Hype and Slander: What are you voting for in ILM's 2021 End of Year Tracks and Albums Poll?

It's the first thing that struck me about it - a Scooby Doo booty anthem

given how possessed by booty he is in that middle bit, I think it ends up being more congruous than expected

Haha

Some propwash 4 my noms starts here, from RJ 2021:

75 Dollar Bill's live ateliers claus, out this year, starts with tracks from a 2016 show, right after the election: Chen says he's pissed with himself because he didn't see it coming, but takes out his frustrations in acerbic, swirling, African-influenced folk-rock-jazz, steadfast and developmental (sometimes sounding like two guitars), while Brown's found crate is very supportive. Later, in 2019, Chen also plays the lower register of soprano sax, while Andrew L.'s wide-ranging contrabass arco and Brown's "homemade horns" join in. One of their most consistent collections, https://75dollarbill.bandcamp.com/album/live-ateliers-claus

― dow, Thursday, June 17, 2021

omg Dedicated to Saint Escrava Anastacia.
credits
released June 19, 2021

All instruments, vocalz, and synths performed, produced, recorded, arranged & mixed By Angel Bat Dawid.
https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/hush-harbor-mixtape-vol-1-doxology
First encounter w this, and don't know of course if it will seem as amazing now that I know what to expect (nothing like what I did expect from several titles, which is prob the point), but so far it's immediately compelling, often beguiling, with an eerie, tranquil intensity, and some shifting surfaces and perimeters (for inst, what's happening to the vocals going around the room---"I know I should be grateful"---in " 'Goree,' or Slave - Stick"---we also get the improbably redemption of overt Auto Tune sometimes, or maybe keys, emphasizing the inflection (of male group vocals? Or herself treated?) that suggests a African-Hebraic-Isalmic chain, rattling a little (the clarinet encourages this). One of the most affecting tracks is her untreated, a capella , "Bet"--followed, in a plausible way, by a calmly killer finale trilogy. None of this is an onslaught of sounds, though; each room is only as full as need be. Seems like a rec to fans of adventurously historical clarinetists John Carter and Matana Roberts (her Coin Coin series, and maybe all of his Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music, although the album from that I'm thinking of, and most familiar with, is Fields).

― dow, Tuesday, June 29, 2021

yes, very good release, will vote

Arthur Russell: 24 to 24 Music Live at the Kitchen Yeah
00:00 / 01:06:53: That's it, one seamlessly interweaving banger--dunno how much is through-composed, but it's all very conversational, with 0 chatter, though some clatter, of Mustafa Ahmed's congas, Jeff Berman's drums, Rome Neal's percussion--times Larry Salzman's guitar, with Peter Gordon's tenor sax crackles and Peter Zummo's trombone hums and holds and (you know it) slides along(the maestro doesn't sing, plays "Pizz Cello" upfront for first 7 minutes at most, then mans the bass function)--while Julius Eastman's organ punctuates, inflects, succinctly comments (incl. exclaims) on and over it all---and eventually, the Downtown crowd does disco, as could still happen then (spoiler)
https://arthurrussell.bandcamp.com/album/24-to-24-music-live-at-the-kitchen

*while* Peter Gordon's

also on my ballot!

My intrepid jazz buddy John Wojtowicz has sent me the bandcamp link to Lucky Man, the recently released soundtrack/audiodoc version of the 2010 film, which tracks Vietnam War vet Billy Bang's return to the country, traveling all through it, playing and talking with local musicians and maybe others--- I gotta see the whole thing for context, but it all comes into focus right away, and in effect completes a trilogy, following his Vietnam: The Aftermath, which I think first came out in 2002, and is like it says here:
As a belated document of his traumatic experience as a soldier in Southeast Asia, Vietnam: The Aftermath was a painful but cathartic album for free jazz violin great Billy Bang to make. Joined by fellow Vietnam vets including tenor saxophonist Frank Lowe, trumpeter Ted Daniel, drummer Michael Carvin, and "conductionist" Butch Morris, Bang paints a harrowing picture of the conflict on "TET Offensive." But employing Asian folk melodies like rays of sunshine through the darkness and sturdy bop lines as friendly arrows pointing the way back home, he offsets visions of death and destruction with humane insight and saving humor (then and now, there's nothing like a little '60s-styled "Saigon Phunk" to prop a grunt up). Bolstered by some richly textured ensembles, Bang rips off some of his most impressive and stirring solos. The contributors also include pianist John Hicks and flutist Sonny Fortune. --Lloyd Sachs

Frank Lowe, Bang's frontline partner in the Jazz Doctors, died before Vietnam: Reflections (2005), but it has James Spaulding, with guest Henry Threadgill on flute, joining Daniels, Hicks, Carvin, Morris,Carmen Lundy, Rob Brown, plus Vietnamese singer Co Boi Nguyen and Nhan Thanh Ngo on the 16-string dan tranh. As with The Aftermath, we get an intersection of post or late bop and Asiatic asssociations (which John says he always though of Bang's violining as having, way before he knew about any of these albums; I think it has something to do with his bluesiness too). They also perform some Vietnamese melodies, and--not seeing the credit on "Doi Moi," but it's one on of my favorite ballad tracks by anybody ever, and a poignant countercurrent to the rest of Reflections's dance thus far.

