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Notable Compilations/Reissues Of 2016

61 Classics From The Cramps' Crazy Collection: Deeper Into The World Of Incredibly Strange Music  [Righteous]

Action Time Vision: A Story Of Independent UK Punk 1976 to 1979  [Cherry Red]

Albert Ayler/Don Cherry, European Radio Studio Recordings 1964 [Hat Hut]

Boombox 1: Early Independent Hip-Hop, Electro & Disco Rap 1979-82 [Soul Jazz]

Calabar-Itu Road: Groovy Sounds From South Eastern Nigeria (1972-1982)  [Comb And Razor Sound]

Can’t You Hear Me? 70's African Nuggets & Garage Rock from Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe  [Now-Again]

Close To The Noise Floor: Formative UK Electronica 1975-1984  [Cherry Red]

The Cole Slaw Club: The Big Rhythm & Blues Revue   [Bear Family]

Digital Zandoili  [Heavenly Sweetness]

DJ Format's Psych Out: A Collection Of International Funky Fuzz-Laden Gems  [BBE]

DJ Katapila, Trotro  [Awesome Tapes From Africa]

Doing It In Lagos: Boogie, Pop, & Disco In 80s Nigeria  [Soundway]

The Egyptian Lover, 1983-1988  [Stones Throw]

Bill Evans, Some Other Time: The Lost Session From The Black Forest  [Resonance]

Awalom Gebremariam, Desdes  [Awesome Tapes From Africa]

Gqom Oh! The Sound Of Durban Vol. 1  [Gqom Oh!]

Harmonia, Documents 1975  [Grönland Records]

Kenya Special 2: Selected East African Recordings From The 1970s & 1980s  [Soundway]

Pasteur Lappe, African Funk Instrumentals 1979-1981  [Africa Seven]

Les Vikings de la Guadeloupe, Enko On Ti Tou (Best-Of)  [Heavenly Sweetness]

Selectors 001: Motor City Drum Ensemble  [Dekmantel]

Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970  [Ace]

Music of Morocco From The Library Of Congress: Recorded By Paul Bowles 1959  [Dust To Digital]

The Other Side Of The Trax: Stax-Volt 45 rpm Rarities 1964-1968  [Kent Soul]

Punk 45: Chaos In The City Of Angels & Devils – Hollywood From X To Zero & Hardcore On The Beaches (Punk In Los Angeles 1977 to 1981)  [Soul Jazz]

Punk 45: Les Punks -  The French Connection (The First Wave Of French Punk 1977-80)  [Soul Jazz]

Sonny Rollins, Holding The Stage: Road Shows Vol. 4  [Doxy]

Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Carnegie Deli  [Ace]

So Low: Compiled By DJ Twitch (Optimo)  [The Vinyl Factory]

Soul Sok Séga  [Strut]

Tanbou Toujou Lou: Meringue, Kompa Kreyol, Vodou Jazz & Electric Folklore from Haiti 1960 - 1981  [Ostinato]

Pat Thomas, Coming Home: Ghanian Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1964-1981  [Strut]

Toquinho: Que Maravilha 1966 to 1974 (A Bossa Do Toquinho/Toquinho/Botequim/Boca Da Noite)  [RGE/Discobertas]

Urgent Jumping: East African Musiki Wa Dansi Classics 1972 to 1982  [Sterns]

Venezuela 70: Cosmic Visions Of A Latin American Earth/Venezuelan Experimental Rock In The 70s [Soul Jazz]

Wake Up You!: The Rise And Fall Of Nigerian Rock   [Now Again]

Why The Mountains Are Black: Primeval Greek Village Music 1907-1960  [Third Man Records]

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200 + 1: The Music Of 2016

Africaine 808, Basar   [Golf Channel Recordings] Africans With Mainframes [Heiroglyphic Being + Noleian Reusse], K.M.T.   [Soul Jazz] Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra, Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra   [Glitterbeat] Alpha 606, Afro-Cuban Electronics   [Interdimensional Transmissions] Oren Ambarchi, Hubris   [Editions Mego] Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Real Enemies   [New Amsterdam] A$AP Ferg, Always Strive And Prosper   [RCA] Asda, The Abyss   [NoCorner] Atlantis Jazz Ensemble, Oceanic Suite   [Marlow Records] Audacity, Hyper Vessels   [Suicide Squeeze] Babyfeather, “BBF” Hosted By DJ Escrow   [Hyperdub] Azealia Banks, Slay-Z   [self-released] Kenny Barron Trio, Book Of Intuition   [Impulse!] Beekman, Beekman Vol. 2   [Ropeadope] Bent Shapes, Wolves Of Want   [Slumberland] Beyoncé, Lemonade   [Parkwood Entertainment] Big Ups, Before A Million Universes   [Exploding In Sound] BJ The Chicago Kid, In My Mind   [Motown/UMG] Black Bombaim & Peter Brotzmann   [Shhpuma] Black Milk & Nat Turner, The Rebellion Sessions   [Computer Ugly] Carla Bley/Andy Sheppard/Steve Swallow, Andando El Tiempo   [ECM] Jane Ira Bloom, Early Americans   [Outline] Bombino, Azel   [Partisan Records] Brookzill!, Throwback To The Future   [Tommy Boy]

