[You can hear Dave’s music here, here, and here.]
Paul Motian Trio, One Time Out (Spotify): Sounds like this only come from these three masters. Joe Lovano, Paul Motian, Bill Frisell — totally personal and powerful music.
Django Bates, Summer Fruits and Unrest (Discogs): One of the most unsung geniuses of creative music this is a masterwork of large ensemble composition with incredible, unique improvisers from the UK.
Little Jimmy Scott, Dream (Spotify): The best evening-cold-weather-jazz-vocal album from the last 40 years by an outsider art master.
Keith Jarrett, Bop Be (Spotify): A super-swinging deeply personal sound from the great American Quartet-era of this genius of the music.
Deerhoof, Future Teenage Cave Artists (Bandcamp): I’m a new fan after not knowing them much and this record is really interesting, like a prog/glam band with West Coast confidence if there is there is such a thing.
Van Halen, Fair Warning (Spotify): Eddie Van Halen was the Charlie Parker of rock music, bar none. RIP.
[You can learn more about Matt here and here.]
They Might Be Giants, Flood (1990): Like many children of the 1990s, I enjoyed listening to “Particle Man” and “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” way back when. But revisiting the album now, I can’t get over what a gloriously improbable and incoherent hodgepodge the whole thing is. This record has two gratuitous trumpet solos, one and a half sea shanties, a country-power-pop song that name drops the dB’s and the Young Fresh Fellows, an opening chorale announcing the album’s release… it shouldn’t make any sense, and it doesn’t make any sense, but it makes its own kind of vaguely sense-like thing and I love it. The song “Dead”, an off-kilter ditty about boredom, reincarnation, and groceries that apparently lifted its vocal interplay from the Proclaimers’“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, has become a private anthem for the darker moments of this strange time: “Now it’s over, I’m dead, and I haven’t done anything that I want / Or I’m still alive and there’s nothing I want to do.”
Absent City, Continue Normal Living (2020): The title kinda says it all; this record was intended to be a balm, and it is a balm, and it is just so lovely and comforting without being naive or heavy-handed. It’s a real tightrope act to make a record that feels needed and relevant in these times without self-consciously winking and nodding to “in these times”. I’ve been appreciating this record the same way I appreciate the plants in our living room, which I think/hope registers as the King Lear-style reverse-backhanded compliment it is intended to be. Start with “California Afternoons” and keep going.
Miss Eaves, How It Is (2020): This EP makes me miss New York, makes me miss my friends, and makes me wish that the early 2000s “Electroclash” moment had been less self-conscious, more inclusive, and more fun. I had the pleasure of mixing a track that Miss Eaves made with my friend Casey Dienel four years ago, and it’s been amazing to watch both of them become even stronger, funnier, and more fearless artists since then. The song “Stacks” captures the sandwich-and-not-much-else-rich life of a NYC freelancer better than anything else I’ve ever heard, and specifically makes me nostalgic for the varied and plentiful sandwiches at Hana Food in Williamsburg.
Joni Mitchell, Hejira (1976): I started digging into this album in earnest earlier this year, and “Amelia” has been haunting me ever since. The song is built around a circular chord progression that modulates up and back without ever settling into anything that feels predictably like a verse or a chorus. It’s a mind-blower when you stop and think about it, but it never asks you to stop and think about it–it just works its magic, subtly, invisibly. I don’t think there’s a higher achievement in popular music than that. We spent all of 2018 living in a house off a dirt road in New Mexico, and this album sounds like the color of the sky and movement of the planes flying overhead and I don’t really know how else to describe it.
Cynthia Gooding, The Queen of Hearts: Early English Folksongs Sung By Cynthia Gooding (1955): Cynthia Gooding was a friend of my father’s family, an unsung pioneer of the American folk music movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and the owner of a strong and singular voice that I wish more people had the opportunity to hear. I grew up hearing these songs as performed by my father, but I never had a recording of them until I tracked this album down on Discogs. Most days, I’m not prepared for the emotional timewarp that this album triggers–but some days, it’s exactly what I need.