On screen, Lucky Man climaxes with a new arrangement of "Mystery of the Mekong," from The Aftermath, now performed with the Hanoi Symphony Orchestra: it's rich, dark, profuse, surefooted, river delta music for sure---but here, it's not the grand finale, it's track 4, dig.

Along the way, Bang's flying strings get matched by marching folk bands, and "Jungle Lullaby" starts nighty-night and then everybody goes wild as dreams, for a while, also into two shots of "New Saigon Phunk," rippling and loping. "Song For Don Cherry" is another good 'un, and can Bang keep up with the stone lithophone of "Dan Da"? It rings like a bell, but not too often and not too chime-y, and so far I prefer it to vibes---come back and start over, Gary Burton.

Incisive speed burns incl. excerpts of a Vietnamese woman on how her father changed after the War (with music far in the background, and what I'd hoped was an tape artifact turning about to the kind of engine still associated with war footage), and Bang in little spills of his own lifelong coming to grips. (This particular project was three years before he died.)
https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/billy-bang-lucky-man

Here's a reasonable take on the music, incl. in context of the movie, with backstory to it and relevant aspects of Bang's life: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/lucky-man-billy-bang-bbe-records

― dow, Tuesday, May 18, 2021

From Greg Tate thread---need to say more about these later:

...Meanwhile, archival 2021 release Making Love To The Dark Ages incl at very least an LP's-worth of instrumental goodness-to-greatness(good measure, in this vinyl-high, "post-album" age)---that is, my fave raves so far are the second half, at least impact-wise: "Dominata (the gabri ballad)"(15:47), and the two-part title work: https://burntsugarthearkestrachamber.bandcamp.com/album/making-love-to-the-dark-ages-livewired-2009

Now listening to yet another of their 2021 releases, younger contingent up front this time, Tate & other elders still along for the ride: https://burntsugarthearkestrachamber.bandcamp.com/album/the-darknuss Brides of Funkensteinoid for openers--

― dow, Friday, December 10, 2021 8:19 PM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

"No culuds, no culuds allowwwed,"The Darknuss, by REBELLUM ~ Burnt Sugar Arkestra's Avant Funk & Roll Splinter Cell

― dow, Friday, December 10, 2021 and the set finds, mined and minds a deep sweetness, w/o ever going mushy (only disappointment, at least to non-prog-me, is that Vernon Reid shows up to play what sounds like guitar synthesizer, vintage if you want to say it politely---but may come around to this cameo, in such persuasive context).

julian lage - "quiet like a fuse" was a revelation from the playlist, so thank you to the nominator

Ooo, I just got to see Lage play live with Dave King and Jorge Roeder, he was great.

that one is mine! the live version is good too.
the sadness in the song is just so heavy to me.

I would like to rep for the Sam Gendel/Sam Wilkes album and particularly the THEEM PROTOTYPE track which is a certified banger and definitely going on my ballot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CdSzWTx-f0

^i've listened to this like 50 times if i've listened to it once

Same, it's high on my ballot.

Dang, two Koreless tracks on the singles list but not my fave, 'Joy Squad'

Also forgot to nom James Blake feat. Monica Martin - 'Show Me'

Another nom, from RJ 2021 once again:
More Energy Fields, Current
by Carlos Niño & Friends
Tagged in label notes as 10 pristine gems of collaborative communication helmed by the Southern Californian sage, elegantly presented in his unique “Spiritual, Improvisational, Space Collage” style. And sounds like the improvisational part might feed and respond to the Space Collage: it's more jazz than set piece, like the tracks, never too long, might be scooping up something along the way, lighting in the bottle and vice-versa. Wonder if they play live, with loops, maybe? Seems like this approach could work well on right stage.

Listening on headphones, I keep getting aerial glimpses of the Pacific Coast Highway, interspersed w more time in little caves and coves: an intimate, though airy, small group sound, always incl. Niño (percussion, sound design, editing, mixing) and I think always Jamael Dean on keys, with others sometimes on drums, tenor and/or flute, synths, and voices (on one track: wordless ones, don't worry, of Laraaji and Sharada). Shabaka Hutchings, Dntel, Adam Rudolph, Aaron Shaw, a bunch of others, coming in and moving on, at least for a while, never too many at once.

