming up. “I see the enemy is still right here. Let me sleep till the morning; the indecision weighs a ton. I hear the trumpets blow, and I know it’s the war I finally won.”
  • PJ Harvey, “I Inside The Old Year Dying” – Like most old cranks who loved something so much at a formative time, it took me a while to get on board with the differently abstract, spacious music PJ Harvey’s making now. I kept holding her work to a yardstick based on the four-album run almost no one has ever come close to she put out in my youth. It finally opened up for me, cracking wide and letting me lose that chrysalis of bullshit, with the last record so I was ready for her excellent new one, of which this is the title track. Soaring and searing, an indictment and a call to arms. I’m not sure exactly where I think the “ending prayer” portion of this month’s playlist starts – the Miller or the Joseph – but this is where it hits critical mass. “Slip from my childhood skin; / I zing through the forest / I hover in the holway / And laugh into the leaves”
  • Spencer Zahn, Dave Harrington, Jeremy Gustin, “Daylight” – I’ve been a big fan of Spencer Zahn since our mutual friend Mike Gamble introduced us and turned me onto his band Father Figures – and he’s shown up in these playlists several times. I like the music of Harry Styles but I don’t know it all that well, and from the liner notes, neither did this trio when they decided to take it on, but this is the opposite of a piss take. This track, and the rest of A Visit to Harry’s House, treat the song forms with love and generosity but leave enough room to bring their own life to it, their own light, and leave us all smiling. Like you always want a visitor to leave.
  • Joni Mitchell and the Joni Jam, “Amelia” – As soon as I heard Joni Mitchell was singing again at Newport I watched those Youtube videos for the next week almost to the exclusion of everything else. This official recording – backed by a collection of musicians with Brandi Carlile and her band as the nucleus – makes me tear up every time. This version of a song from Hejira that’s not only given me comfort since I was a teenager but has changed with me, featuring a lovely vocal from Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, is a stunning example of the kind of love and compassion this kind of tribute/celebration needs. “A ghost of aviation: she was swallowed by the sky, or by the sea. Like me, she had a dream to fly. Like Icarus ascending on beautiful, foolish arms – Amelia, it was just a false alarm.”
Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – June 2023

Active participant in a lot of great stuff this month – as always in Anne’s birthday month – but also did a lot of struggling, feeling like I was mired in my own muck. Shorter blurbs and extremely late this time. I thought about taking my once or twice-a-year mulligan and just putting the playlist out, but when I looked back at it, there were several things I really wanted to give the handshake for. Thanks for reading and listening; I love and appreciate you all.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/e4dd0206-e2c0-4113-9e6e-7eff22c9e0ad

