Carlita – Fabric Presents Carlita: I’ve kept Carlita’s Fabric mix in heavy rotation this week, and every time I listen to it, I like it a little bit more. The last four tracks make my soul move.
Tim Hecker – Shards: Hecker is one of my favorite artists and I have all his records, but I have absolutely nothing of use to say about any of them. Shards is good. Listen to it if you like this kind of noisy, drone-filled electronic music.
Lucy Railton – Blue Veil: This is a simple album but it’s not easy. I love listening to the way different cello notes vibrate together. I’ve never heard anything quite like this, and I’m glad it exists.
Porter Ricks – Biokinetics: This 30-year-old record found me this week and I’m delighted it did. The Basic Channel vibe hasn’t ever fully hit me (and it still doesn’t), but the first track is wonderful.
Tunde Adebimpe – Thee Black Boltz: My first pass through Thee Black Boltz was a series of highs and lows, with each song either fueling or tempering my excitement. It always took me 3 to 4 listens to hear the beauty of each TV on the Radio album, so we’ll see where this one lands.
Emma-Jean Thackray – Yellow: This made a good first impression on me but there’s definitely stuff that might sit on the wrong side of dodgy. I need to give this another listen.
Anysia Kym & Loraine James – Clandestine: I don’t know Kym and I’m not a huge fan of James, but this is an odd and interesting 12-minute gem that I’m happy to have discovered.
Outkast – Stankonia: I revisited Stankonia this week and my complaint from 25 years ago still stands: the innovation and fire on the album is so innovative and fiery that it shines a light on how meh the rest of the album is.
Jenny Hval – Iris Silver Mist: If I created a scale of experimental music with Tim Hecker at one pole as one of my favorite artists and someone like Diamanda Galas at the opposite pole, Iris Silver Mist would sit somewhere in the middle. Multiple listens might reveal some valuable rewards, but there’s not enough here I like to get me to play it again.
Blondshell – If You Asked for a Picture: I found the music so boring that I couldn’t get past the second song. I know this album is more about the lyrics, but I can’t get past the music to hear them.
Gracie Abrams – Good Riddance: This fell into the background this week. I only listened once, passively, while I was doing something else. I aim to get back to it next week.
Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (and Sad Women): This also fell into the background, but I played it a lot. I absorbed Jubilee by playing it in the background, so I don’t hate taking a break from active listening.
Grateful Dead –10/18/72 (St. Louis, MO): Nothing more to add beyond what I said last week. I’ll move on to my next Dead show soon, but I’m having too much fun with this one to leave yet.
Old friends who made it into rotation this week: Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good; Laufey: Bewitched; U2: The Joshua Tree
Record store finds this week: I found a promo copy of Sly & The Family Stone’s Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back with a hype sticker on the front that contains a quote from the great Kenny Gamble that prophetically implied Sly’s dark days were not entirely behind him. By all accounts it’s a terrible record, but I’ve been enjoying Small Talk and I love Gamble and Huff’s Philly soul sound, so I’m looking forward to giving this a few plays. Also, I found a complete copy of Mady Masple’s performance of Lakme on vinyl for ten bucks. I’ve had the CD for years and this will be my first opportunity to compare the two formats for a pre-digital opera recording.