Marcelo D2: Amar é Para os Fortes (2018)
Soon to be a major Amazon Prime series, it’s a bit narrative-heavy for those of us doing Spanish instead of Portuguese Duolingo to readily judge if it deserves its status as a landmark of Rio political hip hop, but it certainly sounds good—the rapping is fine, the beats bang away, the variety instruments (brass, accordion, a weirdly Manzarekian keyboard) open the world up—and the pacing is so good that one does worry if stretching this half-hour into a streaming show is going to work (“AEPOF”, “Febre do Rato”, “Resistência Cultural”)
James Brandon Lewis/Red Lily Quartet: For Mahalia, with Love
Knuffke/Chris Hoffman/W. Parker/C. Taylor is a close-to-optimal supporting cast, and on a dual tribute to the OG Ms. Jackson and his own grandmother, Lewis has every incentive to play with feeling, if surprisingly tastefully: best to think of it as a song album, showing Moses, Thomas A. Dorsey, and David Murray that the Promised Land may be more abstract than they realized (“Go Down Moses”, “Precious Lord”, “Deep River”)
Lucinda Williams: Stories from a Rock N Roll Heart
Back in (East) Nashville after all these years, after an opening establishes that post-stroke she can still rock better than whoever the bossy male vocalist who mars track two is, things tend slow without approaching the languor of her El Lay nadir; her simplest songs are her loneliest and her corner bar’s jukebox is sufficient consolation—a tribute to a life devoted to public musicking, and to walkable neighborhoods (“Jukebox”, “Let’s Get the Band Back Together”, “Where the Song Will Find Me”)
Maestro from the Balochistani coast of Pakistan who plays the “electric benju”, which looks like a cross between a zither and a typewriter designed by someone with a 2022 DALL-E understanding of human hands, and makes his unintuitive instrument sound as natural as the bird he named his record after: more than a novelty, but novelties are always welcome (“Maanj”, “Kalam Lolo”, “Shabaz Qalandar”)
Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina
Lehman’s doctoral advisors certify he has the bona fides to be fjucking around with spectral music, but the arrangements are fussy, the electronics are theoretically rigorous twiddling, and when Lehman does let himself cut loose not everyone on the French Ministry of Culture’s payroll can go with him; it’s still worthwhile, because rigorous twiddling can be fun and because Lehman and his ringers show a continent they can play (“Speed-Freeze, Pt. 2”, “Jeux D’Anches”, “Alchimie”)
Ice Spice: Like..? (Deluxe)
2023’s most promising rapper displays no interest in making a great album (though she’s thought hard enough about sequencing to move her solo “Princess Diana” after the remix with Nicki’s career-worst verse, making it seem like “Roman’s Revenge” in comparison), and nobody under 30 cares: her near-whisper is lightly likable throughout, and “Munch” might be the best feminist hit with a regressively narrow view of masculine roles since “No Scrubs” (“Munch (Feelin’ U)”, “Princess Diana”, “In Ha Mood”)
Bobbie Nelson & Amanda Shires: Loving You
Minor is an appropriate way for Bobbie to go out, making well-judged contributions without doing too much or drawing unnecessary attention to herself; Shires isn’t content to stay in the background, and though Willie cuts her when they share a Gershwin without his doing too much, there’s no shame in that (“Old Fashioned Love”, “Summertime”)
While the faux low-fi production has been much complained about, only Alicia Bognanno’s vocals have been completely puréed (until she decides to just shout above the mix), and even in that state of matter, she retains the color for you to get her emotional gist (“All This Noise”, “All I Do”)
Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light
“In Ethiopia, in Nigeria, in the so-called Middle East, who knows what happened?”—well, who (“Free Love”, “Protect Your Light”)
iLe: Nacarile
Third solo album from the Calle 13 singer has solid melodies, pretty self-harmonies, and feminist guest spots from the likes of reggaeton legend Ivy Queen; nothing’s really innovative or even distinctive about the music, but it’s all digestible and everything’s under four minutes (“Algo Bonito”, “En Cantos”)
Militarie Gun: Life Under the Gun
Given demographic trends, I’m sure there’s a well-heeled audience for middlebrow hardcore (or “midcore” if I were being mean, which in this parenthesis I am) who like the idea of doing it faster better than actually doing it faster, and I’m only a joint replacement away from joining them (“Do It Faster”, “Will Logic”)