Tag: Black Thought

Best of 2023 – Songs

There were more records I loved, that I wanted to defend or argue about with people, that woke me up in the morning or kept me awake at night, than I could keep up with. The playlists themselves got a little unwieldy, but I still want to talk about records on a regular cadence, so look for something differently shaped in January.

One of the most fertile sources for finding new songs for me – and I love my fellow writers; I still read The Wire every month, Stereogum (especially Phil Freeman’s Ugly Beauty) regularly, NYC Jazz Record all the time, every promo email that comes my way – was radio. WFMU is still a constant flood of inspiration and joy.

However, I was saddened to see St Louis’s KDHX drive passionate volunteers away in droves with mismanagement and misinformation: I namecheck John Wendland’s Memphis to Manchester a lot but also pour a little out for longtime buddies Roy Kasten and Steve Pick (still providing killer recs on his Substack), newer pal Caron House (check her new podcast, After the Gold Rush, continuing her great show Wax Lyrical), and people I didn’t know but listened to semi-religiously like Rich Reese, Ital K, and more. One of my favorite radio stations is a shell of itself, and I hope everyone I like finds peace and a place to land, but I know many times it doesn’t work like that.

Like in past years: Songs mostly (but don’t always) have lyrics and are a (more-or-less) concise jolt of emotion; Spaces are mostly instrumental and are sculptural or landscape-ish; both consist of tracks that came out this year to the best of my knowledge. Parting Gifts is a look back at artists who made an impression on me we lost this year; it’ll be the last of these posted and very close to the 31st.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/428f1b9f-d8f9-4a49-99de-9b6b2aba9591

