OXFORD AMERICAN - 17th Annual Southern Music Issue

"The Oxford American is proud to present its 17th annual Southern Music issue, which celebrates the immense musical legacy, both past and present, of the state of Georgia. 

Published in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development's Tourism Division, the issue comes with a 25-song CD compilation that features music by Georgia artists such as James Brown, Sandy Gaye, Gram Parsons, Otis Redding, OutKast, Indigo Girls, Drive-By Truckers, the Allman Brothers Band, and many more. This showcase of Georgia music also includes a cover of the song 'Midnight'—written by songwriting legends Boudleaux Bryant and Chet Atkins and recorded by Ray Charles—by the Athens-based band Futurebirds. This song was recorded exclusively for the Oxford American. The compilation ends with a recently discovered 1961 demo recording of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer performing 'Moon River.' The CD was mastered by Grammy-winning producer Michael Graves of Osiris Studio in Atlanta.

In the magazine, more than 45 writers take on the task of chronicling numerous musical traditions and artists from Georgia—including legends, innovators, and the state's brightest visionaries. A few highlights: Peter Guralnick on his discovery of Blind Willie McTell and the electrifying experience of seeing the James Brown Show in 1965; Kiese Laymon on the influence of OutKast; Amanda Petrusich on the Allman Brothers Band and Capricorn Records; Elyssa East on Gram Parsons and his 'Nudie suits'; and Brit Bennett on Janelle Monáe and Wondaland Records. The issue also has a special section called 'Athens x Athens,' in which musicians from the city's famous scene share stories and anecdotes about what makes the town an unmatched hub for creativity." - The Oxford American

JESSICA HOPPER: The First Collection Of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic

"Hopper's name should be familiar to anyone who makes a point of following contemporary music criticism—she's a longtime editor at Pitchfork and the editor-in-chief of its hard-copy spinoff, The Pitchfork Review. She's written about Kendrick Lamar for SPIN and music licensing for Buzzfeed. In a previous life, she worked on the other side of the shadowy divide between listeners and artists, as a PR rep for acts like Pedro the Lion. She's been deftly reflecting on music—and having those thoughts published—since she was a teenager. (She's 38 now.) And now she's released The First Collection Of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic.

The book, which spans the past 15 years of Hopper's career, is deliberately uneven. Rather than present a chronological arc, she's organized her work by broad subject areas, ranging from straightforward ('Chicago,' her home base) to entertaining ('Bad Reviews,' which favours thoughtful eviscerations over cheap shots) to political ('Females,' the final part, holds the crux of Hopper's feminist critical philosophy). In each section, relative juvenilia sits alongside recent, 'mature' writing. 'Emo: Where The Girls Aren't,' Hopper's tossed-gauntlet of an essay on misogyny in the Chicago scene for a 2003 issue of Punk Planet, is pages away from her unflinching 2013 interview with reporter Jim DeRogatis about R. Kelly's abhorrent record as a sex offender. A laser-focused 2011 profile of the artist St. Vincent buts up against a poetic, impressionistic review of a record by the Swedish singer-songwriter Frida Hyvonen from 2006." - Sarah Liss, National Post

THE DELFONICS - Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics / GHOSTFACE KILLAH - Adrian Younge Presents Twelve Reasons To Die

Wax Poetics associate, imaginary-soundtrack composer and crate-digging producer extraordinaire Adrian Younge stamps his neo-vintage sound onto two new collaborations, using live instrumentation to evoke the patina of sample-based beats.

