I thought I liked innovation. I guess I was wrong. I’ve long taken pride in my embrace of sonic experimentation. Apparently, I was kidding myself. Speak to Me, the new album by Julian Lage on Blue Note Records, was among my most anticipated releases of 2024. The guitarist is one of my favorite musicians. Furthermore, I admire almost everything connected to Joe Henry, the producer of Speak to Me. Lage’s collaborators are first-rate. Speak to Me is both innovative and experimental. And yet I loathe it. The sound is new and the musicianship is faultless, but the resulting music is incomprehensibly bland and lifeless. I won’t give up. There’s a one in five chance I’ll post a mea culpa before the end of the year.
February 2024 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency
Screenshot of Lise Davidsen in the trailer for the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La forza del destino.”
The Top Ten Albums of February
1. Heems- Lafandar
My review.
2. Lee “Scratch” Perry- King Perry
My review.
3. Hera Hyesang Park- Breathe
The soprano’s imaginative song cycle.
4. Kali Malone- All Life Long
A secular service.
5. Joel Ross- nublues
Blue notes.
6. James Brandon Lewis Quartet- Transfiguration
The saxophonist with Aruán Ortiz, Brad Jones and Chad Taylor.
7. Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas and Ted Nash- Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols
My review.
8. Arcangelo- Handel: Theodora
A revelatory new recording of the 1750 oratorio.
9. Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey- Compassion
Piano trio nonpareil.
10. DJ Harrison- Shades of Yesterday
My review.
The Top Ten Songs of February
1. Little Simz- “Mood Swings”
Schizophrenic.
2. GloRilla- “Yeah Glo!”
Glow-up.
3. Terrace Martin- “Kill Bill”
Smooth jazz revival.
4. Scott H. Biram- “Inside a Bar”
Set ‘em, Joe.
5. Sierra Ferrell- “I Could Drive You Crazy”
Insane earworm.
6. Ducks Ltd.- "On Our Way to the Rave"
Another jangle-pop miracle.
7. Thee Sinseers- “Hold On”
Little bit o’ soul.
8. Hatis Noit featuring Armand Hammer- "Jomon (Preservation Rework)"
Ancient to the future.
9. Gabito Ballesteros and Natanael Cano- "Proyecto X"
Trippy corrido tumbado.
10. Logan Richardson- “Black to the Point”
My album review.
The Top Ten Performances of February
1. Militarie Gun, Pool Kids, Spiritual Cramp and Spacing at recordBar
My review.
2. Folk Alliance International Conference, Day One (Willi Carlisle, Justin Adams and Mauro Durante, Freedy Johnston)
My review.
3. Jeremy Denk at the Folly Theater
My review.
4. Folk Alliance International Conference, Day Three (Jolie Holland, Ensemble Sangineto, Mitsune)
My review.
5. Folk Alliance International Conference, Day Two (Trond Kallevåg, Louisa Stancioff, Humbird)
My review.
6. Jackie Myers, Rich Wheeler and Jeff Harshbarger at the Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram snapshot.
7. Desmond Mason, Angela Ward, DeAndre Manning and Jaylen Ward at the Blue Room
My Instagram clip.
8. The Kansas City Wind Symphony at Village Presbyterian Church
My Instagram snapshot.
9. Pinnacle Winds at St. Peter & All Saints Episcopal Church
My Instagram clip.
10. Mire Pral at the Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram clip.
The previous monthly recap is here.
Concert Review: Militarie Gun, Pool Kids, Spiritual Cramp and Spaced at recordBar
Original image of Militarie Gun by There Stands the Glass.
I’ve never listened to Jethro Tull’s 1976 album Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young to Die, but an inversion of the title came to me as I was repeatedly jostled by the outer ripples of the mosh pit at recordBar on Sunday, February 25. I’m not too old to rock ‘n’ roll: I’m not too young to die.
Ten years older than the second most aged person in the capacity audience of 400, I knew I looked out of place. As a weirdo who attended his first punk show more than 45 years ago, the noise made by Militarie Gun, Pool Kids, Spiritual Cramp and Spacing is an integral part of my musical DNA.
I fell in love with Militarie Gun’s shouty form of punk when I first encountered it on Sham 69’s "Hurry Up Harry" in 1978. As Militarie Gun put it in 2023, Harry should "Do It Faster".
Pool Kids’ technical emo sent me back to Warped Tour circa 2012. I don't care for its style, but the quartet’s infectious exuberance won me over. On the other hand, Spiritual Cramp hooked me from the get-go. Its furious garage-rock is precisely my thing.
The three-and-a-half hour show began with a blast of hardcore fun from Spaced. As it’s from the underground punk world I’ve rediscovered and gratefully inhabited in the aftermath of the pandemic, the Buffalo band brought me full circle.
Turn! Turn! Turn!
