@@@ Cass McCombs: Tip of the Sphere (Anti-, 2019) Mostly mainstream rock but with a slack, indie vibe to it. The singer sounds awfully like Jackson Browne, it’s almost spooky. The second tune gets into a more rocking and country flow but it’s certainly not gonna muss anyone’s hair up. The sounds are good, the playing is clean and well done, but the arrangements are extremely familiar to my ears and I don’t love the singer. Is it old fashioned to want your rock to have a little rock in it? This is just a bit too comforting for me, it feels like baby food. His formula works best on the third tune, Estrella.
@@@ Seun Kuti: Black Times (Strut, 2018) I was going through some old All Music notable release emails and saw this one from early 2018. Gotta balance the white and black musics folks. It’s a pretty classic Afrobeat formula with a big ass horn section, a couple of guitar players and background singers. It’s interesting he had Carlos Santana come and shred on the title track and it really freshens the Afrobeat stew, I dig it. I don’t know if I’m up for almost ten minutes of Carlos but it’s good. I like the title of the third tune, Corporate Public Control Department. The band puts out a lot of energy and I like the record without loving it. Very trick horn lines, the singer is on the low energy side and it’s not Tony Allen on the kit. My favorite Afrobeat has Tony Allen on the kit.
YTD recordings listened to: 85
Good music, not list worthy: 48
Not good music: 33
Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel
Deep In the Music 