Terry Riley - Shri Camel: 7 (B+)

Too expensive to buy used, but # [experimental] anyway.

Shopping - All or Nothing [honorable mention]

 :-)

Ashley McBryde - Never Will: 7.5 (high B+)

 

# [country]

The Chicks - Gaslighter [honorable mention]

 :-)

Lyrics Born & Cutso - Rapp Nite: disliked

 :-(

Sam Hunt - Southside: 7.5 (high B+)

# [country]

Pere Ubu - Worlds in Collision: 7 (B+)

 

Joe Gibbs - African Dub All-Mighty - Chapter 3: 7.5 (high B+)

Seems to be widely regarded as a top five or ten dub album. On the other hand, it appears to be completely unavailable in physical, except for a small fortune. I might buy it with Chapter 4 on a single CD. Update (May 2026): I got the single CD.

Brandy Clark - Your Life Is a Record: 7 (B+)

 

# [country]

Pamelo Mounk'a - Pamelo Mounk'a [Eddy'Son 1983]: 7 (B+)

 

While the whole album rates only a B+, the song "Lucie" rates a 10 (A+). There is no better soukous song in my view (although many equals, obviously). I would buy the album if it were selling for anything approaching a reasonable price, just to have a physical of that song. I will have to settle for just streaming those 8 minutes whenever I want to hear them. I wish I knew who was on lead, but there is no information on the internet that I can find.

Pamelo Mounk'a - L'Incontournable

 

This one contains the album No 1 Africain: Ca Ne Se Prete Pas on Eddy'Son from 1982, plus 5 non-album tracks, each of which I played three times and will not be rating. I will buy a copy of the former though, on the strength of this digital-only comp.

Matt Berninger - Serpentine Prison [honorable mention]

 :-) [Eight or nine listens, but so incredibly mournful that I can hardly take it. Musically definitely an A-, but lyrically such a tremendous bummer that it ends up at honorable mention.]

Sad13 - Slugger

 :-| [Impersonating Liz Phair very, very much.]

Sad13 - Haunted Painting

 :-|

Dream Wife - So When You Gonna... [honorable mention]

 :-)

Osamu Kitajima - Benzaiten: 7 (B+)

# [new age]

Elizabeth Cook - Exodus of Venus: 7.5 (high B+)

 

# [country] Song "Dyin'" almost made me change my mind.

The Prophets [Yabby You] - Conquering Lion [placeholder]

 

All tracks from this are on Jesus Dread 1972-1977. Getting them in this configuration in VG+ or better condition would cost hundreds. On a first listen, there's no way it's worth that. But I will grade Jesus Dread instead.

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue: 7.5 (high B+)

 

Kid Koala - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

 :-|

Iggy Pop - Brick by Brick: liked

Might be a 7 (B+), but I owned it once, and sold it off, so it's hard to call it that, but it's definitely close.

Scientist - Introducing Scientist: 7 (B+)

 

Doesn't appear to ever have been officially issued on CD. Vinyl copies cost a fortune.

Stereolab - Dots and Loops

 :-|

Low Cut Connie - Private Lives: liked

Outstanding track: "Now You Know"

Will Butler - Generations [honorable mention]

 :-)

Sleaford Mods - Key Markets: liked

:-)

Sleaford Mods - Sleaford Mods [EP]: 7.5 (high B+)

 

Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit: liked

:-)

Arto Lindsay/Ambitious Lovers - Envy: 7.5 (high B+)

 

This is some downtown shiznit.

The Morwells - The Best of the Morwells: 9 (A)

 

Ambitious Lovers - Greed: 8.5 (high A-)

 

Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner: 7 (B+)

 

# [electronica]

His Name Is Alive - Mouth by Mouth: 8 (A-)

 

Toots and The Maytals - True Love: 8 (A-)

 

Elizabeth Cook - Aftermath: 7 (B+)

 

# [country]

Yabby You - One Love, One Heart: 8 (A-)

 

Black Thought - Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane and Able [honorable mention]

 :-) [digital only] [standout track: "Fuel"]

King Tubby/Roots Radics - Dangerous Dub: liked

:-)

The Aggrovators - Shalom Dub: liked

:-)

Afghan Whigs - Do to the Beast: 7 (B+)

 

Lou Reed - Berlin: 7 (B+)

 

King Tubby and Friends - Dub Gone Crazy: 8 (A-)

 

I may buy this used if I can find it at a reasonable price. On the other hand, I might buy the tracks as part of The Aggrovators album Dubbing at King Tubby's, which looks like this:

The problem with that approach is that the tracks from Dub Gone Crazy are spread out, and this also contains Dub Gone 2 Crazy and Dub Like Dirt, which are each lesser and lesser. Update: I went this route, because I could get all three albums on one release, sealed, for the same price as a used copy of the first in merely very good condition.

Serengeti - With Greg from Deerhoof: 7 (B+)

 

Vinyl-only

Haim - Women in Music Pt. III: liked

:-)

Lori McKenna - The Balladeer: 7 (B+)

 

#folk/country

Tenor Saw - Fever: 7 (B+)

 

I have mixed feelings about this one. It's a mid-'80s Sly & Robbie backed work, and I enjoyed playing it over and over. On the other hand, none of the songs stick, plus it's basically obscure and hugely out of print. I only played it because it was on Pitchfork's Best 200 albums of the '80s, at #199. I am compromising by calling this a 7 (B+) and not a getting physical, since they are all outrageously expensive. The CD versions of this all come with 8 dub tracks that are merely okay. But I could just as easily give this an 8 (A-). Maybe they'll re-release it one day, for a better value than $25 for a used copy of an unremastered CD.

Kid Koala - 12-bit Blues: 3.5 stars

 

# [turntablism]

The Boswell Sisters - Shout, Sister, Shout!: X (X)

 

Couldn't actually find this on Napster. But in his review, Christgau named the essential songs, and so I created a playlist of just those songs. #oldies

Kehlani - It Was Good Until It Wasn't: 3.5 stars

 

# [R&B]

Hinds - The Prettiest Curse [honorable mention]

 :-)

The Germs - Lexicon Devil [EP]: 7 (B+)

 [cover omitted as offensive]

Looks to be completely unavailable in its original form. Can't tell what he's saying, so the content may be offensive as well.

No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom

 :-|