Africaine 808, Basar [Golf Channel Recordings] Africans With Mainframes [Heiroglyphic Being + Noleian Reusse], K.M.T. [Soul Jazz] Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra, Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra [Glitterbeat] Alpha 606, Afro-Cuban Electronics [Interdimensional Transmissions] Oren Ambarchi, Hubris [Editions Mego] Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Real Enemies [New Amsterdam] A$AP Ferg, Always Strive And Prosper [RCA] Asda, The Abyss [NoCorner] Atlantis Jazz Ensemble, Oceanic Suite [Marlow Records] Audacity, Hyper Vessels [Suicide Squeeze] Babyfeather, “BBF” Hosted By DJ Escrow [Hyperdub] Azealia Banks, Slay-Z [self-released] Kenny Barron Trio, Book Of Intuition [Impulse!] Beekman, Beekman Vol. 2 [Ropeadope] Bent Shapes, Wolves Of Want [Slumberland] Beyoncé, Lemonade [Parkwood Entertainment] Big Ups, Before A Million Universes [Exploding In Sound] BJ The Chicago Kid, In My Mind [Motown/UMG] Black Bombaim & Peter Brotzmann [Shhpuma] Black Milk & Nat Turner, The Rebellion Sessions [Computer Ugly] Carla Bley/Andy Sheppard/Steve Swallow, Andando El Tiempo [ECM] Jane Ira Bloom, Early Americans [Outline] Bombino, Azel [Partisan Records] Brookzill!, Throwback To The Future [Tommy Boy]
Danny Brown, Atrocity Exhibition [Warp] Jaimeo Brown Transcendence, Work Songs [Motema Music] Taylor Ho Bynum, Enter The PlusTet [Firehouse 12] Uri Caine Trio, Calibrated Thickness [816 Music] Will Calhoun, Celebrating Elvin Jones [Motema] Car Seat Headrest, Teens Of Denial [Matador] Causa Sui, Return to Sky [El Paraiso] Cavern of Anti-Matter, void beats/invocation trex [Duophonic] Chance The Rapper, Coloring Book [self-released] The Chicago Plan, The Chicago Plan, [Clean Feed] Chimurenga Renaissance, Girlz With Gunz [Glitterbeat] Brandy Clark, Big Day In A Small Town [Warner Bros.] The Coathangers, Nosebleed Weekend [Suicide Squeeze] Avishai Cohen, Into The Silence [ECM] Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker [Sony] Kweku Collins, Nat Love [Closed Sessions] Frankie Cosmos, Next Thing [Bayonet Records] Andrew Cyrille Quartet, The Declaration Of Musical Independence [ECM] Damana (Dag Magnus Narvesen Octet), Cornua Copiae [Clean Feed] The Dead C, Trouble [Ba Da Bing!] Deap Vally, Femejism [Nevado Music] Death Grips, Bottomless Pit [Third Worlds] Debo Band, Ere Gobez [FPE Records] Jack DeJohnette, In Movement [ECM] Olegario Diaz, Aleph In Chromatic [SteepleChase]
Whit Dickey / Kirk Knuffke, Fierce Silence [Clean Feed] DJ Rude One, ONEderful [2RBR] Pierre Dorge & New Jungle Orchestra, Ubi Zaa [SteepleChase] Dave Douglas, Dada People [Greenleaf] Dre Hocevar, Transcendental Within The Sphere Of Indivisible Remainder [Clean Feed] Mark Dresser Seven, Sedimental You [Clean Feed] Dressy Bessy, Kingsized [Yep Roc Records] Drive-By Truckers, American Band [ATO Records] Earprint, Earprint [Endectomorph] Harris Eisenstadt, Old Growth Forest [Clean Feed] Eskimeaux, Year Of The Rabbit [Double Double Whammy] Family Atlantica, Cosmic Unity [Soundway] The Field, The Follower [Kompakt] Fire!, She Sleeps She Sleeps [Rune Grammofon] Flatbush Zombies, 3001: A Laced Odyssey [Glorious Dead Recordings] Zélia Fonseca, O Terceiro Olho da Abelha 9Yellowbird] Michael Formanek / Ensemble Kolossus, The Distance [ECM] Daniel Freedman, Imagine That [Anzic Records] Free Nelson MandoomJazz, The Organ Grinder [RareNoise] Fruit Bats, Absolute Loser [Easy Sound Recording Company] Robbie Fulks, Upland Stories [Bloodshot] Ras G, The El-Aylien Tapes [Leaving Records] Gambari Band, Kokuma [Membran Media] Giant Peach, Tarantula [Don Giovanni Records] Bob Gluck [etc], Infinite Spirit: Revisiting Music Of The Mwandishi Band [self-released]