Danny Brown, Atrocity Exhibition   [Warp] Jaimeo Brown Transcendence, Work Songs   [Motema Music] Taylor Ho Bynum, Enter The PlusTet   [Firehouse 12] Uri Caine Trio, Calibrated Thickness   [816 Music] Will Calhoun, Celebrating Elvin Jones   [Motema] Car Seat Headrest, Teens Of Denial   [Matador] Causa Sui, Return to Sky   [El Paraiso] Cavern of Anti-Matter, void beats/invocation trex   [Duophonic] Chance The Rapper, Coloring Book   [self-released] The Chicago Plan, The Chicago Plan, [Clean Feed] Chimurenga Renaissance, Girlz With Gunz   [Glitterbeat] Brandy Clark, Big Day In A Small Town   [Warner Bros.] The Coathangers, Nosebleed Weekend   [Suicide Squeeze] Avishai Cohen, Into The Silence   [ECM] Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker   [Sony] Kweku Collins, Nat Love   [Closed Sessions] Frankie Cosmos, Next Thing   [Bayonet Records] Andrew Cyrille Quartet, The Declaration Of Musical Independence   [ECM] Damana (Dag Magnus Narvesen Octet), Cornua Copiae   [Clean Feed] The Dead C, Trouble   [Ba Da Bing!] Deap Vally, Femejism   [Nevado Music] Death Grips, Bottomless Pit   [Third Worlds] Debo Band, Ere Gobez   [FPE Records] Jack DeJohnette, In Movement   [ECM] Olegario Diaz, Aleph In Chromatic   [SteepleChase]

Whit Dickey / Kirk Knuffke, Fierce Silence   [Clean Feed] DJ Rude One, ONEderful   [2RBR] Pierre Dorge & New Jungle Orchestra, Ubi Zaa [SteepleChase] Dave Douglas, Dada People   [Greenleaf] Dre Hocevar, Transcendental Within The Sphere Of Indivisible Remainder   [Clean Feed] Mark Dresser Seven, Sedimental You   [Clean Feed] Dressy Bessy, Kingsized   [Yep Roc Records] Drive-By Truckers, American Band   [ATO Records] Earprint, Earprint   [Endectomorph] Harris Eisenstadt, Old Growth Forest   [Clean Feed] Eskimeaux, Year Of The Rabbit   [Double Double Whammy] Family Atlantica, Cosmic Unity   [Soundway] The Field, The Follower   [Kompakt] Fire!, She Sleeps She Sleeps   [Rune Grammofon] Flatbush Zombies, 3001: A Laced Odyssey   [Glorious Dead Recordings] Zélia Fonseca, O Terceiro Olho da Abelha   9Yellowbird] Michael Formanek / Ensemble Kolossus, The Distance   [ECM] Daniel Freedman, Imagine That   [Anzic Records] Free Nelson MandoomJazz, The Organ Grinder   [RareNoise] Fruit Bats, Absolute Loser   [Easy Sound Recording Company] Robbie Fulks, Upland Stories   [Bloodshot] Ras G, The El-Aylien Tapes   [Leaving Records] Gambari Band, Kokuma   [Membran Media] Giant Peach, Tarantula   [Don Giovanni Records] Bob Gluck [etc], Infinite Spirit: Revisiting Music Of The Mwandishi Band   [self-released]

GoGo Penguin, Man Made Object   [Decca Records France] Brian Groder Trio, R Train On The D Line   [Latham Records] Los Hacheros, Bambulaye   [Jacob Plasse] Charlie Haden/Liberation Music Orchestra, Time/Life   [Impulse!] Mary Halvorson Octet, Away With You   [Firehouse 12] Handsome Family, Unseen   [Loose Music] PJ Harvey, The Hope Six Demolition Project   [Island] Alexander Hawkins & Evan Parker, Leaps In Leicester   [Clean Feed] The Heliocentrics, From The Deep   [Now-Again Records] The Fred Hersch Trio, Sunday Night At The Vanguard   [Palmetto] Hinds, Leave Me Alone   [Mom + Pop] Anna Högberg Attack, Anna Högberg Attack   [Omlott] Homeboy Sandman, Kindness For Weakness   [Stones Throw] HXLT, HXLT   [Def Jam] The I Don’t Cares, Wild Stab   [Dry Wood Music] Ethan Iverson, The Purity Of The Turf   [Criss Cross] Jigmastas, Resurgence Resurgence   [BBE] Julie Ruin, Hit Reset   [Hardly Art] Ka, Honor Killed The Samurai   [Iron Works] Matthew Shipp/Bobby Kapp, Cactus   [Northern Spy] Kaytranada, 99.9%   [XL] Allan Kingdom, Northern Lights   [So Cold Records] Aly Keïta, Kalo-Yele   [Intakt Records] Kel Assouf, Tikounen   [Igloo Records] Alicia Keys, Here   [RCA]

The Knocks, 55   [Big Beat Records] Kirk Knuffke [& Jesse Stacken], Satie   [SteepleChase] Konono No. 1, Konono No. 1 Meets Batida   [Crammed Discs] Kool A.D., Official   [self-released] Glenn Kotche / So Percussion, Drumkit Quartets   [Cantaloupe Music] Krakauer’s Ancestral Groove, Checkpoint   [Table Pounding Records] Julian Lage, Arclight   [Mack Avenue] La Sera, Music For Listening To Music To   [Polyvinyl Record Co.] Lady Gaga, Joanne   [Interscope] Kendrick Lamar, untitled unmastered   [Aftermath/Interscope] Law Holt, City   [Soulpunk] Okkyung Lee / Christian Marclay, Amalgam   [Northern Spy] Steve Lehman/Sélébéyone, Sélébéyone   [Pi] Jinx Lennon, Past Pupils Stay Sane   [Septic Tiger] Jinx Lennon, Magic Bullets Of Madness To Uplift Grief Magnets   [Septic Tiger] James Brandon Lewis Trio, No Filter   [BNS] L’Orange & Mr Lif, Life & Death Of Scenery   [Mello Music] Baaba Maal, Traveller   [Knitting Factory] Luísa Maita, Fio da Memória   [Cumbancha] Mantra Percussion / Michael Gordon: Timber Remixed   [Cantaloupe Music] Milton Marsh, The Music Of Milton Marsh Revisited Vol. 1   [Alankara Records] Leyla McCalla, A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey   [JazzVillage] Lori McKenna, The Bird & The Rifle   [CN Records] Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom, Otis Was A Polar Bear   [Royal Potato Family] Nick Millevoi, Desertion   [Shhpuma Records]