"Younge's approach towards working with an older artist is less like [Rick] Rubin's and more like Quentin Tarantino's: instead of aiming for gravitas and youth culture appeal, he's placed [William] Hart in his own stylized and slightly warped vision of the past that's both a tribute to the Delfonics' heyday, a radical deconstruction of it, and something altogether original." - Pitchfork

"Though Wu-Tang figurehead RZA executive-produced Twelve Reasons and narrates several of its songs, he handed the production reins to Adrian Younge, a composer who shares his cinematic sensibilities but executes them on a greater scale than RZA ever could. The result is a grandiose extrapolation of Wu-Tang’s signature sound, with a live drummer filling in for static loops and full string and horn sections supplanting RZA’s usual dusty samples." - A.V. Club

VA - Change The Beat: The Celluloid Records Story 1980-1987

As recounted in this promotional short video, it could be argued that Celluloid's unique cross-Atlantic aesthetic was born the moment that French impresario/BYG Actuel co-founder Jean Karakos chanced upon NYC bassist/producer/multi-scene Zelig figure Bill Laswell; Change The Beat is a long-overdue look at one of the few early-'80s labels able to successfully unite the then-burgeoning B-boy movement with both the U.S./Euro no/new waves as well as that era's African diaspora. 

"With a selection that jumped from early hip-hop to deconstructed European disco, and from downtown NYC experimental head-trips to early fusions of world music with funk, jazz and art-damaged punk, Celluloid was truly a harbinger of things to come.

Winding your way through so much unbridled creativity is like stumbling into an avant-garde toy box filled with outrageous oddities, many of them sprouting dangerous, sharp edges. Having bought every Celluloid record I found for decades, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the label's catalogue, but there's an impressive amount of stuff here I've never heard or heard of.

Blessed by being in the right place(s) at the right time, and having the smarts to take advantage of the considerable opportunities that came their way, Celluloid Records sits comfortably in the file of independent labels that got it right from start to finish." - Blurt

KARRIEM RIGGINS - Alone Together

The Detroit-born, multitalented drummer/beatmaker delivers a dense, dusted cratedigging expedition laced with synth squelches and MPC script-flips that sit strongly beside the sketch-sequenced instrumental work of peers/labelmates Madlib and the late J Dilla.

"Much has been written of the spiritual connections between hip-hop and jazz music over the years, and though hardly a household name even in the rap world, few could hope to embody this musical romance more effectively than Karriem Riggins." - Potholes In My Blog

"Incorporating heavy jazz elements, such as swinging bass lines, grooving drum patterns and free-flowing melodies, every song on this album is felt as live as Riggins recorded it. The feeling is strong and the vibe is all-powerful. It is obvious that Riggins really put his all into his long-awaited debut." - Hip Hop Speakeasy

FLYING LOTUS - Until The Quiet Comes

Steven Ellison's last full-length, 2010's Cosmogramma, was an unanticipated favourite of that year—and would go on to be one of my most-played records of the following year as well. (I was uninitiated to his earlier works, although I've since come to revere 2008's Los Angeles with nearly equal fervour.) But despite catching me by surprise, Cosmogramma announced itself to me anything but loudly. It was a good four or five months of owning the record before I truly began to understand the complexity, craft, and sheer joy that lay within it. That's no accident, and, as its title suggests, Until The Quiet Comes is no different.

As Flying Lotus, Ellison builds his music—a simultaneously limping and striding brand of post-hip hop instrumental psychedelia that's peppered tenderly with guest vocals—with incredible care and subtlety. It's not that it isn't loud, vibrant, or throbbing. It manages its share of trunk-rattling boom and colour-inducing sheets of sound. But FlyLo isn't nearly as interested in direct statements as he is in fragments, half-thoughts, open propositions, and the space between the notes (whether that be notes on a scale or, as is often the case in his rhythms, notes between the meter).

That last phrase, of course, is oft used (both seriously and derisively) about jazz, and its inclusion here isn't accidental. Not only is Ellison the great-nephew of the legendary Alice Coltrane (a jazz artist notable for much more than just her marriage to saxophonist John Coltrane), but he is really a musician who represents one of the best ways forward for jazz in the new millennium. More so than many of his contemporaries, Ellison innately understands how to take the central tenets of jazz—the improvisational building in spontaneous directions upon a musical theme—and to then translate it to, for lack of a better phrase, modern music.

(I realize that this is a statement that would no doubt make purists wince. Perhaps it is better applied to the role of Flying Lotus as a listener/beatmaker/producer than his actual playing...but anyway, do with that suggestion what you will.) 

