|
An occasional blog about populist politics and popular music, not necessarily at the same time. LinksLocal Links Social Media My Other Websites Music Politics Others Networking Music DatabaseArtist Search: Website SearchGoogle: Recent Reading
Music DatabaseArtist Search: Website SearchGoogle: |
Thursday, August 13, 2026 Music Week
Music: Current count 46411 [46385] rated (+26), 25 [18] unrated +7). Advance Music Week appeared August 12 on Substack. It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post. The introduction started there, but has been extensively revised/rewritten. I spent a couple hours Tuesday at the local Toyota monopoly, for what was supposed to be a free service — every six months for the first two years (two oil changes and four tire rotations), part of the new car purchase deal. I complained about numerous glitches — disconnects, muting, spurious commands (common with phones, at least in my experience) — with the (looking up the proper term) "infotainment screen" that fills up the middle of the dashboard, where cars used to provide such useful things as a CD player, radio, and various HVAC/lighting controls. The lack of a CD player has kept me in a bad mood for a year now, exacerbated by Toyota's schemes to sell me extra-cost subscriptions (music deals, other crap). The promise of the system is supposed to be its integration with my cell phone. I have managed to stream some music from Spotify using Bluetooth (thus far, mostly Chuck Berry; it's hard to find things using the Spotify phone interface, especially as I hadn't figured out how to get Android Auto working until two weeks ago. So I complained to Toyota, and to the dealer. The dealer at least took a look at the problem, and concluded there wasn't one. I've been locked out of the Toyota app for nearly a year, so they gave me a phone number to talk to someone else about that. Not their problem, or deal. Nor is the confusion over the rot of expiring subscriptions to "services" that never made any sense in the first place. I wrote a Substack post earlier this week called Yahoo Mail Really Sucks. I had already been thinking about a Toyota Sucks piece when the Yahoo mess broke. It's still in the works, but it's most likely just another example of how modern companies waste no opportunity to rip off their captive customers. Still, I feel the need for further research. I have a phone, but it's too old for updates. I hardly ever use it: rare phone calls, a plate pic when I cook, uploaded via email (which otherwise I don't use). I find the browser nearly useless. I resist adding apps, which I mostly regard as infernal plots to control. My wife does much more with her phone. Perhaps I should learn some new tricks? As for music, it's possible to get a plug-in CD player. Local businesses want about $500 to mount one somewhere, then plug it into the car's one USB port. Amazon has similar devices for about $50. Given the cockpit design, there's no good place to mount it. Another possibility would be a MP3 player (or maybe FLAC: newer ones support multiple formats). Back in the day, I'd load up three travel cases with 200 CDs, then drive cross-country. New ones can hold that much music, maybe more. It would be smaller than a CD player, easier to mount, and more reliable. I'd need some way to load it up, and to find things on it. Researching those questions has been very frustrating, but there must be a way? I don't like going through life with giant chips on my shoulder, but that seems to be my life these days. I don't understand it very well. I used to be better at coping. But I used to be better at getting all sorts of things done. I probably need to focus on the "serenity prayer," and other "core AA slogans." (Drinking isn't an option, at least one with any appeal.) And as far as chips go, I'm in nowhere near as bad shape as Donald Trump. That's a guy whose neuroses have really screwed up his life — a situation that isn't helped by having the power to inflict his misery on others. I was pretty despondent when I got up Wednesday morning. Then I saw that Yahoo's POP server had coughed up 124 of my emails, with more arriving intermittently throughout the day. I did nothing to get this working again. And I have no communication from Yahoo saying they did anything, or were even aware of a problem. It may be that someone there did notice my post, or maybe they just looked at their own error log files, or maybe a broken server went offline and the slack got picked up by a working machine. At any rate, dozens of suggestions from their chatbot did no good whatsoever. They mostly served to deflect attention, with not the slightest care as to how much pain and aggravation they cause. So, not knowing what else to do, I spent Wednesday posting my advance Music Week on Substack. This week is a day or two short of last week, but with fewer distractions I have a bit more to report. I've tried to catch up with more non-jazz, but I don't have much of a plan as to what to listen to. And having posted two long rants to Substack — the Yahoo piece mentioned above, and something on political categories (capitalism, socialism, the Left) occasioned by Jordan Peterson, I wound up skimping on many reviews below — satisfied that I had heard enough to render a grade, without taking the extra time to craft a coherent review. Examples below include pretty good B+(**) records by Johnny Blue Skies, Kiss Facility, Caroline Kraabel, Arlo Parks, The Strokes, Syd, Juanma Trujillo, and Yard Act, and B+(***) for Ravyn Lenae and Wiki. On the other hand, I did write more about the albums I