jaimie branch, “burning grey” – When I spoke with jaimie branch previewing her Wexner Center show in 2022 she was effusive about getting in with her band Fly or Die to record this album on the heels of that tour. And as sad as I am she’s no longer with us, this record – finishing touches presided over by her sister, Kate Branch, and her bandmates Jason Ajemian, Chad Taylor, and Lester St. Louis – is a masterpiece, so, like last year, I’m bookending the playlist with two of my favorite songs from it. This one, “Burning Grey,” served me as a mantra and a rallying cry throughout the year. The bouncy and tense urgency of the rhythm gets me pumped every time, fueling that vocal, assured in its desperation and so confident in its belief in people. That finely sharpened trumpet tone picking up right where the vocal drops off, the two sides of her voice perfectly simpatico. “Automatic time, automatic time, I wish I had the time, I wish I had the time, I had the time, I had the time, I had the time of my life.”
Jerry David Decicca, “Lost Days” – Long time friend and one of the two or three people who’ve turned me onto the most music of my life – hell, he may have sold me that Ethiopiques volume I was talking about in the live music list this year – Jerry DeCicca’s restlessness in his art is fed in all the right ways from a prolonged period of stability in the Texas hill county. New Shadows embraces the synthesizer and drum sounds of records like Tunnel of Love and New Sensations and the evocative looseness his writing has grown into over the last several albums and combines them into a tribute to wistfulness. The slightly pinched, distancing effect on the vocals (he and Rosali Middleman) draws me in. The winding tenor of James Brandon Lewis (who shows up more than once on the “Spaces” playlist) feels like it drifts through and perches on the edge of the beautiful landscapes crafted by co-producer Don Cento, looking out to a horizon while piecing together and honoring those lost days. “Look up, flags are at half mast all year like they ran out of gas.”
Olivia Rodrigo, “bad idea right?” – The ranking pretty much stops now as I try to weave together commonalities of tone and texture. A couple of my other high contenders for song of the year are at the very end, naturally. Still, if the previous couple of songs are my favorite songs of the year by a solid margin, this is my favorite single, maybe my favorite pop song, and a standout on Rodrigo’s barn burner of a second album, GUTS. The shifts in tone, the giddy delight with throwing off her friends and making a marvelous bad decision, the dry, shattered bottles on pavement drums, and the swirling keys all hit me exactly where I wanted. “I told my friends I was asleep, but I never said where or in whose sheets.”
Adanna Duru featuring Leven Kail, “Stay In” – Bringing the tone down in similar thematic waters for one of my favorite R&B songs of the year. The river-of-amber tempo and the candlelight (and melting candle wax) tones go all the way down my back. “You could take me out, or we could stay in; we could slow dance to Whitney again.”
Ledisi, “I Need to Know” – Co-written with Rex Rideout, this sumptuous on-the-edge-of-heartbreak ballad by Ledisi, draped in rich harmonies, paints an oblique story about a relationship on the precipice. I liked the Nina Simone tribute, but this has me ravenous for the next full length. “You got me up till daylight, tryna figure out if we’re all right.”
Mariah the Scientist, “Out of Luck” – Mariah the Scientist’s To Be Eaten Alive is gold-plated R&B, front-to-back perfectly tooled songs with a variety of collaborators but this one produced by Kaytranada grabbed me immediately and didn’t let go. The hard stutter of the drums underneath the placid synth sets off the synths’ and vocal’s vintage disco/early house tone beautifully. “If you treat me right, you won’t need another lover. Can you fantasize? All the things that haunted you and made you cry.”
Married FM, “Wineburg, Ohio” – Emily Davis (Necropolis, The Ipps) and Beth Murphy Wilkinson (Times New Viking) cast a long shadow over Columbus music, so as soon as I heard this project was in the offing I had to hear it. This debut release exceeded my expectations handily, some of the best bedroom pop I’ve heard in years, teasing out complicated relationships with nostalgia (particularly on this song) and the world. One of the very few guests, Mike O’Shaughnessy, adds some delicious crunch to the tune with his drums. “All the things we used to do? We just go through the motions, so we’re not so blue.”
Sunny War, “New Day” – I’ve liked Sunny War for a while, but she found an exquisite blend of folk and punk and songs boiled over a hot flame on Anarchist Gospel. This stripped-down mantra/taking stock backs her voice – front and center – only with bluegrass legend Dennis Crouch’s upright and strings by Billy Contreras, like standing in the middle of a whirlpool watching a sunrise. “You stole the light right from my eyes: jarred it up like fireflies. Start the day, salutation and smile, and work your way to tribulation and trial.”
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “When We Were Close” – I might wish he varied the tempos a little more, but Jason Isbell keeps putting out records that hit me straight in the heart. Weathervanes burrows into the classic rock side of his passions after the shimmering light-on-water heartbreak of Reunions, and those guitars hit exactly right on almost all of the album for me. From the moment I heard the record, this tough-in-just-the-right-way eulogy for Justin Townes Earle stopped me dead in my tracks; that signature riff is one you could picture JTE nodding and taking another drag on a cigarette to, and the two winks to tributes to other people, Earle’s famous namesake Townes Van Zandt’s “Rex’s Blues” and his father Steve Earle’s memorial to Townes “Ft Worth Blues,” do what that kind of a reference is supposed to do: dig it deeper and place it in a continuum, instead of being a lazy shorthand. “I saw a picture of you laughing with your child, and I hope she will remember how you smiled. But she probably wasn’t old enough the night somebody sold you stuff and left you on the bathroom tiles.”
Joy Oladokun, “Taking Things For Granted” – There’s not a bad song on Joy Oladokun’s fourth record, Proof of Life, and it was one of the albums I turned to when I needed comfort that didn’t feel reductive or simplifying this year. Her voice surfs over the insistent churn of the rhythm section (Elliot Skinner and Aaron Steele), bursting into light but never ignoring the dark under the surface. “What people say, ‘cause everybody’s feeling the pressure of a world that’s trying to end us every day. Sometimes it feels like everyone’s looking at the surface, and it’s not happening on purpose, but they’re taking things for granted again.”
Brennen Leigh, “The Bar Should Say Thanks” – I’m still kicking myself for hesitating on buying tickets to see Brennen Leigh with Kelly Willis earlier in the year, and it sold out. Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet is the best neo-traditional country record in recent memory, by a mile. “Don’t they remember, each closing time, whose tab is always open? And 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 her spare cash in the jukebox, when I could’ve been putting it in the bank?”
Lisa O’Neill, “All of This is Chance” – One of the many songs on here I found through the aforementioned John Wendland, but one I remember specifically hearing on his show and having to write it down/dig into it. Irish singer Lisa O’Neill’s All of This is Chance was exactly the kind of storytelling record I didn’t even know I was consciously craving, and this title track is perfection, rich with drone (I suspect a violin, but could be an accordion or harmonium) and sandpaper guitar. “When you watch from the doorway, the years run by.”
Mick Harvey, “A Suitcase in Berlin” – This meditation on place and grappling with mortality continues Mick Harvey’s gentle evolution. The arrangement is perfect, understated, flecked with organ and strings, underscoring the wistfulness and his singing continues its growth into the ranks of the classic chanteurs. “It just stays there, and that makes its own sense. To make the trips always okay: I have the urge, I can just go back again. Go back again.”
John Cale, “Noise of You” – John Cale’s MERCY is a fucking triumph, a looking back and planting his flag in the now and tomorrow. Full of grapplings with mortality and not going gently into the night. On this, his shimmering synths dance around cracking drums courtesy of avant-garde percussionist Deantoni Parks (Meshell Ndegeocello) and the cello of long-time Alejandro Escovedo foil Matt Fish. “Was so long, so long ago. I hear you now.”
Gee Tee, “Cell Damage” – One of 12 bursts of middle finger exuberance from Sydney’s Gee Tee’s second record, Goodnight Neanderthal, featuring shaky synths and sawing guitars wrapped around an in-your-face vocal delivering tangy hooks. A reminder of how much I love rock and roll and how well the Aussies are doing it these days.
Daddy Long Legs, “Silver Satin” – Swinging garage-blues shouters Daddy Long Legs returned with Street Sermons which made me extremely happy and very much looking forward to seeing them live again – this song, with its deep backing vocals, prominent castanets, and barrelhouse piano, teases different elements of the formula to the fore without sacrificing the basement dance party we’re all here for. “I’m gonna get me a bottle of Thunderbird. She swings as sweet a song as I’ve ever heard.”
6LACK, “preach” – I got turned onto 6LACK from an old friend and co-worker Cassie Schutt years – and two jobs – ago, and I’ve been a fan ever since. The suspended organ and clicking drums in the background of this standout from his terrific Since I Have a Lover are exactly the right background for the sly smirk in his flexible delivery. “I get sick of being looped in; I’m praying for a beat switch, interlude transition. I’m moving on my feet quick. Limited thinking, gimmicks and placements, mimicking faces committed to the wicked and basic. Who amI to capitalize without giving back?”
Lucinda Williams, “New York Comeback” – I devoured Lucinda Williams memoir Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You in two days, and loved this post-stroke return Stories From a Rock and Roll Heart, full of swaggering barroom gems and deep soul, a life still bearing her bitemarks. My personal favorite was this recounting of triumph that also counts the scars, written with her husband Tom Overby and Jesse Malin (who I’ve donated toward; get well soon, Jesse), featuring a powerful Steve Ferrone drum part and backing vocals from Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa. “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. Could hear a pin drop in this place. Hoping for a miracle tonight.”
The New Pornographers, “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies” – Much like the last few records, Continue as a Guest didn’t hold my attention all the way through, but I kept coming back to this perfectly crafted quirky pop gem with a bouncy arrangement. Hearing Carl Newman and Neko Case’s voices in concert still moves me like few other combinations. “Listening to the first grace notes of the day play, the sun kept on rising til it floated away. Spun out of control, you recover and steer through, into controlled slide. That’s just what you do. And now you’re clearing the room just like Pontius Pilate when he showed all his home movies. All of his friends yelling, ‘Pilate, too soon!’”
Peter One featuring Allison Russell, “Birds Go Die Out of Sight (Don’t Go Home)” – The former Cote d’Ivoire country star who fled to the US during strife in his country picked up the career now that his children are grown. The weathered and sweet voice and the charm and careful crafting of the songs struck me when I saw him at Big Ears earlier in the year in the intimate confines of the Jig and Reel. This song was a highlight of that set; I found myself singing the “Don’t go home” hook for weeks, and it’s a highlight of the very fine Come Back to Me record, including gorgeous harmonies by Allison Russell, harmonica from Memphis legend John Németh and aching pedal steel from Paul Niehaus. “Hold your horses, brother. Don’t you go, can’t you see? Things have changed, you have changed. You’ve been here for more than twenty years.”
Shania Twain featuring Malibu Babie, “Giddy Up! (Malibu Babie Remix)” – I love some Shania Twain. When I first turned 18 and was going to clubs, she was the one contemporary country star who I saw actively embrace remixes and the variety of audiences losing their minds to her work. This exuberant remix by Malibu Babie (who also produced killing work from Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion in recent years) extends that tradition. Pure dancefloor joy, shiny but still with room to breathe. “Drunk in the city, got litty in your cup.”
Chappell Roan, “Red Wine Supernova” – I got hipped to Chappell Roan through my friend and former coworker Mary McCarroll. I love most of the record, but this song hit me immediately and stayed my favorite; a glittering slice of pop perfection with a raging keyboard bass riff and barbed lyrics. “I heard you like magic; I got a wand and a rabbit.”
Meng & Ecker, “Shoot Yer Load” – I’d heard of the Blacklips performance art collective, centered around the Pyramid Club on Avenue A, but it was just enough before my time I didn’t really know the work. The compilation Blacklips Bar: Androgyns and Deviants — Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels, 1992–1995 co-edited by ANHONI, was a better introduction than I could have imagined; a mix of cabaret-style reimaginings of classics and pop hits and serrated-edge dance pop originals like this one, performed by a duo named after the bad-taste British comic strip, including the writer of the original comic David Britton. “Go on and shoot your load. Let it go.”
Scowl, “Psychic Dance Routine” – One of my favorite new rock bands, Scowl out of LA, was one of my most anticipated shows at Ace, sadly canceled due to COVID. Psychic Dance Routine is stripped to the bone, wire-taut, and sparking, Kat Moss’s vocals leading the charge. “She’ll never be your animal. She’s got her own personal hell.”
Karol G featuring Peso Pluma, “QLONA” – I knew some singles by Colombian sensation Karol G, but her fourth record, Mañana Será Bonito, just grabbed me by the shoulders and didn’t let go. I had a very hard time picking a single song off this, but “QLONA” got the slight edge for introducing me – late to the game – to Mexican corrido/trap star Peso Pluma.
Meshell Ndegeocello featuring Jeff Parker, “ASR” – For someone I don’t think has ever made a bad record, The Omnichord Real Book is the latest high watermark for Meshell Ndegeocello. The afrobeat call and response on the vocals made more sense when I saw this song was co-written by an architect of that sound, Tony Allen, along with the recently gone and much missed Amp Fiddler and Chris Connelly (Ministry, Revolting Cocks). A brilliant feature turn from Jeff Parker on guitar alongside guitarist/co-writer Chris Bruce (Wendy & Lisa, Bell Biv Devoe) is the icing on the cake of this track. “We were not born to live and breathe this extraordinary pain.”
The Third Mind, “Sally Go Round the Roses” – Dave Alvin reconvened the murderer’s row he assembled for his studio project of blues cut-ups par excellence, The Third Mind, for an even stronger collection of tunes and fiery playing than the self-titled original. They dig into the classic pop of the Jaynetts’ song, a favorite of Anne’s and one I didn’t know until she lit up when we saw Tav Falco do it a few years ago in New York and turn it inside out in ways that reconfigure how we look at it without disrespecting the original, without disregarding any of its original magic. A perfect, smoky Jesse Sykes vocal floats through the thickets of guitar from Alvin and David Immergluck, a heat-mirage of a groove from bassist Victor Krummenacher, and always-stellar drumming from Michael Jerome, who I’ve been a big fan of since seeing with Richard Thompson around 20 years ago (maybe the first time I saw Alvin, opening that tour, or maybe that Zeppelin show with Dave Alvin was a year or two before). “The saddest thing in the whole wide world: to see your baby with another girl.”
Lori McKenna, “Letting People Down” – As big a fan as I am of Lori McKenna’s writing for other people, every time she puts out one of her own records feels (in my own tiny world) like an event and her terrific grappling with, engaging with (but never drowning in) nostalgia of 1988 was another dagger to the solar plexus like only she can deliver. Like Jim Lauderdale, in a more just world McKenna would be the one packing stadiums, but that might make the soil of country and adjacent music a lot less fertile. “You get up for work every day; you drag yourself right out of bed. The arms of those angels are wrapped around the dreams you left. I look the other way, pretending not to notice; I don’t know how it died, but I know where the ghost is.”
Rissi Palmer, “Speak on It” – Raleigh-based country singer Rissi Palmer gets stronger and casts a wider net with every release, and her EP this year, Still Here, continued that trend. Much as I liked the title track collaborating with Miko Marks, I kept gravitating back toward this New Orleans-inflected, horn-spattered call to arms. “Brothers getting beat; his sister’s held to the ground. If you say what you see, we can turn it around…If no one will defend them, baby, let them know you will.”
Say She She, “C’est Si Bon” – Brooklyn-based soulful disco band Say She She shot to another level of clarity and power with their excellent second record Silver and this standout, what they referred to as “a tribute to the global dancefloor” in an advance notice, is exactly the kind of thing I’d want to hear in a club, balancing a strong, very cold drink, surveying the crowd but not for long before joining the fray. “Tell them what you want; the time will soon be gone.”
Jorja Smith, “Try Me” – London-based R&B star Jorja Smith returned with a record falling or flying this year featuring a suite of rock-solid songs. “Try Me” is an excellent showcase for her voice and barbed lyrics, surrounding her in atmospherics and a skeletal but thumping beat. “Can you wait for this second? To please somebody else other than your needs. You’ve got a lot left on these sleeves, but your heart’s not on your sleeve.”
Bulla en el Barrio, “Madre Luna” – Another example of the music scene making Brooklyn so exciting right now, features Carolina Oliveros and Christian Rodriguez spun off from Chicha Libre who I loved so much. I’ve seen this referred to as New York’s first bullerengue group, a regional genre based in Colombia and Panama.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy, “Behold! Be Held!” – I’m not sure there’s a songwriter I’ve loved for this many years who epitomizes the Dickinson edict of “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” as whole-heartedly as Will Oldham. The themes I’ve been able to suss out from this standout track from his Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You album (my favorite record of his since Master and Everyone, and despite more detailed chamber music arrangements, the closest to giving me some of the vibrations that record did) include the reasons we make art, the way we find revelation through not knowing, and an incomplete (of course) map to living. I know there’s more to discover through play, not dissection. Kendall Carter’s keys and the close harmony between Oldham and Waters have a meditative effect on me and set up the burst of moonlight that’s Drew Miller’s saxophone, playing a similar role to James Brandon Lewis’s on DeCicca’s track here. Just magic. “And then when that grueling death bell knells, we’ll have such a wondrous thing to remember: there’s nothing to fear from those crazy blue bells. The mystery’s solved, and the oval is closed, and everyone we know will be born again: behold, be held, the adventure’s over.”
Rhiannon Giddens, “Wrong Kind of Right” – The first time I saw Rhiannon Giddens at Big Ears – I was already a fan from her work with Carolina Chocolate Drops – was revelatory; killer repertoire and the announcement of a great American voice. Her first record of all originals, You’re The One, is everything I hoped, a vintage big room country-soul record but written with a modern eye and ear. Dwayne Bennett’s (Charlie Wilson, Valerie June) organ swells leads a killing horn section arranged by Jack Splash (Solange, Mayer Hawthorne, Anthony Hamilton), buffetting and oozing around her voice and a bounce-a-quarter-on-it rhythm section. “I’m not the apple of your eye; it’s a shame you’re the one in mine. You know I love all the things we do, and I know it’s not the same for you.”
Amanda Shires and Bobbie Nelson, “Waltz Across Texas” – Amanda Shires, after a series of ever-more-daring solo records, reminded us all of her vintage Texas bonafides – starting out in a later version of Western Swing pioneers the Texas Playboys and in Billy Joe Shaver’s band – and shining a spotlight on late-to-get-her-due piano player Bobbie Nelson with the beguiling and gorgeous Loving You. This lovely take on the Ernest Tubb classic is a perfect example of the beautifully unadorned style of the record. “Like a storybook ending, I’m lost in your charms.”
Vada Azeem, “ABUELA” – Columbus rapper Vada Azeem got my attention with his early work with Fly.Union and returned after a decade of not releasing a full length under his name with the stunning We Forgot God Was Watching. This tribute to his grandmother, riding a loping, horn-rich beat from Cleveland-based production collective Armani Cove. “I remember what my Grandma told a little me, my eyes full of glee, ‘Stay focused, child, always tie your camel to the tree.’”
