#^d 2014-11-24
#^h Music Week
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<p>Music: Current count 24067 [24030] rated (+37), 519 [527] unrated (-8).</p>

<p>The high rated count comes from hustling for last week's
<a href="/ocston/arch/rhap/rh1411-1.php">Rhapsody Streamnotes</a>.
More generally, I'm trying to sort out year-end lists -- the working
files are here for
<a href="/ocston/nm/notes/eoyjazz-14.php">jazz</a> and
<a href="/ocston/nm/notes/eoynonjazz-14.php">non-jazz</a>. By some
quirk of fate, both lists currently have 55 A-list albums. I think
in past years I've had a fair amount more records in the jazz column,
but I'm getting less and less jazz these days. For instance, Tim Niland,
whose blog a few years back ran very parallel to mine, posted his Jazz
Critics Poll ballot
<a href="http://jazzandblues.blogspot.com/2014/11/francis-davis-8th-annual-jazz-critics.html">
today</a>, and his top-ten includes four records I haven't heard (John
Zorn, Audio One, Lean Left, and Brandon Seabrook), and two more I didn't
receive (Chicago Underground Duo, Raoul Björkenheim).</p>

<p>I haven't seen much else in the way of year-end lists, although they
should start appearing any day now (indeed: <i>Mojo</i>: Beck, War on
Drugs, Sleaford Mods, Jack White, St. Vincent, Steve Gunn; <i>Q</i>:
War on Drugs, Alt-J, Damon Albarn, Manic Street Preachers, Beck, St.
Vincent; <i>American Songwriter</i>: Sturgill Simpson, War on Drugs,
Strand of Oaks, Taylor Swift, Ryan Adams, Hurray for the Riff Raff,
St. Vincent at 21). Still don't have a plan on how to do a year-end
list metacritic file, but thinking about it.</p>

<p>Did some resorting on the year-end lists, resulting in a couple
of grade promotions. I'm not able to find time to play many of my
favorite records after rating, but Revolutionary Snake Ensemble and
Jenny Scheinman have been exceptions.</p>

<p><hr class="brk"></p>

<p>New records rated this week:</p>

<ul>
<li><b>Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra: <i>Pulsion</i></b> (2014, Ubiquity): misnomers all around, closer to electric Miles Davis than anything else, maybe denser [r]: <b>B+(***)</b></li>
<li><b>Eric Bibb: <i>Blues People</i></b> (2014, Stony Plain): soft-spoken blues archaeologist spreads his net wide, comes up with mixed bag (maybe the guests?) [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Big Freedia: <i>Just Be Free</i></b> (2014, Queen Diva): New Orleans bounce artist, bangs his rap rhymes so hard they double for beats [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Chumped: <i>Teenage Retirement</i></b> (2014, Anchorless): punkish group fronted by Anika Pyle, cuts through the gloom, give this a fresh face [r]: <b>A-</b></li>
<li><b>Dee Daniels: <i>Intimate Conversations</i></b> (2012 [2014], Origin): standards singer takes it slow, gets little mileage out of a star-studded backing band [cd]: <b>B-</b></li>
<li><b>Deerhoof: <i>La Isla Bonita</i></b> (2014, Polyvinyl): polymorphuously perverse noise-pop band thinks of Madonna; for once their twists aren't so ridiculous [r]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
<li><b>Michael Denhoff/Ulrich Phillipp/Jörg Fischer: <i>Trio Improvisations for Campanula, Bass and Percussion</i></b> (2014, Sporeprint, 2CD): for campanula (a tricked-up cello), bass, and drums [cd]: <b>B+(***)</b></li>
<li><b>Paul Dietrich Quintet: <i>We Always Get There</i></b> (2013 [2014], Blujazz): Chicago trumpeter plays conventional postbop, with tenor sax, piano, Bjork cover [cd]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Ani DiFranco: <i>Allergic to Water</i></b> (2014, Righteous Babe): staying happy in New Orleans, music not lazy or indifferent, but no tilting at windmills either [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Expansions: The Dave Liebman Group: <i>Samsara</i></b> (2013 [2014], Whaling City Sound): Dave Liebman's new quintet, with second reedist (Matt Vashlishan), Bobby Avey on piano, adventurous postbop [cd]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Bryan Ferry: <i>Avonmore</i></b> (2014, BMG): title plays off Ferry's last triumph, but that was 1982; you can't go home, just dream wistfully about it [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>David Friesen Circle 3 Trio: <i>Where the Light Fails</i></b> (2013 [2014], Origin, 2CD): bassist-led piano trio, plus guitarist Larry Koonse enough to mix it up [cd]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
<li><b>Danny Green Trio: <i>After the Calm</i></b> (2014, OA2): postbop piano trio, works on that Latin tinge thing, finds it often enough [cd]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
<li><b>Lefteris Kordis: <i>"Oh Raven, If You Only Had Brains . . .": Songs for Aesop's Fables</i></b> (2010 [2012], Inner Circle Music): Aesop's fables scored whimsically, narrated, way too often divafied [cd]: <b>B</b></li>
<li><b>Kronomorfic [David Borgo &amp; Paul Pellegrin]: <i>Entangled</i></b> (2013 [2014], OA2): long suite, engaging postbop, septet/octet/more led by David Borgo (sax) and Paul Pellegrin (drums) [cd]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Little Dragon: <i>Nabuma Rubberband</i></b> (2014, Republic): bland Swedish electropop fronted by exotically named but also bland singer (Yukimi Nagano) [cd]: <b>B</b></li>
<li><b>Low Society: <i>You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down</i></b> (2014, Icehouse): nor can you shut up a Janis Joplin wannabe, not one so armed with '60s blues licks [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Thurston Moore: <i>The Best Day</i></b> (2014, Matador): thinner and lighter than your average Sonic Youth album, better for the austere/luxurious guitar [r]: <b>A-</b></li>
<li><b><i>Naked Wolf</i></b> (2014, El Negocito): Dutch group, instrumental passages show jazz prowess but vocals move this into rock, at least skronk [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>The New Basement Tapes: <i>Lost on the River</i></b> (2014, Island): T-Bone's friends add music to Dylan lyrics, the last gasp of a Woody Guthrie wannabe [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Sam Newsome: <i>The Straight Horn of Africa: A Path to Liberation [The Art of the Soprano, Vol. 2]</i></b> (2014, self-released): more art of the soprano, helped by drums and good humor ("Good Golly Miss Mali") [cd]: <b>A-</b></li>
<li><b>Jim Norton Collective: <i>Time Remembered: Compositions of Bill Evans</i></b> (2013 [2014], Origin): Bill Evans arranged for an almost-big band, lush with lots of lovely detail [cd]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
<li><b>Pink Floyd: <i>The Endless River</i></b> (2014, Rhino): absence makes the heart grow fonder, especially since the samples revive much of the band's heyday [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Plymouth: <i>Plymouth</i></b> (2014, Rare Noise): Jamie Saft project so the organ runs roughshod over avant guitars (Joe Morris, Mary Halvorson), not your old soul jazz [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Serengeti: <i>Kenny Dennis III</i></b> (2014, Joyful Noise): third round with the Chicago rapper's fictional mentor, pretty much the same story as last time [r]: <b>A-</b></li>
<li><b>Noura Mint Seymali: <i>Tzenni</i></b> (2014, Glitterbeat): griot nobility from Mauritania, conjures up a trance groove for Paris as well as Timbuktu [r]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
<li><b>Brian Swartz &amp; the Gnu Sextet: <i>Portraiture</i></b> (2014, Summit): mainstream postbop, but Swartz's trumpet shines bright, and the rhythm swings some [cd]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
<li><b>Natsuki Tamura/Alexander Frangenheim: <i>Nax</i></b> (2013 [2014], Creative Sources): duets, scratchy avant trumpet and inscrutable double bass [cd]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>Temples: <i>Sun Structures</i></b> (2014, Fat Possum): Brit psychedelia, flashback to '60s guitar drone around great clarity with King Crimson flashes [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
<li><b>TV on the Radio: <i>Seeds</i></b> (2014, Harvest): fifth album, full of arena-scale grandeur but avoiding pomposity, a good sign but not enough to care [r]: <b>B</b></li>
<li><b>Piet Verbist/Zygomatik: <i>Cattitude</i></b> (2014, Origin): Belgian bassist leads quintet w/two saxes -- the baritone is strategic -- and electric keyb [cd]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
<li><b>Jessie Ware: <i>Tough Love</i></b> (2014, Interscope): Brit pop singer masquerading as a soft soul sister; good enough at that, but still looking for a hit [r]: <b>B+(*)</b></li>
</ul>

