Staff Picks for November 2018
November 30, 2018
Stronger than the average folk/black metal hybrid, Moonsorrow's two-song Havitetty can be effective either as an engrossing, focused listen or as effective background music. Its pair of half-hour songs never rush to reach their cathartic peaks, taking auditory detours featuring a Jew's harp, stoic chanting, and even a crackling campfire en route to their inevitable eruptions.
November 29, 2018
Arriving a few months after its predecessor Life Before Fame, the second mixtape from this Savannah, Georgia rapper/vocalist finds him sharpening his approach as the spotlight grows brighter. A precision mix of autotuned vocal hooks and charged flows highlights the young rapper's talents and creates an album where musicality and dark atmospheres take up equal ground.
November 28, 2018
On part six of her 2018 Obsessed covers series, Hall pairs her captivating vocal performances with Radiohead's emotionally devastating original songwriting. The sweeping "High and Dry" and haunting "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" stick close to the originals, while "Exit Music (For a Film)" showcases her range. A solo piano version of "Creep" is a soaring standout, but it's her shiver-inducing rendition of In Rainbows' "Nude" that steals the show.
November 27, 2018
Each a highly gifted and well-respected solo artist in his own right, together they've come up with an album that avoids the normal clichés of building an all-star supergroup. Rather than play a loose set of well-worn standards, the Blue Note All-Stars focus on original compositions that highlight their own maverick, individualist tendencies. Thankfully, they also play wonderfully as an ensemble and are able to zero in on a sound that works for each member as part of the greater whole.
November 26, 2018
The North Carolina band's fifth set of sweet, acoustic-centric indie rock is arguably its most endearing, with tracks like the French- and English-language "Framboise" and the poignant, verbose "Sunny December" among its offerings. None other than R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe can be heard on trumpet throughout the album.
November 25, 2018
Gathering tracks from Brücken's intermittent and highly collaborative career, this is a welcome reminder of the singer's unsung talents, which unlike the acts she influenced -- including Alison Goldfrapp and Róisín Murphy -- never really broke through to the European pop mainstream. With just one solo studio album, the idea of a career retrospective may seem rather redundant, but this wisely opts to include material from the several outfits she has fronted over her career.
November 24, 2018
Taking a lesson from '60s garage punk, the Ottawa trio's seconf album offers up a dozen songs blessed with great melodies, memorable hooks, and lyrics that are cool, witty, and heartfelt all at once.
November 23, 2018
More than a decade after its release, Jam Rostron's electro-glam-classical-hip-hop opera about self-actualization sounds as bold and all-embracing as ever. Have it All's songs offer daring escapes from the ordinary and challenge listeners to be as daring as Planningtorock is.
November 22, 2018
Autumn doldrums are inescapable, which ensures the perennial favorite status of an album like Dummy. Irrepressibly dour, the album sums up innumerable rainy days, rejections, and vanished hopes through 11 exquisite tunes filled with scratching, crackly breakbeats, and inventive samples, all as a backdrop for Beth Gibbons' heartbreaking vocals.
November 21, 2018
Altoist Sonny Criss made some of his finest recordings for Prestige during the mid- to late '60s; I'll Catch the Sun was the seventh and final. This straight-ahead music (featuring Criss with pianist Hampton Hawes, bassist Monty Budwig, and drummer Shelly Manne) is excellent as the altoist performs two blues, two standards (including a passionate "Cry Me a River"), and two forgotten pop tunes from the era.
November 20, 2018
There is a certain static electricity generated in this series of three duets from trumpeter Bowie and drummer/percussionist Wilson. Certainly they feed off each other's energy in counterpointed reverie, but the music goes beyond being merely spontaneous or made up on the spot. The cohesion and musicality they employ is purely delightful and eminently listenable over this 40-minute span.
November 19, 2018
With Sahara, Tyner found a precise "middle ground," more structured than late Coltrane but exploding with a ferocity that made it one of the decade's greatest jazz recordings. None of the other members of his quartet -- Sonny Fortune, Calvin Hill, and Alphonse Mouzon -- ever sounded so liberated as they do here. Tyner develops so much pure energy that one worries about the physical stability of any piano under such an assault.
November 18, 2018
The quintet follow up their debut effort with another batch of authentic interpretations, their own exceptional instrumentation and some strong original compositions. "On the Road Again" -became the combo's first, and arguably, most significant hit. Their love of authentic R&B informs "World in a Jug," the dark "Turpentine Blues," and singer Bob Hite's update of Tommy McClennan's "Whiskey Headed Woman." The Creole anthem "Marie Laveau" is arguably most notable for the driving interaction between guitarists Alan Wilson and Henry Vestine.
November 17, 2018
Intervention Records just reissued Gene Clark's dusky, shimmering White Light on vinyl and SACD, providing an excellent excuse to revisit this singular record. Clark's first solo album -- he released it on the heels of the country-rock collaboration Dillard & Clark -- is very much an early '70s singer/songwriter album, with Clark nodding to Dylan with a cover of "Tears Of Rage." The song provides a touchstone for Clark's clear but intricate songs, which are given a hushed, fluid treatment in a production by Jessie Ed Davis. White Light can comfort but it's not a record to be listened to casually: it's designed for immersion, and Intervention's new edition encourages complete, total absorption.
