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jgthirlwell · 1 year

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2022 Year In Review

This year once again I invited some friends and colleagues to reflect on 2022

JG Thirlwell

Composer Foetus Xordox Manorexia Steroid Maximus Venture Bros Archer www.foetus.org

2022 was a marathon year. I took on too much work, but somehow got through it. It challenged me. I played some excellent shows in Woodstock, Los Angeles, Orlando and NYC. Reconnected with Soft Cell at the Beacon. Reconnected with Sarah Lipstate. Wrote a ton of new music for Archer and a Venture Bros movie. Taught a class on film scoring at the New School. I still woke up 5am in a panic on too many occasions. And I saw some great concerts.It was difficult to whittle down this list but here are a lot of albums I enjoyed in 2022, in no particular order.

Tyondai Braxton Telekinesis (Nonesuch) Zeal & Ardor Zeal & Ardor (MVKA) Papangu Holoceno (Bandcamp) Extra Life Secular Works Vol 2 (Bandcamp) Carl Stone Wat Dong Moon Lek (Unseen Worlds) / Gall Tones (Unseen Worlds) / We Jazz Reworks Vol 2 (We Jazz Records) Louis Cole Quality Over Opinion (Brainfeeder) Ben Frost 1899 OST (Invada Records) Loraine James Building Something Beautiful For Me (Phantom Limb) Persher Man With The Magic Soap (Thrill Jockey) Anna Meredith Bumps Per Minute (Moshi Moshi) Sault Air (Forever Living Originals) The Smile A Light For Attracting Attention (XL) Shamblemaths Shamblemaths 2 (Apollon Prog) Julia Wolfe Oxygen (Cantelope) Heiner Schmitz’s Symprophonicum Sins & Blessings (Big Band Records) Burial Antidawn EP / Streetlands EP (Hyperdub) Gotho Mindbowling (Controcanti Produzioni) Oliver Coates The Stranger OST Gilla Band Most Normal (Rough Trade Records Ltd) Blanck Mass Ted K OST (Sacred Bones) Arcade Fire WE (Interscope) Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cool It Down (Secretly) Catarine Barbieri Spirit Exit (light-years) Felicia Atkinson Image Language (Shelter Press) Netherlands Kali Corvette (Three One G) Kemper Norton estrenyon (Zona Watusa) Elysian Fields Once Beautiful Twice Removed (Ojet) Simon Hanes Hurricane Salad Two Fingers Red Bass DJ Mix 22 (NoMark) Backxwash His Happiness Shall Come…(Ugly Hag) Bob Vylan The Price of Life (Ghost Theater) John Elmquist’s Hard Art Groop Stars and Bells / Zero Rest Mass / Trip Up reissues (Bandcamp) Dan Deacon Hustle OST (Netflix Music) Bent Knee Frosting (TTTH) Boris Heavy Rocks 2022 (Relapse) Wet Leg Wet Leg (Domino) Author and Punisher Kruller (Relapse)

Honorable mentions Hudson Mohawke Cry Sugar / Rival Consoles Now is / Haunted Horses The Worst Has Finally Happened / Sirom The Liquified Throne of Simplicity (Tak:Til)/ Meshuggah Immutable / Ani Klang Ani Klang / Pimpon Pozdrawiam (Pointless Geometry)

Shows

The Smile at Kings Theater Julia Wolfe Steel Hammer Carnegie Hall The Protomen LPR Tristan Perich St Thomas ChurchSparks Town Hall Anna Meredith Elsewhere Lingua Ignota LPR Royal Blood Terminal 5 Kraftwerk Radio City Hiro Kone Pioneer Works RATM / RTJ MSG Matmos LPR Rammstein MetLife Stadium Yeah Yeah Yeahs Forest Hills Stadium Melvins Irving Plaza Roxy Music MSG Sean Lennon Stone Elysian Fields The Owl The Comet Is Coming Bowery Ballroom Child Abuse TV Eye Fennesz Pioneer Works Helm Elsewhere

Film / TV

The Stranger All Quiet In The Western Front Dont Worry Darling Moonage Daydream The Velvet Underground Elvis Men Northman Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent White Lotus

Books

I read a ton of memoirs this year. Standouts were

Kid Congo Powers Some New Kind Of Kick Danny Sugerman Wonderland Ave

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Kemper Norton

LISTENING

My favourite album of the year was the dayglo psychedelic joy of Panda Bear/ Sonic Boom’s Reset , with honourable mentions for the amazing Aethiopes by billy woods and Alison Cotton’s beautiful The Portrait You Painted of Me. Also, must mention the massive , varied and crucial Rental Yields compilations on Front and Follow /Gated Canal Community in aid of homeless charities in the UK.

GIGS

Didn’t get out much this year but live events I loved this year here in Brighton, UK included the blasted joy of deafkids at The Hope, the final gig of the mighty Slum of Legs at The Green Door Store, and playing alongside Alexander Tucker’s Microcorps and Opal X at The Wire’s 40th anniversary shows at The Rosehill as part of the reanimated Outer Church.

In terms of radio, as well as Elizabeth Alker’s essential breakfast and Unclassified shows on Radio 3 there were loads of great shows on the fantastic Repeater Radio ( many previously on the mighty Neon Hospice) including Afternoon Delight by Ix Tab and the best of Eastern Europe showcased on Slav to the Rhythm by Catherine and Iris.

READING

Apart from the works of nonconformist Cornish poet Jack Clemo and American novelist Pete Dexter ( Deadwood and Paris, Trout ), new discoveries were thin on the ground this year. I read and reread a lot of old favourites ( Ray Bradbury, Cormac McCarthy, Pat Barker , Elmore Leonard ) and finally fell in love with Jane Austen.

WATCHING

My film and TV viewing in 2022 was largely informed / enforced by my 5 year old daughter, and the essential texts we rewatched repeatedly were the lively and proactive Gaby’s Dollhouse, multi-species global explorers the Octonauts , surreal UK gem Sarah and Duck and of course, the inspirational Aussie masterpiece Bluey. I did manage to catch a few films either new or new to me in 2022…

Wake in Fright ( 1971) : another Australian key text ( although less adorable than Bluey ). The horrors of closed environments, toxic masculinity and continuous drinking.

Enys Men (2022) : Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin’s spooky and minimalistic follow-up to his incredible Bait (2019) , a wonderful drama of local economic realities and identities. Would love to score one of his films but unfortunately he does an excellent job of this himself.

Stalker (1979) : As good as everyone said it would be.

EATING

Chorizo with honey Chinese black fungus

DRINKING

Everything by Burning Sky brewery ( Sussex, UK)

CREATING

I managed to churn out two tape releases in 2022 in between all the watching, listening, eating, drinking etc.

