Friday, January 31, 2020

Mighty Diamonds - Get Ready [honorable mention]

:-) [One of those albums that sounds pretty fine each time you play it, but nothing sticks; and then you keep noticing the '80s synths. Really # [dancehall] anyway.]

Dave - Psychodrama: 3.5 stars


UK rap. Not paying import prices. The last 3 songs drag on.

Judee Sill - Heart Food: 3.5 stars


People are charging way too much for this used. Otherwise unavailable new, other than as part of a two-CD set with her first album (Abracadabra) and a bunch of garbage padding. Rhino two-CD sets are similarly too much of a good thing. Never realized that Liz Phair got her whole shtick from somewhere though. Still love her, but she's nowhere near the original I once thought she was.

Judee Sill - Judee Sill

:-| ["Jesus Was a Cross Maker" is a great song, and "My Man of Love" is very good. I originally thought they should pick the best songs off both her albums and make a shorter single disc greatest hits, even though both in their entirety would fit on a single CD. But these are really the only two good songs on here.]

Oumar Konate - Love You Inna [honorable mention]

:-) [Could be 7 (B+), but not paying import prices (even though it’s not an import) for standard Malian guitar rock - which is getting a little repetitive anyway.] [4 listens]

Slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain [honorable mention]

:-) (could be 7 (B+), but not paying import prices for # [grime] anyway)

Youssou N'Dour et Le Super Etoile - Lii!: 3.5 stars


Could be A minus, but completely unavailable at non-astronomical prices, as you might guess from the limited image.

Jealous of the Birds - Wisdom Teeth [honorable mention]

:-)

100 gecs - 1000 gecs [honorable mention]


# [electronic] (Also, 23 minutes long, an EP in my book no matter how many tracks, and full-priced) [5 listens] [Downgraded from 7 (B+) on 5th listen - but I'll keep the cover to avoid confusion. What do people hear in this?]

Kalie Shorr - Open Book: 7.5 (high B+)


Could be an A-, but digital only anyway.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Donna Summer - The Wanderer: 7.5 (high B+)


# [r&b]

L7 - Scatter the Rats [honorable mention]

:-)

Transplants - In a War Zone [honorable mention]

:-)

Jon Hassell - Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism: 7 (B+)


Only on expensive used vinyl, plus a first generation CD (not a transfer, it's from 1983) that sells for ridiculous prices. His works put out on the same label even just a couple years later are still easily available, but not this one. I'll buy the vinyl if I ever see a reasonably priced one, but I'm not going to go searching for it.

BaianaSystem - BaianaSystem: 4 stars


Another very worthy album that is not for sale.

Kwi Bamba & L’Orchestre de Gama Berema - Kwi Bamba & L’Orchestre de Gama Berema: 3.5 stars


LP/digital only.

Star Band de Dakar - Psicodelia Afro​-​Cubana de Senegal: 3.5 stars


Digital only.

New Order - Republic [honorable mention]

:-) [See my review of Music Complete]

[Wolfgang] Riechmann - Wunderbar: 7 (B+)


# [krautrock]

Jody Harris / Robert Quine - Escape [honorable mention]

:-)

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Various Artists - Dabke: Sounds of the Syrian Houran: 7 (B+)


# [dabke] But I bought it and will be keeping it, especially given that Christgau put it on his 25 best of 2010s list. Especially unusual because I bought it online in vinyl, when I thought I was buying a CD. So I've got it in sealed vinyl.

Charly Bliss - Young Enough [honorable mention]

:-)

Friday, January 10, 2020

Thelonious Monk - It's Monk's Time [honorable mention]

:-)

Joe Cocker - Joe Cocker's Greatest Hits [honorable mention]

:-)

Backstreet Boys - Backstreet Boys

:-|

J.J. Cale - Special Edition: 3.5 stars


# [folk]

New Order - Music Complete [honorable mention]

:-) [About half of this is B plus and half is neutral at best - averages out to honorable mention. A couple A minus songs. This and then Republic are the worst user-rated New Order albums on Allmusic, and I have to agree completely.]

Phil Alvin - Un "Sung Stories"

:-|

BaianaSystem - O Futuro Nao Demora: 4 stars


Great band, with all great albums. They should release them in physical form.

Dave Alvin - Blackjack David [honorable mention]

:-)

Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore - Downey to Lubbock [honorable mention]

:-)

The Who - Who

:-|

Franco & Son T.P.O.K. Jazz ‎– 3eme Anniversaire De La Mort Du Grand-Maitre Yorgho: 4 stars


Vinyl only way too expensive.

