A well-designed lyric video surfaced for Camae Ayewa's (a.k.a. Moor Mother) "We Got The Jazz," a new single featured in her upcoming release  Jazz Codes Deluxe , which is an enhanced digital version of 2022's excellent Jazz Codes .  From the desk of Stereo Sanctity: “‘ We Got The Jazz ’ is me thinking about how mediocre a lot of popular music is, about its capitalistic structures and how those placements are bought and paid for,”  Ayewa said of the song’s meaning.  “I'm speaking about the whitewashing of who's allowed to participate in jazz, who is allowed to participate in poetry, and asking where the room for innovation is, now and in the future. It’s also me thinking about my jazz band, Irreversible Entanglements, and how we’ve toured the world destroying stages, uplifting audiences, and inspiring everyone on the jazz scene with or without recognition. I'm also speaking about my own influence on the culture.” Jazz Codes Deluxe will be released 5/19/23 ...

To whom it may interest, Still getting acclimated to 2023 and up on January releases. How are you feeling about this year? Anything that you're looking forward to? I believe I've mentioned this before, but I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to develop a following in the TikTok space. You can find that here .  For last week's rounds of browser tabs, I've heard the following: ____________________________ Alex Ward Item 4:  "OURS" (from  Furthered,  releasing 3/3/23 by  577 Records )       577 Records · OURS by Alex Ward/Item 4 from album 'Furthered' (577 Records) Courtesy of 577 Records. Meg Baird:  "Ashes, Ashes" (from  Furling,  releasing 1/27/23 by  Drag City ) Courtesy of Drag City.  Ad Omega: "Triumph of Void" (from  Aphelic Ascent,  releasing 2/10/23 by  Drakkar Productions ) Courtesy of Falce Press & Management.  Constant Smiles:  "Triumph of Void" (from  Kenneth Anger,...

To whom it may interest, In the wake of late night neighborhood demonstrations of amateur fireworks displays and cork-ejaculated ribbons of bubbly champagne, the first full calendar week of 2023 has been officially Xd out. Time to take the Christmas trees down and bundle up for the next couple months. For last week's rounds of browser tabs, I've heard the following: ____________________________ Endorphins Lost:  "Regulation Area Bombing" (from Night People  releasing 2/1/23 by  To Live A Lie  / Rotten to the Core ) This one will beat you up pretty good: A little over a minute and thirty of throat scraping crust punk/power violence replete with excessive head-knock and a writhing breakdown for its second act.   Night People by Endorphins Lost Courtesy of Earsplit PR. Atsuko Chiba:  "Link" (from  Water, It Feels Like It's Growing  releases 1/20/23 by  Mothland ) The synth ride overtop some elaborate prog-level guitar noodling is worth explorati...

It's well-past midnight. Officially Tuesday morning. Experiencing a rare bout of insomnia on a work night, which isn't ideal. Figured I'd post some tracks. Enjoy. ____________________________ Meg Baird:  "Star Hill Song" (from Furling releasing 1/27/23 by Drag City ) Courtesy of Drag City. Knife The Symphony:  "Wildling I / Islands" (from All The Wrong Turns Taken To Get Here releasing 1/2/23 by Phratry Records ) All The Wrong Turns Taken To Get Here by Knife The Symphony No Base Trio: "ST [7]" (from NBT II releasing 10/15/22)   Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

I had a good time today. It's not often that over the course of a workday I'm able to direct some attention to my periphery, just enough that I keep to the necessary tasks while engaging with something more worthwhile. In this case, I spent some time today checking out some long overdue songs and artists that I'd meaning to investigate for the past few weeks. It's been a bit since I sorted through browser tabs.  That said, there's a lot to review. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to comment.  ____________________________ Deniz Cuylan: "Hidden Language Of Four" (from Rings Of Juniper releasing 10/14/22 by Hush Hush Records ) Deniz Cuylan · Hidden Language Of Four Courtesy of C L A N D E S T I N E  L A B E L  S E R V I C E S. Deru : "The Dirt" (from  We Will Live On  releasing 10/28/22 by Friends Of Friends ) Courtesy of Terrorbird Media.  Bill Nace : "E:E" (from  Through A Room  releasing 11/11/22 by  Drag City )   Courtesy of Drag Ci...