GoGo Penguin, Man Made Object [Decca Records France] Brian Groder Trio, R Train On The D Line [Latham Records] Los Hacheros, Bambulaye [Jacob Plasse] Charlie Haden/Liberation Music Orchestra, Time/Life [Impulse!] Mary Halvorson Octet, Away With You [Firehouse 12] Handsome Family, Unseen [Loose Music] PJ Harvey, The Hope Six Demolition Project [Island] Alexander Hawkins & Evan Parker, Leaps In Leicester [Clean Feed] The Heliocentrics, From The Deep [Now-Again Records] The Fred Hersch Trio, Sunday Night At The Vanguard [Palmetto] Hinds, Leave Me Alone [Mom + Pop] Anna Högberg Attack, Anna Högberg Attack [Omlott] Homeboy Sandman, Kindness For Weakness [Stones Throw] HXLT, HXLT [Def Jam] The I Don’t Cares, Wild Stab [Dry Wood Music] Ethan Iverson, The Purity Of The Turf [Criss Cross] Jigmastas, Resurgence Resurgence [BBE] Julie Ruin, Hit Reset [Hardly Art] Ka, Honor Killed The Samurai [Iron Works] Matthew Shipp/Bobby Kapp, Cactus [Northern Spy] Kaytranada, 99.9% [XL] Allan Kingdom, Northern Lights [So Cold Records] Aly Keïta, Kalo-Yele [Intakt Records] Kel Assouf, Tikounen [Igloo Records] Alicia Keys, Here [RCA]
The Knocks, 55 [Big Beat Records] Kirk Knuffke [& Jesse Stacken], Satie [SteepleChase] Konono No. 1, Konono No. 1 Meets Batida [Crammed Discs] Kool A.D., Official [self-released] Glenn Kotche / So Percussion, Drumkit Quartets [Cantaloupe Music] Krakauer’s Ancestral Groove, Checkpoint [Table Pounding Records] Julian Lage, Arclight [Mack Avenue] La Sera, Music For Listening To Music To [Polyvinyl Record Co.] Lady Gaga, Joanne [Interscope] Kendrick Lamar, untitled unmastered [Aftermath/Interscope] Law Holt, City [Soulpunk] Okkyung Lee / Christian Marclay, Amalgam [Northern Spy] Steve Lehman/Sélébéyone, Sélébéyone [Pi] Jinx Lennon, Past Pupils Stay Sane [Septic Tiger] Jinx Lennon, Magic Bullets Of Madness To Uplift Grief Magnets [Septic Tiger] James Brandon Lewis Trio, No Filter [BNS] L’Orange & Mr Lif, Life & Death Of Scenery [Mello Music] Baaba Maal, Traveller [Knitting Factory] Luísa Maita, Fio da Memória [Cumbancha] Mantra Percussion / Michael Gordon: Timber Remixed [Cantaloupe Music] Milton Marsh, The Music Of Milton Marsh Revisited Vol. 1 [Alankara Records] Leyla McCalla, A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey [JazzVillage] Lori McKenna, The Bird & The Rifle [CN Records] Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom, Otis Was A Polar Bear [Royal Potato Family] Nick Millevoi, Desertion [Shhpuma Records]