  • Jaimie Branch, “take over the world” – I don’t think I have words for how happy I am the new music Jaimie Branch spoke about when I interviewed her, at least a slice of it, is coming out on the posthumous album Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (world war). This first taste is a spiky anthem, a fireball; Chad Taylor’s roiling drums lead us on this journey that makes tears spring to my eyes and also pump my fist: the best and rarest of combos. “Gonna, gonna, gonna, take over the world… take it back to the love.”
  • Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “When We Were Close” – Jason Isbell pivots slightly on this one. As I talked about to old friend and mentor Rich Dansky, Weathervanes (as a whole) feels less like the strobe-and-neon gut punches of Reunions and The Nashville Sound and more like a widescreen version of the interiority he sharpened to a fine point on Something More than Free. I don’t think there’s a weak song on the album, but this song about his friendship with Justin Townes Earle hit me at a moment I was primed to think about dead friends and relationships I didn’t care for like I should have – particularly someone who I wasn’t very close to, but I always liked, and we’d been in the same circles for years; RIP Blair Hook, and so many other pals, comrades, and acquaintances. “Got a picture of you dying in your mind, with some ghosts you couldn’t bear to leave behind – but I can hear your voice ring as you snap another B string and finish out the set with only five. And for a minute there, you’re still alive.”
  • MeShell Ndegeocello featuring Jeff Parker, “ASR” – I put an early single on this playlist a couple of months ago but having lived with The Omnichord Real Book in its entirety for a little while, it might be her finest record – saying something, from one of the finest singers/songwriters/bandleaders of my lifetime. I saw her perform this track live at the Blue Note in January, with featured guest Jeff Parker sitting in, and it was a highlight in a set bulging at the seams with highlights. The hypnotic, trance-like groove, the backing vocals curling like smoke, the subtle, beckoning, judging lead vocal, and the shattered-glass ribbons of Parker’s guitar… everything here is perfect. “Can’t get back the time you wasted, you wasted.”
  • Kassi Valazza, “Room in the City” – Another facet in the prism of that feeling I’m grappling with, a sense of loneliness but also gratitude for making it to the other side, from a Portland singer-songwriter I wasn’t familiar with before this terrific record Knows Nothing. Her voice reminds me of British folk and the New Weird America scene I loved so much, and subtle touches on the arrangement – a mournful moan that could be a harmonica or a harmonium, shards of piano, a soaring steel guitar toward the end of the track – reinforce and subvert the buttery closeness of the vocal. “Shadow mountains and the pale green rivers drifting in and out of windy highway sounds. Copper colors and some lonely search for meaning keep me coming back and turning right around.”
  • Loraine James, “2003” – I got into London-based composer Loraine James with last year’s breathtaking Julius Eastman homage Building Something Beautiful For Me and this advance taste of her upcoming record for Hyperdub points me in the direction of another of my top albums of the year. Hazy, humid, and rich, speckled with rough, acerbic textures and an aching vocal bobbing up and down in the beautiful haze. “So much confusion, came up with many conclusions.”
  • Monophonics featuring Kendra Morris, “Untitled Visions” – I still miss those days Monophonics came through town regularly (a powerful dance party at Brothers Drake Meadery sticks out), but I’m overjoyed to see them getting bigger success with some slight tweaks to the formula. The crisp drums and trademark horn stabs sound gorgeous on this track around Kendra Morris’ warm breeze of a vocal. “I close my eyes and turn up my dreams.”
  • Don Toliver featuring Lil Durk and GloRilla, “Leave the Club” – Houston-based soul singer Don Toliver teams up with rappers Lil Durk and GloRilla for this instant-classic ode to finding something to go home with at closing time (or earlier). The shifts in tempo and intensity keep the song from getting monochromatic, along with the varying tonal qualities of their voices – when GloRilla appears with the best one-liners in the song, it feels like the lights in the club shifted right after a perfect but ill-advised shot of tequila – but these points of interest don’t disrupt the innate, butterscotchy smoothness. “Bet up on my Rosé, and I’m ’bout to leave the section. See me after hours; I left the club with extras. Speedin’ down that highway, it’s lookin’ kinda reckless.”
  • Slighter, “Have No Fear (Dark Rave Mix) – This is very much the kind of music I’d have been dancing to back in the days I identified with the subject matter of the previous song, a thick layer of industrial sounds and lugubrious, squelchy bass welded to a pumping dancefloor groove. I wasn’t familiar with this LA artist, but somehow the algorithm knew this would scratch an itch in my brain, light up some neurons I hadn’t given credit to in maybe too long. The original mix is great but hearing this dark rave mix brought up a purging of sweet nostalgia with light and gratitude.
  • Kassa Overall featuring Laura Mvula and Francis and the Lights, “So Happy” – I first encountered Kassa Overall in his jazz drummer guise, playing in a trio with John Hebert and Peter Evans at the Jazz Gallery, and was immediately a fan, but I love the way his records get harder to classify and more all-encompassing, widening the scope of his subject material while sharpening his own idiosyncratic viewpoint. This standout from his excellent Animals links him up with the great British R&B singer Laura Mvula and synthpop mastermind Francis and the Lights for an infectious, bouncing, cracked hip-hop track that might be my song of the summer. “What if you were chosen but, full of fear, you were frozen? My life almost brought to a close in the fight to get open.”
  • The Freedom Affair, “Make Me Surrender (Instrumental)” – I got to Twangfest too late to catch Kansas City’s The Freedom Affair, but so many of my friends raved so hard about this soul band I had to check out 2021’s Freedom is Love, and immediately fell hard for it. This year’s instrumental version has been one of my prime soundtracks for this sticky, muggy season and keeps paying dividends.
  • Kieran Hebden and William Tyler, “Darkness, Darkness” – I saw Kieran Hebden a few times over the years, mostly in his Four Tet guise in the early 2000s, and a couple of those performances blew my mind the same way his first three records cracked it open, and this pastoral collaboration with searching guitarist William Tyler is just gorgeous, one of my favorite recent records to smoke a cigar on the porch or free write to. The loping groove organically appears here like a sunrise over a Kandinsky landscape, like an aubade.
  • Wolf Eyes, “Engaged Withdrawal” – Wolf Eyes, being from Michigan and getting more mainstream media traction, cast a huge shadow on the scene here in Columbus, playing shows and collaborating with friends of mine. For a few years, I lost track, they were mostly self-releasing, not touring as much, but everything I’ve heard since they popped back on my radar has been excellent, and this new record, Dreams in Splattered Lines, is another high point. This heaving miniature, using overlapping repetition, working these tiny cells and nuances to evoke coiled dread  but also a sense of being present, is a prime example of the pleasures within.
  • Sam Butler, “I. At Night, And Then Upon Waking” – Indiana-based trumpeter/composer Sam Butler made a remarkably assured debut album with Folklore and I think this is a cinematic highlight. It makes excellent use of a tight band comprised of people I was already a fan of, like Greg Ward on alto (Mike Reed, Ernest Dawkins, Hamid Drake) and Kenny Phelps (Pharez Whited) on drums, and names new to me like tenor player Garrett Fasig.
  • Ben Wendel featuring Elena Pinderhughes, “Speak Joy” – Ben Wendel from Kneebody and so much else has released one record after another that document expanding ambition and deeper clarity at the same time, and All One is another step forward. Lush layering of Wendel’s saxophone on this original is contrasted by the warm breeze of Elena Pinderhughes’ flute and alto flute.
  • David Garland, “String Flow 1, Part 2 The Fourth” – I first became a David Garland fan through his richly orchestrated, idiosyncratic songs that used their esoteric qualities to drive a knife deep into my chest (that run from Togetherness through my favorite Noise in You is well overdue for a re-evaluation). I didn’t know his “pure” chamber music until more recently. This track from his rapturous new one, Flowering Flows, pours harmony over drones like honey.
  • Gia Margaret, “City Song” – Songwriter-singer-pianist Gia Margaret’s Romantic Piano fuses her songwriter impulses and “pure” composition tendencies as well as any record I can think of in recent memory. The chords and the field recording atmospherics flow into one another and illuminate the soft, dramatic power of her voice. “In flashback, I saw you with so much to tell; the revolving doors hit in a tentative spell, and the birds still fly. I stay up all night.”
  • Henry Threadgill Ensemble, “Movement II” – I didn’t think I could love a Henry Threadgill album without his inimitable saxophone sound on it. But The Other One, a long-form piece Of Valence inspired by Milford Graves, gives me most of the pleasures I’m expecting and also lets me hear facets of his compositional voice in a way that’s so beautifully surprising. Many of his longtime collaborators – including Jose Davila on tuba, David Virelles on piano – do beautiful justice to this thorny, nuanced work.
  • Curtis J. Stewart, “Adagio from Johannes Brahms Violin Sonata No 1 Op 78 (We are going to be OK)” – Violinist-singer Curtis Stewart’s, founder of PUBLIQuartet, Of Love, is intended as a requiem/tribute to his mother and it’s as wrenching and beautiful as that can imply, a record that I sank into immediately and I’m still swimming inside it, as full of love as it is of mystery. Here, Stewart slips the mantra “We are going to be OK” between the lines of this gorgeous Brahms adagio, his violin raining down over clattering synthesized drum beats. A highlight in a record without any weak links.
  • Maisie Peters, “Lost the Breakup” – This song from English singer-songwriter Maisie Peters (whose first record completely blew past me) opens with a shimmering, slicing violin (or a keyboard I’m mistaking for strings) that links it to the sound world of the last few tracks before blooming into an infectious pop kiss-off. “But for now, I’m out in the dust. Oh, is she just like me? Yeah, I reckon you’ve got two types: Country and Western.”
  • Flo featuring Missy Elliott, “Fly Girl” – This boisterous, finely tuned summer smash takes Missy Elliott’s “Work It” – “If you a fly girl, get your nails done, get a pedicure, get your hair did” – and applies a chromed-out, hyper-modern singing-rapping cadence that winks at Elliott’s groundbreaking fusion of the two in her own writing and singing style while bringing it up today, wtih the great Miss.E rocking a verse that proves she’s still paying attention and can keep up with anyone.”Oh babe, might leave you waiting all day, cause these material things are not enough to make me stay.”
  • Lunchbox, “Feel Things” – This standout from New York rapper Lunchbox’s new record New Jazz, with an ominous, lurching beat from Amir.pr0d, is one of the best musical representations I’ve ever heard of the simultaneous desire to feel as much as we can, soak up as much of life, but numb it at the same time, so many of us struggle with. “All this codeine, I can’t feel shit; shit ain’t real; it’s deceiving. We be on top of the building – what the fuck is a ceiling?”
  • Ari LaShell, “Get Down” – Singer-songwriter Ari LaShell’s debut album AWH is a fountain of ideas and power. This track combines her vintage neo-soul vocal delivery with a big post-disco bass line and hard club drums, using repetition as an invitation and a distancing mechanism. “Can you rock with me now?”