"Every Motherfucker Is Your Brother". This is the sort of combination of words that I long to find buried in the brittle pages of some forgotten book of vulgar proverbs or pulled from the broken shards of the evening's takeout fortune cookie. Perhaps this five-word bit of excellence was the work of some once-aspirational, albeit failed, author, unhappy to be toiling in the marketplace of meaningless phrases and bland advice found within the confines of often-discarded cookies who found inspiration one day and followed through.  However, this phrase isn't a proverb nor is it a fortune, but the title track of a single-piece 12" by the duo Oort Smog, an effort by multi-instrumentalist Patrick Shiroishi and drummer Mark Kimbrell. For now, a less than three-minute clip is available as "Every Motherfucker" and showcases a bit of percussive prog-jazz, loose enough at moments for the brass to scribble outside the lines on occasion but never at the expense of th...

"Life got us confused? Where are we going?"  Speaking from personal line of sight, I find myself continually enamored with and challenged by the work of Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother). Following 2021's entrancing Black Encyclopedia of Air ,  Jazz Codes , Ayewa's 2nd LP for Anti-, has been announced with the lead single and video, "WOODY SHAW".  Following sprays of sonorous howls and a lovely red herring R&B set-up, "WOODY SHAW" takes a pause before shifting into a turbulent free jazz backdrop, a cyclical stand-up bass riff anchoring the otherwise discordant sax, drums, and vibraphone.  "Woody Shaw elevator outta town!" Ayewa speaks, "Life got us going up and down. Who's coming? Who's coming for our ratios?"  The video premiered on June 8th. Jazz Codes can be pre-ordered at ANTI- . Official release date is July 1st. All info and links were provided by Stereo Sanctity.  “It’s poetry that drives this album. The stories o...

Side B — Assembled 1/10-1/14 Still working through the month's offerings.  Enjoy…  ______________________________________________________________________ Allegra Krieger : "Taking It In" (via Clandestine PR) Official Website —  https://www.allegrakrieger.com Bandcamp —  https://allegrakrieger.bandcamp.com/album/precious-thing Northern Spy — (Pre-order)  https://northernspyrecs.com/product/precious-thing/ Precious Thing  releases 3/4/22 ______________________________________________________________________ Die! Die! Die! : "Losing Sight, Keep On Kicking" (via Us-Them Group) Bandcamp —  https://diediedie.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-not-an-island-anymore This Is Not An Island Anymore  releases 2/18/22 This Is Not An Island Anymore by Die! Die! Die! ______________________________________________________________________ God Is God : "The Song Part II" (via mutante-inc.) Bandcamp —  https://godisgod.bandcamp.com/album/metamorphoses ...

Good afternoon, Looking ahead at 2022. Here's some music I enjoyed this week.  ______________________________________________________________________ Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Kaiser, Alex Varty:  "Pacifica Koral Reef (preview)" (via 577 Records) Bandcamp — https://577records.bandcamp.com/album/pacifica-koral-reef 577 Records —  https://www.577records.com Via 577 Records: "I’m supposed to be writing about Pacifica Koral Reef , this record that I’ve made with my friend Henry Kaiser and his friend Wadada Leo Smith. And while the music it contains is, for me, a miraculous late-career achievement after 50 years of mostly playing in alternative rock bands, writing about it is a downright odd thing to have to do. In my parallel life as an arts journalist, I’ve interviewed everyone from Ornette Coleman to John Cage to Robert Plant but I’ve rarely had to write about myself, and I much prefer it that way. Fighting against my natural tendency towards self-effacement is the fact ...

On what would have been John Coltrane's 94th birthday, some jazz releases to consider for this midweek entry… First, a 10-LP box set titled Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World by bassist William Parker will be released on January 29th, 2021 via Centering Records and AUM Fidelity .  As a primer for this collection, a compilation of material extracted from the box set is available called Trencadís . Immediately evidentiary is that Parker's creative and compositional reach is excitingly vast. You can listen to that here:   Trencadís [ a selection from Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World ] by William Parker Via Fully Altered Media: “The music in this boxed set is dedicated to all people in the world who are searching for freedom – those who want to eliminate hate, racism, sexism, greed and lies in their lifetime.” — William Parker That William Parker is a bassist, composer and bandleader of extraordinary spirit and imaginative drive is common know...