Alien Nosejob, “Split Personality” – Following closely on one of my favorite Gonerfest sets, a collection of poppy, catchy piss-takes, this solo project from the Ausmuteant’s Jake Robertson delivered a record that lived up to that introduction and then some, The Derivative Sounds of... Or... A Dog Always Returns to its Vomit, crisply recorded and loaded with little details, guitar hooks and surprising drum fills that never detract from the forward propulsion.
The Tripwires, “Piano Annie on Sunday” – John Ramberg’s written a lot of my favorite songs over the years – from co-writing most of Neko Case’s Furnace Room Lullabye before I knew him, to a swath of perfect Model Rockets songs (I play “Ugly Jacket” and swoon every October, even to this day) – and we were blessed with two full-lengths from his current supergroup The Tripwires, also featuring Johnny Sangster (Neko Case), Jim Sangster (Young Fresh Fellows), Dan Peters (Mudhoney), and Mark Pickerel (Screaming Trees). This shining example from Do It Some More finds Ramberg and the band capturing a feeling I love and paying tribute to something that doesn’t get spoken of nearly enough, the local musician just killing it week after week, letting a crowd coalesce around her. One of my goals for 2024 is to get out to the Pacific Northwest and see all my people out there, focused on a Tripwires show. “Places everybody for star time: 17 to 70. Annie hangs loose on days like today, the best I’ve ever heard her sing.”
Cheater Slicks, “Garden of Memories” – Columbus Titans’ Cheater Slicks returned this year with another world-beater of a record, Ill-Fated Cusses, and much like the last one, 2012’s Reality is a Grape, I find myself more drawn to the mid-tempo and slower songs than the ragers. This tune conjures nostalgia while knowing it’s a lie, crafting charcoal drawings of crackling feedback around a mournful, menacing vocal. “Garden of memories, sheltered within me, fade like dew drops in rain. Fade like a daydream, leave just a smokescreen; joy that lies beyond the veil of this concrete-like jail.”
B. Cool-Aid featuring Liv.e, Jimetta Rose & V.C.R, “soundgood” – B. Cool-Aid, a supergroup of rapper PinkSiifu and producer Ahwlee, teamed up for a concept record dripping in ambiance, Leather Blvd. The smoky soundscapes on this track, with that infectious keyboard riff burrowing into my skull and sweet-spicy crooning, was endemic of everything I loved about the album. “Two-a-days up here. Hide it from your girlfriend, like we the only ones here. You know that shit sound good.”
Ashley McBryde, “Cool Little Bars” – Ashley McBryde’s The Devil I Know was another shining example of her hooky Mellencamp-style roots rock and deep country ballads with sharply observed detail in the lyrics. This co-write with rising star Laney Wilson and Trick Savage, who I wasn’t previously familiar with, takes on a subject close to my heart and, clearly, to the artist, with warm empathy. “The faded paint is covered up with dollar bills, from regulars and amateurs that all had time to kill. It’s cookie-cutter corporate on this street, so, Lord, as I sit me down to drink, I pray time just forgets to turn places like this into drive-thrus and condos. Lord knows we need those little holes in the wall, for lost souls and old stray dogs. God bless two-for-ones and broken hearts, and cool little bars.”
Robbie Fulks, “One Glass of Whiskey” – A similar subject viewed with an affection but also a little more of a barbed tongue and a remove, this was my first favorite off Robbie Fulks’ killing Bluegrass Vacation record, uniting him with the cream of the contemporary bluegrass scene – on this track including Punch Brother Chris Eldridge, T-Bone Burnett first call bassist Dennis Crouch, Family Band mandolinist Ronnie McCoury, and longtime Fulks’ foil Shad Cobb – and, in some sense, bringing him full circle to the earliest work he was known for in the Chicago scene. “And when I feel I’m sinking low, I reach for the first friend I see. All I need is to look at him and know he’s sinking faster than me. One glass of whiskey to ease my mind, and another one to take it too far away to find.”
Jerry Joseph, “The War I Finally Won” – Singer-songwriter Jerry Joseph (The Jackmormons, Little Women) continues his solo renaissance with Baby, You’re the Man Who Would Be King, produced with diamond-hard clarity from Eric “Roscoe” Ambel and a stunning set of songs like this stomping look at the choices inherent in a life. “I got spit in my eye and a lump in my throat and I just know I’m done. Thrash in a rage, and a gnashing of teeth. A coming of age just out of reach. I should’ve listened when you told me to learn how to breathe.”
Billy Valentine and the Universal Truth, “Home is Where the Hatred Is” – Columbus favorite son Bily Valentine, formerly of the Valentine Brothers, assembled a crack band for a beautiful record of social commentary soul tunes like this silk-wrapped-around-knives take on the Gil Scott-Heron classic. “You keep saying kick it, quit it, kick it, quit it, but did you ever try? To turn your sick soul inside out so that the world can watch you die?”
ANHONI and the Johnsons, “Can’t” – ANHONI returned with maybe her finest record, My Back Was a Bridge For You to Cross, synthesizing the various influences and genres of each of the earlier records into a more consistent, cohesive soul. This swinging northern-soul inflected song, with a stellar cast of players including drummer Chris Vatalaro (Antibalas, Bat for Lashes, Sam Amidon), Martin Slattery’s (Amy Winehouse, Joe Strummer) keys, and Jimmy Hogarth (also ANHONI’s co-writer) on guitar, was a standout for me. “Come back home, my darling, come back home, my friend. Sorry for the things I’ve done. I can’t stop this, darling, it keeps being real; I don’t want you to be dead. I can’t stand around talking shit with all these rotten teeth.”
79.5, “B.D.F.Q” – At the vanguard of Brooklyn’s neo-disco scene alongside Say She She who featured elsewhere in this playlist, 79.5 put out a front-to-back stunner with their eponymous debut full-length. This song, the advance single that hooked me and a standout when I got to see them open for Lady Wray this year, written by singer Kate Mattison, is a thumping, snarling anthem. “Bitch, don’t fucking quit – you’ve got it, bitch, you’ve got it.”
Sexxy Red featuring Nicki Minaj and Tay Keith, “Pound Town 2” – One of the phenomenon songs this year, a sex anthem with a creeping club beat courtesy of Tay Keith and an infectious mumbling delivery I can’t quite compare to anyone else from Sexxy Red. “I want fish and grits, throwing hissy fits.”
Wu-Tang Clan, “Claudine” – I hadn’t been paying a lot of attention to what the Wu’s been up to lately but every few years, they have a single or two that knock me on my ass and remind me what a force they remain. The newest entry in that storied canon is “Claudine,” featuring Method Man and Ghostface Killah, a hook from Nicole Bus who’s new to me, and a vintage-sounding sweet soul beat from longtime affiliate Mathematics. “You think it’s fine to play with all what I have left. It’s a cold world out there and I can’t take this silence.”
Future Utopia featuring Kae Tempest, “We Were We Still Are” – I knew Kae Tempest through their writing before I even knew they made music, but quickly became just as big a fan of that other side (still bummed they didn’t make it to Big Ears, hopefully someday). This track pairs the poet-rapper with grime mastermind Future Utopia working in a vintage, horn-flecked landscape mode. An infectious party starter with plenty to grip onto. “Hello disorientation, my old friend, welcome to the days of distortion. Complex parades of illusion, charades, on course for destruction: yawn for the horseman. An end is an end until it’s a beginning; winning. We built this city on what we stole, and then we ate it whole.”
Scratcha DVA featuring Skream, and Mez, “X Rated” – Skream was one of the first artists I gravitated toward in the early, languid waves of dubstep, and I became a fan of grime DJ and producer Scratcha DVA not long after. I’m not as familiar with Nottingham-based rapper Mez but he works wonders over this beat with a supple, shifting flow.
Lil Yachty, “pRETTy” – Lil Yachty continued his exploration of psychedelic tones and vintage distortion on the hypnotic Let’s Start Here. This echoey slow jam is one of the standouts for me from the album. “I know you done been through a lot, but trust me when I say I’m there for you.”
Chiiild featuring Lucky Daye, “Good For Now” – Chiiild and Lucky Daye teamed up on this mesmerizing duet, with production from PL, xSDTRK & D’Mile, the swirling acoustic guitar riff is a highlight but their two voices run the show for me. “Tell me that we’re dreaming, don’t say that we’re in love. Whatever this is, it’s good for now.”
King Louie Bankston, “Gone Too Far” – King Louie Bankston, one of the undersung heroes of the New Orleans underground, left us too soon in 2022, and Goner Records and some old friends and collaborators have started on some archival projects as a much-needed corrective to this mad genius who’s work languished too often on demo tapes or limited-edition CDRs or 7”s that never got repressed. The first blush of that vital work is the fantastic Harahan Fats. This track captures the blend of crunching earworm riff and confessional lyric, blurring bravado, self-deprecation, and sweetness that made so many of us fall in love with him in the first place. “I fell behind ‘cause I’ve gone too far; this ugly mind, so don’t take a look.”
Ibex Clone, “Nothing Ever Changes” – Memphis cracked power trio Ibex Clone returned with their best record yet, All Channels Clear, maybe the best record George Williford (guitar), Alec McIntyre (bass), and Meredith Lones (drums) have made yet, and that’s saying something because I loved Ex-Cult, NOTS, and Hash Redactor an awful lot. The sharp pop hooks floating on sludgy post-punk rhythms hit just right here. “It’s taken nearly five thousand years to know exactly who you are. Getting into a lifetime stupor. Insulated from ourselves for good.”
Call Me Rita, “This is a Stick Up!” – Another explosion from this powerhouse band, fronted by poet/artist Vanessa Jean Speckman with backing from some of Columbus’s finest players including her partner Micah Schnabel and Jay Gasper on guitars, Todd May on bass, and Jason Winner on drums. “We’re not living! Only serving, we’re way more deserving than to live and die while genuflecting Capitalism Daddy in the sky.”
The Hives, “Rigor Mortis Radio” – The Hives’ returned with The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, another reminder of the finely-tooled power they bring in the service of joy. This stomping hand-clap disco rocker is another classic every bit as good as the first singles that made them international superstars. “I took my feet out of your puddle ‘cause you know what? I got better things to do ‘cause you know what I got. I got these people eating out of the palm of my hand, I got them answering every single one command. I know you want my time, here’s my line – I got your offer, decline, decline.”
Kassa Overall featuring Laura Mvula and Francis and the Lights, “So Happy” – I first saw – and loved – Kassa Overall in a rhythm section alongside John Hebert as one of the most promising jazz drummers I’d seen in a long while. He’s still that but with his solo albums he’s revealed that he’s so much more, and the gorgeously unclassifiable ANIMALS is the next step in that evolution. The best weirdo soul anyone’s making, with swooping strings, a rhythm that never feels showy but doesn’t resolve where you’d expect, and a glowing hook from Laura Mvula. “Nevermind a seat at the table, I would settle for crumbs if I’m able. Is it dumb to be wise in a humble disguise? I’m not meant to be a puppet or a fool.”
Flo featuring Missy Elliott, “Fly Girl” – British R&B vocal group Fly lace a charming interpolation of Missy Elliott’s “Work It” into this infectious slice of sugary pop, including bringing the originator out to spit some delightful interjections and a killer verse. “Back up on the market, better put in your bid, ‘cause when Missy throw a party you can’t find nowhere to sit.”
Ari LaShell, “Get Down” – Atlanta-by-way-of-Detroit soul singer-songwriter put out a stunning debut EP AWH this year and this song, a silky slither of a vocal over a bouncing, clicky beat reminds me of early ‘00s neo-soul and late ‘70s mutant disco without being overly devoted to any one style. “Boy, I want you to get down. Down.”
Dom Deshawn, “‘09 Nostalgia” – Columbus rapper Dom Deshawn released his best record AfterParadise, this year. Before the record, I heard a beautiful headlining set at the Goodale Park Gazebo this summer. This song got me immediately and hasn’t let me go yet, making the best use of breezy, glowing production from Masked Man. “Ichabod Crane, you know I be coming for necks, cause the summer’s got a lot of debts I gotta collect.”
Killer Mike featuring Andre 3000, Eryn Allen Kane, and Future, “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS” – Much as I like Run the Jewels, I delighted in this year’s Michael, hearing Killer Mike rap over some other beats with well-chosen collaborators. This track, with production from DJ Paul, James Blake, and No ID, is an ideal showcase. “Diamonds shaped like a teardrop. I’ve got the streets in a headlock. Fly just like a skydiver, spirit, I can get manslaughtered, suicide door on the Range Rover.”
Sweeping Promises, “Good Living Is Coming for You” – Neo-new wave duo Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug piled on a level of crunch for their stellar Good Living is Coming for You, with this title track epitomizing the good time groove, gleaming hooks threaded through a sense of paranoia, a powerful desperation to take everything out of life you can before it’s taken away I related to very strongly. “Wave after wave, threatening to break the surface. This interior’s designed to make you nervous.”
PinkPantheress featuring Ice Spice, “Boy’s a liar, Part 2” – After last year waxing rhapsodic about Ice Spice, I was primed for this song-of-the-year candidate with rising pop star PinkPantheress. A pulsing heartbeat of a rhythm layered with fragile latticework of keyboards and a little guitar undergirding the lightness of PinkPantheress’s vocals and the unhurried, winking smirk of Ice Spice. “Ducking my shit, ‘cause he know what I’m on, but when he hit me I’m not gon’ respond.”
Lydia Loveless, “French Restaurant” – Lydia Loveless has never been gone – her pandemic-era Daughter was a thornier record that was a slower burn for me, or at least slower to digest – but with Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again it felt like Columbus’s most powerful singer-songwriter was back at full force. Ten catchy, diverse songs in a tight 33 minutes, and this song sums up the mix of anthemic, soaring heartbreak and keenly carved sense of place that I get more of from their work than anywhere else, with the always excellent band of Jay Gasper and Todd May on intertwining guitars, Mark Connor’s swinging bass and synth, and George Hondroulis’ heavy and nuanced drums. “Well, pretty soon, I’ll be running into the dark while you follow me in the car ‘cause you know I won’t get that far on foot. And I was a fool, forever walking out on something we worked on for so long when all you ever asked of me was just a little bit of goddam honesty.”
M. Ward featuring first aid kit, “too young to die” – M. Ward appears every year with a perfect record, nostalgia sculpted with rusty daggers and antique navigational instruments, and supernatural thing is another excellent example. This shimmering, haunted travelogue through the human heart weaves his voice with Swedish folk duo first aid kit. “And sailing, sometimes failing, that’s the only way to fly. Crying, sometimes wailing, that’s the only way that we learn how to try. With my face down in the mat, the champ says, ‘Are you too old to fight or too young to die?’”
Dale Watson, “I Ain’t Been Living Right” – Dale Watson takes his steely eyed looks at the beauty and flaws of the world and himself and strains it through a more acoustic filter, partly inspired by Leadbelly after moving to the great Huddy Ledbetter’s hometown, with Starvation Box, named after what Ledbetter’s father called a guitar. This sunny self-recrimination shares a lilting tone with “Gentle on My Mind” and a weathered grin that’s all Watson. “Out of the ten commandments, I reckon I broke eight, and I reckon you can reckon on which two I didn’t break.”
El Michels Affair and Black Thought, “Glorious Game” – Glorious Game matches Black Thought’s make-it-look-easy virtuosity and classicist tendencies with El Michels Affairs’ dusky cinematic vibescapes in a match made in heaven. “Gloves and mask off, time to blast off; baton I’ll pass off, rhyme your ass off.”
Optic Sink, “Summertime Rain” – I loved Optic Sink’s debut just as much as I loved singer-keyboardist Natalie Hoffmann’s earlier band Nots, saying something because Nots might have been the best rock band touring for a few years. Their follow-up – produced by Sweeping Promises’ Caufield Schnug – adds a fulltime drummer, monster player Keith Cooper from the Sheiks to the alchemy of Hoffmann and Ben Bauermeister (Toxie) and it’s a tighter, hookier record without satisfying any of the weird textures or sense of being on a journey I loved about them initially. “When I see you fade out, it feels like summertime rain.”
Statik Selektah featuring Posdnuos, “Round Trip (For Dave)” – Statik Selektah returned with another rock solid record this year, Round Trip, and for me the standout with this collaboration with De La Soul pillar Posdnuos to pay tribute to Posdnuos’s gone-too-soon groupmate Dave Jolicoeur/Trugoy the Dove. “I’ll never feel submerged in greed if someone gives me flowers when I’d rather the seeds.”
Healing and Peace, “Into a Hole” – Alex Mussawir has stealthily grown into one of Columbus’s finest songwriters on a trajectory from Future Nuns through Kneeling and Piss into Healing and Peace. This eponymous debut EP has six songs that grapple with an interesting, frequently ambiguous equanimity and trying to find one’s place in the adult world with a dry, world-weary vocal and a chiming thump. “A constant paving over of ideas, never satisfied, but truth is not a cart that drags behind you.”
Jess Williamson, “God in Everything” – I liked Williamson’s collaboration in Plains, the way I found out about her, but I really loved this year’s solo record Time Ain’t Accidental. The warm clarity of Brad Cook’s (Houndmouth, WIlliam Tyler, Ani Difranco) production sets up a world and a story I know well told from a specific and perfectly realized perspective. “Did you see or appreciate the wisdom in me? Was I something for you to play with, did I say the wrong things? Did you notice how I serve my tea?”
Esther Rose’s “Chet Baker” – Maybe the single song I pushed on people more than any other this year and a standout for me from Esther Rose’s Safe to Run, her fourth record, but I was woefully late to the party. The ingratiating melody, the steel guitar wrapping around the sold acoustic rhythm, and the narrative that feels like describing a lazy Sunday that understands exactly the import of the moment, of noticing everything the narrator sees, and knows how the time will sleep away whether they want it to or not. The steel turned up on the breathy, ground-falling-out-from-under-you bridge hits me every time. “You know rock bottom shouldn’t feel this good. We could go down swinging, arm in arm, or we could just go 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, aw, but we’re pretty good.”
Buddy and Julie Miller, “We’re Leavin’” – In The Throes is another low-key masterpiece from Buddy and Julie Miller, a perfectly produced record of how interesting love for the world can be, how fulfilling. And this song is a magnificent hymn – written by Julie Miller – that moves even a non-believer like me; their voices blanketed by long-time friends and collaborators Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, Byron House’s upright bass with Fred Eltringham’s waltzing drums, Stuart Duncan’s fiddle sluicing between Buddy Miller’s guitar and Tim Lauer’s piano. Just perfect. “Come on, everybody, we’re leaving together.”
Allison Russell, “Eve Was Black” – Allison Russell followed up my record of the year last year with exactly the right move. This thornier, harder, complicated record takes every idea from her debut. It adds everything she’s absorbed since, with static-laced production by dim star around crunching drums from Megan Coleman, acid-fried guitar form Elenna Canlas and Meg McCormack, and piano from the Revolution’s Lisa Coleman. This song’s a furious reminder of the stories behind the stories. “Do I remind you of what you lost? Do you hate, or do you lust? Do you despise or do you yearn to return back to the Motherland, back to the Garden, back to your Black Skin, back to the innocence, back to the shine you lost when you enslaved your kin?”
Iris Dement, “Workin’ On A World” – Iris Dement’s burst of productivity in the last few years has helped cement her as one of the best songwriters of my lifetime – already would have been assured if she only ever wrote “Our Town” and “Let the Mystery Be” – and this title track off her 2023 record was another stone classic. Co-produced with Richard Bennett (Steve Earle, Neil Diamond) and Pieta Brown, with a full horn section, and joy that knows it’s fed by pain and struggle. “I’m joining forces with the warriors of love who came before and will follow you and me. I get up in the morning knowing I’m privileged just to be working on a world I may never see.”
jaimie branch, “the mountain” – And we wrap with, as foretold, more jaimie branch. This gorgeous cover of the Meat Puppets; just her voice with Jason Ajemian’s voice and bass. “Coming down from the mountain, I have heard of the glory. I will go again someday, but for now, I’m coming down.”