Estrenyon was released on tape and download with the Barcelona label zonawatusa and was inspired by historical UFO sightings throughout Cornwall from 1888 to 2021. Rife is the story of a Sussex Spring day and was released via Woodford Halse, who have released loads of great electronic and folky music by the likes of Xylitol and Sairie. On top of that , our first volume of download-only pay-what-you-like winter tunes Montol Melodies is available on our bandcamp until the traditional English old ‘ twelfth night ‘ ( January 12 2023).

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Lee Ranaldo

2022 LIST

I’m terrible at lists like this, and usually don’t keep track towards such a year-end summary. Pardon the self-focus, this is my year-in-review accounting, mostly just remembering to myself.

August in Vienna Leah and I spent the month of August in Vienna, creating a public artwork, sound+image, called Fermata. I discovered the world of small-body, near century-old, German + Austrian guitars. I wrote the main melodic material one one of these tiny, wonderful instruments,. At one point we had 3 of them in the apartment down in the MuseumQuartier. A whole new world of sound to explore. Side trips to Berlin and Prague. (https://tonspur.at/soundworks/lee-ranaldo-leah-singer/?lang=en) Exhibitions in Berlin and Eupen, Chile Media Arts Biennial, Covid Flowers online Exhibitions of my Black Noise record print editions in Berlin, Lost Highway road drawings in Belgium, and watercolor covid-flowers online. In Chile Leah and I created an outdoor sound/art work, Do You Read Me?, in a field of trees surrounding an observatory above Santiago. Sounds were generated from signals collected from deep space by another observatory in the Atacama desert. A sound displacement work.

Medicine Singers in Brasilia, Montreal, NYC Had fruitful wanderings this year with Yonatan Gat, working with indigineous players from the USA, Brasil and Canada. Recording sessions in Montreal at fabulous Hotel2Tango studio, and in a splendid house set on the edge of the city in Brasilia, one of my favorite places. Happy to have been invited along for this most interesting ride.

Touring resumes Mostly in Europe, mostly quite wonderful. After 2 years at home it felt good to stand up in front of audiences again. Lots of solo acoustic shows playing In Virus Times and singing songs, but also interesting collaborations with Yuri Landman; My Cat Is An Alien, Jean-Marc Montera and Sophie Gonthier, and a special ‘Velvets Suite’ with French legend Pascal Comelade in Banyoles, Spain. Also the beginnings of a new collaboration with Chicago guitarist Michael Vallera, in a great new space in NYC for experimental music, 411 Kent (aka Shift). Leah and I premiered the new version of our Contre Jour performance with suspended guitar and films, in A Coruna, Spain and at the Three-Lobed Fest in Durham, North Carolina – which was an amazing three days of music. Also a short NorthEast tour with Jeff Parker in May.

London/Paris/Leah/ Catpower My touring year ended with a month split between Europe and the UK. A friend-lent apartment in Paris as base, with shows and lectures in Nantes, and Brittany. Five shows in the UK, the most I’ve played in some time there, including a free-ranging set with the Pop Group’s Mark Stewart and an eclectic band. Wild night! Leah flew over to celebrate her birthday, with CatPower at Royal Albert Hall (first time there for us both) recreating Bob Dylan’s legendary show there – both acoustic and electric sets – from 1966. What a great night, and our time together, in London, Paris and Brittany, was splendid.

Hurricane Transcriptions This year I played solo keyboard shows for the first time ever – the solo-for-Fender-Rhodes performance of my Hurricane Sandy Transcriptions, first at Karma Gallery in NYC, accompanied by films from LA Artist Mungo Thomson, and also at a Xenakis celebration in Vienna and at the opening of my exhibition of Lost Highway drawings, ‘The Road Is Like The River, Constantly Changing Yet Ever The Same’ – at IKOB Museum in Eupen, Belgium. (ikob.be)

Circuit des Yeux at Green-Wood Cemetery I think my favorite gig of the year was Circuit des Yeux in Green-Wood Cemetery on a rainy night in June. The weather threatened the show all evening, which made this incredible performance – just Haley and Whitney Johnson (Matchess). Just a magical, powerful night.

Godard’s King Lear In late August I committed to introduce Jean-Luc Godard’s King Lear, which I’d never seen, at TriBeCa’s Roxy Cinema, which has been doing terrific programs organized by Illyse Singer. I love Godard’s films, they are an important touchstone for me, and I took this as an opportunity to discover both the film and Shakespeare’s play; my Shakespeare knowledge is terrible, so I boned up on the play. Four days before the screening, the great master died, which cast the whole night in a new light. The film has been described by Richard Brody of the NY’er as ‘one of the best films of all time’ – wow. Burgess Meredith, Molly Ringwald, Norman Mailer, Julie Delpy, Leos Carax, and Godard himself center-stage and the plugged/unplugged oracle Professor Pluggy. What a film. As usual with a Godard film: what a sound mix!. See it in 35mm.

Broken Circle / Spiral Hill I have had a long fascination with the work of Robert Smithson, since discovering the book of his writings in the 70s. In the early 80s on the first few SY tours, I ‘coaxed’ the band into visiting one of his 3 still existing artworks – Broken Circle/Spiral Hill – in the countryside of northern Holland. Back then it was like a treasure hunt trying to find it, in the dark, late on the way to Club Vera in Groningen. In 2020 I visited it for a third time w friend Carlos, in the week before the world shut down. It had been totally restored and ready for it’s moment – just at it’s 50-year mark. In 2022 the site-an old, long-unused quarry – was opened to the public for the first time in ages, across 8 weekends. This year I narrated a podcast for the Holt/Smithson Foundation and the Netherland’s Land Art Contemporary, about Smithson and the work, which went live in November. (brokencircle.nl)

Birdsong Project I worked on this project, as both producer and performer, to raise money to benefit the Audobon Society for the preservation of avian habitats. Over 200 musicians contributed to this 20-LP set, as well as writers, poets and artists. Uplifting and surprising. (https://www.audubon.org/birdsong-project)

James Jackson Toth In the early 2000s I produced an album – James and the Quiet – with Mr. Wooden Wand, who’s music I love. This year a group of friends organized a birthday tribute to James, with 33 of us recording versions of songs from his vast catalog. I recorded ‘Wired to the Sky’, a favorite from the album we made together, recorded in our Viennese apartment in August, which closes this Birthday Blues collection. (https://aquariumdrunkard.com/category/jamesjackson-toth/)

Some Music/Art/Books etc:

