The Five Sets I Was Most Looking Forward to at Big Ears

Big Ears announced its hour-by-hour set/stage times just one day before its COVID-19 related cancellation announcement. In that 24 hour span I had already scanned the schedule and sketched out a rough draft itinerary with some DO NOT MISS sets penciled into the schedule. Here are the five sets I was most looking forward to at the March 2020 Big Ears Festival.

We All Break - Friday 3pm at Old City Performing Arts Center
I don't recall this venue from the previous year. It must be new. This set was at the top of my list because A) I loved the We All Break release when it came out in 2017 and B) I couldn't believe that I was going to get to see this band live. Ches Smith's We All Break project is one of the best examples of the traditional melding with the modern, and this was part of many Haitian themed performances scheduled over the festival weekend. It felt like it might be a once in a lifetime experience. Let's hope it's not a none in a lifetime experience.

Jake Xerxes Fussell - Friday 10pm at the Jig and Reel
Big Ears isn't strictly for experimental art music. They also have excellent taste for selecting artists dwelling within the Americana or roots music scenes, both obscure and well known. Jake Xerxes Fussell is a prime example. He was a late addition to the festival lineup and I was psyched to see his name pop up. I was going to try and catch him multiple times over the weekend and I had a hunch that he might sit in with some folks like William Tyler or Nathan Bowles, or they might sit in with him. But this 10pm Friday set at the Jig and Reel was my number one slot for Jake. This venue is a tiny little pub so it would have been awesome.

Bang on a Can All-Stars - Saturday 1pm at the Bijou Theater
I prefer the more club or bar-like venues at Big Ears: The Mill and Mine, The Standard, The Pilot Light. But I was still very excited for Bang on a Can at the Bijou Theater at 1pm on a Saturday. I loved the idea of that time slot in this venue. I've been a superfan of Bang on a Can's interpretations of Brian Eno's Music for Airports and Terry Riley's In C for at least 15+ years now. Way back when I think I was originally attracted to the name Bang on a Can All-Stars. With a name like that they had to be good. I actually haven't listened to this band all that much and don't know too much about them or what they had in store for this set, but I was going to be there checking it out.

Xylouris White - Saturday midnight at the Mill and Mine
I was a little disappointed to see that the only set Xylouris White got at Big Ears was going to be at midnight on the Saturday. Or was Big Ears holding back and waiting to reveal some secret sets? Anyway, that late at night was going to be a tough one to stay up for...or in all likelihood stay sober enough for. Note that Bang on a Can was going to be eleven hours earlier - that's a long day! But I was determined to check it out since even before the set times were announced Xylouris White was bolded. Hmmm...here's another example of the traditional meeting the modern. In this case Xylouris White does it with Greek or Cretan music. When the Big Ears initial lineup was first announced last fall I remember scrolling through it, already liking what I was seeing, then letting out a "hell yeah" or something even more exclamatory when I got to the alphabetical end of the list and saw Xylouris White in the lineup. I've been wanting to see these guys ever since Goats came out in 2014.

The Necks - Sunday 3pm at the Bijou Theater
The Necks are a trio from Australia. If I understand correctly, what they do when they perform is basically improvise for the entire set. They don't have "songs" per se. They just get on stage and take the music wherever it needs to go - could be jazz, or ambient, or something like post-rock. I've long heard of these guys and they are another legendary group that I couldn't believe I was going to get to see. When the full set times were announced I noted that this Sunday 3pm slot didn't have any major competition so my attention could be fully devoted to The Necks without any fear of missing other stuff. As news of COVID-19 increased I began to wonder if The Necks were going to be able to make it here from Australia. Of course the answer to that question and many others was answered when the festival was cancelled.

Big Ears 2020 was going to be an incredible festival. I haven't even mentioned performers like Marc Ribot, 75 Dollar Bill, Jeff Parker, Mdou Moctar, Molly Tuttle and Thundercat who were supposed to be there. It's tough when something you've been looking forward to for months on end gets snatched away. The only thing that made it more acceptable is knowing that basically everything else was also being cancelled and that it was the right thing to do, given the circumstances. I hope Big Ears can come back just as strong next time.