First one to command my attention was "Nightswimming," then so many of the others that I gave up on linking a favorite in addition to the whole thing:
https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/more-energy-fields-current

― dow, Monday, May 31, 2021 4:57 PM (seven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Niño’s previous album on IA, Chicago Waves, is live if you’re curious! I think I described it as more like ambient/new age than jazz on the IA thread but I liked it a lot

― rob, Monday, May 31, 2021 5:08 PM (seven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Will check, thanks! Ambient/New Age usually puts me right to sleep, but this got me more awake.
Also, this one has *kind* of a DePlume vibe, or related appeal,anyway, but maybe earlier in the day or evening, and a little more spare?
https://alabasterdeplume.bandcamp.com/

― dow, Monday, May 31, 2021

Could easily do a Top Ten of International Anthem releases, whether or not they ever put out that many in any given year.

holy shit, SHUM was a EUROVISION song?? i shoved it straight into my prospective ballot completely oblivious to this, lol

but anyway I was coming here to observe that emil.y's later batch of nominations are providing all sorts of difficult balloting decisions for me. especially Taraka. zero zero one zero one one zeroooo

Time to vote.

Also from RJ 2021:

Totally fun 2021 reissue from Downtown NYC '96,keeping me on my toes

Sleevenote 2
Working with Spanish Fly was an extraordinary experience for me as I most often work with classical music in my choreography. Their music, however, has the perfect pulse for a ballet. It's charged with an "in
Your face" attitude mixed with a sense of yearning. I began to see Images of characters right away. “Night Creatures” we called them.
Young people sliding up Avenue A, full of quirks and obsessions.We gave them names: the Snake Lady. the Sisters, the Lovers. These Characters became our guides. They lead us to Our themes and choices of style.
Lighting designer Mark Stanley created a set of massive Venetian Blinds which opened to reveal the dancers. This gave the work a
sense of spying, of voyeurism.
credits
released April 1, 2021

Steven Bernstein . trumpet, slide trumpet, cornet, crooning
Marcus Rojas : tuba, tubapercussion, tubasinging
Tronzo : slide guitar, cup guitar, prepared guitar
with Ben Perowsky : drums, percussion

FLY BY NIGHT" COMMISSIONED BY THE SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION.
CHOREOGRAPHED BY CHRISTOPHER D'AMBOISE.

PREMIERED FEBRUARY 28,1996 AT CENTER FOR THE ARTS AT YERBA BUENA GARDENS.
BACKGROUND VOCALS ON TONGUE SANDWICH:
SPANISH FLY, HAL WILLNER, VICKI STANBURRY, LAURIE GALLUCCIO, AMANDA REISMAN
https://stevenbernstein.bandcamp.com/album/fly-by-night

― dow, Wednesday, 29 December 2021

This was too:

can't say it better than this guy does on Bandcamp:
Philip Graham---Oh how I do love this stately, swinging tumble of harmony and melody. The album seems like a slowed down, trippy echo of Duke Ellington’s “The Second Line” from New Orleans Suite. It's not really all that slow: every track has satisfying internal dynamics, which go with the mixing of emotions, rhythms, incidents, shades of this and that--yeah, Ellingtonia and NOLA and Downtown hipsters have come this far:

'Tinctures in Time' is the first original music Steven Bernstein has ever written for the Millennial Territory Orchestra, which prior to this recording had exclusively been a vehicle for his arrangements of other people's songs, from Count Basie to Prince. Most of the album was composed in 2019, a tough period for Bernstein: Henry Butler had recently passed, and there was a series of serious injuries and death in his immediate family. Like a lot of people do, Bernstein got through it by working. "I was spending a lot of time on planes, going to visit people in hospitals," he says. "So what else am I going to do with my time? I ended up with all this music."