Lou Reed – Words + Music, 1971 RCA Demos David Bowie – Divine Symmetry Catherine Christer Hennix – Selected Early Keyboard Works (https://blankformseditions.bandcamp.com/album/selected-early-keyboard-works) Plus Instruments, Februari-April ’81 (first record I was ever on) on Domani Records, NYC. In/Out/In, Sonic Youth. So cool to see this release welcomed so warmly! Cecilia Vicuña, Tate Modern Turbine Hall Venus of Willendorf, Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna Matisse: The Red Studio, Museum of Modern Art, NYC Claude Monet – Joan Mitchell, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris Marco Fusinato, Desastres, Venice Biennale Family Affair, a 20-minute short film included in the Criterion Collection edition of Josh & Benny Safdie’s 2009 Daddy Longlegs, outlining our two families intertwined involvement in the making of the film. The most glorious home movie ever. The Double Life of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling, Clinton Heylin. First of a 2-part bio of the (other) Bard, making first use of all the new material out from Tulsa’s Bob Dylan Center archive. Loved: Olivier Assayas’ Irma Vep mini series. He’d used SY’s ‘Tunic’ in his original 1995 film, and we became friends and occasional collaborators. The new limited series mines the story anew, meta-mixing in his 1995 film and Louis Feuillade’s 1915 original, Les Vampires. The most contemporary piece of ‘television’ I’ve seen in ages, just wonderful, with fantastic cast including a spot-on stand-in portrayal by Vincent Macaigne as the director, Alicia Vikander as Irma Vep, and Lars Eidinger as Gottfried. Also Devon Ross, Carrie Brownstein, many other great performances. Loved it. Still watching: Westworld, Handmaid’s Tale. Hal Willner Memorial, St. Anne’s, April. Miss Hal all the time…

---LR, Winnipeg, December 2022

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Brian Chase

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Brian chose to write about one album that impacted him in 2022

This write-up is in no way meant to be a formal review - I don’t deem myself qualified for that task here - rather, this is meant to share personal enthusiasm and bring an album to light - like, "Have you heard this, it's really really amazing and inspiring and why isn't there more talking about it, and…" As a musician working within a greater community, I am acutely aware of the creative drive to continually uncover new modes, methodologies, practices etc. of expressing our chosen art form - each performance and each album serving as an instance of discovery and offering new perspectives on old conundrums. Whether the genre is rock, jazz, noise, free-improvisation, modern classical etc. the relationship of discourse and dialogue is still the same. At the forefront of this dialogue is John Zorn, as he has been for decades, and a major contribution to the conversation is the 2022 album Incerto - Existentialism, Psychoanalysis, and the Uncertainty Principle. Here, Zorn is the composer and the performing ensemble consists of some of Zorn's tightest in recent years: Brian Marsella on piano, Julian Lage on guitar, Jorge Roeder on bass and Ches Smith on drums. As Zorn says in the liner notes, "Incerto is about possibilities, probabilities, inevitabilities and improbabilities." Formal logic for musical structure is considerably expanded with these compositions and never before have I heard such new forms for improvisation. In these pieces, unexpected juxtapositions and superimpositions abound, as foremost examples of its many distinct features. The syntax of this music is beyond the scope of any previous way that I've conceived of music existing. Not only are harmonic and rhythmic conventions regularly reconstructed - often replaced with adjacent compliments and aggressive contradictions - but entire paradigms of improvisatory behavior are game as well. Shifts in genre/mood/tempo/texture/harmonic character/melodic personality place the improvisor in varying contexts - often in a short amount of time - and each context requires its own set of responses. The whole scope of musical history+trends+possibilities takes on a dynamic relational co-existence, in ways that I've never previously heard or thought possible - like when angular atonal lead lines enter on top of a serene ostinato, or impressionistic chords alternate between stillness and motion, or genre styles and idiomatic references collide, or gravelly density and noise build tension culminating into a placid release. Plus, so much of the composed material is really just so cool. Paramount to it all is the music’s immense depth of feeling. The moods on this album are evocative, romantic and ecstatic as much as they are revolutionary, kaleidoscopic and mystifying. As the music winds through its structural twists and turns, the key that holds it all together is sincerity of spirit - the performance of this music, as well as listening to it, is a literal experience. And within each singular track is the remarkable performance of the individual musicians themselves - each a respective master at the craft. Additionally, the album as a collective whole, being comprised of eleven very different tracks, functions as a macro-structure in itself which expands on the themes present in each individual track. So many new modes of music making are presented here - integrating them into current music making will take a while as more people discover its brilliance and begin to absorb the concepts and ideas it conveys. It is uniquely Zorn and there for us musicians to process and in turn produce that which is uniquely ours. Incerto is a gem in the conversation - we can listen and run with it how we like - but we have to hear it first.

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David T. Little

composer www.davidtlittle.com

MUSIC (new, revisited, & in rotation)

Vile Creature – Glory! Glory! Apathy Took Helm! Burning Witch – Crippled Lucifer tryphème – Aluminia Louis Cole – Quality Over Opinion KANGA – You and I Will Never Die DELANILA – Overloaded Amyl & the Sniffers – Comfort To Me Kae Tempest – Let Them Eat Chaos Graindelavoix & Björn Schmelzer – Josquin, the Undead: Laments, Deplorations & Dances of Death Run The Jewels – 1, 2, 3, 4 The Cure – Disintegration, Wish, Show, Pornography Tenderheart Bitches – High Kicks George Walker – Piano Sonatas (Steven Beck) Rammstein – Herzeleid, Mutter, Sehnsucht, Untitled (in heavy rotation after the MetLife Stadium show) Living Colour – Vivid Utah Phillips – We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years Tom Morello – Hold The Line (track, feat. grandson) ACRONYM – Oddities & Trifles: the Very Peculiar Instrumental Music of Giovanni Valentini Late Stravinsky (various) Son Lux – Everything Everywhere All At Once (ost) Harrison Birtwistle – The Moth Requiem Christopher Tin – The Lost Birds Karim Sulayman, Apollo’s Fire – Songs of Orpheus Hermann Nitsch – Symphony No. 9 “The Egyptian” Jay Wadley – Swan Song (ost) Herem – Pulsa diNura Danny Elfman – Big Mess / Bigger. Messier. (Deluxe.) Scott Walker – The Drift

FILMS & SERIES (new & rewatched) Hellraiser (Clive Barker) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman) Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Shin'ya Tsukamoto) Private Life (Tamara Jenkins) Double Take (Johan Grimonprez) After Life (Ricky Gervais) One Big Bag (Every Ocean Hughes) The Village Detective (Bill Morrison) Polia & Blastema (E. Elias Merhige) Sibyl (William Kentridge)

The Copper Queen (Crystal Manich) Wishes (Amy Jenkins) The Once and Future Smash (Sophia Cacciola & Michael J. Epstein) End Zone 2 (August Kane) All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger) Everything Everywhere All At Once (Daniels) Russian Doll (multiple directors) Piggy (short) (Carlota Pereda) The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Michael Rianda & Jeff Rowe) WHAT DID JACK DO? (David Lynch) The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion) Pig (Michael Sarnoski) The Green Knight (David Lowery) The Northman (Robert Eggers) Muriel’s Wedding (P.J. Hogan) BoJack Horseman (multiple directors) Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)

