2023 :: Favorite Music

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Welcome to the 2023 Holiday at the Sea year-end music list. There was a lot of great music in 2023, but I’ve narrowed it down to my favorite top 50, presented here in alphabetical order. I hope you see some of your favorites and find something new. I’d love to hear your thoughts. What has been your favorite music of 2023?

the 2023 Holiday at the Sea year-end music list:

  • Afro Futuristic Dreams by Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • A Trip To Bolgatanga by African Head Charge // BC // FB // Insta //Amzn //

  • Tony Allen JID018 by Tony Allen, Adrian Younge, & Ali Shaheed Muhammad (Jazz Is Dead) // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • New Blue Sun by André 3000 // site // Amzn //

  • My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross by Anohni & The Johnsons // site // BC // Insta // Amzn //

  • Love In Exile by Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily // site // Amzn //

  • Black Duck by Black Duck // BC // Amzn //

  • Sun Arcs by Blue Lake // BC // Amzn //

  • Sahel by Bombino // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You by Bonnie “Prince” Billy // BC // Amzn //

  • Dimanche à Bamako by Bounaly // BC // Amzn //

  • the Record by boygenius // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) by jaimie branch // site // BC // Amzn //

  • Nocturnal Country by Sammy Brue // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Villagers by Califone // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Chitinous Mandible by Chitinous Mandible // site // BC // Insta // Amzn //

  • Hostile Environment by Creation Rebel // BC // Amzn //

  • Shadow Kingdom by Bob Dylan // site // FB // Amzn //

  • & the Charm by Avalon Emerson // site // BC // Insta // Amzn //

  • Some Kinda Love Performing The Music Of the Velvet Underground by the Feelies // site // BC // Amzn //

  • A River Running To Your Heart by Fruit Bats // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Let the Moon Be a Planet by Steve Gunn & David Moore // BC // Amzn //

  • Philanthropy by Hauschka // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Days In The Desert by High Pulp // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Oh Me Oh My by Lonnie Holley // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • James and the Giants by James and the Giants // BC // Amzn //

  • Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd by Lana Del Rey // site // FB // Amzn //

  • New Future City Radio by Damon Locks & Rob Mazurek // BC // Amzn //

  • No Fixed Point In Space by Modern Nature // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • the Age of Pleasure by Janelle Monae // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Since Time Is Gravity by Natural Information Society // site // BC // Amzn //

  • Travel by the Necks // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Jump On It by Bill Orcutt // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Switched-On by Pachyman // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • After the Magic by 파란노을 (Parannoul) // BC // Insta // Amzn //

  • The Times by Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Drag On Girard by Purling Hiss // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • the Window by Ratboys // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Garden Party by Rose City Band // site // BC // Insta // Amzn //

  • Live at Third Man Records by Rich Ruth // BC // Insta // Amzn //

  • Robed In Rareness by Shabazz Palaces // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Everything Is Alive by Slowdive // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Javelin by Sufjan Stevens // site // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Music Is Victory Over Time by Sunwatchers // BC // FB // Amzn //

  • Secret Stratosphere by William Tyler And The Impossible Truth // BC // FB // Amzn //

Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown (2021) :: A Holiday At The Sea (MEGA) Playlist

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The next time you’ve got nearly 5 hours to kill, I’ve got the mix for you! These are not necessarily my “favorite songs of 2021.” Instead, these are choice cuts; one representative track from each of my favorite 50 albums of the year. Regardless of length.

Get ready for a ride.

Tracklist:

  1. Pray for Peace by Ustad Saami from East Pakistan Sky

  2. Recessinater by Birds of Maya from Valdez

  3. The People vs. the Rest of Us by Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble from NOW

  4. Bell Song by 75 Dollar Bill featuring Barry Weisblat from Social Music at Troost Vol. 1

  5. Ya Rossoul by Khaira Arby from Khaira Arby In New York (Live In 2010)

  6. Movement by Bell Orchestre from House Music

  7. Broken Mirror (A Selfie Reflection)/Composition 9 by Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley from Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection

  8. Riddim Rek Sa Niouy Mom by Wau Wau Collectif from Yaral Sa Doom

  9. All That They Left You by Six Organs of Admittance from The Veiled Sea

  10. Days Like These by Low from Hey What

  11. VBS by Lucy Dacus from Home Video

  12. Brothers by Phil Cook from All These Years

  13. Dark In Here by the Mountain Goats from Dark In Here

  14. Djougoh by Nahawa Doumbia from Kanawa

  15. The Call by Madlib from Sound Ancestors

  16. Beat Up Born Where I Come From by Ghost of Vroom from Ghost of Vroom 1

  17. Dovetail by Girls in Airports from Leap

  18. descension (Out of Our Constrictions) III by Natural Information Society and Evan Parker from descension (Out of Our Constrictions)

  19. Beowulf’s Trip by Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders from Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders

  20. World is Turning by Rose City Band from Earth Trip

  21. Disposable Thumbs by Endless Boogie from Admonitions

  22. Staggering With a Lantern by Mountain Movers from World What World

  23. Albuquerque by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis from CARNAGE

  24. OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor from G_d's Pee At States End!

  25. Juvenescence by Yasmin Williams from Urban Driftwood

  26. Invisible Map by Derek Piotr from Making and Then Unmaking

  27. You Can Regret What You Have Done by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy from Superwolves

  28. This Old World by Billy Strings from Renewal

  29. Kelp Highway by Drew Gardner from Drew Gardner

  30. Jnoun ! by Bachar Mar-Khalifé from Ghost Songs

  31. In Remembrance Of Those Fallen by Sons of Kemet from Black To The Future

  32. Bertha The Cool by Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog from Hope

  33. Give Me Back My Loving by Leo Nocentelli from Another Side

  34. Don’t Let The Tears by Howlin’ Rain from The Dharma Wheel

  35. Tree of Tule by Daniel Lanois from Heavy Sun

  36. Way To Cairo by Native Soul from Teenage Dreams

  37. Ethiopian Sunshower by Adrian Younge And Ali Shaheed Muhammad from Brian Jackson JID008

  38. Zengadyw Derekou by Hailu Mergia from Tezeta

  39. Ya Habibti by Mdou Moctar from Afrique Victime

  40. Tropicale Moon by Mouth Painter from Tropicale Moon

  41. Natural Facts by Wet Tuna from Eu’d To A Fake Boogie Volume 4

  42. Shrinks the Day by Ryley Walker and Kikagaku Moyo from Deep Fried Grandeur

  43. Musungu Elongo Paints His Face White to Scare Small Children by Kasai Allstars from Black Ants Always Fly Together, One Bangle Makes No Sound

  44. Trap Life by Sault from Nine

  45. Désert by Dobe Gnahoré from Couleur

  46. Part 1 by Elkhorn from The Golden Lag

  47. If It Comes In The Morning by Hiss Golden Messenger from Quietly Blowing It

  48. Morning River by Steve Gunn from Other You

  49. Shiva With Dustpan by Ryley Walker from Course In Fable

  50. Cortez the Killer (live) by Neil Young and Crazy Horse from Way Down In The Rust Bucket

  • Browse my favorite albums of the year

  • Browse my “2021 Yearly Wrap-it-Up” which is really a ramble about seeing Phish

  • Browse my favorite books of 2021

  • Browse my favorite movies of 2021

  • Browse my favorite television of 2021

  • Listen to a nearly 5-hour very low quality mix of one song from each of my favorite albums of 2021 called “Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown”

2021 Year In Review :: Favorite Albums

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Here’s the dealio, my coolios.

Each year, I keep a running diary of sorts of all of the things I liked each year. If you’re interested (which I doubt you are), you can follow along with my real-time unedited yearly bookkeeping here.

At the end of each year I try to cull down the music section to what really defined my year musically. No ranking. Just great music. Here are 50 of my favorite 2021 albums in alphabetical order.

Albums In Visual Alphabetical Order:

Albums In Alphabetical Alphabetical Order:

  1. Social Music at Troost Vol.1 by 75 Dollar Bill

  2. Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders by Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders // Elixor of Life by Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders

  3. Khaira Arby in New York (Live in 2010) by Khaira Arby

  4. House Music by Bell Orchestre

  5. Valdez by Birds of Maya

  6. Carnage by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

  7. All These Years by Phil Cook

  8. Home Video by Lucy Dacus

  9. Kanawa by Nahawa Doumbia

  10. The Golden Lag by Elkhorn

  11. Admonitions by Endless Boogie

  12. Drew Gardner by Drew Gardner

  13. Ghost of Vroom 1 by Ghost of Vroom

  14. Leap by Girls in Airports

  15. Couleur by Dobet Gnahoré

  16. G_d's Pee At States End! by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

  17. Other You by Steve Gunn

  18. Quietly Blowing It by Hiss Golden Messenger

  19. The Dharma Wheel by Howlin’ Rain

  20. Brian Jackson JID008 by Brian Jackson, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge

  21. Black Ants Always Fly Together, One Bangle Makes No Sound by Kasai Allstars

  22. Heavy Sun by Daniel Lanois

  23. Now by Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble

  24. Hey What by Low

  25. Sound Ancestors by Madlib

  26. Hope by Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog

  27. Ghost Songs by Bachar Mar-Khalifé

  28. Tezeta by Hailu Mergia

  29. Afrique Victime by Mdou Moctar

  30. Dark In Here by the Mountain Goats

  31. World What World by Mountain Movers

  32. Tropicale Moon by Mouth Painter

  33. Teenage Dreams by Native Soul

  34. descension (Out of Our Constrictions) by Natural Information Society/Evan Parker

  35. Another Side by Leo Nocentelli (1971)

  36. Making and Then Unmaking by Derek Piotr

  37. Earth Trip by Rose City Band

  38. East Pakistan Sky by Ustad Saami

  39. Nine by Sault

  40. The Veiled Sea by Six Organs of Admittance

  41. Black to the Future by Sons of Kemet

  42. Renewal by Billy Strings

  43. Superwolves by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy

  44. Deep Fried Grandeur by Ryley Walker And Kikagaku Moyo

  45. Course In Fable by Ryley Walker

  46. Yaral Sa Doom by Wau Wau Collectif

  47. Eau’d To A Fake Boogie Volume 4 by Wet Tuna

  48. Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection by Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley

  49. Urban Driftwood by Yasmin Williams

  50. Way Down in the Rust Bucket by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

  • Browse my favorite albums of the year

  • Browse my “2021 Yearly Wrap-it-Up” which is really a ramble about seeing Phish

  • Browse my favorite books of 2021

  • Browse my favorite movies of 2021

  • Browse my favorite television of 2021

  • Listen to a nearly 5-hour very low quality mix of one song from each of my favorite albums of 2021 called “Soundtrack to the Collective Meltdown”

Joshua Abrams and Natural Information Society :: Live at Kaleidophon, Ulrichsberg, Austria

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Joshua Abrams and Natural Information Society :: Live at Kaleidophon, Ulrichsberg, Austria.



Setlist;

  1. new untitled

  2. Sideways Fall

  3. Sound Talisman

Players

  1. Joshua Abrams: gimbri

  2. Lisa Alvarado: harmonium & gong

  3. Ben Boye: autoharp & wurlitzer

  4. Mikel Avery: drums

75 Dollar Bill and Natural Information Society, Together At Last (2019)!

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I actually don’t know if 75 Dollar Bill and Natural Information have played together before or not, it just seemed like a fun headline.

Back in July, Jesse Jarnow posted a link to this live set from the Roulette Concert Archive at Soundcloud and I just now had a chance to put it on and listen, and, OH MAN!!!!!

Aside from being two of my favorite bands (see posts tagged 75 Dollar Bill here or Natural Information posts here), the sound on this recording is phenomenal.

Sit back and let it unwind.

The Roulette Concert Archive says:

“75 Dollar Bill return to Roulette to celebrate the release of their new double album I Was Real (Thin Wrist Recordings / Black Editions). With guests Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society.

Having emerged as a vibrant musical force with their previous effort WOOD/METAL/PLASTIC/PATTERN/RHYTHM/ROCK (Thin Wrist 2016), 75 Dollar Bill have spent the last few years bringing their music to new people and places, delivering what NYC locals have had the chance to hear for years, and experimenting with the ever-deepening set of musical ideas for which they are known. The fruits of this work can be heard on their expansive new double LP I Was Real. Recorded over a four year period, in four different studios, with a range of ensemble configurations featuring the band’s closest friends and collaborators, I Was Real is the band’s most ambitious album yet. The music that unfolds on the album’s four sides doubles down on the group’s penchant for sprawling, unusual grooves and blown out microtonal guitars, while at the same time introducing textures and tonalities that point in completely new directions. For this event, the group will present a set of new and reimagined material from the album, with a special soon-to-be-announced group of guest musicians. 75 Dollar Bill is pleased to be joined this evening by Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, whose own double LP, Mandatory Reality, was released by Eremite Records in April.”

