Record Roundup: Catching Up (Sort Of)

Although "catching up" is an unattainable goal, what follows is a quick multi-genre run-through of things I'm burning to present to your beleaguered attention before the end of the year ruminations and revelations begin.

Wang Lu - An Atlas Of Time After 2018's stunning Urban Inventory, I knew to expect even greater things from this composer and this album exceeds those imaginings in every way. The title piece is a five-movement spectacular, incorporating orchestrations that Bartok would envy alongside electronics and prerecorded material for collage-like effects that will have your head spinning in the best way. It's astonishing in its concision and power and the performance by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project with Gil Rose conducting is unlikely to be equalled - but that doesn't mean I don't think others should try, and often, in concert halls across the globe. The album also includes Ryan And Dan, a duet for saxophone (Ryan Muncy) and guitar (Dan Lippel) that manages to combine post-punk, free jazz, art rock, and modernism in a mesmerizing seven minutes, Double Trance for string quartet, played by Momenta Quartet and showing mastery of the medium, Unbreathable Colors, a sparkling and off-kilter piece for solo violin (Miranda Cuckson), and Siren Song, which puts more of her orchestral artistry on display. Fearless, fun, fascinating - and emotionally compelling - the world of Wang Lu is one of my favorite destinations. Plot a course ASAP.

Sarah Hennies - Spectral Malsconcities How you relate to these two half-hour+ pieces may depend on the musical references you find within. For me, the opening section of the title track, played with a casual perfection by Bearthoven, sounds like a fragment from a Tim Buckley session, circa Happy Sad or Star Sailor, with a starring role for Pat Swoboda's woody bass. Then it moves into a something that triggers the PiL/Flowers Of Romance synapse in my brain before entering a period of extreme repetition. To that last point: not everyone will be able to take this level of minimalism, but I love it, finding a kind of tart wit to each iteration. Played by the piano-percussion lineup of Bent Duo, Unsettle shades into an acoustic form of ambient music, with plucked piano strings hanging the air, populating their own resonance. I'm getting Eno/On Land vibes, but as I note above, your results my vary. Curious? There's only one way to find out...

Tristan Perich - Drift Multiply In 2018, I attended the world premiere of this majestic piece for 50 violins and one-bit electronics at the Cathedral of St. John The Divine. It was glorious and I ended my review with these thoughts: "While there is certainly an element of performance or installation art, the whole thing was deeply musical and I hope that logistics don’t get in the way of future performances. There was a video crew and likely audio recording being done as well so I would keep an eye on the Red Bull website to see if they make it available for you to experience at home. Drift Multiply is a triumph of imagination and execution that may just give your living room, or wherever you listen, a touch of the divine." And now we have this recording, made in Amsterdam last year, to bear out my statement. Listen and let it bathe you in sound.

Tracks from these albums and many others can be found on my Of Note In 2020 (Classical) playlist.

S.G. Goodman - Old Time Feeling I'm not sure if this debut album was long in the making, but Goodman's voice rips out of the speakers with a captivating impatience, even on the ballads. The production by Jim James foregrounds her remarkable clarion call, which feels drenched in her Kentucky roots, surrounding it with tube-fired guitar, drums, and the simplest of bass lines. The songs are crafted from a deep well of Americana, with country, blues, and folk blended in such a way that the seams are invisible. As the title indicates, Goodman must be an old soul - one listen and she's also an old friend.

Jeffrey Silverstein - You Become The Mountain Pedal-steel infused minimalist mysticism here, with Silverstein your gentle guru. A song title like Cosmic Scene may not sound promising, but such is Silverstein's sincerity that he gets away with it and leaves you wanting more. I put this on and I'm instantly walking in the woods, after rain, smelling leaves and hearing water's gentle movements. It's a trip, alright.

Melody Fields - Broken Horse In 2018, I called this band "Swedish psychonauts who seem to travel through space and time with equal ease," when reviewing their debut album. These four new songs find them in an almost singleminded pursuit of draggy sparkle and shimmer, hitting the mark every time.