It's not that there aren't great current jazz players (far too many to name here, but Rob Mazurek, Jason Moran, Arve Henriksen to start, maybe...), or that those artists are not doing progressive contemporary things with their music. Nor am I sure that Ellison would like what he does to be called 'jazz.' But I would suggest that there's no better way to approach his music than how one ideally embraces jazz: open to all possible structures and interpretations. Open to endless growth of a performance, even a permanently recorded and captured one.

True to this idea, as great as Until The Quiet Comes sounded at first listen, that's just a hint of how great it has sounded on the tenth. And so I expect it to continue, almost exponentially so.

As with any year, there have been a number of highly anticipated albums in 2012. Some have fallen short, others have ably met the challenge, still more have done adequately. Unlike two years ago, however, I had Flying Lotus on my radar as one of those albums for which I could not wait. Maybe THE album for which I could not wait. But no matter how high the bar was that I set, this record has easily fulfilled its expected promise.

I can't wait to hear how wonderful it sounds to me come the new year. And if there's anyone left who still doesn't believe in the beauty of what computers can bring to music, sit with this album, please. It's magnificent.

FRANK OCEAN - channel ORANGE

There's a lot of heavy, heavy talk about this record (with many going so far as to already deem it a 'classic'), and it's quite understandable why. Certainly, channel ORANGE is the kind of debut (Er, second record? Do mixtapes count? I'm so old...) whose oozing confidence and broad vision demands attention and respect. And not only is its creator, Frank Ocean, a member of one of the most acclaimed and notorious hip hop crews out there (L.A.'s Odd Future), but he's also just coming off the heels of releasing 'the Text Edit document heard round the world'—the document, also included in the notes to channel ORANGE, is about as eloquent a coming out of a gay public figure as you're likely to see these days. Anyway, cynical or not, when you add up the factors involved, there's a lot of precedent for this type of blogger and press salivation. We are all possessed of an innate need for performers like Ocean to not only be good, but great. And not just great, but a revelation.

It should come as no surprise that channel ORANGE isn't perfect. Even the most ardent backer is going to come down from cloud nine eventually and realize that tracks like "Pilot Jones," "Crack Rock," and "Monks"—while full of sonic variation—add little more than running time to an hour-long record. Or that, while impressive in scope, "Pyramids" isn't nearly as riveting as its lengthy ambition sets it up to be. But in the end, that's all just fine. Because what the album is is something far more interesting than perfect: it's flawed, but flawed in a way that reveals true daring. It is the work of an artist with talent to burn and the guts to make choices that would bury lesser singers and songwriters.

And make no mistake, Ocean is great at both. His falsetto performance on "Thinkin Bout You" is a stunner; a devastating opening salvo of romantic ache that threatens to leave the rest of the album in its shadow. And how does the writer in him follow it up? Not with a barrage of hits, but by instead offering a teasing 40-second ice cream taster-spoon of vintage Stevie Wonder called "Fertilizer" and the understated introspection of "Sierra Leone." Neither track seems in any way eager to back up the promise of "Thinkin Bout You," rather keeping the listener at a savvy distance. Even when he does break out the big guns again on "Sweet Life," it takes until well over a minute of that song's casually strutting verse before you run into one of the bigger choruses of the summer. After such a cool setup, you never see Ocean's brilliance coming.

Of course, by the time he drops massively fun "Super Rich Kids" on you two tracks later, the effect becomes love at first sight. This, I think, is the moment when many reviewers' "It's a classic!" alarm bells begin to ring. Fair enough: Ocean's sharply assured observations of the rich and shameless are both hilariously voyeuristic and emotionally compelling. Rarely does an artist walk that line as well as he does in the first third of this record. That he can't quite sustain this standard throughout, then, isn't all that shocking—but neither is the fact that so many want to convince themselves that he does.

