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Monday, November 2, 2026

Loose Tabs

I collect these links and notes erratically over several weeks, then once a month or so binge to fill them out into a more or less monthly post. Having released my last one on September 30, I figured the sweet spot for this one would be between Israel's October 27 elections and the "midterms" on November 3. I'm cutting that close, but pre-election coverage is overwhelmingly speculation, even with me avoiding the horserace reporting as much as possible, and such speculation has a very short shelf life.

I've added stuff all day long on Nov. 2, without coming close to hitting all of my usual spots. Better to go ahead and post this than to keep plugging away at it. If I add anything later, I'll mark it with change bars, but most likely I'll move on quickly to the next one, as the "news" should change significantly after the "midterms" election. By the way, I've always hated to say "midterms," as in my understanding of American democracy the election of a new Congress is every bit as important as the election of a president. But Trump has dominated out headspace so thoroughly that his argument that we should act like he's on the ballot is persuasive. He's basically consolidated all of America's problems into his single person. Granted, his trick is negative: he's not the cause of those problems, but he cannot fix anything, and he is the first obstacle anyone hoping to fix any problem will run into.

As I was trying to wrap this up, I jotted down a summary which I will simultaneously send out to Notes on Everyday Life.

This is an occasional collection of newsworthy links and comments, much less systematic than what I attempted in my late Speaking of Which posts. The name comes from my extensive use of browser tabs. When I get around to cleaning up, I often find tabs opened to old articles I might want to comment on and/or refer back to. So these posts are mostly housecleaning, but may also serve as a very limited but persistent record of what 20+ years ago I started calling "the end of the American empire" and nowadays feels more like "the end of civilization." With no strict schedule, I've tended to flush these notes out toward the end of each month. My previous one appeared 33 days ago, on September 30.

By the way, I've been trying to write some more in-depth pieces on major issues (and/or personal peccadillos), using Substack as an email agent. I call this series Notes on Everyday Life. I used to have a pinned list of pieces here, but as they've grown, I've moved them into separate index.

I should at least point out that my Trump's Greatest Hits piece has been reprinted by Counterpunch.

I also have a Notes feed there. While I've done very little with it so far, it occurs to me that I might be able to use it to publish Loose Tabs items and Music Week reviews as I write them, instead of having to wait for a long compilation post.

Table of Contents:

New Stories

Most stories fit into well-established categories, organized below as Major Threads. Some sources I lean on so regularly they have their own Regular Columnists section. I also have an End Matter section for dealing with regular occurrences like books, obituaries, and tweets. Stories that don't fit into any regular category appear under Miscellaneous Stories. However, occasionally a short-term story blows up to where it needs extra attention, in which case I included it here. Finally, there is End Matter, which includes regular notes on books and music, obituaries, and a few tweets that caught my eye.

Examples from last time: The Republican National ("Trumpalooza") Convention; The 25th Anniversary of 9/11.

Looking Back at Israel: 3 years after the "apocalypse," 1 year after the "ceasefire"; the quotes suggesting some ambiguity, but this does raise the question, if at any point the killing rises to the level of genocide, doesn't that apply not just to the peak moment but to the long process that led to the peak, and any aftermath that falls short of restitution? The war to demolish and erase Gaza, which Netanyahu launched in October 2023, is ultimately not all that different from the events Ilan Pappé documented in his 2006 book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine — something I was reminded of recently in reading Eyal Weizman's Ungrounding, which starts uncovering Gaza in 1948. We didn't call it genocide then, because Israel was more circumspect about covering their tracks, but we now know the intent was there, and the numbers were staggering. But does anyone argue that the mistreatment of Jews by Nazis from 1933 through the Kristallnacht of 1937 up to the invasion of Poland in 1939 wasn't part of the Nazi genocide?

I'm not very happy with litigating the word "genocide" as pertains to Israel. The point of the word, and the law, was to prevent anything remotely like that from ever happening, and it that it's failed. I've never like the term "ethnic cleansing," which was originally coined in Serbia as a euphemism for mass murder, but has come to mostly signify using threats of violence to drive people away from their homes, forcibly transferring them. That was explicit policy in some cases in 1948, in others less formal practice, elevated to policy by the refusal of a right to return. In 1967, Israel revived the practice, but trimmed it back after US complaints. Since 2023, many Israeli officials have wanted to revive forced transfer, but Egypt in particular has refused to cooperate. In between there were lesser attempts to force exile. The constant has always been the impulse to, and desire for, genocide. Even after 2023, whatever arguments you can make to diminish the charge against Israel are mostly limits Israel imposed on itself to avoid looking even worse. Who knows what would have happened had the killing been hidden from the public, as the Nazi genocide was.

NAZA: A documentary film made by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, including interviews with Israeli soldiers exhbiting their casual attitudes toward the genocide they were committing.

  • Séamus Malekafzali [09-25]: The backlash to "NAZA" shows how little Israeli citizenship really means: "By threatening the filmmakers, Netanyahu lays bare how fragile the notion of what it means to be Israeli is in the age of its genocide in Gaza."

  • Rachell Corbett [10-03]: NAZA is selling out theaters. Can it influence The Hague? "Whether the film can advance the case for genocide may be more complicated than convincing viewers." It shouldn't take a few interviews to tip the genocide case, as there is plenty evidence of intent from Israel's leaders, and of execution from the rubble. What the film adds is coherent detail of those actually doing the killing on the ground.

    At a sold-out screening at IFC Center, the audience sat silent until the last credit rolled on NAZA, the documentary in which two dozen Israeli military personnel admit to committing war crimes and genocide in Gaza. Throughout, no one dared touch their popcorn; the only sounds were sharp exhales during the most grotesque confessions — the former IDF soldiers and intelligence officers who recounted how bombing Palestinians was "insanely fun," how dogs ate the corpses and snipers gunned down starving Gazans as they ran to food at aid sites. One drew stick figures falling forward on their faces to show how the momentum caused their bodies to land. . . .

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to change Israel's laws in order to revoke Abraham and Szor's citizenship, while a mural went up on an Israeli street with crosshairs next to their faces. . . .

    The film also makes a case for those bigger accusations by focusing on the system that enabled the interviewees to carry out their crimes. "The danger of what Yuval did is that he went after the IDF, not the government, and that hurts Israel more substantially. Governments come and go, but the IDF is what Israel's entire national identity revolves around," says Muhammad Shehada, a Gazan political analyst and friend of Abraham.

  • Sebastian Ben Daniel (John Brown) [10-02]: Why NAZA terrifies Israel's liberal elite: "The film shatters 'respectable' Israelis' illusion of moral superiority: The most prestigious soldiers are the primary culprits of genocide."

  • Abdaljawad Omar [10-08]: Shooting and craving: on NAZA and the mediated obscene: "The documentary film by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor follows the predictable script of the regretful soldier, but the subjects in NAZA express something darker: mourning the loss of power."

  • Omer Bartov [10-09]: How do human beings explain taking part in genocide? NAZA provides a chilling look: "It is easier to blame brutes and sadists for extreme violence. But as we see in the documentary, modern genocides are fueled by people who are uncomfortably recognizable."

  • Davide Abbatescianni [10-11]: 'Citizen Osama' turns life under bombardment into urgent, intimate cinema: "As NAZA draws global attention to the Gaza genocide from the perspective of Israeli génocidaires, a lesser-known Palestinian documentary looks through the camera of a Palestinian journalist trying to document devastation while keeping his family safe."

  • Richard J Silverstein [10-12]: NAZA: Rage against the machine of death.

The Nobel Peace Prize: For 2026, awarded to Navi Pillay, a South African jurist, former judge of the International Criminal Court (2003-08) and high commissioner for human rights at the UN (2008-14).

Brazil: Brazil held its general election: On October 4, in the first round of Brazil's presidential election, President Lula da Silva trailed Flávio Bolsonaro (son of Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump favorite and former president currently in jail for trying to organize a coup against his electoral loss in 2022) 45.16% to 47.03%. Since no candidate got more than 50% of the vote, there was a runoff on October 25, which Lula won. Some articles, before and after:

  • Jean Wyllys [10-09]: Shame and guilt in politics: Brazil, 2026.

  • Robert Kuttner [10-26]: Lula's huge win for the left: "His come-from-behind victory in Brazil's presidential election spoils the storyline of right-wing dictators on the march."

  • Troy Farah [10-28]: Trump admin embraces fleeing Bolsonaro, losing Brazilian presidential candidate: Brazil's President Lula said, "This act of leaving Brazil is shameful."

  • Anthony W Pereira [10-30]: How Lula turned the tables on the right in Brazil and the US.

  • Brian Mier [10-30]: Lula's victory hinders Trump and tech bro dreams. Considering the following, it's hard to understand how this election could have been so close:

    It was an election that saw flagrant interference from the U.S. government in the form of tariffs and sanctions, with President Donald Trump personally meeting with a candidate in the White House. It saw massive intervention from Meta, whose owner was one of Trump's largest campaign donors, and a secret deal for rare earth minerals struck between Vice President J.D. Vance's Rockbridge Network and the Bolsonaro campaign. It was the first election in Brazilian history in which a candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, offered to turn supervision of his transition team over to the U.S. government if elected.

    The U.S. intervention was so obvious that a group of 31 U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to the State Department officially complaining about it, an act further supported by a public declaration denouncing U.S. intervention signed by 39 British members of Parliament.

Katie Zacharia: Not much of a story, but the press couldn't resist, and I might as well collect what I have in one place. Also, note that "half a Scaramucci" was being somewhat generous, as 5/11 is 45.4%.

Israel's Elections: Israel's legislative elections were held on October 27. The Knesset has 120 seats, which many parties compete for, so governments are inevitably coalitions of multiple parties. Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party finished first, with 27 seats (20.52%), −9 from the previous election in 2022. Netanyahu's current coalition fell to 53 seats, 8 short of a majority. Gadi Eisenkot's new Yashar party won 21 seats (16.05%). He would lead an opposition coalition of various "Jewish" parties, which together have 48 seats, also short of a majority. Two parties that mostly represent Arabic citizens of Israel (granted citizenship in 1950 as part of a law that denied refugees their right of return and confiscated their property) won 19 seats (+9), so they hold the balance of power, although no "Jewish" party has shown any willingness to form a coalition with them. Hence, the election is basically a stalemate, unless Eisenkot is willing to form a government with Palestinian support, or negotiate a "unity" government with Likud. Netanyahu's interest is to keep it stalemated, which will allow him to run a caretaker government until new elections, in six months. (In theory, Netanyahu could form a new coalition by adding elements from the opposition, but most are defined largely by their opposition to Netanyahu.) The articles below reflect this evolving situation, and are far from comprehensive.

Major Threads

War on Iran: The war continues to simmer, as neither Netanyahu not Trump wants to admit defeat before their respective elections. Netanyahu at least got his wish. Trump too, as Iran has been working behind the scenes to reinforce its diplomatic efforts. So there's not much to report here, other than gloom-and-doom scenarios that all sides are spinning. I'm skeptical that Trump will try to improve his bargaining position by lashing out after the elections (there are plans to do so, but that doesn't mean they will be followed). Three reasons: Trump doesn't know what he wants in the end; no amount of further bombing is going to get him there; Iran can respond to any escalation by hitting back, especially against the vulnerable Gulf States (whose money has Trump's ear).

  • Trita Parsi:

  • Kelley Beaucar Vlahos [10-05]: Increase in Hormuz oil traffic is papering over a darker reality: "Experts say a closer look reveals increasing prices, exhausting reserves, and an unsustainable security situation because Iran is still attacking." What's going on here isn't very clear to me, but it seems like Iran is allowing some shipping through, which suffices to keep the Americans from escalating, while reserving the chance they could move to close the Strait again in the future. They may be guessing that Israel and the US will make no peace moves until after their elections, at which point this will either settle or blow up. Still, the exact protocols and quantities are unclear.

  • Seymour Hersh [10-08]: What Israel wants from Iran: "Amid secret talks between Washington and Tehran, Israel has new demands on nuclear verification." Paywalled, but one quote I've seen:

    "Israel is 'terrified,'" the Israeli said, because "the Iranians believe that the only way to survive is to lash out." He said the Iranian leadership has learned, like Mohammed Ali, the great American boxer, when to do "rope-a-dope" before lashing out.

    There's plenty of evidence of Israel lashing out, but is there any of Iran? Even if Iran were to lash out, Israel is the one with nuclear deterrence. If that isn't sufficient, maybe they should try some other tactic . . . like peace.

  • Frida Berrigan [10-09]: Where are the Iran war protests? "Despite a wildly unpopular war with Iran, a mass protest movement for peace hasn't materialized — at least in the ways we've been taught to recognize." But we're kind of overwhelmed with things to protest. The "No Kings" marches are pretty massive, and the war is a big part of that. She notes: "I love a good protest march." I don't like them at all, except that it is reassuring to find other people, often complete strangers, share my concerns. But their effect on elected officials is hard to gauge, especially as those in charge grow more stuck in their own thoughts.

  • Troy Farah [10-10]: Trump gets richer while gas prices soar: "The Iran war and energy crisis aren't problems for the president. They're a business model." You may well have figured that out by now. Gas prices are up, but oil company profits are up even more. Trump lobbied oil companies hard for contributions, and they're paying off. Meanwhile, insiders profit from stock bumps based on Iran war rumors, which are orchestrated by the White House. Curiously, the first paragraph here is about something else:

    In mid-September, Chinese scientists announced a breakthrough in extracting hydrogen and fresh water from the ocean with about 15% better energy efficiency than older techniques. Their research, published in Nature Energy on Sept. 15, underscores that China continues to dominate in the renewable energy race, generating so much that the country can't even use it all. As Reuters reported in August, "China turned away enough clean energy to power Mexico for a year in the six months through June as its grids hit their limits." At the Fortune Leaders Forum in Macau on Sept. 8, Youyuan Huang, executive vice chairman of BTR New Material Group, the world's top maker of battery anode materials, said "China's grid is a very strong and stable one . . . but we've installed too much green energy."

    Meanwhile, Trump wants to return America to coal, because that's where the grift is leading him. That he would start a war just to make money is, well, plain evil.

  • Lulu Garcia-Navarro [10-10]: The Interview: "She's been to Gaza. She met with the Iranians. Now she has a warning." She is Mirjana Spoljaric, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), "an independent and neutral guardian of the Geneva Conventions, a series of international agreements created in the wake of World War II that laid out the rules of war."

    I covered wars for a big part of my career as a journalist, and the world feels more dangerous and volatile than I can ever remember. How do you see things? I see it the same way, because the statistics prove it. We now count twice as many conflicts as 15 years ago. We are at 130 international and noninternational armed conflicts that we classify in our system. That's the highest number since the Second World War. So I think it's time we stop admiring the problem and start acting against this.

  • Julian Barnes, et al. [10-21]: US and Israel draw up plans for renewed strikes on Iran after elections: "Renewed hostilities might not be any more successful than the war's first phase, and President Trump has repeatedly canceled plans for a return to major combat."

  • Jeremy Scahill/Peiman Salehi/Ryan Grim [10-21]: The war Tehran believes is coming: "Iran believes the US and Israel may strike before the midterms. Top security official Gen. Mohsen Rezaei tells Drop Site Iran has new targets in its sights."

  • Mitchell Plitnick [10-23]: How the upcoming US and Israeli elections could lead to the third round of the Iran war: "The upcoming US and Israeli elections will likely lead Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu to renew their misguided war on Iran with even greater ferocity than before in an effort to save their political lives." Peace with Iran could be perilous to Trump and especially to Netanyahu, but wrecking the MOU took that threat off the table. More war, on the other hand, entails more risks. Trump has said he won't escalate against Iran until after the election. Netanyahu is far from secure after his, but it's hard to see what his play may be. One is reminded of Bush's decision to postpone the destruction of Fallujah in 2004 to after the election, but while renewed war might have been a bad look, he didn't have to worry about counter-escalation. There is still a lot that Iran can do in response to American bombing, and that, more than wag-the-dog politics, is what limits Trump.

  • Ryan Grim/Iona Craig [10-27]: The UAE is secretly helping Ansarallah fight Saudi Arabia in Yemen: "In an extraordinary move, the UAE has been covertly sharing targeting assistance with the Iranian-aligned Ansarallah in its conflict against Saudi-backed forces inside Yemen." Hard to make much sense of this, including whether they're acting at the behest of Iran and/or Israel, or just continuing to pursue their own vicarious shenanigans. They do note that the UAE is using Israeli spyware.

  • Branko Marcetic [10-31]: The Iran War might soon get catastrophically worse: "It looks increasingly likely Donald Trump may try a reckless escalatory bombing campaign against Iran after the midterms. And it looks increasingly likely it will backfire terribly." I don't doubt that they are gaming out war options, but I really doubt if any of them will make sense, even to someone as cognitively impaired as Trump. (Netanyahu is another story: he has the motive, but not the means, and Iran can easily ignore any lashing out he does on his own.) Meanwhile, there are two (or possibly three) constraints on Trump: the first is his own military, which took their best shot, blew it, and have nothing else unless they want to go nuclear; the second is the Gulf states, which pay Trump a lot of money to protect them, and have a lot to lose if Iran strikes back. Thus far Iran has gone relatively easy on them, figuring them as long-term neighbors, but the harder Trump hits Iran, the more likely Iran is to throw caution to the wind and do them some serious damage. The possible third reason for restraint is the global economic impact. I take this less seriously, not because it isn't real, but because I doubt Trump understands anything more than that more war means more profits for his buddies in the oil industry. I expect that there are people in Trump's circle who understand this somewhat, and who will advise caution. Admittedly, it's hard for Trump to understand that hitting Iran will only make them tougher and more resentful, but he can only hit them if his people give him that option, and I don't see who wants to do that (even Netanyahu, who's already gotten all he needed out of the war).

    The real post-election question is whether Trump and Iran can come up with some formula that allows them both to back down gracefully. Trump has been blocked so far by Netanyahu and by his own stupid ego, but in both cases the reasoning was tied to election cosmetics. Right after the election is probably the best time to take the loss, rather than risk making it worse later.

  • Dave DeCamp [11-02]: Tucker Carlson says Trump is considering a nuclear strike on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain: "Trump has publicly ruled out using nuclear weapons against Iran but continues to threaten bombing Pickaxe Mountain." The rumor promoting this unprecedented escalation is that Iran has started nuclear weapons development deep under the mountain, and, per Carlson, "no conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is supposedly taking place." Carlson says Netanyahu is pushing for the strike. The thing I'd be more worried about is that while Israel can do very little damage to Iran using conventional weapons, they could do such a nuclear strike largely on their own, confident that Trump will have to defend them when it all goes sideways.

Israel:The focus here is on Israel's wars, especially against their own people, and on internal Israeli politics (although this time the elections got their own section, as did revisits to 10/7 and the film NAZA). A second section will address Israel's relations with the world, especially the US.

Israel-American-World Relations: This section deals with Israel's relations with the world, especially the US, both at the state level and regarding public opinion.

  • Matt Sledge [09-30]: Israeli settlers killed his constituent. Fetterman is sole Democrats against investigating them. He voted with the Republican majority (51-47) against a resolution to force US probes on kilings of Americans in the West Bank.

  • Michael Arria:

    • [10-06]: The Gaza genocide permanently diminished the power of pro-Israel propaganda: "Since October 7 and the Gaza genocide, U.S. opinions on Israel and Palestine have drastically shifted. The power of Zionist propaganda has been permanently weakened, and the U.S.-Israel relationship is in a more precarious position than ever before."

    • [10-08]: Israel's reputation has fallen apart, but US officials haven't faced accountability: "Three years after October 7, Israel's reputation has fallen apart among the US population, but the architects of the genocide have yet to face accountability." Nor are they likely to, even if the prediction in Omar El Akkad's book title (One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This) proves true. Accountability is not really a thing in today's world. And even if the tide shifts, and responsible people do decide that we need some checks and balances against abuses of power, cleaning up the past is going to prove out of reach.

    • [10-15]: DHS raid on Ilhan Omar's house is 'exactly what a fascist police state does': "The Department of Homeland Security raid on Rep. Ilhan Omar's home is just the latest example of Trump weaponizing the federal government to target his political opponents. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris continues to launder her track record on Gaza."

    • [10-22]: AIPAC has grown so toxic that it has to shift its electoral strategy: "AIPAC will no longer issue endorsements or make direct contributions to candidates. A clear sign that it's grown deeply unpopular with U.S. voters."

    • [10-29]: The war on Iran looms over the midterms: "American voters are headed to the polls this midterm season with deepening frustrations over Trump's war on Iran and its impacts on the U.S. economy."

  • Kelley Beaucar Vlahos [10-07]: NatCon 2026 in Israel: Coming home? "The annual confab, ostensibly launched for American conservatives in 2019, is in Jerusalem this week, largely focused on shoring up US support for the Jewish state."

  • Jeet Heer [10-09]: Does America first really mean Israel first? "Mike Huckabee's aide shows how an extremist agenda dominates Trump's Middle East policy."

  • James North [10-10]: New York Times report on AIPAC hides a central truth about Israel's unpopularity: "Four Times reporters, 53 paragraphs, and no mention of AIPAC's new stealth strategy: hiding Israel and running ads on unrelated issues in primaries."

  • Jordi Graupera [10-22]: A philosopher of war changes his mind: "Michael Walzer wrote Just and Unjust Wars half a century ago. The war in Gaza made him rethink one of its fundamental principles." Too bad it didn't make him rethink all of his fundamental principles, which basically provide a "moral" license for war which will inevitably lead to and cover up abuses, quite simply because war itself is immoral, regardless of any and all real or imagined rationales. I haven't read enough of this to figure out his labrynthine reasoning, but I've always known it was based on a fundamental misconception, which is that war can be justified. As such, he's as much of a "war lover" as any politician. (A book called The War Lovers was largely about Theodore Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst, so they come to mind, but feel free to pick your own examples: they are legion.)

  • Blaise Malley [10-26]: Meet the ex-Biden official working hard to rewrite history on Gaza: "Brett McGurk's former colleagues challenge his book's central premise that pressuring Israel would have been counterproductive." McGurk's book is Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages. The title itself testifies to the perverted logic and concerns of the Biden administration. Even if the hostages were of paramount importance, to free them first of all you have to keep them alive, which only a ceasefire could do. Hamas was always clear that their goal was a ceasefire and a hostage swap. Netanyahu rejected both, as he made clear in invoking the "Hannibal directive," whereby Israelis attempted to kill their own people to keep them from being taken hostage.

  • Akela Lacy [10-29]: AIPAC isn't retreating. Here's how it's already shaping the next Congress.

Ukraine, Other Hot Spots, and World Politics: A catch-all, where the focus is away from, but not unaffected by, Trump's wars. Also note the October 25 Serbian parliamentary election.

  • Stephen Crowley [10-07]: Are Europe and Russia slow-walking to World War III? "Dangerous rhetoric has been escalating on both sides for some time now."

  • George Beebe [10-09]: 2027: The Ukraine winter we prayed wouldn't come: "Relentless Russian attacks and energy crisis, matched with depleting resources from abroad, demand that Trump make dramatic changes in approach to war now." While Ukraine may still have some defensive depth on its own, it depends on Europe and America to keep fighting. It's annoying to read pieces like this about what "Team Trump" can/should do, because they have no idea why they want to do anything. Trump himself would just as soon throw Zelensky under the bus, but his European "allies" still have enough pull to keep that from happening. Meanwhile, Putin seems to be in no hurry to end the war, confident that he can keep fighting longer, if not necessarily harder. That life in Ukraine will only become harsher is a given. The thing is, as Beebe knows, some kind of solution should not be hard to fashion here. It's just that no one wants to admit that they've had enough.

  • Anatol Lieven [10-23]: Slouching toward Kaliningrad, NATO dismisses a nuclear threat: "As it encroaches on the western Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea, the alliance continues to underestimate Moscow's red lines."

  • Ashifa Kassam [10-25]: Serbian leader Aleksandr Vucic ousted by student movement in seismic election: "Vucic's 12-year reign looks to have been ended by record turnout of voters in election provoked by student-led protests."

  • Robert L Borosage/Katrina Vanden Heuvel [10-28]: Ukraine: Time to end the war: "For both Russia and Ukraine, the war has taken a staggering toll and poses an ever-greater danger of spreading."

  • Ishaan Tharoor [10-28]: A global anti-right backlash: "After Brazil's election, and ahead of the US midterms, progressives and liberals around the world find cause to celebrate." Right-wingers can seize power, and they can use that power to suppress dissent, but they cannot govern, because to do that they need cooperation across the breadth of society, and to achieve that they need to offer a semblance of economic justice. That's hard to do for rightists, when your entire reason for being is to preserve hierarchies and advance the interests of those at the top. But injustice isn't just theoretical in right-wing rulers: it starts with corruption, as everyone becomes more interested in climbing the hierarchy than on serving their public, and ends in incompetence and malfeasance, as corrupted services "race to the bottom." Tharoor focuses on Brazil and Serbia, while suggesting that all is not well in India (or Trumpland), but you can plug in other examples, such as the loss of the seemingly invincible Orbán in Hungary.

  • Lily Lynch [11-02]: Belgrade diary: Election day in Serbia.

  • Biljana Vankovska [11-02]: Serbia after the student landslide: the black box in Parliament.

Trump's War Department: I set this section up to deal with Trump's threats of war. We're obviously beyond that now, so see the section on Iran for more on that.

  • Nick Turse:

  • Atul Kohli [09-15]: Donald Trump's imperialism of decline is a global menace: US leaders have generally sought to cloak their imperialism with euphemistic rhetoric, but Trump has dropped any pretense about his shameless resource grabs. As the US grows weaker on the world stage, it's also becoming more brazen and more dangerous."

  • Antonio De Loera-Brust [09-30]: Venezuela blowback may have a long fuse. It always does. "The era of gunboat diplomacy in the early 20th century became the revolutions, insurgencies, and dictatorships of the future."

  • Sharon Zhang [10-02]: Trump used Grok to help talk him into illegal invasion of Venezuela: "The president reportedly used the AI chatbot for hours when Elon Musk visited the White House last December."

  • Amanda Marcotte [10-07]: Pete Hegseth's holy war on "weirdos" targets most Americans: "Forget Iran — the defense secretary is focused on forcing his religion on everyone else."

  • Harrison Berger [10-13]: Meet the US generals and admirals advancing Israeli policy: "JINSA and its American 'people' have taken credit for a number of recent legislative efforts, including the controversial NDAA Section 219."

  • Ishaan Tharoor [10-14]: Marco Rubio's wild wild west: "In Greece, the Secretary of State cast the West as a civilization defined by its warriors and conquerors, not by its democracies." That, of course, has always been the problem, but the secret of American influence has usually been that we try to explain how what's good for us is also good for the world. At a time when European empires were carving up fiefdoms for extraction, the US offered Open Doors and a Good Neighbor Policy. We talked up the virtues of liberal democracy, human rights, and free enterprise. Sure, practice rarely lived up to the story, but world politics is only a zero-sum game if you get greedy. Unfortunately, Reagan decided "greed is good," the neocons got drunk on their power fantasies, and Trump reduced foreign policy to nothing but.

  • Andrew Earvolino [10-26]: What Rubio really means when he talks about 'civilizational' renewal: "The Washington establishment is using new words to describe the old forms of interventionism." Or imperialism. Why do westerners always manage to make "civilization" sound like a synomym for racism?

  • Juan Cole [10-28]: The incredible shrinking superpower: "The failing war with Iran marks a dramatic retreat by the US from the Middle East."

  • David Swanson [11-02]: the 10 worst congressional excuses for voting for more military spending: This list is way too cute, partly because it goes about approaching the problem from the wrong end. Let's look first at how this normally operates:

    1. The President, the Defense Secretary, the Generals and Admirals, and all of the MIC (Military-Industrial Complex) intellectuals and lobbyists declare that the military has to be strong to ensure that we can live in peace. That there is no empirical evidence for such an assertion is completely ignored.
    2. They pick a number, which is an increase over last year's number, but not by an unseemly amount.
    3. Any actual wars will be covered by supplemental appropriations, so the Defense budget doesn't actually have to account for the chance that it might be used for something real. And, of course, any future costs of wars, like impact on the VA, are kept off-budget. The budget is just for play-acting.
    4. That budget is then sold to Congress as providing jobs in nearly ever district.
    5. The MIC has lots of lobbyists pushing for the bill, and ordinary citizens who simply want peace have none, so the odds of passage are very high. Everybody who votes for it gets campaign donations, paid for from the largesse of the contracts.

    This has changed under Trump, which explains why he's pushing for a 50% bump instead of the usual 5-10% increases:

    1. It's not just the usual planes-and-ships contractors in the MIC lobbying for a piece of the pie. All of Trump's new buddies in the high tech sectors, including Musk and Bezos in space, plus all of the AI hustlers, lobbying for government handouts, especially when they can sell vaporware and pretend it's going to work someday.
    2. Trump realizes that government budgets are really opportunities for graft: the government spends lavishly on junk, and the pushers kick back money and/or influence. And war is by far the biggest show in this game, both due to the amount of money available, and to the lack of criteria whereby the purchases can be evaluated.
    3. While big-ticket projects, like Trump's battleship, can really run up the budget, it also helps to have shooting wars like Iran, to use up inventories that then have to be replaced (with the usual kickbacks, of course).

    Trump also views the military as a grooming ground for his kind of people, which is to say psychopathic gun nuts, or as he likes to call them, "patriots." With Trump, everything is politics, and more war is his kind of good politics.

Trump vs. Law and/or Law vs. America: From ICE to the Supreme Court and the assault on democracy.

Trump's Administration: Trump can't remake America in his own image (i.e., destroy the country, culture, and civilization) just by himself. He needs help, and having largely purged the government of civil servants and replaced them with his own minions, this is what they are doing — whether he's paying attention or not, and that it's mostly not is no excuse: he sets the tone, then distracts the media with his own insanity.

Donald Trump: The cult (or should I say sinkhole?) of personality. While most of the bad things he has done and is doing are the work of his administration, and many of their bad ideas are deeply ingrained in the Republican Party, he hogs the spotlight, giving them a uniquely pungent odor.

  • Ross Rosenfeld [09-30]: Trump personifies the basic laws of human stupidity: "How a 50-year-old treatise by an Italian economic historian makes sense of our utterly senseless moment." Introducing Carlo Cipolla and his 1976 book, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. The "third law" seems to be the crux of the matter: "A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incuring losses." While much of what Trump does fits this description, at the same time no president (and possibly no politician) has more frequently strived to profit from his office.

  • Margaret Hartmann: Note that her Katie Zacharia stories have been moved up.

    • [10-05]: 'Super intelligence,' Trump's dopey AI rebrand, explained: "Trump is trying to shut down AI doomerism by giving 'artificial intelligence' a friendlier name. But he may have a hard time making 'SI' happen."

    • [10-09]: MLK Day out, Trump's birthday in? All his holiday changes. "Despite claims like 'I'm reinstating' Columbus Day, Trump hasn't created any permanent federal holidays. And he said Americans have too many days off."

    • [09-11]: Trump is locked in a posthumous feud with Abe Lincoln: "This shockingly active rivalry has dragged on for years, though Honest Abe is both dead and better than Trump by just about every measure."

    • [10-20]: Trump helps out by dropping antisemitic slur at Kansas rally: "The president's comments defending Senator Roger Marshall were like an onion of things he shouldn't be saying."

    • [10-26]: Trump's male midterms crushes, ranked: "The president keeps admiring other men's bodies at his rallies. So if you're voting solely based on who has a MAGA-approved butt, you're in luck."

    • [10-29]: Natalile Harp taps 'court jester' of AI slop to cheer Trump: "Bill Pulte has worn many hats. Now he's joined Harp in feeding Trump flattering memes and polling — often on poster board — to soothe his dark moods."

    • [10-31]: Trump's most bizarre and baffling midterms rally rants: "From misgendering Melania to simulating puking to relentlessly praising John Husted's butt, his closing message to 2026 voters is stranger than ever." Let's list the sections (if you've watched Kimmel and/or Myers you'll probably remember the clips):

      • "My wife told me, 'Sir . . .'"
      • [Huuuh] "He's puking all over the place"
      • "Pacific Ocean, we're gonna call it the American ocean"
      • "New Mexico . . . I Want to change it to 'New America'"
      • "Most people don't know 'dumb' has a b"
      • "We had the hurricane. We call it a 'watercane'"
      • Solar panels "kill all the animals"
      • "You have to go to MIT to turn on a lawnmower now"
      • Kansas senator isn't "some kind of a Shylock-type guy"
      • "If you're Black or you're Jewish . . . you're crazy anyway"
      • Arnold Palmer's penis size was "unbelievable"
      • "I looked at his ass, and I've never done that with a man before"

    • [11-02]: Caviar and caged zebra: Inside Trump's Halloween bash for 'rich friends': From the live animals to the presence of Mike Johnson, Trump's pre-midterms Mar-a-Lago bacchanal was truly wild."

  • Frank Rich [10-07]: The Collaborators: "The cronies of Trump's second term are more brazen than the old ones. They're also heading for a harsher comeuppance."

    By most non-Nazi measures, the Trump administration is off the charts. Its Department of Justice, which pursues the president's personal vendettas in lieu of protecting anyone's human, civil, and voting rights, has enabled a kleptocracy that might make Suharto and Marcos look like shoplifters. The wholesale corruption and theft have exponentially increased not only the net worth of the president and his family but that of the large cast of cronies and grifters who have been cut in on the rackets rife in every corner of our government. Just a shortlist of the likely roster of criminal operations would include 24/7 insider stock trading; quid pro quo-driven real-estate deals in the Middle East, Europe, and even Yosemite National Park; no-bid government contracts handed out to favored vendors for federal boondoggles; crypto grabs engineered by Trump's sons with the sons of his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff; prediction-market investments benefiting Donald Trump Jr.; the direct and indirect purchase of presidential pardons; and the curbing of antitrust and IRS enforcement for well-connected fat cats. It will take an army of sleuths just to track down the untold taxpayer dollars expended during the extravagant joyride of the ousted Bonnie and Clyde of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski.

