Pépé Kallé - Larger Than Life: 3.5 stars

Another one with ridiculously over-priced physicals. I need to change my listening habits.

Bob Weir - Ace: 7 (B+)

Might be an 8 (A-). I would get the remastered 2005 CD on Rhino if I could find it for a reasonable price. The 1972 LP is also hard to find for a reasonable price. Finally, the 2023 remastered "50th Anniversary" release comes padded with a second disc containing a recent live replaying.

Bon Iver - 22, A Million

:-|

Kaytranada - 99.9%

😑

The Silos - Cuba: 3.5 stars

Yaa-Lengi Ngemi - Oh, Miziki: 3.5 stars

 

Hawkwind - Quark Strangeness and Charm: 7.5 (high B+)

I'd listen to Space Ritual too if it were streamable. #imports

Miles Davis - In Concert: 4 stars

I like this one a lot, but with greedy sellers asking for ridiculous prices on the 1997 remastered CD, and his estate only selling it in digital format, I'm going to skip adding it to the collection. Plus, there is too much other great double live electric Miles to fret over this one.

Eek-A-Mouse - Wa-Do-Dem [liked]

:-) [5 listens, because it seems to be the one most people think is his best]

David Bowie - Stage: 7 (B+)

 

Regarding live Bowie, I also gave Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture Soundtrack a listen or two (and watched the movie) and stopped at that. I still have to finish evaluating Live Santa Monica '72, because I feel like some live Bowie from his heyday is probably called for. Not going to bother with David Live. #live

Various Artists - Epic AF: 3.5 stars

Virtual album or something. Kind of like a playlist, but good.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree: 4 stars

Way upgraded from neutral after my brother-in-law convinced me to listen yet again.

The Peter Brotzmann Octet - Machine Gun: 4 stars

 

My wife brilliantly described this as sounding like "some kind of machine malfunctioning." Sounds like a compliment to me. I streamed this only, because physicals are sold for extortionate prices.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - In Step: 7 (B+)

 

#blues (although I think I later got this as part of a box set)

The Beautiful South - Welcome to the Beautiful South: 7 (B+)

#indiepop

Royal Crescent Mob - Land of Sugar [EP]: 7 (B+)

Way too expensive used. I could try to buy it as part of SNOB, but I don’t want the extra live tracks, single, and alternate version (see separate review of that album). The whole point is that this is a mini-album.

The Housemartins - The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death: 7 (B+)

#indiepop

The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4: 7.5 (high B+)

Four listens. #indiepop

Solange - A Seat at the Table

😑

Paris - Pistol Politics

:-| [To me, 2010s Christgau has become to hip hop what 1980s Christgau was to R&B: over-inclusive and occasionally out of touch. This album is hugely repetitive.]

Atmosphere - Fishing Blues: 3.5 stars

Another solid effort.

Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygène

😑

Rodney K. Wood - Goodbye, my friend

I always got strength just from knowing that you were out there. I am glad that you are finally at peace wherever you are. Thank you for befriending me in that sunny hallway in Topliff Hall, on that fall day of the first football game of our freshman year. The world seemed full of nothing but beauty, light, and possibility, for the first time in my life. Everyone else had gone back to the game after gathering around a keg in that hallway during halftime, but you and I remained, alone and joyful together, both realizing we had found that rarest of gifts, a friend for life, and beyond. I'll rejoin you soon, my friend, wherever you are!

De La Soul - and the Anonymous Nobody ...

😑

Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression

:-|

Eliot Sumner - Information

:-|

Pretenders - Learning to Crawl: 8 (A-)

Chimurenga Renaissance - Rize Vadzimu Rize: 7 (B+)

Vinyl-only