Anxiety Art - Best Overlooked Album from 2019

The best overlooked album from last year is far and away a little known pop rocker called Anxiety Art by San Francisco's The Reds, Pinks and Purples. 

A couple months ago I posted my favorite 2019 albums list. And what a fine list it is! Of course it's just my favorites out of the albums I was able to hear and familiarize myself with during 2019. With Spotify and other means (plus a hunger for searching) it's easier than ever before to continually find new and old music that you A) love and B) haven't ever heard before. Inevitably some good things get left off of any person's best of because you can't hear it all.

In the two months since 2019 ended I've been turned onto at least a dozen great albums from 2019 that I wasn't even aware of at the time of making my own favorites list. These include:

Tomeka Reid Quartet - Old New
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek - Kar Yağar

Gong Gong Gong - Phantom Rhythm

Joose Keskitalo - En lähde surussa

Los Wembler's des Iquitos - Vision del Ayahuasca

Mike Compton and Norman Blake - Gallop to Georgia

Woolen Men - Human to Human
Billy Strings - Home

These are all albums I wish that I had known about in 2019 but I'm glad that I know about them now. However, for me, the best overlooked album from last year is far and away a little known pop rocker called Anxiety Art by San Francisco's The Reds, Pinks and Purples. 

I know little to nothing about this band or album. It was listed on Raven Sings The Blues' enlightening best of 2019 list: http://www.ravensingstheblues.com/rstb-best-of-2019/

On Bandcamp The Reds, Pinks and Purples are described as "DIY kitchen pop project of Glenn Donaldson with live support from friends, currently: ‎Katiana Mashikian, Thomas Rubenstein & Andrew Hine.‎"  About the songs, Donaldson writes:

I wrote these songs in the Inner Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco. They came to me on walks around Golden Gate Park and shopping at Asian grocery stores on Clement Street. They are fiction and non-fiction. I recorded them in my kitchen, but we live in the future now, so some of them are coming out on vinyl in Spain. To me, they are straight pop songs with not much of a filter. The cover art is by my partner's father; he has dementia but still makes amazing pictures sometimes. Stress or bad times can drive people to make music or art. It's a relief for me to make things, so I called this record Anxiety Art.

I'm not sure why this album has had such an impact on me.  New Wave, or middle of the road rock in general, is not necessarily my most preferred style. The songs are not super hooky and the musicianship - while sufficient and well formed - is not what I would call virtuosic. There are no long jams or much improvisation or experimentalism of any sort. The songs are pretty short - the two or three minute range - and have pretty basic structures. The same chord patterns, guitar riff motifs, and topics seem to show up on multiple tracks, whether intentional or by accident. It doesn't quite sound like 2019...or 1982. But oh is it addictive and gripping. The feeling the album conjures can't really be put into words - something like a mature, hopeful, melancholy. Hidden beauty. Finding pleasure in simple, mundane things. Too bad the vinyl is completely sold out. Good thing I'm also into compressed audio.

20 Years Ago, These Were My 10 Favorite Jambands

In the year 2000 I was living in the Boulder/Fort Collins/Denver area of Colorado. These would have been my ten favorite jambands.

The Big Wu

The Big Wu

This Minnesota band had a heady allure, cultivating a strong following in CO perhaps because of their underdog quality. First of all, they wrote good original songs that you wanted to hear. The Big Wu's setlists rotated through this strong original repertoire and were of course peppered with choice covers. They did a great version of Foolish Heart by The Grateful Dead, for example. On the downside, The Big Wu could be frustratingly inconsistent. On their off nights they more closely resembled your local bar band than an act ready for prime time. I always like them though. There was a "Jerry" quality to their flubbed lyrics and inconsistency.

Keller Williams

Keller Williams

Back then it seemed like Keller Williams could read your mind. I guess that meant he had his finger on the pulse. Keller was always extremely present at his shows, playing directly to the mood of the room. For covers, he pulled from everywhere but my favorites at the time had to be Dinah Moe Humm (Frank Zappa), Thirsty In the Rain (Peter Rowan), and Still Wishing to Course (Camper Van Beethoven). Keller's album Best Feeling proved he could write quality songs, and not just novelty numbers like Portapotty.