  • Margaret Sullivan [10-08]: Trump's latest attacks on the press exude desperation: "Trump seems to invent ugly new variations on his press-bashing theme almost every day."

  • Elie Mystal [10-30]: Why is the media ignoring the stunning new Trump-Epstein allegations? Well, here you go:

    The president of the United States of America has been accused of rape. Again. The president of the United States has been accused of rape in a report issued by the Democrats of the House Judiciary Committee, as part of their ongoing investigation of Donald Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The president has been accused of raping two women, one when she was as young as 13, and sexually assaulting three more. They are among 11 women who provided evidence or testimony that Trump "abused, assaulted, and even raped numerous women alongside, and in coordination with, the most infamous sex trafficker in history."

  • Matthew Stevenson [10-30]: Trump's great grift machine.

  • Troy Farah [10-30]: As midterms loom, anxiety rises about what Trump does next: "The president may try to declare an emergency or seize voting machines but some experts say his options are limited." From the title, I was expecting a different kind of article, one that would explore what might happen to Trump's delicate psyche as his illusions of popularity are crushed.

  • Clay Wirestone [10-31]: Thank goodness President Trump will return to Kansas. Now he can check out all our hot GOP men! "As a gay man, I obviously have opinions about the attractiveness of various menfolk, but I have made a practice of keeping such opinions to myself. The president as shown me a new way."

  • Chris Lehman [11-02]: Donald Trump as lost it: "At one of his final midterm rallies, the president showed just what a spent political force he has become — and what little grip on reality he has." I've spent more than a few hours this campaign watching clips from Trump rallies, mostly selected for late-night entertainment, so not what you'd call flattering, and what I always wind up focusing on is the expressions of his background chorus, so often confused as to when to clap, when to laugh, and/or when to pretend they're invisible. But just as the excerpts were selected to show how bad Trump is, his backdrop was selected from presumably rabid fans, so that seems like a fair trade. As someone who's reviewed a fair number of albums, I can assure you that what kills a grade isn't the stretches of competence, but the occasional faux pas into mediocrity or downright offense.

    Not as weird as the next video entry: the 2024 rally chestnut called "God Made Trump," delivered as a riff on radio Paul Harvey's address "God Made a Farmer," but shot through with the militant messianic imagery of the New Apostolic Reformation. The video starts with an AI-manipulated version of Harvey's voice announcing "On June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, 'I need a caretaker,'" and goes rapidly downhill from there, depicting Trump as an axe-wielding mortal foe of wolves, vipers, the deep state, and the fake news. . . .

    Trump, not surprisingly, didn't mention any of these problems, or GOP proposals to address them; his prescription for electoral victory in Iowa appeared to be Worship me harder. So he stayed firmly and gleefully within his comfort zone of deriding Democrats as "lunatics" hell-bent on spreading communism and forcing sex changes on the children of unwitting God-fearing parents. He made desultory promises that gas prices would come down shortly after the midterms — presumably by resuming the same large-scale attacks on Iran that have already caused those prices to skyrocket while completely failing to defeat the Islamic Republic. He reprised his bribery pledge of $5,000 to every voter who will preserve and expand the GOP majorities in Congress. But he relied mostly on more video footage to drive home the theme of the GOP 2026 campaign: "craziness versus common sense." One scattershot set of supercuts sought to dramatize the socialist orthodoxy and transgender fetishes of the Democrats, while another highlighted the alleged open-border excesses of the Biden White House, and dwelled on lurid details of murders and sexual attacks from undocumented immigrants. By the time the second video kicked in, people in my section and many on the main floor began to leave. They'd seen this show before — and besides, they could watch Fox News in the comfort of their home, without having to see Elvis hymn the Confederacy or Donald Trump cosplay as Jesus.

Electoral Politics: Pieces on US elections (recent and future) and, more generally, inter-party politicking. Party-specific pieces in following sections.

  • Michael Luttig [09-10]: The final battle for America's democracy: "Forget November 3. It's January 3 when Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans might bury our democracy once and for all. Here's how." Don't forget November 3. Vote. You'll never know how desperate Republicans are to cling onto power until you get them cornered. Then, they'll risk further discrediting themselves with this cockamamie scheme.

  • Josh Marshall: [09-26]: Another factor: bad candidates: Picture of Roger Marshall here. Darline Graham also gets a mention here, as well as the R's in GA and NC.

  • Ed Kilgore:

    • [09-30]: Vance's wild Senate-takeover plan has a big flaw: "He and Trump 'war-gamed' plans to nix the Senate parliamentarian and filibuster to pass the toxic SAVE America Act."

    • [10-06]: MAGA can't let go of Tricky Dick: "Nixon apologists have now spurred a Justice Department investigation of Watergate. But the Trump parallels they draw aren't flattering to either man."

    • [10-07]: Is everything suddenly possible for Democrats? "They're expanding the map, and it's getting pretty wild." I think the main difference this year is that Democrats are running more articulate candidates, and they're campaigning on issues for votes, rather than spending all their time trying to raise money (like, e.g., Harris did). On the other hand, Republicans are blowing millions of dollars on ads that mostly just remind voters how stupid Republicans think they are.

    • [10-09]: With livestream execution, Hegseth goes full barbarian: Some interesting dates here, but one that's missing is that Nidal Hasan's crime was committed in 2009. Hegseth is quoted as saying that "people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things," but after 17 years, who actually remembers what thing is being consequented so seriously? The longer you wait, the more the punishment overshadows the crime. Given that few people remember, why does Hegseth want to give Hasan and his crime the publicity, let alone turn him into some kind of martyr? Sure, that's rhetorical: Hegseth is doing this because Hegseth wants the publicity, as he wants to be known as the guy who is bringing the War Department back to glory as a killing machine. Trump has since overruled the live streaming, but not the execution, but the damage to America's public image has already been done. They could have just let Hasan rot and die quietly in prison, totally unforgotten. But they have to brag about what assholes they are, as if we don't already know. As for "full barbarian": not quite. For that, he would have had to beheaded Hasan and displayed the head on a pike. I'm sure Hegseth would have loved that.

    • [10-13]: Unhappy Trump voters are the midterms difference-makers: "The closer we get to the end of this election, the clearer it is that Republicans should have found a way to muzzle their unpopular president." While muzzling Trump certainly helped him in the late weeks of the 2016 campaign, it's not obvious what else Republicans have to run on but Trump's personal charisma, even as tarnished as it is. Disaffected Trump 2024 voters are no doubt a thing, but I'm also curious about the 2024 non-voters who now regret not voting against Trump. Most of the dropoff from 2020 to 2024 simply didn't vote. While disengaged voters are even less likely to vote in the mid-terms, where vote levels typically slack way off, they could make a difference this year — in addition to former Trump supporters who feel like sitting this one out.

    • [10-21]: Fear and loathing are all the GOP have left: "As the spate of nasty new attack ads show, Trump and his party's only remaining midterms move is to drive up turnout of hard-core supporters."

    • [10-24]: How Trump lost his 2024 coalition: "The president has worked hard to alienate every key group that swung him back into the White House." Title I clicked on was different: "7 Ways Trump Lost His 2025 Coalition." The article has 7 sections, but they don't correspond to "ways": the first is "Trump's 2024 coalition was never as big as he claimed." I wouldn't call the coalescence of 2024 Trump voters a coalition. To do so implies that multiple groups were willing to compromise with each other in order to get their separate agendas advanced. The Republicans have long had a coalition of gun nuts and religious bigots and haters of various stripes willing to work for the rich to gain recognition, while the rich recognized that they needed to rope in others to have any chance in a democracy. But the marginal gains Trump made in 2024 with blacks, latinos, and young voters didn't give them any place in a Republican coalition that was pretty much guaranteed to screw them over. Those gains came from disaffected voters, who bought the story that Biden was a bad president, who didn't trust Harris to be any better, and who somehow thought Trump deserved another chance. People who bought such lies were bound to be disappointed. Trump made their disinfatuation easier by being conspicuously himself, but it was bound to happen anyway.

    • [10-26]: The worst-case midterm scenario for Democrats: "Here are four good reasons for tempering the blue-wave optimism, including polling errors, turnout surprises, and Senate-race realities." Republicans often exceed my expectations, and I still recall a year in the 1980s when they swept a bunch of very close races, so luck (or God?) does seem to be on their side (although if you believe in God, I'd remind you that He has a long history of punishing us). And since 2004, I've never trusted those voting machines in Ohio — a factor Kilgore doesn't mention. As for his caveats about voter turnout, he cites an earlier piece that argues the opposite: that the Democratic base is much more motivated to vote than the MAGA base. Given that the Republican vote in 2024 was largely defined by anti-incumbent dread, they'll be battling their own cognitive dissonance.

    • [10-30]: The 'Dan Sullivan' stunt is political malpractice: This is nonsense, which you're only hearing about because Republican Dan Sullivan is likely to get beat. We had a similar situation here in Wichita a few years back when a bogus Ron Estes ran against the incumbent Ron Estes, who sailed to an easy victory. As noted here, in the August primary, Mary Peltola won 49.5% of the vote, "real" Dan Sullivan 41.4%, and "fake" Dan Sullivan 2.5%. Alaska has a ranked choice voting system, so anyone confused can vote for both Dan Sullivans, and rest assured that the "right" one will collect the votes.

    • [10-31]: The 13 governors' races worth watching on election night: Democrats favored: Alaska, Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon; Republicans favored: Florida, Nebraska, Texas; Toss-ups: Georgia, Kansas, Nevada, Wisconsin.

  • Nicholas Lemann [10-04]: The battle to pass a billionaire tax: "Most Democratic voters say that they favor a wealth tax, but a California ballot initiative has plenty of liberal opponents."

  • Bill Scher [10-06]: The Republican plan to buy the election got too expensive: "New data shows the GOP's money advantage has narrowed because it relies too heavily on super PACs, which pay more for broadcast ads." Republicans have a 2-to-1 or 3-to-2 edge in campaign money, but evidently candidates who raise their own money get better deals, so the difference in air time is much closer to even.

  • Michael Tomasky [10-26]: Three reasons why Donald Trump probably wants the Republicans to lose: "People seem surprised that Trump would dismiss high gas prices and claim the US is making a fortune from the Iran war. But if you know Trump's brain, it's not surprising at all." I haven't read much about this, but I rather suspect that a lot of business folk would be happy to see a return to divided government. They're not a majority — Republicans have a big lead in big donor cash, but Democrats are raising a lot of money, and not just from the small donations of mere concerned citizens. I can also see a case for Fox and Republican strategists, who can use a Democratic Congress to generate outrage in their base. But I don't see much value in trying to probe the dark reaches of Trump's brain on this issue. The general assumption is that Trump cares little about policy, but much about angles. Republicans are very bad on policy, losing Congress should help Trump to do fewer stupid things — of course, even as I write this, I know that most of the stupid things Trump has done have been by executive order. On the other hand, the angles favor fighting with Democrats over cooperation, so that's where he's likely to go. He's also likely to relish the idea of being the only significant Republican left in power. If he let this idea go to his head, he could try a coup toward the end of his term. I doubt it will work, but I also doubt that he knows that. But the real problem here isn't a careful weighing of the prospects, but the notion that Trump has given this the least bit of thought. He's just a bundle of instincts and reflexive acts. Looking back (and forward) at Tomasky's columns:

  • Troy Farah [10-20]: Musk's midterm meddling reeks of desperation: "So far, he's spent some $366 million in pro-GOP midterm TV spots and other campaign efforts, with $276 million donated since July alone. No other known donor comes close to dishing out more funding."

  • Jessie Blaeser/Erin Doherty [10-23]: Poll: Trump is mobilizing more Democrats against him than Republicans for him: There is much more to oppose than to support.

  • Jake Lahut [10-28]: The last stand of a MAGA party girl: "Lauren Boebert bucked Trump on Epstein, got ensnared in a sex scandal, and is now fighting for her political life."

  • Naomi Bethune [10-30]: The Sunshine State's progressive possibility: "In Florida, Angie Nixon's Senate campaign represents the power of progressive Black women in politics." This is my dream win for Tuesday, not just because she would be the red-state leftist that James Talarico and Adam Hamilton are not, but because she appears to be a gutsy but methodical campaigner, as shown by her primary win, where she was outspent by an "impeccably credentialed centrist" 19-to-1.

  • David Dayen [10-30]: Adam Hamilton's moral crusade: "The candidate with a chance to become the first Democrat elected to the US Senate from Kansas since 1932 is leading with his values." I didn't vote for Hamilton in the primary, and I still rather resent his virtue signaling about "leading from the middle" — if he has any idea what us leftists stand for, he's done a good job of keeping that insight out of circulation — but he's raised a ton of money, most of it locally (unlike Marshall), and he's run a remarkable campaign. If Kansas could straight up compare the candidates, especially against their own values, he'd win in a landslide. The only reason this is competitive is that Republicans seem to always runup the count in rural counties that Democrats pass on. Dayen also wrote the following articles with Maureen Tkacik:

    The Marshall story that has stuck longest with me is how during 2020 he prescribed hydroxychloroquine (Ivermectin?) to his wife and kids: Trump had been pushing it as a Covid preventative, and Marshall was trying to court Trump votes in a tough Republican primary. That's the kind of person he is. A story that's been getting more press recently is:

  • Emma Green [10-29]: How a Kansas megachurch pastor might determine who wins the Senate: "Adam Hamilton's campaign tests whether Democrats can find religion." So now he's even got a New Yorker profile.

    • Dale Hogg [10-30]: Marshall sued for charging 'callous and predatory' 18% interest rate on medical debt in Kansas. He's also gotten a lot of publicity for debt collection practices that have landed his former patients in jail (so much for his Hippocratic Oath). Also:

    • Christian Paz [10-26]: The Democrat capturing Christian voters in the Trump era: "On the trail and in the pews, Adam Hamilton is inspiring voters fed up with the status quo." Here's an interesting bit of back story:

      His faith journey started in high school. Raised nominally Catholic, he embraced atheism as he watched his parents go through a divorce and after his grandmother died by suicide. After a late night of smoking weed with a friend, he heard a knock at the door: a Pentecostal missionary was inviting him to church. Though not necessarily sold on this movement, he did meet his wife LaVon at church — and they married a week after graduating.

      Yet around this time, he says he felt a stirring to become a pastor. He enrolled at the evangelical Oral Roberts University to train as a preacher, but was thrown into despair, disillusionment, and doubt when his two best friends died in an accident. Seeking counsel and comfort from Pentecostal pastors and leaders, he was met with platitudes ("Everything happens for a reason") and unanswered questions — and so began a journey that led him to John Wesley, the English theologian, and the movement he founded, Methodism. . . .

      He was just 25 when he founded the Church of the Resurrection, commissioned by his bishops in the United Methodist Church to start a church "for thinking people."

      The point was to "use your intellect and not check your brain at the door," he says on the stump. "And have a heart. Focus on both a spiritual life, but also on living out faith and justice in the world. These things go hand in hand."

      There is much I can relate to here, although I started pretty much where he ended (with the Disciples of Christ, a Methodist offshoot), and I found a way out through Marx, which left me with little need of "spiritual life," but still in possession of heart and brain, "living out faith and justice in the world."

    • Anna Kaminski [10-31]: Marshall's payments from leadership PAC to top aide violate federal law, new ethics complaint says.

  • Rob Urie [10-30]: Oligarchs and elections, the endgame. This analysis (the quote follows the Calvin Coolidge quote, "the chief business of the American people is business") seems about right:

    'Business' hasn't been the business of the American people for at least the last half a century. Just getting by has been. The question now is whether to blame politicians or economics for the shift? On the one hand, politicians make economic policies. On the other hand, the special circumstance of the US having the only intact industrial infrastructure following WWII was temporary. The 'American Century' was an artifact of history. That Americans were told that the advantage was permanent explains some fair portion of the political rage of today.

    By the 1970s the writing was on the wall. The American infrastructure advantage began to wane. Imports from Japan were climbing the value chain from trinkets to consumer goods. American industrialists shifted from labor hoarding to searching abroad for poor, desperate workers who wouldn't contest poverty wages with no benefits. The claim that brutal labor relations were the key to American prosperity led to the passage of NAFTA (1994) and the elevation of finance as a disciplining factor for labor.

    The brutality towards labor emerges from the capitalist theory of capital accumulation. Capitalist economics posits that the social savings that fund capitalist investment produce a benefit for both capital and labor. But US economic evolution since the 1970s tells a different story. Capital understood that the post-War infrastructure advantage was over early on. The temporary truce between capital and labor was turned back into a zero-sum game where capital saw its future in treating labor as prey.

    I put the inflection point at 1969, when Hibbert's Peak hit, and the US was faced with a decision (not that any of us were asked what to decide): limit oil use, or import whatever it took to keep growing? But US oil companies had control over, or access to, cheap foreign oil, so to them (and therefore to American politics) that wasn't even a question. But it did mean that the US started running trade deficits, which went negative in 1970 and have remained there ever since. Where did the surplus dollars go? Some was kept, as the dollar became the world's reserve currency. And more was reinvested through American banks, who in short course became global banks. While the price shocks of 1973 and 1979 hit American consumers, for the oil companies, they were just windfall profits. Carter's efforts to limit oil use were massively unpopular, so a big part of the Reagan win was desire to keep oil flowing. He was aided in that a lot of non-OPEC oil flooded the market in the 1980s — if anything, his problem was that prices and profits crashed in the 1980s. But Carter also inserted the US military in the Persian Gulf to protect the oil flow, leading to Bush's forever wars, and Trump's oil market manipulations.

    Meanwhile, nations that had no oil, like Germany and Japan, taxed it heavily to suppress waste, and built up their industry, especially with more efficient cars. They ran trade surpluses, and used the profits to buy up assets in the US, which for them became not just a big market but a source of relatively cheap labor. American business, in turn, found more profitable opportunities elsewhere. But all of these things required politicians to grease the skids. America's political system has always been generous to the rich, and with Reagan's "greed is good" infatuation lost its last inhibitions against corruption: the idea that government, and public service, should ultimately benefit all, even if not all equally. That loss of inhibition was so complete that inequality grew as persistently under Clinton and Obama, who at least gestured at some notion of a common good, and whose political base deserved better, as under Reagan and the Bushes (who stressed tax cuts as opposed to actual growth). Trump, of course, is off the scales here, not just in terms of wealth numbers but the arrogance that such rich folk feel entitled to.

    Urie has a chart here showing how "Wealth concentration has spiked in recent decades," but more detail would be helpful for 1982-2013, especially as the 21-year-gap from 1992 to 2013 is where much of the action took place. Urie notes: "remarkably, nearly every name on this graph of billionaires whose wealth has ballooned in recent years is a recipient of Federal largesse, known colloquially as welfare." This is prejudicial abuse of the word "welfare," and not just because the targets here would object that they worked hard (spent lavishly) to buy the political favors that they profited from. The idea that welfare is undeserved is generally wrong. More welfare for everyone would be a good thing. But granting patent monopolies, permitting anti-competitive mergers, and selling useless crap and services to the military are not welfare. They are fraud or worse.

  • Corey Robin [11-02]: The US electorate is permanently mobilized and unable to move: An old-fashioned theses list, six of them, showing that the analyst is as "epically dissatisfied" with the state of elections as the voters are. His central point is that the voters want to do something, but the system doesn't allow any change, just a gradual drift toward ever greater inequality — which translates willy-nilly into injustice, because what's the point of getting so rich unless you can walk all over lesser people? I would have framed this differently, probably because I'm less impressed with the seemingly even partisan division: I'd say that Republicans have been significantly overperforming at least since 2000 (possibly 1968), due to a combination of money and media savvy, and equally to the incoherence of Democratic politicians.

    In 2008, Obama promised "change you can believe in," but he delivered no change whatsoever — just a mild return to an increasingly inadequate normalcy, like a recovery period between rounds of Republican chemo while the cancer is returning — papered over with increasingly implausible verities. The two most important things that happened during Obama's terms were the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, which is to say populist revolts on the right and on the left. By 2016, the people were aching for change or some sort, and that's what drove the primary campaigns of Sanders and Trump. Sanders lost because the status quo Democrats had a stranglehold on the party, from which they intimidated many voters who might have favored Sanders. Trump won because the Republicans weren't united — basically, every billionaire had his own sock-puppet candidate — and because in the end they weren't afraid of their insurgent, and they saw that he could reach voters they couldn't. As incumbent, Trump lost in 2020, but with his election denial, he managed to make himself look like the victimized outsider, which set him up for his 2024 revenge campaign.

    If Democrats do better this year, that's mostly because Trump and his lockstep Republicans (literally all of them) have lost all their credibility as revolutionaries. The Democrats (despite Sanders' term "political revolution") never had any credibility to lose, which as far as I'm concerned is just as well. (Only Republicans seem to think otherwise, and that just makes them look silly and/or paranoid. Even the DSA people are miles away from agitating for revolution.) I lost whatever infatuation I had with revolution long ago, if indeed I ever had any. As far as I am concerned, revolutions are massive failures in ruling class power, which can more or less easily be avoided by fairly moderate efforts at reform — a point grasped not just by liberals but by conservatives like Bismarck and Disraeli, although not Louis XVI, Nicholas II, or Iran's Shah. Or, it appears, by Trump and his Republicans.

    Still, today's Democrats have to move beyond the "do-nothing" days of Clinton and Obama. Hell, even "centrists" like Biden understood that much — his problem was thinking and especially talking coherently about what he was willing to do.

Other Republicans:

  • Sarah Jones:

    • [10-01]: What makes a tradwife quit? "As the movement loses women, the right's lonely idea of family has come into focus."

    • [10-28]: This is the dumbest culture-war fight I've ever seen: "The manufactured outrage over Obama's Cheesecake Factory joke is something to behold." As Obama pointed out, the real butt of his joke was Saddam Hussein, but that sailed right past Trump and his flacks. But is this even remotely real? "In the right's fantasyland, the Cheesecake Factory is a temple to American values." It's an upscale restaurant chain, with decor drawn from castle fantasies, an extremely cosmopolitan/eclectic menu, named after a dessert. It's far removed from places like Cracker Barrel, Applebees, or Bob Evans — chains I've enjoyed dozens of times — or Cheddar's (which has a similarly expansive, but rather less pretentious, menu). I've only eaten at Cheesecake Factory once, in Oklahoma City: as I recall, the food was pretty good, the tables and ambiance less so. (One just opened in Wichita, but we haven't been there yet.) I suspect that in his joke, Obama was thinking more of its tacky decor than its clientele.

  • Heather Digby Parton [10-04]: The dark reasons behind all the Richard Nixon worship: "MAGA needs to maintain its grip on the GOP after Donald Trump — and the 37th president is key."

  • Danielle Han [10-20]: Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton's allegedly abusive mom reach monstrous low in new ad: Acton's brother responded: "This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core."

Democrats:

  • Camille Rivera [10-07]: Florida isn't red. Democrats just stopped showing up.: "With more than 900,000 Puerto Rican voters, Florida can be won in 2026 and put in play for 2028. Give Angie Nixon the chance she deserves."

  • Zack Beauchamp [10-15]: The radical Democratic plan to change the government for good: "The party is finally mounting an aggressive response to Trump's slash-and-burn second term. Could their ideas for a rebooted, reimagined Washington actually work?" Something to return to once the dust has settled. From the "key takeaways":

    • Democrats are developing their own equivalent to the GOP's Project 2025 — a radical new vision for remaking the US government if they take power in 2028.

      • Their ideas would do two things: boost the government's ability to deliver services efficiently, and constrain the anti-democratic abuses of the Trump era.

    • The goal isn't just to rebuild the systems that Trump broke, but to use his destruction to rebuild the federal government into something new and more modern.

    • A lot remains to be worked out. The vision is emerging from different groups, only loosely connected. And there's a built-in tension between empowering government and keeping a tighter leash on the White House.

  • Benjamin Wallace-Wells [10-18]: How the DSA learned to love elections: "Members of the Democratic Socialists of America believe deeply in the possibility of a class revolution. Meanwhile, they're running for office — and winning."

  • Susan B Glasser [10-29]: Obama's great skewering of Trump: "The former President's riff on Saddam Hussein, the Cheesecake Factory, and our gold-besotted leader was not only funny but politically brilliant." My wife loved this, and made me (and, later, my birthday party guests while I was still cooking) watch sizable chunks. I find it hard to listen to, even when his target is orders of magnitudes worse than himself. The article also highlights some of Trump's recent speeches, adding to the schadenfreude.

  • Dylan Scott [10-29]: Democrats have big healthcare plans. The industry is preparing for a fight. "Corporations have always fought universal healthcare proposals. But will their old playbook still work in a new era?"

  • Jeet Heer [10-30]: Centrist Democrats are trying hard to lose the midterms: "Wreckers like Haley Stevens are probably the GOP's last hope of avoiding a wipeout on Tuesday." Stevens, who lost the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan to Abdul El-Sayed, gracefully pledged to support him, but at the last minute switched her endorsement to his Republican opponent, can probably be attributed to something more fundamental than centrist ideology. After all, AIPAC put millions into her losing campaign, so maybe they still own her? Right-wing ("centrist" is at best a euphemism) Dems have sabotaged Democratic candidates in the past, most famously Bryan and McGovern, and they tried to do that with Mamdani only recently. Still, losing to Trump has been a severe blow to their credibility. So much so that Bill and Hillary Clinton are campaigning for El-Sayed. It certainly looks like Stevens has just sold out her entire political career. For what, one wonders?

    • Eoin Higgins [10-31]: Centrist Democrats would rather lose the Senate than win with El-Sayed: This is weirder than I expected: Stevens had agreed to appear with Rep. Jim Clyburn at an event supporting El-Sayed, then canceled at the last minute, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers, and appeared with him instead. I'm not sure you can blame this on "centrism." It's purely a question of blanket, single-issue Israel support, regardless of anything else that may concern voters. Although "centrists" tend to support Israel, that's usually because they have a nose for money, regardless of where it comes from.

    • Sophie Hurwitz [10-31]: Haley Stevens' fiancé seems dedicated to ruining her career: "The losing Senate candidate's partner can't stop campaigning against Abdul El-Sayed." Hurwitz also wrote [11-01]: Here are some things Haley Stevens said about Mike Rogers before endorsing him: "Not too long ago, 'MAGA Mike' was 'repulsive.' Now he's got Haley Stevens' vote."

    • Daniel Strauss [11-01]: Haley Stevens's sabotage mission: "The Democrat's 11-th hour endorsement in Michigan's Senate race could throw the seat to the GOP." Why? Does anyone think she has voters still waiting to find out what she thinks?

    • Eric Berger [11-02]: 'A despicable betrayal': Democrats incensed by Haley Stevens' endorsement of Mike Rogers: "Stevens' decision sparked fierce backlash from members of the party, while Donald Trump praised the sudden switch." By the way, that "despicable betrayal" quote comes from Chuck Schumer. Nancy Pelosi, who's been distancing herself from El-Sayed, also condemned Stevens. Trump called her "a highly respected Democrat, but the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party "said in a post that Stevens was not a member of the party 'nor will she be in the future.'" Trump said, "I'd love her to join the Republican party, actually, I think that could happen maybe." When asked about Trump's praise, "Stevens told CNN: 'Well, I impeached him twice," before criticizing Republicans for being 'really focused on just letting Trump be the dictator.'"

    • Blaise Malley [11-02]: Unhinged attacks against El-Sayed reach a fever pitch: "Republicans are now accusing the Democratic Senate nominee of being a 'jihadi' and posing a threat to national security."

    • Bess Levin [11-02]: The wildest details from the Haley Stevens train wreck.

Economists and the Economy:

  • Steven Rattner [08-18]: Trump's broken promises, in 11 charts. Each section starts with a Trump prediction, then offers a chart, usually showing the exact opposite.

  • Dean Baker:

    • [09-30]: Do lying shelf prices bias our inflation data? The case of convenience stores: This links to:

    • [10-01]: Trade deficit soars in August: The tariffs don't seem to be working: "Trump's tariffs were intended to reduce the US trade deficit, but the deficit has surged again in 2026, driven in part by rising semiconductor imports."

    • [10-02]: New York Times pushes Trumpian lies on the economy: "Biden's economic team emphasized measurable gains in wages, employment, and investment, while Trump's economic claims have repeatedly conflicted with the available data."

    • [10-07]: Under Trump, foreigners are ripping us off more than ever: Trade deficit jumps in August: "The US trade deficit hit $105.6 billion in August as importers stocked up ahead of Trump's tariffs."

    • [10-10]: The Trump economy: AI bubble and beyond: "Under Trump, job growth and real wages have weakened while investment and consumer spending increasingly depend on the AI boom and rising stock prices. The economy's outlook hinges on whether AI delivers the promised productivity gains or the bubble bursts." Well, the bubble doesn't just depend on those productivity gains; it also depends on the companies ability to capture the savings, which is to say it depends on how effective the companies are at reducing the value they deliver to customers toward the point of indifference. On the other hand, the social value of AI increases in making it as ubiquitous as possible, which is to say cheap, or free. Given that AI is basically data, and data is highly scalable, that seems bound to happen. So how can the bubble survive? That's where the politics comes in.

    • [10-14]: Trump's not so hot economy: China's growth far outpaces US: "China's economy was already larger than the United States' — and it is growing faster too." Of course, it's not just Trump they have been beating. They beat the much more formidable Clinton in the 1990s, and everyone since. China has an economy that is based on building things, cheaper and better all the time. Since the 1980s, the American economy has been increasingly based first on extracting profits, then on fraud, graft, and gambling.

    • [10-16]: Trumpflation is here! "Make no mistake: The current bout of inflation we are dealing with is all due to Trump."

    • [10-23]: The rich are awful people, let me count the ways: "Billionaires are using their control of major news outlets and social media platforms to advance their political agendas, threatening democracy. Teforms to Section 230 and public support for local journalism could help reduce their influence."

    • [10-24]: Medicare for All can be simple: "Medicare for All could expand access to health care while reducing administrative costs and prescription drug prices. Replacing patent monopolies with public funding for medical research could further lower costs and improve access to treatment." Of course, this has been obvious for decades, during which the share of GDP going to the health care industry has increased from 10% to 20%.

    • [10-27]: Could Trump's global warming hoax explain the cost-of-living paradox? "Homeowner's insurance costs have surged far faster than overall inflation, potentially helping explain the gap between weak consumer sentiment and standard measures of well-being." The higher insurance costs go, the more people will be tempted to risk being un- or under-insured. Loans are usually secured by property values, which are protected by insurance, so loans will become riskier and/or more expensive. The same thing is also true for businesses. I think we're fast approaching a catastrophic insurance crisis. The only way to manage it is likely to be government, in which case it will make a big difference whether government is run by the people who want to serve the public or the current crowd, which just sees government as a confidence scam to line their own pockets.

    • [10-28]: Anthropic promises to send the market for anti-virus software booming: "Anthropic's IPO filing highlights how advanced AI could empower hackers, expand ransomware attacks, and drive up cybersecurity costs for businesses and governments." If this is true, I suspect the costs could be geometric: we're in an era where defense costs much more than offense, because defense has to protect against everything, while offense just has to find one weak spot. In this world, the only solution is to dissuade or disincentivize would-be attackers from proceeding.

    • [10-31]: China's AI bubble burst: will this be another export to the United States? "China's AI stocks have plunged 40 percent, offering a warning to US investors about the risks of inflated tech valuations. The crash also highlights how Chinese companies are producing competitive AI models at a fraction of the cost of US competitors, raising questions about the sustainability of US tech spending."

  • Markus Schneider [10-20]: US inequalilty is getting worse in ways you might not expect: "Some policies enacted more recently appear to be accelerating this trend."

  • Gary Sernovitz [10-29]: How can sports teams possibly be worth this much? "The aren't good businesses. They don't make much money. And yet, American franchise valuations keep growing and growing." It's basically because rich people are too rich, and can pretty safely bet that other richer people will come along eventually to appreciate their investments. Meanwhile, they're good for the ego.

Technology (Including AI):

  • Jill Lepore [09-21]: Is AI above the law? "Our legal system isn't ready for machines that act on their own."

  • Bess Levin [09-29]: Anthropic warns AI may kill us all in $2 trillion IPO pitch.

  • Benjamin Hart [10-06]: 'I don't think we're all f***ed anymore': Interview with Kevin Roose, author of several books (and podcasts, etc.), most recently The AGI Chronicles: The Inside Story of the Race to Create an Artificial Superintelligence.

  • Sarah Jones [10-09]: Anthropic's God Complex: "The company is courting religious leaders in an effort to make Claude 'good.' What exactly does that mean?"

  • Cory Doctorow [10-29]: Is there life after AI? Cory Doctorow thinks so.: An interview, talking "about the internet, whether machines are conscious, why copyright maximalism won't save us from ChatGPT, and why workers still have a chance to shape what comes next." I'll have to go back over this more carefully, but for now, let me recommend his book, The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI.

Media:

Regular Columnists

Sometimes an interesting columnist writes often enough on a range of topics that it makes sense to collect their work in one place, rather than scatter it about (especially if they cover a range of topics).

Jeffrey St Clair:

  • [10-02]: Roaming Charges: "Lots of Very Good Wars!". Of course, there are no such wars, and anyone who even for a moment thinks differently needs their head examined. For instance, Barack Obama squandered whatever credibility he got for opposing Bush's Iraq War by calling Afghanistan "the right war" and escalating it. St Clair cites a tweet with this Obama quote: "What people are starved for at the moment is the ability to tell a moral and ethical story about how we live together in this moment." St Clair misses the point when he snarks: "who remains gullible enough to take moral advice from the Deporter-in-Chief, who droned American citizens and their kids?" One of Obama's great failings was his tendency to think all he had to do was to tell a good story, helping people feel good about themselves, regardless of what their government was actually doing in the world (which under Obama was near exactly the same as it was under Bush). In doing so, he extended the political savvy of Reagan (building on Nixon and extending to Clinton) in flattering Americans into accept a fantasy world they had no control over, and that was no longer accountable to them. By the time Obama was done, many Americans were so starved for honesty that they were willing to try Trump's candor instead — possibly because by they they had lost any moral compass. (Susan Nieman does a good job of explaining why in Call It Evil.)