Mr Fingers, Outer Acid EP   [Alleviated] Mr. Lif, Don’t Look Down   [Mello Music Group] Moksha, Beauty Of An Arbitrary Moment   [Jazzland] Heraldo do Monte, Heraldo do Monte   [Biscoito Fino] Moodymann, DJ-Kicks   [!K7 Records] Clara Moreno, Samba Esquema Novo De Novo   [Far Out] Maren Morris, Hero   [Sony] Murray, Allen & Carrrington Power Trio, Perfection   [Motema] Roy Nathanson & Friends, Nearness And You: Duets And Improvisations   [Clean Feed] Willie Nelson, Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin   [Sony] Nisennenmondai, #N/A, [On-U Sound] No Em Pingo D’Agua, Sambatologia   [Biscoito Fino] Nots, Cosmetic   [Goner] NxWorries, Yes Lawd!   [Stones Throw] Frank Ocean, Blond   [Boys Don’t Cry] Aruan Ortiz Trio, Hidden Voices   [Intakt Records] Anderson .Paak, Malibu   [Steel Wool / OBE] Jeff Parker, New Breed   [International Anthem] Aaron Parks, Groovements   [Sundance] Parquet Courts, Human Performance   [Rough Trade] Florian Pellissier Quintet, Cap De Bonne Esperance   [Heavenly Sweetness] Luis Perdomo, Spirits & Warriors   [Criss Cross Jazz] Pet Shop Boys, Super   [x2 Recordings] Ralph Peterson, Triangular III   [Onyx/Truth Revolution] Richard Poole / Marilyn Crispell / Gary Peacock, In Motion   [Intakt]

Margo Price, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter   [Third Man Records] Psychic TV, Alienist   [Dais Records] Punkt3, Ordnung Herrscht   [Clean Feed] Quantic Presents Flowering Inferno, 1000 Watts   [Tru Thoughts] Isaiah Rashad, The Sun’s Tirade   [Top Dawg] Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau, Nearness   [Nonesuch] Renegades Of Jazz, Moyo Wangu   [Agogo] Eric Revis Trio [w/ Kris Davis and Gerald Cleaver], Crowded Solitudes   [Clean Feed] Rhythm Future Quartet, Travels    [Rhythm Future Quartet] Rihanna, Anti   [Westbury Road Entertainment] Jim Rotondi, Dark Blue   [Smoke Sessions] Rudy Royston, Rise Of Origin   [Greenleaf] Roswell Rudd, Jamie Saft, Trevor Dunn, Balázs Pándi, Strength & Power   [RareNoise] Wanda Sá, Cá entre nós   [Fina Flor] Sao Paulo Underground, Cantos Invisiveis   [Cuneiform] Savages, Adore Life   [Matador] Scarcity Of Tanks, Ringleader Lies   [Total Life] Mikael Seifu, Zelalem   [RVNG Intl.] Noura Mint Seymali, Arbina   [Glitterbeat] Shabaka & The Elders, Wisdom Of Ancestors   [Brownswood] Paul Simon, Stranger To Stranger   [Concord] Sleigh Bells, Jessica Rabbit   [Torn Clean] Wadada Leo Smith, America’s National Parks   [Cuneiform] Sneaks, Gymnastics   [Merge] Snowboy & The Latin Section, New York Afternoon   [Mark Cotgrove]

Elza Soares, The Woman at the End of the World   [Mais Um Discos] Solange, A Seat At The Table   [Columbia] Sonzeira, Tam Tam Tam Reimagined   [Brownswood] So Pitted, neo   [Sub Pop] Vince Staples, Prima Donna   [Def Jam] Robert Stillman, Rainbow   [self-released] Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth   [Atlantic] Sun Ra / Merzbow, Strange City   [Cold Spring] Swet Shop Boys, Cashmere   [Customs] Tegan And Sara, Love You To Death   [Warner Bros] The Thermals, We Disappear   [Saddle Creek] Thug Entrancer, Arcology   [Kemado/Mexican Summer] A Tribe Called Quest, We got it from Here...Thank You 4 Your service   [Epic] Trio Da Paz [Lubambo/Matta/Fonseca], 30   [Zoho Music] Ukandanz, Awo   [Atypeek Music] Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil, Dois Amigos, Um Seculo De Musica David Virelles, Antenna EP   [ECM] Dan Weiss, Sixteen: Drummers Suite   [Pi Recordings] Kanye West, The Life Of Pablo   [self-released] Waco Brothers, Going Down In History   [Bloodshot] Greg Ward, Touch My Beloved’s Thought   [Greenleaf Music] Warehouse, super low   [Bayonet] White Lung, Paradise   [Domino Recording Co] Wussy, Forever Sounds   [Shake It Records] Eri Yamamoto Trio, Life   [AUM Fidelity] La Yegros, Magnetismo   [Soundway] Yoni & Getti, Testarossa   [Joyful Noise]

-- jazz, pop, avant: a jumping off point for explorations. 

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The Paranoid Style, Rolling Disclosure [Bar/None]

“American politics has often been an arena for angry minds.” So wrote Richard Hofstadter in “The Paranoid Style In American Politics,” his seminal 1964Harper’s essay, penned against the backdrop of an ascendant Barry Goldwater, still timely 52 Novembers on. No doubt singer Elizabeth Nelson and guitarist Timothy Bracy swiped Hofstadter’s title for their gleefully contrarian Stiff Records-meets-pop-punk project the Paranoid Style partly because it scans better than, say, The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life. But as former lobbyists and sometime rock critics, the D.C.-based Nelson/Bracy also know their damn stuff, with an eye for realpolitik and ears for the semi-pop canon.”

-- my SPIN review for Rolling Disclosure, the terrific new full-length from The Paranoid Style.

http://www.spin.com/2016/07/review-the-paranoid-style-rolling-disclosure/

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SPIN World Report

“In these end times for music labels and record stores, the crate-digging claque apparently has yet to receive the memo. Collectors, unite — below, find four high-quality vault dives from decades past, from 2007 (Eritrean cassette release) to 1959 (Moroccan field recordings). Those seeking proof of life circa 2016 have new border-hopping releases to savor from Brazil, North Africa, Ethiopia via Lyon, and Turkey by way of Cologne.”