Strangefolk

Strangefolk had an original sound, powered by Reid Genauer's lyrics and songs. They were a jamband for sure, but it was sorta "jam-lite" and always with a focus on the song. Kind of like a more jammy Jayhawks but way less risk taking than Phish at the time. I don't think Strangefolk ever ventured down the twenty-minute jam road for example, but they knew what they were doing and wore the Burlington, VT brand pretty well. Reid had a great charisma and delivery that brought everything up another notch. Lead guitarist Jon Trafton played with a tasteful, understated style that hopefully didn't go unnoticed. Strangefolk's Weightless In Water CD is a classic album of the genre.

Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon

Polyethnic, Cajun Slamgrass was the name of the game. Leftover Salmon, along with String Cheese Incident, embodied the thriving Colorado music scene of that age - soon to be joined by Yonder Mountain String Band. The draw was strong. Many of my favorite live music experiences from the mid-90's to early 2000's were at Leftover Salmon shows. They brought the party, but it also stimulated the bluegrass jones. With Vince Herman, Drew Emitt and Mark Vann (banjo) you had three strong showmen who delivered - in unexpected ways - every single time.

Dark Star Orchestra

Dark Star Orchestra
I was pretty up on my Grateful Dead trivia back then, so going to see a band that recreated entire concerts song for song was quite appealing. It didn't really feel like just a cover band. With John Kadlecik at the controls it felt like a real thing. People, including me, used to actually trade DSO tapes (or burned CDs). As someone who only got to see the Grateful Dead a few times in '94 and '95, it was fun interacting with the true Deadheads in attendance who had lived it. As a student of setlists and characteristics of different playing styles ('73 vs '77 vs early '80's vs late '80's) it was usually possible to guess the correct year by the 3rd of 4th song. That was part of the fun too.

String Cheese Incident

String Cheese Incident
These guys were a big deal to me back then. And when I look back now I realize how unique SCI was and continues to be. Sure they adopted a Phish-like marketing/touring aesthetic but (in spite or or as part of that) they chose a cover repertoire that was untouched at the time. Shows could include covers of Lonesome Fiddle Blues (Vassar Clements), Lands End (Tim O'brien), Mauna Bowa (Jean Luc Ponty), Birdland (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Blackberry Blossom (bluegrass standard), All Blues (Miles Davis), Impressions (John Coltrane), and more. And that's just the instrumentals! The originals in SCI's repertoire never carried the weight of say Phish or moe.'s songs, but the islandy bluegrass shades of their originals helped propagate String Cheese's lighthearted hippie hula hoop image. They started playing venues like The Fillmore and Red Rocks while I was living in Colorado.

moe.

moe.
I saw moe. a lot from 1996 through 2001 and they crushed it every single time during that stretch. moe. seemed to focus more on originals than their peers. Their songs employed shifting time signatures, quirky lyrics, twin lead guitar, epic jams, and hooky choruses. Between Al, Chuck and Rob you had three songwriters each with their own distinct style. Chuck's being more classic rock leaning, Al's bending toward country and alternative, and Rob toggling between massive anthems and barroom ballads. No Doy holds up as one of the definitive jamband albums, with Headseed and Tin Cans and Car Tires not far behind. moe. songs such as Rebubula, Timmy Tucker, Mexico, Spine of a Dog, Moth, Buster, Recreational Chemistry, Brent Black, Nebraska and Akimbo (the list goes on) are firmly planted and growing up to be redwoods of the forest, or at least spruce.

STS9

Sector 9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9, STS9)
When I first started seeing Sector 9 they were simply called Sector 9. The Sound Tribe part hadn't been added yet. Even if the name part was still evolving, Sector 9 the band arrived on the scene fully formed with their own crystal-infused pre-Y2K Mayan mythology giving them an advantage. These guys were no joke and were far removed from the wacky, party vibe of the other jambands. This was before they started using a lot of laptops. No fault in the use of technology, but I liked the organic purity of the pre-computer sound which focused on guitarist Hunter Brown's simple yet fascinating gift for melody, David Phipps' sophisticated piano accents, David Murphy's elemental bass-lines, and Zach Velmer and Jefree Lerner's propelling drums/percussion. Their spirit rubbed off on me.

