International Anthem: S/D

This Chicago-based jazz label has been dropping masterpieces at an alarming clip. I went with S/D since most label threads do, but I haven't heard anything that hasn't been worth at least a listen yet. And really only the Damon Locks album hasn't wowed me--and hell, I only listened to that once I should revisit.

Search:
Makaya McCraven (all three I've heard are fantastic, but if you're not sure where to start Universal Being is amazing & beloved on ilm)
Jaimie Branch (I've only heard Fly or Die II, which is great, but I noticed Fly or Die I was one of unperson's best of the 2010s)
Resavoir, s/t (a personal fave)
Junius Paul, Ism (big double album that covers a lot of ground; reminiscent of Universal Being at times but with much more stretching out and less beat-driven)
Angel Bat Dawid

Curious about:
Jeff Parker's stuff. I used to love Parker/Tortoise/Isotope/CUD and love hearing his highly recognizable guitar on UB, but he's been off my radar for at least a decade.
Ben LaMar Gay.
Irreversible Entanglements (also on unperson's list)
basically everything else they've put out

oh yeah: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/

I shouldn't start threads when I'm exhausted; it's Universal Beings (plural)

great label — i loved the Damon Locks album from last year.

ah ok that settles it, I'm going to give that another try right now

Pretty sure everything they put out is good. Angel Bat Dawid is my hero, she is so awesome

https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/angel-bat-dawid-oracle-international-anthem-brothahood-jazz/Content?oid=67155097

ooh will read that later, thanks

um yeah this Damon Locks album rules, and I love Phil Cohran, which this is very much in the vein of, so I don't know what happened last time?

They really do have a pretty amazing catalog. Don't overlook stuff like Hear In Now's Not Living In Fear (a violin-cello-bass trio featuring Mazz Swift, Tomeka Reid and Silvia Bolognesi) and the Nick Mazzarella Trio's Ultraviolet (NM on alto sax, Anton Hatwich on bass, Frank Rosaly on drums).

The new Jeff Parker album is really great. More on this (maybe) when I'm not so tired

Parker's gearing up for a hell of a year. In addition to the new solo disc (which is excellent), he's on a disc with saxophonist Chris Speed and drummer Matt Mayhall (under Mayhall's name) and there's a Chicago Underground Quartet album, their first in 19 years, coming in March.

Haven't heard the new one yet, but I love The New Breed.

I too love The New Breed, and that CUQ album, can't wait for the new stuff.

Yes! This label is taking all of my money. All the Makaya McCraven records are fantastic. I especially like Highly Rare and Where We Come From. The Jaimie Branch record is great too.

Haven't heard the new one yet, but I love The New Breed.

― jaymc, Thursday, January 23, 2020 8:47 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I like almost everything he's done (solo or otherwise) and I think Max Brown is maybe his best work

His Eremite LP--while very different--was also excellent and kinda slept on imo

speaking of which, this
is an excellent review that for me encapsulates this record's greatness (and the kind of thoughtful piece that provides a nice antidote to the stuff in the 'worst music writing' thread)

I haven't had a proper headphone listen yet, but I could swear I heard some beatboxing on one of these tracks. One other observation: "Go Away" has the dopest bassline of the year

The New Breed is my favorite Jeff Parker work and my favorite IA record, can't wait to get into the new one.

All the Makaya records are worth a listen of course, but Universal Beings is the one I go back to.

Not so into jaime branch personally, great bands and the records are cool, but I can't get past the trumpet playing.

Loved Junius Paul when I've seen him live, but haven't been able to give his record (or the Angel Bat Dawid one) a real listen yet.

Confirmed, new Jeff Parker is where it's at.

Not so into jaime branch personally, great bands and the records are cool, but I can't get past the trumpet playing.

Is it the tone, technique, or melodic lines / choices? Or something else? Genuinely curious as I find I like a very specific trumpet sound (a more breathy, less 'sharp' sound is the best way I can describe it--Tomasz Stanko, Miles obvs) and certain players really get on my nerves in a way that reeds players rarely do

Definitely the former, she just doesn't sound like a great trumpet player to me. I know I'm being a snob, but I'm spoiled by great technical trumpet players in the New Orleans mode (which is really a trumpet city), and for me that instrument is about having a big sound (even if you're not necessarily playing loud or high). For some instruments technique doesn't matter so much and you can express your ideas without having a lot of it, but idk, trumpet is pretty unforgiving, there's so much that goes into just having a decent sound on it before you even get to anything else.

