Album of the Week

I’ve been listening to and loving Sharon Van Etten’s music since I first heard Tramp in 2012. I’ve been following each new release with relish, while digging into her back catalog with equal delight.

“A record existing disconnected from the daily getyadowns, a holiday from life, optimism as resistance against mundanity, something extraordinary amongst the ordinary, positively grey.”

Imagine one of those competition TV shows, but instead of dancing or singing with a costume, contestants have to make music with all manner of things that aren’t normally used to make music.

Ex:Re with 12 Ensemble is a collaboration between Elena Tonra, the lead singer of Daughter, classical composer Josephine Stephenson, and the 12-piece string orchestra, 12 Ensemble, setting Tora’s Ex:Re debut solo album to strings.

Maybe I’m getting old. Maybe I’m getting young.

1950s Country & Western by way of Zimbabwe, Kenya, and South Africa.

Pharoah Sanders. I don’t know about you, but when I hear his name, my mind immediately wanders all over the decades of mind-blowing, spirit-enriching music that Pharoah Sanders has given us. Its the stuff of legend. As Albert Ayler said, “Trane was the Father, Pharoah […]

: a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction

I dropped in on A Winged Victory for the Sullen for their self-titled debut album back in 2011 and keep a lookout for anything new. Like a hawk.

Nick Cave describes Carnage, his new album with soundtrack, Bad Seed, and Grinderman collaborator Warren Ellis thusly — a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe.

I’m breaking with tradition, once again, covering a record that isn’t exactly new. Maybe it’s new to you, it was new to me when I first heard it, which is really more to the point of Album of the Week.

Guitarist Calvin Keys’ debut outing as leader, Shawn-Neeq, was originally released in 1971 on Black Jazz Records and we have Real Gone Music to thank for a brand spanking new vinyl reissue.

Where’s the outrage? Where’s the rage?

Sometimes straight ahead soul is all you need.

Some Fridays are easier than others.