-- the intro from my latest World Report for SPIN. Short blurbs for eight new(ish) releases can be found by following the link. 

http://www.spin.com/2016/05/spin-world-report-romulo-froes-elektro-hafiz-awalom-gebremariam-ukandanz-kel-assouf/

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Konono No. 1 Meets Batida   [Crammed Discs]

“Although one should never underestimate the international pleasures of the big beat, Western festival enthusiasm for Kinshasan percussion ensembleKonono Nº1 remains a rather unlikely success story. Especially since nobody can quite agree on what to call their specific musical brand. Forget genre —Wikipedia essentially throws up its hands to heaven, currently linking to an entry for Trance (“a genre of electronic music that developed during the 1990s in Germany”) and a citation-lacking “bazombo.” Others have attempted more noble stabs in the dark: there’s the technically-accurate-if-Eurocentric “electro-acoustic,” Robert Christgau’s poetically apt “paleo-futurist,” and the band’s own preferred approximations “tradi-modern” and “Congotronics.” [.....”]

-- I reviewed Konono No. 1 Meets Batida for SPIN; follow link to full story.

http://www.spin.com/2016/04/review-konono-no1-and-batida-konono-no1-meets-batida/

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New Music 2016: First Quarter

Africaine 808, Basar   [Golf Channel Recordings]

Kenny Barron Trio, Book Of Intuition  [Impulse!]

Big Ups, Before A Million Universes   [Exploding In Sound]

BJ The Chicago Kid, In My Mind  [Motown]

Bombino, Azel   [Partisan]

Jaimeo Brown Transcendence, Work Songs  [Motemo Music]

Cavern of Anti-Matter, void beats/invocation trex  [Duophonic]

Chimurenga Renaissance, Girlz With Gunz EP   [Glitterbeat Records]

Avishai Cohen, Into The Silence    [ECM]

DJ Katapila, Trotro  [Awesome Tapes From Africa]

Dressy Bessy, Kingsized   [Yep Roc]

Flatbush Zombies, 3001: A Laced Odyssey   [Glorious Dead]

Michael Formanek / Ensemble Kolossus, The Distance  [ECM ]

Gambari Band, Kokuma   [Membran Media]

Charles Gayle Trio, Live At Jazzwerkstatt Peitz  [Jazzwerkstatt]

Glitterbust, Glitterbust   [Burger Records]

The Heliocentrics, Quartermass Sessions: From The Deep  [Now-Again Records]

Aly Keïta, Kalo-Yele   [Intakt]

Kendrick Lamar, untitled unmastered  [Top Dawg]

La Sera, Music For Listening To Music To   [Polyvinyl]

Larry Levan, Genius Of Time   [EMI]

Moodymann, DJ-Kicks  [!K7]

Joey Negro, Remixed With Love Vol. 2  [Z Records]

Willie Nelson, Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin   [Sony]

Aruán Ortiz Trio, Hidden Voices   [Intakt]

Anderson .Paak, Malibu   [Steel Wool / OBE]

Richard Poole / Marilyn Crispell / Gary Peacock, In Motion  [Intakt]

Margo Price, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter  [Third Man Records]

Rihanna, Anti [Westbury Road / Roc Nation]

Mikael Seifu, Zelalem   [RVNG]

Trio Da Paz [Lubambo/Matta/Fonseca], 30   [Zoho Music]

Waco Brothers, Going Down In History   [Bloodshot]

Kanye West, The Life Of Pablo   [GOOD / Def Jam]

Wussy, Forever Sounds   [Shake It Records]

Charli XCX, Vroom Vroom EP  [Vroom Vroom]

La Yegros, Magnetismo   [Soundway]

var., Punk 45: Chaos In The City Of Angels & Devils – Hollywood From X To Zero & Hardcore On The Beaches (Punk In Los Angeles 1977 to 1981) [Soul Jazz]

var., Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Carnegie Deli  [Ace Records]

var., Soul Sok Séga  [Strut]

var., Why The Mountains Are Black: Primeval Greek Village Music 1907-1960   [Third Man Records]

41 albums from first quarter 2016 worth revisiting, listed alphabetically without preference

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Bombino, Azel

“Patriotism may be the last refuge of scoundrels, but musical censorship runs close behind. Be it plantation owners confiscating the drums of African-American slaves, or Nazi propaganda snuffing out Yankee jazz degeneracy, musical expression remains a favorite soft target for dictators and reactionaries alike. And while failed attempts by the Taliban to ban all musical instruments from Afghan society have grabbed headlines, a more recent act of overt musical aggression came via the government of Niger’s desperate decree banning guitars among the nomadic Tuareg people of the Sahara, ostensibly to tamp down an ongoing insurgency/rebellion within Mali and Niger. The guitar ban proved a dismal failure — if anything, the instrument has assumed greater centrality within contemporary Tuareg culture. [....]”

-- I reviewed Azel, the terrific new album from Bombino, for SPIN.

http://www.spin.com/2016/03/review-bombino-azel/

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Wussy, Forever Sounds

The distinct pleasures of Forever Sounds remain those of all five preceding Wussy albums — a crack songwriting duo detailing adult life’s ambiguities with vivid language amid a terrific rhythm section’s unapologetic alt-slop. They’ve retained their love of six-string grandeur even while continuing to plumb the depths of victories that aren’t so much hollow as qualified. Like throwing your own parade and hoping someone just might roll with you. Or quietly insisting against all available evidence that “these are the better days,” then immediately allowing, “…or not.”