  • [10-15]: Gaza Diary: Where are you now, beautiful world? Starts with the violent attack on American photojournalist Heidi Levine by Israeli settlers, under the watchful eye of the IDF. Most of the news here is actually from the West Bank, where settlers have accelerated their attacks on Palestinians, especially during the olive harvest.

    + Adam Johnson: "The Atlantic, supposed beacon of free speech and liberal principles, has published 30+ articles on Hasan Piker and zero about Israel's unprecedented killing of 230+ journalists in Gaza. Some are saying it's because it's run by a former volunteer IDF prison guard, but who's to say. The Atlantic employs about 900 variations of Jonathan Chait and I don't think it's because the market is organically demanding even more scoldy, bad-faith ideological disciplining of the left. I suspect this has more to do with their billionaire owner [Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Steve Jobs] and her investment portfolio [the Emerson Collective]."

    + There have been at least 13 attacks on mosques in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem this year, including one this week when Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque outside of Jerusalem.

  • [10-16]: Roaming Charges: Ain't but one way out.

  • [10-30]: Roaming Charges: The anal stage of US politics: Starts by quoting Marquis de Sade on the "Président," then zeroes in ours:

    Donald Trump seems to have reached that transcendent state of personal satori, where he is liberated from all inhibitions, political and psychological. His true persona has been unleashed out on the road, at one pit-stop rally after another.

    Trump seems not to care — perhaps he doesn't even notice — that the once-packed auditoriums have dwindled to the point where giant curtains don't cover the sections of empty seats. The rousing receptions have been groans and baffled silences, as he rambles on and on about his own peculiar obsessions. He riffs on Nicki Minaj's ass and Arnold Palmer's penis. He brags over and over again about being the only president to have taken and passed (without missing a question) "a very difficult" cognitive test, three times! Even though his recent performances would suggest otherwise.

    He drops strange hints about his declining health. He showed up to one rally with a bruise on his left eye, leaving some to wonder whether Meiania belted him or Natalie smacked him with her portable printer.

    He indulges in his lusty fantasies on the musculature of the male anatomy, using a sitting US senator as a case study. He spins sadistic stories of violence, murder and torture. He enjoys the theater of cruelty, though not Artuad's kind. He often sounds like he's narrating a slasher film.

    You can follow the link for an example of the latter: it's sick and gruesome. He continues:

    More and more of Trump's speeches have devolved into mere glossolalia (aka, grunts, groans, belches, wheezes and episodes of gurgling aphasia), which will be interpreted by the most devoted members of his cult as him speaking in the Divine Tongue. But most, I suspect, will see it as evidence of a mind unraveling in real time.

    Trump seems to have embraced his own weirdness, a weirdness that has gone pathological. He is the Buffoon-in-Chief and his presidency is our national opéra bouffe with a soundtrack by Lee Greenwood and the Village People.

    What is the point of his ravings? Often there is none, except his own gratification. . . .

    In the end, Trump replaced neoliberalism with neo-narcissism. His economic strategy is unabashed self-enrichment for him and his cronies. Though look out if you were a crony who made out better than he did. Trump has no friends, only collaborators and co-conspirators. He's never really trusted anyone, not even his sons and accountants. He trusts NDAs, not the people whom he forces to sign them.

    So, he celebrates his own malfeasance. Trump wallows in the aroma of his own mess. In the Anal Stage of US politics, it's a thin line between self-love and self-loathing. One oozes seamlessly into the other.

    Trump's personal wealth has swelled by $3.3 billion since retaking office. He may be America's first self-dealing president. He's turned the White House into his own gift shop. Contra Obama, it looks less like a Cheesecake Factory than Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. Interior design as an infantilism. . . .

    Trump believes the Supreme Court has given him the green light to do whatever he wants without legal consequences. And he may be right. He can trade on inside information. He can manipulate the markets to his advantage. He can cheat on his taxes. He can shake down white-collar criminals for pardons. He can accept jumbo jetliners from a foreign government with ties to terrorists. He can reward purchasers of his memecoins with private meetings, even foreign nationals with dealings before the federal government. He can build monuments to himself and deface those of his predecessors. He can target his enemies with revenge prosecutions. All without, he believes, legal consequences. The disruptor agenda of 2015 has shriveled away. All that's left is the cashing in.

    Other items:

    + Since the start of the Iran war, US residents have paid $147 billion more in fuel prices (about $1,100 for each US household). Much of this was pocketed as profits (not costs) by the oil companies, which made $130 billion in profits. For comparison, last year the 50 top US oil and gas companies reported less than $47 billion in profits.

    + In the run-up to Halloween, candy prices are up by 15% due to the escalating costs of cocoa and sugar.

    + The average monthly premiums for the most popular types of ACA plans will increase by 11% in 2027. This comes on top of the 30% in 2026, a consequence of the Trump administration's gutting of subsidies for ObamaCare.

    + Greenland's ice sheet, the world's largest, has shrunk for the 30th year in a row. From August 2025 to August 2026, it lost 135 billion tons of ice.

Miscellaneous Pieces

The following articles are more/less in order published, although some authors may have collected pieces, and some entries may have related articles underneath.

Max B Sawicky [10-30]: Socialists need our own foreign policy agenda: "As socialists expand our footprint in Congress, we will need to articulate a distinctive agenda for US foreign policy — a vision different from both the wanton imperialism of MAGA and the feckless imperialism of mainstream liberals." I should just bookmark this for future reference, and move on. I identify as a leftist, but not especially as a socialist. (The only time I've identified as a socialist was when a cousin pointed asked whether I'm a Republican or a Democrat. She responded, "So you're a Democrat!" I could have accepted that, but wanted to make a distinction, which she saw as no difference.) I think of my ideas as more rooted in anarchism, but that's because I'm looking for an understanding that rejects power relations. A pull quote here says: "Socialists would at the very least place a high bar before any proposals for US military intervention." While a "high bar" would be better than recent US presidents have set, I question whether there is any criterion that justifies that sort of belligerence. I think Netanyahu is uniquely evil, but I don't favor any military action by anyone to "take him out." I'd also, based on overwhelming experience, put the US at the head of a list of countries that can never be trusted to do any such thing. Another pull quote is just a cliché. Two links for further reading on leftist strategizing are for subscribers only. My bottom line is that you don't have to be a socialist to understand that war is wrong and should always be opposed. And if you think you're a socialist but make exceptions for war, what good are you?

End Matter

Books: Multiple reviews are grouped under book.

  • New Yorker [09-16]: The best books of 2026 so far: A pretty long list. Many look interesting, but I think the only one I've read is Omar Bartov's Israel: What Went Wrong?

Obituaries: I had been using the New York Times, but they're giving me aggravation these days, so I've switched over to Wikipedia October, also November), which is probably better anyway. Roughly speaking, since my last report on September 30:

  • John Anderson, 71, country singer-songwriter. I've graded 14 of his albums here (4 A-list). [10-21]

  • Robert X Cringely, 73, tech journalist. I've read his book, Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date. [10-03]

  • Dennis Hastert, 84, US House (R-IL 1987-2007), House Speaker (1999-2007), resigned due to a sexual abuse scandal (students from when Hastert was a high school wrestling coach), was later convicted of bank fraud, but only served a few months in prison; as Speaker, his "majority of the majority" rule helped the Republican right gain veto power over anything their often slim majorities could do. [10-03]:

    • Chris Lehman [10-06]: The picture of Dennis Hastert: "The disgraced former congressman was a better representative of the GOP than the party would like to admit."

  • Patrick Stewart, 86, actor [10-28]. I saw all of the original Star Trek run when it was initially run, and again in syndication, and the later Kirk/Spock movies, but I missed Steweart's reboot. But I did notice this:

    • Ian Millhiser [10-31]: Patrick Stewart taught us what good men do with power: "Great leaders, and great nations, need role models like Jean-Luc Picard." Of course, the relevance is now:

      One of the hardest parts of living in Trump's America is that the man never gives us time to grieve. Every day can bring a new executive order that thousands of people must mobilize to fight. Institutions, like the federal judiciary, that exist to uphold universal rights are rapidly being corrupted into tools of the regime. A pandemic is overshadowed by a crisis of democracy. Even Trump's defeat in the 2020 election could only pause the parade of outrages. We are constantly being shuffled from one crisis to the next, without any time to pause and reflect on what we have lost. . . .

      In Trump's America, such role models [as Picard, and Atticus Finch] have become unfashionable for two reasons. The first, as I've already laid out, is that it is hard to tell a hero's story about good men achieving justice by working within noble institutions when this story is so much at odds with how institutions function in the real world. A closely related reason is that, even before the rise of Trump, there were myriad examples of powerful, well-meaning individuals fostering death in the name of democracy. The Iraq War, and the broader neoconservative foreign policy project, was a failed effort to spread liberal democracy through warfare. [Was it really? "Liberal democracy" was never more than cynical rhetoric wielded by people who rigged what passed for elections, always with an eye to their own power.]

    • Alexander Deley [11-02]: Captain Picard was a socialist, and so was Patrick Stewart: "Patrick Stewart, who died last week at the age of 86, was a committed socialist from the start. That conviction ran through his greatest role: Jean-Luc Picard, a leader who used reason and compassion rather than force."

Some other names I recognize:

Tweets: I've usually used this section for highlighting clever responses and/or interesting ideas.

  • Ryan Cooper [10-14]: After a chart of UK auto sales from September 2025-2026, showing: battery-electric +36.3%, plug-in hybrid +55.7%, hybrid −4.2%, petrol −6.7%, diesel +11.5% (but only 4.0% share).

    Boy Trump fucked the American auto industry. First he yanks their EV subsidies, leading them to slash production and write off tens of billions in investment, then he jacks up the price of oil by 50%, leading to skyrocketing EV demand going almost entirely to China because GM et al left the market.

  • Arun Gupta: Long Facebook critique of Naomi Klein, starting: "If you want to look at how bad left analysis of poltical-economy has become watch Naomi Klein's interview on the BCC where at the end she discusses the AI bubble." Gupta seems to agree that there is an AI bubble, that it will pop, and that in doing so it will wipe out at least several trillions of dollars of equity. So the argument is about size and resilience. He also agrees that opposing data centers is good, but expects it to fail, as data centers can be put anywhere. He compares it to the fight against fracking, which had little success despite being much more of a localized issue. I should research Gupta further. I doubt this dispute is properly aligned.

Current count: 297 links, 19008 words (23618 total)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, October 31, 2026

Music Week

October archive (final).

Music: Current count 46791 [46761] rated (+30), 32 [36] unrated -4).

Advance Music Week appeared October 31 on Substack as Music Week (10:5). It is also archived here. Note that I screwed up the initial mailing and left out the Marc Ribot review, but did include the album cover. I've corrected that on Substack's website, and in my archive. Ran late, rushed things, screwed up. Sorry.

My cutoff was done before the Substack post. The introduction is slightly edited, but I have a lot more work to do today.

It's been a heavy week for me, starting with my rather extravagant birthday dinner. I wound up with tons of leftovers. Lacking any better ideas, I've been nibbling on them all week, probably piling on the pounds. I finally finished the noodles tonight, simply cooking more guanciale, draining most of the fat, then stir-frying them in what's left, blending in a sauteed bell pepper. That still leaves me with lots of ravioli, some of which went into a tomato sauce, seeing as I had a bag of leftover tomatoes. I probably have two more meals of them, after which I'm likely to just toss whatever is left. (The torte and tiramisu are gone. There's still macedonia left, but I've never had much taste for fruit.) I sliced a bit of leftover bread and made a grilled cheese for lunch yesterday, and finished that off today. I probably enjoyed that as much as any of the fancy fare.

It feels like the end of the road for my major cooking exploits. Too bad, as it's one of the few things left I feel I'm much good at. I'm also pleased with my political analysis, but I'm disappointed at how little circulation or interest it gets. I spent much of last week cobbling together two posts in anticipation of next week's elections: Elections Past and Present, and Trump's Greatest Hits. I'm pleased to report that the latter piece will be reprinted in a new-for-me publication on Monday (CounterPunch). Hopefully that will steer a few new subscribers this way. My three non-music posts this week basically crashed-and-burned, at least according to the stats that Substack has provided: views are down about 20% from my music posts (120 vs. 150), and signs of approval/enthusiasm are down much further.

Meanwhile, I had virtually no new music to report on mid-week, so I had little incentive to post in my preferred Wednesday-Friday window. But my late-week writing afforded some time for listening, albeit not much for writing, so the rated count climbed back into normal range. Aside from the three posts, I put most of the last few days into a Loose Tabs (updated link; when this was initially posted, I was at 200 links, 13314 words). I really hoped to get that done by the end of October, but my drop-dead date is now Monday — otherwise all the pre-election speculation will rots faster than my cooking.

My wife often offers "no future thoughts" as a mantra when worries about the future are inevitable. I'll try to honor that for now. In a week or two I should have a better idea what the future holds, and how to deal with it. I'm really at a loss for words right now.

New records reviewed this week:

Blondshell: Violins (2026, Partisan): Singer-songwriter Sabria Teitelbaum, third album after a 2018 EP as BAUM. Indie pop of some minor distinction. B+(*) [sp]

Gustavo Cortińas: The Drum Also Sings (2026, Desafio Candente): Drummer, born in Mexico, studied in New Orleans, based in Chicago, fifth album since 2013, an all-drummer trio with Dave King and Isaiah Spencer — Max Roach is naturally on their minds, but they hedge their bets and slip in some actual vocals. B+(**) [sp]

The Flying Horse Big Band: Swingin' With the Flying Horse Big Band (2024 [2026], Flying Horse): Big band based at University of Central Florida, Jeff Rupert director (and composer of 4 of 8 pieces), tenth album since 2015, guest Rob Paparozzi takes a vocal on a John Hiatt song, which may be the best thing here. B [cd]

Clay Giberson: Moment's Notice (2025 [2026], Origin): Pianist, albums since 2001 (some as Upper Left Trio), offers a trio here with David Ambrosio (bass) and John Bishop (drums), playing two originals plus seven standards from "St. James Infirmary" up through Jarrett. B+(*) [cd]

Danny Green: Let the Music Happen (2026, OA2): Pianist, seventh album since 2008, first solo, four originals, five covers (Lennon-McCartney, Stevie Wonder, three standards). B+(*) [cd]

Devra Hoff: Baile as Baile (2019 [2026], AUM Fidelity): Bassist, aka (or fka, formerly known as?) Devin Hoff, under which name Discogs lists 12 albums and 130 appearances, as opposed to 4 appearances as Devra (including Sharon Van Etten and Julia Holter). No recording dates or indication that this is a slightly augmented and re-ordered reissue of a self-released 2019 album. Mostly solo bass, two tracks with Holter (harmonium) and Tara Jane O'Neil (prepared autoharp). Should be of limited interest, but I find myself loving the deep resonance of the instrument, and the slow unfolding of the melodies. A− [cd]

Devra Hoff/Matt Chamberlain: And Let Gravity (2026, self-released): Chamberlain is a drummer, has several solo albums since 2005, was a member of two fusion groups I rather liked (Critters Buggin, Floratone), but mostly has studio credits with rock stars (most frequently Tori Amos, but also: Dylan, Springsteen, Bowie, Elton John, John Fogerty, Lorde, Fiona Apple, Randy Newman, Macy Gray, the Who). Hoff plays bass guitar, bass viol, acoustic and electric guitars, and synthesizer, mostly hard, fast, and loud, until it isn't. B+(*) [bc]

Clarence Hines Jazz Orchestra: Along the Way (2022-26 [2026], OA2): Trombonist, based in Jacksonville, teaches at University of North Florida, first album, a big band affair. B [cd]

Katokye: Obuhangwa Bwa Bayankore Na Baharoro (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): First studio album for "legendary singer" John Katokye, follows traditions of the "Banyankore and Bahororo people of Western Uganda," a cappella with complementary response vocals and occasional handclaps. B+(*) [sp]

Franklin Kiermyer: Scatter the Atoms That Remain (2026, Gearbox): Canadian drummer, based in New York, albums since 1992, has used this title as a group name two times before (2019 and 2021), but not really a group here, as Davis Whitfield (piano) is the only regular, previous bassist Otto Gardner is limited to two tracks (two more for Géraud Portal, of 10 total tracks), and the horn leads are also limited to two spots each: Keyon Harrold (trumpet), Isaiah Collier (tenor sax), and Linda Sikhakhane (soprano sax). Also some guest spots (Aaron Parks, RaKalam Bob Moses) and vocals (including a choir). Starts off in a heavily spiritual jazz (aka Coltrane) mode, and more or less ends there, with focus on the drums in between. B+(*) [bc]

The Klittens: Have a Heart (2026, THK/Cargo): Dutch group, sings in English, first album after singles/EPs, Bandcamp says "feminist fuzz garage indie jangle rock postpunk," which runs their gamut. B+(**) [sp]

Finn Loxbo: Lummernikt (2025 [2026], Fönstret): Swedish guitarist, ninth album since 2012, Discogs says "folk singer, singer-songwriter," but this is solo guitar, so perhaps some parallel to the "American primitivism" of John Fahey? B+(*) [bc]

Miko Marks: Hell or High Water (2026, Redtone): Singer-songwriter from Flint, Michigan, based in Oakland, released two albums 2005-07, emerged again in 2021-22 with two albums slotted Country/Americana in 2021-22, appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, had a bit part on Beyoncé's "country" album. Goes flat-out blues this time, with producer Justin Phipps on guitar and much more, Steve Wyreman adding more guitar, bass, and keyboards. Some Muddy Waters licks go a long ways. A− [sp]

Mali Obomsawin: Automatic (2025 [2026], Out of Your Head): Bassist-singer-songwriter, from Canada (Odanak First Nation), debut album 2022, followed that with a Greatest Hits that wasn't. Group includes Adam O'Farrill (trumpet), Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), bass clarinet, two tenor saxophones, guitar, turntables/electronics, and drums. I never made much sense out of the voices, but the horns frequently impressed. Eight songs (35:46). B+(***) [cd]

Mike Reed's Separatist Party: Sing the Color Blue (2022-24 [2026], Thrill Jockey): Drummer, based in Chicago, has several groups, this one follows a 2023 album, keynoted by poet Marvin Tate, with cornet (Ben Lamar Gay), tenor sax (Rob Frye), guitar/synth (Cooper Crain), and synth (Dan Quinlivan). B+(**) [bc]

Marc Ribot Quartet: Hurry Red Telephone (2024 [2026], Pi): Guitarist, hype sheet starts "for more than four decades," so he's been around, and "refusing to stay in one place, moving restlessly between jazz, rock, No Wave, singer/songwriter, solo guitar, music for film, Cuban music, and free improvisation." Spins says "Quartet," but credits list 8 musicians, with just Ribot and Chad Taylor (drums) on all six tracks, the bass divided between Hilliard Green and Sebastian Steinberg, the fourth slot a saxophone (James Brandon Lewis, Briggan Krauss, or Brian Settles), with some extra bagpipes on one track. Lewis is especially strong. Maybe Ribot didn't want to overdo it. A− [cd]

Adonis Rose: Live at JazzAscona: The Music of Gregg Hill (2025 [2026], Cold Plunge): Drummer, from New Orleans, leads the trad-minded New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, has a couple of albums with smaller groups, not an obvious follower of the Michigan composer but they've found common ground, and injected extra energy into the repertoire (four Hill compositions, plus "Lush Life" and "Bop Be"). The horns are impressive. Phillip Manuel's vocals might also be, if you're into that sort of thing: a bull in a china shop, until he surprised me with a flexible, almost delicate reading of "Lush Life." B+(**) [cd]

Jim Snidero: House of Trane (2026, Savant): Alto saxophonist, 27th album since 1985, quartet with Stefan Karlsson (piano), Nat Reeves (bass), and Jason Tiemann (drums), arrives in John Coltrane's centennial year. B+(**) [sp]

RJ Spangler's Bop Insurgents: Ain't Doin Too Bad (2026, Eastlawn): Percussionist (congas, shakers), credit extends to "featuring Bill Heid" (piano/organ), so I suppose this aims at soul jazz groove, with sax (Russ Miller), guitar (Ralph Tope), bass, and drums. Played it twice and it's not unpleasant, but what the group name suggests, the title takes away. B [cd]

Ron Vincent: Ray's Hat Trick (2025 [2026], Origin): Drummer, reconvenes Gerry Mulligan's rhythm section from 1989 with Bill Mays (piano) and Dean Johnson (bass), along with Steve Cardenas (guitar) and a bunch of flute players (Dave Brandom, Tim Armacost, Matt Garrison, who less conspicuously also play other reeds). B− [cd]

Leslie Waugh: Night Bloom (2026, Smallz): Country singer-songwriter from Texas, bio claims a debut album in 2011 and a trilogy of EPs, Discogs has nothing. B+(*) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Bulayo: Guitar Songs From Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, and DR Congo (1979-80 [2026], Mississippi): Eleven songs (30:10), field recordings by "a young British-Kenyan musician named John Low [on] the road to learn finger-style guitar from his heroes." This seems slight, but it is beguiling as few vintage African records are. A− [sp]

The Ducks: High Flyin' (1977 [2023], Shakey Pictures): Formerly known as the Jeff Blackburn Band, a short-lived group with a couple of veterans from San Francisco cult band Moby Grape (1967-69; I've never understood the attraction), and briefly Neil Young, who salvaged these live tapes for his "Official Bootleg Series." Young sounds pretty great here, but that accounts for less than a quarter of the songs. The other singer-songwriters are pretty average, able to evoke that 1970s country jam landscape from the Grateful Dead to the Eagles, without ever quite matching any of them. B+(**) [sp]

Jon Hassell: Music Is Invisible (Pentimento Volume Three) (2015 [2026], Ndeya): Trumpet player (1937-2021), best known for his Brian Eno collaboration on Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics, a brand he subsequently developed. His two previous Pentimento albums came out in 2018 and 2020. B+(***) [sp]

Julius Hemphill/Joseph Bowie/Abdul Wadud/Bobo Shaw: Black Artists' Group: February 6, 1974 [Live From Studio Rivbea, Volume 5] (1974 [2026], NoBusiness): Alto sax, trombone, cello, and drums, with less credited "special guest" Raymond Lee Chang on violin, and some voices I can't quite figure out. Hard to parse the cover, but the individuals are named first. BAG was a collective formed in St. Louis, active there 1968-72, with some members moving to Paris in 1973, then to New York in 1974 (Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett, and Baikida Carroll are among the former members not in this group). Three long pieces, 50:15, two by Bowie, the other by Wadud. A find, especially for the trombone. A− [cd]

Sunny Murray/Arthur Doyle/Rasul Siddik: New Light (1999 [2026], NoBusiness): Avant-garde drummer, at first I thought he ruined Coltrane, but I've slowly warmed to some of their work together (although I've yet top revisit his ESP-Disk albums). But he released a superb album in 1998 (We Are Not at the Opera), and this label is finding more from that period. This is a free bash with Doyle (tenor sax/flute/voice) and Sidik (trumpet): two improvs, one piece by Doyle, one by Don Cherry. A− [cd]

Sunny Murray/Arthur Doyle/Rasul Siddik: Incantations (1999 [2026], NoBusiness): Same group, recorded the same day, so not a lot to choose between this and New Light, but I give the edge to the other one. Maybe the Don Cherry piece makes the difference, or maybe I just paid better attention. B+(***) [cd]

Leon Parker Trio 93: Foundations (1993 [2026], Sunnyside): Drummer, just starting out, recorded this before his 1994 debut, after a 1992 side-credit with Dewey Redman. Trio with Brad Mehldau (piano, 23 at the time, two years before Warners released Introducing Brad Mehldau) and Ugonna Okegwo (bass, the elder at 31). The pianist plays some feisty Monk. B+(**) [bc]

Old music:

Milford Graves With Arthur Doyle & Hugh Glover: Children of the Forest (1976 [2023], Black Editions): "Percussionist, acupuncturist, herbalist, martial artist, programmer, professor and pioneer of free Jazz" (1941-2021), from three sessions: one with Doyle (tenor sax/flute) and Glover (klaxon/percussion); one with just Glover (tenor sax); and a final solo piece (3:13). B+(***) [sp]

Franklin Kiermyer: Kairos (1995 [1996], Evidence): Canadian drummer, third album, draws on "world traditions of spiritual music" (samples as interludes from Cameroon, the Black Sea, Arizona), nominally a quartet with Michael Stuart (soprano/tenor sax), reinforced with guest saxophonists Sam Rivers and Eric Person. B+(***) [bc]

Grade (or other) changes:

Tinariwen: Hoggar (2026, Wedge): Tuareg group, formed in Algeria by exiles from Mali, spent some time in Libya before returning to Mali and getting caught up in political struggles there. Recorded an album in Ibidjan in 1991, but their breakthrough didn't come until 2001, when they started touring Europe and releasing albums there. Tenth album since 2001, all are pretty good but not very distinct. Christgau singled this one out as their best, which seems plausible to me, although that wasn't my first thought. [was: B+(**)] A− [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • The Elliott Caine Quintet: Furiositee! (EJC Music) [11-01]
  • David Friesen/John Stowell: Interplay Variations (Origin) [11-20]
  • Jeff Johnson: Meanwhile . . . (Origin) [11-20]
  • Frank Morelli/Keith Oxman: Classicool (Capri) [11-20]
  • Naama: Songs From the Road (La Reserve) [11-20]
  • Michael Pagán Band: Burn It Forward (Capri) [11-20]
  • Anthony Stanco: My Way: Live at the Blue Llama Jazz Club (OA2) [11-20]
  • Ken Walker Sextet: Good Trouble (Capri) [11-20]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Friday, October 23, 2026

Music Week

October archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46761 [46742] rated (+19), 36 [24] unrated +12).

Advance Music Week appeared October 22 on Substack as Music Week (10:4). It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post, but the introduction is revised/rewritten.

Another short week: rated count was 21, up from 19 the week before. I took a couple days off to cook, and wound up spending most of yesterday reconnoitering for a second major culinary project: my annual birthday dinner. That project will no doubt sandbag my review time next week as well. After that, I should take a few days to wrap up an October edition of Loose Tabs. If you'd like a sneak peek, the working draft file is here (currently 6438 words).

Not only is the reviewed count down, but I was hard-pressed to find six reviews that topped two sentences. The Lewis record is not out until Friday, but I figured that's close enough. It's possible that more will be on Bandcamp then. I've been holding back until Friday to pick up the week's releases, but this week I figured I'd rather clear the deck early, than imagine that another day would make a difference. I have too much to do on Friday, as it is. I don't expect to listen to anything new until Monday or Tuesday, so next week will also be thin.

Further out, I'm debating whether to make an absolutely minimal effort at the Jazz Critics Poll, or to try to lay the groundwork for a transition beyond my stewardship. What is clear is that I'm running out of gas, which may mean energy or perhaps just desire, or maybe even self-esteem. I look at other Substacks, and cannot imagine any way to compete (to drop some names: Brad Luen and Dan Weiss, with Chuck Eddy and Brian Morton mostly beyond the paywall — as is Tom Carson, but his productivity seems to be built on two manuscripts I will probably prefer buying as books). I do expect to go through the motions for the next couple months, but that's about all.

We got a chance to see Matty Winshow's documentary about Robert Christgau, The Last Critic, at the Tallgrass Film Festival last week, and thought it was very good. It helped to be able to draw on Paul Lovelace's earlier footage, where most docs just whipsaw between old stills and new commentary. The latter was of particular interest to me, as I personally know most of the people interviewed — except the musicians, who added an unnecessary and uncharacteristic element of celebrity-mongering to the mix — but haven't seen many of them in decades. If I had the time and access, I could go through it frame-by-frame and make notes. But overall I thought they did a good job of explaining being a rock critic matters, and why Christgau's career is unique among the many of us who have tried it out. (For my own tangent, see my contribution to the Christgau festschrift: A Rock & Roll Critic Is Something to Be.)

I'm most of the way through Eyal Weizman's Ungrounding, which is harrowing, even though I noted most of what he reveals in real time. It occurs to me that "genocide" is as much of an euphemism for something more sinister than "ethnic cleansing." But also that the word was never meant to be descriptive, but as some sort of talisman to war off evil. That it failed only shows it to have been weak medicine.

What's missing from the book is an exposure of the psychology that makes such evil possible. I hardly know where to begin there, but I suspect it doesn't stop with those who would vote for Netanyahu or his allies. It takes much the same mindset to trust your fate to Trump's Republicans, or (in an even sooner election) to Bolsonaro. But I'll have to save that for a later date.

New records reviewed this week:

Stephen Braude With Yamara Band: Big Dipper: Music of Stephen Braude: Alternative Jazz Fusion (2025 [2026], self-released): Has a background in philosophy, and was chair of the department at the University of Maryland, but better known for his interests in parapsychology. Died last year, at 80, leaving some music, which he plays piano on. Not clear when this was recorded, or how much was posthumously arranged by the group, which includes Ljobomir "Buba" Stojanovic (who has also passed) on keyboards, along with two other arrangers. Pleasant enough. Album cover is hard to parse, as is the hype sheet. "Big Dipper" is the opening salvo. B+(*) [cd]

Jeff Colella/Putter Smith: Between Friends (2026, AJI/Capri): Piano and bass duets, former has a few albums going back to 1997, Discogs credits the latter with 71 performances since 1971, including a previous album together from 2014. B+(*) [sp]

Stephan Crump: Passerine (2025 [2026], Out of Your Head): Bassist, as a composer has led 20 albums since 1997. Group here with Kenny Warren (trumpet), David Leon (alto flute/sax), and Ches Smith (percussion). B+(**) [cd]

Rhiannon Giddens: Hope Is the Thing With Feathers (2026, Nonesuch): Folkie singer-songwriter, plays banjo and other instruments, started in Carolina Chocolate Drops, wrote four songs here (one with a lyric adapted from Emily Dickinson), covers more traditional songs. B+(***) [sp]

Eric Hofbauer/EHX: Tongues/Hope Language (2026, Creative Nation Music, 2CD): Guitarist, albums since 1998, group is variable, but at full force includes tenor sax (Temidayo Balogun or Noah Preminger), cello (Ana Ospina), bass (Tony Leva), and drums (Kyle Anderson or Miki Matsuki), with vocals (Hayley Thompson-King) on four tracks, mostly playing pop/rock songs from Lennon-McCartney through Regina Spektor (outliers are jazz pieces from Charlie Parker, Eddie Harris, and Carla Bley). B+(**) [sp]

James Brandon Lewis/Red Lily: Calling Antonin (2025 [2026], TAO Forms): Tenor saxophonist, has been exceptional since his 2011 debut, already this year has a superb quartet album on Intakt (Omni) and an album with the Messthetics that many others like more than I do, and last year a trio on what is normally a rock label (Anti-) that I really like. But for heavy conceptual weight, he convenes his Red Lily group, with Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Tomeka Reid (cello), Joshua Abrams (bass), Chad Taylor (drums), and added this time Melanie Dyer (viola) — which has thus far won him the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll twice. The concept here is based on Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904), who spent some time in the US absorbing Afro-American music. My prejudice against classical music has more to do with sound triggers than with form, so not a problem here — as I recall, Steve Swell also did a Dvorak tribute I really liked. Lots going on here. A− [cd]

Pan Amsterdam: Panarama (2026, Def Pressé): Rapper Leron Thomas, from Houston but based in New York, also plays trumpet, which is a nice touch. Fifth album since 2018. Rambling, shuffling, inscrutable. A− [sp]

Enrico Rava Fearless Five With Joe Lovano: Corners (2025 [2026], ECM): Italian trumpet player, many albums since 1972, group here with trombone, guitar, bass, and drums (Evita Polidoro, who also gets a vocal credit), joined by the tenor saxophonist. B+(*) [sp]

Eli Paperboy Reed: Getting There (2026, Yep Roc): R&B traditionalist Eli Husock, from Boston, debut from 2005 was optimistically subtitled "And Other Smash Hits!" Gets an extra boost here from producer Jerry Williams, aka Swamp Dogg, who knows better than most that "one man's trash (is another man's treasure)." B+(***) [sp]

Adam Rudolph: Invisible Threads (2025 [2026], Omni Sound): Percussionist, plays drums from everywhere, has many albums since 1987, pieces here commissioned for a festival in Türkiye, recorded in Istanbul with a mostly local band. B+(*) [bc]

Two Shell: Infinite Now (2026, Young): British electronic music duo, Jack Benson and Patrick Lewis, third album since 2024. I like the beats, but doubt the words add much. B+(**) [sp]

Jess Williamson: A Mile South of Heaven (2026, New West): Country singer-songwriter, sixth solo album since 2014 plus a group album with Katie Crutchfield as Plains. B+(*) [sp]

Jay Worthy, George Clinton & LNDN DRGS: Generation P (2026, Empire): Canadian rapper Jeffrey Sidhoo, based in Compton, many releases since 2018, especially mixtapes with Sean House as LNDN DRGS. The P-Funk guru brings the samples B+(*) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Peggy Lee: Too Marvelous for Words (1955 [2026], Peggy Lee Associates): Originally Nora Egstrom (1920-2002), from North Dakota, I remember her as a big star/celebrity in the 1950s, but she started with Benny Goodman's big band in 1940 ("Why Don't You Do Right" was a 1942 hit), later with Gordon Jenkins ("Lover" in 1951), sang some duets with Bing Crosby, wrote many of her own songs, but most successfully covered "Fever" in 1958, acted, did a voice in Lady and the Tramp (later suing Disney for millions for breach of contract). She recorded these 49 songs for radio syndication, with a small jazz combo anchored by Gene DiNovi (piano) and Bill Pittman (guitar), with Pete Candoli (trumpet). Mostly songbook standards, some she never recorded elsewhere. B+(***) [sp]

Peggy Lee: Since You Have Gone (1963 [2026], Capitol, EP): Four previously unreleased songs, the title song an original arranged by Short Rogers, packaged with three "signature recordings": "Big Spender," "Fever," and "Why Don't You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too)." All done in 10:04. B+(**) [sp]

Alexander von Schlippenbach: Main Lines/1967 (1967 [2026], Corbett vs. Dempsey): German free jazz pianist, just getting started — Globe Unity was recorded in 1966, with his Penguin crown album Pakistani Pomade still five years out — in a set of four radio tracks (46:21), drawing on various musicians in the Manfred Schoof Quintet, Peter Brötzmann Quarter, and Irčne Schweizer Trio (so some of the piano is by Schweizer or Fred van Hove; bass and drums also appear in threes). Final piece really brings the noise. A− [bc]

Old music:

Peggy Lee: Sings With Benny Goodman (1941-44 [1957], Columbia): A selection of 10 early tracks with Goodman and His Orchestra, some hits but misses more, more non-hits, so it's hard to figure. B+(*) [yt]

Peggy Lee: Capitol Collector's Series, Volume I: The Early Years (1945-50 [1990], Capitol): This series of reissues came out 1989-93, each with 25 songs. I have 14 of them, ranging from pop icons in the 1940s to country singers in the 1970s (my A/A−-rated ones are by Louis Prima, Gene Vincent, Merle Haggard, and Hank Thompson). I don't think they ever released a Volume II, but Lee recorded for Capito through 1972, so there is lots more they could have included. B+(**) [sp]

Peggy Lee: The Best of Peggy Lee: The Capitol Years (1947-70 [1997], Capitol Jazz): Looking for a single volume best-of from her primary period, this looked promising: 18 songs, 49:33, starting with two from her later Benny Goodman years. Only one song where she added lyrics to a Duke Ellington tune, so effectively this is a standards showcase. And tracking these dates down, I see many more songs she could likely to just as well. [PS: There is a 1988 comp with effectively the same title, but only a few songs in common. There are at least a half-dozen The Best of Peggy Lee titles without subtitles, going back to 1960. The one in the "20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection" series draws from her early 1950s Decca period. There are also several The Very Best of Peggy Lee compilations. It might be interesting to chart out which songs are in which comps, as it's possible that there's less consensus on which are her best songs than there is for any comparable artist.] B+(***) [sp]

Peggy Lee: The Best of Peggy Lee [20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection] (1952-56 [2002], MCA): Another sprawling series of CD reissues, this one limited to 12 songs no matter how short (36:23 here). This is limited to her brief Decca period, starting with four songs fronting the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra ("Lover" was her biggest hit). B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Ernesto Cervini: Water Pistols at Dawn (TPR) [10-30]
  • Dan Cray: Devolution (Calligram) [11-06]
  • Jamie Davis: Steppin' Out (Womani Jazz) [11-01]
  • The Flying Horse Big Band: Swingin' With the Flying Horse Big Band (Flying Horse) [10-09]
  • Julius Hemphill/Joseph Bowie/Abdul Wadud/Bobo Shaw: Black Artists' Group: February 6, 1974 [Live From Studio Rivbea, Volume 5] (NoBusiness) [09-22]
  • Max Light: Unlearning (Chill Tone) [11-13]
  • Sunny Murray/Arthur Doyle/Rasul Siddik: Incantations (1999, NoBusiness) [09-22]
  • Sunny Murray/Arthur Doyle/Rasul Siddik: New Light (1999, NoBusiness) [09-22]
  • Timothy Norton: The Wrenning Years (AfricArise) [11-06]
  • Kenny Reichert: Colours (Calligram) [11-06]
  • Adonis Rose: Live at JazzAscona: The Music of Gregg Hill (Cold Plunge) [09-25]
  • Oscar Rossignoli: Mar Adentro (Euclid Jazz) [11-27]
  • RJ Spangler's Bop Insurgents: Ain't Doin Too Bad (Eastlawn) [10-09]
  • Dan White: Dee Dub (self-released) [11-13]
  • David Yamasaki: A Christmas Wish (Yamasongs) [11-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Friday, October 16, 2026

Music Week

October archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46742 [46721] rated (+21), 24 [24] unrated +0).