Mr Fingers, Outer Acid EP [Alleviated] Mr. Lif, Don’t Look Down [Mello Music Group] Moksha, Beauty Of An Arbitrary Moment [Jazzland] Heraldo do Monte, Heraldo do Monte [Biscoito Fino] Moodymann, DJ-Kicks [!K7 Records] Clara Moreno, Samba Esquema Novo De Novo [Far Out] Maren Morris, Hero [Sony] Murray, Allen & Carrrington Power Trio, Perfection [Motema] Roy Nathanson & Friends, Nearness And You: Duets And Improvisations [Clean Feed] Willie Nelson, Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin [Sony] Nisennenmondai, #N/A, [On-U Sound] No Em Pingo D’Agua, Sambatologia [Biscoito Fino] Nots, Cosmetic [Goner] NxWorries, Yes Lawd! [Stones Throw] Frank Ocean, Blond [Boys Don’t Cry] Aruan Ortiz Trio, Hidden Voices [Intakt Records] Anderson .Paak, Malibu [Steel Wool / OBE] Jeff Parker, New Breed [International Anthem] Aaron Parks, Groovements [Sundance] Parquet Courts, Human Performance [Rough Trade] Florian Pellissier Quintet, Cap De Bonne Esperance [Heavenly Sweetness] Luis Perdomo, Spirits & Warriors [Criss Cross Jazz] Pet Shop Boys, Super [x2 Recordings] Ralph Peterson, Triangular III [Onyx/Truth Revolution] Richard Poole / Marilyn Crispell / Gary Peacock, In Motion [Intakt]
Margo Price, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter [Third Man Records] Psychic TV, Alienist [Dais Records] Punkt3, Ordnung Herrscht [Clean Feed] Quantic Presents Flowering Inferno, 1000 Watts [Tru Thoughts] Isaiah Rashad, The Sun’s Tirade [Top Dawg] Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau, Nearness [Nonesuch] Renegades Of Jazz, Moyo Wangu [Agogo] Eric Revis Trio [w/ Kris Davis and Gerald Cleaver], Crowded Solitudes [Clean Feed] Rhythm Future Quartet, Travels [Rhythm Future Quartet] Rihanna, Anti [Westbury Road Entertainment] Jim Rotondi, Dark Blue [Smoke Sessions] Rudy Royston, Rise Of Origin [Greenleaf] Roswell Rudd, Jamie Saft, Trevor Dunn, Balázs Pándi, Strength & Power [RareNoise] Wanda Sá, Cá entre nós [Fina Flor] Sao Paulo Underground, Cantos Invisiveis [Cuneiform] Savages, Adore Life [Matador] Scarcity Of Tanks, Ringleader Lies [Total Life] Mikael Seifu, Zelalem [RVNG Intl.] Noura Mint Seymali, Arbina [Glitterbeat] Shabaka & The Elders, Wisdom Of Ancestors [Brownswood] Paul Simon, Stranger To Stranger [Concord] Sleigh Bells, Jessica Rabbit [Torn Clean] Wadada Leo Smith, America’s National Parks [Cuneiform] Sneaks, Gymnastics [Merge] Snowboy & The Latin Section, New York Afternoon [Mark Cotgrove]
Elza Soares, The Woman at the End of the World [Mais Um Discos] Solange, A Seat At The Table [Columbia] Sonzeira, Tam Tam Tam Reimagined [Brownswood] So Pitted, neo [Sub Pop] Vince Staples, Prima Donna [Def Jam] Robert Stillman, Rainbow [self-released] Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth [Atlantic] Sun Ra / Merzbow, Strange City [Cold Spring] Swet Shop Boys, Cashmere [Customs] Tegan And Sara, Love You To Death [Warner Bros] The Thermals, We Disappear [Saddle Creek] Thug Entrancer, Arcology [Kemado/Mexican Summer] A Tribe Called Quest, We got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your service [Epic] Trio Da Paz [Lubambo/Matta/Fonseca], 30 [Zoho Music] Ukandanz, Awo [Atypeek Music] Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil, Dois Amigos, Um Seculo De Musica David Virelles, Antenna EP [ECM] Dan Weiss, Sixteen: Drummers Suite [Pi Recordings] Kanye West, The Life Of Pablo [self-released] Waco Brothers, Going Down In History [Bloodshot] Greg Ward, Touch My Beloved’s Thought [Greenleaf Music] Warehouse, super low [Bayonet] White Lung, Paradise [Domino Recording Co] Wussy, Forever Sounds [Shake It Records] Eri Yamamoto Trio, Life [AUM Fidelity] La Yegros, Magnetismo [Soundway] Yoni & Getti, Testarossa [Joyful Noise]
– jazz, pop, avant: a jumping off point for explorations.
