Music Notes

Music news is never very intense the week before Christmas–most artists are off the road, if you are seeing live music, it might be the worst band in existence–Trans-Siberian Orchestra–and no albums are released. It’s a chill time to hang out with your favorite Christmas tunes. If you have any. I am not really too sure that I do. But here’s a few Christmas-themed songs I do like:

Also, this is your brain on Christmas music.

We did lose a couple of important musicians this week. I can’t say much of anything about Savoy Brown, a band I never found remotely interesting, but its founder and lead guy who kept firing all the band members Kim Simmonds died. I like that the entire band quit on him and formed Foghat, or I would if Foghat wasn’t terrible. I’ve never been a ska guy at all, but I know many people were deeply influenced by The Specials and the death of Terry Hall meant a lot to a lot of people. Finally, Martin Duffy, keyboardist for Felt and later Primal Scream, died at only 55 years of age.

Music has always had a lot of people with mental health issues and the contemporary disastrous finances of the music industry definitely does not help. Moreover, the entire live music industry is in a state of very real crisis.

This week’s playlist, a bit lighter than usual thanks to family visiting over the holidays and all the obligations of the season, etc. Also, Dad likes country when we are driving around.

1. LCD Soundsystem, American Dream
2. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, self-titled
3. Merle Haggard, Portrait of Merle Haggard
4. Townes Van Zandt, Rear View Mirror
5. Kuzu, Hiljaisuus
6. Newport Folk Festival Best of the Blues, 1959-1968, disc 1
7. Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet, Way Out East
8. Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free
9. Eric Taylor, Resurrect
10. Tom Russell, Blood and Candle Smoke
11. Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerard, Pioneering Women of Bluegrass
12. Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Andrew Norman: Play
13. Joseph Kabasele, Le Grand Kallé, disc 2
14. PRhyme, PRhyme 2
15. Willie Nelson, God’s Problem Child
16. Duke Ellington, Black, Brown & Beige, disc 1
17. Chris Knight, self-titled
18. Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn, Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man
19. Marty Robbins, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
20. Jim Lauderdale & Ralph Stanley, Lost in the Lonesome Pines
21. Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues, 1970-1976
22. 2 Chainz, The Play Don’t Care Who Makes It
23. John Hiatt, Riding with the King
24. Charlie Louvin, The Many Moods of Charlie Louvin
25. Emmylou Harris, Pieces of the Sky
26. Tom T. Hall, New Train Same Rider
27. John Moreland, High on Tulsa Heat
28. Ray Price, Night Life
29. Don Edwards, Live at the White Elephant
30. Waylon Jennings, Dreaming My Dreams
31. Johnny Paycheck, On His Way
32. Emiliana Torrini, Fisherman’s Woman

Album Reviews, FINE YOU BASTARDS I WILL TRY TO LISTEN TO MORE 2022 ALBUMS TO GIVE YOU THE BEST YEAR END LIST EVAH. That list will come next Saturday. I actually forgot last year, but I promise this year I will get it

Leikeli47, Shape Up

Yeah, this is awesome. Leikeli47 has a reputation because she refuses to perform with her face showing. She wears masks. She wants privacy. It’s interesting because her raps are pretty personal. But she isn’t going to let you know who she is. Who cares about this though. What a talent. I love her ability to move between hip hop and 90s R&B, something like Cyd the Kid from The Internet though probably a bit better rapper and maybe not quite as dynamic of a singer. This is some very fine and pretty raw hip hop. Lyrical and also catchy

A

Chelsea Wolfe, Hiss Spun

Although I generally don’t like metal, I’ve always been somewhat entranced by Chelsea Wolfe’s doom-folk approach to it. I’ll even accept the faux-Satanism of the music when it is this good. I’ve thought before about this question of why her and not others? And I have no real good answer to it. This is an older album now–from 2017–but I wish I had heard it earlier. Some of the real soft pieces don’t quite as work as well as the crunchy ones, but even those–take the first half of “Twin Fawn”–have some really interesting musicianship.