highlighted, if only because they have more history to frame. I'm surprised to find two of my favorite acts of the 1960s and 1980s have come up with top-tier albums this year, although both have had post-peak albums that I liked quite a bit, even if they never turned into regular plays. (Not much ever does these days.) That's probably the case here, too, but I've played them both a lot this week, and they do hold up. Pussy Riot was a slightly harder call. I've never paid much attention to their singles, and had little preconception going into this album. I also noted that so far it's gotten poor reviews (AOTY 63/4; I've read several, and they align poorly with what I'm hearing). Conceptually, one problem is that they don't have a signature sound or style: there are 4-6 different approaches here, but most of them are remarkable on their own terms. Also, it's mostly in Russian, which blunts the politics, aside from "Disobey." Not that I know or care much their political agenda: while I blamed Putin for invading Ukraine, I have long thought that the war should be ended as quickly as possible, based on the current stalemate, and not drawn out in some vain hope of justice prevailing. But Putin is still their problem, even as my problem is Trump. As for Satoko Fujii's second orchestra album this year, she's on a roll. I just got the third one in the mail. I've let my demo queue accumulate, as they're mostly advances, some out to October. I'll catch up in due course. I omitted the Oliver-Smith Incomparables album from my advance, as it isn't scheduled until later, and I didn't want to confuse with something not readily available. The album had already gotten votes in the Mid-Year poll, and I was anxious to get to it. That happens sometimes, and I note future release dates below. No idea what I'm going to do going forward. I should finish my facelift of the jazz poll website, and I need to update the database to the Christgau website. I half-expected an August Consumer Guide on Wednesday, but it's running late (no idea how late). I could always jot down more Loose Tabs. But I'm pretty disgusted with the world these days, as I feel not just less able to affect it, but even to survive it. Which is a shame, because in many respects, we as a species have never had more opportunities to live well, and have become so productive that there is no good reason why anyone should be left out. New records reviewed this week: Michael Blake: Piccolos Before Rifles (2025 [2026], Baby Tank): Canadian saxophonist, a couple dozen albums since 1997, many more group- (Blake Tartare, Slow Poke) and side-credits. Plays tenor/soprano here, plus flutes, with Guilherme Monteiro (guitar), Skye Soto Steele (violin), Gil Lopes (bass), and Rogerio Boccato (drums) — three of those from Brazil, the other Puerto Rican. B+(**) [sp] Billy Childs: Triumvirate (2026, Mack Avenue): Pianist, from Los Angeles, straddles classical and jazz, with "chamber jazz" a middle position, early albums (1988-93) on new age Windham Hill, has had some Grammy success. Trio with Matt Penman (bass) and Ari Hoenig (drums). Nice little record. B+(*) [sp] Isaiah Collier: Joy (2026, Brownswood, EP): Chicago saxophonist, has made a strong impression with his Chose Few group, even more so with the Ancients (a trio with Williams Hooker and Parker), comes out singing here with the title track, lifted by big band and strings, and ends with another gospel-inflected vocal ("God's By Your Side"). In between, three instrumental pieces, with flute and keyboards. Total: five songs, 27:13. Not my thing. B− [sp] DOMi & JD Beck: Who Asked? (2026, Apeshit/Blue Note): French keyboardist Domi Louna (Domitille Degalle) and American drummer JD Beck, second album, has some vocals (probably Domi), a lot of extra orchestration (flute, clarinets, oboe, bassoon, violin). B− [sp] Ferg's Imaginary Big Band: The New Atomic (2024 [2026], Trash City): UK (Leeds) bandleader-composer Fergus Quill, leads a band of 30 or so, aiming for that Basie big bang, and then some. B+(*) [sp] Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe: After the Storm (2026, Libra): The second of this year's promised batch of five big band albums, a new recording where Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra was an archive from 2014. That was around the time when Fujii released four big band albums with different orchestras. At the time, I compared one of them to Basie's Atomic Orchestra from the 1950s, at least in terms of power and sheer brassiness. The new series is impressive so far, and this is one of the most immediately appealing of her large-scale efforts. A- [cd] Iceage: For Love of Grace & the Hereafter (2026, Mexican Summer): Danish post-punk band, sounded solid on their 2011 debut, uninteresting on three (of four) 2013-2021 efforts, but getting a lot of hype for this sixth album. Not punk in any meaningful sense, but upbeat, engaging, with a few hooks. I like the song that goes "life is for the weak," for the words but also for the extra noise. B+(**) [sp] Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds: Mutiny After Midnight (2026, High Top Mountain/Atlantic): Country singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson, debut 2013, second album as Johnny Blue Skies, first to add the band name. Strays far from country, but offers protest songs to open and close (the "Extended Edition" tacks on three extras, including "A Whiter Shade of Pale"). B+(**) [sp] Leven Kali: LK99 (2026, Def Jam): Dutch-born American singer-songwriter, couple albums since 2019, first vocal here is a dead-ringer for Prince, especially