To be sure, there are some incredible moments yet to come. "Bad Religion" puts more beauty, grief, and power into under three minutes than you'd think possible. "Pink Matter" manages to be a quite resonant meditation on genders despite its occasionally awkward metaphors, and features a gloriously messed-up funk/psych breakdown at its conclusion. But above all, it's the ways that moments of such genius mingle with the not-quite-there-yet on channel ORANGE that make it special. Like the rather tired channel-surfing trope that loosely connects the transitions between songs, there's bound to be some filler in there. But Ocean's mental receiver is locked into some inspired transmissions nonetheless. He's restless, gifted, and brave. He aspires. And if he continues to make records with this sort of an eye for variety and risk-taking, one day he WILL indeed make us a classic.

FLYING LOTUS - Cosmogramma

When I first saw that Ravi Coltrane (son of, well, you know who...) was a guest on Cosmogramma, my curiosity was immediately piqued. After all, despite his legendary pedigree, Ravi is hardly a well-used sideman in electronic circles. Of course, then I quickly found out that Steven Ellison (aka Flying Lotus) is the saxophonist's cousin. Ellison's aunt and Ravi's mum, Alice Coltrane, was a truly exceptional figure. From her coming out in 1965 as a pianist in her husband John's late- period quintet, she grew into a remarkable bandleader in her own right—in particular, her late 60s/early 70s albums are all canon-worthy works of psychedelic, tranced-out jazz (especially when she turned to the harp as her main instrument).

So why the family tree? Because this ancestry definitely adds something of an understanding of what Flying Lotus is after on his excellent Cosmogramma LP. From the mystic sketched artwork covered in Arabic script to the restlessly open nature of the music within, this is a very worthy successor to the kind of aural voyage his aunt began in the '60s and '70s. Mind you, this is still a modern record—a product of computers, technology and the possibilities these devices open to us. But FlyLo is constantly looking for ways to connect the two eras. The result at times is one of the more 'classic'-sounding electro/hip hop records you're likely to hear this year.

Hip hop in general has a strong presence here, but unlike DJs such as Madlib, it's one of the few musical histories that's not really mined for material on Cosmogramma. Instead, it's used to refract other styles into pleasing and surprising new shapes. The mid-record trio of "Arkestry", "MmmHmm" and "Do The Astral Plane" is a mini-suite of resonant jazz drums, searching sax, early-evening soul and disco all viewed through a hip hop lens. Elsewhere, we're treated to minimalist psych, bursts of 8-bit noise, tight percussion loops, and even a game of table tennis transformed into a loping rhythm. It's telling that maybe one of the least successful moments on the record is the collaboration with Thom Yorke—not so much because it's a bad song, but more that hearing the Radiohead frontman whisper sweet, incomprehensible nothings over skipping electro-beats ain't exactly new territory.

But thankfully for Ellison, the rest of Cosmogramma is entirely top drawer stuff. And when he drops a little nod to Alice on "Drips / Auntie's Harp", you know it's a mention that would make the dearly departed icon proud.

ERYKAH BADU - New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh

It's ironic that it's a video from this album (Badu's one-shot stripping stroll through Dallas for first single "Window Seat") that's the source of so much controversy—it is by far a more mellow installment than its New Amerykah predecessor. Where the first record (subtitled 4th World War) was an often angry album, Return of the Ankh chooses to fight fire with love.

It's not so much that the record is overly sentimental or saccharine, but rather that nearly all of the tracks find themselves directly concerned with matters of the heart. This focus imparts a far more settled vibe on the album, and it's hard not to feel just a little disappointed at first. Part of what made Part One such an exciting listen was its exceptionally unpredictable and fearless nature. Songs dissolved into bizarre left turns and absorbing segues—none more so than the awesomely bizarre trumpet-and-voice scat that closed "Me". Return of the Ankh instead lays its cards out on the table for all to see, which makes sense.

Where 4th World War aimed to confront, this album wishes to seduce. And once you become acclimatized to its objectives, the record nearly proves to be its equal. The mid-record double shot of "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long" and "Umm Hmm" is a sultry pairing, while "Love" uses a head-nodding J Dilla track to have Badu channel her inherent oddness in a way that perfectly suits the record. The album's tempo rarely breaks a sweat and its charms are coy and delicate in how they blossom, but this ends up being a very worthy partner to one of the better soul records of the past few years.