  • YoungBoy Never Broke Again, “Dirty Thug” – Baton Rouge rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again puts out so much material I can’t even hope to keep track, but every time I check in, I’m glad I did. This skin-flaying confessional rides on one of his signature gorgeous melodies with a thumping, insistent beat. “On the dance floor with the devil, can you come take over for him, please? I said, ‘Can you come step in and dance with me?’ Off-white, money coming in left and right, you the last thing that make me complete. I take these drugs with no party. I told that girl I was sorry. I’ m on my shit, oh, now, pardon me. I saw some shit, sad, and it scarred me.”
  • Rodeo Boys, “Tidal Wave” – The fusion of twang and grunge this terrific Lansing quartet brings reminded me of Columbus in the ’90s in all the best ways but the out-in-front queer lyrical perspective and the wide net they cast for sounds and influences plants them firmly in the moment. Had a hard time picking a track, Home Movies is so consistent and so beautifully relentless.
  • Gut Health, “The Recipe” – I’m an unabashed fan of the current wave of rock coming from Melbourne, and this invigorating five piece led by Anhina Uh Oh sums up so much of what I love about that scene: barbed hooks, punchy rhythms, stinging guitars. “Delta of faux! Iridescent! No enemies, real energy.”
  • Nia Archives, “Off Wiv Ya Headz” – London-based producer Nia Archives takes the A-Trak remix of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs rager “Off With Your Head” – already a track that I still put on more party playlists than not, and have on my gym mix – as raw material for this expansive, pounding post-jungle rework. Reminds me of everything I loved about jungle and drum ‘n’ bass and the pure catharsis of dancing.
  • Godflesh, “You Are the Judge, the Jury, and the Executioner” – Godflesh was my entryway into Justin Broadrick’s musical world as a young teenager – and I’ve had my brain melted by live sets by The Bug and Zonal over the years – so I’ve been overjoyed that the comeback Godflesh records since 2014 have lived up to the quality of that impeccable original run, each one getting better. This closing track on the excellent Purge is volcanic, cathartic, and introspective at the same time. As good a fiery riff as I’ve heard in many years and a crunching, unstoppable groove. “The sane, the just, the righteous. We fall. Again.”
  • Boris, “Heavy Friends” – The repetition underpinning the righteous ZZ Top worthy riff from this newest salvo from Japanese power trio Boris, for me, ties together some of the last several items, connectiing Decisive Pink to Godflesh, but even if those connections don’t work for you, this fucking smokes.
  • Serroge, “Damascus” – I believe I found out about this St Louis-based rapper from a random post-Twangfest conversation with someone at the Irish bar down the street from Off-Broadway, and it’s been one of my favorite finds of the year. “I’ve been serving two masters. “I just got multiple packs ’cause I’ve been serving two masters. The truth of the situation: I was blind. Paul on the road to Damascus.”
  • Statik Selektah featuring Posdnous, “Round Trip (For Dave)” – Producer Statik Selektah’s sprawling Round Trip album is packed with pleasures but my immediate favorite was this collaboration with Posdnous in tribute to Pos’s longtime De La Soul compatriot Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jollicoeur, rippling with horns and piano stabs. “Bittersweet blessings, condolences and congrats in the same sentence while my life learns the lesson. I cry quiet so the knot in my chest is hard to untie, but thankfully the heart keeps pressing.”
  • Vada Azeem, “ABUELA” – Columbus-based Vada Azeem caught my ear with early work as L.e. for the Uncool he continues to impress me. This gorgeous track remembering his grandmother and also a friend who died too young is a horn-drenched standout on his consistently strong We Forgot God Was Working. “I remember what my Grandma told a little me, my eyes full of glee: ‘Stay focused, child, always tie your camel to a tree.'”
  • Lorqa and Synead, “Mirrors” – New York based producer Lorqa and vocalist Synead teamed up for this subtle, icy tune that feels like a perfect tonic for the muggy, suffocating air at the moment and I bet will sound just as good to leaves and snow falling through streetlamps. “Out of bed; muddy boots and I’m still hungover. Clocks are useless, where the time go? Now I see why floating mirrors whisper. All these mirrors are telling you ‘Come on, flow right over.'”
  • Decisive Pink, “Cosmic Dancer” – This collaboration between Angel Deradoorian and Kate NV uses shiny textures to complicate its message, to enhance the mystery, instead of glossing over it – the synth textures tied it in my mind to the previous few tracks but the repetition and the sense of interlocking cells also ties it to Philip Glass but with a heavy dollop of dancefloor charm. “The archer’s bow points out the way to my newest escapade. What lies beyond in the unknown charade?”
  • Gerald Cleaver, “A Marcha Para Baixo” – Long one of my favorite drummers in jazz – a title he handily defended when Anne and I saw him playing with the poet Fred Moten on my last trip to New York – Cleaver’s also been putting out really interesting electronic music, and his new record in that vein 22/23 brings in everything he’s interested in, like the nod to Brazilian music here with sounds that bear faint traces of classic Deodato and David Axelrod, while still flexing his Detroit roots.
  • Wild Up, “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?” – One of my favorite Julius Eastman pieces gets a luminous reading from the collective Wild Up. who also did the astonishing rediscovery of his piece Feminine. The sledgehammer to the chest of those massed horns and ice knife-wielding indictment of the vocals have never been clearer or more powerful.
  • Orrin Evans, “The Red Door” – This title track to another can’t-miss record by one of my favorite pianists and composers finds Evans assembling a world-beating quintet of Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Gary Thomas on tenor, Robert Hurst on bass, and Marvin “Smitty” Smitt on drums. The empathy on those pulsing, enticing sunlight heads and the intriguing everything-pulling-apart sections shine. Jazz you can snap your fingers to and get lost in.
  • Adeem the Artist, “Fervent For the Hunger” – Still hoping Adeem the Artist rides the wave of more-than-deserved hype to tour somewhere near here as I missed their (by all accounts, excellent) hometown shows during Big Ears. This new song continues the volcanic, ferocious compassion they brought to White Trash Revelry and makes it a natural singalong. “And I’m a holy ghost, lamp post, poet of sorts. A rain drop, machine shop, radio source surtured with lip gloss and hot sauce, indian summers. Just a kid with mixed up head, fervent for the hunger.”
  • Eilen Jewell, “Could You Would You” – I’ve been a fan of Eilen Jewell since Alec Wightman first brought her to town for one of his Zeppelin shows, and every record reveals new layers, new reasons to be enraptured. This standout from her excellent Get Behind the Wheel works in that Roy Orbison/Chrissy Hynde swinging stop mode she does better than anyone else right now, making the chorus “Could you love me like I love you?” a flirtatious, poison-dipped dagger of a challenge.
  • Ashley Ray featuring Ruston Kelly, “Break My Heart” – From the first swoop of pedal steel, Ashley Ray plants her flag in a deep river of trad country balladry, every line perfectly enunciated and stretched out juuuust enough, with Ruston Kelly as a devastating foil. “I just thought that you should know I’ve got a little ways to go. I’m a wild horse at the rodeo, but I think you could take her. If you don’t break my heart, honey, somebody else will. You’ve got a deadly charm, I’ve got nothing but time to kill.”
  • Brennen Leigh, “The Bar Should Say Thanks” – A less smooth, honky-tonk brand of country gets an ideal champion in Brennen Leigh, maybe the artist I kick myself most for missing this year when she played Natalie’s with Kelly Willis. The defiance and longing in her voice recalls vintage crying in your beer Merle Haggard and the fiddle-driven blurry waltz paints an entire world. “Don’t they remember each closing time, whose tab is always open? Who can they count on to hold the hand of a friend who’s barely coping? Who’s the queen of rehashing her hard knocks? Who drops all of their cash in the jukebox when I could have been putting it in the bank? The bar should say thanks.”
  • Madison McFerrin, “(Please Don’t) Leave Me Now” – A slightly different stripe of instant last call classic with this highlight off Madison McFerrin’s excellent debut album I Hope You Can Forgive Me. Subtle, introspective disco that makes me regret even more missing her when she came through Rambling House; I’m damn sure the next time will be someplace much larger. “What is all forgiven when it’s said and done? Could it be we’re livin’ all wrong?”
  • New Twenty Saints, “Ghosting” – I was turned onto this Detroit band by my fellow Pencilstorm contributor Jeremy Porter, and they’re exactly the kind of bar room midwestern/Great Lakes region rock I have a soft spot for, done really well. They’re high on my list to check for next time I’m up north. “I’m always doing time. You show your cards when you can’t show signs.”
  • Bettye LaVette featuring Ray Parker Jr. and Jon Batiste, “Mess About It” – If soul legend Bettye LaVette had just made the same record over and over, I’d probably still lap them up: she’s got one of the signature voices of her generation, and it just gets richer and more fascinating with time. But it’s to her credit she keeps searching, keeps working in different modes with different concepts, trusting whatever she takes on will always be her. The new one, LaVette! teams her with southern rock songwriter Randall Bramblett who came up in similar ’70s trenches, and it’s front-to-back magic. This track in particular, with the great Ray Parker Jr. adding his signature guitar alongside fellow guest, keyboardist Jon Batiste, is a classic slice of funky urban soul. “When you’re burning daylight, and you’re almost home, little things can wind their way inside of you. And your smile gets stolen by the fading sun; got a strange hold on the steering wheel.”
  • Joy Oladokun, “Changes” – With every record, singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun’s work gets stronger, deeper, and more herself. Proof of Life, her second for Verve Forecast, might be her first masterpiece. This burnished, ingratiating tune with a vocal that’s immediate but unfolds with attention is co-written and produced with Dan Wilson and features Wilson on harmonium, with Oladokun adding that pulsing bass line and ukulele part and a warm breeze of a saxophone part from Alex Budman (Clare Fischer, Mavis Staples, D’Angelo). “Was a baby during the LA riots, and I’ve seen cities burn again. Cried for the innocent a thousand times, and people still don’t understand what it’s like to hope again and again, knowing the heartache’s gonna be there till the end.”
  • Keturah, “Nchiwewe (Ode to Willie Nelson)” – The eponymous debut album from Malawian singer-songwriter Keturah stunned me the minute I heard it and is still revealing pleasures and secrets to me. This tribute to Willie Nelson stands alongside Miles Davis’, showing the reach and power of Nelson’s work and the connections between a global artistic community.
  • Jerry David DeCicca, “New Shadows” – Even in the Black Swans, who I loved, Jerry DeCicca was always finding new facets, new contexts for his voice without ever chasing trends or doing anything cavalierly. This first single and title track of DeCicca’s forthcoming record expands the palette of his sonic world further than anything other than his collaboration with Mike Shiflet (which I love) and uses guest stars like guitarist Jeff Parker and baritone sax player Steve Berlin beautifully. As with the last several of these playlists, I like to end with a prayer, and DeCicca’s music has always had meditative, medicinal qualities for me, never more than the holy house of mirrors he builds here. I always look forward to a new record from him, but this taste made this my most anticipated record of the year. Thank you all for listening and reading. “The sun went down and the night got big, so I crawl into the hole I dig.”
Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – May 2023