Tags 6LACK, 79.5, Adanna Duru, Alien Nosejob, Allison Russell, Amanda Shires, Andre 3000, ANHONI, Ari LaShell, ashley mcbryde, B. Cool-Aid, best of, best of 2023, Billy Valentine, Black Thought, Bobbie Nelson, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Brennen Leigh, Buddy Miller, Bulla en el Barrio, Call Me Rita, Chappell Roan, Cheater Slicks, Chiiild, Daddy Long Legs, Dale Watson, dave alvin, Dom Deshawn, El Michels Affair, Eryn Allen Kane, Esther Rose, First Aid Kit, Flo, Francis and the Lights, Future, Future Utopia, Gee Tee, Healing and Peace, Ibex Clone, Ice Spice, Iris Dement, jaimie branch, Jason Isbell, Jeff Parker, Jerry David DeCicca, Jerry Josephl, Jess Williamson, Jimetta Rose, John Cale, Jorja Smith, Joy Oladokun, Julie Miller, Kae Tempest, Karol G, Kassa Overall, Killer Mike, King Louie Bankston, Laura Mvula, Ledisi, Leven Kail, Lil Yachty, Lisa O'Neill, Live.e, Lori McKenna, Lucinda Williams, Lucky Daye, Lydia Loveless, M. Ward, Malibu Babie, Mariah the Scientist, Married FM, Meng & Ecker, Meshell Ndegeocello, Mez, Mick Harvey, Missy Elliott, music, New Pornographers, Nicki Minaj, Olivia Rodrigo, Optic Sink, Peso Pluma, Peter One, Pink Pantheress, Playlist, Posdnuos, recorded music, Rhiannon Giddens, Rissi Palmer, Robbie Fulks, Say She She, Scowl, Scratcha DVA, Sexxy Red, Shania Twain, Skream, statik Selektah, Sunny War, Sweeping Promises, Tay Keith, The Hives, Third Mind, Tripwires, Vada Azeem, VCR, Wu-Tang Clan

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?”

