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 ...

Joyful Noise Recordings has selected the one and only KRAMER as 2020's Artist In Residence.  For those who don't know, KRAMER is synonymous with Shimmy-Disc, a label that cultivated a veritable wellspring of odd flavors and creative abnormalities from about 1987 until operations ceased in the late 90s, releasing albums from the likes of Naked City (John Zorn) , Daniel Johnston , Galaxie 500 , Butthole Surfers , Urge Overkill , Ween , King Missile , and GWAR to name a few. KRAMER also released albums from his own projects: Bongwater and Shockabilly . It was recently announced that KRAMER would be reactivating Shimmy-Disc and releasing some new music after years in absentia via Joyful Noise. "Monday" is a new track from a current project called Let It Come Down, which exhibits the vocal talents of Xan Tyler . Let It Come Down's debut LP, Songs We Sang In Our Dreams, is the first of five LPs that Kramer is releasing as part of his JNR Residency. We Sang In ...