Holiday at the Sea's Favorite Music of 2019

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2019 has been a great year for music. From 30-minute mind-melting jams to Tuareg guitar and all kinds in between. I LOVE year-end lists. I love seeing what other people loved, especially if I can find something I hadn’t heard before. And to a lesser extent, who doesn’t like having their tastes confirmed by people much cooler?

But I don’t necessarily like ranking everything. After all, every list is subjective. And is there really any music that is “best”? Maybe you preferred one album to others, but does that really mean it’s “better”? Excuse me while I step off of my soapbox.

And I don’t like not hearing what people recommend. So, as you already know, I made a four-volume mix of some of my favorite music of the year, which I hope you’ve already checked out. If not, feel free to do so here and here and here and here. Also, just one more time of review, I chose 50 songs this year but only 49 albums since ‘Sideways’ by Seryn was released as a single.

Now that you’ve had a chance to to hear the songs, here is the complete list in alphabetical order.

  • I Was Real by 75 Dollar Bill

  • Mandatory Reality by Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society

  • Ancestral Recall by Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah

  • U.F.O.F. by Big Thief

  • Sahari by Aziza Brahim

  • RE_CORDIS by Bruno Bavota

  • i,i by Bon Iver

  • V by The Budos Band

  • African Giant by Burna Boy

  • Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest by Bill Callahan

  • Ghosteen by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

  • All My Relations by Cochemea

  • A Good Time by Davido

  • Grow Towards The Light by Dire Wolves

  • Sun Cycle / Elk Jam by Elkhorn

  • Pianoworks by Eluvium

  • Blue Values by Eamon Fogarty

  • All Time Present by Chris Forsyth

  • Gold Past Life by Fruit Bats

  • One Of The Best Yet by Gang Starr

  • One Step Behind by Garcia Peoples

  • The Unseen In Between by Steve Gunn

  • Back At The House by Hemlock Ernst and Kenny Segal

  • The Gospel According to Water Joe Henry

  • Terms of Surrender by Hiss Golden Messenger

  • More Arriving by Sarathy Korwar

  • Miri by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba

  • Sauropoda by L'Eclair

  • Ilana (The Creator) by Mdou Moctar

  • Stars Are The Light by Moon Duo

  • Three Chords and the Truth by Van Morrison

  • All Mirrors by Angel Olsen

  • Desire Path by One Eleven Heavy

  • Phoenix by Pedro the Lion

  • Rainford by Lee “Scratch” Perry

  • Purple Mountains by Purple Mountains

  • Rose City Band by Rose City Band

  • ‘Sideways’ by Seryn

  • Out of Darkness by Some Dark Hollow

  • Illegal Moves by Sunwatchers

  • Amankor / The Exile by Tartit

  • Amadjar by Tinariwen

  • Preserves by Matt Valentine

  • Father of the Bride by Vampire Weekend

  • Remind Me Tomorrow by Sharon Van Etten

  • Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits by Various Artists

  • Water Weird by Wet Tuna

  • Ode To Joy by Wilco

  • The Sisypheans by Xylouris White

  • Walk Through The Fire by Yola

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  • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Holiday at the Sea’s Favorite Music Label of 2019

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My Favorite music label of the year would have to be, without a doubt, Brooklyn’s Beyond Beyond is Beyond. Self-describes as: "“Music for Heads, by Heads,” which just about sums it up. More a vibe than a genre. A way of thinking than a particular style.

With five out of my favorite 49 albums of the year; (Dire Wolves, Garcia Peoples, L'Eclair, One Eleven Heavy, and Matt Valentine (plus, if I had expanded my list or included an “Honorable Mentions” section, this list would have expanded even more. That De Lorians is really good to mention only one more), no other single label presented as much music that I wanted to hear this year.

I can’t wait to hear what’s next.

  • Visit the Beyond Beyond is Beyond website

  • Visit Beyond Beyond is Beyond’s Bandcamp page for all the goodies

  • Follow the label on Facebook

  • Follow them on Twitter

In Celebration of Deep Listening: Three 2019 Albums to listen to, not just hear

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I have loved music for as long as I can remember, even though I have not talent at it myself (which I believe helps me appreciate those that do all the more). And I listen to a lot of different kinds of music. Many years ago, I went through a phase of really trying to expand my palate. During this phase, my friend and I used to refer to some music as “intentional listening.” In other words, you had to work to get through it. It required your attention and engagement. It also referred to a lot of music that our wives sometimes referred to as “racket.”

