Best New Records I Heard in September, 2024

There sure is a lot of good music to hear these days

Lekicia Benjamin – Phoenix Reimagined Live. I thought I’d listened to her 2023 album Phoenix, but it turns out that if I did, I didn’t write it in my spread sheet – what, do you think I can remember all this music just in my head? This record is a live album from multiple shows, and it spotlights five of the tunes from the studio recording. It’s a joyous performance, with every one of Benjamin’s alto sax performances radiating love and community as if she’s channeling the experience of the audience through her horn. She also does some pretty fine raps throughout the record. Her hero is obviously John Coltrane, though it’s interesting that in the song she wrote paying homage to him and her own version of his signature “My Favorite Things,” Benjamin plays the alto sax, the one in between Coltrane’s tenor and soprano. The band on this record is terrific, but there’s an insanely great cut, “Phoenix Reimagined,” on which Randy Becker, John Scofield, and Jeff “Tain” Watts sit in to show off their veteran abilities to make Benjamin shine even brighter. Wish there was more from that show.

Sabrina Carpenter – Short N’ Sweet. I know Carpenter has been around as both a singer and an actor for a while now, but I’m not always plugged into things. I didn’t notice her name until a bunch of hardcore music fans I hang out with on Facebook started asking if “Espresso” was the song of the summer, and I didn’t really get it until I heard the follow-up single “Please Please Please.” This young woman has attitude, and she has hooks and catchy melodies. That’s enough to make this album spin around in my head for a while. She sings mainly about boys, but not the same way other pop idols do. When she gets dumped or ignored, she doesn’t spend much time crying about it – she either moves on to somebody else, or takes up with somebody she doesn’t like much or thinks about how the boy’s next girl will have to still contend with her memory. If she’s covering up vulnerability, she’s doing a good job of it. The music is bright and shiny, and as I mentioned, the hooks and tunes are mostly irresistible.

Moses Sumney – Sophcore. Sometimes contemporary r&b is so complicated sonically as to be effectively avant-garde music. But, if you just settle in, the constant audio manipulations can be intoxicating. I hadn’t encountered Sumney before but this six-song, twenty-minute EP is a fine introduction. He’s got sex and romance on his mind, and all the sounds are meant to be alluring and sensual. Nothing wrong with that, but it also works just fine for manipulating your brain in between flaps of head phones. If there were more hooks in these songs, it might just work against the general sense of well being I get from following the flow around my head.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Flight b741. The world’s most prolific rock band, and probably its most shape-shifting, is back with another album, ten long months since the last one. This time around there’s a lot more 70s rock influence than usual, though it’s filtered through their usual allotment of “wooh”s and a little robotic vocal at the end. Lots of blues licks, some Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Rolling Stones, and Thin Lizzy cops, and plenty of energy and excitement. I assume there’s some sort of storyline meandering through the lyrics, but no matter how hard I try to concentrate on the words, the music keeps lifting me outside my head. So far, I don’t think I’ve met a KG&TLW record I haven’t liked. I freely acknowledge that this is not the experience of everybody, many of whom seem to think some of their enormous output is better or worse than than others. I think it’s just one big long adventure.

Esperanza Spalding & Milton Nascimento – Milton + Esperanza. “Music for me is basically friendship, love, children, ocean, the life.” At 81 years of age, and with a lifetime of music across cultures and genres, the venerable Brazilian singer/composer once again packs the world into a record, this time with Esperanza Spalding, half his age, soaking up as much inspiration as he will give her. This sounds like a real collaboration between two talented and diverse musicians, which is something Nascimento has done before with many American jazz artists. His voice can still hit all the notes he wants, and his breath control and rhythmic inventions are sharp. Spalding, would probably have given him a run for his money even if she could have traveled back in time to when he was her age – check out how she matches a flute melody in “Wings For the Flight Bird.” Occasional other guests stop by – Dianne Reeves and Paul Simon most notably. There’s a fabulously creative take on the Beatles “A Day in the Life,” too. This is one of those records so full of subtle musical ideas that I may be able to play it dozens of times before I come close to grasping all of it.