Yonder Mountain String Band

Yonder Mountain String Band
During the brief two years I lived in Colorado - 1999 to 2001 - YMSB was king for me. And continued to be well into the mid-2000's even after I moved back to VA. There were four, count 'em four, strong songwriters in the band - Jeff Austin, Adam Aijala, Ben Kaufmann, and Dave Johnston. YMSB was a bluegrass lineup of reckless mandolin, flatpicked guitar, standup bass and 5-string banjo. But they were the most aware bluegrass band the world had yet to see that the time, fully aware of not just the bluegrass traditional world of their predecessors, but also of the performance style that had made bands like Phish or The Grateful Dead such huge successes. As Jeff Austin once said, "If we can put out enough energy to sustain a crowd without drums, and show them they can still dance their asses off, well, we've achieved our goal." Leftover Salmon and String Cheese Incident might have dabbled in bluegrass, but Yonder made bluegrass their home base and then branched out from there. Yonder paved the way for artists like Billy Strings.

Phish

Phish
Of all the bands on this list, Phish is the only the one that remains a favorite. The favorite. Even as my tastes continue to morph and evolve down different pathways on a 25+ year long daily basis, Phish stays top of mind. I speak of them in the present tense, not the past tense.

Phish seems to have really, really studied music, and their songs have complexities and characteristics that puts them in a league of their own. We're talking Beatles type stuff here and beyond (Classical music, jazz, et cetera). Many different Phish songs seem like they were written to be mini-genres designed to fulfill a specific niche in the human psyche. There are always certain moments in a song - whether written out or composed on the spot - that feel like they are designed to go straight to the heart (or loins, or jugular) and grab you in an emotional way that you didn't think possible.

There's a level of technical precision coupled with group-mind, collective improvisation in Phish that isn't present in any other bands. Phish has the chops, creativity, synchronicity and desire to work in unison as a four-headed beast. No matter how out there Phish's jams get there's always a sense of direction and cohesion to them. Plus, they rehearse like crazy and treat each show - each moment of each show - as if it were the most important one they have ever played.

From the time Page joined the band in 1985 (?), Phish has always been the same four guys. No lineup changes. Beside a few very early recordings, any time you listen to Phish you know you are hearing Trey, Mike, Page and Fishman.  Four distinct instruments - guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. In effect, this is a classic if somewhat minimalist lineup with each of the instruments represented at a virtuoso level, making it very easy to focus on each individual's contribution to the overall sound. And when you're at the Phish show you get to watch one of our era's best visual artists - lighting director Chris Kuroda - at work.

Phish has a charismatic leader in guitarist Trey Anastasio, an incredibly inventive, driven, prolific and motivational musician. Iconic. Having a guy like Trey in the band definitely has inspired the other members to push their skills to that same level, to the point that there are no noticeable weak links among the four members of Phish. In fact, you'd have a hard time finding a band where a drummer has as much of an influence on the outcome of a concert as Jon Fishman does.

A critique that is often made alludes to the fact that Phish can be lacking in the lyrics department. I wholeheartedly disagree. Even if I don't always find meaning in their words, I almost always find ultimate acceptance in a way that is more hard fought and rewarding than things which otherwise may have been more accessible at first glance. 

Dandelion Puff: Constructing and Deconstructing a Melody

The A-Part (similar to Venus In Furs)

On Monday morning I sung a melody into my phone's voice recorder that in hindsight bears some resemblance to the Velvet Underground song Venus In Furs. I didn't give myself a chance to work on this melody until Wednesday morning when I had about ten minutes to review it before leaving for work. During those ten minutes I was able to locate and transcribe the musical notes on a keyboard based on the intervals I had sung.

The musical notes I happened to choose were: G G G C D C D Bb G.

I don't think in terms of chords or harmony, but I do think in terms of scales - the major scale specifically. So as soon as I transcribe notes like this I like to find out which major scale(s) they might conform to.

