Bass players get no respect. Unless the bass player of a band also happens to be its lead singer, people don’t generally know much about the bass player, let alone their name. For example, prior to the preparations for my History of Rock class, I could not have told you who Bill Wyman was (he’s […]
One note. The whole impetus for this blog entry comes from just one single note. The song “With Me Part II”, which is a track from the self-titled debut album by Destiny’s Child that features Master P, is an excellent R&B track. In many ways, it emblemizes the fusion of R&B with hip-hop that dominated […]
In which I throw words at my dozen favorite albums from the past year. 12) The Hives, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons – On their first studio album since 2012, Swedish post-punk revival darlings The Hives sound, well, a lot like they did in 2012. There’s something very rewarding about hearing a great band come […]
Here are 10 albums that I rather enjoyed from 2021, ranked in reverse order for faux-dramatic effect. 10) BADBADNOTGOOD, Talk Memory – This Canadian outfit exists somewhere in the nether-region of jazz, soul, and neo-psychedelia, crafting songs that are brimming with spontaneous and unpredictable energy. Each track offers a rick palette of sounds, and their […]
2020: a terrible year for life, but a sneakily great year for music. 15) Music by Gestalt, Debussy’s Fawn – With a raucous propulsion of energy that recalls The Bad Plus, Music by Gestalt is a jazz trio that refuses to conform to genre expectations. In addition to formal adventurousness and aggressive timbres and grooves, […]
Out Through the In Door: Analyzing the Dissonance in Ingrid Jensen’s Solo from “Transit” Infernal Machines by Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society The title is ultimately a Led Zeppelin reference (not too surprising, seeing as how one of my previous blog entries was an analysis of the alluded album), but it is relevant here for a […]
There Will Always Be Another Scale: Bitonality in Woody Shaw’s Improvisation “If it sounds good, it is good.” – Duke Ellington Amongst the numerous goals of a jazz improviser, perhaps the most vital is to challenge people’s preconceived expectations of what sounds good. Any trained musician can play a blues scale over a blues progression, […]
Best Albums of 2019 I already ran down my favorites of the decade, but I didn’t want 2019 to feel left out. 10) CJ Run, Here for Now – Chicago-based rapper CJ Run has a unique voice – literally, as they were born of Afro-Caribbean parentage in Germany but raised in the UK. […]
Best Albums of the 2010’s I heard somewhere (actually, I’m pretty sure it was Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!) that a person’s tastes in music stop evolving once they turn 30. I surpassed that milestone in the middle of this decade – at last tally, I am 34 – but I feel comfortable saying […]
Best Albums of 2018 Is it that time of year already? 12) Big Heart Machine, Big Heart Machine – Produced by Darcy James Argue, the self-titled debut from Brian Krock’s postmodern jazz big band Big Heart Machine certainly bears strong resemblance to Argue’s angular, rhythmic, and symphonic approach to big band writing. Anchored […]