Of Note In 2020: Rock, Folk, Etc.

This is the big one - 17 albums that go from gentle and introspective to aggressive and angular. Reviews will be short and to the point, just enough to get you to listen for yourselves. Find tracks from each of these in the 40 For 2020 playlist, alongside selections from recent pieces for Classical, Electronic, Hip Hop, and Jazz. The main playlist for Rock, Folk, Etc. has 10 hours of album tracks and singles and the year isn't even half over. Embrace the overwhelm!

Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman When singles started dropping from this project last year, I had a feeling the album would be one of the best of 2020. Thankfully, the trio of Anais Mitchell, Josh Kaufman, and Eric D. Johnson didn't let the quality slip over the 10 tracks on this remarkable album. As I said on my video review, these songs, some of them centuries old, sound both brand new and like instant old friends. Cameos from Justin Vernon and This Is The Kit only serve to up the level of indie-folk bliss. It was a constant listen when it came out in the halcyon days of January, making it sound only more otherworldly now. Expect it high on my best of the year list and many others.

Jonathan Wilson - Dixie Blur I went deep into the roots, process, and results of Wilson's latest brilliant collection in my article for Rock & Roll Globe - read that if you still haven't yet gotten on board. TL/DR: Some of Wilson's most personal songs yet, given the high-Americana treatment, including the incandescent fiddling of Mark O'Conner and key contributions from Wilco's Pat Sansone, who also co-produces.

Nadia Reid - Out Of My Province Reid has one of those voices that, when you see her live, you can barely believe is emitting, seemingly without effort, from the human being standing in front of you. It's the perfect vehicle for her literate yet raw songs of love, loss, and the aching moments in between. For her first album made outside her native New Zealand, she went to Spacebomb, Matthew E. White's nexus of cosmic American music and it proves to be a heavenly collaboration, with their smart yet soulful horns and strings limning Reid's glorious songs with a warm glow. She may be far from her province, but she sounds right at home.

Aoife Nessa Frances - Land Of No Junction I'd been wondering what became of Cian Nugent since he released Night Fiction in 2016 (one of the best of that decade, donchaknow) when I spotted his name while scanning a Pitchfork newsletter that mentioned this album. It seems that he and Frances had been working on this wonderfully distinctive album for a while, and, besides further expanding our view of Nugent as a crafter of sound, it's a dreamy introduction to a singer-songwriter with a wonderfully hazy style. After a few listens, what at first seemed impossibly diaphanous, like chasing a butterfly's stardust trail, gradually reveals itself to be a deeply informed array of psych-folk gestures in song, all coming from a well of real feeling. Catch up with her solo performance from the Sea Change festival - one of the richest live-streams of the COVID-19 era - and the songs only uncover themselves further. Truly wondrous stuff.

Ocean Music x Jerome Ellis - Morsels After 2019's double-whammy of Troubadour No. 1 - best album of the year - and Fan Fiction For Planet Earth (also incredible) I would not have faulted Richard Aufrichtig for taking 2020 off. But the man is as prolific as he is talented so we have this interesting project, with short fragments of songs intended to be looped, along with a generous selection of bonus material from the Fan Fiction sessions. Even though I'm still waiting for my cassette, which has each fragment looped for 34 seconds, it still works on many levels, with moments of high drama or mellow contemplation each creating a complete universe in less than a minute. The extras, whether demos or b-sides, show off Aufrichtig's range in moving fashion - he's incapable of being insincere or anywhere else than rooted in the moment of his performances - rooted, but flying so free. Fly with him. P.S. I've heard some of his next album, too, and it will go as far, or further, than what we've already heard. Get a preview.

Frazey Ford - U Kin B The Sun I don't know what Vancouver native Ford has been up to in the six years since her last album, but it has done wonders for her art. This is her most direct, focused shot to the heart yet, and the sensitive soul cooked up by her collaborators carries each song like a perfect vessel - kudos to bassist Darren Parris and drummer Leon Power. Political, personal, or poetic, Ford is in rare form here, and now lands at the pinnacle of today's singer-songwriters. Perhaps its time for her to follow Nadia Reid (and Natalie Prass) to Spacebomb - could be mind-blowing!

Hamilton Leithauser - The Loves Of Your Life I don't want to belabor the point, but I really didn't like Leithauser's last album, a failure I lay at the feet of his collaborator, Rostam Batmanglij from the regrettable Vampire Weekend. As word started to trickle out about this album, I was riding a razor's edge, with anticipation and excitement on one side and protection against disappointment on the other. Well, I'm happy to report that, as the sporting announcers say, "It's IN and it's GOOD." Now, I don't want to say I told you so, but there's no question that the return of Paul Maroon to the fold (on six of 11 tracks) has helped bring out the best in Leithauser once more. Yet this is also Leithauser's most self-sufficient album so far - recorded, produced and mixed by him at his home studio, known as the "Struggle Hut," with many songs featuring him as the sole instrumentalist, playing everything from guitars, bass, and drums to glockenspiel and violin. The lyrics are all pithy portraits of various down and outers, a series of missed opportunities and self-inflicted wounds, all drawn with the compassion of a 19th-century novelist. Jeez, this guy is incredible, and I haven't even mentioned that indelible voice - lordy, can he sing. I've already pronounced Black Hours, his first solo album, one of the best of the 2010's - this one will certainly be in the running for the current era.

Honey Cutt - Coasting Led by Kaley Honeycutt, this trio sails in as a lighter-than-air confection of indie jangle with a little bit of quirk to add to the fun. There are moments, too, where the three of them take flight in a manner that suggests they are great live - one day I'll find out for myself. For now, I'll just revel in this delightful sophomore effort that feels very much like a debut.

Soccer Mommy - Color Theory I've kept an eye on Sophie Allison's project since inception, admiring more than loving her indie-rock for it's sheer minimalist competence. It was always an enjoyable listen, but never involving - until now. Color Theory has her slow burn catching complete fire as she opens up her emotional world and lets us in. The music is hotter, too, surrounding her crystalline voice with wraiths of guitar-haze, edging into psychedelia at times, keeping a protective distance from the pain at the core of many of these songs. Even though this is her second official album, it feels like I've met a brand-new artist. Welcome, Soccer Mommy, we've been waiting for you.

Squirrel Flower - I Was Born Swimming I read about Ella O'Conner Williams in Mojo where this was presented as a debut album - the marketing states the same. But a quick dig into Spotify reveals earlier albums, recorded solo, but with her shimmering guitar and gorgeous voice fully present. There's no question, however, that the band format serves her very well, especially with accompaniment this sensitive (including her father, Jesse Williams on bass) and that time has honed her songwriting to a fine point. Whether this is her first album or her third, it's just plain GREAT.

Dana Gavanski - Yesterday Is Gone There's a dignity and restraint to Gavanski's folk-rock that makes you lean in and listen closely. Apparently a late bloomer - she was originally pursuing film - these songs seem born of experience and a long apprenticeship. Already a fully formed artist, the possibilities for what she'll accomplish in the future are thrilling.

Ultraista - Sister Nigel Godrich is known for producing Radiohead, among many other bands, and playing in Thom Yorke side projects like Atoms For Piece. Drummer Joey Waronker, also an Atoms veteran, has played for Beck, Roger Waters, and more. With singer Laura Bettinson, they are Ultraista, and this sleekly propulsive electro-pop album is their second since 2012. Worth the wait, with tighter songwriting, deeper emotions, and the sense of great power held in abeyance. Best of all, it feels truly collaborative - there are no guns for hire in Ultraista, just talented musicians who have found common ground.

Wire - Mind Hive Was it just this year that these post-punk legends, over 40 years into their career, released one of their finest albums? Why yes, it was! Hope you didn't miss it as it gives all the many young bands who have been carrying the legacy forward a run for their collective money. From sleek yet barbed shots across the bow like Cactused to gently pulsing wonders like Unrepentant - as lovely as anything Cluster ever perpetrated - all of their virtues are on display. Long may they reign, etc., etc.

Porridge Radio - Every Bad There's a bit of post-punk in the DNA of this band, not only Wire but also The Raincoats, especially in the way singer-songwriter Dana Margolin wears her heart on her sleeve in a most relatable way. The lyrics are conversational ("And maybe I was born confused/And baby, I was born confused/So I don't know what's going on/Maybe nothing's going on" - Born Confused) but Margolin's use of repetition has a way of heightening the quotidian message, somewhat like The Courtneys did on their brilliant second album. It took them four years to follow up the charms of 2016's Rice, Pasta, and Other Fillers, and while the increase in craft is palpable, I hope we don't have to wait that long for more!

Dogleg - Melee This Michigan band also took four years between their debut and this album, making an even bigger leap in the process, going from a lo-fi solo project for main man Alex Stoitsiadis to a powerhouse trio (Chase Macinski - bass, backing vocals, Parker Grissom - drums, backing vocals) with an impressively massive sound. Even more impressive when you see the modest credit, "Recorded by Alex Stoitsiadis at home" - kid's got talent far beyond strumming and shouting, which he also does really well. Even at high tempos, Grissom finds the groove, and the addition of double bass, trumpet, and violin enlarges the sound further. Add the almost desperate passion of a young Paul Westerberg and you've got a Melee worth diving into.

The Strokes - The New Abnormal As I recently pointed out on an episode of Sound Opinions (they often take my calls, LOL), if you don't accept the fact that Angles is nearly as fantastic as Is This It?, you probably shouldn't be reviewing this album. Or even listening to it for that matter. But if you loved Angles, this will thrill you, with some of Julian Casablancas' most nakedly emotional writing and singing married to sleek yet engaged playing from the rest of the band. Often accused of being rock & roll scavengers, they cleverly spin gold out of rust by bolting together a bit of Modern English's Melt With You and a lot of Billy Idol's Dancing With Myself to arrive at Making Bad Decisions, an instant hit. But they also pursue newer sounds, such as the siren-like guitar and implacable drums of Eternal Summer or the synth-driven At The Door. A triumph for the band and for producer Rick Rubin. 

Lucinda Williams - Good Souls, Better Angels If there is one American musician still working today who has less to prove than Lucinda Williams - and who's not Bob Dylan - I'd like to hear about it. Even so, Williams and her main foil, guitarist Stuart Mathis, come ready to rumble on this, her 12th album of original material. Often using a variety of well-worn blues and Americana structures - but unafraid to invoke The Stooges and The Clash - and fueled by Williams' rage at our current situation, many of these songs reach their apotheosis when Mathis fires off a solo written in pure lightning. While Williams speaks for us in her dissection of the loathsome creature in the White House in Man Without A Soul, she also offers a bulwark against despair in a song like Big Black Train ("I can hear it comin' on down the track/And I don't wanna get onboard"). Williams is also wise enough to use metaphor and allusion to avoid creating songs with built-in expiration dates. Besides, there will always be something to be pissed off and sad about - Williams will have your back no matter what is going on in the headlines. And I can't imagine the catharsis - both on stage and in the crowd - when these songs are unleashed in concert. I hope to be there.

Hear more in the vein of these albums in my Of Note in 2020 (Rock, Folk, Etc.) playlist and make sure to follow it so you can keep up with the wonders yet to come.

 

You may also enjoy:

Best Of 2019: Rock, Folk, Etc. 

Best Of 2018: Rock, Folk, Etc. 

Best Of 2017: Rock, Folk, Etc.

Best Of 2016: Rock, Folk, Etc.

Of Note In 2020: Jazz, Latin, and Global

The train to catch up on 2020's music is on track, although with each station I hit, another station adds itself to the itinerary as more great music continues to be released. But no matter. This leg of the journey is stoked by three albums, two that fall under jazz and one that (for lack of a better term) falls under global. The main playlist has plenty of other goodies for your listening pleasure, but these were the ones that kept me coming back. You can find samples from each in the 40 For 2020 playlist, along with tracks from previous posts focusing on Classical, Electronic, and Hip Hop.



Wayne Escoffery - The Humble Warrior For most people, having a colleague tell them that their nephew is a musician would be an excuse to exit stage right. When that happened to me a couple of years ago, however, I a beeline back to my office to check it out. That's how I discovered this supremely skilled and passionate sax player and his album Vortex. His new one finds him exploring new areas while paying homage to his own roots and that of the music itself. For the former, he's created a searching, expansive take on Benjamin Britten's Missa Brevis, which he heard as a child growing up in London, where he sang with the Trinity Boys Choir. For the latter, his own composition Chain Gang reflects the role of work songs and slave chants in the DNA of jazz. Fittingly, it opens with a Coltrane-like voluntary, heralding in a powerfully involving piece. As on Vortex, his band is all in, especially pianist David Kikoski, who sparkles throughout. Guitarist David Gilmore (not Gilmour!) and trumpet legend Randy Brecker lend a hand to the Britten tracks, giving more foils for Escoffery's reed to work against. If more mainstream jazz was this good I would listen to more mainstream jazz.

Makaya McCraven and Gil Scott-Heron - We're New Again: A Reimagining In 2011, Jamie XX spun spooky electronic gold out of I'm New Here, Scott-Heron's somewhat misshapen final album. Now to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original, Chicago's avatar of the new jazz scene has reimagined the album entirely with all new backing tracks for Scott-Heron's gravelly reflections - and came up with another winner. Aided by crack players like Jeff Parker (guitar) and Brandee Younger (harp) and driven by McCraven's percussion, it refers back to the master's albums with Brian Jackson while the addition of Ben Lamar Gay's diddley bow seems to take it to a more elemental place. Not only does this album honor Scott-Heron's extraordinary legacy, it's also the most convincing work McCraven has yet released. A remarkable and riveting achievement.

Yorkston/Thorne/Khan - Navarasa : Nine Emotions In 2016, I put this trio's Everything Sacred in the "rock, folk, etc." category but as Suhail Yusuf Kahn's voice and sarangi are even more to the fore this time, I'm putting it here. The title refers to a Sanskrit theory of the various emotions expressed by the performing arts and each of the nine tracks represents one sentiment. Even so, it's a consistently contemplative album, with its highest spirits reserved for the second track, The Shearing's Not For You, with James Yorkston singing what sounds like an ancient Scottish folk song. With each release, the polyglot trio's vision sounds ever more gorgeous and full of natural affinities between cultures. There's no better example of that than Westlin' Winds, which combines the Pakistani devotionals of the Qawwali tradition with the poetry of Robert Burns. If you're still unfamiliar with Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, start here but by all means trace the journey back through all three albums.

Make sure to follow this playlist to see what else gets added in these genres.



You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2019: Jazz, Latin, and Global

Best Of 2018: Jazz, Latin, and Global
Double Bass, How Low Can You Go
Bayeté's World

Of Note In 2020: HIp Hop, RnB, and Reggae

As is typical for these genres, the main Of Note playlist is dominated by singles, many of which I hope bear LP-sized fruit later in the year, like those from Isaiah Rashad and (especially) Frank Ocean. For now, I want to draw your attention to an EP and two albums that have really grabbed me. Tracks can be found in the 40 For 2020 playlist, alongside those from recent posts on Classical and Electronic releases.



Charlotte Dos Santos - Harvest Time Where her divine 2017 album Cleo showcased her limber, multi-octave voice in a variety of styles, including jazz, cha-cha, and electronic R&B, the five songs here solidify what might be called the "Dos Santos" style, where all those genres melt together in one dreamy melange. Part of her skill set is also conceiving of complex vocal arrangements, which she then executes through flawless multi-tracking. There's an insular, self-sufficient feeling to Dos Santos's music, only making it seem more of a privilege to be invited into her world.

Pop Smoke - Meet The Woo 2 (Deluxe) Even knowing this once-emerging rapper is dead, killed in a home invasion in February, doesn't make it any less convincing when he says, "I said, I feel invincible" on the opening cut to his second mixtape. That's a tribute to his gravitas, which must be the mark of an old soul as he was only 20 when he died. According to several writers at Complex, he's also still the King Of New York, which is a credit to his talent and a commentary on the state of hip hop in its foundational city. But he's not wearing a crown by default. Working within the confines of Brooklyn Drill, which is what came of trap when it pinged to London and then ponged to Chicago before rolling into BK, he brings an immediately arresting authority to his flow, even when he spitting some filthy bars. But it's that weight and menace that makes you hang on every syllable, along with the way he weaves his word through the spacious beats. Apparently there's an official debut album in the can. Until we hear that, Meet The Woo 2 will serve as both a legacy of what he accomplished and a promise of how much more he had to offer.

Jay Electronica - A Written Testimony As you may or may not know (and probably care even less) I don't think much of Jay Z, although when he's on a Kanye West record (or collaborating as on Watch The Throne) he brings the heat. So the fact that he's on eight of ten tracks here and I still love it is as much as I do is a tribute to how awesome this album is. Jay Electronica is a font of creativity, whether sampling Fripp & Eno on Ezekiel's Wheel, one of six songs he produced, or rhyming with polished density as on the first verse of The Neverending Story: "Have you ever heard the tale of/The noblest of gentlemen who rose up from squalor?/Tall, dark, and decked out in customary regalia/Smellin' like paraphernalia/Hailin' from the home of Mahalia." Islam is woven throughout but it doesn't rub this atheist the wrong way, just adding an air of mystique and depth. Hopefully we don't have to wait 10 years for his next album, but A Written Testimony will likely have significant staying power.

Dig in to everything I'm tracking in these genres with the Of Note In 2020 (Hip Hop, R&B, and Reggae) playlist - and let me know what I'm missing.



You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2019: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Best Of 2018: Hip Hop, RnB and Reggae
Best Of 2017: Hip Hop, RnB and Reggae
Best Of 2016: Hip Hop and RnB

Of Note In 2020: Electronic

Continuing on in my efforts to catch up with 2020, are the six electronic albums that have called me back the most. Listen to tracks from all them here or below, along with samples from the last post. For a wider view, scroll down for the full Of Note In 2020 (Electronic) playlist.

Roger Eno & Brian Eno - Mixing Colors Roger's name is first on this gleaming collection of electronic miniatures so I'm going to credit him with adding both melody and concision, two elements often lacking from Brian's recent albums. That's not always a bad thing, as no one else can put together an hour of generative ambiance like Eno did with Lux near the beginning of the last decade. But it was no accident that it was his more songful Small Craft On A Milk Sea that wound up on my list of the best of the 2010's. Mixing Colors is charming throughout, even nodding to Satie at times, and a dazzling display of textural variety. Even when Roger's piano comes to the fore, the sonics are likely the product of many wise choices. It's too easy to take Eno's genius for granted these days and not appreciate the music for what it is. Lose yourself in Mixing Colors long enough and who made it won't matter - but your environment may be transformed.

Seabuckthorn - Through A Vulnerable Occur If a shaft of light powers through a dense thicket to the forest floor, does it make a sound? Probably not, but if it did it might sound like this gorgeous album from Andy Cartwright. As he did on his last, A House With Too Much Fire, Cartwright treats his guitar and various other stringed instruments, building them up with loops and layers into something both monumental and diaphanous. While his music is great at painting pictures inside my eyelids, for some external visual information take a look at the accompanying art book by Australian photographer Sophie Gabrielle. You may just find it the perfect gift for that special someone with adventurous tastes. That special someone may also be you. I won't judge! Either way, delve into the world of Seabuckthorn however you can as there is literally no one else doing what he does.

Beatrice Dillon - Workaround You could breeze through this album and think all the tracks, though beautiful, are kind of the same. But further listening reveals nuances among the eely bass lines, crisp percussion, and chill keyboards. Clever samples abound, like the tabla of Kuljit Bhamra or the cello of Lucy Railton, but the experience is all Dillon and it is sublime. I'm no audio snob but I really lost myself in the sound when it bloomed in my Grado SR60 headphones, which is now my preferred method to listen to this dazzling debut.

Matt Evans - New Topographics Mea culpa - in a post earlier this year I called Evans "one of the best drummers alive," which is now revealed by this astonishing album as a severe undersell. Not only is Evans a master percussionist (catch him with Tigue or Bearthoven) but he is a deep thinker and sonic architect like few others. Taking inspiration from the high-concept thoughts of Timothy Morton, which classify massive classes of sometimes immaterial things - climate, the internet, styrofoam - as "hyperobjects," and a Richard Brautigan poem that pictures us "freed" to rejoin our mammal cousins while being babysat by robots, Evans constructs little landscapes of sound out of field recordings, percussion, and electronics. There's a cinematic structure to the album, too, with the bright, busy charms of the first three tracks giving way to the tense, nervous mood of Cold Moon. By the end, an equilibrium is reached, but it remains ambiguous. That's what I heard, anyway, you can choose just to toy with the marvelous textures as they go by. This also sounds great on headphones, but almost seems mastered for laptop - listening on my MacBook creates a space where sounds are spread in a radius of at least two feet. Or maybe infinity, held back only by my own biology. Don't let yours hold you back from hearing this masterpiece.

Nnux - Ciudad The project of Ana López-Reyes, Nnux was one of my favorite discoveries of 2018, and this short album is yet another example of why she grabbed me from first listen. The incantatory singing and nearly baroque electronics are in full force on several of the tracks, but I also hear new developments. She's giving her voice more room to breathe in parts, while also revealing more of her Mexican heritage on something like the title song, which has the ghosts of old ballads in its DNA. It's been a thrilling experience to be in Nnux's slipstream the last couple of years and I suggest you join me.

Yaeji - What We Drew Queens-born, raised in Seoul and now based in Brooklyn, Yaeji has been scattering singles and mixtapes like sweet little crumbs over the last several years, building a following that includes over one million monthly listeners on Spotify. Now she gives all those hungry ears the full cake with her delightful debut album. Pulling on at least the last 40 years of electronically-infused song craft, from house and drum'n'bass to hip hop and more avant garde realms, she proves the ruler of all she surveys, bringing a deliciously light touch to every tone, texture, and melody.

Keep up with everything I'm tracking in this category - and whatever comes next - here or below.

You may also enjoy:
Best of 2019: Electronic
Best of 2018: Electronic
Best of 2017: Electronic
Best of 2016: Electronic

Of Note In 2020: Classical

Not to undersell it, but this has been one crazy year. I don't need to explain it either, because everyone is going through it simultaneously. I would like to clear the air a little about the status of AnEarful, however, as posts have been few and far between in 2020. This is due to a variety of factors, none of which have anything to do with the lack of engagement in all the wonderful music that's come out so far this year. Since I do much of my writing on the train to and from work (not to mention while traveling to concerts!) shifting to working from home each day has had an impact on my productivity.

There's also the fact that my full-time job is working in the Office of Development at the Mount Sinai Health System, which for the last many weeks has been solely focused on confronting the impact of the pandemic. This has meant longer hours - occasionally spilling over into the weekends - and intense days as we power through to write the documents our fundraisers need to meet the demand created by being at the epicenter of the epicenter. One result of this is that after a long day of all COVID all the time, often the last thing I want to do is sit in front of the computer some more and write about music. Sometimes I just need to zone out in front of the TV.

Then there was the looming project of my best of the decade list. While I knew I would never finish that in December, I had planned to get it done in January and the longer it hung out there, the more I felt I had to finish it before approaching new releases. As you likely already know, I GOT IT DONE, people! And I'm mightily satisfied with it, too.

Now is the time to move on and be firmly present in THIS decade, which has already produced an enormous amount of great music. As usual, my cup runneth over. To keep track, I'm maintaining my usual Spotify playlists, which gather the music I consider "of note," starting with a general one and then broken down by genre. I also have another secret playlist I've been building of the 40 records that have been continual companions since they came out, bearing repeat listens and revealing more glories each time. Starting now and over the next days and weeks I will be sharing what has risen to the top in each genre while also encouraging you to explore the full "of note" playlists. Here goes!

The Of Note In 2020 (Classical) playlist is now clocking over 30 albums. Eleven of my favorites are listed below. Subscribe now to the 40 For 2020 playlist for tracks from all these albums and to see what I add from other genres as I write about them in the coming weeks.




Ekmeles - A Howl, That Was Also A Prayer I think this was the first new album I received in 2020 and one listen in I knew we were going to be fine, musically speaking. I was aware of this ridiculously talented and adventurous vocal ensemble for a while but hearing their work on Zosah di Castri's insanely great Tachitipo (2019) brought them into sharp focus. This album should do the same for many more people. Even before I heard it I was psyched as not only did they record a new work by Christopher Trapani, but they have more from Taylor Brook's deeply eccentric response to David Ohle's deeply eccentric sci-fi novel Motorman, last heard in a stunning performance of Four Weather Reports by the Tak Ensemble on Ecstatic Music (2016). Just as there, we have the extraordinarily expressive voice of Charlotte Mundy to set the tone, and she somehow makes everything approachable. You won't soon grow tired of Brook's intricate scoring, which offers new crevices to explore each time. 

Trapani's piece, End Words, combines the six voices with electronics in seamless fashion to limn the words of three poets, Anis Mojgani, Clara Shuttleworth, and John Ashbery, all of whom employ sestina form. The harmonies are often close, giving it a jazzy spin slightly reminiscent of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross. But this is no pastiche - merely Trapani serving notice of his preeminence as one of the most original composers of today. His intellectual questing is always grounded in deep humanism and not a little wit, all these factors combining marvelously here as they they did in Waterlines. Between Brook and Trapani is Erin Gee's wordless Three Scenes From Sleep, which uses extended techniques to explore with great creativity the murmurings of the unconscious mind in various stages of sleep. Ekmeles, under the sure direction of Jeffrey Gavett, toss it off with both precision and freedom, as they do on every track of this explosive debut album. 

Y Music - Ecstatic Science Putting a Missy Mazzoli piece on your album will always get my attention, and her title track (2016) has many of her trademark harmonic ambiguities and shifting dynamics. It's one of the more shaded pieces on the collection, which has an overall feeling of good cheer. The centerpiece is Caroline Shaw's three-part Draft Of A High Rise, a nearly pastoral soundscape that makes fine use of the warm tonalities to which these players seem drawn. Also featured are works by Gabriella Smith and Paul Wiancko, with the latter's Thous&ths (2015) boasting some exceptional trumpet scoring - and superb playing by CJ Camerieri.

Tak Ensemble - Scott L. Miller: Ghost Layers I always like to be in the know so I was racking my brain in the hopes that this isn't my first exposure to Miller. Now I just have to accept that I was behind the curve on this brilliant composer's work. How did I miss Raba from 2018?? Anyhoo, I'm here now and I couldn't wish for finer companions than the TAK Ensemble, who bring their usual commitment, technique, and passion to these seven mostly electro-acoustic chamber pieces. Eidolon may be my favorite, with its drones, sparkles, and theatrical creaks and clicks, but each one contains wonders. Let's all work together to make Miller a household name. Also, subscribe NOW to Tak's podcast - it's the bomb.

Quarterly - Pomegranate The duo of Kristen Drymala (cello) and Christopher DiPietro (guitar, hammered lap steel) have also been under my radar, with their first album coming out in 2016, but I'm glad to know them now as this EP is simply lovely. They combine folk and classical traditions in a way that Penguin Cafe Orchestra fans would recognize, but without that group's occasional over-reliance on puckishness and repetition. That's a long way of saying you will be absorbed and transported by their gentle and melodic string-weaving and, like me, will look forward to exploring their earlier albums.

Barbora Kolářová - Imp In Impulse With a name like "Pascal Le Boeuf" it seems you would have to write a piece called Imp In Impulse, which receives its premiere recording here in a spectacular performance by violinist Kolářová. She's played everywhere with everyone but this is her solo debut and it should firmly put her on the map as an artist with as much personality as skill. Le Boeuf's piece, which was written for her, is not only impish but also at times approaches the gravity of Medieval plainchant to sublime effect. Other violinists should be flooding his inbox with commissions based on this recording. They can try to top Kolářová if they dare. Jean Françaix's Theme with 8 Variations for Solo Violin (1980) also has impish moments, especially when he goes for the pizzicato, but there are also shades of folk fiddle and knotty moments for a remarkable range of moods throughout. It's apparently rarely performed but the sheer delight Kolářová displays should change that. The album closes with Klement Slavický's Partita for Solo Violin, which takes Bach's model and updates it a bit, but not so much that the great man would find it unrecognizable. All those places and players used to working with Kolářová may find her datebook a little fuller than usual with solo performances once normal concert life resumes!

Richard Valitutto - Nocturnes & Lullabies Over the course of this album's eight premieres, Valitutto creates an almost entirely new landscape of piano music and sound. Mind you, the piano is unprepared and no electronics are involved - it's just the killer use of dynamics and attack along with pedal deployment of nearly unreal expertise. Notably, Valitutto also co-produced the record (with Nick Tipp) - clearly a man who knows what he wants! The pieces range from Rebecca Saunders' drama-laced Shadow (2013) and Wolfgang von Schweinitz's blocky but mellow Plainsound Lullaby (2014) to Linda Catlin Smiths chiming A Nocturne (1995), for a truly fascinating journey. 

Cenk Urgün - Sonare & Celare If Valitutto was waxing nocturnal, the first of these two single-movement string quartets by Urgün go him one further into dark night of the soul territory. Performed with frightening dedication by the JACK Quartet, who never seem to put a horsehair wrong, Sonare is a mostly ultra-rhythmic, skirling stringscape that may raise the hairs on the back of your neck. In his notes, Urgün somewhat clinically describes "building near-static sound fields made up of repeated patterns, sustained tones, and what can be called islands of sound: brief sound events surrounded by silence." Clearly he wants you to find your own way emotionally, but the power of Sonare is very real. Celare is calmer, even lyrical at times, but remains spartan enough that you never get too comfortable. Whether your introduction to Urgün's methods and sound world, or just another chapter in the JACK's ongoing pursuit of excellence, this is not a record you will easily forget.

The String Orchestra Of Brooklyn - Afterimage Christopher Cerrone's High Windows (2013) opens this debut from the SOB in glorious fashion, doing justice to the stained glass that inspired the piece. Also cleverly sampling a Paganini caprice, High Windows is further proof of Cerrone's multifarious talents, even if it's not  as momentous as what he presented on last year's The Pieces That Fall To Earth. Led by Eli Spindel, the SOB and guests the Argus Quartet play with wonderful delicacy, finding cohesion in the spare textures. Jacob Cooper's Stabat Mater Dolorosa (2009) includes Melissa Hughes (soprano) and Kate Maroney (mezzo-soprano) and is almost ambient as it traverses - for nearly 30 minutes - a "time-stretched" variation of Pergolesi’s first movement for his Stabat Mater (1736). Including bits of Paganini and Pergolesi to end the album makes sense only for a scholar, but that's a minor quibble.

Clarice Jensen - The Experience Of Repetition As Death If you want to keep Jacob Cooper's mood going, skip the old stuff on Afterimage and play this gorgeously meditative album. Jensen, the Artistic & Executive Director of ACME, further comes into her own as  creator of exquisite music for cello and electronics, looping and layering her instrument to come up with a string orchestra of her own. As the title hints, Jensen has some dark thoughts on her mind and any of these five pieces would not be out of place soundtracking images of peril and suspense. Find your story within.

Luis Ianes - Instrucciones De Uso Paying homage to the late Georges Perec and his monumental novel, La vie mode d’emploi (Life, A User's Manual), is not something that happens often enough, so kudos to Ianes for injecting him into the conversation. Beyond all that, Ianes is a marvelous guitarist on either acoustic or electric instruments, conjuring all kinds of woody plucks and strums and shimmering chords for a quirky, engaging listen.

Ted Hearne & Saul Willams - Place This big, bold, bombshell of an album builds on seeds Hearne and Williams planted on last year's remarkable Hazy Heart Pump, driving further into an intersection of chamber music, electronic, R&B, spoken word, jazz, hip hop, and progressive rock, only to arrive in a uniquely addictive spot. There are powerful ideas here, too, thoughts about gentrification, family, masculinity, social justice, and more, but they never outweigh the music. The collage-like blend of sounds and voices comes together through the blazing artistry of the singers and players, caught here in an incandescent performance that is at least partially live (the booklet is short on details). I could as easily write a haiku or a book about this rara avis of a record. It truly must be heard to be believed. 


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