Lake Geode

Today I released my first album as a solo artist, a set of instrumental guitar compositions that I wrote and recorded at home during the past year or so. Check out the music and read more about the project over at Bandcamp. If you like what you hear, please tell a friend!

Death-metal dad rock

Carcass are a couple weeks away from putting out another excellent post-reunion album (hail Surgical Steel), and it was an honor and a pleasure to be able to talk to them about it for Rolling Stone.

Summer of Sonny

I almost couldn't believe it when I saw Sonny Sharrock featured so prominently in Questlove's new Summer of Soul doc. It's a phenomenal movie in general, but this was something I never expected. If only we could see the rest of the Herbie Mann set that this brief clip was drawn from!

It's a general guiding principle of mine that I take any/every opportunity to talk or write about Sonny. When I get right down to it, I think he is my single favorite musician of all time, the one whose soundworld resonates with me more than anyone else's. It's a bit heartbreaking to dwell on the fact that I'll never see him in the flesh, but new glimpses like this provide fresh inspiration. 

Here is my latest attempt to pay homage to his towering achievement, and to hopefully invite a few new listeners in. (And here's an older piece, specifically focused on Guitar, that touches on some of the same ideas.) As hard as his music hits me, year after year, his words, from the many archival interviews out there, carry nearly the same weight. 

Recently

Here is a new feature on the Descendents' upcoming album, which was recorded in 2002 and 2020, and features songs written between 1977 and 1980. It's kind of a convoluted saga, but I loved untangling it — and getting to speak with 3/4 of the Milo Goes to College lineup. 

Here is a review of the excellent new Bonnie "Prince" Billy / Matt Sweeney album, Superwolves, which I'm starting to think might be better than their first.

Recently

I spoke to all four members of Slint about Spiderland, which turns 30 this week. This album entered my bloodstream at the exact right time (I was maybe 16), and it's never lost its mystique or appeal. Every time I put it on, it's like stepping into another world. What a pleasure to talk to these guys, who still seem so utterly apart from any trend or movement. Forget "post-rock" or "math-rock" or what have you — Slint just went their own way.

I also wrote about the new albums by Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, which are so different from each other but which I love equally.

Milford and Chick

Last week, just days apart, we lost a pair of masters, who, as many pointed out, worked together early in their career, before they became leaders in their respective areas of the jazz world.

Here is a new piece I wrote for Rolling Stone in tribute to Milford Graves. And here are a few writings on him from over the years: a live review of Graves with John Zorn and Steve Coleman at the Vanguard; a dual account of seeing him play the night before catching J. Read, one of my favorite metal drummers; and a reflection on an online Graves master class. And here is an interview I conducted with Milford at his home in 2015. I'm so grateful to have shared time and space with him on multiple occasions.

I haven't gone quite as deep with Chick Corea but I'm nevertheless a huge fan, from the Miles records, to Now He Sings (and the later ECM albums by that trio) to Return to Forever, the Herbie duo and beyond. Here is an obituary for Rolling Stone, as well as a new interview with Herbie Hancock on Chick's genius and benevolent spirit.

'Stay in Shape! Vol. 1'

My friend and fellow writer/musician Brad Farberman has put together this lovely and eclectic multi-artist comp for Bandcamp Friday, with proceeds going to the beloved Greenpoint bar/venue Troost. He was kind enough to invite me to be a part of it. I've been playing guitar (mostly at home) for around three years now, but my track here, "Magna Eye Sketch," represents the first example of that work that I've released into the world. Enjoy!

2020 in review

Here's a list of my top 10 favorite albums of 2020, all genres in play. An annotated version appears on Rolling Stone's aggregated round-up of staffer top 10s, a fun yearly tradition that I'm happy to be a part of.

1. Dezron Douglas and Brandee Younger, Force Majeure
2. AC/DC, Power Up
3. Kirk Windstein, Dream in Motion
4. Undeath, Lesions of a Different Kind
5. Alan Braufman, The Fire Still Burns
6. Bob Dylan, Rough and Rowdy Ways
7. Josh Johnson, Freedom Exercise
8. Gulch, Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
9. Erica Freas, Young
10. Mr. Bungle, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo

My yearly all-genres-in-play top 10 lists dating back to 2005 can be found here.

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And here's a jazz-only new-releases list, as submitted to Francis Davis's annual critics poll — currently hosted by NPR Music — followed by my historical/reissue choices for the same poll. (Many of these records, plus quite a few more, are discussed in a year-end jazz survey I published recently via RS.) Note: I settled on this order after submitting the list above, and after I'd had a chance to do some further listening, which is why you'll find some inconsistencies re: the order (the Braufman trading places with the Douglas/Younger, for instance). There's no more inexact science than list-making — suffice to say, I enthusiastically recommend all above and below.

