Music Notes

I am deeply ashamed that I dropped the ball on my music posts. A few things happened. First, I had to finish a book manuscript. That was 6 weeks right there in the middle of the summer. Second, these things were taking just too much of my time and energy for no real use, despite the fact that we do have some great musical minds in these comments, including many of the best critics and writers out in the musical world today. I did enjoy that part of it. Third, because of my schedule and such, I didn’t listen to as many new albums this summer as normal. But I am going to try and restart it and show some discipline. Plus, I’ve made some life changes that should increase my energy (and if fact, already have).

So what I am going to do here is salvage what I had written already with a few notes about live music and then some extremely brief album reviews of things I have heard. Some of these I have now heard several times because I bought them, others I barely remember now, but whatever, let’s just clear the deck, toss all the guilt off the ship with the trash, and just move forward.

For my pleasure reading when I was in Mexico in June (it really has been a long time since I did one of these posts!!!), I brought Will Hermes’ Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York that Changed Music Forever. I was, well, not slightly skeptical, but prepared for another rehashing of the proto-punk scene, the deification of losers like Johnny Thunders who ended up basically not doing shit except for junk, the rise of Ramones and Blondie, etc. Of course some of that is here. But it’s really so much more and it’s in the non-rock parts of the book that Hermes really shines.

It’s not that I think Hermes’ discussion of the beginning of the punk scene is bad or anything. It’s just that this path has been tread so many times. The Dolls and the Stooges and then onto Patti Smith and Ramones and Blondie and Talking Heads and some Television in there, we know this story. We also know the story of how rough New York was in the 70s. This is all covered plenty. But by considering the whole of the New York music scene from 1973 through 1977, all covered with equal respect, we see what an incredible mix of world-changing music was happening there. This means that you have coverage on the very early development of hip hop. You have a lot on the astounding salsa scene and how it moved out of a sort of Latin hood thing and how people like Celia Cruz revamped their careers through it, not to mention the young magicians creating a new sound. You have a lot of time spent on disco, with the respect the best of it deserves. And then you have a lot of the loft jazz scene, the post-Coltrane world that took the music into new places. In fact, Hermes makes a pretty strong case, though perhaps partially unintentionally, that the 70s was one of the great peaks of jazz. Interestingly, he somewhat dismisses Miles’ electric music, not in terms of its quality, but simply noting that a lot of the best music following it up did not come out of his world and in fact he was resigned to opening for Herbie Hancock by the time all the cocaine got to him and he stopped playing for several years. Rather, the heroes are Rashied Ali and the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Anthony Braxton. There’s the minimalist revolutions of Philip Glass and Steve Reich. There’s minor but critical figures such as Arthur Russell. Then there’s the rise of Springsteen looming over all of it, as he sort of moves in and out figuring out who he is and how he relates to these people. The fact that he wrote “Hungry Heart” for the Ramones and his management had to intervene and be like, uh, you should probably keep that one for yourself is a good story.

So yeah, it’s pretty great. Hermes does a great job of getting over the power of Smith (which other than Horses never really came over on the albums), the weirdness of Talking Heads, the surprise everyone had when Blondie made it big, the complete assholery of Johnny Ramone. There’s stories about shows that never should have happened but which changed music history, like when the salsa guys somehow rented out Yankee Stadium. And of course there’s the various drugs that floated through all these scenes. Hermes was a kid from Queens during these years and that’s part of the story too.

I found the whole thing tremendously entertaining. The book came out in 2011 and some of his attempts to connect the scene at that time back to the 70s don’t quite fly. I’m not sure 13 years later than Animal Collective and Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors quite hold up to the critical praise they received then. But he does a great job on the jazz scene of that moment, completely dismissing the Marsalis brothers own dismissal of the post-Coltrane years and exploring the tremendously fertile world of jazz that developed in the coming years.

Anyway, if you haven’t read it, you should.

Other News and Notes, which are all really old, but I will try to catch up next time.

Angela Bofill, the 70s hitmaker, died at the age of 70. Also dying at 70 was no-wave pioneer James Chance.

Justin Timberlake doesn’t have a driver?

Remembering Songs: Ohia’s Magnolia Electric Company, a near masterpiece of an album.

Ahmad Jamal’s fusion era.

Here’s a playlist from the jazz and fusion scene from Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Recording the wildlife of Ireland. Not sure if it includes drunk Irishmen after 12 hours in the pub.

The most expensive music festival in America is something called Outside Lands in San Francisco. I had never heard of it before, but it does seem to have a solid lineup at least.

Linda Thompson has lost her singing voice again and it probably isn’t coming back so she is writing songs for others now.