Jawbox: For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994): One way I’ve been keeping (relatively) stable and (relatively) healthy this time is to practice drumming as often as I can. I’ve played drums since I was 15–first in an awful high school band with hated pharma exec Martin Shkreli and then in an excellent band called Lame Drivers with my dear friend and Get Him Eat Him bandmate Jason Sigal–but I didn’t own a drumset until we moved to New Mexico in 2017. Since then, I’ve maintained a “drum practice” playlist with a mix of old(er) and new(er) songs. A handful of songs from this record have been mainstays on that playlist, and have served as informal markers of progress; first, I could comfortably play “68”, then “Savory”, and now, slowly but surely, “Motorist”. It’s amazing to feel my brain, hands, and feet talking to each other in new ways–so let me close this out by expressing my gratitude to Zach, Scott Plouf, Devin Ocampo, Dan Didier, Chris Wilson, Orestes Morfin, and every other musician whose work has kept me going, both mentally and physically, during this [insert string of adjectives here] time.
I recently had to confront a new bad habit: I wasn’t listening to enough music. It was a carryover I think, slurry from the very beginning of COVID, when it seemed like everything took forever while any larger sense of time vanished, absorbed into a kind of recursive panic and withdrawal.
Days became weeks became months, and in October I decided to set aside time each day to listen to one record in its entirety without other distraction or complement. It was a good start, but I missed some days and thought logging the nightly plays for the entirety of November would hold me to the plan.
It worked. I’m not sure I’ll do this again but if I do, I might include CDs and digital releases as well, instead of limiting the exercise to vinyl. I’m pretty attached to putting on music though, so I’m not sure how that would shake out. We’ll see.
It’s worth noting that these listenings offered no escape as such — I’ve had enough of that — but have rather given me something to experience outside of my usual routines, which is, of course, why I got into music in the first place.
11/01 Paul Bley, Alone, Again LP (Spotify)
11/02 Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, John Tchicai, Roswell Rudd, Gary Peacock, Sonny Murray, New York Eye and Ear Control LP (Spotify)
11/02 Luke Stewart, Exposure Quintet LP (Bandcamp)
11/03 Alan Braufman, The Fire Still Burns LP (Bandcamp)
11/04 Benjamin Britten, String Quartets Nos. 2 & 3, performed by the The Alberni Steing Quartet (Spotify)
11/05 Aquiles Navarro + Tcheser Holmes, Heritage of the Invisible II LP (Bandcamp)
11/06 Rob Mazurek, Alternate Moon Cycles LP (Bandcamp)
11/07 Michael Galasso, Scenes LP (Spotify)
11/08 Max Richter, Songs from Before LP (Spotify)
11/09 Matana Roberts, Coin Coin Volume Four: Memphis LP (Bandcamp)
11/10 Masayoshi Fujita, Book of Life LP (Bandcamp)
11/11 Erik Friedlander, American Power LP (Bandcamp)
11/12 Akira Miyazawa, My Piccolo LP (Discogs)
11/13 Richard Davis, Harvest LP (Discogs)
11/14 Julius Hemphill & Abdul Wadud, Live in New York_LP (Spotify)
11/15 Tsege Mariam Gebru, Spielt Eigene Kompositionen LP (Spotify — this is not the album I have but rather the entire session from which the release I have is culled.)
