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Best Of Playlist record reviews

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.”
Categories
Playlist record reviews

Playlist – May 2023

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

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

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