"The tincture of time" is a phrase Bernstein's father, a doctor, uses for when there's nothing to be done but wait for something to heal; the relevance of time as healer for Bernstein himself is clear. He altered the phrase so it makes a little reference to a favorite Sly Stone tune. And "tinctures," Bernstein says, also refers to "things that people take to give feelings of euphoria." It's why he also calls this collection of compositions "cannabis music."But it's not some foggy notional bank of sands through the hourglass: everybody's very responsive, just never hyper (a tad outcat at times).Enough funk in there, also a soul anthem, not oversold, and sometimes I think Ben P. is playing a tabla?
Steven Bernstein - Trumpet, Slide Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Curtis Fowlkes - Trombone
Charlie Burnham - Violin
Doug Wieselman - Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
Peter Apfelbaum - Tenor Saxophone
Erik Lawrence - Baritone Saxophone
Matt Munisteri - Guitar, Banjo
Ben Allison - Bass
Ben Perowsky - Drums
https://stevenbernstein.bandcamp.com/album/tinctures-in-time-community-music-vol-1

― dow, Thursday, 30 December 2021

Hype hype

Deafheaven - Infinite Granite - throw out everything you knew about Deafheaven, for the most part the black metal screams here serve as filigree and the sound owes more to Tears for Fears' "The Seeds of Love" than anything cooked up by Scandinavian Satan-worshippers

Ducks Ltd. - Modern Fiction - way above replacement-level jangle pop from Toronto, this is the perfect length to put on endless repeat, with nary a bad song, and expertly sequenced

i love infinite granite & the seeds of love but idk about that comparison

Wet Leg don't even have an album out yet and i have gotten adducted to this single of theirs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9jeJk2UHQ

Thanks for the DJ Sabrina stuff, I love it. I like the way it drifts and songforms kind of arise and subside.

think i'd have more interest in dj sabrina's whole thing if the albums weren't all 2-3 hours, i totally lose interest long before then

I've been enjoying it as quasi-background music. The endlessness just feels like it's a playlist or something.

If you want a break from difficult listening, may I recommend Cum Ovr (heirs to Thee Stallion throne), Fuck Him All Night (banger), and Seeing Green (Wayne's best in forever, and Drake better than anything on his album).

And then after that break, Moses Sumney's Live from Blackalachia is a hell of a thing. Would love to see this projected in a museum, played through crazy-nice speakers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX47qMIw_2o

OK I'm sold on Wet Leg now

whoever nom'd this in the tracks RONDÉ - Hard To Say Goodbye ...

thank you? it's been ringing in my head for weeks

The song that got Bad Bunny and everyone else screaming along in clubs - Karol G & Mariah Angeliq - EL MAKINON

booty booty booty
booty booty booty booty

my kind of jam

whoever nom'd this in the tracks RONDÉ - Hard To Say Goodbye ...

thank you? it's been ringing in my head for weeks

― blue6ave, vrijdag 7 januari 2022 7:21 (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

let’s get back to jehovah’s witnesses

wrong thread lol

dang i guess nobody nominated “american tterroristt”

They did actually!

you're right haha, i searched in the playlist for "rxk" and "nephew," but his name is listed on spotify as one word.

Whiney (and anyone else interested),I'll probably be getting mine together over the next week or so, need to listen to more tracks, tho I know where I stand with albums.

As for my AOTY, I've noted it before, but it's Anne Bourne's wave, which you can listen to and download here. You can read more about her music and life here.

Simply put, I'd often leave it on continuous replay for hours while working, reading, or doing any number of other activities. Bourne's looped cello drones encourage both active and passive listening, though Bourne was a student of Oliveros' and is very much in the Deep Listening tradition. The record's timbres have emotional heft without sounding cheesy or over-wrought, and it is an expansive record— affectively, it feels like calmly scanning a vast horizon. I played it a lot during our week on an island off the Maine coast, and all of us in the house became completely transfixed by it at one time or another, staring out at the sea as the reverberations of the cello sank into us. Sometimes I'll be listening and something will surprise me, even now, after more than half a year of listening to it. Not everyone's cuppa, sure, but I really think it's the most beautiful record to be released in 2021.

^that album isn't my usual thing, but I listened to it the other day after you posted about it table, and it is really lovely

I don't expect it to pick up any votes here, but since it's not on Spotify, I'll rep for Maestro Don & Jahvillani's "Dutty Money" produced by Teetimus, which is dancehall but also really lovely with surprisingly delicately arranged production:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehV1q4IWpMs

Speaking of dancehall, African division, I love (and nommed) this Ugandan track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUjPv94LOWo

sund4r, are you guitar friends with Bilal Nasser? I'm really taken with that album - hype description would be emotive, spacious classical guitar playing with just the right amount of production touches and occasional spoken (usually layed over screamed) vocals that actually work. I put it on my ballot in the spirit of this thread.

Yeah, kind of. We were both students of William Beauvais (albeit decades apart) and have been part of Beauvais Alumni video concerts during the pandemic. It's a nice album, with a pretty distinctive personal vision.

Cool!

Btw Aldous Harding became the official home listening choice in my household this year, we wore out Designer. But that's 2020, so I had to vote for 'Old Peel' on the singles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7rHcvqDyY