By analyzing the notes in this little melody I came to the conclusion that these notes could fit into either the Bb major sale (Bb C D Eb F G A) or the F major scale (F G A Bb C D E). Using numeric scale notes, my G G G C D C D Bb G melody was either 6 6 6 2 3 2 3 1 6 or 2 2 2 5 6 5 6 4 2. (It wasn't until I started writing this post that I realized it could also be Eb major as well: Eb F G Ab Bb C D.

The B-Part (loosely based on the 12/29/19 Bathtub Gin jam)

I like for my tunes to have at least two alternating sections. So after transcribing this melody I tried out a sequence of notes based on something that Trey Anastasio played during Bathtub Gin on 12/29/19 that I had already been messing around with by ear. 

In recent years Trey has developed a knack for landing on simple, fleeting melodies during "Type II" improvs. Phish songs like Light, Ghost, Tweezer and Carini are prime places for these. Just beyond eleven minutes into this version of Bathtub Gin, Trey - prompted by Page - comes up with an interesting melody of this sort. It only goes around for a few bars but it was enough for me to make note of it and by New Year's Eve I was playing my own thing based on that sound.

The musical notes I used for this melody were: G Bb C D, G Bb C F D, F D C D C Bb C G.  

Note that all of the notes from my first melody (G C D and Bb) are found in this B-part melody. That was a happy coincidence. The only additional note in the B-part melody was F, but that note is found in both the Bb major scale and the F major scale that I spoke about above. So just like in the A-part, my scale here is ambiguous (to me at least). It could still be either B-flat or F. (or, as I realize now, E-flat).

The thing about these little melodies that Trey happens upon during Phish jams is that they sound great in the context of the jam, but after being isolated it is sometimes difficult to find something to pair them with. They almost paint themselves into a corner. That had been the case with this Bathtub Gin melody. I had been sitting on it for a week without successfully coming up with something to go with it. But as soon as I matched it up with my "Venus In Furs" style A-part it seemed to jive.

Transposing the A-Part

I started playing these A and B parts together and instantly knew that I had a new tune. The parts fit well together. The only thing that nagged at me was how both melodies were using a lot of the same notes, and/or were living under the same piano keys or banjo frets. I wanted a bit more flavor there. Then I remembered how I had analyzed my A-part melody to discover that the first note of the melody (G) could either be note 6 of the Bb scale or note 2 of the F scale. 

So what if I assume for a moment that the scale I'm in is Bb, but move my A-part melody from starting on note 6 of that scale (G) to note 2 of that scale (C)? Now the notes in my A-part melody switch from G G G C D C D Bb G to C C C F G F G Eb C. Boom! I'm definitely not in the key of F anymore but all of these notes still fit into the key of Bb! Remember that B-flat major scale is Bb C D Eb F G A. The only note I'm not using is the 7th one: A.

My tune was basically done and ready to be recorded at this point. I had an A-part and a B-part, and each conformed to the same major scale: the B-flat major scale in this case. But, even cooler, I wasn't really even hovering around the note Bb as the tonal center for much of the tune. It's got more of a minor feel, meaning that in music theory it's probably more like the G aeolian or C dorian scale. That's getting a little heavy for me though. I only think in terms of the major scale.

About Those (Mississippi) Half-Steps

This is basically the process I go through almost any time I write a tune. My A-parts and B-parts (or C-parts) often come from different, unrelated sources. In order to pair them I try to put them into the same universe. Unless I am purposefully trying to write something "out", "blue" or exotic, I otherwise like for my A-parts and B-parts to each utilize notes from the same major scale. The same universe, if you will. In this case that universe was the notes of the Bb major scale: Bb C D Eb F G A. It's all relative though, man.

A neat thing to know about the major scale is that it's mostly whole steps. There are only two places in the whole scale where notes are going to be directly adjacent on your fretboard. These are called semi-tones or half-steps. These half-steps are always between notes 3 and 4 of the scale, and between notes 7 and 1 of the scale (or 7 and 8 of the scale in music theory, if I'm not mistaken, but I don't think about it that way). In the Bb major scale the half-steps are found from A to Bb (7 to 1) and from D to Eb (3 to 4). Anywhere else in the scale is a whole step.

