This version of ON the Beat was initially emailed to subscribers on August 31, 2023. To obtain Josef Woodard’s music e-newsletter in your inbox every Thursday, enroll at unbiased.com/newsletters.
The loss of life of the Lengthy-Taking part in Document Album has been drastically exaggerated. Within the evermore digital and track-oriented realm of music-making and advertising of our day, pundits and individuals on the road are sounding the loss of life knell of the album as we’ve identified and cherished it (when the music is loveable). Nevertheless it ain’t so. And to be clear, nothing within the time period “long-playing file album” truly signifies a format or bodily medium, regardless of our associations with vinyl, compact-disc, cassette, 8-track, and now vinyl’s redux: the thought of an “album” of songs is the factor.
Taking an informal, highly-selective and genre-sweeping take a look at what 2023 — thus far — has needed to provide the general public ear validates the continued vitality of the “album” idea and the problem it presents to artists pondering extra in big-picture relatively than bite-sized dimensions. Partake of those platters of music as you would like, with no matter utensils or devices, however do partake, in massive plate style. In the long run-of-summer hunch on the dwell music calendar, the calm earlier than fall’s storm, recorded music is all the time there to assuage and rattle and hum.
Father John Misty, Chloe and the Subsequent twentieth Century (Sub Pop) Father John, a okay a Josh Tillman, swept onto the Santa Barbara Bowl stage this month to ship one of many extra exhilarating and subversive exhibits of the 12 months. On the root of this 12 months’s Misty mannequin is his “pandemic” album, which finds him soaking in a bath of “faux jazz,” Rufus Wainwright-y melodicism and such memorable ditties as his poignant, Glen Campbell-inspired ode to his belated pooch, “Goodbye Mr. Blue,” and the suave-then-punkishly-brash “The Subsequent twentieth Century.” hyperlink
Amarea, Fountain Child (Golden Angel) Over the course of 14 songs in beneath 40 minutes, the deceptively soft-voiced Ghanaian-American singer, returning after her 2020 breakout album, graces and energizes a changeable musical panorama variously pop-tarted, Afrobeat-y, dance-fueled, electro, and acoustic textured. Pinches of punk sneak in, as well. hyperlink
Lana del Rey, Do you know there’s a tunnel beneath Ocean Blvd? (Interscope) Moody, cryptic, and surprisingly tuneful chanteuse Lana del Rey does it once more. However does what? Serving as her personal form of musical/style mixologist who confounds whilst she lures our ears into her world, whereas tapping into gritty recollections and existential angst, fleeting movie and cultural references and darkish corners of Americana. Within the opening “Grants,” she mythologizes a selfie second: “I’m gonna take mine of you with me/Like Rocky Mountain Excessive/The way in which John Denver sings.” Okay then. hyperlink
Barbie: the Album (Atlantic) What can we are saying? The neatest and slyest lady/movie on the 2023 block. Give into its wiles, even when it doesn’t embody Matchbox 20’s “Push,” which the Kens “play at” their Barbies, till the tables flip. hyperlink
David Virelles, Carta (Intakt) The considerate dynamo pianist David Virelles hails from Cuba, however has been based mostly in New York for some years, and he’s busy carving out an interesting aesthetic from varied elements in his being: Cuba meets Brooklyn, conventional music meets a freshened-up jazz sensibility, which might veer far left and abstract-ish, with out ever leaving a musical grounding of his specific devising. hyperlink
Henry Threadgill Ensemble, The Different One (Pi) At 79, the lavishly-laureled Henry Threadgill could also be within the eminence gris class of jazz legends, nevertheless it’s onerous to think about him in these phrases, given his ever-young and venturesome spirit. Newest working example, the expansive canvas of The Different One, wealthy within the ear-stretching private vocabulary that Threadgill has developed for many years, however in a “chamber jazz” setting (which incorporates Virelles, by the way). Lately, we don’t get his signature alto sax sound, however he conducts, composes, and leads his prices right into a “past” route. hyperlink
Cécile McLorin Salvant, Mélusine (Nonesuch) McLorin Salvant — who we’ve had the pleasure of listening to in Santa Barbara just a few occasions — stays one of many wonders of the jazz universe, vocal division. Right here, she dives deep into the Franco-phonic sonic nook of her broad aesthetic, from originals going again so far as the twelfth century, to mesmerizing ends. hyperlink
Aroof Aftab, Vijay and Shahzad Ismaily, Love In Exile (Verve) Omni-gifted pianist-composer-thinker Vijay Iyer has stretched out over a number of musical zones, together with edgy modern jazz, classical, and Indian music — a versatility he amply demonstrated as music director of the 2017 Ojai Music Competition. Right here, Iyer strikes right into a meditative “worldly” space, with Urdu vocalist Aroof Aftab and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily creating luxurious, hypnotic musical tapestries: good late August balm music to sink into. hyperlink
(Reside word: this particular trio performs within the al fresco splendor of the Hollywood’s Ford Amphitheatre on September 20 hyperlink).