Jason Kelce really hates shitty mainstream country music.

A quick list of bands I saw at Newport Folk Festival and the one day I went to Newport Jazz. I will deal with the rest of the shows (not that many actually) next week.

1. Jobi Riccio–super interesting folk/country artist, was very emotional at being there, I really want to hear more of her stuff. I thought she was excellent.
2. Sierra Ferrell–I’ve usually been a bigger fan of her live than on album but I liked the new album quite well. The show was excellent. Plus John C. Reilly (!!!!!) came out and dueted on Ray Price’s “Heartbreaks by the Number” which was just great. Gillian Welch came out to sing with her as well.
3. Taj Mahal–I had never seen Taj and while he’s very old, he still puts on a solid performance. It’s one of the most traditional performances of a festival that isn’t actually very folkie anymore. Helps to sit closer to the stage than I was, but I’m real glad I saw him. Rhiannon Giddens played with him some too.
4. Dropkick Murphys–now my Irish-American wife was much more into this than I was, but I definitely had a great time and this is a band made up of men who fucking hate Donald Trump and like to tell you about it. Billy Bragg came on to play. If you haven’t figured it out yet, this sort of thing happens at Newport a lot.
5. Tinariwen–I had seen this great Malian band before and highly recommend some of their desert blues if you get a chance to see them.
6. Brittany Howard–speaking of people you need to see, she always puts on a hell of a show and she really delivered in this one.
7. Lee Ranaldo and the Medicine Singers–this was the first set of the festival for me and I had never seen anyone from Sonic Youth before. Let’s say Lee with some other guys and then a bunch of Native drummers works really well. They hold down the rhythm and vocals, he makes weird guitar sounds, I mean yes please.
8. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway–while I get sick of the weed songs (I mean one is fine, but half the set???), there’s no question this is one of the very finest bluegrass bands working today. Plus she took off her wig and showed off her alopecia unapologetically, which let’s face it is still a brave thing for a woman to do in 2024.
9. Wednesday–OK, I was really excited for this and they totally delivered. Even got my cover of DBT’s “Women Without Whiskey.” These people fucking rock, old school. LOVED!!!!
10. Alison Russell–she’s such a special person. I remain amazed that anyone could live what she survived and be a good, loving person who expresses herself beautifully through her music. It was my 3rd time seeing her so I knew what to expect, so maybe it was less exciting for me than people I hadn’t seen before, but she’s just great. Hozier came out to play too; she’s been opening for him. I know the kids love that guy, but I haven’t heard him much.
11. Erin, Mat, and Paul. Erin Rae is an underrated player in the Nashville folk scene and is a nice singer, but this was a bit boring.
12. Beck–surprise show, who could it be, oh it’s Beck. OK Newport. Right, a very fun place to be!
13. Adrianne Lenker–basically previewed the next Big Thief album, Buck Meek came out to help out. Awesome.
14. Tre Burt–I regret to note that this made much of an impression on me, to the point that 6 weeks later I don’t have much to say about it
15. Reyna Tropical–hipster lesbian LA Latina electrofolk, sure there’s a lot of identity markers in there, but it works for me musically and that’s all that matters
16. Billy Bragg–OK, I was happy to finally see him. But the problem with Bragg is not just that every song is on the nose, it’s that there is nothing but nose. He’s a titan, a tremendously important figure, and someone I would totally see live again. But sitting down and listening to his more recent albums about whatever the terrible political news of the day is? Meh.
17. Elle King–A good country singer despite being Rob Schneider’s daughter, who evidently was a dick to her for her whole childhood and she was mostly raised by her mom in Ohio. Good country show.
18. Rhiannon Giddens–uh yes please. More. Always more of this titan. One of the all time greats in American musical history. Taj Mahal and JOAN FUCKING BAEZ came on as guest stars. Did I mention interesting things happen at Newport?
19. The War on Drugs–I like War on Drugs just fine. They are the perfect background music for me. They rock, but not too hard, plenty jammy but not too overindulgent. Plus the lead singer is somehow Krysten Ritter’s man. But let’s face it, the best part is when Craig Finn from Hold Steady came on stage to cover John Hiatt’s “Walk On.” Another great Newport moment.
20. Killer Mike–I was real curious here. Would Killer Mike tone down his aggressive hip hop for the Newport crowd. Reader, HE DID NOT. It fucking ruled.
21. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings–FINALLY saw them. Some older songs, a lot of the new album, it was super.