I've heard her in a variety of contexts (she recorded a bunch as a sideman before coming out as a leader) and she's an extremely skilled player who can make the horn do whatever she wants. She sounds the way she does on her own albums by choice. Just listen to the way she shifts from slurry blues to brassy mariachi horn on "Prayer for Amerikkka."

Great track, and everything works in context, but I still find the trumpet playing in the last couple minutes a little cringe-y, sorry! She definitely has her own thing though.

Maybe slightly off topic (since the album isn't actually on IA), but what does everyone think of the Moses Boyd full length? I'm one of the only people (judging by ILX, anyway) who didn't love "Rye Lane Shuffle," but I absolutely adore "Drum Dance" and was wondering how much of the album sounds like the latter as opposed to the former.

love the new jeff parker great stuff

I am pretty into all the Ben LaMar Gay stuff, though admittedly it is all kind of all over the place so yr mileage may vary
Jeff Parker's stuff for the label is just fucking fantastic

Paul, I listened to that once and don't really remember what I thought (but loved both Rye Lane and Drum Dance, so not a great sign). You might get more of a response on the general rolling jazz thread, or there could be some past discussion on the Shabaka Hutchings one as it sort of evolved into a broader London jazz thread

my to-listen pile for IA is intimidating right now

bookmarked, thanks all

If you haven't checked out Angel Bat Dawid at all, this song is a great place to start. It's what I remember from the first time I saw her play. Her rise has truly been meteoric and she is a gracious wonderful person afaict

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/track/we-are-starzz

thanks, will listen tonight

great album and that profile you posted, LL, made me <3 her

does anyone know anything about angel bat dawid's black hebrew israelite background/ which community or temple she belongs to? just curious.

i feel like i read an article/interview where they talked about it a little but i don't remember which one or where
that's not very helpful sorry

Mordy, all the articles I have seen about Angel Bat Dawid mention her parents being Black Hebrew Israelites, but never say much about her faith . They do say she practices her music a lot and travels a lot. Plus her name is a reference to being a daughter of David ( Old Testament) but that’s about all I have noticed

This has become one of my favorite labels in the last few months. I just picked up the new Jeff Parker, but I'm still working my way through all of the stuff from the past few years I picked up - Angel Bat Dawid, Jaimie Branch and Damon Locks. Was already into the Makaya McCraven album from last year.

Resavoir, s/t (a personal fave)

Damn, thanks for this recommendation. This is really great in a way I wasn't expecting (strings! Fourth World vibes!)

Yes! I've struggled to articulate what is so good about that album, but while I'm not sure I'd argue it's the best IA release, it is my most played

It just does so many things, and in a way that seems natural and doesn't draw attention to the fact that its "eclectic" or whatever. It's just really good music!

Yall know Moor Mother is Present on Art Ensemble of Chicago o We Are On The Edge, right? Got this press release yesterday---heavy hype, but for who better:

Irreversible Entanglements Announce New Album, Who Sent You?,
Out March 20th on International Anthem/Don Giovanni

Watch the Video for Lead Single, “No Más”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLm3HEQgW50&feature=youtu.be

Free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements announce their new album, Who Sent You?, out March 20th on International Anthem/Don Giovanni, and today present its lead single/video, “No Más.” The group is comprised of Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Tcheser Holmes. Who Sent You? is the punk-rocking of jazz and the mystification of the avant-garde. This record weaves kinetic soul fusion, dreamy yet harrowing poetry, and intricate rhythms into warmth-giving tapestries that comfort and conceal, confront and coerce all at once.

