Music for 4/30/2020!!! Lucinda Williams, Ali Shaheed, Brendan Benson, Other Lives

@@@ Lucinda Williams: You Can’t Rule Me (Highway 20/30 Tigers, 2020)  The first tune off Williams’ new record and she sounds a bit tipsy/drawled out on the microphone.  She’s hardened up her sound to reflect her rebellious turn and it’s a blues rock thing with more rock than I’ve heard in her music before.  I’m not sure how I feel about the old school heavy blues thing she’s doing here.  I don’t love her singing in the tune and a bit more mess and fire might help.  I like her and I don’t hate it but I’m a bit nonplussed.

@@@ Ali Shaheed: The Midnight Hour (Jazz is Dead, 2020)  This is slotted as crossover jazz on Apple Music, a term I’ve never encountered before.   I guess it’s a fancy way to describe slightly more adventurous r&b with some classic jazz sounds tossed in.  Here a bit of flute, some chill keyboards, a real drummer, etc.  It does have a singer, in fact there are a ton of guest vocalists on this record.  It’s all right with nice sounds and well recorded drums.  The energy is a bit low for my taste but it’s a tune called hey lover so that makes sense.  Pretty standard for what I would expect from crossover jazz.

@@@ Brendan Benson: Richest Man (Third Man, 2020) Jack White, big rock star of the White Stripes, has been shitting out a ton of music with his Third Man imprint.  I haven’t been listening much and this is the record of one of the gents in the Raconteurs, a band White has trafficked in.  This is more polished than the Jack White-Led Zeppeling xeroxing, it’s downright bouncy energetic and upbeat rock, he’s happy to have a great wife and he’s got half the money but he’s got a full horn section and shit is happenin’.  Twice the love, half the money is an all right vocal hook btw.  Now if I was a judge on Chopped I would say this track needs some contrast, something to offset the gigantic upbeat chunk that lies at the core of the track.  I’m not going to chop it but it’s not an invalid observation.

@@@ Other Lives: Lost Day (ATO, 2020) Some major label alternative which would have been released as rock music before the ridiculous label alternative was created.  I partially correct myself as the proceedings get more orchestral and less rock after the intro with some hipster-y vocal arrangements and more than a few string flourishes.  I would say this is higher in textures than it is on energy.   The lead singer has a major label voice — open, friendly and engaging.  I’m not sure what that song was about.  Sonically it was about a smart sounding arrangement.

YTD recordings listened to: 322
Good music, not list worthy: 168
Not good music: 142

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge

Music for 4/29/20!!! Sophie Tassignon, Joel Harrison, Whitney Rose, Lorenzo Senni

@@@ Sophie Tassignon: Mysteries Unfold (Rare Noise, 2020). Slotted as electronic music, this track is the last of the record and it’s her singing over her own voice chopped and presented rhythmically in a klezmer-y vibe.  To my ears at least.  She glides melodically over what would be the rhythmic oom-pah of a tube or some such horn.  It’s a two minute track and it’s the closing track so it’s hard to listen to this as the core track but it’s a bit NPR-y and a bit highbrow, that’s the feel and I would expect that to be found on other tracks.

@@@  Joel Harrison: Stupid, Pointless, Heartkess Drug Wars (Sunnyside, 2020) Some large ensemble jazz that I think I got to via the Twatter.  Apple Music has it slotted as big band and as I listen to the horns there are a lot of them so yeah it’s a big band.  First off I was drawn to the title of the track.  In listening to it, the guitar work and the guitar sound (pretty rocking) is atypical and works against the listening stereotype of a big band.  At just around 3 minutes the whole band shifts to a higher tempo and into a different feel.  More blasting, more guitar riffing and more energy.  It builds impressively to a melodic crescendo before falling down into pieces.  And then there’s a quick outro melody which sounds out unlike the rest of the tune but cool.