Melissa Carper – Borned In Ya. After teasing us with a couple songs on the wonderful EP Wonder Women of Country a few months back, Melissa Carper is back with her own full length album. Despite the honky tonk exuberance of the title track, this album has a lot more torch songs on it, and in fact it seems interested in reminding us of early countrypolitan and even then-contemporary pop records. Carper will always have a twang in her voice, but she can sing a Cole Porter ballad just fine. Her original material is focused this time around on things getting in between lovers – the end of relationships, the twists and turns of two musicians on tour at the same time, even the loud sounds at a bar forcing her partner to shout in her ear. She covers the 1931 pop standard “That’s My Desire,” which is kind of the theme song here – almost everything is about what she wants to happen with the right person. As always, she sings beautifully.

Dylan Hicks – Modern Flora. This Minnesota musician is working territory nobody else seems interested in touching. This 38-minute album has only five songs, and there’s not a wasted note anywhere to be found. With four horns, a cello, guitar, bass, and drums augmenting Hicks’ own piano and vocals, there are so many sonic possibilities to be explored. The songs are placed inside complex unfolding arrangements of all these instruments – maybe five minutes will go by before he sings, maybe there won’t be a vocal at all, or then again maybe the voice will take top billing. Hicks writes intricately crafted melodies that remind me sometimes of Punch Brothers, sometimes of Paul Simon. Neither of those influences has expanded the arrangements the way Hicks and his cohorts do here. His previous album, Airport Sparrows, was plenty inventive, but sounds almost ordinary compared to the creativity on display this time around.

John Zorn – Lamentations. Remember a couple months back when I was so impressed with Zorn’s Her Melodious Lay album, which was all guitar duets played by Julian Lage and Gyan Riley? Well, now they’ve added Bill Frisell to the mix, giving us four Zorn-penned acoustic guitar trio pieces. Of course it’s even more compelling to have another guitar mixing in all these different parts. Sometimes two guitars will play chords behind a soloist; sometimes two single-note lines will play above chords; and sometimes all three will just be bopping along around each other’s parts. Zorn’s compositions for guitar are exquisite, filled with strong melodies, surprising moments, and intricately layered parts. I’m not sure I get the lamentation mood implied by the album title, though “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” does refuse to accept death rather well.

Shelby Lynne – Consequences of the Crown. Shelby Lynne was once a minor country star, but she is thriving since she freed herself from chasing that commercial brass ring. This is her first album of original songs in four years, and it’s chock full of serious pain from the end of a relationship. Most of the songs talk about how she’s shattered, confused, hurting, looking for a way past this. She sets these lyrics of pain to melodies and hooks that are frequently more uplifting – “Over and Over” is a great example. She sings of the relationship that went nowhere, that kept repeating the same mistakes, but with the chords rising on the chorus, it feels pretty good to hear about it. The other interesting thing about this record – Lynne is pulling all sorts of tricks from contemporary r&b production – thwomping fat beats or delicate hi-hat percussion, partial piano chords, lots of extra vocal tracks coming from different directions. She’s still singing like she sings – which has long been one of my favorite vocal approaches, with her fantastic range and power – but the music is coming from a new direction. It’s a real grower of an album.

Cecily Wilborn – Kuntry Gurl Playlist. Speaking of country and r&b mash-ups, this record leans heavier on 80s-styled Southern bluesy soul, the kind of stuff you used to hear regularly on the Malaco label. Wilborn wears a cowboy hat, sings a lot about life in the country, and even uses an occasional pedal steel, but she’s more in the neighborhood of Denis LaSalle than Miranda Lambert. She’s a heck of a singer, writes catchy tunes, and sets them to undulating grooves that set the body to moving. Her father steps in to sing lead on a second version of her “In Da Kuntry,” and holy moley! Where has Cecil Coleman Sr. been all our lives? The sound of his David Ruffin meets Tyrone Davis vocals rubbing up against Cecily’s lighter but vigorous tone makes for one heck of a record. But if that track wasn’t there, the rest of the album would still make a passionate case for expanding our notions of music from the rural south in 2024.