Advance Music Week appeared October 16 on Substack as Music Week (10:3). It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post, but the introduction is revised/rewritten.

This has been a very rough week for me. Sacroilliac problems flared up, a couple of times. I've been reassured that they go away, and so far they have, but they sap all of one's energy and patience until they do. I've also been working on my "what to do about Israel" essay, and have blown my self-imposed deadline of getting it done this week. I'm a good week away from having anything presentable, although at the rate I've managed over the last couple weeks, it may be two or three.

One consequence is that many days I've only felt like playing Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, who still manage to lift me out of the deepest funks. The rated count for this week is 21. That doesn't count the Go-Betweens, which I added late, hoping to fill my image gallery out (3 looks better than 2), but got cold feet on.

There's an element of 1970s nostalgia in my top picks. Julius Eastman composed "Gay Guerrilla" in 1979. Most of Brian Jackson's songs not only appeared in the 1970s. On NOEL, I wrote: "but were topical in ways that still seem meaningful, but the closet hope and surface pessimism has turned deeply cynical: the revolution will be televised, but it won't change anything." This is too convoluted for me to even try to straighten out. The album is partly a Gil Scott-Heron Greatest Hits, except that the wording has shifted subtly to reflect the current moment (most notably, Black Thought's narration of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"). However, the music is still rooted in the 1970s, which gives it an optimistic bounce one rarely hears in neo-soul, trip-hop, or hip-hop these days. As for "revolution," age and bitter experience has soured me.

I have a lot coming up next week, starting with a showing of Matty Wishnow's Robert Christgau documentary, The Last Critic in Wichita at the Tallgrass Film Festival, and a talk by Phyllis Bennis at Wichita's Global Learning Center. I also see that Bennis has a book I was unaware of, published in 2025: Understanding Palestine and Israel. Her earlier Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer is one of the best general introductions to the subject. I know her a little bit, and have tremendous respect for her insights, although I have serious doubts that her hopes of organizing around the South African precedent will bear fruit. Both events are likely to stimulate thoughts, but we'll see about writing.

I alluded to "much more afoot." Main thing from my perspective is that I'll be doing some cooking, which I am very much looking forward to (assuming, of course, that my body doesn't fail me). I'll write more on this (at least in the notebook, and possibly on Facebook, where my posts are generally public, and can be followed without declaring friendship).

I suppose I should note that I've been banned from X, for what they've called "inauthentic behaviors." All I've done there recently has been to post short links to my blog and substack posts. But I've gotten so few views there that it's hardly been worth the trouble. I've asked for a copy of my data, but no response so far. While I am still on Bluesky, it's more important than ever (well, at least for me) to subscribe to Notes on Everyday Life. What's unclear at present is whether I will ever feel like engaging regularly with a Twitter-like social media service. They all feel like yelling at a brick wall.

I've gotten a couple of enquiries in the last week regarding the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll, which is to say I'm already rapidly falling behind my job there. I figure it will be my main focus starting in early November, but fear I won't be able to get to it until then, and will wind up repeating the same half-assed performance of the last several years.

New records reviewed this week:

300SkullsAndCounting/Jenny Sparks: This Is Spa Town! (2026, XL, EP): British artist, maybe Hal Hewetson, has a self-released 2025 album, some more stuff on Bandcamp. Discogs lists the album style as "screamo, chiptune." Sparks seems to be a bassline producer, not evident in their video. 9 songs, 22:23. Normally I hate glitch pop, but this at least has a pretty good beat. B+(***) [sp]

Adéla: Prima (2026, Capitol): Pop singer-songwriter, from Slovakia, last name Jergová, studied ballet in Moscow, danced in Vienna and London, moved to Los Angeles, all by age 19, when she got drummed out of HYBE's Dream Academy talent context (the winners became Katseye). First album after an EP, starts hot, goes through the various moves, most working well enough, few spectacular. B+(**) [sp]

Alexis Cole: Taking My Seat: A Musical Inheritance (2026, Tiger Turn): Standards singer and pianist, a dozen-plus albums since 1999, sings familiar tunes quite credibly, backed by bass (David Finck) and drums (Kenny Hassler). B+(**) [cd] [11-09]

Julieta Eugenio: Mi Boathouse (2026, Dox): Tenor saxophonist, from Argentina, based in New York, third album, with Glenn Zaleski (piano), Matt Dwonszyk (bass), and Jonathan Barber (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Yosef Gutman: Perfect Traveler (2026, Soul Song): Bassist, born in South Africa, studied at Berklee, based in Jerusalem, has several albums. Started as duets with pianist Yonathan Avishai, adding in woodwinds (Gilad Ronen) and drums (Daniel Dor), with some spoken word narration I didn't catch. Nice melodies, with airs from Morocco to Yemen. B+(**) [sp]

The Hanged One: Limbo (2026, Relative Pitch): Tenor saxophonist Camila Nebbia, from Argentina, based in Berlin, leads a sextet, which opens very loud. With cello (Julia Bilat), guitar (Arne Braun), electronics (Andres Marino), bass (Vinicius Cajado), and drums (Lukas Akintaya). Varies a bit after the first piece. B+(**) [bc]

Nathan Hanson/Steve Hirsh: Memory Is Subjective (2025 [2026], Mahakala Music): Saxophone (tenor/soprano) and drums duo. Hanson has several albums and more credits going back to 1995. Hirsh is a more recent regular on the label. B+(**) [bc]

Marina Herlop: Dja Dja (2026, self-released): Catalan pianist, sings some, her music tends to be classified as electronic, fifth album since 2018. Some interesting bits. B+(*) [sp]

Brian Jackson: Now More Than Ever (2026, BBE): Composer, keyboardist, sings some (but delegates most vocals), best known for his co-credits with Gil Scott-Heron (1974-80), has a few solo albums since 2000. Recycles several well known Scott-Heron pieces, including an updated "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," while adding more of his most agreeable funk. I don't remember the 1970s as being as glum as "Winter in America," but 45 years after Reagan's false springtime, this serves as a wake up. A− [sp]

Shai Jaschek: Portrait (2026, Jazz Bird): Israeli-born guitarist, based in New York, second album, trio with bass (Joe Martin) and drums (Kush Abadey). B+(**) [sp]

Matt Lavelle & the 12 Houses: Hymn to the Universe (2022 [2026], Mahakala Music): Leader, who had developed distinctive styles on trumpet and bass clarinet, opts for pocket trumpet and E-flat piccolo clarinet here. Group is a big band built around Zodiac Sax Quartet (including the late Clare Daly), with the brass giving way for flutes and a bassoon, and viola instead of bass. "No More Hate" breaks out into a chant. B+(***) [bc]

William Parker: Waltz for Gregory (2023 [2026], AUM Fidelity): The bassist, but just composer/producer here (Ken Filiano fills in on bass) needs no introduction, but Gregory is Hines (actor, singer, but most notably here tap dancer). Title cut (14:27) has Melissa Almaguer tapping. Andrea Wolper sings Parker's lyrics, which mean well but don't always sit easy on the music, no matter how skilled her contortions. With Bruce Barth (piano), Jim Ferraiuolo (oboe), Steve Swell (trombone, terrific), and Kevin Murray (drums). B+(***) [cd]

Jason Robinson: Blue Salience: For Yusef Lateef (2025 [2026], Circumvention Music, 2CD): Saxophonist, albums since 1998, some quite ambitious, including this big band he calls his Janus Orchestra. He plays some tenor sax and alto flute here, but his main credit is percussion, followed by a long list including cuica, clavinet, and synthesizer. This doesn't particularly work for me, perhaps because I've never had a real sense of Lateef, or maybe it just takes too much concentration to sort out what's going on. Whatever it is, there's sure a lot of it. B+(*) [cd] [10-29]

Sha Ray and DJ Haram: Critical Thot (2026, Backwoodz Studioz): Bay area rapper, first album (9 songs, 24:37; Bandcamp adds three remixes), with Philadelphia producer Zubeyda Muzeyyen. Dense, seems close to breaking through but rarely does. B+(*) [sp]

Nirosta Steel: My Skyscraper (2026, Ulyssa): Stevan Hall, from Scotland (b. 1957), worked with Arthur Russell in New York in the 1980s, his own discography only appearing after 2012, with this his third album, a panorama of off-kilter disco-funk artifacts. B+(*) [sp]

Fumi Tomita: Yokai: Songs of the Japanese Supernatural (2025 [2026], OA2): Japanese bassist, teaches in Massachusetts, has several albums since 2011, original pieces here, with Carl Clements (saxes/flute), Jason Ennis (guitar), and Gary Fieldman (drums). B+(**) [cd] [10-16]

Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerilla (2026, New Amsterdam): Self-described "band," a 20-piece orchestra by my count, led and conducted by Christopher Rountree, which I figure as 8 strings, 8 horns (trumpet and french horn for brass), 2 pianos, 2 percussion. They did various projects starting in 2014, but latched onto Eastman (1940-90) in 2021 with Femenine, and return again with one of the composer's more famous works (8 parts, 28:49). An exceptional piece of music. A− [sp]

Wishy: Nature's Pill (2026, Winspear): Indie rock group from Indiana. Second album, Noted the VU quote. Guitar jangle, seems possible that their name is a tribute to Wussy, not that I care. B [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

The Go-Betweens: Fountains of Youth: Live at the Town and Country Club, London, 10th May 1987 (1987 [2026], Beggars Banquet): Australian band, two major singer-songwriters, Grant McLennan (1958-2006) and Robert Forster (b. 1957), both with notable solo careers after 1990, although there were more group albums 2000-05. The group's early work is definitively compiled in 1978-1990, but this live set, which previews a bit of their penultimate Tallulah, works nearly as well. B+(***) [sp]

Coleman Hawkins and Göran Lindbergs Trio: Bean and the Swedish Boys (1963 [2026], Vax): The legendary saxophonist, with a local rhythm section at the Golden Circle in Stockholm: Göran Lindberg (piano), Kurt Lindgren (bass), and Rune Carlsson (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

Coleman Hawkins: Coleman Hawkins and Confrčres (1958 [1960], Verve): Original LP ran 5 tracks, 34:58: one track with Ben Webster, Herb Ellis, and Oscar Peterson's Trio, plus four more with Roy Eldridge, Hank Jones, George Duvivier and Mickey Sheen. [1988 CD reissue adds two bonus tracks, not on current stream.] B+(*) [sp]

Freddie Jackson: Rock Me Tonight (1985, Capitol): Soul singer (1956-2026), first album, first four topped the R&B charts, their pop chart success declining from 10 to 59. "Mellow groove, mellow sound. Just lie back and enjoy it." B+(*) [sp]

New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble: Collection 1995-2004 (1995-2004 [2005], Megalith): Long-running group (latest LP 2022), concept is to take jazz standards (like "Harlem Nocturne" and "Haitian Fight Song") and play ska tricks on them. Starts with four tracks from their 1995 debut, then two more from 1996, after which I have trouble tracking the sources. Some live tracks. Some vocals (including "Teardrops From My Eyes"). B+(**) [sp]

Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Vol. 4: The Holy Presence (2024, New Amsterdam): "Digs ever deeper into Eastman's oeuvre, performing lesser-known works that represent a mystically charged and spiritually reflective vein of his dynamic catalog." Opens with a vocal piece, "Our Father," sung by Davone Tines, followed by a piano piece with Richard Valitutto, then on to the main event, "The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc" (20:09, following a 10:07 "Prelude" featuring Tines, too much of a "classical singer" for me). Featured on the longer work is cellist Seth Parker Woods. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Sylvie Courvoisier: Amalthea (Pyroclastic) [11-13]
  • Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo: Kappa Ondo (Libra, 2CD) [11-06]
  • Brandon Sanders: The Game Changer (Savant) [10-30]
  • Ed Hazell: Energy Center: A History of Studio Rivbea (NoBusiness): book

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, October 10, 2026

Music Week

October archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46721 [46680] rated (+41), 24 [31] unrated -7).

Advance Music Week appeared October 10 on Substack as Music Week (10:2). It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post, but the introduction is revised/rewritten.

Having done nothing but complain about my lack of productivity in September, I'm further embarrassed to have even less to show for the first third of October. It remains unseasonably hot, topping 90°F several days (including today). It seems like most of the time I'm just sitting at the computer, idly staring into space. I'm pretty close to just declaring myself done. But I do keep the music going, and this week the rated count went +41 (to 46721), and the unrated queue dropped by 7 (which counts CDs in hand, but not the possible downloads I so rarely get to). Every now and then, I snap close enough to consciousness to jot down a few notes, as well as a letter grade, which is simpler than calibrating adjectives, and serves as an aide de memoire to albums I'm less and less mindful of.

But rather than write the entire week off, I suppose I could mention that I have made some slow and fitful progress on a rather serious essay about Israel I'm calling "Is It Possible to Negotiate a Gentler Genocide?" There are four major words there, and each presents serious problems, so one has to tread carefully. Yet one also has to finish the essay, which means skipping over or evading all sorts of deep digressions (including Godwin's Law). So I suppose a certain amount of staring into space may not necessarily be due to depression and lethargy. It's what we used to call thinking.

Yesterday's post on the Gaza Apocalypse was a break for me: a chance to clear my head of some thoughts I didn't want to put in the essay, but I still felt like putting forth (e.g., the "eye-for-an-eye" line). And it helped serve as a reminder of what October 7, 2023 was, and was not: despite the drama, it was a mere blip in the much longer conflict; but it was also a reminder that even as powerful as Israel is, ordinary Israelis are not quite safe from the ramifications of their system of injustice. As with September 11, 2001, or for that matter the two Trump elections in 2016 and 2024, the horror of the day was overshadowed by the anticipation of horrors to come — a future that is far from done with us. And it checked off a post idea that I had bandied about for some time. The Hussein Agha/Robert Malley book, Tomorrow Is Yesterday, is one of the most insightful books available on the subject (at least, of the many I've read).

The break helped push this out to the end of the week. That's probably the new normal, but it's nice to have no fixed day to haunt me. Especially given that "work" here is so indefinite, and so endless.

A couple of minor notes on the music. Two of the reviews were initially written based on streaming, before I got a package of CDs from Out of Your Head. (I probably had download links before, but didn't bother.) Both resulted in upgrades. I doubt that would happen very often, but it's likely that there are more that got one stream play but could have benefited from more attention (Knuffke/Crispell?, Peace Anthems?). I'm not pushing for CDs, but sometimes they make a difference. (I suspect especially on the big packages labels are so reluctant to provide. It takes more patience than I can muster to slog through a long download, but broken up into digestible pieces, with some packaging, can really help. The Ma Rainey box is one I'm aware of, as is the Dave Holland; the forthcoming 2-CD set of Jelly Roll Morton is a bit more manageable, but still with old music much of the value is in the packaging.)

I found the old live Jonathan Richman album after looking for a new old one recommended by Phil Overeem, which I didn't find. So not a sudden urge to hear his old (or any unheard) stuff. Nothing more in the old music section this time, after several weeks of going through Brad Luen's checklists. There's a bit more to find there, but it's getting hard, and with so much new music, checking out old is a rare luxury, or a an accident.

After I posted on Substack, I sent out my usual announcements to X and Bluesky, and one to Facebook that combined mention of both pieces. I then got mail back from X telling me my account is suspended. The charge is "inauthentic activity," which covers a wide range of offenses (see these quite explicit definitions), none of which seem to be remotely applicable to my activity today: one account, clearly identified as myself (albeit without the blue checkmark), two tweets today, both with one Substack url and a few words up front.

I've appealed, but it's quite possible I'm done with X. When I went to look up what I had sent, I was challenged to prove I'm a human. After I complied, they presented a second challenge: log in to the X app on my phone. I don't have the phone app, and I have no desire to download it, especially under duress. I've resisted complaints about Elon Musk turning X into a fascist cesspool, as bypassing the "for you" algorithm and just looking at those I was following was usually still useful. Still, the value there has steadily declined, while Musk's efforts at squeezing out more revenue have become ever more annoying. My view counts have declined from small hundreds into the teens.

Next week may be eventful: Matty Winshow's documentary about Robert Christgau is coming to the Tallgrass Movie Festival, and Phyllis Bennis is coming to speak at the Global Learning Center's annual dinner. The week after that is my birthday, so I'm thinking about cooking something rather fabulous. Then comes first Israel's elections, then our own. I've started working on a Loose Tabs that should split the difference. After that, we will swing into Jazz Critics Poll season, most likely once again unprepared. And I'm likely to marvel, once again, at how quickly it all passes us by.

New records reviewed this week:

Jocelyn Balu: Borumba (2026, Vu Prod): Congolese vocalist, member of Bakolo Music International, first solo album. Touted as a future rumba star, hits the sweet spot, or as the Bandcamp page puts it, "fidčle ŕ ce qui constitue la signature du genre et aux canons définis . . . de Nico ŕ Luambo." A− [sp]

Rahsaan Barber: Eternal (2025 [2026], Jazz City Music): Saxophonist, teaches at UNC, several albums since 2011, postbop quintet with guitar, piano, bass, and drums. B+(**) [cd]

Matt Berninger: Type It Up (2026, Concord, EP): Vocalist-lyricist for the National since their founding in 1999, has two solo albums since 2020, plus this 5 song, 21:36 EP, including covers of New Order's "Blue Monday" and Lou Reed's "Who Loves the Sun." B+(*) [sp]

David Binney: History:Memory (2026, Mythology): Alto saxophonist, has several dozen albums since 1990, Discogs counts 195 performance credits. This one is solo, using pedals for synth overtones. B [sp]

Nat Birchall Quartet: Live at Low Four Studio, Manchester (2026, Ancient Archive of Sound): British tenor saxophonist, plays "spiritual jazz," which is heavily indebted to Coltrane. Long-running quartet, with Adam Fairhall (piano), Michael Bardon (bass), and Paul Hession (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Michael Blake: Halloween Tales (2026, Baby Tank): Canadian tenor/soprano saxophonist, debut 1997, quartet with Gary Versace (piano), Ben Allison (bass), and Michael Sarin (drums). Mostly movie themes here, leading off with the theme from Halloween, adding "Witchcraft" and "The Creep." B+(**) [sp]

Sam Blakeslee Large Group: New Blood (2023 [2026], Brooklyn Jazz Underground): Trombonist, debut album 2017, a quintet, but has mostly worked in big bands since then. Conventional big band, approximately, with guitar (Pete McCann), and a couple of guest spots. Alan Farber produced, with Erica Seguine conducting. B+(*) [sp]

Curly Castro: Yaphet (2026, Backwoodz Studioz): Underground rapper, from Philadelphia, part of the duo Shrapknel, solo debut 2013, last heard from in 2021, with Locust producing the beats, and many features, notably Margel the Sophant. A− [sp]

Amalie Dahl's Dafnie & Lisa Ullén: Live at Kafé Hćrverk (2025 [2026], Trost): Danish alto saxophonist, group named for a 2022 album, freebop with trumpet, trombone, bass, and drums, adding the Swedish pianist here. B+(**) [sp]

Marty Ehrlich: Open Air: The Complete Saxophone Quartet Compositions of Julius Hemphill (2025 [2026], Out of Your Head): Hemphill was an alto saxophonist (1940-95), from St. Louis, who recorded some important albums in the 1970s, but by 1977 was putting most of his effort into the World Saxophone Quartet, which has survived but never really replaced him. In recent years, there have been several attempts to revive his compositions, as well as releasing archival tapes. This is one of the most ambitious, with Allan Chase, Rob DeBellis, Brian Landrus, Andy Laster, Jeff Lederer, Lisa Parrott, and Jason Robinson joining Ehrlich. (There is also one "forgotten" track from 1997.) My problem is the one that I've long had with WSQ and its ilk: monophonic horns, focusing on harmony, sound slow and stodgy. I was inclined to write this off, but the CD showed up and got extra time, at which point the sheer beauty, especially on disc 2, swept me away. [Spotify, which I listened to initially, seems to be incomplete. Bandcamp only offers 5/42 tracks.] A− [cd]

Event Horizon Jazz Quartet: Consternation (2026, self-released): Chicago area group, second album after a 2020 debut, led by Jim Kaczmarek (reeds) and Scott Mertens (keys), with Donn DeSanto (bass) and Rick Vitek (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Enzo Favata: Ritornare (2026, ECM): Italian saxophonist (soprano here, with clarinet and bass clarinet), from Sardinia, has a fair number of albums (18 per Discogs) since 1992, this a group sometimes known as his Atlantico Quintet: Daniele de Bonaventura (bandoneon), Marcello Peghin (10-string guitar), Salvatore Maltana (bass), and U.T. Gandhi (drums). Folk-based, intricate, and generally lovely. B+(**) [sp]

Firelife Trio: The Space Around the Sound Resounds (2025 [2026], Sonic Transmissions): Houston-based saxophonist Danny Kamins (soprano and alto here), has several albums since 2017, here backed by Dennis Gonzalez's sons Aaron (bass) and Stefan (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Nagoya: Kore Kara (2026, Libra): Fourth installment in this year's avant big band series, with one more still to come. Doesn't take off very fast, nor soar very far, although it does have some moments. B+(**) [cd]

Phil Haynes 2 Horns & What?: Avant Modern/Jazz Now (2026, Corner Store Jazz, 2CD): Drummer, from Oregon, debut 1984, early on was closely associated with Paul Smoker. Two trios with two horns each: one with Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Peyton Pleninger (saxes), the second with Pleninger and Jonathan Ragonese (saxes). B+(***) [cd]

Kiefer: Memory Bomb (2026, Blue Note): Pianist, mostly electric, last name Shackleford, from Los Angeles, sixth album since 2017, first on Blue Note, in what seems to be a return to the label's Mizell Brothers era (if you've forgotten, and why shouldn't you?, there's a 1972-76 compilation that the label released in 2005). I can't really hate the rinky-dink keys, the synth ambiance, or even the slick guest vocals and raps, at least until this slows to stall speed. B− [sp]

Kirk Knuffke/Marilyn Crispell/Thommy Andersson: Paintbrush (2024 [2026], Sunnyside): Cornet, piano, and bass, recorded near Crispell's home base in Woodstock (actually, the late Karl Berger's studio, an influence and inspiration for all). Perhaps worthy of closer study. B+(**) [sp]

Kwn: And All Pride Aside (2026, RCA): British singer-rapper Khyra Wilson, born in London, father Nigerian, mother Irish, second album (Wikipedia has it as 3 EPs, but this one is 11 songs, 38:47). B+(**) [sp]

Miranda Lambert: Crisco (2026, Vanner): Tenth solo album since 2005, probably the best track record of any singer-songwriter in country music in that period, but this seems like a major slip up, and not entirely for embracing the concept of "country disco," whatever that is supposed to be. "Sunset Marquis" is clearly disco, but not very good. "Crisco" is more country, but also not very good. By the way, while my mother used to fry chicken in Crisco, she gave that up long ago, for schmaltz with a bare minimum of vegetable oil. I keep Crisco, but these days only use it for chicken and dumplings. B [sp]

Gregory Lewis: Organ Monk Sings: Introducing Ms Raina (2026, Sunnyside): Organ player, released Organ Monk in 2010, and has stuck with that concept, here with album seven, a trio with Jerry Weldon (tenor sax) and Nasheet Waits (drums), adding singer Raina Welch this time. B+(*) [sp]

Buddy Miller: Buddy Miller (2026, New West): Alt-country singer-songwriter, from Ohio, has recorded on his own or with friends since 1995, most significantly four albums (2001-23) with wife Julie, who wrote or co-wrote five (of 12) songs here. Buddy's songwriting is limited to three co-credits with Julie. This is one of his "and friends" albums, with many guest features. B+(**) [sp]

Billy Mohler: Live in Europe (2025 [2026], Dox): Bassist-composer, started in rock bands, studied at Berklee, eight or so albums since 2019, this recorded at Bimhuis (Amsterdam) and Carambolage (Bolzano, Italy), with Hermon Mehari (trumpet), Francesco Bigoni (tenor sax), and Nate Wood (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Tommy Muellner: Solitary Moon (2026, Calligram): Pianist, first album, postbop quintet with label regulars Geoff Bradfield (reeds/flute), Art Davis (trumpet), Clark Summers (bass), and Phil Gratteau (drums). Three originals, many standards. Runs 79 minutes. B+(**) [sp]

Ekep Nkwelle: Caged Bird (2026, Mack Avenue): Singer, born and raised in/near DC, cites "musical worlds that shaped her — jazz tradition, gospel reverence, contemporary eclecticism and her Cameroonian heritage." First album, after side-credits with David Murray, Kenny Barron, Joel Ross, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. She could develop into Aretha Franklin, but (like her) needs better songs and arrangements. B+(*) [sp]

Marek Pospieszalski Octet: Ever (2025 [2026], self-released): Polish tenor saxophonist, several albums since 2014, including three on Clean Feed. Octet includes a second tenor sax, trumpet, viola, guitar, piano, bass, and drums. B+(**) [bc]

Jamie Safir: Momentum (2026, Chill Tone): British pianist, first album as leader, several side credits back to 2017, mostly trio with bass (Conor Chaplin) and drums (Luke Tomlinson) playing originals, with Iain Ballamy (tenor sax) joining in on about half of the tracks, staying uncharacteristically mellow. B+(**) [cd]

Brandon Seabrook: Utility Modern (2026, Out of Your Head): Guitarist, also plays banjo, many side credits back to 2002, mostly free jazz but can veer into noise-rock. With Bill Frisell (guitar), Rahsaan Carter (bass), and Marcus Gilmore (drums). Bits of interest here when the banjo comes out, or when they risk some noise. B+(***) [cd]

Judi Silvano's Garden Winds: First Flight (2024 [2026], JSL): Singer, has a dozen albums since 1992, way too operatic for my taste, especially in this company: Haruma Fukazawa (flutes), Claire De Brunner (bassoon). B− [cd]

Kevin Sun: Kevin Sun, II (2024 [2026], Endectomorph Music): Tenor saxophonist, immediately impressed with his 2018 Trio, demonstrating considerable chops as well as a command of history. By my reckoning, he followed that up with four more A− albums, then slipped into the range of very honorable mentions; meanwhile running a record label that regularly produces interesting releases by others. This year he's come up with two simultaneous quartet albums, both recorded on the same day, so the numbering is rather arbitrary. This one I found more engaging, perhaps because Christian Li's piano adds dimensions I didn't find in the first volume, or maybe just because the saxophonist seemed more engaged from the start. With Walter Stinson (bass) and Kayvon Gordon (drums). B+(***) [cd]

Kevin Sun: Kevin Sun, I (2024 [2026], Endectomorph Music): Quartet with Max Light (guitar), Walter Stinson (bass), and Jon Starks (drums), recorded the same day as II, presumably first, as it feels more tentative early on. B+(**) [cd]

Trio Imagination: Creative Inspirations (2025 [2026], Pi): Last names on the spine: David Virelles (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), and Andrew Cyrille (drums). The pianist has often impressed me in the past, and one couldn't ask for a more storied rhythm section, but 4-5 plays in I still have to force myself to listen closely, and then it's just maybe. B+(*) [cd]

Chris Whiteman/John Toomey Quartet: Live at Révéler (2025 [2026], self-released): Guitar and piano, backed by bass and drums. I'm only finding side-credits for both — more for Toomey, who goes back to 1982, and has a Quartet but second-billed to a singer (Laura Martier, in 2001). He's second here, nice accompaniment to a very pleasant guitarist, who also slipped a couple of originals in with eight standards. B+(***) [cd]

Jerry Z: Break Allegro (2026, Drawbar): Hammond B3 organ player, last name Zaslavsky, possibly his first leader album, but side credits go back to 2002, including with guitarist Oz Noy and drummers Mike Clark and Lenny White — all noted on the cover here, as is Chad LB (tenor sax). B+(**) [cd] [10-09]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Roland Brival: Créole Gypsy (1980 [2026], Soundway): Singer-songwriter from Martinique (b. 1950), first album, also has a reputation as a novelist and painter. B+(*) [sp]

Can: Live in Arles 1975 (1975 [2026], Mute): German experimental rock group, released 10 studio albums 1969-79, mostly a quartet of Irmin Schmidt (keyboards), Jaki Liebezeit (drums), Michael Karoli (guitar), and Holger Czukay (bass), some vocals early and late, but not much here. They had several reunions, but only Schmidt is still alive. During this period they had evolved into a something of a fusion-jazz band, like Soft Machine, and this set, the 7th in a series of restored live tapes, moves along deftly, its pieces merely numbered. B+(***) [sp]

Stanley Cowell Trio: Illusion Suite (1972 [2026], ECM): Pianist (1941-2020), debut album was memorably titled Blues for the Viet Cong (1969, the first of two on Freedom), co-founded the Strata-East label in 1973, but recorded this one album for ECM, a trio with Stanley Clarke (bass) and Jimmy Hopps (drums), playing his own compositions. B+(***) [sp]

Sir Roland Hanna: Songs of Hope, Inspiration and Joy (1990s-2002 [2026], IPO): Pianist (1932-2002), from Detroit, started in big bands in the 1950s, was a regular with Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, faded in the 1980s, but late in life recorded several albums for IPO, from which this largely undated solo work is drawn. B+(**) [sp]

Peace Anthems (2026, Red Hook): A compilation of 13 new pieces, featuring: Qasim Naqvi, Taylor Deupree, Kalia Vandever, Thomas Morgan, BlankFor.ms, Moor Mother, Sungjae Son, Martha Deribe, Simone Maggio, Wadada Leo Smith, Amina Claudine Myers, Andrew Cyrille, and Kit Downes. Intent is to "approach peace as both subject and sonic practice." In practice, that leans toward ambient, notably with the Smith-Myers "Reflections on Palestine." B+(**) [sp]

John Prine: Found Dogs (1995 [2026], Oh Boy): Folkie singer-songwriter (1946-2020), from Illinois, recorded four 1971-75 albums long regarded as classics, then three more for Asylum little remembered, then he started his own label. It took another decade before he released one of his all-time albums (The Missing Years, in 1991), followed up by the even-better Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings (1995). Then he got cancer, wrecked his voice, and struggled, sometimes brilliantly, until Covid cut him down in the early days of the pandemic. His widow still runs his record company, and they've cultivated some fine talents (most famously Todd Snider and Kelsey Waldon), but the meal ticket is still his back catalog. The first five songs here are alternate versions of songs from the album, each interesting in its own right. The other five songs, including a Johnny Horton cover, are lesser affairs, at this point more endearing for the singer than for the songs. B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

The Modern Lovers: Precise Modern Lovers Order: Live in Berkeley and Boston (1971-73 [1994], Rounder): Jonathan Richman's group, from Boston, had recorded an album produced by John Cale in 1972, but unreleased until 1976, at which point it sounded prophetic. Live tapes from the period, very lo-fi, includes a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Foggy Notion" among their originals, some I haven't heard elsewhere. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Peter Brendler: And Then, Nothing (Lost Song) [11-13]
  • Stephan Crump: Passerine (Out of Your Head) [10-23]
  • Marty Ehrlich: Open Air: The Complete Saxophone Quartet Compositions of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) [08-28]
  • Mali Obomsawin: Automatic (Out of Your Head) [10-16]
  • Marc Ribot Quartet: Hurry Red Telephone (Pi) [10-30]
  • Brandon Seabrook: Utility Modern (Out of Your Head) [10-02]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, October 3, 2026

Music Week

October archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46680 [46640] rated (+40), 31 [25] unrated +6).