Best Of Playlist record reviews

Playlist – 2022 Songs

As with the last few years, the songs on this playlist are a combination of selections from my favorite records of the year, songs on records that might not have worked for me all the way through but I couldn’t get out of my head, and a smattering from some favorite revivals. “Songs” vs. “Spaces” mean the pieces are mostly – not always – more concise, and mostly, but not always, have vocals. It’s obviously subjective, and if I did the same exercise three months from now, probably 25% of each would fall on the other side of the fence.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/6c921c1c-caa0-41a3-82a8-10407b1ecb8c

Anteloper, “Earthlings” – Not even bothering with a spoiler warning: each of the playlists starts with Jaimie Branch. Even only interacting with her in those small bursts, I was really shaken by her death, and the work she put out this year makes that loss hurt even more because she was hitting her stride. This project with drummer Jason Nazary, produced and with extra instrumentation from the great Jeff Parker, was one of the most beguiling anything I heard all year. The stuttered, light drum ‘n’ bass drumming and infectious, overlapping synth and guitar hooks create a perfect background for Branch’s laid-back, mysterious vocal that’s somewhere between ’70s proto-rap, ’50s jazz poetry, and ’90s underground hip-hop, 100% breezy. “We are not the earthlings that you know. It really makes you think, though. Really makes me think. Really makes me drink, yo.”
Florence and the Machine, “Free” – There isn’t a song I don’t love on Florence and the Machine’s most fully realized record, Dance Fever, but this one has my favorite opening line of any song this year: “Sometimes I wonder if I should be medicated,” and a line toward the end that kept me going and gave me hope throughout the year: “Is this how it is? Is this how it’s always been? To exist in the face of suffering and death and somehow still keep singing?” With a groove that works as well for dancing alone in your bedroom or in the crush of strangers and a vocal that reminds me of my favorite dramatic Nick Cave moments but doesn’t sound like anyone else.
Eli “Paperboy” Reed, “I”m Bringing Home Good News” – I’ve enjoyed Eli “Paperboy” Reed’s detours of the last couple of albums a lot but hearing him back with a gutbucket rhythm section and a raging torrent of horns felt like coming home in the best way. And grappling with the catalog of one of the great American songwriters, Merle Haggard, throughout Down Every Road is a perfect mix. This ironic kiss-off hits exactly the right tones of righteous anger and righteous exuberance at freedom. “I was sitting downtown in a tavern when I made up my mind to go. And I knew you would be so glad to be free; I just thought to call to let you know.”
Soul Glo, “Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)” – Philly’s Soul Glo made their strongest, most expansive record yet without sacrificing any of the intensity or fury that hardcore’s always been known for. Not just an adrenaline shot – though it’s damn sure that too – this song is a journey, with some of the most impassioned, empathetic singing I’ve heard all year, from Pierce Jordan. “Giving so littlе takes so much, putting in work to look like he don’t givе a fuck. It’s worth it to pretend you never get wound up and shrug it off and put half on the Sag’ cusp. Just kidding, I’m’a hold it forever.”
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra with Catherine Russell, “River’s Invitation” – One of the last shows I saw in 2020, at LPR for Winter Jazzfest, was the MTO with Cat Russell singing, and it exceeded my high expectations for those two titans of not only American music but specifically for interpretations. So I was overjoyed when a record came out documenting that collaboration, Good Time Music. Their take on one of my favorite Percy Mayfield compositions balances a boisterous swing, a keen wit, and a dark heart. The arrangement highlights the longtime camaraderie of this band, giving everyone space to stretch out without losing the path, and Bernstein’s greasy trumpet solo and Russell’s loose, wry vocal send it to outer space. “Well, I don’t want to leave him, because I know he’s still alive. Someday I’m gonna find him and I’ll take him for a ride. And we’ll spend our days together in our home beneath the tide.”
Say She She, “Fortune Teller” – Dropping back into a more laid-back gear with Say She She, a newish Colemine signing who reminds me more of Philly roller rink sweetness and sun-dappled Cali soul than the harder funk and soul the label first hooked me with. The infectious harmonies of Nya Parker Gazelle, Piya Malik & Sabrina Cunningham, and the rich organ lines kept this in rotation for me all year, and I can’t wait to see this Brooklyn band live. “When you look up to the sky, and you can’t tell how high it is when you’re spinning into space, and you’re starting to lose faith, be safe. With me.”
Lady Wray, “Through It All” – I’d been a fan of Nicole Wray’s work as a featured artist and harmony singer through most of my adult life, from her work on Missy Elliott’s Supa Dupa Fly, with Lee Fields, the Black Keys, the duo Lady. But somehow her solo work missed me until Piece of Me knocked me out of my damn seat. A perfect slice of soul music, calling on all eras of the music’s history and making it all feel brand new. “Through it all, I can’t complain; it feels so good. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Maya de Vitry, “How Bad I Wanna Live” – Someone else I was late coming to, but violinist and singer de Vitry’s Violet Light gave me quite a bit of comfort this year, and I thought this song fit between these two in the sense of a sun-and-shadow cocktail painting the reasons to go on, the reasons to keep living and loving, even when it doesn’t make sense or when the reasons on the other side are stacked so tall. “Here on my knees on the wet, red clay, Death sings below in the ocean. All you goats and angels, I’m not dying today. I’m not dying today.”
Gabriel Kahane, “Sit Shiva” – Gabriel Kahane’s maybe my favorite orchestral pop singer-songwriter, but trying to put him in that box doesn’t quite do him justice. His arrangements perpetually surprise me but in a way that feels perfect, and his ability to capture the pieces of life we want to look away from or would brush past in concise, carved lyrics that always project a love for the world makes me want to work harder. This closing track from his Magnificent Bird, with Casey Foubert and Joseph Lorge on guitars and Elizabeth Zinman on backing vocals around Kahane, talks about how our rituals have transformed with technology in unsparing, gorgeous detail. “And the photographs of great-grandchildren multiplied, these two ancient lovers walking side by side— his body ravaged, and hers turned to light—He raised his hand to speak at last, and everyone held their breath or gasped as he said, ‘Goodbye, my darling, goodbye.'”
Leyla McCalla, “Memory Song” – I deeply regret not seeing the mixed media performance of Leyla McCalla’s song cycle that accompanies the album when I was at Big Ears, but the record that resulted, Breaking the Thermometer, had my heart almost immediately, Cellist-singer-songwriter McCalla weaves great covers of songwriters like Caetano Veloso and Frantz Casseus with astonishing originals like this one, for this travelogue/reckoning with her family’s history and the wider histories of Haiti and the US. “How much does a memory weigh?”
Beth Orton, “Arms Around a Memory” – A similarly slinky, mysterious groove – in this case from Shazad Ismaily and Tom Skinner – powers this standout from one of my favorite records from a songwriter I’ve been besotted with for over 20 years. A tribute to New York, sometimes obliquely and sometimes in your face, and to sorting through those memories that define us around the edges. “Well, I put my arms around a memory though you always told me not to try. Didn’t we make a beautiful life in your eight-floor walk-up that night?”
SG Goodman, “All My Love is Coming Back to Me” – Grittier but also working with a cyclical, hypnotic groove, this song kept nudging me, nagging at me, in the face of the almost impossible call to choose a single song off Goodman’s punch in the gut collection Teeth Marks. “I’ve seen the light of kingdoms coming, answered the call to rock and roll. Chased down the night that someone’s holding onto, and I kept the fight within my soul.”
Earthgang featuring Ari Lennox, “Run Too” – This standout from the terrific 2022 album Ghetto Gods from Atlanta rap duo Earthgang features a slashing chorus from Ari Lennox and introspective lyrics over a thrumming, insistent beat featuring gauzy synth chords and sparkling piano with plenty of space. “So who can I open up to? Probably this bottle; this sack of weed, it talks to me. We see eye to eye. We knee to knee, praying for some shit, ain’t sure if it exists.”
Terence Etc., “Terence’s — Love” – Terence Nance’s record VORTEX is one of the most mind-expanding pop/R&B records I’ve heard in years. The way he leans into the hairpin turns, the surprising harmony, the doubled sax and keys solo that feels like it’s melting in front of me, and makes it all sing like classic basement jams is a magic trick of the highest order. “Feeding on each other and loving every minute. I’m not grown. Tasted like right at first, but all wrong.”
Sick Thoughts, “Someone I Can Talk To” – New Orleans’ raw garage-punk band Sick Thoughts, for a long time held down by singer and only permanent member Drew Owen, has always been a live act you miss at your own peril if you’re lucky enough they come through your town. But – whether influenced by a more stable lineup or just woodshedding on his own – with Heaven is No Fun, they finally made a great album. This song takes up on some of the questioning/figuring out what keeps us going themes of the last few tracks, but with snarling guitars and a hard-edged bounce. “There are sometimes when I don’t know where I am. And there are somethings that I’ll never, never understand. Oh, no.”
Big Joanie, “What Are You Waiting For” – To my ears, London trio Big Joanie took a big step up on their second record Back Home. That huge, slashing riff and the spiky leads from Stephanie Phillips play perfectly with Estella Adeyeri’s big bass lines and the dry, crisp drumming of Chardine Taylor-Stone. “You couldn’t make it back. You wore the weight that you earned. It’s all yours; she’s not the only one living without a million rituals from a time forgotten.”
Scrunchies, “New What” – With their own sophomore record, Scrunchies also felt to me like they went further toward defining themselves. I love Feral Beach front to back, they were my favorite set at Dirtnap Records’ anniversary and that almost martial drumming and melodic bass groove the song sets up always catches my ear. That moment when Laura Larson’s guitar explodes through those textures is always exciting. “Elevate to get translucent – tape your feelings to the wall. Emerge from below fully formed. Put me away when I destroy because I’m bored. Tear apart is not enough when I want more more more.”
Billy Woods featuring Mike Ladd, “Christine” – Rapper-songwriter Billy Woods’ Aethiopes brought him to another level of recognition, and for good reason. With tracks all produced by his co-writer Preservation and judiciously chosen guests, it evokes a mood of dread and possibility without feeling monochromatic. This track with Mike Ladd, one of my gateway drugs to this sort of underground hip-hop, is a favorite in an album I couldn’t find a bad song on anywhere. “Lulled by streetlamps and the blackness between, my parents’ argument picking up speed. In and out of bad dreams. That’s what they said when they saw him dead in the road. Now I know it was the shadow of them black wings. Unmarked followed us for ten blocks.”
Lucky Daye, “Fever” – I knew Lucky Daye’s songwriting but I missed his debut album. Candydrip caught my ear immediately, one of the best contemporary R&B records I’ve heard in a while, those slashing, static-y cymbals and the echoing backing vocals on the track enhance the sweaty, breathless quality of the love-as-disease metaphor he slinks through. “All night chase you, no lime; another round to help me pass the time. Maybe this mary will help get it out my mind. Feels so right, yeah, ooh, and these pills don’t cut the passion.”
Brian Damage, “You’ve Got Friends” – I loved Brian Baker’s earlier band Brat Curse but his project/band (sometimes featuring five or six people live but mostly recorded entirely by Baker with some judicious guests) Brian Damage encompasses more influences, more of the world, and makes more space for his idiosyncratic look at the world; one of my favorite Columbus bands in a while. Tis lead-off track to their delightful Shit For Brains is co-written by Alissa Paynick and plays with ’90s lo-fi textures – starting with the modem sound – and a disaffected vocal couching a phenomenal, mean hook. “I live my life online. I don’t have one any other time.”
Sweet Knives, “Oh Danny” – A more direct but just as specific and powerful look at infatuation by one of my favorite songwriters of the last 20+ years, Memphis’ Alicja Trout, in what’s grown into her most flexible band, Sweet Knives. This song has a riff worthy of every guitarist I’ve loved since Johnny Thunders and a hook as good as the Shangri-Las, it’s a pop masterpiece from someone who writes more of them than anybody and a keystone of a record Spritzeria which Anne and I saw them do most of live that confirms the songs are as good as they’ve ever done. “Oh, Danny, did you come back for more? I’m hearing growling, squealing, scratching down on the cellar door. Oh, Danny, don’t you know I believe you – in what you say and what you do. Oh, Danny, don’t you know I could never be through with you.”
Aoife O’Donovan, “Age of Apathy” – The first record I fully loved this year, O’Donovan’s collaboration with producer Joe Henry had a slower build for me than her earlier solo records. I love it, but I had to grapple with it a little more – this title track, though, caught me immediately with the sense of drama and atmospherics sharpened to a fine point and one of my favorite combinations of lyric and melody she’s written, leading up to a beautiful Joni Mitchell quote/nod that avoids the way that kind of trope usually feels tacked on. “Under the shade of a quaking aspen tree; we came for New England’s party, but the colors haven’t started, so it’s just you and me.”
Keb’ Mo’, “Good to Be (Home Again)” – Keb’ Mo’ was one of a million artists I got turned onto by our NPR station WCBE when I was in high school and saw him not long after at the Southern Theater. I haven’t kept up on everything he’s done since, but his blend of smooth Americana and country blues still has a place in my heart, and once in a while, he still bowls me over. This title track off his 2022 record, co-written with Beastie Boys collaborator and fellow LA native Money Mark, and co-produced with Vince Gill, is probably my favorite example of that formula. The honeyed melody feels like the warmth of old streets you had some issues with but comes back in the fondness of your memory and the joy of having made it, of being able to tell the tale. “It’s good to be here. It’s good to be anywhere. Good to be back, good to be home again.”
John Moreland, “Neon Middle June” – I’ve been a fan for a while, but John Moreland’s Birds in the Ceiling stunned me, the kind of not-quite-departure that reminded me a little of Fred Eaglesmith’s Dusty. When I was lucky enough to see him at Skully’s, these songs translated just as well solo with an acoustic guitar, keeping their intensity and atmosphere, but the perfect production and subtle arrangements – the electronics on this slow creep of a relationship on the brink – co-produced with Matt Pence from Centro-Matic who also plays drums and accompanied by the great Bonnie Whitmore and John Calvin Abney on everything else really make this record indelible. “When you were a child, your faith was automatic; asleep in steady traffic, navigating western static. And what if who I am is who I used to be? Darling, you know that’s the thought that paralyzes me.”
Anaïs Mitchell, “On Your Way (Felix Song)” – Probably the new song I played the most this year and it was always there for me. Seeing her do it live with Anne, Heather, and Adam at Brooklyn Made was stunning – it had been six or seven years since I’d seen Mitchell live – but I also have specific memories of this in my headphones, walking out of the subway into the streets she’s talking about in New York, or an early morning stroll through the Pushkin Gardens in Mexico City, or downtown Columbus looking for some coffee and a hangover-killing lunch. Thinking about the people I miss in the same way she pays tribute to her old friend, and thinking about how perfectly crafted this easy-rolling, questioning shuffle is; and the whole self-titled record is packed with songs this good. “I remember when you were a seeker staring into a stereo speaker. Kick drum and someone singing made you one with everything. I remember when the tape was rolling, you were going where the take was going. No regrets and no mistakes.”
Amanda Shires, “Fault Lines” – Amanda Shires’ songs and records get better and better. I remember seeing her with Anne at Rumba supporting My Piece of Land and feeling like she’d broken through. But even being a fan didn’t prepare me for the textures and power on Take It Like a Man, produced by Lawrence Rothman. Another record I had an extremely hard time finding a song off of, but this solo written song, with its dramatic strings lighting up the room that recall Orbison but also Charles Stepney and crushing guitar solo, I probably played three times before I moved onto the next song. “I cried, I asked, and I bawled, curled up on the floor with it all: all the time, the want, the overwhelming volume of breathing.”
Here It Is Band featuring Luciana Souza, “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” – This year brought with it a surfeit of strong, consistent tribute records , including Here It Is, the Blue Note Records tribute to singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. A core group of jazz musicians, including Bill Frisell, Immanuel Wilkins, Larry Goldings, Scott Colley, and Nate Smith, provide intimate, sympathetic backings that use all of their skills, no one feels like they’re slumming on material that’s not interesting, backing a series of expertly chosen vocalists. My first exposure to Luciana Souza was on her record of musical settings of one of Cohen’s influences, Neruda, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. Her reading on this, one of my favorite Cohen songs and a guidepost for finding equanimity and grace in art (even if we fall short of it in life), might be the new standard I hold all others to. “I’m not looking for another as I wander in my time. Walk me to the corner now, our steps will always rhyme. You know my love goes with you, as your love stays with me. It’s just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea.”
The Delines, “Little Earl” – This torchy collaboration between Willy Vlautin and Amy Boone just gets better and deeper. Hard-luck narratives are rarely as sharply carved, and the arrangements have touches of lounge jazz but understand the sense of dread in those little rooms that cure the walls like generations of cigarette smoke and spilled tequila in the low-pile carpet. The strings and Hi Records-y horns come in at exactly the right moment around Cory Gray’s organ, and those little backing vocals stabs add up to a song that makes me want to write another short story, want to try harder. “Little Earl’s brother is bleeding in the backseat. It’s been twenty miles, and he can’t stop crying. Passing the houses on stilts on Holly Beach; the A/C don’t work, and Earl’s sick in the Gulf Coast heat.”
Ashley McBryde, “Straight Tequila Night” – The Dan Auerbach-produced John Anderson tribute was a chance to get reacquainted with a whole catalog of songs I grew up loving. This one probably most of all, I adored the melody as a kid before I had any idea about the meat of the song, that sense of trying to keep it together and knowing, like clockwork, it’s going to explode in messy ways and hoping the people nearby will tolerate you even if they don’t put you back together because they’re hoping you’ll be better next time all told from the remove of the bartender. And Ashley McBryde, one of my favorite contemporary country singer-songwriters knocks it out of the park. “If you really want to know, she comes here a lot. She loves to hear the music and dance. K-13 is her favorite song. If you play it, you might have a chance.”
Rose Gold, “Addicted” – A song without the remove of the last couple, written from the perspective of someone in the middle of that struggle with themselves. Rose Gold’s vocal, tightly coiled but glowing red, and the big drums around a keyboard line and cinematic synth strings, add up to a new favorite use of the perennial love-as-addiction metaphor. “I know I said I didn’t need your help but I do. Why am I not fucking perfect? Why can’t I kick this shit?”
Craig Finn, “Messing With the Settings” – Legacy of Rentals didn’t move me as much as the last few Craig Finn records but this song was a sledgehammer in the gut, a flawless example of what he does better than anyone working. The narrative gives largely equal weight and care to both the characters, and it rings true for any of us who’ve had those immediately intense friendships in one bar or another, with a well-calibrated, sweeping arrangement driven by keys and strings around spoken verses and sung choruses. “She had a dwindling grace and a faith in the industry that never really made sense to me.”
Cardiac Poet featuring Baba zora, Masufuria, Nate Speaks, Mbokani – I don’t speak any of the Kenyan languages, so I can’t comment on the narrative from this riveting track from spoken word artist turned rapper Cardiac Poet, with collaborators, but it also uses prominent strings and keys, and it feels like it has the same urgency; like it’s coming from the same place as the last few songs.
Horsegirl, “Anti-glory” – One of my favorite new bands, pal Steve Kirsch turned me onto this Chicago trio, and I was lucky enough to see them on their first headlining tour this year. The clatter and stretched-out guitar remind me of a less noisy mid-period Sonic Youth, and it’s been a joy watching them grow into their power (everyone I know who saw them open for Yo La Tengo this Hanukkah raved about what a different band they seemed from earlier in the year), so the thought that their terrific debut record Versions of Modern Performance is a harbinger of even better things is very exciting. “Turning away, can’t make it out, out loud. Now, feel a fever flow through the town.”