BOOKS (some) Body Horror - Anne Elizabeth Moore Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf a ghost in the throat - Doireann Ní Ghríofa Cleanness – Garth Greenwell A Saint from Texas – Edmund White Out Loud – Mark Morris The Gastronomical Me – M.F.K. Fisher Agamemnon – Aeschylus (trans. Robert Fagles)

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Jonnine

HTRK

2022 good vibes - Hackedepicciotto tour photos such #couplegoals, kicking off the HTRK tour in Atlanta was exhilarating! Big hangs with my overseas buds Nathan Corbin and Yasmina Dexter, writing new songs with Nigel and keeping THE dream alive, my puppy Pali growing up into mumma’s good boy, instagram follows @the.holistic.psychologist (self healing) @cracked.bolos (cakes), DJ Sundae, Amir Shoat, ‘Crush’ by Richard Siken (borrow from Nigel) writing bonkers dreams down again, Jonathan Richmond lyrics, tik tok #stayathomegirlfriend, jamming with Brother May in London and playing cafe OTO, second season Euphoria, White Lotus, Heartbreak High, rewatching Curb, Julia Fox’s eye makeup tutorial, films The Weekend and 45 Years by director Andrew Haigh, Charlotte Rampling interviews, fam long drives with Conrad and Pali finding songs for NTS <3 <3 Conrad got me into the Kinks!

Some music i liked Actress — Dummy Corporation (Ninja Tune) Autumn Fair - Autumn Fair DALE CORNISH — Traditional Music of South London (The Death Of Rave) Delphine Dora — A Stream Of Consciousness II (for piano solo) Coby Sey — Conduit (AD 93) CS + Kreme — Orange (The Trilogy Tapes) Harry Howard - Slight Pavilions Various / Kashual Plastik — Field of Progress Jonathan Richman - Jonathan Goes Country Julia Reidy - World in World Kitchen Cynics — Strange Acrobats Liz Durette - A Christmas Gift To You Malvern Brume — Body Traffic (MAL) Taylor E. Burch — The Best of Taylor E. Burch (Downwards) The Incredible String Band — Wee Tam and the Big Huge The Kinks - The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society Thomas Bush — Preludes Warm Currency — Returns (Horn Of Plenty)

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Lawrence English

(Room 40 Records)

This year was the first time I had travelled internationally since 2019. The thing I realised I've truly missed is seeing people. The opportunity to share ideas, to be curious with others and to just be in the world was, well, magical. I think if anything the past few years has reminded me (us?) not to take things for granted…especially each other. This year was also the first time I returned to making solo electronic works. It had been about six years since I had completed Cruel Optimism and, if I am honest, I wasn’t sure if I still had an appetite for making solo electronic works. Approach however proved, to me at least, I can still derive great pleasure from working alone. Unexpectedly, I found the whole process of the album very satisfying, like it was new all over again, not something I always feel.

There’s been a tonne of great input into the system this year. Ergo Proxy totally got me thinking. I was late to the party, but it was a party I am glad I did make it to. Puce Mary made some tapes back in April, both of them were totally ace, filled with an acute sense of heaviness. I very much enjoyed Boy Harsher’s work this year too, outside my usual orbit in some ways, but they are really onto something of late. I caught up with my old and dear friend Kate Crawford, and had a chance to read over he excellent Atlas Of AI book, she is a tower of radiance. Annea Lockwood’s, work occupied a great deal of my thoughts this year, realising her Piano Transplants all at once was quite simply a delight. Adam Curtis’s TraumaZone left an indelible mark in more ways than one. I returned to Vancouver to photograph the crows that started off my homage to Masahisa Fukase, perhaps that tract of work is done? Oh and thanks to a dinner with Atsuo from Boris, and the encouragement of my small humans, we all started down the pathway of the epic saga of Gundam too. I missed that when I was younger, so it’s a long road to catch up on….but I started.

Oh and on a purely personal note I was able to commission a shikishi from Yoshihisa Tagami. Seriously, my 12 year old self was reborn when it arrived. The world is so much bigger, and smaller, than that little human could ever have imagined!

Love to you all and here’s hoping 2023 is full of curious surprises and wonder.

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John Tottenham

author

A LISTLESS LIST

Best Books: Woodcutters Concrete Extinction| Wittgenstein’s Nephew Old Masters

Thomas Bernhard

A Father and his Fate More Women than Men Manservant and Maidservant A Family and a Fortune - Ivy Compton Burnett Hawkwind: Days of the Underground - Joe Banks

Best Songs: Eunice Collins – At the Hotel Gloria Barnes - Old Before My Time Sonia Ross - Every Now and Then Rozetta Johnson - A Woman’s Way Debbie Taylor - I Don’t Wanna Leave You Denise LaSalle - Trapped by a Thing Called Love Barbara Stant - Unsatisfied Woman Ann Alford - If It Ain’t One Thing Big Martha - Your Magic Touch Helene Smith - Sure Thing Best Shows By Octogenarians And Nonagenarians:

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – Zebulon, LA / Bob Dylan - Pantages, LA / Marshall Allen (Arkestra) - Zebulon, LA / Swamp Dogg - Teragram, LA / Doug Kershaw - Zebulon, LA / Sonny Green - Barnyard & La Louisianne, LA / Tommy McClain - Stowaway, LA

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Brian Carpenter

Composer / Ghost Train Orchestra

My favorite recordings of 2022, in no particular order…also the most frequently played albums on my long-running radio show Free Association on WZBC in Boston. As I'm writing this I'm reminded that a lot of great records came out of bands from South London this year, across genres.