Me, I'm A Part of Your Circle of Friends

I like to think of a scale as being continuous. 

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C D Eb F G A Bb..... and so on.

You can also start on any note of the major scale. That is when a scale is called a mode.

G A Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C D Eb F G A B C D Eb F G..... and so on.

Once you get going both of the above sequences start to look pretty darn similar. In fact, they quickly become exactly that same. If you start getting too loopy you might get lost. That's OK because the half-steps can bring you back whenever you want. The half steps in your melody are the guideposts, the major clues helping to provide direction. (My tunes don't have definitive chords as far as I'm concerned. I only hear and think in terms of melody, so my scale knowledge and where this melody falls within the major scale is all I have to go on. For example I know that an Eb chord in this scale contains the notes Eb, G and Bb. No duh, right? I just have no idea if or when that or any chord should be used under the melody, nor do I care. If I really had to think about it I would conclude that any number of scalar notes could be used to harmonize with the melody note, each with their own peculiar coloring. Who can say which one sounds better than the other? I don't have a preference.)

Name That Tune

I already expected my next tune title to be either Fungie (after the Dingle dolphin) or Dandelion (after the bard character in the Witcher). I went with Dandelion, which became Dandelion Puff.

To re-cap, Monday I hummed a melody that is similar to Venus In Furs. Wednesday morning I transcribed that melody. Wednesday evening I paired it with a stray melody I had played by ear the prior week based on something I heard during the Phish 12/29/19 Bathtub Gin. Once paired together I realized that the intervals being used allowed for one of the parts to be shifted to different notes within the same universe, or scale. After that, done!

Here's a recording made last night over a quick drum machine "beat" that I spent mere seconds assembling. I used a baritone ukulele because I like the way it sounds on that instrument.

***

Best Books Read 2019 - Recent Fiction and Vintage Horror

I read over thirty books this year, mostly fiction. Here are ten favorites.

Five Recently Written Books

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
A brilliant novel about a single/unmarried 36 year old woman, Keiko Furukura, who has spent the last 18 years of her life diligently working the same menial job in a Japanese convenience store. She is comfortable with her life, but feels out of place in a society that pressures her to conform to its expectations. One of the most remarkable characters I've ever encountered. Inspirational. Translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori.

Sealskin by Sue Bristow
Dabbling in magical realism, this novel is based on the Scottish legend of the selkie - seals who take human form after shedding their skin. After reading Michael Crummey's Galore and Eowyn Ivey's Snow Child in 2018 I was hungry for more of that ilk and Sealskin filled the void.

Aug 9 - Fog by Kathryn Scanlan
I'm so glad to have learned about this slim, spare book. It is the product of Kathryn Scanlan finding the dilapidated, waterstained diary of a random 86 year old mid-western woman at an estate sale. For 15 years Scanlan studied the diary - playing with sentences, cutting and pasting entries and rearranging it to flow as one narrative composition. The result is a beautiful form of homespun poetry. Very influential.

The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
Modern horror just doesn't seem to be as good as the vintage stuff from the 1970's and 80's. It's usually either too young adult, too "me too", too PC, or all of the above while being written in an annoying millennial voice. The Grip of It is the exception - a contemporary telling of the classic haunted house story. Done in a way that feels both in-line with tradition and non-derivative.

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
I love fiction as told through journal entries. In this case the format delivers one of the most chilling books you'll ever read. In 1937, a down on his luck Englishman joins a year long scientific expedition to the Arctic. Over the next 200 pages things get increasingly eerie and unhinged.

Five Vintage Horror Novels (Valancourt Books)

I read several horror novels this year, vintage horror novels, but I'm going to limit my list of vintage horror to just ones published by Richmond, VA based Valancourt Books. Valancourt has a knack for rediscovering rare and overlooked out-of-print gems. I learned about them this year and they are the primary reason for rekindling my interest in horror fiction. Here are my five favorite Valancourt Books read this year. Some are from their Paperbacks from Hell series.

The Elementals by Michael McDowell
The haunted house genre goes for a Southern Gothic spin in this overlooked classic from 1981. On Alabama's Gulf Coast a well-to-do family encounters a terrifying presence in an uninhabited Victorian mansion.

