Rodrigo Campos, Juçara Marçal, Gui Amabis: Sambas Do Absurdo Vol. 2
Miniatures-mostly from Existentialists Against Bolsonaro (Trio Version), with Campos testing out dense guitar and cavaquinho arrangements, Amabis unleashing fake orchestras among other pet sounds, and Marçal merely continuing to be one of the world’s great singers (“Um Minuto”, “Ladeira”, “Olhos Grande”)
A-Trak: 10 Seconds Vols. 1 & 2
“Gold Digger” scratcher turned EDM impresario acquires an ’80s sampler/drum machine and makes the E-mu SP-1200 sound mod, with occasional reminders he was a world turntablism champ amidst the four-on-the-floor (“Sling Shot”, “Spit”, “Cortez”)
Piri & Tommy Villiers: Froge.mp3
Drum & bass except (spins wheel) twee, meaning there are songs over the beats that won’t surprise anyone around during the last breakbeat popularization, which is nobody on TikTok (“Words”, “Soft Spot”, “Slowly But Surely”)
It’s ideologically not to mention nationally inconvenient that one of the few recent progressive R&B albums I’ve liked is by these Australians, but singer/guitarist Nai Palm has the precision to express her kray-zee melodic ideas and the conviction to ensure you never doubt she loved her late pet parrot (“Chivalry Is Not Dead”, “All the Words We Don’t Say”, “Stone or Lavender”)
Their conception of miner and miner-adjacent life is strictly twentieth century (no opioids, no QAnon), so call it history from deep below: environmental and economic disasters are mourned and condemned, with the margins reserved for fun (“Never Thought I’d See the Day”, “Dark Lords of the Mine”, “Phoebe Snow”)
Potent, eclectic music that, depending on your POV, either gives the impression of a deeply connected community of mega-talented Brazilian woman musicians (plus her husband) or is a bit all over the place, but her singing does suffice to connect the pieces (“Uva Niágara”, “Sangue Mioma”, “Benta”)
Aaron Raitiere: Single Wide Dreamer
Trenchant writer and serviceable singer gets production assistance from Miranda Lambert and Anderson East, the latter of whose guitar in particular helps this escape just-read-the-words territory (“At Least We Didn’t Have Any Kids”, “Single Wide Dreamer”, “Cold Soup”)
Leyla McCalla: Breaking the Thermometer
Well-conceived even if the English lyrics aren’t making me look for translations of the Creole, well-performed even if the folk trends mild, well-sung with no caveats needed there (“Dodinin”, “Bon Appétit, Messieurs”)
Kittin & The Hacker: Third Album
Unabashed nostalgics (not to mention Ostalgics, though both of them are French) whom the passage of time has turned into classicists; fortunately, they remember electroclash is supposed to have jokes (“Ostbahnhof”, “Retrovision”)
Elvis Costello & the Imposters: The Boy Named If
I salute that, after 36 years, he decided to make a good rock album again, and only wish there were a few more rhymes as dumb/great as “He came to me in his darkest house/He mistook me, took me for his spouse” (“The Difference”, “The Boy Named If”)
Chicago jazz drummer goes on a meander through Latin musics from reggae en Español (without the Español) to organ funk: there are moments when innovation is difficult to distinguish from schlock, but frequent contributions from Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker and versatile bassist Anna Butterss are on task, and Villareal’s own percussion is layered and hard to fault (“Bella Vista”, “In/On”)
Alaíde Costa: O Que Meus Calos Dizem Sobre Mim
Hip young people gather around a 60+ year biz veteran and surround her with gunky arrangements, as is the tradition; if you can tolerate this, she embellishes melodies from straightforward to tricky with a hell of a supple voice for an octogenarian (“Aurorear”, “Nenhuma Ilusão”)
Adeem the Artist: White Trash Revelry
This “Cast Iron Pansexual” (they’re good with album titles) is a talented image-maker and a singer whose understatement is appropriate except when they says they’re going to hell—except they’re extremely earnest, like Macklemore rapping about his white privilege earnest; still, burn a CD and sneak it into a Florida school library (“Middle of a Heart”, “Carolina”)