The Comet is Coming - CODE Caroline - caroline Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork William Orbit - The Painter Akusmi - Fleeting Future

Electric Youth, David Sylvian, et al - A Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto - To the Moon and Back Portico Quartet - Next Stop The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention Zola Jesus - Into the Wild Mary Lattimore and Paul Sukeena - West Kensington Lucrecia Dalt - Ay! Bjork - Fossora Tindersticks - Stars at Noon Original Soundtrack Kamikaze Palm Tree - The Hit Bitchin Bajas - Bajascillators Bill Callahan - YTILAER Thurston Moore - Screen Time Bill Orcutt - Music for Four Guitars Horse Lords - Comradely Objects Curha - Curha III

Sharon Van Etten - We've Been Going About This All Wrong Aldous Harding - Warm Chris Weyes Blood - Hearts Aglow Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You Oneida - Success Brandon Seabrook - In the Swarm Jacob Garchik - Assembly Oren Ambarchi - Shebang The Lord and Petra Haden - Devotional Roedelius & Tim Story - 4 Hands Brian Eno - Foreverandevernomore Steve Reich - Runner Moor Mother - Jazz Codes Makaya McCraven - Dream Another Sun Ra Arkestra - Living Sky Danger Mouse and Black Thought - Identical Deaths A Far Cry - The Blue Hour Nils Frahm - Music for Animals Mary Halvorson - Amaryllis Kronos Quartet, Van-Anh Vanessa Vo, Rinde Eckert - My Lai Attacca Quartet - Caroline Shaw: Evergreen

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DJ Food

Music: Clocolan - Empathy Alpha LP (Redpan) Brian Eno - The Lighthouse (Sonos HD) King Gizzard &The Lizard Wizard - Omnium Gatherum LP (Flightless) Twilight Sequence - Trees in General: and the Larch 12" (Castles In Space) WTCHCRFT - Drugs Here 12" (Balkan Vinyl) Ghost Power - Ghost Power LP (Duophonic Super 45s) Dexorcist - Night Watch 12" (Yellow Machines) The Advisory Circle - Full Circle LP (Ghost Box) Fenella - The Metallic Index (Fire Records) S'Express & Daddy Squad - Music 4 The Mind (DL)

Podcasts: The Bureau of Lost Culture We Buy Records Oh God, What Now?

Gigs / Events: The Orb play U.F.Orb @ The Fox & Firkin, London Staying in a restored Futuro House, Somerset Fogfest @ Iklectik, London Funki Porcini's Lasarium @ Iklectik, London The Trunk Groovy Record Fayre @ Mildmay Club, London

Books / Comics: 99 Balls Pond Road - Jill Drower (Scrudge Books) Radio Spaceman - Mike Mignola & Greg Hinkle (Dark Horse) A-Z of Record Shop Bags - Jonny Trunk (Fuel) Mud Sharks - Dave Barbarossa Good Pop, Bad Pop - Jarvis Cocker (Vintage) House Music - Andy Votel (The Modernist) Defying Gravity - Jordan Mooney w. Cathi Unsworth 69 Exhibition Road - Dorothy Max Prior (Strange Attractor) Judge Dredd - Mike McMahon (Apex Edition) It's Lonely At The Centre Of The Universe - Zoe Thorogood (Image Comics) The Black Locomotive - Rian Hughes (Picador)

Films: Get Back (Disney+) Who Killed The KLF? (Chris Atkins) In The Court of the Crimson King (Toby Aimes)

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semper-legens · 9 months

Text

98. The Ghost Theatre, by Mat Osman

Owned: No, library Page count: 303 My summary: Shay is a rooftop messenger in Elizabethan London, desperate to keep her father safe and eke out a life in the city, trying to live up to her mother’s reputation as a fortune teller who sees the future in the birds. Nonesuch is a Blackfriars Boy, a child actor who yearns for more than his life at the theatre. Together, they find themselves embroiled in rebellion against all who would keep them down and cage them. But things start spiralling out of hand almost immediately - and when they fly high, they’ll soon find themselves falling. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

This is one that I was recommended by my mother - she saw a summary online and thought it'd be my kind of thing. I was of two minds. The Elizabethan era isn't quite my interest; I think the Tudor and Victorian eras are both overused in historical fiction, in a way that kind of makes me uncomfortable because it ties to English nationalism and the fictionalised ideals of greater times. Which are both inherently linked to colonialist empires, being the times in history where England was actively trying to take over the world. But anyway, that's not to say that fiction set during these times can't be good, and the idea of the 'ghost theatre' and a girl who can read the future in a flock of birds appeals to my interests in a huge way. While I couldn't get into the book at first, I thought the prose was a bit bland, I'm so glad I stuck it out because I wound up really enjoying it.

Our protagonist is Shay, an Aviscultan (fictional society of people who worship birds) and a message runner who winds up involved with the Blackfriars theatre. Shay is naturally suspicious and incredibly lonely - she lost her mother when she was too young to have real memories of her, and her ageing father is beset with dementia. She's expected to follow in her mother's footsteps among the Aviscultans and read the future, but at the start of the book she's just making up prophecies and hoping people will buy them. She's drawn to Blackfriars and the community she finds there, but she still makes mistakes along the way, with near-disastrous consequences. Shay's a really compelling protagonist, her voice is well-measured between wary cynicism and hope, and her struggles to survive in a world that is determined to make first a saint then a martyr of her are a delight to read. Well, delight is probably the wrong word; this is a grim book, and most of the characters are desperate one way or another to survive as best they can, however they can. And Shay is no different. She's stubborn, but ultimately concerned with her own survival, and what crumbs of happiness she can eke from her situation.

Speaking of Shay's happiness, let's talk about Nonesuch! He's the actor who gets Shay involved with the Blackfriars. His story blends historical fact and fiction - the Blackfriars was a real theatre, and the actors were all young boys, many of whom were pressed into service, essentially kidnapped to work at the theatre. Nonesuch is one of these boys, though a fictional one. (Some of the characters are based on real people, or at least share their names.) Nonesuch is a talented actor, prone to improvisation, but clearly smarting at his servitude in the theatre and looking to break out or rebel in whatever way he can. Particularly as the boys are called to 'private performances' where they perform s*xual acts for wealthy patrons. I don't know if this is extrapolation or based on fact, but I can believe it. Nonesuch is a fascinating portrait of a damaged young man, one whose motives are never quite clear. The titular Ghost Theatre is his baby, a sort of improvisational performance art running counter to the more mainstream performances at the Blackfriars. And yet, there's this undercurrent of danger. Nonesuch has never met a problem he didn't want to solve through underhanded, possibly even violent means. It leaves you guessing just what's going through his head and what he's going to do next.

But ultimately, this is a book about oppression. Boys like Nonesuch and the Blackfriars boys are abused by rich men. Shay's people are outcasts and seen as strange and violent (I think they're inspired by the Romani?). Shay herself bascially becomes a pariah after accidentally getting involved in higher politics. There's a group who are protesting common land being stolen from the people, but the means by which they do it involve kidnap and slavery. Nonesuch just wants his freedom, and the freedom of the city, but he seeks to gain it by risking a lot of lives in the process. Shay's prophecies spur the Queen to crack down on Catholics, in a move that foreshadows the Gunpowder Plot. Oppression begets oppression, and there are no easy answers. In the end, all Shay can do is try and survive it, and lead as many people out of the fray as possible. Which, really, is a valid reaction to the harshness of the times she was born into.

Next up, the true life of Victorian London's slums.