Advance Music Week appeared October 3 on Substack as Music Week (10:1). It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post, but the introduction is revised/rewritten.

September in Wichita is usually hot, and this one was hotter for longer than any I can recall. The heat finally broke last week, so the coming of October wasn't such a surprise. But very little of what I imagined doing in September got done, which leads me to the apprehension that October won't be any more fruitful. Take this past week, straddling the two months, for instance. I started the week figuring I should do the minimum effort to close out Loose Tabs, which I finally did on Sept. 30, with 16414 words. As I had, in the meantime, neglected Substack, I figured the least I could do was to write up a short overview, which took two more days. That pushed my cutoff back to Friday evening, this advance synopsis to Saturday, and the full report? Here it is.

While I wound up listening to quite a lot of music last week (40 albums), I didn't write much about most of them, and struggled to pick out six for the advance. (My original plan was to do 6-8 albums, but I've often wound up with 9. I think this is the first time I've settled on six. And two of the A− albums were promoted at the last minute, although they struck me as likely contenders from the first hearing.)

Some of the records below were left over from Christgau's Consumer Guide. More were left over from working off the Brad Luen checklists. While I haven't checked everything off, I've pretty much hit my limit there. I also sent in a ballot for Brad Luen's 1996 poll. I wasn't keeping annual lists then, but I did have a 1996 list that I must have hacked together later (judging from the formatting, around 2005). Once I decided to vote, I did some due diligence and consulted my database for 1996 albums. I compiled them into a much larger updated list, with 68 A-listed new music albums, and 91 old music compilations.

That ratio's probably typical for me in the 1990s: that was a golden decade for reissues, as the industry was urging you to replace all your old vinyl with shiny overpriced discs. I probably bought more new music in the 1990s than in the 1980s, but much less than in the 1970s, when I was just starting out. Sure, I blamed my turn away from new music on grunge and gangsta, but I was also looking for a much better understanding of the past. To that end, I scoured through record guides, compiled lists, and went shopping — mostly in the bargain used piles.

I was obsessive enough at both that when Michael Tatum offered to publish a column by me, my choice was Recycled Goods. I might also note that earlier, back in 1996 in fact, Robert Christgau asked me to review Rhino's jazz anthologies, in a piece the Village Voice published as Jazz for Dummies. It still offers a fair sense of where I was at as a fledgling jazz fan in 1996, including the now quaint line, "some 900 CDs later, I'm still learning new things." Well over 9000 CDs later, I worry that I've finally entered the phase of just coasting, but this week's old music (and not just the ultra-obscure Jon Waine) is mostly still new to me.

Plans for October: try to write up that Israel-genocide essay; add some significant detail to the "Weird" book outline; do the groundwork for the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll, including at least some rough scaffolding for his future website; sign up for at least one AI tool; clean up some things around the house, including an initial stab at filling up and emptying the recycling kiosk; make a birthday dinner (I'm thinking I'll finally try my hand at Italian, but ingredients are harder to find around here than my recent stabs at Burmese and Indonesian, and I see other problems with selection and staging, so this could get tricky). But the only thing on that list I'm actually looking forward to is the cooking, which I've done far too little of recently.

By the way, I just finished reading Susan Neiman's Call It Evil: Understanding the Trump Era. I may have some minor quibbles, but she's very clear on the need to base one's politics on ethnics and to speak of it in moral terms. The book may already have had some effect in how I approached stories in Loose Tabs. I admit I was so turned off by how GW Bush used "evil" — he meant someone who could only be dealt with by killing — that I gave up on using the word. I now see my mistake as his clever ruse, as his use is precisely what evil means. It's no coincidence that the best book of recent American history is Kurt Andersen's Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History (2020).

By the way, there is not a lot of practical difference between Neiman's book and Daron Acemoglu's What Happened to Liberal Democracy?, but Neiman argues for socialism (while disavowing communism and/or marxism), while Acemoglu tries to fashion something similar out of liberalism, calling his version "working-class liberalism." Both labels are tarnished, both by their enemies and by their adherents. On the other hand, it's hard to speak of something until you give it a name, so we're likely to be struggling with this for some while.

Next on my "nightstand" is James K Galbraith's The Power to Destroy: How Bad Economics Drove America's Decline. Galbraith's books, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too (2008) and The End of Normal: The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth (2014), are among the best books I've ever read on the politics of economics.

New records reviewed this week:

1-800-Mikey: In Yun (2026, Goner): Australian lo-fi bedroom pop group, principally Michael Barker, fourth album since 2022. B+(*) [bc]

RJ Chesney: A Southern Man (2026, Man of Straw): Singer-songwriter born in Macon, raised in Biloxi, figures he knows better than others what makes a Southern Man, among which he counts Johnny Cash, Jimmy Carter, and MLK. B+(**) [sp]

Mike Dana Jazz Orchestra: Farther (Still) (2025 [2026], Origin): Guitarist, studied at Berklee, taught at Fresno City College (1990-2018), since 2015 has been involved with Jazz Education Abroad, teaching in Lebanon and elsewhere. Has some reputation as a composer, but this appears to be his first album as leader. Big band, a bit short on brass, with two (of five) sax slots given to oboe and bassoon, but "special guests" added for solos: trumpeters Aaron Janik and Ingrid Jensen; saxophonists Eric Marienthal, Bob Mintzer and Tim Ries. B+(*) [cd]

Defcee & Steel Tipped Dove: We Will Be Brief (2026, Fused Arrow): Chicago rapper Adam Levin, several albums since 2018, with producer Joseph Fusaro. Brief indeed: 12 songs, 28:24. But packed with ideas, quips, and deft beats. A− [bc]

Daniel DeLorenzo: Can You Not (2026, self-released): Guitarist, has several albums on Bandcamp and Spotify since 2017, but I can't find a Discogs listing. Trio with bass (Theous Jones) and drums (Casey Toll). Seven songs, originals plus a noise-laced Schumann, 27:57. B+(**) [cd]

Dinosaur Jr.: Near There (2026, Jagjaguwar): Indie rock band, appeared on SST in the 1980s, this their 13th studio album, I was never much impressed by them, although I did like one J. Mascis solo album (Several Shades of Why), and one of Lou Barlow's Sebadoh albums (Barksdale). B+(*) [sp]

FaithNYC: Love Is a Wish Away (2024, Creation Youth): Singer-songwriter Felice Rosser, from Detroit, old enough to recall the 1967 riots, not sure when she moved to New York, but she released an album as Faith in 1997. Plays bass and sings, with Fin Hunt (drums) and Justin Adams (guitar/percussion/keyboards). With notions of funk and punk and dub for context, something that is not like anything else. B+(**) [sp]

Diego Figuerido: Horse Blues (2026, Arbors): Brazilian guitarist, quite a few albums since 2005, first appeared on this retro-swing label in a 2019 duo with Ken Peplowski, and has been a regular since then. With his brother Tacio Figueiredo on bass, plus keyboards (Gi Reis), harmonica (Uira Cabral), and drums (Anderson Matos). Sophisticated easy listening. B+(*) [sp]

Chad Fowler/Eri Yamamoto: Polkadots & Moonbeams (2024 [2026], Mahakala Music): Duets, alto sax/flute and piano, improv pieces, aside from a start with one Fowler wrote, and the title song at the end. B+(**) [bc]

Shelley Hirsch/Christian Weber/Alfred Vogel: Vanish (2024 [2026], Boomslang): Composer/vocalist/performance artist (b. 1952), a dozen albums and many side-credits since 1985, backed here by bass and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Katseye: Wild (2026, HYBE/Geffen, EP): "Global girl group," originally six singer-dancers from four countries but based in Los Angeles, modeled on K-pop — where HYBE is a big label, accounting for their initial sales advantage in South Korea. Third EP, down to five on the cover, but just four performed on their recent SNL feature. Five songs, 13:37, three released as singles so far ("Animal" the best). B+(**) [sp]

Azar Lawrence: Turn the Music Up (2026, Trazar): Tenor saxophonist (also soprano), 1974 debut was an especially strong album, faded away in the 1980s but came back strong in 2007. Returns to his early songs here, pushing the "spiritual jazz" dimensions, even including "The Creator Has a Master Plan." B+(**) [cd]

Carla Marciano: Daydreaming: My Beloved Father Giovanni (2025 [2026], Challenge): Italian alto/sopranino saxophonist, from Salerno, several albums since Trane's Groove in 2002, an influence, backed by piano-bass-drums, supplemented by string orchestra on several tracks. B+(**) [cd]

Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves: Dedicated to You (2026, Blue Note): Presented as a John Coltrane tribute, the idea is to have Reeves sing the six songs from 1963's ballad album, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, backed by the saxophonist and his quartet: Joey Calderazzo (piano), Eric Revis (bass), and Justin Faulkner (drums), who add instrumentals, three as bonus tracks. The Coltrane/Hartman album has long struck me as one that should be great but isn't — although Coltrane's Ballads, from the same year, is so sublime you have to blame Hartman. Reeves is a superb singer, but that doesn't seem to help much here. Most modern saxophonists are indebted to Coltrane, and few more so than Marsalis. But why aim for his most anodyne gestures? B+(*) [sp]

Gretechen Parlato: The Wise Ones (2026, Edition): Jazz singer, from Los Angeles, father is a well-known bassist, and grandfather was a trumpet player; eighth album since 2005, writes some and also draws originals from Alan Hampton (bass) and Josh Mease (guitar), so the closest thing to a standard is a Stevie Wonder song arranged by Robert Glasper (one of three pianists). Rather pretty. B+(*) [sp]

Houston Person: From the Heart (2026, Arbors): Mainstream tenor saxophonist, started with Prestige in 1966, where he also did A&R, continuing with Joe Fields through the Muse and HighNote labels, so it's a surprise to see him show up on a different label (especially one that's been relatively quiet of late). With Eddie Allen (trumpet), John Di Martino (piano), James Chirillo (guitar), Sean Smith (bass), Vincent Ector (drums). Standards, nicely done, easy. B+(***) [sp]

Polyfillas: An Assortment of Punk Originals (2026, Dangerous): Punk band from Sunderland, in far northeast England (just southeast of Newcastle), principally Ava and Jamie Dangerous. First album, an EP (whence "Rude Boys of England") and several singles. Title suggests a formal exercise, more a love letter to history than the upswell of primal rage that drove punk in the 1970s. But now I'm old enough I not only don't mind, I applaud. A− [cd]

Julian Davis Reid and Circle of Trust: Mercy We Need (2026, Too Lost): Pianist from Chicago, also a theologian, has a previous album with this group, side projects like the JuJu Exchange, side credits with Isaiah Collier and Jamila Woods. Five songs feature Tramaine Parker (vocals), four Lenard Simpson (alto sax, one both). My appetite for the gospel vocals is pretty limited. B+(*) [cd]

Andy Sheppard: Salt Catchers (2025 [2026], ECM): Tenor saxophonist (also soprano), albums since 1987, especially with Carla Bley. Trio with Rita Marcotulli (piano) and Michel Benita (bass). B+(*) [sp]

Bria Skonberg: Indigo (2025 [2026], Cellar): Canadian trumpet player and singer, ninth album since 2009. One original, the rest standards, from "Mood Indigo" through Sting, the most striking a Jacques Brel-Rod McKuen song, "If You Go Away." B+(***) [sp]

Skyzoo & Apollo Brown: Luxury Tax (2026, First Generation Rich/Escapism): Underground rapper Gregory Skyler Taylor, from New York, couple dozen albums since 2006, including a previous with Detroit producer Brown. B+(**) [sp]

Wadada Leo Smith: Constellations and Hemispheres (2017-22 [2025], Burning Ambulance Music): Trumpet player, five pieces (59:10) recorded over several years, the first track with piano (Sylvie Courvoisier) and drums (Marcus Gilmore), the others with more players, peaking out at 10 for the 22:05 centerpiece. B+(***) [sp]

Tinashe: Popstar (2026, Atlantic/Nice Life/Tinashe Music): Pop singer-songwriter, last name Kachingwe, father from Zimbabwe, born in Kentucky, grew up in Los Angeles, eighth album since 2014. B+(***) [sp]

Tres Hongos: More Chips (2024 [2026], Relative Pitch): Trio of Jacob Wick (trumpet), Marc Riordan (piano), and Frank Rosaly (drums), third album, widely spaced since 2012. B+(**) [sp]

Lex Walton: Ultimate Love Forever (2026, Sub Pop, EP): Singer-songwriter, some kind of noise-pop, cites Les Rallizes Dénudés as inspiration, Wikipedia cites a discography going back to 2018 but this is probably the first one with any real distribution, a short one at that (7 songs, 19:50), but gets your attention. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Cameron Brown and Dannie's Calypso: Remembrance (2011 [2026], Sunnyside): Bassist, b. 1945 in Detroit, first albums in his Discogs list were: Massimo Urbani, Beaver Harris, and George Adams/Don Pullen Quartet; although his first side credits were with George Russell, and one quickly notices Archie Shepp, Mal Waldron, Dewey Redman, Dannie Richmond, and Sheila Jordan. The band name here is a tribute to Richmond, and song titles name Russell, Jordan, and Don Cherry, and the songs include material by Richmond, Redman, Cherry, and Jobim. Quintet: Lisa Parrott (alto/soprano/baritone sax), Jason Rigby (tenor/soprano sax), Russ Johnson (trumpet), and Tony Jefferson (drums). That roster suggests serious postbop, but the reality is raucous freebop, with a nod toward calypso. A− [sp]

Jon Waine: Second Skin (1975-1983) (1975-83 [2026], Corbett vs. Dempsey): New Jersey experimental/post-punk band, principally Brian McCormack (guitar) and William Pope (vocals, aka Pope.L, who "went on to have an illustrious career as a conceptual visual artist"). They produced one single in 1982 (per Discogs, "Do the Tic/Boogie Down the Congo," now "impossibly rare"). This gathers up 30 recordings, putting the more mature 1980-83 material on the first CD, with home recordings from 1975-81 filling out a second CD. Interesting sound here, some novel kind of fractured no wave funk, the closest analogue Pere Ubu (with nothing quite like David Thomas or Peter Laughner). This could have been edited down, but history is inevitably messy. B+(***) [bc]

John Larkin: Before Scatman: Early Sessions (1978 [2026], Iceberg, EP): Jazz pianist/singer (1942-99), grew up with a stuttering problem, which he overcame first by playing piano, then by scatting. He recorded five albums 1986-99, most as Scatman John. These four songs (23:13) came earlier. Surprisingly intense. B+(*) [sp]

Old music:

Lola Beltrán: Voz E Inspiracion (1975, Peerless): Mexican singer and actress (1932-96), specialized in ranchera and huapango music, many albums from 1954 on. Not hard to identify this is specifically (dramatically, even operatically) Mexican. B+(**) [yt]

Daniel DeLorenzo: Trio (2017, self-released): Guitarist, from North Carolina, first album, with Theous Jones (drums) and Able Jones (organ), plus extra guitar on two tracks (Doug Sours). Seven jazz standards, from "Work Song" to "Straight No Chaser," 38:02. B+(**) [bc]

Fine Young Cannibals: The Finest (1985-89 [1996], MCA): British ska-pop band, founded by David Steele and Andy Cox from the Beat, with Roland Gift as the singer (who also had a star turn in the Stephen Frears/Hanif Kureishi movie Sammy & Rosie Get Laid). They released two albums, reduced to 10 songs here, plus a soundtrack cut and three previously unreleaseds for bait. A− [sp]

Fine Young Cannibals: The Finest: The Rare and the Remixed (1985-89 [1996], MCA): Second disc adds three extra songs and five remixes, total 43:07, nothing essential or important or unlistenable. Just the extras, without trying to factor in the best-of: B+(*) [sp]

F.S.K.: International (1995 [1996], Sub-Up): German group, founded 1980 as Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle ("voluntary self-control"), went with initials around 1989. Kind of a folk-rock grounding, but more eclectic, perhaps even whimsical (not that it's easy to tell). B+(**) [sp]

Violeta Parra: Las Últimas Composiciones De Violeta Parra (1966, RCA): Chilean folk singer-songwriter (1917-67), collected songs from all over, but also wrote these, recorded simply with her guitar and percussion. B+(***) [sp]

Astor Piazzolla: Sinfonia De Tango (1955, Disques Vogue, EP): Argentinian tango composer, first album, 10-inches, 8 songs, 23:04, further credited to "su bandoneon y sus cuerdas" (strings, from Orchestre National De L'Opéra De Paris, along with Lalo Schifrin on piano. B+(**) [sp]

Scatman John: Scatman's World (1995, RCA): John Larkin, recorded a couple of previous albums under his own name, turned his stutter habit into a unique mix of rap, scat, and jaunty pop schtick. This album turned into a novelty hit, especially in Japan (where it sold 1.5 million). Features a utopian anthem, "World of Scatland." B+(*) [sp]

Idrissa Soumaoro & L'Eclipse De L'I.J.A.: Le Tioko-Tioko (1978, Eterna): From Mali, seems prototypical. B+(**) [sp]

Zuhura Swaleh/Matano Juma & Orchestra Morning Star: Karama Zijiri (1973, Pwani): Originally a cassette, split between the two singers, ladies first. While the band could be backing both, Juma's singles credit it, and my rough impression is that he gets the more polished support. Swaleh was born in 1947 in Nairobi, later moved to Mombasa, on the coast with a long history of Arab trade, where the local style is called taarab, and the influence is decidedly Arabic. (The Zanzibara series includes a volume subtitled L'âge d'or du taarab de Mombasa, with several recordings each — Swaleh's are credited to Zuhura & Party or Zuhura & Zein Musical Party; they also appear on Zanzibara 10: First Modern, Taarab Vibes From Mombasa & Tanga.) I know less about Juma, but he is also associated with taarab. B+(**) [yt]

Caetano Veloso: Bicho (1977, Philips): Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1942), one of the founders of the Tropicália movement in the late 1960s, and a major figure ever since, but someone I've sampled very lightly over the years. B+(***) [sp]

Yellow Magic Orchestra: Yellow Magic Orchestra (1978, Alfa): Japanese synthpop group, originally a one-shot project of bassist Haruomi Hosono, but developed into a band with drummer Yukihiro Takahashi and keyboard player Ryuichi Sakamoto. Nice beats album, but vocals eventually seep in, and clutter increases. B+(*) [sp]

Yellow Magic Orchestra: Solid State Survivor (1979, Alfa): Japanese electropop group, debut 1978, second album, continued until 1984, then reformed briefly in 1992, 2002, and 2007: Haruomi Hosono (bass/keyboards), Yukihiro Takahashi (vocals/drums), and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards), the best known for his solo career (d. 2023). Opens with instrumentals, lighter and quirkier than Kraftwerk or even Can, then breaks the vocal ice with an amusing "Day Tripper." B+(**) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Stephen Braude With Yamara Band: Big Dipper (self-released) [10-01]
  • Roni Eytan: Melody People (PKmusik) [10-30]
  • Giveton Gelin: Island Dreamer: III of III (ID) [11-01]
  • Clay Giberson: Moment's Notice (Origin) [10-23]
  • Danny Green: Let the Music Happen (OA2) [10-23]
  • Clarence Hines Jazz Orchestra: Along the Way (OA2) [10-23]
  • Devra Hoff: Baile as Baile (AUM Fidelity) [10-16]
  • Reza Khan: Shadow Dancers (Painted Media) [10-30]
  • James Brandon Lewis/Red Lily: Calling Antonin (TAO Forms) [10-23]
  • William Parker: Waltz for Gregory (AUM Fidelity) [10-09]
  • Matthew Shipp/William Parker: A Whole System Of (TAO Forms) [11-06]
  • Ron Vincent: Ray's Hat Trick (Origin) [10-23]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Loose Tabs

There's no easy way to wrap this up, but as Miles said to Trane, sometimes you just got to take the horn out of your mouth. I rest assured that anything I missed below will only become more glaringly obvious next month, and if it doesn't, good thing I didn't bother.

I wrote some more notes on this piece for Notes on Everyday Life (archived here).

This is an occasional collection of newsworthy links and comments, much less systematic than what I attempted in my late Speaking of Which posts. The name comes from my extensive use of browser tabs. When I get around to cleaning up, I often find tabs opened to old articles I might want to comment on and/or refer back to. So these posts are mostly housecleaning, but may also serve as a very limited but persistent record of what 20+ years ago I started calling "the end of the American empire" and nowadays feels more like "the end of civilization." I collect these bits in a draft file, and flush them out when periodically (12 times from April-December 2025, not much more often in 2026). My previous one appeared 34 days ago, on August 27.

By the way, I've been trying to write some more in-depth pieces on major issues (and/or personal peccadillos), using Substack as an email agent. I call this series Notes on Everyday Life. I used to have a pinned list of pieces here, but as they've grown, I've moved them into separate index.

I also have a Notes feed there. While I've done very little with it so far, it occurs to me that I might be able to use it to publish Loose Tabs items and Music Week reviews as I write them, instead of having to wait for a long compilation post.

Table of Contents:

New Stories

Most stories fit into well-established categories, organized below as Major Threads. Some sources I lean on so regularly they have their own Regular Columnists section. I also have an End Matter section for dealing with regular occurrences like books, obituaries, and tweets. Stories that don't fit into any regular category appear under Miscellaneous Stories. However, occasionally a short-term story blows up to where it needs extra attention, in which case I included it here.

Examples from last time: Trump's War on Canada; Data Centers (see AI); Meta Settles Lawsuit.

That Republican National ("Trumpapalooza") Convention: After some fact checking, I added a missing "pa" to the parenthetical, after noticing that it sounded too much like "Trump's a loser." This was a blatant grab for media attention, but the net effect was to remind everyone that the 2026 elections will be about Trump, even if his name isn't on the ballot. Nothing important happened, but too big to bury the stories under Republicans and/or Trump, where more will no doubt surface.

  • Nia Prater/Chas Danner [09-10]: The wildest, weirdest moments from day one of the GOP Midterm Convention: "From Trump's desperate pleas to Hasan Piker's underwear, here's how Republicans tried to convince Americans to let them keep Congress."

  • New York Times [09-11]: Trump floats $5,000 checks to Americans if Republicans win midterms: "The president offered a 'dividend' to every adult citizen if Republicans keep control of Congress. But his sagging approval ratings could endanger his party's chances in November." Pinned article, among many more "live updates." Wouldn't it be funny if the Democrats swept Congress then sent him the bill? — possibly loaded with a bushel of "poison pills," like funding it with taxes on the rich, and prohibiting the president from implementing tariffs and military operations without congressional approval (things that would make it even more popular). I'm not saying this "dividend" is a good idea. My first thought is: how much does Trump think Republicans can steal by hanging onto Congress? The estimated cost is about $1.3 trillion. Even if they just tack that onto the national debt, that's $1.3 trillion they could steal for themselves. Still, with tax breaks, a 50% bump in useless military spending, sweetheart contracts, lax regulation, and fraud everywhere you loook, they could still come out ahead. Especially if they don't deliver. What's their penalty for that? You're going to vote them out of office? Then why didn't you?

  • Astead Herndon [09-10]: The GOP midterms strategy is Trump and a prayer: "What we learned from the first day of the Republican convention in Dallas."

  • Stephen Fowler [09-11]: Empty seats, socialism and Trump dominate the Republican midterm convention: Link text says "7 takeaways from the 'Trumpapalooza' Republican . . . ," but the article comes up short:

    1. Republicans have an enthusiasm problem
    2. The message emphasized personal attacks over policy
    3. The rise of the -isms: Communism, Socialism, Marxism, Terrorism.
    4. What war?
    5. 2028 looms over everything
    6. It may be too late to turn the tide

  • Joseph Gedeon [09-12]: Calls for Democrats to be shot go unchallenged at Republican convention: "Crowd member repeatedly said some Democrats 'should be shot' during Ted Cruz's speech, without senator responding."

  • David Smith [09-12]: Trump personality cult alive and well in Dallas: I dropped the rest of the title, which continues, "will it power Republican midterm success?"

  • Sarah Jones [09-26]: America last: Picture is from the Convention, but the article is mostly about Trump's pro-immigration policies that offer free rides to white people from South Africa and Zimbabwe. I wonder if there's any polling of the MAGA base on that.

The 25th Anniversary of 9/11:

  • Tom Hull [09-10]: Remembering 9/11: "Notes from a highly personal turning point." I pull some bits from my online notebook, a reminder that even then I realized that America's kneejerk reaction was only going to make matters worse.

  • Thomas Alleman [09-10]: The end of the world as we know it: "Where were you on 9/11? Same place as me: In front of the TV, gritting my teeth."

  • Jon Schwarz [09-10]: The most terrifying thing about 9/11 was America's response: "The fear I experienced that terrible day in New York doesn't begin to compare with the dread I've developed watching our path since."

    In the weeks after 9/11, I told friends who didn't live in New York that Al Qaeda had really put the terror back in terrorism. But the fear I experienced that terrible day does not begin to compare with the dread I've developed since. On September 11, 2001, I realized that I was on Al Qaeda's list. Since then, I've learned that I'm also on the list of the far more mighty people in charge of America, just a little further down. Even with the most concrete dangers facing us — the destruction of a livable biosphere, an enduring pandemic, and much more — they are absolutely committed to following the same path, driven onward by complex delusions. Power tends to corrupt, not just in a standard moral sense but also intellectually and emotionally, and they've held extreme power for a very long time. What I know now that I didn't know then is that if we let them, their corruption will surely destroy us all.

  • Michael Arria [09-11]: 25 years after 9/11, our country is still dominated by the "War on Terror": Its "legacy is everywhere, from rampant Islamophobia, to another open ended war on Iran."

  • Elie Mystal [09-11]: The US had a choice after 9/11. It chose wrong.

  • Nick Turse [09-11]: Osama Bin Laden won: "The architect of the September 11 attacks dreamed of the destruction of America. In the last 25 years, his wish has come true." Well, sure, that part of Bin Laden's plan came true, or is coming true, as the corpse of American empire is still animated, twitching and lashing out, still causing incalculable harm to itself and the world. But the other part of Bin Laden's dream, that devout Muslims would rise up against the impious charlatans who ran Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and the rest of the Muslim world, that didn't happen, the only flickers of revolt occurring in the vacuum of states that were mere collateral damage of the Americans, like the Iraq/Syria borderlands, Libya, Somalia, and Mali. Meanwhile, Israel, whose leaders were giddy with delight on 9/11, has become ever more genocidal, as US presidents Biden and Trump have given up any consideration of independent thought.

    Bin Laden's bleed-until-bankruptcy plan was designed to sink America's economy — and it continues to work to great effect. And by ushering in the presidencies of Donald Trump, bin Laden left the United States morally bankrupt, too. Twenty-five years after 9/11, the country is a pale shadow of the superpower that emerged from World War II having been laid low not by the Soviet Union — the nuclear-armed power it long considered an existential threat — but by two trust-fund terrorists: the scions of a Saudi construction empire, and an outer borough New York City real estate developer, respectively.

  • Scott Hibbard [09-08]: 25 years after 9/11, the US still doesn't know 'why they hate us': "The War on Terror showed the perils of seeking military solutions for political problems. Policymakers never got the message."

  • Thomas Palley [09-11]: An American tragedy: the woeful self-inflicted consequences of 9/11.

  • Pam Bailey [09-11]: 9/11 began 25 years of nonstop war and abuses of power: "Never forget: the attacks brought us into an era of torture, the erosion of civil liberties, and the destruction of multiple Middle East countries."

  • Robert Wright [09-11]: Always forget: My own personal takeaway from 9/11:

    But if I were in charge of US foreign policy, the message I'd try to get out is: "Forget! Forget! Forget!" Dwelling on 9/11 is what initiated and helped sustain a disastrous quarter century of American adventurism abroad.

    I mean, sure, if America's leaders had rationally assessed the causes of the 9/11 attack, dwelling on it could have been productive. They might have started by looking into the conditions that gave birth and subsequent energy and direction to al Qaeda, and pondered the following possibilities: (1) Maybe the US shouldn't have staged a proxy intervention in Afghanistan two decades earlier that flooded the place with weapons and created the cauldron that enticed, shaped, and revved up a young Osama bin Laden (and also created the violent chaos that allowed the Taliban to take control of Afghanistan — a position the Taliban used, during the runup to 9/11, to provide safe haven for bin Laden and al Qaeda). (2) And maybe, after the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the US shouldn't have established an enduring military presence in the Islamic holy land, Saudi Arabia — a presence that became a persistent and powerful bin Laden grievance and helped direct his belligerence toward America.

    Conceivably, such reflections on the past could have led to such ideas about the future as: Maybe what the US should avoid after 9/11 is further military adventures in Muslim countries. After all, such adventures might continue to be conducive to the creation or growth of militantly anti-American groups — and might also prove a godsend for any terrorist recruiters who wanted to focus their efforts on young alienated men already living in America.

    If the memory of 9/11 had set in motion trains of thought like this, I'd be OK with remembering.

Major Threads

War on Iran:

Israel:The focus here is on Israel's wars, especially against their own people, and on internal Israeli politics. A second section will address Israel's relations with the world, especially the US.

Israel-American-World Relations: This section deals with Israel's relations with the world, especially the US, both at the state level and regarding public opinion.

  • Antony Loewenstein [07-28]: Israel's end game in Palestine is a land with no Palestinians: "A decades-long campaign of dispossession is accelerating fast." I meant to cite this article when it came out, but it keeps slipping my attention. Not much of an article, but the title is clearly the point. Or would seem to be, if you accept that Israel has an "end game" — that it is possible to satisfy them, so that they finally bring the carnage and dispossession to an end. I'm skeptical. It seems more likely that they're so much in love with the game that they will stretch it out as long as possible.

  • Michael Arria:

  • Andrew O'Hehir [09-14]: US allies' dramatic Israel pivot: They're done taking orders from Washington.

  • Xavier Abu Eid [09-15]: Why Latin America is key to Israel's diplomatic impunity: "While alienating traditional allies, Israel is deepening ties with a new wave of right-wing populist leaders who are willing to shield it from accountability."

  • Dave Zirin [09-15]: Justice for Macklemore: "The rapper has been dumped from Ed Sheeran's tour for saying 'Free Palestine.' That's a disgrace." Well, obviously, it's Palestine that needs justice, not Macklemore. But note first that the person who claims credit for blacklisting Macklemore is Robert Kraft, who thanks to the people of Massachusetts owns the stadium Sheeran was scheduled to perform at.

  • Ariana Aspuru/Noel King [09-18]: The film infuriating the Israeli government: "Almost no one has seen NAZA yet, but almost everyone has something to say about it."

    Made by two Israeli filmmakers, Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham, the movie takes place on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, where 24 anonymous Israeli intelligence agents and soldiers discuss things that they did in Gaza and how they did them.

    As Bilge Ebiri writes in his Vulture review of NAZA, "One officer recalls blowing up a building with 500 people in it to go after one target. They admit to knowingly wiping out entire neighborhoods, fully aware of the catastrophic human toll." Another interviewee agrees that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.

    Interview with Shany Litman, who also hasn't seen the film, but has been reporting on it. She says, "There's a really long history of films that were criticized, especially by different culture ministers. But I haven't seen anything like this, like what is happening now. This is really frightening." Some more on NAZA:

    PS: From a tweet, I see this quote from an article in the Atlantic (I haven't tracked it down, and it's probably paywalled anyway):

    NAZA could have asked its viewers to identify with these soldiers, to see the potential in themselves to do exactly as they had done, to be vigilant against such corrosive thoughtlessness. But this film does not want to be a mirror. It wants to tell us that there is something uniquely malevolent about Israeli society.

    Perhaps that's because there is?

  • Zack Beauchamp [09-21]: Settler violence is now upending American politics on Israel: "It's so bad now even Mike Huckabee is recoiling."

    But Huckabee's outrage reflects something deeper. Settler terrorism, once relatively uncommon, has exploded in severity in recent years — with wink-nudge support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

    The violence is so egregious, and so indefensible, that retired Israeli generals have compared the settlers to Nazis and demanded action to stop them. In mid-September, the INSS — Israel's top national security think tank — issued a strategic alert warning that "Jewish terrorism" had become a national crisis and even an existential threat to Israel's future.

    "As history teaches us, democracies that fail to restrain radical forces within them do not survive," the alert argues.

    In Washington, settler terrorism against Palestinians has flipped the Israel debate on its head. Congressional Democrats, who have long been divided over the Gaza war, have come together to support legislation that would impose sanctions on Israeli politicians and corporations implicated in the violence. The Trump administration, the most pro-settlement White House in American history, has very conspicuously stood aside as Canada and European nations implemented sanctions of their own.

  • Gerry Shih [09-24]: An unabashed Netanyahu assails critics in UN speech as election nears: "Israel's leader delivered a blistering defense of his country, appealing to voters back home and condemning critics including New York mayor Zohran Mamdani." So he went all the way to the UN, an institution which Israelis loathe, to give a domestic campaign speech, knowing full well that no one in the UN wanted to hear any of it. (Most had in fact already walked out.)

  • Jonathan Ofir [09-25]: Netanyahu just incited genocide in his UN speech. Here's what you missed.: "At the end of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unhinged rant at the UN, he recited a seemingly obscure Bible verse. But it's actually a dog whistle for genocide."

  • Varsha Gandikota [09-25]: Israel and the US have battered the international legal order. The impunity must stop.

