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2019: albums of the year

December 18, 2019 · by · in

Various Artists – Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa

Yes yes, another compilation of semi-obscure music from Africa, we get it – but just listen to the synths, the pre-reggae percussion, the vocals. Amazing.

FKA twigs – Magdalene

Did FKA twigs have a spectacular year? Yes. There are one or two iffy moments on this disc, but the highs are immense, passionate, and hunting for a sense of a new future.

Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated

I wasn’t going to put this on here until I saw that I had at least five potential tracks from it in my top tracks longlist, so here we are – the pride of Mission, BC, continuing to reel off pop leviathans. The best part of Dedicated? There’s probably another 30 tracks of cuts that will come out next year.

Holly Herndon – Proto

I hang out with AI people, and ignore all that, and just listen to the sounds and the Sacred Harp singing and the Herndon drums – and, like with twigs, the leaps into a new and unforeseen future.

Jake Kaufman – Ducktales Remastered OST

– boop beep boop beep boop bee boop-bee-boop-be-boop –

Honorable mentions to Ford – The Evening, Xylouris White – The Sisypheans, Oren Ambarch – Simian Angel, and Barker – Utility.

2019 – shows of the year

December 17, 2019 · by · in

Tama Sumo at Mr. Sunday

I went to this show based on the strength of Tama Sumo’s delight of an RA Set from a few years ago … and was rewarded with a slow-burn colossus of a show of deep tunes, great house, and ecstatic dancefloor moments.

Kampire at FOMO

The Nyege Nyege magician played just about perfect at Elsewhere, going from 80 BPM to 190 in joyous, sass-heavy fashion.

Riobamba at Melting Point

Melting Point continues to prove that the kids are alright. Their one-year was H E A V Y, loud, vital – and had Riobamba’s rocketfuel post-Latin-dance-music masterpiece.

Zhorma @ Noite PuXXXa

An excellent night at MusicBox in Lisbon, won at a canter by Zhorma’s tropicalia —> kuduro/batida set.

Lauri Soini & Eliott Litrowski at Jolene

Went to Copenhagen and loved it, not least for the low-key wonderment at Jolene. Disco, italo, techno, “prog”, heartfelt go-go dancers, and yet more ecstatic dancefloor moments.

Honorable mentions to Total Freedom at Melting Point at Elsewhere, including the jellyfish and normcore costumes; to Timmy Regisford’s 1990s throwback and massive fader blasts at Nowadays; Jana Rush and her videogame footwork in a tiny pub in Bristol; and Awesome Tapes from Africa at Elsewhere.

2019: concerts of the year

December 16, 2019 · by · in

FKA twigs at Park Avenue Armory

Of course. I saw her at RBMA, four years ago and that show was more astonishing, because I didn’t know what to expect – but this was amazing and emotional in every possible way.

Holly Herndon at Pioneer Works

What’s your play after helping drive the whole avent-club thing, when you have a Stanford PhD and write your own AI? Bringing a six-person choir to a knife fight, as it were, and still winning.

Honorable mentions to KOKOKO! at Baby’s All Right, Ndagga Rhythm Force at Yaam, Arca at The Shed, and Hadestown on Broadway.

2019: sets of the year

December 15, 2019 · by · in

Pretty great year, I’d say. Let’s get to it.

Kampire – Sounds of Sónar

Pretty sure this miiiight be from late 2018, but my time is my own, and this blast of contrast / pop / house / hip-hop is an utter delight.

David Toop – Jean C. Roché Special

Birds, birds, birds, birds. Whales? Frogs? What a perfect thing.

DJ Healer – Planet Lonley

It’s probably an album, but, hey: chill, melancholic, existential post-ambient and breakbeat.

Ben UFO – Rinse FM, September 9, 2019

I think that Ben UFO may know more about music goes together than any other human in on earth.

Yu Su – Live at Oscillate

Finally a live set from one of Vancity’s finest – I can hear Granville to Pender to way out East in here, I tell you what.

Trevor Jackson – Island Records Extra Special

Any set that starts with a Wally Badarou deep cut is a friend of mine.

Honorable mentions to Moodymann Plays Motown, Mark Grusane on Beats In Space, Mr Mitch’s Techno Dancehall 2, Powder’s RA 700, and Milos Kaiser’s RA 690.

pattern recognition

July 1, 2019 · by · in

Pleased to say that I have finally finished the iOS app that I was going to write as part of my MA thesis at McGill, in 2014 or so – so I am only five years late, which is not bad for academia. You can find it on the App Store, here, or check out the fancy website here.

once again

December 21, 2018 · by · in

Happy Solstice, and hold on to 2019.

2018: tracks of the year

December 20, 2018 · by · in

Lots to talk about here, I tell you what.

Confidence Man – Out The Window

Over-the-top Australian dance band releases 90s baggy house record … that sounds sublime and transporting and overwhelming in all the right ways.

Patti LaBelle – It’s Alright With Me

For a Larry Levan / Paradise Garage joint, this sounds pretty chaste, at first listen. But keep at it – the tiny bits of call & response make it all worth it.