@@@ Whitney Rose: We Still Go to Rodeos (MCG Recordings, 2020) Some classic country with modern sound updates, even a little jazz feel to the electric guitar.  Rose has a sultry and rich voice as she walks the streets with her man.  The point of the tune lyrically is that she maybe married with kids but she and her man still go to rodeos.  And good for them, I’m glad they still go to rodeos!  I don’t know why I said that as I’ve never been myself and I’m guessing there’s quite a bit of animal shit smells floating around but that’s the city slicker in me.  I find the electric guitar tone/playing to be the most interesting component of the track.  The jazz-ish sound works for me and I dig the sounds of this track.  The lyrics are a bit staid but whatevs, she does a good job delivering them.

@@@ Lorenzo Senni: Discipline of Enthusiasm (Warp, 2020) Decidedly upbeat hybrid abstract dancefloor bangers.  Titles like Dance Tonight Revolution Tomorrow convey the spirit of the record.  I can’t accurately count how many synth tracks are here — there are a couple of bouncers, a couple more used percussively, one that is deployed to carry the melody, and one that’s glitched out.  It’s a fiercely layered synth sandwich.  I think I would like it more if it didn’t sport such a simple and somewhat unfunky beat.  It’s a bit like getting beaten with a giant submarine sandwich.  One that’s been soaked in milk for a bit.  I must not be very disciplined as my enthusiasm for this is minimal.

YTD recordings listened to: 318
Good music, not list worthy: 166
Not good music: 140

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge

Music for 4/28/20!!! Anna Burch, Maja S.K. Rajtke, Yin yin, Nnena

@@@ Anna Burch: Not So Bad (Polyvinyl, 2020)  I got to today’s listens via the Line of Best Fit email.  This track is a blend of jangly indie sounds, coffee shop singer/songwriter, and ’70s soft rock.  Not my favorite flavors but you get a shaker to listen to, and let me tell you, you can’t fuck with a well recorded, enthusiastic shaker. There’s an undercover horn line as well that I find interesting.   Burch’s voice is solid if not not remarkable and the lyrics, well the lyrics aren’t my cup of coffee.  It’s a relationship song.  I’m not sure how you get to the top with a track titled Not So Bad.  To be fair I’m not the targeted demographic here, this one’s for the womenz.

@@@ Maja S.K. Ratkje: Sja, Amioda (Rune Gramofon, 2019)  I think I saw this artist namechecked on a Roulette email and she’s a musician rocking the neighborhood where classical and ambient and electronic music meets and has a nap.  I kid, I kid.  This is a sparse arrangement and Ratkje is singing.  I hear accordion, a low register woodwind (possibly electronically manipulated) and her voice.  It’s slow and dirge-y but it’s very cool to my ears and I’m enjoying its organic-ness.  It’s very organic and not digital sounding regardless of its origins.  I’m going to listen to more of this record.

@@@ Yin Yin: The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers (Bongo Joe, 2019)  Back to the Line of Best Fit.  This is the title track of the record and it’s opening up with echoed wah wah guitar and retro flavorings.  A little Jefferson Airplane smushed up with some of the psych rock coming out of parts of Asia.  Oh boy, they’re mixing in a little surf rock, yikes it’s a flavor pack.  Also a bit of spaghetti western twang, ya know these lines aren’t drawn in stone, there’s overlap and shit.  I’m not sure if I’m up for a full record of instrumental surf (I might be if the playing was a lot more manic and daring) but it sure is a bit of a pallette cleanser dumpling in the middle of the day.  An almost 6 minute dumpling that does put a few ethereal backing voices at the back of the mix on the way out.

@@@ Nnena: Work it Out (Loud Robot, 2020)  This week’s Line of Best Fit and our final listen of the day.  It opens with some thick traditional big drum type drumming in my left ear and some trap but not trap skittery hat in the right ear and then Nnena comes in with some medium potty mouth rhyming.  I would like to have five letters in my name and three of them be n, n is pretty cool.  Some nice headphone rich sounds happenin’ up in heah.  She’s got some put down action going lyrically and it’s an interesting blend of sounds and lyrics.  Big respect for going some place sonically different.

