Thumbscrew - Ours [2018]

In a way, Thumbscrew have already put out an album in 2018, the trio, which is made up of Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Michael Formanek (bass) and Mary Halvorson (guitar), form the core of the guitarist's latest project, Code Girl. With the simultaneous release of Ours and Theirs, the trio have shown that 2018 is one of their most productive years to date. Ours is a record of Thumbscrew originals, with each member of the band contributing three compositions - each of the nine tracks showcasing the creativity and unique connection within the group.

Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance [2018]

In the short time between their debut and their sophomore effort, Joe Talbot (vocals, lyrics), Adam Devonshire (bass), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar) and Jon Beavis (drums) have already managed to expand their post-punk sound. The fire is still there - a two guitar propelled attack anchored by a rapid rhythm section - but Joy as an Act of Resistance is not as consistently relentless as its predecessor, Brutalism. However, this should not be read as a negative - the change in Joy has brought a wider emotional range to the band, with Talbot sounding better than ever.

Julia Holter - Aviary [2018]

Aviary is a trip. The journey bears little to no resemblance to Julia Holter’s previous album, Have You In My Wilderness. The extremely impressive Wilderness featured Holter at her most accessible. Her voice was emphasized in the mix and the songs, while they maintained and in many cases surpassed the high quality of her previous work, were generally arranged in defined verse-chorus-verse structures. Despite the success that came with Wilderness, on Aviary Holter throws caution to the wind. The Los-Angeles-based singer/songwriter completely abandons the more pop-leaning format of Wilderness, giving listeners her longest, most dense and arguably most enthralling work to date.

Jason Palmer - Live At Wally's Volume 2 [2018]

Published on NextBop

When one thinks of music in Boston, "jazz" may not be the first word that comes to mind. This is understandable - the amount of venues where one can frequently see jazz pales in comparison to New York City, which is only a little over 4 hours away via bus. That being said, there are still quality series and venues in Boston that regularly feature jazz, such as Mandorla Music, the Lilypad, the Regattabar, and most frequently, Wally's. 

Noname - Room 25 [2018]

Years after a stellar feature (Chance the Rapper - "Lost") put her on the radar of many hip-hop fans, Fatima Warner, who raps as Noname, dropped a phenomenal debut project. Telefone featured the Chicago wordsmith delving into innocence, love, youth, and frequently, death. The mixtape was blessed with beautiful hooks, courtesy of other Chi-Town based artists such as Cam O'bi and Ravyn Lenae, and extremely well produced beats with influences from jazz, neo-soul and gospel, but Noname herself was always the highlight. Her intricately constructed and thoughtful lyrics, delivered with a beat-poetry-like flow that fits her soft voice perfectly, made Telefone a standout project of 2016. 

Binker and Moses - Alive in the East? [2018]

Published on NextBop

Tenor Saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer Moses Boyd are part of the exciting young London jazz scene that has been taking the genre by storm lately with projects by artists such as Nubya Garcia, Yazz Ahmed and Shabaka Hutchings. Alive in the East?, which was recorded live in June 2017, is the duo's third album together. Binker and Moses are joined by fellow members of the London scene Yussef Dayes (drums), Tori Handsley (harp), Byron Wallen (trumpet) and free-jazz stalwart Evan Parker (tenor and soprano sax). The result of this combination is 47 minutes of enthralling, vigorous jazz.

Elucid - Save Yourself [2016]

Regardless of how abstract and indirect it may seem at times - make no mistake, Save Yourself is a deeply personal record. Throughout the development of Save Yourself Elucid's life went through a sea of changes: a change of jobs, the end of a seven-year relationship and the isolation that came with moving to East New York. In the meantime, although some would say the world around him was changing, others might point out that it was just revealing itself, with the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement putting a much needed microscope on the all too common horrid instances of police brutality towards Black Americans. All of this - in addition to the rapper's past, present and views on the future - strongly informs Save Yourself. For Elucid, it's a work "expressing Blackness", delving into "lost love, inequality, and liberation" and speaking on "histories and structures...pointing out where they intersect."

The Nels Cline 4 - Currents, Constellations [2018]

Whether releasing accomplished avant-garde jazz albums with the Nels Cline Singers, or ripping through indie-rock songs with Wilco, Nels Cline's guitar work is always impressive. The guitarist's talents have recently earned him a spot on the legendary Blue Note Records, which released Lovers in 2016. Lovers was a 90 minute testament to Cline's range as a guitarist, boasting absurdly beautiful takes on jazz standards ("Glad To Be Unhappy") as well as tasteful rock covers ("Snare, Girl"). Cline's sophomore Blue Note release, The Nels Cline 4's Currents, Constellations, sounds absolutely nothing like Lovers. In the context of the Cline discography, the album could best be described as a somewhat natural progression from Room, a duet album with one of the most in demand guitarists in jazz today, Julian Lage. 

Jungsu Choi Tiny Orkester - Tschüss Jazz Era [2018]

Published on NextBop

As someone who has written for theater, musicals and film, Jungsu Choi is no stranger to the grand. The South Korean composer has brought together a band of twelve top class musicians - with the power of at least twice that number. Throughout Tschüss Jazz Era, his Tiny Orkester plays through five pieces that are all arranged by Choi, including two Choi originals, "Stolen Yellow" and "Nach Wien 224."