#The Ghost Theatre #Mat Osman #bookblr #book blog #book blogger #4

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sinceileftyoublog · 1 year

Text

Tom Skinner Interview: Vessels for Music to Be Heard

Photo by Alex Kurunis

BY JORDAN MAINZER

From the now-defunct jazz greats Sons of Kemet to best-ever Radiohead-adjacent project The Smile, Tom Skinner has not-so-quietly been one of the most versatile drummers of the past half-decade. Though he previously released his own music under the moniker Hello Skinny, earlier this month, Skinner shared his first album under his own name, Voices of Bishara (Brownswood/International Anthem/Nonesuch). The record doesn’t just exemplify Skinner as a player, but encapsulates his imaginative spirit as a listener and reinventor.

Throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns, Skinner listened repeatedly to Abdul Wadud’s 1978 solo album By Myself, privately pressed on Wadud’s label, Bishara. The Arabic name loosely translates to “the bringer of good news;” as lockdowns were lifted, vaccines administered, and live shows returned, it felt an appropriate word to reflect the genesis of what would become Voices of Bishara. A few years back, Skinner was invited to do a Played Twice session at London’s Brilliant Corners, wherein artists improvised in response to a classic album played through the venue’s audiophile system. That night, the album was Tony Williams’ Life Time; Skinner chose cellist Kareem Dayes, tenor saxophonists Nubya Garcia and Shabaka Hutchings, and bassist Tom Herbert. They had such natural chemistry that Skinner was inspired to write an album’s worth of new music, which he and the other four recorded live.

Voices of Bishara is far from a traditional jazz album, though, as Skinner returned to the recordings and edited between the instruments like his favorite disco and house producers would do. The result is an album with a tremendous sense of clearance, contrast, and opportunity for the individual players to shine. The muted, melancholy “Bishara” starts with just cello and bass before saxophone and rolling drums enter. “Red 2″, a response to Williams’ “Two Pieces Of One: Red” from Life Time, is shadowy, though Garcia’s flute shines through. Cello and chirping saxophone converse on “The Day After Tomorrow”, with Skinner’s drum rolls underneath the sighs of the woodwinds. “The Journey” and “Voices (Of The Past)” have a bit more of a groove and sway to them, Skinner’s drumming limber and snapping like a more traditional jazz or even boom bap beat. Voices of Bishara is more a retrospective of Skinner’s artistry and curatorial voice than a debut, let alone an assured mid-career album.

I emailed Skinner some questions about Voices of Bishara last month, touching on the album(s) that inspired it, responding to existing music, and composition. Read his responses below, edited for clarity.

Photo by André Baumecker

Since I Left You: Why do you think you found yourself listening to Abdul Wadud's By Myself during COVID so much? What about it resonates with you?

Tom Skinner: There’s a purity to the record. It’s a very direct and deeply personal piece of work. When you’re listening to it, it’s just you and him, no overdubs or studio trickery beyond the odd edit here and there. He’s talking directly to you, and I found that very refreshing and inspiring. In terms of the pandemic, looking back on it, I think maybe I took some solace in that level of intimacy at a time when we weren’t able to interact with other people as much as we were accustomed to. It’s also just a fucking cool record, and his playing on it is absolutely incredible. It’s loose and free with some pretty far-out improv on there but also incredibly melodic and rhythmically very interesting and groovy, too. Somehow, he manages to encompass all of my favorite things about music in one clear and concise statement.

SILY: What was your first experience or relationship with Tony Williams' Life Time?

TS: I’ve been a fan of Tony’s playing from the first time I heard him on the classic Miles Davis quintet records of the 1960’s. His own records from that time, though, always seemed a little more challenging and experimental. I first heard Spring (his second for Blue Note), and it definitely took me a while to appreciate what was going on, but as an aspiring young jazz musician, it was inspiring to hear how he was pushing himself and the music into new directions on those recordings. The thing I love about Life Time in particular is the unusual instrumentation and the fact that each track features a different combination of players. Tony doesn’t even play on the final tune. Even by today’s standards, that feels ahead of its time.

SILY: When playing for the Played Twice session and this album, why did you specifically choose Kareem, Nubya, Tom Herbert, and Shabaka?

TS: The personal connections and friendships between myself and the people I work with are at the heart of all my projects and collaborations, and this record is no exception. I have known everybody on the record for a long time, and we have a deep and rich history of performing together in different contexts. Getting this specific group together came at a time when we were all playing regularly at Brilliant Corners in various combinations, often for the Played Twice sessions. What attracted me to this particular combination of personalities and players was the scope for orchestration that it presented: Kareem’s cello and Tom’s double bass is a small string section, and Shabaka and Nubya’s tenor saxophones are the wind section, with the added possibility of them doubling on either clarinets or flutes, respectively, and then me on percussion. I also wanted to allow the musicians as much space and freedom as possible within the framework of the songs and, although there are “featured” players on certain tracks, the music was written with a collective and egalitarian approach to improvisation in mind.

SILY: "Red 2" is about a quarter of the length of "Two Pieces of One: Red" and a bit more shadowy in spirit. How did you go about coming up with your version of it, and how did you approach the differences with the original?

TS: I wasn’t approaching it with the original piece in mind at all, and I definitely didn’t want to recreate what had already been done. I wouldn’t really call it a cover, either. With our "version" of “Two Pieces of One: Red”, I wanted to try to break it down to its base elements and focus on only a very small section of the original piece, almost like a sample or a loop that you might find on a hip-hop record. In that sense, the repetition of it becomes a compositional device, too. We then used this as a jumping off point for improvisation. In addition to this idea, I wanted to play around with the sound of the recording, using hard edits between the different instruments and microphones to accentuate an almost jarring sense of space and perspective in the music.

SILY: "Voices (Of The Past)" certainly has a more retro jazz feel to it, and the drums could almost be a part of a boom bap 90's hip hop song. What voices of the past were you referencing on this track?

TS: That’s a very good question and, if I’m honest, I’m not sure I really know. Perhaps I was referencing the music I grew up listening to? Specifically a steady diet of early 90’s hip hop during my teen-age years. That’s when I got heavily into jazz, too: Miles, Coltrane, Ornette, Monk, all the classics. When you’re young, you learn very quickly and soak up so much information. All that music is digested and becomes part of your DNA. So, in a way, I feel that, subconsciously, all those things are probably filtering through.

On a deeper level, though, as musicians, when we play, we are channeling the spirits of our ancestors and forefathers. The music exists all around us, and we are vessels for it to be heard.

SILY: "Quiet As It's Kept" is the most stark track on here, comparatively speaking. How important is it for you to use empty space in your compositions?

TS: Extremely important. Silence, a rest, or a pause are as important, if not more important, than any note that’s written or played. I’m trying to tap into that more and more with my approach to playing the drums and compositionally, too. Space is the place.

SILY: Why did you decide to release this album under your name as opposed to Hello Skinny?