“American politics has often been an arena for angry minds.” So wrote Richard Hofstadter in “The Paranoid Style In American Politics,” his seminal 1964Harper’s essay, penned against the backdrop of an ascendant Barry Goldwater, still timely 52 Novembers on. No doubt singer Elizabeth Nelson and guitarist Timothy Bracy swiped Hofstadter’s title for their gleefully contrarian Stiff Records-meets-pop-punk project the Paranoid Style partly because it scans better than, say, The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Life. But as former lobbyists and sometime rock critics, the D.C.-based Nelson/Bracy also know their damn stuff, with an eye for realpolitik and ears for the semi-pop canon.”
“In these end times for music labels and record stores, the crate-digging claque apparently has yet to receive the memo. Collectors, unite — below, find four high-quality vault dives from decades past, from 2007 (Eritrean cassette release) to 1959 (Moroccan field recordings). Those seeking proof of life circa 2016 have new border-hopping releases to savor from Brazil, North Africa, Ethiopia via Lyon, and Turkey by way of Cologne.”
-- the intro from my latest World Report for SPIN. Short blurbs for eight new(ish) releases can be found by following the link.
“Although one should never underestimate the international pleasures of the big beat, Western festival enthusiasm for Kinshasan percussion ensembleKonono Nº1 remains a rather unlikely success story. Especially since nobody can quite agree on what to call their specific musical brand. Forget genre —Wikipedia essentially throws up its hands to heaven, currently linking to an entry for Trance (“a genre of electronic music that developed during the 1990s in Germany”) and a citation-lacking “bazombo.” Others have attempted more noble stabs in the dark: there’s the technically-accurate-if-Eurocentric “electro-acoustic,” Robert Christgau’s poetically apt “paleo-futurist,” and the band’s own preferred approximations “tradi-modern” and “Congotronics.” […..”]
Big Ups, Before A Million Universes [Exploding In Sound]
BJ The Chicago Kid, In My Mind [Motown]
Bombino, Azel [Partisan]
Jaimeo Brown Transcendence, Work Songs [Motemo Music]
Cavern of Anti-Matter, void beats/invocation trex [Duophonic]
Chimurenga Renaissance, Girlz With Gunz EP [Glitterbeat Records]
Avishai Cohen, Into The Silence [ECM]
DJ Katapila, Trotro [Awesome Tapes From Africa]
Dressy Bessy, Kingsized [Yep Roc]
Flatbush Zombies, 3001: A Laced Odyssey [Glorious Dead]
Michael Formanek / Ensemble Kolossus, The Distance [ECM ]
Gambari Band, Kokuma [Membran Media]
Charles Gayle Trio, Live At Jazzwerkstatt Peitz [Jazzwerkstatt]
Glitterbust, Glitterbust [Burger Records]
The Heliocentrics, Quartermass Sessions: From The Deep [Now-Again Records]
Aly Keïta, Kalo-Yele [Intakt]
Kendrick Lamar, untitled unmastered [Top Dawg]
La Sera, Music For Listening To Music To [Polyvinyl]
Larry Levan, Genius Of Time [EMI]
Moodymann, DJ-Kicks [!K7]
Joey Negro, Remixed With Love Vol. 2 [Z Records]
Willie Nelson, Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin [Sony]
Aruán Ortiz Trio, Hidden Voices [Intakt]
Anderson .Paak, Malibu [Steel Wool / OBE]
Richard Poole / Marilyn Crispell / Gary Peacock, In Motion [Intakt]
Margo Price, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter [Third Man Records]
Rihanna, Anti [Westbury Road / Roc Nation]
Mikael Seifu, Zelalem [RVNG]
Trio Da Paz [Lubambo/Matta/Fonseca], 30 [Zoho Music]
Waco Brothers, Going Down In History [Bloodshot]
Kanye West, The Life Of Pablo [GOOD / Def Jam]
Wussy, Forever Sounds [Shake It Records]
Charli XCX, Vroom Vroom EP [Vroom Vroom]
La Yegros, Magnetismo [Soundway]
var., Punk 45: Chaos In The City Of Angels & Devils – Hollywood From X To Zero & Hardcore On The Beaches (Punk In Los Angeles 1977 to 1981) [Soul Jazz]
var., Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Carnegie Deli [Ace Records]
var., Soul Sok Séga [Strut]
var., Why The Mountains Are Black: Primeval Greek Village Music 1907-1960 [Third Man Records]
41 albums from first quarter 2016 worth revisiting, listed alphabetically without preference
“Patriotism may be the last refuge of scoundrels, but musical censorship runs close behind. Be it plantation owners confiscating the drums of African-American slaves, or Nazi propaganda snuffing out Yankee jazz degeneracy, musical expression remains a favorite soft target for dictators and reactionaries alike. And while failed attempts by the Taliban to ban all musical instruments from Afghan society have grabbed headlines, a more recent act of overt musical aggression came via the government of Niger’s desperate decree banning guitars among the nomadic Tuareg people of the Sahara, ostensibly to tamp down an ongoing insurgency/rebellion within Mali and Niger. The guitar ban proved a dismal failure — if anything, the instrument has assumed greater centrality within contemporary Tuareg culture. [….]”