Chris Forsyth – Plays Love Devotion Surrender. Some fifty years back, Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin teamed up to make an incredible dual-guitar spiritually intense instrumental album called Love Devotion Surrender. Chris Forsyth is one of the few guitar players who could dare to attempt covering each of the five tunes from that album. I’ve only recently discovered Forsyth, but apparently for the last couple decades he’s been making remarkable music that can veer from wild jazz to precision art-rock. For this project, he assembled a crack band of players I’ve never encountered before, and they recorded a live show last Fall at a music festival in Philadelphia. Forsyth manages to channel both Santana and McLaughlin even while feeling his own way through some of the improvisations. As on the original, there is “Acknowledgement” (billed as “A Love Supreme,” though it’s really only one part of that project) and “Naima” from John Coltrane. Then there’s “The Life Divine” (clearly influenced by Coltrane) and “Meditation,” written by McLaughlin, and “Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord,” a traditional tune inspired by a Pharoah Sanders version of it. While this record isn’t better than the original, it’s worthy of its lineage, and intense enough for 2024.

LL Cool J – The Force. I go way back with LL Cool J, having seen him perform on the tour for his first album back around 1985 when he had that gigantic radio prop on the stage behind him. But, I’ll be honest, after Mama Said Knock You Out, I pretty much lost touch with him. So, this first album in ten years is like a first album in 34 years for my ears. That’s why the song “30 Decembers” resonated with me here – I don’t know what Rip Van Winkle saga he’s got in mind, but I can understand a veteran musician not known by the kids any more. That may or may not change – I do know most of the people I’ve seen loving this record are the same age as Mr. Cool J or above. But this sounds like a perfect cross between old old school and more contemporary sounds. The beats chosen by producer Q Tip are massive and the musical sounds are culled from all sorts of more modern approaches. LL Cool J takes what he’s given and lays down rhythmic varieties of wordplay that fits perfectly in every song. And every guest star – from Rick Ross to Eminem to Busta Rhymes to Nas to the three new guys on the last track – gives an aan A-game performance. A major comeback no matter how long it’s been since you heard him.

Lainey Wilson – Whirlwind. As one of the few contemporary women country singers who actually has big hits, Wilson faces more challenges than some of the performers who can scurry around doing what they want on the edges of the charts. So this album sounds to me like a mish mash, with I-don’t-give-a-fuck thrill rides like “Keep Up With Jones” vying for space with happy-ending-sob-stories like “Whiskey Colored Crayon.” In between the first and last songs I just mentioned, Wilson does a little more of each template, though she mostly settles into a middle-of-the-country-road comfort zone that makes for a nice listening experience. My fave cut, though, is “Ring Finger,” which sounds like a long-lost early 80s New Wave country song mixed with hip hop sonics and a blast of a contemporary chorus all to tell the tale of a wedding that doesn’t happen.

Hamilton De Hollanda & Gonzalo Rubalcaba – Collab. Hamilton De Hollanda is a Brazilian musician who plays the bandolin, which is a stringed instrument not too dissimilar from a mandolin. Gonzalo Rubalcaba is a fantastic Cuban pianist whose music I played a lot in the late nineties, but I’d lost track of him. This collaboration gives us eleven wonderful (mostly) duets between the two on a variety of musical pieces written by one or the other, or drawn from the likes of Stevie Wonder and Charlie Haden. The energy never flags, even on ballads,as there is a clear connection between these two players from different cultures. Hollanda is more flamboyant than Rubalcaba, but each is capable of flying in and out of the others ideas. “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” benefits from a third player, harmonica master Gabriel Grossi, while the second of two versions of Brazilian standard Incompatibilidade de Génios” is sung by the great João Bosco. The hour-long album flies by every time I hear it, which is always a good sign.

Aki Takasi Japanic – Forte. This Japanese-born pianist has been living in Germany for years, so her band is filled with German musicians I had not previously encountered. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve previously encountered jazz like this, since there’s a turntablist, one Vincent von Shlippenbach, playing a prominent role throughout the record. Takasi likes to let her band members take solo spots – but she prefers them to be real solo spots, with no accompaniment. Then there are duets – several between turntable and drums, or turntable and piano. But these are all interspersed within compositions. Takasi’s tunes are catchy made more complex because they have multiple sections. The record is bright and lively even when rhythms go beyond my ability to count and harmonies break apart. Great band, great record.