Somewhere along the line during those musical excursions, I came across Pauline Oliveros and the idea of “Deep Listening” and that changed things for me. The idea of “intentional listening” implies forcing one’s self to listen. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re actually engaging with the music itself, just getting through it. In hindsight, “intentional hearing” or “intentional music” might have been better descriptors of what I was doing during that phase. I was certainly expanding my musical horizons to include things like free jazz, drone, “freak-folk” and lots of other stuff like that, but I’m not sure how much I gleaned.

As Oliveros points out “We know more about hearing than listening.” I was hearing a lot of challenging music but I’m not sure I was up to the challenge. Oliveros describes “Deep Listening as a way of listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing. Such intense listening includes the sounds of daily life, of nature, of one's own thoughts as well as musical sounds.” If you are interested in hearing Oliveros explain some of this a bit further herself, you might want to watch her TED talk: ‘The difference between hearing and listening.’ Oliveros points out in that TED talk:

“Scientists can measure what happens in the ear. Measuring listening is another matter, as it is involves subjectivity. We confuse hearing with listening . . .

. . . I differentiate to hear and to listen. To hear is the physical means that enables perception. To listen is to give attention attention to what is perceived, both acoustically and psychologically.”

Like any skill, Deep Listening requires practice, patience and persistence. But it also has its payoffs that not everyone can understand. I still listen to all kinds of music and I often find myself at odds with family who does not. Much modern music requires very little of its hearers; certainly not deep listening. It is packaged in tiny shiny nuggets and treated as a product. As much as I wish my family loved the same music that I do, they will often come home and say things like “What are you listening to?!” This is no slight to them. But it doesn’t fit their expectations. They are not practicing Deep Listening (which is not to say that everyone who does will enjoy the same music).

It should come as no surprise, then, that three of my favorite albums so far this year require a listener’s participation. They ask for engagement and while they can be simply “heard,” each album opens itself up further and further with each “listening.” These three albums are wildly different from one another, but I think of them as kindred souls in the pursuit of Deep Listening.

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75 Dollar Bill: I Was Real

75 Dollar Bill is the core duo of Rick Brown who plays the plywood crate and homemade horns, and Che Chen, who plays microtonal guitar. Sometimes as just the duo and oftentimes with a revolving cast of guest musicians, 75 Dollar Bill plays hypnotic drone/trance/desert-blues/rock that swirls in and out of itself, often in long-form pieces. The unconventional percussion patterns and guitar tunings may be a bit jarring for some, but once you allow yourself to dive in, the songs are somehow primal, guttural, meditative, and joyous all at once.

Album opener ‘Every Last Coffee or Tea’ originally appeared on 2011’s Cassette and is presented here with an expanded lineup, laying out a fine template for what to expect from the rest of the album. Starting off with washes of viola drone, jangling bells, and minimal, searching percussion, the guitar plucks about, finding its place, and then everyone locks into the groove. And the groove is undeniable. Listeners might be reminded of Malian Blues, Saharan Desert rock, and/or Thai psychedelic rock. 75 Dollar Bill’s music certainly includes elements of all of those things but it is somehow more than the sum of its parts.

‘Tetuzi Akiyama’ (named after Japanese guitarist, violinist, and instrument-maker) further shows that Deep Listening can have a good beat that you can dance to. Swirling, repeated patterns build upon driving percussion, continually moving us forward until stopping abruptly, opening to the drones of the title track without jarring the listener. It’s all part of the same musical journey, tied together by Brown and Chen’s interplay.

The album drones and grooves. It challenges and rewards, inviting listeners to confront their preconceptions without ever coming across as pretentious. 75 Dollar Bill’s music invites listeners to cross borders, including genre, and find the sounds underneath. It is at once transcendent and immediate.

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Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band: Grow Towards The Light

Often known simply as Dire Wolves, welcome to the musical universe revolving around San Fransisco’s Jeffrey Alexander. The musical collectives makes music their website introduces as:

“a sound of ecstatic improvisation, each member documenting coordinate points in the higher dimensions of cosmic free-rock. The music lies somewhere near the nebulous intersection of psych, kosmische beat and spiritual jazz. These are exploratory journeys, transportive trance-based experiments in vertical listening, totally collaborative and often forming spontaneous compositions. The focus is more about feeling than any specific approach to playing. Psychic rock for the mind and body: breathe deep and grow towards that light, dig.”

