Monday, May 21, 2018


Music Week

Music: current count 29733 [29697] rated (+36), 351 [349] unrated (+2).

Got a rude shock from Twitter this afternoon when I went to announce that I had finally posted my Sunday Weekend Roundup column. After the initial shock wore off, I figured out that they didn't like my browser so decided to force me to use their "mobile" interface. It is, necessarily, more compact, dispensing with stats like how many followers I have, how many notifications I haven't looked at, and other features -- not least the form to enter a new tweet. When I found the icon, it threw away the rest of the screen. I imagine a lot of you interact with Twitter through your phones, so you're used to this, but after an experiment I stripped their ap from my phone. I'm no Luddite, but did find that the value added was far less than the nuisance received.

Turns out that my secondary computer still gets the regular user interface, so I can go there (as I've had to do for Facebook for several years now). I have 298 followers. Been stuck there for a few weeks, and thought of making a pitch here to push me over the 300 number. (Would be nice to break 300 followers before I break through 30,000 records rated, no?) Link is under Networking to the left, or here.

One other thing I noticed on Twitter today is that the proportion of advertisements in the feed has exploded -- as it did in Facebook maybe a year ago. It looks like they've taken a big step on the curve from enticing people with a free service to turning it into a major public nuisance. Of course, that's happening all over the Internet these days -- as if everyday life wasn't troubling enough. I reckon I'll have to stop being so offended if/when I start pulling shit like that myself, but for now I entitled to complain.


I've been reading Michael Ruhlman's Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America, which follows a brief history of how grocery stores developed with a much longer investigation into the current business of one local chain Ruhlman is particularly fond of: Heinen's, in and around Cleveland (and Chicago). I've read a number of Ruhlman's books, going back to The Soul of a Chef (2000), most recently The Elements of Cooking (from 2007, but I read it, along with Judith Jones' The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food, to take a break from something in 2016).

The thing that Ruhlman reminded me of is how much the technology and business of good has changed during my lifetime, and that it's mostly been for the better -- despite many other metrics that have been in more or less constant decline since I was born in 1950. Ruhlman attributes this to customer demand, and paints a picture of a vibrantly functioning capitalism constantly adapting to meet demands for broader and more exotic selection, fresher and less contaminated produce and meats, and (most of all) more convenient ways of obtaining tastier meals. Sure, his favored grocery chain seems to be working harder than most to satisfy those desires, but I can see faint echoes of that in the two chains that dominate my home town (Kroger and WalMart, so probably yours too). And it is true that when capital, competitive markets, innovation, and real personal demand come together capitalism can be a wondrous thing. I'm often haunted by the question of why, if business (especially finance) is so rotten and government so corrupt, so many people think their lives are better than ever. Good food helps explain that.

But Ruhlman also notes that profit margins in groceries are exceptionally thin -- something which has probably spared chains like Heinen's from the devastation of private equity firms. But I'd like to single out one more factor: taste. As Adam Smith knew, markets only work when they are transparent, which is to say when the buyer knows exactly what she is buying. As MBA students soon learn, the trick to increasing profits is to make products opaque, so people can never really understand just what they are buying. (This is why medicine has been such a long-term profit engine.) But everyone has a taste for good food, and that's what keeps the industry at least relatively honest. (Not that big processed food companies haven't exploited our weak spots for salt, sugar, and fat, but even that is relatively easy to see around.) Moreover, most of the workers and businessfolk throughout the food chain take pride in their products and services, in marked distinction to the widget-counters who dominate other industries.


Speaking of food, my late sister's birthday is tomorrow, so I'll be cooking for her son and some friends tomorrow. Last year she requested Indian for her birthday, so I figured I'd reprise that menu (with a couple of minor changes) this year: lamb and fish curries, several vegetable dishes (cabbage, greens, eggplant, green beans), cucumber raita, a simple rice pilaf, some warmed-up frozen paratha (I've made scratch, but hardly seems worth the trouble). Thought I'd go with Mom's legendary coconut cake for dessert this time. (Last year was a flourless chocolate cake with ice cream.) Need to wrap this up and go shopping -- such dinners usually take 3-5 grocery store stops, but this one should actually be relatively easy. And I'll miss a couple days of searching out new music. However, this past week offers a pretty broad selection, so enjoy.

[PS: Back from shopping, which proved not so easy. Took me four hours, four stores: Sprouts (most of the vegetables), Dillons (lamb, halibut, yogurt), Whole Foods (bulk rice, cabbage), and Asia Bazaar (ghee, bread, urad dal, a coconut). I expected to get by with just the first two, as I have almost all of the more esoteric Indian ingredients already in stock (maybe not urad dal, but I could have skipped it). However, Dillons disappointed me, among other things getting rid of their bulk goods section, and I didn't feel like buying a 5 lb. package of rice there. Also, no coconut, and when I got to Whole Foods I remembered I forgot the cabbage. I had enough ghee and bread, but by then I thought I might as well stop at Asia Bazaar to make sure I don't run out. Also found some nice okra there, which I hadn't planned on. Not sure how much cooking I'll get done tonight, so I may wind up having to cut dishes tomorrow.]


