Staff Picks for February 2020
February 29, 2020
Japanese duo Reflection made their full-length debut with this remarkable set of twisted, jazzy breakbeats and refracted samples. Loungey on the surface but somewhat itchy and prone to bouts of drum'n'bass freakouts, this is simply a wildly creative, fascinating listen. A welcome discovery for anyone, like myself, who's been trying to uncover '90s trip-hop/downtempo albums that slipped through the cracks and mostly coming up with unimaginative, repetitive dross.
February 28, 2020
Bob Shane, the last surviving member of the original Kingston Trio, died on January 26, 2020; anyone wanting to pay homage should check out this superb collection, featuring forty of their most memorable tracks. There was nothing gritty or edgy in the Trio's music, but anyone wondering why they were so massively popular in the late '50s and early '60s need only listen to their flawless harmonies, which are still beguiling decades later.
February 27, 2020
The Chap were just ahead of their time with 2015's The Show Must Go, a nightmarishly funny satire of rock and the issues that dominated the second half of the 2010s. As they tackle omnipresent technology, mistreated warehouse workers and a fragmenting EU, they send up and shut down rock clichés with violent, impatient, and abrasive results.
February 26, 2020
The composer, pianist, and singer/songwriter's third full-length collection of songs visits L.A., with each track inspired by a different locale. (The corresponding street addresses are helpfully provided in each title.) Detective fiction, classic cinema, political history, and architecture itself are among thematic inspirations expressed in an eclectic blend of folk, chamber pop, and noir-ish jazz that may leave you wondering "Why do villains always live in houses built by modernist masters?"
February 25, 2020
This selection of unmixed tracks from graphic designer, DJ, and producer Trevor Jackson is true to its title and subtitle. The title is taken from SPK's included 1983 single, a swift and battering industrial dance track that is emblematic of the compilation as a whole. Metal Dance indeed surveys industrial, post-punk, and EBM (electronic body music) with a handful of classics surrounded by numerous rarities. All of it is worthy of re-visitation or discovery.
February 24, 2020
As chilling synths and ethereal vocals rise from the mist, this stunning debut from the Canadian act throbs to life. The album balances pulsing beats and urgent vocals with an aura that is both haunting and visceral, as if Florence Welch fronted an early incarnation of Depeche Mode. Fans of Fever Ray, Bjork, and Jonna Lee will not be disappointed by tracks like "Beat And The Pulse," "Hate Crime," and "Lose It."
February 23, 2020
After making most of their earliest records on their own dime, Camper Van Beethoven moved up to the big leagues with their first album for Virgin Records. 1988's Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart revealed you could clean up CVB but you couldn't necessarily make them behave.
February 22, 2020
Though it's a perfect example of the mystic, futuristic electro-pop scene that spawned the likes of Grimes, Purity Ring and Austra in the early 2010s, Glasser's debut album sounds remarkably fresh a decade after its release. There's a lightness and approachability to Ring's mix of synthetic fantasy textures and ancient-sounding melodies that still resonates -- and makes it worth hearing for fans of Cameron Mesirow's better-known contemporaries.
February 21, 2020
After taking almost a decade off from recording, Superchunk returned with an album in 2010 that found the noise pop legends playing with all the intensity they had at the start of their career, only with more songs about kids, nostalgia, and growing old mixed in with the usual anxiety and heartache.
February 20, 2020
One night in the life of Phil Ochs: the most fearless protest singer of the '60s takes the stage dressed like Elvis, backed by a rock band, and plays '50s favorites along with his own classics. Ochs is determined, his audience is not having it, and the dynamic between them is weirdly fascinating psychodrama. Amidst the chaos is a blazing tear through "Tape From California" that's one of the most exciting things Ochs ever released.
February 19, 2020
Sunny, sprawling indie pop from a seven member Japanese band who sound like a lovely combination of the Pastels, Tenniscoats and Cornelius, the album is packed with brass, guitars, xylophones, and laptop beats with winesome vocals and pretty melodies languorously layered on top.
February 18, 2020
Politically exiled from her home country, South African singer Mariam Makeba was already an international presence by the time she landed in New York. Supported by mentor, Harry Belafonte and his band, she made her solo debut in the U.S. with this eponymous 1960 release on RCA, blending folk, calypso, and jazz with songs in both English and her native Xhosa, ushering in one of the great voices of the 60s.
February 17, 2020
The Contortions are considered to be one of the most important and influential groups of the New York no wave scene, which spawned the crazed postmodern persona of James Chance alongside Lydia Lunch, Mars, and DNA, among others. James Chance was a sort of avant lounge lizard personality cult who led numerous projects throughout the '80s, yet he never quite topped the warped distillation of punk, funk, and free jazz presented here, making Buy a pivotal recording of the New York post-punk era.
February 16, 2020
A generous two-disc rendering of the folk-rock legends' first three records, Hark! the Village Wait, Please to See the King, and Ten Man Mop are featured in their entirety, and in their original sequence, making this an absolute necessity for fans, and a perfect entry point for the uninitiated.
February 15, 2020
This 1973 set delivered on the expectations of her work with Return To Forever. With a stellar lineup—Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Joe Henderson, David Almaro, and Airto Moreira—Purim exquisitely rendered beautifully chosen compositions that included Clarke’s soulful title track and “Dr Jive,” Duke’s “Love Reborn,” Tom Jobim’s “Dindi,” Egberto Gismonti’s “Moon Dreams, and Chick Corea’s “500 Miles High.” Its sublime quality became a career watermark
February 14, 2020
How far can a band take a single riff? Don't answer until you've heard Sleep's obsessive masterpiece Dopesmoker, in which the stoner metal trio chugs through one rather simple guitar figure for 63 unrelenting minutes. A cult favorite for a good reason, this hypnotic homage to Sabbath-style guitar and THC will make you feel like you've smoked some righteous weed even if you never touch the stuff.
