Staff Picks for February 2022
February 28, 2022
This third live recording at San Francisco's Keystone Korner in the late '70s and early '80s of drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers is significant for many reasons. It marks the final ushering out of the famous band that was fronted at times by David Schnitter, Curtis Fuller, Bobby Watson, and Valery Ponomarev, with Bill Pierce then the lone holdout. It is the first recording to include alto saxophonist Branford Marsalis (who specialized on tenor and soprano sax,) and teams him with brother Wynton Marsalis and Pierce on a formidable, compact front line.
February 27, 2022
The United States of America only made one album before splitting up, but they broke a lot of ground in their short time together. Adding layers of electronic texture, wailing electric violin, and challenging melodic structures to their distinctive brand of experimental psychedelia, this was one of the most forward thinking rock albums of its era. Less abrasive than the Velvet Underground, but just as determined to take rock in bold new directions.
![The Phantom of the Opera [Original London Cast]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0001203294/front/400/KeXEmKDRoY04gUG4zdAUYQSijaXJlYnq0St31qpAJWo=.jpg)
February 26, 2022
With its ominous instrumentals and haunting melodies, The Phantom of the Opera is a sonic masquerade full of intrigue and passion. The album whisks you back to the eighteenth century, creating a heady atmosphere of suspense and desire. A required listen for those obsessed with dark academia, history, and mystery.
February 25, 2022
Two songs into Every Day I Have the Blues, T-Bone Walker starts singing a slow-crawling 12-bar blues about "Vietnam," a pretty good indication that this 1969 LP belongs to its era. That's not the only way this record evokes its time. Released on Bob Thiele's newly launched Bluestime imprint, this is redolent of every production trend of the late '60s: topical songs compete for space with fuzz guitar, tracks that stretch out, way out, as both Walker and his supporting band get a lot of space to solo.
February 24, 2022
Various Artists
Mille Plateaux's Electric Ladyland compilation series represented the vanguard of experimental breakbeat music during the latter half of the '90s. The fourth volume is possibly the best one, colliding abstract hip-hop with the avant-garde side of drum'n'bass, with shades of electro and ambient techno. Contributors include DJ Spooky, Alec Empire, Techno Animal, Panacea, and Spectre/Slotek, and nearly every track is a winner.
February 23, 2022
Smog's gently optimistic seventh full-length is where Bill Callahan began mining singer/songwriter traditions to the fullest. Over the album's folky flow, the characters in his songs move away from difficult situations and toward maturity and acceptance with an affecting and inspiring sense of liberation..
February 22, 2022
In the early 1980s, not everyone remembered that the Wailers were originally a vocal trio before they became Bob Marley's backing band. Bunny Wailer set out to remind people with this album, where he re-recorded ten classics from the group's early catalog, with Wailer overdubbing his own harmonies. The spare, dub-influenced production never takes away from Wailer's vocals, where he demonstrates he was the smoothest, most satisfying vocalist in the group.
February 21, 2022
Scottish techno dons Slam surprisingly didn't include their signature hit "Positive Education" on their debut album, but it still stands as one of the genre's better long-players from its era. The techno and electro cuts rank as some of the best Detroit-style techno that wasn't produced by Americans, and there's also convincing ventures into moody trip-hop and atmospheric drum'n'bass.
February 20, 2022
Nordic electronica at its best, Röyksopp's marvelous 2001 debut established them as downbeat craftsmen of the highest order.
February 19, 2022
Franz Ferdinand's fourth album fuses irresistible hooks with some of the band's most compelling songwriting. Brash on the surface but with a surprising amount of emotional complexity and poetic beauty, Right Thoughts is all about seizing and savoring the moment -- something the band does on the album with style and heart.
February 18, 2022
Stemming out from the songwriting of bandleader Jana Hunter, the first full length from this Baltimore band is a murky, smoke-colored brand of 2010's indie rock. Repetitive song structures become hypnotic, unexpected melodic shifts turn arrangements upside down, and Hunter's layered, unpredictable guitar work congeal into a patchwork of strange, beautiful textures.
February 17, 2022
A true Krautrock juggernaut, Harmonia's debut distills the genre's defining aspects and presses them into a tightly-crafted amalgam that is deeply pleasing and hypnotic.
February 16, 2022
Canadian composer Ian William Craig made his vinyl debut with the astonishing A Turn of Breath, originally released by Sean McCann's Recital label in 2014. Craig crafts his art using decrepit tape machines and analog synthesizers, utilizing techniques common to underground noise and experimental music, but he incorporates his own operatically trained vocals into the fabric of his compositions. The vocals are transformed into patterns and clusters of sound which express pure feelings and sensations the way words couldn't possibly do justice.
February 15, 2022
Wire quickly evolved from the urgent, impatient, and minimal punk of their 1977 landmark debut Pink Flag, growing more into textural art rock and experimental songwriting just nine months later on second album Chairs Missing. While not completely removed from the scrappy energy of the debut, the album finds the band beginning to dabble with arty pop, drone, and Eno-esque synthesizers.
February 14, 2022
A remarkable debut, Infamous Angel established Iris DeMent as one of the greatest artists of her generation. With her gift for poignant, confessional songwriting and a voice that makes raw beauty seem like a brand new thing, she invokes the elemental magic of the Carter Family while sounding as fresh and modern as John Prine (who, not surprisingly, is one of her biggest champions).