After a couple of months that felt like watching for a flower to bloom, but with the physical sensation of pulling teeth, I felt really energized and enthusiastic digging into stuff this time. That sensation carried over through a delightful return to Twangfest, full of not just my friends but some of my mentors and inspirations for loving music the way I do; where I wrote some of the later blurbs in the morning with coffee or in the airport waiting for my (delayed) flight, and now still riding that high a few days later. Thank you for listening, reading, or both. I love you all.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/3ebe3157-0377-4c01-b0cd-c0232238f508

  • Fred Davis, “Wine Hop” – Eli “Paperboy” Reed learned to play guitar with his father Howard Husock showing him tricks he’d learned from legendary Cleveland blues singer-guitarist Fred Davis (tragically murdered in 1988). Finding a tape of what are thought to be the only recordings Davis ever made, mostly with his band Dave and the Blues Express, Reed and his father cleaned up and released this stirring document (and also provided a marker for Davis’s grave). This grinding, growling jump blues is a perfect example of its type and a reminder to treasure the heroes in your town – and record what you can – because it may leave only memories.
  • Janelle Monae featuring Seun Kuti and Egypt 80, “Float” – This opening salvo from Janelle Monae’s The Age of Pleasure is a rich, powerful statement of intent, using the massed horns and power of Seun Kuti’s Egypt 80 – who my pal Andrew and I saw at the Alrosa Villa (RIP) – in a restrained, sensuous way. One of my favorite grooves of the year so far in a field with stiff competition. “I don’t dance; I just float.”
  • Amanda Shires and Bobbie Nelson featuring Willie Nelson, “Summertime” – The heads always knew, but it feels like it was only in the last 10 or so years of her life that pianist Bobbie Nelson received more of the just acclaim she deserved as brother Willie Nelson’s right hand/the key instrumental voice in The Family through so many changes. That reputation was helped by some duo records – and a heart-breaking joint memoir – and I think this collaborative record with fellow Texan, singer-fiddle player Amanda Shires, is going to help keep that reevaluation rolling. This gorgeous romp through the Gershwins’ “Summertime” stands up against any of the hundreds I’ve heard over the years. “Hush, little baby, don’t you cry.”
  • Valerie June featuring Bill Frisell, “Handsome Molly” – Tribute albums used to be kind of cast-off/throwaways, but the last year has given us some really stunning examples of the form, and I Am a Pilgrim: Doc Watson at 100 is another shining example. It’s full of beautiful performances that honor the thick, intricate rhythm and keening emotional content Doc Watson gave to roots music while also applying everything the artists know about the songs and themselves. This read on “Handsome Molly” with Valerie June’s intriguing, powerful vocal and Bill Frisell’s shadowy, echo-drenched guitar is a stellar example. “While sailing around the ocean, while sailing around the sea, I’ll dream of handsome Molly, wherever she might be.”
  • Shirley Collins, “Hares on the Mountain” – I’ve been a fan of Shirley Collins since my early Current 93 fandom, with David Tibet issuing a compilation of her work that sent me on a long and merry chase. And she’s still putting out astonishing work. Here, she revisits a mournful traditional she first recorded with legendary British folk guitarist Davey Graham, with subtle production from Ian Kearney, highlighting a haunting slide guitar. “If all you young men were fish in the water, how many young girls would undress and dive after?”
  • Peter Brotzmann, Majid Bekkas, Hamid Drake, “Balini” – Multi-reed player Peter Brotzmann injected a palpable energy into the European free jazz scene in the ’60s, and conjured a similar ferocity in the ’90s/early ’00s Chicago scene I first fell in love with. There have always been other textures and other passions in his sound – I remember being stunned by the solo record 14 Love Songs as a teenager – but he’s gone deeper into those in recent years, in his ’80s. The live record Catching Ghosts, captured at the 2022 Berlin Jazzfest, continues his investigations into Gnaouan music, teaming Brotzmann and longtime collaborator Hamid Drake with singer-guembri player Majid Bekkas.
  • Baby Rose featuring Smino, “I Won’t Tell” – This highlight from Baby Rose’s sophomore album Through and Through is one of my favorite examples of playing with classic disco tropes in a while. The clipped rhythm and throaty singing that at times recalls Nina Simone and early Macy Gray send me. “Some need emotion; I’ll take the thrill.”
  • Holy Tongue, “Saeta” – The debut full-length from London-based collaboration between percussionist Valentina Magaletti, multi-instrumentalist Al Wooton, and bassist Susumi Makai, layers on additional textures to the earlier dark ambient work. This opening track surges with ecstatic brass courtesy of David Wootton before shifting into a more contained intensity.
  • Fred again… and Brian Eno, “Secret” – I was vaguely aware of Fred again as a songwriter on those Brian Eno/Karl Hyde records, but I completely missed his Actual Life records until hearing Jon Caramanica talk about them on the New York Times’ Popcast. Of course, I loved them, they were right in my wheelhouse, and so I was primed for this full collaboration with Eno. I love the magpie energy, the way Fred strings together influences in ways that honor them but don’t feel handcuffed to history. I found the record as a whole to be hit and miss, but I loved this repurposing of some lyrics from Leonard Cohen’s “In My Secret Life” into immaculately carved and broken soundscapes for a long night of the soul. “Hold on, hold on, my brother. My sister, hold on tight. Finally found my whole life, so I’ve been marchin’ through the morning, marchin’ through the night. Moving ‘cross the borders of my secret life.”
  • Morgan Peros, “Last Straw” – Violinist-arranger Morgan Peros steps in front with this irresistible single highlighting her gifts as a singer-songwriter. I love the sudden flurry of drums toward the end before the strings and synths break the track open. “People talk about last straws: forgiveness, belonging, and betrayal. They load up their weapons, hide their loneliness, cling to a portrayal. I’ll be looking for beauty in the broken.”
  • The Baseball Project, “Journeyman” – This indie rock super group, Peter Buck and Mike Mills of R.E.M, Scott McCaughey from the Minus Five (and longtime touring member of R.E.M.), Steve Wynn from the Dream Syndicate, Linda Pitmon from ZuZu’s Petals and Golden Smog (and for many years, in Wynn’s Miracle 3), has extended into four records and this advance single from Grand Salami Time, co-written by Buck and Wynn, has a beautiful desert-sky melancholy running through it. “Always keep my bags packed. Never get too close to anyone. Long as there’s someone who needs me, down the road I go.”
  • The Gaslight Anthem, “Positive Charge” – It’s no secret to anyone reading this I’ve got a massive soft-spot for wordy anthemic rock, and that weakness most obviously manifests itself in my unabashed  (mostly) love for the Gaslight Anthem. This early single from their reunion period, produced by Peter Katis, plants Brian Fallon’s voice in the thick of the other sounds instead of dragging it in front. and highlights the shadowy spaces between the bright slashes of guitar, while also playing up the deep undertow of the drums. It feels thick, it feels heavy with life in a way I find really appealing. “I need a positive charge. Plug it into my veins, make me love this life again.”
  • Who Parked the Car, “Sunburns” – Parisian collective Who Parked The Car made a terrific album of low-key R&B that feels like sliding down those streets in the dark. The deep hookup between Thomas Salvatore’s keys and Alejandro Dixon’s drums reminds me of the best of Cory Henry’s ballads and Laura Wamble’s vocal drives the mood deep. “Stay one more day.”
  • Mark Chang, “Turning Pages” – For me, this strikes a similar mood as the last song. I couldn’t find much about this Hong Kong-based singer-songwriter but it feels like he’s merging a more direct emo singing influence with the emo textures that have been prevalent in R&B for the last decade.  “There’s no point in trying to change what no one can control.”
  • Naya Baaz, “Charm” – Naya Baaz, roughly translated as New Falcon, teams sitar player Josh Feinberg with jazz guitarist Rez Abbasi and a rhythm section of Jennifer Vincent on five-string cello and drummer Satoshi Takeishi, for a keening record fully of melodies that are hard to shake and explorations that always have a narrative propulsion. This title track is a beautiful blending of their styles I keep coming back to.
  • Fat Tony and Blockhead, “I’m Thinking ‘Bout Moving” – Like a lot of people my age, I fell in love with Blockhead’s beats on those early Aesop Rock records, and very shortly after a few of my favorite tracks on Columbus rapper Illogic’s Got Lyrics. I haven’t kept up very closely, but anytime something he’s worked on hits my radar, I’m happy to hear it and it’s always of interest. This pairing with Houston rapper Fat Tony is a hand-in-glove fit, humid and languid, perfect for this narrative I’m overjoyed I’m years away from being relatable. “When my girl over, one roommate look at her strange. He always wanna small talk and mispronounce her name. The living room littered with beer, cassette tapes and weed – all are his.” 
  • Rocket 808, “House of Jackpots” – Rocket 808, John Schooley’s solo electric guitar and vocals with drum machine project, are one of my favorite bands from recent Gonerfests, and this instrumental title track off the new record finds him dipping more into texture and expanse than the sharp jabs of songs he first wowed me with.
  • Rich the Kid featuring Rema, Arya Starr, and KDDO, “Yeh Yeh” – This new single from Atlanta rapper Rich the Kid felt like it fit with the heat-mirage distorted landscapes of the previous few songs. The choice of collaborators here – Nigerian singers Rema, Arya Starr, and producer KDDO – helps this soar: the blending of their different voices and effects moves me every time. “We come alive in the night time and won’t let it die. And all the drinks I pour in, is it more that we dance?”
  • Gotopo featuring Don Elektron, “Piña pa la Niña” – Berlin-based and South American-raised singer-songwriter Gotopop crafted a phenomenal, mysterious, multifaceted groove of a record with Sacúdete and this collaboration with Latin electronic music superstar Don Elektron is high on that list of songs I can never stay in a bad mood after hearing.
  • Cyril Cyril and the Meridian Brothers, “Diablos de Chuao” – The duo of Cyril Yeterian, formerly of Swiss-Cajun band Mama Rosin, and Swiss experimental music maven Cyril Bondi, team up with Eblis Álvarez in his Meridian Brothers guise (and if you haven’t had your ear bent by me about the Meridian Brothers’ live incarnation at Big Ears recently, trust that it’s coming) for this infectious slab of heaving, accordion-driven Latin soul.
  • Black Market Brass, “Rat Trap” – I believe it was my pal Andrew who tipped me off to this single, on the can’t-miss Colemine label, from recent favorites Black Market Brass. The serrated horn stabs and choppy guitar sum up everything I’m looking for from this great Minneapolis band, and this should be part of the mix at any party for the forseeable future, while also getting me excited for their next full-length in the fall.
  • The Whiffs, “I Didn’t Need You to Know” – This sunrise-bright slice of powerpop from the Kansas City band The Whiffs is a prime example of what that genre does so well. A cry in the dark and a catchiness that can’t be denied, one of many highlights on their terrific record Scratch ‘N’ Sniff.
  • Rodney Crowell, “You’re Supposed to be Feeling Good” – Since his career rebirth with The Houston Kid – and make no mistake, I love a whole lot of Crowell songs before then – Rodney Crowell has refined his work into a new plane of clarity and consistency. His new one, The Chicago Sessions, with Jeff Tweedy, like recent Tweedy productions for Mavis Staples and Richard Thompson, puts his voice front and center and finds the perfect, stripped-down textures for another great collection of Crowell work. This lilting apology/admonition originally (I think) recorded by Emmylou Harris on her landmark Luxury Liner album gets a lived-in treatment like a worn leather jacket you finally know every crease in, with some lovely frayed-around-the-edges soul falsetto from Crowell and some great guitar from Jeff Tweedy. “Soulmate, the blues are deceiving. It keeps us believing we’re on the wrong road.”
  • ANHONI, “It Must Change” – ANHONI harkens back to her early soul/orchestral pop influences on this beautiful new single, coming in advance of a new record My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross, her first work billed as “And the Johnsons” since 2010. That soaring bridge, repeating the lines “That’s why this is so sad,” breaks me every time.