Kara-Lis Cloverdale – Grafts

We can stop making ambient / contemporary records, folks. Cloverdale made the best one.

Helen Bonchek Schneyer – Wayworn Traveller

Schneyer’s voice is heartstopping; she sings every syllable at a belt, and sounds like she is standing ramrod straight, two inches away from you.

DJ Koze – Pick Up

Another masterful sad banger from the master of sad bangers – not much more to say.

Pangea – Bone Sucka

It is very odd to me that nuskool breaks are back, but I don’t really mind when they sound this sick.

And, of course, lots of love to a very, very strong list this year:
Violeta Parra – Gracia a la Vida, Joe – Tail Lift, Robyn – Missing U, Cotonete – Le Hustle Parisian, Nigel Canaan – January’s End, Bohannon – Let’s Make A Dance (Danny Krivit Edit), LAPS – Who Me?, and Mike Theodore Orchestra – The Bull


2018: albums of the year

December 19, 2018 · by · in

Sylvestre Randafison, Ratovonirina Ranaivovololona & Randrianantoanina Doné – L’Art de la Valiha

It is always nice to see that I am well on my way to being that old techno hipster dude who now listens to African folk music. This particular cognitive bomb of amazing Madagascar zither music is a lovely step down that garden path.

Toshiro Matsuura Group – LOVEPLAYDANCE

Another sign I am getting old: here’s a series of magnificent jazz/funk covers of folks like Flying Lotus and Carl Craig, on Gilles Peterson’s Brownwood, that is just one hell of a collection of jams, bops, and joints.

Zack Nestel-Patt Group – River Run

My man Zach brings an all-star cast of Brooklyn’s finest (including Kenji Herbert on guitar) to a collectiion of jazz-ish-ish tunes that I kept coming back to again and again and again.

Robyn – Honey

Three big tunes, lots of ultra-sparse 90s jams, and Robyn, Robyn, Robyn.

Gwen Guthrie – Padlock

My word, just look at it:  “DANCING TIME 34 MINUTES”, Sly & Robbie, Gwen Guthrie, Wally Badarou, mixed by Levan … it is peak boogie and in fact sounds as good as it should be, which is a miracle.

Honors to Julia Holter’s colossal Aviary, Dexter Wansel’s sublimely 1970s Life On Mars, and the tremendously bold and tremendously good version of Remain In Light by Angelique Kidjo.

2018: shows of the year

December 18, 2018 · by · in

Body & Soul at Elsewhere

Woooooosh.  I mean, I don’t want to say that it was better in the 1990s, but this party makes a very strong case for it. 

Wata Igarashi at Nowadays

I used the term “heat lightning” to describe where this all-night set ended up.  Which was a true word, but also left out all the deep ambient that Igarashi played in the beginning of the night, the smooth transition up to techno, and so on.  A great set.

Boxed 5 Year Anniversary at Bloc

Logos, Mr. Mitch, Slackk, Mumdance, what a collection of sounds, rewinds, and over-the-top chaos.

Antal at Nowadays

The man from Rush Hour did not let us down, covering disco, Detroit, and deepness in general.  (This of course does not mention how rad Nowadays sounds, how nice the people there are, etc)

Big hugs to Mike Servito’s electro/acid/tech beatdown at No Way Back at Good room; to the casually ecstatic closing Mr. Sunday at Nowadays; to Boddika and the 45 minutes of blue light at about:blank; to a random, banging-techno Thursday night at La Java in Paris; to the total bassweight chaos of Metalheadz at Fabric; and to Hunee / Lena Wilikins at Sugar Hill.

2018: concerts of the year

December 16, 2018 · by · in

Fever Ray at RBMA NYC

A comprehensively amazing thing.  From the big tunes to the latex accordion number to the world’s most joyous muscle suit, this was pretty great.

London Philharmonic & Patricia Kopatchinskaja at Royal Festival Hall, London.

Well, heck, I got to see Symphony of Psalms live for the first time, and found a new favorite violinist in the astonishing Patricia Kopatchinskaja.  I’ve heard recordings of the Stravinsky concerto several times, and none of them prepared me for Kopatchinskaja playing the piece like it was filled with terrible secrets.

Janelle Monáe at Afropunk, Brooklyn

The queen.  I saw her at both the small room at MSG and at Afropunk.  The MSG set was longer, but Afropunk was clearly who she was talking to, and the show was all the better for it.

Manthe Ribane & Okzharp at Afropunk, Brooklyn

Lucky me, I walked past this duo doing their thing on the small stage to find amazing dance moves, dubby beats, and futuristic vibes.  Oh, they’re signed to Hyperdub and are from South Africa?  Of course.

Confidence Man at Elsewhere, Brooklyn

You too can have multiple costume changes, never smile, LED underwear, and play straight Aussie electropop bangers for an hour.  

The most honorable of honorable mentions to Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith doing Abstractions at National Sawdust, to John Luther Adams’ premiere of In The Name Of The Earth at Christ Church Cathedral, to the stupendous Yaeji at Warmup, to Sarah Davachi at Issue Project and to Zeena Parkins’s harp apocalypse at National Sawdust.