--- Always a pleasure to examine a new album from Ohio’s own Wussy. Follow the link to my review for SPIN.

http://www.spin.com/2016/02/review-wussy-forever-sounds/

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World Report: Senegal 70, Karina Buhr, EEK

This latest dispatch from the great musical world extending beyond American shores is dedicated to the inauthentic, with absolutely no pejorative connotations intended. Let the folklorists and preservationists continue their good work — attached you’ll find examples of juicy cross-cultural pollination: Senegalese visionaries swapping out koras for congas, Brazilian punks basking under the Kingstonian sun, and Cairo club rats running chaabi beats through the wood chipper. Guaranteed to annoy the purist in your household.

--I wrote up a genre report for SPIN, World Edition. Follow the link!

 http://www.spin.com/2016/01/world-report-jonny-greenwood-junun-baaba-maal-karina-buhr-eek-okmalumkoolkat/

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150 Albums: The Best Of 2015, Roughly Ranked

1 - 15

Courtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit  [Mom + Pop]

Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment, Surf  [self-released]

Fabiano do Nascimento, Dança Dos Tempos  [Now Again Records]

Mbongwana Star, From Kinshasa  [World Circuit]

Ran Blake, Ghost Tones  [a-side records]

Young Fathers, White Men Are Black Men Too  [Big Dada]

Sleaford Mods, Key Markets  [Harbinger Sound]

Oneohtrix Point Never, Garden Of Delete  [Warp]

Lionel Loueke, Gaia  [Blue Note]  

Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free  [Southeastern Records]

Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth, Epicenter   [Clean Feed Records]

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Ba Power   [Glitterbeat]

Heems, Eat Pray Thug   [Greedhead / Megaforce]

James Brandon Lewis, Days of FreeMan   [OKeh]

Rudresh Mahanthappa, Bird Calls   [ACT]

16 - 30

Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp A Butterfly   [Interscope / Aftermath / Top Dawg]

Yo La Tengo, Stuff Like That There   [Matador]

Terakaft, Alone/Tenere   [Out Here]

Henry Threadgill Zooid, In For A Penny, In For A Pound   [Pi]

Jack DeJohnette, Made in Chicago   [ECM]

Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts, Manhattan   [Rough Trade]

Nozinja, Nozinja Lodge   [Warp]

Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording   [Hamilton Uptown LLC / Atlantic]

Noah Preminger, Pivot: Live at the 55 Bar   [Noah Preminger]

Albert "Tootie" Heath, Philadelphia Beat   [Sunnyside]

Robert Forster, Songs To Play   [Tapete Records]

Aphex Twin, Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2    [Warp]

Makaya McCraven, In The Moment   [International Anthem]

Vijay Iyer Trio, Break Stuff   [ECM]

Eric Church, Mr. Misunderstood   [EMI]

31 - 45

Grimes, Art Angels   [4AD]

Girlpool, Before The World Was Big   [Wichita]

Ty Segall, Ty Rex   [Goner Records]

Jamie XX, In Colour   [Young Turks]

Sleater-Kinney, No Cities To Love   [Sub Pop]

The Paranoid Style, Rock and Roll Just Can’t Recall   [Worldwide Battle]

Jon Lundbom and Big Five Chord, Jeremiah   [Hot Cup]

Mary Halvorson, Meltframe   [Firehouse 12]

Protoje, Ancient Future   [Indiggnation Collective/Overstand]

The Mantles, All Odds End   [Slumberland Records]

Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra, Galactic Parables Vol. 1   [Cuneiform]

Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah, Sour Soul   [Lex Records]

Noonday Underground, Body Parts For Modern Art   [Stubbie Records]

Carter Tutti Void, f(x)   [Industrial Records]

Girl Band, The Early Years   [Rough Trade]

46 - 60

Tim Berne's Snakeoil, You've Been Watching Me   [ECM]

Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas, Autoimaginary   [Drag City]

White Out wi/ Nels Cline, Accidental Sky   [Northern Spy]

X___X, Albert Ayler’s Ghosts Live At The Yellow Ghetto   [Smog Veil Records]

Death Grips, The Powers That B   [Harvest/Third Worlds]

Steve Coleman and the Council of Balance, Synovial Joints   [Pi Recordings]

The Internet, Ego Death   [Odd Future]

Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Intents And Purposes   [Enja]

Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor, Tales of the Unforeseen   [TUM]

Talib Kweli & 9th Wonder, Indie 500   [Jamla/Javotti Media]

James McMurtry, Complicated Game   [Complicated Game]

Jason Derulo, Everything Is 4   [Warner Bros.]

Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Sounding Lines   [Honest Jon’s]

Erykah Badu, But You Caint Use My Phone   [self-released]

Hop Along, Painted Shut   [Saddle Creek]

61 - 75

Ashley Monroe, The Blade   [Warner Brothers]

Kirk Knuffke, Arms & Hands   [Royal Potato Family]

Mike Reed's People Places & Things, A New Kind of Dance   [482 Music]

The Chills, Silver Bullets   [Fire Records]

Miguel, Wildheart   [RCA]

Carly Rae Jepsen, E*MO*TION   [Interscope]

Rae Sremmurd, SremmLife   [Eardruma/Interscope]

Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and the The Rajasthan Express, Junun   [Nonesuch]

Föllakzoid, III   [Sacred Bones]

Idrissa Soumaoro, Djitoumou   [Lusafrica]

Aram Bajakian, There Were Flowers Also in Hell   [Sanasar]

Kacey Musgraves, Pageant Material   [Mercury Nashville]

Shamir, Ratchet   [XL]

Earl Sweatshirt, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside   [Tan Cressida/Columbia]

Harry Allen, Something About Jobim   [Stunt/Sundance]

76 - 90

Deerhunter, Fading Frontier   [4AD]

Major Lazer, Peace Is The Mission   [Mad Decent]

Allen Lowe, In The Diaspora Of The Diaspora: We Will Gather When We Gather   [Constant Sorrow]

William Parker/Raining On The Moon, Great Spirit   [AUM Fidelity]

Joanna Gruesome, Peanut Butter   [Slumberland]

Vince Staples, Summetime ’06   [Def Jam]

Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Mauch Chunk   [Hot Cup]

Tomeka Reid, Tomeka Reid Quartet   [Thirsty Ear]