YTD recordings listened to: 314
Good music, not list worthy: 164
Not good music: 138

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge

Music for 4/27/20!!! Rolling Stones, Ed O’Brien, mxmtoon, Unified Highway

@@@ Rolling Stones: Living in a Ghost Town (Universal, 2019)  An updated rock flavor to this ‘rona inspired anthem about all the folks not on the street.  They bust out a surprising amount of energy in the chorus til they go back to the very slightly reggae’d out verse, complete with a little dub action on the outro.  It’s a vibe track that harkens back to their ’70s output, the second half of that decade to my ears.  It’s a cool they’re still able to make a relevant track.  If it’s a party it’s a party of 1, that’s the last line.  I read somewhere on the interwebz that this was a track they had lying around but they changed up some of the lyrics to make it relevant so that explains the genesis and timing of this track.

@@@ Ed O’Brien: Shangri-La (Capitol, 2020) A solo record from a Radiohead guitarist that I found both on the All Music notable release email as well as a feature from the music gear pimp Reverb.  Sporting the ambience of Radiohead but decidedly more upbeat in spirit.  It’s almost a 6 minute track  and the space rock gives way to a thicker more rocking vibe at about 2 minutes.  The production here is quite tasty, layers of guitars, little circular bird chirp type sounds and thick oozing sandwich of vocal tracks.  I like a lot of the sounds here but this tune feels a bit long to my ears.  I guess I’m left feeling that I dig the electronic component of recent Radiohead records more than I thought I did and find that more three dimensional than the straight ahead space rock sound that you get here.  I have troubles with earnest music, I struggle to get with it.

@@@ mxmtoon: lessons (AWAL, 2020) The third song off this 21 minute EP length record.  It comes out as an ambient electro thing with very mainstream pop production.    Miss mxmtoon has a dreamy and pleasing voice but I’m finding her lyrics here full of cliches and not enjoyable.  Examples of aforementioned cliche include I thought I had it all figured out, but I’m full of questions now, be patient with yourself there’s more room to grow if you leave your worries on the shelf.  Life goes fast, remember that kids!  These lyrics combined with the ambient production produces a New Age feeling and I’m not a fan of those.  I do have to give props to the super wide mix, it’s stuffed with all manner of sounds — background vocals, acoustic guitar arpeggios, etc.

@@@ Unified Highway: The Truth (Easy Star, 2020)  I got to this track via a music publicist email.  Electro based reggae (particularly notable is the sawtooth patch for the bass) with tasty dub touches on this track.  The singer is sweet (with a robotic element mixed in there at points) and I find the manicured arrangement to be quite pleasurable when there’s a non-mainstream feel to the track.  It’s a roots reggae sonic slideshow — they switch up the instruments a bit, they switch up the bass patch, they throw in a guitar shred that’s epic but forgivably epic under the sonic circumstances.  It’s a fat fat headphone track.  I would check out more of this record.

YTD recordings listened to: 310
Good music, not list worthy: 162
Not good music: 136

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge

 

Music for 4/24/20!!! Sammy Brue, Shabazz Palaces, RJD2, The Howling Hex

@@@ Sammy Brue: True Believer (New West, 2020) I got to this young dude’s music via a music publicist email.  This is a pre-release single off an upcoming June release.  It opens up quite intimate with some soft vocal melody reflecting guitar and his voice starts to build.  He’s got a really nice voice and he takes it to that big Oasis-style vocal anthem hook in the chorus.  It’s a pretty minimalist band backing track that fits itself around his voice.  Oh Lord, they brought in the big choir background chorus for the second round of the chorus.  It’s high end cheese, not a soft stinky French one, maybe a black wax Gouda from Holland.  It’s firm and retro old school cheese.  It’s a bit epic for my taste.  It ends as a type of New Age/classic rock empowerment tune.