“No Más” was composed by the Panamanian-born Navarro in a harmonic echo of a Strata East free jazz classic over a movement-inducing Latin rhythm. Over its peak moments, poet/MC Ayewa professes: "No mas. No more... No longer will we allow them to divide and conquer, divide and oppress, define our humanity..." Its stunning accompanying video was shot in Johannesburg, South Africa by filmmaker and photographer Imani Nikyah Dennison. The video explores the concept of Africans escaping planet earth, on a path to liberation. A story of migration told through collage, stock footage, and movement, all being driven by the sounds of free jazz and poetry.
Originally performing as two different ensembles at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event in 2015 (in response to the NYPD slaying of Akai Gurley), the future members of Irreversible Entanglements recognized a shared ethos, and shortly after, assembled as a single unit for an impromptu studio date at Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn. That session yielded their debut album, 2017’s Irreversible Entanglements. Critical and communal acclaim for the album (including “Best of 2017” nods from NPR Music, WIRE Magazine, Bandcamp, and others) fueled a high demand for the band in the live setting, and the group have since spent much of 2018 and 2019 on the road. They have collaborated in performance with many legends of creative music including Amina Claudine Myers, Pat Thomas, and Nicole Mitchell; and their highest profile shows have included Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Le Guess Who Festival In Utrecht NL, Barbican in London, and the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

Where the band’s self-titled debut was all explosive noisy anthems and glorious cosmic bluster, Who Sent You? is a focused and patient ritual. Irreversible Entanglements take their time in between these grooves, stalking the war-torn streets of the Deep South and post-Columbian apocalypses—taking their time to dream up an amalgamation that sounds truly euphoric. More than the sum of its parts—war-like basslines, haunting saxophone, cyberpunk brass, the unwieldy storm of drums, and the oracular phyletic incantations of Ayewa—Who Sent You? is an entire holistic jam of “infinite possibilities coming back around,” a sprawling meditation, a reminder of the forms and traumas of the past, and the shape and vision of Afrotopian sounds to come.
Who Sent You? Tracklist:
1.The Code Noir / Amina
2. Who Sent You - Ritual
3. No Más
4. Blues Ideology
5. Bread Out Of Stone

Irreversible Entanglements Tour Dates:
Tuesday, March 31 - Chicago, IL @ Co-Prosperity Sphere
Wednesday, April 1 - Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival
Saturday, May 23 - Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Jazz Festival
Praise for Recent Non-Album Track "Homeless/Global"https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/homeless-global

“Just 30 seconds into this 23-minute improv, upright bassist Luke Stewart and drummer Tcheser Holmes hit the runaway-train pocket hard and fast. Folks, the track doesn't let up from there...a dense, moving preview of the group's upcoming album.” - NPR Music

“Against a simmering backdrop, Ayewa holds forth rivetingly on border violence and
forgotten black history.” - Pitchfork

“seriously compelling” - Stereogum

“23 searing minutes that consist of breathtaking, brutal saxophone leads, mournful trumpet drones, and a nervy rhythm. Over the fray, Ayewa ruminates, states and repeats indelible phrases and images” - WXPN’s The Key

“When at full flight, the group is a volcano of emotional sound — a radical, unapologetic Blackness of so-called avant-garde emanating from its every note and syllable, chronicling the pain, rapture and circumstance of our shared moment.” - Afropunk

Dunno what's happening with that video link; it opened instantly in gmail. Another ILM thing--anyway, it's on youtube.

Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLm3HEQgW50

And here's an hour-long performance from 2018:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diLI9m5PFXs

This new Jeff Parker record is a holy mess but I keep coming back to it.

I was going to ask what the consensus was on the new album. Just ordered the CD.
By holy mess, do you mean it's unfocused? I really hope it's as good as The New Breed.

Not unfocused as such, skittish, certainly, and fragmented. I've not made sense of it a whole yet, but it is coming together.

Could be a slow burner then. They're generally the best.

So far I don't like it as much as The New Breed, but I think it will be a slow burner. "3 for L" is fantastic.

Digging the Makaya McCraven / Gil Scott Heron thing at the moment.

It's really good! I actually really like that Alabaster Deplume album too.

otm! big up calzino for mentioning the DePlume on the rolling jazz thread: it is achingly beautiful

Agreed!

i could use some achingly beautiful today; queuing up now.

Oh, the dePlume is really nice!

She can be a bit much. I think Damon Locks does something similar to her but a whole lot better.