The Spirit by Thomas Page
An over-the-top 1977 Bigfoot novel that is actually really good. I wasn't expecting this one to be much more than fun, but it was that and more.

Black Ambrosia by Elizabeth Engstrom
From almost the first page I had the feeling that I was reading a book that would be an all-time favorite. A slight lull about two-thirds of the way was the only thing that killed that buzz. I tend to like dark, horror books with teenage female protagonists and Black Ambrosia pretty much sets the standard. I'm looking forward to reading this one again to see if it's as good as I remember, or better.

The Bog by Michael Talbot
I actually found a used 1980's mass-market paperback copy of The Bog before I realized that it was one that Valancourt had reprinted. This horror novel seems pretty conventional at first and then starts taking some surprising turns. I wish they all could be this good.

Nightblood by T. Chris Martindale
This 1989 one-off men's action-adventure horror paperback is so meta that it feels like a 2019 book set in 1989 rather than a 1989 novel set in its present day. Imagine a Vietman-vet hero straight out of a Chuck Norris or Sylvester Stallone movie. Now imagine him as an uzi-toting vampire hunter. You nailed it. The first book in a series that never happened, the Nightblood story-line could easily be picked up by a writer like Grady Hendrix. The sequels would almost write themselves.

***

Favorite Albums of 2019 (Best of the Year)

My Ten Favorite Albums of 2019

The Mauskovic Dance Band - The Mauskovic Dance Band

Space disco music by way of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Is this what an Afro-Caribbean influenced new wave jamband from Europe sounds like?

Carla Dal Forno - Look Up Sharp

Poppy, minimalist and deceptively hooky songs from a London-based Australian music creator.

Akron - The Akron Quartet Plays Ritual Sferei

Cool rhythms, killer bass-lines, and catchy melodies color this exotica from Barcelona, Spain. 

Dennis Young - Primitive Substance

The spirit of Liquid, Liquid lives on in this trippy, percussive, and dance-friendly collection of tracks.

Jenny Scheinman and Allison Miller - Jenny Scheinman and Allison Miller's Parlour Game

The most listenable and melodic jazz of the year came from this new collaboration between drummer Allison Miller and violinist Jenny Scheinman. Pianist Carmen Staaf and bassist Tony Scherr make it a quartet.

Jake Xerxes Fussell - Out of Sight

Another great set of songs from North Carolina guitarist Jake Xerxes Fussell. The production is turned up a little bit this time, giving the music a modest sheen.

Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center

The closest thing to indie-rock you'll find on this list. I listened to this over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again when it came out back in January.

The Natural Yogurt Band - Braille, Slate and Stylus

These funky, hazy, vintage grooves from England should appeal to acid-jazz and trip-hop fans, and those who pay attention to the background music in make-believe wildlife films.

C Joynes and The Furlong Bray - The Borametz Tree

A globe spanning array of quasi field recordings, inspired by Eritrean wedding music, the Gamelan of java, Indian ragas, old-weird Appalachia, Celtic traditions, Asian scales, Tuareg desert blues, and who knows what else. 

William Tyler - Goes West

Straight and to the point acoustic, Americana guitar instrumentals backed by a sympathetic ensemble consisting of guitarist Meg Duffy, bassist Brad Cook, keyboardist James Wallace and drummer Griffin Goldsmith.

Some 2018 Albums You Might Have Missed

Before my Best of 2019 comes out, here are some 2018 albums that, had I known about them at the time, could have possibly made it onto the previous year's best of list.

Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett - Full Circle (2018)
Back in the 1970's, keyboardist Alan Hawkshaw and drummer Brian Bennett were part of a team of UK musicians working for the KPM label who created hours upon hours of what is called "library music". Essentially their 9 to 5 job was to compose and record a library of stock music that clients could use in commercials, TV shows, movie soundtracks, radio filler, theme music - you name it. Often the music was made prior to it being commissioned for a particular project. Someone who needed music for the intro of their tennis match or for a chase scene in a low budget action film would choose among the KPM music available. It didn't really matter if someone else had already used it elsewhere.