@@@ Shabazz Palaces: Fast Learner (Sub Pop, 2020) Off last Friday’s notable release email from All Music.  This track comes out hardcore electro with a bit of cough syrup.  It’s got a stanky and trippy vibe to it, echoes on the rhymes, some oddly filtered guitar playing (?).   I don’t like the beat especially the snare sound, that big clunky gated snare sound annoys me.  The rest of it I get with.  He’s got some nice George Clinton feels here but if that beat had some swag to it I’d be more interested.  I think he should’ve backed off the delay buss a bit as it muddies up an already murky adventure.  I dig murk, it’s cool, it’s just a question of how much.

@@@ RJD2: No Helmet Up Indianola (RJ’s Electrical Connection, 2020) Same All Music notable release email.   More hip hop, black Friday!  This time it’s old school horn driven business with a bright thwacking snare sound.  Somebody pops in with an overdriven Fender amp classic guitar sound and Imma not sure if a singer will be getting up in this track.  Maybe it’s instrumental funk and if it is, that’s all right.  You even get some cowbell in this track, so don’t bitch and moan as it’s not everyday that you get some tasty  cowbell.  There’s a ball of delayed vocal snatch that screams in for the very end of the track which is cool and a pleasant non sequitur to wrap up.  It says it’s rap/hip hop in Apple Music but that was a instrumental funk track.  It’s a problem this label problem the music business has, like going to the supermarket looking for an orange and the motherfuckers sell you a grapefruit.

@@@ The Howling Hex: Lies (Fat Possum, 2020) If you want some fuzzy ass punk blues ass with a tiny bit of grunge this might work for you.  Steady rock drum pounding, a loose guitar shred making hay while some poor sap fuzzes his or her way through the chord progression.  If you want to die, believe in lies, that’s the vocal hoook.  I dig the drummer who just gets behind the mule and plows, but it could have used a bit more spice and leadership from the singer.

YTD recordings listened to: 306
Good music, not list worthy: 162
Not good music: 134

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge

 

Music for 4/23/20!!! Bright Eyes, Antoine Bradford, The Wake, Ab-Soul

@@@ Bright Eyes: Forced Convalescence (Dead Oceans, 2020)  Got to this via music publicist email.  When I see that a band has released an official lyric video I think that’s a flag saying cheese lies ahead, like a giant rock not seen below the water, and to be careful.  I’m not a huge indie guy but in addition I’ve never really been able to grock the brilliance of Bright Eyes.  They’re less slack than Wilco or Pavement (super slack) but they’re certainly not manically excited by indie music.  I can see why a band would release a tune called Forced Convalescence during a pandemic what with the forced part of it.  Ah, the tambourine, this needs more cowbell.  And there’s a huge background vocal chorus.  As it unfurls it becomes more mainstream and arena-y which is their right, just as it’s my right to not love it.  It gets quite peppy for a forced situation before it comes back to it’s opening energy.  I want a bowl of warm applesauce.  That’s a non-sequitur as well as spot on.

@@@ Antoine Bradford: Liar (Self-released, 2017) I’m on the mailing list for a Christian hip hop blog and they just sent out an email that they’re working with this Christian musician.  Oy, his voice is buttery smooth.  This an old school soul type song with a big background/choir type section.  The Lord is not specifically mentioned here.  Wait, the J man makes an appearance as the end of the tune when the singer asks Jesus to fix the mess he has made.  It’s a lower energy track and I love his voice.  I didn’t find the lyrics particularly memorable.

@@@ The Wake: Melancholy Man (LTM, 2002)  I saw this band namechecked on an email from a vinyl reissue type of joint that I subscribe to.  I can look at all the vinyl and then not buy it cuz I have so much vinyl already.  I don’t know anything about this crew except I’ve never heard them before.  They charge out of the headphones with a giant oozy synth sound, some gated snare sounds, and ’80s style chorused out guitars.  Oy!  Unfortunately it doesn’t sport the postmodern goth-ness or dark humor of the Cure but it’s a similar sonic formula.  Oh, there’s the singer and he’s all right, definitely a sensitive cat not looking to wear leather pants witha cucumber in them.  He’s right at the volume of the band so you have to strain a bit to hear him which feels about right.  I feel like such a cretin when I don’t dig this music but I don’t get it.  I must be dead inside.  This for people who wear slippers with animal faces on them, there’s nothing wrong with it.