A-

Vince Staples, self-titled

There’s really so much to love about Vince Staples, but among those things is that he is a master of the 20-30 minute album. Given that the finances of albums is probably irrevocably broken, why not just basically release what were once considered EPs as your albums. Isn’t 22 minutes of good material plenty to make your statement? Of course it is. And Staples know how to make a statement. Now, this isn’t my very favorite of his projects, but this 2021 release is still a quite good entry, a window into his intense life. Shorty, punchy songs that hit you hard. What a huge talent, where a minor album is still basically awesome.

B+

Jon Pardi, Mr. Saturday Night

We have now reached the point in mainstream country music where we have nostalgia for the 90s. If you are a young’un, the 90s was the era of Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, and other bullshit acts. This was the start of the modern era of douche country. I grant that, sure, it’s gotten even worse since. But that doesn’t mean the 90s were good. They were not! They sucked. But, Nashville is super happy to pump some of that 90s nostalgia since it basically fits the douche country they push today. And here we have Jon Pardi, promoting a full-on 90s record. And yeah, it ain’t that good. The guy does have some talent. He’s a perfectly functional country artist. But when your positionality takes you to idealizing a Tim McGraw concert, I mean……ugh. That’s what I mean. Ugh. Christ, he even references Garth Brooks and Brooks & Dunn directly. I was half waiting for a song about Monica blowing Clinton.

D

Sondre Lerche, Avatars of Love

Why do we need 10 minute folk songs? I’m not talking about “Desolation Row” either or, hell, even “912 Greens.” I’m talking about multiple folk songs of over 10 minutes on the same album. Are these lyrics as profound as one of Bob’s top 10 songs? Yeah, no. At the same time, it’s not like this sucks or anything. It’s like if John Darnielle was super self-indulgent, since he sort of sounds like The Mountain Goats. Thus, it’s not like the guy can’t create an appealing song. But my Norwegian friend, let me introduce you to something called an editor, both in terms of the number of songs and their length.

B-

William Parker, Universal Tonality

The great William Parker isn’t just creating amazing new music, though he very much is. No, he also has a ridiculous archive of unreleased material that he taps into from time to time for even more releases. This is a 2002 recording he finally decided to release twenty years later. Some of these people are no longer even with us, most notably the legendary violinist Billy Bang and the trombonist Grachan Moncur.

Why was this stuck in the archives for two decades? No idea. What I do know is that I love it when Parker composes for a big band.

The band: William Parker: bass; Matt Lavelle: trumpet; Grachan Moncur III: trombone; Steve Swell: trombone; Rob Brown: alto sax; Cale Brandley: tenor sax; Daniel Carter: reeds, brass; Jin Hi Kim: komungo; Miya Masaoka: koto; Billy Bang: violin; Jason Kao Hwang: violin; Joe Morris: guitar; Dave Burrell: piano; Jerome Cooper: balafon, chirimia; Roger Blank: balafon; Gerald Cleaver: drums; Leena Conquest: voice

Oh is that all?

The only possible thing to say here is that there are some Parker works from this era that are even better so if we are comparing them, there are a few I like even better. The early 2000s probably was the very peak of his amazing career (one still ongoing) and so the quality is just astounding. So just by comparison I guess this might be slightly below some other albums? But really, I’m being stupid. All his work from this era is basically genius.

Anyway, I don’t see anything from this album on YouTube, so here’s some other William Parker work.

A-

Gary Lucas, Cinefantastique

Went into the endless archives of great albums I don’t know to hear this 2013 album of soundtrack covers by the great former Captain Beefheart guitarist. Lucas is just a freaking master of the instrument and you hear it here. He’s long been a cinematic guitarist, providing soundtrack work for television documentaries and live performance of silent films. So an album like this was natural. This work is intense and beautiful and awe-inspiring. Imagining his fingers moving to make these sounds, I mean, it’s really something to hear. A cover of soundtracks seems like it could be gimmicky and he’s hardly the first to do something like this, but this is a perfect fit for him.

A-

As always, this is an open thread for all things music and art and none things politics. Also, open Santa thread.