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i was talking to some dear friends the other night and they mentioned that they loved receiving these emails, which warmed my heart right up. if you don't love it, please let me know. i'll cease and desist of course.

we also talked about how much i enjoy writing these emails in large part because it encourages me to spend money on music that is new to me. i probably spend $50-100 a month on recordings by living artists. that might sound like a lot. or it might not. either way it's certainly less than i spend on booze. and probably less than you spend on booze, too (ASSUMPTION i'm an ass). also NO JUDGEMENT. i was just thinking about where my dollars are going. and i was thinking about how much joy it brings me to give some of my dollars to some of my favorite artists (many of whom happen to be pals) in exchange for something that i get to keep forever. or at least until the zombie apocalypse comes and my hard drive is rendered completely useless.

currently i'm scoping these crunchy crystals.
Andrew Smiley :: Dispersal      <------ click it
well damn, andrew. just. what the hell. i heard this piece many years ago in its infancy. it was a breathtaking experience then and it's only gotten better. there's something about the way that andrew pulls sounds out of his guitar... it almost feels like he's pulling those sounds out of my guts. and i like it. also, no effects pedals were harmed in the making of this recording. 


Vijay Iyer Sextet :: Far From Over
people love to hate on ... well ... other people. and i've heard dumpsters full of shade thrown at vijay. but you know what? i love his music. and i ain't scared to say it. his album Historicity is one of my all time faves. and this new jam is seriously nasty. the band is bonk bonk and they navigate a whole mess of territory with aplomb. i listen to this and i think, "yeah it makes sense that he's the director of the Banff jazz workshop and teaches at Harvard and won a MacArthur grant and and and and..."


Robinson and Rohe :: Hunger     <---- clicky clicky
uuuuuuuuughhhh whyyyyyy are you so good jean and liam? WHYYYYYYY? these two are a force for positive change. and their music makes me cry. and i love those things about them. sometimes the cry is a sad cry. sometimes it's an impossibly happy cry. either way i end up looking like this guy. give them all of yourself and you will be rewarded.


Kate Gentile :: Mannequins     <----- go on
damn kate (i know i started andrew's with "well damn" too. sue me). just. wow. my friends are making the best stuff. this album is crazy dense, features a TON of incredibly well thought out music that is really. REALLY. friggin hard. but if you listen to it without that in mind, it just sounds like a band of heady weirdos having THE MOST FUN. kate wrote the music, plays the shite out of the drums on the record, AND made the art (which i found out when i said "hey this art is great who made it?" duhhhh i should have known).

i haven't been listening to a ton of new music lately (that is, music that is new to me), but i have been listening to these two gems. and HOLY MOLY THEY'RE BOTH REALLY GOOD JUST BUY THEM AND LISTEN TO THEM NOW.

Craig Taborn Daylight Ghosts ::
WHAT?? HOW IS THIS SO GOOD? i mean, it's craig taborn and chris speed and chris lightcap and dave king. so there's that. and it's some of my favorite playing from each of them individually. and craig's compositions are perfect. seriously. perfect. worth many listens.

Aruna Sairam Yamuna Nathikarayil ::
this is a beautiful recording of an unbelievable concert. aruna sairam sounds like joy. there's not much else i can say right now. this is a very deep record and it has reached inside of me in the best way.

welcome to another edition of my "i talk about other people and then i talk about myself" newsletter.

i'm really excited to be listening to some awesome new music by pals and strangers both. to wit.

Harriet Tubman "Amarinta" - sweet jesus this band is unbelievable. Brandon Ross, JT Lewis, and Melvin Gibbs have been playing under this moniker for about 2 decades. and they've added Wadada Leo Smith for this album. so yeah. i've been listening a lot.

Lea Bertucci "All That is Solid Melts Into Air" - i don't know much about Lea Bertucci. what i know is that her new release on NNA Tapes is completely bonk-bonk. beautifully crunchy compositions for strings and tape collage. worth sitting still for.


GRID - buddies of mine Matt Nelson (Battle Trance) and Nick Podgurksi (Feast of the Epiphany) just released a slayer as a trio with bassist buddy of theirs Tim Dahl. also on NNA Tapes. people (writers) keep calling this album "angry" and "aggressive" and stuff like that. and while it's definitely not easy listening, if that's all they're hearing they're not paying attention. this record is really active but also quite patient. big sounds especially from highly processed saxophone and bass. 

grid and lea bertucci are having a joint record release party at Pioneer Works Tuesday night (like. tonight) in Red Hook. HOLY SMOKES.