Wreckless Eric, amERICa   [Fire Records]

Brian Ellis Group, Escondido Sessions   [El Paraiso]

Le1f, Riot Boi   [Terrible Records]

Action Bronson, Mr. Wonderful   [Atlantic/Vice]

Nils Frahm, Solo   [Erased Tapes]

Willie Phoenix & The Soul Underground, Captain Psychedelic   [Eastman Studios]

Future, DS2   [Epic/Freebandz Entertainment]

91 - 105

Crayon Pop, FM   [Sony]

Roscoe Mitchell Quartet, Celebrating Fred Anderson   [Nessa]

Pete Rock, Petestrumentals 2   [Mello Music]

STS & RJD2, STS x RJD2   [RJ’s Electrical Connections]

Pokey Lefarge, Something in the Water   [Rounder]

Sheer Agony, Masterpiece   [Couple Skate]

Quantic, Quantic Presents The Western Transient: A New Constellation   [Tru Thoughts]

Gal Costa, Estratosférica   [Sony]

The Necks, Vertigo   [Northern Spy]

Maddie & Tae, Start Here   [Republic Nashville]

Dej Loaf, #AndSeeThatsTheThing   [Columbia]

Drake, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late   [Cash Money]

Mac McCaughan, Non-Believers   [Merge]

Carlos Henriquez, Bronx Pyramid   [Blue Engine]

Omar Souleyman, Bahdeni Nami   [Monkeytown Records]

106 - 120

MED/Blu/Madlib, Bad Neighbor   [BangYaHead]

Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard, Django And Jimmie   [Sony/Legacy]

Christian Scott, Stretch Music: Introducing Elena Pinderhughes   [Ropeadope]

Blundetto, World Of   [Heavenly Sweetness]

Debashish Bhattacharya, Slide Guitar Ragas From Dusk Till Dawn   [Riverboat]

Jimi Tenor/Tenors Of Kalma, Electric Willow   [Yellowbird]

Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Cuba: The Conversation Continues   (Motema Music]

EEK, Kahraba   [Nashazphone/Cargo]

Alborosie Meets King Jammy, Dub Of Thrones    [VP Music Group]

A Place To Bury Strangers, Transfixiation   [Dead Oceans]

Hypercolor, Hypercolor   [Tzadik]

Bob Dylan, Shadows In The Night   [Columbia]

Mavis Staples, Your Good Fortune   [Anti-/Epitaph]

Hieroglyphic Being & J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl, We Are Not The First   [Rvng Int’l]

Matthew Shipp Trio, The Conduct of Jazz   [Thirsty Ear]

121 - 135

Junglepussy, Pregnant With Success   [self-released]

Songhoy Blues, Music In Exile   [Transgressive Records]

Leny Andrade and Roni Ben-Hur, Alegria de Vivire   [Motema]

Boogarins, Manual   [Other Music]

Karina Buhr, Selvática   [ybmusic]

Battles, La Di Da Di   [Warp]

Thomas Clausen, Blue Rain   [Stunt Records]

The Weeknd, Beauty Behind The Madness   [Republic Records]

The Mountain Goats, Beat The Champ   [Merge]

Charlie Haden & Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Tokyo Adagio   [Impulse]

Scientist, The Dub Album They Didn't Want You To Hear!   [Jah Life]

Dimitri From Paris, Salsoul Mastermix   [Octave Lab]

Tal National, Zoy Zoy   [Fat Cat]

Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas, Sound Prints: Live at Monterey Jazz Festival   [Blue Note]

136 - 150

Low Cut Connie, Hi Honey   [Contender Records]

Nat Birchall, Invocations   [Jazzman]

Marilyn Crispell/Gerry Hemingway, Table of Changes   [Intakt]

Gangbé Brass Band, Go Slow To Lagos   [Buda Musique]

Dexter Story, Wondem   [Soundway]

Four Tet, Morning/Evening   [Text Records]

Destruction Unit, Negative Feedback Resistor   [Sacred Bones Records]

DRKWAV, The Purge   [Royal Potato Family]

John Zorn, Simulacrum   [Tzadik]

Patrick Higgins, Bachanalia   [Telegraph Harp]

Verbal Kent, Anesthesia   [Mello Music Group]

Built To Spill, Untethered Moon   [Warner Bros.]

Susan Alcorn, Soledad   [Relative Pitch]

Bruce Brubaker, Glass Piano   [Infiné]

The Sorcerers, The Sorcerers   [ATA Records]

– Same rules as last time. I listened to [and sometimes even reviewed] many new releases in 2015, and these are the ones I’d return to and heartily recommend. Plenty are missing, but then again, who can keep up, really? Not “best” so much as “favorites”. A jumping off point. Another good year.

[decanting-cerebral]

Beauty Was A Rare Thing

“There is a law in what I’m playing, but that law is a law that when you get tired of it you can change it.”

Ornette Coleman, 1930-2015

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/rip-ornette-coleman-who-confounded-most-people-and-hum-1710660058?rev=1434046333728#

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Listening Notes, Ultra-Brief

Jason Derulo, Everything Is 4    (Warner Bros.)

A whispered "Derulo," and we're off, sheets kicked to the floor amid breakneck synth stabs. This world-class ogler retains little taste for the hunt, so the idée fixe remains sweet consummation, a softie in word if not in deed or anatomy: “kiss it / grab it / turn it” but also “some people never find love / maybe we can”. The mid-album guest stream threatens momentum, but only a Julia Michaels bomb slows things down to a dry hump - better the Stevie/Keith banjo ‘n benjamins “Broke” or even M-Train kissing it and making it better. Still, Derulo doesn’t need the guests. With 80s fetishization reaping bubblegum dividends, he punctuates verse with literal whip cracks and programs robots to chant “let’s get ugly” after glorying in the grand cheese of “Cheyenne”. Doubling down on that sexy rebound, he’s still nice guy enough to wish his ex the very best.