Los Bitchos – Talkie Talkie. Everything ever written about these young women tells you what countries each of them came from – Australia & Turkey, Sweden, Uruguay, and Great Britain. And there is definitely a multicultural vibe to their guitar/synth/bass/drums instrumental dance music. Rhythms can be sourced from anywhere, and the catchy melodies and riffs might have ancestors from around the world. It’s funny that they named the album what they did, as aside from a few wordless vocal sounds, the only talking on the record is the vigorous “Hi” right at the beginning of the record. High spirits then get transferred to the instruments, all of which are intending to make your body move for the duration of the album.

Nick Lowe – Indoor Safari. Is this a return to the classic Nick Lowe rock’n’roll form from his days in Rockpile alongside Dave Edmunds? Of course not. For one thing, Los Straitjackets, the wrestling-masked rockers who back Lowe up here are much more interested in laying behind the beat than in driving it forward. And Lowe himself hasn’t changed his songwriting style for almost 30 years – these are all the same simple but surprising, elegant but lightly twisted tales of loneliness, despair, occasional pleasure, and sorrow we’ve become familiar with. But there is something about the combination of Lowe’s intimate, close-mic’d vocals with Los Straitjackets danceable twang that makes this album work differently. It draws you in a little deeper, sets the body to moving a little more, makes you feel connected to other listeners enjoying the same experience whereas for years, Lowe’s records felt like it was just you and him sharing a drink of consolation.

Steve Wynn – Make It Right. There’s hardly been a year since I first discovered him back in 1982 when he was in the Dream Syndicate that Steve Wynn hasn’t released a record either with that band, or under his own name, or in the Baseball Project, or in some other configuration I can’t remember just now. These are never bad records, either, and there are enough spectacular moments spread throughout his career that could make for a hell of a greatest hits album. In fact, I might put “Santa Monica” from this one front and center. It’s got a sort of Feelies vibe to it, with Wynn’s limited but effective vocal range in the sweet spot here. The album is an accompaniment to his memoir, I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True. Inspired by his reminiscences, he wrote a bunch of songs that are not obvious in that regard. Lots of different sounds here, including a Captain Beefheart nod and a mysterious pseudo-Velvet Underground lo-fi thing at the end. After 42 years, I have long had a comfort with Steve Wynn’s music, and I’m delighted he’s still going strong.

Duke Robillard – Roll With Me. I’ve been digging the heck out of this record for a couple weeks and only just today found out the bulk of it was recorded back in 2005 but never released before. It’s Robillard and his top-flight band doing what they’ve done so well for decades – pay loving tribute to the blues masters of the 50s who made some of the best music of all time. You don’t have to know these songs by Big Joe Turner, Howlin’ Wolf, Gatemouth Brown, or Fats Domino, but it does make you love and respect those sources even more. It’s very difficult to keep this sort of thing from becoming a stale museum piece, but Robillard and his band straddle the fine line between imitation and vitality.

Sahra Halgan – Hiddo Dhawr. I’m ashamed to say I know next to nothing about Somaliland, the small nation in northeast Africa where Halgan lives. It’s actually a country which is not recognized by most nations of the world, including the US. Halgan herself is sometimes described as a freedom fighter, and was granted political refugee status away from her homeland for many years. None of this comes through to those of us who don’t speak the native language. Musically, Halgan sounds fiercely independent, mixing Arabic influences with heavier percussion, thick-as-Tuareg- guitars, and a mix of Western keyboard instruments, most often organ or electric piano. Her singing ranges from complex melodies to simple chants, with frequent use of harmonies that pull from Arabic modes. I love this record to death – it’s propulsive, catchy, and infectious. If she’s singing about the struggles of her country – and one song is entitled “Somaliland ani adi” which indicates she might be – that’s so much the better for the power of this music.