– I reviewed Azel, the terrific new album from Bombino, for SPIN.
The distinct pleasures of Forever Sounds remain those of all five preceding Wussy albums — a crack songwriting duo detailing adult life’s ambiguities with vivid language amid a terrific rhythm section’s unapologetic alt-slop. They’ve retained their love of six-string grandeur even while continuing to plumb the depths of victories that aren’t so much hollow as qualified. Like throwing your own parade and hoping someone just might roll with you. Or quietly insisting against all available evidence that “these are the better days,” then immediately allowing, “…or not.”
— Always a pleasure to examine a new album from Ohio’s own Wussy. Follow the link to my review for SPIN.
This latest dispatch from the great musical world extending beyond American shores is dedicated to the inauthentic, with absolutely no pejorative connotations intended. Let the folklorists and preservationists continue their good work — attached you’ll find examples of juicy cross-cultural pollination: Senegalese visionaries swapping out koras for congas, Brazilian punks basking under the Kingstonian sun, and Cairo club rats running chaabi beats through the wood chipper. Guaranteed to annoy the purist in your household.
–I wrote up a genre report for SPIN, World Edition. Follow the link!
James McMurtry, Complicated Game [Complicated Game]
Jason Derulo, Everything Is 4 [Warner Bros.]
Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Sounding Lines [Honest Jon’s]
Erykah Badu, But You Caint Use My Phone [self-released]
Hop Along, Painted Shut [Saddle Creek]
61 - 75
Ashley Monroe, The Blade [Warner Brothers]
Kirk Knuffke, Arms & Hands [Royal Potato Family]
Mike Reed’s People Places & Things, A New Kind of Dance [482 Music]
The Chills, Silver Bullets [Fire Records]
Miguel, Wildheart [RCA]
Carly Rae Jepsen, E*MO*TION [Interscope]
Rae Sremmurd, SremmLife [Eardruma/Interscope]
Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood and the The Rajasthan Express, Junun [Nonesuch]
Föllakzoid, III [Sacred Bones]
Idrissa Soumaoro, Djitoumou [Lusafrica]
Aram Bajakian, There Were Flowers Also in Hell [Sanasar]
Kacey Musgraves, Pageant Material [Mercury Nashville]
Shamir, Ratchet [XL]
Earl Sweatshirt, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside [Tan Cressida/Columbia]
Harry Allen, Something About Jobim [Stunt/Sundance]
76 - 90
Deerhunter, Fading Frontier [4AD]
Major Lazer, Peace Is The Mission [Mad Decent]
Allen Lowe, In The Diaspora Of The Diaspora: We Will Gather When We Gather [Constant Sorrow]
William Parker/Raining On The Moon, Great Spirit [AUM Fidelity]
Joanna Gruesome, Peanut Butter [Slumberland]
Vince Staples, Summetime ’06 [Def Jam]
Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Mauch Chunk [Hot Cup]
Tomeka Reid, Tomeka Reid Quartet [Thirsty Ear]
Wreckless Eric, amERICa [Fire Records]
Brian Ellis Group, Escondido Sessions [El Paraiso]
Le1f, Riot Boi [Terrible Records]
Action Bronson, Mr. Wonderful [Atlantic/Vice]
Nils Frahm, Solo [Erased Tapes]
Willie Phoenix & The Soul Underground, Captain Psychedelic [Eastman Studios]
Future, DS2 [Epic/Freebandz Entertainment]
91 - 105
Crayon Pop, FM [Sony]
Roscoe Mitchell Quartet, Celebrating Fred Anderson [Nessa]