11/16 Hamiett Bluiett, Orchestra, Duo & Septet LP (Discogs)
11/17 Morton Feldman, For Brunita Marcus (performed by Lenio Liatsou) LP (Discogs or a different performance/recording on Spotify)
11/18 John Coltrane / Alice Coltrane, Cosmic Music LP (Spotify)
11/19 Rashied Ali / Frank Lowe, Duo Exchange LP (Bandcamp)
11/20 Anthony Davis Hemispheres LP (Discogs)
11/21 Leroy Jenkins, The Legend of Ai Glatson LP (Spotify)
11/22 The Pyramids, King of Kings LP (Spotify)
11/23 Black Unity Trio, Al-Fatihah LP (Discogs)
11/24 Wildflowers: the New York Loft Jazz Sessions, Vol. 1 LP (Spotify)
11/25 Wildflowers: the New York Loft Jazz Sessions, Vol. 2 LP (Spotify)
11/26 Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe & Ariel Kalma, FRKWYS Vol. 12: We Know Each Other Somehow LP (Spotify)
11/26 Rob Mazurek – Exploding Star Orchestra, Dimensional Stardust LP (Bandcamp)
11/27 Alessandro Cortini, Forse 1 LP (Bandcamp)
11/28 Jeremy Cunningham, The Weather Up There LP (Bandcamp)
11/29 Philip Glass, Music in Twelve Parts: Parts 1 & 2 LP (Discogs
11/30 Freedom, Rhythm & Sound: Revolutionary Jazz & the Civil Rights Movement 1963-82, Volume 2 LP (Discogs)
[You can hear Chris’s music here, here, and here.]
Way back in the simpler times of Jan/Feb 2020, one of Zach’s groups (Jawbox) asked one of my groups (Hammered Hulls) to play a few shows with them down south. Watching him kill it with J., Kim, and Bill those winter nights that seem so long ago has been a nice memory to look back on during this global pandemic that we’re still in the middle of.
Speaking of that global pandemic…. A) Wear a mask B) beginning the month after everything shut down, and recently extended through the end of the year, the great website Bandcamp has been doing “Bandcamp Fridays” where the 1st Friday of every month they waive their fees and givie 100% of the money made on purchases to the artists. Almost everyone mentioned below (along with Zach’s and my bands) have music on there. In this age of no live music, every little bit helps.
Hugh Masekela, Masekela: I became aware of this record in the summer of ’99 while on tour with Sean Tillmann’s Sean Na Na. We did a few shows on the east coast with my future longtime bandmate Ted Leo, who was at the time playing with a backup band of himself on a reel to reel. He would open those shows by covering the opening track on this record, “Mace and Grenades.” This is one of those albums that is huge to me, but there’s very little info about it online. The wiki page for it can’t even pin down exactly when or where it was tracked, saying “the album was recorded in Los Angeles, possibly between September 12 and 30 1968.” Fitting that the back cover reads “The music contained herein speaks for itself, Nothing more need be added. All there remains to do is to do.” If you can find a copy of his autobiography Still Grazing, pick it up.
Crumbsuckers, Beast on My Back: I bought this a couple years after it came out when the Camelot Music in the mall of my hometown of Hot Springs, AR moved all of their Combat Records releases into the clearance bin giving me access to some late period albums by GBH, The Exploited, and Circle Jerks that don’t hold up super well, but also some metal classics by Possessed, Exodus, Tankard, and this gem. I’d like to say this is my favorite crossover record but by this point they had dropped any of their lingering NYHC roots, and went full on thrash. Mad riffage, and….a robot voice!
Unwound, New Plastic Ideas: While not necessarily their best (that distinction might go to Repetition, The Future of What, or Leaves Turn Inside You, which is about as perfect of a closing statement as any band has ever made), this one has always been my favorite. And now that autumn is here, it’s a great listen during those first sweater wears of the season. Always hoped that someway somehow i’d get to see them live one more time, but that’s not to be. Never met Vern, but he was one half of one of the greatest rhythm sections of all time. RIP.