Boogarins - Levitation Sessions With the longest track clocking in at under seven minutes, you know this is going to be a different experience than their 2017 epic of the stage, Desvio Onirico, but these are different times. It's no less excellent, however, and finds them blazing through a career-spanning set of songs from their first four albums and Manchaca Vol. 1, their marvelous odd'n'sods collection that also came out this year. Platinum-sellers in their native Brazil, Boogarins will always be on my hit parade!

Tracks from these and many others can be found on my Of Note In 2020 (Rock, Folk, Etc.) playlist.

Vibration Black Finger - Can't You See What I'm Trying To Say Percussionist and keyboard player Lascelle Gordon has come a long way since 1985, when he was a founding member of the Brand New Heavies, a group which always struck me as superficial. But everything here is 100% REAL, whether in abstract explorations like the title track or the furious groove Acting for Liberation, Pt. 1, which seems to incise itself on your mind and body more deeply with each passing moment of its expansive 10-minute length. Surely one of the most authentic progeny of the spiritual jazz movement, VBF are not fooling around.

A track from this album and many others can be found on my Of Note In 2020 (Jazz, Latin & Global) playlist.

Quakers - II - The Next Wave When I included the debut from this hip hop collective in my list of the 100 greatest albums of the 2010's earlier this year, I was fully convinced it was a one-off. I was even growing a little nostalgic, remembering how it introduced me to both Jonwayne and Guilty Simpson, both of whom I went on to interview, but still feeling a bit stung by its lack of seismic impact. Eight years later they are back and it's as if no time as passed. Eclectic beats, varied rappers, including Jonwayne and Guilty Simpson, and just as much fun. Also a blast is Supa-K: Heavy Tremors, their "beat tape" - 50 tracks in 49 minutes - which had my wife asking, "Is this J Dilla?" Not quite, but it certainly hits that spot very sweetly. Welcome back, Quakers, long may you rock my world.

Tracks from these albums and many others can be found on my Of Note In 2020 (Hip Hop, R&B, & Reggae) Playlist.

Elsa Hewitt - Ghostcats This EP is an extra fuzzy excursion from Hewitt, and all the more charming in its graceful electronic distortions. Hewitt's world enters the physical realm with her handmade cassettes and this one was very special - I celebrated it in this unboxing video - but a talisman is not required for the magic to happen. All you need do is push play.

A track from this album and many others can be found on my Of Note In 2020 (Electronic) playlist.

You may also enjoy:
Of Note In 2020: Classical
Of Note In 2020: Electronic
Of Note In 2020: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Of Note In 2020: Jazz, Latin, and Global
Of Note In 2020: Rock, Folk, Etc.

Best of 12: Part One

The amount of great music I've heard this year, from new discoveries to long-anticipated releases, was high enough that I have decided to expand to a Top 20. I gotta say that anyone who is nostalgic for the music of a prior era, and/or bemoaning a dearth of good listening today, should perhaps inspect their surroundings for the mud they are stuck in.

Without further ado, here's 11-20.

11. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch Walker's trajectory from pop idol (mainly in the U.K.) to explorer of art rock extremes was perfectly described in the documentary 30 Century Man, which went a long way toward helping me make the leap to where he had landed on The Drift, his last album. The new one is no less radical but seems more assured and employs a greater dynamic range sonically and lyrically. While the lyrics mix dreadful episodes from human history with more personal tribulations, they are often bitterly hilarious: "If shit were music/You'd be a brass band." Bish Bosch is Walker's most convincing foray into the realm of art song and it would be a wonderful thing if a song or two made it into the performance repertoire of one of our more adventurous new music ensembles. That would make it an easier wait if it takes him another six years to make his next album.

12. Hospitality - Hospitality The charm of Amber Papino and co.'s expertly produced pop has not worn off, in fact more layers of guitars and vintage synths have been revealed. Puts a spring in my step every time.

