Jonny Nash - Point of Entry (Melody As Truth)
One night I decided to explore the “folktronica” tag on Bandcamp expecting nothing much but laughs only to get served this masterpiece.
As suited for late nights as it is early mornings, Point of Entry floats open-hearted into its receiver. Simple guitar lines, atmospheric vocals and puffs of electronics enter and leave the host body sweeter and more still than before. Perfect.
The Tubs - Dead Meat (Trouble In Mind)
Chicago’s Trouble In Mind stay tuned to all things rock and post-punk much better than I ever could or care to. My interest in modern rock is minimal at best but the raving mad posts about Dead Meat (notably from Steven Hyden) had me plugging in. And what I got was a record of songs so deeply affecting, catchy, fresh and familiar it felt like the world wasn’t complete shit for while. It’s the Richard Thompson tribute album Bob Mould had in him, we just needed the Tubs to claw it out.
Strategy - Graffiti In Space (Constellation Tatsu)
A long-running project of Portland, Oregon musician, DJ and label runner Paul Dickow, Strategy somehow eluded me until coming across the 2022 tape Unexplained Sky Burners (Peak Oil)—a sample-heavy cloudy love letter to 90s dance music that awakened the inner raver in me (who never hit a party but listened to friends tapes intently as he sat nissan sentra suburban stoned).
Graffiti in Space slows it down and spaces it around with Orb-like dynamics and cavernous valleys betweens towers of dub—it’s a subtle yet seismic trip.
Last winter I finally got into David Sylvian’s solo work (and later Japan) and I began a serious descent and investigation into lauded 80s (and early 90s) music I’d written off without any inspection. Lesser known 4ADs and Durutti Column releases were starting points. The more electronics and dated production, the better.
Fellow Vini Reilly Appreciation Society™ member Nicklas Sørensen hipped me to their countryperson ML Buch’s Suntub and it fits perfectly on this ride. More or less pop but with guitars, synths and drum machines angled, warped and cooked just right to make it weird but still so beautiful and hummable. Outstanding.
Taper’s Choice - History of Taper's Choice Vol. 1 (Taper's Choice) (ORG)
A higher flying bird than any other modern jam band, Taper’s Choice win because its members likely have the first four Pat Metheny Group albums memorized along with all sorts of unfashionable prog, fusion and post-rock of days gone by. In the ranks is guitarist Dave Harrington—a certified heir to the Steve Kimock Tone Guru throne—who doubles as the band’s own Teo Macero. Twisting up live and studio strains together, Harrington makes History… pulse with energy and freshness.
MV & EE - Green Ark (Child of Microtones / Ramble Records)
Vermont soundsteaders MV & EE return with some of their deepest most far flung cosmic music since going up the country. Further afield from the folk and blues that birthed them than ever before, Matt and Erika vibrate and summon from the eternal hearts of rhythm and space and make Green Ark both a high water mark and signpost to a new era. Dig.
Šimansky-Niesner - Jako Doma (Korobushka)
Jako Doma is a duo exchange of remarkable depth, complexity and dexterity from Czech guitarists Tomáš Niesner and Jakub Šimanský. The pair’s second album, Jako Doma is a feat of blues avoidance, favoring a more contemporary and classical expression for the new possibilities of the acoustic guitar. This crisp and clean recording reveals chops, soul, reverence and restlessness.
PJS - Rainbow Fusion (Hush Hush)
Most nights of winter of 2023 were spent with a sleeping infant in my lap and synthesizer music in the ears. Thankfully Jordan Christoff (joined here by Patrick Dique) kept a stream of releases coming for my peace and my son’s dreams including this absolute stunner released by the always reliable Hush Hush Records.
Recorded live with no edits, Rainbow Fusion lives up to its name, offering wide vistas and mind/body connection and rehabilitation. PJS offer better living through electricity by conjuring pink clouds, green earth and blue seas of peace and calm.
Niecy Blues - Exit Simulation (Kranky)
Still wrapping my head around this one as it was released in mid-November—perhaps as a threat to the establishment to not count the musical year over until it’s over.
Nearly impossible to describe, Exit Simulation just feels warm, beautiful and daring. There’s rhythm and blues and soul here that are stretched and subsumed and made new. Really exceptional and revealing with each new listen.
Channelers - Generation / Harvest (Inner Islands)
Channelers is the meditative and searching project of Northern California’s Sean Conrad. Also a graphic artist/designer and runner of the essential Inner Islands label, Sean makes music that seems effortless and free flowing with guitars, electronics, piano and air. Generation / Harvest is yet another wonderful entry in a body of work that stands outside of time and trend.
What records did you love in 2023? Drop them in the comments!
Like the good old days at 12th Street. Thanks for the recs!
So excited for this newsletter. Happy to send some $$ if you go “pro”. We need a guide to MV & EE at some point.