Go Go’s, Beauty and The Beat: We all know that The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is a joke of an institution. But would you believe that it’s also an incredibly misogynistic institution? If you need an example to verify that claim, look no further than The Go Go’s. The only all-female band to write their own songs, play their own instruments, and go to the top of the charts (and if you need an example of how misogynistic the entire music industry is, think about that. There have been thousands upon thousands of all female bands writing their songs and playing their instruments, but The Go Go’s are the only ones to achieve that level of success). Guess how many times they’ve been nominated for entry into the R&R HOF? Exactly zero. While they are fully deserving of every accolade sent their way, maybe the Hall of Fame should keep fucking off because they’ll probably just treat them like some cute novelty act. Speaking of fire rhythm sections, Kathy Valentine’s bass playing is perfectly busy, and Gina Schock is perfectly rock solid. One of my favorite records since I was old enough to have a favorite record, and Our Lips Are Sealed is one of the first two 45’s I ever bought. The other was “Pop Musik” by M. Don’t judge. I was 7.
Ghosh, Get Ready to Die/LYAOF: A few years back I did about a dozen shows flillig in on drums for a Philly band called Lantern. When they split, Emily formed Louie Louie who put out one absolutely perfect record called Friend of a Stranger, and Zach co-founded this duo who have released four two song digital EPs this year. I hope someone puts them all together on a single LP like Get Better did for the three Sheer Mag 7″s sooner than later. They describe themselves as Nu Jungle and US Grime which are two genres they claim to have totally made up. The B side is about working in the service industry, and especially in the time of COVID it should be a protest song for all of those who have been putting their lives on the line to make sure some ungrateful under tipping bastards have a great experience dining outdoors on hot asphalt while cars whiz by.
Carnivorous Bells, The Upturned Stone: Speaking of new genres, this is the first time I’ve heard of Cave Prog, and it’s a genre I’d like to hear more from. If this record had come out a couple decades ago, or if they were still releasing music by current groups today, this band would find a cozy home in the Touch and Go/Quarterstick stable of artists. Like some crazy combination of Nomeanso, Dazzling Killmen, Hella, and Pissed Jeans (while at the same time sounding like none of those bands), and featuring the most inventive drummers I’ve heard in quite some time. Rumor has it, he has a double kick pedal, but one of the two pedals hits a cowbell instead of a kick drum. Hope to see them live when we’re able to do that thing again.
[You can hear Mario’s music here and here.]
Stereolab / Nurse with Wound, Simple Headphone Mind: Got this when it came out in the 90’s as I was and still am a huge Stereolab fan. This was a tough pull from the get go but I got lucky. This is mixed by the Krauty mind of Nurse with Wound and the track is a superb wash of Dreamy Collage Electronic Krautrock that sails out far into the watery cosmos.
Sonny Vincent, Diamond Distance & Liquid Fury: Primitive 1969-76: This recent overview of hidden treasures owned by NYC punk legend Sonny Vincent is a real treat. How these remained in darkness for so long is crazy, as the songs are strong from every project featured here. Raw and heavy throb is right!
The Dragons, BFI: This “psychedelic jazz-rock” was recorded in 69-70 and 95% of it was unreleased until 2007 when the Ninja Tune label released it. The Dragon bros have a long history in Surf music and beyond. After The Dragons, one of the brothers was later “The Captain” in Captain & Tenille (huh?), and Dennis Dragon did The Surf Punks and tons of music for 80’s skate vids by Powell Peralta. The music here is like no other. Master musicianship and very creative tunes and the recordings they engineered are so good sounding. Really tasty stuff.
Ghetto Brothers, Power-Fuerza: This is still pretty new to my ears but I am sinking into more and more with every listen. From 1972, it is the lone album by a South Bronx street gang turned activist community organization. Elements of Latin percussion mixed with fuzzy guitar runs, really rhythmic adventures throughout the album, and an amazing story to read about the formation of this band as well. Killer record.
Wipers, Over the Edge: I got this album on my first tour of Europe back in 1994. Timeless and still inspiring to listen too. Greg Sage really upped his song ante on this album. The Trü downstroke guitar warrior.