  • Leon Hadar [09-25]: The worst-case scenario for Israel isn't Tehran: "It's the American electorate." He notes that, "among Democrats, unfavorable views of Israel have reached 80 percent." Sure, Republicans still favor Israel 70-13, but does Israel really want to depend on Trump as a character witness?

  • Khaled Ezzelarab [09-26]: The evolution of New York Times opinion on Gaza: From unconditional support to bounded criticism: "Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, the so-called paper of record has begun to update its language on Israel, reflecting a larger shift in US public opinion." Well, slowly, fitfully, and not at all for Bret Stephens.

  • Joseph Gedeon [09-29]: US Senate blocks resolution demanding accountability over Israeli violence in West Bank: "Nine American citizens have been killed by Israeli settlers or security forces in occupied West Bank since 2022." The only Democrat to vote against Chris Van Hollen's resolution was John Fetterman (D-PA).

Ukraine, and Other World Politics: A catch-all, where the focus is away from, but not unaffected by, Trump's wars.

  • Wen Stephenson [09-08]: A reckoning comes for Nepal: "A year after its Gen Z uprising, Nepal faces a struggle not only for democracy and human rights but for climate survival." Nepal is in the news after catastrophic flodding caused by melting glaciers caused by, well, you know.

  • CJ Polychroniou [09-09]: Germany's fascist party just won control of a state government: "The Alternative for Germany party's victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election is an ominous coup for the far right."

  • Zack Beauchamp [09-09]: A Nazi-curious party just won big in Germany. The White House approves. "How a very dangerous state election in Germany helps reveal Trump's real foreign policy." Note especially that Elon Musk has spoken at AfD rallies. Vance and Rubio have also spoken out in favor of the AfD. I've sometimes referred to Steve Bannon's efforts to organize a World Brotherhood of Fascists, but what practical value do nationalists have in cooperating with each other? It's true that the US has long supported certain fascists abroad, but that's usually for lack of a liberal alternative in face of a left-wing threat. This just looks like a circle jerk.

  • Sandra Davidovic [09-16]: What NATO leaves behind as it pulls back from Kosovo: "27 years after the Western intervention in Yugoslavia, the alliance is starting to withdraw despite ongoing tensions."

  • Matthew MacKenzie [09-22]: China is outfoxing the US in the battle for Mideast influence: "Washington's military posture comes with huge risks and responsibilities, easing Beijing's burden in the region." As Trump continues to trip up, the US is certain to lose "influence" in the region, but China doesn't seem to be in any hurry to pick up the slack, possibly because they don't view America's idea of "influence" as either tenable or desirable. As usual, Americans are projecting their own character flaws onto others. It's easy for Americans to imagine that China, as our sworn enemy, might want to cause us trouble, like the US did to Russia in Afghanistan. But ask yourself, how well did that work out for America?

  • Steve Bloomfield [09-26]: In his final UN speech, Macron may have given other leaders a valuable parting gift: the guts to stand up to Trump. Some day every reputable politician in Europe is going to claim to have opposed Trump. All Macron did was wait until the last possible moment.

  • Mitchell Plitnick [08-28]: Saudi Arabia's desperate situation: "After relying on an unreliable Trump for defense, suspending normalization talks with Israel, and losing access to the Bab-al-Mandab Strait, Saudi Arabia turns to hesitant allies for help."

Trump's War Department: I set this section up to deal with Trump's threats of war. We're obviously beyond that now, so see the section on Iran for more on that.

  • Heather Digby Parton [09-01]: Trump's Venezuela oil deal is even sleazier than you think.

  • Medea Benjamin/Nicolas JS Davies [09-01]: Throughout Latin America, US backs autocrats in the name of liberty: "Trump regime is supporting a range of ruling-class right-wing leaders who will do as America orders." Assuming what America orders is what they want to do in the first place, which is to rip off their own people. Trump and Rubio are in tune with them, as long as they get their cut.

  • Blaise Malley:

    • [09-02]: What Huckabee is doing about dead Americans in the West Bank: Contrary to the subhed, his job as ambassador to Israel has never been "supposed to protect our citizens," but to service Israel in killing whoever they want, a job that pales next to his true calling, which is to usher in the apocalypse.

    • [09-03]: House to universities: Don't you dare boycott Israel: "Legislation that could strip federal aid from campuses passes by a 236-169 vote."

    • [09-04]: Witkoff & Kushner to spend Labor Day weekend in Russia, Ukraine: "The diplomatic duo is hoping that the window has not closed on a peace agreement," which is a pretty generous interpretation given that they've never shown any actual interest in peace. More likely, they're just sniffing around for bribes.

    • [09-11]: Will 'America First' survive Trump's war-first presidency?. If the definition of America being "Great" is simply that Donald Trump is president, isn't "America First" simply whatever Trump wants? And since Trump's wants are incoherent, anything is possible: first in war? first in peace? At least one Trump prediction proved right: what we'd grow tired of his "winning" and beg him to stop.

    • [09-15]: Vance claims US 'on top' of Red Sea crisis. Houthis say otherwise.

    • [09-16]: New Russia sanctions amid war risk even higher gas prices: "House passes legislation with significant bipartisan support, sending it to the president's desk." Republican vote was 203-7 yea; Democratic vote was 152-58 nay, which suggests to me that Democrats are not as hawkish on Russia as they once were.

    • [09-22]: In UN speech, Trump threatens to 'annihilate' Iran if no deal reached: "Speaking to General Assembly, he also touted both is peacemaking record and an increasingly belligerent US foreign policy." This is too insane to paraphrase:

      Trump presented the past year as proof that military force and economic pressure could resolve conflicts that diplomacy had failed to settle.

      "As president of the most extraordinary nation in history, I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day," he declared. "I do not believe in letting problems fester; they only become harder to solve. So while others have talked, I have acted."

      The leading example of this approach, Trump said, was Iran, which, in his telling, has rejected Washington's diplomatic overtures that had pushed Trump to take military action with Israel in June 2025 and then launch a much larger-scale war beginning at the end of February.

      My bold. The past year has proved exactly the opposite. None of the conflicts are settled. (Even Venezuela, where the still intact Bolivarist regime has chosen to humor him with graft rather than fight him, at least as long as they're in on the graft.) As for the guy who can't stand to let problems fester, what about climate change? Sure, he'd say it isn't a problem, that it's all just a hoax, but we've seen nothing but festering for 30-40 years, and it's feeling pretty real. As for who's willing to negotiate with whom, Trump's two major offensives against Iran occurred during negotiations, not in their breech. More outrageously dumb things follow, like calling people who point to dwindling munitions stockpiles "cowards and traitors," and especially this: "Whoever wins superintelligent wins. That's the group that wins, and we're leading now over China by a lot, and everyone else, and we're going to keep it that way."

  • Mark Thompson [09-03]: Pentagon puts $131 billion price tag on 1970s-era fighter: "The F-15 has been upgraded since it first flew but the sheer size of the sum is staggering." Boeing's contract for upgrading F-15s is more than the entire 2009 Air Force budget. Meanwhile, the more modern (and more useless) F-35 is getting even more expensive.

  • Daniel L Davis [09-08]: Hegseth has been a disaster. It's time for Trump to fire him.

  • Bess Levin:

  • Kelley Beaucar Vlahos [09-15]: Massie tells RS why he went after Hegseth and not Trump: "The Kentucky congressman has rolled out eight impeachment articles against the defense secretary and is forcing a vote on Thursday." [PS: Hegseth avoids impeachment vote with early House election recess.]

  • Chas Danner [09-18]: We almost went to war with China thanks to AI-hallucinated intel: "'AI-first' Pentagon almost tried to seize a Chinese ship after an AI chatbot convinced an analyst it was carrying nuclear components." I'd back up a bit here, and ask whether the US should seize Chinese ships regardless of what they were carrying?

  • Gregory A Daddis [09-20]: Pete Hegseth declares war — on his own troops: "The defense secretary's crusade is inflicting damage unlike any in history. . . . The U.S. military is being impaired not by some determined overseas enemy but rather by its own leadership in a fratricidal war against cultural bogeyman."

  • Andrew Cockburn [09-22]: Nuclear war could be just another hallucination: "Military discussing how to use AI to launch."

  • Lee Schlenker [09-22]: Trump and 14 Lat Am leaders ignite new drug-terror war at UN: "Leaders designated 24 cartels, gangs, and drug trafficking groups as foreign terrorists. Expects lots of guns, ammo, and drone strikes to follow."

  • Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling [09-25]: Hegseth issues veiled order to military to vote Republican in midterms: He says there are 300,000 "warriors" who are not registered to vote. Even if he manages to correct that, I doubt the net vote gain will be as much as he thinks. Could even go negative, as most "warriors" would be better off avoiding war zones.

  • Caitlin Dewey:

    • [09-28]: Trump's China reversal: "The president made confrontation with China core to his political identity. Now he's walking it back." This might be an interesting story, but Trump's too incoherent to give it any sense. Actually, I have no problem with Trump sucking up to Xi. I just wish he had better reasons than trying to get Musk and Zuckerberg an audience with Xi. But I also wish Xi could use his leverage to nudge Trump away from his current warpath.

    • [09-24]: Why Americans are warming to China: "More than half of Americans still say they view China negatively. But that percentage is dropping." No explanation given. Maybe the propaganda is losing its grip?

  • Andrew Day [09-29]: Yes, the Iran War has destroyed Trump's presidency. He's far from unique: Lyndon Johnson and George W Bush are the most obvious precedents; Truman was no less unpopular after Korea dragged on; Biden was unfairly slammed for Afghanistan, but his trenchant support for wars he didn't start in Ukraine and Israel had the same effect. George HW Bush may have claimed two wins, but they did him no credit. Arguably the only American presidents who might have burnished their legacies in war were Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, but both died before they had to face the voters again. (Unlike Churchill, who was soundly rejected after being widely acclaimed during WWII.) I suppose you could point to Madison, Polk, and/or McKinley, if you go back more than a century. Wilson won his war, but he lost his peace. Still, no American war has been this unpopular this quickly.

Trump vs. Law and/or Law vs. America: From ICE to the Supreme Court and the assault on democracy.

Trump's Administration: Trump can't remake America in his own image (i.e., destroy the country, culture, and civilization) just by himself. He needs help, and having largely purged the government of civil servants and replaced them with his own minions, this is what they are doing — whether he's paying attention or not, and that it's mostly not is no excuse: he sets the tone, then distracts the media with his own insanity.

Donald Trump: The cult (or should I say sinkhole?) of personality. While most of the bad things he has done and is doing are the work of his administration, and many of their bad ideas are deeply ingrained in the Republican Party, he hogs the spotlight, giving them a uniquely pungent odor.

The Elections: Pieces on US elections (recent and future) and, more generally, inter-party politicking. Party-specific pieces in following sections.

  • Ed Kilgore:

  • Michael Tomasky:

    • [09-04]: Donald Trump as no idea of the tidal wave that's coming for him: "There are three groups of voters who matter in this election, and each of them is going to punish the president." He justifies this by having been right once before (1998?), so that's not terribly convincing. His three groups:

      1. "people like you and me — the people who always thought he was a fascist goon and an imbecile"
      2. "swing voters who were naďve enough to believe that Trump could lower prices and fix the economy"
      3. "Betrayed MAGA Pigeons . . . [who thought] Trump would improve the economy; that he was right on immigration and heads needed to be cracked; that Kamala Harris was the real warmonger, and Trump would calmly keep the peace. Well, that defense against reality has been crushed like a grape under a tire." He thinks it's more likely that this group will simply not vote, than that they will turn and vote for a Democrat.

      In a rational world, he's right. In ours?

    • [09-25]: A "bloodbath" will only make Donald Trump more corrupt and lawless: "Most pols would hunker down for an electoral wipeout and take their medicine. Not Roy Cohn's protégé." This piece doesn't venture beyond the tantrums Trump will throw if Republicans lose in November, but as he reminded us in his UN speech, he'll still be president, and as "the most powerful person in the world," he'll still have a lot of leeway to do terrible things. Nor do I take much comfort in "with subpoena power, Democrats could launch investigations that could eventually make their way into federal courtrooms and dog him for the rest of his iron-slicing, well-done-steak-eating life." Haven't we not only heard that before, but seen how ineffective it was? I winced at the "well-done-steak-eating" dis, which says more about the snobbery of the accuser than about the tastes of the accused. I grew up with folks who didn't trust a steak that wasn't fully cooked, and who would take this as evidence of Trump's common touch — unlike, say, his fondness for golf.

  • Chris Lehmann [09-11]: Trump wants voters to pretend he's on the ballot: "But Republican midterm candidates are hoping everyone forgets he exists."

  • Caitlin Dewey [09-15]: 6 other ways Trump is meddling in the midterms: "The Supreme Court ruled against Trump's mail voting rules, but the president is still trying to mess with the election."

  • Miles Bryan/Sean Rameswaram [09-15]: California's audacious plan to tax its billionaires: "And why some tax experts think there's a better way to do it." Interview with Cristobal Young, who wrote The Myth of Millionaire Tax Flight: How Place Still Matters for the Rich. Doesn't sound like he's against it. One complaint here is: "Firstly, it's a one-time tax, but this is not a one-time problem."

  • Toby Buckle [09-23]: Centrists won't tell you where "moderating" on trans rights ends up: "The recent example of the UK Labour Party shows that 'compromising' rarely stops at some acceptable midpoint." We've seen this already on issues like abortion rights, where there is no middle point where the right will be satisfied. This adds some evidence suggesting that seeking the "midpoint" loses more votes than it adds.

  • Cameron Peters [09-28]: Trump's taxpayer-funded propaganda blitz: "Trump is using your money on TV ads to stroke his ego."

    Over the weekend, the Trump administration aired a 30-second spot of Trump promising to "demolish the deep state, expel the warmongers from our government," and "cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists," paired with black-and-white footage of the president walking down a hallway.

    For the final 10 seconds of the ad, a line of white text appears on the screen: "Paid for by the U.S. Government." . . .

    The other two ads also promote Trump, one with clips from a speech he gave over the summer and the other declaring "America will never be a communist country" over flashing photos of Trump as the song "Love Me" plays in the background. All of them are likely illegal, according to several ethics experts who spoke with the Times. . . .

    The White House has defended the ads as "public service announcements," pointing out that Trump is not currently on the ballot.

    The black-and-white spot, however, is almost a 1:1 duplicate of a 2024 Trump campaign ad — and the others are no less Trump-heavy and substance-light.

    Contra the administration line, Trump has also spent the months leading up to the midterms asking voters to "pretend I'm on the ticket" — including, now, by using their own money to put himself on air.

    If Trump was at all serious with banishing the warmongers, he'd have to start with himself. Also see:

    • No More Mister Nice Blog [09-29]: Trump is finally using his powers for good. Link includes the ad clips, if you're so inclined, and notes:

      But that's great! I'm delighted that he's still so good at getting attention that even people who don't watch the TV programming where these ads have appeared and don't have social media algorithms that would put the ads in their feeds will learn about them anyway. I'm glad because it means that millions of people will see these bad, tone-deaf ads and learn that tax money was squandered on them, in defiance of the law.

      In other words, the usual Trump double-tap -- do a brazen thing that's attention-grabbing, then get more attention as everyone discusses how Trump did the brazen thing -- is working to the Democrats' midterm advantage. Democrats should be thrilled that these bad ads are out there, and thrilled that stories about their illegality and cost are also out there. Without meaning to, Trump is finally using his attention-grabbing and criminal talents for the good of the country.

Other Republicans:

  • John Ganz [08-31]: The Milo and Loomer fall out: "Funny and scary." Loomer claims she alerted ICE to deport former MAGA-darling Milo Yiannopoulos. As it happens, I just noticed tweets by Loomer calling the Democratic Senate candidate in Florida a "ghetto bitch," after which she started to get really nasty (something about ebonics and dogs).

  • Troy Farah [08-31]: Kalshi kicks out George Santos forever: Once again, the former Republican congressman gets caught in a con.

  • Jeet Heer [09-04]: Maria Bartiromo was fired for the wrong reason: "For Fox News, blind servility to Trump is fine until it hits the bottom line."

  • Jennifer Wilson [09-07]: Have conservatives taken sexy back? "The culture wars have come for lingerie as the right, once the advocates of promise rings and purity culture, embarks on a crusade to 'Make America Hot Again.'"

  • Sarah Kliff [09-08]: A doctor sued 700 patients for debts; 81 were arrested. Now he's a Senator: Worse than that, he's Roger Marshall (R-KS) — the doctor who, wanting to curry favor with Trump during the 2020 pandemic, prescribed Trump-recommended ivermectin to his own family.

  • Amanda Marcotte:

  • Aaron Kleinman: [09-09]: Proof from the states: The right wing attempt to repeal the 20th century: "We read the legislation introduced across all 50 states this session and pulled out the worst of it. 1,182 bills, 48 states, everything from abortion bounties to studying chemtrails to a proposal to legalize cockfighting against robots."

  • David A Graham:

  • Laura Jedeed [09-20]: We need to talk about the apocalypse: "End-times prophecy, pro-war prayer circles, Democrats as demons: Christian dominionism's influence is everywhere in the second Trump administration — and increasingly, within America itself. Can democracy survive the assault?" I've always had trouble taking this sort of thing seriously, even though I've known people who were seriously into it. My grandfather was one: I remember him asking me if I thought the gathering of the Jews in the new state of Israel was a sign that the end times were nigh. My father had his own dissenting theories on Revelation, which I never tried to get clarification on, perhaps because my own theory was that the Book was tacked on as a belated reveal that the whole Bible had been a joke. While it's easy enough to understand that most Americans still identify with the religion of their ancestors, that they might actually believe in the literal truth and/or the cosmological extrapolations is hard for me to rationally grasp: so hard, I don't really have an answer to the political challenges they seem to be presenting. How do you reason with people who have none?

  • ProPublica [09-22]: The FBI anti-corruption squad was circling Susan Collins — until Trump got in the way: This was followed by: Susan Collins dismissed our reporting as old news. Also see:

Democrats:

  • Ben Schwartz [09-04]: Hasan Piker and the Democrats' edgelord dilemma: Cited for reference. I don't know enough about Piker to care what he says. And I'll trust politicians like Abdul El-Sayed to speak for themselves. I will say, though, that if you want to complain about "dirtbag trolls," that isn't a left problem, even if you find a few examples that break against the right.

  • Dylan Gyauch-Lewis [09-13]: Centrists are soft-launching the idea that we have a little too much democracy: "As the right attacks mass particpation head on, the center is telling the rest of us to pipe down while the elites are talking." At a time when every day's news is filled with things we should find outrageous, Matthew Yglesias is quoted as saying "what we need is fewer engaged people," another wag is complaining about "the growing obsession with the common good," while consultants are advising a "move away from the dominance of small-dollar donors." Centrists are like hall monitors (or prison guards) assigned to keep rank-and-file Democrats from getting too uppity.

  • Matthew Duss [09-16]: The reality today is that foreign policy hawks are a minority in the Democratic Party. As noted, rank-and-file Democrats are significantly less hawkish than their representatives, especially on Israel. Duss wants more accurate representation on foreign policy roles. What he doesn't do is go further and argue that Democrats need to reconcile foreign policy with their core domestic policy beliefs: that support for war, tyranny, and exploitation abroad is deeply at odds with the way they think that Americans should be treated.

  • Monica Potts [09-24]: Bashing Trump isn't the best way to win these fickle voters: "A new research survey reveals which messages are most persuasive in convincing low-motivation voters to support Democrats." Few beliefs are more common among the American people than the notion that politicians are corrupt, favoring the wealthy donors they spend so much time courting. Fighting against corruption is one issue where the Left has much more credibility than the "centrists" have (see the example below).

    The research found that populist economic messages and anti-fraud messages that named specific harms from corruption won across all of these groups. Some of the most popular messages included statements like, "Our leaders should be fighting to make all of our lives better," and, "We need leaders willing to stand up to right-wing corporate interests that hold influence in both political parties." Other popular messages named no-bid contracts, donor favors, ballrooms, monuments, and corporate price gouging as some of the consequences of government corruption. These messages worked better than the more conservative options, and also worked better than simply bashing Trump, which might feel too partisan for voters. . . .

    Even still, voters don't just want to hear about everything terrible Trump has done since returning to the White House, but what Democrats can actually do to improve these problems. With politicians like Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York City working to deliver on their promises, voters are more persuaded than ever that these problems are solvable. "People are seeing more Democrats fighting and winning, and so that is also kind of part of the new moment," Fernandez Ancona said.

  • Tim Wu [09-28]: Affordability is a winning message for Democrats. But there's an even better one. But I don't see where he packages his better concept into something one can easily campaign on — although "justice" might work, if you can free that concept from its abusers.

    The most important political division in our times is not between Democrats and Republicans, or socialists and capitalists; it's between those who think today's economic system is fair and working well for most people, and those who do not. While a minority of Americans defend the current system, citing aggregate indicators like growth rates, a majority see things differently.

    A recent CBS News poll found that some 60 percent of Americans think the economy is "unfair" and that most people under 45 say they have fewer economic opportunities than their parents did. In a recent Economist/YouGov poll, 66 percent of Republicans said that the gap between rich and poor is a "big problem." Though the stock market is up and the United States is not suffering a recession or mass unemployment, Gallup's monthly Economic Confidence Index has been persistently negative.

    To run a proper affordability campaign — one that taps into a discontent even deeper than that over high prices — Democrats should cater to this widespread sense of unfairness. The key message is rebalancing: a promise to level out a lopsided economy that favors huge concentrations of wealth.

    That message can risk sounding like generic political talk about standing up for the little guy. Credibility has to come from a platform of policies that shift economic power away from the big guys in ways that voters can readily understand.

    Affordability works because it joins two dimensions: income and prices. Life becomes more affordable when incomes rise and/or prices fall.

Economists and the Economy:

  • Paul Krugman:

  • Dean Baker: For more, look here.

  • Marina Bolotnikova [08-05]: Renting in America can suck. Tenants deserve better solutions than rent control.

    Renting offers many benefits — flexibility, far lower upfront costs, never having to figure out what a "sacrificial anode rod" is — and homeownership is overrated as a savings vehicle.

    But being a renter in America (as roughly one in three people here are) can also be a very undignified experience. In most states, your landlord can kick you out when your lease ends for no reason at all, even if you haven't done anything wrong. Many tenants live in fear of receiving their next lease renewal, not knowing if they'll be displaced by the next rent hike.

    I'll add that moving is expensive, and can be traumatic, so one can easily feel like a prisoner, and landlords can take advantage of that feeling.

  • Cameron Peters [09-16]: Trump's failed Fed takeover: "The Fed is raising interest rates, despite Trump's best efforts." Trump may get to nominate the Fed Chair, but his options have been pretty limited. Nor is that just Trump's failure to do any due diligence: the last three Democratic presidents renominated Republican chairs rather than pick their own person.

  • Robert Kuttner [09-25]: The coming AI meltdown: "The whole economy has been pumped up by unsustainable investment in AI. The unwinding will not be pretty — and could be catastrophic." Brookings is estimating that the "total cost of the AI build-out through 2032 will be $10.3 trillion" (3.63 percent of GDP each year).

Technology (Including AI):

  • Ryan Cooper [08-31]: Big Tech crashes headlong into American democracy: "The AI oligarchs thought they could stuff data centers down the throats of the American people. They thought wrong."

  • Rebecca Gordon [08-31]: It's time to rein in lethal AI drones: Gordon wrote a similar piece in TomDispatch in 2022 (A world of killer robots?), but with all the AI apocalypse talk of late, it's worth noting that some of this is already happening, and that you don't need AGI to start killing people. All you need is to hook a killing machine, like a missile-equipped drone, to a fairly rudimentary computer program. We've already seen a huge acceleration in two things: drone warfare (in Ukraine/Russia, where being used to hit targets way beyond the lines, and in the Middle East (Iran, Yemen, Israel, the US); and Israel's use of AI for target selection in Gaza and Lebanon. I used to think that AI deployment would be slow as people would first have to make sure it works correctly, but Israel clearly doesn't care whether AI target selection meets strict criteria; they only care to make sure that their bomb budget gets applied efficiently. As near as I can figure out, Israel's military strategy in Gaza (and they seem to be applying this wholesale in Lebanon, if anything more effectively, as most residents of occupied southern Lebanon have been able to flee north):

    1. Identify a list of Palestinian leaders ("militants" prominently, but others may be included, like journalists), and kill them all off whenever possible.
    2. Systematically destroy critical infrastructure, making daily life as hard as possible for everyone (greenhouses are a good example here).
    3. And they are killing small numbers of people almost randomly, in a strategy that could be called "stochastic terror."

    AI is certainly useful for sifting intelligence data (especially images, which can involve facial recognition), the likelihood that it will generate false positives in target selection is high. But since that just adds to the stochastic terror, that's their idea of a feature.

  • Rachel Cohen Booth [09-08]: The smartphone trap we built for ourselves: "It's time to end the mandatory QR code."

  • John Herrman:

    • [09-07]: Meta's reckoning: "Like its users, the company is stuck in an endless, unhappy doomscroll."

    • [09-24]: The AI assistant wars are coming: "The world's biggest companies are battling it out to become your trusted personal agent. Things could get ugly.

  • Andrew Prokop

    • [09-14]: The week the AI freakout went mainstream: "Warnings about AI killing many people, or everyone, are going viral. Here are 3 things the government could do." The false premise here is the idea that under Trump, there is a "the government" that can actually do anything. None of these three strike me as especially good: banning some forms of AI; introducing government oversight; increasing civil liabilities. My own preference is to undercut the bubble by reducing the potential economic rewards for owners of AI technology. One could, for instance, deny patent protection to AI tech or anything developed with AI tech. One could require that all AI be open source and publicly auditable and reparable. One could also prohibit suspect organizations, like militaries and security forces, from buying AI-based products (since they are the most likely to abuse them).

    • [09-18]: The man behind Trump's rejection of AI safety: "David Sacks has clashed with safety advocates. He's no fan of Anthropic or OpenAI. Here's what he wants."

  • David Futrelle [09-14]: Time has run out for AI risk deniers: "The recent spate of reports about the technology's destructive power underline two prime directives: Be afraid, and regulate aggressively." But I still don't understand what these "existential threats" are and how they work. On the other hand, it's relatively easy to see how the fearmongering feeds into the mystique of AI, thereby driving up its potential value to owners.

  • Cameron Peters [09-14]: Everyone but Trump is worried about AI: "AI experts want guardrails. Trump wants to go full speed ahead." Of course, nothing could be less reassuring than that Trump is the exception here. This quotes Trump:

    The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades. There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!

    Wins? If the race is to see who can first produce autonomous agents of mass destruction, is "winner" a word that makes any sense?

  • Natasha Lennard [09-14]: Tech CEO's doomsaying is a distraction from real, existing harms of AI: "The binary between AI apocalypse and AI redemption asks us to ignore data centers and AI war machines — all as tech executives get incredibly rich."

  • David Wallace-Wells [09-16]: We may finally be ready to do something about A.I. What took so long?

  • Eric Levitz [09-19]: The scariest AI doom scenario you haven't thought about: "Claude, design a doomsday bioweapon. Make no mistakes." My guess is that most of the people who have thought about AI doom scenarios at least considered this one. Bioweapons have been a sci-fi staple for many years now. As best I can figure it, AI adds to the risk two ways: it speeds up the grunt work, especially modeling and simulation; and it's error prone, so may generate fruitful mistakes at a much faster pace. Still, the real problem isn't what AI might do, but what people might want to do. But why should anyone want to make them? We should recognize that bioweapons are not just dangerous but too unpredictable to target, contain, and/or counteract. They've been called "weapons of mass destruction," but "weapons of mass irresponsibility" is more like it.

    • Sara Herschander [09-17]: We're worrying about the wrong AI apocalypse: "America's infrastructure was already hackable. Then came AI." While it's hard to imagine why anyone would pursue bioweapons, cyberwar is a much lower bar, and one that has few if any guardrails, practiced by people with few if any scruples. I'm far less worried about the non-zero chance that AI could exterminate all humans than by the much greater likelihood that it can be used to cause us a lot of annoyance and aggravation. Again, AI is an accelerant, not the core problem.

  • Kylie Jones [09-22]: Soldiers can refuse to commit war crimes. Can AI?: "The Pentagon wants AI models that can't say no." Actually, I'm not aware of any US soldiers refusing orders, illegal or merely outrageous, so I doubt this is much of a consideration. The bigger advantage that killer robots have is that they're disposable. The US military got much more cautious about wasting their own soldiers after the draft ended and they had to rely on volunteers.

  • Branko Marcetic [09-24]: AI destruction isn't hypothetical. It's already here.

  • Peter Balonon-Rosen/Sean Rameswaram [09-29]: What China wants from AI: "China has its own AI worries — but a robot apocalypse isn't one."

  • Timnit Gebru/Emily M Bender [10-01]: Forget 'superintelligence': error-prone AI nearly sparked world war three this month.

Climate and Environment:

  • Ananya Rupanagunta [09-18]: The wildfire danger we're only just beginning to understand: "Toxic smoke will soon be everyone's problem."

  • Judson Jones [09-09]: Heard about the Super Godzilla Monster El Nińo? Here's how it could actually affect you. Argues "that's not always a bad thing," but that depends on where you are. As I'm writing this, there are massive flood watches for much of the midwest and Texas, which are taking our minds away from the recent droughts.

    • Raymond Zhong/Chico Harlan [08-12]: This year's El Nińo is huge and already changing the world: "The recurring climate phenomenon is expected to peak later this year, but it is already causing dry spells and crop failures on three continents."

      What's clear is that El Nińo's gyrations are adding to the stronger storms, drier dry spells and fiercer wildfires that global warming is already bringing about. El Nińo will magnify those phenomena in some regions and could lift global temperatures to record levels next year, as the heat from the Pacific spreads around the world.

      "What we'll see in 2027 is a sneak peek of what the new normal will be in 2035," said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, a nonprofit research organization. "We'll see things that have never happened before in our history in terms of temperature, drought conditions, extreme heat."

    • Emma Rosemurgey [09-11]: Five ominous signs of strongest El Nińo ever recorded are showing up around the world. Appears to be a typo here: "the worsening drought in [Panama] is reducing the amount of water needed to operate the canal." Sub "available" for "needed."

  • Brian Lada [09-29]: A 121-year-old Atlantic hurricane record could be broken in October: "The Atlantic has yet to produce a hurricane in 2026, putting the season within reach of a record set in 1905 for the latest first hurricane. AccuWeather is now forecasting 0-2 hurricanes through the end of the season." The ocean and seas are warmer than ever, but wind shear, probably related to the ominously developing El Nińo

Media:

Regular Columnists

Sometimes an interesting columnist writes often enough on a range of topics that it makes sense to collect their work in one place, rather than scatter it about (especially if they cover a range of topics).

No More Mister Nice Blog:

  • [09-09]: If Trump is hated, why aren't the polls predicting more Democratic blowouts? One reason may be that Democrats don't run and act like a party:

    I think a major problem is that Democrats don't tout the Democratic Party -- progressives attack it from the left, while moderates brag about bipartisanship and wear their Democratic affiliation almost apologetically.

    And Democrats don't attack the Republican Party.

    This was the ideal year for Republican-bashing: not only is the Republican president wildly unpopular, but every Republican is his enabler, apart from a few who are hounded out of the party if they don't enable him.

  • [09-13]: Apart from hating conservative politicians, America is really conservative: Because we like country music? Because Ella Langley has a hit single? With charts, in case you're interested.

  • [09-17]: We still haven't seen how fascist American could become. About Charles Haywood, a Claremont fixture, so this naturally descends to Franco, Pinochet, and JD Vance.

    I believe Vance is an old-school blood-and-soil neo-Confederate, but I also think that while he's trying to maintain credibility among the groyper/neo-fascist edgelords, he's also determined to reassure establishmentarians and advocates of Israel that he's on their side. Vance reminds me of an earlier racist striver, Richard Nixon, who carefully built bridges both to the establishment and to Goldwater/John Birch extremists in his long march to a presidential victory in 1968.

  • [09-22]: Trump is suffering midterm ego death.

  • [09-23]: The Trump administration doesn't seem to know the difference between authoritarianism and ragebait.

  • [09-26]: Trump's media ban is working perfectly — for him: Reviews his ban of "hostile" news organizations, quoting Quinta Jurecic, Timothy Noah, and Greg Sargent on how the ban has backfired. Then he explains:

    If, as Sargent says, news organizations are hurting Trump where he's most vulnerable -- his desperate need for attention -- then why is he continuing to put the media's pool coverage at risk?

    The answer is obvious: Trump might not be getting his ordinary coverage from the press pool, but his fight with the media is getting massive amounts of media attention. The world's neediest attention seeker is getting the attention he seeks.

    The main battle Trump is fighting right now -- the war with Iran -- isn't going very well, so Trump is picking a different battle, with the media, an enemy he knows his (shrinking) base hates. The base loves this, and loves Trump for picking this fight.

    However, I don't see how this helps Trump's party as midterm voting begins. The GOP's numbers just get worse and worse, as do Trump's numbers. But he doesn't care. He's just seeking love from the voters who haven't abandoned him.

  • [09-27]: If the GOP suffers bloodbaths in 2026 and 2028, Republicans will still like themselves more than Democrats did after 2024.

  • [09-28]: Why aren't pundits encouraging Republicans to move to the center? When Democrats underperform, it's always because they're perceived as too far to the left. So when Republicans fall behind, why not chide them as being too far to the right? (Even the obvious slam dunk cases seem to escape scrutiny, while Democrats as conservative as Harris regularly get lambasted.) Probably because so many liberal pundits see patrolling the left as the source of their legitimacy.

Jeffrey St Clair:

  • [09-04]: Roaming Charges: America First, Americans Eventually: I'm shocked to say this, but he's more optimistic than I am. Starts with the story of Brian José Morales Garcia, a US citizen who was snatched up by ICE and deported to Mexico. Further down he quotes a more famous deportee:

    + Milo Yiannopoulos on his arrest and deportation (apparently it's funny when it happens to Haitians, Salvadorans, and Mexicans and an outrage when they come after you): "I didn't really understand the physical reality of how institutionalized the brutality is in America. The manner in which they arrest you, they put you in manacles; everybody is arrested like an MS 13 gang member. It was physically degrading. It was frightening. I don't think I've ever been frightened like that before. I was weeping like an old woman for an hour. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

    + As they kicked 5 million American families off of food aid, the Trump White House is offering white South Africans $4500 in living expenses to move here . . .