SARAH WEBSTER FABIO - Boss Soul / Jujus: Alchemy Of The Blues, NIKKI GIOVANNI - The Reason I Like Chocolate, VA - Poets Read Their Contemporary Poetry

 This Smithsonian Folkways Archival series reissues (mostly black) American spoken word artists in pre- and proto-hip hop forms. These readings show the roots of hip hop in Black Nationalist and Afrocentric 1970s poetry, before Jamaican ex-pats in New York added the dub DJ element not to soon afterwards. With a strong recent return to form for MC forefather Gil Scott-Heron, this is as good a time as any to check out some other key influences on rap music.

Both Nikki Giovanni and Sarah Webster Fabio appeared on last year’s Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware: Revenge of the Super Female Rappers set on Soul Jazz, which chronicled the rise and fall of women’s place in hip-hop. Boss Soul: 12 Poems By Sarah Webster Fabio Set To Drum Talk, Rhythms & Images (1972), summing up the key ingredients of hip hop in its title alone, is, along with Fabio’s Jujus: Alchemy Of The Blues (1976), a model prototype of righteous rap.

Nikki Giovanni’s The Reason I Like Chocolate (1976) features the funky peacock (peahen?) strut “Ego Tripping”, one of the revelations of Fly Girls!, while the rest is a set of short unaccompanied pieces that are begging to be sampled. Any takers?

Poets Read Their Contemporary Poetry is a live recording sponsored by the multi-ethnic Before Columbus Foundation. The performances are charged with a political/didactic edge, climaxing in a jaw-dropping reading by Amiri Baraka (see also our writeup of his '60s writings on jazz, Black Music, here) of his unflinching diatribe “Dope”, in which he conflates drug addiction (in this case, heroin) and the religious belief (and subservience) of Black America through the wild ravings and twisted rationality of a madman. You really must hear it.

VA - Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware: Revenge Of The Super Female Rappers!

In an ambitious two-disc collection, Soul Jazz takes on the once-fertile subgenre of female rap. Celebrating three decades of sister rap, this comp actually digs way back to a couple of excellent early-'70s samplings of proto-rap from Sarah Webster Fabio and Nikki Giovanni. The real focus, however, is on the early '80s, via Roxanne Shante (to the chagrin of The Real Roxanne), MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and others who rocked the mic backed by live DJs, drum machines and the occasional live funky bass player. Going no further than Missy Elliott's "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" from 1997, Fly Girls! drives home the point that hip hop is not nearly as fun as it used to be, and that it may have something to do with the ever-diminishing number of prominent women in rap in this last decade.  

MADLIB - Beat Konducta Vol. 5 & 6: A Tribute To Dilla

Given how much Madlib and Jay Dee fed off each other's methods and approaches in the years leading up to Dilla's death, not only together as Jaylib but separately with the closely-related (and -released) snippet sounds of Beat Konducta Vol. 1 & 2 and Donuts three years back, Madlib has already consistently kept Jay Dee's spirit close, even on releases less explicitly tied to him in direct tribute. Originally released in late 2008 as separate LP sets (the Dil Withers Suite and Dil Cosby Suite), these two newest volumes exhume forty-two more unadulterated, blazed-out beat sketches from Otis Jackson, Jr.'s endless storehouse of Madlib Invazions.

MADLIB THE BEAT KONDUCTA - WLIB AM: King Of The Wigflip

BBE's Beat Generation sends itself off with one last commission, an Oxnard Omega to Jay Dee's pre-ordained Alpha ode to the 'D', Welcome 2 Detroit. "The New Resident"'s an ADD ...In India equal to Badu-bought Kendricks re-vision "My People", its chromatic Nyabinghi bounce briefly bound to Ra-like uncredited female vocals. WLIB AM's reception's a bit scrambled overall, especially if you're looking for more cameo-free instrumentals than appear (wind 1:30 into "Blinfold Test #10" [sic] for J-Rocc's jazz-bass scratch clinic, though), but G. A. Muldrow and Defari's early guest spots are both bang-on (viz. the latter's Sunset Strip G'd-out gambol "Gamble On Ya Boy").