The Weeknd, “Out of Time” – The Weeknd’s newer one, Dawn FM, better synthesizes his earlier portraits of painful, cracked interiority with his pop sensibility than his earlier records, and this track with its swooping synthesized woodwinds and hand claps, is existential loneliness in the heart of couples skate perfection. “Say ‘I love you, girl’, but I’m out of time. Say, ‘I’m there for you,’ but I’m out of time.”
Charli XCX, “Every Rule” – I knew Charli XCX for the big dancefloor smashes but on Crash I was increasingly drawn to the ballads, especially this conflicted, paranoid spray of colors and lust, that keyboard solo toward the end of the song is a stiletto stab in the solar plexus. “Met up late night by the Bowery and in the morning we got coffee. Acted like strangers and told no friends, it wasn’t easy to pretend.”
Punch Brothers, “The Last Thing on my Mind” – This highlight from the Punch Brothers’ Tony Rice re-imagining, Hell on Church Street, felt like it went with the previous couple of songs because it takes the warmth of the Tom Paxton original and squeezes it like trying to turn coal into a diamond, like trying to cram the intensity of the feelings of regret into the pit of your stomach. Hearing this band of virtuosos play with this much clenched restraint is incredibly moving to me. “Are you going away with no word of farewell? Will there be not a trace left behind? Well, I could have loved you better; I didn’t mean to be unkind. You know that was the last thing on my mind.”
George Strait, “Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me” – Another of those hyperfocused, high quality tribute records with a greatly deserving focus was Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver. As expected, it feels like every great who had a few years with a Texas address shows up on this, digging into one of the greatest catalogs from a state that’s given us so many indisputable great songwriters. George Strait came up in the lone star state a few years after Shaver broke through and he brings the appropriate gravitas and twinkle in his eye that made him probably the pre-eminent country start of my lifetime, laying way back on this quintessential neo-honky tonk tune and giving it possibly its definitive reading. “Three fingers whiskey pleasures the drinkers; moving does more than the same thing for me. Willy, he tells me that doers and thinkers say moving’s the closest thing to being free.”
Sarah Borges, “Lucky Day” – Continuing her fruitful collaboration with producer Eric Ambel, Borges’ Together Alone is another series of rock-solid songs that draw on every aspect of the American roots tradition with hooks I can’t get out of my head, and killer playing (in this case featuring Borges’ partner and former Bottle Rockets’ bassist Keith Voegele, John Perrin on drums, and Ambel on lead guitar around her rhythm guitar). The soaring quality of this one reminds me of the first song of hers I gravitated toward, “The Day We Met,” without feeling like a retread. “I get better at playing the numbers: take my chances and wait. I’ve been waiting forever.”
Combo Chimbita, “La Perla” – This New York band helped bring Colombian Chimbita music to prominence for white American music fans like me, while working with other elements of the music they’re around and dealing with the contemporary world through the lens of the music they love. Their record this year IRE is their most diverse, focused, and potent, big grooves fused to a righteous anger around Carolina Oliveros’ flamethrower vocals.
Ice Spice, “Munch (Feelin’ U)” – One of my favorite new rappers and a pulsing, hard-edged example of the new wave of drill. This was easily my favorite of the all-great singles Ice Spice put out this year. “Saying you love me but what do you mean? Pretty as fuck and he like that I’m mean.”
Black Thought and Danger Mouse featuring Michael Kiwanuka, “Aquamarine” – I fell for the Roots early, high school I think, and Black Thought finally has a solo record as good as his best work with the home team. The dusty, left-turn-riddled beats from Danger Mouse get a perfect showcase between Black Thought’s and Kiwanuka’s vocals. “Ever patiently waiting with the demons we deserve. Better be willing to pay with every dream that you deferred.”
Garbage Greek, “Here We Go” – Garbage Greek grew into one of my favorite Columbus bands over the last couple of years and they solidified that standing with their best album Quality Garbage, with lead vocalist and guitarist Lee Mason leading the charge, the melodic bass lines and harmonies of Patrick Koch, Jason Winner’s driving but also nuanced drumming and the secret sauce of Adam Scoppa’s additional percussion and backing vocals, it’s a nigh perfect rock band, in the ’60s mode but not beholden to it. “Am I right? Is this the one?”
Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, “Talkin’ To Myself” – One of my favorite singers added some additional textures to their work and made their best record, Nightroamer, with the production assistance of Pete Anderson. This organ-laced stomper, tinged with acid guitar, is a favorite example that killed me live before the album came out and was an instant favorite when I finally got the record. “Lookin’ at cats on the corner. Pills in the kitchen for my cough. Bad shit going down on the border. Bad brain don’t ever turn off.”
Wesley Bright, “Oh, Think About It” – Cleveland’s finest soul singer, Wesley Bright, continues to broaden his palette without leaving everything that made us love him behind, bringing the horns and organ back on this killer track with a sprightly northern soul beat and doubled backing vocals that send this piece of longing into the stars. “Look in the mirror, you’ll see things much clearer. Then you’ll believe and see why she wanted you to leave.”
Call Me Rita, “Measure Twice, Cut Once” – Another of my favorite Columbus bands, Call Me Rita takes poet-visual artist Vanessa Jean Speckman and teams her with a band of heavy hitters, including her partner Micah Schnabel from Two Cow Garage on guitar and backing vocals, Jay Gasper (best known for his work with Lydia Loveless) on guitar and keys, Todd May (who Anne has called the best songwriter in Columbus and has exquisite taste in other songwriters he accompanies) on bass and backing vocals, and Jason Winner who I mentioned earlier with Garbage Greek on drums. This is a perfect, furious response to the world on fire that I went back to over and over again. “The creditors keep calling me. How much more can I bleed?”
The Sparklers, “Late Great Saturday Night” – One of my favorite newer bands in the vein of the Replacements. The Sparklers hit my radar when pal Steve Kirsch joined them on drums, leading up to 2022’s sparkling Miss Philadelphia record and it’s jam packed with witty lyrics, sharp playing, and hooks on top of hooks. “What blasphemies come alive? Still learning the language of loss.”
Hurray for the Riff Raff, “PIERCED ARROWS” – My love of Hurray for the Riff Raff has always been about Alynda Segarra’s songs and their Life on Earth is full of excellent examples. The electronic throb and echoing drums of this song create the perfect atmosphere for a vocal that goes from the edge of broken to profound declamations from the rooftops. “This was the place that fell apart; you were the one to break it. I don’t believe in anything. This whole fucking world is changing.”
Swamp Dogg, “I Need a Job” – Jerry Williams has been making raw, perfect records in his Swamp Dogg persona since 1970 and the renaissance of recent years has been an amazing pleasure to witness. His new one, I Need a Job… So I can Buy More Autotune finds him in fine witty, acerbic form, riding a classic, horn-and-harmonica laden groove. “Food is so high, it would be cheaper if we ate the morning.”
Pillbox Patti, “Good People” – Songwriter Nicolette Hayford’s Pillbox Patti alter-ego/debut album is a collection of unflinching portraits of people she has affection for without letting them off the hook. This song pairs a sinister groove with an entrancing, elevated conversational vocal. “They say the good die young; well, I don’t believe it. ‘Cause look at us: a little fucked up, but we’re still breathing.”
Lyle Lovett, “The Mocking Ones” – This original on Lyle Lovett’s stunning 12th of June finds him in the mode of many of his best songs, picking up a conversation seemingly in the middle and finding the same affection and gratitude for the people in his life and his songs that characterized mentors of his like Guy Clark and Nanci Griffith. “I said before, and now the long time’s come, to wait, forget, and still remember some. To hold our heads above the laughing tongues falling from the faces of the mocking ones.”
Joan Shelley, “Bolt” – Louisville singer-songwriter Joan Shelley put out one of her best records – and that’s a high bar – with this year’s The Spur. Full of songs that gave me something to chew on, with melodies and images I couldn’t shake. This one breaks my heart every time, an example of having the metaphor right in the title and still being surprising. “Haven’t you grown enough? Aren’t you old enough? Can’t you carry more than your heavy self? There’s no hiding, no lies, having two eyes to watch you all the time; see right through you.”
Alabaster dePlume, “Fucking Let Them” – Spoken word artist and saxophonest Alabaster dePlume found the perfect backing band in Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die (Branch with Chad Taylor, Jason Ajemian, and Lester St Louis) and they provide a ferocious accompaniment throughout Gold – Go Forward in the Courage of Your Love. “I am brazen like a baby. Like the stupid sun. And I go forward in the courage of your love.”
Cory Henry, “Something New” – I was lucky enough to see Henry and his Funk Apostles this summer touring his newest, extremely strong collection, Operation Funk. This is another dancefloor smash with a gorgeous, soaring vocal and his majestic keyboards. “‘We may not be young anymore, but the night is,’ this is what she said when she looked in my eyes. ‘Follow me, take my hand, let’s go up to a higher ground.'”
Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, “Nashville Mess Around” – Another instant classic dance song of a different stripe by another virtuoso who’s breaking out with better and better songwriting on every outing. Guitarist and songwriter Molly Tuttle killed me on her new one, Crooked Tree, featuring musical snapshots of different points in her life and career. The tune and interlaced guitar, fiddle, and banjo here are killer but I also live the sardonic smile she paints the lyrics with. “So all you pals and pilgrims and in-from-out-of-towners, we had a boom, now there’s no room, so don’t you hang around here. You’re out of luck, so don’t pick up when Nashville comes a-calling. You’d best go back to Fond du Lac and quit your honky tonking.”
SYD featuring Smino, “Right Track” – I didn’t love Syd’s Broken Hearts Club quite as much as I wanted to but there were a handful of undeniable songs that give me hope the rest of it will grow on me. A marvelous, seductive vocal and a finger snapping backing track with a charming feature verse from Smino. “Seems like we’re on the right track; keep it up, you keep me coming right back. You know I’m trying to wife that.”
Primer, “Feel The Way I Do” – Alyssa Midcalf’s Primer project released Incubator, a record of electronic pop using a lot of ’80s textures that normally turn me off but she doesn’t use them in a too-precious throwback way, she roughs them up and brings in other elements. I found the songs entrancing and the vocal delivery mesmerizing. The expansion toward the end of the song feels like earned catharsis, like the first sunny day after an endless gray week. “I’ve been living inside me my whole life. I can’t seem to fight it, I don’t know why. I tremble as it grows.”
Illogic, “Play to Win” – Illogic was the first rapper in Columbus I loved, that felt like he was part of a scene I knew and understood. I still pull out Celestial Clockwork regularly. His last couple of records find him going deeper into making his own beats and The Transition is an excellent, mature record where the tracks live up to the excellent producers he was working with when I first heard him and the songs gel, the record he only could have made with his wisdom and experience. I keep going back to it and finding something – or some things – new. “He wasn’t sorry for the moves made, just try’n’a get home, sliding shoots and climbing ladders was the strategy.”
Becca Stevens and Attacca Quartet, “45 Bucks” – Jazz singer and composer Becca Stevens has been expanding her sonic universe on the last few records, with her expansive breakthrough Wonderbloom, last year’s collaboration with the Secret Trio, and this year’s fantastic work with the Attacca Quartet who Anne and I were lucky enough to see at Big Ears this year. This revisiting of an older song of Stevens is a perfect example of their powers combining. The strings chasing and jousting her defiant vocals in a lyric that uses the same lines over and over, juxtaposing in a way that evokes a pantoum. “It must be hard for you to get up in the morning.”
Dedicated Men of Zion, “Rock My Soul” – I’ve always been a sucker for deep gospel, and North Carolina quartet Dedicated Men of Zion produced an example that blows me away with The Devil Don’t Like It. Adding to the power of those voices in concert is a band filled with Memphis all-stars including Al Gamble on organ, Will Sexton and Matt Ross-Spang on guitars, and a swinging, crunching rhythm section of Mark Edgar Stuart and George Sluppick. “If I get to Heaven, I’m gonna swing and shout. There’s gonna be nobody up there who’s going to turn me out.”
Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters, “Eurydice” – Asheville roots rock band Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters released their best album with this year’s sprawling The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and this ballad, brimming with slow-boil intensity, is a prime example of what they do so well – the steel guitar and accordion or harmonium running through the track like a river without undercutting the vocal. “Is that darkness in your dreams? My darling, I believe, it’s not loneliness you fear. It’s your own heart that keeps you here.”
Spiritualized, “Let It Bleed (For Iggy)” – Any new Spiritualized record is cause for rejoicing in my corner of the world. This song rising from a slow-burn ballad into a majestic explosion is a prime example of what Jason Pierce and his shifting collection of musicians do better than anyone in my lifetime. “I labored over this life for too long: there’s nothing to behold. I wanted it to be better for you. A minute down the road, I wanted it to go straight to your heart and say, ‘Darling, I was wrong.'”
Golomb, “Western Threshold” – I’ve watched Xenia Bleveans Holm (vocals and bass) and Hawken Holm (drums) grow up. Their parents, Dave and Melanie, are great friends and, between them, have given me some of my favorite musical experiences in this town, in bands like Ugly Stick, The Townsmen, Bigfoot, and Total Foxx. I was a big fan of Xenia’s earlier band, Cherry Chrome, but I adore this new power trio featuring Mickey Shuman (vocals and guitar). Their fantastic eponymous debut album reminds me of everything I loved about ’90s indie rock but with a fresh, contemporary spin, buried hooks I want to dig and uncover. “Hey, baby, it’s somewhere between late morning and early night. I’m in the western threshold, not another soul in sight. And I write to you.”
Rose Mercie, “Un château” – Paris-based band Rose Mercie’s record Kieres Agua got its hooks in me and hasn’t let go. This song is a nighttime rainstorm in the middle of a city, neon-splashed puddles and shadows like a Will Eisner comic strip in that intoxicating keyboard part and those guitar stabs.
Jenny Hval, “Cemetery of Splendour” – I’ve been a big fan of Jenny Hval for many years, anyone who’s ever read one of these lists has probably seen her name. Her last records have been growing in accessibility and ease without sacrificing any of the mystery, the sharp edges that drew me to her work in the first place. This almost torturously slow ballad with its suspended keyboard chords and rotating vocal, drums as subtle as a heartbeat before building to a complicated climax, is a key example of what I love so much about her work. “Now you go to the afterlife; you’ve heard good things about it but the embers are cooling and the spirits are just names plus one.”
Robert Glasper featuring Q-Tip and Esperanza Spalding, “Why We Speak” – I’ve liked all of keyboardist Robert Glasper’s Black Radio records, drawing the various streams of contemporary black music together and staking out a claim for the jazz he came up playing and still plays well. This song sets up a sinuous, sensual groove around Spalding and Q-Tip’s vocals in English, French and Spanish for something that would sound good in any lounge at 2 am. “To remember after all their sage disasters are done, se souvenir.”
Leikeli47, “LL Cool J” – Someone else I was slow to, but Leikeli47’s third record Shape Up got me immediately, especially this seductive, sparse single. “Boy, you got the type of shine you only find in a mine – I dug deep and worked hard just to make you mine.”
Bad Bunny, “Yo No Soy Celoso” – I liked the earlier Bad Bunny records but Un Verano Sin Ti hit me at exactly the right time, and its blend of other music in with the reggaeton and Latin trap that made his name feels perfectly calibrated. The hard acoustic guitar strum underpinning this track and the whistling give a lightness to it that rubs up against his weathered vocal in just the right way.
Rosalía, “MOTOMAMI” – I checked out Rosalía when I mentioned the singer-songwriter Roasli to my pal Mary at work and she thought I had the name wrong. So I was already primed for her best, most sprawling record to come out and it’s delightfully weird and diverse. I need more unabashed pop records taking these kinds of big swings in my life.
Nikki Lane, “Try Harder” – I liked Nikki Lane from her first record on – and still rave about seeing her at Twangfest six or seven years ago – but her collaboration with producer Josh Homme, Denim and Diamonds, makes the songs snap into sharper relief with the rhythm section amped up just slightly and her vocal nudged to the front of the mix. “One of these days you’re gonna wake up and find yourself wondering if you done right or should’ve done something else. It gets hard to believe you’re gonna find a way, but that’s the price you pay.”
Ceclie McLorin Salvant, “Moon Song” – Cecile McLorin Salvant has long been at the front of the pack of current jazz singers, with a keen interpretive gift. The last few records, she’s proving she’s also one of our best songwriters, and Ghost Song is another leap in that direction, with stunning accompaniment by Aaron Diehl on piano. “Let me write you a song and long to belong to you; write you a song from a distance. Let me love you like I love the moon.”
Ralph White, “Something About Dreaming” – Bad Livers helped redefine what I thought about roots music, but I hadn’t kept up with Ralph White’s music since leaving the band. This title track from one of the two terrific albums old friend Jerry David DeCicca produced on White this year holds that voice and banjo playing up to the light and makes every crack, every bit of weathering – every surprising stretch of a vowel – not only apparent but beautiful. “Things ain’t never gonna be the same and I just listen to the wind, the stars, and the rain. I listen to falling rain.”
Sharon Van Etten, “Home to Me” – Sharon Van Etten’s records keep getting richer, a reminder of how much life has to give you at every turn as long as you’re willing to put in the attention and you have the craft to express it. The rapturous slow crawl of this song and the intensity of its act of love makes it a standout for me on the great We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong. “I take my time so you can say to me, ‘What makes it right is an unknown thing.'”
Earl Vallie, “A Beautiful Creature” – Earl Vallie was a good friend of mine back when he lived in Columbus. Then, I knew him mostly as a visual/installation artist. So it’s a beautiful thing to hear my old pal’s voice on this fully formed, stirring music. His record Ghost Approaches merges finely-observed workaday detail with high drama, given exquisite production from Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier who also plays drums with Joel T. Crocco rounding out the rhythm section. “Spending all my gold just painting palm trees red, then I spread my wings again. Grabbing what I seek to find from massive swarms of things I’ve left behind.”
Maisie Kappler, “Fit for a Queen” – A Columbus singer-songwriter I just stumbled onto this year, Kappler’s mix of the dramatic and the ephemeral is a rare gift, paired with cut-crystal melodies that keep me coming back. This memory of the artist’s grandmother struck me as soon as I heard it and I’m still drawn back, finding new things that resonate with my own memories of the grandmother I miss very much and things so specific to her experience I’m glad to be given that window into their relationship. “When I was younger, I asked my grandmother how she held onto her youth. She stared at her whiskey, then she answered ‘Vanity.’ Surely it must have been true.”
BAYLI, “Think of Drugs” – Brooklyn R&B singer BAYLI was one of my favorite discoveries this year, this glittering cri de coeur uses the creaminess of the production and the silky, stretching melody to enhance the pain of longing in the lyrics in a way I’m always a sucker for. “Breathe before I delete your number from my phone. Do you ever think of me like you think of drugs? Like you think when you think of drugs?”
Weyes Blood, “The Worst Is Done” – Weyes Blood has been broadening their approach and writing more accessible melodies for the last few years – I remember seeing a great show with David Banbury at Cafe Bourbon Street a few years ago that felt like a breakthrough – and the records keep getting stronger and more expansive, more about reckoning with the world. “Got kinda old; it happened to me quickly. Burned down the house waiting for someone to save me.”
Vieux Farka Touré and Khruangbin, “Savanne” – Farka Touré teamed up with rising instrumental lounge-rock band Khurangbin for a kaleidoscopic tribute to his father Ali, one of the true giants of Malian music that keeps everything good about his father’s work, every memorable part, without shackling it to an era or a style.
Willie Nelson, “Tower of Song” – Willie Nelson’s grappled with the Leonard Cohen songbook a few times over the years but there’s something beautiful about him taking on this mythopoetic look back now with sparse accompaniment and longtime foil Mickey Raphael’s harmonica right up front next to him. As I did with the monthly playlists, I tried to end this with a prayer. Thank you for listening or reading. “All the bridges are burning that we might have crossed, but I feel so close to everything that we lost. We’ll never have to lose it again.”