Tyshawn Sorey "The Inner Spectrum of Variables" - this is a difficult recording for me to say very much about. other than the fact that it's mind bogglingly good and i'm going to be listening to it for a loooooooong time because there's so much to listen to! anyone who calls Tyshawn Sorey a drummer before they call him a composer isn't paying attention.

Cory Smythe "A U T O TROPHS"  - cory smythe is a truly gifted pianist who also works very hard. this recording was just released on friend (and former roommate!) Tyler Gilmore's label Not Art Records. compositions for piano and electronics. that sentence doesn't sound good. but the album does.

​Alash :: Tuvan throat singing. crazy deep. really beautiful and really fun. caught their set at Barbes last week and had a blast watching my wife's face as it went from "this is nice" to "wait what?" to "WAIT ACTUALLY SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL."
by the way. Tuva is in Russia. i'm told they'll get mad if you call them Mongolian. because they're not.

Bing and Ruth "No Home of the Mind" :: this is maybe cheating because i used to be in this band. and i LOVED being in this band. and now i'm not anymore. and so the tiniest part of me hoped that this new album would suck. that part of me is seriously disappointed. the REST of me, though, is psyched for my pals. this is a predictably gut wrenching album. listen to it. watch Seb's videos. and cry a little if you need to. really. it's ok.

Cuddle Magic "Ashes/Axis" :: a few of these folks are friends and neighbors. and everything they do is awesome. this brand new record is no exception. i've been spinning it constantly. you should, too. "voicemail" is my favorite. oh wait but also "kiss you." yeah. those and also "round and round" and also "spinning" and also "the first hippie on the moon pt. 1." you get the idea.

Balinese Gamelan "Pendet Penyambutan" :: i've been checking out Balinese music for the last couple years and loving all of it. last saturday i went to the Indonesian Embassy in NYC to learn from a master. he's starting an ensemble and we need YOU!! hit me up if you're interested in joining. saturdays at noon. we're currently learning this little earworm called "Pendet Penyambutan." above is a link to a video of it. played in Bali. by children.

before i get into the monthly ME ME ME gig list, here's some stuff i'm checking out.

#1. like seriously #1. currently listening to a CD i bought from a group that was performing outside of Banteay Srei in Cambodia. this group is SMOKIN. they're all victims of landmines and they play what i guess is traditional Cambodian music. ?? i really don't know. but they're playing instruments that i'm pretty sure were invented a long long time ago including ONE DUDE WHO JUST PUTS A LEAF BETWEEN HIS LIPS AND PLAYS THE SHIT OUT OF THE LEAF. so yeah, i can't read most of the writing on case because it looks like this ខ្ញុំមិនអាចនិយាយកម្ពុជា but suffice it to say if you can find any of this music out there in the world it's well worth a listen. here's a 30 second video i found. insufficient. but a glimpse. https://youtu.be/qqEB1hLfrX0

- Tredici Bacci - Amore Per Tutti. an awesome and quite large ensemble led by Simon Hanes basically playing spaghetti western music. it's deeper than that. just check it out. it's good.

- Christopher Hoffman - Silver Cord Quintet - this recording is seriously dynamite. the compositions are stellar, the playing is heartfelt and smart, and the sound quality is totally ace. go get it.

i've been thinking about the fact that i've called this email list "recommended listening." the title is meant to be somewhat ironic because i always just recommend you check ME out. so i'm gonna go ahead and actually recommend a few things at the top here.

here's some stuff by my friends that i've been listening to and enjoying. i'm proud as hell of these folks and the stuff that they're doing.

Caroline Davis "Doors : Chicago Storylines" - caroline is a force. especially lately. this album shows off her compositional prowess and her beautiful saxophoning. it's also full of interviews w/ chicago stalwarts painting a really vivid picture of the realest vibe.

Dustin Laurenzi's Natural Language - dustin is a monster tenor player. this album is really beautiful and thoughtful and just sounds really really really good.

Salt People "Deep Swim" - i don't want to sound patronizing by calling this band "young," so let's just say that they're getting an early start at being awesome. they've actually been playing together a long time and it shows. oscillating constantly between tender, aggressive, poppy/catchy, and just straight up difficult these guys are so awesome.

Ruth Garbus "Hello Everybody" - battle trance just spent a couple days "on the road" with ruth and she is incredibly brilliant. casually so. listen to everything that she does. dig deep. it's worth it.

Robinson and Rohe "The Longest Winter" - liam and jean are the best. just the best. i love this recording. it shows off their voices and their songwriting and their twisted but actually probably way too realistic view of the dark side of the holidays (and the light, too, but who really cares about that?)