I like The Oracle a lot, but I couldn't get into the choral stuff on this one. Plus I still need to see The Cry of Jazz, so that reference is lost on me

My first take, when a friend sent it to me recently (the gist: I got more into the second half on first listen)

Tue, Mar 28, 3:21 PM (4 days ago)
to John

Dammmm---gonna take me a while to wrap my head around all of that---at first, was put off/distracted, in my secular way by extended, layered, ornate use of themes otherwise recalling spirituals (chorales not her specialty) as associated, in less pressing way, with Ra, and Ellington, for that matter, also somewhat distractingly, though the notes warned me, w The Cry of Jazz/Ed Bland's insistently polemical POV---but the second half pulled me in more, as often happens, maybe takes my brain that long, but also got more into reeds, strings, some electronics, perceived in more of a prominent, supportive partnership with chorale--also emerging w for inst klezmer-associated motifs, also dig the early New Orleans groove of another track, and of course Marshall Allen and Knoell Scott get into thee penultimate performance--I like how these live sections are mutable, without going on too long--will take some more listening, but some great stuff here, obviously------she pulls off a much more concise collage ov speculative fact and effects here, a trip : https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/hush-harbor-mixtape-vol-1-doxology On this latest, she incl. some fellow members of the Monuments Ensemble; they all have some bracing urban offroad excursions here: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/now

I have to say the new Angel Bat Dawid is a rare miss from this label. I love her other stuff, but this really feels like an event you needed to see in person to appreciate. On the recording, it comes across as really stilted and episodic, it rarely coheres in an engaging way and I wonder if the stage spectacle would have helped with that. I don't think it's corny at all and appreciate what she was trying to do, it just doesn't hold up as an album.

*announcing* IARC0066 jaimie branch -
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))
LP, CD, Digi album out August 25th, 2023

LINK: https://t.co/itzFirAMIs pic.twitter.com/9jsXJpGkR7

— 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 (@intlanthem) June 20, 2023

Pre-ordered my copy already.

amazing cover imo, can't wait to hear it!!

Surprised not to be seeing much about the new Asher Gamedze, Turbulence and Pulse. I know it's not as forward looking as some of the other stuff these guys put out, but I think it sounds great!

it's really good

finally getting around to the Gamedze today, and, yeah, it's excellent

Not IA, but of related interest:

Hi everyone,

Infrequent Seams keeps at it, releasing an astounding amount of astoundingly creative music. I wrote to y'all about this last week, but today's the day we announce the debut recording from Chicago's Mad Myth Science, to be released 8/25.

It's been four years since Elaine Mitchener put together her brilliant Vocal Classics of the Black Avant Garde playlist for The Wire* and if she reprised it today, I have to believe Mad Myth Science would be a top contender for inclusion. Julian Otis's beautiful, fragmented, passionate poetry and vocalizations thread together these shimmering and forward-thinking improvisations, helping to elevate what was already exceptional to something beyond.

Texture and timbre are central to this work. Mad Myth Science finds power in nuance, in sensitive and subtle –– if not always gentle –– interplay between the idiosyncratic mix of instruments: flute, saxophone, cello, harmonica, vibraphone ... the pre-Don Moye era Art Ensemble of Chicago might come to mind here, with good reason.

For years I used to attend Umbrella Music's jazz night at the Hungry Brain in Chicago every Sunday and frequently visited Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge. Mad Myth Science reminds me of the very best of these evenings; it feels like a distillation of many things memorable and powerful about avant garde jazz and creative music, definitely recommended for fans of Angel Bat Dawid, Matana Roberts, Jeanne Lee, Irreversible Entanglements, and the aforementioned Vocal Classics of the Black Avant Garde playlist.

Please share news of this forthcoming release and share "We Instruments."