TS: Initially it wasn’t the plan to release it under my own name. I was just going to call it Voices of Bishara. But, for various reasons, it made more sense to release it as Tom Skinner. At first, I wasn’t keen on the idea. I’m used to hiding behind another name--like Hello Skinny or whatever--and stepping out like that felt a bit daunting. But gradually, I came around to the idea and soon came to realize that releasing music under my own name actually gives me a lot more artistic freedom. This way, I’m not tied to any particular sound, style, or group. From one release to the next, I can essentially do what I want. That feels very liberating for me going forward.

SILY: What's the story behind the album art?

TS: The album artwork and design are by the supremely talented Paul Camo. We’ve known each other for many years but only started working on projects together quite recently. This is the second sleeve he’s designed for one of my projects, the first being the Okumu, Herbert, Skinner Trio album Undone: Live at The Crypt released via Vinyl Factory in 2019.

I didn’t give Paul any specific direction; rather, I was more interested in him having complete freedom, to see how he reacted to the music creatively and allowing that to dictate the direction we took. Talking regularly with him and throwing ideas around was a very important part of the process as a whole in creating this record, and I feel like the artwork informs the music as much as vice versa, to the point where he’s now become a part of the group! Paul is a fantastic DJ and selector with a vast knowledge of all music but with a keen ear for deep jazz and improvised music. He performed with us on CDJs and samples at Church of Sound back in September. He has a regular show on NTS called We Are… which is well worth checking out. In addition to that, he runs Margate Radio (Margate is a town on the Kent coast where he is based) and is very active in the local music and art scene there.

SILY: Are you playing these songs live?

TS: We played one show in London at Church of Sound in September, and hopefully, we’ll get a chance to play some more shows next year. There are some potential opportunities on the horizon.

SILY: What's next for you?

TS: A tour across the US with The Smile that will take us right up to Christmas. I’ve started writing material for a second Bishara record. Plus, there are a few other album projects and collaborations in the works.

SILY: What have you been listening to, reading, and watching lately?

TS: Music (in no particular order): Sam Gendel, Armand Hammer, billy woods, Elucid, Low, Ingram Marshall, Robert Stillman, Loraine James, Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry, Julius Hemphill, Earl Sweatshirt, Coby Sey, Mica Levi, Moin, Aaron Dilloway, Lucrecia Dalt, Ohbliv, Jaimie Branch, keiyaA, Henry Threadgill, Tara Clerkin Trio, Charles Stepney, Rotary Connection, Jeanne Lee, The Beatles, Broadcast… I could go on, but we’d be here all day.

Books: The History of Bones by John Lurie and The Passengers by Will Ashon.

Film: The Hand of God by Paolo Sorrentino.

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noloveforned · 1 year

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i'm on a brief roadtrip to catch a couple yo la tengo shows 'back home' in north carolina but i still found the time to put together a new show that will air tonight. tune into wlur from 8pm until midnight for the new show followed by last week's show, or just catch up with last week's at your convenience below!

no love for ned on wlur – march 3rd, 2023 from 10pm-midnight

artist // track // album // label the bangles // manic monday // different light // columbia en attendant ana // same old story // principia // trouble in mind the high water marks // an imposed exile // your next wolf // minty fresh felt // i will die with my head in flames // bubblegum perfume // creation remember sports // heads carolina, tails california // (bandcamp mp3) // (self-released) cloud nothings // cleared the room // (bandcamp mp3) // (self-released) surface to air missive // do-over // surface to air missive // leaving quasi // queen of ears // breaking the balls of history // sub pop gee tee // within the walls // goodnight neanderthal // goner dadar // desperate // iron cage // goodbye boozy private function // jusavinageez // 370hssv 0773h // still on top aquarium // water // aquarium // lumpy natterers // appetite for distraction // head in threatening attitude // boss tuneage paranoias // respawning // napalm springs // helta skelta glyders // inbound / outbound // maria's hunt // country thyme jonnine standish // portrait // maritz // idle press levoneh // where you were // ground // cruisin more milk and june panic // even the sun // even the sun digital single // vinyl digital numün // voices // book of beyond // shimmy-disc sam gendel featuring meshell ndegeocello // anywhere // cookup // nonesuch spherule trio // other mythological thievery // there will always be instruments cassette // orb tapes yasuhiro kohno trio plus one // song of island // song of island // barely breaking even algiers featuring billy woods and backxwash // bite back // shook // matador rome streetz and dj muggs // stone cold soul // death and the magician // soul assassins akai solo and bstfrnd featuring keiyaa // heaven's wrath // like hajime // novelty nick hakim // m1 // cometa // ato yazmin lacey // late night people // voice notes // own your own kate nv // nochnoi zvonok (night call) // wow // rvng intl elliott fullam // on and on // you are dreaming ep // kill rock stars bobbie lovesong // watching from a window // on the wind // woodsist the kitchenettes // i'll be there // fourteen compilation // prefect the shapiros // gone by fall // gone by fall: the collected works of the shapiros // world of echo world atlas // saint mary // world atlas ep // magic marker

#wlur #radio shows

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dustedmagazine · 2 years

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Dusted Midyear Round-Up: Part 3 The Lists

Cate Le Bon

After two days worth of record trading, Dusted writers retreat to their various obsessions and share lists of their favorite records of early 2022. If you missed our two-part midyear exchange coverage, check out Part 1 and Part 2.

Jennifer Kelly

Winged Wheel — No Island (12XU)

Destroyer — Labyrinthitis (Merge)

Oneida — Success (Joyful Noise)

Cate Le Bon — Pompeii (Drag City)

Fontaines D.C. — Skinty Fia (Partisan)

Jake Xerxes Fussell — Good and Green Again (Paradise of Bachelors)

Reds, Pinks and Purples — Summer at Land’s End (Slumberland)

Yard Act — The Overload (Rough Trade)

Superchunk — Wild Loneliness (Merge)

Horsegirl — Versions of Modern Performance (Matador)

Jonathan Shaw’s horrendous half-dozen:

Black Fucking Cancer — Procreate Inverse (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

Cosmic Putrefaction — Crepuscular Dirge for the Blessed Ones (Caligari Records)

Kostnateni — Ohen Hori Tam, Kde Padl (Mystiskaos)

Merihem — Incendiary Darkness (I, Voidhanger)

Mizmor and Thou — Myopia (Gilead Media)

Mutilatred — Determined to Rot (Redefining Darkness)

Tim Clarke

The Smile — A Light for Attracting Attention (XL)

Big Thief — Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (4AD)

Black Country, New Road — Ants From Up There (Ninja Tune)

Aldous Harding — Warm Chris (4AD)

Shearwater — The Great Awakening (Polyborus)

Cate Le Bon — Pompeii (Mexican Summer)

Daniel Rossen — You Belong There (Warp)

Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin — Ghosted (Drag City)

Robert Stillman — What Does it Mean to be American? (Orindal)

Claire Rousay — Everything Perfect is Already Here (Shelter Press)

Ray Garraty

Bandgang Lonnie Bands x ShredGang Mone — Shottas (TF Distribution)

Wayne616 — Grease Files (Still Grinding)

Young Bleed — Dare Iza God (Trap Door Entertainment)

Z Money — Back 2 The Blender (4EverPaidRecords)

Boldy James & Real Bad Man — Killing Nothing (Real Bad Man)

Andrew Forell

billy woods - Aethiopes (Blackwoodz Studioz)

Kids On A Crime Spree - Fall in Love, Not In Line (Slumberland)

700 Bliss - Nothing To Declare (Hyperdub)

Brainwaltzera - ITSAME (Film Recordings)

Artsick - Fingers Crossed (Slumberland)

Blackhaine - Armour II (Fixed Abode)

Bill Meyer

Sophie Agnel / John Butcher, La Pierre Tachée (Ni Vu Ni Connu)

Rhodri Davies, For Simon H. Fell (Amgen)

Jake Xerxes Fussell, Good And Green Again (Paradise of Bachelors)

Mary Halvorson, Amaryllis & Belladonna (Nonesuch)

Haptic, Ladder of Shadows (901 Editions)

Glenn Jones, Vade Mecum (Thrill Jockey)

Shane Parish, Viscera Eternae (Ramble)

Dave Rempis / Elizabeth Harnik / Michael Zerang, Astragaloi (Aerophonic)

Masayuki Takayanagi, Eclipse (Black Editions)

Reinier van Houdt, Drift Nowhere Past / The Adventure Of Sleep (Elsewhere)

Bryon Hayes

Pan•American — The Patience Fader (Kranky)

Robbie Lee & Lea Bertucci — Winds Bells Falls (Telegraph Harp)

Ayal Senior — Az Yashir (Medusa Editions)

Cate Le Bon — Pompeii (Mexican Summer)

Winged Wheel — No Island (12XU)

Julia Reidy — World in World (Black Truffle)

Horsegirl — Versions of Modern Performance (Matador)

Tilth — Rock Music (Round Bale Recordings)

p2p — Impossible Burger (Rat-Drifting)

Modern Lamps — Lucid Cartography (Hooker Vision)

Patrick Masterson

Yard Act — The Overload (Rough Trade)

Overmono — Cash Romantic EP (XL)

Oneida — Success (Joyful Noise)

Angel Olsen — Big Time (Jagjaguwar)

Yung Kayo — DFTK (Young Stoner Life)

HAAi — Baby, We're Ascending (Mute)

Cloakroom — Dissolution Wave (Relapse)

Saba — Few Good Things (The Orchard)

Heavenly Bodies — Universal Resurrection (Petty Bunco)

Axel Boman — Luz / Quest for Fire (Studio Barnhus)

Cate Le Bon — Pompeii (Mexican Summer)

Sauce Walka — AI Rage Walka (Sauce Familia)

Christian Carey

Destroyer — Labyrinthitis (Merge)

Oneida — Success (Joyful Noise)

Cate Le Bon — Pompeii (Drag City)

Superchunk — Wild Loneliness (Merge)

Jenny Hvall — Classic Objects (4AD)

Steve Reich — Reich/Richter (Nonesuch)

Ches Smith — Interpret it Well (Pyroclastic)

Steven Schick — A Hard Rain (Islandia)

Mark Turner — Return from the Stars (ECM)

Walter Zimmermann — Voces (Mode)

Derek Taylor

Andrew Cyrille/William Parker/Enrico Rava — 2 Blues for Cecil (TUM)

Michael Bisio Quartet — MBefore (Tao Forms)

Ingrid Laubrock/Brandon Lopez/Tom Rainey — No Es La Playa (Intakt)

Survival Unit III — The Art of Flight/For Alvin Fielder (Astral Spirits/Instigation)

Ches Smith — Interpret it Well (Pyroclastic)

Chris Byars — Rhythm and Blues of the 20s (Steeplechase)

Cecil Taylor — The Complete, Legendary, Live Return Concert at the Town Hall, NYC, November 4, 1973 (Oblivion)

Albert Ayler — Revelations: The Complete ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (Resonance)

Peter Brötzmann/ William Parker/ Milford Graves — Historic Music Past Tense Future (Black Editions)

Sam Rivers — Caldera (No Business)

Virgil Gonsalves — Jazz in the Bay Area 1954-1959 (Fresh Sound)

Toots Thielemans & Rob Franken — The Studio Sessions 1973-1983 (Dutch Jazz Archive)

Michael Rosenstein

A baker’s dozen of releases that have caught my ear in the first half of the year:

John Butcher — 5 LP set from ausland (Ni Vu Ni Connu)

Zhao Cong — REW (Eminent Observer)

Anne-F Jacques, Chemiefaserwerk, Zhu Wenbo — La Cinta Flotante (Bolinga Everest Records)

Rie Nakajima/Takahiro Kawaguchi — Utsuho (tsss tapes)

Oùat — Elastic Bricks (Umlaut Records)

Manja Ristić — the concrescence (Self Released)

Vanessa Rossetto / Lionel Marchetti — The Tower (The City) (Erstwhile Records)

Li Song — Two Snare Drums (Infant Tree)

Staubitz and Waterhouse — Common Metals (music is the worst)

Tarab — Rooms (Ferns recordings)

Bardo Todol — La Siembra Eterna (Never Anything Records)

Yu Yiyi — Hypnos (self-released)

Sun Yizhou, Zheng Hao — Another Time (bluescreen)

Ian Mathers

15 in personal chronological order:

Cloakroom — Dissolution Wave (Relapse)

Pan•American — The Patience Fader (Kranky)

Aoife O'Donovan — Age of Apathy (Yep Roc)

Broadcast — Maida Vale Sessions (Warp)

Nadja — Nalepa (Broken Spine)

Sasami — Squeeze (Domino)

Picastro — I’ve Never Met a Stranger (3490032 Records DK)

Michael Beharie — Promise (Clandestine)

Chelsea Jade — Soft Spot (Carpark)

Spiritualized — Everything Was Beautiful (Fat Possum)

Diatom Deli — Time~Lapse Nature (RVNG Intl.)

loscil — The Sails p.1/p.2 (self-release)

Z Money — Back 2 the Blender (4EVERPAID)

Oneida — Success (Joyful Noise)

Billow Observatory — Stareside (Felte)

#dusted magazine #midyear #midyear 2022 #jennifer kelly #jonathan shaw #tim clarke #ray garraty #andrew forell #bill meyer #bryon hayes #patrick masterson #christian carey #derek taylor #michael rosenstein #ian mathers

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