  • ARTEMIS, “Bow and Arrow” – Contemporary jazz supergroup ARTEMIS return with a second album, In Real Time, that maybe even betters their stunning debut. This track written by drummer Allison Miller and arranged by pianist Renee Rosnes boasts a stunning alto solo from Alexa Tarantino and sizzling trumpet work from Ingrid Jensen in an almost-telepathic ensemble.
  • Oval, “Ohno” – Seeing Oval (Markus Popp) in a tiny gallery space next to one of Columbus’s only (at the time) vegan restaurants, Dragonfly, was a mind-melting experience for me. I couldn’t believe “art music”, much less laptop music, could be that powerful and that almighty loud. He moved around and shaped broken sound – much of his early work came from a program that mirrored skipping CDs – in a way that tied back to an entire history to musique concrete and Fluxus but still felt like it was speaking to now. It blew my 20 (21?) year old mind. But while I was a big fan for a few years, I didn’t keep up. A notice of this new record Romantiq caught my eye and he’s added in lusher harmonies and deliberate tempos into that sense of the artfully broken for something truly beautiful.
  • Khanate, “It Wants to Fly” – Another act I saw around the same time I saw Oval, but in a more traditional dive bar venue, the much-missed High Five (it’s a “fancy” taco place now in the tradition of all things Columbus, at least Dragonfly and Neo are still good restaurants). The pulverizing slowness of drone/doom metal supergroup Khanate (featuring favorites of mine Tim Wyskida and Stephen O’Malley) didn’t quite connect with me in that club, that night, with a cold beer in my hand – or at least they had a hard time competing with OGs of the genre working a new pastoral set of turf, Earth, who they were on the bill with. But I kept going back to those records, and their out-of-nowhere resurgence album To Be Cruel blew my hair back in the best way. “We’re going down.”
  • Saint Harison, “ego talkin'” – UK singer-songwriter Saint Harison caught my attention with this stunning single – finding beauty in devastation in a way that’s certainly at an angle from the last couple of songs but felt like it shares emotional space with them. “Admittance is the key to start the healing right, but I didn’t want to eat that humble pie.”
  • Sunny Sweeney, Miko Marks, Rissi Palmer, and Tami Neilson, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” – This Mount Rushmore-style collection of some of the best singers and songwriters in contemporary country music teams up for a ferocious, slow-burn, soul-infused read on the Bob Dylan classic. “We never did too much talking, anyway.”
  • Jordyn Shellhart, “On a Piano Bench Getting Wasted” – This song by Nashville writer-singer Jordyn Shellhart had me hook, line and sinker with its first line of “With a loneliness that’s pervasive, on a piano bench getting wasted,” piano-driven with subtle flashes of handclaps and string bass for the first third before a fuller arrangement blooms, Shellhart’s questioning voice hangs in the center like a single film noir bolt of light.
  • Bob Martin, “Stella” – I learned about Bob Martin’s landmark 1972 album Midwest Farm Disaster from my pal Jerry DeCicca and a few years later I remember being on the patio of a club talking about the work he was doing to produce a new record of Martin’s material. The results of that, a beautiful record called Seabrook, finally came out this year in the wake of Martin’s passing, his first record in something like a decade. It’s a beautiful, wistful piece conjuring and dancing with ghosts; every curve and crack in Martin’s voice up front with Sven Kahns’ pedal steel curling around it like smoke. Get well, soon, Jerry; the world needs your wit and empathy, and we can use as many more records like this (and of your own material) as you have time for. “She said, ‘God, you should have seen him then, before the money and the fame. His face was like sweet Jesus and his hide was like a flame. But his life was all on fire and there was nothing you could say to hold him down in this small down and try to make him stay.”
  • Morgan Wade, “Psychopath” – I liked Nashville songwriter Morgan Wade’s last record, Reckless, but if this first single is any indication her new record in August (also named Psychopath) is going to be a world-beater. Swirling keyboards and pedal steel highlighting a slow, menacing stomp around a lyric full of declarations with a question stuck through them like the pin in a voodoo doll and questions that aren’t really questions. “You might be the death of me. Throw my ashes out into the sea; get drunk and give your eulogy. You might be the death of me.”
  • Layng Martine Jr., ” Try Me Again” – I grew up with Layng Martine Jr’s songs for Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood, but I have to confess I was more familiar with his son, the producer Tucker Martine’s, work. So this collaboration, Music Man, was a beautiful surprise. This easy swinging barroom slow dance plea for another chance exemplifies what keeps me going back to the record. “Well, I never understood just what you needed, ’til you were gone and I was all alone. Now I know the ways I’d love to touch you are just what you had wanted all along.”
  • Wally B. Seck, “Waka Waka” – I became a fan of Wally Seck through a conversation in a Lyft with a driver about his father Thione Seck, and the younger Seck continues to come into his own with one great single after another. The easy, sun-on-a-brook groove of this tune provides the perfect propulsion for Seck’s light, dancing tenor. “Baby say me deep in, I deep in.”
  • Summer Walker, “Mind Yo Mouth” – Summer Walker got my attention with her last record, Still Over It, and this new EP Clear 2: Soft Life is one classic after another. This miniature, with a silky arrangements, updates the slacker boy genre with an unsparing specficity delivered in a sweet and spiked tone. “They say, ‘Hush girl, mind your mouth; you don’t wanna turn him off.’ Well he might have to deal with it. See I pay my own bills, get it? Why I gotta be so soft? Charmin. I find it quite alarming ’cause I ain’t ya mama. Wanna be with me then you gon’ get up off your bottom.”
  • Ian Hunter, “Pavlov’s Dog” – Another easy-going groove and a perfect example of how a midtempo rock tune can still pack such a powerful emotional punch. This standout track from Ian Hunter’s solid front-to-back Defiance Part 1 teams him with Stone Temple Pilots’ core Robert and Dean DeLeo and Eric Kretz, and longtime vocal foils Andy York and Dennis Dibrizzi. “I’ve got a job to do.”
  • Scar Lip, “This is New York” – The creep of the groove, the ominous strings, and the tone of defiance on this felt like an expansion and escalation of the sound worlds of the last couple tracks Scar Lip’s bitten-off vocal delivery makes a meal out of this track with lines I’ve been quoting for weeks since hearing it.  “Don’t come to Queens with that shit because we ain’t fuckin’ with that shit. Get the fuck out, go to PA with that shit.”
  • Alvorada, “Decadência” – I couldn’t find much about this Brazilian band, whose name refers to the palace the president lives in, except that I don’t believe they’re the UK-based band of the same name who specialize in the instrumental form of choro music. This takes a Beatles-y vocal including harmonies and adds some sheets of shearing, acidic guitar.
  • Peso Pluma featuring Jasiel Nuñez, “Rosa Pastel” – Peso Pluma is one of the Mexican artists getting a large international office with updatings of the narcocorrido form; he emphasizes an aggressive rhythm that belies some rap and reggaeton influence but the songs also recall the classic genre tropes, like the smeared trumpets and the mournful guitar break on this gorgeous song.
  • The Ironsides, “Violet Vanished” – Great friend Andrew Patton turned me onto California’s cinematic soul band The Ironsides’s new record Changing Light over lunch a few weeks ago; we’d both been fans of their earlier singles and EPs. Taken as a whole, it’s a little plodding for me, but once I put it on, I have a hard time being made because they’re such gorgeous, lush landscapes to sink into. For pouring yourself a glass of something sweet and smooth, lighting a smoke, and luxuriating.
  • Brent Cordero and Peter Kerlin, “Affordable For Who” – This collaboration from the Psychic Ill’s Brent Cordero and Sunwatchers’ Peter Kerlin, also feels like it deals in landscapes but of a more psychedelic bent, rich with non-Euclidean geometry; meditative passages suddenly rupture into fields of soft beauty that is then beset upon with spikes. This track adds Aaron Siegel on vibes and drummer Ryan Jewell to flesh out the smooth corners and rough edges.
  • Lesley Mok, “again, all” – Continuing the trend of music made for contemplation that works equally well but very differently in practice, in smoky rooms and long walks through wooded passages, drummer-composer Lesley Mok’s made one of my favorite records of chamber jazz in a long time with The Living Collection. The murderer’s row of players she’s assembled doesn’t hurt either, with Adam O’Farrill’s menacing but vulnerable trumpet leading the charge, Cory Smythe’s piano like falling leaves and like the lightning around the thunderstom of Mok’s drums, Leon and Uesaka’s interlacing, battling reeds. Every part of this ensemble and record is magic.
  • Billy Woods and Kenny Segal, “The Layover” – I’ve talked plenty about New York rapper Billy Woods, but Maps, reinvigorating his collaboration with LA-based producer Kenny Segal (Abstract Rude, Freestyle Fellowship), is my favorite thing of his since the collaboration with Moor Mother a year or two ago. This track combines crunching drums with ice-knife piano, and a whisper of a horn section. “Before history, I made fire in the cave – midwifery, delivery a ball of rage. Hide and go seek: some never find a hiding place, some kids hid so well they never found a trace. It’s too late, but they came all the same; eyes begging for something for the pain.”
  • Califone, “comedy” – A new record from Tim Rutili’s shifting collective Califone is always a cause for celebration in my world, and Villagers is another home run. This woozy, cracked confession/indictment, drunk on horns and emboldened with sweet harmony vocals, is a perfect example of what I love about the album and their work in general. “Are you my enemy? Made to make you a little less alone?”
  • Whitney Rose, “Tell Me A Story, Babe” – At a similar nothing-to-prove tempo, Canadian singer-songwriter Whitney Rose, who I mostly knew from her work with Raul Malo, affirms the beauty and power of a straight-forward country record. Almost no one writes classic honky tonk ballads like this album opener anymore, and we’re all the richer for her example. “Tell me something from when you were a child. Just bring something up, babe, we have got all night.”
  • Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, “Nightriding” – Marty Stuart is a shining example of following your own tastes, your own intuition, and especially your own curiosity. For someone who literally knows everyone in Nashville – and there are some judicious guest stars – he loves and honors this stable lineup of his Fabulous Superlatives (Chris Scruggs, Harry Stinson, Kenny Vaughan) not only by letting them stretch out on the various genres he dips into on Altitude but by crediting them as co-producers alongside the engineer Mick Conley. This song is a seductive slab of last call ’60s country-soul, done as well as anyone’s doing it these days. “Everywhere you look, read ’em like a book. Nightriding.”
  • Brandy Clark, “Up Above the Clouds (Cecilia’s Song)” – Brandy Clark’s 12 Stories knocked me off my chair when it came out about 10 years ago. I remember distinctly bending Ed Mann’s ear about it in a bar, and telling my other pal Brian Galensky at the bar he owned it contained the best Kris Kristofferson-style songs anyone was writing. Since then, she’s made great record after great record (“Pawn Shop” off the last one kills me” but this new eponymous album, produced by Brandi Carlile, comes the closest to matching that debut pound for pound without just working over that same ground. This mosaic of shattered heart-glass welded together with hope and a keen understanding of human nature, was the first song on the album to make me stop everything else I was doing and give it my full attention, but it’s not alone. “When your blue eyes are cryin’ ’cause love’s let you down; when a fool’s dream is dyin’ and the sunshine’s all run out, remember there’s a blue sky up above the clouds.”
  • Leyla McCalla, Joy Clark, Lilli Lewis, Sabine McCalla, Sula Spirit, and Cassie Watson Francillon, “Freedom is a Constant Struggle” – As usual, I end the playlist with a couple of songs worth of benediction or prayer. This Roberta Slavitt song, popularized by the Freedom Singers, gets a stirring read led by singer Leyla McCalla and a stellar collection of other voices. “They say that freedom is a constant dying. Oh Lord, we’ve died so long that we must be free. We must be free.”
Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – April 2023