Franco & Son T.P.O.K. Jazz ‎– Ekaba-Kaba (Yo Moko Okabeli Ngai Ye Oh) [honorable mention]

:-)

Psychic TV - Allegory and Self: 3.5 stars


# [industrial] Not sure why I chose this particular one. Must have seen it on some list or other. [Actually credited to Psychick TV]

Donna Summer - She Works Hard for the Money [honorable mention]

:-)

Rush - Permanent Waves: 4.5 stars


Rush - Moving Pictures: 4.5 stars


I like this one a hair better than Permanent Waves, but not enough to give it 5 stars.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge [honorable mention]

:-)

The Close Readers - Group Hug [honorable mention]

:-)

Kid Cudi - Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven: 3.5 stars


Over-priced because it's padded out to a double CD with a second disc of trash. Otherwise I would buy it.

Jerry Garcia - Garcia: 3.5 stars


See review for Weir's Ace. Same reasoning applies, although I like this one better and it might even be an A minus.

Holger Czukay - Movies

:-|

Superchunk - Foolish

:-|

Superchunk - No Pocky for Kitty

:-|

The xx - I See You

:-|

Thelonious Monk - The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall [honorable mention]

:-) [five listens] [Interesting dichotomy: Moon gives this an A+ (his only one for Monk) and Christgau just utterly dismisses it as "underrehearsed," saying he is "not a fan."]

Stephen Malkmus - batch review

I stopped paying much attention after the first couple albums, but have now caught up. All of these are honorable mention:

Face the Truth
Real Emotional Trash
Mirror Traffic
Wig Out at Jagbags
Sparkle Hard
Groove Denied
Traditional Techniques

I continue to believe that Scott Kannberg was the true genius in Pavement.

Tinariwen - Elwan [honorable mention]

:-) [Many of the songs are just too slow.]

Burial - Burial [honorable mention]

:-) [Might be a 7 (B+) but it's an # [import] anyway.]

Cloud Nothings - Cloud Nothings [honorable mention]

:-)