February 13, 2022
The soundtrack to the 2010 comedy Get Him to the Greek is part Spinal Tap, part Tenacious D, and a whole lot of Buckcherry and the Darkness. Infant Sorrow’s 15-track “debut” sounds like something fellow fictional rock star Billy Mack (played by Bill Nighy in the 2003 film Love Actually) would have put out in his Dionysian heydays.
February 12, 2022
The Orchids were one of the pillars of Sarah Records in the late '80s and early '90s, making some of the most interesting and affecting records that the label released. This double-disc collection of songs, both released and unreleased, from their long and brilliant career is essential listening for (indie) pop kids of all ages.
February 11, 2022
The band's first full-length album from 1993 melds noisy guitars, samples, and sweet girl-boy vocals into a disheveled take on dream pop that's evocative, unpretentious, and still sounds ahead of its time in 2022.
February 10, 2022
In 2001, this industrial rock crew veered in a wildly different direction, amplifying their pop sensibilities and earnest emotions for what would become their last album for twenty years. Without the industrial clang and electro-aggression, they crafted one of the most heart-wrenching -- and underrated -- break-up albums ever. Mostly mid-tempo and sometimes almost-acoustic, it's worthwhile for anyone who's ever been dumped. Now's the time to get reacquainted, as they're making a big comeback in 2022.
February 9, 2022
Sandwiched between their two instant classics – 1977's The Clash and 1979's London Calling – the Clash's second album, 1978's Give 'Em Enough Rope, often gets short shrift, in part because of Sandy Pearlman's excessively boomy production. But "Safe European Home" is the best Track One/Side One the band ever came up with, and "English Civil War," "Tommy Gun," and "Drug Stabbing Time" are as hard-hitting and full-bodied as you could hope for.
February 8, 2022
Arlo Parks' debut album struck a chord with myriad listeners last year, spending several months atop the North American college radio charts and eventually winning the Mercury Prize and garnering two Grammy nominations (Best Alternative Album and Best New Artist). It's not hard to see why it's been such a success, as Parks' eloquent lyrics are filled with poetic details, addressing subjects such as depression and queer relationships in a manner that's comforting and sometimes brutally honest. It's accessible, catchy, and easy to listen to, yet some of the lyrics hit so hard. Truly a well-deserved breakthrough.
February 7, 2022
Featuring tracks ranging from balladic lamentations to carefree celebrations, Katy Perry's sophomore album Teenage Dream vividly embodies the teenage experience, with songs for both its exhilarating highs and heart-wrenching lows. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" and "California Gurls" evoke memories of reckless partying and beach week, while "The One That Got Away" somberly describes a breakup and "Firework" illustrates the emotional process of personal growth. For teens, Teenage Dream is like a relatable and empathetic confidant, and for those who are no longer teens, the album is a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
February 6, 2022
Best known for his 1979 dancelub jam "Funkin' For Jamaica," trumpeter Tom Browne meshed Lee Morganesque hard bop licks with Studio 54-level grooves. Admittedly a stylistic combination that dated quickly during the acoustic neo-bop battles of the early-'90s, Browne's crossover vibe has endured. His 1983 album Rockin' Radio finds him meshing the hip-hop robot iconoclasm of Herbie Hancock's "Rock It" with the sandalwood smoothness of Chuck Mangione's "Feels So Good." Browne's sound has future shock — like how the '80s thought jazz might sound today and kind of does.
February 5, 2022
Calling June Tabor one of the greatest voices in British folk limits her; she's among the best interpretive vocalists of her generation, and her willingness to dig deep into the emotional heart of her material without histrionics is remarkable. Between the marvelous tension of "The Great Valerio," the jazzy introspection of "No Good at Love," and the heartache of "Go From My Window," this is music that lurks in life's shadows to find compelling beauty.
February 4, 2022
On her debut studio album Heaven & Hell, Ava Max fuses anthemic sounds with dark melodies to build a temple for female empowerment. She preaches messages of strength and solidarity through her booming vocals, inviting you to her energizing sermons on self-love. The album is a Bible containing sacred verses of confidence and determination that is sure to instill courage in listeners.
February 3, 2022
Primarily recognized as the production wizard behind boy bands like New Edition and New Kids on the Block, Maurice Starr initially started out as a would-be pop sensation in his own right. His brilliant 1980 solo debut was at least several years ahead of its time, packed with synth-heavy jams that found him bridging the glitter disco-soul of the '70s into the electro-hip-hop grooves that would dominate the mid-'80s.
February 2, 2022
Avant-garde composer Conlon Nancarrow demanded the impossible from pianists, and then found a way to achieve it. By cutting player piano rolls, he could write pieces that were beyond the limits of human players in their speed, complexity, and shifts in tempo. This collection of his compositions for the instrument are full of wit, daring, and inspired chaos, and weave jazz, blues, and boogie figures into music that follows no rules other than his own.
February 1, 2022
Previously known as Adventure, the Baltimore-based musician went by his own name for his best album by far, and then he disappeared and hasn't released anything since. The ecstatic, beautiful songs on this brief, imaginative LP bring to mind the halcyon days of IDM while sounding completely fresh and original. Come back, please!