@@@ Ab-Soul: Dangerookipawaa Freestyle (Top Dawg, 2020) Up on the Apple music hot tracks section.  It’s a hip hop track but it comes out more retro than trap.  A nice rhythmic guitar strum, a little James Brown sample (? — it’s a low grunt and difficult to identify), and a horn blast.  There’s nothing particularly unique to the sounds it’s put together in an organic way that makes it come across more band like than hip hop.  There’s a segue to another section that happens about 90 seconds out with a change of sounds.  The rhyming is quite energetic and it all works together.

YTD recordings listened to: 302
Good music, not list worthy: 160
Not good music: 132

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge

 

Music for 4/22/20!!! Blackout JA & LionDub, Lido Pimienta, Kevin Florez & The Busy Twist, Ras Fraser Jr

@@@ Blackout JA & LionDub: Rize Again (Liondub Int’l, 2020) Bouncy ass electro dub I got to via this week’s WRIR playlist email.  I’m postulating that it’s Mr. Blackout on the microphone and it sounds like he’s about to eat it.  Gravelly and pumping energy characterize his style.  The drum machine beats are pretty standard and solid and there’s really not a lot to the arrangement after the drums and synth bass.  There’s some synth action used both percussively and with small melodic action and I hear a plinky guitar pushed back in the mix.  I’m a dancehall fan and this is an energetic specimen.

@@@ Lido Pimienta: Eso Que Tu Haces (Anti-, 2020)  A Canadian/Colombian born female artist/indigenous person smashing up a bunch of musical styles.  Regular readers know I’m a fan of the mash as long it’s genuine and doesn’t go the art school pretentious route.  Pimienta scores points right off the bat due to her soaring and beautiful voice.  She’s got what I would call some world music-y type percussion (hand drum and shaker) as well as electro sounds — an electro marimba type synth patch and she’s singing in Spanish so it’s all mashed and smashed up!  More instruments get added as the song progresses (horns most notably) and she’s going for pretty drama here.  Her voice is the star.

@@@ Ras Fraser Jr.: Nuh Weh Like Yawd (18 karat reggae, 2020) More uplifting roots reggae, a bit more aspirational than the first track up top.  Very active bass, it doesn’t look to be a keyboard bass and some standard synth horn business providing a base for Fraser Jr. to praise Jamaica, his weed and his Lord.  It’s all good and Fraser’s voice is sweet like a freshly baked currant roll.  I’m quarantined outside the 5 boroughs which still has a few straight up amazing Caribbean bakeries.  You can’t help but be affected by Fraser’s spiritual flow and I could go for a veggie patty.  And a currant roll.  And some cassave pone.  And a roti!

@@@ Kevin Florez & The Busy Twist: Champetizate (Palenque Records, 2020) Oh Lord, more south of the border move your booty music, this time well, these guitar lines are so close to West African music that it’s hard to classify this music as strictly Latin.  Florez is from Colombia and his champeta music is tied to African music so this all makes sense after a little Google Pimping.  Let me count the ways I fucking hate Google.  Florez is rocking it in Spanish, he works on top of a multi drum shuffle beat with a steady bass drum pulse and he’s just whipping a real and happening party.  I love the mash and he’s slinging it!  Check it out.