Robert Ashley - Perfect Lives (Private Parts): The Bar: 4 stars


Leonard Cohen - Thanks for the Dance: 3.5 stars


Saturday, January 4, 2020

2020 Single Listens (unless otherwise noted)

Robert Ashley - Automatic Writing
Africa Negra - Alia Cu Omali
Kiss - Music from "The Elder" [two listens, surprisingly]
Mamadou Kelly - Les Bateaux
Houssam Gania - Mosawi Swiri
Rich Gang - Tha Tour Pt. 1
Various Artists - Kinshasa 78 (didn’t listen to all of the “reconstruction” disc)
Sault - 5
Sault - 7
Ekiti Sound - Abeg No Vex
A-Wa - Bayti Fi Rasi
Mal Blum - Pity Boy
Mr Eazi - Life is Eazi, Vol. 2: Lagos to London
Popul Vuh - Nosferatu
Ballake Sissoko & Baba Sissoko - Sissoko & Sissoko [two listens]
Vortex - Special Request
Nils Frahm - Spaces [neo-classical/new age piano music]
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky: The Best of ... [few tracks I could find - really not for me]
Laurie Spiegel - Unseen Worlds
Mike Oldfield - The Songs of Distant Earth
Rupa - Disco Jazz
Caterina Barbieri - Ecstatic Computation
Hayes Carll - What It Is
Mdou Moctar - Blue Stage Session
Kel Assouf - Black Tenere
K.A.A.N. - Subtle Meditations
Add-2 - Jim Crow: The Musical
Murs - The Iliad Is Dead and the Odyssey Is Over
Syran M'Benza [Mbenza] - Kouame [pretty terrible recording] [two listens]
Ramones - Loco Live
Various Artists - Soukouss Vibration Volume 2
Bruce Hornsby and the Range - The Way It Is
King Krule - Man Alive!
Various Artists - Bibi Den's Tshibayi "The Best Ambiance"
The Dust Brothers - Fight Club Original Motion Picture Score
Asap Rocky - At Long Last Asap
Carlene Carter - Little Love Letters
Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake
Faraon Bantu & Champetaman - Pantera Picotera en la Cuidad de las Piramides
Snotty Nose Rez Kids - Trapline
Randy Newman - The Natural (soundtrack)
The Grateful Dead - Sunshine Daydream: Veneta, OR, August 27th, 1972
The Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol. 3 [Pembroke Pines, FL, 5/77]
The Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol. 8 [Binghamton, NY, 5/70; two listens]
The Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol. 14 [Boston, 11-12/73] [worst live Dead I've heard]
The Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol. 18 [2/78] [Dead at their noodly, overlong worst]
The Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol. 29 [Atlanta, GA & Lakeland, FL 5/77] [two listens]
The Grateful Dead - Dave's Picks Vol. 1 [Richmond, VA 5/77]
The Grateful Dead - Winterland 6/9/77
The Grateful Dead - Alabama 5/17/77
The Grateful Dead - Veterans' Memorial Coliseum 5/5/77
The Grateful Dead - Madison Square Garden 9/18/87
The Grateful Dead - Red Rocks: 7/8/78
The Grateful Dead - History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 (Bear's Choice)
The Grateful Dead - To Terrapin: Hartford '77 [two listens]
The Grateful Dead - June 1976 [Each of five "Listening Parties" on dead.net (one per show)]
The Grateful Dead - Go to Nassau [5/15-16/80; terrible]
The Grateful Dead - Download Series Vol. 1: Palladium, New York, NY 4/30/77
The Grateful Dead - Saint of Circumstance [Giants Stadium, 6/17/91. Tinkly keyboards.]
Sonic Youth - Blastic Scene (Live in Lisbon 1993)
Sonic Youth - Live At Cabaret Metro Chicago, IL 2002
Y Pants - Beat It Down [played single "That's the Way Boys Are" three times - difficult]
Moby - All Visible Objects
Drakeo the Ruler - Thank You For Using GTL
Fun Lovin' Criminals - Another Mimosa
Khruangbin - Con Todo El Mundo
Errol Dunkley - Darling Ooh
Various Artists - Pure Moods [1997; 17-track version]
Harold Budd - Pavilion of Dreams
Keleketla! - Keleketla!
Siti Muharam - Siti of Unguja (Romance Revolution On Zanzibar)
Brian Eno - The Shutov Assembly
Brian Eno - January 07003: Bell Studies for the Clock of the Long Now
Busdriver - Perfect Hair
The Stooges - Live at Goose Lake: August 8th, 1970
The Heliocentrics - Infinity of Now
Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Keyboard Fantasies
Various Artists - Pimpin' in Mellow [Mike D mixtape from PB era]
Bobby Whitlock - Bobby Whitlock
Ebo Taylor - Palaver
Manu Chao - Radio Bemba Sound System
Various Artists - Daora: Underground Sounds of Urban Brasil
Soft Machine - Third
Biyolo Le Grand - Dans Salubrite
Ngatamaare - Ngalu Fouta
The Isley Brothers - The Isleys Live
The Isley Brothers - It's Your Thing: The Story of [De trop 3 CD best of; no way >B+]
Serengeti - The Gentle Fall
Luciano - One Way Ticket
The Cables - What Kind of World
Delroy Wilson - Good All Over
Various Artists - Harder Shade of Black
Various Artists - Rebel Music: A Reggae Anthology
Yabby You - Meets Mad Professor & Black Steel
Yabby You & The Prophets - Beware Dub: An expanded version of the classic album
Ras Allah [Prince Alla] - Heaven Is My Roof [no one told him he was out of tune?]
Tetrack - Let's Get Started
Mikey Dread - African Anthem: The Mikey Dread Show Dubwise
Baby Queen - Medicine [EP]
Various Artists - This Is Trojan Dub
Mr. Lif & Brass Menazeri - Resilient [rap and Balkan brass - nice idea]
Maalem Mahmoud Gania - Aicha
Various Artists - Guasa, Cununo y Marimba
Qwanqwa - Volume 3
Culture - Culture in Dub [1978] [two listens]
Amaarae - The Angel You Don't Know
Various Artists - From the Grass Roots of Jamaica
Papa Wemba et Strervos Niarcos - dans Champs-Elysees: Firenze
Blu & Exile - Miles [way overstays its welcome - goes on and on and on]
Joe Strummer - Assembly [greatest solo hits]

Rick Danko - Rick Danko [honorable mention]

:-) [Might be a low B plus, but it's impossible to find so I'm not sweating the distinction.]

Sudan Archives - Athena: 7 (B+)


# [electronica? R&B?]