Circle X - The Ivory Tower: 7 (B+)

# [limited edition; experimental]

Little Roy - Tafari Earth Uprising: 7.5 (high B+)

# [comp]

Cat Power - Moon Pix [liked]

:-) [I had this at one point, but I'm pretty sure I sold it off before starting this blog. I'll keep the album cover up though, since I did have it, and my grade could easily switch to 7 (B+). It really hovers between those two, and some people really love it.]

Johnny Cash - Songwriter: 7 (B+)

# [country]

Kieran Hebden [Four Tet] and Steve Reid - The Exchange Session Vol. 1: 7.5 (high B+)

# [live; electronic]

Toots & The Maytals: Pass the Pipe: 7 (B+)

Out of print and prices used as if it were a lost treasure, instead of this grade. So I won’t be on the lookout for reasonably-priced copies.

Material - Seven Souls: 7 (B+)

# [experimental]

Peter and the Test Tube Babies - Peter and the Test Tube Babies: 7 (B+)

Originally issued as the import-only Soberphobia, and this US-issued, self-titled version is prohibitively expensive used and was only reissued on remastered CDr, also unavailable for reasonable prices. At this grade, I will not be keeping an eye out for reasonably-priced copies.

Tucker Zimmerman - Ten Songs: 7 (B+)

# [folk/folk rock]

Halsey – Love and Power EP: Love [EP] [liked]

:-)

White Denim - Takes Place in Your Work Space [EP] [liked]

:-)

The Mountain Goats - New Asian Cinema [EP] [liked]

:-)

Happy Mondays - Rave On [EP] [liked]

:-)

Mk.gee - Two Star & the Dream Police [liked]

:-)

Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk: 7 (B+)

# [indie pop]

Margaret Glaspy - The Sun Doesn't Think [EP] [liked]

:-)

Massive Attack - 100th Window [liked]

:-)

Peter and the Test Tube Babies -The $hit Factory [liked]

:-)

Body Meta - Prayer in Dub: 7.5 (high B+)

# [jazz; experimental]

Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch [liked]

:-)

Orchestre Les Volcans Du Benin - Vol. 1: 7.5 (high B+)

# [Afro-Cuban] Vinyl-only reissue of 1980 release anyway, with original vinyl being ultra-rare and expensive.

I-Roy - Hell and Sorrow [liked]

:-)

Bopol Mansiamina - Innovation: 8.5 (high A-)

Early '90s Parisian soukous at its finest.

Julee Cruise - Floating into the Night

:-|

Daryl Johns - Daryl Johns [liked]

:-)

The Waterboys - This Is the Sea

:-|

Circle X - Celestial [liked]

:-) [Docked a notch for bloat. Could definitely have left off the last two tracks, and shortened the 2 other 7+ minute songs by a couple minutes each. That would have made it a 7 (B+) for me.]

Ornette Coleman - Chappaqua Suite: X stars

# [orchestral free jazz] Listened to this because the reviewer in the Spin guide gave it a 9 out of 10. Wife hates it.

Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers - Izigqinamba: 7.5 (high B+)

# [ampiano/gqom] Vinyl-only anyway

Previous Industries [Open Mike Eagle/Video Dave/Still Rift] - Service Merchandise

:-( [Terrible. Such pretentious enunciation. Sounds like a bunch of boring old men with nothing to say desperately trying to sound "hip" and "different" with their flow. And it's "aperture" not "aperature."]

Wussy - Cellar Door [EP] [liked]

:-) [Limited edition]

Wussy - The Great Divide [EP] [liked]

:-) [Limited edition]

The Royal Rasses - Humanity [liked]

:-) [Featuring Prince Lincoln Thompson]

Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness [liked]

:-)

Aretha Franklin - Who's Zoomin' Who?: 8 (A-)

The Stylistics - Let's Put It All Together [liked]

:-) [I think I did this one because it was on some list of the best albums of 1974]

Purchased, but not necessarily shelved or graded yet [some have provisional grades] 2025

List made in 2025, but purchases could have been made many years ago ... decades, a half a century, even:

Pepe Kalle and Rochereau - Lisanga Ya "Banganga" [a/k/a "Feu d'Artifice"] [8.5 (high A-)]