As for Newport Jazz:

1. Sun Ra Arkestra–OK, this meant a lot to me. Marshall Allen was not up to traveling with them to this and I mean, he is 100. But the band is clearly going to go on. There’s about a half-dozen long time Arkestra veterans and one of the saxophonists whose been there since the 80s or so is leading it now. Still amazing. A lot of talk about Ra of course and what he did, but these guys can still blow out and swing at the same time like Ra did. Great.
2. Bill Frisell Four–I had been down on a lot of Frisell’s recent work, but I liked his new quartet led by Greg Tardy on sax. Great show, completely worked live, really fantastic set.
3. Galactic with Irma Thomas–classic New Orleans and Irma can still deliver the goods.
4. Aja Monet–the first spoken word poet to perform at Newport Jazz since Langston Hughes (!!!!), she delivered the kind of left-wing modern politics that you expect and I would pay $$ to see it again
5. Andre 3000–So….I’m glad that Andre 3000 has found joy in his flutes. And I guess I can say I saw Andre 3000. But the project is mostly bad and this was quite boring.

Album Reviews, certainly not everything I’ve heard in the last few months, but a good bit of it:

Ferna, Understudy

I was a little skeptical of an album that combines being about yourself and being about Coretta Scott King, especially when the artist in question is from Belfast. But you know, it’s an alright pop-folk thing in the way that a lot of pop-folk things are alright. Evidently, she has talked of putting enormous thought into every note and every instrument and maybe letting loose a little bit would help make this a bit fuller.

B-

Steve Mason, Brothers and Sisters

A rather populist indie rock project from Steve Mason, once in Beta Band. Part of what Mason wanted to do here was to make a pro-immigrant album and while I don’t know that the lyrics signify enough or are interesting enough to totally blow your mind in this way (there’s a lot of “we are all people” stuff which is so general to be boring), sonically there’s a lot of influences. Some of this even could fit on the radio if the radio didn’t suck. There’s clear electronic and ska and south Asian influences on this album and that’s the real appeal–a poppy indie album with global influences and a good heart. Not great, but good enough.

B

Thaba, Eyes Rest Their Feet

In 2020, the South African musician Khusi Seremane got together with the American producer Gabriel Cyr to do an album together. Recording as Thaba, they recorded this strong album and then Seremane, who had long serious health problems, died before its release. That’s sad for many reasons (he was in his early 40s), but one reason is that this is a good project. So often when you have the generic “world music” thing going on, it tends to dilute the interesting part of the all the cultures involved. One exception tends to be when a musician works with a strong producer and that’s the case here. Seremane’s vocals and pop orientations work so well with the beats and production Cyr provides. It’s both accessible and interesting, moving the language of music forward without compromising or creating something 5 people will want to hear (like much of my music). If your friends had better taste, this is what they’d play at their dinner parties.

A-

Sierra Ferrell, Trail of Flowers

Ferrell’s neofolkcountry is fun to see live. But I’ve thought on previous albums that her songs didn’t quite hold up to the live shows. Basically, it just seemed she wanted to be Patsy Cline, but with lots of tattoos. On her new album, she takes a solid step forward in songwriting. This is a very solid set of songs that range from the tender to the funny. “Chitlin Cookin’ Time in Cheatham County” should be some ironic song laughing at the rednecks, something like early Robbie Fulks songs, but she plays it pretty straight here. “American Dreaming” is the kind of universal song that folk and country does well. “Lighthouse” is a nice, straightahead love song. Naturally, Ferrell’s mandolin is featured heavily throughout.

A-

Mary Lattimore, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada

There’s really no one I know like Mary Lattimore. There are other harpists out there of course. Joanna Newsom has carved out a heck of a career with a sui generis act based around her harp and oddball voice and trippy songwriting. Of course there are so many harpists in the classical world. Lattimore is on a different path. She creates harp-based compositions that combine the best of indie rock and electronica and drone and so much else. It’s chill and could be used as background music but at the same time, like the best of instrumental indie music–think of someone like William Tyler or Yasmin Williams here–it is very not chill. Rather, it has a strong, evocative point; in this particular case ruminations of a hotel in Croatia she likes that was about to be renovated for an upper end tourist trade. I dunno, I guess she really liked that hotel. Also, the time she was a kid and ran into an actor dressed in a Big Bird costume and it kinda freaked her out. Among the guests to build out the sound is Lol Tolhurst from The Cure, an interesting synth addition and a nod to her 80s influences.

At the very least, I never find Lattimore’s compositions less than fascinating. Didn’t think this was really her best work, but there’s still plenty to chew on here.