YTD recordings listened to: 298
Good music, not list worthy: 158
Not good music: 130

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge, Kevin Florez

Music for 4/21/20!!! Scarlet Rivera, Rapsody, Diana Demuth, Sam Smith and Demi Lovato

@@@ Scarlet Rivera: Lady Liberty (Bright Sun, 2020)  I got to this rock violinist’s music via a music publicist email.  As the tune opens up it’s a little bit Bruce Springsteen meta-America and a little bit classic rock.  The lyrics revolve around the lack of justice in our society.  I like Rivera’s raspy voice — she is several notches above the Zimmerman croak but it is reminiscent of his style.  There is a fair amount of guitar shredding between sung lines of the song and some organ/keyboard vamps here and there but no big violin solo.  The mix has a bright and crunchy AM radio feel to it which I’m not a big fan of, but it’s hard to tell if folks notice things like that.  At the end of the tune I realize there has been no rock violin solo and I would have preferred one.  Ah, more proof that I have no say.

@@@ Rapsody: Nina (Roc Nation, 2019) This female MC’s EP was touted as best hip hop record of 2019 by one writer in a daily email.  I love the Root!  This is a Nina Simone/Strange Fruit inspired female strength hip hop slow jam.  A long sung note Nina Simone sample floats in the back while Rapsody provides a strong contrast until she throws another wrench and goes down in energy and more confessional/intimate towards the end of the tune.  This is a serious track, it’s no summer bbq in the park kinda jam and she has weight to her rhymes and the sounds.

@@@ Diana Demuth: Steady Rolling (Creaky Gate/Thirty Tigers, 2020) A just released retro singer songwriter track I got to via a music publicist.  Piano driven which usually doesn’t work for me, we’ll see if she brings in the whole ensemble.  This singing style and feel goes back to mid to late ’70s classic FM soul salvation rock.  No band yet.  Somebody snuck in a super hip and modern keyboard bass that you have to strain to catch.  Myself I woulda put that much higher as it’s one of the most interesting ideas in the track.  No band ever appears to back her piano playing – it’s an emotional encore after a full set at a live show.

@@@ Sam Smith, Demi Lovato: I’m Ready (Universal, 2020) I predict this is going to be the sort of epic pop cheese comet I’m philosophically opposed to.  Oh, this chorus is everything I love to hate in a pop song.  He’s ready for someone to love him and as Ms. Lovato hits the microphone it appears she is ready for someone to lover her as well.  I’m feeling these white superhero costumes as well as the medals.  They’re wheeling out the giant gospel choir!  Awesomeness.   I can’t get past the image below as it makes the whole feel of the song more ridiculous and it starts in a fairly ridiculous place.  If I were kind (and I’m not kind to the pop masters of today) this is a sort of empowerment.  They’re ready so you listeners are ready too and we’re all ready for somebody to love us and be brave!  However I’m steadfastly opposed to normal folks getting their bravery and emotional support from people like Sam Smith and Demi Lovato, it’s not healthy.

YTD recordings listened to: 294
Good music, not list worthy: 158
Not good music: 130

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge

 

Music for 4/20/20!!! Charlie and the Rays, Jack Curley, Orlando Weeks, Miho Hazama

@@@ Charlie and the Rays: For No One (N/A, 2020) A little country, a little singer/songwriter, a little rock.  I got to this via a music publicist email.  Birdsong female singer with another female backing her up.  Twinkly guitars in places, rock guitars in places, and country twang in places.  Get the pattern?  It’s a mash people.  It goes out on a country-ish guitar solo.  I feel neutral about this track, like some parts but feel it’s a bit slack/under energy infused for my taste.

@@@ Jack Curley: Tomorrow (Parlophone/Warner, 2020) Mainstream singer/songwriter off this week’s Line of Best Fit.  Curley has a gruff voice set off from slick guitars sounds.  The key here is how you feel about the mainstream pop production flavors involved here.  It’s like somebody dipped Ed Sheeran into some coconut oil, metaphorically speaking.  Yikes, let Ed out of the coconut oil, metaphorically speaking! There she comes looking like that, million dollar smile and I’m smiling right back.  That’s the hook.  He keeps asking can we save that til tomorrow, what is that?  Maybe the last stick of gum, maybe the last bagel of the dozen?  You know what I say when I’m forced to entertain myself during a song.  Something tasted different the last time we kissed.  I’m reciting some lyrics here and feeling I might be facing a bowl of word salad and that it’s not supposed to make sense.