<p>Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries rated this week:</p>

<ul>
<li><b>Peter Brötzmann/Sonny Sharrock: <i>Whatthefuckdoyouwant</i></b> (1987 [2014], Trost): you're in the wrong house if you expect them to turn it down or make nice [r]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
<li><b>Illinois Jacquet/Leo Parker: <i>Toronto 1947</i></b> (1947 [2013], Uptown): who says honking r&amp;b sax is incompatible with the breakthroughs of bebop? [r]: <b>B+(***)</b></li>
<li><b>Howard McGhee: <i>West Coast 1945-1947</i></b> (1945-47 [2013], Uptown): weird scenes from the birth pangs of bebop, with Teddy Edwards, Sonny Criss, Hampton Hawes [r]: <b>B+(**)</b></li>
</ul>

<p>Old records rated this week:</p>

<ul>
<li><b><i>Club Ska '67</i></b> (1967 [1980], Mango): 1980 Mango LP catches up on reggae's backstory, one key year anyway [<a href="http://www.globalgroovers.com/2014/11/club-ska-67-various-artistsisland-records.html">dl</a>]: <b>A-</b></li>
</ul>

<p><hr class="brk"></p>

<p><b>Grade changes:</b></p>

<ul>
<li><b>The Coathangers: <i>Suck My Shirt</i></b> (2014, Suicide Squeeze):
[was: B+(**)] <b>A-</b></li>
<li><b>Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: <i>Live Snakes</i></b> (2014, Accurate):
[was: A-] <b>A</b></li>
<li><b>Jenny Scheinman: <i>The Littlest Prisoner</i></b> (2014, Masterworks):
[was: A-] <b>A</b></li>
</ul>

<p><hr class="brk"></p>

<p><b>Unpacking:</b> Found in the mail last week:</p>

<ul>
<li><b>Akua Dixon: <i>Akua Dixon</i></b> (Akua's Music): January 13</li>
<li><b>Red Garland Trio: <i>Swingin' on the Korner</i></b> (1977, Elemental Music, 2CD): January 20</li>
<li><b>Johnny Griffith: <i>Dance With the Lady</i></b> (GB)</li>
<li><b>Manu Katché: <i>Live in Concert</i></b> (ACT): January 15</li>
<li><b>Jonas Kullhammar: <i>Gentlemen</i></b> (Moserobie)</li>
<li><b>Wolff &amp; Clark Expedition: <i>Expedition 2</i></b> (Random Act): advance, February 24</li>
</ul>