Rosali - Bite Down [8.5 (high a-)]
Social Distortion - Social Distortion [7 (B+)]

Dennis Brown - Brown Sugar [liked]

:-)

Amen Dunes - Death Jokes II

:-(

Aretha Franklin - A Rose Is Still a Rose: 7.5 (high B+)

# [r&b] [De-shelved in 2022]

Aretha Franklin - Greatest Hits (1980-1994): 7.5 (high B+)

# [comp; r&b] [De-shelved in 2022]

At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command: 8 (A-)

At the Drive-In - Vaya [EP]: 8 (A-)

Aretha Franklin - 30 Greatest Hits: X Stars

Of course this is a classic, and everyone must have this and be familiar with it. Apparently, this has never been remastered since 1986 domestically, so I still have the old fatbox on the shelves.

Fake Fruit - Mucho Mistrust: 7.5 (high B+)

# [indie pop]

White Denim - Let's Talk About It [EP]: 8 (A-)

Grade is for the 5-song version on Spotify, which I can't seem to find in physical. In fact, all physicals appear to be promos or vinyl limited editions? Weird.

Orchestra Baobab - batch review/placeholder

I have several Baobab releases. On the final listen shelf (ie, had at least 3 listens already but need one final one before being graded and shelved) are the following, all with provisional grades of 8 (A-):

N'Wolof

La Belle Epoque: Volume 2 1973-1976

Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng

Already shelved, which means they got at least 4 listens and were shelved prior to me starting to formally grade albums, are the following, which I will grade if I ever play them again (but they are clearly at least 7 (B+) or I would not have shelved them):

On Verra Ca

Pirates Choice

Made in Dakar

And I have the following two albums lying around, which I have heard less than 3 times and will eventually get around to hearing some more:

African Classics (also called Classic Titles, and on AllMusic as African Nights for some reason)

A Night at Club Baobab

And finally, on my listening list for some day is Roots and Fruit. [AllMusic also has a Volume 3 for the La Belle Epoque series, which is also on Discogs, as a digital release. This is just the second disc of the 2-disc Volume 2.]

Orchestra Baobab - Bamba: 8 (A-)

This contains most of the below two albums, which I will not grade separately. Each album has 6 tracks, and this one contains in each case 5 of the 6 tracks. The album titles are Mouhamadou Bamba and Viva Bawobab S1 / Si Bou Odja, or something like that in the latter case. It is sometimes listed as Sibou Odia and is credited to "Baobab Gouye-Gui De Dakar." Actually, I think the first one is credited to the same, with an extra hyphen. I did listen to the 2 deleted tracks thrice each.

Mouhamadou Bamba

Viva Bawobab S1 / Si Bou Odja

Kool Keith - El Dorado Driven: 7 (B+)

# [import (Canada)] Presented by "Teddy Bass." Sounds like Keith's electro move. Besides being an import, and priced as such, this was also issued in a cardboard sleeve. I refuse to buy those.

Material - Temporary Music (1979-1981): 8 (A-)

This grade is for the "expanded edition," with the first two Temporary Music EPs and 4 extra tracks from 2 of their singles -- "Ciquri"/"Detached" (with Robert Quine on guitar) and "Discourse"/"Slow Murder." Also released as Secret Life. I have this as part of a 3-disc reissue with One Down and SXL's Into the Outlands.

Radiohead - Drill [EP]

:-| [3 songs rerecorded for Pablo Honey]

Saccharine Trust - Paganicons [EP] [liked]

:-)

Been Stellar - Scream from New York, NY [liked]

:-)

Honor Role - Album: 7.5 (high B+)

# [comp] [Docked a notch for bloat]

Catalog Scrubs Complete 2025

Little Roy

I-Roy

Popul Vuh

Amen Dunes

At the Drive-In/Mars Volta/Sparta

Aretha Franklin

Orchestra Baobab

Saccharine Trust

Mars

Circle X

Circle X - Circle X [EP]: 7 (B+)

Never reissued on remastered CD, and original vinyl sells for too much.

2025 Single Listens (unless otherwise noted)

Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal

Zapsign Deebo - The Yeoville Papyrus

Plastikman [Richie Hawtin] - Musik

DJ Krush - Meiso

Messiah in Glytch - Geisha in the Machine

The Bug Club - On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System