More of the Best Music You May Have Missed
t has been six months since the last installment of this ongoing blog, and the world is a very different place. Between Brexit and the US elections, it's safe to say that everyone could do with a little tension relief right about now. For me, music has always been exactly what the doctor ordered during times like these. Great art has the power to heal wounds, fire us up and refresh our entire perspective. It's in that spirit that I offer a collection of new music that might have gotten lost in the Sturm und Drang of 2016. If you read the criteria for my previous selections, you'll understand why this is a fairly short list of recordings and that it is not intended to be a complete survey of all the great music released during the past 12 months. I've been careful to recommend material that's not only well recorded but also rewards repeated listening. So, sit back, pour your favorite drink and enjoy some of this year's good stuff. I'll be back in 2017 with another round. Lucy Dacus • No Burden
The utter transparency, space and weight captured on this recording put a number of high-budget rock releases to shame. The strikingly realistic quality of bass, drum and guitar tracks on cuts like "Direct Address" prove that newbie producer/engineer Colin Pastore is a natural behind the console and has a gift for microphone placement. It also can't hurt that rock-mastering legend Alan Douches was in charge of final touches. Creative forces like Lucy Dacus usually flash brightly and then quickly fade away. I'm hoping she'll beat the odds and produce another stunner when she returns to the studio. The next one might take her a whole two days to make. Carl Broemel • 4th of July
The Brad Mehldau Trio •Blues and Ballads
If all of this beauty weren't enough, Blues and Ballads is an utterly luscious recording. Microphone placement perfectly captures the entire tonal pallet of Mehldau's Steinway and careful engineering allows Ballard and Grenadier's interplay to gracefully weave in and around Mehldau's fluid melody lines. Blues and Ballads is easily one of the trio's best recordings, even after more than 20 years working together, and definitely one of the truly great jazz releases of this decade. John Prine • For Better or Worse
Imarhan • Imarhan
The sound quality of this disc is rich and dynamic; I can find no fault with the live, yet intimate production style that comes courtesy of Tuareg rock legend Eyadou Ag Leche of the Mali-based band Tinariwen. Imarhan's thrilling debut earns a place next to masterpieces like Habib Koite' and Eric Bibb's Brothers in Bamako [Stony Plain SPCD 1362] and Tinariwen's Tassili [Anti- 87148-2] as one of the very-best-recorded world-music albums I own. The Handsome Family • Unseen
Phronesis • Parallax
As for the recording, it was completed in one day at
London's Abbey Road Studios and sounds as live as anything I've ever heard on CD. I
suspect that there's even more detail and joy to be found beyond the limits of my room and
speakers. I'd love to hear the thundering drum and bass lines and crystal-clear piano
tones of these musical magicians through some statement speakers like the Wilson WAMM MCs in a reference-quality listening space. Get this album
if you're a fan of progressive jazz and turn it up, way up. |
Something tells me this won't be
the last time you read the name Lucy Dacus. I've been wrong before, but this 21-year-old
songwriting bandleader from Richmond, Virginia, simply crushes most of the indie-rock
competition this year. While everybody is justifiably buzzed about Car Seat Headrest's
Will Toledo, Lucy Dacus is over in her corner launching power ballads like "Strange
Torpedo." The song's jangly, rock-steady guitar work serves as a solid
backbone, while her voice warbles and wobbles up and down and in unexpected melodic
directions. That unpredictability is what makes her songs deadly. The vibes of Sharon Van
Etten and Angel Olsen will come to mind, but such comparisons don't do justice to the
stunning songcraft and phrasing that are uniquely Dacus. Sure, there are tinges of the
Velvet Underground and early Nirvana throughout the record, but Dacus manages to make all
the usual indie flavors taste fresh again. When you listen to cinematically arranged songs
like "Map On a Wall," remember this: Dacus recorded the entire album in ten
hours with a band she'd thrown together days before the session. That takes guts and serious
talent.
If you haven't followed the
trajectory of legendary alt rockers My Morning Jacket, you can be forgiven for not knowing
about Carl Broemel. He has been the band's guitarist since 2005 and has carved out a cult
following among guitar enthusiasts for his fingerboard gymnastics and fiery live sets at
festivals like Bonnaroo. Were it not for My Morning Jacket, I imagine Broemel would have
no shortage of work as a session musician. Whether it's the neo-psychedelic swirls of the
album's title track or the Chet Atkins-style acoustic runs of "Crawlspace,"
Broemel's work is economical in the best sense of the word: he never uses six notes when
three emotionally compelling ones will do. Broemel enlists the help of friends like Neko
Case and Laura Viers on this outing and gives production duties to blues guitarist Teddy
Morgan. The result is a well-balanced, natural sound. While decidedly less experimental
than My Morning Jacket's collective work, this second solo effort by Broemel is just as
rewarding. Think of Broemel's music as the friendly McCartney-esque yin to MMJ founder Jim
James' more cerebral John Lennon yang. In fact, I was struck several times by how much
this album reminds me of McCartney's first whimsical solo album. Add to that the kind of
subversive charm of Harry Nilsson's early-'70s work and you have an album that, I predict,
you'll find yourself returning to like a set of comfortable weekend clothes.