Rancid X, Voices: One of, if not the first “punk” band to land a major label deal in Italy. While a song or two has a hard punk edge to it, I’d say this album leans more towards Lou Reed, Rolling Stones, and a hint of T. Rex maybe. One of my favorites. Just a solid Rock & Roll album all the way through.
[You can hear Renata’s music here or here, and see her embroidery here.]
Anohni, “It’s All over Now, Baby Blue“ b/w “Be My Husband” (2020): Ok, I know this is just a single but I was way too excited by those 2 covers that Anohni released in the beginning of August. I’ve always had fun trying to decide what’s the best cover for Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and I really think this is a winner. Anohni recorded this song and some other Dylan’s covers with Kevin Barker in one afternoon a few years back, encouraged by Hal Willner who just passed away from Covid 19. She said she listened to it recently and it prompted, “a nausea of nostalgia for the suffering of the present, or even the future.” The other cover on this 7” is “Be My Husband” by Nina Simone and it’s actually a live recording from a show at the Knitting Factory in 1999. I had the pleasure to see her live about 14 years ago and it was one of the best shows I’ve seen. It was just her and her piano and I remember she would tell us anecdotes and jokes between every song. Everyone left the room with a smile on their faces.
Moraes Moeira, Moraes Moreira (1975): This is Moraes’s first solo record after playing with one of my favorite bands Novos Baianos. This record came out 3 years after Acabou Chorare and it’s just an explosion of Brazilian influences and rhythms like samba, choro, frevo, and baiao mixed with straight up rock and classical music. He’s definitely a Brazilian darling and we all felt deeply when he passed away from a heart attack back in April. He’s such a legend with his sweet and beautiful voice mixed with his amazing guitar playing. I admit I cried for a whole day when I heard about his passing. We were so lucky to have him.
Os Mutantes, Mutantes e Seus Cometas no Pais do Baurets (1972): I’m going to disagree with the whole world and call this my favorite Os Mutantes record. This is the last recording of the band with singer Rita Lee, that quit to pursue her career as a solo artist. I’m almost tempted to say this record sounds like a good mess but I’m just gonna go and say it’s more like a perfect salad. This record has everything: Brazilian popular music, rock, latin rhythms, jazz… It’s such a fun record and it brings so many good memories of when I was a young teenager in Brazil that it’s almost impossible to imagine that they were not getting along during the recordings. I had the pleasure and honor to open a show for them a couple years ago with my band Warm Sun at the Black Cat, DC. That was the third time I saw them live and it’s always such a party. First time I saw them it was back in Brazil on their first “reunion” show with Arnaldo Baptista and it was an intense emotional trip. I know it’s not the same with just Sergio Dias in the band but it’s still worth it to catching them live.
Bob Marley, Catch A Fire (1973): Will this record ever get old?I remember being 14 and being hooked on this. I try to revisit it every couple years and it really keeps getting better and better. I’m temped to say this might be my favorite record. I recently worked on a PBS documentary about the recording of it, and even though I always say this is a record I would have liked to produce, it doesn’t seem like Chris Blackwell or Tony Platt (producer and engineer) were having the time of their life. It was also interesting to see John Bundrick and Wayne Perkins trying to understand what they were supposed to do in it and getting instructions and encouragement from Marley even though they didn’t quite understood what he was saying. When Marley was asked if Chris Blackwell was his producer he responded, “No, he’s my translator.” He was so right. The record does sounds like nothing else though. I love it.
Cymande, Cymande (1971): I was on a first date with this guy back in Brazil when all of a sudden he gets out of bed and starts playing this to me. I feel like this would’ve annoyed me in any other situation but immediately the first song caught my attention and we spent the rest of the night just talking about the record. I still can’t stop listening to it. This is one of the records that if you start playing everyone will ask about it and you could literally do anything with this in the background. When Devin and I got married, this was playing on repeat in our wedding reception since we couldn’t afford a proper DJ.