Not early, but better. Let’s see if we can keep this momentum up. Thanks to any of you who are still out there.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/c48a8b75-386f-49e4-887a-4c19e9aee87a

  • Natural Information Society, “Moontide Chorus” – I’ve gone on at length about the Chicago improvised music scene as my gateway to so much of my tastes up to now. Bassist-composer Joshua Abrams is one of the main players I gravitated toward early and every new document of his Natural Information Society project is a cause for celebration. The new one, Since Time is Gravity, assembles a larger group, anchored by Mikel Patrick Avery on drums and the great Hamid Drake on percussion, and from the opening guimbri riff from Abrams that melts into the horn fanfare (with Josh Berman and Ben Lamar Gay on cornets, Ari Brown on tenor, Nick Mazzarella and Mai Sugimoto on alto, and Jason Stein on bass clarinet) and propelled by Lisa Alvarado’s harmonium and Kara Bershad’s harp, it paints a tapestry that moves like a rolling river.
  • Lucinda Williams, “New York Comeback” – I devoured Lucinda Williams’ riveting memoir Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You in a couple of days and it sent me down the rabbit hole of her work. While it didn’t alter my overall opinion (love the self-titled through Car Wheels, like Essence, lose interest through Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, come back with Ghosts of Highway 20 and Good Souls Better Angels) and the first couple of singles of Stories from a Rock and Roll Heart stoke my revitalized interest. This co-write with Jesse Malin (who Williams and her husband Tom Overby produced his best record with), is the kind of sly indictment and even slyer seduction – a tribute to the show’s manifest ability to still surprise and a plea for the chance to do just that, in a world full of distractions – that she writes and sings better than anyone, painted in three dimensions and spattered in just the right amount of grime. “No one’s brought the curtain down; maybe you should stick around until the stage goes black. Maybe there’s one last twist: two outs, nobody on base, we’re down to the last strike. You could hear a pin drop in this place, hoping for a miracle tonight.”
  • Caroline Spence featuring Lori McKenna, “The Next Good Time” – I’ve liked Nashville singer-songwriter Caroline Spence for a while but I completely missed her last record True North, so I was extremely glad this single featuring Lori McKenna came out to redress that failing on my part. A slow-burn slice of beautiful quiet desperation and the things we find to keep going. “Most things gonna lose their shine. Some things string up party lights.”
  • Hydrone, “Heart Explode” – Latest up-and-comer in the always fertile Columbus garage rock scene, Hydrone brings an appealingly frayed, grooving quality to the genre of yelp and jerk. In less than two minutes, they get their hooks in and leave me wanting more, with special attention to that perfect guitar break.
  • yMusic, “The Wolf” – NYC’s yMusic – Alex Sopp (flute), Hideaki Aomori (clarinet), CJ Camerieri (trumpet), Rob Moose (violin), Nadia Sirota (viola), Gabriel Cabezas (cello), all names you’ve seen show up regularly here for good reason – have turned me onto more new composers and pieces than just about any new music ensemble. They were my first inkling my generation was breaking out in the world of chamber music without pandering or bullshitting (I think Wordless and ACME maybe predated them but I hadn’t heard them yet). This opening salvo from their hotly anticipated eponymous album is a marvel of shifting, sweating, glowing texture, and intensity.
  • Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, “Clear Sky” – I mostly know Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith for her synthesizer pieces, so this beautiful, fresh-air miniature from the great compilation Piano Day Vol 2 highlighting acoustic piano at its heart was a balm and a surprise. The kind of piece I grasped and loved immediately but still enjoy wrestling with, convinced I won’t exhaust its power.
  • Abby Anderson, “Heart on Fire in Mexico” – The luminous guitar chords kicking off this song, my introduction to singer-songwriter Abby Anderson, felt like it belonged in the same open and distorted window into the Americas as the last couple of instrumentals. The wry vocal and sharply-sliced detail of the lyric had me rapt the minute I heard this, and still do. “One cigarette smoke break by the back door turned into a pack on the hood of his Ford; where he is now, the Devil knows.”
  • Tiwa Savage featuring Arya Starr and Young John, “Stamina” – This rippling song from Nigerian singer-songwriter Tiwa Savage pairs her with Arya Starr and Young John. I love the way their voices intersect, the panoply of percussion and strings surfing the border of melancholy and hope, and the infectious melody. Sleeper contender for song of the summer. “So many things I can do to you if only you give me the permission to.”
  • GoGo Penguin, “Everything is Going to Be OK” – I was slow coming to GoGo Penguin, not-entirely-fairly dismissing them as Bad Plus clones. While there’s still definitely that DNA, their beautiful new one, of which this is the title track, turns up the electronic music influences, the throbbing propulsion of this track has a cotton-candy-addictive quality but also laced with enough acid to not let the listener get too comfortable.
  • Arthur Russell, “The Boy With a Smile” – I remain stunned that the Arthur Russell estate continues finding unreleased gems, especially when they’re of this quality. This is classic Russell in the low-key, seductive, and disconcerting mode of “This is How We Walk on the Moon” or “A Little Lost” with what sounds like scratching building shifting textures underneath his fragile voice, wrapped in velvety echo, and cello, buffeted by a burst of mournful harmonica. “Find a move that goes with what you’re thinking now. Find a vow that goes with the things you’re doing now.”
  • Joeboy, “Body & Soul” – This title track from Nigerian singer-songwriter Joeboy’s upcoming record has – to my ears – a similar laid-back, mournful but seductive quality as the Arthur Russell despite being separated by an ocean and over 40 years. The snap of the percussion and those synthetic horns in the back mesh so beautifully with his voice – and the choral vocal arrangement around the light tenor of his lead vocals – that I keep revisiting this track and can’t wait for the album. “If I could, I would love you in my next life. I don’t really care about tomorrow.”
  • Taichu & Álvaro Díaz, “PRESIÓN” – Argentine singer Taichu teams up with Puerto Rican rapper Álvaro Díaz for this infectious, throbbing slice of trap-inflected pop, a highlight from Taichu’s great record Rawr. If this doesn’t make you want to hit the dance floor, I’d check for a pulse.
  • Shania Twain featuring Malibu Babie, “Giddy Up! (Malibu Babie Remix)” – I’ve always had a soft spot for Shania Twain, even when she ruled the world and my disaffected teenage ass didn’t have time for anything that wasn’t on a scuffed-up CDR or marked “(demo)” on Audiogalaxy. Her embrace of dance remixes toward the time I stopped paying attention was interesting – and she still owns a unique space in pop artists I grew up with as I heard a bass-enhanced version of one of her classics when I stopped at a gay bar for Anne’s niece’s birthday a few weeks ago – and her resurgence makes me smile as wide as anything in popular culture I can think of. This neon-bright rework of Twain’s Queen of Me single pairs her with superproducer Malibu Babie (Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion), and it’s a fucking barn burner, just the right amount of distortion on her voice and a clattering, woozy rhythm swathed in angelic acid-trail synthesizers. “Drunk in the city, got a litty in the cup.”
  • P2K DaDiddy, “Full Tank of Gas” – Current torchbearer of the southern soul genre, Shreveport’s P2k DaDiddy works the borderline between the history of roots music and the democratizing tools of contemporary production and created another instant-classic summer song that would work for every bar or party I’d ever want to walk into. “I got a pocketful of money and don’t tell them where I get it. I got my baby right beside me, and she’s looking real sexy. I got a full tank of gas, I’m not worried ’bout a thing. We gonna keep on rolling till the early morning.”
  • Melissa Pipe Sextet, “In Due Time” – I was turned onto this fantastic record, Of What Remains, by my great friend Andrew Patton, my introduction to Montreal-based baritone sax player Melissa Pipe. It’s a marvelous, kaleidoscopic chamber-jazz record with Pipe’s earthy, catchy baritone playing and compositions keeping it from getting too ethereal or cerebral. Her growling riff that kicks the song in gear and the thorny storm of horns with Lex French and Philippe Côté about 2/3 of the way through are favorite moments in this favorite track of mine from the record.
  • Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “They Wait” – Just saw another spectacular show by Isbell and his band a few weeks ago – in a weekend where I also got to see the last August Wilson play of the cycle I’d never seen live – and not only did he do three new songs, as Anne said, “Something a band playing this big a place wouldn’t normally have the balls to do,” they were all highlights. This coiled story song with a heavy foot on the gas is a prime example of Isbell at his best, drilling into a story anyone in the room can relate to with the kind of specifics that throw those feelings into relief. “And ain’t it something how the night can shine while you stand in line behind a velvet rope? And ain’t it something when the morning comes and desire becomes a little speck of hope.”
  • Esther Rose, “Chet Baker” – I think my first exposure to Esther Rose was her stunning “Don’t Blame it On the Moon,” but I missed the intervening record. Safe to Run is one of my favorite singer-songwriter records of the year, sharply told stories with jaw-dropping, perfect arrangements. Johnny “Up” Shahid’s pedal steel in conversation with Rose’s voice and rhythm guitar and Meredith Stoner’s liquid bass line make this song for me, or at least makes the tarnished nostalgia sink even deeper in my blood. “Welcome to the end of your rope. Well, you know, rock bottom shouldn’t feel this good. We could go down swinging, arm in arm, or we could just go out drinking at the 8 Ball. Two bucks, press play, baby, bully the juke. Outside the ladies’ restroom, there starts to form a queue. Six bucks, starlight special: a shot and a beer; we’re not doing great.”
  • Shannon McNally, “Magnolia” – Seeing Shannon McNally as part of Terry Allen’s band this past Big Ears Festival sent me on a merry chase revisiting her terrific work. She works with producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Patty Griffin, The Sun) on this gorgeous, definitive read of a slow-burn J. J. Cale classic. “Magnolia, you sweet thing. You’re driving me mad.”
  • Jessie Ware, “Begin Again” – British singer-songwriter Jessie Ware brings her soul influences to the fore on her infectious new record That! Feels Good! and I think this single is a shining example of everything I love about it. Her bobbing and weaving vocal, from an easy croon into a soaring swoop – co-written with Shungudzo, James Ford from Simian Mobile Disco, and Daniel Parker – benefits from the muscle and subtle power of Afrobeat band Kokoro. “Why do my realities take over all my dreams? Why does all the purest love get filtered through machines?”
  • Mya Byrne, “Come On” – Mya Byrne’s debut for Kill Rock Stars, Rhinestone Tomboy, retains the Americana grit of her earlier work but, especially on this track, adds a glitter-dusted classic T. Rex/Iggy stomp. It’s an infectious, invigorating, throw-yourself-around-the-room rock record and a look into a specific world. “I can’t take it no more, stuck inside, come on,” delivered as a shout that knocks a hole in the wall – maybe not forever, but at least for tonight.
  • Billy Valentine and the Universal Truth, “Home is Where the Hatred Is” – I hadn’t thought about Columbus natives The Valentine Brothers in so long I’m ashamed to admit it, though their ’80s R&B hits were as big a part of my understanding and pride in my town growing up as Hank Marr, Nancy Wilson, or the New Bomb Turks. So when this solo record from Billy Valentine covering classic socially conscious ballads with a crack band including Pino Palladino and Immanuel Wilkins came out on UK stalwart of my early musical awakenings Acid Jazz, I had to hear it. Every song on here is a stunning version that stands up to the original (saying something when these are some of my favorite songs ever) and this smooth-but-never-simple ride through the harrowing Gil Scott-Heron classic is next-level good. “Home is where the needle marks tried to heal my broken heart.”
  • DJ Finale featuring Deboul, “Pitschu Debou” – Congolese producer-songwriter DJ Finale crafted a stunning dance record with Mille Morceau, here featruing his Fulu Miziki bandmate Deboul on a piercing vocal as the track interweaves crisp, shiny guitar licks with tar-thick bass and the high-pitched snare and hi-hat strikes of trap.
  • Scowl, “Psychic Dance Routine” – One of my favorite guitar riffs of the year so far, and a song that backs up that immediately powerful burst of guitar, this title track off Santa Cruz’s Scowl’s new EP is a bracing reminder of everything I loved about punk rock when it first entered my life, and feels like exactly the kind of band that’s getting kids to see every damn show they can. “No spirits, no spirits in my dreams.”
  • Kiko El Crazy featuring El Alfa, “Pichirry” – Dominican rapper Kiko El Crazy released an international breakthrough this year with Pila’e Teteo. It’s a wild sugar-rush rollercoaster ride of an album, shining light on various facets of the dembow rhythm with his immediately identifiable gruff laugh-bark of a vocal style mixed right up in the listener’s face. This track with fellow Dominican star El Alfa is a prime example of what makes his work so infectious.
  • Gael Stone featuring Trinidad Cardona, “Left & Right (Fantasy)” – French electronic music producer Gael Stone crafted this exquisite slice of slow-burn R&B, given a perfect vocal from Arizona-based crooner Trinidad Cardona. “Let me know what you want, girl, you get whatever you need.”
  • Roots Magic, “Amber” – Italian ecstatic jazz ensemble Roots Magic created a bursting-at-the-seams record, joyous even in its grief, led by reeds player Eugenio Colombo and vibraphonist Francesco lo Cascio. The slippery, elastic rhythm on this original, dedicated to great avant-garde cellist and Cleveland native Abdul Wadud, is first among equals for me, on a record with no dull tracks. I know it’s not likely but, hey, Winter Jazz Fest or Big Ears representatives….
  • Dan Rosenboom, “War Money” – This standout track from trumpeter-composer Dan Rosenboom’s great Polarity album plays with a similar groove and a similar dance of joy and darkness that feels a lot like life in the way the best jazz always has to me. With a killer band of saxophonist Gavin Templeton (that solo about a third of the way in crushes me), pianist John Escreet, bassist Billy Mohler, and drummer Damon Reid, is a prime temperature-taking of where small group improvisation stands.
  • Fire! Orchestra, “ECHOES: I see your eye, part 1” – I was a big fan of Mats Gustaffson the first time I heard that thick, rounded but spiky tone, originally on record through my Dusty Groove Records habit but also many ecstatic live experiences from seeing The Thing at Milo Arts here in Columbus and at the Standard as part of Big Ears, his trio Sonore with Ken Vandermark and Peter Brotzmann, several times in Chicago at various places. Originally his big band, Fire! Orchestra was an exercise in muscle, free blowing guided and shaped by the river of the personalities chosen, a lot like the Brotzmann Chicago Tentet. It’s evolved into a more open thing with a keen interest in texture and mood, with various players writing for it and records that feel like a journey. Echoes is another high water mark for the band, and this opening track written by drummer Andreas Werlin makes excellent use of the strings arranged by Josefin Runsteen and features a wrenching solo by (I think) Gustaffson.
  • Kara Jackson, “no fun/party” – I knew Kara Jackson’s work as a poet, but I was unprepared for the dazzling, unsettling soundscapes, and her subtle voice, orbiting around a few notes but owning them with authority, of her debut singer-songwriter album Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? One of the finest early morning/with your thoughts records I’ve ever heard. This single is a repeated stab in the heart in the best way, those slurred strings (from Macie Stewart, if I’m reading right) coming in feel like coming off a sluggish, just-trying-to-maintain high, the shaky banjo, and the track is filled with sonic touches that keep me coming back, intrigued. “I wanna be as dangerous as a dancing dragon or a steam engine, a loaded gun. Be loved for my hazard and a will to destruct. And isn’t that just love? A will to destruct.”
  • Planet Giza, “Quiet on the Set” – I’m late to Montreal hip-hop trio Planet Giza but their new record Ready When You Are got its hook in me easily. Vocalist Tony Stone’s easygoing delivery over textured beats from RamiB and DoomX gets an astonishing showcase on this early single from the record, it reminds me of those major label Blackalicious records without feeling like a pastiche. “You just need someone to listen. We pour a li’l some’ to feel some; fill my cup. The street’s cold.”
  • Black Thought and El Michels Affair featuring Kirby, “Glorious Game” – Instrumental soul band El Michels Affair are exactly the kind of perfect match for Black Thought’s expansive but classicist tendencies on their joint album Glorious Game, and this title track featuring R&B singer Kirby is a delightful slice of sunshine soul. “If we clash, I’ll haul the trash off, then haul the cash off and ball in Nassau.”
  • Be Your Own Pet, “Hand Grenade” – I loved Be Your Own Pet, and I really liked the things they did after the band dissolved – Jemima Pearl’s terrific solo album, JEFF the Brotherhood – but when I heard they were getting back together it was one of the few reunion announcements that actually got me excited. This new single, celebrating their return, stands alongside their best work. A drum part as catchy as the guitars, jagged backing vocals, and a powerful lead vocal and lyric. “I’m no survivor, I’m no survivor – another lit match on the pyre. When you can’t sleep – and you can’t sleep – I’ll be the reason in the middle of the night.”
  • Unchipped, “Systematic Deletion” – This Columbus band fuses metalcore and industrial textures with a pummeling rhythm section and always leavens it with a sense of joy, a sense of play, for some of my favorite no-bullshit rock and roll being made in this town. Every time I put on this four song EP I find myself playing the whole thing. “Reducing all that we love to ash.”
  • Drive-By Truckers, “Puttin’ People on the Moon (Vocal Recut)” – I’ve gushed about DBT over the years, including very recently after seeing a blistering show with Anne, but to this day my favorite record of theirs is The Dirty South, a sprawling testament to the power of their lineup that included Jason Isbell and Shonna Tucker, so believe I’m looking forward to the reissue coming soon. One of my favorite songs on that record has always been “Puttin’ People on the Moon” but I remember several of my friends who were big fans like I was griping about the lessened affect of the vocal. Clearly Patterson Hood agreed, so he took the chance to recut that over a remastered and remixed version of the original track, and he’s right. The new vocal keeps that sense of coiled menace and desperation but shades it with a nuance the original didn’t have. It’s a fucking masterpiece. “If I could solve the world’s problems, I’d probably start with hers and mine. But they can put a man on the moon and I’m stuck down here just scraping by. Mary Alice got a cancer, just like everybody here; seems like everyone I know is getting cancer every year.”
  • Kid Koala featuring Crayfish, “When U Say Love” – I loved Kid Koala twenty-five or so years ago when I was a fanatic for anything Ninja Tune. I didn’t keep up on his work in the intervening years but Creatures of the Late Afternoon hit me exactly right, especially this track with quavering girl-group vocals from Crayfish riding on top of Koala’s signature mix of texture and groove. “My life keeps moving faster; my world is such a blur. The work I’m chasing after keeps me so unsure.”
  • Kenny Reichert, “Balance” – Shifting Paradigm records has been documenting an exciting scene in the midwest with beautiful sounding albums by players I knew well before and those I’m just learning about. Chicago guitarist Kenny Reichert teams up with a great band, including my old friend Tony Barba (Barbarians, Youngblood Brass Band, Brooklyn Qawwali Party)  on reeds, John Christensen on bass, and Devin Drobka on drums for a record that’s beautiful all the way through. This gorgeous tone poem just glows, everyone’s tone is perfect.
  • Nickel Creek, “Stone’s Throw” – As big a fan of the later work as I am of the three, Nickel Creek didn’t land for me in the same way – I liked them as a breath of fresh air but I never made it through a whole album. Celebrants changed that. This song, starting from a dissection of the harmony of Radiohead’s “Kid A” and fusing some identifiable lyrics, is a favorite of mine off a record I don’t think has dull moments, with Sean Watkins’ lead vocal perfectly buoyed and punctured by Chris Thile and Sara Watkins’ harmonies. “Went out for a drink with a friend from a while back, her trials and triumphs ringing clearer than my phone. And that drink turned into three, happy hour into bedtime. You were drowning in your head when I came floating home.”
  • Laura Cantrell, “Push the Swing” – A shining light of New York’s country music scene for longer than I’ve loved that scene, Laura Cantrell is returning with her first new record in 9 years, and this single is everything I could have hoped, with a swinging organ part and a loping guitar line that flows around her laidback vocal just right. “I can’t be your confidant. I can’t be your long-lost pal. But if I’m not the one you want, just tell me so right now.”
  • Lisa O’Neill, “All Of This is Chance” – As usual, I end the playlist with a string of songs that work – for me – as prayers or benedictions. As with so much, I was turned onto Lisa O’Neill’s work from great friend John Wendland’s fantastic radio show Memphis to Manchester; as soon as I heard the song he played, I had to hear the whole record and loved it immediately. A rich drone – I’m guessing a mix of Kate Ellis’ cello and Cormac Begley’s concertina, but it could be O’Neill’s harmonium – underpins this song and sets up its shadowy, mysterious world. “Are you frightened of dying? Are you frightened of the dead? Are you frightened of living, so you don’t live instead?”
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List of Roy Bowen Award Winners

As we prepared to present the 2023 Roy Bowen Lifetime Achievement Award this past weekend, it was pointed out that nowhere online houses this. I intend to update this each year for as long as the Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle continues to convene.

THE ROY BOWEN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle has presented the Roy Bowen Lifetime Achievement Award since 1995.

The award was named in honor of the late Roy Bowen, a pioneer in central Ohio theater for over half a century. Bowen led both Players Theatre and Ohio State University’s theater program for a decade each.