Major Lazer, Peace Is The Mission     (Mad Decent)

Maybe Diplo opens his third installment of dancehall blarney with a real slow one because he wants to get it out of the way, but there’s still big (slow) hit “Lean On” slouching along a few tracks later. Ignore these exercises in undistinguished mood, and you’re left with a hefty EP’s worth of club jams boasting just enough Caribbean tinge. Blame marketplace greed or just Diplo’s own bad taste for favoring pop divas Ariana Grande and Ellie Goulding over Kingston royalty. Then again, Trinidadian Machel Montano does his best to outshine Ariana on bonus Hunger Games remix "All My Love." And only Chronixx and Mad Cobra top Sweden’s own Elliphant when it comes to the declaiming of verse. Bombastic? Well, yeah.

[decanting-cerebral]

Listening Notes, Ultra-Brief

Ran Blake, Ghost Tones     (a-side records)

Blake’s tribute to his former New England Conservatory colleague George Russell is also an expert set of fan’s notes from the same guy who once hand-petitioned RCA to keep The Jazz Workshop in print. Typically elliptical solo takes on “Autumn In New York” bookend fifteen brief set pieces running the gamut from soft synth patches and twinned pedal steel/violin to full ensembles. And the dozen-odd performers and tonal shifts make for an expertly curated biopic - Russell the modal pioneer, Russell the Lydian Chromatic harmonist, Russell the ezz-thetic and stratusphunketeer. “Jack’s Blues” channels Milesian cool, “Biography” floats amid bubbling kosmische, “Living Time” gets pared down from original 8-part Bill Evans-aided “event” into four-minute vamp. There’s even room for a cosmic rendition of Jimmie Davis favorite “You Are My Sunshine,” which Russell put to wax with Sheila Jordan back in 1962. Subdued and quietly rewarding: file alongside Blake’s equally luminous Short Life Of Barbara Monk.

Henry Threadgill Zooid, In For A Penny, In For A Pound     (Pi)

Zooid has proved Threadgill’s contrapuntal choice for fourteen years - longer than Air, longer than Very Very Circus. Not much exposition on this mildly reconfigured quintet’s two-disc outing: an opening, an “exordium,” and four movements, the latter all in the 15-20 minute range, staggered three-note intervals triggering each player’s improvisatory swing. All very Third Stream, of course, especially during those pulse-free intervals. But have no fear, “Tresepic (for trombone and tuba)” splurges on guitar and drums, too. Speaking of tubas, Jose Davila’s solo turn on “Dosepic” rivals Bob Stewart’s bit of myth-making on Arthur Blythe’s Lenox Avenue Breakdown. Speaking of guitar, Liberty Ellman brings the M-Base acoustic skronk. Speaking of drums, Elliot Humberto Kavee reels and rocks. As for the leader, his polyphonic vision again delivers that rare thing, a chamber music of the moment.

[decanting-cerebral]

Goodbye To All That: Thomas Jones Enters The Hitler Bunker

‘Tragedy endeavours, as far as possible,’ Aristotle wrote in the Poetics, ‘to confine itself to a single revolution of the sun.’ Fielding in Tom Jones argued that writers weren’t ‘obliged to keep even pace with time’, but would do well to steer clear of ‘monkish dullness’ and focus on ‘matters of consequence’ so as not to ‘resemble a newspaper, which consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not’. 

Since Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway, the idea of the action of a novel taking place over the course of a single day has become commonplace. Depending on how you look at it, the interminable TV series 24 either took the notion to its logical extreme or spectacularly missed the point, as it documented every breathless action-packed minute of an America-saving day in the life of special agent Jack Bauer. There’s no time to dwell on the ordinary overlooked moments of a regular day; he’s far too busy averting terrorist attacks to buy the flowers himself, or stop into a chemist for a bar of lemon-scented soap.

There are hundreds of history books, some more heavyweight than others, that focus on a single day: as often as not 6 June 1944 or 22 November 1963. Hitler’s Last Day: Minute by Minute came out just in time to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of that happy occasion.

‘Eva Braun is in her bedroom having her hair done by her maid, Liesl Ostertag. Braun keeps it lightly peroxided, cut in short waves, with her long fringe pinned up on the right side. Her face is carefully made up to look natural, as Adolf Hitler likes it.’ The so-called vivid present is sustained throughout Hitler’s Last Day[s], which is a lot closer in style to 24 than it is to Ulysses, or even Antony Beevor’s Berlin: The Downfall. It all gets a bit much.

Hitler and Braun are married at 1 a.m. At 2.30 a.m., ‘in Villabassa in the Italian Alps, British MI6 agent Sigismund Payne-Best is sitting in his bedroom in the Hotel Bachmann waiting for news.’ There’s quite a lot of sitting around in bedrooms.

At 7 a.m., ‘in a square on the outskirts of Padua, New Zealand soldiers are shaving, their mirrors placed on the side of their tanks.’ (Shades of stately, plump Buck Mulligan?) 

At 7.30 a.m. ‘twenty-year-old German Lieutenant Claus Sellier, wearing only his underwear, is looking out of the window of the Hotel Gasthaus zum Brau in Lofer, Austria.’ And so on for another 250 pages and forty-odd hours. 

We even find out what Alistair Cooke had for breakfast in San Francisco (not grilled mutton kidneys but ‘two eggs over easy, sausages, pancakes and syrup’), and learn that ‘the dour-looking Molotov has a softer side.’

At 3 p.m. Hitler poisons his favourite dog. Across the Atlantic, ‘President Truman is not having a relaxed Sunday morning.’ Who would have imagined he was?

At 2 a.m. it starts snowing in South-East England. Tony Benn, on a train from Cairo to Jerusalem, polishes his and his friends’ shoes. 

 At 7.30 a.m. Hitler thinks about going outside but turns back at the door. 

At 9 a.m. the Russian army reaches Ravensbrück. The assault on the Reichstag continues. Martin Bormann has a hangover. 

At 11.30 a.m. Churchill sets fire to his bedjacket with his cigar. 