Thumbscrew - Theirs [2018]

It's odd for a group like Thumbscrew to release an album like Theirs. Mary Halvorson (guitar), Michael Formanek (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums) are musicians who always seem to have their eye on the future, with their albums as a bandleader being composed of mostly original material. Theirs is an album that does not contain one Thumbscrew original. The record is completely focused on much older compositions, including jazz standards like "The Peacocks", a Jimmy Rowles composition that was popularized by classic recordings by greats such as Bill Evans and Stan Getz.

Kadhja Bonet - Childqueen [2018]

Kadhja Bonet's music has an otherworldly quality to it. It's radiant, gorgeous work that defies genre classification. Hints of psychedelia, soul and folk course through the veins of Bonet's compositions. All of this, plus an angelic voice, is what made her debut EP, The Visitor, such a joy to listen to. A few years later, the high quality of Childqueen shows that the brilliance on display in The Visitor was not just lightning in a bottle.

Saba - Care for Me [2018]

Even though he had already put out a couple mixtapes and had features on Noname's Telefone and Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book, Saba formally introduced himself to a larger audience in 2016 with his debut album Bucket List Project. The stark difference between Bucket List and Care for Me shows just how much can change in a couple years. While Bucket List was a solid, often upbeat and playful debut LP, Care for Me is very much on the opposite side of the spectrum. Saba's sophomore effort is a poignant and mellow album that, more than anything, is informed by loss. Although Bucket List opened new doors for Saba in 2016, the young rapper's life quickly took a turn for the worse in 2017, when he lost his cousin, best friend and Pivot Gang collaborator, Walter Long, Jr (dinnerwithjohn), to a fatal stabbing in Chicago.

Mary Halvorson - Code Girl [2018]

Published on NextBop

If there is one word that cannot be used to describe Mary Halvorson, it's stagnant. In the past decade, the unconventional guitarist has been consistently expanding the range of her creativity, appearing on a staggering amount of recordings while developing a strikingly singular compositional approach. Code Girl, the name of Halvorson's latest record and band, stands adjacent from the progression that began in 2008 on Dragon's Head. Instead of adding another musician to the original trio with Ches Smith (drums) and John Hébert (bass), which has slowly grown into an extraordinary Octet, Halvorson looks to Thumbscrew, a collaborative band with Tomas Fujiwara (drums) and Michael Formanek (bass), and makes two exciting additions, Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet) and Amirtha Kidambi (vocals).

Andrew Drury's Content Provider - Try [2018]

Published on Free Jazz Blog

In the sophomore album by Andrew Drury's Content provider, Try, the drummer continues his habit of being involved in quality experimental jazz. Drury, who handles all of the compositions, is joined by musicians who are also mainstays in the New York avant-garde music scene: Ingrid Laubrock (tenor and soprano saxophones, autoharp), Briggan Krauss (alto saxophone, guitar) and Brandon Seabrook (guitar). Though Content Provider can be quite abrasive, and thrives in that energy, the record also has very well played atmospheric moments. This is notable on "Cassandra", the sole track that features Krauss on guitar.

Black Milk - FEVER [2018]

Black Milk has been lyrically silent for some time, with his last raps being on 2014's If There's a Hell Below. The hip-hop artist's 2016 release, The Rebellion Sessions, was a collaboration with the band Nat Turner that only had a tangential relation to hip-hop. With its tight rhythms, The Rebellion Sessions is not completely divorced from Milk's hip-hop roots, however the fact that it was a jazz record which featured improvisation made it stand out as a notable left turn in Milk's discography. On FEVER, Black Milk is rapping again, and it sounds like a lot of the production ideas that go into making the record such a success can be traced back to what the Detroit native was experimenting with in his years without the mic.

Quin Kirchner - The Other Side of Time [2018]

Published on NextBop

When speaking of jazz cities, New York and New Orleans are the ones that immediately come to mind, however, Chicago also deserves a shout. The city is no stranger to jazz creativity, being the home of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and having a scene which honed the chops of talented modern jazz names such as Tomeka Reid, Jaimie Branch and Matana Roberts. Drummer Quin Kirchner, a Chi-Town native, proves to be another quality example of the Chicago scene in his debut record, The Other Side of Time. The bandleader is an integral part of his skillful quintet made up of Nick Broste (trombone), Nate Lepine (tenor saxophone, flute), Jason Stein (bass clarinet) and Matt Ulery (bass).

Jason Kao Hwang - Sing House [2017]

Published on Free Jazz Blog

The opening track of Sing House, "No Such Thing", begins with an angular melody which quickly breaks out into an entertaining chaos of rapid, seemingly free improvisation. This is a fitting introduction to the structure, though that word feels very limiting to describe much of the music here, of Sing House, Jason Kao Hwang's adventurous four-track album. Hwang has assembled a formidable quintet of past collaborators: Andrew Drury (drum set), Ken Filiano (bass), Chris Forbes (piano) and Steve Swell (trombone). Hwang is democratic in his band-leading, with each member given a moment in the limelight to showcase their talents throughout the record.  

Irreversible Entanglements - Irreversible Entanglements [2017]

Published on Free Jazz Blog

Throughout the history of recorded Black American music, there is not one generation that lacks what Amiri Baraka might have called "social activist" music in response to the trials and tribulations of Black America. One could say that today, the majority of contemporary mainstream Black American music seems increasingly focused on escapism in lieu of social commentary or confronting manifestations or effects of white supremacy - a look at the current Hip-Hop or R&B charts gives substantial ammo to this argument. Despite this, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly and Solange's A Seat At The Table, records that undeniably have a black socio-political focus, still rose to be two of the highest selling and most critically acclaimed albums of their respective years.