Tags Alabaster DePlume, Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters, Amanda Shires, Anais Mitchell, Anteloper, Aoife O'Donovan, Ari Lennox, ashley mcbryde, Attacca Quartet, Baba zora, Bad Bunny, BAYLI, Becca Stevens, best of, Best Of 2022, Beth Orton, Big Joanie, Billy Joe Shaver, Billy Woods, Black Thought, Brian Damage, Call Me Rita, Cardiac Poet, Catherine Russell, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Charli XCX, Combo Chimbita, cory henry, Craig Finn, Danger Mouse, Dedicated Men of Zion, Earl Vallie, Earthgang, Eli Paperboy Reed, Eric Ambel, Esperanza Spalding, Florence and the Machine, Gabriel Kahane, Garbage Greek, George Strait, Golomb, Here It Is, Horsegirl, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Ice Spice, Illogic, jaimie branch, Jason Nazary, Jeff Parker, Jenny Hval, Joan Shelley, John Anderson, John Moreland, Keb' Mo, Khruangbin, Lady Wray, Leikeli47, Leonard Cohen, Leyla McCalla, Luciana Souza, Lucky Daye, Lyle Lovett, Maisie Kappler, Masufuria, Maya de Vitry, Mbokani, Michael Kiwanuka, Mike Ladd, Molly Tuttle, music, Nate Speaks, Nikki Lane, Pillbox Patti, Playlist, Primer, Punch Brothers, Q-Tip, Ralph White, recorded music, Robert Glasper, Rosalia, Rose Gold, Rose Mercie, Sarah Borges, Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, Say She She, Scrunchies, SG Goodman, Sharon Van Etten, Sick Thoughts, Soul Glo, Spiritualized, Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra, Swamp Dogg, Sweet Knives, Syd, Terence Etc, The Delines, The Sparklers, The Weeknd, Tony Rice, Vieux Farka, Vieux Farka Toure, Wesley Bright, Weyes Blood, Willie Nelson