February 13, 2020
Jackie McLean's 1992 album Rhythm of the Earth is an intense hard bop date that finds the veteran altoist continuing, as always, to push himself. Joining him is a young Roy Hargrove whose explosive trumpet bristles with the voltaic energy that marked his rise throughout the 1990s. The arrangements here, which also showcase vibist Steve Nelson, have a soulful quality that evokes the sound of McLean's classic mid and late-'60s work; a vibe that's particularly evident in pianist Alan Palmer's dreamy, spiritually-minded vocal ballad "Oh Children Rise."
February 12, 2020
This sixth kids' outing from the one-time Del Fuegos frontman eschews syrupy sweetness without sacrificing simple hooks. Alongside a diverse guest list that includes Natalie Merchant, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and the Kronos Quartet, its blend of lively, roots rock-friendly arrangements and affable vocal performances make it a strong entry in the beneficial category of children's albums with grown-up appeal.
February 11, 2020
Released in 1980, Vini Reilly's softly sparkling guitar instrumentals were unlike anything else to come out of the post-punk movement and set a precedent for invention that his band, the Durutti Column would follow for years to come.
February 10, 2020
Few jazz fans would imagine trumpeter Chuck Mangione and pianist Keith Jarrett as members of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, let alone at the same time. In 1966, they worked together briefly in the hard bop drummer’s outfit on this in this lone live gem. Tenorist Frank Mitchell and bassist Reggie Workman round out the lineup. Mangione’s three tunes are the treasures here and include the South African jive-inspired title track, and the exotic, labyrinthine “Recuerdo.” All killer, no filler.
February 9, 2020
When punk first broke in 1977, the notion of fusing that sort of rage with grooves you could dance to seemed impossible. But Gang of Four's 1979 debut Entertainment! proved you could marry brutally powerful funk with brilliant, fractured guitar work and smart, subversive lyrics lyrics. GoF's "neo-Marxist funk" would prove to be incredibly influential, and they never delivered with greater strength and focus than they did here. R.I.P Andy Gill.
February 8, 2020
Months before 50 Cent burst into the mainstream, the highly touted rapper cleaned out his closet with this compilation of "underground classics & freestyles." Unless you're connected to the New York mixtape circuit or happen to own a bootlegged version of 50's unreleased 2000 debut, none of the 18 songs here are going to be familiar. There's a reason a million-dollar bidding war broke out for 50 in 2002, and Guess Who's Back? showcases that reason better than any other legal release out there.
February 7, 2020
Bang on a Can's 1998 recording of Brian Eno's landmark ambient work Music for Airports is a hypnotic masterpiece. By adapting Eno's recorded tape loops to scored transcriptions for a live ensemble, the collective managed to pay respect to the original album, while allowing the music to breathe with an organic warmth all their own. The result is a mesmerizingly textural, ASMR-inducing mix of strings, percussion, synths, and vocals that evokes the liminal aural dreamscape of public spaces.
February 6, 2020
Further proof that streaming doesn't solve everything, all of Carcass' pre-reunion releases have been removed from Spotify. You'll have to dig into your collection or head to a record store to find the grindcore pioneers' second album, which features sturdy fan favorites like "Reek of Putrefaction," "Exhume to Consume," and "Ruptured in Purulence."
February 5, 2020
The follow-up to 2016's cathartic Marked for Death, On Dark Horses continues to pick at the darkness within, but with significantly more empathy than its predecessor. Rundle's singular blend of swirling post-rock and doomy gothic metal feels remarkably intimate, even when the decibels are being pushed into the stratosphere.
February 4, 2020
If the Left Banke didn't invent chamber pop, they were the band that perfected it, and "Walk Away Renee" and "Pretty Ballerina" were beautiful and mysterious in a way that was honestly unique on AM radio in the mid-'60s. Lead vocalist Steve Martin-Caro died on January 14, 2020, and this is the definitive document of his work with the group, featuring their two albums in full and several rare single sides. Truly essential music.
February 3, 2020
Three years passed before the singer/rapper came out with a second album. Thankfully, she more than lived up to the tremendous promise of Raw Like Sushi on the equally magnificent and risk-taking Homebrew. Cherry shows no signs of the dreaded sophomore slump -- everything here is a gem. She triumphs with a seamless and unorthodox blend of hip-hop, R&B, dance music, and pop.
February 2, 2020
In the year 2000, emo up-and-comers like Dashboard and Jimmy Eat World were working their way up to the top. While the Juliana Theory never really reached the same highs, they released a handful of genre classics before breaking up in 2006. They've returned in 2020 for this album's anniversary, which is arguably their best. Jam-packed with pop-punk harmony, soaring rock drama, and even experimental electronic atmospherics, this was decades ahead of its time.
February 1, 2020
Long before he was making more club-friendly material and producing futuristic pop visionary Dawn Richard, 19 year old Travis Stewart helped invent glitch-hop with his 2001 debut. Now You Know was acclaimed at the time but quickly overshadowed by Prefuse 73's first full-length, which arrived on Warp a few years later. Containing a similar mixture of crunchy beats and scattered hip-hop samples, Machinedrum's first album is more intense, sometimes edging into drill'n'bass territory, but even at its most esoteric it retains a stunning clarity of vision.