SANTOGOLD - Top Ranking: A Diplo Dub

Right about now...you are about to be possessed...by the sounds of...MC Santi White...and DJ Wesley Pentz. These sounds...may include...high levels of...electro crunk...booty/B-more bass...dutty dancehall...southern slanging...autotuned chorus hooks...and other...contemporary...and timely...party versions. No baile funk...this time...but enough...new-wavey slight lefts...to walk on the moon with...or at least...to Mesopotamia. Only the finest...and most fashionable...shall gain entry...but don't let that...put you off. Just wait until...Mark Ronson...puts his...signature trumpets in. Exclusive!

THE COOL KIDS - The Bake Sale

Setting up shop somewhere between the profane, goofy fun of Spank Rock and the nonchalant menace of the Clipse, these Chicagoans clearly know that if you name it, they will come, as savvy netizens have clamoured over this release for most of the past year. Now that those less cool are privy too, we can tell what all the fuss has been about--when MC Mikey Rocks' eponymous theme song hits the speakers, make sure you're holding on, because these dark, stripped-down beats, economical as the 32-minute rewind-friendly running time, rattle as assuredly as the name implies.

THE BEES - Sound Selection

As well-rounded as you'd expect from a lot whose songcraft so suavely synthesizes styles into gently beatwise, tuneful pop form, Sound Selection is a mix compilation a la Late Night Tales or Back To Mine, valuing feel and, well, selection over perfect blending and matching. Soulful choral consternation from the Staple Singers and Redbone goes one-for-one with late-golden-age hiphop for the front half of this sequence (maybe even poking fun at comp-curation vanity in choosing De La Soul's "Ego Tripping, Part 2"), and the band's own "Left Foot Stepdown" fits right in after a double-dose of reggae.

ERYKAH BADU - New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War

With Madlib supplying two of his best recent beats with "The Healer" and "My People", YNQ affiliate Karriem Riggins chopping up flutes and sub-bass for surefire single "Soldier", and Sa-Ra getting particularly behind the beat Dilla-style on "Master Teacher" and "That Hump" (the former tune gifted to the project by Georgia Anne Muldrow, jazzing it up on keys at mid-song turnaround), it's not only clear that Badu put in serious work for her newest, but also that those she selectively surrounded herself with knew they were a part of something big. Right up there with Voodoo in my books...

THE ROOTS - Rising Down

With ?uestlove reportedly forcing Kamal to lay off his trusty Fender Rhodes and stick to his synthesizers, Rising Down is at very least one sinister-sounding collection. Fela's "Mr. Grammarticologylisationalism" gets flipped for "I Will Not Apologize", making the high guitar sound like downhome picking and G-funking up the organ solos. Maybe more compelling than the actual songs might be the messy incidental bits left for us snoops to scrutinize, namely the screaming or confiding (but always frustrated) phone banter bookending things, as well as forty-second backwards-masked "Becoming Unwritten", its snare dragging across the beat like a junkyard chain.

GNARLS BARKLEY - The Odd Couple

Something about the more-modern-than-mod organ and a-go-go loops on leadoff cut "Charity Case" may smack more of Smashmouth than DM & Cee-Lo intended, but Green's given room to redeem them on the following "Who's Gonna Save My Soul". Once they drop the beach-blanket feel for a spell, though, the pair get their hooks in with the synth-string stabs and spazzy drum-machine cycles of "Open Book", a high only equalled by the 13 beats straightening into 12 and back again on lush, flute-sampling "She Knows", as well as the dampened bass runs of The Old Couple's closer, "A Little Better".

BUCK 65 - Situation

How a white guy from Nova Scotia managed to find a wide audience rapping like the Dukes Of Hazzard narrator with a sore throat is something of a mystery. But Buck 65 is a master of odd detail and populates his tunes with the kinds of characters rarely seen in hip hop. In many ways, his success is a great acknowledgement of just how many white kids listen to hip hop--a fact he embraces by having never succumbed to misguided attempts to make himself more street. Situation is another collection of intelligently composed music and honest-yet-bizarre tales of worlds outside the present-day sphere.