Peace,
mark at clandestinepr dot com
SINGLES & RELEASE CALENDAR

JULY 19 _ album announce + "We Instruments" single release
AUG 25 _ full-length release

LIVE

AUG 11 _ Lafayette, IN at Spot Tavern

AUG 13 _ Chicago, IL at The Hungry Brain
with Keefe Jackson / Julian Kirchner / Fred Lomberg-Holm trio

LINKS
Mad Myth Science Instagram
Infrequent Seams Bandcamp

ALBUM CREDITS
Molly Jones: saxophone, flute, toys (Untoward Sound LLC)
Julian Otis: voice, electronics
Wilson Tanner Smith: cello, harmonica, bells & whistles
Ben Zucker: cornet, vibraphone, percussion (ASCAP, Ben Zucker Sounds)

*https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/elaine-mitchener-selects-vocal-classics-of-the-black-avant-garde

And speaking of vocals, excerpts of Clifford Jordan's previously unreleased Drink Plenty Water, recorded in 1974, incl. cosmic chorales and bent-nose spoken words in ways that suggest Sun Ra and Mingus, as reviewer Kevin Whitehead notes here:
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188651008/newly-unearthed-1974-session-by-clifford-jordan-is-a-striking-one-of-a-kind-albu

This is exciting—a new track from Resavoir with the promise of an album in the future: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/inside-minds

ooh yes

Daniel Villarreal Announces New Album Lados B
Out Oct. 6 2023
Featuring Jeff Parker & Anna Butterss
Releases Video for Lead Single "Sunset Cliffs"
Fall US Tour Dates

On October 15th and 16th, 2020, drummer Daniel Villarreal was joined by guitarist Jeff Parker and bassist Anna Butterss for two afternoons of recording in the backyard of Chicali Outpost in Los Angeles. For all three musicians, it was the first ensemble recording session they’d done in-person since the pandemic locked the world down just seven months prior. Some choice moments from these sessions made it onto Villarreal’s critically-acclaimed 2022 album Panamá 77, but most of the music remained unreleased.

Lados B is a deep dive into the high-level spontaneous music made by Villarreal, Parker, and Butterss across those two days in 2020. Villarreal is heard leading the group through various rhythmic modes and structures for improvisation – flow as informed by the Latin funk of Fania Records as it is by the otherworldly humanity trance of Brain Records – while Parker and Butterss draw on their extensive experience playing free together (as heard on Parker's recently-released Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, and the LA side of Makaya McCraven's 2018 LP Universal Beings) to build harmonic buoys for their spontaneous melodicism. The result is a beautifully vivid illustration of context, creativity, and collective composition from a particularly rich moment in history.

DANIEL VILLARREAL ON "SUNSET CLIFFS"

This song brings me back to when I used to visit my daughters down in Ocean Beach, San Diego. It has a total cruiser vibe as we used to drive up and down the shore as a family and go to these lookout points at the cliffs and enjoy magnificent sunsets colors by the ocean and watching the waves crashing into the rocks.

US TOUR DATES

Wednesday, October 18th - Public Records - Brooklyn NY -
Friday, October 20th - Solar Myth - Philadelphia PA -
Saturday, October 21st - Solar Myth - Philadelphia PA -
Friday, October 27th - Jack London Revue - Portland OR -
Saturday, October 28th - Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts - Beverly Hills CA -
Monday, October 30th - Yoshi's - Oakland CA -

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/lados-b

Yeeeeessssss I saw him play recently at my workplace and it was fantastic!! I love his whole vibe and the folks he plays with are also all top notch.

Finally got around to hearing the Mazurek/Locks thing and, I hate to say it, but man that is disappointing. If there were more of "Twilight Shimmer" type moments it would have been great, but this was kind of a letdown.

got a promo of that Villareal album, it is fannnnnnntastic

super stoked for that and the new Fly or Die

i just saw DV perform recently and -- as usual -- he was great! i extra enjoyed the extended solo. his band was absolutely smokin too.

the bass player in particular but all of them were really fun to watch. he played two shows at the venue attached to my workplace and they were not esp well attended but that's everyone else's loss. lots of people don't know what they're missing.

this Jaimie Branch record, wowwwww

Listening now, sounds great. I was so bummed out by her death. This must have been recorded just like a month after I saw her play.

Finished listening and immediately started it again. Hot damn. I realize I'm in the buzz of first listen, but serious AOTY contender. All the parts of it work. She was so great, and what a band.

sleeve and tipsy otm, listened to this loud in the car on a long ride home yesterday, what a blast!