In particular, the music that Hawkshaw and Bennett came up with was so funky and chic that - although not intended to be consumed this way - gained its own following among hip-hop producers and rare music enthusiasts. Their "not for sale to the general public" LPs became collectors items. Long story short, Hawkshaw and Bennett - now senior citizens - got back together in 2018 to record a whole new album of music in their classic KPM style. Full Circle is definitely an homage to library music's heyday, but with twelve new original tracks it might be better than anything they ever did before. I love this record! Don't get fooled into thinking that it's just smooth jazz. It really grows on you.

IE - Pome (2018)
Pronounced "Eee", IE is a little known young band from Minneapolis. Of all the performers at the 2019 Big Ears festival, IE probably got the least promotion - as in zero - but I had a hunch they would be good so I made a point of catching their one set which took place late at night at the tiny bar/performance space called The Pilot Light. That ended up being a peak musical experience and a highlight of the festival. I bought the vinyl of Pome immediately after the gig and then played it again that night - now probably like one or two in the morning - at a pretty decent volume on the cheapo record player at the AirBnB, where it sounded p h e n o m e n a l.

I'm not sure what kind of music IE is. Maybe the music of ancient pagan rites from a futuristic dimension, as played by the ghosts and faeries in a Marosa di Giorgio poem? It's kind of like the long, patient, almost ambient jams that Phish would get into around 1999/2000 such as the the 6/14/00 Twist from Fukuoka, Japan. There's probably some Sun Ra, Wendy Carlos or Delia Derbyshire in there too. Who knows? The ritual drumming, the synths, the keyboards, the far out vocals - it all works.



79.5 - Predictions (2018)
I have to thank Spotify for this. It put a track from Predictions on my Discover Weekly playlist and instead of instantly fast forwarding to the next track like I often do when skimming through these types of Spotify curated playlists, I stuck with it. If Spotify could talk it would have been saying, "you seem to like ESG and BadBadNotGood so you'll probably also like 79.5".

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio - Close But No Cigar
This band tours constantly, playing blue breakbeat, organ-trio, funk-laden soul jazz. Delvon Lamarr's name might be titular, but his secret weapon and co-star is guitarist Jimmy James who is probably one of the most exciting performers you will ever see. The good vibes are contagious when this band takes the stage. Close But No Cigar does a good job of capturing a live sound in the studio. No trickery, no "production", no-frills. Just grooves. It could have been recorded yesterday or forty or fifty years ago.

Luke Bergman - Worx (2018)
This is the kind of music I love to happen upon. These ten tracks are an example of the kind of cool music that a talented multi-instrumentalist can put together with today's home recording capabilities. Bergman plays all the instruments heard on Worx. The first track Morning Person is almost an instrumental version of John Prine's Christmas in Prison, until you realize that Christmas in Prison's melody probably comes from some deeper collective subconscious. Track by track this music just kind of morph's into whatever Bergman felt like writing or recording that day.

Luke Bergman is not just some completely unknown DIY Bandcamp type person. He's actually a member of Bill Frisell's new HARMONY ensemble. So the guy has some cred. Bergman describes Worx as "Donkey Kong Country as a Hallmark movie."



Dungen and Woods - Myths 003 (2018)
I used to have Swedish band Dungen's 2004 album Ta Det Lugnt on CD. The Dungen on 2018's Myths 003 does not sound like that though. This Dungen is more mellowed out, pastoral, and hippie-ish than the harder rocking band of 15 years ago. Since this is a collaborative project it could be the influence of Woods. I don't really know anything about Woods but they are described as an American folk rock band from Brooklyn. Between Dungen, the movie Midsommar, and the northern-voodoo inspired band Goat, something trippy is going on in Sweden. The seven song, thirty minute Myths 003 is a pretty vibey and laid-back listen, flower children.




BONUS

Sandcatchers - What We Found Along the Way (2017)
Oud and lap steel. Come on. That's all I had to know before wanting to listen. There's an ECM meets meets Windham Hill type of thing going on here. The African/Middle Eastern (almost banjo-like) flavor of Yoshie Fruchter's oud mashed up with the experimental Americana tones of Myk Freedman's (almost dobro-like) lap steel guitar. I want to see this band out live some day.

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