B

Khurangbin, A La Sala

Every middle aged hip person’s favorite background music band that combines enough funk and soul and jazz with enough global influences to be slightly more interesting than lamer forms of background music has a new album that does exactly what you expect.

B-

Brent Faiyaz, Larger than Life

Very solid hip hop/R&B album, with a nice dollop of both to make the 36 minute running time feel it breezes by. Always good to hear some Missy too.

A-

Los Blenders, Mazunte 2016

A Mexican pop-kinda postpunk album from 2020. I like a lot of Mexican rock bands but this felt pretty throwaway to me. Catchy enough, but the music is pretty lame and the vocals about as middle of the road as one can get. Someone needs to teach some rock and roll to these boys.

C

Don Flemons, Traveling Wildfire

I long believed that Flemons was the least interesting of the Carolina Chocolate Drops trio. Whereas Rhiannon Giddens became a force of nature after leaving that band and Leyla McCalla became a fantastic songwriter, I felt Flemons was a little on the clownish side. When I saw him at the Grand Ole Opry back in 2018, I gotta say, his bit had more than a little of the blackface routine to it, doing silly banjo spinning tricks and the like. Figured he was pandering to the almost all-white audience, although unusually there were two Black country artists performing that night, with Mickey Guyton being the other. I knew his commitment to bringing back the Black hillbilly tradition was real and I respected him, but it was an odd thing to see. I have to say though that I did enjoy this album a good bit. It’s filled with solid songs and I think it’s time to go back and explore his solo catalog a little bit more.

B+

Christian Lee Hutson, Quitters

Boring indie folk with simple rhymes and plaintive vocals for the sad young folks. There’s always a market for barely strummed guitar with sad-sack vocals and maybe some string accompaniment or a drum and I suppose there always will be.

C+

Courtney Marie Andrews, Loose Future

I saw Andrews open for Jason Isbell and of course it was one of these acoustic performances in a big hall that are really hard to pull off effectively and I don’t really think she did. The hard life of the opening act. Anyway, it was a reminder to sit down and listen to one of her albums, so I did and yeah, it’s solid singer-songwriter material that is worth a spin at least.

B+

Jungle, Volcano

Pretty good for the dance floor, some great dance tracks really. Sitting and listening to a 40 minute album of it? I mean, this music really isn’t designed for that so naturally it gets a bit repetitive. But even I might dance if I heard this somewhere.

B

Angelica Garcia, Gemelo

I found Garcia’s early work pretty fascinating as a LA Latina hipster that even got on one of the Obama playlists, sending this pretty obscure musician a big step higher in the fame category. She didn’t rush new material though and she’s gone with an all-Spanish album here that isn’t great per se, but it is good and I will keep listening.

B+

Sleater-Kinney Little Rope

I have struggled with post-Janet SK, but this really is a damn fine rock and roll album. I wonder if my problem in the end wasn’t the weirdness of going with a sound and look that drove Janet out of the band in the first place (even if part of it was her idea initially). In any case, we aren’t talking about All Hands on the Bad One or The Woods here, but we are talking about a good rock album.

A-

Sy Smith, Until We Meet Again

If you need a good contemporary soul album that is funky and incorporates a lot of new music, thus avoiding just being a nostalgia-trip a la Leon Bridges, this is your album.

A-

Mary Timony, Untame the Tiger

My knowledge of Timony is probably not what it should be. I know people love her. I thought her new album was fine? I mean, she’s a good songwriter and a good guitarist, we all know this, but if this is indicative of her larger body of work, I can’t say I am totally overwhelmed here. I do need to hear it more though.

B

Chatham County Line, Hiyo

I kinda like post-bluegrass Chatham County Line. The banjo is gone and the songs breathe a bit more. Solid work and an album I will probably buy.

A-

Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Open Me: A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit

El’Zabar has been a legend of jazz percussion forever and this big double album is a fantastic introduction to the way blues and free jazz intermix. I love the big band style here too. This is maybe my favorite thing of his that I know and the fact that it is a 2024 album makes it worth noting how many of the great post-Coltrane creative jazz guys are still putting out absolutely brilliant work.

A

Ghlow, Levitate

Good Swedish post-punk, worthy of multiple listens at least.

B+

Kim Gordon, The Collective

Having Kim basically talk over electronics has worked for two albums now and she might as well continue it. It’s not Sonic Youth, but it also shouldn’t be Sonic Youth. It’s not like she was some astounding bass player anyway and her lyrics were always whatever, so Being Kim Gordon with cool sounds sounds good to me.

A-

As always, this is an open thread for all things music and art and none things politics. I promise these posts will happen a bit more often and be a bit better, but I really needed to just get this done.