13. Quakers - Quakers In the year Kanye finally released his G.O.O.D. Music collection, who would suspect it would get stomped by a trio of British music geeks (led by Portishead's Geoff Barrow) and a huge posse of mostly unknown rappers. The beats are as omnivorous as the rhymes, with sounds and subjects spanning a deliriously wide range. The breakout star may be Jonwayne, who's set to drop his debut on Stones Throw in 2013.

14. Patrick Watson - Adventures In Your Own Backyard At it's best, Watson's latest has a soaring epic sweep that channels Ennio Morricone, yet maintains his trademark intimacy. When I saw him at Bowery Ballroom earlier this year, I'm sure everyone in the room felt he was singing just for them. If the album were a four act play, however, it could be said to suffer from some third act longueurs, which is why it's not in the upper ten for this year.

15. Baroness - Yellow & Green Conceived as a double album to focus attention on their heavier and lighter sides, Yellow & Green is ultimately a unified collection of their most emotionally connected, compositionally sophisticated music. More here.

16. Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes Electronic music has never had more personality than when Steven "Flying Lotus" Ellison is at work. Using a lush palette of tones and textures (including the guest vocals of Erykah Badu and Thom Yorke) he provides a soundtrack that makes even a trip to Target an adventure.

17. Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits Just when I was despairing of new sounds from Britt Daniel, his collaboration (don't call it a supergroup) with Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs and Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks exploded on the scene. Echoes of Spoon's stripped down approach are heard, along with the dynamic tension and release of bands like Wire and the electro-infused sound of early Simple Minds. Producer Nick Launay, who cut his teeth on albums like the latter's Empires And Dance, and Alex Fischel on keyboards ably abet the creation of a great collection of passionate pop. Their committed live set on Sound Opinions gives hope that this is not just a one-off.

18. Matthew E. White - Big Inner This lavishly orchestrated series of songs was one of the surprises of the year. White's synthesis of varying streams of Americana is fascinating and stays mysterious through many listens. Long in the background as an arranger and composer, White just needs a little more vocal confidence to own the spotlight. Based on the concert I saw, that's already in progress. After all, he's only a "Big Inner." His playlists on Spotify make me think we're somehow related. Find them under "amattwhitejoint" - also his Twitter handle.

19. Fenster - Bones Like its title suggests, this is a somewhat skeletal affair, sonically speaking. But it's also emotionally rich and the songs are constructed out of sturdy stuff.

20. Hilary Hahn & Hauschka - Silfra Improvisational composing may not have come quickly to a classically trained musician like Hahn, but you would never know it from this hand-in-glove collaboration with Hauschka, the prepared-piano wizard. Goes down easy, but covers a lot of ground.

Coming up: 1-10, Best Of The Rest, and Out Of The Past (reissues and other older sounds).

The Best of 12 So Far

I've probably said it before,  but this has already been a banner year for music. The rough draft Best of 12 Playlist I have going already has more than 20 items and I know there's lots more good stuff to come.

There's no reason to give more details about the eight albums I've reviewed so far this year (here and here) but I will say that after living with releases from Breton, Brooklyn Rider, Leonard Cohen, Field Music, Hospitality and Sleigh Bells for several months, only the Leonard Cohen has not demanded much listening. While I'm glad Old Ideas is out and Cohen is still active I just haven't felt compelled by it. The others are all still jockeying for position for that year-end countdown, especially Breton's outstanding debut album.

However, if I had to do a top 10 today, it might look something like this:

1. The Walkmen - Heaven With their sixth album of original songs, Hamilton Leithauser and co. have taken yet another great leap forward. I don't know if Leithauser went to the crossroads and sold his soul to Robin Pecknold, but touring with Fleet Foxes seems to have rubbed off on him and he is firmly one of the great American singers now. Producer Phil Ek has cleared away the wonderful haze of previous records and created a crystalline space for Leithauser to engage in some of the most open-hearted singing of his career. With a set of dynamic and dramatic songs that seem to tap into some ancient through-line of human tradition, this may be their most affecting collection yet. "My gun still shoots and my bird still sings/These tricks are tricks I learned from the king," Leithauser sings on Song For Leigh and who am I to argue?