Original image of Jolie Holland and Anna Moss by There Stands the Glass.
I immersed myself in sweeping swathes of sound at the Folk Alliance International Conference when I wasn’t working on a related story that will air soon on KCUR. The choose-your-own-adventure component of the expansive annual summit is enormously appealing. In addition to conventional American folk, I heard Scottish balladeers, Ukrainian hurdy-gurdy, Italian chamber music and Malaysian bedroom pop. I’ve ranked my favorite of the approximately fifty performances I took in at the industry gathering.
1. Willi Carlisle (My Instagram clip.)
2. Jolie Holland (photo above)
3. Justin Adams and Mauro Durante (My Instagram clip.)
4. Trond Kallevåg (My Instagram clip.)
5. Louisa Stancioff (My Instagram clip.)
6. Ensemble Sangineto (My Instagram clip.)
7. Allysen Callery (Sandy Denny lives.)
8. Scott H. Biram (My Instagram clip.)
9. Humbird (political prog-folk)
10. Mitsune (My Instagram snapshot.)
The conference is leaving Kansas City. A friend invited me to join him in Montreal for next year’s conference. It’s a tempting proposition.
Album Review: Heems- Lafandar
I don’t care for stand-up comedy. Yet when set to beats and delivered with an astute flow, the jokes of a witty punchline rapper delight me. I’ve been laughing out loud to Heems for 14 years. His wisecracks are as witty as ever on his new album Lafandar. Song titles like “Stupid Dumb Illiterates” and “Baba Ganoush” and illustrious guest rappers including Kool Keith and Your Old Droog are indicative of the highfalutin hilarity found on Lafandar.
Album Review: DJ Harrison- Shades of Yesterday
I’m vexed by the popularity of a Steely Dan tribute act in my town. As dozens of worthy jazz musicians struggle for a smidgeon of attention, covers of “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” play to full houses. I have misgivings about Shades of Yesterday for similar reasons. DJ Harrison’s lovingly rendered yacht-jazz readings of vintage songs by the likes of Cameo, Donald Fagen and War strike me as unnecessary. So why am I bothering to complain? Not only can I not stop playing Shades of Yesterday, I anticipate the album will be in heavy rotation on my patio this spring. After my friends and neighbors hear a version of the Ohio Players’ “Together” followed by a reading of the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” they won’t wanna call nobody else.
Concert Review: Jeremy Denk at the Folly Theater
Original image by There Stands the Glass.
The author of a recent guest essay in The New York Times ponders the “divine presence” in mathematics. The transcendent math logic embedded in the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach has long been studied by scholars.
Jeremy Denk emphasized the spirituality conveyed in the calculations made by Bach four centuries ago in rapturous interpretations of all six Bach partitas on Tuesday, February 13, at the Folly Theater.
Once again, I purchased bargain-priced front row tickets. More than 300 patrons were obligated to look at the back of my head as the pianist made frequent eye contact with me for more than two hours. My date suggested Denk’s animated flirtations possessed a “look ma, I’m playing Bach!” sensibility. His mugging reminded me of Fats Waller.
Although he emphasizes Bach’s earthly uplift rather than the ghostly solemnity András Schiff imparted at Muriel Kauffman Theatre in November, Denk isn’t shallow. Intimations of divine inspiration pierced the veil throughout the recital presented by The Friends of Chamber Music.
Album Review: Sunny Five- Candid
Why do jazz musicians make pathetically anemic sounds when they turn their talents to popular music? Otherwise exemplary improvisational musicians are invariably inept in rock, pop, R&B and hip-hop contexts. Happily, there are exceptions to the rule. Candid is a recent instance. Five vaunted heroes of underground music- Tim Berne, David Torn, Marc Ducret, Devin Hoff and Ches Smith- successfully meld post-punk noise with free jazz on the 71-minute album. Mean and dirty, Candid is what might have resulted had Peter Brötzmann been a founding member of Sonic Youth or what might happen if Mats Gustafsson sat in with Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Affiliates of the jazz police and punk purists will be repelled, but tracks like "Craw" are as natural as they are necessary.
Album Review: Lee “Scratch” Perry- King Perry
I occasionally bask in the surreal memory of a 2009 performance by Lee “Scratch” Perry at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City. The Upsetter died in 2021. His new posthumous album King Perry is everything I might have hoped for. The sounds range from the loopy dub he pioneered to the futuristic ambient pop spawned by his inventiveness. Taut but not uptight, the collection overflows with eternal soul fire.
Young Man, Are You Listening to Me?
Original image of the historic YMCA building in Kansas City’s Jazz District by There Stands the Glass.
I’m slated to attend musical performances on each of the first four days of February. While it’d be tempting to keep the streak alive, I’m not well. Health concerns and corresponding insurance headaches are consuming much of my energy. Still, I intend to hit three or four of the February concerts I highlighted for KCUR.