@@@ Orlando Weeks: Blood Sugar (Play it Again Sam, 2020) A pre-release single I got to via Line of Best Fit.  Opens ambient-ly and mournful.  I like Weeks’ voice, I go for that quasi-falsetto fragile thing.  I’m not sure what to call this, it’s a wisp of a song with his voice, a bassline and some impressionistic rhythm that flows through.  The last minute of the track sees an increase in the delay buss with a denser mix of sounds before it dies away to end.  An interesting set of sounds with both different and familiar feels.

@@@ Miho Hazama: Dancer in Nowhere (Sunnyside, 2019)  A female Japanese big band leader based in New York and somebody on Slate is giving her a shout and her combination of classical and jazz.  This is an 8 minute piece and it’s a restrained, slightly Republican vibe, tempowise, arrangment wise and performance wise.  I like the strings that sit under the horn melodies and Lord knows I’m a sucker for anything with vibes.  The piece jumps to another idea driven by the strings and a percussive marimba thing and into a more energetic spot.  I like it all right but I don’t love the sound of the recording as it’s a bit sterile and saps some of the energy of the music.  The composition is more straight than free but it’s not arrow straight to my ears.  I could use more swing and for reference I would send people off to listen to Sun Ra’s 1959 classic, Jazz in Silhouette.  Be careful, it’s funky!

YTD recordings listened to: 290
Good music, not list worthy: 156
Not good music: 128

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge

 

Music for 4/17/20!!! Bassel and the Supernaturals, Hip Hop Hoodios, The J&B Kings, Rina Sawayama

@@@ Bassel & The Supernaturals: Smoke (Six Degrees, 2020)  Out today, this was the pre-release single for the record.  It’s a smooth funk experience, a cousin of Earth Wind and Fire.  Full ensemble — horn section, two guitars, background singers, the whole schlemiel.  The singer here is solid but he doesn’t carry the track the way the EWF singer did.  As we mention with metal and hard rock all the time there’s a bit of contradiction between smooth production and the genre in which it is employed.  Really hardcore funk (Funkadelic for example) can be quite raw and therefore the energy is much higher.  The smoothness of the production here lowers the energy.

@@@ Hip Hop Hoodios: Turn Back the Clock (Hip Hop Hoodies, 2020) Today’s listens come off this week’s WRIR playlist email and here the Hip Hop Hoodios go for a en Espanol retro hip hop/disco thing.  Way back like Grandmaster Flash and bell bottom pants and it’s a party track.  Get the party started, turn back the clock, that’s the hook here.  I like it all right.

@@@ The J&B Kings: Congo Conga (7 Arts, 2020)  More funk, it’s funky Friday!  Multiple guitars, tight drums and driving horns but done in a tighter more stripped down funk style.  I do like instrumental funk but I also dig a funky singer so I (and you) will have to satisfy ourselves with a few brief solos on top of this old school groove.  Again, solid business, better than the smooth funk of the first track and this one is for the gringos who can’t identify with the second track.

@@@ Rina Sawayama: XS (Dirty Hit, 2020) I saw this artist in the new music section on the Apple Music.  I would call this pop singer/songwriter while Apple Music has it slotted as alternative.  As it unfolds it gets poppier and the production gets more complex and excessive (in a nod to the title).  It’s got an abrasive but not completely convincing power chord segue that pops up too often.  I don’t know what friggin’ Einstein decided to pop this track out while everybody is locked down but the possibility of excess is limited here, isn’t it.  Is it the vibe we’re going for here?  Be easy on the Amazon delivery people, don’t go nuts with the sex toys and the vaping equipment.

YTD recordings listened to: 286
Good music, not list worthy: 154
Not good music: 126

 

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, 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, 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, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge,