Record Roundup: Autumn Flood, Pt. 3

Like I said, it's been a busy fall so far. And with the "best of" lists right around the corner, this will have to be the last installment! Catch up with Part 1 and Part 2 and press play on the updated playlist here or below.

Matt Evans - Soft Science Percussionist, programmer, producer, and composer Evans continues to build on his remarkable discography with this third solo album. In fact, after the fizzy electronica of New Topographics and the complex and emotional soundscapes of Touchless, this may be the most well-rounded of the three. You get the full flavor of his polyrhythmic approach to the drum kit along with his marvelously distinctive and expressive curation of electronic sound, all woven together in a seamless and consistently compelling series of pieces. A perfect example is the opening cut, Saprotrophia, which incepts with a breathy synth before Evans unleashes a busy drum pattern that becomes like the verse of a wordless song and has me hanging on every note. A more abstract chorus (or is it the bridge?) provides respite before the drums kick back in, leaving me breathless. As he puts it, the albums is "mostly-not-chill" although some songs are more groove-oriented. And the finale, Alocasia, is fully chill, with droning synths and hand-percussion providing an underpinning for the gorgeous sax of David Lackner (check out YAI if you want more of him), leaving us in the perfect state to reflect on the marvels we just heard. 

Charlotte Dos Santos - Morfo While we were treated to a five-song EP in 2020, it's been a bit of wait since Dos Santos' delicious debut, Cleo, came out in 2017. If anything, her music has grown even more exquisite and expansive since then, morphing (hence the title?) ever closer to jazz, but never committing fully to any genre. Her voice remains a limber and delicate wonder that she employs with greater confidence than ever. Filha Do Sol is but one standout that shows off everything she can do, with a sinuous opening section that transits through a flute solo as it slow builds towards an abrupt shift into a Brazilian parade rhythm that has Dos Santos' declaiming in Portuguese with a sense of triumphant homecoming. Just one stunning musical vision out of the baker's dozen that make up this remarkable album.

Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork After several EPs and singles and a smashing debut, I suppose I should stop being surprised by Dry Cleaning's ability to find new avenues of invention while staying within the basic idea that Florence Shaw speak-sings evocative, fractured lyrics while guitarist Tom Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard, and drummer Nick Buxton cook up colorful, post-punk informed surroundings for her musings. But here are 11 new songs that do just that, with Dowse and Maynard adding new colors to their palettes, like the chorused, arpeggiated guitar on Kwenchy Kups, or the funky, churning bass on Hot Penny Day. The instrumentation has also expanded, with keyboards and woodwinds making appearances. Shaw herself pushes into new territory, with an almost gentle (and charmingly off-key) croon on some songs, like Gary Ashby. Her lyrics also continue to confound and enchant in equal measure, as in the internal monologue/dialogue that forms the chorus of Kwenchy Kups: "Well, things are shit, but they're gonna be okay/And I'm gonna see the otters/There aren't any otters/There are/Well, we can check/And I'm gonna see the water caterpillar/There's no such thing, hmm?/Nice idea." And then there's Conservative Hell, which puts all their despair into the way Shaw phrases the chorus before ending with the bruised optimism of "I wanted to thank you for organizing the Edinburgh trip/Which apart from what happened to my Kindle, was amazing!/No one ever believed in me until your semi-circle eyes." It's details like that Kindle that elevate Shaw's work to that of literature. Gimme more.

Warhaus - Ha Ha Heartbreak With this third album, Maarten Devoldere's solo discography has now taken shape as a trilogy. The first, 2016's titanic We Fucked A Flame Into Being depicted a bad boy reveling in success and all its various infatuations. The self-titled sophomore album from 2017 was warmer, finding our man in love, if not in a completely uncomplicated way. Hopefully the five years since were happy ones. But we knew it couldn't last, hence this breakup song cycle that uses some of the sound world of Philly Soul and disco to limn Devoldere's sorrows. Amid the sweeping strings and funky percussion are the typically dramatic hallmarks of the Warhaus sound, horn blasts, scratchy guitars, and of course, Devoldere's husky burr, which imparts such wisdom as "'Cause someone should have left me like you did/Just someone, someone else instead/But it had to be you" with a casualness that's almost conversational. Even in a melancholy state, Devoldere can't help being darkly entertaining, as in Desire when he sings "There’s the god for your inner peace/The god of lust has him on a leash/The one who tripped and then fell from grace/And the one who’s renting out the place." Whatever the state of Devoldere's love life, he can rest assured that his place in the musical firmament of our time is ever more assured with this latest flash of brilliance.

Arctic Monkeys - The Car After the left turn of Tranquility Base Hotel And Casino in 2018, which saw Alex Turner and company leave the jagged post-punk and groovy hard rock of their previous albums for (as I wrote) "spacious arrangements of burbling bass, chamber-pop keyboards and witty drums," the sky really was the limit for the band. And while some question whether that album and this one are really Turner solo projects, the fact remains that when he needs to finalize his ideas, he turns to the same guys he's been working with all along. He also needs them to take it on the road, which they do quite successfully as the recent live film from Brooklyn's King's Theater made plain. But even there, Turner proved himself scarily talented and dominant, often driving the band with his guitar - tart, dense, funky, or soaring, as the songs require - and holding the spotlight with his charisma and conviction. If Tranquility Base presented the Arctics as essentially a new band, then they show no sign of sophomore slump on The Car. Adding elements of R&B and funk warm up the feel of the album and the songs are again cinematic, with a way of worming their way into your heart and mind over time. The album's themes can be summed up in I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am, which finds Turner (or his protagonist) feeling out of place amidst hollow displays of luxury and false camaraderie: "It's the intermission/Let's shake a few hands/Blank expressions invite me to suspect/I ain't quite where I think I am/Stackable party guests/To fill the awkward silencеs." That "stackable party guests" line is just one of many, many examples of how Turner's brilliant lyricism continues to be a hallmark of the band, as the driving beat, sharp wah wah guitar, and massed choral vocals show them pushing into new territory to match the mood. For any fans who deserted the Arctic Monkeys when Tranquility Base came out, it is truly their loss as they just keep getting better and better. And, to the new fans (like my wife!), I say welcome to the wonderful world of Alex Turner.

Dazy - OUTOFBODY Their early singles were exciting enough to get me to Indieplaza early to catch the New York debut of this Richmond, VA noise pop band. Their set was a delightful blast of tune-laden distortion and they've totally delivered on that promise with this 12-song, 25-minute debut. All the songs are catchy and some, like On My Way and Rollercoaster Ride, are EXTREMELYCATCHY. Get to this STAT so you, too, can say you were up on Dazy early. 

The Stargazer Lilies - Cosmic Tidal Wave On their self-produced fifth album, these psychedelic shoegazers seem to have internalized whatever they learned from working with Tobacco (of Black Moth Super Rainbow) on Occabot (read it backwards), further expanding their sound without losing the focus on melody. John Cep's guitar playing has grown even more adventurous, with soaring lines dramatically emerging from the haze. He's also upped his keyboard game, with ever-groovier synth/guitar interactions. Kim Field's vocals are still evocative, almost shamanic, as she sings into the storm of sound, driven on by the majestic drums of Carissa Giard. In short, this is one heckuva band and they deserve wider uptake among discerning listeners - and isn't that you?

Pale Dian - Feral Birth Six years on from their debut, Narrow Birth, this Austin-based "nightmare pop" band - mostly the project of Ruth Smith - has left behind most of what made that one sound a bit over-familiar, if still powerful. The addition of space, elegance, and a dynamic range that has some songs delivering hammer blows like an epic soundtrack, is evidence of newfound confidence as they cut loose from their influences. MeLt, for example, is an excursion into post-punk atmospherics with touches of glossy reggae - all very unexpected from them, but still seeming inevitable. A song like True Love even shows a pop sensibility that will find first-time listeners quickly converted into fans. If this is an "auditory emotional sample for futures to come," as Smith describes it, I say bring it on.

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Record Roundup: Guitars, Guitars, Etc.

Best Of 2021: The Top 25

As wild a ride as 2020 was, at least it had some kind of trajectory. We were learning to live with a pandemic, taking action to put it in the rearview. We were rallying to the cause of dumping Trump. There were fears and challenges aplenty along the way, but also a narrative to which our storytelling genes could give shape. Then came 2021, with so many neck-snapping reversals for every step forward that any shape the story had would resemble that of the path of a worm chewing its way through wood. 

Fortunately, there was no shortage of new music, including dozens of albums that I leaned on like a crutch. I am filled gratitude once again for all the players, writers, singers, producers, labels, and other elements of this delicate ecosystem who were able to keep going. Still, I worry about some who seem to have dropped away, like Novelty Daughter, Natalie Prass, and Jane Church, and hope they are OK. And while I was glad to see some semblance of a return to concerts and touring, I only attended a handful of shows as I am as yet unable to project myself into an indoor space crowded with my fellow music lovers. It was a privilege to see the shows I attended, all of which were outdoors. 

It's hard to say how the lack of the additional dimension a live performance can provide to a piece of music is affecting my devotion to the artists I follow, but I can only work with what I have. I can be certain that my feelings for the 25 albums below - and the many others I will share in genre-specific lists - are as strong as any other year. I hope you find some measure of comfort, joy, inspiration, validation, energy, and all the things you look for in music in these miraculous releases. 

All of the albums below - except one - were written about in previous posts; click through to read my original review. Listen to selections from all of them in this playlist or below to get the flavor of each release as you explore. While my use of Spotify is certainly fraught with concern about how artists are paid, it has also connected me to music I might never have heard, which I have gone on to support in a myriad of ways. I urge you to do the same should you hear something you love. We need all hands on deck to keep the lifeblood of music flowing!

1. Fruit Bats - The Pet Parade

2. Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing It Note: M.C. Taylor also gifted us with a most supremely chill holiday album in O Come All Ye Faithful, featuring gorgeous originals like Hung Fire and Grace alongside covers of everything from Joy To The World and Silent Night to Woody Guthrie's Hanukkah Dance and CCR's As Long As I Can See The Light. The deluxe edition came with a separate disc of dubbed out versions, also available here, that are absorbing, immersive, and some of my favorite music ever from Hiss.  

3. Scott Wollschleger & Karl Larson - Dark Days

4. Jane Weaver - Flock

5. Elsa Hewitt - Lupa

6. Eye Knee Records Note: This is not an album but a series of remarkable singles released by Holly Miranda, Amb. Parsley, and Chris Maxwell's new collective label. Ranging from sweetly hilarious to delicate and from devastating to inspiring, they made for an incredible playlist that became a crucial listen for me. I can't suggest more strongly that you get yourself to their Bandcamp site to buy all these songs and make your own playlist!

7. Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever Note: Having signed on for a month of Disney+ to watch Get Back, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to watch Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles, which featured stunning orchestral versions of every song from Eilish's sophomore album. Played by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the engaged direction of Gustavo Dudamel and with string arrangements by David Campbell, the reworks were exquisitely sensitive to the songs and further convinced me of their elemental strength. I can only hope for an audio-only release of the concert!

8. Raoul Vignal - Years In Marble

9. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises

10. Mallu Magalhães - Esperança

11. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg

12. Spektral Quartet - Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Enigma

13. Domenico Lancellotti - Raio

14. Madlib - Sound Ancestors

15. Summer Like The Season - Hum

16. Wavefield Ensemble - Concrete & Void

17. Faye Webster - I Know I'm Funny HaHa

18. Tyler, The Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost

19. The Muckers - Endeavor

20. Amy Helm - What The Flood Leaves Behind

21. Ben Seretan - Cicada Waves

22. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview On Phenomenal Nature

23. Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince

24. Courtney Barnett - Things Take Time, Take Time My heart sank the first time I listened to this, her third album. Where was the low-slung bass of Bones Sloane and the locked-in drumming of Dave Mudie? Where was Dan Lunscombe to provide guitar and keyboard interplay? Why did she choose to work with Stella Mozgawa from the perpetually underwhelming Warpaint? Now, I knew some of those choices were due to the multiple lockdowns in Australia during the pandemic, but still, I was disappointed with what I was hearing. But two songs grabbed me initially and kept me coming back until the whole album just snapped into place. The first of these was Here's The Thing, the most vulnerable song she's ever recorded, filled with romantic yearning - a color that has been mostly absent from her wonderfully clever songwriting. The second was Turning Green, which has some creative drum machine deployment, meditative keyboards, and builds slowly to a terrific guitar solo, abstract and angular yet restrained. The lyrics reveal a sort-of love song ("You've been around the world/Lookin' for the perfect girl/Turns out she was just livin' down the street) that in its series of missed connections seems never far from current events. Take It Day By Day is the perfect prescription for these times, with a chorus that reminds us never to take the survival of others (or ourselves) in isolation for granted: "Tuesday night, I'm checking in/Just to see how you're going/Are you good? Are you eating?/I'll call you back next week." There's more variety here than on her last album and a bravery to the way she's just putting herself out there, with no attempt to conceal her fears or enervation in the face of all that's gone on these last two years. Also, the stripped back intimacy of the production foregrounds some of Barnett's most well-developed melodies and seems to welcome a personal connection to the record, making it feel like a dispatch from a friend. It's Barnett's best album since her debut. As the title instructs, give it the time it deserves and you just might feel the same.

25. UV-TV - Always Something

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Best Of 2017: The Top 25
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Best Of 15: The Top 20
Best Of 14 (Part 1)
Best Of 14 (Part 2)
Best Of 2013
The Best Of 12: Part One
The Best Of 12: Part Two
The Best Of 11
Best Of Ten
A Blog Is Born: Best Of 2009

The Best Of 2021 (So Far)

The year's halfway point is a good opportunity to take stock of the music that has been animating my year, some of which I haven't had a chance to write about yet. As always, what constitutes the "best" is simply what has demanded repeat listening because of the way it connects to my heart, soul, brain, and body, not necessarily due to a higher level of "excellence" than the other music I've written about. Here goes nothin'!

Previously covered albums are linked to their original review. Click play here or on the playlist below to listen while you read.

1. Fruit Bats - The Pet Parade

2. Hiss Golden Messenger - Quietly Blowing It

3. Scott Wollschleger & Karl Larson - Dark Days

4. Elsa Hewitt - Lupa "Rivers and streams feeding my dreams," Hewitt sings in Car In The Sun, a line that captures everything I love about her music. Part of the reality of flowing water is that it's "never the same twice" - but, just as the Thames is always the Thames, Hewitt's music is always an invitation to a universe of wondrously hazy electronic ethereality, familiar from album to album, but never precisely the same. The fact that I'm quoting lyrics when talking about Lupa is one aspect of what makes it a new step for her: eight of the nine tracks have lyrics, when usually the opposite is true. Often any singing she does is wordless, another texture in the layers of gauze she assembles. While she's still swathing her voice in reverb, you can read along with the words either on Bandcamp or within the j-card of the limited-edition cassette. Just as her music maps out a luscious interiority, occasionally defined by beats, her lyrics have the immediacy of conversation and the intimacy of a journal entry, like these opening words from Howl: "What am I up to?/I'm just upstairs, trying to cope with/Heavy wordless love in my chest/How do I continue? How?" In addition to this extra content, the rhythms are often more intricate and defined than they have been, a drift towards the shiny lights of pop music, and one which feels entirely organic. Squirrelex opens with another lyric that feels like a mission statement: "i am warm but not too warm/i am on a journey that i adore/i am like a shaman on mtv/the cameras obstructed by fog." I adore her journey, too, in all its warmth, chill, and fog.

5. Tak Ensemble - Taylor Brook: Star Maker Fragments

6. Jane Weaver - Flock

7. Domenico Lancelotti - Raio

8. Madlib - Sound Ancestors

9. Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises

10. Sō Percussion and Friends - Julius Eastman: Stay On It

11. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg

12. Wavefield Ensemble - Concrete & Void

13. Faye Webster - I Know I'm Funny HaHa In my review of her third album, Atlanta Millionaire's Club, I noted that Webster could almost be Natalie Prass's little sister. Now, on her lush fourth album, she inched even closer, recording some of it at Spacebomb Studios and engaging Trey Pollard, their in-house polymath, to conduct some of the arrangements. By leaning further into to her country-soul inclinations she also seems ever closer to her genuine self. One of my favorite songs is Kind Of, which also seems to be a deep cut, at least if Spotify play counts are to be believed. With an organ and pedal steel dueling for the stars and a guiro's ratchet sound driving the rhythm, she ends the song by repeating the chorus, "And I feel kind of tucked away," for over a minute before relinquishing the song to the music. It's as if she casting a spell - and I'm entranced. Kind Of leads into to Cheers, which has a grungy strut yet manages to retain a delirious melancholy, the two songs forming the backbone of her most consistent album yet. And I haven't even mentioned the brilliant Better Distractions, which even managed to attract the attention of Barack Obama, or whoever creates his playlists, when it was released as a single in 2020. I do admit that my devotion to this album is not hurt at all by the fact that Prass hasn't released anything in three years. It's not that one replaces the other - and I hope Prass is OK - but they hit similar sweet spots. And it's one of my sweet spots that needs attention!

14. Mallu Magalhães - Esperança If you want to know what a smile sounds like, listen to Magalhães sing "Chin-chin-chin chin-chin chin-chin-chin" on the chorus of Barcelona from her fifth album. You will soon be smiling yourself, whatever mood you were in when you started listening. As she revealed on Facebook, the album was completed over a year ago, but she just could not see launching it in the midst of the world's troubles. That's a debatable point, but the good news is that we now have this lighter than air confection to propel us through whatever comes next. Recorded in Portugal and co-produced by her fellow Brazilian Mario Caldato, Jr., Esperança finds Magalhães perfecting her sublime blend of bossa nova, fifties-inflected pop, soul, funk, jazz, and folk. Look no further for a direct injection of pure pleasure.

15. Christopher Cerrone - The Arching Path

16. Raoul Vignal - Years In Marble As on his exquisite second album, 2018's Oak Leaf, Vignal's latest finds him generating rainswept bliss with his fingerpicked guitar, hushed voice, and the sensitive drums and percussion of Lucien Chatin. However, Vignal, who also plays bass, synth, sax and bamboo flute on the album, is also coming out of the shadows a bit, with more uptempo songs and an increased dynamism to his sound. To Bid The Dog Goodbye, for example, has flourishes (electric guitar! bongos!) and stopped-tempo moves that evince a subtle drama. But the core of it all is that guitar, which he plays with the off-hand perfection of a Michael Chapman or Nick Drake. After honing his craft for the last three years, Vignal should be top of mind for anyone seeking the finest in contemporary singers, songwriters, and guitarists.

17. Anika Pyle - Wild River

18. Tyler, The Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost With 2019's Igor, Tyler arrived at a new pinnacle of creativity and emotional connection, a trajectory he continues with this kaleidoscopic album. His ability to bare his soul while sailing over a multitude of genres, from synth-pop to RnB to lovers rock, with a casual virtuosity is truly remarkable. Similar to Frank Ocean, who makes an uncredited appearance here, Tyler is trying to reconcile where he is now - and who he is now - with where he came from. But he avoids solipsism by letting in the outside world through well-deployed guest spots, which do nothing to reduce the individuality of his achievement. One key feature is a voice memo from his mother describing her devotion in no uncertain terms: "I'd stand in front of a bullet, on God, over this one." Her concern somehow becomes ours and strengthens the bond between listener and artist. The centerpiece of the album is the nearly 10-minute Sweet/I Thought You Wanted To Dance, in which he transforms two well-traveled songs (this one and this one) into a two-part suite of love and loss that dazzles in all directions. As a producer, Tyler is like a painter who chooses just the right color from a polychrome palette. In addition to the transformed samples, he adds RnB singers Brent Faiyaz and Fana Hues as the perfect surrogate and foil, respectively, to illustrate the story. Tyler's ambition is as massive as his talent and, at this point, it's hard to imagine the former outstripping the latter. After Madlib, this is the hip hop album of the year - and number three is not even close!

19. Ben Seretan - Cicada Waves

20. Patricia Brennan - Maquishti

21. Amy Helm - What The Flood Leaves Behind

22. Adam Morford & Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti - Yesterday Is Two Days Ago

23. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview On Phenomenal Nature

24. Mndsgn - Rare Pleasure Sometimes an artist has to go backwards to move forward. Or something like that. Whatever the lesson, this third album from the composer, singer, and producer Ringgo Ancheta delivers on all the promise in his first, 2014's Yawn Zen in ways I couldn't even imagine, especially after Body Wash, the disappointing follow up from 2016. Richly immersive from the opening seconds, Mndsgn constructs something like the Muzak from a divine elevator, jazzy, woozy, and soulful sounds that seem to beg you to find a hammock immediately and just sway along. While wonderful, Yawn Zen, was just the bare bones of his heavenly vision. Inviting brilliant collaborators like arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson to help realize those ideas is just one reason Rare Pleasure succeeds on all levels - and lives up to its title perfectly.

25. Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince

Keep up with all my listening across all genres in these playlists: 
Of Note In 2021
Of Note In 2021 (Classical)
Of Note In 2021 (Electronic)
Of Note In 2021 (Hip Hop, R&B & Reggae)
Of Note In 2021 (Jazz, Latin & Global)
Of Note In 2021 (Rock, Folk, Etc.)
Of Note In 2021 (Out Of The Past)

You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2020 (So Far)
Best Of 2019 (So Far)
The Best Of 2018 (So Far)
Best Of 2017 (So Far)

AnEarful acknowledges that this work is created on the traditional territory of the Munsee Lenape and Wappinger peoples.

Record Roundup: Song Forms

The combination of words and music is as old as language and songs continue to be astonishing transmitters of thoughts, ideas, and feelings, and are limited in form only by their creators' imaginations. Here are a few recent releases mapping out multiple geographies of song form.

Will Liverman and Paul Sanchez - Dreams Of A New Day: Songs By Black Composers You would need know nothing about this album's contents, or even its name, to be immediately struck by Liverman's voice. From the first notes, that we are in the presence of a masterful baritone is immediately clear. He has depth and power to spare, but the transparency and delicacy of his upper range is very distinctive. The contents are special, too, as Liverman followed his passions to present a range of Black composers that takes us from Henry Burleigh, born in 1866, to Shawn Okpebholo, born in 1981. From the latter, we have a world premiere recording of Two Black Churches, commissioned by Liverman, and comprised of a song each for two era-defining acts of violence, the Birmingham church bombing in 1963 and the Charleston shooting in 2015. The first is a setting of Dudley Randall's poem, Ballad Of Birmingham, and Okpebholo has constructed a fascinating piano part (brilliantly played by Sanchez), which seems to both fuel and fragment Liverman's steadfast delivery of the words, occasionally seeking a hymn-like resolution. The second somberly sets The Rain by Marcus Amaker, which provides a stunning bookend to an image from the first song on the album, by Damian Sneed and based on Langston Hughes' I Dream A World. Hughes writes of "joy, like a pearl" attending the needs of mankind, while Amaker's view is bleaker: "When the reality/of racism returns/all joy treads water/in oceans of buried emotion." Okpebholo and Liverman have given us a signature piece for our era that will resonate through the future we are building. And that's just a microcosm of what Sanchez and Liverman have accomplished on this crucial collection.

Caroline Shaw - Narrow Sea From the opening words, "I am a poor wayfaring stranger," you may suspect we are in the world of 19th century American song, specifically hymns. But even if you come to it without that foreknowledge, the creamy, deeply felt soprano of Dawn Upshaw will make you feel those words in your bones. Accompanied by Sō Percussion's wild array of instruments that click, clink, and clatter alongside Gilbert Kalish's searching piano chords, Upshaw sounds completely at home in Shaw's deconstruction of these old songs. My only complaint is that at about 20 minutes, this song cycle leaves me wanting more. Even with the addition of Shaw's Taxidermy, a little gem for percussion and spoken word, Narrow Sea makes me nostalgic for the glory days of "peak CD," when Upshaw and Nonesuch were putting out brilliantly curated albums like The Girl With Orange Lips or White Moon: Songs To Morpheus. I can imagine Shaw's cycle being given context among works by Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, and Christopher Trapani - or some of those composers sourced by Will Liverman. Instead of wallowing, I think I'll just make a playlist with Narrow Sea and Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part, Shaw and Sō's next collaboration, which features 10 new song adaptations sung by Shaw herself, coming June 25th. 

Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince This is Aftab's third album but the first for me and I can't help feeling I've joined a trajectory near its apogee. That's just another way of saying: WOW. Her complete command of the eclectic environs through which this album transits is nothing short of amazing. She moves through many genres, including art song, folk, and in one delicately devastating moment in Last Night, reggae. All of this is infused with the modes and moods of her Pakistani heritage and blended with such subtlety that any seams are invisible. Her taste in collaborators is as finely honed as her compositions, most notably violin wizard Darian Donovan Thomas, who lavishes Baghon Main with his special brand of liquid light. The album is dedicated to Aftab's brother who died during the early stages of its creation and no matter what losses you've experienced in the last few months or years, there is succor and peace to be found in these remarkable songs. As Aftab sings in Saans Lo, with lyrics by Annie Ali Khan: "There’s no one in this desolate world but you, but at least you have yourself/Breathe."

Domenico Lancellotti - Raio After the years that separated his last two albums, Cine Prive (2012) and The Good Is A Big God (2018), having Vai A Serpente, which opens Raio, slide into my Release Radar was an unexpected delight. Begun following a move from Brazil to Portugal, much of Raio was recorded after the pandemic hit, but you would never know any of it was made by remote collaborators. In fact, it feels even more unified than his other albums, almost a song cycle, with themes and textures appearing and reappearing throughout. He's still mining an encyclopedia of Brazilian sounds, leaning more towards the folky and jazzy sides of his homeland and saving his wackier Tropicalia-influenced side for the wry groove of Lanço Minha Flecha and parts of Newspaper, the instrumental that closes the album. Raio is a wonderful album and can serve as an introduction to this special artist as aptly as the others. Start here, start there, just start!

Jane Weaver - Flock My introduction to Weaver was 2017's Modern Kosmology, an explosion of melodically fueled art-pop that was an instant addiction. Now, nearly 30 years into her career, she's gone even further towards pop on Flock, incorporating the raptures of Goldfrapp and Stereolab along the way. With lighter-than-air synths and danceable grooves, Flock is infused with an inspiring sense of unfettered creativity and zero compromise. There's also not a trace of insincerity in Weaver's breezy soprano, which she often uses as an additional musical element, singing repeated lines and sometimes sampling herself. While fans of the bands mentioned above are likely already onto Weaver, there's absolutely no reason why devotees of, say, Billie Eilish wouldn't also be into this - let's hope the algorithms serve them well.

Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg Delivering completely on the promise of their 2019 EPs, this London quartet continues to find variety and invention in their patented blend of Florence Shaw's interior monologue speak-singing and colorfully angular post-punk played by Thomas Paul Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass), and Nicholas Hugh Andrew Buxton (drums). John Parish's production has found the ideal balance, sinking Shaw's voice just enough into the mix and treating each instrument with care. Even if the songs weren't so good, New Long Leg would be notable for the bass sound alone, a rounded throb somewhere adjacent to Jah Wobble's work with PiL or Philip Moxam's in Young Marble Giants. The songs can read like stream of consciousness rambles (from Leafy: "I run a tight ship/Helicopter circling/Kalashnikov to look forward to/It’s a glam musical") but somehow assemble in your mind to become stories of fractured relationships, forensically detailing what's left behind or what an imagined future could hold. Speaking of days to come, I hope I get to see them in concert when such things happen again - looks like fun!

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Record Roundup: Songs And Singers
Record Roundup: Forms Of Escape

AnEarful acknowledges that this work is created on the traditional territory of the Munsee Lenape and Wappinger peoples.

Best Of 2019: Rock, Folk, Etc.

As the “rock is dead” or “whatever happened to rock & roll” discussion continues in seeming disregard for the actual health of the genre, it occurs to me that those making those statements and asking those questions might have a very limited definition of the music. That’s a nice way of saying that there are a lot of Kiss, Def Leppard, and Bon Jovi fans out there - and if they’re not finding what they need in new records, the fault may lie not in their rock stars but in themselves. I mean, I’m a Zeppelin fan, but I don’t need to listen to pale imitations like the regrettable Greta Van Fleet (remember them?) to get my fix. In any case, I found more than enough to get my pulse up, including albums that were in my Top 25 like Zam by Frankie & The Witch Finger (5/25), Devour You by Starcrawler (11/25), Satis Factory by Mattiel (13/25), Sombrou Duvida by Boogarins, or Commit Yourself Completely, the scorching live set from Car Seat Headrest. 

Then there were swaths of indie rock of a gentler nature throughout the Top 25, whether the world-beating songwriting of Ocean Music, Julia Jacklin, Tiny Ruins, and Hiss Golden Messenger, who held the first four spots, or Molly Sarlé, Angel Olsen, and Jane Church, who could be found further down. This year I even had a massive pop record from Billie Eilish, which had plenty of dark thoughts to fill the needs of goth-rockers looking for a spider bite. 

What you’ll find below is more of the same variety of flavors from these realms, all of it nearly as excellent as what I had on that main list. Believe me when I say that if this is your area of interest, your view of 2019 will not be complete without these records. 

As I did for my Classical list, albums I’ve already covered will be referenced with links to the original posts, while other albums and EP’s will be blurbed below. Press play here or below so you can listen while you read. 

First Quarter Report: The Albums

Michael Chapman - True North

Hand Habits - Placeholder

Cass McCombs - Tip Of The Sphere

Sunwatchers - Illegal Moves (they also put out a cracking live set)

Record Roundup: Poptones

Edwyn Collins - Badbea

Best Of 2019 (So Far)

Baroness - Gold & Gray

Crumb - Jinx

Record Roundup: Rock Formations

Jay Som - Anak Ko 

Tool - Fear Inoculum

Amyl & The Sniffers

Bon Iver - I,I

Ex Hex - It’s Real

Ocean Music - Fan Fiction For Planet Earth

Record Roundup: American Harvest

Tyler Ramsey - For The Morning

Elana Low - Loam

Andy Jenkins - The Garden Opens

Charles Rumback & Ryley Walker - Little Common Twist

John Calvin Abney - Safe Passage 

Courtney Hartman - Ready Reckoner

Jonathan Wilson - ‘69 Corvette

Molly Sarlé - Karaoke Angel

Daughter Of Swords - Dawnbreaker

Tate McClane - Jackpine Savage

Rebecca Turner - The New Wrong Way

Wilco - Ode To Joy

League of Legends

Leonard Cohen - Thanks For The Dance While there is a little of the too-neat phrase-turning that dampened my enthusiasm for some of his late-career albums (Popular Problems, for one), there are also many devastating and surprising lines (“I had a pussy in the kitchen and a panther in the yard”) to make this intimate completion a fitting capstone to Cohen’s career. Son Adam Cohen’s settings for these recitations are appropriately reverent, finding hidden chords in his dad’s speech. Cohen fans should feel a debt of gratitude to him (and guests like Beck) for bringing this to fruition. 

Hunt Sales Memorial - Get Your Shit Together Everyone who has heard Lust For Life or actually listened to Tin Machine knows that Sales is one of the greatest drummers alive. In his amusingly-named solo project he puts his devastating swing beneath some brick-hard rock and then sings over it all in a gruff and strangled voice that is an encyclopedia of hard living. While it may occasionally occur to you to wonder if he should be singing at all, you'll probably be singing along - or laughing too hard to care. 

Patrick Watson - Wave Watson has been flying progressively under my radar since the heights of Wooden Arms (#2 of 10 in 2009) and Adventures In Your Own Backyard (#14 of 20 in 2012), but, then again, this is his first album in four years after the disappointing Love Songs For Robots. He is nearly in full contact with his muse on this gorgeous collection, however, and even throws in a few new tricks of an almost cinematic nature. This is songwriting of great depth, realized by production that combines organic and synthetic sounds to intoxicating effect. Welcome back.

Folk-ish

Mega Bog - Dolphine Erin Birgy gives us more than enough sublime folk-rock (with touches of bossa nova and yé yé) to make it easy to overlook the random weird bits. Save the pieces, as TV Guide used to say - and they are marvelous pieces. 

Rachael Dadd - Flux Offers some of the same incantatory pleasures as This Is The Kit (their singer, Kate Stables, is a collaborator) though Dadd's take on Brit-folk is slightly more oblique. The arrangements, including horns, are often surprising but quickly make perfect sense. Listen and let the pieces come together in your head.

Nev Cottee - River's Edge His last album, Broken Flowers, was one of the delights of 2017, landing at #12 on my Top 25, so expectations were high for this one. While he uses many of the same elements - his gravelly voice, the enervated tempos, a quilt of starlit guitars - somehow the sum total just misses the heights of Broken Flowers. It could come down to the songs, which have less dynamic tension, making the album almost an ambient experience. But, still, Cottee is one of a kind and a presence I value greatly.

Post-Punky

UV-TV - Happy Post-punk power pop worthy of both storied traditions and a mite bit more gloss compared to their 2017 debut has in no way dampened the energy of this trio. Now that they’ve relocated to Brooklyn, I’m looking forward to catching them in concert. 

Bodega - Shiny New Model While their wry critique of late capitalism is still in evidence, this EP adds some sugar to Bodega’s tart no wave blend. Plenty of fun and kind of thrilling when they flex their pop muscles. 

Dry Cleaning - Sweet Princess & Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks Florence Shaw's talk-singing (OK, it's more like talking) slots this UK group into an area alongside Young Marble Giants, The Raincoats, The Slits, and the like, which is one of my favorite areas. And that what she's talking about ("...a mixture of inner monologue, YouTube comments describing memories of songs, and phrases collected from adverts on TV," as Shaw put it in an interview) over the sturdy sturm-und-jangle of the band is so resolutely of this moment only makes these EP's more fun. Catch them at their first U.S. date at Saint Vitus on March 6th.

Stargazer Lilies - Occabot I spotted these masters of monolithic and hazy shoe-gaze on tour dates with  Pale Dian (who I saw open for Cheatahs in Austin and I think my ears are still ringing). Working with Tobacco of Black Moth Super Rainbow has added melodic focus and further studio manipulation to their sound, making the musical visions of Kim Field and John Cep even more lethally compelling. This is their fourth album but feel free to start here if you're unfamiliar. And bring your earplugs to Saint Vitus on April 22 - or a venue near you.

Versing - 10000 This two-guitars-bass-and-drums band from Seattle has only improved since I saw them open for The Courtneys a couple of years ago. Tighter songwriting, more interest in the guitar interplay, and an uptick in the passion quotient means that maybe the next time I see them they'll be headlining and the crowd will leap to their feet like we did when Silver Velvet started up.

W.H. Lung - Incidental Music Opening their debut album with Simpatico People, a 10-minute journey of blissful motorik rhythms, pulsing synth, and guitar arpeggios is a bold statement of purpose for this trio from Manchester (of course they're from Manchester!). But that the rest of the album lives up to that overture makes me think there's a bright future ahead for them.

Historian - Hour Hand and Spiral Again Chris Karman put out two albums as Historian in 2019 and has already followed them up with Distractions, which came out in January. So dive in! There are many ruminative rewards to be found in his atmospheric chamber pop, which has only grown more assured since his first album, Shelf Life, from 2013. Spiral Again is a little stripped down for him (fewer strings), but he still manages to build up clouds of sound with what he has on hand, making either one of these a fine point of entry into his world.

L'Epee - Diabolique I was not aware that Emmanuelle Seigner - actress, wife of Roman Polanski - had a sideline in singing. And if you had told me so, I might have dismissed it out of hand. But this collaboration with Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre) and The Limiñanas is completely convincing. Seigner's dark-hued vocals combine perfectly with the driving, hypnotic rock cooked up by her bandmates and there's a bit of kicky sixties revivalism that never gets slavish. Could be a one-off, but either way it works!

Drone Shots

75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real Call me a curmudgeon, but this is the record I’ve been waiting for from these guys since first reading a description of them in an Other Music email. And you know that was a while ago, so I can be a very patient curmudgeon. By both expanding and deepening their drone jams, Rick Brown (percussion) and Che Chen (guitars) have made the Brooklyn via Sahara soundtrack for the next time I have to hike from Pioneer Works back to civilization - or mass transit, at least! Preferably that will happen after seeing them on stage. 

Earth - Full Upon Her Burning Lips Stripping down to drummer Adrienne Davies and guitarist Dylan Carlson has given Earth a way out of the cul de sac they found themselves in after their last album, which was heavy with guest vocalists. Carlson’s riffs are still monolithic but they’re also more organic, with a prairie wind blowing through the spaces between the notes. Davies has plenty of air and nuance in her drum patterns, too, while still remaining absolutely implacable. One of their best yet. 

Sunn O))) - Life Metal While I don’t think they’ll ever top Soused, their collaboration with the late, great Scott Walker, part of what impresses here is their exquisite control over tone and impact. It’s almost a dictionary of malevolent guitar noises, with a few added bonuses, like the vocals and cello of Oscar-winning Icelandic composer Hildur Guōnadódottir, and supported by bass, synth, and pipe organ.The only thing that would make it better (besides Scott Walker) is a searchable index so you could instantly find the snarl, feedback or power chord you need. 

Psych-Out

Levitation Room - Headspace The difference in this aptly-named L.A. quintet's take on psychedelia lies in their light touch. There's plenty of guitar fireworks, but there's still a crisp elegance to everything they do. Pushing their sound and style into songwriting of a more striking originality is the turn of a key keeping them from greatness. The packaging from Greenway Records is exceptional, even by their usual standards - grab a die-cut copy while you still can!. 

Poptones 

Clairo - Immunity While not nearly as fascinating as Billie Eilish, neither did this bedroom pop singer go the full Jack Antonoff route like Lorde - and thank god! Her simplicity and faux-naive approach maintains most of the charm it had when she was just posting from her iPhone onto YouTube. Not every song is a killer, but enough are to make you think she can go further.

The Drums - Brutalism “I know some good luck/And a good fuck/A nice glass of wine/And some quality time/Is gonna make you mine/(But it's not what I'm trying to find)” - imagine those transparent lines sung in a sunny tenor to an indelible melody over bright electro-pop and you’ll get a good idea of what Jonny Pierce is up to here. The fact that he keeps it up song after song is something of a marvel.

Faye Webster - Atlanta Millionaires Club Ultra-modern countrypolitan stylings from a young woman who could be Natalie Prass's little sister. Then she veers into woozy R&B on Flowers, throwing in a guest verse from Father and reminding you that she really is from the dirty south, not just name-checking it in the album title. If her next album went even further in that direction, you would hear no complaints from me - although Prass might start looking over her shoulder.

100 Gecs - 1000 Gecs Cut up random notification sounds from your phone, loop them, sprinkle with some Raymond Scott fairy dust and beats from hip hop and digital hardcore, then .zip to them your friend. Have her auto-tune the heck out of her voice and sing and rap in ways that ride the line of catchy and annoying. Master for streaming services and ta da, you're Dylan Brady and Laura Les. This is pop, as XTC once declared, and so it is. It remains to be seen, however, if they can remain interesting longer than Sleigh Bells did.

Beck - Hyperspace As a venture into pop territory, this is often much more successful than Colors, his previous album. But it also barely recovers from the Beck-lite of Saw Lightning and the Mellencampian idiocy of Die Waiting. But keep listening, because the last track is one of the best things he's ever done. His vocal performance alone on Everlasting Nothing is astounding, but it's the lyrics that stick the knife in more than once. In honor of that achievement, I'll let him have the last word on 2019: "And I washed up on the shoreline/Everyone was waiting there for me/Like a standing ovation for the funeral of the sun/In the everlasting nothing."

P.S. There's more goodness from 2019 to be found here and to make sure you don't miss the gems of 2020, follow this playlist.

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Best Of 2017: Rock, Folk, Etc.
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