Here is the list of Bowen Award recipients in chronological order through 2023:

  • 1995: Russell Hastings
    • scenic designer
    • OSU theater professor
  • 1996: Ionia Zelenka
    • actor, director, teacher, mentor
    • OSU professor, CATCO associate director
  • 1997: Charles “Chuck” Dodrill
    • director, teacher, Otterbein professor
    • modern founder, dept. chair, Otterbein theater department
  • 1998: Firman “Bo” Brown
    • director, OSU professor
    • OSU theater department chair
  • 1999: Harold Eisenstein
    • director, artistic director
    • Gallery Players veteran leader
  • 2000: David Ayers
    • actor, teacher, director
    • OSU theater professor
  • 2001: Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
    • Broadway playwriting team, OSU/OWU grads
    • “Auntie Mame,” “Inherit the Wind” “Mame”
  • 2002: Fred Holdridge and Howard Burns
    • theater patrons, major donors
    • CATCO board leaders, German Village legends
  • 2002: Eileen Heckart (1919-2001)
    • Columbus native, OSU grad, Hollywood/Broadway/TV actress
    • Oscar winner (Butterflies Are Free)
    • Tony winner (Butterflies are Free)
    • Golden Globe winner (The Bad Seed)
    • two-time Emmy winner
  • 2003: Dennis Parker
    • scenic designer, OSU professor
  • 2004: L. B. “Bo” Rabby
    • director, OWU professor, OWU theater dept. chair
  • 2005: John Kenley
    • director, producer, star-maker
    • Kenley Players founder, impresario
  • 2006: Lesley Ferris
    • director, OSU professor, OSU theater dept. chair
  • 2007: Katherine Burkman
    • artistic director, director
    • founder, Women at Play; emeritus OSU professor
  • 2008: Linda Dorff
    • veteran actress
    • Players, CATCO, etc.
  • 2009: Randy Skinner
    • Broadway choreographer, director
    • multiple Tony nominee (42nd Street, State Fair, etc.)
  • 2010: Geoffrey Nelson
    • director, actor, producer
    • CATCO co-founder, artistic director
  • 2011: Alan Woods
    • theater scholar, OSU professor
    • OSU Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute director
  • 2012: Ed Vaughan
    • director, actor, Otterbein University professor
    • artistic director, Otterbein Summer Theatre
  • 2013: C. Joseph Hietter
    • Veteran actor, CATCO, Players Theater, other theaters
  • 2014: William Goldsmith
    • director, artistic director
    • Columbus Children’s Theatre leader
  • 2015: Dana White
    • lighting designer, Otterbein University professor
    • nationally known; worked with Jeff Daniels
  • 2015: Dennis Romer
    • director, actor, Otterbein University professor
  • 2016: Ed Gracyk
    • playwright, artistic director
    • Players Theatre producing director
    • “Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”
  • 2016: John Stefano
    • director, actor, Otterbein University professor
      Otterbein theater dept. chair
  • 2017: Bill Conner
    • theater producer-presenter, arts savior
      exec. director, CAPA
  • 2017: Joy Reilly
    • teacher, director, critic, artistic director
    • OSU professor; founder, Grandparents Living Theatre
  • 2018: Stev Guyer
    • producer, director, composer-lyricist, musician, actor
    • co-founder Shadowbox Live
  • 2019: Steven C. Anderson
    • director, playwright, artistic director,
    • founder, leader, Players Youth Theatre, Phoenix Theatre Circle, Actors’ Theatre, CATCO, CATCO is Kids
  • 2020: T.J. Gerckens
    • Lighting designer
    • Otterbein University professor, dept. chair
    • CATCO managing director
  • 2021 (No awards or awards show because of pandemic)
  • 2022: Rob Johnson
    • Scenic designer
    • Otterbein University professor
  • 2023: Dan Gray
    • Scenic Designer
    • OSU Professor, OSU Theater Department Head
    • 2003 Prague Quadrennial
  • 2024: Jeanine Thompson
    • Actor, Choreographer, Mime and Movement Specialist, Intimacy Director
    • Internationally recognized including Tate Modern, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, South American residencies
    • OSU Professor
Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – March 2023

Crawling back from a crazy couple of months of frenzied activity and trying to find a little more of a balance. Have a couple of plans to get next month’s out earlier; we’ll see how successful I am. The month off did remind me how much I enjoy doing these, not only compiling the songs but finding something to say about them, and made me recommit to doing it every month.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/d5351ad0-81d4-4716-89d1-74feacef26d6