as he's already established a funk groove. B+(*) [sp] Kiss Facility: Khazna (2026, Ambient Tweets): Arabic-influenced dream pop duo of Mayah Alkhateri (from UAE) and Salvador Navarrete (from Egypt); first album after several singles (from 2023). B+(**) [sp] Caroline Kraabel/Pat Thomas/John Edwards/Steve Noble: Transgressive Coastlines (2024 [2026], Shrike): Alto saxophonist, born in California, moved to London as a teen, has a fair number of records since 1997, but not much I've heard. The piano-bass-drums trio is long acquainted. B+(**) [bc] Ravyn Lenae: Blue Island (2026, Atlantic): Alt-R&B singer-songwriter from Chicago, third album. B+(***) [sp] Madonna: Confessions II (2026, Warner): Conceived as a sequal to 2006's Confessions on a Dance Floor, which could just as well have been a sequel to 1987's You Can Dance. Down side is that everything here sounds like something you already know. Good news is that it all sounds great (except maybe for the soft landing). A- [sp] Oliver-Smith Incomparables: Stomp Your Stuff (2025 [2026], Turtle Bay): Trad jazz group led by pianist Andrew Oliver (2 at Discogs, which credits him with one album, but 30 more performances, including Sextets from 2008-10) and veteran drummer Hal Smith, with cornet (Colin Hancock), clarinet, trombone, guitar/banjo, and bass/tuba, playing vintage goodies from the 1920s. Instant joy. A- [cd] [08-28] Arlo Parks: Ambiguous Desire (2026, Transgressive): British alt-pop singer-songwriter, third album, first two very good, this one a bit more, uh, ambiguous. B+(**) [sp] Pussy Riot: Cyka (2026, Stem): Russian feminist performance art collective, fiercely anti-Putin (and these days pro-Ukraine), founded in 2011, membership fluid and often jailed or otherwise harassed, has released an EP and several singles, appears here with a full album, probably because co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova (and possibly others) escaped to Iceland. A fairly wide range of sounds and styles, where the punk/hardcore may be the most compelling because there the message comes through even without words, but the rap and electropop and something that sounds like a Kate Bush hit ("Pain") also impress, suggesting a worldview that goes beyond rage, but doesn't flinch from it when needed. A- [sp] Rolling Stones: Foreign Tongues (2026, Rolling Stones/Polydor): Major group, rivaled the Beatles in the 1960s, has lasted much longer, survived the death of Brian Jones, the retirement of Bill Wyman, and more recently (and more importantly) the death of Charlie Watts. But the two singer-songwriters, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, are still active, however improbably, as is Jones replacement Ron Wood. But their ontogeny basically ended with 1972's Exile on Main Street. Since then they've mostly engaged in buckraking, with regular tours, concert films, live albums, and the occasional studio effort — most lukewarm, but some significant enough to be hailed as return-to-form comebacks. Those too have trailed off and thinned out, but this is the best in quite a while (probably since 2004's A Bigger Bang, or 1986's Dirty Work, or maybe 1981's Tattoo You. The key word is "return," as they virtually defined "classic rock," and can tap into any time they want — at least half of this overly long album. Key wisdom for the aged: "Life's too short for just making money." The irony is palpable, but the line is credible nonetheless. A- [sp] The Strokes: Reality Awaits (2026, RCA/Cult): New York alt/indie group, considered a big deal with their 2001 debut, releases have slowed down since 2005, this just the second since 2013. Surprisingly good groove band, until they aren't. B+(**) [sp] AJ Suede: Atomic Justice (2026, Knowhatimean, EP): Seattle rapper, underground, lots of albums since 2015, this one 12 songs, 25:34. B+(*) [sp] Skúli Sverrisson/Bill Frisell: For All Your Flowers (2026, Newvelle): Guitarist from Iceland, based in New York, albums since 1997, side credits with groups like Alasnoaxis and Yeah No, as well as working as music director for Laurie Anderson. Duo with the famed American guitarist. B+(*) [sp] Syd: Beard (2026, Free Lunch/Warner): Neo-soul singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, third album, has a nice, easy flow. B+(**) [sp] Juanma Trujillo/Kenneth Jiménez/Vasco Trilla: Nada Es Nada (2026, Ramble): Venezuelan guitarist, based in New York, several albums since 2018, with Costa Rican bassist (also based in New York) and Spanish drummer, recorded in Barcelona. Works through some tricky changes. B+(**) [bc] WDR Big Band: Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines: The Music of Ayn Inserto (2024 [2026], Summit): Inserto (b. 1976) studied at New England Conservatory, was a protégé of Bob Brookmeyer, teaches at Berklee, has two albums as Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, a couple more where her compositions are performed by others (she also conducts here). I tend to dismiss European big bands, but this group, featuring Sean Jones (trumpet), is pretty sharp, possibly because that's what the compositions demand (or inspire?). B+(***) [cd] Wiki: Ancient History (2026, Wikset): New York rapper Patrick Morales, started in Ratking c. 2011, eighth album since 2017. B+(***) [sp] Yard Act: You're Gonna Need a Little Music (2026, Universal Island): British post-punk group, from Leeds, singer James Smith, third album since 2022, most impressive when most intense. B+(**) [sp] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: None. Old music: None. Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
|