    + Norman Mailer: "Will the time come when we can cease concerning ourselves with the fiction that the rich need large profit incentives in order to keep our economy going? Just as a poor man does all he can to survive under the most wretched circumstances, so will the rich continue to be rich (although less so) if their profits are reduced by the recognition that a modern society cannot take an honest breath until it manages to provide for all of its citizens."

    Unfortunately, I think the answer to this, thirty years after said this during his Chubb Lecture at Yale, is no . . . Not this society, anyway.

    + A new Reuters poll finds that 89% of Americans believe that corruption in government is "widespread." But how many of them think, to rework the line from Wall Street, that "corruption is good," as long as your guy's the one doing the grifting?

    + Trump continued to buy and sell oil and gas stocks throughout his war on Iran. Trump's one-third Roy Cohn, one-third Jay Gould and one-third Baby Huey . . .

  • [09-18]: Roaming Charges: Say hello to my little gear!: Opens with Trump:

    Trump no longer projects power. Only the gilded trappings are left. But the low-rent Versailles decor he has cocooned himself inside only makes him look like an aging potentate well past his prime. He has surrounded himself with sycophants, none of whom have the political skills to save him from the perilous pit he has dug for himself and the country at large. . . .

    Mostly, though, Trump seems bored, out of it half the time, barely engaged the rest. The old fire has burned down to a few smoldering embers. He's distracted by shiny things. His Oval Office bric-a-brac. His ballroom. His arch. His name on the Kennedy Center. Natalie, oh, Natalie.

    He's caught in a war that he can't win and can't bring himself to get out of. It's the mentality of someone he never went to war but has played the role of a bully his entire life. Nothing infuriates Trump more than being called a loser. But he is one. . . .

    Trump is Trump, even in his diminished capacity. There will be no successor. In a sense, there will be nothing to succeed to. The Trump political empire, like his economic empire, is a mirage. . . .

    There was always only the brand and the brand without the man is empty, a void filled only with debts that will never be paid.

    More items:

    + The 100 wealthiest Americans now hold an estimated $5.5 trillion in net worth, which exceeds the $4.3 trillion combined total held by the entire bottom half of the U.S. population (roughly 66 million households).

    + CNBC: "The number of apartments renting for more than $50,000 a month in Manhattan has more than doubled compared with 2025, while the number renting for more than $100,000 a month is up sevenfold."

    + NOAA: "The average temperature for meteorological summer (June-August) 2026 was the warmest for the contiguous United States in the 132-year record, exceeding the previous records, set in 1936 and 2021, by 0.4 degrees." Five years from now, people will be longing for the summer of 2026 . . .

    + Macklemore should put together his own tour with Kneecap and Bob Vylan.

    + Ben Ehrenreich: "It's sort of a weird tell to fervently believe that anything smarter than us would want us all dead."

    + RFK. Jr. on Trump: "I discovered a self-effacing man of superior intelligence, of empathy and compassion with an encyclopedic grasp of the issues and in molecular detail. And most of all a near-reckless courage to challenge vested interests and official orthodoxies . . . who cared about transparency in government and free speech."

  • [09-25]: Roaming Charges: The freaks of caprice:

    + Trump at the UN, sounding like Lex Luthor on ludes: "I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran? Or do I annihilate them, and do it quickly? Do I drive them into Hell with no chance of survival and no hope?" No wonder he wants to get rid of the International Criminal Court . . .

    + Fewer stocks are lifting the market than at any time since the dot-com boom/boost. According to MarketWatch, "the last time there were that many S&P 500 components below their 200-day moving averages with the index within 1% of its record high was indeed March 27, 2000 — right around the dot-com bubble peak."

    + If oil prices stay at their current levels, home heating oil customers can expect to pay as much as 31% more this winter.

    + Herman Melville on Trump's plan to sell off part of Yosemite to a billionaire donor for a private airstrip and build sprawling data centers on public lands: "All the world over, the picturesque yields to the pocketesque."

Miscellaneous Pieces

The following articles are more/less in order published, although some authors may have collected pieces, and some entries may have related articles underneath.

Katherine Krueger [09-07]: They tried to make Charlie Kirk a saint. They made him a meme. "By elevating Kirk to a martyr and clamping down on free speech, the right assured that he would be ridiculed even in death." It's been one year since the Republican youth organizer was killed, and the right-wing propaganda machine went into overdrive trying both to sanctify him and to turn his death into a club for use in beating anyone who expressed doubts or indifference. (See, e.g., Alain Stephens [2025-10-14] The right wing desperately wants to make Charlie Kirk its MLK.)

  • Daniel Bessner [09-07]: Seven theses on Charlie Kirk. While I won't pick a fight with Walter Benjamin, I'm skeptical of the other six theses. Even if one sympathized with Kirk in death, his person was best forgotten, as his agenda was quickly replaced by dozens of other right-wing operatives. As for his supporters, they milked his martyrdom for all they could, after which he ceased to have any purpose, or purchase.

Books: Multiple reviews are grouped under book.

  • Jeffrey Sklansky [08-06]: The class struggle in your wallet: "A new book about the meaning of money argues for how to use finance to create a more equitable economy." The book is J.W. Mason and Arjun Jayadev: Against Money.

  • Jimmy So [09-01]: The appalling history that enabled Trump's immigration cruelty: "Trump inherited laws designed over two centuries to benefit slaveholders, eugenicists, and segregationists." Review of Kelly Lytle Hernández: Racist by Design: Two Centuries of US Immigration Control.

  • Vivian Gornick [09-08]: Home truths: "Love and literature in Leslie Fiedler's America." Revisits Fiedler's 1960 book, Love and Death in the American Novel. I recall reading his book later in the decade, and being astonished at how interesting it was to read about books that my previous schooling had convinced me were so dead-ass boring as to be unreadable. I never overcame that early prejudice, but I did read widely about books I never read, and it proved to be a pretty efficient learning strategy.

  • Osita Nwanevu [09-08]: Can we save democracy? "Hélčne Landemore's case for an alternative system of popular government." Review of her book, Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule. The critique of the intrinsic flaws of politicians is interesting, and possibly accurate, but they seem like a necessity now and well into the future. It is very rare that one gets a chance to design a political system from scratch. (Where I have thought about this, as in standing up initial consultative governance in a Gaza freed of Israel, where past political parties would be unwelcome, I have come up with similar approaches, starting with a random selection of representatives.) I'd be curious here about what the book has to say about "Bringing the Shy People Out." Also on Landemore:

    • Nathan Heller [2020-02-19]: Politics Without Politicians: "The political scientist Hélčne Landemore asks, If government is for the people, who can't the people do the governing?" Which refers back to an earlier (2012) book, Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many.

  • Christian Paz [09-08]: How Christians can fight back against Christian nationalism: "A new book argues that the future of democracy depends on a segment of American Christians." Interview with Robert P Jones, author of Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy.

  • Jonathan Kaufman [09-09]: Blame Ronald Reagan: Author has a new book, When America Roared: How the 1980s Saved, Then Broke, the Country — and Led Us to Today. Googled summed up the core argument: "While Ronald Reagan's market-driven changes saved the US from 1970s economic stagnation, they also broke the social contract and created modern populist anger." The economic feats of the Reagan years were much less impressive than many people are given to think, mostly because they were so unevenly distributed. From the New Deal in the 1930s through most of the 1970s, workers were able to claim a nice chunk of business profits, sustaining the notion that the country was unified — not that there were no exceptions, but nothing like what happened in the 1980s, when unions were busted, taxes on the rich were slashed, and opportunities for financial shenanigans exploded. Much of this can be traced back to previous presidential agendas — Kennedy (tax cuts), Nixon (ending the gold standard, farm policy), and Carter (deregulation) — but with Reagan profiteering went shameless, creating a cult of the rich that leads directly to Trump. The only boom industry in America in the 1980s was fraud, which is why Reagan wound up with more corruption scandals than any presidents since Harding and Grant, but even more telling is what people got away with. Kaufman drops some names here — evidently his book is built around profiles of people like Jack Welch — but doesn't go very deep. Still, that something significant happened around 1980 is well established. Reagan's popularity rested largely on adoption of a fantasy of American bliss, a stark contrast to the bleak worldview of Carter. What's harder to understand is why Democrats got invested in the same delusions, especially as they became increasingly untenable. It's taken Trump to finally expose Reagan as the ogre he always was.

  • Kai Bird [09-15]: We are living under Roy Cohnian logic: "The political fixer created a career for himself as a self-promoting, ubiquitous hustler. Like Trump, he got away with it by having the right friends." The author, with Susan Goldmark, wrote the book American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump.

  • Susan Neiman [09-21]: The Left should start using the word "evil": "According to philosopher Susan Neiman, the Left abandons the concept of good and evil at our own peril. If we refuse to use such morally freighted language, we concede it entirely to people who will use it for immoral ends." Interview, good introduction to her new book, Call It Evil: Understanding the Trump Era. I pulled the following quote from the book:

    Trump and his ilk could never have come to power without one belief: Moral concepts are for suckers who don't know they're being conned. . . . Donald Trump has made it easy to be shamelessly racist, misogynist, and homophobic at a time when we'd made some progress in beating hatred back. Even worse, he has done so by making it acceptable to have no values at all beyond the search for wealth and power. Everything else is for losers.

  • Yahia Lababidi [09-22]: A restored history of Jewish anti-Zionism — and the loss it cannot repair: "Benjamin Moser's new book recovers a tradition of dissenters who paid a price for opposing Palestinian dispossession, even as they could not prevent it." The book is Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History. It is written as a series of biographical sketches, less a tradition than a reminder that anything as domineering as Zionism is bound to generate multiple dissents.

Music:

Obituaries: I had been using the New York Times, but they're giving me aggravation these days, so I'll switch over to Wikipedia, also August), which is probably better anyway. Roughly speaking, since my last report on August 27:

Some other names I recognize:

Tweets: I've usually used this section for highlighting clever responses and/or interesting ideas.

  • Aaron Rupar:

    • [09-30], quoting Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (pictured behind a seated, snoozing Trump):

      I have the best job, because I get to sit and watch Donald J Trump make the coolest deals I've ever seen in my life. And I have the best time doing it.

    • [09-30]: quoting War Secretary Pete Hegseth:

      It's worth saying again so the fake news understands it. We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that -- no fatties no trannies no beardos no weirdos no wimps no radicals. Just warriors.

    • [09-30]: Hegseth again:

      The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top.

  • Norm Ornstein [09-30]:

    I first started working in the Senate in 1970 — 56 years ago. I have loved and revered the institution, worked in it and with it over all these decades, with dozens of senators from both parties. I've seen bad stuff and bad people along with great ones. Nothing quote compares to Eric Schmitt.

  • Zachary D Carter [09-30], referring to a New York Times article, What would John Maynard Keynes say about A.I.? The Keynes Bot told us:

    I am admittedly outraged by absolutely everything about this, but as a matter of basic analytic rigor, a Keynes Bot that is not offended by the concept of a Keynes Bot has failed on its own terms.

  • Matthew Dodd [10-01]:

    Latest WSJ poll:

    "63% want to pause AI development
    61% want a billionaire wealth tax
    59% want Medicare for All
    57% want a $20 minimum wage
    58% want to end U.S. military aid to Israel"

    This is the center of the country politically. It is time all adjust to this political spectrum, esp. media.

Initial published count: 328 links, 16414 words (21476 total).

Current count: 331 links, 16534 words (21667 total)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Music Week

September archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46640 [46602] rated (+38), 25 [23] unrated +2).

Advance Music Week appeared September 25 on Substack as Music Week (9:4). It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post, but the introduction is revised/rewritten.

I've had a very frustrating week, nearing the end of a very frustrating month, in a year I nothing nice to say about. About all I have to show for the week is a Music Week that breaks down to 14 new albums, 2 new old music albums, and 22 old albums. The new music count was down around 4 back on Tuesday or Wednesday, when I first ran a count. As I explained last week, I took Brad Luen's decade list posts as a challenge, and converted them into my own checklist. I hadn't heard about a third of the 1950s-1970s records listed, mostly antiquities from Africa and Latin America.

Since I have some longstanding interest in both — my database rates 1194 African albums (+ 140 from North Africa through the Middle East including Turkey and Iran); my investigations into Latin America are much spottier, but add up to 664 albums (279 from Brazil, 358 from Hispanic countries, and 27 from French; Anglo-Caribbean would add another 590, mostly from Jamaica, but that also counts some UK reggae). Luen picked nearly a third of his albums from Africa and Latin America, and to better fit his decadal focus went for original albums of artists I often, having only discovered them much later, knew only from compilations. While I recall records from the late 1950s and 1960s, my own firsthand experience only got serious in the mid-1970s, and took a comprehensive turn in the mid-1990s.

Most of what Luen picked turns out to be relatively easy to find, either on Spotify or YouTube. (The main problem so far has been early Astor Piazzolla.) Still, it's been frustrating, with no language skills, few references, limited background, and not nearly enough time to give anything a fair hearing. About half of the albums I've checked out cleared A− (10 vs. 9 with lower grades this week). Still, I don't have a lot of confidence in these grades. They're first impressions, not considered ones — although I do feel more secure about the ones closer to my areas of expertise, which is part of the reason I included O'Day and Tharpe in the Substack post.

I did decide to cut some corners and not dig up all of the album covers. I could cite various problems, but it's mostly too much (both work and clutter). Looks like I still have another half-dozen or so albums left, so I can see this coming to an end fairly soon (with or without Piazzolla). Of course, there's much more I could look up where these came from. For instance, I ran across the List of Rolling Stone Brasil 100 Greatest Brazilian Music Records, and I've only heard four of the top 10 { 1, 2, 6, 9 }, with 4 more in my "shopping" database, and 2 more completely unknown to me.

With most of my demo queue still slated for future release, and my email still screwed, I struggled a bit to find new albums. I did get a boost when Robert Christgau posted his Consumer Guide: September 2026. I broke this down into four lists:

  1. Albums I hadn't heard: RJ Chesney, FaithNYC; 6 more distributed below.
  2. Albums I've heard that he likes more than I do: Margaret Glaspy (A+ vs. A−), Rolling Stones (A vs. A−), Twisted Teens (A− vs. B+(***)); add Terry Allen, Lenny Kaye, Tom Zé.
  3. Albums I've heard that I like more than he does: Jeff Evans Porkestra (A− vs. ★), Bill Scorzari (A vs. B+), Vince Staples (A− vs. ★).
  4. Albums I've heard where we're pretty close (shades of B+ don't count for much): Open Mike Eagle; add Hobknobs, Tricky, Neil Young (A−).

I assume the higher grades (group 2) represent more listening: I like the three albums just fine, even if my grades look hedged. The three adds I'm more skeptical of. Allen and Kaye end with songs I like, but rechecking Allen didn't budge my grade. I like his previous work, and might like this one more if it was more him and less family. In the latter regard, it's similar in concept to Federico Ughi's My Face Is Dancing, cut up from family tapes (although Ughi is a jazz drummer, and his family is more into hip-hop and electronica).

But group 3 bothers me more, because I've spent enough time with those albums to rate them higher. He's consistently rated Staples higher than I have, so we may be tuning into different things. He's topped me with two A− grades for Evans' EPs. I tend to grade EPs down a bit, not so much because I feel cheated on length as because I find it takes a while to settle into an album, and EPs don't offer that time. But the Scorzari grade, after a full A on (Day 1), is hard to figure. I jumped the gun and reviewed the album a couple weeks ago, but I didn't include it on Substack because it wasn't out yet. It's out now, so I included it on Substack to reiterate my point, and share the Bandcamp. It's currently my number two album of 2026, just behind the live Laurie Anderson, Let X = X.

My email situation is partially fixed: I've given up on trying to access Yahoo via POP3, and set up a IMAP account. That allows me to see my mail using Thunderbird, instead of having to use their webmail app. But it also requires a lot of extra synchronization, and that generates various error messages that I've yet to figure out how to properly check. (My guess is that IMAP is designed to recover from failures, not least because it's designed to fail a lot.) I still have a lot of work to do here: moving messages from the old account to "local folders," removing the old account, and possibly adjusting settings on the IMAP account to do more downloading.

The persistent failures mean I still want to set up a new email address, at least for most of my personal communication. I should do that sooner rather than later, as I want to move the Jazz Critics Poll over to the new address — and verify that it's working before the Poll opens. I haven't done any serious work on the Poll yet, which is a problem, as if I wait for November again, I'll be sandbagged (once again). I need to start, which perhaps first of all means firming up my own plans and intentions.

Before then, I'll try to put up a Loose Tabs. Last one was August 27. I currently have 211 links, 11617 words. The way things are going, it's hard to promise anything more. Not clear whether this will generate anything for Substack, but that will depend more on my will than on what's available to write about. I am increasingly disturbed by the situation in Israel, and by the utter haplessness of the Trump administration — the only bright spot there is that they appear to be completely fumbling the mid-term election (although that's usually what Democrats do). And I still want to do a Substack post on the DownBeat Poll — at this point, mostly to get a start on voter prospecting, as I don't really care that much about good vs. bad picks.

New records reviewed this week:

Terry Allen: Blood Sucking Maniacs (2026, Paradise of Bachelors): Singer-songwriter, born in Wichita, based in Santa Fe, but mostly associated with Lubbock, thanks to his 1979 album Lubbock (On Everything) (1979). Album title can also be read as group name, especially given that Allen only wrote 5 (of 22) songs, while other Allens (Bale, Bukka, Calder, Kru, Sled, and wife Jo Harvey) also contributed songs. Strikes me as a bunch of half-baked ideas: some appealing, some interesting, most requiring more work than I feel up to. (Two plays, with the closing "Family Tree" the one that suggests more effort might pay off.) B+(**) [sp]

Lucian Ban & Elevation: Rush (2024 [2026], Sunnyside): Romanian pianist, moved to New York in 1999, debut album 2002 on CIMP, moved on to ECM and Sunnyside, often reflecting on his roots. Quartet here with Abraham Burton (tenor sax), John Hébert (bass), and Eric McPherson (drums). Burton reminds one of the strong impression he made in the 1990s, after which he seemed to vanish. Mostly postbop, but ends with a Gavril Tarmure vocal that ties this back to the old country. B+(**) [sp]

Ran Blake: Voices (2023 [2026], Tzadik): Pianist, b. 1935, so 88 when this was recorded, his umpteenth solo album since 1965, his main alternative format duos — vocalists start with Jeanne Lee in 1961, up to a new one with Dominique Eade this year, but also saxophonists (Houston Person, Clifford Jordan, Anthony Braxton, most recently Jared Sims), pianists (Jaki Byard, Claire Ritter), and various others (Enrico Rava, David Fabris, Kresten Osgood). I might as well admit I have no idea how to evaluate his solo work. That's not just my opinion: I once pitched a column idea to Bob Rusch, who turned me down because he decided, citing one of my Ran Blake reviews, that I wasn't critical enough to write for Cadence. He joined New England Conservatory in 1967, heading their "Third Stream Department," which opened the academic doors to jazz. He won his Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982, and his MacArthur Genius Grant six years later — one of the first jazz musicians so fęted. I don't doubt that he deserves his reputation, but his solo albums usually leave me unmoved, and his others turn on his accompanists: I've credited him with three A− albums: his 1966-67 duets with Lee, his 2017 duo with Ritter, and his unique 1986 quartet, Short Life of Barbara Monk, with Ricky Ford. But his solo albums more often landed on an indifferent B: my solo piano favorites, where even Tatum and Taylor fall short, are Earl Hines and Don Pullen, and even there I'd rather they add a Budd Johnson or George Adams. Here, Blake tiptoes through 19 pieces, mostly standards, most of which I should have recognized anywhere (but only "You Are My Sunshine" registered on first pass; what does it say about my ears to have missed "Hallelujah I Love Her So" or "La Vie En Rose" followed by "Ain't Misbehavin'"?). Still, I feel fortunate to have this, enough so to grade it in the keep range. After all, with Rusch passed, and me nearing the end, what's to be gained by translating my prejudices into snark? B+(***) [cd]

George Garzone: Themes for Good Friends (2026, Jojo): Tenor saxophonist, b. 1950, from Boston, has a couple dozen albums since 1978, many in the Fringe (1978-2001), more under his own name, but is probably best known as the teacher every saxophonist who passed through Boston wants to thank. Quartet with Luis Perdomo (piano), Santi Debriano (bass), and Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums), plus Randy Brecker on trumpet for five (of 8) tracks. Ends with originals "The Mingus That I Knew" and "To Michael Brecker." What is it about Brecker that never quite works for me? B+(**) [sp]

Ned Hill Band: Saw Jesus at the Park (2026, self-released, EP): Hype sheet says "longtime Nashville icon," Discogs reluctantly listed two albums, Bandcamp says "acclaimed veteran songwriter," and offers 21 releases, including singles, other attributed to the Cowards or Ned Van Go. Six songs, 20:11. B+(*) [sp]

The Hobknobs: Helmets Off (2026, 12XU/THK): Dutch art-pop duo (Arie van Vlilet, Yaël Dekker), first album after a 2025 EP. B+(**) [sp]

Lenny Kaye: Goin' Local (2026, Yep Roc): Early rock critic, compiled the genre-defining Nuggets album of 1960s garage rock, played guitar for Patti Smith, self-released a tape in 1982, followed by an album in 1984, but while he was famous enough for groups like the Fleshtones to seek him out, he never made a star move before. Maybe not here, either. While he has taste and sensibility, he doesn't have an aesthetic, or much of a voice. Leaving him with a batch of fairly good songs, done disarmingly. Choice cut: "The Things You Leave Behind." B+(**) [sp]

Takashi Matsunaga: Ride Five (2026, Ride Five): Japanese pianist, has a half-dozen albums since 2003, recorded this one in New York, original pieces, nearly solo — some bass by Christian McBride, but I hardly noticed it first time through. I was, however, struck by the calm, reassuring piano. B+(**) [cd]

My Face Is Dancing: My Face Is Dancing (2021-25 [2026], 577/Positive Elevation): Drummer Federico Ughi and members of his family, an experimental electronic mix of tapes from "different moments throughout the children's lives, documenting their growth and artistic evolution between the ages of two and ten." B+(*) [dl]

Angela O'Neill and the Outrageous 8: A Live Musical Tribute to Peggy Lee (2024 [2026], Outrageous 8): Standards singer, from California, has at least one previous album, opens with effusive band intros, website includes a full page of band bios, a lot of gray hair in the pics, but no denying their swing. Lee started singing for Benny Goodman in 1941, went on to have many pop hits up to 1969, the main one here being the closer, "Fever." B+(**) [cd]

Matthew Putnam/Hilliard Greene/Francisco Mela: Bright Sun Outside (2025 [2026], 577): Pianist, presumably not the same as the mathcore/metal drummer, as the other piece of information I've been able to find on him is that "he is best known for his work in nanotechnology." Trio with bass and drums, evidently their second. B+(**) [os]

Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra: Royalty: The Music of Duke Ellington & Count Basie (2026, T2 Music): First question was: which Springfield? Answer is Ohio, so I didn't expect to find any familiar names, but was pleased to see that Edwin Bayard (tenor sax) had made it out from Columbus, and I also recognized Pharez Whitted (trumpet), plus "special guests" Jeff Hamilton (drums), Kurt Elling (vocals), and Ekep Nkwelle (vocals). That the band can play the charts, and that the charts are great, is pretty much a given. But the details also stand out. Most obviously, the vocalists, and surprisingly for me, that includes Elling, who missed his calling as a blues shouter. Also Bayard! B+(***) [cd]

Tricky: Different When It's Silent (2026, False Idols): British trip-hop producer Adrian Thaws, his reputation set by his 1995 debut Maxinquaye, 15th studio album, his longest gap from 2003-08. Most tracks feature vocalist Mitch Sanders. B+(*) [sp]

Neil Young & the Chrome Hearts: Second Song (2026, Reprise): Wikipedia says this is Young's 50th studio album. This is his second studio album with this band, along with a live album. In the long run, this is likely to get lost on the shelves, but on first play, he's rarely sounded so comfortable, or quietly compelling. A− [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Amiri Baraka: New Music ~ New Poetry (1982 [2026], Modern Harmonic): Afro-American poet (1934-2014), hard to avoid mention of race with him, even in reference to his early plays, essays (Blues People), and novel (The System of Dante's Hell) published under his original name, Leroi Jones, when he was celebrated in Greenwich Village, before he moved back to Newark, getting arrested in the 1967 riots. (Fun fact: his son, Ras Baraka, wound up as mayor of Newark.) I read much of his early work, and he made a big impression on me. His Wikipedia has a long list of "controversies," but they strike me as ephemeral, distractions from the deeper truths he lived and felt. He's accompanied here by David Murray (tenor sax/bass clarinet) and Steve McCall (drums), as if he wasn't intense enough on his own. A− [bc]

Ella Fitzgerald: Live at the Falkoner Theatre Copenhagen 6th February 1966 (1966 [2026], Gearbox): A previously unreleased live tape, recorded the night before The Stockholm Concert, an appearance with Duke Ellington that's been widely available since 1994. Ellington skipped this tune-up, with Jimmy Jones and his trio picking up the slack, but Ellington's horns were out in force, at least for the first seven tracks. One highlight is a scat from "How High the Moon" through "A Tisket, a Tasket" to "A Hard Day's Night." A− [sp]

Old music:

Sunny Ade & His African Beats: The Master Guitarist Vol. 11: Sunny Ti De (1974, African Songs): Nigerian juju pioneer, was introduced to American audiences by Island in 1982, his albums critically acclaimed but one heard complaints that touring with his big band was prohibitively expensive. I've never made much sense of his earlier Nigerian discography, but two compilations Shanachie assembled were outstanding (The Best of the Classic Years is A+). The Master Guitarist series goes at least to Vol. 12, but Discogs has only half of the titles (1971-74), and there are other series that circle through the same years. This one, which was Brad Luen's pick of the 1970s albums, appears to have been issued as Sunny Ti De and Sunny Tide 2. I can't recommend this over those comps, but on its own, this is superb. A− [yt]

Nelson Angelo/Joyce: Nelson Angelo E Joyce (1972, Odeon): Brazilian singer-songwriter, b. 1949, plays guitar, first album, with singer Joyce Moreno (b. 1948), her third album, with an illustrious career ahead. Angelo I'm not so sure about. B+(**) [sp]

Bembeya Jazz National: Hommage Ŕ Demba Camara (1974 [2000], Sylla): Afropop group from Guinea, originally from Beyla but gained national status thanks to state support. Camara was a singer, killed in an auto accident in 1973, hence this tribute. A− [sp]

Nat King Cole: Unforgettable (1946-54 [1954], Capitol): Originally a jazz pianist of some note, ran a trio in the 1940s and developed as a singer, regularly topping the r&b charts from 1942 on, sometimes scoring pop hits. In the late 1940s, he started using string orchestras and backing singers, topping the pop charts in 1946 with "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons," and later "Mona Lisa" and "Too Young" (included here) and "Nature Boy" (not here); the title song, from 1951, was his first certified silver single. This was originally released as an 8-song 10-inch LP in 1952, then reissued as a 12-inch with 12 songs in 1954. I've often had trouble with these arrangements, ranging as they do from treacly to bombastic, marring good songs and a great singer. I've long searched for a quality compilation of his 1950s hits, but found nothing until 2005's The World of Nat King Cole, which cheats from early trio tracks to his posthumous duet with daughter Natalie Cole on "Unforgettable." B+(*) [sp]

Willie Colón & Héctor Lavoe: Lo Mato (1973, Fania): Salsa musician (1950-2026) from the Bronx, many albums 1967-2013, played trombone and sang — backup here, as Lavoe, from Puerto Rico (1946-93) took the leads (as he had since hooking up on El Malo in 1967). B+(***) [sp]

Celia Cruz: The 'Brillante': Best of Celia Cruz with the Orchestras of Johnny Pacheco & Willie Colon (1974-77 [1978], Yaya): Cuban singer (1925-2003), started in Sonora Mantancera, moved to Mexico then to the US after the Revolution, joining Tito Puente and many other salsa bands, including the Fania All Stars. I've only lightly sampled her work, so I have no special insights here. But this is relentlessly up, 1970s salsa at its finest. A− [sp]

Aracy De Almeida: Noel Rosa (1950-54 [2002], Continental EastWest/Warmer): Brazilian singer (1914-88), recorded two sets of 78s in 1950-51 of songs by samba composer Rosa (1910-37). They were collected in a 1954 album, followed by 1955's Cançőes De Noel Rosa Com Aracy De Almeida (a different album, from what I can tell). The guitar is often fortified with strings, the sound a bit creaky, but the singer is capable. B+(**) [sp]

Heitor Dos Prazeres/Jorge Fernandes/Ataulfo Alves/Joăo Da Baiana: Macumba (1958, Fantasia): Brazilian samba singer-composers, birth dates range from 1887-1909. Same title (refers to Afro-Brazilian Orixas, sometimes combined with Lucumi) as a 1955 album by Heitor Dos Prazeres E Sua Gente, but no songs in common. Unclear whether this is a compilation or collaboration, or whether it has anything to do with the 1958 movie Macumba. Kind of rough, which is rather refreshing compared to the softness of later MPB. A− [sp]

Heitor Dos Prazeres E Sua Gente: Macumba (1955, Discos Rádio, EP): Earlier album, raw samba as its most primal, which seems to be the point. Eight songs, 20:53. B+(***) [sp]

Antonio Carlos Jobim/Luis Bonfa: Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) [The Original Sound Track of the Movie] (1959 [1960], Epic): Famous movie, co-written and directed by Marcel Camus, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1959, set in a favela of Rio de Janeiro. Wikipedia tells me that the film has been criticized for eroticized Afro-Brazilian stereotypes, but that sounds like a plus in a soundtrack. Indeed, the drum tracks are pretty graphic, which could have sufficed, but the proper songs are sensuous too. A− [sp]

Los Calvos: . . . Y Que Calvos! (1968, RCA): Venezuelan salsa group, led by pianist Ray Pérez, debut album 1967, followed by this second album, Pérez then moving on to a solo career, at least through 1992. Hotter than the average salsa band, but hard for me to gauge how much or why that matters. B+(***) [sp]

Los Calvos: Estos Son Los Calvos (1967, RCA): First album, why not? Starts off with an extra noise quotient, which adds excitement and uncertainty to a form I often find just a bit too cut-and-dry. A− [sp]

E.T. Mensah and His Tempos Band: Tempos on the Beat (1959, Decca): From Ghana (1919-96), the King of Highlife, formed his Tempos band in 1946, toured England in 1953, Discogs lists singles from 1953 and several 10-inch LPs from 1958, including this one. 10 songs, 28:25, goes down easy. B+(***) [yt]

Anita O'Day: Anita (1956, Verve): Jazz singer (1919-2006), née Colton, started with Gene Krupa, had several hit singles including "Let Me Off Uptown" (1941) with Roy Eldridge. She sang with other big bands, then went solo, moving into bop and developing her scat technique, but struggled with drugs and men. In the 1950s, she became a Norman Granz project, with this the first of several albums she recorded for Verve. Buddy Bregman arranged and produced a dozen standards. While the strings are best not dwelled on, she nailed every song. A− [sp]

Hermeto Pascoal: Slaves Mass (1977 [2004], Warner Bros./Rhino): Brazilian composer/multi-instrumentalist (1936-2025), albums start in 1964, gained some international fame appearing with Miles Davis in 1971. Plays keyboards, soprano sax, flutes, guitar, and sings some. Band includes Ron Carter (bass), Airto Moreira (percussion), and Flora Purim (vocals on two songs). Original album 42:43, with the CD reissue adding three bonus tracks (34:30). B+(***) [sp]

Le Seigneur Rochereau & L'Afrisa International: Ŕ L'Olympia (Paris) 1970 (1970 [1997], African): Congolese superstar (1940-2013), originally Pascal-Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabu, best known as Tabu Ley Rochereau, composed some 3000 songs over 250 albums, two 2-CD sets on Stern's Africa (The Voice of Lightness) do a good job of representing him, but the well appears bottomless. This was his debut in Paris, a triumph. A− [sp]

Jamaaladeen Tacuma: Hotel Le Prince (2009 [2022], Jam-All Productions): Electric bassist, most prominently a member of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time (1976-87), recorded a series of jazz-funk albums for Gramavision in the 1980s, played in groups like Cosmetic and Free Form Funky Frēqs, with widely scattered albums since. This one features David Murray (tenor sax/bass clarinet), with his son Mingus Murray (guitar), Paul Urbanek (keyboards), and Ranzell Merrit (drums), with a bit of spoken word, from Amiri Baraka to Barack Obama. B+(***) [bc]

Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Gospel Train (1956, Mercury): Gospel singer (1915-73), played electric guitar with such authority she shows up in rock & roll roots anthologies, appeared in John Hammond's 1938 "Spirituals to Swing" concert, and in the big bands of Cab Calloway and Lucy Millinder; she had some crossover r&b hits in the 1940s. This was her first LP, new recordings including some previous hits (e.g., "Up Above My Head There's Music in the Air," from 1947). I haven't tracked the others down, but they sound definitive here. [Note: I played the original 12-song edition, remastered in 2002. There is also a 17-track "Expanded Edition," but it's unclear when it appeared — Spotify says 1956. Also a 14-track Gospel Train: Expanded Edition from 1958, on Decca, but it has different songs, mostly drawn from 1940s singles.] A [sp]

Toots and the Maytals: Sweet and Dandy (1969, Beverley's): Jamaican reggae group, started in 1962 as the Maytals, this the first album with lead singer Frederick "Toots" Hibbert (1942-2020) listed first, although a third just Maytals album came out a year later, and key songs like "Monkey Man," "54 46 That's My Number," and "Pressure Drop" recur on multiple albums (the latter on their 1975 American debut, Funky Kingston and compilations. A− [sp]

Papa Wemba & L'Orchestre Viva La Musica: Mabele Mokonzi (Elou) (1976-77 [1977], Special Molokai): Congolese guitarist, singer, and bandleader, started with Zaďka Langa Langa before organizing his own group here. Huge number of albums. I recommend his 2-CD Sterns comp, 1977-97, which starts here. The guitar sound is classic soukous, and the energy rarely flags. B+(***) [yt]

Edmundo P. Zaldivar (H): Carnavalitos (1955, Pampa, EP): Argentinian musician (1917-78), credits include "(h.)," Spanish equivalent "(hijo)" for "Jr.," recorded this delightful set of folk dances (8 tracks, 23:27) with "su conjunto de Arte Folklórico y Nativo." [Album was expanded to 12 tracks in 1957, as Carnavalitos de Argentina.] A− [yt]

Tom Zé: Imprensa Cantada (2003, Trama): Brazil-only album, as Zé regarded it as too tied to its political context to be comprehensible elsewhere, which given the scattered reactions may have been well-founded (among graders, Christgau rated it A−, while Brazil Beat, which at least entertains the idea of Zé as the "greatest Brazilian musician of all time," went for C). Reports are that it started as an EP, with other odds and sods tacked on. Only song I can really calibrate is his trot of "You're the Top," which I find cringeworthy. Other than that, lots of exercises in style, mostly mild. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Rodrigo Amado/This Is Our Language Quartet: Wailers (European Echoes) [A−]
  • David Maranha/Rodrigo Amado: Desolation Row (Comets Coming) [A−]
  • Jason Robinson: Blue Salience: For Yusef Lateef (2026, Circumvention Music) [10-29]
  • Jamie Safir: Momentum (Chill Tone) [09-04]
  • Trio Imagination: Creative Inspirations (Pi) [09-25]
  • UNLV Combos: Back Home (Vegas) [11-01]
  • UNLV Jazz 1: My Favorite Things (Vegas) [11-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, September 20, 2026

Music Week

September archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46602 [46568] rated (+34), 23 [25] unrated -2).