November 16, 2018
Warren Zevon had been knocking around the music business for a decade when he made his self-titled album in 1976. But while his previous work had only hinted as the strength of his talent, this LP revealed the style that became his hallmark arrived fully formed. The songs are smart, literate, witty, and bitterly cynical, while the music ranges from the orchestrated sophistication of "Desperados Under The Eaves" to the primal punch of "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead."
November 15, 2018
The Motors' sophomore outing found them operating in peak performance mode, doling out in equal measures brawny pub rock classics like "You Beat the Hell Outta Me" and the dynamic new wave pop of "Airport."
November 14, 2018
Filled with kaleidoscopic originality and an iconoclastic point of view, Stew remains one of the finest songwriters to come out of Los Angeles in decades, and this, his sophomore solo album, underlines the fact.
November 13, 2018
Taking a sidestep from his earliest solo efforts into an exploration of his classical training and influences, the predominantly instrumental Academy in Peril steers away from the more grotesque classical/rock fusions at the time to find an unexpectedly happy and often compelling balance between the two sides.
November 12, 2018
Minimalist composer Harold Budd's 1978 collection of patient ambience came with the instructions "This is only pretty. Don't look for any meaning." While possibly intended as an exercise in relaxing tones and pleasant moods, the album is profoundly beautiful and moving regardless of its mission. Along with Marion Brown's understated saxophone, waves of harp, celeste, marimba and vocal choirs buried in the mix result in an album nothing short of heavenly.
November 11, 2018
The Egyptians' invitingly lush 1989 outing improved on its thinly-produced predecessor, Globe of Frogs, weaving together Robyn Hitchcock's complimentary aptitudes for autumnal enchantment and abstract lyricism into the glorious pop of classics like "Madonna of the Wasps" and "One Long Pair of Eyes."
November 10, 2018
After their commercial breakthrough with 1971's Love It To Death, Alice Cooper upped the ante on their grubby majesty with their second album that year, Killer. "Under My Wheels" was one of the group's most muscular rockers, "Halo of Flies" and "Dead Babies" confirmed they'd learned the value of a quality gross-out, and "Desperado" (not an Eagles cover) and the title track are, well, killer. This music appalled parents for all the right reasons, and it still connects.
November 9, 2018
Considering the maturity of the material and the warmth and authority of the performances, it's still a bit surprising to consider that Carole King's 1971 breakthrough Tapestry was only her second solo album. But if years working in the Brill Building had taught King her craft, it was her own wisdom and heart that made songs like "It's Too Late," "So Far Away," and "I Feel The Earth Move" resonate with so many people.
November 7, 2018
Winding down a whirlwind breakthrough year, the English pop vocalist reissued her debut as the Complete Edition, which includes all the b-sides that didn't make it onto the original set, as well as her hit collaborations with Sean Paul, Martin Garrix, Calvin Harris, Silk City, and K-pop girl group BlackPink. One of the best pop albums of 2017 is now revitalized for 2018, just in time for the holiday season.
November 6, 2018
I threw this on without realizing that Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports is a Carla Bley album in disguise. I'm happy it played out that way. Bley is in poppy mode -- whatever that may mean for her -- and that means Fictitious Sports is livelier, wilder and weirder than any Pink Floyd album since the days before Dark Side. It's also funnier, which makes its sharp turns and excesses seem giddy.
November 5, 2018
Squarepusher's debut album is far from his most consistent (not that that's a useful term with this artist), but it does contain some of his absolute best material, as well as perhaps the widest range of emotions on any of his releases. "Tundra" is so devastatingly powerful that I can only listen to it when absolutely necessary, otherwise its impact would be dulled. The fact that this track can exist on the same album as the utterly goofy (but also amazing) "Smedley's Melody" shows how little use Squarepusher has for logic.
November 4, 2018
Before the project officially expanded to a trio, composer/pianist Ryan Lott seemed to perfect his imposing, haunting pseudo-indie electronica over the course of three solo albums, with this being the third. Continuing his practice of manipulating recordings of acoustic instruments, his guests here include members of chamber ensemble yMusic, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, and future bandmate Rafiq Bhatia on guitar. The track "Easy" was covered by Lorde both on tour and on a remix.
November 3, 2018
With 1998's Ft. Lake, His Name is Alive took listeners on an equally bewildering and dazzling tour through new wave, R&B, rockabilly, girl group pop and guitar virtuoso rock. Twenty years later, their fifth album feels like the beginning of the rest of their career, pointing the way toward the sultry grooves of Last Night and the pyrotechnics of Patterns of Light.
November 2, 2018
Imagine the uproar if Pete Seeger showed up on Sesame Street to talk politics with kids in 2018. Although the tots in 1974 didn't cast off their chains and start the revolution or even throw Oscar's trash can through a window, they did politely listen while Seeger and civil rights activist Brother Kirk sang classic folk tunes, paid tribute to Dr. King, and gave a whole generation a new level of anxiety about the world's accumulation of garbage.
November 1, 2018
(Allegedly) released in 1981 as a limited pressing, most fans of Kasvot Växt's í rokk probably never saw a copy of the actual LP. Enough cassettes were circulated to make it mythical within a very small circle among underground rock aficionados. According to legend the music sounded otherworldly, as if Kasvot Växt were aware of art rock, funk, and synthesizers but weren't quite sure how it all fit together. Since myths and whispers were the only concrete evidence that í rokk exists, it's reasonable to assume that it's better for the music to reside in the imagination, since there's little chance that it could live up to the wild tales told about it. Nevertheless, Kasvot Växt's lone album appears to be an obscuro rock record ripe for rediscovery.