Playlist record reviews

Playlist – September 2022

Post author By rsanford614
Post date October 20, 2022
No Comments on Playlist – September 2022

Once again – as befits my favorite cultural season – a lot of writing for other outlets, so I’m racing to get this one done and out before New York this week. But also as befitting my favorite season in general, so much great work. A little more meditative maybe but also some hard partying tracks. Hope you’re all doing well, whether you inherently love fall as much as I do or not. Love to anyone who takes the time to listen to and/or reads these.

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/94d5c558-a938-471d-a46a-1bb7945a4eed

Beth Orton, “Arms Around a Memory” – I was one of the many people who got my head split open by Beth Orton’s Trailer Park when I was 16 and every record through Sugaring Season blew me away, with 2002’s Jim O’Rourke-produced Comfort of Strangers as a personal high water mark. Her new one, Weather Alive, after a six-year wait, brings me back to the best parts of all of those records while stirring in new colors. This track, with a combination of English (including drummer Tom Skinner who knocked my face in this spring playing with Sons of Kemet) and NYC (bassist Shazad Ismaily who shows up here with so much regularity I should send him something, Antibalas’s Stuart Bogie on sax, Winged Victory for the Sullen’s Dustin O’Halloran, and guitarist Greg McMurray whose guitar is a key voice of the current chamber music scene) band centered around Orton’s piano and voice, became an immediate front runner in a record I have a hard time picking favorites from. The subtle, insistent rhythms and repetition and the expansiveness of the synths, backing vocals, and reeds feel like walking through streets you know almost too well, while Orton’s murmured vocal wrestles with ghosts and finds exactly the place to put that memory in a way I still struggle with more often than not. For me, this feels like walking through New York in the morning – helped by the specific reference in the first verse and the Johnny Thunders nod in the title – but I know it works just as well for those memories in the long shadows of London or Kansas City. “And I got to questioning my credibility like you’re the reliable witness to what I feel, though I can still taste the sweetness of what we had, and there’s no one will kiss me as deep as you know you have. Once that I saw how to see all of your love was looking back at me, it was hard not to fulfill the prophecy we could have been.”
Afghan Whigs, “Domino and Jimmy” – The new Afghan Whigs record is still sinking in for me; it’s a slower build than the last few post-reunion albums. But I loved this expansive, cracked ballad immediately, and not just because it reunites them with my pal and Scrawl co-leader Marcy Mays, reviving her character from “My Curse” and putting her in direct dialogue with the male half, voiced, of course, by Dulli. It’s a prime example of their rocket ride to the bottom songs, land they plow better than anyone else I can think of, giving glory to people in their worst moments. “You are lost in sight and lost inside my head. You seem to insinuate that I leave. I know it’s been a while. But, baby, if you were waiting for me, we’re going out in style.”
Terri Lyne Carrington, “Circling” – One of the great drummers, composers, and bandleaders of our time, Terri Lyne Carrington, turned her attention to a much-needed project to start redressing the place of women in the jazz composition canon with her editing of The New Standards Vol. 1, 100 pieces by women and including many of the best composers working now. This beautiful Gretchen Parlato song augments Carrington’s killer core group of rhythm section mates Kris Davis on piano and Linda May Han Oh on bass, Nicholas Payton on trumpet, and Matthew Stevens on guitar (who co-produces with Carrington), with guitarist Julian Lage, vocalist Michael Mayo, and percussionist Negah Santos – someone please correct me if I’ve gotten the vocalist wrong, I tried to piece this together from partial credits I could find googling. The warm, swirling melody and the perfect empathy of the group – Carrington’s cymbals on the verses, cutting through the dancing guitars, Davis’ piano at precisely the right moments; Payton’s trumpet solo that feels like liquid light – made this an immediate standout on another record that has so many highlights for me, and a song that hit me at a moment I really needed it. “Stop wishing on so many stars above. All that you’ve done has come from wanting love. What if we met at some other place in time? There’d still be rain. There’d still be sun to shine. Your happiness to give away is so much more than all the games they play. So be done.”
Garbage Greek, “Bad Habit” – I can’t believe I haven’t put something from this record – one of my favorites of the year and one of my favorite Columbus rock records in a very long time – on a previous playlist. I’ve long liked Garbage Greek, the harder garage project of guitarist/lead vocalist Lee Mason and bassist/vocalist Patrick Koch when schedules stopped their previous (also great) band Comrade Question, but hearing it stripped to a three-piece from five, those two with powerhouse drummer Jason Winner, occasionally augmented live (and on this record) with percussion and backing vocals from Adam Scoppa after the pandemic, shot up to favorite band status. And that added potency is distilled into their finest record, Quality Garbage, which is everything I want from garage rock: muscular hooks, grooves that work as well for a dance party as a fist fight, lyrics that stick but aren’t showy. This song hit me early, but there isn’t a bad track to be found. “I have a nasty habit of forgiving you.”
Black Thought and Danger Mouse, featuring Michael Kiwanuka, “Aquamarine” – Roots frontman Black Thought stretches in different directions on Cheat Codes, a stunning collaborative record with producer Danger Mouse. This track, featuring Michael Kiwanuka on the hook, combines dusty samples with gleaming synths and chopped guitar stings as the perfect backdrop for his laid back, layered rhymes. “Trying to find soul again, but my thoughts corrupt the vials and contaminate the console again. It’s a shame, but I cannot complain though I am not the same.”
Cory Branan featuring Brian Fallon and Jason Isbell, “When In Rome, When in Memphis” – Memphis Americana singer-songwriter Branan was the first small club show I saw in Columbus after getting vaccinated, and it was a wake-up call to just how good his songs are and his rich coffee after a long night voice just seems to get stronger and more interesting. His new record When I Go I Ghost is a similar reminder of the power of his work, full of interesting arrangements and, while it’s early in my listening, the equal of instant classics The No-Hit Wonder and Adios. This single, with Fallon and Isbell lending backing vocals, is a classic on-the-road rocker with a huge riff and big drums, but wrapped in a little more abstraction, leaning into the mystery that the genre tends to strip out.
Danielle Ponder, “Only The Lonely” – My first trip to Nelsonville Music Festival in many years had some frustrations, but it did my heart good to see how much so many of my dearest friends loved it, and it had a few sets that blew me away, including my first exposure to the torchy R&B of Danielle Ponder. Seeing her create such a degree of intimacy in a huge field from the main stage, then digging into her records, has me dying to see her in a club. The crisp crack of the drums under a phantom smoke choir and suspended electric piano chords underpins a vocal as rich and potent as any of the great soul singers of history. “There’s a truth in the dark. It’s gonna break you down, so steel your heart. ‘You don’t love me, you just lonely,’ that’s what my mind say. Your daddy left you guilty, that’s what you don’t see.”
The McCrary Sisters featuring Allen McCrary, “Run On” – I’m a sucker for classic gospel quartet music and I’ve been a big fan of the McCrary Sisters for about a decade; I think I came to them through their connections to the Fairfield Four. Coming on the heels of the sad news of Deborah McCrary’s passing, they released this stormy version of the gospel standard “Run On” I heard on one of my Grandmother’s records but snapped into my attention on the Blind Boys of Alabama 2001 record Spirit of the Century. The McCrarys give us a definitive version of a song done so well by so many.
Dr. John featuring Aaron Neville and Katie Pruitt, “End of the Line” – Dr. John’s posthumous album Things Happen That Way also features moving versions of “Old Time Religion” featuring Willie Nelson, “Funny How Time Slips Away,” and the Cowboy Jack Clement-penned title track, but I kept coming back to this laid-back swinging take on the Traveling Wilburys song, with fellow New Orleans icon Aaron Neville and Nashville singer Katie Pruitt. Wreathed in second-line horns like smoke, with subtle church-steeped grooves from the great drummer Herlin Riley (powering the best of the post-“Tain” Watts era of Wynton Marsalis) and Jon Cleary’s B3. Hearing those three voices come together on “I’m satisfied” touches me every single time.
Tedeschi Trucks Band, “Soul Sweet Song” – Sometimes the undeniably strong Tedeschi Trucks Band gets a little too jammy for me – hearing this as I was playing with the order of the playlist, Anne said, “What are you some kind of a hippie?” – but there’s a warmth and a love for the world their best work has that resonates with me and this is a prime example of them firing on all cylinders. Band members Gabe Dixon and Mike Mattison wrote this in tribute to the late multi-instrumentalist Kofi Burbridge and Susan Tedeschi gives it a vocal like a bonfire, the only sign of life for miles, in the darkness, the promise of warmth and the sun rising again. “In the memory of your melody, when the dawn breaks out, the birds all sing. And I feel your rhythm moving me, ’cause your soul’s sweet song’s still singing.”
Late Night Cardigan, “B-Movie” – I hear a similar play of sunlight and shadow to the previous couple of tracks on this tune by Memphis four-piece Late Night Cardigan from their terrific record Life is Bleak and It’s My Cheat Day. Vocalist Kacee Russell sells the loneliness of trying to make someone suddenly being gone make sense, as her and Stephen Turner’s guitars intertwine over the crunching rhythm section of Jesse Mansfield and Zach Mitchell’s steadily turning up the flames.
Rich Ruth, “Desensitization and Reprocessing” – For me, this centerpiece of Rich Ruth’s (Nashville musician Michael Ruth) simultaneously mournful and majestic record I Survived, It’s Over is one of the keystones of instrumental music as a way of processing trauma, especially of processing the pandemic we’re still in but I don’t want to make it sound like therapy. The compositional rigor, the delicate layering, the building to fiery free jazz horns and clicking back into the more placid textures of synth and pedal steel, all make it a piece that can stand up to whatever previous associations a listener brings to it.
Madison Cunningham, “My Rebellion” – I was a fan of Madison Cunningham’s work on Chris Thile’s Live From Here but never caught one of her own records until this year’s spectacular Revealer. This song’s staccato, repetitive pattern on Cunningham’s guitar ties it to the previous songs as it brings up the emotional intensity and forward motion of the playlist with a supple vocal that takes the melody into surprising places and leaves the lyrics rattling in the listener’s skull. “What is wrong? Have you forgot I’m not a stranger? You’re lead-footed and headstrong and the quiet turns me into a rambler.”
Sick Thoughts, “Someone I Can Talk To” – I’ve been a fan of New Orleans Sick Thoughts since first seeing them a number of years ago in Memphis when they were kind of the ur-Gonerfest band, punchy rhythm section in the intense undertow of frontman Drew Owen’s powerful presence and energy. But their new record Heaven is No Fun, and the drop-to-my-knees reminder of everything I love about rock and roll set Anne and I got to see at this year’s Gonerfest took them to another level, the songs are sharper, taking the ear candy riffs that would be tossed off on a bridge on earlier records and allowed to develop into whole songs. A heaping dose of Thin Lizzy in a stew of classic ’77 punk and early ’00s garage but done as well as anyone’s doing it, with more hooks in that scene than anything I’ve heard since Gentleman Jesse’s Leaving Atlanta. My rock record for the end of summer and my favorite record loaded in the barrel for next summer. “Well, there are sometimes that I don’t know where I am. And there are some things that I’ll never understand. There must be someone I can talk to about this. I never realized how much friendship can be missed. But it’s no good now, there’s no one but we two. And I’m alone in the city with you.”
Laura Benitez and the Heartache, “Let the Chips Fall” – San Francisco’s Laura Benitez and her crack band crafted one of my favorite sets of classic Bakersfield country/rockabilly in a while with California Centuries. Dave Zirbel’s pedal steel stands out on this track amid a tight rhythm section and Benitez’s clipped, punky vocal on the verses and soaring notes on the choruses. “It took me too many years to start to be brave, and I gotta move now while there’s still a part of me that’s left to save. I know that failing ain’t worse than doing nothing at all, so let the dice roll and let the chips fall.”
Snakehips featuring Tinashe, “Who’s Gonna Love You Tonight” – British electronic duo Snakehips reteam with one of my favorite current R&B singers, Tinashe, on this slinky sun-drenched beckoning/indictment rising to a powerful gospel-seared climax. “Who’s gonna tell you that you ain’t just high? Show you that you love this life.”
Makaya McCraven, “This Place, That Place” – I’ve been a fan of Makaya McCraven since the very first time I heard him – drawn to that first record because my old friend Tony Barba played on a track or two. And that fandom increased exponentially when I finally saw him life; he merges the repetitive, cell-based constructions of hip-hop, electronic dance music, and modern composition with the strengths of classic free jazz, a nimbleness on his kit, and a Mingus-esque talent for bringing out exactly the strengths of his players. When I interviewed him earlier this year to preview a (stunning) Wexner Center show Anne and I took her Mom to, he talked about the upcoming record, and how great it was that each of the labels he’d worked with recently, free jazz standard bearers International Anthem, British electronic stars XL, and legendary new music label Nonesuch, were teaming up to release In These Times. Hearing it, that almost feels like a metaphor. This record takes everything he’s learned and worked with up to now, especially in the larger band shows like the mind-blowing Webster Hall hit I saw at Winter Jazz Fest a few years ago and ties it all together while also moving forward. Brandee Younger’s harp is a key component of this track, tying the strings together with the horns and Joel Ross’ vibraphone.
Julian Lage, “Let Every Room Sing” – Julian Lage’s View With a Room reunites him with the crackling, empathetic rhythm section bassist Jorge Roeder, who I’ve been a fan of since hearing him with trombonist Ryan Keberle’s Catharsis, and Bad Plus/Happy Apple founder Dave King on drums, and adds the additional element of guitarist Bill Frisell who also has an extensive history with King. Their two lines snake and crack around one another in a way that always is surprising and invigorating. There’s enough crunchy noise on this Lage original to remind old heads of Frisell’s early work but without forsaking the Americana leanings and gorgeous melodies of both their more recent outings.
Nikki Lane, “Live/Love” – I was a fan of Nikki Lane’s songs and voice the second I heard All or Nothin’, and each record has deepened and broadened that appreciation, but Denim & Diamonds feels like the purest distillation of her magic yet. Whether it’s extra time on the songs, an affinity for Josh Homme’s sympathetic production – he also plays piano, percussion, and mellotron on this track – that works as well on gentle, west coast lopes like this one as the stomping dance numbers, or just a magic confluence of a number of factors, this is one of the most addictive albums I’ve sank into all year.
Ice Spice, “Munch (Feelin’ U)” – This Bronx-based rapper’s breakthrough single was all over this summer and coming to it a little late made me very nostalgic for the days I would have heard this in a club or coming out of a car rolling down the street. In less than two minutes, with a creeping track by Riot, it’s a perfect shot in the arm of low-key and well-earned braggadocio. “Sayin’ you love me but what do that mean? Pretty as fuck, and he like that I’m mean.”
Snarky Puppy, “Honiara” – Instrumental jazz-funk band Snarky Puppy returned this year with Empire Central, continuing the snarling crime-movie jazz tendency I loved so much on Culcha Vulcha (and the barn-burning live set Andrew Patton and I caught on that tour) but, true to form, bringing in elements from their various side projects and never staying still for too long. The woozy horns and bursting-at-the-seams production keep any part of this from getting too tidy, too clean, and it’s deep enough for the listeners but it’ll get a party out of their chairs.
Dmo!, “Save Your Soul” – I found this through one of my favorite local musicians, writer-keyboardist Brandon “BJazz” Scott who co-wrote and co-produced this with Aaron Hardin. I got to know BJazz’s work through his accompanying Talisha Holmes on some of her best thorny R&B and Hardin has a resume including Raheem DeVaughn and Eric Roberson, and this smooth and smoky cry into the darkness is squarely in both of those sweet spots. I couldn’t find much about the singer here but believe I’ll be checking for him going forward.
Madi Task, “Quitter” – A newer (or at least newer to me) Columbus singer-songwriter, with some similar gospel tendencies in the piano line and the way she leans way back behind the beat and the lunges at it. It’s raw and vibrant, powerful and a little unformed. “I fill up my cup but it tastes mediocre. The conversations are relying on me. There’s nothing to sip on and nothing to say; I’ll save my wit for a better day. Can’t take the silence? Go back to sleep, ’cause I don’t owe you a goddam thing.”
My Idea, “Cry Mfer” – I loved Palberta so I’m obviously interested in whatever else Lily Konigsberg is working on, and this collaboration with Nate Amos didn’t disappoint. The repetition and mix of warmth and chill groove feels like a cold breeze walking through a city and her voice cuts through it like streetlight daggers. “In all my life, I can hardly say I’ve been a light-caster. Found that talking to God was a lot faster.”
Courtney Marie Andrews, “These Are The Good Old Days” – The shimmering, mysterious keyboard riff that opens this track sets the tone of questioning memory even while the memory’s happening, interrogating motives, and is a magic springboard (along with other subtle touches on the arrangment: an acid trail guitar, brushed drums) for her candle-in-the-dark vocals in this standout from Andrews’ Loose Future album. “People like me think feelings are facts; falling in love gives us a heart attack.”
John Thayer featuring Tara Shupe, “I Couldn’t Find It In the Dark” – John Thayer from the SF band Monkey Lizards made a perfect slightly-bent Americana record with The Hottest Record Of The Year and this song, collaborating with Tara Shupe as co-writer and playing mandolin, piano, and bass along with adding magnetic harmony vocals to Thayer’s holy quaver and guitar and Brian Surano’s subtle, sauntering drums. “I been up every trail, down every road. I’d ask anyone, wherever I would go. Look for it in their faces, and I could see a spark. But I couldn’t find it in the dark.”
James Brandon Lewis Quartet, “Molecular” – Saxophonist James Brandon Lewis is killing it lately, from tracks with artists like Moor Mother, William Parker, and Alan Braufman, to one of the greatest contemporary jazz masterpieces Jesup Wagon. I was already sorry I hadn’t gotten to see him live yet, but this new live record with his stunning quartet MSM Molecular Systematic Music – Live rubs salt in that wound. Perfect, empathetic group playing with the insanely tight but never airless rhythm section of Brad Jones and Chad Taylor alongside pianist Aruán Ortiz who fully redirects gravity with that solo about four minutes in, playing killer compositions.
Wayne Shorter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Leo Genovese, Esperanza Spalding, “Endangered Species” – One of the great saxophone players of the 20th century, Wayne Shorter has never rested on his laurels or stopped searching, stopped question. This crack quartet of drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, and pianist Leo Genovese (who all get front-of-record billing), tear into this Shorter composition originally heard on his oft-maligned ’80s record Atlantis with a fire that can make any of us who couldn’t hear past the shiny textures of that record feel like an idiot (I may be projecting). Every piece of this – recorded live at the Detroit Jazz Festival – is perfection.
The Paranoid Style, “Steve Cropper Plays Femme Fatale” – I was extremely late to this killer indie pop band from DC led by Elizabeth Nelson and Timothy Bracy, but John Wendland’s playing songs from For Executive Meeting including this one won me over. This jumble of images tying Memphis and New York, the past and the present together, over jangling, barbed guitars, makes my heart sing. “In the final estimation, in the final accounting, God have mercy on the man who believes what he’s been doubting. God have mercy on the man who sees her walking down the street. Before you start you know you are already beat.”
Giuda, “Medley (Get it over / Space Walk / Watch Your Step)” – One of my favorite contemporary pub-rock examples, this Italian band picks up where Slade left off and Dave Wallingford and I still talk about that one perfect time they came through Ace of Cups. While I’m still hungry for their next visit, Giuda’s raging Live at Punk Rock Raduno captures some of that power and the vibrating enthusiasm of a band and crowd playing one of the first shows after lockdown.
Off!, “Free LSD” – Anne turned me onto Off! in the days of their first EPs, drawn from her love of Burning Brides (another band I wouldn’t know without her) from which guitarist Dimitri Coates came, uniting with Black Flag/Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris, and new rhythm section of Autry Fulbright II (from …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead) and Justin Brown (if the Discogs is to be believed, the same drummer who blew me away on Flying Lotus, Gerald Clayton, and Ambrose Akinmusire records). This is another slab of powerful, surging rock.
Cam’ron and A-Trak, “All I Really Wanted” – Even hearing about this collaboration with Dipset founder Cam’ron and downtown DJ A-Trak made the nostalgia molecules in my blood boil. Cam’ron’s mainstream rap hits were the soundtrack of my immediately-post-college years and around that time I started working at Chase and friends there said, “You need to check out the Diplomats double CD.” Around that time, A-Trak was getting a lot of buzz as a club DJ leading to touring with Kanye West and then founding Fool’s Gold records and exploding. This reunion doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel but is a magic example of how that music made so many of us feel, and still does. “By the time I turned thirty, I completed my bucket list. I don’t take threats likely, careful who you’re fucking with; dying’ll make you way more famous than your publicist.”
EST Gee, “Bow And Say Grace” – This standout track from Louisville rapper EST Gee’s debut full length I Never Felt Nun pairs a smooth rumble of a vocal delivery with a menacing, almost gothic beat that reminds me of the more underground stuff I was listening to around the time I first got into the music I mentioned in the previous blurb. “Roll over, play dead, wreck for the ‘gram – some of they other tricks. I sit back and watch all the rumors they be running with. All who been involved won’t call it off but it’ll never quit. Broke my Granny’s heart, she say her boy done let the devil in.”
Mary Bragg, “The Lonely Persistence of Time” – Singer-songwriter Mary Bragg drills down into an existential loneliness on her self-titled fourth record and it’s exactly the record I want in my headphones as I walk through streets covered in wet leaves. Soulful and sumptuous, with her voice and guitar perfectly set up by the rhythm section of Jordan Perlson (who also killed me on Becca Stevens and Joel Harrison’s records) and Ryan Madora, and Rich Hinman’s electric and steel guitars (who’s enhanced great records by everyone from Amythyst Kiah to Sara Watkins to k.d. lang). “It’s a quarter to you as I wait for the blue. How do you find another love that defies and colors the lonely persistence of time? I wanna know. Don’t you wanna know?”
Angelica Sanchez Trio, “Before Sleep / The Sleeping Lady and the Giant that Watches Over Her” – Talk about a record that punched me in the gut, especially by artists I already loved. Sanchez is one of the most consistently inventive pianists working in and expanding the jazz tradition and this record, Sparkle Beings pairs her with the astonishing rhythm section of Michael Formanek on bass and Billy Hart on drums, to attack a series of surprising selections from the canon and make them wholly their own. Here, Sanchez wrote an interlude to lead into the Duke Ellington classic for the record closer and, together, they capture the majesty, power, and delicateness of the original while shining powerful new light through it.
Redman/Mehldau/McBride/Blade, “Ship to Shore” – Anybody within 5-10 years of my age with even a passing interest in jazz got turned around by the quartet of tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade. Those records blew my mind in High School and I can only imagine the punch they would have packed for someone seeing that band live. I still check for each of their records 25 years later – the first time Anne and I took her Mom to New York, maybe my favorite memory was taking her to see Redman at the Vanguard. I’m happy to report that the second reunion album, LongGone maybe even improves on Round Again. This sumptuous slow blues is everything I’m looking for from a certain kind of jazz and, like the last few, I think these three tracks in conjunction form kind of a prayer for a new day. Thank you all for reading this; I love you.

Tags A-Trak, Aaron Neville, Afghan Whigs, Allen McCrary, Angelica Sanchez, Beth Orton, Black Thought, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, Brian Fallon, Cam'ron, Christian McBride, Cory Branan, Courtney Marie Andrews, Danger Mouse, Danielle Ponder, Dmo!, Dr. John, Esperanza Spalding, EST Gee, Garbage Greek, Giuda, Ice Spice, james brandon lewis, Jason Isbell, John Thayer, Joshua Redman, Julian Lage, Katie Pruitt, Late Night Cardigan, Laura Benitez and the Heartache, Leo Genovese, Madison Cunningham, Makaya McCraven, Marcy Mays, Mary Bragg, McCrary Sisters, Michael Kiwanuka, music, My Idea, Nikki Lane, Off!, Playlist, recorded music, Rich Ruth, Sick Thoughts, Snakehips, Snarky Puppy, Tara Shupe, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Terri Lyne Carrington, The Paranoid Style, tinashe, Wayne Shorter