Advance Music Week appeared September 18 on Substack as Music Week (9:3). It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post, but the introduction is revised/rewritten.

Way too much to complain about this week. I mentioned a few things in my Substack post, and figured I'd go into more depth here, but I'm too tired and too disgusted to follow through. The problem with not feeling well is one lacks even the energy to try to do things. From there, the frustration only mounts.

Main thing to report here is that I spent more time on my checklist of albums from Brad Luen's 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s decade posts. I haven't finished adding my grades to the first two lists, but the jazz picks are impeccable, and the rock/soul/country are problematic only in the choice of compilations — Luen tries to anchor these in the decade, whereas I mostly have expanded CD best-ofs from the 1990s.

What's new for me is the extensive lists of non-English albums, especially from Latin America and Africa. I'm not especially ignorant in such matters, but most of the records he's listed so far were previously unknown by me — or at least unheard, except perhaps partly in later compilations. I've been scrambling to catch up, which is turning into its own fount of frustration, as many albums are clearly good but would require more time and effort to properly address than I'm currently up to. A couple of them appear below, and more are coming next week (and possibly for some time after that).

My impression is that Luen is several decades younger than I am. His lists appear to have been constructed from researched history, picking most items from common lists, as mine would have been for the 1950s and most of the 1960s. Same thing for his 1970s, but my own take on that decade was mostly from lived experience, as I would have snagged more personal picks, including some that very few even knew about. I was born in 1950, so I remember some 45s and radio hits from the late 1950s, and more from my teen years in the 1960s, but I was no more than a casual fan until around 1973-74, when I finally got a job that for the first time in my life gave me some discretionary income. Then I went crazy, greatly expanding my horizons, to such an extent that I feel a certain proprietary interest in the 1970s, unlike any decade before or since. That's why I spent some time constructing my own take on That 70s List.

I should be clear that this is not a response or alternative to Luen's list. This is an exercise that at most might be a tentative step toward a list, or perhaps might cast doubt as to whether such a decade list is even a good idea. What I did was to take my 1,000 Albums for a Long and Happy Life list — created in 2008, and only lightly edited since then, and collected the albums that had 1970-79 dates. I then reviewed the list, and scratched out compilations that crossed decade lines, or that were released after 1979. In some cases, I added replacement albums — earlier compilations, or single albums that stood adequately on their own (e.g., I replace Wire's On Returning with Pink Flag). I got the list down to about 180 albums, but I then went back through several lists and added a few more, bringing it back to just under 200.

New records reviewed this week:

Ralph Alessi: A Sun That Never Sleeps (2025 [2026], ECM): Trumpet player, several dozen albums since the late-1990s, has brother Joseph Alessi on trombone, backed by Matt Mitchell (piano), John Hébert (bass), and Ches Smith (drums/vibes). B+(**) [sp]

ALG Trio: Between the Vistula and the Hudson (2026, Aesthetiko): Gilad Atzmon (alto sax/clarinet), Piotr Lemanczyk (bass), and Adam Golicki (drums). The Vistula is the main river draining Poland, home of the rhythm section. Atzmon was born in Israel, left for Britain in 2002, and has continued to be vocal in his opposition to Israeli policies. I doubt that matters at all here, a trio where the lead is well-mannered but precisely focused. A− [sp]

Gilad Atzmon/Daniel Bulatkin/Taras Volos/Dušan Černák: Praying for More Songs to Come (2024 [2025], Hlava XXII): Leader plays alto sax/clarinet, backed by piano, bass, and drums, with two Atzmon originals, one each from Bulatkin and Volos, and a "My Old Flame" cover. B+(***) [sp]

Baauer: U (2026, LuckyMe): EDM producer Harry Bauer Rodrigues, from Philadelphia, started as Captain Harry, had a hit single in 2012 called "Harlem Shake," third album after 2016 and 2020. B+(**) [sp]

Maja Babyszka/Gilad Atzmon/Nikos Sidirokastristis: In Memory of That Song (2024 [2025], Aesthetiko): Piano, woodwinds, and percussion, the pianist also using voice for harmonic layering. B+(**) [sp]

Alain Bradette: To My Loved Ones (2026, Quantum Gravity): Saxophonist (tenor in pics, also EWI), from Montreal, released a debut album in 2005, mostly originals, postbop with guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums. B+(*) [cd]

BTS: Arirang (2026, Big Hit): K-pop boy group, 6th Korean-language studio album since 2014 (along with 4 Japanese albums), first since 2020, their hiatus occasioned by "military service." I file the few K-pop albums I hear under "Asian," but this is really a hip-hop group, with the crucial difference that it's hard to discern individuality, and not just because it's mostly in a language I don't understand (Korean). What's fascinating about watching their performances is the constant shuffling of focus, but that's much harder to hear. Still, the bits of English are hooks, which may be just enough. B+(**) [sp]

Todd DelGiudice: Mas Alto (2025-26 [2026], OA2): Alto saxophonist, second album as leader (first was 2011), some side credits, including with Jon Hamar (bass here; drums are split between Obed Calvaire and Jim White). Mostly original pieces (one by Hamar), but starts with Tristano, and includes a "Darn That Dream." I do enjoy a good sax workout. B+(***) [cd]

Louis Durra: Mood Music (2026, self-released): Pianist, from California, studied at Berklee, moved to Berlin, recorded this in Los Angeles, has one previous album (per Discogs, although I have two more in my database). Mostly originals, quiet and lovely music with light bass or guitar and drums. B+(**) [cd]

Christian Finger: Zeit Zirkel (2026, Finger Music): German drummer, based in New York, first album after a few side credits, rounded up a fairly prominent postbop quintet, with Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Ben Monder (guitar), Vadim Neselovskyi (piano), and Adam Armstrong (bass). B+(*) [cd] [10-01]

Grex: Auntie + Tebs (2026, Geomancy): Oakland group, with Karl Evangelista (guitar), Rei Scampavia (keyboard), and Robert Lopez (drums), the first two also voice and misc., produce some very noisy experimental rock with jazz moves, with several others helping out — names include Bobby Bradford (cornet) and Zoh Amba (sax). Title references Filipino reform politician Miriam Defensor Santiago and South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo. Radical ambitions, realized erratically. B+(**) [bc]

Rich Halley 4: A Distant Land (2025 [2026], Pine Eagle): Tenor saxophonist, from Oregon, has recorded since 1984, but his pace picked up after he hit 65. His usual quartet, with trombone (Michael Vlatkovich), bass (Anadrew Jones), and drums (Carson Halley). Most are terrific, as are the sax leads here. But some stuttering in the flow gives me pause. B+(***) [cd]

Heat On: 150 Swirl (2025 [2026], Cuneiform): Group led by drummer Lily Finnegan, second album, with Edward Wilkerson Jr. (tenor sax and alto/Bb clarinet), Fred Jackson Jr. (alto sax and percussion), and Nick Macri (basses). B+(***) [dl]

Noah Kahan: The Great Divide (2026, Mercury): Singer-songwriter, from Vermont, fourth album since 2019, plays some guitar, co-writes with Gabe Simon (guitars, some keyboards and percussion) and sometimes Aaron Dessner (more of everything). Much longer (96 minutes) than my attention span, at least when listening to this. B+(*) [sp]

Kiwi Jr.: Blowin' Up (2026, Perennial/K): Indie band from Canada, fourth album since 2026. Sounds a bit like Pavement fronted by Jonathan Richman, but if that were the case, wouldn't I be more delighted? B+(**) [sp]

Janel Leppin: The Realist (2024 [2026], Out of Your Head): Cellist, recent albums on Cuneiform have been coming in pairs, this just a trio with Devra Hoff (bass) and Chad Taylor (drums/mbira). Mostly a groove album, but not just. B+(***) [sp]

Roberto Magris Trio: Live in Mexico City (2025 [2026], JMood): New piano trio, released along with four archive tapes as part of his label's 20th anniversary solution (below for the rest). With Roberto Aymes (bass) and Luis Martinez (drums), playing three originals and various standards, opening with a medley of McCoy Tyner and Don Pullen. B+(***) [cd]

Syran Mbenza: Rumba Africa (2025, Hysa Productions): Congo guitarist, b. 1950, based in France since 1981, best known bands are Les Quatre Étoiles and Kékélé, with occasional solo albums since 1980, most recently a fine Franco tribute (2009). Very nice, but hardly exceptional. B+(***) [sp]

Rome Streetz: Sock It 2 My Pocket (2026, Mass Appeal): Rapper Jerome Allen, born in London, moved to New York as an infant, then back and forth. Half-dozen studio albums since 2018, many more collaborations, mixtapes, etc. B+(**) [sp]

Nicolas Souchal/Joăo Madeira/Bruno Parrinha: Parcours D'Impulsions (2025 [2026], 4DaRecord): French trumpet player, has several albums since 2017, with bass and alto sax. Abstract, the horns restrained, but gets somewhere toward the end. B+(*) [dl]

Ross Stanley/Gilad Atzmon/Joel Barford: Organology (2025, Aesthetiko): Some sources take album title as group name, but the individual names are equally prominent on the cover, in the order given: organ, alto sax, drums. British group. Stanley has appeared on many albums since 2006, occasionally on the slug line, rarely listed first. Barford is relatively new. Of course, this comes down to the saxophonist, who is delightful. B+(***) [sp]

This Is Lorelei: The Singer in My Band (2026, Matador): Singer-songwriter Nate Amos, solo side-project aside from the Rachel Brown-fronted Water From Your Eyes. Third album, after lots of EPs and mixtapes. Tuneful, interesting, enough twang for Americana (if not country). I played it three times, and don't doubt it will find followers, but I still don't care. B+(***) [sp]

The Tubs: Hard Life (2026, Merge): Welsh indie band, Owens Williams the singer, also plays guitar, previously from Joanna Gruesome. B+(*) [sp]

Matt Wilson's Good Trouble: Love Is the Whole Thing, We Are Only Pieces (2026, Palmetto): Drummer, own records since 1996, huge number and range of side credits, can play free or any variety of postbop. Second group album, name inspired by Andrew Young, features Jeff Lederer (tenor sax), with alto sax (Tia Fuller or Anisha Rush), Dawn Clement (keyboards/vocals), and Ben Allison (bass). I'm not feeling the vocals, although I can guess at the logic and sentiment behind them. But there's no guessing with Lederer. B+(**) [cd] [09-18]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Herb Geller/Roberto Magris: Come Lately: Archival Recordings 2009 (2009 [2026], JMood): Alto saxophonist (1928-2013), from Los Angeles, his mid-1950s albums were high points in the development of "West Coast Cool Jazz," quit after his wife died in 1958, moving to Brazil then to Europe, where he staged a notable comeback around 1990. His association with the Italian pianist began in 2003, with a live album from 2009 appearing in 2014. Backed by bass and drums, playing standards (one from Geller), familiarity helps, especially the 21:53 "Strayhorn Medley." A− [cd]

Roberto Magris: Live in Hollywood: Archival Recordings 2006 (2006 [2026], JMood): Italian pianist, released an album in 1990, but only found a home when he linked up with this Kansas City-based label, an event they're marking with five "20th anniversary limited editions." The earliest is this live set, with Tony Lakatos (tenor sax), Art Davis (bass), and Alonzo "Scooter" Powell (drums). They all sound terrific here, especially on standards like "St. James Infirmary." Ends with audio liner notes (interesting the first time, but rather long on repeat). A− [cd]

Roberto Magris Europlane Quintet: Broken Barriers: Archival Recordings 2008 (2008 [2026], JMood): The pianist with Tony Lakatos (tenor/soprano sax), Florian Bramböck (alto/soprano sax), Nikola Matosic (bass), and Drago Gajo (drums), recorded in Austria. Again, the saxophone makes all the difference, even though it is, quite literally, less singular this time. A− [cd]

Roberto Magris: Wind Summit: A Kansas City Jazz Session: Archival Recordings 2014 (2014 [2026], JMood): Pianist, with Steven Lambert (flute/clarinet/tenor sax) and Robert Scott Fromm (tenor sax), bass, and drums, plus vocals (Julia Haile) on two tracks (of 7, 6 bebop-era jazz tunes plus 1 Magris original). B+(**) [cd]

Old music:

The 5.6.7.8's: Best Hits of the 5.6.7.8's (1989-2014 [2019], Time Bomb): Japanese garage rock outfit founded 1986, two sisters plus a third woman (on bass, since the early 1990s), first album was called Golden Hits of the 5.6.7.8's (1988), but Early Days Singles collection starts in 1989 (as does their singles discography at Discogs). Evidently, they're still working, with a new album (Run Run Run) out that I can't find, so I thought I'd try this one. Eclectic and trashy, in ways that could be camp but probably aren't. B+(**) [sp]

Chabuca Granda: Tarimba Negra (1978, Pronto): Peruvian singer-songwriter (1920-83), wrote many criolo waltzes, establishing herself as a major figure in Afro-Peruvian music. B+(***) [sp]

Hannibal and the Sunrise Orchestra: Hannibal (1975, MPS): Trumpet player Marvin Peterson (b. 1948), recorded a debut album under that name in 1969, played with Gil Evans in the early 1970s, became Hannibal here, later changing his last name, going as Hannibal Lokumbe, with regular albums through 1995, a couple more later. This is one of his most famed albums, with Michael Cochrane (piano, wrote one song), Diedre Murray (cello), Michael Carvin (drums/percussion), and Chris Hart (percussion). Trumpet is strong throughout, but the rhythm picks up on the second side, with some vocals on "The Voyage" and the 13:46 tribute to Malcolm X. A− [sp]

Thomas Mapfumo & the Acid Band: Hokoyo! (1978, Chimurenga Music): Singer-songwriter from Zimbabwe, b. 1945, created and popularized chimurenga, starting with this debut album, which translates as "watch out," and got him arrested by the Mugabe government. His next decade would be even better. A− [sp]

Nass El Ghiwane: Disque D'Or (1973 [1998], Mélodie): Moroccan Gnawa group, founded 1969, inspired by ancient Sufi poetry, but also introduced modern western instruments like banjo, many albums, at least up to 2007. This was their first album, eponymous on Polydor, where this is one of several reissue titles. B+(***) [sp]

Celestine Ukwu: Igede (1971 [2007], Premier): Nigerian (Igbo) highlife star (1940-77), first album was called True Philosophy, credited to Celestine Ukwu & His Philosophers National, and is reproduced in this reissue, named for the first song. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Rahsaan Barber: Eternal (Jazz City Music) [10-09]
  • Daniel DeLorenzo: Can You Not (self-released) [09-01]
  • Louis Durra: Mood Music (self-released) [07-12]
  • Phil Haynes 2 Horns & What?: Avant Modern/Jazz Now (Corner Store Jazz, 2CD) [10-02]
  • Carla Marciano: Daydreaming: My Beloved Father Giovanni (Challenge) [09-25]
  • Angela O'Neill and the Outrageous 8: A Live Musical Tribute to Peggy Lee (Outrageous 8) [08-21]
  • Julian Davis Reid and Circle of Trust: Mercy We Need (Too Lost) [09-25]
  • Fumi Tomita: Yokai: Songs of the Japanese Supernatural (OA2) [10-16]
  • Jerry Z: Break Allegro (Drawbar) [10-09]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, September 12, 2026

Music Week

September archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46568 [46539] rated (+29), 25 [23] unrated +2).

Advance Music Week appeared September 11 on Substack as Music Week (9:2). It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post, but the introduction is revised.

I figured September as the only breathing room I'm going to get before the Jazz Critics Poll wipes out the end of my year, so I should figure some things out, and get some work done. One thing was to revisit outlining my political book (aka, Something Weird). So I spent a couple days on that, then I remembered I should post some Notes on Everyday Life, so I knocked out my reminders of 2025 A-listed obscurities, for Non-Jazz and Jazz. Then I took another day and compiled some notes on Remembering 9/11.

Good thing I got the latter out a day early, so I didn't get a chance to react against the day's overwhelmingly pathological press. Was this simply a major milestone effect? 25 years, a quarter century, a third of my life, was bound to garner more attention than 23 or 27, although Pearl Harbor Day and D-Day still get major press every year — unlike VE or VJ Day, or the formerly recognized Armistice Day, let alone the more ignominious ends of wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan, or the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Evidently, victimhood and outrage used as pretexts to start wars are better for militarism than peace (either victorious or not), let alone our own atrocities. (D-Day is slightly different, less focus on sacrifice than on military prowess. Armistice Day was turned into Veterans Day, another celebration of the American war machine.)

I'll probably collect a few Loose Tabs pieces on this, starting with Robert Wright: Always Forget:

But if I were in charge of US foreign policy, the message I'd try to get out is: "Forget! Forget! Forget!" Dwelling on 9/11 is what initiated and helped sustain a disastrous quarter century of American adventurism abroad.

The problem here is that memory is selective, and powerful people with their own militarist agenda are the ones deciding what we should remember. Wright gives two examples of things we might have learned from, but have instead already forgotten: US recruitment of mujahideen like Bin Laden to fight the communists in Afghanistan; and US military bases occupying Saudi Arabia after the 1990 Gulf War. Wright notes: "If the memory of 9/11 had set in motion trains of thought like this, I'd be OK with remembering." Wright's points are well-founded, but the history of American culpability for setting the context in which 9/11 happened goes much deeper. At least by 1953, when the CIA orchestrated a coup in Iran, the US was trying to use Islam as a weapon against "communists." During the 1970s, the US was encouraging Saudi Arabia to export its form of Salafism, even before Iran and Afghanistan became obvious targets. That Iranian clerics who did our bidding in 1953 would turn against against us in 1979 shouldn't have been surprising: we helped them against some of their enemies then, so why should we be surprised when they went on to help themselves? Bin Laden didn't become an American pawn because he wanted to serve Washington. He saw us as a stepping stone toward his own dreams. And why shouldn't he? We certainly had no compunction about using him for our own ends.

I suspect that what the "never forget" crowd wants is not historical memory so much as emotional: they want us to feel the same as we did then, so they can claim our support for their own agenda. Forgetting might thwart their plans. As would remembering it all: the context that led to the events, and more importantly the consequences of indulging those feelings in retaliatory war. While I'd be happy to argue every facet of the history both before and after 9/11, in my piece, I sought a conclusion that depends very little on memory or history:

We cannot allow anything that came before to justify the WTC attack, nor can we allow the WTC attack to justify further attacks on innocent people. The bottom line here is that there is no way that someone like Lucy can be held accountable for any aspect of US or US-backed violence in the Islamic world. Nor should she be cause for further violence.

I'll leave this subject for now, but one I feel like pointing out one fleeting line from the 9/11 post: "Before [1975], I was studying. Later [after 2000], I've been reflecting." I think it was 1974 when I got my first real job, typesetting in St. Louis. I moved back to Wichita, got work, saved some money, moved to New York, and then got a programming job in New Jersey. My career as a software engineer ended in 2000, when SCO laid me off after I had moved back to Wichita. This period was one when I could easily ignore the political world, and I pretty much did. But prospects for a decent jobs in Wichita were slim, and my wife was making enough money for both of us to live on. I thought I might set up some kind of open source software business, possibly involving home automation, possibly websites. Or I could try my hand at writing.

My leftist wife, who got me thinking about politics again (and especially on Palestine, where she was very critical of Isarel), chose the latter option. I'm not sure what I expected to write about, possibly the book I started in the 1990s about engineering and political philosophy? But music was a minor consideration. Michael Tatum and Robert Christgau were mostly responsible for that. It turned out to be a major time sink, but all the while I kept my eyes focused on the unfolding trainwreck of democracy in America. There's nothing much I can do about it, but I do have some fairly well developed thoughts on the subject, even if the articulation is proving difficult. Hence "reflecting" above. The link above, however, is very premature. It's something I should be working on now, instead of this, but everything I do write seems to be pointed in that direction.

Back to this, two quick notes on the music below:

  1. Three albums below haven't been released yet (Kris Davis, Jason Kao Hwang, and Bill Scorzari). The release dates are noted, as I've always done. I mention them here because I excluded them from the Substack "advance" Music Week. I'm including them here, because I don't want to keep track of deferrals. (I tried that years ago, and it's more trouble than it's worth.)

  2. The two old Brazilian classics were the first two unheard albums I checked out from from Brad Luen's 77 favorite albums of the seventies (actually four posts, including his That Seventies list: A debrief. While his Anglophone albums are well known to me (aside from some compilations where I have others), his world music picks are mostly unknown to me, at least in the period album format he mostly picked (it's harder to tell how much overlap my later compilations provide). I'm working on a checklist, which will give me a better handle on what's there (and what's not).

I'm near the end of Acemoglu & Robinson's Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. One thing that's missing from the book is a serious discussion of power, but there are hints of the truism that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." I had other plans, but might just move on to Acemoglu's latest book, What Happened to Liberal Democracy? I have my theories, and they're not quite his, but his encyclopedic grasp of history is good food for thought.

New records reviewed this week:

Nicki Adams and Michael Eaton Featuring Francisco Mela: Arrival (2024 [2026], J-man): Pianist, from Arizona, based in Brooklyn, has a previous duo album with Patrick Adams (trumpet, probably related), and a couple albums with saxophonist Eaton (tenor/soprano). Modern postbop, originals by Adams (2) and Eaton (3), with covers of Cole Porter, Andrew Hill, Wayne Shorter, and Thom Yorke. The drummer just makes the others sound better. B+(***) [cd]

Amyl and the Sniffers: Truth or Consequence: Live From El Coyote (2025 [2026], Rough Trade): Australian post-punk group, three good albums since 2019, but not like I remember songs and such. Sounds a bit flat, takes a while to get in gear, typical of live rock albums. B+(*) [sp]

Towa Bird: Gentleman (2026, Interscope): British singer-songwriter Victoria Vergara-Bird, born in Hong Kong (parents British and Filipino), grew up in Thailand and London, second album. Mostly upbeat dance numbers, as it should be, but even the pace changers sneak up on you. Discogs had this on 2025, which had me wondering how such a major label album could have escaped notice, but other sources say 2026, and the artist website is promising to ship vinyl in September. A− [sp]

Bitchin Bajas: Isle Peaks (2026, Drag City, EP): Chicago band led by Cooper Crain, who also plays guitar/organ in alt-rock band Cave, with Dan Quinlivan and Rob Frye. Discogs lists 21 albums since 2010, with this 2 song, 26:03 remix from the Inland See sessions counted among 7 EPs. First track is minimalist groove with extra sauce. Second is ambient with extra shimmer. B+(**) [sp]

Liz Cracchiolo: Just a Girl I'm a Woman (2025 [2026], Pacific Coast Jazz): Jazz singer, standards, loosely speaking ("These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," "Tainted Love"). Benny Benack (trumpet/vocals) joins in, with Erica von Kleist on alto sax/flute, and various others. B+(**) [cd] [09-18]

The Kris Davis Trio: Lost in Geneva (2025 [2026], 4166): Covers continues: "featuring Robert Hurst & Johnathan Blake" (bass and drums). She's a superb pianist, with albums back to 2004, including one poll winner. I'm not much of a piano trio fan, so I usually need a horn to put an album over (Tony Malaby was prominent on her early albums). Still, this one holds up remarkably well. A− [cd] [09-25]

Michael Dease: City Life: Music of Greg Hill (2024 [2025], Origin): Trombonist, meany albums since Dease Bones in 2007, including two previous albums of Hill's Compositions. This one is extended to 19 songs, 108 minutes, with two originals, two J.J. Johnson tunes, and one each from Sharel Cassity, Gregory Tardy, and Emily Remler, with Hill producing. Trio first set with Linda May Han Oh (bass) and Jeffrey "Tain" Watts (drums), with vocals on two tracks; second set adds Geoff Keezer (piano) and Nicole Glover (tenor sax). B+(***) [sp]

Julia Holter: Materia (2026, Domino): Art pop singer-songwriter, self-released albums start in 2007, got some attention on RVNG in 2012 and more on Domino since 2013. Nice enough, but she's never clicked for me. B [sp]

Ray Wylie Hubbard: Reel 2 Reel 4 Real (2026, Soundly Music): Country singer-songwriter, from Oklahoma but gravitating toward Texas (not Nashville), had a band in the 1970s called the Cowboy Twinkies. I never paid him much heed until he co-wrote a song for Hayes Carll's 2008 album, then liked it enough to cover it on his 2010 album — the first one that caught my ear, but they've been all aces since. A− [sp]

Jason Kao Hwang/Human Rites Trio: Second Life (2024 [2026], Flying Panda Music): Violinist, from near Chicago, has a couple early albums c. 1990, picked up the pace around 2005, becoming my automatic poll pick after Billy Bang died. What both have in common is their ability to turn violin into a distinctive lead jazz instrument (as opposed to those who used it to swing with guitar leads, or to import from classical). Trio with Ken Filiano (bass) and Andrew Drury (percussion), follows an eponymous 2019 group album, distilling his art into its purest form. A− [cd] [10-01]

Braxton Keith: Real Damn Deal (2026, Warner Nashville): Country singer, from Midland TX, first album, co-wrote most of his songs, pretty trad sounding. Seems likely to do well in Nashville. B+(*) [sp]

The Necks: Disquiet (2025, Northern Spy, 3CD): Australian keyboards (Chris Abrahams), bass (Lloyd Swanton), and drums (Tony Buck) trio, several dozen albums since 1989, have developed a crossover following which gets them taken seriously as jazz and beyond. I resisted playing this due to sheer length (4 pieces, 179:28), but with some writing to do, I figured this wouldn't require much attention. It doesn't, although the first 15 minutes were pretty seductive, and I had to struggle to get back to work. B+(**) [bc]

Carly Pearce: Honest Woman (2026, Stoney Creek): Country singer-songwriter, from Kentucky, fifth album since 2017, another good batch of songs. B+(***) [sp]

Queen Herewin & PA. Dre: DOTOM: Death of the Old Me (2026, Matic): New York rapper, third album after a 2015 debut and last year's return, with a producer I can find nothing on. Draws on a lot of guest rappers, but she's probably sharper than they are. B+(**) [sp]

Rapsody: God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops (2026, We Each Other/Roc Nation): Rapper Marianna Evans, from North Carolina, fifth album since 2012, 43 now, moving boldly into a new phase of life. Extended meditations on blackness, the African group Karabo Ya Morena powering some cuts, another tune with George Clinton expressing "Love to Sun Ra." Pretty deep. A− [sp]

Jim Rotondi & Dena DeRose: Out of the Past (2024 [2026], Cellar): Mainstream trumpet player, from Montana, debut 1997, a regular in One for All (18 albums 1997-2024), recorded this in Austria two weeks before his sudden death at 61, with the pianist-vocalist (she sings 5 of 8 songs), bass (Danny Ziemann), and drums (Mario Gonzi). B+(*) [sp]

Bill Scorzari: Sidereal Days (Day 2) (2022-24 [2026], self-released): New York City attorney, originally from Kansas, decided to try out as a singer-songwriter around 2015, his productivity and skills picking up after retiring from his day job. Second batch of songs saved over from the sessions that produced his 2025 Sidereal Days (Day 1). His scratchy voice is approaching Tom Waits territory, but he's made good use of a chorus. The electric guitar has depth and resonance. The pace is moderate: no need to outrun the songs, which are deeper than ever. "And my mind's inclined to fix on only things I truly need." A [cd] [09-25]

Co Streiff/Russ Johnson Quartet: Oracle (2023 [2026], Intakt): Swiss alto saxophonist, scattered credits back to 1984, but not a lot under her own name (two Sextet albums, a duo with Irčne Schweizer, and a 2011 Quartet with Johnson, a Brooklyn-based trumpet player, also in her Sextet). With Christian Weber (bass) and Gerry Hemingway (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Trevor Watts/John Edwards/Tollef Řstvang: In the Know (2024 [2026], Motvind): Alto/soprano saxophonist, one of the founders of the British avant-garde (Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Amalgam, LJCO), which made him just shy of 85 when this was recorded: one 37:21 improv, with bass and drums. He's in terrific form here. A− [bc]

Brennan Wedl: Brennan Wedl (2026, Anti-): Singer-songwriter from Minneapolis, based in Nashville, played guitar and sang in the group Dazey and the Scouts (one album, 2017). First solo album, after a 2019 EP and several singles. "Will you still want me when the crazy comes out?" B+(***) [sp]

Charlie Worsham: Once Upon a Second Time Around (2026, ONErpm): Country singer-songwriter, self-described Marty Stuart disciple, from Mississippi to Berklee to Nashville, third album, after two 2013-17 Warners albums. Since then, he's been a journeyman guitarist, but seems to have picked up some tricks, and considerable trad feel. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Irčne Schweizer: Piano Solo: Prelude to a Kiss and More (1986 [2026], Intakt): Swiss avant-pianist (1941-2024), is best known for her duo albums with free jazz drummers, but is a powerful solo performer — as at least eight previous solo albums attest. B+(***) [sp]

Sittin' With Blaze: A Tribute to Blaze Foley (2026, Lost Art): Texas country legend (1949-89), released few singles and a so-so album in 1984, but since his death numerous scraps have come out, as well as tributes — Gurf Morlix's Blaze Foley's 113th Wet Dream (2011) is probably the best. This batch of pretty good songs from the mid-1970s appeared in 2010. They get new singers with better voices here, including Lucinda Williams, John Moreland, Lucy Dacus, Phosphorescent, and others I'm less familiar with. B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

Nicki Adams & Michael Eaton: Paraphrase (2021 [2022], SteepleCase LookOut): Piano and tenor sax duo, their first album, Adams had a previous duo album with trumpet, Eaton a couple previous albums to 2014. Originals by Adams (1) and Eaton (3), plus covers of Shorter, Monk, Coltrane, and Tim Hagans. While I didn't notice the drummer on the new one, I miss him here. B+(**) [sp]

Cátia De França: 20 Palavras Ao Redor Do Sol (1979, Epic): Brazilian singer-songwriter, from Paraiba in the Northeast, first album, of eight through 2024. Rhythm is strong, bits of accordion and violin add a distinctive texture. A− [sp]

Blaze Foley: Sittin' by the Road (mid-1970s [2010], Lost Art): Twelve demo songs, dates uncertain, raw material for the Sittin' With Blaze various artists tribute. Songs are true enough. Not a very magnetic singer. B+(**) [bc]

Blaze Foley and the Beaver Valley Boys: Cold, Cold World (1979-80 [2006], Lost Art): "First Texas studio recordings," with a band that included drummer Gurf Morlix. Repeats "Big Cheeseburgers & Good French Fries," possibly others. Voice is a bit more settled, and the band adds a little swing. His cult is such that they've scraped together quite a few posthumous releases (8 in my database, 5 heard so far). This is as enjoyable as any I've heard. B+(***) [bc]

Blaze Foley: Live at the Austin Outhouse (1988 [1999], Lost Art): Live set, "recorded over two nights in 1988 just days before his tragic murder" at 39, so repeats several early songs. B+(*) [bc]

Novos Baianos: Acabou Chorare (1972, Som Livre): Brazilian group, from Salvador — Bahia, in the northeast, home of forró, although experts say "samba rock" or "tropicalia." Second album (of 8 from 1970-78), tabbed by Rolling Stone Brasil in 2007 as tops among the "100 greatest Brazilian music records." Not much I've heard (or remember) on that list, but this is not just nice but pretty great. A− [sp]

Queen Herawin: Metamorphosis (2015, Matic Entertainment): New York rapper Peridot Smith, cover identifies her as "of the Juggaknots," a group with siblings Paul Smith (Breeze Brewin) and Kevin Smith (Buddy Slim) that released two albums (1996, 2006). Runs noisy, but as one song points out, "there's a method to this madness." B+(***) [bc]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Ran Blake: Voices (Tzadik) [06-18]
  • Andrea Brachfield: A Holiday Celebration of Light (Pacific Coast Jazz) [11-13]
  • Alain Bradette: To My Loved Ones (Quantum Gravity) [06-16]
  • Alexis Cole: Taking My Seat: A Musical Inheritance (Tiger Turn) [11-09]
  • Azar Lawrence: Turn the Music Up (Trazar) [09-15]
  • Takashi Matsunaga: Ride Five (Ride Five) [07-06]
  • Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra: Royalty: The Music of Duke Ellington & Count Basie (T2 Music) [08-07]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

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