  • Willie Nelson, “Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got a Heartache)” – Willie Nelson’s record-length dives into the catalog of specific songwriters are among my favorite items in his wide-ranging oeuvre – I still play his songs of Cindy Walker more than any other record he’s put out in the 20+ years since – and I Don’t Know a Thing About Love, his look at the songs of the great Harlan Howard, is another winner. I grew up with the original Buck Owens version of this but I had fewer loving associations than most of the songs Nelson does here, this one didn’t live in my blood the same way as “Busted” or “Life Turned Her That Way” do, and it let me sink into this arrangement, trading in sly barstool wisdom for the punchy churn of Owens and his Buckaroos, like getting into a bubble bath, especially the interweaving of Mike Johnson’s steel and Jim “Moose” Brown’s keys.
  • Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin, “Dia” – Mama Glad (Gladys Samba), Bantu singer/songwriter/rapper teams up again with beatmaker and label owner Rrobin for an infectious song that swirls like light as the the golden hour starts to fade. The call and response dancing over minimal keyboard bass and arrangements that are exactly the right kind of busy keep me coming back to this over and over.
  • Kali Uchis, “Happy Now” – Kali Uchis’ Red Moon in Venus is my favorite R&B record so far this year, a kaleidoscope of moods, featuring songwriting that alternately dazzles me with its intricate, beautiful structures, and slaps me in the face at the right time. This final track, co-written with and produced by Sounwave, DJ Khalil, and Mndsgn, was an early contender for favorite song and while that feeling shifts almost daily – the sign of a record I love – it’s still high in the running. “Cosmic conditions conspired against us. ‘Cause you and me, we got chemistry, but what’s with our timing? Guess it’s better we never rushed; our spark turned to flames.”
  • Ari Joshua, “Fresh” – Guitarist Ari Joshua convenes a fantastic Pacific Northwester soul-jazz/funk collective for this killing single, with Skerik (everybody from Mark Eitzel to Bobby Previte to Charlie Hunter to Wayne Horvitz) on tenor and 2/3 of the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Lamarr on organ and Grant Schroff (Polyrhythmics). Not an ounce of fat here but all indications point to them taking it into outer space when they do it live.
  • Daddy Long Legs, “Silver Satin” – I loved Daddy Long Legs from those first couple of singles – and I was already pre-disposed since I’d been a big fan of drummer Josh Styles’ DJ sets so knew how good his taste in grooves was – and they cemented that love the first time I saw them open for and back cracked-perspective R&B great T. Valentine at the (RIP) Lakeside Lounge. The last time I saw them, at Rumba right before the pandemic, they had turned up the ’60s Stones/Northern Soul colors in their palette, and that technicolor finger-snapping gets more vibrant and greasy on their front-to-back great Street Sermons. “At the bottom of a bottle of Jack o’ Diamonds, I lost my head and woke up in Coney Island.”
  • Gina Birch, “I Play My Bass Loud” – The solo debut of Raincoats bassist Gina Birch was everything I wanted it to be, and this title track exemplifies everything I love about it. An oozing rhythm with a bass line I couldn’t shake if I wanted to and a vocal bulging with elastic declamations. “Turn up the volume. I raise my window high. I paint the sky red: it’s getting darker, it’s getting deeper. Red streaks across the sky. Are you ready for this?”
  • Gee Tee, “Cell Damage” – Goner Records (and their live arm, Gonerfest) has always had a particularly good line on great new rock music from Australiza and New Zealand, and this NZ band followed a stunning Gonerfest set last year with one of my favorite noisy garage-punk records in a long time, Goodnight, Neanderthal. This under-two-minutes blast is representative of a record I don’t skip anything on, with vocals drowning in heat mirage lines, washes of fuzzed-out guitar and riding a wave of acid trip synth, steering around the cymbals.
  • Tee Vee Repairman, “Drownin'” – Ishka Edmeades, Gee Tee member, steps out on his own with the soulful freakouts of stellar full-lenght What’s On TV?. Wearing his Devo influence on his sleeve, this struck me as a heartache-drenched sweet spot between Gentleman Jesse’s powerpop and Hunx and his Punx doo-wop stomps. “I’ve been waiting at the station, just don’t know what to do. I was drowning in you.”
  • Yaeji, “Done (Let’s Get It)” – Brooklyn-based Yaeji’s With a Hammer is the first example in years of the kind of warm dance music I was so drawn to – but rarely admitted, openly embracing the harder-edged drum and bass and jungle – in my early 20s. Influenced by classic house, riding on waves of squelching bass and drums full of a writhing-on-the-floor clack but with subtly R&B-flavored vocals in both English and Korean.
  • OkoNski, “Song For My Sister’s Son” – Steve Okonski, who started as a classically trained pianist then became known to the wider world through his affiliation with soul acts Durand Jones and the Indications and Aaron Frazer, stepped into his own with a gorgeous piano trio album (featuring Frazer on drums and Michael Isvara “Ish” Montgomery on bass) that feels to me like it occupies a similar warm, hazy sunrise sonic space as the Yaeji that immediately preceded it.
  • Ingrid Laubrock, “Delusions” – A little more abrasive than the tracks but with a similar internal landscape writ large intensity. One of my favorite saxophone players, Ingrid Laubrock assembles a stunning sextet on her new record The Last Quiet Place of partner Tom Rainey on drums, Michael Formanek on bass, Brandon Seabrook on guitar, Tomeka Reid on cello, and Mazz Swift on violin.
  • Liv.e, “RESET!” – Dallas’s Liv.e plays with moods in a similar way – to my ears – as the previous couple of tracks, digging into R&B history as much as it feels like she’s excavating her own past, her own history of victories and trauma. “Chop my head off, I wanna roll my eyes back. Don’t wanna see what time sent. Don’t wanna know what’s coming next.”
  • Chlöe, “Make it Look Easy” – Chlöe, best known as part of Chloe x Halle, delivered a remarkable, stripped-down record with In Pieces, and while it’s still revealing itself to me, this is an early front runner for my favorite song from the album. From the opening invocation “No matter how many times I break, I pull myself together. Every damn time,” I’m enraptured, and the slow-drag groove with samples around the fingersnaps that feel like dancing ghosts being beckoned, never disappoints me.
  • 6LACK, “Inwood HIll Park” – I got turned onto 6LACK from old friend and co-worker Cassie Schutt and I was immediately a sucker for his laid back, almost deceptively not-giving-a-fuck conversation cadence and low rumble. Since I Have a Lover is another peak, another refinement, a polishing of exactly what he does so well, the space he’s carved out in contemporary hip-hop. “Can’t you see that I’ve been hostile for weeks? Don’t you know you change the patterns of my sleep?”
  • Superviolet, “Overrater” – I was a big fan of Columbus band Sidekicks, one of my favorite pop-punk bands finding new textures and voices in a genre I’d long since lost interest in. But it was a pleasant surprise to hear leader Steven Ciolek emerge with this project, sun-dappled bursting-at-the-seams folk rock produced by Saintseneca’s Zac Little. The similar sense of “Man, I’m just telling you a story ,” and the subtle but right arrangement felt like it created a commonality with the earlier two songs on the playlist. “Well, in a van in headphones is the last way I want to die; just because we’re losers doesn’t mean that we won’t try. So call up Felicia, call up Matt, tell them to craft the plan: surprise release the sixth album as the greatest rock and roll band.
  • boygenius, “Not Strong Enough” – I like the work of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker, a great deal individually but the boygenius collaboration took until this full length, The Record, to hit me as strongly. The guitar stabs and swirling harmonies in this record send me into space and back into myself at the same time, balancing the intimate and high drama with assured hands. “The way I am not strong enough to be your man – I lied, I am just lowering your expectations.”
  • Kendrick Scott, “A Voice Through the Door” – Drummer-composer Kendrick Scott strips down the approach of his last couple of records to a tight trio with saxophonist Walter Smith III and bassist Reuben Rogers for Corridors. This mesmerizing track opens with a solo smith improvisation before a wash of cymbals announces the rest of the trio. One of the great mood pieces being written today, played by musicians with a careful and rare empathy.
  • Meshell Ndegeocello featuring Brandee Younger and Julius Rodriguez, “Virgo” – I’d been a fan of singer-songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello since first hearing her work as a kid, but a breathtaking set at Manhattan’s Blue Note with a stacked cast of collaborators including Tortoise’s Jeff Parker and Rodriguez who also features on this track, brought that love back to the forefront of my brain. This first taste of The Omnichord Real Book has me hungry for more, with a cut-by-a-razor funk drum pattern and guitar riff dancing between the deep groove of moog bass and the exquisite tinsel-rain of Brandee Younger’s harp. “I’m ascending faster than the speed of light to sweet nothingness.”
  • Connections, “Bird Has Flown” – Columbus’s supergroup of rock-and-roll lifers Connections came out of a few years of uncertainty with their strongest album yet, Cool Change, and this is among my favorite tracks from it, with an anthemic shouting call-and-response vocal and soaring guitar and keyboard solos over the kind of choppy groove they do better than any Columbus rock band in years – maybe since leader Andy Hempel and guitarist Kevin Elliott’s last band, 84 Nash.
  • The New Pornographers, “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies” – Canadian collective New Pornographers return with a rock-solid collection of their cracked songs and infectious melodies. AC Newman and Neko Case’s sly back and forth on this lovely admonition and the pulse of the band remind me exactly what I always loved about this band. “Now you’re clearing the room, like Pontius Pilate, when he showed all his home movies. All his friends yelling, ‘Pilate, too soon!'”
  • The Necks, “Imprinting” – Australian piano trio The Necks have never made a bad album. Every time they come together, they dig deeper into their shared language, into the space they’ve carved at the intersection of post-minimalism chamber music and contemporary improvisation, and this is another winner.
  • Missy Mazzoli, “Dark With Excessive Bright” – I’ve been a fan of Missy Mazzoli’s compositions since first hearing her ensemble Victoire, through a series of great new chamber records from people like Nadia Sirota, yMusic, Now Ensemble, where she almost always penned my favorite tracks, on through an excellent series of operas where she drags that form into the 21st century by the scruff of its neck. This new record of which this is the title track, is an ideal introduction to her work and this concerto for violin and string orchestra featuring soloist Peter Herresthal might be my favorite piece of hers yet.
  • Josephine Foster, “Haunted House” – A new Josephine Foster record is always a cause for celebration in my corner of the world and her new coiled, mysterious Domestic Sphere is everything I could have hoped, with this devastating seismic read on the heartbeat of a character and the world, as one of many chilling salvos. “I am a haunted house. There is no light in me. Your candle is gone out; my windows, they are empty. There is nothing on earth that isn’t poison to me.”
  • Dave Douglas and Elan Mehler, “We Saw You Off” – Trumpeter Dave Douglas’s ranging curiosity, lit by a love for the world, is a perpetual inspiration to me. This collaboration with pianist Elan Mehler sets haiku to new musical settings, sung by Dominique Eade. This setting of a Saigyō piece grabbed me early and hasn’t let go since. “We saw you off / And returning through the fields / I thought morning dew / Had wet my sleeves / But it was tears.”
  • Mark Lomax II featuring Scott Woods, “Ho’oponopono” – I’ve raved about Lomax often enough I don’t think it’s a secret I think he’s Columbus’s finest composer. His collaboration with poet Scott Woods, Black Odes, was the single event I was sorriest to miss last year (I was out of town and sure I saw something great) and this first taste of the recording reminds me exactly why. It’s a return to black love – the first subject I saw Woods tackle more than 20 years ago, he even used to have a poem called “Why Do You Always Talk About Black Love,” I think – but with all the skills of the last 20 years of life, on both of their parts, with delicate and surging arrangements and Lomax’s quintessential taste for harmony given a remarkable showcase. “And so I love you / And so I am sorry / And so I beg forgiveness”
  • Lucero, “Should’ve Learned By Now” – Lucero – who I think I originally heard within a year or two of first seeing Scott Woods read and hearing Lomax play with his group Blacklist – also find ways to apply all the life singer-songwriter Ben Nichols has had in decades leading the band as he and the band learn to relax a little more and open up the arrangements to find new colors to paint these feelings. This sinewy title track off their latest album finds them in fine form, the kind of raging, muscular melancholy they do as well as any band working and better than most – that piano line snaps my heart in two every time. “Well, half of what runs through my head is bullshit I sell to myself. And the other half ain’t well thought out; I really should’ve learned by now.”
  • Kelela, “Missed Call” – The textures are different but this standout track from DC-based Kelela’s terrific album Raven struck a similar chord in me of resiliency and self-admonition, with a neon-splashed groove. “I’m in a dream. I wake up until the moment that we make up.”
  • Gama Bomb, “If I Should Fall From Grace With God” – This metal (check that double-time drumming and the lacerating guitar solo) read on one of my favorite Pogues anthems to rising above and stumbling in the muck on a perpetual cycle, made me grin like an idiot. “Bury me at sea where no murdered ghost can haunt me if I rock upon the waves, and no corpse can lie upon me.”
  • Burna Boy featuring J Balvin, “Rollercoaster” – A more easy-going groove animates this collaboration between these superstars, Nigerian Burna Boy and Colombian Latin trap/reggaeton king J Balvin, and their voices blend together beautifully. If songs of the summer are still a thing, this is high on my list of contenders. “I no wanna wait till it’s all over – this life is a gift from Most High, Jah.”
  • Huntertones, “Biff” – Beloved Columbus expatriates now doing big things in New York and elsewhere, Huntertones use their nearly unquenchable thirst to take the world in and reflect it back with a heavy taste for a variety of rhythms but also a brilliantly strong taste for melody. This delirious pop-funk carnival ride makes exceptional use of the front line of Dan White on tenor, Jon Lampley on trumpet, and Chris Ott on trombone, while leaving space for their longtime rhythm section of guitarist Josh Hill, bassist Adam DeAscentis, and drummer John Hubbell to breathe. That repeated riff has been stuck in my head since I first heard it.
  • MEM_MODS, “Midtown Miscommunication” – This killing instrumental funk-rock project from Steve Selvidge (Hold Steady, Big Ass Truck), Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi All Stars, Black Crowes), and Paul Taylor (New Memphis Colorways, Amy LaVere) more than lived up to my high expectations, with the added seasoning of Marc Franklin’s horn arrangements, played by Franklin and Art Edmaison.
  • DJ Quik, “Class” – In what I realize is an unintentional theme of this month’s playlist, producer-rapper DJ Quik continues to dig into his language. His signature, the smoothed out, warm funk he’s been doing brilliantly for at least 30 years, still sounds like a summer night in the offing. “Sometimes rhyme, then I sing.”
  • Dydy Yeman, “S’envolvement” – I couldn’t find much about this Ivorian Afrobeats artists but this song captured me immediately. The intermingling textures of voices and the scratchy beat put me in a space I wanted to come back to again and again.
  • Tsa manyalo, “Petula patjana” – I got turned onto the South African genre  of Tsa manyalo this year – maybe through ILX? Maybe a blog? I should keep better notes – and this version of this Solly Selema song is like capturing sunlight in a bottle.
  • Lucinda Chua, “You” – London-based cellist-singer Lucinda Chua blew my mind with her full-length debut YIAN. This is an excellent example of the way she builds an entire world for her listeners, the inside of a heart recast as a house of mirrors, and the way the sentences she builds in the lyrics resist resolution, hanging in a state of hazy suspension I found intoxicating. “I want you to know that all of your kindness is all of your kindness.”
  • James & The Giants, “Hall of Mirrors” – One of my favorite American songwriters of the last 20 years, James Toth (I treasure every time I’ve gotten to see his Wooden Wand project) brings a more lush take, in tandem with long-time collaborator Jarvis Taveniere, to this new James & the Giants project. The emphasized hooks and glowing arrangement amplifies the mystery in these songs at the same time they bolster their accessibility. Maybe my favorite song so far this year. “We won’t let the tide or starlight rule us. We’ll toast the dark for the way it cools us. ‘Cause the night is a hall of mirrors.”
  • Rudy Royston, “Morning” – I resisted the easy pairing of morning with night of this track and the one immediately before it, but the similar palette of colors in this perfect drummer-composer Rudy Royston track, glowing with a similar promise of light and life as the Toth right before, and with a marvelous band of John Ellis on bass clarinet, Hank Roberts on cello, Gary Versace on accordion, and Joe Martin on bass, kept calling to me. It’s a marvelous, catchy, piece and it just felt right here.
  • Caroline Rose, “Stockholm Syndrome” – This early highlight of Caroline Rose’s new The Art of Forgetting is an abject lesson in restraint, in paring down, and a reminder of how much menace and heartbreak can live in less than two minutes. “I know that you need air, but I can’t let you out.”
  • Muscadine Bloodline, “Life Itself” – This new-ish country duo lean into one of my favorite radio-ready singles to come out of the genre in quite a while. Burnished sunlight power and an easy, open-hearted appeal with a hook I can’t get enough of. “Can’t think of anyone else. Can’t get you out of my mind.”
  • Cecile McLorin Salvant, “Le temps est assassin” – With Mélusine, our finest jazz singer of her generation continues to resist resting on the supple power of her voice and on what she’s done before. She digs into the French and Haitian heritage of her parents with dazzling results, there isn’t a bad track on this record, even for someone like me whose understanding of French is schoolboy at best.
  • Nakhane, “You’ve Got Me (Living Again)” – A powerful, surging statement of purpose, a rising-up beautifully echoed by the melody, especially that keyboard line, and the lyrics, from this South African singer. “I’ve tried to change for you.”
  • Wadada Leo Smith and the Orange Wave Ensemble, “Nzotake Shange” – Keeping with my usual stylistic marker of ending with something meditative, something like a prayer, this tribute to the poet and playwright Nzotake Shange from one of my favorite composers and trumpet players Wadada Leo Smith, takes on a serpentine groove with a band of astonishing players – guitarists Nels Cline, Lamar Smith, and Brandon Ross, bassists Melvin Gibbss and Bill Laswell, drummer Pheeroan akLaff, percussionist Mauro Refosco, and electronics artist Hardedge – an opening salvo and highlight of Fire Illuminations.
Categories
Uncategorized

Playlist – February 2023 (no notes)

March got the fuck away from me. Back to full strength in April.

https://tidal.com/playlist/7a916849-e84c-41d7-86b7-84eabab2d579

Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – January 2023

Took a couple of weeks off and didn’t worry as much about trying to include all the great stuff I found on other’s year-end lists but also didn’t worry as much about some late-2022 stuff working its way onto this list. It feels good to get writing again. This took longer than usual because I reviewed or previewed seven events between the last week of January and the first week of February. As always, thank you for reading, listening, or both.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/f6b0a965-8dd5-46e6-87dc-6535d2aea92c

Continue reading “Playlist – January 2023”