Weekly Picks and Misc.

Oct 18, 2024

Brandon Seabrook - Object of Unknown Function (Pyroclastic Records, 2024) I love everything about this album, from the slightly disorienting art to the delightfully hook-laden rhythms. A sort of minimally maximalist follow-up to last year’s maximally maximalist brutalovechamp, laymen would say this falls under “RIYL beautiful noise” or some nonsense like that; I would say this is one of the most viscerally delightful listens of the year.
John Zorn - New Masada Quartet, Volume 3 (Tzadik Records, 2024) In general, I think comparisons between Zorn and Ornette Coleman are off the mark, but the way Zorn has slightly flipped his Masada book with a new quartet is definitely reminiscent of Coleman’s double-bass quartet (the one that recorded Sound Grammar). The band is fired up and nothing about their performance is precious or contrived. Finally, this is a chance to hear them live, a full set presented as an unbroken take.
Ron Caines / Martin Archer AXIS - Practical Dreamers (Discus Music, 2024) I’ve so enjoyed every single one of the AXIS albums to date, and this one delivers on an interesting twist in their formula. As explained in the album notes, typically the group records Caines and players first, and this time Caines asked to record at the end, after the group had already assembled their parts. It’s a masterwork of improvisation at every level, beautifully evocative of the electroacoustic music of legends like George Lewis and Richard Teitelbaum.

Logging off - Cannot be recommended highly enough, especially right now. Go play games. Speaking of…
Love Letter - We’ve been playing this game almost nonstop for the past 2 weeks. It’s so fun and endlessly repeatable, everybody has their own little strategy.
Splendor - I think most people know this game? Recently, we found the expansion pack Cities of Splendor, which has about half a dozen variations. We’ve only gotten through two. This game is probably the one we go to most often.

But does it swing?