The Brad Mehldau
Trio requires no introduction to modern jazz fans, but the group's latest release deserves
an even wider audience. For anyone who loves the piano, Mehldau's performance on this disc
is a master class in subtlety, intonation and interpretation. In the hands of Mehldau and
his trio, Buddy Johnson's "Since I Fell for You" distills all the flavors of New
Orleans jazz, deep Delta blues and the Great Southern Songbook into a smooth glass of aged
bourbon meant to be sipped at the end of the day while watching a sunset on the meandering
Mississippi. This is the kind of rare music that both soothes and inspires. I suspect
Debussy fans will be impressed. Like cutting-edge sous chefs, drummer Jeff Ballard and
bassist Larry Grenadier help Mehldau deconstruct and then wonderfully reassemble familiar
musical structures that in the hands of lesser musicians would become repetitive and
bland. During Cole Porter's "I Concentrate on You," the trio tease out a Latin
lilt that I'd never noticed in this torch-song standard. Mehldau is one of the finest
interpreters of other people's music currently working in the jazz vernacular. While there
isn't anything here as boundary-pushing as his famous reinventions of Radiohead melodies,
Mehldau does manage a wonderfully contemplative and complex rendition of Lennon &
McCartney's "And I Love Her."
I was first introduced to John
Prine many years ago when my super-cool uncle gave me Prine's first album for my 14th
birthday. Even at that tender age, I could tell Prine was somebody special, and I
proceeded to wear that album out, quite literally. The intervening years haven't
dissipated Prine's powers, even if bouts of neck and lung cancer have put some warble and
gravel in the friendly voice you'll hear on his 22nd album. While this follows the same
approach as 1999's In Spite of Ourselves [Ulftone UTCD 008], Prine's first
album of duets, I prefer For Better or Worse because the material is just as strong
and the recording quality is not only better than on the first release, this time around
it's downright flawless. Whether it's the hilarious "Who'll Take the Garbage
Out" with Iris Dement or the disarming "Falling in Love Again" with Alison
Krauss, the vocals of Prine and his illustrious partners are more warmly and intimately
presented. Every instrument is fully present, resonant and perfectly placed within the
mix. Recorded at Allentown Studios in Nashville with Jim Rooney at the helm, the sessions
sound like they were captured on the very best 1960s analog equipment. A crack team of
Nashville session musicians along with Prine's always-clever touch make this a must-own
disc for anyone who loves classic songcraft and singers who know how to sell a song.
If you're not familiar with Saharan Desert
rock yet, the band Imarhan would be a great place to get your feet dusty. If there were
any justice, this ensemble of young, leather-clad Tuareg musicians from Northern Algeria
would be the talk of Paris in much the same way Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley were in 1970s
London. Imarhan's bass-heavy, raga-like music is perfect for the dance hall and ripe for
all kinds of EDM remixes. The primary obstacle is that Imarhan's infectious, syncopated
songs are sung in Tamarshek, the group's native tongue. But if you're the kind of person
who can let a music's spirit sweep over you, I predict the band's eponymous album will
have your hips and feet moving before the second track is over. The thundering bass,
cavernous kick drum, and haunting vocals make Imarhan's music both seductive and hypnotic.
When listening to these songs, it's easy to believe that the pentatonic melodies within
them are the likely taproot of what later became the American blues. Like a loping camel
ride through the desert, the rollicking rhythms of the track "Tasha Tadagh"
start the record's journey through the culture and landscape of Northwest Africa.
Interspersed along the way are contemplative dirges like "Ibas Ickikkou" that
bring you back to the warm and welcome evening campfire.
Fans of the HBO series True
Detective will immediately recognize the mournful baritone of Brett Sparks, who, along
with his wife, Rennie, founded The Handsome Family and were responsible for the series'
haunting theme song. Those sweeping, cinematic spaces and mystical lyrics continue on this
album, the group's tenth. The disc's opener, "Gold," starts with a twangy
Fender-guitar run and a choir of singers worthy of Ennio Morricone, followed by this
strikingly visual line sung by a dying thief: "Got a tattoo of a snake and a ski mask
on my face, but I woke up in a ditch behind the Stop 'n Go." Like a great Robert
Altman film or an Elmore Leonard novel, "Unseen" is a collection of gritty,
broken characters who are longing for something better and more meaningful. The musical
setting is very much the Southwest, where the Sparks currently live. You can almost see
the tumbleweeds blowing and hear the coyotes howling as echoey steel guitars and driving
bass lines underscore the pathos of each song's quirky narrative. Given the wide-open
spaces and expansive sound of the album, I was surprised to learn that it was recorded
entirely in the Sparks' home studio. Unseen is yet another example of how
independent musicians are painting sonic landscapes that make many big-budget studio
releases sound flat and one-dimensional. That's a trend worth supporting.
One of my favorite jazz albums
of the last ten years is Walking Dark [