New Releases

1. Alan Braufman, The Fire Still Burns
2. Dezron Douglas and Brandee Younger, Force Majeure
3. Immanuel Wilkins, Omega
4. Josh Johnson, Freedom Exercise
5. Pat Metheny, From This Place
6. Chicago Underground Quartet, Good Days
7. Eric Revis, Slipknots Through a Looking Glass
8. Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela, Rejoice
9. Aquiles Navarro and Tcheser Holmes, Heritage of the Invisible II
10. Peter Evans, Being & Becoming

Reissues/historical

1. Sonny Rollins, Rollins in Holland
2. Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe, Duo Exchange: Complete Sessions
3. Charles Mingus, @ Bremen 1964 & 1975 

My yearly jazz-only top 10 lists dating back to 2008 can be found here.

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Of the albums I enjoyed this year that didn't make either list above, and weren't cited in the afore-linked RS jazz round-up, here's a few that made a particularly strong impression:

Coriky, Coriky
A quasi-continuation of Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina's Evens project, with the superb addition of Joe Lally on bass. Homespun folk-punk that feels both idiosyncratic and timeless.

Napalm Death, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
These guys impress me more with each release. Genuinely experimental, surprising and unclassifiable — not to mention ferocious — music from a band that could've long ago settled into coasting mode. For anyone who thinks they know what Napalm Death are about but hasn't checked in with them lately, this one just might be a revelation.

Bob Mould, Blue Hearts
Another artist who's somehow managed to retain the fire and the urgency that's propelled his best work for around 40 years. You hear a song like this and you know instantly that you're listening to Bob Mould; you also have no impulse whatsoever to swap it out for one of his earlier classics. This is the fifth Bob album in a row I've loved since I started following his solo career closely around the time of 2012's Silver Age.

Deftones, Ohms
I really fell hard for this band in 2020 after skirting around deep Deftones fandom for a few years. I now love pretty much every Deftones album, including the past few, and this one is absolutely earns its place in the core catalog.

Ulcerate, Stare Into Death and Be Still
Following an initial obsession, this one didn't stick with me throughout the year quite like I expected it to, but if you're in the right mood, it's a vast and imposing aural marvel. (Check out this endorsement from BangerTV vlogger Riley for a far more eloquent description than I could provide.)

Imperial Triumphant, Alphaville
A spectacularly bizarre statement from a band committed to obliterating genre divisions. Hit play and revel in the madness. 

Wayne Horvitz and Sara Schoenbeck, Cell Walk
Duo poetry for piano and bassoon. Wrote this one up for RS' "Albums You Might Have Missed in 2020" list.

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Some pop songs and other singles I liked a lot this year:

Phoebe Bridgers, "Kyoto"
Morgan Wallen, "More Than My Hometown"
Miley Cyrus, "Midnight Sky"
The Weeknd, "Blinding Lights"
Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion, "WAP"
Ozzy Osbourne, "Ordinary Man"
The Kid Laroi feat. Lil Mosey, "Wrong"

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And for helping to keep me sane during this most unusual of years, special thanks to: the back catalogs of Crowbar, AC/DC, Marvin Gaye, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Charles Tolliver, Khruangbin, ALL and the Dead; the individuals or teams behind the Heavy Hole, Washed Up Emo, Turned Out a Punk, WTF, Crash Bang Boom, Let There Be Talk, You Don't Know Mojack and Kreative Kontrol podcasts; Wayne Tucker & Co., who performed regularly in Grand Army Plaza this summer/fall; the Village Vanguard and Clutch livestreams; this version of Fleetwood Mac playing "I'm So Afraid" live in 1976; anyone/everyone involved in Curb Your Enthusiasm; the La Croix "NiCola" varietal; my friends/collaborators Julian Bennett Holmes and John Atkinson, who masterminded a life-saving outdoor music series in Red Hook during the warm months of 2020; and the Good Steely Dan Takes Twitter account.

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So long, Neil, McCoy, Gary, Leslie, Henry, Lee, Stanley, Riley, Jimmy, Eddie, Tony, Hal and so many others.

annual top 10 archives

*Annual top 10 lists, all genres in play, 2005 through the present.

*Annual jazz top 10 lists, 2008 through the present.

Steely Dan Takes

Via Rolling Stone, an interview with the man behind the funniest music-related fan account on Twitter.