2. Breton - Other People's Problems and Blanket Rule (EP) Catch them live if you can - they'll be back in NYC in September.

Early orders of Fear Fun came with a bonus CD-R of demos

3. Hilary Hahn & Hauschka - Silfra I've already written extensively about this collaboration in my guest post on The Glass but suffice it to say that this beautiful set of pieces brings some brand new colors into the world. They've inspired some great visuals as well.

4. Father John Misty - Fear Fun In which the man called J. Tillman blossoms into a new persona, joins forces with super-producer Jonathan Wilson and unleashes a barrage of fractured (and sometimes hilarious) Americana. While I'm curious and only slightly concerned about how Fleet Foxes are going to replace him, I am loving this record. Who could deny the wit and wisdom of a guy whose "reality is realer" than yours? And the live show? Non pareil.

5. Quakers - Quakers It was obvious from many of the sounds on Dummy that Geoff Barrow and his Portishead compatriots were hip hop heads from way back. But that didn't make it obvious that Barrow, along with co-Quakers 7-Stu-7 and Katalyst, would come up with a rap classic holding 41 (!) tracks of beats, rhymes and life. Featuring a hand-picked selection of word slingers from both sides of the Atlantic, the short tracks keep it all very fresh and full of surprise. All the voices have something to offer, be it a turn of phrase or a passionate delivery (usually both), but Jonwayne, now also signed to Stones Throw, may be the most likely to blow up big with his debut album. While you're waiting, download a head-nodding mix tape or two from his website.

6. Patrick Watson - Adventures In Your Own Backyard His last album, Wooden Arms, firmly established Watson as an otherworldly singer, a distinctive songwriter, and a sound-sculptor par excellance. Performing with the the Royal Concertgebeouw Orchestra was a very natural extension of his work, and you can't say that for every Canadian dude making a record these days. Perhaps informed by that experience, Adventures... adds a new sense of the epic to his already emotion-filled universe. I don't always agree with the All Songs Considered folks (actually, quite rarely), but when they called his SXSW performance a religious experience, I believed them 100%. Catch Patrick Watson live on July 6 - it's free so no excuses if you're in town.

7. The Darcys - Aja One could be cynical and say that for an obscure Canadian band, covering one of the greatest records of the 70's (hell, the 20th century - let's face it) is a naked bid for attention. But considering the fact that few have tried covering Steely Dan, especially their later work, and most have failed in the attempt, this would be a beyond-quixotic career move. One reason people founder on the shores of the Becker-Fagan archipelago is that they get hung up on the musicianship of their enterprise while ignoring the spectacular songwriting in evidence, full of dark themes and indelible characters. The Darcys are all about the songs, exploring that pitch-black sensibility with a jagged but slinky sound and a seductive near croon. The drum sound is often different on each song but the delightfully nasty guitar is a finely honed weapon in their arsenal that proves surprisingly versatile. While the vocals fall slightly short on Peg, which famously almost sent Michael MacDonald around the bend, this record is a triumph that stands solidly on its own while also deepening one's engagement with Steely Dan's original achievement. Surely you're curious - download it for free.

8. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music A protege of OutKast, Michael Render has been hoeing his row for quite a while, starting with the near-great Monster in 2003. Since then, his output has been somewhat scattershot, featuring indifferent beats and overused lyrical concerns. Last Year's Pl3dge was a move in the right direction, with an often gleaming production and more emotionally engaging lyrics. Now he's hooked up with Brooklyn's own El-P and come up with what must be the greatest producer-rapper combo since Alchemist and Prodigy dropped Return Of The Mac. While he still has a filthy mouth (and mind) Killer Mike is also furiously intelligent and less shy about unleashing his more cerebral side on songs like Reagan and Ghetto Gospel. This is one for the ages - welcome back Killer.

9. Hospitality - Hospitality

10. Brooklyn Rider - Seven Steps

Bubbling Under

Fenster - Bones This German-American hybrid has come up with a charmingly ramshackle sound to set their solidly-constructed songs. This gives the album title a nice double-meaning, referring both to the skeletal production and tunes that stand solidly on their own.