At 1 p.m. Hitler has his last meal: spaghetti and a cabbage and raisin salad.

The barrage of unsifted information is all quite riveting, in its slightly sick-making way, a bit like a Robert Ludlum thriller (or the ‘sweet, moist cakes’ Hitler gorged himself on during his final days underground), except everyone knows how it’s going to end. 

Hitler shot himself shortly after half past three on the afternoon of Monday 30 April 1945, and however you tell the story there was nothing tragic about it.

- Thomas Jones, ‘Short Cuts’, London Review of Books, May 7 2015

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n09/thomas-jones/short-cuts

[decanting-cerebral]

Listening Notes, Ultra-Brief

Mbongwana Star, From Kinshasa     (World Circuit)

In which Coco Ngambali and Theo Nsituruidi depart the great Staff Benda Bilili, nabbing five Kinshasan young bloods and Parisian producer Liam Farrell to unveil their latest modification on Congolese tradition. And although pals Konono Nº1 briefly stop by, the studio-enhanced results prove more nebulous than any Congotronic audio vérité, and not just because Afro-groove closer “1 Million C'est Quoi?” smokes the competition. Soukous licks dart between digital fuzz, synth riffs share space with Cubain Kabeya’s drum kit, warped guitar hooks make way for rumba vocal choruses, and surreptitious background noise smudges all. From the riotous pound of “Nganshé” to the sweet lilt of “Coco Blues,” two forward-looking cosmopolitan masters plus friends remind us all that Kinshasa’s urban heft yields only to Cairo and Lagos.

Shamir, Ratchet     (XL)

Be careful placing that voice, because you might say things like “androgynous” (countertenor, Shamir sez), “alien” (come on), reminiscent of Sylvester. There’s not yet enough vocal command on display to justify Queen of Disco comparisons, as the sloggy slow ones demonstrate. But that’s ok - he’s twenty. This c&w fan’s specialty is delightful minimalist funk, all omnipresent tinkling cowbells and tumbling synth bass, not so much the hip-hop cadence of “On The Regular” as the retro-electro of “Call It Off”. Endearingly chintzy, dry, funny when need be: “Don’t try me, I’m not a free sample”.

[decanting-cerebral]

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Ba Power

“Some will no doubt cluck with displeasure at the continuing Westernization of Kouyaté’s sound, as if a few indistinct guest spots and a non-Malian drummer signal the erosion of tradition in the face of almighty pop dollars. Whatever. By allowing the ngoni a leading voice while relegating the kora to supporting roles, Kouyaté’s already upended conventions, just as fellow Malaian Salif Keita did in the ’70s by incorporating Latin/Caribbean rhythms into the stage act of pioneering Afro-pop outfit Les Ambassadeurs....”

I reviewed Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba’s terrific new Ba Power for SPIN. Follow the link!

http://www.spin.com/2015/05/review-bassekou-kouyate-and-ngoni-ba-ba-power/

[decanting-cerebral]

Too Many Plots: Orson Faces The Comment Cards

1.  On March 17, 1942, The Magnificent Ambersons had its first preview screening, in the Los Angeles suburb of Pomona. Sneak previews are a notoriously unreliable gauge of a film’s worth and potential for success, and RKO did The Magnificent Ambersons a particular disservice by previewing it before an audience composed mostly of escapism-hungry teenagers, who had come to see the movie at the top of the bill, The Fleet’s In, a featherlight wartime musical starring William Holden and Dorothy Lamour.

2.  The preview, attended by Wise, Moss, Schaefer, and some other RKO executives, went horribly: “the worst I’ve ever experienced,” says Wise. Seventy-two of the 125 comment cards turned in by the audience were negative, and among the comments were “The worst picture I ever saw,” “It stinks,” “People like to laff, not be bored to death,” and “I could not understand it. Too many plots.” Although these critiques were slightly mitigated by the occasional eloquent, favorable assessment—one viewer wrote, “Exceedingly good picture. Photography rivaled that of superb Citizen Kane; Too bad audience was so unappreciative”—Wise and his compatriots could not ignore the sense of restlessness in the crowd and the waves of sarcastic laughter that erupted during the film’s serious scenes, particularly those involving Agnes Moorehead’s flitty, frequently hysterical Aunt Fanny character.

3. Schaefer was devastated, writing to Welles, “Never in all my experience in the industry have I taken so much punishment or suffered as I did at the Pomona preview. In my 28 years in the business, I have never been present in a theater where the audience acted in such a manner. The picture was too slow, heavy, and topped off with somber music, never did register.” But while Welles’s 22-minute cut no doubt robbed the movie of some of its dramatic momentum, Schaefer, in entrusting The Magnificent Ambersons’ fate to a bunch of callow high schoolers, showed some questionable judgment of his own. As Welles later remarked in one of his taped conversations with Peter Bogdanovich, collected in the 1992 book This Is Orson Welles, “There’d been no preview of Kane. Think what would have happened to Kane if there had been one!” And as Henry Jaglom says today, “If I’d gone to the theater to see a Dorothy Lamour movie, I’d have hated Ambersons, too!”

4.  The next preview was scheduled for two days later, in the more sophisticated climes of Pasadena. Wise, to his credit, reinstated Welles’s cut, trimming other, less crucial scenes instead, and this time the movie received a considerably more favorable response. But Schaefer, still shaken by the Pomona experience and antsy about the $1-million-plus he’d invested in the film— after initially approving an $800,000 budget—already envisioned failure. It was on March 21 that he poured his heart out to Welles. “In all our initial discussions, you stressed low costs and on our first two pictures, we have an investment of $2,000,000. We will not make a dollar on Citizen Kane  [and] the final results on Ambersons is [sic] still to be told, but it looks ‘red.’ Orson Welles has got to do something commercial. We have got to get away from ‘arty’ pictures and get back to earth.”

-- from Magnificent Obsession, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, January 2002

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2010/04/magnificent-obsession-200201