Pete Rock, Petestrumentals 2 [Mello Music]
STS & RJD2, STS x RJD2 [RJ’s Electrical Connections]
Pokey Lefarge, Something in the Water [Rounder]
Sheer Agony, Masterpiece [Couple Skate]
Quantic, Quantic Presents The Western Transient: A New Constellation [Tru Thoughts]
Gal Costa, Estratosférica [Sony]
The Necks, Vertigo [Northern Spy]
Maddie & Tae, Start Here [Republic Nashville]
Dej Loaf, #AndSeeThatsTheThing [Columbia]
Drake, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late [Cash Money]
Mac McCaughan, Non-Believers [Merge]
Carlos Henriquez, Bronx Pyramid [Blue Engine]
Omar Souleyman, Bahdeni Nami [Monkeytown Records]
106 - 120
MED/Blu/Madlib, Bad Neighbor [BangYaHead]
Willie Nelson / Merle Haggard, Django And Jimmie [Sony/Legacy]
Christian Scott, Stretch Music: Introducing Elena Pinderhughes [Ropeadope]
Blundetto, World Of [Heavenly Sweetness]
Debashish Bhattacharya, Slide Guitar Ragas From Dusk Till Dawn [Riverboat]
Jimi Tenor/Tenors Of Kalma, Electric Willow [Yellowbird]
Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Cuba: The Conversation Continues (Motema Music]
EEK, Kahraba [Nashazphone/Cargo]
Alborosie Meets King Jammy, Dub Of Thrones [VP Music Group]
A Place To Bury Strangers, Transfixiation [Dead Oceans]
Hypercolor, Hypercolor [Tzadik]
Bob Dylan, Shadows In The Night [Columbia]
Mavis Staples, Your Good Fortune [Anti-/Epitaph]
Hieroglyphic Being & J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl, We Are Not The First [Rvng Int’l]
Matthew Shipp Trio, The Conduct of Jazz [Thirsty Ear]
121 - 135
Junglepussy, Pregnant With Success [self-released]
Songhoy Blues, Music In Exile [Transgressive Records]
Leny Andrade and Roni Ben-Hur, Alegria de Vivire [Motema]
Boogarins, Manual [Other Music]
Karina Buhr, Selvática [ybmusic]
Battles, La Di Da Di [Warp]
Thomas Clausen, Blue Rain [Stunt Records]
The Weeknd, Beauty Behind The Madness [Republic Records]
The Mountain Goats, Beat The Champ [Merge]
Charlie Haden & Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Tokyo Adagio [Impulse]
Scientist, The Dub Album They Didn’t Want You To Hear! [Jah Life]
Dimitri From Paris, Salsoul Mastermix [Octave Lab]
Tal National, Zoy Zoy [Fat Cat]
Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas, Sound Prints: Live at Monterey Jazz Festival [Blue Note]
136 - 150
Low Cut Connie, Hi Honey [Contender Records]
Nat Birchall, Invocations [Jazzman]
Marilyn Crispell/Gerry Hemingway, Table of Changes [Intakt]
Gangbé Brass Band, Go Slow To Lagos [Buda Musique]
Dexter Story, Wondem [Soundway]
Four Tet, Morning/Evening [Text Records]
Destruction Unit, Negative Feedback Resistor [Sacred Bones Records]
DRKWAV, The Purge [Royal Potato Family]
John Zorn, Simulacrum [Tzadik]
Patrick Higgins, Bachanalia [Telegraph Harp]
Verbal Kent, Anesthesia [Mello Music Group]
Built To Spill, Untethered Moon [Warner Bros.]
Susan Alcorn, Soledad [Relative Pitch]
Bruce Brubaker, Glass Piano [Infiné]
The Sorcerers, The Sorcerers [ATA Records]
– Same rules as last time. I listened to [and sometimes even reviewed] many new releases in 2015, and these are the ones I’d return to and heartily recommend. Plenty are missing, but then again, who can keep up, really? Not “best” so much as “favorites”. A jumping off point. Another good year.