Seth Cluett - Objects of Memory This is the 48th in a series of releases from the LINE imprint featuring the work of "international sound artists and composers exploring the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism" and it is a wild ride, although ambient to the point of recessive. Each disc is a limited edition of 500 so I feel lucky to have stumbled on it while trolling the record stores of DC. Looking forward to further listening, both to this and other items in their catalogue.

Peaking Lights - Lucifer I was going to include their last album 936 in my What I Missed department but then this came out and it's easily their best record. Slightly less rough-hewn than their earlier work but in no way slick, this hypnotic dubbed out stuff is joyfully odd. Who knew Wisconsin had this in it? Fans of Perfume Tree, get on board.

Bon Iver - iTunes Session While this not essential and certainly doesn't replace the live show, it's a good document of the band sound Justin Vernon has been touring behind since the second album came out. It's also nice to have his cover of Bjork's Who Is It. If you're a fan, you'll want it.

Old Stuff

Little Willie John - Complete Hit Singles A's & B's He was James Brown's favorite singer, waxed the first recording of Fever, and delivered 16 top 20 hits on the R&B charts from 1955-1961. In short, the diminutive William John was a huge part of the landscape of popular music for a solid span of time. Naturally, it all ended horribly in 1968 when he died of pneumonia while serving out a manslaughter sentence in Walla Walla penitentiary. James Brown's tribute album that same year was not quite enough to maintain LWJ's spot in the pop firmament and he became nearly forgotten, although he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. The reason he had all those hits, however, was because he was THAT good and Real Gone Music have done a public service with this collection. The remastering is unbelievable, putting you right in the room with this terrific singer and his crack band. While a few of the songs are slightly cheesy, mainly due to unnecessary backing vocals, this is a fabulous reissue.

Simple Minds - X5 This bargain-priced set reminds us that before they went all "streets of Belfast" on us, these guys were one of the best of the post-punk era, with at least three albums of the five included standing the test of time without reservation. While there are no liner notes (Mojo did a nice feature on them earlier this year if you need annotation), there's a heap of bonus tracks.

Can - The Lost Tapes All albums by these krautrocking wizards contain almost equal parts astonishment and frustration and this amazing collection is no different. But the astonishing stuff is at least as good as their best work and the frustrating bits are not uninteresting. Essential and revelatory.

Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974 - 1974 While most of these folks are deservedly neglected by history, Dante Cartegna's fascinating collection of bedroom soul is worth a listen. The Makers track has a great groove and will probably crop up in a few of my mixes, but the sad fact is, for all their ambition, not one of these performers came up with a song as good as Stevie Wonder's pioneering Look Around, which would seem to be the Kubrickian black monolith that catalysed these oddities.

On The Horizon

Prodigy's HNIC3 mix tape was quite good but the real thing comes out July 3rd and I'm expecting excellence. Killing Joke's MMXII has been getting great reviews; I got tired of waiting for a U.S. release and have the import on order. J. Dilla's mom is extending his legacy with Rebirth Of Detroit; the preview mix was scintillating so I'm anticipating the full release. The spectacular Talea Ensemble will be delivering their debut recording, premiering five works by the late Fausto Romitelli - my breath couldn't be more bated. I'm also a proud pledger of new music from Luscious Jackson and Holly Miranda - looking forward to what they come up with.

A Couple I Missed

Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise This limpidly beautiful and mysterious record would certainly have been on my 2011 top ten had I heard it in time. Though it seems I was the last to know about the precocious Mr. Jaar, I'm spreading the word just in case.

Superspies From Outer Space On the planet Umour, a religion has formed around Donald Fagan's Kamakiriad, Ken Nordine's word art and Matt Helm movies. Thanks to producer Kol Marshall, known for his work with the likes of Ministry and Mercyful Fate, we now have a window onto the Umourian world in this witty, jazz-inflected collection.

Whatchu been listening to?

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