That’s about as an apt a description as one is likely to come up with. Consisting of an often rotating lineup, the newest album ‘Grow Towards The Light’ finds the group including vocalist Georgia Carbone who sings in an invented language which accentuates the notion that this music is “more about feeling than any specific approach to playing.” There is a visceral nature to the trance-like tunes, driven by almost-tribal, immediate percussion and flourishes of of violin and skronking saxophones (courtesy of Sunwatchers Jeff Tobias) the music builds on repeated rhythms evoking both Krautrock and hippie fireside drum circles all at once without sounding contradictory or lost. This is confident music chasing a mood as much as technical precision.

The music comes in pulsating waves and sometimes resembles “freak folk,” sometimes “free jazz,” sometimes Krautfolk (is there such a thing?) and yet always sounds immediate and urgent without being stressful or repetitive. The soaring vocals float above the earthy rhythms and the violin and saxophone sometimes jar you back to reality and sometimes help transport you into the ether.

The longing search of spiritual jazz lies at the center of what Dire Wolves are about and may help us tune in to their frequency, but this is not a jazz record, even if it is a spiritual record. With an album title of ‘Grow Towards the Light’ and song titles like ‘Every Step is BIrth,’ and ‘Crack in the Cosmic Axis,’ Dire Wolves remind us that, with those for ears to hear, even wordless music (as we recognize it; this is not quite instrumental music because there are vocals) can still be a soundtrack for the journey of discovery for those willing to listen.

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Joshua Abrams And Natural Information Society: Mandatory Reality

Another musical collective featuring a rotating cast of players, the core of this one features prolific and influential Chicago bassist and guimbri (a three-stringed percussive African bass) player Joshua Abrams. Having played with the Square Roots (later becoming the Roots), Tortoise, and Fred Anderson among many others, Abrams has centered his newest ensemble around the “ecstatic minimalism” of repeated guimbri patterns and assorted accompaniment. The band’s most recent release, the sprawling 81-minute (with none of them wasted) Mandatory Reality consists of four long-form pieces (the shortest of which is just over six minutes) proves not only the necessity but the joy of “Deep Listening.”

Like other minimalist music, the music pulses with slowly repeating but slowly unfolding patterns that transport the listener from one place to another almost imperceptibly, requiring attention and patience, but there is also a sense of yearning towards something (shared ecstatic experience?) the us from losing interest. The gradual tempo shifts reflect the rise and fall of the deep ocean more than the crashing of the waves on the shore. But you have to be willing to travel to get there. The music requires focus but never seems tedious. It music shimmers with hypnotic waves and the long-form pieces call attention to the spaces between as much as the notes being played themselves.

These slowly unfolding pieces stand not only as a testament to Deep Listening, but to the idea that we are more than our schedules. We needn’t always feel rushed, and when we do, this music asks us to pause, take some deep breaths and pay attention; to listen and not just hear. There is much detail and beauty that may initially escape us if we’re not paying attention.

As Oliveros urges: “I invite you to take a moment now to notice what you are hearing and to expand your listening to continually include more.”

Joshua Abrams And Natural Information Society Live in Italy

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I often find myself drawn to music that defies easy categorization. I’m not sure how I would describe them to someone who had never heard them. “Long-form, minimalist global drone jazz?” Wikipedia gives it a go by quoting them being called “ecstatic minimalism”.[1]

Like the Necks (previously featured here), the group specializes in long-form, minimalist pieces with unfolding and unraveling melodies that trace themselves insight out. The more I think about it, the more I like the descriptor ““ecstatic minimalism”. There is not not only a sense of introspection to these pieces, but there is also certainly ecstasy to be found for those with ears to hear.

The band’s website says:

“Joshua Abrams formed Natural Information Society (NIS) in 2010. With Abrams' orchestration of traditional & contemporary instrumentation, NIS creates long-form psychedelic environments informed by jazz, minimalism & traditional musics.”

The band’s most recent release, the sprawling 81-minute (with none of them wasted) Mandatory Reality is one of the best releases of 2019 and well worth your time. Pitchfork says the album is a “a minimalist mountain of an album, one whose slow pace and gradual changes prove unusually mesmerizing, even sublime.”

Here is the band performing an amazing set earlier this year Dobialab in Italy. Enjoy.

This lineup features:

  • Joshua Abrams - guimbri, contrabbasso

  • Lisa Alvarado - harmonium, gong

  • Jason Stein - clarinetto basso

  • Mikel Avery - batteria