I love the way that Meat Puppets song is folded in there. I'd have to think a bit to articulate exactly why it fits, but it really does.

this Jaimie Branch record, wowwwww

yes indeed! Take Over The World!!

IA alumni, Irreversible Entanglements new album on Impulse! is also getting a lot of plays this week.

The new Alabaster DePlume record is really lovely, much better than the 'main' companion album the sessions came from imo

very much looking forward to the Bex Burch album

I’m ok admitting I’m in love with the Jaimie Branch record — so great to hear her vocal and trumpet voice, hear body music with an improvisational bent, and I just love the whole thing.

Finding myself wondering who tf is Bex Burch?

Looking forward to that one as well, not familiar but the preview tracks sound great

IE are great and anything with Moor Mother rules, I forgot this group had been on International Anthem. Also love to see DC guy Luke Stewart get recognition and acclaim.

Open the Gates might be my favorite IE release I've heard.

My first encounter with Moor Mother was Art Ensemble of Chicago's We Are On The Edge: a cast of thousands, but she stood out among the standouts. Fave IE is still Who Sent You?, but haven't heard the latest yet.

Speaking of Bex Burch, got this today:

oday, composer, percussionist, producer and instrument maker Bex Burch (Flock, Vula Viel, Boing!) shares the second single “Don't go back to sleep” from her forthcoming LP, There is only love and fear, along with a music video she made herself.

A twinkling piece of arcadian minimalism, “Don’t go back to sleep” eavesdrops on an electro-acoustic conversation with the avian world. Pulsing and playful, Burch and Dan Bitney (Tortoise) merge the organic qualities of synthesis with the synthetic qualities of the organic to create an intuitive tone poem that takes the rhythms and melodies of birdsong as its natural cue. Recorded at the Center of Search & Research where Burch was based while in Chicago, its homely feel bathes the track in dappled sunlight. Deceptively simple in its construction, “Don’t go back to sleep” is an invitation to wake up and listen to what is already out there.

The music video for “Don’t go back to sleep,” created by Bex Burch, demonstrates the unspeakable beauty of nature’s synchrony and how it reflects in Bex’s and Dan’s interplay.

Read the full story of the album by Emma Warren:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZO15FMKKByTAmHF4-yVuQwzSnnnh42bFy58YgzMbYp4/edit?pli=1

TOUR DATES
October 13 - RIAA, Hamburg, Germany (Listening session w/ Bex Burch)
October 20 - Cafe Oto, London, UK
October 27 - King Georg, Cologne, Germany
October 30 - Rhinoçéros, Berlin, Germany (Listening session w/ Bex Burch)
November 03 - ÜBERJAZZ Festival, Hamburg, Germany
November 17 - Jazz Brugge, Belgium

<<< for more information >>>
Label: Scottie McNiece // scottie at intlanthem.com

Not sure if gossip is welcome here, but I heard that Andre 3000 is working on an album for International Anthem

:0

I can see it, he's already guested on an IA record (I think it was Carlos Ninos?).

this Jaimie Branch record, wowwwww

― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Saturday, August 26, 2023 9:11 PM (three weeks ago)

finally got around to listening to this (extremely hectic fall here) and it is so great!

^

picked up the LP over the weekend and the cover is astonishingly gorgeous

The Daniel Villarreal / Jeff Parker / Anna Butterss record sounds fantastic so far.

agreed!

as does the new Jeremiah Chiu!

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/in-electric-time

new Bex Burch also sounding great this morning, man this label!

Really lovely, yeah.

I didn't realize Bex Burch was also involved in the Flock album from last year that I really liked.

https://flock.bandcamp.com/album/flock-2

I’m off to see Bex Burch tonight and am looking forward to it a great deal. “Messy minimalism”, yes please.

Bex Burch was every bit as good as I’d hoped. The show was mostly solo with some interjections on violin.

They encored with a version of “O Superman”, using whatever member of the xylophone family she was playing. I couldn’t believe my luck. That verse that starts “When love is gone, there’s always justice” always seemed like a punch in the guts to me- now, more than ever.

unperson recommended the new Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño record on another thread. Absolutely lovely Sunday morning music and I imagine just excellent at other times. Ordered a copy.