All I Want Is You – Allen Toussaint, Zilla Mayes – First heard as a single in 1955, the intensely felt soul singer Zilla Mayes final recording is a horn and piano driven r&b song. The second time it was heard was on Allen’s The Lost Sessions in 2011 that compiles his transitional recordings from the 1950s to the 1960s. The final time we heard it was last Friday, when it was the latest of six singles just posted by the nine years gone New Orleans legend. The single art is a New Orleans postcard and Allen’s calling card… I have no idea what is going on, perhaps a Lost Session part two? We can but hope – A-
The Silent Circle – Barishi – definable sludge for nine minutes with bowels of hell vocals – B-
Atlas – Bicep – bloopy electronica with synth sound effects – C+
Crashing Sky – Bizou – 80s style synth pop – B-
Persona Non Grata – Bright Eyes – whoops, I said lower east side, apparently it is all in the WEST village, where Conor spent his 00s getting fucked up, a real blah bummer and what’s worse is the bagpipes don’t work – C-
Martin – Car Seat Headrest – The first single off the upcoming album, “Can’t Cool Me Down”, improved over repeat hearings, but I doubt this guitar strummer shall – B-
Shoot Sideways – Conway the Machine, The Alchemist, ScHoolboy Q – Eminem find is pure OG on this classic rhyming hands in the air, great to hear from Schoolboy Q as well – B+
The Knife – Deeper – post punk guitar guitar – B
Future Teenage Cave Artists – Deerhoof – terrific piece of art pop weirdness – B+
The Loved One – Deerhoof – bass based art rock without being proggy – B
Search For Life – Dirty Projectors – low key, acoustic prettiness with lotsa strings – C+
Saturn Return – Ellis – dream pop prettiness – B
Dream St. – Jackie Lynn – Haley Fohr is a talented singer songwriter from Chicago, and she expands her palette here with Hawaiian strings and the pitter patter of a metronome – B
Sway – Jordana – she has one of those voices that slurs a little to give her a sensual edge to her voice on this romantic singer songwriter song living room pop – B
O Ruthless Great Divine Director – Lingua Ignota – opera vocals makes harcord noise – B
Lost Girl – Music from the Netflix Original Film – Lucinda Williams – not bad, and not untypical Williams warblegarble mouth of marbles Lucinda, it goes on for nearly nine minutes and picks up steam as it goes on, a real beaut – A-
Future Peg – Man Man – Take Flaming Lips, remove the affectation, add more guitars and some strong side effects and here you are – B-
Bleed All Over – Mark Lanegan – I saw Screaming Trees open for Oasis at Jones Beach back in the day, I loved em as well. Because, really, Mark has that voice, but his Americana rock solo is a drag – C+
Broken Tambourine – Muzz – The class of 2000 (Paul Banks (Interpol), Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman), and Matt Barrick (Jonathan Fire*Eater/The Walkmen/Fleet Foxes) remind us why the New York scene was stillborn with astonishingly slow mood music – C-
Ninths – NOUS, Christopher Bono – prog classicism with a touch of metal dynamism on the hook – B-
Quick Escape – Pearl Jam – according to Rolling Stone PJ the band recently opened a hotline (585-20-PEARL) that fans can call for the chance to hear a preview of additional songs from their upcoming album, while this hard rocker is terrific, easily the best of the three single we’ve heard so far – B+
Dolerme – ROSALÍA – Rosalia is on a role and it happens from time to time, just everything she touches is the best. Bad Bunny and J. Balvin are at a similar place and Beyonce was till she made that album with Mr. Beyonce, and Rosalia is simply at the top of the list with her constant pivots between flamenco and Latin Urbano, and this ballad is an acoustic guitar driver heartbreaker as she rails against the man who dumped her – A-
Ooh LA LA (feat. Greg Nice & DJ Premier) – Run The Jewels, Greg Nice, DJ Premier – RTJ is my hip hop Willie Nelson -everybody loves the duo but me. Oddly, I am fine with Killer Mike solo. By my own limited appeal, this ode to Old Dirty Bastard is first rate so… – B+
Johnny – Sarah Jarosz – a third of I’m With Her, and terrific at City Winery, this kiss off Americana is nothing special – C+
Chocolate Souffle – Shabazz Palaces – typical experimental rap from the apex of the scene – B
Sludge – Squid – not sludge at all, fair to middling math rock (which sounds exceedingly like prog by other means) – C+
The Longing – The Dream Syndicate – Steve took a long improvisation, cut it into tracks and added words… works for me – B
You Are Not Who I Thought I Was – Sondre Lerche – the man is a power pop machine, and he returns exactly where he was – B-
Kyiv – Tom Misch, Yussef Dayes – sweet jazzy jam
Sheep Tick – Young Knives – weirdcore, screams and post-punk shouts freak out – B