A couple of very brief notes on the music. I went into some Otis Redding back catalogue after noticing the new compilations. All of the B+(***) albums could have come in higher had I not recalled the other records I've heard so well. I had a couple of Redding's early LPs, but really fell for him again with the 3-CD The Otis Redding Story, which came out in 1989 and still remains definitive. Needless to say, it's pretty remarkable for a guy who only recorded six years to have amassed that much great music. I also have three of the four 1968-70 posthumous albums at A- (The Dock of the Bay and Love Man are the ones omitted below).

LaVette, of course, is relatively minor, but the new record made me want to dig deeper. Her best previous record remains A Woman Like Me (2003). Christgau gave a full A to the new record here, as well as reviewing two Wussy albums (one EP, one LP) that he likes much more than I do. I previously gave the EP, Getting Better, a B+(*) a while back. I like the album a bit more, but I'm more suspicious I've overrated it than under.


New records rated this week:

  • 3hattrio: Lord of the Desert (2018, Okehdokee): [r]: B+(**)
  • Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids: An Angel Fell (2018, Strut): [r]: B+(**)
  • MC Paul Barman: (((Echo Chamber))) (2018, Mello Music Group): [r]: B+(***)
  • Playboi Carti: Die Lit (2018, AWGE/Interscope): [r]: B+(*)
  • Benoît Delbecq 4: Spots on Stripes (2017 [2018], Clean Feed): [r]: B+(**)
  • Adrean Farrugia/Joel Frahm: Blues Dharma (2017 [2018], GB): [cd]: A-
  • Flatbush Zombies: Vacation in Hell (2018, Glorious Dead): [r]: B+(***)
  • Bill Hart Band: Live at Red Clay Theatre (2017 [2018], Blujazz): [cd]: B
  • Hieroglyphic Being: The Red Notes (2018, Soul Jazz): [r]: B+(***)
  • Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed (2018, Verve): [r]: A
  • Igor Lumpert & Innertextures: Eleven (2017 [2018], Clean Feed): [r]: B+(***)
  • Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: Sparkle Hard (2018, Matador): [r]: B+(*)
  • Solon McDade: Murals (2017 [2018], self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
  • MJO Brothers Present: Hip Devotions (2017, Blujazz): [cd]: B
  • Mount Eerie: Now Only (2018, PW Elverum & Sun): [r]: B+(*)
  • Meshell Ndegeocello: Ventriloquism (2018, Naïve): [r]: B+(*)
  • Nuance Crusaders: Reflections (2017, Blujazz): [cd]: B-
  • Parquet Courts: Wide Awake! (2018, Rough Trade): [r]: A-
  • Matt Piet & His Disorganization: Rummage Out (2017 [2018], Clean Feed): [r]: B+(***)
  • Charlie Puth: Voicenotes (2018, Atlantic): [r]: B+(*)
  • Rival Consoles: Persona (2018, Erased Tapes): [r]: B+(*)
  • Rolo Tomassi: Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It (2017 [2018], Holy Roar): [r]: B+(***)
  • Matthew Shipp: Zero (2018, ESP-Disk): [r]: B+(*)
  • Matthew Shipp Quartet: Sonic Fiction (2018, ESP-Disk): [r]: B+(**)
  • Jon Rune Strøm Quintet: Fragments (2017 [2018], Clean Feed): [r]: B+(**)
  • Vin Venezia: Fifth and Adams (2015-16 [2018], Blujazz): [cd]: B
  • Wussy: What Heaven Is Like (2018, Shake It): [r]: B+(***)
  • The Xcerts: Hold on to Your Heart (2018, Raygun): [r]: B

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries rated this week:

  • Otis Redding: Dock of the Bay Sessions (1967 [2018], Rhino): [r]: B+(***)

Old music rated this week:

  • Bettye LaVette: Child of the Seventies (1962-73 [2006], Rhino Handmade): [r]: B+(*)
  • Bettye LaVette: Tell Me a Lie (1982, Motown): [r]: B+(**)
  • Bettye LaVette: I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (2005, Anti-): [r]: B+(**)
  • Bettye Lavette: Worthy (2015, Cherry Red): [r]: B+(**)
  • Otis Redding: The Immortal Otis Redding (1967 [1968], Atco): [r]: A-
  • Otis Redding: Tell the Truth (1967 [1970], Atco): [r]: B+(***)
  • Otis Redding: Remember Me: 22 Previously Unissued Tracks (1962-67 [1992], Stax): [r]: B+(***)


Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Bill Anschell: Shifting Standards (Origin)
  • Phil Haynes & Free Country: 60/69: My Favorite Things (Corner Store Jazz, 2CD): June 1
  • Ernie Krivda and Swing City: A Bright and Shining Moment (Capri): June 15
  • Bongwool Lee: My Singing Fingers (Origin)
  • Ben Markley Quartet: Basic Economy (OA2)
  • No Fast Food: Settings for Three (Corner Store Jazz): June 1
  • J. Peter Schwalm: How We Fall (RareNoise): advance, June 8

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