The Up On In, Steps For The Light (2000): Yes Zach, I’ve actually been listening to this recently! This record was BIG in the Brazilian punk scene. There was a time when everyone was recommending this record to friends. It was also the first time that I heard drums as its own separate instrument and not just used to keep a beat or tempo. I must say that this record inspired me to be a drummer and still influences me a lot. I’ve been taking a lot of walks recently and I enjoy listening to this while I do so.
[You can learn more about Uli here and here.]
I’ve decided to put the focus of my posts on 2020 releases. Maybe in an attempt to give this year a bright spot. I haven’t spent much time hitting a select group of records during quarantine. Instead, I’ve been spending time listening to my record collection in order from back to front, alphabetically. I’m currently on letter F at Fugazi‘s Repeater . Now, let’s dive into three releases that I really enjoyed spending some time with this year.
Lamb of God, S/T: Admittedly, I don’t listen to metal much, but I certainly have an open mind and appreciation for it. Now and then, there is a metal record that is every bit groove as it is intense, and LOG’s recent self-titled release is undoubtedly one of them. The more natural fluidity of rhythm in these compositions grabbed my attention. Metal to me is a little too abrupt of a stop and go, but the movement of these songs feel really natural and “right”… whatever that means. What I also enjoy about this record is how well it is recorded. Its such a crisp recording with an exceptional balance of the accompanying instruments. This is really key for me to take in a high energy record. What I enjoyed most of this record and this band is their attention to sociopolitical issues in the lyrics. Overall, this record certainly feels like a record this band was supposed to create. It delivers from start to finish, which I’ve been looking for in a 2020 release.
Phantogram, Ceremony: I’ve been a big fan of this group after coming across them as an opener in a radio winter holiday show that I attended for Weezer in 2016. They possess a really interesting sound that blends trip-hop, electronic dance, and rock. It casts a bit of a dark mood, but it’s energetic at the same time. Their 4th full-length, Ceremony, opens up with a more upbeat dance pop vibe. I certainly felt like it was a proper takeoff for the record. Unfortunately, the energy and excitement that comes from that opening track struggles to remain throughout the record. The journey from track to track isn’t as seamless as their earlier releases, but I still appreciate what this record has to offer. “Into Happiness” gives the more familiar dark electronic dance vibe that is sewn into the Phantogram DNA. Overall this feels like a more abstract approach while trying not to be at the same time. I could see how people could dig this record. I’m stoked on the gems this record has, and if it took building the journey of this album to give life to those tracks, I’m glad this record exists as part of their discography. I’m eager to see what comes after this release. Not so much that I need something closer to their first releases, but I feel this sets them up to transition into the next phase of Phantogram.
Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Temple: This is another band that I quickly got hooked on by their unique trip-hop vibes. The thing that makes this band interesting is their ability to jump genres so frequently throughout a record, and even within a song, and then perfectly weave them together for a cohesive arrangement. Temple starts off with the album titled single that immediately captured my attention with a really cool twangy guitar riff. Then in comes a FUNKY bassline quickly followed by a more new-wave vibe drum sequence… and off it goes. This track is made complete with really specific and honest lyrics of her mother’s journey as a Vietnamese refugee. One of my favorite things about this album is how much more it showcases Thao’s unique flow as a vocalist. There is a very Missy Elliot vibe to her flow that I really enjoy. I would summarize it as an avant-garde Rap to verses and chorus. The second track “Phenom” perfectly illustrates that. Another high-point for me on this record is just 4 songs in with a unique indie-rock jam, “Pure Cinema.” A little more of a brighter, upbeat vibe. Then comes, “Marauders,” a love song for her wife that gives off a Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” vibe. The album from there keeps on…interesting and authentic to the group’s flawless ability to seamlessly blend in and out of so many genres. The closing track “Marrow” is such a proper closing track that dynamically sets the mood to feel like we’re saying goodbye… for now.